Donald E. Lancaster was an American author, inventor, and

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

pioneer.

Early life

Don graduated from North Allegheny High School in Wexford, Pennsylvania.Don Lancaster - Detailed Biography
/ref> He received a BSEE degree from

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

in 1961, and a MSEE from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

in 1967.Don Lancaster
General Biography
/ref> While attending ASU, Lancaster started on a master's degree in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

, but he never earned the degree.

Career

Lancaster was an engineer, at Goodyear Aerospace in Phoenix, Arizona, who also wrote multiple articles for computer and electronics magazines of the 1970s, including ''

Popular Electronics ''Popular Electronics'' was an American magazine published by John August Media, LLC, and hosted at TechnicaCuriosa.com. The magazine was started by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company in October 1954 for electronics hobbyists and experimenters. It so ...

'', ''

Radio-Electronics ''Radio-Electronics'' was an American electronics magazine that was published under various titles from 1929 to 2003. Hugo Gernsback, sometimes called the father of science fiction, started it as ''Radio-Craft'' in July 1929. The title was change ...

'', ''

Dr. Dobb's Journal ''Dr. Dobb's Journal'' (often shortened to ''Dr. Dobb's'' or DDJ) was a monthly magazine published in the United States by UBM Technology Group, part of UBM. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. When launched in 1976, DDJ was the fi ...

'', '' 73 Magazine'', and ''

Byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

''. He has written books on electronics, computers, and entrepreneurship, both commercially published and self-published. One of his early projects was "

TV Typewriter The TV Typewriter is a video terminal that could display two pages of 16 lines of 32 upper case characters on a standard television set. The design, by Don Lancaster, appeared on the cover of ''Radio-Electronics'' magazine in September 1973. The ...

" serial terminal. The design was accepted by early microcomputer users as it used an ordinary television set for the display and could be built for around

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

$200 in parts, at a time when commercial terminals were selling for over $1,000. Lancaster was an early advocate and developer of what is now known as print-on-demand technology. Lancaster produced his self-published books by re-purposing the game port of an

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

to transfer PostScript code directly to a laser printing, laser printer, rather than using a Mac (computer), Macintosh running Adobe PageMaker, PageMaker. This enabled continuous book production using an inexpensive Apple II, rather than tying up an expensive Macintosh until the print run was complete. He formerly held a

ham radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communi ...

license (K3BYG).https://www.tinaja.com/glib/waywere.pdf On June 7, 2023, at the age of 83, Lancaster died, having lived for 44 years in

Thatcher, Arizona Thatcher is a town in Graham County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 4,865. It is part of the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area. Thatcher is the home of Eastern Arizona College (EAC), ...

Publications

;IC books * '' RTL Cookbook'' (1ed, 1969) (3ed, 2010,
''archive''
* '' TTL Cookbook'' (1ed, 1974,
''archive''
* ''

CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss ", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary an ...

Cookbook'' (1ed, 1977) (4ed, 2019,
''archive''
* ''

Active Filter An active filter is a type of analog circuit implementing an electronic filter using active components, typically an amplifier. Amplifiers included in a filter design can be used to improve the cost, performance and predictability of a filter. ...

Cookbook'' (1ed, 1975) (2ed, 1995,
''archive''
;Project books * ''

Cookbook'' (1ed, 1976) (3ed, 2010,
''archive''
* ''Cheap Video Cookbook'' (1ed, 1978,
''archive''
* ''Son of Cheap Video'' (1ed, 1980,
''archive''
;Apple books * ''Assembly Cookbook for Apple II/IIe'' (1ed, 1984) (3ed, 2011, ) * ''Enhancing Your Apple II - Volume 1'' (1ed, 1985, ) * ''Enhancing Your Apple II and IIe - Volume 2'' (1ed, 1985, ) * ''Applewriter Cookbook'' (1ed, 1986, ) ;Programming books * ''The Hexadecimal Chronicles'' (1981) * ''Don Lancaster's Micro Cookbook'' (Sams, 1982) ;Other * ''The Incredible Secret Money Machine'' (1978) * ''The Incredible Secret Money Machine II'' (1978) * ''Book-On-Demand Resource Kit'' * ''The Case Against Patents: Selected Reprints from "Midnight Engineering" & "Nuts & Volts" Magazines'' (Synergetics Press, January 1996). Paperback

References

External links

Don Lancaster's Guru's Lair
(official site)
Don Lancaster article archive
@ archive.org
List of Don's magazine articles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancaster, Don American technology writers Amateur radio people 2023 deaths Year of birth missing