hwOS Tech: Version 3.09 beta 3 available

[heinrichsweikamp]

Updated for 3.09 beta 3. Thanks for the reports, the reported issues with the NDL being always 0 in the big-font layout (beta 2) have been fixed. We also enabled a new feature to acknowledge warnings in dive mode. This beta does not support the OSTC 2 TR's wireless tank sensors since there still is work in progress here. These will be enabled again in the next test version and in the stable scheduled for release in April.


Hi everyone,

Attached to this post you'll find the 3.09 beta 2. While the 3.08 is "just" a 3.07 with some very minor fixes, this is a new version with some bigger improvements and also new features. Most noticeably, the menu structure has been de-cluttered for the settings and deco setup menu (No changes to the most used menus (Gas Setup/ CCR Setup).

Barely noticeable to most users but a lot of work went into re-coding the entire Bluetooth/USB interface. With more stringent timings and some extra fail-safe mechanisms this part of the firmware is now more robust for future changes in the PC/App interface.

Two changes will slightly adjust the deco times compared to the 3.08, the ascend speed is now fixed at 10m/mins again as given in the Bühlmann model. The initial ascend to the deepest stop has been recoded and is calculated with an improved accuracy. While this has no significant effect for the actual decompression schedule it will calm the display of the first stop when there are only a few deco stops to do (A regular complaint).

The logbook will also show more information than before (Only dives made with this or later versions) on an extra 4th page.

A lot of testing (Real-life) and simulator has been done to this day. But we have still marked this version as "beta". Please test/use with care. Downgrade to the 3.08 is always possible without compromising your logbook data.

This version has been tested on all hardware versions and is technically safe to install (Future upgrades or downgrades are possible).

If you notice language erros, please post them here. A translator program (Required for French and Italian) does not always give us the best vocabulary for diving.

Thanks to all involved in this new version, especially Ralph who did most of the coding for this version!

Matthias

Here's the changelog with all details:

[3.09 Beta 3]
- fixed NDL display beeing always 0 (beta 2) in big layout mode
- New option to acknowledge the most recent warning in dive mode (Left press -> Ackn?)

[3.09 Beta 2]
- fixed NDL display in big layout mode
- fixed logbook write for older models
- fixed CCR mode when analog sensors are in use (OSTC cR only)

[3.09 Beta 1]
- Removed option 'ascent speed', ascent calculation is done with a fixed
speed of 10 meters/minute now (equals the ascent speed limit by Bühlmann).

- Improved calculation accuracy of the initial ascent. Remark: this will
have a slight impact on the resulting deco schedule compared to firmware
3.08.

- The deco calculator now figures in the salinity setting.

- Aligned logbook and last dive summery of avg and max depth regarding
rounding and incorporation of salinity setting.

- Done some fine-tuning of depth outputs when using imperial units (feet).

- In dive mode, sometimes the temperature was not shown any more after a
gas change - fixed now.

- The menu system around setting up the dive mode & settings has been
decluttered. All settings are now sorted into the groups dive setup,
deco setup, SAC (gas needs) setup, ppO2 setup and stops & depths setup.

- Fixed the urge of the better gas hint to always favor one specific gas
out of a set of two or more gases that have the same change depth.

- For dives done on firmware >= 3.08 the logbook will have one more page
showing the tissue pressures and supersaturation levels as of at the
end of dive (i.e. when surfacing).

- As long as a gas or diluent is currently selected as breathed, it can
not be set into the lost state any more.

- When changing the battery or doing a cold start, the current CNS value
does not get lost any more.

- During loading of a new firmware the clock will not loose time any more
(on old firmware it became late by about 15 sec on each firmware update).

- When run from a 3.6 V battery (either replaceable or built-in), the
surface mode timeout is now extended to 4 minutes before going to sleep
mode. If the OSTC is run from 1.5 V disposables, the timeout remains at
the previous 90 seconds to save on battery runtime.

- Internal improvement: the code for the internal storage system and for
the communication system (firmware uploading, dive data downloading)
has been re-factored to secure maintainability for the next years to come.

- Internal improvement: the scheduler for the dive mode calculation plans
(fTTS, bailout) has been completely rewritten for better maintainability.

[Clownfish]

Thanks Matthias.

