azonenberg changed the topic of #homecmos to: Homebrew CMOS and MEMS foundry design | Wiki: http://homecmos.drawersteak.com/wiki/Main_Page | Repository: http://code.google.com/p/homecmos/ | Logs: http://en.qi-hardware.com/homecmos-logs/
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<SpeedEvil> neat
<Noxz> yeah, I thought from his videos that he was a bit younger
<Noxz> the approach he went on some things had me thinking
<Noxz> much more text book and not too much of thinking outside the box
<Noxz> not to discount him any, but a bit of it is like buying ancient equipment
<Noxz> I approach things more at a from scratch methodology, I suppose
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<SpeedEvil> A lot of money
<SpeedEvil> Start out with a 500k budget, and it'd go a lot faster
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<Noxz> money is a bitch
<Noxz> the kid I got my turbo pump from was mostly funded by his parents
<Noxz> I assume Sam is to some level
<Noxz> I grew up with near no money myself, in a fairly rich school district, so there's that
<Noxz> I understand others are more fortunate.. but I don't have to like it ;)
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<nmz787> I grew up with no allowance and not much more than science encyclopedias, and the thought that child labor laws meant the only way I could make money was by inventing something and selling it
<nmz787> now I have a bunch of high-tech equipment and tools and can only hope that any kids I have will be far less retarded than I think I am compared to some folks like i.e. elon musk
<Noxz> My mother is a stained glass artist, so I had some tools at my disposal, but material costs were still a facter, so digital it was.. where only electricity and internet was needed
<Noxz> but yeah, having a job that pays decently well is certainly awesome that I am able to point at random shit on ebay and say: mine
<nmz787> eventually we got some hand-me-down computers from family friends and a university that was throwing a bunch of machines away... and I got more and more into computers. then in middle school there was some lego robotics competition and I poured a ton of time and energy into that, skipped as many classes and lunch/recess as I could
<nmz787> yeah, my dad still lives paycheck to paycheck as a contractor/handyman
<nmz787> definitely glad I am a bit more focused
<Noxz> my mother's new house is under my name.. she'll send a rent check (mortgage amount) but will have a date like 3 weeks into the future for me to deposit it then
<Noxz> and yeah, my dad isn't doing too well money wise
<Noxz> also, 5 kids likely was not a good idea
<nmz787> my dad recently told me something about he wasn't happy when at some young age, I told him I didn't want to be a contractor/builder
<Noxz> heh
<nmz787> but lately he's been trying to learn electronics, for like a year or two now
<nmz787> he had a soldering iron or two when I was young, so I can't say he didn't get me started
<Noxz> it felt awkward when my dad hugged me goodbye upon moving to the west coast
<Noxz> we had tons of soldering irons, but they were huge
<nmz787> and he def got me toys like lego and erector sets
<nmz787> yeah the gun lookin one?
<Noxz> my mom prob went through 20# of solder a month, minimum
<Noxz> no
<nmz787> oh wow
<Noxz> just big ones for glass
<Noxz> it was her main job
<Noxz> but yeah, I will always kinda -erck- at kids that have a paved future like that
<Noxz> like college paid for, etc
<Noxz> brand new car when they are 16
<Noxz> I wish
<nmz787> hehe
<Noxz> I didnt get my car until I was 27 or so?
<Noxz> still gotta get it running :)
<Noxz> of course my watch collection amounts to over 12k or so.. so there's that
<nmz787> it was really a mind-blowing experience in college to see kids with really nice cars, like BMW convertibles and Benz
<nmz787> I got my first car at 17 I guess, not running, for $100
<Noxz> there were a few main neighborhoods for my highschool, most of them revolving around a golfcourse
<nmz787> had to install a new water pump
<Noxz> anyways, yeah, having money is flippin awesome
<nmz787> indeed
<Noxz> I dont feel like I work hard for it anymore, I have a lax setup
<nmz787> same here
<Noxz> first year or two I did though
<Noxz> to basically get full time
<Noxz> as I was a contractor, technically
<nmz787> I am somehow getting more managerial and project-lead roles/duties lately, instead of mostly coding
<nmz787> and it's been pretty weird and awkward
<Noxz> I want to get back to sysadmin over this coding shit
<nmz787> really slow since the company is so big and has too many moving parts
<Noxz> give me a dozen tickets of broken boxes to investigate what went wrong
<Noxz> oh, yeah, beurocracy sucks
<Noxz> like, I make a ticket for somone to change out the hard drive
<Noxz> as it exists in some datacenter in Salt Lake City, or something
<Noxz> not personal at all
<nmz787> not really beurocracy, as much as just slow because lots of communications channels that all need to sync
<Noxz> one of the guys I initially moved out with had given hostnames to every box he managed, all named after simpsons characters
<Noxz> so, when he would get a page saying Marge was down, it was like: DOH!
