GreshamH said:
DIY? Lest you forget the
Reef Angel unit has to be bought (IE. direct competition with a vendor that PAID for a booth) . Only the software is DIY
If it truly were a DIY project that would be a different thing.
I want to preface this with a note that I'm not upset. I certainly harbor no ill will towards you nor do I have ideas that you are trying to stifle anything to do with either of the two projects. I've run conferences before and understand the huge amount of work that goes into them and the compromises that go into pulling them off. I have strong feelings on the subject of openness and supporting the Maker/DIY culture and can't seem to resist stepping onto the soap box for a few minutes....
Roberto has made the schematics and layouts available on his website. With those anyone could manufacture and assemble their own without going through Roberto. That's about as DIY as hardware gets. Hardware costs money to build. So do LEDs and drivers for a DIY LED light project and Meanwell certainly does not publish the designs for it's drivers. Knowing what it costs to manufacture things like this I can tell you that Roberto is making a slim profit, if any.
Take a read trough http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/news.php?id=343 . Roberto also sells Yak Fur. In the future he might decide to move his project in a more commercial direction. Offer warrantees, support, manuals, and all the other things you'd expect from a commercial product. Those things all cost money and time and expect to pay a lot more that you are now for his hardware. If he does do that, I would not be surprised is someone else step up to fill the void of affordable building blocks for a DIY controller project.
What I was proposing for the BOFs was not a discussion about why you should by a Reef Angel controller. Neptune makes a great product. I own one. I highly recommend anyone who's looking of a mature, reliable, proven controller buy and Apex.
What I'd love to see is a discussion with other people making or interested in making DIY controllers. I'm excited to hear about houser's hand wired PH amplifier and how he's using commercial process controllers to maintain tight temperature regulation. Hell, I'd love it for the Neptune people to show up. If they came away with ideas for their next product, great! I might buy that one too.
It sounds like it's a moot point for this year because there's not enough time to set anything up. BAYMAC and like conferences are ideal places for discussions (BOFs) like these because they draw a much more diverse crowd. Another great idea for a BOF is an Apex users meetup where people can share their experiences and tips and tricks. "I'm automating water changes this way, how are you doing it?" or "Here's the easiest way I've found to get email working."
I think BOFs would be a great addition next year and would be happy to help make them work. I'll stop preaching now, but lets grab a beer after the dust settles from BAYMAC and see if we can come up with a framework where we can have discussions like these and not alienate our vendors.
