Raspian vs Evok?
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I love the idea of UniPi, but I'm somewhat unclear about what the "Open Source" software option means. Am I able to write custom software (let's say with Python) on the Pi to utilize the IO provided by the UniPi, or do I have to install Evok and then interface using a Web Socket, etc? And, just to verify, Evok is a software application, not a custom Linux distro, right?
Thanks in advance!
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Well if you want to, you can write your own code for interfacing the IOs but that's what Evok is for. It is a application in python that takes care of the low level things for you so you can use the easy REST or websocket api... https://github.com/UniPiTechnology/evok
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If your an old school programmer, you will find that programming it with Python the simplest approach. I certainly did, and wrote my own software to manage the lights in my house by controlling about 8 or 9 relays, and reading about 8 or 9 momentary switches.
Merv.
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Thanks @Merv! Is there any documentation on how to interface with the IO using Python, etc?
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@rmoore I started off figuring out the GPIO pins on the bare Raspberry Pi, and once you get your head around that, moving to the Unipi is the next logical step. I did'nt use this article, but it explains just about all that you need.
http://makezine.com/projects/tutorial-raspberry-pi-gpio-pins-and-python/
The Evok "platform" can be used as well, and I use it via the restful calls for setting some of the relays.
If you've not got a Pi already, get a Pi and try the small tutorial above. After that it's straight forward enough.
Merv.