Splitting the discussions is a great idea. I suggest that the Experimental Group be defined to include *any* unreleased and/or unsupported software or hardware - not just the SVN-managed code.
For example, discussions of PowerSDR issues that use Windows 7 beta, even with the current released PowerSDR, can also be very misleading about the stability and ease of use of the straight everything-released configurations. If you're not computer savvy enough to know what Windows 7 is, and remember its beta status at the time a particular message was written, you could easily get the wrong impression -- even many months later while searching the forum archives after Windows 7 is released. Same with the use of unsupported, but released, OSes. It may work on Windows 7 or Mac OS or Linux/Wine, but they're not in the "PowerSDR Operating System Compatibility Statement", so they should be classed Experimental. The "Flex Radio" is a combination of the Flex-xxxx hardware, the PowerSDR software, the PC OS, and any other components (like VAC, ddutil, etc.) If any of these are not released and supported versions, I think any discussion of that configuration should be categorized as experimental. IMHO, the "Experimental Group" isn't a group of *people*. It's a group of all *system configurations* that contain any unreleased or unsupported components. /Jack K3FIV On Fri, 2009-06-19 at 08:54 -0500, Gerald Youngblood wrote: > Membership in the "Experimental Group" will be open to all FlexRadio > customers who are willing to follow the rules associated with the privilege. > We reserve the right to restrict access to certain highly experimental SVN > branches until they are stable enough for testing outside the developer > group itself. One important rule that comes with the privilege: Do not > expect technical support from FlexRadio when running any software other than > the then current Official Release. > > Let me note that virtually all public and private comments on this topic > have been extremely supportive of making the split in the reflector. We > will put a lot of thought into how we proceed before we pull the trigger on > the change. > > 73, > Gerald > > Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR > President > FlexRadio Systems > 13091 Pond Springs Rd. #250 > Austin, TX 78729 > Phone: 512-535-4713 > www.flex-radio.com > > "Tune in excitement!" (TM) > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Howard S. White [mailto:drpa...@kleega.com] > Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 6:25 PM > To: ger...@flex-radio.com; mnar...@comcast.net; Dave Gomberg > Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz > Subject: RE: [Flexradio] All using SVN 3166 or higher > > I do agree that for marketing purposes you need to separate the Support > Reflector from the Experimental Group. > > There are a lot of people who do not understand the difference between > Support and Experimentaion and it is pretty obvious that your > competitors are pointing to the bugs incurred in Experimentation as > being symptomatic of product defects. > > Please do not limit membership to the Experimental Group. > > A lot of people lurk in the background reading the issues about the > latest developments and occasionally we may actually have something > useful to contribute. > > By restricting membership in the Experimental Group, you will be > cutting yourself off from a very valuable resource and ultimately > slowing your developmental progress. > > So please do not cut your nose off to spite your face. > > __________________________________________________________ > Howard S. White Ph.D. P. Eng., VE3GFW/K6 ex-AE6SM KY6LA > Website: www.ky6la.com > "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" > "Ham Antennas Save Lives - Katrina, 2003 & 2007 San Diego Fires, 911" > > > -----Original Message----- > From: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz > [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] On Behalf Of Gerald Youngblood > Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:50 PM > To: mnar...@comcast.net; 'Dave Gomberg' > Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz > Subject: Re: [Flexradio] All using SVN 3166 or higher > > Mike, > > I am sure we can find a happy medium that meets the interests of both > groups. We will put a lot of thought into it, taking into account all > of the comments we are getting on the subject. Foremost, there needs to > be some qualification of who fits in which group and where they > communicate. I also agree that it should be called, > "experimental/prototype." > > Regards, > Gerald > > Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR > President > FlexRadio Systems > 13091 Pond Springs Rd. #250 > Austin, TX 78729 > Phone: 512-535-4713 > www.flex-radio.com > > "Tune in excitement!" (TM) > > > -----Original Message----- > From: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz > [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] On Behalf Of Mike Naruta > Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 3:21 PM > To: Dave Gomberg > Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz > Subject: Re: [Flexradio] All using SVN 3166 or higher > > > That sort of models the modern amateur radio transceiver manufacturers. > You may get an upgrade infrequently, after it has been tested many > times. We are familiar with that process. > > > One group of hams are attracted to the > Flex-Radio products because of the > performance and features. > > Another group enjoys the dynamics of a > Software-Defined Radio and thrives on the improvements and new features. > > Do we limit the second group's access > to placate the first group's fears of a > software problem? Had the development > been closed, we would have missed the > excellent contributions from those not > in the original developer group. > > What if instead of talking about SVN or > alpha versions, we called it experimental or prototype versions? It > implies the possibility of problems and the unsupported nature of the > software. A kind word off- reflector to those who talk about issues > with the experimental versions here should be adequate. > > > Mike - AA8K > > > Dave Gomberg wrote: > > > > > IBM developed this fork in the 1970's when an operating system might > > support thousands of concurrent users on one CPU and cost millions per > > > day to be down (like the principal Merril-Lynch machine that did about > > > 40% of the NYSEs volume). > > > > Development started out experimentally, when the developer was sure it > > > was right, he ran it on his own work machine in production. When he > > survived, he ran it on a machine shared with a few development > > buddies. When it passed that test, it ran on a shared machine for > the > > whole development lab, in a version that might contain several changes > > > all slotted for the same release schedule. > > > > When it was believed stable, it was shipped to the research labs for > > use in their environments (this was called alpha testing, since it was > the > > first non-development test). When it passed alpha test, it was > > released to volunteer real users in the real world (this was called > beta > > test, nobody risked big money on a beta test). Beta testers got > direct > > to level 3 support so that problems could be quickly described and > > resolved. > > > > Finally a "general availability" release was announced, prepared, and > > > delivered (in that order). Usually 60% of installations were on the > > latest release, 30% one release back, and sprinklings of others (who > > got tired of hearing that the fix to their problem was to upgrade). > > > > _______________________________________________ > FlexRadio Systems Mailing List > FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz > Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ > Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: > http://www.flex-radio.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > FlexRadio Systems Mailing List > FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz > Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ > Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: > http://www.flex-radio.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > FlexRadio Systems Mailing List > FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz > Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ > Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: > http://www.flex-radio.com/ > _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
