Author Topic: EEVblog #580 - Q&A  (Read 35835 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline JoannaKTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 336
  • Country: fi
    • Diytao making blog
EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« on: February 14, 2014, 04:41:10 pm »



Part 1 of the Q&A ... And only slightly over 3 hours.
 

Offline Len

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 547
  • Country: ca
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2014, 11:08:00 pm »
Quote
I don't want to have like a 2 or 3 hour video - crazy!

 :-DD
DIY Eurorack Synth: https://lenp.net/synth/
 

Offline free_electron

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 8517
  • Country: us
    • SiliconValleyGarage
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2014, 11:22:13 pm »
I set the bar there on the amphour... Looks like dave raised it a bit :)
Professional Electron Wrangler.
Any comments, or points of view expressed, are my own and not endorsed , induced or compensated by my employer(s).
 

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2014, 11:38:17 pm »
I set the bar there on the amphour... Looks like dave raised it a bit :)

Not even close to my record of 5 hours and 12 minutes on a live show:

 

Offline bluejonah

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 21
  • Country: us
  • Heyooo
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2014, 12:36:55 am »
This is well worth the watch for us who are on the lower end of the experience scale. Extremely informative. I really liked it! Learned a lot!
 

Offline Prime73

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 174
  • Country: ca
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2014, 01:04:31 am »
Just finished watching. Enjoyed every single bit of it. thanks Dave! :)
 

Offline Dave

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1352
  • Country: si
  • I like to measure things.
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2014, 01:13:28 am »
You can make a water analogy for a transistor.
Here you go:
<fellbuendel> it's arduino, you're not supposed to know anything about what you're doing
<fellbuendel> if you knew, you wouldn't be using it
 

Offline robrenz

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3035
  • Country: us
  • Real Machinist, Wannabe EE
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2014, 02:35:00 am »
Fluidic valves are  a hydraulic version of a transistor and actually have gain.

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2014, 03:03:11 am »
You can make a water analogy for a transistor.

Yep, I stand corrected. I've never heard of anyone teaching it like this though.
You can do it for a FET too, constant pressure instead of flow.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2014, 03:06:37 am by EEVblog »
 

Offline Irukanji

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 11
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2014, 03:56:34 am »
"How do you organise your bench?"

I looked at my bench and laughed. It's all sort of jammed in here, there isn't enough time in the day to organise it.
 

Offline peter.mitchell

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1567
  • Country: au
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2014, 05:14:22 am »
You can make a water analogy for a transistor.

Yep, I stand corrected. I've never heard of anyone teaching it like this though.
You can do it for a FET too, constant pressure instead of flow.

Like this dave?
 

Offline neotesla

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 31
  • Country: au
EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2014, 05:20:11 am »
the first time I tried watching the whole thing. - it wasn't bad at all:)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Offline Flappy

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 14
  • Country: au
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2014, 07:46:22 am »
I watched the whole three hours, all the time imagining Sagan sitting on the doorstep of preschool by himself watching the sun set. 
 

Offline timelessbeing

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 929
  • Country: 00
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2014, 08:45:45 am »
What is the science youtube channel produced in Sydney that you mentioned, Dave?
 

Offline digital

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 47
  • Country: au
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2014, 08:50:57 am »
Dave I have been working in electronics for most of my life and seeing the decline in the servicing of electronic equipment in Australia and the closing of Tafe colleges it is good to see you put in the effort to help rekindle the industry in Australia and the rest of the world.
 

Offline Rasz

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2616
  • Country: 00
    • My random blog.
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #15 on: February 15, 2014, 09:17:51 am »
What is the science youtube channel produced in Sydney that you mentioned, Dave?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veritasium
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
My fireplace is on fire, but in all the wrong places.
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #16 on: February 15, 2014, 09:28:15 am »
As someone with no degree I will admit to grinning with joy at the comments about experience being more valuable than simply having a degree.  It is incredibly frustrating that many companies simply use degrees as a method for crudely sifting CVs - anyone without a degree just gets dropped; they don't even bother looking at their experience.  Fortunately there are also companies who aren't stupid (my current employer included) and do look at what experience people actually have.

My current problem at work is that I work on software and I'd really like to switch to the hardware side of the business instead; I like working in the marine industry I just want to shift the focus of what I do in it.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline Bored@Work

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3932
  • Country: 00
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #17 on: February 15, 2014, 10:46:43 am »
As someone with no degree I will admit to grinning with joy at the comments about experience being more valuable than simply having a degree.

