Messages

1

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 24, 2012, 04:13:52 am »

ermmm,  sorry if I'm being thick,

 but how can we have 2 different codesets in the same template?  (for the 2 different types of sat box)

:- agreed, the sat box  template(s) need a parameter to show which output on the dusky it's connected to, & then,they can be assigned to different  ent. areas/rooms.

Surely it has to be a single box with n outputs,?   sitting between the md and the sat box:(the sat box is the av equipment after all,)(the dusky outputs  would be better named command channels) or else it's no longer the interface, and becomes the AV device(s) itself..... (and would still need separate codesets to cover the two possible boxes that could be connected to it.)?

And if you wern't confused before ......   !!!!!    I know I am  

Ian


EDIT any  chance you could post your code, so I can try and follow it ?

  

2

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 24, 2012, 12:43:59 am »

Hi coley

errm, I think we're at cross purposes, sorry,

what I meant to say was---4 templates in total

1.......DuskySkyController
2.......duskySky              ie a sky digibox controlled by Dusky
3.......duskySky+/hd        ie a Sky+ or Skyhd+  (both at present on same codes)
4.......SkyPlus i.e  the existing  template in the db.       

                          to distinguish the sky boxes controlled by ir (present SkyPlus template)  and those controlled by rf/Dusky                 (which   have    2   different codesets )


or have I completely misunderstood ?     

regards

Ian

3

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 22, 2012, 01:03:36 am »

Hi coley,

I'm a bit confused

@Ian - I had envisaged going down that route before using the existing sky/sky+ template, see earlier in the thread. As the existing template was controlled via IR Thom didn't think it would work as a child of this device.

             ...................I thought that thom meant not to use ( and  therefore  alter,) the existing sky plus template, as that would mess around with existing sky users using ir control........I'm suggesting 2 additional  templates (duskySky  & duskySky+/hd.....and a new ir command group)   set up in the wizard as controlled by ir, but using the  4digit codes detailed on dusky's website, plus an additional data box  (type int) to indicate which output on the dusky it is connected to.

...........................I assume the dusky  knows  how many outputs it has, (wether this can be determined i dont know)    surely it must, as it returns an error if the wrong command is given in the cli  ?
                    ..........but isnt that point mute.....the installer/user  filling out the template will know, and, be able to add additional data paramaters in the template, I'd venture that most domestic/normal users  won't  need anymore than two outputs.

.........as regards serial detection,

quote    "p     0x70   'ping' - makes controller respond 'OK'. Only available in version 0.9.6 onwards"

 ............cplusplus.com was my first port of call , I think it's the OOP part of the business that's confusing me most, I'll keep googling & reading 'till I find something my addled brain will swallow  


Does all this make any sense,

regards,

Ian

4

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 21, 2012, 01:01:30 pm »

Hi Coley ,

apologies for the abrupt & prolonged abscense,......Who's been a busy boy then ?


I have set up my Dusky as follows


child of GenericPC as core/hybrid

Category #71 Interfaces
manuf  Heenan #1153
#37 ComportOn PC   string
#76 COM Port  parity/bit/stop   string        N81
#78 Baud rate   strinng     B5700
#48 Number of Ports   int     number of outputs on dusky        2
#81 Channel  int          1
#171  Port    int         2


I think more (int)  parameters need to be added  to account for the number of Dusky's on the system and to specify which one the template will refer to

I also think the driver should be able to address both usb & rs232 variants




I set the sky box up as   ............. a child to the dusky.......    sattelite>AV........ir controlled

..........this is what DCEGen used to spit out  the code... which as yet hasn't been compiled and  tested ...I'm trying to work out  what it does  atm       so I've nothing to merge as yet.

So that we  (and anyone else in future)  are  singing off the same hymn sheet  , can I suggest :


          a) we agree  & submit  the required    temlpates  to  "fix" the template numbers & device data  numbers?
                        for e.g  sat box ...manufacturer Sky  ..av/Sat box.....name== "duskySky+/hd"  
                                                             and another  "=duskySky" for the standard digibox
                

          b) open a wiki page (I can do that ) to document  what we're doing, which will also give us a method to swap code and an easy entry point for anyone to jump in , as well as a standard working base  ?

best regards

Ian

    
EDIT: (As my understanding of programming is  VERY limited )  ...I'll get to work on the templates and
the wiki  (edit draft page at   http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Dusky_Sky_Controller..Driver_Effort  )
  & try to follow what you're doing,  chipping in where I can.

PLEASE can anyone recommend a beginners guide to OOP  and  to C++   ?
  

5

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 17, 2012, 04:04:08 pm »

   

coley

 are you on 810   or 1004 ?
are you up for making it a collaborative effort, or  do you prefer to be alone in your closet ? 
          (bear in mind that I'm on a VERY steep learning precipice here, so altho I've got time ,I'm  gonna be slow SOoh slow     

Ian

6

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 17, 2012, 03:22:38 pm »

Hi coley

2 ports ,on mine,........ but from what I've managed to pick up so far that shouldn't be a prob,

........you're not a closet coder by any chance ?

Ian

edit ...coley what you doing here ,you've a little girl,    congrats

7

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 17, 2012, 01:16:09 pm »

I am pleased to announce the birth of a little code  !!!!
.........concieved in trepidation at 05:50  (first install of 10.04)...
..........birthed by DCEGen at  11:45 today,
...........fathered by my "hunt and peck" right index finger

     ..........midwifery duties  most excellently performed by  the developers and contributors (forums and wiki).....thank you all.


