Re: USB microscopes for very small SMT

krw wrote:
In article <e%f%k.13419$Ws1.13272@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...>
krw wrote:

[...]

I don't have any doubts. People *use* laptops and demand desktop performance from them. Guess what, that takes power no matter how you (time) slice it.

Depends on the job. Once this little Samsung arrives it'll probably accompany me on 80-90% of trips. The remainder will have to be handled by the big laptop because it has more horsepower.

Which is precisely my point.

People don't want to have to decide which computer to use based on what they think they might be doing. They want it all. What happens if the job changes *after* you've left home? ...


They never do. An EMI job remains an EMI job. If any hardcore sims need to be done I always know when that could happen. Plus there is always a client PC.


... Do you buy multiple copies of all your tools? ...


I make sure the license agreement allows multiple PC and sole user. If not I don't buy it.


... Keep multiple copies of all your documentation? ...up to date? ...


Yes, and yes. But not all _on_ the laptop. That would really get me into a pickle if someone steals it. I consider it dangerous to have all my sensitive data on a laptop and I don't work this way. Just what's needed for the job plus the rest one separate secured media.


... No thanks (decided not to buy an eeePC for this reason), I'll carry my one full size laptop with me even though I'm limited to 2-3 hours on the battery.

... It's a matter of design (and that necessarily means marketing) priorities.
Sometimes it's necessary that engineers question decisions by marketing. Got to be careful here, since I married a marketeer ;-)
Question all you want, the answer is the same. Customers demand performance. Laptops aren't toys anymore. Few use both laptops and desktops anymore. They take their work with them. Licensing agreements don't help but data isn't all that portable either.

I do not have much faith in many marketeers. Just like the big three auto makers blundered so much in that domain resulting in people buying imports. They assumed people wanted certain products. The minor issue was that people didn't want them.

You're going to let engineers in the back room make SKU and inventory decisions?


I have made inventory decisions myself. A lot.


Students need to re-learn the old art of obtaining some of their wisdom from non-academic sources. I'd venture to say that >50% of the knowledge I use in my practice is from non-academic sources. App notes, Internet, ARRL books and such.
This stuff is standard design practice. There aren't any secrets here. The processor datasheets lay it all out. Do not, however that a given computation has a minimum power requirement. If you draw that time out (your "pulse action") you only waste more energy.

That's what I thought as well, that folks know this. But, example: "Don't you have to keep the bridge current running until you are sure the uC code has finished and can read the ADC?" ... "No, the value is being stored." ... "But it can't be, the code may not have gotten to that point." ... "See that 74HC4051 there? It's set up as track-and-hold so the value will be stored in the film cap over there." ... "Oh."
How much of that is going on inside your laptop?

It was an example from the analog world. Want one from the world of laptops? Ok:

There is absolutely no reason, zero, nada, zilch, why a processor has to keep idling at close to a gigahertz while the user is sitting in front of a laptop, pondering a text entry for a long time or answering a call on their cell phone. Yet they do.

There is very good reason. It doesn't save much to have it running at half that. If you want to save significant power you have to turn things *OFF*. Then it takes time to get them back.


The engineers who designed the Compaq Contura have proven the contrary.


Almost 20 years ago the old engineers at Compaq understood that, the designers of most "modern" laptops obviously do not understand that.

Utter nonsense.


So? Then why did they get 6h out of NiCd? To me this is very simple: Bloat happens (unfortunately), but so do battery performance increases. If battery performance divided by bloat is declining then we do not have progress. With devices like the little Samsung we have (some) progress again.


Ok, back then it wasn't fully automatic but I knew when I had to write a module spec on a flight across an ocean I'd better switch it to low speed. Made no difference while entering text but it stretched the battery life all the way to the coast of Ireland. I still remember a guy next to me getting really pissed when his super-expensive Thinkpad shut down and I kept tapping away another three hours. Especially after he saw that mine was an old economy-class Contura. While I had my document completed he had the privilege to do a jet-lagged late night typing session once he got to the hotel. I went to the bar and had a couple of cold ones.

His was a desktop, with legs. Yours a "lite". Different design point.


Nope, not at all. We had a longer chat later and his machine wasn't all that different. Also, we both typed text docs, same job. Except his croaked 3h earlier.


Intel's Atom is a step in the right direction. Here's hoping that they don't screw it up again like they did with the divestiture or cancellation of product line such as their CPLD in the 90's. Their stock price indicates that they really need a killer app and product, and soon.

Intel will screw up a wet dream.


Unfortunately, sometimes they make bizarre business decisions IMHO.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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