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Slides and Talks

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During #22 of the Hardware Developers Didactic Galactic meetup, I discussed Oscilloscopes. (Previously James talked about capacitors.) In the presentation, I broke down the internals of an oscilloscope. The presentation started off with a block diagram. Then I discussed the main components: vertical amplifier, A/D, memory controller, some of the computer side stuff, and the keynote was on triggering. The trigger circuit of an oscilloscope fascinated me since very early in my HP/Agilent career. When I…

Hardware Developers Didactic Galactic is a group for hardware designers, hackers, and enthusiasts to discuss hardware-related topics. HDDG11 (or 0xb) featured a presentation from SnapEDA CEO on Footprints and my presentation on Capacitors. Titled “They’re JUST capacitors?” I used content from my time as a KEMET Field Application Engineer. Overview In the presentation, I address the common myth or guideline: “capacitors should be derated 50%.” Comparing Aluminum, Ceramic, and Tantalum we discuss why each technology has…

Found this one while going through some old files. One of my favorite volunteering activities is introducing kids to engineering. After judging a FIRST competition, I learned about Central Texas Discover Engineering. They had a program that gave me a chance to spend an entire day talking to middle school kids about engineering. I started the class with a simple question: “What do engineers do? Surprisingly, most of the kids answered pretty well. Then I…

When learning to use an Arduino, you have two things to learn: programming and hardware. In the past, I’ve taught some classes on how to program the Arduino. These are the slides I used to explain what the Arduino “Language” is, basic debugging concepts, how to use variables, and basic structures.