<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> On 12/01/2011 02:43 PM, Ernest Doub wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:CABGXaR4PJ8QTm1j2429XegVYxZCv+QdZ_nrDgmS6BJCV1bY22Q@mail.gmail.com" type="cite"> <div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 9:17 PM, Cybe R. Wizard <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:cybe_r_wizard@earthlink.net">cybe_r_wizard@earthlink.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div class="im">On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:02:21 -0800 Ernest Doub <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:hideserted@gmail.com">hideserted@gmail.com</a>> wrote: > The reason for going to "push button drive" in automobiles has to do > with the increasing cost reductions made possible by using electronic > controls instead of mechanical linkages. > Since the underlying systems are all monitored and controlled through > integrated circuits it now just makes sense to adopt that control > scheme for automatic transmissions. > Manual transmissions still require a mechanical linkage for gear > changing. Any of the so called auto/manual trans setups is just an > automatic transmission with an override on the automatic part. > Now if they would just start using a linux based system for the super > wiz bang toys instead of the microsoft system... </div> </blockquote> </div> </blockquote> /snip/ My father had a 1955 DeSoto that had push-button transmission controls before anyone ever even _thought_ of microprocessors or integrated circuits! The radio used tubes. The car didn't even have an alternator. I borrowed it for a trip to Delaware in about 1958, and the generator crapped out--it needed new brushes. --doug </body> </html>