Best posts made by mtylerjr

Ive only really discovered the M5Stack ecosystem recently, and have become addicted. Initially I was dismayed by what seemed a lack of activity in the forum, but I now see it is a very lively, active community - but seemingly focused on twitter as the way to interact, rather than a forum?

Anyway, I am trying to compile a list of possible upcoming M5Stack products, as mentioned on tweets from @M5Stack on twitter, and just from the past few weeks, these have been mentioned:

Some sort of "M5Stack S3 Uno"? (M5Letter?)
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1683141542738014208

TimerCamS3
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1683301111263031300
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1648658912474963970

UnitCamS3
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1683292919040729088x`

ENV Module "Pro"
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1683287670221586432

StickPlus2
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1682320261708926977

M5Stack Ring
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1682313256415928320
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1679017559226728448

StampFly
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1674758521349640192
https://twitter.com/necobut/status/1673539375345582081
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1673302438064066560

StampS3FPV
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1662506500261318657

8Servo unit
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1678240999242358788 Released!

CoreMP135
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1669738054444290048
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1671484238372438016
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1676909097596354560

AtomDualJoystick
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1679092984208592896

AtomS3Joy
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1673610255358660608

Dual Joystick for Stamp Capsule
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1672792671956635650

Stamp Capsule
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1670706724620365825
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1674357211592785921
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1673518810140409859
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1673242991237148672

MiniOLED
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1679017776495869952 Released!

Cardputer
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1678381787490418689

Carputer Backpack
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1678778656909582337

GNSS-Pro module
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1678382351850807297

M5RC 2
https://twitter.com/elec_leak/status/1679007156220354561

M5Stack Book
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1678241033119834112

VA Meter
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1674002164845522944

(new) LoRa Unit (using E220-900T22S)
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1677295046641733632

Switch+ Unit
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1676898310941196289
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1673902924995624961

(new) M5Recorder
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1676880036207685632

BugC2
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1676570131571548161

M5Meter
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1674709122313498624

16ToF Unit
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1672923564780183552

M5StickT-Lite
https://twitter.com/mongonta555/status/1672875375955959808

Nano
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1673652337758588929
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1670612941446717442

Some sort of waterproof enclosure?
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1676890230748758016

AtomEchoS3
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1670761716454658050

MiniScale unit
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1670612763356585984
StamPLC
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1668837363257339904

CardKB2
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1663747736850800641

UnitV3
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1650709999533047808
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1660470152612270080

TimerCamS3

DDT Module
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1646057800500641792

MSX0 ?
https://twitter.com/M5Stack/status/1657951772647002114

Question: Is there another source of info about upcoming products, other than cryptic (to me) tweets? Any pre-release developer channels or beta/insider programs?

@isoeek M5Stack is different. For now at least, it does take a lot of data-mining effort to find information - which is a barrier to those of us with ADD/ADHD obviously.

Also, a lot of what exists is in non-english, as M5Stack's initial focus, going by social media, seems to be on Japan. And so there seems to be a heavier focus on cute "-chan" robots and "-neko" ears and that sort of japan-style "cute" stuff than stuff that would be generally helpful to your typical developer. But it seems to be financing their other development stuff, so whatever works, right? They are releasing new products every week now, so something is working.

Dont give up though. We are all struggling with lack of information/documentation, but I think things are heading in the right direction. UIFlow2 is growing, is a much better system, and eventually should replace UIFlow1.

Truthfully, I would have suggested they didnt release all the hardware before there was good documentation for it, but Im not in marketing, and it may not have been feasible. I guess all I am suggesting is "lots of us understand your difficulties trying to get accurate and usefull info/documentation, but dont give up."

We should also definitely support those people that are working to fix the documentation problem, like ajb2k3

and insaneLX's trick is very helpful

I think M5Stack should consider rewards vouchers - like a 10%-15%-20% off discount code after someone spends $800 USD on products, or something like that :D

They added support for "ENV IV" in the latest UIFlow2 Alpha 23 - as if they expected it to be released at the same time, so... I am assuming it is going to be very soon. [Although Twitter/X mentions ENV "Pro" which looked Gray, not white.]

