RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

mrmrtowers — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:57:02 GMT

Okay cool thanks! I will check it out 🙂

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

awneil — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:45:10 GMT

I would suggest that a better way to achieve that goal is to use the high-level GATT support in an OS like Linux, Android, Windows, or whatever - rather than getting bogged-down with all the low-level implementation details and constraints of a microcontroller.

On a microcontroller, you will still have to understand all the high-level GATT stuff anyhow.

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

mrmrtowers — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:29:31 GMT

Yeah its a bit of a leap :) thanks for the help. My project was going to start out with me creating a smartwatch using the nRF52832, thankfully I've just gone about bought some from China. Basically, I want to attempt to remove the proprietary nature of them requiring a smartphone and vendor-specific app. I am going to try the bottom driver first and then try and use UART to communicate between the watch and the RPi through the Redbear.

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

awneil — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:25:02 GMT

Hmm ... jumping straight into advanced stuff like BLE isn't really a great way to start learning how to use microcontrollers!

That's like learning to drive on a 6-axle articulated truck!!

[quote userid="69485" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/36739/redbear-nano-v2-as-dongle/141544"] I had asked around on the forum before[/quote]

On which forum?

Remember that this is a forum for developers doing the inner workings of BLE devices - so not really the place to find end-user products! An RPi forum would probably be a better place to ask that sort of thing...

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

mrmrtowers — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:15:27 GMT

Awesome thanks a lot! I'll check it out.

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

mrmrtowers — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:13:08 GMT

I want to gain experience! And up until Nordic released their Bluetooth 5 dongle (recently) there were no alternatives. I had asked around on the forum before. I'd like to have the options to improve my system as I become more knowledgeable in the field. This is a postgrad project at Uni.

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

awneil — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 12:31:58 GMT

[quote userid="69485" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/36739/redbear-nano-v2-as-dongle/141087"] I do not have much experience programming MCUs.[/quote]

So why not just get a BLE dongle which is supported on the RPi - so that it will just work with the native support?

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

bjorn-spockeli — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 12:22:20 GMT

You could try run our pc-ble-driver (which also has high-level Python and Node.js Javascript bindings) on the Raspberry Pi.

The pc-ble-driver a set of static and shared libraries that provide SoftDevice functionality to the application via serial port communication with an nRF5 connectivity chip running the SoftDevice and connectivity software.

Best regards

Bjørn

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

mrmrtowers — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 07:14:29 GMT

Sorry by new I mean that I do not have much experience programming MCUs. I am attempting to remove the smartphone out of the connection between smartwatch and online application. So I want to transfer information from the smartwatch to the raspberry pi through the redbear. Unfortunately their support is not great. The redbear product uses an nRF52832. Also I would like to eventually use bluetooth 5 which no RPI supports at the moment, and the RPI 3B+ is not available in South Africa yet.

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

awneil — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 16:47:02 GMT

Or just use an RPi with built-in Bluetooth ...

RE: RedBear nano v2 as Dongle

awneil — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 14:30:55 GMT

[quote userid="69485" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/36739/redbear-nano-v2-as-dongle"] I'm new to SoC[/quote]

What do you mean by that?

"SoC" simply stands for "System on Chip" ...

The DAPLink is a Redbear product - so you'd have to contact them for support with that. In particular, whether it would work with RPi

If it does, indeed, give you a USB-to-UART bridge (which is entirely feasible and commonplace), then this project would be no different to just using a separate USB-to-UART link; eg, an FTDI cable.

So you'd have to write code on the RPi to talk to a serial port, and code on the module to be controlled via the UART.