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Introducing the Photon

spark.io

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Re: Introducing the Photon

#91

Post by mcescalante »

bduerst wrote: post #66
zsupalla wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what it does, just tied into their ecosystem instead of being standalone/DIYish like an Arduino. You see people above comparing ElectricImp because it's very similar - simple way to get REST or simple net connectivity for a thing.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#92

Post by mcescalante »

bbcbasic wrote: post #81

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.

I think that the market they're aiming to capture is the people who want to get stuff "internet enabled", but don't have the technical expertise to do so with the existing more DIY-intensive options like RPi or Arduino, so them leaning more towards a market-y design-y webpage sort of makes sense

Re: Introducing the Photon

#93

Post by mcescalante »

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 believe that to do this without using any of the existing firmware you would just want to grab a JTAG programmer and flash your own version of their firmware, or a custom blend of something. Flashing it is easy and they've got plenty of instructions on the web.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#94

Post by bduerst »

mcescalante wrote: post #91
bduerst wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what it does, just tied into their ecosystem instead of being standalone/DIYish like an Arduino. You see people above comparing ElectricImp because it's very similar - simple way to get REST or simple net connectivity for a thing.

Is the device capable of pushing information out too? Or do I need to ping it at regular intervals to get an update or status change in something?

It just seems like it would be great for push tasks, but what about when I want it to send notification or device info.

(I've put together R Pis for exactly this type of thing, and having an entire OS for it is a little overkill)

Re: Introducing the Photon

#95

Post by middleca »

mcescalante wrote: post #93
mark-r wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 believe that to do this without using any of the existing firmware you would just want to grab a JTAG programmer and flash your own version of their firmware, or a custom blend of something. Flashing it is easy and they've got plenty of instructions on the web.

You can actually do this with a usb cable, or flash your own firmware over the air, you'd only need a jtag programmer if you wanted to replace the open-source bootloader :)

Re: Introducing the Photon

#96

Post by bbcbasic »

mcescalante wrote: post #92
bbcbasic wrote: post #81

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.

I think that the market they're aiming to capture is the people who want to get stuff "internet enabled", but don't have the technical expertise to do so with the existing more DIY-intensive options like RPi or Arduino, so them leaning more towards a market-y design-y webpage sort of makes sense

There is something missing then. Does this $19 device do anything useful on it's own? Or do you have to buy one of the up sells e.g. the sprinkler system for $199 to get it do do anything useful?

Re: Introducing the Photon

#97

Post by middleca »

bduerst wrote: post #94
mcescalante wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's pretty much exactly what it does, just tied into their ecosystem instead of being standalone/DIYish like an Arduino. You see people above comparing ElectricImp because it's very similar - simple way to get REST or simple net connectivity for a thing.

Is the device capable of pushing information out too? Or do I need to ping it at regular intervals to get an update or status change in something? It just seems like it would be great for push tasks, but what about when I want it to send notification or device info. (I've put together R Pis for exactly this type of thing, and having an entire OS for it is a little overkill)

Very easy to publish an event stream from your code, and to pipe those wherever :) http://docs.spark.io/firmware/#spark-publish

Re: Introducing the Photon

#98

Post by ZenoArrow »

makomk wrote: post #89
LukeB_UK wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's where the community support comes in handy... http://www.esp8266.com/ ...note that there's even a subforum for compiler setup.

I thought this was interesting too; using an ESP8266 to wirelessly program an Arduino... http://hackaday.com/2014/11/13/programming-an-arduino-over-w...

Re: Introducing the Photon

#99

Post by canadaj »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #73
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.

Yes, I am much more comfortable with software rather than hardware, so the Pi seemed like a good idea at the time. Plus I've re-purposed it a handful of times already.

Re: Introducing the Photon

#100

Post by bobdvb »

makomk wrote: post #89
LukeB_UK wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Given that it is less than $5 compared to $20 there is a world of difference in price.
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