Die Rechte bleiben vollständig bei den Entwicklern. Sie können natürlich alles hier (oder wo auch immer sie möchten) veröffentlichen. Die Unterlagen stehen vom ABBUC aus ABBUC-Mitgliedern zum privaten, nicht kommerziellen Nachbau zur Verfügung. Wenn ich die Sachen hochgeladen habe geht das, wie in den Vergangen Jahren auch, dann über die Links in der Übersicht unter "Ressort Hardware".

An den Seiten bastle ich gerade; da ich mit dem Einpflegen von Inhalten nicht so fit bin (mache ich nur 1 x im Jahr...) dauert´s leider etwas...

Sleepy

I posted this on AtariAge, and to keep things honest and open I feel it only right to post it here too:

OK.


I dont want to sound unthankful, but I thought long and hard about this, and I think I should share my honest opinion about the results, because else it will keep tumbling inside of me, and one day it would emerge anyway, and probably in a lot less nice way.

IMHO I think that, with all respect to the creator of the power meter cart, it is weird that AntiX was categorised at the same level as this project.

First of all, it doesnt even look like a finished project. Its not a cartridge that fits the entire thing. There is an entire Arduino set-up dangling next to the cartridge, not very practical. Even the text already suggests that MAYBE a smaller Arduino can be used....so....is this a finished project, or one still in development ?

Second.....the use of the product. IMHO AntiX is a much more useful product than the Power Meter cartridge for the general A8 user. Even in the ABBUC magazine it is indicated that there are simply some LEDs lighting up, but no real use can be determined.....

This may be just my opinion, but the Power Meter cartridge seems to serve a vey niche market of the A8 community. Even though I created it myself, I think that in all objectivity, no-one can deny that AntiX is a much more general useful product for the average A8 user on both sides of the Atlantic. It opens up using PAL software for the US guys, and gives us Euro guys the possibility to have a steady 60Hz screen, in the correct aspect ratio, and games running on their intended speed.

For this reason, I honestly expected a higher judgement of the jury for AnriX, and Im going to be honest, Im disappointed about that.

I also dont understand that while the software contest has,an online voting option, this is not the case for the hardware contest. Only the people attending the JHV meeting are able to vote on the product. I dont understand that. Sure, the software can be downloaded and judged by every ABBUC member, but for the hardware the descriptions as published in the magazine and published on the forums, and also demonstration videos should give enough info to allow people to vote online.

In general, it seems that the people at the JHV in majority simply follow whatever the ABBUC judges suggest when voting for the hardware.

Anyway, I am grateful and happy with the price I won, but I cant understand that it didnt achieve a bit higher ranking by the hardware jury.

The fact that, electronically, it is a rather simple device shouldnt matter. It is the usefulness and functionality that counts.

Some people at the JHV thought that AntiX simply switched the 5V supply to the ANTIC chips!!!

Well it is not THAT simple, but I have the feeling some people actually judged AntiX on that basis. The files should be out in the open now so everybody can see how AntiX works, and I never hid the fact that the idea and concept is simple enough, but it took plenty of research to find exactly the right chip and also to solve some issues to make it work reliable.

Anyway, I wanted to vent this out in the open because I noticed I felt frustrated about this on the way back home and it grew more on me the last few days.

No personal feelings....just my honest opinion.

Hallo
@sleepy: Danke für die Info

gruss Mark

Hi,

Level42 hat geschrieben:I posted this on AtariAge, and to keep things honest and open I feel it only right to post it here too:
No personal feelings....just my honest opinion.

You´re absolutely right. I feel the same, that´s the reason, why I never would participate to the ABBUC hardware contest with my solutions any more (until some things are changed).

IMHO the segmentation of the results by the jury are unreproducible. The harsh discussions at the JHV shows one thing: this jury and their votings damage the ABBUC´s reputation. The ABBUC hardware contests loses it´s standing year by year. But until some eternal people won´t change their mind, it will be more bad every year.

AntiX is more than a simple "voltage switcher" - I know it, then my work-in-progress Multi-System CPU Card for the 400/800 series uses a similar way. Such comments are proof for low-minded experience of some "hardware experts".

Jurgen

Thank you for your support Jurgen.

Such a shame you don’t compete anymore...so many great projects you did...

ABBUC really needs to rethink these things happening....

My suggestion last year (for which I received quite some bashing) was that the jury still issues a recommended place, because the jury can analyze the submitted hardware more thoroghly than the members. But then all members would make their own vote based on this recommendation (or not). The online voting portal could very easily be expanded to the hardware contest as well, so it would not be a problem to provide members with all the necessary documentation - if they are interested. But after being attacked for suggesting these changes only for my own personal gain (and this year being labled a "liar"), I'm not going to invest my energy in these kind of debates anymore. I'm nevertheless grateful and thank the vast majority of ABBUC JHV visiting members for upvoting my project from 3rd to 1st place.

Level42 hat geschrieben:I
>Some people at the JHV thought that AntiX simply switched the 5V supply to the ANTIC chips!!!

Those people were me, and surely only me and personally apologized for this. Honestly, I held the PCB in my hands and didn't even even spot the (expected) multiplexer, because the PCB design is so compact/good. AntiX is a nice and useful product for games.
At the same time AtariDino is great for DIY fans.
And the Power Meter (yet, it is not finished, therefore is was in the different category), may seem totally strange at first glance. But there is more to it than just some LEDs and I have seen it in action. It would be absolutely great for events and presentation display to attract people.

Many people said we have to chaneg the way this works. So I have a lot of time thinking, and here's my result.

Regarding the jury system:
=======================
It was the decision of the ABBUC members some years to try that because some people said hardware is to hard to judge by themselves. While you can try out software upfront from the disk mag, you cannot do that with the hardware. So for the hardware, the common ABBUC member is left with the description in the ABBUC mag and his imagination. The users/members felt uncomfortable with that and so we tried the jury system.

As it turns out now, that the just system takes the burden from the users and puts is in the jury. The result is that now the creators and the jury are both stressed (as there is only very little time available) and unsatified, because there are only very few people involved. Hence everybody will consider the decisions a personal decision and not a decision of the members. And in fact, it is of course. No matter how "objective" you try to be.

Summary for me:
===============
Instead of the jury system we should return to the "people's vote". Whatever vote is will be - and how random and biased it might be - it is the decision of all members and everybody (creators and members) will rather accept that, than accepting the decision of a jury.

Regarding the price system:
========================
We should remember what the PURPOSE of the hardware contest is: Encourage people to create new hardware for the Atari 8-bit bit. That's it. And the ABBUC has a defined amount of money to this encouragement every year. To encourage the people we have to SPEND this money, if the minimal condition (two entries in the competition) is met. And just like it was decided for the software category there should be one single category based in simply member votates. For the same reasons discussed for the software.

What is the worst thing that will happen? One year two people hand in two simple blinking lights for the joystick port and both get 500 EUR each. What you think will happen? The word will spread and EVERYBODY will try to enter the contest the following year with new stuff - PURPOSE achieved. Also the case of "in development" or "improved version" is simply handled based on the percentage of points from actual voters. If people consider it interesting/worth while, they give points. If not, because is the same as last year, then not.

Summary for me:
===============
Remove the categories. We have already a fixed budget. Spend it completely based on the percentage of points an entries has receives from the members.

Basically it means, we handle software and hardware the same way. Simple and transparently, based on the votes of the members.

I'm not sure what is required to change this for next year, but we should really try that.