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Re: (meteorobs) A better way to record?
on 11/13/01 3:43 PM, mlinnolt@alum.mitdot edu at mlinnolt@alum.mitdot edu wrote:
> I am planning to write a simple DOS program to run on my laptop PC. It will
> read keystrokes, and translate each key into a magnitude and LEO/non-LEO and
> dump each record into a sequential file with timestamp. I will just use 10
> keys on the keyboard that most closely match the natural position of my
> fingers, probably Q,3,4,R,V and N,U,8,9,P. The keys will represent magnitudes
> -3 to +6, and non-LEO's will get a spacebar.
>
> This shall allow me to observe uninterrupted, not worry about time, batteries,
> etc. I will run the PC from an inverter connected to the car battery.
>
> Should be a piece of cake. Unfortunatly I've been busy this week, and haven't
> written the program yet. But its a trivial one, and should be done in a day or
> so. If anyone wants a copy, I can send it to you on request.
>
Yes, this is an excellent way to get data. After the shower, you can write a
simple program to read the raw data and get it into a form for submission to
IMO. If you have time, you could do that before the shower so that it is
ready to go the minute you get back.
As it happens, I am doing a snazzier version of that, with a bunch of
portable keypads hooked up to a little BASIC STAMP that reports the results
over RS-232 to my laptop, which logs and analyzes everything in real time.
It calculates ZHR in real time and graphs the results. It does a bunch of
other nice tricks, but I don't think you need to get so complicated.
A few suggestions: if your laptop has raised dots on the D and K keys, you
might want to use A-S-D-F and J-K-L-; because then you can keep your hands
centered. Keep the laptop inside the sleeping bag, as that will keep it
warm. Remember, at low temperatures the hard drive can freeze up, so don't
let the drive spin down -- you want the thing generating a little heat to
keep itself warm.
Make sure that the battery conservation system on your laptop is completely
shut down. On my PowerBook, I have to insert an extra line of code to fool
it into thinking that it is getting a steady stream of activity -- otherwise
the system slows down its clock to save battery. Test your system by setting
the program running, go away for half an hour, then come back and hit a key
and see how quickly it responds.
One other thing you might do is provide some audio feedback. The best would
be speech synthesis that tells you exactly what key you've hit, but that
would likely eat up too many cycles if you get a bunch of closely-spaced
meteors. Second best would be simple tones, highest frequency for brightest
meteors. Be sure that you have a blooper beep that can warn you if you hit
an illegal key. Also, you might want to put in an "Oops" button that allows
you to retract an observation. If you enter a new key within, say, one
second of pressing the Oops key, then that entry replaces the previous one.
If you press Oops and do nothing, then the previous entry is ignored.
You could also have special keys for starting and stopping observations. If
you want to take a break, you hit the "Offline" key; when you return, you
press the "Online" key.
My system also allows me to enter text into the data stream, so that I can
make special notes, but that won't be possible in your case.
Good luck.
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