800crazy1 said:
I don't know the scope of their beta testing program but I wouldn't be surprised when it's released, it'll probably only take a RR member 10 minutes or less to find a bug in the update.
Andy
Scannist
Updates are Coming
- Thread starter UPMan
- Start date
- Status
I don't know the scope of their beta testing program but I wouldn't be surprised when it's released, it'll probably only take a RR member 10 minutes or less to find a bug in the update.
Andy
Scannist
Since RR members on the beta team - that doesn't make sense 
rdale said:Since RR members on the beta team - that doesn't make sense
Obviously I meant members not in the beta program.
The public beta would've done Uniden and users a mutual world of good. Their loss.
It's going to be mayhem for the initial rollout on the forums here, with every 396 and 996 owner racing and putting everything though paces, like released caged animals!
Yes, I can picture it's going to get very volatile for some days until cooler heads prevail and the dust settles a bit.
Then decisions can be made how we each proceed into the future of the hobby.
Andy
Scannist
Boomeranger said:
Not sure what you mean... What will you learn from this free firmware upgrade that will change your future use of scanners?
rdale said:
Put on your thinking cap, Dale.
If the free upgrade does nothing more than establish an ESN mechanism and very little else of the years of feature requests and bug reports have been addressed in the good amount of time it's taken, it's a good indicator that Uniden is not able to support the scanners in a timely manner and my money is better spent elsewhere. You don't give the customers who made their bread and butter copyright protection and crumbs in a major update in return, imho. I'd be shoehorning every feature under the sun in if I was Uniden.
If they win the day and roll out a successful feature rich update it'll have been worth the wait and maybe hang around Uniden's camp a little longer.
I've been liking the GRE500 and just itching for an excuse to bail from Uniden. It IS a better product.
I'd also be interested in how much memory this upgrade takes up and how much space is left for future updates "if" they become available. And that's a GREAT BIG "IF." If the update uses all available space that would be a fairly good indicator that no further upgrades can be applied so shop around for a new scanner.
Things like that.
Andy
Scannist
D
DaveNF2G
Guest
Boomeranger said:
You make it sound like there's some rule that prevents you from owning more than one brand of scanner at a time. I own Radio Shack, Uniden, and GRECOM scanners. Nothing bad has happened.
Boomeranger said:
Okay.
It does more than that.
Can I take my thinking cap off now?
Go ahead, there's no law against swapping (or owning both.)
What? It doesn't take additional memory, you can program the same amount of channels after the update.
You lost me here. I don't have the thinking cap nearby now - can you explain what that means?
DonS
Member
Based on context, I presumed "memory" referred to "area used to hold executable code", not "area where user's programmed data is stored".rdale said:
DonS said:
I guess I never heard that there was a limit on the area used for firmware which might be breached because of this update... New one for me. I don't believe it though.
JHaislet
Member
rdale said:
I specifically remember reading something about how the 996 had more firmware ram/space when compared to the 396T. Now, having nothing to compare it to, I've got no idea how much free firmware space the 396T has. For all we know, the current firmware could only be using 25% of the available space, thus leaving AMPLE room for add-on features.
We'll know when they start releasing updates.
BTW, I think there's going to be a lot of *****ing & moaning when this first firmware update is released, as I think people are expecting these "extra" features to be available at the same time.
However, from what I've read (between the lines that is), these extra features probably won't be available until closer towards the end of the year, or maybe even after the first of the year.
I think folks should cut Uniden a little slack, as face it, the market for digital scanners is rather small. Given that, they can't just hire a pool of 5,000 software engineers to work on updates like Microsoft. Even Microsoft, for the most part, only releases major updates (service packs) maybe once a year. Minus the initial compatibility & driver updates, almost all of their updates for the past 6 months have generally been security patches. Just something to think about.
DonS
Member
It depends on a) the choice of device that holds the "firmware", b) how much code space was used before the update, and c) how much space the new features/functions take.rdale said:
The device will almost certainly be a fixed size (or, at least, have a "maximum" that's available for code). Depending on where the code lives (i.e. within a CPU or a separate device), that may be anywhere from 128kB to 2MB, or more.
