Oooh, LRDIMM's

Found this online, Load-Reduced DIMM's. They're the next step after RDIMM's (Registered DIMM's) and FBDIMM's (Fully Buffered DIMM's), offering even more bandwidth and speed to your system.

Read more here What is LR-DIMM?

Purchasing Music to download

For some strange reason, I'm finding it hard to purchase a copy of the Tron legacy Soundtrack for download. I don't want the CD and CD case cluttering up my already messy room. I've tried the official Tron Legacy sountrack website http://tronsoundtrack.com/. I can only download the soundtrack if I live in the US. For european sales it's CD only. I tried Amazon, there's geographical restrictions if you're not based in the UK. Not to mention, even if you are a UK citizen and travelling abroad, these restrictions apply as it is based on your IP address.

I've done a quick Google search for downloading a copy of the soundtrack and the only option I have is to use iTunes which I will not install as I've trouble with it before and I don't like using it. Surely they have some competition?? I can't believe in this age of the internet that if I want music I still have to purchase the CD and rip it to MP3 on my PC or just download it illegally.

Why is it harder to download legally than it is to do it illegally? And when I say hard it's next to impossible. This is just retarded!

Exams coming soon

Apologies I haven't written here in ages. I thought it would be a good idea to do a Masters in Electronic Design Engineering. It has so far swallowed up all my free time. I've learned loads though. I've completed 2 Digital Designs, 1 for a simple sequence detect on a wire interface, the other on an auto-baud rate detector using Finite State Machines, Flow Charts, Timing diagrams and Design Flow Diagrams. It's been hard, it's been very hard. I've 3 more assignments due in at the moment. 1 of these has been running a lot later than I ever intended.

My exams start next week, Tuesday and Thursday and I really don't feel prepared enough to get the best grade that I think I can get. Best get the head down and sort that out.

The two modules I've undertaken are Digital Design and Software Engineering. For my software engineering module, we've just covered the basics of Object Orientated Programming with some Design and Architecture. I've completed a number of labs demonstrating the basic principles. It's the two main assignments that I'm proud of. The 1st one an FIR/IIR Filter which takes an input, applies a formula based on a text file input and outputs the various results into an output file. In effect the FIR filter removes any signal above 10KHz. Filter program is written in C++ using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. See below for results. I think I saturated my IIR filter and the equation need some work, however I proved the filter works.
The top signal is the initial input signal, produced by 3 sine waves of varying frequencies. The second signal is the result of the FIR filter and the third wave is the result of the IIR Filter.


My 2nd program was written in Java. I basically had to write from scratch an emboss filter with a vertical edge detect filter and output the results. See below for initial image, emboss and vertical edge detect. I don't think my code was perfect, but it was close enough.

I have Internet at home again!

It was brilliant, last night I logged into my new apartment's UPC broadband connection. It was incredible, I'd forgotten how great it was to have a decent connection. I've been on the 3 USB dongle for over 2 years now and I was used to it's slow ways and 15GB a month limit. Now I'm on UPC's 15Mb/s with no limit! Incredible! I updated all my games last night, downloaded the latest episodes of Chuck and Castle and then Skyped my lovely girlfriend Ciara for about an hour without any connection issues. I love it!

High and Low Density RAM

I was cleaning my room and I found the High Density DDR2 DIMM's that I bought a while ago. They're 2GB DIMM's they work grand. They just don't work with my PC. I know I've already discussed this before, but I found some new information online explaining why manufcturers make this high density DIMM's in the first place.

Here's a very helpful explanation about High Density DIMM's.

iceblade008 ->

It costs memory manufacturers almost the same to produce Low Density 1GB modules which have 100% compatibility with all systems on the market, comparing to producing high density 1GB modules. So why would manufacturers be so foolish to produce high density 1GB modules which only have 10% compatibility with systems on the market? The reason is simple, because high density 1GB modules are mainly manufacturing process rejects/seconds that cannot be made as a low density modules. It is very much like Intel CPU, those CPU that cannot be made as Pentium 4 CPU become a slower bus Celeron CPU instead, by a down-binning process.

Read the rest of the article on Overclock.net's forums here

Here's my original post about High and Low Density DIMM's

Ski/Snowboard Holiday

Here's a copy of an email I just sent round to my girlfriend's mates. I'm looking to organize a ski/snowboard holiday for a few beginners. Anyone who wants to come along is more than welcome.

Ok guys and girls,

Here's some information and a few basic figures to get the ball rolling and get people interested.

Looking just at DirectSki.com (a great snow holiday company, have used them many times before). Andorra will be the cheapest place to go, mid february we should be good for a load of snow as well and it's also a great place for beginners with lots of easy runs and plenty of places to go for the more adventurous. Chamonix and Meribel in France are great places to go as well, Chamonix is more for the advanced but beginners will enjoy themselves there too. With Mt. Blanc towering over the town of Chamonix, it truly is a beautiful place. I haven't been to Meribel or Livigno yet but they are top class resorts as well with plenty of opportunity for beginners and better levels as well. Andorra is the cheapest with regards drinking, socialising and going out for food. Meribel and Livigno would be the most expensive of the bunch.

