Don Lancaster's What's New?       1999 Archive Blog

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Please welcome Diversified Engineering as our latest
Banner Advertiser. They offer a variety of superb PIC
related development and educational boards.

Expanded the "mauve" search engine listings on the
home page. Added a web discovery of the week feature.
This is usually some exciting new site I have found that
eventually will get linked.

Here's a secret way to find at least some of the DRMO
to Levy-Latham inventory transfers: Click on the DRMS4
button on my Guru's Lair home page. Sort on bid number
then date. Set output format to **NOT** print the site
name. (!) This seems handy for finding otherwise unavailable
acquisition costs. The transfers are usually sale 99005.

Some Electrochemistry Books have been added to
our Book Access links.

Just added some Thermoelectric Power Generators
and highly collectible Circular Slide Rules to our Live
Auction page.

Oops. The Contactless Charger components we covered
in Muse 142 were  really TDK parts, rather than Toko.
More details at www.component.tdk.com. Panasonic also
has a PHS charger system at www.panasonic.com.

Latest Tech Musings #145 is on four point Bezier curve
fitting, PIC Digimatic interfaces, Magnetorheology demos,
and bunches of other goodies. The print version of this
column supposedly is now in Poptronix magazine.

Added a list of Carbon Nanotube reference books.
Tested, upgraded, and improved the Hydrogen
Resources page.

Updated, verified, and improved the Pseudoscience
Links library page.

Updated and expanded our Web Resources library
page. Added The Nudist on the Late Shift to our Book
Access page. Here at Synergetics, We don't usually draw
all that much a distinction between our casual dress days
and the clothing optional ones.

Verified and updated our PIC Book List and our Pic a
Peck of Pics page.

Just got a whole load of super high speed, super high
volume letter opening machine consoles. These include
VacTrac's from Mail Ex and Opex model 100's and 150's.
Please email me if you have any interest in these.

Rearranged the Home Page DRMO buttons. DRMS1
is the catalog. DRMS2  is the bidding page. DRMS3
gives previous bid results, while DRMS4 is their
master search engine.

Please welcome Zabros Robotics as our newest Banner
Advertiser. They offer custom personal attention to lots
of interesting robotic solutions.

Another two million of your wasted tax dollars was just
dumped in my front yard.

Before I strip them for parts to try and get at least some
of my shipping charges back, please let me know if you
have any interest in $23,000.00 4x5 aerial camera bodies.
These include an incredibly superb focal plane shutter
mechanism with lots of ultra premium dc governor motors
(small quarter hp intermittent!), clutches, brakes, crt's,
and other mind bending robotic parts.

A lens cone and a film cassette have to be added to make
a full KS 87/B camera. Clean used, but may need a shutter
repair. Please email me for further details.

Just got some really strange 48 (yup - fourty EIGHT)
pin premium PLCC Textool burnin sockets. Also 24 pin
SOJ's. Please let me know who would use these for what.
Note that 44 pins is the norm. These apparently see use with
CCD sensor chips and in a few other oddball places.

Started an overhaul and upgrade of our 1000 PIC
Links page.

Began an upgrade and update on the Ask the Guru
library page. 25 classic archived columns have been
added. More will follow as Banner Advertisers permit.

Added a complete archive of all the early Hardware
Hacker files. Many of these have not yet been colorized,
updated, or hot linked. As with all of our other files,
linking is welcome but reposting is expressly forbidden.

I've now added a favicon.ico file to the website for any
of you who have been needing this for your IE favorites
or bookmarks. More on creating your own icons (favorit
or other) will shortly appear in MUSE144.PDF.

Added some recommended Thermometry books to our
Book Access pages.

Popular Electronics and Electronics Now have merged
into Poptronix. My Tech Musings columns will continue
in Poptronix as well as in ezine format.

My Blatant Opportunist and Resouce Bin columns are
now exclusively in ezine format. I have recently greatly
expanded the available links and have added new photo
technology, so the latest stuff should be even better
than ever.

Got a bunch of superb electric brakes useful for
everything from  robotics to ORV to ag stuff.

Added some ultrasonic NDT testers to our new
Scientific Bargains page. And Wavetek 145
Function Generators to the Test Equipment page.

Added a new Sensors Bargain Page. Split out the
laboratory, medical, and machine shop items onto their
own Laboratory Bargain Page.

Bragging rights department: That photo of the Apple I
computer in  Wired magazine for November 1999 page
298 has MY keyboard in it.

Did I ever tell you about the time I made the Rolling
Stone centerfold?

Added some Spectroscopy Books to our Book Access Page.

Just got a pair of surplus super premium Prichard
luminescence photometers from the feds. email me
if you have any interest in these superb but pricey gems.

Added a Search Engine Group selector to the home page.

The feds have newly added Local Bid Results to their
surplus pages.

UPDATE: Such buys no longer exist as mil surplus.

Added some new PostScript Utilities. BEZ4UTIL.PS
is the actual code you'll need to draw a Bezier Curve
through four points. It is based on the Jim Fitzsimmons
derivation in BEZ4PTS.PDF

Just picked up a $25,000.00 autocollimator from the
feds. Otherwise  known as an extremely precise
electronic level. I would rather sell it in one piece
instead of stripping it for parts. It is a Broomer
AT/AC4700 mounted on a 3" dual micrometer
az-el table.

There is a LED source and a 20X 4728  prism CCD
video telescope using a Panasonic WV-CD50.
The main scope has graticules and beam splitters. A
Schaevitz LSOC 3 degree inclinometer is on the side.
A precision mini 2-axis stage adjusts the camera position
Please email me if you want to save some big bucks.

We have an incredible online auction now going on a
Scitech MAP X-ray fluorescence spectrum analyzer.

Added bunches of new links to the Guru's Lair home
page. These are all the links that Bee and I personally
use the most.

Updated and improved the Don Technical Links page.

Latest PostScript Utility uses Gaussian Elimination to
solve n=4 linear algebraic equations.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #59 is on Web Imaging Secrets.

Latest Tech Musings #142 is on contact-free battery
chargers, Gage interfaces, Gauss-Jordan elimination,
and more.

Added some still video players and video floppy players
to our video bargain page.

A reminder that the Resouce Bin is now a greatly
improved ezine. It no longer appears in whatever
the name of that magazine was.

Added some linear bearings, bunches of robotic bits &
pieces and some buys in used chassic punches to
our bargain pages.   ( Sold out long ago )

Added some Induction Heating Books to our Book
Access Page. New bargains include telephone digital
announcers and GagePort machine tool interfaces.
Plus lots of useful shop tools.

Expanded the "Other Stuff" bargain page. Added
some outstanding algebra tutorial videos (perfect for
charter schools), drills, and drill guides.

Took out all of the old bad links on the Acrobat page
and replaced them with new ones.

Latest Resource Bin #92 ezine is on Exploring Some
PostScript Possibilities.

Latest Tech Musings #141 is on Subpixel resolution
tricks, diode rf switches and attenuators, a new
hydrogen storage breakthrough, antialiasing techniques
and grayscaling secrets.

Latest Resource Bin #91 ezine is on Antenna Resources.

Got a whole load of premium and clean Magnetec 60M
Kiosk/receipt/ticket printers. RFE. These are six inch
wide dot matrix style and include a power paper shear
and a Z80 class computer interface. Please let me kno
immediately if you have an interest in these at $59 each.
They appear fully functional. Because of their bulk, I'll
be stripping them for parts very shortly.

I really hate to tear apart functional premium gear.
It pains me deeply.

Just added some Ultrasonic Books to our Book Access
page. The listing is found in MUSE141. Also just got
another load of Apple II and Apple II+ computers, so
these are back in stock.

