"This makes the machine transparent in a way that microcode-based designs cannot be."
Every output bit m of microcode can be equivalently expressed as a logic function of n inputs where the microcode has n incoming address lines. This no less transparent than pure logic if you know the contents of the microcode. Microcode is often preferred because changing it is much easier than changing a bunch of gate logic. IMHO factoring your design into registers vs. control signals and putting the control signals into microcode makes the design more transparent than having a giant sea of gates.
Rivian would have gone out of business a year ago if VW had not approached them with an offer of $5.8B to rewrite all of VW's car software [0]. Because VW knew their own software sucked.
I wonder if this is a result of Rivian writing VW's software or if that effort hasn't yet borne fruit.
Yeah it uses a tiny ceramic heating element to heat the bite area up to uncomfortable temperature. It's supposed to denature the toxin and/or counter inflammation. Either way it does reduce moskito itchiness with me.
Rare earth magnet motors require software too if you want them to be maximally efficient. You could embody that software in e.g. an FPGA of course, but it's still software.
"Brushless DC motors" are good because brushed DC motors are constantly switching polarity, which causes arcing of the brushes, which causes wear. The brushes are not there to energize the rotor; the rotor is just magnets after all. The brushes are there to tell the stator to change polarity.
Brushless DC motors don't arc -- because they switch stator polarity with electronics that sense the position of the rotor without rubbing parts. (They can also fine-tune the stator current spikes to make the motor very efficient over a wide speed range, which brushed DC motors cannot do.) The lack of arcing is more important than the fact that they don't have rotating contact points.
Brushed AC motors have rotating contact points (slip rings) but they don't arc (ideally), so the contact points don't degrade as fast as brushed DC motors do. But they do carry a lot of current because their purpose is to energize the rotor. Brushed AC motors are not ideal, but making an AC motor "brushless" is not nearly as big a win as making a DC motor brushless.
Wait. You're saying DC motors require current that's constantly switching polarity? So they're sort of really AC internally?
Yep. All motors require constantly changing current. The distinction between AC and DC motors is whether you feed the motor externally with current that is already alternating sinusoidally, or whether the motor itself turns external DC into some kind of AC.
We had that process too, and I insisted on it. Any PR not matched to one or more issues gets automatically rejected. The friction this injects ensures people are not wasting company resources bikeshedding.
I'm a world champion bikeshedder, and I both hated this policy and insisted we keep it.
I've had similar bad experiences with hotel resellers. You book a hotel with Expedia and roll into a foreign town at 11 pm after changing a flat tire on the way and the hotel says "we never heard of you and we are full."
I've never been stranded when I've contacted the hotel directly, via their website or the phone. Sometimes a glitch does happen, but when it does the hotel will call around on your behalf and find you a room.
Every output bit m of microcode can be equivalently expressed as a logic function of n inputs where the microcode has n incoming address lines. This no less transparent than pure logic if you know the contents of the microcode. Microcode is often preferred because changing it is much easier than changing a bunch of gate logic. IMHO factoring your design into registers vs. control signals and putting the control signals into microcode makes the design more transparent than having a giant sea of gates.
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