K3 - Standing up for the Firmware.

[Don Rasmussen]

IMO the K3 firmware gets the grade of "A".

It would get an A+ if major revisions (these happen in
the product development cycle) needed no followup
updates. The followup updates come from the beta test
group not being a large enough sample, not going long
enough, or both.

* If the benchmark is Orion - K3 shines. Read the
archives.

* If those that have legitimate issues would report
them through [hidden email] rather than
running them up the reflector flagpole  - whether it
be "where's mine" or "Oh no malfunction???", none of
this would -appear- so gloomy. The venturi effect is
working quite well here, which does not bother me, but
I don't take such a  negative look at the firmware
from it either.

* From a programmers perspective, legitimate
complaints about any firmware are amplified when the
coders are working in a common area. Quite often the
left hand does not know what the right hand is doing,
quite often there are unintended consequences. With K3
you have Wayne and Lyle - each one 100% in control of
their own area. Each one will get it right, and
understands each issue backward and forward because it
belongs only to themselves.

YMMV  ...

[Elecraft] Firmware Fatigue - was K2 v K3
Lee Buller k0wa at swbell.net
Wed May 7 10:26:12 EDT 2008

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Mike....

I too am somewhat dismayed with the firmware issues
surrounding the K3.  I love the k3, but it seems that
something is added the new firmware breaks something
else.  I think that it is just going to take time to
bring it all together.

Elecraft says they are not programming to the "niche"
players but they seem to be quite vocal in their
desire for features in the K3.  The old addage, "the
squeaky wheel gets the grease" comes to mind.

Reading the list serv tends to make me a little piqued
from the stand point that there are so many "niche"
requests.  I do not care about ESSB or AM or bouncing
signals off the Moon or working VHF contests in
Europe.  Oh, those are all fun things to do, but I
think it just becomes overwhelming to the user and to
the programmers.  In time it will get there but give
me basic functionality that works as a world class
transceiver.

And that is something that we should all
remember....in time the firmware will get there.  In a
year from now, the firmware will be mature and all
this should be behind us.  It just is going to take
time.  The K3 development is a work in progress and
the users are providing valuable data to the
engineering team to make the K3 the world class
transceiver it is designed to be.

We just have to wait for the firmware to mature.  

Thanks Elecraft for a great product and listening to
all of us.

Lee - K0WA




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[Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO]

Don Rasmussen wrote:

> * From a programmers perspective, legitimate
> complaints about any firmware are amplified when the
> coders are working in a common area. Quite often the
> left hand does not know what the right hand is doing,
> quite often there are unintended consequences. With K3
> you have Wayne and Lyle - each one 100% in control of
> their own area. Each one will get it right, and
> understands each issue backward and forward because it
> belongs only to themselves.

Yeah, can you imagine what you would have if Microsoft were doing the firmware
for the K3? Every new feature subroutine authorized from the initial Alpha
test reports would be assigned to some individual entry-level coder, then the
next level up would (try to) integrate the new routines without breaking
stuff, then the Build team would (try to) build an executable every day and it
would go to the test lab (if it actually compiled and linked)... And
eventually, maybe most of the features that have been implemented in the K3
firmware over the past several months would get into the official release some
time in 2009. Then the field debugging would start. Six months after that,
Service Pack 1. Six months later, Service Pack 2. Now it's 2010, and you might
have a working firmware set that contains most of the features originally
asked for in 2007. You MIGHT.

This is the norm in the "real world". Some of you guys, I swear, are living in
Never-Never Land with your expectations!

Bill W5WVO

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