I have been away for quite some time and noticed that there are a couple of threads about CANGate, so I thought I maybe should make a couple of comments.
Many comments in the threads are about why I don't give away or sell the design, so let me try to explain. I put a lot of thought and work into the design to make sure it would be reliable, would not drain the battery, etc. This goes for both the hardware and the software, and in the software I made some decisions which might not be obvious to the casual observer, but which I think have been proven to be solid. Anyway, what I am really trying to say is, that I take some pride in my work and would hate to see it deteriorate because someone did not understand the design intent. To insure that would not happen I would have to spend time documenting my decisions to make sure whoever took it over fully understood it. And at this point I would have to dig it all out and dust it off.
Over the last couple of year I have received 6-8 requests for giving away or selling the design, and I have responded in most cases with that I might be interested and to give me an offer. I can't remember a single instance where I heard from them again. In most cases I think it were people wanting it for themselves and not having the time or inclination to carry the project forward and support it. My primary reason for asking for some money is not for the money itself (while of course that would be nice), but more to see if the individual was looking for just making one or two, or to truly support the community by continuing to produce CANGate, and I never got the feeling for the latter.
Now you may ask why I stopped making them. Well, first and foremost, I got incredibly busy at a company we have been working to turn around, so time have been virtually non-existent. Second, while I have gotten great enjoyment out of working with the great majority of people here, both on CANGate installs and on other projects, I have also had some frustrations. When people in EU started using CANGate for SDS, I was in a situation where I could not exactly test it in my US setup, I could only verify that they worked for BT voice control. This put me in the situation where, while I have tested every single CANGate I ever shipped in my own car, I could not verify this particular function. So when they had problems getting SDS to work they would naturally contact me for advice, and we would exchange 4-8 emails with me making suggestion of things to try. After these emails, with the problem not resolved as far as I knew, I would hear absolutely nothing again (apologies to the few that actually did give me final feedback). This left me in the situation that when the next person had problems with SDS I would be back at square zero, having learned absolutely nothing from the previous problem. This finally got to me to the point that I basically did not want to deal with it any longer. The irony is that for SDS CANGate is really overkill, a much simpler board with only one CAN bus is all that is needed, I think zx-81 (?) actually pointed out such a board some time ago.
All that said I want to add that I have always felt an obligation to help people with CANGates, so if you have a CANGate and you experience problems with it, please don't let the above discourage you from contacting me.
WOW, this ended up being a lot of ramblings, so ADMINISTRATOR if you want to move this to OFF-TOPIC that is fine with me.
Bjarne
Many comments in the threads are about why I don't give away or sell the design, so let me try to explain. I put a lot of thought and work into the design to make sure it would be reliable, would not drain the battery, etc. This goes for both the hardware and the software, and in the software I made some decisions which might not be obvious to the casual observer, but which I think have been proven to be solid. Anyway, what I am really trying to say is, that I take some pride in my work and would hate to see it deteriorate because someone did not understand the design intent. To insure that would not happen I would have to spend time documenting my decisions to make sure whoever took it over fully understood it. And at this point I would have to dig it all out and dust it off.
Over the last couple of year I have received 6-8 requests for giving away or selling the design, and I have responded in most cases with that I might be interested and to give me an offer. I can't remember a single instance where I heard from them again. In most cases I think it were people wanting it for themselves and not having the time or inclination to carry the project forward and support it. My primary reason for asking for some money is not for the money itself (while of course that would be nice), but more to see if the individual was looking for just making one or two, or to truly support the community by continuing to produce CANGate, and I never got the feeling for the latter.
Now you may ask why I stopped making them. Well, first and foremost, I got incredibly busy at a company we have been working to turn around, so time have been virtually non-existent. Second, while I have gotten great enjoyment out of working with the great majority of people here, both on CANGate installs and on other projects, I have also had some frustrations. When people in EU started using CANGate for SDS, I was in a situation where I could not exactly test it in my US setup, I could only verify that they worked for BT voice control. This put me in the situation where, while I have tested every single CANGate I ever shipped in my own car, I could not verify this particular function. So when they had problems getting SDS to work they would naturally contact me for advice, and we would exchange 4-8 emails with me making suggestion of things to try. After these emails, with the problem not resolved as far as I knew, I would hear absolutely nothing again (apologies to the few that actually did give me final feedback). This left me in the situation that when the next person had problems with SDS I would be back at square zero, having learned absolutely nothing from the previous problem. This finally got to me to the point that I basically did not want to deal with it any longer. The irony is that for SDS CANGate is really overkill, a much simpler board with only one CAN bus is all that is needed, I think zx-81 (?) actually pointed out such a board some time ago.
All that said I want to add that I have always felt an obligation to help people with CANGates, so if you have a CANGate and you experience problems with it, please don't let the above discourage you from contacting me.
WOW, this ended up being a lot of ramblings, so ADMINISTRATOR if you want to move this to OFF-TOPIC that is fine with me.
Bjarne
