Driver to drive?

[Michael A. Terrell]

Jim Thompson wrote:

The only actual contact I had from the homeowners' association was an
E-mail from the manager, complaining that I had called him a "cretin"
in my letter-to-the-editor ;-)

Who else would take a job like that?

 

[Joerg]

Jim Thompson wrote:

On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 07:59:01 -0800, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

Greegor wrote:
My son Aaron wrote the original code, when he was barely
out-of-school, for a company called TekNow. When he left that company
they sued him to prevent competition. They lost BAD >:-}
Thou shalt not mess with the wrong people. A local district board
learned that the hard way, from yours truly.
Local district board? What did you get them for Joerg?

They wanted to get us to remove all our big trees for airport purposes
and pay all of this out of our pocket. Same for dozens of others. Long
story short, I made it rather clear to them that the law was not on
their side. After they still threatened us this was followed by some
ugly press exposure and dozens of us showing up at the meetings. You
could literally see the sweat running off their foreheads. I am a
friendly and forgiving guy (and became that way to them again after they
waved the white flag) but I can become very nasty if someone wants to
have me or innocent others over the barrel. They learned that very quickly.

Sounds like my situation where I complained to the homeowners'
association that a tree on the "mountain preserve" needed trimming...

They announced that they were simply going to cut it down.

I allowed as how it was an owl habitat (it really is, you've all seen
the pictures), and I notified the Sierra Club, SPCA, and every
newspaper and TV station in town.

The homeowners' association sent out a crew of Mexican's who came to
my door and said they were to ask me _exactly_ how I wished the tree
to be trimmed >:-}

The only actual contact I had from the homeowners' association was an
E-mail from the manager, complaining that I had called him a "cretin"
in my letter-to-the-editor ;-)

I try not to call people such names. I thought you claim to be so couth.
Saying "Cretin" is uncouth

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:21:04 -0800, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 07:59:01 -0800, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:

Greegor wrote:
My son Aaron wrote the original code, when he was barely
out-of-school, for a company called TekNow. When he left that company
they sued him to prevent competition. They lost BAD >:-}
Thou shalt not mess with the wrong people. A local district board
learned that the hard way, from yours truly.
Local district board? What did you get them for Joerg?

They wanted to get us to remove all our big trees for airport purposes
and pay all of this out of our pocket. Same for dozens of others. Long
story short, I made it rather clear to them that the law was not on
their side. After they still threatened us this was followed by some
ugly press exposure and dozens of us showing up at the meetings. You
could literally see the sweat running off their foreheads. I am a
friendly and forgiving guy (and became that way to them again after they
waved the white flag) but I can become very nasty if someone wants to
have me or innocent others over the barrel. They learned that very quickly.

Sounds like my situation where I complained to the homeowners'
association that a tree on the "mountain preserve" needed trimming...

They announced that they were simply going to cut it down.

I allowed as how it was an owl habitat (it really is, you've all seen
the pictures), and I notified the Sierra Club, SPCA, and every
newspaper and TV station in town.

The homeowners' association sent out a crew of Mexican's who came to
my door and said they were to ask me _exactly_ how I wished the tree
to be trimmed >:-}

The only actual contact I had from the homeowners' association was an
E-mail from the manager, complaining that I had called him a "cretin"
in my letter-to-the-editor ;-)


I try not to call people such names. I thought you claim to be so couth.
Saying "Cretin" is uncouth

Cretin is as cretin does >:-}

His behavior was so bureaucratic as to rate the cretin label.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, CTO | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[rickman]

On 2/5/2013 5:58 PM, Roberto Waltman wrote:

Allan Herriman wrote:
I lost my HP15C when some luggage was stolen at LAX. I have yet to find
anything that comes close to being a replacement.

I have been wondering for a while, if there are enough old geezers
around to justify manufacturing a (small run of) an HP'ish calculator.

The one I would like:

* HP-25 form factor, with one or two additional button rows to
accommodate more functions. Robust 'clicky' buttons.

I'm not sure if you are asking for the standard HP buttons or something
different. HP had the best buttons in the business. They double
injected molded the printing so they would last for 1000 years and the
button's electrical function has never worn out on any of the HP
calculators I've had.

