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#41
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Kevin McMurtrie" wrote in message ... In article et, Randy Yates wrote: BOB URZ wrote: Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The problem is that modern digital circuits are too hard to use because the chips have dozens or even hundreds of pins. Invent a serial interface for modular digital components that a hobyist can use. Design processor units, RAM banks, and I/O adaptors that connect with a single multi-wire cable. Microchip PICs and similar devices |
#42
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Kevin McMurtrie" wrote in message ... In article et, Randy Yates wrote: BOB URZ wrote: Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The problem is that modern digital circuits are too hard to use because the chips have dozens or even hundreds of pins. Invent a serial interface for modular digital components that a hobyist can use. Design processor units, RAM banks, and I/O adaptors that connect with a single multi-wire cable. Microchip PICs and similar devices |
#43
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Kevin McMurtrie" wrote in message ... In article et, Randy Yates wrote: BOB URZ wrote: Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The problem is that modern digital circuits are too hard to use because the chips have dozens or even hundreds of pins. Invent a serial interface for modular digital components that a hobyist can use. Design processor units, RAM banks, and I/O adaptors that connect with a single multi-wire cable. Microchip PICs and similar devices |
#44
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"BOB URZ" wrote in message ... Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Bob -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- one trouble with electronics is that to be interesting to tinkerers, you have to have some magic, in the 80s mass market cheap electronics hit the market and the magic faded, everybody and their dog now has satellite TV, CD, DVD, and atomic watches. now that its not worth bothering to build 'gadget X' much cheaper and easier to just go buy it. and no status to build weird stuff, when the person next door with money has better goodies. in the UK in 80s the electronics scene died quite a bit with the entery of the 8 bit micros. kids had complex fun things to play with, and dint need to get their hands dirty either. regards malcolm -- ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ LED Headlamps and Sea Fishing UK http://www.geocities.com/malc_hurn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seafishinguk ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ |
#45
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"BOB URZ" wrote in message ... Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Bob -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- one trouble with electronics is that to be interesting to tinkerers, you have to have some magic, in the 80s mass market cheap electronics hit the market and the magic faded, everybody and their dog now has satellite TV, CD, DVD, and atomic watches. now that its not worth bothering to build 'gadget X' much cheaper and easier to just go buy it. and no status to build weird stuff, when the person next door with money has better goodies. in the UK in 80s the electronics scene died quite a bit with the entery of the 8 bit micros. kids had complex fun things to play with, and dint need to get their hands dirty either. regards malcolm -- ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ LED Headlamps and Sea Fishing UK http://www.geocities.com/malc_hurn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seafishinguk ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ |
#46
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"BOB URZ" wrote in message ... Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Bob -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- one trouble with electronics is that to be interesting to tinkerers, you have to have some magic, in the 80s mass market cheap electronics hit the market and the magic faded, everybody and their dog now has satellite TV, CD, DVD, and atomic watches. now that its not worth bothering to build 'gadget X' much cheaper and easier to just go buy it. and no status to build weird stuff, when the person next door with money has better goodies. in the UK in 80s the electronics scene died quite a bit with the entery of the 8 bit micros. kids had complex fun things to play with, and dint need to get their hands dirty either. regards malcolm -- ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ LED Headlamps and Sea Fishing UK http://www.geocities.com/malc_hurn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seafishinguk ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ |
#47
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Electronics/radios shack/future
Kevin,
