Hey folks! Here are today’s important bits:

• As noted in an update a while back, the manufacturer of the microcontrollers used in Mugsy stopped producing the boards we used. Recently I have found that they actually went totally under, most likely from post covid chip shortage shenanigans. I have been evaluating several replacement options and have landed on a pretty standard Nano clone with the same 328P and pin layout. I was initially concerned about the use of the CH340 chip for USB to Serial communication, but have found that the issues I ran into a few years back are no longer an issue in the vast majority of cases. CH340 chips are fairly ubiquitous these days and on most systems they are plug and play. For those systems that still may require a manual driver install, it is a straightforward installation. I still think we will eventually move over to something like an RP2040 when we have some actual breathing room. But thats a conversation for the future…

• In addition to the board update, the control responsibilities within Mugsy have been switched around a bit. The microcontroller now only controls the cone mech stepper, water pumps and the RGB LED lighting. Weight and temp sensors have been moved over to Python services on the Pi. The microcontroller code has been simplified a lot (again!), and the command format has also been updated. I am finishing up some final cleanup and this will be the first official release code to come out on the Github in the next couple of days. Once ready, I will have an update with a full rundown of the code and it’s usage.

• I did run into a few issues while working through the plumbing setup. I have updated the mounting setup for the boilers and water reservoir (again, again). Parts are fab’d and installation is in progress.

• At this point, once plumbing is locked down and I triple check a bunch of things, we’re gonna be ready to go on shipments. Could be just a day or three, might be a week.

• Next update will be out on Friday.

Thanks!!