tcas

I'm yet to figure out which is better to use since we're only experimenting with Docker for dev, but it seems like having a volume based container makes versioning and getting people up to speed easier (we can commit a base data container image for people to work with).

I use shared directories though as well for cross compile environments and for dev work to redeploy apps without rebuilding the container.

Xilinx tools are only free for certain chips and feature sets. If you want tools like ChipScope (which more than pays for itself) or to use any Vertex chips you need to buy their software.

For their lower end chips (All the Spartan series, the larger of the 6 series are still quite useful) they straight up announced an end of development on the main toolchain (ISE) with no plans for support on their newer one.

It would be interesting to try and make a graph of the product lines / companies in this space. I.e. HP started off doing test equipment, and back in the 90s spun that division and everything not related to computers/storage/printers to Agilent. Agilent has since spun off:

  * Phillips Medical Systems: health care
  * Avago: Semiconductors
  * Verigy: Semiconductor test
  * Keysight: Test equipment

+ Probably more I don't know about due to acquisitions.

The CC3200 looks nice, I just wish it was half the price. The Particle / Spark Photon M0 looks promising though:

https://www.particle.io/prototype

$10/12 Broadcom chip + STM32 chip. It's not market yet and I don't like the idea of being tied to a 3rd party platform / API. There doesn't seem to be anything in the >500 units, <5K units space that really makes sense. Near the high end of that I assume you can probably roll the intentional emitter cost into the unit cost though.

Where can you get the CC3200 for $15 in a module format (or the 3100)? The bare chip you can probably get around that in quantity, but then you need the support hardware and the FCC intentional emitter testing ($15K+).

The ESP8266 seems really interesting, however, until I can order 500-1000 from a reputable vendor in trays / tape and reel I'm too scared to think about using it for a small run product.

I've already started to do this for annoying environments to replicate, such as cross compiling applications. We simply have a master Dockerfile that creates an image that everyone on the team can share.

The cross compile environment can then either be started via a Makefile, or you can run it interactively if you want to use gdbserver or something. Also makes it easy to have a build server compile the binaries on a code push.

It's usually voltage as the square factor for CMOS. The equation I remember from VLSI is:

  Power = (Load Capacitance) * (Voltage)^2 * (Frequency)

In order to run at a faster speed you frequently have to increase your core voltage which causes a square increase.

It mentions in the end in the footnotes you can mix together high vomitoxin and low vomitoxin wheat to produce the needed amount.

  I'm kidding. My dog is gluten-free. Also if you buy 
  the high-vomitoxin wheat you can blend it with 
  low-vomitoxin wheat until you get the perfect amount 
  of vomitoxin. Appetizing, no?

Same here -- I take the NEC every month or so and have never been asked for my ID in around 3 years.

I was once asked for my AAA card when using that discount on the regional, but even that is extremely rare.

In the case of argv though on main it is defined to be null terminated on argv[argc] according to the standard. Assuming the pointers are the same size though what I said will work but is bad practice.

> sizeof( char* ) == sizeof( char* * )

True, I forgot that different architectures/compilers can produce different pointer sizes. Thanks!

Nope, neither will segfault on the initial access.

  char ** argv

is a null terminated array in C according to the C standard. (EDIT: see clarification below) C doesn't care about types at all and you can abuse this by casting pointers to different (sometimes incompatible types). The second argument to main (argv) it set up by the initialization code and has the same space as a pointer regardless if it's a string, array of strings, struct, integer etc...

The existing structure will simply be interpreted as that new type like so:

                String1       String2    String3     String4
  char ** a2: |0x41414141 |0x42424242 |0x43434343 |0x00000000 |
              +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
  char * a1 : |41|41|41|41|42|42|42|42|43|43|43|43|00|00|00|00|
  
  printf("%s\n", a1);
  > AAAABBBBCCCC

That being said, some compilers (clang) will emit an error on the improper type, like so:

  test.c:3:5: error: second parameter of 'main' (argument array) must be of type
        'char **'
  int main(int argc, char * argv)
      ^
  1 error generated.

  char * argv

is a pointer to a string (or a single character).

  char ** argv

is a pointer to an array of pointers to strings. The latter is used since it allows for multiple arguments in (the number being `int argc`).

