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I remember that program as well. It was from the "Enhancing your Apple" books, written by the great Don Lancaster.

our friend Don Lancaster has it all figured out: get a good (PostScript) printer, Adobe Acrobat, and some other stuff -- see his Book-on-Demand library.

There are other neat computer chips out there that will light up LEDs or perform logical functions, or whatever you want. Start here.

The key to fuel economy with internal intermittant combustion engines (like reciprocating gas engines found in cars) is to use them at their maximum power setting with as few combustion events per unit time as possible. In other words, wide open throttle and low RPMs (high manifold pressures). This car gets 128 miles per gallon at 35 MPH, and it's just a pure diesel engine.

Hydrogen is a losing proposition because there isn't any lying around free. It has to be made, and that takes energy. In fact, it takes more energy to make it than could ever be returned by burning it (Thermodynamics... increaing entropy...).

Currently I think that the gas/electric hybrid is the best touring vehicle (as opposed to a commuting vehicle) platform, but I have yet to see one that I like. The Toyota Prius I got to look at closely a few weeks ago was very disappointing. A 1989 Honda Civic CRX gets better milage! The Toyota drive system is overly complicated with a gearbox that allows the wheels to be driven by either the electric motor and/or the gas engine. The added complexity and weight of the gearbox offset any efficiency gains of the electric system.

The key to fuel economy with internal intermittant combustion engines (like reciprocating gas engines found in cars) is to use them at their maximum power setting with as few combustion events per unit time as possible. In other words, wide open throttle and low RPMs (high manifold pressures). This car gets 128 miles per gallon at 35 MPH, and it's just a pure diesel engine.

Hydrogen is a losing proposition because there isn't any lying around free. It has to be made, and that takes energy. In fact, it takes more energy to make it than could ever be returned by burning it (Thermodynamics... increaing entropy...).

Currently I think that the gas/electric hybrid is the best touring vehicle (as opposed to a commuting vehicle) platform, but I have yet to see one that I like. The Toyota Prius I got to look at closely a few weeks ago was very disappointing. A 1989 Honda Civic CRX gets better milage! The Toyota drive system is overly complicated with a gearbox that allows the wheels to be driven by either the electric motor and/or the gas engine. The added complexity and weight of the gearbox offset any efficiency gains of the electric system.

Don Lancaster's page. Http://Www.tinaja.com.

Gasoline -- 9000 Wh/l
Liquid Hydrogen(H2) -- 2500 Wh/l
150 Bar H2 -- 405 Wh/l

Liquid is ok but kinda cold. 150 Bar is ok until it explodes. I see gasoline as still the best way of carring energy.

This is from Blatant Opportunist #71, unfortunatly a pdf on this page - Guru Lair

Hydrogen Peroxide is kinda fun. Works for rockets. Maybe for Turbines?

Don Lancaster, I do remember. And I remember him talking a lot about how his setup was an Apple II and a Laserwriter ;)

You can still find him at http://www.tinaja.com/, wacky as ever.

...and if your idea is worth the $12,000,000 to $40,000,000 in sales Don Lancaster says it should in order to break-even, the cost of a good patent attorney should be worth while.

Before you even think about filing a patent for any reason, read Don Lancaster's The Case Against Patents. He makes a compelling and sound argument that it's a tremendous waste of your time and money to do so.

This is Don Lancaster's (author of Incredible Secret Money Machine) take on patents. He's a unique character, and sometimes off-the-mark, but you should consider carefully before rejecting his advice.

He estimates the breakeven point for a patent is over 12 million in gross sales. His catch phrase is that it is useless to patent a mere million dollar idea.

While you there have a good browse around. Lots of good stuff for the "Midnight Engineer" as he calls us.

While you there have a good browse around. Lots of good stuff for the "Midnight Engineer" as he calls us.

Ugh. Link should be http://www.tinaja.com/ . Like Don Lancaster. Me go bang rocks now.

I thought I recognized the reference. Interestingly enough, google coughed up this interesting Don Lancaster article detailing patent horror stories.

Don Lancaster's Guru's Lair

The main issue is that patents do nothing to protect ideas, because the outcome of any patent fight will have more to do with deep pockets than with merit. It you have enough money, any individual patent can be busted, and any intellectually feeble patent can be enforced.

