Manual errors

[Texy]

Hope this is the place to post manual typo's errors, if not, MOD's please move to relevant forum

In various places throughout the manuals, it is stated to 'connect an LED', or to 'light an LED'. It should say 'connect a LED'

Manual1, page 4
It says 'LED should flash on and off very second.', should be 'every second.'.

Manual1, page7
It says 'microcontroller is build into a product', should be 'built'.

Manual2, page 122 - the program example is incorrect on two parts -
1 - it doesn't even use the command its meant to be explaining the use of (readadc10)
2 - the comment says 'read value into b1', but it reads it into w1 !

main:
readadc 1,w1 ‘ read value into b1
debug w1 ‘ transmit to computer
pause 200 ‘ short delay
goto main ‘ loop back to start



Thats what I,ve found so, far.....
This is not a 'dig', just a fresh pair of eyes I guess


Texy

 

[Michael 2727]

If you check for every spelling/grammar mistake in the Manuals
you will never get any projects done, go bolggle eyed, and have
a huge headache from all that reading.
I'd rather make Stuff ~ ;o)

 

[hippy]

It's an interesting one, "a LED" or "an LED" and it could start a debate of epic proportions as to which is right and I'd say both are, although there should be a single uniform style adopted.

It all depends on whether one reads LED as "led" ( as in "led up the garden path" ), or as "el eee dee". If the former its "a LED" if the later it's "an LED".

Wikipedia states LED should only be pronounced as letters but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find an argument to the contrary. I drift between both and even go for "a Led" to spice up my life a little. I expect it depends on ones own cultural and social origins as well as nationality.

The only case similar to LED I can think of is "FAQ"; "a fack" and "an eff ay queue".

 

[kevrus]

you could always omit the current limiting resistor and then the grammar isnt questionable as you then have a friode, SED (smoke emitting diode) or SEP (smoke emitting picaxe).

 

[Dippy]

I'm looking forward to watching Michael go "bolggle eyed".

Personally, I say Ell Eeee Dee so for me it's "an LED", but I really couldn't give a toss as long as we know what we're talking about.

LED as in "led up the garden path" went out in the 80s.

I find it more amusing that half the people here can't tell the difference between "lose" and "loose".

But, I must admit, a good 'proof reader' would have bean handy!

(Go on, I know you want to!)

 

[hippy]

LED as in "led up the garden path" went out in the 80s.

Everything since the late 70's has been a bit of a blur to me. Good to see the Sex Pistols still performing ... or maybe we are still in the 70's and you're pulling my leg ? Shangalang, shangalang ...

 

[westaust55]

LED as in "led up the garden path" went out in the 80s.

And another earlier saying prior to electronics was . . .

"Get the lead (or was the "LED") out and start moving!"

I guess even those old vacuum tube diodes (triodes, pentodes, etc) with their 6V heater coils could be considered as Light Emitting Diodes

 

[boriz]

"friode, SED (smoke emitting diode)"

LMAO!

 

[moxhamj]

Re Hippy "Everything since the late 70's has been a bit of a blur to me"

He really is a true Hippy!

 

[BrendanP]

This guy has got too much free time on his hands.

 

[Texy]

This guy has got too much free time on his hands.

thanks for the warm welcome Brendan
so ok, these are only typos, no real harm done, but after all this time
I,d of thought they might of been spotted already.
I'll not bother to post any others then.
texy

 

[eclectic]

Texy.
Keep posting.
Many of the comments posted on this site
need to viewed from the point of view of

A. National/Cultural styles of humour.
B. Time of day/night posted.

e

Added.
@Brendan.
Here's a point for discussion.
Having too much free time is like having too much money. Impossible.

 

[BrendanP]

No offence Texy, once you get your teeth into a few picaxe/mcu driven projects a few typos in the manuals will be the least of your problems.

I got introduced to picaxe about 3 years ago, a while back I got called into the office and asked if I had a drug abuse problem because I seemed tired all the time. I denied everything. Truth was I was regularly up all night working on picaxe projects!

Get stuck into some data sheets and user guides from some other entities and rev eds manuals will seem like Shakespeare or holy writ to you in comparison. Some of them seem to presume you're a PhD just out from MIT or Bell labs.

