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    <channel>
        <title><![CDATA[TB-Articles - TechBites]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[TechBites - The Science and Technology Collaborative Community]]></description>
        <link>http://www.techbites.com/</link>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">3012-659</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Integrating MATLAB and Photoshop: MAtlab r2010b and Photoshop CS4 Extended integration]]></title>
	            <link>/201009103012/myblog/articles/z0039-integrating-matlab-and-photoshop.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I got it!

1.You should verify if you are the right to change the file where you save what you do when opening "set path>add folder with subfolders".IF not, get it.

2.All changes have to be done when you are in the "c:\...\R2010b" directory

3.Probably it's necessary to use "xtools" in order to make all this work.I did it a long time ago and I dont't remember how I came to it, but it seems unavoidable.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:21:29 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">3012-658</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Integrating MATLAB and Photoshop: Not working with R2010b and CS4]]></title>
	            <link>/201009103012/myblog/articles/z0039-integrating-matlab-and-photoshop.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I get the following results (CS4 and R2010b):

>> psopendoc
??? Input argument "f" is undefined.

Error in ==> psopendoc at 16
f = strrep(f, '\', '\\');
 
>> pslaunch
>> psopendoc
??? Input argument "f" is undefined.

Error in ==> psopendoc at 16
f = strrep(f, '\', '\\');
 
>> test9
??? Error using ==> psjavascriptu at 39
MATLAB is not enabled

Error in ==> psconfig at 86
psresult = psjavascriptu(pstext);

Error in ==> test9 at 8
[oru, otu, oh, odd] = psconfig('pixels', 'pixels', 5,
'no');

Do you have an explanation?(knowing that on the same computer, CS4 and R2008a work perfectly).

Thanks.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:16:29 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1904-650</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[iSuppli Peeks Inside Apple's New iPad: Why do consumers enjoy being bilked by Steve Jobs?]]></title>
	            <link>/201001281904/myblog/articles/z000a-isuppli-peeks-inside-apples-new-ipad.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Check out the iPad web site. It's just one relative adjective after another. Who needs quantified nouns when you can have relative adjectives?

"High resolution display" Yeah, right. It's VGA. Back in the day, nobody did any research on what resolution humans actually need for protracted viewing. VGA was just the best they could do with the technology at the time (and that time was a LONG time ago). Now we know better. Opthomologists have known ever since VGA came out that it causes eyestrain in a significant percentage of users who stare at a VGA display for protracted intervals. Yet supposedly one major use of iPads is to read eBooks! And a power-hungry, back-lit LCD? Has anybody seen such a display you can actually read in bright sunlight? Gee, aren't OLEDs the latest, greatest, sharpest, brightest, most efficient, yadda da, yadda da, yadda da, displays?

"Long battery life" 15 hours (hmmm...does the capacity of a Li-Ion battery drop off with use and aren't Li-Ion batteries good for only 500 recharges? Is the iPad battery user-replaceable? iPods and iPhones have no battery compartment.) - good enough for an eBook reader over the weekend, right?

And why do they cost so much, besides just being - as usual - an overpriced Apple product? I mean do a thought-experiment teardown of an iPad and compare the stuff it must have inside vs. a $350 PC. See what I mean?

Chuck Small	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:27:52 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">698-621</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[How to make Printed Circuit Boards.: Really cool article]]></title>
	            <link>/20091011698/myblog/articles/z001c-how-to-make-printed-circuit-boards.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Very profesional, excellent description of the process. Thank you!	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:57:52 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2785-607</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Light Blue Sub-Pixel Added to OLED Display: a potentially importanti incrimental breakthrough]]></title>
	            <link>/201006082785/myblog/articles/z000a-light-blue-sub-pixel-added-to-oled-display.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks for bringing this to our attention Cliff. This development could help move OLED technologies closer to mainstream commercial markets, a good thing because of both their energy savings and the low environmental impact they have during manufacture. besides the challenges of getting the technology ready for "high-volume, consumer-grade applications, it remains to be seen whether the improved picture quality and display life are enough to justify the costs of adding electronics to support a fourth color channel (RGB+LB?) to the average display but it's certainly an interesting and worthwhile issue to watch.   	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:32:45 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2537-571</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Book Review: Analog Circuit Design Series: Thanks for a very useful review]]></title>
	            <link>/201004082537/myblog/articles/z0006-book-review-analog-circuit-design-series.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hi Janine -- thanks for a very useful review -- I particularly like the author's stated intent: 'To reduce the concepts of analog electronics as I know them to their simplest, most obvious form, which can be easily remembered and applied, even quantitatively, with minimal effort.'

I'm a digital logic designer by trade -- I did analog at college, but I don't hardly remember any of it. From what you say, these books would be useful for any engineer's bookshelf, so I'll add them to my "wish list". I do like the books put out by SciTech (in fact I have one called 'Introduction to Modern Digital Electronics' sitting on my desk that I just read and intend to review myself ... as soon as I get a free moment).

But for now I have to run to pick up my son and his friends and take them to the first baseball game of the season at the stadium of our local team (the Huntsville Stars).	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:38:11 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1654-569</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Creating an Open Source-based FPGA Design Flow: Re nice article, but...]]></title>
	            <link>/201001051654/myblog/articles/z0002-creating-an-open-source-based-fpga-design-flow.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Good Catch re Linus being Finnish and not Swedish -- the great thing about TechBites is that you can quickly contact the author to request "tweaks" to an article to correct things like this (I just made that correction by the way).

Hmmm, what a coincidence ... your name being "Mive Claxfield" and mine being "Clive Maxfield" ... a more suspicious man than myself might think someone was "pulling my plonker" as they say in England...	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:57:53 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1654-568</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Creating an Open Source-based FPGA Design Flow: Nice article, but...]]></title>
	            <link>/201001051654/myblog/articles/z0002-creating-an-open-source-based-fpga-design-flow.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Linus Torvalds is Finnish, not Swedish. The book is wrong too.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:58:53 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1446-564</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[This Code Stinks!  The Worst Embedded Code Ever: Link appears to be broken]]></title>
	            <link>/200912141446/myblog/articles/z0019-this-code-stinks-the-worst-embedded-code-ever.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            While the included example is truly atrocious.  The link to additional pain returns a 404 error.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:55:37 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2351-541</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Why hardware designers should switch to Eclipse: What's The I in IDE?]]></title>
	            <link>/201003172351/myblog/articles/z0000-why-hardware-designers-should-switch-to-eclipse.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I would like to add to Brian Bailey's comment.

It's true that today's designs are very interdependent and iterative. An example in the FPGA Design might include the fact that routing can affect electrical characteristics and hence the performance of the design. Hence, the tool must be a 'Jack of all, master of all'. 

One can argue between open-source and closed-source EDA tools, but to categorize Eclipse as the former one might not be a suitable one. And plug-ins is a too-cute word to work as a 'pronoun' for integrated, complex tools within EDAs !

BTW, I = Integrated :-)	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:46:45 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2351-534</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Why hardware designers should switch to Eclipse: Eclipse IDE and SaaS]]></title>
	            <link>/201003172351/myblog/articles/z0000-why-hardware-designers-should-switch-to-eclipse.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hendrik, it's great to see you working on a piece of the IDE puzzle.  Maybe I should switch from emacs VHDL mode.

I recall discussing the need for an IDE with some colleagues while working as a VHDL design engineer almost a decade ago.  We were familiar with CodeWarior and Eclipse, so we knew what was possible.  My, things have come a long way since then for Eclipse in the software world.  For the hardware world, there is still a long way to go INHO.  The FPGA space may offer the most hope. 

