CC_1988_i0006.pdf

THE COMPUTER APPLICATIONS JOURNAL

Circuit Cellar BBS - 24 Hrs.

3OO/I200/2400 bps, 0 bits, no

parity, 1 stop bit, 203-871-

1988

Gi-1 Build a Remote Analog Data Logger -- Part 1

/___. A Simple 6809-Based Data Acquisition System

by R. W. Meister

The schematics provided

in Circuit Cellar INK are

drawn using Schema from

Omation Inc. All programa

and schematics in Circuit Cel-

lar INK have been carefully

reviewed to ensure that their

performance is in accordance

with the specifications de-

scribed, and programs are

posted on the Circuit Cellar

BBS for electronic transfer by

subscribers.

Circuit Cellar INK makes

no warranties and assumes no

responsibility or liability of

any kind for errore in these

programs or schematics or for

the consequences of any such

errors. Furthermore, because

of the possible variation in the

quality and condition of mate-

rials and workmanship of

reader-resembled projects,

Circuit Cellar INK disclaims

any responsibility for the safe

and proper function of reader-

assembled projects based

upon or from plans, descrip-

tions, or information pub-

lished in Circuit Cellar INK.

Low component count and simple construction mark the

hardware portion of this highly accurate analog-to-

digital conversion system.

!j;i ImageWise/PC -- The Digitizing Continues -- Part 1

__.:

Video Basics

by Ed Nisley

A higher digitizing rate and more functionality

introduced with the PC-bus (ISA) version of

one of Steve Ciarcia’s most popular projects--

the ImageWise Video Digitizer.

CIRCUIT CELLAR INK

(ISSN 0896-898s) is published

bimonthly by Circuit Cellar

Incorporated, 4 Park Street,

Suite 20, Vernon, CT 06066

(203-875-2761). Second-clael

postage paid at Vernon, C’I

and additional offlcer. One

year (6 issues) charter rub-

scription rate U.S.A. and pos-

sessions $14.96, Canads

$17.96, all other countrier

$26.96. All subscription orden

payable in U.S. funds only, vi8

international postal money

order or check drawn on U.S

bank. Direct subscription or-

ders to Circuit Cellar INK

Subscriptions, 12 Depot Sq.

Peterborough, NH 03468-

9909 or call (203) 876-2199

POSTMASTER: Pleaee send

addrers changes to Circuit

Cellar INK, Circulation Dept.,

12 Depot Square, Peterbor-

ough, NH 03468-9909.

Entire contents copy-

right 1988 by Circuit Cellal

Incorporated. All rights re-

served. Reproductions of thie

publication in whole or in part

without written consent from

Circuit Cellar Inc. is prohib-

ited.

- Excerpts from the Circuit Cellar BBS

Conducted by Ken Davidson

<yt;’

: i

i ‘. -:. ,q .; *2 -- :. :- , .: .

DDT-51 devealed

by Ed Nieley

4_$‘< , _

A Gathering of Eagles

by Steve Ciarcia

Cover Illustration by Robert Tinney

‘.;;jq..,

Circuit Cellar Ink

Ctrl

An Active and Growing Industry

n October, I went to a small computer show that had a lot of exciting displays and conference sessions.

BUSCON ‘88 was held at the Javits Convention Center in New York, and featured exhibits from most

of the big players in industrial control and general-purpose buses. There were companies exhibiting

Multibus I & II, VME bus, STD and STE buses, NuBus and more, and it was good to see the rate of development

for all of these architectures. Of course, being 1988, most of the talk centered on 16- and 32-bit buses, but

there is still a lot of vitality in the mature 8-bit bus families.

If you read the general computer press, it’s easy to get the impression that desktop platforms for word proc-

essing and spreadsheets are the only computers being built. The reality is that, while PCs and their kin are

important, there’s more happening in single-board and dedicated control applications than meets the eye. From

machine vision and robotics to process control and data acquisition, we are part of a dynamic industry, an

industry that develops many of the concepts that the desktop people pick up down the road. Right now I’m

wondering whether I’ll be as impressed by the products at COMDEX as I was by what I saw at BUSCON.

The products I saw ran from the inevitable (a PC-clone on a VME bus board) to the amazing (a Multi-

bus II disk controller that uses an 80386 for its on-board intelligence). I talked to a lot of people, and you’ll

be seeing the results of some of those conversations in the months to come. One of the most important things

coming your way will be the series on the various buses themselves. Engineers tend to get religious about their

favorite bus, so we will try to give you the facts about the bus, its characteristics, advantages, limitations, and

design goals, without getting stuck in the “My bus is better than your bus” debate.

into the Future of Circuit Cellar l%K

In the world of publishing, there are large magazines that serve a diverse audience, and there are smaller

magazines that speak to the particular needs of a special audience. Circuit Cellar INK is, thankfully, one of

the latter. When we put together an issue of this magazine, we concentrate on how each article will appeal

to one group of people: Those who design, build, and program working computer applications.

