A Hardware Threepack 51
Johnath writes: "This just happens to be a great time to be a hardware junkie. For those interested in learning more about the metal under their PC's hood, Tom's Hardware has a great intro to PCB manufacturing, Ars Technica has recently written an architectural study of the P4, and ExtremeTech has a decent look at the South Bridge." The circuit board article is really good - explains it better than the textbooks I've seen.
The reason behind these "fluff" stories: (Score:4, Insightful)
It's just been a S-L-O-W period in hardware news. The excitement of MP Athlons has subsided, the P4 scene is quiet, the GeForce3 has been out for a while... Honestly, is there anything NEW happening in the hardware world? (Aside from future releases...)
Ian
Re:The reason behind these "fluff" stories: (Score:1)
"Great time"? (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, unless you'd actually like some competition in the video card market.
You can buy NVIDIA, or NVIDIA. But hey, there's also NVIDIA! Oh, did I mention NVIDIA?
Re:"Great time"? (Score:1, Redundant)
hehe.... for me, the great time was back when you needed to know how to soldier to put a computer together.
Re:"Great time"? (Score:1)
Man. Sure is awful there's only one video card maker around...
Re:"Great time"? (Score:2, Informative)
In september, when its released... it should be impressive, if ATI gets their proper gpu manufacturing working first. Nvidia doesn't touch them in terms of picture quality either.
ATI has switched to a unified driver architure with the Radeon series. Their win2k performance is up to theit win9x performance... its looking good for them, seeing how cheap they are compared to Nvidia.
Eh... What??? (Score:1)
I have been working on PCB's for about 16 years now, and the only time I have heard the term solder mask was when talking about the item you wear on your face to protect your lungs, and then only for people who solder on the assembly line. I do believe the term that the author was looking for was "conformal coating"
Re:Eh... What??? (Score:2)
But then, I don't know much - even though I've even done board layout and routing.
To be honest - this was a VERY concise treatise on the whole process. There are things missing about some of the engineering that goes into boards - but those are details you can expect to cover in such a concise document.
Solder mask vs. conformal coating (Score:4, Informative)
A conformal coating is a thick, usually clear, protective layer that goes on after the components are inserted and soldered. It protects the board against water and other environmental hazards. Boards in computers usually don't get a conformal coating, but automotive, marine, and aerospace electronics usually do.
You can get conformal coatings in spray cans and do it yourself, which can be useful if you're building electronics that has to survive wet environments.
Re:Eh... What??? (Score:1, Informative)
Conformal Coating is the clear plastic that is sprayed on the circuit board after it has been stuffed with parts and soldered. The original author was correct with his definition of solder mask.
Conformal coating is usually used to prevent oxidation.
Quickie? (Score:1)
The P4 (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:The P4 (Score:2)
In The Days Before PC Boards - and Do-It-Yourself! (Score:5, Interesting)
Tom's Hardware has a great intro to PCB manufacturing
That was a great intro, well written, and explaining the basics. Not so basic, however, is attempting to make your own PC boards.
It's easy once you've got the practice, and you can get all the stuff you need at Radio Shack (or better places).
Toner transfer is my method of choice. I stuck transparencies, like you'd use in an overhead projector, into my laser printer. I crank up the darkness of the page, so it puts a lot of toner onto the transparency.
Then, I print my board layout, in mirror image, onto the transparency. Rest it on the blank, clean copper-clad board, and run a hot steam iron over it for a few minutes. With some practice, you'll be able to transfer enough of the toner onto the board that when you etch the blank board, your layout comes through.
I've even managed to produce double-sided surface-mount boards for prototyping and testing the high frequency response of a radar video processing system using this technique, before we committed to actually having the boards mass-produced.
Two sheets of transfer sheet, toner side in, aligned very carefully and stapled together, then a nice long pressing.
He thought I was crazy, but I was able to confirm to my boss, before we shelled out $50,000 for the manufacturing run of PC boards, that the layouts we'd designed worked properly.
Multilayer boards, like modern computer components use, are impractical for do-it-yourselfers to attempt, but I once built a 4-layer prototype by carefully aligning two double-sided boards, made as above, over a third (blank, no copper) board, and screwing the whole sandwich together with machine screws. Carefully-installed plate-through holes were accomplished with scraps of wire soldered through. It took four tries before I got the alignment right and made the board useful for building the prototype.
If that sounds complicated, you should see how stuff was built before Westinghouse invented printed circuit boards [antiqueradio.org]. Imagine a modern computer built like that. Urk.
All this and I'm still unemployed. Hit my page for my resume and stuff.
Re:In The Days Before PC Boards - and Do-It-Yourse (Score:2)
Re:In The Days Before PC Boards - and Do-It-Yourse (Score:2)
dang it. whenever i have mod points i can never find comments worthy of being modded up. then as soon as they are gone along comes a comment like the above. well if i had some mod points I would have given them to you. simply brill.
Awww, that's so sweet. Thank you.
Your sig [OT] (Score:2)
I don't know anything about IIS users, but seems to me anyone who cuts off bits of their children's genitals is truly savage...
