All --

Happy New Year!

I have had a number of requests for a port of the prodata DOS progs
to linux (unix).  After procrastinating for a year-or-so ( Rob Nee's
Palm Pilot Suite has fairly completely eliminated my motivation ;-),
here they are.

The file

   ftp://ftp.netcom.com/ftp/pub/ko/konrad/altacc/software/prodata-posix.zip

contains the following:

   prodata.lst      file list
   Makefile         unix make file for the prodata suite
   probate.c        AltAcc calibration program
   proclear.c       AltAcc clear program
   produce.c        AltAcc Data reduction
   proread.c        AltAcc reader
   protalk.c        Dumps 256 real-time Accel/Press pairs from the AltAcc
   palt.c           ICAO standard atmosphere program
   getopt.c         GNU getopt
   getopt.h         GNU getopt heeder
   proread.tcl      proof-of-concept -- let Tcl read the AltAcc
   protest.tcl      proof-of-concept -- dumps data continuously, running avg.

The progs work on RedHat 5.2 and 6.1 as well as Interactive 3.2 under gcc.

To build the progs:

   o make a directory ( say $HOME/pro/bin )
   o get the prodata-posix.zip file place it in $HOME/pro/bin
   o cd $HOME/pro/bin
   o unzip prodata-posix.zip
   o make all
   o rm *.o

To use the progs:

   1. set perms on the serial port so a regular user can access it

      a. figure out what serial port you will use ( /dev/ttyS0 (DOS COM1 or
        /dev/ttyS1 ( DOS COM2 ) or ...
      b. su -  ( login as root )
      c. chmod 666 /dev/ttyS# ( be sure to substitute 0 or 1 for the # ;-)
      d. log out as root

   2. configure prodata.nit for the serial port and .cal file location

      a. copy prodata.nit into $HOME/pro/bin
      b. edit $HOME/pro/bin/prodata.nit
      c. change the DOS com# to /dev/ttyS# as in step 1
      d. change the cal line to /home/konrad/pro/bin/prodata.cal or
         whereever you want to keep your .cal file
      e. save changes and exit

      here is my prodata.nit:
      #
      # AltAcc Setup File Created by program proset ( careful with spelling! )
      #
      port    /dev/ttyS0 # where do you plug in the AltAcc ( oride: -p COM# )
      time    sec        # time units preference ( not implemented yet )
      alt     ft         # altitude preference
      vel     ft/sec     # velocity preference
      acc     ft/sec^2   # acceleration preference
      press   inhg       # pressure units preference

      cal     /exp/dev/altacc/prodata/pack/units/test7.cal

   3. set environment ( add PRODATA=$HOME/pro/bin ) to your env

      a. cd $HOME
      b. bash users:  

         vi .bashrc
         scroll to near the bottom of the file.  add:

            PRODATA=$HOME/pro/bin
            PATH=$PATH:$PRODATA

         if you already have an export line, add PRODATA and PATH
         otherwise add the line:

            export PATH PRODATA

      c. csh users:  setenv PRODATA $HOME/pro/bin in your $HOME/.cshrc
         file as necessary.

Just for fun, I added a little program:  protalk  Protalk commands
the AltAcc to sample and dump 256 Accel/Press pairs and then the
results are dumped as AAA PPP\n on stdout.  Fun for awk / perl / Tcl
scripting.

Bugs:
=====

   1. This install procedure ;-)
   2. Don't forget to chmod the serial port
   3. The programs need rewriting !!!  They were originally
      done over a weekend just before the AltAcc I was released
      ( oh yeah, I guess we need some user software ;-).
      Much of the code could be broken out into a set of modules
   3. Occasionally, proread proclear and probate miscommunicate
      with the AltAcc ( this is a handshaking problem that happens
      in DOS as well -- the AltAcc does not have any handshaking at
      all so there is no elegant way I know of to watch for missed
      comm hookups ).  

      Look for the following:

      proread:  When the AltAcc is 'talking' the AltAcc LED should go on.  
                If the onscreen message says 'proread is reading the
                AltAcc on /dev/ttyS# into foo.dat' and nothing happens
                ( LED continues to blink and the onscreen status does not
                  update ) -- press ^C and answer 'y' to the abort query.
                Start over and it should go.

      probate:  If any number of lines other than 256 is reported in the:
                'probate read 256 lines from the AltAcc on /dev/ttyS0'
                simply getready for a read and answer 'n' to the
                'Accept AltAcc data ( y-yes | n-no | x-exit ) ?' prompt
                and the AltAcc will immediately reread the data.

      proclear: When the AltAcc is clearing the EEPROM, the LED should
                go out for 55 seconds.  If the LED continues to blink
                during the clear message, press ^C ( or wait ) and
                rerun proclear.

   4. Probably something I don't know about.  I have tried the progs on
      a heavily loaded '486 running RH 5.2 and never dropped chars.  
      You never know though -- there is no handshaking on the AltAcc
      so ymmv.

Happy Hew Year !

Those .zip files are a bad habit I developed over the
past few years ;-)

Dooh !!  Thanks for the heads up !  The proper link is:

ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ko/konrad/altacc/software/

Get the two files:

   prodata-posix.zip
   prodata-posix.txt

I will try to let you know ahead of time so I can maybe
coordinate my trips to Columbus with launch dates ;-)

-- kjh

Thanks again.

--
73, Ronnie

Thanks for the feedback !

If you would like some data to play with ( using program
produce ), there are some flight files ( .dat files )
at:  ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ko/konrad/altacc/flights/

Look for the .zip files.  I usually create a directory
for each the same as the basename of the .zip file ( less
the .zip, example ot990116/ ) and unzip the .zip in the
corresponding directory.

There are some .prm files ( flight parameters ) and a .cal
file for each set of data.

There are also a set of .gifs in the ~flights/ directory.
These contain data plots I gen'd using 'standard' unix
tools ( awk, gnuplot, ppmtogif ).  There are some data
redux tools in ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ko/konrad/rawketry/
( most of them are awk scripts ;-).  Examples:

   propulse.zip contains a script to take flight data and
                generate a thrust curve.

   plotacc.zip  contains scripts to plot flight data from
                produce.

   getcoast.zip computes air-density-normalized coast phase
                data from produce output.

   profiler.zip draws pictures of rockets ( using gnuplot )
                and computes CP and CLA ( very cool IIDSSM ;-).

   mkcurve.zip  used to create thrust curves from raw input
                files.

These scripts really need a workover.  I wrote them a few years
ago on my '486 Interactive Unix Box and the directories will
need an edit to run them on your Slack Box ( I do have them all
working on my RH 6.1 Laptop and on a 5.2 server -- I guess I
should update the .zip files on netcom ).

Enjoy.