[sdiy] A book about analogue synthesizer circuits?

[Neil Johnson]

Hiya,

> Not that I think much will happend with a joint community effort, at
> least not until I have seen it, but at least I will comment on some of
> the issues...

True, but perhaps a few drops of realism might help it along.  At least by
being aware of issue now, rather than let them appear later only to
scupper the effort...

> > Perhaps then I could suggest we use SourceForge as the basis for
> > controlling the page files (TeX, HTML, PDF, GIF, PNG, whatever).
>
> GIF can't be used due to patent license problems.

I thought the issue was only with GIF generators?  And only to the
LZW compression used in compressed GIF files?  You can also use run-length
encoding, which will probably do just as well for B/W schematics.

> JPEG was also not very usefull last I checked due to patent license problems.

*sigh* not this as well?  Only useful for photos anyway (not schematics).

> PNG is the only modern format worth considering IMHO.

Maybe...

> Please keep the turbo-icons away from core buissness. OK for additional
> services like search engines etc. but core buissness should be plain HTTP
> transfer of files. This to keep the core buissness mean and lean.

Agreed.  Sourceforge is a web-based open-source system.  See:
	http://sourceforge.net

> > The other contender, PDF, is perhaps more viable (a modern version of
> > Postscript, to keep Magnus happy :-)
>
> Not quite, but I agree it is a good format most of the times. However,
> in order to work with a large range of PDF browsers restrictions on
> which features to use must be setup.

Agreed.  Just plain text and figures (diagrams, schematics, pictures).

> Agreed. ISO A4 paper format is the way to go. I even know americans who use it
> even when being in america,

*swoon* Next you'll be saying they measure things in metres?!

> > Assuming we go the PDF route, the next question is _how_ we generate
> > the PDF.  Ok, so us lucky Mac owners can just do a print-to-file to
> > generate PDF, but not everyone has seen the light :-)
>
> That stuff exist in both Windows and UNIX too.

Indeed, ghostscript generates PDFs, and is freely available.

> LaTeX is very nice, but it becomes Oh-so-nicer when you run LyX

:-)  I was waiting to see how long it would take someone to mention LyX!!

> So, shortstory: Edit in LyX and use the power of the TeX/LaTeX
> infrastructure. Benefit: Fairly platform-independent and free of charge,
> fairly easy to install and get started with.

Agreed.  And luddites like me can continue to write in pure LaTeX.

Anyway, until after September I'll be way too busy to take any active
role, but _if_ anything _does_ start I'd be happy to offer suggestions and
act as sounding board for potential ideas.

Cheers,
Neil

--
Neil Johnson :: Computer Laboratory :: University of Cambridge ::
http://www.njohnson.co.uk          http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~nej22
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