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Taming the dsPIC30F4011 Monster

Warning! This article contains graphic descriptions. The readers may experience anxiety, confusion, or a burning desire to “start working immediately”. Professional guidance it is strongly advised!

Unfortunately, it is sufficient to see the name of the beast, dsPIC30F4011, and many readers are going to shy away, or even burst into tears. No, dear friends, there is nothing to fear, and I intend to present how you could easily tame this terrifying dsPIC30F40111 monster and put it to work for you, into many beneficial applications.

Now, the first thing you need to do is to capture the beast. For this, you have to take the jungle path–also known as the “Internet”. Walk up to the monsters’ lair, Microchip®, and there you could capture, or purchase one dsPIC30F4011 animal for about 12 pieces of silver.

Once you bring your wild creature home, analyze its shape and, mostly, its behavior. You will see the beast looks like any ordinary monster IC of the DIP40 type, and this is good news, because it is best to use through-hole IC type of beasts, during hardware/firmware development work–some of them could pass away while experimenting, so… You think, probably, the 40 legs the monster has are not sufficient for your particular tasks. Do not worry about this, because you are going to discover means to multiply monster’s legs to hundreds of them, just like the truly ferocious monsters! Well, this is all about the shape of the beast, and you can see there is nothing impressive about it. However, you also need to study monster’s behavior; this time a bit more careful.

Please be aware there are thorough treaties–also known as “Data Sheets”–where the dsPIC30F4011 behavior it is described in details, and I will only point out few of the most terrifying features. First, our monster has Flash memory, about 48 Kbytes, and this is very good, because we can erase sucker’s memory whenever it goes nuts, or when we want to teach it new tricks. Next, our monster has 1 Kbytes permanent memory of type EEPROM, and this allows us to store there various configuration data, or to work with adaptive-learning firmware routines. The presence of this EEPROM memory tells us, in fact, our monster is of good quality!

Now, the most terrifying aspect is, our monster belongs to the 16 bits family, but my advice is to ignore this. Handling 8, 16, or 32 bits monsters it is all the same; the only significant difference is in the tools we use to tame the beast. Another shocking feature you are going to discover sooner or later is, our monster belongs to the ferocious dsPIC® family, hence it is capable of DSP (Digital Signal Processing–please read my articles about this) and of very fast mathematical calculations. This is, again, very good news, because we need both fast and very intelligent microcontroller-creatures. Regarding its reflexes, our monster works at either 20 or 30 MIPS (Mega Instructions per Second), which should be fair enough for most demanding applications. In order to feed it properly, you should know this animal likes only regulated DC voltage of 2.5 V up to 5 V.

Our 40-legs creature is capable of UART, SPI, CAN, and I2C communications. In addition, it has 6 PWM channels, because it appears it has been specifically bred for motor control applications–ugh, scary! The beauty is, it also has ICSP (In Circuit Serial Programming), and this allows us to do many annoying and nasty things to it. Ha, ha!

What else… Ah! Nine of those ugly crooked legs are capable of 10 bits Analog-to-Digital conversion at maximum 0.5 Msps (Mega samples per second); then, about 30 legs are capable of general I/O, and 3 of them are also external interrupts. Wow, the Interrupts! Here is where the power of the monster actually lies! The dsPIC30F4011 beast has no more and no less than 30 interrupt sources, with 8 selectable priority levels.

Fact is, we could go on and on, but it is better to keep it short; besides, I would like you to discover few interesting things for yourself. Now, it seems our monster promises a lot, but the problem is: “How do we tame it?” Unfortunately, we cannot use the good, long-time tested methods of fire, hunger, and chains. What we need are MPLAB® ICD2 Debugger/Programmer and C30® ANSI C compiler. I know, they are both new tools, but they will do the job–trust me with this one. Please be aware you can download for free C30 compiler, fully functional for 60 days, from Microchip.

Now we have everything we need to start the infernal process of taming the beast, and I am certain you think this is a long and very difficult burden. Well, it is not. What you need is a good incantation, like the multitasking one described in… No, I will not make it that easy, but I will give you a hint: you will discover the book with the ritual I am talking about at Corollary Theorems–my home site. You will also discover a good cage there to contain the monster, securely: its name is HCK (Hardware Companion Kit) V2.2.

This is all! It should take you a couple of months to break the dsPIC20F4011 monster down. Then, you will have a yoke-beast ready to perform everything you need: all your tasks and all applications! I am certain your little monster is going to repay you back nicely, for all your efforts. In time, you two are going to become good friends, and you will come to love and respect your little dsPIC30F4011.

O G POPA is Professional Engineer in BC, Canada. His home site is Corollary Theorems at http://www.corollarytheorems.com

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Microsoft Certification - Your Career Is Waiting!

Microsoft, a leader in the IT industry, has developed a number of certification programs for professionals working in the business. The programs allow you to decide which certification is appropriate and best suited for your career. There are over 2 million IT professionals with Microsoft certification. You can join their ranks and greatly enhance your professional career with Microsoft Certification. It’s important to note that Microsoft has restructured their programs to be very targeted.

