Commodore 64 software

The Commodore 64 amassed a large software library of nearly 10,000 commercial titles, covering most genres from games to business applications, and many others.
Applications, utility, and business software.
While the 1541 disk drive's slow performance made the Commodore 64 mostly unsuitable as a business computer, it was still widely used for many important tasks, including computer graphics creation, desktop publishing, and word processing. Info 64, the first magazine produced with desktop publishing tools, was created on and dedicated to the Commodore platform.
The best known art package was perhaps KoalaPainter, primarily because of its own custom graphics tablet user interface - the KoalaPad. Another popular drawing program for the C64 was Doodle!. A Commodore 64 version of The Print Shop existed, allowing users to generate signs and banners with a printer. "The Newsroom" was a desktop publishing suite. Lightpens and CAD drawing software were also commercially produced, such as the Inkwell Lightpen and related tools.
There were many prepackaged wordprocessors available for the Commodore 64, such as PaperClip and Vizawrite, but a popular DIY program was SpeedScript, which was available as a type-in program from Compute!'s Gazette.
The MultiPlan spreadsheet application from Microsoft was ported to the Commodore 64, where it competed against established packages such as Calc Result. The first Lotus 1-2-3-like integrated software package for the 64 was Viza Software's Vizastar. A complete office suite arrived in the form of British made Mini Office II. In Germany and Scandinavia, many popular application programs were published by German company Data Becker. The typical C64 spreadsheet could store 64 columns and 255 rows, or 16,000 cells, but only 5-10% of them could be used at any one time, due to RAM limitations.
Serious Commodore 64 business users, however, were drawn to GEOS. Due to its speed, ease of use, and full suite of office applications and utility software, GEOS provided a work environment similar to that of an early Apple Macintosh. Arguably the best office applications appeared on GEOS because it was graphically advanced and not limited by the Commodore 64's screen area of 40-columns. Being a fully-fledged OS, GEOS brought the arrival of many add-on fonts, accessories, and applications. It also supported most Commodore 64 peripherals and models of third-party printers. KoalaPad and Lightpen users could use GEOS too, which greatly increased the amount of clip art available for the platform. GEOS proved very popular because of low price for the necessary hardware (and of course the capability of the OS). This was due in part to the aggressive pricing of the Commodore 64 as a games machine and home computer (With rebates, the C64 was going for as little as US$100 at the time). This was in comparison to a typical PC for US$2000 (which required MS-DOS, and another $99 for Windows 1.0) or the venerable Mac 512K Enhanced also $2000.
There were numerous sound editing tools for the Commodore 64. Commodore released music composition software which included a keyboard overlay suited for early model Commodore 64s. Software titles such as the Music Construction Set were available for users to compose music with notes, however the only tools which really pushed the C64's sonic capability to the full were mostly demoscene music tools, or pure assembly language. MIDI expansion cartridges and speech synthesizing hardware was also available for more serious musicians. The Prophet64 cartridge was recently released and features a suite of GUI-style applications for sequencing music, drum and rhythm synthesis, MIDI DIN-sync, and taking advantage of the SID chip in other ways, effectively turning the C64 into a true musical instrument that anyone can use. There was also software which could be used to make the Commodore 64 speak, the best-known being SAM.
The first screen shows the C64's BASIC with a small program. The BASIC interpreter does not only allow the user to write programs, but it is also used as command prompt, so in order to load a program a BASIC command needs to be entered.
Games.
By 1985, games were estimated to make up 60 to 70% of Commodore 64 software. Due in part to its advanced sound and graphic hardware, and to the quality and quantity of games written for it, the C64 became better known as a gaming and home entertainment platform than as a serious business computer. Its large installed user base encouraged commercial companies to flood the market with game software, even up until Commodore's demise in 1994. In total over 23,000 unique game titles exist for the Commodore 64.
"International Soccer" was Commodore's best first-party game; otherwise "the normal standard for Commodore software is mediocrity", "InfoWorld" stated in 1984. The company did not publish many other games for the C64, instead releasing game cartridges primarily from the failed MAX Machine for the C64. Commodore included an "Ultimax" mode in the Commodore 64's hardware, which allowed the computer to emulate a MAX machine for this purpose.
However, aside from the initial Commodore cartridges, very few cartridge-based games were released for the Commodore. Most third-party game cartridges came from Llamasoft, Activision, and Atarisoft, however some of these games found their way into disk and tape versions too. Only later, when the failed C64GS console was produced, did cartridges make a brief comeback, including the production of a few more cartridge-only games. Crackers managed to port these games to disk later on.
While the 1541 floppy disk drive quickly became universal in the US, in Europe it was common for prepackaged commercial game software to either come on floppy disk or cassette-tape format, and sometimes both. Cassette-based games were usually cheaper than their disk-based counterparts; however, due to the Datasette's lack of speed and random access, many large games (such as role-playing video games) were never made for the cassette format. Despite this, a great deal of software was published only on the cassette format in Europe, including many "budget" games produced by companies like Mastertronic, Firebird, and Codemasters which were released on cassette only and sold for a fraction of the price of full-price commercial software.
Whilst many commercial software companies produced prepackaged game software, an abundant supply of free software was also available. What is noticeable from the Commodore 64's game catalog is that a rather large selection of all C64 games were programmed non-commercially by average Commodore 64 users, with editors included in some games, e.g. Boulder Dash Construction Kit, Pinball Construction Set, SEUCK, The Quill, GameMaker. Given the accessibility of BASIC on the Commodore 64, many BASIC games were created and also ported from other computer platforms and modified for the Commodore 64. In addition, many games exist that were released as Type-in programs from numerous magazines, especially European Commodore magazines. Many books and magazines were published containing listings for games, and public domain software was developed and released from both BBS systems and public domain libraries such as "Binary Zone" in the UK.
There were many classic must-have games produced on the Commodore 64, perhaps too many to mention, including versions of classic video games. Of particular note, the smash hit "Impossible Mission" produced by Epyx was originally designed for the Commodore 64. Epyx's multievent games ("Summer Games", "Winter Games", "World Games", and "California Games") were very popular, as well as perhaps the first driving game with split-screen dynamics, "Pitstop II". Most of these games eventually made an appearance on the Commodore DTV joystick unit many years later.
Other hit games such as "Boulder Dash", "The Sentinel", "Archon", and "Elite" were all given Commodore 64 versions. Cassette users may remember titles such as "Master of Magic", "Rocketball", "One Man and His Droid", and "Spellbound" on Mastertronic's budget labels. Other notable titles on the Commodore 64 include the "Ultima" and "Bard's Tale" role-playing game series. Hewson/Graftgold were responsible for several well-received C64 titles including "Paradroid" and "Uridium"—made famous for their metallic bas-relief styled graphic effects and addictive gameplay. System 3 produced "The Last Ninja" action adventure series originally on the C64. "Armalyte", a groundbreaking shoot 'em up title from Thalamus Ltd, and "Turrican I & II" are among some of the highest rated games for the Commodore 64 (according to "Zzap64", which awarded "Gold Medals" to these games).
Notable game designers for the Commodore 64 are: Paul Norman, Danielle Barry (aka Dan Bunten), Andrew Braybrook, Stephen Landrum, Tim and Chris Stamper, Jeff Minter and Tony Gibson just to name a few.
During the final mainstream commercial years of the Commodore 64, Issue 38 of Commodore Format magazine in November 1993 awarded the only 100% rating ever given to a Commodore 64 game in any major Commodore 64 publication. As no game had ever received such a high rating before, and as the commercial Commodore 64 scene was winding down in the mid-1990s, the awarding of 100% was seen as somewhat controversial. The game, titled "Mayhem in Monsterland", was developed to exploit a multitude of programming tricks and quirks in the Commodore 64's hardware to the maximum. The impressive use of non-standard colors and scrolling resulted in perhaps the most graphically stunning game ever produced for the Commodore 64. The gameplay itself is similar to that of Nintendo's "Super Mario Bros." and SEGA's "Sonic the Hedgehog."
Whilst mainstream commercial activity for games no longer exists for the C64, many enthusiasts and hobbyists still write games for the platform. In addition, a few small publishers still sell game software.
Commodore 64 games continue to inspire developers and gamers on modern platforms such as iOS with many games being produced using similar styles of game-play mechanics to those from the Commodore 64 era.
Type-ins, bulletin boards, and disk magazines.
