Gen 3 improvements update - 12/20

[will]

Hello from the Particle team!

The team has been busy over the last few days with ongoing improvements to the stability and reliability of Mesh. This community update, along with the release of rc.27 and new iOS / Android / Workbench releases this week, will be our last for 2018.

Our team will continue to be available to support customers throughout the end of the year to support folks building in their free time this holiday season, and we’ll be continuing to chip away at fixes and improvements that we will release as soon as we’re able in January.

Here’s the roundup from this week:

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Where we’re at

Here are the latest updates across the suite of software and tools that support Gen 3 development.

Feedback on rc.26

Generally, the feedback from you all was that rc.26 represented an improved user experience with Particle Mesh. The majority of users communicated that their development experience improved, with the average rating (from 1 to 10) coming in at a 6.08.

We hope to continue to build on that progress, and have posted another poll for rc.27 and our various iOS / Android / Workbench releases at the bottom of this update.

New and upcoming releases

1. New Device OS release (v080-rc.27)
   Status: Released

   We released a new version of the Device OS which incorporates a fix to the 802.15.4 Nordic driver that resulted in the common SOS-7 failure mode that many of you reported. We believe that rc.27 fully resolves the SOS-7 failure mode in devices we have tested, and would love additional feedback from customers experiencing this issue.

   rc.27 also includes other fixes and improvements. For a full list, please see the firmware release notes, here:
   Release v0.8.0-rc.27 (Xenon/Argon/Boron) · particle-iot/firmware · GitHub

2. New iOS app release (v2.8.0)
   Status: Pending release (early January, 2019)

   We have a new release of the iOS app that will be available in the App Store in the next 24-48 hours in early January, 2019. The release (v2.7.1) has a number of improvements, including the following fixes:

   • Added “back” buttons throughout the setup flow to improve UX
   • Added support for both unencrypted and WEP protected Wi-Fi networks with an Argon
   • Added a “setup complete” screen for Argons, Borons, and Ethernet FeatherWings as standalone devices
   • Fixed a rare bug that 3rd generation (Mesh) device setup would run into erroneous errors after displaying an initial error during the pairing process

3. New Android app release (v2.3.9)
   Status: Pending release (next 24-48 hrs)

   We have a new release of the Android app that should be available in the Google Play store in the next 24-48 hours. The release (v2.3.9) has a number of improvements, including the following fixes:

   • Ensure location services are enabled before starting setup, to allow Bluetooth scanning
   • Don’t allow flashing Gen 2 Tinker app to Gen 3 hardware
   • Improve error flow handling
   • Improved handling of device disconnects and message timeouts
   • Improved handling of multi-part firmware updates
   • Updated “Pair with commissioner” screen to show only the instructional video

4. New Workbench release (1.0.0-alpha.6)
   Status: Released. Update instructions provided via email.

   We are in the process of releasing a new version of Particle Workbench which includes support for Device OS v0.8.0-rc.26 and v0.8.0-rc.27.

   Other improvements include:

   • set GCC_ARM_PATH to prevent conflicts
   • set PLATFORM_THREADING=1 for improved Intellisense support
   • Login command’s input prompt stays open despite focus change

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What’s coming next

1. Tracking SOS-10 issue with rc.27
   We have noticed early reports from the community of code that ran successfully on rc.26 prompting a SOS-10 error when running unmodified on rc.27. This is an “Assertion Failure” which can be worked around by adding waitUntil(Mesh.ready); before Mesh.subscribe();.

   Our firmware team will continue to investigate this issue throughout the upcoming weeks and release a fix as necessary in January. For more information on this issue, follow along in this thread:

   Xenon flashing red 10 times after rc.27 upgrade

2. Focus areas for January releases
   We provided a list of improvements in our prior update, against which we’ve made significant progress. Once the builds listed above have been released, here’s an updated view of progress against our highest priority improvements for Gen 3 hardware (items in Strikethrough are completed)

   Setup

   • iOS / Android apps with debug logging
   • “Back” button functionality for iOS
   • Improved auto-focus for data matrix scanning
   • Over-the-wire setup flows for Gen 3 hardware

   Network reliability

   • Fix SOS-7 issues by updating Nordic 802.15.4 driver
   • Upgrade to most recent version of OpenThread

   Debugging and diagnostics

   • Port the cellular.command() firmware API to Gen 3 devices
   • Implement API with Mesh-level network diagnostic information

We’ll be focusing our efforts on the items in bold between now and January. If you have comments or feedback on stability priorities, please let us know in by posting in the thread below!

Happy holidays, everyone!

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Feedback on rc.27

How did rc.27 affect your development experience with Particle Gen 3 hardware?

• Made it better
• No change
• Made it worse

Show results

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the overall quality of the Gen 3 development experience with rc.27?

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10

Show results