Re: weird UltraSmart meter glitch


"Alan Mackenzie" <acm@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:ta6ved.46.ln@xxxxxxxxxx
> >Slap <slap@xxxxxxxxx> wrote on Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:07:55 GMT:
> >
> > Myself I can't wait for that model. My UltraSmart works very well now
> > and as they add various functions (say, a cell phone for example) there
> > is no reason for the device to fail.
>
> Sorry to have to say you're wrong here, but you're wrong here! It's the
> addition of "various functions", the increase in complexity, which caused
> Elizabeth's UltraSmart to behave strangely. Programming devices like
> these is what I do for a living.
>
> A BS meter is basically a computer program with a sensor and a screen
> attached. Three desirable attributes of a program are that it be
> feature-rich, cheap, and reliable. You can have any two of these three
> attributes.
>
You serious? I suspect a computer can very easily do say 1000 different
things in a given time frame... say 1/4 second while its idling.

The UltraSmart would just stay in it's testing loop for 5 seconds while it
was figuring out the BS. Then it would go answer the phone or something.
Not that hard to program, just interrupt when the strip is inserted (does
that now) and wait till the blood hits meanwhile updating the clock,
checking for mail, etc. while waiting for the user to find the fresh new
Lancet. Blood hits -go process it and display results.

Piece of cake.

--
dave


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