Comment on 'boardswapping' as part of the computer culture.

[Scott Stevens]

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 01:26:14 +0100 (BST)
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:

> Somebody earlier claimed that IBM didn't bother with termination on the 
> disk drives in the PC family.
> 
> I've just looked in the 'Hardware Maintenance and Service' manual for the 
> PC/AT. This is the only HMS manual I have (I don't normally bother with 
> boardswapper guides), 

I know you disagree with a 'boardswapping' culture deeply and do so with great conviction, but it's important to understand that there has always been a hierarchy in computer servicing.  Customer Engineers have often only been trained to the level of identifying pulling and swapping boards, which then are shipped to a facility where expert troubleshooters do the component level testing and repair.

I personally have worked in such a component-level board reworking facility.  There are often fabulously skillful troubleshooters working at those benches.  Often this repair function is carried out in the same facility where production rework is accomplished.  And it would be a severe waste of expertise and skill for these people to be out driving around to customer sites performing mundane tasks.

Boardswapping has a place and is a legitimate part of the history of computers going way, way back.  It is how things were and are done, and it's not something to look down on.  Of course, when working on vintage hardware where there is no longer a repair depot to ship the boards to, it is obviously a different matter.  Restoring and operating old equipment is an artisan-type task.

It's important not to pretend, however, that the published 'board swapping' service manuals are an abomination before nature.  In many cases the detailed manuals and docs never leave the repair depot, which is a shame and a real loss for us today, but not a reflection of technical ignorance.



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