Alain, Alain, Alain ...
You give me pains in the chest buddy.
|
Alain, Alain, Alain ...
You give me pains in the chest buddy.
|
Impossible here, they just refuse unfortunatly..Originally Posted by Acetronics
|
Re: T.Jackson
Having read the first part of the post in regard to hobby electronics becoming a thing of the past, I was dismayed being that I am only into this hobby a little over a year and enjoy it greatly. However, I remembered the reason why I got into it in the first place. True, I too get joy out of saying that I built something that appears in a shop window.....but what about all the things I built that aren't in a shop window?
I am a lab technician who at the time of getting into electronics was looking at the difference in certain formulations of lead acid batteries. Do you know how annoying it can be to monitor 20 battery cells simultaneously? Well, needless to say I tried to look for some magical piece of technology that could do the job for me. Guess what.....there's hardly anything out there...at least not for under $2000 or so that includes an unnecessary microprocessor-based unit. (I mean all I wanted was a simple alarm that would tell me when each cell was low). SO... I learned the hobby step by step and successfully built that alarm for under $100 of material (including etching equipment and a laser printer that will be used for other circuits).
AND THE MORAL IS...True, it's cheaper to buy and throw away consumer electronics and not bother to repair them....but frankly who cares? Consumer electronics is just that...for the consumer market. What about all the electronics that isn't the typical TV's or DVD players? I, hopefully like most people, got into the hobby to build things that haven't been built yet or if they have been, don't cost an obscene amount because of a bunch of bells and whistles? Microprocessors are great, but for many applications, they are overkill and they ramp up the price greatly. People just get used to the idea that discrete circuits are a thing of the past, so they intentionally avoid them because they aren't modern and not as impressive as microprocessors, when the cost without them is staggeringly lower. And big technology companies aren't going to waste their time with something that isn't 1) user-friendly (like microprocessors typically are), 2) modern, 3) completely overdone with accessories so that no other company will rival their product. They're like the plumbers that won't waste their time to fix a simple leak when the house down the street needs a whole new pipe system. Well, that's where I come in! That's the niche of hobby electronics!
As for the component availability...yes, I believe companies will eventually stop selling things like through-hole components at some point being as they haven't been in modern technology for a good 20 years or better, but as someone already posted...the hobbyist will evolve with it. Hey...I'd find some way to deal with surface-mount just to build that alarm I talked about. Maybe someday the technology will be so staggering that it will be impossible to solder without very expensive machines, but that wouldn't be for some time. What's even better is that there are companies that will probably cater to this advance in technlogy on the hobbyist's behalf. Companies love to make cheaper, knockoff versions of industrial processes for the average person...it makes them more money to downgrade their original design. You ever shop at Lowe's or Home Depot? My point exactly. So long as there are independent thinkers like myself that aren't satisfied with a given situation and wish to improve it with a piece of custom-made, not-readily available technology (INVENTOR is the term I believe I am referring to), well we'll always be around!
|
Today's electronics is no longer a hobby, but marketing. You don't need to be really intelligent to develop something, but at least ... have a idea and some good contact. People purchase for a price, no longer for quality (at least not a majority of customer of Home stuff)... develop crap, sale it cheap and it will work for you.
There will always be a method to solder a part... don't worry about that... if you can't yourself, a company will do it for you... less cheaper that you might think if you look around a little bit.
Last edited by mister_e; - 21st January 2009 at 22:42.
Steve
It's not a bug, it's a random feature.
There's no problem, only learning opportunities.
|
Naw, there's nothing left to invent, it has all been done before.
You're really, REALLY (notice the typographic emphasis here?) --- wasting your time with this I'm sorry to say.
Trent Jackson
|
I agree with mister e. It does seem that realistically a good contact is a lot more valuable than a good mind. (The real world taught me that.)
