Hi Josh, I've got the $10 USB tester on order, should arrive in a few days. Once I have that, hopefully I will be able to confirm whether or not the power level is really the problem.
I will compare the ThinkPenguin dongle to the older Ralink one I have. Also, the tester I've ordered has two split outputs (from the same port on the laptop). So I should be able to plug in the wifi dongle; check the current draw for that; then plug something else into the second port on the tester (mouse, or phone charger or something). I should be able to tell, based on whether the current increases when I do that, whether or not the Penguin dongle is maxing out the available supply. Regards, Lee On Mon, 2019-04-01 at 16:51 +0100, Josh Branning wrote: > Hi just had a look and there doesn't appear to be an easy option, > though > there are a few things that could help in u-boot by the looks of > things, > I'm not too familiar with u-boot, and it would require probably > require > someone who would know what they were doing to really help. > > But I guess probably you'd need to compile u-boot, changing some > stuff, > like grepping for "uA", "uV", "max-current" , "max-current" etc. have > a > look at arch/arm/dts and see what's going in there etc. Probably > there > is a main voltage regulator and a usb voltage regulator, someone who > knows about electronics could tell you if it could be a problem with > either, or just one or the other. > > You could try typing "power info" from the prompt or something > similar, > which may or may not show you usb current. Else, like you or someone > suggested, obtain a usb current and voltage meter and work out if > that's > the issue for sure. > > U-boot seems to be very board-specific which generally provides some > evidence against my original hypothesis, though it's difficult to > tell. > Bare in mind, it could be a coincidence that both our arm devices > are > struggling with USB and turn out not be power related at all, cheers, > > Josh > > On 31/03/19 21:24, Josh Branning wrote: > > This is interesting, a while back I tried plugging in an external > > HDD to > > an olinuxino (ARM) using parabola, and it didn't get enough power > > either. At that point, I assumed it was because the board wasn't > > providing the right power through the USB. I was using a power pack > > that > > matched the recommended input voltage and current of the board. > > > > Possibly a different thing entirely, but you never know ... there > > could > > be some setting in the kernel or bootloader or something that means > > the > > devices are only getting limited power through the USBs. > > > > Another way to test if it is a parabola issue, could be to burn a > > live > > CD or make a usb of a different distro, and see if the adapter > > works > > with that, though if it is solely a bootloader issue, I guess that > > wouldn't be much help less a alternate one is also supplied. It is > > something I didn't do, because I assumed it would have probably > > been the > > hardware simply being not able to supply required the power. > > > > Note that on some other less-free similar dev boards, USB hdds > > worked, > > albeit with a different distro. I know fosho that on some of these > > boards there is a bootloader setting where you can adjust the > > output > > current/voltage, so there may be one in u-boot too. > > > > Cheers, > > > > Josh > > > > On 31/03/19 20:43, Lee Strobel wrote: > > > lsusb for the Senao EUB9801 says its max power is 450mA, so only > > > 50mA > > > less than the Atheros. However, I suspect those are just numbers > > > someone's typed in a text file somewhere. They might not actually > > > be > > > drawing those currents. > > > > > > It looks like a USB tester can be purchased online for $10. For > > > that > > > money, I might just buy one and actually measure the current > > > draw. > > > > > > Btw, from what I saw on Wikipedia, it looks like a standard usb > > > 2.0 > > > port should be able to supply 500mA as standard. > > > > > > Lee > > > > > > > > > On Sun, 2019-03-31 at 14:04 -0400, Lee Strobel wrote: > > > > Hi Denis, > > > > > > > > > For the record, the WiFi related bugreport is here: > > > > > https://labs.parabola.nu/issues/2261 > > > > > > > > > > Could you try to see if a USB HUB that is powered by its own > > > > > power > > > > > supply makes it usable. If you don't have one you may know > > > > > people > > > > > that > > > > > have one and borrow it just for doing a quick test. > > > > > > > > > > > > > I will see what I can do. I can't think of anyone I know off- > > > > hand who > > > > would have an externally-powered USB hub, but I will ask > > > > around. > > > > > > > > About the power thing: I actually have an older USB wifi > > > > dongle, a > > > > 'Senao EUB9801', which seems to work great when plugged > > > > directly into > > > > the Chromebook (if I use the firmware blob). According to the > > > > kernel > > > > boot log, I think it is running on a Ralink chip of some kind. > > > > I will > > > > try to investigate, as you suggested, and see if it requires > > > > less > > > > power > > > > than the ThinkPenguin dongle. It is older (~8-10 years), so > > > > maybe it > > > > is > > > > using an older wifi technology that consumes less power? > > > > > > > > The reason I asked about the kernel devs is just because I was > > > > wondering if the team that maintains the module for the Atheros > > > > chip > > > > are aware of the issue. I would think we might need their > > > > assistance, > > > > if any of us wanted to try to modify the module. > > > > > > > > Lee > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Dev mailing list > > > > [email protected] > > > > https://lists.parabola.nu/mailman/listinfo/dev > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Dev mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > https://lists.parabola.nu/mailman/listinfo/dev > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Dev mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.parabola.nu/mailman/listinfo/dev _______________________________________________ Dev mailing list [email protected] https://lists.parabola.nu/mailman/listinfo/dev
