ModalAI Forum

@tom Tom, Thank you, but I feel like an idiot. I say that because I just clicked on all of the links you just posted in that reply, gave it 30 minutes worth of clicks, and for the life of me, I can't find any reference to: voxl-time-sync or vpn-start.service or any of the instruction you provided in your short post. Is it me? I really and truly appreciate your help, but I feel like everyone on your end feels like we're all at your level but we're not. We need hand holding sometimes.. even though we're pretty clever guys (and gals.. or whatever letters you use..) or we probably wouldn't be messing with this stuff. Honestly.. a concise, 2-3 page document for the currently released products containing commands, file locations, syntax and switches, configs (with included defaults) and an example or two would go a LONG ways toward keeping you guys busy at what you do best instead of answering my stupid questions..

Thank you very much, Chad! Knowing that, I believe I'll venture to fly it today!

Hey Adrian, thanks for the reply! Chad also replied this morning affirming the inverted image in the portal is normal. I was afraid to fly it until I could confirm that. On the SIM, like I said in the other post, after inserting the new EIOT SIM I ordered and A: Killing the voxl modem service temporarily then B: booting up and killing the WiFi then running the shell script to configure the modem with the new custom APN for the new sim (which, by the way, is running on the same ATT network as the prepaid ATT phone sim I was trying to use.. it has to be the provisioning on the carrier side that keeps it from working in the modem) thus making the WWAN gateway the default gateway, I can now get a response to any ping I throw at the internet through the wan. I believe the issue with the SIM card socket that makes me have to take things apart to get the sim to actually click into place properly has to do with board "tweakage" or flexing just enough to make the rather delicate sim card locking mechanism bind. You know the board is basically held in position by the two corner silicone grommets and the B2B connector... it doesn't have any kind of screws or standoffs holding it precisely where you want it against the frame. It's just kind of sandwiched in there. if you were to continue to develop the product, I'd look into screwing it down,, Anyway, now that I have a working SIM, all I have to do is keep it active and hopefully never take the Voxl Cam apart again!

@tom Tom, Thanks for the Saturday reply! I' know I won't be able to ping the device's IP from the internet, just like I can't ping my phone or any other cellular device. They're inside the carrier's NAT'd subnet. I get that. But I cannot ping any public ip FROM the device. At the end of that old thread, he shows the Voxl pinging 8.8.8.8 and getting a response. I still don't, after following all of the suggestions in that thread. Like I said, I can get a DNS response if I ping a hostname, just no response to the ICMP from the host. Things that might help me: Another SIM from a different carrier or (or carrier's reseller, as most of the IoT SIM providers tout using ATT, T-Mobile and Verizon's networks, but have their own APN's..) to try. I'm working on that. In the meantime, coming from my early beginnings jockeying Hayes modems from DOS 3.3 running a BBS (Bulletin Board System, the pre-internet way we communicated..) I'm familiar with the Hayes AT command set (or used to be..) so I'd like a document (that I can't find on the Sierra site) listing my modem's AT command set so I can dig deeper into this problem myself. The Tailscale VPN looks nice and may be the simplest route (at a cost, and once I can actually talk to the outside world with this thing..) but I'm linking to a good video for you guys to look at. This guy is pretty savvy, and what he's doing here works. Without a VPN I might add.. The reverse SSH tunnel is quite interesting. Worth a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IokyotAGbJI

Hi @billybob I just stumbled upon this thread. Thanks for contributing to this forum!! If you need us to respond to anything or have any questions, the best bet is always a new thread. We get alerted (the entire company) on new threads, but not so for thread responses or "tack-on" thread posts. Just an FYI I've been updating that cables section recently (still have more to do!!!) and we are finding and posting workaround solutions for various Mavlink ports when someone's port breaks or they wish to change for mechanical reasons. I'm happy to see you found some of my notes. We are working to improve that too, especially since the older 5V on Voxl J12 is problematic on some new stuff, so I want to be sure everyone has all the info they need!!

Vinny! You're the man! Good news but a little backround first. I've been building drones for a long time, but I come from the "Other side" using a windows box to configure APMs then Pixhawks with Arducopter using Mission Planner. When I got this thing, I literally built an Ubuntu workstation just to talk to it. I'm an old guy that used to live on the DOS commandl line, but I really have to hone my Linux skills (almost nonexistent..) for this project. Outside of the Arduino IDE and some ancient BASIC, I'm no coder, but I understand microcontrollers, serial, I2C, CAN etc pretty well because I come from an industrial automation background. (Amazon Fulfillment Center Controls lead configuring Cognex and Sick every day..) I figured out the serial ports. (I was using the freaking asterisk in the QGC parameter search box like a typical DOS jockey!) I found that in the 1.11.3 firmware the serial parameters are bit masks and numeric with no real reference for me, but in the latest PX4 release they have a dropdown and real names and values, so I loaded it, changed TELEM1 to 921k and Mavlink mode 2 (offboard), saved the params, then loaded your 1.11.3 custom version back up and restored the params. Done deal. Now I just need the level shifters I ordered today and I can try it out. BTW I also ordered two connector kits, one with a pile of GH 1.25's and the other with a pile of DF13's. I've been meaning to get them for a while cause' I have a huge collection of parts that just don't quite match up and also because I wear my super-re-pinner badge proudly! I'll let you guys know how the level shifters work. I ordered two types, one with multiple mosfets and one with the TXS0108E chip so I can see what works best when it goes back together. Thanks for your prompt and helpful reply!