Articles – Page 190

October 1, 2014

I really wanted to like this chip. But then I talked to the manufacturer.

Let me explain. Your humble servants here at Electronic Engineering Journal talk to a lot of people at a lot of different companies. That’s what we do. The vendors tell us about their whizzy new chip, or new software, or new business venture, or whatever. We listen politely at first, knowing that the vendor will – quite rightly – present the product in its best possible light. That’s their job.

Now, if we were working for some other publications … Read More → "AMD Fails to Impress"

Max 10 Kills the CPLD

Altera Redefines Non-volatile FPGAs

by Kevin Morris

September 30, 2014

The venerable CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), forefather of today’s flourishing FPGA and programmable logic industry, died peacefully in its sleep last night of natural causes. No memorial services are planned. The CPLD is survived by an incredible array of modern, capable devices that take the concept of programmable hardware to places never envisioned by the stately senior sum-of-products statesman.

If you visit the Wikipedia page for “CPLD” you will find a picture of an Altera MAX device (EPM7128), a 2,500 gate-equivalent, 128 macrocell “second generation” CPLD (or “EPLD” as the company was spinning … Read More → "Max 10 Kills the CPLD"

Expanding EDA

Newer Tools Let You Do More than Just Electronics

by Bryon Moyer

September 29, 2014

Welcome to autumn. It’s usually a busy season – although the activity typically starts more with the onset of September and the resumption of school than with the equinox. But it also comes on the heels of a quiet season, even in the overworked US.

And EDA has seemed moderately quiet. So I started looking around to see what I might have been missing, and I’m not sure there’s a lot. But it did get me musing on why things might be quiet for the moment as well as what fills the gap – which gets … Read More → "Expanding EDA"

The Four Horsemen

What Does the Future Hold for the Semiconductor Industry?

by Dick Selwood

September 25, 2014

When I looked at the forecasts from London-based analysis company Future Horizons this time last year (Malcolmy: Entrails, Crystal Balls and Spreadsheets), I saw that they predicted that, while short-term (through 2014) sales volumes were set to increase, the long-term future of the industry was looking a little less than rosy. A year on, the picture Malcolm Penn, the MD of Future Horizons, is painting is much the same, with the pessimism for the long term even more marked.

First – the good news: Penn … Read More → "The Four Horsemen"

Prpl With Envy

Foundation Aims to Prevent MIPS Fragmentation

by Jim Turley

September 24, 2014

If a microprocessor is nothing but a machine that executes software, then it’s probably important to make sure that all of the machines are compatible with all of the software. That’s a lot harder than it sounds.

Some CPU families have a long and storied history of binary compatibility. Intel’s x86 architecture comes to mind, because of its slavish devotion to binary compatibility dating back to the 1970s. Love it or hate it, at least you know that every x86 processor ever made will run any x86 program ever written. It’s a huge … Read More → "Prpl With Envy"

Makers Conquer the World

From Artisan to Arduino at World Maker Faire

by Kevin Morris

September 23, 2014

We walk past a small booth at the 2014 World Maker Faire, and a young boy, perhaps eight or nine years old, jumps out to get our attention. He is so excited we can barely understand what he is saying. He wants us to see his sneakers – adorned with an array of LEDs giving a high-energy light show that would make any grade-schooler envious. He explains that he programmed the lights himself. He is ecstatic, and his enthusiasm radiates into the crowd. “Can I sign you up? Can I sign you up?” He pulls up a registration form … Read More → "Makers Conquer the World"

Tiny Diamonds

A Tribology Triumph

by Bryon Moyer

September 22, 2014

The world has seen a ton of MEMS devices built in the last few years. Of course, MEMS technology has been around for decades, but it’s really been the ability to fabricate cheaply, coupled with high-volume applications, that has driven the more recent surge.

While MEMS devices have historically been built out of many different substances, the “fabricate cheaply” thing comes partly from the ability to use silicon – either etching the pieces out of the wafer (bulk micro-machining) or depositing films onto silicon and etching those (surface micro-machining).

I never noticed this, but it … Read More → "Tiny Diamonds"

Differentiation versus Diversity

Tilera’s Acquisition Means One Less CPU Company

by Jim Turley

September 17, 2014

There once was a time when every company had its own unique CPU architecture. Then there was a time when pretty much everyone used the same CPU architecture. Guess which era we’re living in now.

Actually, we’ve experienced both of those extremes multiple times. We have the makings of an industry cycle here. Really early computer companies (Burroughs, National Cash Register, Amdahl, International Business Machines, Data General, Digital Equipment Corporation, etc.) each invented and supported its own proprietary computer architecture. Each processor was implemented in discrete logic and occupied an entire printed-circuit board. Probably several … Read More → "Differentiation versus Diversity"

Go-Fast FPGA Design

Helpful Hot-Rodding Hints

by Kevin Morris

September 16, 2014

Most of us engineers are at least closet hot-rodders. It’s in our DNA. No matter how good a contraption is from the factory, we just can’t resist the temptation to tweak a few things in our own special way, and often that’s all about speed.

FPGA design, it turns out, is a big ‘ol blank canvas for hot-rodding. Even though we (fortunately) don’t have glossy convenience-store magazines adorned with scantily-clad models standing next to the latest tricked-out dev boards, FPGAs have all the tools we need to rev our … Read More → "Go-Fast FPGA Design"

Feed It Forward (And Back)

KLA-Tencor Helps Accommodate Variation

by Bryon Moyer

September 15, 2014

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) had resulted in marked improvements in his ability to access the people and places and resources that normatively-abled people took for granted. Curb cuts, wider paths, and ramps instead of stairs all meant that his wheelchair could go much farther than was previously possible.

But it wasn’t perfect. A cozy coffee shop might, for instance, have only a few tables near the entrance that a wheelchair could reach. They weren’t “handicapped only” tables; they were just near the door, and the tables farther in were too … Read More → "Feed It Forward (And Back)"