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PRODUCT SHOWCASE Ethernet modules from Rabbit Semiconductor Rabbit Semiconductor has added two new Ethernet core modules to the popular RabbitCore product line. No bigger than a credit card, these modules include the high-performance Rabbit microprocessor, up to one megabyte of memory (flash and SRAM), an Ethernet interface and connector. In addition, the four serial ports, battery-backable clock, cold boot capability, a slave mode and up to 40 I/O lines make product design fast and economical. The Rabbit 2000 is an 8-bit microprocessor with a C-friendly instruction set, fast number crunching ability and features such a four serial ports, a slave port, remote bootstrap capability, advanced clocking options and glueless interfacing to both memory and I/O. With a clock speed up to 30MHz, the Rabbit 2000 outperforms alternative processors, making it a substitute for 16 and 32-bit processors at a much lower system cost. The Rabbit 2000 features an updated Z180 style architecture to allow 1-byte operation codes for new instructions. Existing Z180 assembly language can also be ported to the Rabbit 2000 with minimal change. New C-friendly instructions are included for fetching and storing 16-bit words located at a computed memory address or on the stack. New instructions perform fetches, stores, calls, returns and jumps over a full megabyte of address space. Memory access instructions can be turned into I/O access instructions by using a prefix. As a consequence, I/O access is faster and more flexible. The Rabbit 2000 has a special support feature for battery-backed RAM. In typical processors, a battery switchover circuit maintains at least 2V of supply to RAM and pulls the chip select line up to the same voltage as the battery. This method has a propagation delay as much as 20 nanoseconds. The Rabbit’s special battery backup feature allows chip select #1 to be always forced low under program control, thus avoiding clock slow down. A hardware memory write-protect feature protects battery-backed RAM and flash memory from inadvertent write operations. There are 40-plus I/O pins grouped in five 8-bit ports. Eight external programmable I/O interface signals can be configured as I/O chip selects, I/O write strobes, I/O read strobes and I/O read/write strobes. Standard I/O read and I/O write enable signals are also available. I/O devices can be directly connected to the I/O interfaces, and often without glue logic. Four asynchronous serial ports are on-chip. Two of the ports also have synchronous communication capability. The asynchronous ports operate at speeds up to 1/32 of the clock frequency, while synchronous mode allows baud rates up to 1/8th of the clock frequency. For further information on the Rabbit 2000 and the Ethernet core modules, contact the Australian distributor, Dominion Electronics or visit their website. Contact: Dominion Electronics Suite 201, 82 Christie St, St Leonards NSW 2065 Phone: (02) 9906 6988 Fax (02) 9906 7145 Website: www.dominion.net.au Jaycar opens its first Macarthur region store Jaycar Electronics newest store in Campbelltown, NSW will employ up to five local staff in a combination of full time and casual positions. Jaycar brings to Campbelltown many years of retail experience and a proven product range covering alarm systems, test equipment, video surveillance, car audio, electrical & electronic tools, wire, cable and accessories. Jaycar is also known for its extensive range of electronic hobbyist kits. Gary Johnston, Managing Director of Jaycar said, “We recognise Campbelltown as a regional growth center 46  Silicon Chip and want to be part of that growth”. “With its major administrative and educational infrastructure, Campbelltown is a natural choice for our newest store and we are pleased to be here and part of the ongoing development of the Macarthur region” Jaycar’s new store is located in Shop 2, 49 Queen St (Cnr Langdon Ave.) in Campbelltown. Phone 4620-7155 Contact: Jaycar Electronics 100 Silverwater Rd, Silverwater NSW 2128 Phone: (02) 9741 8567 Fax (02) 9741 8588 Website: www.jaycar.com.au www.siliconchip.com.au See-in-the-dark video “Snooper” from DSE Elsewhere in this issue we feature the SOOPER SNOOPER. Well, here’s the video equivalent – the Apple Nightowl from Dick Smith Electronics. The Nightowl allows you to view up to 100 metres in absolute darkness, 150 metres in starlight or 200 metres in moonlight. You view the scene through the Nightowl’s video imager, which shows in a monotone green. Suggested uses (apart from snooping!) include security guards, nature lovers studying nocturnal wildlife (they don’t say what or how wild!) and even for boat owners trying to pick up that elusive mooring in the dark. The Nightowl has 7000x light amplification and 3.6x image magnification. It is powered by two AA batteries and weighs in at 585 grams. A soft carry case is included. The Applie Nightowl is available from all Dick Smith PowerHouse stores in NSW and Victoria for $598.00. It is also available via mail orders (1300 366 644) or through www.dse .com.au Contact: Dick Smith Electronics 2 Davidson St, Chullora NSW 2190 Phone: (02) 9642 9100 Fax (02) 9642 9153 Website: www.dse.com.au Honey, I shrunk the keyboard . . . If you’re a bit tight on space (or don't like a big keyboard taking up real estate!) Microgram have this nifty little PS-2 keyboard available. The keys and key spacing are full size, so you won’t have any excuse