Re: Windows XP startup question

On Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:14:50 -0800, Joerg <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

krw wrote:
On Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:05:46 -0800, Joerg <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:18:04 -0800, Joerg <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:52:30 -0800, Joerg <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:50:16 -0800, Joerg <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:
On Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:16:32 -0800, Joerg <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

[snip]
Personally, the most I'd invest in a case like this would be a telephone
DTMF interface. Call the cabin, push star-something, wait for
confirmation tone, hang up, pack skis, head up there.
I haven't crashed a computer in so long I've forgotten how ;-)

WHERE is it that you surf that you keep getting crashes?

I don't, but others do. Mine sometimes crashes on Acrobat but this is
not very surprising, it was IMHO never a particularly robust software.
Full Acrobat or the Reader? What version?

Reader, 8 and 9. They get worse the younger they are, just like a lot of
other sofware does.
I stopped at Acrobat v7... primarily used for reading, creating from
scanner. I use v4 for "printing to", and PDF's that need links and/or
forms (I like to make "hierarchical" PDF schematics for design
reviews... works better than PowerPoint).

Come to think of it, I've _never_ had Reader on any of my machines.

I don't need the full version because I have a virtual PDF printer so
can get PDF output from any program. Plus the scanner already produces
PDF (if you set it to PDF format).

Anyhow, I would not want to trust a Windows-based PC with any kind of
home automation. Just like I won't trust X10 with that.

[snip]

Yep. I'd use your DTMF interface... battery powered, with a
charger... discrete chips and components... latchable relays... beep,
beep, beep reporting that mission was accomplished... NO uP ;-)

It can be a uC though. While it took that industry seemingly forever to
figure out how a good BOR works now there are some that are reliable
enough. Some, not all. Texas has a nice app note on how to do that, with
the code and all.
Can't you crash a uP without a brown-out/power-drop-out?

That entirely depends on the code quality :-)
I know. You're perfect ;-) ...

Nope, only one guy was and was killed at age 33.


... I like digital solutions simple enough
that even I, an old Analog guy, can understand, and proof every
possible combination.

Even if you don't, what's the big deal of generating a regular pulse
that resets the watchdog? uC code hangs -> watchdog triggers -> big
master reset happens.

What happens with flaky power? You need something to wake up the dog
reliably.


A good BOR. Which is where I spend a lot of diagnostic review time
because I don't trust some of the commercial solutions.


I can't even count the apps anymore where I found that the watchdog had
been disabled. Maybe because it was "inconvenient".

A separate circuit and NMI.

I recently designed a robust BOR (with an additional power monitor to
cover another chip)... only took ~90 active devices ;-)

I built my first reliable BOR circuit when I was 18 or 19, out of
salvaged transistors. Because it was needed in a high voltage design
where uncontrolled brown-out could cause tube grid voltages to become
suboptimal and lead to a serious *KABLOUIE*. That's why I never
understood why large swaths of the electronics industry could not get
that licked for decades.
Part of my chip design procedure includes testing for VERY soft power
supply rise and fall times... looking for any possibility of latching
before every thing reaches normal quiescent bias. Particularly
critical with split supply chips.... but those I usually design so
that minus supply must pass P/BOR before stuff powered from the plus
supply is allowed to bias up (avoids crazy substrate behaviors).

I do the same with board level stuff. "Oh, it's going to be fine." ...
"Should we quickly test it anyhow? Only takes a minute." ... "Sure." ...
crank, crank, crank ... *PHUT*

[...]

Or quickly cycle power to confuse the POR timing.


No, it was immune, it would just go into the big freeze for the max
power-on delay time.

Yep, the Digital Guru at GenRad blew my supply by rat-a-tat-tatting
the power switch. I responded with a design that had a minimum 5
second OFF time ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, CTO | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

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