[Andrew] picked up a handful of these big STC 8051 chips for a song and dance. The problem he has with them is the clunky VB6 programming software that only wants to run on a Windows box. He buckled ...

Just like a PC’s USB port, the serial port on a PC can also in some cases serve as a power supply. A USB port can provide as much as 500 mA at 5V, but a serial port provides less power. Even with the ...