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SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher/Editor Nicholas Vinen Technical Editor John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc Bao Smith, B.Sc Tim Blythman, B.E., B.Sc Technical Contributor Duraid Madina, B.Sc, M.Sc, PhD Art Director & Production Manager Ross Tester Reader Services Ann Morris Advertising Enquiries Glyn Smith Phone (02) 9939 3295 Mobile 0431 792 293 glyn<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Dave Thompson David Maddison B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Geoff Graham Associate Professor Graham Parslow Ian Batty Cartoonist Brendan Akhurst Founding Editor (retired) Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Silicon Chip is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 626 922 870. ABN 20 880 526 923. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Subscription rates (12 issues): $105.00 per year, post paid, in Australia. For overseas rates, see our website or email silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au Editorial office: Unit 1 (up ramp), 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9939 3295. E-mail: silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 * Recommended & maximum price only. Printing and Distribution: Editorial Viewpoint SILICON CHIP PDFs available soon! We’ve been working hard to produce electronic versions of our SILICON CHIP back issues for many years now, and we’ve – finally – almost finished. It has been a mammoth task reproducing all 390 issues – the total number of pages is close to 40,000 and growing every month! The issues are all complete, except for some ads which appeared between August 1993 and August 2012. We decided that it isn’t worth increasing the file size of these issues to include scans of the out-of-date ads. For most issues from August 1993 onwards, we have also fixed any errors that we are aware of that appeared in the original magazines. These issues will be available as high-resolution PDFs on high-quality metal USB3.0 flash drives labelled with the SILICON CHIP logo. You’ll get either a 32GB or 64GB drive, depending on how many blocks of issues you order. You can print diagrams or instructions from these files, if you need hard copies. See page 95 of this issue or visit siliconchip.com.au/shop/digital pdfs for more details. Purchasers will also receive perpetual online access to those same issues, so you won’t even have to carry the files around with you. You’ll be able to access them at any time by logging onto our website. I think this will be a very attractive offer to anyone looking to ‘downsize’. Perhaps you’re moving into a smaller home, and you won’t have anywhere to keep many years of SILICON CHIP issues arranged in binders. You can replace those with these PDFs, which take up virtually no space, and still have access to the content when you need it. These are also an excellent option for anyone who’s discovered SILICON CHIP in the last few years, as you will be able to get the issues you’ve missed. You might be surprised how interesting some of the older issues are, and many of our past projects are still perfectly valid today. We’re also planning to make PDF downloads available to online subscribers via our website soon. These will be made available to anyone who has already purchased online issues or online subscriptions. We may have to roll out the PDF downloads gradually, so our servers aren’t overloaded. This should happen within the next few months. Meet us at the Jaycar maker hub SILICON CHIP will be celebrating Arduino day, Saturday 21st March, at the Jaycar maker hub at Central Park Mall on Broadway, Sydney (near Central Station). You can come and ask us questions, get help with an Arduino project or attend a workshop. We’ll also be helping people to try to fix broken Arduino boards (see the article on page 61), and there are special offers from Jaycar to purchase Arduino-based kits (we can even help you build them!). Due to its location, the maker hub is very accessible from just about anywhere in Sydney. Just hop on a train or a bus going to Central, and it’s a short walk from there to the Central Park Mall. You may have seen our article on the Jaycar maker hub in the August 2019 issue. This concept store is well worth a visit, designed for the hobbyist “maker” market but just as applicable if you’re involved with electronics at any level. Apart from its great views(!) this “full range” store is also set up for workshops, demonstrations and other tinkering. If you haven’t been there before, March 21 would be a good time to see the Jaycar maker hub for yourself! For more details, see page 37 in this issue. Nicholas Vinen 24-26 Lilian Fowler Pl, Marrickville 2204 4 Silicon Chip Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au