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ABC of electronics terms

(To find chips for distinct functions, see the functional pages.)

S

Scarce chip

Chip for which there is more demand than availability.

local More

Sci.Electronics.Repair

Newsgroup on usenet about repairing electronical devices.

Filip Gieszczykiewicz
www.repairfaq.org/ELE/HTML/REPAIR/

SCR

Silicon Controlled Rectifier

www.americanmicrosemi.com/tutorials/scr.htm

Scroll Lock Key

On 19990129 Brian G wrote:

Excuse me, I am very familiar with computers and know a lot about them, but this question has always hacked at my brain:
What does the scroll lock key do??!?!?!?!

The scroll lock key is supposed to lock the scrolling process. Scrolling is the fact the old text on the screen (onder DOS for example) is shifted up line-by-line when a new line is added at the bottom. The lock key stops and resumes this process. Use the 'type' command to show a long file and try to stop this using the key...

Under Unix this process was done using the XON and XOFF characters, ctrl-S and ctrl-Q. This also works an a PC sometimes. Some Unix'es also used the ESC key for this, which was much easier since it was a single key that is easy to hit clickly...

SCSI

Small Computer System Interface. Often pronounced as skuzi.

SCSI

www.lsilogic.com/ The SCSI chips of formerly NCR->Symbios->Adaptec

www.scsita.org/ SCSI Trade Association (STA)

www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/SCSI-Programming-HOWTO.html Linux Documentation Project

www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ultrascsi.html Ultra SCSI

SCSI
www.lsilogic.com/	The SCSI chips of formerly NCR->Symbios->Adaptec
www.scsita.org/	SCSI Trade Association (STA)
www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/SCSI-Programming-HOWTO.html	Linux Documentation Project
www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ultrascsi.html	Ultra SCSI

Books:

SCSI-Bus und IDE-Schnittstelle. Peripherie-Schnittstellen: Hardware, Protokollbeschreibung, Anwendung ISBN: 3827314178 DM 80

See also:

ASA

ATAPI

Hard Disk Drive

IDE

SDIF

Sony Digital InterFace

See SPDIF.

SDK

Software Development Kit.

This is a kit of software (and sometimes hardware) that allows you develop software for certain specific hardware. See also IDE (Integrated Software Environment). An SDK usually contains a compiler, assembler, downloader. Sometimes also a debugger and/or simulator. An IDE has all functions integrated into what seems to be one GUI (Graphical User Interface). Borland was one of the first to offer quite serious IDE's (for a low price): Borland's Turbo Pascal).

(currently unknown) The MWave SDK is there under 'software'

SDLC

Synchronous Data Link Control is an IBM communication link protocol used to implement the System Network Architecture (SNA).

Intel's (in 1978 announced) 8273 can handle this format together with the HDLC format.

Sensor

Electrical device that can measure something non-electrical in it's environment.

Serial port

A port that sends it's data one bit at a time over a single line.

Books:

title order at Amazon USA price indication

Serial Port Complete ISBN: 0965081923 $32

title	order at Amazon USA	price indication
Serial Port Complete	ISBN: 0965081923	$32

Besides the RS-232 protocol there are several other serial busses:

1 wire Dallas (now Maxim) serial bus data+clock combined (and ground)

2 wire Philips I2C bus data, clock (and ground)

3 wire Industry standard serial bus in, out, clock (and strobe and ground)

Servo Motor

If I remember correctly, a servo motor is a motor that has a constant speed, because it's actual speed is being measured and is used to adjust the voltage that drives the motor.

www.rentron.com/servo.htm Serial Hobby-Servo Controller

www.industrycommunity.com/myforum/stephen_bartlett/ Servodrives and Servomotors Forum: Variable speed drives with/without position control, servodrives with/without position control, drive synchronisers, absolute encoders, fieldbus communications.

SGML

See PCIS

SIMM

Single In-line Memory Module

home.concepts-ict.nl/~nctnico/ Hardware Web: SIMM pinouts

Simulator

Software to mimic the electrical behaviour of electrical circuits in order to test them before they are actually build.

