#ladyada

Desk of Ladyada - Tariff Talk! ASK AWAY! 📦🌎💸

We're doing the show tonight or Tues, so much is going on. Lots more questions came in too! Post yours before we go live…

This week was not a big week for engineering because we're neck-deep in tariff management! We had a video on Wednesday about the first round of tariffs announced—they have since been ratcheted up to 20% + 125% = 145% minimum on products from China and Hong Kong. "Retaliatory" tariffs on products from other countries have been paused, but there's still a 10% global tariff.

Then on Friday, it looks like some HTS codes

were "exempted" temporarily

Let's take a look at the CBP (link) and the exempt tariff codes

and see how they might apply to the kinds of stuff we use to do our electronics engineering.

The Great Search - How to Source Tariffed & Non-Tariffed Items on DigiKey

https://www.digikey.com/short/2nb7nzb3

Since this is the topic of the day, we'll be looking at how to purchase an item from DigiKey with tariffs in mind. DigiKey is a free trade zone, which means that if you're not in the USA, you will not have to pay additional tariffs on goods that are re-exported. However, for USA destinations, the new tariffs can add a significant cost if the component has its last manufacturing step in China.

TARIFF TALK! WITH LADYADA 🌍🚢 - Join Ladyada as she breaks down how recent tariff shifts impact electronic component availability and pricing, reshoring trends, and what may happen to engineering/BOM and DIY project costs. Get the inside scoop on navigating supply chain challenges while keeping your builds affordable and excellent! All this week on ASK AN ENGINEER WEDS 8PM ET on all the socials.

Floppsy rev B - now Apple-ier - a floppy disk-shaped board, fully open hardware / open source interface to archive diskettes! 💾 🍏 📀

With the big new Adafruit factory, and Ladyada & pt's move to Brooklyn also complete, it's time to turn our attention to some older projects that have fallen by the wayside. Here's an update to our Floppsy board

, it's floppy disk-shaped and is intended to be a fully open hardware / open source interface to archive diskettes. This version adds Apple Disk ][

support via a 2x10 IDC connector. Thankfully we were able to recycle many of the GPIO from the classic 'shugart' 2x17 IDC connector for the diskII, but we had to splurge for an extra -12V bias power supply - we went for the TPS65130

https://www.digikey.com/short/t4rd9503

From the Desk of Ladyada - Every Sunday… for the last 10 years! Tune in each week, live -

Ladyada's desk gets a scope cart

We've always wanted a portable scope cart

for our workspace to have our test equipment either by the desk for firmware work or at the soldering worktable for rework debugging. At our new office, we finally have space for one! We picked up this 'dental cart'

- It is not super fancy, but it is metal, and it came together fairly easily. We like the mini top shelf for the scope and the second shelf underneath for the power supply and electronic load. The drawer can hold leads or probes. We've locked it next to our desk so we have more desktop space, and it's easy to peek over as we bring up new boards like the metro RP2350