In the first year of publication, we have concentrated on articles that closely follow the format laid out

by Steve Ciarcia in his popular “Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar” series in BYTE Magazine. Looking ahead to year

number two, we will still have buildable application projects at our core, but we will be adding articles that

we believe will help you broaden your applications horizons and deepen your understanding of current tech-

nology.

Starting in Issue 7, we will have some “software only” articles. The first will show you how to write a

real-time operating system for a single-board computer. Later in 1989, we are planning to begin tutorial articles

on various bus designs and the numerous serial communications standards. We will also have articles describing

important new processors and controllers as they are introduced. The common thread through all of these articles

will be information aimed at letting you take what you read and apply it to your applications.

This has been a great year for Circuit Cellar INK. We’ve grown from a first issue that started life as a

newsletter to a magazine that is rapidly winning respect throughout the industry as the source for honest, genuine

computer applications information. Since I came on board in late July, I have heard a lot of you tell me how

glad you are that there is a Circuit Cellar INK, and I’ve gotten good suggestions on what you want to see in

“your” magazine. We depend on your direct input for ideas and inspiration.

Take a minute and drop me a line or give me a call. I really want to hear from you.

Curtis Franklin, Jr.

Editor-in-Chief

November/December 1988

f S

N K

Letters to the Editor

[Editor’s Note: A few weeks ago we asked folks on the

Circuit Cellar BBS to tell us what they would like to see

in upcoming issues of Circuit Cellar INK. Here are a

few of their answers.]

Being an amateur kit builder, I would like very

much to see some articles about kit building. I realize

that most of INK’s readers are more advanced than I

am, but I really need to know more about what I am

doing. I would also like to see some product reviews,

such as EPROM programmers and test equipment. As

far as what type of projects I’d like to see, almost

anything goes! Although I don’t build every project,

I have on many occasions taken part of the project and

incorporated it into other things. To be honest, I read

INK to learn about electronics. I’ll be going back to

college soon and hopefully by 1993 I’ll have a BSEE

degree. Until then, INK is my teacher.

Regarding articles on kit building, I have built

many projects from kits, primarily Heath and CCI. I

am not interested in things along the lines of “Building

the Heathkit Something-or-other.” I would be inter-

ested in articles that tell how to take a commercially

available kit and modify it to do something else or that

shows how it works. I subscribed to the Heathkit “Kit

Builders Journal*’ for a while in the hope that it might

contain some inside info from Heath. Sadly, it never

appeared to have much in the way of technical articles.

Short pieces on kits that are available from obscure

manufacturers would be valuable (such as the PT-68K

from Peripheral Technology). I will always be inter-

ested in projects that offer some form of kit for those

of us that do not have the time or equipment to build

from scratch.

Articles that I would like to see include:

Brian Joseph

I would very much like to see stuff on design and

fabrication tools. My company has spent several

thousand dollars on PCB-CAD tools for the PC to find

that most of them are junk. The industry trade

magazines usually just republish press releases and so

are of no use. What would be really useful would be

an examination of design tools available to the serious

experimenter/small company. I seem to see either

articles about >$lOO,OOO systems or rehashed press

releases.

¡ D/A for the BCC bus

¡ Motion control -- Stepper and servo motors

¡ Optical Encoders -- Feedback for motion control

¡ Software for data acquisition and control

(Z-Transforms boggle my mind)

¦ How to use RS-422/485 (SN75176 Transceiver)

¡ Building a logic analyzer (with parts sources)

¡ Applications ideas (like ROVER)

John Dearmond

I am interested in IEEE-488 (GPIB). I don’t know

much about it technically, that is, what it would take

to build a project from scratch for PC-compatibles. [I

would like to use it as] a skeleton for managing multiple

processes (e.g., an optical reader controlled from the PC

console, with real-time counter updating, etc.).

Thanks, and keep the Circuit Cellar INKS coming in the

mail!

I enjoy reading Circuit Cellar INK and realize that

not every article will interest me. I hope that INK will

get ads from companies that can furnish the hard-to-

find parts. I think that this type of advertising will help

ensure the long-term survival of INK.

William Giles

Robert Schuh

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