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Taking over a Dead IoT Company

blog.kchung.co

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Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#191

Post by drakenot »

ahaucnx wrote: post #147

Very interesting read. Based on our experience developing and manufactoring air quality monitors, making a customized PCB should be done as early as possible in the developing process. With easy to use editors (e.g. easyEDA) and cheap and fast PCB production/assembly (even for small quantities), there is no reason to use overized MCUs/mini computers like the Pi and expensive modules e.g. from Adafruit. Also, BOM comp…

How difficult would it be to run a Linux operating system on this custom PCB, allow for Wifi connectivity, etc to provide for the features the product provided. Like the wifi-setup, it having internet connectivity, ability to poll an API, etc.

Genuinely curious, as I've typically used things like the Pi for projects like this but have been genuinely curious what it would take to strip it down to something less powerful and achieve the same result.

Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#192

Post by archerx »

drakenot wrote: post #191
ahaucnx wrote: post #147

Very interesting read. Based on our experience developing and manufactoring air quality monitors, making a customized PCB should be done as early as possible in the developing process. With easy to use editors (e.g. easyEDA) and cheap and fast PCB production/assembly (even for small quantities), there is no reason to use overized MCUs/mini computers like the Pi and expensive modules e.g. from Adafruit. Also, BOM comp…

How difficult would it be to run a Linux operating system on this custom PCB, allow for Wifi connectivity, etc to provide for the features the product provided. Like the wifi-setup, it having internet connectivity, ability to poll an API, etc. Genuinely curious, as I've typically used things like the Pi for projects like this but have been genuinely curious what it would take to strip it down to something less powerf…

I’m making a project with a pi pico and it will have to do all of that. It already sends an update to the server per second with wifi. A full raspberry pi is over kill for most of these projects.

Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#193

Post by unit2044 »

Did they really think it is ok to include a remote access without telling customers?!

I guess this more often the case than people realize (especially with such hobby level hard- and software), but it actually is a huge security risk. Because once you are on a Raspyberry Pi in a customers network, there are no limits..

Insane.

Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#194

Post by gdilla »

michaelt wrote: post #28
gdilla wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or charge less and get a recurring fee for the API.

Perhaps, but still tough to make the business plan work for a $100k wage bill. 833 subscribers at $10/month? 8,333 subscribers at $1/month?

dont invest in non-viable things. if you can't cover your expenses, it's not a viable business.

Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#195

Post by sleepychu »

sircastor wrote: post #182
michaelmior wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is no reason to use overized MCUs/mini computers like the Pi and expensive modules There is if you don't have the expertise. Of course, arguably if that's the case, you shouldn't be developing such a product anyway. But as the post detailed, by switching to a Pi Zero and removing the Adafruit HAT, the BOM costs would already drop significantly. I think if you're smart about it, you absolutely can build a viab…

I’ve been working on a hobby project for about 6 years, and early on I got very excited about productizing it. It led me down some interesting paths and really made me think about overall BOM cost, designing for assembly, ease of use, etc. It also revealed some weaknesses for me, as I kept making decisions based on something I was sure I could figure out, rather than what I actually knew how to do. Eventually I switc…

I'd read this article!

Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#196

Post by doctor_eval »

drakenot wrote: post #191
ahaucnx wrote: post #147

Very interesting read. Based on our experience developing and manufactoring air quality monitors, making a customized PCB should be done as early as possible in the developing process. With easy to use editors (e.g. easyEDA) and cheap and fast PCB production/assembly (even for small quantities), there is no reason to use overized MCUs/mini computers like the Pi and expensive modules e.g. from Adafruit. Also, BOM comp…

How difficult would it be to run a Linux operating system on this custom PCB, allow for Wifi connectivity, etc to provide for the features the product provided. Like the wifi-setup, it having internet connectivity, ability to poll an API, etc. Genuinely curious, as I've typically used things like the Pi for projects like this but have been genuinely curious what it would take to strip it down to something less powerf…

A Raspberry Pi Pico W is a microcontroller (no operating system) that incorporates Wifi. The way it works is you write a program that runs in a loop and talks to the GPIO ports or whatever. It's incredibly simple and it all runs from flash, so no operating system or anything else needed. They cost less than AUD 10 (about 7 US-bucks)

https://raspberry.piaustralia.com.au/products/raspberry-pi-p...

Since I am a Go developer, I like using TinyGo with these type of boards, which means I get concurrency (goroutines) as well, although sadly Tinygo doesn't yet support the Wifi module. However, I've used other boards with Wifi, and once you're connected to WiFi you can poll APIs and do anything else you do on the internet. No OS required!

As an example of a complete, stand-alone program, I wrote a digital clock in TinyGo. (https://github.com/doctor-eval/clocky) - you plug the Pico into a 7-segment display and it operates just like an old school digital clock.

Sadly it can't (yet) connect to the internet due to missing wifi support in Tinygo, and it's running on a pre-W Pico, but you get the idea.

Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#197

Post by Orothrim »

sleepychu wrote: post #195
sircastor wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been working on a hobby project for about 6 years, and early on I got very excited about productizing it. It led me down some interesting paths and really made me think about overall BOM cost, designing for assembly, ease of use, etc. It also revealed some weaknesses for me, as I kept making decisions based on something I was sure I could figure out, rather than what I actually knew how to do. Eventually I switc…

I'd read this article!

As would I!

Re: Taking over a Dead IoT Company

#199

Post by azubinski »

What a good story "IoT" about :) Absolutely useless piece of kindergarten "engineering" + insanely inflated prices + real sales for any (low) price cause nobody wants this sh... + crowd of idlers in management growing like bacteria in a Petri dish = "Internet of Things". Nice!
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