Thanks to @Theodore-Borromeo's sick work getting Node cross-compiled for Omega, we can now run JS! Hopefully we'll get an official opkg package in the coming days, but until then...

1. To install node, download/extract node and libv8.so to a USB stick https://www.dropbox.com/s/f7bvgjfgazhy59i/node-0.10.5-omega.zip?dl=0
2. Plug USB into you Omega
3. Run mkdir /mnt/sda1
4. Run mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1/ (You'll have to repeat this step whenever you reboot the Omega)
5. Run ln -s /mnt/sda1/libv8.so /usr/lib/libv8.so
6. Run ln -s /mnt/sda1/node /usr/bin/node
7. Run node --version — you should see v0.10.5

To actually do stuff, I've written a bit of a wrapper which can be found here:

https://github.com/manspaniel/node-omega-gpio

It has/does these things:

• onPinChange(pin, callback) for listing for input changes; good for triggering action on button presses.
• Get/set pin values. Directions are set automatically.
• Both async and sync functions.
• Automatically exports pins using echo [pin] > /sys/class/gpio/gpiochip0/subsystem/export — Not always reliable!

If you get one/more "Error exporting pin" errors, you wont be able to use those pins. Either try running again, or try rebooting your omega (remembering to re-mount the USB after reboot).

I also have trouble getting pin 8 to do anything (it crashes the program because it can't set the direction), although using fast-gpio works fine. This seems to be a bug with the GPIO exporter, not the wrapper. I also don't seem to be able to do anything with pin 13 — no error, but nothing happens, even with fast-gpio. This one might be a hardware issue or manufacturing defect...

And finally a sample. This assumes you've wired up an LED to pin 14 (eg. pin 14 > 330ohm resister > long leg of LED > short leg of LED > GND). Just download gpiohelper.js from the GitHub URL above and put it in the same folder as your JS.

var GPIOHelper = require('./gpiohelper');

var helper = new GPIOHelper();
var ledPin = 14;

// The state of our light. False for off, true for on.
var lightState = false;

// Every 1000 miliseconds...
setInterval(function() {
	
	// Toggle the lightState variable. If it was true it will now be false, and vice versa.
	lightState = !lightState;
	
	// FInally, set the light as either on or off depending on lightState
	helper.setPinSync(ledPin, lightState);
	
}, 1000);

There are samples in GitHub. Happy coding!

Hey guys,

Received a bunch of LEDs/resisters/buttons/switches/wire etc in the mail yesterday, so finally got stuck in actually doing something (basic) with my Omega.

I'm definitely keen on using JS to write programs for Omega, but since we don't have that yet, I'm using Python. Also, rather than spawning child processes (like fast-gpio) I'm reading/writing to file descriptors in /sys/class/gpio/

Of course, for this to work you'd need to install python-light which can be installed using opkg update; opkg install python-light.

First up we have a little helper class. It pipes values directly into the exported files, which I guess is a lower level of interacting with the pins. I'm probably doing something silly, or not doing something I'm supposed to be doing, but it's working fine for me so far so whatevs!

# gpiohelper.py

class GPIOHelper(object):

	exportPath = "/sys/class/gpio/gpiochip0/subsystem/export"
	pinDirectionPath = "/sys/class/gpio/gpio$/direction"
	pinValuePath = "/sys/class/gpio/gpio$/value"
	pins = [0, 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 23, 26, 21, 20, 19, 18]

	def __init__(self):
			for pin in self.pins:
				fd = open(self.exportPath, 'w')
				fd.write(str(pin))
				fd.close()

	def setPin(self, pin, value):
			# Set direction as out
			fd = open(self.pinDirectionPath.replace("$", str(pin)), 'w')
			fd.write("out")
			fd.close()
				
			# Set value
			fd = open(self.pinValuePath.replace("$", str(pin)), 'w')
			fd.write(str(value))
			fd.close()
			
	def getPin(self, pin):
			# Set direction as in
			fd = open(self.pinDirectionPath.replace("$", str(pin)), 'w')
			fd.write("in")
			fd.close()
			
			# Get value
			fd = open(self.pinValuePath.replace("$", str(pin)), 'r')
			out = fd.read()
			fd.close()
			
			return int(out)

Then the code for my lil row of LEDs with button for input. When the button is pushed, the LEDs turn on in order, then turn off in order.

