Take a look at what happens inside a cell. Plenty of rotating joints and tracks. Ribosomes and flagella anyone? Wheels, I grant that. But the reason is probably that at the molecular scale they make no sense
That's right, the kind of fusion in a star will never work on the Earth. Because it's too inefficient. We need to surpass the conditions at the core of a star if we want fusion power. Still feel like making cocky unfunny "observations" now?
So a scope is an entertainment device for you. That's great, but someone just starting out does not need your elitist attitude either. An oscilloscope is an expensive instrument in any case. Why not get the beginner started with solid, basic tools first?
Would you recommend a Porsche 911 for someone learning to drive just because you have 50 years experience driving and have fun in your Porsche? Fine if you can afford it, but how about a nice pair of socks and sneakers first? Then a bicycle? There's plenty of time for that new hobbyist to get into "analog fun", but that doesn't mean s\/he should throw away the other 50 years of progress in electronics that we are enjoying now.
I'm just being pragmatic and realistic.
If you're someone with 300$ to spend on starting out, that's either 1 so-so probably used scope and nothing else, or a used power supply, a basic multimeter and a soldering iron. With a bit more work, insistence and luck that 300$ is going to get some parts too.
What's better for the neophyte? Especially if they still have decades ahead of them to get into all the other nooks and crannies of electronics.
"Do you honestly think that the year has anything to do with an individual's physical fitness?"
I can't parse that sentence. The time of year? Yes, of course it does. I'm in Montreal. We have this thing called winter. If you think you're as active in winter as in summer in a Nordic climate, come on up and show me. It was -19 Celcius today. Even I don't bike in this cold. I could, but the salt and gravel is rough on my road bike. My hybrid got stolen. (Did I mention Montreal?)
The year, as is my age? Of course it has something to do with my physical fitness. Are you insane?
You are gangly and skinny and I am robust. Deal with it. Do you think I have a gut or something? And "around" my age? Hoo boy, have I got news for you, you're at the cusp of some dramatic changes in your body! Guaranteed. Keep in touch, let me know when you hit middle-age. You'll see.
Here are is an overweight individual for you to complain about:
I get the feeling you are trumpeting the BMI as some sort measure of individual physical fitness. BMI is a demographic tool. It has little to do with individuals. I suspect my legs are far heavier in proportion to my frame than you'd expect. It's one of the reasons I don't like swimming, my legs always sink, you see, muscle and bone don't float.
Exactly. Electronics is now just a support for software. You don't design electronics so much as specify what completed system you want to program. Electronics is a mature field now, the only place I see new challenges is in power electronics, either in cars/EV in general, and HVDC transmission, and I guess solar PV home systems. Everything else? Dead and buried. Take a look at 20 year old electronics magazines: I'd wager 90% of the proposed hobby projects are either useless, too expensive or simply not relevant anymore these days. When was the last time you needed a 100KHz sawtooth generator, even if it had a digital readout of the frequency? Who cares? Anything you needed a 100KHz sawtooth wave for is probably software-defined nowadays, or deeply buried in a 1$ microcontroller (PWM)...
I know I don't even use my oscilloscope much anymore, and I don't understand why some people seem so convinced you absolutely need one. To beginners, I always recommend a good power supply and to not waste time making your own. Get one that works first. Then you need a decent multimeter that at least checks diodes, and maybe capacitor and frequency measurement. Then you need one or two USB based instruments like a logic analyzer and a I2C/SPI/JTAG master. Then add a ICSP programmer for microcontrollers. Of course, a good soldering iron with fine tips, some fine braid, a bit of fine tin/lead solder. (It wets better).
There you go, small, simple, cheap, compact.
Oh I know, like last time I said this someone always comes up with an anecdote of the variety "but I had a signal that didn't work and the oscilloscope showed it had the wrong logic level!"
To which I say read the damn datasheet. You'll learn more and end up knowing your device more. Scopes are a tool of a bygone era where things like television sets had a few signal paths with one or two very complex analog signals snaking around a few active components where having all the information from one or two channels of an analog scope made sense.
"But but but!"
But nothing. Electronics has fundamentally shifted away from the basics of the R, the L and the C and is now about the ONE and the ZERO.
(Disclaimer: For the vast majority of hobyists I believe I am right. Naturally for the professional engineer working in a corporate environment things are different. But even then, there aren't that many 'scopes anymore. It's about the DCA.)
It's not the '70s anymore. People don't look like beanpoles. And at middle age, you pack on bulk if you like it or not, and my body type seems to be more muscular. People ask me if I work out but all I do is bike, kayak, walk. That's all. No weights. When I was 170 I was at my peak of biking. There wasn't too much fat to lose. We're not talking biking to the corner store either.
