Hacker News: zkirill

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: Can You Solder?"

zkirill — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 15:18:36 +0000

> avoid asking people to do surface mount unless it is reasonably straightforward - it was never meant to done that way.

This is the kind of comment that I was hoping to read here. Would you mind elaborating? What is considered straightforward? Can a PCB be designed or printed in such a way that makes it straightforward to surface mount components? Does the number of PCB layers factor into this?

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: Can You Solder?"

zkirill — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 15:03:32 +0000

> do you mean sell an electronic product as a kit?

Not quite. The person who would do the soldering would not necessarily be the end consumer. They would do it as part of a network of assemblers, for a fee or pro-bono as a community service. I wrote about this in more detail on the project page [1].

[1] https://flyingcarcomputer.com/posts/flying-car-mechanic-netw...

Ask HN: Can You Solder?

zkirill — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 13:34:26 +0000

I'm curious how many HN users know how to solder. For those who don't, how come? For those who do, how would you describe your skill level? Do (would) you do it professionally or as a community service?

The reason I am asking this is because I want to delegate the soldering and assembly of modules for my product to a community. I'm here to learn if that is feasible.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41945121

Points: 2

# Comments: 12

The Flying Car Mechanic Network

zkirill — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 18:07:18 +0000

Article URL: https://flyingcarcomputer.com/posts/flying-car-mechanic-network/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41937954

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by zkirill in "The C23 edition of Modern C"

zkirill — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 18:13:09 +0000

I was going to ask if there is a good list of C books and then answered my own question. It categorizes _Modern C_ as Intermediate level.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/562303/the-definitive-c-...

Do We Still Want This?

zkirill — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 15:02:30 +0000

Article URL: https://flyingcarcomputer.com/posts/do-we-still-want-this-flying-car/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41828607

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: Can you recommend a PCB designer?"

zkirill — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 10:14:10 +0000

Not vintage but I loved reading your reference project. Sent you an email just in case.

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: Can you recommend a PCB designer?"

zkirill — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 10:06:08 +0000

Sure! I found your email through your profile and will send you a message.

Just wondering if git is used to collaborate on hardware design? I've only seen projects share completed KiCad/PDF/BOM.

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: Can you recommend a PCB designer?"

zkirill — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 09:55:04 +0000

I just learned about Easy EDA! The drag and drop of parts is insanely cool. Just wondering if you can mix KiCad with Easy EDA in one workflow? Or, when would one choose KiCad over Easy EDA and vice versa?

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: Can you recommend a PCB designer?"

zkirill — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 09:42:25 +0000

The SBC is called Banana Pi M1+. Thank you for introducing me to Helios (Kobol). Their blog and wiki were a very useful and humbling read.

After I posted my question I learned that BPi didn't open source their PCB layout. It looks like I will need even more help than I originally planned.

Ask HN: Can you recommend a PCB designer?

zkirill — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 13:22:51 +0000

Did anyone have a good experience and can vouch for their service provider?

I need help with taking a single-board computer (an existing open-source hardware project), converting from Eagle, removing unneeded components, and exporting KiCad/BOM that are ready to send to Eurocircuits/PCBWay/JLCPCB. Of course, the modified design would also be published under an open-source hardware license.

EDIT: Just saw that PCBWay offers design services. [1]

[1] https://www.pcbway.com/design-services.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41749651

Points: 16

# Comments: 19

New comment by zkirill in "Reverse engineering and dismantling Kekz headphones"

zkirill — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:09:52 +0000

Awesome article. Just wondering, how can a hardware company voluntarily submit their device for reverse engineering and dismantling as a show of good faith? Given the right circumstances this is basically a free security audit and marketing for the company.

Handwritten Magazine Without Generative AI

zkirill — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 12:01:12 +0000

Article URL: https://flyingcarcomputer.com/posts/handwritten-newspaper/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41669360

Points: 35

# Comments: 13

New comment by zkirill in "It's probably time to rethink "Building in public""

zkirill — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 19:05:02 +0000

As far as I know the first Apple computer was not really a computer but a box of parts that the customer had to assemble themselves. The early days of Apple is probably the best example of "building in public" because so much of it was actually just selling the dream. In any case, the opposite is infinitely worse. Too many people wasted away for years "building in private". If and when they did finally release it was to the sound of crickets. Hacking for pleasure is one thing. If you're trying to build a business then you must be always be selling and marketing.

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: How do I find my co-founder?"

zkirill — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 18:31:34 +0000

I have always been curious about a different approach. Let's say that I interview you and a few other people, and then match you in a party with someone whose skills and character are complementary to yours. Then I match both of you with an idea that suits your party's combined skill set and also has a chance of making money. You're welcome to pivot and try something else after reasonable time and effort was put in. Everything else is boilerplate like 49/51 equity split and vesting schedule so you can focus on delivering maximum value.

Ask HN: How to hire a freelance electrical engineer?

zkirill — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 10:27:02 +0000

I opened a KiCad project for the first time and realized that I'm going to need help with PCB design. My objective is to design and order a small number of boards from Eurocircuits/PCBWay/JLCPCB.

Are there any places beside the usual Upwork and Freelancer? How does one vet an electrical engineer? What is the ballpark price per hour or per project? What is a typical working relationship, expectations, and deliverables?

It would be great to hear any advice, personal experiences, and stories from the community.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41600504

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by zkirill in "Ask HN: What email service(s) do you use for your side projects?"

zkirill — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 20:19:19 +0000

AWS SES and WorkMail. It gets the job done. listmonk (self-hosted) for mailing lists because it comes with double opt-in and GDPR compliance. Proton Mail and SimpleLogin for experiments.

I Validated a Market with SD Cards and Development Boards

zkirill — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:19:06 +0000

Article URL: https://flyingcarcomputer.com/posts/flying-car-ready-for-boarding/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41592165

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

How to Make a Minimum Viable Software Package with NetBSD, ARM, and QEMU

zkirill — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 02:32:32 +0000

Article URL: https://flyingcarcomputer.com/posts/how-to-design-api/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41064241

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

New comment by zkirill in "A free tool to quickly detect counterfeit flash (2017)"

zkirill — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 14:51:00 +0000

Does anyone have any experience with mass testing flash drives as part of an assembly line?

Another tool for testing flash drives that was recommended to me was H2testW.