Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!us.feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.fsmpi.rwth-aachen.de!news-1.dfn.de!news.dfn.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Joerg Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: ball-hours Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:45:41 -0700 Lines: 53 Message-ID: References: <5sho3adpfhed897nb8jdju99897ouhrvrv@4ax.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net g7rAJ0d/JQav8zZ5mSzjuwCYTZKO8vzs5MReNctXTbySs/UOPl Cancel-Lock: sha1:Go6eji6gvrt2pOaxl0dQSuU54HE= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.6) Gecko/20070728 Thunderbird/2.0.0.6 Mnenhy/0.7.6.666 In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.forth:33956 Elizabeth D. Rather wrote: > On 10/15/14 1:12 PM, Joerg wrote: >> rickman wrote: > ... >>>> Problem is, there is no Forth community out here. The last die-hard >>>> Forth aficionado I personally met was about 30 years ago in Europe. >>> >>> I think you may be surprised. I've already heard from three programmers >>> from the few posts I've made in just three groups. Unless you want me >>> to send then directly to you, I am referring them to this thread. >>> >> >> One of them contacted me already. They are sort of local but not really >> local-local, like in the same village, down the road from here. We will >> have lots of situations such as "Hey, I got stuck with the test rig, can >> you come over real quick?" or "The relief valve over yonder blew a >> gasket, can you replace it?". > > That sounds more like a need for a local technician than a programmer! > This is a one-of-a-kind tester that I designed and built myself, with the help of an aerospace engineer. Only one such tester exists in the world and I am currently the only person who can fix it if something breaks. The tester is only useful for this particular project. Both the programmer and I must use it a lot towards the later phases of the projects. > Virtually none of FORTH, Inc.'s customers for whom we do application > work are local to us; our most recent major projects were in Vancouver > BC and Texas. The model we use is to go on site for one or more visits > (typically a couple of weeks) to get the system part (drivers, > application design, main body of code) working and the customer's local > programmer(s) trained. If there is custom hardware and it's portable, we > ask for one unit to take home. Thereafter, we consult remotely on both > hardware and software issues. This takes advantage of the fact that the > customer has far more detailed understanding of the application domain > than we do, but we have the experience to help get the system design off > on the right track and provide continuing support (including more visits > if necessary). That is how I also normally work, most times I actually never see my clients face to face except in online meetings. But this project is different. The software cannot be optimized without working right at the test apparatus. Since it involves a compressor, pressurized buffer tanks, valves and such it is also something where I must be present for safety reasons. I would never let anyone using it by themselves. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/