So, I'd love to hear from some experts about just what level of custom board would be doable for a hobbyist?
Depends on your definition of "hobbyist." I'm an electrical engineer who also does hardware/software design & development both as a hobby and for pay as a side job. You can build pretty sophisticated hardware these days: it's never been easier.
I use the free version Eagle CAD to do PC boards under Linux, and there are plenty of shops that will build prototypes for under US$100. Most of the important parts manufacturers will either give you free samples, or sell small quantities off their website. My compiler of choice is gcc, also free.
My biggest problem is usually coming up with a cool project that's (a) worth doing, (b) doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and (c) can be done by one person who's married with a small child in less than a lifetime (i.e., 6 months or so:-)
As a result, my most interesting projects tend to be from the people who pay me to design something they need, but have no idea how to do.: generally people with plenty of expertise in fields other than electrical and software engineering.
The stuff I come up with on my own tends to not get finished; OTOH, knowing someone's waiting on me to deliver (and is paying) is a huge motivator to get done on time.
I may be confusing you with someone else, but I thought you lived in Minnesota. It can't possibly have gone up that much (or can it, he asks darkly): I was married by a judge a year ago in Dakota County, MN and it only cost $75.
I'm work at a consulting shop, so this might only be applicable to some... but get as much face time with the clients as possbile, and be sure that they know you are the one to call when something needs to get done
It's quite applicable at most places. I have zero contact with our product's end users, but I have a lot of contact with the internal users: training, service, etc. Making sure they know I'm the guy who can answer all their questions, or at least find the answer if I don't know it right away makes me the "go-to guy." That kind of visibility gets converted into good reviews (read: raises & bonus) come annual review time.
This article comes at just the right time for me. I'm at work and this morning I got a notice in the mail about a commercial building up for lease/sale. Couldn't understand why it was send to my office until I remembered that the last real estate investment group meeting I went to, I gave them my work phone #. I'm positive someone did a reverse phone lookup and sent it here to me because of my attending that meeting. Even more so since it didn't include my mailstop that wouldn't be available from Google or the like.
Hey, thanks for that link. I know you're not a software vendor, but if you don't already, you may want to checkout www.microISV.com and the Business of Software column at Joel on Software: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz
Sounds a bit like companies advertising with their trade register ID instead of a name to me
Pretty much because they have to. Even if a a station is better known by their name, eg "Minnesota Public Radio" or "MPR" here in MN, by law they are required to identify themselves by their call letters, "KNOW," every half hour. So the ID ends up sounding like "this is K-N-O-W, Minnesota Public Radio, broadcasting from..."
My house was built in the 50's when no one cared about energy
My first house was like this. Built in the early 50's, 1,000 sq ft. I added insulation under the attic floorboards, and the house had brand new HVAC system and electronic timer thermostat. With all that, a $200 heating bill in winter was average. I thought that was normal: it gets *cold* in Minnesota.
Then we moved to a house built in the mid 80's. Twice the sq. footage, plenty of big windows, old HVAC... and the highest heating bill in 2 years is $80! In summer, the cost of A/C is barely noticeable. It's insane how much difference insulation everywhere and good sealing makes.
Of course I do have an 18 mpg SUV to make up for it;-)
I've had co-workers, smart people too, who wouldn't even invest in a 401k
Why wouldn't they? I really don't see any downside to it, unless they put all that money in a Roth instead, or they have another investment that returns much more.
Downloadable TV is different because unlike music, viewers are used to seeing commercials on TV.
It will take off when it's free. TiVo and the like are giving advertisers fits. But if they could let you D/L the show/get a free DVD of it at the grocery checkout counter with non deletable/no fast forward allowed commercials intact, it may prove to be even more profitable than broadcasting to millions of people.
Besides the movie chanels, about the only thing I watch on TV is the Food Network and Speed channel. What's an advertiser's cost per viewer to air a single ad on either of those shows? Would it be more profitable for them to buy time on a DVD of "Barbecue with Bobby Flay" that was free with a bag of groceries at the local upscale grocery store? A copy of "The Ferrari Story" DVD free with any $10 purchase at the auto parts store? Now instead of broadcasting to people who just happened to tune in cause nothing else was on, they're targeting people very likely to be interested in their product.