In any case, if 5 pounds overweight and perfect check ups is the result of my "scorched plate" policy of eating whatever I feel like (I'm munching through some gruyere as I type), that's still pretty good, no?
I might eat a few slices of cake and drown them with an espresso before going to bed.
Did I mention I also never get headaches? And I'll probably lose the 5 pounds in spring when I start biking to work again. It's also entirely possible my legs are oversized for the rest of me since I don't have a car and walk a lot too. Oh and I skate.
Well, selective laser sintering seems to be at that stage, however from what I understand, it's still a huge machine, a slow process and requires as much if not more skill and knowledge as machining from stock.
You aren't going to see huge improvements in designs anymore IMO, just some tweaks in manufacturing processes. SLS can do things like progressively blend from one alloy to another in one part. How much that helps I don't know.
As opposed to food grown, raised, harvested, inspected, transported and sold by your closest family members? I eat out every day because I can afford it, my annual basic medical check up and blood test always come back 100% down the middle and my BP is 110/60. I'm 5'10" 175 and I'm over 40. You can't explain that.
If they are claiming that software can modify a basic physical property like the power output of an amplifier, then simply go into your screen settings, put them manual and select a larger screen than you actually have. When the laptop's monitor fails to stretch before your eyes, return the whole thing as being defective.
We are trying in Quebec, but in typical fashion, it's a massively corrupt, hilariously over-budget boondoggle of epic proportions. It's how things are done here.
Whether or not your speakers are efficient at transforming electrical power into acoustic power is another story. If you can lift your speakers by hand, your efficiency is maybe 1% if you're lucky.
Always with the pushing of expensive boutique-brand pet food. I told my vet my cat likes Friskies and she was shocked, she told me it's like feeding them McDonald's. I asked her why the Canadian Veterinary Association puts their seal of approval on the can then? No easy reply there. But I have heard the same "McDonald's" quip from several different vets and boutique owners that I wonder if the companies send their reps with the same story to sell their food?
Like the Niven short story, forgot the name, but humans buy the plans for the most advanced computer design from benevolent aliens with the warning "you won't like it". We build it on the Moon, just to be safe, after it's turned on it gets smarter and smarter and eventually solves everything it can see and goes catatonic.
Slashdot Mirror
Take a look at what happens inside a cell. Plenty of rotating joints and tracks. Ribosomes and flagella anyone? Wheels, I grant that. But the reason is probably that at the molecular scale they make no sense
So you fire them, is that what that euphemism means?
That's right, the kind of fusion in a star will never work on the Earth. Because it's too inefficient. We need to surpass the conditions at the core of a star if we want fusion power. Still feel like making cocky unfunny "observations" now?
Would you recommend a Porsche 911 for someone learning to drive just because you have 50 years experience driving and have fun in your Porsche? Fine if you can afford it, but how about a nice pair of socks and sneakers first? Then a bicycle? There's plenty of time for that new hobbyist to get into "analog fun", but that doesn't mean s\/he should throw away the other 50 years of progress in electronics that we are enjoying now.
I'm just being pragmatic and realistic.
If you're someone with 300$ to spend on starting out, that's either 1 so-so probably used scope and nothing else, or a used power supply, a basic multimeter and a soldering iron. With a bit more work, insistence and luck that 300$ is going to get some parts too.
What's better for the neophyte? Especially if they still have decades ahead of them to get into all the other nooks and crannies of electronics.
The average hobbyist has what to do with this exactly?
"Do you honestly think that the year has anything to do with an individual's physical fitness?"
I can't parse that sentence. The time of year? Yes, of course it does. I'm in Montreal. We have this thing called winter. If you think you're as active in winter as in summer in a Nordic climate, come on up and show me. It was -19 Celcius today. Even I don't bike in this cold. I could, but the salt and gravel is rough on my road bike. My hybrid got stolen. (Did I mention Montreal?)
The year, as is my age? Of course it has something to do with my physical fitness. Are you insane?
You are gangly and skinny and I am robust. Deal with it. Do you think I have a gut or something? And "around" my age? Hoo boy, have I got news for you, you're at the cusp of some dramatic changes in your body! Guaranteed. Keep in touch, let me know when you hit middle-age. You'll see.
Here are is an overweight individual for you to complain about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...
I get the feeling you are trumpeting the BMI as some sort measure of individual physical fitness. BMI is a demographic tool. It has little to do with individuals. I suspect my legs are far heavier in proportion to my frame than you'd expect. It's one of the reasons I don't like swimming, my legs always sink, you see, muscle and bone don't float.
