When I posted about FlyEarth04 on the Slack microbit-community Channel, I got a reply from Bill Siever about his extension for connecting mbit to input devices via BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy. Cool. This would simplify the app: no need for Selenium or other code on the laptop. Why skip the project name from 04 to 07? Wrangling MakeCode and Git took a couple of tries, version numbers are free, let it go. How to make the simplified approach work?
Goal
Fly Google Earth on laptop: – using keystrokes driven by pitch and roll sensed by mbit’s accelerometers – and sent by BLE-HID to laptop running Google Earth in browser.
PLAN
- Refactor existing block code from FlyEarth04
- Edit in MakeCode
- Same keystrokes
- Use BLE HID Extension
- Source control in Git
DO
- Make changes in FlyEarth07 repo
CHECK
- Test in Earth
- hold gF works after other moves
- setting preferences fastest resolution slows flight dowm, good.
- code commited to git PDCA-7.5git
- test flight on GOLF and HolidayBit, Giza, up Nile, east to PortSaid, through Suez to Gulf
- Connecting to mbit via BLE Bluetooth tricky, turn mbit off and on during descovery, be patient
ACT
- Add documentation
- Write article
- Consider hold keys down for turns, go up/down
- longer distances need higher altitude for faster flight