These guys will eventually catch on to new media: it's either that or die, and they'll die hard.
which of those do you consider to be a bigger difference
What I was thinking at the time is that for a huge number of people, there isn't much difference: they'll get into financial trouble or barely get by (more likely) at any of those levels. My experience is that as people make more, they spend more. So if they were living paycheck to paycheck at $20k, they end up doing so at $180k, or just having minimal savings.
I'm not holding myself out as some kind of saint, just that I notice that I handle money differently than most. That may not come across in my post, but I do: except for the occasional splurge, I'm generally quite frugal. My lifestyle is exactly the same as it was 30k/year ago; but instead of being able to go 6 months without a job, we could comfortably go about 2 years without working, and I was able to help my wife start a business.
In terms of investment, my version of "considering" means actively researching, calculating feasibility, investigating actual opportunities (a friend of a friend wants to meet with me to discuss buying his building), etc, as opposed to sitting on the couch thinking "I should really buy a cheap rental property someday."
Drop by the Business of Software forum on the Joel on Software blog. This comes up from time to time and there are plenty of knowledgeable people there with a MUCH higher S/N ration than/.
Basically, before you do *anything* else, go find customers. That's the only thing you can be guaranteed that a consultant (or any business) needs. Take a trip to the business section of your local library: there are tons of business books and HOWTOs on getting started consulting.
I moved for a job once. Nearly accross the continent (North America & East-West axis). Not being a terribly gregarious person, and as indiosyncratic and paranoid as I am, it was miserable.
That's a pity. I was in a similar situation: I left a job I really liked because I finally had enough income and savings to buy a house, but didn't want to settle down in that part of the country. So I got a new job halfway across the continent where I didn't know a soul. And I historically am not good at making new friends.
But the difference is that I took it as an opportunity to "find myself." I discovered that if I put my mind to it, I could be outgoing and friendly, and pretty much went through a (positive!) personality change. I can honestly say that I'm a much different and better person for having done it; my only regret is that I didn't do it ten years earlier!
jump from $20k to $60k usually equates to a substantial improvement in the avaialability of basic necessities and financial security. the jump from $60k to $180k usually only allows people to spend money on a lot of stupid sh*t that they don't really need anyway
And then there's the weirdos like me who use the jump in pay to invest in stocks, buy a house, consider buying another property as an investment, and look at buying a franchise. Not everyone wants to piss away their money on stupid shit they don't really need.
But from what I've seen, I'm way in the minority when it comes to that attitude.
It's pretty easy to build. Just need one multiple-voltage power supply that can handle the entire load. Most equipment powered by wall warts will be fine with 9-12VDC, or 24VDC. If not, you can use a bunch of adjustable voltage regulators, but each one will consume power and waste more than an equivalent wall wart. Add a bunch of cables, jacks and probably a fuse on each output and you're done.
But is it really worth this effort just to avoid an eyesore? Just hide it behind a desk somewhere.
Huh? The entire world doesn't live in North America or Western Europe, you know. There are millions of people who live in areas where there is NO cellphone radiation, NO man-made microwave energy, and in fact little or NO electricity at all. Amazonian South America, central New Guinea, a large percentage of Africa. There's your control group!
they do not allow trees with a trunk diameter over 4 inches.
That's insane! The whole reason (OK, large part of it:-) for having your own home is having trees. REAL trees. I have close to 20 trees on my property and maybe 6 of them would fit that requirement.
OK, now I know yet one more area of the country I'm never living in!
I have spend the first 5years of homeownership burying, removing and killing my lawn and other popularily cultivated plants
Good for you. Lest you think I'm being sarcastic, I mean it.
I did the same thing when I lived on a small city lot: ripped up about half of the grass and planted vegetables, strawberries, raspberries and lots of prairie plants & wildflowers. There's a special pleasure in pulling an enormous carrot out of the dirt, washing it off and crunching on it for 1/2 an hour. Sad to think that the buyer probably dug that all up and put grass back, but it's his house now.
But in a 1/2 acre surburban plot, I'd go nuts trying to do the same thing on a relative scale. Would be nice to have a 1/2 acre prairie all my own, but the town would never let me get away with it. Too many "unsightly" 3' tall grasses & flowers. Guess that'll have to wait until we move completely out of the burbs (already living on the edge).
Ok, if you've got kids and are still mowing your own lawn, you're missing the boat!
Ok, if you'd let a 4 year-old push a 7hp lawnmower, you should be shot! Having kids doesn't automatically mean they're teenagers.
And the OP's right. Two hours steering a heavy, dog-crap spewing, mechanical monster up and down hill, around trees, shrubs and flowerbeds is a royal pain in the ass. But it's still worth it for the privilege of being able to sit back and watch the birds & animals, listen to the rustle of the leaves in the wind and wish that the wildlife preserve behind the yard was bigger.
OK, totally OT, but:-) I'm assuming that by "930" you mean the 911 Turbo. My brother in law has an '89 and it's been almost a year since I was in it, but I keep thinking it accelerated much faster than my '04 350Z (which I didn't own at the time). But looking at power/weight numbers, they should be pretty much the same, so I have to ask. Have you driven a Z, or anything comparable, and is the 930 noticeably faster?
Could just be that his was a cabrio, and you get more of a sensation of speed, but it really puzzles me. Have to drive it again next time we visit.
I use Simpli.biz which I heard about because the owner used to post here as Slashchick. Cheap and they have always responded to my questions with a couple of hours at most. I have a small business site & also receive email through them (seems to be some problem with sending email).
my MINI Cooper reads about 3mph high at low speeds - going up to 5mph high at 80 to 100mph
How did you clock that? Whenever I've gone by one of those "please slow down" roadside radar speed indicator thingies, it's always been pretty much spot on. Around here they're usually on roads with 45 or 55 mph limits.
I've seen LCD's go completely black when they overheated
You can apparently get ones that have wider temp. ranges. Both of my vehicles have at least one LCD display and here in central MN, typical temperature variation is from the -20F we had last month, to the >95F we'll have in early August. Farther north, -50F is seen a few times each year. I'm guessing someone makes automotive temp. range spec'd LCD displays.
When I first noticed that the odometer was an LCD display, I was concerned about it, but I have never noticed any variation in display performance. OTOH, 2 weeks ago I got my handheld GPS out of the truck after it had cold-soaked overnight at -10F, and it took about 1/2 hour in a 70F room before the display warmed up enough to work OK.
Anyway, it's a cool project. He should put it up on a site when he gets started.
You don't say what kind of data he's passing around. Is he actually connecting PCs together, or is this like temperature & humidity data? For the former, you're on the righ track. For the latter, there are any number of potential solutions that can't be decided on without more information.
By the time we got home there was a message for me on the answering machine.
That was pretty quick. About a week after we came back from an Alaskan vacation, I got a letter from Citibank showing all the charges I made there, and asking me to verify that my card hadn't been stolen. I guess the sudden flurry of activity 2,000 miles away on a card that averages less than $100 purchases per month triggered some algorithm.
I've also gotten phone calls from Citibank security asking about weird activity on my account. The guy said it looked like someone was testing to see if the card was valid before using it to buy something big (apparently they see this a lot). The charges never showed up on my bill.
Slashdot Mirror
Depends on your definition of "hobbyist."
I'm an electrical engineer who also does hardware/software design & development both as a hobby and for pay as a side job. You can build pretty sophisticated hardware these days: it's never been easier.
I use the free version Eagle CAD to do PC boards under Linux, and there are plenty of shops that will build prototypes for under US$100. Most of the important parts manufacturers will either give you free samples, or sell small quantities off their website. My compiler of choice is gcc, also free.
My biggest problem is usually coming up with a cool project that's (a) worth doing, (b) doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and (c) can be done by one person who's married with a small child in less than a lifetime (i.e., 6 months or so
As a result, my most interesting projects tend to be from the people who pay me to design something they need, but have no idea how to do.: generally people with plenty of expertise in fields other than electrical and software engineering.
The stuff I come up with on my own tends to not get finished; OTOH, knowing someone's waiting on me to deliver (and is paying) is a huge motivator to get done on time.
HTH
I may be confusing you with someone else, but I thought you lived in Minnesota. It can't possibly have gone up that much (or can it, he asks darkly): I was married by a judge a year ago in Dakota County, MN and it only cost $75.
It's quite applicable at most places. I have zero contact with our product's end users, but I have a lot of contact with the internal users: training, service, etc. Making sure they know I'm the guy who can answer all their questions, or at least find the answer if I don't know it right away makes me the "go-to guy." That kind of visibility gets converted into good reviews (read: raises & bonus) come annual review time.
This article comes at just the right time for me. I'm at work and this morning I got a notice in the mail about a commercial building up for lease/sale. Couldn't understand why it was send to my office until I remembered that the last real estate investment group meeting I went to, I gave them my work phone #. I'm positive someone did a reverse phone lookup and sent it here to me because of my attending that meeting. Even more so since it didn't include my mailstop that wouldn't be available from Google or the like.