# gpiotest.py

from gpiohelper import GPIOHelper
from time import sleep

# Initialize the helper
helper = GPIOHelper()

# Define some pins
ledPins = [0, 1, 6, 7, 14, 13]
buttonPin = 26

# Function which does the light show
def lightEmUp():
	# Lights on
	for pin in ledPins:
		helper.setPin(pin, 1)
		print "Turning on pin {}".format(pin)
		sleep(0.1)
	
	# Lights off
	for pin in ledPins:
		helper.setPin(pin, 0)
		print "Turning off pin {}".format(pin)
		sleep(0.1)

# Continually check the value of the specified pin. If it returns 1, then light em up!
while True:
	if helper.getPin(buttonPin):
		lightEmUp()

Looking forward to the offical wrappers and IOT.JS/Node!

Check out this comment on the Kickstarter page.

"We have been able to get a very old version of Node.js to work with the Omega, but since nodejs and iojs merged, their support for mips architecture has been very bad. We are still working on getting the latest iojs/nodejs to work with the Omega.

In addition, we are also working on bringing Samsung's IOT.js to the Omega. This is also a server-side Javascript development stack that's designed specifically for embedded device. This one is much closer to completion.

For the time being, we will be putting up the old version of nodejs on our repository next week so that everyone can start to use Javascript on the Omega, and we will put up latest nodejs and IOT.js as they become available."

Hey @Theodore-Borromeo

setTimeout(helper.setPinSync(0,true), 500); will set the pin immediately. The first argument of setTimeout should be a function, but you're actually just passing in the return value of setPinSync (which is undefined). You probably meant to do this:

setTimeout(function() {
    helper.setPinSync(0, true);
}, 500);

BUT, doing that will still just delay that call by 0.5s. If you do that a bunch of times in an infinite while loop, you're actually just queueing an infinite amount of timers to run, but since the loop never ends, the timers never get a chance to run. An infinite while/for loop will halt all timers, due to the way V8's event loop works.

Instead you probably want to use setInterval, not in a loop:

var lightState = false;
setInterval(function() {
	
	// Toggle
	lightState = !lightState;
	
	// Set value
	helper.setPinSync(0, lightState);
	
}, 500);

Or you could recursively call setTimeout. This one will toggle the light on/off at random intervals:

var lightState = false;

// Function which is triggered every 0+ to 1 seconds
var next = function() {
	
	lightState = !lightState;
	
	helper.setPinSync(0, lightState);
	
	setTimeout(next, Math.random() * 1000);
	
}

next();

I also put some samples on GitHub

https://github.com/manspaniel/node-omega-gpio

Same here, hopefully we get a GPIO wrapper/library for Node early on.

@Theodore-Borromeo Ahh, well 1 or 0 would have worked with the previous code — but I updated it so any "truthy" value will be sent as "1".

Next step is adding some event listening, which should really get things moving. It'll be hacky though and have to use polling! Will try and implement tonight though

Hey Andy,

You'd need the relay expansion for that:

Relays are basically electrically operated switches that use low-power signals (from the Omega) to control higher voltage circuits, like lamps or home appliances.

The Relay Expansion has two relay modules, you would be able to control two appliances in your home over the internet using the Omega.

The Relay Expansions are also stackable, so you can have as many as you want.

From here: https://onion.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000067410-what-does-the-relay-expansion-do-
And also this: https://onion.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000082229-how-can-i-use-the-relay-expansion-

In terms of controlling our Omegas remotely, well they're still working on getting us the apps and libraries to make that kind of thing easier. In the meantime, if all you've got is the expansion dock, you could start playing around with GPIO? I'm new to this and just having fun with that so far. Here's a good intro if you're new: http://www.instructables.com/id/Blinking-a-LED-with-Onion-Omega/

Hey @Theodore-Borromeo

setTimeout(helper.setPinSync(0,true), 500); will set the pin immediately. The first argument of setTimeout should be a function, but you're actually just passing in the return value of setPinSync (which is undefined). You probably meant to do this:

setTimeout(function() {
    helper.setPinSync(0, true);
}, 500);

BUT, doing that will still just delay that call by 0.5s. If you do that a bunch of times in an infinite while loop, you're actually just queueing an infinite amount of timers to run, but since the loop never ends, the timers never get a chance to run. An infinite while/for loop will halt all timers, due to the way V8's event loop works.