And how does that help you? IMHO Dave only tells half of the story. A company giving the choice between hiring someone with experience and hiring someone with a degree and experience is going to hire the later one. Then add the companies who only hire people with a degree, experienced or not. And low and behold, despite all the doomsday sayers, such "stupid" companies survive. And make money. And therefore have no reason to change their hiring policy.

And by the way, if such a company happens to fail it is unlikely because of the hiring policy. But even if they fail because of their hiring policy one thing is for sure, they will vanish and there is no one around who could revise the hiring policy. So still no jobs for those without a degree.

Quote
It is incredibly frustrating that many companies simply use degrees as a method for crudely sifting CVs - anyone without a degree just gets dropped; they don't even bother looking at their experience.

Here we go again ... If you think there is nothing to a degree and that all your experience is anyhow trumping everything and is superior to a degree, then why don't you just go out and quickly get one? Should be a piece of cake, shouldn't it?

Quote
My current problem at work is that I work on software and I'd really like to switch to the hardware side of the business instead; I like working in the marine industry I just want to shift the focus of what I do in it.

So now back to my first question: How does grinning with joy at Dave's comment help you with that problem? The industry won't change because Dave said so and you are grinning.
I delete PMs unread. If you have something to say, say it in public.
For all else: Profile->[Modify Profile]Buddies/Ignore List->Edit Ignore List
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #18 on: February 15, 2014, 11:15:37 am »
Here we go again ... If you think there is nothing to a degree and that all your experience is anyhow trumping everything and is superior to a degree, then why don't you just go out and quickly get one? Should be a piece of cake, shouldn't it?

I'd love to know how you manage to deduce that I think getting a degree is easy; I don't.  I would love to have a degree, if only to demonstrate that I do have the capacity to acquire one.  The problem is I can't (or don't, depending on your view of me).  I have tried to do so before on several occasions.  My problem with them, and this is just my problem, is that I have quite severe anxiety attacks.  Anything similar to an exam, a driving test, an interview, or even just talking to people will cause me to begin shaking, sweat buckets of cold sweat, feel faint, and have various similar fun experiences.

And experience is not superior.  Experience backed by a track record of having worked in a field and showing career progress in that time is an indicator of ability.  You don't get to work for 20 years in a field, keeping parity with degree holders in terms of responsibility and pay, if you don't have the ability to do the job.  And frankly after 20 years your degree, if you had one, really has little to do with anything anymore - you're also running pretty much entirely on experience.  Knowing that there are people in the world who recognize this makes life feel just a little bit less shit.

I don't think a degree is useless.  I think seeing a degree as the sole indicator of ability is foolish and damaging.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline TiN

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4543
  • Country: ua
    • xDevs.com
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #19 on: February 15, 2014, 02:53:04 pm »
Watched whole thing, best part about patience, same here :D
YouTube | Metrology IRC Chat room | Let's share T&M documentation? Upload! No upload limits for firmwares, photos, files.
 

Offline M0BSW

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 673
  • Country: 00
  • Left this site 2013, they will not delete it ????
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #20 on: February 15, 2014, 03:57:06 pm »
"cause me to begin shaking, sweat buckets of cold sweat, feel faint, and have various similar fun experiences",

I get that feeling  when I've spent a bit to much on E-Bay and the wife finds out, like she does has done :-DD


no one would or will tell me how to delete this account
 

Offline Rufus

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2095
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #21 on: February 15, 2014, 04:19:46 pm »
And how does that help you? IMHO Dave only tells half of the story. A company giving the choice between hiring someone with experience and hiring someone with a degree and experience is going to hire the later one. Then add the companies who only hire people with a degree, experienced or not.

I found some stats for the UK.
Year   number of graduates
1980  68k
1990  77k
2000  243k
2010  331k

Over the same period the UK population increased by about 10% and 30 years of evolution hasn't changed the average intelligence of the population at all. So degrees have less value as a differentiator than ever while paradoxically are more of a requirement for getting a job than ever.

I'm not arguing with reality, just that reality is not necessarily a good thing. The real question is to prepare for a career/job is getting a degree the best use of the substantial amount of time and money required?

I think we would be better off going back to the smartest 10% of the population getting degrees which mean something rather than 50% of the population getting degrees which just mean they are on the right side of average.
 

Offline station240

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 967
  • Country: au
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #22 on: February 15, 2014, 04:31:05 pm »
Episode #54 is the one where dave talks about talks about how he got started in electronics as a kid.
Yes I did have to use search.

 

Offline Towger

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1645
  • Country: ie
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #23 on: February 15, 2014, 05:59:20 pm »
Episode #54 is the one where dave talks about talks about how he got started in electronics as a kid.

