How The INQUIRER helped debug OSD hardware

IF THERE is an open company in the hardware sector, it's Neuros Technology, makers of the Linux-based OSD Digital Video Recorder and Media centre. Here is why.

I have been playing with the firm's device for over six months, and watched the unit turn, thanks to firmware updates, from "promising alpha" into almost a work of art. But in the process, my unit started behaving erratically. As soon as I connected the Video IN cable, I got a reboot. It was automatic and totally predictable. Yet other times if the unit was power cycled and the video feed was active, no reboot would happen. Firmware updates sometimes seemed to alleviate the problem, but I saw the problem over and over again.

While other firms in Techland "circle the wagons" and begin to perform spin control in case of trouble, Neuros Technology showed total concern for the user's problems. I wrote them detailing the problem: "As of right now, I'm thinking it has something to do with one of the three electrolytic capacitors on the circuit board, could that be the problem? Is per chance any of the three caps on the OSD used to stabilise the inbound video signal? Would the OSD spontaneously reboot if one capacitor goes bad?."

First unit without caps in place

Second unit after the firm fixed the problem

The answer came back from the company founder, Joe Born himself, who responded to my e-mails, copying his engineers and programmers in China in the process. "Are we sure we don't have a hardware problem?" was one of his questions.

Soon came the answer right from the guys who built the product: it turns out that the faulty unit I had was part of a small subset of early circuit boards where two capacitors were left unpopulated in a production run of the circuit board. "Well, you are good! It is indeed a couple of capacitors, but I think it's actually two that should have been populated that are not", said the firm's exec.

Not only that, but engineers provided me with the locations on the PCB and the part numbers for the surface-mount capacitors that should have been installed but were not. The company also shipped a new unit, of a batch made later and which already incorporated the "fix" that is, the missing caps.

Fixing the lemon with giant caps

Of course, the newer unit from a more recent batch and the caps in place functioned flawlessly and the "random reboots" were gone. But in the process this clueless hack helped a firm once again, debug its product. All I had to do now was get my hands into the early-buggy OSD and attempt a fix. Several weeks later, after struggling to find surface-mount components in the land of Tango, beef and soccer, but not the land of surface mount components, I followed a technician's advice and installed tantalum capacitors in place. Guess what, the unit works wonders.

Two missing caps in place

The moral of the story? A concerned and caring executive at the helms of a company needs no investment in advertising and PR firms to polish any tarnished public image. The company will be successful just because users, buyers and customers will trust it. In the case of Neuros Technology, the company has made transparency and openness its core value. Where else in Silicon Valley can you find a hardware firm where developers and engineers meet over open IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and anyone can join the conversations and listen in?

Unit re-assembled

Success!. INQUIRER once again finds and smashes a bug!

Clearly, Neuros Technology sets an example to follow. The last time I remember this sort of devotion to a product was in the 8bit Commodore years, by the small shops which made accessories for those "home computers". Me? This Caped Crusader will continue helping firms that deserve it, in this case by writing a review of the exciting Neuros OSD which is just screaming for one.µ

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