I wonder if the EDA user-base is broad enough to support re-factoring the flow to Eclipse.  There is just so much legacy built into the leading tools and flows. An Eclipse based flow is ideal and I think it could meet all the requirements if there was enough market support.

Someone recently asked me if our SpectaReg register management tool works with Eclipse.  "Yep, it does," was my response, "and you don't even have to install a plugin." 

"How can it work in Eclipse without a plugin?", the person asked in bewilderment. 

It runs in all the main browsers, including Eclipse's "Internal Web Browser." SpectaReg's GUI is 100% javascript/DHTML.   

We use Eclipse for a lot of internal development at PDTi and I think it's good for the most part.  Great to have so many useful plugins and such dynamic support for coding and debugging.  My main complaint is that it's a resource hog, and it's hard to get all the different plug-ins working with a specific instance due to dependencies.  

I think more EDA apps should be offered as a Software as a Service. Think Google Apps for EDA.  This provides simplicity, platform independence, no installation, no updates and patches to worry about, built in collaboration, versioning and permissioning. 

[If you haven't tried Google spreadsheet for a collaborative effort, I'd highly recommend it.]

	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:41:28 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2351-533</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Why hardware designers should switch to Eclipse: Eclipse is being used for EDA]]></title>
	            <link>/201003172351/myblog/articles/z0000-why-hardware-designers-should-switch-to-eclipse.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Eclipse has seen use in the EDA world.  Mentor Graphics' Platform Express, Space Codesign's SpaceStudio and Duolog's Socrates platforms are built as Eclipse plug-ins.  ARM created an IP-XACT XML 'packager' in 2006-07 for the 1.2 release, again built on Eclipse.  There are probably a few more, but the tendency does seem to be newer tools rather than releases of older and likely more complex platforms (harder to port as Eclipse plug-ins).  Other EDA offerings exist, I'll let them speak for themselves!


[Disclaimer: I was part of the Platform Express program while at Mentor Graphics.]	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:29:05 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2351-531</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Why hardware designers should switch to Eclipse: Not the same thing]]></title>
	            <link>/201003172351/myblog/articles/z0000-why-hardware-designers-should-switch-to-eclipse.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I think it is very clear why hardware developers do not use IDEs. The work they do is very different from a software engineer in terms of the tools and flows involved. In the software world, the edit, compile, execute, debug flow is fairly well contained. What is that flow for hardware people? This is why many HW EDA tools contain mini IDE's for examining and editing source code within the context of a single tool. Those IDEs are consistent enough that it does not take an awful lot of learning for each one, but yes - there would be an advantage if they all used the same one - the same code. Now all you have to do is persuade Mentor, Cadence and Synopsys, for starters, that they should create all of their tools as plug-ins.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:22:16 -0500</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2324-530</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Why are houses dumber than cars? The quest for smart houses gains traction...: So true!]]></title>
	            <link>/201003122324/myblog/articles/z0006-why-are-houses-dumber-than-cars-the-quest-for-smart-houses-gains-traction.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            My wife has constantly asked why the front door can't be operated by a key fob, just like her car.  A network of small, low-power sensors, controlling household functions would be a great way to go. (the cry of near-dead battery powered devices in the night is a real pain)
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:14:27 -0500</pubDate>
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	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1654-518</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Creating an Open Source-based FPGA Design Flow: More tools: TCL, Subversion]]></title>
	            <link>/201001051654/myblog/articles/z0002-creating-an-open-source-based-fpga-design-flow.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I'd also add TCL - tool command language - to the list. It's a de-facto standard in all EDA tools.

Also Subversion for source control. At this point it's more popular than CVS.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:47:08 -0600</pubDate>
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	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">554-517</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[LFSRs (Part 2): LFSR counters]]></title>
	            <link>/20090920554/myblog/articles/z000c-lfsrs-part-2.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	             For large values (over 16 bits) LFSR counters are much more efficient in terms of logic utilization than their binary counterparts. The disadvantage,however, is that an LFSR counter cannot be easily used to count more than one value.
 For those who're interested there is an online tool that generates Verilog and VHDL code for LFSR counters : http://outputlogic.com/?page_id=275	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:37:29 -0600</pubDate>
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	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">555-516</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[LFSRs (Part 3): Encryption is not the same as scrambling]]></title>
	            <link>/20090920555/myblog/articles/z000c-lfsrs-part-3.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Encryption is not the same as scrambling. Scrambling is the process of randomizing the data to avoid long sequences of 1's and 0's. LFSRs work well for scrambling. Encryption is the process of transforming information to make it unreadable. A simple LFSR does not provide sufficient security to be used in encryption engine.  	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:26:13 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">2190-512</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Software Programmable Platform from CEVA Supports HD Video, Image Signal Processing for Portables: See my review for more...]]></title>
	            <link>/201002262190/myblog/articles/z000a-software-programmable-platform-from-ceva-supports-hd-video-image-signal-processing-for-portable-mul.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            The MM3000's performance (1080p at up to 60 fps) is impressive, but the fact that CEVA was able to pull this off in a fully-programmable platform is what really amazes me.  Other HD video platforms like the POWERVR VXD and the Mali-VE6 offer only limited programmability.  I think CEVA has an advantage for applications that need something more than standards-based decode and encode.

More at:

http://www.techbites.com/201002152074/myblog/blog/z0009-ceva-goes-full-hd-with-fully-programmable-mm3000.html	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:12:19 -0600</pubDate>
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	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">996-491</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Welcome to TechBites: Excellent...]]></title>
	            <link>/20091112996/myblog/articles/z000c-welcome-to-techbites.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks for the introduction!	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:36:04 -0600</pubDate>
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	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1867-473</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Touch Screen Technology with 95% Transparency: extra sensitive]]></title>
	            <link>/201001261867/myblog/articles/z000a-touch-screen-technology-with-95-transparency.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            wont its sensitivity will prove its mayhem sometimes and so it requires a healthy 
protective & secure reception.(in short uncontrollable to handle its sensitivity)  	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:39:35 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">996-471</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Welcome to TechBites: ~~]]></title>
	            <link>/20091112996/myblog/articles/z000c-welcome-to-techbites.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks Clive, this was helpful =)	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:07:02 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1838-469</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Beginners Construction - FM Transmitter: Nice - but how to connect the mic]]></title>
	            <link>/201001221838/myblog/articles/z001c-beginners-construction-fm-transmitter.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This is a great construction article but you don't say much about connecting the microphone. Can you supply more details please?
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:05:12 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1780-461</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[BDTi, Xilinx, AutoESL and Synfora dispel rumors about high-level synthesis: Excellent coverage]]></title>
	            <link>/201001181780/myblog/articles/z000d-bdti-xilinx-autoesl-and-synfora-dispel-rumors-about-high-level-synthesis.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This article does a great job of getting some of the facts on ESL synthesis into the open. Folks need to get ready, because it's happening whether you like it or not.
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:56:56 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1742-452</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Troubleshooting 10 Gbps networks: Very comprehensive and down to the wire ]]></title>
	            <link>/201001131742/myblog/articles/z001f-troubleshooting-10-gbps-networks.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Lee,

Very well written and explained. The troubleshooting in high speed packet networks is definitely taking a new dimension and it will be key to the User Experience which is today's primary KPI for any product/service/brand/organization.

