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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Maxiteers, How Many?
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donmck Guru  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
According to my: Maximite Age Demographics Poll. We have 55 members. Altronics is reported to have sold 500 units. Or was it 1000? I have had seven, and sold three, the rest have gone onto Industry people. I know people Like Stuart Smith has a herd of four. I have been in contact with perhaps 6 or 8 people that have knitted their own in various way. Some of them are already part of that 55 number I mentioned, as they have joined this Forum. This means there must be many hundreds that don't know about this Forum, and certainly many hundreds more to come. Has anybody got additional information on the number of Altronics units sold? It appears that resellers such as Microzed, and Global PC in NZ, are all part of the Altronics 500 number. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Wouldn't it be good if Silicon Chip had a monthly magazine column devoted to the progress of the Maximite? I remember in the late 70's/early to mid 80's that ETI and EA had such columns for the Dream and various other kit computers they published. Make a world of promotion for the maximite and keeps new owners informed of where to go to get add-on, programs. |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5074 |
Remember the days when ETI and EA had regular Vic20, Microbee, etc columns? Readers would contribute program listings, and there was a period where every second month had a Microbee project to build, like joysticks, modems, telex printer drivers etc. Silicon Chip needs input from authors. Just about all the projects and articles you see in the magazine are written by freelance writters, like Stan Swan, and Geoff's Maximite for example, and those windmill articles I wrote several years ago, the Service Man, and Vintage Radio, etc. I think its up to the Maximite users to come up with projects of their own, fine tune the software, write the article and send it in to get published. The Circuit Notebook has PicAxe based projects all the time, so I cant see why a Maximite based project wouldn't fit in. The Maximite has the advantage of those 20 I/O pins, so once a few projects get published, I think the floodgates will open on idea's and applications. We do need a online storage place to store programs, circuits, etc, a library. I think Don should take care of this on his Maximite page, or Geoff on his site, or even on my main site if they dont want the extra workload. Idealy an author would submit their working program, circuit diagram and detailed description in a clear predefined format. The library should be easy to search, easy to link to and up to date. With regards to members on the forum, the stats tell me for every one member we get 10 regular guests, people that wont register for whatever reason, but regularly visit, or find the site through a google search. If there are 50 members who are here because of the Maximite, then there are 500 maximite interested visitors. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
Hi Crew, My take on this site... I find that there are just a handful of you dedicated software guys , the rest like me, are sort of interested but more the steel and heavy building types. Also , I'm ignorant of this software stuff, struggling to understand most of it ..but I can certainly see the importance of it. What I'd like to see , if you are willing to help us greasy hands types with printed cct boards and detailed diy step by step constructions.. Thats the very first thing I look for in a project of this type. I do take my hat off to you guys , I was a bit of a dunce ,but have done a few successful controllers ,Etc by watching you guys. Thank you Bruce Bushboy |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
The other side of the coin is about 10 to 20% of kit builders never actually build all the kits they purchase. So if there was 500 sold, then 0nly 400 to 450 will ever get built. I would like to think the figure is higher for the Maximite, but you would never really know. Excuses: This weekend, I'll have more time. When I get my leave, I'll have more time. When I retire, I'll have more time. When I get the divorce, I'll have more time. I have people asking me about kit instructions 20 years after the main event. Fortunately these days, I just leave a dedicated page on the web, at dontronics.com and named after the product. This way I don't even have to look up the URL address, as I know it. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5074 |
Hi Bruce Yeah I know what you mean. The Maximite is going through a "Excited kid with a new Meccano set" stage. Lots of tinkering, but not making anything useful just yet. Give it a few months, and we'll see a heap of projects pop up. Phill suggested I do a PL20 or similar windmill/solar controller based on the Maximite, its on my list of stuff to do in the next few weeks. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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James_From_Canb Senior Member  Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
I remember when all the kits came out for modifying your car. Silicon Chip had one hand controller to manage many of them. I can see the Maximite fulfilling a similar role. It should be possible for the Maximite to be a common controller for projects. It's inexpensive, and if it was a common controller it would be a one-off, so the cost would be spread over many projects. I know there's one other Maximite owner in the organisation I work for, but he's not registered on the forum. But I think he, like most other owners, will register eventually if they want to ask questions (or provide answers). The most important thing is that new members feel welcome and not embarrased to ask 'stupid questions'. Bruce, many of us have programming experience and are willing to help. Just post your questions. It's puzzle solving - some people really like working out how to do things in software. Then there are the hardware numpties like me. The Maximite has finally given me the opportunity to learn about interfacing and hardware in general. I've been given invaluable advice from the members here. I see the forum as a terrific way for people to swap expertise. My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I don't mind hosting the files. The main problem is of course the work load. I'm not sure how much I can take on, so I am wondering if there is some sort of application that will do most of the hard work, as yes, it does need a good predefined format, possibly, date prefix, file name, accompanying text file, that includes program description etc. Maybe password protected so that the loonies can't upload their viagra and penis enlargement wares, or whatever is is they try to peddle these days. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5074 |
