The Official PowerGlove Serial Interface (PGSI) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) post. Last modified: 11-29-93 Maintained by: Ben Gross (pgsi@uiuc.edu) Stored on: ftp.cso.uiuc.edu in /ACM/PGSI as pgsi-faq This FAQ is posted irregularly to sci.virtual-worlds. If you do not have access to any kind of news reader, send mail to pgsi@uiuc.edu and I will put you on the distribution list. The FAQ has been split into two files: pgsi-faq and pgsi-history both are available on the FTP site. ! denotes a new question. + denotes an update to the question Special Note: The cut off date for PGSI orders is December 15th! Questions that will be answered in this FAQ: 1 What is the PGSI? 2 Will the PGSI work on my machine? 3 What advantages does the PGSI have over parallel port glove interfaces? +4 What does the PGSI package include? +5 What software is available for the PGSI? 6 What are the capabilities of the SEGA driver circuitry? 7 Does the PGSI come with a power supply? +8 Will there be a second production run? +9 Where can I find more information about the PGSI and the PowerGlove? +10 Can I purchase the PGSI as a kit? 11 Is it possible to obtain the user's manual, and is it on FTP? +12 Is it possible to use two PowerGloves with the PGSI at once? !13 What is different about the second production run than the first? NOTE: The FTP site is configured correctly. We are now in the process of updating our files. If anything is severely out of date, or if you would like anything added, please let me know. The ftp site has been moved, so please make sure you use ftp.cso.uiuc.edu . Questions: 1 What is the PGSI? The PowerGlove Serial Interface (PGSI) is a small black box that allows the Mattel PowerGlove to be interfaced to any computer which has a standard RS-232 serial port. The device measures 3.35" by 1" by 1.5" and connects to to any DB-25 style RS-232 connector. The PGSI will work with any IBM, IBM-compatible, Amiga, Macintosh, Workstation, or other type of computer that has a standard serial port. The device interfaces the PowerGlove and/or SEGA-style shutter glasses to the computer, and communicates with them using standard RS-232 data values. The interface emulates both the AGE and the Menelli command sets, has extensions to allow the user to read in values from either 8 Analog-Digital Ports or 1 digital port consisting of 8 pins, and can be reprogrammed with code updates by the end-user. 2 Will the PGSI work on my machine? The PGSI will work with your machine if it has an RS-232 (EIA-232) port. The IBM, Amiga, and workstations typically have a port that will work directly. Macintosh users will need to purchase a Mac MiniDin 8 to DB-25 adapter (also available through ACM at UIUC). If you have a 9 pin serial port you will need to purchase a nine to twenty-five pin converter from an electronics or computer store. 3 What advantages does the PGSI have over parallel port glove interfaces? Parallel port glove interfaces use CPU time on their host machine. They depend on the host CPU for timing purposes, which means that in many cases they make your host machine wait in a timing loop in order to clock data out of the PowerGlove. As a result, your computer has less processor time to do calculations, and the end effect is that your computer seems slower. The PGSI contains its own micro-controller, dedicated to receiving data from the PowerGlove and sending it in serial packets to the host machine. This minimizes the amount of host processor time used. Another disadvantage of parallel interfaces is the fact that they use a parallel port. Since some machines made today-- including many workstations--do not have parallel ports, parallel interfaces may limit availability for some users. In addition, the parallel port may not be standard across all platforms. The PGSI works with the serial port, which is standard on nearly every machine made today. +4 What does the PGSI package include? An assembled PGSI A printed user's manual Demo programs (Mac or IBM) The latest online documentation All code and program updates will be put on our anonymous FTP site. +5 What software is available for the PGSI? We currently have a functional Mac mouse driver replacement written by one of our members, Jay Kreibich (jak@uiuc.edu). We will include the binary and the source code with the PGSI Mac distribution. Jay is also working on a set of Mac libraries. Another of our members, Chris Wilson (cwilson@ncsa.uiuc.edu), has written a Windows 3.1 application called Maestro II. Maestro allows you to use the glove on a virtual keyboard that outputs to a MIDI device. Charlie Lindahl (lindahl@cse.uta.edu) has written code to allow the PGSI to work with REND386. His code is not yet complete, and does not support all of the functions of the PGSI. His code does NOT presently support the SEGA glasses. If anyone is interested in writing drivers or other software for the PGSI, we will gladly take submissions and redistribute them. If you wish to make a submission, please uuencode your files and mail them to pgsi@uiuc.edu. If possible please include a short description or readme. Also, please make sure you tell me what compression programs if any you may have used and what version. As of this date, we have no plans to sell any of the software for the PGSI and will distribute applications under a GNU-type license unless the authors wish otherwise. All of our available software will be placed on our ftp site. 