You will find the energy savings from allowing the drives to spin down when not needed... a huge savings over keeping them all running continuously (something like 50% of the energy in a datacenter).
Brevity.
That's the key... being brief. I used to write paragraphs of bureaucratic balony until I had a boss that helped me distill things down to the essential.
Start with writing a letter... first, let them flop around for a while writing a wonderfully confusing letter, then teach them the following steps.
A. Figure out who you are writing to and put this at the top of the page.
B. Since you know who you are, put your name at the bottom of the page. Please note that in your career, you WILL write letters for others to sign, so you better get used to asking yourself "who is this from". Remember who the letter is from, because you'll need it later on.
C. Why are you writing this letter. One sentence is cutting it short, three is probably overdoing it. State the reason for the letter.
D. State your desired result to the statement in paragraph C above. Again, keep it short. Remember that if you are writing for your boss, be sure to tell the receiver what your boss wants, not what YOU want.
E. Now for some flowers... you want to be kind (usually). If the letter is from you to a superior, be nice. If it's a letter from a senior to a subordinate... you guessed it... be nice. You want to open simply, with something nice to say (or at the worst, neutral). You want to close the letter the same way... even if you just ripped the receiver's head off for failing to perform a task, you can always put a good spin on it. Don't go overboard. Pay attention to who the letter is from and to here as well. Don't be the tyrant.
F. Type it out, print it out, and read it out loud. Make you squirm? Re do what hurts. Sound good? Make sure you don't have words ending in -ize... a terrible thing. Use simple language, and write in active voice.
It worked for me... got my boss to finally tell me I'd gone too far, and had written too brief a letter. Once I found out what he really liked, writing letters led to writing articles, and writing chapters in standard references.
Also teach your students to write on a conversational level, but not a conversational level they'd have with another engineer, even if the letter IS going to another engineer. Technical stuff is best included as an attachment, but you'll work with them on that later.
Reading the letter BACKWARDS is a great help finding typos, incorrect words, and things that just don't make sense.
Have someone else edit your writing as a matter of course... and do the same for others. It helps make sure you didn't think faster than you typed.
Regards,
I suppose that anything that the US Government does that is not classified might prove to be in the public domain, and as such would invalidate NTP's claims altogether.
The real deal is that in 1989, one of the agencies of the US Government used unencrypted radio to interconnect e-mail between facilities 700 miles apart. This was a hands-free, no operator intervention system (well, the operators DID have to change the HF radio frequencies every 4 hours or so due to propagation) that send and received E-Mail as transparently as with a 2400 baud telephone modem.
Before that, amateur radio operators in the San Francisco Bay area had an automated e-mail system running on radio teletype on a VHF repeater... you did have to log in to check and receive your mail, but this was in the 1981-1982 time frame... predating the US Govt initiative.
Not to take anything away from Geoff Goodfellow... I applaud his efforts.
I guess that if you lived just down the road you could come over and I'd teach you how to rework the solder joints... you MIGHT want to clue the rest of us into what part of the planet you currently occupy!
You can check the phone book for electronics repair, retail, or electronics repair, industrial. Another place that may well be prepared to do this sort of work is a local two-way radio repair shop . The industrial folks and the two-way radio shops might well be better prepared to repair your device, but you may have to pay quite a bit. Be sure you bring all the parts.
What ever you do, don't try liquid metal. I HATE cleaning up after someone tries using that stuff. Ugh.
Once repaired, you might also consider a careful application of epoxy to strengthen the bond between the connector and the board. That is, after all, why the connector came off... solder is pretty much useless by itself when it comes to holding something in place.
Soldering, by itself, isn't all that difficult. It only requires the proper tools and practice... though I don't believe you really want to get that deep into things.
You MIGHT find a ham radio operator that knows what to do, and has the tools to do so, but that's probably a stretch (in the past, ham radio operators were more technically oriented, today it's so much easier to buy the equipment rather than make it. Thus, fewer hams are equipped, much less experienced in micro miniature repair). And yes... I'm a ham as well, I speak from my experiences.
