Web IDE For The Raspi

For this month’s release of Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Linux distribution, [Limor], et al. decided to build a web-based IDE for the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi WebIDE is a web server that runs on the Raspi. By connecting to your raspi in a web browser, you’re able to create your own Python programs that are able to interact with the GPIO pins. All the code is stored in the cloud with the help of bitbucket.

The WebIDE is in its early Alpha stage right now; there are a few bugs and minor issues, but in the video after the break, [Limor] shows us it’s possible to push code to a Raspi through the Internet and view the result in a web-based serial terminal.

For fear of editorializing, we have to point out that Adafruit’s web IDE – along with other Arduino web IDEs such as Codebender and the Wifino – work on the cloud. If you’re planning a long-term project that relies on a web-based IDE, you might be in for a world of hurt if only because you can’t host a cloud on a personal server. We’d love to see a package that allows us to have the same functionality as bitbucket on a personal server. If you can find a project that does something similar, or have written your own, send it in and we’ll spread the word.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbwxXzIPxdc&w=470]

9 thoughts on “Web IDE For The Raspi

    1. The advantage is they can’t monetize an IDE that the end user controls. With Web IDE, you just have a slick interface and attract a lot of users initially. Then, change the interface to be “ad-supported” or start charging “subscriptions”. Users are stuck. With desktop or home server IDE, you can’t do anything like that.

  1. aaaallllmooooost there!

    now all you have to do is bypass or port the bitbucket to the raspi aswell and youll actually have the FIRST web based codeIDE that i would EVER consider advantageous to a regular IDE.

    i mean:
    the webserver, the code storage, and the upload/download (install&config) are all local to the raspi.
    so one could program it with a tablet computer withOUT needing an active internet connection !

    … then just optionally add an unmodded(NONddwrt) wireless router. internal OR external and your good to go

    1. PS: all i was listing was to provide functionality of a modern “mars rover” to your project, using code-language and accesibility we are all used to. :)

      RE-PROGRAMIBILITY FROM 50 METERS AWAY!

  2. Sounds like people are overreacting a bit on the cloud thing without understanding the details.

    The bitbucket cloud is only used to store your source code, so that:
    a) you don’t have to host a full versioning system on your raspi
    b) you can easily share your creations with others.
    c) you can run a wealth of other tools against it.

    If you don’t like that you can run your own instance of GIT (SVN, CVS etc) and modify the source a bit to work with that. (bitcloud offers a cloud version of GIT and the webIDE uses GIT)

  3. This is cute and all but couldnt you just run an IDE within the distro? I mean for web development, all i need is a text editor and a browser, maybe I’m missing the point. I love the Pi as a device, I just don’t see the point of this.

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