After yesterday’s frustration I again wanted to connect my designated Escape Pod Vector to a 1.0.x version of the local server (to use it with Cyb3rvector and DDL broke that in EP 1.8.x, hence back to 1.0.x). Yesterday that failed because
- the robot was on a firmware for Escape Pod 1.8.x (and not downward compatible)
- I was not able to downgrade the OTA from Escape Pod (“downgrade not possible”)
- when I booted into recovery I was not able to flash the 1.7 EP firmware, Escape Pod installed 1.8.2 PROD instead
Today I denied that Vector’s IP address internet access in the router (to prevent installation of 1.8.2 PROD), did another recover reboot and was again greeted with Anki firmware 0.9.0. After that I was actually able to pair Vector with Escape Pod and to flash the 1.7.x EP firmware. And even better: I was able to complete the onboarding process, Wifi, locale settings and all.
You cannot imagine my happiness. But that did not last long …
I then tried to connect the robot to Cyb3rvector. That worked at first but suddenly it lost connection to Vector. From what I could see going on in the network it looked like the robot had lost Wifi Connection. So I just need to reconnect him, I thought. But to do that you have to first reconnect him to Escape Pod. Pairing via Bluetooth was easy, but then I again got the dreaded
“authorization failed”
error. I was not able to get around that. Not by reloading the P web interface, not by rebooting Escape Pod and certainly not by clearing user data on the robot, as is the usual advise by DDL if this happens.
My gods …
This is the Escape Pod version that was the production version for one whole year, until recently, and this nonworking heap of manure uh … stuff is actually what DDL sold to customers. Im am quite sure that the majority of normal users will be completely overwhelmed and frustrated by this. I really have no idea how Escape Pod was sold as a finished product in this sorry state that really is a beta version at best.
Hello frustration, my old friend, here again so soon?
Update: I left the office for an hour and the Escape Pod browser window with the “authorize”-button was still open. I clicked it again and he was connected, just like that. It looks to me as if “authorization failed” may be a misleading error and maybe the problem is something else.
Normal user here, frustrated.
I was going to spend my weekend trying to learn the new EP and all the cyb3rvector stuff. Lucky for me, you are the trailblazer. Thank you.
Cyb3ervector only works with the old Escape Pod, NOT with Escape Pod 1.8.2
I know this is probably not terribly rewarding for you, but thank you for the warning- I’ll keep my escape pod at 1.7 for now!
Actually feedback like this is rewarding.
I will hold off on setting up my pod until all the dust settles, maybe cyb3ervector will be upgraded to new pod image?
Cyb3rDog wrote on Discord and on Github about that. He said since DDL did not release any changelogs worth the name (as usual) and did not document what they changed in Escape Pod, adapting Cyb3rVector and his Extension Proxy may take some time.
Any professional company would document their changes to an extension engine they themselves offered. I was told multiple times by people they think DDL did this deliberately to break third party apps, but I follow Occam’s Razor and think incompetence is far more likely.