Category: Uncategorized

Posted on by — Leave a comment

5.9.2017

We need to restart the project seriously and boost it. The main problem remains the mobile application. I have decided to find and hire a freelancer to create the app according to the existing specification. Over the time, the spec has grown significantly, but not in scope, just in the level of detail. With the current level, it will be possible to make a tender for delivery.

I have registered on the server which matches freelancers with work requests and posted a job offer.

 

The job post is called Hybrid application – Apache Cordova (Specification attached)

With the following instructions:

 

I am looking for an application developer to develop a hybrid application that will communicate with a HW that I am building.

Requirements:

– pure HTML/javascript/CSS (blank design – styling will be done separately)

– Apache Cordova (Including SSDP plugin)

– Rest API communication with the device

– communication via slack, JIRA

– code in GitHUB + API in Apiary

– help to set-up environment for testing (GIT, cordova, …)

 

Initial collaboration on DEMO app for certification of the device.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

14.7.2017

We have 2 good news.

  1. We have started building the 3D printer. Not finished yet, but close.
  2. And We have received the prototype boards!!!

It is funny how beautiful this looks to me J

It is just a small piece of plastic and metal, but how much effort has been directed towards its creation!

 

There is a problem though we have discovered right away. The barrel jack connectors do not fit the one we need to use. It seems there are 2 kinds of very similar connectors:

5 / 2.5

5 / 2.1

 

We need the latter one and the board has the first one. The difference is in the thickness of the pin inside the connector. We need a connector with the thickness of the 2.1mm and the delivered board has the connector with pin 2.5mm thick. We plan on exchanging the connectors manually for this pre-production batch of boards. Luckily, we have only ordered 10 pieces.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

2.7.2017

It looks like JT has found a solution for the CORS problem. It looks like he has to implement handling of the pre-flight requests into the Firmware. He also implemented a feature, which will enable to do firmware upgrade OTA – over the air. Which is pretty cool, because we are updating the firmware pretty often now.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

26.7.2017

This problem with CORS (OPTIONS) still persists. I have sent out cry for help to some friends. No solution so far 🙁

We also experience some problem with device prototypes. It seems that the internal Watchdog of the ESP8266 is restarting the devices for unknown reason.

This has been a bad week 🙁

Posted on by — Leave a comment

13.6.2017

So the simple workaround I used for GET is absolutely not working for PUT messages.

 

When you add a header to an XHR object, most browsers will do a preflight request, which is the OPTIONS method that you are seeing. There is not a way to circumvent this if you are adding custom headers, unfortunately. The POST will be sent after the OPTIONS.

This article explains the OPTIONS request a bit. I ran into issues with the preflight a while back, if that is any help.

If you have specific issues with the OPTIONS request you should edit your question to include them; otherwise, this is expected behavior.

 

Today we also confirmed the order for 10 pieces of the PCBs. Should be ready within a month.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

12.6.2017

After some brain-storming session with JT, we found that there are SSDP implementations for Cordova. This means we will be able to use it in both on iPhone and Android.

Another issue I spent a lot of time with are the pre-flight OPTIONS I receive from the device when calling GET methods on the APIs.

This fixed our problem, at least temporarily: changing from “application/json” to “text/plain” stopped the horrible options request

Posted on by — Leave a comment

11.6.2017

My attempts at creating the mobile application are in progress. I have discovered a major problem, to which I do not know the solution yet. All available javascript libraries which I have found for using SSDP protocol require node-js. This is a server side platform, which will not run on the mobile device.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

7.6.2017

We had a call with Mr. Kukucka of the DPSK company, who ended up second in our Tender. We asked about details of the process, used technologies, possible variants of the product. We were very pleased with the way he had responded and we agreed to order the first batch of boards.

We are moving on! 🙂

Posted on by — Leave a comment

30.5.2017

We have received the final PCB files from Dale and I have started a small tender for the company who will produce for us the first batch of boards.

After serious lookup, I have selected 15 companies, from EU, USA and China, which I will contact for the production quota.

This is another field which I had no clue about before. The PCB manufacturing has a lot of parameters and I am completely lost in them. The companies believe they have very user friendly online calculators, which give you online estimates, but I am not able to get anything out of them. So I will rely on contacting them by email and see who is able to communicate with me.