Archives: Articles
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Does 2+2=4? Microchip announces PolarFire 2; You Do the Math
Microchip previewed its PolarFire 2 mid-range SoC FPGA family at the RISC-V Summit last month in two presentations including a keynote given by Bruce Weyer,…
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A History of Early Microcontrollers, Part 9: The General Instruments PIC1650
I almost did not write this chapter in the ongoing saga of early microcontroller history. That’s not because the PIC1650 microcontroller isn’t important, just that…
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Introducing SafeConnect Connectivity and Glitch Sign-Off from Real Intent
Sometimes I cast my mind back longingly to my early days as a design engineer when things were so much simpler than they are now.…
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Yet Another 100 Captivating Columns and Counting!
I sometimes wonder how many words I’ve written professionally in my lifetime. At least two of my books (search for “Clive Maxfield” on Amazon) have…
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Are Agricultural Drones Poised to be the Next Big Thing?
The latest research indicates that Homo sapiens—the species to which you, your humble narrator, and all other living human beings on this planet belong (even…
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Lattice Strides Into the Mid-Range FPGA Arena With Avant
Lattice Semiconductor is moving upscale with its new mid-range Avant FPGA platform. After spending the last several years taking low-end market share from its bigger…
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A History of Early Microcontrollers, Part 8: The Intel 8051
Intel introduced the successor to its 8048 microcontroller, the 8051, in 1980. It’s become the immortal microcontroller, and it was all because an applications engineer…
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Arduino 0s and 1s, LOW and HIGH, False and True, and Other Stuff
It’s common to hear engineers and computer boffins say that digital computers are based on 0s and 1s, but what does this actually mean? On…
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A History of Early Microcontrollers, Part 7: The Zilog Z8
When Federico Faggin arrived at Intel in 1970, he immediately discovered that he’d stepped into a royal mess. He’d left Fairchild Semiconductor and accepted the…
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O-M-Gosh, I’ve Been Zeked! (Part 4)
Just in case you are arriving late to the party, and you’ve missed my earlier columns, earlier this year I was introduced to an 11-year-old…