Manual PCB-RE

Book excerpt: If you're looking for a no-frills guide to doing PCB reverse engineering by hand, then Manual PCB-RE: The Essentials may just be the book for you.Written in a concise and engaging way, this book offers a fast track into the dynamics of manual PCB-RE, by getting you started with the right equipment and tools needed for the job and highlighting the necessary knowledge and skillsets to acquire and put them into practice.The author then takes you through his attempt in reversing a GIGABYTE GeForce 8600GT graphics card, breaking down the entire manual PCB-RE process into steps you can easily understand and follow. You will learn how to:1. Assess a PCB to determine accessibility and feasibility for PCB-RE2. Generate a bill of materials (BOM)3. Create a layout diagram of the PCB4. Organize the resources needed to perform PCB-RE5. Reverse engineer the PCB by employing a proper strategyThis book will not make you a manual PCB-RE expert overnight. Expertise is built from experience. The more PCB-RE work you do, the better you'll become-that is, if you learn from your mistakes and improve on your techniques. That said, this book gives you an invaluable opportunity to delve into the author's years of PCB-RE experience, the approach he adopts and his thought process as he solve the connectivity puzzle and unravel the beauty of the original design.If you're into manual PCB-RE or just taking the first steps, make sure you're equipped with the essentials!