Thinking about making the switch

Archive
1

Since I’ve been told that Gadgeteer is the future and that shields are stoopid :D, I thinking about changing over.

Questions:

  1. Analog inputs … I have a couple of analog sensors (2 IRs and 1 ultrasonic). Do I use an A socket with an Extender module?
  • Any documentation/tutorial on how to address those individual pins?
  1. What are the WiFi options for Hydra & Cerberus? Is the only Gadgeteer based option the XBee WiFi module?
  • Will WiFly modules work ok?

  1. Does the Hydra/XBee (non-wifi) combo have the power/bandwidth to send about 5 FPS or so to the base?

  2. To do XBee on my PC, do I just need a XBee module and a USB adapter?

  3. If I have a DP module, when connected to my PC via USB for programming, does the USB connection power and communicate like in my Domino? Or do I need an additional USB module for that?

I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I go along.

Thanks for the help (and thanks to GHI for making me want to spend $$)

2

Who told you that? Shields aren’t a bad idea, they’ve just lost some of their cool factor. One step in a long line of steps to the ultimate nirvana in component modularity (whatever that is).

  1. You can use any socket that has pins that support AnalogIn, which gives you many more options. However, you will have to use an extender (or similar… hint) module to breakout the pins. Think of the extender as a pass through module like a shield. Whatever pins are not use by the module on the other end of the extender are available for you to do whatever. It’s up to you to figure out which ones. IF you don’t need to “extend” a module, you can just break the pins out directly and do whatever you want. I happen to know somebody who makes a nice purple breakout module like this :wink:

2a) Yes, currently you can use the XBee module and get a XBee WiFi. Trouble is, they’re so popular that nobody has them in stock. We just went through some serious international hoop jumping to get a couple for our XBee driver project… oh yeah, we’re working on some libraries for this support. Disclaimer: this is NOT a solution for a full TCP stack. These modules send data serially via WiFi, so there are limitations. I’m sure you’ll see an offering from GHI as soon as they possibly can get it done.

2b) The other WiFi option is to use the bridge (for sale here) with an ethernet module. This is by far the simplest way to get up and running. You do end up with a somewhat bulky addon to a project, but it is (almost) plug and play.

3

So could I use these to access a web service on my network? How about .NET’s TcpClient and/or Sockets?

Thanks for the reply.

**

The more I think about it, I think I would prefer to use “plain” XBee over WiFi.

  1. Range – can go up to 1 mile
  2. Flexibility – can do this away from the house/WiFi network.

However it’s more expensive – when needing to “requisition” parts from the household CFO :wink: cheaper is better

4

Found my pin question answer here:

Still wondering if the processing speed of the Hydra & bandwidth of the XBee enough to do 5 or 10 or so FPS?

Essentially I want the device to take a snap & transmit via the XBee to my laptop also with a XBee.