Harold Hallikainen wrote:
>> On 8/3/07, cdb <colin@btech-online.co.uk> wrote:
>>     =

>>>  I received today a list from Amazon US of electronics books they
>>> think I might be interested in.
>>>
>>> =9B We recommended the items above because you purchased or rated:
>>>
>>> Troubleshooting Analog Circuits (EDN Series for Design Engineers)
>>>       =

>> I was just showing that book to our CFO a few minutes ago!
>> Bob Pease RULES! :)
>>
>>     =

>
> I used that book in a troubleshooting class I just taught at a community
> college (based on suggestions from this list). It is an engineer oriented
> book, so a fair amount went over the heads of the technician oriented
> students, but was valuable nonetheless.
>
> In a recent Bob's Mailbox, he really got after someone for suggesting a
> microcontroller solution to a problem (detecting frozen toes). He really
> doesn't like digital! I think there's an appropriate place for both analog
> and digital. To me, too many analog designs use "brute force engineering"
> where they keep throwing parts at the circuit until it works.
>
> Harold
> (The ideal design has zero parts)
>
>
>
>   =

Right on the mark, Harold.

The problem with pure non-uP designs is that you are forced to purchase =

those specialized hardware chips.
In real life, it is not practical to sell such a product, which shows =

Bob Pease' ignorance of market forces.
Making one or two of anything is nothing. Making 10,000 of a product a =

week separates the men from the
boys in a big hurry.

Large, successful electronics companies require their design engineers =

to pick components from a book of
proven vendors. If you decide to use a NEW component, you must be =

prepared to run thru a gauntlet of
requirements, such as a minimum of two viable vendors, a repeatable cost =

break in high quantities (if this
too high, it indicates production or cash flow problems), etc. A viable =

vendor is one that can pass a test
from Dun & Bradstreet (or whoever does this analysis now).

For example: TI, National, and Panasonic are considered to be TOP-LEVEL =

vendors. Motorola, Fujitsu,
and Toshiba are excellent vendors but sometimes cannot deliver reliably. =

Maxim, Cirrus, Cypress, and a
plethora of Asian vendors are considered unreliable, despite that fact =

that they make some wonderful parts.
Maxim is especially bad; they have 18 week delivery dates almost across =

the board, totally unacceptable to
most successful electronics companies.

--Bob Axtell

-- =

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