What does Extended Stop do?

Michael
Sydney
Australia

[Ralph]

Hi Michael,

"Extended Stops" is in the firmware since some time. Its default is "on", causing gas switches to be calculated in as soon as a deco gas becomes available according to its change depth. When set to off, gas switches are delayed until reaching a mandatory deco stop, i.e. swithes on the fly are eleminated. Overall, it corresponse to the equal named function in Multi-Deco.

BR
Ralph

[Clownfish]

Thanks Ralph. Never noticed before and it was OFF.

Used today on a 45 metre dived, worked great, swap from bottom to deco gas very easy. No problems at all.

Michael
Sydney
Australia

[Ralph]

Hi all,

just discovered three bugs in this beta 1:

- using external sensors in CCR or pSCR mode doesn't work,

- the NDL time is not shown in the big layout,

- there is a propability that there will be garbage written into the dive log when taking this beta under water.

--> please do not use 3.09 beta 1 for real diving until especially the 3rd bug is fixed. Playing around with it at the surface and in simulator mode is fine, but bevor doing a real dive please downgrade to latest stable or wait for the bugfixed beta 2 comming soon...

sorry for the inconvenience,
Ralph

[Clownfish]

Ralph, had another OSTC as backup with different firmware. I had no problems, logbook looks okay and NDL was shown okay in big screen format, although when I first switched to it it did not appear for a second.

Michael
Sydney
Australia

[Ralph]

Hi Michael,

thanks for that Information! The sensor and the NDL display bug has already been understood from analysing the code and fixed. The root cause for the logbook storage thing seems to be a little bit tricky to find, but we're on the hunt...

cheers
Ralph

[algo]

[quote=Ralph post_id=22209 time=1583089553 user_id=2006]
Hi all,

just discovered three bugs in this beta 1:

- using external sensors in CCR or pSCR mode doesn't work,

- the NDL time is not shown in the big layout,

- there is a propability that there will be garbage written into the dive log when taking this beta under water.

--> please do not use 3.09 beta 1 for real diving until especially the 3rd bug is fixed. Playing around with it at the surface and in simulator mode is fine, but bevor doing a real dive please downgrade to latest stable or wait for the bugfixed beta 2 comming soon...

sorry for the inconvenience,
Ralph
[/quote]

Hi Ralph,
Thanks for the hint. I like the new menu layout. But for real diving I went back to 3.08, which worked just fine, as you mentioned.

Good look with Bug hunting...

Alex

[Ralph]

Hi Alex,

thanks! Meanwhile i've figured out that the logbook storage bug is due to two different memory chips used throughout the OSTC models - the code works fine with one of them, but not with the other one...

Just to underline: all safety relevant functionality (deco, etc.) is ok in the beta 1, only the logbook may be filled with a garbage-entry on storing a dive if the OSTC happens be be equipped with the "wrong" memory chip...

BR
Ralph

[silver111]

is anything known about my report regarding the changing brightness of the screen backlight

Thx
Adrian

[heinrichsweikamp]

is anything known about my report regarding the changing brightness of the screen backlight

Not yet, sorry.

regards,
Matthias

[gr3yw0lf]

Updated for 3.09 beta 2. Thanks for the reports, the reported issues with logbook-writing in older models and NDL in the big-font layout have been fixed.

and the new beta is not only for use/testing outside the water, but for diving?

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

and the new beta is not only for use/testing outside the water, but for diving?

There is probably not much that will be changed for the next stable.

But as always: Officially this is not for real-dive use.

Regards,
Matthias

[algo]

I just played a little bit with the simulator (3.09 beta 2). With the big font layout it now shows at my OSTC2 from the beginning only "NDL 0" and this doesn't change until deco obligation is reached... from there on first deco stop and tts is shown as usual...

[algo]

With a simulated dive to 100m the screen ended up with some "garbage" in the upper left corner after the depth changed from xx.x to yyy. See attached picture from ascend..

[attachment=0]IMG_0526.jpg[/attachment]

Alex

[Clownfish]

Thanks, will update now. Note that a few times this afternoon when I was trying to download my dive from today, when I tried to go to the Bluetooth setting, it was not there on the menu. This happened at least 4 times (I had problems with my laptop). Another bug?

