Electronics Now articles from July 1998

Electronics Now archives from July 1998

Pulling quicker chips out of thin air. (aerogels in the semiconductor industry)
July 1, 1998... When it comes to computer speeds, one of the limiting factors is the architecture of the chip itself. The closer the lines within the chip can be spaced, the faster the signals would travel. However, there's a limit; place the lines too close...

CD player and CD-ROM drive maintenance. (compact disc)
July 1, 1998... While it is tempting to suspect the most expensive component (like the laser) when your trusty CD Player or CD-ROM drive refuses to cooperate, the most common cause is actually a dirty lens, with the next most likely causes being simple...

Equipment report: Cybex SwitchView 4-port KVM switch. (keyboard-video-mouse; computer network administrator)
July 1, 1998... There are plenty of computer-network administrators and other power users who must tend to more than one computer at once; that's a given in the high-tech business world of the late 1990s. In fact, these days it is not uncommon to find homes with...

XML: who controls the DTD? (extended markup language; Document Type Definition)
July 1, 1998... You may have caught the buzz about XML (extended markup language). What is it? What is it good for? How does it differ from html? What difference will it make - if any? Those are all good questions, and we're glad you asked. To answer them, we'll...

Build an S-video distribution amplifier. (separated-video)
July 1, 1998... Whether you are a true videophile or just an avid electronics enthusiast, you are probably aware of the fact that almost all new video devices - including such things as Digital-Satellite Receivers (DSS), Digital Video-Discs players (DVD),...

Build a portable pulse generator.
July 1, 1998... Add this economical, easy-to-build instrument to your test bench, or carry it in your tool kit. If you enjoy doing digital- or analog-circuit, design work, or if digital troubleshooting is one of your priorities, you will probably agree that a...

Patient-friendly medical technology.
July 1, 1998... New and emerging technologies are going a long way toward reducing patient stress while providing doctors with the information they need faster and even more safely. Anyone who has ever had to undergo a medical test or procedure is familiar...

Experimenting with magnetic sensors.
July 1, 1998... This month, we put our flux-gate sensors to work and build a practical magnetometer and gradiometer. In the June, 1998 issue of Electronics now, we introduced the FGM-x series of fluxgate magnetometer sensors from Speake & Co. Ltd. These...

Understanding crest factors, temperature-sensing circuits, and more.
July 1, 1998... In several previous columns, we have seen how excruciatingly hard it is to accurately measure ac power, especially if phase shifts, reactive energy, nonlinearities, strange waveforms, sparking, strong harmonics, or low duty cycles are in any way...

Digital camcorder.
July 1, 1998... At first glance, it is easy to mistake the recently introduced, ultracompact ZR Digital Video (DV) camcorder for one of today's popular "point-and-shoot"-style film cameras. Well, that's really not a problem as the easy-to-use ZR can act both as...