AutoScan mystery solved. Fix available for floppy access.

[dsm]

Buying AutoScan 5.7 and fixing the 'clack' in the older 5.4 etc: versions:
===================================================

Today after a new member asked about AutoScan software for an S8 Elite, the new member asked how they could obtain a copy of the Software.

SnoreDog had posted several times in past weeks in many separate posts, Words to the effect that Resmed had stopped selling it to the public. I
like a lot of others assumed he was stating a fact.

But that actually made no sense to me and I have recently had good reason to completely distrust anything SnoreDog says about AutoScan software so today I googled 'AutoScan Resmed Cpap' in Google Australia & the 1st online seller to pop up was the one I got on the phone to. This was the 1st & only one I needed to call.

Me: Do you sell AutoScan 5.7 ?
He: Yes.

Me: How much is it ?, (I had seen it in the US for prices like $US215).
He: said he would get the Resmed price book.
He: $115 (About $100US).

Me: Is that the full price ?
He: Yes but I need to confirm with Resmed if that includes GST (tax) as unlike the cpap gear this item is listed as being taxed.

Me: Has Resmed been restricting sales of this ?
He: No!.

Me: Do you know if they intend to ?
He: No!.

Me: Can anyone buy this off you ?
He: Yes (as far as he was concerned).

Me: What about if people from the US wanted to buy it ?
He: No problem that he could see.

So I ordered a copy of 5.7 (I have 5.4).

We then discussed the various softwares available & both agreed they were all pretty poor. I mentioned to him how people I knew in the US were annoyed at the software 'clacking' the Diskette drive.

Ha! was his reply there was a fix released last year for that !. I'll send you a copy.

He did indeed send me a copy and it works as I just installed it & whilst the floppy did one set of clacks it stopped after that & was quiet from then on.

***********************************************************

The cause:

He then explained to me why the older versions did this.
# Someone with 5.7 said that their install still 'claked' so I have removed my comment he this dealer passed to me that 5.7 doesn't do this.

When you start AutoScan up, the 1st thing you see is a small window called the RESLINK READER. This module goes looking for any attached Reslink unit. It seems the the older Reslinks could have a floppy drive attached. The newer ones have a data card.

So AutoScan was merely hunting around the computer looking for any attached data drives on Reslink modules.

The crws.exe module is a reader module that does the looking.

The fix is a small 15k module that one places in the C:\ drive of the computer & this instructs AutoScan to stop looking for a Reslink Module Floppy.


********************************************************
If anyone wants this 17kb module. Pls PM me. I will pass it on to
whoever asks (even SnoreDog). I am interested to see if it was as
big an issue as some claimed it was.
********************************************************


While having so much success with this issue, I asked him how he had been impacted by Resmed's new pricing policies, What follows is what he said to me. It may be right it may be just his perceptions but I am sure it must be pretty close to Johnny Goodman's views (Johnny, any comments ?) ...

He: He said that up until last year he had been selling lots of Resmed gear but at discounted prices because he had to to compete. He didn't get big discounts because he only soldcomparativelyy small quantities.

He now said he can't sell any Resmed gear unless the customer actually comes and looks at it which of course ended the bulk of his Internet sales.

Me: Why did they do this I asked him ?.

He: Because they sell the bulk of their gear to large Chemist chains and Clinics who get massive discounts but want the customers to come to them as that helps sell their other lines and gives them opportunities to charge for every little change they might have to make. They don't want us (online dealers) bypassing their walk-in business opportunity. He said he believed it was Resmed kow-towing to the bulk buying groups.

Me: I asked him what Resmed were like to deal with ?

He: Like any large successful company who thinks they are top of the heap

I asked him if he believed it was Resmed who had initiated the price changes and selling rules. He said he was certain it was the large buying groups (what you in the US call 'Bricks & Mortar DMEs)


Cheers

DSM

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): resmed, CPAP

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): resmed, CPAP

[dsm]

To those who have requested a copy already. Pls can you add a post saying if it worked or not, else, PM me with your results.

Tks

D

[Wulfman]

Doug,

I'm going to come to Snoredog's defense here.
It was posted here (by Johnny) and in the CPAP.COM newsletter that the software would not be available ("no longer allow") for purchase after Sept. 30th.
Please read item number 3.

Den



https://www.cpap.com/DisplayNewsletter/25


Resmed Policies Will Soon Affect CPAP Internet Buyers and Providers

We are compelled to inform you that effective October 1st, Resmed will impose new dealer limitations which will have a profound affect on all those who may be interested in buying Resmed products online. Here are the main points:

1. Resmed has chosen to grant only certain Internet CPAP providers permission to sell their products over the Internet. All other existing Internet providers will no longer be able to buy Resmed products.

2. Resmed is imposing price controls on all of their masks, humidifiers and machines sold over the Internet. This results in price increases for the consumer of 40% to 45% on average and in some cases much more. These price increases do not effect traditional "Brick and Mortar" CPAP providers.

3. Resmed will no longer allow the sale of their software products over the Internet.

Resmed has publicly stated that they are actively working to depress the sales of their products through Internet retailers. We advise anyone wanting to buy Resmed products from an Internet retailer to complete their purchases no later than Saturday, September 30, 2006. CPAP.com will offer Resmed products in October consistent with Resmed policies. Resmed pricing will be much higher and inconsistent with market forces and competitor's offerings.

After speaking with other manufacturers at the Medtrade Convention in Atlanta, it is clear that most are committed to building relationships with all CPAP patients and providers. We think that is the best way forward.

[Guest]

I am so pleased he checked before his repeated posts on the issue here.
(plus his colorful language in pasts exchanges for which he never appologised).