I don't think we ever got the story for how Dave started collage at 15.

The good old wooden Tandy 150 in One... brings back memories... Those were the days, before Tandy Ireland went bust in the early 80s.
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #24 on: February 15, 2014, 06:07:09 pm »
"cause me to begin shaking, sweat buckets of cold sweat, feel faint, and have various similar fun experiences",

I get that feeling  when I've spent a bit to much on E-Bay and the wife finds out, like she does has done :-DD

I'm single (that whole problem with talking to people thing is a bugger) so no problem on that front, for me :)  Which is just as well given I'm going to be dropping on a RIGOL DS1074Z with the serial trigger/decoder licences at some point soon(ish).
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #25 on: February 15, 2014, 06:10:13 pm »
Episode #54 is the one where dave talks about talks about how he got started in electronics as a kid.

I don't think we ever got the story for how Dave started collage at 15.

The good old wooden Tandy 150 in One... brings back memories... Those were the days, before Tandy Ireland went bust in the early 80s.

If college is used the same way in Australia as it is in the UK then it's not a synonym for University; starting college at around 16 wouldn't be at all unusual here.  When people say college in the UK they're often talking about a college of further (post-compulsory) education.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline magiccow

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 18
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #26 on: February 15, 2014, 06:36:21 pm »
I built a speech synth with the SPO256 also (around '85) and wrote some software in FORTH to drive it from my Jupiter Ace.
Happy memories.

Actually I recently found the CTS256 in my bits box.  That's the companion chip for serial interface and english-to-phoneme conversion.  I never hooked it up to the SP0256 in the day, and it seems to be a hard-to-find chip now.
c:\> format c: /s
 

Offline free_electron

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 8517
  • Country: us
    • SiliconValleyGarage
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #27 on: February 15, 2014, 06:56:44 pm »
SPO256 and CTS256. both made by General Instruments (GI) based on the original 17xx series core ( what later became the PIC 16xx series)

i had those hooked up to a pc. could do text to speech thru a printer port
Professional Electron Wrangler.
Any comments, or points of view expressed, are my own and not endorsed , induced or compensated by my employer(s).
 

Offline lilshawn

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 70
  • Country: ca
  • I break stuff...then fix it...sometimes
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #28 on: February 15, 2014, 10:59:09 pm »
you mentioned around the 1:13:00 mark of the video about the money you get from ads and whatnots, but how does people who use ad blocker software on their systems affect your "cash flow" from these sources?
 

Offline Excavatoree

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 901
  • Country: us
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #29 on: February 15, 2014, 11:20:52 pm »
Around 1:50, someone asks about a "water transistor."   

It's not water, but a control valve for hydraulic systems is sort of a mechanical transistor.  No, the mechanism isn't the same, but the effect is.

 The "hydraulic signal" from the hand valves on construction machinery is much lower pressure and flow than the high pressure, higher flow hydraulic circuits that drive the working attachment.  The control valve varies the higher flow, higher pressure circuit to give a similar effect to an electronic transistor.

I'd imagine one could make a water valve actuated by water pressure or flow to simulate a transistor, but I can't imagine any practical use for such a thing, which would explain why no one has done it.

When I started this job, I frequently had to convert the hydraulic circuits to electrical equivalents to better understand them.
 

Offline Rerouter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4694
  • Country: au
  • Question Everything... Except This Statement
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #30 on: February 15, 2014, 11:24:19 pm »
lilshaun, members on this forum that like daves video can select to allow ads on his site, and apart from the rare times that an ad falls back to google ads due to an error they are well chosen and relevant
 

Offline philpem

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 335
  • Country: gb
  • That Sneaky British Bloke
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #31 on: February 15, 2014, 11:29:27 pm »
SPO256 and CTS256. both made by General Instruments (GI) based on the original 17xx series core ( what later became the PIC 16xx series)

i had those hooked up to a pc. could do text to speech thru a printer port

I think I've still got a bunch of SP0256A-AL2 parts knocking around in the old junk box. Many years ago I found myself in Southampton and decided to drop into Greenweld Electronics (a very well known UK surplus electronic parts supplier). One of the things they had on the shop counter was a printout of their entire catalogue under a glass sheet - each page laid side by side. On one of them I saw "Speech Chip! Make your projects speak with this set of three ICs!"

And I bought a few sets. Turns out the "speech chip" was an SP0256A-AL2 and two other chips from the Currah uSpeech (a ROM and a speech-ROM or gate array I think). Took me a good few years to get the chip going - my initial attempts failed (I was twelve, no oscilloscope, nasty uncalibrated Monacor DMT1010 multimeter, no access to any electronics books or a decent local library)... but I did eventually get it going.

