These days, book reviews are hard to come by. So when there's one from a reader, it's always a joy to share. Here's two recent ones for Deciphering Schematics:
So be generous, readers, especially during this season of thanksgiving. Show your gratitude and appreciation to those who have enriched your life through their writings. What goes around comes around!
For the most part of my engineering career, I performed repairs (surgeries) on countless PCBs. It didn't dawn on me that one day, I would have to undergo one myself. Warning: graphic image in this post, so be warned!
Recently I had a regular dental visit to clean my teeth. My dentist friend noticed the gum above my front top left incisor was darkened and inflamed. She did a check and found recesses of 5mm and 9mm around the affected tooth. X-ray revealed the foundation of that incisor had eroded, and she advised me to see a gum specialist.
The day came and I visited the specialist's clinic for a more thorough examination, after which he proposed a perio guided tissue regeneration (GTR) procedure to help secure and save the incisor and the neighboring teeth. A quick discussion with my wife and I went ahead with the surgery on the same day. The surgeon administered about ten jabs of anesthesia around the area before carrying out the procedure (I will spare you the gory details). It was over in about 45 minutes and I was prescribed two courses of antibiotics, anti-swelling medication, mouthwash, and painkillers.
Meanwhile, I'm taking baby food and resting as much as needed...
Two days ago, I received an email from a guy by the name Jason Richard out of the blue. Here are his words:
A few months ago, I sent Joe a picture of the hardware hacker library I was building at work and asked him to do the same. After a few messages he felt that I needed your new books for the collection, so he sent them to me.
Things were unfamiliar, but not daunting... Until I got to page 149. That might have been scariest thing I've seen as I imagined someone asking me to RE it. After a few minutes of terror and intense imposter syndrome, I settled down and thought about it. Afterwards, I kept reading to understand how you would tackle the problem. Once again, I'm loving the information you are providing and am wondering if you ever thought someone would classify your books as a thriller?
Don't ever say, "this is my last book"! For a 40-year-old man just getting into this subject, I need your knowledge. Thank you again.
I was somewhat taken aback when I read that he classified my books 'as a thriller'. Who is this Jason Richard, anyway? After doing a Google search, I found a man by that name that matched his email address, and who owns the following company:
Thanks for checking - Yes, Jason is a friend of mine. I sent him a few of your books to add to his ever-growing bookshelf. He's hungry and eager for knowledge!
Hmm... A founder of a high-tech escape room business in San Diego interested in PCB-RE? That's odd but interesting. But at least now I understand why he'd consider my books on this niche skillset 'a thriller', coming from his adventure games background. That figures. Maybe I'll write a reply and suggest to him the possibility of including reverse engineering skill into his escape room adventure. I'm sure it will be the next big hit!
Well, just a thought, anyway...
A novice starting out to learn PCB reverse engineering usually begins with a multimeter and the simple notion that it's all about finding the interconnection points between components on the circuit board. In truth, it's not entirely correct. If it were that simple, electronic engineers the world over would be doing it.
Like the game of Go, the basic rules of PCB reverse engineering is easy to pick up, but mastering the skill requires time and certain know-how, if you want to shorten the learning curve and avoid costly mistakes and pitfalls. That's the reason I set out to write the sequel book PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques. To some measure, I was prompted by readers to give this niche topic a more complete treatment; also, I was driven by the desire to enhance my own learning journey by leveraging from the expertise of engineers who are willing to share their knowledge in their own peculiar field and experience using equipment and approaches I might or might not have heard of.
Here is the table of content for this book:
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It has many chapters on all sorts of techniques to reverse engineer printed circuit boards, with the intent of either replacing them with identical boards that no longer exist or determining the schematic for debugging a faulty circuit.
So take it from the likes of renown individuals and companies like Joe Grand (aka Kingpin), John McMaster, Bill Loving and Jeff Rupert (and their remarkable team from ScanCAD International, Inc.), Bob Elder (Teel Technologies), Fraser Castle (a seasoned engineer in multiple disciplines), Dr. Sergei Skorobogatov (University of Cambridge), etc. It is my firm belief that:
The best experiences of our engineering careers and endeavors can become a lasting legacy for future generations of engineers.
