Hey everyone, it looks like we’ve finally figured out how to transform coffee into code, meaning that version 0.0.5 of the Omega firmware is available with a whole bunch of goodies in tow! We’ve been listening to you guys and this release is all about the Expansions!
Expansion Drivers
The OLED Expansion has finally gotten some love and now has a driver called oled-exp! You can use the driver application to:
- initialize the expansion
- clear the display
- turn it on and off (while preserving the image)
- invert the display colours
- dim the brightness
- set the text cursor
- write a message
- enable horizontal or diagonal scrolling
- display an image
The best part is that all of the commands can be cascaded, so you can do multiple things in one call. Detailed documentation will be available tomorrow (December 4th), in the meantime, you can run oled-exp -h to see the usage instructions.
Oh and one more thing, all of the driver functions used in the pwm-exp, relay-exp, and oled-exp are now in their own static C libraries, so anybody can use them in their C/C++ applications to directly control these three Expansions. Documentation for this is coming soon, most likely Saturday, December 5th. Info on using these libraries with Python shortly afterwards. We also have a C/C++ cross compilation project in the works so stay tuned!
The Console
It wouldn’t be a real software update with some goodies being added to the console, so we proudly present the Ando N2 Console Release!
Right off the bat, you’ll notice the new apps to control the control the Servo, Relay, and OLED Expansions. Play around with them, we’ve tried to make them as intuitive as possible but don’t be afraid to reach out if you have any questions.
The GPIO control app now has a new mode where the pins are laid out to match the Expansion Dock. We figured it would be nice to have some options 
Last but definitely not least, after using a few of the apps, you’ll notice the new taskbar at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to quickly switch between any open apps. We would love to know what you think of it!
Remember to clear your browser’s cache in order to load the console updates!
Expect a change-log for the Console to be published in the next couple of days
The Onion Package Repo
Another big thing is that the Onion Package Repo is now available and can be used in conjunction with opkg to install packages! Run opkg update after updating your firmware to configure the Omega to use this repo.
Stay tuned, we’ll be adding more packages to the repo and more info as well!
NodeJS
We’ve also been able to make a nice opkg package for NodeJS v0.10.5. To install it after updating your firmware, run the following:
opkg update
opkg install nodejs
This installation takes up about 3.1MB so it will fit on the on-board storage with no problems. We’re also actively working on a package for NodeJS version 0.12.7 so keep your eyes peeled for that next week, just note that it will take up significantly more disk space than the currently available version.
How to Upgrade
To get the latest firmware, you can run oupgrade on the terminal, or you can use the Firmware Upgrade tool in the Console’s settings app.
I would recommend backing up all your files and doing a factory reset after the new firmware is installed, just to ensure all of the new files make it to your filesystem.
Hold down the reset button for 10 seconds and release to initiate a Factory Reset.
Happy hacking!
Make sure to let us know if you find any issues or have any suggestions!
I just want to take a moment to thank you guys for your patience and understanding. We’re working super hard and doing the best we can, but unfortunately there’s only so many hours in a day. Rest assured that we are completely commited to building the very best product we can for you!
Oh and on a personal note, ll is now automatically aliased to ls -al… this was driving me crazy!
Join the discussion here: https://community.onion.io/topic/198/mega-omega-software-release
HACKED BY SudoX — HACK A NICE DAY.