I've found a neighbor who has an incredible ability to
get things done in the way of packing, crating, and
shipment brokering at amazingly reasonable costs.

We are now able to offer optional shipping on our
heavier items. Particularly the Printed Circuit Plate-thru
Lab, 60 kilowatt Load Bank, HP Draftmaster II plodder,
Apple IIe Storehouse Closeout Napco 5300 Germ
Warfare Kit, and our superb Kinetron II torture chambers.

By now, you should have noticed the spectacular
"shadowless" and "distortionless" superdetailed product
"photos" I'm now starting to add to all of our Bargain
Pages. Secrets of these techniques can be found in
IMAGIMAG.PDF and in MUSE140.PDF.

We can now offer to do this quality web product
photography for you at a flat rate of $99 per image.
Seminars and training on this exciting new technique
that offers HUNDREDS of times the resolution of a
digital camera are also avaiable. email me for details.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #53 includes some
Thoughts on ezines.

Added photos of the Lab Furnace and the Kinetron I
to the bargain pages. The furnace is somewhat taller
than shown in the image, My Scanner Method
sure is an addictive way to create unbeatable web images.

A reminder that the free Adobe Acrobat Reader is
absolutely essential if you are to visit my Guru's Lair
web site. Netscape Navigator is the recommended
browser, set to twelve point Times text with underlining
off. Certain demos may not work properly when using
other browsers. Other browsers also may unacceptably
trash the intended appearance of the site.

Latest Resource Bin ezine is on GPS and Navigation.

Latest Tech Musings #140 is on low cost printed circuit
drills, energy "laws" as theorems, water soluble swimsuits,
PostScript robotics, scanner "photo" secrets, and lots more.

Check out our new designer series of water soluble
swimsuits.

In response to a groundswill of public demand, we
have added medieval torture chambers to our product
line. At an incredibly great price.

Just added some GPS Navigation and Radio Astronomy
books to our Book Access library page.

If you live anywhere near Portsmouth NH, please email
me immediately at don@tinaja.com I was just awarded
two military surplus microprocessor controlled party dolls
and need these gals picked up and forwarded. Your tax
dollars at work. For a reasonable fee, of course.

I've started adding product photos to our Bargain
Pages. My new "scanner method"gives such incredible
results that I'm hesitant to add grubby old digital camera
photos. Click on the orange boxes for details.

Latest Tech Musings #139 is on Hot Tub Economics,
the SETI-at-home project, quality electronic photography
secrets, and more.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #57 is on Imaginative Images.

Just made the amazing discovery that incredible quality
color "photographs" can be done using nothing but a
scanner, lots of work with Paint and a JPEG converter.
Check out these
amazing examples...

https://www.tinaja.com/images/bargs/lumin1.jpg
https://www.tinaja.com/images/bargs/thermoc1.jpg
https://www.tinaja.com/images/bargs/noisegn1.jpg
https://www.tinaja.com/images/bargs/casio1.jpg
https://www.tinaja.com/images/bargs/punchdn1.jpg

More details on these items on our actual bargain pages.

Do any of you live near Medford Oregon? Please email
me if you can help me take some local digital pictures.
For a modest fee, of course.

Added some "newbie nav" buttons to give instant
access to our auction, bargain, forum, search, site
map, and what's new pages.

Made some minor adjustments and added a few files
to the Blatant Opportunist library page. Also discontinued
our newslist link page because robots who ignored the
"keep out" signs were giving the ISP fits. Most ISP's
now provide useful newsgroup searching.

Latest Resouce Bin #89 is on Boatanchors. Boatanchor
enthuasiasts can usually be spotted by their exceptionally
long arms.

Added some new Live Auction Links. This gives you
instant access to any and all of our current ebay offerings.

Latest Tech Musings #138 is on Miracle Antennas, life
as we don't know  it, fractals, PostScript referral and
query readers, and more.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #56 is on Funding your
Web Site.