Um... only partly due to social engineering and fast thinking.
For the rest he either tried the standard shipping combinations (25-0-25) or (50-25-50); in many cases the safe combinations were never changed from the "default" combination.
For the rest, he would lean on the safe, twiddling the dial in what appeared to be a random, nervous twitchy thing, when in fact he was trying different combinations in increments of 5 digits. Those locks had rather wide notches in the wheels, and would respond rather nicely (with those nice rounded shoulder cuts) to a number +/- 3 digits. He only had to try numbers in steps of five to come close enough to get the lock open. Remember, he wasn't trying to get the EXACT number, just get the thing open.
He'd return to his office, and note the combination for that particular safe and write it down. Ah, security.
You'd better check the recycling rate for lead-acid batteries before you go on about how horrible it is to dispose or recycle them. With an approximate 94% recycling rate, the lead-acid battery industry is just about as good as it gets. Most of the batteries that don't get recycled are due to ignorance, not the lack of opportunity. ANY lead-acid battery reseller will accept old lead-acid batteries for recycling, since everything in the battery is fully recyclable, and has a strong market for the materials (plastic is reground and used to make new battery cases, the sulfuric acid electrolyte is neturalized and converted to food-grade sodium sulfate (a preservative), and the lead is smelted back into the appropriate alloy(s) for making new lead-acid batteries. Further, the cycle of lead from smelter -> battery manufacturer -> consumer -> old battery to smelter is as tight a closed loop as you'll find (short of a cow in a pasture).
BUT, don't just take my word on it... do some research!
In fact, they were at the bus station waiting for a train.
All they really needed to do was to index each and every Slashdot entry ever made... 'cause you KNOW that all the answers given here are both accurate and intelligent.
Professor Irwin Cory (the self-professed world's foremost expert on everything)... WHERE ARE YOU?
Well, I do have some previous military/government experience. In most cases those "obfuscated" names are technical descriptors to keep everyone from becoming extremely long-winded.
Precise language is important in many areas. Acronyms are a quick way to get the highly detailed language across quickly without sounding like a walking Thesaurus.
Trust me, it is NOT the intent (in most cases) to befuddle the listener.
Try talking computers or any other technical area you are familiar with, to someone who is not. Hint... when their eyes glaze over and they start gnawing on their arm you're hanging onto just so they can escape... it's a pretty good indication you've lapsed into your own version of technical shorthand and have overcome their ability to follow what you are trying to communicate (that also explains the collection of gnawed-off arms in your closet... I think).
Mind you, the acronym-filled language is a living language... step away from it for a couple of years, and you're on the outside looking in. In that case, I'd just say "um, want to clue me in on what you're talking about please". Once you rebuild your index, you're in the flow. Just like the non-government, non-military environment.
All too often FAQs (and for that matter User Manuals) are simply reminders to those who already know how to use a particular product, rather than aiming for the beginning user.
By their very nature, FAQs (and manuals) are written by the programmer (only in your dreams!) or by someone who already has hands on experience with the product.
The very best FAQs (and manuals) come when people comfortable communicating with others write the manual WITH THE ASSISTANCE of someone technical (to get the details straight). Sadly, these times are few and far between.
Adding to this problem is the problem of (almost) nobody reading the manual (for which the acronym RTFM has entered the lexicon). Who wants to put all that effort into a reference document that will (for the most part) be ignored?
The article was a nice breeze-thru review of tools to help generate FAQs... though it could have been handled in about two paragraphs (including file names and likely URLs). It does nothing toward encouraging writing useful reference material, nor toward steering manual updates to include information requested in the FAQs. If the material is "already in the manual", perhaps it's lost in the noise.
A more useful article would be on what makes a great FAQ, with examples (yes,/. the ONLY folks on the web getting things right for a change... that'll fix 'em).
Alas... code is cool, code is sexy; documentation on the other hand is for those beneath the coder's horizion. I know... transfer ALL the tech support calls directly to the programmer.
