Tidal Engineering Corp has enhanced its embedded IEEE 488 product family to include a narrower and lighter version of the Mini- Test 488, the MT488A. Now weighing only 0.75 kg and measuring 259 x 120 x 48mm, this rapid development, portable test controller features a fully integrated C development environment, an IEEE 488 General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) controller, and 32 bit bi-directional digital I/O. Engineered as a low cost, space saving alternative to PCs or workstations with IEEE 488 controllers doing repetitive tests, the easily programmable, field portable instrument can also be used as a demonstration controller at trade shows. The controller features a 24-button membrane switch panel with customizable graphics, and a 4 line x 20-character vacuum fluorescent (VFD) or liquid crystal (LCD) display. It features a Zilog Z180 based processor with speeds of 9.216 MHz or 18.432 MHz, EPROM, SRAM and EEPROM, as well as a real time clock (RTC) and battery backup. The unit's IEEE 488 interface provides talker, listener and controller functions, while two serial ports support RS-232 and RS-485 communications.