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iPhone and the Propeller? — Parallax Forums

iPhone and the Propeller?

MJHanaganMJHanagan Posts: 189
edited 2011-11-27 22:44 in Propeller 1
Has anyone been successful in getting an iPhone (3S or above) to communicate with a Propeller chip? My guess is that there should be some way to utilize the iPhone's bluetooth capability, or perhaps even its WiFi capability (utilizing a wireless LAN). Not sure how to even start down this path if it is possible. My goal is to just be able to check on the status of a Propeller that is operating some outdoor lighting, then ultimately be able to turn things on and off. I would assume I would need to write my own iPhone "app" to do this but that I am willing to learn how to do.

Anyone else out there tried such a thing?

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2011-11-26 15:41
    You can use Mochasoft's Telnet iPhone app along with a Spinneret attached through some kind of WiFi bridge. Essentially the iPhone acts as a terminal to the Spinneret. You type on the on-screen keyboard on the Telnet app and the Spinneret sees the serial character stream which it can interpret. Bean wrote a version of his Basic interpreter for the Spinneret and you could use that to experiment with ... and modify it for your application. I can't say I've done it myself, but there's no reason why it shouldn't work.
  • jdoleckijdolecki Posts: 726
    edited 2011-11-26 15:55
    MakerShed has this listed

    http://www.makershed.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=redpark

    If you can communicate with the Arduino you should be able to communicate with the Propeller
  • $WMc%$WMc% Posts: 1,884
    edited 2011-11-26 17:12
    Take a look at this.
    '
    http://www.rovingnetworks.com/files/resources/WiFly-RN-174-DS.pdf
    '
    Its a WiFi to serial device with the full WPA2-PSK encyption...
    '
    I'm looking to do the same thing with a smart phone...
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2011-11-27 03:35
    There are a couple options, what you choose depends on your project and your skills.

    1. Use a Redpark iPhone serial cable to connect to the Propeller. You will need to be able to write apps for the iPhone. This solution though isn't one that can be shared with the masses as you have to be an iOS developer and some of the skills are deeper than a general community may have. I have all the tools ready to do this, just lack time.

    2. Have the Propeller be a web server (Spinneret). Then use any internet enabled device to browse to the Propeller's web page. You can make the GUI as fancy or basic as you want because it is all web programming/HTML/Java, etc. This solution is fairly straight forward, though you will need basics in several areas. There are fragments of examples around the forums. I know I have used this method for projects (though I don't think I've posted any of these projects here).

    3. Last I checked, and it was several months ago, bluetooth wasn't an option because the right programming guts weren't exposed on the iPhone, though it may work for Android devices.

    Good luck and I look forward to you sharing your project with the community.
  • MJHanaganMJHanagan Posts: 189
    edited 2011-11-27 19:09
    Sounds like any type of direct link between the iPhone and the Propeller is not likely. This Spinneret thingy seems to be a possibility but at first glance seems to require a good deal of programming. Can you recommend some beginner/basic reading materials on how to proceed down this path?
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2011-11-27 19:58
    I've seen a number of interesting work with HTML5 interfacing to "the Internet of Things"

    Because of the App development hurdles with the iPhone, i've been thinking of trying HTML5 with either the Spinneret or an intermediate PC serving web pages incorporating real world data from Propellers.
  • Kevin WoodKevin Wood Posts: 1,266
    edited 2011-11-27 22:44
    Another option is to use a cellular module of some sort to communicate. Here an Arduino shield that will give you an idea of the type of module that I'm talking about... https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9607
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