*****
And yes, I HAVE done my tour on the help desk, I have beta tested software releases (including following the release notice instructions... much to the embarassment of the programmer).
I think you'll find the number of lead acid batteries making it to the landfill (in the US, at least) to be less than 5%; last time I checked the recycling rate was over 95%.
Now a word about lead-acid battery recycling... first thing that happens is the acid/water electrolyte is removed. The acid is neutralized with Caustic Soda. The resulting salt, Sodium Sulfate, is sold as a food-grade preservative. That's right... food grade (there are other purification processes involved).
The battery cases are plastic (polypropylene, pvc, or polycarbonate). The plastic is removed from the mix and is reground and used to make more battery cases.
The lead, lead oxide, lead sulfate, and any other lead compounds are melted in the smelter furnace. The alloy mixture is corrected (removing unwanted impurities) and the lead is cast into pigs (bar shape) and hogs (about 1 ton block). This lead is then resold... and most of it heads right back to the battery manufacturing cycle.
***
Besides the common sense values of not landfilling a used battery, there are economic and legal speed bumps toward unwanton dumping. The economic model is where you're required to return your old battery and receive a refund on your "core charge", usually $5-10 USD. With the typical auto SLI battery costing $35-45 USD, this is a pretty good incentive. There's also the legal requirement that the USEPA has mandated... you can't landfill lead acid batteries. Most trash haulers keep a very close eye on what they put into their bins and trucks (believe me, if you lift a trash can with a battery in it, you'll know pretty quick. I have to add that it's not fool-proof (fools, after all, are known to be very creative in their foolishness), but based on the battery weight returned to smelters every year, it's pretty close.
(remember when 2400 baud dial-up was charged by the minute?)
Young squirt! Remember pushing the Cat 300 Baud acoustical modem to 450 Baud... to speed downloads?
Ok... I'm sitting back down on the porch.
*****
Actually, parts and equipment have always been available... remember surplus electronics places (Canel Street in NYC, Mike Quinn's in Oakland... and many others)? People have always been pushing and prodding the envelope.
The biggest change is with the internet, we can find like-minded, like-interested individuals and pool our skills, knowledge and (dare I say it?) passion for whatever we're working with. Communications used to require either a large city full of technical types, or someone writing up their project and getting it published in a magazine. The magazine route depended on the vision of the editor, space availability, and what would sell. The large city model required some form of communications to bring like-minded individuals together. The internet does that for us quite nicely.
*****
The best fun I have these days is researching my current projects on the web (remember, Google is your friend), and seeing just how many others are working in that particular arena. You can play too... your score is the inverse of the number of hits that are on topic. Right now I'm leading with a score of (infinity * 3). Yes, you CAN have that high a score, when you have three projects running at the same time, and no one is writing anything on the web about them, and no associated technologies are discussed.
They just don't get it... do they?
They charged admission to hear this great theory of business.
Oh, and you can get a CD of the proceedings... for $20.
Quite accurately, they pointed out that their target audience just isn't buying records anymore. Oh the shock and horror of it all!
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results -- according to Einstein. Maybe that's it... that's the answer... the recording cartel (let's not pretend that it's an industry) is collectively insane. That's a much kinder, gentler (though less accurate) view than to say that the recording cartel is stupid and clueless.
Even though I'm outside their demographics (no, I'm not at the low end!), I'll continue to buy music I like... from the artist directly.
Transistor pre-amps clip when overdriven... period. Tube amps clip when overdriven, though due to power supply limitations, tube impedance, and other circuitry limiting factors this clipping resembles a softened, almost "sine" wave. It is distortion, no matter how many pretty visually inclined words you throw at it.
If you want an amplifier that won't clip on peaks... be it hollow state or solid state... state so in the design criteria. It's not hard to build clean, linear amplifiers out of tubes or transistors... it just requires the appropriate specifications to deliver the expected results (well it also requires a bit of expertise in implementing the design specifications).
Funny thing... push-pull amplifiers tend to quash the even harmonics. Transistor amplifiers tend to be push-pull design. Tube amplifiers on the other hand tend to be (but aren't always) single-ended. And single ended amplifiers don't have the same ability to quash even harmonics.
