I found a few bugs while going through Kootnet Sensors code, so I’m taking a bit more time before a release. Things are coming along nicely, if all goes well, the new version should land in stable by the end of the week.

I’m getting very close to releasing a new version of Kootnet Sensors. Besides tweaking more around the web portal, I have added new hardware sensor support! Here are the sensors.

• Pimoroni RV3028 (Real Time Clock)
• Pimoroni PA1010D (GPS)
• Pimoroni MICS6814 (gas)

The RV3028 allows your Pi to keep current time when there’s no power, very handy for time-sensitive data recording.

The PA1010D GPS sensor required me to add the new sensor types into the different program sections. I’m still not done adding it to all aspects of Kootnet Sensors, but it works under “Live Sensor Readings”, Interval Recording and MQTT.

The MICS6814 sensor is a GAS sensor, but unfortunately, I don’t actually have one, so I can’t test it. On the subject of testing, I was able to move the Pimoroni SGP30 & MSA301 out of the “Un-Tested” section as I have ordered a few in to try out. I’m happy to say they are working well (now).

Yesterday I finished up a few updates to the documentation, and although not done, it at least reflects the new Web Portal changes.

There have also been updates and changes to the installers. I have updated the required Python modules (most of them) and added a few new ones that are required for the updated modules. I also fixed a bug that prevented the installer from using the local Python modules, so install time should be much faster than the previous release.

There are still a few things I kinda wanted to do… but I also want to get the new version out … So we’ll see. I’m hoping to have the new version out sometime next week. The developmental release is in good shape, so you can upgrade to it without issues if you don’t want to wait.

Until next time!

I have been a bit absent lately but I have come back with improvements to Kootnet Sensors. I will be releasing Beta.34.x soon with the following improvements so far.

• Adjusted Web Portal visuals to better match the light/dark themes
• Adjusted Web Portal visuals for more consistency across pages
• Added many Icons to menus, button and sections to improve overal look
• Added Icon on top Web Portal bar to instantly return to the top of the page
• Re-worked layout of Web Portal upgrades and power commands page
• Web Portal fixes and improvements for smaller displayed devices (mobile)
• Sensor Checkin enhancements
  • Added additional options for what to send
  • Improved Sensor Checkin view pages
    • Added setting for how many checkins to show on main page
• MQTT Subscriber Web Portal Improvements
  • Added setting for how many Sensor Posts to show on main page
• Re-wrote Sensor Reports
  • Improved responce times
  • Simplify the back end
  • Changed visuals
  • Combo report top menu now remains visable at the top of the page
    • Added link to change Theme and return to top of the page
  • Added additional System & Configuration settings
  • Reports now show sensors that are in the list but Offline
• Added Automatic Upgrades (Disabled by default)
• Updated some sensor python modules (drivers)
• Misc. Minor bugfixes

A lot of the updates revolve around improving the Web Portal user experience. This is especially true for mobile devices. For one, you can now scroll the left main menu if your screen can’t show all the items.

The report generation has also gone through a major overhaul. The HTML code for each sensor entry is now generated on the remote sensor instead of the sensor generating the report. There are obvious speed enhancements with the new approach since the report generating sensor no longer has to get every configuration and multiple other sensor variables through HTTPS requests, and after that, still make the single sensors section and the actual report. It just takes one request to get the sensors section and add it into the main report (and a few other requests to test login/latency). The back-end has also been greatly simplified with this approach, as it’s a normal flask render_template() for each sensor report section.

The next neat addition is the new automatic software upgrade function. It’s pretty much exactly what you think it would be, you set an interval to check for updates, choose what version level you want to auto-update to, and save. You can set the auto-upgrade level to the following.

• Stable Major Upgrades
  • Upgrades to new Major stable versions (Ex. Beta.32.xx –> Beta.33.xx)
• Stable Minor Upgrades
  • Upgrades to new Minor stable versions (Ex. Beta.32.12 –> Beta.32.14)
• Developmental Upgrades
  • Upgrades to any new Developmental versions (Ex. Beta.32.12 –> Beta.32.14 or Beta.32.xx –> Beta.33.xx or Beta.32.12 –> 1.0.1)

That covers most of the changes. I’ll try and remember to update this more often.

Until next time!