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I'm volunteering in a school in Rural VA, and about half our students couldn't afford a class where we had to pay $0.20 per circuit we make. Most of them can't

I'm volunteering in a school in Rural VA, and about half our students couldn't afford a class where we had to pay $0.20 per circuit we make. Most of them can't afford the $20 class fee, and we waive it and make do somehow anyways.

kps 6y ago
That reflects my childhood. HN is full of sheltered silver-spoon kids, or to use the current vernacular, unacknowledged class privilege.
- foldr 6y ago
  Give me a break. I couldn't afford to be an electronics hobbyist when I was a kid either. The only question here is over whether you actually save any money by using through-hole components. Only the madness of the internet could turn this discussion into a debate about "surface mount privilege". By focusing only on the transition away from through-hole you're missing the fact that everything has got vastly less costly. Temperature controlled irons are much cheaper than they used to be. High quality PCBs are ridiculously cheap. You can buy a microcontroller for $1 that's more powerful than an 80s home computer. If you have a limited budget, you want to be doing electronics now, not in the 1980s. I have every sympathy for kids around the world who can't afford to pursue their hobbies, but electronics is more affordable and accessible than it's ever been.
foldr 6y ago
>I'm volunteering in a school in Rural VA, and about half our students couldn't afford a class where we had to pay $0.20 per circuit we make. If you're ordering for an entire series of classes, then you could probably get the cost of each individual PCB under $0.20. It would take some forward planning, but it's doable. In general, it's common for kids to have no money. (I had no money when I was a kid.) If you are doing electronics on an extreme budget then naturally you'll just have to use whatever equipment you can get hold of. But PCBs are really really really cheap. If you cannot afford PCBs you probably can't afford lots of other things that you need. That's not to say that you should be using PCBs. I have no experience teaching kids electronics.

kps 6y ago

That reflects my childhood. HN is full of sheltered silver-spoon kids, or to use the current vernacular, unacknowledged class privilege.

foldr 6y ago
Give me a break. I couldn't afford to be an electronics hobbyist when I was a kid either. The only question here is over whether you actually save any money by using through-hole components. Only the madness of the internet could turn this discussion into a debate about "surface mount privilege". By focusing only on the transition away from through-hole you're missing the fact that everything has got vastly less costly. Temperature controlled irons are much cheaper than they used to be. High quality PCBs are ridiculously cheap. You can buy a microcontroller for $1 that's more powerful than an 80s home computer. If you have a limited budget, you want to be doing electronics now, not in the 1980s. I have every sympathy for kids around the world who can't afford to pursue their hobbies, but electronics is more affordable and accessible than it's ever been.

foldr 6y ago

>I'm volunteering in a school in Rural VA, and about half our students couldn't afford a class where we had to pay $0.20 per circuit we make. If you're ordering for an entire series of classes, then you could probably get the cost of each individual PCB under $0.20. It would take some forward planning, but it's doable. In general, it's common for kids to have no money. (I had no money when I was a kid.) If you are doing electronics on an extreme budget then naturally you'll just have to use whatever equipment you can get hold of. But PCBs are really really really cheap. If you cannot afford PCBs you probably can't afford lots of other things that you need. That's not to say that you should be using PCBs. I have no experience teaching kids electronics.