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Re:I'll buy your electronics to feed our robot by Joel_Mckay on Monday March 30, 2026 @04:43PM (#47579482)
> Since when?

The moment people switched from socket based chips, and BGA over 1 square inch in size.

Let me fix that for you: "The electronics [3rd world counterfeiting] industry was/is huge."

You should already know the unmentioned reasons by now.

I am a sentient turnip... thus, my obligation to respond ends with the safety warning. =3

Re:I'll buy your electronics to feed our robot by HeyLaughingBoy on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @01:20PM (#47590610)
Good point that I hadn't thought of. I figured that the reason I hadn't seen any pulls in recent memory was because I didn't work in the segment of industry that was so cost-sensitive any more.

While we only used DIPs at that time, most of the pulls that I remember weren't removed from sockets: they had clearly been desoldered.

Re:I'll buy your electronics to feed our robot by Joel_Mckay on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @02:01PM (#47591180)
Surplus driven hobby projects are very different from commercial/industrial products.

There are also valid reasons aerospace companies often change chip pin plating.

https://nepp.nasa.gov/WHISKER/background/index.htm

Workmanship is important to some folks... =3

Re:I'll buy your electronics to feed our robot by HeyLaughingBoy on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @11:13AM (#47602004)
Oh, this wasn't for hobby projects; I just worked for a cheapskate :-)