Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #01268
To: beam@corp.sgi.com, sbolt@xs4all.nl
From: Justin jaf60@student.canterbury.ac.nz
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 05:40:16 +1300
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: advanced circuits
> That's all very well, but you didn't answer my question. What *is*
> supposed to be difficult about driving non-inductive loads? I'm
> really curious.
Nothing difficult about it, it's just that the two most basic SE
circuits (that most people start out with) don't. Designs based on those
(such as the photopopper) don't either, so as a beginner, if you want to
drive a non-inductive load, you have find another circuit that can do
it, which means a circuit requiring more components, which is a
disadvantage for beginners (more complex) or for miniaturisation (more
volume). Thus being able to run non-inductive loads, is, under some
circumstances, a extra feature that you pay for in componentry, and so
might not choose to have unless you needed it.
My thoughts on Alf is that it has comparible number of components with
many photovore designs that do not drive non-inductive loads (not to
mention it has a Suneater-II style SE on board to add spice to the
deal), hence it's kind of a feature. Maybe I'm just obsessed with making
things small :-)
(Actually, I'm beginning to think that that is the fulcrum here - I put
more value on number/volume of components than perhaps many BEAMer's
(for reasons of miniaturisation) which skews my choice of SE.
> As to the other matters, imho the BEAM stuff which has so far been
> published - including my small contribution - does not merit the
> adjective `advanced'. I wouldn't want to run out of superlatives,
> this early in the game.
Oh I agree, I was using "advanced" in a very relative sense (well,
"advanced" is _always_ relative anyway). In this case, relative to the
photopopper. Since the purpose of the photopopper is an introduction to
the principles involved, it's a fairly stripped-down easy-to-grasp
design, which makes a lot of other designs look more advanced if you're
[making the mistake of] viewing them purely from a functions-list point
of view, which seemed to be an appropriate POV from the impression I got
from the post I was replying too.
Perhaps I did misrepresent things, but I think I was just on a different
wavelength :-)
Besides which, we can always take a lession from the software industry
and wire up our superlatives in series.
Coming soon:
The SuperDelux AdvancedVer2++ MegaMasterPhotovoreXtreme17.530c-47
[batteries not included]
:-)
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