Thetis ETA for release ?

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w-u-2-o
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Re: Thetis ETA for release ?

Postby w-u-2-o » Sat Jun 02, 2018 11:26 pm

No, Joe, neither Thetis, nor Protocol 2, has been "abandoned". Unfortunately a higher priority issue came up, which is that all of the firmware including the bootloaders had to be redone due to a parts obsolescence issue with the memory chip used on the boards. That has taken a goodly bit of time and effort. And it's now summer, so people are busy with things other than radios, software and firmware.
Joe-W4WT
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Re: Thetis ETA for release ?

Postby Joe-W4WT » Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:43 pm

Scott,

Sorry to ruffle your feathers.

Thanks for the info. It might be nice to have something like a monthly update just to keep everyone informed if this information is known by some. That would probably head off questions about it. When the last thing that is mentioned (that I've heard anyway) is that it would likely be available in a few weeks yet months later there is still nothing available and no info posted and no discussion on TeamSpeak, it obviously makes people wonder what is going on.

Joe W4WT
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w9ac
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Re: Thetis ETA for release ?

Postby w9ac » Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:35 am

>"When the last thing that is mentioned (that I've heard anyway) is that it would likely be available in a few weeks yet months later there is still nothing available..."

We should always remember that the software side, and likely some or even much of the hardware development, is a volunteer effort. These folks owe us nothing, not even an update. It's their prerogative. PSDR mRx works and works well. Thetis is not a fix that addresses a fatal problem, although some of us think differently.

I almost never give time-lines to my clients in matters that are beyond my control. In nearly every instance where I've quoted an approximate date, I've been burned - even with date ranges. For example, when I tell a client it will take 3-5 months for a federal adjudication to complete, what number do they remember? What number do they never remember?

73,

Paul, W9AC
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Re: Thetis ETA for release ?

Postby Joe-W4WT » Tue Jul 03, 2018 6:19 pm

Hi Paul,

I was going to respond at length to your post but I don't want to upset some sensitive individuals so let me just say that I respectively disagree with the "status" part of your post. I never said the developers should provide a status. We purchased this hardware from Apache Labs. In my opinion, THEY are the ones that should be providing us a monthly status on the development.

I was a "developer" myself for many years. I wrote, published, and sold one of the first Ham Radio logging programs in the late 80's for 15 years so I understand how all this works from a developers point of view as well as a marketers point of view.

Joe W4WT
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Thetis ETA for release ?

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Jul 03, 2018 9:03 pm

Joe-W4WT wrote:We purchased this hardware from Apache Labs. In my opinion, THEY are the ones that should be providing us a monthly status on the development.
How do you figure that, Joe? Apache doesn't produce the firmware, the software, or any documentation of the firmware or software. All they owe us is hardware that works and documentation of same. I will say that I do wish the hardware documentation was a bit better, but at least we have all the schematics (7K and 8K schematics must be requested directly from the factory, though).

Apache has, of course, tried to be helpful with dissemination of software and firmware, and has certainly been extremely supportive of the open source development community. It's in their own self-interest, obviously. But this causes it to appear that Apache is somehow also responsible for both of those things, and nothing could be further from the truth. Perhaps they could be a bit clearer on that matter in the future, but that doesn't change the facts.

I'd actually like to see Apache hire a few young software and firmware engineers and make some derivative works from the existing open source software and firmware. This would speed both development and innovation. And I'd be happy to pay more for the hardware or software to get that. But I'm not a purist where open source is concerned. You should read all the people crying a river on the original HPSDR mailing list about how the Gerbers are not available for Angelia or Orion boards. They expect Apache to give them away for free. I say they can do their own layouts from the open source schematics and BOMs, just like Apache did! But I digress, and I don't think that Apache is going to decide to get into the software and firmware business.

73,

Scott
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Re: Thetis ETA for release ?

Postby Joe-W4WT » Sat Jul 07, 2018 6:38 pm

Scott, I'll just agree to disagree. Just stating my opinion.

Joe W4WT

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