Mac/Linux mount support

leviathan3k

Is anyone else able to mount the thing as a device onto a Linux machine? Or a Mac? I just tried both, without success.

(it mounts fine as a device on windows)

datacyclist

leviathan3k It works fine for me on Gentoo Linux, it mounts as a vfat device (I have autofs running) like a usual USB stick.

But I had to go through five USB cables until I found one that worked. So maybe try that?

paul

Works fine on Linux for me

leviathan3k

Do you have to start it up in sleep or some other mode, or does it just work when you plug it in?

paul

It seemed to be acting up at first until I connected it through a hub I have. Not sure what's going on there but I don't think it's OS-related.

leviathan3k

Was the cable you used c-c or c-a?

paul

leviathan3k
This is a c-c cable

leviathan3k

Also, is there any dmesg or syslog output when you try to connect it? I just tried that and I'm getting nothing.

seabre

Not able to mount on MacOS 14.5. Using a C-C cable I know works. Mac is not plugged into the wall per the scary warning in the email I got from TekGear after purchase.

datacyclist

seabre What did it say in the email? That funny things will happen to the twiddler when your mac is plugged into the power outlet while you connect the twiddler?

seabre

datacyclist From the email:

Please make sure to unplug your Macbook from the wall charger when connecting the Twiddler via USB. There is a known issue with Macbooks sending more than 5 Volts through the USB interface when they are connected to wall power. Over voltage can make the Twiddler inoperable.

datacyclist

Ah, so the $200 device is missing a $3 electronic component.

Tony

datacyclist More like a $2,000+ device created by one of the worlds most valuable companies can't adhere to a standard to make plugging in 3rd party peripherals safe. Let's lay blame where it should be.

datacyclist

Okay, you got me here :-) At some point you just have to stop making the device bulletproof and expect others to adhere to standards.

Tony

datacyclist Agreed.

FWIW the MAX4987AE wouldn't work in the T4 application as it has a 6.15v overvoltage threshold (OVLO). The T4 would need an OVLO of max 5.5v.

Peck

I'm having trouble with this as well. I've tried usb c - usb c, as well as usb c - usb a, using a hub on my recent MacBook (unplugged), and also using the usb c - usb a on an older NUC I have running Debian (bookworm).

Any hints? The device definitely connects and can be used as a mouse / keyboard, but the "disk" never shows up. So for the moment Im unable to upgrade to the new firmware release.

Tony

Must use USB-C to USB-A Cable.

Twiddler should mount as Mass Storage Device.

Try a different USB port on the host as the device may need to enumerate again.

leviathan3k

I did some of my own playing around with this, and it seems to work better if I use a hub that is explicitly powered to connect it.

avematthew

Just tried connecting a Twiddler 4 for the first time to three different devices (one laptop directly and through its hub, and a desktop) with the same USB-C to USB-A cable without success. In all cases, the red charging light just barely even turned on (I had to shade the LEDs to be sure I wasn't imagining the light). I'm not sure of the exact specifications of the different USB ports I was trying, but I have had a similarly hard time connecting a MicroBit with the same devices using a USB-A to USB-mini, where only some cables are able to connect the MicroBit even though they work fine for other devices. The other cables could (barely) power the MicroBit, but didn't seem to trigger whatever is needed to get the volume to mount.

I'll try it out with a couple other USB-C to USB-A cables after buying some more (I only have one around the house).

There are a few more USB ports I haven't tried yet on the desktop, but I will wait until I get a new cable to try those since they are very difficult and annoying to access.

I figured I should share this context to help track down why they sometimes don't connect, and will report back when I have additional information.

avematthew

It seems that buying a new USB-A to USB-C cable was enough to get it to work without issue. Using exactly the same ports that didn't work with the other one. The other cable is able to charge other things just fine, but perhaps it has no data connection for some reason.