CRT Operation

CRT Function

Internal break-away view of a CRT [cathode ray tube].
Terms and definitions have also been added related to CRTs.

PWB Mimimum Annular Ring

Two views of minimum Annular ring for printed wiring boards. The first graphic is for an internal pad, while the second graphic is for an external pad.

  Internal Mimimum Annular Ring





External Minimum Annular Ring All the terms relating to Printed Wiring Boards [PWB] are now listed on a large one page Dictionary of PWB terms. Also called Printed Circuit Boards [PCB].

For more information on Minimum Annular Ring refer to the definition of Minimum Annular Ring, or see here PWB Information.

The site covers electrical engineering topics.
FYI; The dictionary of PWC and PWB terms has been updated.
.

PWB Etched Copper Current Capacity

PWB Etched Copper Current Capacity

The chart above shows the amount of current an External trace on a printed wiring board can handle. The table provides the current rating based on trace cross section in square mils, temperature rise and current in amperes.

For example; if the trace width is 100 sq mils, that trace can accept between 3.5A and 10 amps depending on the acceptable temperature rise.

Key Phrase:
How much current will a trace handle.
What is the current rating of a trace.
What trace width will handle a certain amount of current.
For more information refer to the page covering PCB Terms. For a large listing of Printed Circuit Card definitions.
Addition PWB Information

Robots/Spiders visitors

Hits from Spiders are not counted in the page counter the site uses. What is interesting is the amount of bandwidth required from these robot hits. I do have to pay for bandwidth.

For the robots listed below, and there are many others hitting the site, the required bandwidth used was; 262.82 MB [Mega Bytes]

Inktomi Slurp: 5213 hits, 27.81 MB of Bandwidth.
Google AdSense: 4306 hits, 61.63 MB of Bandwidth.
Googlebot: 3777 hits, 24.56 MB of Bandwidth.
Unknown robot (identified by 'crawl'): 2223 hits, 28.77 MB of Bandwidth.
MSNBot: 1959 28.78 MB of Bandwidth.
Unknown robot (identified by 'spider'): 1793 hits, 22.79 MB of Bandwidth.
MSIECrawler: 1773 hits, 10.50 MB of Bandwidth.
WISENutbot: 1222 hits, 18.31 MB of Bandwidth.
AskJeeves: 1080 hits, 16.97 MB of Bandwidth.
Alexa: 641 hits, 9.13 MB of Bandwidth.
GigaBot: 580 hits, 8.48 MB of Bandwidth.
Lycos: 303 hits, 5.09 MB of Bandwidth.

http://www.interfacebus.com

Low Page Hits

This is a list of some of the pages that are recieving less than 100 page hits this month. There are other pages, but many are new page address so I can understand that. These pages are older and in some cases contain information in common use so they should be seeing higher numbers..

IndustrialPCI
RS366 Bus
GDDR DIMM
HPPI Bus
HSSI Bus
HIC Bus

IP Cores
Battery Control ICs
knobs
Speakers
MIL-STD-83723.

I can only assume that for some reason these pages have a poor showing on the search engines..

Types of USB Devices

I took a look at some USB devices I was kind of supprised to find so many different options in a USB interface. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. Here some different USB functions:

USB Docking Station {brings a USB port to your desk top}
USB Hub {finger stick or via a cable ~ brings Hub to desktop}
USB Card Reader
USB Flash Drive
USB Floppy Drives [External FDD]
USB WebCam
USB Speaker
USB IrDA Adapter
USB Bluetooth Adapter
USB 802.11 Adapter [WiFi]
USB Audio Interface
USB Mice / Keyboard
USB Gadgets: Heated Slippers, Gloves, Beverage Chiller

I don't think I would allow my computer to be over-heated by allowing heated gloves to draw power from my computer via the USB interface.

Manufacturers of computer gear can be found on this page: Computers and Peripheral Manufacturers.

When I wrote, years ago, it seemed odd to see some of these devices but not in 2011

.

PCIe 1x

PCIe 1x TV Tuner

PCIe 1x cards are now shipping. [PCIe = PCI Express]

Terratec; Digital TV via Antenna with Stereo-Sound, Dual-Tuner (1x PCIe)

PowerColor Computer Inc; multimedia center / TV Tuner (1x PCIe)

Video Card (1x PCIe)

SIIG; PCIe 2-Port SATA II RAID Card (1x PCIe)

[there are tons of PCIe 16x video cards]

Additional PCIe card manufacturers may be found here:

http://www.interfacebus.com/COTS_Board_Manufacturers.html

Wireless Extender Working

It seems like the wireless network extender is now working. My laptop computer sees to separate wireless links in my house, both with my net name. So the site survey window show two separate wireless nets each with a different signal strength, and they each vary to a different degree as I move around the house.