Ahh... the light comes on. Because transistor amplifiers tend to quash the even harmonics, the listener will hear the odd harmonics all the better (especially if the volume gets cranked up to get those even harmonic levels back to tube-amplifier levels).
It's all about specifying what you need... in terms everyone can agree upon. My statement about using visual descriptors for audio (literally) amplifies my point. What you consider "warm" is nothing more than even (octave) harmonics that tend to blend into the music. Got it.
Thanks for that little piece of information that I "knew" but didn't apply with regard to even harmonics being octaves. See... we _DO_ need everyone in the lifeboat!
I think you'll agree that there IS a lot more harmonic content in a single-ended amplifier, and if significant amounts of that harmonic content can be hidden in the music... then technical points aside... you want that. You ignore the odd harmonic content mostly because the 3rd harmonic will be a bit lower than the second (in most cases) and the 5th will be lower than the 4th (again in most cases). Crank the volume up until the even harmonics "sound" right, and you'll have horrid odd harmonic levels.
Guess it would be better to say "I prefer the single-ended sound that includes a fair amount of even harmonic energy" would get you the amplifier of your dreams much quicker than the tube-vs-transistor debate.
Tube audio... let the jihad begin.
You CAN make a solid state amplifier sound as poor as a tube amplifier, if that's your goal. Apply current limiting to the transistors (to get that soft overhead someone talked about), run it through an iron core transformer (to limit the high and low frequency response), add some low-level 50/60 Hz to simulate the filiment hum, add a chassis mounted microphone fed to the input to simulate the microphonics tube amplifiers exhibit. Then, lets slow the response time down to round over those fast rise-time signals. Oops, forgot the random shot noise... better add a pink-noise generator. Almost forgot the frequency-dependent distortion... gotta have that now, don't we? Want that gassy, old-tube sound? Guess we'll have to shunt the output transistors with a high power resistor to carry some of the load. Don't forget to add a 300 watt halogen lamp inside to provide the glow, and more importantly, to bake the varnish out of the transformers, the wax out of the capacitors, and to fry any dust that gets in... for that authentic odor. Probably ought to put the entire thing inside a cheap wooden box as well; you'll have to decide on shellac or varnish as the finish of choice (it DOES matter, you know). Add a heavy steel chassis, weigh the entire thing down with some paving bricks (cheaper and easier to get than granite slabs), and you've pretty much gone back in time to the pre-transistor era. Oh, almost forgot... you have to overload the transistors severely so they fail after 100-200 hours to regain that thrill of yesteryear... changing out bad tubes.
*****
I keep threatening to build a signal conditioner that will emulate all but the smell of tube audio, and add it into a simple Class-D amplifier. Want the "Fender" sound? Select from the menu and press enter. I'm sure the number of amplifier/speaker combinations will be unlimited... so for a small fee, and some lab time with the audio setup of your choice, you'll get a non-exclusive rights to the sound of your own.
The problem is, I really hate engineering something so horrid to prove a point. It's probably much better to allow the existing marketplace to continue providing the cure for MMTB Syndrome (More Money Than Brains). That's it... spend for the cure.
When people use optical descriptions to describe aural characteristics, you must suspect they're already part way to the cure for MMTB... in that they recognized that they spent money foolishly, but want to have company so as to not look TOO silly.
Back to the anvil factory.
Slashdot Mirror
You will find the energy savings from allowing the drives to spin down when not needed ... a huge savings over keeping them all running continuously (something like 50% of the energy in a datacenter).
Go against the grain -- read the article.
Brevity. That's the key ... being brief. I used to write paragraphs of bureaucratic balony until I had a boss that helped me distill things down to the essential.
Start with writing a letter ... first, let them flop around for a while writing a wonderfully confusing letter, then teach them the following steps.
A. Figure out who you are writing to and put this at the top of the page.
B. Since you know who you are, put your name at the bottom of the page. Please note that in your career, you WILL write letters for others to sign, so you better get used to asking yourself "who is this from". Remember who the letter is from, because you'll need it later on.