This picture shows the second example in terms of pointers:

http://www.londonquilters.org.uk/ctext/pic511.gif

As far as I know the differential lanes are swappable. They each have an identification channel assigned to them, so the combinations are (ACC0, Data1, Data2) and (ACC1, Data3, Data4). Keeping in mind that the function of each lane is found once it's plugged in the cable becomes fully reversible and routing inside the connector is simpler.

Here in NYC ConEd charges a very large fixed fee for that physical infrastructure. Last month I used 96kWh but paid $43.35 (basically $0.45/kwh).

Around $20 of that is fixed fees, to pay for the basic infrastructure, billing, meter reading etc...

Don't modern processors support hardware breakpoints / watchpoints?

Interesting they got a custom processor revision for them that isn't on Intel's ARK: Xeon E5-2666 v3

I wonder what volumes Amazon buys in order to get Intel to make a custom part number for them. Do they design their own servers?

At the time I had to enter my card number it wasn't the case.

Just checked again and when I go to the card number screen it is now HTTPS.

I think I know the food delivery service you're talking about (free delivery, no tips). They use Stripe as their processing backend, and they said that their connection to Stripe is over HTTPS, however, I gave up trying to explain that of the initial transmission to their servers is unencrypted, it doesn't matter.

I thought about reporting this to Stripe, but I don't know if that is an appropriate thing to do.

I still gave them a try, but I generated a virtual card number to use.

Oops, was dealing with a similar issue with the Prolific 2303, which was dealt with by using a newer driver, I haven't run into the issue yet with FTDI (which I don't as much).

They luckily did fix this in a relatively recent version -- try updating your driver. Still crazy that it shipped in the first place like that.

EDIT: just realized that I was thinking of the PL2303, which had a similar issue, not FTDI.

From the article sounds like it will happen:

  This service will be offered in the United States and there are also plans to bring it overseas

I was stuck waiting in line during the opening ceremony this year. I'll keep an eye out though, I would love to test making my own Quark board, but I imagine even with an external assembly service / high quality boards doing the bring up would be extremely difficult.

Why did you choose against it?

I'm guessing the reason is cost (I think the quark chip alone is $9, + DDR3 memory + cost for BGA placements + 4 layer impedance controlled boards etc...)

3 axis is X, Y, and Z (up / down). 4, 5 and 6 are usually adding rotation to each axis.

I've found libpcap to be a very simple API to use given the power of what it's able to do. However, if you're trying to work with things like TCP streams, writing the reordering logic can be a huge timesink.

The only non GPL solutions I've found are libntoh[1] and libtins[2]. Both are nice, but libtins is much more powerful out of the box, taking care of the pcap code as well. There's one or two things I don't like with the API of libtins, but overall it's a pretty nice library if you want to capture / inject packets.

[1] https://github.com/sch3m4/libntoh [2] http://libtins.github.io/

SDRAM's interface doesn't leave room for extra commands, it's pretty much designed to read/store data and refresh content. It only has 3 lines to select the command (RAS#, CAS#, WE#).

Other RAMs/Flash with different interfaces (e.g. SPI) require a prefix command to be sent over the wire, so it's easier for them to implement things like chip id commands.

You can probably use street view to get multiple GPS tagged frames. Won't be as good as a drone, but it would allow you to easily skip to different sites you think are aimed at each other.

OSH Park is what I would expect form a high level board house, the 4 layer boards are 5/5mil with a good substrate as well

Because every household has copper phone cables run to it already. You can run fiber to the trunk and have high speed communication using existing copper lines.

> XG-FAST can help operators accelerate FTTH deployments, taking fiber very close to customers without the major expense and delays associated with entering every home

I know, completely useless is an exaggeration. I just find it much more convenient to pull up a searchable/zoomable PDF vs flipping through the book when I do need to check a specs of a 74/54 series chip.