Debug Terminal GCS Does Not Work

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1.Add three lines of code to bottom of APM_config.h per instructions on web page
2.Reload code
3.Observe telemetry

What is the expected output? What do you see instead? The telemetry output is 
supposed to be human-readable, but it is not.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system? I am using 
the latest version on XP.  I have been trying to get this to work on each new 
version as it is released for the past month with no success.

Please provide any additional information below.
Does the Debug Terminal GCS work for anyone?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by dean.slo...@hotmail.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 5:14

• Merged into: #223

[GoogleCodeExporter]

"Latest version" is indeterminate; as I wrote in Issue 223, please specify Beta 
+ date the ZIP file was uploaded, or trunk and revision number, or 1.0 BETA 
branch and revision number.  If you are using the Beta, DebugTerminal is not 
included (there is no file named GCS_DebugTerminal.pde).

Did you try the procedure I verified and detailed in duplicate Issue 223?

Original comment by bjpcalt...@gmail.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 7:40

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Sorry about using the term "Latest version".  I always download my code using 
the "get code here" link on the Ardupilot Mega project home page.  The page 
that this takes me to says that the code was uploaded 25 hours ago.  The file 
name is ArduPilotMega1.01.zip and the Summary/Label is ArduPilotMega Beta 1.0.  
Where is the trunk and revision number information that everyone else seems to 
know about except me?  But anyway, it looks like I am using a Beta version 
(based on summary/label) and you are saying that the DebugTerminal is not 
available in that version.  Was it a feature that was available in the Alpha 
version but then discontinued?  I know that you guys are busy creating this 
great code (thanks!), but someone should probably document this fact on the 
DebugTerminal page in the manual.  It sounds like there is another way to 
obtain the functionality of the Debug terminal that you described in Issue 223. 
 I will try that.  And thanks again for your help!

Original comment by dean.slo...@hotmail.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 9:20

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Aha, I see that you did update the manual to explain that the DebugTerminal is 
not available in the Beta version of the code.  Thanks!  I had the SVN download 
tool installed on my PC this past summer when it was the only way to access the 
code, but I deleted it.  It sounds like I should reinstall it in order to 
access the "trunk" version of the code.  Would someone mind explaining to me 
what the trunk version is versus the beta version, and why I should be using 
one rather than the other?  Thanks!

Original comment by dean.slo...@hotmail.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 9:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I apologize about it not being clear that DebugTerminal isn't part of the Beta; 
to be honest, I never work on the Beta branch (I'll explain that in a second) 
so I can't really help troubleshoot any problems specific to the Beta branch 
and I don't notice any problems that it might have.

The source code repository (the thing that we use to maintain a central copy of 
the code and distribute updates to everyone) contained only one copy of the 
code before the Beta branch split -- this made it easy to keep track of things 
because non-quad APM developers were all working on the same code.  When the 
Beta was released, a new "branch" (copy of the code) was created so that now 
the "trunk" (main development branch) and "Beta" branches are two entirely 
separate bodies of code.  Whenever a developer makes a change in one of the 
branches, someone has to manually apply ("merge") that change into the other 
branch.  The reason this was done is that the Beta was intended as a fairly 
stable endpoint that users could run reliably while new major development work 
was done on the trunk.

So, to get the latest features you should grab a copy of the trunk with a SVN 
client.  To [hypothetically] get the most stable, tested version, you should 
download the Beta zip.  Whether or not the Beta zip is actually the most 
stable, tested version varies.  The benefit of checking out via SVN is that you 
can check out any past version (revision) of the code, including one that is 
known to work, such as r1373 with respect to the DebugTerminal.

I believe the only way to identify which Beta ZIP you have is based on the date 
it was uploaded.  The revision numbers of code checked out from the repository 
can be accessed by your SVN client.  I recommend TortoiseSVN as a SVN client 
for the PC, but hypothetically you could browse the repository ("Source" tab 
above) and download each file individually.

Original comment by bjpcalt...@gmail.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 9:54

• Changed state: Duplicate

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Outstanding!  Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me.  Your help 
is very much appreciated.  Perhaps you can now help me with issue 231.  I have 
asked for help several times over the past two months on that one, and no one 
ever responds.

Original comment by dean.slo...@hotmail.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 11:32