[Coco] First experiences with my DE1

[Bill Pierce]

I agree in that respect Mark, but I stick to my guns that some initial "installation" or "setup" be included until someone gets familiar enough with the product to write something more useful. Especially in something like the CocoFPGA as most of the type of documentation for other system projects would differ greatly and not be applicable for an uninitiated user to at least get started in the right direction.

One of my favorite statements to people asking me how to do things is "Read the Manual first". It get's frustrating trying to guide someone through something as complex as the DE1 through email messages without something they can reference on their end.

In the end it's good for everyone. The user gets at least simple instruction, and the developer doesn't get bombarded with "How do I turn the d&%m thing on?"

I wonder how many people have searched for and possibly even emailed Gary since this spurt of DE1 aquisitions has transpired? I know I'd be looking for him at this point had I bought one. Or at least for some poor soul who had nothiing to do with the developement but knows how to set it up..... :-)


Bill Pierce
"Today is a good day... I woke up" - Ritchie Havens
 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Mark McDougall <msmcdoug at iinet.net.au>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Sun, Feb 16, 2014 9:10 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] First experiences with my DE1


On 17/02/2014 10:50 AM, Al Hartman wrote:

> I don't agree.  I wrote the user interface and the manual for the CoCo
> Greeting Card Designer, and many other Zebra products.

It really comes down to the complexity - and target audience - of the 
product. A well-written piece of shrink-wrap software with an intuitive UI, 
targeted to the desktop user (and I'm going to assume your software falls 
into this category) is a lot easier to write a manual for.

Coco3FPGA, OTOH, runs on a 3rd party development board using 3rd party 
software on a more-or-less bare PCB full of buttons and switches. Sure it's 
possible for the developer to document, but it's also much easier to assume 
some piece of knowledge that isn't perhaps that intuitive to the reader.

Either way, the 'manual' or 'guide' or 'how-to' should be reviewed by a 
'noob' 3rd party. At work we write build instructions for all our 
development projects and standard practise is to have another engineer who 
hasn't worked on the project, sit down and do a build from scratch following 
the instructions. If they can't, then the documentation is inadequate.

Regards,

-- 
|              Mark McDougall                | "Electrical Engineers do it
|  <http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug>   |   with less resistance!"

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