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ABC of electronics terms

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

M

Macintosh based software

local	MacIntosh based Compilers
local	MacIntosh based Linux part 1
local	MacIntosh based Linux part 2
local	MacIntosh based PCB software
www.periph.com/	Very up to date Mac cross assembler. Supports many processors.

Magnetic terms

www.coiltronics.com/magnetic_terms.html

At Coiltronics

MCU

(Micro Controller Unit)

A MCU is a MPU combined with peripherals that is supposed to be embedded into some product.

A traditional MPU only has a processor inside and is meant to be combined with bus chips and peripheral chips to form a computer.

A MCU has a simple processor and a lot of on-chip system glue and peripherals.

Why? It's because MCU's are meant to be used in appliances like microwave ovens, washing machines, toys and whetever. In these applications cost is very important and the more parts that are already included into the MCU save part costs, PCB size costs and debugging costs.

For building a serious computer the MPU will have to be state of the art and has no spare room for peripherals so they are added in seperate chips.

Of course there are always cross-over products. Some heavy applications used a real MPU and some PC's like the Philips' 'Yes:' and Tandy/RadioShack's first PC's used the 80186 or 80188 which are actually MCU's. MPU's are also sometimes used embedded in products.

See also:

local	MCU compendium FAQ in text
www.esacademy.com/automation/faq/primer/	MCU Primer FAQ
rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/sci.answers/microcontroller-faq/primer	MCU Primer FAQ in text
www.esacademy.com/myacademy/classdescription.php?classid=4	example for what a microcontroller is versus a microprocessor

Books:

title	order at Amazon USA	price indication
Art of Designing Embedded Systems, the	ISBN: 0750698691	$40
Art of Programming Embedded Systems, the	ISBN: 0122748808	$90
C Programming for Embedded Systems	ISBN: 1929629044	$25
Debugging Embedded Microprocessor Systems	ISBN: 0750699906	$30
Embedded Microprocessor Systems: Real World Design	ISBN: 075067234X	$35
Embedded Software Primer, an	ISBN: 020161569X	$40
Embedded Systems Building Blocks : Complete and Ready-To-Use Modules in C	ISBN: 0879306041	$50
Embedded Systems Design	ISBN: 0750632372	$50
Handbook of Microcontrollers	ISBN: 0079137164	$45
Microcontroller Idea Book, the	ISBN: 0965081907	$32
Programming Embedded Systems in C and C ++	ISBN: 1565923545	$24

Measurement

Where	Manufacturer
www.hp.com/	Hewlett-Packard

Medical Design

www.medicaldesignonline.com/

Medical Design (by VerticalNet)

Melody chips

Chips that generate tunes consisting of separate tones.

local

Melody chips

See also Sound, Sound Card and Voice.

Memory Testing

When you distrust your memory or want to check your memory when starting up a system.

local	Memory tests
www.esacademy.com/faq/docs/memtest/	Article: Software based memory testing

Testing Semiconductor Memories - Theory and Practice

A.J. van de Goor

1991

John Wiley and Sons, 605 Third Avenue, New York, NR 10158-0012

ISBN: 0471925861

Microengineering

Making very small machines out of silicon

www.c2v.nl/	Formerly the MEMS* services of Alcatel Optronics Netherlands
www.nanocomputer.org/	Dream Team - Nano SuperComputer
www.mcnc.org/	MEMS* Technology Applications Center
www.dbanks.demon.co.uk/ueng/	Microengineering intro
www.physikinstrumente.com/	Physik Instrumente (PI) Piezo- and Nanopositioning Technology Homepage
www.lucifer.com/~sean/Nano.html	Sean Morgan's Nanotechnology Pages
www.industrycommunity.com/myforum/winston_sun/	Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems Forum: MEMS* in general. Discussions about polysilicon sensors, actuators, and microstructures. bulk and surface micromachining technologies. fabrication process. physical principles.

Books

See also

Microprocessor

www.howstuffworks.com/microprocessor.htm

How it works

Microsystems

Microsystems are mechanical devices produced on silicon using normal wafer fabrication techniques i.e. lithography, etch etc.
These should be the devices created by Microengineering, I would think...They are made for example by PB Technik of Switzerland, who produce wafers that are supplied to manufacturers. They don't have a WWW site yet, email John Dunn <ajdunn@email.msn.com> for more details.

Microwave

Wave with a wavelenght of about a micro* meter (?).
They are being used in microwave ovens and for cellular phones.

www.eumw.com/	Conference in Germany
www.merrimacind.com/	Merrimac Industries
www.geocities.com/jordan30bg	RF and microwave design by Jordan Strundjev

Microwire

Serial in-device communication methods.

See Microwire.

MIDI

Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

local	MIDI for the 6811
local	MIDI for the PIC
crystal.apana.org.au/ghansper/MidiAxis.html	MIDI interface

See also: Musical instrument.

