Meaningful error messages
Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2026 12:10 pm
Hi, I'm new Fox user happy so far but having a tendency to ask "Why?" and engage in mild episodes of panic.
I respectfully request that Fox consider attaching meaningful and helpful text to error messages on the grounds that:
a) this will make the system appear more friendly to users attempting to make configuration changes,
and
b) reduce the occurrence of user panics,
and
c) reduce the load on the fault ticketing system in instances where no fault has occurred.
I appreciate that there may be concerns regarding limitations on the amount of available ROM space for meaningful error messages and the logic associated with the parsing of the nature of their occurrence and generating the message, but, nonetheless I would like to make a this Feature Request.
As background to this, my latest panic arose due to my perhaps misunderstanding of some of the configuration parameters that the user can set on the system and the resulting downstream effects: such as this error message: "44096-Unsupported function code". Naturally, I went to the forum and asked why this is occurring and whether there is a fault with the system and received the helpful reply from forum member Dave (for which I eternally grateful) - "the 44096 error is an unfriendly way of saying that the scheduler is enabled and that stops you making workmode and soc changes - disable scheduler to change the workmode".
Please note that this wasn't the only instance where I've managed to persuade the system to generate such messages, there are many others. Such as: 44098 Write Failed which occurs if one attempts to change the System Min SOC to anything other than 10%. Here's the why? Why is it listed under Quick Settings as a seemingly user changeable parameter when it isn't such??
I'm reminded of a note I saw attached to a desktop HP42 calculator at RSRE Malvern in the mid '70s: "Diesen machinen ist nicht fur das dumbkopfen mit der fingerpoken" - hence, this dumbkopfen would like to request a more meaningful messages like "This calculator is a sensitive instrument and requires some understanding of how best to use it".
Best reqards,
Derrick.
I respectfully request that Fox consider attaching meaningful and helpful text to error messages on the grounds that:
a) this will make the system appear more friendly to users attempting to make configuration changes,
and
b) reduce the occurrence of user panics,
and
c) reduce the load on the fault ticketing system in instances where no fault has occurred.
I appreciate that there may be concerns regarding limitations on the amount of available ROM space for meaningful error messages and the logic associated with the parsing of the nature of their occurrence and generating the message, but, nonetheless I would like to make a this Feature Request.
As background to this, my latest panic arose due to my perhaps misunderstanding of some of the configuration parameters that the user can set on the system and the resulting downstream effects: such as this error message: "44096-Unsupported function code". Naturally, I went to the forum and asked why this is occurring and whether there is a fault with the system and received the helpful reply from forum member Dave (for which I eternally grateful) - "the 44096 error is an unfriendly way of saying that the scheduler is enabled and that stops you making workmode and soc changes - disable scheduler to change the workmode".
Please note that this wasn't the only instance where I've managed to persuade the system to generate such messages, there are many others. Such as: 44098 Write Failed which occurs if one attempts to change the System Min SOC to anything other than 10%. Here's the why? Why is it listed under Quick Settings as a seemingly user changeable parameter when it isn't such??
I'm reminded of a note I saw attached to a desktop HP42 calculator at RSRE Malvern in the mid '70s: "Diesen machinen ist nicht fur das dumbkopfen mit der fingerpoken" - hence, this dumbkopfen would like to request a more meaningful messages like "This calculator is a sensitive instrument and requires some understanding of how best to use it".
Best reqards,
Derrick.
