PlaneGadget running Radarbox Software ?

[minskie]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if RadarBox software/interface would work with the PlaneGadget hardware ?

It's just a ADS-B signal being fed into the USB port after all, or is there more going on?

The reason I ask is that the PlaneGadget box/hardware is less than 1/2 the cost of the RadarBox and I believe is just as good.

The only downside is the software. It only runs with PlanePlotter which is pretty lame.

If someone out there was cluey, they could design some decent software for PlaneGadget and it'd be a winner.

Has anyone got a PlaneGadet and RadarBox software that they could try and let us know? I don't care about the 3D. Just the 2D version would be fine.

 

[DaveNF2G]

Obviously you are not a PlanePlotter user, or at least you don't utilize it fully. It is far from "lame." I feed my RadarBox data, ACARS audio, and PC-HFDL data into Planeplotter, which maps aircraft positions from all three sources, as well as those that are shared via the PP network.

 

[CalebATC]

Obviously you are not a PlanePlotter user, or at least you don't utilize it fully. It is far from "lame." I feed my RadarBox data, ACARS audio, and PC-HFDL data into Planeplotter, which maps aircraft positions from all three sources, as well as those that are shared via the PP network.

Plane plotter is a very great program as Dave said. That's what I use for ACARS mapping. The best I have seen. My plane plotter has about a 75nm radius of a aviation sectional map (Atlanta) on it, works wonderful. It takes alot of manual reading, and tinkering around with to get it how you like it!

I thought it sucked at first, but then figured out how wonderful it actually is!

 

[minskie]

I'm not doubting its ability, but you must admit, the graphics suck and Airnav's software makes PP look like a Commodore 64 program. You see far more aircraft info at a glance too than in PP.

Back to the Q's. Will PlaneGadget drive the RadarBox program ? I'm guessing no.

Would be cool if someone came along with decent software for PlaneGadget rather than PP.

 

[minskie]

I have been dabbling around, and can see no reason why the PlaneGadet hardware wouldn't drive Airnav's RadarBox Software. Can't do much more till my PlaneGadet box arrives.

I'm certain it could be made to work with an interface or 'patch' utility, if not straight out of the box.

Wouldn't be too hard for someone with a bit of programming knowledge.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I'm not doubting its ability, but you must admit, the graphics suck and Airnav's software makes PP look like a Commodore 64 program. You see far more aircraft info at a glance too than in PP.

Keep researching. The user has complete control over what the graphics look like. If your graphics suck, then you need to get better ones.

 

[minskie]

I'm referring to PP's interface and overall 'look'. I have some pretty maps and outlines loaded, but you have to admit, against something as slick as the RadarBox interface, PP looks like an old DOS program. Great ugly orange colored A/C labels, no polar diagram to show your coverage, no TAF's or Wx, no flight strips etc. I could go on and on.

I'm sure PP has its place (I own a licenced copy) but would be nice to have a better looking interface/software for use with PlaneGadget. That's why I was wondering if the PlaneGadget box alone would drive AIrNav's software.

I thought Bev might have made an attempt to re-vamp the look and functionality of PP by now. Maybe it should be re-named PlainPlotter?

 

[SkipSanders]

I'd just like to see someone do a direct interpreter from the receiver audio in software. I have receivers for 1090, but that doesn't get you the data bits.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I thought Bev might have made an attempt to re-vamp the look and functionality of PP by now. Maybe it should be re-named PlainPlotter?

It's abundantly clear now that all you want to do is make fun of PP. Fine. Maybe if you ever become really interested in making your PP experience more to your liking, you will join the Yahoogroup where all sorts of innovations have been made available in recent weeks.

 

[minskie]

I'm really only interested in the Q's of whether or not PlaneGadget could be made to work with the RadarBox software (or any other software) as an alternative to PlanePlotter.

Perhaps the manufacturers of PlaneGadget will eventually offer their own software?

I just don't like the PP interface. I am not here just to bag PP but looking for other alternatives.

I have heard good reports on PlaneGadgets performance and its a shame if that is let down by lack of a decent interface/radar screen.

 

[MtnBiker2005]

Not a 100% fix for your question.....
The only other software that might work 50% or more with PlaneGadget unit.

VirualRadarServer software.
Viewing ADS-B flight on a Google Map using your browser like FireFox.
http://www.virtualradarserver.co.uk/

FlightDisplay
http://sites.google.com/site/0flightdisplay/homepage

 

[minskie]

Thanks for that,

I'll have a look at those.

Cheers.

 

[minskie]

Well, I have to admit, the more I muck around with PP the more I learn about it's capabilities.

I'm getting more out of it with continued use and experimenting.

I might have to settle for PP and PlaneGadget. Some decent looking maps will make it a good combo.

You really have to learn PP and 'tweak' it to get good results.

I think someone has recently published a guide to PlanePlotter somewhere.??

That might also be worth a look.

 

[Baylink]

I understand Minskie's position here.

I spent some time a couple of years ago with Linux audio editing software called Ardour.

It drove me up the *wall* for about a week -- and I, in turn, pissed off the people on its forum pretty bad -- because it violated nearly *every* standard rule of UI design.

It did this, I learned over time, *because it was a power tool*, and it was optimised to do easily the things you do 40 times a minute when producing audio professionally, at the expense of following those UI guidelines slavishly. If it *had* done so, I learned, it would have driven about half as fast for the trained user.

This is *not*, now, a blanket license to all software to violate the UI guidelines users have come to expect, or that any given platform imposes... just an observation that even those rules are made to be broken. Occasionally.

 

[minskie]

Hi Baylink,

Well, for the moment, it looks like PlaneGadget will only work with PlanePlotter, I guess its a case of making the best of what works.

I have managed to get some better looking maps running in PlanePlotter. Seems to do the job.