[Coco] CoCo Altera DE1 interface

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday 17 January 2015 10:15:06 Matthew Stock did opine
And Gene did reply:
> Kip,
> 
> Fortunately, I just meant that where I once was able to focus and get
> precision by just putting my eye 1/2" away from the surface I now need
> to be 8" away and/or use a loupe to do the same job.  :-)  It makes
> SMD harder, but it's actually easier than you might think if you
> choose reasonable devices.  Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I solved that problem 30 years ago. I bought one of those illuminating 
fluorescent lamps, one with an 8" circline lamp wrapped around a 6" 
magnifying lens, with power just low enough that I have working room under 
it if I use the smaller solder sucker. First I bought one on the tv 
station's nickel for use there and found it so handy I bought myself one.  
They were about $75 when I bought them, no clue what Staples, who has them 
yet, wants today.  But for a trifocal wearing old geezer like me, they are 
the best solution I've found.

> The main two advantages of the chip I chose is high density and the
> ability to interface with 3.3v logic.  The LS244/245 set are fine, but
> you would need 5-6 chips, and you would still only be able to work at
> 5v.  It all depends on what problem you want to solve.  I wanted to
> hook it up safely to newer microcontrollers and FPGAs, which
> necessitated at least having 3.3v support.
> 
> Like everything else, SMT soldering requires practice.  Also, a nice
> pair of tweezers.

And steadier hands Matt.  The years accumulated are starting to make me 
shaky, darn it. 1/16" or so, but on SMD stuff its easy to get a bridge 
even w/o the shakes.
 
> Matt
>

Cheers, Gene Heskett
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