Latest PostScript Utilities are GRABREFS.PSL that
extracts offsite  referrals and GRABSRCH.PSL that
extracts search engine queries from your ISP log files.
Downoad these files, view them with a wp or editor,
modify them, then send to either Acrobat Distiller or
GhostScript.

Starting with column #89, the June 1999 and higher
Resource Bin columns will be published in ezine format
only. Banner advertisers and on-page sponsors are
welcomed to ease this transition. Hard copy reprints
and new CD ROM content will be available, and all
back columns should eventually get updated and
uploaded.

There are a number of other unique editorial opportunities
opening up. Please Email me if you wish to work with me
on any of these.

Added some Antenna Books to our Book Access page.

Latest Tech Musings #137 is on EIS Spectroscopy,
current transducers and sensors, spectrum analysis,
radiation detectors, and gun cameras.

Revised and uploaded classic Blat #22 on my unique
Picojustification Techniques.

The print version of Nuts & Volts apparently chose
to edit out the key purpose of my current column on
used test equipment. Be sure to pick up the "correct"
version in our Resource Bin library as RESBN87.PDF.

Be sure to check out Jameco's latest Animated Banner.
To support the Guru's Lair at no cost to yourself, please
click through on at least one banner each time you visit.
And please buy ~all~ of your books through our Book
Access page.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #55 is on Eminently Effective
Email Etiquette.

Upgraded, expanded, and improved the Incredible
Secret Money Machine library page.

Be the first on your block to start World War III with
this neat-o germ warfare kit. Also known as a Napco
CO2 incubator model #5300.

Lots of similar great buys appear on our bargain pages.

Revised and uploaded classic Blat #27 on Emerging
Opportunities III.

Upgraded and improved the Patent Avoidance library
page.

Revised and uploaded classic Blat #31 on Helpline Hints.

Revised and uploaded classic Blat #22 on Patent Horror
Stories.

Latest Resouce Bin #88 is on The Hydrogen Scene:
It's a Gas.

Chemists like hydrogen so much that for years it has
been number one on their charts.

Upgraded, expanded,and improved our Hydrogen
Library page.

Revised and uploaded classic Blat #28 on Catalog
Musings.

Added some Edward Abbey books to the Tinaja Questing
page and to our Book Access page. A reminder that
buying ~all~ your books through the Book Access page
supports the Guru's Lair at no cost to you.

Repaired the Acrobat Library page. Improved the Tinaja
Questing page.

Please welcome Brad Mock's Technical Works as our
newest banner advertiser. Brad offers some superbly
useful PIC Breadboarding products.

Revised and uploaded classic Blat #32 on Engineering
Ratholes.

Added a PostScript "Web Friendly" Color utility
and demo.

Added some new titles to our Book Access page.
Improved the Home Page.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #54 is on the Surplus and
Auction Scene.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #53 is on Emerging Technical
Opportunities VI.

Repaired and expanded the Tech Musings library page.

Latest Blatant Opportunist #52 is on PDF Links and
Link Checking.

Latest Tech Musings #136 is on Tachometer Design,
"knotty neon" ligthing rope, twinkle lights, and PIC
Breadboards.

Latest Resouce Bin #87 is on Exploring Used Test
Equipment Options.

I was about to part out a premium piece of telephone
gear that Maricopa Community College obviously
paid a zillion bucks for, and thought you might like to
bid on it as is.

Assembled by Harris, circa 1987. In very clean
condition, nearly like new. Consists of a nice beige
stand-alone open relay rack holding...

Three Ratelco 48 volt, 24 amp premium power supplies
One Reliance 48 volt to 80 volt DC-DC converter, 5 amp
One four-station heavy duty disconnect switch and failure alarm
One three diode Ratelco combiner/isolator panel
One master switching/control box
Two linked "DA" Digital Annunciator message recording boxes
Interconnect wiring harness plus heavy duty line cords.

