Some Puck questions

Hi! No problem!

Is it permissible to use a puck/pico in a commercial product as long as I mention that it uses it?

Yes, absolutely! There's no need to mention you're using it either.

What I do ask is if you end up using our software but totally your own hardware (so you're not buying anything from us), then you give us credit, and don't use the Espruino/Puck.js names as a way of selling your product.

If you bought the thing from us then you're welcome to mention Espruino or not - whatever works best for you.

Is it possible to change a Puck's bluetooth broadcasting name to an arbitrary string?

Yes, it's easy - it's just done with NRF.setAdvertising

Is it possible to prevent the puck from broadcasting its name, but allow connections using its MAC/Name/ whatever?

Well, you can change the name, and can make it empty - but you have to advertise something (even if it's without a name) to be connectable - it's just the way BLE works.

What is the range on a Puck?

I haven't gone and done proper tests with the final Pucks... The manufacturer of the module we use has done tests with their module and says "over 80 meters in open space.". I'd expect the Puck to be a little less because of the casing though (and by default it's not set to use full power for transmission).

However: as with all the Bluetooth stuff, it hates brick walls - I reckon the range goes down by at least half for every brick wall.

For question 1 + 2, if they can't be done on a puck, could the be done with a Pico using a bluetooth shim+MC?

Yes, but not as easily. There isn't a nice library to interface the HM-10 Bluetooth LE module to Espruino, so you're stuck reading their manual and writing AT commands... It's a bit of a drag.

If you're just after something that's easier to embed in your product than the Puck, at some point I'm planning on offering MDBT42 modules (the ones used in Puck.js) pre-programmed with Espruino, and potentially offering them on a break-out board.

Would a pico with bluetooth have a longer range?

It totally depends on the Bluetooth module used - but probably not. For Puck.js I used the more expensive module that has a ceramic antenna and should get 30% more range - most of the modules you could get to stick on the Pico use printed antennas.