Thanks. Yesterday I was finally able to get a fix again. I manually sent the command to clear time/almanac etc, then once outside with gpsd running for ~20minutes I got a fix. The fix is easily lost but at least it means the gps module is still working. I’m not sure if mine has a grounding issue or not
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Weak antenna sensitivity corrected a little. I have sent request to the support week ago and received confirmation that it would be routed further. But there is no reply to technical and warranty after self repair questions. So I have decided to carefully disassembled the Librem 5 according to the instructions. My company colleague had done me assistance to not overlook something and help to hold some parts etc… We have got to the state when main board was bend out on the cables. This allowed us to have problematic ground contact to metal phone frame accessible. The main board top edge was outside of the phone frame. The metal spring lamella/plate/contact is quite complex bend piece of metal. I have pulled its tip out of the PCB edge and make it longer. When device is assembled I have carefully guided the tip to go into the cutout of the frame. The contact can be seen on the already referenced picture
I seem to be lucky that all other has been assembled and functions as before (camera, buttons etc…). The anthenna sensitivity has increased a little, I estimate that carrier to noise ratio enhanced by 5 dB or little more for the similar conditions as in the previous test. I have seen values above 30 dB sometimes and I can get fix on the street. It takes quite long before required four satellites are accepted into solution list but visible list is much longer and appears sooner. There are problems with restart after fix is lost etc… But generally, receiver can be used for software testing. I have compared track recorded by next command
socat unix-client:/var/run/gnss-share.sock - >track.nmea
gpsbabel -i nmea -f track.nmea -o gpx -F track.gpx
with same walk record form Garmin GPS Map 60CSx GPS and the sensitivity, accuracy is still much worse. But GPS Map has large antenna. When phone is in the pocket then body shields signal and fix is lost. So it is step forward and as prototype to test software it works. But report from Purism with the signal to noise values they have achieved on different batches would be really useful and they should provide documentation for the antenna design and PCB to make tuning possible. We have been short of time so not investigated antenna realization much. Signal is probably connected really through screw to something conductive on the frame under a display. But construction has not been clear to us from the short glimpse under main board…
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Geoclue 2 setup and GPXsee
I have found possible problem in the geoclue.conf config. At least on my Librem 5 there has been referenced socket with path /var/run/gnss_share.sock which matched gnss_share Python prototype. But I have GO version after update which creates socket at path /var/run/gnss-share.sock. The application allowed to access location should be listed in the config as well. Because I want to test GPXSee which reports as the gpxsee when attaching to Geoclue D-Bus I need to add it the whitelist.
To make Geoclue 2 work, check that correct source is setup in /etc/geoclue/geoclue.conf.
Se section
[network-nmea]
enable=true
nmea-socket=/var/run/gnss-share.sock
Ensure that socket name matches unix socket path created
by gnss-share and that [agent] section whitelist includes gpxsee
and gpxsee section is provided
[gpxsee]
allowed=true
system=false
users=
There was a problem with Qt5 positioning source setup in the GPXSee. The preferred method default to all sources which would lead to selection of rough data on city level to be selected on Geoclue 2 side for the given client. The location hops between our city district centers. When the code has been fixed to prefer satellite obtained position then the application started to work.
QGeoPositionInfoSource has to be configured by setPreferredPositioningMethods for QGeoPositionInfoSource::SatellitePositioningMethods to get actual GPS position. See issue
The fix is available in my zoom-by-pinch branch. See https://github.com/ppisa/GPXSee/commit/f7e0282fda93be5ff64147f4a5a571df1b3a208b and has been accepted into mainline but zoom by pinch seems not to be accepted soon.
The standard Gnome Maps application available from Pure OS works after the fixes as well but it has disadvantage that requires online data access. May it be, somebody can experiment with the local OpenStreetMap tile server? But I expect that it would be memory, power and storage hungry. Some OBF format based vector offline map application like OsmAnd would be great in future… Even better implementation of OBF rendering into Gome Maps…
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You can try PureMaps (https://www.flathub.org/apps/details/io.github.rinigus.PureMaps) with OSM Scout Server (https://www.flathub.org/apps/details/io.github.rinigus.OSMScoutServer) for local map data.
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Ping @rinigus - if there is something to ask from PureMaps dev, since this seems to be going technical…
Ping with the question 
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I had a long mail conversation (since Nov 2021) with purism about my gnss-module having near to no reception. the people at purism have no clue and are quite helpless. they mix layers, can’t do proper testing, have problems determining the right conclusions from facts and on. it seems they haven’t even a low level test suite to check the hardware. it’s tiring. finally they said they have no “other suggestions”. the suggestion was to change a geoglue config which i neither have nor relate to the problem. i have a L5 for sale…
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Dear M., the reception of the signal from large distance is a problem. You probably know, energy of signal spreads, intensity decreases with square of distance. It is miracle that any mobile phone can have fix. If you see classical older GPS receivers, they have large antennas protruding from the body out etc…
Yes it is shown on other phones that today technology is able to squeeze the functionality into so insufficient space and together with other sources (in comparison massive) of all kinds of frequency interference etc…
So yes, if you need Librem 5 as reliable positioning tool then it is not at that state now and question is if it will be. I have asked technical support to provide carrier to noise rations observed on different pieces and batches. That information has not been provided yet.
