2 Feb
2006
2 Feb
'06
3:20 p.m.
In message <m1F4mMJ-000IyFC at p850ug1>
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
Nor do I. The larger SMD parts are perfectly easy to
homebrew with, and I
Yeah, I've done SMD soldering down to 0604 passives, SOT23 transistors, and
TSSOP ICs. I've even tried soldering down the little leadless packages ADI
use for their uMEMS accelerometers - not too hard, with the right tools and
plenty of rosin flux.
am quite sure _I'll_ find a way to use even BGAs
as/when I have to.
Enamelled copper wire soldered to the balls dead-bug style?
Nor do I buy the argument that it's not worth
homebrewing as you can buy
a better unit for less. Firstly what you buy ready made is often not
better than that which you could build. Secondly, there are plenty of
things you can't buy. And thirdly, nothing (IMHO) compares with the
feeling when one of your homebrew designs works.
Hell yeah.
Even though computers are a lot
more common than they were 20 years ago, I suspect the total number of
amateur programmers has decreased. And yet the programming tools
are now even eaier to obtain than they were 25 years ago (there are free
versions of most ocmmon languages, home computers are powerful enough to
run said free versions).
It's a bit much to expect the average Joe to learn to program when he can't
even learn not to open the EXE attachments on his emails. "But it was from a
friend!" / "And it takes five seconds to email back and ask 'Did you really
mean to send me this? What is it?', so why didn't you do it?"
FFS, if you're going to buy a computer, you might as well learn to secure it
properly. There really should be a requirement for licensing of computer
owners/users - if you can't prove you can secure a machine properly, you
don't get to own one...
And the result is a worse
timekeeper than any 5 quid quartz clock. Don't get me wrong. The clocks
they make are beuatiful, and I would love to be able to make one (in
fact, I fully intend to do so sometime). But financially it makes no
sense at all, unless you consider the enjoyment and education you get by
making said clock -- things that also apply to homebrewing electronics.
It's the beauty of the thing that's appealing though. You'll never find a
clock in a shop that looks anywhere near as nice - everything you see these
days is plastic, plastic and more plastic.
And I wouldn't be so sure about quartz clocks being more accurate, especially
the cheap ones... I'd rather tie a GPS receiver to a PIC and build a "totally
accurate clock" of some description.
That said, though, there are not that many model
engineers or amateur
clockmakers in the UK. Just as there are a few, but not that many
electronics hackers. And I think one of the reasons is simple. Most kids
have realised that there is no point going into science/engineering.
There are no good well-paid, satisfying jobs in those areas. Well paid
jobs (at least in the UK) seem to reserved for those who can kick a
football or strum a guitar. And the educational system seems to be
designed to remove any curiousity that a child might have (fortunately,
it didn't work on me).
Me neither. I pissed my science teacher off no end by continually asking "So
if X does Y, how does Y work?" type questions. Got hauled in front of the
headmaster a few times for that, too. Still didn't stop me. :)
--
Phil. | Kitsune: Acorn RiscPC SA202 64M+6G ViewFinder
philpem at dsl.pipex.com | Cheetah: Athlon64 3200+ A8VDeluxeV2 512M+100G
http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | Tiger: Toshiba SatPro4600 Celeron700 256M+40G
... Profanity, the language computerists know.