libphidgets README ================== libphidgets is (c) 2004 Martin F. Krafft and distributed under the terms of the Artistic Licence. See the file ./COPYING in the source distribution for more information. Revision: $Id: README,v 1.9 2004/10/21 04:04:54 jason Exp $ Please send bugreports to . Introduction ------------ libphidgets is an attempt to provide a user-space cross-platform library to access the devices manufactured by Phidgets, Inc.[0]. The library uses libhid to access the phidgets without requiring support for these devices or HID by the kernel. 0. http://www.phidgets.com/ libphidgets sprang out of the need to control the phidget quad servo controller from user-space. At this moment, it does not support any other devices, but adding new ones should be fairly trivial -- libphidgets attempts to provide an extensible framework for the Phidgets. Please find more information on the project website (once information becomes available): http://libphidgets.alioth.debian.org I suggest that you sign up to the phidgets mailing list at http://lists.ailab.ch/mailman/listinfo/libphidgets-discuss for support, if you plan on using the phidgets. In the list archives, you can find much useful information already. Configuration ------------- To configure the package, you will need the following software. In parentheses are the versions used by the developers. Previous versions may work, but are not supported. The names directly correspond to the Debian packages providing the software. - libtool (1.5.6-1) - automake1.8 (1.8.5-1) - autoconf (2.59-7) - pkg-config (0.15.0-4) - gcc (3.3.4-2) Also, please make sure you have the following libraries installed: - libhid (0.2.3-1) - libusb (0.1.8-1) - libncurses5 (5.4-4) If you want to build the swig python extension, you will need swig 1.3 installed. Once these are installed, the package can be configured and compiled. Configuration happens as follows: $ ./autogen.sh [args] where [args] is a space-separated list of the following: --prefix=/usr/local installs the software under /usr/local --enable-debug enables debugging symbols in the library --enable-maintainer-mode enables automatic regeneration of configure and Makefile scripts --disable-shared only creates a library object for static linking, which shortens compile time. generally, this is not necessary. More options are available. Consult the `./configure --help` output. For most purposes, it suffices to issue the following command: $ ./autogen.sh --enable-debug The recommended way to install the software (see below) requires you to issue the following command: $ ./autogen.sh --enable-debug --prefix=/usr/local/stow/libhid Following the configuration, the package can be build and installed as usual: $ make $ su # if needed # make install Help wanted ----------- Note that the library is not (yet) complete and it's not thoroughly tested. However, given the effort and grief I went through in writing it, I would like to make it available to folks, get people to test it, and hopefully have some peeps submit improvements. If you have any suggestions, please write to us at libphidgets-discuss@lists.ailab.ch. It's not yet documented, although the usage should be fairly straight forward. We are hoping that someone steps forward and offers to document the work. It generally results in better documentation, when it's not written by the authors. Furthermore, I am always looking for people willing to help out. In particular, I would love to find someone willing to maintain the website. If you want to add new, please contact us at libphidgets-discuss@lists.ailab.ch. Credits ------- The library was written by Martin Krafft, with the support of Chester Fitchett, founder of Phidgets, Inc. InterfaceKit support added by Jason Watson Usage ----- The library supports pkg-config. Thus, to compile with the library, add the following to your Makefile: CPPFLAGS += `pkg-config libphidgets --cflags` LDFLAGS += `pkg-config libphidgets --libs` If using automake, use the AM_* versions of the two variables. Have fun.