dave weil wrote:

All of this is just a sign of the times. You can thank microprcessors
and convenience for the "dumbing down" effect. You can thank the
"black box" aspect of audio these days. I think it's supposed to be
called "progress". For bench hobbyists, there are still specialty
low-circulation mags like Circuit Cellar And Vacuum Tube Valley that
they can subscribe to.

I don't at all! Microprocessors just give you more great opportunities
for homebrewing! The amount of stuff that you can pack inside a little
box with an 8051 in there is amazing, and it doesn't take much more than
a cheap PC and a ROM burner to do it. We even have things like the BASIC
Stamp which allow you to homebrew your own microcontroller-based devices
with debugging on the fly and hardly any external equipment. Fifty bucks
and a PC with Hyperterminal and you're on your way to building some amazing
stuff.

Modern ASICs are even more fun! One guy with a 486 machine from the
thrift store can layout enormously complex digital circuits. Hell, you
could make your own microprocessor on an inexpensive FPGA today.

We won't even talk about some of the wonderful stuff you can do with
modern linear components for hardly any money. There is some stuff
in a typical junked VCR that I'd have given my eyeteeth for as a kid.

I think that you are feeling nostalgia for your youth, when in
actuality, things are quite different now and the mass market 'zines
have evoloved to meet the needs of the 21st century.

I am not nostalgic, I am peeved. Modern technology has made homebrewing
easier and it has given us a huge set of powerful tools to make sophisticated
electronic systems on a low budget with hardly any infrastructure. If
anything, the DIY phenomenon should be taking off. But it's dying. Why?

Nothing wrong with being nostalgic, mind you. However, I think that
you were in the minority, even in those days. And you still have
options to fill your need. Obviously, you don't have any use for a
review-type magazine, which is cool.

I think that homebrew electronics is far less mainstream than it was
in the sixties and seventies. Hell, you don't even see kids building
up PCs from boards any more. We won't even talk about the death of
hotrodding.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."