Currently broken down into UPS-shippable pieces.
Submit your bids to don@tinaja.com

Also have four sets of two banks of nine each Siemon 86MI-50
50 pair punchdown blocks and snap holders. Plus support
brackets, three "moose antler" wire trays and a few bridging
clips. Clean used condition.

Before I offer it as bits and pieces, submit your bids to
don@tinaja.com

A whole new load of surplus lab goodies is supposedly on the
way. Its got everything from party dolls to germ warfare kits.
Email me if you  want to get in ahead of the hoarders on any
of these gems...

Gilson FC-80K Micro fractionator
Precision Science 5300-120 C02 bacterialogical incubator
Applied Electrochem CD-3A C02 analyzer
Applied Electrochem S-3A O2 analyzer (2)
Paar DMA-46 Calculating digital densitometer
Extex (or maybe Xetek) 308 radiation detectors (4)
Applied Electrochem R-2 flow control
Datum 9550-827 video time inserter
Datum 9150-3006 time code generator
Fischer 348 Platelet mixer
Honeywell 605 flatbed recorder
Armstrong Anatomic Annie

Added even some more web link buttons to the Guru's
Lair home page. Verified most others. Let me know if
I missed any of your favorites.

Added another dozen web link buttons to the Guru's
Lair home page. These are the sites that Bee and I
personally use the most often.

Improved and expanded the Web Resources library shelf.

Added a new PostScript utility that lets you extract url's
from Acrobat PDF files. This one is highly useful for
proofing and link checking.

Improved and upgraded the Pseudoscience Links page.

Added some links to books on Pseudoscience Bashing.
Also the great new Crystal Fire book on semiconductor
history. Strangely, this latter one does not mention
transcapacitors or Roswell.

Latest Resource Bin #86 is on Supraluminally Dowsing
for Brown's Gas in Roswell. The insider secret is to be
sure to use an overunity water fueled black helicopter.

Ultra wideband Impulse Radio will be the next big thing
in measurement and communications. Just added a Tech
Musings tutorial and book access.

Latest Tech Musings #135 is on impulse radio, a "new"
bookbinding method, Richard Feynman, MEMS
nanotechnolgy, and brain pairty.

Added some Nutritional Supplement links to Bee's web
page. Started adding  photos to the surplus items, beginning
with the Mystery Beer Coolers and some great Alarm
Annunciator Panels. Watch for lots more "PIX" orange boxes.

Just picked up some super rugged motors, still in their
original factory poly wraps. Reliance 1 HP 3 phase 440
volts 182T frame. Fully enclosed. The feds paid $1390
each for these gems. Have eighteen in stock at $89
each. FOB Thatcher. Email me for details. More
motors are found on our bargain pages.

Expanded and improved the Acrobat Library shelf.

Expanded and improved the Webmaster Library shelf.

February Resource Bin #85 is another look at Favorite
Web Sites.

Latest Tech Musings #134 column is on PIC video
overlays, new aerial photo sources, SETI books, and
underwater arc absurdities. Added some SETI titles
to our Book Access page.

Latest Tech Musings #133 column is on lamp
dimmers and much more.

Added some Medical Electronics titles to our Book
Access page.

The feds are experimenting with privatizing mil surplus
sales and a great new free aerial & satellite photo site
is up. You can find them both on the Non-technical Links
library page.

Improved and expanded the Book Access page. Please
wait till after this page completely loads before using
the power nav buttons.

Split out the 1998 What's New Archive as a separate file.

Added some weaving and crafts links to Bee's page.

Please note that some of our internal navigation hot
buttons will not  work properly until your page completly
downloads. Because of our "banners load last" policy,
full nav activation may take a while.

No, I don't have the foggiest idea what is wrong with the
Guru's Lair Forum. Repeated requests to Deja News to
fix the problem have gone ignored.

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.

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.