FreeStyle Redux
Why a new Freestyle? Whats was wrong with the old one that was in beta?
Well, Nothing really. The board was up and running with the exception of the 50hz code. And that is just some tweaking to get to act correct.
The truth is it was a matter of smaller, and cheaper winning out and we decieded since we had come up with a way to do it for about 40% the cost and in 2/3 the space it was worth a refit. When I told the beta tester I could redo the board with these benifits not one hesisitated! “Do it!” they said and asked where to send the money and how much to help fund the new beta boards.
Now understand these are the people who had just paid for the expensive beta boards and parts for the then current design and some of them were finishing them at that moment. This is why I love Diylightanimation.com, There were no compliants to be heard. Instead a bunch of users ready to rollup sleeves and get the job done which would lead to cheaper and nicer controllers for everyone.
When everyone pitches in and helps there is little we can not do and it shows. A few people can do so much with the right attitude and a little effort. Whenever I get a new design ready I have no problem finding people to host the coop for it. In fact I am more often holding people back when things are not quite ready to go out the door. When someone asked about what it cost to host the forum. As soon as the answer was put out the response from so many is “Where can we send money to help support the forum” I never asked and never would of but I never needed to. It is these kind of people you want on your team.
The growth and success of DLA in its short life has been more than I could have imagined. When I started it I had many who told me It would never go. I had my doubts but knew I needed to make a change. What happened was better than expected but more so the quality of the people has been far beyond my belief. I started DLA with the hope of pulling a few good quality people together and having fun while creating new stuff. Some of the first users here and I joked that if we got 100 users in the next year it would be great and we would be very happy. Instead in just two months we have exceeded 160 users. And with the support they have given we have some cool stuff to show for it.
A DMX dongle, A 128 channel controller that cost less than most much smaller ones, Two different SSR design, one 4 channel and one 16 channel, that doubles as DMX standalone controllers with just the additional of a few parts, and a dedicated 16 channel DMX LED controller. This in just a couple months! I will be working on the DMX wireless as I finish up the SSR4 design and the new Ledtriks and redesign of the Lynx will likely be high on my list. The best thing is we are just getting started. There are six projects underway right now that I know of. Some will knock the socks off of you when you see them. And the best part is seeing other start thinking “What if?” and looking outside the box for answers. The ideas coming out of this group is so rich and clever it is amazing! We have strobes made of eggs for crying out loud! don’t tell me this bunch isn’t cleaver. LOL
I want to thank all of you for helping to make DLA such a great place to hang out. One old commercial from years ago said “The People Make the Difference” and I could not agree more. At least when it comes to our little hole in the blinky lighting world, it is the people that make it what it is.
RJ