freakble

A simple tool to send messages and commands into FreakWAN over Bluetooth low energy. It's tested under Linux, MacOS and Windows.

Installation

Using pipx

The best way to install freakble is using pipx:

$ pipx install freakble

For the GUI you can optionally install themes using:

$ pipx install 'freakble[themes]'

Using pip

When using pip it's suggested to work inside a virtualenv.

$ python -m pip install freakble

From source

freakble uses Poetry as dependency management and packaging tool, you need to install it first.

Then:

1. Clone this repository.
2. From the root of the repository run:

   $ poetry build

3. Install using pipx or pip (it's better to use pipx):

   $ pipx install dist/freakble-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

Usage

Usage: freakble [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  A simple tool to send messages into FreakWAN.

Options:
  --adapter TEXT  ble adapter  [default: (hci0)]
  --help          Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  gui      Start freakble GUI.
  repl     Start a REPL with the device.
  scan     Scan to find BLE devices.
  send     Send one or more words over BLE to a specific device.
  version  Return freakble version.

send

The send command is used to send a message to the board. You need to know the address of the device. You can specify the address of a device using the --device flag or the environment variable FREAKBLE_DEVICE.

The complete usage is:

Usage: freakble send [OPTIONS] [WORDS]...

  Send one or more words over BLE to a specific device.

Options:
  --loop              send forever the message
  --device TEXT       ble device address  [required]
  --sleep-time FLOAT  sleep between messages sent with --loop  [default: (1
                      sec)]
  --timeout FLOAT     Bluetooth LE connection timeout  [default: (10 secs)]
  --help              Show this message and exit.

For example:

$ freakble send --device AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA Hello, there!

where you have to substitute AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA with your device's address.

The --loop flag will make freakble to send continuosly the message until CTRL + C is pressed. The resend interval is defaults to 1 sec and can be changed using --sleep-time.

$ freakble send --device AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA --loop FREAKNET

You can use FREAKBLE_DEVICE environment variables to set the device address, and to not have to provide it in each commands that need a device address.

For example, using send, if one of your device is called FW_vuzasu you can do:

$ export FREAKBLE_DEVICE=$(freakble scan | grep FW_vuzasu | cut -d' ' -f1)
$ freakble send "La violenza è l'ultimo rifugio degli incapaci. - Isaac Asimov"

FreakWAN supports commands starting with ! character (see the list on FreakWAN README):

$ freakble send '!bat'
battery 99%, 4.20 volts

If you don't know what to say, you can always tempt the fates! :)

freakble send "$(fortune)"

Please note that this command handle also disconnection from Bluetooth LE so it runs in a few seconds.

scan

The scan command is used to discover Bluetooth LE devices.

Usage: freakble scan [OPTIONS]

  Scan to find BLE devices.

Options:
  --scan-time FLOAT  scan duration  [default: (5 secs)]
  --help             Show this message and exit.

For example:

$ freakble scan
AB:AB:AB:AB:AB:AB (rssi:-52) FW_timatu
AF:AF:AF:AF:AF:AF (rssi:-57) FW_vuzasu

repl

The repl command connects to the specified device and stats an interactive shell with it. The complete usage is:

Usage: freakble repl [OPTIONS]

  Start a REPL with the device.

Options:
  --device TEXT    ble device address  [required]
  --timeout FLOAT  Bluetooth LE connection timeout  [default: (10 secs)]
  --help           Show this message and exit.

For example:

$ export FREAKBLE_DEVICE=$(freakble scan | grep FW | cut -d' ' -f1)
freakble 0.3.0a0 on linux
Connecting to AB:AB:AB:AB:AB:AB...
Φ]

Φ] is the freakble prompt.

You can then talk to the device remembering that commands start with ! and the text you write if it's not a command is sent as a message in the network.

For example, the following text is sent as a message in the network:

Φ] Hello there!
Φ]

Instead commands make you able to get info or configure your FreakWAN node:

Φ] !help
Commands: !automsg !pw !sp !cr !bw !freq !preset !ls !font !last !addkey !delkey !keys !usekey !nokey
Φ] !bat
battery volts: 4.2

Pressing TAB key or ! will show the autocompletion menu.

To exit from the interactive shell use CTRL + D or CTRL + C

gui

The gui command starts a GUI of freakble. If you don't set the device address it will start with the following scan interface:

after choosing a device you can click to the connect button to get a graphical REPL:

License

freakble is licensed under BSD-3-Clause license.