[sdiy] DIY Culture (was TI to buy NatSemi!!!!!)

[Donald Tillman]

[Sorry for being late in the conversation; I've been busy, but I've got something to say here.  I tweaked the subject line since the topic drifted.]

On Apr 5, 2011, at 2:49 PM, David G. Dixon wrote:

>> Things change...
> 
> Sorry, but I just can't leave this alone.
> 
> You know what else has changed?  The ability and the desire to build things
> for oneself.  Back in the day, there was Heathkit and the AARL.  You could
> build yourself a television or a ham radio from parts you could buy at your
> local Radio Shack!  The ability to build your own stuff was a big part of
> the joy of electronics for many people. 


I completely disagree, David.  Look around...

Make magazine ( http://www.makezine.com ) started 6 years ago and is going strong.   As are Maker Faires ( http://www.makerfaire.com ).  

There's the enormous popularity of the Arduino chip, and friends, and the creative ways people are using them.

There's the "Junkyward Wars" / "Scrapheap Challenge" and "Robot Wars" tv shows that were popular very recently.  And "Mythbusters", of course.

Web-based commerce has allowed DIY-ers to easily locate and purchase a wider variety of more exotic components than ever before.  And in the other direction DIY-ers can more easily promoting and make money selling their creations.

Modern CAD software and PCB houses can produce far higher quality and higher density boards for much less than ever before.  Passive components are far more precise and and a fraction of the cost they used to be.

The Steampunk movement -- DIY is fashionable.

There's a business near me called TechShop ( http://www.techshop.ws ).  Check this out; these guys run the DIY equivalent of a health club.  You pay monthly dues, about the same as a health club, and you have access to a ton of shop equipment to build stuff.  Some of it pretty advanced.  TechShop is a growing business, currently three locations, with four more opening up later this year.

And looking in the mirror; there's been a tremendous renaissance in analog synthesizers over the last 15 years.  

So, while Heathkit is not coming back, and indeed there was a scarcity of DIY culture about the time Heathkit called it quits, I can't imagine a better time for DIY culture than now.


> Do you see anybody building their own plasma flat-screen or iPad?  I suppose
> you could if you were a mad genius and really, really dedicated (or crazy),
> but back in the day, building your own electronic gizmos was within the
> capability of people of normal intelligence and means!


Nobody built plasma flat-screens or iPads back in the Heathkit days either.

If home-building was a requirement, those products simply wouldn't exist.  And DIY-ers wouldn't reap the benefits from the technological side effects.  

And why is building a TV your metric of choice?  What exactly is on tv that's so important?  :-)


> I could say more, but this short video clip I came across about the Future
> of Electronics in Australia pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter:
> 
> http://www.nutsvolts.com/index.php?/blog/post/state_of_electronics_trailer


Sheeshe, old people whining never comes off well.

  -- Don

--
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California
don at till.com
http://www.till.com