[sdiy] Real cause of DIY death

[jbv]

>  I can only look back and say that all
> that time spent on hacking code was boring in comparison to
> electronics... so much time wasted on waiting for code to compile, for
> computers to do this or that, etc.  On the other hand, the time that
> it takes to build or repair something depends only upon parts
> availability and one's own abilities.

Well, having quite a lot of experience in both domains, I'd
say it's hard to compare, but nevertheless both have a lot
of attractive sides...
Your description of coding makes me wonder if you used the
right tools : a lot can be done without having any code to
compile... For instance, I did some very exciting experiments
in GA prototyping with Revolution, or in granular synthesis using
IRCAM Max... Needless to say that if I had to design / build / debug
the DSP system myself, things would have been much slower
(or probably would never happened as I didn't have the skills
to build my own DSP system)...

>
>
> > Furthermore, I think there's a big difference with old DIY
> > electronics : in the open source movement, there's the
> > additional excitement of contributing to something bigger, and
>
> What additional excitement?  I fail to see the point, although I
> appreciate the open source movement.

what I meant is that there might be (perhaps not for you) some
excitement (or reward, not sure which word to use) in
contributing with some optimized functions (and some
programming tricks) to a larger project, like  a new open source
browser, or a new OS...

>
>
> > possibly having some of your code used / modified /improved
>
> ....or screwed up
>
> > by others, while old DIY electronics were a more "lonely
> > pleasure"...
>
> That's not exactly true.  Take ham radio, for example.  Anyway,
> pleasure from solitude is not without its merits.
>

I'm not sure if the comparison fits : collaboration in ham
radio is focused on the use of the tool, not so much in its
design and / or repair... As for synth DIY, when I began in
the early 80's, I was very isolated and had to learn almost
everything from scratch by myself... nowadays, you can't
even imaging coding as a lonely activity...

JB