Instead you probably want to use setInterval, not in a loop:

var lightState = false;
setInterval(function() {
	
	// Toggle
	lightState = !lightState;
	
	// Set value
	helper.setPinSync(0, lightState);
	
}, 500);

Or you could recursively call setTimeout. This one will toggle the light on/off at random intervals:

var lightState = false;

// Function which is triggered every 0+ to 1 seconds
var next = function() {
	
	lightState = !lightState;
	
	helper.setPinSync(0, lightState);
	
	setTimeout(next, Math.random() * 1000);
	
}

next();

I also put some samples on GitHub

https://github.com/manspaniel/node-omega-gpio

Thanks to @Theodore-Borromeo's sick work getting Node cross-compiled for Omega, we can now run JS! Hopefully we'll get an official opkg package in the coming days, but until then...

1. To install node, download/extract node and libv8.so to a USB stick https://www.dropbox.com/s/f7bvgjfgazhy59i/node-0.10.5-omega.zip?dl=0
2. Plug USB into you Omega
3. Run mkdir /mnt/sda1
4. Run mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1/ (You'll have to repeat this step whenever you reboot the Omega)
5. Run ln -s /mnt/sda1/libv8.so /usr/lib/libv8.so
6. Run ln -s /mnt/sda1/node /usr/bin/node
7. Run node --version — you should see v0.10.5

To actually do stuff, I've written a bit of a wrapper which can be found here:

https://github.com/manspaniel/node-omega-gpio

It has/does these things:

• onPinChange(pin, callback) for listing for input changes; good for triggering action on button presses.
• Get/set pin values. Directions are set automatically.
• Both async and sync functions.
• Automatically exports pins using echo [pin] > /sys/class/gpio/gpiochip0/subsystem/export — Not always reliable!

If you get one/more "Error exporting pin" errors, you wont be able to use those pins. Either try running again, or try rebooting your omega (remembering to re-mount the USB after reboot).

I also have trouble getting pin 8 to do anything (it crashes the program because it can't set the direction), although using fast-gpio works fine. This seems to be a bug with the GPIO exporter, not the wrapper. I also don't seem to be able to do anything with pin 13 — no error, but nothing happens, even with fast-gpio. This one might be a hardware issue or manufacturing defect...

And finally a sample. This assumes you've wired up an LED to pin 14 (eg. pin 14 > 330ohm resister > long leg of LED > short leg of LED > GND). Just download gpiohelper.js from the GitHub URL above and put it in the same folder as your JS.

var GPIOHelper = require('./gpiohelper');

var helper = new GPIOHelper();
var ledPin = 14;

// The state of our light. False for off, true for on.
var lightState = false;

// Every 1000 miliseconds...
setInterval(function() {
	
	// Toggle the lightState variable. If it was true it will now be false, and vice versa.
	lightState = !lightState;
	
	// FInally, set the light as either on or off depending on lightState
	helper.setPinSync(ledPin, lightState);
	
}, 1000);

There are samples in GitHub. Happy coding!

Hey @Theodore-Borromeo, can I see your blink code? I'm managing to write a bunch of things and not getting the EMFILE, too many open files message at any point. If you were using setPinSync you shouldn't get that, but maybe with just setPin you might?

@Jamie-Street The helper doesn't specifically create those files individually, it triggers the export functionality. I'd say it's a bug with the Omega firmware...

@Theodore-Borromeo Ahh, well 1 or 0 would have worked with the previous code — but I updated it so any "truthy" value will be sent as "1".

Next step is adding some event listening, which should really get things moving. It'll be hacky though and have to use polling! Will try and implement tonight though

BTW You can test easily with the command line too.

echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio5/direction
echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio5/value

echo in > /sys/class/gpio/gpio6/direction
cat /sys/class/gpio/gpio6/value

@Jamie-Street Know what? I have the same problem with pin 8. If you try a different pin does it work?

I also have trouble with pin 13, but it doesn't actually give errors, it just doesn't do anything.

Turns out the export errors are kinda OK? Still works without em (if you try/catch). It's not working from the command line either.

There were also a bunch of other bugs, like the wrong variable name as you found above, and if you called .setPin(5, true) it would send "true" rather than "1".

Try the new code, then check the "/sys/class/gpio/" folder — do you see a bunch of gpioX folders?

EDIT: Code now here https://community.onion.io/topic/46/simple-node-js-wrapper-and-demo

Hmm, looking into this now, I just woke up. I'm getting the same error, but also note you need to call var Controller = new gpiohelper(); — the new keyword creates an object with the methods. Otherwise, the constructor function runs but you wont get an object out of it.

Nice one @Romans-Bermans!