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madox

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Posts posted by madox

  4. Something to consider...

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    ...they don't let you DIY even though I bet I could do a better job...

    Actually I have done that myself, in a hospital China. I had a practising nurse failing horribly. She protested somewhat when I wrested the needle tip from her, but I did indeed do a better job, getting the vein first time. When it was over, I didn't wait for her to come back to remove the needle either, I just helped myself. The nurse was a bit upset, but I was none too impressed either.

  5. Something to consider...

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    I've just done a bit of Karate, Jiujistu, and kick boxing. I really like the physicality of kick boxing training, and its easy to get started with. I have no interest in ring fighting though.

    Chinese styles are really interesting though. I can't really see myself taking the time to learn Chinese martial arts though.

    Traditional kick boxing styles actually have a bit in common with the Gongfu, with a lot of rotary movements. That's not something that I have really practiced though.

    I am keen to try Brazillian Jiujitsu (ground fighting). I like grappling, and that style seems rather impressive.

  6. C++ programming books

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Hi Doug,

    Thanks for the great stories about your life. Sounds like you enjoy your work, and really commit to what you want to do. Much respect for that.

    I also really like both the technical and hands on sides of my work. I graduated form uni a couple of years ago. My first two jobs have both involved a fair bit of hands on prototyping, which I like. I can then submit my CAD drawings for manufacturing, which I enjoy too, as my hands on machining is far from professional.

    I still stuggle with some aspects of electronics. I tend to get quite a few tasks of designing magical interfaces that can plug into anything, and the tradeoffs always take quite some consideration. Being put into software development now is quite a nice turn out for me, as I've always found that interesting too.

    I can really believe Stoustrom having a strong following. He has some rather bold and interesting quotes published online.

    I used to try to teach myself bass guitar. I love slap bass (Michael "Flea" Balzary, Les Claypool, and Stuart Ham come to mind), but I didn't manage to develop much skill in that instrument. Perhaps if I had read your lessons...

    Cheers dude,

    madox

  8. C++ programming books

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Hi Doug,

    Thanks for the references. The Microsoft Press books definitely sound interesting. I will look them up. I am planning on signing up for MSDN membership too.

    Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language has now been recommended to me by a few people.

    Just for the record, if anyone else is interested in this, here a few other references which have been recommended to me:

    C++ Programming For Technology, Cooper, Boyer

    Thinking In C++, Volumes 1 and 2, Bruce Eckel

    C++ In Plain English, Brian Overland

    Cooper and Boyer's book is of interest to me, as it deals with electronics applications. Eckel offers his texts as free e-books, and also hosts them online in html, and these also seem pretty decent. I have used Overland's book on ANSII C, and found it handy to have on my desk as a dictionary of functions; I expect his C++ book will be similar.

    Thanks again Doug. Your references are much appreciated.

    madox

    P.S. Is your background in both hardware and software development? You seem to have experience in a few fields; mechanical design, machine tools, software development, electronics,... You seem quite the versatile technologist. I'm guessing you're an Engineer by profession?

  9. C++ programming books

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Hi folks,

    I have started a new job recently (as mentioned in a similar thread), have found my self needing to learn C++ programming, and am looking for advice on good learning resources.

    The sole software developer in my department has just resigned, and I have been asked to take over a section of his job. I have previously done some ANSII C programming, and Java programming in uni, but not for a while, and not really to the extent of a software engineer/programmer. My recent programming experience is more in assembly, and most of my (limited) experience is in hardware.

    I will be developing applications and drivers for Windows CE based embedded systems.

    My plan is to spend some time learning C++ in a general way, before delving into the application.

    I am looking for at least one good printed text, from which to base most of my work, and will of course use online references as well. I think finding good online references should be easy enough, but if anyone could recommend some really good books, that would be much appreciated.

    Cheers,

    madox

    edit- spelling

  10. Something to consider...

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    I hope some of you will consider becoming marrow and/or organ donors yourself...

    Awesome. Your post has got me thinking about this again; haven't considered it for quite a while.

    Hope you don't mind, but I have a few questions...

    So what is involved in donating?

    Is it a major surgical procedure? I seem to recall that any open bone surgery was a pretty big deal. Of course, opening the bone in a controlled environment would certainly help.

    How is the marrow extracted?

    Is the procedure performed under general anaesthetic?

    Much respect to you for doing this!

  13. Seeking opinions on XP / Vista

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    ...I'm going out today to look for a Acer Aspire One...

