Today I realised that I haven't had a Silicon Chip for a while. It seems that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody told me. I guess that if I didn't notice it had stopped coming, I won't miss it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to at least one of the magazines since the
1950s, and before then I would buy Radio and Hobbies from the newsagent. I won't miss Silicon Chip, but I do miss being as interested and aware as I used to be.
my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to at
and Hobbies from the newsagent.
used to be.
It took 8 months to realise SC wasn't in the letterbox ? Maybe you need another interest - how about building a Stirling engine model?
Electronics is not what it used to be as a hobby, though. In the past the electronics mags published projects that were usually either not available elsewhere or were much cheaper to build yourself. These days there are so many electronic gadgets available so cheaply that I fear the electronic hobbyist is a dying breed. My first project was a Playmaster 136 amp, all of 13W per channel, bought in kit form from DSE when there was only one branch - at Gore Hill. There are still some interesting (but expensive) project kits around, compare the following project to the old Playmaster 136:
The really staggering advances have been in microprocessors - my first uP project was the 'baby 2650' from EA, it had 1kB of ROM containing the monitor program, a massive
256 bytes of RAM and it ran at the breakneck speed of 1MHz.
at
e II still get it, and I don't mind reading it every month, but I do think long and hard before resubscribing, though have kept going mostly from force of habit and that there isn't anything else in Aus any more.
EA was great in its heyday, but that's gone, and won't return.
Too many things now are too cheap to buy, rather than build would be the main reason, though SC does produce some unique projects that I haven't seen elsewhere commercially available, that I find interesting, even though most I don't build.
AAlso would be good for students and people learning.
The current situation is actually a bonanza for anyone with imagination, who's prepared to dream up their own projects and do a bit of home design. Any level of prototyping kit is available, all the way from discretes up to advanced micro platforms, generally at hobby type prices. Current datasheets available day and night with a couple of mouse clicks. And there are circuits on the web for everything. I haven't bought an electronics mag since EA died, and haven't skipped a beat.
innwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
s that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
miss it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to at
Radio and Hobbies from the newsagent.
as I used to be.
del?
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st is a dying
It's not, in fact it's had a massive resurgence through the hacker/ modder/maker/hackerspace movements. Even if it's not so much traditional "hardcore" hobby electronics, you still have all these young kids buying multimeters and soldering irons and doing some electronics. Even if it is just using an Arduino board to flash their LED's etc. Open source hardware is getting big too, and startup kit businesses like Sparkfun, DIY Drones and Adafruit et.al can be turning over $10M+ selling kits.
Dave.
They are just not very good at keeping web pages current.
Young kids? The only ones I know of are oldish and into art/fart projects.
Que? The oldie projects I'm aware of amongst my colleagues don't fit the artie fartie model at all. Mean guitar amps, adjuncts for the new sports car (midlife crisis model) plus lots of hugely educational and clever stuff, lots of it based on fairly serious electronics, that I'm not going to mention because it could be worth something.
Can't recall one potters wheel varispeed, kiln furnace control, easel angle controller or conductors baton light. Or anything faintly related.
Hardly hackerspace, especially the commercial development. Beautiful post supporting fritz and my points.
messagenews:PjMWo.7471$ snipped-for-privacy@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to at
Radio and Hobbies from the newsagent.
used to be.
model?
elsewhere
is a dying
My argument with SC is that, in an age when so many projects are microprocessor based, they so rarely release the source code. One of the great things in the "Old days" was that, if you aspired to do more than just solder a bunch of parts together, you could modify the project to your hearts content. That should be even easier these days by playing with the software, but only if you have the project source code to start with.
that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to at
Radio and Hobbies from the newsagent.
used to be.
elsewhere
is a dying
bought
the
project was the
massive
prepared to dream up their own projects and do a
True, but dreaming up a new project is becoming harder as the number of off the shelf electronic gadgets increases daily. The last project I did was a sun tracker using red LEDs as sensors - it was more mechanical than electronic.
advanced micro platforms, generally at hobby type
clicks. And there are circuits on the web for
skipped a beat.
The online PDF datasheets certainly are great, although I've still got a
1976 National Linear databook which still covers a surprising number of chips today. You haven't bought Silicon Chip ? If nobody buys the mag, a source of some of the stuff on the 'net will dry up. I noticed one of my SC Circuit Notebook contributions appeared on many different websites.
messagenews:PjMWo.7471$ snipped-for-privacy@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to at
Radio and Hobbies from the newsagent.
used to be.
elsewhere
a dying
-It's not, in fact it's had a massive resurgence through the hacker/
-modder/maker/hackerspace movements.
-Even if it's not so much traditional "hardcore" hobby electronics, you
-still have all these young kids buying multimeters and soldering irons
-and doing some electronics. Even if it is just using an Arduino board
-to flash their LED's etc.
-Open source hardware is getting big too, and startup kit businesses
-like Sparkfun, DIY Drones and Adafruit et.al can be turning over $10M+
-selling kits.
-Dave.
Hackers are far more into the software side - meaning they are more programmers than electronic hobbyists. I noticed you mentioned the 'hackability' of the LCR meter in your #137 blog...
