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| Was Don Lancaster really a "guru"? |
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| Zero999:
--- Quote from: Simon on December 16, 2020, 02:30:46 pm ---did you post that in the right thread? --- End quote --- Yes, I replied to the this post in the current thread. I admit it's off-topic, but if you don't want people replying, then why not remove it? Anyway, as far as the orignal topic is concerned. Who is Don Lancaster? I've never heard of him. Going from what I've Googled, he isn't some kind of electronics genius, but someone who's very good at explaining things, from a non-technical point of view. The title is also wrong, by using the word was, which implies he's dead, when as far as I'm aware, he's still alive and well. The original post is controversial. Someone posting their strong opinion about an author's articles being "content-free, typo-filled, hyperbolic, self-aggrandizing prattle" will result in an arguement, as many people will disagree with it. I'm not surprised the orignial poster was banned. |
| edavid:
--- Quote from: kd4ttc on December 15, 2020, 04:51:03 am ---Yes he was. Back then the 7400 series of ICs had come out and they seemed a bear to use. What Don did in his TTL cookbook was to distill out the essential design prindiples that were needed to successfully use TTL ICs. --- End quote --- You must have read a different book than I did. The TTL Cookbook I know has some trick circuits that you should never use, but just about nothing about how to design a system. --- Quote ---Back then getting datasheets was not easy. No internet back then. --- End quote --- That's not what I remember at all. It was pretty easy to call the local TI sales office and get a TTL Databook (or a whole box of databooks), even if you were a student. That was free, unlike Don's books and electronics magazines. |
| coppice:
--- Quote from: edavid on December 16, 2020, 03:51:10 pm ---It was pretty easy to call the local TI sales office and get a TTL Databook (or a whole box of databooks), even if you were a student. That was free, unlike Don's books and electronics magazines. --- End quote --- As well as the databooks full of data sheets, there were lots of applications books available from the silicon vendors. These ranged from basic information about using TTL ICs, to things like the AMD books on how to use their 2500 and 2900 family parts to efficiently build ALU and DSP architectures (the great works of Mick and Brick :) ). Whatever you were looking for, for serious engineering, the silicon vendors had a better alternative to people like Don Lancaster. His forte was explaining things in simple terms to beginners. |
| CatalinaWOW:
The two previous posts correctly describe why Lancaster was not the best resource for engineers. Different story for hobby folk, and unfortunately for a fairly large number of professionals. Also, while sales reps for the various companies were pretty generous with handing out their stuff, they weren't easy to locate for everyone. Yellow pages worked if you were in the Silicon Valley, but where Don is holed up and thousands of similar places finding who to ask was a journey of its own. |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: Zero999 on December 16, 2020, 03:13:44 pm ---Anyway, as far as the orignal topic is concerned. Who is Don Lancaster? I've never heard of him. Going from what I've Googled, he isn't some kind of electronics genius, but someone who's very good at explaining things, from a non-technical point of view. The title is also wrong, by using the word was, which implies he's dead, when as far as I'm aware, he's still alive and well. The original post is controversial. Someone posting their strong opinion about an author's articles being "content-free, typo-filled, hyperbolic, self-aggrandizing prattle" will result in an arguement, as many people will disagree with it. I'm not surprised the orignial poster was banned. --- End quote --- He was a prolific author contributing to American hobby electronics and personal computer magazines throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s, as well as a number of books. If you were into electronics and lived in the USA during that period it was almost impossible to be unfamiliar with him. In the rest of the world all bets are off, I don't know if Radio Electronics, Popular Electronics and others were widely distributed elsewhere. IMHO it's unfair to judge his content through the lens of today, I feel old saying this but it was a different world back then. Yes, professional engineers and engineering students had access to datasheets and whatnot but that was never Don's audience. His target was hobbyists, the people who today would typically be called "makers" or whatever. People who tinkered in their garage and repurposed salvaged and surplus gear, you couldn't just hop online and buy cheap gadgets from China back then, or search online and find thousands of hobby projects to build. Your choices at the time were pretty much limited to magazines, books and clubs. I really don't think someone who wasn't around during the pre-internet era could even relate to how different everything was. It's like comparing before and after the industrial revolution. |
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