19980810

Electronics CDROM's from chips manufacturers

CDROM's: [Chip Manufacturers] [Other Electronics] [Programming]

An interesting opinion from news:sci.electronics.

A lot of these CD-ROM's can be ordered from:
www.huijzer.com/order.htm - T.B. Huijzer BV. <info@huijzer.com>

CDROM's by publisher

Manufacturer	Title	Comment
Allegro	Allegro CD-ROM	1997late
Altera	Altera Data Book	199707
Altera	FLEX 10K Technical Seminar
AMD	PALCE/MACH Tool Collection
Analog Devices	Designer's CD, Reference Manual, 199610
Atmel	Atmel Data Book CD
Burr-Brown	???	Not seen yet
Cypress	???	Still to be added!
Harris	???	Heard about it on 199711. Seems to be good.
Hitachi	Electronic Components Databook
IDT	Product and Company Information
Intel	Developers' insight CDROM	Very good!
Intel	Intel Architecture Labs, Software Developer CD
Lattice	ISP Software and Encyclopedia
Linear Technology	LinearView
Maxim	Maxim CD	Not seen yet. Newest 1997 ed.
Microchip	Microchip Technical library 1996	Not seen yet, 3th edition is out
Mitel	Product information and applications notes
Motorola	68HC05 and 68HC08 8-bit microcontrollers
Motorola	Digital signal processing
Motorola	Embedded systems processors
National Semiconductor	Data Books/Applications	199704
Philips	BBS	Not seen yet
Philips	CPLD software	Not seen yet
Philips	Data Handbook IC01	Not seen yet
Philips	Data Handbook IC25
PLX Technology	Data sheets and application notes
Siemens	ICs for Communications
Siemens	Technical Product Information for Siemens Semiconductors
Silicon Systems	Still to be added!
S-MOS Systems	Graphics Data Book	Not seen yet
ST	Data on Disc
Temic	Data disk	1995
TI	Digital Signal Processing Solutions	Not seen yet
TI	Logic Selection Guide and Databook	Review to be added soon
TI	Mixed Signal and Analog	Not seen yet
Toshiba	Semiconductor European Selection on CD, Version 1.1
Xilinx	The Programmable Logic Data Book, 9-96

Reviews

For reviewing send your CDROM's (also old versions welcome) to:

Jaap van Ganswijk
Voorstraat 51
NL 2611 JL Delft
Netherlands

(Free Hitex CDROM's in return.)

What a chip manufacturers CDROM should contain.

(In the opinion of me, your humble servant. ;-)

Basic structure

A chip manufacturers CDROM should be an (almost) copy of their WWW-site, which of course should also be structured in a certain way. ;-) This means, all directories contain an index.html file, which explains the contents of that directory. Sometimes with the help of other HTML-files in the same directory. Printable documents can be given in Acrobat's PDF format or as PS files, but I have the impression that PDF's are more consistent and they at least have a reasonable viewer. (Not perfect yet.) But once NetScape will have it's own PDF-viewer, that will probably also be solved. (Not that I think, that NetScape is perfect. ;-) Other kinds of files can also be linked to HTML-documents, although this needs some more technical expertise of the viewer.

Differences between CDROM and WWW-site

When reading from the CDROM there is much less a bandwidth problem, so files (like pictures, movies and even text pages) may be much bigger.
CGI-BIN programs like clickable maps and search engines don't work on a local level without an HTTP server.
Because of the blasted 8.3 DOS format on CDROM's. The HTML files and the links within the HTML files must end in '.htm'.
You can't have those idiotic login's on CDROM's, but since when are datasheets secret? Which paranoidic idiot has dreamed them up? If they want my address data, they only have to ask and they can send me as much data books (or rather CDROM's) as they like. I have always (tried to) register on all chip manufacturers WWW-pages I have visited and serious chip users will probably always do, because they want/need as much chip data they can get...
But to put the rant mode off and get back to CDROM's: A good example of using the right filosophy is (strangely enough) Intel's 'Intel Architecture Labs', 'Software Developer CD', which has the before mentioned architecture (HTML in each directory). A lot can be said about messiness, obscurity and inconsistence of the content, but nevertheless... Currently it ranks in my top two...
Oh and chip manufacturers shouldn't take these criticisms very personal: Both areas (CDROM and the WWW) are still very young and errors may still be made.
And the quality of a CDROM or WWW site doesn't necessarily say something about the quality of the merchandise (chips).
Any chip manufacturer that has a CDROM or WWW site or both gets 10 points for each, others don't!

Why do we still need CDROM's now we have the Internet?

Since the bandwidth of the Internet is still much too low and sometimes we don't have Internet access and connecting to the internet costs money.
Perhaps also because chip manufacturers will only mention current chips on the internet and not the obsolete ones. Repair people will still need the info though...
Have you ever tried to find a 4004, 4040 or 8008 or even an 8080 on Intel's WWW-pages?
Ever tried to download a data sheet between continents when it wasn't deep at night?

CDROM's: [Chip Manufacturers] [Other Electronics] [Programming]

Are you looking for scarce chips in a serious ($200) amount per kind?
When they're available anywhere in the world we can probably find them.
Mail me and give the complete(!) chip name, manufacturer and quantities you'd like quotes for.

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