Smarterphone

Smarterphone is a Norwegian company making software for mobile phones, founded in 1993 as Kvaleberg AS before being renamed in December 2010.
In June 2007, venture capital investor Ferd invested €2 million in the company.
By January 2010, further €3.6 million was invested.
Nokia completed acquisition of Smarterphone by November 2011.
The head office is in Oslo, Norway, but the company also has offices in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the United States.
Smarterphone develops mobile software for handsets, with mobile phone OEMs, ODMs and chipset vendors as customers. The company also provides professional services in the above areas.
In 2008, then as Kvaleberg, the company joined the LiMo Foundation,
and at the 2009 Mobile World Congress they presented the "Madrid" handset, in cooperation with Compal Communications.
Smarterphone OS.
The company's main product is Smarterphone OS, which is a platform-independent full mobile phone operating system and applications suite for the feature phone segment. Smarterphone OS, then called Mimiria, was first unveiled at the Mobile World Congress show in February 2008, and has been used for such handsets as the Kyocera C4700, Vibo T588, and the "Madrid" LiMo device. The Smarterphone architecture is "clean-room", with a very strict model-view-controller design that enables variations to be implemented with little effort.
The user interface of Smarterphone OS is programmed in a scripting language, which is a variant of Scheme with object-oriented extensions.
Smarterphone OS includes a user interface (MMI) software stack, implementing a full user interface and middleware for 2G and 3G feature phones. It also integrates a range of third-party modules such as Java ME JVM from Oracle Corporation, mobile browser from Obigo, MMS and SMS stack from Mobile Messaging Factory, predictive text input from Nuance and CooTek, and handwriting recognition from Sinovoice.
Nokia Asha platform.
Nokia's Asha Platform inherits capabilities from Smarterphone.


Unix philosophy

The Unix philosophy, originated by Ken Thompson, is a set of cultural norms and philosophical approaches to minimalist, modular software development. It is based on the experience of leading developers of the Unix operating system. Early Unix developers were important in bringing the concepts of modularity and reusability into software engineering practice, spawning a "software tools" movement. Over time, the leading developers of Unix (and programs that ran on it) established a set of cultural norms for developing software; these norms became as important and influential as the technology of Unix itself; this has been termed the "Unix philosophy."
The Unix philosophy emphasizes building simple, short, clear, modular, and extensible code that can be easily maintained and repurposed by developers other than its creators. The Unix philosophy favors composability as opposed to monolithic design.
Origin.
The Unix philosophy is documented by Doug McIlroy in the Bell System Technical Journal from 1978:
It was later summarized by Peter H. Salus in A Quarter-Century of Unix (1994):
In their award-winning Unix paper of 1974, Ritchie and Thompson quote the following design considerations:
"The UNIX Programming Environment".
In their preface to the 1984 book, "The UNIX Programming Environment", Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike, both from Bell Labs, give a brief description of the Unix design and the Unix philosophy:
The authors further write that their goal for this book is "to communicate the UNIX programming philosophy."
"Program Design in the UNIX Environment".
In October 1984, Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike published a paper called "Program Design in the UNIX Environment". In this paper, they criticize the accretion of program options and features found in some newer Unix systems such as 4.2BSD and System V, and explain the Unix philosophy of software tools, each performing one general function:
The authors contrast Unix tools such as cat, with larger program suites used by other systems.
Doug McIlroy on Unix programming.
McIlroy, then head of the Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center, and inventor of the Unix pipe, summarized the Unix philosophy as follows:
Beyond these statements, he has also emphasized simplicity and minimalism in Unix programming:
Conversely, McIlroy has criticized modern Linux as having software bloat, remarking that, "adoring admirers have fed Linux goodies to a disheartening state of obesity." He contrasts this with the earlier approach taken at Bell Labs when developing and revising Research Unix:
Do One Thing and Do It Well.
As stated by McIlroy, and generally accepted throughout the Unix community, Unix programs have always been expected to follow the concept of DOTADIW, or "Do One Thing And Do It Well." There are limited sources for the acronym DOTADIW on the Internet, but it is discussed at length during the development and packaging of new operating systems, especially in the Linux community.
Patrick Volkerding, the project lead of Slackware Linux, invoked this design principle in a criticism of the systemd architecture, stating that, "attempting to control services, sockets, devices, mounts, etc., all within one daemon flies in the face of the Unix concept of doing one thing and doing it well."
Eric Raymond's 17 Unix Rules.
In his book "The Art of Unix Programming" that was first published in 2003, Eric S. Raymond, an American programmer and open source advocate, summarizes the Unix philosophy as KISS Principle of "Keep it Simple, Stupid." He provides a series of design rules:
Mike Gancarz: The UNIX Philosophy.
In 1994, Mike Gancarz (a member of the team that designed the X Window System), drew on his own experience with Unix, as well as discussions with fellow programmers and people in other fields who depended on Unix, to produce "The UNIX Philosophy" which sums it up in nine paramount precepts:
"Worse is better".
Richard P. Gabriel suggests that a key advantage of Unix was that it embodied a design philosophy he termed "worse is better", in which simplicity of both the interface "and" the implementation are more important than any other attributes of the system—including correctness, consistency, and completeness. Gabriel argues that this design style has key evolutionary advantages, though he questions the quality of some results.
For example, in the early days Unix used a monolithic kernel (which means that user processes carried out kernel system calls all on the user stack). If a signal was delivered to a process while it was blocked on a long-term I/O in the kernel, then what should be done? Should the signal be delayed, possibly for a long time (maybe indefinitely) while the I/O completed? The signal handler could not be executed when the process was in kernel mode, with sensitive kernel data on the stack. Should the kernel back-out the system call, and store it, for replay and restart later, assuming that the signal handler completes successfully?
In these cases Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie favored simplicity over perfection. The Unix system would occasionally return early from a system call with an error stating that it had done nothing—the "Interrupted System Call", or an error number 4 (codice_1) in today's systems. Of course the call had been aborted in order to call the signal handler. This could only happen for a handful of long-running system calls such as codice_2, codice_3, codice_4, and codice_5. On the plus side, this made the I/O system many times simpler to design and understand. The vast majority of user programs were never affected because they did not handle or experience signals other than codice_6 and would die right away if one was raised. For the few other programs—things like shells or text editors that respond to job control key presses—small wrappers could be added to system calls so as to retry the call right away if this codice_1 error was raised. Thus, the problem was solved in a simple manner.
Criticism.
In a 1981 article entitled "The truth about Unix: "The user interface is horrid"" published in "Datamation", Don Norman criticized the design philosophy of Unix for its lack of concern for the user interface. Writing from his background in cognitive science and from the perspective of the then-current philosophy of cognitive engineering, he focused on how end-users comprehend and form a personal cognitive model of systems—or, in the case of Unix, fail to understand, with the result that disastrous mistakes (such as losing an hour's worth of work) are all too easy.


Libranet

Libranet was an operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux.
The last version (as of April 25, 2005) released is Libranet 3.0, which cost about $90 in US dollars for new users, or $65 for existing Libranet users. The previous version, Libranet 2.8.1, became free to download.
Development of Libranet has been discontinued.
History.
The name comes from "Libra Computer Systems" (a company owned by the founder) and the fact that "libra.com" was taken.
The first release of Libranet was in 1999. Most Linux distributions of this time were very difficult to install, and were considered either for programmers or those who wanted a low cost server. Libranet attempted to put out and sell a distribution that was easy to install, and meant for desktop use. Corel likewise attempted this with Corel Linux, but abandoned this and refocused on software for Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Libranet, however, continued, and developed some recognition for having a Linux distribution that was good for desktop users. Corel sold the rights to their Linux operating system to Xandros, which later released their own offering of a Linux desktop.
From 1999 to 2003, most Linux distributions with comparable desktop usability to Libranet were also priced similarly. This began to change, however, in 2004. Linux as whole had advanced, and many distributions were now reasonably easy to install, with a relatively user-friendly desktop. Some distributions such as MEPIS were competitive and far less expensive. Others such as Knoppix were offered at no cost.
Libranet attempted to carve a niche as the user-friendly Linux distro, with extensive support (termed "up and running support"), which, of all the desktop distros, was the most compatible with the Debian release of the time (Woody). The support offered was truly extensive: Jon Danzig, the founder, would often personally answer people's inquiries. This helped make people who had chosen Libranet be even more loyal to it.
However, with the release of Debian "Sarge" in 2005, along with the emergence of Ubuntu (a Debian based distro offered at no cost, with the option to purchase support), Libranet received less attention. Debian itself revamped their installer making it easier to use (before this, a good reason to use a Debian-based distribution was that Debian's own installer was not user friendly).
Libranet released version 3.0, which received good reviews, but the market had changed for desktop distributions. Various other commercial vendors had released free versions of their distributions, such as SUSE, which released OpenSUSE, and Red Hat, which released Fedora. Whereas Libranet sold their distribution, and then gave free extensive support, many distributors chose to give away their distribution and sell support, and/or sell proprietary software enhancements.
Jon Danzig, the founder of Libranet, died on June 1, 2005. His son Tal had taken over the leadership of the development team, but then stated that he would stop maintaining Libranet. Daniel de Kok, the other remaining employee, went on to become a developer for CentOS.
Cancellation of OpenLibranet 3.1.
There were many users who were interested in seeing Libranet, and the Libranet Adminmenu software, continue to be available. Adminmenu was an operating system setup and configuration tool. It was unique in that it also contained a user-friendly kernel compiling tool. So a team including Daniel de Kok proposed to opensource Libranet and release OpenLibranet 3.1. But after failing to obtain definitive permission for this plan from Tal Danzig, the owner, the plan was dropped.


