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RC2014 Homebrew Z80 Computer Kit… now in After Dark!

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The RC2014 is a Z80 based modular homebrew.  The designer Spencer Owen recently did a version with our After Dark service (clear solder mask on black substrate) and it is available on Tindie:

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Limited Edition RC2014 Mini After Dark

Special edition Z80 based retro computer kit with stunning After Dark PCB

Fundamentally, this is an RC2014 Mini. A single board Z80 computer that runs BASIC or Z80 assembly code. If you are looking for an easy to build, good looking, well supported Z80 single-board computer, you probably should just go and buy a RC2014 Mini

However, if you are after a stunning looking Z80 single board computer which is one of only 25 in the world, then read on…

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Limited Edition RC2014 Mini After Dark

  • Amazingly beautiful AfterDark PCB from OSHPark features black FR4 substrate, 1oz copper with clear solder resist, ENIG (gold) pads and white silkscreen
  • Every track from the original RC2014 Mini has been relaid for maximum visual appeal
  • RC2014 logo in the top copper layer
  • Turned pin chip sockets
  • White connectors, jumpers and reset switch to compliment the silkscreen
  • Laser-cut mirrored base plate with brass PCB standoffs allow the underside of the board to be seen
  • Rubber mounting feet
  • Limited run of 25 kits, with each one being numbered. Kits will be supplied strictly in number order and records kept if later verification is required
  • Option to buy a standard RC2014 Mini with a 50% discount so you can hack around and modify the standard RC2014 Mini whilst leaving the Limited Edition RC2014 Mini After Dark kit intact. Or mix & match the black and white connectors to create your own unique RC2014.
  • Same specification as standard RC2014 Mini (Z80 processor at 7.3728MHz, 32k RAM, ROM with Microsoft BASIC / SCM Monitor, 5v power over USB barrel jack cable or FTDI cable, 115,200 baud serial communication, keyboard connector for Universal Micro Keyboard, Pi Zero header option for Pi Zero Serial Terminal
  • Luxury packaging for that unique “unboxing experience”
  • Shipping will automatically be upgraded to signed, tracked or recorded delivery based on your location
  • Limited run RC2014 After Dark stickers

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RC2014 Homebrew Z80 Computer Kit… now in After Dark!

Automatic Component Tape Cutter For When Your Electronics Kit Hits The Big Time

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Even for the simplest of products, production at scale can be big challenge. For example, you might find yourself spending many hours manually counting and cutting strips of component tape to go with the DIY electronics kit your selling on Tindie. [Tom Keddie] found himself in similar position some time ago, and built himself an automated component counter and tape cutter.

via Automatic Component Tape Cutter For When Your Electronics Kit Hits The Big Time — Hackaday

https://twitter.com/tom_keddie/status/1220744005241040897?s=19

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KiCon 2020 announced

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Screenshot from 2020-02-03 03-19-22

After a successful first year of KiCon in 2019 in Chicago, it will change venues to CERN, a major contributor to the KiCad project!

KiCon 2020: A KiCad conference at CERN, September 11th-13th, 2020

More details soon!  If you’re interested in being involved, the following email addresses can be used to contact the right people about this event:

KiCon 2020 announced

Lead-Free Solder Alloys: Their Properties And Best Types For Daily Use

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Lead-free solder alloys have been around for as long as people have done soldering, with sources dating back about 5,000 years. Most of these alloys were combinations like copper-silver or silver-gold and used with so-called hard soldering. That’s a technique still used today to join precious and semi-precious metals together. A much more recent development is that of soldering electronic components together, using ‘soft soldering’, which entails much lower temperatures.

via Lead-Free Solder Alloys: Their Properties And Best Types For Daily Use — Hackaday

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Early bird tickets for Teardown 2020

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You can now register to attend Teardown 2020! Super Early Bird tickets are available for a short time for $99 — discounted from $200.

Teardown, the hardware hacking conference organized by Crowd Supply, will be June 19-21 at PCC Cascade in beautiful Portland, Oregon!

