🚀 go-pugleaf

Don.Golding@f2206.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Don Golding) writes:

>* In a message originally to All, Mark Epperson said:
>ME> Is anyone selling fully assebmled & tested miniboards?

>ME> Mark Epperson

>ME> ---
>ME>  * Origin: Dallas/Ft.Worth Usenet Gateway (1:124/2206.0)
>
>I sell a better board with 32k of user battery backed up RAM, High 
>level Robot Control Language, Speaker output, Microphone input, 
>pulse width modulation, 4 optical collision sensors, two bump 
>sensors, motor current monitoring( both motors independently), 
>instinctive behavior for easier programming for $195 or a complete 
>Whiskers robot, assembled for $395.

Ok, this has been going on for far too long already.  Personally, I think
that it is great that you have put together a board that works, and
that you want to sell it to people.  However, I would not buy your
board simply because of the tactics that you are using to try and sell
it.  Maybe your board is better, I don't know, but that is not the
point.  People who want to build the Miniboard, or the 6.270 board, or
any of the other Freely available designs out there have several
reasons for doing so.  I, for one, learn a lot of things about
electronics and board design/fabrication from doing the Miniboard that
I would not learn from buying a pre-built board.  I also have
available to me a large number of people who are working on the same
problems and can get support from them if I get stuck.  Also, the
Miniboard is in a different class as your board.  It is meant for
small robots/applications, perhaps with several boards cooperating to
control the robot.  In this case you would want a small, simple, cheap
board.  I can get all the parts for the Miniboard for under $75.

When you first started this rude practice of answering people's posts
with messages about how much better your board is, I liked the feature
list, and almost considered contacting you for more information.  But
when I saw how you were trying to push your stuff by bashing other
designs (not to mention using Usenet for your own monetary gain, which
is not taken too kindly), I was turned off.  I would not recommend
that anyone buy your stuff.

I recommend that you stop this annoying practice, or you will find
yourself very un-welcome around here.  

>Contact: Don Golding
>Angelus Research, 6344 Sugar Pine Circle #98, Angelus Oaks, Ca. 92305
>(909) 794-8325.  Better than the miniboard.  PS, how much is your 
>time worth?
> * Origin: The Interocitor*AI/Robotics*214-258-1832 (1:124/2206)
-- 
Greg A. Kulosa		|  "If we are to be damned, let's be damned for what
Systems Administrator	|   we really are"    - Jean-Luc Picard
Oberon Software		|___________________________________________________
gkulosa@oberon.com	 One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142

Someone writes:
>Ok, this has been going on for far too long already.  Personally, I think
>that it is great that you have put together a board that works, and
>that you want to sell it to people.  However, I would not buy your
>board simply because of the tactics that you are using to try and sell
...

and in article <1993Jan28.201716.8503@adobe.com> epperson@adobe.com
(Mark Epperson) replies:
>I am sorry, I do not concur.  Some of us, with two left soldering irons,
>are just looking for the best solution to our problems. I am not interested 
>in "learning" how to debug a microcontroller, I am interested in building
>a robot.  That said, I appreciated the info on the other (less expensive)
>controller.

There does seem to be a persistent tension associated with this topic.
Maybe the solution here is to create a "comp.robotics.hardware"
newsgroup.  There appears to be enough interest, and I have to admit
that I, for one, try to skip over the hardware-related articles and
concentrate on the "softer" stuff, or more general issues pertinent to
robotics.
					-CC

-- 
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Christopher Ian Connolly			connolly@cs.umass.edu
Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics		wa2ifi
University of Massachusetts at Amherst		Amherst, MA 01003