Just bought a new Raspberry Pi 3 with WIFI and Bluetooth? Using it in a project with serial? Happy? Well, you might not be so happy when you find out what I just found out. I had my Node-Red project that has been controlling the house for around 18 months…
Microwave for the Weekend
If you read the blog about the Maker Faire, I just came back with a bag of goodies and one of them is a microwave movement sensor. Not the two-board solution I discussed a while ago that never really worked – this is a small, neat single board called an…
Newcastle Maker Faire
What a great day. Newcastle has an annual Maker Faire and it is on this weekend – and what a faire it is. I headed off first thing to get some parking and was pleased to find that Newcastle College had some cheap parking – £4 for the day. I…
Help
Looking for help on a couple of items where Google has failed me.. 1. Friedland door/window contact twin-pack DC-55. I have them running – I have RFLINK talking to them – I understand the codes for door opening and door closing and another for the internal spring being released (anti-theft)…
A Fine Sunny Weekend
Evening all, it has been a busy weekend here at the Scargill’s man-cabin. No Friday, frequent blog-visitor JAY popped over for a visit and we spend some time discussing new stuff: First on the list was a new toy Jay just picked up on offer at Maplin – a “SmartSensor…
Enter the NanoPi M1+
Today must be my day for easy installs. The FriendlyArm NanoPi M1+ turned up this morning along with spare heatsink and antenna. So first of all what is it? – this is a small SBC, a development from the Nanopi M1 which I’ve reviewed here before. So is this worth…
FriendlyArm S430
This could be one of the shortest reviews I’ve ever done! The S430 is a low-cost 4.3” capacitive touch-display designed to work with FriendlyArm boards such as the NanoPi S2, M2, M3, the NanoPC T2 and T3 and finally the Smart4418. When I think of the HASSLE I’ve had getting…
Android Phone as Resource
This is the following up the previous Android Phone as Server article. Last update 22/03/2017. Servers: So having now tried various phones and tablets, it does look like the Linux Deploy App on a rooted Android phone makes for a good Debian installation in order to run software like Apache,…
Android Phone as Server
Why am I showing you a picture of a cracked-screen phone? Well because this particular phone is a bust Oukitel K10000, the phone with the world’s longest-lasting battery and an excellent workhorse. My friend Aidan gave me this (rather than chucking it away) some time ago and it has been…
Raspberry Pi Zero WiFi
I should have just entitled this “Raspberry Pi” as it keeps expanding (now covering the rest of the Pi boards – but keep reading).. as you will see, the title is a little restrictive given what we’ve done over the last few days. Friend Antonio over Italy and I (still…
Node-RED Global Flow and Context
There’s a mouthful. This short article is about the various kinds of variables used in Node-Red and more importantly how to initialise them and how to view them. So in Node-Red when you want to use variables – there are three basic types as well as local variables. So for…
Editors
Programming editors, like music, are a matter of personal taste and I don’t hope to convert anyone here today. I would however like to bring something to your attention which I discovered at the weekend. I’m a “Notepad++” man. I don’t particularly like the look of NotePad++ but it is…
AlexaPi and a Warning
It’s been a busy week already – I’ve been saving up a load of “Can we write articles for your blog?” emails and this morning I decided to take a look. The sample articles were ATTROCIOUS and now I know why so many articles are bad out there – they…
Node Red and HighCharts
First things first – HighCharts are not free for commercial use. However, for your own website, a school site or a non-profit organisation they are free to use. You are also OK to make modifications. So – that’s the “cover my back” bit out of the way – now, how…
The LCD Object
It has been a very busy week for us here in Spain – what with partying and what-not, so I’ve not had as much time as I would like to develop my JavaScript object skills, however, I’ve managed to get much further with a project I’ve been working on in…
Odds and Ends
Just a few odds and ends… we’ve arrived safely in Spain and I’m not getting quite as much blogging time as I’d like as there are repair jobs to do – but I managed a little item on Node-Red earlier – I’ve had people in here asking for simple-use examples…
NR Templates and the Inject Node
When testing Node-Red, the common INJECT node is invaluable. Indeed it is just about the only way to instantly inject information into another node. Here is a typical example. It doesn’t get any simpler than this. Here I have merely dropped an “Inject” node onto the Node-Red working surface along…
A Deep Learning Weekend
Well, this has been an interesting journey (a deep learning WEEK more like it) as I’ve been working on making my own widgets for Node-Red. I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve picked up. Experienced JavaScript object users please look away now. Those not interested in JavaScript look…
Gauges and NR Dashboard
If you regularly read the comments sections you’ll see I’ve been heavily involved in answering questions on the subject of Javascript gauges. Read on. The Gauge: Now – regular visitors will know I’ve been doing a lot of work on Node-Red-Dashboard-compatible widgets recently as I really do think this is…
What, ANOTHER Gauge?
Now, before you say anything – this gauge is different to the rest.. It is all mine and it EVOLVING (last update Feb 03) if you’ve seen this blog entry before today… Gauges: I’ve spent a lot of time ploughing through code, some of it years old (SteelSeries) and though many…