Im waiting for at least one of the following "soon" products to be available before my next big order:

MStickS3
M5NanoS3
M5Dial
AtomS3Echo
StampFly/StampS3FPV

Though I wish they would release them all at once, instead of one per week. Shipping to NZ has skyrocketed, so it would be helpful if they were all available so I could buy them all in one order :(

Also, see the readme text at https://github.com/m5stack/M5Unified

@bram Did you self-solder connectors and pins?

Ive seen this a few times with tiny solder bridges to vcc or gnd that varied when they heated up/cooled down and acted exactly that way. (Or similarly when I took too long soldering pins, and damaged an internal component from the heat of the pin/solder pad)

@robot_alf "need to connect sensors to 1,2,3 ports of pahub, not to 0,1,2"

There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors :D

@ajb2k3 When I was originally trying to use UIFlow2, I wanted to select my device (a CoreS3 I had just received). I wasnt aware yet that I had to go through other steps first, to make the device appear in the "Select Device" popup window of UIFlow2.

So, just trying to connect from UIFlow2 without knowing any better, I tried to select my device, but the only options in that "Select Device" window, under "My Device", were "Private" "Token Required" and "Public" with no explanation of what these meant. It was 100% not clear or intuitive to me what the purpose of these three options were.

The clickable buttons next to each of these - the only UI options available to try - all just redirected to the store page. Since I already bought and owned a device, this was very very frustrating. I had no idea what the intent of that screen was - all I knew is it really wanted to send me to the store, and that I had nothing else to try. I had no idea of the need for m5burner for example.

It was only much later when I figured out through trial and error how to get my device bound to my account, and the UIFlow2 image burned, before it would show up on that selection screen.

There needs to be (in my opinion) a much higher level overview of the steps needed to get through your first connection to a device - something that would explain what that screen was, and when it was used.

There may -be- something like that existing already - but I couldnt find anything.

The "Documents" link at the bottom of the CoreS3 store page (https://shop.m5stack.com/products/m5stack-cores3-esp32s3-lotdevelopment-kit) just directed to the page explaining pinouts, and modules, and the EasyLoader patch tool. (https://docs.m5stack.com/en/core/CoreS3)

Critically, there is nothing on that last page that talks about the need for m5burner, or the steps required to connect to UIFlow2 - at least none that are obvious. There is a small menu at the bottom of the page, "developer tools" that goes to a page that lists links for many things including m5burner. But even then it isnt clear you need it, or what it is for - at least that is how it was for me.

So It took a lot of hunting around, googling, dozens of redirects to the store, before I finally pieced together enough of an idea of the order of things to do.

Someone else might have found all the info right away, I guess, and I was just not smart enough - but Ive been developing embedded firmware for over 40 years, on hundreds of platforms, and found the whole information-hunting process very frustrating for this product.

Having said that, once I connected to my CoreS3, I was so happy I ordered several more products from M5Stack - Atom Echo Smart Speaker, M5StampS3, AtomS3 Lite, AtomS3, M5StickC PLUS, two Atom TailBats, Env-III module, CardKB Mini Keyboard, and some other battery modules, which just arrived, that I can play with this weekend :D

@ajb2k3 I was able to get it working - the problem was the default bluetooth scanner in my old phone. Using a proper BLE scanning app from google play, I was able to write text and raw data from UIFLOW2 and see it in the phone app.

Its good enough for proof of concept :D Thanks for the help guys

I wish there was a battery module for the AtomS3 , of the same size as the AtomS3, that fit on the back instead of how the TailBat attaches. So it would be more cubical. An AtomStack.