One thing I've learned running a forum for the last few years is you have to scrutinize everything, dont rely on software to decide whats real and what isn't. Whenever a new member signs up to this forum, I get a email message, and I then check out their details to see if they are a spammer or not. Some look very legitimate, but you get to know a pattern, like a birthdate, or signature, and you know they are a spammer, so you delete them. About 1 in 5 are real people. Only very occasionally does a spammer get to post spam before I've deleted them. I would suggest setting up a email address, like submit@maximitecomputer.com, and set up some rules on how a submission should be sent through. That way all you need to do is cut and paste the details into the library. On what type of server is the web site hosted? Apache or IIS? Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I have two web hosts in the US: 1) EWD Hosting: Apache version 2.2.14 (Unix) He is a specialist with my cart, so I have a Virtual server with him. This is the one I don't want to crash. :-) 2) Hostgator Operating System Linux CentOS just your ordinary Hostgator service, but heaps of storage and bandwidth. These have a heap of apps ready to rock and roll. I don't know if anything is suitable, so I have listed the lot. Someone may know: [code] Welcome to the QuickInstall autoinstaller BETA. Most functionality is in place, but there may be bugs. If you run into any problems, please contact your web host. Paid Software Trendy Site Builder Noah's Classifieds Blog Software WordPress LifeType b2evolution Pixelpost Nucleus Forum Software phpBB Simple Machines Forum bbPress MyBB Advanced Electron Forum PunBB Content Management Software Joomla 1.5 Drupal Joomla 1.6 liveSite Drupal 7 concrete5 ocPortal Moodle MODx Mambo e107 XOOPS Zikula Mahara phpwcms Hotaru CMS Textpattern Geeklog Saurus CMS glFusion TYPO3 Commerce Software Magento OpenCart PrestaShop Zen Cart osCommerce TomatoCart phpCOIN Wiki Software MediaWiki TikiWiki CMS/Groupware PmWiki WikkaWiki Photo Gallery Software Zenphoto Gallery Piwigo Coppermine Photo Gallery 4images Mailing List Software phplist poMMo Dada Mail Polling Software LimeSurvey advancedpoll phpESP Chat Software phpFreeChat Help Center Live Crafty Syntax Live Help Project Management Software dotProject PHProjekt Mantis Bug Tracker PHP GuestBook Social Networking Software Pligg Jcow Other Software Z-Push vtiger CRM PHP Form Generator SugarCRM osTicket phpLinkDirectory WebCalendar Elgg PHP Support Tickets OpenDocMan Sitebar ChurchInfo phpMyFAQ FAQMasterFlex Lazarus [/code] Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5074 |
Yeah none of that is relevant. If it was IIS I could throw a custom database system together that would allow searching etc. I dont dabble with the apache technologies other than basic html. I think the best approach would like the email system I mentioned above. The "library" is nothing more than web pages, so you could use the same technique to build the library as you are using now to edit the Maximite pages. It would be prety straight forward once you get the layout sorted. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I think you are right Glenn. this may be about simplicity. Suggested file format and requirements: [code] 1) Basic File name, Example: 2011-07-09-Don-McKenzie-Moon-Lander.bas 2) Text Description, Example: 2011-07-09-Don-McKenzie-Moon-Lander.txt 3) Category, Example: Games. [/code] We need these 3 basic elements. No spaces in file names. Must be "-" separators. Otherwise we end up with all of that character conversion rubbish, that some programs want to always convert. I could set up a sub-dir for basic file storage, an allow dir listings. This way, a category would be set up as a group of files, and the sender would nominate a new category, or select an old one. The files will sort in date order. Did I miss anything? If this is close, I could set up the web page structure, and email address. Actually started before I sent this message: http://www.themaximitecomputer.com/Basic-Programs/ Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Done! http://www.themaximitecomputer.com/submit-basic-program/ Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5074 |
Almost 
What about circuit diagram, since a lot of projects will be interfacing with the outside world. Submitted in order of preference PDF, GOF, JPG and BMP. And revision, in case the author releases a updated version. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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stuarts Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 199 |
I'd vote for PDF, its the most popular these days and doesn't suffer from degredation with compression. Stuart Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. |
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jebz Regular Member  Joined: 13/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 79 |
What about when I can get enough light and the glasses are on? Or is this only for the young ones because the oldies always have their glasses on? . |
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| stuarts Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 199 |
What about I have 3 running and I am having so much fun I dont have time to make the Altronics kit that finally arrived? Stuart Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. |
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VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
What about, I purchased mine 3 months ago and I'm still waiting for it to turn up! Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
Another thing to keep in mind is if I have 2 Altronics kits, and by the sounds of it more than half of the Maximite forum users have more than one kit, the 500 number looks like it is divided amongst about 300 people. Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Good point. And yes, I know of many people (including Stuart's herd of Maximites) that have more than one. If we have 60 members active here, and many others lurking, then what is going to happen when each batch of 500 is sold? I know where there is another 500 batch that will be released in the next 3 months or so. These will be marketed in Europe and the US. Not mine, but something I had a hand in. Perhaps cutting my own throat, but no point in trying to stop the progress. :-) Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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