Winner, Name that Ware May 2017

The Ware for May 2017 is the “Lorentz and Hertz” carriage board from an HP Officejet Pro 8500. Congrats to MegabytePhreak for nailing both the make and model of the printer it came from! email me for your prize.

I found the name of the board to be endearing.

5 Responses to “Winner, Name that Ware May 2017”

  1. I would love an article about HOW it is that people are able to figure these out.

    • Carl Smith says:

      I figured out that the October 2015 Name That Ware was a board from a LeCroy oscilloscope. First I just looked at the layout of the board and was able to get an idea that it was probably an oscilloscope. But the giveaway was the strange reference designators on the board. It had designators like “7IC1” and “8IC1.” I figured that a couple of those designators probably provided a unique indication, so I Googled “Schematic 7IC1 8IC1” and hit on the service manual for the LeCroy oscilloscope.

      So basically just look at the board layout and ICs to get a basic idea of what it is, then look for anything out of the ordinary or more specific to narrow it down.

      Bunnie usually blocks out any identifying part numbers that would make it too easy. If he had obscured all those odd reference designators I would have known it was probably a scope but I wouldn’t have figured out the exact model.

      Of course, this strategy only works on PCBs, so it won’t help for the June NTW.

      • rasz_pl says:

        Yeah, for Schneider VFD I cheated and just googled the sticker on biggest chip :(

        What helps is doing/watching a lot of teardowns. In the past I would go to Wolumen(*) and buy a bag of random <$1 surplus electronic garbage with sole intent of learning whats inside and how/why it was made like that.

        * Wolumen is like a mini SEG market/akihabara 10 years ago/ Hamvention, but in central Europe/Warsaw. ~100 small independent electronic stands every weekend + ~100 permanent electronic supply shops. For example this is a typical small business weekend car boot stall with all kinds of bulbs: http://arbiter.pl/files/g/2_958258435_449_4960_.jpg :-)

        • Adrian says:

          Same here.

          Tearing down every piece of electronics before throwing it out. Not only removing the screws, but also trying to figure out what the different components are and how it works. After some time you start recognizing patterns.

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