Where Manufacturer

www.cadence.com/ Cadence

www.metasw.com/ hSpice

www.hyperlynx.com/ Hyperlynx

www.mentor.com/ Mentor

www.viewlogic.com/ Quad/Viewlogic

www.intusoft.com/ Spice by Intusoft

www.veribest.com/ VeriBest

Where	Manufacturer
www.cadence.com/	Cadence
www.metasw.com/	hSpice
www.hyperlynx.com/	Hyperlynx
www.mentor.com/	Mentor
www.viewlogic.com/	Quad/Viewlogic
www.intusoft.com/	Spice by Intusoft
www.veribest.com/	VeriBest

Book:
High Speed Digital Design: A handbook of Black Magic

title order at Amazon USA price indication

Single Board Computer

Complete computer on a single PCB. Generally a complete IBM-PC is meant with this.
(These SBC's are build into quite expensive devices, but can save a lot on development costs since they are completely PC-like so the software can be developed and tested on normal low-cost PC's using standard compilers and then easily transfered once the product is ready.)

Where Manufacturer

www.advantech.com.tw/ Advantech

Where	Manufacturer
www.advantech.com.tw/	Advantech

Sinus

Lowest energy waveform, because it's change is as gradual as possible. Therefore it's a very natural waveform. It's change is also directed by a sinus wave form in turn and the change of the change also, at infinitum (=until forever)...

local Sinus and cosinus generation

www.dattalo.com/technical/theory/sinewave.html Theory

SK

www.americanmicrosemi.com/tutorials/ecg_nte_sk.htm

SLDRAM

SyncLink DRAM.

www.sldram.com/ SLDRAM Consortium

Slide

Sliding variable resistor?

Where Manufacturer

www.accuride.com/ Accuride

www.thomsonind.com/ Thomson

Where	Manufacturer
www.accuride.com/	Accuride
www.thomsonind.com/	Thomson

S-Link

Sony's S-Link Technology (Control-A1) is used to connect (Sony) appliances.

www.sony.co.jp/ Sony

www.brouhaha.com/~eric/pic/controls.html

www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/4652/sircs.htm

Smart Card IC

IC* used on a smartcard. Smart cards are the newest generation (now in 1997) of credit cards which have intelligent processors on board. ISO-7816 series is the most widely used smart-card-IC standards.

www.smartcardsys.com/ PC/SC specs for coupling with PC, Technical Overview by Phillippe Sarlin

www.visa.com/ .. cardspec.pdf EMV'96, Standards for card sessions from Europay, MasterCard and Visa

www.gemplus.fr/ Gemplus' excellent site, data + links!

www.gemplus.com/ Gemplus' excellent site, data + links!

java.sun.com/ Java Card Forum, promotes Java as Smart Card language

Axiohm Sells smart card reader/writers for something over $100.

Smart Card IC* vendors:

www.hitachi-eu.com/ Hitachi

www.necel.com/ NEC

www.semiconductors.philips.com/identification/ Philips

www.siemens.de/ Siemens

us.st.com/ ST

www.ti.com/ TI

www.xicor.com/ Xicor

Smart Card IC* vendors:
www.hitachi-eu.com/	Hitachi
www.necel.com/	NEC
www.semiconductors.philips.com/identification/	Philips
www.siemens.de/	Siemens
us.st.com/	ST
www.ti.com/	TI
www.xicor.com/	Xicor

SMT

Surface Mount Technology

As opposed to the more ancient technique of using through hole pins on chips SMT chips are soldered directly to one side of a PCB. This has several advantages:

No hole need to be drilled, which saves money. (Only for VIA's...)
Both sides of the PCB can be used to attach IC*'s to.
The pins can be much closer together (because there is no minimim drillingwidth. Because of this the packages can also be much smaller.
The layout of both sides of the PCB can be done indepently greatly reducingdeveloping and PCB software complexity.

Disadvantages:

Trouble shooting and repairing becomes much harder, especiallywith the J-wing type of pins.
There is yet another type of IC*'s you need to stock...

A way to desolder SMT is puting a thin wire behind the pins, heat the pins and pulling the wire under the pins one by one. Preferable use a wire that doesn't get soldered itself. Perhaps the lacqered (sp?) wire that they use to wind transformators might work or some metal that isn't easily solder...

How is SMT soldered?

They put a kind of solder paste on all parts that need to be soldered, then they glue all the SMT IC*'s to the board using their under side and then they heat the complete board including all the parts until the solder melts and the connections are firm. All components on the board need to be able to withstand this heat or need to be soldered on later!

www.smtnet.com/ More info

Socket

Socket (hardware)

A hole where a plug or a set of plugs go into, generally in order to connect wires or connect a wire to a device.

Where Manufacturer

www.advintcorp.com/ Advanced Interconnect

www.arieselec.com/ Aries Electronics

www.ca-online.com/ Circuit Assembly Corp

www.hollingsworth.com/ Hollingsworth

www.mill-max.com/ Mill-Max

www.yeu.com/ Yamaichi Electronics

Where	Manufacturer
www.advintcorp.com/	Advanced Interconnect
www.arieselec.com/	Aries Electronics
www.ca-online.com/	Circuit Assembly Corp
www.hollingsworth.com/	Hollingsworth
www.mill-max.com/	Mill-Max
www.yeu.com/	Yamaichi Electronics

Software

local

This item has gotten it's own subdirectory

Solder

Good current conducting mixture of lead and tin that has a low smelting temperature and can be used to join certain metals like copper and is therefore used to connect electronical components.

Where Manufacturer

www.kester.com/ Kester Solder

Where	Manufacturer
www.kester.com/	Kester Solder

Sound Card

A PCB in a PC to record and make sounds with.

It generally has several parts:

An interface to record and output MIDI data.This is done via an 6850 (?) UART.
A way to input sound in several formats: 8-bit, 16-bit, Linear, PCM* (A-Law), ADPCM*.(Often only in mono.)
A way to output them again (also in stereo.)
A way to generate tones like an electronic organ.This is used to convert MIDI information into music.
A way to output sound from several inputs like a CD-ROM player.
(Advanced:) A way to output the sound from the PC itself, so the old beeper...(This to save on parts like an amplifier and a speaker once the soundcardis embedded in the motherboard.)
A wave table part, which I know little of. I assume the board would needa processor that uses a ROM or RAM to do the dedicated calculations so themain processor of the system can keep 100% of it's time dedicated to playing games.

Current sound cards have generally several historically originated parts:

The Ad-Lib standard part, which seems to be the most primitive.
The Soundblaster part, which is also still quite primitive (8-bit).
The Windows Sound System part (which was really great: 16-bit etc.).
A Yamaha OPL-2, OPL-3 or OPL-4 part which makes the music. (Also on the SB, I think.)
The MIDI interface (Probably also in the SB.)

The MS Windows Sound System was based on an AD chip named AD1848 and which was later much improved by Crystal (owned by Cirrus Logic) as CS4231A.
Later chips from these two incorporated also the SB etc. parts.

It's all quite a mess and sometimes the connecting chips are really hard to get data about.

See also:

sound chip (next)

sound file

WAV

maxirc.soundcentral.com/ MaxiSound Resource Center

members.aol.com/cridi/ 'I have a dream...' site

www.opensound.com/osshw.html Open Sound System

Sound chip

See also the voice and speech sections in this ABC...

local More about sound chips etc.

Sound file

A sound file is a file on a computer system to store sound in.

ftp.cwi.nl/audio/ definition of a lot of those file formats

SPDIF

Sony/Philips Digital Interface

local More

Specifications

Speech

Human speech

Computers can try to:

Record it (generally compressed)
Play it back
Recognise it
Generate it

local Speech generation

local Speech Recognition

local Voice recognition

local voice recognition chips

local Voice synthesizers

Speed

The volocity with which something moves, but here we're talking about processor speed, so the number of useful computations a processor can execute per second.

local Speed comparison between several embedded processors

SPI

(Synchronous) Serial Peripheral Interface

See SPI.

SPICE

SPICE files are used to simulate components using software like PSpice.

nyquist.ee.ualberta.ca/pub/cookbook/spice/ In the Circuit Cookbook

www.maxim-ic.com/tools/spice/ SPICE models of Maxim chips

local See also

Spotting

Determining the function of a chip by looking at it's number, the number of pins, the board it's on, where it is on the board and what else is on the board.

local Tips for chip spotting

Spying

Book:

title	order at Amazon USA	price indication
Electronic Circuits and Secrets of an Old-Fashioned Spy	ISBN: 1581600275	$20

Square root

Mathematical function

local Square root calculation

www.dattalo.com/technical/theory/sqrt.html Theory

www.allcode.com/8051/ See SQROOT1.ASM

Square wave

www.dattalo.com/technical/theory/sqwave.html

Theory

S-Record

Motorola's file format for transfering binaries to an embedded environment.
Also called S1S9 format.
(Intel has a similar format. Tektronix also. And often regular hex* dumps are used.)

A Unix document about it.

S-Records are ASCII characters in a protocol developed by Motorola and is
used to transfer data and program code to and from host computers or to
store such information. Details of this protocol have been archived as

Source: M68k FAQ
See also:

support.xilinx.com/support/troubleshoot/htm_index/utils_prom.htm	To JEDEC files
www.pemicro.com/support_center/downloads/utilities/utilities.html	binary to s-record converter and an s-record mover

ST6

Processor made by ST.

local ST6 page in the Chipdir

ftp.unina.it/pub/electronics/FAQ/st6faq.txt

FAQ if even that file disappears

Stepper Motor

A stepper motor is a motor that only steps a certain arc of a full rotation each time that a voltage is being applied. By feeding the motor pulses you can exactly control how far the axis is being rotated. You can usually rotate the motor in both directions. Stepper motors are for example used for the head movements in plotters, printers and disk drives.

home.t-online.de/home/uwe-wulf/lmd18245.htm Serial stepper motor driver by Uwe Wulf

Stereo Graphics

Making the eyes see depth by providing them with slightly different images.

www.stereographics.com/html/hdk.htm Stereo3D Hardware Developer's Handbook

Standard

General specification on how to design a product so it can work together with other similar products.

See also ANSI, CEN, CCITT, DIN, IEEE, IETF, ISO, JEDEC, NEN, NNI

See also:

www.epanorama.net/links/standards.html In Finland

www.cmpcmm.com/cc/standards.html Pointers to Computer and Communications Standards

Static Electricity

Read this.

us-tech.com/august96/prods/smi/smi024.htm

Storage

See also: Harddisk, SCSI, ATA, ATAPI, IDE etc.

alumni.caltech.edu/~rdv/comp-arch-storage/FAQ-1.html Answers for Frequently Asked Questions for comp.arch.storage

Surge

See local

Surplus

Surplus goods are left-over goods. Surplus goods are generally cheaper then new stuff, but only if you can easily find them. When you have to hire someone to find them for you or if they have to find you, they can be much more expensive than new stuff (in time and or money).

www.bgmicro.com/ - Surplus electronics

SVPC

SVPC Design Conference

Find out the latest in "Breaking the I/O Bottleneck in the PC Architecture" by joining Intel at the 1996 Silicon Valley Personal Computer Design Conference and Expo (SVPC '96), Oct. 7-9 at the Sunnyvale, Calif., Hilton.
In addition to a keynote address, Intel will lead a discussion on standardized Intelligent I/O, the I2O specification, and its impact on the PC.
For more information on SVPC, contact SysTech Research at 408-293-8383 or e-mail systech@ix.netcom.com
www.intel.com/design/news/bottlnk.htm

Switch

A switch is an electrical, electronical or mechanical device to interrupt or conduct an electrical current.

Where Manufacturer

www.ab.com/mem/ Allen-Bradley

www.apem.com/ Apem

www.ckcorp.com/ (gone?) C&K

www.cole-switches.com/ Cole Instrument Corporation

www.ctscorp.com/ CTS Corp

www.ch.cutler-hammer.com/ Cutler-Hammer

www.eaoswitch.com/ EAO Switches

www.eaton.com/ Eaton Commercial

www.eecoswitch.com/ EECO Switches

www.electro-nc.com/ Electro Switch

www.e-switch.com/ E-Switch

www.grayhill.com/ Grayhill

content.honeywell.com/sensing/ Honeywell

www.switches.com/ Marquardt

www.liteon.com/ Lite-On, International

www.us.liteon.com/ Lite-On, USA

www.mec.dk/ MEC

www.memtron.com/ Memtron Technologies

content.honeywell.com/sensing/ MicroSwitch, now Honeywell Sensing and Control

www.ottoeng.com/ Otto Engineering

www.pui.com/ Projects Unlimited

www.schurterinc.com/ Schurter

www.solico.com/ Solico/MEC

www.switchcraft.com/ Switchcraft

Where	Manufacturer
www.ab.com/mem/	Allen-Bradley
www.apem.com/	Apem
www.ckcorp.com/ (gone?)	C&K
www.cole-switches.com/	Cole Instrument Corporation
www.ctscorp.com/	CTS Corp
www.ch.cutler-hammer.com/	Cutler-Hammer
www.eaoswitch.com/	EAO Switches
www.eaton.com/	Eaton Commercial
www.eecoswitch.com/	EECO Switches
www.electro-nc.com/	Electro Switch
www.e-switch.com/	E-Switch
www.grayhill.com/	Grayhill
content.honeywell.com/sensing/	Honeywell
www.switches.com/	Marquardt
www.liteon.com/	Lite-On, International
www.us.liteon.com/	Lite-On, USA
www.mec.dk/	MEC
www.memtron.com/	Memtron Technologies
content.honeywell.com/sensing/	MicroSwitch, now Honeywell Sensing and Control
www.ottoeng.com/	Otto Engineering
www.pui.com/	Projects Unlimited
www.schurterinc.com/	Schurter
www.solico.com/	Solico/MEC
www.switchcraft.com/	Switchcraft

Synchronous circuits

Synchronous circuits are circuits that work in time steps under the control of a clock. At each clock pulse the output state of each stage is propagated to the next stage as input. An example of a synchronous circuit is an MCU or MPU. In contrast in an asynchronous circuiit there is no clock (and usually no registers and flip-flops) and the output of each part is immediately propagated to every part connected to it's outputs. You can regard a synchronous circuit as asynchronous stages with registers between the stages. Synchronous circuits are usually much more complex than asynchronous ones. When only one clock circuit is used for all registers, the slowest stage determines the maximum clock speed. According to RISC philosophy it's therefore important to reduce the propagation delay in each stage (dividing up stages if need be) until all stages take about as much time and as little time as possible.

www.makaton-signs.org.uk/PL-Sequencer/ Using progammable logic for sequencing circuits

local My article about RISC processor philosophy

Click on the first letter of the electronic term you're looking for:
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local	Choosing a UART
www.beyondlogic.org/	About interfacing it
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port	FAQ directory
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port.nfo	FAQ information
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port.01	FAQ part 1
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port.02	FAQ part 2
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port.03	FAQ part 3
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port.04	FAQ part 4
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port.05	FAQ part 5
sunsite.lanet.lv/ftp/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming/serial//ser_port.06	FAQ part 6
www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal/blum_serial_port.txt	Faq by Christian Blum
www.rdrop.com/~cary/html/serialportdocs.html	By David Cary
www.beyondlogic.org/	At 'Beyound Logic'
local	See also
www.lavalink.com/	PC boards for sale

1 wire	Dallas (now Maxim) serial bus	data+clock combined (and ground)
2 wire	Philips I2C bus	data, clock (and ground)
3 wire	Industry standard serial bus	in, out, clock (and strobe and ground)

www.rentron.com/servo.htm	Serial Hobby-Servo Controller
www.industrycommunity.com/myforum/stephen_bartlett/	Servodrives and Servomotors Forum: Variable speed drives with/without position control, servodrives with/without position control, drive synchronisers, absolute encoders, fieldbus communications.

local	Sinus and cosinus generation
www.dattalo.com/technical/theory/sinewave.html	Theory

www.sony.co.jp/	Sony
www.brouhaha.com/~eric/pic/controls.html
www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/4652/sircs.htm

www.smartcardsys.com/	PC/SC specs for coupling with PC, Technical Overview by Phillippe Sarlin
www.visa.com/ .. cardspec.pdf	EMV'96, Standards for card sessions from Europay, MasterCard and Visa
www.gemplus.fr/	Gemplus' excellent site, data + links!
www.gemplus.com/	Gemplus' excellent site, data + links!
java.sun.com/	Java Card Forum, promotes Java as Smart Card language
Axiohm	Sells smart card reader/writers for something over $100.

sound chip (next)
sound file
WAV
maxirc.soundcentral.com/	MaxiSound Resource Center
members.aol.com/cridi/	'I have a dream...' site
www.opensound.com/osshw.html	Open Sound System

local	Speech generation
local	Speech Recognition
local	Voice recognition
local	voice recognition chips
local	Voice synthesizers

nyquist.ee.ualberta.ca/pub/cookbook/spice/	In the Circuit Cookbook
www.maxim-ic.com/tools/spice/	SPICE models of Maxim chips
local	See also

local	Square root calculation
www.dattalo.com/technical/theory/sqrt.html	Theory
www.allcode.com/8051/	See SQROOT1.ASM

local	ST6 page in the Chipdir
ftp.unina.it/pub/electronics/FAQ/st6faq.txt
FAQ	if even that file disappears

www.epanorama.net/links/standards.html	In Finland
www.cmpcmm.com/cc/standards.html	Pointers to Computer and Communications Standards

www.makaton-signs.org.uk/PL-Sequencer/	Using progammable logic for sequencing circuits
local	My article about RISC processor philosophy