On 2014-08-19 15:20, Davide DB wrote:
Months ago, when i started to use Subsurface, I asked to support Sensus
ultra devices. I helped Miika to understand their CVS format. Miika
implemented only the CSV import via their file. So the device must be
downloaded via their client.
That's not true. The Sensus Ultra is a supported devices. You can
download your dives directly from subsurface. Have you actually tried
this?
The problem lies there. Their client is one of the worst piece of
software
I ever seen. From their site you can see they do not update it from
2010.
If you mean it only offers basic functionality with a somewhat dated
look and feel, then I agree. But it's far from the worst software I've
seen. Why would it need an update if it already worked fine in 2010?
Reefnet is actively encouraging third-party developers to support their
hardware, rather than trying to write a great application of their own.
If you ask me, that's the right thing to do. You get their basic app,
and if you want something more advanced, there are plenty of other
choices.
The icing on the cake is their USB driver. They used a Prolific PL2303
driver widely used but just google for it and you will see tons of post
of
people going crazy about it.
https://www.google.it/search?q=driver+usb+pl2303
On Windows XP it works but on Windows7 it fails on 90% of installations
I
tried.
Moral of the story: I know of at least 12 sensus ultra lying in a
drawer
just because after changing PC it was impossible to detect the device
connected.
I had to install a XP VM on my dive buddy box just to download his
dives,
then he got bored and throw it away.
Moreover I don't see that Reefnet cares too much about it. And it's a
shame. I agree they fully documented their product but... no, you are
not
supposed to be an space engineer to use a datalogger.
So you are blaming Reefnet for problems with the Prolific drivers? There
is very little they can do about that, because the driver is made by
Prolific, not Reefnet.
I guess many of those Prolific driver problems are due to the fact that
their Windows driver started to blacklist counterfeit chips a few years
ago:
http://www.prolific.com.tw/US/ShowProduct.aspx?p_id=155&pcid=41
Those "chinese" counterfeit chips are probably widespread in existing
hardware :-(
So IMHO, before spending time on a obsolete device, try to solve the
download problem.
There is a long standing problem with libdivecomputer and the Sensus
Ultra on Mac OS X (seems to be a timing or latency issue). But on my
Linux system it's rock solid. I have to admit I haven't tested on
Windows in a long while (it's not my primary OS).
At the time of its introduction, which is more than 10 years ago, a dive
computer with a PC interface was pretty rare. Nowadays, you may no
longer need one, because even the cheapest dive computer model has it.
But even by todays standards, the Sensus Ultra design isn't outdated.
For example the memory capacity (2MB) and precision/accuracy still
exceeds that of many current dive computers. Compare that with Suunto
(8-64K), Oceanic (32-128K) or Mares (16-1024K) just to name a few. Only
state of the art technical dive computer like the OSTC and Petrel have
comparable (or more) logbook memory.
Jef
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