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OS / SDK language

Let me be the first to ask some basic questions :)
- Can you please tell us what OS the Homey uses? Is it Raspbian?
- In what language will the SDK be provided? C? C++? (Would be nice to have a mono wrapper for the SDK)

Comments

  • EmileEmile Administrator, Athom
    Hey Milan!

    Let me be the first to answer them then :)

    - The OS is our custom built linux distro, but it's based on Raspbian, yeah!
    - The SDK is in JavaScript when you write an app for Homey, and HTTP or socket when you connect through your own application. So basically: you write a bridge on Homey in JS for custom functionality, or talk to the web API which we already provide. :)

    Emile
  • Great; that's quite straightforward, thanks!
  • Hi Emile,

    Will your custom OS be available for download?
    Would it work on a standard raspberry pi to develop apps?

    Andrew
  • EmileEmile Administrator, Athom
    Nope, as it won't work on a regular Pi anyway :)
  • It would work on the Compute Module, I guess...
  • Would it be possible to get root access to the OS to install additional software or change settings that aren't available via the "regular" interfaces?
  • EmileEmile Administrator, Athom
    We're not sure about root access yet. On the one hand, we want it to be hackable, on the other, the software would be too easy to copy, as it's JavaScript.

    Just don't worry that you won't have enough access, we'll make sure you have :)
  • remark: The OS will only work on a regular Pi for the basics since it would lack the additional IO hardware.
    I wonder if it would be possible to add additional IO hardware to Homey (for example through USB) and provide the drivers, that requires more than JS :) but would allow people to add additional Home protocols etc.

    I was thinking of 868MHz receiver for weather station data, or maybe a sundtek usb TV tuner.
  • EmileEmile Administrator, Athom
    We'd love to see external protocols added. For now, we envision this through a wireless bridge. So you hook up a nRF24l01+ (or 433/868MHz) on the one side, and on the other your new protocol. Using the SDK, you can easily add this bridge so other apps can benefit from it!

    This is also the way we envision possible new products from us that will extend protocol support.
This discussion has been closed.