Shoddy Hardware (Was: Re: WW fixtures (was Re: "New" PDP-8))

From: Douglas H. Quebbeman <dquebbeman_at_acm.org>
Date: Wed Apr 3 18:25:19 2002

> > Tony,
> > As hard as it may be to envision, I bet _most_ of the subscribers to
> > this list do not own tap & die sets. Many probably own only one hammer,
>
> People here don't have soldering irons, they don't have tap and die sets.
> What the heck do they use to repair computers (;-) in case you're
wondering).

Once upon a time, when I worked as a programmer for an
hourly wage, with time-and-half for overtime, and lived
rent-free, I was able to acquire a reasonable set of
tools, but most of them were for the other hobby, working
on my Audi's.

But I do have a logic probe, a RatShack-labeled Ungar iron,
heating elements up to 43 watts (glows red!), and lots of
TTL parts, etc. No scope, no analyzer, nothing esoteric.
But a breadboard, a manual wirewrap tool, a few spools
of wirewrap, protoboards, some material for making cheap
PCB boards, cheap dykes of various sizes. I used to have
heat sinks, IC pullers, two rechargeable Wahl irons (well,
I still have one).

But now I mostly have a salary that grows 1% behind the
rate of inflation and a mortgage that consumes most of
the cash, with food coming in second.

So, debugging hardware ofen involves totems, incense, etc.

Or lots and lots of "remove and replace"...

;)
Received on Wed Apr 03 2002 - 18:25:19 BST