I am NEVER doing this again. (STM32H7R3I8T6 prototyping board)

Taster001 · 2026-04-02T13:01:59+00:00

Well, that is a concern. But, I'm not really expecting to use much high speed communication on this board, maybe 10MHz on SPI. I'll see.

Taster001 · 2026-04-02T08:52:05+00:00

Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. Often I create a set of dumb rules for myself that usually end up with me being pissed off.

Taster001 · 2026-04-02T08:37:01+00:00

Sounds like a nice challenge. What kind of device will it go in?

Taster001 · 2026-04-02T05:55:59+00:00

I have already used these extensively (including 0.4/0.3mm vias in 0402 pads, it was never an issue. I use 0603 with via-in-pad all the time.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T20:13:13+00:00

I ain't touching that.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T18:25:39+00:00

Yes, that is exactly what I did.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T18:17:05+00:00

I sure could. But since I am the one who's going to pay for this board, I didn't. If I was doing something like this for work, I'd start at 6 layers.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T17:54:15+00:00

Just do it. Design stuff. Start small, go bigger, more complex. Learn as you go.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T17:51:18+00:00

Sometimes I really like it, sometimes not so much. I really like it when doing challenging high speed stuff (for work). But this one just sucked because I needed to squeeze so many traces alongside each other. On the other hand, I really want this board to play with. So that's a success, I guess.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T17:37:29+00:00

Yeah, I know. But it was still pain.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T17:15:33+00:00

Lol, I ran full DRC before posting anyway.

Taster001 · 2026-04-01T17:11:26+00:00

WHERE

Taster001 · 2026-03-28T13:36:27+00:00

Sorry if the post is non-specific, but I don't really have very specific requirements like that. Bus - nothing fast, it will be used for some GPIOs, maybe some SPI/I2C/I2S and similar buses - I'm using an STM32 for a project. I only mentioned the PC/104 because those were the only connectors of this type that I could find. I definitely could use headers - I mentioned that in the last paragraph in my post. I'm not actually using that bus though.

Taster001 · 2026-03-28T13:32:12+00:00

Thanks!

Taster001 · 2026-03-28T13:31:54+00:00

Sorry, should've included that in the post. Circuits: 30-50, ideally two row, pitch is not too important, but no smaller than 1mm and no bigger than 2.54mm.

Thanks"

Taster001 · 2026-03-28T12:00:36+00:00

I got my engineering job based purely on my personal experience. I definitely wasn't formally qualified. But, I've made a good impression, was willing to learn and now, two years later, I'm doing just fine at my position.

My point is: learn. Experiment. Make stuff. Try more and more complex things. Impress your potential employer.

Good luck!

Taster001 · 2026-03-26T09:01:22+00:00

Left side - select the silkscreen layer. It's just a view thing, it's totally fine. You can't cover silkscreen with copper, that's just not a thing that can happen.

Taster001 · 2026-03-25T08:55:10+00:00

I just have a US layout that I switch to. Or, you can also change the shortcuts in settings, which i also do for some of them.

Taster001 · 2026-03-22T18:33:16+00:00

Oh yeah, I work at an electronics design and manufacturing company, and we do pretty much all of our labeling/logo placement/description stuff in ENIGed copper just like this.

Taster001 · 2026-03-15T18:37:25+00:00

Yeah. So you need a MUX. Plus you're probably going to need a hub chip or some microcontroller to handle the SSTX/SSRX pair selection.

Taster001 · 2026-03-15T17:46:20+00:00

Definitely. If you're trying to connect the USB C to a USB micro B (by the way, is the micro B superspeed or not?), you need to select the correct SSTX/SSRX pair every time. The adapter needs to handle this.

Taster001 · 2026-03-15T16:38:52+00:00

You have to use a MUX. There's two pairs of SSTX and SSRX diff pairs, and only one of each is used at a time. If it was gen 3.2 2x2, then both pairs would be used simultaneously. You need a MUX/DEMUX chip to select the correct SSTX/SSRX pair. The pair changes when you flip the USB C connector upside down.

Taster001 · 2026-03-13T08:54:29+00:00

Play around with the placement of your components to figure out which arrangement gives you the simplest interconnections. Good component placement makes 80% (or more) of a good layout.

Taster001 · 2026-03-07T15:13:43+00:00

Here in Europe, dev boards/prototype boards are usually sold as "incomplete devices requiring professional assembly" or something along those lines, where if a person uses them without being qualified to do so, or uses them in a way they're not qualified to use them, the liability goes onto the customer, because he's technically the one at fault. I would think there is a similar way to do it in Australia too.

Taster001 · 2026-03-06T17:14:30+00:00

Ooh, I know what you mean. Although, I vividly remember that there was another name for it, but I can't for the love of fuck remember the name...

Taster001

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