PART 2 is HERE: www.youtube.com Dave shows you how to design a simple constant current and constant voltage lab power supply that can be either software (PIC/AVR et.al microcontroller) or traditional pot controlled. Starting with the venerable LM317, and ending up with an LT3080 solution, and the some thought processes that go into it all. Part 1 is the conceptual design.

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Part 3 of the lab power supply design. This time the prototype build on a breadboard and some basic measurements, checks, and playing around.

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What's inside Amazon's new Kindle Fire 7" Tablet?

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Dave visited the Manly Warringah Amateur (HAM) Radio Society to see what they are up to...

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How does Amazon's new $199 Kindle Fire 7" tablet stack up?

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Dave demonstrates a little trap with the "High Resolution" mode on modern digital oscilloscopes like the Agilent 3000X series.

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PART 1 is HERE: www.youtube.com Part 2 of Dave's constant current linear regulated lab power supply design. An in-depth look at the LT3080 datasheet, the LM334 current source, and a few more circuit tweaks before it's ready to build in the next episode to see if it works!

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The 4th installment in the lab power supply design series. This time Dave shows you how to control the supply with a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal, and chose the correct filter values.

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Dave powers up an old Lecroy 9384C 1GHz oscilloscope. Will it work? And what's inside to make it tick?

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Dave takes you through everything you need to know to do good quality soldering. Part 1 is all about the tools you might need. A lot of this was already covered in my general lab tools video.

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Dave cuts loose on the Golden Ear Audiophiles and all their Audiophoolery snake oil rubbish. Directional cables, thousand dollar IEC power cables, and all that rubbish. Monster Cable gets mostered. Panasonic gets a serve too, or is that applause?

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30 minutes of Dave twiddling knobs on a 2nd hand 50MHz Tektronix 2225 analog oscilloscope - it's right here! Who else can get so excited about a 500uV/div vertical scale?

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Most items available through HERE: www.eevblog.com How to set up your own decent electronics lab, what you need, and how much it'll cost you. Electronics test equipment, soldering, surface mount, hand tools, and parts. Help support Dave by buying any of these items through the link above.

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Dave reflects on 200 episodes, his full time video blogging, and talks about some stats and the future of the blog.

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Just how far out is that +/-1% metal film resistor you are using? Is it just random? Does it follow the classic bell shaped Gaussian response? What are the odds of getting one that's spot on, or right out at the limits? Dave thought he'd find out, the hard way... Original Data can be found here, in both Open Office and Excel formats, play around yourself! www.eevblog.com See here for more analysis on the data by Bob from Ohio: www.eevblog.com

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A beginners guide to learning how to hand solder. Remember to watch the first part, which is all about the tools: www.youtube.com

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How to design, prototype and test a two cell 18650 Lithium Ion battery pack level gauge using the classic LM3914 dot/bargraph display driver chip. A favorite from Dave's youth! Dave gives you all you need to know to implement a simple expanded scale voltmeter with the LM3914, without adjustment pots to tweak. This one works from 6V to 8.4V - the usable capacity of a two 2 cell 4.2V Li-Ion batttery pack.

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Dave recently implemented an Actel Ignoo Nano and Xilinx Spartan 3 FPGA into a design, so decided to share some rather random notes on how to implement the FPGA's in this scenario. From datasheet specs, traps for young players, global clocks, FPGA fabrics, core power supplies and decoupling, getting the schematic basics, JTAG and flash PROM interfaces and finally PCB fanout and routing of a tiny 0.4mm pitch BGA package.

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Just how different are linear, LDO and switching buck voltage regulators? I'm glad you asked! You might be surprised... It's tutorial time. NOTE: There are many different methods of SMPS control, this is just one of the simple ones, go investigate! The EEVblog Forum: www.eevblog.com The EEVblog Website: www.eevblog.com

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Part 3 of the hand soldering tutorial. This time Dave shows you how to drag solder and tack & reflow SMD components, and in particular 0.5mm fine pitch IC's. Including solder paste and hot air.

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Agilent responded to the U1272A problems within 3 weeks, and have a nice present for all current owners to boot. Mini rant time too - Manufacturers take note, this is how you respond to problems and keep customers happy. Here is the Agilent notice: cp.literature.agilent.com FLUKE RESPONSE: No surprise really, Fluke have responded. I got a call from them and they have not only fixed the GSM problem (official explanation, they found a few RF sensitive components), but a new revision board is being tested as we speak. I'll hope to have a lot more on this a later date... So although they didn't get back to us on the progress, they have been head down bum up fixing it. Good to see!

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Open your mind to Open Source Hardware. Dave gives you the low-down on what Open Source Hardware (OSHW) is, how it works, and some benefits of using it for your own projects. LINKS: freedomdefined.org en.wikipedia.org creativecommons.org www.ohwr.org en.wikipedia.org www.tapr.org

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In another world exclusive, Dave reviews Tektronix's new Mixed Domain Oscilloscope, the MDO4000 series that is released TODAY. Does it live up to the hype of changing the oscilloscope landscape and creating a new oscilloscope category? Also, it is a review of the MSO4000 series Mixed Signal Oscilloscope. How does that compare to the Agilent X Series? See PART 2 for the teardown!

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Dave feels a tad nostalgic, so takes apart his 25+ year old DIY decade resistance substitution box. And some info on how you can build your own. DIY thumbwheel box: www.eevblog.com

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Dave describes the design of his open source hardware uCalc credit card sized calculator / computer. Specifications: PIC 24F 16 bit Processor, 256KB Flash, 16KB SRAM, 64KB serial flash user memory, 3-Axis tilt sensor, Micro SD card, capacitive touch sensing keypad, 128x64 dot matrix display.