I can still remember some of the allophone codes... HH EH LL AU OX was "Hello" (I think?)

Good times...
Phil / M0OFX -- Electronics/Software Engineer
"Why do I have a room full of test gear? Why, it saves on the heating bill!"
 

Offline Laertes

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 58
  • Country: de
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #32 on: February 16, 2014, 02:56:22 am »
And how does that help you? IMHO Dave only tells half of the story. A company giving the choice between hiring someone with experience and hiring someone with a degree and experience is going to hire the later one. Then add the companies who only hire people with a degree, experienced or not.

I found some stats for the UK.
Year   number of graduates
1980  68k
1990  77k
2000  243k
2010  331k

Over the same period the UK population increased by about 10% and 30 years of evolution hasn't changed the average intelligence of the population at all. So degrees have less value as a differentiator than ever while paradoxically are more of a requirement for getting a job than ever.

I'm not arguing with reality, just that reality is not necessarily a good thing. The real question is to prepare for a career/job is getting a degree the best use of the substantial amount of time and money required?

I think we would be better off going back to the smartest 10% of the population getting degrees which mean something rather than 50% of the population getting degrees which just mean they are on the right side of average.

I think I can see the reason why having a degree currently is a basic requirement now more so than thirty years ago: If "anyone" has a degree, why don't you? If 50% of the population can do it, and you're any good at engineering, you really should have one, or you're either lazy or dumb (that's not my logic, that's the logic of HR managers).
However, even companies who discard non-graduates immediately obviously look for experience, because everyone knows that you don't learn everything you need at university.

What I think HR departments really want is graduates who also have some experience, ideally from having worked as working students(at least it's called that here in germany) during their university time.

And from my experience, this is a two-way street: Companies get better and more experienced graduates and students get a chance to see the engineering day job reality, better chances on the job market and some useful experience for university.
Also, at least here and in the specific field of computer science(which I studied) and electronics engineering(which a lot of my mates studied), the pay for working student jobs is quite good if you commit to say 1 day a week during term and full-time during the holidays... a typical student job(like being a waiter or something) doesn't earn you that much here.

However, I think that with regards to degrees, we germans do have one hell of an advantage over, say, the US or the UK, because universities are free here(all the good technical ones, anyway), so if you fail or quit for a job offer you only wasted some time, never a lot of money...
 

Offline timelessbeing

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 929
  • Country: 00
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #33 on: February 16, 2014, 06:41:41 am »
Dave, you claim not to have any patience. I think that producing 700 videos to share your knowledge, sitting in front of the camera for three hours to answer viewer questions, and spending hours a day in the forum to interact with the public, takes a tremendous amount of patience.

I really enjoyed watching this episode. Hope you do it again.
 

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #34 on: February 16, 2014, 07:41:28 am »
you mentioned around the 1:13:00 mark of the video about the money you get from ads and whatnots, but how does people who use ad blocker software on their systems affect your "cash flow" from these sources?

You can't know the exact figure. All I know is that I have consistent growth of the approximately the same slope since before adblock was around, so the answer is likely "not much".
 

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #35 on: February 16, 2014, 07:52:34 am »
It is incredibly frustrating that many companies simply use degrees as a method for crudely sifting CVs - anyone without a degree just gets dropped; they don't even bother looking at their experience.  Fortunately there are also companies who aren't stupid (my current employer included) and do look at what experience people actually have.

Not in my experience here in Oz. It's certainly much less so here than say the US, where you (so I'm told) may not even be considered if you went to the wrong university.
Hardly anyone cares about that stuff here, if anything it's just a tick in a box in the CV sorting algorithm.
When I vet graduate resumes the criteria in order of merit goes something like:
1) Any electronics experience outside of their course
2) Do they sound enthusiastic
3) Can they actually string a sentence together
4) Then I'll look at what they studied and what marks they got
 

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #36 on: February 16, 2014, 07:57:44 am »
And how does that help you? IMHO Dave only tells half of the story. A company giving the choice between hiring someone with experience and hiring someone with a degree and experience is going to hire the later one.

Correct, that wasn't the full story.
Yes, all things being equal and I can't decide between two equally good candidates, I'll pick the one with the best qualifications.
For graduates, I'll pick the one with extra hobby experience and enthusiasm over the one with better marks and the university medal any day of the week.
 

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #37 on: February 16, 2014, 08:02:55 am »
And frankly after 20 years your degree, if you had one, really has little to do with anything anymore - you're also running pretty much entirely on experience.  Knowing that there are people in the world who recognize this makes life feel just a little bit less shit.