But I have got some promising response with some screenshots with PCB components which can be replaced, tuned etc. I have not time for this this month, I have to deliver measurements on other project to European Space Agency. But if there is will to cooperate, my colleague at ESA can help. He works on GNSS, Galileo and its future replacements and he is willing to look at Librem 5 as onto interesting species to test and hack and he has equipment for his two way satellite time synchronization system development personally. May it be, he can use even ESA equipment for community/public experiments.
But be aware that Marek Peca is short of time as well, so no timing provided. Among many of his projects, he is now waiting to be granted up-link connection time on VZLUSAT2 satellite to test his Xilinx Zynq FPGA based design to capture pictures from cameras which he delivered. It is today, when the first beacon signal (after release form Falcon 9 and then launcher platform has been received) https://dashboard.satnogs.org/d/L8ywE9oMz/vzlusat-2?orgId=1 . So he waits for his while for satellite hacking. But he expressed interest to look at Librem 5. We have or can find people with equipment. For sure as an enthusiast project. We have to pay for real one, I pay lab to do measurement for me 4 k EUR for three/four days… So yes, we can find even professional commercial help, but price would be unacceptable for Purism and their product price.
But if there are more enthusiasts on the forum we can try to join forces and really open phone and HW can attract more people in this GNSS and RF area.
7 Likes
Months ago (see posting #55 in this thread), Purism sent me a tool gnss_test.py which worked. When I now start this it gives only an error:
sudo ./gnss_test.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/purism/guru/gnss_test.py", line 284, in <module>
gnsst = GnssThread(gsIP, gsPort)
File "/home/purism/guru/gnss_test.py", line 129, in __init__
self.gnss.connect('/var/run/gnss_share.sock')
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
What does this mean? I haven’t changed to tool, something must have changed in my L5… Is there now some service missing for GNSS?
Maybe, I did not test, you have to use /var/run/gnss-share.sock (so, not an underscore, but a minus sign).
Also called “a dash” or “a hyphen” in American English. (In case anyone wants to know.)
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To get a better understanding if, or if not, my GNSS chip has a FIX and when, I came up with the small shell script below. You run it for a while (~30 minutes) and grep the log for the FIX, i.e.
sudo ./readGNSS.sh > gnss.log
grep GLL gnss.log | grep ,A, | more
and you see when the chip got the FIX, if any. See the comments in the script why grepping for ,A,:
#!/bin/sh
#
# run as: sudo ./readGNSS.sh
#
# reads the device /dev/gnss0 and grep for GSV, GGA and GLL lines which
# contain, together with the time in [...] brackets (real location data
# is overwritten with nnnn):
#
# [07:52:04]: $GLGSV,3,2,09,65,35,309,,88,23,291,,75,18,182,,81,13,343,*66
# ^^ ^^
# [07:52:04]: $GPGLL,nnnn.06996,N,nnnnn.48512,E,065204.000,V,N*44
# ^^
# [07:52:05]: $GPGGA,065205.000,nnnn.06996,N,nnnnn.48512,E,0,00,99.0,610.39,M,0.0,M,,*64
#
# explanation for the ^^ market values:
# ^^
# in $GLGSV line the ^^ market values should contain a 2-digit signal/noise ratio
# between 00...99 which must be more than 20 for to be taken by the GNSS chip as
# satellite for an FIX
#
# in $GPGGA lines the digit after the letter 'E' (note 'E' for east or 'W' for west)
# means 0 = FIX not available or invalid, 1 = GPS, SPS Mode, FIX valid
#
# in $GPGLL lines the letter 'V' means invalid and 'A' valid location data
#
# see also: https://www.st.com/resource/en/user_manual/um2229-teseoliv3-gnss-module--software-manual-stmicroelectronics.pdf chapter 11.4.1, ...
while read line; do
echo -n "[$(date '+%T')]: ";
echo $line ;
done < /dev/gnss0 |
egrep -a 'GSV|GGA|GLL'
HIH
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I run the script readGNSS.sh for nearly an hour, from 09:47 to 10:41, and the chip got a FIX (not only once) and sometimes it lost it again, see the transitions below from “E,0” (0 = FIX not available or invalid) to “E,1” (1 = GPS, SPS Mode, FIX valid). Why is this so unstable? Well, today it’s cloudy and rainy.
