I-PAC programming tool

[arkanoid]

Hey, just FYI for any Linux + IPAC users, there is a new version of ipacutil for Linux.  Currently, only USB is supported on 2.6 kernels.  However, I should have a PS2 version running shortly.

There is also a GUI tool coming shortly.  It's about 80% done.

http://www.zumbrovalley.net/ipacutil/ipac_dnld.html

[Neverending Project]

Would this compile on Mac OSX 10.4?

I realize that an I-PAC programming utillity already exists for the Mac, but I am interested in finding a UltraStik programming utility for the Mac. I imagine that if the libraries used exist on BSD, it may be realativley easy to adapt for the Mac, and hence for the UltraStik.

[2600]

My utility for the Ultrastik should work on the MAC once you figure out how to set permissions correctly.  Unfortunately, I only had time to give it a quick look.  If not, the source is all there and documented for you to write your own.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63729.0

[arkanoid]

Yes, I think you could compile it on OSX.

However, I don't think it will help you with programming your UltraStik.  I don't know much about the Ultrastik, but I believe the programming sequence is completely different.

I might have to look into UltraStick programming on Linux next if there is any interest.

[Neverending Project]

@arkanoid:
Well, I realize that the programming sequence would be different. But I am not a programmer, and am more interested in finding examples of sending data to a USB device. I talked with Andy from Ultimarc, and he sent me the Visual Basic source for the UltraMap Windows software. But since it uses DirectX drivers to write to the USB, it is of no help there. But I can use it to determine the correct data to send.

@2600:
I didn't realize that .NET existed for the Mac. I guess I'll go check.

[arkanoid]

OK.  Didn't realize what you were looking for. However, I still don't think you'll find it all that useful.  I think the Ultrastik is programmed via HID control messages.  You can find some info on libhid if you look around.


OK, just got some programming info from Andy.  I was completely wrong.  The ipacutil code would be quite similar.  In fact, I think I might as well add support for the Ultrastik too.  Guess I'll add it to the list. 

My next USB project is for the PACDrive product.  It should be coming soon.

[arkanoid]

In case anyone is following along, I now have a working Pac-Drive control program for Linux.  I have some cleanup/packaging to do, but a command-line version should be released in the next day or so.

The GUI (for testing) and Python library will be following shortly. 

After that, it might be cool to add it to some front-ends (I've been using MAMEd lately, but wah!cade would be cool too) and MAME.  Think spy hunter, etc.

[saint]

Cool beans! Post a news item when you have that ready as well?

[arkanoid]

Cool beans! Post a news item when you have that ready as well?

Sure thing, will do.

I also forgot to mention earlier that the GUI for ipacutil is also ready for download.  So far, I have only posted deb packages, so it's most useful for Debian or Ubuntu users.  It could probably be converted with alien, but I'll get a tarball up shortly too.

Here's a (lousy) screen shot:

[arkanoid]

I released the Pac-Drive utility today.  It can be downloaded from http://www.zumbrovalley.net/pacdrive/

Currently, it is packaged as three parts
1) The main (command-line) program, pacdrive
2) A (currently VERY) simple GUI for testing
3) A Python library for controlling the pac-drive

There is more work to do, but it is quite usable at this point.

Currently, just a tarball is up, so you will have to compile it yourself.  I'll be adding Debian packages soon.

Also, for those following along, the ipacutil GUI has had a number of bug fixes recently (thanks for the testing, Tiago).  There are also some new features and improvements being worked on.

[Major Rock Hardy]

I released the Pac-Drive utility today.  It can be downloaded from http://www.zumbrovalley.net/pacdrive/

Hey, that's huge!  This definitely deserves its own thread!  Congrats! 

[Tilzs]

Nice1   

[MotorHedJr]

Hey,

Good job.  I've been looking for a Linux Programming utility for the I-PAC.  Anyway I've been trying to install this in Gentoo 2.6.12.3 but I can't get the patch (kp.patch from mapleman link on your homepage) to work; but the last 2 hunks fail:

acm-wkockitidq3 linux # patch -p1 < kb.patch
patching file drivers/char/Kconfig
patching file drivers/char/Makefile
Hunk #1 succeeded at 14 with fuzz 1 (offset 3 lines).
patching file drivers/char/keyboard.c
Hunk #1 succeeded at 850 (offset 2 lines).
Hunk #2 succeeded at 900 (offset -10 lines).
patching file drivers/input/input.c
Hunk #1 FAILED at 149.
1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file drivers/input/input.c.rej
patching file include/linux/input.h
Hunk #1 FAILED at 542.
1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file include/linux/input.h.rej

Any ideas? Thanks!

[arkanoid]

<snip>
Any ideas? Thanks!

Yeah.  I just checked input.h and see it has changed a little since the patch was made against 2.6.4.  I can update the patch for a more recent kernel if you want.

However, I should warn you that the PS/2 version has gotten almost no attention (by me) in about 5 years, so it's a lot more problematic than the USB version.  There have also been a couple revisions to the PS/2 I-PAC, so it _should_ work, but YMMV.  Any chance you can use USB?