C. Why are you writing this letter. One sentence is cutting it short, three is probably overdoing it. State the reason for the letter.
D. State your desired result to the statement in paragraph C above. Again, keep it short. Remember that if you are writing for your boss, be sure to tell the receiver what your boss wants, not what YOU want.
E. Now for some flowers ... you want to be kind (usually). If the letter is from you to a superior, be nice. If it's a letter from a senior to a subordinate ... you guessed it ... be nice. You want to open simply, with something nice to say (or at the worst, neutral). You want to close the letter the same way ... even if you just ripped the receiver's head off for failing to perform a task, you can always put a good spin on it. Don't go overboard. Pay attention to who the letter is from and to here as well. Don't be the tyrant.
F. Type it out, print it out, and read it out loud. Make you squirm? Re do what hurts. Sound good? Make sure you don't have words ending in -ize ... a terrible thing. Use simple language, and write in active voice.
It worked for me ... got my boss to finally tell me I'd gone too far, and had written too brief a letter. Once I found out what he really liked, writing letters led to writing articles, and writing chapters in standard references.
Also teach your students to write on a conversational level, but not a conversational level they'd have with another engineer, even if the letter IS going to another engineer. Technical stuff is best included as an attachment, but you'll work with them on that later.
Reading the letter BACKWARDS is a great help finding typos, incorrect words, and things that just don't make sense.
Have someone else edit your writing as a matter of course ... and do the same for others. It helps make sure you didn't think faster than you typed.
Regards,
I suppose that anything that the US Government does that is not classified might prove to be in the public domain, and as such would invalidate NTP's claims altogether. The real deal is that in 1989, one of the agencies of the US Government used unencrypted radio to interconnect e-mail between facilities 700 miles apart. This was a hands-free, no operator intervention system (well, the operators DID have to change the HF radio frequencies every 4 hours or so due to propagation) that send and received E-Mail as transparently as with a 2400 baud telephone modem. Before that, amateur radio operators in the San Francisco Bay area had an automated e-mail system running on radio teletype on a VHF repeater ... you did have to log in to check and receive your mail, but this was in the 1981-1982 time frame ... predating the US Govt initiative.
Not to take anything away from Geoff Goodfellow ... I applaud his efforts.
You may work behind the grill at McDonalds for 8 hours but the web site will work 24x7 ... AND you can continue to work at McDonalds.
I think the next step is profit.
***
Neither flame nor funny bait - - - just an observation.
The KEYBOARD is laid out differently ... but an X typed on a QWERTY keyboard is encoded the same as an X on a DVORAK keyboard.
... unless you typed gibberish ...
No gibberish
Sorry.
I guess that if you lived just down the road you could come over and I'd teach you how to rework the solder joints ... you MIGHT want to clue the rest of us into what part of the planet you currently occupy!
You can check the phone book for electronics repair, retail, or electronics repair, industrial. Another place that may well be prepared to do this sort of work is a local two-way radio repair shop . The industrial folks and the two-way radio shops might well be better prepared to repair your device, but you may have to pay quite a bit. Be sure you bring all the parts.
What ever you do, don't try liquid metal. I HATE cleaning up after someone tries using that stuff. Ugh.
Once repaired, you might also consider a careful application of epoxy to strengthen the bond between the connector and the board. That is, after all, why the connector came off ... solder is pretty much useless by itself when it comes to holding something in place.
Soldering, by itself, isn't all that difficult. It only requires the proper tools and practice ... though I don't believe you really want to get that deep into things.
You MIGHT find a ham radio operator that knows what to do, and has the tools to do so, but that's probably a stretch (in the past, ham radio operators were more technically oriented, today it's so much easier to buy the equipment rather than make it. Thus, fewer hams are equipped, much less experienced in micro miniature repair). And yes ... I'm a ham as well, I speak from my experiences.
I was wondering why there weren't more comments on this article ...
then I realized ... Friend of a Friend ...
and this is /.
