Using a nook for xcsoar

On Wednesday, October 17, 2012 8:31:01 PM UTC+2, (unknown) wrote:
eInk specs and OS vary greatly from one device to the next so a few questions if I may.
How is NEMA and FLARM info integrated with an eInk device?

The nook has an USB OTG (On the Go) port. This port has limited USB Host capability. Basically you hook up an usb serial (rs232) converter up to the device which is then connected to a FLARM. That gives you GPS, Barometric (the one inside FLARM) and FLARM data.
For power you split the USB-OTG cable up and hook up the power lines via a 12v-5v converter to the aircraft battery.

This is all nicely documented on robs page.


Is it correct to assume this XCSoar effort is specific only to the Nook Touch?

This is so far not an "official" project effort. Just some contributers that have tried this. At the moment it runs on the nook.

Other readers are being investigated at the moment.

On Thursday, October 18, 2012 12:30:04 PM UTC+2, Gregg Leslie wrote:
Compared to Glider Navigator 2, which is the simplest program I have ever
used. I do have to give credit to Rob Dunning for simplifying a version on
XCSoar, which is much better, but still frustrating, especially when you
need to change a setting or task quickly.

Out of interest:
What setting did you try to change inflight that you found the steps to frustrating?

I don't know if you know this:
Some gestures where added recently to facilitate the task editing quickly: Just draw an inverse L with your finger over the map screen for the task editor. A normal L on the map screen opens the waypoint selector.
Using two fingers on the map will pan it.

For all the info boxes you can press and hold for 2 seconds on the particular box, to access settings such as mc value etc.

In article ,
Simon Taylor wrote:

On Tuesday, October 16, 2012 5:20:15 PM UTC+1, (unknown) wrote:
I asked the CN team a while ago why they were not using eink, as it
offers obvious low power and sunlight readability advantages. Their
answer was that the refresh rate was too slow for a modern flight
computer. FYI,

John Cochrane





Real data trumps theory!



When eink is used for reading books, a display mode is used that gives the most crisp fonts possible. In this mode each pixel can be one of a number of
grey shades (usually 16), but at the cost of a slow refresh rate and the need
to occasionally flash the screen black (this clears away pixels that have
been left in an indeterminate state of grey and ensures you get a consistent,
clear picture).

For XCSoar another display mode is used. This only allows each pixel to be
black or white, but gives a fast refresh rate. We then use a dithering method
(similar to halftoning in printed newspapers) to generate greys. Old school
techniques, but they eliminate most of the perceived disadvantages of eink.

Simon


Bravo!

folken wrote:

I don't know if you know this:
Some gestures where added recently to facilitate the task editing quickly:

THAT is the heart of the problem with XCsoar!
It has lots of great and NEW features but no one knows about them
except the "inner circle" of developers and dedicated users.
New users are in the dark as the 170-odd page manual is not up to date
and has many sections that are incomplete.
Would someone please write an XCSoar Feature List with just a line or
two about every possible thing that this
amazing program can do? (Or maybe make a YouTube video. Found one but
it is rather old.)
That way if we just know it is possible, we can find it and explore
it. Otherwise we are,
CLUELESS.

soartech wrote:
THAT is the heart of the problem with XCsoar!
It has lots of great and NEW features but no one knows about them
except the "inner circle" of developers and dedicated users.
New users are in the dark as the 170-odd page manual is not up to date
and has many sections that are incomplete.

Are you serious? Gestures is one thing that is well described in the
manual, not much different from Folken's post. See page 33, in a
section called "Interfacing with gestures".

Yes, you are right, we have big trouble keeping it up to date (due to
lack of volunteers), but this time, you're not doing us justice.

RTFM ;^)


At 16:56 19 October 2012, Max Kellermann wrote:
soartech wrote:
THAT is the heart of the problem with XCsoar!
It has lots of great and NEW features but no one knows about
them
except the "inner circle" of developers and dedicated users.
New users are in the dark as the 170-odd page manual is not up
to date
and has many sections that are incomplete.

Are you serious? Gestures is one thing that is well described in
the
manual, not much different from Folken's post. See page 33, in a
section called "Interfacing with gestures".

Yes, you are right, we have big trouble keeping it up to date (due
to
lack of volunteers), but this time, you're not doing us justice.

On Friday, October 19, 2012 6:51:34 PM UTC+2, soartech wrote:
folken wrote:
I don't know if you know this:

Some gestures where added recently to facilitate the task editing quickly:

THAT is the heart of the problem with XCsoar!

It has lots of great and NEW features but no one knows about them

except the "inner circle" of developers and dedicated users.

New users are in the dark as the 170-odd page manual is not up to date

and has many sections that are incomplete.


Would someone please write an XCSoar Feature List with just a line or

two about every possible thing that this

amazing program can do?

Maybe the project's NEWS.txt helps. It lists features added and bugs fixed:

http://download.xcsoar.org/releases/6.4.2/NEWS.txt (this is linked to at every release on the project's website) Rss feed: http://www.xcsoar.org/atom.xml

(Or maybe make a YouTube video. Found one but
it is rather old.)

I'll see if i can find the time to make some videos.

Thanks for the feedback.

Am Freitag, 19. Oktober 2012 18:51:34 UTC+2 schrieb soartech:
folken wrote:



I don't know if you know this:

Some gestures where added recently to facilitate the task editing quickly:



THAT is the heart of the problem with XCsoar!

It has lots of great and NEW features but no one knows about them

except the "inner circle" of developers and dedicated users.

New users are in the dark as the 170-odd page manual is not up to date

and has many sections that are incomplete.

Would someone please write an XCSoar Feature List with just a line or

two about every possible thing that this

amazing program can do? (Or maybe make a YouTube video. Found one but

it is rather old.)

That way if we just know it is possible, we can find it and explore

it. Otherwise we are,

CLUELESS.

I agree with your that our communication about such things could be better, but we still have the hope that some of our users step up at some point and take over such things. We are much better at writing code than writing simple manuals, tutorials or news pages. As we have mentioned plenty of times already: You don't have to be a software developer to help in this project.. We have a much bigger need for people who are willing to write documentation or advertise the application in proper ways.

In case you were wondering what gestures XCSoar supports by default:

http://imagebin.org/232635

Touchscreens are bad enough in a cockpit enviromment, but gestures? You guys are going in the wrong direction, IMO. Stick mounted or remote controls are a much better way to control software displays, followed by momentary touch buttons or areas on the screen.

What we need is a universal stick with a variety of input devices that would interface with all popular gliding apps, removing the need for touchscreens altogether.

Kirk
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