Improvements and Suggestions

[MattyMatt]

Well from what I am gathering, it would be a place that one could go to look up a part via manufacturer part number or a standard part number, to come out with another part number... it would probably be best implemented with a database of some sort... though I'm not sure that is fully feasible on the site.

Mainly for compatibility checking and such of that nature.

Please correct me if i am wrong here.
Matt-

 

[shrtrnd]

Yes, Ian & MattyMatt, by cross-reference I mean cross references for components from one manufacuter part number to another. I often need them for Hewlett Packard to JEDEC part numbers, or Tektronix to JEDEC, and I also noticed one a while back that somebody mentioned for Philips SMD parts to exactly what the short SMD markings on the chip actually meant. I physically print-out the cross refs, so I never lose them (when I remember to), but it would save a lot of people asking questions a lot of trouble, if we could just be referred to the cross reference here, if they were stored in a category on this site.
Those are just examples, by the way. There are a lot of cross-references for part numbers that I have, or others have (as mentioned above), that I think would be very helpful to people who I see asking questions in electronicspoint repair questions.
Thanks for considering this, I don't know of anyone anywhere, who has attempted this on an all-encompassing (multiple manufacturers) basis. And really, I think if word got out that electronicspoint had an accumulation of component cross-references available for users, it would enhance the site, and draw more outside interest, and involvement.

 

[davelectronic]

That sounds like a really good idea, but i dont know how hard in IT technical terms this would be to build a data base for cross reference of components, this next bit is a really bold idea and i dont know if its at all doable, but a party or company interfaced with its data available to the forum, if approaching a components reference company for involvement at this point i mean this loosely, as it might be pie in the sky, my IT skills cant work out if that idea is possible or not, but often organization and company's merge for greater flexibility and growth, as i say i am not sure. And i dont know the involvement and what terms that might entail.

 

[shrtrnd]

I wasn't suggesting Ian build a comprehensive data base on his own. It would take too
much work. At the very least, I was hoping for a category to link to existing cross
references available on line (many different sites). That way we could find what we
wanted from one central site category. Another thought would be to download the
cross references, and put them into a category here. I think the first idea is easiest.
The point of my request for a cross-reference category, is to have a centralized category
from which we can find a multitude of individual cross references from many manufacturers,
without having to do extended searches on the internet whenever we're looking for a
particular cross-ref, that somebody has already found.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard people on this site refer to a cross-ref site
that I didn't pay much attention to. Only to find I wish I had access to it six months
later. (When I do archive searches here, trying to re-find the post).
The work has already been done by somebody else, FINDING the crosses, I was just
thinking it would be nice if we could post the information or link to the site that was
found by one of our users HERE. So we could find it again when we want it.

 

[(*steve*)]

If you have a list of good cross-reference sites then we could make a sticky thread like some of the others that have proven useful.

 

[shrtrnd]

I work INSIDE the chassis, I'm a klutz on the computer.
I don't know what a sticky thread is, or that I could have used it for this purpose.
I'll bust one of the kids loose from the Playstation, and maybe they can explain it to me.
Thanks, *steve*.

 

[(*steve*)]

heh

Just post some info and I'll gladly start a sticky thread (only moderators can make a thread sticky).

I think it would be worthwhile information to gather together.

 

[davenn]

......I don't know what a sticky thread is, or that I could have used it for this purpose.
......

lol I remember the same a long time back

its one of those threads at the top of a forum, that always stays at the top.
eg... the one on using LED's or the one on links to datasheets etc

Dave

 

[shrtrnd]

*steve*, just letting you know, I havn't forgotten about this (sending you cross ref info).
I'm just trying to figure out how to send some of what I have. I need to coordinate
with my adult son (living in another State), to do it. I told you, I'm a klutz on the
computer. The two most-used ones I've got are a Hewlett Packard and Tektronix cross-
ref listings to JEDEC. But I, as well as other people, probably have others.
The Tektronix list by itself, is 414 pages.
I'm working on it. Thanks for offering to help get these lists onto this website.

 

[jackorocko]

I would like to see the search feature improved. I don't know exactly what you could do to improve it since is probably part of the forum code, but as it is right now it is pretty useless. Returning a max of 100 results when you search for something like "relay" is not very helpful when the thread was 4 - 5 months ago.

The reason why I say this, because I remember someone else had a thread that would possibly help someone else today. If the search feature was improved a little more then we wouldn't be needing to repeat information.

edit: I do realize search features have probably been limited on purpose to stop DDOS attacks. Real shame that EP doesn't use something like fluxbb or something similar over vbulletin.

 

[jackorocko]

I guess an example of what I mean might help some. In google you can use quotes to refine your search to more specific info. Right now the search feature on this form searches for each word individually and there is no way to exclude a term from the search. In that way the search feature on this site is limited as well as the max returned results per search. The max returned results wouldn't be much of an issue if I could pin point the right type of post I am looking for with grouping and exclusion features.

 

[Ian]

I would like to see the search feature improved. I don't know exactly what you could do to improve it since is probably part of the forum code, but as it is right now it is pretty useless. Returning a max of 100 results when you search for something like "relay" is not very helpful when the thread was 4 - 5 months ago.

The reason why I say this, because I remember someone else had a thread that would possibly help someone else today. If the search feature was improved a little more then we wouldn't be needing to repeat information.

edit: I do realize search features have probably been limited on purpose to stop DDOS attacks. Real shame that EP doesn't use something like fluxbb or something similar over vbulletin.

Yep, the vBulletin search is quite limited but unfortunately there isn't much I can do to improve it at the moment due to the way the search is coded. If the search results are made to be unlimited in scope, then it would be possible to slow the site down to a crawl very easily from a simple search. However, using the date operators on the advanced search it should be possible to find things with a little tweaking.

In the future, InnoDB will support fulltext searching - so I can change the way the search works and improve it a lot. Although I don't know how long this will be before this feature is rolled out to the standard MySQL packages.

 

[(*steve*)]

In the meantime, since this site is well indexed by google, you can use that and restrict the results using site:electronicspoint.com. like this.

You may not get some very recent posts as this relies on Googe's spiders having visited, but I think you'll find it's pretty good.