Experiences, questions and documentation improvement ideas for beginners

[mikkjant]

Beginner experiences so far. Blindly go where someone has gone before.

1. Opened the box and started to assembly according instructions https://watchy.sqfmi.com/docs/getting-started.

• I finished the assembly and checked that watch face was on. I did not find any documentation what button is what so I just pressed them all. Managed to find menu and tried battery information and it stuck there. No response from any button. Whatchy is now stuck. Ok - I guess I need to re-flash it.

2. https://watchy.sqfmi.com/docs/getting-started#arduino-setup

• Then I started with arduino-setup. Could not get it to work with Mac but with linux it was ok.
• stumbled on
  • https://playground.arduino.cc/Linux/All/#Permission
  • "no-serial module" No "Serial" Module espressif/arduino-esp32#13 solved with pip install pyserial

3. https://playground.arduino.cc/Linux/All/#Permission

• make sure USB cable can handle data.
• Compile & Upload with these board settings - were missing from above instruction which I found from here: https://github.com/sqfmi/Watchy#setup

4. Now I could upload 7_SEG watch face again - and get it working

Watchy code
Watch face examples were there in Ide but it took some time for Arduino beginner to find where Watchy code is.
$ ~/Documents/Arduino/libraries/Watchy
For example: config.h - change Weather location here

Default Watch face - instruction

• Button details - which button does what. LeftUp - back, LeftDown - menu/action, RightUp - Up, RightDown -Down
• Manu item functions
  • Battery Check
    • will stuck if used
  • Vibrate motor
  • Show Accellerometer
  • Set Time
    • works
  • Setup Wifi
    • works if finished other vice stuck
    • connect to your Watchy Wifi AP and follow instructions
  • Update firmware - no idea how to do this or what this does?
    • will stuck

Common problems and solutions

• Stuck to menu
  • personally I can not much use menu without it getting stuck
    Watch running but buttons not responsive #49
  • I have Aluminum Case - I have not wanted to open it again as don't want to crack the screen.
  • workaround - upload 7_SEG again
  • solution?
• Check out other issues if problems: https://github.com/sqfmi/Watchy/issues

Questions:

• Does Ide watch face upload update firmware?
• how to update firmware?
• BLE information?
• any good links to Watchy relevant Arduino beginner documentation?

Possibly this experience can be used to improve documentation and after learning something -> I guess Arduino beginner documentation PR's and some other relevant documentation PR's are ok to do? :)

[aravindet]

Just wanted to chime in that as a fellow beginner, I found @mikkjant's list above immensely helpful. I spent a great deal of time on:

• trying to use a USB cable that doesn't support data. Yes, I'm that dumb, but I have a feeling I am not the only one 😂
• pyserial not found
• https://playground.arduino.cc/Linux/All/#Permission

[SailingGreg]

@mikkjant I found that you can update the firmware via Bluetooth in Chrome

Go to https://watchy.sqfmi.com/watchfaces and select the watch face you want to download - this will open a popup and look to find the Watchy
Go menu/update firmware and select update which will allow you to pair - confirm on the laptop
The download will start but it takes a while as it around 2k/second and it around 1.7M
The device will reboot

[jazzgroove]

Just wanted to chime in that as a fellow beginner, I found @mikkjant's list above immensely helpful. I spent a great deal of time on:

• trying to use a USB cable that doesn't support data. Yes, I'm that dumb, but I have a feeling I am not the only one joy
• pyserial not found
• https://playground.arduino.cc/Linux/All/#Permission

This was very helpful. After determining that the USB tty was in a certain group, adding my user solved the connection problems. One pro-tip on Linux: after adding yourself to a new group just sudo to your own user to refresh the group.

[seclorum]

One thing that I found a bit dumb was that the protective sleeve that covers the e-ink display gets splotchy and doesn't quite attach itself to the display with the glue evenly. I have had to really squish the cover onto the display and even then the blotches don't disappear - tried smoothing them out gently with a flat edge. One bit of advice might be to ensure you don't get fingerprints on that protective cover while you're applying it ..

[theposhbloke]

Had the same problem with screen protector as @seclorum. Also watch keeps terrible time: it has lost 4 minutes in two days use. I know the watch is designed to be hackable, but if it can't do the basic function of keeping reasonable time then it is pretty useless. I don't feel enthusiastic about exploring it further because of this.