Its been awhile since I’ve updated this blog. The day job took some of my time, and I’ve also started a masters program. However, that doesn’t mean I’ve been ignoring my company.
SMART Utility 2.1.1 is due out soon, with some much needed bug fixes. I’ve finished up an iPhone contract, and I’m currently working on an iPhone app. I’m not really sure if I’ll finish it, since Apple is being pretty stubborn with the App Store. So we’ll see what happens there.
Calgary, Canada – Matthew Butch of Volitans Software and Rudy Boonstra of R Engineering Inc. are pleased to announce ModbusProbe, an application for Mac OS X to poll ModBus(R) enabled control system devices. ModbusProbe is an application for the Apple OS X operating system to poll ModBus enabled control system devices. The application can poll either serially via a USB adapter or via TCP, and includes the ability to poll all four types of registers and display the results in decimal, hexadecimal, binary, or integer format. The data can then be printed out for recordkeeping. In addition to reading registers, two register types can be written to. The raw data stream to and from a device can also be viewed.
In addition to this application, the cocoa framework will be offered under the GNU License as a free download to allow other Cocoa programmers the basic tools to develop ModBus applications for Mac OS X. The framework may be downloaded from the ModBusApps website.
Features:
* TCP and serial communication protocols supported
* Reading of Coils, Discrete Inputs, Holding Registers, and Input Registers supported, writing of Discrete Inputs and Input Registers
* Uses a connection list with name, type, and device ID (IP address or serial port) for maintaining connections, and list is saved with every quit
* Can poll data with a time interval set in the preferences
* Displays data in integer, hexadecimal, decimal, with binary coming soon
* Displays number of polls and successful responses
* Displays register prefix (10000x etc)
* Displays raw data stream between application and device, including color highlights per connection
* Prints out register data of open connections
* Checks for updates via Sparke Framework
* Basic application help book
* Application icon designed by Jordan Langille of OneToad
Pricing and Availability:
ModBus Probe is available as a free download in demo mode (30 day or 5 launch trial, whichever comes later). A ModBus Probe license can be purchased for $100 (USD), directly from the application or via the ModBusApps website.
ModBusApps is a partnership between Volitans Software and R Engineering. It was founded in March 2008 for the purpose of creating and released ModBus Probe and ModBusKit.
Its mostly just bug fixes and small additions. I must thank Ronald Leroux for all his hard work keeping up with the French localizations. Get it here.
Here are the release notes:
– Added anonymous system information capturing with Sparkle (with preference to disable)
– Added support for French localized self test status (in the Test display window)
– Added support for French localized Growl messages
– Fixed bug where running tests would sometimes cause a crash
– Fixed bug where label in attributes window would not show correct temperature label
– Fixed two small memory leaks with tests
– Optimized scanning algorithm to improve scanning speeds
– Renamed test time ran column to “Power On Hours When Ran” to be more clear about the number means
– Re-organized the preferences window to remove duplicate text as well as shrink the window itself
– The smartctl binary is now a single file- allowing easier replacement
I posting this from the WordPress iPhone app. I spent hours trying to get it to work. Well they released an update which fixed one problem. It still wasn’t workng bu I found the cause: a .htaccess redirecting all XML files to my feed. It was meant to redirect feeds from my old blog, but it was interfering with the apps ability to access my blog. In any case it works now.
The winner of the Holiday HD Giveaway has been chosen. Congratulations to Joe Tchen!
Update: the first winner did not get back to me. This post has been updated with the new winner, who did.
In the spirit of the holidays, Volitans Software is giving away one free hard drive to a lucky winner. The winner will have the choice between a 1.5TB desktop hard drive or a 500GB laptop hard drive. All you have to do to enter is fill out the following form. Rules and other fine print:
Volitans Software has joined a partnership with R Engineering, Inc to create modbusApps. Here is our first press release:
modbusApps is proud to announce modbusProbe, an application for the Apple OS X operating system to poll modbus(R) enabled control system devices. The application can poll either serially via a USB adapter or directly via TCP. There are a number of excellent Windows based programs that provide connectivity to logic solvers, but to date little development has been done with the Apple OS X operating system.
The application includes the ability to poll all four types of registers and display the results in decimal, hexadecimal, binary, or integer format. A help file has been developed to provide a basic understanding of the modbus(R) protocol. Future enhancements include the ability to monitor the data stream to and from the polled device(s) as well as providing the user to write to the device.
