GW-DEC-1: A New DEC Prototyping Board

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Brent Hilpert

    > I've seen pieces of HP high-end lab equipment from thru the 60s that
    > used tin plating on the PCB edge fingers, mating into gold-plated edge
    > connectors on the backplane.

ISTR that DEC used bronze contacts in their backplanes, but basically all the
boards had gold-plated fingers. (I think I've seen a few power supply boards
that had tinned fingers.)

I think the bronze was preferred since the contacts bend back and forth as
cards are inserted/removed, and bronze is more durable; and being part tin,
has the same corrosion characteristics are the tin.

	Noel