Don Lancaster's What's New?       1997 Archive Blog

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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.

Acrobat web pages can have compelling advantages over
HTML, especially when absolute control of what your user
sees is important. My AWEBUTIL.sHTML tutorial and
utilities and its AWEBDEMO.PDF demo show how its done.

Updated the Synergetics Surplus Bargain Page. Found an
amazing new electronics parts info service at Quest Link.

Have been quietly adding lots of new annotated links to just
about all the major directories. Click here for your update.
Also added a Wireless Book List to our book access page.

Yes, we are working on a search feature, byte range retrieval,
and online transactions. Real soon now, maybe. ISP willing.

Everybody "knows" it is "impossible" to get Genuine Adobe
PostScript to paint using translucent pixels. My very latest
Alpha Channel Transparency demo proves otherwise!

Added a brand new tutorial on JPEG to PDF file conversions.
And a PostScript tutorial on Tuna Can nonlinear transformations.

Uploaded new Resource Bin #72 on Wireless Resources. Also
a reminder about our brand new Synergetics Catalog. And our
great new InfoPack research service.

The latest Tech Musings #121  is on FM Wireless Broadcasters,
cool cars (literally!), surplus auctions, and Faraday Disks.

Started up a new Golly Gee Mister Science library shelf.

Added to and further improved our We Related Links page.
A few of the Hardware Secrets and PostScript Secrets in our
new online catalog aren't quite hot linked yet. I'll be updating
these as time and Banner Advertisers permit.

Added short tutorial and demo on Showing Acrobat Which
End is Up. Acrobat's "intelligent positioning" feature"can
cause big time grief on certain duplex printing apps.

Just finished our brand new Synergetics Catalog! Also updated
and improved the Hardware Secrets and the PostScript Secrets
portions. numbers have newly been checked, and
a lot of them are now hot linked. Please report any bugs.

Also added a convenient new Fax Order Form.

Just set up a new Santa Claus Machine library shelf. The rate at
which more files can be added depend on new Banner Sponsors.
Added hacker classic #77 on Santa Claus Machines, Solitons, and
on Second Law violations.

Please welcome Amazon Books as our newest banner advertiser!
Uploaded new tutorial on Netscape & Acrobat Full Screen Displays.

BOD Update: Standard (800) 526-4774 just announced a tabletop
perfect binder model BQ-P6. While very expensive at $5000 list,
this is a MAJOR step in the right direction. Any cover, hot glue,
25 seconds per book, laser printer size, 70 pounds, 1000 watts.

Will try to get a review machine. More whenever.

Please welcome our newest banner advertiser, Rod Mack of
Ultralink with his unique "snap together" parallel I/O modules
for instrumentation and control. Th latest Resbin #71 is on
my secret of Web Based Research. There's several hundred
live hot links here, so please report any nonworking ones.

Revised Hack #66 on the Basic Stamp and Photopolymer
Resources. Our usual reminder that free Acrobat 3.01 properly
installed in Netscape Communicator is REQUIRED for access.

Uploaded another Hack Classic #65 on SETI Resources,
Maximum Power Transfer Theorem, and Gerber file formats.
Also improved Hack #64 on Thermodynamic Fundamentals.

The latest Tech Musings #120 is on Tim Jenison's new
PIC Calibar tv generator, and on investigating Brown's Gas
through meta studies. Gonzo Source Code is also here.

Major new Blat column #47 on Tri-Mode Publishing secrets.

Added hot links to Scott Edwards brand new PIC website.
Yet another classic Hack #63 is now up on Piezoelectric
Fundamentals and simple Home EDM Machining.

In a stunning breakthrough, both the Avuncular and
our Synergetics Puss De Resistance are now colorized.
With a classic upload of Hack #62. You'll also find
Cubic Splines here.

Adobe has just released the PostScript LEVEL 3 Version 3010
specs and supplement! Uploaded another Hack Classic #61 that
includes a FCC Part 68 Telephone Interface schematic.

A reminder about our ongoing contest. For a free ISMM II,
just find six Guru's Lair typos, bad links, missing buttons, odd
glitches or whatever. Links to earlier files promised but not
yet uploaded do not count.

Revised and uploaded another classic Hack #60 on EDM
Electric Discharge Machining and Video Toasters.

Revised and uploaded classic Hack #59 on Drawing
Semilog Plots, high side drivers, semiconductor suppliers, and more.

