MacToTheFuture SE/30 10/100 Ethernet card

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Excellent news, I'd be very happy to see someone take the lead on this.

I really disagree. There are many many examples of far more complicated boards for the hobbyist market being sold right now, presumably at a good profit.  Check some of EEVblog's videos.. he got 4 layer boards the size of a motherboard made for $20 each - delivered in 5 days.  Getting the board also assembled for cheap isn't out of the question.

I'm not fighting you, just pointing out that you were underestimating costs, problems and processes by a very large margin. Boards for cheap from China are one thing, that's an all but, if not completely automated process. "Getting the board also assembled for cheap" in small quantity production gives me nightmares of rampant child labor abuse.

I'd appreciate a link to that video, I'm happy to learn how the process changed in the last couple of years, so much has changed so quickly in the Raspberry Pi revolution. Glad to see such cost savings spread to larger, more complex boards.

and the discussion is relevant to this thread also, cause a manifestation of the same problem - no updates in 4 months? It's dead, Jim

That's my point, it's relevant to, but OT in this thread. A general discussion in hacks on how to jumpstart projects would be of more use.

 

[kreats]

Here's the link to the EEVBlog video about cheap PCBs


JLCPCB Prototype Inspection


I'm really not underestimating costs.. apart from the connectors, this is about as cheap a board as you could ever possibly hope to make.

I have also ordered smaller boards on oshpark for literally a couple of dollars delivered.

child abuse.. come on now that's just being silly. No more so than with everything else you own.. it's mostly automated anyway.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

WOW! Gotta get onto the bandwagon here. Thanks, that's an incredible reduction in prices just in the last couple of years. Getting a solder mask laser cut to fit in between and around the components of a 2300c board for my 200MHz CPU ratchets that hack up several notches on the feasibility scale.

JLPCB solder paste stencil order and use - YouTube

Again, this would make a great topic for discussion in its own thread.

edit: Dunno if large thruhole connector stuffing remains automated for small runs? Child labor abuse is a real thing in China, hopefully not in the tech industry, but clothing industry in remote areas still appears to be a problem area and there is an "Educational Labor" workaround to consider. Just saying, be careful about using primary contractors and their sub-contractor's labor and safety practices. Don't want to take this into the political realm.

 

[IIfx]

Perhaps not relevant to this discussion, but it would be cool to see a new 10/100 Nubus card enter production. The Asante card is rare and fairly expensive. Since Nubus is standardized and used on tons of Macs it may be worth the effort?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

bbraun got as far as talking to a DeclROM over NuBus, that's an excellent start. Power grid just crapped the bed in the storms here or I'd rustle up some more links: Making a Mac Dev Board

Glad to see that server is still up. Is anyone mirroring it?