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

Saturday, August 15, 2020

Preface to Book IV

Since completing the trilogy to the PCB-RE subject, I had thought that my mission in writing this niche topic is done. The idea of a fourth book, an essential guide to the manual PCB-RE approach, was hatched in the midst of writing my third book, but I shoved it aside due to other commitments. It was only during the CoVid-19 circuit breaker period that had given me the time to re-visit it and pondered over a suitable candidate for the book.

Here is the preface to book 4:

Manual PCB-RE was given a basic treatment in my first book, The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering, using a simple network adapter card to illustrate the steps involved using Microsoft Visio 2007. Besides the detailed instructions on how to create the layout and schematic diagrams, there is also a chapter on Advanced techniques to tap into the power of Visio's Smartshapes.

In the trilogy, PCB-RE: Real-World Examples, I showcased a more complex board that is through-hole with some SMD components, applying the mixed-signal methodology to solve the connectivity puzzle and produce a complete 3-page schematic diagram. This, along with other practical examples, should be enough to get readers new to PCB-RE to a fresh start.

However, I am aware that there are those who just want a no-frills guide to quickly launch them into the deep waters, with the essential know-how to handle surface mount PCBs with all the trappings and real challenges these boards present. After looking into my inventory, I came upon and decided on an Nvidia GeForce 8600GT graphics board which has all the making of an interesting PCB-RE project to work on.

It's by no means an easy PCB but I thought why not give it a try and re-live some of the good moments I had? So here I am, spending at least 3-4 hours a day with this graphics card in front of me while typing away on my keyboard, and drawing the illustrations using Visio 2016. The good news is, I have just completed three out of the five chapters outlined in my preface, including a smashing great chapter on the layout diagram. The fourth chapter is currently in the works but the real challenge will be to reverse engineer the board itself, which I foresee will take up more time and effort than the other chapters put together.

Of course, there will be two introductory chapters that cover the tools of the trade as well as knowledge and skillsets of PCB-RE, additional resources to enable an apprentice to go further, and also tons of information in the appendices for reference. So stay tune and look out for more news.

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