Saturday, August 20, 2011

Rookie mistake

We all do it, and we all hate to admit it.  But every now and then a facepalm-worthy event occurs that just can't stay hidden.

A few weeks ago I finished rewiring the main control board on the Frankenkindle, adding quick-disconnect cables and fitting it into the crude wooden stand I made.  Everything looked good, but it stubbornly refused to actually control the kindle. 

I tested everything.  I checked the code, made special modified subroutines for testing, played with the timing, checked continuity on every connection on the board.  Then I did it again.  Then (you guessed it), I did it again.  This worked on the breadboard, so what's different about my new wiring?

Then it hit me.

I came back to this blog post wherein I explained the keyboard connector on the back of the Kindle itself.  Sure enough, there it was in black and white:  "As seen in this picture, pin 1 is at the bottom, and pin 20 on top."  It seems in my infinite wisdom I had failed to document this fact anywhere else in my notes, and wired the Kindle connector board in reverse.  As is usually the case, it's always the simplest things that trip us up. 

I haven't facepalmed that hard in a while.  It was so bad I had to share. 


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