Microchip forum

[Roche]

Firstly - Well done for starting this forum. Thanks. Having had posts removed from the other place, due to criticism of MPLAB X, I think there needs to be a place where objective comment can be made, and real collegiate help happens...

[Tom Maier]

I tried MPLABX 1.2 a while ago and then decided that it won't be until MPLABX 3.x before it is worth trying again.

FP

1.2? How long ago was that? 2.15 is out now.

I like mplabx because I like to use linux. There has never been a good tool set for linux or mac before.

[Tom Maier]

... posts removed from the other place, due to criticism of MPLAB X, I think there needs to be a place where objective comment can be made

If the comments were really objective, I doubt if the posts would have been removed. There are some really caustic comments from some people who are trying to transition from mplab to mplabx on the microchip site, and as long as the posts have truely objective statements, microchip allows them to stay.

So what kind of comments got you censored? Not likely to be censored here, but you might find that some people don't agree with you if the observations are nebulous.

This forum started because of the technically "busted" nature of the microchip site, not because of complaints of censorship at microchip.

I'm in a remote area and use a circa 1980's land line modem, so the new site software at microchip has bumped me offline because of the ridiculous amount of script they download. When I click on a post it can take 3 minutes for it to appear and if I try to log on and reply, it can take 20 minutes. By the time I can read or post, I've forgotten why I clicked on it or what my comments were going to be.

[Roche]

Well - I might not have been truly objective, having just spent two days in the middle of a "fast" project try to transition, and finding that the functionality I normally used wasn't readily available...

I know what you mean about bloated websites - I often find myself at the end of satellite links with limited bandwidth, cursing the same sort of thing.

[Tom Maier]

... just spent two days in the middle of a "fast" project try to transition, and finding that the functionality I normally used wasn't readily available...

Yeah, use of new tools sets should not be in the Gannt Chart of a new project that has a fast time schedule. Neither should use of a new chip. Those things should be played with before the project time slots are created, to avoid the indeterminate delays that always happen while messing with the learning curve.

Hard to explain that to a boss who doesn't program.

[Tom Maier]

One more observation about the use of new tools/new chips...

A bad leader leaves a page of advertisement on your desk with a post-it note that says "This is what you will be using for this project, and your window is set at three weeks for completion, starting NOW."

A good group leader will give a heads-up to the developers about the possible use of something new long before it is attempted to implement it. This allows time to play with the new system before it is required in the time line of a project. People who pick up the ball and run with it on their time off prove to make themselves valuable team members.

A great leader orders development boards long before a project starts and passes them out at a meeting, along with good donuts, preferably creme filled (donuts, not the boards). Then asks "Give me your opinion on this".

I've seen all three approaches, and the post-it note one normally ends up in sore feelings and project time slippage.

[ric]

...
A great leader orders development boards long before a project starts and passes them out at a meeting, along with good donuts, preferably creme filled (donuts, not the boards). Then asks "Give me your opinion on this".
...

What if your opinion is "I prefer cinnamon donuts" ?

[Tom Maier]

then you are in the wrong meeting room... that's the sales department.

[drh]

Is it better to work for donuts or peanuts?

[Tom Maier]

I once had a boss who would have us working 16 hour days for pizza.

He would give us heroic, flattering, inspirational speeches and then run out and buy pizzas at 5 o'clock, and then we would work until 10 or 11 at night. This went on for a few weeks before somebody noticed that he always slipped out at 6 everyday. He really knew how to inspire a team, but he wasn't going to put in more than 8 hours himself.

When people found out what he was doing, the midnight oil ran out and people started slipping out at 6:05, right after he left.

I had another boss who would come in late every day and then lock his office door and read race car magazines. He never seemed to know what was going on. He stopped showing up for work one week. I went home and turned on the local news channel and there was a big photo of him and there was a state wide man hunt for him. Never did find out what that was all about.

One company I worked at had one of the vice presidents threaten a customer with a hand gun. His excuse for doing that was because he had consumed too much whiskey, so it was OK.

Life is a cabaret...