site version is  page last edited on 20030314 all links last checked on 20010222 have this site translated other mirror sites

ABC of electronics terms

(To find chips for distinct functions, see the functional pages.)

C

Cable

local	Harddisk cable definitions
www.zettweb.com/semiconductors/hwb/	The HardWare Book (very good!)
ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/datacabl.faq	FAQ in text by Peter Macaulay <pmac@fox.nstn.ca>
www.zippertubing.com/	Zipper Tubing

Manufacturers:

Where	Manufacturer
www.daburn.com/	Daburn Electronic
www.specialtycable.com/	Specialty Cable

Cable modem

A modem for sending digital information over antenna cable systems.

www.cablelabs.com/	Non-profit research and development consortium of cable television system operators
www.pairgain.com/	George Zimmerman's tutorials

Some of the major players in the multimedia/modem chipset world include:

• Analog Devices
• Broadcom
• Conexant (formerly Rockwell Semiconductor Systems)
• ESS Technology
• Fujitsu-EDE
• Lucent Technologies
• Motorola
• PairGain Technologies (www.pairgain.com/) (T1 granddaddy of companies in the telecomm business). Now called ADC (www.adc.com/).
• ST Microelectronics
• Texas Instruments

See also 'ADSL'.

Cache

www.howstuffworks.com/cache.htm - How it works

CAD/CAM software for PCB's

Computer Aided Design / Computer Aided Manufacturing software for making Printed Circuit Board's.

See EDA.

Caller ID

This is the information about the calling party which is send using modem signals between the first two rings when you're being called. Modern telephone equipment can receive and show this information. It's officially called Calling Number Delivery (CND).

local	Definition
www.ee.washington.edu/circuit_archive/text/	Look under 'Caller ID Information'

Camera

Device for recording still or moving pictures.

See Video Camera.

INTEL FOCUSES ON PC CAMERAS
PC Imaging is becoming more compelling and affordable than ever before, thanks to PC camera technologies from Intel.

Intel's new 971 PC Camera Kit is a comprehensive reference design that enables the quick time-to-market development of simpler, easier and more affordable PC Cameras.

See the technology that makes PC Cameras a snap to build, and the press release at..

www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/pi110397.htm

CAN

local

This entry got it's own page.

Capacitor

Where	Manufacturer
www.aerovox.com/	Aerovox
www.avxcorp.com/	AVX Corp
www.bourns.com/	Bourns Inc
www.cci-msc.com/	Circuit Components
www.kemet.com/	KEMET
www.koaspeer.com/	KOA-Speer
www.duracap.com/	Mallory-DuraCap International
www.nacc-mallory.com/short-form.html	Mallory Capacitors
www.nichicon.com/	Nichicon America
www.novacap.com/	Novacap
www.tusonix.com/	Tusonix
www.roederstein.com/	Roederstein, not yet 199904?
www.sprague.com/	Sprague
www.wima.de/	WIMA

Captive Fastener

Where	Manufacturer
www.captive-fastener.com/	Captive Fasteners

Cardbus

See PCMCIA

Cardbus System Architecture

Don Anderson of Mindshare, Inc

Addison-Wesley,

1996

ISBN: 0201409976

About $25

www.pc-card.com/ - WWW site of PCMCIA

Case

Where	Manufacturer
www.zerocorp.com/	Zero Corp

See also Enclosure and Rack

CCITT

Commite' Consultatif Internationaux des Telephone et Telegraph (?)International institute for telephone and telegraph standards

See also ANSI, CEN, DIN, IEEE, ISO, NEN

CD

Compact Disc.

www.licensing.philips.com/information/	Philips: About the CD, CD-ROM, DVD-video, DVD_ROM, DVD+RW standards etc.
www.ifpi.org/	International Federation of the Phonographic Industry
www.ifpi.org/site-content/press/20011220.html	IFPI: About pirated CD's in the Ukraine

CD-ROM programming

ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/cdromfaq.100

Marcus W. Johnson

CEBus

A possible bus for home automation.

www.ednmag.com/ednmag/reg/1999/070899/14cs2.htm - Article in EDN

See also Lonworks

Cellular phone

Also called a mobile phone.

www.worldofcellularsecrets.com/ (gone?)

