Everyone knows that the one major flaw of the GCN is that it needs a computer to do the TCP-IP and other internet protocol stuff. The key to making a computerless bridge is the Arduino Ethernet. (I FINALLY found it on Amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Ethernet-without-Power-over-Ethernet-Module/dp/B005D1U3TY You can BUILD one of these yourself, but the chip that does the protocol translating is only available in a quad-flat pack (80 pins of hell...) The Arduino board, unfortunately, is 60 dollars (without the PoE upgrade) That is the price to buy the premium RoHS compliant Arduino board. You CAN do it cheap, however, for only around 30 dollars by getting the cheaper non RoHS parts and soldering the thing by hand. I started yesterday on the board for this, and should have the design done in a week or two (depending on band camp), and will then make a PCB. If I can make the boards for cheap, I would like help understanding the GCN protocol. The Wiznet chipset has lots of help out there for it already, but Kerm and you other guys are the only people who know about the CalcNet. Thanks!
What will have to happen for this to work is you're going to need either a client program for the calc that interfaces with the bridge to get all the settings such as the execution flags, the server address, the hubname, etc. Beyond that it should be trivial.

Now what I really want to see is this coupled with a wifi module for true, computerless, wireless CALCnet access.
Didn't someone already write a DCS gui GCN program? And UART with a ATMEGA328 would work great with a wireless module from Sparkfun.
adept wrote:
Everyone knows that the one major flaw of the GCN is that it needs a computer to do the TCP-IP and other internet protocol stuff. The key to making a computerless bridge is the Arduino Ethernet. (I FINALLY found it on Amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Ethernet-without-Power-over-Ethernet-Module/dp/B005D1U3TY You can BUILD one of these yourself, but the chip that does the protocol translating is only available in a quad-flat pack (80 pins of hell...) The Arduino board, unfortunately, is 60 dollars (without the PoE upgrade) That is the price to buy the premium RoHS compliant Arduino board. You CAN do it cheap, however, for only around 30 dollars by getting the cheaper non RoHS parts and soldering the thing by hand. I started yesterday on the board for this, and should have the design done in a week or two (depending on band camp), and will then make a PCB. If I can make the boards for cheap, I would like help understanding the GCN protocol. The Wiznet chipset has lots of help out there for it already, but Kerm and you other guys are the only people who know about the CalcNet. Thanks!
Clarification on your first few sentences, there is a different way to get gCn on a calc than an arduino bridge, which is simply using the direct USB cable that comes with the calc. Of course that still requires a computer, but I just thougth I would clarify.
adept wrote:
Didn't someone already write a DCS gui GCN program? And UART with a ATMEGA328 would work great with a wireless module from Sparkfun.
Tari is working on it; he has had some success thus far. DJ_O, thanks for the clarification. Kurt, that would indeed be a major obstacle. I actually had an idea for a CALCnet 3.0 that would have backward-compatible out-of-band metahub selection, but I doubt I'll have the time or patience to implement it.
  
Register to Join the Conversation
Have your own thoughts to add to this or any other topic? Want to ask a question, offer a suggestion, share your own programs and projects, upload a file to the file archives, get help with calculator and computer programming, or simply chat with like-minded coders and tech and calculator enthusiasts via the site-wide AJAX SAX widget? Registration for a free Cemetech account only takes a minute.

» Go to Registration page
Page 1 of 1
» All times are UTC - 5 Hours
 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 

Advertisement