* Two or three line RED LEDs, (not negotiable,) alphanumeric display.
Dimmable to extend battery life.

That's a pretty silly request. What you want are perhaps the e-Ink
displays that are very high contrast. Much better than LEDs I believe
unless you like working in the dark.

* High capacity batteries / long battery life. Separate backup battery
to preserve user programs if the main battery is depleted. (Unless
everything goes to flash memory)

That sounds like a request for an LED display unit. The HP calculators
I've used with LCD displays never needed that. They retained power when
the SR-44 coin cells were changed once a year.

* Running on an appropriate ARM processor. Downloadable firmware, of
course, so you can have a scientific version, a financial version, an
[fill the blank] engineering version, an astrological version.

Oh, that's why you want the high power batteries. You actually want a
smart phone!

* Standard USB connector for recharging and transferring data to/from
computers.

What would you add?

I wouldn't add much, but I'd take away... you know, like Jethro, "5 take
away 3 is 2".

--

Rick

 

[josephkk]

On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 06:51:08 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

I'm not quite sure why you are so upset. I was merely temporizing,
and I think most people here understand the difference between
high-speed interconnects and broadcast-oriented transports like
Ethernet in the context of actually building something to move bits
around.


Regards,

Uncle Steve

Word salad and worse. You are misusing "high speed interconnects",
"broadcast-oriented transports" and "Ethernet" horribly.

High speed interconnects normally refers to physical connectors and
connection systems, which may or may not include a protocol, and may or
may not include timing constraints.

Broadcast-oriented transports include C-band satellites (microwave
carriers FM modulated by the composite {audio and video} NTSC television
signal); D1, many other latency controlled SMPTE standards transports.

Ethernet is all about data transport in an unreliable network, it includes
reliable and unreliable transmission protocols. Pretenses of real time as
well as streaming protocols were added later creating confusion about what
Ethernet really is.


From some recent research, it looks liks TV broadcast is still 75 Ohm
coax in the studio. Some Tektronix waveform monitors have both NTSC
Analog & SDI Digital loopthrough inputs (1730 series). That allowed
stations to continue to use the same equipment as they converted to
digital. I recently picked up two 1730 for $20 each for my home shop.

Shazzam. That is a good score.

?-)

 

[josephkk]

On Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:58:01 -0500, Roberto Waltman <usenet@rwaltman.com>
wrote:

Allan Herriman wrote:
I lost my HP15C when some luggage was stolen at LAX. I have yet to find
anything that comes close to being a replacement.

I have been wondering for a while, if there are enough old geezers
around to justify manufacturing a (small run of) an HP'ish calculator.

The one I would like:

* HP-25 form factor, with one or two additional button rows to
accommodate more functions. Robust 'clicky' buttons.
* Two or three line RED LEDs, (not negotiable,) alphanumeric display.
Dimmable to extend battery life.
* High capacity batteries / long battery life. Separate backup battery
to preserve user programs if the main battery is depleted. (Unless
everything goes to flash memory)
* Running on an appropriate ARM processor. Downloadable firmware, of
course, so you can have a scientific version, a financial version, an
[fill the blank] engineering version, an astrological version.
* Standard USB connector for recharging and transferring data to/from
computers.

What would you add?

Not much. OTOH that sounds a lot like an HP 50; currently available for
around 110 to 150 US if you shop a bit. Graphs as well and can have 6
lines of text on display.

?-)

 

[josephkk]

On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:04:18 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:48:25 -0600, Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.com
wrote:

Does anyone even _make_ RPN calculators any more?

Yeah, sorta:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_35s
http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/articles.cgi?read=735
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Electronics/Calculators
He's probably better off getting a Netbook or pad computah, and
running an HP calculator emulator. I have about 6 assorted HP
calculator emulators on my Droid X.

Hmmm. Which ones? Any 48/49/50 graphing calcs?

Bah i should just search, i'll bet they are quite inexpensive (sans the
graphing aspect). Then again wxMaxima and Octave are free.

