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Introducing the Photon

spark.io

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Re: Introducing the Photon

#61

Post by toddmatthews »

jwcooper wrote: post #57
toddmatthews wrote: post #53

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is similar to the Electric Imp in that you have to connect via their cloud service (you can not just make requests directly to any web endpoint). While this might be cheap, and great for prototyping, I dont want to build on top of something that locks me into your cloud service. They get you to buy a cheap piece (pricepoint) of hardware, but then you have to pay them to connect. I'd…

Nearly everything is open source; firmware, hardware design files, and an api compatible server: https://github.com/spark

I stand corrected

Re: Introducing the Photon

#62

Post by slayed0 »

mark-r wrote: post #60
fragmede wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IoT revolution is inherently price conscious. It's not that any of this stuff is new, it's that I can buy a device cheap enough to consider adding wifi to everything, including a temperature sensor on my toaster, to show me temperature graphs for the perfect toast. It could be done 10 years ago, but spending $200 to internet-enable my toaster is ridiculous, but for $25 ($20 + a temperature sensor), it's a fun and…

A temperature sensor in the fridge would be much more useful than one on the toaster. I may have to get me one of these.

I wonder how hard it is to pick up a wifi signal in a fridge though. I imagine the temperature shielding would be hard for the signal to penetrate. Report back!

Re: Introducing the Photon

#63

Post by methyl »

slayed0 wrote: post #62
mark-r wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A temperature sensor in the fridge would be much more useful than one on the toaster. I may have to get me one of these.

I wonder how hard it is to pick up a wifi signal in a fridge though. I imagine the temperature shielding would be hard for the signal to penetrate. Report back!

You can always have sensor inside the fridge and board outside :)

Re: Introducing the Photon

#64

Post by Ohtrahddis »

fragmede wrote: post #45
ChuckMcM wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I generally have a fairly positive opinion of the Imp. In particular the integration with Squirrel means that much more complex things can be done, more easily, and without touching the running hardware. The Spark (Core) on the other hand is much like an Arduino in that you have it in your presence to code its behavior, and then release it to the wild. Slightly different target apps, hugely different use…

Electric Imp is trying to patent (something around) using a light and a photo diode for communication. That's not a good sign, but enough about that, the Photon (assuming they actually ship) and its price point are much more interesting to me as a hobbyist. They also have schematics and gerber files for their hardware which is more than I can say for Electric Imp. > In particular the integration with Squirrel means t…

Just wanted to also add that Imp has gerber files for many of their reference designs and dev boards here:

https://electricimp.com/docs/hardware/resources/reference-de...

Re: Introducing the Photon

#65

Post by Ohtrahddis »

fragmede wrote: post #29
pmorici wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"misguided SD card form-factor" The SD card is not the only form factor the Imp is available in they also sell a surface mount module. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/IMP002-S-US-TR/1413...

That form factor is just as useless without a breakout board so I'm not sure what your point is. I mean, to be pedantic, they'll also sell you the chip by itself , sans FCC certification, which is even more* useless. * http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/LBWA1ZV1CD-TEMP/490...

Hmm don't think that's true either -

here are some breakout boards with the Module:

https://electricimp.com/docs/gettingstarted/devkits/

Re: Introducing the Photon

#66

Post by bduerst »

zsupalla wrote: post #13
bjustin wrote: post #5

I read the whole page and still am not sure what this is. Is it similar to an Arduino with on board WiFi?

Yep that's right! It's an Arduino-like microcontroller development board, but with built-in Wi-Fi and an open source cloud back-end

So does it basically a wifi interface for REST commands and custom functions? (for devices)

Re: Introducing the Photon

#67

Post by song »

Tried to preorder one for a project I have in mind, saw that shipping to France is around $30... With the size of the package, they definitely could be cheaper.

It's a bit annoying living in Europe and having to pay a tax on shipping whenever something interesting comes out.

EDIT: Just after typing this comment I tried again and now I have the option to ship it to France for $10. There seems to be a bug somewhere on their checkout form.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#68

Post by song »

danielsiders wrote: post #27

Seems dangerously close to SparkFun ( https://sparkfun.com ) trademark and space. I had to look hard to figure out it wasn't a sparkfun product.

Oh I kind of assumed it was made by the same guys actually... I remembered buying some stuff on sparkfun a long time ago and just remembered the spark part of the name.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#69

Post by ZenoArrow »

LukeB_UK wrote: post #40

$20 is a great price. I was going to get one until I found out that shipping would be another $10 on top. Edit: I'm in the UK.

You can buy a much cheaper WiFi module... http://hackaday.com/2014/10/25/an-sdk-for-the-esp8266-wifi-c...

The ESP8266 is roughly $5 (including shipping), and has an active community, and community driven SDK. It is available in the UK, and everywhere else that DealXtreme ship to (other sellers are available).

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