On Tue, 2 Jan 2024 14:53:39 +0100, Jeroen Belleman <jeroen@nospam.please> wrote:>On 1/2/24 01:50, John Larkin wrote: >> On Mon, 01 Jan 2024 23:24:32 +0000, JM <sunaecoNoSpam@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> On Mon, 01 Jan 2024 08:17:23 -0800, John Larkin <jl@997PotHill.com> wrote: >>> >>>> On Mon, 1 Jan 2024 11:25:25 +0000, piglet <erichpwagner@hotmail.com> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> On 31/12/2023 10:37 pm, John Larkin wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ >>>>>> >>>>>> This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped >>>>>> England win WWII. >>>>>> >>>>>> He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair. >>>>>> >>>>> He lives on in the trillion op-amps made each year! I think he used the >>>>> long tail pair topology not only as linear low-drift diff amps but also >>>>> as a fast current steering switch. Thanks for heads up, I will get the book. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> piglet >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> There is some philosophizing on the nature of genius and invention, >>>> with comparisons to Edison and Marconi and some others. >>>> >>>> What's interesting is that Blumlein was very mathematical but could >>>> barely read. And his hand-drawn schematics were awful. >>>> >>> >>> It seems to be you that cannot read. >> >> Why do so many creeps, and so few electronic designers, post here? We >> won't miss google groups. > > >Creeps want attention. Unfortunately, they often get it here. > >Jeroen BellemanWhat sad lives they must lead, to need such crude hostility.
Blumlein book
Started by ●December 31, 2023
Reply by ●January 2, 20242024-01-02
Reply by ●January 2, 20242024-01-02
On Wednesday, January 3, 2024 at 8:49:27 AM UTC+11, john larkin wrote:> On Tue, 2 Jan 2024 14:53:39 +0100, Jeroen Belleman <jer...@nospam.please> wrote: > >On 1/2/24 01:50, John Larkin wrote: > >> On Mon, 01 Jan 2024 23:24:32 +0000, JM <sunaec...@gmail.com> wrote: > >>> On Mon, 01 Jan 2024 08:17:23 -0800, John Larkin <j...@997PotHill.com> wrote: > >>>> On Mon, 1 Jan 2024 11:25:25 +0000, piglet <erichp...@hotmail.com> wrote: > >>>>> On 31/12/2023 10:37 pm, John Larkin wrote:<snip>> >>>> What's interesting is that Blumlein was very mathematical but could > >>>> barely read. And his hand-drawn schematics were awful. > >>>> > >>> > >>> It seems to be you that cannot read. > >> > >> Why do so many creeps, and so few electronic designers, post here? We won't miss google groups. > > > >Creeps want attention. Unfortunately, they often get it here. > > > What sad lives they must lead, to need such crude hostility.John Larkin was our most prolific poster for many years. A a may have taken over. Neither admits to having a sad life. A a clearly has a lively fantasy life - John Larkin less so, though it is hard to believe that he is married with kids, -- Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply by ●January 3, 20242024-01-03
On Sunday, December 31, 2023 at 5:38:56 PM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote:> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ > > This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped > England win WWII. > > He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair.The author is a bs artist with a very skewed outlook. There is nothing very profound there. For most of the so-called high tech gadgets developed in the 30s and 40s, they were lucky to get them to work 30% of the time, and usually much less. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer
Reply by ●January 3, 20242024-01-03
On Wed, 3 Jan 2024 07:09:41 -0800 (PST), Fred Bloggs <bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:>On Sunday, December 31, 2023 at 5:38:56?PM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote: >> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ >> >> This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped >> England win WWII. >> >> He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair. > >The author is a bs artist with a very skewed outlook. There is nothing very profound there.Have you read the book? It's mostly doumented references, not much opinion. Blumlein's work and patents are all real.> >For most of the so-called high tech gadgets developed in the 30s and 40s, they were lucky to get them to work 30% of the time, and usually much less. > >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computerTech isn't much better now. Most new ideas and companies fail, but now they burn billions of dollars doing it.
