PowerFLARM USB 3 cables and ConnectMe to PowerFLARM through V7

Another example that I just noticed discussed in another thread is task declaration. I don't what word to describe the process other than a hack. To declare a task I have to take my config file, use a txt editor to edit it, put very human-unfriendly configuration statements, plug the usb stick, power cycle, hope I didn't make any mistake, left the USB stick there long enough, ... and go on with my task. I don't know about anyone else, but I would never trust I got that right for a serious task attempt!!!

We live in the world of smart phones, cloud services, proper UE, things should get easier not harder...

I am not trying to be too hard on the Flarm team. This is a wonderful tool and will help us save lives and I know it is not easy getting new products to market. However, a product advertised to do some functionality, should deliver on those promises. This is especially true in this case as a large number of consumers signed up to buy it before development was complete to help get it adopted.

On Monday, June 10, 2013 2:01:50 PM UTC-5, Morteza Ansari wrote:
By hack I mean the fact that a power cycle is needed, there is no control over which files get copied (my understanding is that all files in powerflarm will get copied if they don't exist). On Sat. I had to get some files off and used a new USB stick and had to wait for it to copy all files. Also, other than the little LED on the brick itself I have no indication of whether the copy operation is done or not. The overall experience seems very poor with very little feedback to the user.



Making other non-frequent operations (FW, DB, license updates) more challenging might be acceptable, but even those I would love to use Oudie or the display device (in my case FlarmView).



Overall given the brick doesn't have a native user interface other than a single LED, all of these operations should be done via API/protocol where the front end devices like the Oudie or other displays can handle all these operations with proper user interface and feedback mechanism.



I hope this helps explain why I look at this as a "hack".





Cheers,

Morteza



On Thursday, June 6, 2013 5:47:14 PM UTC-5, wrote:

Morteza,







thanks for your feedback. Can you elaborate on the 'hack'?







PowerFLARM doesn't copy all logs, only the ones that are not



yet on the stick.







Firmware, obstacle DB and licence updates are via USB as well, so you may want to



have a cable anyway (cost: $10). In the past, it has turned out to be less than trivial



to teach a large number of third party developers how to correctly implement



the FLARM RS232 protocols. This is another reason why we are a bit reluctant in that area.







Best



--Gerhard (FLARM dev mgr)















Thanks Paul for the additional information. To be honest the whole model of how PowerFlarm handles logfile copying seems at best to be a hack! As such the next best alternate solution would be to let Oudie handle it. As of right now I don't have the USB port brought to the front of my panel and given how the USB stick copying of log files work, I really would prefer not to do that. I want to have some level of control (like every other device!) on what files get copied and when they get copied rather than plug the USB stick, power cycle and get ALL the logs...