Introducing the `Full-Stack IoT Developer`: Navigating the Challenges of a Connected World
Introducing the “Full-Stack IoT Developer”: Navigating the Challenges of a Connected World
The rapid evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) has blurred the lines between hardware and software development, giving rise to a new breed of technologists: the “Full-Stack IoT Developer.”
You may not have heard this term before, and I might be the one coining it.
But what does it truly describe?
This term should represent the unique skill set of professionals who design both the hardware and software aspects of IoT devices (partially or in full), enabling seamless communication through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or LoRaWAN with the interfaces that allow us to interact with our gadgets.
Whether it’s a sleek web dashboard to monitor your smart home or a mobile app that lets you control your lights with a swipe, they ensure that the conversation between humans and machines is smooth, intuitive, and sometimes, a bit magical.
However, the emergence of the Full-Stack IoT Developer role also raises important questions about the feasibility of mastering such a diverse range of technologies.
As the scope of knowledge required expands, it becomes increasingly challenging for a single individual to maintain expertise in all areas and deliver the highest quality products.
I’m concerned it’s pretty unsustainable, yet I see emerging startups demanding such a complex skill set.
So, why was this integration possible at all?
Well, my assumption is that higher quality and more available development tools, open technical documentation, and the penetration of technology use in every aspect of life have made it easier to bridge the gap between software and hardware.
This trend enables software developers to venture into hardware projects with greater ease. Simultaneously, it allows hardware developers, traditionally accustomed to a slower pace and older methodologies, to embrace modern software technologies like NodeJS, Laravel, VueJS, and Kotlin.
Other than being affordable, this little printer has served me quite well, especially with Linux. However, the support isn’t available out of the box. The drivers which you can find on “manufacturer’s” web simply do not work. The PPD supplied simply doesn’t seem to work well, and I didn’t put any effort into trying to debug it.
Fortunately, I figured out that this is yet another company that is simply using existing hardware with their own enclosure and intense marketing. So, I bet there must be another printer with a PPD available online that would work. And I was right.
Mainly because I spent quite some time trying to get it to work, I’m sharing that find. Also, keep in mind that I had the printer already set up with Windows, as that’s the only way for Wi-Fi to be set for this printer right now. Well, I don’t know if another way exists, but this is good enough.
So, the printer which has the same firmware/hardware is BY-426 by https://www.beeprt.com
You can get the PPD that works for me here Beeprt.ppd
Pametna kuća, Homeassistant sa Shelly, Sonoff i Xiaomi opremom.
Kratki pregled instalacije Homeassistant-a sa opremom shelly, sonoff i Xiaomi
Prije nekoliko godina sam počeo uvezivati sve uređaje u kući kroz Homeassistant. Kad se vratim unatrag, ne vidim da je bilo naručito vrijedno osim što je bilo izuzetno zabavno. Sasvim sigurno Homeassistant nije sistem koji bih preporučio ikome ko nema background sa linux-om, pythonom i ostalim tehnologijama. Ali daleko od toga da nisam oduševljen samim projektom. Prije svega činjenica da je zajednica jako velika, da su releases svako par sedmica, da je dokumentacija izuzetno dobro održavana, sasvim sigurno govori o HA kao o projektu koji će doživjeti neku vrstu procvata i primjene.
Moje neko viđenje je da će dodatnih par modula za coworking office space, eventualno hotel ili motel, napraviti HA vodećom platformom za upraljvanje i kontrolisanje “pametnih hotela i ofisa”.
Za sada, najbolja opcija po meni za obične kućne korisnike je Shelly proizvodi. Tačno slijede koncepte koji su intuitivni a radi se i o kompaniji koja je izuzetno otvorena za progamere i inovacije. Njihova lapeza proizvoda je za sada neprikosnovena.
Takođe, i neki poznati proizvođači elektro opreme pokušavaju proizvesti i plasirati. Ne znam da li će biti u stanju da iskoriste svoj položaj na tržištu i nametnu svoje IOT nodove ali sasvim sigurno u ovom trenutku u toj trci za tržištem vode oni koji su skloniji tom višem nivou upravljanja i programiranja. Laički rečeno, puno bolju predstavu šta sa nekim IOT prekidačem zna šta može neki klinac programer koji je tek naučio hello world za mikrokontroller nego neki stariji iskusni inžinjer kojem je 30 godina prekidač samo prekidač. Sa boljim ili lošijim materijalom, sa većom ili manjom amperažom.
I never knew that the sky cold be this interesting. Taking those photos with a phone camera was quite a play but the end result is not that bad :). Check it out.
From time to time i need to program several hundred ESP-12F modules for my projects. First time i did it, i was changing the module on the programmer and then repeating the command.
However, by doing that it was hard to do programming at several programmers at once and also it required all my attention when the script finished etc.
