Row the Head of the Charles on your Erg

[kdahlhaus]

So you won't be in Boston this weekend? Row the race on your erg!

Thinking that this discussion was a great idea, I've created a program that uses the Model D to control Google Earth.

More details and download are on this page:
http://powertwenty.com/kpd/blog/?p=39

Enjoy!

[c2scott]

Very Cool.

I had it set up and running in our workout room in about 10 minutes.

Notes:

Works with PM3, not PM4. I presume someday an update will be available.
Make sure you attach your PM3 first, set up a workout and then run GoogleErg.

Great Job!

[kdahlhaus]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I do plan to update it for the PM4 as soon as I can. I'll also modify it so that it does not look for a connected PM3 unless you actually intend to erg ( as opposed to playback a tour or record a new one).

[kdahlhaus]

The new setup contains a second map to row - the Head of the Cuyahoga.

[kdahlhaus]

My apologies to those that downloaded Version 0.2 and received a generic message saying the time period was over. This problem is fixed in the new installer.

[ehagberg]

I can't seem to get this working. No matter what command line arguments are used, I get this error:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\ergTour>.\ergtour

Erg Tour Version 0.3 (C) 2006 by Kevin Dahlhausen
http://powertwenty.com/kpd/blog

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "ergTour.py", line 209, in ?
  File "ergTour.py", line 165, in playFile
  File "ergTour.py", line 121, in playViaErg
  File "win32com\client\__init__.pyc", line 489, in __init__
pywintypes.com_error: (-2147221164, 'Class not registered', None, None)

C:\Program Files\ergTour>

[kdahlhaus]

It looks like the problem lies with the COM interface to Google Earth.
Could you post the version information from the Help->About window of Google Earth. The important line is the first one that reads something similar to:

Google Earth 4.0.2091 (beta)

Do you have the free or another version of Google Earth?

I have an idea of where to look to solve this problem. It should be doable.

[ehagberg]

Apparently I had an old version of Google Earth installed and that was the problem. Upgrading to the latest one fixed it. I'll have to try actually rowing the course tomorrow.

Thanks,
-Eric

[kdahlhaus]

Great! That definately leaves the problem a versioning one w/Google Earth. I'm seeing if I can make it less dependent on the Google Earth version. We'll see what develops.

Thanks,
Kevin

[kdahlhaus]

The Doggett's Coat and Badge course is now available. I had to go with information on the net, so let me know if it is not accurate.

[ehagberg]

I notice that the course is viewed from the perspective of a cox, moving forward through it, rather than seeing it as a rower would, going backwards. Is there an option to row the course looking backwards, as would be seen by someone rowing the race?

[kdahlhaus]

That would be a good option. I'd have to do some vector math to rotate the camera 180 degrees, or just record the path backwards.

[kdahlhaus]

I’ve just uploaded a new version of Erg Tour. Version 0.5 contains the following changes:

* installs three races along with start-menu options to view the races without the erg attached
* documents PM3 firmware requirements and how to upgrade
* adds a new option to show the rower’s perspective
* contains improved recording documentation
* improves the recording function within the program

Links:
updated documentation
updated installer

[kdahlhaus]

There's a new version of Erg Tour available at
http://powertwenty.com/kpd/blog/index.p ... _available

It should support PM4's now. I don't have one to test on, so I'd be grateful if anyone that runs it a PM4 let me know how it goes.

[atheist]

this sounds awesome; will it run on linux?

-steve