The Age of Altair
I recently got the Amazon Christmas toy book in the mail, and it is definitely the modern version of the Sears Christmas Wish Book for last century’s youth. Or at …read more Continue reading The Age of Altair
Author Archives: Al Williams
Visualize Regular Expressions with Marbles
If you are one of those people who visualize things physically better than in the abstract, then Regex Marble Run by [bottomless] might be for you. You enter a test …read more Continue reading Visualize Regular Expressions with Marbles
An Open Micro-Maniplulator Improved
If you need a micro-manipulator, you probably already have a good idea of what it does. For example, you might be moving a probe over an IC die or wafer. …read more Continue reading An Open Micro-Maniplulator Improved
An LCR Meter with Compromises
YouTube, like the Internet, has its plusses and minuses. On the plus side, you can find information on just about anything. On the minus side, you don’t always know if …read more Continue reading An LCR Meter with Compromises
A Plasma Donut
We know [The Action Lab] always has something hands-on. This time, the video shows a toroidal plasma demo and how it relates to nuclear fusion. Plasma has a high temperature, …read more Continue reading A Plasma Donut
Simplifying Slide Rule Calculations with Trig
[Bob the Science Guy] remembers how to use a slide rule. Even after all these years, it is pretty easy to remember how to multiply and divide. If you can’t …read more Continue reading Simplifying Slide Rule Calculations with Trig
The 10€ Gamepad
We aren’t sure what [Lazy_Duck] is doing with video games, but it must require a lot of controllers. Dismayed at the cost and complexity of commercial gamepads, they started soldering …read more Continue reading The 10€ Gamepad
What’s a Nonius?
If you already know what a nonius is, you can probably skip this post. But, if like us, you would have to look it up, we’ll tell you what we …read more Continue reading What’s a Nonius?
The FPGA Chronicles: Ready to Probe
In the last few installments, we looked at using the Tang Nano 20K with both the GOWIN tools and some open-source tools. The open-source tools certainly had the advantage of …read more Continue reading The FPGA Chronicles: Ready to Probe
Your Computer Memory is a Lie
When you first learn to program, memory seems pretty straightforward. You have a bunch of bytes, each with an address. If you want to read or write something, you specify …read more Continue reading Your Computer Memory is a Lie