DistoXble users?

[Relict]

Hello, is anyone else using the X310 device with the PCB from Siwei Tian? We have had a couple of goes and struggled to maintain connection to the tablet. This may of course be cos I'm hopeless on Topodroid which seems to contain landmines in its ability to control the instrument. For example, fumbling through TD menus I apparently switched Bluetooth off in the instrument, from the tablet in Topodroid. I can't imagine why there could be any reason to want to do that. Next attempt, bt connection dropped out after every shot, though we were side by side, so getting 2 stations and a few splays took ages.
It was soooo easy using X2 and SexyTopo. Also, just as I got the hang of exporting files to Therion from SexyTopo, another hill to climb to do this from Topodroid.
Ok , I'll stop whining now. But if anyone has any helpful comments they will be welcomed.

 

[alastairgott]

When you say struggling to stay connected, do you mean that shots are not automatically being downloaded? The down arrow is used to download shots. This is not automatic unlike pockettopo on a PDA.

The only thing I can think of with consistent Bluetooth dropping out is if you had both sexytopo and topodroid open on your phone at the same time (even in the background) then they [might] be fighting for the Bluetooth.

I have had Bluetooth dropout myself on pockettopo, topodroid and sexytopo. It is sometimes a hazard of the job, but can usually be sorted by resetting the Bluetooth connection. Favourite of mine is “battery latch open” on pda/pockettopo, which does screw you over a little.

 

[Benfool]

Are you using the latest version of Topodroid available here https://sites.google.com/site/speleoapps/home/topodroid?

 

[Relict]

When you say struggling to stay connected, do you mean that shots are not automatically being downloaded? The down arrow is used to download shots. This is not automatic unlike pockettopo on a PDA.

The only thing I can think of with consistent Bluetooth dropping out is if you had both sexytopo and topodroid open on your phone at the same time (even in the background) then they [might] be fighting for the Bluetooth.

I have had Bluetooth dropout myself on pockettopo, topodroid and sexytopo. It is sometimes a hazard of the job, but can usually be sorted by resetting the Bluetooth connection. Favourite of mine is “battery latch open” on pda/pockettopo, which does screw you over a little.

Hi Alastair, thanks for that eye opener. So l need to click that download arrow, I guess I did randomly in the hope it would achieve something, hence getting a few splays and 2 stations.
I may have inadvertently opened ST in all the to and fro, but more likely there is something going on in Topodroid. Using SexyTopo, whenever Alan and I (Tom) lost BT signal, the minute we got back in range it would jump in and download all the data collected in absentia. But maybe in TD, do I need once again to press the download button to get this data, or do we need to retake the shots?
To be fair, since Alan commissioned the 310 we have had little opportunity to practice. Now he's at Gaping Gill and I'm grounded due to a joint problem, well, it's a range limitation not a grounding. GG is currently out of range.
Many thanks for all your excellent help in May!
T

 

[Relict]

Are you using the latest version of Topodroid available here https://sites.google.com/site/speleoapps/home/topodroid?

Hi Benfool,
Thank you, I am on the non- playstore version, aware of the discontinuance issue. I think we have Vs 2.7 from memory but will check your link. I suspect my ignorance of TD is the main culprit. I'm mostly posting to find out if anyone has any specifics learned on working with the distoxble, that differs from X2? So there might be some probs that that are not entirely me as a Topodroid newbie running book, but related to the Disto. The connection issues are the worst! If I've learned owt in the last six months, it's that problems hide in plain sight!
Many thanks
T

 

[andrewmcleod]

Like everything else in Topodroid, whether downloading of data is automatic or manual (press the download button) is an option somewhere I think.

 

[alastairgott]

The minute we got back in range it would jump in and download all the data collected in absentia. But maybe in TD, do I need once again to press the download button to get this data, or do we need to retake the shots?

HI Relict, yep, as Andrew says, press the download button, the down arrow in the top left. The way to check is to ask the person with the disto to look at the number in the top right (more numbers=more shots to download), this will tell the disto user to prompt the sketcher/topodoid user to download the shots. probably always wise to do straight after collecting the 3 shots for a station, some people like to turn on the option for the triple shot recognition on the disto (special beepy noise). I prefer to have the workflow that the disto user and the sketcher are working together to collect only data which is useful to the sketches and therefore have a good dialogue/understanding between themselves.

Sometimes it takes a bit to get into this flow, but the more and more you work together the better it will get. I recall your digging mates jibing that you and Alan only talk about surveying when your digging, I hope your back to digging/coalface humour. ⚒️

 

[alastairgott]

Also you will see, whatever window you are in on TD there is the same download button. So it's there for you to press wherever you are, saying "press me, press me".

TD is like you say, a little bit of a learning curve, but if you know the basics of Therion, then probably worth looking into as there are some aspects of it's design which are really quite nifty. use the same anticlockwise drawing of walls and think about your ticks for pitches, floorsteps and ceiling steps.

Cross sections are (I find) a little bit of a nuisance in TD, but worth looking up how to do. A bit more intuitive in Sexytopo.

 

[Relict]

Ha ha Alastair, Andrew yes, we do talk survey on the dig, everyone else looks dazed and confused, what on earth are they on about!? But we also share lots of ideas on our own WhatsApp confab, also meeting up to survey on our so- called "Inbetweeners", and on a pre- die test recently, ( checking for latent OBA) we did some surface survey work to georeference entrances.
But yes and thank you all, I'll be pressing the download button as often as I pressed the save button in SexyTopo. But I wish I was still sketching in ST.... One way or another I guess we will make progress now we have an instrument again.
Still keen to know if anyone using Siwei Tian's DistoXble adaptation is having Bluetooth issues?
Alan has been compiling ( see what I did?) a kind of rough guide almost step by step guide to Therion which is invaluable to those of us with Simple Minds ( me really). If anyone's badly fazed they could always request a copy?
Also I would share an issue which got me on here in the first place, I couldn't get any data to compile and I had an infuriating error message consistently.
It wasn't anything to do with Therion or the exported data.
Paranoidosoft had determined that all my data shall be read-only. Of course in their progs, you get a banner to alert you. Others just receive an unintelligible error code.......

 

[Relict]

Hi all, on the distoxble subject, Alan and I have been trialling the development work that Siwei Tian, (xble PCB developer) and Rich Smith (SexyTopo) have been collaborating on. We are hugely grateful to them for this effort which is restoring ST to the new Disto platform.
Beta 5 version is available on Google play. I think the developers are taking a break from this now, but for anyone trialling the new hardware with this latest software, any comments are welcome here. At least for me, as sketcher, this is now the way forward in our project.