First steps
From Mca2
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[edit] First steps in MCA2
Please step into the section that considers your favorite operating system.
[edit] Linux
[edit] Download
Get the newest version of MCA2 on sourceforge:
- Download MCA2 from MCA's Sourceforge Page
[~]$ mv mca2.4.0.beta.tgz mca2
[~]$ cd mca2
[edit] Build
- Configure MCA2 for your system:
- Set environment variables:
- Compile everything:
Executables are installed in
$(MCAHOME)/export/$(TARGET)/bin
Libraries and plugins in
$(MCAHOME)/export/$(TARGET)/lib
MCAHOME is your MCA2 directory. TARGET is created automatically depending on your operating system and CPU. Example: mca2/export/i686_Linux_debug/
[edit] Test
There are several test programs already built:
- reply_values
- pass_values
- time_test
- blackboard_test
They serve as examples for coding and execution. Start reply_values:
Then start mcabrowser:
A treeview appears. Expand the treeview by clicking on the '+' symbols. If you click onto any name, a corresponding window with additional information appears. If a graph with modules and edges appear, click on any of them to get more information. Try also to access the IO-interfaces of modules and groups. As you can see, the module ReplyValues submits 4 values on ControllerInput and SensorOutput sides. The mcabrowser is a tool that enables to analyze and debug existing mca control programs.
Start mcagui now:
- Change the size of the window.
- Then create a slider (click on the corresponding tool button or select 'Slider' from menu 'Actors').
- Press <ctrl> button and click with right mouse button on the appeared slider widget: Change the size of the slider.
- Press <ctrl> button and click with left mouse button on the slider widget: Change the position of the slider.
- Press <ctrl> button and click with middle mouse button on the slider widget: A new configuration window appears.
- Select the 'Actor' Tab and select "actor 0" as IO Channel and "Port No. 0" as Widget Port.
- Press "-->" button to establish the connection. Your Slider is now connected to the ControllerInput "actor 0" of the reply_value program.
- Close the configuration window "Edit".
- Create an LCD widget (click on on the corresponding tool button or select 'LCD' from menu 'Sensors').
- Change Size and Position of this new widget, too.
- Press <ctrl> button and click with middle mouse button on the LCD widget.
- Select the 'Sensor' Tab and select "sensor 0" as IO Channel and "Port No. 0" as Widget Port.
- Press "-->" button to establish the connection. Your LCD is now connected to the SensorOutput "sensor 0" of the reply_value program.
- Close the configuration window "Edit".
- Use the slider: LCD value will change, too.
- Have a look at the console output of reply_values.
- Have a look at the IO-values in mcabrowser (use auto-update)
[edit] Windows
[edit] Download
Get the newest version of MCA2 on sourceforge:
- Download MCA2 from MCA2's Sourceforge Page
Please have a look at README_WIN32 as long as this section is not updated.
[edit] MAC/OS X
MAC/OS X support is not available for MCA version 2.4.x so far.
