Dell Latitude E4310 - The Smarter Way to Live....

Hey Readers,

Dell announced the Latitude E4310, and although it retains the outward appearance of its predecessor, the E4300, Dell's latest receives a much needed component upgrade with Intel's latest Core processors.

And if you think the E4310 is too expensive, Dell also launched a lower-cost Latitude E5410 and E5510, for small businesses and startups. Cheaper still, for classrooms and government establishments, is an updated version of Dell's business notebook.

It's business laptop with a 13.3-inch widescreen is what I would consider large enough to get some real work done while hitting a sweet spot in portable computing.

The E4310 is arguably one of the most well-equipped business lightweight laptops. It competes directly with the HP EliteBook 2540p and Sony's VAIO VPC-Z116GXS, proving that packages this small can still pack a huge performance punch. As with its predecessor, the E4310 is one of the few business laptops available in Red and Blue, which, according to Dell, is used by federal establishments to designate laptops that are high security and can't leave the building (Red) versus ones that can (Blue). It's also available in Black. Like the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 and HP 2540p, the E4310 uses both a pointing stick and touchpad. And beneath the full size keyboard are white LEDs that illuminate in low-lit areas, similar to the back-lit keyboard found in the Sony VPC-Z116GXS.


More important, however, is what's inside. The E4310 gets a much needed component upgrade, courtesy of either a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-520M or 2.53GHz Intel Core i5-540M processor. The DDR3 memory will be available in 2-Gbyte, 4GB, and 8GB configurations, but unlike the Sony VPC-Z116GXS, the E4310 will be available with integrated graphics only. There's a plethora of storage options, with a 5,400-RPM and 7,200-RPM hard drive and SSD versions. In addition to dual-layer DVD drives, Dell will also be offering a Blu-ray option with the E4310.

The Latitude E5410 and E5510 have 14-inch and 15.6-inch widescreens, respectively. They start at lower prices (less than $800), but being part the E-family means that accessories and docking solutions are shared across the platforms. For instance, the E4310's power adapter and extended battery can be used with the E5410 and E5510. They offer many of the same features and options as the more expensive Latitudes, including Blu-ray drives, dual pointing devices, the gamut of storage options, and a 3-year battery warranty. They won't have back-lit keyboards, though.

Both the E5410 and the E5510 can scale up to an Intel Core i7 620M CPU, along with options for a Core i5-520M or Core i5-540M processor. Like the E4310, the E5410 and E5510's DDR3 memory can ramp all the way up to 8 GB, but you'll have to deal with integrated graphics only.




Lastly, the Latitude 2110 is mostly a component update to the 2100 series of business netbooks. Instead of the Intel Atom N270 processor, the 2110 will offer a 1.67GHz Atom N450, which has tremendous battery benefits over its predecessor. All the classroom gimmicks that drew eyeballs on its predecessor are there in this new version, including an anti-microbial keyboard, assorted colors, and a touch screen option. It also has a facing forward activity light that turns on if the child is surfing the Web instead of working on a Word document. A 1,366-by768 resolution is available for schools that work with standardized forms.

Clap Switch - The Lighter Brighter Way to Life !!!

Hey Readers,

The secret to make a clap switch is revealed in my blog.
Try makin it as you will gain knowledge how to connect circuits and other .....information..





Here is how to go about making the CLAP SWITCH >>>>

The operation is simple. Clap and the lamp turns on. Clap again and it turns off.

The electret microphone picks up the sound of your claps, coughs, and the sound of that book knocked off the table. It produces a small electrical signal which is amplified by the succeeding transistor stage. Two transistors cross connected as a bistable multivibrator change state at each signal. One of these transistors drives a heavier transistor which controls a lamp.

I built my prototype on a cardboard cover from an old notebook. Punched holes using dividers and placed the components down flat. It might look neater if you draw the circuit diagram on to the board before you begin. A photo is included below. The components are from my junk box and I found that it works even if you omit that 4.7 Megohm resistor. Your results may vary.

The transistor types are not critical and any n-p-n silicon transistors should work.


How it works

Input Transducer

The sound of your claps is picked up using an electret microphone. Some people call it by the name "condenser microphone" which usually refers to exhorbitantly priced things intended for the recording studio. If you could buy yours and still have your shirt on your back relax - it's an electret mike all right. Inside it is an electret film - which is the electrical analogue of a magnet - stretched so that it will vibrate in sympathy with any sound falling on it. These vibrations cause the electrical charge on a perforated plate nearby to change, and a field effect transistor converts these into corresponding changes in current.

This microphone has a stage of amplification built in. The power for this built in amplifier is supplied by connecting a resistor to a positive source of voltage, and the changes in current get reflected as changes in voltage across this resistor according to the familiar relation V = I*R. A larger resistor will give you a larger voltage, but then, the current into the device gets reduced which brings down the gain. The value of 5600 ohms (usually abbreviated to 5.6K, and written down in schematics as 5K6) seems to work all right.
Amplifier

A transistor stage, biased near cut-off (that is, almost no current with no signal) amplifies the signal from the microphone. The output of the microphone is coupled to the base of the transistor using an electrolytic capacitor (note: using a better capacitor here will not work). The top of the electret microphone is at a few volts, the base conducts at around half a volt, so the leakage current of the capacitor (all electrolytic capacitors leak at least a little bit) will eventually cause the steady state condition in which the leakage of the capacitor goes into the base terminal of the transistor. So the collector will have Hfe times this leakage, which can usually be ignored.

The first time the microphone output goes positive, however, (because somebody clapped) this change gets coupled to the base entirely due to the action of the capacitor. This causes the current through the transistor to increase, and this increase in current causes the voltage at the collector, which was sitting near the supply voltage, to fall to nearly zero. If you clapped loudly enough, of course.