Besides prepackaged commercial software, the C64, like the VIC before it, had a large library of type-in programs. Numerous computer magazines offered type-in programs, usually written in BASIC or assembly language or a combination of the two. Because of its immense popularity, many general-purpose magazines that supported other computers offered C64 type-ins ("Compute!" was one of these), and at its peak, there were many magazines in North America ("Ahoy!", "Commodore Magazine", "Compute!'s Gazette", "Power/Play", "RUN" and "Transactor ") dedicated to Commodore computers exclusively. These magazines sometimes had disk companion subscriptions available at extra cost with the programs stored on disk to avoid the need to type them in. The disk magazine "Loadstar" offered fairly elaborate ready-to-run programs, music, and graphics. Books of type-ins were also common, especially in the machine's early days. There were also many books publishing type-ins for the C-64, sometimes programs that had originally appeared in one of the magazines, but books containing original software were also available.
A large library of public domain and freeware programs, distributed by online services such as Q-Link and CompuServe, BBSs, and user groups also emerged. Commodore also maintained an archive of public domain software, which it offered for sale on diskette. Despite limited RAM and disk capacity, the Commodore 64 was a popular platform for BBS hosting. Some of the most popular installations included the highly optimized and fast Blue Board program, and the Color64 BBS System, which allowed the use of color PETSCII graphics. Many BBS sysops used high-capacity floppy drives like the SFD-1001 or hard drives such as the Lt. Kernal.
Software cracking.
The C64 software market had widespread problems with copyright infringement. There were many kinds of copy protection systems employed on both cassette and floppy disk, to prevent the unauthorized copying of commercial Commodore 64 software. Practically all of them were worked around or defeated by crackers and warez groups. The popularity of this activity has been attributed to the large Commodore 64 user base.
Many BBSs offered cracked commercial software, sometimes requiring special access and usually requiring users to maintain an upload/download ratio. A large number of warez groups existed, including Fairlight, which continued to exist more than a decade after the C64's demise. Some members of these groups turned to telephone phreaking and credit card or calling card fraud to make long-distance calls, either to download new titles not yet available locally, or to upload newly cracked titles released by the group.
Not all Commodore 64 users had modems however. For these people, many warez group "swappers" maintained contacts throughout the world. These contacts would usually mass mail cracked floppy disks through the postal service. Also, sneakernets existed at schools and businesses all over the world, as friends and colleagues would trade (and usually later copy) their software collections. At a time before the Internet was widespread, this was the only way for many users to amass huge software libraries. Also, and particularly in Europe, groups of people would hold copy-parties explicitly to copy software, usually irrespective of software licence.
Several popular utilities were sold that contained custom routines to defeat most copy-protection schemes in commercial software. (Fast Hack'em—probably the most popular example—was itself widely redistributed.) Pirates Toolbox was another popular set of tools for copying disks and removing copy protection. Tapes could be copied with special software, but often it was simply done by dubbing the cassette in a dual deck tape recorder, or by relying on an Action Replay cartridge to freeze the program in memory and save to cassette. Cracked games could often be copied manually without any special tools. In Europe, some hardware devices, colloquially known as "black boxes" were available under the counter that connected two C1530 tape decks together at the connection point to the C64 permitting a copy to be made whilst loading a game. This overcame the difficulties in direct dubbing of later games using the high speed loaders that were developed to overcome the very long load times.
BASIC.
Like most computers from the late 1970s and 1980s, the Commodore 64 came with a version of the BASIC programming language. It was used for both writing software and for performing the duties of an operating system such as loading software and formatting disks.
The onboard BASIC programming language offered no easy way to tap the machine's advanced graphics and sound capabilities. Accessing these associated memory addresses to make use of the advanced features required using the PEEK and POKE commands, third-party BASIC extensions, such as Simons' BASIC, or to program in assembly language. Commodore had a better implementation of BASIC but chose to ship the C64 with the same BASIC 2.0 used in the VIC-20 to minimize cost. This, however, did not stop countless people making thousands of programs in the BASIC V2 language, and teaching people their first steps in computer programming.
Music.
The MOS Technology 6581 SID is the sound chip for the C64, for which many music software programs were written. A musical software tool for the C64, was Kawasaki Synthesizer created in 1983.
Development tools.
Aside from games and office applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, and database programs, the C64 was well equipped with development tools from Commodore as well as third-party vendors. Various assembler solutions were available; the "MIKRO" assembler came in ROM cartridge form and integrated seamlessly with the standard BASIC screen editor. The PAL Assembler by Brad Templeton was also popular. Several companies sold BASIC compilers, C compilers and Pascal compilers, and a subset of Ada, to mention but a few popular languages available for the machine.
The likely most popular entertainment oriented development suite was the Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit, affectionately known as SEUCK. SEUCK allowed those non-skilled in programming to create original, professional-looking shooting games. Garry Kitchen's Gamemaker and Arcade Game Construction Kit also allowed non-programmers to create simple games with little effort. Text adventure game tools included The Quill and Graphic Adventure Creator development suites. The Pinball Construction Set gave users a pinball machine to design.
Modern-day development tools.
Software development on the Commodore 64 never really stopped. There are many tools available today, including IDEs such as CBM prg Studio, Relaunch64, and WUDSN IDE, which is a plug-in for the open source Eclipse IDE. Along with small C compilers such as cc65, there are many assemblers and cross assemblers to be used on modern day PCs:
C64List by Jeff Hoag is both a cross assembler and cross-platform BASIC editor/tokenizer that allows developers to write mixed BASIC/assembly programs in a text file on a PC and compile it into a single .prg file that can be executed on an actual C64 or emulator.
Tools such as PuCrunch, an LZ77 data and executable self extracting compression program, are also available released under GNU LGPL. Sprite editors like Sprite Pad allow you to design C64 Sprites and animations using Windows. GoatTracker allows you to write music using modern OSs and uses the ReSID engine.
Using CodeNet it is possible to transfer and execute programs to a C64 via a TCP/IP network cable from a PC. Although this does require an Ethernet adapter on the C64 such as Individual Computers RR-Net or an appropriate version of the 1541 Ultimate.
Retrocomputing efforts.
The magnetic tapes and disks upon which home computer software was stored are decaying at an alarming rate. In order to preserve game software and information, efforts are underway to copy from these degrading media onto fresh media which will help ensure a long life for the software and make it available for emulation and archiving. In addition, there are other efforts to archive Commodore 64 documentation, software manuals, magazine articles, and other nostalgia (such as software packaging artwork, game screenshots, and Commodore 64 TV commercials). Commodore 64 game software has been remarkably well documented and preserved - a considerable feat when taking the amount of software available for the platform into consideration.
The GameBase 64 "(GB64)" organization has an online database of game information, which at version 7 holds information for 21,000 unique game titles. The database is still growing as new information comes to light.
Besides the online database a downloadable offline version exists. Using one of the frontends GameBase (Windows only) or jGameBase (platform independent) you can conveniently browse the database entries and directly start them in an emulator.
The GoodGB64 variant of Cowering's Good Tools allows users to audit their C64 game collections using the GameBase64 database.
There are tools available to transfer original 1541 floppy discs to or from the PC. The Star Commander is a DOS-based tool, cbm4linux is a Linux tool, and cbm4win is a Windows tool to transfer data from an original floppy drive to the PC, or vice versa, using a simple X-cable. There are also tools available, 64HDD, to allow your C64 to directly load D64 software stored on your PC using the same cables. The Individual Computers Catweasel allows PC users to use their own floppy drive to read C64 disks.
In addition, there is now a growing number of emulators available, which allow the use of an emulated C64 on modern computing hardware. These include VICE, which is free and runs on most modern as well as some older platforms; CCS64, which is available for Windows and is written by Per Håkan Sundell; and Power64, which has versions for Mac OS X and OS 9.
Also the Quantum Link service has been reconstructed as Quantum Link Reloaded. It can be accessed with a real Commodore 64, or through the VICE emulator.
Special hardware has also been designed to aid the conservation of software, such as the IDE64 cartridge, which allows the user to connect a modern PC IDE ATA hard drive or a CompactFlash flashcard directly to the machine, giving the possibility to copy software onto the hard drive and use it from there, preventing wear on a decades-old floppy disk.
Nintendo's Virtual Console service offers Commodore 64 games for download on the Wii console in North America and Europe.


