I agree, put me down for the same sort of anecdotal evidence. Can't believe how much nicer it is to now have a K3 than lugging books around, or worse, leaving one behind that you wanted to read on a trip:)
They were fun "early days", I remember discovering Slackware 3.x, Slashdot and Freshmeat all around the same time and going crazy with open-source projects and meeting up with some fantastic people. Back then, getting a SSL session running on your browser on Linux was enough for celebration and S3 cards were the thing to have:)
We often buy a bunch of Arduino boards simply because it's simpler/faster/cheaper to use them and plug them in to our daughter boards than to fabricate our own complete solution each time, especially for short runs. Of course, we never actually use them _with_ the Arduino layer, we just use them simply as convenient prepackaged microcontroller modules.
That said, the bulk of our products tend to end up being completely custom solutions purely because of size constraints.
Yeah, I take a stab at strncpy and a lot of others in my little open-source/aka-incomplete book about C... "C of Peril" - http://www.pldaniels.com/c-of-peril/
She's game as anything to be eating that beef though - only because of the potential for cross-contamination (eg, they brown the buns sometimes on the hotplates).
I'm only very mildly gluten sensitive (not Coeliac) but I'd never consider picking a McD burger and pulling the beef/cheese out.
More like how lazy the "admins" are (to learn the simple syntax). Iptables may have its limitations but it's not like you're writing sendmail rulesets.
As AC mentioned above, there's no restriction on using the hardware -without- the "easy coding" Arduino layer. Many of us do buy Arduino dev boards simply because it's a faster pretested/prefabbed/CHEAPER way of getting the microcontroller we want that we code the way we want (usually in ASM or C) without any of the Arduino software hindering us. Doing things that way means you can have a simpler daughterboard that's specific to your task at hand and you've got an easy module to replace/upgrade if need be.
Pretty much every non-electrical-engineering-background geek who tries their hand at electronics now is doing so using an Arduino device. To put it in OS terms, it's like the Ubuntu of Linux;)
What a device that does XYZ when you give it data 'A', then grab and Arduino and viola, you're an instant EE.
If you detect a hint of cynicism in my post, you're right - while we love seeing many new people coming into the world of electronics design, at the same time it's a real fright when you see some of the hack-job designs that are produced ( again, in computing terms, a bit like when OpenSource first became popular and Freshmeat was filled with a billion "me too" apps which frequently crashed or just were plain awful:) ).
While Microchip have produced some amazing new PIC devices, the trouble is for them that in many ways they've lost a lot of market interest. There's plenty of BIG players still using them but on the hobby/enthusiast/learning front they've gone from being "dominators" to "has beens" in a very few short years and now many of the bigger players are moving over as well (the consumer-hobby market devices are now dominated by AVRs).
AVRs with their free development tool chain and sane hardware architecture has won this round. That said, Atmel's God AWFUL distribution policies and ever-steepening prices are starting to push a lot of us small-medium sized production houses to alternatives such as MSP430's, things like Atmel Tiny13A at $1 when a vastly more potent MSP430 is at $0.50 makes a difference over a few hundred builds.
Almost-compatible, that worked out really well in the PC market years ago.... not.
I think they should just market and develop these things entirely within their own realm (sure, bring along the Arduino 'easy programming' layer), the ARMs have so much more to offer over the AVR Megas (that said, AVR Megas/Tinys are GREAT, use them all the time for our production runs).
Still who knows, maybe it'll work more as a 'bridge' to ease the transition over for people who need more than what the current range of Mega chips can offer, I can just imagine #electronics and #avr being filled now with people going "WTF won't this shit work? Stupid AVR/ARM!" (oh wait, we already get that all the time).
Agreed. Even if the ABI over time supports less and less of the available functionality at least it's -something- that's stable. The fact that linux does have as many drivers as it does is testament to the persistence of the masochists out there. I appreciate what Linus is trying to avoid but at the same time we're getting to the point where the kernel needs to offer an olive branch to people who have more to do in their lives than just update their driver code every time the kernel twists and turns.
Even with a few Open-source projects under your belt for others to check out you might still be a crappy coder but at least they've got more chance to see what they're getting into.
2.5W should be ample to power it off a powered USB hub (though they have up to 5W from them). There could be wifi onboard, else a USB ethernet/wireless.
Good thing you didn't go with MA... the demo seemed to work okay... but the production version was like trying to stop a jello mould from wobbling. It wasn't the first or last Linux package I've ever purchased (Closed and Open) but it was certainly the worst purchase.
