hypernephelist n. [from Greek nepho-, cloud] someone who goes above the clouds.

Azure Event Hubs messaging using AMQP with Qpid Proton and Python from the Arduino Yun

Now that is a mouthful of a title! I have been slowly working on getting the Apache Qpid Proton library working on the Arduino Yun so that I can send messages to Event Hubs using AMQP instead of HTTP. It took a bit more work than expected, but as described in a previous blog post, I managed to cross-compile the library to run on the Arduino Yun using the OpenWRT toolchain. I also extended the procedure to add the Python bindings in there to make the library easier to use; as described in the article, you will also need a Python shared library in order to be able to use these bindings.


Running Debian in Azure, from soup to nuts

Here are step-by-step instructions on creating your own Debian image to run in Microsoft Azure. This is not that complicated and will allow you to fully customize your OS and select only the packages you need, following the great Debian minimalist tradition!


Compiling the Qpid Proton Python bindings for the Arduino Yun

In a previous post, I cross-compiled the Apache Qpid Proton C library for the Arduino Yun. However, I also wanted to be able to use the Python bindings on the Yun, so that I can write a simple script to run via the Bridge library, instead of a C program that people would need to cross-compile. The build process published by MS Open Tech China does not include the Python bindings, but here are some instructions to add them.


An IoT Hackathon shopping list

We have been running a few IoT hackathons here in Europe, as part of our role evangelising Microsoft Azure services for connected devices. One of our goals during these hackathons was to prove that you could use our Azure services for IoT from pretty much any connected device, even if it was not Microsoft-based in any way; of course most people expect that you can use Azure services from a .NET Micro Framework-based device like Netduino and Gadgeteer, but a lot of people already use Arduino and Raspberry Pi and Tessel devices, and we wanted to show that you could use Azure services from those too!


Let's cross-compile Qpid Proton for the Arduino Yun

Exploring further the dark art of cross-compilation, today I would like to present you some simple instructions on how to cross-compile the Apache Qpid Proton library to run on the Arduino Yun integrated OpenWRT-based gateway. The idea here is that you can then execute a process on the Linux side of the Yun and communicate from your micro-controller code via the Bridge library to send AMQP commands to Azure Event Hubs.