Patents are just baseball cards that the big boys collect and trade, and use to keep smaller players from competing.

If it is any consolation, open source code might be used as prior-art against a lame patent applied for later. But don't count on it. The patent system was never meant to protect anyone besides the largest players in a given industry.

If you can prove that you had the idea before the competitor that stole it then you get the patent.

If you can prove being the key phrase here. The problem with a little guy defending his patent against MegaCorp Inc. is that MegaCorp Inc. has a battalion of lawyers with nothing better to do than to bury the case in paperwork thereby outspending the little guy until he has to quit before winning his case.

See this page at Don Lancaster's site for more information.

To the people who are saying that if it turns out that these technologies are patented, we'll simply come up with an alternative: the problem isn't in the implementation of the technology (i.e., what's been sent to the W3C) the problem is that a patent covers the idea behind the technology and any attempt to implement the idea will also likely violate the patent.

I think one of the root causes of these situations is that the USPTO is issuing patents for ideas that are not truly innovative but which are pretty obvious to any programmer trying to solve that particular problem.

I've come to the conclusion that patents are actually mostly a waste of time and energy, especially for smaller entities. Basically all a patent is a piece of paper that gives you the right to sue. I wonder sometimes if the economy would do better to not have patents. So much energy and money is spent in pursuing and fighting patents, without even getting into the greater absurdities that are software patents. These articles are some of best explanations I've seen for it.

when to patent

case against patents

how to bust a patent

patent horror stories

I've come to the conclusion that patents are actually mostly a waste of time and energy, especially for smaller entities. Basically all a patent is a piece of paper that gives you the right to sue. I wonder sometimes if the economy would do better to not have patents. So much energy and money is spent in pursuing and fighting patents, without even getting into the greater absurdities that are software patents. These articles are some of best explanations I've seen for it.

when to patent

case against patents

how to bust a patent

patent horror stories

I've come to the conclusion that patents are actually mostly a waste of time and energy, especially for smaller entities. Basically all a patent is a piece of paper that gives you the right to sue. I wonder sometimes if the economy would do better to not have patents. So much energy and money is spent in pursuing and fighting patents, without even getting into the greater absurdities that are software patents. These articles are some of best explanations I've seen for it.

when to patent

case against patents

how to bust a patent

patent horror stories

I've come to the conclusion that patents are actually mostly a waste of time and energy, especially for smaller entities. Basically all a patent is a piece of paper that gives you the right to sue. I wonder sometimes if the economy would do better to not have patents. So much energy and money is spent in pursuing and fighting patents, without even getting into the greater absurdities that are software patents. These articles are some of best explanations I've seen for it.

when to patent

case against patents

how to bust a patent

patent horror stories

Wouldn't the same arguments apply? In fact, PS is a programming language. Don Lancaster: "an unappreciated yet superb general purpose computing language"

Regards, Mark

Hmm this guy *sounds* as though he knows what he's talking about.

But then again in this other one (written 1991) he says the following :)

"Other obvious sucker bets today include the NeXT computer, the UNIX operating system, that TrueType absurdiosity, DVI video, and Teletext services."

From Don Lancaster's web site at http://www.tinaja.com/patnt01.html :

For most individuals and small scale startups, patents are virtually certain to result in a net loss of time, energy, money, and sanity.

One reason for this is the outrageously wrong urban lore involving patents and patenting. A second involves the outright scams which inevitably surround "inventions" and "inventing".

A third is that the economic breakeven needed to recover patent costs is something between $12,000,000.00 and $40,000,000 in gross sales. It is ludicrously absurd to try and patent a million dollar idea.

How come no one is using Postscript directly outside of printer-related tasks?

Over at Spacedaily, there is an article about how a 3D printer was used to fabricate a replacement part in a production environment--the first known case.

Readers of this thread might be interested to see this page at Don Lancaster's web site to read about how patents fail to benefit the little guy.

Explain "reducing phase angle" in English.

