BreakPoint
This is Hooovahh
In the lab we have a big monitor with stuff going on, and recently a corner of it has become available. With this new real estate I've put up pictures that change every 30 minutes on rotation. So far I only have 3, but I'm interested in more test related funny images if people have any to share.
What was your rate again?
A friend of mine was really bad with money. Bad credit, bad purchasing decisions, always strapped for cash. One day he showed up with a brand new Dodge Challenger. All of our friends wanted to go for a ride and check it out. Being the more frugal type I started asking him about it.
Hooovahh: Wow this is a pretty sweet ride. I know my credit union was giving some amazing rates like between 2% and 4%.
Friend: Yeah I didn’t get that good of a rate from the dealership.
Hooovahh: Oh that’s too bad I mean like 8% or something?
Friend: Well no it was a tad more than 8%.
Hooovahh: Wow so like 15% I can’t believe that it would be so high.
Friend: No it wasn’t 15%, it was just a little more than that.
Hooovahh: I mean a 20% loan on a car these days is just ridiculous.
Friend: Yeah I would have preferred 20%, but it was actually a little more than that.
At that point I just stopped asking. Apparently since then some laws have been passed to make charging these kinds of rates illegal, or more difficult by basing the lending institution in another state.
Are You Illiterate?
I need the test compliance document for standard XYZ, do you have it?
Yes.
Can I get a copy?
Well the document is over 100 pages, are you going to be able to read and understand it?
Are you asking if I can read?
@Hooovahh wrote:
Are You Illiterate?
I need the test compliance document for standard XYZ, do you have it?
Yes.
Can I get a copy?
Well the document is over 100 pages, are you going to be able to read and understand it?
Are you asking if I can read?
Only 100 pages? Sounds a little short. I have test plans for MIL-STD-810 well over 200 pages. And I've had week-long "discussions" with coworkers over a single section of that standard about how it applies to our specific UUT. So, yes, your questions are quite valid.
Cheap USB to RS-232
In the LabVIEW world it is pretty common to have to connect to external devices. And many of those devices happen to be RS-232 or serial. So a common tool for developers is a USB to RS-232 adapter. There are several different chips from Prolific, to FTDI, and a few others. This was years ago when we didn't really have visibility on this, but there are lots of counterfeit chips that are sold on the cheap. A legit device like this can be a couple of hundred dollars. But back then we were buying these in bulk. I don't remember the actual cost of these, or the number of them, but it was something like 50 of them, for $20. And they came in a large round plastic tub, like what cheese balls come in. This was the best image I could find of this size of container.
I grabbed one of these, plugged it in, and...nothing. It wasn't that there were driver issues, Windows just didn't see the device at all. So I opened one up to see what the problem was. The dsub connector inside was a solider cup type, and the PCB was shoved between the rows of pins. The PCB was a two sided board, and had solider points on the top and bottom, with a gob connecting pins to the board. It was pretty clear to me that the pins weren't making a good connection, and after spending some time fixing it, it worked fine. So my manager that ordered these sent an email complaining to the manufacture that none of them worked, and the quality of the devices was poor. I think he was looking for a refund, but instead without, asking for it, a second large tub of adapters just showed up. At this point he just let it go and figured he wasted $20 on that lesson. Occasionally when someone was idle, and looking for something to do between tasks, he'd have them repair a couple. By the way, these were all used for testing, but not put into testers for a customer.
As the old saying goes: You get what you paid for.
I had so many issues with USB-RS232 adapters from 2005 (when I first tried to use one) through ~2013. It was so bad I refused to use any. Things have gotten a lot better over the years, and I now use them regularly (mostly because I don't get to work on desktops). For test systems, I will spend some money and get the industrial grade adapters. For my own use, I have a couple of $10 TrendNet adapters that have worked for well over 5 years without an issue.
