Electronics Now articles from April 1997

Electronics Now archives from April 1997

A magneto optical disk drive from Olympus. (Olympus SYS.230 Magneto Optical drive)(Equipment Reports)(Column)
April 1, 1997... Anyone who has used a computer for some time surely knows what a pain in the neck it can be to transport large files - ones that are too big to fit on a conventional floppy. Sure you can compress large files using archive software, and there are...

The Whole Spy Catalog: A Resource Encyclopedia for Researchers, Pls, Spies, and Generally Nosy People.
April 1, 1997... Intended to serve as The Whole Earth Catalog of spying, this book makes readily available to the general public the tricks, techniques, and secrets of espionage experts including the CIA, KGB, and other major spy agencies. It provides...

Blending the best of analog and digital.
April 1, 1997... Digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOS) are hot. Yet a small pocket of analog-scope users are still loyal to analog technology. Sometimes, that is because their application can only be served by analog technology. More often, it is because these...

How not to be a bad coder.
April 1, 1997... I Wish I could say that the events related below were part of some elaborate April fool's joke. Unfortunately, they're not. As a consultant, I frequently get called in to help out on projects that are behind schedule and up against a serious...

Build a 200-watt digital power amplifier for your car. (includes related article on required parts)
April 1, 1997... Here's a project that will add zip to your driving experience - a low-cost, high-end amplifier that's equally at home in your car, boat, or home/ Most audio power amplifiers currently available on the market are some kind of analog design....

Testing and aligning a floppy drive.
April 1, 1997... Today's alignment software makes troubleshooting a balky floppy drive easier than ever before. Here's how it's done. The basic nature of a computer floppy-disk drive has changed very little since its introduction in the 1970s: A circular disk...

High-tech battlefield medicine.
April 1, 1997... See how electronics and other technologies are coming to the aid of soldiers in the field, and how civilians could benefit, too. When serious injuries occur, the difference between life and death could be determined by the care a victim...

Build the Fuel Gauge - a capacity indicator for your battery pack.
April 1, 1997... Know how much charge is left in your batteries with this easy-to-build project. Have you ever experienced the frustration of turning on your battery-powered radio and finding out after only a few minutes of use that the battery needs...

A microphone primer.
April 1, 1997... Microphones are precision instruments. They are made to close tolerances and are designed to withstand physical punishment. Despite that fact, they need to be handled carefully if you want them to last a very long time and consistently deliver...

Video, video editing, character generators, and more. (PS-1000 NTSC)
April 1, 1997... I just got hold of a brand new videonics powerscript PS-1000 NTSC animated video-character generator. In addition to its many impressive features, this is one of the first stand-alone units to extend the postscript computer language for work in...