Could not receive version from controller

Raspberry Pi 3 B with Particle Photon
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0461:4de2 Primax Electronics, Ltd
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0461:0010 Primax Electronics, Ltd HP Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 050: ID 2b04:c006
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0409:0058 NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo python /home/brewpi/autoSerial.py
All ports:
/dev/ttyACM0 - Photon with WiFi, VID:2b04, PID:c006
/dev/ttyAMA0 - ttyAMA0, VID:None, PID:None
Compatible ports:
(’/dev/ttyACM0’, ‘Particle Photon’)
Selected port: (’/dev/ttyACM0’, ‘Particle Photon’)
pi@raspberrypi:~ $

lsusb does not pick up the Photon. I am going in circles, Help

It is listed in lsusb: Bus 001 Device 050: ID 2b04:c006
autoSerial.py also seems to recognize it.

What do you see on the LCD display? What is the color of the LED?

Hi Elco

No LCD. Error is at the bottom of this log file. Early on I had problem with USB ports on a powered hub, got around that, but this is stopping me.

Also the WEB screen shows Could not receive version from controller. Please reprogram controller. Just prior to that msg it flashed a msg , cannot receive LCD text from Python script.

Thanks for your help, Pete

login as: pi

pi@192.168.1.2's password:

 

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;

the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the

individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

 

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent

permitted by applicable law.

Last login: Mon Jan 30 10:54:48 2017

 

SSH is enabled and the default password for the 'pi' user has not been changed.

This is a security risk - please login as the 'pi' user and type 'passwd' to set                                                                                                              a new password.

 

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt-get update

Hit http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie InRelease

Hit http://archive.raspberrypi.org jessie InRelease

Hit http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/main armhf Packages

Hit http://archive.raspberrypi.org jessie/main armhf Packages

Hit http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/contrib armhf Packages

Hit http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/non-free armhf Packages

Hit http://archive.raspberrypi.org jessie/ui armhf Packages

Hit http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/rpi armhf Packages

Ign http://archive.raspberrypi.org jessie/main Translation-en_US

Ign http://archive.raspberrypi.org jessie/main Translation-en

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/contrib Translation-en_US

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/contrib Translation-en

Ign http://archive.raspberrypi.org jessie/ui Translation-en_US

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/main Translation-en_US

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/main Translation-en

Ign http://archive.raspberrypi.org jessie/ui Translation-en

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/non-free Translation-en_US

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/non-free Translation-en

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/rpi Translation-en_US

Ign http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org jessie/rpi Translation-en

Reading package lists... Done

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt-get upgrade

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

Calculating upgrade... Done

The following packages have been kept back:

  libgl1-mesa-dri sonic-pi xserver-xorg-input-all

0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo ~/brewpi-tools/updater.py

######################################################

####                                              ####

####        Welcome to the BrewPi Updater!        ####

####                                              ####

######################################################

 

Checking whether the update script is up to date

/home/pi/brewpi-tools is up-to-date.

 

 

 

*** Updating BrewPi script repository ***

 

Stopping running instances of BrewPi

You are on branch master

The latest commit in /home/brewpi  is 7711c14de039f88c8f119f83acb2436b38e14923 on Thu, 01 Dec 2016 05:04:01

The latest commit on origin/master is 7711c14de039f88c8f119f83acb2436b38e14923 on Thu, 01 Dec 2016 05:04:01

Your local version of /home/brewpi is up to date!

 

 

*** Updating BrewPi web interface repository ***

You are on branch master

The latest commit in /var/www/html is 1e0778703edbbd3ef33072ba0b260c491fba90cc on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 07:04:54

The latest commit on origin/master is 1e0778703edbbd3ef33072ba0b260c491fba90cc on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 07:04:54

Your local version of /var/www/html is up to date!

 

No changes were made, skipping runAfterUpdate.sh.

If you encounter problems, you can start it manually with:

sudo /home/brewpi/utils/runAfterUpdate.sh

 

The update script can automatically check your controller firmware version and program it with the latest release on GitHub, would you like to do this now? [Y/n]:y

 Stopping any running instances of BrewPi to check/update controller...

