Re: [Apcupsd-users] Trouble installing apcupsd driver on Windows 7

[Daniel M. <tel...@gm...>]

Ted,

I could not agree more, in my newest mount controllers they are now Ethernet
based and they are so much faster and more reliable than their prior USB to
rs232 interfaces.

I have to live with what the Astro hardware manufacturers give me though and
unfortunately almost all devices are still USB, the mount controller units
and my sky quality meter are the lone exceptions.

I have fairly recent CCD cameras (2014 models) and they are USB and they
even come with built in USB hubs for my dew control devices, guide cameras,
focusers, and filter wheels.  It will be many years before I can get away
from USB unfortunately, sigh... :-(

Best Always,

Daniel

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Mittelstaedt [mailto:te...@mi...] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 2:52 AM
To: apc...@li...
Subject: Re: [Apcupsd-users] Trouble installing apcupsd driver on Windows 7


The problem IMHO is people treat USB like it's Ethernet.   It's not. 
USB was designed for low-speed, simple devices and it is an example of
something that has been badly abused.  Everything about it is stupid.
The connector is stupid, 50% of the time it's upside down and you have to
flip the connector to plug it in.  There is absolutely no security mechanism
whatsoever.  A USB device is either a client or a host, no autoselection.
The cable signal is susceptible to interference and short distance limits.
There are 3 different sizes of ports and the port with the highest insertion
life rating has the lowest mechanical strength.  WTF is that all about?

The connector is abused for both a power plug port and a data port - didn't
we all see the Star Wars movies where artoo plugs his data contact into a
power port and nearly gets fried?  And that movie predates USB!!  It's like
they asked a group of telephone sanitizers to design the USB port!!!!

With serial ports there was only ever 1 UART design and you had a reference
chip that every clone out there could be measured against.
With USB you have a bunch of manufacturers doing the best they can to
cheapen and bury the port function as an afterthought on to some all-in-one
chip.

And as for USB serial dongles where do I effing begin!  Heck a few months
back I sat down to write an article on how bad the top 2 chipsets are and
the sordid story came out to pages and pages - you can read it here:

http://www.portlandiacloudservices.com/usb-to-rs232-serial-port-adapters-clo
nes-counterfeits/

I had to shake my head reading Daniel's description of running his
observatory on USB.  Here we have a million dollar installation controlled
by USB!  Unbelievable.  With the industrial customer that I consult for we
run PLC's off serial ports.  We buy 4 port serial port cards for PC's if we
have to control a lot of devices.  Oxford devices for Windows systems,
MOSChip devices for Linux systems.  The drivers are rock solid for those
pairings and we have never had a problem.

USB is for the mice and keyboards.

Ted

On 2/23/2016 10:53 AM, Mark Foley wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Feb 2016 18:10:45 Jernej
Simon?i?<jernej's-s...@et...>  wrote:
>
>> As long as ModBus mode isn't used, there shouldn't be any difference 
>> between 3.14.12 and 3.14.13 driver ...
>
> Good points, but it still doesn't hurt to have the latest version.  
> The 3.14.13 site also says, "Other [in addition to MODBUS] ... changes 
> include ... many bug fixes and cleanups to the code base." And the 
> release notes say, "Windows USB driver has been updated with additional
USB identifiers ...".
>
> General "Bug fixes" and any USB driver updating would indicate to me 
> that a newer version should be tried. This might not fix Daniel's 
> problem, but it's certainly good practice generally.
>
> I've recently installed PowerChute 3.0 and have not run into the 
> problems you mentioned ... yet. Probably hasn't yet been running the
month-ish you mentioned.
>
> I threw the PowerChute suggestion out there because if Daniel does not 
> need client/server or email notification, he might find PowerChute 
> works better than his constant COMMLOST issue with apcupsd.
>
> --Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 18:10:45 +0100
> From: Jernej Simon?i?	<jernej's-s...@et...>
> Organization: E-mailaholics International
> To: "Mark Foley on 
> [apcupsd-users]"<apc...@li...>
> Subject: Re: [Apcupsd-users] Trouble installing apcupsd driver on 
> Windows 7
>
> On Tuesday, February 23, 2016, 16:25:07, Mark Foley wrote:
>
>> 1) Get the latest apcupsd 3.14.13 from 02 February 2015. Yours is 
>> 3.14.12 from
>> 29 March 2014. It's always best to use the latest software when 
>> debugging such things. The release notes indicate updates to the Windows
USB driver specifically.
>
> As long as ModBus mode isn't used, there shouldn't be any difference 
> between 3.14.12 and 3.14.13 driver (the driver on Windows uses 
> Microsoft's own WinUSB interface, and the only thing changed between
> .12 and .13 is the .inf file, which now lists modbus hardware IDs).
>
>> Why, if I may ask, are you using apcupsd on Windows? The APC 
>> Powerchute software works pretty well and you would likely not have 
>> this issue (or would you? might be worth a test). I am using 
>> Powerchute on all office workstations, but apcupsd on the Windows 
>> database servers because a) powerchute does not have a means of 
>> controlling more than one computer connected to a UPS and b) powerchute
does not have a mechanism to send email notices when power events occur.
>
> In my experience, PowerChute works for about a month, then it becomes 
> impossible to log in to the admin interface (it'll still shut down the 
> computer, but good luck trying to change anything), plus it requires 
> Java, which I'd prefer to avoid unless absolutely necessary.
>


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