Vibing a PCB - surprisingly good In my latest adventure, I challenged AI to design a working ESP32-S3 development board from scratch using Atopile and Claude. The idea was as simple as vibe-coding actual hardware without diving into the code. It was a chaotic yet fascinating journey, with some misses like unwired components and a forgotten capacitor. After a few prompts, the AI delivered a surprisingly functional board featuring USB-C, an AMS1117 regulator, and status LEDs. While not yet perfect, vibe-coding feels like a glimpse into the future of hardware design. 12 July 2025
Are my usb cables any good Building a USB cable tester turned out to be trickier than anticipated! My first attempt with fully shielded USB sockets was foiled by design flaws and hidden solder issues. The second iteration featured more accessible sockets, yet still posed challenges. The improvement allowed us to distinguish between high-speed cables and average ones. I'm now in the midst of creating Version 3, with all connections broken out for easy testing. Stay tuned for what's next in this unexpectedly complex journey! 18 March 2024