I still think that people who in the past would build electonic projects from magazine articles are more likely these days to spend their money on a pre-built gadget. (I would love to get hold of an 800mW laser module, if I could get it past customs!)
Also, the trend to surface-mount and micro-sized components will inevitably lead to fewer people making their own pcbs and instead using stuff like the Arduino board for projects. Not that I think that is a bad thing, it saves a lot of time but it seems to be at a cost - pcb design skills.
messagenews:PjMWo.7471$ snipped-for-privacy@viwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
miss it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to
Radio and Hobbies from the newsagent.
used to be.
elsewhere
is a dying
microprocessor based, they so rarely release the source code. One
just solder a bunch of parts together, you could
days by playing with the software, but only if you
Not sure about this, but most of the SC uP projects in the last decade have been from a Mr. John Clark. AFAIK he has made the assembler listing available for most of his projects. When an article is contributed, that is it comes from outside of the SC staff, the software author does not always make the assember listing available, probably because SC doesn't want to pay extra.
gi.com.au...
eems that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
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bbyist is a dying
rocessor based, they so rarely release the source code. One
re than just solder a bunch of parts together, you could
hese days by playing with the software, but only if you
is
sAuthors shouldn't expect to get extra for source code, and SC don't offer nor pay extra for it. You get a flat rate of $100/page for an article, if you want to keep the code to yourself then that's the authors choice, although it may sometimes impact upon the decision by SC to publish or not. Mauro Grassi and Nicholas Vinnen have been churning out some nice micro based projects, and Jim Rowe has been doing some too.
Dave.
snipped-for-privacy@c39g2000yqi.googlegroups.com...
iwinnwfe01.internal.bigpond.com...
ems that my subscription ran out in April 2010 and nobody
't miss it if I don't re-subscribe. I have subscribed to at
uy Radio and Hobbies from the newsagent.
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I wouldn't disagree with that in general, but I think you'd be surprised in the things these hacker and makers are building. Robots, UAV's etc are incredibly popular. Check out any Hacker Space and see that they are mostly building stuff, not just hacking iPhone software. At least they are playing around with electronics, and that's gotta be a good thing in my view.
There will always be (a lot) more software hackers than hardware hackers, but hardware hacking is definitely making a big comeback.
ision-879b-handh...
the software
t it didn't come with
Most wouldn't want to hack, but I thought I'd point it out in case someone wanted to for some reason that I can't think of. It's always nice when you have easy access to JTAG and programming headers inside products. Some may want to just do it for fun or learning perhaps? Who knows, who cares, having the headers is a good thing. Someone might surprise you at what's possible...
from magazine
adget.
t customs!)
Sure, that trend has been going for as long as I've been been alive, nothing new there.
ly lead
duino board
e but it seems to
It costs in many ways, not just PCB skills. Once again though, nothing new there really, that kind of thing has been going on for decades.
Dave.
.
I have literally thousands of young kids who watch my EEVblog every week. The video, photos, and stories of the MakerFair that gets 100,000+ people seem to be mostly kids. Not too dissimilar stories for Hackerspaces either. The soldering tutorial classes at these kinds of places seem to be packed out with young kid every time. And the number of youngsters on Youtube channels and hacker blogs I see never seems to end.
The way see it, there is an electronics oriented revival happening, and it ain't based around old farts.
Dave.
-I have literally thousands of young kids who watch my EEVblog every
-week.
-The video, photos, and stories of the MakerFair that gets 100,000+
-people seem to be mostly kids.
-Not too dissimilar stories for Hackerspaces either.
-The soldering tutorial classes at these kinds of places seem to be
-packed out with young kid every time.
-And the number of youngsters on Youtube channels and hacker blogs I
-see never seems to end.
-The way see it, there is an electronics oriented revival happening,
-and it ain't based around old farts.
-Dave.
Please teach the yanks how to pronounce 'solder'. They all seem to have been dropped at birth or some other disaster has affected their speech ability -
- they all seem to say 'soder' . as if the 'l' wasn't there at all .
Watching =/= doing. Do you have any idea of how many are doing or even trying?
Which hackerspaces? Certainly not the ones I know about.
That is a running joke on my radio show The AmpHour that I co-host with a Yank.
Dave.
n
Almost every one of them that contact me or chat on my forum. Many hundreds at a minimum, so it would be very representative of viewers overall I would think. Many are software people who want to get into hardware. So I feel very safe in saying that the vast majority of everyone (and not just kids) that watch my show are into hardware in some way. Sorry if that contradicts any pessimistic views!
The whole concept of hacker spaces is somewhere you go to primarily share hardware resources, tools, and talent. If you just want to hack software, there are countless online forums with 10's of thousands of members. I'd be very surprised if there are many hackerspace members who don't at least have an interest in building something.
Dave.
magazine
customs!)
AFAIK lasers as such are not banned, only laser pointers. From the Customs web site:-
Laser pointers (restricted import)
Description: Hand-held devices commonly known as laser pointers with an accessible emission level of greater than 1mW.
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