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Author Topic: How future-proof is it?  (Read 2324 times)
Purzelkater
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« on: April 22, 2020, 05:44:42 AM »

First, this is nothing about the price/costs of the boards, just the technics.

After my first Diamond saber should be arrived next week and because I'm considering to order an Emerald/Obsidian saber, I'm thinking about: How future-proof are Emerald, Obsidian and Diamond boards this days?

I have seen a lot of threads here with people have problems to connect their sabers with the launcher. One most common suggestion was to use an USB 2.0 port. Well, my actual system has no USB 2.0 ports anymore. USB 2.0 is 20 years old.
And if I look at the Emerald and Obsidian boards with Mini USB ports... It's been a long time since I saw a device with such a connector.
And finally, the last US Launcher for Windows was made January 2018. Can't believe there are no room for improvements anymore?

Don't get me wrong, I love the posibilities that these boards (should) offer. But I am afraid that these will soon be unusable because the hardware is already out of date and the software is no longer being developed.

What do you think?
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The Fallen: Diamond RGBW, White Illuminated Black AV Switch, 36"
Spectre with Engraving: Obsidian V4, BVA / FoC MLS, 36"
The Butcher Staff: TA Silver + Color Discs + Quick Release Coupler, 2x32"
Aeon LE V5: Stunt, GB, 36"
Dark Initiate V5: Stunt, BR, 36"
Aeon V3: Stunt, CG, 36"
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Initiate V4: Stunt, BR, Windows,, 24"
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tx_tuff
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« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2020, 10:42:40 AM »

You bring up a lot of great points in asking these questions. Unfortunately I'm not sure how many forum members can answer that question. This would have to be something directed to US.

As far as the software goes I guess if it works now it will keep working. But if you can't hook it up to your computer that might be a problem.

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Infinit01
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« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2020, 11:06:04 AM »

USB 1.0 is actually 26 years being first designed in 1996 while USB 2.0 is 19 years old debuting in 2001, USB 3.0 in 2011, USB 3.1 and USB-C were both designed in 2014, with USB 3.2 in 2017. There are still USB 2.0 and 3.0 (3.1 and 3.2) ports on laptops and desktops so that will still work.  USB-C has just began to get onto laptops over the last few years and although USB 4.0 is supposed to drop late this year, it'll take a while to standardize it.  

Look at USB-C, most desktop motherboards only have one of them and the most USB-C ports that laptops have are two.  With that said, you won't have to worry about ports not working since USB 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 are backwards compatible to USB 2.0 and 1.0

I'm positive once a new standard arrives and UltraSabers wants to update their port, they'll probably go with USB-C or USB 4.0 but I can't speak for them since I don't work for them, I'm only speaking from a technology standpoint
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Purzelkater
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« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2020, 02:19:47 PM »

Well, using USB 2.0 is not a problem per se. I have also have such devices having USB 2.0. But this devices still working with my USB 3.x ports and Windows 10 without issues.
But if I see all the posts of sabers apparently not working with today's systems and no solution unitl now (looking for a 5 year old PC ist NOT a solution in my opinion)... well, this makes me thoughtful.

If I'm right, the Emerald board was intoduced 2013, Obsidian V4 2015 and Diamond 2017. And the last update of the Windows Obsidian launcher was 2018 with drivers for Windows 7 and 8. I don't say this is bad - as long as it's working without issues.
And maybe I'm just too scared (because mostly people with problems are making posts, not people without problems). But it would still be good to know whether Ultrasabers will continue to develop its boards and software and whether you can still use the things you buy today in a few years' time (without having to get a PC from the museum).  Wink
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The Fallen: Diamond RGBW, White Illuminated Black AV Switch, 36"
Spectre with Engraving: Obsidian V4, BVA / FoC MLS, 36"
The Butcher Staff: TA Silver + Color Discs + Quick Release Coupler, 2x32"
Aeon LE V5: Stunt, GB, 36"
Dark Initiate V5: Stunt, BR, 36"
Aeon V3: Stunt, CG, 36"
Aeon V3: Stunt, CG, 24"
Initiate V4: Stunt, BR, Windows,, 24"
The Dominix V2: Stunt, CG, 32"
Initiate V2: Stunt, GB, 24"

Arcinsaw
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« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2020, 02:27:05 PM »

I think the main thing they could do to future proof is make the firmware and drivers more open source for diagnostic purposes and improvements. Kind of like some of the other guys (*cough cf cough *)

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Infinit01
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« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2020, 03:42:26 PM »

That's the thing, it's working with most people, is it working with everyone? No, but it's working more with people than it's not which is my point. Typically, those that have issues would have had issues with other devices, it's a driver thing on their computer and typically not an Ultrasabers hardware issue.  Sure, there are some that have issues but again, not everyone.

Just don't think that it'll happen to everyone. The company that writes the software for the launcher will update it, they just don't update it as often as say Logitech or any major software/hardware company. Keep in mind that Ultrasabers is privately owned so they won't update as often but I say add that to the Wish list thread here, they will listen to us: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=831.8310

As I've said, Ultrasabers will eventually change their ports, I'm sure it'll be USB-C and newer when they do.
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Purzelkater
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« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2020, 05:25:36 PM »

Just as a note: Got my Diamond saber today and have connect it without any issues.

I have Win 10 and a Kindle micro USB cord. On the first connect Windows has installed all drivers, then I have reconnected the saber and the launcher has found it, started with a firmware update.
Another reconnect (after firmware update) the launcer has detected the Diamond board and I was able to change the settings.

So, better than exprected.  Grin

Kind regards
from Purzelkater
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The Fallen: Diamond RGBW, White Illuminated Black AV Switch, 36"
Spectre with Engraving: Obsidian V4, BVA / FoC MLS, 36"
The Butcher Staff: TA Silver + Color Discs + Quick Release Coupler, 2x32"
Aeon LE V5: Stunt, GB, 36"
Dark Initiate V5: Stunt, BR, 36"
Aeon V3: Stunt, CG, 36"
Aeon V3: Stunt, CG, 24"
Initiate V4: Stunt, BR, Windows,, 24"
The Dominix V2: Stunt, CG, 32"
Initiate V2: Stunt, GB, 24"

Arcinsaw
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« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2020, 03:15:55 AM »

I can say that for me, my emerald connects almost immediately every time. However my obsidian v4 even on a USB 2.0 hub with the correct cable etc, I have to plug, unplug, replug a bunch of times before it connects correctly. And the board reboots after loading soundfonts so it can be a huge pain. I have noticed that my Saber that has a recharge port works better, my guess is because the batteries are charging. The other one without a recharge port I have to take the batteries and fully charge them before trying to connect to my pc

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DarthSyronimus
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« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2020, 05:56:29 PM »

the on-board port won't/can't change ... and so far, USB-to-the-PC side of things has been backwards compatible ... though eventually you'll probably need an adapter... I'm guessing by that point, your diamond board might be the point of failure more than the PC side of things.

Why do I say that: RSX/US followed the Jedi code of "Do or do not, there is no try." so there is currently no way to test a sound font other than uploading it to the saber.  
I fried my diamond board somehow, mucking with sound fonts.  The way it's designed, there's no hard 'reset to factory' so when the upload mucked up the actual onboard OS (at least that seems to be the case) there is no field-accessible way of clearing the onboard memory.   There's also no full error detection in the launcher/editor before pushing a font to test, unfortunately.  

As a last resort, I've tried the double-E trick of draining power and leaving the board unpowered, but it didn't reset to factory, so there's probably no hard ROM backup, just programmable memory... without a read-only base firmware/bootstrap, it is dead.

(this wouldn't be so bad or frustrating if I hadn't only owned this for around a month when it happened, and it's been a month without a response from US on how I can get it serviced/fixed... maybe I need to be less polite and more angry at them in my emails to get their attention)
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