 

Checking current firmware version...

 Jan 30 2017 11:11:55   Opening serial port

 Jan 30 2017 11:12:05   Errors while opening serial port:

Could not find compatible serial devices

 

 Unable to receive version from controller.

Is your controller unresponsive and do you wish to try restoring your firmware? [y/N]:

y

 Could not find compatible device in available serial ports.

Firmware update done

 

 

*** Done updating BrewPi! ***

 

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo ~/brewpi-tools/updater.py

######################################################

####                                              ####

####        Welcome to the BrewPi Updater!        ####

####                                              ####

######################################################

 

Checking whether the update script is up to date

/home/pi/brewpi-tools is up-to-date.

 

 

 

*** Updating BrewPi script repository ***

 

Stopping running instances of BrewPi

Quit message sent to BrewPi instance with pid 1363!

You are on branch master

The latest commit in /home/brewpi  is 7711c14de039f88c8f119f83acb2436b38e14923 on Thu, 01 Dec 2016 05:04:01

The latest commit on origin/master is 7711c14de039f88c8f119f83acb2436b38e14923 on Thu, 01 Dec 2016 05:04:01

Your local version of /home/brewpi is up to date!

 

 

*** Updating BrewPi web interface repository ***

You are on branch master

The latest commit in /var/www/html is 1e0778703edbbd3ef33072ba0b260c491fba90cc on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 07:04:54

The latest commit on origin/master is 1e0778703edbbd3ef33072ba0b260c491fba90cc on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 07:04:54

Your local version of /var/www/html is up to date!

 

No changes were made, skipping runAfterUpdate.sh.

If you encounter problems, you can start it manually with:

sudo /home/brewpi/utils/runAfterUpdate.sh

 

The update script can automatically check your controller firmware version and program it with the latest release on GitHub, would you like to do this now? [Y/n]:y

 Stopping any running instances of BrewPi to check/update controller...

 

Checking current firmware version...

 Jan 30 2017 11:15:12   Opening serial port

 Unable to receive version from controller.

Is your controller unresponsive and do you wish to try restoring your firmware? [y/N]:

y

 Will try to restore the firmware on your Particle Photon

 Please put your controller in DFU mode now by holding the setup button during reset, until the LED blinks yellow.

 Press Enter when ready.

 

\

Checking GitHub for available release...

 Latest version on GitHub: 0.4.4

 Downloading firmware...

downloading https://github.com/BrewPi/firmware/releases/download/0.4.4/brewpi-photon-0.4.4.bin

 Updated system firmware for the photon found in release 0.4.4

downloading https://github.com/BrewPi/firmware/releases/download/0.4.4/system-part1-0.5.3-photon.bin

downloading https://github.com/BrewPi/firmware/releases/download/0.4.4/system-part2-0.5.3-photon.bin

 Downloaded new system firmware to:

 

 /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part1-0.5.3-photon.bin

and

 

 /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part2-0.5.3-photon.bin

 

 Latest firmware downloaded to:

/home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/brewpi-photon-0.4.4.bin

 

Updating firmware...

 

 ****    Photon Program script started    ****

 Settings will not be restored

 Devices will not be restored

 

Found a Photon and running as root/sudo, using DFU mode to flash firmware.

 

Trying to automatically reboot into DFU mode and update your firmware.

 

If the Photon does not reboot into DFU mode automatically, please put it in DFU mode manually.

 Running command: sudo /usr/bin/python /home/brewpi/utils/flashDfu.py --autodfu --noreset --file=/home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4 --system1=/home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part1-0.5.3-photon.bin --system2=/home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part2-0.5.3-photon.bin

Will automatically reboot newly detected photons into DFU mode

Using local files instead of downloading a release.

 

Path is a directory. Searching for files in path.

