Official project updates

mdns_lite, v0.8.0
I missed this one last time which was silly. A major update that adds support for making queries in addition to responding to queries.

There are changes to the runtime API that aren't backwards compatible but if you are just using the application environment to configure it you should be fine.

Adds a DNS bridge for Erlang's DNS resolver which enables Erlang distribution and gen_tcp to use the .local names from mdns. Curious to see what people do with this, see docs for how to configure this.

More? Record caching, record inspection, AAAA record support and changes to how it receives messages that should solve some issues that could occur for multicast packets and multiple network interfaces.

New package: nerves_motd, v0.1.0

Thanks to Masatoshi Nishiguchi we can now have a more useful Message of the Day on our Nerves devices. See the docs for how to add it to your projects.

If you have a cool ASCII version of your logo, this is for you.

Github link:  nerves_motd, v0.1.0
Announcement tweet: Nerves Project twitter
Docs: hexdocs.pm/nerves_motd

nerves_bootstrap, v1.10.3
Updated dependencies, add nerves_motd to the iex.exs file and more helpful comments in commonly edited locations in mix.exs.

circuits_quickstart, v0.4.6
Updated dependencies, add nerves_motd.

nerves_pack, v0.5.0
Add nerves_motd.

Featured video: eInk & OLED displays

by Lars Wikman, Underjord.io

Editor's note: I'm incredibly biased to share this since it is mine. If you want to counteract this or just generally help share cool stuff, send things to me at lars@underjord.io for inclusion in this newsletter.

Back on my bullshit as they say. Waaay back now I ported the eInk display library for Inky Phat/What with good help from Nerves community folks. Now I decided to revisit it and try running it from Livebook. I also tried the OLED Bonnet. This worked great and now I'm thoroughly back into doing silliness with Nerves. Expect more noise from me in the future.

YouTube video: Raspberry Pi, eInk and Nerves with Livebook

Tech note: Nerves Examples

Getting started with Nerves can be daunting. Luckily, there are lots of examples of using Nerves in common cases, such as connecting a device to WiFi or running Phoenix on it. This repo would be a great place to start when looking to dip your feet in and get a project running from scratch. Its also a great place to contribute if you have a useful example for others to view as well!

Github: Nerves examples

-Jon

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