for poor typing, but everything else about this keyboard is tiny. It measures just 295 x 145mm and is about 35mm deep at the back. Naturally, they've had to sacrifice the numeric keypad (it piggy-backs on some of the alpha keys) but all other keys are there, if a little smaller than usual! You can check this little number out by calling Microgram or visiting their website. STEPDOWN TRANSFORMERS 60VA to 3KVA encased toroids Harbuch Electronics Pty Ltd 9/40 Leighton Pl. HORNSBY 2077 Ph (02) 9476-5854 Fx (02) 9476-3231 High Efficiency, Low Noise White LED Driver The LT1932,is a switch-mode, fixed-frequency, constant-current boost regulator optimized to drive white light emitting diodes (LEDs). The fixed operating frequency of 1.2MHz allows the use of very low profile inductors and small ceramic capacitors, while minimizing emitted noise. Typical efficiencies over 80% are obtained compared to the 50%-70% efficiencies of charge-pump solutions. Contact: Microgram Computers Unit 1, 14 Bon Mace Close, Berkeley Vale NSW 2261 Phone: (02) 4389 8444 Fax 1800 625 777 Website: www.mgram.com.au Contact: REC Electronics Unit 1, 38 South St Rydalmere NSW 2116 Phone: (02) 9638 1888 Fax (02) 9638 1798 Website: www.rec.com.au PARALLAX BS2-IC BASIC STAMP $112.00 INC GST WE STOCK THE COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM www.siliconchip.com.au September 2001  47 BASIC Stamp development kit from RTN To say that the BASIC Stamp has enjoyed phenomenal success is akin to saying that computers are popular! As a means of “getting into” microcontrollers, there is probably none better. With their easy-to-learn (and even easier to understand) language there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who started out with the BASIC Stamp. This popularity has spawned a huge library of Stamp applications, with dozens of websites, user groups and newsgroups devoted to the subject. A great place to start is the manufacturer’s website, www.parallaxinc.com. Or try typing “Basic Stamp” into any search engine (Google is accessible from the SILICON CHIP website) and you’ll see what we mean (about 290,000 references, according to Google!) The BASIC Stamp development kit, available from RTN allows users to develop and debug their own BASIC Stamp designs. It features a BASIC Stamp BS2p 24 module, BASIC Stamp starter kit on floppy disk, BASIC Stamp manual (Version 2) and a selection of interconnecting cables. Further information on this and other BASIC Stamp products can be obtained from the RTN website. Contact: RTN 35 Woolart St Strathmore Vic 3041 Phone/Fax (03) 9338 3306 Website: www.nollet.com.au Denon’s 5-channel DVD Surround Receiver has Dolby Digital & DTS Denon’s newest model, the ADV700 surround receiver, is equipped with both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 channel decoding, along with a Dolbt Pro Logic II decoder which simulates 5.1 surround sound from a 2-channel (stereo) source, such as conventional CDs, discs and tapes. DVD discs can be in either NTSC or PAL format. You have the option of composite video or S-video output while DVDs also have RGB output as well. In audio mode, when you insert a disc, the ADV-700 automatically detects the sound format and plays it in the appropriate mode. It also does this with digital broadcast satellite (DBS) signals. In addition, the receiver also automatically detects CD-R and CD-RW discs recorded in MP3 format. Three sets of video terminals and four sets of audio terminals are provided to connect a video player, TV or other video and audio devices. The ADV-700 allows you to make system settings via your TV screen. It also includes FM and AM tuners covering 87.5-108MHz and 5221611kHz. Each of the power amplifiers is rated at 35W RMS (6 ohms, 1kHz, 10% THD). While many of the functions are controlled via the front panel, there is an extremely comprehensive infrared 48  Silicon Chip remote control unit for all functions. Denon models are handled by selected hifi and video retailers. For the location of your nearest retailer, contact the Australian distributors of Denon, Audio Producs Australia. Contact: Audio Products Australia Pty Ltd 67 O'Riordan St, Alexandria NSW 2015 Phone (02) 9669 3477 Fax (02) 9578 0140 Website: http://elec.denon.co.jp/europe/ First MiniDisc player to feature Dolby Headphone Sharp Corporation has launched the new MD-ST880 MD player featuring the Dolby Headphone technology developed by Australian company Lake Technology. Dolby Headphone delivers a spatialised stereo sound experience over any ordinary stereo headphones. The ST880 features MiniDisc Long Play, a new encoding method for audio on MiniDisc which effectively doubles the storage capacity. MPLP offers two long play modes: LP2 which will record 160 minutes in stereo and LP4 which uses greater compression to allow 320 minutes recording time in stereo. Sharp announced earlier this week the new DV-L90TC DVD Mo- bile Theatre with Dolby Headphone, while in the PC sector, Sharp feature Dolby Headphone in their recently announced PC-MJ760C, an A4-size all-in-one notebook PC, part of a four model range. Lake Technology also announced this week a commercial partnership with one of the leading music software companies, MUSICMATCH Inc, which will see an aggressive roll-out of the Lake-branded Dolby Headphone plug-in for MUSIC-MATCH Jukebox. Contact: Lake Technology Ltd Box 736 Broadway NSW 2007 Phone (02) 9213 9000 Fax (02) 9211 0790 Website: www.lake.com.au www.siliconchip.com.au