After an admittedly non-technical episode last week, we had an abundance of tech topics this week. So why keep writing when we can get to the links and you can get to listening!
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- Shoutouts
- Troy Rank has a new show about e-bikes. Looking forward to hearing about the electronics in them!
- The 555 timer is 40 years old! Talk about a solid design. Potential replacements can’t touch all the sales the original still gets.
- Google asks about the DEADBEEF register in interviews. Chris is glad they focus a little on memory knowledge (not just the abstract CS type stuff). Dave had no idea what DEADBEEF was, and likes CAFEBABE much better!
- Discussion Points
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- Dave and Chris are both working on LED projects. Dave’s is an RGB module for a tradeshow and looks great!
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- Dave pointed out an useful app note from Agilent/Avago.
about driving LED matrix displays.
- The talk about hardware design from Amanda Wozniak (W0z) was called “crass” by some, but Dave and Chris love the tech content…so who cares?
- New design contest from Hackaday, Adafruit and MAKE: Buy, Break, Build (using a Dancing Santa for parts)
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- Rants
- Why are software development packages so HUGE? (No link, just feel free to go to any chip maker and download their development package).
- Updates
- Karl von Moller is continuing work on his documentary about the Australian electronics industry and it will now be in a 3 part series! We’re looking forward to it.
Anything we missed? Are you a manager that wants to let us know (anonymously or otherwise) about the fact that your a manager AND you listen to the Amp Hour? Let us hear you in the comments!
Here is a link (http://bit.ly/cTzfLN) to some interviews with Hans Camenzind that may be of interest.
Thanks for the blog mention! Much appreciated guys! Looking forward to my next round of interviews back in Sydney from 22nd-26th of November! Some fantastic people lined up. Shortly after I want to release a different kind of Preview Trailer which I’m calling “Role Call”. Can’t wait to share with you!
And again, great show!
Your link to the datasheet is broken, use
http://www.avagotech.com/docs/5980-3132EN
If you kill a “triple 5”, smoke doesn’t escape. Magic does.
Scientist vs Engineer? Maybe an engineer has a better idea of what the results will be?
Dev packages: I installed the Xilinx ISE Design Suite recently. It took over an hour to install. The compressed package is over 3Gig so i don’t know what it is installed.Then i realised I’d installed the wrong flavour, had to uninstall (over an hour again) then reinstall. epic.
I’m electronics hardware/firmware. My manager’s a CS (masters?) so read into that what you will.
We’ve been trying 2 week “timeboxes”. I’m still not sure if that approach has merit.
I agree about the credit card. I don’t enjoy being a line of credit for my employer. On the other hand, it allows me to piggy back personal use components on the same freight.
JD
Managers “remove barriers”?
No way! Or at least, not where I’ve worked they don’t! My experience of managers is that they typically have no clue about Engineering at all, they take a “stacking the shelves”* attitude to our work, and basically they just spend their time getting in the way. I often find that management as an entity are the MAJOR barrier on their own.
*by “stacking the shelves” I mean that they think it’s okay to interrupt an Engineer from what he (or she) is working on, ask him to do something else, and then he can go back to it later and pick up immediately where he left off. Then 10 minutes later maybe you’re interrupted again.
No! Don’t interrupt me when I’m working! It’s really annoying and it wastes LOADS of time! Typical management, go away and just leave me do my work!
Yeah I hate management. Sorry if any managers are listening but that’s my experience I’m afraid!
Hi Chris,
I’m not sure if this is the right spot, but our Twitter chat re: your “Scientist vs. Engineer discussion”, here is the joke told to me by my very 1st Dir. of Engineering many years ago. (I’m sure the genders can be reversed for any PC sexism sensitivities).
Joke:
How can you tell the difference between a (male) scientist and a (male) engineer?
1. Put the scientist & the engineer in 1 corner of a room, with a pretty girl in the opposite corner.
2. Tell them both that they can approach the girl, but only by moving half the distance between them in any step.
Result:
The scientist will never get there.
But.. the engineer will get close enough!
Google doesn’t really ask those kind of Mensa questions. They’re more likely to ask you a kind of “Show me your board” question or “Here’s a software design problem that’s been scaled back enough to fit in an interview, but is still big enough to be hard” question. How do I know? I work there.