widgetlords

[vtipsy]

Is anyone looking at or using the boards from widgetlords.com? Got any comments or tips?

I've seen on this forum that people have qualms about using a raspberry pi for process control. Why is that?

Hardware stuff is mostly over my head for the moment but I write software for a living and this looks pretty cool.

 

[Inspire]

I havn't used widgetlords before. Looks like just selling Raspberry Pi stuff.

I don't have any problems with Raspberry Pi. It's cheap, easy to set up, and can do a lot of automation. It's just a tiny computer that can give signals to hardware.

I think the most problem I've seen is people having SD card problems, and loosing power during the brewing. I'm sure there're solutions to these problems, but they are not a big concern for me atm.

 

[jangevaa]

I've used widget lords before. I think they have some nice products. I had a positive customer experience. I've been meaning to write some CraftBeerPi plugins for the board I have from them.

 

[vtipsy]

Placed an order for:

• PI-SPI-DIN-8AI Analog Input
• PI-SPI-DIN-4KO Relay Output
• PI-SPI-DIN-RTC-RS485

Which board have you got jangevaa? I'd be happy to help with the CraftBeerPi plugins.

 

[jangevaa]

Placed an order for:

• PI-SPI-DIN-8AI Analog Input
• PI-SPI-DIN-4KO Relay Output
• PI-SPI-DIN-RTC-RS485

Which board have you got jangevaa? I'd be happy to help with the CraftBeerPi plugins.

Right on. I've got the Pi-SPi-8AI. I expect it it would be quite easy to do, just haven't found the time yet. I have some 4-20ma pressure transducers for volume measurement purposes. Incorporating those is part of the end game.

 

[GrassBrewer]

Pis crash, plain and simple. Like a normal computer, with a normal OS. This is a function of the software. This isn't the end of the world, but can put your system automation in question if something bugs out.

A microcontroller, like arduinos and microprocessors, like PLCs are based off hardware.

 

[nook3350]

I'm having a hard time getting the libraries downloaded onto the raspberry pi, can anyone give me advice on how to go bout doing it

 

[vtipsy]

Did you follow this: https://widgetlords.com/pages/getting-started-with-pi-spi-libraries

 

[nook3350]

yes I followed the exact instructions but still no luck

 

[vtipsy]

You got to provide a bit more information than that dude.

- What have you tried?
- What did you expect to happen?
- What actually happened?

I'm installing these libraries right now.

 

[nook3350]

I followed the instructions that was stated for serial. then I went to the web links that are listed and downloaded, and unzipped the latest version (v1.0.2) on both my laptop and raspberry pi. also I tried copy and past the links to terminal it replies (no such file or directory) .when I attempt to use the terminal (sudo dpkg -i libwidgetlords_1.0.2_armhf.deb) command it replies (dpkg: error: cannot access archive 'libwidgetlords_1.0.2_armhf.deb': no such file or directory). I have tried removing the (sudo apt remove libwidgetlords ) just incase I have installed it before while doing a previous project.

I'm expecting to be able to use these pi attachments on rex controls, but in order to do so I must first get the pi to recognize the attachments.

 

[nook3350]

I have the PI-SPI-DIN-RTC-RS485-CLIP raspberry pi interface.

 

[vtipsy]

The error message says "no such file or directory" which means that the file libwidgetlords_1.0.2_armhf.deb isn't in the directory that you are running the command from. You can check this by typing

ls

into the terminal (it lists the files and folders in a directory).

You can also download the file from the command line which might assuage any confusion. This is what I did:

download with

wget https://github.com/widgetlords/libwidgetlords/releases/download/v1.0.2/libwidgetlords_1.0.2_armhf.deb

then install

sudo dpkg -i libwidgetlords_1.0.2_armhf.deb

 

[nook3350]

thanks I'm about to test now I did not get any errors this way I appreciate that

also if I may, ask how did you come up with this? I'm fairly new to this field, and knowing how to resolve issues like this would be a huge help

 

[vtipsy]

I've been working with computers for a while and a lot of stuff becomes automatic ... like driving a car.

My advice is this: aim for understanding.

- Don't just copy and paste commands or code but rather think about what each is doing and why.
- Pay attention to error messages (they are a good thing) they often tell you what went wrong.
- Learn to ask good questions. Use the template from above. Provide as much detail as you can in a simple logical manner. Often writing a question down in this way will help you answer it because in order to effectively communicate the problem to another person you have to understand it first.