New OSX Software released for Wi-Spy!!!
Aloha!
After recently purchasing the Wi-Spy device I discovered that the OSX
software 'wispy' would not work in GTK mode with my version of OSX
(PPC) software. So... I decided to write my own OSX Wi-Spy program and
here it is for all of you.
Some features:
1) Offers 3 graphing modes... Linear, Spectrum, and 3D Interactive Spectrum
2) Does not require GTK (this is an openGL based program)
3) No compiling or other 3rd party libraries required (it's all in the binary)
4) Supports CSV recording and playback
5) CSV playback does NOT require the Wi-Spy USB hardware!
6) Fully threaded application (data acquisition is concurrent with display)
7) Allows you to view CURRENT, AVERAGE, PEAK, and MAXIMUM data in all graph modes
To download the program (OSX PPC only, no INTEL version yet) head over
to the EaKiu website at: http://www.cookwareinc.com/EaKiu
You will find the binary download along with screen shots and all information on how to run the program.
Aloha... I just opened a new thread - we have released EaKiu version
3.0b which is a UNIVERSAL BINARY for OSX (Runs on both PPC and Intel).
Please see the other thread for specifics.
MrIcee wrote:
Any plans for a Linux port?
My idea for the question came from a homebuild spectrum analyzer i made from TV and SAT tuner between 38-2000MHz and let the TV-SAT tuner continu sweep the frequenty bands or frequentie range. It TAP the RSSI from the TUNERS and use some software to show a spectrum like in Wi-spy.
Normally any receiver VCO chip is controlled using a PLL. The PLL voltage controll a frequency range using steps like 12.5KHz to 100KHz space. Or a otherway to use a PLL is using pre-program channels. The frequenties of those VCO's are wider as they are normaly tuned bij the PLL and used in the application.
After reading your reply, I understand that in the Wi-SPY is not a full receiver VCO chip + PLL like the TV tuner, but just a unit they program with space of 100KHz as being total of 85 channels ?
When this is right, it never going to run below 2400MHz. And i made a crusial mistake in my question because thinking Wi-Spy using a 'normal' VCO receiver chip, sorry for mistake.
aprs wrote:
Something else i notice.
when generate a signal source,
the receiver top freq stop at 2482MHz, but further down it still works
below 2400MHz. but this is not show in the main nanalyzer window, yet.
- Aksing,
did you allready experimenting with your software on the MAC for show/view frequency below 2400MHz?
ANSWER...
not totally sure what you are saying here. The WiSpy device handles 85
channels starting at 2400 MHz. there is no data below or above those
frequencies that the device provides us - so no experiments could be
done outside those ranges (basically, the WiSpy device hands back a dBm
amplitude for each of the 85 frequencies starting at 2400 - we have no
control over the device other than to poll the 85 frequency slots it
provides).
If you are saying that you are generating signals slightly below 2400
and seeing them in the display, you would have to refer that question
to the Metageek people (perhaps the device has a bit of overlap in the
low frequencies, unsure).
david
MrIcee wrote:
Thanks for your response. Have mailed you a traceroute which shows problems between one of the oh-so-reliable transatlantic links between Europe and North America.
:?
Hi David,
Thanks for reply and understand the isues you mention. I nearly will buy a MAC to use your SW.... Hi X-D
Just thinking loudly if dont mind,maby suggestion to make a simplify version for windows to start with?
Specialy attention to the main anlyzer window, like some higher resolution bandwidth and your very nice professional SW interface look.
I can harly whait to use WI-Spy with better or call it some nicer looking SW interface art in windows.
Not meaning as negative comment for metageek, but nice SW will upgrade there product with 100%.
Something else i notice. when generate a signal source, the receiver top freq stop at 2482MHz, but further down it still works below 2400MHz. but this is not show in the main nanalyzer window, yet.
- Aksing, did you allready experimenting with your software on the MAC for show/view frequency below 2400MHz?
BTW, if you look for some BETA test drive your software in windows?
I be happy to assist anyway i can to get a BETA and got several machines here running.
The link timesout? That is indeed odd. Our servers are near our company
headquarters in Indiana, and I am in Hawai'i using a link that goes
through Japan and the website loads instantly.
We have had reports from people in some countries being unable to get to our servers (where are you?).
Try emailing me at eakiu@cookwareinc.com and I'll send the current version back to you as an attachment.
If you email me I'd also be interested in having you do a couple of
route checks for me so I can try to see why/where we are being blocked.
Mahalo
MrIcee wrote:
Would love to download this software, as I have just bought a Wi-Spy and have no Windows computers to run it on.
Unfortunately, the link you provided times out and I can only view copies of your website in Google's cache (and obviously not the actual downloadable file).
Is there an alternate location from which I can obtain it?