Reply by ●January 5, 20242024-01-05
On 4/01/2024 2:44 am, John Larkin wrote:> On Wed, 3 Jan 2024 07:09:41 -0800 (PST), Fred Bloggs > <bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Sunday, December 31, 2023 at 5:38:56?PM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote: >>> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ >>> >>> This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped >>> England win WWII. >>> >>> He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair. >> >> The author is a bs artist with a very skewed outlook. There is nothing very profound there. > > Have you read the book? It's mostly doumented references, not much > opinion. Blumlein's work and patents are all real. > >> >> For most of the so-called high tech gadgets developed in the 30s and 40s, they were lucky to get them to work 30% of the time, and usually much less. >> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer > > Tech isn't much better now. Most new ideas and companies fail, but now > they burn billions of dollars doing it.They don't have to. The usual approach is to start off with an expensive product aimed at niche market which can make a lot of money out of it, and once you've got a regular income out of them, work on making the product cheaper and better. The electron-beam tester project that I got drawn into got the first stage right, but boss - the original inventor - was obsessed with making the product easier to sell, rather than easier to use, and one of his ex-engineers wiped him out with a version of his machine that was more reliable and easier to use. -- Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply by ●January 5, 20242024-01-05
John Larkin wrote: -------------------------> > Have you read the book? It's mostly doumented references, not much > opinion. Blumlein's work and patents are all real.** See nice article on Blumlein by MG Scroggie ( aka Cathode Ray) in Wireless World of September 1960. https://www.alanblumlein.com/wireless-world-1960-m-g-scroggie-talks-about-the-genius-of-a-d-blumlein/ ...... Phil
Reply by ●January 5, 20242024-01-05
On Wednesday, January 3, 2024 at 10:45:46 AM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote:> On Wed, 3 Jan 2024 07:09:41 -0800 (PST), Fred Bloggs > <bloggs.fred...@gmail.com> wrote: > >On Sunday, December 31, 2023 at 5:38:56?PM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote: > >> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ > >> > >> This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped > >> England win WWII. > >> > >> He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair. > > > >The author is a bs artist with a very skewed outlook. There is nothing very profound there. > Have you read the book? It's mostly doumented references, not much > opinion. Blumlein's work and patents are all real.Author is British. The analog computer link was there to give you an idea of what you think was brand new invention in electronics was in fact an adaptation of many techniques and function blocks that were common in the mechanical-/ electromechanical- world, and those in turn were an adaptation of even older techniques. One stunning example is Babbage's punched card programmable computer. Babbage consulted with Jacquard, a textile manufacturer, who perfected the punched card technique for his programmable looms. It took a lot of cards too. There is one example of a woven self-portrait of Jacquard seated in an early 19th/late 18th century library that took 28,000 cards to program IIRC. It was an incredibly finely detailed product. Most of the hyperbole over electronics originates with people looking for funding.> > > >For most of the so-called high tech gadgets developed in the 30s and 40s, they were lucky to get them to work 30% of the time, and usually much less. > > > >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer > Tech isn't much better now. Most new ideas and companies fail, but now > they burn billions of dollars doing it.
Reply by ●January 5, 20242024-01-05
On Fri, 5 Jan 2024 13:18:39 -0800 (PST), Fred Bloggs <bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:>On Wednesday, January 3, 2024 at 10:45:46?AM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote: >> On Wed, 3 Jan 2024 07:09:41 -0800 (PST), Fred Bloggs >> <bloggs.fred...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >On Sunday, December 31, 2023 at 5:38:56?PM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote: >> >> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ >> >> >> >> This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped >> >> England win WWII. >> >> >> >> He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair. >> > >> >The author is a bs artist with a very skewed outlook. There is nothing very profound there. >> Have you read the book? It's mostly doumented references, not much >> opinion. Blumlein's work and patents are all real. >Author is British. >Yeah, Brits talk and spell funny. I guess you are a lot smarter and more inventive than Blumlein was. Don't read the book. You know everything already.