CEM

Contract Equipment Manufacturer. They manufacture the products for OEM's like Cisco, Compaq, Dell, HP, IBM etc.

Flextronics

Sanmina

Solectron

See also:

OEM	Original equipment manufacturer
local	Other CEM's

CEN

Comite' Europe'en de NormalisationEuropean standards commitee

See also ANSI, CCITT, DIN, IEEE, ISO, NEN

Chemical

Where	Manufacturer
www.alphametals.com/	Alpha Metals
www.chembuyersguide.com/	ChemBuyersGuide.com
www.millipore.com/	Links to chemicals and electronics stuff

Chess computer

www.howstuffworks.com/chess.htm - How a chess computer works

Chiplist

CPU's in PC's by Aad Offerman
einstein.et.tudelft.nl/~offerman/chiplist.html	FAQ
einstein.et.tudelft.nl/~offerman/chiplist.long.html	FAQ, one big file
rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/pc-hardware-faq/chiplist/	FAQ in text

Chip making

Can you make your own chips?

local	MISC mailing list
local	Companies helping with making chips
www-mtl.mit.edu/semisubway.html	Semiconductor Subway: Semiconductor Research

I'm currently doing a project with some of my friends on creating a chip ourselves. We have a small program called IDaSS (Interactive Design and Simulation System) which works at register/buffer/operator/state machine level (mostly for microcontrollers and sorts. You can find it at
www.eb.ele.tue.nl/proj/idassfly.html (beta version, still in development)
It can be output to a silicon compiler to put onto the wafer.
Please let me know if you need any info, the programmer is my teacher.

Marc Rietman <M.H.M.Rietman@stud.tue.nl>

Chipset

A chipset is a set of chips working together and which are sold as a set. Usually people mean a set of chips to populate a PC mainboard.
These sets contain all the usual chips that used to be on the original AT motherboard like the two 8259's the 8255, 8253, 8244, the TTL glue, the memory refresh and parity. More modern stuff to set the refresh rates, cycle times etc. Lately also the IDE, floppy controller, printer port and serial ports have been integrated. I'm not sure if the RTC can also be integrated (except for the battery of course) but I guess so. The integration will never stop of course...
There were also chipsets for VGA cards and modems etc. though. They were usually sold together with a software packet so a manufacturer/seller only needed to assemble the stuff and sell it...

developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/	Chipsets from Intel
www.intel.com/design/motherbd/atx.htm	The form factor for the current ATX standard motherboards
www.sysdoc.pair.com/	Tom's Hardware Guide
www.matrix-bios.nl/	Alle Metzlar's BIOS site

See also under BIOS.

Choke

Where	Manufacturer
www.coilcraft.com/	Coilcraft
www.delevan.com/	Delevan

Circuit Breaker

Where	Manufacturer
www.etacbe.com/	E-T-A

Circuit Schematic

Schematic drawing for making a PCB.

local	About PCB making
transgalactic.freeyellow.com/scm/scm.htm	PWM circuits and more in HPGL
www.doknet.nl/	Order schematics for repairing consumer electronics
www.muzique.com/	Analog Music Zone
www.ee.washington.edu/circuit_archive/	Circuits Archive
www.ee.washington.edu/eeca/circuits/	Circuits
www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/	Circuits
www.vancouver-webpages.com/pub/peter/nmea_interface.txt	NMEA interface schematic
www.ee.ualberta.ca/html/cookbook.html	Electronic Cookbook Archive
ftp.psyber.com/dibsed/CIRCATS/	Gif format schematics (David I. Baldwin)
www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/humperdinck/223/effect.htm	Humperdinck House (Guitar effects)
www.eklektix.com/gfc/elect/	Lots of circuits
www.imagineeringezine.com/links.html	More links to circuit sites
www.uslink.net/~cybercir/	Program with over 1100 electronic circuits etc. (Costs $39)
www.radioshack.com/sw/swb/	Steve's Workbench at Radio Shack
www.capilano.com/schematic/free_schematics.html	At Capilano using their format
www.firebottle.com/ampage/schems/	Musical instruments with tubes
tinpan.fortunecity.com/solidgold/29/	Guitar effects and more
www.solorb.com/gfc/elect/pbscms.html	FC's Electronic Circuits
www.muzique.com/	AMZ musical schematics (slow on 20010513)
www.mitedu.freeserve.co.uk/	Circuit Exchange International
www.web-ee.com/	Electrical Engineering Homepage

