TRCM Software

G

granatl

TRCM Author
Joined
May 25, 2001
After almost a 2 year hiatus, I've decided to get cracking and finish TRCM; for those that don't remember, it's my program to help people make their own ROM's.
If no surprises come up, it should be out in February. Take a look at a snapshots of the new Wizard GUI (I just built this weekend)
and the Parts Selector (I built earlier in the week)
Not shown are a graph-edit advanced section that allows tweaking of over 50 data tables and a built-in hex editor.
 
Hey Jack
I wondered if you would ever resurrect the TRCM. I figured you were just having too much fun with your other toys ;)

BTW The snapshots look great.

Paul
 
I've been working dilligently on it. Lots of bug fixes, interface changes, etc. My to-do list is becoming rather short (less than 10 remaining), but some of the items are difficult and time-consuming. They are as follows:
1. air vs. fuel vs. timing (setting the parameters according to the defined octane, turbo, injectors, etc.)
2. Anti-theft routines (I might hold this for a later release)
3. Finish form (compiles the assembler code, etc.)
4. Setting idle (this should be really easy)
5. TCC Lockup @ x MPH
6. Help File (some of it's done, but need to revisit and complete)
7. Registration number
8. Injector flow (adopting the flow characteristics into the chip for a more even flow rate)

I think I now have a graph for every single data table, but I'll double-check that before the release.
To expedite the release, I'm going to leave some of the less important features out, but will plan to release updates throughout the year. If there's something that you really want, ask and I'll try to focus on it.

I want to get this one out, try to get the auto-tweak routines done & released by May, and then work on some of the other things that I "skipped".

If there's any interest, I can easily build a demo for people to download and view. Let me know.
 
Thanks for the update. Sounds like you have been hard at work. I, for one, would like to look at a demo of it. How much are you going to sell this for when complete?
 
Because I'm not finished with it, I can't be concrete on the price. I've given it a lot of thought, and it will probably be priced like this.
Base program: $150
Bug fixes: free
Auto-tweak: $20 (and the base program will go to $170)
Minor features: price will vary from free to $20, depending on complexity.

Beyond the auto-tweak add-in, I will also have to weigh how many people bought the program. If it's less than 20, it's really not worthwhile to continue development on it.

As for a demo, I'll clean up the help file today, and then post a demo to my home page SUPER6
I've actually already cancelled my account with this ISP, but the page should remain up for at least several weeks.

Constructive criticism greatly appreciated.

As before, the program will only run in 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP)

And one after-thought. In the original demo, you were first dropped into the wizard, and then could jump to the advanced pages. Thinking about this, I realized that you're more inclined to use the wizard "once" and then the graphs repeatedly. So after the splash screen (wait about 5-10 seconds), you'll be dropped into the Advanced section first. To get to the wizard, press the wizard icon on the toolbar. Some of the idiot lights have functions, that will be shown by placing the mouse over them (a tool tip will pop up); click on it to jump to the other parameters. Press the left turn signal (cancel) or the right turn signal (done) to exit the wizard.
 
Bah, I know stuff like this consumes time, and to some people time is a luxury, but if theres one thing that is constant, its the commercial nature of specialized software.. is it that bad to make a program freely available for the benefit of the entire scene? how many people would be able to benefit from being able to download your program freely... and then look at how many people are going to spend $150..oh it may not be worth while if you dont get $2500 out of it? What if several thousand people download it for $0 and just 11% of them manage to put it to good use and get their car tuned nicely.. ..what if only 10 people decide to pay for it, and it's not good enough for you, so you never finish it.. then you just wasted a ****load of your time and noone gets the benefit.

Now this case especially applies to someone like me who happens to be a such a poor mofo, that cant even afford to splurge on turbo link or direct scan.. and that's why people like me cant make their own chips because someone else wants to make money off of it. (Tuner cat/turbo 6 tuner, whatever else is out there.. tweaker (obsolete now ofcourse) etc etc.. all $$$$$)

Ohwell, maybe if i made 60-90K a year I wouldn't be bitching.. Just let everyone benefit from it, you'll feel better..certainly someone of your talent makes enough money to not have to rely on "hopeful" software projects to make enough money to live..

my $.02
 
Actually, I am very pro-Linux/pro-open-source, and have seriously thought about releasing it for free. Yes, I actually do make a decent salary as an Oracle DBA, but it would be nice to have some extra cash in pocket to buy other things for my GN. Maybe I will make it "donation" based.
See, this is the way economics works. You buy something you want, and then the money is then used to buy something else. I'm not particulary sure why you decided to vent on my post; but keep in mind the next time you buy something else, how money is the driving force of EVERYTHING.
 
I DL'ed the demo and would like to comment.


Very nice. First place I went was to the wizard. Was pleasantly surprised. Then went to the help section and was dissappointed. (It's not included in the demo.)
 
When I had my buddy try the demo, he ran into strange problems. Fonts wouldn't show up, icons were different sizes, etc. For example, in the wizard the light-blue font is actually supposed to be an LED type. So after I got all that cleaned up with him, I just decided to block-out the unifinished help section. When I get the help done, I should be able to post it seperately, if you still want to view it.
 
Looking good so far. Looks like you have been doing your homework. I will look a little further into what all it does tonight and see if I can help you find anything that needs any polishing.
 
Have you ever thought about hooking up with someone like Ken Mosher and having it as an option on the TurboLink distribution? Seems like he already has a large customer list of folks with laptops that don't mind spending money on their "habit". Just a thought...
 
I got permission from Ken a couple of years ago to use Turbolink's output as input to my program for AutoTweak. Very helpful guy. Speaking of which, in about 6-8 weeks, I'll need several (~50) Turbolink output files. So if you do some recording, please save them for me for now.
In a lot of ways, your suggestion makes sense. However, I'll just take it as it comes. I know lots of people that own DirectScan or TurboLink that would never try to make their own chips. This program is to help people like them get started, but I'll be surprised if they decide to get into chip burning.
 
I would like to see it interface with DS myself. Of course I would also like DS to have boost sensing too.... The scan tool interface would be a very interesting piece indeed.

Anyways, I see one thing that would be helpful in the program. A way to view tables, such as timing, in a layout such as the way Tunercat does it. You know, a grid layout. I looked for that as an option but didn't find it, maybe I missed it.
 
I've never seen tunercat. I don't think it would be difficult to implement. Along those lines, but not exactly, if you go to program options, un-check the Convert Graph Values, and then return to the graph, you'll see the values in the raw 0-255 range (there's just no mechanism currently to show all line values in a grid).
I own DS myself. So I already have tons of output files that I can use from this product. I didn't mean that AutoTweak was just for TurboLink users.
 
Cool. I'll send ya a screen shot of what I'm talking about. You are correct, for someone with your obvious programing talent you shouldn't have any problem in adding that in.
 
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