<div dir="ltr">I can put in a good word for the Open Access Board, we've used it at Bloominglabs since 2011 with good results.<div><br></div><div>Agreed on the division of labor with Arduino handling the hardware aspects and a Raspberry Pi handling logging, managing users, triggering a sound sample of 'Wolfman Jack says someone's at the door baby!' from the old UCB sketch when somebody enters, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>A thing we did, if anybody's interested, is we converted the USB/serial connection to a network service running as a daemon on the Raspberry Pi (but lock that thing down!), which made it easier to handle connections from the web server to add/revoke access, see what's happening, opening the door, etc. more here if anybody's curious: <a href="https://github.com/sdcharle/Bloominglabs/tree/master/rfid_network_server">https://github.com/sdcharle/Bloominglabs/tree/master/rfid_network_server</a> The Twisted library for Python does the heavy lifting. </div><div><br></div><div>Steve<br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 10:52 PM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:discuss-request@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">discuss-request@lists.hackerspaces.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">Send Discuss mailing list submissions to<br>
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Today's Topics:<br>
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1. Re: RFID access was Re: WordPress websites - what<br>
features/plugins and configurations do your spaces use? (Arclight)<br>
2. Re: RFID access was Re: WordPress websites - what<br>
features/plugins and configurations do your spaces use? (Bob Baddeley)<br>
<br>
<br>
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Message: 1<br>
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2015 19:09:16 -0800<br>
From: Arclight <<a href="mailto:arclight@gmail.com">arclight@gmail.com</a>><br>
To: Hackerspaces General Discussion List<br>
<<a href="mailto:discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org">discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [hackerspaces] RFID access was Re: WordPress websites -<br>
what features/plugins and configurations do your spaces use?<br>
Message-ID:<br>
<CABh0E1Y8+x0JY=j2a44=Nevp_a6V=-_NJG57Hr5B5M=<a href="mailto:CCns2HQ@mail.gmail.com">CCns2HQ@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"<br>
<br>
We were fortunate to get some help from a guy in the security industry when<br>
we developed the Open Access board. I then went to a trade show as well as<br>
tearing down a bunch of old equipment.<br>
<br>
The hardware in commercial alarm and access systems nothing special<br>
technology-wise. What makes it expensive is the limited market and need<br>
for very high resiliance in the equipment.<br>
We settled on an architecture that separates the "hard" tasks (Keeping the<br>
doors, readers and sensors properly serviced and in-state) from the soft<br>
tasks (logging, Internet connectivity).<br>
<br>
We felt that hard tasks are best performed by a small system with a tiny<br>
code base and real-time properties. The RasPi has GPIOs, but using them for<br>
the real-time stuff ties us to specific hardware, and RasPi models turn<br>
over periodically.<br>
<br>
It also exposes us to possible issues if we manage to crash the OS. We<br>
incorporated a "hardened" Arduino-compatible into the board, and made it<br>
possible to phsyically bolt a RasPi on and power/connect via serial on the<br>
GPIO header or standard USB.<br>
<br>
All of the inputs are protected with TVS diodes and current-limiters and<br>
the input power has reverse polarity, noise and surge protection.<br>
<br>
The soft tasks are likewise not so great on an Arduino. Sure, we could use<br>
a hardware Ethernet stack and an SD card for logging, but we're starting to<br>
push the limits of a small device and don't get a firewall, DHCP client,<br>
SSL, etc.<br>
<br>
Anyway, this has been working well enough that we've sold close to 100 of<br>
these. You can buy one here:<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.wallofsheep.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.wallofsheep.com</a><br>
<br>
Arclight<br>
(Shameless plugger of hackerspace businesses)<br>
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