Because of its support for a wide range of devices and power, Meshcentral is already an amazing platform for remote management and control of Internet-of-Things devices. Today, we added another feature that makes Meshcentral a true leader in IoT device management and control - full GPIO support. General Propose IO (GPIO) is a set of software controlled hardware pins that are placed on many boards. If you look at the Intel® Galileo, there is a connector full of GPIO pins that can be configured to be used as signal input, output, oscillator or for analog read. These pins allow both DIY hackers and professionals to use these boards for a wide range of usages. GPIO is the key to connecting Intel architecture to garage doors, motion detectors, lamps, light sensors and much more. With a little knowledge, you can use many Intel® Galileo boards as an internet connected home alarm system, home automation system, controlling holiday lights or industrial machinery.
In the latest version of Meshcentral and Mesh Agent v187, you can now click on the “GPIO” link at the bottom of a device page to see the current value of each GPIO pin and it’s setting. You can then change the settings and monitor and change the values in real time. This feature is offered on both Meshcentral.com and the local mesh agent web site on HTTPS port 16990. So, you can control GPIO over the Internet or without Internet connectivity using the local mesh agent web site. Both will do the same job. One of the difficulties with GPIO is that different boards have different features and capabilities. This problem has been solved by Matt Primrose and Matt Royer who have created a way to logically map pins to hardware capabilities. You don’t have to worry about the exact details of setting up and using each GPIO pin, we now have a built-in mapping file for each supported board making the complexity of GPIO vanish. Both Matt’s creates mappings to support Intel® Galileo, Intel® Galileo 2, Minnowboard, Minnowboard MAX and all versions of the Raspberri Pi. With this GPIO could not be easier, and that is not all… We also updated our HTML / Javascript samples so that any developer can quickly make use of Meshcentral’s web based support for GPIO. In a few minutes, you can build your own web site for controlling your devices.
Now, users can setup each pin, its name and color on the UI. Then focus on getting it hooked up to something cool! Matt Primrose has really great YouTube video demonstrations of GPIO on Meshcentral and how it can work for you:
Youtube: Overview of GPIO support on Meshcentral (3 minutes, 57 seconds)
Youtube: Matt answers frequently asked questions about GPIO and Mesh (5 minutes, 30 seconds)
Questions and feedback appreciated,
Ylian Saint-Hilaire
info.meshcentral.com
Check out Matt Primrose live demonstration of GPIO on Intel® Galileo.
On the first video, Matt goes over a quick overview. On the second, he answers many common questions.
Meshcentral now supports General Purpose IO (GPIO) on a wide array of devices.
You can configure, monitor and control IO pins on from a local device web site or from Meshcentral.com.
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