Regards,
Neil	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:10:13 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1737-450</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Smart Trash May Be A Profitable Solution for E-Waste : "Rationalizing" Trash]]></title>
	            <link>/201001131737/myblog/articles/z0000-smart-trash-may-be-a-profitable-solution-for-e-waste.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I've long been curious about what adventures await my trash and recycling. Assuming that the trash companies just toss recyclables in the dump, what becomes of my papers, bottle and cans? The market for post-consumer materials is obscure. I love the idea of applying technology to uncovering real data about our trash and recycle streams.

Here's a related article from MIT news, which is a top-notch tech news source on many topics.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/trash-0715.html	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:27:50 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1702-445</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Back bias generators: A cursory literature check revealed...]]></title>
	            <link>/201001101702/myblog/articles/z0029-back-bias-generators.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            ... little at all on this topic that doesn't hail from early days. The most recent item I found was a patent (6,486,727 filed October 2001 and Issued November 2002)describing a technique for disabling back-bias generation when the circuit detects an over-voltage condition. Of the items I found, most (but not all) made specific reference to back-bias generators for use with memory arrays. The technique of adjusting the substrate or well bias potential dates back at least to 1976.

I've not seen it in the analog and mixed-signal circuits with which I'm familiar but that may simply be due to the kinds of circuits I worked with and not reflective of IC design as a whole. That said, the technique is not mentioned in "Analog MOS Integrated Circuits for Signal Processing" (Gregorian & Temes), which goes into some detail about the care and feeding of MOS devices. Is it possible that this technique only applies or applied to certain classes of digital circuitry?

By the way, this is one of those topics that demonstrates how so-called digital circuits are, in fact, non-linear analog circuits-the distinction being that we think of digital circuits as nonparametric whereas on the physical side of the abstraction, all circuit realizations are parametric.
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:03:39 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1587-434</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[ESL Verification Languages. What will it be based on?: Good article]]></title>
	            <link>/200912281587/myblog/articles/z000e-esl-verification-languages-what-will-it-be-based-on.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Brian, I wonder about the verification issues you bring up quite a bit. This is not an official Cadence statement, but I can share some personal thoughts. 

I have been working on functional verification of embedded software for a few years using methodologies based on hardware verification. When the "thing to be verified" is not RTL you have to ask yourself about tools and languages that should be used for this kind of verification. As always it depends on what you are trying to do. Generally, I think OVM is a good solution for any serious verification problem that is beyond what simple scripts or directed tests can do. A lot of the simulation being done with Virtual Platforms uses nothing more than simple tcl scripts for the hardware stimulus and checking and I think there a lot of holes that can be improved to get more verification value from a Virtual Platform environment, but there is always the constraint to run very fast and not bog down performance. Some SystemC users will continue to use SystemC verification for a SystemC model even if it doesn't have all the power of e or SV for verification.

A lot seems to depend on reuse. If the plan is to reuse verification from ESL to RTL you have a different situation compared to just doing verification at ESL. ESL does have the potential for big verification savings, but the details of how to maximize this saving are still emerging. Constructing reusable verification across ESL and RTL is feasible, but does take some planning and skill.

I don't have anything against SystemVerilog, but I find it hard to propose it for abstract ESL verification because it feels a bit heavy to apply an HDL simulator to abstract verification.

I have a 5 part (with more to come) blog series on Android System Verification in which I use Specman for Verification of Android. Although OVM is mostly the same in e or SV, I feel better about e since it just does verification and from the start it was constructed to be separate from the "thing to be verified" so it works the same if applied to SystemC, embedded software, or in my case the Android emulator (which is based on qemu).

The first post is at:
http://www.cadence.com/Community/blogs/sd/archive/2009/11/09/android-system-verification.aspx

Another interesting thing I found is that when I talk to embedded software people, they are quite open to something like e, it looks very cool to them. It's only people that have been around EDA that have lots of bias about language wars between e, SC, and SV. 

Jason Andrews

	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:08:59 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1654-432</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Creating an Open Source-based FPGA Design Flow: Valid or verified?]]></title>
	            <link>/201001051654/myblog/articles/z0002-creating-an-open-source-based-fpga-design-flow.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Max,

You've hit on some very thorny problems. First, in my experience mainline functionality is almost universally correct. The failures mos frequently occur in the margins - cases where nobody thought of that particular combination as anything that somebody would really try, and what do do about semantic mismatch in the english language. It's amazing how imprecise English is in practice.

This in turn leads to the inescapable conclusion that complete validation isn't possible.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:52:44 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1654-431</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Creating an Open Source-based FPGA Design Flow: Fedora Electronics Lab (FEL)]]></title>
	            <link>/201001051654/myblog/articles/z0002-creating-an-open-source-based-fpga-design-flow.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Great coverage on OSS FPGA design tools! The only project I know of that wasn't covered is the Fedora Electronics Lab ( http://spins.fedoraproject.org/fel/ ). It is a respin of Fedora with lots of EDA tools in it.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:42:30 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1654-430</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Creating an Open Source-based FPGA Design Flow: Why limit yourself to Linux]]></title>
	            <link>/201001051654/myblog/articles/z0002-creating-an-open-source-based-fpga-design-flow.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Why limit yourself ot Linux when you can use the most popular OS in history, Windows. Then you can use Windows based tools and if you really need Linux you can install VirtualPC (MS), VirtualBox (Sun) or VMware player (VMware) to offer a virtual machine for any other tools. Within Windows there are plenty of addons that add all the functionality of Linux.

Some of the Windows tools that I like are:
gcc - available on Windows or Microsoft Visual Studio Express is also free
make - native Windows make tools or batch files
gvim, emacs - notepad++ has tons of addons and is loaded with features
cvs - tons of version control tools run within Windows
perl, python - available for Windows
diff - beyond compare is more useful and integrated into Windows Explorer
grep - agent ransack is great and integrated into Windows Explorer
security tools - too many to even start listing them
any zip - jzip does it all, even CAB and ISO	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:46:33 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1587-422</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[ESL Verification Languages. What will it be based on?: Different descriptions are essential for good verification]]></title>
	            <link>/200912281587/myblog/articles/z000e-esl-verification-languages-what-will-it-be-based-on.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            
In the spirit of the New Year of a new decade....

I've long been an advocate of declarative languages - declaring an intent / requirement as a "specification" which tools can convert to executable code seems an elegant and efficient solution, particularly where two or more abstractions of the same model will be required. The problem comes with verification - you can obviously do some formal checks on the "specification" but that's not enough to know that your network adaptor or co-processor or whatever will actually do the job required.  Related to this there are also serious doubts in my mind about the value of automatically creating tests to achieve coverage goals unless you can guarantee independence.

When you strip away all the noise it seems like verification is really a comparison of two or more representations of the same model, hoping that the same mistake won't be repeated in all representations.  That suggests the description of 'design' and 'testbench' ought to be as widely different as possible and written by two groups from different backgrounds.

One model I see evolving amongst customers at present is the use of system-level models as the core of a block-level 'testbench' and/or reference model.  This has a lot of value because it's the same model that's used for early / parallel software development in an era where > 50% of the functionality is now software determined. The problem with this is it's often not exhaustive enough to achieve good coverage of the RTL.

It seems to me therefore that the logical conclusion a decade down the road is a combination of a declarative description of the functionality from which the implementation (RTL?) is automatically converted / generated together with an enhanced system-level test derived from models used by software groups.

As I've said several times before I feel SystemVerilog is an expensive distraction on a path to solving the real problem.  It doesn't have either the declarative nature or the real Object Orientation to handle either of these roles.

I do, however, expect the more abstract aspects of SystemC, particularly the TLM spec. to be developed and to achieve the status amongst software & hardware engineers that, say, STL containers have today - SystemC isn't the solution - it's basic building blocks from which application-specific solutions can be built.

