Re: "RESET"

On Sat, 24 May 2025 15:34:03 -0700, Don Y
<blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

I don't quite understand the need for "reset" buttons on products.
>
That function is always available by cycling power -- even for devices
where that is difficult for the user (e.g., PoE, BBU, etc.)

Power switches are not real any more. Mo's cable TV hangs up about
once a month and the fix is to unplug it, wait a while, and plug it
back in. Then it reloads its code from somewhere, for about 15
minutes. So she misses the murder.

>
Shouldn't a device be able to get itself out of a "pickle" without
requiring the user to intervene?  Particularly devices that are
intended to "run forever"?
>
I.e., it seems like the presence of a reset button is a tacit admission
that the engineering is "lacking"...

It is.

We are living in the Dark Age of electronics. A bazillion hackers are
designing a zillion cheap products, with basically no discipline.

I wonder if things will ever get better. It would take a really good
OS and some state-machine sort of language that really works. And a
lot of serious reviewing and testing.

And some legally-binding rules about user interfaces. In another
hundrd years maybe.

Hardware is better than software, mostly because it's more expensive
to fix.