MIL-STD-1750

Very expensive military processor, prices starting at $5000!Pure 16 bit processor (ad+da) but very reliable and radiation hardend etc...

local	More
ftp.fta-berlin.de/pub/crossgcc/1750gals	Free assembler, linker and simulator
www.cputech.com/milstd.htm	Press releases and data from CPU tTechnology

MIL-STD-883

www.dscc.dla.mil/Programs/MilSpec/listdocs.asp?BasicDoc=MIL-STD-883

The Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) maintains this standard.

See also JAN qualified.

Date:    19990727
From:    Ian King
To:      misc@pisa.rockefeller.edu
Subject: Re: Leftover RTX2000 Chips

At 10:45 pm 7/25/99 -0400, you wrote:

Ian King wrote:

The reason a DSP chip is unlikely to replace the RTX2010RH in space applications is that the cost of certification is astronomical. If they ever do I can guarantee you you won't be ably to buy one for $10!

What certification might that be?

Derrick Shearer

You can't just package up your dies into ceramic packages and sell them as Rad-tol. Xilinx mentions the XQ4000X Series Certified to MIL-PRF-38535 Appendix A QML. rk.gsfc.nasa.gov/fpgas.htm gives more information about NASA requirements.

An example of Rad-tol fpga costs is from Actel. Per piece pricing in 50-unit volume for MIL-STD-883 Class B devices in the 208-pin package is A54SX16 - $1,040 and A54SX32 - $1,872. In the same volume, the 208-pin package RadTolerant devices are RT54SX16 - $1,530 and RT54SX32 - $2,600

Ian

www.actel.com/whatsnew/RadTol.html - More info at Actel

MIPS

Mega Instructions Per Second

By cynics also called: 'Most Ignorable Parameter for Speed'This is a unit to express Processor Speed in.When you know what you're looking at it's a nice indication of processor speed, but it's indeed not a term like miles per hour that even laymen can use.

local

BogoMips comparison between processors

MISC

Minimal Instruction Set Computing

local	More on this site
www.forthchip.com/	Site by Richard S. Westmoreland
www.ultratechnology.com/	Maker of the F21 microprocessor
local	See also

Miscellaneous

Where	Manufacturer
www.iijnet.or.jp/murata/	Murata
www.raytheon.com/	Raytheon

Mitsumi CD-ROM interface

The early CD-ROM players had their own interface cards: Mitsumi, Panasonic and Sony. Later sound cards integrated all those busses and still later the IDE interface was used.
The Mitsumi CD-ROM interface

See also ATAPI and IDE.

Mobile phone

Also called a cell phone (in the USA) or portable phone.

www.worldofcellularsecrets.com/
www.worldofcellularsecrets.com/news.htm

Modem

Modulator (and) demodulator

Used to send computer data over an analogue connection like a telephone line.

Information:

local	Modem chips
local	More
www.v90.com/	the V.90 standard
www.k56flex.com/	the K56Flex standard
www.ece.wpi.edu/courses/ee535/hwk98/hwk4cd98/edmundom/edmundom.htm	56k course for students
www.zoomtel.com/	More about the Hayes command set
www.howstuffworks.com/modem.htm	How modems work
modems.rosenet.net/	On Rosenet.net
www.phoaks.com/comp/dcom/modems/	Resources for news:comp.dcom.modems
www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Hardware/Peripherals/Modems/	At Yahoo
www.unitronic.de/Hersteller/conexant/Modem/Data%20Sheet%27s/md218r2-RP56D-RP336D-RP144D.pdf	RP56D/SP ROCKWELL data sheet

Manufacturers:

Modem (not modem chip) makers
Where	Manufacturer
www.att.com/	AT&T
www.computerline.nl/	Computerline (Victory)
www.conexant.com	Conexant, used to be Rockwell
www.dynalink.com/	Dynalink
www.hayes.com/	Hayes
www.hayes.co.uk/	Hayes Europe
www.icp.nl/	ICP
www.landis.nl/	Landis (Hayes and Microcom)
www.lucent.com/	Lucent, used to be AT&T
www.microcom.com	Microcom
www.multitech.com/	Multitech
www.pctel.com/	PCTel (sells softmodem software it seems)
www.philips.com/	Philips
www.rockwell.com/	Rockwell, now called Conexant
www.teletronix.be/	Allied Data Technologies, TRON, Tornado, Trident
www.tron.nl/	Tron Netherlands
www.usr.com/	US Robotics (bought by 3Com)

Cermetek makes FCC approved, ready-to-use modem modules.

Monitor

See Video.

Monitor and Debugger

NoICE (use a search engine!)

Remote debugger for 6502, 6809, 6811, 80196, 8051, 8096, TMS370, Z8, Z80

Moore, Gordon

Gordon Moore was the founder of Intel, who formulated the 'Law of Moore' which says that the capacity and speed of semiconductors will double every constant amount of time. For the number of transistors on a microchip it doubles about every 18 months since 1965.

www.sciam.com/interview/moore/092297moore1.html

Article from Scientific American

MOSFET

www.americanmicrosemi.com/tutorials/mosfets.htm

Motherboard

The main printed circuit board (PCB) in a PC.

Mother board makers:

www.abit.com.tw/	Abit
www.ami.com/	AMI (Amercian Megatrends, Inc.)
www.aopen.com/	Aopen
www.asus.com/	ASUS
www.biostar.com.tw/corepage.htm	Biostar
www.chaintech.com.tw/	Chaintech
www.ecs.com.tw/	ECS
www.epox.com/	EPoX
www.fic.com.tw/, www.fica.com/	FIC
www.gigabyte.com.tw/, www.giga-byte.com/	Gigabyte
channel.intel.com/business/ibp/boards/	Intel
www.msi.com.tw/, www.msicomputer.com/	MSI* (Micro Star, Inc.?)
www.pcchips.com/	PC Chips (BIOS reference: #S286-6181-101590-K8)
www.qdi.ca/	QDI Computer Canada
www.qdigrp.com/	QDI Computer Group
www.qdius.com/	QDI Computer USA
www.spacewalker.com/	Shuttle
www.supermicro.com/	Supermicro
www.transcend.com.tw/English/	Transcend, Korea in English
www.transcend.com.tw/	Transcend, Korea in Chinese
www.transcend.nl/	Transcend, Netherlands in English
www.tyan.com/	Tyan

For a more complete list: www.motherboards.org/

See also:

www.motherboards.org/	Motherboard HomeWorld
www.motherboards.com/	Motherboard seller
iceberg.pchomeworld.com/cgi-win/MoBotGen/MoBot.asp	Largest motherboard database on the Web
www.matrix-bios.nl/	BIOS and chipset information by Alle Metzlar
developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/	Intel
developer.intel.com/design/quality/mb/	Intel

Motor

A device that converts energy in motion.

local	Manufacturers
www.esacademy.com/myacademy/classdescription.php?classid=17	Online training: Motor Control using PWM
Servo Motor	Servo motor
Stepper Motor	Stepper motor

Mouse

local	Mouse specs
www.linux.com/howto/mini/3-Button-Mouse.html	Linux HOWTO

PC Mouse Systems

byte	bit:	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0
1	sync	1	0	0	0	0	L	M	R	0=depressed button
2	dX	x7	x6	x5	x4	x3	x2	x1	x0	bit 7 -> 0=pos, 1=neg
3	dY	y7	y6	y5	y4	y3	y2	y1	y0
4	dX'	x7	x6	x5	x4	x3	x2	x1	x0
5	dY'	y7	y6	y5	y4	y3	y2	y1	y0

Notes:

• all bytes are two's complement binary
• dX, dY = relative moves after last transmission
• dX',dY' = relative moves since dX, dY were transmitted

Microsoft Mouse

byte	bit:	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0
1	sync	0	1	L	R	y7	y6	x7	x6	1=depressed button
2	dX	0	0	x5	x4	x3	x2	x1	x0	MSB-> 0=pos,1=neg
3	dY	0	0	y5	y4	y3	y2	y1	y0

Notes:

• all move bytes are two's complement binary (you must collect all bits together)

MP3

A dedicated DSP to decode the MP3 sound format is the MAS3507D from ITT.

MPEG

Video compression method.

MPEG Chip Manufacturers

• AMC
• C-Cube
• ESS
• Philips (?)
• Winbond
• ...

MPU

Microprocessor unit, also called microprocessor, processor or CPU.It's a single chip (=monolithic) CPU.In earlier days CPU's were complete PCB's with a whole range of (for example) Am2900 bit slice chips.

local	More information per MPU family
ftp.funet.fi/pub/microprocs/	Microprocessors

Books

Multibus

Old bus by Intel, later adopted as IEEE standard. Still in use in the industry it seems.

local

About the Multibus by Mark Sokos

Multi Tasking

An operating system is called multi tasking when it can run two or more programs at the same time. Unix is a good example of such an OS, but OS's like MS Windows are slowly catching up. To run several tasks with each task fully separated from each other the computer needs to have a serious Memory Management Unit (MMU*), which is in the mean time common in serious processors The first Intel PC processor to have such an inbuild MMU* was the 80286 and it was indeed possible to run SCO/Unix (then still called Xenix for trademark reasons) on it.
Multi threading is a relatively new term and means that a single program can split itself and run twice, but the resources like data memory keep being shared. Each process has it's own stack though and the code is ran independently of the other process. When a conventional Unix task splits itself using a fork() system call both resulting processes have their own data space and generally communicate via a pipe. They share all opened files, but only one of them is supposed to stay using each of them.
With embedded controller processes the term multitasking is used more lightly and total task seperation is not required. Generally it's also just multi threading. Because one programmer generally writes all the programs he can insure that all code behaves well and pre emptive task switching (task switching without the concent of the running task) is not necessary. Handling an interrupt is already a primitive form of multitasking which happens asynchronously to the normal process, but it's not a real separated thread, because it doesn't have it's own stack. It's more like a randomly executed subroutine.
It's not really difficult to implement a simple task switching mechanism under these soft circumstances, but whenever the situation gets more complicated you may want to use an existing multi tasking system. There are a lot of commercial ones but also some free ones, like the MCX system that you can download from Motorola's site.

Musical instrument

ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~meburns/e-muzak.html

Michael Everett Burns

See also: MIDI.