3 AltOS is the name of Keith's firmware "operating system" for
6 In addition to the firmware for hardware products like
7 [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum), [TeleMini](../TeleMini), and
8 [TeleDongle](../TeleDongle), the AltOS source tree also
9 includes AltosUI, which provides for flight monitoring, post-flight
10 analysis, device configuration and firmware updating. AltosUI runs on
11 Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. It's written in [Java](http://java.com)
12 and offers the same functionality and interface on all three
13 platforms. A small platform-specific library communicates with the USB
14 interface on the Altus Metrum devices.
16 There are also Linux-specific tools that provide lower level access to
17 the devices which are useful for developing firmware for the devices.
19 We maintain a list of [launch site GPS coordinates](launch-sites.txt). If
20 your favorite launch site isn't included, please let us know!
22 ## Available Versions ##
24 There is a single manual for most Altus Metrum products, which is available
25 in [html](doc/altusmetrum.html) and [pdf](doc/altusmetrum.pdf) formats.
27 We also have an AltOS internals document for programmers
28 in [html](doc/altos.html) and [pdf](doc/altos.pdf) formats, and a
29 document describing the AltOS over the radio protocol
30 in [html](doc/telemetry.html) and [pdf](doc/telemetry.pdf) formats.
32 [[!inline pages="./releases/* and !*/Discussion and !*.html and !*.bz2 and !*.zip and !*.exe" show="10" rss="no" raw="yes" ]]
36 The latest source, which may include unreleased work in progress, is always
37 available from [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
38 in the project [fw/altos](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/altos;a=summary).
40 If you need to debug code on an Altus Metrum product, you may want our special
41 version of SDCC containing a highly modified sdcdb with support for the cc1111
42 debugging interface, which you can find on [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
43 in the project [fw/sdcc](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/sdcc;a=summary). This is
44 not necessary if you just want to rebuild AltOS and use it.
48 Bug reports, feature requests, and planning for AltOS releases happens
49 on the [Altus Metrum Trac Site](http://trac.gag.com/altusmetrum).
51 A number of features are implemented or in process in the sources available
52 in our publicly visible repository that are not part of the current stable
55 * Motor characterization. Because TeleMetrum contains a
56 high-resolution, high-frequency accelerometer, it is possible to
57 take the data from that and compute an accurate thrust curve for
60 * Comprehensive PDF and/or HTML -based flight report. Construct a
61 complete report of the flight suitable for publication on the web
62 that includes graphs of the flight and details about motor
65 * Publish flight data to the Altus Metrum web site. This will allow
66 you to share your flight data with others, and let you download
67 flights published by others.
69 There are any number of additions that could be made to this list; feel free
70 to send along ideas that you’ve got. Of course, all of this software is
71 licensed under the GNU General Public License, so you can get the source and
72 hack on it in the comfort of your own home.
74 ## Platform Specific Notes ##
78 If you use [Debian](http://www.debian.org), you can simply install the 'altos'
79 package from any Debian mirror, like so:
84 If you use [Ubuntu](http://ubuntulinux.org), pre-built packages are available
85 from [this PPA](https://launchpad.net/~sconklin/+archive/altos/)
86 maintained by Steve Conklin and friends.
88 If you use some other distribution of Linux, then
89 a Linux package of our second-generation Java bits that
90 should run on any distribution with a modern Java version is also
91 available. Unlike the Debian pacakge, which depends on various libraries
92 already part of the Debian distribution, this package includes a "fat" jar
93 file with all of the Java libraries that aren't part of the basic Java runtime
94 environment included, so it should "just work" on any system with
95 Java 6. Development and testing is done with OpenJDK 6, but current
96 downloads from [java.com](http://java.com) should be fine too.
98 If you'd rather build from source, our source tree includes documentation on
99 how to build packages for various
100 Linux systems such as [Arch Linux](http://www.archlinux.org), and the
101 debian/ directory contains all the control
102 files for building the Debian packages on other architectures or derivatives
103 such as [Ubuntu](http://ubuntu.com).
105 Bdale has also created a theme for
106 [GDM](http://projects.gnome.org/gdm/) that he uses on his primary notebook,
108 [Simple Login Manager](http://slim.berlios.de/) that he uses on all of his
109 other machines and which is ideally suited for machines dedicated to AltOS
110 ground station use. It includes a photo of a drag-race between
111 nearly-identical rockets
112 built by Keith and Bdale, that was the first time either of us gave TeleMetrum
113 complete control of a rocket flight without some other backup! See the themes/
114 directory in the source tree (the themes are included in the Debian package).
118 A Mac OS X package that is compatible with versions 10.5 "Leopard" and
119 later. The Mac operating system includes Java, and all Altus Metrum products
120 show up as simple USB serial ports, so this should just work with no
121 additional drivers or other dependency issues. Older versions of the Mac
123 system, and even newer versions for PowerPC-based machines, come with
124 Java version 5 or older, which is too old for use with Altus Metrum
125 software. We know of no way to update the Java version other than
126 upgrading to a newer operating system (for Intel based macs) or
127 purchasing new hardware (for PowerPC based macs).
129 If you have trouble installing on a Mac, and are getting errors about the
130 package being corrupt, you may not be configured to allow installation of
131 software from arbitrary sources. One customer running 10.8.1 reported that
132 he was able to work around this by going to "System Preferences", "Security
133 & Privacy", "General", and then clicking the "Anywhere" radio button where
134 it askes "Allow applications downloaded from:".
138 Our Windows package is known to work on at least some flavors of XP, Vista, and
139 Windows 7 Enterprise. If you don't already have Java installed,
140 download and install a current Java 6 version from [java.com](http://java.com)
141 first. Then download our installer and run it. Windows already has
142 the required USB serial device driver, and our package should do the right
143 things to bind it to our devices, but if you get a complaint about the device
144 being unrecognized, try pointing to the copy of the telemetrum.inf file
145 included in the package directory manually.
147 Note that on some Windows 7 systems, it may be necessary to install AltOS using
148 'compatibility mode'. You can set this mode by
149 [changing the properties](http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html)
150 of the installer .exe.
154 The firmware and associated software are licensed [GPL version
155 2](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html)