|
Hi
Keith,
Thanks for your
views, didn't want to discourage anyone.
Non of you live
of
HA development and we all have other priorities in life, so it's
understandable
that all the projects take longer that you would like. If you do it
professionally, they would cost like professional
equipment...
My comments
were
written mostly in frustration because the equipment I would like to install
either doesn't exist or is not affordable. Frank's equipment seemed so
close to
what I needed that the disappointment was huge when I realized that I
cannot use
it. Especially when he implied that it's my fault and I had my
chance...
Maybe childlish
a
bit from my side, but that's what SWMBO thinks of me anyway when HA is in
question.
One more
observation. When you started your switcher project, I wasn't member of
this
group, neither had a clue about HA. Even when I joined, distributing audio
wasn't looking too interesting, it became interesting just recently, when I
got
an oportunity to put all the cables in walls. The similar is with IR
distribution, without prospect of putting cables it was simply not looking
too
interesting. Maybe I buy HV in an year time and suddenly everything will
get
different perspective and different projects will suddenly become
interesting.
I think that
similar
is happening not only to me, but to many people on the group, so during the
life
of such projects, many people become interested or dis-interested because
their
circumstances change in meantime. It's nobody's fault, just a fact of life,
which is sometimes frustrating.
The difference
between your, Graham's and Frank's project is that your's and Graham's are
much
better documented on the web site and one knows exactly what to expect from
the
product, while Frank's was not so well described so led into some
misunderstanding.
Also, comment
about
switcher, and how long does it take to develop wasn't supposed to be
offensive.
This group I
took as
a small community, where members are considered as friends so not every
single
word needs to be weighted. On the contrary I spent last few days
appologizing
for something that, if said in a pub would have nowhere near such
consequences.
I took as a granted that all people in this group are positive towards HA
and
that needs not to be questioned, however I found myself in a position that
I
need to explain that. It's a bit waste of everyone's energy. I still
beleive
that there's not a single member in this group that joined the group with
intention of discouraging and disturbing any projects. If sometimetimes
it's not
clear from wording, I attribute it to not having time to re-read own mails
and
read hundred other mails posted in groups daily, rather than some bad
intentions.
I am going into
shadow for a while, I am not too time efficient with such correspondences
:-).
And, of course,
good
luck with everyone's projects.
I would like to
help
with most of them, but I simple can't because I don't have HV, nor most of
relevant HA equipment.
Cheers,
Nik
-----Original
Message-----
From: Keith Doxey
[mailto:lists.diyha@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 11 August 2002
23:09
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: RE: [ukha_d]
pissed off
Hi
Nik,
I havent
commented
until now but here are my thoughts......
I
AM
getting pissed off by some of the comments being made and the lack of
support
for some members of the list. I wasnt particularly offended by your comment
as
I am aware that I am well behind schedule with my development plans.
I
have always designed and built my own bits of kit to suit my needs and it
is
encouraging to see other members of the list tackling their own projects
and
making the results available to others.
It
can be a soul destroying task trying to get something working, either
hardware
or software, but the buzz when it finally comes together is superb. People
need ENCOURAGEMENT for what they are doing. The only acceptable forms of
negative feedback are reports of the project not doing what it was INTENDED
to
do, NOT slating someones efforts because it wasnt designed to do what you
want
it to do. Most of the projects under development have been
discussed at the design stage with progress reports during protoyping, this
means that people have had plenty of opportunities to add their
input.
The
reason for homebrew projects is primarily the lack of a commercial
equivalent
or not being able to afford the commercial offerings. For that reason
alone,
it is obvious that the designer would build it to fully meet his/her needs.
The ability to also accomodate the wishes of others is a bonus but it
should
be remembered that it is still the designers OWN needs that take
priority.
Ian's work on the IR repeater has made fantastic
progress from the humble beginnings of Nigels circuit and ideas that I gave
to
Ian based on my own experiments with bi-directional IR. He has also gone on
to
create several other useful gizmo's using self taught PIC
programming skills (plus a few
late
night phone calls to me)
Frank has also spent a lot of time developing
his
IR zoning system which although I havent followed it too closely I can see
exactly what he is designing. To me, his system seems a viable system
utilising the power of HomeVision for the complex task of decoding and
transmiting IR and controlling the switching circuitry that does the actual
zoning. Porting this to another intelligent IR system should be
relatively simple.
Graham and Andy have also done some great work
with
HomeAutomator, again HomeVision centric at the moment but designed to
accomodate whatever hardware someone has at a later date
Developing HA hardware/software requires two main
things....
1. the technical ability
2. the infrastructure to develop for.
If you own a HomeVision that would be the
obvious
platform that you would initially develop for.
I am WELL AWARE that my own KAT5 development is
behind schedule but things always take much longer than anticipated to get
through the design stage. Mark McCall saw the first KAT5 prototypes in
January
1998 but it was May 2001 until it was actually launched. The switcher is
far
more complex than the basic KAT5 units and the last thing I want is to
release
a unit that does not perform in the way that I want it to.
I am making every effort to get the KAT5
switcher
finished as early as possible but please remember that this is my HOBBY. I
have a day job that pays the bills but keeps me away from home for 12 hours
per day. I also have a Wife and 5 year old daughter who like to see me
occasionally.
...... anyway, thats how I currently feel.
Keith
www.diyha.co.uk
www.kat5.tv
Sorry
Frank,
You're right,
Keith already did great things for this group. Supposed to be funny, but
obviously not.
I'll shut
up....
Sorry if anyone
offended, especially Keith
Nik
Nik
Comments like this one REALLY pisses me
Off even though your not refering to my project . If people like you want
all the bells and whistles you have a price to pay and thats dfevelopement
time . The person developing this product is paying a higher price in that
he has less time to spend (and probably out of pocket) with his family as
all his spare time is taken up trying to provide people like you a cost
effective solution to your wants and needs......
Frank Mc
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2002
12:28 AM
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Re: Hv
multizone ir system Costing
Should I wait, or it will end up like famous
switcher....:-).
Cheers,
Nik
For
more information: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
Post message: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subscribe:
ukha_d-subscribe@xxxxxxx
Unsubscribe:
ukha_d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxx
List owner:
ukha_d-owner@xxxxxxx
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is
subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service.
| Yahoo! Groups
Sponsor |
ADVERTISEMENT
;) |
|
For more information: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
Post message: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subscribe: ukha_d-subscribe@xxxxxxx
Unsubscribe: ukha_d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxx
List owner: ukha_d-owner@xxxxxxx
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
|