The same goes for the other developers.
- Rob, Sim, and Fred developing firmware!
- Fred maintaining EMStudio!
- Ari developing a great loader!
- John developing auto calibration!
- Fred configuring/packaging build tools!
- Andy developing Jaguar hardware!
Even casual use and fiddling is healthy and useful. All of them need testing online/offline win/mac/linux 32/64 bit, etc.
Most importantly, the author NEVER uses the software how the users do, so he will never find some of the issues that you will find when you play with it in unexpected ways.
PLEASE, I'm begging you all, report your issues to all of us as often and as clearly as you can. This goes for both software (of all types), and hardware.
If you own some hardware, load up new firmware regularly and play with it and all of the tools available. Tell us what you find/think!
Also, if at all possible, make yourself available to test on demand for these guys. Right now I carry 99% of the testing load for all four major parts of the FreeEMS puzzle, and that sucks especially because others are more than capable of helping in that area.
Feel free to pester the authors for documentation on how to use each component too.
In summary, dig in and help out. If you've got something wired to a car, please help. Your silence slows the entire project down if you don't.
Fred.