irclog2html for #elinux on 20041222

00:11.15*** join/#elinux nictuku (nictuku@nictuku.user)
00:44.49*** join/#elinux prpplague (~billybob@adsl-69-154-79-198.dsl.rcsntx.swbell.net)
00:46.01prpplagueho ho ho
00:46.49T0mWwho wouldn't go?  (not prpplague, he is outa' here)
00:47.09prpplagueT0mW: ?
00:47.14T0mWheh
00:47.20T0mWto the Bahamas
00:47.25prpplagueahh
00:47.32prpplaguewho's going to the bahamas?
00:47.38T0mWaren't you?
00:47.42prpplaguebarbados
00:47.45T0mWah
00:47.52prpplaguedifferent area
00:47.56prpplaguebarbados is in the west indies
00:48.02T0mWI knew it was in the Bermuda Triangle
00:48.17prpplaguei.e. islands south of puerta rico
00:48.28T0mWI liked Puerto Rico
00:48.52T0mWtoo bad I saw it after a rock concert
00:49.11T0mWwell, it may have been called a rock festival
00:49.23prpplaguebahamas are north of puerta rico
00:49.41T0mWdoes it snow there?
00:49.44T0mWheh
00:49.52prpplaguehehe nope
00:49.58T0mW:)
00:50.20T0mWbut the Hurricanes blow like H#LL though
00:51.14T0mWoooh! They have cable tv there?
00:51.29prpplaguehehe, no no cable, but lots of internet
00:51.34prpplaguemostly satelite tv
00:51.48T0mWyeah, and lots of marijuana in the jungle
00:52.12prpplaguehehe, yea they arrest 200+ ppl at a bar last week
00:53.06T0mWoh, wait, that is Jamica that has that stuff in the jungle
00:54.20prpplaguehttp://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=56309&Section=Local&Current=2004%2D12%2D21%2000%3A00%3A00
00:54.35T0mWyeah, they have to keep it illegal, otherwise the natives will get the munchies and eat all the food.  Leaving nothing for the tourists.
00:55.57T0mWwhew! Parrrrtay!
01:00.16T0mWprpplague: well, considering that you could always sneak off by yourself to the beach and do a little girl-watching, I guess you could dispense with cable tv?
01:02.18prpplaguehehe
01:03.22T0mWno, but you wouldn't do that, your wife is so beautiful, and loving, that, you just cannot stand to look at other women.
01:03.24T0mWheh
01:03.44prpplaguehehe, looking is ok, touching is a different story
01:03.56prpplaguehehe, your right
01:04.12prpplagueor she'd be wearing my nuts as ear rings
01:04.36T0mWI have a friend who claims that when he goes to the beach that his wife helps spot the good looking ones for him
01:04.41T0mWyeah, right
01:05.18prpplaguehehe, donna does that in the mall sometimes
01:06.39T0mWgood, means she is either comfortable that you belong to her, or she is sadistic
01:07.08kergothor both
01:07.12prpplaguehehe
01:07.46T0mWkinky
01:08.47prpplaguehehe
01:09.00prpplaguewhat i'm gonna have to get used to
01:09.09prpplagueis there are basically 3 names on the island
01:09.11T0mWI get a phone call and the caller id says "POLLING REAS", did I answer it?
01:09.21prpplagueeveryone is either a King, Brown, or Hinds
01:09.54T0mWso an Anders is going to stick out as a migrant?
01:10.02prpplagueoh yea
01:10.09T0mWgonna change your name?
01:10.13prpplaguethe last anders in barbados was back in 1877
01:10.25T0mWand they hung him, right?
01:10.45prpplaguehehe, no he died of malaria
01:10.58T0mWhmmmm
01:11.13T0mWmake sure you get all your shots before you leave
01:11.38T0mWbut, then, sooner or later you'll have to drink the water and eat the Crabs
01:12.01T0mWah, that is what you're going to miss: cheap steaks
01:12.33T0mW$1.89/gal fuel
01:12.43T0mWpork rinds
01:13.00T0mWcorn on the cod
01:13.03T0mWcorn on the cob
01:13.30prpplagueT0mW: hehe, water is safe there
01:13.49T0mWhow old are you?