    Hi,

    I'm a bit late coming in on this, though thought I should mention a couple of things. Dell (in Australia at least) will generally supply you with XP for no extra cost, provided you can convince them you are an 'enterprise customer'. This is usually not very hard to do, I believe.

    One other thing you should know about Dell, is that their systems are a bit tricky to install Linux on. It can be done, but is difficult for a beginner. Trying to do a basic installation, without some customisations, will result in the sata driver and the usb driver trying to load into the same resources in a race condition. It can be worked around, though you may need some help with this if you are going it alone and want to try Linux. Dell actually do a distro of Ubuntu, though it is out of date, and it also suffers from the same problem. Yay.

    Also on the Linux bent, it would probably be worth buying a machine with a built in Com port, and possibly PS/2 keyboar/mouse, if it is still possible. Actually I like these hardware options in general.

    My general opinion with Vista, is that it runs well on great hardware (only). Some systems which ship with Vista, actually can't run half of the OS's fancier features at all. This is not very well advertised (what a surprise). There at least a couple of grades of Vista compatibility, something like Vista enabled and Vista recommended, though I can't remember exactly.

    Moving to XP from Win98, you will be more vulnerable to malware (actually, more targeted is probably a more accurate description), so you will have to take some precautions to safe guard your machine. Win98 has become targeted less and less as XP has become the main stream OS.

    It would also be worth maintaining your Win98 machine, as it can be more convenient for some chip programming tasks. It is still very common to see ancient DOS machines in R&D labs for this task.

    Hope this helps.

    -madox

  15. Preferred CAD programs (electronic & drafting)

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Hi Guys,

    I really appreciate the discussion which is ensuing here. This is just the kind of dialogue which I was hoping for, to help guide my decisions.

    ...but It seems difficult to measure things acuratley without doing lots of X-Y coordinate math. If I am just going to drill the panel myself, I can use VISIO, and I can whip right through it. How do you "Array Shapes" (a VISIO Command that can easily create repetitive rows and columns with precise placement) in FPD? That's really my biggest gripe.

    Thanks for this comment. I haven't used FPD much at all (and I am very unlikely to order their panels), though the type of operation you have described is something I frequently perform with packages such as AutoCAD LT. I'm not a huge fan of AutoCAD, though it is what I had to learn, and it is not bad for 2D metal work drawings, once familiar with the program.

    I think a schematic converter would be a really tricky program to write well. So much of a schematic is presentation, annotation, layout directives, etc. There is so much more required than part symbols and a net list, for a complex design. I certainly wouldn't want to rely on such a program. I'm usually pretty pricky with how I present my schematics, as I think they should be easy to read, at least in an abstracted sense, even for someone who doesn't understand all the intricacies of the electronics.

    The budget issue for me, really comes down to me making a reasonable recommendation to my employer. I don't want to rely on software which is going to hinder my productivity. I also can't reasonably ask for the most expensive, best featured software available, as my employer won't really be making a lot of money from the hardware which I provide. It is really a service company, and we need some custom hardware to support the service. I am planning for more ambitious future hardware and software development, than what we currently do, though I can't see there being any significant hindrance to my plans, from choosing EAGLE over Altium or PADS. I actually think Altium has grown a little too fancy. I am also still a little mistrustful of all one simulations which is tries to offer. I'm yet to see this sort of functionality handle electrical fault conditions well. Anyway, I guess ease of productivity and value for money are what I'm looking for.

    If you need to use kicad (want big boards, have not a spare 4 figure sum of cash) find my post with my bookmarks, and also visit the chat.

    Hi stryd_one, I'm sorry I don't understand what you are refering to, by 'finding your post with your bookmarks'?

    There are a few programs discussed here, which are new to me, and which I will be trying out over the next week. Inkscape, Sketchup, and TurboCAD 2D are all definitely of interest. If I have time, I will work through some others too.

    Thanks again for your suggestions and comments. Much appreciated.

    madox

  17. Preferred CAD programs (electronic & drafting)

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Hi everyone,

    Thanks for the great responses.

    I had looked at KiCAD and gEDA briefly before. I thought both looked like capable programs. From my brief use of gEDA, I didn't much like the user interface. For KiCAD, if memory serves, it seemed quite reasonable to use, though the documentation was a bit lacking. I am a fan of well documented programs. I also don't mind having to pay a reasonable amount for good software that I will use a lot. Support such as extensive librarys and good documentation will often reduce costs in the long run.

