[sdiy] A book about analogue synthesizer circuits?

[Magnus Danielson]

From: Neil Johnson <nej22 at hermes.cam.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [sdiy] A book about analogue synthesizer circuits?
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 16:56:35 +0100 (BST)

> Hiya,

Hi there... ;O)

> > 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...

Right.

> > > 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.

The encoding of any LZW is the issue they say, or rather, that is the
compromise. It still forces people to use an encumbered format.

> > 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).

Yeah, I thought the same...

> > PNG is the only modern format worth considering IMHO.
> 
> Maybe...

By now it exists on most if not all platforms and in many tools.

> > 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

Personally I know sourceforge, I just wanted to point out that I am dead tired
by feature-happy (compare trigger-happy) people. Look at my webpages, they are
booring like hell (and I do want to spiff them up some) but they work, work
and work, well except for some broken links... I don't depend in tuned servers
etc.

> > > 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).

That's not what I meant.

> > 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?!

They *ARE*. If you look into current IPC standards for surface mounted
components and their padsizes things is in meters only! This is where the
industry is moving for large volume of stuff. Time to forget those old
imperial/british units! Besides, SI units is easier for the average American
to understand than imperial/british units. Ehh... let's say you don't want me
started on this...

Did you know that an inch is 25,4 mm and not 25.4 mm? Honest! >;O)

> > > 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.

Right, and there are other tools as well, so in real life it can be very
simple today.

> > 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!!

;O)

> > 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.

Actually, the best thing where if people where using the same tools, for ease
of maintenance.

Cheers,
Magnus