On 6/6/07, Alan B. Pearce <A.B.Pearce@rl.ac.uk> wrote:

> However to be fair, the cost of producing those books must be horrendous,
> and realistically only a very small proportion (if any) of each one gets
> read. Not only that but the saving in tree cutting for paper must be
> significant as well, across all semiconductor manufacturers.

Ofcourse, I'm fully aware that keeping those databooks up to date was
not a cheap job in the early days, and definately not cheap today
either since the world is constantly evolving.

What I want databooks for is to get a general overview for products. I
like browsing page by page in case I happen to find a nice chip or
something like that. If it looks useful, I might sample it, build some
circuits around it, and then continue doing so.

For a situation like that, the pdf would certainly be the way to go to
keep me updated with the chip-in-question's datas, but the book would
get me into the "mode of knowing" about the chip. I'm still a hobbyist
and I've yet got a long learning path to go, so I don't know even a
tenth of a percent of all tips, tricks, ICs etc out there. For me,
it's an eternal - but outrageously interesting! - jungle.

For me, a databook would be my kind of machete to pacefully step
forward along the path. Trying to walk the path using pdf:s would kind
of be like tampering with quicksand. Stepping and struggling but
without any grip.


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