New Nintendo 3DS

The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It is the fourth system in the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld consoles, following the original Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, and Nintendo 2DS. The system was released in Japan on October 11, 2014, in Australia and New Zealand on November 21, 2014, on January 6, 2015 in Europe in a special Club Nintendo-exclusive "Ambassador Edition", and at retail in Europe on February 13, 2015. Like the original 3DS, the New Nintendo 3DS also has a larger variant, the New Nintendo 3DS XL, released in all three regions. In North America, the New Nintendo 3DS XL was released on February 13, 2015, while the standard-sized New Nintendo 3DS was released later on September 25, 2015.
Improvements upon the previous models include upgraded processors and increased RAM, an analog pointing stick (C-Stick), two additional shoulder triggers (ZR and ZL), face detection for optimizing the autostereoscopic 3D display, an included 4 GB microSD card and built-in NFC, as well as minor design changes (such as colored face buttons, and the availability of face plates for the smaller-size model).
The New Nintendo 3DS received positive reviews from critics; although criticized for certain aspects of their design (such as the microSD slot placement), the consoles were praised for their improved performance, additional control options, and better 3D image quality. In the July 2017 lead-up to the release of the New Nintendo 2DS XL, Nintendo confirmed that production on the standard-sized New Nintendo 3DS in Japan had ended. The XL model remained in production until July 2019, when production ceased and it was removed from their website.
Hardware.
The New Nintendo 3DS family features various changes from prior models. The systems feature a slightly refined design, featuring colored face buttons resembling the Super Famicom's and PAL version Super Nintendo Entertainment System's color scheme. The New Nintendo 3DS's screen is 1.2 times the size of the original Nintendo 3DS, while the screen of the XL variant is the same size as its predecessor. Some models are produced with an IPS screen for the upper display, but some still retain the old TN screen for upper display. There is no known correlation between model number or production date and display type. Nintendo has also not publicly addressed the discrepancies in production. A new feature known as "Super Stable 3D" improves the quality of the systems' autostereoscopic 3D effects by using a sensor to detect the angle that the player is viewing the screen at, and adjusting the effects to compensate. The sensor is also used as an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness adjustment.
Both systems' bodies are slightly larger than their previous iterations, with the XL variant weighing slightly less than the previous 3DS XL. The system's game card slot, stylus holder, and power button were re-located to the base. The hardware wireless switch was also replaced by a software toggle. The standard New Nintendo 3DS features interchangeable front and back plates; 38 different designs were available at launch in Japan. The XL variant does not allow use of these plates, instead having a couple of fixed metallic designs.
The internal specifications of the device have also been updated, including additional processor cores, an increase to 256 MB of RAM, and near field communication support for use with Amiibo products. The Japanese model also includes the ability to pay for software on the Nintendo eShop using prepaid FeliCa-based transit cards such as Suica. Controls on the new systems were expanded with the inclusion of a pointing stick on the right hand side of the device, referred to as the "C-Stick", and additional ZL and ZR shoulder buttons, allowing for functionality equivalent to the Circle Pad Pro add-on peripheral released for the previous models. These additional buttons are backwards-compatible with games programmed for use with Circle Pad Pro.
Unlike the previous models, which used standard SD cards, the New Nintendo 3DS line uses Micro-SD cards for data storage, which are stored alongside the battery behind the device's rear cover, which needs some screws to be removed in order to access the Micro-SD card slot. Data can also be transferred to and from the SD card wirelessly using any system with SMB client access, like PCs.
The new systems continue to use the same AC adapter as the DSi, DSi XL, and other devices in the 3DS family; like the Nintendo 3DS XL in Japan and Europe, and for the first time in North America, an AC adapter is not included with the console and must be obtained separately.
Software and services.
Aside from minor adjustments to reflect its hardware design differences, the system software of the New Nintendo 3DS is otherwise identical to that of the original 3DS, offering online features such as Nintendo Network for multiplayer and online gaming, Nintendo eShop for downloading and purchasing games, and StreetPass and SpotPass. The web browser was updated to include HTML5-based video playback support. On Japanese models, a content filter is active by default which can be disabled with the registration of a credit card, intended to prevent children from visiting mature websites.
Compatibility.
As with the DSi, DSi XL, and previous 3DS models, the New Nintendo 3DS family remains compatible with all games released for the DS, DSi, and 3DS (excluding games using the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot). Some 3DS games have improved performance and/or graphics on the new systems due to their upgraded hardware. The C-Stick and ZL/ZR controls are backwards compatible with games that support the Circle Pad Pro add-on. Some games, such as "Xenoblade Chronicles 3D", are specifically optimized for the upgraded hardware, and exclusive to New Nintendo 3DS with no support for prior models. In March 2016, Nintendo began to release SNES titles on Virtual Console for New 3DS; they support a "Perfect Pixel" mode, which allows the games to be played pillar boxed with square pixels rather than in their original 4:3 proportions.
Like the previous models, all the 3DS games and downloaded software are region-locked (DS cartridges remain region-free). Due to its difference in size, peripherals designed to fit the shape of the original Nintendo 3DS cannot be used with the new system. Game data can be transferred from a previous 3DS system to a new system, either manually or wireless, though data from new systems cannot be transferred to older systems.
On April 13, 2015, Unity Technologies announced that the Unity engine would support New Nintendo 3DS.
Release.
The New Nintendo 3DS was first announced during a Japanese Nintendo Direct presentation streamed on August 29, 2014. The New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS LL were released in Japan on October 11, 2014; the regular-sized version was made available in black and white-colored versions, while the LL was made available in metallic blue and metallic black versions, with additional limited edition designs. Over 38 different face plate designs were available on launch in Japan, which were showcased in a pre-launch television commercial that featured J-pop performer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. 230,000 units were sold in its first two days of availability.
The New Nintendo 3DS and its XL variant were first released outside Japan—in Australia and New Zealand, on November 21, 2014, with the smaller model only available in white. In Europe, the New Nintendo 3DS was first made available online on January 6, 2015 in a special white "Ambassador Edition" bundle, exclusive to Club Nintendo members, with a charging dock and two face plates included.
On January 14, 2015, Nintendo announced that the new systems would be released at retail in North America and Europe on February 13, 2015. In Europe, the New Nintendo 3DS was available in black or white, and its XL variant in Metallic Black or Metallic Blue. In North America, the XL model was released in Metallic Red and Metallic Black (renamed "New Red" and "New Black"). Special "" and "Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate"-themed variants were also released at launch in both regions. 335,000 units were sold during its first week of availability in Europe and North America.
Only the XL model was originally released in North America; although Nintendo did not rule out the possibility of a release of the regular New Nintendo 3DS in the future, Nintendo of America representative Damon Baker explained that they did not want to confuse consumers, and that the face plates were not enough of a reason for the smaller-sized system to be released in North America. A social media campaign emerged that called upon Nintendo of America to release the model in North America. In March 2015, the FCC lifted its information embargo regarding regulation details performed in September 2014 on the standard New Nintendo 3DS model, suggesting Nintendo of America did indeed consider releasing the smaller standard model at one point.
On August 31, 2015, at the GameStop Managers Conference in Las Vegas, Nintendo of America confirmed that the standard New 3DS system would launch in the region on September 25, 2015, with an ""-themed bundle including the console, game software, two faceplates, and an Amiibo card. The bundle was priced at $219.99. A second "The Legend of Zelda"-themed XL bundle, the "Hyrule Edition", was also announced as a GameStop exclusive for release on October 30, 2015. It was priced at $199.99.
In January 2016, a special "Pokémon"-themed New Nintendo 3DS bundle was announced for release in North America on February 27, 2016, to coincide with the 20th anniversary Virtual Console release of the original "Pokémon" games. The model is bundled with both "Pokémon Red" and "Pokémon Blue", Charizard and Blastoise-themed faceplates, and a downloadable Home Menu skin.
In August 2016, a "Super Mario 3D Land" New 3DS bundle with two faceplates was released in North America as an exclusive to Target and Walmart. Nintendo released black- and white-colored New 3DS models with "Mario"-themed designs in North America in November 2016; for Black Friday, the two models were sold at US$99.99—a price only $20 higher than that of the 2DS.
In July 2017, Nintendo confirmed, in the lead-up to the release of the New Nintendo 2DS XL, that production on the standard-sized New Nintendo 3DS in Japan had ended. The XL model had halted production in July 2019.
Reception.
Reviews of the New Nintendo 3DS line were positive.
Critics felt the new "Super-Stable 3D" system was successful in improving the consistency and viewing angles of the device's stereoscopic 3D effects, especially in games that require use of its gyroscope. An "IGN" writer noted that "the constant swaying and occasional jolt of my morning train commute has only very occasionally shattered the new systems' stereoscopic spell, and even then, the system quickly adjusts and snaps back into focus". The improved technical specifications of the new systems were also noted, making the device's operating system more responsive and providing modest performance enhancements for existing games such as "Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate".
The incorporation of the Circle Pad Pro's additional shoulder buttons and secondary analog stick into the devices were praised, along with their potential for use in ports of games from home consoles. Opinions were mixed on the design of the C-Stick itself, however; "GameSpot" felt it was "surprisingly responsive" and "IGN" drew comparisons to the similar pointing stick sometimes found on ThinkPad laptops, but felt that while good for occasional functions (such as camera control and aiming in third-person games), it would not function well for more intense use cases (such as first-person shooters) due to its size and lack of grip in comparison to the Circle Pad.
Aspects of the devices' designs were noted; "IGN" felt that the face plate options on the regular-sized models added a level of personalization to the console, but that "[while] face plates will take off with younger gamers in particular, these accessories could just as easily end up in the bargain bin faster than you can say Limited Edition "Perfect Dark Zero" Xbox 360 face plate." Nintendo's decision to exclude this feature from the XL version was also considered odd. "Wired" felt that the new locations for the power button, card slot, and stylus holder were "inconvenient". Critics also felt the switch to MicroSD cards and the relocation of the SD card slot to the battery compartment would make manually transferring data from the previous 3DS models trickier; "GameSpot" lamented on the difficulty of unscrewing the rear cover off the XL, citing "stubborn screws and a panel that practically refuses to detach". Nintendo's decision to not bundle an AC adapter with the new models was criticized, particularly in the case of first-time 3DS owners.
"GameSpot" felt that the New Nintendo 3DS XL was "the best handheld Nintendo's ever made", and recommended it to first-time 3DS owners. In regards to existing 3DS owners, the new systems were recommended to those showing interest in its exclusives or wanting a better overall experience. Giving the console an 8.8 out of 10, "IGN" concluded that "the additional controls and increased processing power set the system up nicely for the future, and if you're late to the 3DS party, you've got a back catalogue that features not just some of the best handheld games in recent years, but some of the best games full stop."
Sales.
As of December 31, 2016, 9.94 million units of the New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL have shipped worldwide.


