Envision an Espruino one of these MAKERphone using the WebIDE in place of WhitecatIDE - Possible?

Sat 2019.03.09

What is the possibility of creating an Espruino variant replacing the WhitecatIDE with the WebIDE? Replace the ESP32?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alb­ertgajsak/makerphone-an-educational-diy-­mobile-phone

https://whitecatboard.org/the-whitecat-i­de/

https://www.makerbuino.com/

IMO a bit pricey even for intermediate builders here in the USA, but might make sense to capture that part of the market that otherwise would seek competitor micros as a starting point, perhaps?

Note: 2G was phased out last year in the midwest. 4G only moving forward.


Co-founder Albert Gajšak contacted me regarding the MAKERbuino, but my interests lie in the MAKERphone as a more salable product. What happened to the days where a mfg'r would comp a sample to get the juices flowing? geeeez


Maybe @Gordon a United Kingdom variant of English might prove more welcome than the USA flavor? ;-)

I imagine the ESP32 build of Espruino would 'just work' on the phone if anyone wanted to try it?

The makerbuino uses an ATMega though so wouldn't support Espruino.

However if you wanted to make an Espruino phone it's pretty easy to get a Pixl and slap a GSM shield and maybe a KeyPad on it. Not quite as tidy, but half the price.

Sun 2019.03.17

Thank you @Gordon, for the clarification using the ATMega, confirmed my hunch.

The more I think about the kit phone, the more I realize it just isn't that practical for a mass market product. For the elite, maybe.

Make an Espruino phone
I thought of going the GSM shield route, but as 2G has been (Nov 2017) phased out here in midwest N.A. (less than one year last dying T-Mobile sometime 2020), and the SIM900 (and RAK8212 ??) has non-compatible (okay in Europe/Asia) frequency and speed issues with 3G and 4G, that leaves us with the SIM7000A/G which is very pricey, ~$100USD + S&H.

https://www.instructables.com/id/LTE-NB-­IoT-Shield-for-Arduino/

https://arduino.stackexchange.com/questi­ons/13683/is-the-sim900-3g-or-is-the-sim­900a-able-to-connect-to-3g

https://wolfgangklenk.wordpress.com/2018­/09/13/espruino-on-rak8212-getting-start­ed/

Nice device compatibility by region and features tables

https://www.cooking-hacks.com/documentat­ion/tutorials/4g-gps-lte-wcdma-hspa-3g-g­prs-shield-arduino-raspberry-pi-waspmote­-tutorial/

The LE910-NAG looks promising also but at ~$250USD !!

Maybe I'll just butcher a burner phone (~$15) and add an inexpensive GPS module and an MDBT42Q   A BLE programmable Espruino, 4G SMS command interface long distance GSM accessible, GPS tracking module. That would also not be tidy either and be half the cost. ;-)

@allObjects, As I know you love to tinker, and I know you'll at least be thinking about it, I expect you to have this proof of concept working by tomorrow, okay? wink, wink

Did enjoy your 'DIY Marine GPS using enhanced GPS Module' article
http://forum.espruino.com/conversations/­255759/#comment11863703

@Robin,

of course... I guess the benefit not having retired yet is being protected from getting even more busy...

Which means when reading between the words (of this one liner above - that's why I cannot say ...reading between the lines): trigger has already fired, I have to confess... and more than 12 months a ago... even to the point that the hardware is sitting around, and bits and pieces of the whole project are done, like the all display and keyboard entry stuff... except putting it all together and getting a phone SW w/ BLE and WiFi did just not happen yet... (trigger: https://hackaday.com/tag/zerophone/?fbcl­id=IwAR0V09RY7w_uFKXX1hzeZkTcQwdP2558foM­9do4jpLTVt49gok0SbllHqNU) - 9/2017 - The phone *** I *** hack!

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Sat 2019.03.23

Well @allObjects you never cease to amaze me! On my hunch to presume you may tinker with the idea, I now find you are half way to that goal, and you even beat my impossible deadline by responding Before that imposed tomorrow twenty four hour limit!! I bow to the Espruino master!!

'and getting a phone SW w/ BLE and WiFi did just not happen yet...'

Was the plan to create an Espruino flavor (re: SW) and not follow the Hackaday outline in #4 link above?

I'm concerned about purchasing the SIM900 in N.A. for reasons in #3 above, with only around ten plus months of 2G SMS access remaining (T-Mobile only) and 3G in process of phase out. By the time I'd get stuff together, the hardware will be obsolete. Have you seen other alternatives to those I pointed out in #3?