If the Art of PCB Reverse Engineering is the de facto reference for PCB-RE, this book is definitely the companion supplement to it!
One of the questions I often get asked during my tenure as a test and repair engineer in my former company was: what's the most difficult thing about PCB repair. My reply: intermittent faults and erratic failures. I'm sure those in the PCB repair industry would readily agree with me on this. And it's not getting any easier anytime, given the increasing complexity of today's PCBs in terms of their designs and functionalities.
That's one reason I embarked on writing PCB Diagnostics, a book that attempts to address not only this thorny challenge faced by the PCB repair community, but to promote a greater awareness on the available tools and techniques to help them get the job done. For readers who want to know what is discussed in this book, here's the table of content:
Some of the processes are laid out in detailed steps while others are covered only in enough depth, either due to the nature of the technique that is self-explanatory, or the scope of work involved which would overrun the book length. This is especially true of automated testing which I would love to devote specific coverage on a book series basis (see Conceptual for an idea of what I mean).
It's still too early to say how well PCB Diagnostics will be received by the repair community, but I hope that those who have bought it would leave their reviews on Amazon so I know if it has served the intended purpose when I started out to write it. Thanks!
Soon after Antrisksh and Aseem's recent visit to Singapore and our meetup, I noticed an increase in sales of my books in the Netherlands. In fact, one of the titles got into the bestseller category:
So, if you intend to take the manual PCB-RE route, these two books would be your safest bet to get you up to speed. As one reader, Michael Boewe, puts it:
Want to know how to reverse engineer a PCB? Buy this book. The book gives a very thorough explanation of how to reverse engineer a printed circuit board. It discusses different techniques that can be utilized with real world applications.
Click on the book cover and secure your copy today!
A few days before I flew off to Taiwan for holiday with my wife, I received a message from Antriksh, founder of Hardwear.io, via LinkedIn. He told me he'd be coming to Singapore on a business visit and would like to meet up with me, and have me sign my books. I was delighted, of course.
Soon after returning from my overseas trip, I fixed a lunch date with him on July 18 at City Hall station which is central. Well, he didn't come alone but had a friend, Aseem, the co-founder of Hardwear.io, in company. Being the host, I treated them to lunch at the Coffee Club in Raffles City.
It was an hour-and-a-half meetup and they were off to meet Bunny Huang, author of The Hardware Hacker book. Before we parted ways, Antrisksh asked if I would be interested to give a four-hour presentation and workshop at the next Hardwear.io conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands sometime in November. I felt honored to be invited and told him I will work out something and plan my schedule. It's still preliminary at this stage, though my incentive for going will be to meet Joe Grand in person there.
Maybe someday, I will link up with Bunny Huang and meet him over coffee. After all, we're both living in the same city-state, though our paths have not crossed so far. Life is full of surprises, so who knows...?
1. Schlumberger S700 Series Testers
a. S720 Functional Tester2. Teradyne Testers
a. Spectrum 8851 In-Circuit3. F5E Tiger Aircraft
a. AITS Test System4. F16 Fighting Falcon
a. DATS/2000 Test Station5. AS332 Super Puma
a. Apodis SDC/CCU Test StationOf course, no test station is standalone or self-sufficient on its own, and I had the opportunity to work on the following test and repair equipment:
1. Data I/O 3900 Device Programmer
Self-Published Author
Jan 2016 - Present · 7 yrs 7 months
Since it's debut in November 2015, The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering has been a consistent best seller among my books, though not the best seller on Amazon (far from it). It underscores the point of having a good textbook resource on this niche topic which sadly, is still quite lacking after nearly eight years since I penned my experiences.