The Calibar is a brand new PIC video generator from Tim Jenison
of NewTek. Have been adding a link a day lately, rearranging things
as I go along. Still have hundreds of links and thousands of files to go.

Upgraded and improved the Don's Technical Links page. Added
new WEBERRU2.PS PostScript-as-language tutorial demo. This
one quickly reads Apache web error files and prioritizes results.

More on PostScript PIC Flutterwumpers in the latest Resource
Bin #70 column upload. Updated the Synergetics Bargain Page.

The latest Tech Musings #119 is on miracle motors, handheld
computers, hydrogen resources, and reactance limiters. Also
added real time live link to Arizona Stream Gauges. Bet you do
not have this one bookmarked! Uh, six feet high and rising.

Added some new Acrobat Resources, including PDF Games
and a genuinely useful PDF editor!

Uprated and upgraded the Pseudoscience Links page. Those
new roller mice further improve online Acrobat full screen,
full page displays. But go slow near the bottom of any page,
or you will change pages instead of columns. Practice.

Just did a major overhaul of the Web Resources Page. Also
added lots of new links. One of our banner advertisers now
reports over 100 click-throughs per day at a cost of 1.6 cents
each. More details on the Banner Page.

Rearranged and improved Bee's Favorite Web Sites. Now
includes FREE Medline!, maps, airports, FM radio DX,
hot springs, bunches more. Added more PostScript Web
Site Analysis Utilities and Demos.

Please welcome Shepard Engineering, our latest banner
advertiser. Added brand new tutorial on Vector-to-Step
Conversion.

A reminder to be sure to use <ctrl> shift L followed by <ctrl> K
To get your FULL SCREEN Acrobat pages out of Navigator 4.1!
Set preferences to escape escapes, vertical wipe, and wraparound.
Note that your HOME, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN and ARROW
keys all work, as do the active hot links. Smoothing on, of course.

The newest Resource Bin #69 is an update on Robotic Resources.

The latest Blatant Opportunist column shows you the insider
secrets of banner advertising. Also updated the advertiser's
page, newly offering new Acrobat Display Ad options.

The thought police strike again! Wonder what the big white
hole in the middle of page 60 of the May-June 97 Midnight
Engineering is all about?

Only DONTSICK.PDF knows for sure.

The latest MUSE118.PDF file includes laser printer testers,
submillimeter telescopes, more hydrogen developments, some
some radio astronomy resources, and Home Power's CD II
solar energy resource.

Uploaded a new collection of Terribly Tricky Terrific Toner
Techniques in the Resource Bin Library as RESBN68.PDF.

Waiting around for banner ads to download before you can
read useful page content is both an insult and an annoyance.
Useful workarounds are in this BANNLAST.SHTML tutorial.

Alps has just announced a WHITE (!) opaque ribbon for their
MD2010 and similar dry ink printers. Just uploaded the August
97 Resbin #67 on Resources for Amateur Astronomy. Added
a new direct button link to my Infopack Service page. This new
service is going great guns. email me if you want to participate.

Added new free link to Thomas Registry of Manufacturers.
Adobe has just released Acrobat 3.01. Lots of incremental
improvements combined with full screen wiping display out of
Netscape Communicator 4.1 plus working links to newsgroups.

A reminder that Acrobat 3.0 or higher and NetScape 3.0 or
higher is *required* to access this web site. Because of their
"looks just like a printed page only better" options, Acrobat
3.01 and NetScape 4.1 are *strongly* recommended.

The newest Tech Musings Column is on shattering Homopolar
Generator myths, sources for Melody IC's and Sound Modules,
and assorted other goodies. Corrected the "one thousand times
to big" error in MUSE115.PDF.

Real PIC PostScript!  Nuff said!

It turns out that 100% authentic genuine Adobe display
PostScript has long been available for Windows 95 and
other popular PC platforms. All it takes are these Six Clicks
to Display PostScript!

Netscape Communicator 4.1 apparently gives you a total FULL
SCREEN display of Adobe Acrobat .PDF files! Here's how this
miracle breakthrough should work for you: Install the latest
version of Adobe Acrobat into Netscape 4.1. Then click on any
of our .PDF files. You should now go directly into Acrobat, rather
than Acrobat-in-a-small-Netscape-window as before.

Now for the fun part: Click on the FULL SCREEN option or else
do a control-shift-L. Then do a control-K. You should get a FULL
PAGE display that looks *exactly* like the printed page! Use pageup
and pagedown keys to navigate either within pages or from page
to page. Set your full screen preferences to any click advances,
no auto-tour, wraparound, escape escapes and vertical wipes.

