How can I make phidgets 8/8/8 wireless

[machinist]

Hey guys,
the title says it all. I have an 8/8/8 and I'm curious how I can make this wireless. Can I plug it into a wireless print server and still see it the same way?

Thanks.

[fixstuff555]

The only way that I know of is this. The Phidgets have a webservice available - but it requires a PC to have the Phidget connected locally so that it can serve them up to the network. I tested this on a small HTPC running Windows XP with a wireless connection, and connected to it from another computer on my network. Flowstone can connect to a remote Phidget as easily as a local one, by just having the ID input with this format:

ex:
121203, 192.168.1.151, 5001

If the print server has Upnp, it might work, but I haven't tried it. This would allow a PC to see the Upnp device as a local device. I'm thinking you are thinking of something like this? http://www.iogear.com/product/GUIP201/ and this http://jpsblog.com/blog/gadgets/. It seems from the blog that it works, but I haven't tried it. They are only about $60 so this might be good also. The only thing needed for this would be a wireless hub, which would add cost.

As far as the HTPC goes, with the price dropping below $200, this might not be a bad alternative, and it opens up other doors as well, like Flowstone server to client connections for other hardware such as remote COM ports along with the Phidget. I used a network server/client connection with a Flowboard as well. DSP Robotics doesn't have a web service available like the Phidgets, but with their network server and client connection, you can basically do the same thing.

[machinist]

I have been looking into this for a while now even though I finally just bought the phidgets board and got it yesterday. I think I'm going to go with the IOGEAR 4 port device instead of the 1 port to also be used with my webcam, USB-Serial adapter for Motor Controller and phidgets 8/8/8. I'm working on a a few robots with the same hardware. The end goal is to complete a robomagellan robot. Right now I plan on making it wireless to put it on a smaller system and make a linefollowing robot out of it. At some point a Phidgets GPS unit will be added at which point I will Upgrade my software, but until I know for sure this is going to work I'm trying to stick with the free version. So far so good. Thanks for the response.

[DSP]

If you're going to use a few Phidgets then the SBC makes sense. This eliminates the need for a PC at the remote end and acts as the web server allowing several Phidgets to be added to the SBC. This can also be made wireless and uses your standard WiFi signal. You can even control your SBC over the internet!

You can also use a wireless USB hub but these have a limited range (10m) and are quite slow.

[fixstuff555]

For size, I would agree, the SBC is really small. On the flip side, if you need to do something other than the Phidgets, you'll be out of luck, unless you don't mind digging into the Debian side of things in Linux on the SBC. The SBC board also costs $230, and when you add in the cost of the wireless USB stick at $30, your approaching $300. The HTPC I bought was $200 with all that built in. It also has a built-in MMC/SD/etc card adapter along with HDMI that may be useful to you in other ways (SDcard for data logging perhaps?) The HTPC also lets you run Flowstone locally which the SBC can't do, for Flowstone to Flowstone systems. COM interfacing is possible with the SBC, they even sell a dongle for doing just that. The SBC is only supported from Flowstone as a web service device though. A COM port from that wouldn't be usable in Flowstone as far as I know, where from the HTPC running Flowstone locally it is.

[machinist]

For my uses. I went with a networked wireless hub. the speed is adequate enough for what I need it for and I can hook my motor control, camera, and 8/8/8 up to it with no issues.

[mimiq8]

For my uses. I went with a networked wireless hub. the speed is adequate enough for what I need it for and I can hook my motor control, camera, and 8/8/8 up to it with no issues.

please help me with that ... how did you manage to do it ? I am using the same wireless hab as yours which is the IOGEAR but as soon as I run my application my program stops and gives me errors, I am using vb.net 2010. if you know something please tell me ASAP

thanks

[mimiq8]

The only way that I know of is this. The Phidgets have a webservice available - but it requires a PC to have the Phidget connected locally so that it can serve them up to the network. I tested this on a small HTPC running Windows XP with a wireless connection, and connected to it from another computer on my network. Flowstone can connect to a remote Phidget as easily as a local one, by just having the ID input with this format:

ex:
121203, 192.168.1.151, 5001

If the print server has Upnp, it might work, but I haven't tried it. This would allow a PC to see the Upnp device as a local device. I'm thinking you are thinking of something like this? http://www.iogear.com/product/GUIP201/ and this http://jpsblog.com/blog/gadgets/. It seems from the blog that it works, but I haven't tried it. They are only about $60 so this might be good also. The only thing needed for this would be a wireless hub, which would add cost.

As far as the HTPC goes, with the price dropping below $200, this might not be a bad alternative, and it opens up other doors as well, like Flowstone server to client connections for other hardware such as remote COM ports along with the Phidget. I used a network server/client connection with a Flowboard as well. DSP Robotics doesn't have a web service available like the Phidgets, but with their network server and client connection, you can basically do the same thing.

did you manage to connect the phidget wirelessly ? please help im stuck with that

[fixstuff555]

Yes I did. I ended up using a Raspberry Pi configured with the Phidget Webservice running on it. I was able to run all of my Phidget boards wirelessly this way with the exception of the GPS board. For some reason, it would crash the webservice, while everything else ran fine.

Phidget's website has a walkthrough on how to configure a Debian linux install with the webservice and Phidget libraries you need to put on the Pi. I dug elsewhere to get the wireless dongle up and running on the Pi, there are plenty of Raspberry Pi tutorials on that also.

I was able to drive a little robot car I put together with this, its all phidget based mostly, from Flowstone. I didn't make any kind if a fancy GUI, but just enough to run it using the Xbox 360 controller. I have attached the flowstone code if you are interested. It was just something I was playing around with, but hopefully you'll be able to use some of it.

Here is a link to a video of the car running in my basement (excuse the mess)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hzefdbvizhqu8s/VID_20130421_243801_935.mp4