#garfield Logs

Apr 24 2023

09:30 AM aandrew: boo, VHDL is best HDL
03:46 PM polprog: Very High Description Language
04:09 PM Tom_L: VVVHDL
07:20 PM rue_mohr: https://github.com/emilio-a/1bitCPU/blob/main/src/onebitcpu.v
07:21 PM rue_mohr: sooner or later you guys will give in on the 1 bit thing
07:21 PM rue_mohr: why is the memory only 7 bits
07:21 PM rue_mohr: what did he do..
07:23 PM rue_mohr: that cant be right
07:25 PM rue_mohr: the shift register is only 12 bits
07:25 PM rue_mohr: I suppose thats ok, I didn't use 2 bits
07:27 PM rue_mohr: I think its full of errors :/
09:58 PM WormFood: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1VXHMP5 have any of you guys tried this kinda stuff? It's an alloy, with a very low melting point, that's supposed to be helpful for removing large SMT chips with a regular soldering iron. I've always wanted to try it out, but felt it was too expensive.
10:01 PM Tom_L: never tried it
10:06 PM Tom_L: i just use lead solder
10:06 PM WormFood: I want to try it out, but there are so many other things I want to get too.
10:07 PM Tom_L: you sound like a rue
10:07 PM WormFood: I have a 100 pin chip, that I can't remove. And I've spent over an hour on it. It takes so much heat, that by the time you get all the way around it, the first part (where you started), is now solid.
10:08 PM WormFood: This works on the principal, that it's extremely low melting temp, so by the time you get all the way around the chip, the first part is still liquid.
10:08 PM Tom_L: i usually do a side at a time and put a blade under it as i go
10:08 PM Tom_L: best way of course is a heat gun made for it
10:08 PM WormFood: Can you demonstrate that on a quad pack?
10:08 PM WormFood: A DIP is no problem
10:09 PM WormFood: I've replaced 38 pin TSOPs with a regular solder iron.
10:09 PM Tom_L: xacto starting at the corner of one side, just start raising the pins slightly with lots of flux and wick works
10:09 PM WormFood: well...it was a regular solder iron, with a massive crater in the tip, due to many years of use. That let the solder sit in a ball, and actually made the work easier.
10:10 PM WormFood: well, if I wanted to fuck up the chip, I'd just cut the pins off.
10:10 PM WormFood: that's even easier.
10:10 PM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/boards/USBTiny_Mkii/USBTinyMkII_1-1c_top.jpg
10:10 PM Tom_L: i've done quite a few of those
10:10 PM Tom_L: not as many pins but the idea is the same
10:10 PM WormFood: Those are small. Try one with 100 pins.
10:10 PM Tom_L: i know
10:10 PM WormFood: The problem is the physical size.
10:10 PM Tom_L: and the pins are finer on the larger count
10:11 PM WormFood: You simply can't heat it all up at the same time, with a regular solder iron.
10:11 PM WormFood: they're finer, yes, but the chip itself is also bigger.
10:11 PM WormFood: I couldn't do it, without fucking up the chip.
10:12 PM Tom_L: i've also done a toaster oven and tapped the board once it's hot. but that's only if you're going for all the goods
10:12 PM WormFood: I think I'll get (not buy) that tomorrow, so I can try it out.
10:12 PM WormFood: That is impossible with the board I'm working on, because it's got components on both sides.
10:12 PM Tom_L: problem if you start mucking around too much is you pull traces
10:12 PM WormFood: It's an original xbox motherboard.
10:13 PM WormFood: I've already pulled one trace. I can't see how bad the damage is, and if I can repair it or not.
10:14 PM WormFood: I'm doing a RAM upgrade. The original xbox has spaces for more ram. So, I had a dead xbox, and I pulled the ram from that. I install it in another xbox. First one goes perfect, 2nd one perfect, 3rd chip won't fuckin' work for nothing. Now I can't remove it, and in my attempts to remove it, I think I fucked up a trace.
10:14 PM Tom_L: even with that stuff i think you'll have problems getting heat all around to pull it off
10:14 PM WormFood: I don't really want to remove this other ram, since it works, and it's tedious as hell to solder it in.
10:15 PM WormFood: I don't think so.
10:15 PM WormFood: BUT, I'll find out.
10:15 PM Tom_L: yeah
10:15 PM WormFood: I'm gonna get it, just so I can review it.
10:15 PM WormFood: But, *only* if they give it to me for free.
10:17 PM Tom_L: i've also set the board on a clothes iron but you don't have that option on a double populated board
10:17 PM WormFood: Yeah, that's not possible with this setup, because the IC's are nearly opposite each other on the board.
10:20 PM WormFood: I actually bought a hot air machine, just to do this job. I mean, I want/need one for other things, but this task is what prompted me to actually buy one.
10:20 PM WormFood: But, I'm lazy, and didn't finish doing that task. I even bought new RAM chips for it. I have 4 Xboxes that I can upgrade.
