OptoBlog

Terry Orchard

Terry is a UC Irvine alumnus that works in technical marketing and focuses on development and content creation. When he's not at the computer he enjoys spending time with his family and pets, flying drones, and working on yo-yo tricks.

Recent Posts

What's new in Node-RED v3.0

Posted by Terry Orchard on Aug 2, 2023 10:29:21 AM

With the latest groov 3.5 firmware update comes another new version of Node-RED, its 3.0 milestone release.

Get ready to see what's new in Node-RED when you update to groov EPIC 3.5. This new version includes all the additions of the 3.0.2 software, the most recently available at the time of writing, and node v14.20.0 and npm 6.14.17 package updates as well. Let's take a look.

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Topics: Updates, Node-RED, groov EPIC

RTD with RIO

Posted by Terry Orchard on May 4, 2023 2:30:00 PM

Using powerful built-in software, it’s easy to add more functionality to the multifunction, mixed signal I/O on groov RIO, including using RTD temperature probes with minimal code.

The groov RIO MM1, MM2, and even the groov EPIC GRV-MM1001-10 modules are extremely flexible, with an incredible number of software configurable options. Even with all that potential, you can do more when you combine this I/O with software tools like PAC Control, CODESYS, Node-RED, and custom Linux programs.

A great way to see this is with RTD sensors.

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Topics: PAC Control, Node-RED, CODESYS, groov RIO, temperature sensor, RTD

Node-RED Configuration Nodes and Project Management

Posted by Terry Orchard on Mar 1, 2023 9:45:00 AM

Learn best practices for managing Node-RED projects on groov devices.

It’s important to be able to manage Node-RED projects for recovery, version control, copying flows to other devices, and sharing code. There are several ways to do this, but what should you be aware of and what are the best practices for doing this on a groov device? 

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Topics: Node-RED, MQTT, groov EPIC, groov RIO

groov RIO Ignition Exchange Project Spotlight

Posted by Terry Orchard on Aug 30, 2022 8:00:00 AM

See how to quickly read groov RIO data into the Ignition Exchange tag database

With software-configurable I/O, like that on the groov RIO MM1 and MM2, it’s easier than ever to instrument all your devices for control and reading back real-world data. To help you take the next step of getting that data somewhere meaningful, this post will summarize a new Ignition Exchange project for reading data from one or more groov RIO modules into your Ignition tag database.

Posted by MartinCSI, an IoT-certified OptoPartner, this project makes it trivial to dynamically get tag data into the Ignition tag database, display it on Vision pages, and link it to other projects and providers where you can then do whatever you need.

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Topics: Ignition, groov RIO

Node-RED Updates in groov EPIC 3.4

Posted by Terry Orchard on Jun 23, 2022 8:00:00 AM

See what's new in the latest version of Node-RED included in groov EPIC 3.4 firmware.

With every groov firmware update we also include updates to the software our devices run, whether that’s groov View, Ignition, or Node-RED. The recent groov EPIC 3.4.0 update is no different! In this post, I’ll briefly go over some of the biggest updates to Node-RED, which has been bumped to v2.2.2. If you want to know more about the 3.4.0 groov EPIC firmware, check out Ben’s forum post.

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Topics: Updates, Node-RED, groov EPIC

New REST API Node-RED Video

Posted by Terry Orchard on Jan 26, 2022 7:11:10 AM

New video just added to the Node-RED developer playlist covers a simple API flow using daily weather data as an example.

Node-RED is an extremely powerful tool that we’ve featured many times on this blog and our YouTube channel, and one very common use of Node-RED is to use application programming interfaces or “APIs” to move data between devices and/or services that would otherwise be totally disconnected.

To help you get started using APIs with Node-RED if you’re unfamiliar with these tools, we’ve just made a new video about how to build a simple API flow using an example web service for daily weather data.

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Topics: Videos, Node-RED, groov EPIC, OptoU, groov RIO

New Node-RED dashboard features in groov firmware 3.3

Posted by Terry Orchard on Dec 1, 2021 8:30:00 AM

Dashboard UI on integrated and HDMI displays, Dashboard-only user accounts, and login directly to the Dashboard!

If you follow this blog closely you'll have seen the news that the groov family has had a recent firmware release—version 3.3.1 for groov EPIC and 3.3.0 for groov RIO

This release brings a lot of great features that you can see in the OptoBlog posts linked above, but here I'd like to talk a bit more about the additional features added for Node-RED, specifically for the Node-RED Dashboard.

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Topics: Node-RED, groov EPIC, groov RIO

What's new in Node-RED v1.0

Posted by Terry Orchard on Jan 22, 2020 1:43:14 PM

The OpenJS Foundation and nodered.org have officially released Node-RED version 1.0!

Since the previous major Node-RED version v0.20, there have been big changes and improvements to both the visual editor on the surface and the runtime under the hood. These improvements are what truly make this a full version 1.0 update, and not just an iterative v0.21. This blog post will cover what has been updated or changed at a high level, and discuss the impact on users of Node-RED running on groov EPIC.

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Topics: Node-RED, groov EPIC

groov EPIC's Linux Operating System and Secure Shell (SSH) Access

Posted by Terry Orchard on Aug 7, 2019 10:33:49 AM

As you might have read in previous blog posts, groov EPIC runs a Linux-based operating system that supports a variety of programming and operating options, including optional secure shell (SSH) access. SSH provides root access to the tools, software, and files on the groov EPIC system.

But how does SSH access work, what is it capable of, and is it right for you? In this post I’ll go into a bit more depth about secure shell and the Linux operating system (OS) on groov EPIC and provide answers to these questions.

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Topics: Security, groov EPIC, Linux, secure shell

Help is here - a guide for developing with groov EPIC

Posted by Terry Orchard on Jan 28, 2019 10:00:00 AM

Have you ever been stuck on a coding problem? Unsure of which tool to use for an application? Or if you have the functionality you need to get the job done? Maybe you’ve just got a new system and need a map to help you learn the new features and functionality.

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Topics: PAC Control, REST API, Node-RED, MQTT, Ignition Edge, IEC 61131-3, groov EPIC, developer

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