Flash(back) from the future past

So I happened upon some interesting stuff today and yesterday.

I was messing around with some junk to see what is used in various devices and happened upon a chip with Zilog on it and had a flashback ( pun intended ) to the 70's. Rotating psychedelic patterns flashed on the wall to the tune of Frank Zappa's "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" and Grace Slick appeared in a rabbit suit. Actually I recalled machine code being entered in hex and filling out IBM BAL cards in a deck as well as COBOL language forms and entering JCL on front panel switches as well as "core thrashing". The vertigo subsided and I looked into the spec and it is the new version Z8F.... which has flash ram, I2C, serial A/D and ram. It is what we built on huge S100 boards or STD bus systems. It is an interesting CPU and there are C compilers and examples for it. I also encountered a 78R12, which is a voltage regulator with ON/OFF control. I am also creating a laser diode test setup for DVD and CD testing equipment. The infrared remote checker I have is really cool as it takes the wonder out. I can just take a remote and point it at the receiver in the corner and it blinks if it receives a signal. I probably should interface it to a computer which would decode the binary flashes to formatted frames so that I can see what codes are used for different devices and incorporate them in a single interface to a computer. Oh right, a sonic screwdriver that does all the things I discover! Actually I will probably make a portable version of my tools so I can do magic wherever I go. That would be nice as I could just pull my sonic screwdriver out and hear the click of a spark plug wire, identify IR signals, and many things that perhaps will remain unsaid as they are Time Lord and Gravity Guild secrets.

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