Eudyptula, the little Linux chalenge

I grown up in the 80 with the coming of the PC era and I began my computer learning in the 90. So it was natural for me to become a Microsoft Windows disciple. As the years goes on I learned all the stuff needed to become a embedded system engineer (I still have a lot to learn ;)) and my career lead me to Windows CE. As Microsoft was the incontestable leader of the computer world it was logical as a career path to specialize in their technologies. I was always a fan of the open source movement and I even tried FreeBSD and Linux, but those experiences was only for fun and I did not think that it was worth learning. But came the 2000 and some new small player began to popup, like Google, and over the last 15 years the world shifted to a open source and power saving world with the advent of the mobile and massive server warehouse. I must admit that as a middle old guy I did not see it coming and I was a little bit late when I began looking by the window to find a new and very fun world. It began with one of my passion, home automation and the EventGhost and XBMC softwares. Those softwares lead me to learn Python and finally to assist the Pycon 2014. There it hit me like as a rocket in the face, the world now run on Linux and open source software and I must quickly began learning Linux to not become an old irrelevant engineer that cling to a dying world.

I critically wounded Edison and used my cleric powers to restore it to super shape! (Or the story of what to do to restore an Intel Edison by U-Boot)

Prelude to disaster

Over the last couple weeks I continued trying to tame my Intel Edison but I must admit that I did go a little too hard on it for is own safety. At first I was going to solder wire directly on the breakout board but when I began thinking about it, I decided to solder a female header instead. I made a little order at the RobotShop online store for the hardware I needed and after a couple of days I received them. This is when the fun began. I did not have the chance to solder anything for the last 10 years and I was never really good, but I ordered a third hand to help me and this changed my life. For good measure I looked at some video tutorial on Youtube and made extra caution not to touch any IC on the Edison. At first I was not very good but I soon learned to keep the iron a little longer after I removed the solder wire to let it enter the hole.  I did the same for the OLED display I will try to use for my Meteo Notifier V2 project. So with my Edison breakout board ready for some prototyping, I tried my hand on some NodeJS program to control a LED using the blink sample. I played a little bit with it to make some fun and began looking at how to make the display working.

Hand on with Intel Edison

I finally got my hand on this little impressive SoC from Intel. Since I learned about this board some time ago I was eager to get my hand on one to see what it can do. I am currently working with different model of Bay trail at work and we recently tested some platforms to find a low cost, low power solution for an embedded product. So I also had professional motivation to work with this beautiful system.

Meteo Notifier Raspberry PI project building

Introduction

I was returning from my job on a friday afternoon and I was thinking about what I could do with my Raspberry PI to do a small IoT project over the weekend. I was in my car thinking about the Android wear meteo notifications and all the hardware I have at my place and had the idea of doing a simple wood device with two arms that will display a sun on one and a raining cloud on the other. So basically the device will fetch the local meteo from the internet and display the cloud if any precipitation is currently falling and the sun otherwise. For the CPU I choose to use my Raspberry PI (RPi) with the Raspbian Linux OS. I choose the Raspbian OS because it enabled me to code the program using Python using the stock image. Using the default Python libraries to do the PWM control of the servo motor is not the best option because it use a software implementation that made the servo giggle. But I really wanted to use Python for this project and it was not to big a problem for me. As I wanted to build the device rapidly with a minimum of external hardware, I only connected the servo to the 5V of the RPi, even though is not super good for it.

A week with the LG Android Wear

Well, as promised here is my review of my week with the new LG Android Wear watch.

First contact

Google tries to unravel the bustling market of smart watches with their Android Wear platform, announced a few months ago and presented late June during their big show that is Google IO. At launch they presented two watches, one of LG and another of Samsung. For my part I had the chance to test the LG model. Besides the price difference of 50$ cheaper for the Samsung, the two watches offer much the same experience. Technically the two watches are substantially identical, using an ARM processor, equivalent to what was offered on a smartphone two years ago like the Galaxy S3 or iPhone 4S. Besides the processor, the two watches have a the touch screens of the same size and have a gyro, accelerometer, compass and water resistance IP67, the Samsung model additionally offers a heart monitor.

Charging station

Enough technical details and here is my one-week trip with the LG Android Wear Watch. I must thanks a coworker disappointed with this product for the chance to live this experience. So he introduced me to this object as he was, that is to say with only the hardware and no guide! So I am left with the watch, charger and cradle. Ok no problem, I am a computer engineer with years of experience behind my glasses ;) I should have no trouble with this product without button with just a touch screen and voice commands. First challenge, connect it to my Nexus 5 ... after 10 minutes of searching the menus the only remaining option was to try the full reset! What followed was quite simple with a nice little tutorial for the Bluetooth link and downloading a Google apps on the store. I am now in relation to this beautiful thing. My first impression, it is comfortable, the screen is nice and responsive to my fingers.

Outside

During this week I worked, traveled to Bizard Island Park, at Saint-Hubert and do a nice rollerskating ride with my 3 year old nephew to the parc de la cite. At the office the watch is quite handy to see all my emails, texto or calls and easily sort those with a glance. In terms of driving, it is easy enough to say "OK Google, drive me home" to transform the watch into a GPS. Voice commands works most of the time and can be used to send email, SMS, start alarms or even start the music on my phone. Although I loved my experience there are certain points that are less good. First the price of 250$ makes this limited gadget, a bit expensive. Then the LCD screen is almost invisible outside. In addition, the only way to recharge, but also to start the watch, is the charging station, so that if like me you forget it at your office and the watch is dead, then it will remains closed overnight : (

Alternate watch face

In short I enjoyed my experience, but not enough to buy me one ... yet ;) I enjoyed the "Geek coolness " and the looks it brings. I also enjoyed the different faces, easy to wash bracelet and the waterproof feature. In addition, it made me discover more "Go Google" voice commands and I really found this helpful to respond to SMS from my sister, to see if everything was okay when I was in the parc de la cite watching my nephew :) The GPS navigation is much less invasive when driving and handy when you get lost because of works on the road around the Bizard island. I also surprised myself trying to beat my daily number of steps with the built-in pedometer. In short a nice gadget for those who loves the latest technology toy.

• LG Android Wear
• Google Android Wear