My preference would be Andorra for most people to start, it's easy going relaxed and it won't break the bank. The prices I've quoted below are a guideline for the moment and are based on 10 people going travelling. If we have more the price goes down, if we have less the price goes up, so keep this in mind and help get the ball rolling on this. I can also work a deal with DirectSki as well as I've worked with them before.

I can also look into getting a chalet all to ourselves for the ultimate in Ski Holiday fun, a wooden house all to ourselves with our own chef, jacuzzi, sauna and other awesome perks. Let me know if you're interested.

If you could email either Ciara or myself and let us know what you honestly think about price, place and what you want out of this holiday and I'll do my best to sort it out and get you involved as best I can.

1)
Location: Frontera Blanca, Pas de la Casa, Andorra (Self-catering)
Date: 19/2/2011
Based on 10 people
Flights, Accom and transfers: €519
All Inclusive (beginners only): Learn to ski pack (Beginner Lift Pass Equipment and School): €265
All Inclusive (intermediate): Ski Pack Intermediate (Area Lift Pass Standard Equipment and School): €280 (OPTIONAL)
Total: €784 (€799 intermediate)
Website: http://tinyurl.com/AndorraFB


2)
Location: Residence Les Balcons d'Anaite, Chamnix, France (Self-catering)
Date: 19/2/2011
Based on 10 people
Flights, Accom and transfers: €569
Ski Stuff: Standard Ski and Boots (6 days): €80
Lift Pass: Chamonix Local Pass (Chamonix Valley Argentier and Les Praz only) (6 days): €205
Lift Pass: Mont-Blanc Unlimited (Area) (6 days): €250 (OPTIONAL)
School: Ski School (Half Day) (6 days): €190 (OPTIONAL)
School: Ski School (Half Day) (4 days): €145
Total: €999 (€1044 with unlimited access to Mont-Blanc area)
Website: http://tinyurl.com/ChamonixRLBA1


3)
Location: Le Grand Chalet, Meribel, France (Self-catering)
Date: 19/2/2011
Based on 10 people
Flights, Accom and transfers: €569
Lift Pass: 3 Vallees Area Pass (6 days): €235 (OPTIONAL)
Lift Pass: Meribel Local Pass (6 days): €191
Ski Stuff: Standard Ski and Boots (6 days): €80
School: Ski School Mornings (5 days): €156
Total: €1096 (€1140 with unlimited access to Mont-Blanc area)
Website: http://tinyurl.com/MeribelLGC


4)
Location: Casa Pozzi, Livigno, Italy(Self-catering)
Date: 19/2/2011
Based on 10 people
Flights, Accom and transfers: €679
Lift Pass: Livigno Area Ski Pass (6 days): €190
School: Ski School Beginners only 3 Hours per day (6 days): €112
Ski Stuff: Ski and Boot Hire Standard (6 days): €86
Total: €1067
Website: http://tinyurl.com/LivignoCP



Here's a little about me, I've been on 12 Ski holidays since 2001, I've snowboarded in many resorts, including St. Anton (Austria), Chamonix (France), Morzine (France), Les Deux Alpes (France), Alps D'Huez (France), Pas de la Casa, (Andorra), Soldeu El Tartar (Andorra) and Pal Arinsal (Andorra). I know majority of the resorts inside and out, both on-piste and off-piste. Have helped create, market and run the Snowboarding Club in DCU for many years organising more than 70 people each year on one huge holiday to various resorts. So hopefully I'll be able to make sure you have the best time either as your first time or return to the slopes.

If requested, I can get results from Panorama, HighLife, RudeChalets, CrystalSki, TopFlight to compare. I can also look into going to Austria, Switzerland (very expensive!!) and Bulgaria (expensive flights over, but food and drink is cheaper!)

Hope that helps, let me know what you think.


Mike P. O'Keeffe BEng

Handy Decoupling Design Tools

Found these tools from manufacturer's websites regarding capacitor choice and getting their respective ESR, ESL and other necessary values.

Check out Murata's Chip S-parameter & Impedance Library
http://www.murata.com/products/capacitor/design_support/index.html

Check out Kemet's Spice software
http://www.kemet.com/kemet/web/homepage/kechome.nsf/weben/kemsoft

AVX have their own site as well, but the programs aren't as good
http://www.avx.com/SpiApps/default.asp

Yageo (acquired Phycomp in 2000) have their own version as well, this gives a lot more information
http://www.yageo.com/?mid=40029

Of all of them, I found Murata's tools to be the easiest to use, find and download. Kemet's are good as well and I found AVX's software tools to be a little harder to use than the others. Murata's tool allows you to enter a valid order code and you can extract details from that straight away, very handy indeed.

If anyone knows of any other manufacturer's that have these tools available online, please let me know, am trying to build up a helpful and handy database.

Take it easy.