The near-final version of Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows 7, became available late Monday to the general public.

Microsoft will collect feedback on the Windows 7 release candidate over the next few months, fixing small issues. The company allowed developers and other testers to begin downloading the release candidate last week.

Windows 7 comes nearly three years after Windows Vista, which took five years for Microsoft to engineer but was regarded by some as underwhelming. Microsoft hasn’t said when the final Windows 7 version will be released, although it’s rumored to be out before year’s end.

Microsoft warned it is not offering technical support for the Windows 7 release candidate, so those who install it are on their own. Users should be familiar with installing an operating system from scratch, formatting a hard drive and backing up data, among other skills, Microsoft advised.

In the Windows 7 release notes, Microsoft warns of several problems that haven’t been resolved, including issues with its latest Web browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).

Debugging JavaScript with the developer tools in IE8 could throw up a warning that a Web site is not responding, but that warning can be ignored. Also, some Web pages may have misaligned text or missing images. Microsoft recommends clicking on the “compatibility view” button on the address bar as a fix.

Microsoft released the Windows 7 beta in Arabic and Hindi, but those languages have been replaced with French and Spanish in the release candidate. English is available for both versions.

“We needed to ensure certain features were tested for worldwide functionality, and Hindi and Arabic help us test a number of language-related features,” Microsoft said.

The Windows 7 release candidate will only work for so long. It is due to expire on June 1, 2010. Three months prior, the release candidate will automatically shut down a person’s computer after two hours.

The Window 7 beta expires on Aug. 1, and computers with that version will begin shutting themselves down after two hours beginning July 1.

Microsoft said that Windows Vista users will not need to reinstall their applications after upgrading to the Windows 7 release candidate. The company does, however, recommend backing up data as a precaution. Vista users will have to do a clean install, however, to go from the Windows 7 release candidate to the final version.

Windows XP users should back up their data and do a clean install of the Windows 7 release candidate.

To run the 32-bit version of the release candidate, a computer should have a 1 GHz or faster processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 or higher driver.

For the 64-bit version, Microsoft recommends a 1 GHz or faster processor, 2GB of RAM, 20GB of hard disk space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.

The key features of this microcontroller are,

1. AT32UC3A3 features distributed SRAM architecture to eliminate latency and potential delay for data     flowing through the controller. The 128 KB of on-chip SRAM is split into 3 regions, each offering a     separate memory interface to the memory and peripheral DMA controllers to enable faster data     transfer.
2. Offers DSP instructions to handle audio decoding of digital audio stream.
3. Offers an integrated stereo 16-bit bit DAC.

Atmel also provide development kit for developing audio player docking stations.

Availability: Now
Price: Each at US$4.41 for 10K pieces

The development kit is priced at US$169.

Featuring Atmel’s 91 DMIPS AVR32 CPU, the AT32UC3A3 includes Hi-Speed USB interface with On-The-Go, a dual high speed SD/MMC card interface plus SDRAM and NAND flash interface with SLC, MLC, and ECC. It is targeted to the rapidly growing digital media solutions and audio player docking station markets, where Atmel said it has seen success with the AT32UC3A introduced in 2007. The AT32UC3A3 also fits a wider range of embedded applications where fast transfer of large amounts of data is a requirement, the company noted.

Atmel explained that the AT32UC3A3 features Atmel’s peripheral DMA controller in combination with a multilayer databus. This offloads the CPU by automating the transmission of large packets of data. In addition, to the dual port SRAM found in all AVR32 microcontrollers, the AT32UC3A3 introduces for the first time a distributed SRAM architecture that eliminates latency and potential delay for data flowing through the controller. The 128 KB of on-chip SRAM is split into 3 regions, each offering a separate memory interface to the memory and peripheral DMA controllers. This allows multiple hi-speed data transfers to run simultaneously.

The AVR32 offers a wide range of DSP instructions usually only found in high end CPUs and DSPs, Atmel said. Its high performance eliminates the need for custom audio decoder hardware, and it is capable of decoding a stereo MP3 stream at less than 25 MHz. With a maximum speed of up to 66 MHz, this means there is plenty of CPU performance left to handle “heavier” audio formats such as AAC.

The AVR32 microcontroller offers an integrated stereo 16-bit bitstream DAC. Atmel noted that this requires only a small external power amplifier to generate the output voltages required for line, headphones or external speakers. Playback in four channel audio or full surround sound requires an external audio codec, usually connected to the microcontroller’s IIS interface.

Atmel is a provider of the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components.

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Featuring Atmel’s 91 DMIPS AVR32 CPU, the AT32UC3A3 includes a Hi-Speed USB interface with On-The-Go, a dual high-speed SD/MMC card interface, plus SDRAM and NAND flash interface with SLC and MLC, ECC.

It is targeted at the digital media solutions and audio player docking station markets.

