Touchscreen interfaces are all around us. They are used for digital signage, information kiosks, control surfaces, and more. Devices like these in the field can be difficult to maintain and often are running insecure, out of date code. In this session, we will learn everything we need to build, develop, and deploy devices using Nerves. This includes building a Raspberry Pi-based touchscreen device, learning the ins and outs of Nerves development, creating user interfaces with Phoenix, and interfacing with hardware. After everyone has built a working kiosk, we will go through the steps to maintain these devices in the field and securely update them as needed. This is a hands-on session and you get to take working kiosks back with you to extend, repurpose, and share.
I’m in a constant state of wanting to make the world around me bend to my imagination. At one time I wondered how hard it would be to start my motorcycle from my phone. Rewiring the motorcycle and writing an interface was easy, but connecting it all together proved to be a challenge. A challenge that would define my career. That invisible, often impenetrable layer in the air between all the hardware in the world has become my stomping ground. Hardware is hard, so I’ve been working on nerves to make it easy.