Maybe I'm missing something here, but several years ago, I believe it was HP that showed (at Las Vegas Comdex) a desktop computer with no motherboard. RAM, CPU, disk drives and everything else were strung out along the length of the table, all connected by FireWire. Benchmark speeds were competitive with the average computers seen that year. This was not a commercial offering, but an exercise (demo) with FireWire. Is that about what you had in mind? Cheers, Red -- ************************* Replies will bounce, unless you remove the letter A from my email address. Kevin McMurtrie wrote: Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The problem is that modern digital circuits are too hard to use because the chips have dozens or even hundreds of pins. Invent a serial interface for modular digital components that a hobyist can use. Design processor units, RAM banks, and I/O adaptors that connect with a single multi-wire cable. |
#48
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Electronics/radios shack/future
Kevin,
Maybe I'm missing something here, but several years ago, I believe it was HP that showed (at Las Vegas Comdex) a desktop computer with no motherboard. RAM, CPU, disk drives and everything else were strung out along the length of the table, all connected by FireWire. Benchmark speeds were competitive with the average computers seen that year. This was not a commercial offering, but an exercise (demo) with FireWire. Is that about what you had in mind? Cheers, Red -- ************************* Replies will bounce, unless you remove the letter A from my email address. Kevin McMurtrie wrote: Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The problem is that modern digital circuits are too hard to use because the chips have dozens or even hundreds of pins. Invent a serial interface for modular digital components that a hobyist can use. Design processor units, RAM banks, and I/O adaptors that connect with a single multi-wire cable. |
#49
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Electronics/radios shack/future
Kevin,
Maybe I'm missing something here, but several years ago, I believe it was HP that showed (at Las Vegas Comdex) a desktop computer with no motherboard. RAM, CPU, disk drives and everything else were strung out along the length of the table, all connected by FireWire. Benchmark speeds were competitive with the average computers seen that year. This was not a commercial offering, but an exercise (demo) with FireWire. Is that about what you had in mind? Cheers, Red -- ************************* Replies will bounce, unless you remove the letter A from my email address. Kevin McMurtrie wrote: Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The problem is that modern digital circuits are too hard to use because the chips have dozens or even hundreds of pins. Invent a serial interface for modular digital components that a hobyist can use. Design processor units, RAM banks, and I/O adaptors that connect with a single multi-wire cable. |
#50
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Randy Yates" wrote in message
nk.net BOB URZ wrote: Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The article does not include the fact that quick & easy mail order from places like Digi-Key and Mouser makes the parts stash that used to be at RS, a lot less important. Just guessing, but it looks to me like Digi-Key and Mouser's web site are hauling a lot of the proverbial mail for them, and they are far from the only fish in the Internet sea. Sort of what places like Amazon are doing to the corner music and book store. |
#51
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Randy Yates" wrote in message
nk.net BOB URZ wrote: Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The article does not include the fact that quick & easy mail order from places like Digi-Key and Mouser makes the parts stash that used to be at RS, a lot less important. Just guessing, but it looks to me like Digi-Key and Mouser's web site are hauling a lot of the proverbial mail for them, and they are far from the only fish in the Internet sea. Sort of what places like Amazon are doing to the corner music and book store. |
#52
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Randy Yates" wrote in message
nk.net BOB URZ wrote: Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Hey Bob, Thanks for posting this reference. I am on-board 200 percent with their views. What can be done? The article does not include the fact that quick & easy mail order from places like Digi-Key and Mouser makes the parts stash that used to be at RS, a lot less important. Just guessing, but it looks to me like Digi-Key and Mouser's web site are hauling a lot of the proverbial mail for them, and they are far from the only fish in the Internet sea. Sort of what places like Amazon are doing to the corner music and book store. |
#53
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"red" wrote in message ... Kevin, Maybe I'm missing something here, but several years ago, I believe it was HP that showed (at Las Vegas Comdex) a desktop computer with no motherboard. RAM, CPU, disk drives and everything else were strung out along the length of the table, all connected by FireWire. Benchmark speeds were competitive with the average computers seen that year. This was not a commercial offering, but an exercise (demo) with FireWire. Of course it had a motherboard, what did the CPU plug into? What you mean is that it wasn't the normal size and functions. Big deal. TonyP. |
#54
