Don Lancaster
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Donald E. Lancaster was an American author, inventor, and microcomputer pioneer.<ref name="obituary1"/>
Early lifeEdit
Don graduated from North Allegheny High School in Wexford, Pennsylvania.<ref name="DL-DetailedBio">Don Lancaster - Detailed Biography</ref> He received a BSEE degree<ref name="eejournal/2024/lancaster">Template:Cite news</ref> from Lafayette College in 1961, and a MSEE from Arizona State University in 1967.<ref name="DL-GeneralBio">Don Lancaster - General Biography</ref> While attending ASU, Lancaster started on a master's degree in anthropology, but he never earned the degree.<ref name="eejournal/2024/lancaster"/>
CareerEdit
Lancaster was an engineer,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at Goodyear Aerospace in Phoenix, Arizona, who also wrote multiple articles for computer and electronics magazines of the 1970s, including Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics, Dr. Dobb's Journal, 73 Magazine, and Byte. He has written books on electronics, computers, and entrepreneurship, both commercially published and self-published.<ref name="obituary1"/>
One of his early projects was "TV Typewriter" serial terminal.<ref name="obituary1"/> 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$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 to transfer PostScript code directly to a laser printer, rather than using a Macintosh running 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 license (K3BYG).<ref>https://www.tinaja.com/glib/waywere.pdf</ref>
On June 7, 2023, at the age of 83, Lancaster died, having lived for 44 years in Thatcher, Arizona.<ref name="eejournal/2024/lancaster"/>
PublicationsEdit
- IC books
- RTL Cookbook (1ed, 1969) (3ed, 2010, Template:ISBN, archive)
- TTL Cookbook (1ed, 1974, Template:ISBN, archive)
- CMOS Cookbook (1ed, 1977) (4ed, 2019, Template:ISBN, archive)
- Active Filter Cookbook (1ed, 1975) (2ed, 1995, Template:ISBN, archive)
- Project books
- TV Typewriter Cookbook (1ed, 1976) (3ed, 2010, Template:ISBN, archive)
- Cheap Video Cookbook (1ed, 1978, Template:ISBN, archive)
- Son of Cheap Video (1ed, 1980, Template:ISBN, archive)
- Apple books
- Assembly Cookbook for Apple II/IIe (1ed, 1984) (3ed, 2011, Template:ISBN)
- Enhancing Your Apple II - Volume 1 (1ed, 1985, Template:ISBN)
- Enhancing Your Apple II and IIe - Volume 2 (1ed, 1985, Template:ISBN)
- Applewriter Cookbook (1ed, 1986, Template:ISBN)
- Programming books
- The Hexadecimal Chronicles (1981) Template:ISBN
- Don Lancaster's Micro Cookbook (Sams, 1982) Template:ISBN
- Other
- The Incredible Secret Money Machine (1978) Template:ISBN
- The Incredible Secret Money Machine II (1978) Template:ISBN
- Book-On-Demand Resource Kit
- The Case Against Patents: Selected Reprints from "Midnight Engineering" & "Nuts & Volts" Magazines (Synergetics Press, January 1996). Paperback Template:ISBN