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Final Glide Computers (was: Crusoe and Mobile Linux...)
On Fri, Feb 04, 2000 at 12:00:43AM +0100, Ole Barnkob Kaas wrote:
> Hello John, on 03-Feb-00, you wrote:
> > Has anyone seen any 3rd party products yet? I guess these internet
> > appliances will run from ROM. Anybody seen any chatter about products
> > that can run other applications? (ie: your own cool stuff). This would
> > be just the ticket for glider applications where batteries are your
> > only power source. Useful for power planes as well of course.
>
> I planning such projekt. The problem is that the hw isn't ready yet - but I
> hope it will be soon. The hw is an Open Source microcontroller board - Linux
> In A Box (LIAB)
> http://www.liab.dk
Hej Ole,
A good looking board. In particular, I see that the requirements
on input power are quite flexible, namely 9-32 Volts DC. Sounds like
three (or more) 6 Volt gel cells wired in series would work nicely.
>
> Background:
>
> Some 18 month ago my gliding club installed 2 DX50FAI flight logger in our
> Ls-4b and DG300. It's so easy to accomplish a task with those computers and
> you allways know if you're in gliding range of the home base. But they aren't
> wery good for club usage - eg. changing the pilot name with the push buttons
> is a real pain in teh butt. Using a pc is easier, but the sw really suck and
> is ms-dos only.
I think your comment about ergonomics are right on target. The wrong
type of input mechanism can seriously detract fron the overall usability
of a unit. Just curious about what your ideas are in the way of input
hardware, touch screen perhaps?
> Possible features to implement:
>
> - Logging (obvious)
> - Computing glidepath and other stuff (obvious)
> - Pilot recognition by keycard (can be made very simple)
> - Using packet radio to send position back to ground (150 km radius)
> - Displaying glider position on screen on ground (with packet radio)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is certainly one area where Linux is sure cutting edge compared
to stupid 'doze, with AX.25 right in the kernel, etc. (I assume you mean
amateur packet radio?) I guess the only downside, is that you would need
a seperate amateur transceiver on board for this.
> - A logger in all the club gliders => eliminating writing start-list on ground
> - Collect all tracks in sql database and make statistics
> - Display an exact copy of the logbook on screen showing *exactly* where you
> should write the data.
> - Your own cool app that will double /your/ glide range ;-)
> - More...
>
> While I'm waiting for the main hw to be made available, I try to get someone
> interested in this project and maybe find someone to finance it :-). As soon
> as the the project starts, there will be a CSV server available (found one
> for free :-).
Well, count me in as interested. I'm sure there are other glider
pilots on the list who might also have an interest. If you want to
start a mailing list for the project, Rik Riel (our host) can probably
help.
> First it might be nice with a discussion of how to implement
> all these features. Should it all be made in C or should it only be the basic
> and the rest made in eg python? What other tools should be used?
I'm also a big Python fan, mostly because it allows you to get
prototypes up and running fast. You can quickly discover your design
mistakes and always rewrite key parts in C that need to run fast.
Personally, I haven't got that far yet. I have still been in a stage of
reviewing what is available as far as hardware goes. If you haven't
finalized your own opinion, there are some other options you may want to
consider like PC-104 modules (see http://www.emjembedded.com/ and others),
or the ucSimm module which runs ucLinux (see http://www.uclinux.org/simm/)
I believe one design goal that should be embraced is portability. This
may be difficult because of the specialized nature of some of the hardware
involved. However, this is a real technology growth area, and the future
may have some interesting surprises. The company where Linus works,
has already given us a peek at what things may lie ahead...
Best Regards, John
--
___|___ | John C. Peterson, KD6EKQ | Try Linux for Intel x86, because all
-(*)- | mailto:jaypee@netcom.com | of the best things in life are free!
o/ \o | San Diego, CA U.S.A | See http://www.linux.org/ for info
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