Re:In The Days Before PC Boards - and Do-It-Yourse (Score:2)
Thank you that was amazingly inspirational. I was wondering if this were possible.
One thing: are the chemicals necessary for the etching readily available for my ambitious DIY project? IANAChemist; how hard is it to find sulphuric acid? Have you got any safety tips for the etching stage?
Re:In The Days Before PC Boards - and Do-It-Yourse (Score:2)
Go to the cleaning supplies section of the grocery store. I don't remember what the chemical is marketed as but it's probably one of several cemicals used to eat at drain clogs, just read the label for the active ingredients.
Re:In The Days Before PC Boards - and Do-It-Yourse (Score:3, Insightful)
I've done that before, but I found the results not-so-good. Then again, I was using those special transparencies designed for it.
Myself, I go a couple of steps further. I get the presensitised boards and print, using an inkjet printer (I found the Epsons *much* better than the HPs for this), on inkjet transparencies. I then create a sandwich of board, transparency, and some heavy glass on top. Expose to light (a cheap-o $20 desk flourescent has done me well) for a bit, drop it into diluted sodium hydroxide for a few seconds (drain cleaner will work in a pinch, but I don't really recommend that), wash, then etch. I've so far ethched only with ferric chloride, but I've been thinking about going ammonium persulfate, which is supposed to be quicker and easier to use, except that you have to heat it.
After etching, I simply wash with water. I don't bother cleaning off the remaining photoresist (green traces, cool). I simply spray the board with acrylic, drill using a Dremel (get the tiniest bit you can find!), scrape the acrylic off the pads with an X-acto knife, and solder it.
Yes, I'm one of the freaks that had a 'custom fishtank' made.
I've found the results to be extremely good. I've made boards with *really* thin traces and they've always came out perfect.
Of course, I'll have to chase that with some links:
(that lameness filter gets lamer all the time, arrgh)
Making your own PCB (Score:3, Informative)
What other services are available?
I have a really great quote, but I'm not going to tell you. -- me
Re:Making your own PCB (Score:1)
Re:Linux' cost... (Score:1, Offtopic)
If you put Windows in the above post and it will be correct next to some other operating systems out there for a cost comparison, the conclusions are devastating for Windows in the above post and it will be correct.
Windows in the above post and it will be correct costs not only more because of the frequent updates which require new cdrom's to be bought if you don't have a high speed Internet connection.
Another factor in Windows in the above post and it will be correct cost is its maintenance. Windows in the above post and it will be correct requires a *lot* of maintenance, work doable only by the relatively few high-paid Windows in the above post and it will be correct administrators that put themselves - of course willingly - at a great place in the market. Windows in the above post and it will be correct seems to be needing maintenance continuously.
Add to this the cost of loss of data. Windows in the above post and it will be correct' native file system, EXT2FS, is known to lose data like a firehose loses water, when the file system isn't unmounted properly. Other unix file systems are much more tolerant towards unexpected crashes. An example is the FreeBSD file system, which with soft updates enabled, performance-wise blows EXT2FS out of the water, and doesn't have the negative drawback of extreme data loss in case of a system breakdown.
Factor in also the fact that crashes happen much more often on Windows in the above post and it will be correct than on other unices. On other unices, crashes usually are caused by external sources like power outages. Crashes in Windows in the above post and it will be correct are a regular thing, and nobody seems to know what causes them, internally.
The steep learning curve compared to about any other operating system out there is a major factor in Windows in the above post and it will be correct' cost. The system is a mix of features from all kinds of unices, but not one of them is implemented right. A Windows in the above post and it will be correct user has to live with badly coded tools which have low performance, mangle data seemingly at random and are not in line with their specification. On top of that a lot of them spit out the most childish and unprofessional messages, indicating that they were created by 14-year olds with too much time, no talent and a bad attitude.
I can go on and on and on, but the message is clear. In this world, there is no place for Windows in the above post and it will be correct. It's not an option for any one who seeks a professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability, adherence to standards, etc. The best place it should ever reach is the toy store, and even that would be flattering.
Re:Linux' cost... (Score:1)
Well, you're either kidding, or totally retarded.
My one previous experience with anything *nix was five minutes trying to access the hard drive of an old terminal server. I gave up and used my old friend 'format C:' very shortly.
A few months later, still with no knowledge, I installed Red Hat. Took me one attempt once I figured out my CD burner had f*cked up and I needed to just source the ISO images from hda1.
A joker? Flamebait? Or just someone very, very stupid? Mmmm...a question for the ages. And BTW, no, I don't have a masters in computer science.
Re:Linux' cost... (Score:2)
Boycot the p4 and Intel! (Score:1)
Rob fucking post the story. This has been submitted like several hundred times by everyone and their brothers.
Even Microsoft doesn't sue pc makers for offering a competitors product yet intel is doing just that. They may charge for windows more though.
Another cool hardware site (Score:1)
Dan doesn't seem to run any proper OSses; and the site is kind of disorganised, but there's tons of fun stuff there.