Don  Lancaster's Guru's Lair Guru Archive Reprints
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This library page is mostly a collection of my reprints of stories and
columns that I had written for various print publications. Eventually,
hope to provide a complete archive here of the 1800+ articles and 36+
books to date. With your help.

Completing this enormous archival task will require your participation as
a banner advertiser, consultant supporter, or Synergetics partner.

While I occasionally still write for print magazines, enough has changed
that most of my current output appears as sole source ezines on my web
site. More on this in my unauthorized autobiography.

Note that Tech Musings, Resource Bin, Hardware Hacker, and
Blatant Opportunist all have their own library pages. Most are now
historically complete or nearly so. In addition, my unique ezine-only
and apnote content appears on other subject-appropriate pages.

Most library files require an Adobe Acrobat 4.0 plug in for online
viewing.  Offline, these may be accessed by an Acrobat Reader or
an eBook Reader or any other .pdf accepting program.

Just about all of the earliest Byte Magazines had one or more of
my stories or book chapter reprints in them. I hope to eventually
regather the many dozens of them here.

Meanwhile, here is one of the later tutorials I did for them...

PostScript Insider Secrets PSINSCRT.PDF"        Classic early tutorial on unique PostScript capabilities. Note that        we now use host based Distiller pseudo-compiling , and that font        paths are mostly unlocked and easily nonlinearly remapped.

Click here for more recent PostScript info.

Steve Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar magazine has long been a foremost
resource for homebrew, small scale hardware and software. Every
now and then I contributed a story. Usually being very careful to
submit only the very best of the best. The really important stuff.

Nonlinear Graphics Transformations  NONLINGR.PDF"         From Circuit Cellar for August of 1995. Reviews both linear and       nonlinear transforms such as Isometric, Perspective, Tuna Can,       Star Wars, Root Beer, Spherical , Glyph Path, and Scribble.

Click here for more Math Stuff resources.

The Quest for Magic Sinewaves  SINQUEST.PDF"      Magic sinewave intro & tutorial. Benefits of magic sinewaves.    Shorter solutions. Forcing zero harmonics. Needles in haystacks.    High efficiency and low distortion results. Improving low amplitudes. .     (Please see STEPSYNT.PDF" below or STEPLOCK.PDF" for more recent info)

Click here for more Magic Sinewave resources.

PIC PostScript Flutterwumpers POSTFLUT.PDF"       All of the raw power of genuine 100% authentic Adobe PostScript       can easily get applied to stunningly low cost PIC robotic systems.       Royalty free! Tutorial gives examples and insider details.

Click here for more Flutterwumper resources.
Click here for more PostScript resources.

Steplocked Magic Sinewave Synthesis STEPSYNT.PDF"        A tutorial on the properties and synthesis of Steplocked Magic      Sinewaves Fundamentals. A first look. Cheby to the Leby. Steplock      synthesis. Becoming Delta Friendly. For More Help.

Click for a Magic Sinewave development proposal.

Vector-to-Step Conversion VECTSTEP.PDF"        Introduction and tutorial shows how to convert slanty lines into        stepper steps or screen pixels. Basic conversion. Breshenham's        method. Table lookup. Adding dimensions. Cardinal moves.

Click here for our Auction Help library.
Click here for our live eBay auctions.

Back in the Stan Veit days, Computer Shopper magazine actually
had bunches of useful tech content buried in its zillions of ads. My
contributions were mainly my Ask The Guru series and a group of
columns first named LaserWriter Corner and later changed to
PostScript Secrets.

Individual columns will be upgraded and improved to our current
standards as time and banner advertisers permit.

Ask the Guru Volume I  ATG1.PDF"       The first series of Don's Computer Shopper columns 1-32,       running from March 1985 through October of 1989.

Click here to reach the Tech Musings library.

Ask the Guru Volume II  ATG2.PDF"      The second series of Don's Computer Shopper columns 33-57,       running from November 1985 through December 1989.

Click here to reach the Blatant Opportunist library.

Ask the Guru Volume III  ATG3.PDF"      The second series of Don's Computer Shopper columns 58-74,       running from January 1990 through December 1991.

