Is it possible to have Chatter 2.0 connect to the internet to send and load messages. For example having one Chatter unit in one side of the world, communicate with another Chatter unit in another part of the world using a 3rd party service as the message proxy?
The idea is to use the wifi on the ESP32 chip to connect to the local network wifi router, and then call a script at example.com. the script would then save the message, and then another chatter can ping it to see if ti has new messages?
could this be done?
could it be done in micropython and as an additional app?
What Monika meant, is that it isn’t possible with the stock firmware or CircuitBlocks as there aren’t any WiFi or networking blocks for the Chatter, and that means we can’t provide support for your endeavor.
However, the ESP32 microcontroller on the device certainly is WiFi capable, and the micropython framework provides enough hardware and networking control that you can connect it to your home WiFi network and open connections to external web servers.
If you want to make your pair of Chatters communicate over the internet, aside from reprogramming them, you’ll also need to have a server accessible for both Chatters that is going to relay messages between them, just as you described. Usually, this involves having a publicly accessible server computer running your custom server software with some sort of secure authentication so no one can listen in on your chats, a database to store the messages, and an active connection between the server and device to push a notification when the receiving Chatter gets a new message.
Hope this steers you in the right direction and good luck!
@cluckceo Hey, have you started working towards this at all? Definitely would be interested in hearing more updates. I took a very beginner course in network so your idea sounds really cool.