6 What are the capabilities of the SEGA driver circuitry? The SEGA driver circuitry will work with either the Toshiba or the SEGA shutter glasses. The SEGA driver circuitry is capable of the following: One-wire control (LEFTON/RIGHTOFF, LEFTOFF/RIGHTON) Two-wire control (LEFTON/RIGHTOFF, LEFTOFF/RIGHTON LEFTOFF/RIGHTOFF, LEFTON/RIGHTON) No-wire control (Use software RS-232 commands to emulate two-wire control) The SEGA circuitry is used to power LCD shutter glasses, which can be used with a monitor to present the illusion of a 3-Dimensional on-screen picture. One-wire control uses one of the handshake lines to control which lens is transparent. Two-wire control uses both handshake lines to control the lenses independently. Software emulation (no-wire control) uses serial commands to control the LCD shutters. Note: We have no SEGA or Toshiba glasses for sale, although I would be interested in purchasing a pair or two of Toshiba glasses if someone has any lying around. 7 Does the PGSI come with a power supply? The interface is not sold with a power supply, although it does require one. It uses a standard "brick"-type supply. The PGSI can accept a wide variety of input voltages. Anything from 9 volts to 24 volts at 500 - 1000 mA is acceptable. The polarity of the plug is not important, as the PGSI has its own rectifier (built-in polarity converter) to maintain the correct polarity. Power supplies can be purchased from ACM at UIUC if necessary. +8 Will there be a second production? We are currently taking orders for the second production run of PGSI's. If you would like to order one of the second production run units, please let us know as soon as possible. In order to speed up the ordering process, we suggest that you ftp an order form from our ftp site, fill it out, and mail it electronically. Please make sure you use an updated order form (dated November 1993). There is no formal shipping date as of yet. All other order forms are no longer valid. +9 Where can I find more information about the PGSI and the PowerGlove? This FAQ is your best bet for a good start. Also check our FTP site: ftp.cso.uiuc.edu in /ACM/PGSI Check out the /ACM/PGSI/README file for what's currently available. The USENET group sci.virtual-worlds has discussions on both the PGSI and the PowerGlove as well as many other aspects of virtual reality. The group sci.virtual-worlds.apps discusses various working applications that incorporate virtual reality. The newsgroups are moderated. Archives of sci.virtual-worlds are located on ftp.u.washington.edu in pub/user-supported/virtual-worlds/postings. Archives of sci.virtual-worlds.apps are located on kth.se in pub/sci.virtual-worlds.apps. Many of the applications discussed in these newsgroups are also located on these ftp sites. There is also a mailing list called the glove list that carries discussions about the PowerGlove and the PGSI. You can subscribe to it by sending email to: listserv@nas.nasa.gov with subscribe glove-list in the body of the message. Problems go to jet@nas.nasa.gov, *NOT* to the glove list. "This is now on a unix-listserv, so the method of getting archives will change. Send a message to listserv@boxer.nas.nasa.gov with a body of 'info glove-list' or 'help' for more information.' "Currently there is no ftp site for the glove-list. Instead, there is the archive server capabilities from unix-listserv. Send a message to listserv@boxer.nas.nasa.gov with a body of 'get glove README' for a list of what is available." For those without USENET access there are listservs called virtu-l and vrapp-l. They contain reposts from sci.virtual worlds and sci.virtual-worlds.apps. You can subscribe by sending a message to listserv@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu or listserv@uiucvmd on Bitnet) with a message body containing: subscribe virtu-l Your_Full_Name or subscribe vrapp-l Your_Full_Name +10 Can I purchase the PGSI as a kit? We will no longer be offering the PGSI in kit form. One of the main reasons we decided to discontinue the kits is that we do not have the capacity to offer support or troubleshooting for them once they are built. 11 Is it possible to obtain the user's manual, and is it on FTP? The latest version of the user's manual (version 0.3) is available on our new FTP site: ftp.cso.uiuc.edu in /ACM/PGSI Check the /ACM/PGSI/README file for what's currently available. If you do not have access to FTP we can email uuencoded copies to you. Note: The version of the user's manual which is currently on the FTP site is now out of date; we will be updating it soon for the second run. +12 Can two gloves be used with the PGSI at the same time? The PGSI was designed to accept two PowerGloves at the same time. The code for two-glove support has not yet been refined. Hopefully, the use of two gloves will be supported in the next version of the code. Note: Two PGSI single-glove units will not work together, since the devices are not synchronized and the glove units will interfere. !13 What is different about the second production run than the first? We will have a new updated and greatly expanded users manual. Previous purchasers may FTP a new manual once it is finished. We will also most likely offer seperate printed copies of the new manual. We have much more software to distribute on the demo disks. The only hardware difference is that the PGSI will have a much more standard power jack. The PGSI Team ACM at UIUC pgsi@uiuc.edu