Click here to reach the Resource Bin library.

Don Lancaster's  POSTSCRIPT SECRETS       An early collection of useful and unique PostScript resources.       Including supply sources, unusual techniques., free fonts,       and PostScript-as-Language routines.

Click here to reach the PostScript library.
Click here to reach the Acrobat library.

Here's the Names & Numbers directory that went with the Guru
and other columns. We are no longer maintaining this list, since live
linking seems to do way more far better...

Ask the Guru master Names & Numbers Directory      Multiple page listings of phone numbers and addresses of resources      mentioned in Don's columns. No longer maintained

Click here for Custom Consulting assistance.

I eventually hope to place all of my earlier books and articles here.
Redone fully text searchable, magnifiable, and viewable to the highest
possible quality and resolution.

Since these are mostly precomputer, an enormous amount of work is
involved to do the job right.This section awaits your support as a
banner advertiser or partner. Please email me for current status.

Some background on these books and stories appears here.

An intermim partial listings of some of my publications appear here .

Here are some of our early classic construction projects now on our
website, newly in single file PDF ClearScan format, and now ( mostly )
text searchible...

Solid State Color Organ ( Electronics World, April 63 )      My very first professionally published paper and one of the    very first SCR solid state power control publications.

Click here to reach the Auction Help library.

IC-67 Metal Locator (Popular Electronics, Jan 73)        Receiver-transmitter depth style metal locator was one of the first      major hobbiest "linear" integrated circuit construction projects.      Also my ASU master's thesis.

Click here to reach our What's New blog.

Build This TV Typewriter ( Radio Electronics, Sept 73 )      The opening shot fired in the microcomputer revolution. NIckel a     bit shift registers was the only cheap memory at that time.

Click here to reach the GuruGram library.

Low Cost Decimal Counter (Popular Electronics, Feb 68)      $12 per decade IC decimal counting module was a gateway project      that made today's digital instruments economically practical.

Click here for our eBay Bargains"

Numeric Glow Tube DCU ( Popular Electronics, Feb 70)      Second generator 2-1/2 to 4-1/2 decade counting system used more    attractive Nixie tubes and a choice of logic families, while still    priced at a mere $15 per decade. 8 to 12 MHz operation.

Click here to reach the Auction Help library.

Univ. Frequency Counter I (Popular Electronics, Mar 69 )        First low cost frequency counter kit offered 3-1/2 digit resolution on      a "bouncing" incandescent bulb readout. Part one.

Click here to reach the Cubic Splineg library

Univ. Frequency Counter II (Popular Electronics, Apr 69 )      First low cost frequency counter kit offered 3-1/2 digit resolution on      a "bouncing" incandescent bulb readout .Part two.

Click here to reach the Hydrogen Energy library

Build a Shift Register   ( Popular Electronics, May 70 )      Fourth in a series of simple and low cost introductory integrated    RTL projects was a 1 k4-stage Shift Register demo useful for   showing fundamental computer operations.

Click here to reach the Hardware Hacker library.

Build a Signal Injector   ( Popular Electronics, June 70 )      Fifth in a series of simple and low cost introductory integrated    RTL projects was a 1 kilohertz square wave generator useful for    audio, speaker, and am radio testing.

Click here to reach the Cubic Spline library.

Build The Psyctone (Popular Electronics, Feb 71)      Totally off-the-wall random tone generator and "music synthesizer"      was one of the first projects for short pseudorandom sequences.

Click here to reach the Auction Help library.
Click for your own custom Auction Resource finder.

ASCII Keyboard & Encoder (Pop. Electronics, Apr 74)      First low cost keyboard to include full ASCII encoding. The usual      Apple I photo has our keyboard conspicuously shown on it.

Click here too see the Apple I photo.
Click here to reach the PostScript library.

Popular Electronics DVM (Popular Electronics, Dec 68 )      First low cost digital voltmeter kit offered 2-1/2 digit resolution on      a "bouncing" incandescent bulb readout.

Click here to sponsor a Guru's Lair Banner Ad.

