Z80 serial products

ZiLOG was co-found by the industry pioneer Federico Faggin and Ralph Ungermann in 1974.The Z80 serial products produced by this company was once widely applied. In 1998, TPG(The Texas Pacific Group ) acquired ZiLOG and decided its market positioning:communication, household entertainment, and integrated control. Currently, ZiLOG has its own dedicated design reference room with complete documents and information, four design center located respectively in California, Taxes, Idahos and Washington,  well developed manufacture plants in Idaho, a test plant in Manila, Philippines and the global customer service center in Texas. Now it owns 27 sale office  and over 120 distribution  spot s world wide distributed. The new released product by this company is eZ80 with the Internet and DSP function embedded which the Z80 does not have. Its products include IR product, microcontroller, microprocessor , PCMCIA, PC peripheral, TV controller and wireless products and so on.

'Leaked' spec label details revamped 15-inch MacBook

A new spec sheet sent anonymously to 9to5Mac.com today -- the kind Apple puts on the packaging of its computers -- suggests we may soon see a revamped 15-inch model, in addition to a new 13-inch version teased earlier in the day. The MacBook Pro packaging label is similar to an alleged spec sheet for a 13-inch version that surfaced on Chinese Web site Weiphone. While 9to5Mac goes to great lengths to emphasize that the information is unconfirmed, the image indicates the new laptop will be thinner and lighter than its predecessor and feature a higher-resolution display.
pcb cloning 

Virtual Therapy Helps Residents of a Shellshocked City

Every time Erica González put the video goggles on, the details of her four days in captivity came rushing back to her. She could smell the sweaty T-shirt used to cover her head, taste the ash in the beer bottles that she was made to drink water from and hear her abductors’ muffled conversations.

“It was scary to go through it again,” Ms. González said, “but I said, ‘It’s good for me.’ ”

Ms. González, 18, is one of 25 patients who recently completed a virtual therapy program similar to the one used by the United States military to treat Iraq war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Created by doctors and psychologists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the pilot project was aimed at filling a void in mental health services for Ciudad Juárez’s shellshocked residents.

The city, home to the powerful Juárez cartel and coveted by other criminal syndicates because of its strategic location within the drug trade, has been one of the front lines in President Felipe Calderón’s assault on organized crime.

The hair-raising virtual scenes that appear in the goggles were created for residents of this violence-racked city, which in recent years has had the highest murder rate in Mexico. The goggles show one of six scenes, including an armed robbery, a police checkpoint, a safe house for kidnappings and a shootout between cartel gunmen and army soldiers. Therapists show patients the scenes most closely related to their experience, and then further tailor the sessions to address their trauma more specifically, for instance by playing a song heard during their ordeal.

The program sharply reduced post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, with a success rate of 80 percent, organizers said.

“There has been a lot of attention to the problem of violence, which is understood as public safety, drug trafficking and police,” said Hugo Almada, who does research on the psychological toll of violence at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez. But the toll on mental health has been largely ignored, he said.

Even those directly affected by the city’s violence, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the past four and a half years, often do not know when they need help.

Another traumatized resident, Juan Carlos García, 29, stopped eating and sleeping and became withdrawn after his brother was killed and he had to identify the body at the morgue. After nearly a year, Mr. García’s wife and co-workers persuaded him to try the virtual reality treatment.

Wearing his goggles and headphones, he retold the series of traumatic events, from the last time he saw his brother alive to his burial. He worked through breathing exercises with his therapist afterward, techniques that were intended to help him lower his anxiety levels, which were monitored as he viewed the images through the goggles. And he did his homework between sessions, spending time in his brother’s room, visiting his grave and driving by the site where he was killed.

These exercises are especially important, the project’s therapists said, because unlike Iraq war veterans who eventually leave the battle zone, patients in Ciudad Juárez continue to live in danger. Because the patients have to drive by, or live near, the places where violent episodes occurred, the therapy is intended to help them stop avoiding these routes and routines.

But it is uncertain whether the program will continue, though, because the grant under which it was conceived ran out in December and no other financing has emerged, organizers said.

As emotionally draining as the process was, Mr. García said it was worth it. “I remember, but there isn’t as much pain,” he said.

The need for psychological services remains vast. A recent study by the university in Ciudad Juárez found that more than 70 percent of the city’s residents had passed by a cordoned-off murder site. The doctors leading the virtual reality treatment estimate that a quarter of the population in Ciudad Juárez suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

NXP Brings ARM Cortex-M0 to DALI and DMX512 Lighting Control Systems

NXP Semiconductors N.V. today introduced the industry's first development platforms for DALI and DMX512 wired lighting control systems based on the low-cost, low-power 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 processor. The new evaluation systems feature an NXP LPC1100XL series microcontroller, which is uniquely suited to handle the communication requirements for intelligent lighting projects using DALI and DMX.