$ grep GGA log | grep ,E,0 | wc -l
1727
$ grep GGA log | grep ,E,1 | wc -l
1522
$ grep GGA log | wc -l
3249
i.e. more than half of the $GPGGA lines do not have a valid fix. Here are some of such transitions form 0 to 1 or back to 0:
grep GGA log
[09:47:36]: $GPGGA,145532.200,nnnn.15848,N,nnnnn.36669,E,0,00,99.0,599.04,M,0.0,M,,*6D
[09:47:36]: $GPGGA,145533.000,nnnn.15848,N,nnnnn.36669,E,0,00,99.0,599.04,M,0.0,M,,*6E
[09:47:37]: $GPGGA,145534.000,nnnn.15848,N,nnnnn.36669,E,0,00,99.0,599.04,M,0.0,M,,*69
[09:47:38]: $GPGGA,145535.000,nnnn.15848,N,nnnnn.36669,E,0,00,99.0,599.04,M,0.0,M,,*68
...
[10:00:19]: $GPGGA,090019.000,nnnn.15199,N,nnnnn.33670,E,1,04,7.0,571.23,M,47.5,M,,*65
[10:00:20]: $GPGGA,090020.000,nnnn.15163,N,nnnnn.33655,E,1,04,7.0,571.51,M,47.5,M,,*68
[10:00:21]: $GPGGA,090021.000,nnnn.15166,N,nnnnn.33599,E,1,04,7.0,571.04,M,47.5,M,,*6F
...
[10:04:08]: $GPGGA,090408.000,nnnn.15247,N,nnnnn.30094,E,0,02,99.0,559.72,M,47.5,M,,*50
[10:04:09]: $GPGGA,090409.000,nnnn.15247,N,nnnnn.30094,E,0,02,99.0,559.72,M,47.5,M,,*51
[10:04:10]: $GPGGA,090410.000,nnnn.15247,N,nnnnn.30094,E,0,02,99.0,559.72,M,47.5,M,,*59
[10:04:11]: $GPGGA,090411.000,nnnn.15247,N,nnnnn.30094,E,0,03,99.0,559.72,M,47.5,M,,*59
[10:04:12]: $GPGGA,090412.000,nnnn.15193,N,nnnnn.28809,E,1,03,99.0,559.66,M,47.5,M,,*51
[10:04:13]: $GPGGA,090413.000,nnnn.15203,N,nnnnn.28699,E,1,03,99.0,559.66,M,47.5,M,,*5D
[10:04:14]: $GPGGA,090414.000,nnnn.15218,N,nnnnn.28645,E,1,04,5.5,559.60,M,47.5,M,,*60
[10:04:15]: $GPGGA,090415.000,nnnn.15228,N,nnnnn.28581,E,1,04,5.5,559.60,M,47.5,M,,*69
[10:04:16]: $GPGGA,090416.000,nnnn.15231,N,nnnnn.28519,E,1,04,5.5,559.60,M,47.5,M,,*63
[10:04:17]: $GPGGA,090417.000,nnnn.15228,N,nnnnn.28473,E,1,04,5.5,559.60,M,47.5,M,,*67
...
The two L5 I own, both get a FIX with the script readGNSS.sh and with the tool which was published in Librem 5 GPS/Location Tracking
Which real consumer, i.e. which maps app, could use the location now?
The Gnome maps need permanent data connection, at least for now. Or there is option to run a tile server on Librem 5. It should work, I would be happy to hear experience.
I have done experiment with use GPXsee for offline maps where I have quite lot Garmin format images compiled from OSM. My fix to prefer satellite position over GSM and IP address base guess has propagated into mainline. Zoom by pinch not. You can use zoom-by-pinch branch from my fork https://github.com/ppisa/GPXSee/tree/zoom-by-pinch . If there interest I prepare Pure OS ARM64 binary DEB package. The application is desktop one but for basic location and looking into map works pretty well on Librem 5 screen.
6 Likes
On my Ubuntu mobile I run a small Python webserver which offers the tiles as OSM does from the SD card where I have them for 5-6 towns/places I’m going to frequently. Can the URL in Google maps configured somehow?
I think it is possible but not tried myself. My test SIM for Librem 5 expired now so on hold…
The issue with GNSS sensitivity reported to the GitLab
2 Likes
at least waste disposal works like a charm with purism! after a long mailthread with them they were out of ideas what to do with my device (they even tried to activate the other gps module which is disabled intentionally out of security reasons) they suggested to send the device in (remember it had absolutly no reception). so i packed everything together (even the power supply which i liked alot because it really worked great) and sent it back. purism even payed the postage! so the electric waste was gone without much effort from my side and i never heard from it again (since 23 feb). that is successful garbage collection!
thank you, puri.sm!
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Any rant will not serve. You should contact support@
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