Embedded Linux for data acquisition and control

Embedded Linux for data acquisition and control

[Peter Uttley]

Hi Everyone,

Hope someone can give me a bit of advice on the best way to tackle a
university project I'm working on.

OK, I've currently ported Linux to my embedded MPC-850 board, many thanks to
the help of Frank Przybylski with his BDM4GDB and the invaluable advice from
Wolfgang Denx, thanks Guys!

Now what I want to do with the board is use it for data acquisition and
control of peripheral systems via a web interface.
I'm currently building my peripheral hardware which then simply dumps the
data down the serial port to the MPC-850.

I would really appreciate some advice on the best why to handle the data
coming in on the serial port and get it into the webserver.

My initial thoughts are,

I write a bit of software which monitors the serial port and has its own
little protocols with my peripheral hardware, the data is then written into
a file which is read by my web server (I'm using GoAhead-Thanks for the
pointer Frank) which has a active server page to display the information.

However this seems a bit of a hack way of doing it, and could cause problems
when I'm trying to send data to my device to electronically open an door for
instance.

Is it possible therefore to directly receive and transmit data from my web
server to the serial port, I know you can write any C code in ASP or CGI
scripts but I need to have some sort of control, monitoring, waiting for
data e.t.c. which seem best handled by some sort of daemon or device driver.

Hope that makes sense and that someone can give me a few clues as to which
direction I should take, the project time schedules quite tight so I don't
want to be heading down too much of a blind alley.

Thanks for you time,

Regards,

Pete.


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Embedded Linux for data acquisition and control

[Srinivas Rao.M]

Hello Peter, and other list members
I am having a question rather than an answer for the earlier posted
question..

  I am also having the similar problem, as Mr Peter's . I have the
embedded system based on the FADS860T having the MPC860T Processor. On the custom board i
have a number of serial devices. The parameters of the serial devices i
want to control through the web browser. I have the Text based interface
(CLI) to control and configure these serial port parameters. The parameters
such as the baud rate, Character width, parity bit,etc., i am presently
configuring it through the Command line interface. I want to do it with
the help of the web browser on the remote machine.

I would really appreciate, if someone gives me the idea of doing this. I
have a FreeBSD4.3 compatible network stack on this custom board. My
initial idea was to port a WebServer such as Apache, onto my system.
But that looks tedious job, as the source code itself is very big. I am
looking for the open source Webserver for the embedded devices. Can any
one suggest me any alternative approach to my task.

regards,
Srini...




On Thu, 15 Feb 2001, Peter Uttley wrote:

>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Hope someone can give me a bit of advice on the best way to tackle a
> university project I'm working on.
>
> OK, I've currently ported Linux to my embedded MPC-850 board, many thanks to
> the help of Frank Przybylski with his BDM4GDB and the invaluable advice from
> Wolfgang Denx, thanks Guys!
>
> Now what I want to do with the board is use it for data acquisition and
> control of peripheral systems via a web interface.
> I'm currently building my peripheral hardware which then simply dumps the
> data down the serial port to the MPC-850.
>
> I would really appreciate some advice on the best why to handle the data
> coming in on the serial port and get it into the webserver.
>
> My initial thoughts are,
>
> I write a bit of software which monitors the serial port and has its own
> little protocols with my peripheral hardware, the data is then written into
> a file which is read by my web server (I'm using GoAhead-Thanks for the
> pointer Frank) which has a active server page to display the information.
>
> However this seems a bit of a hack way of doing it, and could cause problems
> when I'm trying to send data to my device to electronically open an door for
> instance.
>
> Is it possible therefore to directly receive and transmit data from my web
> server to the serial port, I know you can write any C code in ASP or CGI
> scripts but I need to have some sort of control, monitoring, waiting for
> data e.t.c. which seem best handled by some sort of daemon or device driver.
>
> Hope that makes sense and that someone can give me a few clues as to which
> direction I should take, the project time schedules quite tight so I don't
> want to be heading down too much of a blind alley.
>
> Thanks for you time,
>
> Regards,
>
> Pete.
>
>
>

--

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.
-Lao-Tzu


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Embedded Linux for data acquisition and control

[Peter Uttley]

HI Srinivas,

I too initially looked at using apache but was wisely redirected by Wolfgang
Denx to look at the GoAhead webserver.
GoAhead is an open source webserver ported to every OS you can think of, and
only has a few basic license requirements if you want to use it commercial.
It has many features of apache include cgi, asp e.t.c.
Have a look at www.goahead.com

Hope that helps,

Pete.


----- Original Message -----
From: Srinivas Rao.M <msrao@vxl.co.in>
To: Peter Uttley <P.Uttley-97@student.lboro.ac.uk>
Cc: <linuxppc-embedded@lists.linuxppc.org>
Sent: 20 February 2001 11:30
Subject: Re: Embedded Linux for data acquisition and control