This is not a high fidelity audio amplifier. Its function is to produce no output for small sounds and large output for (slightly) bigger sounds, so the customary biasing network can be omitted. The 4.7 Megohm resistor in the previous version was as good as an open circuit, and its omission does not affect the operation of the clap switch in any way. Provided, of course, that you use that 10 microfarad electrolytic capacitor.
Memory

Two cross connected transistors in a bistable multivibrator arrangement make up a circuit that remembers. You can set it to one of two possible states, and it will stay in that state until the end of time. When one transistor conducts, its collector is near ground, and a resistor from this collector feeds the base of the other. Since this resistor sees ground at the collector end the base at the other end receives no current, so that transistor is off. Since this transistor is off, its collector is near supply potential and a resistor connects from this to the base of the other transistor. Since this resistor sees voltage, it supplies the base with current, ensuring that the transistor remains on. Thus this state is stable. By symmetry, the other state is, too.
Changing state

On a clap, the state of the bistable changes. The output of the amplifier is converted to a sharp pulse by passing it through a (relatively) low valued capacitor, of 0.1 microfarads (100 nanofarads). This is connected through "steering" diodes to the base of the transistor which is conducting. This transistor stops conducting, and the other transistor was not conducting anyway. So at a clap, both transistors become off.

Then, those two capacitors across the base resistors come into action. The capacitor connecting to the base of the transistor which was ON has voltage across it. The capacitor connecting to the base of the transistor which was OFF has no voltage across it.

As the sound of the clap dies away, both bases rise towards the supply voltage. But, due to the difference in the charges of the two capacitors, the base of the transistor which was previously not conducting reaches the magic value of half a volt first, and it gets on, and stays on. Until the next clap.

Two red Light Emitting Diodes have been placed in the two collector circuits so that this circuit can be made to work by itself. If you cover up one LED, and display the other prominently, you have it there - a clap operated light.
Output Stage

In order to have a decent amount of light from this circuit, I propose to use six white LEDs in three groups of two each. Each series connected string of two LEDs is arranged to draw around fifteen milliamperes or so by using a series resistor of 330 ohms. Two LEDs in series will drop about five or six volts, and the remaining battery voltage drop across this resistor determines the current through the LEDs. You can get more brightness from the LEDs by reducing the value to 220 ohms or even 150 ohms, provided you keep within the ratings of the LEDs. Do so at your own risk.

Thus the output stage has to handle around fifty or sixty milliamperes. This will give you fairly long time of claplighting with a PP3 battery. The 100mA filament lamp seems to be somewhat hard to find, and people were using torch bulbs, which run at much higher current, and killing their batteries in a few minutes.

A transistor gets its base driven from the collector of one of the transistors in the bistable. With this connection, due to the base current through it, one red LED in the bistable switches between half bright and full, and the other switches between fully off and on. This is normal.

Because the LEDs do not draw as much current as a filament lamp, the output transistor, too, can be of the common small signal variety. All four could be any small signal n-p-n transistor and the circuit should work. So would it with four p-n-p transistors, provided you switch the polarity of every (polarised) component.
Bill of Materials

A list, so that you can go shopping:

You will see the necessity of that last catch-all item when we start actually building this circuit.
The Resistors

From top to bottom, these are:

33 K - orange, orange, orange.
5.6K - green, blue, red.
1K - brown, black, red.
330 - orange, orange, brown.

The best way of identifying these is to use a meter and measure them. That is what I do, because most of my components are pulled off old circuit boards and they might just be pretending to be healthy. Age and ill treatment will have faded the colours so that only the meter can distinguish between, for example, a 2.2K resistor (red-red-red) and a 33K one (orange-orange-orange).


The Diodes

The 1N4148 diodes are extremely small, glass, and most likely have just the polarity marking. The current flow is towards the band. That is, when the banded end is made negative, current flows. And, in sharp contrast, when that end is made positive current does not flow. So this component has to be inserted the right way around in the circuit.



The
Transistors


Four transistors, the same type number, but of different manufacture. The middle lead is the base, and the others two are as marked in the photo for one of the transistors. Flat side down, leads towards you, it goes Emitter-Base-Collector.



The Capacitors: 100n

A bunch of capacitors, all 0.1 microfarad. The markings range from bands as in resistors to various combinations of numbers: brown, black, yellow (or 1-0-4) would be the marking on such a capacitor, though a rummage through my collection for a banded one was not successful. Any of these in the picture can be used. The round ones are disc ceramic. The rectangular one is rolled plastic film. The smallest two are multilayer ceramic.


The Capacitors: 10µF

Electrolytic capacitors always have three markings on them: The capacitance value, the voltage rating, and an indication of the negative lead.



10µF capacitors: a collection

Here they are, all shapes and sizes, all of them of capacity ten microfarads, but of different voltage ratings.



The Capacitors: 1000µF

Here, you can see the arrow pointing to the negative lead. All aluminium electrolytic capacitors indicate the negative lead in this way. These have to be connected up the right way around in a circuit, or else grief would ensue.




The Microphone

If you look closely, one terminal is connected to the body. This is the ground terminal, connected to negative. The other terminal is connected to, duh, the positive. And is also the output terminal. Some electret microphones have three terminals, but I have not used them and do not know how to.




The LEDs

Light Emitting Diodes light when current passes through them. They pass current only in one direction, and generally this is when their longer lead (when new) is made positive. They come in all shapes, colours and sizes. A representative sample grabbed from my box of (mostly) junk is below:



What goes where, in the circuit

Now, I have arranged all the above components alongside the schematic representations, mainly so that you can have a broad idea of what has to go where and how. Of the six white LEDs, only two has been placed, mainly to avoid clutter. And my idea of a switch is to twist wires together to turn on, and pull apart to turn off.