Dear Mr. Parallax Inc
idbruce
Posts: 6,197
Dear Mr. Parallax Inc
Over the past couple years, I have bought several Propeller Proto Boards, which I am sure is just a drop in the bucket compared to a few people here in the forum, but nonetheless I own several. I have been an electrician for over twenty years, so naturally I find the Propeller Proto Boards very interesting. But after many years of splicing wires together in damp and dark locations, my vision is not quite what it once was. So even though I have an acquired ability for tracking down circuits, I have a real hard time tracking down the circuitry on the Proto Boards because my eyes are failing. The schematic located within the Propeller Proto Board Manual is wonderful thing and it has saved me countless hours of research. But there has also been many times that I wanted to track the copper traces, at which point it becomes a struggle. So I was wondering if I asked very nicely, if you would be willing to add magnified top and bottom copper trace drawings to your Propeller Proto Board Manual.
Any effort that you may put into fullfilling this request will be greatly appreciated.
Yours Truly
Bruce Drummond
Over the past couple years, I have bought several Propeller Proto Boards, which I am sure is just a drop in the bucket compared to a few people here in the forum, but nonetheless I own several. I have been an electrician for over twenty years, so naturally I find the Propeller Proto Boards very interesting. But after many years of splicing wires together in damp and dark locations, my vision is not quite what it once was. So even though I have an acquired ability for tracking down circuits, I have a real hard time tracking down the circuitry on the Proto Boards because my eyes are failing. The schematic located within the Propeller Proto Board Manual is wonderful thing and it has saved me countless hours of research. But there has also been many times that I wanted to track the copper traces, at which point it becomes a struggle. So I was wondering if I asked very nicely, if you would be willing to add magnified top and bottom copper trace drawings to your Propeller Proto Board Manual.
Any effort that you may put into fullfilling this request will be greatly appreciated.
Yours Truly
Bruce Drummond
Comments
You know... there is another option. You could use a magnifying glass! :-) That's what I do... I bought one from Fry's electronics that has a lighted ring and 3x magnifcation... it's wonderful!
Bill
I've seen large print books before.
Are you using bifocals or trifocal glasses?
Like Bill, I also use a magnifying glass. Pretty useful for reading ICs.
BTX,
I think what you're showing is for the Prop Demo board. He's asking for the Prop Proto Board.
After having my eyes fixed, (cataract surgery), everything is distance these days.
One coping skill I've discovered, (outside a good pair of glasses) is to keep PDF
and hi-res pics of the boards I use on my computers. A quick glance with an enlarged image
helps immensely.
OBC
@Chuckz - That is possibly a decent suggestion
@BTX - Close but that is not it. Thanks for the try on that one!!!!!!
@Oldbitcollector - Yea it would help if I had a nice digital camera
I am not asking for trade secrets, because as pointed out, it could be visible under magnification. I am sure these documents are available in several locations within their headquarters. What is the big issue of asking for them? It can only help us as developers to have these documents available. In another thread, it was discussed about Parallax trying make big headway in the OEM market. I don't know about the rest of the people here, but this is not a hobby for me, it is a business endeavor. Any documentation that can help me succeed, is of vital importance to me and should be to Parallax.
Take for example one of the major IC manufacturers, in this case STMicroelectronics. In addition to schematics, STMicroelectronics provides copies of silkscreens, top and bottom copper layers, component placement, etc.... for many of their evaluation boards. They do this so people can learn how to use their product properly, have a visual aid to assist in designing applications, and I am sure they hope that it will result in the sale of more products.
While I appreciate all your suggestions and the time it took for you to write them, I still believe that is a valid request. I was not asking for free Parallax stock certificates
Bruce
The devices keep getting smaller and cheaper.
The (magnifying) tools keep getting bigger and more expensive.
Have we reached peak reduction ( for human interaction ) yet ?
I did mention to Parallax that they should keep layouts to 0.10 header spacings (X and Y)
so that the interconnects would continue to align up on board stackings.
It's all starting to look like Brazil to me.
Buttle
(At 6 Diopters)
I've attached four drawings which should help you out - magnified views of the Gerber data of the Prop Proto Board. We typically don't include these kinds of images in the manual, just because it's not a very common request and if we do it for one board we'd do it for all of them for consistency. Could be a lot of added effort for unknown return since we have ~50 PCB products.
We can still provide you whatever you need simply by asking, too. So I'm glad you made the request.
This particular board is probably one of our full open-source releases, though I have not verified that today. If it is, our internal Open Source guru (David Carrier) may find it best to provide Gerbers and native PCB files. With the Gerbers you can probably find a viewer that will explode their size beyond what you need. I'll ask him about his plan in this regard in consideration of anybody who is vision-impaired or far-sighted in some way (er over 40. . ). Ya know, my optometrist tells me that I'm legal to drive without any glasses. This concerns me because I can't see well at night without my glasses - guess the threshold for seeing enough to be able to drive is far from 20/20.
Have a nice rest of the weekend.
Ken Gracey
That was very good service from Parallax.
Appreciated
Thank you very much. Now I wish I had asked for them two years ago
It has been about two hours since I last checked my email, but upon notice and arriving here to check this post, I was surprised to see your response and the files together, and that several of files had been downloaded numerous times.
I am glad I asked. Thanks again Ken.
Bruce
P.S. Please tell Mr. Parallax Inc. I said thank you and you have a nice weekend also.
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Thanks for the PDFs
'
Theses are great !
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Yes I'm getting old (forty again in Sept.)
'
Thanks Again
Yes they are cheap but perfect for looking at things.
Take care
Dave
p.s. Just hit 50
OBC
I don't know what idbruce's request is ultimately for, I know that many times (actually, most times) I will mill down the protoboard for a specific application.This is most helpful. The only 'gotcha' I have run into in milling the boards down, is that at a certain size (thanks!), you lose the ground connections on the eprom (pins 1-4 I think). I think a lot more people do this than Parallax realizes. Thanks again -
I thought I was clear, concise, polite, and to the point. I kindly asked for a copy of top and bottom traces. Period. And Ken so gladly obliged. Thanks again Ken.
Bruce
A little sensitive? I was concurring with and complimenting your request, pointing out how useful it was, since I frequently mill down the protoboard, and then thanking Parallax for providing the PDF's.
Did you actually read my post?
I am always a little sensitive, even when I am not
What do you mean by milling? What do you do? Remove all the components and then mill the board to expose fresh copper?
Bruce
Take care -
I would be interested in see that done and just where you make your final cuts.
Bruce
Thanks for making request to Mr. Parallax you save me some time, just like these forums do. I am also glad that their is another electrician like you that has the same experience and does the same work that I do.
Bruce