While PCB-RE has not received the attention it needed, I believe that with the emphasis on 'Repair Don't Waste' to encourage recycling instead of discarding to save the earth, perhaps more people will see the importance of this special skillset in the repair and refurbish industry in the not too distant future.
For those who have yet to get their copy of this now de-facto and classic work on PCB-RE, here is a breakdown of the chapters:
Chapters 2-4 make up the bulk of the book and teach you how to identify and organize the component data necessary to begin PCB-RE on a board without documentation. The drafting tool of my choice is Microsoft Visio, though if you are good at another 2D CAD software, it works just as well. It's the process that's important and that's what I emphasize in the book. Drawing the PCB layout and schematic diagram is really a matter of personal style, and I really encourage you to develop your own that works for you.
That said, I hope you would at least give Visio a try and see for yourself how versatile and powerful its features are. There are some things that will only connect when you learn it first hand, and I can tell you from personal experience that no other 2D drafting tools even come close to Visio. Don't believe me? Get the book and go through the examples in chapter 5 and you'll wonder why you didn't take up Visio sooner.
Then, of course, I will point you to other resources that can enrich your PCB-RE journey, one of which is the darling of the DOS era: the OrCAD suite of engineering software tools (SDT, VST, PCB, PLD, and MOD), which once sold for $4,995 but is now free for download at one of the Old DOS Communities.
The Art of PCB-RE took me almost a year to write while working part-time. It's one of the most challenging book I took on but I'm glad I did, with the support of my understanding wife. At least I know that I now have a legacy for future generations of engineers who will make a difference to the world when they apply what they learn to reduce wastage and increase the operational life of the equipment they're servicing.
This year's Hardwear.io event featured nearly thirty speakers from various fields relating to hardware and security:
Incidentally, all my engineering books were showcased alongside other renown authors writing on similar subject matters:
Just last Sunday, Antriksh Shah from Hardwear.io contacted me on LinkedIn and expressed interest in procuring two sets of my PCB-RE books, hoping to give them away as prizes for participants in the upcoming Security Training & Conference at Santa Clara Marriott:
If you have not yet signed up for the event, you can go to this link to find out more about the talks and trainings offered. Who knows, you may be one of the lucky winners!
Just this morning, I received an email from someone who attended Joe Grand's Basic Hardware Hacking course and was given a signed copy of Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials:
Here's the content (partial) of the email (reproduced with permission):
Subject: Thank you for the knowledge
I received your book from Joe Grand after his "Basic Hardware Hacking" course (I'd like to think he gave it to me because I was the best) at hardwear.io 2022. I've been into hardware for quite a while (I own a tech heavy escape room that uses a large amount of Arduinos and Raspberry Pi's). I recently retired from the Navy and attended Joe’s course because I wanted a deeper understanding for my new job.
Currently I work for a small company that does RE and penetration testing. While everyone has their unique skill set, I fancied myself the "hardware hacker" of the group. In the last 10 months I have learned so much and would frequently thumb through your book for answers. It wasn't until three months ago that I brought your book home and read it from cover to cover. Then I picked up two more of your books.
To be frank your books scared me into taking anything apart...initially. I realized that although I was doing a great job on my tests, I could be doing a much better job. I lacked the methodical approach you take with your projects. The way you have written your books makes it seem as if you were sitting next to me teaching me the ways of the trade. I plan to get all your books as I create a "hardware" section for our company.
I want to sincerely thank you for making such amazing books. I find myself re-reading the same sections because there is so much information. Some of your ideas seem so simple and obvious, but I know it's because you learned them the hard way and are saving me years by not learning the same lessons through pain.
It certainly made my day and my wife's as well.
I reckon that many readers felt the same way (the red highlighted text above), because I believe in engaging my readers on a personal level through my style of writing. This is my method of 'coaching' to transfer my knowledge as a fellow engineer and friend, not a lecturer or instructor.
As this reader told me, he had wanted to write to me earlier but could not find my email address, until he bought The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering and found it in the ending of the Preface section. So if you have something to say to me, and have a copy of this book, look it up and have your say. My wife and I would love to hear from you too!