01:13.49prpplagueT0mW: as far as shots, i've had more shots that i can count when i went somalia
01:13.55prpplague34
01:14.00T0mWuhoh
01:14.17T0mWI don't if, when I was 34, I could live in a land of temptation.
01:14.50T0mWok, I get off that topic
01:15.05prpplaguehehe
01:15.21T0mWshe's prolly checking in on the irc from time to time
01:15.55T0mWwell, you are going to miss tinkering with those boards.
01:16.06prpplaguehehe, naw will still tinker
01:16.12T0mWso, what is it that they offered you? a software job?
01:16.22T0mWwriting code?
01:16.49prpplaguebasically a 1/3 IT manager, 1/3 Open Source advocate, 1/3 teacher
01:17.13T0mWhm, that sounds ... interesting
01:17.42T0mWbasically, they want to suck your brain dry
01:18.06prpplaguei have to manage about 10 ppl for Barbados Shipping and Trading, and server as the Director of Technology Development for barbados
01:18.38T0mWyup, that's what I thought, you are going to die, be ressurected in Barbados as a Manager
01:18.41prpplaguewill have to teach a couple classes at the local uni
01:18.51prpplaguehehe
01:18.59T0mWmy son, that is Purgatory
01:19.00Soopamanthat sounds like a sweet job
01:19.13T0mWnot for a coder it ain't
01:19.36Soopamanwell if you have some sort of social skills
01:19.39Soopamanit would be a money job
01:19.43prpplagueactually its gonna be nice, since i'll have a nice budget for the school
01:19.49T0mW"don't feed the programmers"
01:19.52prpplaguehehe
01:20.06Soopamanprpplague, then you could hire me :P
01:20.10T0mWwe have the social skills of a gnat, and they bite
01:20.26prpplagueSoopaman: gotta be married to bajan or have a work permit
01:20.35T0mWhmm
01:21.02T0mWgoing to get citizenship?
01:21.12T0mWlike maybe a dual
01:21.13prpplagueT0mW: where have you been old man?
01:21.17T0mWsleeping
01:21.24T0mWwhy
01:21.26prpplagueT0mW: i got my bajan passport over a year ago
01:21.33T0mWyeah, ..
01:21.36Soopamanprpplague, if it takes me marrying a beautiful bajan who can cook, i think i can possibly make that sacrifice
01:21.43prpplaguehehe
01:21.50T0mWok, so you already got that then, ok
01:21.55prpplagueT0mW: hehe yep
01:22.05prpplagueT0mW:  been plannig for a loooooooong time
01:22.08T0mWSoopaman: can cook and snuggles well
01:22.23prpplagueoh and those bajans can dance
01:22.28T0mWhow tall is she?
01:23.08prpplague5'5"
01:23.17T0mWI'm 5'10, I don't like 'em over 5'6
01:23.25prpplaguemost of the bajan women very short
01:23.54T0mWprpplague: 'cause the tall ones cannot find husbands?
01:24.00T0mWheh
01:24.05prpplaguehehe
01:24.19T0mWratio of men to women was what?
01:24.22prpplaguehttp://justbajan.com/feature/2004/flames/index.htm
01:24.46prpplagueT0mW: like about 60% women 40% menu
01:24.47prpplaguemenu
01:24.49prpplagueargh
01:24.51prpplaguemen
01:24.52prpplaguels
01:24.54prpplaguehehe
01:24.58T0mWthat is like, nice eye-candy
01:25.17prpplaguehehe
01:25.25T0mWprpplague: don't get too excited Dave, the plane doesn't leave for a few weeks
01:25.32prpplaguebut down there the men treat their women like shit
01:25.50prpplagueT0mW: so like southern gentlemen go over big down there
01:25.57T0mWoh God, no wonder your wife fell in love with an American
01:26.07prpplagueno, a Texan
01:26.17T0mWAmerican women train their boys well
01:26.54prpplaguehehe
01:26.54prpplaguehttp://justbajan.com/feature/2004/flames_pre/index.htm
01:27.10T0mWha, all Texans do is drink beer, fist fight, eat chili, and ... I can't recall what they do with the cows
01:27.32T0mWsomething un-natural, IIRC
01:27.48T0mWROTFLAMAO
01:28.12prpplaguehehe
01:28.21T0mWoh!
