Category Archives: Development

Pebble Development in 2020

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After a fair amount of trial and error I now have the Pebble SDK working on my Mac (macOS 10.15.4 Catalina). I was working from the guide here. I can now create, build and deploy programs and watch faces to my Pebble watch.

Firstly I had problems with the virtualenv command:

cd ~/pebble-dev/pebble-sdk-4.3-mac
virtualenv --no-site-packages .env
source .env/bin/activate
CFLAGS="" pip install -r requirements.txt
deactivate

It turns out the –no-site-packages flag is not required and should be omitted (see here for details).

I then had issues with no SDK being installed (and the scripts trying in vain to locate the SDK on the Internet). After trying:

pebble new-project testing

I was greeted with:

No SDK installed; installing the latest one...

Consulting Google yielded:

Cannot install SDK from pebbledevelopers

The key part of the reddit post is path to the SDK. I used the following to successfully install the SDK:

pebble sdk install https://github.com/aveao/PebbleArchive/raw/master/SDKCores/sdk-core-4.3.tar.bz2

The last fix was disabling the analytics tracking by creating a NO_TRACKING file in the SDK directory.

SDK Install Guide from pebble

TempMonHTTP

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For a while I’ve been tinkering around with a simple project – an Arduino-based temperature (and humidity) monitor that outputs a webpage on my home LAN. The Arduino I used was the Freetronics EtherTen, a quality product.

Screenshot of the TempMonHTTP webpage. Yes, it gets hot in my walk in robe where the home LAN switch is…

Check out the code at https://github.com/gjhmac/TempMonHTTP.

Arduinos and SD cards

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If you require an SD card interface for your Arduino project I highly recommend purchasing an Arduino with one built-in.  It took three attempts to get an SD card interface added to my basic Arduino Mega:

  1. A very cheap generic (“LC Studio”) break out module that seemed to work intermittently at best;
  2. A cheap shield (linksprite SD Card Shield v1.0b) – not compatible with the Mega (it does not state this on the packaging but if you search the documentation on their website it clearly states this, I should have done my research first);
  3. And finally, a not so cheap Ethernet plus SD card shield (Freetronics) that worked without a hitch.

I would have been better off spending the extra coin on a Mega with the SD card interface built-in and reclaiming most of my weekend…

[Part 7] Arduino Data Logger

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// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// Project:   DataLogger
// Version:   0.4
// Date:      26 August 2018
// Author:    Greg Howell <gjhmac@gmail.com>
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// Version    Date              Comments
// 0.4        26 August 2018    Modified code to only log to the SD card if the new value is different to the old value
// 0.3        30 June 2018      Added debugging and diagnostics on serial port, sped up ADC for analogue read (128kHz -> 1MHz), fixed “A REF”
// 0.2        26 April 2018     Addition of switch to enable/disable logging to SD card and LED to indicate logging status
// 0.1        17 February 2018  Initial Development
//
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// Description:
//  – Logs analog0 value to a text file on the SD card along with date/time stamp in CSV format
//  – Maintains date/time via DS1302 Real Time Clock
//  – Builds with Arduino 1.8.5
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————

// #includes
#include <SPI.h>    // Serial Peripheral Interface
#include <SD.h>     // SD Cards
#include <DS1302.h> // DS1302 RTC

const int chipSelect = 4;
const int buttonPin = 5;  // Pin 5 is the button to enable/disable logging (digital input)
const int ledPin =  6;    // Pin 6 is the LED indicate logging status (digital output)

const byte PS_128 = (1 << ADPS2) | (1 << ADPS1) | (1 << ADPS0);
const byte PS_16 = (1 << ADPS2);

int buttonState = 0;      // initialise button state to off
int oldsensor;            // variable to store the previous sensor value (used in loop())

// Init the DS1302
// Pin 2 = RST
// Pin 3 = DAT
// Pin 4 = CLK
DS1302 rtc(2, 3, 4);
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// setup()
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
void setup() {

  ADCSRA &= ~PS_128;  // remove prescale of 128
  ADCSRA |= PS_16;    // add prescale of 16 (1MHz)

  analogReference(EXTERNAL);  // Analogue reference set to “A REF” pin

  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);  // Initialize the pushbutton pin as an input
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);    // Initialize the LED pin as an output

  rtc.halt(false);            // Set the clock to run-mode
  rtc.writeProtect(false);    // and disable the write protection

  Serial.begin(9600);

  // Use following lines once to set clock if battery fails (modify to suit)
  //rtc.setDOW(SUNDAY); // Set Day-of-Week to FRIDAY
  //rtc.setTime(21, 50, 0); // Set the time to 12:00:00 (24hr format)
  //rtc.setDate(26, 8, 2018); // Set the date to August 6th, 2010

  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }

  // Print current system date from RTC at start up
  Serial.print(“System date: “);
  Serial.println(String(rtc.getDateStr()) + “,” + String(rtc.getTimeStr()));

  Serial.print(“Initializing SD card…”);