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"red" wrote in message ... Kevin, Maybe I'm missing something here, but several years ago, I believe it was HP that showed (at Las Vegas Comdex) a desktop computer with no motherboard. RAM, CPU, disk drives and everything else were strung out along the length of the table, all connected by FireWire. Benchmark speeds were competitive with the average computers seen that year. This was not a commercial offering, but an exercise (demo) with FireWire. Of course it had a motherboard, what did the CPU plug into? What you mean is that it wasn't the normal size and functions. Big deal. TonyP. |
#55
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"red" wrote in message ... Kevin, Maybe I'm missing something here, but several years ago, I believe it was HP that showed (at Las Vegas Comdex) a desktop computer with no motherboard. RAM, CPU, disk drives and everything else were strung out along the length of the table, all connected by FireWire. Benchmark speeds were competitive with the average computers seen that year. This was not a commercial offering, but an exercise (demo) with FireWire. Of course it had a motherboard, what did the CPU plug into? What you mean is that it wasn't the normal size and functions. Big deal. TonyP. |
#56
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Electronics/radios shack/future
First a little anecdote-
I built my first radio using softwood and woodscrews and brass washers to string half a dozen components together with a wire aerial strung from my bedroom window to the tree at the end of the garden. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the first sounds in the little ear piece. I was eight years old and followed intructions from a little project book. I had to leave the list of components with a guy who owned a little repair shop. No soldering iron required ! Hooked ever since. Working as a design engineer (age 34) there aren't many engineers coming through with any real feel for things, they have a degree but can't build anything - they soon latch on to microcontrollers and think thats it - thats the way to go. I think this is great for those of us who can actually work with transistors and inductors ! The longer term impact on businesses and economies is however not good. The solution is the after school club to get them started but you can't rely on teachers to do this out of the goodness of their hearts. Has the stigma of the 'nerd' killed off the hobbyist ? MV "malcolm" wrote in message news:BS6Gb.439886$Dw6.1342117@attbi_s02... "BOB URZ" wrote in message ... Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Bob -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- one trouble with electronics is that to be interesting to tinkerers, you have to have some magic, in the 80s mass market cheap electronics hit the market and the magic faded, everybody and their dog now has satellite TV, CD, DVD, and atomic watches. now that its not worth bothering to build 'gadget X' much cheaper and easi er to just go buy it. and no status to build weird stuff, when the person next door with money has better goodies. in the UK in 80s the electronics scene died quite a bit with the entery of the 8 bit micros. kids had complex fun things to play with, and dint need to get their hands dirty either. regards malcolm -- ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ LED Headlamps and Sea Fishing UK http://www.geocities.com/malc_hurn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seafishinguk ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ |
#57
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Electronics/radios shack/future
First a little anecdote-
I built my first radio using softwood and woodscrews and brass washers to string half a dozen components together with a wire aerial strung from my bedroom window to the tree at the end of the garden. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the first sounds in the little ear piece. I was eight years old and followed intructions from a little project book. I had to leave the list of components with a guy who owned a little repair shop. No soldering iron required ! Hooked ever since. Working as a design engineer (age 34) there aren't many engineers coming through with any real feel for things, they have a degree but can't build anything - they soon latch on to microcontrollers and think thats it - thats the way to go. I think this is great for those of us who can actually work with transistors and inductors ! The longer term impact on businesses and economies is however not good. The solution is the after school club to get them started but you can't rely on teachers to do this out of the goodness of their hearts. Has the stigma of the 'nerd' killed off the hobbyist ? MV "malcolm" wrote in message news:BS6Gb.439886$Dw6.1342117@attbi_s02... "BOB URZ" wrote in message ... Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Bob -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- one trouble with electronics is that to be interesting to tinkerers, you have to have some magic, in the 80s mass market cheap electronics hit the market and the magic faded, everybody and their dog now has satellite TV, CD, DVD, and atomic watches. now that its not worth bothering to build 'gadget X' much cheaper and easi er to just go buy it. and no status to build weird stuff, when the person next door with money has better goodies. in the UK in 80s the electronics scene died quite a bit with the entery of the 8 bit micros. kids had complex fun things to play with, and dint need to get their hands dirty either. regards malcolm -- ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ LED Headlamps and Sea Fishing UK http://www.geocities.com/malc_hurn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seafishinguk ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ |
#58
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Electronics/radios shack/future
First a little anecdote-
I built my first radio using softwood and woodscrews and brass washers to string half a dozen components together with a wire aerial strung from my bedroom window to the tree at the end of the garden. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the first sounds in the little ear piece. I was eight years old and followed intructions from a little project book. I had to leave the list of components with a guy who owned a little repair shop. No soldering iron required ! Hooked ever since. Working as a design engineer (age 34) there aren't many engineers coming through with any real feel for things, they have a degree but can't build anything - they soon latch on to microcontrollers and think thats it - thats the way to go. I think this is great for those of us who can actually work with transistors and inductors ! The longer term impact on businesses and economies is however not good. The solution is the after school club to get them started but you can't rely on teachers to do this out of the goodness of their hearts. Has the stigma of the 'nerd' killed off the hobbyist ? MV "malcolm" wrote in message news:BS6Gb.439886$Dw6.1342117@attbi_s02... "BOB URZ" wrote in message ... Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Bob -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- one trouble with electronics is that to be interesting to tinkerers, you have to have some magic, in the 80s mass market cheap electronics hit the market and the magic faded, everybody and their dog now has satellite TV, CD, DVD, and atomic watches. now that its not worth bothering to build 'gadget X' much cheaper and easi er to just go buy it. and no status to build weird stuff, when the person next door with money has better goodies. in the UK in 80s the electronics scene died quite a bit with the entery of the 8 bit micros. kids had complex fun things to play with, and dint need to get their hands dirty either. regards malcolm -- ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ LED Headlamps and Sea Fishing UK http://www.geocities.com/malc_hurn http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seafishinguk ¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸((((º.·´¯`·.¸ |
#59
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Electronics/radios shack/future
I think you may be missing some of the point. I still play with audio quite a
bit, buut it's getting much harder now. Since 1.) you do have the multi function blocks. 2.) you have the problem of trying to interconnect tiny footprint pins together. You can't do much point to point wiring on those tsop or whatever package they are. soic ?? sot23. They are a pain to work with. I think thtas a big part.Plus everything is computer controlled now days. Who wants to build something with Tubes, or transistors, or even op amps.even filters DSP. I see it happening and it's sad. I have a perfectly good high end communications receiver Drake R8A, and shortwave is dying because it's easier to set up a studio and run it to the internet then to maintain a 250 KW transmitter and aerial. DagW00d "Tigers Older brother DAG" |
#60
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Electronics/radios shack/future
I think you may be missing some of the point. I still play with audio quite a
bit, buut it's getting much harder now. Since 1.) you do have the multi function blocks. 2.) you have the problem of trying to interconnect tiny footprint pins together. You can't do much point to point wiring on those tsop or whatever package they are. soic ?? sot23. They are a pain to work with. I think thtas a big part.Plus everything is computer controlled now days. Who wants to build something with Tubes, or transistors, or even op amps.even filters DSP. I see it happening and it's sad. I have a perfectly good high end communications receiver Drake R8A, and shortwave is dying because it's easier to set up a studio and run it to the internet then to maintain a 250 KW transmitter and aerial. DagW00d "Tigers Older brother DAG" |
#61
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Electronics/radios shack/future
I think you may be missing some of the point. I still play with audio quite a
bit, buut it's getting much harder now. Since 1.) you do have the multi function blocks. 2.) you have the problem of trying to interconnect tiny footprint pins together. You can't do much point to point wiring on those tsop or whatever package they are. soic ?? sot23. They are a pain to work with. I think thtas a big part.Plus everything is computer controlled now days. Who wants to build something with Tubes, or transistors, or even op amps.even filters DSP. I see it happening and it's sad. I have a perfectly good high end communications receiver Drake R8A, and shortwave is dying because it's easier to set up a studio and run it to the internet then to maintain a 250 KW transmitter and aerial. DagW00d "Tigers Older brother DAG" |
#62
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Richard Wagner -Dagwood-" wrote ...
