Receive TCP/IP data?

[International806]

Hi, I am an avid sailing fan, own my own sailing boat and I'd like to develop a rather special piece of software for it. Shouldn't be too difficult with KBasic. But before I dive into it, I wanted to get some advice from more experienced programmers like you.

I have a Tacktick T120 wind system. It consists of two parts: a masthead transducer and a display in the cockpit of the boat. The transducer permanently sends data about the wind direction and wind speed wirelessly (using NMEA0183) to the display. Works fine. So far, so good.

I would like to receive this wireless data also on my notebook PC and process it inside my KBasic app.
The company Digital Yacht offers a NMEA0183 <---> WIFI converter. Their technical support hotline told me that this device creates a nice little local hotspot to which the notebook PC can connect. And from this hotspot, the notebook Pc can then receive the (now converted) wind data in TCP/IP format. Sounds perfect. But before I buy this device for €200 I wanted to check with you what you think about this? Do you envisage any issues? Or do you think it should be easy to receive and process such TCP/IP data with a KBasic app? Have you done that before? Are there any special commands/instructions in KBasic that allow this? Sorry for my poor knowledge of KBasic. I have not written any BASIC program for about 20 years.

Next on my list is to receive similar data, but now related to the boat speed, from a GPS device. A Locosys BGT-31, to be precise. It has bluetooth and also a USB port. I think it also transmits its data to the outside world in the above mentioned NMEA format. So I imagine it will be a similar job as with the Tacktick wind system...

I'd be thankful for your advice and guidance. Is KBasic the right language for this? Is it easy to receive and process TCP/IP data with it? Are there maybe already some KBasic apps that I could use inside my own app, e,g. something lke a TCP/IP terminal software/parser? Any idea how I should tackle this problem?

Thanks & Sail fast,
International806.

[Henning]

Hi,

After reading a little, I would go using the iAIS. This is a multiplexing receiver of wireless NMEA0183 transmitters, connecting to an USB-port as a serial device.
If I read it correctly...

[url]
http://www.digitalyacht.co.uk/product_i ... s_id=11657
[/url]

/Henning

[berndnoetscher]

This should be possible, though TCP/IP is not completely implemented yet. KBasic's serial port/USB port has been reported to be working by some users (you know I do not have test environments devices for this).

[International806]

This should be possible, though TCP/IP is not completely implemented yet. KBasic's serial port/USB port has been reported to be working by some users (you know I do not have test environments devices for this).

Dear Bernd, dear Henning,

thanks for your quick reply.

@Bernd: in case I would provide you with the necessary hardware equipment, would you then look into this and implement what's necessary in Kbasic? I think this would be a win-win scenario. Kbasic would 'learn' something new. And I would make a giant leap forward regarding my sailing app.

Best regards,
International806.

[berndnoetscher]

This should be possible, though TCP/IP is not completely implemented yet. KBasic's serial port/USB port has been reported to be working by some users (you know I do not have test environments devices for this).

Dear Bernd, dear Henning,

thanks for your quick reply.

@Bernd: in case I would provide you with the necessary hardware equipment, would you then look into this and implement what's necessary in Kbasic? I think this would be a win-win scenario. Kbasic would 'learn' something new. And I would make a giant leap forward regarding my sailing app.

Best regards,
International806.

Dear International806
Thats a nice offer, I am willing to do so, but I very very little time for it right now as I am postboned with my major projects.
I expect I have some time for this by the end of this year. If this is good enough for you, please let me know.

CU
Bernd

[International806]

Hi Bernd,

ok, awesome. The timing is not a problem. End of this year is fine. The new sailing season won't start before April 2012. Can I suggest we take the discussion offline from here and discuss the next steps (exchange of address, what hardware do you exactly need etc.) privatley via phone or email? I think you can retrieve my email address from this websites database, right?

Best regards,
International806.

[berndnoetscher]

Hi Bernd,

ok, awesome. The timing is not a problem. End of this year is fine. The new sailing season won't start before April 2012. Can I suggest we take the discussion offline from here and discuss the next steps (exchange of address, what hardware do you exactly need etc.) privatley via phone or email? I think you can retrieve my email address from this websites database, right?

Best regards,
International806.

Hi International806

nice, no problem:
My email address is bernd@kbasic.com
The address can be found on http://www.kbasic.com