Dec-04: One of the two EEPROM programming boards is complete. Our TA's, Michael and Terri, and hard at work in finishing the other one, and in writing some documentation. While use of the device is not complex, a description of how to use it for reading and writing EEPROM addresses would be helpful. So, feel free to carefully try it on your EEPROM chip; more importantly, watch for documentation to be posted tomorrow on how properly and fully to use it.
Dec-04: New wire has arrived. There is a box in the lab, on the center table, that contains many new spools of wire (in a variety of colors!), so have at it.
Nov-15: I have reset the sign-up page for the week after break (Nov 26 to 30, now correctly listed on that page). Go sign up for a meeting time if you need one, but please do try to resolve your difficulties by (a) trying on your own (of course), and (b) sending an email to me. If you are around for some part of the break, you are welcome to email me if you care to meet.
Nov-11: I have posted a number of additional datasheets on the Documents page in support of the final project. You'll find EEPROM chips, as well as up/down counter/registers, comparitors, ALU's, and tri-state buffers (whatever that may be).
Nov-10: Please check out the mid-term exam solutions, posted at long last. After grading is complete (!), I will add to this document a discussion of common mistakes.
Nov-10: Your diligent TA, Michael Millian, has provided an excellent processor diagram from which you may work. Feel free to print it and modify it according to your group's design decisions. It is a much cleaner depiction of the structure than I have drawn, so it should provide a good reference.
Nov-10: My greatest apologies for failing not only to lead our labs yesterday, but also for failing to post a notice about it. Also, my thanks to all of you, for everyone was quite understanding about my annoying, episodic health problems here. I am happy to report that I'm back on my feet and ready to go.
That said, I just posted a new slate of times on the sign-up page, so select a time for yourself if you have questions that are best answered in person. Moreover, I am going to hold some optional replacement lab hours tomorrow (Sunday). I will be down in the lab from 3 to 6 pm, available to answer questions and help you get things done with whichever lab is currently occupying your thoughts.
Nov-08: The migraines strike again. I am out of commission for the rest of the day, which means that our 7 pm lab is going to be TA-run. Get together with your group and move forward with the final project. Remember, you have limited time to get the components built, so get moving!
Nov-03: First, thank you to everyone for exercising your flexibility, patience, communication, and consideration regarding last week's labs. In spite of the complex restructuring of the week, nearly everyone managed to get into a lab section and get some critical work done.
Second, I have cleared the sign-up page for this week's office hours. Please note that I am trying, for this week, 20 minute (instead of 30 minute) time slots in an effort to provide more opportunities for everyone. Please also note that, because of pre-registration, a good deal of my available time must go to those meetings; that is, if you are unable to sign up for one of the posted office hours, it is deeply unlikely that I will have any other time available to meet with you this week. Do you best via email in that case, and be prepared to take advantage of your time in the lab.
Oct-30: Because of Friday's canceled classes and labs, I am rescheduling those lab sections as follows:
I am sure that for some of you, this rescheduling will anywhere from undesirable to impossible. For those for whom it is undesirable, I ask that you simply live with it -- this week's cancelations are creating many difficulties, and we're all doing what we can to work around them. If your assigned time creates a non-academic conflict, then I expect you to put this academic priority first. If your assigned time creates an academic conflict, choose another section. If all of that fails, then, and only then should you contact me about this issue.
Oct-30: I have added a few more office hours to this week's sign-up sheet, due to popular demand. Also, please watch this space for announcements regarding the rescheduling of this Friday's labs.
Oct-29: We will NOT meet for class today. No sooner did I send you email about class being held than the college cancelled all classes. Enjoy the storm!
Also, the sign-up page had some problems, which a few of you kindly pointed out to me. I believe those problems are fixed, so go ahead and use it.
Oct-26: Due to a scheduling snafu (my fault!), we will have lab in Seeley Mudd 006 today, but I will need you to bring your laptops! Ad-hoc, yes, but I think we'll make it work.
Oct-24: Because I do not always answer email quickly, and because all of our schedules are complex, I am attempting a new method of scheduling meetings with y'all. If you want to meet with me, sign up here for a time slot. I will post a fresh copy of this page each week.
Also, for some of you, the leap from Project 4b to 4c has a flaw. The URL given by the properly decrypted secret message from 4b is missing the courses/ portion (compare to all of the other course web pages to see what I mean). Edit that in by hand. Those who are just grabbing the ciphertext for 4b now will find that this mistake was fixed.
