(no subject)

[randomdreams]

My manager's in China, so I can be productive my way rather than his, and I don't feel like lighting myself on fire in front of the building.
We have a complicated test system to test a complicated chip. Among the problems: I wrote the interface software, and that took a while. It took us a while to figure out how to power up the interface, even. (The documentation said you plug in one cable, program it, unplug that, plug in the other cable, and off you go, but it turns out you have to unplug everything then plug in both cables because of an error in the circuit board hardware, that I was apparently the first person to discover. This kind of problem is a perfect prototype for the whole imbroglio.)
The main test system has some hardware problems. Those took a long time to figure out, and a lot of rewiring with fine wire to fix. The instrumentation that interfaces with it is fussy, with lots of hidden settings that have dramatic effects if they're not right, and the instrumentation interface software is full of bugs. The software package we use has funny rules for registering software functions with the overall package, and when we're rewriting broken drivers that still don't run, it's not obvious whether we fixed the driver but didn't register it right, or whether the driver is still broken. It gets worse when my manager tries to fix things in a hurry and mistakenly overwrites working drivers with ones that are broken in new and subtle ways, or when I manage to physically break one of the rework wires so suddenly nothing works. Oh, it's worse than just not working: our chip has what we politely call a poorly defined specification, where if it powers up but doesn't receive communications, it jams all the communication interface lines to ground, and the aforementioned interface board, trying to drive those lines, fries its outputs silently so it appears to still be working, but nothing's talking anymore. Since we have multiple chips in the system, I have to get them all powered up and talking in a short window of time, a fraction of a second, or else one or another of them will ground the communication lines and burn everyone else out. We learned today that rapidly varying the load on the chip will cause it to reboot, and that's right back into the same morass of burning out everything else connected to it. Same with rapidly varying the input voltage. I'm trying to write stuff that cushions the loads, but we're still not sure what the critical loads are, so I'm burning up a lot of stuff. The whole project makes me feel sick to my stomach, and I've been working a fair amount of extra hours, working in the evenings at home, and not sleeping so well as a result.

I drove the Spitfire to the hardware store the other day, to buy caulk for redoing the tub surround, because it was gross. When I came back out and tried to start the car, it went 'click' and nothing more. Generally that means either the battery is low or the starter solenoid is dying. The traditional treatment for the latter is whacking it with something robust, at which point it'll run another ten times or so, and repeating that with the revive interval getting shorter each time. Since the Spitfire's going to be my primary transport next week, when my usual car is in the shop for new head gaskets, I ordered a replacement starter solenoid today. But! one of the lovely things about that weird little car is that I didn't even have to open the hood to get home. I popped it out of gear, pushed it back into the parking lot, which has about a 1% slope, turned the steering wheel to point down, hopped in, and oh so slowly started rolling, then snapped the clutch in third, the car fired up, and I drove home. I went without a functional starter motor on the Subaru for about a week once upon a time, but it was a drag so this time I'm trying to be proactive about fixing the Spitfire BEFORE I need it.

Comments

[basefinder]

I remember the days of doing a rolling start in my earlier cars! There are days when I miss a standad transmission.

Also, I think it is generally a good thing when one's manager is traveling out of the country. :-)

[elusis]

I am driving a standard transmission for the first time in probably 20+ years, in a foreign country (at least one where they drive on the proper side of the road). The first car I rented was a clunky little Toyota Yaris, chunky through the gear box, R in the wrong place (lower right rather than upper left) but manageable.

Today at the Bordeaux train station I was given a new-model Puegeot. It's so smooth I can barely tell what gear I'm in, and I literally had to read the manual to figure out how to get it in R because there's a little ring below the knob that you push down before going to the same spot as 1st gear. It's... very pleasant to drive.

[basefinder]

Ah, the joy of figuring out different shift patterns! I remember my '80 Volvo had reverse in a different place than my ex-wife's '87 Volvo -- so invariably we would try to jam it in the wrong place whenever we would drive the other's car. :-)

Then there were the column-mounted shifters of old. The first column shift I drove was a Ford Maverick with 3 speed shifter on the right side of the steering column. One of the old clunkers we drove in Germany (maybe the '70 Audi?) had a four speed shift lever on the *left* side of the column, with the turn signal stem on the right side. That took getting used to.

And yeah, those darn rings, or hard-to-find buttons....

[randomdreams]

When I was learning to drive, we had a three-speed jeep with reverse in the top left, a four-speed olds with reverse in the bottom right, and a five speed chevette with reverse in the same spot as the olds, but an extra gear chunked in there.

I got a conventional five speed transmission for the spitfire. There is an alternate layout, with reverse in the top left and first in the bottom left, which racers love, but that seemed too scary. (And they cost a lot more.)

[randomdreams]

I got to drive a Peugeot a couple of years ago. It was *lovely*. I think they make great cars.

[amaebi]

Thank you for posting. I've been concerned. And it sounds as if you have plenty of reason for feeling beleaguered and horrible. :(

These days being what these days are, I found myself reading your description about the intertwining dependences and failures in that test system as a parable for the complexities of our political state(s), which Downright People seem to keep insisting we should treat like Model Ts for maintenance purposes....

[randomdreams]

I don't even know what to do about work. I want to quit, which I didn't think I'd ever say.

[amaebi]

It sounds horrible, and like that. :(

Is it too horrible to think about, or are you able to process thinking about looking for another job and whether to?

[malterre]

The project sounds horrific but good on you for clever car work-arounds before repair

[randomdreams]

Or at least vigorous avoidance of the need for repair!

[sistawendy]

You're reminding me of why I hate working with hardware. Try not to let the magic smoke out.

I'd never heard of the slope trick for going without a starter. I'll have to make a mental note of that. I'd still rather get around on the E line.

[elusis]

It also works well for not getting stuck when you're on ice or sand, and is a good work-around for getting the car going when you're having trouble learning 1st gear - popping it into second from a rolling start is often an easier way to learn the difference between "achieving appropriate contact with the differential" and "killing it and bucking all over the place like a bronco."

[randomdreams]

I may get to teach some people how to drive manual, and I was thinking about how every other gear change is so much easier than first gear so how can I get them learning shift/clutch before they have to learn gas/shift/clutch from a full stop.

[randomdreams]

If you need to try it, use third gear not first. It's way easier on the drivetrain.