5 Sep
2010
5 Sep
'10
2:31 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 3 Sep 2010 at 23:56, Teo Zenios wrote:
Maybe they were a little misleading though if they gave the impression that
the software to do task x already existed (or if it did exist - but only in
the sense that someone somewhere had written it, but had no plans to release
it for everyone else to use). That would be rather sly marketing, I think. Of
course saying something like "these are the features, you *could* do x, y and
z with it" might be different. It's all in the wording...
Did you program the CW yourself? Most people
complain about that card
because it was sold for specific activities without the software to do
it.
Yes--most of the things that I work with would require special
programming anyway. I guess it all depends on your perspective. Before
the CW was
available, I used to prototype hardware to do the job, with all of
the accompanying software. The CW was a godsend.
Things I encountered:
1) difficulty in finding data about the product, what products were even
available (vs. considered obsolete - lots of mention of different revisions,
but difficult to see what could actually be bought), and actually purchasing
one (I seem to recall the european website gave the impression of vaporware;
perhaps the US one was better?)
2) I want to be able to support it myself; if the people making it were to
vanish and it broke, I don't want to lose all the time I'd invested in writing
code to use it, or find myself scrabbling around for a replacement - I at
least want schematics etc. so I can have a chance at keeping the thing running
(and probably a spare board on the shelf!).
3) It was hard to see what there was in the way of "community" - again I think
that was more a website failing than anything else, but being able to bounce
ideas and experiences around with other folk who have the boards would be
useful, and it was difficult to see how to get in touch with them.
I've been very tempted to get one at times, but only because (like you say)
the alternative is really to build your own custom stuff - but maybe Phil's
efforts will solve some of the above issues.
cheers
Jules