Power a three-phase motor via a six-scr power stack. When the SCRs are fully phased-on (i.e. triggered at 0 degrees through 180) the motor will have full line power, minus the volt or so the SCRs drop the line. By "reduce the phase angle" I mean to start phasing back the SCRs... instead of turning on at 0 degrees, turn them on at 45 degrees (3/4 of the half-sine wave) -- If the motor is driving something like a pump or a high inertia load the current will rise quite a bit.

If the motor were supplying power back to the mains your current would drop, as the sign of the real power component went through zero (then it would rise again). If you run the motor backwards the effective inductance of the motor drops and your reactive current goes way up; your slip ratio is climbing beyond 1 and you're probably way down the tail of the real-power curve

We're not running backwards; the load is turning the motor in the same direction it was originally going (high inertia load) or trying to turn it in the opposite direction (think of a mile of water trying to push back against the pump). In the second case (where I am more familliar) you are moving back up the speed/torque curve and, in most instances the current will rise and rise until you just don't have the voltage there anymore (as you are phasing back and turning off the power to the motor as you decel).

Depends on the what you have to filter, doesn't it? Depending on the harmonic output of the inverter, I could see the filter being smaller than a car-alternator hash filter.

I agree but if you're using PWM waveforms to generate a sinusoidal current waveform you are going to have very steep edges (as you switch from +bus to gnd and back) and the only way to get nice steep edges is to have lots of harmonic content. Now Don Lancaster is pushing something called Magic Sinewaves which are just PWM waveforms which are engineered to reduce or eliminate specific harmonics. From what I have read of them (he's been into them for a few years now), they look really interesting for fixed amplitude waveforms, like in UPSes and the like. Hell some of them are even delta-friendly.

...the horrors...

Bah. Patents get in the way of 'small inventors' to the leech-like benefit of corporates and lawyers everywhere. Here's what Don Lancaster thinks of patents.

And neither is nitrogen. Both are energy transport media (like a flywheel or a lead acid battery). Both hydrogen and nitrogen are incapable of delivering net on-the-books BTU's of energy. True fuels do delivery BTU's of energy.

Also note that there's more hydrogen in a gallon of gasoline than in a gallon of liquid hydrogen. All this "hydrogen is the energy source of the future" talk is a bunch of hooey. How are going to make the liquid hydrogen? No non-nuclear means is known to make terrestrial hydrogen that does not consume considerably much more energy than it delivers. How are you going to get liquid hydrogen to the public safely?

Check out Don Lancaster's excellent site for more debunking of hydrogen as an energy source.

And neither is nitrogen. Both are energy transport media (like a flywheel or a lead acid battery). Both hydrogen and nitrogen are incapable of delivering net on-the-books BTU's of energy. True fuels do delivery BTU's of energy.

Also note that there's more hydrogen in a gallon of gasoline than in a gallon of liquid hydrogen. All this "hydrogen is the energy source of the future" talk is a bunch of hooey. How are going to make the liquid hydrogen? No non-nuclear means is known to make terrestrial hydrogen that does not consume considerably much more energy than it delivers. How are you going to get liquid hydrogen to the public safely?

Check out Don Lancaster's excellent site for more debunking of hydrogen as an energy source.

Don Lancaster's Patent Avoidance Library

My own personal opinion is that you should only be able to Patent a design or process if;

You "Chanced" upon it after exhausting considerable Time/Effort/Money (i.e. research discoveries)

or

The only way it is obvious, after the fact, to someone in your field would be if they had to have engaged in the same or similar research to come to the conclusion at hand. (i.e. cut down on the "Professional Thinkers" who do little research but patent things in what really amounts to an attempt at what would be called extortion in most other settings)

Also, merely being the first shouldn't be enough. If two people in the same field engage in the same or similar research, just because one finishes early shouldn't mean all the work is for naught. (Of course as long as it was arrived at independently)

Maybe then we could get back to the original intent of patents, to promote, not hinder progress.

Imagining what the world would be like if someone had been able to patent hockey...

Tom

Note - I don't work for these mags, nor am I being paid by them, etc. I am promoting them merely because I think they're awesome.