<nmz787> lol
<Noxz> but yeah, scale is ridiculous
<Noxz> my previous team had something like 50k bare metal boxes
<Noxz> of like 48core 192gb ram setups
<Noxz> just mindblowing at some scale
<nmz787> yeah, some of it is also probably people getting stuck in roles they don't like (like hey, you and I just mentioned) and then stop caring about going the extra mile because they aren't interested
<Noxz> yup, that's where I'm at
<Noxz> last year I was not given a bonus because of that
<Noxz> I assume this year similar
<Noxz> I go the extra mile for project topics I care about, but not work I hardly know about
<Noxz> anyways, I moved up here for a career change
<Noxz> sucks income will stop when I go back to school though
<nmz787> my company has a tuition reimbursement program
<nmz787> I know a guy who's been doing a masters for 4 years, 1 class at a time
<Noxz> yeah, so do we and previous company, so long as it relates to your field
<nmz787> yeah
<nmz787> I was looking into the applied physics program lately
<nmz787> phd though
<Noxz> and previously, I still was paying off my partial year of college, so they wouldnt let me back in with debt
<Noxz> it was a never ending cycle of trying to pay it off
<nmz787> ah
<nmz787> I didn't consider that
<nmz787> I still am paying my way out of that
<Noxz> I dropped out freshmen year, the university program I was in for compsci wasnt for me
<nmz787> I didn't, and racked up 5X more probably
<Noxz> and some personal shit happened
<Noxz> yeah, my bill was only like 8k
<nmz787> took me ~8 years from start to finish for mine
<Noxz> still took a while to pay off without a real jerb
<nmz787> ah, ok, try like 8-10x more
<Noxz> I'm looking at only doing this 2yr tradeschool program
<nmz787> an older guy that gives me part time work sometimes said he paid off his college with his summer job earnings... as a Washington state parks brochure designer+artist
<Noxz> heh
<nmz787> he was so sad to hear I had tons of debt
<nmz787> like in shock
<nmz787> yeah, idk if I wanna go back to school
<Noxz> I had some culture shock w/ kids at school
<nmz787> it was hard enough for just B.S.
<Noxz> heh
<nmz787> but a colleague with a phd was saying that having ideas and knowing as much as I do now, should be very easy to get in with a professor for advising during phd
<nmz787> especially with company paying
<nmz787> soo, who knows, worst part really that I can think about is commutting into the city
<Noxz> heh, the bus stop across the street gets me downtown in like 25mins
<Noxz> I would have loved to explore science more when I was a kid though
<Noxz> I think it would have really just taken asking teachers more about various topics
<Noxz> and explaining financial situation, and I am sure some funding would have become available
<Noxz> but meh
<nmz787> well you could say that if you really learned in the right/best way, you should be able to build/repair science equipment for much less
<nmz787> I definitely didn't pay attention too much to math after basic arithmetic, until college and work
<Noxz> iunno, I think I was too busy being a kid
<nmz787> yeah
<Noxz> still reading up on this gene stuff..
<Noxz> what was your aim with the micropore stuff, again?
<sync> nmz787: why is that mind blowing, those companies try to push their young and dynamic image
<sync> they are actually cheap to lease
<nmz787> sync: because they were far outside any reality I imagined outside hollywood I guess
<sync> Maybe you are outside the reality
<nmz787> Noxz: either to actually sequence DNA, or to at least filter DNA from enzymes
<nmz787> this has some good comparisons of DNA size to related enzymes (on the right side) http://mm.rcsb.org/
<nmz787> scale-bar at top-left
<Noxz> neat
<sync> But also college debt is something I'll never understand
<sync> but that is mostly due to the fact that it is free here
<berndj> i think there's a lot of goodwill in companies for youngsters doing projects; i kinda noticed that access drying up a little as i've gotten older
<berndj> if you're a high schooler who wants to build a fusor and you have at least a little bit of credibility then vacuum pumps and shit will find their way to you
<berndj> or, used to be a bit like that anyway. working through the phone book helps
<Noxz> I got free 6" and 8" PVC pipes for my ductwork by stating it was for science related s tuff, it ccame from their 'boneyard' but was in perfect usable condition
<Noxz> fumehood ductwork
<Noxz> then I spent like $500 on connectors for it all, heh
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<nmz787> hmm, I never thought of asking for discount/donation "for science"