I've finally worked out how to load the Tasmota code into NodeMCU devices, or probably any other for that matter - sadly, I had to re-do it before I realised what I'd done the first few times, which was actually follow the instructions! >Sigh< . Anyway, I really like mDNS, the multicast DNS mechanism whereby service providers advertise their services using multicast. This is an ideal mechanism for local services on one's own home network, and is a part of Apple's OS X and iOS, Linux distros, and (even!) Windoze. Sadly not Android. Tools. It was known as Bonjour, and is more usually known as Avahi in the Linux world. Basically, you use a DNS name of the form " yourhost.local ", where " local " triggers the special magic, and your application finds the service without needing to know the IP address. Pretty much like standard DNS eh? Except it's a completely separate code base and specific applications or OSes have to make separate calls to...
My 5 year old Dualit Espressivo broke on Saturday - disaster!! I was in the throes of making a coffee when the pump stopped, so no steamed microfoamed milk... Off with the back, check of voltages etc., taking extreme care because 240V + H2O is a Bad Thing. I located what seemed to be the pump, and there were volts on the terminals. Hmm. It’s an Ulka EP5FM according to the label. Google... Many people offering to sell me one, but the guys at ulka-ceme.co.uk aka Scintilla Pumps are the UK distributors. They sell a whole range of this type of pump, and the documentation shows that the crucial points are voltage/power, pressure (15 bar) and duty cycle (2m on/1m off). I can buy one online but I call them... they’re about 15 miles away, and are happy to sell me a replacement. We reckon it’s worth a lunch trip, so bowl over and it’s only £16 direct, vs £19.60 mail order. Done. The expensive part was lunch - £50!! Planning to skip dinner though... New pump fitted - looks like the old...
I used a Twilio test account to send SMS messages triggered by the front door bell , but of course that is about to expire, probably because I've flogged it to death with a piss-taking number of SMSs owing to connecting one of the security cameras at the rear of the house to it... Anyway, now I need a sensible free alternative - who wants to pay £0.04 per SMS, or £0.08 per doorbell ring? If you knew the number of packages we have delivered, you'd know this is infeasible! Besides, all the services have different APIs, and I couldn't be arsed to sing up for another trial somewhere else. What to do? Here's an idea - can I use Instant Messaging, like WhatsApp? WhatsApp announced that they aren't going to have an API, so that's out. I played around with iMessage, but that's pretty closed too. There are smartphone apps available that will receive a message and use the phone's text connection to send an SMS, but they also require using an API to contact th...
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