 

booooo

Using dfu-util binary at /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/dfu-util

Detecting DFU devices

Found 1 devices:  ['2b04:d006']

Device identified as Particle Photon

First updating system firmware for the Photon, part 1: /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part1-0.5.3-photon.bin

dfu-util 0.7

 

Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.

Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt

This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY

Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org

 

Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd006

Opening DFU capable USB device... ID 2b04:d006

Run-time device DFU version 011a

Found DFU: [2b04:d006] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash   /0x08000000/03*016Ka,01*016Kg,01*064Kg,07*128Kg"

Claiming USB DFU Interface...

Setting Alternate Setting #0 ...

Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0

dfuIDLE, continuing

DFU mode device DFU version 011a

Device returned transfer size 4096

No valid DFU suffix signature

Warning: File has no DFU suffix

DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash   "

Downloading to address = 0x08020000, size = 250956

..............................................................

File downloaded successfully

Continuing updating system firmware for the Photon, part 2: /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part2-0.5.3-photon.bin

dfu-util 0.7

 

Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.

Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt

This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY

Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org

 

Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd006

Opening DFU capable USB device... ID 2b04:d006

Run-time device DFU version 011a

Found DFU: [2b04:d006] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash   /0x08000000/03*016Ka,01*016Kg,01*064Kg,07*128Kg"

Claiming USB DFU Interface...

Setting Alternate Setting #0 ...

Determining device status: state = dfuDNLOAD-IDLE, status = 0

aborting previous incomplete transfer

Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0

dfuIDLE, continuing

DFU mode device DFU version 011a

Device returned transfer size 4096

No valid DFU suffix signature

Warning: File has no DFU suffix

DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash   "

Downloading to address = 0x08060000, size = 189068

...............................................

File downloaded successfully

Now writing BrewPi firmware /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/brewpi-photon-0.4.4.bin to Photon

dfu-util 0.7

 

Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.

Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt

This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY

Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org

 

Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd006

Opening DFU capable USB device... ID 2b04:d006

Run-time device DFU version 011a

Found DFU: [2b04:d006] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash   /0x08000000/03*016Ka,01*016Kg,01*064Kg,07*128Kg"

Claiming USB DFU Interface...

Setting Alternate Setting #0 ...

Determining device status: state = dfuDNLOAD-IDLE, status = 0

aborting previous incomplete transfer

Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0

dfuIDLE, continuing

DFU mode device DFU version 011a

Device returned transfer size 4096

No valid DFU suffix signature

Warning: File has no DFU suffix

DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash   "

Downloading to address = 0x080a0000, size = 88164

......................

File downloaded successfully

Programming done

 

Updating firmware over DFU finished

 

 Waiting for device to reset.

 Jan 30 2017 11:16:37   Opening serial port

 Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller. Your controller is either not programmed yet or running a very old version of BrewPi. It will be reset to defaults.

 Resetting EEPROM to default settings

 Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller after programming.

Something must have gone wrong. Restoring settings/devices settings failed.

 

BrewPi script will restart automatically.

Firmware update done

 

 

*** Done updating BrewPi! ***

 

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ \python /home/brewpi/autoSerial.py

All ports:

/dev/ttyACM0 - Photon with WiFi, VID:2b04, PID:c006

/dev/ttyAMA0 - ttyAMA0, VID:None, PID:None

Compatible ports:

('/dev/ttyACM0', 'Particle Photon')

Selected port: ('/dev/ttyACM0', 'Particle Photon')

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ python brewpi.py --status

python: can't open file 'brewpi.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ python /home/brewpi/brewpi.py --status

[{'cfg': ConfigObj({'scriptPath': '/home/brewpi/', 'wwwPath': '/var/www/html', 'port': 'auto', 'altport': 'None', 'boardType': 'leonardo', 'beerName': 'None', 'interval': '120.0', 'dataLogging': 'stopped'}),

  'pid': 1519,

  'port': 'auto',

  'sock': {'sock': 0, 'host': 'localhost', 'type': 'f', 'port': None, 'file': '/home/brewpi/BEERSOCKET'}}]

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ python --version

Python 2.7.9

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls /dev/ttyA*

/dev/ttyACM0  /dev/ttyAMA0

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo python ~/brewpi-tools/updater.py

######################################################

####                                              ####

####        Welcome to the BrewPi Updater!        ####

####                                              ####

######################################################

 

Checking whether the update script is up to date

/home/pi/brewpi-tools is up-to-date.

