Category Archives: Miscellany

All sorts of stuff, ranging from my insane rants on the proper indenting of stuff to

Davids bile giveaway - Images in PDFs or "Maximum compression leads to depression"

First look at this schematic: Now, this is the schematic from a of an evkit for one of the devices of an unnamed company. You'll note that they used a resistor of a value of... well... 1k? 10? Ah, of … Continue reading

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Achievement unlocked - I'm an Engineer!

After many years I have finally finished my studies at FEI (the Faculty of Electronics and Informatics in Bratislava) and am now an official EE (Ing. title in Slovakia)! I would like to thank my friends, colleagues, teachers and many … Continue reading

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Datentechnik MS2-TD serial data generator teardown

This gallery contains 77 photos.

While going through random electronics on a local flea-market (on the Inter Stadium in Bratislava, 98+% of the items there are of no interest, but the occasional treasure can be found, beware of pickpockets) I found this little device - … Continue reading

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HP 6010A Teardown

This gallery contains 116 photos.

The HP 6010A is a monster of a power supply, capable of providing 1kW. There are three limits: 17A, 200V and 1kW - that means that you can source 200V, but only up to 5A. You can suck 17A, but … Continue reading

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HP 3476B teardown

This gallery contains 35 photos.

The HP 3476B multimeter is a neat piece of measurement equipment - probably one of the better choices for an economical (sold at 225 USD in 1976, around 1k USD today) 3½ digit digital meter in the later 1970s. It … Continue reading

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HP3455A teardown - part 3 - The analog part and the miscellany

This gallery contains 60 photos.

The analog part is the real heart of the device - here all of the precision magic and measurement happens. If you are interested in the detailed inner workings of the system, please read the service manual, which is available … Continue reading

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HP3455A teardown - part 2 - The Logic! and the Display

This gallery contains 17 photos.

This is the second part of the teardown of the HP 3455A digital multimeter. It will deal with the logic part of the device. You can read the first part of the teardown HERE. And the last part, for the … Continue reading

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HP3455A teardown - part 1 - calibration module and the backside

This gallery contains 28 photos.

The HP3455A is a great device - Old, but great. It is a precision multimeter (voltage, resistance), made by HP in the 1980's. For part 2 (logic and control) CLICK HERE. For part 3 (analog and black magic) CLICK HERE. … Continue reading

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Electronics, programming - the sciences you can do at home

I was wondering about something completely different, when it occured to me: electronics and programming are probably the only sciences that you can do at home at a professional level and have a aren't purely theoretical (practical as in: you … Continue reading

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Quotes I like

"Atheists believe that people can be moral and have a good society without religion. Christians believe that unless someone is threatening them with eternal damnation and goading them on with promises of paradise people will be evil." - noodleguy on … Continue reading

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