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[on:]

This is a video I made about the Internet Meter, a basic Ethernet Shield project which displays different kinds of data from the internet on a panel meter.

On YouTube:


or on vimeo:


I hope you enjoy!
Matt Richardson

[Reply #1 on:]

Very detailed and well done video. Interesting for newbies!
Congratulations, F

[Reply #2 on:]

Nicely explained!

I tested your php code, and it seems to be working, just EXTREMELY slow on my nas.

A response take about 30 seconds, like it is waiting for a timeout or something?
Or have I done something wrong here?

Code:

<?php
$authhost="&#123;imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert&#125;";
if ($mbox=imap_open($authhost, "user@gmail.com", "password"))
&#123;
      $check = imap_mailboxmsginfo($mbox);
      if ($check->Unread < 10)
      &#123;
            echo (25 * $check->Unread);
      &#125;
      else
      &#123;
            echo "255";
      &#125;
&#125;
else
&#123;
      echo "0";
&#125;
?>

[Reply #3 on:]

Federico, thank you.  I hope to have more video tutorials coming soon.

Bld, I'm not sure what could cause that other than a slow IMAP server.  I see that you're from Denmark, is there a more local Gmail server to connect to, perhaps?  I am by no means a PHP expert, so I would have a hard time troubleshooting that.

Matt

[Reply #4 on:]

That was an extremelly good video!

But what cought my main interest was the ammeter. Where do get those?

[Reply #5 on:]

Hans,

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.  The meter in the video is from AllElectronics.com.  But if you search eBay, you can find some neat "retro style" meters that have been reclaimed from old machines, which could be a greener way to make your own.

Here's the product page from AllElectronics.com:
https://www.allelectronics.com/index.php?page=item&id=PM-1MA&extra=a:2:{i:0;s:40:%2203823345592a403b2f4a37a59384e7ab28f02be1%22;i:1;s:0:%22%22;}

Matt Richardson

[Reply #6 on:]

Thanks!

It is so beautiful, and much more hardcore that any boring digital displays!

[Reply #7 on:]

@ bld: better than PHP server is not easier just use SMTP protocol? there are hundred guide, and you will not need a server

[Reply #8 on:]

I am not sure I understand what you are saying lesto.

SMTP is for sending emails, I am trying to check how many unread I got in a mailbox. And how would I not need a web server to handle it? I found no articles at all, that didn't use a web server to handle the out world stuff.

[Reply #9 on:]

I think @lesto actually meant to use IMAP or POP, not SMTP.

That's not a bad idea. You could implement a minimal POP client in Arduino that logs into your mailbox directly and gets the number of messages. In fact it would be so simple you wouldn't even need to execute any commands: just log in (APOP) as your user, and parse the response to get the number of messages. Have a look at the example here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Protocol#Dialog_example

If your mail server doesn't support APOP, your Arduino would need to log in and then issue a STAT command, but even that wouldn't be much harder.
--
Jon
Super-cheap Arduino prototyping shields: www.freetronics.com/protoshield-basic

[Reply #10 on:]

For e-mail unread counts, the Arduino can certainly do it without the proxy server.  The first version of this meter was to get unread item counts from Google Reader, which I don't think would have been easy without a PHP go between.