This evening I watched Are you the right person to design complex electronic boards? which discusses what being a professional electronics designer entails. I particularly liked this slide which compares and contrasts the books a hobbyist might read versus what a professional might read.
Over on Rory Sutherland – Are We Now Too Impatient to Be Intelligent? | Nudgestock 2024 the inimitable Rory Sutherland made reference to Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule by Paul Graham. It’s helpful to be aware of these two types of schedule.
In the same video Mr Sutherland also referred to The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions – and How The World Lost its Mind which looks like it would be an interesting read.
Oh, and he referred to Social Acceleration: A New Theory of Modernity as well. I don’t think I’m going to spend the money or the time on that one, more’s the pity. I only have one life and can’t do everything I might wish I could.
The YouTube recommender algorithm seems to have decided that I need plenty of Rory Sutherland in my diet. Which is fine by me, I think he’s great! This one is good: RORY SUTHERLAND’S 10 RULES OF ALCHEMY.
I just watched this presentation from Rory Sutherland: Rory Sutherland: Want Fewer People to go to A&E? Change the Name | Health | WIRED.
At the end he provides this reading list:
I don’t have the time (or money) to read all of those books, the book I picked to read was Nudge.
I asked ChatGPT about some economic metrics, it gave me this table:
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In this video I tell you about the SWAG (Stuff We All Get) I collected this year at ElectroneX.
I had the very good fortune to meet Dave Jones of EEVblog fame. He was nice enough to take a photo and mention my channel on X.
And as if things couldn’t get any better I then went on to meet Nicholas Vinen of Silicon Chip fame. For the record, the very first thing I ever said to Nicholas Vinen was: “is that a spectrum analyzer?” :P
I mention that the channel’s logo a version of the Hacker Emblem. There’s more info on the show’s website.
My business cards were designed by DAC Design and printed by ClickMedia.
My business card holder is this one: Business Card Holder, 1 Pcs Build in 40 Card Slot PU Leather Business Card Wallet for Credit Card, Business Cards, Men, Women (Black).
The companies who gave me SWAG that I mention in this video are:
I mention my One PCB to Ruler Them All from Adafruit which is part of my costume.
The cheap wire cutters I mention are these ones: Aokin1PC 170 Universal Pliers DIY Electronic Diagonal Side Cutting Nippers Wire Cable Cutter 3D Printer Parts Hand Tools.
As I suspected J.Burrows is a stationary brand. Must have stolen someone’s pen! Whoops! :P
You can read more about Pogo pins. I’ve never used them myself. Looking at them I’m not sure how you would mount them to a board. Lot’s of things to learn!
You can find more info about the probe tweezers I mention in the video over here: Yum Cha Probe Tweezers.
My cheapo multimeters are these ones: DT830B Digital Multimeter. My slightly less cheapo multimeter is this one: DigiTech QM1323 Multimeter. The multimeters I am saving my pennies for are these ones:
Check out the line of Peak test instruments. When I’m rich I am gonna get the full set!
My capacitor testers (and discharger) I mentioned are these ones:
You can find more about my Maxitronix Xin1 Kits. I am making videos as I work my way through them.
You can find the STM micros I showed you over here:
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Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!
FNIRSI DC580 Power Module |
Let’s go shopping!
Good news everyone!
The In The Lab With Jay Jay website has been freeloading off jj5.net for a while now, over here: https://www.inthelabwithjayjay.com/in-the-lab/
But I am pleased to announce that it has now been moved into its new and permanent home, over here: InTheLabWithJayJay.com
There is also a short-link domain which will redirect you to the new site which I put into production to keep the links on my business cards short: jjlab.net
Speaking of business cards I had some made to take with me to ElectroneX on Wednesday:
I’m planning to show up in costume and hand out business cards, because I am a *genuine* nerd.
As part of the migration to the new domain I improved the content of the site a bit. There is now an about page with contact info and such and also a support the show page with some ideas about how people can support the show!
These are some notes for Future John.
I believe our current nbn connection is FTTC (fiber to the curb). Our nbn plan with Dodo is the “nbn 100” plan which is AU$85/mo for 95Mbps down.
They are offering a “fiber upgrade” which will presumably be FTTP (fiber to the premises). Once that is connected we are eligible for the “Home Superfast” plan which is AU$110/mo for 200Mbps down.
There are more details here:
I got an email from one of the marketing people from PCBWay who said they could offer me free PCB printing services in exchange for a review of their service on my blog. I am very happy to do that!
Today I signed up for an account over here: https://www.pcbway.com/Member/Login/
The signup process was extremely painless: email address, password, terms of service, privacy policy, done.
(Note: I am not a lawyer, but I did read the ToS and privacy policy, and basically they claim the rights to your design files for various purposes and might transfer your data over an insecure network. I think these services are fine for hobbyists dealing with open hardware, but if you’re a commercial entity dealing with higher value intellectual property or larger volumes you might like to get legal advice before engaging.)
After logging in I got an email confirmation code emailed to me. I updated my account settings including my basic information and contact information so they know where to ship my PCBs. In exchange for my having filled out my full profile they gave me US$35 worth of vouchers with various terms (e.g. minimum spend).
I then used their shared project service to search for a 555 timer circuit that would meet my requirements. I found this one: Educational 555 Board.
I clicked “Add to cart” and accepted all the defaults (shown below) on my order for 5 PCBs. So far I am a happy customer! (Update: as part of our sponsorship deal PCBWay covered the shipping costs too! I was a bit worried they might ask me to cover the shipping, but they included it, which was super excellent, especially as the shipping was about five times as much as the boards themselves!)
I’m just getting started with PCB printing. I expect that in future I will do much more of it. I have been working my way through PCB design with KiCad – updated for KiCad 7 to learn how to design PCBs using KiCad. Apparently there is a PCBWay Plug-In for KiCad, so that might be something worth checking out.
When my PCBs from PCBWay arrive I will make a video of me putting together the 555 timer circuit and then using it to test my IC test probes. Stay tuned for that one!
Here’s an interesting talk about how we won’t need programmers very soon: Large Language Models and The End of Programming – CS50 Tech Talk with Dr. Matt Welsh.
If refers to the following books: