We invite Silicon Labs Community members to participate in this exciting contest where you can win an EFM8 Busy Bee Starter Kit! The EFM8BB1 Low Cost Kit is an easier to use yet powerful development starting point. With full support in Simplicity Studio, code examples, and a free unlimited Keil license, you can get to prototyping your design quickly. The contest consists of 5 questions related to the EFM8 Busy Bee and 10 winners will receive a kit for free.  

Prize:  

Number of Winners: 10  

Prize: 1 x EFM8BB1LCK 

How to Participate:  

• Contest Period: Oct 18, 2019 - Nov 5, 2019 CDT  

• Answer the 5 questions below and send an email to anna.qi@silabs.com with your answers no later than Nov 5, 2019. You will receive a confirmation that you entered the contest.  

• Winners will be announced on Nov 18, 2019 CDT

  • We highly encourage winners to post a quick demo inside the Silicon Labs Community or personal social media channels on how they are using their new EFM8 Busy Bee Starter Kit!  

Judging:  

If there are more than 10 contestants who answer all the correct answers, we will decide the final 10 winners based on their open-ended question (Q5). Silicon Labs’ staff will evaluate the answers based on relevance and usefulness. The bonus point question is not required but will provide an extra point to your overall score.  

Contest Questions:  

Tip: Use the EFM9BB1LCK Kit Page and User Guide  

Q1 : What key features does the EFM8BB1 have?

1. On-board USB debugger
2. 512 bytes RAM
3. 20-pin expansion header
4. Both 1 and 3
5. All of the above

Q2: The ________________ software packages contains all the tools, drivers, software examples and documentation needed to use the EFM8BB1 Low Cost Kit.

1. VCP Drivers
2. Clockbuilder Pro
3. Simplicity Studio
4. Bluetooth SDK
5. Bluegiga Wi-Fi

Q3: What does the kit hardware layout not contain?

1. MCU Reset Button
2. Hall Effect Sensor
3. Programmable LED
4. Debugger C2 Interface Pins
5. 2.54 mm breakout pads

Q4: What expansion boards are compatible with the Busy Bee kit?

1. WGM110 Wi-Fi Expansion Kit
2. LTE-M Expansion Kit
3. ISOLATED-RS-EK
4. Both 1 and 3
5. All of the above

Q5: Give a specific example of an application that you can build with the Busy Bee and explain why. 

Bonus: We’re excited to hear how you will use your EFM8 Busy Bee Starter Kit! You will earn an extra bonus point if you post your answer to Q5 on Facebook or Twitter. Posts must be public - tag @siliconlabs and use #EFM8BusyBee to enter.   

By entering the contest you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the Community Contest Terms and Conditions. Please review them before entering the contest. 

We are in the process of collecting feedback from our Silicon Labs Community members through a short survey. Your feedback will allow us to improve your experience, and to more effectively support you. Please help us by taking this 3-minute survey.

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MGXXD9X

Earlier this year, we announced new Pathfinders for 2019. Today, we are adding one more member, Tech-Priest, to the Pathfinder list. Congratulations!

Tech-Priest is from Finland and interested in BLE, Bluetooth Mesh, and 32-bit and 8-bit MCUs. He joined the Pathfinder program to get access to resources and help members find solutions through forum discussions.

If you want to nominate a new Pathfinder or learn about the Pathfinder program, please check out this page.  

Silicon Labs took the decision to deprecate its proprietary implementation of Thread and instead be a major contributor to the more popular OpenThread implementation.

The announcement was made as part of the release notes for Silicon Labs Thread (SL-Thread) SDK  v2.10.1.0 which can be found here:

https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/release-notes/thread-release-notes-2.10.1.pdf

The notice indicates that the inclusion of the SL-Thread implementation will be removed from the Simplicity Studio release scheduled in December 2019.

The notice re-iterates that Silicon Labs has a continued focus on its Thread strategy and is committed to continuing as a leading-edge Thread supplier. Support for Thread will continue within the Silicon Labs software and hardware tools but the stack availability itself will be distributed through the commonly accessible OpenThread GitHub repository.

More information on the OpenThread implementation can be found at: https://openthread.io/platforms/efr32

Here's the list of the community issues fixed on June 12th. Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

• A community email template is added for Close/Reopen notifications

e.g.) The article "xxxx" was closed by xxxx on Thu, 14 Feb 2019 03:11:29 EST.

• A community email template is updated for Voting notifications

e.g.) This vote was added to “xxx” by xxx on Thu, 14 Feb 2019 03:11:29 EST.

• Pagination experience: members see the thread from the bottom, not from the top
• Notification dropdown shows Activities too

What is the difference between Activities, Notifications, and Email Subscriptions? 

Activities: You will see updates for a thread or a board that you are following on your profile page. https://www.silabs.com/community/profile

Notifications: You will see updates for a thread or a board that you are following on the notification page. https://www.silabs.com/community/notifications

Email Subscriptions: You will receive updates from a thread or a board that you are following directly to your email.

• Editor object keyboard accelerators do not work as expected - Fixed 

e.g.) You can use shortcut keys like Cmd+I or Ctrl+I in the community RTE.

• Numbered list properties work as expected. You need to use ‘Numbered list properties” and enter the next value.

e.g.) 1.2. enter 3. (Before: 1.2. enter 1.)

• Copying and Pasting images work from Word to the community RTE
• Filter out bad URL terms to help reduce spam content on the community
• Activities show all the activities on the profile page at https://www.silabs.com/community/profile (Before: Only the 10 latest activities were displayed.)
• I see my activities on other users' profile pages. – Fixed.
• Add a new badge for Pathfinders

What’s happening?

