Hi Ken, thanks for your input,


>Well, I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that there
>would be issues.  Think about what would happen
>if your "modified" hardware/sorfware combination
>failed in a dangerous way and someone was hurt or
>property was damaged.

Good point... though the legal situation in this country is such that
this unit could never legally be used by a member of the general public,
the ignitors (e-match)  for the pyro are controlled and only available
to professionals. Any injury or damage is far more likely to issue from
bad working practices in setting up the pyro or pyro malfunction, no matter how
it's ignited.

You have made me realise that I should put a limit on the time that
the sequencer can pause between shots though (the watchdog
is already active in case the code crashes) Thanks! Currently an operator
could accidentally set a delay of say half an hour up and potentially have a
unit
fire during de-rig after the show, no one should really need more than a
few tens of seconds delay during a show anyway. (and no one should approach live
unfired pyro immediatly after the show either )

>you are "lowering the value"
>of their existing product; they won't be happy.

True but they still sell em to me first though.. can't see how it will affect
their profits (unless I were to negotiate a bulk discount without telling them
what I was going to do I suppose)

>  If you modify the software you could cause the hardware to fail
> and cause damage to itself

Yup but surely I would carry the can for that and do my own warranty and they'd
clearly see the mod if anyone tried to claim repair from them.


>I forgot to also mention that you would also be violating
>regulatory approvals on the device.

You know I'm not sure there actually is any such approval, mainly due
to the "professionals only" nature of the market which is pretty much
self regulated (no one employs a dangerous pyro, word gets around fast
and insurance suddenly becomes verrrry expensive )
Now if it were actualy to be sold to the general public that would be a
different
story I'm sure.

>It's one thing to modify something for your own use,
>completely another if you plan on reselling it.

Absolutely right, I think I'm going to keep this one in house for now so
our shows have the 'edge' and maybe approach the manufacturers
of the original at some point to see if they'd like some ideas on
boosting the versatility


Thanks for the thought provocation

Cheers,
            Robin.






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