Michael
Sydney
Australia

[Clownfish]

Okay, have so far spent an hour trying to update to beta 2 unsuccessfully. Also tried to go back to V3.08 without luck. Rebooted my laptop too and that has not helped. Best effort using Subsurface was 3% (and it has now put weird symbols in name area) and OSTC Companion with 13%. How are others going?

Michael
Sydney
Australia

[Ralph]

There hasn't been changed anything in the firmware that relates close with the BT transmission. But i also observed "lock-ups" of the BT module, such that it disapperas from the menu. Leving and re-entering the menu fixed that always. But there may also be hangs by something that happens between the BT module inside the OSTC and the BT chip and its driver in the external computer. If it is a USB-BT-Dongle unplugging and replugging sometimes helps, or renewing the pairing. Sadly problems on this radio link are somewhat out of our control as the hardware and software on the OSTC side is known, but on the other side there are countless unknown combinations.

[Ralph]

Bugfixing Information:

NDL always showing zero: that was a simple but stupid bug in the output routine that came in on fixing another bug, annoyingly.

Garbage in depth output after crossing 100m: the mechanism for such ghost outputs is a known one, though the individual trigger always a little bit hard to find. I'm on it...

-------> Update: all fixed, await V3.09 beta 3 <--------

[Christophe]

Hello,
No file update "309_beta3_XX_2_tr_ostc3" ? Just file "309_beta3_XX_3_cr_ostc3"...
Thx.

[Ralph]

sorry, it said ...await... ;-) ......... Now it's available! :-))

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hello,
No file update "309_beta3_XX_2_tr_ostc3" ? Just file "309_beta3_XX_3_cr_ostc3"...
Thx.

Hi,

you can safely install the 309_beta3_EN_3_cr_ostc3_firmware.hex on an OSTC 2 or OSTC plus. This beta will just not have support for the wireless pressure sensors of the "TR" Version.

Regards,
Matthias

[Clownfish]

Still cannot update to any other firmware as per my previous posts. Any ideas? Tried 2 laptops both have same result. Can download dives, update settings, but cannot update firmware.

Michael
Sydney
Australia

[dadefay]

Hello,

I've got exactly the same trouble as Michael "Clownfish" : dives download and settings changes work but upload of firmware 3.09 beta X (from 3.08) stops after 3% with Subsurface . Tried many times, rebooted my laptop, etc...

Trying to revert to 3.08 (actually already in) fails as well. Did 3.08 introduced a bug in the firmware upload process ?

Kind regards.

[Ralph]

Hi,

sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with firmware uploading. Pretty sure there hasn't been intoduced a bug in the firmare loading code, but indeed the code has changed a bit. The timing while firmware transfer is a little bit picky, with newer (faster) computers and especially smartphones causing increasing number of problems. That's why the code has been prepared for some more robust transmission protocol.

I have just run a couple of tests in overall 4 setups:

1) Win7 PC (i5, 3.3 GHz) with USB-BT-Stick and OSTC Companion 3.0 beta 8 (the latest version).

2) same as 1) but Subsurface 4.7.8

3) same as 2) but Subsurface 4.9.3

4) Samsung J5 Duos Smartphone with Robert's HWOS Config App (Android).

Targets were an OSTC 2 and an OSTC TR.

I tried to transfer the firmware 2 to 3 times in each setup to both OSTCs each time.

These are the results:
in setup 1), i had one hang.
in setup 2), i had no hangs at all.
in setup 3), i somehow managed to initiate one download (it completed with success), but in general i got the error message "unsupported operation" and was unable to establish connection at all.
in setup 4), i had no hangs at all.

Remark: i had sparse hangs with older firmwares, too.

When using the OSTC Companion or the older Subsurface, it may happen that the progress messages shown on OSTC screen skip a percentage value or do not get updated any more at all. But if transfer continuous as of the Companion's / Subsurface output, that's ok. Anyhow, these skips or hangs - if happening - should appear at random sometime down in the transfer process. If they repeatedly occur with the first bunch of firmware transfer (i.e. at the 3% mark), there is a substantial timing problem that probably won't become better despite all tries with the specific combination of PC / Smartphone and software tool used. Can you swap to some other tooling? Which tooling are you using?

best regards,
Ralph