[Andrew]

Gudday all,

As a Mac user I've always felt a bit left out, as I now have a bike with DDA, last night I finally made time and decided to look at the problem.

There are two problems, getting the data onto the Mac and then parsing the file that has been downloaded.

At the moment, I'm only looking at parsing the information (conecting the DDA will come later).

The file appears to be a continuous block of data recorded with a clock frequency of 0.01 second intervals.

On my DDA the data file appears to be as follows:

RPM - every 0.02 secs (16bits)
Throttle - every 0.05 secs (8bits)
Speed - every 0.10 secs (16bits)
Temperature - every 5.0 secs (8bits)
Distance - not investigated (16 or 32bits?).

Lap timing - not investigated
Header data - to be decoded

I deliberately made a small dumb file intitially to made the initial decoding easier to determine.

What I need help with is decoding the header file (specifically if the different bikes record different information) and if the clock frequency is included there.

Additionally bikes with traction control record more data (I believe).

What I'm looking for is a few more readings to compare before I write a specification for a parser.

If anybody can give a small file from thier DDA (i.e. 1 - 5 minutes of recording) and with the file please note the bike model, traction control settings (if fitted), odometer and trip meter readings at beginning of data file (please indicate units miles or km too). It would be appreciated.

Andrew...

PS I'm also happy to further discuss this with anyone who is interested in my studies.

 

[reynolds_brad]

Why not just rum VMWare fusion and a windows VM on top of your Mac to get the job done?

Seems like it would be much more easy of a solution. Its what i have to do to run the cad software i use for my CNC.

 

[enzochi]

http://www.ducati.ms/forums/showthread.php?t=64585&highlight=DDA

I've tried it and didn't get too far with it.

Why not just rum VMWare fusion

That's not really an option. As well as Prosa's software really is junk.

 

[mstephenson51]

If its an intell based mac, like mine, you can install windows XP SP2 on it and boot right into windows. Its cool.

 

[RedST]

Or use Crossover.

 

[enzochi]

If its an intell based mac, like mine, you can install windows XP SP2 on it and boot right into windows. Its cool.

nah.. not cool. for example, what if it wasn't an intel mac and instead a FreeBSD machine (a real man's OS) and you needed parse out a few practice laps of, lets say, Miller Motorsports Park to find out where Johnny Rockstar Racer is losing 2 seconds a lap. It's really not possible with Prosa's "_My_First_Application!_" application.

The potential for a seriously useful device is there. It's just that Ducati and Prosa really dropped the ball by closing up that little device and turning it into a $400 paper weight.

 

[RedST]

If it's FreeBSD, you can use Wine proper. Or, virtualization software like VirtualBox, or Xen Dom0 (soon to be working in FreeBSD 8). VM's on BSDs (except Mac, Solaris / SYSV) have some issues still, however.

Wine is actually a pretty good solution if your app works well under it. But, I applaud the efforts to open up a proprietary system.

 

[enzochi]

If it's FreeBSD, you can use Wine proper. Or, virtualization software like VirtualBox, or Xen Dom0 (soon to be working in FreeBSD 8)

Don't get me wrong. The virtualization stuff is really good. I use VirtualBox daily. But it's not what is really needed. What is needed is a native application for the desired OS (Mac or whatever) and that can't be done with Prosa's spec on the file. It's totally possible to hack up the file format. But it really wouldn't be long before someone starts throwing lawsuits around.. and for someone developing an application like that for shits and giggles, it's not worth it.

 

[Andrew]

Guys,

thanks for the debate, I am aware that I can get my Mac to run Windows applications (under a variety of guises) however if I wanted to run Windows applications, I'd wouldn't have bought a Mac - and no I don't wish to enter into a Mac versus PC debate.

As earlier indicated, using a combination of both intellectual curiosity and stubborness I've managed to create a white paper on parsing the DDA data file created by my Ducati (D16RR).

I've also written the bones of a Cocoa application that will parse the DDA file and convert it into a useable format (at this stage a comma delineated text file so I can use Excel to graph the information).

As earlier requested, what I need is some DDA files from other Ducati's (both with and without traction control).

It's the weekend, when you go for a ride can you please make a DDA recording of about 2 - 3 minutes in length with several gear changes and laps. Then email me the file and include what model Ducati was used to create the file.

Thanks,

Andrew...

 

[ttpete]

I picked up an inexpensive HP netbook and use it exclusively for the bikes. It doesn't have an optical drive, so I either wait 'til I get to the stand alone drive at home to burn a disk or save the data on a thumb drive. All of my PC maps reside on the netbook as well as the DDA stuff. I also have my DeLorme mapping/GPS programs loaded, and it doubles for that. Best of all, it's small enough to stick in the tail bag and take on the road. It has a metal case, so it's pretty durable.

 

[enzochi]

here is a hand full of the DDA files..

http://akress.com/dda.zip

they're from an 08 1098 base. if you have a way of reading the file I'd love to know more about it.

