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Introducing the Photon

spark.io

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Re: Introducing the Photon

#71

Post by niutech »

bravo22 wrote: post #56
niutech wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can program Spark using JavaScript too: https://github.com/spark/sparkjs

Those two don't seem to be the same thing. Tessel runs javascript on the micro so you can write your programs in js instead of C and compile it. What you've linked to is a js library for connecting to Spark cloud. Overall I think the Spark is much better bang for your buck.

You're right, although you can write your sketches using just JS: http://blog.spark.io/2014/09/29/blink-an-led-with-javascript...

Re: Introducing the Photon

#72

Post by Florin_Andrei »

chillacy wrote: post #12

Preordered. I bought a spark core and now I'm a huge fan. I have other arduinos, some teensy 3.0s, and avr chips, but the nice thing about having internet in embedded projects is: 1. No more xbee 2. Replaces other hardware components, for instance no need for an RTC when you can just get the time from the internet Their app for connecting to the network never worked for me but it had a serial fallback so that was fin…

Just curious, since I want to try it at some point - what's wrong with Xbee in this context?

Re: Introducing the Photon

#73

Post by Florin_Andrei »

canadaj wrote: post #48

I just pre-ordered! This looks fantastic for what I'm trying to do; reading temperatures of barbecues and smokers via wifi. I already have a working prototype using a Raspberry Pi, but of course I needed to add a USB wifi dongle and a sturdy case, as well as a beefy power supply to keep it all going. This will drastically reduce my overhead! I can't wait!

Well, in theory you could use a small Arduino and some sort of wireless module - but yeah, Spark is more convenient.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#74

Post by Florin_Andrei »

mark-r wrote: post #59
zsupalla wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cloud back-end is open source so you can do that: http://www.github.com/spark/spark-server

How hard is it to reprogram the device to use your own server using that back end? How about if you wanted to do your own back end?

I'm assuming it's just one function call?

Re: Introducing the Photon

#75

Post by Florin_Andrei »

niutech wrote: post #28
cmsmith wrote: post #21

Based on these specs: https://store.spark.io/ this appears to be a complete upgrade * from the Spark Core, correct? So waiting 5 months will get you a better product at half the price? * it appears to be missing the option for external flash storage, but that's not a big deal as they've upgraded the built in storage.

Exactly! You will get an open source platform with 120MHz STM32 CPU, 128 KB RAM, 1MB Flash, BCM433 802.11b/g/n with SoftAP for half the price. And you can easily attach an external SD card: https://github.com/technobly/SparkCore-SD or https://enabler.tilt.com/usd-fram-shield

That's pretty awesome.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#76

Post by Florin_Andrei »

jeiden wrote: post #4

So proud to be part of the team!

Good job, y'all. Small, powerful, well connected, convenient to use. I think there's a chance you'll hit it out the ballpark. What you need now is shields, lots of shields, and libraries, lots of libraries. For Arduino there's a library for any sensor under the sun - you'll have to try and cover at least the most popular things out there.

You know what's missing from the site? As a long-time Arduino user, I've learned the value of knowing in advance, very clearly, the number of digital and analog inputs and outputs on any device I plan to use.

E.g., right now I'm wrestling an Arduino Mini, trying to fit all the digital pins I need for the OLED display, the tachometer sensors, the temperature and humidity sensor, and the various LEDs and control buses. It's probably gonna work, but it's a close race.

I'm sure that information is available somewhere for your device, it just didn't jump at me when I looked at the site. Maybe you should make it a bit more prominent.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#77

Post by Florin_Andrei »

georgemcbay wrote: post #37
mahyarm wrote: post #35

So why would I choose this over a $20 Raspberry Pi?

Smaller, lighter, wifi. There are of course many reasons why you would choose a $20 Raspberry Pi over this as well (far more memory, more powerful CPU, runs a full user OS, etc). It all depends on what you need it to do.

Probably much less DC power needed, too. Way less.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#79

Post by smilekzs »

Preordered. I actually develop bare-metal on STM32Fx so this is a no-brainer. It might be tempting to see this as a device locked to the cloud, but really it isn't -- if you're put up with their firmware just plug in your favorite JTag debugger and flash your own.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#80

Post by cheapsteak »

Suggestion - put in some social sharing meta tags. It literally takes two minutes. Here's a quickie to make it semi presentable on facebook

``` " rel="nofollow">https://s3.amazonaws.com/spark-website/photon-hero.jpg"> ```

Also, $59.04 to ship to Canada? And why does it cost twice as much to ship to Canada than to France?

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