[sdiy] There is no fun analogue chips anymore!

[jays at aracnet.com]

I'd throw in lots of solder wick and dental tools. Maybe a solder
sucker too.

Jay S.


On Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:44:56 -0700, Eric Brombaugh
<ebrombaugh1 at cox.net> wrote:
> On 06/28/2012 10:51 AM, Pete Hartman wrote:
> 
>> I can't make a 4 layer board in my home.
> 
> Not many can. You can lay one out and have it fabbed for you at not
> unreasonable costs though. Most stuff can actually be done on 2 layers
> for even lower costs ($2-$3/sq in) and with decent delivery times (2-3
> weeks).
> 
>> I currently don't have the setup to do SMD work, and I fear what the
>> cost might be if I decide to get one.
> 
> I haven't found SMD work to be particularly difficult or expensive.
> The tools and supplies I use:
> 
> * Fine-tip temp controlled iron ($50)
> * Fine tweezers ($3)
> * Magnified swing-arm lamp ($15)
> * Fine solder ($20-$50 depending on qty)
> * Flux gel ($5)
> 
> It takes a bit of practice, but once I got the techniques down I
> found it considerably faster than thru-hole.
> 
>> The FPGAs are tempting and interesting, and don't require a home
>> fabrication facility but as someone else pointed out, $200 - $400 for
>> something that's going to go out of fashion very quickly doesn't seem
>> like a very good investment in material, even if the learning is still
>> applicable to the next generation.
> 
> You can get low to mid-range FPGA boards for considerably less than
> that. For example, consider these:
> 
> * Digilent Basys II ($79)
> http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,790&Prod=BASYS2
> 
> * Papillio One ($50)
> http://papilio.cc/
> 
> * Altera BeMicro SDK ($79)
> http://www.arrownac.com/solutions/bemicro-sdk/
> 
> All of these can support fairly complex DSP applications and have
> sufficient I/O capabilities for synthesis work.
> 
>> I was able to jump headlong into AVR programming and then analog synth
>> work 6 months ago with the tools and knowledge I already had.  If all
>> the through-hole analog stuff were gone, I'd have never had courage
>> to/been able to fulfill a lifelong curiosity (now full blow obsession)
>> about music synthesis.
> 
> There's no doubt that Arduino and its ecosystem have been a fantastic
> enabler for electronics hobbyists. It's a great starting point and
> provides enough power for many. If you need more then it also teaches
> the skills you'll need to go to more advanced technologies.
> 
> Eric
> 
> 
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