01:28.32T0mWmy gawd, they is loverly
01:29.10T0mWprpplague: they give you a good medical plan?
01:29.18prpplagueof course those are some of the best , but they are generally that good looking
01:29.25prpplagueT0mW: gov owned
01:29.40T0mWgood, becuase you're gonna need it to have your eyeballs put back in on a regular basis
01:29.58prpplaguehehe
01:30.44T0mWI like women of color, especially latinas
01:31.24prpplagueT0mW: interesting thing, there is a small country in south american called guayana
01:31.31prpplagueT0mW: ever heard of it?
01:31.38T0mWyeah
01:31.58T0mWbritish guayana, at one time
01:32.28T0mWIIRC, it is east coast, south of brazil?
01:32.29prpplagueyea
01:32.32prpplagueyea
01:32.49prpplaguethey are kinda like a sister country to barbados
01:33.04prpplagueyou get these incredible looking latinos that speak english
01:33.11prpplaguekings english
01:33.12T0mWI'm too old for that scene, I'd get a heart attack lusting after those women
01:33.13prpplagueits wild
01:33.45prpplagueT0mW: whats funny is that few americans really travel to barbados
01:33.58prpplagueT0mW: 90% of the tourists are bristish
01:33.59T0mWheh, prolly I'd be a rich man if I was living there and collecting US Social Security checks
01:34.05prpplagueyea
01:34.26prpplagueaverage pay is about $1000USD/month
01:34.33T0mWlots of people do that, keep dual citizenship and go back to the "old country" to retire
01:34.56T0mWah, I was thinking of moving to Seattle
01:35.04T0mWjust to do something different
01:35.19T0mWI've been living here in the east all my life, time for a change
01:35.56T0mWprpplague: wonder if they need dirty old software engineers in guayana?
01:36.12T0mWI know they need them in Hondoras
01:36.35T0mWbut, after reading up on Hondoras, I wouldn't want to live there
01:36.48T0mWHonduras
01:36.55prpplagueT0mW: hehe, thats the thing you can live in barbados and just commute
01:37.02T0mWyeha, right
01:37.15prpplagueT0mW: just 20minutes by plane
01:37.28T0mWget me a little 30ft cruiser and drift into work
01:37.32prpplaguehehe
01:37.50T0mWhey honey, can I give you a lift home?
01:37.51prpplagueyea, plus you can get work on the other 20+ islands within 30 minutes of barbados
01:38.08T0mWthat sounds nice, I hope you'll like it there
01:39.11prpplagueme too
01:39.19prpplagueits almost like winning the lottery
01:39.29prpplagueits been my dream for almost a decade
01:40.25T0mWI worked with a guy from Barbados, back on my first job in electronics.  he and his wife were here in the US building up their savings to move back home to retire.
01:40.37*** join/#elinux noclouds (~mhfan@61.191.207.77)
01:41.15prpplagueT0mW: yea
01:41.18T0mWShe was a Registered nurse and he was an electronics tech.  From Barbados standards, they were making good money.  he showed me a picture of their place back home
01:41.27prpplagueyea
01:41.43T0mWI'm trying to recall his name now, he taught me a lot about electronics repair
01:41.57T0mWI see his face in my minds' eye
01:42.07prpplagueT0mW: donna's father gave us a bunch of beach land when we got married
01:42.13prpplagueT0mW: on the east coast
01:42.28T0mWah, the windward side of the island
01:42.36prpplagueyea'
01:42.44prpplagueright on Bath Beach
01:43.16T0mWlow rent district, becuase you have to replace the house at least once every three years when the tidal surge wipes it off the beach
01:43.21prpplaguehttp://barbadosphotogallery.com/jpgees/beaches/bath.jpg
01:43.29prpplaguesee the hill in the top left
01:44.06T0mWyup, close to the water.  Hey, you a fish eater?
