I just watched the new video made by our own Andy Johnson Laird made called A Rather Good (Beginner's) Guide to MK Tool. I think the video is extremely thorough and it will be helpful to many people. I want to start off by saying that I have a lot of experience with instructional video's and I think this video is very well done. So I’m going to give my perspective as an editor and as a copter enthusiast. The audio is very clear and has good volume. Video is crisp and sharp and everything appears to be white balanced correctly. Lighting on the closeups could a tad better but would require much more of a production and I don't know if anyone that doesn't do video production would notice. I think there might be just a tad too much terminology thats not necessarily needed. I don't think that people don’t need to know what serial and buss are. I would have preferred that the info would have gone a little more advanced by this is a beginners guide. People that are building and using these copters have to have some what of information technology and computer technology knowledge. I know this is a beginners guide and I'm just nick picking a little here. I also feel its not necessary to go into how to get into device manager for every operating system. If someone can't get to their device manager I don't think they should be operating this equipment. Just my thoughts and my opinion and I have to nit pick a little now don't I? Screen shots are very clear, very useful, very helpful. I really like how the screen is zoomed in and out and highlighted the text. I've used a program called screen flow and this looks very similar to that. I think the overall quality of the video is good for standard definition. I think there was a good explanation of how to install drivers and install communication software. Very thorough which is lacking in some of the video’s I’ve seen on the net. Some of the information is repetitive from the first video installment (A rather good guide – Cinestar installation video) but I am assuming the purpose is to make the video’s modular so that people don’t have to buy every video to get the information. I don’t know if its necessary to spend so much time on hyper terminal. There was a considerable amount of time spent on it on it and it was hard for me to watch that part all the way through. Hyper terminal is only used as a test when first using it, and even then it’s not necessary. I would think its more of a test if you are troubleshooting the serial connection if it doesn’t work. I would prefer more time be spent on the technical stuff I need to know about such as GPXtools and way points. Just from my personal selfish perspective as I really want more info on these subjects. I like the graphics and explanation for the intro to microkopter boards and circuits. I wish I had this info was available when I was first getting introduced to the Microkopter electronics. This will be very helpful to newcomers. I like the reference for GPS tool error codes and there is good information about removing certain parameters such as GPS data, SPI error, SPI ok, i2C okay, IC2 error. There is good information about copter balancing which I also found very interesting and I didn’t know about these functions in MKtools. Although I think its really a bit long, I think the section to upgrade the firmware for the boards is really needed because I think this is really the place for this information even though its in the build series. I’m really looking forward to the next part of the series on GPX tools and hopefully there will be more information about way point flying. I think Andy would be very thorough in that subject matter.
Andy does a great job all around. I personally feel that you can't have too much information on these machines. I would also like to echo Dave's comments on an advanced installment. Andy I believe you are working on another video, or at least I thought you mentioned it in one of your threads. Can we get any updated information such as subject matter and perhaps an ETA on when it will be available?
@Steve: Right now I'm working on A Rather Good (Beginner's) Guide™ for MK_GPXTOOL and Google Earth. The DVDs (I suspect it will be a two DVD set), will cover GPX files, what they are, how to read'em, MK_GPXTOOL and how to analyze GPX files, and Google Earth as it applies to displaying 3D traces of flights superimposed over Google Earth scenery. My goal is to get this DVD completed by the end of March. What's threatening that goal is the new version of MK firmware changes the sequence of markup tags ("the stuff") in the GPX file and Franco Sapin (the author of MK_GPXTOOL) is having to adapt the program. Im hoping that Franco's not going to change the basic features in MK_GPXTOOL as well, otherwise the DVD will be out-of-date before it's even finished. However, I've not been able to re-establish email contact with Franco to confirm that the new version of MK_GPXTOOL will only upgrade the ability to read the GPX files with resequenced tags so I'm somewhat dead in the water, right now. @Dave: Thanks for the kind words. I accept your criticisms too. I found it very hard to "pitch" the information at a beginner without making inappropriate assumptions as to what such a beginner might know. Just based on my personal experience, there are many folks coming to the field of copters who do not understand computers. One of the most frequently occurring questions asked is: What's a COM Port? When you think about it, for a person steeped in film, videography, and production, that's an exceedingly valid question. Followed shortly by, "What's a Virtual COM Port Driver that converts a USB port into a Serial port?" or "What on earth do you mean that I should double check the I2C bus to see if the FC, NC, GPS, and PDB/BL-Ctrls are OK?" So: Guilty as charged, when it comes to pitching this down at the beginner. I thought a lot over how long to make the Hyperterminal sequence. My reasoning was to put all the knowledge in that a neophyte would need. Folks with more knowledge can use fast forward to skip stuff, but the neophyte has no such option to request more detail. Also, when you look at all the problems people have getting PC to connect to MK boards or Radian software to connect to sensors, you can see that one of the more troublesome areas is Windows -> Adapter -> Board or Sensor. With Hyperterminal you can at least be sure that the data is leaving the computer, looping around and coming back. Of course, Microsoft, in it's wisdom removed Hyperterminal from Windows 7 and 8 so I had to deal with downloading it and installing it. But, bottom line, I agree with you. The Hyperterminal section is too long. But as Mark Twain/Sam Clemens wrote (when he sent a friend a lengthy letter), I didn't have time to write a shorter one. Anyway, let's hope people find the DVD useful! Regards Andy
Hi Andy I hope everyone understands that these are not criticisms by any means (far from it actually) simply my outloud ramblings!!!!! ON a scale of 1 to 10 I give this video a 9.5!!!!! It will definitely help everyone regardless of their technical knowledge or experience level. I found many new nuggets that I didn't know. There's no arguing that you are extremely thorough!!! This is a quality that lacks in many instructional videos!!! Great job.
Thanks, Dave. I'll be interested in any other comments people have once the DVD is available from QC -- which should be first week of March unless the Gods of Replication decide otherwise. Andy.
Is the DVD avaliable anywhere but from QC? They want $50 just to post the DVD to Aus and when I purchased the last DVD from them the discs had fallen out the case and got badly scratched but QC never responded to my emails. Could a digital download be an option?
Hi Sam: QC is the only supply source. What you might do, when/if you order, is to ask them to open the shrinkwrap and put a chunk of foam into the case so that it holds the DVDs in place. I'm looking at download/Amazon/iTunes style options, but for the moment it's just the DVDs. Sorry about that. Andy.