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Thread: Buy LD2000 or wait for LD2000000?

  1. #1
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    Default Buy LD2000 or wait for LD2000000?

    I have been thinking of buying an LD2000 intro system but then i read this

    http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...3&postcount=44

    and was wondering if i should wait and see what comes out of the caves of central florida or should i just be impatient and buy LD2000 now like i really want to

    its a pretty huge investment and i dont want to feel like those people that got an iphone only to see it go down in price like a week later lol

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by flecom View Post
    I have been thinking of buying an LD2000 intro system but then i read this

    http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...3&postcount=44

    and was wondering if i should wait and see what comes out of the caves of central florida or should i just be impatient and buy LD2000 now like i really want to

    its a pretty huge investment and i dont want to feel like those people that got an iphone only to see it go down in price like a week later lol
    Nah, buy it now and have fun

    Besides, most upgrades to Pangolin software are free, admittedly the newest 'gizmo's' tend to appear in the 'pro' version of the software first, but they gradually make their way down to the basic and intro versions.

    You won't for one minute regret your decision to go down the Pangolin route. It took me a while to decide and I've never looked back since - Go on, you know you want to

    Jem
    Quote: "There is a theory which states that if ever, for any reason, anyone discovers what exactly the Universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another that states that this has already happened.”... Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001

  3. #3
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    Smile

    I don't think you need to worry about losing money if you buy an LD-2000 system today. Even if the new Pangolin product were released tomorrow, the QM-2000 controller is still an *awesome* piece of hardware, and will continue to be so for a very long time to come.

    Consider that the older ISA-based QM-32 boards are *still* being bought and sold on the used market. In fact, there are several laser show companies that are still using these old boards in their commercial productions. This is a board that is well over a decade old, and it's still very powerful and very useful.

    Bottom line: buy the LD-2000 now and start enjoying it. You'll be glad you did. (I've never met *anyone* that's experienced buyer's remorse after buying a Pangolin product.)

    Then again, you were planning to attend FLEM Mark II on March 1st in Orlando, right? You'll be able to see several QM-2000's in operation there, and also talk with Bill Benner about the new Pangolin product. (I don't think it's even going to be released until the summer of 2008, if not later, but you can ask him about your concerns over obsolescence of the QM-2000 once the new product is released.)

    Adam
    Last edited by buffo; 01-28-2008 at 04:52.

  4. #4
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    awesome, sounds good... oh well i guess its time to take the plunge

    if there is a new version of LD2000 i would like it to be named "LD2001... a photon odyssey" lol

  5. #5
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    Default

    Hi Flecom,

    Great question.

    First, although I alluded to coming out with something new, I didn't say that it would NOT be available for the LD2000 platform, did I? What I did say is that we tend to think 5 to 10 years down the road while developing software and hardware, and build-in hooks where we will need them in the future. For one example, we started working on PASS a full 10 years ago, in various areas, including R&D and regulatory aspects.

    Second, in fact we are developing a new software platform, but, for the most part, this is our own internal decision to get away from Microsoft programming tools.

    Microsoft has repeatedly "done us wrong", by making newer versions of their tools incompatible with older versions. For example, VB.NET is grossly incompatible with VB6. Also, even the latest version of VC has floating point consistency modes which are nothing like the old behavior -- and no compatibility mode. So, in other words, core software that was working fine for the past literally 20 years, and has compiled fine on all Microsoft compilers since the days of DOS, must now be re-written, just because some junior developer at Microsoft got a wild hair up their ass...

    Not to mention what's known as "DLL Hell" whereby, in addition to our single EXE, we must distribute fricken 15 other pieces of software, written by Microsoft and other companies, and if there is a conflict on your computer, well, there are phone calls to Pangolin that result.

    I don't want to sound too negative here, and as people will tell you, we have this all pretty well worked out, and, for the most part, nobody has problems. But the reason nobody has problems is because we spend fricken months testing, debugging, and managing the install to prevent "DLL Hell".

    But, we can do all of this work... or we can simply compile in Delphi. Delphi allows us to develop a single EXE that has all of the components built right into it. So, we distribute a single EXE file, that magically makes all of the other files if it needs to, including database files, other support files, etc. Much easier for us to develop and distribute, and much easier for our users.

    We have been using Delphi since around 2002 on some of our programs, including LC-Flash, LivePRO, VST and our SMS software. So now we are making a move to re-code the drawing and timeline applications. In the process, we are making improvements and adding some new ideas.

    Anyway, enough ranting . Rest assured that, as always, Pangolin customers' investments are safe and sound. Anything new we are developing will work on both the QM2000 and FB3 hardware platforms.

    And no, we aren't raising prices on any new developments. In many cases, people get the new stuff for free. In fact, LD2000 version 4.50 is days from release, and LD2000 version 5.0 is coming shortly after that. Both of these will be free updates available on our web site for download.

    Best regards,

    William Benner

  6. #6
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    In fact, LD2000 version 4.50 is days from release, and LD2000 version 5.0 is coming shortly after that.
    Sweeeeeeeet!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pangolin View Post
    just because some junior developer at Microsoft got a wild hair up their ass...
    haha... please, tell me how you really feel

    well thats great to hear that you have managed to port over most of your applications to the development in delphi, should make your applications more efficient also not having to rely so much on 3rd pary tools/applications etc...

    but its still good to know that i dont really have to worry about sinking so much money into my hardware/software

  8. #8
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    well i went to orlando for the orlando hamcation... and i took the opportunity to visit pangolin... like an idiot i forgot to take any photos even though i had the camera in my pocket >_<

    but ya i enjoyed my tour very much and bought my LD2000 intro system and LC Flash and i cant wait to start playing with it



    now to finish my projector lol

  9. #9
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    Lightbulb

    Welcome to the club!
    Love, peace, and grease,

    allthat... aka: aaron@pangolin

  10. #10
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    Good Man... You'll definately NOT be disappointed, it's a brilliant piece of kit

    Jem
    Quote: "There is a theory which states that if ever, for any reason, anyone discovers what exactly the Universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another that states that this has already happened.”... Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001

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