Re:Show HN: Extend Zigbee sensor range with LoRaWAN
by oarsinsync on Tuesday March 19, 2024 @04:39AM
(#39753892)
It’s interesting that you draw the line after Zigbee, but before LoRa. Why is it presumed that LoRa is unknown, and Zigbee is known?
Re:Show HN: Extend Zigbee sensor range with LoRaWAN
by blagie on Tuesday March 19, 2024 @06:33AM
(#39754394)
Good point!
I think my assumption came from two places: (1) My own bias (I use Zigbee) (2) Zigbee is big enough to have been sold in big box stores.
However, a rewrite which explains the global context would be even better, if it can be done concisely. You're right that many people won't know that. It's super-helpful to have a paragraph-length (max) description of any projects which is accessible to as broad an audience as possible.
Re:Show HN: Extend Zigbee sensor range with LoRaWAN
by lurking_swe on Tuesday March 19, 2024 @07:05AM
(#39754562)
adding to this, as a software engineer casually dabbling in home automation, i’ve come across the word zigbee hundreds of times. I see zigbee products recommended all the time. LoRa? it’s my first time hearing about this…
With that out of the way:
Many of us have never heard of LoRa. There is no way to know in 60 seconds what this project does, or why it is useful. I would recommend adding a sentence to the effect of:
"LoRa is a low-cost long-range wireless communications protocol. This project provides hardware and software to allow zigbee devices to communicate over LoRa, allowing placement of such devices far from the zigbee hub."
That's a small but big improvement. Next improvements:
- Discuss maximum range / interference
- Add an English option to the project page
- Minor: Reorganize the page to be more directive about how to get started ("Buy X, do Y, etc. in a tutorial format"). This can even just be a pointer to the relevant pages ("Buy the hardware list on [this page]. Install the software per [this page]")
That's a first impression. Feel free to post again. Show HN is a nice place to get first impressions, which have a surprisingly big impact on adoption.