    I will have a further look at KiCAD and gEDA though. I would be more likely to use KiCAD as I may have need to operate within Windows. EAGLE still seems to have some advantages for me, though.

    For my drafting work, presentation and display is not such a big issue. Any 3D work would be primarily basic geometric modelling. Rendering is not a major concern, provided I have sufficient information to read geometric relationships between the objects I'm dealing with. Most of my work in this area will be preparing drawings for documentation (not CAM), and some metal work drawings for CNC milling by a third party machine shop.

    I will definitely get myself on the TurboCAD mailing list, thanks Doug.

    I hadn't actually thought much about panel graphics. In the past, I have always had a graphic designer to work with me on that side of things. I may have to learn some basic use of a graphics package, and I will certainly look into the options that you have all listed here.

    Cheers guys. Much appreciated.

    madox

  18. Preferred CAD programs (electronic & drafting)

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Hi folk,

    I am currently looking around for new CAD solutions for myself, and my work, and thought I would ask here for people's experiences/opinons. I have mostly used older versions of Protel, and in my previous job used a recent version of Altium Designer. The results from Protel/Altium are fine, though the software has some annoying behaviours, and the latest version is expensive, over-featured for me, and very slow to run. I used EAGLE a little, some time ago. I have not tried other big name products such as PADS. I am likely to be learning a new package, which is not a major concern for me.

    I am also looking for a low (or no) cost drafting program, probably 2D only, though 3D would be nice, for the right price. I have used Autocad LT and Autodesk, though these are a little hard for me to justify the purchase of for my needs.

    I have been leaning lowards purchasing the latest EAGLE 5, as it does seem to offer better value for money, for what I want. I don't really need all the functions of Altium, and definitely don't need the price of Altium. I know a few people here use EAGLE, though some here don't rate it as their preferred option. Can anyone share some thoughts in this?

    I also like having the option of running EAGLE on a Linux distro, which is where I may be doing some other work, such as 2D drafting. I mainly use Linux at home, which is further motivation for this.

    The main option I have been looking at for drafting is QCAD, which has a pretty well featured free version under Linux. I haven't used QCAD a lot, though it seems to work well enough, and is not too different from what I have done with AutoCAD LT. Mostly I am drawing electrical looms, block diagrams, installation diagrams, panel/metal work design, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions for low cost solutions for this?

    Thanks for any help, or opinions. If I can learn from other people's experiences with these matters, that would be a great help.

    Cheers,

    madox

  19. Bye bye Atmel

    in Miscellaneous

    Posted

    Well, I hope this doesn't go ahead. I really appreciate the competition in the micro' market. I've been using PICs professionally for a while now, and have often looked at the Atmel offerings, which definitely have some strong selling points.

    These days I am leaning more towards moving to Arm though, as there are some seriously well spec'd chips, for very good prices.

    I would still be happy to see Atmel remain independant of Microchip.

  21. GM5: Least-cost USB-MIDI Interface Chip for 4.50 EUR

    in Bulk Orders

    Posted

    mine is coming right up...

    i think you should do this as well.

    and anyone who already ordered should be clicking that paypal dev button above right now...

    Yes, I agree. This should not come from your pocket. You do so much for everyone here already. I will be sure to send some compensation your way.

    I think 5 Euro is still a good price. Hopefully people in the second round purchase won't mind helping to cover the losses.

    Maybe any future group buys should run with a small margin, to be used as a running float fund. This method is still not for profit, but it covers operating costs more effectively.

    I need to sort out an issue with my PayPal account, but I will donate some money as soon as possible.

    Maybe you could keep us posted as to how this situation progresses, and let the community help you out.

  24. MB-6582 panels...

    in Bulk Orders

    Posted

    living in the a$$ end of the world means we dont get common products like this, I was probably going to have to use araldite or something.

    Hi Bleeps,

    Which a$$ end country are you in? If you are referring to Australia, I saw JB Weld at a Mitre 10 hardware store in Perth a couple of days ago.

    edit- Fot those who may not know, Australia's former Prime Minister Paul Keating referred to Australia as the arse end of the world.

  25. MB-6582 panels...

    in Bulk Orders

    Posted

    These studs are pretty standard in a lot of electronic equipment, where no hole is to be made in the chassis.

    I used these quite a bit when designing hermetically sealed shielding enclosures; they provide great advantages in the manufacturing process, obvisouly don't rupture the seal of an enclosure, and are robust and unobtrusive.

    They are also used in 19" rack gear, where front panel screw heads would occupy too much area, and be unattractive.

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