Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 53 Yuanchip VCD

Inside Li Mingliu's office, the air was so thick with smoke that it looked as if someone had dumped a bucket of dry ice to film a fairyland scene from Journey to the West. Su Yuanshan pinched his nose, pushed open a window, and let the cold air rush in, dispersing the smoke just a little.

Standing by the window, Su Yuanshan frowned at Li Mingliu, who looked up at him with irritation and anxiety filling his eyes.

Thinking about Li Mingliu's experiences, Su Yuanshan sighed lightly: "Is it really that bad?"

Li Mingliu shook his head, picked up a cigarette butt, took another drag, and muttered through the smoke, "I deeply love this country."

Su Yuanshan silently gazed at him, then smiled slowly: "Who doesn't? But from today onward, stop thinking about it, stop discussing it. As tech people, we just focus on technology — have you finished the PCB?"

Li Mingliu nodded: "Almost. It should be ready for simulation tomorrow."

"And the heat dissipation? If it's not handled properly, accumulated heat could affect the optical drive's reading capability and its lifespan."

"I've considered it, but that's more of a mold design issue, isn't it?"

Su Yuanshan shook his head: "Don't push the blame yet. The mold designers have a hundred other things to consider. You should know how stubborn people are about covering appliances with cloth at home. And not just covering them — half the time they forget to uncover them before using."

Thinking about it, Li Mingliu couldn't help but chuckle: "That's true. I'll do extra stress tests."

After leaving, Su Yuanshan took off his jacket, gave it a shake to remove the smell of smoke, fixed his hair a bit, and headed to the tenth floor.

The software department now had over a hundred programmers. Obviously, not all of them could work on YuanICCAD — the official name for Yuanchip's EDA tool. Due to strong invitations from government departments and major corporations, a separate team had been spun off to develop a CAD system specifically for machine tools, industrial equipment, and mechanical design.

The senior engineers involved came from prestigious firms like Erzhong, Baosteel, Provincial Aviation, and Jiangchuan — just hearing the names of these companies hinted at how significant the project was. They were true "god-level clients."

Even so, currently, only Yuanchip could meet their demands — thanks to having a wealth of reusable vector graphics algorithms and code, development was progressing swiftly.

After making rounds through the departments, Su Yuanshan returned to his own office.

A new desk had been placed inside — this was for Zhou Xiaohui, the secretary personally recommended by Sun Xihui. She had just moved in.

Zhou Xiaohui had just turned twenty-one this month. She had graduated from a junior college in Chinese Language and Literature and had been assigned to a local family planning office, writing reports. It should have been a good job, but her mother immediately tried to arrange a marriage with some dimwitted official's son. Furious, Zhou Xiaohui packed up her diploma and ran to the provincial capital, staying with a friend for two days before spotting Yuanchip's recruitment notice.

Although her math skills were poor, her literacy was excellent, and her English was quite fluent — she had worked hard on it during her two years in college.

"Xiao Su General Manager, we received news from Siam this morning," Zhou Xiaohui said from behind the fax machine, her tone full of frustration. "They said they want to wait and see."

Su Yuanshan waved it off indifferently: "It's fine, let them wait. It's a small market anyway."

Zhou Xiaohui added, "And Japan? Originally they were planning to bypass Xinghai and work directly with us, but now..."

"Japan is our main target for next year," Su Yuanshan replied calmly. "Our top priority now is stability. We need to do our current work properly step by step. Once Sun Xihui is fully established in Hong Kong, she'll oversee all Asian business."

Sitting back in his chair, Su Yuanshan let out a long breath and closed his eyes, a smile curling his lips.

All they could do now was wait for the spring breeze to blow.

...

Time flowed forward, slow but steady.

On the day of the Laba Festival, a shipment of one hundred MPEG1 decoder chips and main control ICs finally arrived in the provincial capital — two days later than the PCBs from Jiangyin.

With the chips in hand, Su Yuanshan gathered Li Mingliu and several core team members and lugged a VCR to the Electronics Technology Institute.

Since it was "family," Wang Chaoxin had not only printed the PCBs but had also thoughtfully pre-welded all the components he could, saving Yuanchip a lot of trouble. He had even provided a checklist for any missing parts.

"Senior Brother," Su Yuanshan greeted Tang Wenjie, who was waiting at the entrance of the lab building.

Tang Wenjie threw an arm around Su Yuanshan's shoulders and joked with Li Mingliu: "Welcome, Li Senior Brother, to our Electronics Tech Lab for guidance."

Li Mingliu heard the teasing tone, shrugged, and replied, "Cut it out. I should be asking Dr. Tang for guidance."

Tang Wenjie immediately looked around nervously: "Come on… don't bring that up!"

Everyone laughed — it was no secret that Tang Wenjie was preparing to go to Stanford under Professor Harvis to pursue his PhD, partly to reunite with Yang Yiwen.

Following Tang Wenjie, they moved up to the third-floor lab. After checking all the components, Li Mingliu personally took up the hot air gun and carefully soldered the decoder chip onto the board — since heat dissipation was a concern, they were using ceramic packaging, allowing for direct hot air soldering.

Then, one by one, he soldered all the components onto the board with an iron.

Once the mainboard was fully assembled, they meticulously followed schematics to connect various modules and circuits, finally attaching a Sony optical drive.

"Don't rush. Double-check all the wiring. Set up the oscilloscope. Monitor the current at all times. Every single data point must be recorded. Also, turn on the TV first, and get the VCR ready — we need to analyze audio-video sync," Su Yuanshan instructed from the side. Though he didn't work hands-on, he paid close attention to every step.

Li Mingliu repeatedly nodded: "Right, right. After all, this is the first time a domestic company is inventing a new home appliance!"

Su Yuanshan smiled and nodded.

He remembered when he had gone to Las Vegas last October and checked the patents — Scophar hadn't applied for one yet. That meant Scophar might soon be in for a shock when Yuanchip launched their VCD.

It would be like a brave knight fighting to rescue a princess, only to find she had already married someone else — and had kids.

Su Yuanshan really wanted to see Scophar's face when they unveiled Yuanchip's VCD in April.

He might even cry.

Finally, the power was connected. Static filled the TV screen for a moment, then a simple logo appeared:

YuanXinVCD.

Li Mingliu took a deep breath, carefully opened the optical drive, and placed an MPEG1 disc inside.

Everyone collectively held their breath. Even Su Yuanshan subconsciously clenched his fists.

The optical drive hummed softly, reading the disc.

Moments later, sound and picture appeared simultaneously.

Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.

Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1