From: Doug Sutherland (wearable_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 2002-02-05 23:04:30
Hi Jim,
> I know that you software snobs will turn up your noses,
> but I have a lot of wonderful programs running in Quick
> Basic.
<grin> I've been around long enough to understand that no
one tool/language is the answer, that all have their value
somewhere, and elegance is in something that works. It does
not matter one bit how it works, just that it works. The
software snobs will go as far as refusing to use anything
but tcsh for unix shell, becase it's a "man's shell" or
emacs because it's what "real programmers use" as an
editor. On another group someone said he wouldn't even
think about using anything but assembler to program his
microcontrollers. My response was "fine, but you will
be programming for weeks" while "I can be up and running
in hours using BASIC of all things". I have designed
some little device multiplexors that do use basic on
the microcontroller, as the code is simple, the
routines are already there, and it's just a DRIVER.
Most of the code is then on the PC in Java, one you're
done with the microcontroller it doesn't matter how it
works and you never change that code anyways. I have
been challenged in financial IT to pull of some very
agressive deadlines, and the trick is to use whatever
works, not what is "best". There is no "best". The
best solution always takes too long or costs too
much, so the optimal path is usually a middle of the
road solution. If an engineer falls into trying to
do the "best" solution, there is good odds that he
will never get approval ($) or his project will be
cancelled mid-way ($).
> I don't want to be a programmer ...
Good. I don't want be an analog EE <g>
> Sorry about the little rant about all the fancy
> languages like Java, Linux etc.
Rant and rave all you want daddyo. Your contributions
are very valuable here.
I found the data sheet here.
http://www.hw.cz/data_ic/ltc1290.pdf
It looks like it's designed to work with microcontrollers.
If I were to do that I would just attach that LT1290 to a
microcontroller and use the traditional RS232 RX/TX to
send to the PC. Actually I think I have one circuit lying
around that does exactly that with an LT1290. The serial
interface is a 4-wire interface but can also be done with
parallel pins. It doesn't appear to be designed to work
directly with a PC. Since I only have a dangerous amount
of hardware knowledge, I won't try to attempt answering
which way is better or faster. I'm sure that Joerg or
Andreas can give a better appraisal of pros and cons. I
like solutions that are simple and fast to implement,
hence my leaning towards traditional RS232 RX/TX, the
code on the PC will then be very simple.
Namaste,
Doug
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : 2002-07-27 12:28:38 BST