Take care and stay safe, as always.
Again, Amazon doesn't seem to post reviews by readers from other countries across its online platforms. This time, it's a review for The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering from Australia:
I suppose what this reader, an Australian, meant by "one of only books" is really "one of the few books" that deals with this subject (PCB-RE). The Art of PCB-RE book is an introduction to this niche and coveted topic, while the sequel PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques gives a comprehensive coverage on the available methodologies in this industry. The trilogy, PCB-RE: Real-World Examples shows how engineers carry out their trade in real-life experiences. Finally, Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials, is an extension of The Art of PCB-RE by teaching advanced techniques on doing PCB-RE manually using the GeForce 8600GT video card from Gigabyte.
Together, these four books provide ALL the necessary information needed to get any engineer quickly started on the PCB-RE journey with the proper tools and methods, while avoiding potential pitfalls and mistakes at the same time.
If you want to know which book to order first, read the following post on the trilogy. If you are already quite seasoned in this trade, then the fourth book (Essentials) might be what you need to bring your skillset to another level.
Take hold of the discounted offer before it expires in mid-May.
Following closely on the heels of PCB Diagnostics, I have released the full-color Kindle edition of Deciphering Schematics. Here are some sample pages:
Happy reading!
Ps: While I have the desire to convert all my engineering books to Kindle full-color editions, I do not foresee doing it that soon. The recent attempt on my latest two books had taken quite a toll on my health and I was out of action for a week. But I will inform my readers as and when I complete the remaining three.
Just when I thought I'm done with updating this blog, about three weeks into releasing my final engineering book, PCB Diagnostics, two readers who bought the print edition emailed me and asked if it is possible to send them color photos of certain pages. They cited having difficulties making out certain details from the black and white photos due to their poor eyesight conditions.
I promptly sent what they requested and then thought it might be good to come up with a color Kindle edition. One of the advantages, besides full-color, is the ability to zoom in for greater details. It took me about a week to replace all the photos and illustrations with color versions. Here are a few sample pages:
Happy reading!
Just felt a need to include the following review from an UK reader who downloaded Deciphering Schematics from Kindle Unlimited, which did not get posted across all the Amazon platforms except in the UK (strange!):
My intention for writing this book is not so much to go into the mathematical analysis of typical electrical or transistor circuits. Many books have already done that. Rather, I want to help readers understand enough of the various elements and topologies that make up digital, analog, hybrid and power circuit designs to be able to decipher (or interpret, if you prefer) them. Even so, the book does include some fundamental formulas and circuit characteristic graphs as and when necessary so readers can grasp the concepts behind their designs.
Sometimes we can fail to see the forest for the trees when we try to go into too much analytical details. This is something which I wanted to avoid and simply get to the essential points, while maintaining a balance between theoretical models and real-world examples. And rather than doing a quick, slip-slop work to get this book out, I took great pains to draw most of the circuits and illustrations using Microsoft Visio, for example:
Readers who bought my book can be confident they are getting the best quality content for their money. That's my personal guarantee.
From the initial conception to its release, PCB Diagnostics has taken me close to two years to complete, though the actual intensive writing process occurred only in the last six months. To be honest, it wasn't all smooth sailing——family commitments, financial disruption, CoVid-19 infection, and emotional turmoil from two deaths, one of a personal friend last year July, and then my aunt just last Wednesday in the midst of my final proofreading. I had to put everything aside to attend to her funeral arrangements and provide support to my aged uncle who has been very dependent on her all this while.
On a lighter and happier note, this last engineering book is finally released and available for order on Amazon, right on our anniversary date! And fittingly so, since my first engineering book was also released on the same occasion eight years ago when I started my writing journey with my wife's wholehearted support.
In appreciation, I have written the following dedication to her:
To Bernice, my beloved wife, for being so patient, supportive, and understanding in the past eight years when I started out to fulfil my dream as an author. We did not know how it would turn out, and though there were tough and uncertain times, you stayed by my side and cheered me on, knowing that my works will make a difference, however small, in the lives of my readers, and leave a lasting legacy when both of us fade into history.
