Ostc3 firmware update

[Dirk Hohndel]

On Mon, 2014-03-10 at 16:59 +0100, Jef Driesen wrote:
> On 2014-03-06 10:25, Anton Lundin wrote:
> > I was just playing around with trying to upgrade my ostc's firmware, 
> > and
> > the mk2 got upgraded just fine.
> > 
> > From what i could see, there is no support for upgrading ostc3's
> > firmware in libdivecomputer. I started to play around a bit and ran 
> > into
> > problems right away.
> > 
> > The firmware files doesn't look to be regular ihex as the ostc2 ones.
> > Do anyone have any information on the fw upgrade procedure for the
> > ostc3?
> 
> At the moment, the firmware update protocol and the format of the hex 
> files are not public. I have been talking to Heinrichs-Weikamp about 
> supporting OSTC3 firmware upgrades in libdivecomputer, and they're 
> willing to share the necessary information. So that's excellent news!
> 
> On a more personal note, I can't emphasize enough that Heinrichs-Weikamp 
> is a unique company among the dive computer manufacturers. Not only do 
> they provide public documentation on the communication protocol, but 
> they're also the ONLY company that even goes one step further and 
> delivers an open source firmware!

And while many companies are helpful to Subsurface and libdivecomputer
(Shearwater, Mares, Atomics Aquatics, Uemis, etc), Heinrichs & Weikamp
are in a league of their own. They have contributed devices, code, and
feedback and most importantly they understand and DO open source as part
of their business.

We don't officially endorse any one dive computer or dive computer
maker. But I will say that I consider Heinrichs & Weikamp as 'special'.

/D