Evolve III Maestro - $60 Laptop with Quectel EC25-AF

[Trip]

Yesterday, I saw a post on Facebook from an old friend about the Evolve III Maestro, a $60 laptop (at Micro Center) that apparently has an LTE modem in it.  Specifically, the Quectel EC25-AF*.  The nearest Micro Center was sold out of new ones, but offered open box at $48.  So for $51 after tax, I walked out this morning with one.  An absolute steal.

I backed up the Windows product key and then put Kubuntu 22.04 on it.  I spent a lot of time today trying to get the build tools installed so I could get the wifi module installed and running, and once I did that, I pretty quickly got to sending it modem commands, which I've never done before.  I don't have a SIM in it yet, but it does seem to function as it should.  (I figured out the command to get Timing Advance values out of it, but without a SIM, I doubt it would have such values.)

Now I'm trying to puzzle out how to write some kind of script or small program to use it for logging purposes.  I think I've worked out how to send commands to it from bash using socat, but I need to pick specific commands to run.  I'd actually like to replace some of my phones with this if I can get it to record cells, with GPS, and cycle through a set of bands repeatedly. 

My current phone collection consists of 9 phones other than my main S21FE, and they require babysitting while I'm logging.  It'd be nice to pare that down to a more reasonable number and let the computer do the work, hopefully in the back seat with less babysitting.

- Trip

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* Per the spec sheet, it supports B2/4/5/12/13/14/66/71.  That'd cover all of Verizon and US Cellular LTE, all but B29/30 on AT&T, and all but B41 and Sprint Keep on B26 for T-Mobile. 

[RAvirani]

45 minutes ago, Trip said:

Yesterday, I saw a post on Facebook from an old friend about the Evolve III Maestro, a $60 laptop (at Micro Center) that apparently has an LTE modem in it.  Specifically, the Quectel EC25-AF*.  The nearest Micro Center was sold out of new ones, but offered open box at $48.  So for $51 after tax, I walked out this morning with one.  An absolute steal.

I backed up the Windows product key and then put Kubuntu 22.04 on it.  I spent a lot of time today trying to get the build tools installed so I could get the wifi module installed and running, and once I did that, I pretty quickly got to sending it modem commands, which I've never done before.  I don't have a SIM in it yet, but it does seem to function as it should.  (I figured out the command to get Timing Advance values out of it, but without a SIM, I doubt it would have such values.)

Now I'm trying to puzzle out how to write some kind of script or small program to use it for logging purposes.  I think I've worked out how to send commands to it from bash using socat, but I need to pick specific commands to run.  I'd actually like to replace some of my phones with this if I can get it to record cells, with GPS, and cycle through a set of bands repeatedly. 

My current phone collection consists of 9 phones other than my main S21FE, and they require babysitting while I'm logging.  It'd be nice to pare that down to a more reasonable number and let the computer do the work, hopefully in the back seat with less babysitting.

- Trip

=====

* Per the spec sheet, it supports B2/4/5/12/13/14/66/71.  That'd cover all of Verizon and US Cellular LTE, all but B29/30 on AT&T, and all but B41 and Sprint Keep on B26 for T-Mobile. 

Sounds like an awesome project—keep us posted on how it’s going!

Also—if you’re able to figure out logging, I can work with you to get the data uploaded to SignalCheck. 

[belusnecropolis]

If you need any assistance, firmware or drivers with the radio; I am involved in Quectel's US based sales and field application engineer programs. I am working on the x62 reference RM520/N right now. They are a really fun product to work with.

 

[Trip]

Neat!  Thanks.  Most of my issues at the moment are from inexperience.  I've never used AT commands and I'm bad at Python.  I'm not really sure what the best way is to send AT commands to the modem; socat seems to work, and there are Python libraries that should do it, but I don't really know what I'm doing. 

- Trip