It is nice that someone takes their time making a (for most parts) better firmware for cheap geiger counters. But I'll have to join the critics. It's a bit too simple for my taste. Have tried it on Fnirsi GC-01 but I'm not so sure it's for me. Would be nice as others say to have an advanced screen option displaying most interesting values at once. µS/h and CPM as the two most important ones but in smaller fonts could be displayed CPS and mR/h as well as uncertainty and current time of average - no more constant switching of secondary value. Sure it's for geigers with high resolution screens - not the low res FS2011. If there's room for it then a timed count would be nice. An option in the menu for timed count and then just a fixed set of values like (1m,) 5m, 10m, (20m,) 30m, 1h, (3h,) 5h, (10h,) 12h, (24h) etc. to simplify input of timespan and numbers in parenthesis could imho be omitted to minimize number of menu items. But it's not the only thing I'm a bit weavy about. It's as if default tube settings drive it harder than stock firmware encreasing count rates. I wonder if it's within suggested range. Don't really have suitable equiement to measure tube voltage so I'm a bit unsure if its a good idea to run it with default settings. Last but not least while it is reacting way faster than fnirsi stock firmware (seems to average 20s or so) it none the less somewhat bounces around - even on adaptive precision. I have a GQ GMC-300S and with it on dynamic it doesn't bounce around that much. Wonder how they do their average - something must be different - and clearly open source isn't better in this case (yet at least).
Totally agree with you. I flashed my unit just to give it a try but after having played with it for a while I've already gone back to the official firmware since this looks like a downgrade to me. It's just a shame Bosean doesn't offer some of the nicer features of RAD Pro though. I really like the fact that it can blink the LED on counts and some other things. But all in all, RAD Pro is too plain for me. The author is saying it's because it's designed with the "KISS" (keep it simple) principle in mind, but I just think it's a waste of potential. I wouldn't want to watch my Blu-ray movies on a black & white TV either.
@@Ni5ei I kind of suspect the supposed "kiss" is - well... - because you have to start somewhere - and that I sure respect. However I think not many wanting to try it out they're really the total KISS people - otherwise they'd bought the geiger they wanted from start and people messing around installing their own firmware - especially on the models that are not drag 'n' drop - I doubt there's many KISS people amongst them if any. Sometimes it can be too much KISS. At very least an option to have CPM, CPS, time & max always displayed to you don't have to cycle through them. Personally I'd prefer smaller font and have the average screen on same as well - or have a large instantaneous value always display and make the cycle button alter between CPM etc. and their avg. values. I'm not a hardware close programmer (c# web and business oriented) so I have no idea what it would take to implement an advanced screen in option in options - and how much extra code it would require. As said I'm also unsure if the longer goal could be having it officially licensed to some brands and as such there might be considerations against a too complex screen if it has to live up to some ruleset to be used by public authorities and regulated industries. But even GQ GMC-800 which comply with USA NIST and NRC standards have a main screen which displays much more info at a glance. (Just bought the 800 - can totally recommend it)
@@HifiCentret Ha ha, yeah you're right about that. How KISS is it to have to take your unit apart, solder 4 header pins to the mainboard, connect a programmer and flash the firmware? I had to do all that to install a firmware that can do less than what was already on the device. And when I ask about it on Github I'm being told it's because they want to keep the interface simple... 😂😂😂 Like you're saying, it sounds more like the person developing it has no clue how to do it. I mean, the battery icon is all black. How would making it green and turn red below a certain percentage make the interface less simple? It's just a basic feature nearly every battery powered device with a color screen has nowadays. Like you're saying, if the person who's doing the programming isn't familar with stuff like that then there's nothing wrong with that. But just be honest and say it. Don't hide behind the KISS principle to cover up your lack of skills.
@@Ni5ei I don't think he doesn't know a way. As said I'm no hardware close programmer but there could also be a factor of keeping as much code the same between platforms. So some common code and then what's different for the platforms. But lets be honest. Perhaps the time is to differentiate more. People opting for the simpler devices want simple stuff that run a long time on a couple of AA/AAA for emergency use. Those with color screens want all the bells and whistles. Large parts of the UI could still be centralized - although I'm unsure of how large an overhead of the compiled code that would be. Usually not a big deal when developing business applications in higher level languages on more powerful platforms - but here there's no OS per se - code is running more or less "directly on the hardware". On the other hand there's a chess game which not exactly minimizes code although on might only impact processor when playing and of course how much space firmware takes up. On the other hand chess apparently isn't for Fnirsi with WCH processor. Not that I'll ever play it anyway.
@@Ni5ei I believe that there is significant potential for improvement, and there are various features that could be added as you were mentioning . In my opinion, I find it to be a much better option compared to the old stock firmware in the bosean. One option is to visit his Github and suggest some changes that he could do in the future.