In addition to this application, the Cocoa Framework will be offered under the GNU License as a freedownload to give other Mac programmers the basic tools to develop modbus(R) tools for the Apple OS X operating system. The framework modbusKit may also be downloaded from the modbusApps website.
Features
* TCP and serial protocol supported
* Reading of Coils, Discrete Inputs, Holding Registers, and Input Registers supported, writing coming soon
* Uses a connection list with name, type, and device ID (IP address or serial port) for maintaining connections
* Uses zero or one based addressing, with check box for toggling
* Displays data in integer, hexadecimal, decimal, with binary coming soon
* Displays number of polls and successful responses
* Displays register prefix (10000x etc)
* Displays Warning dialog box if it can’t connect to the modbus TCP server
* Checks for updates via Sparke Framework
* Basic application help book for the app and on modbus(R)
* This alpha release expires January 31st, 2008
Pricing and Availability:
modbusProbe is in Alpha release and is a free download. As the application matures, it will become shareware with an expected cost of approximately $100 (USD). Note that this Alpha release has a date stamp expiry.
I had meant to keep the blog updated with my progress, but with the Phillies post season run and World Series victory (I’m still on a high from it!) as well as being busy with the fiance, its been hard. I do post to my twitter apple4ever pretty often, so that is a way to keep up with what the company and I am doing.
But I finally got into the iPhone Developer program. With all the teeth nashing about it, I thought it was going to be harder than it was. It just took longer than it should. After the initial application online, I had to fax a copy of proof of my business, send them my corporate number (which they never called which surprised me), and then agree to terms before actually purchasing the program. Though I still am waiting for the email with instructions on how to activate my environment and phone. I’ll have to see how hard that actually is.
I do have some interesting iPhone application ideas, which I am anxious to develop. However, I am a month behind on releasing 2.0, which is still in development- though it is coming along nicely. I also have a contract application I am working on as well. I figure as soon as 2.0 goes live, I can concentrate on the first iPhone application. I was worried my idea would be taken, and it was. But I think I can do it better and more according to my needs.
That’s all for now, and I have another blog post coming on the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros that came out. I finally had a chance to see and use one, so I want to post my experiences and whether my fears were justified.
I’m on Step 2. I finally received an email to fax my information on my business to Apple to confirm my application to the iPhone Developer Program. I applied online about 3 weeks ago. I hate the lack of information Apple gives on your status. Why can’t they develop a nice little form that shows checkboxes. Applied: Check. Fax business form: Email sent, waiting for reply. And so forth.
The lack of transparency about the whole process is a big problem. And not only for applying to the program, but for submitting an application as well. They need the same type of form I suggested above for submitting an application. Application received: Check. Bug scan: Check. UI: Check. Application type: OK. And so forth.
People can deal with waiting as long as they know where they stand. Having no way to find out causes a lot of needless consternation- and bad will on the side of Apple.
We’ve remodeled! Welcome to the new Volitans Software site. Its been a couple of weeks in the making. There might be a few issues here and there, but we’ll work it out as we go along. The only thing that still needs done is the store- but I figured I can get the main site and blog up and running and work on the store later.
I’ve moved from using iWeb for the entire website to a free template from Reddy Software for the main site and WordPress 2.6.2 for the blog. iWeb was great, and it certainly served its purpose- especially for a starter website. But it has its quirks, the blog part isn’t very good, and the biggest thing that I hate about is I can only upload to .Mac MobileMe directly from.
Its also hard for someone like me to design a website- I’m a programmer not a designer. So I had a friend (Ian Maffett) modify the free template for my needs. It looks a ton better than my old site. I also had a new logo done by OneToad Design– which is also a lot better than my hand made one. And of course using WordPress is so nice- especially because I can write a post on the web and not have upload it like iWeb.
So take a look around, and tell me what you think! Shoot me a email with any comments.
Thanks for stopping by.
This is following up on the last post. Some great news! Made great progress with the external SMART driver. Getting it signed and notarized was a ton of fun. However, currently the driver doesn’t automatically load, so need to figure that out. Hopefully have a fully 10.15 compatible version out soon! PS. Once this is […]
Continue readingFor users who currently have SMART Utility installed before upgrading to 10.15, it will run fine. For users who are installing SMART Utility for the first time on 10.15, SMART Utility will not run. We are hard at work on a fix, which should be out by the end of the week.
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