I’ve just revisited the JDiveLog site for the first time in a while, and this software is now up to v2.9 (it was at 2.0 when I last checked it out).
I’ve downloaded this new version, and it’s far more evolved, and I’ve hooked it up to my Suunto Vyper with no problems.

It stores its data in the UDCF Format, which is an XML structure, so the structure can be adapted to accommodate the capabilities of different computers models.

Although the User interface isn’t as pretty as the Suunto software (you can’t – for example – replay a dive on a “replica” computer), the structure is far better suited for future development – and the source is provided.

One other nice thing about this is that it runs on a Java platform – so there are a lot more opportunities out there for portable solutions.

It’s also being seriously integrated with the HeinrichsWeikamp OSTC (Open Source Divecomputer). If you haven’t read about this, it’s worth taking a look – a dive computer hardware “platform” with open source firmware.
Matthias Heinrichs’ work will be familiar to many underwater photographers – he engineered converters to switch (amongst others) Olympus TTL flash signals to “standard” Nikonos format.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Logbook software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.