5 ms·

I'm deeply unqualified in pretty much every way to comment on the efficacy of this design - but _wow_ am I impressed with both the creativity and the perseveran

I'm deeply unqualified in pretty much every way to comment on the efficacy of this design - but _wow_ am I impressed with both the creativity and the perseverance of this guy. I love software, but there's just something undeniably cool about hardware.

benj111 3y ago
> but there's just something undeniably cool about hardware Personally I just like going lower level. I like Ben Eater making whatever out of a few chips. I've set my line at asm else I'd just end up making a whole computer out of transistors or sand.
- narrator 3y ago
  Analog engineering is really difficult because you need to solve differential equations that Wolfram is unable to solve. Most designs were made by very smart people in the 50s at RCA as far as I can tell. Please tell me about how wrong I am. I admit the analog circuit engineering world has looked totally unapproachable to me even as a reasonably competent working computer scientist.
  - adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
    the good news is you don't need exact solutions and there are pretty robust tools for numerical diffeq solving now. the best are Julia's ecosystem, but sundials is pretty decent also.
  - CamperBob2 3y ago
    "LTSpice is all you need," in the vernacular of the times.
  - mindentropy 3y ago
    >Most designs were made by very smart people in the 50s at RCA as far as I can tell. I am very interested to know this. Do you have any resources on this development work done by RCA and how it has shaped the modern world?
    - narrator 3y ago
      When I was looking at catalogs of various analog circuit designs, a lot of them were circuits RCA patented that now are public domain because the patents are now expired. They probably aren't the only ones, but they certainly contributed a lot. https://patents.google.com/?q=(analog+circuit)&assignee=rca&oq=assignee:rca+analog+circuit&sort=old&page=1 https://patents.google.com/?q=(analog+circuit)&assignee=rca&...
  - eternityforest 3y ago
    Something like making a new audio amplifier is pretty specialized, but you don't need any advanced math (Not even algebra) for some of it. As long as you're still pretty much thinking time domain and you don't need to calculate frequency responses and RF stuff there's lots to do. But then again my only analog experience is just IO stuff for digital, I've never done anything interesting in pure analog, I think if you're a real analog enthusiast you might get bored of what you can do without math.
- pretendgeneer 3y ago
  You'd love Sam Zeloff http://sam.zeloof.xyz/ http://sam.zeloof.xyz/ he makes DIY transistors
  - nickelpro 3y ago
    I find Sam a little too dismissive sometimes. He has relatively wealthy parents who let him convert a garage into a home fab, and talks about dropping $30k on a second hand ESM like it's no big deal. Don't get me wrong, he's a genius, but everytime he transitions into "anyone can do this stuff!" It rubs me the wrong way
    - fukpaywalls2 3y ago
      Your comment reminds me of those woodshop youtubers with clickbait titles like "diy your own coffee table for only $50", only to find they are using about 10K or more of shop equipment.
      - earleybird 3y ago
        And then there's New Yankee Workshop "and now let's go over to the xyz machine for <next-step>".
    - mindentropy 3y ago
      > He has relatively wealthy parents who let him convert a garage into a home fab, and talks about dropping $30k on a second hand ESM like it's no big deal. The envy I feel when I see these guys with such equipment is enormous. I really would love so much to have a loaded electronics work bench especially oscilloscopes, LAs etc. and of course the time to actually play with it. :-(
      - all2 3y ago
        Check if you've got a local hackerspace! There are a lot of good ones out there. By and large you will find excellent people who want to enable you to do amazing things.
deleted 3y ago
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benj111 3y ago

> but there's just something undeniably cool about hardware Personally I just like going lower level. I like Ben Eater making whatever out of a few chips. I've set my line at asm else I'd just end up making a whole computer out of transistors or sand.

narrator 3y ago
Analog engineering is really difficult because you need to solve differential equations that Wolfram is unable to solve. Most designs were made by very smart people in the 50s at RCA as far as I can tell. Please tell me about how wrong I am. I admit the analog circuit engineering world has looked totally unapproachable to me even as a reasonably competent working computer scientist.
- adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
  the good news is you don't need exact solutions and there are pretty robust tools for numerical diffeq solving now. the best are Julia's ecosystem, but sundials is pretty decent also.
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  "LTSpice is all you need," in the vernacular of the times.
- mindentropy 3y ago
  >Most designs were made by very smart people in the 50s at RCA as far as I can tell. I am very interested to know this. Do you have any resources on this development work done by RCA and how it has shaped the modern world?
  - narrator 3y ago
    When I was looking at catalogs of various analog circuit designs, a lot of them were circuits RCA patented that now are public domain because the patents are now expired. They probably aren't the only ones, but they certainly contributed a lot. https://patents.google.com/?q=(analog+circuit)&assignee=rca&oq=assignee:rca+analog+circuit&sort=old&page=1 https://patents.google.com/?q=(analog+circuit)&assignee=rca&...
- eternityforest 3y ago
  Something like making a new audio amplifier is pretty specialized, but you don't need any advanced math (Not even algebra) for some of it. As long as you're still pretty much thinking time domain and you don't need to calculate frequency responses and RF stuff there's lots to do. But then again my only analog experience is just IO stuff for digital, I've never done anything interesting in pure analog, I think if you're a real analog enthusiast you might get bored of what you can do without math.
pretendgeneer 3y ago
You'd love Sam Zeloff http://sam.zeloof.xyz/ http://sam.zeloof.xyz/ he makes DIY transistors
- nickelpro 3y ago
  I find Sam a little too dismissive sometimes. He has relatively wealthy parents who let him convert a garage into a home fab, and talks about dropping $30k on a second hand ESM like it's no big deal. Don't get me wrong, he's a genius, but everytime he transitions into "anyone can do this stuff!" It rubs me the wrong way
  - fukpaywalls2 3y ago
    Your comment reminds me of those woodshop youtubers with clickbait titles like "diy your own coffee table for only $50", only to find they are using about 10K or more of shop equipment.
    - earleybird 3y ago
      And then there's New Yankee Workshop "and now let's go over to the xyz machine for <next-step>".
  - mindentropy 3y ago
    > He has relatively wealthy parents who let him convert a garage into a home fab, and talks about dropping $30k on a second hand ESM like it's no big deal. The envy I feel when I see these guys with such equipment is enormous. I really would love so much to have a loaded electronics work bench especially oscilloscopes, LAs etc. and of course the time to actually play with it. :-(
    - all2 3y ago
      Check if you've got a local hackerspace! There are a lot of good ones out there. By and large you will find excellent people who want to enable you to do amazing things.

deleted 3y ago

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