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Old 2010.04.09, 10:46 AM   #1
pinwc4
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New project, Flip Side ICS Software

I do not know if this will interest anyone other than me but I have been working on my own ICS software as a small side project. I upgraded my sons car to an ASF board and became interested in using the ICS port. Unfortunately the only software available is for Windows and all my systems are either Linux or Mac so I was stuck.

Obviously in such a case a person will write their own software and build their own hardware, right?

I am close to being finished with the software but my hardware has not arrived yet. My bluetooth parts should be in early next week and then I can finish up the software.

The software will work with the dNaNo, ASF and MR-03 ICS ports. I am not doing AD at this time because its communication is different than the other 3 and my bluetooth module will not be able to communicate with it.

In addition to the basic functionality the program will have an advanced tab to let you modify the various values directly. I am curious to see what we can get these cars to do when not limited to a few options in a drop down. It can allow finer tuning. It may not work but it will be interesting to find out.

Here are some screenshots of what I have so far.

Main screen


Advanced screen for directly modifying the values


Is this something that will interest other people?
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Old 2010.04.09, 11:25 AM   #2
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I've never played with the settings on any of my 2.4 cars, but I am interested in seeing what you come up with and possibly giving it a shot.
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Old 2010.04.09, 12:03 PM   #3
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if it means no longer being tied to expensive kyosho setting hardware, i think you will find many interested parties.
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Old 2010.04.09, 12:35 PM   #4
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I'd like to try on on my MacBook with Snow Leopard 10.6.3 on an ASF MR-02.
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Old 2010.04.09, 02:21 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arch2b View Post
if it means no longer being tied to expensive kyosho setting hardware, i think you will find many interested parties.
I was not really even thinking about the hardware side of it. I had initially posted this thinking people would only be interested in the software side of what I am doing since there is already hardware on the market but no software for us Linux/Mac people.

The adapter I am building would be expensive as well since it is communicating wirelessly via bluetooth. The one I am building cost me around $80 in parts. I guess if there is enough interest I could produce a batch of them and should be able to get the price at $60 for bluetooth.

USB is easier, I could probably do those for about $35.

Not sure there would be enough interest in the hardware based on the person on the marketplace selling the ICS serial port adapters much cheaper than the Kyosho stuff but does not appear to get very many sales. Without a quantity of sales I could not justify the investment in parts to bring prices down.
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Old 2010.04.09, 03:52 PM   #6
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understood.

i'm sure there are plenty of mac people that you would make very happy with your software.
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Old 2010.04.11, 06:12 PM   #7
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So I got a little impatient and built a quick USB ICS adapter this weekend and got the initial software working. I have done some basic testing with the Linux and Mac versions so far

Here are links to the various version:
Linux version 0.26

Mac version 0.24

Windows version 0.24

When you first open the program you will need to choose the correct COM port before you can do anything usefull.

For the Linux version you will need to make a symbolic link to /dev/ttyS followed by the next free number for the program to detect the USB adapter. If you are using a serial adapter this will not need to be done.

After choosing the correct COM port you will then be able to read or write settings. Make sure to set the car type correctly. When you do this on the main settings screen it will gray out any options not available for that car.

If you are interested in tweaking settings further you can use the Custom screen. For some of the cars settings the Kyosho program just gives you 4 or 5 options, this screen will let you tweak some of those further. I do not know if that will be usefull or not, the car may not recognize the other values.

For example in the gain menu you could only select minimum, medium and strong. These equate to the values 50, 100 and 255. If you go to the custom screen though you could put in a value of 75. Will this work and give you something in between 50 and 100, I do not know. If people find that the cars will let us customize the values like that please let us know. It will be interesting to hear what people discover.

This is Alpha software, the first build that I have produced. There will be bugs, let me know what you find so I can fix it. I also welcome any suggestions for improving the program.
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Old 2010.04.11, 07:51 PM   #8
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Smile

I'm using the Mac Version with Abdul's ICS cable and a Keyspan DB-9 to USB adapter. So far, so good. I'll try wheels-on-the-ground testing tomorrow in the daylight.

I'm uncertain about what happens when I click the "Save" button and the "Profile" button's logic is worthy of some discussion

Overall, I really like what you've done and I appreciate your effort!
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Old 2010.04.11, 08:12 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Treadmule View Post
I'm using the Mac Version with Abdul's ICS cable and a Keyspan DB-9 to USB adapter. So far, so good. I'll try wheels-on-the-ground testing tomorrow in the daylight.

I'm uncertain about what happens when I click the "Save" button and the "Profile" button's logic is worthy of some discussion

Overall, I really like what you've done and I appreciate your effort!
Thanks for your quick report back, we will all be interested in the driving test.

The profiles are a way for you to create some presets that you will use. When you click Save it is saving those settings to the database, not the car. This way if you mess with settings on your car you can bring up that profile and then write it back to the car to get your car back to the settings you want. You may also want different profiles for your car for different track types, for example one with aggressive steering settings for a technical track and a different profile for more open high speed tracks.

If you have a profile selected and change values those values are not saved to the database until you click save. The values are not written to the car until you click write.

Any of the buttons under the profile heading are controlling the profiles in the database. The buttons on the bottom right (read and write) actually communicate with the car. The default button sets the default values in the program for that car type but does not write them to the car, if you want the default values written to the car you still need to to click write after clicking default.

I hope that makes sense, I do plan on doing documentation and an installer after tweaking the software some more.
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Old 2010.04.12, 05:31 AM   #10
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I am interested in trying your software out. I imagine there should be no problem using the Kyosho usb cable.
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Old 2010.04.12, 09:13 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by pedrocamp View Post
I am interested in trying your software out. I imagine there should be no problem using the Kyosho usb cable.
It should work with the Kyosho cable, yes. But let us know either way.

Thanks
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Old 2010.04.12, 11:03 AM   #12
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I'm going to try this to as soon as I can.
ko propo hardware and windows.
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Old 2010.04.12, 11:21 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinwc4 View Post
I am curious to see what we can get these cars to do when not limited to a few options in a drop down. It can allow finer tuning.
this the best point...fine tuning will give more choices , will try em out for sure good job pinwc4!
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Old 2010.04.12, 11:53 AM   #14
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the windows version works ...
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Old 2010.04.12, 12:45 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ub0211042 View Post
this the best point...fine tuning will give more choices , will try em out for sure good job pinwc4!
Since I do not have documentation done here are the values that the various dropdown menu options equal

GAIN: Min = 50, Mid = 100, Strong = 255
SPEED: Slow = 10, 2 = 20, 3 = 30, 4 = 40, Fast = 255
PUNCH: 1-10
DRIVE BAND: Narrow = 1, Mid = 2, Wide = 3
DUMP: Over = 1, Smooth =2
DRIVE FREQ: High = 64, Medium = 120, Low = 255
NEUTRAL: Narrow = 130;124, Mid = 136;120, Wide = 148;108
VERTICAL INERTIA: Strong = 1, 2 = 2, 3 = 3, 4 = 4, OFF = 255
BACK TIMING: 1 = 1, 2 = 5, 3 = 10, 4 = 20, 5 = 40
STEERING GAIN: 1-255
THROTTLE GAIN: 1-255

Last edited by pinwc4; 2010.04.12 at 03:24 PM.
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