 

[D1cker1]

whats step 1 to get the DDA to run on my Mac?

im a n00b

 

[RedST]

Note: This all assumes you have an Intel Mac, otherwise your only option is to use something like SoftPC/VirtualPC.

The easiest way, as it wouldn't involve installing Windows anywhere, is to use Wine - which emulates a Windows environment without actually installing Windows.

Wine comes in two flavors. One that requires you have some Unix familiarity, and is free, and the other is to use Crossover, which is not free but has a trialware version I believe - so you can see if it will work.

If you choose to go the free route, it will be slightly painful, as you need to install Macports and compile lots of software.

Here's a how-to on the free version: http://davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/

And, this is Codeweavers' site (Crossover): http://www.codeweavers.com/


If you can't, or don't want to use Wine, the next way is to install a VM layer using VirtualBox (free) or VMWare or Parallels (paid) and actually install a copy of Windows.

VirtualBox is here: http://www.virtualbox.org/
VMWare, here: http://www.vmware.com/
Parallels, here: http://www.parallels.com/

Lastly, you can actually install a dual-boot copy of Windows onto your Mac if you use Bootcamp, which comes as part of 10.5.x and later. For 10.4.x (x > 8), you can still find the Bootcamp beta out there somewhere. This option lets you select either OSX or Windows to start when the machine boots, and to get to the other system you need to reboot. Every other option, except Bootcamp, runs the environment under OSX.

Any one of these solutions should give you an environment where you can install the DDA software.

 

[Andrew]

It seems we are defeatists and I'm probably just stubborn, as I've always said "if I wanted to run windows applications I'd use windows".

As a result I believe I've cracked the relevant portions of the DDA file storage coding (white paper to follow) and I'm just beginning to review the DDA USB dongle.

Attached is a very brief proof of concept Cocoa application that will read and display a DDA file.

Unfortunately no one has yet sent me a data file with traction control, so my application will only view files without traction control. Likewise functionality is limited (like my spare time).

The application is a universal binary and should run on all versions of MacOS from MacOS 10.2 (only tested from 10.3.9 to 10.5 though).

What I'm looking for is a programming partner as I simply haven't the time to continue with solo development at the moment.

Andrew...

 

[Turboflyer]

Andrew you are like my oldest Son, a computer genius. He had to set me up with a virtual converter, windows XP and a specific USB serial converter to run my VDST diagnostic software on my MacBookPro. I will see if I can stimulate the "Cisco" kid with your idea.

 

[ttpete]

I solved my problems by getting a small netbook. It runs all my bike programs including the PC V maps and my GPS/mapping program and is small enough to fit in a tankbag. I can dump data to a thumb drive and load it on the big system if necessary.

 

[SquireSCA]

nah.. not cool. for example, what if it wasn't an intel mac and instead a FreeBSD machine (a real man's OS) and you needed parse out a few practice laps of, lets say, Miller Motorsports Park to find out where Johnny Rockstar Racer is losing 2 seconds a lap. It's really not possible with Prosa's "_My_First_Application!_" application.

The potential for a seriously useful device is there. It's just that Ducati and Prosa really dropped the ball by closing up that little device and turning it into a $400 paper weight.

Ducati did not drop the ball by catering to the platform that 85% of the world uses, Windows.

Hell, I could justify getting a cheap $249 Windows-based netbook, just for the DDA, and also to use the Power Commander software for my Duc, in the event that I used a Mac at home.

I installed OSX Leopard to my PC, actually removed Windows and ran OSX natively for about 5 months. In the end, it couldn't do anything that my Windows box couldn't do, in fact, it did less because none of my games ran worth a crap on it.

It didn't get viruses though, but Mac's don't get viruses for the same reason that fat chics don't... because nobody wants to phuck them. ;-)

In any event, I like Macs, I am not trying to bash them too much, but I did feel the need to point out that it is not Ducati's fault that you bought a computer that makes up the minority of the user base.

They are gonna cater to the masses, and it's a Windows World.

 

[enzochi]

Ducati did not drop the ball by catering to the platform that 85% of the world uses, Windows

Missed the point.. a $400 device that has 2m of storage that only spits out file that a clunky .Net application can read.. really.. that was the best they could do?

 

[Sedan_Clan]

Missed the point.. a $400 device that has 2m of storage that only spits out file that a clunky .Net application can read.. really.. that was the best they could do?

Interesting.....


....which leads me to ask, Is the DDA really worth it?

A prospective buyer wants to know!

 

[enzochi]

Interesting.....


....which leads me to ask, Is the DDA really worth it?

A prospective buyer wants to know!

I'm all for buying up as much stuff from the vendors and dealers! Keep the good ones in business.. but this device, I really don't think it's worth the price. But just for reference.. the Ferrari Californian, have a look at the radio. It's a ~$200K car and it really has a radio that looks as though it was a software project for a 4th grade class.. The DDA software, I believe, falls into the same category.

For the original poster:

Set up a public google code svn repo and I will add a much code as I can..