[Lvlug] OT Soldering

[Scott Phelan]

Mark wrote:
> On Thursday 19 October 2006 11:35 am, Scott Phelan wrote:
>> Yeah, that would be cool. I do a little PIC programming in C.
> 
> That's about my level too.  Right now I am using the proprietary CCS C 
> compiler because I'm doing a project for a friend and unlike the Atmel chips 
> I've been unable to find any kind of open-source C compiler for PIC's.

I'm using hi-tech PICC inside Microchip's IDE, but would love to learn 
more about the Linux tools available.

>> I use 
>> their ICD-2 to program and debug the flash chips. I'd like to get into
>> it more. What flavor micro did you have in mind?
> 
> I've been using PIC's but have had my eye on the Atmel's for a while now. This 
> may be the push I need to make the move.
> 
>> I'm primarily an analog power guy that plays around with microprocessors
>> once in a while.
> 
> I'm primarily a digital electronics technician with a couple of years of 
> playing around with PIC's.
> 
>> I think the main issue would be to get enough people interest to cover
>> the cost of having a PCB blank made. I find that the break point is at
>> about 25 boards.
> 
> I'm fairly confident that we'd be lucky to get one or two others to join us 
> even though it is FREE (You buy your own parts) for ANYONE who would like to 
> try their hand at electronics.

I have an assembler here that works for me who I'm trying to get 
interested in the project too. He seems a little interested.

We could always put any excess board blanks up on the net for sale if 
the projects were documented well enough for others to use. That would 
help cover the costs of having boards made.

>> We have Eagle PCB / schematic layout here (Linux ver). I do all my own
>> board layouts. But people working on the project can download the free
>> version that would allow them to do small boards and component footprints.
> 
> I switched over to gEDA (http://www.geda.seul.org/) last year but I still 
> really like Eagle.  But it might be a lot easier to teach Eagle rather than 
> gEDA.

For me it would be easier to teach Eagle since I never got the gEDA 
tools working. But I'd be interested in looking at / learning them too.
That's what I'm hoping to get out of this, is to get to work with the 
available Linux tools more.

Some Saturdays could work for me. Second Saturday of the month is 
reserved for something else I have going on (Except in winter). Any 
other should be ok. I usually can work my schedule around it.

So it's all good with me. I think next you need to get a list of who is 
interested and what the first project will be. (Robotics is definitely 
on my list too).

-- 
Thanks,
Scott Phelan