Microsoft provides plenty of support as you study for your various certifications. The training includes classroom training, self-study kits, computer-based training, online classes, and books, and certification guides. You can take advantage of the way that you learn best. Depending on the career path you have chosen, you will find a certification that matches your skill set. Microsoft plans to, over time, introduce exams that rely on simulations and performance items.

You start by taking the appropriate entry- level certification. Prepare yourself with the most suitable Microsoft Certification Guides. You need to choose the right guide. A list follows of the various Certification Guides you can choose from. Match you expertise with these guides.

MCSE certification (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) is an industry standard targeted at the IT professional and provides the skills and training needed to design and implement infrastructure functions based on the Microsoft Windows® 2000 platform and Microsoft server software such as MCSE Messaging and Security.

MCSA certification (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) is for IT professionals who need skills and knowledge to administer system environments based on desktop and server operator systems. This training focuses on managing and troubleshooting system environments. With this level of certification you can now prepare for specializations like MCSA Security and Messaging.

MCDST certification (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) is for students who need the right skills and training to troubleshoot ordinary hardware and software issues in Microsoft Windows environments.

MCAD.NET certification (Microsoft Certified Application Developer ) provides you with the skills and knowledge that allows you to develop and maintain department level applications for Web clients, desktop client, components, and back-end data services all the way from development to maintenance.

MCSD.NET certification (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developers) is for IT professionals with the skills and knowledge needed for developing and designing leading edge business solutions by using various Microsoft tools, platforms, technologies and architectures. This certification allows you to develop custom .NET-based applications. This training encompasses everything from analysis to design, development, testing and maintenance using Microsoft development tools, technologies, and platforms. You become an expert on all aspects of the application life cycle.

MCITP certification (Microsoft Certified IT Professional Database Administrator) is for IT professionals who need to plan, administer, deploy, support and maintain databases created by using various Microsoft products.

MCITP certification (Microsoft Certified IT Professional Database Developer) gives you the skills and knowledge to plan, deploy, support, maintain and optimize IT infrastructures and databases created by using Microsoft products such as Windows Application Developer, Web Application Developer, or Enterprise Applications Developer.

MCPD certification (Microsoft Certified Professional Web Developer) distinguishes expert professionals who are Windows application developers, Web application developers, and enterprise application developers. Experts with these skills can build targeted applications using different platforms in the Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0.

MCPD certification (Microsoft Certified Professional Developer) is for students who need to distinguish themselves as an expert in comprehensive Windows application development, enterprise application, and Web application development using platforms that use the Microsoft.NET Framework. This certification is a stepping- stone to other Microsoft certifications.

MCTS.NET 2.0 certification (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist) is designed fir IP professionals who target specific technologies and demonstrate in-depth knowledge of .NET 2.0 and other specialized Microsoft technologies.

MCTS.NET 2.0 certification (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist) is for IT professionals who work with enterprise environment databases. It provides students with in-depth training and skills for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 product.

MOS certification (Microsoft Office Specialist) is designed for IT professionals who need the skills and knowledge to understand and use the advanced features of Microsoft Office software.

MOS MI certification (Microsoft Office Master Instructor) qualifies you to teach MOS courses. Microsoft Certified Architect Program is designed for IT professionals who can apply successful frameworks and methodologies to create an architecture from beginning to end, through the IT life cycle.

CLC certification (Microsoft Certified Learning Consultant) is a credential for expertise in designing and delivering customized learning solutions for other IT professionals.

MCBDA certification (Microsoft Certified Database Administrators) are trained to design, implement and administer Microsoft SQL Server databases.

MCT certification (Microsoft Certified Trainers) are instructors who are qualified to deliver Microsoft training courses. MCTs are authorized to deliver Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) or Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN).

Scott Elliott owns and operates http://www.it-certification-guides.com IT Certification Guides for Microsoft Certifications.

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Rechargeable Battery - Its Got the Power

The invention of batteries is perhaps one of the most effective innovations of the advanced time. In the contemporary world which is full with all sorts of implementry, the importance of batteries is suitable clearer to us.

We all disgust alkaline batteries for they are so unreliable. It dies inside a succinct span of time and then add on to the litter of our houses. The better selection is to buy renewable batteries that are actually better and effective in comparison to the earlier. The way by which these renewable batteries occasion is equivalent to the way your frequent batteries occasion. The only difference is that when the requisite of replacement arises, all you requisite to do is to renew these batteries and use it again.

Rechargeable batteries can also be named as miserly batteries as they escape the hassle of walking to the high lane store to buy a new one every time. The electronic implements are several and eternally increasing. thus enhancing the requisite for these renewable batteries. From charging your clocks or stereo to light or toys, a equally large chunk of our household mechanism on these batteries. For command, if you constantly requisite to manage your notebook while travelling, then you can plunk on to the renewable notebook battery somewhat than opting for the typical batteries, for they are actually useful to keep your implement go on and on.

These miserly batteries have made our lives easier and convenient. almost all the top manufacturing brands are into producing these types of batteries. So disregard about your old alkaline batteries. See the new song of power which is emerging in the form of miserly renewable batteries.

Fletcher Mak is an novelist, write several articles on different themes to develop information, because articles is a good way to transmit their information to requisitey people clearly. You can get more full about renewable battery and other miserly notebooks.

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