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, September 9, 2021

Princess Engineer

People have a notion that engineering is a guys' thing, so whenever a young woman takes up this trade, whether it's electronics, mechanical, power, civil, etc., it seems to raise an eyebrow with an 'are you serious?' kind of expression. Truth is, in my thirty over years as an electronics engineer, I have seen many women working on test benches than I could care to count, from my air force days to the last company that I worked in.

So what is it about engineering that attracts women, apart from the fact that some people are the handy type who like to work or create things with their hands? I remember there was one time while I was dismantling an airborne electronic module with many screws, carefully laying out the parts and bolts on a work bench, when a lady programmer who was quietly watching me remarked, "I just love to watch men at work taking things apart. It's just so... man!"

Well, I don't know if I can say the same if I were to watch a woman does the same thing, though. "Err... you know, watching you taking things apart is such a... beautiful thing!" Better not risk myself getting whammed on the head with a size 32 spanner!

Anyway, if you're a lady engineer who happens to read this post, I would love to hear your take on this. Who knows, it may just inspire me to write a book (grin!)

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)