by RBEmerson
on 22-May-2008
I'd like to set up two different talkers that use the same basic information generated by CE. In one case I want to feed NMEA formatted data to the autopilot; that's CE's standard mode and easy to do. But I also need a stripped down stream containing only RMC and maybe HDG or HDM. While I know CE allows "talking" on more than one port, it looks as though the second port is nothing more than a repeater of whatever's on the other talker. Is there a way to have different content output on different ports?
All "Talker" ports receive the same information... Are you sure you really need a stripped down stream on the other port? Most devices will ignore any information they don't need.
I'm 100% certain about needing the stripped down data flow. I'm nursing along a Raytheon R20X radar with some of the wonkiest firmware you'd hope never to see. It will not accept anything but HDG or HDM on the "compass" port (the wizards at JRC, who built the radar, think COG and HDG are equivalent - sigh... [/rolled eyes]). I tried the "it'll ignore the fluff" approach and found that after about 30-40 minutes some sort of overflow happens and after that the code craters big time (to the point where even the user settings for panel brightness, magnetron use timer, etc. are flushed - thought it was only a dead keeper battery but it's not). I've verified this situation with three different sources, a second display (nice to see the problem persist even with a different display, at least), an extended thrash with Raymarine support, and, thanks to SSCA, someone involved in beta testing this monster way back when. "He's dead, Jim" fer sher.
You could always just buy a good radar from us ;-)
Seriously, I have been working on a way to control the Talker output on a port by port basis, but this likely to make it into a post-CE2 release rather than the initial CE2.
[:-D]
Ok - just wanted to be sure I wasn't making work for myself by missing a CE feature.