Volari Duo

History.
On September 15, 2003 XGI Technology Inc introduced the Volari Duo V8 Ultra and the Volari Duo V5 Ultra. These dual GPU graphics cards while impressive looking failed to compete with the single core GPU cards put out by NVIDIA and ATI and disappeared from the market.


Nintendo Fan Network

The Nintendo Fan Network is an interactive software program created by Nintendo in 2007, that gives visitors to T-Mobile Park access to baseball game stats, video, and remote food ordering during Seattle Mariners games via their Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, and later, Nintendo 3DS. It was created due to Nintendo's former ownership of the team.
The Fan Network initially required a $5 fee to access, with a $30 discounted rate for 10 baseball games. However, it became free in 2008. In 2009, the program was updated with additional ESPN news, columns, closed captioning for PA announcements, and a photo-matching game.
Upon the release of the Nintendo DSi, it was announced that the first 150 visitors to home games would receive a free DSi rental to try out the service. The program also became a permanent DSi application instead of being temporarily downloaded onto the system.
When food and drinks are ordered, progress can be viewed on the system.


IOSYS.COM


IBMBIO.COM

IBMBIO.COM is a system file in many DOS operating systems. It contains the system initialization code and all built-in device drivers. It also loads the DOS kernel (IBMDOS.COM) and optional pre-loadable system components (like for disk compression or security), displays boot menus, processes configuration files (like CONFIG.SYS) and launches the shell (like COMMAND.COM).
The file is part of IBM's PC DOS (all versions) as well as of DR DOS 5.0 and higher (with the exception of DR-DOS 7.06). It serves the same purpose as the file IO.SYS in MS-DOS, or DRBIOS.SYS in DR DOS 3.31 to 3.41. (For compatibility purposes with some DOS applications the IBMBIO.COM file name was briefly also used by the IBM version of OS/2 1.0, where it resembled the OS2BIO.COM file as used by Microsoft.)
The file is located in the root directory of the bootable FAT-formatted drive/partition (typically C:\) and typically has the "system", "hidden", and (since DOS 2.0 also the) "read-only" file attributes set. Under DR-DOS the file may be optionally password-protected as well. Under PC DOS, the "system" attribute is set in order to mark the file as non-movable, a restriction technically not necessary under DR-DOS. As IBMBIO.COM is a binary image containing executable code rather than a true COM-style program, the "hidden" attribute is set to keep the file from being accidentally invoked at the command prompt, which would lead to a crash. This is no longer necessary for DR-DOS 7.02 and higher, because under these systems the file is a fat binary also containing a tiny COM-style stub just displaying some version info and exiting gracefully when not being loaded by a boot sector.
In the PC bootup sequence, the first sector of the boot volume contains a boot loader called the volume boot record (VBR) and is loaded into memory and executed.
If this is a VBR of PC DOS before 3.3 it would load both system files into memory by itself. As the PC DOS VBR cannot mount the FAT file system, the system files have to be stored in the first directory entries on the disk and be located at fixed physical positions on the disk stored in consecutive sectors, conditions of which the SYS utility must take care of.
If the loaded boot sector is a PC DOS 3.3 (or newer) VBR, the requirements are slightly relaxed. The system files still have to be stored in the first two root directory entries on the disk, but the VBR will use only the first entry to load the first three sectors of IBMBIO.COM into memory and transfer control to it. This part of IBMBIO.COM then contains a somewhat larger boot loader which:
Under DR DOS 5.0 and higher, the first step is skipped, since a DR-DOS VBR is capable of mounting the FAT file system, locate the IBMBIO.COM (or DRBIOS.SYS) file anywhere in the root directory and load it into memory by itself. The filename of the IBMBIO.COM file to be loaded by the boot sector is stored in the boot sector rather than necessarily in the first root directory entry, likewise the filename of the IBMDOS.COM file to be loaded by IBMBIO.COM is stored in IBMBIO.COM itself rather than necessarily in the second directory entry on the disk. Also, similar to the IBMBIO.COM loader in the VBR, the IBMDOS.COM loader in IBMBIO.COM is capable of rudimentarily mounting the filesystem as well, therefore it is not necessary for the system files to be stored in the first two directory entries, to reside at fixed physical positions or be stored in consecutive sectors. Consequently, it is also no longer necessary to set the "system" attribute. Instead, the system files can be simply copied to the disk (without SYS), given a DR-DOS boot sector already resides on the disk.
Microsoft sometimes calls this component the I/O system, but it is generally known as DOS BIOS (the DOS-related part of the Basic Input/Output System). The term BIOS was originally coined by Gary Kildall in 1975 for CP/M, but is also used to describe a similar component or layer in other operating systems by Digital Research, IBM, Microsoft and many others.
In a more generic sense, some vendors refer to this portion as the RAM BIOS of operating systems such as DOS or CP/M in order to contrast it with the built-in ROM BIOS of a machine.


Virtual legacy wires

Virtual legacy wires (VLW) are transactions over an interconnect fabric that replaced a particular set of physical legacy pins on Intel microprocessors. The legacy wires replaced include the INTR, A20M, and SMI legacy signals.


OS X Yosemite

OS X Yosemite ( ; version 10.10) is the eleventh major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
OS X Yosemite was announced and released to developers on June 2, 2014, at WWDC 2014 and released to public beta testers on July 24, 2014. Yosemite was released to consumers on October 16, 2014. Following the Northern California landmark-based naming scheme introduced with OS X Mavericks, Yosemite is named after the national park.
System requirements.
All Macintosh products capable of running OS X Mountain Lion (v10.8.x) are able to run Yosemite as the two operating systems have the same requirements. However, to take full advantage of the Handoff feature, additional minimum system requirements include a Mac with Bluetooth LE (Bluetooth 4.0). As with Mavericks and Mountain Lion, 2GB of RAM, 8GB of available storage, and OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or later are required.
These are the models that are compatible with OS X Yosemite (with exceptions):
These are the models that support new features such as Handoff, Instant Hotspot as well as AirDrop between Mac computers and iOS devices:
Features.
Design.
Yosemite introduced a major overhaul of OS X's user interface, emphasizing flat graphic design over skeuomorphism, following the aesthetic introduced with iOS 7. It is the first major redesign of the OS X user interface since 10.5 Leopard. Other changes include thinner fonts and blurred translucency effects. Some icons have been changed to correspond with those of iOS 7 and iOS 8. Yosemite maintains the OS X desktop metaphor.
Other design changes include new icons, light and dark color schemes, and the replacement of Lucida Grande with Helvetica Neue as the default system typeface. It was the only macOS version to use Helvetica Neue as the default typeface, as in El Capitan it was again changed, this time to Apple's own, newly-designed San Francisco typeface. The Dock is now a 2D translucent rectangle instead of a skeuomorphic glass shelf, reminiscent of the Dock design used in early versions of OS X through Tiger and in iOS since iOS 7.
Continuity.
Many of Yosemite's new features focus on the theme of continuity, increasing its integration with other Apple services and platforms such as iOS and iCloud. The Handoff functionality allows the operating system to integrate with iOS 8 devices over Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi; users can place and answer phone calls using their iPhone as a conduit, send and receive text messages, activate personal hotspots, or load items being worked on in a mobile app (such as Mail drafts or Numbers spreadsheets) directly into their desktop equivalent.
Notification Center.
Notification Center features a new "Today" view, similar to that in iOS. The Today view can display information and updates from various sources, along with widgets. The widgets in the Today view are similar to those of iOS 8.
Photos.
As of OS X 10.10.3, Photos replaces both iPhoto and Aperture. It uses iCloud Photo Library to upload all the user's photos across their devices.
Other.
Spotlight is a more prominent part of the operating system; it now displays its search box in the center of the screen and can include results from online sources, including Bing, Maps, and Wikipedia. Stock applications such as Safari and Mail have been updated. In particular, many security features have been added to Safari, such as a custom history clearing option that lets users clear history, cookies, and other data from the previous hour, day, or two days. In addition, Apple added DuckDuckGo to its search offerings, a non-tracking search engine that doesn’t store users’ data. Safari allows you to remotely close tabs from an iOS device. Safari now supports browsing in private browsing mode with certain windows (as opposed to all the windows having to be either in or out of private browsing).
The green "zoom" button on windows now has a different function in applications that support full-screen mode. Instead of simply enlarging the window, the button now enters full-screen mode, eliminating the full-screen button at the top-right corner of windows that has been present since Mac OS X Lion. However, holding the Option key (⌥) while clicking the zoom button or double-clicking on the window chrome continues to invoke the original behavior.
JavaScript for Automation (JXA) is the new system-wide support for scripting with JavaScript, built upon JavaScriptCore and the Open Scripting Architecture. It features an Objective-C bridge which enables entire Cocoa applications to be programmed in JavaScript.
Along with other framework changes, CloudKit was integrated in this release. CloudKit functions as a Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS) and is one method for app developers to integrate access to Apple’s iCloud servers into their apps.
There is a "dark mode" in System Preferences which makes the Dock and menu bar darker.
Beta testing.
Apple initiated a new public beta program for OS X, a practice not seen with its operating systems since 2000's Mac OS X Public Beta, which had preceded the release of Mac OS X v10.0. Yosemite is part of the OS X Beta Seed Program, a public program that allows the first 1 million users to download and test the Yosemite beta at no charge. Beta testers are required to acknowledge the potential risks involved with prerelease software, and sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The program began releasing Public Betas on July 24, 2014. Six public betas of Yosemite were released.
Reception.
On release, Yosemite received positive reviews, with users praising the simplified user interface. Programmer John Siracusa, who had reviewed every OS release, wrote for "Ars Technica" that "Yosemite is an aesthetic one-way valve... switching back to Mavericks after a week or two in Yosemite is like returning to iOS 6. Everything looks embarrassingly chunky, glossy, and gaudy." "Macworld"s review generally praised Yosemite for its design, but noted that it had found WiFi network issues and that Continuity had proved unreliable.
Criticism.
Yosemite faced problems with network stability and the codice_1 DNS system. Because of this, Apple replaced codice_1 with the codice_3 system (used in Mavericks) in 10.10.4. Another notable bug experienced on Yosemite was the 'Unicode of death' problem, following a similar bug in 2013, in which a meaningless Arabic text string could crash applications using the system text-display APIs. Some users who upgraded to Yosemite complained that the Finder fails to show the contents of folders.
Software developers and users have argued that Apple's yearly release schedule and development practices have compromised stability, and mean that no version of OS X is truly recommendable for users prioritizing reliability over new user interface design and features.
Spotlight on Yosemite by default reports the user's current location (at the city level) and all their search queries to Apple and third parties. Reporting by Spotlight can be disabled by the user, although, even if this is done, the Safari web browser will continue to send search terms to Apple unless the function is separately disabled.