So i had to automate it a bit, but i didn’t want to throw myself into codding so much. Just the most simple way to do it was an option.
So here we are. The whole solution is just a simple udev rule which sets the programming script to execute. As i said “it sets the script”. Because, udev just triggers and doesn’t handle the runtime environment as when you run a program in terminal. So for that purpose, i used “at now”.
Za potrebe prikaza u Home Assistant-u, napravio sam nekoliko modula koji uz adekvatno konfigurisanje mogu jednostavno da dohvate stanje dugovanja, uplata a nekada i trenutne potrošnje za usluge. Koliko vidim, post na LinkedIn-u se vec svidio nekim kolegama pa reko da podijelim i na blog-u koji tako predano zazpostavljam poslednjih godina. (as if it was any different before :)
Nažalost, nisam imao vremena da se posvetim detaljnijoj izradi zadataka za micro:bit ali od prethodnog pitanja se desilo to da mi je kompanija kitronik poslala 3 dodatka te sam koristeći te dodatke napravio jedan kratki pregled i mislim vrlo zanimljive sample projekte.
Sve je stalo u jedan 46minutni video koji može te pogledati ovdje:
Radio stanica na planini + (Kratko uputstvo za Baofeng)
(ovaj tekst je objavljen i na sajtu planinarenje.ba)
Sasvim sigurno, radio stanica nije nužna oprema za uživanje na planini ali u nekim prilikama može biti izuzetno korisna te dodati još malo zabave tokom planinarenja. Međutim, radio difuzija je zakonski uređena oblast, a kako je ovo tekst za vas planinare, u nadi da mi kolege radio amateri neće previše zamjeriti, ovu priču o radio stanicama ću pokušati što više pojednostaviti.
Dakle, ovo nije tekst kako postati radio amater ali ću pokušati da dam bar osnovne upute koje su vam neophodne da bi korištenje radio stanice bilo legalno i svrsishodno.
Tags:
ham / radio / radioamater / radioamateri / relej / repetitor / planinarenje / planina
Držeći se predpostavke da djeca brzo uče te da se u poslednje dvje decenije značajno izmjenio nači kako djeca usvajaju nova znanja i vještine, u skladu s tim i uz pomoć malih trikova za sintetiziranje govora, napravio sam sinhronizovanu bazu riječi za koju se nadam da biti korisna svim zainteresiranim i vrijednim učenicima.
Takođe, moram napomenuti da su riječi preveli štićenici ustanove Mala Škola
Tags:
dicti / učenje / stranih / riječi / brzo / efikasno / engleski
Right after the first batch of 200 boards, i noticed that there were some issues with voltages. Apparently, it looks like the manufacturer got the wrong chip or one of caps were damaged.
What ever ti was, i had to test ~200 boards and my main concern was only proper voltages. Main input of ~12VDC, 5VDC acter ACT4088 buck converter and 3.3VDC after AMS1117.
So, i took some pogo pins and drilled through some plexy boards, used very handy little voltages measuring boards and here is the result.
It took me about 30 minutes to make it and another hour to test all boards. If it was not possible to test it this way, i would definitely had to do it one by one and i can’t even imagine the struggle i would have to go through.
Good thing was that i actually had 3.3V and 5V terminals on the bottom of the board, so i didn’t have to spend much time adjusting things.
After 2 months wait, one lost package and another one shipped with DHL (which btw. arrived from South Africa to Bosnia in less than 46 hours in my hands), i finaly got RefloR, cool little “hotplate” style soldering tool.
First impression and first few boards i did only for test, went great. At first i was underrating it because it’s essentially just controlled temperature “hotplate”. However, this one worked so great and i don’t remember spending 1 second looking in instruction manual or scratching my head and asking “what should i now”. It was very natural process. Plug the power, open app, connect to ESP and choose a profile. Very intuitive and simple.
However, i noticed that in my case the plate is not following the profile accurately, it was rather “approximately”. But then again, it worked.
First test was the “test SMD soldering kit” that comes with the RefloR so after initial success, i placed 5 small 555/4017 led chaser kits that covered probably around 40% of total re-flowing area.
For quite some time i have been looking for good parts supplier. DigiKey, Mouser, RS, Farnell, TI etc. All those companies don’t optimize shipping for Bosnia so it’s 120EUR per package, what ever i order.
Above all, they are usually expensive and i wasn’t able to find most of what i was looking for. Maybe because lately i picked some parts that are usually available in China and those companies don’t offer them or have same parts but 3-4 times more expensive.
Asking around, some guys suggested www.lcsc.com, www.arrow.com and www.tme.eu. Checking what they offer and shipping options for Bosnia, it looks like i have great alternative for those bit fancy popular suppliers.
First “test” order i made was from www.lcsc.com and i’m very pleased with what i have got.
So, here is one fast box opening clip + some pics in “READ MORE” :)
“ESP-RFID Relay Board is tiny ESP12 module (ESP8266) board, designed for popular wiegand RFID readers and with esp-rfid firmware in mind :).”
