TI has wrecked their web site

[Joerg]

Hello Jim,

I'd be afraid I'd blow an engine and be stuck somewhere.

Never blew an engine but one car's engine electronics quit working right
in our driveway, another developed a brake cylinder problem, then I
recently had one where the seats fells apart and other stuff was just
about to. All US made cars. IMHO the quality really began to tank some
time in the late 70's.

Now I usually make sure I have a Mitsubishi. Never had the slightest
issues with JPN cars and I drove a lot of them as rentals. Plus here at
home.

My wife just had her 10+ year old Toyota smog-checked. Passed with
flying colors and huge margins, like usual. A friend's Ford was already
at the dismantler at that age. They were told it would take a new engine
to make it pass, and that it wouldn't likely be for long. Unless they
could get a used Mazda engine from Japan in there but that would have
cost a lot more for mods.

Saw a clear section of highway, floored it, and got tagged for 79 in a
50 zone.

Cost me $120 and all day in a very boring "Defensive Driving School"
:-(

Don't do this in CA. Costs a lot more. A whole lot more.

Regards, Joerg

 

[Joerg]

Hello Mark,

I have no problems saving PDFs from TI using Firefox. Sure, I can't
right click and save, but I open the PDF and save from Acrobat. In
Firefox, I modified my all.js file (under greprefs) and commented out
the Acrobat line. This causes the PDF to be viewed in Acrobat instead
of your browser. ...

Same procedure here with Mozilla. The TI site is kind of ok but has
deteriorated. One stupid decision was to make it wider than the screen
of most laptops, even placing the search field in the right off-screen
section. What were they thinking? Or, were they thinking at all?

... Any company that has a 100% Flash site doesn't get my
business because it's too painful to find information.

Same here, I move right on.

Seems that many companies are trying to please the investors with
pretty graphics and leave their customers battling slow fluffy web
sites. Chalk it up to "professional" management (management with no
expertise in the product) where company success is measured in number
of colors in the web site home page.

They give too much slack to marketing. Not good at all. Also, they do
not listen. I participated in a lot of TI surveys, mainly to give credit
to their app engineers who truly do an excellent job. In the "other
comments" area I mentioned web site problems. Didn't even get one phone
call. Somehow that tells me the problem is rooted very high up in
management.

While TI offers some excellent products and great support they are
lacking in pre-sales work, big time. An example is the MSP430 forum. One
TI FAE occasionally sticks his head in there, otherwise nothing. You
cannot design for the future without feedback from tomorrow's customers.
You can't only get that from today's big customers. If I'd be the CEO
that would change and pronto.

Regards, Joerg

 

[Rich Grise]

On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:59:53 GMT, Joerg

[snip]

Classic executive management problem. In the same way that the big
three automakers failed to realize what they should have designed, now
that it is almost too late. I mean, every newspaper in town kind of
told them. Yet they did not listen.

Regards, Joerg

For sure. I haven't owned an American auto-maker product for just shy
of 30 years.

Whenever possible I don't even rent that crap when I'm traveling.

...Jim Thompson

You don't even rent them? Man, you're missing out. While I'm a Toyota
and Nissan fan, it sure is fun to floor the gas when renting a Chevy at
Alamo. The best part is, I won't be stuck with the maintenance.

I rented a car at one of the cheapest ones short of Rent-A-Wreck (which
I did once, and it was a surprisingly serviceable car. ;-) ), and the
accelerator stuck while I was coming down a freeway off-ramp. It wouldn't
slow down! I stood on the brake - I mean, literally - I raised my butt up
off the car seat, being supported by my foot on the brake pedal and my
shoulders on the seat back, just to slow it below 55 - shifted it into
neutral, and the tach popped up to about 6K RPM. Then, it seemed to reset
itself and drive normally, but when I took the car back to the rental
place, I read them the riot act.

I don't remember which flavor of car it was; all I noticed was the
"new-car" smell.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[martin griffith]

Hello Mark,



Same procedure here with Mozilla. The TI site is kind of ok but has
deteriorated. One stupid decision was to make it wider than the screen
of most laptops, even placing the search field in the right off-screen
section. What were they thinking? Or, were they thinking at all?



Same here, I move right on.



They give too much slack to marketing. Not good at all. Also, they do
not listen. I participated in a lot of TI surveys, mainly to give credit
to their app engineers who truly do an excellent job. In the "other
comments" area I mentioned web site problems. Didn't even get one phone
call. Somehow that tells me the problem is rooted very high up in
management.

While TI offers some excellent products and great support they are
lacking in pre-sales work, big time. An example is the MSP430 forum. One
TI FAE occasionally sticks his head in there, otherwise nothing. You
cannot design for the future without feedback from tomorrow's customers.
You can't only get that from today's big customers. If I'd be the CEO
that would change and pronto.

Regards, Joerg

Just wondering what the website of Dilbert's company looks like.

