Howdy all! I know you’ve probably seen lots about Machinechat the past few days, so let’s do a quick run-down together of all the things!
What is Machinechat JEDI?
Machinechat JEDI is an all-in-one IoT dashboard and monitoring software capable of running on Windows, MacOS, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, or Linux. With tools such as dashboards, multi-protocol data collectors, a rules engine, and data logger all in a web based user interface–with external plug-in support–it is a power packed software in a few megabytes-sized package!
How can I use Machinechat JEDI?
Machinechat JEDI is a perfect fit for running private IoT monitoring systems that are not reliant upon having internet connectivity nor are they tied to a cloud service (which means increased privacy and NO recurring fees!). It has zero external dependencies, built-in data collectors for HTTP, MQTT, TCP, Serial, and SparkFun OpenLog, and the ability to grant access to multiple users, so you and your team are able to easily collect and visualize data from sensors, machines, and other applications, be it real-time or stored.
From there, you’re able to go from raw data to intuitive, clear visualizations using various widgets on data dashboards or system dashboards, along with customizable backgrounds. You can even incorporate controls to your dashboards to send custom commands to your devices (learn more about system controls here) and monitor your data automatically with SMS (via a Twilio account or cellular carrier with email to text service) and/or email alerts!
So, what does this mean for Machinechat and SparkFun?
That’s a great question! Our friends over at Machinechat have incorporated a built-in data collector for our OpenLog Artemis (without IMU) board; this means that the ~30 auto-detected sensors known to the OLA are automatically recognized and logged by your OpenLog Serial data collector on Machinechat! So, let’s take a look at the list of sensors currently included in this:
- Any u-Blox GPS Modules (Lat/Long, Altitude, Velocity, SIV, Time, Date) such as:
- LPS25HB Barometric Pressure Sensor
- BME280 Humidity and Barometric Pressure Sensor
- MS5637 Barometric Pressure Sensor
- MS5837 Depth and Pressure Sensor
- SDP31 Differential Pressure Sensor
- MS8607 Pressure Humidity Temperature Sensor
- MPR0025PA MicroPressure Sensor
- TMP117 High Precision Temperature Sensor
- AHT20 Humidity and Temperature Sensor
- SHTC3 Humidity and Temperature Sensor
- CCS811 Air Quality Sensor
- SGP30 Air Quality Sensor
- SGP40 Air Quality (VOC Index) Sensor
- SCD30 CO2 and Air Quality Sensor
- SN-GCJA5 Particle Sensor
- VEML6075 UV Sensor
- VCNL4040 Proximity Sensor
- VL53L1X LIDAR Distance Sensor
- ADS122C04 ADC PT100 Sensor
- MAX30101 Pulse Oximeter and Heart Rate Sensor
With this feature, you can go from a bundle of daisy-chained Qwiic sensors to active data visualization in minutes! Check out these resources to learn more about how to get started:
Getting Started with Machinechat
Setting Up the SparkFun OpenLog Serial Data Collector
Rad! Should I get a JEDI One license or a JEDI Pro license?
This will ultimately depend on the use case for your project; to help you determine which license will best suit your needs, here is a handy-dandy comparison between the two options:
Note: The SparkFun editions of JEDI One and JEDI Pro are only available in JEDI v3.1 and later
One of the things that bothers me a bit is that the documentation for "JEDI One" seems to imply that it does NOT support Raspberry Pi OS (by not mentioning it in the documentation). The "JEDI Pro" explicitly says that it DOES support Raspberry Pi OS, but for me, at least, the extra price isn't in the budget.