13 Jun
2006
13 Jun
'06
12:42 a.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
[component vendors]
I wonder if the *apparent* (? unsubstantiated by hard numbers)
prevalence of hobbyists on your side of the pond has anything
to do with economics? I recall (when working with a firm in
Manchester) that many components that were dirt cheap here
were quite "dear", there. And, the "pounds = dollars"
relationship means things are effectively (i.e. from *my*
point of view) 60 - 80% more expensive than they would be,
here.
What, for example do you see run of the mill consumer stuff
selling for, there? E.g., decent (not top of the line) PC's,
MP3 players, etc.? Could it be that these things are cheap
enough here that it acts as a deterent to folks rolling-their-own?
Conversely, that they are dear enough there that you have added
incentive to tinker?
Elektor is the best of a dwindling number of
electronics magazines
available in the UK. It's improved in the last 5 years or so as they now
do make firmware sources available for about 50% of their projects (but
not the interesting ones, alas). Before that (and for the other 50% now)
you have to buy the programmed device from them, and it comes copy-protected.
"Copy protected" -- implying an MCU implementation?
I.e. *small* pieces of code? (not hundreds of KB)
Since I generally build in order to learn, this is a
major reason for me
not to build said project.
Yup. Or, at least to be able to *build* on their ideas
(things they didn't think of or didn't implement well)
Anotehr disadvantage is that their computer-related
projects invariably
have Windows software. The sources of that may not be available, the link
between the PC and the project (RS232, USB, parallel ports) may not be
properly documented.
This is true here (US), as well. Its as if the idea of something
*other* than a PC never crosses their mind...
We have
nothing like it in the States.
=20
For whatever reason, the UK and to a lesser extent, the EU have kept the
It must be really dire in the States, becasue your comments don't seem to
apply to the UK that I live in. One thing that's not helped are that ICs now come
in hacker-unfriendly
pacakges, and may require expensice programming software and hardware to
do anything with.
Yes, this has been in the works since the 70's. I recall a
friend advising me that the DIP would be short-lived. I
hadn't realized just how short!
I can see why, I don't expect semiconductor
manufacturers to cater for a
very small market, but you know, it's a lot easier for the average home
constructor to hand-wire 100 TTL chips in DIL pacakges than to do battle
with a DGA packaed FPGA...
That's why there are **sockets**! :> (and socket-ish adapters)