Circuit Cellar Ink 32
March 1993

Table of Contents

2 Ken Davidson	Editor's INK Getting the Hang of It
6	Reader's INK Letters to the Editor
8 Harv Weiner	New Product News
14 Philip C. Pilgrim	A Single-chip Video Wind Gauge Just when you thought you knew the limits of Microchip's PIC processor, along comes a project that squeezes even more performance out of it. Find out just why the judges picked this project as last year's contest winner. Download: WINDGAGE.ZIP
30 William Von Novak	Computer-controlled Light Dimmers Part 1: Theory The use of computers to control theater lights has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. In this first part, William explains the theory behind stage lighting and electronic dimmers.
34 Michael Swartzendruber	Control Your Telescope by Voice With just six voice commands (eight with a little more work) your telescope will be doing tasks that once left you fumbling in the dark under the night sky. This project might be a good excuse to give amateur astronomy a try.
44 James Grundell	Add Interrupt Support to Polled Parallel Ports Having to constantly poll a parallel port to watch for changed input bits can eat up a large portion of a processor's time. With the right kind of parallel port, a few extra chips can ease the processor's burden significantly. Download: PARALLEL.ZIP
52 Ed Nisley	Firmware Furnace Chickens and Eggs: The First Embedded '386SX Programs The quest for embedded code running on a '386SX motherboard continues as Ed explores basic development tools, startup code, console I/O, and the first real embedded C program. Download: FF32.ZIP
60 Jeff Bachiochi	From the Bench Seven-Segment LEDs Live On Although LCD displays have taken over where LED displays were once used, LEDs can't be beat for their readability from a distance and in low light. Maxim now has a chip that makes driving them simple. Download: FTB32.ZIP
68 Tom Cantrell	Silicon Update 68K The Easy Way -- Motorola Hits the Mark with the 68306 As today's embedded applications tax 8-bit microcontrollers' capabilities to the limit, the search continues for suitable 16/32-bit replacements. Motorola's latest offering should fill the bill in many cases.
74 John Dybowski	Embedded Techniques Displays in a Vacuum -- Using Vacuum Fluorescent Displays While LED and LCD displays are usually used to convey information to the user, vacuum fluorescent displays still have a place in applications where high visibility is important. Find out the basics of using VFDs.
81	Advertiser's Index
82 Russ Reiss	Patent Talk
85 Ken Davidson	ConnecTime -- Excerpts from the Circuit Cellar BBS
96 Steve Ciarcia	Steve's Own INK PC Trials

FTP Directory for INK 32
Follow this link to order a copy of INK 32
<<< Ink 31	Ink 33 >>>
Main Index	Author Index