Intel’s forgotten registry
What was the name of the first personal computer? The answer to this question depends on the answerer. According to the Computer History Museum located in Silicon Valley, it was the Kenbak-1.
STM32 Ethernet – the first launch
Recently I had the opportunity to work on some project using STM32 microcontroller and Ethernet interface. Probably like other people undertaking this topic, I encountered a problem – the lack of “simple” tutorials. In most of the available sources, connecting the Ethernet interface and STM32 chips is described quite confusingly, and in my opinion, there is a lack of instructions describing how to configure this functionality in the simplest possible way, without unnecessary exploration of network aspects. That’s why I decided to prepare this and related materials covering the topic of Ethernet on STM32. As a first step, I will show you how to perform the initial configuration so that the microcontroller is visible on the network.
The display that turned out to be more
Browsing popular auction sites, I once came across an offer for a display similar to those manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s. It was described as our indigenous CEMI design, although the “NN” logo, denoting National Semiconductor, was visible on the board. Of course, this type of design was produced in communist Poland, although not on a large scale, it is much more common to find displays from Czechoslovakia, where production volumes were larger. So, I think one can forgive the seller’s marketing gaffe of labeling the element as a CEMI production, although this is also some misrepresentation. Nevertheless, the price of the item was quite low, so I decided to order it, and in this article I will tell you about its construction and the adventures of trying to get it to work.
A forgotten type of integrated circuits
Inside one of my retro treats, the Soviet calculator Электроника МК-52, about which I have already prepared an article“Электроника МК-52 – Soviet calculator in orbit”, as well as in some respects its twin design Электроника МК-61, one can find rather mysterious-looking integrated circuits.
Dark current and transistors without a case
If one Internet trivia site is to be believed, the most manufactured thing in the world is a transistor. This may be true, but the authors of this information must have also taken into account those placed inside silicon cores, although they are not single elements. After all, in discrete circuits there are at least two resistors per single transistor, also the Internet fact can be questioned quite easily. However, whatever one may say, transistors in one form or another are quite common in electronics. It is thanks to them that a whole branch of digital and logic circuits was created, which, along with increasing computerization, have become the building blocks of the modern world.
Soviet VFD lamp controller
Some time ago on one of the popular auction sites I noticed a rather interesting offer. It was a module of unknown origin with a small VFD lamp, which I suspect was the seller’s main motivation to get rid of it. After all, fluorescent designs sell quite well, though not as well as Nixie lamps. …
PRIVILEG Modell 802 – Calculator from the former West Germany
During the communist era, the dream of many people was to own electronic equipment from the West. Acquiring the coveted computer equipment was downright impossible, but equipment such as calculators and audio systems were somehow obtainable. Today we will take a closer look at one such design. The Privileg Modell 802, as it is referred …
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In search of the perfect electric voltage
When taking DC voltage measurements with a multimeter, we usually don’t think about its accuracy. Receiving a result of 5.1V, when we expect something in the neighborhood of 5V, we assume that the multimeter’s indication is correct, telling ourselves that simply at the output of the power supply or the USB port of the computer …
The arcana of technology, or what do Qualcomm Snapdragon X and Apple have in common?
One of the more interesting developments in the world of technology is the recent launch of a new series of ARM processors created by Qualcomm. We are, of course, talking about the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus chips, which are designed to run in Windows laptops. This is not the first attempt to combine Windows and ARM architecture CPUs, but it is the first one that, in my opinion, can succeed. However, in order for me to sufficiently explain the full background of this story, we need to go back to 2007.