01:44.10prpplagueyea
01:44.12prpplagueflying fish
01:44.14prpplaguehttp://barbadosphotogallery.com/jpgees/beaches/wbeach3.jpg
01:44.18T0mWnot me, makes me sick
01:44.29prpplaguethats a pic of sandy lane, where tiger woods got hitched
01:44.35T0mWI need a supply of land meat
01:45.02T0mWwhats that, the other side of the peninsula
01:45.47T0mWprpplague: hey Dave, you might not have to mow the lawn, but some one has to rake the sand
01:46.12prpplaguehehe
01:46.36T0mWI can see it now, Dave gets a new riding rake for Christmas!
01:46.48prpplagueT0mW: hehe, http://www.allamandabeach.com/images/photoGallery/A14.jpg
01:46.57prpplagueT0mW: the room on the third floor to the left
01:47.33T0mWthat is the one thing I like about Puerto Rico was the white beaches and the blue water
01:47.57T0mWand the ocean breezes
01:48.00prpplagueT0mW: hehe, that was the hotel room where i first "banged" my wife , hehe
01:48.06T0mWheh
01:48.32T0mWwhere'd you meet her?
01:48.57prpplaguehehe
01:49.11prpplaguei knew her sister at the place i was working
01:49.14T0mWah
01:49.17T0mWcool
01:49.48T0mWyou had a choice then
01:49.49Russwow, in ny, they is have the smarts
01:49.52Russhttp://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/2004_certificates/vote_new_york_03.html
01:50.15T0mWthere are no smart people in NY
01:50.43prpplagueRuss: hey
01:51.11RussI was saying that bga production is cheaper than qfp because you can use looser tolerences
01:51.24Russand less layers
01:51.41T0mWyeah, but the thing that gets me is the parts placement
01:51.59T0mWfeels like you are doing it blind
01:52.00prpplagueRuss: yea, but i can hand solder a qfp
01:52.05T0mWnod
01:52.17Russthe discussion was about volume cost though
01:52.20T0mWRuss: I would like to do BGA
01:52.30RussT0mW: just put some silk at the corners
01:52.41T0mWRuss: it is cheaper, very little chance of lead shorts
01:52.42Russyou don't have to be as close when placing a bga as a qfp
01:52.46prpplagueRuss: oh , yea, volume prefers bga, but smaller qty;s qfp
01:52.49Russits just, once you reflow it, thats it
01:52.54T0mWnod
01:52.59Russthere is no rework
01:53.08T0mWnothing like reflow stationn to touch it up
01:53.32prpplagueRuss: the costs we were looking at for 3 prototypes was about 5k
01:53.43prpplagueRuss: verses qfp of about $600
01:53.49Russ(btw, for the link, it should be JFK, not JLK)
01:53.51T0mWthe people I deal with are producing quantities < 1000 pcs per year
01:53.59Russwhat size bga?
01:54.11Russ1.2mm spacing?
01:54.20prpplagueiirc a 12x12 unit
01:54.24prpplague256
01:54.26prpplagueiric
01:54.33prpplaguei'd have to double check
01:54.43prpplaguei just saw the numbers for $$
01:54.47T0mWum, 16x16?
01:55.01prpplagueone sec, i'll check
01:55.13RussT0mW: probably...
01:55.23Russso that would be tighter than 1.2mm
01:55.33T0mWpico-BGA
01:55.36T0mWheh
01:55.39Russ1.2mm is great because the pins are so far away
01:55.56T0mWthey do those in a nitrogen gas, right?
