/products/devtools/single-board-computers/b/blog/posts/single-board-computers-are-a-game-changer-here-s-whyThe realization was in college. I built a perfect 555 timer circuit on a university lab breadboard – the square wave was perfect. A geometric perfection that would make Mies van der Rohe proud. Begrudgingly, I had to transfer it to a portable board, en-USTelligent Community 12https://community.element14.com/products/devtools/single-board-computers/b/blog/posts/single-board-computers-are-a-game-changer-here-s-whyTue, 18 Feb 2014 19:46:54 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:31aa08bf-2947-4425-bf22-a7a2d7677281DAB0<p>Amen Cabe,</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Every project should begin with an assessment of the buy verses build tradeoff.</p><p>I have seen a lot of people reinvent the world, only to find that their solution was much too expensive.</p><p>It takes a lot of effort to persuade new engineers that the insight they had about doing an existing design better and cheaper with their idea, is really not a practical engineering solution.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Reuse existing solutions first unless you positively cannot meet your requirements.&nbsp; Even then ask the customer if they could live with the existing solution.&nbsp; That choice is almost always better than spending a lot of time and money on a new development.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>DAB</p><img src="https://community.element14.com/aggbug?PostID=17225&AppID=82&AppType=Weblog&ContentType=0" width="1" height="1">