Software update on the 17th of March (v1.21) - Many improvements and new events

[Malte]

Software update on the 17th of March - Many improvements and new events.

A new release has been pushed that is containing the following changes.

Cloud

• Added advanced settings for gyroscope support.
• Changed template-created bus to be set to default.
• Changed template apply behavior to automatically overwrite on conflicts.
• Increased time between device wake up.
• Added support for creating alerts from events.
• Disabled accelerometer logging by default.
• Changed user permissions view to show device unit id.

• Fixed race condition that could result in wrong advanced settings being saved.
• Removed requirement for custom code modules to start with “my_”.
• Fixed issue in account users tab.

API

• Removed deprecated most_recent_position v1 endpoints, please use v2 instead.
• Added devices/by_unit_id endpoint.
• Added new callback functionality for the execute endpoints.

Core

• New SocketCAN devices
  • Support new SocketCAN based TMU device
  • New socketcan module to manage the physical CAN interfaces
• Accelerometer motion events
  • vehicle/motion/stead - when the vehicle is in a steady state
  • vehicle/motion/shaking - when the device can detect some small shake in the car (e.g. driving or the engine’s rumble)
  • vehicle/motion/jolting - when the device detects a very fast change in acceleration (e.g. going over a bump or breaking really hard)
  • Link to docs: Vehicle | AutoPi Documentation
  • Accelerometer data is no longer stored on the cloud by default (due to the new motion events)
• On the topic of accelerometer: gyroscope data is now able to be collected
  • It is disabled by default
  • You can enable it in the advanced settings
• New Smart Power Manager (SPM)
  • The new SPM chip comes with all of our new devices
  • The SPM is now responsible for measuring the voltage from the OBD-II connector
  • It also is the one responsible for waking the device up and putting it in hibernation if needed
• SIM initial connectivity is now improved
  • SIM cards with roaming will take a bit longer to connect the first time, but should connect in the end
  • ec2x module has also received a few new functions, check out our docs for more info on those
• New hotspot connected/disconnected events (System | AutoPi Documentation)
  • system/hotspot/client//connected - for when a new client connects to the hotspot
  • system/hotspot/client//disconnected - for when a client disconnects from the hotspot
• New USB connected/disconnected events (System | AutoPi Documentation)
  • The same as the hotspot events, but for USB devices instead
  • This includes the already built in USB devices
  • Accompanying this change, a new usbutil module has been added
  • It’s also now possible to set a list of expected USB devices in the advanced settings
• Added SMS message events

The update can take quite a while to finish, and it will restart the services running on the device. So please be patient when installing the updates, it should finish by itself, or retry on errors.

Let us know if you experience any issues.

As always, feedback, comments etc are welcome!

[Zaf9670]

Any notes on the April 7th patch?

[Nikola]

Hi @Zaf9670,

With the patch we released on 7th April we only updated the Core software and it was a very small patch. Here’s what changed:

• Included end-padding of OBD messages on SocketCAN devices to prevent an issue with some OBD-II compliant vehicles
• Improved stability of the Real Time Clock

Hope you have a nice day.

Best,
Nikola

[nwestwind]

I hate your UI or whatever is going on with your device.

Nothing happens.

I hate your device. Just saying.

[Dragos]

Hey nwestwind,

We really want to improve the AutoPi device and the Cloud Platform at my.autopi.io so we can make it a worthwhile experience for you.

Therefore, we would greatly appreciate if you could give us more in-depth feedback on the things that you don’t like about our services and products.

Please let us know, whenever you are available.

–
With regards,
Dragos

[Euray1982]

I don’t see any commits on the AutoPi Core GitHub repo since July, will these changes be pushed there at some point?

[phhk]

Hi @Dragos and @Malte ,

First off, I think that the idea and effort that has been put into this product is great. I continue to love the idea. I think I may be able to shed some light on why many users are frustrated overall. As a little bit of my background, I am a personal user. I am not using my product in a business setting. I consider myself technically savvy overall. I’ve used raspberry pis in the past in multiple scenarios. As a user of the autopi, I think the main frustration stems from 3 different areas.
A. Lack of providing what is promised/marketed by the company.
B. Unclear documentation.
C. Engineering grade user interface.

–

A. For example, to illustrate what is lacking in the actual product, here are two public pages on your website:

What is Geofencing? | AutoPi

Theft Detection Feature | AutoPi - AutoPi

As a personal user, if I am reading these pages before I buy the product, I will make a couple of simple assumptions: I assume I will be able to setup my device to provide theft detection. I also assume I will be able to setup my device to provide geofencing. These are just two easy examples to illustrate a point.

The reality is that this is not true for the average user. I still have not been able to figure out how to do either one of the items above. I feel like I need to take a junior programming class in full stack API development in order to be able to setup anything on the autopi other than the simple tracking of the location and simple on/off car events. I’ve only been able to setup an event to email me when the car was turned on. It was a little glitchy, so I turned it off. That is about it so far in terms of additional functionality I’ve been able to setup on my own…

So that leads to point B. If I follow those pages I mentioned in point A above, I should be able to find documentation that lets me set those items up once I login to the dashboard and access my device. Even at this point, I am not sure if it is possible to set those items up. When you go home tonight, show those pages I referenced above to your brother, sister, friend, etc… someone who is a first time user of the autopi. Ask them what they think they will be able to do. Now, give them access to one, and let them go at it. Watch how they reach a dead end, after dead end, after dead end… The documentation leads to dead ends, if it even goes anywhere at all. How to enable additional stuff on this device doesn’t make any sense. Where are the “hello world” examples for anything? There are none. So… I still can’t figure out if this is a documentation problem or a device problem, or a company problem… I’m really not sure. Even after six months of owning the device, I still feel like it is a black box, full of potential, but I can’t figure anything out.

C. Engineering grade interface ties into documentation… maybe. I understand that the device needs to be highly configurable, but if the dashboard must allow a high level of configuration, then the documentation needs to be better. There must be entire, step by step procedures to set something up. Start to finish. Full concept. Otherwise, make a more intuitive (and by necessity, less configurable) interface that is more user friendly. You should either invest in documentation, examples, walkthroughs, complete tutorials, etc, or make the interface more intuitive (and more restrictive). It’s a nightmare right now to try to do anything because it is a complex interface that is lacking documentation and full examples of how to actually do something useful. Not just how to flip flags and move switches. I don’t mind reading lots of documentation to understand how to set something up, but I can’t jump into the autopi cloud interface and intuitively know how things are setup. One way for you guys to do this would be to have a “easy interface” for some common useful things and also have an “advanced interface” for advanced users. I.e. you could create a section in the dashboard that let me easily enable/perform the top 10 things that people do using their autopi.

As a separate example, from a user interface aspect of the dashboard, there is a lot of unnecessary data fields being shown, all over the place that a regular personal user like me does not need to see. I don’t need to see that a software updated failed 80 times. I just need to see that it updated successfully… or not. If I want to dig into the log of why it updated, ok, yes, I should be able to click a couple times to navigate away from the main interface to see that, but don’t overload me with so much additional and unnecessary information.

The real frustration is that the product you are selling feels much different than the product you are marketing. It’s confusing. I really do like the product, but it feels like an early product that is lacking final touches.