Clocks are integral to most electronic systems. Timing and communications systems need extremely accurate clocks. When I started working with electronics, in the heyday of Citizen’s Band (CB) radio, quartz crystals were on sale everywhere, even at Radio Shack. The CB crystals congregated around 27 and 28 MHz, but many more frequencies were on offer.…
This article isn’t about a new product. It’s just new to me. The product is Wondom’s BCPB2, a charger, battery management system (BMS), and battery holder for three 18650 lithium-ion cells. I discovered this product while considering ways to repair the battery subsystem in a Keithley 197 Microvoltmeter made around 1991 that I recently bought…
Ron Sartore is a serial entrepreneur and a USB veteran. He started a company named Anchor Chips in 1995, back before USB was a standard. When the USB revolution started in 1996, Sartore jumped on the standard and Anchor quickly became a leading supplier of USB controller chips, dubbed “EZ-USB.” Cypress Semiconductor bought Anchor Chips…