When I started this challenge, I planned to use the BADGEr for the 'Human Interface' as the proof of concept hardware.
Once I had my hands on this, it became apparent that it was an excellent design, but compromises had been made to suit its intended application.
For my purpose, I felt it was rather slow at refreshing the screen which could be a problem as the items on the list were ticked off.
I always knew the 2.7 inch display was going to be a compromise, and for us of the age where reading glasses are a must, you'd need to use them to interact with it.
The 4.4 and 7.4 inch displays I had arranged to purchase were recalled by Pervasive in order to upgrade to a V230 (apparently operates to -20deg), and with no time frame on delivery.
As I already pointed out, element14 don't stock the larger sizes, so I have been dealing with local rep at Glyn. Martin has been very helpful despite the curve balls thrown at him.
I decided that the solution may be to use a eReader of some description, and either remove the display and driver, or look at whether this can be used.
Luckily the KOBO Touch was on special, so it came home with me.
Initial impressions are that it will work for the proof of concept part.
- It has a very crisp screen that is faster to refresh.
- It has already been hacked to gain access to the underlying OS, which means the start-up and other aspects can be tailored to suit.
- Wireless is built in, and it also has a web browser which does a great job of rendering color pictures.
- It has a touch screen that saves all those button presses.
The more I look at this device, the more I think it would also suit as the completed item ... providing the charging can be integrated.
Currently charging is via a micro USB, and it would be upside down to my phone ....
In theory this means the output from the receiver can be connected across the USB +/- to charge the built in battery.
Does this alter my challenge.?
The concept was to produce an electronic shopping list, that used the wireless charging and was updated with items, and downloaded when returning from shopping.
Yes it can still do this. .... but the downside of this device is you can read Books, play Sudoko, and browse the web (albeit in B&W) so it might not always be on the charger.
It is an ePaper display which means that the power consumption is low/zero ... the 7inch tablets were tempting (and cheaper) but are energy hungry in comparison.
The webserver to receive the shopping items for the list doesn't care what the final hardware is, it just needs to know the right format for display and how to get it there.
Currently I'm busy checking out how to format pages for display and interaction, so they can get pushed out from the webserver ... so more new technologies are being learnt ... abeit a vertical learning curve and skipping half of it.
One option could be to have the webserver look for the WiFi IP address/hostname (or charger signal) and push the pages out whenever it finds it.
The messages can be also pushed out and made to come to the front (similar to the how the image changes when its put into sleep mode, and how some email packages show new messages).
Dedicated hardware is certainly a 'safer' option, but in the meantime this is my new 'proof of concept' hardware.
Mark
Oh btw the Sudoko is harder because you can't put more than one number in a square ....
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My other posts Wireless Challenge .... the other bit eLIST progress 3 eLIST progress 2 , eLIST progress , eLIST - KOBO Touch , 5W Load Schematic