Up Yours Microchip!

[Raven Luni]

Foreword: Maybe a general rant thread would be a healthy thing to have here, although it might take a bit of discipline to keep it that way, and not for problems and solutions

Anyway, I feel like I need a good rant after my (successful) adventures with the PIC programmer.

Microchip:

• Tidy up your ****ing documentation! I had to reference 4 different datasheets for enough info on a single device (PIC16F88), some of which I had to search for because they weren't listed on the site!
• The device doesn't behave in all the ways you say it does! Block / row erases are meaningless. Data memory bytes are not erased automatically on write. Bulk or chip erase is required at all times!
• The device is NOT configured for low voltage programming out of the box!
• Your assembler (which also has to be searched for because it isn't listed) is a joke - overcomplicated with meaningless directives, abstract commands and other crap! I wrote my own - its so much simpler. I can write code that does what I want, goes where I want it, and I can save it any ****ing way I want

Honestly - this being my first proper look at MCUs, the last thing I was expecting to see was the same kind of obfuscation and dumbing down of the knowledge base that has plagued the software industry. Simple, functional, LOGICAL! Yes its there but you still have to wade through some shite to get at it.

 

[GreenGiant]

I hear on that front Raven.
Similarly have you ever tried using the Xbee with arduino?
ALL datasheets and documentation you can find (believe me HOURS worth of searching was done) all says you can use it right out of the box for 2 way communication, and you can do all this stuff, right out of the box...

2 days later after almost ripping all my hair out (and my friend too as it was actually his project) we found an HOUR long video going over how to make your Xbee work... just work, not any fancy settings, just work at all...

I dont get how companies can get away with such poor documentation and information (though I deal with it on a daily basis as an electrical engineer)

 

[shrtrnd]

It's because by the time the product you're buying gets to market, the manufacturer is
already preparing to market the next generation new and improved version.
They're not going to waste time documenting and supporting something that is
'obsolete', by the time it hits the market. They've got 'more important' next generation
issues to deal with.
My company bought the next generation units to replace our old system. We bvought
close to one-hundred of them from the same company. One didn't work, and my boss
wanted me to 'just repair it', rather than waste time returning it under warranty.
I called the company to buy the part I needed, and they told me they didn't support that
instrument any more.
I explained that we JUST BOUGHT these instruments, how was that possible?
They explained to me that they had made a run of this instrument, and had several
shelves of this new instrument for sale, but that they were now in production of the
next generation of this instrument, and no longer supported the ones on the shelf
they were still selling.