Hardware Hack Kit Ideas

[streaker69]

Re: Hardware Hack Kit Ideas

A good suggestion for any kind of 'road warrior' tech that needs to carry Lots of tools with them, I recommend these:

http://www.stanleysupplyservices.com/search.aspx?c=419

I had one where I had worked about 10 years ago, and it was able to carry just about anything I'd need. After I left there, I bought one myself. You can mix and match different pallets to suit your own needs. You can also order pallets pre-populated with tools.

I had mine at Shmoo this year, so some may have seen it there.

[LosT]

Re: Hardware Hack Kit Ideas

A few thoughts:

1. Don't *abuse* sampling, or you will bork the system for the rest of us- translation: don't be stupid about how you request samples. With the recession going on, I would hate for companies to simply stop sampling- I sample all the time- so be smart about it. Most of the time you can get away with a sub-$100 order every two months or so. Some other companies watch more closely. Just be smart about it.

2. Cold heat irons suck. Period. If you use one on anything electrical, you don't understand how it works. It is NOT good to use on electronics, period. End of story. This isn't the iron you are looking for. Move along. (If you HAVE to have an iron to take easily with you, get a cheap electrical iron- when are you ever in a position where you need to solder electronics that you don't have a plug? And on that RARE occasion that you are, you can get butane based irons)

3. Everyone keeps asking for a 'suggested parts list', as well as a 'suggested tools list'- I would like to work with the CVORG guys in putting this together because they did such a good job in getting the HHV wiki up and running. Stay tuned for more info on this.

4. There will be actual kits for sale again in the vendor area this year. In fact there will be several. I can neither confirm nor deny that the circuits, designs/kits that will be for sale will be designed in tandem with badge hacking in mind.

5. Since everyone is talking about irons they like, I have to say I'm still partial to my hakko. Find an iron YOU like, or ask to use a nice iron before buying. Just because someone else likes a particular iron doesn't mean you will. You DON'T need to spend a fortune on an iron to get started. Once you have used a nice iron it's painful to use a crappy one though.

6. Ada's list for samples is good, but it has been posted long enough to have been abused. There are many other places to sample from, if interested, ask me at con. I will not post publicly here, as I don't want my personal sources destroyed due to a public forum post.

7. I don't want to get into the religious wars about which micro is better uControllers are everywhere these days, and there are many, many great ones. Microchip is releasing new C compilers FOR FREE for all three lines (8bit on up)- Check their website. AVRs can be gotten into cheaply. SXes aren't bad, ask Joe Grand, he used several in product designs in the past. The programmer can be expensive though. The propeller is interesting, give it a look for fun. Freescale has some amazing uControllers. As does Ti. Pick a platform, start there. Don't let others deter you from your micro of choice. Most people have wacked opinions of certain controllers and wind up using an inappropriate controller for a particular job because of it. If you want a slick dev platform, check out the MSP430 dev tool from Ti. It fits in your pocket, is cheap, and pretty cool. It looks like a USB thumb drive.

Ok, more later. Still in Norway.

LosT

[bombnav]

Re: Hardware Hack Kit Ideas

I am sure alot of you now about this but I just stumbled on it.

http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/fold...t/tina-ti.html

A free schematic Editor from TI.

Here is the blurp on the web site
"TINA is an easy-to-use, but powerful, circuit simulation program based on a SPICE engine. TINA-TI is a fully functional version of TINA, loaded with a library of TI macromodels plus passive and active models."



Something else to play with.

[afterburn188]

Re: Hardware Hack Kit Ideas

A cool one for Windows/Linux is SIMetrix. There is a free licensed version that's only limitation is the number of transistors you can use (plenty of room to make some fun amplifiers). It also allows for Digital simulation as well. KTechLab is a cool program for Digital Logic. I'll chuck these up on the wiki...

[bombnav]

Re: Hardware Hack Kit Ideas

A cool one for Windows/Linux is SIMetrix. There is a free licensed version that's only limitation is the number of transistors you can use (plenty of room to make some fun amplifiers). It also allows for Digital simulation as well. KTechLab is a cool program for Digital Logic. I'll chuck these up on the wiki...

Cool I'll check this one out.

[SmittyHalibut]

Re: Hardware Hack Kit Ideas

Then I got spoiled when I used a Metcal it was like night and day!

I do love me my Metcal...