[sdiy] Learning electronics now - was Real cause of DIY death

[Aaron Bader]

On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 23:59:20 -0400
limor <ladyada at gmail.com> wrote:

> oh, and btw, i think this topic is total baloney. there are tons of
> younger (<25) people doing stuff, building their own synths, messing
> with electronics, etc. they're just not all on this mailing list, or
> hanging out with middle-aged analog synth geeks ;)

Ammo for your case: I'm only 21.

Reminds me of a story - I bought my O-scope 3 years ago in Dayton, Ohio
at a place called Mendelson's Liquidation Outlet. I found a fairly nice
looking one for cheap ($200), and took it up to the checkout counter.

The guy at the register was easly 55 or older and proceeded to explain,
in lengthy detail, about how glad he was to see someone my age showing
an interest in something other than video games; he asked what I was
going to use it for, made good smalltalk... and offered to let me plug
it in and test it before I handed over the debit card. I powered it up,
spent maybe 5 minutes tweaking the knobs, and was completely at loss to
get a trace to show.

I mentioned this to the man behind the counter. "It was working
perfectly last night..." He spent maybe 10 more minutes trying to get a
trace in vain. Finally he just smacked it clearly on the top and both
traces kicked in instantly. "Guess what," he said, obviously annoyed,
"You just saved $100."

It took me no time at all to track down a loose wire when I got it
home, and that day found the defective 'hc373 that hosed my Fatman.

-- 

"Not a bird not a leaf not a sound/And well after the close of time" 
	--Front 242

Public Key: http://sparked.zadzmo.org/