I came, I saw, I ...

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Re: I came, I saw, I ... by kcott (Archbishop) on Jul 02, 2017 at 04:48 UTC
"... added to my list of things to avoid in future." — Ken	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by stevieb (Canon) on Jul 01, 2017 at 18:18 UTC
Fried one of my test RPis by accidentally putting 5v from an Arduino onto a 3.3v GPIO pin, had a beer, and started over.	[reply]
Re^2: I came, I saw, I ... by afoken (Chancellor) on Jul 05, 2017 at 05:24 UTC
Fried one of my test RPis by accidentally putting 5v from an Arduino onto a 3.3v GPIO pin, had a beer, and started over. Fried a small TFT display considered for using in a new product just yesterday, by accidentally swapping +3.3V and GND wires while setting up the test circuit. Damage: About 5 €. Lesson learned: Always measure current, and use a lab supply instead of relying on a development board to supply the device under test. Lesson re-learned: Double check supply pins (see below). Fried a custom prototype controller board on a test rig last year, by accidentally touching a wire connected to a 3.3V signal to the +24V supply line. Most semiconductors on the board were not amused and released the magic smoke. Damage: About 100 €. Lesson learned: Banana plug jumpers should better be isolated. And no, I did not build the test rig. That was the job of the hardware guys. But I wrapped the f**ing jumpers carrying supply voltages in electrical tape after that. Fried my first PC (a 90% compatible XT clone) years ago by connecting the non-standard PSU connector shifted by one pin. +12V from the PSU connected to the +5V line on the board. Magic smoke escaped. Damage: About 500 € in current money. Lesson learned: Double-check the power connectors before switching on. ATX PSU connectors can't be plugged in in a wrong way except by excessive force, so that's clearly a forgotten lesson, as shown above. A decade before that, I talked my dad into measuring the output pulse on the primary winding of an old door-bell transformer while feeding in a DC pulse from a 9V battery on the secondary winding. Using the good oscilloscope in the TV workshop, of course. He should have known better. The pulse killed one of the two input channels of the scope. No magic smoke, but sufficient damage to send in the scope for repair. I don't know how he explained the damage to his boss. And I don't know how much damage that little experiment has done to the scope. But I know for sure the pulse exceeded the max. input voltage of the scope by about one order of magnitude. So I guess it killed a good part of the input amplifier, full of manually selected, custom semiconductors. I think that the damage was about 1000 € in current money. Lessons learned: 10:1 probes aren't sufficient for measuring voltages in the kV range. And feeding DC pulses into unknown transformers is a really bad idea. Alexander -- Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)	[reply]
Re^3: I came, I saw, I ... by perldigious (Priest) on Jul 05, 2017 at 15:30 UTC
I was laughing up until I got to the, "using the good oscilloscope" part in the last story, at which point I felt my heart sink in to my stomach, face palmed, and let out a mumbled "oh, no" for you and your dad. On a related note, here's one of those old lame engineering jokes. Do you know why they call it a flyback transformer? Old TV repairmen came up with it because they used to fly back across the room when they accidentally touched one inside an old cathode ray tube television set. :-) I have been fortunate enough to not have to explain any damaged/destroyed expensive test equipment to any of my employers... many damaged/destroyed prototypes, once an old oscilloscope probe (a relatively cheap one), but never anything like a whole oscilloscope. I'm so paranoid anytime I hook up something really expensive like a network analyzer I triple check everything before connecting power to the unit under test, and even then I flinch a little when I flip the supply switch. Just another Perl hooker - But the purist monks keep telling me I should do it for love, not money.	[reply]
Re^3: I came, I saw, I ... by RonW (Parson) on Jul 06, 2017 at 18:54 UTC
Fried a custom prototype .... Damage: About 100 € Wow - you got off easy. I'm guessing your employer is enlightened enough to include plenty of spares in the order for prototypes. (My employer's purchasing department will only allow us to order the minimum quantity accepted by the board maker. This usually means we have only 2 or 3 spares.) I hope your dad didn't get in too much trouble for blowing the channel on the scope. The most expensive equipment I blew up wasn't my fault. The PCB layout engineer changed the orientation of a square micro-controller by 90 degrees but forgot to update the board markets. When a technician installed a socket where the micro would go, she followed the board markings. When I got the board and plugged in the in-circuit emulator, the emulator's interface "pod" belched the magic smoke when I powered the board. That was only about US$2000 to replace. A co-worker of mine was once subject to the same "fire works" due the same mistake (by a different PCB engineer), but the damage was US$30k.	[reply]
Re^4: I came, I saw, I ... by afoken (Chancellor) on Jul 06, 2017 at 22:29 UTC
Re^4: I came, I saw, I ... by afoken (Chancellor) on Jul 06, 2017 at 21:44 UTC
Re^5: I came, I saw, I ... by RonW (Parson) on Jul 06, 2017 at 22:42 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re^2: I came, I saw, I ... by perldigious (Priest) on Jul 03, 2017 at 20:55 UTC