  // see if the card is present and can be initialized:
  if (!SD.begin(chipSelect)) {
    Serial.println(“Card failed, or not present”);
    // don’t do anything more:
    while (1);
  }
  Serial.println(“card initialized.”);
}
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// loop()
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
void loop() {
  String dataString = “”;                 // make a string for assembling the data to log
  int sensor = analogRead(A0);            // read analogue
  dataString += String(sensor);           // construct string with analogue signal
  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);   // read button state

  // Logging enabled
  if (buttonState == HIGH) {
    File dataFile = SD.open(“datalog.txt”, FILE_WRITE);

    // if the file is available, write to it
    if (dataFile) {

      // if the new data is different to the old data write it to file
      if (sensor != oldsensor) {
        // Write data to serial output
        Serial.println(String(rtc.getDateStr()) + “,” + String(rtc.getTimeStr()) + “,” + dataString);
        Serial.println(String(sensor) + “,” + String(oldsensor));
        // Write data to SD card
        dataFile.println(String(rtc.getDateStr()) + “,” + String(rtc.getTimeStr()) + “,” + dataString);
        dataFile.close();
      }
      else {
        dataFile.close();
      }
    // set logging LED to high
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  }
  // if the file isn’t open, print an error
  else {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    Serial.println(“error opening datalog.txt”);
  }
}
  // Logging disabled
  else {
    // set logging LED to low
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  }
  // set the old sensor value to the current sensor value (read at top of loop())
  oldsensor = sensor;
  // Wait before repeating 🙂
  delay (500);
}

[Part 6] Arduino Data Logger

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// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// Project:   DataLogger
// Version:   0.3
// Date:      30 June 2018
// Author:    Greg Howell
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// Version    Date              Comments
// 0.3        30 June 2018      Added debugging and diagnostics on serial port, sped up ADC for analogue read (128kHz -> 1MHz), fixed “A REF”
// 0.2        26 April 2018     Addition of switch to enable/disable logging to SD card and LED to indicate logging status
// 0.1        17 February 2018  Initial Development
//
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// Description:
//  – Logs analog0 value to a text file on the SD card along with date/time stamp in CSV format
//  – Maintains date/time via DS1302 Real Time Clock
//  – Builds with Arduino 1.8.5
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————

// #includes
#include    // Serial Peripheral Interface
#include     // SD Cards
#include // DS1302 RTC

const int chipSelect = 4;
const int buttonPin = 5;  // Pin 5 is the button to enable/disable logging (digital input)
const int ledPin =  6;    // Pin 6 is the LED indicate logging status (digital output)

const byte PS_128 = (1 << ADPS2) | (1 << ADPS1) | (1 << ADPS0);
const byte PS_16 = (1 << ADPS2);

int buttonState = 0;      // initialise button state to off

// Init the DS1302
// Pin 2 = RST
// Pin 3 = DAT
// Pin 4 = CLK
DS1302 rtc(2, 3, 4);
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// setup()
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
void setup() {
  
  ADCSRA &= ~PS_128;  // remove prescale of 128
  ADCSRA |= PS_16;    // add prescale of 16 (1MHz)

  analogReference(EXTERNAL);  // Analogue reference set to “A REF” pin
  
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);  // Initialize the pushbutton pin as an input
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);    // Initialize the LED pin as an output

  rtc.halt(false);            // Set the clock to run-mode
  rtc.writeProtect(false);    // and disable the write protection

  Serial.begin(9600);

  // Use following lines once to set clock if battery fails (modify to suit)
  //rtc.setDOW(THURSDAY); // Set Day-of-Week to FRIDAY
  //rtc.setTime(15, 50, 0); // Set the time to 12:00:00 (24hr format)
  //rtc.setDate(26, 4, 2018); // Set the date to August 6th, 2010

  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }

  // Print current system date from RTC at start up
  Serial.print(“System date: “);
  Serial.println(String(rtc.getDateStr()) + “,” + String(rtc.getTimeStr()));

  Serial.print(“Initializing SD card…”);

  // see if the card is present and can be initialized:
  if (!SD.begin(chipSelect)) {
    Serial.println(“Card failed, or not present”);
    // don’t do anything more:
    while (1);
  }
  Serial.println(“card initialized.”);
}
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
// loop()
// ————————————————————————————————————————————————
void loop() {
  String dataString = “”;                 // make a string for assembling the data to log
  int sensor = analogRead(A0);            // read analogue
  dataString += String(sensor);           // construct string with analogue signal
  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);   // read button state

  // Logging enabled
  if (buttonState == HIGH) {
    File dataFile = SD.open(“datalog.txt”, FILE_WRITE);

    // if the file is available, write to it:
    if (dataFile) {
      // Write data to serial output
      Serial.println(String(rtc.getDateStr()) + “,” + String(rtc.getTimeStr()) + “,” + dataString);
      // Write data to SD card
      dataFile.println(String(rtc.getDateStr()) + “,” + String(rtc.getTimeStr()) + “,” + dataString);
      dataFile.close();
      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
    }
    // if the file isn’t open, pop up an error:
    else {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
      Serial.println(“error opening datalog.txt”);
    }
  }
  // Logging disabled
  else {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  }

  // Wait before repeating 🙂
  delay (200);
}