BMS-203

CER-203 is a central unit of early digital computer developed by Mihajlo Pupin Institute (Serbia) in 1971. It contained both central processing unit and primary memory.
Specifications.
Central Processing Unit:
Primary memory:


Conflict 2500

Conflict 2500 is video game published by Avalon Hill in 1981 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore PET, and TRS-80. "Conflict 2500" is a game in which the player's band of warships, supported by a network of planetary and free bases, must seek out and destroy invading berserkers moving invisibly.
Development.
The game was designed by William David Volk. Volk says that at the time he was a fan of the animated series "Star Blazers" and borrowed themes from the show for "Conflict 2500". Volk also explained that he had played the "Startrek" game and wanted a more complex version of that game.
Reception.
Jon Mishcon reviewed "Conflict 2500" in "The Space Gamer" No. 45. Mishcon commented that "Not great, but easily worth [the price]."


Luton Analogue Computing Engine

The Luton Analogue Computing Engine (LACE) was a code name for a military general purpose analogue computer, predominantly used for missile simulation.
It was developed in 1953-1956 by English Electric's Guided Missile Division in Luton, UK. Upon the closure of the Luton factory in 1962, LACE was transferred to the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) Guided Weapons Division in Stevenage.


The Code Room

The Code Room is a half-hour-long reality game show produced by Microsoft. The show was conceptualized and executive produced by Paul Murphy and hosted by Jessi Knapp, accompanied by a varying project expert. Each episode consists of a number of MSDN Developer Event attendees who team up to complete a project, with given specifications, in a limited amount of time. It should not be confused with The Code Room from DMD and the group that introduced the world to the "Hybrid Hostel".
"The Code Room" was filmed at an MSDN Developer Event and shown on several cable television stations, as well as other streaming television stations like MSDN TV. The show could also be watched for free through the Channel 9 community, and was additionally included in several MSDN CDs and DVDs.
The "Code Room" was typically an enclosed room with one or more desks, whiteboards and computers. All required programming tools were installed, along with other stationery. However, no internet connection was available and contestants could not bring their own notes. Contestants had to use preselected development environments which were typically new to them, having only been given a quick crash course about the environment in a presentation before the contest began.
Teams that were able to complete the project within the required time were eligible for prizes and to be part of "Team Code FF". At the end of the series, the two top "Team Code FF" teams (determined by their performance, as well as community ranking) competed in the Final Code Room challenge for the ultimate "Code Room Champion" title.
The program won a Telly Award in 2004.


Laser 50

The Laser 50 is an educational portable computer that ran the BASIC programming language released in 1984.
Specifications.
The Laser 50 used a Zilog Z80 central processing unit running at 3.5 MHz, 2 kB to 18 kB of RAM, a 12 kB ROM, and a 80x7 dots LCD screen.


English Software

The English Software Company, later shortened to English Software, was a Manchester, UK-based video game developer and publisher that operated from 1982 until 1987. Starting with its first release, the horizontally scrolling shooter "Airstrike", English Software focused on the Atari 8-bit family of home computers, then later expanded onto other platforms. The company used the slogan "The power of excitement".
History.
The company was set up in 1982 by Philip Morris, owner of Gemini Electronics computer store in Manchester, to release video games for the Atari 8-bit family. By the end of 1983, English Software was the largest producer of Atari 8-bit software in the UK and Morris closed Gemini Electronics to concentrate on English.
The company continued to concentrate on the Atari 8-bit market but also released games for other home computers including Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, and Amiga.
Popular games include platformers "Jet-Boot Jack" (1983) and "Henry's House" (1984), racer "Elektra Glide" (1985), the multi-event "Knight Games" (1986) and shoot 'em up "Leviathan" (1987).
English had licensing deals that saw some of their games released internationally e.g. through Dynamics Marketing in Germany and Datamost in the US. A number of English's games were sold at budget price by Mastertronic in the US, which included exclusive ports such as the Atari version of "Henry's House" and the IBM PC compatible version of "Knight Games". Philip Morris said in 2013 he did not license the Atari version to Mastertronic UK, even though English Software had the option to do this.


IData Pro

QuickDEX is a free form database software application first released by Casady & Greene for the classic Mac OS. An update, QuickDEX II was released and the product eventually became "InfoGenie" and then "iData Pro". The purpose of this software is to store text data that doesn't fit into more rigid database structures. QuickDEX and its successors featured an extremely fast search, phone dialing, as well as label and envelope printing. InfoGenie and iData Pro 1.0 added the ability to have user-defined fields in a record along with the freeform text area.
Since the closing of Casady & Greene, Inc., iData has been taken over by Mike Wright and Robin Casady. It is currently available from iDataPartners.com and a new version has been written for Mac OS X. iData Pro expands on its predecessors by adding (among many other features) the ability to have styled text, images, and sound files in the freeform text area.
There is also a version available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch through iTunes. It is called iData Mobile Plus.


TK95

The TK95 microcomputer was the evolution of the TK90X made in the second half of the 1980s by Microdigital Eletronica, a company located at São Paulo, Brazil that manufactured some ZX81 clones before (TK82, TK82C, TK83 and TK85) and a ZX80 clone (TK80). The first version was launched in November 1986.
The case was redesigned (copied from the Commodore Plus/4) and the keyboard was said to be "semi-professional" (according to the Brazilian manufacturer), with the some additional commands that did not exist in the ZX Spectrums (for characters defined by the user UDG), and more compatibility with the original ZX Spectrum (some games did not run on the TK90X but ran well on the TK95).
There was a version with 48 kilobytes of RAM. Inside, the same processor: Z80A running at 3.58 MHz, a ROM chip and some RAM chips (old dynamic rams 4116 and 4416). Microdigital did some reverse engineering to develop a chip with the functions of the original ULA from Sinclair/Ferranti. The modulator was tuned to VHF channel 3 and the TV system was PAL-M (60 Hz). The cassette interface ran at a faster speed than the Spectrum. Only two peripherals were released by Microdigital a light pen interface and a parallel printer interface. Some other small companies in Brazil released clone versions of Interface 1 joysticks (Atari 2600-compatibles) and interfaces for 5¼" PC drives (360 KB). The games had questionable legality being close to copies of the originals and the fans of the ZX Spectrum computer in Brazil were counted in tens of thousands.


Juiced.GS

Juiced.GS is a print magazine/newsletter for Apple II computer users. Although the name implies a focus on the Apple, its coverage encompasses all Apple II systems. It is the longest-running Apple II publication and, since 1999, the only Apple II publication still in print .
The 20-page magazine/newsletter (with the occasional 24- or 28-page special edition) is published quarterly and is mailed to subscribers around the world. Each issue covers the latest Apple II news including new products and event coverage. There are also frequent product reviews, how-to articles, and technical articles covering programming and even hardware design. Each year's third issue features a cover photo of the staff, taken at KansasFest, and includes extensive coverage of the premiere annual Apple II event.
The publication is available as subscription-only, delivered to subscribers via postal mail, though free sample issues are available on the magazine's web site. "Juiced.GS" subscriptions are annual, currently costing US $20 per calendar year in the United States, $25 in Canada and Mexico and $28 elsewhere in the world. Its 25th annual volume is being published in 2020.
The "Juiced.GS" domain name could be considered a domain hack.
History.
"Juiced.GS" was founded in 1996 by Max Jones, a senior newspaper editor and devout Apple II enthusiast. What mainly sparked the idea and incentive for creating "Juiced.GS" was the (then) recent demise of one of the few remaining Apple II printed publications at the time, "GS+ Magazine", and he wanted to fill the void. He knew that the Apple was a very capable machine, and wanted to push its limits by publishing a professional grade publication with it. The name "Juiced.GS" is derived from one of Max's friends, who upon seeing Max and knowing of his decked out Apple system, loaded with peripherals, exclaimed "There's the guy with the juiced GS!"
In 2002, Syndicomm, the founding company of Apple II online resource A2Central, took over the publication while retaining the original staff of writers. Max Jones became (and remains as) editor emeritus, while Ryan Suenaga became editor. In 2006, Suenaga moved on to other endeavors, promoting then-associate editor Ken Gagne to the position of editor-in-chief, beginning with "Juiced.GS"'s 11th annual volume. At KansasFest 2007, Gagne and Shepherd jointly announced that Gagne would take over publishing duties as well, effective immediately. "Juiced.GS" is now published by Gamebits, a sole proprietorship of Gagne's.


Zenithink ZT280 Tablet PC

ZT280 Tablet PC is a tablet computer that is created by the Android tablet company, Zenithink. The main operating system used on this tablet is Android, with the latest devices being created with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The current latest device is the C91 Upgrade, which features 1024MB RAM with Flash 11.01 compatibility and HDMI connectivity outputs. The tablet includes a media section which includes Music, Gallery, Video and Applications/Widgets. The apps also include an Office application which allows edits and creation of Word, Powerpoint and Excel files. The tablet also includes preinstalled apps such as Facebook for Android. Another feature of the tablet is that it enables the user to allow tethering of their devices Wireless/Internet connection which includes password protection and edits of the name given to the connection allowing users to personalise their devices connection without having to change settings in any way. Personalization features also include Wallpaper, Applications and Google Play


Nikon D7200

The Nikon D7200 is a 24-megapixel APS-C digital single-lens reflex camera announced by Nikon on March 2, 2015. It started shipping on March 19. The D7200 was superseded by the Nikon D7500, announced on April 12, 2017.
Features.
The D7200 is equipped with features intended for semi-professional use (two SD card slots, the availability of a battery grip, and metering support for old manual focus Nikon AI type (Non-CPU) lenses), which have been removed from the D7500. Being the successor of the Nikon D7100 it has (among other things) the following enhancements:
Otherwise, it has also been described as "by no means a radical upgrade" compared to its predecessor, "yet it still adds some important features".
The camera body shape has been left unchanged, in particular the deeper-grip update of other latest models such as the D5500 hasn't been adopted for the D7200.


