There is a huge difference between the old battery-backed memory and
using Flash memory. As you note, the battery will eventually run
down, causing memory to be lost. Flash memory will retain its
contents for a very long period - Microchip specifies this at 40
years minimum, 100 years typical. This is actually comparable to the
EPROM memory in the One-Time Programmable chips used in the K2, and
much longer than anything backed by battery. Parameters in the chips
are stored in EEPROM memory, which also is specified at 40 years
minimum, also much longer than the battery-backed systems.
I seriously doubt you will ever see the chip die from memory loss.
More likely the reason you would want to reprogram it will be to gain
new features as Wayne releases them. This is true whether the radio
is a K3, K2, K1, KX1 or anything else that Elecraft might dream up.
On Oct 15, 2007, at 10:40 PM, Leigh L. Klotz, Jr. wrote:
For me, the issue isn't finding some Windows laptop to update the
K3 with. That's easy enough.
My concern is that eventually, there will be a need to reload the
K3's firmware, and the version of Windows it's for might not be
there. Think of the timescale of ham radio vs. the timescale of
Windows releases.
There are Japanese ham radios from the 1980's which are now bricked
because config memory settings were lost when the battery went dead.
It's not important right now, but eventually, having an open way to
reload the firmware will be important.
That's not the same as saying that the firmware itself needs to be
open; it just should be possible to restore the radio to it's
original state without having to find a 20 or 30 year old laptop.
The K2 doesn't have this problem because its firmware isn't writable.
73,
Leigh/WA5ZNU
David Wilburn wrote:
A recent thread mentioned update options, but I did not see any
new news. Has anyone tried the K3 update software using Wine
under Linux?
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