Tom,
On 06/26/2014 04:02 AM, Tom Van Baak wrote:
Bob,
A couple of different ideas:
1) No UI at all. The surplus GPSDO favorites over the years (like the HP
SmartClock's and Trimble Thunderbolt) work with no UI. Yes, there is a PC
program you can use to monitor and control it, or even debug it, but it is
completely optional. Many GPSDO work out of the box. Maybe, like HP, have one
green LED to say all-is-well.
2) A very simple 9600 baud command set that you can use with any terminal
program. Adding LCD is fine too. But make sure everything on the LCD is also
available over RS232. Not everyone wants to visually monitor the LCD of every
piece of gear on their bench; let a PC log and archive all the data, check for
problems, make plots, etc.
3) Mimic enough of HP's SCPI command set so that GPScon and other tools like
that can be used, transparently. I forget if your GPSDO includes a receiver or
not.
SCPI in general is an attempt at creating a standard interface for
instruments, and it has a pretty nice structure and logic to it.
Building on SCPI one should be able to get a pretty good and stable
interface. Jackson lab continues that tradition.
4) Mimic enough of Trimble's TSIP so that LH and other tools like that can be
used, transparently.
Please write enough code so that the GPSDO, by default, can work "out of the
box". I'm evaluating a prototype GPSDO right now that requires all sorts of user
input just to get it started and to keep it going. That gets old. My bias is: time spent
creating clever adaptive algorithms to make a human unnecessary is better than time spent
creating an elaborate UI that requires a user (and operation manual) and constant
monitoring or adjusting.
We should really see if we could not have LH work for SCPI GPSDOs as
well. I won't get GPScon.
PS. At EFTF 2014 in Neuchatel, the hotel assigned me room 133, so I feel
on time and stable. :)
Cheers,
Magnus
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