Finally, from what I've seen, I can't re-implement my transactor tests environments in OVM, and have had a similar amount of trouble with VMM.  It seems to me that these only work if you have the same style of application as the model that was in the mind of the authors when they wrote the spec for the library.  As such they seem to fit a couple of application areas but don't seem universal enough for a broad range of applications so I predict either a limited life or a major overhaul.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:11:33 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1584-417</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[The convenience of online downloads?: A brave man]]></title>
	            <link>/200912281584/myblog/articles/z0019-the-convenience-of-online-downloads.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            You are certainly braver than I am. I hate downloading stuff for fear of what may be lurking inside of it. I guess if you know the companies that are producing this stuff, then that adds a little bit of comfort, but then I also remember software - that I paid for - that managed to totally destroy my computer.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:01:02 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1584-412</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[The convenience of online downloads?: Covenience vs reliability trade off]]></title>
	            <link>/200912281584/myblog/articles/z0019-the-convenience-of-online-downloads.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I always shudder a bit before I download software over the Internet, and make a system restore point before starting. Too many times a hiccup has caused a major disruption, failure, or exceptionally long experience (I recall updating my GPS which took all afternoon)...	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:33:12 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1571-409</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Probability & Random Variables: Very deep lectures on Random variables & processos]]></title>
	            <link>/200912231571/myblog/articles/z0019-probability-and-random-variables.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks! Very traditional teacher!	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:24:23 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1555-403</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[FPGA Virtual Summit Announced: More info required]]></title>
	            <link>/200912221555/myblog/articles/z0002-fpga-virtual-summit-announced.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hi Patrick -- thanks for the "heads up" -- i really appreciate your contributing to the community -- but when you post this sort of thing you need to add in a little more information. For example, *when* is the FPGA Virtual Summit going to be held? It would also be useful to include a link to the registration page. And it would be useful to have details as to the topics of the themed technical sessions. If you re-read your posting looking at it as though you were someone else, you'll see that it leaves out this vital information (grin).  	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:13:23 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1555-401</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[FPGA Virtual Summit Announced: I am missing the point]]></title>
	            <link>/200912221555/myblog/articles/z0002-fpga-virtual-summit-announced.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I am really missing the point here. There was also posting at C.A.F. about this, but well what it is, i do no get. Maybe its something for new generation of the engineers?	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:22:53 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1500-395</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Discrete Mathematics lecture series: no link!]]></title>
	            <link>/200912171500/myblog/articles/z0019-discrete-mathematics-lecture-series.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            The link is broken, please correct, I'm interested in the subject.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:56:14 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1493-379</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[More about International Rectifier’s new high-side switches for automotive applications: Value of this review]]></title>
	            <link>/200912171493/myblog/articles/z0028-more-about-international-rectifiers-new-high-side-switches-for-automotive-applications.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks Joshua for enhancing the coverage of these switches, which shows the value of TechBites collaborative features.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:15:14 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">476-359</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[NXP sees burgeoning FlexRay growth: Thank you]]></title>
	            <link>/20090909476/myblog/articles/z0013-nxp-sees-burgeoning-flexray-growth.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thank you, Good Marketing piece for FlexRay.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:07:05 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1409-351</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Editor’s Pick: ADC basics for wireless broadband: A Good Read]]></title>
	            <link>/200912091409/myblog/articles/z0009-editors-pick-adc-basics-for-wireless-broadband.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This is a nice piece Kenton, thanks for pointing it out, and thanks Manuel for putting it together. Highly recommended read.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:55:29 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1396-346</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[UK - Pre Budget Report 2009 - Change of Duty For Biofuels from April 2010: pfffff]]></title>
	            <link>/200912091396/myblog/articles/z001d-uk-pre-budget-report-2009-change-of-duty-for-biofuels-from-april-2010.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This dosn't sound like good news... so they squeeze more tax out of us.

I already pay over £5 per gallon for diesel (nearly $9) right now and often top-off my tank on bio-fuel... it's not good for the old girl to run on 100% bio, especially in winter.

So, after this 2 yr period, there won't be any point going to the trouble.

Terrr...iffic....





	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:07:11 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1378-342</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Xilinx launch New Connectivity, Embedded, and DSP Kits (Nitty-Gritty Details): Nits n' Grits]]></title>
	            <link>/200912081378/myblog/articles/z0002-xilinx-launch-new-connectivity-embedded-and-dsp-kits-nitty-gritty-details.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Max --
thanks for taking the time to get out all the nitty gritty details about the kits we announced today. You're spot on that the Targeted Reference Designs are what makes these development platforms a real enabler for giving developers a known starting point to kick off their development quickly. 

Another key enabler is of course the ecosystem, which in this week's announcement involved Northwest Logic and their DMA engine that comes with the connectivity kits. The potential for third parties to get involved with their IP is huge. http://press.xilinx.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=212763&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1363407&highlight=

-- Bruce	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:16:25 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1344-340</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[The History of Electricity (Humor): Very Clever]]></title>
	            <link>/200912051344/myblog/articles/z0000-the-history-of-electricity-humor.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was very clever and very funny -- I love the little unexpected twists -- for example I never knew that carpet manufacturers wove in electrons especially to attract particles of dirt ... that certainly explains a lot! 	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:32:49 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1344-336</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[The History of Electricity (Humor): don't know the soure]]></title>
	            <link>/200912051344/myblog/articles/z0000-the-history-of-electricity-humor.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I don't know the source either, but it gave me a good laugh. Thanks for posting.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:16:45 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1177-329</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (1962 AD) The Worst Computer Bug: more, More, MORE...!]]></title>
	            <link>/200911191177/myblog/articles/z0031-history-of-computers-1962-ad-the-worst-computer-bug.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            A fascinating topic, and one of the reasons I like to hang around you "old guys". Who says story-telling is dead? (The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because I want to hear MORE about it, and MORE about other bugs, too!)	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:37:29 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1318-325</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC SELECTS ANALOG DEVICES’ SHARC PROCESSOR FOR ITS AUTOMOTIVE DIGITAL PROCESS CENTE: OMAP-L138: a call to be the new champion]]></title>
	            <link>/200912021318/myblog/articles/z0035-mitsubishi-electric-selects-analog-devices-sharc-processor-for-its-automotive-digital-process-cente.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks Kenton for your comment. Indeed, I see OMAP-L138 as a sure winner, beause it combines on chip what is very likely to be found in many audio (and not only audio) related products, which are a high end floating point DSP plus an ARM (well, could be other, but ARM is so popular nowadays) processor. Think of DJ Mixers, ProAudio Mixers, High End Media Players, Digital Consoles and you will find that scheme somehow. Add networking to all of those product lines, which is nowadays the tendency, and then the DSP alone is simply not enough.

