Post by Kyonshihttp://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=663878791#663878791
Hi Danart and those on the helpdesk,
I graduated with a B.S. in C.S. in 1985 from Iowa State University. I've
been developing embedded to large communication systems my entire career.
A couple years ago I was sidelined due to a brain issue that limited my
ability to view large systems, diagnose problems, and correct them quickly.
I'm still working on recovery. My memories are largely intact so I still
know most of what I learned and did. I'm still trying to become productive
for my former or possibly another employer.
You seem to be discussing SBCs for personal use. My second to last
position kept me employed for about 17 years. It had several variations
and many improvements over the years of a small SBC. The embedded portion
was written in Forth and burned into EEPROM on a small SBC which also
maintained a medium size lookup table in RAM. It implemented a link from
various PBX systems to the company's outgoing phone connection. The phone
jack side received a translated caller location station that the 9-1-1
Center could use to locate the actual caller behind a medium to large PBX.
A side output in serial fed into a relatively small PC application that
would translate the 9-1-1 directed digits to a similar database on a PC
that would convert the information stored and previously sent to the 9-1-1
system to a small network of computers inside a company and provide the
caller's location and name within the company to persons within the company
that wanted to know who had dialed 9-1-1 or a similar emergency number.
This system worked for PBXs that didn't support the full needs of a
customer. As 9-1-1 evolved companies wanted to know who was calling out
and usually tried to reach the caller before emergency personel arrived.
My last position lasted 12 years before I had to retire due to disability.
It was a rather large SBC about the size of a sheet of paper and ran many
program threads on an embedded linux system. The system is fault tolerant
and meant to work in medium to large building complexes. It was a team
project rather than a one person project like mentioned above.
The concepts in both of these products used the skills you would need to
develop for the small SBCs you seem to be discussing. So even though you
consider making small systems, those can be extended to rather large
systems. So what you are learning on the side or at home can usually help
you find employment suitable to your skills for larger systems too.
My best to all of you creating systems for the future. Do your best and
keep refining your skills. Use a certified college education if you can;
just ignore the onslought of IMHO useless information that may be required
for graduation.
David
-- creating products since early high school