Maybe a Dilbert Award for the worst site would make the PHBs wake up


martin

 

[Jim Thompson]

Hello Jim,


Never blew an engine but one car's engine electronics quit working right
in our driveway, another developed a brake cylinder problem, then I
recently had one where the seats fells apart and other stuff was just
about to. All US made cars. IMHO the quality really began to tank some
time in the late 70's.

Now I usually make sure I have a Mitsubishi. Never had the slightest
issues with JPN cars and I drove a lot of them as rentals. Plus here at
home.

My wife just had her 10+ year old Toyota smog-checked. Passed with
flying colors and huge margins, like usual. A friend's Ford was already
at the dismantler at that age. They were told it would take a new engine
to make it pass, and that it wouldn't likely be for long. Unless they
could get a used Mazda engine from Japan in there but that would have
cost a lot more for mods.



Don't do this in CA. Costs a lot more. A whole lot more.

Regards, Joerg

CA needs the taxes ?

...Jim Thompson

 

[[email protected]]

On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:59:53 GMT, Joerg

[snip]

Classic executive management problem. In the same way that the big
three automakers failed to realize what they should have designed, now
that it is almost too late. I mean, every newspaper in town kind of
told them. Yet they did not listen.

Regards, Joerg



For sure. I haven't owned an American auto-maker product for just shy
of 30 years.

Whenever possible I don't even rent that crap when I'm traveling.

...Jim Thompson

You don't even rent them? Man, you're missing out. While I'm a Toyota
and Nissan fan, it sure is fun to floor the gas when renting a Chevy at
Alamo. The best part is, I won't be stuck with the maintenance.

I rented a car at one of the cheapest ones short of Rent-A-Wreck (which
I did once, and it was a surprisingly serviceable car. ;-) ), and the
accelerator stuck while I was coming down a freeway off-ramp. It wouldn't
slow down! I stood on the brake - I mean, literally - I raised my butt up
off the car seat, being supported by my foot on the brake pedal and my
shoulders on the seat back, just to slow it below 55 - shifted it into
neutral, and the tach popped up to about 6K RPM. Then, it seemed to reset
itself and drive normally, but when I took the car back to the rental
place, I read them the riot act.

Ah, you should have downshifted to 2 or L!

I don't remember which flavor of car it was; all I noticed was the
"new-car" smell.

Which is now considered toxic, by the way...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-09-26-new-car-smell_x.htm

 

[Jim Thompson]

[snip]

I rented a car at one of the cheapest ones short of Rent-A-Wreck (which
I did once, and it was a surprisingly serviceable car. ;-) ), and the
accelerator stuck while I was coming down a freeway off-ramp. It wouldn't
slow down! I stood on the brake - I mean, literally - I raised my butt up
off the car seat, being supported by my foot on the brake pedal and my
shoulders on the seat back, just to slow it below 55 - shifted it into
neutral, and the tach popped up to about 6K RPM. Then, it seemed to reset
itself and drive normally, but when I took the car back to the rental
place, I read them the riot act.

I don't remember which flavor of car it was; all I noticed was the
"new-car" smell.

Thanks,
Rich

Was it Avis?

I rented a Chrysler (barf) from AVIS (barf) in LAX and was driving to
Anaheim.

The throttle kept sticking, but I could lift up the pedal with my toe
and slow it down.

When I reached my hotel I called Avis to report the problem.

They said they couldn't replace the car until the next day.

I allowed as how the next time the engine ran off I'd simply take it
out of gear and blow the engine.

Had another car in half-an-hour ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Chris Carlen]

Note for many Linux users:

If you set up more screen modes in SAX2 you can use CTRL-ALT plus and
minus to step through them. It can be very handy in this case as a quick
zoom in and out.

This is 2006. Ever hear of flat panels?

Haven't used a CRT since 2000.


--
Good day!

________________________________________
Christopher R. Carlen
Principal Laser&Electronics Technologist
Sandia National Laboratories CA USA
[email protected]
NOTE, delete texts: "RemoveThis" and
"BOGUS" from email address to reply.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

This is 2006. Ever hear of flat panels?

Haven't used a CRT since 2000.

Flat panel monitors will generally try to display non-native
resolutions, but the results are not always the best.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Rich Grise, but drunk]

[snip]

I rented a car at one of the cheapest ones short of Rent-A-Wreck (which I
did once, and it was a surprisingly serviceable car. ;-) ), and the
accelerator stuck while I was coming down a freeway off-ramp. It wouldn't
slow down! I stood on the brake - I mean, literally - I raised my butt up
off the car seat, being supported by my foot on the brake pedal and my
shoulders on the seat back, just to slow it below 55 - shifted it into
neutral, and the tach popped up to about 6K RPM. Then, it seemed to reset
itself and drive normally, but when I took the car back to the rental
place, I read them the riot act.

I don't remember which flavor of car it was; all I noticed was the
"new-car" smell.

