README

How to install this:
Create a directory under your user home called /bin.  This will be added
to your path next time you boot, so it's handy.

Copy all these files to there or copy the zip to there, then extract it, which
will create a subdir just for this.  If you like, you can put them in a new
directory under /home/youruser/bin, but then you'll have to add that to
your path manually, which you can do by editing the end of .profile file
in your home/username directory - that's the file run every time you
log in that sets up the system to your preferences, and where the code
that adds a /bin to the path is already - just copy that example and
change the directory names to whatever you want and add the new stuff
at the end.  The main reason you'd do this is so all the log files, which are 
going to wind up in the same directory as these programs, don't clutter up 
your /bin directory.

You will need gnuplot.  Probably the easiest way to get it is to use the
ubuntu software center (click the little ubuntu symbol on your menu bar)
and type in gnuplot to the search window, then click install when it finds it.
Most of this is just about that simple, only there's a few other things
you will also need.

First, though, you'll have to mark SC and SCPlot as executable.  Linux is like
that, when you copy a program to it, it takes that bit off the file for 
security reasons.  The easiest way is to navigate to the directory in
the Nautilus file explorer (looks like windows explorer pretty much), right
click on each of those files, then select "properties" from the menu.
Go to "permissions" and mark the files executable, and that takes care of that.
The explorer is under the "places" on your menu bar, with a default link
to your home folder already  there.  Note to windows users - we linux guys
use the other direction slash for path separators.


Here's a snippet of the perl code this was written in that requires
some perl modules that don't come with all linuxes.

use Gtk2 -init; # sets up GUI basics
use Glib qw(TRUE FALSE);
use Gtk2::GladeXML; # lets GUI come from a glade file
use Graphics::GnuplotIF qw(GnuplotIF); # gnuplot for plots
require Device::SerialPort; # the correct one for linux

So, you can find these two different ways.  One is to simply run the program.
If you simply double click it in the file explorer, it will ask if you want
to run it in terminal, or display it.  However, if there are errors, the
terminal will disappear before you can read them.  So the best way
is to get a command prompt from the applications/accessories menu, then type in
thename of the program (SC or SCPlot) and <enter>.  If you haven't put them on 
your path yet, you must specify the entire path to them.  They will then die 
with errors with the actual names of the missing modules.  You can then 
cut-paste those names (one by one) into the ubuntu software center and get it 
to install them.

I could ship them with this, but they need the whole make, make test, sudo make
install process, and the software center automates all that for you, it's easier
that way.

I also recommend getting gtkterm - the linux version of hyperterminal, as
this unit simply spits out data on the usb serial port, and for just
making sure the hardware works, it's the simplest way (once you find out
which usb-tty port the system has assigned it).  The unit has just one command,
!, which tells it to reset and restart at zero time.

On my systems, once I have a good install, I create launchers on the menu bar
for these, gedit, gtkterm, and the command prompt to save time later.  See
my board for instructions on how, it's pretty simple.  I also prefer my menu
bar on the bottom (like windows) and my running task bar on the top, as well
as having the tic-tac-toe buttons on all the windows on the upper right (like
windows).  Instructions on how to get that are also on the forums.

To edit your .profile file, you have to find it!  the leading period makes it
a "hidden" file.  Go to your home (your username) directory, with the file
explorer and under its view menu, select show hidden files.  It will then
show up and a double click will get it open in gedit (which is like notepad
but more fully featured - it has syntax highlighting for perl and some
other languages like HTML, Java...).  The rest should be obvious.
This isn't necessary, but it's slick once you've done it and added these
things to your path.

If you need/want quick realtime support, I'm Doug Coulter, DCFusor@gmail.com,
and usually online weekdays since I trade stocks for a living.  Get yourself
a google+ account and we can video chat - just send me a hangout invite and
I'll probably be there to respond.  Sometimes that's easier for all concerned,
since it also has a screen share feature and I can see what's going on at
your end.
