The Hitachi UT42X902 is one of the sleeker 1080p LCD televisions. At just 1.6 inches thick, it is certainly thin. The translucent frame on all four sides curves back to the edge. The Hitachi UT42X902 stand is fairly unique and is designed with a circular, donut-like base.

Perhaps the biggest drawback of the UT42X902 is that you must supplement the very basic HDMI and PC inputs with which the UT42X902 comes equipped with a standalone AVC08U Audio Video Center for a couple hundred dollars more. Unfortunately, this purchase is necessary for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the desire to actually watch television programming. The Hitachi UT42X902’s remote is better than most and features back-lighting behind every key as well as a learning feature to control other devices.

The UT42X902 has quite a few picture controls in addition to many advanced controls including three types of noise. Though it’s a pain to have to purchase the AVC08U Audio Video Center, it has an extremely robust offering of ports to suit your every need. The Hitachi UT42X902 does a solid job of displaying accurate, realistic colors, but it has few outstanding characteristics; however, there is one exception: it’s uniformity of color. Colors are consistent and balanced and even hold out very well when seen from off-angles. As far as price is concerned, you will have to pay a premium for Hitachi’s extremely sexy set. So if you want to own one of the great beauties of the LCD TV market, this is definitely a LCD TV for you to consider.…

Read More »

As any person, who remodeled their home, will tell you that "choosing the right tool for the right job" makes all the difference. The same statement applies when choosing the right database for a project. Some databases are basic, some are "battery operated" and some are "mighty power tools." Below is a guide on selecting the perfect database for the right project.

When you only need to store a limited amount of data and require a quick and easy development cycle, Microsoft Access is the right tool for you. It provides a powerful set of database and graphical user interface tools that allows the user to quickly organize, access and share information. Since Access is part of the Microsoft family of office products, it easily integrates with Excel, Word, and SQL Server. In addition, it supports Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). However, if the database is going to hit 1GB threshold, you may encounter various performance issues, including slow response and record corruption. Microsoft Access is an equivalent of a Swiss army knife. Each part individually is not as impressive; however, when combined together, it produces an appealing solution.

My SQL is a viable alternative to Microsoft Access. Major advantages of My SQL are the low cost (licensing starts below $ 500) and platform independence (it can be installed on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and UNIX operating systems). My SQL does not, however, come with the development interface tools that Microsoft Access provides and would require the use of a programming language, such as Visual Basic, C, etc., to create user interface and reporting. This is your battery-operated power tool!

Microsoft SQL Server is a powerful alternative to My SQL and Oracle. It is moderately priced and yet quite powerful and scalable. It provides a user administration module capable of handling user, group and column-level security. Record-retrieval speed of the SQL Server outperforms both Microsoft Access and My SQL. In addition, Microsoft SQL Server is highly scalable. This is your power tool!

Oracle is the oldest of the relational database management systems (RDBMS) discussed in this overview and the most powerful. However, it is also the most expensive and most difficult to implement. Oracle is highly scalable and allows storage of a tremendous amount of records without freezing performance. Like Microsoft SQL Server, it has a powerful user administration module. This is the mighty power tool!

When selecting the right tool for your next database project, keep in mind the following:

Comparison Matrix and Cost and Function chart are available at www.cxtgroup.com/diy_db.pdf
…

Read More »

As this is the very first project of our lecture series, we have to cover more fundamentals than the high programming techniques. This is an example project to blink a bulb by using the MicroC compiler. Proteus-7 Software is used to get the out put. We will have more details of them, later.

The opening Window of the MicroC Compiler

Above figure shows the Welcome screen of the software. Its MicroC. For the early projects, we will use MicroC compiler. Afterthat we would be able to change to any other softwares later on.

Let me introduce the later activities in setps. These steps will lead you to a successful project.

Step 1: Go to “project” in the upper bar of the Window. Then go to “New Project”.

Step 2: You will be given a dialog box as below. You have to give a name to the project, as well the path of the project. That means where you need to build the projects. Most probably some where in your Hard drive.

Step 3: As well you have to select the device. For this example, select” P16F84A” & clock as 004. 000000. Then select ok.

You will be given a window as below.

Now all your previous stuff has been done. Now you have to do the coding.

Step 4: You have to do the coding of your project. For just now we will do a very simple programme, as this is our first example.

This is the programme that we have to type in that section.

void main()

TRISB=0×00;

PORTB=0×00;

while(1)

PORTB=~PORTB;

delay_ms(250);…

Read More »