libft Index Page

Introduction

libft is an Open Source version of the fischertechnik ROBO Interface Library for Unix like systems

The goal is to create a library that is fully compatible with the ftlib by knobloch eletronic.

This library should work on any systems supported by libusb, like Linux, BSD and Mac OS X and is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

Included is the helper program "ftuploader" which allows you to upload programs to the Robo Interface.
Running ftuploader --help should give you an idea how to use it.
Also included is an Interface Diagnose utility. See section Interface Diagnose

Download

Current Version: 0.4.3

See http://defiant.homedns.org/~erik/ft/libft/files/
Download Latest version: http://defiant.homedns.org/~erik/ft/libft/files/libft-current.tar.gz

Requirements

• libusb - http://libusb.sourceforge.net/
• cmake at least version 2.4 - http://cmake.org
• pthreads (Should be included with every modern posix compatible OS)

API Documentation

See also:

libft.c

Installation

Step 1: Compiling

Type

• cmake .
• make

Step 2: Installation

Type

• make install

After installing you should run

• ldconfig

to make the library known to your system. Make sure that /etc/ld.so.conf is configured to include /usr/local/li

To install the diagnose utility type

• make diag

Debian packages are available. Please read http://vontaene.de/apt/README.txt
You can install them with apt-get install libft0 libft-doc libft-python libft-diag

Step 3: udev

When running udev you might want to copy the file fischertechnik.rules from the udev folder to /etc/udev/rules.d/ to get the correct permissions.
Udev then needs a reload with

• udevcontrol reload_rules

You will now need to replug your device.

Step 4: Create Documentation\n

Type

• make doc
  to create the html API documentation.

Step 5: Python

A Python interface to this library is available, see the python folder for details.
Type
make python

in the python/ -folder to install the python module. Use pydoc to read its documentation:

• pydoc robointerface in the shell
• help(robointerface) from the python interpreter

Interface Diagnose

You can find it in the folder diag/.
It requires the python module (see above) and PyQT4. You can launch it by running "sh ftdiagnose"

Author

Erik Andresen - erik@vontaene.de

Please contact me for bugs or any suggestions

Homepage of libft: http://defiant.homedns.org/~erik/ft/libft/

Changes

• 0.4.3: - Bug fix: Extension digital inputs at RoboRF
  • ftdiagnose: Display connection status
  • Added functions: (not in Knobloch lib):
    • IsFtInterfaceConnected()
  • Python added functions:
    • IsConnected()
• 0.4.2: - Python support to open the interface by serial
  • Some Bug fixes
  • Added functions: (not in Knobloch lib)
    • SetRealSerial()
• 0.4.1:
  • Added support to change the RF address.
  • Added functions: (not in Knobloch lib)
    • SetRFMode()
    • GetRFMode()
  • Added support for functions:
    • GetFtManufacturerStrg()
    • GetFtShortNameStrg()
    • GetFtLongNameStrg()
    • GetFtLibErrorString()
  • Some minor Bug fixes
• 0.4:
  • Hopefully support for more then one Robo Interface attached to an RF Link.
    • InitFtUsbDeviceList() will now also count the number of Robo Interfaces attached to an RF Link
  • Added support for the ft distance sensor
  • Added functions:
    • GetFtDeviceTypeString() (not in Knobloch lib)
  • Added support for functions:
    • SetFtDistanceSensorMode()
  • Python added functions:
    • GetNumFtUsbDevices()
    • RoboInterface.GetDeviceTypeString()
    • GetD1()
    • GetD2()
  • Added ft Diagnose utility.
• 0.3:
  • added (overwrite) --target option to the ftuploader
  • included some documentation
  • minor fixes
  • enhanced python layer
  • support for RF Module
• 0.2.1:
  • fixed Analog/Voltage Sensor calculations
• 0.2:
  • added udev file
  • experimental support for uploading to the interface (usb only)
  • included program ftuploader
  • add support for functions:
    • DownloadFtProgram()
    • StartFtProgram()
    • StopFtProgram()
    • DeleteFtProgram()
    • SetFtProgramActiv()
    • GetFtProgramName()
    • GetFtStatus()
    • GetFtFirmware()
    • GetFtFirmwareStrg()
    • GetFtSerialNr()
    • GetFtSerialNrStrg()

Porting your program from the Knobloch Windows Library

When porting your program from the Knobloch Library for Microsoft Windows operation systems please note the following:

• The name of this library is libft, not ftlib (the Knobloch original) to follow the UNIX naming scheme
• Types like DWORD are replaced with their logical ANSI-C counterparts, like
  1. DWORD - long int
  2. LPCSTR - char *
  3. LPVOID - void *
  4. BYTE - unsigned char
  5. USHORT - unsigned short int
  6. UINT - unsigned int
  7. UCHAR - unsigned char
• The Windows Notifications stuff will probably never be supported.
• Some return codes might be different, so if something is going wrong, check this manual.