Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andre S on August 28, 2010 at 7:02am

Well, I'm sorry but you won't be able to avoid some reading and "site exploring". I suppose you had a look at the manuals already? Which version of Ardupilot hardware are you using? If you would like to get some relevant help you also need to provide details of your installation.

We all started like this at some point (in my case quite recently). It takes some effort to get the grasp of this but you will be rewarded later on so hang on and read through the forum, the manuals, etc.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on August 28, 2010 at 7:20am

It's here in the manual.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by John Church on August 28, 2010 at 7:32am

"but when i downloaded it (2x) its all just reference?"
No bashing, huh? That's going to be tough. ;) Can you post the link that you used to download? When you download the zip from http://arduino.googlecode.com/files/arduino-0018.zip you just run the Arduino.exe . That's it.
Of course, then you'll need to read DIYD and add the required libraries for AP or APM to your sketch folder. You can do it. Read, read, read.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Bee on August 28, 2010 at 7:39am

I found the IDE in the manual
Ive "Downloaded" the IDE and the the most recent version of Ardu pilot and there are in my computer.. but i dont understand which file is the launch file, right now i cant really find and "launch files" to use the software they all seem to just be txt.files or something?

Im using Ardu pilot btw.
And yes chris ive explored the whole manual.. including desprate searches on youtube for related issues..

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Permalink Reply by Wiliam Otsen on August 28, 2010 at 7:52am

If you go to Ardupilot Main Page and scroll down you will find "Complete Manual" and "Source Code/Firmware." Clicking on the first you have the contents of the manual on the left side. If you click the second one the contents are on the right side and it says, "Featured Downloads." If you click "Show All" a big list comes up. If you look at it carefully it appears to be a list of the Ardupilot software versions, newest on top: Arduino 2.5.53 2.7 Beta 5.3. You can save the file to the folder of your choice but, you have to have previously downloaded Arduino IDE.

If you've never messed around with programming an Arduino board then you're probably going to be lost as to what to do with the source code. So you need to be Arduino-wise first which is subject matter that's assumed before you do the stuff on this web site. So if you're not already, get up to speed with Arduino by poking around the internet - buy a board and program it, etc. And you need to know how to fly an RC plane. Arduino and RC are prerequisites for doing anything here. I know them but UAV's are all new to me. I've made my plane choice and I'm just now starting to buy the hardware so I'm a total noob here. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Bee on August 28, 2010 at 10:17am

thanks for the help, i think this helped the most! =D

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Sgt Ric on August 28, 2010 at 4:10pm

Its OK to be a noob... we're all noobs here, -thats whats so fun about this community.
If it was a done deal with polished manuals and autoinstall apps, I'd have moved on to a diff hobby months ago!
My moto...ARFs are for kids!

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on August 28, 2010 at 3:00pm

All this is pretty explicitly described in the manual. What should we be doing to make this clearer?

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on August 28, 2010 at 3:51pm

Good idea. Done.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on August 28, 2010 at 5:00pm

Fab,

It's a good idea, but that tab on the store is an image, not text, and it's a real hassle to change it. (We don't have the font, our designer does, so we'd have to pay them to make the change).

Worst case, if people are confused they can just hit the back button in the browser or just type in the URL again..

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on August 28, 2010 at 3:52pm

That only happens if you unzip the files into a different directory than the default. If you download the latest zip files, they all are in the correctly-named folders and that shouldn't happen.

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Permalink Reply by Wiliam Otsen on August 28, 2010 at 3:45pm

Chris, as you know I'm new to this site. During the past few weeks I've gone here and there on the site as I had time. When you're new to a site, it's typical to 'hunt and peck' around looking for something that will act as a kind of a guide. If a site has a 'site map' that's the first place I'll go to get the totality of what's there and to then narrow down the sections to those of interest. Otherwise it's jump around, and when you do that you don't typically stay in one place too long unless it's getting you where you want to go. It's only been in the last couple of days that I've found what I need. It's here for sure, and if you know your way around I'm sure it's hard to understand why we new guys don't get it. Crazy as it may sound, I had to sit down and make myself read everything under the Ardupilot tab until I saw the links to the manual (read the whole thing!), the software link, etc. I have not seen these during my other visits - they are a bit "buried," but of course now they aren't buried for me anymore!
So, I don't really know what the solution is, but either a site map or something similar so a guy doesn't have to read the whole place to find out where the info is that he needs. I hope this helps - this is a great place and it will put a UAV in the air for me soon! Thanks!

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