Re: Conrad - scammer?

[STYNX <stynx@gmx.de>]

Michael J. Mahon:
> The IIgs accelerators have boards with buried layers and custom programmed
> parts--a bigger project, for sure. 

Maybe...

I had a friend at the university who worked at the physics lab. They used a 3D-xray for some experiments. To calibrate the x-ray, they used a unpopulated multilayer PCB. You could see every layer of the board very clearly. It was _very_ expensive equipment (in the millions).

I have tried to delaminate a multilayer PCB myself some time back. I used a mixture of acids and solvents in a heated oven. It worked to a degree. The copper got somewhat corroded in the process ;-) but that was only my first (and last) attempt (its too dangerous!)

In a presentation of reverse-engineering i saw a process that scraped the layers off a PCB. It was very effective (at least in the presentation) but seemed to take some time.

The 3D-Xray may be the fastest method i have encountered so far. The process does not damage the PCB (ICs like eproms will be erased though). The result might vary on the thickness of the copper layers. and is _very_ expensive.

If modern tech is used, the cloning process itself may be very fast (and easy) indeed.
Not especially easy, but much easier than to develop the tech yourself (which might take years).
It boils down on how much money you want to invest.

To get back on track
nyder:
"... if reverse engineering was so simple, everyone would be doing it."

There is a whole industry devoted to copying electronic products. The stuff they copy today is _much_ more complicated than a TWGS. If you know the right people, you could make a TWGS Clone in the lunch break. But it all costs big money (i would not want to spend 10s of thousand $ for such a project). The TWGS is a good specimen for copying: the GALs are available, the Rom is available and the ICs are still on the market... nothing too complicated.

If you use the chinese copycat industry (they are really good), you will get cheap and fast results!
But you will eventually get "fucked in the ass" by them in the process since they probably want to market the product themselves. (i have seen it happen)

I myself would give Conrad some more time and see the Money and Stuff i sent him as some kind of support. I don't really expect a completely working TWGS (since i already have 2 TWGS and 2 ZIP GSX). It kind of a investment into hope, i guess ;-))

... may we be surprised ...

-Jonas