Reply by ●January 8, 20242024-01-08
On Mon, 01 Jan 2024 16:50:20 -0800, John Larkin <jl@997PotHill.com> wrote:>On Mon, 01 Jan 2024 23:24:32 +0000, JM <sunaecoNoSpam@gmail.com> >wrote: > >>On Mon, 01 Jan 2024 08:17:23 -0800, John Larkin <jl@997PotHill.com> wrote: >> >>>On Mon, 1 Jan 2024 11:25:25 +0000, piglet <erichpwagner@hotmail.com> >>>wrote: >>> >>>>On 31/12/2023 10:37 pm, John Larkin wrote: >>>>> >>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ >>>>> >>>>> This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped >>>>> England win WWII. >>>>> >>>>> He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair. >>>>> >>>>He lives on in the trillion op-amps made each year! I think he used the >>>>long tail pair topology not only as linear low-drift diff amps but also >>>>as a fast current steering switch. Thanks for heads up, I will get the book. >>>> >>>> >>>>piglet >>>> >>>> >>> >>>There is some philosophizing on the nature of genius and invention, >>>with comparisons to Edison and Marconi and some others. >>> >>>What's interesting is that Blumlein was very mathematical but could >>>barely read. And his hand-drawn schematics were awful. >>> >> >>It seems to be you that cannot read. > >Why do so many creeps, and so few electronic designers, post here? We >won't miss google groups. > >Well Mr. Larkin, given that the two quotes I gave are from the book you name (page 28 and 33 of the linked chapter) perhaps you will enlighten us all as to why the author is mistaken. https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkjNCaVyTfIahDHlI21Nw8ObpgR3
Reply by ●January 8, 20242024-01-08
On Saturday, January 6, 2024 at 8:18:44 AM UTC+11, Fred Bloggs wrote:> On Wednesday, January 3, 2024 at 10:45:46 AM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote: > > On Wed, 3 Jan 2024 07:09:41 -0800 (PST), Fred Bloggs > > <bloggs.fred...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >On Sunday, December 31, 2023 at 5:38:56?PM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote: > > >> https://www.amazon.com/Times-Blumlein-History-Management-Technology/dp/085296773X/ > > >> > > >> This guy practically invented electronics design. And seriously helped > > >> England win WWII. > > >> > > >> He invented the cathode follower and the long-tail pair. > > > > > >The author is a bs artist with a very skewed outlook. There is nothing very profound there. > > Have you read the book? It's mostly doumented references, not much > > opinion. Blumlein's work and patents are all real. > Author is British. > > The analog computer link was there to give you an idea of what you think was brand new invention in electronics was in fact an adaptation of many techniques and function blocks that were common in the mechanical-/ electromechanical- world, and those in turn were an adaptation of even older techniques. > > One stunning example is Babbage's punched card programmable computer. Babbage consulted with Jacquard, a textile manufacturer, who perfected the punched card technique for his programmable looms. It took a lot of cards too.Babbage probably never talked to Joseph Marie Jacquard, who was 39 years older than he. was and died in 1834. Babbage's difference engine, on which he started work in 1822 had more to do with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard_de_Prony> There is one example of a woven self-portrait of Jacquard seated in an early 19th/late 18th century library that took 28,000 cards to program IIRC. It was an incredibly finely detailed product.And Babbage went to a lot of trouble to pug an example, and spent a lot of money to get it> Most of the hyperbole over electronics originates with people looking for funding.If you aren't trying to raise money, you can afford to moire realistic about the prospects.> > >For most of the so-called high tech gadgets developed in the 30s and 40s, they were lucky to get them to work 30% of the time, and usually much less.Demanding projects frequently fail to get into production. A 30% success rate fits the more recent ones that I know about too> > >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer > > > > Tech isn't much better now. Most new ideas and companies fail, but now they burn billions of dollars doing it.Our capacity to define and specify complex projects is much the same as it always was. We've got more elaborate technology, so we can spend more money on finding out that we haven't got enough money to carry the project to completion. -- Bil Sloman, Sydney
