Bob Edberry said:
Sorry, wasn't meaning to 'throw stones', just wanted to point out that it seemed like 'false advertising' to post that this is software for the Mac. It's more like 'lots of hard work and programming and you can download your PT to a Mac'.
Bob
Well, it is software for mac, it just doesn't have a GUI (graphical user interface). I have above average knowledge of computers but no programming experience and no experience with macs and I'm pretty sure I could work it out (I understand the instructions. Longer term it will probably become more useful to those without so much technical knowledge. You certainly don't need to be able to program to use it (I can't).
If anyone wants to give it a go, here's the basics:
1. Download and decompress the *.tgz file.
2. Install the powertap USB driver (you'd have to do this using any software).
3. Go for a ride.
4. Get a command line.
5. Use 'ptdl' to download your ride from the command line. You type:
$ ./ptdl
It will download to a '*.raw' file, named after your rides start time and date. YYYY_MM_DD_hh_mm_ss.raw is the format for the file name, so a file created at 11:34:03 on the 15th May 2006 would be called 2006_05_15_11_34_03.raw
You now have the data, but it's not very readable.
6. Still in the command line, use ptunpk to unpack your ride data into a much friendlier format, *.dat. You use the file name you want to unpack as the argument. EG - type:
$ ./ptunpk filename.rar
This yields 'filename.dat'.
7. You now have a relatively easy to read file that you can interrogate using the basic command line tools included with the package. 'intervals.pl' gives a summary of intervals performed including time, distance, avg HR, avg power, etc.
On a command line type:
$ ./intervals.pl 2006_05_03_16_24_04.dat
Finally, if you want a graph of your ride, download GNUplot (google it, it's like free!) and use the sample GNUplot script on the goldencheetah site with the filename you want graphed substituted in.
If you resist the urge to glaze over when reading the instructions I think almost anyone could do this stuff, but if you have functional power software running on a PC emulator you should probably stick to that unless you know a bit about computers. Like I said, it's no cyclingpeaks. I just think the project should be encouraged and it might be useful to some people - better yet, maybe someone here wants to write a GUI, or perhaps cyclingpeaks wants to pay these guys to convert cyclingpeaks to mac... who knows...
) ...I'd have no problem paying $30-40 for something like this if it worked.
