release of source for flex 3000 driver?

Kuby, N6JSX

In conjunction with using the DSP and NB1 and NB2???
If so, share your SSB ANF numbers? Let us validate them. 

Walt - KZ1F

Pierre, the 3000 will not cease to work. Aside from potential OS compatibility issues, FlexRadioSystems has stopped supporting it. As I said, Windows XP still runs as well today as it did the day before Microsoft stopped supporting it. Your investment in the 3000 is still good. My TS-530SP runs as well today as it did 33 years ago when I bought it. Kenwood has long since moved on, but the radio still works. My advice, stop worrying about something that hasn't and won't happen.

Kuby, N6JSX

Interesting perspective "stop worrying". If Flex dumped PwrSDR in an optimized fully functional state AND the manual was up to date, maybe. But SSB DSP/ANF are not optimized much less work at all. The manual is three PwrSDR revisions behind. (This is similar to TT Pegasus (that I too own) and how it got dumped with no usable schematics and no adjustment procedure and now disappeared off its Web site like it never existed.)

If we do not keep pushing HERE, we know for sure nothing will ever get fixed as 6K's are Flex's ONLY focus, soon the 7K's...  And then all the 6K owners can start screaming foul too! I bought my used 3K, 6mo later it was discontinued, I'd never bought it if I'd known, now I'm reliving the TT method of doing business. 

Walt - KZ1F

Ah, Kuby, don't confuse what I said with a lack of empathy. I kind of wish Kenwood would have morphed my investment in the TS-530SP into a TS-590G, for free. They didn't, they won't. I got over it. FRS has a limited staff, staff is expensive, they require money, vacations, healthcare (well, perhaps not in TX), sick time, pesky 8hrs/day of sleep time, etc. To support and grow every product they ever marketed would become prohibitively expensive and they wouldn't survive. Companies have to survive, whether publicly owned or private. In order to do that they have to sell product, not maintenance contracts. Yes, you're observation is correct. At some point they will drop support for the 6000 series, one way or the other. And, yes, just as people complained over a $200/yr maintenance 'contract', people will gripe when they drop support and encourage owners to upgrade to the latest radio.

Pierre Martel

You just confirmed to me that next the next sdr I get should be community supported and not company supported. As FRS I need to pay for things and As FRS I will shoose the easy way.

Peter K1PGV

Sigh. Unless you yourself are a dev, community support guarantees you nothing. Look no further than all the abandoned open source projects in the world. The original dev team loses interest, and rarely does anybody pick it up.

Bill -VA3WTB

learn to use your radio, The DSP is very connected to how the AGC-t is adjusted. There is a sweet spot, as I said I am very happy with the ANF and NB on mine, they do work well.

Pierre Martel

when something is well done and have a good community support continu and wont stop. the main exemple is all the distro that are done on linux, some do die out. but the hardware that run it are still used by other distro.. that way there is much less possibility that a unilateral decision by one or two people will ruin the show.

James Whiteway

Without developers interested enough to write the code, (and maintain it) it won't matter how good the hardware is. Linux OS's die out all the time. Mainly because a big portion of them are just rehashes of another distro, that "developers" copy and make changes to and then call it their own. The mainstream Linux distro's are much more stable and less likely to disappear. But, comparing freeware SDR programs to that is even worse. There are much fewer developers writing SDR software. Much less, freeware, such as that depended upon by users of the Anan series of SDR radios. I think that the only realistic option for users of older Flex radios, is to keep and maintain an older computer that uses the proper firewire driver. But, once that is gone, then, it might be a good idea to start looking for an upgrade to your hardware. Nothing related to computers lasts forever. People should realize that before buying hardware that depends on computers for control. And Flex Systems is making a change now that will help 6000 users in the future by introducing the Maestro control panel. At least with the Maestro, a 6000 Series user has something that, barring any breakdowns of the hardware itself, can last a long time. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the 3000 and 5000. (or even the 1000 series that are long out of production). And as long as there is an OS that will run PowerSDR, the 1500 running on a USB port, will continue for a while longer.
  I knew going in when I bought my 6300 and and before that, the 1500, that things could happen that might prevent me from using the radios forever. (or at least for years and years) And, I decided to buy in anyway. Besides, at my age, I would almost bet the 6300 just might be around longer than me! :-)
james
WD5GWY
  

Pierre Martel

I think we can agree to desagree on this subject. Even gnuradio and grc could run à flex 1000 1500 3000 or 5000 if we Would have a nice wrote up.on how to communicate with them and what needed to work them property. I still hope.. We will see...

Bill -VA3WTB

I agree with you James. I think what bothers me are those who are trying to suggest Flex has left customers hanging without support. I see someone on this board the other day has had problems getting his new Flex 5000 software to work. He called Flex and they connected to his computer and made the changes needed to get him working. That was support for the Flex 5000, so why are people saying they stopped support? Not true at all.