Joe Pillow


Apple IIc Plus

The Apple IIc Plus is the sixth and final model in the Apple II series of personal computers, produced by Apple Computer. The "Plus" in the name was a reference to the additional features it offered over the original portable Apple IIc, such as greater storage capacity (a built-in 3.5-inch floppy drive replacing the classic 5.25-inch drive), increased processing speed, and a general standardization of the system components. In a notable change of direction, the Apple IIc Plus, for the most part, did not introduce new technology or any further evolutionary contributions to the Apple II series, instead merely integrating existing peripherals into the original Apple IIc design. The development of the 8-bit machine was criticized by quarters more interested in the significantly more advanced 16-bit Apple II.
History.
The Apple IIc Plus was introduced on September 16, 1988, at the AppleFest conference in San Francisco, with less fanfare than the Apple IIc had received four years earlier. Described as little more than a "turbocharged version of the IIc with a high-capacity 3½ disk drive" by one magazine review of the time, some users were disappointed. Many IIc users already had add-ons giving them something rather close to what the new model offered.
Before the official release of the machine, it had been rumored to be a slotless version of the Apple II squeezed into the portable case of the Apple IIc. Apple employee John Arkley, one of the engineers working on the Apple IIc Plus project, had devised rudimentary plans for an enhanced Apple II motherboard that would fit in the IIc case, and petitioned management for the go-ahead with such a project; the idea was rejected.
When the project started the original plan was to just replace the 5.25-inch floppy drive with a 3.5-inch, without modifying the IIc design. Other features, consequently, were added as the project progressed. It is believed the Apple IIc Plus design, and its existence at all, was influenced by a third-party Apple IIc-compatible known as the Laser 128. It is not a coincidence that the Apple IIc Plus is very similar in design to the Laser 128EX/2 model, released shortly before the Apple IIc Plus. As it was fully backwards-compatible, the Apple IIc Plus replaced the Apple IIc.
Codenames for the machine while under development included: Raisin, Pizza, and Adam Ant.
Overview.
Three major new features.
The Apple IIc Plus had comprised three new features compared to the IIc. The first and most noticeable feature was the replacement of the 5.25-inch floppy drive with the new 3.5-inch drive. Besides offering nearly six times the storage capacity (800 kB), the new drive had a much faster seek time (three times faster) and button-activated motorized ejection. To accommodate the increased data flow of the new drive, specialized chip circuitry called the MIG, an acronym for "Magic Interface Glue", was designed and added to the motherboard along with a dedicated 2 kB static RAM buffer (the MIG chip is the only exception to there being no new technological developments present in the machine). The second most important feature was a faster 65C02 processor. Running at 4 MHz, it made the computer faster than any other Apple II, including the IIGS. Apple licensed the Zip Chip Apple II accelerator from third-party developer Zip Technologies and added to the IIc Plus; instead of the all-in-one tall chip design, Apple engineers broke out the design into its core components and integrated them into the motherboard (a 4 MHz CPU, 8 kB of combined static RAM cache, and logic). Apple stated its performance as three times faster (3.3 times according to benchmarks) than any other 8-bit Apple II. The CPU acceleration was a last-minute feature addition, which in turn made the specialized circuitry for the use of a 3.5-inch drive unnecessary at full CPU speed as the machine was now fast enough to handle the data flow; that circuitry was left in place and put into operation nonetheless to support 1 MHz mode. By default the machine ran at 4 MHz, but holding down the 'ESC' key during a cold or warm boot disabled the acceleration so it could run at a standard 1 MHz operation — necessary for older software that depended on timing, especially games. The third major change was the internalization of the power supply into the Apple IIc Plus's case, utilizing a new miniature design from Sony and replacing the previous "brick on a leash" external supply design.
A new look and minor changes.
Cosmetic changes were apparent as well. The keyboard layout and style now mirrored that of the Apple II and Macintosh, including an enlarged "Return" key and updated modifier keys (Open and Solid Apple being replaced by "Command" and "Option"). Above the keyboard, the rarely used "40/80" switch was replaced by a sliding volume control (gone was the left side volume-control dial, and as a cost-cutting measure, the audio headphone jack disappeared with it). The case housing and keyboard had been changed to the light-grey Apple platinum color, creating a seamless blend between keyboard and case, making them appear almost as one. The machine, a half pound lighter than the original IIc, weighed in at 7 pounds (3.2 kg).
In the rear of the machine the most obvious change was a three-prong AC plug connector and power switch where the voltage converter had once been, an Apple security port at the far left corner, and the standardization of the serial port connectors (changed from DIN-5 to mini DIN-8, but still providing an identical signal). All the same built-in Apple II peripheral equivalents and port functionality of the IIc remained, with the one exception being the floppy port. Whereas the previous IIc could only support one external 5.25-inch floppy drive and (in later models) "intelligent" storage devices such as the UniDisk 3.5, the Apple IIc Plus offered backwards port compatibility and more. Support for the external Apple 3.5 Drive used by the Apple II and Macintosh was now present, and up to two external 5.25-inch floppy drives could be added as well.
Internally, the new motherboard sported a pin connector for an internal modem; however no products ever utilized it. The same memory expansion socket introduced on late-model IIc's was present, although it was not compatible with memory cards designed for the previous system. The ROM firmware (now labeled revision "5", following in the sequence from the original IIc) remained the same size, as did RAM, meaning the machine continued to ship with only 128 kB of memory.
Negative aspects.
The most criticized aspect of the Apple IIc Plus, even among collectors today, is the lack of an internal 5.25-inch drive. The reason for this is the vast majority of software for the 8-bit Apple II series shipped on 5.25-inch disks (often hardcoded for the medium) making the machine of limited use unless an external 5.25-inch drive is added.
Along the same lines of breaking with standards, virtually all 8-bit Apple II software had been designed to run at 'normal' 1.024 MHz operation, but the IIc Plus ran natively at 4 MHz. While user adjustable, the IIc Plus had no automated method to lock-down or "remember" the CPU speed (e.g. a physical turbo button or software-based Control Panel), meaning it would always default back to 'fast' 4 MHz operation if power cycled, reset or simply warm-booted. Acceleration could only be temporarily disabled with a special key press, making it inconvenient for users to repeatedly lower the clock speed manually (for example, booting games on different floppy diskettes).
Another unpopular change was the removal of the voltage converter. While the built-in power supply made the IIc Plus a more integrated one-piece unit for desktop use, the negative aspect was the loss of the ability to operate the machine from a battery source. This, in turn, eroded the portability aspect of the IIc series, rooting it further to a desktop-only environment.
The removal of the audio-out jack used for headphones or a speaker was another feature users missed.
Reception.
"inCider" in November 1988 found that the Apple IIc Plus was faster than a IIGS, Laser 128EX/2, or Apple IIe with a Zip Chip. It favorably cited the improved keyboard, internal power supply, and Macintosh/IIGS-compatible serial port, but said that the computer "isn't everything it could be", criticizing the lack of change from the IIc's memory capacity ("128K doesn't quite cut it") and difficulty in adding more. The magazine concluded, "It's disappointing that a company as technologically sophisticated as Apple couldn't have gone a step further ... The IIc Plus is a nice system, but it's too little, too late". A separate editorial in the issue began "What if you announced a new computer and nobody cared? Apple Computer could be facing such a dilemma". Even with an accompanying price increase for the IIGS, the magazine stated that "unless you really want a small, easily transportable computer, there's little reason to buy the IIc Plus over the IIGS ... the improvements over the IIc simply aren't that significant". Regarding the 3.5-inch drive the magazine stated, "there are thousands of good, affordable programs that won't be released in 3 1/2-inch format ... bargain hunters will want access to classic educational and entertainment programs that are available only on 5 1/4-inch disks". While praising Apple for continuing to support Apple II owners the editorial criticized the company for announcing "a new product that uses old technology" at a price higher than that of the Laser 128 EX/2 or an inexpensive PC clone, comparing the IIc Plus to the unsuccessful IBM PCjr. It concluded that "the IIc Plus simply clouds the Apple II picture".
Technical specifications.
Video.
"*effectively 140×192 in color, due to pixel placement restrictions"
"¹Text can be mixed with graphic modes, replacing either bottom 8 or 32 lines, depending on video mode"
Notes of interest.
Revisions.
The Apple IIc Plus had a relatively short product lifespan, produced for only two years (it was officially discontinued in November 1990). Though for many years it was believed that there had been no changes or revisions made to the machine, in 2008 hobbyists discovered the existence of two versions of the motherboard. While the revised board contained several minor differences (mainly different ASIC manufacturers and markings), there were no updates or bug fixes seen in the firmware (which was still identified as ROM version '5').
No international versions.
There were also no international versions of the Apple IIc Plus produced, so the keyboard, unlike the original IIc, was only manufactured with American English printed keycaps and the 'Keyboard' switch was utilized solely for changing between QWERTY and DVORAK layout (rather than localized keyboard layouts). Consequently, the Apple IIc Plus was only sold in the U.S. — not even Canadian Apple dealers were authorized to distribute or sell it.
End of the line.
Although it wasn't intended to be, fate would have it that the Apple IIc Plus would be the last new Apple II model. But even back in 1988, before this was known, the Apple IIc Plus could be seen as signaling the beginning of the end for the Apple II series, or at the very least, a hint at the direction Apple Computer was taking with the line. In releasing the IIc Plus, Apple management essentially made a statement that the Apple II was no longer considered a top priority, and if anything, gave it a back seat when it was the only possible future for the evolution and continued success of the Apple II line. That, in turn, signified that the Apple II line as a whole, despite its promise and potential, was no longer considered important at Apple headquarters. Consequently, from this point forward, the Apple II was milked for financial gain as much as possible, while at the same time a cap was placed on its evolution and advancement so it wouldn't overshadow and compete with the Macintosh, the company's then-new focus and chosen future.
Further proof of this was that, a year after the release of the oddly out-of-place and retro-designed Apple IIc Plus, only a minor maintenance release of the Apple II was introduced (mainly boasting more RAM and improved firmware) rather than any of the desperately needed hardware changes required to keep the machine viable. Prototypes of more advanced Apple II's (namely in the form of a new II) were delayed and eventually cancelled as the company decided what to do with its Apple II product line. The end result was to allow it to slowly fade out into obscurity due to a lack of development or support. The Apple II line carried on until October 1993, when the IIe was discontinued.


