add ble remote project

input/projects/ble_remote.md

@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+title: Pico BLE Vape Remote
+description: Replacement for S&B Vaporizer app
+parent: projects
+git: https://git.xythobuz.de/thomas/sb-py
+github: https://github.com/xythobuz/Volcano-Remote
+date: 2024-12-07
+comments: true
+---
+
+Like many modern devices, some of the medical vaporizer devices from S&B (the [Crafty](https://www.storz-bickel.com/de/crafty-plus-c), [Venty](https://www.storz-bickel.com/de/venty) and the [Volcano Hybrid](https://www.storz-bickel.com/de/volcanohybrid)) offer Bluetooth connectivity and [an app](https://app.storz-bickel.com/) to control them.
+
+Unfortunately the official mobile apps have / had some problems.
+The iOS version is no longer available after Apple decided to remove "drug related" Apps.
+So understandably the company no longer developed either their iOS or Android apps, instead releasing a web app that uses the Chrome Bluetooth APIs.
+
+Yet all of these variants are problematic in different ways.
+The Android app offers customizable workflows for the Volcano Hybrid.
+But the Bluetooth implementation is very wonky, sometimes simply missing steps in the workflow.
+And because there's no error checking, the workflow simply continues in a broken state.
+The webapp doesn't have this problem, but instead the workflows are no longer customizable, instead just offering a small number of hard-coded pre-defined workflows.
+
+This is not satisfying, of course, and also presented itself as a great opportunity to play around with BLE.
+
+Fortunately the official web app is made with non-minimized an unobfuscated JavaScript, so the BLE protocol for the different devices can easily be reverse engineered.
+I wrote a small [script](https://git.xythobuz.de/thomas/sb-py/src/branch/master/web-app/fetch.sh) that helps with downloading and beautifying the official sources.
+
+As a first attempt I implemented the Volcano workflow functionality in Python on the PC.
+I had some problems, so I made two implementations, with [bleak](https://bleak.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) and [SimplePyBLE](https://simpleble.readthedocs.io/en/latest/simplepyble/usage.html).
+Turns out my difficulties came from having multiple bluetooth adapters on my Linux machine.
+Now the scripts both work fine for me.
+
+<!--%
+lightgallery([
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_pc_2.jpg", "Volcano Remote script in action (old version)" ],
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_pc_1.png", "Volcano Remote script in action (current version)" ],
+])
+%-->
+
+Then I implemented the same thing on a [Raspberry Pi Pico W](https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/microcontrollers/pico-series.html#raspberry-pi-pico-w-and-pico-wh), with a [Waveshare Pico LCD 1.3](https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/Pico-LCD-1.3) display.
+I first did this in MicroPython but ran into issues as well.
+It works fine but I couldn't include all the functionality I wanted.
+
+<!--%
+lightgallery([
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_micropython.jpg", "Volcano Remote MicroPython prototype" ],
+])
+%-->
+
+So I made a fourth iteration, this time in C with the plain Pico SDK.
+It can interact with the Volcano Hybrid, the Crafty and the Venty.
+Everything can be controlled using on-screen menus on the device itself.
+It even has a WiFi capable OTA bootloader to support wireless firmware upgrades.
+
+<!--%
+lightgallery([
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_c_dev.jpg", "Volcano Remote C version in development" ],
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_bootloader.jpg", "Volcano Remote WiFi Bootloader" ],
+])
+%-->
+
+To contain everything I designed a snug little 3D-printed case in OpenSCAD.
+It contains the Pico W, a [Pico LiPo Shim](https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pico-lipo-shim?variant=32369543086163) and a ["80mAh / 20 x 11 x 5mm / 501220" LiPo battery](https://www.ebay.de/itm/255510046348?var=555462939784).
+The Pi is mounted with four screws and the battery is held onto it with a drop of hot glue.
+Then the LCD board just plugs on top to close it.
+
+<!--%
+lightgallery([
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_case_1.jpg", "Volcano Remote case assembly" ],
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_case_2.jpg", "Volcano Remote case opened" ],
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_case_3.jpg", "Volcano Remote case power button" ],
+])
+%-->
+
+This is what the final result looks like.
+
+<!--%
+lightgallery([
+    [ "img/volcano_remote_case_4.jpg", "Volcano Remote (final)" ],
+])
+%-->
+
+I'm quite happy with it, especially the software part.
+It has many things I expect from nice modern embedded projects, and I've used a bunch of libraries to achieve these:
+
+  * [Pico SDK](https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk) for working with the Pico
+    * [TinyUSB](https://github.com/hathach/tinyusb) for the USB device implementation
+    * [BTstack](https://github.com/bluekitchen/btstack) for the Bluetooth connection
+  * [FatFS](https://github.com/abbrev/fatfs) for the USB filesystem
+  * [MCUFont](https://github.com/mcufont/mcufont) for rendering text
+  * [st7789](https://github.com/hepingood/st7789) for interacting with the LCD
+  * [picowota](https://github.com/usedbytes/picowota) bootloader ([modified](https://github.com/xythobuz/picowota) to work with the Flash config storage and LCD)
+
+As usual you can find everything on my [Gitea](https://git.xythobuz.de/thomas/sb-py) and on [GitHub](https://github.com/xythobuz/Volcano-Remote).

localtest.sh

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+set -e
+
 echo "Cleaning"
 rm -rf output
 mkdir output