I’ve said it before, and I’ll doubtless say it again; I’m a simple man. As I’ve also said before, this isn’t a pause for you to agree with me enthusiastically because I haven’t completed my train of thought. What I was trying to say was that I’m a simple man who likes a simple story.
I was just cogitating and ruminating on the futuristic technologies to which I was exposed when “Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)” first graced our television screens in 1966. Things like the flip-open communicators, which predated the launch of the world’s first flip phone by 30 years.
Also, there was artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) of a form. However, … Read More → "Open-Source AutoML for Edge AI/ML Development"
I’ve been informed by the punctuation police that I am no longer allowed to employ exclamation marks in my column titles. That’s like asking me to write while hopping up and down on one leg with one arm tied behind my back, but I’ll try to be brave and soldier on. Suffice it to say that for anyone building a semiconductor fab who wants … Read More → "Building A Semiconductor Fab? I Have Awesome News (Exclamation Mark)"
In retrospect, it’s been a funny old day with respect to retro displays and computers, starting with Numitron tubes (which use seven incandescent filaments arranged to form a seven-segment display) and ending with an 8-bit computer implemented using 1950s thermionic valves (vacuum tubes).
Now, I want you to be honest with me… am I alone in loving the technologies of yesteryear? For … Read More → "Awesome Retro Displays and Computers"
While writing my recent 8-part EDA history (listed below), I became acutely aware that most of the effort devoted to EDA tool development has been aimed at IC design. A much smaller level of effort was devoted to developing printed circuit board (PCB) tools. The reason is simple, I think. IC design tools sell for far more money. While IC design tools cost upwards of six and … Read More → "A Brief History of PCBs: Where did printed circuit boards come from?"
I love digital logic. I love solving digital logic conundrums. And I especially love discovering interesting and unusual ways of doing things while also learning more about the people who came up with these ideas in the first place. Take Gray codes, for example. These were named after Frank Gray, who was a physicist and researcher at Bell Labs.
The Gray code, or … Read More → "Who Invented the Johnson Decade Counter (and Why)?"