It makes me wonder wether OMAP-L138 is going to replace SHARC in the long run for what has been a traditional niche market for SHARC, one that once was dominated by Motorola's (now Freescale) 563xx. Where do you think it is heading towards?	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:50:17 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1316-320</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Sony Expects Big 3DTV Market in 2012: to be 3D or not to be 3D]]></title>
	            <link>/200912021316/myblog/articles/z000a-sony-expects-big-3dtv-market-in-2012.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hiroshi Yoshioka is one very optimistic guy	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:54:12 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1317-319</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[CMOS Image Sensor Inventor Honored: important invention]]></title>
	            <link>/200912021317/myblog/articles/z000a-cmos-image-sensor-inventor-honored.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            good overview of some very good work	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:48:22 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1318-318</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC SELECTS ANALOG DEVICES’ SHARC PROCESSOR FOR ITS AUTOMOTIVE DIGITAL PROCESS CENTE: Why SHARC?]]></title>
	            <link>/200912021318/myblog/articles/z0035-mitsubishi-electric-selects-analog-devices-sharc-processor-for-its-automotive-digital-process-cente.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            To Jamie's Question:

SHARC has a long history, and is strong in high-end automotive.  C67x has some audio wins, but IIRC they are mostly in home theater.  OMAP-L138 is still pretty new, so no surprise that it has few big-news wins.  In any case, I would expect OMAP to go into mid-range sytsems	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:30:50 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1318-317</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC SELECTS ANALOG DEVICES’ SHARC PROCESSOR FOR ITS AUTOMOTIVE DIGITAL PROCESS CENTE: Which one?]]></title>
	            <link>/200912021318/myblog/articles/z0035-mitsubishi-electric-selects-analog-devices-sharc-processor-for-its-automotive-digital-process-cente.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I wonder... which SHARC? Also wonder, why do not see announcements from TI about C67x or OMAP-L138 in audio related products.. Pretty sure, I have not been watching in the right place.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:25:20 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1054-316</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (350 Million Years BC) The First Tetrapods Leave the Oceans: There was this fascination for 6s and 12s by the British!]]></title>
	            <link>/200911151054/myblog/articles/z0031-history-of-computers-350-million-years-bc-the-first-tetrapods-leave-the-oceans.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hi Max.. Good blog!

From my childhood, I remember that we here in India had borrowed the fascination for 6 and its multiples. Our Rupee consisted of 96 annas, with a 'quarter' at 24 annas and a 'penny' equivalent coin at 6 annas. This was obviously influenced perhaps by somewhat similar fascination that the British have (or had) for 6, 12 and its multiples in all forms of measurement. The universal acceptance of the SI system has pretty much put the 12 to rest, I believe.

Like you have said about 10 'digits' of our two hands being the reason for the decimal digit system, there seems to be one reason why 12 could be loved -

When counting 'mantras' for chanting, I have noticed the learned masters move the tip of thumb from one bone-segment of each finger to the next, and then progress to the next finger and so forth. 4 fingers with 3 bone segments make for a count of 12. The left hand is used then to fold finger by finger in one direction, and unfold in the reverse direction to create a cascade count of multiples of 12.

Then there are these counting bead strings used by Buddhists, Jains and Hindus alike. I never bothered to check how many beads each such string carries. I kind of tend to think it may be 108, a multiple of 12 with 9.

Another time, we need to talk about 9 too.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:32:51 -0600</pubDate>
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	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1276-307</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[When free really isn’t free. Where did open source go wrong?: mysql 1B$ of 7.4B$ ?]]></title>
	            <link>/200911301276/myblog/articles/z000e-when-free-really-isnt-free-where-did-open-source-go-wrong.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I cant belive that mysql deal was 1B$ while the Sun complete was sold at 7.4B$, does the mysql really count as that much % of Sun's value??	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:36:21 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1268-297</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Farnell aquires CadSoft (Eagle PCB Layout software): way old news]]></title>
	            <link>/200911281268/myblog/articles/z001c-farnell-aquires-cadsoft-eagle-pcb-layout-software.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            never used Eagle, never will, never will buy it from Farnell...

ps sorri if double posting, seems website has problems	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:57:15 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1179-287</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (1973-1981 AD) The First Personal Computers (PCs): Ah yes how prices have fallen...]]></title>
	            <link>/200911191179/myblog/articles/z0031-history-of-computers-1973-1981-ad-the-first-personal-computers-pcs.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            1989 the first Hard drive I purchased was (Australian pricing) a 10M byte drive for $450 or roughly $45,000 per Gigabyte.
Last year I purchased a 80G byte drive for $70 but could have purchased a 250G for $120 or $0.48 per Gigabyte.
And, well, I have not purchased one this year.....
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:07:41 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1178-282</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (1971-1976 AD) The First Microprocessors: You caught me -- but I've fixed it]]></title>
	            <link>/200911191178/myblog/articles/z0031-history-of-computers-1971-1976-ad-the-first-microprocessors.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Good Grief Antti, you certainly have an eagle eye for this sort of thing -- you are correct -- I've added the CDP-1802 to this sub-article and also to the main timeline. Cheers -- Max	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:38:18 -0600</pubDate>
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                <guid isPermaLink="false">1213-278</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Goldilocks and the three DSPs: when and why to use Target's ASIP tools: Re: Interesting]]></title>
	            <link>/200911201213/myblog/articles/z0009-goldilocks-and-the-three-dsps-when-and-why-to-use-targets-asip-tools.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            
nML is described fairly extensively at http://nml.retarget.com (requires registration).  The information provided there includes an excerpt on nML taken from the book "Processor Description Languages", edited by P. Mishra and N. Dutt (© 2008 Morgan Kauffman, June 2008).  This book describes many processor description languages (nML, LISA, others), and enables comparison.  Suffice it to say that comparison here would be too much for a blog-site.

Regarding your question about the compiler, note that Target's compiler is a "retargetable" compiler.  What this means (for those that aren't familiar with this term) is that the compiler reads in the processor model so that it understands the various details of the internal architecture (i.e. which operations are supported, what does the pipeline look like, what specialized operations exist in the architecture, how much instruction-level parallelism is possible, does the architecture support vector operations, etc.), and then behaves as if it had been custom built for that architecture.  The goodness of this approach is all about how well the C coder can exploit the efficiencies provided for in the architecture, and so the compiler is perhaps the most important element of the entire tool-chain.

If you think about this problem in the context of an arbitrary processor architecture (or even datapath), then you will realize that the job of the compiler isn't that different than that of a C synthesis tool.  That is, it has to map an arbitrary, user-defined algorithm on a datapath - using the resource sharing, scheduling, and optimizations that you might typically find in an ESL synthesis tool.  Realizing that, you then wouldn't be surprised to know that Target's C-compiler has roots in C-synthesis technology (as opposed to being rooted in gcc like so many other compilers).  These roots are key to delivering on the efficiencies needed for highly specialized architectures.

If you are interested to learn more, there are a host of interesting papers available such as customer designs (a Reed-Solomon encoder design for wireless communications can be found here - http://www.retarget.com/resources/wireless.php) as well as more methodology oriented papers written by Target (at http://www.retarget.com/resources.php).

Of course, if you have an interest to learn more directly, feel free to send me a note.
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:56:43 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">572-276</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[A LED Ultra-Violet (UV) PCB Exposure Unit: A Very Economical Solution]]></title>
	            <link>/20090923572/myblog/articles/z001c-a-led-ultra-violet-uv-pcb-exposure-unit.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Some innovative thinking here. Have you considered a small piece of medium density fiberboard (MDF) as a base? And a piece of thick clear tempered glass to hold everything flat - or would the glass tend to filter the UV too much?	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:44:06 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1217-273</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Power Supplies 101 – Safety, Transformers & Primary Windings: Wiring faults CAN kill you]]></title>
	            <link>/200911211217/myblog/articles/z001c-power-supplies-101-safety-transformers-and-primary-windings.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Great article!

There are a few conditions that should be mentioned concerning residential wiring:

1. a goodly number of older homes were wired without a ground wire at the receptacle. I've seen neutral wires that had a real 5-10 volts impressed on it and at enough amperage to cause real problems. 
2. with time (and poor wiring techniques) some homes have leakage current between neutral and ground which may also create problems.

Being a paranoid type myself, I check my home grounds once a year including a resistance check.

