CURRENT ISSUE
Contests
task manager
|
|
Issue #213 April 2008
Smart Design & Intelligent Programming
by C. J. Abate
When we began planning this year’s Embedded Programming issue back in late 2007, our goal was to provide informative articles about embedded development, programming, debugging, and efficient system design. To achieve this goal, our staff worked closely with the writers to concentrate their articles on these topics. Our project editors read through each article and then provided the writers with useful feedback in an effort to help them focus their work on the specific needs of our readers, most of whom are the professional engineers who are designing and programming the world’s newest embedded technologies. It’s clear that the creative projects described in this issue highlight the benefits of combining sound design techniques with careful programming.
To kick things off, David Lynch thoroughly describes how he created a virtual Linux environment on a Windows system (p. 14). In the first article of his series on the topic, David introduces you to coLinux, a handy version of Linux that serves as his platform for embedded cross-development.
On page 22, columnist Robert Lacoste delivers several “Intelligent Energy Solutions.” You probably recall that this special section was first introduced by Steve Ciarcia in his three-part series about his solar PV system (Circuit Cellar 209, 210, and 211). In this article, Robert provides useful design techniques for building efficient, energy-saving electronic systems.
If you’re interested in a programmable power source, Yoshiyasu Takefuji’s article is for you. On page 35, Yoshiyasu walks you through the process of constructing a simple programmable USB DAC, which he built around an ATtiny45 and a MAX517.
In the second part of his series about building a “DIY Wii,” Chris Coulston goes into the details about manipulating 3-D graphics (p. 40). As you’ll see, the system can easily interact with a variety of graphics programs. Chris’s students use it to design their own games. Now you can, too.
Need precise power control? Ed Nisley has the answer. This month he describes how a triac behaves when confronted with an inductive load (p. 46).
Turn to page 52 to learn how Jose Sanchez uses his “Video Stamp” system to debug his programs. The PIC-based system provides an NTSC-compatible video signal to display content from his applications. Get ready to build your own.
Are you a programmer looking to take on your first design project? In “Simple Hardware Development,” longtime programmer Taylor Hutt describes how he completed his first project with a Xilinx Spartan-3E starter kit and the VHDL programming language (p. 60).
On page 73, Jeff Bachiochi describes his “touch slide digital pot” project. He took mechanical parts out of the equation and designed a potentiometer with no moving parts.
In this issue’s final article, Tom Cantrell continues his examination of 32-bit MCUs by taking a second look at the STMicroelectronics STM32 (p. 80). Is the STM32 the “best” 32-bit MCU? Tom provides his answer. What’s yours?
|
