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, November 20, 2021

The Author-Reader Dichotomy

Not every book author takes pain in giving their readers the best reading and visual experience when it comes to the content and illustrations found in their books, especially those of the engineering genre. The reason is simple: it requires time and effort and to some extent, the ability of the writer to not only translate their thoughts into words but their ideas into drawings.

Among those who do, fewer still are willing to go the extra mile to produce the diagrams themselves. The easiest way is to make do with what's already available, or engage someone good at drawing to do the hard work for them. Finding consistency in the style of illustration in an engineering book is therefore even rarer.

Being an indie author and one who loves producing technical illustrations, I take pride in the books that I authored. There are times when I would spend hours drafting a diagram for a topic in discussion, only to discard or shelve it when the content underwent changes during the process of proofreading. One example is the 72-pin SIMM below:

It would seem like a waste not to include it after all the hard work and time invested, but that's just me. Being a perfectionist, I expect nothing less than the best from myself and for my readers. I believe if a reader is willing to support me through honest purchase of my books, he or she should receive value for investing his or her hard-earned money on my works.

Of course, not everyone share this sentiment or conviction. Some have no qualms stealing free copies from authors who make conscientious efforts to share their knowledge. Others go even further to rip-off the small earnings of these authors who spent months to a year writing their books, by offering pirated copies online in return for a fraction of the book price. It cost these pirates nothing (except their dignity and integrity) but it results in loss of income for the authors and ultimately the engineering communities, because without a sustainable income they had to quit writing and whatever valuable insights and experience will not get passed on.

There is no real winner in the long haul. Just some temporary gains for the unscrupulous loafers who live off the hard works of authors. So think about it before you mindlessly download the next free copy of ebook from those dark webs.

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