 

 

 

*** Updating BrewPi script repository ***

 

Stopping running instances of BrewPi

Quit message sent to BrewPi instance with pid 2251!

You are on branch master

The latest commit in /home/brewpi  is 7711c14de039f88c8f119f83acb2436b38e14923 on Thu, 01 Dec 2016 05:04:01

The latest commit on origin/master is 7711c14de039f88c8f119f83acb2436b38e14923 on Thu, 01 Dec 2016 05:04:01

Your local version of /home/brewpi is up to date!

 

 

*** Updating BrewPi web interface repository ***

You are on branch master

The latest commit in /var/www/html is 1e0778703edbbd3ef33072ba0b260c491fba90cc on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 07:04:54

The latest commit on origin/master is 1e0778703edbbd3ef33072ba0b260c491fba90cc on Mon, 11 Jan 2016 07:04:54

Your local version of /var/www/html is up to date!

 

No changes were made, skipping runAfterUpdate.sh.

If you encounter problems, you can start it manually with:

sudo /home/brewpi/utils/runAfterUpdate.sh

 

The update script can automatically check your controller firmware version and program it with the latest release on GitHub, would you like to do this now? [Y/n]:y

 Stopping any running instances of BrewPi to check/update controller...

 

Checking current firmware version...

 Jan 30 2017 11:54:03   Opening serial port

 Unable to receive version from controller.

Is your controller unresponsive and do you wish to try restoring your firmware? [y/N]:

Strange, it seems like you successfully programmed it over DFU once.
How are you powering the pi? Could the voltage be low? It seems to work sometimes.

The Pi is powered by a 2.5A , 5 volt feed to the micro USB port. I have never gotten past the “could not receive version from controller” msg. The Photon is powered by a USB outlet that is on a powered USB hub.

Tried reloading Photon from Maintenance Panel. Serial error, errno 5, I/o error.

Device reports readiness to read but returned no data.

Device disconnected or multiple access on port.

I do not understand “multiple access on port”

Can you try without the hub?

Fresh start, new SD, formatted and loaded NOOBs, all USB devices plugged into the RaspberryPi. ports.

3.3 V on Photon board

Cannot receive version number from controller
Serial error : Errno 5 Input/output error

What do you measure on the Vin pin of the Photon?

Can you run: sudo python /home/brewpi/utils/flashDfu.py?

Vin is 4.8 Volts
Below is the console log from the flashDfu.py run.
I feel the Photon is the problem. I have a Arduino UNO, that may be a better way to go?
Again, Thanks.

login as: pipi@192.168.1.2’s password:
The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.
Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Thu Feb 2 08:45:08 2017
SSH is enabled and the default password for the ‘pi’ user has not been changed.
This is a security risk - please login as the ‘pi’ user and type ‘passwd’ to set a new password.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo python /home/brewpi/utils/flashDfu.py
Using dfu-util binary at /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/dfu-util
Detecting DFU devices
Did not find any DFU devices.
Is your Photon or Spark Core running in DFU mode (blinking yellow)?
Waiting until a DFU device is connected…
Found 1 devices: [‘2b04:d006’]
Device identified as Particle Photon
Downloading latest firmware…
Latest stable version on GitHub: 0.4.4
downloading https://github.com/BrewPi/firmware/releases/download/0.4.4/brewpi-photon-0.4.4.bin
Firmware downloaded to /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/brewpi-photon-0.4.4.bin
Updated system firmware for the photon found in release 0.4.4
downloading https://github.com/BrewPi/firmware/releases/download/0.4.4/system-part1-0.5.3-photon.bin
downloading https://github.com/BrewPi/firmware/releases/download/0.4.4/system-part2-0.5.3-photon.bin
Downloaded new system firmware to:
/home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part1-0.5.3-photon.bin and

