317: What Do You Mean by Disintegrated?

Embedded.fm · 17 Jan 2020 · 1h 10m · Episode 317

What this episode covers

Lenore Edman and Windell Oskay of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories discuss their business model of creating high-quality hobby electronics kits, such as the disintegrated 555 Timer and 741 Op-Amp, which are faithful transistor-scale replicas of classic chips. They explain how they design products like the AxiDraw pen plotter to ensure a successful user experience, often choosing to sell complex items as assembled units rather than kits. The conversation also covers the evolution of PCB aesthetics, the shift from gEDA to KiCad for open-source hardware design, and their personal hobby of studying seaweed through the Jepson Herbarium.

Mentioned

Companies
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, OSH Park, Jepson Herbarium
Products
AxiDraw, EggBot, 555 Timer kit, 741 Op-Amp kit, Kong Money, Mega Menorah 9000, Diavolino
Tools
KiCad, gEDA
Also
Eric Schlaepfer, Sher Minn, Ruth Kassinger, Josie Iselin

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