For this to make sense, you really should read the original websockets item first (which has just been updated)– as this is a follow up. So now, having made my first web sockets web page I started to wonder about the mechanics of getting information out of the page –…
A Node-Red Websockets Web Page
Updated 26/04/2015 I’ve been after this ever since I discovered Node-Red.. and right up until this yesterday I was tearing my hair out – having settled for NETIO as my interface of choice and constantly being annoyed by the slow pace of progress with this interface. So what is this…
A guide to reviews
I’ve had a number of requests to do reviews on the blog recently… so if anyone is looking in with this in mind, please note I’m only happy to review items that are of interest to the readers here. A quick look around the blog should give you an idea…
The Saturday Catch
While working on my Raspberry Pi image (with everything I need stored in an image so it it all goes to hell I can recover everything) I realised something I was missing on the Pi was a package manager. A graphical APT-GET for those who are not too keen on…
The Raspberry Pi SD Wear Issue
Reading around the web it is easy to see that SD memory and lifespan are very poorly understood. There are conflicting explanations of lifespan, there are solutions which don’t work because someone didn’t actually test them before writing up … what a mess. So here’s the deal. SD memory (the…
ESP8266 Test Board
I mentioned that Espressif were kind enough to send me a test board to play with – and very nice too. Not had time yet as I’m struggling with learning how to make an installer for my Node-Red package – with some great help from the guys involved with this….…
Slimmer Raspberry Pi 2
In the process this week of producing a new new Raspberry Pi2 with just the stuff I needed on it I thought I’d have a go at removing unnecessary programs from the Pi – that is the ones that come with it – after all the Debian installation from the…
A Fresh Pi2 Start
The thing about rushing in with something new is that you tend to bring your learning mistakes with you. Firstly for new readers, why am I fascinated with the Raspberry Pi? Well I’ve been working on IOT for some time now and I’ve tried out many ideas most of which…
Presents from Espressif
Let me start by explaining that Espressif are makers of fine WIFI gadgets.. specifically they have spawned a whole new lease of life for IOT… by producing a marvellous little chip that contains a complete processor, memory and WIFI interface needing only a tiny FLASH memory chip and a couple…
Mosquitto and Web Sockets
This entry is about ThinkStudio (thingstud.io), Web Sockets and Mosquitto in my quest for ESP nirvana. So TODAY I was alerted to an early version of a new service which I think you might like… so check out http://www.thingstud.io/ Clarification: This is ALPHA software but already, provided they keep at…
The DTR Line and ESP
Hitting an issue with ECLIPSE on the PC and the TERMINAL program. So in our little board we’re using an ATTINY85 to control the programming process for the ESP12s… I have some issues.. If you’re using GPIO as an output to a relay… this whole process can cause the relay…
Node-Red Scheduler
I’m Peter Scargill and this is a scheduler for Node-Red (well, more of a timer really but someone surely has already used the term timer) for Node-Red which includes days and months, dawn and dusk with optional offsets and a time-out mode, You may notice this has improved since the…
Making ESP8266 Programming Easier
Updated 09 Apr 2015 – code fix: A little something here from my guest writer and friend Aidan who’s been working with me on the latest home control successes to follow after this blog! If you’ve successfully written and uploaded a piece of C code for the ESP8266 in any…
And now… SMING Framework
As if the LAST announcement about an Arduino development environment wasn’t good enough (if you read my blog I acknowledged that the Arduino IDE was not as good as Eclipse) – there’s an ECLIPSE Arduino environment called Sming Open Source Framework. They’ve not YEY gotten MQTT working apparently but there…
An ESP8266 for Arduino Game Changer?
(updated 2/4/2015) Here we go again – just as you thought it was safe to start coding, another game-changer comes along. This time not only do we have an Arduino IDE for the ESP8266 (which isn’t a stunningly good IDE but it’s awfully familiar to many developers) but also what…
Home Control The Next Step
As regular readers will know I’ve pretty much gotten to grips with the whole home control thing having after much research settled on a largely MQTT-based setup using the excellent new Raspberry Pi2 as a hub with Node-Red. Though it could just as easily have been any proper Linux or…
ESP826 + Pi + MQTT + Node-Red Heaven
If you’ve been following the blog you’ll note I’ve spent a lot of time getting to grips with the Raspberry Pi, Node-Red, the ESP chips using C and of course my earlier home control attempts with NETIO, the NRF24L01 boards and Arduino clones (all of which are working 24/7 –…
ESP01 versus ESP12
And for today’s intriguing question… I’ve been working on the ESP-12 for some time now – the program has never failed to work on power up… today I wanted to put the code back into an ESP-01 as I only wanted to use GPIO0… same code – same kit –…
ESP8266 Start up Crap
I’m pretty pleased with my ESP8266 developments so far. Ditching Lua was a good move as I’m no longer tied for resources… there is however one major annoyance that I’ve not seen a cure for… When you power up the board, in the ESPRESSIF rom there is some setup info…
ESP8266 Tidy PWM
If you check out an earlier post I managed to get PWM working nicely on the ESP-12 on the otherwise unused GPIO15. Well, it was a little messy – so I’ve tidied it up with the use of a struct. Here it is.. You’ll need to make minor mode to…