Special message to HTML: We sent your saddle home John.
Your horse is dead.

A helpline caller asked for some ELF Reception Resources. Uh,
start with a small punchbowl and tiny glasses. Just upgraded and
updated my Flutterwumper Utilities and Flutterwumper Demo so
they now bring the full power of the general purpose PostScript
computing language to the simplest and smallest of PIC's!

Yes, a brand new flutterwumper tutorial has just been uploaded.

Uploaded latest Blatant Opportunist column on Busting a $650
Patent. Apparently GhostScript can now pre-insert PDF mark
links. Use my into MUSE112.PSL for practice. Note that these
pre-layout PDF marks for url links *automatically follow* your
text as it moves around on the page!

Added brand new MUSE116.PDF on low level measurements,
hand bookbinding resources, interpreting HTML error codes,
reading web site log files, and unique wood microveneers.

Added a humongous new PIC websites directory as a special
extension of our PIC websites library page. Fully hot linked.

The term, of course, came from Hugh Mongus, a 475 pound
roving linebacker for the Houston Oilers. Meaning "not small".
More details in my Incredible Secret Money Machine II.

Please welcome our third and fourth banner sponsors! Lindsay of
Lindsay Publications on "top secret" alternate technology books
and early machine shop practice texts. And Mike Hardwick of
Decade Engineering with his PIC friendly Bob-5L Genlocking (!)
TV Typewriter.

Wonder of wonders - the death of the Whole Earth Review
may have been exaggerated. A new issue is due out shortly!
I feel this is one of the greatest mags in the world, so please
give them your full support.

My Blatant Opportunist columns are now seeking a new printed
home. Meanwhile, new Blat columns and backlist additions will
continue to appear in this ezine format. The July-August issue on
Busting a $650 Patent is now on the Guru's Lair library shelves.

Actually, in the Topsy-turvy world of web economics, a mere *four*
Banner Sponsors on the Blat page could provide self-sufficiency!
Without needing *any* printed home. Welcome to the future!

Other authors are now welcome on the Blatant Opportunist Library
Shelf. While we cannot currently offer payment, up to 30% of your
PDF file can be of an obviously commercial and hot linked nature.
I will, of course, be *highly* selective here.

email me if you want to talk about any of this further.

Please welcome our first banner sponsors: Karl Schmidt of
Transtronix with his Electronic Kits, PLC's & Consulting.

We currently do have some 1800+ unique files and 300+ links
immediately postable. The number of sponsors and how fast they
come online determine how fast these uploads can be made. As
well as how fast that new Guru's Lair features (such as forums and
byte range retrieval and on-line searching) can be provided.

Uploaded a new demo to Convert  Acrobat files into HTML
Banners. Added links to Straw Bale Homes, Black Range Lodge,
Alternate Construction, and more Pseudoscience Stuff.

Updated the Synergetics Surplus Bargain Page. Added my
brand new Don Lancaster Consulting Info Pack service.
The Download Mechanic beta is now available for Win 95.

Newly added Essential Hacker Nutrients to Bee's favorite
web sites. Along with a new Advertiser's and Sponsors page.
Made a bunch of behind-the-scenes updates and corrections.

Just did a major Book-on-demand resources update as
RESBN66.PDF. Added emag directory to the web links.

It's deja vu all over again with this PIC friendly genlocking(!)
BOB-5L video character display TV Typewriter! Added two
new emags to my favorite technical web sites listings.

Added tutorial on Using the Palatino font with Acrobat Distiller.
Provided new GhostScript Fonts link. Updated DISTLANG.sHTML
on using Distiller as a general purpose PostScript computer.

Discovered that links to your url do not automatically increase.
Instead, they oscillate wildly from week to week. Most likely cause
is AOL and ISP churning. Ferinstance, Netscape lost 19,000 links
last week. I lost 13. Hotbot updates its counts every Tuesday.

Would you believe the thought police at NUTS & VOLTS
censored my RESBN64.PDF story? Seems they do not want
you to know that the alt.sex.sheep.baaa newsgroup exists.

Added older Blat #20 Book-on-Demand Resource Directory.
Improved the colorization on NONLINGR.PDF.

Added older Blat #23 on Book Production and Marketing.

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	-----

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Master Bezier Cubic Splines.	Watch a PostScript Video.
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