Masters has always been a tough 'conference' for me to be able to=20 justify financially. Do you think you got your money's worth? I was=20 close this year, but didn't think about it until after the prices had=20 all gone up, and really wasn't ready to spend almost $3K (since I was=20 looking at both the conference and pre-conference). -forrest On 9/1/2011 11:40 AM, Dwayne Reid wrote: > Good day to all. > > I'm back from my very first trip to Masters and am pleased as punch > with my experience. I learned a LOT and now feel much more confident > in pursuing a couple of projects that have sort of been on the back > burner for a while. > > My first session was 'Transitioning from MPLAB 8 to MPLAB X'. MPlabX > is definitely a work in process - its nowhere near finished but seems > quite useable in its present form. The Netbeans environment has > brought some really nice usability features to the IDE. I'm glad I > took the session and strongly suggest that anyone contemplating > trying out MPlabX download and read the presentation (available at > the Microchip website). It won't take long but will help fill in the > missing documentation. > > The Plant Tour was seriously cool (I just *HAD* to see this!) - my > only previous visit to a fab was at our local university. Our tour > guide says that they have currently about 25,000 wafers in process at > any one time. Each wafer yields anywhere from about 64,000 to 250 > devices, depending upon which part it is. I got the impression that > the Arizona fab is not running at full capacity and was told that the > Oregon fab is running at nowhere near capacity - Microchip figures > that they have enough fab capability to sustain their current rate of > growth for most of the current decade. > > I took a full day of BLDC motor control theory and labs and another > full day of MiWi RF communications (also with labs). Both were > extremely interesting and both will be useful to me in the near > term. I've got one project that I'm part-way through using Xbee Pro > modules - I'll stay with the Xbee modules for that project but will > definitely look at Microchip's MiWi Pro protocols for future projects. > > The presentation titled 'An Overview of Three New Peripherals Using > the New PIC10F320 Mid-Range Device' was a disappointment. The > presenter just didn't have his facts ready and just kept saying > 'Refer to the data-sheet' anytime someone asked about specific > details. Its too bad - there was another session titled 'Sensorless > Field Oriented Control' (for BLDC motors) that I would have very much > liked to have taken in. > > Sort of a similar experience for the session on Melabs Pic Basic Pro > compiler. It was cool meeting the author of PBP and also Chuck > Hellebuyck but the presentation itself was a disappointment. Just > not enough 'meat and potatoes' content. > > The session titled 'Using the CCS C Compiler for Rapid Development of > Microcontroller Applications' was a very different story. This was a > hands-on lab with a couple of projects using the CCS IDE and > debugger. Even though I am definitely NOT a "C" person, I found the > labs easy to follow, understand, and do. I see myself spending some > significant time learning to use C in the near future. I highly > recommend that session for anyone who is contemplating using the CCS comp= ilers. > > I took a couple of other motor-related sessions: 'BLDC : Cheap and > Easy Control of Brushless DC and Stepper Motors' and 'BDC Cheap and > Easy Control of Brushed DC and AC Induction Motors'. Both were > useful presentations. > > I also spent time taking Dr Bob's 'Web Devices Made Simple: TCPmaker > Hands-On' session. I thought highly enough of what I learned to > purchase a copy of his software. > > The last day (Saturday) was spent taking Olin Lathrop's 'Advanced > Assembler Techniques' and 'Precise Time Measurement and Sensing > Applications Using CTMU (Charge Time Measurement Unit)'. Both were good. > > Olin's presentation contained very, very useful information. He took > the time to explain WHY he structured his pre-processor the way he > did - he explained the pitfalls taking shortcuts (which I already > knew) and how his environment helps avoid those pitfalls. He's a > very good teacher. > > PIClist people I met: Matt Bennett, Denny Esterline, Larry Nelson > Sr, Olin Lathrop. Wish I could have met others. > > Matt reserved a table for the PIClist at lunchtime one day but I > didn't see any other PIClisters there. > > Regarding Olin Lathrop: I've spoken to him by phone several times > over the past few years - he has always come across as a reasonable > person (unlike his on-line persona). I was looking forward to > meeting him and actively looked for him. > > His manner of speaking when talking face-to-face was pleasant. A lot > of his on-line personality comes through when meeting with him in > person (he's not afraid to the word 'moron' when describing somebody) > but it seems much less offensive when talking face-to-face. I mostly > like Olin and actually meeting him was a positive experience. I hope > that he comes back to the PIClist. > > I'd be interested in reading about the experiences of anyone else who > attended Masters. Come on people! Talk up! > > dwayne > --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .