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A comment on Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems. Parent comment

Re:Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten ... by fleventynine on Monday July 18, 2022 @04:59PM (#32143624)
Surface mount isn't that big of a deal. A cheap hot air gun, a soldering iron, flux, and some solder paste are all you need to work with most BGAs, QFN, and other modern packages. PCB prototype manufacturing has never been cheaper thanks to companies like JLCPCB. With all the fantastic learning material on YouTube, open source tools like KiCad, and inexpensive chinese test equipment, the kids these days can do WAY more than I could dream of back in the 90s.
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Re:Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten ... by midoridensha on Wednesday July 20, 2022 @01:11AM (#32161673)
Not only that, but doing any rework with surface mount is usually much easier than with thru-hole or DIP chips. Removing a DIP chip usually means snipping the leads off (thus ruining the chip) and individually pulling each severed leg out with an iron and solder-sucker. By contrast, an SOIC-type chip can be removed in seconds with a hot-air gun.
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Re:Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten ... by stas2k on Monday July 18, 2022 @05:26PM (#32144035)
Could not agree more. I have designed my first PCB in Kicad as a MIT licence project.

Kicad ecosystem is very much alive and I was able to reuse dimensions from another project for the same computer.

I made a RAM expansion board for Sharp X68000. You can check it out on https://github.com/stas2k/galspanic

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Re:Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten ... by 0x20cowboy on Monday July 18, 2022 @06:54PM (#32145150)
But, I mean, you could get by with just a $10 soldering iron from RadioShack. It’s just harder to get into and tinker with is my point - which I think you just supported?
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Re:Electrical engineers on the brink of extinction threaten ... by _moof on Monday July 18, 2022 @09:03PM (#32146187)
I do surface mount with a $20 hotplate from Target. A lot of parts you can even do with a soldering iron. I know it looks scary but once you give it a try you'll find it's not really any harder than through-hole and doesn't require any special equipment.
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