Chapter 9 Amateurs and Professionals

Xiaoshan, I just heard your father say that the notice for that competition has been officially issued. How have you been preparing by going to your father's company every day? Have you learned anything?

Su Yuanshan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "Isn't this cheating? How can high school students compare with vocational school students? They specialize in these subjects."

Entering the office where the workstation is located, Su Yuanshan inserted the floppy disk and imported the chip design project

Standing under the water tank faucet, Su Yuanshan's mind was filled with chips

Su Yuanshan was startled when he saw several senior brothers in the workstation area chatting without any assigned tasks, and they all turned to look at him: "I have only defined the pins; I haven't written a single instruction yet"

Such matters of dividing territory and assigning subordinates would typically be debated for a long time; not to mention an hour, even a day might not suffice to resolve them. However, this is not the case at Yuanxin, as one team leader is the BOSS, and the other team leader is the most educated and capable director.

Tian Yaoming nodded, a calm demeanor tinged with arrogance: "I studied it during my master's, it's quite simple"

Zhang Xiuyun then snorted and said: "You must be fully alert and not think that just because you know a bit about computers, you can act superior. There are always greater heights beyond, and this time your opponents are all middle school students across the country, including those from vocational and technical schools!"

Opened the EDA that was compiled yesterday, Su Yuanshan created a new project, then set the specifications and described the circuit

A special prize in an electronic circuit and a program design will directly grant exemption from the entrance examination for the Department of Electronic Science. The first prize may, depending on the circumstances, grant exemption from the entrance examination or preferential points for applying to the Department of Electronic Science. The second and third prizes will only be awarded certificates

Tian Yaoming is part of the second group to come to Yuanxin for "support". As Qin Weimin mentioned, those who were sent here to help are indeed the favored disciples of their respective mentors, and they came here with the intention of hitching a ride.

Because only the instructions have not been written yet

Tian Yaoming wiped away a cold sweat—he was genuinely frightened just now. Designing two specialized chips from scratch in two days, is this even human? It must be a devil.

Then it's settled, I will go to the workstation to work on the chips, the specifications for the two chips are written on the floppy disk

There is no way around it, after all, it is the first time. However, the plan from the Electrical Engineering Department remains unchanged. A vocational student who can emerge from the national competition and win the grand prize must be extraordinary. The Electrical Engineering Department will not suffer losses; at worst, they can catch up on mathematics and physics after entering the school.

He could only smile and say, "It's nothing, I can just write a small piece of software when the time comes"

The structure of the BB machine is not complex; it receives signals through a radio frequency antenna, which are then filtered and sent to a decoding chip. After decoding, the information is transmitted to a register and finally to the output unit, such as a screen or speaker. The decoding chip is also not complicated; it is merely a highly customized CMOS chip. However, now Su Yuanshan needs to establish a Chinese character encoding standard, which poses a bit of a challenge.

My father, somewhat helpless, smiled and said: "The Ministry of Education and our school's superior authority, the Ministry of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, both feel that since this is the first time we are doing this, it should be done in a proper manner. If it is limited to junior and senior high schools, there may not be many noteworthy examples to showcase, so they included all vocational and technical schools."

"Hmm, good!" Tian Yaoming casually replied, but he was immediately taken aback. He frowned, blinked a few times, and after staring blankly for three seconds, he suddenly stood up with a loud bang, pointing at Su Yuanshan and shouting, "What the hell! You mean to say you designed both the encoding and decoding chips in just two days?"

Uh? Su Yuanshan glanced at his father, only to see his father wearing a look of helplessness.

The first session requires both substance and appearance, and must not allow any mistakes. Therefore, a nationwide solicitation and two rounds of selection will be adopted. Ultimately, the contestants who win the special prize and first prize will present their final statements at the Science and Technology Department, similar to a defense, to prevent the use of proxies and cheating

After taking a shower, Su Yuanshan returned to the living room and greeted his parents before preparing to enter the study, but he was called to a halt by his mother, Zhang Xiuyun

He was right in what he just said; indeed, not a single instruction was written.

Tian Yaoming was at a loss for words: "You have already decoded the chip, how can you justify these two with cow dung?"

Su Yuanshan turned back to glance at his father, who looked helpless, and smiled as he returned to the study

The submission deadline for the works is September 1, based on the postmark. The evaluation period is from September to November, and the final award ceremony will be held on December 1

This is also one of the innovative features of Yuanxin EDA relative to its peers, allowing for the customization of any component into the component library at any time based on the description

Good morning, Brother Tian. Su Yuanshan greeted Tian Yaoming as he entered the door

After returning home with his father, Su Yuanshan accompanied his mother to watch the TV series "The Legend of the Yiwei Heroes." In the meantime, he inevitably endured a few murmurs from his mother, and it was not until his father finished his bath that he was finally liberated

Well... wait a moment, what about the main control IC? And the LCD panel IC? The Chinese display needs to change the driver IC.