Many thanks  for the encouragement thom, have you any suggestions regarding a "simple"  IDE   ?

BTW   I'm taking notes on every step for a wiki entry,

If any other " novice" would like to make this a joint project  SHOUT NOW  please,

regards,
Ian

8

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 17, 2012, 05:25:53 am »

Hi Thom,
many thanks for speedy response,

so , and forgive a complete (pre-)Newbie  programmer if I'm spouting gibberish...but is this a reasonable
 plan ?

       1......set up dev environment as per wiki
       2.......generate  basic driver 
       3........examine existing code  and newly generated (would Doxygen be helpfull ?)
       4.........translate c to c++ functions
       5.........have a nervous breakdown

do you honestly think this is achievable for a complete novice, given that I have a fair amount of free time ?

9

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 17, 2012, 02:57:39 am »

Hi thom
thanks for the response,

library, and other software at http://www.dusky-control.com/docs.shtml


regards

Ian

10

Developers / Re: Dusky Sky Controller

« on: January 17, 2012, 12:38:39 am »

Hi all,

I've tried to get this working for the past 2 years as a gsd, and have picked it up again a couple of days ago.The furthest I've got is a template which  registers but will not work because "no com port specified".wether ComPortOnPc is used as a device data field or not

Udevadm info reports it as ....../hiddev0

After an intense  weekend of research, I contacted J. Heenan ,the manufacturer, who has kindly provided the following 

Quote
""
Hi Ian,

Right, I think I'm starting to understand a bit.

The basic issue is that the 'Generic Serial Device' driver in Lmce is intended only to talk to serial devices (or, oddly, network connections), and the USB dusky is not a serial device. It doesn't even pretend to be a serial device (lots of usb devices are actually serial devices with a usb <-> serial converter built in, but not the dusky).

The USB dusky is based around a PIC16C745 - it doesn't present anything like a serial interface, it is (in USB terms) a 'HID' device. You talk to it by providing binary packets of data to the linux USB HID subsystem.

There's probably 3 approaches that might work:

1) (Easiest) Swap your USB dusky for a serial model. That should then be directly possible to use with the GSD

2) Write a network listener that accepts commands from the lmce GSD and calls 'sky-control' to pass them to the sky box. It's probably still quite a lot of work though, I don't really fully understand what would be necessary and it's probably not a very clean solution.

3) (Hardest, I think) write a lmce 'device driver' that talks directly to the USB dusky, reusing the 'sky library' code that's used in sky-control.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Joseph
"
End Quote

SO......can anyone suggest a workaround without me having to learn C++?
           or would anyone of you beautiful genii  hazard an estimate for writing the driver ?
                    tho I must say  it's unlikelythat I could afford this option on my own--- any other USB Dusky owners willing to chip in?


          .can anyone direct me to  a good beginners book on C++  ?
           does anyone have any experience with the PIC16C745...?
          can anyone suggest  a similar/any lmce device that has a  C driver, so I can study it's code?


regards

Ian












                     

11

Users / Re: MessageSend syntax

« on: January 12, 2012, 06:22:20 pm »

 

sorry ... but after spending  all afternoon on this (searching wiki & forum for an example that simply sends a string to a device) all I can divine is

MessageSend dcerouter 0(messageFrom)  60(mydevice) 2 (event)..........


from there I really haven't a clue, so any hand holding would be greatly appreciated,

regards,

Ian

12

Users / MessageSend syntax

« on: January 12, 2012, 05:10:41 pm »

Hi all,

is it possible to send an ascii string to a "new" registered device from Konsole using MessageSend,to test the device, & if so, what would the syntax be ?

TIA
Ian

13

Installation issues / Re: Asrock 330 as a MD, PXE boot help

« on: March 15, 2011, 10:16:30 am »

Hi all,
could the bios need updating....see wikki   http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/ASUS_AT3N7A-I

regards
Ian

14

Users / Determining "com port on pc" for usb device

« on: March 11, 2011, 12:11:43 pm »

Hi all

I'm trying to create a gsd device template, but failing at the first hurdle.

the device shows up in dmesg as

....................using ehci_hcd and address 8
       ............usb-0000:00:04.1-3.3

so the question is  how to use that info to give the template something meaningfull to system ?

is it to use Location onPCI bus parameter ?

tia,
Ian

15

Users / Re: tv detection

« on: March 05, 2011, 08:53:58 pm »

Hi all

Is this issue to do with ticket #1009  ?

After playing with system for a while, I shut down, rebooted this morning and tv again disabled......after a fresh install and setting up again as above , system works, but I have noticed the following,

1-reloading router disables tv, necessitating deletion / reloading router /reinstalling
2- web admin times out leaving the X,KEYBOARD,and power button....pressing X takes me back to computing menu, with webadmin on Remote button, pressing which takes me straight back to where I was in web admin ....and then repeats this little game after another 2-3 minutes ...
3-tv detection scripts run but don't pick up the tv if it hasn't yet been reinstalled

obviously this has turned the addition of tv control into a nightmare, especially with the regen times the ion achieves, in fact with the prospect of this palaver everytime the router is reloaded it makes any further setup impractical  (rant over)


Back to the trac ticket question....should this not be escalated as  it will affect any user with usb/serial controlled tv's  see http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=11441.msg79077#msg79077


regards
Ian