[Xastir] New code testing

[Curt Mills, WE7U]

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003, Chris Bell wrote:

> > In a way it's operation that I expect, having Xastir ignore GPS
> > input while it's busy doing other things.  I suspect with radio
> > interfaces it's not such a problem, as they'll queue up and get
> > serviced if/when Xastir isn't busy anymore.
> >
>
> Nope, it is the main thread blocked, my track at home shows the posits
> were not queued to the radio... it did not have them from the gps to
> queue...

Yes, it's definitely the main thread blocked.  That thread does the
map drawing.  There is exactly one string variable that the
interface threads dump data into, and the main thread has to pick up
the data there and decode it.  If map drawing is happening, the main
thread isn't doing anything else.  The interface threads will block
as soon as the first one dumps data into the variable and waits on
the main thread to decode it.

What I'm talking about as far as queueing is the serial ports and
the OS drivers for them.  They'll queue up the serial _receive_ data
and Xastir will process it as it has time.

The outgoing packets will definitely be halted completely during map
drawing, but I think that's mostly ok.  Just be aware that if you're
running at high zoom levels and the machine is completely busy
drawing maps, you're not going to TX/RX as you expect until it
becomes less busy.  I was going to say un-busy, but I know that's
not correct.


> One little thought, maybe we could update the indicators on the status
> line when the key is processed, even though it is pending, thus we
> have visual confirmation of the action.

What sort of visual confirmation would be good?  Coloring in the
background of one of the status bar rectangles?  Is the "busy"
cursor not adequate or perhaps doesn't update quickly enough or at
the correct times?


> I am leaving for hawaii tomorrow for a week, with no net or RF access,
> so will be quietly coding for a bit! :)

My wife would shoot me if I brought any kind of computer gear to
Hawaii.  I'm not even sure whether I could get away with a PDA.
Well, she'd shoot me if she caught me with them anyway.  Doesn't
mean I wouldn't try.

-- 
Curt Mills, WE7U                    hacker_NO_SPAM_ at tc.fluke.com
Senior Methods Engineer/SysAdmin
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