Re: News : ARM Trying to Buy AmperComputing

On 24/01/2025 01:57, rbowman wrote:

On Thu, 23 Jan 2025 21:59:58 +0100, D wrote:
 

I've seen some tutorials utilizing the GPIO pins. I imagine that that is
where it would come in handy to avoid a birds nest of cables and crappy
soldering.

 I use solderless breadboards and Dupont wires when playing around. It's
quick and dirty, emphasis on the dirty part. The preformed jumpers are
neater but they're a bit of a PITA. I've seen videos of people pressing
them in with no problems but that ain't me.
 I haven't done a PCB in decades and never was very good at it but that was
before software to help with the routing. There's still a lot of overhead
for a DIY project.
 https://www.instructables.com/DIY-PCB-using-Liquid-Photoresist/
 That's the basic procedure I followed. For one-offs I used presensitized
PCBs rather than spreading it on myself. For volume I'd make a silkscreen
but then you're into a whole other art form. The artwork was tape and
transfer symbols on mylar.
 Then you move on to etching. I used ferric chloride which is fairly nasty
stuff and tends to dye everything in sight yellow. Another choice was
sodium persulfate. I never used HCL and hydrogen peroxide. That seems to
have its fans.
 Then if you finally wind up with a flawless PCB the fun begins, drilling a
crap load of holes. A Dremel drill press helps. Depending on the board
material, buy a lot of bits.
 All that makes the online services look extremely attractive.
 

Indeed. I tried using the clever PCB routing stuff but in the end it took longer to key in all the relevant info than it did to do it the way I always used to. Pads and tape but done in simple 2D CAD. with layers for each of the board parts - legend, top mask, top copper, lower copper, lower mask...drill file.
I actually enjoy that a lot more than pissing around with chemicals. And drills.
--
“when things get difficult you just have to lie”
― Jean Claud Jüncker