Android Terminal Emulator

This application has access to the following:

* Network communications

full Internet access Allows an application to create network socket


* Storage

modify/delete USB storage contents modify/delete SD card contents
Allows an application to write to the USB storage.
Allows an application to write to the SD card.


* System tools

prevent device from sleeping
Allows an application to prevent the device from going to sleep.

==============================******==========================**==**==**
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How about Tracy's EFI computer and Engine Monitor sending data via USB to a
full blown Android tablet? A seven inch Android tablet with USB will make a
wonderful display for a mixture map in 3D and an EFIS that displays all
engine parameters on one large screen.

Upload and download spread sheet files of mixture maps. Save and share
mixture maps.

This will work with any single board computer that has a USB interface.

The days of the several thousand dollar dedicated aircraft EFIS's are over,
over and OVER!!! Just like the proprietary moving map hardware is now over.

I had this up and running in less than 30 seconds on Robin's 10 inch Asus
Transformer.

I got so excited about this breakthrough I could hardly write about it.

Paul Lamar


Impressive for sure. Technology change today reminds me of that book
written back in the 60s? called Future Shock - all about the exponential
effects of change (mainly technical) would have on society. While the
predictions made then seemed radical - they pale compared to the actual
change that has occurred.

Sounds to me like you have found a project to dive into - just think -
coming up with the first Android EFIS - big screens are easier to read.

Ed

I always knew Linux would take over sooner or later. Not in my wildest
imagination
however did I think it would happen through cell phones. Imagine using
your cell phone in the air as a EFIS screen. The next step is a blue
tooth connection with your engine parameters. Voice telephone call:
"Hey Joe, your oil pressurize is getting a little low."

Unix (Linux) is 40 years old and was the first OS ordinary people could
buy and use. 1972 as I recall. MS DOS was a partial single user copy.

IMHO Windows is dead. Those that live by the sword die by sword:)

Paul Lamar

-
Good job Paul.

Van


I did not get terminal emulator to work on android yet
but I did get gtkterm to work on Linux 9.04 on my desk top computer.

Here is data from the stand alone USB GPS receiver I mentioned above.

I hooked up the USB GPS receiver to a USB port. Linux 9.04

I put dev/tty/USB0 in the gtkterm port configuration.
I specified hex data in the gtkterm data  configuration

and this data came in from the GPS in a continuous fashion.
see the attached jpg screen capture.

If you set it to ASCII data this is what comes in.

$GPGGA,180837.000,3415.62966,******N,11916.24436,W,1,04,2.3,-**00.****
43,M,-33.7,M,,*49
$GPVTG,0.0,T,13.4,M,0.0,N,0.1,******K*79
$GPGSV,2,1,07,02,52,184,28,04,******65,090,29,09,58,273,41,10,****
12,**126,00*7A
$GPGSV,2,2,07,12,31,313,29,17,******31,050,00,28,16,108,00,,,,*****40
$GPGSA,A,3,09,02,12,04,,,,,,,,******,5.6,2.3,5.1*38
$GPRMC,180838.000,A,3415.630,******N,11916.244,W,0.1,0.0,**261011,**
**13.4,E*48
$GPGGA,180838.000,3415.62963,******N,11916.24438,W,1,04,2.3,-**00.****
47,M,-33.7,M,,*49
$GPVTG,0.0,T,13.4,M,0.1,N,0.1,******K*78
$GPGSV,2,1,07,02,52,184,29,04,******65,090,29,09,58,273,41,10,****
12,**126,00*7B
$GPGSV,2,2,07,12,31,313,29,17,******31,050,00,28,16,108,00,,,,*****40
$PSTMECH,09,7,00,0,02,7,12,7,******00,0,04,7,00,0,00,0,00,0,**00,**0,**
00,0,00,0*58
$GPRMC,180839.000,A,3415.630,******N,11916.244,W,0.0,0.0,**261011,**
**13.4,E*48
$GPGGA,180839.000,3415.62962,******N,11916.24439,W,1,04,2.3,-**00.****
52,M,-33.7,M,,*4C
$GPVTG,0.0,T,13.4,M,0.0,N,0.1,******K*79
$GPGSV,2,1,07,02,52,184,28,04,******65,090,29,09,58,273,42,10,****
12,**126,00*79
$GPGSV,2,2,07,12,31,313,29,17,******31,050,00,28,16,108,00,,,,*****40
$GPGSA,A,3,09,02,12,04,,,,,,,,******,5.6,2.3,5.1*38
$GPRMC,180840.000,A,3415.630,******N,11916.244,W,0.1,0.0,**261011,**
**13.4,E*47

For the $GPRMC sentence is is what the NEMA 0183 protocol numbers mean.

S-Ident Z Time  uSEC    Latitude   Longit     Speed  Hdg D-M-Yr  Checksum
$GPRMC,180840.000,A,3415.630,******N,11916.244,W,0.1,0.0,**261011,**
**13.4,E*47

Now you know the exact location (to the nearest 15 feet) of my house at the
nearest microsecond when the data came   :)

As far as I can tell gtkterm is not available for android
yet but it should work on my eeePC out at the hangar.

Just a matter of time before Henry and I get it working on the tablet.
Thanks to Ed Anderson for a lot of help so far.

This is going to destroy the entire dedicated EFIS industry for
experimental
aircraft.

Paul Lamar


Hi all-

To answer your first question - no, there is no plan to port gtkterm to
android (it doesn't make any sense)

It seems you have stumbled onto a road of endless possibilities!
Congratulations!

While I have minimal experience with android, I do have considerable
experience with embedded electronics and Linux.
Without knowing anything about planes or rotary engines, I would say what
you are describing is very possible.
Once you have data flowing into a computer, the possibilities are endless.

