- Install the USB driver on your laptop (see "Install driver")
- Download the IDE (see "Integrated development environment")
Need wifi to download the driver and IDE? We've got you covered. At least in the hangar, that is. You can use the SoftwareCircus2017 hotspot, with password cloudbusting.
Create an account for the IFTTT.com service. You'll need a (free) account in order to create applets. Applets are defined by an incoming and an outgoing service. We'll be using Webhook as the incoming service, and a service you'll select as the outgoing service. That could be sending a GMail, sending a tweet via Twitter, switching on a LIFX light, etc. After you've created an applet, click on the Webhook icon and click on the settings icon to look up the API key. The name you've given your applet, plus the API key, are all that is needed to get the pirtoifttt.lua script running.
If want to learn more about the Internet of Things you could decide to buy my book. Greatly appreciated.
The files in this repository are part of the workshop Build your own Internet of Things appliance, on Software Circus 2017 Cloudbusting. Attendees of the workshop create their own real-life IoT appliance using a microcontroller called NodeMCU and some clever software that connects to the internet.
In order to program the NodeMCU, a computer with USB is required (modern laptops with USB-C require a USB 2.0/3.0 hub, for instance the MacBook Pro). Drivers and an IDE need to be installed before programming can take off. Attendees are encouraged to install the appropriate driver and download the IDE (and if nessecary, Java) beforehand, to prevent wifi bandwidth degradation during the workshop.
In order to communicate with a NodeMCU via USB, a driver is needed. Drivers here are for Windows (CP210x_Windows_Drivers.zip) and OS X (SiLabsUSBDriverDisk.dmg). Install on your favorite platform and you're good to go. Word is, you don't need a driver with Linux, as it's part of the distro. If you want to share your milage, please contact me and I'll put your notes here.
A complete IDE is available, in the form of ESPlorer.jar, a Java program. Java needs to be already installed on your computer though. If nothing happens when you doubleclick ESPlorer.jar, you need to install Java as well.
In order to give you a running start, I've written a small introductory leaflet for Lua, called LUA-INTRO.md.
blink.lua
Flashes the D0 led on the NodeMCU with a 1 Hz frequency.wifi.lua
Sets the wifi credentials and tests the connectivity by calling a webhook.testpir.lua
Prints a message onscreen if a PIR sensor fires.pirtoifttt.lua
Calls a webhook on IFTTT.com once a connected PIR sensor fires. Name of the IFTTT applet and the corresponding API KEY need to be filled in.testanalog.lua
Print the current value of the analog port on screen.resistancetothingspeak.lua
Calls a webhook on ThingSpeak.com with the current value of the analog port. The API KEY of the ThingSpeak channels needs to be filled in.
If you want to auto execute a lua script, you can put a dofile("yourscript.lua") inside a script that you name init.lua. Everytime you reboot the NodeMCU, init.lua is executed, which in turn runs your script. Be very careful with this feature though, as that auto execute happens in microseconds. If your script contains a bug that reboots the NodeMCU, you end up with an endless loop of rebooting.
It happens that a NodeMCU becomes unresponsive, usually as a result of calling a buggy lua script from an init.lua. You can use the python script esptool.py to reflash your NodeMCU, effectively resetting to 'factory' defaults. Examine the flashamica.sh shellscript in this repository to see how and what files you need (they're all here as well).