If, for example, the fixed code space is 256kB, pre-update code used 232kB, and the new features/functions take an additional 17kB, then there's now 7kB (256 - (232+17)) available for future features.
If, on the other hand, the fixed code space is 1MB, then there's still plenty of available space.
Viper43
Member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2005
- Messages
- 3,272
rdale said:
There has been a lot of talk about the fact the 396 has a lot less memory for firmware updates than the 996, which if what I heard is correct the 396 has exactly half the space the the 996 does to start with, even Upman has stated in the past there is a difference in the amount of memory for the firmware in the two scanners, and there isn't much room to "grow" with the 396.
DaveNF2G said:
I DO have other addictions to support ya know!
That and I wonder what extra mileage I may get out of the 396 after the update.
Andy
Caesar
Member
Viper43 said:
reckon we better choose our features with thought! lol
Viper43
Member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2005
- Messages
- 3,272
JHaislet said:
Where do you get that the market is small for digital scanners? Digital systems are in every state, and the market grows by leaps and bounds daily. The only thing limiting digital scanning today is the $500 price tag for a digital capable scanner.
GRE has found a way to do updates to fix issues quickly, Uniden hasn't and it is hurting them in the market, Uniden doesn't need 5000 software engineers, they do need to accommodate their customers though, which GRE seems to have figured out that customers do not want to wait around a year two or three for problems to be addressed, and the way to keep and grow a customer base is to get fixes out quickly, no toying with the customers either, and not delaying updates again and again. GRE's latest update fixed a small issue that only affected a small group of users, but it only tool three weeks between updates, thats super support! Uniden had been pretty much the lone guy on the block, but now that GRE has jumped in with both feet and learned a lot from the 96 & 2096, they have a handle on how to do things to make the customers happy, while Uniden missed the boat somewhere in the fixes and customer support areas.
I really do hope that the update Uniden is supposed to come out with fixes many of the issues that customers are having, at the same time I hope they learned that by continually pushing things to the side burner and pushing updates back again and again has been the wrong way to do business, and that customers don't appreciate their game playing.
I have had enough of this. GRE learned from Uniden; until 2007 you could not do a firmware update to a GRE scanner. Get it! There was no way to get it done, so you learned to live with the bugs, problems, and sad user interface. I have had my 396T since the week it became available and have applied all of the firmware updates supplied by Uniden. I don't know how many I have applied, I lost count, but I am sure someone will be happy to say how many they have put out since it was released. You (and a few other malcontents) keep harping about how sooo many people have been complaining and how Uniden has not responded; just where were you when the radio was first released and updates were coming fast as problems were detected? GRE has finally released some radios that can accept firmware updates, have been out for less than 6 months so I would expect the first firmware releases to be fast and furious (just like Uniden's were). Now suppose we wait until the GRE radios have been on the market for almost 3 years, (not 5 months) lets see how often firmware updates are released then.Viper43 said:
That addresses your particular complaint that seems to have been the main thrust of every post you have made in this thread, so move on.
Everyone following this thread note the this:
No more complaints, this thread is about the updates that are coming, if you want to do more complaining, start another thread. From now on, if a post in this thread deals with bashing Uniden for support (or indeed any off topic matter), I am going to delete it with no notification or warning. Anyone who quotes a complaint from this point forward will have the same action taken. If you think that is unfair, tough; this thread will remain on topic from now on.
Caesar
Member
newsalan said:Now's that an update!
I'm just waiting until I get the email and to try it out.
sooner the better, sounds promising for this week...
tomorrow is my b-day, you want to be my hero upman!?
When is the updates for BC396T coming out? Some of my stuff I am listening too is not being heard so I think i need an update.
Hmm, not too clear on what your problem may be.zac said:
I hate to say this but coming in on Page 20 to ask a question that was answered some time ago is not the way to do it. Depends on what your problem is, try starting on the top and scanning through the posts (try and ignore the OT stuff.)
- Status
