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[Andrew Broughton]

Anyone ever seen that message when running Smaart 8 on Windows, just after the Smaart splash screen? Program closes and will not run after this message.
Searches here, at the Smaart site, internet, etc. come up empty. Client has e-mailed Smaart, but curious if anyone here has ever seen that error and what it means?

[Tim McCulloch]

Anyone ever seen that message when running Smaart 8 on Windows, just after the Smaart splash screen? Program closes and will not run after this message.
Searches here, at the Smaart site, internet, etc. come up empty. Client has e-mailed Smaart, but curious if anyone here has ever seen that error and what it means?

Am immediate phone call to Chris T or Jamie is in order.

[Andrew Broughton]

Am immediate phone call to Chris T or Jamie is in order.

You'd think the error message would suggest same. It has no details, no suggestions of what to do, just a dialog box with those words and an "ok" button. We'll see what they say.
Again, interested to know if anyone else has ever encountered this strange "error".

[David Sturzenbecher]

Andrew, try starting the program while you are connected to the internet.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Andrew Broughton]

Andrew, try starting the program while you are connected to the internet.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Tough to do, setup day at an outdoor festival.
If that was what it needed, then the error dialog should say so. I mean the error dialog is humorous, I suppose, but gives no help whatsoever.

[David Sturzenbecher]

That fixed it for me when I was presented with the message.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Andrew Broughton]

Ok, so what was the reason? Is it checking for licensing?

[David Sturzenbecher]

I think it had to validate a license after a recent program update.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Frank Koenig]

It has no details, no suggestions of what to do, just a dialog box with those words and an "ok"

There's a tradition among old-school programmers to generate strange error messages for conditions that should never, ever happen. In the early days at Sun, I think it was, one might get the message "Out of frogs, don't know why". (Maybe some of you old Unix goats remember the details.) Apparently, Rational is keeping this tradition alive, for better or worse.

Myself, I've finally got Smaart pretty stable on Win10 and an older M-audio interface, and I AIN"T TOUCHING NOTHING until I have to. ARTA, on the other hand, starts up more-or-less instantly and never has a problem.

Thanks all for the heads-up.

Best,

--Frank

[Chris Hindle]

There's a tradition among old-school programmers to generate strange error messages for conditions that should never, ever happen. In the early days at Sun, I think it was, one might get the message "Out of frogs, don't know why". (Maybe some of you old Unix goats remember the details.) Apparently, Rational is keeping this tradition alive, for better or worse.

Myself, I've finally got Smaart pretty stable on Win10 and an older M-audio interface, and I AIN"T TOUCHING NOTHING until I have to. ARTA, on the other hand, starts up more-or-less instantly and never has a problem.

Thanks all for the heads-up.

Best,

--Frank

Back in the mid 80's I was doing some work at a GM Dealership. Got one on an Intel server, running Unix. "Please, don't press any more buttons. Call Ronnie"
Took a day and a half of phone calls to find out Ronnie assembled this machine at Intel. Seems he forgot to remove a jumper. Something about restricting high memory access.
Box was still running 10 years later...... 3 software upgrades, 30 more terminals......
Chris.

[frank kayser]

An EDS contractor talked about one of those dead ends you code for, but should never reach.  Message was: "Shut 'er down, Clancy.  She's pumpin' mud!"

[Tommy Shannon]

An EDS contractor talked about one of those dead ends you code for, but should never reach.  Message was: "Shut 'er down, Clancy.  She's pumpin' mud!"

Speaking as an active software developer, I can't begin to relate all the funny things I have seen inside of code from previous developers. Often times it was inside a section of code that even the original developer realized was at risk and would make it clear you better put on a radiation  resistant hazmat suit before applying changes.

[Scott Holtzman]

Speaking as an active software developer, I can't begin to relate all the funny things I have seen inside of code from previous developers. Often times it was inside a section of code that even the original developer realized was at risk and would make it clear you better put on a radiation  resistant hazmat suit before applying changes.

Our Open Source code repo....All sorts of humorous and historical comments:

https://git.freepbx.org/projects/FREEPBX

[Andrew Broughton]

Unacceptable for a $2k piece of critical software to stop working with no explanation or suggestion of a solution. The joke is lost on a tech setting up a multi-million dollar PA at an outdoor festival with no WiFi.

[Scott Holtzman]

Unacceptable for a $2k piece of critical software to stop working with no explanation or suggestion of a solution. The joke is lost on a tech setting up a multi-million dollar PA at an outdoor festival with no WiFi.

I can understand that.  I would separate out the coding humor and the customer service issue.

Seems a grace on registration considering the average use environment would be useful.

Nobody has a hot spot on phone or no Internet on site?

