Loboyko Steve wrote:
Well, no, it isn't. Because the cost of getting a PCB
made is less than the cost of a good electronics
technician, I think it started to die in the late
80's. And, of course, its practically impossible to WW
BGA chips, etc.
PCB's are easy make since one still can get the DOS PCB program easytrak
for laying out a PCB. While you can get newer ones they all seem to have
DEMO mode of no more than 3" x 4". I am laying a out PCB for a FPGA CPU
/ motherboard with a 1.25 MHZ clock
using a 600 MHZ PC running a 10 year old dos program. It is hard to
belive that PC's are over 100 x faster than in the 1980's. ( The
software seems be the same speed if not a tad slower :( since the
1980's). The board will be about 8" x 7" and $175 canadian for two
prototype boards. Wire wrap sockets/wire/protoboard would cost me $100
thus the PCB is a good deal. I like debuging on computer screen a bad
route than finding a bad wire on wire wrap board. Note I would be using
TTL for the CPU but they just don't make the 74LSxxx chips I wanted.
Still most of the chips on the PCB are for the front panel as only real
computers have them ** ducks **.