Local App on Samsung Tablet

[groutch]

I would like to know  if you can run Midnite Solar local app on a Samsung Tablet? Has anybody attempted to get it to work.
Because it's Android bas system.

[Resthome]

I would like to know  if you can run Midnite Solar local app on a Samsung Tablet? Has anybody attempted to get it to work.
Because it's Android bas system.

The MidNite Solar Local Application which enables you to monitor your Classics over your local network or the Internet. It is compatible with Windows© 7, Vista, and XP, and Mac OS X ©.
It needs Adobe Air.


John

[boB]

Is that an Android tablet ?  If so, no.

The Local App ~should~ be able to be compiled for Android but there are evidently
library problems with Android's AIR.

Unfortunately, Androids and iPhones and tablets just aren't as versatile as a PC.

boB

[TomW]

Unfortunately, Androids and iPhones and tablets just aren't as versatile as a PC.

boB

Sounds like another argument for a  web browser interface on the Classic?

Probably just stating the obvious.

Tom

[dgd]

Sounds like another argument for a  web browser interface on the Classic?

Probably just stating the obvious.

Tom

.naughty...

Tom, you know my views on this and I don't want to rant (again) I just wish someone at MN would stand back and take a good look at the web classic instead of investing all the apparent effort in the local app,  sorry almost slipped into rant more but will say no more.

Just as an aside I was at a 'free drinks and nibbles do' this morning with a local alt energy supplier.
There was lots of lithium battery stuff,  cheaper and getting cheaper PVs etc.. But one item of interest to me as a new mppt controller, Chinese, about to be released, basically 45a output 12,24,48v Ethernet, USB host, SD card socket, 2 CPU one is an ARM and a web host interface.
Just reminded me of the web pages you get with a Cisco wrt54g, live monitoring page inc fet temps, 2 pages for setup, one does mppt controller stuff the other ip config stuff (its set to default 192.168.1.230) and last web page is 300 day reporting.

Not IMHO as sophisticated as the Classic in doing its mppt control, battery charging etc BUT what a simple and useful setup and reporting web interface. I will not post pics and web images as its probably not appropriate in an MN forum.

I think it would also be interesting to have an Amin run poll on here to see what MN Classic users would prefer, the current local app or a classic with a web interface.

Just a thought..

Dgd

[Halfcrazy]

I have to agree when it comes to App vs Web interface. We headed down the app road a Long time ago and it is what it is BUT.

Andrew and I both agree that after this big push on the app is done next week hopefully we will call it done for the most part. The Focus going forward will be the Web based service and a webpage on the device. This will hopefully become a template for all MN products. I am a fan of having the web interface on the device. It makes it much easier for the user.

Ryan

[Westbranch]

Hear, Hear! or did I mean Here Here

[dgd]

Hear, Hear! or did I mean Here Here

There there west stay calm.. .   My browser will be patient and quietly bubbling with excitement
(Or was that G and T. 

Dgd

[Westbranch]

Nah Auchentoshan! 

Say, have you heard of FLTK?  My systems-guru buddy and I were talking about that topic and he has used FLTK for a GUI and feels it would be quite amenable to what we would like... rather than that AIR stuff that stopped supporting Linux in 2011   imagine only .5% of their users were Linux based

[boB]

Westbranch,
I went to  http://www.fltk.org/    but could not find any examples of how its output looks.
You got any links ??

As far as viewing applications go, My Midnite will be the absolute easiest for normal Joes because
there will be no port forwarding involved AND it will be HTML.

The internal web server will be faster than My Midnite but if you are outside of your home LAN,
you will need to port forward and a lot of people have had problems with that.

So, you can have your cake and eat it too and choose what flavor.

Three different methods of communicating and viewing your system.

boB

PS...  It's too bad that Adobe AIR is eventually going the way of the dinosaur because it was the ultimate
cross platform dedicated application that could do everything and had all of the plugins and APIs available
to do the job.

Also, with the web server in the Classic, whenever there is an upgrade to that, you will have to upgrade the Classics'
firmware rather than quickly download and install a new app on your PC.  My Midnite will be the easiest for this because
then you do not have to download anything at all !  It will automatically be updated next WWW browsing session.

