Homebrew PCBs

Dylan Smith wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Nov 2007, Dave wrote:
>
>   
>> Markus,
>>   I hope the more experienced people answer this as I am just a beginner
>> at this so my needs are quite minimal at the present time. This is more
>> of a hobby for me. Single sided boards with less than 250 pins (for now
>> anyhow) and NEVER more than a 2-sided board.
>>     
>
> Never say never! This time last year, I thought I would never have made a
> PCB with a surface mount component, let alone a board exclusively SMD
> including a 0.4mm pitched LQFP-80. And yes, I'm considering 4-layer boards
> now after the time it took to lay this board out to get a half-acceptable
> groundplane!
>
> I'm glad I started with PCB, because it meant I didn't need to go through
> re-learning how to make PCBs with some other software when I did start
> making more complex things. Within 3 months of making my first PCB, I
> built a homebrew Z80 based computer on a 160x100mm eurocard - that needed
> almost 500 holes. None of the "free with lots of restrictions" packages
> can make this modest homebrew computer.
>
> The other thing I really appreciate about PCB it its hackability -
> documented text save files are great for running through scripts, as well
> as working better with version control software.
>
>   
Dylan,
  Yeah, I guess you have a valid point. Never say never! I have already 
been looking at the SMD's and thinking I will have to try that too. The 
way I see it, I have all the software downloaded and some installed and 
I will start with the one that gets me etching the fastest and use what 
I learn when I need to move to other software if I run into restrictions 
or things I don't like. The thing right now for me is, I have to learn a 
bunch before I even know what will restrict me :) so I may as well start 
small and grow as I learn. I needed a Linux box set up anyhow so thats a 
bonus.
Thanks,
Dave