[LinuxPPS] Patches for kernel 2.6.26-rc8

[Hal V. Engel]

On Friday 04 July 2008 12:44:28 pm Rodolfo Giometti wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 11:55:38AM -0700, Hal V. Engel wrote:
> >    OK I am in the process of building this now. Will let you know how
> > testing goes.
>
> Thanks. :)
>
> >    > I can't test the code since I have no hardware to test at all! :'(
> >
> >    Are you missing a reference clock? If so perhaps some of the list
> > members can get together the needed hardware for you. The users of my
> > open source project have made donations that have allowed me to get
> > specialized hardware (color meters and spectrophotometers) for testing
> > some of which is way more expensive than any of these reference clocks
> > except for an actaul atomic clock.
> >
> >    There are several different GPS reference clocks that can be put
> > together for a modest cost with a little effort (Garmin GPS 18 LCV and
> > Motorola OnCore come to mind). For example, I have a ttl to rs-232
> > interface board laying around that I could donate and if someone were to
> > donate an OnCore I could put together a wiring harness and mount the
> > OnCore and the rs-232 interface on a board and use a USB connection for
> > power. I could ship it to you tested and ready to go. It wouldn't be
> > pretty but it would work.
> >
> >    It would make it easier for everyone, including you, if you were able
> > to test things.
>
> That would be great! This may improve LinuxPPS development! :)
>
> Ciao,
>
> Rodolfo


I know for the project that I work on that there is no way I could make 
meaningful progress without having the specilized hardware it uses to test 
things.  The flip side is that the hardware interfaces for those devices are 
much more complex then these clock interfaces and for my systems user interact 
directly with the hardware in sometimes very complex ways.  I don't have any 
idea how Rodolfo has managed to get this far with LinuxPPS without an actual 
PPS reference clock to test with. 


Since this was my idea I am going to ask if there is anyone on the list that 
has any hardware that might be used to put together a reference clock for 
Rodolfo.  For example if anyone has a functional OnCore module to donate (I 
think for testing purposes any of them would be OK as long as the firmware 
version is new enough but one of the timing specific units would be best) and 
I can supply everything else needed to interface it to a serial port and 
fabricate the wiring harness (so I would supply the ttl to rs-232 circuit, 
some connectors and wire, a USB cable for power, some mounting hardware and 
the labor to put it together).   Then all that would be needed is an antenna 
which could be almost any amplified GPS antenna with an MCX connector.  I have 
seen OnCores on ebay for a little as $20 and GPS antennas are typcally about 
$12 to $15 on ebay including shipping.


The other fairly low cost option is the Garmin GPS 18 unit which needs to be 
wired up to a serial cable (no ttl to rs-232 converter needed) and a 5V power 
source (I would get power from a USB cable for this).  This would be even 
simpler to wire up but the Garmin units are around $60.  There would be no 
need for an antenna since this is built into the unit.


But it might also be possible that someone already has some working spare 
hardware that they could donate to Rodolfo.  Something like a Garmin GPS 35 
for example.


Hal
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://ml.enneenne.com/pipermail/linuxpps/attachments/20080704/fb59ce7c/attachment-0001.htm