Oct-20: For this week only, the Q-Center TA help session will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on Sunday in the basement of Seeley Mudd. Spread the word. Please remember that the help session leader, Mark, is simultaneously running these sessions for both this course and COSC-111, so he may be in Seeley Mudd 014, helping those students as well. I have asked additional TA's from this class to show up, so I hope that there will be sufficient help available.
Oct-18: A reminder that this week's labs are in computer labs. To add to the confusion of such a change, we will hold the Thursday 7 pm lab in Seeley Mudd 014, while then holding the Friday 10/11 am labs in Webster 102 [a correction, previously and incorrectly listed as 101].
Oct-16: Because so many students want to meet with me and ask questions, I will be available in my office today from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Please try to limit your questions to preparation for the mid-term -- we will worry about problems with the labs after the exam is done.
Oct-15: Now that we're about to have our review session, I will reveal to you the solutions to the sample mid-term. Enjoy.
Oct-14: Since many of you have been inquiring, the Registrar has posted the final exam schedule. The exam for this course will be on Thursday, December 20, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, in Merrill 4.
Oct-11: I am once again suffering from a migraine, so we will not do a new lab in Webster 101 tonight or tomorrow. Instead, I ask that the TA's hold lab in Seeley Mudd 006 -- I hope to be there for tomorrow's labs -- and help everyone finish any outstanding labs, including the multiplier. If you have already completed the multiplier and had it checked, then you are welcome to take these lab days off.
Oct-10: We now also have eight new DAC-457000 units -- the bigger, badder cousin of the ETS-7000's. In fact, the are the same size, color, and general shape as the ETS-7000's, but they do have 16 switches and LED's, and slightly different breadboard configurations. They, too, are stacked in various locations in the corner by the clock, so go ahead and claim one if you have no such unit to yourself. Please put your name on it with tape, and care for it with love.
Oct-09: I guess I was too late with the announcement below, since nobody showed for the cleanup. Thanks to Mr. Dominguez for helping substantially nonetheless! That said, the lab is much cleaner than it has been. Please keep it that way!:put away chips that you are not using into their tubes; put wire into the wire buckets; put small wire fragments and chips with bent pins into the trash; put away papers; put datasheet books onto the shelves; put probes back on the shelves.
That said, I will be around for the afternoon for those who want to work on their multiplier and ask questions. There are also seven new ETS-7000 units in the corner by the clock; grab one if you have been suffering without one. Keep in mind that in just two or three days, there will be eight more such units, except bigger. Until we get those, please share your ETS-7000 with those who do not have such units to themselves. Also, there are ten new probes in their boxes on the shelves -- feel free to open and use them. Finally, I am ordering needlenose pliers, replacement breadboards (since some older ones are misbehaving), and more wire-strippers and chip-pullers. Let me know if there are other components that are in short supply.
Oct-09: As usual, I'm running behind schedule in posting this information, but here we go...For those who are on campus and feeling helpful, we will have a lab cleaning session starting at 11:30 am. Those who participate are then invited to go into town where we can pick a place for lunch (on me, of course). After that lunch, I will be in the lab for a help session, starting at 2:00 pm or so. Come and help up organize the lab; get one of the new ETS-7000's (some of them arrived!); get a free lunch; get help on the labs!
Oct-08: Here is the sample mid-term exam. I will later post the answers to these questions, but you should work through them on your own before looking at those solutions. Please bear in mind that this sample exam is a comprehensive list of neither topics nor question types; it is meant only to provide a general sense of the types of questions that you may be asked to solve on a handwritten examination. Be sure, when studying, to consider all of your notes on the topics we have covered, as well as the work you have done on the lab projects.
Oct-08: I was unexpectedly out of comission this weekend, so my apologies for the lack of communication. For those around during this long weekend, I still hope to have a cleanup/pizza/help session tomorrow (Tuesday) in the lab. Watch here for more information. I will also answer your email querries today, as well as post the promised sample mid-term. Stay tuned.
Sep-25: A number of you attended what you thought would be a TA help session at the proferred time of 7 to 9 pm on Sunday. You reported that nobody was there, and thus the session was a bust. The lead TA in this matter informed that he had mistakenly intended for the first couple of weekend sessions to be on Saturday, and thus wasn't there on Sunday. So, the issue has been resolved: Henceforth, the TA help sessions will indeed be from 7 to 9 pm on Sundays in the lab. Please give it another try.
Sep-25: For any of you seeking to see me today (Tuesday), I am unavailable for the day. Send me a note if you want to meet tomorrow or Thursday.
Sep-20: Please attend whichever lab section to which you are assigned. Many of you have asked to switch labs, either permanently or temporarily, and so far I have been able informally to approve those switches. That kind of flexibility should be possible so long as people consistently attend the same lab section. If, however, we find that one section is over-subscribed, then we may need to reassign some of you; we'll see what happens this week.
Sep-13: Lab section assignments. Following are the three lab sections and the rosters for each. Please show up this week for the lab to which you are assigned. If you want to change sections, contact me and I will attempt to shuffle the rosters for next week.
Section 01, Thursday, 7 pm:
Tsholo Thekiso Jeong Yeop Kim Gianna Marciarille Nneoma Onuoha Denise Escovar Asa Goodwillie Justyn Pham Allison Koo Colin McCabe Andrew Baker Daniel Carrizales Michael Rochford Garrett McCoy Georgina Tolgos Mariami Margishvili Michael Curry Matthew Bonomo Eli Harrigan
Section 02, Friday, 10 am:
Theodore Seem Duncan Smikle Charlie Melamed Thomas Fredrick Raul Dominguez Patrick DeVivo Jerome Sklar Larry Wei Aneesh Pasricha Jessi Wilcox Dan Berghoff Brendan Hsu Yoon Jeong Lee Daniel Park Elias Baez Daniel Kang
Section 03, Friday, 11 am:
Jessica Norworth Najela Gill Seth Heller Laura Poole Jenna Cadore Cade Friedenback Sam Tang Risalat Khan Jeremy Paskoff Ian Herold Julia Vrtilek Imani Marshall Heidi Chang Alex Kang Eli Harris Amar Mukunda Amal Fahem Will Longabaugh Zachary West Daniel Park
Sep-12: Please note that I have not forgotten about the assignment of lab sections. I will post the rosters for each lab section early tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. Please be sure to check for that announcement, since the first lab section will meet on Thursday evening at 7 pm, and you may be in it.
Sep-10: We seem to have a shortage of 74LS08 (AND) chips. If you find yourself in need of such a chip, but none are left, there is a work-around. Specifically, I have put out a tube of 74LS00 (NAND) chips (here's the datasheet for them). If you put the output of the NAND gate through a NOT gate, then, of course, you obtain the AND that you sought. More parts are on order, so these types of shortages should be short-lived.
Sep-10: We now have more keys to the lab! Go to Anne Torrey, Seeley Mudd 302, and ask for a key. Also note that I will be posting an announcement here, regarding labs, some time tomorrow afternoon/evening. Watch for it.
Sep-09: There are a number of significant issues here, so let's address them one-by-one:
New classroom: Since we did not fit in Seeley Mudd 207, we will now hold our lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays in Seeley Mudd 206. Of course, we will still meet at 11 am on those days.
Scheduling labs: I have created a poll in which I need each and every one of you to provide scheduling information. With so many people registered for the course, we need to divide the class into three lab sections; moreover, this division needs to occur over the next few days -- before this Friday! Please go to the Doodle poll and provide information as to which of the many possible lab hours fit your schedule.
Resources: Again, because so many people have registered for this course, we are short on keys, breadboards, and other things. All of them are on-order, and I will notify you when they arrive. In the meantime, please ask for help, use old parts, share, etc. The number of parts needed for the first lab are few, so try not to use too many chips, to share the wire cutters, and so on.
Lab 1: Although I handed out the first lab, I have also now posted it on the Assignments page. Additionally, you can always find copies of the datasheets for our various chips on the Documents page.
Sep-06: Our lab sections will be held in Seeley Mudd 006. However, since there are so many students taking the course, not all of you can fit in the lab at Fridays at 11:00 - 11:50 am. Therefore, there will be three lab sections, held at:
Next week, each of you will be assigned to one of these lab sections for Fridays, officially for the Registrar's records. However, we cannot perform those assignments until the end of add/drop. So, I must ask that each of you come to either lab section 01 or 02 if at all possible. By doing so, I am hopeful that the course's students will be sufficiently distributed for our first lab. Later, we will more thoroughly distribute students amongs those sessions.
Aug-15: Welcome! Regular announcements, including information about problem sets, projects, class preparation, corrections, cancellations, and just about anything else will be provided here. Check this space daily (at the least) to see if any new announcements have been posted. Prior to the first class at 11:00 am on Wednesday, September 5th, you must read the Course Information document.