Ha, don't worry, anybody who works with such things that says they have never done something like that is almost certainly lying. We have a "wall of flame" in one of the cubicles where I work to hang such things. My favorite addition was when someone we were helping design some boards for an Electric Vehicle somehow accidentally wired the full battery stack voltage directly to the microcontroller on one of the early prototype boards. There was literally a more or less perfect square hole the size of the IC burned through the board (along with some other components that exploded fantastically). I'm sure he got a long laugh out of the incident after he cleaned the mess out of his pants, he did send us the board back as a trophy after all. :-) I've accidentally welded a component to a circuit board once (and subsequently tripped one of the main breakers in the lab to make the other engineers very angry about interrupting their running tests) when I was working with a mixed high-voltage AC and low voltage DC board. I never did figure that one out. I was isolated through a variac, and the variac box was right next to me when it happened, and it let out a frighteningly loud 60Hz buzzing noise that nearly made me mess myself... Ah, good times, but I'd prefer to never go near anything higher voltage than a non-electric car battery ever again. Just another Perl hooker - But the purist monks keep telling me I should do it for love, not money.	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by stevieb (Canon) on Jul 01, 2017 at 21:30 UTC
...fell in love with Perlmonks, and can check out, but can never leave.	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jul 02, 2017 at 01:17 UTC
I came, I saw, I pondered; I questioned; I asserted; I argued; I railed; I ranted; I countered; I postured; I proved; to no avail. So I got bored, barely visited, and ceased to care. 33 words to summate 13 years of history. Sad.	[reply]
Re^2: I came, I saw, I ... by tubaandy (Deacon) on Jul 14, 2017 at 19:44 UTC
I have been gone for a while (change in work responsibilities), and came back to do some research. I understand your response, but given what I've read of yours in the past, this makes me sad. Sorry it came to this, I learned a ton from you. tubaandy	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by Tux (Canon) on Jul 01, 2017 at 17:08 UTC
I analyzed the problem, fixed it, wrote more tests, and documented the changes Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by Gavin (Archbishop) on Jul 05, 2017 at 08:26 UTC
`Got the "T" Shirt or Had a cookie (courtesy of Lady Aleena)` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by shmem (Chancellor) on Jul 01, 2017 at 17:56 UTC
XYZ-ed the problem. perl -le'print map{pack c,($-++?1:13)+ord}split//,ESEL'	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by Ratazong (Monsignor) on Jul 03, 2017 at 09:42 UTC
cast a die (to remain in the context.)	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by cavac (Vicar) on Jul 10, 2017 at 12:50 UTC
no "got the T-Shirt"? "For me, programming in Perl is like my cooking. The result may not always taste nice, but it's quick, painless and it get's food on the table."	[reply]
Re^2: I came, I saw, I ... by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jul 10, 2017 at 13:44 UTC
no "got the T-Shirt"? A T-shirt with "I came, I saw, I..." is far too ambiguous to risk wearing :) With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday' Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". The enemy of (IT) success is complexity. In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. Suck that fhit	[reply]
Re^3: I came, I saw, I ... by cavac (Vicar) on Jul 10, 2017 at 13:55 UTC
No mind reading, please ;-) "For me, programming in Perl is like my cooking. The result may not always taste nice, but it's quick, painless and it get's food on the table."	[reply]
Re^3: I came, I saw, I ... by chacham (Prior) on Jul 10, 2017 at 20:28 UTC
A T-shirt with "I came, I saw, I..." Fwiw, a T-shirt with "I come, I saw" would indicate a travelling woodworker.	[reply]
Re^4: I came, I saw, I ... by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jul 10, 2017 at 23:11 UTC
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by zentara (Archbishop) on Jul 01, 2017 at 13:35 UTC
ate ice cream I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. ..... an animated JAPH	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by chacham (Prior) on Jul 01, 2017 at 19:05 UTC
...voted in the poll	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by QM (Parson) on Jul 13, 2017 at 10:25 UTC
...stayed for dinner. -QM -- Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by RonW (Parson) on Jul 06, 2017 at 19:05 UTC
Conquered - by automating. Update: with Perl, of course. (Once upon a time, I used awk, so was conquering by making it awkward.)	[reply]
Re^2: I came, I saw, I ... by chacham (Prior) on Jul 07, 2017 at 10:58 UTC
Conquered - by automating. FWIW, the idea said "Conquered (it with Perl)". :)	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by shmem (Chancellor) on Jul 03, 2017 at 17:08 UTC
Xcus'd & left Yelled Zapped perl -le'print map{pack c,($-++?1:13)+ord}split//,ESEL'	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by huck (Prior) on Jul 05, 2017 at 05:48 UTC
I've checked all of these	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by LanX (Saint) on Oct 12, 2017 at 00:56 UTC
... covfefe.	[reply]
Re: I came, I saw, I ... by hotchiwawa (Scribe) on Jul 26, 2017 at 15:25 UTC
"... and was not afraid because Jesus was with me :)"	[reply]


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