Circuit Cellar Ink is an excellent magazine focusing on hardware and software interaction. Articles on embedded computers and software/firmware implementation, with real life examples of what techs in the business are doing. Current issue deals with making a MIDI sustain pedal, details of dual-slope analog-digital converters, Infrared Device technology and how to use it in your own projects, and other informational articles such as description of the current status of HDTV. One really awesome article that ran 1 or 2 months ago dealt with an engineer homebrewing his own microprocessor based on the Z-80 instruction set, but with little goodies thrown in. Way cool. Someone in an above thread mentioned they liked the ads in some good computer magazines. Same with this magazine, all sorts of embedded-related ads. Oh yeah, this mag is big on the PIC and Basic Stamp. If you don't know what these are, take a look!

Another good one is embedded systems programming . I haven't had the time to read the current issues in-depth, but I keep meaning to do so. Going through my father's collection back a few years, there are some majorly good articles here. This mag devotes itself, obviously, to embedded systems programming. Current issue deals with communication issues, real-time stuff, embedded web servers, etc. Another good thing is their tech columns, which deal with real-life examples of coding. They've had a series aimed at moving C coders (like me) to C++ through specific examples. Also mathematical applications, such as a multi-part indepth review of Z-transforms and Fourier Transforms, and DSP programming, and how to implement these in your systems. Way cool stuff, too, IMHO.

Just for browsing the net, an amazing source of info is from Don Lancaster's Lair . Rightly named the guru, this guy is a tech genuius (sp), and does all sorts of great stuff like working with PIC's inside and out, programming in raw Postscript to make his printer act as a peripheral computer, and other stuff. Go check out his page. Now! Engage.

"In a world without walls, who needs Windows" - Someone from LinuxToday

Back when the Patent Laws were first mooted, good ideas were relatively scarce (emphasis on good) so there was some justification to encourage open publication and greater dissemination. However, in today's modern era where any business process can be codified in software to some extent and thus automated, creating artificial exclusions seems to encourage too many ideas which frankly are minor and incremental. We need much better ways of filtering out the crap that floats by (perhaps a /. moderated version?).

Also, nowadays, having a good idea is not enough, you need to be in a position to execute and solve a broader long-term customer need (or even create that need!). When patents become deliberate barriers to new entrants (either through unrealistic licensing or legal threats) then it starts to create systematic problems. For example, drugs can be patented so companies then spend more effort on manufactured designs rather than adapting existing commonplace plant-based remedies which they can't control. So given the choice between high margin patented solutions or low-margin systems, guess which gets widely advertised and pushed at doctors? Given the complications of body chemistry, I suspect that most people want the placebo equivalent of a nice cup of tea and less stress.

Anyway, you can make still money by not using software patents. One path is to become an ultraspecialist and come up with completely new fields. For the rest of us, we have to be content with just surviving without getting too rippedoff. In the end, it's not the patented software that counts (business guys will always find a way of screwing over the inventor), it's the fact that you will continue to generate good ideas in the future that will make you an irresistable catch for whatever company that wants your skills (and threaten to quit if not happy).

LL

Actually, if you read some electronics mags (Circuit Cellar did this awhile back), a hardware hacker named Don Lancaster uses printers as computational devices! You laugh, but that is what the postscript driver is, in a sense. He has written many articles about the postscript language, and even programs it directly. And he has done mathematical simultions on the printer, and ported the results back to the computer! Kind of ironic but cool stuff. Check out his page .

• Unplug television from wall outlet.
• Place wire clippers in preferred hand.
• Firmly grasp power cord in other hand.
• Clip the plug from the cord.

• Phillips 87c055 - 8051 microcontroller for television and video, you can control it through a serial or parallel port.
  
• Analog Devices AD722 - RGB-to-NTSC converter
  
• Phillips SAA5252 TV Data Display (this is what I recommend for titling, it costs ~US$8, is controlled serially, and takes composite or RGB input and outputs RGB (which can be converted using the US$8 AD722 above). You can use a parallel or serial port to tell it what to display.)
  
• There's more out there, try Phillips first and try also Analog Devices who gives out free samples (I got a ~$100 ADC from them a while back).
  

