22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage • Hacker News Board

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#201

Post by resueman » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

ezconnect wrote: post #159

hnthrowaway0315 wrote: post #106

I'm more interested how he managed to master the knowledge of chip manufacturing plus a ton of electronics repairs (see his microscope and other equipment) at such an early age. Very admirable. Look at what he did: > Photolithography machines are expensive—up to $150 million—and so Zeloof made his own by bolting a modified conference room projector bought on Amazon onto a microscope. It projects his designs at tiny s…

He has support from his family.

So basically a member of the middle class in a developed country. How remarkable.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#202

Post by rdtwo » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #67

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I just wonder how did he afford all this equipment. Living in the US comes with certain advantages like some of the lowest consumer prices in the West including HW equipment being dirt cheap on the second hand market plus houses being big enough for space for such hobbies along with the biggest take home pays yielding some of the highest purchasing power in the West, a formula tough to replicate anywhere else. At le…

A 22-year old full time student can't even afford "dirt cheap" second hand equipment (nevermind the space to store it!) unless: -They have some sort of windfall -They have a trust fund or stipend that they receive just for existing -Their parents pay for everything, or, alternatively, their parents pay for all of their living expenses so their own money is only "fun money." -They, somehow, have a high paying job. In…

Yeah I mean so what. College room and board is 30-50k I’m sure he can get the microscope running for less than that

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#203

Post by jtwebman » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:13 PM UTC

I would think we should start exploring other materials and ideas if we really want to make accessable to everyone. Not everyone would be able to make it find the equipment he has.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#204

Post by wyre » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:14 PM UTC

hiptobecubic wrote: post #135

fnord77 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> innovative, potentially competing enterprises I feel like there hasn't been many of these recently. And the few that have been around get massive financing rounds that dilute options into nothing and never go ipo

Are you saying that Google, Facebook, etc have not been innovating over the last years? What does the landscape look like if you remove these companies' contributions from the public sphere?

What innovations have Google and Facebook had over the past few years? As far as I’m concerned Facebook could disappear overnight and the world would be a much better place.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#205

Post by rdtwo » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:14 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #53

was_a_dev wrote: post #49

I've followed this project for a while. And while it truly is an impressive feat, I just wonder how did he afford all this equipment. I'm 24 and a physics PhD student, and just afforded my first soldering iron. I lack the space, let alone the equipment to attempt anything close to this. What a lucky, talented guy!

>I just wonder how did he afford all this equipment. Living in the US comes with certain advantages like some of the lowest consumer prices in the West including HW equipment being dirt cheap on the second hand market plus houses being big enough for space for such hobbies along with the biggest take home pays yielding some of the highest purchasing power in the West, a formula tough to replicate anywhere else. At le…

Why not eBay? Usally things are more expensive but for small stuff you pay market price

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#206

Post by bradlys » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:19 PM UTC

JohnBooty wrote: post #160

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I just wonder how did he afford all this equipment. Living in the US comes with certain advantages like some of the lowest consumer prices in the West including HW equipment being dirt cheap on the second hand market plus houses being big enough for space for such hobbies along with the biggest take home pays yielding some of the highest purchasing power in the West, a formula tough to replicate anywhere else. At le…

I believe everything you're saying! But also, please understand that what he's accomplished here is monetarily out of the reach of your average American as well. Especially the average American teenager. The article notes that his dad is a very successful engineer, so roughly speaking he's almost certainly in the top 5-10%. Most homes do not have garages of this size and most garages are not climate controlled as thi…

He went to CMU - I haven’t met someone who comes from a modest middle class family who went to CMU. I’m sure they exist but I haven’t found them and I’ve met quite a few grads.

The guy comes from an affluent family. The privilege is obvious from a mile away.

Still cool and all but in no way should anyone read this as a “oh, why wasn’t I able to do that” or “why aren’t more kids doing this?!” type of thing. It speaks to how out of touch most of HN is that they find this relatable.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#207

Post by johnklos » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:20 PM UTC

This gives me hope.

While everyone says we just need to assume that privacy is dead, that we can never truly know or trust our hardware, I disagree. This shows it's possible - not all that practical, but possible, and practical can come later - to make computer systems ourselves.

It's not that unfathomable to make a 100,000 gate device with the progression of what he's doing, and that's all it'd take to make a real, proper m68k processor capable of running a modern OS and any modern software with 100% verifiable source.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#208

Post by grogenaut » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

hiptobecubic wrote: post #127

fartcannon wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The money being required to live a normal life is the problem. A Star Trek style cashless society would allow people to live their life as they see fit, and would undoubtedly unlock a huge jump in human ingenuity. But I don't think we are evolved enough to deal yet. We'd just end up in a communist prison life or something as people selfishly try to get more for themselves. Roddenberry thought an event like finding ex…

One thing I never understood is that star fleet and the federation are somehow post-scarcity utopias, but you still have "gold-plated latinum" driving a huge underground criminal counter-culture. What's the point? The ferenghi should be having a cultural existential crisis, but instead they are happy just charging people for drinks that can be replicated freely.

my understanding is that the space the ferrengi operate in doesnt operate much with federation space. ds9 is in deep space. and you cant make gold pressed latinum in a replicator. so it is a good trade item for working on a frontier and as a currency as the federation cant just print it.

but dont quote me.

its also a plot device to let them talk about economics.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#209

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:27 PM UTC

resueman wrote: post #201

ezconnect wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has support from his family.

So basically a member of the middle class in a developed country. How remarkable.

I don't know many middle class families who would buy 10s of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for their kid.

Re: 22-year-old builds chips in his parents’ garage

#210

Post by bradlys » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 6:29 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #71

Avamander wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thousand dollars is an achievable amount of money for a smart kid in a poor family. I have had good friends from really poor families in Europe make more from bug bounty programs. If that's you're trying imply.

No, It's not. I was a poor kid and didn't get financial support from my parents in young adulthood/college. I couldn't even fathom spending $1,000 on non-essential expenses during college. I was living entirely on student loans and minimum wage summer jobs - When that's your life you can't think about anything but pure survival. It's an entirely different mindset that I have now as a financially secure person. If I g…

Sorry. Posters here don’t understand. Why didn’t you have FAANG internships? Why didn’t you have an incredible scholarship that overpaid you and allowed you to spend $2000+/month on non-essential expenses cause everything else was covered. Not relatable! Not relatable! Does not compute!

People here are incredibly out of touch. $1000 for a poor college kid is a huge amount of fucking money. I had a full ride, monthly stipend, and jobs. Yet $1000 would’ve crushed me in many of my years in college and definitely wouldn’t have been something I would just splurge on for one month. It’s also only $1000 to purchase, doesn’t include transport, doesn’t include repairs, and doesn’t include all the additional work to get it running.

Peak HN out of touchness running in this thread.