I look forward to the reat of the articles.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:12:48 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1217-270</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Power Supplies 101 – Safety, Transformers & Primary Windings: Great intro!]]></title>
	            <link>/200911211217/myblog/articles/z001c-power-supplies-101-safety-transformers-and-primary-windings.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I'll be looking forward to the subsequent articles. This helps me remember how much basic electronics I have forgotten!	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:50:22 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">698-269</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[How to make Printed Circuit Boards.: apologies for the double post]]></title>
	            <link>/20091011698/myblog/articles/z001c-how-to-make-printed-circuit-boards.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Now that was odd... how did my post get there twice? We really do need a mechanism to delete a review once it's been posted. I've asked Max to put that on a list of improvements.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:38:09 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">698-268</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[How to make Printed Circuit Boards.: back to my beginnings]]></title>
	            <link>/20091011698/myblog/articles/z001c-how-to-make-printed-circuit-boards.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Lots of great detail here, Joe. This took me back to my beginnings at Motorola's Communications Division where we would often hand make PCB's for prototype gear - or hobby stuff when we stayed late! If I dig into the garage archives, I could probably find a hand-crafted PCB or two from gear I built way back when.

The process we followed back then was almost exactly as you outlined here - one difference, we tended to go with bare boards and spray our own photo resist. The pre-sensitized boards you are using would probably be more consistent than what I created!

We had access to a commercial exposure unit that wasn't much different from what you show in the article. Our etch tank was a small fish tank with heater and a home made wooden lid. We used a commercially mixed Ferric Chloride from a local scientific supply house. All kept somewhat safely in the back corner of our lab.

Of course, in the day, we had no layout software, or even adequate printers, so all our layouts were done by hand with tape, pads and component templates. Nothing too miniature and an exacto knife was your best layout tool!

Peter	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:33:17 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">698-267</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[How to make Printed Circuit Boards.: back to my beginnings]]></title>
	            <link>/20091011698/myblog/articles/z001c-how-to-make-printed-circuit-boards.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Lots of great detail here, Joe. This took me back to my beginnings at Motorola's Communications Division where we would often hand make PCB's for prototype gear - or hobby stuff when we stayed late! If I dig into the garage archives, I could probably find a hand-crafted PCB or two from gear I built way back when.

The process we followed back then was almost exactly as you outlined here - one difference, we tended to go with bare boards and spray our own photo resist. The pre-sensitized boards you are using would probably be more consistent than what I created!

We had access to a commercial exposure unit that wasn't much different from what you show in the article. Our etch tank was a small fish tank with heater and a home made wooden lid. We used a commercially mixed Ferric Chloride from a local scientific supply house. All kept somewhat safely in the back corner of our lab.

Of course, in the day, we had no layout software, or even adequate printers, so all our layouts were done by hand with tape, pads and component templates. Nothing too miniature and an exacto knife was your best layout tool!

Peter	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:33:02 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1213-264</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Goldilocks and the three DSPs: when and why to use Target's ASIP tools: Interesting]]></title>
	            <link>/200911201213/myblog/articles/z0009-goldilocks-and-the-three-dsps-when-and-why-to-use-targets-asip-tools.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I see that this uses nML as the language for describing the processor. How does thins compare to LISA. It is also not clear to me how the optimizing C compiler would know about custom capabilities of the architecture.

I guess this article is enough to get me salivating, but I want soooo much more information. Perhaps Target has some white-papers they could put up on the site.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:33:52 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1217-263</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Power Supplies 101 – Safety, Transformers & Primary Windings: Very informative!]]></title>
	            <link>/200911211217/myblog/articles/z001c-power-supplies-101-safety-transformers-and-primary-windings.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks for posting this - I did not realize how much I'd forgotten from my Engineering School training! 	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:31:43 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1178-262</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (1971-1976 AD) The First Microprocessors: you missed CDP1802]]></title>
	            <link>/200911191178/myblog/articles/z0031-history-of-computers-1971-1976-ad-the-first-microprocessors.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            How could you miss CDP1802, it DOES belong to this time window

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_1802

	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:03:52 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1213-255</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Goldilocks and the three DSPs: when and why to use Target's ASIP tools: Love the analogy]]></title>
	            <link>/200911201213/myblog/articles/z0009-goldilocks-and-the-three-dsps-when-and-why-to-use-targets-asip-tools.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Kenton, I love the three bears analogy!  One detail though, it was a JPEG encoder that was done in 23 days -- decoders are significantly easier.

John Fox
Applications Engineer
Target Compiler Technologies	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:28:13 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1061-254</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[NAG Enables Significant Multicore Performance Improvements on HECToR: Optimization for CPU Architecture Yields Significant Advantage]]></title>
	            <link>/200911161061/myblog/articles/z0000-nag-enables-significant-multicore-performance-improvements-on-hector.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            The Numerical Algorithms Group should be complimented on the optimization efforts reported here. What sets this work apart is that the organization not only engaged in the optimization work itself, with great results, but also took the time to quantify the effort and delineate tangible and substantial value to the end-users. 

Having been responsible for for the creation and distribution of more than a few press releases with similar kinds of content, I was particularly struck by the insightful quotation from Andrew Jones,  the Vice-President of HPC Consulting at NAG , and worth repeating here:

"Investment in application performance and algorithms appropriate to the computer architecture has now become critical for efficient use of HPC resources and users’ time."

If I simply rephrase and focus on another market discipline - EDA for example -  instead of the generic HPC, I think we see a notion that should resonate well with the software developers in the EDA community. Like what the Numerical Algorithms Group has accomplished, market differentiation and competitive advantage will accrue to those organizations who's software can best exploit the performance potential of systems based on leading edge multi-core CPU architectures. 	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:08:36 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1211-252</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Microwave Radio Communications : What tools are you using?]]></title>
	            <link>/200911201211/myblog/articles/z0000-microwave-radio-communications.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hi,

what tools are you using to determine trace length?

Thanks,

Henry	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:37:02 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1136-214</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (1938 AD) Claude Shannon's Master's Thesis: Claude Shannon]]></title>
	            <link>/200911181136/myblog/articles/z001c-history-of-computers-1938-ad-claude-shannons-masters-thesis.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Yes, I have often thought that Claude Shannon was one of the Unsung Geniuses of the modern age.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:40:28 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1076-213</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Hyperion to Disclose Details of its 27MW “Backyard” Nuclear Plant: Good points]]></title>
	            <link>/200911161076/myblog/articles/z001d-hyperion-to-disclose-details-of-its-27mw-backyard-nuclear-plant.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            One wonders if, at least, a small part of the nuclear waste problem is one of perception. I don't mean to suggest that it isn't real stuff that poses a very real problem, but is it possible that there are uses to which so-called >spent fuel< could be put? Energy conversion processes that can operate on lower grade fuel? In the public arena, spent fuel is always treated as a highly problematic mass with no potential benefit. Yet its very nature as a hazardous material is as an energy emitter. Shouldn't we be able to engineer our way to a better outcome?	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:47:37 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1109-210</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Ideal Diodes Reduce Power Waste In Battery Systems: Ideal???]]></title>
	            <link>/200911171109/myblog/articles/z0000-ideal-diodes-reduce-power-waste-in-battery-systems.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            
Ooooo… now you’ve gone and done it: Used the word ideal to refer to a physically realizable electronic device. When it comes to real components, the words ideal and theoretical are more synonymous than some care to admit.