Recovery disc

The terms Recovery disc (or Disk), Rescue Disk/Disc and Emergency Disk all refer to a capability to boot from an external device, possibly a thumb drive, that includes a self-running operating system: the ability to be a boot disk/Disc that runs independent of an internal hard drive that may be failing, or for some other reason is not the operating system to be run.
The focus of recovery or rescue is to not lose the data files on the hard drive; the focus of restore is to restore the operating system's functionality (and subsequently restore the contents of one's latest backups).
The rescue/recovery tool uses media containing a backup of the original factory condition or a favored condition of a computer as configured by an original equipment manufacturer or an end-user. OEM supplied media are often restore tools shipped with computers to allow the user to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system and pre-installed software as it was when it was shipped. Many modern systems have eliminated use of a physical "recovery disc" and instead store this software in a separate partition on the hard disk itself.
Overview.
As an alternative to using media supplied with a system, it is possible to make one's own rescue/recovery disk. The Macintosh computer tool's name is Disk First Aid; on Windows systems there is a "Create Disk" function.
Factory reset "recovery".
When a factory reset is done, user data is lost. The term
"OEM recovery" refers to that type of "recovery." What is "recovered"
is the original system.
 Hewlett-Packard,
using the term "System Recovery", describes it as destructive recovery.
 They even advise removing "extra hard drives"
to prevent loss of this too.
Although non-destructive alternatives do exist, the standard OEM Systems Recovery of Microsoft Windows-based operating systems involves booting from a separate hard drive partition, CD-ROM, or DVD, reformating the hard drive and then copying operating system and software files. After the recovery process is completed, configuration such as the Windows Out-Of-Box Experience wizard is first run (along with any other additional setup the computer may perform), as it was on the initial startup of the computer. Most recovery systems use specialized software, though Toshiba and Dell licensed Norton Ghost technology for their recovery systems at one point. As of Windows Vista, Dell uses a Windows Imaging Format based image on a partition along with a tool launched from the Windows Recovery Environment's command prompt.
Details.
Recovery partitions.
Most modern PCs store their recovery (non-destructive) or restore (destructive) tool on a hard drive partition rather than on bundled CD-ROMs or DVDs. They're typically accessed by using a specific key combination during system startup. There's less cost to the OEM, but exposes the user to hard drive failure.
An application used to create recovery discs or flash drive is sometimes offered to allow a backup of the recovery data. Recovery CDs can also sometimes be ordered directly from the OEM. For some computers, they can also recreate the recovery partition. Other recovery systems, such as those included with recent Apple Macintosh models, permit users to download the recovery partition over an internet connection, enabling successful recovery even if the hard disk fails or is replaced.
Some third-party software has the function to create a factory recovery partition and one key system backup and restore for Windows PC and Server.
Disk image recovery.
The advantages of OEM recovery media can be had, without some of their disadvantages, by using disk imaging software such as Mondo Rescue or Acronis True Image to create a bootable recovery CD containing an image of the machine in the desired initial state. For example, a user can install their operating system, install all device drivers for their hardware, install other desired software, and configure other personal settings. Some smaller OEMs even use bootable CDs generated by this software as the actual recovery CD or DVD itself.
Criticism.
Many manufacturers, instead of supply a physical "recovery disc" store the "recovery" (destructive) software tool on a partition of the hard disk. Some software that was preloaded may not be included; likewise some device drivers.
Alternatives.
Prior to the use of recovery discs, one would use a boot disk to boot the system, then reinstall software as necessary from the original installation media.
A contemporary alternative, particularly used in Linux, is the installation disc or discs for a Linux distribution, or a Live CD or Live DVD – a bootable disc. These can be used to boot the system and then either manually troubleshoot and repair problems (in the case of a live disc), or re-install or re-configure the operating system. In the case of free software, operating systems can legally be re-packaged and distributed, and thus there is no barrier to making the full installation available. However, in the absence of a backup of system-specific configuration, which is provided on recovery discs, a re-installed operating system may require re-configuration.
Windows 8 includes two built-in recovery options, Refresh and Reset; Refresh re-installs Windows while preserving most user settings, while Reset performs a full restore back to its default configuration, similar to a factory restore function.


Miracle Linux

Miracle Linux is a Linux distribution developed by Miracle Linux Co., Ltd., a company which Oracle Corporation owns 50.5 percent stock. Originally, it was designed to be an OS with good support of Oracle Database. However, since Red Hat Linux's support for Oracle improved, it changed its primary focus to Asian localization, merging efforts with various Asian Linux vendors to produce Asianux.


List of PlayStation 2 online games

This is a list of games that supported the online functionality of the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console.
Games shut down on March 31, 2016.
Notes.
1: NTSC-J version of Resident Evil: Outbreak and its sequel have been restored for online play by the use of a fan run server created using packet captures. Servers are still in beta but playable. English versions are currently not supported and still shut down.
2: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence has been restored for online play, by the use of a fan server.
While all of these games are now unable to be accessed due to the March 31st DNAS shutdown, many of the titles can still be accessed using DNAS bypass tools and DNS work around addresses. Some of these bypasses require modifying the PS2, however.
Games shut down prior to March 31, 2016.
The terminated list means that the servers are no longer available for use (Although LAN may still be available, depending on the title). Many games will have a shutdown year on the side.
LAN games.
PlayStation 2 LAN titles can be played online using the XLink Kai service.