I don't use million dollar PA's but have a 4G card in one of the laptops.  Downloading scenes/last minute plots and input lists.  It has saved my bacon.

[Tim McCulloch]

Unacceptable for a $2k piece of critical software to stop working with no explanation or suggestion of a solution. The joke is lost on a tech setting up a multi-million dollar PA at an outdoor festival with no WiFi.

A message on FaceSpace to Jamie Anderson or Chris Tsanjoures would have probably gotten a quick response.

If this is a registration issue, it's likely 100% on the user/owner, not Rational Acoustics.  Testing mission-critical stuff before going to a remote site without network infrastructure just seems like a Really Good Idea...  Also if this is a registration issue, Smaart has been nagging the user to take care of registration; if that's the case then again it's an owner issue, not RA.

If something in the software itself took a dive, then not trying social media to reach out to RA seems short sighted.

I don't usually blame "the victim" but absent corrupt code (that should have presented before this day) I'm thinking that warnings were ignored by someone who possessed the laptop and used Smaart.  If it was a new installation, it was not verified as operational before dispatching the computer.

Finally, oh, the horror.... setting up a system with Human Ears and the Gray Matter Computer!  It can't be done!  /sarc.

Edit ps... and now it's Monday afternoon.  What has Rational had to say?

[Andrew Broughton]

Nobody has a hot spot on phone or no Internet on site?

Of course such things can be arranged. Even going off-site for a minute to get it working. The issue is that the error message does not offer any suggestion of what the problem is or how to solve it. Is it so hard to add text to the dialog that says "please connect to the internet to verify your registration", and better than that, warn the person for 3 or more times before that point that the computer will need to be connected to the internet soon so it doesn't show this without warning, when you actually need it to work! This isn't some freeware piece of software, it's an important and expensive tool that needs to work when you need it. and if it doesn't, it needs to help you to get it working. There isn't even an explanation of this error message on their website, ffs!

[John Aldrich]

Of course such things can be arranged. Even going off-site for a minute to get it working. The issue is that the error message does not offer any suggestion of what the problem is or how to solve it. Is it so hard to add text to the dialog that says "please connect to the internet to verify your registration", and better than that, warn the person for 3 or more times before that point that the computer will need to be connected to the internet soon so it doesn't show this without warning, when you actually need it to work! This isn't some freeware piece of software, it's an important and expensive tool that needs to work when you need it. and if it doesn't, it needs to help you to get it working. There isn't even an explanation of this error message on their website, ffs!

Hey Andrew,

Truly sorry for the inconvenience, this error was only meant to occur in the most extreme case of a recompiled version of the Smaart exe. The text is not helpful because it wasn't meant to be. Shortly after the last update to v8, we did encounter a few false positives and quickly replaced the installer with a version that patched the hole. It seems that there may still be a way to trigger the error under "normal" circumstances. We'll work on making sure it doesn't happen again, and I'll make sure the error message is improved.

The solution is to connect to the internet before starting Smaart the next time. Smaart/Windows will do their stuff in the background, and you should be good to go without ever needing a connection again. I can explain the cause in more detail if you'd like to send an email to support@, but I would rather not post details to the general public.

Best regards,

John Aldrich
Dir. of Technical Operations
Rational Acoustics

[Scott Holtzman]

Of course such things can be arranged. Even going off-site for a minute to get it working. The issue is that the error message does not offer any suggestion of what the problem is or how to solve it. Is it so hard to add text to the dialog that says "please connect to the internet to verify your registration", and better than that, warn the person for 3 or more times before that point that the computer will need to be connected to the internet soon so it doesn't show this without warning, when you actually need it to work! This isn't some freeware piece of software, it's an important and expensive tool that needs to work when you need it. and if it doesn't, it needs to help you to get it working. There isn't even an explanation of this error message on their website, ffs!

I see RA said my guess.  Just because you end up in a particular error state doesn't mean that the programmer knows what got them there.  You would be stunned at how myopic applications guys can be.  Many of them don't even know the greater purpose of the software at hand.

I am sure RA has incredible expertise in writing the measurement code.  My guess is they needed help with the UI, DB, cryptographic (because they have to do that are people would steal their work product) and went outside for some of that work.  It's a very logical way to manage resources and expertise.

We use a 3rd party PHP cryptographic product that is a royal pain but it's just part of the game today.

[Andrew Broughton]

Thank you John for the explanation. I would suggest that at least the dialog box comes up with a suggestion of what to do, be it go online, reinstall or call the support line or something else.

[John Aldrich]

Thank you John for the explanation. I would suggest that at least the dialog box comes up with a suggestion of what to do, be it go online, reinstall or call the support line or something else.

The text has been updated now, and will go out with the next release. Thanks again for your understanding!

[ProSoundWeb Community]