[web/altusmetrum] / AltOS / index.mdwn

[[!meta title="AltOS"]]
# AltOS

AltOS is the name of Keith's firmware "operating system" for 
Altus Metrum products.

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)
and offers the same functionality and interface on all three
platforms. A small platform-specific library communicates with the USB
interface on the Altus Metrum devices.

There are also Linux-specific tools that provide lower level access to
the devices which are useful for developing firmware for the devices.

We maintain a list of [launch site GPS coordinates](launch-sites.txt).  If 
your favorite launch site isn't included, please let us know!

## Available Versions ##

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 
in [html](doc/altos.html) and [pdf](doc/altos.pdf) formats, and a
document describing the AltOS over the radio protocol 
in [html](doc/telemetry.html) and [pdf](doc/telemetry.pdf) formats.

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.

If you're running a recent version of Mac OS X, you'll probably need
to read [Installing AltosUI on Mac OS X](MacOSX). This describes how
to get rid of the the 'App is damaged' messages and run the program.

Each available download includes AltosUI, documentation, and firmware updates
for all current products.

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## Source Code ##

The latest source, which may include unreleased work in progress, is always 
available from [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com) 
in the project [fw/altos](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/altos;a=summary).  

We've gathered a few notes on [buidling AltOS](building).

## Future Plans ##

Bug reports, feature requests, and planning for AltOS releases happens
on the [Altus Metrum Trac Site](http://trac.gag.com/altusmetrum).

A number of features are implemented or in process in the sources available
in our publicly visible repository that are not part of the current stable
release.

* Motor characterization. Because TeleMetrum contains a
  high-resolution, high-frequency accelerometer, it is possible to
  take the data from that and compute an accurate thrust curve for
  the motor.

* Comprehensive PDF and/or HTML -based flight report. Construct a
  complete report of the flight suitable for publication on the web
  that includes graphs of the flight and details about motor
  performance etc.
   
* Publish flight data to the Altus Metrum web site. This will allow
  you to share your flight data with others, and let you download
  flights published by others.

There are any number of additions that could be made to this list; feel free 
to send along ideas that you’ve got. Of course, all of this software is 
licensed under the GNU General Public License, so you can get the source and 
hack on it in the comfort of your own home.

## Platform Specific Notes ##

### Linux ###

If you use [Debian](http://www.debian.org), you can simply install the 'altos'
package from any Debian mirror, like so:

                apt-get update
                apt-get install altos

If you use some other distribution of Linux, then 
a Linux package of our second-generation Java bits that 
should run on any distribution with a modern Java version is also 
available.  Unlike the Debian pacakge, which depends on various libraries
already part of the Debian distribution, this package includes a "fat" jar
file with all of the Java libraries that aren't part of the basic Java runtime
environment included, so it should "just work" on any system with 
Java 6.  Development and testing is done with OpenJDK 6, but current 
downloads from [java.com](http://java.com) should be fine too.

If you'd rather build from source, our source tree includes documentation on 
how to build packages for various
Linux systems such as [Arch Linux](http://www.archlinux.org), and the 
debian/ directory contains all the control
files for building the Debian packages on other architectures or derivatives
such as [Ubuntu](http://ubuntu.com).

Bdale has also created a theme for 
[GDM](http://projects.gnome.org/gdm/) that he uses on his primary notebook,
and the 
[Simple Login Manager](http://slim.berlios.de/) that he uses on all of his
other machines and which is ideally suited for machines dedicated to AltOS 
ground station use.  It includes a photo of a drag-race between 
nearly-identical rockets
built by Keith and Bdale, that was the first time either of us gave TeleMetrum
complete control of a rocket flight without some other backup!  See the themes/
directory in the source tree (the themes are included in the Debian package).

### Mac ###

A Mac OS X package that is compatible with versions 10.5 "Leopard" and
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 
Windows 7 Enterprise. If you don't already have Java installed, 
download and install a current Java 6 version from [java.com](http://java.com)
first.  Then download our installer and run it.  Windows already has 
the required USB serial device driver, and our package should do the right
things to bind it to our devices, but if you get a complaint about the device
being unrecognized, try pointing to the copy of the telemetrum.inf file 
included in the package directory manually.

Note that on some Windows 7 systems, it may be necessary to install AltOS using
'compatibility mode'.  You can set this mode by 
[changing the properties](http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html)
of the installer .exe.

## License ##

The firmware and associated software are licensed [GPL version
2](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html)