Resistors

Resistors

Resistors anyone?

One day in Texas I was working on a computer project for a customer. They wanted me to get their accounting software to run on two different Apple II computers at the same time. The only snafu was that the software had a hardware chip that had to be plugged into the game port of the Apple II in order to activate the software. And the customer only had one hardware chip from the software vendor.

So the customer asked me to investigate how to "clone" or copy this chip for them. I did some research and found out that the hardware chip was very simple. It was merely a plastic socket with two resistors soldered onto specific pins in the socket. If I could find another socket and the two resistors, and then solder them in the right place, I could duplicate the hardware chip.

I went to Radio Shack with my short shopping list in hand. They had all the parts, but it took awhile for the salesman and me to find the right resistors. If you know nothing about resistors, they are little tiny plastic looking devices with wires coming out both ends, looking like a brown piece of rice. They have colored stripes on them; each combination of stripes means different things. Since the permutations of possible color code combinations are more than most people can memorize, ordinary people use an electronics book look up table to figure it out or some Internet Web sites have resistor calculation programs.

For example, Black, Brown, Brown, Silver is 10 ohms, +/-10%. There are ten colors, with the first three positions being any of the ten color combinations, and the last position is either silver or gold. Needless to say, the Radio Shack salesman used the electronics book to look up the color codes, verifying that I was purchasing the correct resistors.

I went to my Dad's apartment with parts in hand. I had watched him for hours in the garage, soldering things. I remember the distinct pungent odor of melting solder, and his skillful hands making short work of an electronics project. Since I did not own a soldering gun, I knew that he would have several. When I arrived and showed him what I wanted to do, he got that gleam in his eye once again. He jumped right into helping me, without a complaint. He setup a work area with an old towel on his kitchen table, soldering gun warming up, and other tools on standby. He took one glance at my two resistors and said what ohms and +/- they were.

I was dumbfounded. I asked if he saw the receipt and read what they were from there. He said no, that he had learned how to read the color codes. I just sat there, marveling at this unseen talent that my Father possessed. I know that other electronic whizzes can do the same, but heck, this was my Dad, and the Agency trained him well.