San

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A Low cost A/D with a Potential of 5KV Isolation from Computing elements by use of Normal/Special Opto-Couplers. This can give better resolution and accuracy than a 8 bit A/D. may be close to 10 bit A/D. Added advantage is that you can optically isolate the inputs.

Convert Analog to Digital with a V-F

Suppose your temperature sensor touches a heating element OR your speed sensor is subjected to a shock from a defective motor with earth line broken. Such situations happen in the field, even at home or lab. Sometimes it is carelessness, other times it is wear-tear. Many times it is breakdowns, accidents etc. So do not let the High voltage to get at your Microcontroller Board.

More about Embedded Micro here – Hyper Embedded

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Radio-Electronics was an American electronics magazine that was published under various titles from 1929 to 2003.You can Read them all here .

Radio Electronics Magazine at The Internet Archive

Recently i found a collection of those mags at Archive.org …..

Radio Electronics Magazine at Archive.org

Hugo Gernsback, sometimes called The Father of Science Fiction, started it as Radio-Craft in July 1929. The title was changed to Radio-Electronics in October 1948 and again to Electronics Now in July 1992. In January 2000 it was merged with Gernsback’s Popular Electronics to become Poptronics.

Gernsback Publications ceased operations in December 2002 and the January 2003 issue was the last.

Over the years, Radio-Electronics featured audio, radio, television and computer technology. The most notable articles were the TV Typewriter (September 1973)[1] and the Mark-8 computer (July 1974). These two issues are considered milestones in the home computer revolution.

Radio Electronics Magazine at SWTPC

Radio-Electronics was aimed at electronics’ professionals such as radio and TV repairmen. And they were men, the tag line on the cover was “For Men with Ideas in Electronics”.

Radio-Electronics & Electronics Now

Radio Electronics was the “new” name for Radio Craft magazine.. Hugo Gernsback, sometimes called The Father of Science Fiction, started it as Radio-Craft in July 1929. The title was changed to Radio-Electronics in October 1948. In July of 1992 transitioned to “Electronics Now

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40 Watts Hi-Fi Music System

Stereo Music player with Tuner, 1986, LED VU meter and Analog VU meter.

SAN 20

This was done as repairing home electronics was my hobby in school days, I learnt by building Amplifiers based only on transistors from the Old Philips Circuits and Books.

Home Made Circuits

The above one is TDA2020 20 Watts Per Channel, with LED input level meter and moving-coil output meters. It would have a 5 pin din input and RCA speaker output, input for phono, tape, etc. The Speakers had a woofer, tweeter and midrange with passive crossover network.

SAN 20 Speakers

Stereo Adapter for Portable Music Player

Low Cost Stereo Adapter 20 Watts for Portable Music Player 1984, Bass Treble and Presence.

Portable Music Player

This was a TB810 based 10+10 Watts Stereo Amplifier with LM381 or 2 Preamplifier, The portable player docks in a wooden cabinet. There was no IR, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in those days, so the device would interface with amp thru a stereo ear-phone socket-jack system with a shielded cable. Bass, treble and Presence as per an old phillps audio amp book.

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Systematic and Meticulous work has its own Rewards. An Engineers Notebook or a Hobby Experiments Log Book can go a long way in making a Cauliflower out of every Cabbage. (The credits of the Vegetable Analogy goes to Mark Twain)

1. Keep Work Place Clean.

Clean Tables and shelves every day before closing office, Put Cut leads and Solder shots in a separate cup to be accumulated and disposed later as these are toxic. In this cup other irritants like staple pins can be added and these can be clubbed in a month and disposed off as one metallic bulk for recycling. Never bring coffee or food to work area, Keep a waste paper basket on your side.

2. Work carefully to avoid injury

When cutting leads hold the lead in the hand and cut or it will fly all over the place. A piece like that may land on another equipment and cause shorts or it may go right into your eyes and cause blindness. Lead and Iso propyl alcohol and other Chemicals may be dangerous for health if handled carelessly. Do not use fingers, and teeth as tools it is bound to cause a injury to repent a lifetime. Be extra careful with 230V AC and more so with 440V 1 tr 2mA thru your heart and a weak streak of luck may be the last experience you ever had. Do not press your Luck too hard.

Electronics Work Culture and Discipline

3. Protect Desk or table surface.

If you are cutting something let it not leave marks on table, even adhesive stains should not deface table, use a asbestos, Bakelite, fiberglass, hardboard surface which can be disposed once in a way. Before working put two layers of news paper on the table this prevents table from getting spoilt while soldering and newspapers being hygroscopic (water absorbent) they provide a natural antistatic surface to protect CMOS Ics and are nonconductors for any Live PCB kept on the paper.

4. Use tools and equipment’s in a gentle manner.

When you use weller Iron use it as a heat transfer tool never use it for prying or crimping leads or just pressing use pliers or other tools for that.

5. Document what you do and vice versa.

Have a register in which you can make records of what you did to solve a problem or what you learnt while making an equipment this information is valuable for the company to develop production methods and also useful to your team to solve a similar problem. Share abilities and skills with fellow employees but don’t share your company’s technology and database with any other company. When you leave a company use only the abilities and skills in that broad area to evolve as a professional.

delabs notes – 80s and 90s

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A Need created a concept of no Commercial Value. I was unable to revive my Pentium from the Nineties, the FDD drives have gone bad, those i am able to get from some salvage computer shops are not working. 1.2 and 1.44 both, it may be FDD controller.

SD Card boot for Old Computers

I have all the various boot floppies and software from 1990 onward and have made images also on CDROM.

If there was a SD Card interface for the Plugin Slots and an update for the Award Bios to boot from the SD card, i could get this going.

The HardDisk sizes needed are not available even in the salvage.

The External Pipeline cache also keeps popping out. The heatsink fan gone bad. But the things starts up and you can tweak only the Bios.

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Sometime around 2008 i wrote this. It is more of Humor and less of Reality.

Vibration  Pressure are Related, Pressure is related to Temperature, Sunlight has Infra Red & Heating Ability. This should Ring some Bell.

You have Heard of Solar Cells and Panels, Sunlight to Power. Heard of Piezoelectric Energy, Vibration to Electricity

Solar Calculator

Solar – Heat – Pressure – Vibration – Electricity !! New Hybrid Solar Cell ! Someone has to just Invent it. It should Flash a few Lamps.

Micro Mech Lithography. Tiny Cantilevers, Tiny Silicone bulb of Volatile Liquid. Mini Lens Heats the bulb. Cantilever is bent a few Microns.

Pressure sensitive valve deflates Bulb suddenly, The Piezoelectric Cantilever goes Twang. The Electric Pulses charge a Supercap and battery.

The Vaporized Liquid has Condensed, it goes back to the cells by Gravity, The Shrunk Bulb draws the liquid. Ready for next Cycle.

If it works, credit me, else all credits go to Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
Once upon a Time –  by delabs

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Wikipedia Search Results combined with an AI Query and Data-mining Engine integrated with a High Quality Text-to-Speech; can help people hear Answers to Questions they ask. Optional pictures and video on a concealed LCD Screen, Packed into a Feather Bag called “Dolly the Know-all Dodo”. A witty, impertinent, extra-smart Bird-Bot. (2009 – Ideas of delabs)

AI Dodo with a Wikipedia Brain

Idea from Polly –

Make a AI Robot in the form of a Cartoon Parakeet. Something like polly the techno parrot below. When you ask a question or a unique term like “Solar Energy” or “Vitamin C” it can use its AI – Artificial Intelligence to read out a Wikipedia Page and if not Satisfied browse the web internally and suggest alternative pages to read out. It can have a Dockable Tablet Interface too for Visualizing its AI and Articles.

Who made Polly  Shown on the right in CrossSection – Rob and Roberta Radtek

“Direct from the Institute of Robotic Technology comes this amazing interactive robot pet– POLLY THE TEKNO PARROT! Polly talks with people he senses around him just like a real parrot. Polly’s electronic cuircuits can detect motion, sound, light and even touch. He will snore off to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. If you pet him, he will “coo” and move his wings. ”

These are some sites that help you read out wikipedia.

Pediaphon App in the Android Market!MP3 files, play lists and podcast automatically generated from Wikipedia!  Let your computer read out the Wikipedia for you!

“Learning during jogging and driving! E-learning and m-learning with MP3 players and mobile phones! A podcast and a winamp play list will be generated too.”

Wiki Out Loud: Wikipedia Entries on Audio – “A few nights ago I was at the office and the ol’ brain was fried. I decide to take a couple of hours “off” and record some Wikipedia entries on audio.”

(2009 – Ideas of delabs)

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The Objective, When your Bot has outgrown your Arduino, it wants to talk, an urge to communicate and Network(Social). A larger brain over the smaller control system is the need. Then a Networked Drove of Bots ! is possible.

Use the Arduino for emulating the role of the Spine and an Android System for the Big Networked brain. You can hack an Economy Android Phone to make your Robot an Einstein.

Now for Simulating the Soul, which even the most Advanced Robotic Scientist is unaware of; All you need is Cloud.

An Android Brain for your Bot

How to do that

We have to try create some Robots which are Non-Motor based, Soundless, No Rotary action. Minimum Metal Used, Silicone and Epoxy based parts. They will have 3G and Wi-Fi integrated and the Soul, the Intellect and the Instincts can be upgraded In-system online. The Cloud will be God.

Why the need

The Robot in Literature – Coppélia

Coppélia concerns an inventor, Dr Coppelius, who has made a life-size dancing doll. It is so lifelike that Franz, a village swain, becomes infatuated with it and sets aside his true heart’s desire, Swanhilde.

She shows him his folly by dressing as the doll, pretending to make it come to life and ultimately saving him from an untimely end at the hands of the inventor.

The Truth – Swanhilde and her friends find themselves in a large room filled with people. However, the occupants aren’t moving. The girls discover that, rather than people, these are life-size mechanical dolls. They quickly wind them up and watch them move. Swanhilde also finds Coppélia behind a curtain and discovers that she, too, is a doll.

The sad part of this Opera and The Nutcracker is that Inventors of Bots are shown as Evil Scientists. We have to clear the stigma by making a Giant King Kong Bot.

First written 2008 in other areas, enhanced post till 2012 – An idea by “Bot with a Soul” – delabs