Um ... only partly due to social engineering and fast thinking.
For the rest he either tried the standard shipping combinations (25-0-25) or (50-25-50); in many cases the safe combinations were never changed from the "default" combination.
For the rest, he would lean on the safe, twiddling the dial in what appeared to be a random, nervous twitchy thing, when in fact he was trying different combinations in increments of 5 digits. Those locks had rather wide notches in the wheels, and would respond rather nicely (with those nice rounded shoulder cuts) to a number +/- 3 digits. He only had to try numbers in steps of five to come close enough to get the lock open. Remember, he wasn't trying to get the EXACT number, just get the thing open.
He'd return to his office, and note the combination for that particular safe and write it down. Ah, security.
I'd forgotten that, seeing some of the aftermarket lead-acid prototypes. NiMH is also recyclable, though not as easily as lead-acid. Thanks.
You'd better check the recycling rate for lead-acid batteries before you go on about how horrible it is to dispose or recycle them. With an approximate 94% recycling rate, the lead-acid battery industry is just about as good as it gets. Most of the batteries that don't get recycled are due to ignorance, not the lack of opportunity. ANY lead-acid battery reseller will accept old lead-acid batteries for recycling, since everything in the battery is fully recyclable, and has a strong market for the materials (plastic is reground and used to make new battery cases, the sulfuric acid electrolyte is neturalized and converted to food-grade sodium sulfate (a preservative), and the lead is smelted back into the appropriate alloy(s) for making new lead-acid batteries.
... do some research!
Further, the cycle of lead from smelter -> battery manufacturer -> consumer -> old battery to smelter is as tight a closed loop as you'll find (short of a cow in a pasture).
BUT, don't just take my word on it
Man, did they ever miss the boat.
... 'cause you KNOW that all the answers given here are both accurate and intelligent.
... WHERE ARE YOU?
In fact, they were at the bus station waiting for a train.
All they really needed to do was to index each and every Slashdot entry ever made
Professor Irwin Cory (the self-professed world's foremost expert on everything)
Well, I do have some previous military/government experience. In most cases those "obfuscated" names are technical descriptors to keep everyone from becoming extremely long-winded.
... when their eyes glaze over and they start gnawing on their arm you're hanging onto just so they can escape ... it's a pretty good indication you've lapsed into your own version of technical shorthand and have overcome their ability to follow what you are trying to communicate (that also explains the collection of gnawed-off arms in your closet ... I think).
... step away from it for a couple of years, and you're on the outside looking in. In that case, I'd just say "um, want to clue me in on what you're talking about please". Once you rebuild your index, you're in the flow. Just like the non-government, non-military environment.
Precise language is important in many areas. Acronyms are a quick way to get the highly detailed language across quickly without sounding like a walking Thesaurus.
Trust me, it is NOT the intent (in most cases) to befuddle the listener.
Try talking computers or any other technical area you are familiar with, to someone who is not. Hint
Mind you, the acronym-filled language is a living language
All too often FAQs (and for that matter User Manuals) are simply reminders to those who already know how to use a particular product, rather than aiming for the beginning user.
... though it could have been handled in about two paragraphs (including file names and likely URLs). It does nothing toward encouraging writing useful reference material, nor toward steering manual updates to include information requested in the FAQs. If the material is "already in the manual", perhaps it's lost in the noise.
/. the ONLY folks on the web getting things right for a change ... that'll fix 'em).
... code is cool, code is sexy; documentation on the other hand is for those beneath the coder's horizion. I know ... transfer ALL the tech support calls directly to the programmer.
... much to the embarassment of the programmer).
By their very nature, FAQs (and manuals) are written by the programmer (only in your dreams!) or by someone who already has hands on experience with the product.
The very best FAQs (and manuals) come when people comfortable communicating with others write the manual WITH THE ASSISTANCE of someone technical (to get the details straight). Sadly, these times are few and far between.
Adding to this problem is the problem of (almost) nobody reading the manual (for which the acronym RTFM has entered the lexicon). Who wants to put all that effort into a reference document that will (for the most part) be ignored?
