Playing around with Pixl.js
This morning I got a Pixl.js Espruino board for Father's Day. My son is not even two years old – how did he know that is exactly what I wanted?
The Pixl.js is a SoC (System-on-Chip) with a 64Mhz microcontroller and Bluetooth Low Energy module. It's an Espruino board, so you program it in JavaScript. It has a little LCD screen just like the ones in those old Nokia phones. Pixl.js's form factor is Arduino compatible, so you can plug in Arduino shields like WiFi or GSM. It can run on a coin cell battery or is powered via USB (power-only).
It works over Web Bluetooth, so you connect to it from the Espruino Web IDE. The only thing I had to do to get it working on Ubuntu 18.04 was to enable the “Experimental Web Platform Features” under chrome:flags on Chrome and then go to espruino.com/ide.
I then tried to get it working on my iPad. Unfortunately Web Bluetooth is not yet supported on Safari, but there is a WebBLE browser you can download from the app store (for £2) that does. It's a very basic browser, but all you really need it for is to run the Espruino Web IDE. That I can program a little microcontroller over Bluetooth from my iPad blows my mind!
