RC Flyers Toolkit Box / Blog: Recent posts

Well, it's been a while since the last update around here, however this does not mean that the project is dead - most work has been done under the hood for major improvements.
The focus of the last week is still to bring the Android version through the door omwhich unexpectedly implied some restructuration and UI improvements. Most of the work has been done, some glitches apply which I do not want to have in the final version as they will spoil user experience (which is No 1 priority on the mobile platforms).... read more

I am proud to announce the availability of the Ankh-Morpork release (1.0) of the RC Flyers Toolkit Box as of today.

Versions available include:
- Windows (XP, 2000, 7)
- Linux (x86 and 64bit)
- Maemo (primarily Nokia N900)
- MeeeGo Harmattan (Nokia N9)

Mac OSX is in preparation as well as Android is. For the latter testers are still welcome to speed up progress.
If a Symbian version is desired, feel free to drop a note here.... read more

A section for quick starters is now in the wiki which gives an initial idea how to use the software.
An introductory screencast supporting this quick start guide is also in the works so stay tuned. This is all for 1.0 to get you going.

It looks as if the RC1 has not revealed major flaws besides those I have already encountered so it looks as if we can continue our journey towards the 1.0 Ankh-Morpork release without a second release candiate.

If you have any feedback you would like to share I´d appreciate if you did it now so I can still consider it.

The Ankh-Morpork release will definitely include builds for:
- Linux 32bit and 64bit
- Windows XP/2000/7 (including the qt runtime)
- Maemo
- Harmattan... read more

Thanks to the Qt for Android project I am now able to package the software for Android smartphones, basically armel5 and armel7 architectures.

A first test is underway, further testers are welcome. The benefit for testers: While the final version will be available from the Android App stores for a small amount of money, beta testers will get the app for free.
So if you are interested, please feel free to leave a comment here.... read more

The first release candidate of the RC Flyers Toolkit Box has been uploaded.

Improvements:
- Bug fixes
- Remove check category button added
- Swapped flight and cycle buttons in the toolbar
- Improved flight rating
- fixed calculations
- new current visualisation per flight
- translation updates
- and more

For the upcoming 1.0 Ankh-Morpork release no new functions will be developed, only bug fixes willl go in.
New functionality will be going into Lancre (1.1).... read more

How do you feel with numbers? I mean numbers like version numbers? For software?
To be honest I can´t stand those. Firefox 6, Windows 7, RC Flyers Toolkit Box 0.9, what does that really mean? Does it really make sense?
My feeling here was no. And so I decided to name the releases with funny labels. Being a big fan of Terry Pratchetts humorous discworld novels, I quickly knew where to get the names from and so the versions have been named according to famous discworld city locations.... read more

As we all might have noticed the tool shows the average discharge current in the battery view. After noticing a mathematical flaw in the algorithm I started reworking it. As usual this took a bit longer as I found that related calculations might be better placed elsewhere and so it went.
And suddenly I asked myself: What is the informational value of the average discharge current of a battery? Imagine you are doing multiple flights with different setups - change pinion and head RPM, use different blades and props, apply a different flight style - all these factors are temporarily influencing battery drain.
So again what is the value of this information? Well, honestly I did not see one. As a result I removed this information and replaced it by a "Last flight with this battery type". Fits perfectly to the "Last charging date" information.
Instead I added a column with the discharge current for each flight to the flight table and now things have started to look better. Much more useful I think- you will see the results with the next release.
I´d be eager to hear comments on this so feel free to leave such below.

Thanks to Michael "Tracer" Espey we soon might have a working MacOSX version.
See the screenshot here: http://www.rc-heli-fan.org/viewtopic.php?f=259&t=87950&p=1285271#p1285232

Looks and feels exactly the same as on all other platforms.

Qt makes it possible. I love it.

On of the things I learned today is that things which work out at home might not work in the wild. Same as in the job so I should have known that.
In the specific case I forgot to include the sqlite drivers into the Windows deployment so the only think working is the pinion calculator.
So note to self for all database related projects: Add the database plugins to the Windows deployment.
So new installation file is due today evening. Thanks for testing. And thanks for your patience.

The forums are now open with a few areas to talk about installation, usage, general topics and feature requests. Signing in to sourceforge is required, sorry. Please try to leave your tickets in English. German speakers who do not feel comfortable with that language might also leave them in German, though English is prefered.

If you have found a bug (hopefully not) or seee an improvement you can leave a ticket without signing on. There are german and english subforums.... read more

The Windows version is now available in the download section. It includes the necessary Qt libraries so it is an all-inclusive solution (compared to the Linux one).

As usual: Feel free to send feedback.

A valuable hint for Maemo users: The tool buttons at the bottom of the screen are supplied with popups so if you wonder how to set up a new battery, check list, etc., just press them for more than a second.
Double clicking a field in a list or sheet will enable editing it.

I have uploaded the first beta versions for Linux, Maemo and Harmattan. For the desktop Linux version you will need an installation of at least Qt 4.7 to run it. Please install it from your prefered Linux distribution package manager (similar to Maemo5 and Harmattan).

Windows will follow soon (as soon as I have solved some packaging issues). Then I will care about documentation in the wiki.
Beware this is beta software so use it at your own risk. I will take no liability, regardless if your toasts get burned, your R/C model is going bananas or anything else people might consider is related to this software.... read more

Familiar scenario

All of us R/C pilots know this, right? Fine weather outside, you have some time on your hands so grab your model, pack the sender and a battery and ... hold on. Which of these batteries is charged?
That one, I used last week but I did not charge it. Or did I? This one is not labelled, which manufacturer, how big is it? I need some management here, but how ...
When I finally quickly charged one (taking lots of my flight time) and arrived at the flight site (which I had to find because I could not remember from last time) I finally found that I forgot the screw drivers. And to tighten the screws which almost led to a crash. Calculating RPM settings for the rotor head takes more time. Well, I know the pinion and gear teeth, even battery and motor specs but I forgot the formula how they interact.... read more