Exactly. Electronics is now just a support for software. You don't design electronics so much as specify what completed system you want to program. Electronics is a mature field now, the only place I see new challenges is in power electronics, either in cars/EV in general, and HVDC transmission, and I guess solar PV home systems. Everything else? Dead and buried. Take a look at 20 year old electronics magazines: I'd wager 90% of the proposed hobby projects are either useless, too expensive or simply not relevant anymore these days. When was the last time you needed a 100KHz sawtooth generator, even if it had a digital readout of the frequency? Who cares? Anything you needed a 100KHz sawtooth wave for is probably software-defined nowadays, or deeply buried in a 1$ microcontroller (PWM)...
I know I don't even use my oscilloscope much anymore, and I don't understand why some people seem so convinced you absolutely need one. To beginners, I always recommend a good power supply and to not waste time making your own. Get one that works first. Then you need a decent multimeter that at least checks diodes, and maybe capacitor and frequency measurement. Then you need one or two USB based instruments like a logic analyzer and a I2C/SPI/JTAG master. Then add a ICSP programmer for microcontrollers. Of course, a good soldering iron with fine tips, some fine braid, a bit of fine tin/lead solder. (It wets better).
There you go, small, simple, cheap, compact.
Oh I know, like last time I said this someone always comes up with an anecdote of the variety "but I had a signal that didn't work and the oscilloscope showed it had the wrong logic level!"
To which I say read the damn datasheet. You'll learn more and end up knowing your device more. Scopes are a tool of a bygone era where things like television sets had a few signal paths with one or two very complex analog signals snaking around a few active components where having all the information from one or two channels of an analog scope made sense.
"But but but!"
But nothing. Electronics has fundamentally shifted away from the basics of the R, the L and the C and is now about the ONE and the ZERO.
(Disclaimer: For the vast majority of hobyists I believe I am right. Naturally for the professional engineer working in a corporate environment things are different. But even then, there aren't that many 'scopes anymore. It's about the DCA.)
No, why would they? The Inuit people do just fine eating nothing but meat and so did Vilhjalmur Stefansson when he tried it.
In any case, if 5 pounds overweight and perfect check ups is the result of my "scorched plate" policy of eating whatever I feel like (I'm munching through some gruyere as I type), that's still pretty good, no?
I might eat a few slices of cake and drown them with an espresso before going to bed.
Did I mention I also never get headaches? And I'll probably lose the 5 pounds in spring when I start biking to work again. It's also entirely possible my legs are oversized for the rest of me since I don't have a car and walk a lot too. Oh and I skate.
You aren't going to see huge improvements in designs anymore IMO, just some tweaks in manufacturing processes. SLS can do things like progressively blend from one alloy to another in one part. How much that helps I don't know.
As opposed to food grown, raised, harvested, inspected, transported and sold by your closest family members? I eat out every day because I can afford it, my annual basic medical check up and blood test always come back 100% down the middle and my BP is 110/60. I'm 5'10" 175 and I'm over 40. You can't explain that.
Your sig would be even more intensely painful with some apostrophe s thrown in.
Same here, I think we let work encroach into personal life enough as it is. Home is home, I want nothing to do with work at home.
I made a steaming upload not half an hour ago. What did I eat for supper again??
Montreal is fucking awful. I'm looking to leave.
http://www.generalfusion.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
If they are claiming that software can modify a basic physical property like the power output of an amplifier, then simply go into your screen settings, put them manual and select a larger screen than you actually have. When the laptop's monitor fails to stretch before your eyes, return the whole thing as being defective.
We are trying in Quebec, but in typical fashion, it's a massively corrupt, hilariously over-budget boondoggle of epic proportions. It's how things are done here.
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/T...
Whether or not your speakers are efficient at transforming electrical power into acoustic power is another story. If you can lift your speakers by hand, your efficiency is maybe 1% if you're lucky.
You should read Incompetence by Rob Grant...
Always with the pushing of expensive boutique-brand pet food. I told my vet my cat likes Friskies and she was shocked, she told me it's like feeding them McDonald's. I asked her why the Canadian Veterinary Association puts their seal of approval on the can then? No easy reply there. But I have heard the same "McDonald's" quip from several different vets and boutique owners that I wonder if the companies send their reps with the same story to sell their food?
I have a HDMI out on my LG P990, and it's a few years old. It wasn't a big deal then and it isn't now.
Like the Niven short story, forgot the name, but humans buy the plans for the most advanced computer design from benevolent aliens with the warning "you won't like it". We build it on the Moon, just to be safe, after it's turned on it gets smarter and smarter and eventually solves everything it can see and goes catatonic.
Sure, so maybe it'll last 240 hours instead of 24, still WAAAAAAAY off from the lifetime of say a consumer automobile.