Re: User-programmable engine computers

[rdh@genrad.com (Robert D. Houk)]

   I'm curious: how much demand do you all think that there would be for an
   easy-to-program engine computer which was fully plug-compatabile with the
   original engine computer?

That would kinda depend on how "easy" easy is . . . and how many C-notes
acquisition would run me . . .

As a point of reference, it would seem that there is a definite market
for $700 "computer jobs" for the relatively rare and obscure Audi after-
market folks . . .

An actual whole complete computer though? Sounds *INCREDIBLY* EXPEN$$$IVE
to me, even in the rarified German Parts Price Context that we are all so
familiar with! Consider how many different variation on the theme you would
have to support -- '83 different from the '84 from the '87 from the '90
from the ...; with the auto different from the manual different from the
ad nauseum... I just don't see it being economically viable.

On the other hand, packaging up a nice ROM-emulator with a laptop and a
software package to visually (nineties buzzword) represent the idle/timing/
boost/temp/kitchensink/anything else and allow the user to readily and
"online" diddle, er, tune, yeah, that's the word, *tune* the assorted
parameters (nudge up the mixture just a bit 'twixt 6750 and 7000 rpm when
boost over 13psi unless air temp over 110F in which case retard the timing
instead except if KNOCKING then reduce boost); now *THAT* would be a pro-
duct! [Yeah, Yeah, I know, it's just packaging up COTS [Commercial Off-The-
Shelf] bits'n'pieces, with maybe a bit of proprietary glue, er, Value-Added
engineering thrown in . . .

The market would be the INFORMATION (and the nice packaging/presentation/
ease-of-use) -- like which location is which entry in the mixture/temp/
boost/timing/etc. n-dimensional "map". I for one am perfectly willing to
pay for saving a lot of time and mistakes reinventing the same old wheel.
Sitting down and disassembling an octal [hex, binary, whatever] dump of
a computer system is not my idea of fun [having done it, *I* can say *I*
get much more fun doing almost anything else...save perhaps mowing the
lawn...]!

   (Appologies in advance to anyone who objects to using this forum like this --
   but I'm not a comercial venture (yet), and I think that this is a product
   which several of you might be interested in.)

I think it's great to use a forum like this, although I would disparage ac-
tual "Commercial" usage.

					-RDH