More Logbook-Capacity!?

[tiefunten]

Hi,

Matthias told me at the "Boot"-Exhibition, that the OSTC does only use 1/3 of the available storage capacity at the moment, so that there is plenty of room for future enhancements.
That's why I would propose to increase the logbook capacity, at least as long as this extra capacity is not needed otherwise. In my opinion, it would be nice to save 40-50 dives (so that I don't need to bring a notebook along if I don't want to loose profile data on a longer holiday).
What do you think about that?

Cheers,

Jörn

[scubatinoo]

Really, i don't care about logbook capacity... I still use my good old paper logbook. And that's what the guys at the dive bases want to see and to check. and it's much more fun signing, collecting stamps and stickers, and so on...

eventhough i'm using JDivelog as well, but for me it's more a "nice to have" then a "must have". And i would rather take my iPad with me then my Notebook. So i would be more happy if there's a way to synch my OSTC with my iPad... But i guess this needs at least an OSTC 3N...

[tiefunten]

Well, Scubatinoo, I would be pleased if it would be possible to sync my ostc with my android smartphone as well But I think this would require Bluetooth like in the new Frog... and I am quite sure that an OSTC 3 would have a bigger memory capacity, too.
I'm collecting my dive profiles for a few years now and I don't like missing profiles... although I'm still writing a pen and paper logbook. By the way: I haven't been asked to show my logbook since a few years...

[scubatinoo]

Me don't like this "Virtual Com Port" stuff either... Com-Ports are from dinosaur age

And about the logbook: as long as we have enough capacity to store data and profile, why not use this space? I agree with you.

[swissdiving]

Guys, synchronising on Android is not possible, with Bluetooth or USB or anything else for that matter.

I've spoken to Sven about it and he'll be concentrating on Win8 for Tablets.

[TnT]

scubatinoo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Me don't like this "Virtual Com Port" stuff
> ether... Com-Ports are from dinosaur age

The main advantage of serial communication is simplicity. All major platforms support it and provide a native api to use it easily from a userspace application. And with a usb-serial chip added, you don't need a legacy serial port anymore.

However, if you would use a more modern interface, like true usb for example, things get a lot more complex for those userspace applications. For example on Windows, you need a kernel driver to be able to access the usb hardware. I'm pretty sure that is simply too complex for the majority of the application developers out there (myself included). This situation is improving and there are already solutions like general purpose drivers (e.g. winusb) or libraries (e.g. libusb), but it's still a lot of added complexity which does not exist for good old serial communication.

There is even a USB standard (e.g. CDC-ACM), to provide serial communication over usb without the need for a usb-serial chip and can be implemented directly in a micro controller for example. CDC-ACM is supported by all major platforms, without the need for a third-party driver.

[divinglog]

Syncing dive computers to iPad or iPhone will probably not happen in the near future. Apple requires an expensive and very strict hardware certification to connect anything to the dock connector. I'm no iOS developer myself, but I'm in contact with More Mobile Software and Greg told me that it's very complicated for both, developers and hardware manufacturers.

[tiefunten]

Sven, I would be very happy if it would be able with Android No need to struggle with Apple in this case!

Nevertheless, I would not need to sync the OSTC with an Ipad, Iphone or another smartphone at all, if its logbook capacity would be increased a little bit...

[swissdiving]

@tiefunten
Shouldn't you be able to increase the logbook capacity by reducing the sampling rate. There should be another thread about this...
...see CF20/21/22

[scubatinoo]

BUT, it would be nice to sync the divecompter directly after the dive with an iPhone (sorry, but that's the only one smart phone ) and sign by the divebuddy. Back at home syncing the iPhone with the computer and voilà - Lgobook is complete and can be printed, saved, mailed, facebooked...

Connecting to the dock connector is maybe the wrong way... What's about Bluetooth or Wifi? The iPhone can be turned into a personal HotSpot, for example. Just an idea, i'm no expert in this kind of things...

[tiefunten]

@ Hansjoerg: This is possible, yes. But I don't know if this is enough to save ~40-50 dives then!?

@scubatinoo: Bluetooth or Wifi would be nice and simple, but as the OSTC 2N has neither, this will only be possible with the Frog or later versions.