On 27 Sep 2000, at 11:00, Jinx wrote:
> The result is that at the
> lower end of the food chain (quite a lot of us, relatively speaking)
> parts become either unavailable in economically practical terms or
> just plain unavailable. The irony is thus that wherever you look
> there are more and more great new devices being made and "for
> sale" but they are so often unobtainable. We just aren't worth the
> paper-work time anymore
>
Warning Moan mode starting.....

It really irritates me that I was trained as a fixer of electronic things,
specifically radios but alas this a rare event now. Someone comes
to me with a VCR, TAM etc and its usually some hideous custom
ASIC or totally unobtainable micro that has failed.
So I migrate to development.. and guess what... there are all these
lovely I.Cs that do exactly what you want.. but you have to buy
7,000,000 of them to even get a look in OR you see a useful
microcontroller .. and you need an ICE, programmer etc that either
costs and arm, a leg and a kidney to buy OR the development gear
is ONLY several hundred dollars but you have to wait for 8 months
for the micros you want.
THEN some delightful character comes onto your list and tells you
that the micro you pour your money, blood ,sweat and tears into is a
pile of pooh and if you are clever .. like him.. you will cast aside
those old dev tools for the new dev tools associated with his
wonderful micro that is so good .... and so the cycle begins again...

Time to throw it all in to grow organic vegetables and live off the
state. Were did all the Hippys go?
_____________________________

Lance Allen
Technical Officer
Uni of Auckland
Psych Dept
New Zealand

www.psych.auckland.ac.nz

_____________________________

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