Cyborg Justice

Cyborg Justice is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game developed by Novotrade and released in 1993 for the Sega Mega Drive.
Story.
The game's opening cinematic shows a spaceship crashing onto a mining colony. The ship's occupant dies shortly after the crash. The space-traveler's brain is saved and it is transplanted into cyborg body. His memory is erased so that he can be put to work. The memory wipe fails and the player, as the unwilling cyborg, must escape.
Gameplay.
When starting the game, players are prompted to select an arm, body, and legs for their cyborg character. Enemies are also a combination of these three types of cyborg parts, even having the secondary arm mixed. When players choose the "two players game mode," players will be prompted to the customization room, and afterwards either go to the main adventure mode or the duel mode if they previously set it in the Options menu. The first player has a combination of metallic gray and yellow, while the second player has a combination of metallic green and purple.
Enemies come in pairs, with first and second player colors respectively. Players have a wide variety of moves, which includes picking up and using objects and manipulating enemies, grabbing the enemy's arm and removing it, and swap it for the current arm, and if the enemy does not have a primary arm, then the next thing the player can grab is the body and tear the enemy in half, which can then be drained to replenish energy.
As the levels progress, the player is confronted with cyborg enemies sporting different modified bodies. If desired, the player can swap out parts from defeated enemies by kicking the wreckage and grasping downward at the displayed item. This is sometimes needed, such as in the first level where the player is faced with an enemy with high-jump legs and then has to jump across a wide chasm. Later on, battles with enemies become increasingly difficult. The more powerful weapons from defeated enemies prove essential in defeating the next wave of foes or end-level bosses.
In easy mode, there are 3 stages, and 3 levels of each stage, and a boss at the 3rd level of each stage. In stage 1, the player finds themselves turned into a cyborg after their space ship crashed, but their memory erasure had failed, causing the player to become a rebel cyborg, fighting for freedom and to destroy whoever turned the player into a cyborg. Stage 1 is the outskirts of the planet, with sparse civilization. On the 3rd level of stage 1, there is a boss that the player must defeat in order to progress to the next stage. One beaten, the player progresses to stage 2, level 1. In stage 2, the player finds themselves inside of building, and must fight through all 3 levels of stage 2 to progress to stage 3. In stage 3, the player finds themselves in an industrial setting. In easy mode, when the player defeats the boss in stage 3, level 3, the player wins the game. Each level of each stage is a different color of the one previous. This was one of the main problems with this game, as people criticize its repetitive maps.
In brutal mode, the hardest possible difficulty, there are 5 stages, and the "Main Boss." Stages 1-3 are the same as stages 1-3 in easy mode, except the enemy cyborgs that the player must fight are stronger. In stage 4, the player finds themselves on a futuristic space-station, where they must battle through all 3 levels of stage 4 to progress to stage 5. In stage 5, the player finds themselves in an eerie cave with sparse technology. There is no boss at the end of the third level of stage 5. Instead, the player progresses to another stage that consists of 1 level. This is the "Main Boss." The player finds themselves in the lair of the Brainiac, a giant brain that the player must defeat to win the game. To defeat the Brainiac, the player must destroy all 3 modules located on the front of the brain, while dodging the array of lasers that return every 2 seconds. When the lasers return, a portion of the lasers fire, leaving little room for the player to avoid getting hit. after the lasers shoot, they slide off screen, and the player is able to hit the Brainiac once more. When the Brainiac is defeated, the player officially "Wins" the game, and the credits are shown. At the end of the credits, the player is asked to input their name, where their score will be displayed.
Enemy cyborgs appear in pairs of two. The first cyborg is always in front of the player, at the top of the fighting zone. Then a second cyborg appears behind the player, at the bottom of the fighting zone. This fighting aspect of the game does not change. The player must defeat both cyborgs to move forward, where the player must defeat 2 more. At the end of a stage without a boss, the player's hovering vehicle swoops in, and the player jumps in and flies off screen, then the player's level points are rewarded and they progress to the next level of the current stage. When the player kills another cyborg, it takes 5 seconds for them to explode, so the player can move forward. The player can also crouch, and hit the corpse to make it explode faster. The player can also low-kick the body, forcing the legs up. the player can then switch legs. The player can also remove other cyborgs' arms, during a fight. The player cannot perform this move to any bosses, except for the stage 1 boss. Torsos cannot be switched, as the torso hold the player's human brain.
Ending.
At the end of the game in brutal mode, when the player defeats the Brainiac, the scene changes, and the player finds themselves in the same area where they were forced to comply with orders at the start of the game. The cyborgs then give the player praise for "freeing" them, and offer the player to be their leader. The Cyborgs tell the player that they need good leadership so that they don't get enslaved again.
Special Moves.
Some fighting moves are unique to a specific body part. At the start of the game, the player is able to choose their Torso, primary arm, and legs. Available Arms: Cannon Arm, Flamethrower Arm, Saw Arm, Regular Arm. The player cannot change their other arm. The cannon arm can shoot, the flamethrower spews fire, the saw arm can cut, and the regular arm will just punch. Torsos do not give any extra fighting moves, but they do offer speed and health bonuses. There are multiple legs to choose from. The Pneumatic Legs, the Summersault Legs, the Big Legs, and the Tank Legs give special bonuses. the pneumatic legs offer greater kicking power, the summersault legs increase agility and enable the player to summersault, the big legs are immune to floor traps, and the tank legs allow the player to transform their legs into tank tracks, and "dash." The tank legs will hurt enemies if they come in contact with the player while they're "Dashing." There are multiple arms that the player can only acquire by taking them off enemies, such as the missile arm, The piston arm, and more. The player can also jump onto enemies and perform a move that drains health from the enemy and heals the player.


Auto Destruct

Auto Destruct is a video game developed by the Swedish studio Neurostone and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the PlayStation. The player takes on the role of a retired race car driver hunting down the fanatical cult which murdered his wife and daughter. The music was composed by English electronic producer Danny Briottet.
Gameplay.
The player takes control of a futuristic car in 3-D urban environments and must accomplish a series of missions. Objectives vary widely, and include seek-and-destroy missions, escort missions, and taxicab driving.
Reception.
The game received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. "Next Generation" said that the game was "a good ride, but it could have been much more."


Stephen C. Johnson

Stephen Curtis Johnson (known as Steve Johnson) is a computer scientist who worked at Bell Labs and AT&T for nearly 20 years. He is best known for Yacc, Lint, spell, and the Portable C Compiler, which contributed to the spread of Unix and C. He has also contributed to fields as diverse as computer music, psychometrics and VLSI design.
Life and education.
Johnson's passion for computing started at age five, when his grandfather took him along to his work at the Bureau of Standards. The computer he saw ("the size of a small house") made a strong impression on him, and he decided he "wanted to work with computers, and never looked back after".
There were no computer science classes in college, so he studied mathematics, in which he eventually earned a PhD.
Career.
Bell Labs and AT&T.
Johnson joined Bell Labs and AT&T in the 1960s and worked on Unix tools for nearly 20 years, alongside computer scientists like Jeffrey Ullman, Dennis Ritchie and Alfred Aho. He was best known for writing Yacc, Lint, and the Portable C Compiler.
In the mid-1970s, Johnson and Bell colleague Dennis Ritchie co-authored the first AT&T Unix port. They also "demonstrated that Unix was portable", which Ritchie considers the spark that led to Unix becoming widespread. In the mid-1980s, he served as the head of the UNIX Languages Department (UNIX System V).
Johnson developed Yacc in the early '70s because he wanted to insert an exclusive or operator into Ritchie's B language compiler. Bell Labs colleague Alfred Aho suggested he look at Donald Knuth's work on LR parsing, which served as the basis for Yacc. In a 2008 interview, Johnson reflected that "the contribution Yacc made to the spread of Unix and C is what I'm proudest of". Lint was developed in 1978 while Johnson was debugging the Yacc grammar he was writing for C and struggling with portability issues stemming from porting Unix to a 32-bit machine.
Silicon Valley.
In 1986, Johnson moved to Silicon Valley, where he joined several startups, where he worked mostly on compilers, but also 2D and 3D graphics, massively parallel computing and embedded systems. The startups included Dana Computer, Inc., Melismatic Software, and Transmeta, which made low-power, Intel-compatible microprocessors.
Johnson served on the USENIX board for ten years, including four years as president in the early 1990s. He now serves as the USENIX representative to the Computing Research Association.
Later career.
In 2002, he moved to Boston to work at MathWorks, where he helped maintain the front end of the MATLAB programming language, for which he also built a lint product called M-Lint. He had met MathWorks founder Cleve Moler while working at a Silicon Valley startup and developed a "long-distance consulting relationship" with him in the 1990s.
Johnson currently lives in Morgan Hill, California and works on machine learning at Wave Computing, a startup that develops energy-efficient computers for machine learning.


PowerPC applications

Microprocessors belonging to the PowerPC/Power ISA architecture family have been used in numerous applications.
Personal Computers.
Apple Computer was the dominant player in the market of personal computers based on PowerPC processors until 2006 when it switched to Intel-based processors. Apple used PowerPC processors in the Power Mac, iMac, eMac, PowerBook, iBook, Mac mini, and Xserve. Classic Macintosh accelerator boards using PowerPCs were made by DayStar Digital, Newer Technology, Sonnet Technologies, and TotalImpact.
There have been several attempts to create PowerPC reference platforms for computers by IBM and others: The IBM PReP (PowerPC Reference Platform) is a system standard intended to ensure compatibility among PowerPC-based systems built by different companies; IBM POP (PowerPC Open Platform) is an open and free standard and design of PowerPC motherboards. Pegasos Open Desktop Workstation (ODW) is an open and free standard and design of PowerPC motherboards based on Marvell Discovery II (MV64361) chipset; PReP standard specifies the PCI bus, but will also support ISA, MicroChannel, and PCMCIA. PReP-compliant systems will be able to run OS/2, AIX, Solaris, Taligent, and Windows NT; and the CHRP (Common Hardware Reference Platform) is an open platform agreed on by Apple, IBM, and Motorola. All CHRP systems will be able to run Mac OS, OS/2-PPC, Windows NT, AIX, Solaris, Novell Netware. CHRP is a superset of PReP and the PowerMac platforms.
Power.org has defined the Power Architecture Platform Reference (PAPR) that provides the foundation for development of computers based on the Linux operating system.
List of computers based on PowerPC:
Supercomputers.
IBM
Apple
Cray
Sony
Personal digital assistants (smartphones and tablets).
IBM released a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) reference platform ("Arctic") based on PowerPC 405LP (Low Power). This project is discontinued after IBM sold PowerPC 4XX design to AMCC.
Game consoles.
All three major seventh-generation game consoles contain PowerPC-based processors. Sony's PlayStation 3 console, released in November 2006, contains a Cell processor, including a 3.2 GHz PowerPC control processor and eight closely threaded DSP-like accelerator processors, seven active and one spare; Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, released in 2005, includes a 3.2 GHz custom IBM PowerPC chip with three symmetrical cores, each core SMP-capable at two threads, and Nintendo's Wii console, also released in November 2006, contains an extension of the PowerPC architecture found in their previous system, the GameCube.
TV Set Top Boxes/Digital Recorder.
IBM, Sony, and Zarlink Semiconductor had released several Set Top Box (STB) reference platforms based on IBM PowerPC 405 cores and IBM Set Top Box (STB) System-On-Chip (SOC)


Arrandale

Arrandale is the code name for a family of mobile Intel processors, sold as mobile Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 as well as Celeron and Pentium. It is closely related to the desktop Clarkdale processor; both use dual-core dies based on the "Westmere" 32 nm die shrink of the Nehalem microarchitecture, and have integrated Graphics as well as PCI Express and DMI links.
Arrandale is the successor of the 45 nm Core-microarchitecture-based Penryn processor that is used in many of the mobile Intel Core 2, Celeron and Pentium Dual-Core processors. While Penryn typically used both a north bridge and a south bridge, Arrandale already contains the major northbridge components, which are the memory controller, PCI Express bus for external graphics, integrated graphics, and the DMI interface, making it possible to build more compact systems.
The Arrandale processor package contains two dies: the 32 nm processor die with the I/O connections, and the 45 nm Intel HD Graphics (Ironlake) controller and integrated memory controller die. Physical separation of the processor die and memory controller die resulted in increased memory latency.
Arrandale was released on 7 January 2010, during CES 2010.
Brand names.
Arrandale processors were sold under the Celeron, Pentium, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 brand names, with only the Core i7 models using the full L3 cache and all features. Processors ending in E instead of M are embedded versions with support for PCIe bifurcation and ECC memory, while the regular mobile versions only support a single PCIe port and non-ECC memory.
The Celeron versions of Arrandale have the smallest L3 cache of just 2 MB.


PlayStation 2 online functionality

Selected games on Sony's PlayStation 2 video game console offer online gaming or other online capabilities. Games that enable the feature provide free online play through the use of a broadband internet connection and a PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor. Since the service has no official name, it is sometimes referred as either PS2 Network Play, PS2 Network Gaming, or PS2 Online.
The service was launched in July 2001 in Japan, August 2002 in North America, and in June 2003 in Europe. On "slimline" models, a network adapter is integrated into the hardware. Some games also allowed online gameplay using a dial-up connection (not available on all models), or LAN play by connecting two network adapters/slimline consoles together directly with an Ethernet cable or through the same router network.
Instead of having a unified online service like SegaNet or Xbox Live, online multiplayer on the PS2 was the responsibility of the game publisher and was run on third-party servers. However, later PS2 online games required the console to be authorized through Sony's Dynamic Network Authentication System (DNAS) before connecting to the server. Unofficial servers also exist which could be connected by setting up the DNS settings to connect to an unofficial DNS server. Most recent PS2 online games have been developed to exclusively support broadband internet access.
The last official online server, which was for "Final Fantasy XI", was ultimately shut down on March 31, 2016, with the DNAS following it a couple of days later on April 4, indirectly shutting down several remaining unofficial servers, with the exception of ones that support non-DNAS PS2 titles such as ' and "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3". Despite the DNAS shutdown, several fan created servers still exist; most require a DNAS workaround to connect, with some exceptions such as "Call of Duty 3" and '.
Adapter.
For the older models (non-Slim) of the PlayStation 2 console, a network adapter was needed to play online and use a hard drive. All versions of the Network Adapter provide an Ethernet port, while some North American versions also featured a phone-line port for dial-up connection. The newer slimline versions, however, have an Ethernet port built into them, making the Network Adapter unnecessary and hard drive use nearly impossible, as well as ruling out any need to keep the network adapter in production.
Playing online games requires that users set up the system's network connection configuration, which is saved to a memory card. This can be done with the network Startup Disk that came with the network adapter or using one of the many games that had the utility built into them, such as Resident Evil Outbreak, to set up the network settings. The new slimline PlayStation 2 came with a disk in the box by default. The last version of the disk was network startup disk 5.0, which was included with the newer SCPH 90004 model released in 2009. However, as of December 31, 2012, the PlayStation 2 has been discontinued, and the servers for most games have all since been shut down.
Games.
Released in 2002, "Final Fantasy XI" is the first ever console game to offer cross-platform play, connecting PlayStation 2 and personal computer. "", released in August of the same year, was one of the first video games that allowed voice chat on a console.
Compatibility.
PAL games that supported online gaming display a "WITH NET PLAY" logo on their cover. North American games feature an "Online" icon in the lower right corner of the cover; on games that do not support dial-up connectivity, "broadband only" is also found on the logo.
LAN tunneling.
Over time, most game servers have been shut down. However, computer programs such as XBSlink, SVDL and XLink Kai allow users to achieve online play for some PS2 games by using a network configuration that simulates a worldwide LAN.


I486

The Intel 486, officially named i486 and also known as 80486, is a higher-performance follow-up to the Intel 386 microprocessor. The i486 was introduced in 1989 and was the first tightly pipelined x86 design as well as the first x86 chip to use more than a million transistors, due to a large on-chip cache and an integrated floating-point unit. It represents a fourth generation of binary compatible CPUs since the original 8086 of 1978.
A 50 MHz i486 executes around 40 million instructions per second on average and is able to reach 50 MIPS peak performance, approximately twice as fast as the i386 or 80286 per clock cycle, thanks to its five-stage pipeline with all stages bound to a single cycle. The on chip enhanced FPU unit was also significantly faster than the 80387 per cycle.
Background.
The i486 was announced at Spring Comdex in April 1989. At the announcement, Intel stated that samples would be available in the third quarter of 1989 and production quantities would ship in the fourth quarter of 1989. The first i486-based PCs were announced in late 1989, but some advised that people wait until 1990 to purchase an i486 PC because there were early reports of bugs and software incompatibilities.
Improvements.
The instruction set of the i486 is very similar to its predecessor, the i386, with the addition of only a few extra instructions, such as CMPXCHG which implements a compare-and-swap atomic operation and XADD, a fetch-and-add atomic operation returning the original value (unlike a standard ADD which returns flags only).
From a performance point of view, the architecture of the i486 is a vast improvement over the i386. It has an on-chip unified instruction and data cache, an on-chip floating-point unit (FPU) and an enhanced bus interface unit. Due to the tight pipelining, sequences of simple instructions (such as ALU reg,reg and ALU reg,im) could sustain a single-clock-cycle throughput (one instruction completed every clock). These improvements yielded a rough doubling in integer ALU performance over the 386 at the same clock rate. A 16-MHz i486 therefore had a performance similar to a 33-MHz i386, and the older design had to reach 50 MHz to be comparable with a 25-MHz i486 part.
Differences between i386 and i486.
Just as in the i386, a simple flat 4 GB memory model could be implemented by setting all "segment selector" registers to a neutral value in protected mode, or setting (the same) "segment registers" to zero in real mode, and using only the 32-bit "offset registers" (x86-terminology for general CPU registers used as address registers) as a linear 32-bit virtual address bypassing the segmentation logic. Virtual addresses were then normally mapped onto physical addresses by the paging system except when it was disabled. ("Real" mode had no "virtual" addresses.) Just as with the i386, circumventing memory segmentation could substantially improve performance in some operating systems and applications.
On a typical PC motherboard, either four matched 30-pin (8-bit) SIMMs or one 72-pin (32-bit) SIMM per bank were required to fit the i486's 32-bit data bus. The address bus used 30-bits (A31..A2) complemented by four byte-select pins (instead of A0,A1) to allow for any 8/16/32-bit selection. This meant that the limit of directly addressable physical memory was 4 gigabytes as well (230 "32-bit" words = 232 "8-bit" words).
Models.
There are several suffixes and variants. (see Table). Other variants include:
The specified maximal internal clock frequency (on Intel's versions) ranged from 16 to 100 MHz. The 16 MHz i486SX model was used by Dell Computers.
One of the few i486 models specified for a 50 MHz bus (486DX-50) initially had overheating problems and was moved to the 0.8-micrometre fabrication process. However, problems continued when the 486DX-50 was installed in local-bus systems due to the high bus speed, making it rather unpopular with mainstream consumers, as local-bus video was considered a requirement at the time, though it remained popular with users of EISA systems. The 486DX-50 was soon eclipsed by the clock-doubled i486DX2, which although running the internal CPU logic at twice the external bus speed (50 MHz), was nevertheless slower due to the external bus running at only 25 MHz. The i486DX2 at 66 MHz (with 33 MHz external bus) was faster than the 486DX-50, overall.
More powerful i486 iterations such as the OverDrive and DX4 were less popular (the latter available as an OEM part only), as they came out after Intel had released the next-generation P5 Pentium processor family. Certain steppings of the DX4 also officially supported 50 MHz bus operation, but it was a seldom-used feature.
Other makers of 486-like CPUs.
Processors compatible with the i486 have been produced by other companies such as IBM, Texas Instruments, AMD, Cyrix, UMC, and STMicroelectronics (formerly SGS-Thomson). Some were clones (identical at the microarchitectural level), others were clean room implementations of the Intel instruction set. (IBM's multiple-source requirement is one of the reasons behind its x86 manufacturing since the 80286.) The i486 was, however, covered by many of Intel's patents covering new R&D as well as that of the prior i386. Intel and IBM have broad cross-licenses of these patents, and AMD was granted rights to the relevant patents in the 1995 settlement of a lawsuit between the companies.
AMD produced several clones of the i486 using a 40 MHz bus (486DX-40, 486DX/2-80, and 486DX/4-120) which had no equivalent available from Intel, as well as a part specified for 90 MHz, using a 30 MHz external clock, that was sold only to OEMs. The fastest running i486-compatible CPU, the Am5x86, ran at 133 MHz and was released by AMD in 1995. 150 MHz and 160 MHz parts were planned but never officially released.
Cyrix made a variety of i486-compatible processors, positioned at the cost-sensitive desktop and low-power (laptop) markets. Unlike AMD's 486 clones, the Cyrix processors were the result of clean-room reverse engineering. Cyrix's early offerings included the 486DLC and 486SLC, two hybrid chips which plugged into 386DX or SX sockets respectively, and offered 1 KB of cache (versus 8 KB for the then-current Intel/AMD parts). Cyrix also made "real" 486 processors, which plugged into the i486's socket and offered 2 or 8 KB of cache. Clock-for-clock, the Cyrix-made chips were generally slower than their Intel/AMD equivalents, though later products with 8 KB caches were more competitive, if late to market.
The Motorola 68040, while not compatible with the i486, was often positioned as its equivalent in features and performance. Clock-for-clock basis the Motorola 68040 could significantly outperform the Intel 486 chip. However, the i486 had the ability to be clocked significantly faster without suffering from overheating problems. The Motorola 68040 performance lagged behind the later production i486 systems.
Motherboards and buses.
Early i486-based computers were equipped with several ISA slots (using an emulated PC/AT-bus) and sometimes one or two 8-bit-only slots (compatible with the PC/XT-bus). Many motherboards enabled overclocking of these up from the default 6 or 8 MHz to perhaps 16.7 or 20 MHz (half the i486 bus clock) in a number of steps, often from within the BIOS setup. Especially older peripheral cards normally worked well at such speeds as they often used standard MSI chips instead of slower (at the time) custom VLSI designs. This could give significant performance gains (such as for old video cards moved from a 386 or 286 computer, for example). However, operation beyond 8 or 10 MHz could sometimes lead to stability problems, at least in systems equipped with SCSI or sound cards.
Some motherboards came equipped with a 32-bit bus called EISA that was backward compatible with the ISA-standard. EISA offered a number of attractive features such as increased bandwidth, extended addressing, IRQ sharing, and card configuration through software (rather than through jumpers, DIP switches, etc.) However, EISA cards were expensive and therefore mostly employed in servers and workstations. Consumer desktops often used the simpler but faster VESA Local Bus (VLB), unfortunately somewhat prone to electrical and timing-based instability; typical consumer desktops had ISA slots combined with a single VLB slot for a video card. VLB was gradually replaced by PCI during the final years of the i486 period. Few Pentium class motherboards had VLB support as VLB was based directly on the i486 bus; it was no trivial matter adapting it to the quite different P5 Pentium-bus. ISA persisted through the P5 Pentium generation and was not completely displaced by PCI until the Pentium III era.
Late i486 boards were normally equipped with both PCI and ISA slots, and sometimes a single VLB slot as well. In this configuration VLB or PCI throughput suffered depending on how buses were bridged. Initially, the VLB slot in these systems was usually fully compatible only with video cards (quite fitting as "VESA" stands for "Video Electronics Standards Association"); VLB-IDE, multi I/O, or SCSI cards could have problems on motherboards with PCI slots. The VL-Bus operated at the same clock speed as the i486-bus (basically "being" a local bus) while the PCI bus also usually depended on the i486 clock but sometimes had a divider setting available via the BIOS. This could be set to 1/1 or 1/2, sometimes even 2/3 (for 50 MHz CPU clocks). Some motherboards limited the PCI clock to the specified maximum of 33 MHz and certain network cards depended on this frequency for correct bit-rates. The ISA clock was typically generated by a divider of the CPU/VLB/PCI clock (as implied above).
One of the earliest complete systems to use the i486 chip was the Apricot VX FT, produced by British hardware manufacturer Apricot Computers. Even overseas in the United States it was popularized as "The World's First 486" in the September 1989 issue of "Byte" magazine (shown right).
Later i486 boards also supported Plug-And-Play, a specification designed by Microsoft that began as a part of Windows 95 to make component installation easier for consumers.
Gaming.
The 486DX2 66 MHz processor was popular on home-oriented PCs during the early to mid 1990s, toward the end of the MS-DOS gaming era. It was often coupled with a VESA Local Bus video card.
The introduction of 3D computer graphics spelled the end of the i486's reign, because 3D graphics make heavy use of floating-point calculations and require a faster CPU cache and more memory bandwidth. Developers began to target the P5 Pentium processor family almost exclusively with x86 assembly language optimizations (e.g., "Quake") which led to the usage of terms like "Pentium-compatible processor" for software requirements. Many of these games required the speed of the P5 Pentium processor family's double-pipelined architecture.
Obsolescence.
The AMD Am5x86, up to 133 MHz, and Cyrix Cx5x86, up to 120 MHz, were the last i486 processors that were often used in late generation i486 motherboards with PCI slots and 72-pin SIMMs that are designed to be able to run Windows 95, and also often used as upgrades for older 80486 motherboards. While the Cyrix Cx5x86 faded quite quickly when the Cyrix 6x86 took over, the AMD Am5x86 was important during the time when the AMD K5 was delayed.
Computers based on the i486 remained popular through the late 1990s, serving as low-end processors for entry-level PCs. Production for traditional desktop and laptop systems ceased in 1998, when Intel introduced the Celeron brand as an modern replacement for the aging chip, though it continued to be produced for embedded systems through the late 2000s.
In the general-purpose desktop computer role, i486-based machines remained in use into the early 2000s, especially as Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 were the latest Microsoft operating systems to officially support installation on an i486-based system. However, as Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0 were eventually overtaken by newer operating systems, i486 systems likewise fell out of use. Still, a number of i486 machines remained in use, mostly for backward compatibility with older programs (most notably games), especially since many of them have problems running on newer operating systems. However, DOSBox is also available for current operating systems and provides emulation of the i486 instruction set, as well as full compatibility with most DOS-based programs.
Although the i486 was eventually overtaken by the Pentium for personal computer applications, Intel had continued production for use in embedded systems. In May 2006 Intel announced that production of the i486 would stop at the end of September 2007.


IBM Personal Computer

The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first computer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team of engineers and designers directed by Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida.
The machine was based on open architecture and a substantial market of third-party peripherals, expansion cards and software grew up rapidly to support it.
The PC had a substantial influence on the personal computer market. The specifications of the IBM PC became one of the most popular computer design standards in the world, and the only significant competition it faced from a non-compatible platform throughout the 1980s was from the Apple Macintosh product line. The majority of modern personal computers are distant descendants of the IBM PC.
History.
Prior to the 1980s, IBM had largely been known as a provider of business computer systems. As the 1980s opened, their market share in the growing minicomputer market failed to keep up with competitors, while other manufacturers were beginning to see impressive profits in the microcomputer space. The market for personal computers was dominated at the time by Tandy, Commodore and Apple, whose machines sold for several hundred dollars each and had become very popular. The microcomputer market was large enough for IBM's attention, with $15000 million in sales by 1979 and projected annual growth of more than 40% during the early 1980s. Other large technology companies had entered it, such as Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments and Data General, and some large IBM customers were buying Apples.
As early as 1980 there were rumors of IBM developing a personal computer, possibly a miniaturized version of the IBM System/370, and Matsushita acknowledged publicly that it had discussed with IBM the possibility of manufacturing a personal computer in partnership, although this project was abandoned. The public responded to these rumors with skepticism, owing to IBM's tendency towards slow-moving, bureaucratic business practices tailored towards the production of large, sophisticated and expensive business systems. As with other large computer companies, its new products typically required about four to five years for development, and a well publicized quote from an industry analyst was, "IBM bringing out a personal computer would be like teaching an elephant to tap dance."
IBM had previously produced microcomputers, such as 1975's IBM 5100, but targeted them towards businesses; the 5100 had a price tag as high as $20,000. Their entry into the home computer market needed to be competitively priced.
In 1980, IBM president John Opel, recognizing the value of entering this growing market, assigned William C. Lowe to the new Entry Level Systems unit in Boca Raton, Florida. Market research found that computer dealers were very interested in selling an IBM product, but they insisted the company use a design based on standard parts, not IBM-designed ones, so that stores could perform their own repairs rather than requiring customers to send machines back to IBM for service.
Atari proposed to IBM in 1980 that it act as original equipment manufacturer for an IBM microcomputer, a potential solution to IBM's known inability to move quickly to meet a rapidly changing market. The idea of acquiring Atari was considered, but rejected in favor of a proposal by Lowe that by forming an independent internal working group and abandoning all traditional IBM methods, a design could be delivered within a year, and a prototype within 30 days. The prototype worked poorly, but was presented with a detailed business plan which proposed that the new computer have an open architecture, use non-proprietary components and software, and be sold through retail stores, all contrary to IBM practice. It also estimated sales of 220,000 computers over three years, more than IBM's entire installed base.
This swayed the Corporate Management Committee, who converted the group into a business unit named "Project Chess," and provided the necessary funding and authority to do whatever was needed to develop the computer in the given timeframe. The team received permission to expand to 150 people by the end of 1980, and one day more than 500 IBM employees called in asking to join.
Design process.
The design process was kept under a policy of strict secrecy, with none of the other IBM divisions knowing what was going on.
Several CPUs were considered, including the Texas Instruments TMS9900, Motorola 68000 and Intel 8088. The 68000 was considered the best choice, but was not production-ready like the others. The IBM 801 RISC processor was also considered, since it was considerably more powerful than the other options, but rejected due to the design constraint to use off-the-shelf parts.
IBM chose the 8088 over the similar but superior 8086 because Intel offered a better price for the former and could provide more units, and the 8088's 8-bit bus reduced the cost of the rest of the computer. The 8088 had the advantage that IBM already had familiarity with it from designing the IBM System/23 Datamaster. The 62-pin expansion bus slots were also designed to be similar to the Datamaster slots, and its keyboard design and layout would become the Model F keyboard shipped with the PC, but otherwise the PC design differed in many ways.
The 8088 motherboard was designed in 40 days, with a working prototype created in four months, demonstrated in January 1981. The design was essentially complete by April 1981, when it was handed off to the manufacturing team. PCs were assembled in an IBM plant in Boca Raton, with components made at various IBM and third party factories. The monitor was an existing design from IBM Japan, the printer was manufactured by Epson. Because none of the functional components were designed by IBM, they obtained no patents on the PC.
Many of the designers were computer hobbyists who owned their own computers, including many Apple II owners, which influenced the decisions to design the computer with an open architecture and publish technical information so others could create software and expansion slot peripherals.
During the design process IBM avoided vertical integration as much as possible, choosing for example to license Microsoft BASIC despite having a version of BASIC of its own for mainframes, due to the better existing public familiarity with the Microsoft version.
Debut.
The IBM PC debuted on August 12, 1981 after a twelve-month development. Pricing started at $1,565 for a configuration with 16K RAM, Color Graphics Adapter, and no disk drives. The price was designed to compete with comparable machines in the market. For comparison, the Datamaster, announced two weeks earlier as IBM's least expensive computer, cost $10,000.
IBM's marketing campaign licensed the likeness of Charlie Chaplin's character "The Little Tramp" for a series of advertisements based on Chaplin's movies, played by Billy Scudder.
The PC was IBM's first attempt to sell a computer through retail channels rather than directly to customers. Because IBM did not have retail experience, they partnered with the retail chains ComputerLand and Sears Roebuck, who provided important knowledge of the marketplace and became the main outlets for the PC. More than 190 ComputerLand stores already existed, while Sears was in the process of creating a handful of in-store computer centers for sale of the new product.
Reception was overwhelmingly positive, with sales estimates from analysts suggesting billions of dollars in sales over the next few years, and the IBM PC immediately became the talk of the entire computing industry. Dealers were overwhelmed with orders, including customers offering pre-payment for machines with no guaranteed delivery date. By the time the machine was shipping, the term "PC" was becoming a household name.
Success.
Sales exceeded IBM's expectations by as much as 800%, shipping 40,000 PCs a month at one point. The company estimated that 50 to 70% of PCs sold in retail stores went to the home. In 1983 they sold more than 750,000 machines, while DEC, a competitor whose success among others had spurred them to enter the market, had sold only 69,000 machines in that period.
Software support from the industry grew instantly, with the IBM nearly instantly becoming the primary target for most microcomputer software development. One publication counted 753 software packages available a year after the PC's release, four times as many as the Macintosh had a year after release. Hardware support also grew rapidly, with 30-40 companies competing to sell memory expansion cards within a year.
By 1984, IBM's revenue from the PC market was $4 billion, more than twice that of Apple. A 1983 study of corporate customers found that two thirds of large customers standardizing on one computer chose the PC, compared to 9% for Apple. A 1985 "Fortune" survey found that 56% of American companies with personal computers used PCs, compared to Apple's 16%.
Almost as soon as the PC reached the market, rumors of clones began, and the first PC compatible clone was released in June 1982, less than a year after the PC's debut.
Hardware.
For low cost and a quick design turnaround time, the hardware design of the IBM PC used entirely "off-the-shelf" parts from third party manufacturers, rather than unique hardware designed by IBM.
The PC is housed in a wide, short steel chassis intended to support the weight of a CRT monitor. The front panel is made of plastic, with an opening where one or two disk drives can be installed. The back panel houses a power inlet and switch, a keyboard connector, and a series of tall vertical slots with blank metal panels which can be removed in order to install expansion cards.
Internally, the chassis is dominated by a motherboard which houses the CPU, built-in RAM, expansion RAM sockets, and slots for expansion cards.
The IBM PC was highly expandable and upgradeable, but the base factory configuration included:
Motherboard.
The PC is built around a single large circuit board called a motherboard which carries the processor, built-in RAM, expansion slots, keyboard and cassette ports, and the various peripheral integrated circuits that connected and controlled the components of the machine.
The peripheral chips included an Intel 8259 PIC, an Intel 8237 DMA controller, and an Intel 8253 PIT. The PIT provides clock "ticks" and dynamic memory refresh timing, and is used to generate the PC speaker sound output.
CPU & RAM.
The CPU is an Intel 8088, a cost-reduced form of the Intel 8086 which largely retains the 8086's internal 16-bit logic, but exposes only an 8-bit bus. The CPU is clocked at 4.77 MHz, which would eventually become an issue when clones and later PC models offered higher CPU speeds that broke compatibility with software developed for the original PC. The single base clock frequency for the system was 14.31818 MHz, which when divided by 3, yielded the 4.77 MHz for the CPU (which was considered close enough to the then 5 MHz limit of the 8088), and when divided by 4, yielded the required 3.579545 MHz for the NTSC color carrier frequency.
The PC motherboard included a second, empty socket, described by IBM simply as an "auxiliary processor socket," although the most obvious use was the addition of an Intel 8087 math coprocessor, which improved floating-point math performance.
From the factory the PC was equipped with either 16 kB or 64 kB of RAM. RAM upgrades were provided both by IBM and third parties as expansion cards, and could upgrade the machine to a maximum of 256kB.
ROM BIOS.
The BIOS is the firmware of the IBM PC, occupying four 2kB ROM chips on the motherboard. It provides bootstrap code and a library of common functions that all software can use for many purposes, such as video output, keyboard input, disk access, interrupt handling, testing memory, and other functions. IBM shipped several versions of the BIOS throughout the PC's lifespan.
Display.
While most home computers had built-in video output hardware, IBM took the unusual approach of offering two different graphics options, the MDA and CGA cards. The former provided high-resolution monochrome text, but could not display anything except text, while the latter provided medium- and low-resolution color graphics and text.
CGA used the same scan rate as NTSC television, allowing it to provide a composite video output which could be used with any compatible television or composite monitor, as well as a direct-drive TTL output suitable for use with any RGBI monitor using an NTSC scan rate. IBM also sold the 5153 color monitor for this purpose, but it was not available at release and would not be released until March 1983.
MDA scanned at a higher frequency and required a proprietary monitor, the IBM 5151. The card also included a built-in printer port.
Both cards could also be installed simultaneously for mixed graphics and text applications. For instance, AutoCAD, Lotus 1-2-3 and other software allowed use of a CGA Monitor for graphics and a separate monochrome monitor for text menus. Third parties would go on to provide an enormous variety of aftermarket graphics adapters, such as the Hercules Graphics Card.
The software and hardware of the PC, at release, was designed around a single 8-bit adaptation of the ASCII character set, now known as code page 437.
Storage.
The two bays in the front of the machine could be populated with one or two 5.25" floppy disk drives, storing 160kB per disk side for a total of 320kB of storage on one disk. The floppy drives require a controller card inserted in an expansion slot, and connect with a single ribbon cable with two edge connectors. The IBM floppy controller card provides an external 37-pin D-sub connector for attachment of an external disk drive, although IBM did not offer one for purchase until 1986.
As was common for home computers of the era, the IBM PC offered a port for connecting a cassette data recorder. Unlike the typical home computer however, this was never a major avenue for software distribution, probably because very few PCs were sold without floppy drives. The port was removed on the very next PC model, the XT.
At release, IBM did not offer any hard disk drive option and adding one was difficult - the PC's stock power supply had inadequate power to run a hard drive, the motherboard did not support BIOS expansion ROMs which was needed to support a hard drive controller, and both PC DOS and the BIOS had no support for hard disks. After the XT was released, IBM altered the design of the 5150 to add most of these capabilities, except for the upgraded power supply. At this point adding a hard drive was possible, but required the purchase of the IBM 5161 Expansion Unit, which contained a dedicated power supply and included a hard drive.
Although official hard drive support did not exist, the third party market did provide early hard drives that connected to the floppy disk controller, but required a patched version of PC DOS to support the larger disk sizes.
Human interface.
The only option for human interface provided in the base PC was the built-in keyboard port, meant to connect to the included IBM Model F keyboard. The Model F was initially developed for the IBM Datamaster, and was substantially better than the keyboards provided with virtually all home computers on the market at that time in many regards - number of keys, reliability and ergonomics. While some home computers of the time utilized chiclet keyboards or inexpensive mechanical designs, the IBM keyboard provided good ergonomics, reliable and positive tactile key mechanisms and flip-up feet to adjust its angle.
Public reception of the keyboard was extremely positive, with some sources describing it as a major selling point of the PC and even as "the best keyboard available on any microcomputer."
At release, IBM provided a Game Control Adapter which offered a 15-pin port intended for the connection of up to two joysticks, each having two analog axes and two buttons.
Communications.
Connectivity to other computers and peripherals was initially provided through serial and parallel ports.
IBM provided a serial card based on an 8250 UART. The BIOS supports up to two serial ports.
IBM provided two different options for connecting Centronics-compatible parallel printers. One was the IBM Printer Adapter, and the other was integrated into the MDA as the IBM Monochrome Display and Printer Adapter.
Expansion.
The expansion capability of the IBM PC was very significant to its success in the market. Some publications highlighted IBM's uncharacteristic decision to publish complete, thorough specifications of the system bus and memory map immediately on release, with the intention of fostering a market of compatible third-party hardware and software.
The motherboard includes five 62-pin card edge connectors which are connected to the CPU's I/O lines. IBM referred to these as "I/O slots," but after the expansion of the PC clone industry they became retroactively known as the ISA bus. At the back of the machine is a metal panel, integrated into the steel chassis of the system unit, with a series of vertical slots lined up with each card slot.
Most expansion cards have a matching metal bracket which slots into one of these openings, serving two purposes. First, a screw inserted through a tab on the bracket into the chassis fastens the card securely in place, preventing the card from wiggling out of place. Second, any ports the card provides for external attachment are bolted to the bracket, keeping them secured in place as well.
The PC expansion slots can accept an enormous variety of expansion hardware, adding capabilities such as:
The market reacted as IBM had intended, and within a year or two of the PC's release the available options for expansion hardware were immense.
5161 Expansion Unit.
The expandability of the PC was important, but had significant limitations.
One major limitation was the inability to install a hard drive, as described above. Another was that there were only five expansion slots, which tended to get filled up by essential hardware - a PC with a graphics card, memory expansion, parallel card and serial card was left with only one open slot, for instance.
IBM rectified these problems in the later XT, which included more slots and support for an internal hard drive, but at the same time released the 5161 Expansion Unit, which could be used with either the XT or the original PC. The 5161 connected to the PC system unit using a cable and a card plugged into an expansion slot, and provided a second system chassis with more expansion slots and a hard drive.
Software.
IBM initially announced intent to support multiple operating systems: CP/M-86, UCSD p-System, and an in-house product called IBM PC DOS, developed by Microsoft. In practice, IBM's expectation and intent was for the market to primarily use PC-DOS, CP/M-86 was not available for six months after the PC's release and received extremely few orders once it was, and p-System was also not available at release. PC DOS rapidly established itself as the standard OS for the PC and remained the standard for over a decade, with a variant being sold by Microsoft themselves as MS-DOS.
The PC included BASIC in ROM, a common feature of 1980s home computers. Its ROM BASIC supported the cassette tape interface, but PC DOS did not, limiting use of that interface to BASIC only.
PC DOS version 1.00 supported only 160 kB SSDD floppies, but version 1.1, which was released nine months after the PC's introduction, supported 160 kB SSDD and 320 kB DSDD floppies. Support for the slightly larger nine sector per track 180 kB and 360 kB formats was added in March 1983.
Third-party software support grew extremely quickly, and within a year the PC platform was supplied with a vast array of titles for any conceivable purpose.
Reception.
Reception of the IBM PC was extremely positive. Even before its release reviewers were impressed by the advertised specifications of the machine, and upon its release reviews praised virtually every aspect of its design both in comparison to contemporary machines and with regards to new and unexpected features.
Praise was directed at the build quality of the PC, in particular its keyboard, IBM's decision to use open specifications to encourage third party software and hardware development, their speed at delivering documentation and the quality therein, the quality of the video display, and the use of commodity components from established suppliers in the electronics industry. The price was considered extremely competitive compared to the value per dollar of competing machines.
Two years after its release, BYTE Magazine retrospectively concluded that the PC had succeeded both because of its features - an 80-column screen, open architecture, and high-quality keyboard - and the failure of other computer manufacturers to achieve these features first:"In retrospect, it seems IBM stepped into a void that remained, paradoxically, at the center of a crowded market"."Creative Computing" that year named the PC the best desktop computer between $2000 and $4000, praising its vast hardware and software selection, manufacturer support, and resale value.
Many IBM PCs remained in service long after their technology became largely obsolete. For instance, as of June 2006 (23–25 years after release) IBM PC and XT models were still in use at the majority of U.S. National Weather Service upper-air observing sites, processing data returned from radiosonde attached to weather balloons.
Due to its status as the first entry in the extremely influential PC industry, the original IBM PC remains valuable as a collectors item. , the system had a market value of $50–$500.
Model line.
IBM sold a number of computers under the "Personal Computer" or "PC" name throughout the 80s. The name was not used for several years before being reused for the IBM PC Series in the 90s and early 2000s.
As with all PC-derived systems, all IBM PC models are nominally software-compatible, although some timing-sensitive software will not run correctly on models with faster CPUs.
Clones.
Because the IBM PC was based on commodity hardware rather than unique IBM components, and because its operation was extensively documented by IBM, creating machines that were fully compatible with the PC offered few challenges other than the creation of a compatible BIOS ROM.
Simple duplication of the IBM PC BIOS was a direct violation of copyright law, but soon into the PC's life the BIOS was reverse-engineered by companies like Compaq, Phoenix Software Associates, American Megatrends and Award, who either built their own computers that could run the same software and use the same expansion hardware as the PC, or sold their BIOS code to other manufacturers who wished to build their own machines.
These machines became known as IBM compatibles or "clones," and software was widely marketed as compatible with "IBM PC or 100% compatible." Shortly thereafter, clone manufacturers began to make improvements and extensions to the hardware, such as by using faster processors like the NEC V20, which executed the same software as the 8088 at a slightly higher speed.
The clone market eventually became so large that it lost its associations with the original PC and became a set of de facto standards established by various hardware manufacturers. This established the modern PC market in which IBM continued to compete, but as a relatively insignificant player.


Pico-ITXe

Pico-ITXe is a PC Pico-ITX motherboard specification created by VIA Technologies and SFF-SIG. It was announced by VIA Technologies on October 29, 2008 and released in December 2008. The Pico-ITXe specifications call for the board to be , which is half the area of Nano-ITX, and 12 layers deep. The processor can be a VIA C7 that uses VIA's NanoBGA2 technology. It uses DDR2 667/533 SO-DIMM memory, with support for up to 2GB. Video is supplied by VIA's Chrome9 HC3 GPU with built-in MPEG-2, 4, WMV9, and VC1 decoding acceleration. The BIOS is a 4 or 8 Mbit Award BIOS.
EPIA-P710.
The first motherboard that was produced under this specification is called EPIA-P710. It was released in December 2008. It is and 12 layers deep. The operating temperature range is from 0°C to about 50°C. The operating humidity level (relative and non-condensing) can be from 0% to about 95%. It uses a 1 GHz VIA C7-M processor, a VIA VX800 chip set, and is RoHS compliant. It has onboard VGA video-out. Gigabit Ethernet is supplied by VIA's VT6122, but requires a connector board. HD 5.1 channel audio is provided by a VIA VT1708B chip.
The following are the standard I/O connections:
Up to four I/O expansion boards can be stacked upon each other using the SUMIT interface.


DELETE (command)


MDMX

The MDMX (MIPS Digital Media eXtension), also known as MaDMaX, is an extension to the MIPS architecture released in October 1996 at the Microprocessor Forum.
History.
MDMX was developed to accelerate multimedia applications that were becoming more popular and common in the 1990s on RISC and CISC systems.
Functionality.
MDMX defines a new set of thirty-two 64-bit registers called media registers, which are mapped onto the existing floating-point registers to save hardware; and a 192-bit extended product accumulator.
The media registers hold two new data types: octo byte (OB) and quad half (QH) that contain eight bytes (8-bit) and four halfwords (16-bit) integers.
Variants of existing instructions operate on these data types, performing saturating arithmetic, logical, shift, compare and align operations.
MDMX also introduced 19 instructions for permutation, manipulating bytes in registers, performing arithmetic with the accumulator, and accumulator access.


X00

X00 was a popular DOS-based FOSSIL driver which was commonly used in the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and is even still used today. FOSSIL drivers were mainly used to run BBS software under MS-DOS. X00 can also be run under Windows, or even Linux and DOSEMU environments, to allow FOSSIL-aware MS-DOS based applications to function.
X00 was developed by Raymond L. Gwinn from 1989 until 1993. The final release version was version 1.50, with a later beta version 1.53 which added support for baud rates above 38400. X00 is free for non-commercial usage. X00 included many enhancements to the FTC FOSSIL revision 5 specifications, which were later used in other FOSSIL drivers such as ADF and NetFoss.
Gwinn moved on to develop a replacement serial port driver for OS/2 called SIO. SIO contained a virtualized FOSSIL (VX00) that could be loaded if applications needed FOSSIL support.


Microsequencer

In computer architecture and engineering, a sequencer or microsequencer generates the addresses used to step through the microprogram of a control store. It is used as a part of the control unit of a CPU or as a stand-alone generator for address ranges.
Usually the addresses are generated by some combination of a counter, a field from a microinstruction, and some subset of the instruction register. A counter is used for the typical case, that the next microinstruction is the one to execute. A field from the microinstruction is used for jumps, or other logic.
Since CPUs implement an instruction set, it's very useful to be able to decode the instruction's bits directly into the sequencer, to select a set of microinstructions to perform a CPU's instructions.
Most modern CISC processors use a combination of pipelined logic to process lower complexity opcodes which can be completed in one clock cycle, and microcode to implement ones that take multiple clock cycles to complete.
One of the first integrated microcoded processors was the IBM PALM Processor, which emulated all of the processor's instruction in microcode and was used on the IBM 5100, one of the first personal computers.
Recent examples of similar microsequencer-based processors are the MicroCore Labs MCL86, MCL51 , and MCL65 cores which emulate the Intel 8086/8088, 8051 and MOS 6502 instruction sets entirely in microcode.
Simple example.
The Digital Scientific Corp. Meta 4 Series 16 computer system was a user-microprogrammable system first available in 1970. Branches in the microcode sequence occur in
one of three ways.
One more sequencing option allowed on a branch instruction is the execute (XQ) option. When specified, the single instruction at the branch address is executed, but then execution continues after the original branch instruction. The IX option can be used with the XQ option.
Complex example.
The IBM System/360 was a series of compatible computers introduced in 1964, many of which were microprogrammed. The System/360 Model 40 is a good example of a microprogrammed machine with complex microsequencing.
The microstore consists of 4,096 56-bit microinstructions that operate in
a horizontal microprogramming style. The store is addressed by the 12-bit
read-only address register (ROAR). Unlike most registers in the
S/360 architecture, bits in the ROAR are numbered from bit 0 on the right
to bit 11 on the left.
The model 40 performs no sequential execution of microinstructions and
therefore the microsequencer doesn't really branch in the conventional
sense. Instead, each microinstruction specifies the address of the next one
to be executed. Four fields in the microinstruction contribute to the new
address.
There are essentially three combinations or formats of these fields.
Functional branch format.
When the CB field contains 15, a "functional branch" occurs. The bits of
the new microstore address in the ROAR are determined as follows.
The CC field can specify various tests of the state of the machine. It can
also specify a constant 0 or 1 for an unconditional bit.
This format alters the flow of control to 1 of 16 instruction "pairs"
within the low 32 words of a 64-word block of microstore (because bit 5 is
always 0). The CC field then determines which instruction of the pair
receives control.
CD = 0, 1, 3 format.
When the CD field is 0, 1, or 3, flow of control is directed to an
instruction within the current 64-word block. The bits of the new microstore
address are determined as follows.
The CA field selects 1 of 16 4-word groups within the current 64-word block.
The CB and CC fields then determine which instruction of the 4 receives
control.
CD = 2 format.
When the CD field is 2, flow of control is directed in a nonobvious manner. The
bits of the new microstore address are determined as follows:
The next instruction is in the same 1K-word region as the current
instruction, because bits 11–10 remain the same. The CA field determines
the 64-word block within the region. The instruction is in the same 4-word
group within the new block as the current instruction is within the current
block, because bits 5–2 remain the same.
The CB and CC fields then determine which instruction of the 4 receives
control.
Simplification.
This description has been simplified. It ignores the following features.


NWDRAW.EXE


S3 ViRGE

The S3 Virtual Reality Graphics Engine (ViRGE) graphics chipset was one of the first 2D/3D accelerators designed for the mass market.
Introduced in 1995 by then graphics powerhouse S3, Inc., the ViRGE was S3's first foray into 3D-graphics. The S3/Virge was the successor to the successful Trio64V+. ViRGE/325 was pin compatible with the Trio64 chip, retaining the DRAM-framebuffer interface (up to 4MB), and clocking both the core and memory up to 80 MHz. In Windows, Virge was benchmarked as the fastest DRAM-based accelerator of the era. The VRAM-based version, ViRGE/VX, was actually slower in lower resolutions, but had a faster RAMDAC to support high-resolution modes not available on the 325.
Support.
Part of S3's marketing plan for the ViRGE included the "S3D" standard, stating that members of the ViRGE family carried the "S3D Graphics Engine". Games that supported ViRGE directly put this logo on their box so owners of the 3D card would know that it would run as well as possible on their computer. And, despite its lackluster 3D-speed, the ViRGE did receive some "S3D" enhanced games, due in large part to the brand prestige S3 carried in this period. Some examples of the ViRGE-enhanced versions were: "Terminal Velocity", "Descent II", "Monster Truck Madness", "Tomb Raider," ', "FX Fighter Turbo", "Terracide", "POD", "Incoming", and '.
Performance.
With the successful launch of the Sony PlayStation home game-console, pressure was on the PC market to incorporate hardware that could compete in the area of realtime 3D graphics rendering, something that software-based host-CPU rendering could not do well on its own. That is, main-CPU software-based rendering could render realtime 3D graphics—as demonstrated by games like "Descent", which used only the main CPU and standard VGA hardware to render full-screen 3D video with 6-degrees-of-freedom motion in real time—but the resolution, polygon count, and quality of shading, smoothing, etc. were not competitive with dedicated 3D rendering hardware. While the market demand was clearly present, realtime 3D graphics rendering was new and unfamiliar territory for S3 and many of its hardware competitors. With a sizable chunk of ViRGE's hardware real-estate already devoted to other key functions (such as the VGA-controller, 2D/BITBLT engine, RAMDAC, PCI and memory interface), and the need to serve traditional 2D applications, the resulting 3D functionality was both limited and slow.
When performing basic 3D-rendering with only texture mapping and no other advanced features, ViRGE's pixel throughput was somewhat faster than the best software-optimized (host-based CPU) 3D-rendering of the era, and with better (16bpp) color fidelity. But when additional rendering operations were added to the polygon load (such as perspective-correction, Z-depth fogging, and bilinear filtering), rendering throughput dropped to the speed of software-based rendering on an entry-level CPU. 3D-rendering on the high-end VRAM based ViRGE/VX (988) was even slower than the less expensive ViRGE/325, due to the VX's slower core and memory clock rates. The upgraded ViRGE/DX and ViRGE/GX models did improve 3D rendering performance, but by the time of their introduction they were still unable to distinguish the ViRGE family in an already crowded 3D market.
Outside of 3D rendering, ViRGE was a solid performer in familiar tasks as DOS VGA and Microsoft Windows. Here, S3's substantial experience in high-performance Windows acceleration showed, with ViRGE benchmarking near the top among competing DRAM-based VGA cards. In OEM PC markets, ViRGE sold well as a direct replacement to S3's highly successful Trio/64 family. The ViRGE family delivered faster Windows acceleration in the same physical footprint as its predecessor.
The introduction of competing hardware, 3dfx's Voodoo Graphics and Rendition's Verité, and game titles such as Id Software's popular Quake engine, resulted in an industry-wide shakeout. S3, along with other previously well-established VGA vendors in the PC market, were unable to adapt to the rapidly evolving PC 3D graphics market, being relegated to sell into market segments where 3D graphics functionality was unimportant. Although the ViRGE sold well in the OEM market, poor Direct3D performance and lack of OpenGL support prevented the ViRGE from competing in the more lucrative 3D graphics segment.
Variants.
Between its birth in 1995 and retirement near the year 2000, the ViRGE family received regular upgrades. The ViRGE/DX boosted the performance of the original ViRGE/325 by improving perspective correction and implementing a full-speed trilinear filter. The ViRGE/GX added support for more modern SD/SGRAM. The ViRGE/GX2 was one of the first VGA chipsets to support AGP, although the level of support extended little beyond electrical compliance. Substantial use of AGP's feature-set would have to wait until the Savage 3D.
The ViRGE was ultimately replaced by the Savage 3D in S3's top-end graphics segment in 1998, which lacks support for the S3D API. However, at least one derivative (Trio3D) of the ViRGE remained in production even after the discontinuation of the Savage 3D.


Scanner Access Now Easy

Scanner Access Now Easy (SANE) is an application programming interface (API) that provides standardized access to any raster image scanner hardware (flatbed scanner, handheld scanner, video- and still-cameras, frame grabbers, etc.).
The SANE API is public domain and its discussion and development is open to everybody. It is commonly used on Linux.
Architecture.
SANE differs from TWAIN in that it is cleanly separated into "front ends" (user programs) and "back ends" (scanner drivers). Whereas a TWAIN driver handles the user interface as well as communications with the scanner hardware, a SANE driver only provides an interface with the hardware and describes a number of "options" which drive each scan. These "options" specify parameters such as the resolution of the scan, the scan area, colour model, etc. Each "option" has a name, and information about its type, units, and range or possible values (e.g., enumerated list). By convention there are several "well known" "options" that front ends can supply using convenient GUI interaction e.g., the scan area "options" can be set by dragging a rectangular outline over a preview image. Other options can be presented using GUI elements appropriate to their type e.g., sliders, drop-down lists, etc.
One consequence of this separation is that network scanning is easily implemented with no special handling in either the front ends or back ends. On a host with a scanner, the saned daemon runs and handles network requests. On client machines a "net" back end (driver) connects to the remote host to fetch the scanner options, and perform previews and scans. The saned daemon acts as a front end locally, but simply passes requests and data between the network connections and the local scanner. Similarly, the "net" back end passes requests and data between the local front end and the remote host.
Various types of unsupervised batch scanning are also possible with a minimum of support needed in the back end (driver). Many scanners support the attachment of document feeders which allow a large number of sheets of paper to be automatically scanned in succession. Using the SANE API, the front end simply has to "play back" the same set of options for each scan, driving the document feed in between scans to load the next sheet of paper. The front end only has to obtain the set of options from the user once.
Graphical user interfaces.
Several user interfaces have been written to combine SANE with an easy user method of controlling it.
gscan2pdf.
gscan2pdf is an interface for scanning documents to PDF on the GNOME desktop that uses SANE to communicate with the scanner. It is available under the GPL. It includes common editing tools, e.g., for rotating or cropping pages. It is also able to perform OCR using several optional OCR tools and save a searchable PDF. PDF files can be further downsampled upon saving.
Simple Scan.
Simple Scan is a simplified GUI using SANE that is intended to be easier to use and better integrate into the GNOME desktop than XSane. It was initially written for Ubuntu and is maintained by Robert Ancell of Canonical Ltd. for Linux. Simple Scan was first fielded as part of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx and is also used in Lubuntu (until Lubuntu 18.04 LTS) and Xubuntu. It is now part of the GNOME project.
Skanlite.
Skanlite is a simple image scanning application, based on the KSane backend. Kåre Särs is the lead developer. In KDE 4 Skanlite replaced Kooka of KDE 3 as default KDE scanning application.
Skanlite is based on libksane, an interface provided by KDE for SANE libraries to control flatbed scanners. It also works with networked scanners.
SwingSane.
SwingSane is a cross-platform, Java front end for SANE, written and maintained by Roland Quast. It is available for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. The source code for the project can also be adapted for use with an existing Swing application.
XSane.
XSane is a graphical front end for SANE written by Oliver Rauch. It is available for Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX, and OS/2 and is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The Windows version only allows a Windows computer to access a scanner that is attached to a Unix, OS/2 or Mac OS X network computer, but not generally to the local Windows computer. Only the "complete" sane-back-ends versions will possibly work with some scanner models connected locally.