The AT32UC3A3 also fits a wider range of embedded applications where fast transfer of large amounts of data is a requirement.

The microcontroller features Atmel’s peripheral DMA controller in combination with a multilayer databus.

This offloads the CPU by automating the transmission of large packets of data.

In addition to the dual-port SRAM found in all AVR32 microcontrollers, the AT32UC3A3 introduces a distributed SRAM architecture that eliminates latency and potential delay for data flowing through the controller.

The 128KB of on-chip SRAM is split into three regions, each offering a separate interface to the memory and peripheral DMA controllers.

This allows multiple high-speed data transfers to run simultaneously.

The AVR32 offers a range of DSP instructions usually only found in high-end CPUs and DSPs.

Its high performance eliminates the need for custom audio decoder hardware, and it is capable of decoding a stereo MP3 stream at less than 25MHz.

With a maximum speed of up to 66MHz, there is plenty of CPU performance left to handle ‘heavier’ audio formats such as AAC.

The AVR32 microcontroller offers an integrated stereo 16-bit bitstream DAC.

This requires only a small external power amplifier to generate the output voltages required for line, headphones or external speakers.

Playback in four-channel audio or full surround sound requires an external audio codec, usually connected to the microcontroller’s IIS interface.

The AVR32 AT32UC3A3’s high-speed communication interfaces include a Hi-Speed USB interface with 480Mbit/s, a NAND flash controller with support for multi-level cell error correction, and an MMC/SD port with support for up to two SD card slots with more than 12Mbyte/s transfer speed.

The AT32UC3A3 consumes less than 2.0mW/MHz in active mode.

This allows the AVR32 microcontroller to deliver more than 150 hours of audio playback from two AA batteries.

In standby mode with only the real-time clock running, the device can stay operational for more than nine years.

To demonstrate the digital audio capabilities of the AVR32 microcontrollers and reduce the time to market for potential customers, Atmel has designed the ATEVK1104 reference design.

The kit demonstrates playback from a USB mass storage device, SD card or NAND flash, and shows how music can be downloaded or streamed from a PC through the Hi-Speed USB interface.

The reference design also demonstrates Atmel’s capacitive touch solutions.

Atmel will also provide an Ipod docking extension kit to the ATEVK1104 and ATEVK1105.

The extension kit contains the hardware, firmware and source code required for access and controls the Ipod and Iphone via the USB port.

Later this year, Atmel will introduce Bluetooth and ZigBee radio connectivity add-on kits.

Samples of the AT32UC3A3 are available now.

In recent years, there has been rapidly growing demand for low pin count 8bit MCUs for use in home appliances such as white goods, water heaters, electric pots, de-humidifiers and hair dryers. In response to these needs, Fujitsu has been providing a line-up of 8-pin, 16-pin, and 20-pin low pin count 8bit flash MCUs in its F2MC-8FX family. The new MB95260H, MB95270H and MB95280H series are pin-compatible with previous MB95200 series products, with the addition of embedded dual-operation flash memory. This dual-operation flash provides memory for program data, as well as a memory area for data storage that eliminates the need for external E2PROM, and thus reduces total system cost.

In addition to their use as main MCUs, the three new series can be used as sub-microcontrollers. The new series also employ a single-line on-chip debug that uses only one pin on the microcontroller.

Key benefits
The new series include Fujitsu’s proprietary embedded dual-operation flash memory, which emulates E2PROM. The memory contains two regions, one for program storage, and another that can be used for data storage and acts as a substitute for E2PROM.

The microcontrollers also incorporate Fujitsu’s high reliability, high-performance embedded flash memory that can be re-written 100,000 times and guaranteed to hold data for 20 years. A flash security function protects customers’ software from being read by unauthorized external programs.

In addition, since the internal CR oscillating circuit and the low-voltage detection circuit are built into the microcontrollers, the need for an external oscillator and reset IC is eliminated, thus contributing to a reduction in overall system costs.

As for the timer function in the embedded ‘composite timer’, depending on the program, a channel can be selected from any one of the following: pulse width modulation, pulse width counter, interval timer or input capture which measures interval times. This provides the flexibility to handle customers’ varying system requirements.

Samples of the new series are already shipping. A starter kit, MB2146-420A-01-E, which includes the product development environment Softune Workbench, is also available.

Le nuove serie MB95260H, MB95270H e MB95280H sono pin compatibili con la serie MB95200 e in più sono dotate di una memoria flash dual-operation embedded che fornisce un’area per i dati di programma e un’area per il salvataggio dei dati, eliminando la necessità di una E2PROM esterna e riducendo così i costi di sistema complessivi.

Oltre a essere usati come microcontroller principali, i prodotti delle tre nuove serie possono fungere anche da microcontroller secondari. La nuova serie è inoltre dotata di uno strumento di debug on-chip single-line che usa un solo pin sul microcontroller.