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

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Halo! Poland!

For the first time since publishing my PCB-RE books, there are buyers from Poland, the Land of Fields. Amazon has online presence in 12 countries spanning three continents, namely North America, Europe and Australia, one of which is this eastern European country. Registered sales of my books came only after the recent release of Deciphering Schematics, though:

Still, it's something to shout about considering it's a rare sector to penetrate into. Hopefully, the two remaining countries will have readers for my books, namely the Netherlands and Sweden. Never have I imagined that my books would go this far when I started out on my lonely journey of writing. It feels unreal yet rewarding to know that engineers of diverse nationalities are actually reading my works!

I would have loved to hear from my readers too. Perhaps in time to come. For now, I'm thankful for their support through purchase of my books. That's the honor every author deserves for his or her hard work.

Dziękuję! (Thank you in Polish)

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3 comments:

  1. Biotech97August 17, 2022 at 1:46 AM

    I'm so happy for you ! As you can see there is a need for the specialized knowledge you bring to the world through all your years of experience :) I hope all this is a motivator to possibly continue with your final work ( PCB Diagnostics) to finish off the series with a cherry on the top.

    By the way, what would PCB Diagnostics cover ? Troubleshooting techniques? Or more of an overview of what equipment you will need to troubleshoot a circuit board. Looking forward to a response!

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  2. Ng Keng TiongAugust 17, 2022 at 11:44 AM

    Thanks for your kind words. I'm appreciative of those who buy my books and support my hard work. That is, despite my relatively unknown status as an author compared to the many great names. But I do hope my engaging style of writing will make it to the mainstream one day.

    Currently, I'm busy with translation work for a friend's book, which should be complete by end August. Then I will work on my final engineering book. There are many books on how to troubleshoot a PCB or electronic equipment, so I'm not about to write another of the similar, predictable stereotype book on this subject.

    Of course, it will involve troubleshooting techniques as well as the various type of tools used to diagnose electronic faults. But I hope to take it one level higher by incorporating a holistic approach using TCM analogies. I don't want to write books just to present facts. I want to impact readers and change their perspective and philosophy regarding the topic they are interested to learn, so they can pick up a life skill in the process of acquiring that knowledge.

    If I can achieve this objective, then I will have leave behind an invaluable and lasting legacy.

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  3. Biotech97August 17, 2022 at 1:14 PM

    Thank you for your response. You know even if your status as an author isn't super well known I can't think of any other that comes close to your writing style or knowledge. Sure there's a lot of books regarding electronics but not many like yours. When I think about PCB RE you are automatically the expert I would go to. Other authors have yet to make this kind of impact on me like you have through your works. But for now I must be patient and wait until your final work comes out , hopefully I could be the first one to leave a review again just like on Deciphering Schematics.

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