Connecting through another network

[zachary]

Hi @robby, I’m really sorry you’re having a tough time here.

It sounds like your Core successfully connects at home. Glad to hear that.

When you move it to work the first time you have to give it new credentials. You’ll only have to do this once; after that it will remember both networks. The Core can remember up to 7.

When you plug the Core in at work the first time, it should flash green, as you said, because it is trying to connect to the only Wi-Fi network it knows. Hold the MODE button for 3 seconds until the LED starts flashing blue, then let go. To distinguish the buttons, look for tiny text next to them; the other one is RESET (abbreviated RST) and will turn the LED off while you hold it down.

Once the Core is flashing blue, it’s in what we call “Listening Mode”. At this point, you can choose either:

• to use your iPad to send the Wi-Fi credentials wirelessly, or
• to use serial communication to send Wi-Fi credentials over the USB cable from your computer.

SmartConfig via iPad

• Make sure the iPad is on the network you want the Core to connect to
• Make sure the Core is flashing blue
• Open the Spark iPad app
• Click the Wi-Fi icon
• The Wi-Fi network name should be correctly pre-filled
• Enter the Wi-Fi password
• Wait for the Core’s LED to go solid blue then blinking green, then cyan. If that doesn’t happen -> commence troubleshooting

USB Serial Credentials from Computer

You can use GNU screen which is already installed on your computer as described by @harrisonhjones above. This is what I do. Open a terminal and type screen /dev/tty.u then hit tab to autocomplete to something like screen /dev/tty.usbmodem611. The number might change every time you plug it in.

If that seems complicated (totally understandable) I highly recommend the Spark CLI. If you install it and run spark setup, everything is taken care of—you get prompted through all the steps.

Good luck, and I hope you decide to keep that Core and make something amazing.

[robby]

@harrisonhjones - Thank you again for responding.

As it reads in context, the comment:

"But if you are a programmer yourself, whipping up your own lightweight serial monitor should be a no-brainer"

seems a bit sarcastic.

I truly do appreciate yours and everyone’s help and I really don’t want to take up a lot of anyone time with this. That said, receiving a “critique” from ScruffR about my personal preferences on system security just rubbed me the wrong way. Honestly, and in my humble opinion, I think forum admins see the same dummy like me asking the same questions they’ve seen a million times and it begins to frustrate them… I don’t know, just sayin’. Still, I’m new to this core / application… Spark came out of the box and fired up perfectly. Then, after Flashing with out of the box code from the site, I got locked up. Now, thanks to the generosity of the people here I am trying to assimilate the info and apply it. Oi… How’s that for a short answer?

[robby]

@zachary - Thank you for responding! Let me step through your instructions and get back (edit this post) with my results.

From what I have tried, your bullet points:

=======
Once the Core is flashing blue, it’s in what we call “Listening Mode”.
At this point, you can choose either:

• to use your iPad to send the Wi-Fi credentials wirelessly, orto use serial communication to send Wi-Fi
• credentials over the USB cable from your computer.
  =======

In all cases, the core is “connected” via to my MacAir in two separate “states”.

• Just for AC / power
  or
• Attached to the Mac (for lack of a better term)

In both cases, I see the LED blinking Blue.
I have tried to connect through:

• https://www.spark.io/build
• iPad app

I haven’t been able to find where or how to connect through https://www.spark.io/build
As for my iPad2, I have the correct network SSID displayed and I have entered the c0RRecT P@ssWord
So, I’m stuck at “Authenticating”…

[harrisonhjones]

Yes, he did indeed appear to be being a bit sarcastic and while it probably wasn’t the best of responses from a customer service prospective I don’t fault him for that, everything was getting a bit heated.

I was to confirm your setup:
Mac plugged in, powered up, logged in, and connected to the internet
Spark Core plugged into the Mac using the provided USB cable
Is that correct?

Assuming it is:
With the core in listening mode (blinking blue) Have you tried the serial method as described by @zachary? If so, what happens?

[ScruffR]

@robby, I’m sorry if you took the “no-brainer” personal, I didn’t mean it that way.

As I’m not aware of what SW your Mac brings with it, I actually meant as a programmer it would just be a finger practice to put less than 100 code lines together to have your absolutely malware free serial monitor.
But I can see that the context of this sentence might have contributed to your interpretation.

Sorry again!

[robby]

@ ScruffR No problem man : >

[robby]

@ Harrisonhjones

per Zachary, I ran the npm command (npm install -g spark-cli) to install the Spark Client:

Roberts-MacBook-Air:~ RobbyV$ npm install -g spark-cli
npm ERR! Error: EACCES, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/spark-cli'
npm ERR!  { [Error: EACCES, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/spark-cli']
npm ERR!   errno: 3,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/spark-cli',
npm ERR!   fstream_type: 'Directory',
npm ERR!   fstream_path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/spark-cli',
npm ERR!   fstream_class: 'DirWriter',
npm ERR!   fstream_stack: 
npm ERR!    [ '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/fstream/lib/dir-writer.js:36:23',
npm ERR!      '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/mkdirp/index.js:37:53',
npm ERR!      'Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)' ] }
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! System Darwin 13.4.0
npm ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install" "-g" "spark-cli"
npm ERR! cwd /Users/RobbyV
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.29
npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.14
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/spark-cli
npm ERR! fstream_path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/spark-cli
npm ERR! fstream_type Directory
npm ERR! fstream_class DirWriter
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno 3
npm ERR! stack Error: EACCES, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/spark-cli'
npm ERR! fstream_stack /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/fstream/lib/dir-writer.js:36:23
npm ERR! fstream_stack /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/mkdirp/index.js:37:53
npm ERR! fstream_stack Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/RobbyV/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

==========

To be sure, I re-installed Node.js and ran “npm install -g spark-cli” again with the same results.

I tried “screen /dev/tty…” but it wouldn’t connect. Probably because I don’t know what I’m doing there…

**** Harrison, with tremendous respect, and appreciation for your, and everyone else’s efforts on my behalf, I think I should fold my cards here.

*** Thank you all for spending your time with me trying to solve my snags… It’s very generous of you.

Robby

[bko]

@robby

npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

You should use sudo for this command, most likely.

[harrisonhjones]

Well I respect your decision and I appreciate the thanks.

On the surface it looks like your are having permission problems with npm. Another user had a similar problem. Idk if Mac's have "sudo." (I'm really Mac-ignorant)

@wgbartley

It's difficult to tell from the pasted output, but it looks like you typed npm install -g spark-cli spark cloud login. It should just be npm install -g spark-cli. If it gives you permission issues (like the EACCES mkdir ...), try sudo npm install -g spark-cli. See if it plays a little friendlier after that. If not, let us know what the latest error output is, and we'll go from there!

If that doesn't work, I can offer just one last suggestion: give it a few days. Put the core aside, focus on something else, and come back in a week. Sometimes if I focus on something that isn't working for too long I just want to scream. After a jog or a couple of days the problems seem much easier.

[zachary]

You’re on the right track. A couple comments:

You can’t connect from a website to hardware over a USB cable, so you can’t send Wi-fi credentials to your Core over the USB cable from the browser at https://www.spark.io/build.

Please confirm that you are using the Spark Core iOS app on your iPad. I’m not sure where you’re seeing “Authenticating”. Are you clicking the Wi-Fi icon at the bottom right of the Tinker screen within the Spark Core iOS app? Is the correct Wi-Fi network name pre-filled?

If you’re having trouble with the iPad, don’t forget your other option to use the Spark Command Line Interface. Once it is installed, you will open the mac Terminal.app (the same place you tried to run w before), and you will run spark setup.