Proprietary Embedded Board Formats

I just happened to be checking a few of the COTS Board Manufacturer pages today. I noticed that the few pages I picked to update, at random, were receiving almost no incoming visits. It only took a few minutes before I realized that the three board formats I had updated were all proprietary standards. Really proprietary board formats, because I don't know that any board standard was ever released ~ other than a detailed data sheet so the board could be designed into an embedded system.

So I opened the STX Board Format page to do a routine update, or just to check to see it was up-to-date. Anyway I also opened site analytics to see how the page was doing for visits. That  board format receives almost no visitors, then I started to wonder why that was. That's when I noticed that the format was proprietary in nature.

There really is no reason for someone to visit my site for a board format that is only produced by one or two individual companies, unless they don't realize the standard is proprietary. So I can understand why the incoming visits to that page are so low. However; on the positive side, by listing the standard on the site the information is there to review if it ever comes up in conversation. That is, I don't have to claim ignorance, within minutes I know what the STX board is just by pulling up the page.

I figured I would then check a few other proprietary board standards, like E2Brain. Same story with this industrial format, except that this page received even lower page views by 30%. I pulled up the PISA board standard next. Now to my surprise the PISA format was getting 3x the page views even though I figured this format was obsolete. The PISA slot format is based on a modified PCAT slot connector, which by definition implies obsolesce because the industry moved onto PCI many years ago.

I don't have a point here, other then to indicate that some pages will never do well on the web, but they still deserve a place on interfacebus to insure the topic is covered; Industrial Embedded Board Formats.
I did make sure that the page clearly indicated that the board formats were proprietary......

Graphic; Single Board Computer [SBC]. Public Domain.