[sdiy] Real cause of DIY death

[Paul Schreiber]

Simply put: lack of what people now consider 'amazing'.

Lot's of people on this list experienced the 'burst' of electronics from say the 
mid-1970s to the present. I remember:

a) getting the Digi-Key catalog when it was 1 sheet, folded and mailed
b) "No time to test these!" (obscure reference)
c) sitting in the high school library, staring with my mouth open transfixed for 
like 3 hours when Popular Electronics had a Nixie-tube digital clock project. 
They actually *explained* in great detail how they worked. They made it seem 
like *I* could make it work! I remember clearly thinking "You mean to tell me 
they can count the 60Hz AC signals with CHIPS??!?"
d) Xeroxing (back when the paper was sort of slimy) all the Don Lancaster, 
Forrest Mims and PAiA construction articles. I bet I read the "Psych-Tone" 
article 500 times. I suppose in modern times it was like a *real* Harry Potter 
spell book.
e) wire-wrapping the Tandy Model 1 prototype, and etching the pc boards and 
getting ferric chloride over everything. I still have mine, serial #00068 :)
f) staring (afraid to even *touch it*) when Seagate brought in a *9 platter* 1GB 
hard drive. We had to sign an 'evaluation' PO (you break it, you buy it) for 
$8000. It took over 16 hours just to format it. When we did the DOS Dir and saw 
over 1GB of storage, there were about 22 people in the lab, just *staring*. No 
one said anything, we just *stared* like it had dropped out of a space ship.

Today, there is a Dell ad in the paper for a 2GHz PC with 120GB drive and a flat 
screen for like $399. Yawn....ZZzzzzz......Oh look a 5GB 'no-name' MP3 player at 
Fry's for $79......Burp..........pass the donuts.

Personally, synth-DIY for me was fuel by *amazement*. What does a 15yr old boy 
find 'amazing' today? Getting to Level 33 on Zelda? Maybe big-ass plasma TVs are 
pretty cool, bet they are a bitch to DIY :)

Paul S.
I'm gonna go solder me some MOTM-380 LFOs, dammit