In addition, the DMX512 system includes a master controller board with the LPC11U00, a highly flexible USB microcontroller, also based on the Cortex-M0.
NXP will showcase a single system using DALI and DMX at LIGHTFAIR International next week in Las Vegas (booth 3335). Both the DALI and DMX512 systems can be connected to any of NXP’s lamp drivers using the PWM outputs of the Cortex-M0 processor. NXP will also offer an optional evaluation system to simplify RGB LED power stage design.
“By bringing Cortex-M0 to lighting control systems using DALI and DMX512, we’re making it straightforward for lighting designers to upgrade from 8-bit microcontrollers without increasing costs. The extra-low-power options available with the LPC1100 microcontroller also make it a compelling solution for DALI lighting systems, where total energy savings are a critical factor,” said Marco Scarazzati, product applications engineer, NXP Semiconductors. “For DMX networks, the LPC1100XL offers the resources and performance required to support more sophisticated architectural and stage lighting projects.”

 The first DALI and DMX512 evaluation systems available from NXP feature an LPC1114 microcontroller based on the Cortex-M0. The popular LPC1100XL series microcontroller offers a unique combination of features making it ideally suited for intelligent lighting projects using DALI, the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface, or DMX512.

-With performance up to 45 DMIPS, the 50-MHz LPC1100XL series offers the resources required for a single MCU to code and decode DALI and DMX messages and generate PWM signals, with enough bandwidth available for the end application. -With the introduction of the new extra-low-power LPC1100XL series, NXP provides the industry’s lowest 32-bit active power consumption at 110 uA/MHz, and standby power consumption below 2 uA. -Storing scene settings and other programs in non-volatile memory is straightforward, using EEPROM emulation in flash or by using integrated EEPROM, now available in the LPC11E00 series. -Offering up to four 16-bit and 32-bit timers, the LPC1100XL series can generate up to 11 PWM signals to control and dim the ballast. -Embedded lighting applications can be programmed in C, significantly reducing development complexity. A basic DALI driver is available from NXP. For DMX lighting networks, development time is further reduced through the NXP solution, which already implements basic functions and Remote Device Management (RDM) in a fully DMX512-compliant software stack. -By offering many built-in peripherals to interface with lighting drivers and network interfaces in a tiny footprint, the LPC1100XL offers significant cost savings in the total BoM.

  The DMX512 evaluation system will include a master unit featuring the LPC11U14 microcontroller. Based on the ARM Cortex-M0, the LPC11U00 series delivers robust USB performance at a compelling price point; a highly flexible USB architecture with up to 10 configurable physical endpoints; and extensive power controls. Another option available from NXP is the LPC1300 series – the lowest power Cortex-M3 microcontroller available on the market and pin-to-pin compatible with the LPC11U00 – which includes USB Mass Storage and HID Class drivers stored in ROM.

As an additional option, NXP offers a small form factor, highly efficient RGB LED power stage with a low component count. The power stage meets the EMC requirements of commercial lighting applications and offers significant energy savings for both DALI and DMX wired lighting control systems. Key features include:

-High-efficiency LED dimming. LED dimming is implemented using the PWM input of the NXP UBA3070 DC-to-DC LED driver, which offers up to 98-percent efficiency. -Mains isolation, high efficiency at all power levels, and simplified design. The SSL4101 provides mains isolation for both the RGB LED power stage and the DALI/DMX wires. In addition, it offers low component count and high efficiency through integrated PFC and flyback control functionality. -Ultra-low standby power consumption. The GreenChip™ TEA1721 buck converter supplies the Cortex-M0 processor with high efficiency and offers significant power savings in standby, with no-load power consumption levels below 10 mW.

“As energy prices rise and green building regulations go into effect around the world, we expect strong growth in the use of DALI lighting control networks that enable businesses to save energy while enhancing comfort, convenience and productivity. In architectural and entertainment lighting, recent advances in LEDs have opened new opportunities for lighting control networks using DMX512,” said Jan Willem Vogel, senior director of marketing, Appliances, Energy and Automation segment, NXP Semiconductors. “Our latest DALI and DMX512 systems show how the power of 32-bit microcontrollers can deliver tremendous value by supporting the ever-increasing complexity of lighting network nodes – without adding cost. From wired lighting and control networks using DALI, DMX and KNX, to wireless solutions using JenNet-IP and ZigBee, NXP now offers a full range of energy-efficient options for intelligent lighting networks in homes, buildings and outdoor settings.”

The first DALI evaluation system (OM13026) is available immediately from NXP account managers and distributors. The DMX512 evaluation systems will be available later this month.