Seriously, though, if it all were invented...then why do I keep seeing potential for things that aren't out there? Why do R&D? You're telling me that you've never had a moment where you were like, "Wow, now only if they had something like that out there?" Right; the technology is out there. Surely, I'm wasting my time. Well, the next time you are sitting in traffic watching some cop direct traffic badly because the power went out when the whole thing could probably have been taken care of by a simple circuit and backup battery supply, don't say I wasn't right. (Then again, maybe cops need something to do). Maybe the technology is out there....but the applications for it sure as heck aren't.
Where does the hobbyist fit in to all these big ideas? They don't. They would only ever take care of the small issues and maybe enjoy it in the process. And I'm sure I'm not the first to have developed any typical circuit. "A multicell voltage alarm....whoopdeedo," you may have said...but that doesn't explain why it's not out on the market when there was a necessity for the item. And it was gratifying to have designed and built the darned thing on top of it. The fact of the matter is that I believe you'll always have people out there who can and like to take care of the small stuff; perfect niche for the hobbyist.
And if this a waste of my time, then by all means my time might as well be worthless. (Yea, I do Hallmark cards too).
|
note: just to clarify...there are companies on the web that provide backup street light power....but once again....the technology isn't exactly out there...well at least not by me!
Last edited by jabatta; - 22nd January 2009 at 19:03. Reason: can't speak for everywhere
|
If there is one thing that age does, it is to provide perspective. As King Solomon is reported to have said, "There is nothing new under the sun."
I got into electronics not only as a hobbyist but as a 12-year-old kid--in 1962.
And every decade or so, the discussion of "the future of hobby electronics" resurfaces, nearly always treating the subject as a crisis that should evoke loud wailing and much hand-wringing.
In the early 1960s, the "crisis" was caused by the transistor: It's so tiny! And sensitive (early germanium transistors could be damaged if they were dropped!--early silicon transistors didn't like the heat of a soldering iron!). And the average hobbyist couldn't quite understand how the damn things worked! (Electroncs that move, yes; but "holes" that move?)
The printed circuit board was also cited as marking the end of hobby electronics . . .
I recall reading an article in 1965 that predicted the death of hobby electronics within 10 years. Apparently the hobbyists didn't believe this.
The integrated circuit sparked the same woeful predication, and the microprocessor fired it up again.
But those stubborn, nefarious, insidious electronics hobbyists simply refuse to listen to the experts. In true Darwinian fashion, they adapt to the changes and evolve.
Russ
N0EVC, xWB6ONT, xWN6ONT
"Easy to use" is easy to say.
|
I'd have to agree with Russ on this one. I'm not quite as old (I was -2 in 1962) but I can remember several of the panics created by new fangled technology. Even now with the popularity of surface mount boards there are guys making stencils for the solder paste with laser cutters and kapton sheets. Then fusing the parts in place using toaster ovens or hot plates. Where there is a will there is a way!
Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people seem bright until you hear them speak.
|
It could be worse, at least you're not stumbling around in a bullet proof vest just yet.
Trent Jackson
|
Russ will either give you a bullet proof vest or a bow tie mate.
Trent Jackson
|
Bow ties don't get into your soup, and no one is going to yank your face into their knee with one either
Last edited by Archangel; - 25th January 2009 at 17:44.
If you do not believe in MAGIC, Consider how currency has value simply by printing it, and is then traded for real assets.
.
Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants - but debt is the money of slaves
.
There simply is no "Happy Spam" If you do it you will disappear from this forum.
|
Better make ties (really long ones that are easy to grab) -- standard issue with the vests.
Trent Jackson
|
After I left Sony's broadcast division in Kansas City (no ties needed), I went to work for a television station here in Omaha.
Would you believe? --they required all (male) members of the engineering staff to wear ties when on shift!
Really unhandy and/or in the way when working at the bench, or soldering something, or poking around inside the back of a rack full of equipment . . .
Now I work for myself (over 5 years now) and, while my boss is a demanding SOB, he doesn't make me wear a tie to work.
Last edited by RussMartin; - 2nd February 2009 at 06:42.
Russ
N0EVC, xWB6ONT, xWN6ONT
"Easy to use" is easy to say.
Members who have read this thread : 1You do not have permission to view the list of names.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks