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Call to developers - service to Mac scuba divers
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Canada
Status:
Offline
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Hello all,
Although many PC software are not available to the Mac, I have almost always being able to find mac apps that allows me to do what PC-specific apps are doing. That is except for one thing: software to download dive profiles and decompression info from a scuba dive computer.
Several manufacturers are making dive computers (suunto & uwatec being among the most important). All of them (at least all whose computers allow profile download) have some proprietary apps to download and log dive profiles on a PC.When I asked if they intended to support the Mac, I always got the "no plans now and no plans in the future" response.
Although I can code some simple stuff (see Mac GasBlender here: http://www.geocities.com/ebeaule/Scu...blender.html), programming something that will allow communication with a dive computer is beyond my abilities (although I am willing to learn!).
In a nutshell, this project should:
- Allow communication with as many dive computer as we can support (some info is available on the web regarding communication protocols);
- Allow logging and printing of dive log pages;
- Later, allow computation of decompression info.
The suunto Dive Manager is a pretty good example of what I would like to do (www.suunto.com - for those who have a PC available to test it).
I have to mention that, since this is such a niche market, I don't think it will be possible to make any money from this project. An additional difficulty is that most of the time, USB -> serial (DB-9) adapters have to be used to connect the dive computer interface. So far, drivers for such devices have been quite limited (Keyspan seems to be making some (slow) progresses).
In other words, this would be a huge service for a very limited portion of the Mac community. Aside from this, it should be an interresting project.
Anyone wants to help me here?
Colddiver
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Faith, indeed, has up to the present not been able to move real mountains.... But it can put mountains where there are none.
- Friedrich Nietzche
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2001
Status:
Offline
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Colddiver,
I am a developer, writing carbon serial communication software for Mac OSX. Provided you provide the full protocal needed to communicate with the device or devices, and that data sent between the computer and device is not encrypted it should be possible to make such a program for Mac OSX.
If you interested in giving me a go at developing it, i'll need:
Full Protocal for each device you plan to support
Remote access to test device and a Mac with suitable USB-Serial converter running under Mac OSX (Keyspan USA-19X for example)
You mention that you would need a USB-Serial converter. USB driver programming (osx .kexts) are one of the hardest things to program. Whereas serial communication programming, without the use of drivers (program has direct control, rather than seperate driver software) is somewhat easier.
What You Want:
- Allow communication with as many dive computer as we can support (some info is available on the web regarding communication protocols); Possible provided we have full protocal
- Allow logging and printing of dive log pages; Yes
- Later, allow computation of decompression info. Yes, provided we have the formula of the required 'computations'.
I would point out however that it would be better to offer the software as shareware (ie. not free) rather than freeware, for a small fee. If I were to develop the software, a proportion of the profit would have to be given to me.
If your interested e-mail me:
luke.sands@btinternet.com
Luke.
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Canada
Status:
Offline
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Faith, indeed, has up to the present not been able to move real mountains.... But it can put mountains where there are none.
- Friedrich Nietzche
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Senior User
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: CA
Status:
Offline
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Dual 800 - GF3 - 1.5GB
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Canada
Status:
Offline
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Ah! I found a small linux program on Freshmeat that handles the download and the print profile graph part:
http://freshmeat.net/projects/eontools/
The source is likely to be useful! God I love open source!
Now the interresting thing will be to see if it can be ported to Darwin! I assume that communication with the serial port will be problematic...
In the meantime, I started working on an interface in Project Builder (that, I can do!).
Colddiver
P.S.: Thanks for the tip benh57
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Faith, indeed, has up to the present not been able to move real mountains.... But it can put mountains where there are none.
- Friedrich Nietzche
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