Hi, I am the software designer of Pachyderm Darkroom. (Quaker developed
the hardware.)  Anyway, I just picked up the previous posts and I think
some of Claudio's ideas will be integrated into future releases of the
program if the current package takes off.  Wet side timers have been on
the drawing board for a while, the others will require a lot more
effort to integrate.  We need to try to break even though before we
head in this direction.

J, you mentioned that your computer was crashing looking for DLLs.
Were you refering to Pachyderm?

In the mean time, I am looking for beta testers to help shape the
development of Pachyderm (all levels of skill are welcome).  Please go
to www.pachydermdarkroom.com if you are interested.  We have been
developing this package for about two years and I have been using it my
darkroom for most of that time.  (I sold my Graylab electronic timer on
ebay and I only use Pachyderm now.)

We have tried to make it completely accessible to the average computer
user.  I think it should be as easy to set up and use as printer or any
other plug and play device.  Even if you don't want to be part of the
beta test group I would really appreciate hearing about any comments
you may have.

Thanks,
Jim

Ah, well my Windoze XP-Pro doesn't have the DLL(s) you used, so it fails
when it tries to call them.

    I don't anticipate any hardware IO issues. I have though within
C included assembly language device drivers. So I've some idea what
you are talking about.
    Of  Java I know nothing and years have passed since I've done any
programming. All that at-no-additional-cost program development
software Apple includes won't be going to waste. Dan

Unfortunately, sometimes it wants to run on Guinness.  Damn, it's tough
being Irish. High-octane beer is spendy stuff.

No kidding. I know keeping records about exposure and all is important, but
he can keep all those things in his head? I gotta admit that his memory is
extraordinary if he can keep track of everything he's done in the darkroom
after a few months or even years.

David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Well, "hoax" is a bit too harsh a word: prank is more like it.

And I have to admit they got me, too.

I wrote to MONA and got an amazingly quick response, including this clip
from a newspaper article about the museum and its founder:

===========================================================

Mastermind behind MONA shrewdly takes on Picasso

Taking a playful jab at the 20th-century artist, Jef Bourgeau's exhibit
stands out

by Joy Hakanson Colby for the The Detroit News

(Detroit) - Jef Bourgeau is a one-man museum -- the founder, director,
curator and stable of artists associated with the Museum of New Art (aka
MONA).

Sometimes he exhibits his photographs under the name Stig Eklund. Or, he
paints showy abstractions signed Taki Murakishi. Then, he'll "curate" a
group exhibit featuring Billy Conklin, Kenzu Nagawa, Hanne Bloot and
Missy Wiggins -- all personalities he invented and supplied with
different art styles.

"I get an idea and want to go in a different direction," he explains.
"So I create an artist to do the job."

Bourgeau is playing his latest name game with a 20th-century art giant
-- Pablo Picasso, no less. It took real chutzpah to come up with the
current exhibit called "Picasso's Camera." This risky project is packed
with edgy humor, and it swipes at sacred cows and offers commentary on
art world quirks.

With tongue in cheek, Bourgeau credits a broken lens on Picasso's camera
with inspiring Cubism, a great breakthrough in modern art. To illustrate
this, MONA's head man produced a series of fractured photo portraits
that are wonderfully outrageous.

Or, Picasso is interpreted through Bourgeau's "combines," which are
sculptures made with found objects joined to make a point. For instance,
there's the antique bellows that resembles a Picasso mask. It's attached
by means of a fire hose to a sexy red shoe that recalls the famous one's
reputation as a womanizer.

A video titled "The Mystery of Picasso" keeps flipping nothing but
credits. Another video captures the master's face inside a pet carrier
and calls attention to itself by heavy breathing.

Although Picasso is the centerpiece of the exhibit, Bourgeau included a
few leftover art works from earlier shows. One is the notorious "Bathtub
Jesus," a combine that closed his one-man show at the Detroit Institute
of Arts on its third day in 1999. When the museum was accused of
censorship, it caused a ruckus in the international art community.

With "Picasso's Camera," Bourgeau demonstrates once more why his one-man
museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and is likely to go
for 20. It's a Detroit treasure.

As one last personal note:

Maybe it’s the new year, maybe it’s just the passing of time, but I’m
evaluating people who have touched my life over the years. I must say
that Jef Bourgeau has made a dent in my thinking. I always somehow
mistrust the word “genius” but I think if I were going to use it for an
artist in this place and time, it would be for Bourgeau. I think his
ideas and his philosophy need time to reach people, to seep through the
armor that walls off our brains. I’ve been in turn annoyed, angry,
dazzled, amused, nonplussed, outraged, intimidated, bewildered and a
host of other emotions that his work calls up. All I can say at this
point is…The Picasso show is a wonder.  - Joy Hakanson Colby

http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/

If the Chromegatrol can plug into a regular ole'
GraLab/Time-O-Lite/Beseler timer then the answer is
yes.