Nuts and Volts - December 2008

PHOTO COURTES Y OF FERMILAB.

■ Cables in Fermilab’s Grid Computing Center.

than 15 million GB of LHC data annually, and “when the LHC starts running at full speed, it will produce enough data to fill about six CDs per second.” The grid allows domestic and foreign research groups to “sift through the LHC data torrent in search of tiny signals that will lead to discoveries about the nature of the physical universe.”

As one researcher observed, “We’ve spent years ramping up to this point, and now, we’re excited to help uncover some of the numerous secrets nature is still hiding from us.” Watch out Mother Nature. The little carbon-based bugs are tugging at your skirt again.

SHARPER EYE IN THE SKY

■ Satellite view of Kutztown University, Pennsylvania.

PHOTO COUR TES Y OF GEO EYE.

If you think the images you get on Google Earth are amazing, wait until you tap into the resources of GeoEye, Inc. ( www.geoeye.com), which on September 6th launched a new imaging satellite, GeoEye-1. Shown in the photo is a shot of Kutztown University, located between Reading and Allentown, PA. The 1856 x 1404 color image would pretty much allow you to count the number of football players on the field and tell a Jeep from a Hummer, which is pretty impressive given that the satellite was moving north to south in a 423 mile high (681 km) orbit at a speed of 4. 5 mps when it took the photo. Not so coincidentally, Google ( www.google.com) has its finger in the pie and reportedly will be adding GeoEye to Google Maps and Google Earth, perhaps by the time you read this. For the record, the satellite was build by General Dynamics, and the imaging system was provided by ITT.

SBC DESIGNED FOR RUGGED

ENVIRONMENTS

The Rhodeus, from Diamond Systems Corp. (www.diamond systems.com), is a fanless PC/104 single-board computer (SBC) that features a 500 MHz AMD Geode LX800 low power consumption processor and up to 1 GB of high speed DDR SDRAM. It is designed to

PHOTO COURTESY OF DIAMOND SYSTEMS CORP. ■ The Rhodeus single-board computer.

operate in harsh environments where airflow for heat dissipation is restricted and heatsinks and fans are unacceptable. It is also intended to perform around-the-clock unattended. Other features include 10/100 Ethernet, two serial ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one parallel port, 1 ATA- 33 channel, and a variety of interfaces. It supports Windows 2000, XP, CE 5.0, and Linux. No price was given, but quotes are available online.

CIRCUITS AND DEVICES THE ST- 70 STILL LIVES

■ Decades after its birth, the Dynaco ST- 70 lives on.

If you’re a stereophile beyond the age of 40, you likely remember the Dynaco ST- 70, one of the world’s most popular stereo amps. The tube-driven device was known for excellent sound quality at a reasonable price and was available in both kit and factory wired versions. Produced in the 1960s and 1970s, Dynaco sold something more than 300,000 of them. The strange thing is that you can still buy a new one, with all new parts, from tubes 4 hi-fi — also known as Vacuum Tube Audio ( www.tubes4hifi.com).

The company is the brainchild of Roy Mottram and has been around since 1988. Roy still has a day job after 20 years of selling these things, so there apparently isn’t a gold mine in reproducing vintage audio equipment. But, hey, Christmas is coming up; this would make a great gift for someone who is tired of projects in the digital world.