Hi,
I went over and over again, searching for some video tutorial or some other at least modestly user friendly instructions, on how to just connect DK 42688-P to see how it works. Guess what, there are none. Even forums are empty. Nowadays, really?? I really began to wonder if TDK is still here with us in this era, or they stayed somewhere with the death of a tape recorder. Now they will say: "well, read the software guide". And I say: "your software guide is a piece of crap!" I would have never imagined buying almost a empty box full of promises, not from brand like TDK.
Best regards.
:|
Agreed! We are evaluating the 42688-P and the documentation is, shall we say, "sparse". I think the only real answer is to just hook it up and play with it.
The MEMS industry seems to have this problem. It's not just limited to a single vendor. Bosch SensorTec has awful specsheets where directly related information is scattered in random places all over the multi-hundred-page file. I once spent an entire day trying to understand why a MEMS device wasn't working, and I happened to run across a *footnote* way in the back of the specsheet that just casually mentioned how the device required its initialization commands (which were specified in a completely separate place) to be sent in a specific sequence and with specific delays between each command! I did that and bingo, everything worked. So why was something that critical buried in a footnote on an unrelated page?!?
I've decided we're on our own with these things and just have to reverse engineer them. However, even that's not the most frustrating part. What really angers me is that MEMS devices seem to be retired faster than any other silicon devices. Production lifetimes of just 18-24 months are common. Hey, that's great for cellphones but the rest of the industry does not like having to redesign products every 1-2 years.
Thanks, I was hoping that more voices would rise up. But I guess nobody follows this forum anymore anyway. They all gave up :'( And as it is about TDK's customer support, I wonder what happened. These companies were shining in the late 80', 90' and even further. They were well known for quality products and good customer support. Now either old farts that rule the company forgot about that, either they are all dead. Because anyone younger than 50 would know just how simple it is these days to create a user friendly software guide. It costs less than a couple of 100 bucks to satisfy +10ks of happy customers. Is it worth it? Let time be the judge. Now you get one text reply per day, and if you are lucky. And it usually contains more questions than answers.
Now I'm going to pay 100 bucks to some freelancer, so he could do the job which should have already be done by TDK.
All the best to you. And remember, the world evolves because of engineers and inventors. Not because plastic is cheaper on one part of the earth and fuel on the other.
Cheers!
Oh come on guys, I have been able to buy the 42688, designed a custom circuit around it, and made it perfectly work by using documentation and code provided. Stick the needle to yourself before sticking the sword to others.
If you think a 100usd freelance contract will solve your problem, go for it, and have a mediocre solution.
Well you integrated ICM 42688 into a custom circuit. And don't you worry, I'm not talking about that. Maybe read the topic. We are talking about development board DK-42688-P here, what it offers in theory and what you in reality get.
To be clear, I'm not talking about the development board. I'm talking about the 42688 chip, and MEMS devices in general. For some reason their documentation is almost universally poor. I don't use canned software nor libraries, preferring to roll my own for efficiency, but this requires solid documentation. Perhaps the industry doesn't bother because they know they'll just be retiring most parts in 18-24 months anyway, which is another problem I mentioned above.
Anyway, I wanted to be clear that I'm not talking about dev boards nor libraries.
Hi,
If you could give examples of what you don't like and find difficult to comprehend on the user guide, I can be better assistance to you.