Author Topic: When PCB designers have way too much fun  (Read 3204 times)

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Offline HwAoRrDkTopic starter

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When PCB designers have way too much fun
« on: November 04, 2023, 12:55:12 pm »
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What is this? This is a GPS receiver made by Trimble, one of the biggest GPS companies. Why is it shaped like an ambulance? Good question. This is a 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993, which was relatively early for consumer GPS tech. On the back is a Motorola 68HC000 and 64k of RAM. Look it even has a little red light on top. And a silk screened steering wheel.

https://mastodon.sdf.org/@keelan/111349948124943603
 

Offline nctnico

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2023, 01:33:59 pm »
So cool. Why do I never think of things like that?  :palm:
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 
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Offline DavidAlfa

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2023, 03:09:25 pm »
Before 2000s everything was different. Remember the easter eggs in all kind of software.
Then the companies took IBM path, stone-cold.
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Offline TimFox

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2023, 06:25:04 pm »
I was unable to find an image of this, but I remember that Plessey Semiconductors made a long "bucket brigade" analog shift register (I think it was for LeCroy?) that had to be bent into a Z shape to fit on the chip.
The chip designer had room inside the Z, which looked something like a railroad, so he copied a steam locomotive from his child's coloring book and put it on the substrate.
(Tektronix draftsmen often did the same thing with their schematics, such as a skier going down a diagonal line on a flip-flop circuit.)
 

Online coppercone2

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2023, 05:50:17 am »
Before 2000s everything was different. Remember the easter eggs in all kind of software.
Then the companies took IBM path, stone-cold.

and then ibm basically crashed and burned and employee retention in jobs like that is piss poor and no one knows wtf is going on at those companies because the supposedly 'creative' roles are being cycled through like a malfunctioning carnival carousel because what used to be a fun day at work turned into 'thinking about going home while in a psychotic state due to paperwork and 'opinion management because everyone expects you to be a shady bullshitter and any fun you have might allow someone leverage against the company in some abstract way'. Every day makes you feel like that one day the VP of some companies used to have during a important life changing multinational government merger or something, even if you are only sweeping the floor on a friday. you know, like reagan visiting the soviet union for the first time.

 telephone pole up ass [✓]
« Last Edit: November 05, 2023, 06:00:40 am by coppercone2 »
 

Online tautech

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2023, 07:30:50 am »
Before 2000s everything was different. Remember the easter eggs in all kind of software.
Then the companies took IBM path, stone-cold.
Not all have turned their back on a bit of fun.

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Offline Neilm

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2023, 06:17:13 pm »
Wow - the most I have ever done is sneak my initials onto a PCB
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Online SiliconWizard

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2023, 09:56:04 pm »
Wow - the most I have ever done is sneak my initials onto a PCB

Daredevil!
 

Offline hans

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #8 on: November 06, 2023, 08:27:03 am »
Wow - the most I have ever done is sneak my initials onto a PCB

As an intern I was almost thrown out for that :-DD
 

Offline tom66

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2023, 10:29:50 am »
Sometimes there is no option.  You can't include Easter Eggs in professional software that's written to an exact specification, and hand-specifying how exactly a Rainbow Road function is activated involves a whole team deciding to integrate that Easter Egg... at which point is it really spontaneous?   You will see it in smaller software teams and companies where development processes are less rigid.
 
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Offline tszaboo

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #10 on: November 06, 2023, 05:28:19 pm »
Wow - the most I have ever done is sneak my initials onto a PCB
I sometimes write "dance floor" on PCBs with lots of free space for any reason.
Last PCB which had some microcontroller board soldered into it, had "Hidden text" written between the boards.
 
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Offline CJay

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2023, 07:04:03 pm »
I quite like the idea of burying jokes, text, images etc on the inner layers of multilayer boards so they show up when X-Rayed
 

Online tautech

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #12 on: November 06, 2023, 07:31:50 pm »
Or you could just place a moniker like a member here did when he designed IC's.
Examine top left corner.  ;)
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Offline DavidAlfa

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Offline newbrain

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #14 on: November 07, 2023, 07:02:52 am »
Examine top left corner.  ;)
...pay no attention to the the obvious dick drawings  ;D
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Offline T3sl4co1l

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #15 on: November 07, 2023, 08:14:01 am »
I once took the time to draw this out...



haven't ordered anything with it on yet though.  :-[

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Offline EPAIII

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #16 on: November 12, 2023, 07:02:52 am »
I recall seeing Kilroy peeking over the outlines and sometimes circuit traces of one company's schematics. Wish I had taken some photos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here
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Offline Bud

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #17 on: November 12, 2023, 07:30:17 am »
I quite like the idea of burying jokes, text, images etc on the inner layers of multilayer boards so they show up when X-Rayed
You can hide one in plain view. Encode it in QR code image and place on the PCB. Typically nobody scans codes but the person who would do will be to a surprise.
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Online SiliconWizard

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2023, 07:39:00 am »
I quite like the idea of burying jokes, text, images etc on the inner layers of multilayer boards so they show up when X-Rayed
You can hide one in plain view. Encode it in QR code image and place on the PCB. Typically nobody scans codes but the person who would do will be to a surprise.

Better yet - but then it's more for engineers than for end-users - hide one in your technical documentation. Nobody reads it.
 

Offline CJay

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #19 on: November 12, 2023, 05:59:11 pm »
I quite like the idea of burying jokes, text, images etc on the inner layers of multilayer boards so they show up when X-Rayed
You can hide one in plain view. Encode it in QR code image and place on the PCB. Typically nobody scans codes but the person who would do will be to a surprise.
Where I work they already include QR codes in the silk and/or copper for factory use so that could end really badly, but I do like the idea.
 

Offline Infraviolet

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Re: When PCB designers have way too much fun
« Reply #20 on: November 12, 2023, 06:49:55 pm »
As initials on PCBs go, I've often seen it advised to put your initials or name, or any other obvious text as a structure in some spare space in the top copper layer. It should make a board house noticed that something is wrong if layers somehow get swapped with one-another or mirrored. The beauty of having a short surname is I can get it in to PCB corners to serve this functionality.
 


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