01:55.58Russyou can usually easily fit two traces between each set of pads or vias on inner/back
01:56.32Russ16x16 will still take a few layers to escape
01:56.45T0mWyeah, at least 8
01:56.52Russyou get 3 on each side on layer 1
01:57.05Russanother 2 on the next layer, and so on
01:57.08prpplague324 17x17
01:57.24Russwhere do you find an equivilent qfp?
01:57.44prpplaguethat was the LH7A404 , we dropped down to the LH79520 part
01:57.49prpplaguearm9 vs. arm7
01:57.57RussI don't think I've seen a qfp with that many pins
01:57.59T0mWthat is a small chip
01:58.10prpplagueRuss: the lh79520 is only 176
01:58.13T0mWabout 20mm square
01:58.25Russ(you can escape a 16x16 is 6 layers btw)
01:58.47Russprpplague: so why don't they make a bga with an equivilent pin count?
01:59.06T0mW6?
01:59.22prpplagueRuss: i'm sure they do
01:59.24T0mW3 + 3 (10) plus another five ?
01:59.29prpplagueRuss: we just didn't lool
01:59.31prpplaguelook
01:59.55prpplagueit was just soooo much easier to prototype
02:00.15Russer, wait
02:00.21Russ4 layers
02:00.42Russlayer 1 = 6, layer 2 = 4, layer 3 = 4, layer 4 = 2
02:00.48T0mWok
02:00.53Russ(so you have some extra room too)
02:01.16T0mWgot it, I was thinking only 2 pins per layer beyond the first 6 pins on layer one
02:01.18Russa 10x10 is great though, because you only need two layers, and you get 100 pins
02:01.33T0mWbut how do you solder it down?
02:01.36Russyou can fit two traces between each pair of vias
02:01.42RussT0mW: pads on the top
02:01.44T0mWwish there was some way to do that myself
02:01.57Russyou need to reflow and be very carefull with the amount of paste
02:02.01T0mWI have a hot-air pencil that I use on QFP
02:02.15Russat that point, you probably want to use a stencil
02:02.21T0mWyes
02:02.33Russits not worth making a mistake
02:02.36T0mWwhich means pay the setup charge at the ass'y house
02:02.47Russa stencil is only a few hundred
02:03.11T0mWI researched it, aside from finding someone who'll say they'll do your protos, the setup cost was about 3..5K
02:03.21T0mWthat is the barrier
02:03.27Russwhat I want to find is mass produced stencils that have bga patterns
02:03.28T0mWengineering costs
02:03.37Russso you can use the stencil for the bga part
02:04.15T0mWRuss: there is a company called Zyphertronics that has a BGA setup, it costs about $12k
02:04.45T0mWThey claim to be able to mount the BGAs with their setup and they don't use an oven
02:04.56Russeh?
02:05.07Russif you have a 1.2mm bga, you can probably mount and reflow it yourself
02:05.48T0mWyeah, it looks like the setup where you have the "heat cups" where you put the air director on the heating flow element and flood the perimeter of the BGA with hot air
02:06.21Russdepends on how tight your profile is
02:06.29T0mWright
02:06.44T0mWwell. mount them first
02:07.00Russhttp://pcbexpress.com/stencils/index.php
02:07.04T0mWRuss: that is interesting what you say about the placement tolerance being so loose
02:07.11Russlaser cut setncil, $149.50
02:07.22RussT0mW: just look at the pattern of a 1.2mm bga
02:07.35Russyou have a huge amount of spacing compared to a qfp
02:08.28Russyou are talking about enough space to run two 7 mil traces
02:09.28T0mWman, I'll tell you, putting paste on the board in the correct quantity can be a bitch
02:10.33T0mWI have a penumatic setup I use to squirt the paste out those tiny needles, it saves your hand from pressing that solder paste out, but you have to have a steady hand to draw a nice line.
02:11.09T0mWI like that stencil, but I have reservations on how much time you would get to place parts before that thin paste starts to dry?
02:11.27Russpaste doesn't really dry much
02:11.34Russits the keeping it cool that is the important part
02:11.41T0mWtrue
02:11.55T0mWI've had paste dry on me when doing a rack of boards
02:12.10RussHave you tried keeping them fridgerated?
