ServoMaster: News & Status

The Java implementation is rock solid - been working as a part of DIY Zoning for several years by now.

The C++ implementation is breathing and is marginally usable (for Phidgets), but by no means complete or stable. CVS module name is servomaster-cpp.

No architecture changes are expected at this time - the project is functionally complete.

April 4 2007

Found a major goof in the website content: a copy-n-paste error made Servomaster advertize DZ meta-information. Oops.

March 3 2006

Documented the procedure to prevent the kernel modules from interfering with Servomaster code.

February 5 2006

Site cleanup caused by obsolescence of the content management system formerly used. Another dose of RxTx upgrade pains. Good news, may be able to take care of those pesky USB/Serial bridges the right way.

Unrelated to above, a backward incompatible codebase change to utilize features offered by JDK 1.5 is in progress. In particular, metadata implementation will be augmented and/or replaced with JDK 1.5 annotations, and JMX, which is now a part of the JDK.

May 31 2005

A package with a serial and USB controllers that came as a donation from Parallax, Inc. is on my desk. Details here.

May 11 2005

Finished a usable driver and documentation for Pololu family of servo controllers. The driver will be included into the next release, so far you can get it from the CVS.

October 14 2004

Site redesign started. It's been overdue for a while :)

October 12 2004

Contrary to previously expressed intent, jUSB was replaced with javax.usb. So far, just for development release, just to get a feel for it, but if things continue the way they are (last jUSB release was in 2001, last javax.usb in April 2004), javax.usb may just as well become the default implementation.

At the very least, this change allowed to significantly simplify disconnect handling and eventually fix bug #617284 (Disconnected mode broken), almost exactly two years after it was opened.

February 10 2004

jUSB is about to release an RPM, and Servomaster RPM was modified to be able to depend on jUSB RPM. Decision to port USB code to javax.usb is hereby cancelled, for it seems that javax.usb has fallen a victim to political struggle - there's nothing but spam in javax.usb mailing lists.

February 2 2004

Servomaster RPM is available here. Hope it makes it easier to install. Two issues remain: jUSB and RxTx are not yet available as RPM.

July 3 2003

PhidgetAdvancedServo update: Major breakthrough - the timeout problem was finally fixed with new firmware. As a bonus, the controller now supports servo shutoff.

Not all the wrinkles have been ironed out yet - the silent mode is reported as supported, but is not activated. Disconnected mode is still broken.

CVS version of AdvancedServo driver is functional at this point.

September 29 2002

Draft implementation of the PhidgetAdvancedServo is in the CVS.