Ultra Electronic Stopwatch ( Pop. Electronics, Mar 68 )       One of the first DCU apps digitally measured time to 20 microseconds     interval and 1000 count resolution. Faster than a speeding bullet.

Click here for our eBay Selling secrets.
Click here for our eBay Buying secrets.

Function Generator ( Radio Electronics, Sep 72 )       Versatile sine-square-triangle-pulse function generator buildable      for a tiny fraction of the cost of commercial gear. Their seems to      be a scanning problem on the first page. Will fix whenever.

Click for Part II of the Function Generator project.

Digital Logic Microlab (Popular Electronics, April 70)      Early logic trainer let you perform basic tests on RTL counters and    Gates. A new low cost interconnect scheme made it happen.

Click here for CMOS Cookbook info.

Spots Before your Eyes (Popular Electronics, Sep 67 )     Electronic dice using amazingly simple decoding. on a walking ring     counter Can you spot the Monopoly error?

Click here for an Energy Fundamentals tutorial.

Musician's Pitch Reference (Pop. Electronics, Dec 68 )      Piano and organ tuning device was basically a long programmable      RTL counter that accurately approximated musical notes.

Click here for our InfoPack consulting services.

Tic Tac Tronix ( Radio Electronics, Dec 71 )     RTL and diode programmed Electronic Tic-Tac-Toe game is     unbeatable until a hidden switch is flipped.

Click for Magic Sinewave energy efficiency info.

Digi-Viewewer (Popular Electronics, Mar 71)      First low cost keyboard to include full ASCII encoding. The usual      Apple I photo has our keyboard conspicuously shown on it.

Click here to reach the Acrobat library

Bounceless Pushbutton ( Pop. Electronics, Mar 70 )        A simple project in the modular IC Experimenter's Corner series.       Performs essential digital conditioning for mechanical contacts.

Click for the It's a Gas Hydrogen Resources library.

100 Kilohertz Standard ( Pop. Electronics, Apr 70 )       A simple project in the modular IC Experimenter's Corner series.       Provides reference frequency for calibration uses.

Click here for our Pseudoscience Bashing library.

Two Tone Alarm ( Pop. Electronics, Feb 70 )       A simple project in the modular IC Experimenter's Corner series.       Generated a distinctive tweedle tweedle alert sound.

Click here to reach the Resource Bin library.

Build the Sports Timer ( Pop. Electronics, Oct 68 )       Another of the decimal DCU project timed from milliseconds       to minuutes. Provided the divide-by-six needed for minutes.

Click here for the Cubic Spline library.

Nixie DVM ( Pop. Electronics, Sep 70 )       A Improved Digital Voltmeter/Ohmmeter used industrial       Nixie tubes for display. 2-1/2 decades was a big deal then.

Click for the PIC Microprocessor library.
Click here for our Cash and Carry consulting.

Build the Supertrol ( Pop. Electronics, Mar 67 )     Basically a Schmidt Trigger in drag connected to a power relay.     Has an amazing variety of display, delay, threshold, and timing uses.

Click here to reach the Blatant Opportunist library.

Analog Frequency Meter ( Pop. Electronics, Oct 67 )        Simple duty cycle integrator measures frequency to a few percent     accuracy; was much cheaper than "real" counters at the time.

Click here to reach the Tech Musings library.

Psycedelia I Color Organ (Popular Electronics, Sept 69)      Lase and best in a long series of psychedelic color organs.      offered three channels, active filters driving triac outputs..

Click here for our current GuruGrams.

Musette Color Organ (Popular Electronics, July 66)      Earlier project in a long series of psychedelic color organs.      offered five channels, resonant filters driving SCR outputs..

Click here for Active Filter Cookbook info.

And here are some of our early classic tutorials now on our website,
newly in single file PDF ClearScan format, and that now are ( mostly )
text searchible...

Electronic Metal Locators  ( Electronics World, Dec 66)         Basic types and design factors of metal locators used for sport or       personal purposes. Covered are beat frequency, induction balance,       receiver-transmitter and UHF systems

Click here to reach the Cubic Spline library

There is this third party listing of some of my earlier stories and
columns. The Modern Electronics stuff and the Nom De Plumes
required when I had too many stories at once in any issue are
conspicuously absent. As is the CCG Caver stuff and the Goodyear
AEEM's.

