Don Lancaster's What's New?       1998 Archive Blog

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I'm doing a major revamping of our Bargain Sale Pages, since I've gotten
way behind on posting all the incredible new goodies. So, expect some
temporary glitches here in the next few days. For openers, check out
the HP Sweep/Frequency Synthesizers and the Super Shipping Cases.

Improved and updated the Synergetics Consultant's Newtwork page.

The owner of ITU Technologies is believed to have recently deceased.
The status of the company is unknown. Until formally advised, we will
continue running the ITU banner till the end of their payment month.

Updated and improved classic Hardware Hacker #68 on
Thermoelectric Modules and Pulse Monitors.

One of the quirks of the Deja View forum machinery is that
it erases traffic several weeks old. Making low Guru's Lair
Forum traffic a self-fulfilling prophesy. I do check the forum
more or less daily and try for fast answers.

Just acquired an "adequate" supply of classic Navy quality
selector  switches. 12 pole, 20 position plus off, prewired in
groups of one to ten.  Please email me if you want to get in
ahead of the hoarders on this one.

Expanded and improved Bee's Web Links. Added a
new Hot Springs Directory book list.

Latest Resource Bin #84 is on some Medical Electronics
topics.

Added some Alternate Medicine books to Bee's Library
Page.

Expanded and improved the Book-on demand library shelf.

Please welcome back Banner Advertiser Dennis Shepard of
Shepard Engineering. He has lots of new free PIC project info.
Also check out our PIC Library Page and PIC Book listings.

Expanded and improved the PIC and Basic Stamp book lists.

Expanded and improved the PIC Microprocessor pages and the
Technical Library pages.

Updated classic Blat #18 on Inventor's Associations. For more on
patent avoidance, get my Case Against Patents package.

Updated classic Blat #17 on Emerging Technical
Opportunities II.

Lastest Resource Bin #83 is on having Fun With Some
Neat Stuff.

Added some Magnetic Recording Books to our Book
Access Page.

I've started a major redecorating program aimed at improved
legibility and better nav. You can see the first results on the
Tech Musings Library page. For a while, please expect an
ongoing mix of the old and new formats.

A reminder that I've got some great buys on Classsic Apple
Collectibles, on a mint Printed Circuit Plate Through Lab,
and on a 60 Kilowatt Load Bank.

Latest Tech Musings Column #132 is on Catfinding with
imploding hydrogen luminance probes. Using PostScript,
of course.

Please welcome Parallax as our newest banner advertiser.
Besides being the home of the Basic Stamp, they have a
stunning new line of PIC Growbots.

Latest Blatant Opportunist colum is on Adding Website
Bells and Whistles.

Please welcome back our returning banner advertisers
Decade Engineering and Transtronics. Decade has an
improved PIC Video Display, while Transtronics has a
new pocket ERPOM and PIC Programmer and expanded
consulting services.

Hexapods are "virtual ways" or pushme-pullyou
mechanisms that are revolutionizing machine tools
and robotics. Added some links and books to the
Flutterwumper Library.

Latest Tech Musings is on Optical Rangefinding
and Noisy Power Measurements.

Added some Tesla Listings to our Book Access Page.
The CIE Luminance Probes finally arrived. These look
brand new and sturdily packaged.

Improved and uploaded Blat Classic #16 on Post
Justification Editing.

Improved our Test Equipment Bargains page and
added lots of new items.  Yes, we are working on full
pictures and secure e-commerce.

Am in the process of uploading all sorts of new items
to our Surplus Bargain Pages. Laser retroreflectors,
timers, temperature transmitters, tachometers, clamp-
around ammeters, 400 Hertz power sources, precision
and regular gauges, hydraulics, and bunches more.
Some prices are also newly reduced.

Uploaded and updated classic Blat #12 on Why I
Like PostScript.

Just got some hard-to-find 1 degree CIE precision
Tektronix Luminance Probes.

Latest Blatant Opportunist column is on 24/7 Publishing.

This month's Tech Musings #130 is on Rail Guns
and Power Servos.

Latest pair of Resource Bin files #81 and #82 are on
Secrets of Buying Military Surplus. The process is
now ridiculously easier. For a sample of the goodies,
check out our Surplus Bargains.

Redecorated the home page with some new Power
Navigation Buttons. Please let me know how you like
these and whether there are any problems. The buttons
are virtual; they are faked using multiple HTML table
entries. They should be quite fast.

Apparently IE trashes the effect. PLEASE use Netscape!

Just started up a Guru's Lair Forum to help with answers
to tech questions and to provide user-to-user interaction.

Entered a new list of Error Correcting Code books to our
extensive Book Access Page. By the way, if you buy ~all~
of your books through this page, you strongly support the
Guru's Lair at no cost to yourself.

Just added a bunch of new ac motors and rotary actuators
to our Surplus Bargain Page. Along with a complete and
like-new complete printed circuit plate thru lab facility!
Check these out.

Latest Resource Bin #80 is on finding Test Equipment
Manuals.

For a great buy on a 4WD camping van, please see our
bargain page.

Separately, just went through a maddingly infuriatingly
Win 98 upgrade. Does anyone know how to turn Netscapes
"you have mail" flag and "mail just arrived" beeper when
IE is still in the machine? Does anyone know how to shoot
Netscape's AOL messenger?

Added bunches of new links to Acrobat Plug-in Sources.

Rearranged and improved the Surplus Bargain pages. Added
some load banks, desoldering stations, and power meters.

Updated and uploaded classic Resource Bin #7 on Unique
Opportunities in Auto Electronics. Added a brand new Movie
Review site to Bee's Page.

Added info links to Books on Concert and Stage Lighting.

Latest Tech Musings #129 is on Overunity Energy Fantasies,
includes DMX512 theater lighting, plus lots of other goodies.

Added brief tutorial on Searching PDF on the web.

Please welcome Micromint, our newest banner advertiser.
They've got some great low cost Domino BASIC
microcontrollers.

WE HAVE FULL PDF SEARCH WORKING!!!! Try
it above. Please report any problems. Apparently the
key secret that has been driving ISP's up the wall on
this is to use one null between registry entries, two nulls
at end. Plus the IIS itself only works when you get all
your paths right and are certain not to "include" any
file not present.

I will try to improve on the report format after the
dust settles.

New links to International Journal of Hydrogen Energy,
to the Weird Stuff Warehouse, and American Science &
Surplus. Improved access link for the Solar Hydrogen
Chronicles.

Added new links to Hot Spring Locations, to Online
Technical Auctions, and to the Rapid Prototyping Books
that you will find on both our Santa Claus and Book
Access libary pages.

Uploaded and improved Resbin Classic #5 on the
Exploring Labor-of-love Technical Newsletters.

Uploaded and improved Resbin Classic #6 on
the Wondrous World of Electronic Surplus.

Greatly improved Blat  Classics #10 and #11 that
hold the intro to my Incredible Secret Money Machine
II. Added lots of clean used test equipment to the
Synergetics Bargain Page.

Improved Blat Classic #14 on Revisiting Book-on-demand.

Updated Blat Classic #15 on Terrific Toner Techniques.

Added pre-web Blat Classic #13 on Insider Research Secrets.

Latest Resource Bin #79 is on Finding Semiconductor
& IC Data.

Scott Edwards' new Basic Stamp Books are now in print!
Added a brand new list of Fuel Cell Books as well.

Expanded the Electrical Engineering library shelf.
Added a lot of Electric Car and Hybrid Vehicle books.

Improved and upgraded the Flutterwumper Library shelf.
Added links to bunches of interesting Robotic Books.

Latest Tech Musings #128 is on Buying Military
Surplus Electronics, Class D audio amplifiers, Tesla
turbine lit, a look into used test equipment and horsing
around with Carousels.

June 25, 1998

Just got a fresh load of premium HP, Tek, and Dana
mil quality test gear. See our Surplus Bargain Page
for details.

Added a bunch of Richard Feynman and other titles
to our Book Access page. Your use of this link for
all of your book buys supports the Guru's Lair at
no cost to you.

How would you like some FREE ELECTRONICS?
Plus reasonable pay for an occasional hour's work?
If so and only IF you live near Barstow, Las Cruces,
Alamagordo, El Paso, Edwards, 29 Palms, Roswell,
or Alburquerque, please email me for details.

Roswell offer limited to humanoids and near-
humanoids only.

Just completed the main 768 bit Magic Sinewave
sequence! There sure are a ~lot~ of 768 bit binary
words! Bunches, even. More details on our Magic
Sinewave library page. Research Associates are
welcome per our Magic Sinewave Proposal.

Here's a real classic: Don's original Case Against Patents
updated and improved in the Patent Avoidance library.

June 16, 1998

New Jim Fitzsimons tutorial on using elliptical integrals to
find the real length of a Bezier cubic spline!  Updated and
improved a Blat classic on Direct Toner PC Boards.

Started a linked list of Book-on-demand Service Bureaus
on our BOD Library page. Updated and improved a classic
blat column on Stalking the Wild Paradigm.

Updated and improved a classic Blat column on Mastering
the Advetorial.

Corrected some minor math errors in my Vector-to-Step tutorial.

Added some digitizers and protocol analyzers and more classic
Apple collectible goodies to our Synergetics Bargain Page.

Added titles on HTML, web page design and webmastering
to our Book Access Page.

Added Resource Bin #78 on Starting your own Web Page.

Added Resource Bin #77 on Accessing Offshore Electronics.

The latest Tech Musings #127 is on transformer free (!) DAA
telephone access, a new wattmeter, a look at solar economics,
direct solar to hydrogen conversion, and capacitor bounceback.

Please welcome Brand Electronics as our latest Guru's Lair
banner advertiser. They've got a great PIC based wattmeter
for home power monitoring.

Just got a whole new load of Surplus Bargains, especially
Ethernet cards, DEC repeaters, and more really great Tek
2213 scopes. Plus tons of classic Apple collectibles.

Added a new Hyperbolic Spline Curve Fitting tutorial ap note
to the Cubic Spline Library shelf.

The next big thing on the web will be PGML, which is best
described as reader-free Acrobat. Here's the full spec.

Please welcome Jameco Electronics as our newest banner
sponsor. They've got great prices on just about every electronic
or computer part imaginable. Small quantity sales welcome.

May 7, 1998

Our web stats should now be back working, thanks to some
major new ISP upgrades. See our Banner Page for links.
The trailing monthly report may take a while to fill completely.

Made some major improvements to our Book Access Page.
You can now search nearly any book anywhere by author,
title, subject, or keywords. Your use of this page when book
shopping supports the Guru's Lair at zero cost to you.

Updated and improved our PIC Library page. Added new
PIC Microprocessor and Offshore Electronics book listings.
Added some Recreation Sites to Bee's web links page.

A preliminary beta of our Guru's Lair Search Engine is now
up and running. You simply would not believe the trials and
tribulations of getting a site search to work.Yes, major
improvements (including full PDF search!) are on the way.
Please report any search problems.

The latest Tech Musings #126 is on isolated power supplies,
transportation alternatives, hybrid vehicles, and more.

Just got a whole new load of electronic surplus test
instruments, especially Tektronix 2213 scopes. See
our Bargain Page for info.

Banner Advertiser UltraLink has a brand new and always
accurate RS232 Clock and Calendar for only $99. Please
visit and support them. Your click-throughs count. As always,
new banner advertisers are certainly welcome. Check out
ADVT01.sHTML for details and BANNYEAR.PDF for my
insider secrets tutorial.

Just have conclusively proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that
there are A LOT of 768-bit binary words! See our latest high
efficiency and "super green" Magic Sinewave sampler.

April 8, 1998

Colorized and improved The Quest for Magic Sinewaves. Added
new ultra-efficient 384-bit delta friendly Magic Sinewaves.

Latest Resource Bin column #76 is on Home Automation.

Please welcome ITU Technologies, our newest banner advertiser.
They've got lots of emulators, programmers, and other PIC Stuff.

Our ISP is upgrading, so some of the site stats are a wee mite
out of date. Email me for current info. Added a bunch of new
hot links. See our brand new Site Map to explore these.

Latest Tech Musings #125 is on Temperature Measurement,
a new battery trade journal, info on crest factors, and more.

Our Precision Navigation banner advertiser has a new special
deal on their Outback Digital Compass.

Improved the PostScript Web Colorizer Utilities. Added some
Wind Energy books, Hydrogen books, and Home Automation books.

I think I've gotten nearly all of the problem PDF files
redistilled and reoptimized. Please report any problems
to don@tinaja.com

-->IF <-- you are -still- having problems getting past the
first page  of a PDF file, first make sure your Acrobat 3.x
Reader or Exchange is installed as a Netscape 4.x plug in
and not as a helper ap. Set the preferences to background
loading ON. And do NOT go off the first PDF page until
FULL loading is complete.

Just added a Guru's Lair Site Map and Master Directory.

Analog Devices has a new real-time $15 Wavelet Chip!
Links on our newly expanded and corrected Wavelets
Library page. Also added several new Pseudoscience
site links.

Updated and improved classic Resbin #26 that's all about
Pseudoscience Industry Happenings.

Added a bunch of new books to the Wavelets Library Shelf

Added a new combination tutorial and plea for help on
Linking Newsgroups from Inside a PDF File. Your help
is very much needed on this one.

Latest Resbin #75 is on Virtual Reality. Also added new links
on Electric Vehicles and a Backwards Phone Book that finds
every number on your street!

Our new server seems to be gagging on newsgroup links from
inside Acrobat .PDF files. We are working on the problem,
but it may take a while.

Added an "It's a Gas" library shelf on hydrogen resources.
Includes alternate energy tutorials, links, books, and newsgroups.

The latest Tech Musings #124 is on new LED Cave Lamps,
ExtraOrdinary Science papers, Wind Energy Resources, and
Reading Web Site Referral Logs.

Added bunches of Free Web Clip Art sites. Also please
welcome Steve Ciarcia of Circuit Cellar as our newest
banner advertiser.

Some reminders: Be sure you have Acrobat Reader 3.0 or
higher. We are still debugging our newer and faster server,
so please report any hangups or other PDF problems.

As usual, a free Incredible Secret Money Machine II for
eight broken links, bad typos, or other site problems. Any
promised but not yet uploaded links do not count.

Created a new Captain Video's Secret Mountain Laboratory
library page on video and NTSC. Added new access links to
Bookbinding Titles.

Added another PostScript-as-language tool. This one makes
filtered and sorted Referral Log Summaries for you.

Improved and uploaded an Auto-Adressing Duplex Catalog
Printer tutorial and utility. It also auto-collates, auto-tumbles,
and saddle stitches. Great for BOD brochures as well.

Our new log stats are now online.

Started uploading a few classics from the Ask the Guru columns,
namely Guru #60 and Guru #68. Sponsors and Banner Hosts are
needed to update, colorize, and complete the series.

Added several new Auction and Surplus links.

Uploaded classic PS Bezier Curve From Fuzzy Data advanced
curvefitting tutorial and demo. Also added a bunch of new files
to the Cubic Spline Library page.

Added new PostScript-as-language routine to read referral
logs! We'll start offering PostScript-as-language in two pieces:
as an "instant read" HTML file and as the actual sourcecode.

Continuing to add lots of files to the Cubic Spline Library.

Please welcome John Morrow from Embedded Engineering
as our newest banner advertiser.

My latest Blatant Opportunist #49 column is on How to Bash
Pseudoscience. Also has more on Brown's gas and magic lamps.

You have just been moved over to a new server, which
eventually should give you all sorts of new Guru's Lair
benefits. For now, your PDF files should download three
to five times faster.

Please report any broken links, access problems, and
most especially any PDF hangups to don@tinaja.com.

Latest Resbin #74 shakes up Seismometers and Earthquakes.

Steve Ciarcia has now made Free Subscriptions to
Circuit Cellar available to qualifying technical instructors
and their students.

Have added Irvin Glassman's Combustion text to the
Book Access library page. This one is essential reading
for hydrogen researchers. Also lots of seismology and
earthquake titles.

The latest Muse #123 is on AC Power Measurement,
a new $49 source for Adobe Acrobat, simultaneous
A/D converters, solid state power meters and home
energy monitoring.

Please welcome Precision Navigation, our newest banner
advertiser who have a great buy on solid state digital
compass modules.

Added short note on Preventing -exp- blowups on older
PostScript Interpreters. Lots more PostScript on the
Acrobat and PostScript library shelves.

Uploaded a COPYRITE.sHTML tutorial that shows
how to print Copyright, and all the other "secret"
PostScript font characters.

Added a new Virtual Reality book list. Started adding
a great  heaping bunch of new files to the Cubic Spline
Library.

Uh, we're in the process of changing to a more powerful
and more flexible server. Which should give us all sorts
of new Guru's Lair features in the near future. Please
report any access problems or whatever that you may
run across in the next few days.

Added link to a great web page analyzer that finds bad
links! Continuing to improve page navigation and add
catalog hot links.

A reminder on our ongoing contest: For a free ISMM II,
find seven Guru's Lair web site bad links, spelling errors,
or cosmetic glitches. Links to older files not yet uploaded
do not count, nor do errors on files less than five days old.

A brief note on .PSL or "PostScritpt-Lancaster" files.
These are written in Gonzo Guru PostScript, my combination
layout and illustration package that is exceptionally flexible
and offers outstanding text picojustification but is purposely
not WYSIWYG.

You need these ~only~ if you want to learn how I did
something. They look jumbled in Netscape but pretty
print properly when downloaded into Wordpad or whatever.
For the convenience of certain magazines, the entire Gonzo
utilities may be prepended to  some Guru's Lair PSL files.
To use them yourself, it is far easier and shorter to download
GONZO20.PS and then run them from a properly renamed...

(C:\\windows\\desktop\\gonzo\\gonzo.ps) run
gonzo begin
ps.util.1 begin
nuisance begin

Note the double backslashes inside PostScript strings whenever
you want a single backslash. More examples on this whenever.

This file was getting kinda long, so I split most of it into
a 1997 What's New Archive.

The latest Resource Bin #73 is on Surplus and Auctions.

Added link to the Backwards Phone Number Looker-Upper
at Infospace. Use with Oxbridge for full periodical addresses.

Newest Blatant Opportunist #48 is on my InfoPack "Cash
and Carry Consulting". Added new links on Electronic Surplus,
the great Northern Lights search engine, school Public Sales,
and a great site giving you access to Auctions.

Latest Tech Musings #122 is on quadrature phase networks,
Hilbert transforms, HP ScanJets, hydraulic rams, and low
cost satellite imagery. Plus a few other goodies.

Revised WHICHUP.sHTML on forced Acrobat Distiller
orientation. Removed some obsolete files and links. Slowly
improving the green on followed links.

Added an Electronic Industry Telephone Directory link, and
a few others to the Web Related Resource Links page.

Pick your blog year...
1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	-----

Or you can return to our home page. Or use your back arrow. Or...

You can click here to...
Ask a Technical Question.	Pick up Surplus Bargains.
Download our Free eBooks.	Request a Lecture.
Explore Magic Sinewaves	Schedule a Canal Tour.
Find out what a Tinaja is.	Send an email to Don.
Get a Lancaster Classics USB.	Solve a Research Problem.
Hang with Marcia Swampfelder.	Study our Recommended Books.
Learn Patent Alternatives.	Take a Gila Valley Dayhike.
Look into Energy Efficiency.	Visit the Marbelous Pancakes.
Master Bezier Cubic Splines.	Watch a PostScript Video.
View our Classic Reprints.	Get a Hanging Canals USB.