Dear Max et all,

I am the lead developer of the Lx Zeus product. My colleagues have
informed
me that some misleading/wrong is being shared on various glider
forums.
Just to clear things out, I would like to point out a few things:

* Zeus is a multiprocessor platform. The main processor is a high
performance
RISC Cortex A8 - 750 MHz (1GH comes soon). OpenGL is also used for
graphics
rendering (essential for 3D). At least two more high performance ARM7
micro-
controllers are essential for correct operation. One takes care for
the
peripheral interaction, especially for the CAN - 485 interaction,
while the
other is used for inertial (AHRS /vario) calculation. It depends on
the Zeus
version. More uCs can be added later via CAN bus connection.

* Zeus runs Linux. Pure, vanilla Linux was taken and then heavily
patched in
order to get it running. Some in-house developed drivers were
necessary to get
the openGL running and the CAN messages into Zeus.

* Zeus is pure CAN system. Can bus is the main bus. It is loosely
based on the
CANAerospace formulation, which was significantly extended to cover
additional
needs. Complete 485 bus (old LX bus) is also fully supported and one
of the uC
roles is to take care for the communication between both buses.

* The software in Zeus was written from scratch. It is completely in-
house
developed. It is coded in C++. Significant portions of the
mathematical model
logic is written in pure C++, which is not platform dependent. This
means that
a significant portion of code is the same in 7007C and Zeus. Please
note that
7007C code was also written from scratch and not a single line of code
from
old 7007 was used.

* The graphical interface in Zeus is build around Qt library. In
7007C, we
developed own library.

* Although I am familiar with the XC soar and LK, not even a line of
code was used
from there. The programming approach, abstraction and platform
differences were
simply too large for this to be effective.

* Zeus as such is pretty a complex product and it is difficult to
handle on OS
level. It requires special patches and drivers. For this reason, I
find it
difficult (but not impossible) to be a host for LK or XC soar systems.
We
definitely do not have enough man power to dig into this.

* You will notice firm Kanardia d.o.o. to which I belong. Mr. Rojnik
(head of LxNavigation) is my
lifetime friend and after the issues with the lxnav, we are working
together
with Lx Navigation on development of new products. Most of technology
used in
Zeus was developed and tested by Kanardia in previous years.

Note: Almost identical email was sent to Max.

With very best regards,

Aleš


--
Dr. Ing. Aleš Krajnc
Kanardia d.o.o.
Ulica heroja Rojška 70
SI-3000 Celje
Slovenia

Mob: +386 40 360 512
Tel: +386 590 12 521
Fax: +386 590 11 416
URL: www.kanardia.eu