You've got many valid points. But here are some of my own. Here's one example of when Windows 95/98 comes in handy. You build parallel port PIC programmer, and you know how to program C, well, then it is easy for you to write a program to use the parallel port to interface your programmer whith some simple functions. You can't do that in Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 unless you have device driver for it, most of which either needs to be purchased or you need to code it yourself. Have you tried to code ANY device drivers for Windows lately?!!! I even bought a book on it and then decided I was better off just purchasing an ICD2 from Microchip. Sure you can do it in linux too, but, now speaking about me, I don't want to have to spend a few days installing it and maybe even having to compile the kernel to get it working my way. I just want to pop a CD in the drive and by the time I'm done installing it, it better work right off the bet. While I am a big "do-it-yourself" guy and enjoy building small PIC projects (mostly for learning) and write my own programs, I would rather not have to tinker with the OS, much the say way I would rather not have to build my own pc and prefer to buy it. On the other hand, I make my own wine, cheese, bread and liquor filled chocolate goodies, call me crazy but to each its own, therefore there will be things you'll be thrilled to make from scrach and others you won't. Digikey and Mouser do a good job with their websites, but sometimes I come across some parts I'd like to use and you can't get them from those 2 sources. I enjoy backyard astronomy and a while back I was playing around with the idea of building my own astronomy liquid cooled ccd digital camera, which requires long exposures and therefore your regular canon/nokia cmos sensor digital cameras do not provide the same level low noise response and time exposure. However, neither digikey nor mouser had any ccd sensors with the specs I had picked and a search on the web turned out vendors like Avnet and Newark. For my specs, the sensors in their site listed "call" for prices. Needless to say, not only is that annoying because all I wanted to know was the price for a couple sensor, but also meant I had to deal with some idiot on the phone talking to me like I was crazy trying to order 2 sensors while their goal is to have you open an account and sell you in large quantities. End result, I put up $700 bucks for a ready made model, of an inferior design than the one I wished I could build for the same price while learning something along the way. So while the magazines and other publications may seem to be lagging behind, maybe, just maybe, it may be for some of the same reasons, and others, mentioned above. If Nuts and Volts published articles where you needed megamoney and specialized equipment to build then it would become a niche publication and their audience would be limited to a certain demographic, other then the one they're trying to reach out to, the poor guy with the 8 yearl old desktop that will not run Windows XP and quite frankly may be scared away from installing linux (for the wrong reasons). And by the way, you'll never eat cognac raspberry filled dark chocolate bonbons like the ones I make ;) -Mario -----Original Message----- From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of digitaladdictions Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 1:51 PM To: piclist@mit.edu Subject: [EE] Technology Adoption Lag Is it just me or does it seem the electronics/hardware community really is behind the times when it comes to modern computer technology. Perhaps I am a bit biased as I have always been more a computer hacker than hardware hacker and probably more on the bleeding edge than normal but it seems that hardware people are behind the norm from even a non technical person standpoint. A couple recent observations have resulted in this opinion. First it seems that a vast majority of the hobbyist resources and projects online still are written for windows 9x. Admittedly I am a BSD/Linux whore in many ways and would never use 9x even if it were new but I have no problem with win2k or XP or win2k3 server, while a bit bloated, they are for the most part powerful stable operating systems. I would never want to discourage someone from learning because they don't have the money to buy modern equipment but it just seems like it is the overall trend still, and Linux is always free and can run on some of the oldest legacy equipment there is. When I was at Barnes and Nobel yesterday I was looking at the magazine rack and found an article in an electronics magazine (either Servo or Nuts & Volts, for the life of me I cant remember) where the gist of it was that the Internet is not worth while for electronic suppliers. They said users find it much easier to just call them up for inventory and price quotes. Now I understand some older engineers who never used computers in the first place and are stuck in there ways would agree and that there are parts of the world were Internet access can be problematic. I am not suggesting they refuse phone orders BUT I cant imagine 90% of people would agree its easier to call than to do a quick search on the distributors web page. I place most of my electronic orders through digikey and find there site very easy to navigate and find what I want. I guarantee you that says call for a price quote I wont. I view it as inefficient and also don't want to be tried to be sold anything. This article did keep me alert to this attitude when I was browsing the web and I have noticed quite a few electronic supplier sites just being a front to give an address and phone number to call them often without even listing products. I really hope the attitude isn't that "I'm just a hobbyist and cant do anything more complicated." As stated earlier my background is more in the computer hacking/programming side of things were for the most part the community is more bleeding edge than there corporate counterpart and the attitude is that anything can be done with open source projects rivaling million dollar company products every day. I don't mean to insult anyone here or tell anyone they shouldn't continue doing what they enjoy doing or to stop learning. I am just stating an observation and wondering if anyone else has noticed this or agrees with me. Perhaps I am just looking in the wrong places and there are great bleeding edge things going on else where. Justin -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist