7 ms·

$1. Ouch. Too rich for me. I use $0.03 MCUs! https://hackaday.com/2019/09/09/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-padauk-mcus-and-more/ https://hackaday.com/20

by egsmi 6y ago

$1. Ouch. Too rich for me. I use $0.03 MCUs! https://hackaday.com/2019/09/09/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-padauk-mcus-and-more/ https://hackaday.com/2019/09/09/everything-you-wanted-to-kno...

etaioinshrdlu 6y ago
Do you know anywhere I can buy these? Someone should sell them in packs of 100 on Amazon...
- userbinator 6y ago
  https://lcsc.com/product-detail/PADAUK_PADAUK-Tech-PMS150C-U06_C168658.html https://lcsc.com/product-detail/PADAUK_PADAUK-Tech-PMS150C-U...
  - Palomides 6y ago
    thanks for the link, that company is becoming pretty interesting in terms of user-friendly/comprehensive access to chinese manufacturing
    - HeWhoLurksLate 6y ago
      I got some SK6812 V3 LED'S or whatever the RGBW 'Neopixel' things are from there a while ago- really nice ordering experience, I don't remember having any problems with it, and they include datasheets, which is awesome.
    - Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
      I use them for PCB's - I don't have access an local version of OSH Park, so if I have boards fab'ed locally I am paying though the nose for them. (If anyone has a link to a decent OSH Park alt based in the UK I would love to give them a try) If I need them "ASAP" even tacking on the £17 DHL shipping for 2-4 day shipping they still come out much cheaper than purchasing locally, but I normally just choose "standard" postage which means it takes ~10days from ordering until I have the boards in my hands but drops the shipping cost to ~£4. (shipping costs vary based on size and weight of the order) I've yet to use lcsc for components because I've been burnt in the past from ordering IC's from china and when ordering anything over the value of £15 I often get handed a £8 handling fee from the postal service to process a few quid of import VAT which always grinds my gears, so I tend to shop locally for components. But I do plan to give them a try at some point. EDIT in ref to jlcpcb: Just keep their capabilities in mind and set your EDA/CAD software to mm and not mil to save headaches if you are planning to use BGA's in your design.
      - Kliment 6y ago
        Try Aisler - they ship from Germany or US (whichever is closer) and are similar to OSHPark in user experience. About LCSC, they are entirely legit and a very good source. I use them all the time.
        panpanna 6y ago
        I think Aisler is also sponsoring LibrePCB and accepts their CAD files (i.e. no messing around with gerbers). I'm definitely testing them for my next boards.
        StavrosK 6y ago
        I tried AISLER once, the PCBs I got were very good quality. They didn't work due to me using tolerances that were too tight (I couldn't easily find their tolerances on their site), they refunded me immediately and I re-ordered the fixed boards. Those were also very good quality. Overall, I have a very good impression of them. If the price is acceptable for you, I would definitely recommend them. Shipping was very fast, too, the boards arrived within the week to Greece.
        mkesper 6y ago
        Seems to linked better now: https://aisler.net/help/design-rules-and-specifications/specifications https://aisler.net/help/design-rules-and-specifications/spec...
        StavrosK 6y ago
        That still doesn't look very usable, as someone who designed a board, I don't know what the milling and drilling diameters are for. I know about track size, track clearance, minimum via diameter, etc. The way they have it, I need to know about how PCBs are fabricated to read it accurately.
        panpanna 6y ago
        All things equal, I think I would go with them just because of this: https://aisler.net/help/getting-started/what-are-your-environmental-standards https://aisler.net/help/getting-started/what-are-your-enviro... Chinese PCB fabs are extremely dirty.
krasin 6y ago
Padauk microcontrollers were covered by the same author: https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent-microcontrollers/ https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent... Surprisingly, they have beaten ~25% of the $1 microcontrollers.
- snvzz 6y ago
  Ouch at the large table which needs a horizontal scrollbar but would otherwise fit onscreen if it wasn't width-constrained.
azinman2 6y ago
I’d love to know how it can so cheap to make and still be profitable? What environmental / labor horrors need to occur?
- vagrantJin 6y ago
  Perhaps it was never expensive to build. Perhaps there is little to no labour.
- nfriedly 6y ago
  It looks like they mostly drove the price down by reducing functionality. There are no "fancy" interfaces like UART or i2c. There's only 64 bytes of RAM. The chips are one-time programmable which is cheaper than flash memory, and there's only 512 bytes of program space. The CPU is pretty limited too - it doesn't even have an instruction to multiply two numbers. There's no debugging interface on the chip, instead you buy a simulator device that behaves like the chip, but has reprogrammable memory and a debugging interface. It all adds up, or in this case it doesn't, and what's left is a pretty inexpensive chip.

by egsmi 6y ago

$1. Ouch. Too rich for me. I use $0.03 MCUs! https://hackaday.com/2019/09/09/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-padauk-mcus-and-more/ https://hackaday.com/2019/09/09/everything-you-wanted-to-kno...

etaioinshrdlu 6y ago

Do you know anywhere I can buy these? Someone should sell them in packs of 100 on Amazon...

userbinator 6y ago
https://lcsc.com/product-detail/PADAUK_PADAUK-Tech-PMS150C-U06_C168658.html https://lcsc.com/product-detail/PADAUK_PADAUK-Tech-PMS150C-U...
- Palomides 6y ago
  thanks for the link, that company is becoming pretty interesting in terms of user-friendly/comprehensive access to chinese manufacturing
  - HeWhoLurksLate 6y ago
    I got some SK6812 V3 LED'S or whatever the RGBW 'Neopixel' things are from there a while ago- really nice ordering experience, I don't remember having any problems with it, and they include datasheets, which is awesome.
  - Crosseye_Jack 6y ago
    I use them for PCB's - I don't have access an local version of OSH Park, so if I have boards fab'ed locally I am paying though the nose for them. (If anyone has a link to a decent OSH Park alt based in the UK I would love to give them a try) If I need them "ASAP" even tacking on the £17 DHL shipping for 2-4 day shipping they still come out much cheaper than purchasing locally, but I normally just choose "standard" postage which means it takes ~10days from ordering until I have the boards in my hands but drops the shipping cost to ~£4. (shipping costs vary based on size and weight of the order) I've yet to use lcsc for components because I've been burnt in the past from ordering IC's from china and when ordering anything over the value of £15 I often get handed a £8 handling fee from the postal service to process a few quid of import VAT which always grinds my gears, so I tend to shop locally for components. But I do plan to give them a try at some point. EDIT in ref to jlcpcb: Just keep their capabilities in mind and set your EDA/CAD software to mm and not mil to save headaches if you are planning to use BGA's in your design.
    - Kliment 6y ago
      Try Aisler - they ship from Germany or US (whichever is closer) and are similar to OSHPark in user experience. About LCSC, they are entirely legit and a very good source. I use them all the time.
      - panpanna 6y ago
        I think Aisler is also sponsoring LibrePCB and accepts their CAD files (i.e. no messing around with gerbers). I'm definitely testing them for my next boards.
        StavrosK 6y ago
        I tried AISLER once, the PCBs I got were very good quality. They didn't work due to me using tolerances that were too tight (I couldn't easily find their tolerances on their site), they refunded me immediately and I re-ordered the fixed boards. Those were also very good quality. Overall, I have a very good impression of them. If the price is acceptable for you, I would definitely recommend them. Shipping was very fast, too, the boards arrived within the week to Greece.
        mkesper 6y ago
        Seems to linked better now: https://aisler.net/help/design-rules-and-specifications/specifications https://aisler.net/help/design-rules-and-specifications/spec...
        StavrosK 6y ago
        That still doesn't look very usable, as someone who designed a board, I don't know what the milling and drilling diameters are for. I know about track size, track clearance, minimum via diameter, etc. The way they have it, I need to know about how PCBs are fabricated to read it accurately.
        panpanna 6y ago
        All things equal, I think I would go with them just because of this: https://aisler.net/help/getting-started/what-are-your-environmental-standards https://aisler.net/help/getting-started/what-are-your-enviro... Chinese PCB fabs are extremely dirty.

krasin 6y ago

Padauk microcontrollers were covered by the same author: https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent-microcontrollers/ https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent... Surprisingly, they have beaten ~25% of the $1 microcontrollers.

snvzz 6y ago
Ouch at the large table which needs a horizontal scrollbar but would otherwise fit onscreen if it wasn't width-constrained.

azinman2 6y ago

I’d love to know how it can so cheap to make and still be profitable? What environmental / labor horrors need to occur?

vagrantJin 6y ago
Perhaps it was never expensive to build. Perhaps there is little to no labour.
nfriedly 6y ago
It looks like they mostly drove the price down by reducing functionality. There are no "fancy" interfaces like UART or i2c. There's only 64 bytes of RAM. The chips are one-time programmable which is cheaper than flash memory, and there's only 512 bytes of program space. The CPU is pretty limited too - it doesn't even have an instruction to multiply two numbers. There's no debugging interface on the chip, instead you buy a simulator device that behaves like the chip, but has reprogrammable memory and a debugging interface. It all adds up, or in this case it doesn't, and what's left is a pretty inexpensive chip.