Professionally, I use Capilano's DesignWorks schematic capture on a Mac (they also support Windows). They have demos and some educational deals . (I use MacSpice for analog simulation and Osmond for PCB layout.) HTH.
I don't think of myself as an Apple fanboy, but I have bought lots of Macs over the years (starting with a Lisa 2 with MacWorks waaay back in 1984 - I'm old, too). I tend to like most of Apple's products, but the app store sucks, at least for developers.
First of all, you have to submit your app and wait an indeterminate amount of time (usually a week) for it to be approved presumably by some semi-trained monkey-boy. Then there's the whole release date fiasco that costs you sales unless you know about it.
But the worst part, is the freakin' rating system: rate-on-delete? YGTBFKM! And the ratings show up in the 'App store' app, but not in iTunes? And your competitors come along and give you the lowest rating and you have no recourse. Or the luser who didn't read the app description - it's enough to make a BOFH's head explode! I mean, my calculator app may not be great, but it's not crap. http://ghostwood.org/software/ (sorry about the shameless self-promotion).
Anyway, I understand where Trent's coming from - which, come to think of it, is a scary thought.
Note that I was talking about industrial automation, not automobiles. For example, in the ODVA world, DeviceNet (which is based on CAN) is fading in favor of Ethernet/IP.
It's pretty hard to argue with the performance and cost of Ethernet versus the "older" stuff. At least in industrial automation - I don't know much about automobiles.
FWIW, the automation in my place is done via Ethernet using http://driveweb.com/.
In industrial automation, CAN (and similar) are rapidly being replaced by Ethernet.
When I built my place, I ran all wiring in conduits and I oversized them. That way, you can change stuff and pull new wires when you need to. It always seemed insane to me to put all this expensive unused cable in the walls on the off chance that it might be what you need in the future.
We had a new industrial control product (hardware boxes and a GUI running on a PC) which we had to demo at a big trade show. The team hacked away until the last possible moment and then I got to drive the stuff overnight to Chicago (600 miles).
We got there, set it up and it worked fine... except the message window filled up with "The little piece of code that's never supposed to execute just executed!" - probably about five a second scrolling continuously off the top of the window.
By strategically placing a graphical window over the top of the message window, we got away with the demo, but "clever" error messages were frowned on from then on.
We live in rural Montana, about 6000ft altitude, at the end of 3-1/2 miles of steep dirt road. The nearest city is Billings, which is 90 miles away. I chose a Jeep Grand Cherokee because it has reasonable ground clearance, a good 4WD system (Quadradrive) for the plenty of snow that we get, and it performs well on the freeway (I telecommute, but my wife goes to Billings once of twice a month). For 7 months per year we have winter tires installed and Spikes Spider chains ready to go. IMHO, the Jeep SUV is the best choice for our (admittedly unusual) situation.
Even in the Summer, the Jeep's relatively high ground clearance and skid plates are useful - several vehicles have been badly damaged by rocks on our road. One 8-passenger van - that I happened to be driving:( - hit a rock, broke a 4" x 3" chunk out of the low-hanging cast aluminum sump, and dumped all its oil in about 3 seconds.
When the weather gets bad, I have a Unimog 406 with a large V-plow and a Schmidt VF3C snowcutter.
My family of three uses less than 700 gallons of water per month. We have a composting toilet, an Oxygenics shower head and water-efficient appliances (made by Miele). The graywater (all our effluent) goes through a planting bed where we grow ornamental plants, herbs, miniature fruit trees, etc. From the planting bed, the effluent goes to tree irrigation. We're very comfortable.
Debugging embedded code in a plant that made tires: hot, smelly, big-shot managers (the customer) yelling at you because the line is down and they're losing $XXXXX per hour, very little sleep. And the problem turned out to be a bad connectors, not software at all. I had to throw away a bunch of clothes because the smell would not come out.
Most estimates seem to put the number of birds killed by windows at somewhere around 100,000,000 per year.
Here's one reference: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_UW054
3-1/2 miles of steep dirt road at 6000ft in Montana means that high ground clearance, good 4WD, and tire chains are a necessity. (In fact, the road can get pretty bad in the winter - I ended up buying an old Unimog with a snowplow to keep it open).
And I commute on foot from my bedroom to my office, so I don't drive all that much.
Here in Montana, where we have only one area code (and still span a time zone), the phone company just reduced the number of digits we have to dial: calls to Billings (90 miles away) used to require the area code (10 digits), but now they're a local call (7 digits).
Here in Montana, where we have only one area code (and still span a time zone), the phone company just reduced the number of digits we have to dial: calls to Billings (90 miles away) used to require the area code, but now they're a local call.
There are a lot of posts in this thread that say, in effect, "nobody uses Java on the desktop, so who cares about this decision". Well, I'm a developer who uses Java on the desktop. Why? So that I can deliver cross-platform apps (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.) from the same codebase. So I can use Java Web Start to securely deliver those apps over the Internet. So that I can use a language that is (IMHO) better than C++. Sure there are a few things that I'd like to see improved in Java, but it's an excellent platform with some unique advantages. Unfortunately, Microsoft's smear campaign has been effective - many users erroneously think that Java is 'dead' or 'bad' or 'slow'.
I read an article in Science News a while back that talked about a measurable slowing of the rotation of the Earth caused by the widespread damming of waterways. Holding so much water at higher altitude causes the Earth's rotation to slow slightly (conservation of angular momentum).
Or sign up for the Select ADC membership. It costs you $500, but you can also get software seeds (if you sign the NDA). And, after the first year, you get a hardware discount that typically pays for the membership (assuming you use it). Oh, and you get 5 OS licenses as long as you're use them for developing, testing, etc. There are some other benefits, too, (that I've never used). http://developer.apple.com/membership/select.html
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Professionally, I use Capilano's DesignWorks schematic capture on a Mac (they also support Windows). They have demos and some educational deals . (I use MacSpice for analog simulation and Osmond for PCB layout.) HTH.
I don't think of myself as an Apple fanboy, but I have bought lots of Macs over the years (starting with a Lisa 2 with MacWorks waaay back in 1984 - I'm old, too). I tend to like most of Apple's products, but the app store sucks, at least for developers.
First of all, you have to submit your app and wait an indeterminate amount of time (usually a week) for it to be approved presumably by some semi-trained monkey-boy. Then there's the whole release date fiasco that costs you sales unless you know about it.
But the worst part, is the freakin' rating system: rate-on-delete? YGTBFKM! And the ratings show up in the 'App store' app, but not in iTunes? And your competitors come along and give you the lowest rating and you have no recourse. Or the luser who didn't read the app description - it's enough to make a BOFH's head explode! I mean, my calculator app may not be great, but it's not crap. http://ghostwood.org/software/ (sorry about the shameless self-promotion).
Anyway, I understand where Trent's coming from - which, come to think of it, is a scary thought.
I wrote code (bug fixes) on the production floor of a tire factory in Charlotte NC in the Summer. Horrible in so many ways.
Wow, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition.
Note that I was talking about industrial automation, not automobiles. For example, in the ODVA world, DeviceNet (which is based on CAN) is fading in favor of Ethernet/IP.
It's pretty hard to argue with the performance and cost of Ethernet versus the "older" stuff. At least in industrial automation - I don't know much about automobiles.
FWIW, the automation in my place is done via Ethernet using http://driveweb.com/.
In industrial automation, CAN (and similar) are rapidly being replaced by Ethernet.
When I built my place, I ran all wiring in conduits and I oversized them. That way, you can change stuff and pull new wires when you need to. It always seemed insane to me to put all this expensive unused cable in the walls on the off chance that it might be what you need in the future.
The three pillars of government: incompetence, corruption and taxes.
We had a new industrial control product (hardware boxes and a GUI running on a PC) which we had to demo at a big trade show. The team hacked away until the last possible moment and then I got to drive the stuff overnight to Chicago (600 miles).
... except the message window filled up with "The little piece of code that's never supposed to execute just executed!" - probably about five a second scrolling continuously off the top of the window.
We got there, set it up and it worked fine
By strategically placing a graphical window over the top of the message window, we got away with the demo, but "clever" error messages were frowned on from then on.
It's...a...giant space goat!
Dual monitors? That was 1986 on my Mac II.
What about iBank?
We live in rural Montana, about 6000ft altitude, at the end of 3-1/2 miles of steep dirt road. The nearest city is Billings, which is 90 miles away. I chose a Jeep Grand Cherokee because it has reasonable ground clearance, a good 4WD system (Quadradrive) for the plenty of snow that we get, and it performs well on the freeway (I telecommute, but my wife goes to Billings once of twice a month). For 7 months per year we have winter tires installed and Spikes Spider chains ready to go. IMHO, the Jeep SUV is the best choice for our (admittedly unusual) situation.
:( - hit a rock, broke a 4" x 3" chunk out of the low-hanging cast aluminum sump, and dumped all its oil in about 3 seconds.
Even in the Summer, the Jeep's relatively high ground clearance and skid plates are useful - several vehicles have been badly damaged by rocks on our road. One 8-passenger van - that I happened to be driving
When the weather gets bad, I have a Unimog 406 with a large V-plow and a Schmidt VF3C snowcutter.
My family of three uses less than 700 gallons of water per month. We have a composting toilet, an Oxygenics shower head and water-efficient appliances (made by Miele). The graywater (all our effluent) goes through a planting bed where we grow ornamental plants, herbs, miniature fruit trees, etc. From the planting bed, the effluent goes to tree irrigation. We're very comfortable.
Debugging embedded code in a plant that made tires: hot, smelly, big-shot managers (the customer) yelling at you because the line is down and they're losing $XXXXX per hour, very little sleep. And the problem turned out to be a bad connectors, not software at all. I had to throw away a bunch of clothes because the smell would not come out.
Most estimates seem to put the number of birds killed by windows at somewhere around 100,000,000 per year.
Here's one reference: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_UW054
3-1/2 miles of steep dirt road at 6000ft in Montana means that high ground clearance, good 4WD, and tire chains are a necessity. (In fact, the road can get pretty bad in the winter - I ended up buying an old Unimog with a snowplow to keep it open).
And I commute on foot from my bedroom to my office, so I don't drive all that much.
Here in Montana, where we have only one area code (and still span a time zone), the phone company just reduced the number of digits we have to dial: calls to Billings (90 miles away) used to require the area code (10 digits), but now they're a local call (7 digits).
Here in Montana, where we have only one area code (and still span a time zone), the phone company just reduced the number of digits we have to dial: calls to Billings (90 miles away) used to require the area code, but now they're a local call.
"Mac OS X Unleashed" by John Ray and William C Ray has a lot of good stuff on NetInfo - clustering, NFS mounts, user management, etc.
There are a lot of posts in this thread that say, in effect, "nobody uses Java on the desktop, so who cares about this decision". Well, I'm a developer who uses Java on the desktop. Why? So that I can deliver cross-platform apps (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.) from the same codebase. So I can use Java Web Start to securely deliver those apps over the Internet. So that I can use a language that is (IMHO) better than C++. Sure there are a few things that I'd like to see improved in Java, but it's an excellent platform with some unique advantages. Unfortunately, Microsoft's smear campaign has been effective - many users erroneously think that Java is 'dead' or 'bad' or 'slow'.
Yeah, it's hard to beat the bandwidth of a truckload of CD's or DVD's doing 70mph down the interstate... ...but the latency...
This is an interesting paper on the subject: paper
Damn, this is a time-sink: Angband
I read an article in Science News a while back that talked about a measurable slowing of the rotation of the Earth caused by the widespread damming of waterways. Holding so much water at higher altitude causes the Earth's rotation to slow slightly (conservation of angular momentum).
Or sign up for the Select ADC membership. It costs you $500, but you can also get software seeds (if you sign the NDA). And, after the first year, you get a hardware discount that typically pays for the membership (assuming you use it). Oh, and you get 5 OS licenses as long as you're use them for developing, testing, etc. There are some other benefits, too, (that I've never used). http://developer.apple.com/membership/select.html
...that way I could backup onto floppies.