> Hello Peter, and other list members
> I am having a question rather than an answer for the earlier posted
> question..
>
>   I am also having the similar problem, as Mr Peter's . I have the
> embedded system based on the FADS860T having the MPC860T Processor. On the
custom board i
> have a number of serial devices. The parameters of the serial devices i
> want to control through the web browser. I have the Text based interface
> (CLI) to control and configure these serial port parameters. The
parameters
> such as the baud rate, Character width, parity bit,etc., i am presently
> configuring it through the Command line interface. I want to do it with
> the help of the web browser on the remote machine.
>
> I would really appreciate, if someone gives me the idea of doing this. I
> have a FreeBSD4.3 compatible network stack on this custom board. My
> initial idea was to port a WebServer such as Apache, onto my system.
> But that looks tedious job, as the source code itself is very big. I am
> looking for the open source Webserver for the embedded devices. Can any
> one suggest me any alternative approach to my task.
>
> regards,
> Srini...
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 15 Feb 2001, Peter Uttley wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > Hope someone can give me a bit of advice on the best way to tackle a
> > university project I'm working on.
> >
> > OK, I've currently ported Linux to my embedded MPC-850 board, many
thanks to
> > the help of Frank Przybylski with his BDM4GDB and the invaluable advice
from
> > Wolfgang Denx, thanks Guys!
> >
> > Now what I want to do with the board is use it for data acquisition and
> > control of peripheral systems via a web interface.
> > I'm currently building my peripheral hardware which then simply dumps
the
> > data down the serial port to the MPC-850.
> >
> > I would really appreciate some advice on the best why to handle the data
> > coming in on the serial port and get it into the webserver.
> >
> > My initial thoughts are,
> >
> > I write a bit of software which monitors the serial port and has its own
> > little protocols with my peripheral hardware, the data is then written
into
> > a file which is read by my web server (I'm using GoAhead-Thanks for the
> > pointer Frank) which has a active server page to display the
information.
> >
> > However this seems a bit of a hack way of doing it, and could cause
problems
> > when I'm trying to send data to my device to electronically open an door
for
> > instance.
> >
> > Is it possible therefore to directly receive and transmit data from my
web
> > server to the serial port, I know you can write any C code in ASP or CGI
> > scripts but I need to have some sort of control, monitoring, waiting for
> > data e.t.c. which seem best handled by some sort of daemon or device
driver.
> >
> > Hope that makes sense and that someone can give me a few clues as to
which
> > direction I should take, the project time schedules quite tight so I
don't
> > want to be heading down too much of a blind alley.
> >
> > Thanks for you time,
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Pete.
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
>
> When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete,
> everybody will respect you.
> -Lao-Tzu
>
>
>


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Embedded Linux for data acquisition and control

[Jerry Van Baren]

Do a web search.  The hardest part will be picking the best one for
your needs.
   http://www.google.com/search?q=small+embedded+web+server

Some candidates from a quick scan:
http://www-sop.inria.fr/koala/phk/k-web/intro.html
http://www.linuxdevices.com/links/LK7524879313.html
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/1998/04/perl/
http://jetty.mortbay.com/

well, you get the idea.

gvb


At 05:00 PM 2/20/01 +0530, Srinivas Rao.M wrote:

>Hello Peter, and other list members
>I am having a question rather than an answer for the earlier posted
>question..
>
>   I am also having the similar problem, as Mr Peter's . I have the
>embedded system based on the FADS860T having the MPC860T Processor. On
>the custom board i
>have a number of serial devices. The parameters of the serial devices i
>want to control through the web browser. I have the Text based interface
>(CLI) to control and configure these serial port parameters. The
>parameters
>such as the baud rate, Character width, parity bit,etc., i am presently
>configuring it through the Command line interface. I want to do it with
>the help of the web browser on the remote machine.
>
>I would really appreciate, if someone gives me the idea of doing this. I
>have a FreeBSD4.3 compatible network stack on this custom board. My
>initial idea was to port a WebServer such as Apache, onto my system.
>But that looks tedious job, as the source code itself is very big. I am
>looking for the open source Webserver for the embedded devices. Can any
>one suggest me any alternative approach to my task.
>
>regards,
>Srini...
>
>
>
>
>On Thu, 15 Feb 2001, Peter Uttley wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > Hope someone can give me a bit of advice on the best way to tackle a
> > university project I'm working on.
> >
> > OK, I've currently ported Linux to my embedded MPC-850 board, many
> thanks to
> > the help of Frank Przybylski with his BDM4GDB and the invaluable
> advice from
> > Wolfgang Denx, thanks Guys!
> >
> > Now what I want to do with the board is use it for data acquisition and
> > control of peripheral systems via a web interface.
> > I'm currently building my peripheral hardware which then simply
> dumps the
> > data down the serial port to the MPC-850.
> >
> > I would really appreciate some advice on the best why to handle the
> data
> > coming in on the serial port and get it into the webserver.
> >
> > My initial thoughts are,
> >
> > I write a bit of software which monitors the serial port and has
> its own
> > little protocols with my peripheral hardware, the data is then
> written into
> > a file which is read by my web server (I'm using GoAhead-Thanks for the
> > pointer Frank) which has a active server page to display the
> information.
> >
> > However this seems a bit of a hack way of doing it, and could cause
> problems
> > when I'm trying to send data to my device to electronically open an
> door for
> > instance.
> >
> > Is it possible therefore to directly receive and transmit data from
> my web
> > server to the serial port, I know you can write any C code in ASP
> or CGI
> > scripts but I need to have some sort of control, monitoring,
> waiting for
> > data e.t.c. which seem best handled by some sort of daemon or
> device driver.
> >
> > Hope that makes sense and that someone can give me a few clues as
> to which
> > direction I should take, the project time schedules quite tight so
> I don't
> > want to be heading down too much of a blind alley.
> >
> > Thanks for you time,
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Pete.
> >
> >
> >
>
>--
>
>When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete,
>everybody will respect you.
>-Lao-Tzu
>
>


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/