We will upgrade our community site on June 11th, 2019 to release bug fixes and performance improvements. As part of the upgrade, we will migrate our community badge images to a new location. During the maintenance, you may see some odd behaviors. 

What are the odd behaviors?

Profile page:

You may see the most recent earned badge under your user name twice during the migration process. In addition, badges listed under the ‘Badges’ tab may not be displayed during the migration process.

Forum and KB page:

Earned badges may not be displayed during the badge migration process. You may see a few “Unknown” posts during the migration window. 

Expected Maintenance Time:

Tuesday, June 11th, 2019, ~11:00 AM CT. The migration may take 2-6 hours.

What action do I need to take:

Community members don’t need to take any action. Badging and the "Unknown" posts should appear normal after the migration is complete.

Please contact us at DL.Feedback@silabs.com if you have any issues during the maintenance window.

Recently, we introduced the new Pathfinder program to recognize outstanding community members. Every month, thousands of members log in to the community to find answers to their questions. Despite all the effort from our devoted employees, it is crucial that community members actively participate in discussions and share their knowledge with others to keep the community a healthy and valuable place. With the new Pathfinder program, we’re supporting our community contributors with advanced resources and exclusive benefits to reward their efforts.

Through the nomination process, we are pleased to announce 8 new Pathfinders. Please help us in welcoming our first Pathfinders!

ddbug

dela

erikm

hollie

longterm

Tyler

vanmierlo

YK

If you want to become a Pathfinder or nominate someone who deserves this recognition, please fill out the online nomination form.

Learn more about the Pathfinder program.

Welcome to the Silicon Labs Community! If you are new to the community and not sure where to start, here’s a step-by-step guideline:

1. Log in or register You can use the same credentials as silabs.com to log into the community if you have already registered.
2. Update your profile Go the Welcome menu at the top right and click ‘Community Profile’. You can change your community avatar and update other personal information.
3. Read the Community Guidelines Please read our community rules that help you guide your interactions during your explorations.
4. Find the answer to your question You can check out our knowledge base articles created by our experts before you ask a question. If you still don’t find an answer, you can ask your question in one of our product-related forums.

The Knowledge Base and forum boards are accessible in the main navigation menus of the community.

5. Get points and rewards You can earn points by answering a question or receiving a vote. An active contributor can be recognized as a Pathfinder through our reward program. See the Reputation Overview page for details.

Here is some additional information that might be useful for you:

• How can I subscribe to a topic or board?
• How do I mark a reply as an answer?
• How do I use votes?
• How do I report problems with the community site?
• Visit our Announcements page and subscribe to our monthly community newsletter to stay on top of the latest updates and the most popular community topics.

Hope these tips help you get the most out of the community. Happy exploring!

We are pleased to introduce Pathfinder, a program designed to recognize community participants and experts for voluntarily sharing their knowledge to make the Silicon Labs Community a valuable resource. If you are interested in participating in the Pathfinder program or know someone who might be, please fill out our online nomination form. 

Who are Pathfinders?

We are looking for community members who:

• Have achieved a certain level of knowledge about Silicon Labs products (i.e. Participates in forums, answering questions, and sharing expertise.)
• Have a passion for sharing their knowledge with other community members
• Abide by Silicon Labs’ Community Guidelines and Terms of Use, as well as encourages other members to follow those rules. 

Pathfinder Nomination Process  

• Silicon Labs community members can nominate themselves or other members through an online application form.
• Nominees will be reviewed by a diverse team of internal stakeholders based on recommendations, product expertise, regional/solution needs, and diversity.
• Nominees will be invited to participate as a Pathfinder for 12 months. 
• Pathfinder status is granted without the need for annual re-enrollment, as long as Pathfinders have recurring engagement.
• Pathfinders participate on a voluntary basis and can opt out of the Pathfinder program at any time. 
• Pathfinder status is granted by Silicon Labs and can be withdrawn at the sole discretion of the company at any time.
• Pathfinders should adhere to Silicon Labs Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.
• Pathfinders do not formally represent Silicon Labs nor do they speak on behalf of Silicon Labs.

Pathfinder Program Benefits

• Access to Silicon Labs’ new products/SW releases
• Connection to Silicon Labs engineering and marketing groups
• Welcome gift package    
• Certificates of the membership 
• Online badge for Pathfinders  
• Invitations to Silicon Labs' or our partners' events 
• Certificates upon completion of the full-year Pathfinder membership signed by our CEO 
• Excellence Award granted by Silicon Labs upon completion of three-year  Pathfinder membership
• Featured on Silicon Labs social media channels and community 
• Invitations to publish guest posts on the official blog of Silicon Labs 
• Holiday gifts from Silicon Labs

As we launch and develop this initiative, we appreciate and welcome your feedback. If you have any questions, please contact us at community@silabs.com.

Here's the list of the community issues fixed on Jan 30th. Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

• Add a guideline to forum entries for how to follow a forum thread 

• The email subject for Knowledge Base articles starts with ‘Article’ instead of ‘Blog Article’ to avoid confusion.
• The email subject for ‘Marked as Answered’ starts with ‘Answered’ instead of ‘Answer’ and the user ID of the member who marked a reply as answered is added to the email.
• Using the consistent email notification template across different notifications.
• Notification email link goes to a specific page instead of a board.
• Removed the ‘Zentri Cloud’ link from the community navigation bar
• server error due to a % in the forum title – fixed.
• Empty community pages should not be crawled by search engines – fixed.
• A member can’t paste code into the community rich text editor due to permission issues – fixed.

In addition, our user servers were updated to fix the issues with intermittent web notifications. This fix may have caused some users to lose their notification preferences. If you have any notification issues, please check your Notification settings and any boards/threads you have followed and reset them if necessary. From that point forward, all notifications and subscriptions should work consistently.