February 3, 20206 yr RIP Barrie Gilbert, analog design titan. Brit who moved to the US to work at Tektronix. He was responsible for the on-screen readout in the 7000 series scopes, and the Gilbert Cell that was used as the core of the Tek custom amplifier chips up to and beyond 1GHz. Is also used in every 4-quadrant multiplier chip out there. He was so good that Analog Devices hired him from Tek by agreeing to build a whole facility out in Beaverton for him to play in. The story was that he had a bet with Bob Widlar to design a minimum component constant current source. Gilbert lost (he came up a three transistor one) when Wildlar came up with a 2 transistor one. The Widlar source is used in just about every op-amp, and every AB power amp that has been built since. In full flow in 1991 describing what is known as the Gilbert Cell "The translinear amplifier" Aged 83 - RIP Barrie Gilbert.
February 3, 20206 yr RIP Mr. Gilbert. Sounds like an interesting person!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
February 3, 20206 yr RIP Barrie Gilbert. And thanks again for pointing out more fascinating tech Craig. I always wondered what was up with Beaverton Or and test gear.
February 4, 20206 yr I was lucky enough to have a long email conversation with him around 10 years back. That was where he shared the bet with Widlar. He actually contacted me, because he worked out that (feel sorry for my wife at this point) I am a Tektronix test gear collector and restorer as a hobby. The conversation moved progressively to AI, which he was agnostic about - but he reckoned the future was in Augmented Reality, where embedded computer systems would elevate our processing power and intellect. And here we are thinking 5G is a shiny new thing... A hell of a thinker was Barrie Gilbert.
February 6, 20206 yr Goodbye to a great actor. Karen’s mother was an extra in this film so it holds an extra meaning for us.
February 6, 20206 yr Going to watch "Paths of Glory" again. RIP Kirk Douglas. Edited February 6, 20206 yr by Hopstretch
February 6, 20206 yr RIP Kirk. There was an interview on the radio this morning with someone who interviewed Kirk Douglas when he was 100. He said, to the effect "I don't know any actor now. All the greats - Laurence Olivier, Burt Lancaster - they are all of them dead. I'm pretty much the last one left". There is a sadness to that that quite chokes me up.
February 6, 20206 yr RIP Kirk. Lots of great memories (drove my parents crazy imitating that horn from the Vikings).
February 15, 20206 yr https://pitchfork.com/news/jacob-thiele-former-keyboardist-of-the-faint-dead-at-40/ 40 is way too young.
February 18, 20206 yr Damn, dude. Andrew Weatherall died yesterday: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/18/andrew-weatherall-obituary
February 25, 20206 yr Massive oof. RIP Dave Roback. He was the half of Mazzy Star that was not Hope Sandoval. https://pitchfork.com/news/mazzy-stars-david-roback-dead-at-61/ I've been a Mazzy Star fan for nearly 30 years at this point. I'll never forget the first time I heard Fade In To You, and later saw the video for it:
February 26, 20206 yr Another Mazzy Star fan....RIP Dave...... There's a nice live video on YT of Fade Into You as well.....
February 26, 20206 yr Godspeed, Mr. Roback... That song brings back a lot of memories. Have it on a playlist or two and listened to it not long ago. HS
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