The site is too marketing-y. How about some technical specs? What battery do I need to run it? What voltage? Can I switch mains voltage? Etc.
Introducing the Photon
81–90 of 100 posts
Re: Introducing the Photon
#82Correct 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
Nice. Why do you say "nearly", what is the missing piece then?
Re: Introducing the Photon
#83Spark seems very cool, but I think what worries me as a product builder is any gaurentees that the cloud service will be around in a couple years. Certainly not suggesting that it won't be, just that if I build a product with this, I will want my own version of the cloud as an open source project that I can license or something.
It seems to me that these sorts of devices are using WiFi for jobs that are better suited to Bluetooth LE. Most wireless applications I'd have in mind wouldn't need a server at all, since they'd be intended for use within the same room or the same house. But WiFi requires me to drag in an entire HTTP server infrastructure whether I want one or not, because my PC can only talk to one access point at a time. It also requires a lot of heavyweight configuration work just to add the device to my secured WiFi network.
Re: Introducing the Photon
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
I'm looking for a schematic for what's inside the SD-form factor card, which these are not.
Re: Introducing the Photon
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
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/
Huh? I never said that they didn't sell breakout boards. My point is that either module is basically useless without a breakout board, which raises the cost, especially compared to the $20 Photon we were originally discussing.
Re: Introducing the Photon
#86$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).
Awesome, thank you for this!
Re: Introducing the Photon
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nearly everything is open source; firmware, hardware design files, and an api compatible server: https://github.com/spark
Nice. Why do you say "nearly", what is the missing piece then?
Some API calls, and load balancer horizontal scaling multi user magic.
Re: Introducing the Photon
#88As a wifi -> GPIO board, this seems to be similar to the Electric Imp, but better since it doesn't use their misguided SD card form-factor or their blink-up nonsense. They also have a web-based ide, as well as a downloadable ide. I've not tried either of those out, but the downloadable IDE (though no Linux support) means I can use the same version control tools (ie git) to manage it, which is a huge win over Electric…
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…
"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 user experience."
The Core default firmware gives you an instant cloud API to access GPIO pins (r/w). You write code if you need more complex stuff (local control logic, exposing a function as a REST service, publish or subscribe of events...) And you usually flash it remotely. At work [1] we use it to build prototypes for anything that needs network connectivity (we also use Yuns, but it's a completly different paradigm as I see it). I hope the Photon is still open source as the core (hw and firmware)
Re: Introducing the Photon
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
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).
Awesome, thank you for this!
Bear in mind that the ESP8266 is nowhere near as polished or easy to get going with as the Spark Core. The toolchain to build firmware on your own PC and load it on is much more experimental and buggy for ESP8266, and because it doesn't have an equivalent of their cloud IDE, that's the only way you can get your code running on it.
Re: Introducing the Photon
#90Seems dangerously close to SparkFun ( https://sparkfun.com ) trademark and space. I had to look hard to figure out it wasn't a sparkfun product.
Very different companies and both have been doing their thing for a bit. A small subset of people may confuse them, but it should be very clear right away from seeing their sites that one is what I'll call a "product based company" while the other is an online store.