These look great!
Repairable USB-C port
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Category Archives: Chatter
Electronic components to avoid in a product
In this latest video from John Teel, electronic components to avoid in a real product:
- USB Micro-B Connections → use USB-C instead
- Through-Hole Components → use SMD instead
- Barrel Jack Power Connections → use USB-C instead
- Note: 5.5 × 2.1 mm (5.5×2.1mm) is the common DC barrel jack size, 5.5 × 2.5 mm (5.5×2.5mm) is less common
- Unshielded DC-DC Converter Inductors → use shielded inductors instead
- Cheap No-Name Electrolytic Capacitors → buy from reputable brand instead, or, better, switch to ceramic or polymer aluminium capacitors
- If you want no surprises, stick to: Nichicon, Rubycon, Panasonic, Nippon Chemi-Con (aka United Chemi-Con), Elna
- For professional/industrial designs, also consider: KEMET, Vishay, TDK
- Bare Pin Headers as Production Connectors → use connectors rated for your application instead
- Mechanical Relays → use solid state instead, for DC consider MOSFET
- Single-Source or End-of-Life Components → use widely available components instead
- Counterfeit of Clone ICs → buy from authorized distributors instead:
- Hobby-Grade Sensors → look for higher grade instead with I2C or SPI digital interfaces
Git Commands to Run Before Reading Any Code
Via Hacker News today was The Git Commands I Run Before Reading Any Code. I made a git-rep.sh script based on these:
#!/bin/bash
# 2026-04-09 jj5 - SEE: https://piechowski.io/post/git-commands-before-reading-code/
main() {
set -euo pipefail;
report 'What Changes the Most';
git log --format=format: --name-only --since="1 year ago" | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -20;
report 'Who Built This';
git shortlog -sn --no-merges;
report 'Where Do Bugs Cluster';
git log -i -E --grep="fix|bug|broken" --name-only --format='' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -20;
report 'Is This Project Accelerating or Dying';
git log --format='%ad' --date=format:'%Y-%m' | sort | uniq -c;
report 'How Often Is the Team Firefighting';
git log --oneline --since="1 year ago" | grep -iE 'revert|hotfix|emergency|rollback';
}
report() {
echo;
echo "$1":
echo;
}
main "$@";
Justin Sung on Metacognition
Thinking about thinking…
PCI Express over Fiber
This project is awesome! It’s what it says on the tin. The video also demos the use of ngscopeclient.
The Epistemology of Microphysics
My IRC friend dcz referred me to this: The Epistemology of Microphysics. One fun fact from it is that the electron was discovered by J. J. Thomson (1856-1940), a fellow Jay Jay!
Awesome falsehood
A curated list of falsehoods: awesome-falsehood.
Spintronics: Build Mechanical Circuits
My IRC friend dcz referred me to this: Spintronics: Build Mechanical Circuits. Definitely need to get me one of these!
Cardputer-Adv: Compact Programmable Platform for Embedded Prototyping & IoT Development
I was reading the latest version of Make: Magazine, Make: Magazine, Volume 96, and I discovered this cool hardware based on the ESP32-S3: M5Stack Cardputer Adv Version. They are out of stock at the moment but I will have to check back later because I think I would love to have one of these!
John Teel explains microcontrollers to avoid
The microcontrollers to avoid and what to consider instead:
- ESP8266 → ESP32-C3
- PIC16 → ARM Cortex-M0+, STM32C0, TI’s MSPM0
- Ultra-Cheap No-Name MCUs → something with better doco and support, such as STM32C0 or TI’s MSPM0
- STM8 → STM32C0
- MSP430 → TI’s MSPM0
- ATmega328P → newer MCUs in AVR family
- Overpriced High-End MCUs → consider microprocessor instead