Re: An actual circuit

On Fri, 24 May 2024 23:39:02 -0400, "Edward Rawde"
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

"john larkin" <jl@650pot.com> wrote in message
news:obm25jtajqj96tjutjmo4vhlvglje74444@4ax.com...

On Fri, 24 May 2024 22:56:02 -0400, "Edward Rawde"
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>

"Mike Monett VE3BTI" <spamme@not.com> wrote in message
news:XnsB17CDFBC01F77idtokenpost@135.181.20.170...

Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:
>

Insect cruelty. Plus you have to count their tiny feets backwards.

>
The only good bugs is dead bugs. ;)

>

Cheers
>
Phil Hobbs

>
The major flaw with dead bugs is you lose the identification of the ic.
>
Six months later, you will have no idea what the circuit is, where the
important signals are, or how the circuit works.
>
Many high frequency ic's have a ground tab that must be connected to
ground. This is not possible with dead bugs.
>
Often not all of a prototype must be on a copperclad ground plane.
Perpheral supporting circuits can be placed on a prototype board, with a
section of ground plane mounted on the proto board as needed. This makes
mounting test points and input and output signals much easier.
>
Amazon has a large selection of suitable proto boards:
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https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=prototype+pcb+board
>

>
I used to like Speedwire, particularly if I wanted and 8-bit CPU and a
bunch
of 22V10s.
But it's no surprise I can barely find any reference to it now.
>
https://www.google.com/search?&q=speedwire+bicc-vero&tbm=isch
>
https://www.edn.com/wp-content/uploads/contenteetimes-images-01mdunn-benchtalk-proto4.jpg
>

>
--
MRM

>

>
It's cheap and easy now to make a few double-side or multilayer PCBs
for anything complex.

>
True but you can reuse a speedwire board :)

Yuk! I remember how awful WireWrap protos were. I wrote a PDP-11
program to optimize wrapping, the traveling-salesman problem.

One nice thing about PCB protos is that you can keep them around
forever, for future reference. Vias and ground planes and 50-ohm
traces and edge-launch SMA connectors are all good. A spare unstuffed
board or two is nice to have around too.

I often put several different circuits on one board, and shear them
apart.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lo1a43wi9ta7qry/Z-boards.jpg?raw=1

>
What PCB design system/software do you use?

PADS. We've been using PADS since the DOS/floppy disk days. It works
well enough. We use the same ever-growing parts library and can open
decades-old projects.

What's weird is that Digikey has cheap proto "redboards" now but claim
that they won't work from PADS files. Gerbers is Gerbers, I'd think.