Signals & Noise: November 9, 1995

No repayment for instilling fear

In his editorial “Repaying a debt” (EDN, Aug 3, 1995, pg 11), Steve Leibson quotes Captain Scott O’Grady: “The greatest gift that anyone could ever give me would be if you know anybody [who has served in uniform or is serving now] to go up to them and thank them for what they’re doing for trying to make this world a better place.”

The editorial goes on to mention that “we owe a word of thanks to the design community that has served us by helping to preserve the peace we enjoy in the United States and in a large part of the world.” Well, due to its superior defense equipment, the United States has become the world’s greatest bully. The United States has not been preserving the peace, but, rather, has been instilling fear.

Our engineers have helped to instill this fear. Engineers may be “experiencing trauma as the defense industry shrinks.” However, this trauma does not equal that of the enlisted people and civilians who have lost their lives in the line of fire. To me, this is a trauma much more frightening than not getting your federal pension.

Had O’Grady been a casualty, what kind of options would he have had? And, would those defense engineers been considered heroes?

Jack Higgens

Repayment in full

I read your Steve Leibson’s fine editorial, “Repaying a debt”(EDN, Aug 3, 1995, pg 11). Because I am a displaced defense worker, I wish to thank him for his comments and note of thanks. I wish I could say that all Americans feel the way that he does; however, this is not the case.

The US government has taken away the space, aircraft, and defense infrastructures. These programs have been replaced by a lot of congressional rhetoric from people who produce nothing except ever-increasing onerous legislation.

The state of these programs affects us economically and from the standpoint of our national security. However, this is still the greatest country in the world, despite the politicians who pollute it.

John C Dickman
Orange, CA

Smaller is better

It was nice to see tiny microcontrollers get some press in your May 25 issue (pg 167). Big, fast CPUs are much more glamorous, but as Jack Ganssle points out, 99.9% of control applications don’t need one. However, as a designer of mass-market consumer control systems (where “cost-sensitive” is an understatement), I found Ganssle’s tone rather patronizing. Falling chips costs don’t make my application “truly minimal”—they give my company a competitive edge, because that puny $1.50 micro is probably the most expensive component on the board. And no, I don’t go without emulation, a digital CRO, and documented software design. We don’t operate out of a “garage.”

There’s often a real challenge in squeezing maximum user value and real-time performance from a small micro, not to mention efficient analog interfacing and nose immunity. If your readers are forced to use the bloated, room-heating 32-bit chips and high-level languages your advertisers and writers peddle, I feel sorry for them—C programming and multilayer surface-mount pc boards aren't my idea of elegant electronics.

For what it’s worth, I’ve looked at almost every small 8-bit micro on the market, and my choice is the Zilog Z8 family. Check it out and you’ll see why.

Michael Warner
Design Engineer
Tekelek Pty Ltd

Rescue mission

In our September 1 issue on pg 26, we ran an item about a vintage mainframe that was slated for removal from the Table Mountain Observatory near Boulder, CO. The Computer History Association of California (CHAC) wanted it, but didn’t have the funds or wherewithall to move the behemoth.

Kip Crosby, CHAC president, has announced that the rescue of the SDS 930 mainframe was completed a few weeks ago, thanks to 34 EDN donors who contributed storage, logistical assitance, and several thousand dollars in cash.

Corrections and updates

In Markus Levy’s “Zero in on x86 derivatives for your embedded PC” (EDN, June 22, 1995, pg 36), the contact information for Cyrix Microsystems (pg 40) was typeset incorrectly. You can reach Cyrix (Richardson, TX) by phone at (214) 994-8388.

In “Choosing an op amp: It’s no longer a trying task” (EDN, May 25, 1995, pg 38), Advanced Linear Devices (Sunnyvale, CA) was inadvertently left out of Table 1 on pg 44. You can reach Advanced Linear Devices by phone at (408) 747-1155.

In the May 11, 1995, Electronic Design Automation product-review section (pg 182), “Single-kernel simulator provides seamless mixed Verilog and VHDL simulation” lists an incorrect price. The correct price for the V-System/Plus software is $29,995 (for Unix workstations). Contact Model Technology Inc (Beaverton, OR) by phone at (503) 641-1340.