?-)

 

[josephkk]

On Mon, 4 Feb 2013 20:18:47 -0600, "Vladimir Vassilevsky"
<nospam@nowhere.com> wrote:

"Tim Wescott" <tim@seemywebsite.com> wrote in message
news:mo6dnSkf66xU1Y3MnZ2dnUVZ_qSdnZ2d@giganews.com...
Just got this from my kid:

"Also, a cool birthday present would be an RPN calculator with a
three-stack display, stack switch, and variable base log.

I would NOT recommend HP50g.

Vladimir Vassilevsky
DSP and Mixed Signal Consultant
www.abvolt.com

Hmmm. How come for why?

?-)

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

josephkk wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

From some recent research, it looks liks TV broadcast is still 75 Ohm
coax in the studio. Some Tektronix waveform monitors have both NTSC
Analog & SDI Digital loopthrough inputs (1730 series). That allowed
stations to continue to use the same equipment as they converted to
digital. I recently picked up two 1730 for $20 each for my home shop.

Shazzam. That is a good score.

?-)

I also bought a Tektronix NTSC Television Sync Generator TSG170A for
$15, + 25 shipping, a Grass Valley 8500 cage with power supply, and some
8501 & 8502 video DA cards for 99 cents plus shipping. The 9" Ikegami
TM9-3A color monitor for $10 was a sweet deal, too. 4:3 or 16:9. I
could build a small VHF amp (100W) for the $10 Blonder Tongue Agile
modulator and have an analog LPTV station.

All of this gear is better than anything I used at any TV station
I've worked at, and it's selling for under a penny on the dollar. I
wish I had had this stuff on my bench when I was repairing C band sat
gear. I have the perfect rack for it too. It's blue with a Tektronix
logo on it.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:21:43 -0800, josephkk
<joseph_barrett@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:04:18 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com
wrote:

On Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:48:25 -0600, Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.com
wrote:

Does anyone even _make_ RPN calculators any more?

Yeah, sorta:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_35s
http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/articles.cgi?read=735
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Electronics/Calculators
He's probably better off getting a Netbook or pad computah, and
running an HP calculator emulator. I have about 6 assorted HP
calculator emulators on my Droid X.

Hmmm. Which ones? Any 48/49/50 graphing calcs?

These are the emulators I have installed on my Droid X:
Droid48
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ab.x48>
Free42
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thomasokken.free42>
HP-45 scientific calculator
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.uiq3.hp45>
HP67 Calculator
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.limpidfox>
Andro12c (financial calc)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.epx.andro12cd>

I have an HP48G and HP48GX at home, but don't use them.

I notice that nobody has written an HP35s emulator, probably because
it would be difficult to emulate all the bugs.

Bah i should just search, i'll bet they are quite inexpensive (sans the
graphing aspect).

<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=RPN+calculator&c=apps>
<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=hp+calculator&c=apps>
Some have graphing. Most are free.

Then again wxMaxima and Octave are free.

Yep, except they require a desktop or laptop.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Raveninghorde]

On Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:11:08 +0000, Raveninghorde
<raveninghorde@invalid> wrote:

We have been making a lighting controller for many years. Normal load
was fluorescent lights.

We use a 12A relay with a 30A rating for 4secs at 10% duty cycle. The
contacts are AgNi.

The customer is reporting that the contacts are failing by welding
closed.

The failure is linked to electronic ballasts and LED lamps. One
reported failure is on a 36W, 230Vac LED lamp. I am asuming, until I
can get hold of the kit, that the failures are due to inrush current
into large capacitors in the lamps.

Will a change in relay contact material to AgSnO make much difference?
There isn't anything in the data sheets to give me confidence that
that will solve the problem.

The answer is yes.

The relay contcts were welding in the first 10 or so operations with
AgNi contacts.

So far AgSnO contacts have survived 10,000 operations on the same
load.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:21:04 -0800, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

I try not to call people such names. I thought you claim to be so couth.
Saying "Cretin" is uncouth

Well, if the blackguard was acting like an insufferable poltroon, his
cretinous behavior should be noted.

