Software Archives - Page 14 of 14 - Do It Easy With ScienceProg

The Five Main Causes of Data Loss

Data loss is a crisis for most businesses, as all of their essential records, invoices and pieces of customer information become inaccessible. The result? Often substantial financial losses and, in the case of many businesses, a complete business failure. But what exactly causes this data to be lost forever? And, perhaps more importantly, how can these causes be prevented? Below you’ll find the five most common reasons, as well as some helpful tips on stopping them from happening in the first place… It is essential to mention this first, though: however hard you prepare and however many procedures you put in place, it is not always possible to prevent data loss from occurring. This is why all companies should have a contingency plan, which includes some provision for disaster recovery. Losing data will never be a pleasant experience, but with a plan in place, the impact can at least be minimized.

Your Life on a Hard Drive

Imagine what would happen if your hard drive failed. It’s a possibility that most people don’t ever think can happen to them. For the average non-computer geek, their electronic device is infallible. While technological advancements would lead you to believe this, it’s simply not true. The good news is that many companies specialize in data recovery services for most any make of computer on the market. There are things you can do to protect your work and personal items stored on your computer. First, you should always back up your computer and keep the copy disk safe. Unless you’re a business, you probably rarely ever back it up, if at all. This is a huge mistake. Since people practically live on computers, the probability of priceless videos and photos found is given. More than likely, you also keep your bills and other private documents too. In the event of a computer crash, you might lose everything.

Simple dummy load for basic testing

I bet you face many problems in the design process where you need to test the power supply or LED by providing/drawing constant current regardless of voltage change. Such a device is called a dummy load. You can find lots of DIY dummy load projects, and we won’t be talking about commercial ones right now. Nick found out that most DIY dummy loads tend to be complicated or unavailable. So without struggling, he decided to start his own simple and reliable load. He wanted it to be simple, self-powered, and indestructible. Indestructible means that it won’t burn in a voltage range up to 30V. With BTS141 FET this became possible as it has built-in over-current and over-voltage protection built-in. Controlling is done with a simple potentiometer attached to operational amplifier positive input. Negative input is connected to the current sense resistor. The project is OSHW which can be found on Github as re:load. [source]

Way of playing AVI files on iPad

AVI (Audio-Video Interleaved) video format is a standard format around the internet. Windows introduced this format in 1992. AVI files carry audio and video data that are played synchronously. Audio and video can be compressed with different codecs and stored in a single .avi file. That can be played with Windows played or another player with the right codecs. If you are MAC used and carry the iPad around, you probably noticed a problem with playing AVI files on these devices. Apple is stuck to MP4 format, which actually is more advanced because it can carry more information than audio and video. 3D graphics, subtitles, and still images also can be packed along in a single file. All benefits and disadvantages you may find on the internet. The user may find a problem playing one or another format on his machine. As we mentioned, without unique apps, there can be a problem playing .avi files on the iPad. Instead of struggling to find one good AVI player probably, it is worth converting them to mp4. There are many video converters available to download. For instance, Aimersoft.com produces an excellent free video converter called Video Converter Ultimate. It supports all standard…

Using SVN for embedded projects. Part 1.

Writing software is a complex task. In every microcontroller program, you usually try to reuse previously registered libraries, downloaded code, and other data that is being updated. What if you are developing something in the team? How do you keep track of everything? Storing project files in directories eventually gets messy – finally, you lose track of what’s done. For instance, sometimes, you have written an LCD library and used it in several microcontroller projects. But eventually, you found a bug or optimized code. Usually, you would have to copy new library files in every project to keep updated. This is hard when you already have dozens of projects. There is one way to stay organized by using version control software. In this case, we will talk about SVN. Subversion (SVN) is an open-source system that allows controlling files and folders, keep track of changes made during the time. Simply speaking, SVN is a virtual file system that keeps track of every change in files, and directories. It’s a clever way of storing project files whether you are working alone or in a team. Using this system-wise, you will always have things organized and never lose the version of your…

Free fast and useful java based circuit simulator

Sometimes it is better to see one time than try to imagine things – especially in electronics. When designing something in electronics, it is probably the best way to take some circuit simulator and make a simple model see how it works before putting it into real worlds design. If you want to create complex circuit simulations, you probably should choose professional Spice based electronic circuit simulation tools. But what if you need a simple “pocket-sized„ simulator that would remind you of simple basics of how circuits work, how current flows in one or another situation. For this, you should try this Java-based circuit simulator.