SnoreDog may be able to wiggle partly out of that one issue, but he still has an awful lot of explaining and appologising to do.

Thanks for that info.

Cheers DSM.

[Snoredog]

I'm not apologizing to you for anything DSM you are POS and a low life in my book.

[Fletch]

I have 5.7 and mine still clatters. If you send me the patch I can place it somewhere and make a link available for download.

I can see why Resmed would not want this software in the hands of general users, it is extremely poorly designed and if you had to support a large number of users, even peripherally, you would have problems.

Interestingly ACS, the folks that make the card readers, have various tools and development resources on their site, you have to wonder how hard it would be to just write a read/display application for the resscan cards.

[Arizona-Willie]

The declacker files seems to work just fine. Autoscan clacks the drive once when you first start it, then shuts up.

I wonder how it works. Hope it doesn't phone home with my bank balance and credit card numbers

[dsm]

The dealer I spoke to said he considered Silverlining software (the Puritan Bennet software for Pb420x) the best of all.

His criticism of AutoScan was that it only kept 5 or so days of data active before you lost the detail & thus in order to keep a long record yu must save the data from the machine at least every 5 days.

He believe it worked that way (this was his opinion) so that users had to keep going in to the DMe/RT to get the data downloaded & thus was yet another way thos folk could charge the users.

I am looking into the possibility of developing an 'open source' program capable of reading the data from Resmed machines (& possibly Respironics ones later) and presenting the data in a variety of ways that we users want (& not what DMEs neccesarily want).

To do this would need a few (about 2-3 ) interested & capable software developers to work on the project.

I am presently looking at anarchitecture for such a program. I need to choose a database (probably MySql) a language (I prefer to do it with Ruby)
and want to include a set of plug-in modules such that data can be read in from a variety of brands & devices (Resmed Respironics and PB) PLUS PO device (Nellcoe & Ohmeda etc:)

This would make the program universal and provide a common base for enhancements and also being open source, and released under the GPL licence, means anyone can take the source code & add their own enhancements providing they pass theie mods on to others.

I am interested in discussing the desgin I have in mind.

DSM

[dsm]

To Snoredog,

The point I have repeatedly made to you is to keep off the AutoScan ( & Resmed machine) attacks when you can't back them up with good advice or facts, as when you get on those topics it brings out the worst in you and are counter to the site philosophy of helping others.

My only other request to you is to stop posting attacks on other members here using your characteristic aliases and guest handles. That is plain cowardly but seems to be part of your cpaptalk repetoire.

Finally,

When you provide good advice here (and on Respironics machines you seem to be very competant and knowledgeable) your contributions are of the highest order. Why drag yourself down by allowing an emotional bias against another set of products get in the way of your obvious talent for helping people.

Cheers

DSM

[Snoredog]

[quote="dsm"]To Snoredog,

The point I have repeatedly made to you is to keep off the AutoScan ( & Resmed machine) attacks when you can't back them up with good advice or facts, as when you get on those topics it brings out the worst in you and are counter to the site philosophy of helping others.

My only other request to you is to stop posting attacks on other members here using your characteristic aliases and guest handles. That is plain cowardly but seems to be part of your cpaptalk repetoire.

Finally,

When you provide good advice here (and on Respironics machines you seem to be very competant and knowledgeable) your contributions are of the highest order. Why drag yourself down by allowing an emotional bias against another set of products get in the way of your obvious talent for helping people.

Cheers

DSM

[Guest]

I can see why Resmed would not want this software in the hands of general users, it is extremely poorly designed and if you had to support a large number of users, even peripherally, you would have problems.

At the risk of being accused of making Autoscan attacks, I'll weigh in with my opinion on this subject. I agree with Fletch with regards to the Autoscan software. It is poorly designed and the worst of the three I have tried. I found the Respironics Encore Pro and Puritan Bennett Silverlining to be superior. If someone were deciding on a machine based on the design of the applicable software, I'd recommend avoiding Resmed's Autoscan product.
Now that Resmed prohibits the sale of their software via the internet, this issue becomes a moot point. We will have to recommend avoiding Resmed machines altogether for any user interested in monitoring their results, because they are now unable to obtain the software to analyze and verify efficacious treatment. I fail to see the wisdom of this move on the part of Resmed, other than placating their large DME clientele. Apparently the resultant reduction in internet purchases pursuant to their new policy is of little consequence to them.

-Roger

[dsm]

No one is arguing that AutoScan it is the best software. And to keep repeating it can't be obtained is not true. I made 1 phone call to the 1st dealer I found here & he sold me a copy. Lets stick to facts and stop repeating the fiction.

And for Snoredog, you claim this set of posts was just you being nice/normal?
viewtopic/t14186/autoscan-57.html
- that would be like saying the pope is a muslim

You conveniently distort the exchange. That appears to be typically you.

Time to move on

DSM

[Guest]

No one is arguing that AutoScan it is the best software. And to keep repeating it can't be obtained is not true. I made 1 phone call to the 1st dealer I found here & he sold me a copy. Lets stick to facts and stop repeating the fiction.

This is great news! Dsm, what is the public web address of the provider who is selling Resmed software over the internet?

[dsm]

PM me

Cheers

DSM

[Guest]

This is great news! Dsm, what is the public web address of the provider who is selling Resmed software over the internet?

PM me

PM you? Resmed says they won't sell software via the internet. You say this is not true and you have a legitimate web address where we can obtain Resmed software, but you refuse to share this information publicly. Is there something illegal about it? Will you or the internet provider be in trouble? Have you decided you should control which people to have the ability to get the software? Why?