Current Priority List for NXJ

[imaqine]

NOTE: This list is now very out of data (many of the items have been completed). The development team is currently working on an updated list and we will update this thread as soon as possible.



1. Make the flash version of leJOS NXJ work on all NXTs. It currently works on some, but not others. I don't know why, as it works on mine.
2. Java PC Tools. Currently we have a prototype file explorer, and a program upload (and run) command line utility (nxjupload, that replaces lejosdl).
3. PC USB and Bluetooth comms to support the Java tools. I am currently working on comms drivers for Windows and Linux that use the Bluecove Bluetooth Java JSR-82 API implementation, libusb, the Lego Fantom driver, and the Linux Bluez stack.
4. Improved I2C comms including I2C writes (I am hoping Charles Manning will work on this). This is needed to support I2C devices such as multiplexers. We can add Java classes for a lot more third-party I2C devices when we have this.
5. Improved Lego Communications Protocol support for the PC tools, and iCommand.
6. StartUp Menu that supports Bluetooth and USB. The current one just supports USB program upload, and you have to run BTRespond for Bluetooth support.
7. User program comms support over Bluetooth and USB, including NXT to NXT Bluetooth comms, using streams.
8. More complete and robust file system. Brian has implemented the file system in Java. It currently has a few limitations, such as only one file open at a time.
9. Playing sound files, and volume control for sound.
10. Better, faster graphics support, including image files.
11. Performance improvements. Some things like the way the display is updated mean that leJOS NXJ could be much faster. Its currently a lot slower than RobotC.
12. Midlet for controlling lejos robots from mobile phones and other mobile devices over Bluetooth. I have a very simple one working.
13. PC comms proxy to allow control of robots running lejos from web sites, etc.
14. CompassPilot and CompassNavigator.
15. Garbage collection.
16. Java Runnable interface, without subclassing Thread.
17. More robust device drivers: AVR (for motors and sensors), USB, Bluetoooth could all do with some improvment.
18. High speed comms. Port 4 on the NXT has hardware support for high-speed NXT to NXT comms.
19. Running a subset of the MIDP J2ME API on lejos - i.e midlets. This is probably the best way to support a graphical menu system.
20. Eclipse plug-in. I don't have this as very high priority as I use clipse successfully for leJOS program development, without a plugin.
21. Visual programming for leJOS. I currently have a prototype of an equivalent of NXT-G that supports behavior programming, navigators, etc.
22. Remote debugging. I would like to have remote debugging in the style of RobotC.

List taken from http://lejos.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150 - moderator

If you would like to help implement one of the items listed above, feel free! Post here for any questions/comments you may have

[99jonathan]

Hey, I'm considering doing number 9!! So how do i get my hands on the current source code, etc. I'll start working at making a class to decode sound files so once I get the code + info on filestructure, i can integrate it!!

[imaqine]

That's great to hear 99jonathan! I am pretty sure you can start coding away and then the leJOS team can help figure out a way to integrate everything into the package. Talk to bbagnall for more information. You can pm him or [url=mailto:bbagnall@mts.net]email him[/url]

[99jonathan]

Gotcha! I'm going to look at the javax.sound files and figure out my approach.

[imaqine]

Awesome! Glad to hear you are interested in helping. If I were you I would start a post in the NXJ projects section and post your progress of this project. It will be a nice way to get users to test what you have working so far and recieve feedback.

[lawrie]

A lot of this list has been done for lejos 0.3. Here is the current status:

Key:
Green = Complete
Orange = Work can still be done
Red = Incomplete

1. Make the flash version of leJOS NXJ work on all NXTs. It currently works on some, but not others. I don't know why, as it works on mine.

- This seems to be fixed in 0.3.

2. Java PC Tools. Currently we have a prototype file explorer, and a program upload (and run) command line utility (nxjupload, that replaces lejosdl).

- These are in 0.3.

3. PC USB and Bluetooth comms to support the Java tools. I am currently working on comms drivers for Windows and Linux that use the Bluecove Bluetooth Java JSR-82 API implementation, libusb, the Lego Fantom driver, and the Linux Bluez stack.

- Everything other than the fantom driver made it to 0.3. The fantom driver would still be useful as it should work on Vista systems.

4. Improved I2C comms including I2C writes (I am hoping Charles Manning will work on this). This is needed to support I2C devices such as multiplexers. We can add Java classes for a lot more third-party I2C devices when we have this.

- This has not been done.

5. Improved Lego Communications Protocol support for the PC tools, and iCommand.

- LCP is improved at 0.3 but more could be done. Multiple files would be useful and more complete emulation of the Lego firmware.

6. StartUp Menu that supports Bluetooth and USB. The current one just supports USB program upload, and you have to run BTRespond for Bluetooth support.

- This is in 0.3. The menu supports LCP over Bluetooth and USB, including extended LCP commands used by the tools.

7. User program comms support over Bluetooth and USB, including NXT to NXT Bluetooth comms, using streams.

- PC to NXT streams are in 0.3, but NXT to NXT did not make it. I have NXT to NXT comms working but it needs more work.

8. More complete and robust file system. Brian has implemented the file system in Java. It currently has a few limitations, such as only one file open at a time.

- The file sysyem still only supports one open file.

9. Playing sound files, and volume control for sound.

- A C driver has not been produced, but 99jonathon has produced a Java driver that does a series of calls to playTone.

10. Better, faster graphics support, including image files.

- There is some improvement to graphics in 0.3, but this work has not yet been done.

11. Performance improvements. Some things like the way the display is updated mean that leJOS NXJ could be much faster. Its currently a lot slower than RobotC.

Still to do.

12. Midlet for controlling lejos robots from mobile phones and other mobile devices over Bluetooth. I have a very simple one working.
13. PC comms proxy to allow control of robots running lejos from web sites, etc.

- Still to do.

14. CompassPilot and CompassNavigator.

- Brian and Roger Glassey implemented this in 0.3. I think they are still improving it.

15. Garbage collection.

- Not done.

16. Java Runnable interface, without subclassing Thread.

- Not done.

17. More robust device drivers: AVR (for motors and sensors), USB, Bluetoooth could all do with some improvment.

- Not done.

18. High speed comms. Port 4 on the NXT has hardware support for high-speed NXT to NXT comms.

- Not done.

19. Running a subset of the MIDP J2ME API on lejos - i.e midlets. This is probably the best way to support a graphical menu system.

- Not done.

20. Eclipse plug-in. I don't have this as very high priority as I use Eclipse successfully for leJOS program development, without a plugin.

- Eclipse support is better in 0.3 using ant build files or external tools (nxjc and nxj). Would a plug-in be useful?

21. Visual programming for leJOS. I currently have a prototype of an equivalent of NXT-G that supports behavior programming, navigators, etc.

- No work done on this. It is not yet in a releasable state.

22. Remote debugging. I would like to have remote debugging in the style of RobotC.

- Not done.

edit by imaqine: Color coded and added a Key.

[imaqine]

I think a Eclipse plugin and Remote debugging are very important for people who are just learning NXJ. There seems to always be a lot of issues mentioned on this forum about people not getting the command line prompts working correctly or defining there ant build files and external tools in Eclipse.

[pawelp]

Maybe it is worth to think about to use any task/bug tracking software.
One of the best is JIRA. It is free for open source projects.

Best regards

[esmetaman]

Hi,

I would add the following tasks to improve Bluetooth communications.

Add Method to set password to connect for example with GPS devices.

[lawrie]

What do leJOS NXJ users want in the next release?

Things that are currently in the development version or in progress include:-

- An Eclipse plug-in
- A fix for the multidimensional array bug
- Removal of 5 second delay before shutdown
- Remote commands from web sites (telerobotics)
- I2C writes

Things that seem to need fixing include:

- Better buffering for Java Bluetooth streams (currently uses 1-byte packets)
- Support for PINs or Bluetooth connections (currently fixed as 1234)
- Building jlibnxt on Linux 64-bit systems
- Support for Windows Vista
- Three-dimensional arrays
- Mixing graphics and text modes on the LCD
- Quotes in windows batch scripts

Other things I am thinking of working on include:-

- Java midlet for sending commands or data streams to leJOS
- Support for more third-party I2C sensors
- PF Motors
- A graphical menu (although it looks as if this will be rather large)

Are there other bugs that need fixing?

Are there other features that you are desperate for?

[mdsmitty]

Lawrie,
Personly I would like to see I2C writes and better bluetooth support in the next release. I have an NRLINK i would like to get up and running in LEJOS.

Mike

[99jonathan]

I'm really desperate for a lejos nxt emulator. It would be really helpful to test out code without the bother of putting on the lejos firmware and then reloading the normal one. I'm on the highschool lego league team but there is only one nxt between us and the junior high team...

[lawrie]

99jonathon wrote:

I'm really desperate for a lejos nxt emulator. It would be really helpful to test out code without the bother of putting on the lejos firmware and then reloading the normal one. I'm on the high school lego league team but there is only one nxt between us and the junior high team...

What sort of emulator would you need to be useful? There is a simple leJOS emulator that is currently released with the Linux, but not the Windows version. It is only really designed for leJOS developers. It will run a leJOS program and print console messages everytime an API call is made. As you cannot control button presses, sensor values etc., it is not much use for testing programs. I could release this on Windows. Is that worthwhile?

It would not be too hard to produce a graphical emulator which emulates the LCD, sound and buttons. Would that be useful? Without any control over sensors values, motor tacho values etc., this is still limited for testing real programs.

To be useful for testing real programs, emulation of sensors and motors would be necessary. There were some emulation environments produced for the RCX version of leJOS, but I never looked at them in any detail. Does anyone know if there was a useful RCX emulator?

Emulating sensors and motors is a bigger job. You would need to specify what sensors and motors were connectioned to the NXT - ideally using a graphical environment. You would then need to specify the behavior of each sensor and motor. To do this at all realistically, you would need to emulate the robot's construction and its environment - but that is going too far. A graphical emulation of sensors and motors might work quite well. For example touch sensors can be emulated with buttons, and light sensors with a dial.

Emulation of Bluetooth would be necessary for some prgrams, and that could be quite difficult.

How far along this road do we need to go, for an emulator to be useful?

[andren]

I've build the emulator on cygwin in a previous version and it looks fine to me. But, if you want to have a really advanced environment take a look at:

http://lejos-osek.sourceforge.net/ecrobot_nxt.htm

I only think that feeding this simulation evironment with lejos output is not easy to implement.

[monkey525467]

What I would like to see is an installer for leJOS and icommand so it wouldn't be such a tedious process setting everything up (I still can't get icommand to work )