kerlink LoRa gateway
Until the reality of a LoRa public network in France, to test this technology the best way is to have its own LoRaWAN getway. This is a thing done with the kerlink gateway.
This post will detail the first steps to install it and start to communicate.
Microchip RN2483 Lora
The microchip device is in most of the case delivered with a 0.9.5 a version 1 seems to be available even if not downloadable from microchip product webpage.
This link contains a version 1.0 and a java tool that helps to configure the chip with a graphical interface. It is really usefull.
Main problem I found with the tool: it is not possible on a MAC to open the firmware file to load. Other functions are accessible. On W7 it is possible to flash the device :
Actually on May 1st 2016 the current firmware version is 1.0.1 you can get it following this link. This version is the one validated for network operators like Objenious.
For flashing a TD1204 / TD1208 over J-link you need to use the following commands:
JLinkExe -device EFM32G210F128 -if swd -speed 1000 J-Link> loadbin xxxxx.bin,0 ... J-Link> r # reset J-Link> g # go
Total programming time is about 5 seconds. The circuit between the segger connector and the TD is the following one. (do not forget to connect VDD circuit to Segger VTref.
td1204 / j-link cable
domino.io
Announced in 2015 and mostly delivered in 2016, the 9$+ computers are now a reality. The first one to be delivered was Domino.io with a price of 14$ it is actually the most expensive device but also one with a nice list of addon. The kickstarter campain was a success even if it raised only 46K$.
CHIP was in the same period of time a great success with 2M$ raised on Kickstarter for 50K requested. And actually it still incredible to me to reach a such cheap price for a device with a such complexity.
Last but not least, the famous RaspberryPI zero is just starting to be distributed at the incredible price of $5 and is actually impossible to obtained under $20 on ebay auctions.
As a owner of these 3 different platform, I will publish in this post the difference we have between them and what we can expect from them.
DaVinci 1.0 3d printer
After having play for a year with a Tobeca Printer, I decided to acquire a DaVinci printer. When I was looking for the Tobeca I was already interested in the DaVinci because of its really low cost. At this time, this printer was not available in Europe and the price for import was too expensive. The printer is actually distributed by Boulanger in France for a price about 500€ making it a really competitive solution with a good technical specification.
The XYZ business model is based on 2D printer business model : have a low cost printer and sell the cartridge at a higher price. For 800g of PLA you have to pay 50€ compared to 30€ for a Kg of standard PLA. By the way, it seems that you can get discount on Wednesday on XYZ website 😉
This post details my end user experience on getting the first print with this printer.
To conclude with my CES 2016 posts I want to share what I’ve seen and what surprised me ; it is a mix of fun stuff, 3d printing machine, drone or electronic. To have a complete view of it, you should also read my post about CES unveiled where I already post about my favorite startups.
The most frequent question in the past week was “How was CES?”, “What did you learned ?”, “What did you preferred?”, “Is there an interest to go at CES for us?” … I tried in this post to get, not a direct answer to these questions but direction where anyone can find the reason to visit or to exhibit to CES. You may add some more but they are the one that flashed my mind when visiting. Do not hesitate to complete in comment.
Connected cars
A second post once back from CES about connected cars ; connected cars are not autonomous cars even if autonomous cars are connected cars. For sure what is important is connected cars are already a reality and also a growing trend. Cars are connected different ways, for safety in a first step. Once the car is connected to Internet you have many ways to use this connectivity for the driver use as for the constructor use. Connected car is a great opportunity to propose new services for the consumer and most of this post will be about theses new services.