Articles – Page 3

Have You Forgotten Anything?

October 3, 2024

I just had an interesting video conference call. It started off as so many things do… with people laughing at me (I live for the day when people laugh *with* me rather than *at* me). First, there was the fact that my name invariably comes up as “Max the Magnificent” in conference applications like Zoom and Teams. I can no longer recall how this came to be, and I have no idea how to change it, so there we are.

On the other hand, now I come to think about it, why … Read More → "Have You Forgotten Anything?"

Jim Handy, The Memory Guy, steps in with a report on CXL’s near-term future

by Steven Leibson

October 2, 2024

Back in May, I discussed CXL and gave some reasons that I thought would lead to its success. (See “The Adventures of CXL Across the 3rd Dimension.”) In that article, I mentioned that my friend Jim Handy, “The Memory Guy,” was writing a report about CXL and applying his own analysis skills to the topic. Well, the report is finally finished. It’s titled “CXL Looks for the Perfect Home,” and Handy has a lot to say about CXL in the report’s 60 … Read More → "Jim Handy, The Memory Guy, steps in with a report on CXL’s near-term future"

Eeek! GenAI-Powered Design and Verification EDA Tools

by Max Maxfield

October 1, 2024

I just got off a video conference call with a company I cannot name that’s developed a technology I cannot discuss to power a product I am forbidden to talk about at this time. But I fear I’ve said too much. Suffice it to say that this product is going to enable a new generation of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) platforms in data centers.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about, so I’ll say no more.

Of course, saying “I’ … Read More → "Eeek! GenAI-Powered Design and Verification EDA Tools"

TI’s new controller IC for its Digital Light Processors makes gaming projectors better

by Steven Leibson

September 30, 2024

The first time that I saw the Texas Instruments (TI) micromirror-based Digital Light Processor (DLP) in action was during the late 1980s when I visited the company’s headquarters in Texas. Back then, the company had incorporated DLP into a thermal ticket printer for airline ticketing. It would be another ten years before another company, Digital Projection Ltd, would introduce a video projector based on TI’s DLP technology. The following year, 1998, Digital Projection and TI would win an Emmy award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development, for … Read More → "TI’s new controller IC for its Digital Light Processors makes gaming projectors better"

5G AI-Enabled SBCs for Everyone and Everything

by Max Maxfield

September 26, 2024

I used to be young and foolish. I’m not young anymore, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to say is that I’m constantly amazed by how far and fast technology has evolved in my own lifetime. Take single board computers (SBCs) for example (cue “travelling back in time” audio and visual effects…)

I remember the first time I saw an SBC, circa the mid-to-late-1970s. It was advertised in the British Practical Electronics</ … Read More → "5G AI-Enabled SBCs for Everyone and Everything"

ChatGPT 4o writes an EEJournal Article about FPGAs

by Steven Leibson

September 23, 2024

Jeff King, creator of the popular “Den of Tools” YouTube channel, recently made a hilarious video titled “AI Judges Your Choice In Power Tools!.” In this video, King asks OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4o Mini to describe people who use Bauer, Craftsman, DeWalt, Hercules, Festool, Milwaukee, and Porter Cable power tools. The results were quite amusing, and it occurred to me that I can do the same for EEJournal as a follow-up to my previous article on the topic, “Read More → "ChatGPT 4o writes an EEJournal Article about FPGAs"

Enabling Voice Control in EVERYTHING

by Max Maxfield

September 19, 2024

Since the pernicious punctuation police (those who worship the gods of SEO) persist in prescribing that I can no longer terminate the titles to my columns with my old friend, the exclamation mark, I’m forced to become evermore inventive, like shouting “EVERYTHING” (I’m sorry).

As an aside, whilst writing this column, I started to wonder as to the history and origin of the exclamation mark, so I had a quick Google while no one was looking and I found the following on the Read More → "Enabling Voice Control in EVERYTHING"

Ultralight Edge AI Platform Unveiled

by Max Maxfield

September 17, 2024

On occasion I amaze even myself. Sometimes this is in a good way. Other times… not so much. My wife (Gina the Gorgeous) often says I’m clueless as to what’s going on around me (she says this with love). I can’t argue with her. Well, I can try, but I never win, so what’s the point?

One of the things I’m particularly good at is not having much of a clue about what behemoth corporations are doing at the enterprise level. I have, of course, heard the name < … Read More → "Ultralight Edge AI Platform Unveiled"

How the FPGA Came To Be, Part 7: Did General Electric invent the PLD and EPLD in 1971?

by Steven Leibson

September 16, 2024

My long running series titled “How the FPGA Came To Be” (referenced below) chronicles the development of programmable logic starting with programmable diode matrices developed and marketed by Harris Semiconductor starting in the mid-1960s. These diode matrices along with a Mask Programmable Logic Array (MPLA) from National Semiconductor were the inspirations for the short-lived Intersil IM5200 Field Programmable Logic Array (FPLA) and the more successful Signetics 82S100 FPLA, both introduced in 1975. John Birkner streamlined the FPLA concept, leading to MMI’s introduction of the first PAL in 1978. These were all fuse-based devices based on bipolar semiconductor … Read More → "How the FPGA Came To Be, Part 7: Did General Electric invent the PLD and EPLD in 1971?"

Want Automated, Certification-Level RISC-V Verification Coverage?

by Max Maxfield

September 12, 2024

I feel like an old fool (but where are we going to find one at this time of the day?). Almost everything I hear on the technology front these days causes me to have a knee-jerk reaction along the lines of, “Things have certainly changed since those far-off days when I was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, newly-minted engineer!”

As I’ve mentioned before, I now predate almost every modern electronic design tool and technology. Take hardware description languages (HDLs) for example. The term HDL is typically associated with languages like Verilog and VHDL that … Read More → "Want Automated, Certification-Level RISC-V Verification Coverage?"