Official project updates

nerves_runtime, v0.11.7
Fixes a bug where the firmware_valid? function would return false when validation wasn't in use. Confusion about this is deprecated and will be removed as soon as your start using it.

qmi, v0.7.0 & vintage_net_qmi, v0.2.8

The way Matt Ludwigs keeps shipping QMI updates I almost get the impression that SmartRent are using these libraries for something :)

vintage_net_qmi gets location and time properties, see the release notes and the QMI library itself had its timezone fields changed to match Elixir's Calendarmodule.

Community updates

Talks, talks and talks. Since I pre-empted the official drip of interesting talks being highlighted back in issue #13 of this newsletter I don't have a lot of community-side updates even though I'm seeing a lot of promotion hype for ElixirConf. So figure out what talks you wanna catch, whether at the time or way after when they usually go public.

Featured sponsor

Do you need Connor Rigby on your team? Probably.

Binary Noggin forge customizable solutions using Agile metho.. actually, no. I can endorse them personally.

Binary Noggin is run by Amos King. With as much as 10% speaking time on the Outlaws podcast he is a pillar of the Elixir community. Every interaction I've had with Amos has been great. I've even recommended Noggin to my own clients. He even did a Nerves talk that wasn't a Lightning Talk but was literally a Lightning Talk.

Amos runs this small and impactful consultancy, Binary Noggin, with a great record of happy clients. They are growing bit by bit and can currently take on more clients. This is especially relevant for this newsletter as Connor Rigby is currently available for contract and as you might know he is one of the Nerve Core team members.

They get this spot here as Binary Noggin funds some of Connor's time working on Nerves. Which I think deserves recognition. I suggest you think on whether there is a company you know of that would benefit from having Connor and Noggin involved in your Nerves devices, reviewing your Elixir project or otherwise providing their expertise. This is a pretty rare chance as Connor is typically already spoken for.

Reach out to them here: binarynoggin.com/contact-us

Tech note: Bluetooth

There is a work in progress library called Blue Heron for doing Bluetooth Low Energy on Nerves. This library is still early days, but does technically have all the building blocks for a Bluetooth (BLE) project.

- Connor

(Editor's note: You can of course also include all the normal linux tools for Bluetooth to do it via bluez or such but I hear that's quite a journey)

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