impOS™ 38 to begin phased developer imp deployment

Developers!

Electric Imp will this week make impOS™ 38 available to developer imps as part of our roll-out of the new imp operating system.

impOS 38 brings powerful new functionality to the low-cost imp004m module:

  • Full-stack Bluetooth LE
    • Advertise your imp004m-based product to other devices.
    • Allow apps and hardware to connect to your product securely.
    • Offer GATT services from the imp to enable device-to-imp interactivity (GATT client functionality coming in a future update)
    • Enable wireless BlinkUp™.
  • Audio Enhancements
    • Connect digital microphones to source audio data.
    • Drive audio output through twin PWMs.
  • Zombie PWM
    • Call up autonomous PWM output across firmware updates and VM resets.

impOS 38 also delivers powerful new functionality to all imps:

  • Maximum Performance Data Streaming
    • Fast, blocking-free device-agent-cloud communications.
  • Trigger Cold Restarts From Squirrel
    • Reboot an imp in a way that’s the equivalent of a cold reset (power cycle).
  • Universal Exception Handling
    • Catch runtime errors wherever they occur in your code for easier, faster debugging.
  • Access Advanced WiFi Information
    • Retrieve detailed Cypress WiFi module data.
  • Manually Manage WiFi Connection Hints
    • Set an imp’s preferred BSSID and WiFi channel to speed future connection attempts.
  • Other Software Enhancements
    • Reduced power consumption on imp003 and imp004m.
    • Improved USB operation on imp005.
    • Extended SPI flash support on imp005.

For full details of impOS 38’s new capabilities, enhancements and changes, please see the Release Notes.

Commencing later his week we will be assigning developer imps to impOS 38 in batches, adding further devices over the coming weeks to the number already set to upgrade to impOS 38. Developers will see assigned devices upgrade when those devices reconnect after a WiFi loss, on the deployment of new Squirrel, or the application triggers a reconnection (eg. by calling agent.send() or server.log() after a deep sleep).

We recommend that all customers begin testing impOS 38 on their development hardware right away. To get some or all of your development devices updated as quickly as possible, rather than at the rate of our developer roll-out as described above, please contact us via Zendesk and provide those devices IDs or MAC addresses, or the ID of a Device Group. We will assign them to impOS 38 immediately. Please contact us by this means if you have questions or bug reports to file.

Customers may also wish to establish polite deployment code to ensure critical tasks are not impeded by the impOS update process.

Developers: please provide any feedback you have, including bug reports, questions or other issues, here on the Electric Imp Forum.

Thanks very much for your continued support!