IOT

Internet of Things, Internet of Stuff

I wanted to take some time to touch on my every changing collection of Internet of Things style devices.  Honestly, it’s kind of iffy what constitutes an “IOT” device, but for the most part I’m sticking with “cheap” and “non traditional computing devices”.

The chief player among these are of course…

The Raspberry Pi

I’m up to 5 Raspberry Pis, a B+, two B2s, one B3, and one Pi Zero.  I have already discuss these quite a bit so they don’t need a ton of additional discussion.  The B+ still operates my DNS/DHCP server, one B2 still runs my IRC stuff, one B2 still runs a Minecraft server.  I actually have not yet come up with a good use for the B3 and Zero yet.  I’ve started messing with Windows 10 IOT on the B3 a bit and there is a Retro Gaming GameBoy project using the Pi Zero floating around on Reddit I may have a go at.

Arduino

If Raspberry Pi is the king of IOT, then Arduino is definitely the Queen. I’ve kind of dropped out of doing Arduino projects a bit and dismantled most of the ones I had built.  Other than adding a WiFi enabled board to my set (by mistake, I thought I was ordering a Shield not a board), not much has changed on my Arduino library.

i did try to build a little digital hourglass project I found online but it’s not going super great.  Stay Tuned for More

Next Thing’s CHIP

CHIP is still one of the most annoying and impossible to search for terms online.  I’m up to three CHIPs now, I’ve received my second Kickstarter CHIP and my VGA DIP.  I’ve still been having some bad luck getting my CHIPs to do much of anything.  I tried to build an Amazon Alexa with no luck in the end after a ton of troubleshooting.  I’ve been trying to get Synergy combined and running on one to let it work with my multi monitor set up.

Now that the Kickstarter campaign is more or less finished and the CHIP is reaching a wider audience I’m hoping it starts to get more support online.

Remix Mini

Another kickstarter product, the Remix Mini is a small computer that runs Android as a desktop.  It works pretty well, I mostly used it last year while traveling for work in the Hotel Room.  I have not touched it since, for one simple, stupid reason.  The HDMI output doesn’t support any of my HDMI to DVI cables.  I can’t plug it into a regular monitor, so I just have… not used it.  I could plug it into a TV but it’s effectively a simple desktop machine and doesn’t work as well for a “lean back” experience.  Maybe if I had a wireless KB and Mouse it would work better.

It’s a shame to because I was really looking forward to this one and it runs a lot of my apps surprisingly well.

ChromeCast

I picked up a Chromecast last year on Black Friday. I used it a bit but in the end, it’s ended up in a drawer.  It’s just too much of a hassle and it caused too many problems.  First off, the hassle.  My crappy old Nexus 7 is partially to blame here but in general the lack of any built in interface is just a flat out pain.  Having to dig out my tablet to use it is a pain.

Worse yet, it was causing problems with the Wireless in the house.  I disabled guest mode which eliminated the problem (eliminating the interference) but it’s still kind of lame that it was an issue to start with.

Kindle Fire Stick

A more recent addition to the network, I added a Kindle Fire Stick.  This is effectively the same as the Chromecast, without the hassle and bull shit of needing a separate device to use it.  It’s not completely without it’s issues but it works pretty well.  The main problem I’ve had is that it loses signal, a lot.  It doesn’t work as all directly hooked to my HDMI switch and at this point it’s cabled out and laying out on the floor behind everything to get it away from any interference.

It runs Amazon videos, which I don’t really use, it runs Netflix, which is used a lot.  It also works well with the fact that I buy my MP3s primarily through Amazon.  Another nice bonus, I use Amazon Cloud to backup all of my Photos, so they are all available through the Fire Stick now to view on the TV.

SteamBox

 Another newer addition is the SteamBox.  Specifically, the cheap streaming box.  It works pretty nicely.  I haven’t had a chance to really put it through the loops yet but my first tests worked well.  I’ll probably do a more in depth write up at some point on it.

Fixing my CHIP

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chiplogoI mentioned getting my CHIPs from NextThing aq bit ago, but I have not really done much with them. I noticed a bit of an issue keeping them powered when I set them up and assumed I had been using a power supply that wasn’t ideal. I believe it was the one off of the Chromecast on the TV, just because it was handy. It turns out, this is not the case, there is actually an issue with the software of the CHIPs that have shipped so far. I don’t beleive it affects all of them but it’s probably a good idea to update anyway.

It’s a pretty simple process, you can review the boot repair process here. The main issue you may have is that it requires you be running Ubuntu (or really just Linux). You can get a live image and load it using a USB drive though, and being familiar with Linux is useful for working with the CHIP itself since, it runs Linux.

I’m already running Ubuntu on my Laptop, so no issues for me there, my issue was actually getting something to short the pins for FEL mode. I didn’t have any breadboard wires handy at the time. I tried a paperclip as suggested but it was too large to stick in the pin holes. Instead I found a piece of wire to strip off. The point is, almost any melat strip would work to conduct between the pins.

You may also want to try flashing the whole image. Details on this process can be found on the NextThing’s website. It’s the same basic process of fixing the boot but you need to do more work yourself instead of just running a pre made fix app.

I’ve been trying to find some good plans and ideas for my CHIPs. There are some good ideas listed here.

I wanted to try turn a USB camera into a Streaming camera, but I can’t locate any of the USB cameras I used to have.

This Web and Bluetooth Sniffing device seemed neat, though once I started looking at it it looks more like it just tracks Wireless APs in the area, I’m more interested in building a network monitor.

This homemade Amazon Echo clone is pretty neat, and seems like an interesting project to work on that involves some hardware set up as well as software.

Microsoft’s Windows Remote Arduino Experience Test

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I found a couple of Arduino apps in the Windows 10 App store recently, both put out by Microsoft.  There is an app that allows your Windows Phone to act as a virtual shield for an Arduino board which I ave not tried yet, but I set up and ran a quick test of the second app which lets you remotely trigger and monitor the pin inputs and outputs.

I set up a simple circuit with some LEDs on pins 2, 3, and 4, and toggle them from my desktop using the app.  There isn’t any special code needed for this, the Sketch used is the StandardFirmata sketch listed in the Arduino app under the example sketches.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot more that can be done with this app.  As far as I can tell, it’s not really set up for any sort of customizing such as naming the triggers or causing any sort of action to be taken when a trigger is activated on the Arduino (such as pressing a button to open a URL).

There is some additional information available from Microsoft about setting up Visual Studio to build Arduino projects but I have not tested it yet, I actually have run into an error in Visual Studio when trying to load the projects.