:-)
Sneaky bastards, but clever
Hey, thanks for that link. I know you're not a software vendor, but if you don't already, you may want to checkout www.microISV.com and the Business of Software column at Joel on Software: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz
Pretty much because they have to. Even if a a station is better known by their name, eg "Minnesota Public Radio" or "MPR" here in MN, by law they are required to identify themselves by their call letters, "KNOW," every half hour. So the ID ends up sounding like "this is K-N-O-W, Minnesota Public Radio, broadcasting from..."
My first house was like this. Built in the early 50's, 1,000 sq ft. I added insulation under the attic floorboards, and the house had brand new HVAC system and electronic timer thermostat. With all that, a $200 heating bill in winter was average. I thought that was normal: it gets *cold* in Minnesota.
Then we moved to a house built in the mid 80's. Twice the sq. footage, plenty of big windows, old HVAC... and the highest heating bill in 2 years is $80! In summer, the cost of A/C is barely noticeable. It's insane how much difference insulation everywhere and good sealing makes.
Of course I do have an 18 mpg SUV to make up for it
Why wouldn't they? I really don't see any downside to it, unless they put all that money in a Roth instead, or they have another investment that returns much more.
Downloadable TV is different because unlike music, viewers are used to seeing commercials on TV.
It will take off when it's free. TiVo and the like are giving advertisers fits. But if they could let you D/L the show/get a free DVD of it at the grocery checkout counter with non deletable/no fast forward allowed commercials intact, it may prove to be even more profitable than broadcasting to millions of people.
Besides the movie chanels, about the only thing I watch on TV is the Food Network and Speed channel. What's an advertiser's cost per viewer to air a single ad on either of those shows? Would it be more profitable for them to buy time on a DVD of "Barbecue with Bobby Flay" that was free with a bag of groceries at the local upscale grocery store? A copy of "The Ferrari Story" DVD free with any $10 purchase at the auto parts store?
Now instead of broadcasting to people who just happened to tune in cause nothing else was on, they're targeting people very likely to be interested in their product.
These guys will eventually catch on to new media: it's either that or die, and they'll die hard.
What I was thinking at the time is that for a huge number of people, there isn't much difference: they'll get into financial trouble or barely get by (more likely) at any of those levels. My experience is that as people make more, they spend more. So if they were living paycheck to paycheck at $20k, they end up doing so at $180k, or just having minimal savings.
I'm not holding myself out as some kind of saint, just that I notice that I handle money differently than most. That may not come across in my post, but I do: except for the occasional splurge, I'm generally quite frugal. My lifestyle is exactly the same as it was 30k/year ago; but instead of being able to go 6 months without a job, we could comfortably go about 2 years without working, and I was able to help my wife start a business.
In terms of investment, my version of "considering" means actively researching, calculating feasibility, investigating actual opportunities (a friend of a friend wants to meet with me to discuss buying his building), etc, as opposed to sitting on the couch thinking "I should really buy a cheap rental property someday."
Drop by the Business of Software forum on the Joel on Software blog. This comes up from time to time and there are plenty of knowledgeable people there with a MUCH higher S/N ration than /.
Basically, before you do *anything* else, go find customers. That's the only thing you can be guaranteed that a consultant (or any business) needs. Take a trip to the business section of your local library: there are tons of business books and HOWTOs on getting started consulting.
That's a pity. I was in a similar situation: I left a job I really liked because I finally had enough income and savings to buy a house, but didn't want to settle down in that part of the country. So I got a new job halfway across the continent where I didn't know a soul. And I historically am not good at making new friends.
But the difference is that I took it as an opportunity to "find myself." I discovered that if I put my mind to it, I could be outgoing and friendly, and pretty much went through a (positive!) personality change. I can honestly say that I'm a much different and better person for having done it; my only regret is that I didn't do it ten years earlier!
And then there's the weirdos like me who use the jump in pay to invest in stocks, buy a house, consider buying another property as an investment, and look at buying a franchise. Not everyone wants to piss away their money on stupid shit they don't really need.
But from what I've seen, I'm way in the minority when it comes to that attitude.
