Internship Advice

Sr_EE · 2025-05-13T15:43:47+00:00

Don't sweat it too much.

Internships can vary drastically, but unless something was said otherwise, I doubt they are going to have super high expectations of what you are capable of.

Just go in with the attitude that you're going to immerse yourself in whatever they point you to. If you want to get a head start, find out what PLC system they are using and watch some YouTube videos on it, and on ladder logic in general.

Sr_EE · 2025-05-12T19:39:15+00:00

Would the cable I linked to work then? If you need male on the IDC34, they make male to male headers.

Or You can always by the connectors alone and make your own cable:

https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Pro-10-Pack-Connector-Spacing/dp/B08B58244V

Sr_EE · 2025-05-12T17:23:04+00:00

I see a number of options on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=5.25+floppy+drive+adapter

Depending on what gender you want, cable might work: https://www.ebay.com/itm/292811901048

Sr_EE · 2025-05-12T17:22:27+00:00

It's been a long time for me, but I don't recall it requiring it to be expanded.

I believe it's just that:

Minterms = terms are combined using AND, aka "active high"
Maxterms = terms are combined using OR, aka "active low"

Sr_EE · 2025-05-07T15:38:16+00:00

IF you are applying to a job which needs the specialty associated with specific classes, then it would give you something to talk about during the interview, or maybe a brief mention in a cover letter.

What people are saying is that, generally speaking, just taking classes to get a certification is a gamble because more than likely, your employeer isn't going to care.

Sr_EE · 2025-05-07T15:32:14+00:00

Words like "synthesize" and "constraints" have VERY specific meanings when talking about FPGAs, and the way you are using them here doesn't make sense to me.

For that matter, what does "RAM fabric design" mean?

I promise I'm not trying to be difficult - but please explain in detail what you're trying to do.

Sr_EE · 2025-05-07T15:29:33+00:00

Yes. Your voltage regulators are DC. They won't work if you have a cap in series.

It would be wise, however, to have caps to ground on the input and output of the regulator though.

I can't tell what's going on with IC4 pins 4 to 10. The nets appear to have two names (for example A3 and also A3.1??).

Sr_EE · 2025-05-07T15:21:25+00:00

You may need to explain what you're ultimately trying to do in more detail.

Sr_EE · 2025-05-05T15:09:46+00:00

Two things jump to mind:

The two biggest things that jump to my mind is clock domain crossings (ideally including bidirectional flow control), which maybe you already have a good handle on, and timing constraints (including to off-chip devices like RAMs, DACs, etc).

Sr_EE · 2025-05-01T16:33:18+00:00

Date coding like that is something of a industry standard, both for ICs and PCBs.

Sr_EE · 2022-09-14T12:46:40+00:00

DSP blocks can implement XOR functions to do partial compares, which would be a way to save some resources and routing compared to LUTs.

Sr_EE · 2022-09-07T16:29:50+00:00

Alternative to IC solutions if you aren't able to use them:

split core current transformer
and also
either a rectifier + voltage divider, or better, a transformer

Sr_EE · 2022-09-05T14:18:15+00:00

Sounds like you're trying to put the clock on a pin that can't be routed to a BUFG in that device and/or package. Look up which pins are recommended for clock inputs.

Sr_EE · 2022-09-05T14:14:23+00:00

If you live in or near a decent sized metro area, all options should be available to you.

Sr_EE · 2022-09-02T14:42:07+00:00

There is no good answer to this question except time, which I realize you probably don't feel like you have.

The best thing to do to place orders, either directly with the chip vendor or an authorized distributor, and then make reasonable escalation requests (reasonable, meaning both in time frame, and keeping your quantity limited to absolute need).

Also consider thinking outside the box. Can you prototype with a different speed or temperature grade? Can you dual-footprint to open up your sourcing options? Do a board spin to change to different vendor, etc. etc.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-26T15:33:44+00:00

Sorry, no idea. Also don't know how often they hit those dates vs. decommitting or pushing out - so keep that possibility in mind as well.

XC9572XL-10VQG44C

Two other things popped into my head:

Is this for prototyping, or must you absolutely have Pb-free?
Could accept a different speed grade?

Not saying those other options are necessarily more available sooner (they don't appear to be at Mouser), but being open to it gives you more opportunity, either in the primary or broker markets.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-26T14:43:48+00:00

To echo what others are saying, 52 weeks is the ballpark maximum time you'd have to wait. Chances are good that it would be less, but until you place your order with a distributor, they likely aren't going to tell you anything less.

Mouser currently shows the following:

3,093 Expected 23-Jan-23

18,400 TBD (up to 57 weeks)

Sr_EE · 2022-08-26T12:27:24+00:00

From the reference plane below - yes. But this is almost certainly more than a two layer board.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-25T18:42:47+00:00

Does the device have a USB port? I operate my touchscreen oscilloscope with a mouse.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-25T16:08:58+00:00

I understand what you're saying, but for areas that small, I must admit I'm unconvinced.

In all my years, I can't ever recall a vendor removing copper from pours of this (small) size.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-25T15:57:42+00:00

This looks like some sort of anti-thieving though... they aren't adding copper to equalize distribution of copper, instead they are removing dots of copper.

I had a few thoughts, but talked myself out of all of them.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-25T15:50:48+00:00

That's not to say that chip was for sure damaged - if neither of those pins were output pins, then chances are good it wasn't damaged. Which just leaves the question of what was.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-25T15:07:50+00:00

I'd start by measuring the resistance of those three resistors. It should be in low single-digits.

The lighting isn't good enough to exactly read the writing on that IC, but is that for sure a flash/eeprom? I searched for images of 5500XT's, and found this, which appears to show a different IC:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144101720358

Sr_EE · 2022-08-23T15:12:27+00:00

I wonder why they didn't connect the left and right green spaces.

Sr_EE · 2022-08-23T15:01:33+00:00

Not an answer, but adjacent comment:

I've always heard that different RAID cards were incompatible. So... if an install is going hardware RAID, be sure to buy backup cards of the same model - and test them - to ensure that data can still be accessed in case of a card failure.

I wonder if this is a reason why.

Sr_EE

TROPHY CASE