Learning Curve is so steep, to level it, you need to invest lost of efforts

[Moors7]

Magenta flashing indicates a firmware/system update of sorts. They shouldn't trigger on their own, so is there any possibility you did anything other than just turning it on? Have you tried a factory reset to see if than helps (it most always does)?

@KegRaider

and the inability for me to want install Linux on my Windows 10 machine to remedy that is I guess my fault.

Hate to say it, but this is one of those made up things that cause more harm that it helps solve. Where exactly did you get the notion from that you need Linux? I've gotten things to work nicely on windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10, using various versions of software (node.js, CLI, etc.). Saying things like "I don't want to install Linux, therefor it doesn't work" without anything to back up why you'd need Linux, is not helping anyone.

@KegRaider

(I had posted in the forums, thanks).

I've seen that post, and noted you stopped responding to suggestions. There's very little we can do to help in that case.

@KegRaider

The wifi limitation must have been fixed, yay.

It has been for a rather long time, really. http://blog.particle.io/2014/08/06/control-the-connection/
If you don't like reading the blog (which is perfectly okay), perhaps you should try the docs: https://docs.particle.io/reference/firmware/core/#system-modes
Or the forums: New feature: control your connection!
Or the FAQ: https://docs.particle.io/support/troubleshooting/mode-switching/core/
...

@KegRaider

When I tried it with my Spark core, you could load a code to it, (LCD shield) take it up the road and the LCD would stop and the Core would reboot and start looking for wifi again.

That's expected behavior for a single threaded application that is dependent of WiFi, wouldn't you think? It (very roughly) looks like this in the background.

Main(){
  process_cloud_stuff(); //this needs internet, obviously.
  run_user_code();
}

If it doesn't have a connection, how is it going to handle the cloud stuff? If you don't tell it what to do, in this case, it'll try to connect, which I think is more than reasonable...

---

We can go on like this for another while, but perhaps you'd like to get your Core working again? If you're willing to give it another shot, I think it's doable.

[KegRaider]

Thanks Moors7,

I stopped responding to suggestions in that thread because I hit the annoyed/frustrated wall, since I could use the Command Line Interface (CLI) to add the SSID and password to the unit, but it would not respond with the firmware load, so I cut my losses and threw it in the bin, she’s never gonna work again at the bottom of the trash heap, haha. No biggie, I was agreeing with the OP about it can be a steep learning curve, despite being mostly arduino code.

Taking a look at the new and improved documentation now, much better! Honestly, I had great expectations with my kickstarter support, and the documentation (at that stage) let it down. Some people (myself included) aren’t comfortable asking for help in forums in fear of being ridiculed, because we aren’t at the elite level of particle fluency. Documentation doesn’t scald, and when it contains examples, it gives you something to work with. Hence why I went back to the Arduino for so long, their documentation and example code/wiring is an awesome learning tool.

[mdma]

@KegRaider

Some people (myself included) aren't comfortable asking for help in forums in fear of being ridiculed, because we aren't at the elite level of particle fluency. Documentation doesn't scald,

It's a key cornerstone of this community to not tolerate the uncivilized behaviors you might have experienced elsewhere. The community FAQ lays out how everyone is expected to behave here.

So I hope you will feel free to ask the questions you need answers to without fear of ridicule or other inappropriate backlash to honest requests for help.

[Moors7]

Yeah, I can't but agree with @mdma here. This is one of the nicest communities I've ever encountered. Most, if not all, people are often very helpful. Unruly, or inappropriate behavior has not, and will not, be tolerated. Treating people nicely gets you further than any rage-induced ridicule.
That said, I can imagine people getting frustrated with some really obvious "you haven't even bothered to check the docs" type of questions. Luckily, they're most always nice enough to point you to where you should be looking. If they give you a subtle RTFM, you should've probably done so already
Although I personally try to ask as few questions as possible, that is one of the reasons why this community exists. If you've got questions, then do ask them. Worst case scenario, you get pointed to something you should read.

@mdma

in fear of being ridiculed, because we aren't at the elite level of particle fluency.

I might have an 'elite' badge, but more often than not, I find answers to peoples questions by searching the docs and/or forums. They both contain a wealth of information, and it mostly comes down to making an effort to find something.

[raenrfm]

I too, must disagree. I just started getting involved in this IoT world and started with the Photon, and after running through some basic examples and setting them up I feel quite confident with it now. Of course I always have the reference page open when I’m working on one but once you wrap your head around the basic structures of the code and the syntax, it’s not too bad at all really. I’ve never done any C programming so I always seem to miss a semi-colon somewhere…

Stick with it, you’ll get it. The Photon is so cool, I love it.

[raenrfm]

Have to thumbs up on the community comment, especially shouts out to @peekay123 and @ScruffR, those guys always seem to answer my questions. Do you guys ever sleep?

[ScruffR]

We take it in turns - one of us is always on the watch

[peekay123]

@ScruffR is actually a cyborg and never sleeps. He’s also got advanced AI and solves the toughest problems