MEPA Circuit

Archive for the ‘Circuits’ Category

Another classic game that has perhaps escaped the notice of many of the gamers of today is Loom. Written by Brian Moriarty, who previously had created games like Wishbringer, Trinity, and Beyond Zork, Loom was an adventure game that combined text and graphics. But what made the game most interesting was its integration of music into its puzzles. Loom became a bestseller and still has many fans today.

The Music Of Loom

As one might imagine from its title, one of Loom’s themes involved the idea that the characters’ fates were controlled by magical threads. The player assumes the role of a young boy – Bobbin Threadbare – who travels from his home village in search of a solution to a catastrophe. The player guides the character’s movements and can make him walk from place to place, manipulate objects, and also play notes on a distaff. Many puzzles in the game are solved by playing the appropriate series of notes, and having an ear for music can help. This innovative way of solving puzzles was what made the game memorable for many. When the notes are played, an effect is created similar to casting a spell. For example, one of the tunes, when played, can color fabric. When this tune is played backwards, it bleaches fabric.

Loom’s Plot

In the beginning of the game, Bobbin’s entire village is transformed into swans, and he ventures forth in search of a way to turn his people back. Along the way, he encounters several puzzles, and meets a variety of characters with whom he must interact to gain knowledge. Eventually, he learns that an evil character has unleashed a chaotic force into the world. In the end, Bobbin is able to defeat the cleric responsible for the chaos, though the game has somewhat of a cliffhanger ending, which was designed to leave the door open for sequels.

Integrated circuits originated in the 1940’s and 50’s, but were much larger and had the fraction of the power they do today. Nothing we know of would be the same if there were no microchips, digital signal processing chips, or semiconductor circuits. They are built in to almost every appliance there is, and the small scale of these chips has enabled smaller and smaller devices to exist. For example, cell phones that hold enormous amounts of information and even provide access to the Internet operate on very small circuits designed to fit in their small dimensions.

Circuits are found in almost everything, in addition to cell phones. Regular telephones, printers, microwave ovens, radios and even televisions include sophisticated circuitry. The ICs themselves are manufactured by companies that specialize in the advanced technologies that go into making them. Manufacturers of televisions or computers, for example, can order circuits according to the memory they support or the speed or bandwidth a device can achieve by using them.

Another important specification is the package type, such as the ball grid array, that is defined by the size of the chip and how it connects to the circuit board. The connection is usually dependent on the number of connecting pins the IC has built in. A circuit chip can be a microprocessor that controls an entire computer system, or a tiny device that has a specific purpose, such as managing the timing of signals. Something like this is called an application specific integrated circuit, or ASIC. There are some of these that are measured in millimeters they are so small.

Without the IC in the form that it is in today, many technologies wouldn’t exist, such as HDTV’s. It is only the processing power of these chips that enable such high resolution. The Internet, with its high speed and density of information, would not be the worldwide information source it is without the proper circuitry in the devices that store data and drive interconnected networks.

Since the integrated circuit was invented in the mid 20th century, various theories have been thought up to predict how powerful a circuit and related electronics can get. The most popular of these is Moore’s Law, named for the co-founder of Intel Gordon E. Moore, that predicts the number of transistors placed on a circuit will double every couple of years.

First described in 1965, this concept has still held its ground with the rapid development of new computing technologies. Limitations have been predicted for years, however the rule should hold for at least another decade, according to experts including Moore himself. Transistors have consistently gotten smaller, and it is thought that they can probably do so until they reach the size of molecules. Moore has even theorized that this might not be a limit if manufacturers decide to make circuits larger or develop multilayered designs.

Adding more transistors doesn’t necessary mean that processing power increases at the same rate. Processing speed can depend on various factors, so the public’s perception of Moore’s Law is often different than that of the manufacturing industry. The law was never intended to predict how fast performance would increase, however other experts have predicted a doubling in circuit performance every 18 months.

There are other theories related to the size, density and speed of components as well as cost. Most of them are somehow related to laws of transistor density. Other such rules dictate that power consumption of computer components doubles every year-and-a-half, while Kryder’s Law analyzes hard disk storage costs, per unit of information, and that increases in disk drive capacities are similar to rises in transistor count.

Similarly, it has been noted that RAM capacity increases at a rate comparable to processing power, while others have come up with rules for network capacity increases as well as cost per pixel increases related to digital cameras. These all could be based on observation or used for industry planning, so the real potential of how transistor count or any other statistic is not definitively known.

The amazing capabilities that integrated circuitry now provide allows for complex applications that further require circuit design to be modified. Flexible circuits are now used in many systems and actually have the capability to bend and fold without affecting the performance of the electronics on their surface.

Printed onto plastic substrates or polyester, they can conform to a desired shape in a device or flex during the product’s use. An example would be folding cell phones, in which the electrical connections must be maintained between the folding parts that are moved regularly during normal use. They can also be used in small electronics such as cameras. In this case the circuits will remain in a static position but allow for connections in various axes.

