# AltOS
AltOS is the name of Keith's firmware "operating system" for
-[TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum/) and [TeleDongle](../TeleDongle/).
+Altus Metrum products.
-In addition to the firmware for [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum) and
-[TeleDongle](../TeleDongle) boards, the AltOS source tree also
+In addition to the firmware for hardware products like
+[TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum), [TeleMini](../TeleMini), and
+[TeleDongle](../TeleDongle), the AltOS source tree also
includes AltosUI, which provides for flight monitoring, post-flight
analysis, device configuration and firmware updating. AltosUI runs on
Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. It's written in [Java](http://java.com)
## Available Versions ##
-There is a single manual for all Altus Metrum products, which is available
+There is a single manual for most Altus Metrum products, which is available
in [html](doc/altusmetrum.html) and [pdf](doc/altusmetrum.pdf) formats.
We also have an AltOS internals document for programmers
document describing the AltOS over the radio protocol
in [html](doc/telemetry.html) and [pdf](doc/telemetry.pdf) formats.
-[[!inline pages="./releases/* and !*/Discussion and !*.html and !*.bz2 and !*.zip and !*.exe" show="10" rss="no" raw="yes" ]]
+If you're running Windows 8, you should take a look at [Installing AltosUI on
+Windows 8](Win8) which will help you install the operating system
+drivers needed to communicate with the USB hardware.
+
+[[!inline pages="./releases/* and !*/Discussion and !*.sh and !*.html and !*.bz2 and !*.zip and !*.exe and !*.dmg" show="10" rss="no" raw="yes" ]]
## Source Code ##
available from [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
in the project [fw/altos](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/altos;a=summary).
-If you need to debug code on an Altus Metrum product, you may want our special
-version of SDCC containing a highly modified sdcdb with support for the cc1111
-debugging interface, which you can find on [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
-in the project [fw/sdcc](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/sdcc;a=summary). This is
-not necessary if you just want to rebuild AltOS and use it.
+We've gathered a few notes on [buidling AltOS](building).
## Future Plans ##
### Mac ###
A Mac OS X package that is compatible with versions 10.5 "Leopard" and
-later (including 10.6 "Snow Leopard") is available. The Mac operating
-system includes Java, and all Altus Metrum products show up as simple
-USB serial ports, so this should just work with no additional drivers
-or other dependency issues. Older versions of the Mac operating
+later. The Mac operating system includes Java, and all Altus Metrum products
+show up as simple USB serial ports, so this should just work with no
+additional drivers or other dependency issues. Older versions of the Mac
+operating
system, and even newer versions for PowerPC-based machines, come with
Java version 5 or older, which is too old for use with Altus Metrum
software. We know of no way to update the Java version other than
upgrading to a newer operating system (for Intel based macs) or
purchasing new hardware (for PowerPC based macs).
+If you have trouble installing on a Mac, and are getting errors about the
+package being corrupt, you may not be configured to allow installation of
+software from arbitrary sources. One customer running 10.8.1 reported that
+he was able to work around this by going to "System Preferences", "Security
+& Privacy", "General", and then clicking the "Anywhere" radio button where
+it askes "Allow applications downloaded from:".
+
### Windows ###
Our Windows package is known to work on at least some flavors of XP, Vista, and