Installation

For most systems no installation is required if you use the web start version of the GUI. If you are using mac os 10.5 or lower see the configuration instructions below. The web start version of the GUI dynamically loads rxtx and the native libraries for the supported architectures. The web start GUI has been tested for 32 bit windows, 32 bit linux and mac os 10.5 and should work for most systems. If the web start GUI does not work for your system you can install the most recent version of rxtx for your computer system from rxtx.

Mac OS 10.5 and Lower Configuration

In the version of rxtx used with this project (2.1.7) there is a known issue associated with the locking of serial ports on mac os 10.5 and lower. The serial ports are not released properly however there is a simple work around for this issue. There are two scripts available at jlog.org.

After the scripts are downloaded open the terminal (application->utilities->terminal) and move to the directory where you downloaded the script to, and execute the script. For example if the script was downloaded to the Downloads directory in your home folder and you are using the mac os 10.5 script you would type:
         cd Downloads
         sudo sh ./fixperm-217-leo.sh
Then enter your administrator password.

Note: These instructions were taken from jLog.org. At the jLog page instructions are also listed for installing rxtx and the native libraries this is not necessary for the MinuteMan GUI since web start will dynamically load the rxtx package and the native libraries.

Some more discussion about this problem can be found at this arduino page and at this rxtx wiki page.