Etching boards for SMD - follow-up on precision

I wanted to see the limits of the current method so I set out hunting a board template for that.

SMD breakouts and etching tutorial

Completed prototype board

For today I've planned some easy-reading and low-tech tutorial.

The bane of a lot of software guys is moving up from the ubiquitous breadboard to a self-made PCB. The other common fear is switching from through-hole parts to surface-mount technology.

Follow-up on 2x DVR repair

I was scoping around to see what caused the 2.5V supply modules to go bust.

Just as a reminder, they are pretty generic modules, with a 5V preregulator that steps down the 12V input. The 5V is then dropped through linear regulators to three supply rails of 1.8V, 2.5V and 3.3V. In this application only the 2.5V output is being used.

Ancient DVR teardown - Dallmeier DLS 6

I just bought a cheap broken DVR from eBay and thought to share pictures from inside the unit since there aren't any on the Internet.

It was a state of the art unit at the beginning of 2000, probably costing several thousands of dollars. Some documents and review from that time praise the wavelet-type encoding quality and savings, custom-made ATX power supply and build quality. I beg to differ on a few fronts.