I´m currently speculating about getting a new dive computer, the OSTC MK.2 by Heinrichs Weihkamp (http://www.heinrichsweikamp.net/#/en/ostc_mk2/).
However, I will not be buying anything that isn´t (or won´t be) supported by Macdive.
What are the chances to get this device supported? It is in the list of supported devices by Libdivecomputer, if that helps any. Of course I could deliver plenty of test data, once it is put into use
Actually shortly after my posting I borrowed an OSTC MKII for a couple of dives.
Now this is off-topic so I won´t go into detail. But while it is a wonderful computer, I did find a couple of things I really don´t like about it. So until these are changed/fixed, I won´t be getting one (and can´t help deliver test data).
One reason is, there are in fact a couple of bugs in the current OSTC MK II firmware. They have been addressed in the OSTC forum but not so far not acknowledged by the developers. For example running a dive simulation through the PC will actually affect the tissue saturation in the computer, permanently. There are a couple more, none of them seem dramatic, but I don´t like the fact that the software of such a critical device is flawed.
Then there is part of the design I don´t agree with. For example there is no warning, change of color etc., when you´re missing deco stops. As a matter of fact, this can be tested nicely in the simulator. Basically you can dive down to 60 meters, saturate your tissue so you´ll be good for 60 minutes of deco - then head straight up to 2m. There will be no warning regarding the many deco stops that you will miss on your way to that depth. Once you´re at 1-2 meters, you will actually get a warning regarding the M-values. But by that time the diver will most likely suffer from the bends already.
Finally, the software is open-source, but half of it is written in assembler. So the fact that is is open-source, does not really help much, since most people (at least myself) have little to no clue regarding assembler.
Firmware version 1.8 for the MK2 was just released a week ago and most of the issues mentioned by me above are now fixed.
So, since it is now sort of 99% perfect, I decided to get one and it´s sitting right here, ready for testing
Apparently libdivecomputer has no issues with it, I can get universal.exe to pull the logs and they look fine to me so far.
Is there maybe already a beta version available for testing with support for the OSTC?
