As Tom requested, I'm moving this discussion here from chirp_users. I've registered to receive mail (digest form) on this list.
Thanks for the response, it was what I was hoping for. I've looked over the FT-60 MEM_FORMAT structure you pointed me at, and it looks like something I can definitely handle, maybe with a little experimentation and poking around the code to resolve things like bit ordering etc.
I've seen the chirp developers tools option to view and diff the raw data. I think I'm probably self-contained as far as what I need to know to do this, but I'll ask if I get stumped.
I don't want to set expectations that I'm committing to do this until I get into it and size up just how much work is involved, but my sense is it's a reasonably finite task for one radio, and I'll get started on it for the FT-60. Don't open a feature bug on this, plenty of time to do that when I have an extended MEM_FORMAT struct ready to merge. A couple of months?
My only request now is that if someone is already working on adding FT-60 settings, stop me now so I don't waste my time.
However, I do have one issue that needs to be corrected that I noticed in looking over the referenced ft60.py The power levels described in lines 154-156 are incorrect. The FT-60 is 5w2w/0.5w, not 5w/2.5w/1w. See user's manual pages 15 and 79.
I haven't looked to see what the values are used for, if anything, but they're currently wrong except for high.
Thanks,
-dan
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2014 15:20:00 -0800 From: Tom Hayward esarfl@gmail.com Subject: Re: [chirp_users] General inquiry on adding "settings"
On Feb 2, 2014 1:05 PM, chirp.cordless@xoxy.net wrote:
I haven't seen this kind of development meta-discussion, so here goes:
This kind of discussion usually happens on the chirp_devel mailling list: http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_devel
I guess the process would be to change a setting via the radio's buttons, read into chirp. and record what changed in the data stream. Rinse and repeat. If someone (me, for example) were to do that and provide the map, would that likely be enough to have someone else pick it up and code it
into Chirp?
Yep, you've got the process figured out.
And if so, what form should the 'map' take? Several hundred complete radio images seems less than optimal to me, for several reasons, most obviously that it still needs interpretation to code from. I could probably do a Python const data structure or equivalent if pointed to an example.
I think the best option would be for you to learn the syntax for the Chirp bitwise memory format. It takes its inspiration from c structs, so it should be very familiar to you. It is not Python, but a syntax Dan created to represent radio memory structures. It suits Chirp very well. You can find examples in every radio driver, usually at the top of the file in a string called MEM_FORMAT: http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/repository/entry/chirp/ft60.py#L10...
If you can define the radio's memory layout in that format, and document the associated values (e.g., APO: 0: off, 1: 30m, 2: 1h, 3: 2h, etc.), then another Chirp dev should be able to pick up your work and add the GUI elements.
Please send your reply to the chirp_devel list so the right audience sees it.
Tom KD7LXL