Books:

title	order at Amazon USA	price indication
Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits, Volume 7	ISBN: 0070151164	$32
3,000 Solved Problems in Electrical Circuits (Schaum's Solved Problems Series)	ISBN: 0070459363	$20
The Forrest Mims Engineer's Notebook	ISBN: 1878707035	$16	A have the old Radio Shack version!

John wrote in 'news:sci.electronics.repair':

Does anyone know a good site to find circuit diagrams for televisions? I need a circuit diagram for a 'Toshiba colour TV' model no. 145E7B.

Usual answer for people in the UK: Go to your local public libaray. There is an annually published book of schematics (and other service info) titled "Television Servicing". Normally in the reference dept.

I copied one for a Toshiba 175T9B just this Saturday...

There are also series for VCRs, and for Satellite receivers.

Regards, Mike.

C Programming Language

www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html	Steve Summit's FAQ in HTML
local	Using C versus Assembler
www.howstuffworks.com/c.htm	How they work
www.esacademy.com/myacademy/classdescription.php?classid=15	Online Training: Embedded C Programming (part 1)
www.esacademy.com/myacademy/classdescription.php?classid=16	Online Training: Embedded C Programming (part 2)
www.esacademy.com/faq/docs/cpointers/	Article: Using C pointers, structures and unions

C++ Library

ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/clib1.faq - FAQ, part 1
ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/clib2.faq - FAQ, part 2
ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/clib3.faq - FAQ, part 3
ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/clib4.faq - FAQ, part 4
ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/clib5.faq - FAQ, part 5
ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/clib6.faq - FAQ, part 6

CND

Calling Number Delivery.

See Caller ID.

COFF

Common Object File Format

Understanding and Using COFF

By Gintaras R. Gircys

ISBN: 0937175315

O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.

632 Petaluma Avenue

Sebastopol, CA 95472

(O'Reilly is also quite active on the Internet.)

• It's out of print
• O'Reilly has no stock on hand
• They have specifically said it will never be reprinted
• They would be willing to put the info on the web but they have no idea how to do that, so it won't happen any time soon.

Ken Greenberg <ken@calast.com>

Description of the format from SUN.

Emails about COFF.

Coil

Where	Manufacturer
www.coilcraft.com/	Coilcraft
www.delevan.com/	Delevan

Commodore 64/128

Famous computers made by CBM.

Chips that it contained:

6581	C64's sound chip (SID). It has 3 AM* synthsizer channels and one 4-bit sample channel...
6510 CBM	Basically a 6502 with 2 8bit I/O ports added to it (Used for memory paging and tape I/O)	(Or just one 6-bit I/O port?)
6526	CIA (Complex Interface Adapter). A super I/O chip with 2 8bit I/O channels,	a serial port, real-time clock, 2 programmable timer/counters.
906114-01	2Kx4 SRAM*
6569R3	C64's video chip

More about the special chips that they contained

See also:

• Amiga

Communication Program

A communication program is needed to talk from your software development computer with your embedded controller project.

It's use is mainly:

• Being able to execute commands on the controller and see it's output.
• Being able to upload programs to the controller for testing.
• (Capturing the output of the controller for analyzing.)

Platform	suggested programs to use	where to find?
UNIX	CU	standard
UNIX	Kermit	GNU?
DEC UNIX	Tip	standard
Linux	Minicom (looks like DOS's Telix/Procom)	standard, freshmeat.net/
Windows3.1	'Terminal'	standard
Windows3.1	Procomm for DOS	Simtel, www.qdeck.com/
Windows3.1	Telix for DOS	Simtel
Windows3.1	Telix for Windows	Simtel
Windows95	?
Windows98	?