Dell Precision

Dell Precision is a series of computer workstations for CAD/architecture/CG professionals, or as small-scale business servers.
Dell Precision Mobile Workstations.
3000, 5000, 7000 Series (2015–current).
Dell announced a new series of Latitude laptops in August 2013: the 3000 series, the 5000 series and the 7000 series.
In October 2015, Dell announced the first generation of Precision mobile workstations of this series with model numbers 3510, 5510, 7510 and 7710.
In January 2017, Dell announced the second generation laptops in this series with model numbers 3520, 5520, 7520 and 7720.
In April 2018, Dell announced the third generation of laptops in this series with model numbers 3530, 5530, 7530 and 7730. In May 2019 Dell announced the 4th Generation of the 55xx and 7xxx series mobile workstations with the release of the 5540, 7540 and 7740 models.
All first generation (xx10) Precision laptops (except the 5510) are compatible with the E-Series Advanced Port Replicators. The second generation (xx20) Precision laptops support the E-Series docking station for the 7520 and 7720 models, but not for the 3520 and 5520 models. The third generation (xx30) Precision laptops no longer support the E-Series docking station.
Latitude E Series based (2008-2014).
Dell launched the E Series of laptops on August 12, 2008 with a collection of Latitude (E4200, E5400, E5500, E6400, E6500, E6400 ATG/XFR) and Precision (M4400, M2400) computers. Both the Latitude and Precision computers are compatible with the new E Series docking stations (E-Port and E-Port Plus). Notably, the 17" models do not share a chassis with the Inspiron series anymore, and starting with the M4600 the 15" Precisions do not share a Latitude chassis either. QHD, UHD and RGBLED IPS models have a disabled iGPU. This has several downsides: the power consumption during low load is high and thus the battery runtimes clearly suffer despite the high-capacity battery, and Intel's QuickSync Video cannot be used. AMD GPU equipped models before the M4800/M6800 also do not support AMD Enduro Switchable Graphics.
Latitude D Series based (2003-2007).
These Precision models were released at roughly the same time as their D-series Latitude counterparts. They are compatible with the D-series docking stations, and there are various accessories that are interchangeable with other Dell models, such as the battery or CD drive, depending on the Precision model. Some of these models (especially those made around ~2005-2007) with NVIDIA GPUs can suffer from GPU failure.
Latitude C Series based (2001-2002).
These Precisions were based on the Latitude C810 and C840, which in turn were based on the Inspiron 8100 and 8200.


Cromemco Z-2

Z-2 is a series of microcomputers made by Cromemco, Inc. which were introduced to the market in the middle to late 1970s. They were S-100 bus machines powered by the Zilog Z80 processor and typically ran on the CP/M operating system.
They were originally available in assembled or kit form to serve both a commercial market and the computer enthusiast market. Later the machines were only available factory-assembled. The machines were widely respected for their speed, configurability, durability, and reliability.
The Z-2 was a Z80–based microcomputer system that was introduced in 1977. The original Z-2 in kit form included a ZPU-K Z80 CPU card, S-100 bus motherboard, all-metal rack-mount chassis and dust case, card socket and card guide; the assembled form included a complete set of sockets and card guides, and a cooling fan. The Z-2 series was capable of supporting up to 21 S-100 boards and could be configured with any of the boards supplied by Cromemco.
The Z-2 gave an impression of solidity due to its hefty 450-watt power supply and heavy metal chassis. A TU-ART (dual serial and parallel board), 4FDC Floppy Disk Controller, one or more 16KZRAM cards, and a Wangco 5¼" floppy disk drive would be added to form a basic system.
An unusual feature of the Z-2 was switch–selectable CPU speed; 250 or 500 nanosecond cycle time were available. The ZPU speed was 4 MHz at a time when less than 2 MHz was normal, and boards from other manufacturers might still require the slower speed. The ZPU card in the Z-2 could address up to 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of RAM. However, the 16KZ memory card supported bank-switching with 8 banks of 64 kilobytes each. When using the 16KZ, the maximum RAM of the Z-2 was limited by the available S-100 slots. If 16 of the slots were occupied by 16KZ cards, then the system had 4 banks of 64 kilobytes each, for a total of 256 kilobytes (262,144 bytes).
Additional S-100 slots were required for cards controlling peripherals, disk drives, and I/O interfaces. Communication with the processor was normally performed through a TU-ART or other S-100 bus compatible interface card, which could run a CRT terminal or teletype.
Cromemco Z-2D.
The Cromemco Z-2D computer was a Z80–based microcomputer system which differed from a Z-2 by having one or two Wangco 5¼" disk drives, a disk power supply and a 4FDC disk controller in a Z-2 chassis. The Z-2D was available in assembled and kit form. The Z-2D was also called the "System Two".
Cromemco Z-2H.
The Cromemco Z-2H computer was based on the Z-2D, but in addition had an 11 megabyte internal hard disk drive. While the Z-2 and Z-2D had 21 S-100 slots, the Z-2H was limited to 12 expansion slots due to the size of the internal hard disk. Over 1000 Z-2H systems were sold in the first six months on the market. The 11-megabyte hard disks were also offered as a separate unit, the HDD, that could be used with a Z-2D computer. The HDD came with either one or two hard disks, for up to 22 megabytes of storage.
Notable installations.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) adopted Cromemco Z-2 microcomputers as the backbone of the CME trading floor, employing a total of 60 Z-2 systems. For a 10-year period every trade at the CME was processed by these Cromemco systems. In 1992 the Cromemco systems were replaced by IBM PS/2 computers.
Z-2 computers were well-suited for data acquisition and analysis applications. One example was work in profiling the deceleration of trains during braking in the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system during actual operation. Cromemco Z-2D computers were employed both for data acquisition and analysis to develop an exact model of the braking profile under a variety of track conditions and train loadings.
In 1979 the United States Navy (at the Applied Physics Laboratory) used a Cromemco Z-2 computer to generate speech output for the Aegis Combat System in the Combat Information Center.
The United States Air Force deployed 600 Cromemco Systems from 1985 to 1996 as Mission Support Systems for the F-15, F-16, and F-111 aircraft. During this period Cromemco systems were used for the planning of every combat mission for these aircraft, including missions during the First Gulf War. These systems were based on the Cromemco Z-2 computer, but utilized the Motorola 68020 32-bit processor, and had a custom, removable hard drive to meet the Air Force need to be able to physically secure all flight plan information. Cromemco received a patent on this technology.


