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extempo

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extemporized.com

@ex_tempo

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For me it's out of necessity.

This is the third thing I tried to buy in the last few weeks, where my card was declined. All three were using Stripe to process payments.

The sellers all tell me they can't get any detailed errors from Stripe, and I should just check with my bank or try another card.

This is why I often choose Paypal when offered the choice. No bullshit errors about my card being declined or my address not being just right.

Why can't I make a buyer account at Stripe already?

I'll give you my credit card and address info once, I don't have to type all that again, you can verify me once and be done with it. You don't have to provide any wallet services, just let me give me damn money to all these businesses relying on you.

Appmaker 13 years ago

I think you need to add a button. Same thing in level 4 with fireworks.

I'd say the best exercise to start with, is to buy some bare PCBs from an open source project or two, and then try to source all the components yourself. I think I learned a lot about component types/specs/sizing/packaging doing this, even though I had zero EE experience.

I tried modifying some open source designs, as well as designing a board from scratch, using Eagle and Kicad last year. I found the software so cumbersome and maddening, I gave up rather quickly.

I've stumbled upon some better tools since then. I hope one of these will get me from idea to gerber with less heartburn.

* http://www.layouteditor.net/

* http://razencad.com/

Those are both free. On the commercial side, there are a lot of options, but I'm tempted to just buy Diptrace, which seems to have a good array of features and reasonably-priced licenses.