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BUG - "The LEGO of Gadgets"
TheBrutalTruth writes "Bug Labs will soon be launching what Webware calls 'the LEGO of gadgets.' From their site: 'BUG is a collection of easy-to-use electronic modules that snap together to build any gadget you can imagine. Each BUGmodule represents a specific gadget function (ex: a camera, a keyboard, a video output, etc). You decide which functions to include and BUG takes care of the rest, letting you try out different combinations quickly and easily. With BUG and the integrated programming environment/web community (BUGnet), anyone can build, program, and share innovative devices and applications. We don't define the final products — you do.'" Looks a bit vaporous, but conceptually interesting.
you'd like Gumstix, it's closer to what you want.
http://www.gumstix.com/
Build a stand alone device that you can attach to a shipping container that logs messages according to motion, to detect when it is offloaded for instance, reports the GPS location (to track if it is misplaced), records video of everyone who tampers (motion sensor again) and customs officers can plug in the screen to check the logs/video on site.
And I bet that is not even the best idea, and more components are to follow...
Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity
I remember about 30 years ago, there was this set with these little clear plastic cubes. Each cube contained a discrete component: a resistor, transistor, wire, whatever. You could fit the cubes together to make a circuit. I don't remember what that was, or whatever happened to it.
Maybe it was German. I remember my dad used to bring me home a lot of Philips electronics kits from his business trips to Europe.
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
yeah, I don't recall how it was spelled (I know I have a box of them here somewhere, but they're behind all kinds of other youth memory crap), and I don't know if they were the Philips equivalents - but they appear similar to the Denshi Block stuff and they were good fun (no corroded bits that I ever encountered).
Both, at least, allowed anybody to build simple to reasonably-complex electronic devices without the need for either A. soldering or B. pushing the components into little metal strips of a 'base board', leading to all kinds of problems, especially at younger ages.
The major down side that I ran into was that whatever you built - it ended up rather big. The blocks where maybe 2cm on each side for the simple components (a speaker would be 3x3x1 block in size, etc.).
>Such a board is possible (and relatively easy) to design by an amateur - but very expensive to make as it would have to be 6 layers and require soldering BGA chips.
I have a few tips from personal experience. You can get multilayer boards built fairly inexpensively if you can justify having four made at one time: you might be looking at under $80/board for a 6-layer (although I'm not positive about that. I know you can get 4 layer done for under $60/board.)
It's possible, although unpleasant, to reflow your own BGA's. You need a microscope with a tilt-head. Draw the BGA package outline in the layout software as a silkscreen, making sure it's at least as large as the actual package, or even better, draw several outlines of increasing size. Align the BGA visually within the closest package size, double-check by looking at the edge with bright illumination and a microscope to make sure you're basically on-pad, then gently reflow it down with a heat gun. It works best if you can preheat the board from the bottom with one heat gun on low, then do the reflow from the top with the second one.
I'm doing this at work with microSMD, which are way, way smaller than BGA -- chips 3mm on a side with 12 bumps on the bottom. After a bit of work I have a 70% success rate. The main thing I've found is that while you're reflowing, you'll see the chip move as the capillary action of the solder pulls it into place. Very, very lightly touch the chip on one edge with a probe. If it rocks, the center isn't yet reflowed and it's pivoting on the as-of-yet-solid bumps. When the whole chip bounces like a spring on all the melted bumps, rather than rocking, then it should be good.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.