Sources close to an associate of the barber of a usually reliable
spokesperson claim I have this sometime associate by the name of
Marcia Swampfelder. Who, mysteriously seems to appear as a guest
mostly in the April 1st issues of my columns.

There is no truth whatsoever to the ugly rumor that all of Marcia's
products and services are named after Arizona fire lookout towers.

Let's start with an annotated collection of Marcia's best Q&A...

Blatant Opportunist #69  MARCIA.PDF"       An annotated collection of The Worst of Marcia Swampfelder.     Mass teleportation, bob wahr speaker connections, underwater     pigeon searchlight controls, $9 per kilowatt homebrew solar pv, etc...

Click here for more history of Marcia.
Click here for MARCIA.PSL sourcecode.
Click for more Blatant Opportunist columns.

Here's Marcia's mass teleportation card, complete with its product
illustrations. Note the unique low cost far uv laser...

Hardware Hacker Column HACK16.PDF"       Some more digital sinewave techniques. Understanding|       micropower voltage regulators. New mass teleportation       plugin card. Getting around minimum order hassles.

Click here for the full Hardware Hacker library.

Believe it or not, this is a real product of ours that is very much in
demand by quilt makers and magicians...

Water Soluble Swimsuits on our Bargain Pages      These are designer kits, actually. We provide you with enough      (about fifty yards) raw material to make thirty to fifty swimsuits      in your choice of styles and sizes. .      They are unconditionally guaranteed to fully dissolve in warm water.

Click here for our live eBay auctions.

This one was particularly insidious, since only ONE of the dozen topics
was by Marica and thus utterly bogus. But which one....?

Resource Bin #63 RESBN63.PDF"     A painless way to scam a student paper. Fast web searching. Aerogels.     Archaeomagnetism. Buckyballs. magnetic refrigeration. mass     teleportation, the mystery band, Santa Claus machines, etc....

Click here for more Resource Bin columns.

Finally, here's a few of Marcia's lesser offerings...

Hostess Twinkies Szechwan Style Mitzi's Yuppy Fare Poison Ivy in a Spray Can Schizophrenics Convention Badge

For a while there, Jeff Dunteman's PC Techniques magazine
was in the forefront of PC software design and development. I
mostly wrote for Jeff just to attend his legendary techie parties.

Here's a pair of PostScript-as-language examples....

PostScript Startup Secrets STARTUP.PDF"        A classic reprint of Don's from PC Techniques magazine.        Includes startup and interface fundamentals. These days,        host based Acrobat PDF is a better route.

Click here for PostScript Book access info.

PostScript Speedup Secrets SPEEDUP.PDF"        A classic reprint of Don's from PC Techniques magazine.        Includes speedup fundamentals for earlier PS printers.        These days, host based Acrobat PDF is a better route.

Click here to reach the PostScript library.
Click here to reach the Acrobat library.

The Whole Earth Review was an extension of Steward Brand's
original Whole Earth catalog and was a resource unto itself.

Here's a pair of stories I originally did for them, but shown here
in their reworked latter day Blatant Opportunist livery...

Don Lancaster's  The Case Against Patents        For most individuals and small scale startups, any involvement with        the patent system is almost guaranteed to cause you a net loss of        time, money, and sanity. Here's why in a Don Lancaster classic.

Click here for the Patent Information library page.

A Researcher's Guide to  Stupendous Stuff Sources        A listing of dozens of really great "secret" sources for all sorts      of research and development materials, unusual products, strange      items you should know about etc..

Click here for the Blatant Opportunist library page.

Ask Don an Archival Reprint question.   Go to the Acrobat PDF library page  Explore an Energy Efficiency Solution.  Find Instant Research Answers.

Please click here to... 

View our eBay Auctions. Send Don Lancaster email.   Go to the site directory Learn patent alternatives.       Pick up surplus bargains. Explore magic sinewaves   Sponsor a display banner. Find out what a tinaja is.   Find research solutions View recommended books.   Place an order. Return to the home page.