TopGeek;688585 Wrote:
> That's a real shame, Marc but, with 3-4 alarm malfunctions in only just
> over one month of experience, it certainly seems that your summation of
> the situation is correct - i.e. this is not a reliable alarm clock.
>
> Mind you, it also seems to be a fairly unreliable Internet radio. I've
> already had the experience of one of my favourite stations disappearing
> for more than a week while others were telling me they could still get
> it. I get frequent dropouts of up to 30 seconds on radio signals, while
> there is no wifi or Internet interruption. It only has a mono speaker,
> although it does have a stereo decoder so I can at least appreciate
> stereo sound in my earphones.
>
> The impression I get is that this is a Beta product that should not yet
> be on sale to the public.
Your impressions are largely accurate.
I haven't got experience with recent revisions of Radio firmware so I
can't comment directly there. You see, I still run firmware version
7.4.2, along with my own custom modifications to the Radio alarm code,
and will not update the firmware on my Radios again... ever.
7.4.2 is indeed adequately stable for my purposes. While there are
certain things that don't always work right, the failure modes are
usually deterministic enough so that working around them and/or taking
corrective action when these errors occur has become second nature for
me. When you keep upgrading to new firmware versions you leave
yourself open to whatever new bugs are introduced (obviously). That's
true of all embedded systems, of course, but in the Radio's case the
underlying software architecture implementation is not one that is
conducive to facilitating new releases that are stable.
7.4.2 was the current version back when I originally modified the alarm
code to be as stable as was possible. I explained directly to Logitech
development at that time, and in detail, that the Radio software
architecture did not incorporate the proper client/server model to
allow infrastructure stability over the long haul (or the short one).
They didn't listen (likely due to shortsightedness, resource
constraints, the desire to heavily leverage the existing code base from
the time that Squeezebox devices were far less intelligent, or for other
reasons - but who from afar can be certain why an engineering
organization actually does what it does). I knew then that alarms
would likely never be particularly stable. Further, they would likely
never be as stable as I had already made them with my modifications. I
state this not to be presumptuous, but instead because it was clear to
me then that even after I had shared all of my code and thoughts with
them as to why and how the infrastructure was inadequate they elected
to take the band-aid approach. That's when I 'cut bait' and decided to
stick with 7.4.2 and my custom alarm mods instead of upgrading to the
next release... I further opined, after extensive investigation - and
modification - of the Radio firmware, that much other Radio
functionality was also at risk of stability issues due to improper
architecture. It's all here in the forum archives, I believe, if
you're interested in the gory details.
Practically speaking, the point is that once you find a version of
Radio firmware that suits your purposes it may make sense to hard stop
there and never upgrade again. New releases don't necessarily mean
more stable operation when device software architecture/infrastructure
is suspect. In the case of this device it is as likely that a new
release means newly introduced instabilities in areas that seemed
previously stable and deterministic in operation. If you investigate
and understand the history of the Radio's software then you'll likely
be convinced to spare yourself the time you would have spent applying
firmware upgrades, writing forum posts, and chasing down Radio errors
and instead apply that time toward other more constructive pursuits.
I pop into the forum rarely now, and really only for entertainment
purposes. It was not always that way, but there's only so much that
can be done... In the case of the Radio, if you are a tinkerer who
enjoys chasing and isolating new problems then it's the perfect
platform to mess around with. If, however, you are only interested as
a consumer in a stable/functional device to use for streaming and
alarms you are barking up the wrong tree.
With this post I would hope to save some Radio owners (who don't yet
necessarily know any better) from the misguided notion that you'll
'soon' see stable firmware. Find a version that works for your
purposes and in the context of the particular functionality that you
desire from the device, and then stand pat...
Regards,
Marc
--
Marc
Marc's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=34776
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93038