IBM 303X

The IBM 303X is a discontinued line of mainframe computers, the first model of which, the IBM 3033 Processor, nicknamed "The Big One", was introduced March 25, 1977.
Two additional processors, the 3031 and the 3032, were announced on October 6, 1977.
All three 303X systems were withdrawn on February 5, 1985.
Features.
The CPUs feature instruction pipelining, "several instructions can be pre-fetched while one is being executed". "Processor storage ... is four-way interleaved" resulting in "a significantly faster data rate than... non-interleaved". Each of the three systems includes, as a standard feature, a Dual-display console, the newly announced IBM 3036. The systems consume less than half the floor space of a System/370 with an equal amount of computer memory and an identical number of channels because "the channels are physically integrated within the processor mainframe." Each group of six channels has its own microprogrammed channel processor, a System/370-158-type processor running special channel microcode.
The initial announcement of the 3033 also introduced new operating system versions "MVS/System Extensions (MVS/SE) and VM/System Extensions (VM/SE)."
303X as successor to System 370.
Beginning in 1977, IBM began to introduce new systems, using the following descriptions:
Competing compatibles.
At this time, other companies, known as plug compatible manufacturers (PCMs), were competing with IBM by producing IBM-compatible systems. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, patented technology allowed Amdahl IBM-compatible mainframes of this era to be completely air-cooled, unlike IBM systems that required chilled water and its supporting infrastructure— the 8 largest of the 18 models of the ES/9000 systems introduced in 1990 were water-cooled; the other ten were air-cooled.
"The 3033 model, introduced in response to competition from the Amdahl Corporation, represented almost a 100 percent improvement in performance over the previous model, at only a 12 percent increase in price". The improvement in Price–performance of the 303X models created volume of orders sufficient to cause a backlog. "The backlog backfired. IBM inadvertently gave Amdahl a huge boost when the results of its "delivery lottery" pushed some customer shipments all the way into 1980".
In October, 1977 Computerworld reported that Itel's "air-cooled AS/6" was announced "within six hours of the IBM announcement" and due to ship "the same time deliveries of the IBM 3032 are slated to begin."
Magnuson Computer Systems also produced the M80 System/370-compatible computer system between 1975 and 1980.
IBM 3031.
The 3031 features a machine cycle time of 115 nanoseconds (ns). It has a cache (called "high speed buffer storage" in IBM terminology) size of 32 KB. Main storage may be 2 to 6 MB, in 1 MB increments. One group of six channels is standard. This group of channels contains one byte multiplexer and five block multiplexer channels. An optional channel-to-channel adapter (CTCA) is available. At announcement the monthly lease price for a minimally configured 3031 processor (2 MB, without peripherals) was $27,497. The 3031 is supported by MVS, OS/VS1 SVS, VM/370, ACP, and TSS/370, and DOS/VS, the last of which is not mentioned as supported by the other 303X models.
Models.
The 3031 has 15 models, distinguished by the amount of main storage installed.
IBM 3032.
The 3032 features a machine cycle time of 80ns. It has a cache size of 32 KB. Main storage may be 2, 4, or 6 MB. One group of six channels is standard; this can optionally be expanded by the addition of another six. Each group of channels contains one byte multiplexer and five block multiplexer channels. An optional feature allows the first block multiplexer in each group to operate at 3 MB per second. An optional channel-to-channel adapter (CTCA) is available. At announcement the monthly lease price for a minimally configured 3032 processor (without peripherals) was $43,740. The 3032 is supported by MVS, OS/VS1 SVS, VM/370, ACP, and TSS/370.
Models.
The 3032 has 4 models, distinguished by the amount of main storage installed.
IBM 3033.
The 3033 features a machine cycle time of 58ns. It has a cache size of 64 KB. Main storage may be 4, 6, or 8 MB. Two groups of six channels are standard; this can optionally be expanded by the addition of another six. Each group of channels contains one byte multiplexer and five block multiplexer channels. An optional channel group is available consisting of either four block multiplexer channels or one byte multiplexer and three block multiplexers. An optional feature allows the first block multiplexer in each group to operate at 3 MB per second. Two optional channel-to-channel adapters (CTCA) are available. At announcement the monthly lease price for a minimally configured 3033 processor (without peripherals) was $70,400. The 3033 is supported by MVS, OS/VS1 SVS, VM/370, and ACP.
The 3033-N, a slightly slower model, was introduced Nov. 1, 1979, and the 3033-S, with about 2/3 the speed of the original 3033 model, was introduced a year later, on November 12, 1980. Each shipped the following quarter; both were withdrawn in 1985, along with the other 303X offerings.
The 3033 was later made available in attached-processor (AP) and multiprocessor (MP) dyadic configurations.
Models.
The 3033 had 29 models.


Nokia Booklet 3G

The Nokia Booklet 3G was a netbook produced by the Finnish company Nokia. It was announced on 24 August 2009.
History.
The Booklet 3G was Nokia's first netbook. The company produced a series of personal computers in the 1980s called MikroMikko, but sold that business in 1991 to focus on mobile phone production. Though Kai Öistämö, Nokia's executive vice-president for devices, has said the Booklet is "a natural evolution for us," Stephen Williams from "The New York Times" says it is "more of a homecoming" because of Nokia's prior computer business. Nokia's expansion into the netbook market is contrary to computer maker Apple's 2007 expansion into the phone market with their iPhone.
Nokia announced the device in August 2009. The price was announced to be €575 before tax, making it one of the higher-priced netbooks available.
Design and technology.
Following the defence of the original netBook trademark by long-term partner company Psion the previous year, Nokia described the Booklet 3G as a "mini-laptop", although it was widely described as a netbook by others. It is thick and weighs , is cased in an aluminium shell, and has been said to resemble a MacBook. Its glossy display measures diagonally, and supports high-definition video.
The Booklet uses an Intel Atom Z530 processor to run the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Nokia says that the battery will last up to 12 hours per charge. The Booklet supports network connections through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G/HSPA. It also offers telecommunications support via SIM card, has a built-in A-GPS receiver and accelerometer, and includes Nokia's Ovi Maps service. The integrated Intel GMA 500 graphic system is poorly supported by the Linux distributions, since the drivers for it are proprietary software.
CNET rated it 4/5, saying it is a "wonderful piece of engineering" and praising its integrated 3G modem, its high-resolution screen, its exceptional battery life and its fan-free design, though they noted it was more expensive than most netbooks.
See also.
List of Nokia products


Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX90

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX90 is a digital camera by Panasonic Lumix. The highest-resolution pictures it records is 12.1 megapixels, through its 25mm Leica DC VARIO-SUMMARIT.


Bionz

BIONZ is a line of image processors used in Sony digital cameras.
It is currently used in many Sony α DSLR and mirrorless cameras. Image processing in the camera converts the raw data from a CCD or CMOS image sensor into the format that is stored on the memory card. This processing is one of the bottlenecks in digital camera speed, so manufacturers put much effort into making, and marketing, the fastest processors for this step that they can.
Sony designs the circuitry of the processor in-house, and outsources the manufacturing to semiconductor foundries such as MegaChips and (mostly) GlobalFoundries, as they currently do not own any fabrication plant capable of producing a system on a chip (SoC). Sony also sources DRAM chips from various manufacturers namely Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technology.
BIONZ utilizes two chips in its design. The first chip is an SoC that manages overall functionality of the camera such as SD card storage management, wired connection such as USB and HDMI, and wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi and NFC that are increasingly common on modern Sony α cameras. The BIONZ SoC can be identified by its part number "CXD900xx". The second chip is the ISP (image signal processor). It handles the data directly from the CMOS image sensor, and it is directly responsible for the camera's high-ISO noise characteristics in a low-light environment. The ISP can be identified by the part number "CXD4xxx".
History of BIONZ chips in Sony cameras.
BIONZ – MegaChips MA07170 and MA07171.
The first camera to officially use a so-called BIONZ processor was the DSLR-A700 in 2007, utilizing the MA07170 chip from a MegaChips (MCL) family of 32-bit RISC processors with MIPS R3000 core.
Similar MegaChips processors had been used in the DSLR-A100 (MA07169) as well as in the Konica Minolta 5D (MA07168) and 7D (MA07168), implementing Konica Minolta's CxProcess III running under MiSPO's NORTi/MIPS, an RTOS following the µITRON standard.
The MegaChips MA07170 was also used in the DSLR-A200, DSLR-A300, and DSLR-A350. The DSLR-A850 and DSLR-A900 used two such chips in parallel.
The MegaChips MA07171 was instead used in the DSLR-A230, DSLR-A290, DSLR-A330, DSLR-A380, and DSLR-A390.
BIONZ – Sony CXD4115 ISP.
The first BIONZ processor to fully designed in-house by Sony utilized the Sony image processor in:
BIONZ – Sony CXD4132 ISP + CXD90016GF SoC.
Sony CXD4132 series chip is a multicore BIONZ processor:
BIONZ X – Sony CXD4236 ISP + CXD90027GF SoC.
Sony has introduced their next-generation image processor dubbed the BIONZ X with introduction of ILCE-7 / ILCE-7R in 2013. BIONZ X uses Sony CXD4236 series ISP along with CXD90027GF SoC. The latter is based on a quad-core ARM Cortex-A5 architecture, and is utilized to run Android apps on top of the Linux kernel.
It features, among other things, detail reproduction technology and diffraction-reducing technology, area-specific noise reduction and 16-bit image processing + 14-bit raw output.
It can process up to 20 frames per second and features Lock-on AF and object tracking.
BIONZ XR.
Sony has introduced its next-generation image processor dubbed the BIONZ XR with the introduction of Sony α7S III in 2020. "The sensor is to have eight times as much computing power as the previous image processor." It is also used in the Sony α1 flagship mirrorless camera and Sony FX3 compact cinema camera, launched in 2021.
New Features


Artline (program)