I would not have come this far without you. Thank you for believing in me. With heartfelt gratitude, I dedicate this book to you, just as I did for the first.
Currently I am doing a final proofread of my book, PCB Diagnostics. Caught several typos and rephrase some sentences upon re-reading. Just gotten the barcode for the cover's ISBN image as well. I should complete the task by Friday but at the same time, I am also waiting for approval from a JTAG product vendor on the use of some material related to Chapter 9, which is already in place.
Here's a two-page sample that summarizes the PCB diagnostic process, with supplementary notes:
While diagnosing PCB failures is a more familiar topic than PCB-RE, it is by no means easier to write, considering the many different techniques (I covered six in detail and two in passing in this book) that are used to accomplish this challenging task. Even then, each has its own merits and challenges to take into account.
But I'm glad to be near the end of this writing journey on engineering stuff. If everything goes well, the book will be available for order end of this month. That's all for now.
Today is Valentine's Day and I'm reminded of my secondary school teacher, Jonathan Chan, who despite his qualifications, chose an average neighborhood school and by his dedication left a lasting impact on his students during his short tenure there, of whom I am one. Much like the classic story of E.R. Braithwaite in his novel by the same post title.
I learned Technical Drawing from this teacher who had instilled in me a love for technical illustrations, and to pick up Microsoft Visio as the drafting tool of choice. This is also the reason for all the beautiful engineering drawings that can be found in all my books. I pointed this out so that my readers may know the contribution of a good teacher through his students. Not only that, his positive outlook and pleasant disposition remain a great influence in all that I do, especially my personal belief in giving my best and taking pride in my workmanship.
Here is a two-page sample dedicated in his honor:
Your fine example and model has made me what I am today as an engineer and a writer. To you, most respected Sir, I dedicate this book with love!
With the long Chinese New Year holiday over, I'm back to writing Chapter 6 on the Clip-n-Learn method of PCB Diagnostics. This is the final chapter of the book I'm writing (not the last chapter) and based on the sample test report provided by my engineer friend, it's going to take at least one and a half to two weeks of work. Why is that? Because the document is in Chinese! Not only do I have to translate the content into English, but amend the text and adjust the flow so it blends well into the book. Additional effort is also needed to edit the numerous photos and screenshots so they fit nicely into the pages.
Here's a two page sample:
When can readers expect the book to be released? If everything goes according to plan, I reckon it would be end February. I still need to do a final proofread to correct grammatical errors and possible technical glitches. This book is larger than the rest in terms of file size due to the number of illustrations included. It's 50% bigger than the PCB-RE trilogy and Microsoft Word is struggling to handle it at this point. Thankfully it's the final lap.
I will follow up with another update and then round up with a summary post in the next two weeks, so stay tuned.
Since I started writing in 2014, I had published five engineering books with one still in progress and into the last chapter. All my books are available on Amazon online store in prints, and only two of the five have Kindle versions, namely The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering and PCB-RE: Real-World Examples. I was rather hesitant to offer all my books in electronic form because of the rampant piracy.
After several years of deliberating, I decided to make the remaining three titles available on Kindle as well:
It's definitely not an easy decision, but I guess I just have to believe that there are still honest and honorable people who appreciate the sweat and hard work authors put in to produce their books. If you are one of them, you will be happy to know that the above Kindle titles are on Amazon at affordable prices.
Writing is my dream and passion, not only to share my knowledge and experience, but also to leave a legacy that will make a difference to future generations of electronic engineers. And I'm glad that my wife understood and supported me in this endeavor for the past seven years. I hope to complete PCB Diagnostics by end February and then move on to something else. Writing may not be sustainable for me, but at least it gave me a sense of satisfaction that I can look back without regrets for not trying.
And that is what life's choices is all about.
