====== Phidgets software ======

The phidgets software consist of 1) a C library to comunicate with the hardware and 2) the python bindings that uses this library. Here are the installation instructions.

===== Phidgets C library =====

  * Download the software inside of your home directory in ~/local/src:

  cd local/src
  wget http://www.phidgets.com/downloads/libraries/libphidget_2.1.8.20111121.tar.gz
  wget http://www.phidgets.com/downloads/libraries/PhidgetsPython_2.1.8.20111121.zip

  * Un compress the files

  tar -xzf libphidget_2.1.8.20111121.tar.gz
  unzip PhidgetsPython_2.1.8.20111121.zip

  * Configure and compile the C phidgets library

  cd libphidget-2.1.8.20111121/
  ./configure --prefix=/home/replace_with_your_user/local/DIR/libphidget-2.1.8.20111121/
  make
  make install

  * Install the library

  cd ~/local/DIR
  xstow libphidget-2.1.8.20111121


===== Phidgets python bindings =====

  * Precompile and install the bindings

  cd ~/local/src/PhidgetsPython/
  python setup.py install --prefix=/home/replace_with_your_user/local/DIR/phidgetspython
  cd ~/local/DIR/
  xstow phidgetspython

===== Giving permissions to users to use the phidgets hardware =====

  cd ~/local/src/libphidget-2.1.8.20111121/udev/
  sudo cp 99-phidgets.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
  /etc/init.d/udev restart

  * In this moment disconect and connects the phidgets back

== Download the Python examples ==

  * Get the examples from the phidgets webpage and uncompress it.
  * Connect a phidgets interface kit and run:

  python InterfaceKit-simple.py

== Small example ==

  * Plug the interface kit to the usb port of your computer. Then plug a phidget to the analog input 0.
  * Run the following commands inside of ipython

  from Phidgets.PhidgetException import *
  from Phidgets.Events.Events import *
  from Phidgets.Devices import *
  ik=InterfaceKit.InterfaceKit()
  ik.openPhidget()
  ik.waitForAttach(10000)
  print ik.getSensorValue(0)

  * This should read and show the value from analog input 0

  lcd=TextLCD.TextLCD()
  lcd.openPhidget()
  lcd.waitForAttach(0)
  lcd.setDisplayString(0,"hello world") 

  * This should show "hello world" in the LCD display

  * For correctly closing the devices

  ik.closePhidget()
  lcd.closePhidget()

For help, check the examples, as well as the Python API documentation:

[[http://www.phidgets.com/documentation/PythonDoc.zip|here]]