A few notes of the top of my head:
- Most android devices have a GPS integrated, therefore there is no need to
do the work of connecting and parsing an external gps (unless i am missing
something)
Check out Googl My Track application to see an awesome demo of GPS tracking
and mapping
- Moving data from an external source into an android device may be tricky
without some help (lookup android IOIO)

Best of luck fellas!

Oh, and thanks for using Gtkterm - its nice to know people are getting some
use out of it!

~Zach

We know that about the built in  android GPS  Zach. I just used the stand
alone Delorme
USB GPS I had lying around to test your gtkterm on a desk top.

I also got your gtkterm  working on my eeePC 1000 under Unbuntu 10.04.

Works great! Thanks for writing and maintaining it.

We have another EFI PIC computer sending out engine parameters on a serial
line. The protocol is MIDI of all things.

We like the android tablet for it's  excellent stand alone screen readable
in bright sunlight to display half a dozen or a dozen engine parameters.
Not to mention all the other excellent aviation moving map software out
there
for it.

We would pay for an android port.

Paul Lamar


Ok, things are getting a bit clearer.  I hope I am helping and not just
getting in the way ;)

As far as porting Gtkterm to Android, it is simply not feasible - they use
two totally different technologies.
Now, that is not to say that a program like Gtkerm could not be written for
Android.  A very simple app
could be made fairly quickly once we knew where the data was coming from.
But even then, you would only be able to look
at the data - I assume the long term goal is to do something with the data,
maybe interpret and display it in real-time?
An application of that nature would take more work.

So far the two big problems I see are:
1.) Getting data from the on-board computer into an android device (if only
tablets had serial ports :)
2.) Parsing, interpreting, archiving and displaying the data

For the first, I could see using bluetooth.  You can find serial <-
bluetooth adapters fairly easily. Android makes bluetooth very easy.
You could also rig up a serial <-usb cable of some sort, but I'm not for
sure on the details.

The second problem is a bit more broad.  MIDI really? That is strange.
Anyway, it could certainly be done,
there are probably even libraries out there to do it.  The second step
would
be displaying and archiving the flight data.
Depending on how fancy you wanted it would drive how much effort would be
required.

~Zach


Tablets do have serial ports. Both the Acer 10" and the Toshiba 10"
have USB ports. Several 7" tablets have USB ports. RS232 serial to USB
adapters
are cheap. The Asus 10" inch has the USB ports on the optional key board.
Asus now has a 12" tablet running (so to speak) Windows. Android cannot
be further behind. IMHO  tablets will soon replace desk tops.
They already do 90% of what people use computers for with a better
user interface in the bargain. Sell your Microsoft stock :)
In our family we have Linux (2 versions), Mac, XP and system Seven. The
seven
is the least used as some of the XP software DOES NOT RUN.

There are several terminal programs for Android. I have 2 different
versions
running on the Asus 10". I have not yet tried to get them to accept
serial data. Better Term and Terminal Emulator are their names.

Terminal Emulator has problems with permissions.

If the terminal program can output to standard I/O I think perhaps
the data stream can be piped to the display program written in python
or some such. I am guessing.

Paul Lamar

I am no expert but I think getting a usb <-serial converter to work with
android could be tricky, just my opinion.
Android was not designed to communicate directly with other hardware, and
getting drivers and stuff to work could be a pain.

Also, I think you are confusing 'serial terminal' with 'terminal'.  A serial
terminal transmits data between the serial port and the user.
A terminal in the traditional sense is usually called a shell.  It is a
program that runs other programs on the user's behalf.
Terminal Emulator for android is the latter, while gtkterm is the former.

Android may be built on the linux kernel, but it is a very different
different beast from desktop linux like ubuntu.
Most interaction is done through the java api's - things like running a
python script or piping to stdout are either impossible
or incredibly inconvenient.

Again, I would encourage the serial -bluetooth -java app approach - I
think it would be the least painful.

~Zach


Perhaps I am confusing terminal with serial terminal but the specs
on the  android Terminal Emulator sounds like it can read and write to a
USB port. However I have not tried it yet.

"Modify/delete USB storage contents modify/delete SD card contents.
Allows an application to write to the USB storage.
Allows an application to write to the SD card."

On the other hand in  support of your contention I notice there are
now no USB printers for android. Only WiFi internet printers.

There are radios and transponders in aircraft that might make
the blue tooth approach problematic. If it works I will
be all for it.

Perhaps we need to wait for a new version of Honeycomb Android
current O.S..

Perhaps only the Sony tab can do it?

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/tablets/Sony-Tablet-S.htm

"USB host means that with a micro USB to female USB OTG cable you can use
flash drives, externally powered hard drives, as well as USB game
controllers, keyboards and mice. Sony sells the USB host cable for $14,
which is surprisingly cheaper than Motorola and Nokia brand USB OTG host
cables. We tested the tablet with a Logitech Playstation-style USB
controller, keyboards and flash drives and all worked well. We tested Sony's
Dual Shock 3 Playstation controller, but ironically didn't have the luck we
had with the Logitech using USB or Bluetooth. Check out our video of us
playing Crash Bandicoot using the Logitech USB game controller plugged into
the Tablet S."

"USB On-The-Go, often abbreviated USB OTG, is a specification that allows
USB devices such as digital audio players or mobile phones to act as a
host allowing a USB Flash Drive, mouse, or keyboard to be attached."

Apparently the Sony tab also has an infra red LED for controlling TV's etc. etc.

The Acer and the Toshiba have both USB connector types.

BTW Zach, thanks for all your thoughts on this subject. You are
the most qualified.

Paul Lamar