Since February 2017 when I started blogging about using Microsoft Visio to do PCB-RE, I have posted 287 write-ups to date. Not all are related to the PCB-RE topics, though I would think the figure comes to over two-thirds. I don't particularly bother about the statistics, i.e. the number of times each post is read, but out of curiosity I did a scan to see which of the posts come in the top three.
Here are the findings:
You can click on the 'link' to read the post, if you've not already done so. It's not surprising that Joe Grand (aka Kingpin) has the highest hit, being the renown hacker that he is. The Artosyn drones seem to be of great interest among my readers, for obvious reasons too. What surprises me, though, is the number of people who are still looking for the old DOS OrCAD EDA suite, which went out of circulation after its competitor Cadence bought over the company in 1999 and migrated the software to Windows.
But as they say, good legacy software never dies; it just lives on in another hardware host that permits it to thrive in.
Humans always have an innate fear that one day the machines they created to make their lives easier will take over their jobs and make them redundant. This is true of any industry and it is more felt in the PCB manufacturing and repair sectors. The word 'automated' is associated with machines and an antithesis to the word 'manual', referring to man the operator.
In this age of rapid technological advancement, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and learning (AL) is a foreboding trend that many engineers embrace as an evil necessity, yet choose not to think too much or too far ahead. Nonetheless, without such industrial revolution, we would not have enjoyed the proficiency and power these technological marvels afford us at work and leisure.
Take automated optical inspection (AOI) for instance. Without this innovation, it would not be possible to detect manufacturing defect fast and accurate enough to ensure production yield of PCB products. And while it will still be some time before the machine can take on a mind of its own to learn how to initiate an inspection without human aid, it has greatly reduce the workload and errors contributed by human factors.
Perhaps when that day finally arrives, it may not be as fearsome as we thought it to be. After all, there's something about human ingenuity that machines will probably never be able to duplicate, however 'smart' they may become.
Who knows, we may not even be around when that happens. So go get a beer or something and chill out...
English can be quite confusing to those foreign to its nuances, or even near similar spellings. Take the word 'glossary' for example. It means an alphabetical list of words or terms relating to a specific subject, usually accompanied by a brief explanation each. It can, however, be confused with the word 'grocery' which means a list of items to be bought from a supermarket.
Well, I don't normally include one in my books but somehow for this last engineering book I'm currently writing, I thought it would be a good idea to:
And while I was busy working on the list of terms to put in, my wife was also busy coming up with a list of items for her groceries as well. In some way, we are both writers I suppose, except that my content caters to the intellectual (food for thought) while hers satisfies the physical (food for the body). Either way they are just as important to our well-being.
By the way, the Chinese lunar New Year is a time of great feasting with families and friends too, and this year it's right after Christmas. I'd probably gain a few pounds by the end of the 15-day festival. Then it's time for some sweaty workout...
Writing engineering stuff can sometime feel like doing archeological work. While researching a bit on the history of JTAG, I found out that soon after the IEEE 1149.1-1990 standard was formulated, Intel released its first processor, the 80486DX2, with JTAG implementation and the chip industry quickly adopted the standard and follow suit.
This prompted me to recall an in-circuit project for which I developed a test routine for the i486DX2 CPU back in 1996. It was also my first encounter with JTAG which gave me an alternative way of testing a processor chip without going through the arduous traditional coding process. And I'm happy I managed to dig it out from a pile of past archives and showcase it as an example in Chapter 9:
I'm sure my readers will benefit greatly how boundary scan works by studying the easy to follow test codes in high-level language syntax. It did, however, took me quite a while to understand and figure out the process laid out in the CPU's handbook (I've included the 12-page section on boundary scan test as an appendix).
Of course, newer processors and programmable array chips are much more complex. Thankfully, you don't have to do it the manual way like I did, because JTAG hardware and software tools are available with a comprehensive library of chip manufacturers supplied BSDL files now make it a breeze to test any JTAG-enabled chip on the market, better still, PCBs designed with daisy-chained JTAG devices. This too, will be covered.