I can't speak for other countries, but I know that's how it works here in oz for probably the majority of companies. Once you have the experience, that's all they really care about, and is the first (and sometimes only) thing that they look at on your resume. That is why when you get more experienced, that stuff goes right up the top of your resume, and your qualifications eventually become all but a footnote at the very end.
 

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #38 on: February 16, 2014, 08:05:10 am »
i had those hooked up to a pc. could do text to speech thru a printer port

That's how I did it too.
I had the allophone chip as well, so it could convert ASCII text to speech. Otherwise you had to figure out the allophones in software.
IIRC the allophone chip wasn't that great, and I got a bit better with software tweaking, but not by much.
 

Online EEVblog

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 37730
  • Country: au
    • EEVblog
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #39 on: February 16, 2014, 08:11:39 am »
I think I can see the reason why having a degree currently is a basic requirement now more so than thirty years ago: If "anyone" has a degree, why don't you? If 50% of the population can do it, and you're any good at engineering, you really should have one, or you're either lazy or dumb (that's not my logic, that's the logic of HR managers).

It would be interesting to find out in say 5-10 years time if the current startup / crowd funding culture has any effect on this?
As It's probably now more common and likely than ever in history for a youngster who hasn't yet graduated, or even started engineering, to get sidetracked and never go on to complete.
 

Offline SeanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 16276
  • Country: za
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #40 on: February 16, 2014, 08:30:03 am »
On the EEVBLOG 54 aspect I remember ordering from the UK, where I first had to send a letter airmail asking for price, postage and availability, then get the reply back a week or 2 later with a order form and quote for postage.

Then go to the bank, stand in a queue at the enquiry counter, get the forms, fill them out, attach copy of letter and fill in a withdrawal form from my account for them to withdraw the amount, plus service charge, at the day spot rate, then wait 3 days for the FOREX application to be processed or declined ( still same service charge levied) and get the bank cheque ( really nice printed ones drawn on a bank in country of receipt, generally Barclays PLC IIRC). Then post it airmail again along with the order quote and wait a month or so for the Post Office notification to arrive, then collect and pay duties again.

Was a lot better when Maplin opened a branch in South Africa, as then you just called them and got the reply in the post the next 3 days, then went to the bank and paid into the account and the stuff arrived in under a week. Now it is called Fort777.co.za and no longer is part of Maplin.
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #41 on: February 16, 2014, 11:15:54 am »
lilshaun, members on this forum that like daves video can select to allow ads on his site, and apart from the rare times that an ad falls back to google ads due to an error they are well chosen and relevant

The ads I get on the EEVBlog site are good; the ones I get on YouTube are hilariously terrible.  I got one for "Clearblue" recently; I'm even sure where to begin with how badly targeted that was.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline SeanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 16276
  • Country: za
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #42 on: February 16, 2014, 11:29:14 am »
Google knows more about you than you think........... You might be the first!
 

Offline 8086

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1084
  • Country: gb
    • Circuitology - Electronics Assembly
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #43 on: February 16, 2014, 12:42:07 pm »
Here we go again ... If you think there is nothing to a degree and that all your experience is anyhow trumping everything and is superior to a degree, then why don't you just go out and quickly get one? Should be a piece of cake, shouldn't it?

 :-DD :palm:

Ability really is secondary to your personal circumstances. Someone can be perfectly capable of getting a degree but not in a position to be able to actually achieve it.

Funny how it's usually the oh-so-clever people who do have degrees who are unable to grasp this simple concept, eh?  ;)
« Last Edit: February 16, 2014, 12:51:14 pm by 8086 »
 

Offline magiccow

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 18
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #44 on: February 16, 2014, 01:11:52 pm »
IIRC the allophone chip wasn't that great, and I got a bit better with software tweaking, but not by much.

What I remember is that all the sounds were in the same pitch, i.e. it didn't have any kind of VCO for inflecting the voice, so yes it was less good than Stephen Hawkings voice...
c:\> format c: /s
 

Offline magiccow

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 18
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #45 on: February 16, 2014, 01:13:40 pm »
I think I've still got a bunch of SP0256A-AL2 parts knocking around in the old junk box. Many years ago I found myself in Southampton and decided to drop into Greenweld Electronics (a very well known UK surplus electronic parts supplier).

Yes I used to buy things from Greenweld all the time.  Apparently they're still going...
c:\> format c: /s
 

Offline romantronixlab

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 88
  • Country: us
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #46 on: February 16, 2014, 01:31:22 pm »
Hey Dave you really made me laugh so hard I cried at 1:12:30 on the video, awesome comment there. I have some people that I'll show this to.