I know it would be smaller capacity. Maybe 24mm x 24mm but thicker than the AtomS3

I wish you could get M5StickC-Plus in colors othere than red

Or even a black version of the AtomS3

I just wanted to mention that It is possible to transplant the 1500 mah lipo battery, from the "13.2 battery module", and squeeze it into the "DIN Base" (replacing its smaller 500mah battery.)
It is a very tight fit - and I did remove the two small spongy spacers and clear plastic barrier [that seems to exist to protect the battery from too-long-screws from the bottom], so there is less physical protection and the warranty is voided obviously - but now I have a more compact CoreS3/Din Base combo, with triple the mAh to last longer unplugged without the additional height of the 13.2 battery module.

It may not matter to most, but It is a workable, if unsupported, DIY option (if height needs to be limited)

What is the friday new product this week?

It's friday afternoon in New Zealand. It's also a holiday (Matariki - Sort of a "Maori new year") so I dont have work to distract me from continuosly checking.

Also no squirrels in New Zealand to distract :(

I was able to get the S3 devices to advertise as a BLE server, and write some values out via GATT transactions, and then scan/detect/connect/read those values from a BLE scanner app on my phone - just to prove that it worked.

Its BLE (bluetooth low energy) , not standard bluetooth BR/EDR.

I only determined how to send short (under 20 bytes) GATT messages. I dont think there is a layer to "stream" data using BLE in UIFlOW, just to setup as a BLE server, advertise, and do GATT transactions. BLE is really only meant for a low duty cycle (very short messages occasionally, not a constant connection and streaming data) but even so, that should be okay for sensors and short data packets.

You can read about GATT and BLE here https://learn.adafruit.com/introduction-to-bluetooth-low-energy/gatt

There are more mature arduino libraries for using BLE on ESP32 (ArduinoBLE@1.2.0 for example) if you want to go that route but I think UIFLOW2 is currently limited to the barest of implementations. But it seems to be slowly but surely filling out with more things added each week, and I think it is going to be awesome when it is more complete.

This brings up another question Ive had for awhile.

Why does M5stack need to have a device registered on a far away server, just to program it for personal use?

Why isnt there a simple "use it without registering it internationally" mode? I cant think of any other hobbyist platform - Rapberry Pi, Feather, Microbit, Arduino, Beaglebone, Lilypad, Circuit Python, Fez/Gadgeteer, TI-Launchpad, Teensy, NXP-LPCXpresso, Arm-MBed, Parallax, ST-Nucleo, WIO, XIAO, Particle, Sparkfun-Thing - that has that requirement.

Is there a reason?

This is what Ive been able to put together from the (often conflicting!) Documents and schematics. Probably has several mistakes, but then so do the docs and schematics :/

Several question marks remain though.

@neilh20 I think you'll need to look at the DIN-base schematics - thats where the 24v max comes from, the base's own dc converters. And it comes attached with the CoreS3 so the webpage advertising/specifications treat them (understandably) as single unit.

@ajb2k3 Well, this had nothing to do with the OS this time. But yeah, Ive had my own code, compiled as an EXE, promptly quarantined by the over-zealous anti-malware system. My employer takes security...very very seriously. To the point where software guys like myself get frustrated over things like this.

But still, it was unnerving to be contacted by our cybersecurity team on the other side of the planet, telling me I'd set off alarms from several thousands of kilometers away, just from playing with my new m5stack devices I'd received that day, and that I'd have to have my machine scrubbed.

But it looks like nothing has come of it, and was a false alarm. I'll just stick to using them at home instead of at work. I could never get M5burner to work through the layers of security anyway.

BTW, Ive succeeded in geting both UIFlow1 and UIFlow2 working on my Core2 AWS. I basically bought it to use with UIFlow1 until UIFlow2 is more complete. Now I can use all my "only supported by UIFlow1" bits, while UIFlow2 grows.

This may be a dumb question but... aside from the (very cool) AI capabilities, can you just tell this camera unit to.. just capture an image? (Take a photo)

I honestly cant find a way to do that in UIFlow.

Sorry, it is the OCD and autism combining with the ADD, lol