22-08-2012, 07:49 PM
I'm sure you're right Robert, and your accomplishments with 'Micrografx Picture Publisher' speak for themselves. I did manage to find a copy on the web, complete with the tutorial, and although it says it was only tested up to Win98, it seems to run OK on Win7. As you say, it's a question of sticking with one package and mastering it, just as we get to know our way around such things as internet browser, e-mail systems, MS Word etc, learning the ropes bit by bit. Some users of this and other ofrums seem to draw wonderful pictures of circuits too, but a lot of circuit drawing software doesn't have old components such as valves in the library, so I guess some users must add them.
All clever stuff!
As to homebrew construction standards, we can't of course attain the same standards that commercial firms do, but we can at least aim to attain the best standard that can be achieved within the limits of hobbyists, and I think that's what most of us seek to do. I know there are those who say 'I'll throw it together and if it works I'll build it properly but I'm not going to spend time making something look neat which might not work'. (They never do re-build it of course). That's never been my mindset, and as a result, down the years, I've often built stuff that hasn't worked despite my best efforts, which more often than not has been down to a design or printing flaw, but at least it looked good! That's always the dilemma when one's construction abilities exceed one's technical knowledge, as mine has tended to do, but over time, most of what I've built has worked well or I've been able to de-bug it.
Fewer and few homebrew designs use discrete wire-ended components - often it's a PIC, a PCB and a few SMDs. Marvelous technology which some have adapted to with ease, but I'm afraid I'm cut from different cloth, trapped in a 1960s - 1990s time warp, like an insect trapped in amber! Maybe that's why I enjoy furtling about with old radios, which were actually new 'state of the art' radios when I was a kid - I was nine when the DAC90A rolled off the assembly lines and fifteen before food rationing ended.
All clever stuff!
As to homebrew construction standards, we can't of course attain the same standards that commercial firms do, but we can at least aim to attain the best standard that can be achieved within the limits of hobbyists, and I think that's what most of us seek to do. I know there are those who say 'I'll throw it together and if it works I'll build it properly but I'm not going to spend time making something look neat which might not work'. (They never do re-build it of course). That's never been my mindset, and as a result, down the years, I've often built stuff that hasn't worked despite my best efforts, which more often than not has been down to a design or printing flaw, but at least it looked good! That's always the dilemma when one's construction abilities exceed one's technical knowledge, as mine has tended to do, but over time, most of what I've built has worked well or I've been able to de-bug it.
Fewer and few homebrew designs use discrete wire-ended components - often it's a PIC, a PCB and a few SMDs. Marvelous technology which some have adapted to with ease, but I'm afraid I'm cut from different cloth, trapped in a 1960s - 1990s time warp, like an insect trapped in amber! Maybe that's why I enjoy furtling about with old radios, which were actually new 'state of the art' radios when I was a kid - I was nine when the DAC90A rolled off the assembly lines and fifteen before food rationing ended.
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