The article was a nice breeze-thru review of tools to help generate FAQs
A more useful article would be on what makes a great FAQ, with examples (yes,
Alas
*****
And yes, I HAVE done my tour on the help desk, I have beta tested software releases (including following the release notice instructions
I think you'll find the number of lead acid batteries making it to the landfill (in the US, at least) to be less than 5%; last time I checked the recycling rate was over 95%.
... first thing that happens is the acid/water electrolyte is removed. The acid is neutralized with Caustic Soda. The resulting salt, Sodium Sulfate, is sold as a food-grade preservative. That's right ... food grade (there are other purification processes involved).
... and most of it heads right back to the battery manufacturing cycle.
... you can't landfill lead acid batteries. Most trash haulers keep a very close eye on what they put into their bins and trucks (believe me, if you lift a trash can with a battery in it, you'll know pretty quick. I have to add that it's not fool-proof (fools, after all, are known to be very creative in their foolishness), but based on the battery weight returned to smelters every year, it's pretty close.
Now a word about lead-acid battery recycling
The battery cases are plastic (polypropylene, pvc, or polycarbonate). The plastic is removed from the mix and is reground and used to make more battery cases.
The lead, lead oxide, lead sulfate, and any other lead compounds are melted in the smelter furnace. The alloy mixture is corrected (removing unwanted impurities) and the lead is cast into pigs (bar shape) and hogs (about 1 ton block). This lead is then resold
***
Besides the common sense values of not landfilling a used battery, there are economic and legal speed bumps toward unwanton dumping. The economic model is where you're required to return your old battery and receive a refund on your "core charge", usually $5-10 USD. With the typical auto SLI battery costing $35-45 USD, this is a pretty good incentive. There's also the legal requirement that the USEPA has mandated
Hey ... why don't you make Cringley a fixed link ... he's on every week anyway!
***
(remember when 2400 baud dial-up was charged by the minute?)
... to speed downloads?
... I'm sitting back down on the porch.
... remember surplus electronics places (Canel Street in NYC, Mike Quinn's in Oakland ... and many others)? People have always been pushing and prodding the envelope.
... your score is the inverse of the number of hits that are on topic. Right now I'm leading with a score of (infinity * 3). Yes, you CAN have that high a score, when you have three projects running at the same time, and no one is writing anything on the web about them, and no associated technologies are discussed.
Young squirt! Remember pushing the Cat 300 Baud acoustical modem to 450 Baud
Ok
*****
Actually, parts and equipment have always been available
The biggest change is with the internet, we can find like-minded, like-interested individuals and pool our skills, knowledge and (dare I say it?) passion for whatever we're working with. Communications used to require either a large city full of technical types, or someone writing up their project and getting it published in a magazine. The magazine route depended on the vision of the editor, space availability, and what would sell. The large city model required some form of communications to bring like-minded individuals together. The internet does that for us quite nicely.
*****
The best fun I have these days is researching my current projects on the web (remember, Google is your friend), and seeing just how many others are working in that particular arena. You can play too
That is really quite simple
A professional is someone who thinks that "if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well".
An amateur is someone who thinks that "if something is worth doing, it might be worth doing poorly".
Man, I wish I could remember who said that, but I'm an amateur at remembering trivia like that.
They just don't get it ... do they?
They charged admission to hear this great theory of business.
Oh, and you can get a CD of the proceedings ... for $20.
Quite accurately, they pointed out that their target audience just isn't buying records anymore. Oh the shock and horror of it all!
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results -- according to Einstein. Maybe that's it ... that's the answer ... the recording cartel (let's not pretend that it's an industry) is collectively insane. That's a much kinder, gentler (though less accurate) view than to say that the recording cartel is stupid and clueless.
Even though I'm outside their demographics (no, I'm not at the low end!), I'll continue to buy music I like ... from the artist directly.
Transistor pre-amps clip when overdriven ... period. Tube amps clip when overdriven, though due to power supply limitations, tube impedance, and other circuitry limiting factors this clipping resembles a softened, almost "sine" wave. It is distortion, no matter how many pretty visually inclined words you throw at it.
