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To: Bonzo who wrote (8571)	1/8/1998 1:58:00 AM
From: Mike Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 31646

Joe, you said: >>> Two of the three largest domestic tobacco companies would send thier printed circuit boards (some with Embedded Controllers) to us for functional diagnostic program development that would run on GenRad Automated Test Systems (they had a few systems in-house). Thier "Engineers" did not have a clue on how to develop comprehensive diagnostics so they "contracted" out. etc. For the most part these overseas OEM's did not send them comprehensive supporting documentation only schematics and maybe some block diagrams. No source code, no EPLD equations, no PROM tables, No Theory of Operation etc. Ever hear of a 2708 EPROM?, How about a 8031, 8038, 8048, 8049, 8051 MicroController? Ever work with one? You obviously are not a Mfg. or test engineer. ========================= LOL. Joe, just don't try to bluff me. Just for your info, I am an ex-Intel engineer. I have worked in the positions of test engineer and design engineer. Although I haven't done direct work with ATE, I interfaced with those engineers daily and I am very familiar with ATE test procedures. I am also very familiar with the 8031 - 8051 micro-controllers. And have you heard of the 8096 micro-controller? I was in the design team for that one as well as the 80386 and 80960 processors. You probably haven't heard of the 80960, do you? This is currently the most powerful I/O controller from Intel. Now with ATE, you don't have to understand what's the function of the circuit board. You can even write a test without schematics, not a very good test though. What you do in an ATE test is you program a machine such as Genrad or Teradyne to drive a bed of nails to control the inputs and read the outputs of gates on the circuit board. If you don't have the circuit diagram then you can't check the trace but you can check the chips on the board. It's much simpler than the software in an embedded system. I don't want to get too technical here, but for instance, without knowing the mapping of the RAM, you don't know where your stack space and your variables space are, so you cannot arbitrarily add space for your date variables without screwing up something else. You cannot arbitrarily add code and not screw up the timing. Then the embedded systems may also interact with each others. That's why I said it's not easy to contract out that type of remediation work to outside vendors. ================================ You said: Also stop trying to play the "shareholder advocate". I find that insulting. I have done my DD and I am quite certain of what I have invested in. If I'm wrong its my ass not yours. So go find a board who cares. I wouldn't worry about asses like you for sure. You are probably shrewd enough to know when to bail out at the peak of the hype. It's those innocent and naive people who buy higher than 7 that I worry that they will be left holding the bag for you after you bail.