24 Apr
2009
24 Apr
'09
11:55 a.m.
On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 1:04 PM, Warren Wolfe <lists at databasics.us> wrote:
The difference to me is that I know I can't repair a transistor. I
suspect I could make a transistor, although it would be a very poor one
(The book 'Instruments of Amplification' covers making point-contact and
copper oxide junction transsitors at home). But I couldn't repair one. I
can't open the package without damaging it, so the package wouldn't e any
use once I'd repaired the insides. And the failure is very likely to have
damaged hte semiconductor 'pellet' inside, so I can't repair that.
But I can repair a video card. I know I can take it apart into separate
componetnts and put them back again without damage. I know that I can do
electrical tests to find out just which of those compoentns has failed.
What I don't like is not having enough information to be able to carry
out those tests, or worse still, once I've found the problem not being
able to get the part.
-tony
That many
orders of magnitude of complexity have come and gone since the IMSAI days
are good, in terms of what one's money will buy today, but bad in that one
is much less likely to be able to fix one's own equipment to component
level. It's not as satisfying to say "Hmmm. You need a new video card"
as
to hold up the offending transistor and cackle. Or is that just me?
Maybe I'm seeing this from a different angle... I don't see a lot of
difference besides the complexity of the devices. A transistor is a