RaspberryPi and Ascent Fluid trainer support?

[Stuart Street]

Can Wattzapp run on a RaspberryPi?
I have just been given a RaspberryPi and have been using it to play HD videos whilst riding the trainer. I'm running the RaspBMC operating system on it which is a minimal Debian based linux distro.I have the RaspberryPi Model B which has 512Mb RAM.
I have minimal linux/RaspberryPi experience, but I'm not averse to spending a little time to learn if needed. Also if another linux distro is better/needed then that is ok too.

I don't have a power meter and so was hoping to make use of the virtual power calculation in Wattzap. The trainer I have is an Ascent Fluid Trainer which is not listed on the Wattzap website as a support trainer, however I have found a power curve for it, is it possible to define a custom power curve in Wattzapp?

Cheers,
Stu

[David George]

Hi Stuart,

I think it could run on that configuration and am very interested to hear how you get on. You need vlc for video playback. A Java Runtime Environment and that should be about it. The ANT+ driver should be built in. It should be ok in 512MB ram. Have a look at the manual for information on the Linux ANT USB driver and maybe check to see if this exists in RaspBMC

This posts suggests there is no issue with ANT devices

http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=26124

the Suunto or Garmin low profile ant sticks would be ideal with the Raspberry but you can even get a Chinese clone ANT stick for less than 10 euros delivered from eBay. I can post details.

here is some info about Java:

http://elinux.org/RPi_Java_JDK_Installation

you need the hard floating point install as WattzAp makes extensive use of floating point calculations for power amongst other things.

here is some info about vlc:

http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/6992/how-do-i-install-vlc-into-raspbmc

You should probably start with vlc and test it plays videos ok on your screen. WattzAp should just find the installed vlc player on Linux via the library path.

Send me the power curve you found and I will include it. (it is possible for user's to create their own power curves but with a bit of programming - I will have to add a generic "cubic equation" trainer which is user configurable.

I don't have a Pi myself for testing, it would take up too much of my time I think.

I'm certainly prepared to offer you some support in this project.

There is an Open Source version of wattzap available if you want to go down that route.

[Jarek Poświata]

About Raspberry.. The answer is yes and no. I've done some tests on my bananaPi.

Pros:
* video can be played directly on big screen via HDMI
* it can play video without any issue (even high resolution ones)
* no issues with ANT stick
* it can be operated with mouse
* bananaPi has IRDA port, I think about remote control (with key-binding stuff)
* 5-7 touch screen would solve all control issues (I hope, I don't have one)

Cons:
* bannanaPi reads video data correctly only via SATA, USB is too slow (I haven't check videos on SD card..)
* using mouse during trainings is a mistake (I almost broke the board).

I suggest bananaPi as a reference platform.