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Breadboarding a must

Andrew J

Really, you gotta breadboard, right?

 

image

This is a logic-driven game of snap, but with dice rather than cards.  It uses a XNOR!  If I remember correctly, that sketch on the post-it was for detecting and determining a match on the two LED die, turning on a player's led if they pressed the button correctly before the other player (and not if they didn't.)  I'd post a circuit diagram but about 1/4 of this is Charles Platt's work not mine so I don't feel it would be right.  I just came across the photo today and thought it was quite impressive - I keep thinking of going back to it and actually building it up and encasing.  It actually drove one of my very first questions on Element14 - I'd used an open-drain XNOR and didn't understand why it wasn't working.

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  • I've never been a bread-boarder - don't even own one !

     

    In the past I've done a fair bit with Veroboard (strip-board if you prefer) and I still use that occasionally.

     

    Normally I do simulation (logic in VHDL which will end up on an FPGA and analogue in LTSpice ) and then straight to pcb.

     

    Stuff that will work on bread-board will usually simulate nicely. Fancy analogue and switching or high power analogue don't work well on bread-board (and can be tricky in simulation).

     

    BTW, if you don't like LTSpice then you can now get MicroCap for free - it was a quite well thought of paid for simulator - now it's a free download at http://www.spectrum-soft.com

     

    This is a typical bread-board unfriendly device - it's a 2ns pulse stretcher with adjustable input threshold - simulates OK and works on a pcb but would not be feasible in other formats.

     

    None of the chips I want to use come in DIP any more image

     

    image

     

    MK

Reply

  • I've never been a bread-boarder - don't even own one !

     

    In the past I've done a fair bit with Veroboard (strip-board if you prefer) and I still use that occasionally.

     

    Normally I do simulation (logic in VHDL which will end up on an FPGA and analogue in LTSpice ) and then straight to pcb.

     

    Stuff that will work on bread-board will usually simulate nicely. Fancy analogue and switching or high power analogue don't work well on bread-board (and can be tricky in simulation).

     

    BTW, if you don't like LTSpice then you can now get MicroCap for free - it was a quite well thought of paid for simulator - now it's a free download at http://www.spectrum-soft.com

     

    This is a typical bread-board unfriendly device - it's a 2ns pulse stretcher with adjustable input threshold - simulates OK and works on a pcb but would not be feasible in other formats.

     

    None of the chips I want to use come in DIP any more image

     

    image

     

    MK

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  • in reply to michaelkellett

    It does seem that more and more chips are SMD only and the adaptors to use aren’t particularly cheap - I’ve thought it would be useful to cram them into spare PCB space when getting one manufactured.  At the time I created the above, breadboards, hook up wire and DIP chips/TH parts were all I had.  And a 9V/12V wall wart to drive them.

     

    I downloaded Microcap a week or so ago but haven’t had chance to play with it yet.  I find LTSpice “OK” but the UI leaves a lot to be desired on the mac.  There’s nothing intuitive about it so I’ve found features purely through serendipity than active knowledge.

     

    Where I am in my knowledge, I think breadboarding is useful for just trying things out, measuring them and playing around.  Even simple things like an RC circuit.