Re: gEDA-user: It's alive!

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I only think boards in US are a little expensive, in my town they
> would cost about 1/4 for what you paid (the one from Advanced, with
> soldermasks and silk) but salaries in US are far more than 4x the
> salaries in Brazil, so, there is no problem at all :D

You can get boards really cheap from China if you're willing to pay
the shipping and wait for them.  Plus, that was a few years ago.
Prices are dropping some these days, with competition.  Plus, they're
more expensive when you only need ONE and have to buy THREE.

> I am curious, opening your .pcb here shows that you used layer 1 and
> 4 for a double sided board. I think you changed the colors of the
> layers, because here layer 1 are brown and layer 4 are read, with
> that kind of colors is not easy to draw the board :D

My PCB defaulted to layers 1-3 for top and 4-6 for bottom, with
power/gnd planes on top and bottom.  Newer PCBs default to inner power
planes.  Since I didn't use the planes, layers 2, 3, 5, and 6 are
unused.

> I am curious too to know why you mixed thru hole with smt
> components.

This was my first SMT project.  I used SMT for logic and through-hole
for power.  I'll use more SMT in future projects; they're far easier
to work with.

> I have only one suggestion, allways use oblong pads for TO220, it
> makes the design and the bulding much more easy, I attached my TO220
> footprint if someone wiches to take a look.

I had no problem soldering those with my metcal iron ;-)

> But what I really liked is the graphical display, I didnt work with
> one like this until now, how did they cost?

The LCD with controller was about $100 from seetron.  All the
intelligence, including graphics primitives, multiple fonts, and
backlight, are built-in, with only +5 and TTL serial needed.

If I ever decide to redo it ("just because") I'm thinking of an arm9
controller board with onboard ethernet or wireless, and cpus in the
thermostats so I can use cheaper LCDs.  Imagine a linux thermostat :-)

> Anyway, congratulations, if you are as happy as I become when I make
> a circuit works, you will have a happy day today :D

Well, not as happy as when the 80386SX board I did first booted (that
was in '89) but yeah, I'm happy it's DONE :-)