... be it hollow state or solid state ... state so in the design criteria. It's not hard to build clean, linear amplifiers out of tubes or transistors ... it just requires the appropriate specifications to deliver the expected results (well it also requires a bit of expertise in implementing the design specifications).
... push-pull amplifiers tend to quash the even harmonics. Transistor amplifiers tend to be push-pull design. Tube amplifiers on the other hand tend to be (but aren't always) single-ended. And single ended amplifiers don't have the same ability to quash even harmonics.
... the light comes on. Because transistor amplifiers tend to quash the even harmonics, the listener will hear the odd harmonics all the better (especially if the volume gets cranked up to get those even harmonic levels back to tube-amplifier levels).
... in terms everyone can agree upon. My statement about using visual descriptors for audio (literally) amplifies my point. What you consider "warm" is nothing more than even (octave) harmonics that tend to blend into the music. Got it.
... we _DO_ need everyone in the lifeboat!
... then technical points aside ... you want that. You ignore the odd harmonic content mostly because the 3rd harmonic will be a bit lower than the second (in most cases) and the 5th will be lower than the 4th (again in most cases). Crank the volume up until the even harmonics "sound" right, and you'll have horrid odd harmonic levels.
If you want an amplifier that won't clip on peaks
Funny thing
Ahh
It's all about specifying what you need
Thanks for that little piece of information that I "knew" but didn't apply with regard to even harmonics being octaves. See
I think you'll agree that there IS a lot more harmonic content in a single-ended amplifier, and if significant amounts of that harmonic content can be hidden in the music
Guess it would be better to say "I prefer the single-ended sound that includes a fair amount of even harmonic energy" would get you the amplifier of your dreams much quicker than the tube-vs-transistor debate.
Thanks for your input!
Tube audio ... let the jihad begin.
You CAN make a solid state amplifier sound as poor as a tube amplifier, if that's your goal. Apply current limiting to the transistors (to get that soft overhead someone talked about), run it through an iron core transformer (to limit the high and low frequency response), add some low-level 50/60 Hz to simulate the filiment hum, add a chassis mounted microphone fed to the input to simulate the microphonics tube amplifiers exhibit. Then, lets slow the response time down to round over those fast rise-time signals. Oops, forgot the random shot noise ... better add a pink-noise generator. Almost forgot the frequency-dependent distortion ... gotta have that now, don't we? Want that gassy, old-tube sound? Guess we'll have to shunt the output transistors with a high power resistor to carry some of the load. Don't forget to add a 300 watt halogen lamp inside to provide the glow, and more importantly, to bake the varnish out of the transformers, the wax out of the capacitors, and to fry any dust that gets in ... for that authentic odor. Probably ought to put the entire thing inside a cheap wooden box as well; you'll have to decide on shellac or varnish as the finish of choice (it DOES matter, you know). Add a heavy steel chassis, weigh the entire thing down with some paving bricks (cheaper and easier to get than granite slabs), and you've pretty much gone back in time to the pre-transistor era. Oh, almost forgot ... you have to overload the transistors severely so they fail after 100-200 hours to regain that thrill of yesteryear ... changing out bad tubes.
*****
I keep threatening to build a signal conditioner that will emulate all but the smell of tube audio, and add it into a simple Class-D amplifier. Want the "Fender" sound? Select from the menu and press enter. I'm sure the number of amplifier/speaker combinations will be unlimited ... so for a small fee, and some lab time with the audio setup of your choice, you'll get a non-exclusive rights to the sound of your own.
The problem is, I really hate engineering something so horrid to prove a point. It's probably much better to allow the existing marketplace to continue providing the cure for MMTB Syndrome (More Money Than Brains). That's it ... spend for the cure.
When people use optical descriptions to describe aural characteristics, you must suspect they're already part way to the cure for MMTB ... in that they recognized that they spent money foolishly, but want to have company so as to not look TOO silly.
Back to the anvil factory.