The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering: Tools & Techniques: April 2020

To My Readers

If this is the first time you're visiting my blog, thank you. Whether you're interested or just curious to find out about PCB reverse engineering (PCB-RE), I hope you'll find something useful here.

This blog contains many snippets of the content in my books to provide a more detailed overall sampling for my would-be readers to be better informed before making the purchase. Of course, the book contains more photos and nice illustrations, as evidence from its cover page. Hopefully, this online trailer version will whet your appetite enough to want to get a copy for yourself.

Top Review

I started doing component level repair of electronics with (and without) schematics more than 40 years ago, which activity often involves reverse-engineering of printed circuit boards. Although over the years my technical interests have shifted into particle beam instrumentation, electron microscopy, and focused ion beam technology fields, till this day——and more often than not——PCB repairs have returned multiple multi-million-dollar accelerators, FIB, and SEM instruments back to operation, delivering great satisfaction and some profit.

Many of the methods described by Keng Tiong in great details are similar to the approaches I've developed, but some of the techniques are different, and as effective and useful as efficient and practical. Systematic approach and collection of useful information presented in his books are not only invaluable for a novice approaching PCB-level reverse engineering, but also very interesting reading and hands-on reference for professionals.

Focus on reverse engineering instead of original design provides unique perspective into workings of electronics, and in my opinion books by Keng Tiong (I've got all three of them) are must-read for anybody trying to develop good understanding of electronics——together with writings by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, Phil Hobbs, Jim Williams, Bob Pease, Howard Johnson and Martin Graham, Sam Goldwasser, and other world's top electronics experts.

Valery Ray

Particle Beam Systems Technologist

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Kindle eBook (Part 1)

The current CoVid-19 situation has led Amazon to impose restrictions on fulfilling overseas orders for printed books. Having received some feedback from readers who wanted to order my PCB-RE books but could not, I decided to give the eBook option a try, beginning with the third of my trilogy works, since it is the shortest of the three. Still, it took quite a bit of effort to format the original manuscript to make it display correctly on Amazon's Kindle device.

I'm taking a risk by going the electronic distribution route, considering the rampant piracy out there. But desperate times require desperate measures, and besides reducing carbon footprint I'm able to pass the 40% cost saving off the book price to my readers as well. If this goes well, I might consider doing the same with my other two books.

If you do not own a Kindle tablet, you can still download the Kindle App into your Android device and place order to download a copy to read. Click on the image above to go to Amazon store.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

V.Ray Follow-Up Email

After making the LinkedIn connection with this reader by the name Valery Ray and reminding him to collect the book freebies and review bonus from me, here's his email reply:

Thank you for connection and for offering to share additional materials available for the first book.

I've started doing component level repair of electronics with (and without) schematics more then 40 years ago. Although since that time my technical interests have moved onto particle beam instrumentation and FIB technology, once in a while PCB repair returns to operation multi-million-dollar FIB/SEM instrument, bringing great satisfaction and some profit.

Interestingly enough many of the methods you describing are similar to the approaches I've developed, but some of the techniques you describe are different, and as effective and useful as they are practical. Systematic approach presented in your books and collection of useful information is not only invaluable for a novice approaching PCB-level reverse engineering, but also very interesting reading and collection of reference material for professionals.

Well, you heard it from a field-weathered engineer with over 40 years of experience in PCB-RE. So if you're still wondering whether to go into this niche but satisfying endeavor in your engineering career, why not get yourself a copy to acquire the coveted knowledge and shorten your learning curve?

20020

Today, the total pageviews for my blog has crossed the 20,000 mark!

Readership from different countries now stand at 110. Thank you for visiting and recommending this blog. It would not have been possible without your help!

With the current stay and work from home advisory due to the CoVid-19 situation, please continue to share the posts with those whom you think might find useful and beneficial for their engineering endeavors.

Better yet, get my books to help you occupy your time and equip yourself during this probative period, and be ready when the restriction is lifted and the economy restarted.

Meantime, take care and stay safe, everyone!

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