I find this line of thought in the firmware discussion quite interesting.
I work in development of embedded systems software and hardware for large
player in the automotive industry. We have several options (and everything
in between) for our customers (all the major OEMs).
#1- Turnkey HW and SW solution, including all engineering development and
project specific support.
#2- What we call Hardware I/O - We build the hardware and provide the low
level SW - OEM does 90% of application SW.
#3- (Most common) a blend of the #1 and #2 - We provide HW and most
application SW to customer specs, they ask for additions or changes as the
project develops.
The Hardware I/O option is kind of "techie" - but is similar to an open
source SW type of project (...but I dare say the systems engineering,
software configuration management and testing are pretty stringent in our
business).
The suggestion by someone else of something like the iPod App type of
situation is an interesting thought too. (3rd-party SW developers for TT or
other radio hardware?)
Very interesting to think of where high performance amateur radio (the
"state of the art") will be in 5, 10 or 15 years.
Steve
N8KOM
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Wes Attaway (N5WA)
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 9:15 PM
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion2 Firmware Update
Martin:
I agree that "the number" is undoubtedly zero. At least it is zero as far
as any of us on this list are aware of.
Going back to Sam's comments, and to yours, I have to wonder why the
firmware and associated documentation notes would be proprietary. The
Orions plowed some new ground as far as amateur radio is concerned but I
can't see that there was any brand new technology involved.
As Sam indicated, there are probably many people on the list that would love
to have a shot at improving the code. And my guess would be that quite a
few people would be real good at the coding.
Still, we have no idea what is going on at TenTec. Everything we say and
think is speculation. I'm sure one problem (maybe the main problem) would
be with tech support for radios that were damaged by some goofy code.
If that hurdle was eliminated then what would be wrong with putting
everything on the web site and letting the code become open source?
I'll make one bet and it is that John Henry is thinking about what to do.
That alone is a good thing.
------------------ Wes Attaway (N5WA) ------------------
1138 Waters Edge Circle - Shreveport, LA 71106
318-797-4972 (office) - 318-393-3289 (cell)
Computer Consulting and Forensics
-------------- EnCase Certified Examiner ---------------
-----Original Message-----
From: tentec-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com]
On Behalf Of Martin Ewing
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:59 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion2 Firmware Update
On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 11:14 AM, <Rsoifer@aol.com> wrote:
> ... Rather than trying to fix the existing firmware, might it make more
> sense just to treat the O II as an empty hardware platform, and write an
> altogether new system?
>
Any of us users could take the schematics and write their own Orion firmware
from scratch. We might even be able to reverse engineer parts of TT's
distribution. (They don't ask you to sign away your rights like most
software makers do.)
So how many people have done this in the ~7 years the Orion has been
around? That number will tell you something!
73 Martin AA6E
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