Re: Hello, and help with GNAT and Windows USB programming

[Per Sandberg <per.sandberg@sandat.dyndns.org>]

Three small steps on the way.
1) get a decent header file with an interface specified in C K8055D.h
2) g++ -c -fdump-ada-spec K8055D.h
3) look into k8055d_h.ada and use it.
Given that you are using a fairly modern gnat/gcc

/Per

On Sun, 9 Feb 2014 11:59:41 -0800 (PST)
Gumpy <shepardc@gmail.com> wrote:

> First, hello. I'm new here. Forgive me if I'm unfamiliar with this
> and guide me. 
> 
> Next, I've been an embedded software engineer for 25+ years, with 18+
> in Ada, though I have not worked with Ada for nearly a decade. Pretty
> much all of my career has been embedded real-time applications, so
> I've had very little experience with the PC environment, other than
> from a user perspective. 
> 
> I'm also an up and coming potter. It's a hobby I intend to use to
> help support my retirement some day. 
> 
> I have decided that in order to get myself back into Ada and also
> learn something about programming in the PC environment that I am
> going to build a kiln controller to convert my manual electric
> pottery kiln to a fully automatic kiln. I know I could buy an add-on
> controller for a few hundred dollars, but what's the challenge in
> that? I figure I can build a simple system that suits my needs and is
> expandable as I see fit. I can define custom firing schedules that
> other systems don't accommodate. Ultimately, I may set it up to
> control multiple kilns.
> 
> So, to start with, I found a USB based thermocouple interface that
> will be used to sense the temperature inside the kiln. I'll add a USB
> based relay board to this, and the control software will tie it all
> together. 
> 
> I've never worked in programming a PC environment, and have no
> experience with programming USB ports. I'm not finding a lot of
> information online, but did find some past messages in this forum
> which alluded to Linux USB stuff. I thought I'd put out a request for
> some help and see if anyone will respond. 
> 
> 1. When your laptop has several ports, how do you know or find out
> which port a device has been plugged into? Ultimately, I will need a
> couple ports for the thermocouple interface and the relay board. 
> 
> 2. Using GNAT, and potentially GNAT.Serial_Communications, how does
> one open a USB port and read and write character strings to it (the
> thermocouple interface has a simple character based command language
> for setup and taking temperature readings). 
> 
> 3. Does anyone have any specific code examples for communicating on a
> USB port that they would like to share, or a link to some example(s)
> online somewhere? 
> 
> I'm sure this probably is easier than I'm making it out, but I'm
> realizing I've forgotten (archived) a good deal of my Ada knowledge
> in the past decade of non-use, and so I'm just a bit overwhelmed
> trying to get up and running. I have  the TDC-GCC-64 compilation
> system installed on my Vista laptop, and have it functional. My Hello
> World is working and I have found GNAT.Serial_Communications. That's
> about it so far. 
> 
> Any help that along these lines, including code snippets would be
> greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Craig