"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...

It's not just a mindset. I would love to be able to reliably design
simple solutions to simple problems. I can't, easily. I can COPY
someone's simple solution to a problem, I can, eventually, figure
out
simplifications to some complex solution that I (or someone else)
has come
up with, but a dirt-simple solution that actually works often evades
me.

Fortunately, there are plenty of Really Complex problems out there
just
crying out to be solved, and that I can do.
Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Sometimes it helps to jump the wall and look elsewhere. It may not be
original, but I ran a simple A/D converter from an LPT port by sending
"print" data to an attached 8-bit DAC and reading back a comparator
connected to the DAC output and the signal. The 8 data lines were also
connected to other stuff that I ignored during a conversion, and vice
versa.
-jsw