What do you want out of a web and mobile experience?

[taylor]

We're building out a web backend and mobile support system to connect you to your projects wherever you are. What kind of features are you looking for? For developers out there, do you have any suggestions on architecture of implementation? Does anyone have any code to contribute?

[up2late]

My needs here are minimal. I prefer not to rely on cloud based tech any more than absolutely necessary. In the past I've run my home automation systems from a local LAMP stack. That gave me the ability to have 100% control with the added advantage of everything working if my internet is out while still allowing remote access. It does add some extra headaches if you don't have a fixed IP address but it was worth it for me.

I'll work with whatever is available. I'll learn what I have to to fit it into my system.

[HiTechFarmer]

Being able to pull data quickly using an API that returns JSON would be great. That way I can spend more time on the front-end and less time trying to get collective data from my mesh network of Flutter devices.

Also, having a basic "hand holding" type of experience with limited features and also having an advanced "developer centric" version would be nice.

[wilberolive]

I've been following flutter on and off for a little while now and am interested, but I'm a bit confused about this. How will flutter have Internet connectivity exactly? A project I'm working on requires remote monitoring and asset management and flutter looks like a perfect solution to mount on each vehicle and such that needs to be monitored. The project requires the data to be sent to a backend server at periodic intervals (every few minutes for example) or when an alarm or something is triggered. This backend data then needs to be accessible by the powers that be through a web dashboard for example. Will flutter offer this sort of functionality built-in or something? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I might have missed some writes ups where this has been discussed.

On a side note, I'm a big fan of Discourse and really happy you've chosen it as your discussions platform.

[MaterGrower]

Nice easy to read user interface.
Data collection with cell phones Pendragonsoftware.com
I will be talking with the programmers at pendragon and i will get any information i can and report back to you about the ability to mobile sync. They currently have it set up for the Sensordrone data collector.

[up2late]

@wilberolive I think this will depend on what you call remote. I can think of several ways to do this and they all have pros and cons. If you're talking about more than say a half mile from a central location then you'll be outside of it's range. Another option if you have multiple devices and use a mesh net then you can increase your range a lot as long as one device never goes beyond the range of another device.

[jet_flyer]

If I read it right Flutter boards can connect to the internet via a base station (and can connect to said base station via mesh networking)
Here's a direct copy/ paste from the Kickstarter page

" Network Shield (Flutter Base Station)
The Network Shield connects to your home router and creates a bridge between your mobile devices, the Internet, and Flutter. The Network Shield gives you all the benefits of our mobile app but also lets you use Flutter to interact with the web: send a tweet, log sensor data to the web, or build a web page that controls your real world projects. Giving you a second network in your home with 100x the coverage of your wifi network, the Network Shield is perfect for connecting your projects to each other, your mobile devices, and the web.

This shield features a Texas Instruments wifi module with special SmartConfig setup that lets you connect Flutter to any 802.11b/g wifi network with just a few taps on our mobile app. And also features an ethernet jack for a simple solid connection between Flutter and the outside world."

[taylor]

Just popping in; yup, Flutter has a base station (which is still in progress, we've been focusing on the main hardware first), and you will also be able to just plug Flutter into your PC over USB to pipe data to the cloud. Of course, cloud access is always optional, and the mobile app will use local network communications when available.

[samuk]

you will also be able to just plug Flutter into your PC over USB to pipe data to the cloud.

How would this USB interface work? Sorry I'm really new to this area.. Would it mean I could plug Flutter into the USB port of my OpenWrt router and use flutter as an interface?

I'd like to play around with connecting two commotion wireless routers together using flutter instead of WiFi if that's at all possible?

[taylor]

That should be possible - it just depends on whether or not OpenWRT supports USB serial devices. Flutter will show up as a USB CDC serial port (other things, like joysticks, also possible down the road). If you got Flutter working with OpenWRT it would be amazing! It works with linux, so it should be possible.

[jet_flyer]

It works with linux, so it should be possible.

slight tangent- that made me think of the raspberry pi I recently got(Kano kit), that opens up some cool options

[samuk]

Looks possible I think. http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/hardware/port.serial?s[]=usb&s[]=serial#usb.enabled.routers

[taylor]

Awesome! That will be super handy.