/home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part2-0.5.3-photon.bin
First updating system firmware for the Photon, part 1: /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part1-0.5.3-photon.bin
dfu-util 0.7
Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org
Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd006
Opening DFU capable USB device… ID 2b04:d006
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Found DFU: [2b04:d006] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash /0x08000000/03016Ka,01016Kg,01064Kg,07128Kg"
Claiming USB DFU Interface…
Setting Alternate Setting #0
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 4096
No valid DFU suffix signature
Warning: File has no DFU suffix
DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash "
Downloading to address = 0x08020000, size = 250956

File downloaded successfully
Continuing updating system firmware for the Photon, part 2: /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/system-part2-0.5.3-photon.bin
dfu-util 0.7

Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org
Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd006
Opening DFU capable USB device… ID 2b04:d006
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Found DFU: [2b04:d006] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash /0x08000000/03016Ka,01016Kg,01064Kg,07128Kg"
Claiming USB DFU Interface…
Setting Alternate Setting #0
Determining device status: state = dfuDNLOAD-IDLE, status = 0
aborting previous incomplete transfer
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 4096
No valid DFU suffix signature
Warning: File has no DFU suffix
DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash "
Downloading to address = 0x08060000, size = 189068

File downloaded successfully
Now writing BrewPi firmware /home/brewpi/utils/downloads/0.4.4/brewpi-photon-0.4.4.bin to Photon
dfu-util 0.7

Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org
Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd006
Opening DFU capable USB device… ID 2b04:d006
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Found DFU: [2b04:d006] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash /0x08000000/03016Ka,01016Kg,01064Kg,07128Kg"
Claiming USB DFU Interface…
Setting Alternate Setting #0
Determining device status: state = dfuDNLOAD-IDLE, status = 0
aborting previous incomplete transfer
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 4096
No valid DFU suffix signature
Warning: File has no DFU suffix
DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash "
Downloading to address = 0x080a0000, size = 88164

File downloaded successfully
Programming done
Now resetting EEPROM to defaults
Opening serial port
Feb 02 2017 15:43:50 Opening serial port
Warning: Cannot receive version number from controller. Your controller is either not programmed yet or running a very old version of BrewPi. It will be reset to defaults.
Resetting EEPROM to default settings

Do you have the BrewPi Spark board or are you trying with a bare photon?
The firmware for the photon does not work without the board, because at startup it will interact with the OneWire bus master and other peripherals and it cannot run without them.

If you want a complete DIY solution, we don’t support it. You could go with Arduino, but note that we don’t support it anymore and the firmware version for Arduino is 2 years old and won’t receive any updates.

Is there a single place where the hardware and software requirements are layed out? Is the BrewPi Spark only a Photon mounted on your ckt board and must be plugged into the users Raspberry Pi? How about deleting the old stuff and updating the current info. Tying it all together.

I would like to know what is needed to control my fermentation temperature box with your products!

THE BREWPI SPARK CAN ONLY BE USED FOR FERMENTATION CONTROL AT THIS TIME

Does this still apply today?

The BrewPi Spark has:

  • A photon
  • A TFT display
  • A OneWire bus master
  • A Power supply
  • Many parts for stability and EMC compatiblity
  • A buzzer
  • Many connectors to make your life easier and more reliable.

It does not replace the Raspberry Pi. The Pi is still needed as a web server and data logger.

I don’t know what you mean here. If you mean that the BrewPi.com front page needs updating, then I agree and I can tell you we’re almost done with a new front page to be released soon.

About the Spark not being suitable for mashing: not really. With the right settings, it can control your mash temperature. Many users use it for this already. But it still only supports controlling a single process, so you cannot easily switch from mashing to boiling. The UI is also very much fermentation oriented. Until we have a good UI and fully support controlling an entire herms process, mashing is not officially supported.