CompactPCI

Passive backplane specification for (industrial) PCI

CompactPCI
www.compactpci.com/	(gone?)
www.gespac.com/
www.prolog.com/	Bought by the Motorola Computer Group
www.ziatech.com/

CompactPCI Systems Magazine

Compiler

Where	What
local	68332 mailing list discussion about which compiler to buy
ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs/compiler.faq	FAQ in text by John R. Levine <compilers-request@iecc.com>
www.idiom.com/free-compilers/	Free compilers and interpreters
ftp.cedar.buffalo.edu/pub/PIC/pic_cc.zip	C compiler for PIC with source code
www.compilerconnection.com/	Compiler companies
www.cera2.com/softd/compiler.htm	Compiler overview
www.eg3.com/softd/compiler.htm	Compiler overview
www.first.gmd.de/cogent/catalog/	Compiler construction tools
www.idiom.com/free-compilers/	Free (8051?) C compilers and assemblers
www.npsnet.com/danf/cbm/languages.html	Languages for the C64 (6502)
ftp.syd.dit.csiro.au/pub/ken/zcc096.zip (gone?)	Small C compiler for Z80
www.avocetsystems.com/	Avocet's C compilers

Where	Manufacturer
www.borland.com/	Borland

A CD-ROM for compiler developers

Computer Architecture

This generally means how the central processor is build (RISC versus CISC* for example).

www.cs.wisc.edu/~arch/www/

Computer architecture

Connector

• MIDI
• Printer
• SIMM72

www.nctnico.cistron.nl/docs/simm_pin.txt	SIMM pinouts
www.zettweb.com/semiconductors/hwb/	Connectors in general
www.hut.fi/~then/	Tomi Engdahl's site for PC stuff
theref.aquascape.com/ - (gone?)	TheRef: Mainly floppy and HD* connections

Where	Manufacturer
www.3m.com/	3M
www.advintcorp.com/	Advanced Interconnect
www.amp.com/	AMP Inc.
www.amphenol.com/	Amphenol
www.bergelect.com/	Berg Electronics
www.ca-online.com/	Circuit Assembly Corp.
www.daburn.com/	Daburn Electronic
www.vishay.com/brands/dale/connectors.html	Dale
www.deutsch.com/	Deutsch
www.edac.net	EDAC
www.elco.com/	Elco
www.hollingsworth.com/	Hollingsworth
www.idinet.com/	Interconnect Devices, Inc.
www.kycon.com/	Kycon Cable and Connector
www.methode.com/	Methode
www.mill-max.com/	Mill-Max
www.molex.com/	Molex Inc.
www.panduit.com/	Panduit
www.phoenixcontact.com/	Phoenix Contact
www.samtec.com/	Samtec
www.trompeter.com/	Trompeter Electronics
catalog.tycoelectronics.com/	Tyco Electronics

See also PCI.

Convert

For converting units see under Unit.

COP8

MCU from NS

See local

Course

• More

CPLD

Complex Programmable Logic Device

www.xilinx.com/products/cpldsolutions/

More info

See also FPAA, FPGA, PLD and VHDL.

CPU

Central Processing Unit. (What's now a single chip main processor in a computer, was originally a complete PCB full with discrete logic. The 2900 range from AMD could be used, but the big companies like IBM all used their own designs. These processors were called bit-slice because the words that were to be handled were sliced into 1 and later 4 bits per chip (registers, ALU's, busses, buffers).
Some hobbyists even built their own CPU's this way but the i4004, i4040, i8008 and i8080 generally put a stop to that for most of them...
www.cs.uregina.ca/~bayko/cpu.html - Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present

CRC

Cyclic Redundancy Check

local	CRC
ftp.adelaide.edu.au/pub/rocksoft/crc_v3.txt	CRC Guide (91K)

Crossref IC

Where	Manufacturer
www.nteinc.com/	NTE Electronics

Crystal

local

This subject got it's own page now...