Author Archive

How to use dd in Linux without destroying your disk | Opensource.com

https://opensource.com/article/18/7/how-use-dd-linux There’s some truth to that old Unix admin joke: “dd stands for disk destroyer.” If you know what you are using, dd is a simple and powerful image-copying tool that’s been around, well, pretty much forever. There’s all kinds of stuff you can do with dd. In addition to dd this article also introduces →

How to Design Your Own Custom Microcontroller Board

This is an interesting tutorial series. With it you’ll learn how to design your own custom microcontroller board. This custom 32-bit microcontroller board example is based on an Arm Cortex-M0 STM32 from ST Microelectronics. Tutorial: How to Design Your Own Custom Microcontroller Board — Part 1 https://predictabledesigns.com/tutorial-how-to-design-your-own-custom-microcontroller-board-video-part1/ Tutorial: How to Design Your Own Custom Microcontroller Board — Part 2 →

Biltema RCD teardown

Biltema sold this ground fault interrupter (RCD / GFCI) device few years ago (does not seem to sell anymore). It is designed to be connected to 230V AC 50 Hz electrical outlet. The information on the back of the device tells that this will trip at 30 mA leakage current. The symbol tells that this →

Bad CEM SMD-100

I got a CEM SMD-100 Smart Electronic Components Tester because it was on sale at very low price. It turned out to be a bad investment. The component tweezers part make very intermittent contact with the meter, so measuring the components was very unreliable. The meter seemed to work OK with the measurement supplied leads →

New Solar Cell “Most Efficient Ever”

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4803 For the first time, scientists have produced a photovoltaic (PV) cell with a conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reported. The breakthrough cell was developed using a structure called a “multi-junction solar cell.” The technology may allow for lower PV system installation costs ($3 per watt) and lower electricity →

July 1958: Kilby Conceives the Integrated Circuit – IEEE Spectrum

https://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/devices/july-1958-kilby-conceives-the-integrated-circuit In 1958, 11 years after Bell Labs reinvented the transistor, it became clear that semiconductors would be able to conquer the electronics market only if they could be greatly miniaturized. In July1958, Jack S. Kilby of Texas Instruments came up with the monolithic idea. In January 1959, Robert Noyce was to jot in his →