The word ideal has a special meaning in electrical engineering. Engineers usually characterize an ideal device by a pure uniparametric behavior and, schematically, distinguish such pipe dreams from real devices by drawing a square box around the otherwise familiar symbol. Thus an ideal resistor exhibits a resistance but no temperature coefficient, current coefficient (current crowding effect), or inductance. One behavior; no nth-order effects. Ahhh… lovely things, those… if only I could get my hands on a few. 

Similarly, an ideal diode exhibits precisely the behavior Julie mentions in her first sentence. More precisely, the ideal diode exhibits zero forward voltage drop, zero forward impedance, zero reverse leakage current, and zero reverse capacitance. In between states, the diode-that-could-never-be enjoys zero delay.

MOSFETs (of either gender) do not model as ideal devices in any circuit. They simply exhibit parasitic behaviors that are less nonideal than traditional junction or Schottky diodes and do so, as Julie points out, by no small margin.

I bring this up not to be snarky but rather because the word ideal has a precise meaning when applied to electronic components and, when used imprecisely, it actually gets in the way of the otherwise valid point: MOSFETs have been used, for example, as synchronous rectifiers for quite some time and are responsible for a respectable fraction of the energy-efficiency improvements power supplies have enjoyed over the past several decades. In real circuits, however, they still exhibit a number of loss terms. The I2R loss that Julie mentioned is one. Another is the switching loss due to a real device’s necessarily-non-zero gate capacitance. There are others as well but I think it is time to turn the



	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:28:01 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1106-209</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Too Easy: Actel FPGA's!: Cool demo]]></title>
	            <link>/200911171106/myblog/articles/z0002-too-easy-actel-fpgas.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks for sharing!	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:49:12 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1061-208</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[NAG Enables Significant Multicore Performance Improvements on HECToR: Wow, big numbers!]]></title>
	            <link>/200911161061/myblog/articles/z0000-nag-enables-significant-multicore-performance-improvements-on-hector.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I'm impressed...	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:44:33 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1109-202</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Ideal Diodes Reduce Power Waste In Battery Systems: SCHOTKEY ??]]></title>
	            <link>/200911171109/myblog/articles/z0000-ideal-diodes-reduce-power-waste-in-battery-systems.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Dear Julie

you made 2 spelling mistakes with one word!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schottky_diode

does your Company produce ideal diodes?

are they comparable to say ideal diodes from Linear Technology?
Say LTC4413?

http://www.linear.com/pc/productDetail.jsp?navId=H0,C1,C1003,C1142,C1079,P7889

I wonder...
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:45:32 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1076-201</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Hyperion to Disclose Details of its 27MW “Backyard” Nuclear Plant: Great read]]></title>
	            <link>/200911161076/myblog/articles/z001d-hyperion-to-disclose-details-of-its-27mw-backyard-nuclear-plant.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Some interesting comments Lee	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:19:18 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1102-199</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Multimedia Resources in Linux for Automotive : Multimedia Resources in Linux for Automotive]]></title>
	            <link>/200911171102/myblog/articles/z0019-multimedia-resources-in-linux-for-automotive.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Check out this resource for infotainment applications.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:32:27 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">698-183</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[How to make Printed Circuit Boards.: Great detail ]]></title>
	            <link>/20091011698/myblog/articles/z001c-how-to-make-printed-circuit-boards.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Joe
There is a lot of detail here, and just what the hobbyist needs. Thanks for putting this together. I'm sure it will be a great help to all who try to make their own PCB's.

Phil	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:57:11 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1059-182</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (1274 AD) Ramon Lull's Ars Magna: The links arenit in yet]]></title>
	            <link>/200911151059/myblog/articles/z0031-history-of-computers-1274-ad-ramon-lulls-ars-magna.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hi Kenton -- this is a series of about 60 articles -- I can't add the links until I've posted all of the articles -- as soon as all of the articles are there I will go back and add in the cross-links -- Max	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:53:36 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1059-176</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[History of Computers (1274 AD) Ramon Lull's Ars Magna: Interesting.  Are the links broken?]]></title>
	            <link>/200911151059/myblog/articles/z0031-history-of-computers-1274-ad-ramon-lulls-ars-magna.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            There isa lot of text that starts with ##.  Looks broken to me.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:49:49 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1047-175</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Largest Single Numerical Toolkit for MATLAB Now Available: Mark 22 Release of NAG TOOLBOX FOR MATLAB: Cool product, tell us more!]]></title>
	            <link>/200911141047/myblog/articles/z0000-largest-single-numerical-toolkit-for-matlab-now-available-mark-22-release-of-nag-toolbox-for-matlab.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I'd love to see a technical article showing how to use ...	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:21:23 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">1009-166</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Xilinx, Inc. – Embedded Processing and DSP Demo on SP601: Nice overview, but higher-res video would help]]></title>
	            <link>/200911131009/myblog/articles/z0002-xilinx-inc-embedded-processing-and-dsp-demo-on-sp601.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            It's tough to follow everything that's happening on-screen at such a low resolution.  increasing the resolution would be a big help.  It also helps to view the video full-screen--I suggest you tip viewers off to this in your demos.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:57:28 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">940-158</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Aging Electronic Product Redesign: Dear Julie, why was Altera choosen for the LCR meter?]]></title>
	            <link>/20091106940/myblog/articles/z0000-aging-electronic-product-redesign.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            If 48 sq inch can be put into an single FPGA, well then so be it, its just a redesign. Was there anything specific why it was possible to use Altera FPGA? 

Or any reason why Xilinx or Actel or Lattice could not be used?

If you combine 7400 logic into FPGA' the savings of PCB area can be larger then 48-0.9 sw inch as you mention.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:48:52 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">988-148</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[inCode Reveals Top 10 Telecom Predictions for 2010: Here are my OS predictions...]]></title>
	            <link>/20091111988/myblog/articles/z0007-incode-reveals-top-10-telecom-predictions-for-2010.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Gain share: BlackBerry, OS X, Android
Lose share: Symbian, Windows Mobile
Tread water: Web OS, Linux Mobile

Anybody want to put $5 on it? :)	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:51:48 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">950-147</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Algae - Revolution or Delusion?: Great Article]]></title>
	            <link>/20091107950/myblog/articles/z001d-algae-revelution-or-delusion.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This was a great article -- very informative -- for myself, however, I'm really not too keen on the whole bio-fuel concept -- I still think the future is in solar, wind, hydro (especially sea-driven), and geo-thermal used to generate electricity for use in the home and in cars (although pneumatic cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars -- both charged up via electricity as discussed above -- are also of interest). 	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:31:23 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">987-144</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Green Power Community NewsBites for November 9, 2009 : Appreciate the news bites]]></title>
	            <link>/20091111987/myblog/articles/z001d-green-power-community-newsbites-for-november-9-2009.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks Lee. I appreciate your news bites.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:50:37 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">473-137</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Jasper surveys Formal Verification market at DAC 2009: More on Formal Verification Applications]]></title>
	            <link>/20090909473/myblog/articles/z000e-jasper-surveys-formal-verification-market-at-dac-2009.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hey Brian, and formal fans, just wanted to give you more in-depth technical information on ONE of these many applications...

Just out...."Applying Formal Methods to a PCI-Express Transmit Retry Buffer" by George Plouffe, and Wanru Tan, Sun Microsystems.

http://chipdesignmag.com/display.php?articleId=3723 

This article explores the application of formal technology to a PCI-Express transmit retry buffer, part of the next-generation Sun network computing platform. It describes the verification strategy and benefits delivered by formal verification, especially when used for comprehending, architecting, and checking complex multi-layer protocol behavior. Included is a design summary displaying statistics, bugs identified, and future applications.

