μblog: engineering from the trenches

I modified two cartridges today, one that is based on a memory-mapper-less cart which holds two 28HC256 EEPROMs (32KByte) and one based on MMC1 which holds two 49F002 flash chips (256KByte.) When it came to testing the cartridges, it was also a good time to test the programmer for the first time, which was not recognized by two separate machines. Their software download site states that there is a new software update today and we should hold off on downloads, so I will wait for the update to see if that works. If not, then its time to send this programmer back and look for something else. I could pull out the old LabView programmer, but its getting late, and there is beer to be drank.

del.icio.us | digg

After several months of work, we finally have some MOSFET devices ready for characterization. Unfortunately, my wafer did not make it, it failed at metallization and we did not have time to clean it and re-deposit Aluminum. Other than that contact problem, the wafer looks good cosmetically. To complete the lab, I ran one of my classmate’s wafers through the curve-tracer and made a small report. Nothing fancy, but you can see how poor the performance can be if you make transistors “at home.”

( nchernyy-ECE684-report.pdf )

del.icio.us | digg

After spending all those hours writing LabView code to program Atmel 8051 chips as well as EEPROMs, I now have access to a universal DIP programmer. This thing is supposed to be able to program almost any kind of chip (memories, PLD, MCU) that is dip and can be programmed and even some other chips through in-circuit programming capabilities. With this in hand, I can either modify my MMC1 (Nintendo memory mapper v1) and try loading a MMC1-based NES rom onto it or try to find a MMC3 cartridge somewhere and put a MMC3 game on it. (According to Kevin Horton, the only MMC2 video game was Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out and the higher end games are more complicated to design re-programmable cartridges for.) Maybe there is an easier way to get a copy of Super Mario Brothers 3? (If you have it and don’t mind giving it to me, let me know!)

del.icio.us | digg

Over all the May 5^th field trip to State College, PA was a success. I met some of the electronics faculty at PSU and got to see some apartments. I think I will be living at the Toftree Apartments, 2.5 whole miles away from campus, in a spacious 1100-sq feet, two bedroom apartment. One benefit of living there is that it’s clean, quiet and cheap (rent is only $730). Another benefit is that there is a bar a block down the street that has pitchers of Yuengling. Over all, State College seems to be a good place to live, however, the small city falls off quickly and turns into hamburger-infested country side quite quickly, as can be seen in the picture above.

del.icio.us | digg

Some time ago, I wrote a small program to run from cron that would send me a sms if I had unread emails (after checking your non-SSL imap server) from people in a whitelist file, people like my colleagues and my boss. Since it has proved to be useful to me, here it is! System requirements are at least P4 or AMD64 with 1gb of available ram and 1.5GB disk storage.

( txt-mail.tar.gz )

del.icio.us | digg

I have been kicking around the idea of designing a 386 based system sometime this summer, so I am looking at references and looking at what a minimal system would be. Something that had a serial console and could run an old dos or a small Linux/BSD would be nice. Below is a reference design document and a 386sx datasheet. (both from Intel)

( 386sx.pdf ) ( 24072501.pdf )

del.icio.us | digg