I've been working on a new multi-platform IDE and framework that can run Node-RED on Android (as well as other platforms). It doesn't require Termux to be installed on the Android device and you can securely connect to remote devices to manage running services, file system etc.
I'm hoping this will be useful for IOT type projects running on all the Android based 'Edge' devices that are available these days, or for building touch-screen interfaces to control machines etc (it's got a nice WYSIWYG layout editor too)... or maybe even robotics with embedded Android devices like the OrangePi on board since it can also control USB serial devices, trigger GPIOs and send I2C commands on Android.
I'm releasing it as a 'preview' currently and I'd love some feedback from this community on what I've got so far regarding the Node-RED parts of the product.
If possible, I'd like to make the IDE a self-sustaining 'semi-commercial' product (ie generate enough income to pay a couple of full time developers), so your thoughts on the feasibility of that idea would be appreciated too.
I've created a new Discord channel here with more info and screen shots etc Node Studio
I've got loads of ideas for 'super-charging' Node-RED with my 'VLE' and 'Unified App' concept too!
The whole IDE is designed to be totally modular... it's all made of extensions and plugins so there's plenty of scope for community enhancements/contributions.
It's meant to have a similar 'feel' to VSCode but it's simpler and cleaner and highly focused on Node/JavaScript with a curated set of project templates for easy-to-use and mature frameworks such as Node-RED
Yes, you can run it on your phone or tablet if you like, it doesn't require a rooted device. Although I'm not sure why you would want to run it on your 'daily driver' phone. Maybe dedicate an old phone or tablet to use as a sensor hub or home automation controller though.
I've actually been using it in a retail scenario recently, for collecting data from USB serial connected presence/motion sensors and demographics data from a USB AI camera. The data is sent to Google Analytics for analysis by the sales bods. Because I have remote control of the devices, I don't need to go back to the site to fix bugs or make tweaks to the software
FYI. The remote control feature uses websockets running over secure SSH tunnels via a transparent relay server, so I'm confident that it's secure. The cloud relay server cannot examine the data as it's end-to-end encrypted.
The best option is to join my Discord channel here - Node Studio
I could post a link to the binaries here, but I'm not sure people would like that right?
Alternatively I could easily upload the binaries to the droidscript [dot] org website (I'm the creator of that project too), if that would give people more confidence?
I should mention - I've started work on some pallet nodes for communicating with USB serial devices and also MCP2221 Breakout boards, but those have not made it into the preview releases yet. You can still use regular NodeJS to do that though.
I think that is absolutely fine (a link to them, not posting the binaries here) as long as you are clear about the intent and licensing. Of course, people may be interested in whether the source code is open for examination to check for any privacy/security issues but that is completely up to you.
Most of it will be open sourced (once the code is stable and tidy), however the VLE and Package Exporter will remain closed source as I need to generate revenue to pay for a couple of developers to maintain and improve the product.
