Winner, Name that Ware August 2012

September 24th, 2012

Picking a winner for August 2012 is a tough one. Usually, there are multiple correct answers, with varying levels of detail. In this case, after doing a bit of research, I can’t really declare anyone a definitive winner, a problem in large part caused by the fact that I don’t know which ware this is from. For sure, the boards look similar in size and form factor to those found in the IBM 5100 series, but none of them are an exact match. However, I imagine IBM re-used the technology and form factor across multiple products at the time, so form factor alone cannot be used as a determinant for positive identification.

As a result, I’m going to award the winner’s prize to Brian, for sharing a large amount of interesting research with me on how the boards were manufactured (the excerpts from the IBM journal were a particularly good read). Congrats, email me for your prize!

As for the question about why the regular grid of holes — I found Tracy Hall’s comment about the use of an automated point-to-point wiring system to be compelling. However, after reviewing the IBM report, I was pretty convinced that these PCBs are made using multiple layers of etched copper. Thus, my guess is that the regular array of holes is due to one or a combination of the following: (1) CAD technology was not advanced enough back then to allow for the placement of arbitrarily located holes, particularly on large designs; on a low memory system (tens to hundreds of KiB) with no floating point support, it would be much easier to track hole and wire locations snapped to 0.1″ centers only, as opposed to storing a large number of coordinates to a high numeric precision. (2) It may have been more expensive to build a CNC drill versus just slaving together dozens of drills on a single rigid mechanical frame that was very precisely calibrated to make only 0.1″ steps. In other words, the cost of automation may have been great enough that it didn’t justify the savings in drilling time even if it meant potentially drilling thousands of extra, unused holes. The IBM article didn’t explicitly state why the boards were drilled in such a regular pattern, but it did make reference to slaving together dozens of drill heads to reduce drilling time. (3) As a matter of design discipline, it could have reduced errors and saved design time to force all holes to a 0.1″ design rule, versus taping out a PCB and finding that it can’t be manufactured because some ICs were accidentally placed a tiny bit too close in the artwork — or that holes on one layer didn’t line up with holes on another layer due to human error. The IBM boards had an unusually high density and layer count compared to other PCBs of the time.

EFF Pioneer Award

September 21st, 2012

I just had a legendary drop!

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I’m incredibly humbled and honored to receive a Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Thanks to everyone who nominated me for this amazing award. The recognition motivates me to work harder!

Over a decade ago when I first set out reverse engineering the Xbox, I didn’t set out to be on the electronic frontier. In fact, it was business as usual for me, trodding the same ground I had walked since I was a child: the frontier came to me. The passage of the DMCA in 1998 redrew the borders of the frontier, and I became a pioneer without ever having to journey from the doorstep of my log cabin.

You could say I have a very traditional notion of ownership. If I buy something, I find it odd to think that I don’t own it. However, in the world of software, that’s the standard: you cannot own the expressive results of another’s thoughts; you can merely license a copy of it. This has lead to a number of ownership paradoxes. For example, a few years ago, you could license a copy of a video game called Diablo II, and the license was such that decades from now, you could legally enjoy a moment of nostalgia while you played it on an old computer. Today, you can license a copy of its sequel, Diablo III, but it relies upon a cloud service to authenticate the copy. The owner has the right to terminate the authentication service and in doing so you agree to stop playing. Decades from now, you may still have the computer; you may still have a copy of the software; but you no longer have the legal right to play, as you gave it away in a click-through agreement.

I like hardware because it’s relatively free of paradoxes like this. There is a notion that when I buy a book, it’s mine to do with what I want. I can give it to a friend, sell it in a second-hand shop; I can tear pages out, scribble on it, use it as a doorstop or a bug-smashing instrument. I can even photocopy pages for my personal use. Since I was a child, I had applied this intuitive definition of ownership to hardware. I’ve always felt empowered to take apart hardware and rip-mix-and-sometimes-burn, much to my parent’s chagrin. Hardware to me is like a book: in fact, much of the technology used to make hardware relies on similar lithographic and printing processes. A PCB isn’t a “Printed Circuit Board” for nothing. You can open and read hardware like a book; to me a schematic and a circuit board or IC layout are expressing the same idea, just translated in different languages.

And so, when I first punctured the warranty seal on the Xbox with my screwdriver, I had no idea I was about to embark on a journey to become a pioneer. But as they say, ‘you can tell the pioneers — they have the arrows coming out of their back’. But really, all I’ve done since then is just stand my ground and defend my little log cabin, built out of simple notions that are as old as the first trade of eggs for grain.

I believe you have the right to tinker and take things apart, which is an essential prerequisite to owning something; and I believe that ideas are most powerful when they are set free and shared openly. While the lines that define the electronic frontier are constantly changing, we need not be victims of circumstance: take a stand, and be a pioneer.

Thanks to everyone who supported me and gave me the courage to earn this award — my parents, my partner, my teachers and advisors, particularly Tom Knight and Hal Abelson; and my friends and my colleagues who stood by me even in my darkest times.

Name that Ware August 2012 (part 2)

September 10th, 2012

In a rare turn of events, I don’t yet have an answer for August’s ware. Many thoughtful comments were posted (particularly the ones about how the board is constructed — thanks very much for that insight!), but none are conclusive.

So, to help things along, I’m posting photos of other boards gathered from the same dumpster dive, assuming they bear some relation to the contest ware, and perhaps one of these can jog someone’s memory or at least narrow down the piece of equipment that they came from.

85,000 Watts of Pure Love

September 9th, 2012

Ever wonder what 85,000 watts looks like? Fear not, above is a handy visual aid.

This is the Robot Heart, which drove every night onto the deep playa at Burning Man and filled the desert with the cleanest, most powerful sound system I had ever heard. It was love at first beat — you can feel the bass in your chest from over a hundred meters away, and it sounds fabulous close-up. And the desert being a near-ideal infinite baffle, there are no reflections or echos to diminish the soundfield; you can still hear the clear and pure sound of the Robot Heart from almost a kilometer away. The best part is the whole thing is on wheels — it’s a rather surreal sight to see hundreds of people clad in fuzzy hats, LEDs, and EL-wire dance-walking along side the Robot Heart as it slowly migrates into the deep desert.

There’s nothing like watching the sunrise to the beats of the Robot Heart.

Shout-out to the Phage for being such an awesome and kind group of people to camp with. :) There’s no better way to spend a week camping in the desert than learning from a bunch of interesting and intelligent people.

Beers with Ian

August 24th, 2012

I had the fortune of kicking it with Ian Lesnet from Dangerousprototypes.com and having a couple of beers in my workshop while watching Curiosity stick its landing on Mars (massive props to the JPL and NASA engineers who pulled that off, btw!).

Ian took a video of the meet-up and with Chris Gammell’s help did a bang-up job of editing it. The interview is posted at his site, and in addition to giving a quick tour of my workshop we traded tips on soldering, sourcing, and survival in the Shenzhen electronics markets. Too bad the interview was done before my new laser cutter arrived…it would have been fun to engrave silly pictures on random household items!