 

[Joerg]

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:21:04 -0800, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:


I try not to call people such names. I thought you claim to be so couth.
Saying "Cretin" is uncouth

Well, if the blackguard was acting like an insufferable poltroon, his
cretinous behavior should be noted.

Isn't that "poultron" up there in Canada?

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[Jon Elson]

Roberto Waltman wrote:

Allan Herriman wrote:
I lost my HP15C when some luggage was stolen at LAX. I have yet to find
anything that comes close to being a replacement.

I have been wondering for a while, if there are enough old geezers
around to justify manufacturing a (small run of) an HP'ish calculator.
Get one of those PDAs, and download an RPN program. I had that on an

old 3Com PDA, and it worked quite well.

Jon

 

[Ian Field]

"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:2f55h8hgb34k7dk6bki11g1kee742avbuj@4ax.com...

On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 16:42:04 -0000, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:



"Jamie" <jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_@charter.net> wrote in
message
news:j_gQs.69570$H5.27293@newsfe28.iad...
Ian Field wrote:



"Tim Williams" <tmoranwms@charter.net> wrote in message
news:keku69$6s1$1@dont-email.me...

AFAIK, pyroelectric sensors are a "single pixel" sort of thing, so
they
don't know if the scene is moving, only if the average IR changes.
Which it does when someone comes into view or jumps out of the
shadows,


If you mean PIR motion detectors, they usually have twin element
pyrometers (thin film thermistor) a motion of a IR source (person) is
"grated" to produce a gross change from one element to the other - this
is done in various ways such as Freznel type lenses (special IR
transparent material) and faceted surface reflecting reflectors.

That's strange that you would call them thermistors? TO me a thermistor
is a slow reacting device?

I have some continuity/voltage checkers with a thin film PTC in series
with
an inverse parallel pair of high efficiency LEDs (2mA rating) - the series
PTC thermistor can react fast enough to protect the LEDs from application
to
voltages upto 450V.

---
Apples and oranges.

Your usual disingenuous self!

My point is that a thin film thermistor can have a very fast response time -
there was no need to be specific exactly what material the thin film was.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:40:06 -0800, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

Spehro Pefhany wrote:
On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:21:04 -0800, Joerg <invalid@invalid.invalid
wrote:


I try not to call people such names. I thought you claim to be so couth.
Saying "Cretin" is uncouth

Well, if the blackguard was acting like an insufferable poltroon, his
cretinous behavior should be noted.


Isn't that "poultron" up there in Canada?

Sounds like it would be a video game involving stylized chickens
inside a mainframe..

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:50:31 -0600, Jon Elson <jmelson@wustl.edu>
wrote:

Roberto Waltman wrote:

Allan Herriman wrote:
I lost my HP15C when some luggage was stolen at LAX. I have yet to find
anything that comes close to being a replacement.

I have been wondering for a while, if there are enough old geezers
around to justify manufacturing a (small run of) an HP'ish calculator.
Get one of those PDAs, and download an RPN program. I had that on an
old 3Com PDA, and it worked quite well.

Jon

It's cheap enough these days to make a custom calculator (just throw a
32-bit ARM at it), but duplicating the high quality HP keyboard would
involve a fair bit of up-front cost and MOQ. Were they
double-injection molded? That's a fairly expensive proposition. The
snap domes might be available COTS.

Could be crowdsourced if there was enough interest. I'd be game to
look at parts of it, but it would have to be in the seven figures to
be interesting.

 

[John Fields]

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 20:54:23 -0000, "Ian Field"
<gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:

"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:2f55h8hgb34k7dk6bki11g1kee742avbuj@4ax.com...
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 16:42:04 -0000, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:



"Jamie" <jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_@charter.net> wrote in
message
news:j_gQs.69570$H5.27293@newsfe28.iad...
Ian Field wrote:



"Tim Williams" <tmoranwms@charter.net> wrote in message
news:keku69$6s1$1@dont-email.me...

