How the world has changed. Partner fretting over whether her sewing machine firmware update will work or go wrong... :-) I guess when I go up to bed, my flaming toothbrush will be asking for Braun Updates to be applied.
Yes, well sewing machines are very complex these days. I always found them fascinating in the old days, the number of different modes they had merely controlled by mechanics, was truly classic engineering. Doing it with motors and electronics is a bitof a cop out.
The daft thing is that apparently even Fridges in some cases are computer controlled these days. My Remmington Shaver says it has a computer controlled digital motor. Certainly it runs at the same speed for a very long time then cuts out when it needs charging, so it obviously has some kind of batter management system inside it.
I was looking at a new washing machine and noticed that it had a clock! That means the machine needs to be left on and the delay timer is based on clock time not just hours. What a waste of energy - probably several units a year for no purpose. At the extreme, I saw a review on an exercise machine that had a computer for the various programmes and the machine wouldn't work when the computer packed up! Somewhat missing the point of exercise.
On Saturday 27 April 2013 12:51 S Viemeister wrote in uk.d-i-y:
Nervous is flashing the firmware on a SAN that's running 150 virtual servers and holds 20TB.
Complete with the obligatory freeze for a few seconds as the controllers restart. Which always happens a good few seconds after you're sure it already happened. That causes the sphincter to wibble...
That's why the SANs which run similar stuff for us have dual controllers. Screw one up, the other takes over. Maybe stuff runs a little slower for a bit, but it's not dead. And of course there's the DR kit on another site, and I've ensured that that copy is up to date before doing anything really scary.
On Sunday 28 April 2013 00:27 Clive George wrote in uk.d-i-y:
So does mine - but as you cannot upgrade each contoller seperately (well "it" probably does, but you have not control) it is still a pants wibbling moment.
No real logic of course - it's a very reliable beast. But it still scare me...
"Digital Motors" are brushless DC motors, so they need some sort of active control to get the step sequence right.
The speed thing is likely to be better battery technology, although I suspect a clever system can have the motor spec'd to run at best speed with less battery volts than the battery can supply, so that you get what appears to be a bit more longevity at full speed as the battery runs down.
All this can be done on a microcontroller the size of a pimple these days...
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