Thanks,
Rich

Was it Avis?

No, it was second from the left at the Long Beach rent-a-car concession
stand, either Budget or that one you mentioned a couple posts ago with the
yellow sign with the black letters - Enterprise, maybe.

I rented a Chrysler (barf) from AVIS (barf) in LAX and was driving to
Anaheim.

The throttle kept sticking, but I could lift up the pedal with my toe
and slow it down.

When I reached my hotel I called Avis to report the problem.

They said they couldn't replace the car until the next day.

I allowed as how the next time the engine ran off I'd simply take it out
of gear and blow the engine.

Had another car in half-an-hour ;-)

Why am I having a USENET deja-vu? ;-D ;-D ;-D

Cheers!
Rich
--
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GAT(E P) dpu s: a++ C++@ P+ L++>+ !E W+ N++ o? K? w-- !O !M !V PS+++
PE Y+ PGP- t 5+++)-; X- R- tv+ b+ DI++++>+ D-? G e+$ h+ r-- z+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

 

[Ken Smith]

If you set up more screen modes in SAX2 you can use CTRL-ALT plus and
minus to step through them. It can be very handy in this case as a quick
zoom in and out.

Big but with crappy resolution? What use is that?[/QUOTE]

It depends a lot on how good your eyes are and how well your brain
interpolates the pixels.

 

[Ken Smith]

This is 2006. Ever hear of flat panels?

Yes, I'm looking a a Xerox one right now.

Now I've zoomed in by 1
Now I've zoomed in by 2
Now I've zoomed in by 3
Now I've zoomed in by 4
Now I've zoomed out because it wrapped.

 

[Ken Smith]

Flat panel monitors will generally try to display non-native
resolutions, but the results are not always the best.

This one, says "adjusting" for a second and then displays it at the new
resolution. The results are quite good. The image stays centered and
clear. It doesn't beat the pixel rates.

When I first hooked it up, I had to take out one resolution. My Sony CRT
could do one that the LCB can't.

 

[Tim Shoppa]

I like the way Mouser does their catalog, eg:
http://www.mouser.com/catalog/624/160.pdf

That itself is good use of technology. PDF files can contain URL's and
there (and in the topical index that pops up in the "bookmarks" tile)
they use it to good effect.

What I don't like is that to get to the PDF, you have to be redirected
from a search through Javascript. I'm averse to enabling Javascript
just to download a fairly static document... (If you never turn
Javascript off you probably do not notice.)

The worst are the idiot numbskulls who put a fixed size tiny frame
around a PDF, making most of your monitor area totally useless (unless
you are a wretch in some 3rd-world country trying to use a flickering
old 800x600 display to do engineering work).

Some sites do this with other than PDF's, too!

Tim.

 

[Pooh Bear]

On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:59:53 GMT, Joerg

[snip]

Classic executive management problem. In the same way that the big three
automakers failed to realize what they should have designed, now that it
is almost too late. I mean, every newspaper in town kind of told them.
Yet they did not listen.

Regards, Joerg

For sure. I haven't owned an American auto-maker product for just shy
of 30 years.

Whenever possible I don't even rent that crap when I'm traveling.

...Jim Thompson

What's your preference ?

What key features influence your decision ?

Graham

 

[RoyalHeart]

It does in Firefox.

And in Netscape 7.1.

 

[RoyalHeart]

It does in Firefox.

And in Netscape 7.1.

 

[RoyalHeart]

It does in Firefox.

And in Netscape 7.1.

 

[Robert Baer]

The trend among website designers in the past couple years is to
replace URL's that directly give paths on a filesystem into
dynamically-generated documents and links that access the documents
through database links.

There are some website administrivia tasks that are made easier by
this, but MOSTLY this is done because it raises website administration
into the "ivory white tower with the database analyst" level again,
ensuring their employment forever and a steady stream of $ to Oracle
Inc.

Also, having a dynamically created Javascript thingy open up the PDF
document lets you put a "frame" around the PDF with arrows to step you
forward/back through catalog pages etc. This is not a completely
useless feature, although it is frustrating at times.

(I would argue that a filesystem is a database, but all the Oracle
junkies will just hate me more.)

Yeah, my shorts are too tight and Oracle DBA's pissed me off big time
yesterday!

Tim.

You do not need to "argue that a filesystem is a database", because
that is true.

 

[Adrian Jansen]

...again!

It's all Flashed now. And just try right-clicking on a datasheet -
once you find it - to save the pdf file.

John

Idea for a new product:

Design an electric chair for Web designers, arranged so that the more
times one circles around a Web site looking for useful information, the
bigger shock gets generated. Could be a useful feedback mechanism.

Much better than bonuses from management for the more colors and
Macromedia Flash junk that gets used.


--
Regards,

Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
Design Engineer J & K Micro Systems
Microcomputer solutions for industrial control
Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form.