I was thinking about how the DMS has changed, evolved and improved over the years and was reminded of @wandrson.
Walter Anderson passed just over a year ago now. Walter is missed.
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Exact same thought has crossed my mind a few days ago as well. His motto is still on his profile.
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I really should set aside some time, and build a Michigan Mighty Mite. I’ve seen photos of his prototype used on some Facebook groups. I always add the appropriate attribution when comments are allowed.
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Yeah,
I often think of Walter around DMS. Especially, when I catch myself using one of his tools he donated or a technique he taught me, including those he used on TALK.
I remember visiting him in the Hospital and his surprise. As he had felt his actions towards me had been over harsh or out right mean at times. I never held onto the Walter’s anger, instead I valued his mind and understand of how open and thoughtful decision making was key to the growth of DMS.
Tearfully I miss him.
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I still play the Stick Dulcimer he made and that I won at the DMS picnic auction.
Getting to play it for him in his hospital room before his demise is a memory I’ll hold onto for a long time.
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He asked me to organize a field trip for his memory of sorts for makerspace. I’ll start working on it right freaking now.
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Damn, who is cutting onions?! Walter was a wonderful curmudgeon. He did tell me he regretted his harshness sometimes. Sometimes. Pure Walter!
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I only knew Walter from afar. One time I saw he was teaching some electronics class of one sort or another and I signed up. I really wanted to just take a class from Walter. Unfortunately it was canceled at the last minute for an unknown reason. Never did get another chance to take a class from him.
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Silent Key. That’s the phrase used for an Amateur Radio Operator that has passed away. It is a reference to the Morse Code keyer used by those radio operators.
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I miss him also, didn t always agree with him but he was never rude to me when I told
him I disagreed
I’ve read a lot of his words here on talk, heard a ton of stories and references to him around the elab, seen his legacy to the AR SIG, played with the amazing modulardirect conversation demonstration receiver he built. I truly wish I could have met the man.
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His legacy is all over DMS, like the dapping blocks in JSM and the basic design for the inkle looms
in Fiber arts He even taught himself how to weave on an inkle loom!
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Not so much a field trip but perhaps a memorial BBQ dinner at the Old House BBQ on a Sunday?
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I like that too but what he wanted was for us to load up on the dart and make our way over to ft.worth and to bike to the museums to enjoy a day together - so I’m going to work on that part @Adam_Oas volunteered to help with that as well so stay tuned
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I just remembered a Walter story.
In response to people using something as complicated as an Arduino to blink a couple of LEDs, Walter taught some classes to do that with just a few discrete components.
He later got into circuit simulation with LTspice. He was tickled pink that his first attempt to model his circuit refused to oscillate. The real thing, with real components, was not perfectly symmetrical and that was why it worked. The computer model, on the other hand, used ideal components as he specified.
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Yes, I remember that problem he had. He designed a simple flip-flop circuit consisting of 2 transistors. The circuit would oscillate back and forth as each transistor turned on while the other was forced to turn off, back and forth. In real life no components are identical, there would always be a difference in each transistor circuit so that one of the transistors would first turn on and start the process. In his LTSpice simulation, all components were mathematically identical. So, neither transistor would start the process. Good teaching example that computer simulations do not always work in real life.
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Funny I was just telling someone the other day how much Walter is missed daily, I know he would have been a HUGE asset in the expansion.
A year?? wow. so quickly time goes by.
His is in our prayers most nights. As are many of our makers.
Walter was passionate about the Space, and unafraid to battle for the betterment of it. And we are better for it.
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Walter was the first person to say the Emperor had no clothes.
I miss him.
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I used the Bridgeport Tuesday. I made an extra effort to clean the covers and place them back gently, as he made them as his checkout project on the multicam.
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