Author Topic: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently  (Read 2210 times)

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Offline etiTopic starter

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Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« on: January 03, 2022, 04:05:01 am »
I see this a fair bit on YouTube videos. Uneducated people say “Look at the motherboard”, as they point at any old PCB. A bloke just pointed at the PCB of a broken Xbox controller “ooooh, look at the motherboard” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I blame the likes of “iFixit” etc who use incorrect terminology all the time, and homogenise specific parts into the wrong category.

The term “motherboard” implies it had a daughter board, as many computers had. If it’s a PCB that can’t even HAVE that extensibility, the term is nonsense.
 

Offline daqq

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2022, 09:51:21 am »
Yes, people outside of the trade often use incorrect or imprecise terms.

And that's fine - exact terminology is something that's not trivial to teach to people without the education or basic understanding of the area, and it is not something I would expect of them. There's no one to blame since it's not that much of a problem.

I'm sure that I use improper terms for stuff involving say, architecture, botany or chemistry - there's a lot of different types of standard glassware and I just say beaker or test tube until corrected. Or glass thingy :) Can you tell the difference between Griffin beaker and an Erlenmeyer flask of the top of your head?
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Online magic

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2022, 11:05:32 am »
I can >:D

And it's not just ignorance - many a*holes will deliberately use terms they aren't quite familiar with in attempt to sound smarter than they are. Internet is cancer.
 

Offline mc172

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2022, 12:41:11 pm »
The term “motherboard” implies it had a daughter board, as many computers had.

Like this?



 

Offline xrunner

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2022, 12:49:02 pm »
The term “motherboard” implies it had a daughter board, as many computers had. If it’s a PCB that can’t even HAVE that extensibility, the term is nonsense.

Where are the "Father" boards? Don't both parents have rights!  >:(
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Offline themadhippy

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2022, 12:58:36 pm »
Wot about the non binary gender neutral boards?And what about the poor boards that are unable to have children?surely the term "mother" is causing then  distress
 
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Offline xrunner

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2022, 01:01:36 pm »
Wot about the non binary gender neutral boards?And what about the poor boards that are unable to have children?surely the term "mother" is causing then  distress

Exactly! Remember the big kerfuffle regarding Master / Slave in the industry? This is the next crusade!
I told my friends I could teach them to be funny, but they all just laughed at me.
 
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Offline themadhippy

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2022, 01:03:02 pm »
Quote
This is the next crusade!
i'll get onto it  once ive woke up
 

Offline Jwalling

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2022, 09:35:49 am »
The term “motherboard” implies it had a daughter board, as many computers had. If it’s a PCB that can’t even HAVE that extensibility, the term is nonsense.

Where are the "Father" boards? Don't both parents have rights!  >:(

Playing with the daughter boards?
Jay

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Online magic

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2022, 09:54:54 am »
The whole concept of "parent"-boards seems fairly problematic and indicative of a rather backwards society; r/ChildFree wouldn't approve :--
I was about to suggest "carrier board" but then thought about American militarism and colonialism - 'nuff said |O

Seriously now, what could be the proper way of calling those things in the second decade of the 21st century? :-//
 

Offline david77

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2022, 10:26:27 am »
If I recall correctly IBM used the term "Planar", that seems fairly neutral.
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2022, 11:30:59 am »
Apple has stuck with the terminology they came up with for the original Mac, which had two boards: the “analog board” (containing the PSU and the CRT driver circuitry) and the “logic board” (the motherboard). They kept the “logic board” name even on models without built-in displays, including desktop and tower models that use very ordinary topologies of a single board (with or without expansion cards) and a steel-boxed PSU. As far as I know, every single Mac model, even to this day, has used the “logic board” name for its main PCB.
 

Offline mrburnzie

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2022, 09:54:50 am »
Customs in Serbia always regards them as motherboards and sometimes even parts of computers... and when you get customs on a 2$ pcb from jlcpcb, it's quite fun!
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Offline Psi

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2022, 09:58:52 am »
Motherboard / mainboard, meh, it just means the primary PCB in a product.

The only incorrect usage I can think of is if a product only has 1 pcb in it.
It has to be the mother or the main board within multiple boards.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2022, 10:00:36 am by Psi »
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Offline tautech

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Re: Every PCB is a “motherboard”, apparently
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2022, 10:00:05 am »
The term “motherboard” implies it had a daughter board, as many computers had. If it’s a PCB that can’t even HAVE that extensibility, the term is nonsense.

Where are the "Father" boards? Don't both parents have rights!  >:(
Them called Mainboards now.  :P
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