I ended up soldering some wires directly to a Mini Pro and installing it on my motorbike. It works well, but I didn't think it through enough and now - with my bike in the garage - and my PC in my lounge - and a Mini Pro that's not easily removable - I can't easily do software updates.
Which begs the question of "what's the easiest way to upload a sketch if one can't connect an Arduino diretly to a PC USB port"?
I did a bit of Googling - looks like there is an IDE for iOS or iPadOS - but I think that's only for writing the sketch and it still needed to be uploaded via a PC (so no good) (even though I have an official lightning to USB converter from Apple). I also have access to a Raspberry Pi (that I haven't used in years and isn't connected to a screen).
Just wondering if there's a quick and easy way? It doesn't need to edit a sketch - I only need a way to upload something that I've written & compiled on a PC.
I've experienced use an Android app called "ZFlasher AVR" to transfer .hex from an Android smartphone that supports USB OTG to an AVR uC.
This may be a hint?
I haven't tried it, but you might be able to program your motorbike's Nano from a PC in your room using a wireless UART module like the HC-06 or HC-12.
However, there is no automatic reset using the DTR signal, so you need to manually reset the Nano to program.
For example, wirelessly bypass the UART connection with the above module, use the iPhone's remote PC app to operate the your PC from the near by motorbike and press the Upload Sketch button, and manually reset just before the compilation is finished and the begin writing.
That's acrobatic.
Thanks for that - I'll look into it some more. I'll just need to be sure that the iOS app supports the libraries that the project runs (I2C, OLED, and LCD) - and that it can talk to a Mini Pro (not a Nano) (although probably won't make a difference as it looks like this bypasses the USB connector anyway).
My ultimate solution is probably to just get a laptop.
Thanks; to be honest, not a particularly difficult problem to work around (although the PC is a heavy high-performance beast 3 monitors, water cooling etc that would require at least 3 trips down 18 stairs (just for 1 monitor) which for a 60 year old dude still recovering from spinal cord surgery 2 years ago isn't as easy as it might first sound) - I was really just as curious to see if there was a low-cost alternative solution as I'm entertaining the possibility of moving my IT business more into Arduino machines ... thus is could well be a recurring problem.
I apologize for not taking into account athletic performance.
When embedding Arduino in the device for IoT that something like the ESP series with OTA capabilities could be good performance.
OTA is a programming method that rewrites itself using its own Wifi.
lol - no apology necessary At least I can still remember days of going for a 5 mile run after work - quick shower - then off to the movies without any consequences the next day!
Thanks for the heads up on the ESP series - will look into them too.
At least I can still remember days of going for a 5 mile run after work - quick shower - then off to the movies without any consequences the next day!