[dgd]

 

As far as viewing applications go, My Midnite will be the absolute easiest for normal Joes because
there will be no port forwarding involved AND it will be HTML.

There is just something unnatural about connecting to a Classic that may be just a few metres away  using a web server computer located hundreds of Ks away. Can be slow throughput on busy IP core routes.  Probably incurring expensive data charges too.
Give me the local web page anytime, port forwarding problems are minor and a one-off soon solved.

Also, with the web server in the Classic, whenever there is an upgrade to that, you will have to upgrade the Classics'
firmware rather than quickly download and install a new app on your PC.  My Midnite will be the easiest for this because
then you do not have to download anything at all !  It will automatically be updated next WWW browsing session.

Hmmmm.. Not sure I would be that confident in a firmware download direct to an operating Classic.
The present firmware download though seemingly complicated the first time is a once learned activity.

Dgd

[boB]

Well, of course there will not be any port forwarding necessary when you are on your own LAN so that's
the way to go for when you are nearby.  But remember, port forwarding for you and me may be a
walk in the park but for others can be very intimidating.  So, we'll offer both methods.

As far as server charges, yes it is not free, but for My Midnite, we will incur those charges and
give that away to every user.

For updating, yes, once it has been done, it is pretty darn easy to do but you do have to power
it down first.  You will be able to do that through Ethernet rather than by USB eventually so at least
you won't have to go through all that USB hassle when that happens.

boB

[TomW]

dgd, boB, West, Ryan;

Since we have opened the door here and bear in mind I do not want to step on any toes.

I have to concur that the process of going to a remote and possibly unreachable website to monitor  or control a device that is across the compound / driveway just seems inefficient. Especially if / when things go down the tubes and our infrastructure fails. Which is one reason Our home  has RE to be brutally honest.

Personally, I live in an Internet Dead Zone with flaky on and off access.

I much prefer a local option only requiring my system is working and not requiring proprietary software that may not be available for the operating system I choose to use. There are folks I know of still using Amigas you know.    No, not me.

I also understand historic choices and investment in same being hard to turn your back on.

I honestly think it would be trivial for a savvy programmer to build a system on a PI that interfaced with the Modbus on the Classic much like the Local App that was HTTP: based. I really could not find anything off the shelf that did modbus on the Arm processor and Ubuntu.

Nothing I am up to doing but cannot be that big a deal. That could be an Open Source project given a few interested code mongers.  CGI interfaced with Modbus over ethernet. How hard can it really be?

Offer a "black box" you jack into your LAN and it talks to the Classic. Seems it could run alongside the Local App and the My.Midnite ?

Is that one connection at a time via Local App something that would limit other monitoring and control connections?

I am about to ask a couple buddies to look at this idea and give me some feedback. No guarantees, neither owes me any favors lately. Both are good with out of the box thinking and unusual solutions. Neither "does" RE.

It does not have to be Midnite doing this, either. It could be a 3rd party product. Updates could be as easy as flashing a new image to an SDHC card or an apt type update method? All of this is in place already and would be easy to adapt to this kind of project. I think.

Just spitballing here.

Tom

[boB]

Tom, you made me think of something I hadn't thought of before...

Right now, the Classic can handle 2 Ethernet connections at once.
One is whatever application that can call and talk to the Classic over
modbus (like the Local App) and the second one is when the Classic calls
into our server (My Midnite).

With the web page server in the Classic itself, is it going to be a third connection that can
be accessed at the same time as the other two ?

I don't know the answer to that yet.  I think that it can be set up that way though.

As far as local web talk, when the Classic is connected to a home LAN and available
over the WiFi, a smart phone with wifi can access it, and that will be to its internal
web page server or a modbus smart phone app.

boB

[Halfcrazy]

I to agree with Tom a lot of offgrid people do not have internet and just want to view there stuff on the LAN, and then there are some of us who worry about the future and what it holds and may not want our device calling out to a server. So both a webserver option and offsite server option are needed.

I really like 3rd party stuff I also really like open source. We would definitely support any one wanting to build and sell the "Black Box" The beauty of the black box approach is the option to monitor things like say my inverter or anemometer are there as well opening lots of doors.

I know of one company that is headed down that road but it wont be open source. I unfortunately am not a programer or I would be on the Open Source scenario big time.

So how do we start an open source movement for the Black Box?

Ryan