ANT Forum

Linux Pinephone for ANT+ projects

ANT + projects which run on Rasperri PI should also run on the Linux Pinephone

I copy and pasted all information from other posts I wrote here in the THIS IS ANT forum together in one thread about the Linux Pinephone. Sorry for the repetition. But in my view, it would be fine to discuss the Linux Pinephone for ANT+ projects here in the THIS IS ANT Forum.

The PinePhone can be ordered here:

https://store.pine64.org/?post_type=product

PINEPHONE First Impressions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUttT67rkyM

for developers,replacable battery, very rare these days for smartphones, 2 to 5 hours battery life.

PinePhone batteries are standard batteries, which can replaced by bigger ones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaNzPooIWsU

- it is designed for mobile use
- it has a big screen
- it is robusts
- new Linux images can be designed in the Pinephone Community escpecially for ANT+
- it is also interesting for bikers and runners, not only for home users
- Pine also produces Raspberry Pi-like single board computers. the Pinephone is a real Linux computer which is superior to a Rasperri Pi or a smartphone wit ANT+ applications (exept for battery life).

There are no special ant+ Implementation under Linux for the Pinephone to this date. But It should be easy to build one dervied on from a Rasperri PI inplementation. And it should be mor stable than an android ant+ implementation.

The Pinephone is only available to buy since a short time, it is quite new, and sold as a product for developers. But reviewers say in a year or so it could completely repace an android phone, and has Linux computer functionality at the same price as an android phone.

For a new ANT+ developements, me personally, I would choose a Pinephone instead of a Rasperri Pi, if your budget allows.

Peter Gamma      

I miss a Linux Pinephone ANT+ distro with several scripts put together, for instance the

QBIKE ANT+ Cycling Training on Raspberry Pi

https://www.thisisant.com/forum/viewthread/7371/

and the Raspberry Pi Ant+ script which sends sensor data to a MQTT-Broker

https://www.thisisant.com/forum/viewthread/7360/

I don t know whether those scripts for the Raspberry Pi run on a Linux Pinephone without modification.

Darren Hague says in the descripton of his project virtual Power should also run under Linux and therefore on the Linux Pinephone

https://www.thisisant.com/forum/viewthread/6665/

it can be modified for instance to show heart rate instead of power.

Peter Gamma


     

There are already multiple projects which run on the Rasperri PI, which should in theory also run on the Linux Pinephone. But the origin of some projects is unclear.

Some mention to use a folk of Python ANT+ for instance ANT+ Virtual Power from Darren Hague.

https://github.com/dhague/vpower

Also Johannes Bader mention in his blog to use a folk of Python ANT+

https://johannesbader.ch/blog/track-your-heartrate-on-raspberry-pi-with-ant/

Are those two projects derived from the same source?

Also Johannes Bader did not invent his project from scratch, he was inspired by the excellent blog post “Monitoring your developer health with an ANT+ sensor” by Tom Wardill. His code works great and his blog does nothing to improve the code. Instead I focus on getting the stick to run on Raspberry P

https://blog.serverdensity.com/monitoring-your-developer-health-with-an-ant-sensor/

I m confused. Which project would be best as a source to use it for a project to run on the Linux Pinephone?
     

Tom Wardill, from where Andreas Baader s project is based on, runs on OSX Macintosh, so not for Linux use.

What about Retos Raspberry Pi Ant+ script which sends sensor data to a MQTT-Broker? It runs on a Rasperri PI. But is it built from scratch? I could not find a source mentioned.      

There is no copyright licence on these projects, exept for an MIT licence on Darren Hague s project. Therefore source is not necessary to know urgently.

Still would be fine to have a clear indication of the source of the code, instead of a mess.
     

I have clarified the subject with Reto and Darren:

Reto who developed the Raspberry Pi Ant+ script which sends sensor data to a MQTT-Broker

https://www.thisisant.com/forum/viewthread/7360/

wrote me an e mail and answered "No, I do not know this Johannes project"
and Darren Hague who developed ANT+ Virtual Power Meter:

https://github.com/dhague/vpower

answered my e mail :

""My project has exactly one dependency, which is Johannes' fork of python-ant:
https://github.com/dhague/vpower/blob/master/requirements.txt:
git+https://github.com/baderj/python-ant.git"

Thank you for your answers, Reto and Darren      

I m not sure about the compatiblity of the Pinephone. Rasperri Pi has an ARM cpu, and also the Pinephone as an ARM cpu. Does software which runs on Raspperi PI also run on the Pinephone?      

Here is the answer:

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=10125

      [ Edited: 09 June 2020 12:45 PM by Yoyo2014 ]

If that is true, all of the ANT+ projects in this thread should also work with a Pinephone and an ANT+ stick without modification.
     

Maybe a Rasperri PI zero with a 4500 mAH battery with a working time of more than 20 hrs would be the better platform than a Pinephone, which only has a working time of 3 to 4 hours with a planned extended 5000 mAH battery:

https://www.pine64.org/2020/05/15/may-update-pinetab-pre-orders-pinephone-qi-charging-more/?replytocom=1894#respond
     

This makes the Rasperri PI zero project more attractive for long-term use:

https://www.thisisant.com/forum/viewthread/7362/      

But a Rasperri PI zero is very limited as far as connectivity is concerned. A pinephone (has usb c) with an additional external battery pack of 10 000 mAH, and the Pinephone is in the business again.      

Pine, the developer of the Linux PinePhone sells also the PineTime, which is an open source Linux Pinephone companion, which could eventually serve as an open source sports watch:

https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/

Peter Gamma      

Unfortunately, there is as far as I know now permanent storage device or an option for a real-time sensor stream to a smartphone or PC implemented in the Pinetime. Or at least it is not developed.      

Nicholas Vilchock answered on his channel whether Rasperri Pi software runs on the Pinephone

"Indeed my good sir. Anything that doesn’t need the gpio pins can be done on it"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imlkQVRXUOI&lc=UgxNFUhz651FpQTx4Ad4AaABAg.99ZtWNgjrvt9Ab4kwFeze4&feature=em-comments

Good news, this makes the Pinephone very attractive to me personally. Unfortunately, there seems the be a usb bug, so I probably will use Bluetooth low energy instead of ANT+ for a heart rate sensor project on the PinePhone:

http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=10172

I hope the usb bug will be fixed in future releases of the Pinephone. There is a already an usb bug fix which needs soldering:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8OJtjNWUM

Peter Gamma      

Keyboard, Mouse and monitor work with an usb c dock on the Pinephone in spite of the usb bug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBeza4UNOm8

Whether an ANT+ stick works on the current version of the Pinephone needs to be tested. Unfortunately, the Pinephone is currently out of stock.

Edit: the video shows a version of the Pinephone with Postmarked OS where the USB-C bug is already fixed.

Peter Gamma       [ Edited: 22 July 2020 08:58 AM by Yoyo2014 ]