Radeon Pro

Radeon Pro is AMD's brand of professional oriented GPUs. It replaced AMD's FirePro brand in 2016. Compared to the Radeon brand for mainstream consumer/gamer products, the Radeon Pro brand is intended for use in workstations and the running of computer-aided design (CAD), computer-generated imagery (CGI), digital content creation (DCC), high-performance computing/GPGPU applications, and the creation and running of virtual reality programs and games.
The Radeon Pro product line directly competes with Nvidia, i.e. their Quadro (since discontinued) line of professional workstation cards.
Products.
Radeon Pro Duo 2016.
The first card to be released under the Radeon Pro name was the dual GPU "Radeon Pro Duo" in April 2016. The card features 2 liquid cooled "R9 Nano" cores & was marketed strongly for both the running and creation of virtual reality content with the slogan "For Gamers Who Create and Creators Who Game". The aesthetics and marketing of the "Pro Duo" follow that of the rest of the "Fury" products in the "300 series".
Radeon Pro SSG.
Fiji Radeon Pro SSG.
Using AMD Radeon's GCN 1.2 architecture, the "Radeon Pro SSG" was unveiled in July 2016. SSG stands for Solid State Graphics, and the card will couple AMD's "Fiji" core with solid-state storage to increase the frame buffer for rendering. This expansion of quick access storage will, therefore, relieve the issue of latency that occurs when a GPU has to retrieve information from a mass storage device via the CPU when a card's limited VRAM is maxed out in heavy workloads. Users will be able to add up to 1TB of PCIe M.2 NAND flash memory to improve render and scrubbing times. AMD demonstrated a 5.3 fold increase in performance on 8K video scrubbing. This SSD storage space can be made available to the operating system or controlled entirely by the GPU. The Fiji-based Radeon Pro SSG card was available as a beta program.
Vega Radeon Pro SSG.
In July 2017, AMD released the Vega-based Radeon Pro SSG. The card utilizes 16GB of second generation ECC high bandwidth memory (HBM2), an upgrade from the Fiji-based card's 4GB of first generation HBM memory. The Vega card also increased the built in solid-state storage to 2TB.
Radeon Pro WX series.
Radeon Pro WX series are graphics cards designed specifically for professional applications used in engineering, design, content creation, and science. The first Radeon Pro cards with the "WX" prefix to be announced were the "WX 7100", the "WX 5100" and the "WX 4100" in July 2016. These Polaris based cards are once again aimed at the traditional professional market and are set to replace the FirePro Wx100 series and FirePro Wx300 series. These cards, along with the Pro SSG, will use the new, non-toxic and energy efficient YInMn Blue, discovered by Mas Subramanian. This unique aesthetic for the Radeon Pro line will distinguish the professional products from the consumer Radeon series.
The smallest card, the half-height "WX 4100", is marketed for use in small form factor workstations. Designed for real-time content engines and CAD and CAM manufacturing, the "WX 5100" fits in between the "WX 4100" and the "WX 7100" in terms of performance, with the latter once again marketed with emphasis on the application of VR and other media creation, while claiming to be "The Most Affordable Workstation Solution".
In June 2017, AMD announced the addition of the lower power WX 2100 and WX 3100 cards to the Radeon Pro WX series. Both cards are based on the Polaris GPU and are rated at 1.25 TFLOPS. The WX 2100 has 2 GB of GDDR5 SDRAM, while the WX 3100 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.
In September 2017, AMD launched the WX 9100 based on the Vega architecture. The card features 16 GB of ECC HBM2 memory and is rated at 12.29 TFLOPS. As the new flagship of the WX line, it greatly exceeds the performance of the older WX 7100 which is rated at 5.73 TFLOPS. The WX 9100 has ISV (Independent Software Vendor) certified drivers for professional applications including Siemens NX, PTC Creo, Dassault Systèmes CATIA and 3DExperience Platform, Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS, and Autodesk® Revit®. The WX 9100 is particularly well-suited for mission critical workloads and complex scientific modeling because the ECC memory helps correct "single or double bit error as a result of naturally occurring background radiation."
Radeon Pro 400 series.
Mobile Radeon Pro parts were first revealed with the release of the 2016 update to the Apple 15" MacBook Pro. These appear to be Polaris 11 derived parts with 10-16 4th generation GCN compute units, providing between 1 and 1.86 TFLOPS of performance.
Radeon Pro Duo 2017.
In April 2017 AMD announced a new version of the Radeon Pro Duo for release the following month. The newer version of the Pro Duo utilizes dual GPUs from the Polaris architecture, using the same GPUs as in the WX7100. While this results a smaller number of compute units and lower theoretical performance, it allows for the inclusion of 32GB GDDR5 SDRAM and a lower board power.
Radeon Vega Frontier Edition.
AMD announced in May 2017 the Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, for release in June of that year. While not branded as a Pro product, the card is marketed within the Radeon Pro series. The Radeon Vega Frontier Edition uses the new "Next-Gen Compute Unit" and 16GB of HBM2 memory for an expected 13.1 TFLOPs of single precision and 26.2 TFLOPs of half precision performance. Ultimately, two Frontier Edition products were released with either air or liquid cooling. The liquid cooling part supported a higher TDP, and was able to reach and sustain higher clock speeds, but otherwise the two products have similar hardware specifications.
Radeon Pro 500 series.
Released in conjunction with the 2017 Apple iMac refresh, the Radeon Pro 500 series serve as GPUs for the 4K and 5K Retina Display iMacs. The 500 series ranges supports 2 to 8 GB of graphics RAM with performance from 1.3 to 5.5 TFLOPS.
Radeon Pro Vega.
The Radeon Pro Vega product line of GPUs were first announced in 2017 as a part of Apple's iMac Pro. The two models, Radeon Pro Vega 56 and 64, support 8 and 16 GB of HBM2 memory, respectively. On October 30, 2018, Apple added graphics upgrade options for their 15-inch MacBook Pro lineup consisting Radeon Pro Vega 16 and 20. Derived from Vega 12 GPU that was only used on Apple laptops, both GPU features a 4GB HBM2 memory stack and performance up to 3.3 TFLOPS.
The second-generation, 7 nm Radeon Pro Vega II was announced in 2019 as part of Apple's third-generation Mac Pro desktop computer. The Pro Vega II supports 32 GB of HBM2 memory, while the Pro Vega II Duo combines two Vega GPUs and supports 64 GB of HBM2 memory. The Mac Pro supports up to two Pro Vega II or Pro Vega II Duo graphics cards, allowing up to four Vega GPUs and 128 GB of HBM2 memory to be used in a system.
The Radeon Pro VII was announced on May 2020, as a professional variant of the Radeon VII.
Radeon Pro 5000M series.
Released in conjunction with the 2019 Apple 16 inch MacBook Pro. Two models were announced, the 5300M and the 5500M. Both feature GDDR6 memory interfaces, with 192 GB/s bandwidth. The 5500M supports up to 8 GB of GDDR6 and 4.0 TFLOPS. In June 2020, a new 5600M GPU model with 8 GB of HBM2 memory was quietly released.
Radeon Pro W5000 series.
The Radeon Pro W5700, which is based on RDNA Architecture for desktop workstations, was officially released on November 19, 2019. The smaller model Radeon Pro W5500 was released in February 2020.
Software.
Project Loom.
At an AMD event in 2016 Project Loom was announced as a collaboration between AMD and Radiant Images. The real-time GPU accelerated photo and video stitching program will complement AMD's virtual reality development platform. While traditional photo stitching is not that much of a complex task, Project Loom aims to improve render times when tasked with the heavy workload of stitching together multiple high resolution angles to form a 360 degree VR experience, either to headsets or mobile devices. Using AMD's Direct GMA protocol, the software allows Radeon Pro graphics cards to work directly with video capture hardware to stitch together a 30 fps, 360 degree 4k resolution video from 24, 1080p cameras at 60 fps.
The software is to be competitive with Nvidia's VRWorks 360 Video SDK, and is reportedly set to be made open-source through GPUOpen.
ProRender.
The successor to FireRender, Radeon ProRender works with high-end graphics programs as an OpenCL photorealistic offline 3D renderer and raytracing engine. ProRender aims to compete with programs such as NVIDIA's Iray and other expensive, proprietary solutions. However, AMD is making ProRender free, open source and available for all graphics hardware. ProRender was released by AMD in June 2016 with support for Blender, 3D Studio Max, SolidWorks, and Maya.
Driver.
API OpenGL 4.5 is supported and 4.6 is in development.
API Vulkan 1.0 is supported for all with GCN Architecture. Vulkan 1.1 (GCN 2. Gen. or 1.2 and higher) will be supported with actual drivers in 2018.
As with other GPU architectures, the floating-point performance is dependent on the precision and the GCN generation:
For those requiring higher FP64 performance, a form of FP64 "distinct from" the IEEE double-precision can be emulated with the much faster FP32 operations. The cost is around a ~1/3 performance compared to FP32, much better than what the native support could provide.


Program Segment Prefix

The Program Segment Prefix (PSP) is a data structure used in DOS systems to store the state of a program. It resembles the Zero Page in the CP/M operating system. The PSP has the following structure:
The PSP is most often used to get the command line arguments of a DOS program; for example, the command "FOO.EXE /A /F" executes FOO.EXE with the arguments '/A' and '/F'.
If the PSP entry for the command line length is non-zero and the pointer to the environment segment is neither 0000h nor FFFFh, programs should first try to retrieve the command line from the environment variable %CMDLINE% before extracting it from the PSP. This way, it is possible to pass command lines longer than 126 characters to applications.
The segment address of the PSP is passed in the DS register when the program is executed. It can also be determined later by using Int 21h function 51h or Int 21h function 62h. Either function will return the PSP address in register BX.
Alternatively, in .COM programs loaded at offset 100h, one can address the PSP directly just by using the offsets listed above. Offset 000h points to the beginning of the PSP, 0FFh points to the end, etc.
For example, the following code displays the command line arguments:
org 100h ; .COM - not using ds
xor bx,bx
mov bl,[80h]
cmp bl,7Eh
 ja exit ; preventing overflow
mov byte [bx+81h],'$'
mov ah,9
mov dx,81h
int 21h
exit:
mov ax,4C00h ; subfunction 4C
int 21h
In DOS 1.x, it was necessary for the CS (Code Segment) register to contain the same segment as the PSP at program termination, thus standard programming practice involved saving the DS register to the stack at program start (since the DS register is loaded with the PSP segment) and terminating the program with a RETF instruction, which would pop the saved segment value off the stack and jump to address 0 of the PSP, which contained an INT 20h instruction.
push ds
xor ax,ax
push ax
mov ax,@data
mov ds,ax
mov dx,mess1
mov ah,9
int 21h
retf
If the executable was a .COM file, this procedure was unnecessary and the program could be terminated merely with a direct INT 20h instruction or else calling INT 21h Function 0. However, the programmer still had to ensure that the CS register contained the segment address of the PSP at program termination. Thus,
jmp start
mess1 db 'Hello world!$'
start:
mov dx,mess1
mov ah,9
int 21h
int 20h
In DOS 2.x and higher, program termination was accomplished instead with INT 21h Function 4Ch which did not require the CS register to contain the segment value of the PSP.


