Jack, I understand where you are coming from and I would love to help you. On one hand, what we are doing in software is what we have always done in software -- DSP, control, interfacing, etc -- and we know what & how to do it. On the other hand, we have a completely new platform, architecture and components that we are integrating into the radio. Sometimes, when we embark on a particular part of the design, everything comes together and works very quickly and other times, it takes real effort to make something simple work at all. This is the nature of engineering, especially software engineering.
You may have heard this story before, but in the past we would often say what we were going to do next and when. This did not seem to serve us well for a variety of reasons, many of which you can imagine. So we decided that it was not good for us or you to continue doing things this way. Many our engineering team would like to sit with each one of you and talk about all the fascinating things we are doing and when we think we will be done. Our goal is to deliver a "working radio" by the end of the year. Yes, I know this is entirely nebulous. We will be meeting once every two weeks to review progress and ask ourselves one question: If I was a customer, would I want the radio this week or would I want to wait two more weeks until the next set of development is done? The whole concept here is that this radio is a PLATFORM, just like our previous radios. The software will never be complete -- to say that it is would be to say that we are no longer interested in innovating in the software. We will continue enhancing and expanding it -- adding new functions and features. We practice Agile software development (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development) which can be uncomfortable for people who believe that everything should start with a master plan and a set of tasks. But on a project this complex, having the flexibility to say "I know we had talked about working on band control next week, but we found when doing the codec software that we could significantly enhance the capabilities if we took another week to work on X which we were in the code," is significant. In answer to your specific concern, at a minimum to help solidify the questions and answers that have been asked here in the last few days, we will be putting a FAQ up on the web. We are going to talk over the next couple of days about how to keep those that have made a commitment to the radio in the loop on our progress and I expect we will be getting back with you. I think there are benefits to both groups (us and you) in doing this. Writing software is not a mechanical process: it is a creative one. Creativity takes time and space and requires nurturing. We are more aware than you can imagine of what we need to do over the next few months. I want to thank each of you for the amazing confidence you have in us as demonstrated by becoming an owner of a FLEX-6000 radio. With the hardware done, we now need to go finish the software for the initial delivery! 73, Steve Stephen Hicks, N5AC, AAR6AM VP Engineering FlexRadio Systems™ 4616 W Howard Ln Ste 1-150 Austin, TX 78728 Phone: 512-535-4713 x205 Email: [email protected] Web: www.flexradio.com *Tune In Excitement™* PowerSDR™ is a trademark of FlexRadio Systems On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 9:08 PM, Jack Haverty <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 12:50 PM, Stephen Hicks, N5AC > <[email protected]> wrote: > Does this make sense? > > Steve - the hardware architecture sounds great. But in this > hodgepodge of postings, speculations, and imagination, it's > increasingly difficult to sort out which of all these details are > official Flex statements from those which are someone's expectation or > hopes. It's also difficult to sort out what details apply to the > first release from those that could be characterized as possible > future someday-ware, no matter who says them. > > Add my name to the chorus of people asking for some official specs, > preferably on the website as opposed to being buried in a mail digest. > Both technical details and business/policy statements. Especially > the software and components outside the 6xxx box as they will be > delivered in the initial product. > > I got in trouble several years ago when I bought my Flex-3000. > Although I've been very pleased with it, it still isn't what I > expected from what I read and heard before I decided to buy it.. > > Official statements, specs, whatever. Then it would all make sense. > > 73, > /Jack de K3FIV > _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software.