02:12.23T0mWwhat, before ass'y?
02:12.40T0mWI store my paste in the refridgerator
02:12.53Russwhile the board with paste on it is waiting for parts to be placed
02:12.55T0mWbut allow it to come up to room temp before use
02:13.31T0mWoh, no, I just paste a small amount of parts, solder them down, then cool the board and repeat
02:13.51T0mWtedious
02:14.03T0mWthat stencil thing looks interesting though
02:14.18T0mWRuss: where is their bga stencil?
02:14.32Russyou'd just have to send them a pattern
02:14.55Russits a custom stencil
02:15.37T0mWI was looking over their pricing, they don't say anything about blind / buried vias  :(
02:15.43T0mWthose cost
02:16.03T0mWas I found out today while talking with the board house
02:17.06Russya
02:17.15T0mWpricing is darned good though, for 6 layer it is about half the cost of 4pcb.com
02:17.27RussI would stay away from blind/buried vias unless you are making a cell phone or pda
02:17.54T0mWfor a 2.6"x2.1", 6 layer, no blinds / buried, it was about $1000
02:18.04T0mWfor up to 18 boards
02:18.22Russyou know about olimex, right?
02:18.25T0mWthey panelize and you can save on qty
02:18.27T0mWno
02:18.51Russthey only do single/double side afaik, but its really cheap
02:19.23T0mWno
02:19.31T0mWthat's like APCircuits
02:19.36Russhttp://www.olimex.com/pcb
02:21.29Russwhat design do you have with blind/buried vias
02:21.37T0mWRuss: thanks, I bookmarked them
02:21.57T0mWRuss: it was a 6 layer, card engine type: sodimm-144
02:22.09Russcard engine type?
02:22.23T0mWI'm rerunning the autorouter using through vias for everything, just to see how it works out.
02:22.58T0mWLH79520, Flash chip + two 16bit SDRAMs on it so far.  Just a test to see how tight it would be.
02:23.13T0mWthen decide what else I can put on the card.
02:23.33Russwhich autorouter?
02:23.37T0mWEagle
02:23.42T0mW4.1
02:23.54T0mWdoes a fairly nice job
02:24.55T0mWI had some cash in yr/2000 and decided to get a new PCB package, and choked on the price for OrCAD, PcCAD, etc.  EagleCAD was pretty reasonable
02:25.03Russwhat are you bringing out besides the data/addr for flash+ram?
02:25.09T0mWLCD
02:25.35T0mWflash+ram will be on the card, I'd like to put an MMC socket on the card as well
02:25.56T0mWplus an RTC
02:26.06T0mWReal Time Clock
02:26.18T0mWlike one of the Dallas DS1306
02:26.32Russyou should try routing with a bga with similar pin number
02:26.46T0mWI'm leary about mounting it
02:26.48Russthe board space of the chip and the routing size required is a lot smaller
02:27.36T0mW425F == 218C, that is pretty hot
02:28.05T0mWthe toaster oven, I mean
02:28.52T0mWwell, I guess, if you open the door it would cool down fairly quickly...
02:29.26T0mWprpplague: I can see this now, she asks "Tom, what are you baking in the oven?"
02:29.28T0mWheh
02:29.52T0mWRuss: you try doing that toaster oven thing yet?
02:30.24Russwith a few small boards
02:30.32T0mWbga?
02:30.59T0mWI don't like to move the boards once they are pasted.  
02:31.48T0mWalthough, I could use the oven to only mount the BGA, then use the hot-air pencil on the other devices.
02:31.57T0mWhmmm
02:34.04T0mWRuss: have you done layout on a bga board yet?
02:34.29T0mWRuss: aren't the pads essentially vias?
02:44.49*** join/#elinux jcrouse (~nobody@vc7-1-203.dsl.netrack.net)
02:45.02jcrouseYodidly, didily
02:52.19jcrouseI like this Green Day track - Whatshername
02:52.22jcrouseIt speaks to me