Category: Everything

Teaching an old bug new tricks

The prototype unit on perfboard.

The 78S40 is not one of the most modern switching regulators, together with its small brother the MC34063 it dates back to the 1990’s. It differs from the 34063 by having an additional, uncommitted operational amplifier inside its 16-pin package. There are many application notes available, since both chips are manufactured by several companies. There… Continue reading Teaching an old bug new tricks

The day of the city forrest

Today was the Day of the City Forrest (Stadsskogens dag) here in Uppsala. For everyone who didn’t climb the 180 steps up onto the water tower, here is the view from the top (you will need Apple Quicktime to be installed):

Orienteering in Nacka

"I have a strange feeling that something big is behind us..."

Last week before running the Midnattsloppet I spent the day in the forests of Nacka, just south of Stockholm. Like Uppsala and several other places in Sweden, there is an ongoing tournament in orienteering in this part of Stockholm. Currently 75 numbered markers have been put out with a n individual letter code on each… Continue reading Orienteering in Nacka

Midnattsloppet 2011

Midnattsloppet 2011, me among 24000 runners. Photo © Ulf Bengtsson

Running in the evening through Stockholm – last Saturday it was time again. The 30th anniversary of the Midnattsloppet and my own 10th participation in this 10 km race through the southern part of Stockholm. More than 24000 had registered themselves for this event – what a surprise to find myself on a photo which Ulf… Continue reading Midnattsloppet 2011

Testing qTranslate

From the start I wanted to have a multilingual blog, since I am multilingual in my daily life here in Sweden. I found a WordPress plugin called WPML for this purpose, but the makers of this plugin decided to commercialize it and now they want to have money. Since this blog’s contents is for free… Continue reading Testing qTranslate

Do they know what they do?

Standard LED driver

As you can read in my earlier posts I have become quite attached to the AVR microcontrollers from Atmel. We also use these microcontrollers in projects with our students at Uppsala University. Probably one of the widest spread development tools for AVR controllers is the original STK500 starter kit from Atmel, which in principle supports… Continue reading Do they know what they do?

The new Digikey catalog is here!

2011 Digikey's new catalog

Today I got the new Digikey catalog delivered at the university. It must be the season, during recent weeks also Elfa (you remember: the company which delivers cable by the metre…) and RS-Components have mailed their new paper catalogs. I still prefer paper catalogs in spite of their environmental impact, because there is simply no… Continue reading The new Digikey catalog is here!