In Control

There is a tradition that when you learn a new programming language the first program you do should print or display "Hello World". In my world of programming electronic controls, we often don't have a display that can show text. We have to settle for a flashing LED or maybe a beeper. And do you know, no matter how many times I do it, that first flashing LED, that initial sign of life in a new controller board, is still a thrill.

A 60 year old man getting off on a flashing LED!?!?! Am I crazy? Probably! I've been crazy like this since the earliest days of microprocessors (actually, longer). So in this blog I hope to spread some of that craziness around, by sharing some of my hard-won experience and knowledge. There will be a bias towards SPLat products, but much of the technical stuff will be generally applicable, not just SPLat related. So mainly this blog is going to be about technical matters relating to electronics, controls programming and digital control systems.

From time to time I may muse about other matters, like running a small business, designing websites for Google visibility, photography or anything else that's fit to publish.

Let's see what develops, shall we?

I just received an email from a US technical magazine publisher asking me to buy some advertising space (this is a magazine we advertised in during 2004/05). Here's my reply:

Hi Kelli,

Frankly, we spent $xxK on print advertising in 2005, with no measurable return. We are now using Google AdWords at a simlar spend rate with much better results.

Sad for the print media (my father was a newspaper photographer so I have a touch of printer's ink in my veins), but that's what's happening.

Google replaces Gutenberg! (Could be a story in there!)

Significant indicator: I used Google to check the spelling of Guthenberg (sic).

I am a huge fan of Skype, the Internet telephony application that allows free computer to computer phone calls. I use regular computer to computer Skype, also the SkypeOut service. SkypeOut lets me make calls from my home base in Australia to customers' regular phones in the US for 2 cents/minute.

But "cheap" is not the main thing about Skype, as far as I am concerned.

I came across an interesting article in PC World describing Vista as the best Windows ever, then setting out a whole heap of reasons for not buying - yet. You can read the article by Mike Elgan here.

Mike makes some good points. But here's another set of reasons for not jumping into Vista too soon: There are still questions about Vista's support for older applications. This includes SPLat/PC, which is a 16-bit application. We have bought a copy of 32-bit Vista, and will be testing as soon as we can find time, but there have been quite solid reports that 64-bit versions of Vista definitely will not run 16-bit applications.

A friend just forwarded me one of those self-perpetuating emails that go around. This one was about credit card scams. It makes an interesting read.

I had noticed that our Field Engineer in Boston, Fred Pacilli, had not been visible on my Skype screen for a couple of days. That means his computer was turned off. Fred just wrote me this:

Phishers go round the world to hook Aussie victims, a must-read cautionary article on CNet. If you don't know the person who sent you the email, don't click the link.

A gentleman in Heflin, Alabama wrote on August 13 2007:

I am disabled and in need of your help if you can, I have an old Niagra Theropy Electric Adjustable bed, My Control is messed up I need new switches or a new computer board rebuilt with the switches so the head of bed will go up and down, the legs will go up and down. I can send you the control to see if you guys can repair or rebuild me a new one to fit in the control case.

If anyone out there is in a position to spend a few hours helping this person, it would be great. Obviously it would be best if you are geographically close. If you are willing to help, please reply under "Post a Comment". I will forward you email address to the gentleman so he can contact you.

My wife and I just got home from lunch at a nearby vineyard. This was no ordinary lunch, however. It was sponsored by the vineyard and other local businesses on behalf of a marvelous organization called Koto.

Koto was founded by an Australian, Jimmy Pham, who visited Vietnam some years ago and discovered the vast numbers of street children whose futures are bleak indeed. So Jimmy did something about it.

Well, folks, Christmas is looming once more. To me Christmas is about people and caring, so I thought I'd cheer up your season with a tale of real caring. These are true stories, with only the names changed.

A very dark cloud ...

A young family of my acquaintance struck some very bad luck at Easter. Jack, the husband, suffered a serious stroke. The family, Jack and Jill and children Mary (5) and Peter (4) were already in trouble, due to a business that had turned sour. They had lost their very nice home, a city warehouse apartment, and were scratching for income. Jack, a former policeman, had taken a sales job that he really hated, and was just getting up to speed with sales and commissions when disaster struck him down.

I want to tell you about a friend of mine, a very special gentleman. Remco van Santen is a retired economist cum chemist. Rem has been quite a traveler in his time, and has back packed his way around South America, the back woods of China and India.

In his travels in India Rem discovered a small hill town called Nainital. This is a beautifully situated town that in recent years has become dirty and ugly with pollution and neglect. It contains some wonderful examples of British colonial architecture that is sadly decayed, and its once-beautiful lake is dead or dying from oxygen depletion.

Rem fell in love with the town and decided to do something about it. When he told me what he had in mind I thought he had lost his marbles thinking he could move the mountains of entrenched indifference and sectional self-interest.

I am delighted to tell you I was wrong.

I was talking to a gentleman in Louisville KY yesterday, and he politely told me off because our website is not explicit enough about our custom controller offering. Not that I mind such critiques - how can we make our message clearer unless people give us feedback? Anyhow, here's a shameless plug for our custom capability:

We do make custom controllers. In fact, we make many more custom boards than standard boards, because we have some major OEMs as customers and make some of their products in very significant numbers.