iCommand

[Steve]

I have just downloaded iCommand 0.5 and, as a currently inexperienced Java user, have some questions regarding the installation notes.

1. In section 2 you refer to the Java SDK. I have gone to the Sun site looking for the file(s) to download and there seem to several choices.

One page http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index_jdk5.jsp gives me the option of downloading versions (v10) with or without Java Beans or a version (v9) with Java EE, but there are also several others that I could choose from.

Another page http://java.sun.com/javaee/downloads/index.jsp gives me some other choices.

2. The RXTX site also has two choices depending on whether I want to use Sun's CommAPI, which I have no idea if I do or do not.


I am using Windows XP (Home edition) as my operating system.

I may have some further questions once I get into it but could you please point me in the right direction on the above queries.

Can I also suggest that the installation notes are amended to reflect the knowledge levels of the people who might be trying to use them.

Thanks
Steve

[bbagnall]

1. In section 2 you refer to the Java SDK. I have gone to the Sun site looking for the file(s) to download and there seem to several choices.

It is confusing since there are so many packages. I would suggest going with JDK 6:
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

2. The RXTX site also has two choices depending on whether I want to use Sun's CommAPI, which I have no idea if I do or do not.

Go with the one saying withOUT commapi. I don't even think SUN provides a Com API for Windows anymore. It's the one called rxtx-2.1-7-bins-r2.zip (Final).

[Steve]

Brian

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't have been able to work this out without your help.

Steve

[panzermarko]

Hi!

I'm tryig to program my NXT using the iCommand Api. Although i always use the NXTCommand.close(); method in the end of my programs, sometimes (too much times) this happens:

gnu.io.NoSuchPortException
at gnu.io.CommPortIdentifier.getPortIdentifier(CommPortIdentifier.java:218)
at icommand.nxtcomm.NXTComm.open(Unknown Source)
at icommand.nxtcomm.NXTCommand.<clinit>(Unknown Source)
at icommand.platform.nxt.Sensor.setTypeAndMode(Unknown Source)
at icommand.platform.nxt.I2CSensor.<init>(Unknown Source)
at icommand.platform.nxt.Ultrasonic.<init>(Unknown Source)
at getTacho.main(getTacho.java:13)
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at icommand.nxtcomm.NXTComm.sendData(Unknown Source)
at icommand.nxtcomm.NXTCommand.sendRequest(Unknown Source)
at icommand.nxtcomm.NXTCommand.setInputMode(Unknown Source)
at icommand.platform.nxt.Sensor.setTypeAndMode(Unknown Source)
at icommand.platform.nxt.I2CSensor.<init>(Unknown Source)
at icommand.platform.nxt.Ultrasonic.<init>(Unknown Source)
at getTacho.main(getTacho.java:13)

Even after normal runs. This makes programing frustrating. How can i solve this? (I usually try to turn off nxt, but this sometimes works, sometimes not.)

[bbagnall]

That's interesting because I've never seen a trace of that error. I've always assumed this was a problem with the RXTX package and something that was beyond what we could correct. I assume you are running in Linux? Are you using RXTX or Bluez?

In Windows I just turn the NXT off each time, which I agree is annoying. Under Eclipse occasionally I need to exit and restart Eclipse, but rarely, so it sounds like the symptoms are the same under Windows and Linux. It's something we would like to fix but not sure how.

[panzermarko]

I'm using windows and rxtx. When the nxt restart doesn't help i disconnect my bluetooth dongle. After this procedure it works for a while. But the problem is frustrating. Anyway the NXT is sometimes unreachable even from the official IDE. Perhaps the firmware causes the problems.