Marzo 29, 2005
Computer tools
I was digging thru my toolbag at work the other day, and I noticed I have a lot of strange tools. That shouldn't come as a major surprise; specialized equipment frequently needs specialized tools.
When I opened up my first computer (an IBM AT running at 8 MHz) in 1986, the only tools that were really required were 1/4-inch and 3/16-inch hex drivers. There were some special tools available for some tasks, though.
For the first computer project I worked on (building up 150 system units for the US Postal Service) I was required to populate a memory card with sixty-four discrete 64mb memory chips. Doing them by hand was a major PITA because it hurt, especially when a chip would flip up and embed itself in my thumb, and I would probably bend a pin on two or three of the sixty-four chips that didn't stick me in my thumb. That would give me memory errors (2XX on POST) and I'd have to find the one(s) with bent pins, straighten the pin(s) if I could or replace the chip. There was a chip-insertion tool available, but quite frankly, it didn't work.
Later on, as chip packaging got away from the little black rectangles with a row of pins on each of the long sides but before the invention of ZIF sockets, brute force and elbow grease were still required to install a chip, but specialized chip removal tools were invented. Those are for later.
Notebooks, and especially Compaq notebooks, brought on the weird tools. Meet Compaq part number 107823-001:
It's a simple plastic wedge that was issued to Compaq certified techs to help crack open the case of a Compaq LTE 386S/20 laptop computer, and I'd put up a picture here of mine, if I could find it. It's still a very useful tool, at least to me: Because it's rather tough plastic, it's great for scraping thermal paste/glue from the bottom of heat sinks before cleaning them with ethanol and re-installing them. That's what the black stuff on the blade is. Posted by Victor at Marzo 29, 2005 09:24 PM