Radical downsize of the basic bundle - can it be done?

plotly.js
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I once worked on web sites with multiple big servers for everything - the web pages themselves, the Oracle database, additional RAID systems and so on. No longer. This is my server, content generator, file system, network connection, and the user-side WiFi access point:

Nano
Nano1424×2024 216 KB

I need to present some line plots so users can monitor temperatures and visualize other simple data. I found one plotly competitor with a much smaller download size, but I couldn’t get graphs to display! Using the plotly basic custom bundle I can get a plot served from my Arduino ESP32 Nano and see it on a wireless device. That’s exciting, but the javascript is nearly a megabyte. That’s nothing for my desktop, but a big load for the Nano.

I tried making a custom bundle with just scatter and scattergl and no transforms, but the minimized file is only 3% smaller.

Would it be possible to radically downsize plotly? At the risk of shocking everyone, I could even do without any interactive features. A nice clear plot with axis labels is really the only requirement. Okay, 4 colors and 2 line types would be nice.

More background: I’m an experienced programmer, but I am working alone and javascript is a language I have only dabbled in. There’s also little to no budget. I’m donating time and hardware to coral survival researchers, and costs are out of my pocket.

What answer am I looking for? I could imagine things like:

  • A way to identify unused code and delete it.
  • You can tell me that plotly is the wrong tool for the job, ideally suggesting a replacement.
  • Surprise me and say that with IOT and microcontrollers on the upswing a “plotly light” is on the way any day now.

Thanks for any input.

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Hi @VeloSteve, welcome to the community!

I don’t have anything substantial to say, just that this is one of the most interesting first post I’ve seen in a while :blush:

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Hi @VeloSteve

I also don’t have any suggestions for you other than to share a what seems to be a similar project.
They are measuring the temperature, water acidity, etc in oyster beds along the shoreline in Washington state. Gotta love that oyster probe!

They are simply collecting the data from the Arduino in batches, then creating the app on the PC, since there isn’t any need to do real time data analysis.

image
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1 Like
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That’s great. Our project was developed for coral research, but it is also currently being used with mussels and snails, and soon with wolf eels, I believe.

The original system - not developed by me - looked a lot like your photo, but I decided to try to make ours more portable by reducing the size and more reliable by replacing most of the internal wiring with a printed circuit board.

Researchers download data by USB or from a log file on an SD card, but those things mean leaving holes or opening the lid. I would love to make this thing nearly waterproof for use in rough conditions in the field.