That's all for now.
The Chinese Lunar New Year (CNY) is just five days away and spring cleaning is currently underway in my house. Amidst the bustling activities in preparing for this festival, I decided to start writing Chapter 9 on Other Techniques of PCB diagnostics. My engineer friend is tied up after coming back from a long holiday and can only give me the materials I need after the CNY. Oh well...
What are the other techniques that I will be exploring? For sure, JTAG is one of them. Another two more will be AOI and AXI, and I will include a comparison of these two. There is something about virtual instruments but I've yet to decide whether to include it in this chapter.
Here's a two-page sample for Chapter 9:
Incidentally, my friend's company ABI Electronics also carries a JTAG diagnostic tool for which I've also requested for a case study. If he can provide that, it would be a good illustration to my collection of examples in this upcoming book.
I will try to squeeze some time to write during this busy festive season, so stay tune for more updates.
This week I'm 'on duty' at the National Library @ Chinatown for a mini-Roadshow by the National Silver Academy (NSA), a government initiative to promote lifelong learning among the seniors in Singapore. Here's the booth setup with yours truly:
It's a good break from my writing and allows me to interact with people, especially the elderly. There's always wonderful people you can meet at such events, more so as the Lunar Chinese New Year is just around the corner and people are in jovial festive moods.
Outside the mall there is a display of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs where shoppers can take photos. This is the year of the Rabbit so it's not surprising that its figurine is much larger than the rest:
Lately I'm feeling good that there is progress with my book, PCB Diagnostics. I have just finished Chapter 8 on Thermal Imaging and gotten permission from a Malaysian engineer to feature two of his repairs using thermal camera. I sent him a copy of the draft and here's what he has to say:
Wow, really didn’t expect the writing is that good. It’s straight to point and good English.
Like all my other books, you can expect clear, concise English that presents engineering knowledge that is not boring but engaging, with lots of useful footnotes and interesting anecdotes. This is more so with my upcoming book which uses parallel analogies with TCM. So you'll not just learn how to perform PCB diagnostics with various techniques, you'll pick up some valuable knowledge on Chinese medicine at the same time!
Stay tune for more updates, my friends.
It is with much sadness that Singapore say goodbye to her true-blue visionary and entrepreneur Sim Wong Hoo, the founder, chairman and CEO of Creative Technologies. The tech pioneer, who became Singapore’s youngest billionaire at the age of 45, was best known for the Sound Blaster sound cards, which dominated the personal computer audio market till the early 2000s.
In May 2006, Creative sued Apple, saying that the iPod and iPod Nano infringed on a patent that the company had for the interface in its Zen media player. Apple countersued. The legal dispute was eventually settled with US$100 million paid by Apple, granting them license to a patent for the hierarchical user interface used in Creative’s products.
In an interview with CNBC, Sim spoke about his belief that Apple had taken their ideas.
It was something we had to do because Apple did not just… infringe our patent. Actually, Steve [Jobs] came to our booth, saw our products and liked the product. He saw the future of Apple there.
But when Apple founder Steve Jobs died of complications due to pancreatic cancer in 2011, Sim, in a show of grace, took out a full page newspaper ad to pay tribute to him.
In the 2009 blockbuster movie Avatar, the phrase "I see you." was used by the inhabitants of Pandora as a form of greeting. In the world of infrared vision, the power to see the invisible (heat radiation) can be a quick and useful way of finding failed components. This is what Chapter 8 on Thermal Imaging is all about in my upcoming book, PCB Diagnostics.
Here's a two-page sample:
I've included an ancient anecdote in the introduction to this interesting topic, but I'll not reveal it here to keep the mystery wrapped up, much like the nature of infrared. The good news is, I'm making progress on the chapter and that friend of mine had come back to me that sometime this week after the Christmas holiday, he'll have the material I need for Chapter 6. Talk about timing.
For now, readers will have to wait a bit longer. Not to worry, though, "I'll see you, soon."
