As always, thanks for your feedback. I have a nice breadboard, and some nice proto boards from "Protostack," and 3 Atmel STK500 development kits, and AVR Studio on 5 machines, and chips, and working software. I'm ready to have some soldering done. I would have replied to your kind response earlier. But about 8:30 AM I heard a clang outside and a little up the dirt road an old guy was climbing out of his truck in the ditch. He was very lucky he broke the sign post or he would have rolled it. He was in his 80s and it took two trips from the towing company in Hinckley to get him out. The towing company needed a bigger truck and a helper. It cost me $200 to get the old guy down the road without a heart attack, and he was wearing my brand new pair of dry wool socks leaving his wet socks on my wood stove. The old guy was great to meet. But I need civilization. I've tried FreeGeeks. Maybe some day I'll donate some nice stuff when I think they have people who know what it is. Iznogoud wrote: > Let's make this topic useful. > >> >> If I knew how to change topics I really want to find somebody who knows >> how to solder simple microcontroller boards. Are there any prototyping >> shops left in the city?? I would love to do some business with some >> civilized humans. >> > > You do not need a soldered board to prototype. Use a "bread board" and put > it together. Make it work first, then worry about soldering. That is how to > do it. > > Also, learning to solder --I am terrible at it-- is a great skill to have. > And having the right tools for doing it greatly accelerates quality and speed. > But right now you do not need this to prototype something. > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list