Subject: Motherboard manufacturing

From: Hai Pham <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1993 09:54:10 -0300

On Jun 21, 20:49, [email-masked] (Neil Russell) wrote:
Subject: MIPS R3000 hardware design specification revision 1

>
>	Because of the cost of assembly, the board should not have any
>	Surface Mount Devices at all (J-lead components that can be
>	socketed are ok).  Hand assembly of SMD boards is *very*
>	difficult in all cases except maybe prototyping.  The cost
>	of setting up and having boards assembled automatically is
>	not cost effective until you get into the thousands.  I expect
>	to be hand assembling the first few production runs of this
>	board to save costs.
>

Just a thought:  I think most of us on this list are probably pretty
competent with a soldering iron.  Why don't you offer the motherboard as a
kit as well?  All we'd need is the PC board and components with some sort
of schematic.  We'd save a bit on the cost of assembling, and get to learn
about how our own machines are put together in the process.  I for one
would consider it a bargan, even if I run the risk for blowing up
something. :-)

hai
[email-masked]

ps. I know next to nothing about MIPS architecture, nor about anything
else that was mentioned in the hardware design specs.  (The most
complicated thing that we managed to learn about in undergrad physics are
op-amps.)  Could someone point me to a reading list some where?  Some tips
about where and how to get reading material would be nice too.

---

From: Patrick Mackinlay <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1993 21:23:17 +0800 (WST)

>kit as well?  All we'd need is the PC board and components with some sort

This is probably true enough. One point is that the board will have to
be offered in _both_ kit and "complete" form, otherwise you won't have
as big a target audience (a critical factor with "projects" like this).

I do like the idea of being able to put my own board together, and it
would take some of the load off Neil to start with. Any other comments?
Neil, how would you feel about "shipping" PCBs + components to the
very early board testers? Is it too much trouble from your perspective?
Perhaps some people could even do assembly for you?

>else that was mentioned in the hardware design specs.  (The most

As for the MIPS architecture, the book to look for is called "mips RISC
Architecture" by Jerry Kane. I forget the publisher etc, but any good
bookshop aught to be able to get it for you. This book tells you pretty
much all you need to know from the architectural perspective. Believe
me, programming one of these things is _fun_ compared to the 386 <grin>.

>about where and how to get reading material would be nice too. 

I don't have much knowledge of electronics theory either, but it's pretty
simple to put things together and learn about how it all works. Digital
electronics is pretty much "connect the dots" these days. The hard parts
are in getting parts (ie: quantity/price/package tradeoffs) and in writing
the software at the end. If you can understand the basics of how a
computer works, it's not too hard to work out how it all fits together
logically...

Pat -- "There's only one thing left to do Mama, I got to ding a ding dang
	my dang a long ling long" (Jesus Built My Hotrod -- Ministry)
GCS d* -p+ c++ l++ m--- s+/- !g w- t- r