 

[Texy]

No offence Texy, once you get your teeth into a few picaxe/mcu driven projects a few typos in the manuals will be the least of your problems.

I got introduced to picaxe about 3 years ago, a while back I got called into the office and asked if I had a drug abuse problem because I seemed tired all the time. I denied everything. Truth was I was regularly up all night working on picaxe projects!

Get stuck into some data sheets and user guides from some other entities and rev eds manuals will seem like Shakespeare or holy writ to you in comparison. Some of them seem to presume you're a PhD just out from MIT or Bell labs.

...no problem Brendan - it was a late one when I replied to you as well, so I,m just a guilty

Have fun,
Texy

 

[manuka]

I've no doubt said this a zillion times, but impressionable young minds are prone to hearing the word LED as the heavy metal "LEAD". With the justifiable bad press about lead toxicity,they then go on to think that LEDs are poisonous!

Clear thinkers may sneer, but these poor souls are typically the same daydreamers who confuse litmus paper with lithium cells, + with -, up with down, credit with debt etc. Naturally they often subsequently enjoy a lengthy career in fields where confusion is rewarded- law/politics/finance/ wheel clamping etc...

IMHO hence always refer to them as "L" "E" "D" s to help ease such blunders- it may save you a parking ticket in 10 years, bizarre clauses on your mortgage documents, or even a flaky leader.

 

[Technical]

We're always open to manual typos and mistakes to get them corrected, but it is better to email them to us rather than use the forum as they may get lost amongst all the posts.

 

[Dippy]

Stan. Haha.
Yes, always say ELL EE DEE. Like I said before, it's usually only Old Boys that say LED (without the dots). It was trendy in the Olden Days to say it as a single word as it made them look clever and part of the High Tech group. Group somethingorother the psychoths call it, hence the rise of jargon.

I must go an programme my 16x2 luckd now.

Anyway, meanwhile back on the plot, I agree with Technical. It would be more efficient and more polite to email them DIRECTLY. They won't bite.

 

[manuka]

Splutter- DIRECT emailing-where are the laughs in that? Post them here I say!

 

[Tom2000]

you could always omit the current limiting resistor and then the grammar isnt questionable as you then have a friode, SED (smoke emitting diode) or SEP (smoke emitting picaxe).

Or maybe a DEAD: "Darkness Emitting Arsenide Diode"

Wonderful devices. Combining LEDs and DEADs on the same wafer results in 100% manufacturing yield.

Most often applied as power off indicators or dead battery indicators.

 

[kevrus]

talking of terminology

Yes, always say ELL EE DEE. Like I said before, it's usually only Old Boys that say LED (without the dots). It was trendy in the Olden Days to say it as a single word as it made them look clever and part of the High Tech group. Group somethingorother the psychoths call it, hence the rise of jargon.

It seems rather fashionable now to use T.L.As {Three Letter Abbreviations...}

 

[Dippy]

Absolutely MDF. (My Dear Friend, not Medium Density Fibreboard).

I was watching a programme on a new Dam and hydro plant in Iceland. The High tech name for the Tunnel Boring Machine was the TBM. Damn (haha), I couldn't have guessed it if I'd tried. They were digging a FBH.

And if you want to RAO in TLA heaven then just look at car brochures. ABS,PAS,SFi, GPS, ICE and thousands more. The back of the car used to be covered in decals impressing the neighbours with the amazing new features of the latest shiny offering. All a big POS as far I can see.

 

[kermet]

LOL, here's a couple;

1. 'Picaxe manual 3: interfacing cicuits' try page 42, you have to read it understanding that the terminology is the RX and TX explained in the diagram is actually the RX and TX of the picaxe NOT the D9 of the serial port on the computer as it looks like in the diagram.

2. Page 43 of the same manual shows the MAX232 chip with 10uf cap's, i had heaps of problems with the MAX232 chip overloading my circuit till i finally looked at the datasheet and found it should be 1.0uf cap's, works great.

http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/texasinstruments/max232.pdf

theres been plenty more things just those have stuck in my mind. If in doubt search the datasheet/s.

Rob

 

[westaust55]

A short story on acronyms:

Having dinner at a restaurant with several colleagues some years ago.
The mechanical guy suggested we electrical types had a TLA for everything.
Shortly after the waitress came for desert and coffee orders. As she walked away with the orders I commented . . "and don't forget the ADM's"

Never seen anyone spin around so fast . . . must have conjured up some other meaning to her.

 

[Dippy]

Yes, as there are so many variants on certain ics it should be standard procedure to Read the Data Sheet or RTFM which I appreciate is a FLA.

MAX232s, aah, then there are the types which can work using quite a range of C.
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/61908.pdf

The poor old Manual Writer can't win.
The best thing to do is inlcude words to the effect "Read the Data Sheet of the specific component used. This circuit is an example." - especially as Newbies will A) Copy circuits verbatim (understandable), and B) Get a chip sounding/looking similar from the cheapest/easiest supplier (equally understandable), though I don't have sympathy for people getting anonymous cheap components that have no doumentation.

Personally, and it's easy for me to say, I'd like the Basic Manual re-written with more examples/samples . I hate to say it, but written more like the Stamp Manual. But this is often the way when manuals/ Data Sheets are written by those 'too close' to the product. I've seen it on many occasions. It's not a moan but it is 'natural' and writing manuals/Data Sheets is hard work and you'll never get it totally right.

PS. I have often heard overworked staff in my local pub saying that they have to work an AFD shift.

 

[hippy]

Anyone who's written a manual or documented a project knows just how much effort goes into that ( often far more than into the product itself ) and, even with best intentions, errors and mistakes will creep in.

It's a long hard slog for people who don't live to write documentation and especially so when they want to get on with the next exciting project or are involved in something else already and there's usually a reluctance and lack of enthusiasm to be side-tracked to update old documentation ( I could mention my own web site ! ).

That's not to say that documentation shouldn't be as perfect as it could be, just the reality that it rarely will be unless there are resources which can be dedicated to it and that doesn't happen often.

It's natural not to want to update documentation just to change a single word or sentence even when it should be so maybe the best approach would be a forum dedicated to errata so the accumulated changes can later be done in one go ?

The other alternative is to put documentation online in a Wiki and allow people to make corrections themselves then generate printed material from that. That's not without its own problems, and particularly when it comes to 'house style'. An 'add-to only' Wiki would be a good compromise as necessary changes can be identified and then folded in by the official documentation team later.

One thing I would say to anyone looking for corrections ( here or for any product ) is to be very specific about what the error is, in which manual, on what page, on what line or in which paragraph, include the text of the error, and indicate what it should be, and explain why if it's more than a simple typo. The easier you can make it for whoever has to do a change the more likely it is to get done.

The worst feedback I ever get on my web site is "You spelt color wrongly", and even worse when accompanied by an accusation of ignorance and illiteracy. It's also quite annoying when people tell me I've got something wrong when it's themselves who have made a mistake. That's where it's important to mention why one thinks there's a mistake because if there is general confusion which needs to be clarified that can be done. Going at someone like a bull in a china shop doesn't win friends and there's an art to twisting people's arms into altering things. Being helpful and constructive is far more effective than just being critical - that's not an accusation that anyone posting here had taken that approach !

 

[Dippy]

Wiki? Mmmm.... if you could limit who contributes then it might be OK. On the other hand, if you regulate who can contribute then what's the difference between that and sending suggested revisions/corrections to Rev-Ed?

A manual/Data Sheet cannot be a free-for-all as everything should be checked to maintain a standard.

I seem to remember all this sort of stuff being discussed months ago... and months before that. I think it's probably about tiime for a bit of a re-write and thorough proof reading.

No doubt we'll be here again.
Perhaps a manual that leaps out of the monitor and smacks people round the head would be handy too!

Hey hippy, you spelt color wrong! (actually I prefer that spelling, but I hate 'Action Canceled' with one 'l'. The double 'l' is there to force the sound of the first 'e' into an 'eh' sound as in 'bell'. 'Action Canceled' always sounds like it should be pronounced 'Action Concealed' which may be more appropriate for Windows?)

