Featherweight Interface Program (FIP) for Windows/Mac/Linux (via Java)

This screen shot may not mean much to you yet, but it is the start of porting FIP over to Java so it is available on Windows/MAC/Linux... and the #R and #D came from the Raven via USB/Serial to Java... One of the prior complications with the Mac WINE attempt was getting the USB/Serial to work via some windows USB wrapper.... I have a Mac Mini and can verify that this was reading from the Raven there as well (but with a more Mac-like window....). As soon as I get enough functionality to read the live data, I'll post the "jar file" so that multiple people can try it on multiple OS's...

Means I won't have to run a Win XP VM on my field laptop anymore.

Nice! Thanks for the effort.

Ok, made some more progress... I am now reading all the live values from the Raven. Next priority is 1) download flight data and 2) graph flight data. After that will still need to implement the configuration dialog (painful because of so many checkboxes / etc to hook up) and then on to test/calibration tab.

I got FIP to work with WINE in Linux in the past. I now use Vbox with an XP virtual machine or just use an old Doze laptop. Kurt

ksaves2 said:

I got FIP to work with WINE in Linux in the past.

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I've tried this several times with many different versions of Linux and WINE and never gotten it to work, so this Java version is very welcome news.

What version / build / etc of Linux should I test with? I'd like to have it verified against at least windows, mac and one flavor of linux before I make it available. the first USB library I tried worked on Windows but 'complicated' and Mac didn't work 'out of box'...

Nice work, Kevin, and thanks for the continuous improvement!

kjs said:

What version / build / etc of Linux should I test with?

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I'd be happy to beta it for you on Ubuntu 14.04 or 12.04.

Mike - good to hear; I will take you up on that! - but I would like to actually have a test environment myself... where would I get a Ubuntu image to install?

Kevin,

I'd be willing to beta on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Ubuntu images can be found at https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop for the most recent; dig through the mirrors link for older versions.

I would recommend looking at library versions that capture the major base distros (Debian, Fedora, Suse, etc.) over the last two years. There shouldn't be anything too cutting-edge needed to get it to "just work" for the bulk of distributions.

It is probably better to do the Java version. In order to get it to work (and a lot of other programs) I had to install the MS Netframework under WINE that is a real PITA. Took hours so It's best to say that WINE is not ready for prime time for everything. It will run a lot of simple altimeter
programs without much trouble. (I hate crosswords so dinking with stuff like this blindly is a pastime) Kurt

As a Raven user and a Mac user, I am really looking forward to this. I've been trying to find a copy of windows 7 for relatively cheap so I can run in bootcamp just to program my Raven.

I would be glad to beta test on Mac if you allow it.

T34zac said:

As a Raven user and a Mac user, I am really looking forward to this. I've been trying to find a copy of windows 7 for relatively cheap so I can run in bootcamp just to program my Raven.

I would be glad to beta test on Mac if you allow it.

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I'll probably post a version here as soon as I have download and plotting going so really anyone that wants to try it at that point will be able to. I will pretest on my window7/windows8 and mac mini before posting - and will try to get my own copy of Linux installed somewhere to test as well.

T34zac said:

I've been trying to find a copy of windows 7 for relatively cheap so I can run in bootcamp just to program my Raven.

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I don't know what your definitionis of "relatively cheap" but I have had success with these OEM installation DVDs:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H09BB16/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

(in case you still want a win7 system for other programs)

kjs said:

I don't know what your definitionis of "relatively cheap" but I have had success with these OEM installation DVDs:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H09BB16/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

(in case you still want a win7 system for other programs)

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Well basically I just didn't want to pay $100-$200 for an operating system that I will use JUST for the FIP.

Do you have an ETA on when this will be available, or is this a spare time project?

T34zac said:

Well basically I just didn't want to pay $100-$200 for an operating system that I will use JUST for the FIP.

Do you have an ETA on when this will be available, or is this a spare time project?

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I understand with regards to cost vs frequency... This is not my day job but is what I am working on now as much as I can. I'm working on file download now and then I'll need to do the graphics / summary. I expect to have some time this weekend so maybe graphics after that. I've done graphics before but not in Java for a very long time. I do have the advantage that I have FIP for reference. I'll keep you updated, but don't be afraid to ask... I got up at ~2:30 am to work on something else but your post got me working on FIP/java... ;-)

kjs said:

I understand with regards to cost vs frequency... This is not my day job but is what I am working on now as much as I can. I'm working on file download now and then I'll need to do the graphics / summary. I expect to have some time this weekend so maybe graphics after that. I've done graphics before but not in Java for a very long time. I do have the advantage that I have FIP for reference. I'll keep you updated, but don't be afraid to ask... I got up at ~2:30 am to work on something else but your post got me working on FIP/java... ;-)

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Well it's good to know someone is willing to work on a project such as this. Good luck and I am looking forward to the completed result.

T34zac said:

Well it's good to know someone is willing to work on a project such as this. Good luck and I am looking forward to the completed result.

Click to expand...

Thanks; yesterday evening was a frustration in binary download in Java... (was certainly easier in C in the original FIP)... will try again this evening...

Ok, binary download getting closer - here is snap shot of Java read (top) vs Windows FIP read (bottom) [both in text editor till I get them matched]. close but still some oddities. complexity is download is part ascii text and part binary and Java seems to care more than C (or I haven't yet figured out how to get Java to not care... ;-)

Ahh....!!! Feels good... Windows FIP and Java FIP binary download files match...! Now on to parse/interpret/graph!

Awesome.

Ok, I've gotten the flight data download working and the files match as they are identical when viewed in the normal Windows FIP. Next on to parse and then Java graphics...

[this is screen shot of the normal windows FIP but viewing files for the same flight where one was downloaded by itself (windows) and the other downloaded by the Java version]



(Edit) The attached image seems to be lower res so the full res image is at: https://www.here-and-beyond.com/images/jFIP-2015-01-17.png

Great progress. Hopefully the hard parts are behind you.

waywayanda said:

Great progress. Hopefully the hard parts are behind you.

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Since I only just read a book about Java over Christmas break (and the last time I did Java programming was on a plane to Malaysia in ~1995) each step has a learning curve . Luckily it is 'close-ish' to C/C++. Hard parts remain I think.... ;-)

Very crisp graphs.

Would it be possible to make it work with other altimeters or just the raven?

cwbullet said:

Very crisp graphs.

Would it be possible to make it work with other altimeters or just the raven?

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Thanks! Those are the graphs from the current FIP Windows program so my goal is to replicate them with Java... If you've never seen those graphs, I put a sample below with some 'comments'.

With regards to other altimeters, I work with Adrian at Featherweight so we have ongoing working relationship (so it is really only being developed for Featherweight products). Once complete I expect to go back to working on new products (so I would expect all Featherweight products to show up in here). Not sure if I'll go back and support Parrot as well (legacy) but have plans to add others.

Here's the Windows FIP graph / detail. It may take a bit to get this all duplicated in Java but it is the goal to duplicate and improve:

Other product from Featherweight? Besides the Raven and Parrot, I am not aware of another.

cwbullet said:

Other product from Featherweight? Besides the Raven and Parrot, I am not aware of another.

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First 'other' would be the other thread that you participated in some ago (re: Sparrow). I want to get jFIP done and then focus again on the Sparrow firmware.

Cool. Sparrow sounds like a good entry item.


I have several parrots and would love to see it support them also, but understand if there is not enough volume to justify.