I'm wondering if there are any shops professionally tuning using Ostrich, I'm looking to contact them for a genuine discussion about the pro's and con's vs. DSMlink.
Like already mentioned you would be trying to compare Jackal/Werewolf v. DSMLink V2/V3. I've been a professional Link tuner since '05, so it's very possible my opinion is slightly bias. I will, however, try not to come across this way. Let me start off by saying I have only tuned 1 DSM on Jackal/Ostrich and I've never used the Werewolf software.
I'll start off with something i read in this thread.
personally i have tuned with dsm link on some friends 2gs and it sux, IMO....
it is confusing and you can't really do much as far as tuning in the idle and light throttle areas, only WOT is where you can make adjustment to your fuel and timing, i know there is a direct access, but i didn't go into that to see what all i could adjust....
This is a very uneducated statement. By not going into the Direct Access portion you basically were working with the very basic V2 DSMLink. The Direct Access portion has all of the timing/fuel maps, idle control using coolant enrichment tables, full isc control based on coolant temps, base tip in TPS adj and a few more very key tables as well. I didn't see anything in Jackal that couldn't be done in V3 Link. They share many of the same tables because those are what we need to tune.
Another thing I noticed is with the fuel injector sizing. With DSMLink you enter the % increase in injector flow and the deadtime in microseconds and you're done. I was using 850cc FIC injectors on the last car I tuned with Jackal and for the car to run correctly I had to input 605cc injectors with a deadtime increase of 900us over the stock values. The car runs perfectly like this, but why the huge deadtime and 250cc decrease in injector flow? I don't have the answer to this.
Logging works well in both. Slightly easier and more user friendly in Link with customizable line colors, thickness, preferences, etc. The white background in Jackal makes it difficult to see certain colors. I'm not sure if this is user-changeable or not. To review the log/data in both is pretty similar as well. You can record and scroll back using the graphing data or review it in spreadsheet form which can help tuning go a little quicker in most instances.
I don't have much time right now, but I will say that Jackal did the job converting from a MAF to SD on the 1g in my garage, but it did take me a little longer than I expected. That could be because this is the first time I've used it as well.
Don't bash another product until you are 100% on all of it's functions. I heard good things about Jackal/Ostrich which is why I wanted to tune this 1g. It works quite well. Some things work differently than in Link, but that doesn't mean they don't work. It's a nice product and I'll hopefully be the local Jackal/Werewolf tuner, so I can get more knowledge of the software.
