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Android REST SMS Gateway and Arduino Control Center

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It sounds awkward? In short, REST SMS Gateway allows changing your phone into a powerful SMS Gateway which you can control from the Arduino Control Center desktop application for sending alarm SMS messages. For testing purposes, I've installed on my smartphone an Android application called very intuitively - REST SMS Gateway :). I got this app from my friend, but you can download it from Android APK(install packages) download sites. This, and many other applications with similar purposes, are not available on the Google Play store anymore due to the Google Play Developer Policy which restricts SMS , CALL_LOG access only to default phone applications. After downloading and installing the APK Android package for the  REST SMS Gateway application, you will get this window: NOTICE: your phone MUST be connected in LAN (local, home network over wireless connection!!!) Otherwise, this will not work. After pressing the Start button, the window below will show up. But, the app

FAQ - frequently asked questions

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- What do I need in order to start programming Arduino boards(Nano, Uno, Mega) with Arduino Control Center, except Arduino boards? Do I need a license for the program? To start, you don't need a license. You can use the demo version until you get familiar with software logic and your project requirements. The project created in the demo version will be fully functional in the registered version. - What is the easiest way for the first time to start with Arduino board configuration? The easiest way for the first time is to upload firmware without support for ethernet shields(their names begin with MEGA_SERIAL_ONLY, UNO_NANO_SERIAL_ONLY) in order to get familiar with Arduino Control Center programming logic. Later on, you can attach ethernet shields, Update firmware for that type of shield, and set up parameters for connection to the network. - I am using Windows OS, the Arduino board is connected over USB to the PC. How can I communicate in Arduino Control Center with a conne

Google Chrome Lite mode and Arduino Control Center

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Google Chrome Lite mode is a way to speed up HTTP sites on slow connections. This mode is now only available on Chrome for Android. Important note is that Arduino Control Center web interface http pages NOT WORKING in this mode! HTTPS pages will load normally, since this traffic is not redirected to google servers. In order to enable Arduino Control Center web interface http traffic, there is a couple workarounds: 1. Turn off Lite mode on your Android phone. 2. Open Arduino Control Center web page in incognito mode Or, use https Arduino Control Center web pages only.

Secure way to control Arduino devices from anywhere in Arduino Control Center(Part IV)

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In previous posts, we have created  mytestdns.redirectme.net   domain name, and you are able to login to Arduino Control Center HTTP server(a   not secure connection,   please read all previous posts). Now, go to SSL For FREE web site, type your domain name(in this case mytestdns.redirectme.net, you type your domain name) and start creating SSL certificates for the secure HTTPS connection. Type domain name Next step is validate certificates manually: Manual verification Download verification files into already existed folder - web\.well-known\acme-challenge . Downloaded verification file Downloaded file in folder Verify downloaded file: Download certificates: Download SSL certificates Unpack downloaded file with certificates Copy unpacked certificates into "cert" folder Load certificate.crt into Arduino Control Center web server Load private.key into Arduino Control Center web server

Secure way to control Arduino devices from anywhere in Arduino Control Center(Part III)

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For free SSL Certificates, which will enable Arduino Control Center a secure HTTPS connection, we will use a service called SSL for FREE . If you have read the previous post, you already know that is not possible to issue an SSL certificate with an IP address, it has to be used hostname like any other web page you're visiting every day. In order to create a hostname, in this article, I will use No-IP free Dynamic DNS service.  It has a few limitations in the free version - only 3 hostnames and every 30 days hostnames have to be confirmed that you are still using them. It can be easily upgraded if you find this annoying and you will use more than three hostnames... After registration, you can create a hostname in the administration dashboard. Click on Create Hostname Select whatever hostname you want and domain and click on Create Hostname: For this demonstration and for the next topic where we finally will be connected to the Arduino Control Center web server o

Secure way to control Arduino devices from anywhere in Arduino Control Center(Part II)

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For free SSL Certificates, which enable Arduino Control Center a secure https connection, I used this excellent service called SSL for FREE . First time I used this service two years ago(2017). I am not sure 100%, but I think at that time it was possible to issue SSL certificate for fixed-static IP address. My plan for part II of this tutorial was to issue an SSL certificate for static IP address and walk you through steps how to implement this in Arduino Control Center, which is not possible now. I am using NO-IP for a dynamic DNS addresses. Please visit this site and create a free account for creating a free hostname, and of course, read more about this topic. The next post will be about this subject and I will use generated hostname to create a secure HTTPS connection in Arduino Control Center ...soon...

Secure way to control Arduino devices from anywhere in Arduino Control Center(Part I)

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Arduino Control Center has built-in web server which allows you to access your Arduino devices over Intranet(LAN) or Internet. By default setup, the web port for ACC is port 80. If this port is already used, you can set any other port. First of all, let's see how we connect to Arduino Control Center web server in a non-secure way. If you plan to access Arduino devices from the local network, you can access them simply by typing in the web browser http:// [YOUR_PC_IP_ADDRESS], for example, http://192.168.1.101 where 192.168.1.101 is IP address of PC with running Arduino Control Center desktop application and started web server. If you use any other port, for example, 8080, the address in the web browser will be like this: http://192.168.1.101:8080. How to start the server you can see here:  Setup and start HTTP and UDP servers At this point, without any kind of port forwarding on a wireless router or whatever is your network configuration, you are pretty safe within a