20 Apr
2012
20 Apr
'12
11:55 p.m.
On 04/17/2012 03:22 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
Indeed, nearly ALL of them that I've met. I do know of a couple that
haven't...but most have. It's not as bleak a picture as you're
painting. Many of these kids have never heard of a 555...and THAT IS
NOT THEIR FAULT. There are chips, tools, techniques, etc that I have
never heard of. There are even some that YOU have never heard of. I
know about 555s because I grew up hacking with them, and I've designed
them into commercial products as recently as 2005.
If you don't like the situation, and think (as I do) that more of
these kids should know about the 555, then put up a web page...present a
seminar...do SOMETHING to introduce them to it. In my experience,
people like the ones we're discussing would welcome that with open arms
and boundless gratitude, then you'll see them all building cool things
with 555s.
I'm
right there with you on that...but I think that, with Arduinos in
particular, there is a net gain. FAR FAR more people are into
electronics and microcontrollers than would've been without that
platform, and SOME of those people "take off the training wheels" and
I wonder just how many extra people 'take off the training wheels' (that
is, take an Arduino and then go further) over and above those who would
get itno electronics/microcontrollers/whatever no matter what. My guess is that it's small.
Yes, because you're extremely pessimistic and refuse to see anything
even remotely "new" (which microcontrollers most certainly are not) as
being anything other that pure evil. ;)
Look, Tony. I'm every bit as curmudgeonly as you are. But sometimes,
you've got to open your eyes and see that there are some good things
happening. I mean no disrespect by this; it's just the truth.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA