[sdiy] There is no fun analogue chips anymore!

[Pete Hartman]

So I have displayed my ignorance publicly again :-)

Thanks for the pointers.  Glad to see it's not as complicated as I had
thought from some long past exposure to things like "flowing solder
with a toaster oven".

Pete

On Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 2:13 PM,  <jays at aracnet.com> wrote:
> 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
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Synth-diy mailing list
>> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Synth-diy mailing list
> Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy