Espruino Puck.js on KickStarter

Yes, I'm being totally unimaginative and calling it 'Espruino WiFi' - I just heard that they're shipping me some this week, so I'll see if they work or not!

Try keeping an eye on http://forum.espruino.com/conversations/280652/ for updates :)

Can someone try to convince me to back this? What are people planning on doing with these? What is the appeal of a bluetooth LE device? What is this "beacon" thing that people are talking about, and why would I want to use it?
I'm unclear on what the use case for this is...

:) you're probably a bit of an outlier, in that you've already got a bunch of self-made RF-based home automation stuff you're using. IMO the use case you'd be most interested in is:

• Set a Pi/server (which I guess you already have :) with BLE, running an MQTT server
  
• Use these as wireless sensors, IR transmitters, or controllers for other stuff - but small, properly battery powered, and cased so they'd blend in.
  
  

... Then there's the possibility of IPv6, so you'll be able to treat these things almost like they're on WiFi, but just with a decent battery life.

Also, modules with nRF51/52 are actually pretty cheap. By backing Puck.js you make sure that the software for them gets nice and mature, and then you can use it to make your own devices that use the bare modules - which IMO will work out cheaper than using separate radio + MCU :)

@DrAzzy Maybe think of it as a way of giving a little for using ESP8266's for which Gordon earns nothing.
Also, you'd help hit the IPv6 over BLE goal ;)

Amazon opened a new launch pad for kickstarter.
https://www.amazon.com/l/ref=sr_hi_1/13514636011
May be, this is helpful to sell boards ?

@JumJum thanks! That's really interesting - hadn't seen it before, I'll have to see how it works

Will you ever release the puck.js device as just a BT module with Espruino on it - like the Nordic type module that you are using on puck at present ? It would be handy to develop your own products using this as a base like pico on BT.

@socie123, do you mean without battery holder clip, casing and cover?

@Gordon, would that become the Espruino-BLE? I think, puck.js is just the better name: a slap-shot puck is slick, power-full, and very very fast.

Puck is an elf in William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Last seen in Dota 2 ;-)

yes, use puck without case, battery and main board - that is just use Nordic smt module with espruino on it to access the i/o pins on module and create your own products. Gordon touched on it there in previous reply but I guess that will be next year if ever and after working out a way to get some revenue from this idea ?

Hi - yes, it's definitely something I've been considering...

Right now you can get the modules as samples from Raytac (MDBT42) and can program them with an nRF52 DK.

The issue for the moment is I reckon the firmware's going to have quite a few updates during the few months after the Pucks get released. Most people buying just the modules will want firmware that's a bit more stable (with the Puck, updating firmware over BLE is ok, but if you just bought modules you don't really want to have to worry about that).

So when the Puck's been out for a few months I think I'll start providing pre-programmed modules, and will provide things like Eagle CAD outlines for them too - to make things a bit easier. It kind of depends on the volume though - I don't want to have 1000 modules sitting around with out of date firmware, and if I have to manually update the firmware on each module before sending it out, that's going to cost me quite a bit

Hi Gordon,
We are currently designing an IOT product and would love to add the Raytac module to it so that we could put espruino on it for development. Is this possible right now ? Or possibly in new year ? Without espurino, can the nRF52 dev kit be used to create your own programs using BLE module as master ?

Hi - it is possible, but to be honest the firmware (and API) will probably change quite a lot over the next few months, so if you want to keep it all up to date you'll be doing quite a lot of work. I expect things will have settled down a lot by the new year though.

And yes, you can use nRF52 as BLE master without Espruino (I believe nRF51 can do it as well, there's just less memory available) - there are a bunch of examples provided by Nordic, it's called 'central' mode (as opposed to 'peripheral').

Hi Gordon, thanks for this. Do you think that you will stick with Raytac modules going forward ? We do not want to design a product now with Raytac and then espruino ends up on a different module next year ?

I can't say for sure I'm afraid. It doesn't take a great deal of effort to make it run on different nRF52 modules though.