Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #12514



To: beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Justin JAF60@student.canterbury.ac.nz
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 07:01:14 +1200
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: 2 new bots


>PS looks like one of the bugs from Heinlein's Star Ship Troopers (the
>movie). Now what about some of those flame "belching" mother bugs. Put them
>all together in a "model city" RJP, add toy soldiers, some pyrotechnics, a
>script, a webcam and you got lights, action - Beam Warriors (the web
>movie).

Group project! Group project! Let's all work together and... ah
nevermind.
(Traditions must be maintained :-)

A lovely pice of work.
Yes, when I first saw it I thought of starship troopers. Strange that I
haven't before - I like the "bug" look, and Starship Troopers is one of
the fe examples of cool bugs that have four legs rather than six. Until
now I've usually been thinking in terms of things like mantids, which
don't use the front legs as limbs.
(my BEAM ideas are largely driven by the aesthetic - I've got past
denial and accepted that they'll probably never have a practical use,
which leaves them with the almost sole purpose of Looking Cool. And it's
not a bad purpose at all... :-)



12515 Sun, 26 Mar 2000 07:17:45 +1200 [alt-beam] SMT questions beam@corp.sgi.com Justin I notice quite a few people are now using surface mount PCBs (Ambler
reminded me of this). Some questions:

What soldering method is being used - the usual one but with SMT
components instead of normal ones, or are some people using paste and
baking the board or something?

How are the PCBs normally made - I get the impression that some are
home-made, and that some home-designs are being professionally produced.
Can anyone sum up what sort of things are being done?



12516 Sat, 25 Mar 2000 13:56:19 -0500 [alt-beam] Schematics [was: Logic puzzle...] beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Richard Weait At 07:54 PM 3/25/00 +1200, Justin wrote:

>Speaking of the evolving language of schematics (and thanks for that
>info by the way - I could do with being brought up to date :), I was
>wondering about customs regarding the dircetion in which you draw
>inverters (and other gates) - I've seen diagrams sacrifice some
>legibility in order to have all the gates facing the same direction.
>Is this just a cosmetic quirk of the drawer, or is it customary, or is
>there a method behind it (eg gates in different trains or chips face
>different directions or something)?

Everybody has their own style when drawing schematics. You'll
see regional differences too; compare Steve Bolt's schematics
with Wilf Rigter's. Both draw beautiful, interesting circuits
but not in the same style.

I'll fall back on "The Art of Electronics" (Horowitz & Hill,
Cambridge University Press) appendix E, pp1056-1058. They make
some recommendations for schematics, and show examples. I'll
list a few, so that you'll still buy the book. (There may be a
new third edition in the works.)

- signals go left to right, in general
- higher supply voltages at the top, lower at bottom
- use power / ground symbols rather than connecting wires
- label functional blocks

Cheers,

Richard.


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