ComEasy, a new tool for the total station

Since ArcheOS 4 we added to the distro the open source software Total Open Station (in order to handle the process of downloading and converting raw data from our instruments) and I have to say that I still use the tool very often to turn Trimble .are file into .csv format, even if sometimes I experienced difficulties in connecting the hardware to my PC. For this reason I tried some alternatives and today I want to write about one of these software.
Its name is ComEasy and it is developed by Dr. Zoltàn Siki (aka zsiki) of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE). To test the software I simply downloaded the source code from the repository, but I had to modify the file "maincom_easy.tcl" in order to make it work under a Debian derived distribution like ArcheOS 6 Hypathia (as you see in the image below).

The small modification of the source code

Once I changed the Tcl interpreter (from Prowish to Wish), the software worked perfectly and I tested it with a Spectra Precision Focus 10 instrument. Until now I never experienced connection problems, so I recorded I short videotutorial to illustrate how the software work and I plan to add it to ArcheOS Hypatia suite to work with total stations, (together with Total Open Station, of course).
Here below is the short videotutorial I did.

I hope it is useful. Have a nice day!

Webography

ArcheOS 4 Caesar: ATOR post 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 

ArcheOS 6 Hypathia: ATOR post 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 

ComEasy: GitHub repo; 

Total Open Station: official site; GitHub repo; ATOR post;

Bibliography

ArcheOS 4: "ArcheOS 4.0 - "Caesar": novità e aspetti della distribuzione GNU/Linux dedicata all'archeologia" (here in ResearchGate, here in Academia)

The Faces of Evolution - Exhibition of hominids forensic facial reconstructions

May 18th through July 31st, 2013 will happen in the big and beautiful Curitiba city in Brazil, the exhibition The Faces of Evolution.

Near the replicas of skull of hominids will have nine panels with forensic facial reconstructions.

The exhibition will happen now, but the history started here in ATOR some months ago.

The methodology developed to model the majority of the faces was used for the very first time in Alberto di Trento's reconstruction.

On that occasion the Arc-Team presented a paper at the event Giovani Antropology (Italy), where they described the methodology for forensic facial reconstruction using only free software.

Following the events, we initiated Project Taung. If before we had rebuilt a modern human this time we would rebuild a hominid remote, then the Taung Child.

Beyond the Arc-Team Group, has joined the project Prof. Dr. Nicola Carrara University of Padua.

We were able to reconstruct the face of the Taung child fastly, thanks to a methodology developed previously.

We had a largely positive feedback, both personalities linked to forensic facial reconstruction, as those related to 3D modeling, as the creator of  Blender, Mr. Ton Roosendaal.

Several media outlets broadcasted stories (see the comments) on the reconstruction of the Taung child, as the Jornal de Brasilia above.

After the successful reconstruction of hominid remote, we got in touch with the archaeologist Prof. Dr. Moacir Elias Santos of the Archaeological Museum of Ponta Grossa and Prof. Esp. Vivian Tedardi of Rosicrucian and Egyptian Museum in Brazil and we began a series of modeling which culminated in the exhibition the Faces of Evolution, described here.

The Australopithecus afarensis.

The Homo erectus pekinensis.

The Cro-Magnon man.

The Turkana Boy.

The Homo heildelbergensis.

The Homo neanderthalensis.

The Homo habilis.

And last but not least, the Homo floresiensis.


This was a brief description of the exhibition and its history. Now, we expect the event date arrives, while others look for fossils to be rebuilt.

A big hug!

We want you, for ArcheOS

In the last weeks we started again with the development of ArcheOS 5 (codename Theodoric) and I have to say that the first results are really promising, especially thanks to the work of Fabrizio Furnari and Romain Janvier.

The reorganization  of the whole system, planned by Fabrizio, is leading to a better management of the entire project. Moreover the division of the internal software in thematic metapackages (CAD, GIS, etc...) will help final users in customizing their own version of ArcheOS (in accordance with their specific needs).

On the other hand, Romain is working really hard to build source packages of the different applications, so that ArcheOS 5 will be architecture independent.

Last but not least, the 3D artist Cicero Moraes is preparing a brand new artwork for the upcoming release. If you are curious, just take a look on the preview for the splashscreen below.

New artwork from Cicero Moraes

So, what's missing now? Just you!

We need your help to improve ArcheOS 5! 

We want you, and GNU ;)

Any kind of help is welcome! Some examples? You can give us suggestions for a better software selection, or write tutorial (as well as record videotutorial). If you have some computer skills, you can package the missing applications, or develop new ones...

In any case, you can find us as usual on the developer mailing list or, even better, in our brand new IRC chanel (thanks to Fabrizio). The server is FreeNode and the channel #archeos. 

I prepared a short videotutorial to illustrate how to join our channel in a fast way.

We wait for you there ;)