Edit: Answering the question made at 3:05 I did watch the whole video but is Sunday so, who cares?
 I am also a lonely guy at the lab. And grew up like that.  ;D
« Last Edit: February 16, 2014, 03:45:51 pm by romantronixlab »
Will think about it.
 

Offline Bored@Work

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3932
  • Country: 00
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #47 on: February 16, 2014, 02:06:02 pm »
Funny how it's usually the oh-so-clever people who do have degrees who are unable to grasp this simple concept, eh?  ;)

You can argue whatever you want, I won't be ashamed of having a degree. I have heard this name-calling since decades, even while I was still studying. How stupid it is to study instead of getting some real experience ... Blahblahblah. Hey, I studied because I didn't want to rot away in the workshop. I have meet probably hundreds of  "I could if I would" guys claiming they could have gotten a degree, if they just would care about that "worthless shit". I have heard insults from floor workers who's only achievement in life was getting drunk and watching porn, but who thought their vast experience (of avoiding difficult work) would qualify them to do my job, if someone would just give it to them.

And all I can say is stop calling companies that are looking for a degree or people with a degree stupid. NO company will change and at least I won't renounce my degree just because it pisses you off. Just get your own degree. Someone here just posted some statistics from which you can conclude that it is 400% easier these days to get one than it was in the '80th.
I delete PMs unread. If you have something to say, say it in public.
For all else: Profile->[Modify Profile]Buddies/Ignore List->Edit Ignore List
 

Offline 8086

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1084
  • Country: gb
    • Circuitology - Electronics Assembly
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #48 on: February 16, 2014, 02:16:42 pm »
Funny how it's usually the oh-so-clever people who do have degrees who are unable to grasp this simple concept, eh?  ;)

You can argue whatever you want, I won't be ashamed of having a degree. I have heard this name-calling since decades, even while I was still studying. How stupid it is to study instead of getting some real experience ... Blahblahblah.

Ah. I see the issue here. That chip on your shoulder has moved across your face, in front of your eyes, so you are unable to see.

Nobody said you should be ashamed of having a degree. Nobody said it was stupid to study.

But you should at least consider the fact that some people don't find it possible to get a degree even if they have the ability to get the grades.

You are, after all, the one who was getting all sarcastic about why doesn't someone just get a degree if they have the ability. I'm telling you why, that's all. So don't jump on me and act all offended when you were the one being childish in the first place. If you're big enough to give it, you're big enough to take it.

Someone here just posted some statistics from which you can conclude that it is 400% easier these days to get one than it was in the '80th.

Lol. Master of non sequiturs. Well at least you can hide behind the degree, tell everyone your interpretation is correct, because you're smarter than they are.  ;)
« Last Edit: February 16, 2014, 02:48:40 pm by 8086 »
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #49 on: February 16, 2014, 02:23:59 pm »
Funny how it's usually the oh-so-clever people who do have degrees who are unable to grasp this simple concept, eh?  ;)

You can argue whatever you want, I won't be ashamed of having a degree. I have heard this name-calling since decades, even while I was still studying. How stupid it is to study instead of getting some real experience ... Blahblahblah. Hey, I studied because I didn't want to rot away in the workshop. I have meet probably hundreds of  "I could if I would" guys claiming they could have gotten a degree, if they just would care about that "worthless shit". I have heard insults from floor workers who's only achievement in life was getting drunk and watching porn, but who thought their vast experience (of avoiding difficult work) would qualify them to do my job, if someone would just give it to them.

And all I can say is stop calling companies that are looking for a degree or people with a degree stupid. NO company will change and at least I won't renounce my degree just because it pisses you off. Just get your own degree. Someone here just posted some statistics from which you can conclude that it is 400% easier these days to get one than it was in the '80th.

No-one wants you to be ashamed of or renounce your degree.  No-one sane thinks getting a degree is stupid.  Some of us would just like it if more people acknowledge that those of us without degrees can be just as competent and skillful as those with a degree. 

Just because we don't have a degree doesn't make us job shy alcoholics lacking in ability.  I don't think I'd have the job I do if that was the case; I'm the only person in our development team who doesn't have a degree and yet I'm still one of the lead developers.  I have this job precisely because the people who offered me the role were able to look at me as a person and what I could do and weren't hung up on whether I was university educated or not.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline SeanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 16276
  • Country: za
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #50 on: February 16, 2014, 02:36:21 pm »
With the ESD damage look up on Google...
https://www.google.com/search?q=esd+damage+photos&safe=off

Two thirds of the way through.......;)
 

Offline SeanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 16276
  • Country: za
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #51 on: February 16, 2014, 02:49:42 pm »
Again As I go through, simplest way to do PWM is with a unijunction transistor and another transistor as comparator. Going to be hard to get TIS43's though.
 