	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:37:43 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">789-135</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[How to Add Content (Blogs, Articles, etc.) to the TechBites Site (v2): Thankyou Clive]]></title>
	            <link>/20091023789/myblog/articles/z0002-how-to-add-content-blogs-articles-etc-to-the-techbites-site-v2.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Thanks for the effort - writing tutorials like this takes a long time but makes it easier for everyone.

One thing I'd like to see is a mathematical formula markup extension, like the on in TeX and other editors. I assume at the moment the only way to add formulae to an article/blog is to use pictures, right?

Ben.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:02:01 -0600</pubDate>
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	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">964-133</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Concurrency: Making Concurrency Mainstream?]]></title>
	            <link>/20091109964/myblog/articles/z000d-concurrency.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            There is a talk by Adward A. Lee about making concurrency mainstream. Unfortunately I can only make it work with M$ Explorer. If this does not bother you it's here: http://content.digitalwell.washington.edu/msr/external_release_talks_12_05_2005/14068/lecture.htm

The problem is that concurrency is very incomprehensible for humans.
Until new programming paradigms will be mainstream (see the talk) try to serialize as much as you can and try to stay away from inter-process communication and concurrency.

Maybe "properly" written code would in many cases be better than upgrading to this latest and greatest multi core processor where some cores are utilized to run the latest version of your favorite antivirus program. 
Did I mention that some things might even be running slower than with a single core?

But I know it's easier said to stay away from concurrency than done;)

Regards,

Robert

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--
Robert Berger
Embedded Software Specialist

Reliable Embedded Systems
Consulting Training Engineering
Tel.: (+30) 697 593 3428
Fax.:(+30) 210 684 7881
URL: http://www.reliableembeddedsystems.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
upcoming public sessions:

http://www.ese-kongress.de - December 10th 2009, 09:45
"Software Engineering als eine Funktion der Zeit - Kann man überhaupt vorhersagen wann die Software endlich fertig wird?"

http://www.embedded-world.de - March 4th 2010, 09:30 - 10:15 h
Session S3.3: Embedded Linux
"Embedded GNU/Linux and Real-Time - An executive summary"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:37:03 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">970-128</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Orbital Compute Clouds – Green Tech, Blue Sky, or Both? : More space junk]]></title>
	            <link>/20091110970/myblog/articles/z001d-orbital-compute-clouds-green-tech-blue-sky-or-both.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I love the concept of this. Plenty of space, no need for air-conditioning and if you position it correctly, unlimited solar power and almost impossible to steal, though maintenance trips could be expensive.

I'd be worried if they were placed in any type of Earth orbit; low or geo-synchronous, as it would be asking to be hit by space shuttles / rockets or general space junk and perhaps be a navigation hazzard in it's own right.

But maybe park it at one of the Lagrange points and it may be a different story.
	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:46:54 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">964-123</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Concurrency: Failure of concurrency to gain favor in software fast enough]]></title>
	            <link>/20091109964/myblog/articles/z000d-concurrency.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            It's always struck me as ironic that concurrency in particular was slow to get started in the software community. It hasn't been for lack of trying or technology. For example, concurrent Pascal began development on 1975 and was available within a few years. But software folks really focused on the use of Concurrent Pascal for Operating Systems and Monitors.

In 1981 a company that I founded developed a programmers' workbench usinf Concurrent Pascal (and sequential Pascal). We knew that parallel programming could be a ppowerful programming tool but since the systems we were using for the platform were uniprocessor in form only, we elected to continue using sequential Pascal as the workhorse of the system - concurrency was used for the OS.

A few years earlier I had been responsible for Advanced Development (Gate Arrays, Standard Cells, and their associated development tools). We had to adopt concurrency in HDLs to specify the hardware systems.

Why the lag for software adoption of concurrency? Part of the reason was the common wisdom that "parallel algorithms are hard and not necessary." From the theoretical standpoint that's right. But for practical systems, parallel is good for many systems. Perhaps the biggest reason for the retardation of concurrency in software: the programming language C. 	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:52:32 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">943-110</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Software patents come into question again: good insight]]></title>
	            <link>/20091106943/myblog/articles/z000e-software-patents-come-into-question-again.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            this made the issue a lot clearer to me	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:06:49 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">950-109</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Algae - Revolution or Delusion?: very good overview]]></title>
	            <link>/20091107950/myblog/articles/z001d-algae-revelution-or-delusion.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            very, very good article: even a sad message can make for good reading.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:51:24 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">938-99</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Orchid Technologies Unveils a New Intel ATOM Processor Core Design: Help! We need more info!]]></title>
	            <link>/20091106938/myblog/articles/z0000-orchid-technologies-unveils-a-new-intel-atom-processor-core-design.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I'm not sure what your product is, what its advantages are, or what apps it targets.  Help!	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:14:07 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">939-98</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Altera FPGA Development: Tell me more!]]></title>
	            <link>/20091106939/myblog/articles/z0000-altera-fpga-development.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I feel like there's an interesting story hiding in here.  Give us more details!  And get Paul on the site so he can share the details himself!	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:12:29 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">940-97</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Aging Electronic Product Redesign: Intersting stuff]]></title>
	            <link>/20091106940/myblog/articles/z0000-aging-electronic-product-redesign.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            I have an uncle who makes a living updating old equipment.  It's an underrated design area, IMO.

It would be nice to know why you picked the parts you did for the update, what kind of design challenges you had to overcome, etc.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:10:26 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">923-90</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Verilog Cheat Sheet: Verilog Cheat Sheets]]></title>
	            <link>/20091105923/myblog/articles/z0002-verilog-cheat-sheet.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This cheat sheet is helpful. I did not know about yours until now. I tend to use Stu Sutherland's.

http://www.sutherland-hdl.com/online_verilog_ref_guide/vlog_ref_top.html	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:51:07 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">913-86</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[The Life and Work of Konrad Zuse (Part 7): Wow!]]></title>
	            <link>/20091105913/myblog/articles/z0022-the-life-and-work-of-konrad-zuse-part-7.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This reads like an adventure novel and certainly makes me think of the alternate reality where computer science could have gotten a 10-year head start. Where would we be today? I guess we'll find out in 2020. Well done, Max.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:08:41 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">925-85</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Choosing the Right Central Logic Device for Your Portable Design: Good over view]]></title>
	            <link>/20091105925/myblog/articles/z0009-choosing-the-right-central-logic-device-for-your-portable-design.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            This is a good overview, but more details would be nice.  Full disclosure: I work for Nuvation as their newsletter editor.	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:48:00 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">923-84</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Verilog Cheat Sheet: Very Useful]]></title>
	            <link>/20091105923/myblog/articles/z0002-verilog-cheat-sheet.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            Hi Ken -- thanks so much for this -- I will be in touch for a printed copy -- it's amazing how useful "Cheat Sheets" can be (I still have my old VI editor cheat sheet laying around somewhere [grin]) -- Cheers -- Max	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:47:21 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
	        	        <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">909-74</guid>
	            <title><![CDATA[Using the ON Semi BelaSigna for low-power audio: Cool chip, rough article]]></title>
	            <link>/20091104909/myblog/articles/z0009-using-the-on-semi-belasigna-for-low-power-audio.html</link>
	            <description><![CDATA[
	            	            The article is a bit awkward and academic.  You have to put some effort in to understand what the author is saying about the chip.   I wish it were more straightforward...	            ]]></description>
                <category><![CDATA[TB-Articles]]></category>
                <pubDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:49:16 -0600</pubDate>
            </item>
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