I think it is great the communications we have now. I used to have a shelf FULL of transistor and IC books. Now I have the web and no books. I read Design News, Electronic Products, EDN, etc. and find all sorts of useful things.
Warren, no joking about not having a full bookshelf anymore for research. I entered the field just before the web arrived, and remember getting data sheets the old fashion way. Want to learn about some new product? Oh, you need to look up the manufacture in the Thomas Register (aka "Big Green Books")....
And writing code, especially for Microsoft products? What was a time consuming and difficult process, is now complimented by being able to grab tons of examples off of the internet, along with the reference material right from Microsoft.
Let's see, I also remember using modems to dial into customer machines, sending FAXes to order stuff, etc.
Sometimes I miss being able to use the "I'm compiling right now" excuse.
And since I am a pack rat, I do still have one full set of brand new, still in the box, Texas Instrument logic books (the yellow ones with the blue stripe).... :)
I was particularly intrigued by the simple, yet very effective pinch valves. I was able to go to the site from the link in the author's sig line and learn even more.
Unfortunately, searching on that same site for more information on the Quik-Lok produced no results at all. While I believe that I have a fair idea of how this type of quick disconnect works, it would have been much more informative if the author's website provided that information.
Here is a link to the section of the Flow-Rite website that covers the Quik-Lok connectors. Pretty simple in operation and effective. Definitely following the KISS principle.
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
On April 21, NASA launched a novel project, putting into orbit three satellites that employ an off-the-shelf commercial smartphone as the control system.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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