[Elecraft] Re: K2 Remote/Server

[Julian, G4ILO]

Mike,

The issue with this really is that K2Net turned out a bit more 
complicated than I thought, and as I don't have a great personal need 
for it (since I work from home and my K2 is sitting right beside me on 
my desk) I don't have a lot of incentive to spend too much of my limited 
free time polishing the thing off.

Regarding the stability issues, to an extent I am covering my butt, 
since I know that there is at least one K2 owner in the process of 
setting up a remote shack, and I don't want anyone to invest a lot of 
money on something that K2Net will be a critical component of, without 
them deciding for themselves whether it is adequate for the task.

I certainly would be happy for K2Net to be adopted as the official K2 
remote control software. I think that it would be a unique promotional 
tool to set up a K2 at Elecraft HQ and allow people to download the K2 
Client and try out a K2 for themselves in guest mode. I seem to remember 
suggesting this in an email to Eric some time ago, when I finished the 
previous version, but I never received a reply. However, I'm still open 
to offers.

My guess is that the number of K2 users wanting to use their radios 
remotely is probably so small that Elecraft doesn't consider it worth 
investing a lot of money on. I'm not going to enter into the argument 
over the ethics of promising something and not delivering. There are 
other methods of controlling the radio remotely, which have benefits if 
you want features that K2 Net doesn't have (like the advanced data mode 
support in MixW), they just need a bit more work to put together.
-- 
Julian, G4ILO (RSGB, ARRL)
G4ILO's Shack: http://www.tech-pro.net/g4ilo

w8ur at flatsurface.com (Mike S) wrote:

I like K2Net, but the author implies that it's unstable and isn't being
actively supported. It seems he might support it, if it were worth his 
time.
That's where Elecraft comes in - you've promised something which is
undelivered. K2Net seems to be able to fulfill the features promised, 
and more.
It just needs to be further developed to where it's a trustworthy solution.
IMO, the easiest way for Elecraft to fulfill it's promise would be to 
pay G4ILO
to do that further development and officially support K2Net as the next
generation, freely available, K2Remote/K2Server solution.

It's certainly your decision how to proceed, but to simply leave 
K2Remote in a
"demo, no further development" state isn't ethical.