Broke Student asking for some help

[tsakitsan]

Hello guys and thanks for taking time to read my post.

I had a project with my university of controlling and creating a sequence of movements on a stepper motor. After playing for about 3 months with labview and lifa I manages to do it and it works with a few bugs (sometimes the motor runs backwards instead of forwards.

I found very useful the application builder and all of the mathematical tools. Now a customer approached me and asked me to do a motion profile for his stepper motor and he will pay me some money while he will use it at his work site. Although I know I can do the program with the student version.. which expires soon I know that I am not allowed to distribute the program and of course get paid for it.

That's why I am asking for your help, can anyone sell me his professional version of labview that he does not want anymore, as I do not have 1,200$ to spend? Or can I pay a developer 10-20 dollards to produce me my program so that I am covered.. Guys, any guidance would be helpful.

Thanks in advance

[altenbach]

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@tsakitsan wrote:

... and it works with a few bugs (sometimes the motor runs backwards instead of forwards.

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As a first step you should fix all the bugs in your own program. A professional quality program does not have bugs like that. Is the customer aware that your code is bad?

See if the customer already has a LabVIEW license.

[mcduff]

Why don't you include the price of LabVIEW in your quote to your customer?

mcduff

[tsakitsan]

For his motion control program the bugs do not apply. The "reversing Bug" occurs when multiple event structure fire on after the other. In his case he needs a simple motion application. No bugs.

I just saw that the labview professional is £4500?? I thought it was £1300. I am totally destroyed.

If I quote the customer £1300 or even £4500 for a simple program like that, he will laugh so hard, that even you, will hear him. Guys let me know my options as I am on the point of leaving this thing altogether. I spoke to a chap from customer support as well he told me to become an apprentice in NI but I live in UK and not interested in starting an apprenticeship only to get a program..

[tsakitsan]

He doesn't have a labview licence neither he knows what labview is.

[jwscs]

then you could earn your first money by explaining it to him 😉

otherwise he wouldn't understand why you would need a labview license anyways.

EDIT:

also if you want to take the job, and the problem is quite simple,
you may want to change the programming language,

or is there something specific that binds you to labview?

[tsakitsan]

I would be more than happy to explain him, but that wouldn't get me to get £4500..

If anyone is willing to sell his licence or just take my .vi produce it with his licence and send it to me that would be a short term solution. Can I send my program to NI and ask them to see if they like it and whether they could offer me anything?

What binds me with labview except that I already invested a lot of hours on it and it works. Is that I have created a GUI that works the way I want, the program connects with my arduino which I know how to troubeshoot and Labview is the first language I know (amateur level ofcourse)..

[wiebe@CARYA]

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@tsakitsan wrote:

If I quote the customer £1300 or even £4500 for a simple program like that, he will laugh so hard, that even you, will hear him. 

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You'd be surprised. I remember that sentiment from when I started. People actually willing to pay 10k for something I made? Yes, it's worth it.

And I would approach it as a take it or leave it deal. I understand that you actually want to do it, but don't sell yourself short. You're fulfilling their need, it's not like they financing your hobby.

As for a technical note... You won't get away with a one time build. I can almost guarantee you'll need at least a second build... I'm still working with my first customer, after 15 years.

There is one way to actually only need one build.

Spoiler

Build an application that does nothing (one VI). When installed, the executable will let you drop any VI on it, and it will be executed! But it will be tricky, the distribution will need to include everything. VI Lib VI's won't automatically end up in your source. You might get away with a source distribution, and your problem will be solved. Make a shortcut that starts the exe with the VI as argument, and nobody might notice.

Or spend a bit more time on a simple exe that starts a VI from a given path. That way the exe does the work...

Not pretty, not convenient, but it will work.

[billko]

Hacking together unreliable code on the side, for money, sounds like an excellent opportunity to become extremely familiar with your country's legal system.

[tsakitsan]

Thank you for your kind comments guys. I will take them into consideration.

If I have no luck with a used licence from someone I will just leave it, I don't sell my self short but getting £4500 its just crazy. 

Where did the discounted price go?