 

[Michael 2727]

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal
pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to seearch study at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng
is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid
deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh
and I awlyasthought slpeling was ipmorantt. pretty weird ay..

Subject: The English Language

Isn't the English language great!!
1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with the planting, a farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing a tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Or

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English
will be the official language of the European nation rather than German
which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English
spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in
plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make
the sivil servants jump
with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k". This should
klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the
troublesome "ph" will be replased with the "f". This will make words like
fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to
reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments
will enkourage the removalof double letters which have always ben a
deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the
silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with
"z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining
"ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer
vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand
ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. If zis mad yu smil,
pleas pas it on to oza pepl.

 

[Texy]

Well Technical mentioned contacting Rev-Ed directly rather than posting manual errors on this forum, but can I find an email address or a 'contact us' wedpage?
Can I hell LOL

Texy

 

[eclectic]

Home page. Bottom line.

Then bottom line of the next page.

 

[212]

Michael 2727 don't do that! Man....that's was good though

 

[hippy]

Wiki? Mmmm.... if you could limit who contributes then it might be OK. On the other hand, if you regulate who can contribute then what's the difference between that and sending suggested revisions/corrections to Rev-Ed?

I'd limit to people with a certain minimum post count, that gets rid of spammers and is probably not too limiting. Also being add-only means a page can only be vandalised at worse not made unusable ( additions would need to be distinguished, smaller typeface etc ). Mods can have the power to rewrite and remove anything which is damaging.

As to advantage over sending to Rev-Ed; the edits will be where they need to be, already written, so that should make Rev-Ed's updating job easier and nothing will have 'got lost in the post'. Cuts out a whole layer of adminstration.

It also means the info is there instantly for everyone well before Rev-Ed rewrites happen. Unless Rev-Ed release manuals separately any important changes will be delayed until the next software update comes out. It also takes the pressure off Rev-Ed, they can fold in edits at their own pace.

The big advantage is that a Wiki can be configured or hyper-link to other pages where people can add in their own example programs etc. The effort of getting what people would like by way of documentation is spread over many more people and doesn't mean waiting for Rev-Ed to deliver. Take this forum, it would be quite ineffective if people had to wait for Rev-Ed's answer every time.

 

[Dippy]

"As to advantage over sending to Rev-Ed; the edits will be where they need to be, already written, so that should make Rev-Ed's updating job easier and nothing will have 'got lost in the post'. Cuts out a whole layer of adminstration."

- also potentially cuts in a pile of 'instantly available' errors. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that bit. I prefer to see centrally distibuted basic info 'straight from the horses mouth' so to speak - though I wish errors were corrected more rapidly.

The links and snippets part I completely agree.

 

[Rickharris]

Wiki? Mmmm.... if you could limit who contributes then it might be OK. On the other hand, if you regulate who can contribute then what's the difference between that and sending suggested revisions/corrections to Rev-Ed?..

perhaps reved should PAY people 50p per typeo as an encouragement to help?

At least an incentive to change the manuals especially as they are on line rather than hard copy.

Ode to the Spell Checker.

(A bit of doggerel for the computer-literate.) Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
Arthur On Gnome

 

[Dippy]

"50p per typeo" - love it.

Oh, I've just noticed one in my last post too... oops.

 

[eclectic]

@ Dippy.
"Oh, I've just noticed one in my last post too... oops."
Or two, or three. But who's counting?

Seriously. The "Manual example circuits" is an excellent idea.

Possibly a new section in the Finished Projects forum?
I've seen plenty on the general Forum which could be re-cycled / recycled.

Example headings might be something like

M3 p14 Unipolar ideas
M3 p18 Servo circuit
M3 p28 Light dependa(e)nt resistor circuit

e.

Postscript.
Rule 1 (one) applies to me and anyone else,
who might make comment about
the grammar/style/spelling/syntax of others -

"Those who live by the sword ........

 

[BCJKiwi]

Second the idea of having a separate forum for the Manual.
There is already one for the programming editor.
A number of Manual issues have already been reported there.

Having written a number of Manuals and instructions I can only concur that it is specialised area of expertise and not nearly as simple as it first appears.

Also concur that the Manual should be managed by Rev-Ed.

Would also like to see manual 'maintenance' releases incorporating fixes for typos, errors/omissions and improvements delivered before the next release of the programming editor.

So the issue is, how do we (since it is the users who want this) help Rev-Ed to achieve it without consuming too many resources.

1. separate forum for the manual.
2. users post constructive comment there and only there. This should be in the form suggested above - existing Manual Section, Page, Paragraph, text, AND proposed new text.
3. Rev-Ed publish a new manual with each new version of the programming editor as they do now.
4. Rev-Ed establish an on-going manual maintenance process (which should reduce the work of creating the new program version manual)
5. Prior to publication of new Manual and Manual maintenance updates, a draft is provided, (in confidence) to those specifically interested/approved, for proof reading and feedback.
6. Rev-Ed publish an updated maintenance manual every Month incorporating the agreed changes.

Would also like to see a specific Manual (Sections 4 and 5?) on how to use the Programming Editor and the Simulator.

 

[Unit042]

Everything since the late 70's has been a bit of a blur to me. Good to see the Sex Pistols still performing ... or maybe we are still in the 70's and you're pulling my leg ? Shangalang, shangalang ...

Groovy. I was born in 1991. Go extinct already, your kind is already in congress!

Here's a point for discussion.
Having too much free time is like having too much money. Impossible.

All in the realm of opinion and common sense. When you think that someone else has too much time/money, it seems to me that it usually means that they have MORE time/money than you do.

I got introduced to picaxe about 3 years ago, a while back I got called into the office and asked if I had a drug abuse problem because I seemed tired all the time. I denied everything. Truth was I was regularly up all night working on picaxe projects!

Ack! PICAXE-aholic![dives under coffee table]

Splutter- DIRECT emailing-where are the laughs in that? Post them here I say!

How about doing both? Emailing for the convenience of the error fixers, and forum posting for laughing at them behind their back while they fix the problem.

 

[boriz]

I think the TLA appeals most to old machine code programmers. EG. 6502: LDA, SBC, JNE, ADC etc.

 

[tiscando]

I noticed another mistake:
section 1, page 73, 'the following commands will not work...Note that X1 and X2 parst - should be parts.

 

[der_fisherman]

PICAXE Manual section 1 Version 8.0.10/2013 Serious Quality Problems - Pictures

As nobody has posted since 2008 in this blog, my apologies if I am in the wrong one, please be so kind as to draw my attention to the correct blog.
Problems.

I like a paper version so I printed the manual out and discovered that many coloured diagrams are as good as totally unreadable.
So first I took another PDF reader, but it was no different. I then checked my printer quality, its perfect!!!

I then looked at the problem coloured pictures onscreen and enlarged them there, still completely unreadable!!! They are mostly complete rubbish.....so it was not my printer at fault!!!

I believe I know what the problem is, to save space, the person that converted them to pdf, used a too coarse colour picture function and lost all the detail. Black and white diagrams and text are
all great, its only colour detail that is terrible...

I am not a pdf expert, only an old man with less than perfect vision!

Then the pdf document was not fully proof read properly to my mind.....

Could someone please re-convert the documents from the originals in a far better quality and give them an update date from 2014 to make it easy to differentiate.
Section 2 V 7.9.1 10/2013 has far fewer coloured diagrams, but the ones there are also almost useless.....I haven't checked section 3.....

I am a PICAXE "Newbie", its really fantastic, but trying to learn with such awful picture quality is difficult.....
The awful quality starts on the very first page below the red printing, so I don't see a need to list them all, just look at any coloured pictures on the
screen in a magnified mode.....

I am surprised that no one else has complained, or that it was not noticed and corrected....maybe its only Newbies that need or like the pictures....

Thanks in advance.

Andy

PS. Don't bother to tell me that it was done to save download time as all I have done is wasted paper and ink BIG TIME. That is not good for the environment.....
I would prefer a bigger download, but one that is fully readable, both onscreen and in paper format. Basically almost anything in colour is of poor quality, though one can make a guess sometimes....