• Build This Video Titler, Dan Michelson, Electronics Now, May 1995, p.49
  
• Hardware Hacker: Low-cost TV data displays, thoughts on brain implants, ..., Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Lamps and lighting efficiency, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings: Video, Video Editing, Character Generators, and more, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Laser printer repairs, sync-separator circuit, GPS navigation update, video interface module, and hacking Super Nintendo!, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Dye-based solar energy, Neo Geo interface cables, another sad patent story, and RGB monitor fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #110: NTSC TV fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #134: PIC video overlay displays, Don Lancaster
  
• Captain Video's Secret Mountain Laboratory, Don Lancaster
  

• Phillips 87c055 - 8051 microcontroller for television and video, you can control it through a serial or parallel port.
  
• Analog Devices AD722 - RGB-to-NTSC converter
  
• Phillips SAA5252 TV Data Display (this is what I recommend for titling, it costs ~US$8, is controlled serially, and takes composite or RGB input and outputs RGB (which can be converted using the US$8 AD722 above). You can use a parallel or serial port to tell it what to display.)
  
• There's more out there, try Phillips first and try also Analog Devices who gives out free samples (I got a ~$100 ADC from them a while back).
  

• Build This Video Titler, Dan Michelson, Electronics Now, May 1995, p.49
  
• Hardware Hacker: Low-cost TV data displays, thoughts on brain implants, ..., Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Lamps and lighting efficiency, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings: Video, Video Editing, Character Generators, and more, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Laser printer repairs, sync-separator circuit, GPS navigation update, video interface module, and hacking Super Nintendo!, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Dye-based solar energy, Neo Geo interface cables, another sad patent story, and RGB monitor fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #110: NTSC TV fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #134: PIC video overlay displays, Don Lancaster
  
• Captain Video's Secret Mountain Laboratory, Don Lancaster
  

• Phillips 87c055 - 8051 microcontroller for television and video, you can control it through a serial or parallel port.
  
• Analog Devices AD722 - RGB-to-NTSC converter
  
• Phillips SAA5252 TV Data Display (this is what I recommend for titling, it costs ~US$8, is controlled serially, and takes composite or RGB input and outputs RGB (which can be converted using the US$8 AD722 above). You can use a parallel or serial port to tell it what to display.)
  
• There's more out there, try Phillips first and try also Analog Devices who gives out free samples (I got a ~$100 ADC from them a while back).
  

• Build This Video Titler, Dan Michelson, Electronics Now, May 1995, p.49
  
• Hardware Hacker: Low-cost TV data displays, thoughts on brain implants, ..., Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Lamps and lighting efficiency, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings: Video, Video Editing, Character Generators, and more, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Laser printer repairs, sync-separator circuit, GPS navigation update, video interface module, and hacking Super Nintendo!, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Dye-based solar energy, Neo Geo interface cables, another sad patent story, and RGB monitor fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #110: NTSC TV fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #134: PIC video overlay displays, Don Lancaster
  
• Captain Video's Secret Mountain Laboratory, Don Lancaster
  

• Phillips 87c055 - 8051 microcontroller for television and video, you can control it through a serial or parallel port.
  
• Analog Devices AD722 - RGB-to-NTSC converter
  
• Phillips SAA5252 TV Data Display (this is what I recommend for titling, it costs ~US$8, is controlled serially, and takes composite or RGB input and outputs RGB (which can be converted using the US$8 AD722 above). You can use a parallel or serial port to tell it what to display.)
  
• There's more out there, try Phillips first and try also Analog Devices who gives out free samples (I got a ~$100 ADC from them a while back).
  

• Build This Video Titler, Dan Michelson, Electronics Now, May 1995, p.49
  
• Hardware Hacker: Low-cost TV data displays, thoughts on brain implants, ..., Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Lamps and lighting efficiency, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings: Video, Video Editing, Character Generators, and more, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Laser printer repairs, sync-separator circuit, GPS navigation update, video interface module, and hacking Super Nintendo!, Don Lancaster
  
• Hardware Hacker: Dye-based solar energy, Neo Geo interface cables, another sad patent story, and RGB monitor fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #110: NTSC TV fundamentals, Don Lancaster
  
• Tech Musings #134: PIC video overlay displays, Don Lancaster
  
• Captain Video's Secret Mountain Laboratory, Don Lancaster