Aloha again aprs:
The metageek people are both very aware of EaKiu and have been very
supportive of the development of the software. I am sure that over time
you will probably see a few features of both packages (their windows
package and our EaKiu) creep into each other.
We also have offered the full source code to EaKiu to metageek, if they
wish it (actually, we are willing to provide the full source code to
anyone who asks and have already sent it to a couple of folks).
However, there are reasons that go beyond 'willingness' to why EaKiu
might not be an easy port to Windows. The main issue is that EaKiu is a
fully GL (openGL) application. When running with 400 x 85 samples in 3D
mode the system is generating more than 34,000 polygons at the current
frame rate (e.g., if you are viewing at 10 fps the system is generating
340,000 polygons per second). If you are in the largest 5000 x 85 mode,
at 10 fps, the system is generation 4.25 million polygons per second.
This is not trivial - and to work properly the video card must have GL
support in the hardware (few processors today can handle 4.25 million
shaded polygons per second) - so a generic windows version would
probably perform pretty poorly unless it had proper video hardware
(e.g., a gaming card with full GL support).
All Apple computers (except the new dual core Mini's and iBooks) have
hardware supported GL (and the new dual core Mini's and iBooks have
fast enough Intel core processors to be able to handle it outside of
the video hardware) - so this is a no-brainer for the Apple platform.
I will most likely (perhaps even today) be purchasing a dual-core Intel
Mac - and will port the code to it. Eventually that port may lead to a
native windows version from us - unknown at this point.
David
Like to ask.
Did you contact the metageek people toask them if possible there be a
windows version of your very, very nice professional look and working
software?
That will be a major upgrade to this hardware product ;-)
Thank you for reply.
Sorry i did not mean as negative agains metageek. But honiest to say your software is very, very nice to show.
When dont mind like drop idea here, maby coorperative with the metageek developers for a 'look a like' windows version? Your software bring a very pos ranking to this wonderfull product.
Only load thinking, is no negative comments to anyone.
First.. to respond to the last post... we most likely won't release a
version of EaKiu for Windows. The only reason we were compelled to
write EaKiu in the first place was the lack of any true graphical
software for WiSpy for OSX. MetaGeek already provides a graphical
version for Windows.
We *will* most likely port it to Intel Mac when... (1) we actually get
an Intel Mac and (2) we solve the problem of no libUSB available yet
for the Intel Mac.
Second... I neglected to give the URL to EaKiu which is, of course:
http://www.cookwareinc.com/EaKiu/
Mahalo
Very nice software, complements.
Now just waiting for a version in Windhoos ;-)
While we know a few of you grabbed 2.0 from our website earlier this
week... we have now OFFICIALLY launched the 2.0 release (for those of
you who already grabbed 2.0 from us earlier this week, you don't need
to get it again - the only difference in the download is the inclusion
of the entire manual).
We have also completely redesigned the website to be better laid out
and hopefully more useful (this is why we delayed the official
announcement).
Version 2.0 is nearly a complete rewrite of the original EaKiu - at
least internally. It corrects a number of problems and adds a load of
new features including:
- Window size and position remembered
- dBm is now normalized to 1.0 and then fit
- Autoranging fits LINEAR graph to data
- ' and " keys change autorange maximum
- Changed old 3D mode to MESH mode
- Added QUAD mode with lighting
- Added lighting to 3D MESH and QUAD mode
- Added 'G' to move backward through modes
- Added scaling in 3D modes (RB)
- Added panning in 3D modes (shift-LB)
- Put static draw items into display lists
- Modified axis arrow to correct size/perspective
- Changed font from bitmap to stroke
- Improved text colors for readability
- Corrected font sizing problems during resize
- Added -t Sine-Wave test device
- Corrected error in peak timing
- Unified data fetching to be device independent
- Added 'l' to turn lighting on/off on 3D charts
- Added spf calculation (Samples per frame)
- Moved data integration from Data to Draw thread
- 3D Average data is now calculated over time
- Corrected internal apple wireless flags
- Corrected dBm calculation and cursor display
- Increased spectral range of +/- keys
- Added 'light' indicator on 3D frames
We think you will enjoy the new QUAD view and we should point out that
both the QUAD and MESH views are now totally controlable in rotation,
tilt, scaleing and panning. A new 'l' key lets you toggle a
light-source in the QUAD and MESH views... also... try launching EaKiu
with the new -t mode - which generates an internal Sine-Wave pattern -
lets you experiment with the program and provides a rather pleasing
display.
This version also adds complete control over the maximum dBm of the
chart display - so that WiSpy signals can appear full chart, or
anywhere in-between.
And finally, you will be pleased to see that the 3D averaged views now show a true 3D view, not just the 2D wavefront.