Offline k2teknik

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 50
  • Country: ru
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #52 on: February 16, 2014, 03:10:27 pm »
For graduates, I'll pick the one with extra hobby experience and enthusiasm over the one with better marks and the university medal any day of the week.
Yes you would do so, I would do so, and many other with some sort of knowledge about electronics would do the same, but at the HR department they do not know anything about electronics, they are unable to understand the value of hobby experience and enthusiasm, but the HR department can sort easily and fast between degree/no degree, and marks.
 

Offline Laertes

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 58
  • Country: de
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #53 on: February 16, 2014, 03:22:48 pm »
For graduates, I'll pick the one with extra hobby experience and enthusiasm over the one with better marks and the university medal any day of the week.
Yes you would do so, I would do so, and many other with some sort of knowledge about electronics would do the same, but at the HR department they do not know anything about electronics, they are unable to understand the value of hobby experience and enthusiasm, but the HR department can sort easily and fast between degree/no degree, and marks.
I don't know about that. In many big engineering companies, the HR people will actually have to visit seminars specifically targeted to being able to tell good engineers from bad ones. Now I don't know how much good these do, but it certainly sounds like something where the value of experience will be emphasized even to non-engineering people.
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #54 on: February 16, 2014, 03:39:00 pm »
I don't know about that. In many big engineering companies, the HR people will actually have to visit seminars specifically targeted to being able to tell good engineers from bad ones. Now I don't know how much good these do, but it certainly sounds like something where the value of experience will be emphasized even to non-engineering people.

I suspect it may vary based on company.  Where I work HR are basically just there to deal with the administrative side of life.  Decisions about who to interview and who to employ fall to the department managers; they basically always involve team members in the process (including the interview process) as far as I know.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline captainscarlet

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 24
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #55 on: February 16, 2014, 04:39:55 pm »
I haven't been able to find an answer to this question, but in the 'when I was a boy' vid Dave said that he got into formal EE training at 15 or so, and in the latest ep he got his first job at 17. How did he get into and through college so fast?
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #56 on: February 16, 2014, 05:07:09 pm »
I haven't been able to find an answer to this question, but in the 'when I was a boy' vid Dave said that he got into formal EE training at 15 or so, and in the latest ep he got his first job at 17. How did he get into and through college so fast?

College in Australia has a meaning closer to what it does in the UK; they're further education establishments specializing in post-secondary education, not universities (which is what I suspected, but I've just double checked).  Two year course, at least in the UK, is quite normal.  The secondary school leaving age in Australia appears to vary by state and is between 15 and 17.  So Dave left secondary school at 15, went to college and did a 2 year EE course, then got a job.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline nitro2k01

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 843
  • Country: 00
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #57 on: February 16, 2014, 07:25:13 pm »
With the ESD damage look up on Google...
https://www.google.com/search?q=esd+damage+photos&safe=off

Two thirds of the way through.......;)
What are we looking for? The picture of a the insides of someone's colon, "endoscopic submucosal dissection" (ESD)?
Whoa! How the hell did Dave know that Bob is my uncle? Amazing!
 

Offline SeanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 16276
  • Country: za
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #58 on: February 16, 2014, 07:37:38 pm »
Well, it will hurt and has a discharge.........
 

Offline Dave Turner

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 447
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #59 on: February 16, 2014, 09:24:30 pm »
Reference one of the questions:

In the late 60's fluidics based control systems were available as kits to colleges and universitys. Admittedly the one's I knew about were based on air rather than water but other mediums should work too. The individual logic units were approx 25x12x8  and the connecting 'wires' were plastic tubes approx 6mm dia (from dim memory). The standard logic units nand, nor etc. were available and yes, even power amplification.

The units I saw were controlling 5/6 axis automatic milling machines within a test production line. There was a rumour (unsubstantiated) that the military were trying to develop this for aircraft control systems as they would supposedly be proof against EMP.

Successful as this was I don't think that the logic gates could be miniaturized to the same degree as semiconductors.

Now if the experiments, to create logic gates with light ever work on a microscopic scale, bear fruition we might all be looking at a different scenario.

 

Offline NiHaoMike

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 9008
  • Country: us
  • "Don't turn it on - Take it apart!"
    • Facebook Page
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #60 on: February 16, 2014, 10:14:55 pm »
You can make a water analogy for a transistor.