Business Operating System (software)

The Business Operating System, or BOS, was initially developed as an early cross-platform operating system, originally produced for Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800 computers, then redeveloped for actual businesses and business models. The technology began subsequently for Zilog Z80-based computers, and then later for most microcomputers of the 1980s, then developed into a premium automated software solution for Investors and Asset Managers alike. CAP Ltd, a British company and at the time one of the world's largest Information Technology consulting firms, developed BOS. CAP designed BOS and BOS applications for platform-independence.
Via a management buyout (MBO) in 1981, BOS was spun off to three interlinked companies, MPSL (MicroProducts Software Ltd) which looked after the sales and marketing of BOS, MPPL (MicroProducts Programming Ltd) which looked after both the development of BOS and various horizontal software packages, and MicroProducts Training Ltd. BOS was distributed on a global basis, mainly to the United States and British Commonwealth, by a variety of independent and MPSL-owned companies.
A popular version was implemented on the Sage/Stride 68000 family based computers, and sold well in Australia. The Sage itself was initially developed using UCSD Pascal and p-code, so it fitted well with the basic BOS design.
The small BOS dealer/distributor network and its command-line interface structure met its demise when graphical user interface operating systems became prevalent. The redevelopment of which, in 2013, was integrated with a graphical user interface, GUI, in order to provide a "simple to use" solution, which "learned" from its user's input.
MPSL developed numerous products for BOS, generally targeting the horizontal markets, leaving the vertical markets (i.e. niche) to independent software vendors ISV. Examples of MPSL developed software include BOS/Finder (database), BOS/Planner (spreadsheet), BOS/Writer (word processor) and BOS/AutoClerk (report generation). Companies sold various BOS accounting software suites in the UK and United States. In the UK, BOS accounting packages were considered to be the industry standard by some accountants.
The accounts software was split into four sections: Sales Ledger, Invoices, Purchase Ledger, Daybook and Journal Entries. Data entry and ledger reports were compatible with the Autoclerk report generator software. This feature was especially favoured by accountants and tax officials as it meant that a consultant could sit down with a programmer/operator of the BOS system to plan out and ensure that accounting information was presented in exactly the right way for official acceptance. In the early adoptation of business microcomputers not having accounts correctly laid out was one of the biggest complaints by tax officials.
An interesting feature of the command line input was the use of the ESCape key for line entry. This freed up the ENTER key (it was still called RETURN, pre. IBM keyboard layout) to allow the inputting of long lines of code and long spans of data entry.
BOS also had its own job control language, simply called BOS/JCL. It made it much easier to delegate otherwise complex operator tasks to non-technical office and shop floor staff, especially given the intricacies of working with multiple floppy disks.
BOS applications were initially compiled to a "p-code" and interpreted as they ran. BOS had a p-code interpreter so efficient that programs, even the BOS/Writer word processor, ran sufficiently fast to satisfy users. A technical subsystem of the system programming software was made available to programmers wanting to write their own p-code microcobol instruction extensions. Apart from a 2-kilobyte (Kb) server (computing)/host kernel, BOS is written in BOS/MicroCobol, a language based on COBOL but with system-level programming constructs added and elements of structured programming, which bore a vague similarity to Pascal. In recent computing, programming languages such as Java have re-introduced the concept of p-code "virtual machines". As the BOS system evolved, the need for programming in ASP.net developed for quicker accessibility and cloud computing. Harrell & Son took the next steps to bring BOS back into the picture on a larger scale.
BOS initially required 48 Kb of RAM and two 176 Kb 5.25" double-sided floppies, though it was more commonly deployed on machines equipped with 64 kilobytes of RAM and a hard drive. A computer with 128 KB RAM and a 10-megabyte (Mb) hard drive could run as many as five concurrent users. When the IBM PC XT came out in 1983, BOS served over eight concurrent dumb terminals on it. At the time, this made BOS very attractive. Now, BOS runs on the same required RAM and serves up to 800,000 concurrent users as it is paired with cloud computing.
In the early 1980s, a minimal hardware BOS setup might have comprised: North Star Horizon Z80 cpu 48Kbyte ram & 2x 5.25" SA-400 single-density double-sided minifloppy drive (each side used 35/40 tracks to give 176 Kb formatted, ie. BOS used the North Star NSDOS file system), Lynx 24x80 green vdu, DEC LA120 lineprinter/typewriter. Frequent diskette swapping was required during a program run, a good programmer/operator could minimise these essential changes by detailed logical planning. Not every business could quickly afford the newly available hard drives and many company managers were just reluctant to spend more and more upon what they already thought was expensive enough in the first place. Getting an accounts system up and running often involved countless hours poring over thousands of pages of illegible and inaccurate hand-written accounts in traditional ledger books. This is where the journal entry features came in really useful in order to bypass having to enter thousands of useless historical records, it was possible to reach an agreement with the accountants as to what figures should be given an initial fudge factor in order to artifically balance the software ledgers prior to going live with the new accounts system. The software was flexible enough to allow internal adjustments to data. The genius of CAP, or CAP-CPP as it was more correctly called, was to anticipate these technical problems and the initial reservations of a suspicious middle-management, and this was essentially the success of BOS.
With user-management tools in the 80's, and application programming interfaces in the mid-80's, BOS was considered an alternative even to the platform-specific operating systems on machines such as the PDP-11 and the VAX. The new reemergence of BOS has escalated the number of users requested to be entered into the PMM system, and may require consistent server updating.
Despite, or because of its command-line interface, BOS remains popular with medium to large organizations in the UK and US.


UMC Green CPU

The UMC Green CPU was an x86-compatible microprocessor produced by UMC, a Taiwanese semiconductor company, in the early- to mid-1990s. It was offered as an alternative to the Intel 80486 with which it was pin compatible, enabling it to be installed in most 80486 motherboards. All models had power management features intended to reduce electricity consumption.
Models produced.
The UMC Green CPU was available with different features, physical characteristics and clock speeds. Some of which were only sold in limited quantities.
Available models.
All models feature an 8 KB level 1 cache and operate at clock speeds of 25 MHz, 33 MHz, or 40 MHz.
Functionally all models except U5D are identical and only differed in their intended application, voltage rating or physical packaging. The U5SD does not contain a floating point unit and is indistinguishable from other U5S chips in operation, though it is unusual because it features a 486DX pinout as opposed to the more common 486SX pinout versions. This would allow installation into certain older motherboards which may have had upgrade sockets hardwired to fit only 486DX chips.
Production and fabrication.
As one of the largest chip foundry owners in Taiwan, UMC owns several fabrication plants which allowed them to fabricate their own designs, whereas some other manufacturers, notably Cyrix, had to contract this process out to third parties such as IBM and Texas Instruments. All available models of Green CPU were produced on a 0.6 μm CMOS process. The chips were available in both plastic and ceramic packages for different applications. The majority of PQFP variants were sold to motherboard manufacturers as a low-cost embedded solution.
Performance.
The UMC U5 Series design was focused on microcode optimizations. An equivalently clocked Intel or AMD processor required 40 cycles to perform an integer division whereas the UMC processors required only 7, allowing the instruction to complete significantly faster. Performance is generally observed to be higher than competing processors on a clock-for-clock basis; The 40 MHz U5S model being comparable to an AMD Am486SX2 at 66 MHz with correctly configured motherboards.
Due to an error in the microcode, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition identifies some processors as an Intel Pentium MMX which could cause the operating system and software running within it to crash or exhibit undefined behavior.
Clock doubling version.
UMC produced a small quantity of clock doubling processors labeled as the U486DX2. These processors were designed to compete with other clock doubling solutions such as the Intel 80486DX2, AMD Am486DX2 and Cyrix Cx486DX2, but due to ongoing legal troubles UMC withdrew the U486DX2 from production. The processor was only ever produced as an engineering sample and never made it to market, it was manufactured with a 0.35 μm CMOS process and is contained within a ceramic package.
Legal dispute.
In 1994, Intel alleged that UMC had infringed upon its patent for the 80486 microprocessor and filed complaints against UMC and it's distributors. UMC countered the claims with an anti-trust suit and the case was eventually settled out of court with UMC withdrawing their product and ceasing production of 80486-compatible microprocessors.
As a result of the dispute, all processors were prohibited from sale within the United States and were visibly labelled as such. Placement of this label varies, the ceramic U5S and U5D models typically display "Not for U.S. sale or import" as part of the silkscreen on the top of the chip where the U5SX and U5SD models usually had "NOT FOR U.S. SALE" printed onto the golden die cover on the underside of the package. This labelling is often absent from plastic packages.


4OS2

4OS2 is the OS/2 analogue of 4NT and 4DOS by JP Software, Inc. JP Software discontinued 4OS2, TCMDOS2 and TCMD16, making version 3.0, 2.0, 2.0 the final version of these. The code for 4OS2 has been released, and is maintained, first by SciTech, and then by NetLabs.
Overview.
Early versions of 4OS2 run in the Windows NT OS/2 emulation, and it was this particular running that led JP Software to port 4OS2 to Microsoft Windows. 4NT, for example, still has the OS/2 CMD.EXE commands like EXTPROC and REXX support, while earlier versions had commands like DPATH and LIBPATH, for setting these variables in the same manner that PATH does.
The early 4OS2 packages came with both 16- and 32-bit versions, the former to run under OS/2 1.x including Windows NT OS/2. Eventually the 16-bit support was dropped.
JP Software have their final releases of these products at their download page.
There was a 4OS2 v4.0 as different programmers took up maintaining the release, but these have been since merged.
4OS2 has found more recent life at NetLabs.
It is included in ArcaOS.


Lexra

Lexra was a semiconductor intellectual property core company based in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1997. Lexra developed and licensed semiconductor intellectual property cores that implemented the MIPS I architecture, except for the four unaligned load and store (lwl, lwr, swl, swr) instructions.
Lexra did not implement those instructions because they are not necessary for good performance in modern software. Silicon Graphics owned a patent that was initially granted to MIPS Computer Systems Inc. for implementing unaligned loads and stores in a RISC processor. Lexra did not wish to pay a high license fee for permission to use the patent.
Lexra licensed soft cores, unlike ARM Ltd at the time. Lexra was probably the first semiconductor intellectual property core company to do so.
In 1998 Silicon Graphics spun out MIPS Technologies Inc. as a semiconductor IP licensing company that would compete directly with Lexra. MIPS Technologies soon sued Lexra, asserting trademark infringement by Lexra's claims of compatibility with MIPS I. Lexra and MIPS Technologies settled the dispute by agreeing that Lexra would explicitly describe its products as not implementing unaligned loads and stores.
In 1999, MIPS Technologies sued Lexra again, but this time for infringing its patents on unaligned loads and stores. Though Lexra's processor designs did not implement unaligned loads and stores, it was possible to emulate their functionality through a series of other instructions. The ability to emulate the function of unaligned loads and stores was used, for example, in microcode for IBM mainframes long before the application for MIPS Technologies' patent. Lexra contended that the patent was invalid if construed to cover software emulation of unaligned loads and stores. If construed to cover only hardware implementations, Lexra did not infringe. The protracted second lawsuit, combined with a downturn in semiconductor industry business, forced Lexra into a settlement with MIPS Technologies. The settlement included MIPS Technologies paying Lexra a large sum of money and granting Lexra a license to its technologies in exchange for Lexra exiting the IP business.
Lexra failed as a networking/communications fabless semiconductor chip company and ceased operations in January 2003.
In its 5.5 years, Lexra implemented ten processor designs and licensed nine of them as IP cores. Lexra had the first
Lexra also enhanced the MIPS I architecture with extensions that greatly improved performance for digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms.


NLUUG

NLUUG (formerly known as The Netherlands Local Unix User Group) is an association of professional UNIX / Linux users in the Netherlands. The group aims to increase and extend the awareness and use of Open Standards (including UNIX) and similar open systems and Open Source software.
The NLUUG also maintains one of the largest FTP mirrors in the world, and is the prime FTP site for several packages including VIM.
Activities.
Typically, the NLUUG organises two large conferences every year. Topics over the last years include:
History.
The NLUUG was founded in 1983, but the initial members were active together a long time before that.
The NLUUG founded the first Internet provider in the Netherlands, NLnet. NLnet at the time only was serving businesses, which is why XS4All usually claims to be the first Internet provider (for consumers).
Other claims to fame are the founding of the SANE Conferences organization and the fact that the NLUUG was the first organisation to have Linus Torvalds be a speaker on a conference outside Finland.
NLUUG Awards.
The NLUUG sometime gives awards to people who have been helping the cause of Open Systems and Open Standards. Over the years, awards have been given to amongst others Piet Beertema, Guido van Rossum, Wietse Venema, Bram Moolenaar, Andy Tanenbaum, Wytze van der Raay, Teus Hagen, and Olaf Kolkman.


Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 542 U.S. 241 (2004), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving , which authorizes United States district courts to enforce discovery requests made in connection with litigation being conducted in foreign tribunals. Prior to "Intel", there had been substantial disagreement as to the availability of Section 1782 Discovery.
The "Intel" case originated from Advanced Micro Devices's antitrust claims against Intel in Europe. AMD filed a complaint against Intel in the European Union's antitrust enforcement agency (the Directorate-General for Competition), and then filed a lawsuit in the U.S. for discovery of certain Intel documents in order to further their complaint.


Terminal mode

A terminal mode is one of a set of possible states of a terminal or pseudo terminal character device in Unix-like systems and determines how characters written to the terminal are interpreted. In cooked mode data is preprocessed before being given to a program, while raw mode passes the data as-is to the program without interpreting any of the special characters.
The system intercepts special characters in cooked mode and interprets special meaning from them. Backspace, delete, and Control-D are typically used to enable line-editing for the input to the running programs, and other control characters such as Control-C and Control-Z are used for job control or associated with other signals. The precise definition of what constitutes a cooked mode is operating system-specific.
For example, if “ABC<Backspace>D” is given as an input to a program through a terminal character device in cooked mode, the program gets “ABD”. But, if the terminal is in raw mode, the program gets the characters “ABC” followed by the Backspace character and followed by “D”. In cooked mode, the terminal line discipline processes the characters “ABC<Backspace>D” and presents only the result (“ABD”) to the program.
Technically, the term “cooked mode” should be associated only with streams that have a terminal line discipline, but generally it is applied to any system that does some amount of preprocessing.
cbreak mode.
cbreak mode (sometimes called rare mode) is a mode between raw mode and cooked mode. Unlike cooked mode it works with single characters at a time, rather than forcing a wait for a whole line and then feeding the line in all at once. Unlike raw mode, keystrokes like abort (usually Control-C) are still processed by the terminal and will interrupt the process.


List of Intel Core i7 processors

The following is a list of Intel Core i7 brand microprocessors. Introduced in 2008, the Core i7 line of microprocessors are intended to be used by high-end users.


BOOTLOG.TXT


TRANS.COM


Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux is a Linux distribution based on musl and BusyBox, designed for security, simplicity, and resource efficiency. It uses OpenRC for its init system and compiles all user-space binaries as position-independent executables with stack-smashing protection.
Because of its small size, it is commonly used in containers providing quick boot-up times.
History.
Originally, Alpine Linux began as a fork of the LEAF Project. The members of LEAF wanted to continue making a Linux distribution that could fit on a single floppy disk, whereas the Alpine Linux wished to include some more heavyweight packages: Squid and Samba. They also add security features and a newer kernel.
Features.
Alpine uses its own package-management system, apk-tools, which originally was a collection of shell scripts but was later rewritten in C. Alpine currently contains most commonly used packages such as GNOME, Xfce, Firefox, and others.
Alpine Linux can be installed as a run-from-RAM operating system. The LBU (Alpine Local Backup) tool optionally allows all configuration files to be backed up to an APK overlay file (usually shortened to "apkovl"), a tar.gz file that by default stores a copy of all changed files in /etc (with the option to add more directories). This allows Alpine to work reliably in demanding embedded environments or to (temporarily) survive partial disk failures as sometimes experienced in public cloud environments.
A hardened kernel was included in the default distribution for up to and including Alpine 3.7, which aids in reducing the impact of exploits and vulnerabilities. All packages are also compiled with stack-smashing protection to help mitigate the effects of userland buffer overflows.
By default, it includes patches that allow using efficient meshed VPNs using the DMVPN standard.
It has reliably had excellent support of Xen hypervisors in up-to-date versions, which avoids issues as experienced with Enterprise Distributions. (The standard Linux hypervisor KVM, is also available.)
It allows very small Linux containers, around 8 MB in size, while a minimal installation to disk might be around 130 MB.
Alpine Configuration Framework (ACF): While optional, ACF is an application for configuring an Alpine Linux machine, with goals similar to Debian's debconf. It is a standard framework based on simple Lua scripts.
It previously used uClibc as its C standard library instead of the traditional GNU C Library (glibc) most commonly used. Although it is more lightweight, it does have the significant drawback of being binary incompatible with glibc. Thus, all software must be compiled for use with uClibc to work properly. As of 9 April 2014, Alpine Linux switched to musl, which is partially binary compatible with glibc.
The lightweight OpenRC is the init system currently used by Alpine Linux. Unlike many distributions, including Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, Arch Linux and CentOS, Alpine does not use systemd.


Disk operating system

A disk operating system (abbreviated DOS) is a computer operating system that resides on and can use a disk storage device, such as a floppy disk, hard disk drive, or optical disc. A disk operating system must provide a file system for organizing, reading, and writing files on the storage disk. Strictly speaking, this definition does not apply to current generations of operating systems, such as versions of Microsoft Windows in use, and is more appropriately used only for older generations of operating systems.
Disk operating systems were available for mainframes, minicomputers, microprocessors and home computers and were usually loaded from the disks themselves as part of the boot process.
History.
In the early days of computers, there were no disk drives, floppy disks or modern flash storage devices. Early storage devices such as delay lines, core memories, punched cards, punched tape, magnetic tape, and magnetic drums were used instead. And in the early days of microcomputers and home computers, paper tape or audio cassette tape (see Kansas City standard) or nothing were used instead. In the latter case, program and data entry was done at front panel switches directly into memory or through a computer terminal / keyboard, sometimes controlled by a BASIC interpreter in ROM; when power was turned off any information was lost.
In the early 1960s, as disk drives became larger and more affordable, various mainframe and minicomputer vendors began introducing disk operating systems and modifying existing operating systems to exploit disks.
Both hard disks and floppy disk drives require software to manage rapid access to block storage of sequential and other data. For most microcomputers, a disk drive of any kind was an optional peripheral; systems could be used with a tape drive or booted without a storage device at all. The disk operating system component of the operating system was only needed when a disk drive was used.
By the time IBM announced the System/360 mainframes, the concept of a disk operating system was well established. Although IBM did offer Basic Programming Support (BPS/360) and TOS/360 for small systems, they were out of the mainstream and most customers used either DOS/360 or OS/360.
Most home and personal computers of the late 1970s and 1980s used a disk operating system, most often with "DOS" in the name and simply referred to as "DOS" within their respective communities: CBM DOS for Commodore 8-bit systems, Atari DOS for the Atari 8-bit family, TRS-DOS for the TRS-80, and Apple DOS for the Apple II, and MS-DOS for IBM PC compatibles.
Usually, a disk operating system was loaded from a disk. Among the exceptions were Commodore, whose DOS resided on ROM chips in the disk drives. The Lt. Kernal hard disk subsystem for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 models stored its DOS on the disk, as is the case with modern systems, and loaded the DOS into RAM at boot time; the British BBC Micro's optional Disc Filing System, DFS, offered as a kit with a disk controller chip, a ROM chip, and a handful of logic chips, to be installed inside the computer.
Disk operating systems that were the main OSs.
Some disk operating systems were the operating systems for the entire computer system.


