Modular

Modular is a desktop app for real-time instrumentation, dashboards, and firmware workflows. It is built on Electron + Freeboard with custom widgets for serial, plotting, and device control.

Modular is built for fast feedback loops: connect hardware, stream data, visualize behavior, and iterate without leaving the dashboard.

Why Modular

• Own your data: local-first dashboards, no cloud dependency.
• Real-time insight: live plots, gauges, and terminals for fast iteration.
• Hands-on tooling: flash firmware, record CSVs, and build repeatable test setups.
• Community-ready: widget docs and examples ship with the app.

Highlights

• Serial datasources: parse numeric streams with custom separators and end-of-line rules.
• Plotting: uPlot-based charts with UI + channel manager helpers.
• Recording: CSV capture with timestamps and ordering options.
• Flashing: mcumgr integration for supported boards.
• ThingSet over CAN: local tooling to scan and query nodes.

What you can build

• Bring-up dashboards: live plots + gauges + terminal logs in one view.
• Test benches: repeatable runs with CSV recording, tagged outputs, and saved dashboards.
• Operator panels: device selectors, setpoints, and status toggles in a clear layout.
• Lab notebooks: ship examples and docs with the app so experiments are reproducible.

Feature overview

• Composable widgets: mix plots, gauges, terminals, and control panels in a single dashboard.
• Helper widgets: auto-spawn UI controllers and channel managers for faster setup.
• Dashboard portability: save and load dashboards as JSON and share with teammates.
• Local-first workflow: no account needed, no cloud required, no telemetry by default.
• Documentation inside the app: per-widget help tabs and examples ship with the binaries.

Dashboard preview

The dashboard supports a plot and a gauge widgets.

The plot widget can be used to trace data (here a sine wave)

The gauge widget can be used to create warnings.

Firmware upload

Firmware upload is supported by mcuboot and Serial port.

Quick start

1. Install Node.js 20 or later.
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

   On Windows, socketcan is optional and will be skipped. This is expected.
3. Launch in development:

   npm start

   The dashboard loads from app/dashboard.
4. Build distributables:

   npm run dist

   Packages are placed in dist/.

Screens, widgets, and docs

• Widget docs and examples live under app/docs/ and app/dashboard/docs/.
• Example dashboards for development live under dev/test_dashboards/.

Typical workflows

1. Connect a serial datasource (mock or real hardware).
2. Inspect with a terminal and a quick plot or gauge.
3. Control using setpoints or actions in dedicated widgets.
4. Record a CSV for analysis and share the dashboard JSON with your team.

ThingSet over CAN

JavaScript implementation lives in app/js/:

• app/js/ts_can_utils.js – CAN ID builder and ISO-TP response reassembly.
• app/js/thingset_bin.js – ISO-TP TX/RX and ThingSet client (ThingSetCAN).
• app/js/scan.js – scans the bus, writes thingset/nodes.json.
• app/js/query_nodes.js – explores a node tree, writes thingset/node_<addr>_tree.json.
• app/js/can_adapter.js – CAN bus wrapper (SocketCAN on Linux, ffi-napi vendor driver on Windows).

Dependencies:

• socketcan (Linux) and cbor (in package.json)
• Windows optional: ffi-napi + ref-napi with vendor DLL

Commands:

• Scan the bus: npm run scan:can
• Build node trees: npm run ts:query
• Basic client test: npm run ts:test

Linux SocketCAN setup (GUI auth)

• Script: app/scripts/setup_can_linux.sh configures can0 at 500000 bps.
• IPC: ipcRenderer.invoke('can-setup-linux') uses pkexec for GUI auth.
• Linux-only; ensure a PolicyKit agent is running.

Windows build notes

• CAN via SocketCAN is Linux-only.
• Windows CAN requires a vendor driver and ffi-napi binding (see app/js/can_adapter.js).
• If native modules need to build, install MSVC Build Tools and Python.

Repository layout

• app/main.js – Electron main process for serial and IPC.
• app/flasher.js – mcumgr firmware flashing helper.
• app/dashboard/ – bundled Freeboard + custom plugins.
• dev/test_dashboards/ – dev/test dashboards.

License

MIT License. See app/dashboard/LICENSE for Freeboard components bundled with the app.