Regnecentralen

Regnecentralen (RC) was the first Danish computer company, founded on October 12, 1955. Through the 1950s and 1960s, they designed a series of computers, originally for their own use, and later to be sold commercially. Descendants of these systems sold well into the 1980s. They also developed a series of high-speed paper tape machines, and produced Data General Nova machines under license.
Genesis.
What would become RC began as an advisory board formed by the Danish "Akademiet for de Tekniske Videnskaber" ("Academy of Applied Sciences") to keep abreast of developments in modern electronic computing devices taking place in other countries. After several years in the advisory role, in 1952 they decided to form a computing service bureau for Danish government, military and research uses. Led by Niels Ivar Bech, the group was also given the details of the BESK machine being designed at the Swedish Mathematical Center (Matematikmaskinnämndens Arbetsgrupp).
The group decided to build their own version of the BESK to run the bureau, and formed Regnecentralen in October 1955 to complete and run the machine. The result was the DASK, a vacuum tube-based machine that completed construction in 1956 and went into full operation in February 1957. DASK was followed in 1961 by the fully transistorized GIER, used for similar tasks. GIER is an acronym for "Geodætisk Instituts Elektroniske Regnemaskine" (Institute of Geodetics Electronic Calculator) and was introduced there on September 14, 1961. GIER proved to be a useful machine, and went on to be used at many Danish universities. Bech also sold GIER machines to the Eastern Bloc nations, starting with Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria, and later Romania, the East Germany, and Yugoslavia.
RC was also home to Peter Naur, and DASK and GIER became well known for their role in the development of the famous programming language ALGOL. After the first European ALGOL conference in 1959, RC began an effort to produce a series of compilers, completing one for the DASK in September 1961. A version for the GIER followed in August 1962. Christian Andersen and Peter Schyum Poulsen, another RC employee, wrote the first introductory text on the language, "Everyman's Desk ALGOL", in 1961.
Peripheral business.
To support higher throughput at their own service bureau, RC developed several high-speed input/output devices. One of their most popular was the RC 2000 paper tape reader, introduced in 1963. Feeding the tape at 5 meters per second, the 2000 could read 2,000 characters per second (CPS), storing the results in a buffer while the computer periodically read the data back out instead of stopping the tape to wait for the computer to get ready. The machine was later upgraded as the RC 2500, increasing speed to almost 7 meters a second, improving read speed to 2500 CPS. The RC 2000/2500 became a major product for RC during the 1960s, selling 1,500 examples around the world. Several related devices were added to the line, including a high-speed punch and a dedicated data conversion machine that would "massage" data between formats to ease the burden on the host computer.
In 1964 Regnecentralen was taken public. Most of the firm's shares were held by its biggest customers.
New computers.
In the mid-1960s, RC began the design of a small integrated circuit-based computer system for industrial control and automation needs, initially to fill a request by a Danish company to automate a chemical factory they were building in Poland. The RC 4000 design emerged in 1966 and was completed for the factory the next year. When combined with appropriate peripherals, almost always including an RC 2000 along with several rebranded devices from other companies, the RC 4000 was a highly reliable minicomputer, and went on to be sold across Europe. The RC 8000 from the mid-1970s used newer-generation integrated circuits (ICs) to shrink the RC 4000 into a single rack-mount system. The last in the series, the RC 9000, further shrunk the machine and improved performance to about 4 MIPS, and was sold in versions that could run either RC 8000 programs, or Unix.
The RC 4000 is famous for its operating system, developed by Per Brinch Hansen. Known as the RC 4000 multiprogramming system, it is the first real-world example of a system using a very simple kernel along with a variety of user-selected programs that built up the system as a whole. Today this concept is known as a microkernel, and efforts to correct for microkernels' poor performance formed the basis of most OS research through the 1970s and 1980s. Brinch Hansen also worked with Charles Simonyi and Peter Kraft on the RC 4000's Real-time Control System.
RC also began selling the Data General Nova under license in 1970 as the RC 7000, later introducing their own updated version as the RC 3600 the next year. This series filled a niche similar to the RC 4000, but for much smaller installations. The RC 3600 became a fixture of many Danish schools and universities.
During the 1980s, RC produced the RC 700 Piccolo and RC 759 Piccoline systems, which were sold to Danish schools mostly, and to some businesses in Denmark and abroad. The Piccolo was powered by the Zilog Z80A CPU, while the Piccoline was powered by the Intel 80186 processor.
Regnecentralen was acquired by International Computers Limited (ICL) in 1989.
External links.
Regnecentralen:


Voodoo Castle

Voodoo Castle is a text adventure game written by Scott Adams and his wife Alexis. Published by Adventure International in 1979, it is #4 in the Scott Adams "Adventure" series.
Gameplay.
Gameplay involves moving from location to location, picking up any objects found there, and using them somewhere else to unlock puzzles. Commands take the form of verb and noun, e.g. "Climb Tree". Movement from location to location is limited to North, South, East, West, Up, and Down.
The goal is to wake up Count Cristo, who is lying in a coffin at the starting location in the game. In order to do so, the player needs to obtain certain items, which requires overcoming certain obstacles, such as an exploding test tubes and a doorway that's too small to pass through normally.


The Search Series

The Search Series is a five-game series of educational video games by Tom Snyder Productions and published by McGraw-Hill Education in 1980. It runs on either Apple II or Radio Shack Models I and III.
Development.
In the late 1970s, Snyder had bought a Radio Shack computer and began designing educational simulations on it. He hired a consultant for $500 a day to observe whether his creations had value. The consultant saw something special and won Snyder a contract McGraw-Hill, who bought all five packages immediately, forming The Search Series. Snyder went on the road in 1981 to promote the series.
Educational goals.
The series exemplified Snyder's philosophy of keeping learning in the foreground of the gaming experience and encouraging players (recommended within the classroom) to work together in teams. The content was specifically designed to connect with curricula.
An example of the aplot is Geography Search, which simulates Christopher Columbus's discovery of the New World. Teams make navigational decisions based on information that is provided by and managed from the software.
Gameplay.
Players are given scenarios, then (ideally) divide up into teams to choose the next move their defending their position. They input their decisions into the simulation which then triggers the next stage.
Reception.
"Educational Values and Cognitive Instruction" felt "Geography Search" was an excellent example of a computer-based situated learning environment based on a microworld. InfoWorld was impressed with the software, and deemed them a great way to explore simulations. In a piece for "CNN", Henry F. Olds believed that the series had great power to stimulate students' thinking and problem-solving. "Diagnostic Monitoring of Skill and Knowledge Acquisition" felt that "Geography Search" was the "most ingenious" computer-based system for teaching history. The book "Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors" felt that as an open-ended learning environment (OLE), the software did not interact directly with the player and help them to manage the environment.
"Compute Gazette" noted that the series was still selling well four years after its release.


MacHTTP

MacHTTP is a webserver designed to run on the classic Mac OS versions 7.x through 9.x. It was written by software developer Chuck Shotton and was originally shareware; it dates from 1993; it is now available in source code form from SourceForge.net under the Perl Artistic License. The current version is 2.6.1. It is still used on some older Macintosh hardware. It was later commercialized as WebSTAR, sold originally by StarNine and later bought by Quarterdeck Software.
The program runs on Mac OS X under the Classic Environment, but has not been ported to run natively on Mac OS X (though an attempt was apparently underway in 2003 to do so). It has functionally been replaced with the Apache web server.
MacHTTP supports the Common Gateway Interface standard for generating dynamic content, as well as Apple Events for scriptability.


List of iOS and iPadOS devices

This is a list and comparison of devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. that run a Unix-like operating system named iOS and iPadOS. The devices include the iPhone, the iPod Touch which, in design, is similar to the iPhone, but has no cellular radio or other cell phone hardware, and the iPad. All three devices function as digital audio and portable media players and Internet clients. The Apple TV, which runs tvOS, is a set-top box for streaming media from local sources and from certain internet services to a connected television set, and has no screen of its own. About 1.35 billion iOS devices have been sold worldwide as of March 2015. As of September 2018, about 2 billion iOS devices have been sold worldwide.
The operating system on iOS devices can be updated through iTunes or Finder (from macOS Catalina), or on iOS 5 or later, using over-the-air (OTA) updates. A major version of iOS tends to be released every time a new type of iPhone is launched (usually once a year), with minor changes throughout the year as needed. All updates are free to iOS devices (although iPod Touch users were formerly required to pay for the update). Apple upgrades its products' hardware periodically (approximately yearly).
Models.
Legend.
Source:
Apple TV.
The second and third generation of Apple TV run an unnamed operating system derived from iOS. The fourth and subsequent generations of Apple TV run the iOS-based tvOS. (The first generation ran a modified version of Mac OS X Tiger instead of iOS.)
Comparison of models.
Battery life.
Apple runs tests on pre-production units to determine battery life. However, these are purported maximums ("up to"), and actual user experiences vary. All numbers are in hours unless specified.
Storage.
Apple has increased the storage capacity of its devices over time. Units were or are available with a given storage capacity as indicated.
Supported iOS releases.
This table indicates the highest supported versions of iOS or iPadOS available for each generation of iOS devices. Beta versions may be listed only if support is discontinued for some older devices.
Display.
The display introduced with the original iPhone was almost unchanged in all models before 2010. The iPad has a larger display and also uses a different aspect ratio and resolution. The iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, and fourth generation iPod Touch keep the physical dimensions of prior models, but double the resolution in both dimensions, thereby quadrupling the number of pixels in the same amount of space. The iPhone 5 was the first departure from the traditional iPhone and iPod Touch screen size, increasing it from 3.5 to , and the resolution was increased to include the extra screen space. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were the second departure from the traditional iPhone and iPod Touch screen size, increasing the screen sizes from 4 to and respectively, with increased resolution to include the extra screen space. The iPhone X was the third departure from the traditional iPhone screen size, increasing the screen size to . The iPhone XR and iPhone XS Max were the fourth departure from the traditional iPhone screen size, increasing the screen size to and respectively.
Geekbench scores.
Note: Hardware reviewers have commented that these benchmark results are not comparable with other CPU/SoCs architecture due to the software codes optimization.


Dragonworld (video game)

Dragonworld is an interactive fiction computer game with graphics. The game was published by Telarium (formerly known as Trillium), a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, in the year 1984. The game was based on the novel written in 1979 by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves; text for the game was written by J. Brynne Stephens.
Reception.
A German reviewer recognized the detailed graphics and the atmospheric fantasy prose. Text parser, graphics and storyline got the score "sehr gut" (very good).


Bounty Bob Strikes Back!