The 1500, 3000, and 5000 work very stable on Win7 and 10. Flex has said they will make changes to PSDR to make sure it will work on newer Windows Versions as long as the code allows.

So for those thinking that their radio is going to stop working soon, it won't happen, that is clear.

Kuby, N6JSX

You're very opinionated spouting all the answers - then get Flex to update their 2010 three revisions behind PwrSDR Manual to the latest released version. Then they will have earned considerations and gratitude. 

Kuby, N6JSX

Run faster..... "share your SSB ANF numbers? Let us validate them." - not. 

Bill -VA3WTB

my ANF settings,
Taps: 84
Gain: 3
Delay: 30
Leak: 6

I run AGC-t around 50 to 45 and turn the AF up.

These settings work very well here.

Peter K1PGV

Even gnuradio and grc could run à flex 1000 1500 3000 or 5000 if we Would have a nice wrote up.on how to communicate with them and what needed to work them property

@Pierre: Nothing is stopping them from doing that now.

As I think I said earlier somewhere... was it this thread, I can't remember... if an experienced driver dev wanted to create an open source Firewire driver for the 3000 or 5000 (or an open source USB driver for the 1500) that wouldn't be anything like an impossible task.

You have the PDSR source code, which is effectively a description of the interface (I assume the ReadFile and DeviceIoControl calls appear in the open source PSDR package).  With that, and a little time with a bus analyzer, you'll be good to go.  Our Linux friends tend to be particularly familiar with this approach to writing drivers for... gosh... tons of things.  So what I'm suggesting isn't anything outlandish.

The fact that nobody has done this indicates that nobody with the requisite chops thinks the project is worthwhile. Not any other reason. Not because Flex is evil.  Not because it's an impossible task.  It's Just. Not. Worth. Doing.

Because nobody cares.  PSDR works today, with the Windows versions that are available today.  Just stop gratuitously upgrading the Windows box that runs your radio, and you'll be good to go for eternity (effectively).

Problem solved, really.

@Kurby: You, sir, at least have a valid concern.  Sadly, you bought your 3000 at the wrong time.  I feel for you.  I remember when I bought my SDR-1000... it was two months before the 5000 was announced.  Oh well.  I enjoyed my SDR-1000 for a couple of years, bought a 1500 to bridge the gap, and then invested in a 6500.

As someone once said... Time Marches On!

Peter K1PGV

Even gnuradio and grc could run à flex 1000 1500 3000 or 5000 if we Would have a nice wrote up.on how to communicate with them and what needed to work them property

@Pierre: Nothing is stopping them from doing that now.

As I think I said earlier somewhere... was it this thread, I can't remember... if an experienced driver dev wanted to create an open source Firewire driver for the 3000 or 5000 (or an open source USB driver for the 1500) that wouldn't be anything like an impossible task.

You have the PDSR source code, which is effectively a description of the interface (I assume the ReadFile and DeviceIoControl calls appear in the open source PSDR package).  With that, and a little time with a bus analyzer, you'll be good to go.  Our Linux friends tend to be particularly familiar with this approach to writing drivers for... gosh... tons of things.  So what I'm suggesting isn't anything outlandish.

The fact that nobody has done this indicates that nobody with the requisite chops thinks the project is worthwhile. Not any other reason. Not because Flex is evil.  Not because it's an impossible task.  It's Just. Not. Worth. Doing.

Because nobody cares.  PSDR works today, with the Windows versions that are available today.  Just stop gratuitously upgrading the Windows box that runs your radio, and you'll be good to go for eternity (effectively).

Problem solved, really.

@Kurby: You, sir, at least have a valid concern.  Sadly, you bought your 3000 at the wrong time.  I feel for you.  I remember when I bought my SDR-1000... it was two months before the 5000 was announced.  Oh well.  I enjoyed my SDR-1000 for a couple of years, bought a 1500 to bridge the gap, and then invested in a 6500.

As someone once said... Time Marches On!

Tim - W4TME

Kuby - it has been stated publically over a year ago that PowerSDR will not receive any further software enhancements.  We are still fully supporting the software and if there is a serious defect that arises that prevents PowerSDR from running on a particular supported version of Windows, including the upcoming Windows 10, we will make every effort to resolve the issue.

The PowerSDR software and the hardware it runs on has reached a limit on its viability to innovate, providing quality and reliable features, therefore the focus for innovation has shifted by necessity to the FLEX-6000 where a more consistent user experience is achievable.  Furthermore the FLEX-6000 hardware processors are designed to provide the necessary computing power to run the complex DSP algorithms needed for achieving the targeted performance levels.  These goals are not completely achievable in a distributed system where IQ data is offloaded to a general purpose processor.

Tim - W4TME

The topic question has been answered and the thread is starting to go off topic, so I am closing this topic.  Feel free to open a new subject specific topic if desired.