Hello. There are three main sections to this site.

Source code: More and more of the code will be published to github.


Beta

June 29, 2009

Minor Twitter changes
2.6.0.188

June 27, 2009

Enable Twitter support.

This will allow the Stoker to send tweets to any specified Twitter account. There will be a tweet generated every time an alarm condition is set/cleared and there will be a tweet at regular intervals. The frequency of these periodic updates is user defined.

Warning: Please be extremely careful using this. There are several security pitfalls that the user needs to be aware of. Basically, the entire process is vulnerable. Yikes! I'm no security expert, but these are some thoughts the user should be aware of.

  1. The user will need to enter the Twitter account name and password into the Stoker webpage. The connection between the web browser and the Stoker during the operation is NOT secure. This means the account name and password can be sniffed out while submitting the info to the Stoker.

    If this is of concern, make sure there is a direct wired Ethernet connection between the Stoker and the computer - no wireless, no switches, no hubs, no routers.

  2. The Stoker stores this information in non-volatile memory. The Stoker software will never publish this information. But Mr. Evil Hacker-man could potentially break into your house, steal your Stoker, unsolder the non-volatile memory, disassemble the executable, and then extract the info from the chip. But man, that's a lot of work.

  3. The Stoker uses Basic Authentication to send the tweet. This effectively means the Stoker sends the account name and password in raw text direct to Twitter.com. Please see the Twitter API docs regarding basic authentication.

    Since this request uses the Internet, this means the account name and password are vulnerable to anyone sniffing the traffic.

Not exactly a happy set of thoughts. Kinda sucks to be the party-pooper, but there are some things you can do to minimize the risk.

  1. Create a new Twitter account just for the Stoker.
  2. Try to limit any type of personal info on the Stoker profile.
  3. Create a totally new password for the account. Use any strong password generator site to create the password. Here's a Google search.

Usage: After upgrading, with your new Twitter account strong password in hand, open up the Stoker webpage, and click on the check box labeled "Show Twitter options".

2.6.0.182

March 22, 2009

Bug fixes for min/max duty cycle
2.6.0.101

March 8, 2009

Update for new commands.
2.6.0.99
Socket Test

March 5, 2009

Updates to the socket command set. Added CMD_ID_HTTP_PORT, CMD_ID_DUTY_CYCLE_MIN_MAX, and CMD_ID_DUTY_CYCLE_TIME_SLICE.

February 24, 2009

Fix output to be backwards compatible with StokerLog. 2.6.0.67

February 17, 2009

The previous example had some problems on certain computers and so I have reverted from Winsock2 back to Winsock 1.1 and that seems to work. Here is the new example: socket_test_wsock1.1.zip

February 13, 2009

Found a divide-by-zero problem. This problem causes abrupt termination on the socket whenever the CMD_ID_DUMP_ALL command is issued while a switch is plugged in.

Here's the fix: 2.6.0.63

February 12, 2009

Updates to socket control syntax.

WARNING: Still in alpha.

Here is the initial alpha release: 2.6.0.57

Here is some code written to test it: Example

February 5, 2009

Here's a preliminary look at the socket control syntax.

January 29, 2009

I'm rewriting all the socket control stuff. It was originally kinda hokey.

Releases

Here are the latest versions of the Stoker software.

WARNING: In the event of a catastrophic error, you will need to get your Stoker reprogrammed at Rock's Bar-B-Que. This will be at your expense and there is no guaranteed turnaround time.

So, if you're planning a special cook for an upcoming event, I highly suggest you wait until your cook is complete before attempting any upgrade.

Version 2.1.321 (June 23, 2009)
Version 2.1.300 (August 6, 2008)
Version 2.1.287 (June 20, 2007)

Documentation





Questions or comments? Let us know!