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>> access to materials and tools becomes an economic barrier I'm not sure that's true anymore. PCB fabrication is dirt cheap from the Chinese fabs. In terms o

by mNovak 6y ago

>> access to materials and tools becomes an economic barrier I'm not sure that's true anymore. PCB fabrication is dirt cheap from the Chinese fabs. In terms of design, KiCAD is free and perfectly usable. Both design and assembly take some practice, sure, but they are valuable skills to learn. There's value in DIP packages for breadboarding, so you can get going quickly and iterate the design, but for anything permanent or semi-permanent, I don't see a big impact.

JAlexoid 6y ago
If you need a few things in your makeshift lab - perfboard/veroboard is perfect. You can go to your local electronics components store get a few bits and start programming AVR chips within a day. Using KiCAD, then waiting for the equipment and then soldering - that is already a barrier. Imagine you need a small voltage regulator on your DC supply line, because your cheap power supply spikes randomly... Are you going to wait for your PCB to be printed and a month for delivery(sometimes 2 months) and pay $6+ for a single board for delivery(components excluded, obv)... or you're getting a 10 pack of perfboards for $5, cut our the right size and have your voltage regulator within 10 minutes at a fraction of the cost...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- DoingIsLearning 6y ago
  I think the issue in this whole thread is that a lot of the people commenting on the benefits and merits of SMD development are failing to see the reality that the $6 for a board or $40 for a temperature controlled soldering iron are actually too much money in far too many parts of the world. Sure as professionals you might work with $20K oscilloscopes and relatively speaking spending less than $100 on a basic SMD soldering station is peanuts, but we need to appreciate this is simply not the reality for a lot of the world out there. This has nothing to do with the technical merits of SMD or how easy/hard it is to solder versus through-hole. For a lot of kids and makers in developing countries dip packages and veroboard are the only economically feasible gateway to start to make electronics. I don't understand why everybody is struggling to accept this. Perhaps it is just a failure to appreciate the economic lottery of where in the world we are born. To me it is sad that there are kids out there who would stop their curiousity just because of economic barriers, I hope AVR's dip packages continue to be produced for a long time to come.
  - JAlexoid 6y ago
    AVR DIP packages will probably be produced for a very long time. HN comments section contain the cream of elitist delusionals. I bet that only a very small minority have ever experienced crushing poverty and homelessness. Or have experienced how engineering can pull them out of said poverty. And then you get "I earned my income by studying hard and working hard"... while being oblivious how much pure luck was to do with it. It infuriates me, when such people then advocate for inaccessible tools for the poorest. Because I was that - 20 years ago(at 16) I was homeless and had about $10 per week in finances.... for me and my mentally distressed mother to survive.

by mNovak 6y ago

JAlexoid 6y ago

If you need a few things in your makeshift lab - perfboard/veroboard is perfect. You can go to your local electronics components store get a few bits and start programming AVR chips within a day. Using KiCAD, then waiting for the equipment and then soldering - that is already a barrier. Imagine you need a small voltage regulator on your DC supply line, because your cheap power supply spikes randomly... Are you going to wait for your PCB to be printed and a month for delivery(sometimes 2 months) and pay $6+ for a single board for delivery(components excluded, obv)... or you're getting a 10 pack of perfboards for $5, cut our the right size and have your voltage regulator within 10 minutes at a fraction of the cost...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
DoingIsLearning 6y ago
I think the issue in this whole thread is that a lot of the people commenting on the benefits and merits of SMD development are failing to see the reality that the $6 for a board or $40 for a temperature controlled soldering iron are actually too much money in far too many parts of the world. Sure as professionals you might work with $20K oscilloscopes and relatively speaking spending less than $100 on a basic SMD soldering station is peanuts, but we need to appreciate this is simply not the reality for a lot of the world out there. This has nothing to do with the technical merits of SMD or how easy/hard it is to solder versus through-hole. For a lot of kids and makers in developing countries dip packages and veroboard are the only economically feasible gateway to start to make electronics. I don't understand why everybody is struggling to accept this. Perhaps it is just a failure to appreciate the economic lottery of where in the world we are born. To me it is sad that there are kids out there who would stop their curiousity just because of economic barriers, I hope AVR's dip packages continue to be produced for a long time to come.
- JAlexoid 6y ago
  AVR DIP packages will probably be produced for a very long time. HN comments section contain the cream of elitist delusionals. I bet that only a very small minority have ever experienced crushing poverty and homelessness. Or have experienced how engineering can pull them out of said poverty. And then you get "I earned my income by studying hard and working hard"... while being oblivious how much pure luck was to do with it. It infuriates me, when such people then advocate for inaccessible tools for the poorest. Because I was that - 20 years ago(at 16) I was homeless and had about $10 per week in finances.... for me and my mentally distressed mother to survive.