AltAcc programs for Unix/Linux (long)

Konrad Hambrick

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Jan 3, 2000, 3:00:00 AM1/3/00

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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 !

Christopher Cox

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Jan 7, 2000, 3:00:00 AM1/7/00

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What?!?!?!

No .tar, .tgz or .rpm distribution?

Thanks Konrad! Let me know if you drop back in town.

Christopher Cox

PS BTW I think the link you posted is broke.....now.

Konrad Hambrick

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Jan 7, 2000, 3:00:00 AM1/7/00

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In article <01bf5905$85b05e60$997f473f@cbx-nt>,

Christopher --

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 ;-)

Ronnie Hale

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Jan 8, 2000, 3:00:00 AM1/8/00

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kon...@netcom.com (Konrad Hambrick) wrote in
<854s8o$3au$1...@nntp1.atl.mindspring.net>:

>In article <01bf5905$85b05e60$997f473f@cbx-nt>,
>Christopher Cox <co...@urec.net> wrote:

--snip--

>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

Hello Konrad,
Thanks so much for the Linux port of the altacc programs. I
downloaded the zip files, and compiled them post-haste. Clean
compile on a Slackware system (sorta v3.6) 2.0.36 kernel, libc(5),
gcc 2.7.2.3. I hope this sets a trend for others to move off the
Windoze-only platforms for their pgms.
At least, now I know what brand of altimeter I'll purchase.

Thanks again.

--
73, Ronnie

w0...@w0plw.ampr.org EM57fh
Cape Girardeau, MO

Konrad Hambrick

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Jan 12, 2000, 3:00:00 AM1/12/00

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In article <8EB5930D3w0pl...@44.46.97.3>,

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 ).