It's pretty easy to build. Just need one multiple-voltage power supply that can handle the entire load. Most equipment powered by wall warts will be fine with 9-12VDC, or 24VDC. If not, you can use a bunch of adjustable voltage regulators, but each one will consume power and waste more than an equivalent wall wart. Add a bunch of cables, jacks and probably a fuse on each output and you're done.
But is it really worth this effort just to avoid an eyesore? Just hide it behind a desk somewhere.
Huh? The entire world doesn't live in North America or Western Europe, you know. There are millions of people who live in areas where there is NO cellphone radiation, NO man-made microwave energy, and in fact little or NO electricity at all. Amazonian South America, central New Guinea, a large percentage of Africa. There's your control group!
That's insane! The whole reason (OK, large part of it:-) for having your own home is having trees. REAL trees. I have close to 20 trees on my property and maybe 6 of them would fit that requirement.
OK, now I know yet one more area of the country I'm never living in!
Good for you. Lest you think I'm being sarcastic, I mean it.
I did the same thing when I lived on a small city lot: ripped up about half of the grass and planted vegetables, strawberries, raspberries and lots of prairie plants & wildflowers. There's a special pleasure in pulling an enormous carrot out of the dirt, washing it off and crunching on it for 1/2 an hour. Sad to think that the buyer probably dug that all up and put grass back, but it's his house now.
But in a 1/2 acre surburban plot, I'd go nuts trying to do the same thing on a relative scale. Would be nice to have a 1/2 acre prairie all my own, but the town would never let me get away with it. Too many "unsightly" 3' tall grasses & flowers. Guess that'll have to wait until we move completely out of the burbs (already living on the edge).
Ok, if you'd let a 4 year-old push a 7hp lawnmower, you should be shot! Having kids doesn't automatically mean they're teenagers.
And the OP's right. Two hours steering a heavy, dog-crap spewing, mechanical monster up and down hill, around trees, shrubs and flowerbeds is a royal pain in the ass. But it's still worth it for the privilege of being able to sit back and watch the birds & animals, listen to the rustle of the leaves in the wind and wish that the wildlife preserve behind the yard was bigger.
OK, totally OT, but
I'm assuming that by "930" you mean the 911 Turbo. My brother in law has an '89 and it's been almost a year since I was in it, but I keep thinking it accelerated much faster than my '04 350Z (which I didn't own at the time). But looking at power/weight numbers, they should be pretty much the same, so I have to ask. Have you driven a Z, or anything comparable, and is the 930 noticeably faster?
Could just be that his was a cabrio, and you get more of a sensation of speed, but it really puzzles me. Have to drive it again next time we visit.
Hmmm. I make my own (fairly good) wine. I wonder what you'd think that was worth if I gave you a bottle of it in exchange for services
I use Simpli.biz which I heard about because the owner used to post here as Slashchick. Cheap and they have always responded to my questions with a couple of hours at most. I have a small business site & also receive email through them (seems to be some problem with sending email).
How did you clock that? Whenever I've gone by one of those "please slow down" roadside radar speed indicator thingies, it's always been pretty much spot on. Around here they're usually on roads with 45 or 55 mph limits.
You can apparently get ones that have wider temp. ranges. Both of my vehicles have at least one LCD display and here in central MN, typical temperature variation is from the -20F we had last month, to the >95F we'll have in early August. Farther north, -50F is seen a few times each year. I'm guessing someone makes automotive temp. range spec'd LCD displays.
When I first noticed that the odometer was an LCD display, I was concerned about it, but I have never noticed any variation in display performance. OTOH, 2 weeks ago I got my handheld GPS out of the truck after it had cold-soaked overnight at -10F, and it took about 1/2 hour in a 70F room before the display warmed up enough to work OK.
Anyway, it's a cool project. He should put it up on a site when he gets started.
You don't say what kind of data he's passing around. Is he actually connecting PCs together, or is this like temperature & humidity data?
For the former, you're on the righ track. For the latter, there are any number of potential solutions that can't be decided on without more information.
That was pretty quick. About a week after we came back from an Alaskan vacation, I got a letter from Citibank showing all the charges I made there, and asking me to verify that my card hadn't been stolen. I guess the sudden flurry of activity 2,000 miles away on a card that averages less than $100 purchases per month triggered some algorithm.
I've also gotten phone calls from Citibank security asking about weird activity on my account. The guy said it looked like someone was testing to see if the card was valid before using it to buy something big (apparently they see this a lot). The charges never showed up on my bill.