10:20 PM Tom_L: also put foil around it so you direct the heat where you want it
10:20 PM rue_mohr: hui
10:20 PM WormFood: Right. I'm aware of that trick.
10:20 PM WormFood: hi rue_mohr
10:21 PM rue_mohr: chipquick
10:21 PM rue_mohr: digikey accidently sent me some once
10:22 PM WormFood: Yes
10:22 PM Tom_L: no cause now they got you hooked on it
10:22 PM rue_mohr: cool stuff! stays molten for a good while, alloys into existing solder super good
10:22 PM WormFood: that's another name brand. Did you try it?
10:22 PM WormFood: So, I don't need to remove the old solder first?
10:22 PM Tom_L: it probably mixes with it
10:22 PM WormFood: well, I can't remove it all, so there would be some mixing.
10:23 PM WormFood: Yeah, I think I need to remove my excess, but I don't think I need to actually clean it per se.
10:23 PM rue_mohr: it alloys in, so you have to make sure to clean it all off good before resoldering
10:23 PM WormFood: Oh yeah, it will definitely be good and clean before reworking....if I can repair it. I may abandon this one, but at the very least, I need to remove this chip to keep the system working.
10:24 PM rue_mohr: you could use a heatgun and kinda target your desoldering
10:24 PM WormFood: I may just abandon the other 2 ram chips in it, as I don't want to take them out, and replacement ram is cheap.
10:24 PM rue_mohr: by mixing it in where you want
10:24 PM rue_mohr: flux flux flux
10:24 PM WormFood: I don't really want to use a heat gun, but I'm prepared to.
10:24 PM WormFood: Flux is the world to electronics.
10:25 PM WormFood: without flux, we'd be fucked.
10:25 PM Tom_L: i use flux pens
10:25 PM rue_mohr: yea, I got one of those, love it
10:25 PM WormFood: I even bought a brick of rosin (it's hard and brittle), so I can make my own solder paste and liquid rosin.
10:26 PM Tom_L: i'm too lazy for that
10:26 PM WormFood: It's kinda funny. After I bought it, amazon started targeting me with music stuff, like violin accessories.
10:27 PM WormFood: They should be able to see, I buy electronics stuff. It should be obvious to a good AI system, and rosin isn't only used for music.
10:27 PM WormFood: Did you ever look up rosin, and see all the things they use it for?
10:28 PM WormFood: It seems, in all cases, they use it for it's ability to stick (friction). It seems electronics is the only place where rosin is used for it's chemical properties.
10:28 PM Tom_L: and get you high
10:29 PM WormFood: huh?
10:29 PM WormFood: You smoke rosin?
10:29 PM Tom_L: no
10:29 PM Tom_L: Does rosin get you higher than resin?
10:29 PM Tom_L: Resin is more potent than rosin, but the effects of these two cannabis concentrates are almost similar. If they are sourced from the same marijuana breed, it's possible extracts would produce similar benefits at varying levels.
10:29 PM WormFood: Maybe you sprinkle a little on your joints :P
10:30 PM WormFood: My friend said not to do that, because you'll get way too fucked up.
10:30 PM Tom_L: i wasn't planning to
10:30 PM Tom_L: but you _did_ make me google rosin uses
10:31 PM WormFood: I was curious, when I was buying mine. Where else is it used?
10:31 PM WormFood: And sometimes knowing random info like this, can come in really handy.
10:32 PM Tom_L: make soaps, varnishes, sealing wax, printing inks, driers, sizes for paper, adhesives, binders, soldering fluxes, gloss oils for paints, and pitch for casks.
10:32 PM Tom_L: and don't forget... violins etc
10:32 PM WormFood: I remember a National Lampoon cartoon, involving violin rosin. Maybe I can find it. It seems *everything* (almost), is online.
10:39 PM WormFood: If you want some fun, take that bar of rosin, and rub it on the bottom portion of a playground slide.
10:40 PM WormFood: When you go down that slide, and you're at your fastest speed, and you hit that patch of rosin....fun times for all. ;)
10:41 PM WormFood: I've never tried that, and I don't recommend you do, but the thought of doing that to some punk, is funny.
10:44 PM WormFood: I just got a new radio today. One of the first things I do, is open it up, and remove a transistor (maybe it's a pair of diodes, like in their other radios), so I can make it transmit on any frequency I want.
10:49 PM rue_shop5: yea I have a bloock of violin resin for soldering too
10:50 PM rue_shop5: apparently the liquid stuff is just mixed down with alcohol
10:51 PM rue_shop5: you turning a RX radio into a TX radio?
11:02 PM WormFood: It's a tx radio, but it's limited in the frequencies it can tx on. So, I opened it up, so it won't refuse to try to transmit anywhere. So, now the limits are of the hardware, not the software.
11:07 PM WormFood: For example, now I can talk on GMRS and FRS frequencies. So if a friend has a little walkie talkie, I can talk with them using my radio.