GcEAD

GcEad/2015 is software for GC-EAD research. It is free and open source by Syntech.

What is GC-EAD?

GC-EAD is coupled gas chromatography - electroantennographic detection. It is an analytical procedure that permits the rapid identification of compounds in complex mixtures that stimulate the olfactory sensilla of an insect. In other words, it can tell you what specific chemicals an insect can smell (and, to some degree, ones it can't), and it can use odors derived directly from natural sources. This information can be used to discover potentially useful compounds (such as sex pheromones) that alter the behavior of insects.
(Excerpt from USDA)

News

• 2015-12-26: Version 1.2.6 released. Compatibility with Windows 8.
• 2014-05-03: Version 1.2.5 released. Mac supports IDAC4 now, import selected waves from another .EAD file, renames waves, delete waves via mouse right-click.
• 2012-06-24: Version 1.2.4 released. In the pre-recording dialog, give FID display a fixed height.
• 2011-03-15: Version 1.2.3 released. Compatibility with Windows 7 and IDAC4 bugfix.
• 2010-11-07: Version 1.2.2 released. Update for Windows to let GcEad/2010 use the IDAC drivers from older Syntech software.
• 2010-10-16: Version 1.2.1 released. Significant improvements to marker functionality.
• 2010-09-24: Version 1.2.0 released. Fixed a recording crash and added EAD amplitude measurement.
• 2010-02-07: Version 1.1.2 released. Improved recording view and added time markers for EAD waves.
• 2009-05-25: Version 1.1 released. Now available for Mac and Linux, and now supports IDAC2 acquisition devices.
• 2008-09-24: Project made available on sourceforge.net

Developer information

The following information is for developers working on the source code -- it is not intended for users.

Directories

• Core: A few semi-generic files that may be used by all sub-projects
• Idac: Classes to interface between the hardware drivers and the main application code. IdacFactory and IdacProxy are the only two IDAC classes that should be used by the main application (other than the settings and capabilities structures). IdacProxy runs in the main application thread and shields the main application programmer from all driver threads and details.
• IdacDriver: The general driver code. This is not really a "driver", since it runs in user-space via libusb.
• IdacDriver2: USB protocol implementation for the IDAC2
• IdacDriver4: USB protocol implementation for the IDAC4
• Model: The basic data classes for GC-EAD
• Scope: Classes to implement non-UI code to support the UI. Basically, this is a representation of the UI in a form that can potentially be unit-tested without user-interaction. This approach wasn't taken until near the end of the project, so there's not much in here.
• View: UI code and main()

USB drivers

The IDAC drivers were hacked together very quickly. Part of the source-code for the old proprietary IDAC4 driver was available to me, so that helped. I didn't have any source code for IDAC2 though, so I had to make guesses based on analyzing the USB transfer stream of the proprietary drivers and use what I had gleaned from the old IDAC4 sourcecode. There are still a couple loose ends in the IDAC2 code.

Recording objects:

• Idac: interfaces with hardware
• RecordHandler: converts idac data to raw and display data
• RecordDialog: shows preview of the incoming EAD data and lets user adjust settings
• RecordSettingsDialog: for setting the recording options
• MainScope:
  • adds data to the EadFile
  • tells ChartWidget to update itself when in Recording view
  • auto-stops Idac recording when duration is reached

Building for linux

For Ubuntu 15.10, you'll need to install the following packages:

• sudo apt-get install libudev-dev libtool automake qt5-default qtdeclarative5-dev libqt5svg5-dev qtcreator

If may need to clean the libusb build: make -f libusb.mak clean

Then:

• make -f libusb.mak
• qmake
• make

Install programs

Installer for windows

The installer for Windows is build with NSI. The following instructions are no longer valid...

• Install Qt SDK. I installed it in C:\Qt with Qt 5.2. Adapt Setup/GcEad-windows.nsi for newer versions or different directories.
• build the project (e.g. by opening GcEad.pro with Qt Creator)
• Install NSIS (I have v2.46 installed)
• Open Setup/GcEad-windows.nsi and compile it.
• Upload Setup/GcEad-x.x.x-windows-installer.exe to sourceforge.net.

To deinstall the libusb-win32 drivers in Windows 7:

• Download USBDeview from http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html
• Unzip it an run the exe
• Select the IDAC4 devices, right click, "Uninstall Selected Devices"
• Open a Command Prompt window, running it as administrator
• Type pnputil -e to list all USB device drivers, and find the ones listed as "libusb-win32 devices"
• Remove them with pnputil -d oemXX.inf, where you replace XX with the appropriate number from the above listing.

Installer for linux

I have not created a linux installer for a long time. Back when I did it, I used BitRock InstallBuilder to create the installer for Linux.

• build the project
• cd Setup
• run: ./copylibs
• run: $path_to_builder build GcEad-linux.xml linux

Installer for mac

• make sure the Qt SDK is installed
• install homebrew
• run brew install automake from the appropriate user account
• run make -f libusb.mak
• optionally, run cd extern/libusb-compat-0.1 && git clean -fd
• build the project, for example with QtCreator
• cd release (e.g. ~/src/build-GcEad-Desktop_Qt_5_2_0_clang_64bit-Release/View)
• run macdeployqt GcEad.app -dmg; since I installed Qt to ~/local/Qt, on my machine the above command line is ~/local/Qt/5.2.0/clang_64/bin/macdeployqt GcEad.app -dmg
• GcEad.dmg is now ready for deployment