Now the GUI does have a connect switch, so I have to wonder if I need to connect to the stronger station, or the network will connect me. That's my next test of the LinkSys Wireless Extender; WRE54G

I also wonder if the Wireless-B router [BEFW11S4] is the reason for the slow connect time. It does seem like it takes awhile for the computers to see each other. Maybe I need a Wireless-G router.

Use the faq link on http://www.interfacebus.com to surf to the operational computer page ~ listing all the gear.

Wireless Repeater again

I took a look at the wireless extender tonight. Once I turned on my desk top computer I noticed the extender showed a red light ~ no network connection.

After awhile I hit the Auto config button on the WRE54G and the LED went blue indicating it connected to the network.

How ever I have the same situation as last night. The laptop indicates the wireless connection is great via windows, but the Linksys shows no connection bars indicating a bad connection [but connected]

So, it's still not working tonight. Five minutes was about all the time I put into it tonight...

Wireless Repeater Up-date

I was not to surprised to find that my laptop did not find my network tonight when I turned it on. Windows found a connection but the Linksys PC card did not?

So, as normal the notebook computer did not see the Linksys wireless router, and it did not see the Linksys wireless extender either.

I have to wonder what the actual range of this gear is [measured in inches], or if one wall really makes so much difference, if I have a set-up issue that disappears when I re-boot my computers, or if I still have a mis-match in my config file. ~ it did seem to be talking last night.

The Linksys [Cisco Systems] wireless gear used in the system is:

Wireless Broadband Router BEFW11S4 (Wireless-B)
Wireless Notebook Adapter WPC54GS (Wireless-G)
Wireless Range Expander WRE54G (Wireless-G) ~ not working
Wireless PrintServer WPS54G (Wireless-G) ~ not working

Of course running interfacebus.com leaves me little time to spend trying to get this stuff to work ~ yet another week-end project.

I really don't want to call the help line again, but I may have to.

Wireless Repeater

Wireless Expander

I received my new Linksys WRE54G Wireless Expander tonight. I'm still working on it and not sure if it's working yet. I was line-of-sight with it, with my laptop six feet away, but still the setup program would not find the expander.

The WRE54G operates over 'B' [IEEE802.11b] or 'G' [IEEE802.11g], I hope.

I purchased the range expander [repeater] because my Laptop just one room away would not see my wireless network router and desktop, which keeps me on my desktop more then I would like.

This week-ends project is to get the wireless printer server working [from the last post].

New Wireless Print Sever

Wireless Print Server 

I got a new wireless printer server for my printer tonight. The printer server is the WPS54G from Linksys. The server operates over 802.11g [2.4GHz] and connects to the printer over USB [or maybe Ethernet].

I tried to connect it up but the system never saw the printer server. Not a real surprise, as no wireless linksys device has worked the first time. ~ Or it could be that I had the pinter pluged in to the wrong port on the router.

So it's two days later and I still can't get the printer server to work. I've tried powering up the printer and server in differnet orders, changing the printer/router port. The printer still prints?

Un-interruptible Power Supply

UPS

This is the UPS I used with my system. The UPS is produced by APC, and the model number is XS800-BLK. The UPS can support 540 watts / 800VA. The unit has 7 AC output connections, all AC outputs are NEMA 5-15R style connectors. Three of the outputs are surge protected only, while the other four have battery backup protection.

The unit also has two 10/100 Ethernet ports, and two phone ports which are protected.

The specification indicates a total backup time of 17 minutes at half load and 5 minutes at full load. I turn the system off with in a minute when I lose power for more then a brown-out.

The system has worked well for two years now. I'm thinking about up-grading.

Power Connector Manufacturers

Cost of running a Web Site

Web Site Cost

I ran some numbers last night trying to figure the amount of money it costs to run this web site.

I always have a fairly new computer, and these numbers include the cost of the Alienware PC I purchased in March of last year. However; all though I do try and get a high-end PC, I do not buy Gamer PC's ~ i.e. dual $400 video cards. I try and put the money into a higher speed processor instead.

Any how, the numbers indicate that I spent $3546.52 on computer related products last year [2005]. That number does not include the new Laptop computer I purchased last year because I have yet to find the receipt. So, over $4000 to type on a keyboard.

In fact if I had not up-graded my hosting contract the figure would be much greater. The cost to host the web site now, compared to early last year is reduced by a factor of 10 ~ as I was being fined each month for going over my bandwidth.

The Personal Computer data is here; interfacebus: Desk Top PC.

Of course the web site I run is http://www.interfacebus.com interfacebus