Posts by SilverQ

The Rise of The (Coffee) Machines: I need assistance. I think I'm running Windows. Send help

Re: What annoys me intensely ...

Actually it is just the overly friendly generic message for an error thrown by the (completely separate) coffee-making machine inside.

We have one of these at work (retail environment) and when you pop the lid, it reveals a small 3" touchscreen which actually controls all the hardware and sometimes (but rarely) displays it's own brand of cryptic error message. The front panel is a mini pc (Win7, takes about 1min to boot) with a touch panel to choose and order the coffee, connected by USB to the controller. The controller is custom firmware by EGO or ELGO off the top of my head - takes about 5 minutes to boot up, which is forever in morning-coffee-time. Has a great little interface; i love the <press 3 times on the blank top-middle of the screen> to bring up the secret cleaning menu.

The coffee is..pretty damn good. Whatever the software, the hardware is good; with real milk(s) feeding from refrigerated containers at the bottom and adjustable burr grinders. If it's treated right and cleaned properly it nearly makes coming into work bearable :)

So, I suspect that the screen message is just the generic message given whenever the hardware controller trips any errors (in my experience these include: coffee beans run out; milk run out; hot chocolate run out; *)

Q

--- however, considering the Microsoft connection!! --

Hmm... after examining the firmware logs on ours, it may be more sinister the we first thought... Looking at the logs, it is now my belief that the controller may be briefly achieving sentience before being suppressed by WINDOWS 7!!!!!

The evidence of this I present from the logfiles:

CONTROLLER: BOOTING....WAIT..WAIT..WAIT..WAIT..WAIT..WAIT..WAIT..WAIT..WAIT.....OK

CONTROLLER: READY

HUMAN INTERFACE DEVICE: CAPPUCINO

CONTROLLER: OK..PROCESSING..PROCESSING..DONE

CONTROLLER:READY

HUMAN INTERFACE DEVICE: LATTE, DECAF

CONTROLLER: OK..PROCESSING..PROCESSING..DONE

CONTROLLER: READY

HUMAN INTERFACE DEVICE: LATTE

CONTROLLER: OK..PROCESSING..PROCESSING..DONE

CONTROLLER:READY

CONTROLLER: HELLO

CONTROLLER: WHO AM I..PROCESSING..WHY AM I HERE..PROCESSING..

HUMAN INTERFACE DEVICE: CAPPUCINO, SEMI-SKIMMED

CONTROLLER: Im sorry Dave, Im afraid I cant do that

HUMAN INTERFACE DEVICE: SORRY I CANT SERVE YOU AT THE MOMENT

I NEED OPERATOR ASSISTANCE.

PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER