View Single Post
  #8  
Old January 21st 21, 11:22 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Moshe Braner
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 114
Default tophat (xcsoar) and LX7007 (pro igc)

On 1/21/2021 5:45 PM, Moshe Braner wrote:
On 1/21/2021 4:45 PM, WaltWX wrote:
I use a Soartronic bluetooth module with my PowerFlarm Core (new
Fusion version has bt build in). My Android pda is a Nokia 8 running
LK8000 and this solution works well. Installation of the Soartronic
(search on Facebook or go to www.soartronic.net) device with the
PowerFlarm is very simple and already has the compatible RJ45
connector. These comments should also apply for XCSoar and TopHat if
your Android device has bluetooth. The LXNAV S100 (which I have) can
also drive your Android pda with it's built in bluetooth. Getting
bi-directional exchange of data that is complete... was really
challenging for the LK8000 developer in mid 2020. I worked intensely
with him using my S100 and Android phone Nokia 8 with bluetooth. It
now works very well using the Nano3 driver.


Walt: what do you mean by "Getting bi-directional exchange of data"?
What functionality?Â* What I am looking for is:
* copy task from Tophat to LX7007, and
* copy IGC flight log (after landing) from LX7007 to Tophat.

I can do both of those currently with Tophat connected to PowerFLARM.Â* I
had no problem getting a cable connection between the two (rather than
BT), once I added a serial port to the Nook e-reader that is running
Tophat.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/toph...s50.html#p2353
With that alone, the only thing I could expect Tophat to do is interpret
the standard NMEA sentences sent from the FLARM to be used as the GPS
location data source.Â* But the functionality I mentioned above is then
also possible thanks to Tophat knowing about the FLARM communications
protocol to do those transfers.Â* (Moreover, Tophat also knows how to
interpret the FLARM traffic data and shows those "targets" on the moving
map.)

In the case of the LX7007, the question then is, does the "LXNAV" (or
other?) communication protocol choice within Tophat work with the
LX7007, and offer those functions?

Note that everything I said about Tophat also applies to XCsoar, they
share the same source code for those (and most other) functions.


Another question about the LX7007 (and similar): Besides the 6-pin
telephone type "IGC" port, it also has a "PDA" port which is a 9-pin
D-sub connector. Both have serial data in/out pins. Are they
equivalent in protocol and functionality on those? The PDA port also
has a 5V wire for powering the PDA. How much current can that supply?
I wonder if it would power the Nook running Tophat, that needs about 400
mA AFAIK. (Yup, much more than the power consumption when the e-reader
is used for e-reading - the constant updating of the moving map is a
different ballgame.)