Lee's discussion here about his philosophy of design, development and use,
 was also revealed at length years ago here in cosmacelf. That discussion
 and dialog, led in large part to the Membership Card. For those 
interested in Lee's philosophy, I captured most of that discussion as
 preliminary to the M/S card's design. 

http://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/mem_devel.html

In my opinion, it reprises how 1970's thinking and resourcefulness led
 to the earliest "personal computer" products - like the BASYS -  and
 in fact established the foundations of the later "personal computer"
 industry, well before the big names and big money who make that 
claim today. The Membership Card and other ELF-class products 
today, remind us of that almost-forgotten legacy. Lee's posts in
 this thread, provide further depth of analysis going forward. 

HErb Johnson

Re: [cosmacelf] Re: VIP Robot
cosmacelf Yahoo group
Wed Feb 15, 2012 post reply by Lee Hart

> When I was building the 1802 test circuit my wife ask me what's with
> the sudden interest in 40 year old electronics? I told her it is
> because this stuff was state of the art when I was a kid and trying
> to re-live that a bit. Not sure she was happy with that answer.

It's hard to explain, but let me try...

Most people are "users". They don't make anything, they don't fix
anything, they don't know how anything works. They just buy what they're
told, and use it the way they're supposed to. When it breaks, they throw
it away and buy another one.

I've thought about this a lot, especially after the rants of my old friend
Bob Rice, who passed away last year. He deserves to be remembered. He was
big in the electric vehicle world. 

Bob called these users "sheeple". They live like sheep in the
field, doing only what the shepherd wants them to do. They think the
shepherd is their friend, their benefactor; their protector. But, when
it suits his purpose, they are sheared. And when it suits his purpose,
they are killed and eaten. The sheeple are not the users; they are being
USED for the benefit of the shepherd.

I feel this is a senseless unsustainable model. It keeps the sheeple
subservient and powerless; it keeps them poor.

But some people are "makers". They want to know how it works, how to fix
it, and how to make NEW things! Things that do not have to come from the
shepherd, on his terms, at his price.

We are blessed by living at a time when we are surrounded by technology.
Cheap, affordable, abundant techology! Like a carpenter surrounded by
trees, or a blacksmith surrounded by metal -- he can build *anything* he
can imagine!

I'm convinced that the vast majority of applications for microcomputers
haven't even been *discovered* yet. Almost everything we get today from
the "shepherds of technology" are just minor tweaks and improvements on
things we already had decades ago. It's extremely rare for big companies
to invent anything truly new -- they just want to find ways to keep
making the same old stuff.

Example: Suppose the pocket calculator hadn't been invented. Today's big
companies would tell us we have to get a smartphone-like device with a 1
GHz CPU and megabytes of memory to make one. We have a calculator App!
Get one from our App store for only $2.99... per month...

But instead, because someone *did* learn to program and make things with
really tiny microcomputers, we have pocket calculators hanging on the
peg in the checkout line for $1.99. Total. No monthly fees.

And it's solar powered, because really small computers take really low
power, making solar power and other micropower energy sources practical.

Now... just imagine how many really tiny applications like this are
still out there, waiting to be discovered? Things that will never be
done with megaprocessors, because no one will pay enough to make it
feasible. Lights that know when you're in the room? Doorknobs that
recognize your hand? Tiny robots that do some trivial but annoying task
for you? New musical instruments, or entertainment gadgets?

*THIS* is why I mess with "old" technology! It can do things that the
new stuff can't (or won't) do. And, it lets me *learn* and *fix* and
*make* things that aren't hand-me-downs from the shepherd!
[As Henry Ford said:] "An engineer can do for a nickel what any
damn fool can do for a dollar."

Lee A Hart

About Bob Rice
==============

Here's a little more data on Bob Rice. He was instrumental in building
 and promoting EVs for over 50 years! He was the engineer that designed
 the Sebring Vanguard CitiCars in the 1970s, and worked on many other
 EVs built by other companies. He knew just about everyone in the 
business personally. A few tribute Web pages about Bob Rice are at:

http://www.ecedra.com/bobriceevent.html
http://www.evdl.org/docs/bobrice_berj.pdf 

When Bob arrived in Taiwan to make his Electroline EVs, his first 
employee was a young kid named Andy Tong. After the business failed,
 he returned to the US, and sponsored Andy to come here and go to 
college. He became an engineer, and went to work for General Motors.
 When he got the chance, he became one of the engineers who 
designed the EV1.

Bob and Andy were here for a visit in 2009 (on their way to an EV race in
 Oregon). They talked about the "old days", and it was clear that Bob
 was the inspiration that set Andy on his life's course.

Bob also trained J.B. Straubel, when they worked for Bob Arnonson at
 Electric Fuel Propulsion. Straubel became the chief engineer for
 Tesla.

Bob's the one that got me started on building the Sunrise, too. He
 had an *amazing* influence on more people than can be counted!

- Lee Hart

(c) Lee Hart 2012 except edits (c) Herb Johnson 2012