Well August and the Stage 2 deadline is upon us!  It has been a very busy month, but exciting and successful.  The System Design Document is now ready and all components have arrived in time for prototyping for Stage 2.  My goal was to have a working prototype with an Electric IMP by the Stage 2 deadline and I am happy this has been achieved.  Not only is SMS's sent on mail delivery via the Electric IMP, but unlocking of the mailbox upon valid order/tracking number entry is also working.  A dummy website has been setup on my computer to enter order numbers and lock/unlock the mailbox remotely.  (It's not pretty (yet), but works a treat...)

The Electric IMP code is now available on GitHub as well as the System Design Doc.  Please note that the Electric IMP code will be cleaned up a little more, it is a little messy for comfort.  The MSP430 code is progressing well, but not quite in a state for GitHub - still some cleanup left to do and more layering to make it a little more portable.  

I hit a few snags in the past month with code size restrictions on the Demo IAR Workbench I was using. (still not sure why manufacturers don't just make their tools available for free - what better incentive for using their parts? - nudge, nudge TI...)  I am now using MSP430-GCC and Code Blocks which works pretty well.  (Command line compile and program is also available.)  I still have to get the debugger working, but the serial port and IMP server log is pretty useful.  The other snag I still would like to figure out is why the Electric IMP would not connect to my WiFi unless I disconnect the second router from the network, i.e. physically pull out the CAT5 cable and it connects - no problem.  After this the cable can be reconnected.

The goal for this month is to cleanup the MSP430/IMP code and get it all on GitHub, finalize the schematic (at least on paper) and make the website a little prettier.  Would be nice to have the prototype on PCB by the Stage 3 deadline, but that may be a little too optimistic given the deadline is a little over a month away.  Better get cracking...