Bounty Bob Strikes Back! is the sequel to "Miner 2049er" published in 1984 for the Atari 8-bit family. The game adds a pseudo-3D look to the platforms and increases the level count from 10 to 25. As with the original, the Atari 8-bit version was released on ROM cartridge. A port for the Atari 5200 was released the same year, followed by versions for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum in 1985.
Gameplay.
Gameplay is similar to "Miner 2049er" in that the player must inspect every section of 25 mines while avoiding mutants within a set time. One difference from the original game is that after losing a life, sections on platforms remain covered and destroyed enemies do not reappear, thus making it easier to complete a level.
Reception.
The game reached number nine on "Billboard"'s list of top-selling entertainment computer software in June of 1985.
In the final issue of "Your Sinclair", the ZX Spectrum version was ranked number 56 on "The Your Sinclair Official Top 100 Games of All Time." In 2004, the ZX Spectrum version was voted the 19th best game of all time by "Retro Gamer" readers in an article originally intended for a special issue of "Your Sinclair" bundled with "Retro Gamer".


Jam Session (software)

Jam Session is the 1988 successor to Studio Session, a 1986 software program for Macintosh computers, for music creation and playback. It was created by Macintosh and Newton pioneer Steve Capps and musician Ed Bogas. Jam Session was published by Broderbund Software. Studio Session was published by Bogas Productions.
Overview.
Studio Session differed from other audio creation packages as it used 8-bit audio samples of real instruments rather than sounds generated by the Macintosh sound chip, as did packages such as "MusicWorks" and Deluxe Music Construction Set. It was capable of playing back 6 tracks simultaneously in the original version, updated later to 8. There were two modes or screens, the authoring screen and the playback-only screen. In the authoring screen, the user entered notes on a staff with treble and bass clef using the mouse, and selecting the duration of the note with on-screen buttons or keyboard shortcuts. In the playback screen, an animated simulation of a VU-meter was displayed for each track.
The package shipped with a selection of several sampled instruments and several add-on packages were later released, such as the "Heavy Metal" Instrument pack that included more drum and guitar samples. Other packs were "Country" and "Brass". The music samples provided were created by Gary Clayton working with Ed Bogas' band. The user was not provided with any software for creating their own instruments for use in Studio Session, however it was possible to record new instruments or convert existing samples using commercially available audio-editing software such as SoundWave from Impulse Inc with the MacNifty Audio Digitzer.
Reception.
"Compute!" called Jam Session "a strange, entrancing thrill", stating that it was harder to use than Instant Music but provided more control. It won the 1987 Software Publishers Association awards for Best Graphics and Best Entertainment Program. The New York Times said "musicians as well as novices can have fun with the program.”
New version.
In 1989 Broderbund released a new version of Jam Session for the Macintosh II and SE. Additionally a version of the Apple IIGS computer was released, differing in its utilization of full color graphics for animated performance scenes and 15 voice stereo music. Musical themes featured in this version were Pop Rock, Heavy Metal, Country, Classical Concert Hip-Hop, Rap and Jazz. Users loaded a song from a specific theme and simply "jammed" along using the keyboard to play accompanying instruments, which had the option of being auto-harmonized and auto-timed to match with the musical score playing.


Boulder Dash III


Inves Spectrum 48k plus


List of Apple typefaces

This is a list of typefaces made by/for Apple Inc.


Parsector V

Parsector V is a 1980 video game published by Synergistic Solar for the TRS-80.
Gameplay.
"Parsector V" is a game in which each player maneuvers on his own board while trying to scout out the opponent's moves. Each player (or the computer, in a single-player game), controls a Mothership used to capture "parsectors" of the galaxy. A Mothership can launch smaller ships: fyters, cruzers, and bases, as well as engaging with its own weapons.
Reception.
J. Mishcon reviewed "Parsector V" in "The Space Gamer" No. 38. Mishcon commented that "This is worth a try for all those who enjoy complex games with the 'fog of war.'" In a 1982 review for "SoftSide", Martin Lewis concluded, "Rated a 10, this is indeed an excellent value."


SDS 930

The SDS 930 is a commercial 24-bit computer using bipolar junction transistors sold by Scientific Data Systems.
It was announced in December 1963, with first installations in June 1964.
Description.
An SDS 930 system consists of at least three standard () cabinets, comprising the arithmetic and logic unit, at least 8,192 words (24-bit + simple parity bit) magnetic-core memory, and the IO unit. Two's complement integer arithmetic is used. The machine has integer multiply and divide, but no floating-point hardware. An optional correlation and filtering unit (CFE) can be added, which is capable of very fast floating-point multiply-add operations (primarily intended for digital signal processing applications).
Weighed about .
A free-standing console is also provided, which includes binary displays of the machine's registers and switches to boot and debug programs. User input is by a Teletype Model 35 ASR unit and a high-speed paper-tape reader (300 cps). Most systems include at least two magnetic-tape drives, operating at up to 75 in/s at 800 bpi. The normal variety of peripherals is also available, including magnetic-drum units, card readers and punches, and an extensive set of analog-digital/digital-analog conversion devices. A (vector mode) graphic display unit is also available, but it does not include a means of keyboard input.
The SDS 930 is a typical small- to medium-scale scientific computer of the 1960s. Speed is good for its cost, but with an integer add time of 3.5 microseconds, it is not in the same league as the scientific workhorses of the day (the CDC 6600, for example). A well equipped 930 can easily exceed 10 cabinets and require a climate-controlled room. The price of such a system in 1966 would be in the neighborhood of $500K.
Programming languages available include FORTRAN II, ALGOL 60, and the assembly language known as Meta-Symbol. The FORTRAN system is very compact, having been designed and implemented by Digitek for SDS to compile and run in 4,096 word SDS 900 series machines. To do anything useful in such small memory space, the compiler relies on an SDS architectural feature known as Programmed OPeratorS, or POPS. This feature consists of a single bit in the instruction word that causes the machine to "mark place and branch" to the memory address of the instruction code value plus 100 (octal). As a result, pseudo instructions can be defined and implemented yielding very compact special-purpose code. Both the FORTRAN compiler and runtime take advantage of this capability.
Towards the end of the SDS 930's market lifetime a real-time monitor system was introduced, which included a FORTRAN IV compiler. Neither the operating system nor the compiler were used heavily by customers. Many organizations modified and enhanced the 930's hardware. Project Genie at the University of California, Berkeley, added hardware to permit time-sharing with the Berkeley Timesharing System. These changes later formed the basis for the SDS 940.
Other operating systems were also written for the machine by customers, including Arachnid (Spider) at the University of Texas at Austin.
SDS 930s could be found at most of the major US government labs at the time, including Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Early flight simulators used the SDS 930, because of its hardware integer multiply and divide capability and its real-time data acquisition and control peripheral modules. The machines are particularly well suited to this and other kinds of data acquisition and real-time analysis, as well as to serving as a digital control system for analog-hybrid systems.
The Surface Ship ASW Attack Trainer (Device 14A2A) used a SDS 930 computer and was designed to train the ASW attack team of a US Navy destroyer in submarine warfare by providing realistic simulations ashore with cost savings in operating time and expense at sea.
By 1974 estimates, there were about 200 SDS-930/940/945 computers still installed.


LG Vu series

The LG Vu series is a line of high-end stylus enabled Android devices produced by LG Electronics. The "Vu" designation was first introduced in 2008 as a branch of the LG Optimus series for flagship stylus enabled devices, but after the unveiling of the LG Vu 3 in September 2013 (which did not carry the Optimus branding), LG officially introduced the Vu series as a distinct brand separate from Optimus.


HDPMI


Cobra (computer)


Winged Samurai

Winged Samurai is a 1980 video game designed by David Wesely and published by Discovery Games for the Apple II, Commodore PET, TRS-80, and Atari 8-bit family. The player commands 16 Japanese fighters and must destroy incoming bombers before they can reach Rabaul.
Reception.
Forrest Johnson reviewed "Winged Samurai" in "The Space Gamer" No. 33. Johnson commented that "Unfortunately, in creating this historical authenticity, the programmer sacrificed the "game" to the "simulation". The display is purely two-dimensional, and the graphics are unimpressive. ... The game is not real time. You can take all day to make your combat decisions. ... Recommended to historical aviation gamers."


EPod

The ePodsOne (EP1) was an internet appliance from ePods.com (Salton) from the dot-com bubble era that lives on as a hacked platform. ePods.com was founded in 1999; the company and the EP1 was discontinued in 2000. The EP1 was described as:


Samsung NX2000

The Samsung NX2000 is a rangefinder-styled mirrorless interchangeable lens camera announced by Samsung on May 1, 2013. It has a 20 megapixel sensor, WiFi, and a touch screen, and uses the iFunction menu system.


R-tools

R-tools are a set of Unix/Linux tools that allow basic unsecured administration of Unix/Linux systems by establishing a Remote Shell. Similar in nature to Telnet but much less popular, R-tools is considered by most IT professionals to be dangerous and obsolete. The much preferred way to do a remote shell is ssh.
R-tools connection.
R-tools connects over TCP port 513 with the command rlogin, r-tools is considered to be insecure because it can be configured to only require a hostname and username; transmissions using r-tools are not encrypted.