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Stardate: 20181213.23h17
Location: Home Office
Input Device: Gemini PDA (wireless desktop config)
Audio: Xmas Music via Chumby One
Visual: Messy, cluttered desk, mug o'chai
Energy: 30%
Mental: 30%
Emotional: Festive
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I got our Xmas tree this evening with the fam and had some
Korean food. I just finished setting it up in the stand with
the water, karo syrup, and bleach mixture. It's kinda
crooked, but good enough. Decorations will be added this
weekend. I wanted to have the tree up after Thanksgiving,
but life got in the way. Well, at least we can just focus on
decorating this weekend. That reminds me, I still have some
exterior light that needs to be placed.
So last night, I had a chance to play around with the Gemini
PDA outside of my daily usage. I was an early backer for the
device and ordered the WiFi version with accessory kit. I
received the device in June and the accessories in October.
The accessory kit came with a USB-C hub with 2x USB 3.0
ports, 1 USB-C port, and an ethernet port. It also came
with a USB-C to HDMI video cable. I originally wanted to use
the device with the accessories for a wired desktop setup,
but that didn't seem to work out well. The plan was to only
have to deal with 2 cables, the USB-C hub and HDMI video
cable. The hub would be connected to ethernet, power,
keyboard, and mouse on one side and video on the other. It
turns out that you could not power/charge the Gemini with the
hub and all of the accessories connected. Also, the HDMI
video cable required a reboot each time you wanted to use it.
Not all USB-C HDMI video cables work with the device too.
After using this setup a few times, I stopped since it was
cumbersome and took too long.
A couple weeks ago, I was able to revisit the desktop setup
and decided doing things wirelessly. I have this 23" Dell
wireless monitor with wireless charging in the stand that I
picked up last year. Dell had them for clearance and I had
enough leftover credits so I grabbed one. I'm a sucker for
inexpensive electronics, especially if they have interesting
features. I figured that I would try using the wireless
monitor and the charger with the Gemini PDA. I ordered a
wireless Qi charger with USB-C from Amazon and had a chance
to test the full setup yesterday.
For this setup, the Gemini PDA charges via Qi inductive
charging in the monitor stand, the display is via the Dell
wireless monitor and Android app, keyboard and mouse is wireless and
communications are via USB dongle on the monitor, which talks
to the Gemini over bluetooth. Network access is via Wifi.
So far, the configuration seems to function well and setup is
quick and easy. My main concern right now is with the Qi
charging coil. I haven't used Qi much and still cautious
about it. I don't know how safe it is, especially with the
metal case of the Gemini. Also, I'm trying to figure out
how to mount the coil better so it doesn't catch on anything
or break. It's not pleasant to look at on the back either.
Typing on it seems to be ok. There's some clearance for it
when the Gemini is open, so the keyboard is still relatively
flat and does not wobble.
Another thing that bugs me is that I'm using this
configuration with Android. It might not work if I set the
Gemini up for multi-boot. I'd like to try the other distros.
This setup in Android is actually not too bad. I mostly use
termux, but sometimes use GUI applications. Unfortunately,
termux and the Android front end is separate. If I ssh into
the Gemini I cannot really use the GUI or interact with the
apps directly. Previously with my Nokia N900, I could access
via ssh and VNC for the GUI, which I used quite a bit. I
have not figured out how to do this yet on the Gemini PDA or
if it is even possible.
All of this probably sounds complicated, so I decided to map
it out. I suck at drawing so here is a diagram. [1] This
probably makes more sense and it will to me when I forget the
details later on.
[1]
gopher://sdf.org/d/users/xiled/projects/saga/gemini_pda/files/20181213_gemini_desktop_config.pdf
*NOTE: I'm still trying to understand linking in gopher.*
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