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What have Fluke been up to since the infamous GSM mobile phone bricking incident back in Oct? Not only have they fixed it, but they are giving an unprecedented exclusive look at their new pre-production board!

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Dave's first Walk Time Rant. The sad death of Steve Jobs at Apple, and how Dave got shafted on his new EEVblog office space at the 11th hour.

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Want to include a small Lithium Ion or Lithium Ion Polymer battery into your next project? It's easy! Dave gives you the low down on how they work and how to charge them and select a suitable charging IC. NOTE: For safety you should always use circuit protected cells as per the larger cell I was holding up. It protects against over-discharge, over-voltage, shorts etc. (BTW, the reference to Lithium Ion Polymer being the same as Lithium Ion is in terms of charging, if that was not clear. The Ion Polymer type have polymer anode material and hence a different construction that allows the small pouch type cells shown in the video, and other thin odd shapes shown toward the end)

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Dave shares an experience with his new prototype PCB's from ITead Studio. Super awesomely cheap, but beware! iteadstudio.com

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Dave compares the new PICkit 3 to the old PICkit 2, and, well, he starts to rant uncontrollably about how Microchip may have screwed this up... And what do MBA managers and dickheads have in common? UPDATE: Be sure to watch Microchip's hilarious video response! www.youtube.com Intro music by Kevin MacLeod

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Ever wondered how they test mobile phones for radiation and impact upon the human body? Dave gets a tour of EMC Technologies $1M+ mobile phone (and WiFi) radiation Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) testing facility. Thanks to Jason Cameron from EMC Tech. www.emctech.com.au See the machine in operation here www.emctech.com.au

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A how-to guide to taking your electronics project from prototype through to high volume PCB manufacture. Covers component selection and purchasing, SMD, DFM, PCB panelisation, gerber generation, drill files, pick and place files, and more.

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Malcolm Faed drives an Mitsubishi MiEV Electric Car into the EEVblog to give Dave a look and a test drive. And also talks about his electric ute conversion.

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Cheapest price for the DS1052E: www.amazon.com The ingenious EEVblog viewers have finally cracked the Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope. All you need is a serial port cable and you can turn your 50MHz DS1052E into the 100MHz DS1102E. Dave shows you step-by-step how easy it is, and that it does actually work. Rigol caught with their pants down AGAIN!

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Dave goes Back to the Future and talks about how he got started in electronics.

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Dave solves the famous Infinite Resistor Puzzle, the old fashioned way...

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Dave unboxes and reviews the new Amazon Kindle 3 3rd Generation 3G GSM/WiFi Ebook reader. What superlatives can he find for the new E-Ink display? And what happens to the E-Ink display when you put it in the thermal chamber? Want to buy one?: www.amazon.com

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Ever wanted to know what battery capacity is? Dave takes you through everything you need to know about amp-hours, mAh, watt hours, internal or series resistance, temperature effects, battery cutoff voltages, and characteristic curves. Part 2 coming soon.

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Dave gets out of the lab for some fresh air, and a think about what the Makerbot $10M venture capital funding might mean.

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Dave blows up some tantalum and electrolytic capacitors in front of his new 300fps Sanyo Xacti high speed camcorder!

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Dave visits the Melbourne Hacker Space (CCHS) and takes along special guest Colin Mitchell from Talking Electronics fame.

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Dave unboxes and reviews the latest iRiver Story HD Google Ebook Reader and compares it to his Amazon Kindle 3. How does it stack up?

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A follow on from some of the recent blogs that have involved basic thermal heatsink calculation. This time around Dave takes you though the basic theory of thermal design and how heatsink calculations work. Then there are some real world temperature measurements to see how close to the theory we get. How do you read a heatsink thermal response graph? What is emissivity? It's all here in thermal design 101.

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In a WORLD EXCLUSIVE, Dave voids the warranty and takes a peek inside the new Agilent Infiniivision 2000 series oscilloscope that is released TODAY. What will he find?

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Dave explains the what how and why of measuring crystal clock oscillator drift over time. www.eevblog.com www.eevblog.com www.eevblog.com

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Dave compares five $50 Multimeters to see if they are any good, and how they compare. Download the comparison sheet: www.eevblog.com Thanks to Evan from Tequipment.net The Extech EX330: www.tequipment.net The Amprobe AM220: www.tequipment.net The Elenco M-2625: www.tequipment.net (Also Jaycar Digitech QM1535) The Global Specialties Pro-50: www.tequipment.net The Vichy VC99 www.dealexcel.com (Also on Ebay)

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The first EEVblog "RAW" Dave was assembling and testing some µCurrent kits on UStream and decided to record it. There is talk about his Keithly Instruments Voltage & Current sources, engineering statistics, and an open source hardware DIY Pick And Place machine. www.eevblog.com The thermal video is here: www.youtube.com Around the 8:30 mark

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Dave shows you how to take apart the new Amazon Kindle 3 3rd Generation 3G/GSM/WiFI Ebook reader, and examines and discusses the circuitry, assembly, and build quality. And hackers can get excited about the accessible ARM JTAG port.

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Dave show you how to solder a small 3 axis accelerometer LGA surface mount chip "dead bug" style onto a microcontroller prototyping board. This technique allows you to easily prototype projects using tiny SMD components designed only for reflow soldering.

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Dave tears down the Tektronix TDS2000 series TDS2024C DSO, what's inside? And he can't help but rant about the sample memory size and compare it to the venerable TDS210 from 1997 or so...

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