If you want to integrate a nice graphical interface with a microcontroller or single-board computer for a useful piece of custom equipment, how will you go about it? MyOpenLab is a platform that makes it easy to design virtual interfaces your electronic builds. If you want controls and readouts for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Android, or anything with a serial port, this is worth a try.
MyOpenLab reminds me of LabView. Not so much modern LabView with all of its add-ons and extras, but LabView back when it did just a few things but did them really well. The open source MyOpenLab project has been around for a while. The website and documentation are not in English, which may have kept some people from giving it a try, but the software itself is available in German, English, and Spanish. I took the plunge and found the language barrier didn’t cause me trouble.
As an example of what you can do, image you want to build a custom bench tool. You build virtual device (they call it a “VirtualMachine”) that uses your computer as the control panel and readout, and your electronic project as the physical interface. In myOpenLab your device will consist of two parts: a diagram and a front panel. Some things only live on the diagram, like a timer or a connection to an Arduino. But some things live on both like switches, LEDs, graphs, and so on. You can connect all the little boxes together to build up applications. They can stand alone, but the power comes in being able to connect to an Arduino or Raspberry Pi (or a few other options) for I/O.
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