Yep, I stand corrected. I've never heard of anyone teaching it like this though.
You can do it for a FET too, constant pressure instead of flow.
Not water*, but there is a "hydraulic linear transistor" of sorts that's very commonly used. It's a thermostatic expansion valve (TXV) and it's found in a large percentage of larger (2 tons and up) HVAC and commercial refrigeration applications. The diaphragm (the side connected to the sensing bulb) is analogous to the gate of a MOSFET and the inlet and outlet analogous to the drain and source. If there's an external equalizer, it's analogous to the substrate connection. The diaphragm senses the difference in pressure between the bulb and equalizer (outlet for internally equalized valves) and when it overcomes a threshold set by an internal spring, the valve starts opening.

*Brittany Benzaia's hybrid A/C uses water, but it doesn't use a TXV. The very low vapor pressure of water makes it impractical to build a TXV for it. Float valves are the control valve of choice in water cycle applications.
Cryptocurrency has taught me to love math and at the same time be baffled by it.

Cryptocurrency lesson 0: Altcoins and Bitcoin are not the same thing.
 

Offline 99tito99

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 55
  • Country: us
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #61 on: February 17, 2014, 03:04:11 am »
Hi Dave:  Enjoyed your Q&A vid, it took me three days.

Late in the video you said something that spawned a tee-shirt idea.

« Last Edit: February 17, 2014, 12:18:19 pm by 99tito99 »
 

steverino

  • Guest
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #62 on: February 17, 2014, 03:44:27 am »
lilshaun, members on this forum that like daves video can select to allow ads on his site, and apart from the rare times that an ad falls back to google ads due to an error they are well chosen and relevant

The ads I get on the EEVBlog site are good; the ones I get on YouTube are hilariously terrible.  I got one for "Clearblue" recently; I'm even sure where to begin with how badly targeted that was.

I wasn't aware that Adblock allows selective domains to be exempt from blocking.  In the spirit of supporting Dave, I unblocked eevblog.com, and if the ads weren't too obnoxious, I'd leave them unblocked.  Here's the very first add on the page:



Wow!  Thanks Dave!! 
Keep the ads coming

(Ok, She's the same age as my eldest daughter...God I'm old)

-Steve
« Last Edit: February 17, 2014, 03:46:50 am by steverino »
 

Offline nitro2k01

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 843
  • Country: 00
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #63 on: February 17, 2014, 04:34:59 am »
I wasn't aware that Adblock allows selective domains to be exempt from blocking.  In the spirit of supporting Dave, I unblocked eevblog.com, and if the ads weren't too obnoxious, I'd leave them unblocked.  Here's the very first add on the page:



Wow!  Thanks Dave!! 
Keep the ads coming

(Ok, She's the same age as my eldest daughter...God I'm old)

-Steve
Pretty unrelated, but that reminds of a topic on scene.org, a site for programmers of so called demos. It was a Chinese girl looking for a date. The first reply was "can you code". The second reply was slightly more indecent.

https://web.archive.org/web/20060205135711/http://scene.org/showforum.php?forum=6&topic=76206
Whoa! How the hell did Dave know that Bob is my uncle? Amazing!
 

Offline hikariuk

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 206
  • Country: gb
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #64 on: February 17, 2014, 04:42:36 am »
lilshaun, members on this forum that like daves video can select to allow ads on his site, and apart from the rare times that an ad falls back to google ads due to an error they are well chosen and relevant

The ads I get on the EEVBlog site are good; the ones I get on YouTube are hilariously terrible.  I got one for "Clearblue" recently; I'm even sure where to begin with how badly targeted that was.

I wasn't aware that Adblock allows selective domains to be exempt from blocking.  In the spirit of supporting Dave, I unblocked eevblog.com, and if the ads weren't too obnoxious, I'd leave them unblocked.  Here's the very first add on the page:



Wow!  Thanks Dave!! 
Keep the ads coming

(Ok, She's the same age as my eldest daughter...God I'm old)

-Steve

I just seem to get adverts for RS, Mouser, TI, and similar on Dave's site.  I feel slightly robbed.  Obviously I need to improve my Google Analytics profile.
I write software.  I'd far rather be doing something else.
 

Offline blackjudas

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 15
  • Country: ca
Re: EEVblog #580 - Q&A
« Reply #65 on: March 24, 2014, 03:40:29 pm »
The EEVBlog site is the only site I have specifically not blocked the ads on.  Seems a shitload more spammy than I remember.

Also, where's part 2?  =)
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf