Electronics Now articles from January 1997

Electronics Now archives from January 1997

Net abuse. (Internet)(Editorial)
January 1, 1997... The Internet is a wonderful place. The Internet is a horrible and evil place. Both of those statements are true; they are also both false. Actually, the Internet is what you make it and how you use it. Think of it as a tool. Used properly, a...

Security engineering courses.
January 1, 1997... Open any newspaper and you'll see evidence of intentionally caused tragedies - bombings of office buildings in New York and Oklahoma City, planes blown out of the sky, disgrunded employees shooting up their work sites. Such incidents underscore...

Superconductivity helps magnetic separators.
January 1, 1997... By applying their expertise in superconductivity to magnetic separators, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratories (Los Alamos, NM) believe they have taken the first step toward more cost-effective papermaking, high-volume...

Voice-recognition software from Kurzweil Applied Intelligence. (Kurzweil Voice for Windows 2.0)(Equipment Reports)(Product Announcement)
January 1, 1997... Star Trek fans are sure to remember the movie, Star Trek: The Voyage Home. In it, the crew of the Enterprise traveled back to the late 20th Century on yet another mission to save "mankind." Much of the charm and humor of that film centered on the...

Modern CMOS Circuits Manual.
January 1, 1997... Written by frequent Electronics Now contributor Ray Marston, this illustrated guidebook is a good starting point for anyone interested in electronics, from hobbyists to design engineers. It examines the operating principles and practical...

McGraw-Hill Circuit Encyclopedia and Troubleshooting Guide, vol. 3.
January 1, 1997... This comprehensive book contains hundreds of pre-designed, commonly-used circuits, organized by function. It also presents specific testing strategies and troubleshooting approaches for locating problems during circuit failure. The book...

RF/IF Designer's Guide DG-96/97.
January 1, 1997... More than 1000 Mini-Circuits IF, RF, and microwave signal-processing components are completely specified and described in this 180-page catalog. The large number of available models is provided so that the design engineer can select a model that...

Designing 3D Graphics: How to Create Real-Time 3D Models for Games and Virtual Reality.
January 1, 1997... This guide to creating cool three-dimensional graphics contains everything you need to know to create sophisticated, real-time 3D graphics for computer games and virtual reality. Full of design tips, animation techniques, and step-by-step...

A Technical Introduction to Digital Video.
January 1, 1997... With today's computers and communications systems, it's easy to acquire, process, transmit, and display photographic-quality still color pictures. Yet the goals of smooth motion and accurate color reproduction have been elusive. The digital video...

Build the solar-ball robot. (includes parts list)
January 1, 1997... Here's a project that's educational, entertaining, and fun to build: a ball-shaped robot that rolls around in search of light. From the clockwork-driven automata of the 16th and 17th Centuries to the latest industrial robots and movie "droids"...

Build this negative voltage converter. (includes parts list)
January 1, 1997... Build a negative voltage supply from a CMOS voltage converter IC, and obtain up to -12 volts the easy way for your projects and experiments. The requirement for negative voltage in some projects can be annoying because it adds components that...

Build a five-channel logic analyzer for $50.00. (includes parts list)
January 1, 1997... Your latest digital circuit is perfect on paper and in the simulator software, but the actual prototype doesn't work as it should. Don't despair - our low-cost logic analyzer will come to the rescue! Soon after the first appearance of...

Air traffic management moves into the 21st century.
January 1, 1997... Learn about the major changes in concepts and technology that will soon make flying safer and more economical. By the year 2005, the number of commercial passengers flying in the U.S. will increase by almost 45% - from about 625 to some 900...

Build the modem commander.
January 1, 1997... Use our remote-booting modem commander to avoid getting caught without crucial data. Common practice these days is to bring office work home and do it on your PC at night. People often do that by using a floppy disk to transfer files....

Debunking techno-myths, linear-phase digital filters, and more.(Tech Musings)
January 1, 1997... There have been several media references recently to the term "techno-myth." Techno-myths are simply urban lore with a technical bent. Examples of that include such things as the one-thousand mile-per-gallon carburetor that the Detroit conspiracy...

NT 4.0 and the small-office network. (Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT 4.0)(Computer Connections)
January 1, 1997... Recently I reconfigured my office network to use windows NT 4.0 as the primary server, and I'm mostly pleased with the results. Formerly, I used an old 386-based machine as a print and communications server. It ran Win95, and primarily...

VCR tape-transport adjustments.(Servicing)
January 1, 1997... Back in November, we looked at the tape path in a typical VCR, what could go wrong, and what adjustments are available when things do go wrong. This time, we'll look at how to perform three of the most common of those adjustments. Those are: ...

Solving microphone-splitting problems.(Audio Update)
January 1, 1997... Last time, I introduced you to the basic problems raised by microphone splitting. this time, we will look at how to overcome those problems. Proper microphone splitting is fairly easy to do, but it does require an audio transformer that has at...