Maybe it's the developer in me. One becomes proficient with eye-rolling every time someone vouches for their wanted feature "because without it your software will not become mainstream". It's a self-serving tactic, trying to get what you want by pushing the fear of obscurity, which likely just takes time away from more needed work. We all have different ways of trying to coax the world to our bidding, that one tends to make me put it into the last position in the consideration queue. It happens in all areas, software, electronics development, hell even model aircraft design and most of the time where people have succumbed to the whims, it turns out the 'feature' really didn't make as big an impact as portrayed.
Video editors are a must. I don't miss anything else.
For you, yes - but that's not mainstream in a global user sense. You want it to be, but it isn't. Yes a lot of people would love a good NLVE, myself included (I even bought a copy of MainActor for Linux before the bastards took it away - still it crashed more frequently than even Kdenlive!) but it's not something that'll stop everyone migrating to Linux (just like the lack of 100% VBA script compatibility in LibreOffice doesn't stop people migrating), hell most people have no idea what a NLVE is, let alone use one.
This is an area where Linux desperately needs to be competitive if there's hope for the Linux desktop going mainstream anytime soon.
Okay, look, I know we all believe that we know what's best for the market and what's in demand - but I am so sick of hearing this line pulled out. "What Linux really needs is ***** if it's to become acceptable in the mainstream". The reality is that there's no single app that will propel Linux into the mainstream magically, the best we can do is just continue to improve where we can and as we do we pick up more and more converts. We are long past a position where a single application will suddenly make Linux mainstream. For every application/area you knock off that list there will always be another one that raises its head.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing our best to deliver great new apps of good stability and functionality (like Inkscape, Scribus etc), I'm saying that the sky isn't falling if we don't deliver X Y or Z.
No, I think salivating is right - because it'll mean a very long, protracted law suit likely - which means a lot of billable hours and at a higher rate because after all, they're not just dealing with anyone, they're handling the US Govt (realistic or not). Win or lose, it doesn't matter.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree, put me down for the same sort of anecdotal evidence. Can't believe how much nicer it is to now have a K3 than lugging books around, or worse, leaving one behind that you wanted to read on a trip :)
Oh hell, I laughed.
My biggest regret was not timing things 'just right' to get ID 123321 :(
I see you were in very early :)
I had more direct dealings with Patrick of FM than anyone here in /.
Oh yes and back then LinuxJournal was genuinely very useful every edition :)
They were fun "early days", I remember discovering Slackware 3.x, Slashdot and Freshmeat all around the same time and going crazy with open-source projects and meeting up with some fantastic people. Back then, getting a SSL session running on your browser on Linux was enough for celebration and S3 cards were the thing to have :)
Enjoy the Future CmdrTaco!
Aaah, sweet memories :D
Sort of... but not always.
We often buy a bunch of Arduino boards simply because it's simpler/faster/cheaper to use them and plug them in to our daughter boards than to fabricate our own complete solution each time, especially for short runs. Of course, we never actually use them _with_ the Arduino layer, we just use them simply as convenient prepackaged microcontroller modules.
That said, the bulk of our products tend to end up being completely custom solutions purely because of size constraints.
Yeah, I take a stab at strncpy and a lot of others in my little open-source/aka-incomplete book about C... "C of Peril" - http://www.pldaniels.com/c-of-peril/
She's game as anything to be eating that beef though - only because of the potential for cross-contamination (eg, they brown the buns sometimes on the hotplates).
I'm only very mildly gluten sensitive (not Coeliac) but I'd never consider picking a McD burger and pulling the beef/cheese out.
More like how lazy the "admins" are (to learn the simple syntax). Iptables may have its limitations but it's not like you're writing sendmail rulesets.
As AC mentioned above, there's no restriction on using the hardware -without- the "easy coding" Arduino layer. Many of us do buy Arduino dev boards simply because it's a faster pretested/prefabbed/CHEAPER way of getting the microcontroller we want that we code the way we want (usually in ASM or C) without any of the Arduino software hindering us. Doing things that way means you can have a simpler daughterboard that's specific to your task at hand and you've got an easy module to replace/upgrade if need be.
Joy, replying to AC.
Today's students/hobby/small-scale producers are tomorrow's big scale/OEM, that's in part how Microchip PICs became so entrenched in the first place.
God damnit - yes, of course you're talking RAM... sorry about that (I blame rapture!)
Pretty much every non-electrical-engineering-background geek who tries their hand at electronics now is doing so using an Arduino device. To put it in OS terms, it's like the Ubuntu of Linux ;)
What a device that does XYZ when you give it data 'A', then grab and Arduino and viola, you're an instant EE.
