Speed of Optos on BoBs

[irving2008]

Because there's a difference between designing for mass production and designing to a specification and a price... I can design and build a one-off that'll be perfect...but it'll be a one-off... if I want to design it so it can be assembled and tested by a team of trained monkeys and is bullet proof to its environment it needs a lot more rigour. I cut my teeth on troubleshooting manufacturing problems at GEC-Marconi on head-up displays and the like... it was rare to get a batch that actually had 100% good ones, in fact there were on occasions batches that were close to 100% failures... With logic circuits its obviously easier to get it right (though the number of SystemX telephone exchange cards I've seen with spaghetti all over the back suggests otherwise.) Designing analogue circuits seems to be a dying art these days. I had a couple of electronics students on work experience not that long ago who hadn't done anything of note with op-amps or even discrete transistors :(

[Jonathan]

I had a couple of electronics students on work experience not that long ago who hadn't done anything of note with op-amps or even discrete transistors :(

Sadly that doesn't surprise me any more. In the first week on my course (Electrical/Electronic eng.) for a bit of fun they gave us a little car thing to put together which involved soldering components on to a PCB. The vast majority had never even used a soldering iron. I can only think of one person, besides myself, out of about 100 on my course in my year who does any electronics at home which really showed when it came to actually making something. That was quite some time as there's not much practical work... Also noticed that the people who had done A-level electronics weren't much better off and didn't seem to know things I'd consider basic, so I'm glad my school didn't offer it since, as it was the subject I was most interested in I would probably have naïvely taken it in instead of further maths.

Anyway, I reckon I'll make a breakout board soon...bought the components ages ago but keep putting it off. How hard can it be!

[John S]

Because there's a difference between designing for mass production and designing to a specification and a price...

Sorry doesn't wash with me, although I hate the term in that it's so misused there is a "Fit for Purpose" clause in that it SHOULD be fit for purpose.

OK anyone can drop a bollock but to keep dropping back on the old excise of "We have sold loads " when you know full well they had had to modify the design three times for faults that I have found and they are still not right.

As son as they hit the marketplace they should work correctly without having to resort to soldering jump wires all over and extra components.