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What's up with original Ardupilot? (not APM)

Posted by Jason Short on November 20, 2010 at 11:00am
Hey everyone, I just wanted to catch everyone up with the state of the original Ardupilot (not APM!). I'm the only developer currently working on it and could use some help. I recently had a baby boy and between him, work and a small copter side project I've not been able to keep up with the code.

What needs to get done:
  • Maintain compatibility with the config tool. - don't mess too much with the EEPROM.
  • Move from our old GPS parsers to the newer and well maintained Libraries.
  • Add printf and <avr/pgmspace.h> to move Serial.print strings to ROM from RAM.
  • If possible add in CLI from Mega. (We're running low on ROM!)
  • Do anything to reduce, clean up code to free up ROM.
  • Anything else we can do to align, where possible, with Mega.
In the end these should be minor updates. I just can't get to them and flight test them.
Jason





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Comments

  • robert bouwens November 21, 2010 at 11:00am
    @dacian:
    yes you are wright. this make the entry hard.
    there is knowledge and no way to access it.
    from testing point of view this procedure is nuts.

    else
    one of the drawbacks is prob. the missing architecture within all members of the ardupilot series. at least a few say it is a mess. there are way to many archives.
    if you look at the various boards, then you find various atmel chips.
    to me it is a miracle how it fitts together.

    robert
  • dacian herbei November 21, 2010 at 8:25am
    Hi Jason,
    I would like to help.
    I tried to send you a message but it seems you have to let me to add you first as friend.
    anyhow.
    If you need help let me know.
    best regards,
    dacian
  • Fred Forbes November 21, 2010 at 7:50am
    I'm assuming Jason is pleading for programming help as well as testers. I may be wrong but I think the availability of additional capable programmers would help the development of AP projects. As for me, a beginner programmer, I am planning to stick with my thermopile AP-legacy as a training device

    Fred
  • Joseph Schauber November 21, 2010 at 5:28am
    Congratulations,

    I have an easy* that has about15 flights on it using Ardupiolt with V2 shield. I fly out of my back yard to take aerial shots of our property. This ia a very relaxing system that has many uses. Jason please continue. AP is a very good and stable entry level system. 50+ years of RC flying. Thanks for your fine work!

    Regards,

    Joseph Schauber
  • Christof Schmid November 21, 2010 at 1:02am
    Hi Jason
    How is your boy?
    I could do some testing but the teparatures here will drop soon below freezing point. And its no fun to test with frozen fingers....at least the code would be "low temparature proven" then. I could also do some very basic coding for you.

    Best
    Christof
  • Moderator
    Graham Dyer November 21, 2010 at 12:32am
    I don't know much about the coding but have some time on my hands to test if needed? My plane however is not standard.
  • John C. November 20, 2010 at 10:20pm
    I'd hate to see the death of this code line. I'm moving my APM into a quad, but was just getting ready to load up code on the old thermopile based AP, and use it as a sort of trainer or something.

    I'm certainly still a tester for this!
  • marshall scholz November 20, 2010 at 9:11pm
    I have recently been working on this : http://www.diydrones.com/forum/topics/ardupilot-imu
    it is basically a stripped down oilpan for the regular ap that should cost around $35-40 dollars for a production version, if you are interested I can share my current eagle files and progress with you. even though i'm currently going to high school and don't have much time to work on it.
  • IKE November 20, 2010 at 4:57pm
    Maybe a new name will be useful to avoid confusion, for example 'Ardupilot legacy - APL' or 'Ardupilot Small - APS', 'Ardupilot mini - (oups!)' etc.
  • Developer
    Jason Short November 20, 2010 at 4:30pm
    Yeah, Sorry to scare anyone. I've tried to keep Ardupilot up-to-date with the ArdupilotMega progress. I've done at least 2 false starts on next-gen code for Ardupilot, which will make it's way to Mega. I've decided to do the more advanced stuff on a quad-copter project which is moving along at a slow but steady pace. I may have code to post for that soon.

    Jason
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