Thx a lot MrIcee for your wonderful software. :)
Well, I guess the full-range idea is pretty logical. But from my
experience (and from what I've heard from others), the saturation point
on the WiSpy is at around -30 dB.
For instance, I've put the wispy unit in front of a running microwave
oven (which is real fun to watch in the 3D views), and it pegged the
whole spectrum at -31 dB.
Aloha Tamerlane... I made EaKiu full range (-60 to 0 dBm) for a number
of reasons. First, I was unsure if the Wi-Spy was actually limited to
those signal strengths... second, future Wi-Spy devices may cover those
ranges... third, there is the possibility that I might incorporate
other sensor capability into the software that would go into those
ranges.
I *am* thinking about having YAO (yet another option) to allow -30 to be the top of the graph, so that it is switchable.
Geeze ;) and to think that I *do* have 3 day jobs too (none of which include EaKiu)
Many thanks!
I guess my last question concerns the linear graph. Is there a reason
why it goes from -30 dB to 0 dB? I was unaware that the WiSpy had
sensitivity in that range.
We are pleased to announce version 1.4 of EaKiu which includes a LARGE
number both new and requested features (see the README or website for a
full list of changes).
With this version you can now adjust the FPS GL frame rate, the rate at
which data is read, the size of the averaging window, and lots more!
This should help reduce load on your CPU.
Also with this version you can now increase the chart depth from the
current 400 rows to a total of 5000 rows (or as low as 50 rows) -
giving your more signal over time to view.
As stated above, you can also adjust the averaging time anywhere to be within the chart depth (3 to 5000 samples).
We have also changed the overall coloring of the data so that -30 is red, and -60 is blue. This is also adjustable.
The new system also saves most of the important settings in a configuration file, which is readback at setup.
There are lots more changes - be sure to grab this version from the website at:
http://www.cookwareinc.com/EaKiu/
Aloha!
Very cool!
Like, I was impressed when I got wispy_gtk up and running on my
powerbook, but EaKiu is just to much nicer. Actually, it's freakin'
awesome.
One suggestion I have is to throttle the incoming data a bit. While it
is pretty neat that the program is graphing as fast at the WiSpy can
pass the data, the high read rate and frame rate is a big CPU hog (its
using 70%+ of my CPU). I'd like to be able to adjust that up or down
while running the program.
Additionally, It would be cool if you could be able to adjust the
timeframe in the spectrum graph, like in the windows WiSpy software. By
displaying more than ten seconds of data, the spectrum graphs are
infinitely more useful.
Still, i'm pretty impressed with the amount of coolness packed into a 70 KB executable.
April 21, 2006
We have just released EaKiu version 1.3 for OSX (PPC).
This version includes a subdirectory named LINUXspy which has souce
code and instructions (see the README.txt in the LINUXspy subdirectory)
for building a Wi-Spy remote server for LINUX.
With version 1.2 EaKiu included the OSX server / client mode. With this
version you can also create a stand-alone LINUX server and use the
EaKiu program in client mode to view wi-fi data on the LINUX server.
The latest version is available at:
http://www.cookwareinc.com/EaKiu/
Aloha!
April 20, 2006....
The latest vesion of EaKiu has been released at:
http://www.cookwareinc.com/EaKiu/
This is version 1.2 and includes the following features and changes:
- Cleaned up unnecessary 3D calls
- Removed AVERAGE array and made CURRENT OVER TIME handle it
- Added AIRPORT scanning capability (wireless neighborhood)
- Added '-a' command line switch to force AIRPORT not to be used or initialized upon startup (avoids all AIRPORT calls)
- Added 'a' key to view AIRPORT network neighborhood
- Added 'A' key to toggle AIRPORT use
- Added Open/Closed channel marker arrows for AIRPORT
- Added a Data Clear on looping file playback and startup
- Upgraded libUSB to version libusb-0.1.12 (latest)
- Changed positioning of upper left status/info lines
- Modified a variety of upper left messages
- Corrected 3D drawing method and fixed perspective problems
- Muted 3D rotate/tilt controls to be less sensitive
- Added REMOTE and LOCAL sensing (WOOT!) Multi-threaded server. (thanks for the suggestion from Peter Fuhr)
- Added command line -s and -S to launch remote threaded server
- Added -c to launch local wireless client
- Got rid of cursor jump on initial movement in 3D world
- Cleaned up software shutdown sequence
- Modified PEAK trace to hold for 2 seconds before doing a smooth transition to CURRENT over time.
- Modified MAX trace to hold for 1 minute before doing a smooth transition to PEAK over time.
- Added true max white markers to LINEAR view
- Added 'i' key to take TGA snapshots (thanks for the suggestion from Eric Carr)
ENJOY!!!
This is awesome! I love the 3-D view with the changing colors (changes with amplitude similar to the spectrogram). Great job!!