Since this is the first battle for Yuanxin to venture into the real economy, it is essential to have fully independent intellectual property rights; otherwise, where is the prestige?

Keep your voice down

Understood, I will definitely treat it with utmost seriousness! I will start coding right away

At this stage, the paging system is primarily dominated by Motorola and Pioneer, both of which utilize cartridge microcontrollers for encoding. In theory, it should suffice to simply obtain a microcontroller; however, it is clearly unrealistic to expect Old Su to develop a microcontroller within one or two months

Su Xinghe then briefly introduced the rules of the "First National High School Electronic Circuit and Programming Design Competition"

Alright then... please organize the requirements first and let me know later

Now the country has brought out this group of people, which is equivalent to comparing amateur athletes with professional athletes

Uh... Mom. Su Yuanshan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "Then I will take it seriously"

Su Yuanshan looked at his father in surprise, knowing that the matter of the competition would definitely go through, so he had not paid any attention to it at all. He did not expect that even vocational school students would come to intervene.

"Xiao Shan is early." Tian Yaoming sat in a private office, feeling very pleased—much more comfortable than at his workstation

Well... we mainly focus on the pager sector. Senior brother, you must have studied this, right?

Zhang Xiuyun immediately became displeased upon seeing his attitude: "What kind of attitude is this! Just casual? Just because your father arranged for you to take a semester off, does that mean you can treat it casually?"

Indeed, to be precise, it is about designing a pager, and additionally, designing a coding chip that can be compatible with the encoding cards of the current paging station transmitters. This requires on-site investigation and verification at the paging station. Senior brother, can you leverage your connections for this?

"So you mean we just ignore you? Just go ahead and design the PCB?" Tian Yaoming looked at Su Yuanshan with suspicion. He knew that Su Yuanshan was exceptionally skilled in programming, but he was unsure about his abilities in integrated circuits—regardless of his level of expertise, was this something a high school student should be involved in?

"Xiaoshan, how should we proceed with our work?" Tian Yaoming straightened up, knowing that the young man in front of him, who had just turned seventeen, was truly extraordinary, capable of conjuring up ideas that could astonish even himself.

Even though Tian Yaoming, who is still in his second year of doctoral studies, is quite dissatisfied, he finds himself powerless. However, upon learning that Su Yuanshan would be "studying" alongside him, Tian Yaoming, with his usual keen perception, sensed that his group was indeed the most important one.

Who makes Yuanxin EDA so impressive? If you can take advantage of it, why not? After all, it doesn't really matter in the end.

However, after several professors from the Electronics Science and Technology department, particularly those specializing in integrated circuits and microcontrollers, jointly established a microcontroller research group, Tian Yaoming felt as if he could not find a way out for the time being

In any case, you must take it seriously! Zhang Xiuyun once again sounded the alarm for Su Yuanshan

Su Yuanshan has been in seclusion at home for two days

Tian Yaoming thought for a moment: "No problem, our profession is aligned with the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, we can easily find acquaintances."

It seems necessary to find a time to visit the switchboard in person, as proceeding blindly would lead to complications

On low-end circuit boards, one often encounters black circular chips the size of a fingernail. In fact, these are a type of packaging known as bonding, where components and integrated circuits are first embedded and then a blob of glue is applied. This method is cost-effective, but it complicates maintenance and replacement, and it cannot withstand impact. Due to their resemblance to a lump of cow dung, they have colloquially come to be referred to as cow dung.

... ...

The future of secondary vocational schools is not worth discussing. However, before the mid-1990s, those who were able to gain admission to secondary vocational schools were almost all outstanding students—especially those top students from impoverished rural families. In order to enter the workforce early and obtain official status, secondary normal schools and secondary vocational schools were almost the first choice.

The mother continued to glance at him: "What do you think? The grand prize is not that easy to obtain."

Su Yuanshan stopped, scratched his head, and realized that he had indeed forgotten about these two things. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "How about sticking on two cow dung?"

Su Yuanshan smiled and tapped a rhythmic beat on the floppy disk with his fingertips: "Alright, now our team consists of 8 members. I will be solely responsible for the design of the encoding and decoding chips. Later, I will provide my senior brother with the pin definitions, specifications, and functions of these two chips, and he will have them added to the EDA component library by themselves."

Su Yuanshan rode his bicycle to Jiangdu Building only after having lunch. By the time he arrived at the company, the groups had already been formed, and those senior colleagues who had joined the microcontroller group had also left the company and returned to the laboratory of the Electronics Science Institute