I think you may be missing some of the point. I still play with audio quite a bit, buut it's getting much harder now. Since 1.) you do have the multi function blocks. 2.) you have the problem of trying to interconnect tiny footprint pins together. You can't do much point to point wiring on those tsop or whatever package they are. soic ?? sot23. They are a pain to work with. I think thtas a big part.Plus everything is computer controlled now days. Who wants to build something with Tubes, or transistors, or even op amps.even filters DSP. I see it happening and it's sad. I have a perfectly good high end communications receiver Drake R8A, and shortwave is dying because it's easier to set up a studio and run it to the internet then to maintain a 250 KW transmitter and aerial. While I agree completely, I can't help thinking that ~100 years ago, our great/grandparents were likely thinking that it was so much simpler to hitch old Nellie up to the wagon than to fool around with those complicated new-fangled automobiles. :-) |
#63
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Richard Wagner -Dagwood-" wrote ...
I think you may be missing some of the point. I still play with audio quite a bit, buut it's getting much harder now. Since 1.) you do have the multi function blocks. 2.) you have the problem of trying to interconnect tiny footprint pins together. You can't do much point to point wiring on those tsop or whatever package they are. soic ?? sot23. They are a pain to work with. I think thtas a big part.Plus everything is computer controlled now days. Who wants to build something with Tubes, or transistors, or even op amps.even filters DSP. I see it happening and it's sad. I have a perfectly good high end communications receiver Drake R8A, and shortwave is dying because it's easier to set up a studio and run it to the internet then to maintain a 250 KW transmitter and aerial. While I agree completely, I can't help thinking that ~100 years ago, our great/grandparents were likely thinking that it was so much simpler to hitch old Nellie up to the wagon than to fool around with those complicated new-fangled automobiles. :-) |
#64
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Electronics/radios shack/future
"Richard Wagner -Dagwood-" wrote ...
I think you may be missing some of the point. I still play with audio quite a bit, buut it's getting much harder now. Since 1.) you do have the multi function blocks. 2.) you have the problem of trying to interconnect tiny footprint pins together. You can't do much point to point wiring on those tsop or whatever package they are. soic ?? sot23. They are a pain to work with. I think thtas a big part.Plus everything is computer controlled now days. Who wants to build something with Tubes, or transistors, or even op amps.even filters DSP. I see it happening and it's sad. I have a perfectly good high end communications receiver Drake R8A, and shortwave is dying because it's easier to set up a studio and run it to the internet then to maintain a 250 KW transmitter and aerial. While I agree completely, I can't help thinking that ~100 years ago, our great/grandparents were likely thinking that it was so much simpler to hitch old Nellie up to the wagon than to fool around with those complicated new-fangled automobiles. :-) |
#65
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Electronics/radios shack/future
BOB URZ wrote in message ...
Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Your kind indulgence sought if anyone has mentioned this already -- I didn't see every reply yet. But some years ago a veteran engineering innovator in Japan lamented the same situation, in an article whose English translation was I believe "No more radio boy!" Yet I still see young people with strong hobby skills who carry them forward -- one of these showed me a tabloid catalog, full of kits not unlike the endless hobby PC-board kits of past decades sold by Cordover, Libe, PAIA, Southwest Technical, etc.; and another showed me, more recently, a hobby magazine full of build-it-yourself (as some of us recall the old Popular Electronics in its heyday -- still got'em, of course, decades later). One of these young people is eagerly working as an engineer (may even read this) and, having now designed his own wris****ch precision altimeters (with cool gratuitous features like optional "trippy bits" and random four-letter words on the four-character display) -- he throws in PIC microcontrollers as easily as I used to apply unijunction transistors 30 years ago -- is assembling some contraption with a surplus optical-mechanical-digital barometer -- wonderful Rube-Goldberg instrument, all it lacks is a cat and a candle somewhere -- and a little laser that looks like a pencil eraser with wires, i don't know what all for but constructive. (With the wris****ch altimeters he hiked a local mountain peak, downloaded the altitude log from the watch, and proudly displays it superimposed on an official altitute map.) Moral: The art is not dead! Still radio boy (and girl) ! Also to another reply, Herr Wagner, please remember that some people go to great effort to get those functions into those little SOT-23 packages because that is what the paying customers demand incessantly. I don't like to solder them either, but they do bring things to the party, and besides, adapters exist ... Best -- M. Hauser |
#66
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Electronics/radios shack/future
BOB URZ wrote in message ...
Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Your kind indulgence sought if anyone has mentioned this already -- I didn't see every reply yet. But some years ago a veteran engineering innovator in Japan lamented the same situation, in an article whose English translation was I believe "No more radio boy!" Yet I still see young people with strong hobby skills who carry them forward -- one of these showed me a tabloid catalog, full of kits not unlike the endless hobby PC-board kits of past decades sold by Cordover, Libe, PAIA, Southwest Technical, etc.; and another showed me, more recently, a hobby magazine full of build-it-yourself (as some of us recall the old Popular Electronics in its heyday -- still got'em, of course, decades later). One of these young people is eagerly working as an engineer (may even read this) and, having now designed his own wris****ch precision altimeters (with cool gratuitous features like optional "trippy bits" and random four-letter words on the four-character display) -- he throws in PIC microcontrollers as easily as I used to apply unijunction transistors 30 years ago -- is assembling some contraption with a surplus optical-mechanical-digital barometer -- wonderful Rube-Goldberg instrument, all it lacks is a cat and a candle somewhere -- and a little laser that looks like a pencil eraser with wires, i don't know what all for but constructive. (With the wris****ch altimeters he hiked a local mountain peak, downloaded the altitude log from the watch, and proudly displays it superimposed on an official altitute map.) Moral: The art is not dead! Still radio boy (and girl) ! Also to another reply, Herr Wagner, please remember that some people go to great effort to get those functions into those little SOT-23 packages because that is what the paying customers demand incessantly. I don't like to solder them either, but they do bring things to the party, and besides, adapters exist ... Best -- M. Hauser |
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Electronics/radios shack/future
BOB URZ wrote in message ...
Scary look at the future of electronic hobbyists. http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/I...ArticleID=6978 Your kind indulgence sought if anyone has mentioned this already -- I didn't see every reply yet. But some years ago a veteran engineering innovator in Japan lamented the same situation, in an article whose English translation was I believe "No more radio boy!" Yet I still see young people with strong hobby skills who carry them forward -- one of these showed me a tabloid catalog, full of kits not unlike the endless hobby PC-board kits of past decades sold by Cordover, Libe, PAIA, Southwest Technical, etc.; and another showed me, more recently, a hobby magazine full of build-it-yourself (as some of us recall the old Popular Electronics in its heyday -- still got'em, of course, decades later). One of these young people is eagerly working as an engineer (may even read this) and, having now designed his own wris****ch precision altimeters (with cool gratuitous features like optional "trippy bits" and random four-letter words on the four-character display) -- he throws in PIC microcontrollers as easily as I used to apply unijunction transistors 30 years ago -- is assembling some contraption with a surplus optical-mechanical-digital barometer -- wonderful Rube-Goldberg instrument, all it lacks is a cat and a candle somewhere -- and a little laser that looks like a pencil eraser with wires, i don't know what all for but constructive. (With the wris****ch altimeters he hiked a local mountain peak, downloaded the altitude log from the watch, and proudly displays it superimposed on an official altitute map.) Moral: The art is not dead! Still radio boy (and girl) ! Also to another reply, Herr Wagner, please remember that some people go to great effort to get those functions into those little SOT-23 packages because that is what the paying customers demand incessantly. I don't like to solder them either, but they do bring things to the party, and besides, adapters exist ... Best -- M. Hauser |