The Ware for March 2023 is shown below:

Thank again to spida for submitting this ware. I was certainly stumped when I first saw it! Again, some very big “clues” are not shown, which I will add to the post later if it turns out to be too difficult to guess.

Hint #1 Update

April 9, 2023: Here’s an additional image, courtesy of spida, that enhances the contrast on some key parts.

I’ll also drop a meta-hint. As is the case for most modern, highly integrated MCU-based wares, any context photo revealing what plugs into the connectors basically gives away the entire function of the ware. If the enhanced image of the circuit board does not converge guesses toward a correct functional class, I’ll add a context photo in roughly one week that should do the trick.

This part of the reason why I personally like looking at vintage wares and test equipment…you can learn a lot just by looking at the circuit board!

Hint #2 Update

April 16, 2023: Here’s a “context” image hint. This is a picture of the circuit board, installed in its case with all of its peripheral devices plugged in. My assumption is this image should rapidly lead to the ware being guessed, but…this one has been surprisingly difficult so far!

The Ware for February 2023 is just a tiny portion of a Pioneer DDJ-400. Still enough for wrm to guess it exactly! Congrats, email me for your prize. It is the case that Pioneer gear has a very distinctive design style to it. I wonder if their PCB design software isn’t some in-house tool, or at least a tool with a niche client list.

Just for completeness, here’s the larger context image I would have added to the post if just the tightly cropped image with the bearing turned out to be a stumper:

The Ware for February 2023 is shown below.

Just a small portion of the ware is shown here to make things a bit more challenging. If after a week it turns out to be too hard to guess based on the subtle details included in this image, I’ll add another image to this post with a bit more context.

The Ware for January 2023 is a front-end readout board from the KASCADE muon detector. Thanks again to cpresser for contributing the ware, and also congratulations to AZeta for nailing it! email me for your prize.

The Ware for January 2023 is shown below.

Thanks to cpresser for contributing this wonderfully photographed circuit board as this month’s entry.