AFAIK, pyroelectric sensors are a "single pixel" sort of thing, so
they
don't know if the scene is moving, only if the average IR changes.
Which it does when someone comes into view or jumps out of the
shadows,


If you mean PIR motion detectors, they usually have twin element
pyrometers (thin film thermistor) a motion of a IR source (person) is
"grated" to produce a gross change from one element to the other - this
is done in various ways such as Freznel type lenses (special IR
transparent material) and faceted surface reflecting reflectors.

That's strange that you would call them thermistors? TO me a thermistor
is a slow reacting device?

I have some continuity/voltage checkers with a thin film PTC in series
with
an inverse parallel pair of high efficiency LEDs (2mA rating) - the series
PTC thermistor can react fast enough to protect the LEDs from application
to
voltages upto 450V.

---
Apples and oranges.

Your usual disingenuous self!

My point is that a thin film thermistor can have a very fast response time -
there was no need to be specific exactly what material the thin film was.

---
Identifying the materials was necessary in order to show you that
PTC's can't be PIR sensors, and vice versa.

Whether a thin-film PTC thermistor can have a very fast response time
is irrelevant when the discussion is about PIR sensors so, as usual,
you're befuddled.

On the one hand, consider the PTC thermistor you described and, on the
other, a PIR sensor.

The PTC thermistor is designed to have its resistance increase
spectacularly as it self-heats because of small changes in the current
through it, while the PIR sensor is designed to generate a miniscule
charge when the temperatures its elements are exposed to change
abruptly, ergo apples and oranges.

--
JF

 

[Ian Field]

"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:9d58h81gtrnkd2dm9ii3pi1cfn3h51ul04@4ax.com...

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 20:54:23 -0000, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:



"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:2f55h8hgb34k7dk6bki11g1kee742avbuj@4ax.com...
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013 16:42:04 -0000, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:



"Jamie" <jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_@charter.net> wrote in
message
news:j_gQs.69570$H5.27293@newsfe28.iad...
Ian Field wrote:



"Tim Williams" <tmoranwms@charter.net> wrote in message
news:keku69$6s1$1@dont-email.me...

AFAIK, pyroelectric sensors are a "single pixel" sort of thing, so
they
don't know if the scene is moving, only if the average IR changes.
Which it does when someone comes into view or jumps out of the
shadows,


If you mean PIR motion detectors, they usually have twin element
pyrometers (thin film thermistor) a motion of a IR source (person) is
"grated" to produce a gross change from one element to the other -
this
is done in various ways such as Freznel type lenses (special IR
transparent material) and faceted surface reflecting reflectors.

That's strange that you would call them thermistors? TO me a
thermistor
is a slow reacting device?

I have some continuity/voltage checkers with a thin film PTC in series
with
an inverse parallel pair of high efficiency LEDs (2mA rating) - the
series
PTC thermistor can react fast enough to protect the LEDs from
application
to
voltages upto 450V.

---
Apples and oranges.

Your usual disingenuous self!

My point is that a thin film thermistor can have a very fast response
time -
there was no need to be specific exactly what material the thin film was.

---
Identifying the materials was necessary in order to show you that
PTC's can't be PIR sensors, and vice versa.

Whether a thin-film PTC thermistor can have a very fast response time
is irrelevant when the discussion is about PIR sensors so, as usual,
you're befuddled.

On the one hand, consider the PTC thermistor you described and, on the
other, a PIR sensor.

The PTC thermistor is designed to have its resistance increase
spectacularly as it self-heats because of small changes in the current
through it, while the PIR sensor is designed to generate a miniscule
charge when the temperatures its elements are exposed to change
abruptly, ergo apples and oranges.

Wriggle wriggle!

 

On Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:50:31 -0600, Jon Elson <jmelson@wustl.edu>
wrote:

Roberto Waltman wrote:

Allan Herriman wrote:
I lost my HP15C when some luggage was stolen at LAX. I have yet to find
anything that comes close to being a replacement.

I have been wondering for a while, if there are enough old geezers
around to justify manufacturing a (small run of) an HP'ish calculator.
Get one of those PDAs, and download an RPN program. I had that on an
old 3Com PDA, and it worked quite well.

PDAs have lousy keypads. ;-)

Smart phones have pretty much killed PDAs, though I guess an iPod is
really a PDA under another name.