+[[!meta title="AltOS"]]
# 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.
-[[!inline pages="./releases/* and !*/Discussion and !*.html and !*.bz2 and !*.zip and !*.exe" show="10" rss="no" raw="yes" ]]
+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.
+
+[[!inline pages="./releases/* and !*/Discussion and !*.ihx 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 ##
in our publicly visible repository that are not part of the current stable
release.
-* A Kalman-filter based approach to apogee detection using more than just the
- baro sensor, so that we can safely control apogee ejection on flights to
- altitudes beyond the range of our baro sensor alone. Unlike the other items
- on the list, this will be a significant change to the in-rocket TeleMetrum
- firmware. It may therefore be a while before this becomes part of a stable
- firmware 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
### Linux ###
-If you use [Debian](http://www.debian.org), then a pre-built package for
-32-bit x86 is currently available here:
+If you use [Debian](http://www.debian.org), you can simply install the 'altos'
+package from any Debian mirror, like so:
- wget -O - http://altusmetrum.org/apt/altusmetrum.key | apt-key add -
- wget -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/altos.list http://altusmetrum.org/apt/altos.list
- apt-get update
- apt-get install altos
+ 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
### 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
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
projects / web / altusmetrum / blobdiff