WINBOOT.SYS


Nokia N92

The Nokia N92 is a smartphone part of the multimedia Nseries. It was announced on November 2, 2005 and was the world's first mobile phone with an integrated DVB-H tuner (excluding the experimental 7710). As a result, Nokia marketed it as a phone for watching TV on the go. It featured the same swivel design as the N90. It runs on Symbian OS v9.1 and the S60 3rd Edition interface.
Interesting features of the handset's DVB-H receiver include the program guide and the recording facility. The phone has a constant 30 second rolling record function for instant replay and can record broadcasts to memory card. Providers may charge for some of these features.
Elsewhere the N92 was also advanced, featuring a large 2.8" display (the largest at the time, excluding the Communicators), dedicated multimedia keys, 3G, Wi-Fi, UPnP, and a 2 megapixel camera with flash. Its CPU runs at a clock speed of 268 MHz. However it was considerably heavy (at 191 g), despite its size.
Upon release in Q2 2006 it retailed for 600 euros. The N92 is one of the rarest devices from Nokia and go for high prices on the second hand market.
Design.
The keypad is unusual as it has numbers viewable in both portrait and landscape modes. This is to accommodate for the screen, which can be opened in two different positions:
Because of its unusual keypad, some users refer to it as confusing.


SGI Origin 200

The SGI Origin 200, code named "Speedo", was an entry-level server computer developed and manufactured by SGI, introduced in October 1996 to accompany their mid-range and high-end Origin 2000. It is based on the same architecture as the Origin 2000 but has an unrelated hardware implementation. At the time of introduction, these systems ran the IRIX 6.4, and later, the IRIX 6.5 operating systems. The Origin 200 was discontinued on 30 June 2002.
Hardware.
The Origin 200 consists of one or two modules. In configurations with two modules, the NUMAlink 2 (originally CrayLink) interconnection fabric is used to connect the two modules together. Using two modules, the Origin 200's capabilities (the number of processors, the amount of memory, etc.) is doubled. The Origin 200 and the Origin 200 GIGAchannel enclosures can be configured as a tower with "skins" that covered the bare metal for cosmetic purposes, or as a rackmountable enclosure compatible with 19- or 21-inch racks.
Module.
Each module contains a motherboard, seven 3.5-inch drive bays and two 5.25-inch drive bays. In configurations where an Origin 200 GIGAchannel expansion cabinet is used, the module also contains a Crosstown board that plugs into the motherboard. Each module was limited to two CPUs.
Motherboard.
The motherboard contains the Hub ASIC, a PCI bridge, two SCSI controllers, two UARTs and an Ethernet controller. The PCI bridge provides the PCI bus for the three PCI-X slots and the I/O controllers.
Processor.
The processor(s) are located on a PIMM (Processor-Included Memory Module) that plugs into the motherboard. When first introduced, the Origin 200 supported one or two R10000 processors with 1 or 4 MB L2 cache each. In August 1998, an upgraded PIMM featuring the 225 MHz R10000 processors was introduced. Later, 270 MHz R12000 processors became available. The PIMMs come in two versions: single processor and dual processor. It is not possible to upgrade these systems to a dual processor system by using two single processor PIMMs, as there is only one PIMM connector on the motherboard.
Memory.
The motherboard supports 32 MB to 2 GB of memory through eight DIMM slots organised into four banks. DIMMs with capacities of 16, 32, 64 and 256 MB are supported. DIMMs are installed in pairs.
GIGAchannel.
The Origin 200 GIGAchannel is an expansion cabinet that connects to the Origin 200 modules via two XIO cables. It provides an additional four PCI-X slots and five XIO slots. The GIGAchannel contains a Crossbow (Xbow) ASIC, which is an eight-port crossbar provides the five datapaths to the five XIO slots and a single datapath to PCI bridge. The remaining two ports on the ASIC are connected to the XIO connectors used to interface the subsystem to the Origin 200 modules.


SGI Challenge

The Challenge, code-named "Eveready" (deskside models) and "Terminator" (rackmount models), is a family of server computers and supercomputers developed and manufactured by Silicon Graphics in the early to mid-1990s that succeeded the earlier Power (not to be confused with the IBM POWER) series systems. The Challenge was later succeeded by the NUMAlink-based Origin 200 and Origin 2000 in 1996.
Models.
There are three distinctive models of the Challenge. The first model, simply known as the "Challenge" used the 64-bit R4400. With the introduction of the R8000, the Challenge was upgraded to support more processors and memory as well as featuring support for this new processor. Such systems are known as the "POWER Challenge". During the final years of the Challenge architecture's useful life, the line was upgraded to support R10000 microprocessors. Older Challenge systems using the R10000 were known as the "Challenge 10000", while the newer POWER Challenge systems using the R10000 were known as the "POWER Challenge 10000".
Models suffixed with "GR" (for "Graphics Ready") could support the RealityEngine and InfiniteReality graphics subsystems. Standard models were either servers or supercomputers with no graphics support.
POWER Challenge.
The POWER Challenge was announced on 28 January 1993 and was intended to compete against supercomputer companies such as Cray Research. At the time of its announcement, Silicon Graphics claimed that the POWER Challenge would have the same level of performance as Cray's Cray Y-MP with a single microprocessor. The new model was introduced in the middle of 1994 and used the MIPS R8000 microprocessor chip set, which consisted of the R8000 microprocessor and R8010 floating point unit accompanied by a "streaming" cache and its associated controllers. Much of the POWER Challenge's performance depended on the R8000, a microprocessor intended to achieve supercomputing performance and designed for floating-point scientific applications. As a result, the R8000 had features such as fused multiply–add instructions and a large cache.
In 1995, Silicon Graphics upgraded the POWER Challenge with R8000 microprocessors clocked at 90 MHz, enabling the system to scale up to 6.48 GFLOPS, an improvement of 1 GFLOPS over the previous R8000 microprocessor clocked at 75 MHz.
POWER Challenge 10000.
The POWER Challenge 10000 referred to POWER Challenge-based systems that used the R10000 microprocessor. These models were introduced in January 1996, succeeding the R4400-based Challenge and the R8000-based POWER Challenge, although such systems co-existed with the POWER Challenge 10000 for some time. To support the new R10000s, a new CPU board, the "IP25" was introduced. The new CPU board, like previous IP19 CPU board, support four processors each and their associated secondary caches.
CHALLENGEarray.
The CHALLENGEarray and POWER CHALLENGEarray is a cluster of Challenge or POWER Challenge servers respectively. The CHALLENGEarray supports 2 to 288 R10000 processors while the POWER CHALLENGEarray supports 2 to 144 R8000 processors and up to 128 GB of memory. The POWER CHALLENGEarray was introduced on 15 November 1994.
Other models.
Other systems from Silicon Graphics that used the "Challenge" brand were the Challenge M and the Challenge S. These systems were repackaged Silicon Graphics Indigo2 and Indy workstations that were not configured with the graphics hardware that made them useful as workstations. These systems were Challenges in name only and have no architectural similarity with the multiprocessing Challenges, although they had cases with the same blue hue as proper Challenges. They were branded as such in order for the systems to be marketed as part of the Challenge server family, positioned as entry level servers.
Description.
The deskside enclosure is predominately black with a vertical blue strip on right side. The rackmount enclosure is black, but the front is blue with a horizontal black strip in the middle where the system controller display is mounted. Deskside systems have a width of 54 cm (21 inches), a height of 65 cm (26 inches), a depth of 74 cm (29 inches) and a weighs a minimum of 89 kg (195 lbs). Rackmount systems have a width of 69 cm (27 inches), a height of 159 cm (62.3 inches), a depth of 122 cm (48 inches) and weighs a maximum of 544 kg (1200 lbs).
Rackmount systems have a 1,900 watt power supply.
Architecture.
The Challenge is a shared-memory multiprocessor computer. The system is based on nodes, which are implemented as boards that plug into a midplane containing Ebus slots and the POWERpath-2 "Ebus" bus, a system bus that the nodes use to communicate with other nodes. The POWERpath-2 bus consists of a 256-bit path for data and a 40-bit path for addressing clocked at 47.6 MHz (21-nanosecond cycle), providing 1.2 GB/s of sustained bandwidth.
The midplane in DM and L models contains five Ebus slots that can support a combination of three CPU, one memory or two POWERchannel-2 interface boards. The midplane also contains five VME expansion slots.
The midplane in XL models contains fifteen Ebus slots that can support a combination of nine CPU, eight memory or five POWERchannel-2 interface boards. The midplane also contains six VME expansion slots and three power board slots.
Boards.
The Challenge uses a board set known as the POWERpath-2 board set, code named "Everest". The boards that make up this board set are the IP19, IP21, IP25 CPU boards, the MC3 memory board and the IO4 POWERchannel-2 interface board.
CPU boards.
The CPU board contains the microprocessors. There are three models of CPU boards, the IP19, IP21 and IP25. The IP19 can be configured with two or four R4400 microprocessors. It also contains five CPU Interface ASICs, four for implementing the data path and one for implementing the address path. These ASICs contain an average of 80,000 gates each. The IP21 supports the R8000 microprocessor and can be configured with one or two such microprocessors. The IP25 supported R10000 microprocessors.
MC3.
Memory is provided by the MC3 memory board, which contains thirty-two single in-line memory module (SIMM) slots and two leaf controllers. Fast page mode (FPM) error correcting code (ECC) SIMMs with capacities of 16 MB (known as the "high-density" SIMM) and 64 MB (known as the "super-density" SIMM) are supported, enables the board to provide 64 MB to 2 GB of memory. The SIMMs are installed in groups of four.
The memory is organized into eight banks, with four banks forming a "leaf". The memory can be interleaved if there are two or more leaves present in the system. The memory bus is 576-bit wide, with a 512-bit path for data and a 64-bit path for ECC. The memory is controlled by the two leaf controllers. Each leaf controller manages four banks of memory and half of a memory transaction. It is therefore connected to 256 bits of the memory bus and 128 bits of the POWERpath-2 bus.
Memory transactions are 128-byte wide, the same width as the cache line of the MIPS microprocessors used. A memory read is completed in two cycles of the memory clock, and is buffered by the leaf controllers before it is placed in a sent over the POWERpath-2 bus in four cycles of the POWERpath-2 bus clock.
The SIMMs are protected by ECC, and the ECC implementation can correct single-bit errors and detect double-bit errors. The SIMMs also contain built-in self-test circuitry, which tests the SIMM during power on or reset and alerts the firmware, which disables the bank(s) of memory containing faulty SIMM(s), if faults are detected.


