I think it's time for a more light-hearted, frivolous thing to be annoyed by: Part numbers.
Historically, transistor part numbers have followed one of three part numbering schemes. Some of them were really nice and even told you the polarity and type just in the part number.
However, not all transistors follow this. Some manufacturers seem to have decided to use "secure password generators" to come up with their part numbers. In particular, part numbers like the IPB60R070CFD7ATMA1 come to mind. In contrast to the JEDEC, JIS and Pro-Electron, I like to call this the "Cat barfed on the keyboard" part numbering scheme. Part numbers of this extreme length are a general tail pain when it comes to drafting schematics and are nearly impossible to remember.
Feel free to post irritating part numbers like this here. In case you're wondering where the rant came from, I've been trying to catalog my stock of parts. These numbers are not fun to enter into a spreadsheet.
Historically, transistor part numbers have followed one of three part numbering schemes. Some of them were really nice and even told you the polarity and type just in the part number.
However, not all transistors follow this. Some manufacturers seem to have decided to use "secure password generators" to come up with their part numbers. In particular, part numbers like the IPB60R070CFD7ATMA1 come to mind. In contrast to the JEDEC, JIS and Pro-Electron, I like to call this the "Cat barfed on the keyboard" part numbering scheme. Part numbers of this extreme length are a general tail pain when it comes to drafting schematics and are nearly impossible to remember.
Feel free to post irritating part numbers like this here. In case you're wondering where the rant came from, I've been trying to catalog my stock of parts. These numbers are not fun to enter into a spreadsheet.
I worked in an advanced research lab at Motorola for the last 12 years of my career. Somewhere in the middle of that time it became known to us that we were on several hacker lists as prime targets. Those of us that worked with, or had access to high tech stuff had to meet serious password requirements and they had to be changed once a WEEK! We were not allowed to keep lists, audits were commonplace, corporate compliance spies checked up on us often, and a few people lost access, or were terminated for non compliance.
Several engineers complained about this policy but I had a system. In a meeting I explained that my current password is in plain view on my desk (a major violation) for all to see, and I challenged anyone to find it. I know that people were watching me login, but nobody ever figured it out.....My desk was not the neatest place, as I often had two or three prototype builds going at once, so parts lists, Digikey and Mouser catalogs and datasheets were commonplace.....
Some of those cat barf part numbers also make for good secure passwords. The data sheet for the part number of the week was usually partially obscured on my desk with the part number showing in a pile of other data sheets. All I had to remember is what the part of the week was, it was usually something important in one of my current projects.
The real cat barf part numbers are for things like resistors and capacitors. Where the entire part # contains the value, voltage, tolerance, case size, series, temp range, whether it comes on a reel or not, and whatever other proprietary things they throw in for good measure. The kind of part # that they make a BIG DEAL out of getting that exact one from that exact supplier, and making sure the BOM(b) is exactly right in SAP - when any one of 250 similar parts would WORK and be totally acceptable - to everyone except the auditors. Especially frustrating when it’s just for a one-off prototype or an eval board with maybe 12 parts in it (the only important one being the DUT) and not something actually sellable that comes out of the factory.
And you had a strange security service. 1) It was enough to start your own separate Internet in departments where secrecy was required, without access to the outside. 2) if someone really wanted to hack you, they would still hack your computer, even from a satellite, reading information from electromagnetic fields. Most likely, there was no particular value in these developments, since many firms conducted similar studies independently.
I worked in military production as a customer representative, so I know what I'm talking about. Moreover, when I listen to how most modern amp models sound, it becomes clear that, compared to the 70s, no special progress was made in the development of components, or even a regression occurred or some sacred knowledge was lost, sometimes even documentation. Yes, and funding for these areas in the 70s was much more, since they developed then, but now they are likely to stay afloat.
The most effective, cheapest, most reliable and fastest and oldest way to get information is to acquire the necessary information for cash from an employee.
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In some cases, including the research department I worked in, we had our own private network within Motorola's network. There were some pretty good guys running it all, but around the time I'm speaking of, they eliminated all of that and hired an outside computer company to manage it all. Those guys were clueless. This was the reason for the mega passwords and ACE card access for some servers.
That almost worked:
FBI — Suburban Chicago Woman Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Stealing Motorola Trade Secrets Before Boarding Plane to China
Then the Murata rep gives you a "cross reference" document with their number equivalent for Taiyo Yuden, Kemet and several other vendor numbers....on paper. Dude, I can't even READ this mess, let alone search it. Later he brought me a spreadsheet. I guess that info was not intended for public circulation.
I have a particular dislike of capacitor datasheets where to find the specifications for the part your using you are required to decipher the obnoxious part number:
ESMR451VSN391MA30S
https://www.mouser.co.uk/datasheet/2/420/United-Chemi-Con-776034.pdf
fun fun fun
ESMR451VSN391MA30S
https://www.mouser.co.uk/datasheet/2/420/United-Chemi-Con-776034.pdf
fun fun fun
And me but why do RS expect the hyphen in their part number when searching but not when ordering. A rule to themselves. Farnell is more organised.
Philips have a good system, for instance, anything with 691 in the number is an assembly. Useful when ordering DVD laser assemblies and remote controls. Grundig make their own local part numbers that have no bearing on anything, well we did when Grundig UK was still going in the UK. Funny old world.
I've always wondered why passives need such a stupidly long part number- you don't need to put every parameter in the part number. Case in point: parts like the 2N4401 seem to be perfectly identifiable without putting the voltage, current, package and every other parameter in the part number.
It's especially annoying when I want to include the part number on the schematic and it's too long to fit without covering other parts.
It's especially annoying when I want to include the part number on the schematic and it's too long to fit without covering other parts.
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