If you detect a hint of cynicism in my post, you're right - while we love seeing many new people coming into the world of electronics design, at the same time it's a real fright when you see some of the hack-job designs that are produced ( again, in computing terms, a bit like when OpenSource first became popular and Freshmeat was filled with a billion "me too" apps which frequently crashed or just were plain awful :) ).
While Microchip have produced some amazing new PIC devices, the trouble is for them that in many ways they've lost a lot of market interest. There's plenty of BIG players still using them but on the hobby/enthusiast/learning front they've gone from being "dominators" to "has beens" in a very few short years and now many of the bigger players are moving over as well (the consumer-hobby market devices are now dominated by AVRs).
AVRs with their free development tool chain and sane hardware architecture has won this round. That said, Atmel's God AWFUL distribution policies and ever-steepening prices are starting to push a lot of us small-medium sized production houses to alternatives such as MSP430's, things like Atmel Tiny13A at $1 when a vastly more potent MSP430 is at $0.50 makes a difference over a few hundred builds.
Are you talking -flash- or RAM? Even the mega168 only has 1K RAM (but obviously 16K flash).
It's surprising what you can cram into 512 bytes flash and 32 bytes RAM eg, AVR Tiny5.
Almost-compatible, that worked out really well in the PC market years ago.... not.
I think they should just market and develop these things entirely within their own realm (sure, bring along the Arduino 'easy programming' layer), the ARMs have so much more to offer over the AVR Megas (that said, AVR Megas/Tinys are GREAT, use them all the time for our production runs).
Still who knows, maybe it'll work more as a 'bridge' to ease the transition over for people who need more than what the current range of Mega chips can offer, I can just imagine #electronics and #avr being filled now with people going "WTF won't this shit work? Stupid AVR/ARM!" (oh wait, we already get that all the time).
Agreed. Even if the ABI over time supports less and less of the available functionality at least it's -something- that's stable. The fact that linux does have as many drivers as it does is testament to the persistence of the masochists out there. I appreciate what Linus is trying to avoid but at the same time we're getting to the point where the kernel needs to offer an olive branch to people who have more to do in their lives than just update their driver code every time the kernel twists and turns.
Even with a few Open-source projects under your belt for others to check out you might still be a crappy coder but at least they've got more chance to see what they're getting into.
2.5W should be ample to power it off a powered USB hub (though they have up to 5W from them). There could be wifi onboard, else a USB ethernet/wireless.
Good thing you didn't go with MA... the demo seemed to work okay... but the production version was like trying to stop a jello mould from wobbling. It wasn't the first or last Linux package I've ever purchased (Closed and Open) but it was certainly the worst purchase.
Maybe it's the developer in me. One becomes proficient with eye-rolling every time someone vouches for their wanted feature "because without it your software will not become mainstream". It's a self-serving tactic, trying to get what you want by pushing the fear of obscurity, which likely just takes time away from more needed work. We all have different ways of trying to coax the world to our bidding, that one tends to make me put it into the last position in the consideration queue. It happens in all areas, software, electronics development, hell even model aircraft design and most of the time where people have succumbed to the whims, it turns out the 'feature' really didn't make as big an impact as portrayed.
Video editors are a must. I don't miss anything else.
For you, yes - but that's not mainstream in a global user sense. You want it to be, but it isn't. Yes a lot of people would love a good NLVE, myself included (I even bought a copy of MainActor for Linux before the bastards took it away - still it crashed more frequently than even Kdenlive!) but it's not something that'll stop everyone migrating to Linux (just like the lack of 100% VBA script compatibility in LibreOffice doesn't stop people migrating), hell most people have no idea what a NLVE is, let alone use one.
This is an area where Linux desperately needs to be competitive if there's hope for the Linux desktop going mainstream anytime soon.
Okay, look, I know we all believe that we know what's best for the market and what's in demand - but I am so sick of hearing this line pulled out. "What Linux really needs is ***** if it's to become acceptable in the mainstream". The reality is that there's no single app that will propel Linux into the mainstream magically, the best we can do is just continue to improve where we can and as we do we pick up more and more converts. We are long past a position where a single application will suddenly make Linux mainstream. For every application/area you knock off that list there will always be another one that raises its head.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing our best to deliver great new apps of good stability and functionality (like Inkscape, Scribus etc), I'm saying that the sky isn't falling if we don't deliver X Y or Z.
Paul.
I wonder how many people will get this reference - ah well, was funny for me :D +1
No, I think salivating is right - because it'll mean a very long, protracted law suit likely - which means a lot of billable hours and at a higher rate because after all, they're not just dealing with anyone, they're handling the US Govt (realistic or not). Win or lose, it doesn't matter.