Quick relook at Thinvent Micro 5 Linux mini PC

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Readers may want to see: List of my posts related to Thinvent Micro 5, a low-cost Linux mini PC based on Tanix TX 3 Android TV box,  https://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2022/08/list-of-my-posts-related-to-thinvent.html , 8th Aug. 2022

Summary

Micro5 worked as expected in recent tests. It can be used as a safe but slow Linux based Internet browsing device run on voltage stabilizer, with its core OS functionality (root filesystem) not being impacted by sudden power loss, unless default mounting of root filesystem is changed from read-only to read-write. Typing in data on local files is fast though local data may be lost/corrupted on sudden powercut.

For software upgrades, root filesystem will have to be mounted as read-write and so UPS will be necessary then to ensure normal shutdown if mains power is cut. But UPS will not be needed for using Micro5 with currently installed versions of its software packages.

Detailed Notes

22 Jun. 2024

After many months, I removed the Thinvent Micro 5 from its package, and connected it to mouse, keyboard, display and speaker of my regular desktop. I decided to do this trial as my UPS battery backup had become very low and I wanted to see whether I could use the Micro5 as an alternative if the UPS backup time becomes even lower or the UPS stops working due to which I cannot use my regular desktop PC. Note that I do have a mini Laptop which I will typically use in such scenarios but I wanted to explore using Micro 5 again and see whether it still works. [Now the UPS is working properly with replacement batteries.]

The blog posts I had put up on Micro5 made it easy for me to refresh my memory. Then connecting it was very straightforward and it started up without a hitch! That was a pleasant surprise.

After startup, I was prompted for a keyring or something like that password. Initially, I canceled out of that and was able to then use other programs on Micro5. The WiFi connection to my mobile phone was detected but the connection was not working. Little investigation led to spotting that the password was wrong (old one). I changed the password, disconnected and reconnected after which WiFi connection worked. It would have been nice if I had got a failed connection due to wrong password error message but that's not a big deal.

As noted in my previous posts, pages of standard apps loaded very slowly in browser. But they eventually did load and work as expected. Was able to log in to WhatsApp on web, and gmail.

Using this LibreOffice Writer is fast. No issue at all.

In subsequent rounds of login, I specified the correct default keyring password. That led to Gmail auto login based on previous session, as expected.

I tried power off without shutdown followed by power on. Micro5 handled it without any issue! The LibreOffice Writer program when invoked after such an experiment prompted about recovery of a scrap.txt file (which I think I had not saved) but that was expected and minor. The main thing was that regular Linux OS boot and startup went through without any recovery stuff!

What this means is that I may be able to use Micro 5 with default read-only root filesystem without a UPS! If I save data on the web then user data loss will be minimal or not be an issue. I can type initial text in LibreOffice Writer and then copy-paste onto webpage as typing in webpage may be slow.

Note that one can save the changes to local (non root) filesystem on Micro 5 too. Perhaps sudden poweroff and then poweron will result only in loss of data since last save. But I am not sure whether sometimes the entire file will get corrupted (say if power is lost while the program is writing the file on disk, which is flash memory I believe).

For this file itself, I am trying out save frequently on local disk and copying contents to gmail draft on and off.

One issue is that copy-paste from LibreOffice Writer (LW) to gmail is not getting the formatting like it is in LW.
…
Typing in gmail had reasonable speed (of program feedback on what one has typed). That solves the text formatting issue and the speed is reasonable. I am not having to usually wait for the display of the keyed in characters but it does not seem to be as fast as LW local program.
Google Docs gave some Chrome version not supported message. 
...

My bloggerfeedtobook.netlify.app and verysimplegita.vercel.app apps worked well on Micro 5. No certificate issue and speed is OK.

Bottom line seems to be that Micro 5 can be used as an Internet browsing device which will not be impacted by sudden power loss.
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23rd June 2024.
After trial of H96 Max, I want to add that youtube videos load very slowly on Micro 5 and IIRC also play somewhat slowly. Whereas on H96 Max, the loading and playing speed is decent.

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25 & 26 June 2024

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