It is nice that someone takes their time making a (for most parts) better firmware for cheap geiger counters. But I'll have to join the critics. It's a bit too simple for my taste. Have tried it on Fnirsi GC-01 but I'm not so sure it's for me. Would be nice as others say to have an advanced screen option displaying most interesting values at once. µS/h and CPM as the two most important ones but in smaller fonts could be displayed CPS and mR/h as well as uncertainty and current time of average - no more constant switching of secondary value. Sure it's for geigers with high resolution screens - not the low res FS2011.
If there's room for it then a timed count would be nice. An option in the menu for timed count and then just a fixed set of values like (1m,) 5m, 10m, (20m,) 30m, 1h, (3h,) 5h, (10h,) 12h, (24h) etc. to simplify input of timespan and numbers in parenthesis could imho be omitted to minimize number of menu items.
But it's not the only thing I'm a bit weavy about. It's as if default tube settings drive it harder than stock firmware encreasing count rates. I wonder if it's within suggested range. Don't really have suitable equiement to measure tube voltage so I'm a bit unsure if its a good idea to run it with default settings. Last but not least while it is reacting way faster than fnirsi stock firmware (seems to average 20s or so) it none the less somewhat bounces around - even on adaptive precision. I have a GQ GMC-300S and with it on dynamic it doesn't bounce around that much. Wonder how they do their average - something must be different - and clearly open source isn't better in this case (yet at least).
Totally agree with you.
I flashed my unit just to give it a try but after having played with it for a while I've already gone back to the official firmware since this looks like a downgrade to me. It's just a shame Bosean doesn't offer some of the nicer features of RAD Pro though. I really like the fact that it can blink the LED on counts and some other things. But all in all, RAD Pro is too plain for me. The author is saying it's because it's designed with the "KISS" (keep it simple) principle in mind, but I just think it's a waste of potential. I wouldn't want to watch my Blu-ray movies on a black & white TV either.
@@Ni5ei I kind of suspect the supposed "kiss" is - well... - because you have to start somewhere - and that I sure respect. However I think not many wanting to try it out they're really the total KISS people - otherwise they'd bought the geiger they wanted from start and people messing around installing their own firmware - especially on the models that are not drag 'n' drop - I doubt there's many KISS people amongst them if any. Sometimes it can be too much KISS. At very least an option to have CPM, CPS, time & max always displayed to you don't have to cycle through them. Personally I'd prefer smaller font and have the average screen on same as well - or have a large instantaneous value always display and make the cycle button alter between CPM etc. and their avg. values.
I'm not a hardware close programmer (c# web and business oriented) so I have no idea what it would take to implement an advanced screen in option in options - and how much extra code it would require.
As said I'm also unsure if the longer goal could be having it officially licensed to some brands and as such there might be considerations against a too complex screen if it has to live up to some ruleset to be used by public authorities and regulated industries. But even GQ GMC-800 which comply with USA NIST and NRC standards have a main screen which displays much more info at a glance. (Just bought the 800 - can totally recommend it)
@@HifiCentret Ha ha, yeah you're right about that. How KISS is it to have to take your unit apart, solder 4 header pins to the mainboard, connect a programmer and flash the firmware? I had to do all that to install a firmware that can do less than what was already on the device. And when I ask about it on Github I'm being told it's because they want to keep the interface simple... 😂😂😂
Like you're saying, it sounds more like the person developing it has no clue how to do it. I mean, the battery icon is all black. How would making it green and turn red below a certain percentage make the interface less simple? It's just a basic feature nearly every battery powered device with a color screen has nowadays. Like you're saying, if the person who's doing the programming isn't familar with stuff like that then there's nothing wrong with that. But just be honest and say it. Don't hide behind the KISS principle to cover up your lack of skills.
@@Ni5ei I don't think he doesn't know a way. As said I'm no hardware close programmer but there could also be a factor of keeping as much code the same between platforms. So some common code and then what's different for the platforms. But lets be honest. Perhaps the time is to differentiate more. People opting for the simpler devices want simple stuff that run a long time on a couple of AA/AAA for emergency use. Those with color screens want all the bells and whistles.
Large parts of the UI could still be centralized - although I'm unsure of how large an overhead of the compiled code that would be. Usually not a big deal when developing business applications in higher level languages on more powerful platforms - but here there's no OS per se - code is running more or less "directly on the hardware".
On the other hand there's a chess game which not exactly minimizes code although on might only impact processor when playing and of course how much space firmware takes up. On the other hand chess apparently isn't for Fnirsi with WCH processor. Not that I'll ever play it anyway.
@@Ni5ei I believe that there is significant potential for improvement, and there are various features that could be added as you were mentioning . In my opinion, I find it to be a much better option compared to the old stock firmware in the bosean. One option is to visit his Github and suggest some changes that he could do in the future.