Setup AVR Eclipse plugin to work with WinAVR

Probably many of you (including me) are using Programmers Notepad or AVR Studio to set up AVR projects. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages. For instance, Programmers, Notepad is a great GUI, but there are many manual routines required to start compiling projects – like setting up makefile, creating file dependencies, etc. AVR Studio is a great solution that generates makefiles automatically, and it has a great simulator for immediate debugging. So why would we need another IDE? Actually, Eclipse IDE is one of the best open-source tools that programmers widely use – so it is optimized for managing projects, code writing with auto-complete functionality. So why not give it a try. So let’s set up an Eclipse environment to work with AVR. First of all, let’s download Eclipse from https://www.eclipse.org/downloads/ site. Choose Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers as we want to program AVR in C. Open it (no need to install), then go to HELP->Install New Software… Click Add… and in the Add Site dialogue box, enter the URL where the AVR Eclipse plugin is located (https://avr-eclipse.sourceforge.net/updatesite/ )

Unveil the Secrets of Atanua!

You’re one of the home hobbyist and you love to spend most of the time doing the electronic projects in the weekend? Then, you must know how frustrated it will be, if the project that you’ve done cannot function properly according to your need? Well, cheer up! All you need here is an assistant that can help you off. Then, this Atanua can be your little helper here. Here is a little extra fact for the word “Atanua”. According to the Polynesian, Atanua is the goddess of the dawn and wife of Atea. Atuanua is the one that created the seas after her having a miscarriage and filling the oceans with her amniotic fluid! (Well, it’s only one of the Polynesian myths.) For your information, Atanua is a real-time logic simulator, where it was designed to help you to learn the basic Boolean logic and electronics. It uses OpenGL hardware-accelerated rendering and a custom UI. This way, it can help us detect the fast workflow and a shallow learning curve, thus concentrating on learning the subject quickly. Basically, the Atanua UI consists of three main parts, which as: The component list The work area Buttons for useful functions, such as…

Free pascal compiler for 8051 microcontrollers

If you like to work with 8051 microcontrollers and like Pascal programming language, here is Turbo51 – a free Pascal compiler for the 8051 families of microcontrollers. In the 1980s, Intel introduced the 8051 as the first member of the MCS-51 family of microcontrollers. Today hundreds of cheap 8051 derivatives are available from tens of manufacturers. This makes the MCS-51 architecture so interesting for professionals and hobbyists. It is a somewhat surprising fact that this 8-bit architecture is still in use today. In other words, it is still trendy. Several C compilers are available for the 8051. However, there are only a few Pascal compilers for the 8051 families available. There are many debates on which programming language is better. Turbo51 is for those who prefer Pascal. Turbo51 features a fast single pass optimizing compiler, Borland Turbo Pascal 7 syntax, full floating point support, mixed Pascal and assembler programming, full use of register banks, advanced multi-pass optimizer, smart linker, generates compact high-quality code, output formats include binary, Intel HEX and assembler source.

Automated electronic CAD systems overview

More and more design operations become automated. These changes give many benefits like effectiveness, minimal errors, and less routine operations to designers. Modern electronic equipment requires scrupulous planning as devices shrink to minimal sizes, operation power increases, and it fit its external design requirement. So designing is a very complex task where without smart CAD software would be almost impossible to do. When designing a new electronic device, you have to deal with several necessary areas to make the device a reliable and attractive device. All of these areas usually are done on a particular CAD system. The most common CAD-based electronic specific task are: Mixed Analog-digital device modeling; Programmable Logic modeling and synthesis; HF circuits and electromagnetic modeling; Functional modeling; PCB Design; Thermal modeling; Chip topology modeling. Each of these modeling and designing processes requires different skills and knowledge. Let’s go through each to see their specifics and what CAD systems are used to automate related tasks.