Windows startup process

The Windows startup process is the process by which the Microsoft Windows series of operating systems initializes.
DOS-based Windows.
Windows 1.x/2.x.
In Windows versions 1.01 to Windows 2.11, the system was loaded when codice_1 was executed. It then loaded codice_2 or codice_3 and codice_4 or codice_5, along with the configuration settings file codice_6. The default shell is the MS-DOS Executive.
The modules codice_7, codice_8 and codice_9, fonts, and the various device drivers (such as codice_10, codice_11, codice_12) are incorporated in codice_2/codice_3 and codice_4/codice_5.
Windows 3.x/9x.
In Windows 3.x and 95/98/ME, the boot loader phase is handled by MS-DOS. During the boot phase, codice_17 and codice_18 are executed, along with the configuration settings files codice_6 and codice_20. Virtual device drivers are also loaded in the startup process: they are most commonly loaded from the registry (codice_21) or from the codice_20 file.
When all system configuration files and device drivers have been loaded, the 16-bit modules, codice_23, codice_7, and codice_9, are loaded, then the 32-bit DLLs (codice_26, codice_27, and codice_28) are loaded. The 32-bit VxD message server (MSGSRV32) starts codice_29, which is responsible for loading the network logon client (such as Client for Microsoft Networks, Microsoft Family Logon or Windows Logon).
When a user is logging on to Windows, the startup sound is played, the shell (usually codice_30) is loaded from the [boot] section of the codice_20 file, and startup items are loaded.
In all versions of Windows 9x except ME, it is also possible to load Windows by booting to a DOS prompt and typing "win". There are some command line switches that can be used with the WIN command: with the codice_32 switch, Windows boots to safe mode, and with the codice_33 switch, Windows boots to safe mode with networking. The latter switch only works properly with Windows 95. In Windows 3.1, additional options are available, such as codice_34, which starts Windows in 386 enhanced mode, and codice_35, which starts Windows in standard mode
A startup sound was added in Windows 3.1.
Windows NT.
In Windows NT, the boot loader is called NTLDR. It is responsible for accessing the file system on the boot drive, for starting ntoskrnl.exe and for loading boot-time device drivers into memory. Once all the Boot and System drivers have been loaded, the kernel (system thread) starts the Session Manager Subsystem (smss.exe), which in turn starts winlogon, which loads the graphical identification and authentication library.
After a user has successfully logged into the machine, winlogon does the following:
In Windows 95/98/ME, it was also possible to run a program before the user logs on by using RunServicesOnce or RunServices keys. In Windows NT, this has been replaced by the services.exe program, which is able to load a set of system services before a user logs on.
Additionally, in English-language versions of Windows, the startup folder was called "StartUp" instead of "Startup" in Win9x.
Due to the minimally restricted environment of these operating systems, any program can add itself to the Startup registry key or system folder. This method is frequently used by malware.
Windows NT 6.
The sequence of booting Windows Vista and later versions is different from any previous version of Windows that uses the NT kernel. The operating system boot loader in Vista is called winload.exe, and is invoked by Windows Boot Manager. Additionally, the GINA that has been in use with all versions of Windows NT since 3.1 has been entirely replaced by "Credential Providers".


E55

E55 may refer to:


PS/2E

The PS/2E or Energy (IBM 9533) is a member of the IBM Personal System/2 family of personal computers (PCs). It was the first Energy Star-compliant PC, consuming very little power relative to other contemporary PCs, and made extensive use of recycled materials in its enclosure.
Specifications.
The PS/2E featured an IBM 486SLC2 microprocessor with a 16KB L1 cache that ran at 50MHz on a 25MHz system bus (the processor clock was double that of the system bus). The processor's performance was dependent on the L1 cache containing the required instructions and data; there was no external L2 cache on the motherboard like on some other 486-based computers.
It featured an ISA bus for input/output, which accepted a single ISA option adapter with the use of a riser card. Depending on the sub-model number, it came supplied with either a special option adapter for four PC card PCMCIA slots, or a network interface card for Ethernet or Token Ring networks for use as a diskless workstation. Additional options included several PCMCIA cards, a color LCD screen, and a color LCD touch-screen with a special version of OS/2.
The PC borrowed some components from IBM's ThinkPad laptops: including the 1.44MB floppy disk drive and the hard disk drive. Its enclosure was composed of recycled plastics, and was designed to be easily recycled at the end of its service life. The power supply unit maximum power consumption was 24watts, and was completely passively cooled, and lacked a fan for that reason.
Design.
The PS/2E featured a full-sized internal PC speaker, two SIMM sockets, and an extended bank of memory soldered directly to the motherboard. It featured 1MB of video memory for the onboard XGA-2 graphics adapter, which was attached to the ISA bus instead of the usual MCA bus. Like all Personal System/2 computers, if a change in hardware is performed, the configuration must be updated with the use of the reference diskette (for example changing the memory size).


Fighters Destiny

Fighters Destiny, known in Japan as is a 1998 video game developed by Opus Corp. and published by Ocean Software, Infogrames, and Imagineer for the Nintendo 64. It closely models the 3D fighting game standard set by Sega's "Virtua Fighter", but integrates a unique point scoring system. The game's generic characters and unoriginal presentation have been panned by critics, but reviewers praise its point system and consider it to be one of the best fighting games on the Nintendo 64. It was followed by a 2000 sequel "Fighter Destiny 2".
Gameplay.
In "Fighters Destiny", the player controls a polygon-based character in a three dimensional battle arena. The game features typical hand to hand combat fighting: using a variety of punches, kicks, locks, and throws, players attempt to pummel their opponents into submission. Each character also has a large list of special commands (called "moves") that can be accessed during battle. These different moves range from simply pressing the "B" button to inputting button combinations.
In most versus fighting games, the objective is to deplete the opponent's health gauge. "Fighters Destiny" follows the same concept but also relies on a customizable point scoring system to determine the winner. These points, which are displayed as yellow stars under the character's health gauge, can be earned in a variety of ways. By default, knocking the character off the fighting platform (a "Ring Out") is worth one point, taking down an opponent with a throw nets the player two points, while a typical K.O. is worth three points, as well as taking the opponent down with a counterattack, and executing a "special" is worth four points. Finally, if the adjustable time counter runs out, then the winner is awarded one point by virtue of judge's decision. By default setting, the first fighter to score seven points wins the match.
K.O.'s can be achieved with instant-K.O. hits (referred to as "1-shot") or counterattack moves, or can be executed with a finishing blow when the player's opponent is in "Piyori condition," a brief spell of dizziness in which opponent's life bar has been drained completely and the fighter is allowed only limited control. "Specials" can only be executed when the opponent is in Piyori condition. If players are able to survive until Piyori condition passes, their health gauge refills completely. The health bar also refills continuously (albeit slowly) throughout the fight.
"Fighters Destiny" offers five different gameplay modes. By playing the traditional versus computer mode, players can earn a new character (Boro) and learn new skills for their character. They can also select to fight against a second player, challenge their skills and gain new characters in "Record Attack," play through the "Master Challenge" to expand their character's command list, and train against a robot character. When players learn new skills playing the computer or the Master Challenge, they can save their character's expanded command list to the Controller Pak; afterwards, the new command list can be accessed in any mode to aid the player.
Characters.
There are nine regular characters in "Fighters Destiny": Ryuji, a Japanese karate exponent; Abdul, a well-balanced fighter from Mongolia obsessed with Arabic culture; Tomahawk, a professional wrestler from the United States; Meiling, a Chinese martial artist; a Japanese ninja with a massive catalog of special moves; Pierre, a French clown with a deceptive fighting style; Leon, an all-rounder from Spain; Bob, a powerful Brazilian fighter; and the tough aerial combat specialist Valerie from Germany.
In addition to the standard nine characters, there are five secret characters that can be unlocked by completing various challenge modes, with the secret characters themselves consisting of a quick and powerful female Swiss warrior named Boro, a Russian jester-esque fighter named Joker, a training robot from Germany named Robert, an old Japanese karate expert named the Master, and a comical fighting cow from Hokkaido named Ushi.
Development.
"Fighters Destiny" was initially announced under the title "Struggle Hard".
Reception and sales.
"Fighters Destiny" received favorable reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. "Next Generation" called it "the best fighter on Nintendo 64. Mastering the fighting techniques of each character is a challenge, and the depth of the single-player game is impressive. Until the arrival of "Tekken 3" for PlayStation, "Fighters Destiny" is the fighting game to play." In Japan, "Famitsu" gave it a score of 29 out of 40.
Despite the game's critical acclaim, it missed its initial Christmas release date and was subsequently greeted with lukewarm sales figures, selling only 18,000 copies in the first two months after its North American release. As a result, Infogrames Entertainment (the parent company of "Fighters Destiny" international distributor Ocean Software) decided to shave US$20 off the price tag, dropping the game's price to US$29.99. ""Fighters Destiny" has been praised as the best fighting game for the N64 by the vast majority of video game media," said Mike Markey, vice president of sales and marketing, Infogrames Entertainment. "The aim of the new price point is to make the game more accessible to all consumers."
Sequel.
A sequel to "Fighters Destiny", titled Fighter Destiny 2 and known in Japan as , was released in 1999-2000. Publisher SouthPeak Games dropped the "s" in the title due to copyright issues. "Fighter Destiny 2" made improvements upon its predecessor, boosting the FPS to 60, and adding graphic and audio enhancements. Some of the characters make a second appearance in the sequel, but the majority of the cast is all new. Although the game mechanics remain unchanged, a new "Fighter's Arena" mode has been added, a giant board game that allows players to build up their characters' attributes in addition to having them learn new fighting skills. The character Ryuji, from the first game, seems to have been renamed as Saeki for unknown reasons.
There are eleven default characters in "Fighter Destiny 2". Ryuji makes a return as Saeki, while Abdul, Meiling and Ninja make another appearance with their original names. Pierre makes another appearance as well, but is now more flamboyant than previously. They are joined by newcomers Adriana, a Samba dancer from Brazil; Federico, a scientist from Italy; American street warrior D-Dog, who very much resembles Dennis Rodman; fashion model Kate from Great Britain; German professional wrestler Ziege; and British punk rocker Dixon.
Like in the first game, there are five secret characters to unlock from within the various game modes, with the secret characters themselves consisting of a nobleman from France named Fabien, Ushi (who is now renamed as Mou), Robert (who is now renamed as Samurai), the Master, who once again makes an appearance, and a crossdressing man from the United States named Cherry. In the North American release, Cherry's voice actor is changed to female for appropriateness; however, nothing on his body is changed such as his muscles, his tattoos, and his face, which all resemble a male.
Reception.
"Fighter Destiny 2" received more mediocre reviews than the original "Fighters Destiny" according to Metacritic. In Japan, however, "Famitsu" gave it a score of 30 out of 40. "Nintendo Power" gave it a favorable review, over four months before the game was released Stateside.