My recent experience with the Bald SENSE sensor feather wing project reminded me that time is often our most valuable resource. This video documents the journey that has taught me crucial lessons about design, assembly, and the value of turnkey PCB assembly services. See what went right and what went wrong, and how I ultimately brought this project back to life with the help of MacroFab.
The Rohde and Schwarz MXO5 is the fastest-performing oscilloscope on the market–even when all 8 channels are active! Bald Engineer checks out the precise trigger, ridiculously fast update rate, and a serial decode feature he missed with his review MXO4 review. Check out what is new with the MXO5, how it compares to the MXO4, and some new features available on both. Related Links [R&S] MXO5 Product Page [YouTube] Bald Engineer’s MXO4 Hands-On [YouTube] Measuring…
The Apple II’s CPU clock has jitter or a glitch. This issue is not new—it has been present since its original design in 1977! Bald Engineer uses an oscilloscope to show how often the glitch occurs and how to correlate that jitter to its source—which is useful when you are not testing 40-year-old devices. The device under test (DUT) in this video is the Mega IIe project. It’s a fully compatible Apple IIe built around the Mega II chip.
KiCad 8 just dropped, and here are Bald Engineer’s eight must-try features! The February 2024 release brings a whole host of new stuff to the Schematic editor. However, the PCB editor, CLI, and Simulation tools also received attention. (There are something like 900 closed issues for the 8.0.0 Milestone!) Which of these is your favorite?
Hands down, no questions asked; the MXO 4 Oscilloscope from R&S is the most impressive scope I have ever used. The main reason I say that is because it is FAST. Over the past 20 years, I have worked for 3 of the 4 top oscilloscope companies (always in technical roles.) So I have used almost every major oscilloscope model for the past two decades. Now, regarding oscilloscopes, “fast” can mean a couple of different…
In mid-2021, I saw a demonstration of features for the upcoming KiCad 6. A statement caught me off guard: “the new copy/paste feature uses the system’s clipboard.” Then I watched as one of the developers copied from one KiCad instance into another. Immediately, that capability hit me as a game-changer. Not because the world’s oldest shortcut keys now work as we all expect, but because of the flexibility the method introduces! Actual text gets copied…
In KiCad, the INSERT key repeats the last command. This short repeats wires and labels. And labels get auto-incremented!
AddOhms is an electronics YouTube channel. It started with short animated tutorials to explain electronics concepts. Over the years, it has grown in audience and topics. If you want to learn more about electronics, discuss design tips, make PCBs, or see the latest gear, then check out the videos below. James, also known as the Bald Engineer, hosts the channel and does weekly live streams.
In KiCad 6 (and 5), the F8 key runs a special command. It automates annotating a schematic, generating a netlist, and loading it into PCBnew. Also the “Edit Symbol Fields” is a better tool for updating footprints than the actual “Assign Footprints” dialog! This video is the first one of a series of quick tips.
Electronics Tutorial Video Learning to use a new oscilloscope can be daunting! In this video, I show five measurements you can make using just an Arduino as your DUT. Learn how to offset voltage, set up measurements, enable infinite persistence, save reference waveforms, AND trigger (and decode) serial signals. For this video, Rohde & Schwarz was kind enough to send me an RTM3004. Check out the links below for more. Episode #28 Show Notes and…