It’s also opensourced so if you want to explore it and find two issues that i already know about :) feel free to check it here in esp-rfid repo.
Also nice thing, Omer Siar and I, decided to integrate esp-rfid firmware and esp-rfid hardware repos. I hope to publish dedicated web page about esp-rfid project soon.
Although it wasn’t planned to server this purpose, somewhere in the middle of design i realized that this board with few more resistors would be perfect for very popular Wiegand RFID readers that you can get all around Ebay and other Chinese stores.
Those readers are often completely dummy bricks which can only read code from a chip and pass it by wiegand on two data lines.
Basically it’s a ESP12 breakout board which can accept 12V input and at the same time powers up the Wiegand reader with same 12V input and accepts all possible pins from the most common readers.
You can get eagle cad schematics and BOM at github and also you can buy this board at My Tindie Store
In addition to that, it often has buzzer, LED and sometimes keypad, which also just sends the numbers it gets. One of versions i got also have simple bell button which just makes a connection on two wires. So it’s simple tactile switch there.
I implemented the support for all of those input/output lines so all you need is to program your board and read cards.
I have one version of firmware which i would not be able to share at this point but i can gladly suggest eps-rfid project, which is open-source and great for the first hand to use.
In this setup, you can make your Wiegand reader as simple work hours registration device. However, next version with relay and few more features are on it’s way so, please be patient.
Also, there is a version of wiegand reader which has enough space to place this tiny board in it.
So many boards of this kind already exist but i wanted to make my own. One important decision is how to supply ESP12 with a power and the most elegant way is quite small and tiny PCB mountable Hi-Link AC-DC, but it gives only 0.6A so it’s right on the edge for 4 relays and ESP12. There are many more converters of this kind but not this small and often not sealed as this one is.
Another doubt i had was should i use optocouplers or not. At the end i realized, it doesn’t bring me anything that important in my case. After all, this is only a board for my home/garden use.
So, here is the sketch. I hope, soon i’ll publish photos how it actually looks like once i solder PCBs.
This was just a project made out of desperate situation caused by mistakes in heating system design. So my friend needed to be able to control the pump which pushes the heat towards one f the branches, for a while and also being able to turn it on/off, get some feedback etc. So far they like it and this copy/paste coding style worked for us.
Perhaps, one of the most exciting things that are quite easy to experience is scuba diving. It’s not so physically demanding and most of the people can do it. Although the easies way is to simply find some diving center and pay for a fun dive, i strongly recomend to take a full training for several days (Preferably PADi Advanced Open water Diver AOWD because the most exciting dives are usually those deep dives) and most important of all, pick the best ranked diving center with the best diving spots you can find.
Some diving centers don’t have that great diving sights so the dives are not as much fun as it can be.
I have been diving for a few years now and i hope i do it until the rest of my life.
Especially great fun is night dives. Sea life is best seen than and there is additional adrenalin rush since everything is so dark.
Here is some pics i made lately, all from Adriatic sea and mostly Dubrovnik, Vis, Komiža.
p.s. I strongly suggest visiting Vis, Croatia. And, i don’t think it requires explanation why, it’s simplye AMAZING
!! Ova lista nije pregledana, za sada samo nasumicno kako cujem za neku pjesmu, ako je nadjem, pokusam je skinuti i zabiljeziti. !!
Ukoliko znate neku koja nije na ovom spisku a na bilo koji naci pominje Sarajevo ili ima motive Sarajeva i sarajevskih ulica, molim da mi javite na email
HEPEK IOT - A hub for IOT 01 (ideaand proof of concept)
In essence, i realized there are many devices of this kind but most locked within some ecosystem. So, why not to design something which would be open sourced, affordable, hackable that most of makers are familiar with etc…
Essentially the idea si to make single PCB with:
ESP12 or NodeMCU (The good thing about NodeMcu it gives you power/programming interface right away)
315/433 MHz transmitter/receiver module (controlling power RC sockets and modules, garage doors etc)
4 IR Diodes (TV, Aircondittion)
IR receiver (Learning new codes)
Thermometer/Barometer (Because we can :D)
Neopixel ring/strip (just for fun, at the end, there is web interface, i would rather avoid display since it makes thing simpler)
PIR sensor interface (silent alarm for your home)
And put it in some off the shelf enclosure, share it, sell it on tindie etc..
Also, make a simple software for essential functionalities.
As a first step, i put bunch of things on my breadboard, did some copy/paste codding to make it work and of course .. it’s still on my table, waiting me to spend some more time and manufacture that board finally.
As for code, i simply extended current wifimanager library for Arduino, added a page and played a bit with html/css. The sad thing, it would definittely have to be completely rewritten. It’s simply slow and slow for development due to some steps for preparation of html/css for upload.
