On Mon, 2 Dec 2002 04:57:23 -0600, Jay Maynard wrote:
>On Mon, Dec 02, 2002 at 11:08:22AM +0100, Per Jessen wrote:
>> I am a licensed radio-amateur - haven't been active for a while, but - the
>> costs involved in either buying ready-built equipment or buying the equipment
>> necessary to build your own were not something to be ignored.
>> I bought a 2nd hand HP scope 2 or 3 years ago - not the top of the line,
>> ended up paying EUR2000. And then think of prices for eg. spectrum-analysers or
>> digital signal analysers. They don't come cheap.
>> Putting up a tower-mast for a short-wave arial is not cheap either. Etc. etc.
>> PCB design software like Protel will cost you USD5000 or so - and they don't
>> have a hobbyist license either :-(
>
>All of that is true, but you don't need the expensive stuff either to
>homebrew or get on the air with a commercial radio. I've never spent more
>than $750 on a radio, or other piece of non-computer electronics. It's
>possible to get on the air with a US$100 used HW-101. (I'm K5ZC.)
And the same goes for writing software - you can get started for free.
Well, close. You can have one of my old 486s that I use as a doorstop, and
Linux gives you everything else.
>> So, although I *totally* agree with all of the arguments why IBM should make eg.
>> OS390 available on a hobbyist basis (and not at $13K), doing other things
>> on a hobbyist basis are expensive too.
>
>With other things, though, it's possible to get in cheap at the low end.
>There is no corresponding way to get in cheap here.
Except - and I know I'm stretching this slightly - if all you want to do is
1) be a radio-amateur, this is entirely within your reach. Almost
with out regard to financial means.
2) If all you want to do is write software, this is entirely
within your reach. Almost free.
1a) if you want do more than chat, maybe experiment with microwave stuff,
or build your own from scratch, there are financial considerations.
2a) if you want to write software for OS390 or maybe a Cray, there are
financial considerations.
To sum up, I would sign the "hobbyist os390 license" petition any day, but I
guess I just found the money discussion a bit too much.
/Per
PS: I'm OZ1HZV - and my wife wants to start horse-riding. Now, that's
expensive ...
regards,
Per Jessen, Zurich
http://www.enidan.com - home of the J1 serial console.
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
