[ale] IoT

[Alex Carver]

The direct Zigbee replacement would be to use the base IEEE 802.15.4 and
put a protocol of your choice on top of it.

As for the Espressif ESP8266 chips, if you drop out of NodeMCU and
program the chips directly using their SDK you can unlock a significant
amount of power.  For example, did you know the chip has an I2S
interface built-in?  Add on a codec chip and a RAM chip (for buffering)
and you can stream MP3 sound with the module.

On 2016-07-26 18:55, Chris Fowler wrote:
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>     *From: *"Jim Kinney" <jim.kinney at gmail.com>
>     *To: *"Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!" <ale at ale.org>
>     *Sent: *Tuesday, July 26, 2016 9:06:54 PM
>     *Subject: *Re: [ale] IoT
> 
>     What's your replacement for zigbee?
> 
> NodeMCU ESP-12Es.
> 
> I started using one to monitor moisture in a ceiling after a bathroom remodel to 
> a tiled shower.  I then added temp/humdity.  I then added power control, etc.
> 
> Each runs MQTT.  I'm running Mosquitto on Linux.
> 
> To bridge my X10 legacy power control I wrote a program that subscribes to 
> x10/<house>/<device> topics.  It then executes bottlerocket using a firecracker 
> on ttyS0.  I have a device that will allow Linux to read X10 messages on power, 
> but I have to build it.  Once done then my X10 button transmit devices can 
> bridge to MQTT.
> 
> You can buy NodeMCUs from Amazon for about $10.  China about $3.  Relay for 
> power control about $1.   I have found some pre-made devices for around $7 that 
> can be reprogrammed.   The benefit is that they include the enclosure.
> 
> Using esp-link firmware you can take the NodeMCU and turn it into a "wifi 
> shield" for Arduino.   I investigated Zigbee and Z-Wave to replace my X10, but I 
> found NodeMCU and will not look back.
> 
> I was using REST and then found MQTT.  I wrote a REST to MQTT gateway so I could 
> still use REST from clients if required.