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Really Disappointing
[Note: This situation changed since I wrote this in 2014/2015] I’m Jason Firth. I want to talk a bit about a trend I’ve been seeing. First, some background to understand where I’m coming from. Downloading a piece of software on the Internet is a real gamble. Of course, some software contains viruses meant to destroy…
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ProComSol DevCom2000 first impressions
I’m Jason Firth. Modern electronic instruments are almost never purely analog devices anymore. The reason is really simple: When you’re dealing with analog signals, you’re constantly worrying about introducing error. Every trace on a circuit board, every op-amp, every transistor has the chance to introduce non-linearity, noise, or to mess up your scaling. By contrast,…
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Don’t give them what they ask for
I’m Jason Firth. This June will mark the 9th year that I’ve been working in heavy industry. I started my career and spent four years in design and maintenance planning and another 5 years as a technician. Of all the pieces of advice I wish that I’d been given this one is probably the most…
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Troubleshooting tools for Wonderware DAServers
I’m Jason Firth. When troubleshooting Wonderware software, most people know about the system management console’s log, but today I’m going to talk about some of the lesser known diagnostic tools available for troubleshooting DAServers while you’re using Wonderware. There’s a huge amount of literature included with Wonderware, but it can be a bit overwhelming. These…
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sqlcmd- A means to doing SQL commands from the command line
I’m Jason Firth. Last time, I posted about openness. One of the ways openness can help everyone is by providing flexibility to do things that may not have otherwise been possible. At this point, many software packages use Microsoft SQL server as a front-end. Pi Historian and Wonderware Historian, for example, both use SQL Server…
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On Openness
I’m Jason Firth. Merry Christmas, and happy new year! On my “About me” page, I wrote: “With this blog, I have a few goals: I’m hoping to get some of that information together so control professionals from all over can use it. I’m hoping to take some of the extremely cryptic academic work out there…
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Siemens WS300 teardown
Siemens WS300 teardown I’m Jason Firth. I had an opportunity recently to tear apart a Siemens WS300. I was hoping to troubleshoot a problem with it, and in the process I learned a bit about how they were put together. Here you can see the mechanical components. The thick metal shaft is the part that…
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Wonderware System Platform 2014 R2 now available
I’m Jason Firth. Yesterday, without much fanfare (at least for their customers), Schneider released Wonderware System Platform 2014 R2. Some quick notes from reading the documentation: Windows XP, all versions; Windows Vista, all versions; Windows Server 2003, all versions; Windows Server 2008, non-R2 versions are no longer supported. Modern InTouch Applications now allow you to…
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Women in trades and technology
I’m Jason Firth. I’d like to suggest today, that women should look more at the trades and technology as a career choice. Of course, there’s lots of people right now suggesting that. There’s people who are way smarter, and way richer, and way more powerful suggesting that. Obviously, another voice isn’t really that useful right…
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Omega Engineering got smart
December 18, 2014 I’m Jason Firth. We set up some Omega wireless temperature transmitters the other day, and I thought the method they used to get wireless connectivity is quite clever. Take a look for yourself: That’s an XBee Pro wireless transceiver. XBee is a wireless communication standard for instrumentation that’s been made popular thanks…