12 Jun
2006
12 Jun
'06
5:43 p.m.
Whether it is the chicken or the egg, they also have
access to better parts
stores (for hobbiest quantities) and excellent magazines. The Dutch
magazine Electuur is translated into English and published in the UK every
month as Elector. It has excellent construction articles, readily available
firmware, and even the PCB layout for most of the projects.
I think it is do to the fact that you might need technical information
or skills to do something that the USA is lacking.
We have nothing like it in the States.
"Nuts and Volts" I think is the only construction magazine I have seen.
I think the turning point was when BYTE magazine started reviews of PC
clones rather having information than ALL computer systems was about the
time construction projects like computers or Ham radio really died.
That just left the simple projects like led flashers or PC printer port
stuff.
For whatever reason, the UK and to a lesser extent,
the EU have kept the
interest alive. Perhaps some of our non-US members can shed insight on why.
Billy