These types of circuits are also commonly used in keyboards, as well as with organic LEDs to include backlights in flexible displays. The technology expands the possibilities of miniature and flexible circuitry. It brings to the imagination electronics that you can wear, and also adds a sense of realism to fictitious elements such as Penny’s computerized guide book in the Inspector Gadget cartoons. As manuals are available electronically online, a product manual on just a few sheets of flex circuit paper would provide all the information you would need to understand the workings of a device.

The fictional and theoretical blend in well with the idea of flexible circuits. Out of this world applications do exist, however, because they are used in satellites, especially for the solar panels that roll up for launch and deploy when they reach orbit. This allows the power collection and distribution systems to remain intact despite the entire panels having been folded and extended.

The concept has also expanded technologies in the medical field, with such circuits used in small implantable devices such as pacemakers, medical monitoring devices, diagnostic equipment, and surgical tools. Since flex circuits are highly compatible with devices that are hinged or have telescopic functions, they are now widely used and explored in medical applications.

Having access to the Internet is pretty much a necessity nowadays. There are many ways to get online, in regards to the providers that offer deals for accessing the Web. You can even use the Net itself to search the websites of providers, where you can find detailed information on what each offers, and even find reviews and forum comments about the quality of the service.

Even if you don’t yet have access, you can always use a friends’ computer, go to a library, or visit an Internet café if one exists near where you live to do your research. The type of information you want to look for is whether you get enough features and perks to justify the cost. Most of the time, they are relatively inexpensive because of the competition; there are almost countless providers out there.

If you are lucky, you can even have Internet access included in your cable TV and/or telephone plan. Various top named cable providers offer high-speed access; speed being one of the top features to look for. You can easily get a fast service and connection, and there is no reason to have long wait times for websites to load or to send email.

Email is another feature that you can no longer do without. In addition to reliability, you also want to know how much storage space you have, and whether the provider’s system experiences any significant downtime. This is something you want to assess about the system overall before you buy into the service. You can also consider extras such as website hosting and domain registration, if you’re inclined to get into the technical side, as affordable additions or standard features of the service.

With so much information online, you can use the Internet to find Internet deals. Don’t hesitate to browse forums, blogs, review sites, or your favorite trusty search engine to find information. If something is worth talking about it, you can be sure someone is out there to post useful information that you can use in your decision.

Computers are known to be the emotional scourge of the 20th century. Every joke known to mankind has been re-written to include the computer as the antagonist with the user playing the part of the victim protagonist. But the computer becomes less of a nemesis when the user realizes one thing: the computer has no emotions. Honest! At least not yet. That may come later as technologies become more available. The robot explosion in Japan has not yet reached your lap top, so calm down.

More often than is healthy, the average computer users find themselves at odds with the little machine that was manufactured to make their lives easier. To be fair, computers do malfunction and eventually break. There is, however, one human behavior that almost every computer user practices when the program of choice does not jump to immediate command: hitting the key continually in rapid succession to relieve the stress of the program’s inability to jump to the users emotions. Guess what? The program doesn’t care. Neither does the computer.

Rapid fire key banging is a wonderful way to make your frustration permanent for the remainder of the work day. It sends the signal that is already malfunctioning to the CPU dozens of times, creating a snowball effect that allows you to enjoy that frustration you were waiting for! What a deal! Frustration times ten cubed all for the tiny price of an uncontrolled vibrating finger over the enter key. If you practice this often you may even provide yourself with the entertainment that comes with the blue screen of death. Then you know you’ve won the contest of mind over mindless.

Computers are mankind’s modern day Zen machine. Monks in Japan spent hundreds of years practicing the play of the Shakuhachi, a bamboo end blown flute, to form self-discipline unmatched in most societies. With the need to create better tools for a busy modern society, manufacturers inadvertently gave us this electronic Shakuhachi as a test of our resolve to find centered peace.

Score: Computers 1. Humanity 0.

Technology has finally given us a way to be a little safer when smoking. The e-cigarette, or electronic cigarette, is a fairly new product. Not only is it cleaner, it’s safer as well.

The e-cigarette is safer in a number of ways. It has none of the tar and carcinogens that traditional cigarettes have. It also has no flame. The only chemical you are subject to is the nicotine, which is the addictive part of a cigarette. Although any smoking can be considered harmful, the most dangerous ingredients of a traditional cigarette are carcinogens and tar. The e-cigarette doesn’t include any of these unhealthy chemicals. There is also no more fire hazard to worry about since the e-cigarette is electronic and has no flame.

It’s also cleaner. There are no ashes to tap and no smelly smoke in your hair, clothes and environment. The e-cigarette has a glowing tip on the end that lights up when you inhale. A cartridge that uses flavored liquid turns into a vapor, which emits a puff of smoke just like a real cigarette. This allows people who are trying to quit to get the same feeling from smoking as they would with a more harmful genuine cigarette.

One of the main advantages of the electronic cigarette is the ability to take them anywhere. Since they are not emitting any odor and have no flame, they can be taken into any place you want such as restaurants, bars, zoos and all of the places where it’s either illegal or frowned on to smoke. The only caveat to that is explaining that you are smoking an electronic cigarette when asked. Not everyone knows what they are and how they work. However, imagine being able to satisfy that craving during a quick class break or at an upscale restaurant.