Official project updates

Excitement and hype for NervesConf!
So I was going to bring up NervesConf so y'all can buy tickets. But you must have already done so, because it is sold out. What you can do is join the waiting list in case tickets become available. Which might happen given the wild state of the world around us.

So NervesConf is done as a one day conference before ElixirConf, at the same venue. Speakers, hands-on training and hardware you get to keep.

Trapped on another continent for now I'll have my eyes on anything that comes out of it though. If you attend, please report on your experience in a blog post or Twitter so we can share it here.

Now, what's new in Nerves itself? I step away for a month and ... lots. I will try to summarize, just click through to whatever interests you and feel free to skim. The first one is important though.

Nerves system packages, Erlang 24.0.3 and update toolchains

So this brings all systems up to nerves_system_br, v1.16.1 which bring Erlang 24.0.3, elinit 1.10.0 and boardid 1.11.1 as well as updates to the BBB device tree.

If you are building on these systems, these should be updates that are safe for everyone to apply. Of course, check your stuff.

If you are maintaining a system, good time to look at updating it.

nerves_system_br, v1.16.2
Updated fwup and more support for Software Bill of Materials (SBOM).

Now can build on aarch64 machines.

nerves_system_br, v1.16.3
Erlang 24.0.4.
Adds default sysctl.conf which simplifies ICMP usage without root.
Fixes a couple of MacOS-related issues. One gnarly one with mix firmware sometimes taking many minutes. Credit to Jonathan Palley on that.

nerves_runtime, v0.11.5
Lets you use sysctl to load and set kernel configuration parameters. Also improved C compilation messages and error help.

ssh_subsystem_fwup, v0.6.0
Some pretty nuanced features for working with fwup. If you have particular needs from fwup I'd suggest reading it. Sounds very good.

vintage_net_mobile, v0.10.1 & vintage_net, v0.10.4
Updates to use vintage_net, v0.10.4 as that fixes a DHCP renewal and routing API issue that affects this library.

vintage_net_wifi, v0.10.3
Support WPS PBS for connecting to access points.
Added missing PSK WiFi type. Credit to Dömötör Gulyás for these.
Improved handling of AP information from wpa_supplicant.

circuits_quickstart, v0.4.5
Update all of them to nerves_system_br v1.16.1.

circuits_gpio, v0.4.7
Fix hang when unloading the NIF.
Fic C compiler warnings with OTP 24.

nerves, v1.7.9 & nerves, v1.7.10
First version adds a helper script for using gdb to analyze core dumps and support the new limits option in erlinit.

erlinit, v1.10.0
Added the --limit option to enable core dumps, increase limits like processes, file descriptors and other settings. Things typically change by ulimit.

The second version changes mix firmware.unpack to be more flexible. If you are using it in a script you might need to make some changes. Also, reduce C compiler build prints.

circuits_uart, v1.4.3 - Nothing usage-related, CI and dependency updates.
beam_notify, v0.2.1 - Makefile cleaning and dependency bumps. No code changes.
circuits_i2c, v0.3.9 - Doc and build output cleanup. No code changes.
circuits_spi, v0.1.6 - Same as above. No code changes.
circuits_gpio, v0.4.8 - Same as above. No code changes.
vintage_net, v0.10.5 - Build system and hex package updates. No code changes.
vintage_net_wifi, v0.10.4 - Build system update. No code changes.

Community updates

New project: elixir_flutter_embedder
Connor and Frank has been talking about this one way back and it is quite exciting. They snuck this thing out to little fanfare as it is early and rough, very work in progress. But essentially, it is a way to use the Flutter cross-platform UI toolkit for building your Nerves UIs.

Try it out if you have some tolerance for pain and please do contribute. As the above release log already implies, Frank and Connor might not have a lot of time to spare for this. But it is quite cool as Flutter is significantly more built out than .. Scenic.

Which brings us too more excitement!

Scenic, major updates with v0.11
Boyd resurfaced from his deep work in Kry10 and the cryptic world of correct OS:es and there are changes for Scenic. For the most insight into what's going on I'd read up and check into the #scenic channel on the Elixir Slack.

Scenic and Nerves have been tightly related ever since Scenic came out and I hope to see more of that with this new activity.

Upcoming Nerves talk at ElixirConf EU: And industrialization journey
Jean Parpaillon is scheduled to talk about work with Nerves in the sustainable energy management business.

Featured project: Sending text messages with Nerves

by Peter Ullrich

If you don't want to use Twilio or similar, why not just set something up for yourself?

This is a neat guide on getting started with a Raspberry Pi and the Waveshare GSM/GPRS/GNSS Hat which lets you send texts, make phone calls, use mobile internet and track geolocation. This guide covers text messaging.

Blog post: Sending Text Messages from a Raspberry Pi with Nerves

Nerves in the press: Bowery Farming

This is a case study by Hashicorp about the use of Nomad and Consul at Bowery Farming. I found it because I'm curious if Elixir and Nomad is a decent match. Jury is still out on that. This post did touch on that they use Nerves though which I thought was quite neat.

Case study: Connecting Farms and Growing Plants at Bowery Farming with Nomad and Consul

Supporting the Nerves project

We want to encourage everyone to contribute in whatever way works for them. Here are some ways we currently recommend:

Write or port a new hardware library and include it in the Elixir Circuits collection.
Give money to the project via Open Collective.
Get in touch about taking over maintenance duties for some libraries, we might be able to provide you hardware.
Apply for an EEF stipend on something Nerves-related and build it. We can help if you have questions about this.
Send corrections or improvements for documentation wherever it fails to help you.
Write about Nerves, give talks about Nerves. Make videos about Nerves. It is all good.

Finally, if you have questions about the newsletter or want to suggest something you can simply respond to this email it will go directly to me, Lars, who edits this thing. Let me know what you think.

- Lars, Underjord.io