Screenshot from 2020-01-25 11-04-12

Teardown 2020

Teardown is about the practice of hardware: prototyping, manufacturing, testing, disassembling, and circumventing, all while having fun. Leave the marketing glitz and talk of venture capital at the door and come prepared to learn and teach.

Helen Leigh wrote a great Hackaday post about what happened at Teardown 2019!

Early bird tickets for Teardown 2020

OSHW room and soldering workshops at FOSDEM this weekend

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FOSDEM is this weekend and we will be very busy the two days!

Saturday 01.02.2020 at 10.30 will be my talk in “Open Source Computer Aided Modeling and Design devroom” “Designing and Producing Open Source Hardware with FOSS/OSHW tools”

Sunday 02.02.2020 at 13.00 will be my talk in “Hardware Enablement devroom” “Open Source Hardware for Industrial use”

The great news is that this year FOSDEM organizers let us have whole OSHW room UB4.228 where we will have two days Soldering workshops:

Saturday we will solder PTH components with special board we made for FOSDEM – FOSDEM-MUSIC-BOX

FOSDEM-MUSIC-BOX_RevA_black

Sunday we will proceed with more advanced SMT soldering workshop of Binary-Watch.

The soldering workshop participation is free as in beer and everyone is welcome.

via FOSDEM 2020 Bruxelles 1-2 of February OSHW room and soldering workshops — olimex

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Learn to code KiCad before FOSDEM in Brussels

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FOSDEM 2020 is a free event on Februrary 1st and 2nd for software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate.  Every year, thousands of developers of free and open source software from all over the world gather at the event in Brussels:

Screenshot from 2020-01-07 12-33-42.png

The Friday before FOSDEM, January 31st, will be an event for those that want to learn about KiCad development from project leaders like Wayne Stambaugh and Seth Hillbrand:

Learn to Code KiCad at FOSDEM 2020

 Are you looking to write code that improves KiCad?

On Friday, Jan 31 (the day before FOSDEM), we’ll be hosting a Learn to Code KiCad session in Brussels, BE. I will be there as will Wayne and possibly a few other of the lead development team. We’ll help you understand how the various KiCad components fit together and work with you to get your favorite feature from idea to committed code.

What you need:

1) An identified bug report (or multiple) that you’d like to address. This can be either a legitimate bug or a wishlist feature that is triaged in our system.
2) A laptop with your development environment
3) A launchpad account
4) A compiling version of KiCad
5) A working knowledge of C++ coding

What we’ll provide:

1) Space, power outlet, wifi
2) Coffee
3) A short introduction to the structure of KiCad and how the parts work together
4) Up to 8 hours of development time with others who share your interests
5) Clarifying insights to your KiCad coding questions

At the end of the day, you should be able to get at least 1 and possibly multiple bug report fixes under your belt and into the code base!

If you’re coming to FOSDEM 2020 and would like to participate, please e-mail me directly (off-list to preserve people’s inboxes). Send me your name/contact info and the list of 1 or more launchpad bugs you’d like to work on during the day. I’ll add you to our shared sheet (to deconflict bugs people are addressing) and get you all of the relevant information for the meeting

Here is a talk that Seth gave at KiCon 2019 which talks about their development community:

and also the KiCad developer panel:

Learn to code KiCad before FOSDEM in Brussels

Charliewatch

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Impressive use of Charlieplexing LEDs by Trammell Hudson:

Charliewatch

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The Charliewatch is an “analog” watch with 60+12 Charlieplexed LEDs. Based on Travis Goodspeed’s GoodWatch21 schematic, using the CC430F5137IRGZR CPU, which doesn’t have the LCD controller of the CC430F6xxx in the GoodWatch. There are also pads for a six pin Launchpad for programming or serial communication.

Trammel-Hudson-Charlieplex-wristwatch (1)

The designs and code are available on GitHub:

osresearch/charliewatch

watch

Charliewatch