Interesting deep dive on switching power supplies. I didn't see the need to frame it by attacking Apple.
The motivation for the article was to investigate Steve Jobs' claim, so it would be strange to remove that.
Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
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Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#22Another article in IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/a-half-century-ago-better-transist... > A half century ago, better transistors and switching regulators revolutionized the design of computer power supplies > Apple, for one, benefited, though it didn’t spark this revolution, as Steve Jobs claimed
That's the same blog post, rewritten for IEEE Spectrum.
Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#23Another article in IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/a-half-century-ago-better-transist... > A half century ago, better transistors and switching regulators revolutionized the design of computer power supplies > Apple, for one, benefited, though it didn’t spark this revolution, as Steve Jobs claimed
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Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#24well, in some sense Apple didn't invent personal computing, MOS 6502 did.
I'm not looking to argue over the meaning of "invent" or "personal computing", but I'll point out that Alan Kay wrote a 1972 paper "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages" that pretty much describes the modern laptop or tablet. (He even mentions ad blockers!) Xerox PARC went on to implement a lot of this in the Xerox Alto.
It's worth taking a look at the paper to see how many "modern" ideas were described in 1972: http://www.vpri.org/pdf/hc_pers_comp_for_children.pdf
Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#25Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#26Interesting deep dive on switching power supplies. I didn't see the need to frame it by attacking Apple.
the first sentence of the article:
> The new biography Steve Jobs
it was a response to the new biography.
Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#27well, in some sense Apple didn't invent personal computing, MOS 6502 did.
It's the old classic of 'invented' vs 'popularised' at play. Both equally important I think.
Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#28well, in some sense Apple didn't invent personal computing, MOS 6502 did.
I'm not looking to argue over the meaning of "invent" or "personal computing", but I'll point out that Alan Kay wrote a 1972 paper "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages" that pretty much describes the modern laptop or tablet. (He even mentions ad blockers!) Xerox PARC went on to implement a lot of this in the Xerox Alto. It's worth taking a look at the paper to see how many "modern" ideas were described in 19…
True, I should have used "massify" instead of "invent".
Re: Apple didn't revolutionize power supplies; new transistors did (2012)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is so off-topic, but no one ever believes me when I'm complaining about a wall adapter across the room driving me mad. Glad to know I'm really not imagining things hah!
You're not imagining it at all. This is an important consideration all electrical engineers should take seriously when designing products for people. It's a shame many don't. https://product.tdk.com/en/techlibrary/solutionguide/acousti... https://www.edn.com/reducing-mlccs-piezoelectric-effects-and...
It can be an issue even if you think you understand it at the design stage. I've sold services to identify sources so boards or assemblies can be redesigned. In one case two different clocks for two ICs on different boards interfered with each other causing problematic noise. Filtering the power supplies helped, but changing how one IC was used made the single biggest contribution to reducing the noise levels.