Samsung DP900

The DP900A7A-S01 is an all-in-one desktop computer with a 27" 3D display developed by Samsung.
Specifications.
The Samsung DP900 features an Intel Core i7-2600S 2.8 GHz CPU, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SATA 7200RPM HDD, a Blu-ray/DVD combo drive, wireless keyboard and mouse, a 27" 3D LED display with 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), and high quality sound optimized by JBL. The graphics card is an AMD Radeon HD 6730M. The DP900 has several ports, including a headphone, a microphone, 4 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports, a multicard slot, an antenna in, HDMI in and out, and a LAN port. The computer also supports Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n) and Bluetooth. The DP900 has been released with the 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system.


MultiJob


Intel BCD opcode

The Intel BCD opcodes are a set of six x86 instructions that operate with binary-coded decimal numbers. The radix used for the representation of numbers in the x86 processors is 2. This is called a binary numeral system. However, the x86 processors do have limited support for the decimal numeral system.
In addition, the x87 part supports a unique 18-digit (ten-byte) BCD format that can be loaded into and stored from the floating point registers, from where ordinary FP computations can be performed.
The integer BCD instructions are no longer supported in long mode.
Usage.
Number representation.
BCD numbers can be represented in two ways in integer registers: packed decimal and unpacked decimal.
The values are generally assumed to be stored in the lower 8-bits of a register, e.g. AL.
Adding.
Only the decimal numbers 0 to 99 can be added directly.
First the numbers are added as usual using add (or adc if you need the carry flag). The processor will set the adjust flag if the sum of both lower nibbles is 16 or higher, and the carry flag if the sum of both bytes is 256 or higher.
Then the result is adjusted, depending on the number representation.
Subtraction.
Only the decimal numbers 0 to 99 can be subtracted directly.
First the numbers are subtracted as usual using sub (or sbb if you need the carry flag). The processor will set the adjust flag if a borrow occurred in the least significant nibble, and the carry flag if a borrow occurred in the most significant nibble.
Multiplication.
Only unpacked representation is supported. Only two single digit numbers can be multiplied.
First the digits are multiplied as usual using mul.
Then the result is adjusted using aam (ASCII adjust for multiplication): The processor divides the result by ten, storing the quotient (just the integral part) in the most significant byte of the result and the remainder in the least significant byte of the result.
Division.
Only unpacked representation is supported.
Operands must fall in the range 0 to 99.
First the operands are converted to normal binary representation using aad (ASCII adjust before division): The processor converts numbers by multiplying the most significant byte by 10 and adding the least significant byte. The quotient and remainder of the division are obtained as usual using div, and will be present in normal binary representation.
In x87.
The x87 coprocessor has BCD support in the form of a pair of load (FBLD) and store-and-pop (FBSTP) instructions. The former loads a 80-bit BCD integer into the FPU, while the latter writes a FPU value as a 80-bit integer value into the memory. Inside of the FPU, the values are stored as normal x87 extended-precision floats. Unlike the integer-facing versions, the two instructions remain available in long mode.
The 80-bit format is divided into the following:
There is a special "indefinite" value encoded as FFFFC000000000000000h.
Application.
Binary-coded decimal (BCD) numbers are used for storing decimal numbers, especially in financial software.
The opcodes mentioned above give the x86 rudimentary BCD support.
Alternatives.
Adding BCD numbers using these opcodes is a complex task, and requires many instructions to add even modest numbers. It can also require a large amount of memory. If only doing integer calculations, then all integer calculations are exact, so the radix of the number representation is not important for accuracy. On an x86 processor, calculations with binary numbers are usually a lot faster than the same calculations with BCD numbers.


Cavium ThunderX2


MOVDDUP

In the x86 assembly programming language, MOVDDUP is the name for a specific action performable by modern x86 processors with 3rd-generation Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE3). This action involves copying a number to temporary space in the processor for use in other computations.
Specifically, MOVDDUP causes one, double-precision, floating-point source to be copied to both the lower half and upper half of an XMM register.
Usage.
The source operand can be either an XMM register ("xmm2") or a memory address ("m64"). When the source operand is an XMM register, the lower half of the register is used in the operation. When the source operand is a memory address, it is assumed to be the address of an 8-byte region, the value at which is used in the operation.
The destination operand must be an XMM register ("xmm1").
See also.
x86 instruction listings


XOP instruction set

The XOP ("eXtended Operations") instruction set, announced by AMD on May 1, 2009, is an extension to the 128-bit SSE core instructions in the x86 and AMD64 instruction set for the Bulldozer processor core, which was released on October 12, 2011. However AMD removed support for XOP from Zen (microarchitecture) onward.
The XOP instruction set contains several different types of vector instructions since it was originally intended as a major upgrade to SSE. Most of the instructions are integer instructions, but it also contains floating point permutation and floating point fraction extraction instructions. See the index for a list of instruction types.
History.
XOP is a revised subset of what was originally intended as SSE5. It was changed to be similar but not overlapping with AVX, parts that overlapped with AVX were removed or moved to separate standards such as FMA4 (floating-point vector multiply–accumulate) and CVT16 (Half-precision floating-point conversion implemented as F16C by Intel).
All SSE5 instructions that were equivalent or similar to instructions in the AVX and FMA4 instruction sets announced by Intel have been changed to use the coding proposed by Intel. Integer instructions "without" equivalents in AVX were classified as the XOP extension. The XOP instructions have an opcode byte 8F (hexadecimal), but otherwise almost identical coding scheme as AVX with the 3-byte VEX prefix.
Commentators have seen this as evidence that Intel has not allowed AMD to use any part of the large VEX coding space. AMD has been forced to use different codes in order to avoid using any code combination that Intel might possibly be using in its development pipeline for something else. The XOP coding scheme is as close to the VEX scheme as technically possible without risking that the AMD codes overlap with future Intel codes. This inference is speculative, since no public information is available about negotiations between the two companies on this issue.
The use of the 8F byte requires that the m-bits (see VEX coding scheme) have a value larger than or equal to 8 in order to avoid overlap with existing instructions. The C4 byte used in the VEX scheme has no such restriction. This may prevent the use of the m-bits for other purposes in the future in the XOP scheme, but not in the VEX scheme. Another possible problem is that the pp bits have the value 00 in the XOP scheme, while they have the value 01 in the VEX scheme for instructions that have no legacy equivalent. This may complicate the use of the pp bits for other purposes in the future.
A similar compatibility issue is the difference between the FMA3 and FMA4 instruction sets. Intel initially proposed FMA4 in AVX/FMA specification version 3 to supersede the 3-operand FMA proposed by AMD in SSE5. After AMD adopted FMA4, Intel canceled FMA4 support and reverted to FMA3 in the AVX/FMA specification version 5 (See FMA history).
In March 2015, AMD explicitly revealed in the description of the patch for the GNU Binutils package that Zen, its third-generation x86-64 architecture in its first iteration (znver1 – Zen, version 1), will not support TBM, FMA4, XOP and LWP instructions developed specifically for the "Bulldozer" family of micro-architectures.
Integer vector multiply–accumulate instructions.
These are integer version of the FMA instruction set. These are all four operand instructions similar to FMA4 and they all operate on signed integers.
Integer vector horizontal addition.
Horizontal addition instructions adds adjacent values in the input vector to each other. The output size in the instructions below describes how wide the horizontal addition performed is. For instance horizontal byte to word adds two bytes at a time and returns the result as vector of words, but byte to quadword adds eight bytes together at a time and returns the result as vector of quadwords. Six additional horizontal addition and subtraction instructions can be found in SSSE3, but they operate on two input vectors and only does two and two operations.
Integer vector compare.
This set of vector compare instructions all take an immediate as an extra argument. The immediate controls what kind of comparison is performed. There are eight comparison possible for each instruction. The vectors are compared and all comparisons that evaluate to true set all corresponding bits in the destination to 1, and false comparisons sets all the same bits to 0. This result can be used directly in VPCMOV instruction for a vectorized conditional move.
Vector conditional move.
VPCMOV works as bitwise variant of the blend instructions in SSE4. For each bit in the selector 1 selects the same bit in the first source, and 0 selects the same in the second source. When used together with the XOP vector comparison instructions above this can be used to implement a vectorized ternary move, or if the second input is the same as the destination, a conditional move (CMOV).
Integer vector shift and rotate instructions.
The shift instructions here differ from those in SSE2 in that they can shift each unit with a different amount using a vector register interpreted as packed signed integers. The sign indicates the direction of shift or rotate, with positive values causing left shift and negative right shift
Intel has specified a different incompatible set of variable vector shift instructions in AVX2.
Vector permute.
VPPERM is a single instruction that combines the SSSE3 instruction PALIGNR and PSHUFB and adds more to both. Some compare it the Altivec instruction VPERM. It takes three registers as input, the first two are source registers and the third the selector register. Each byte in the selector selects one of the bytes in one of the two input registers for the output. The selector can also apply effects on the selected bytes such as setting it to 0, reverse the bit order, and repeating most signicating bit. All of the effects or the input can in addition be inverted.
The VPERMIL2PD and VPERMIL2PS instructions are two source versions of the VPERMILPD and VPERMILPS instructions in AVX which means like VPPERM they can select output from any of the fields in the two inputs.
Floating-point fraction extraction.
These instructions extracts the fractional part of floating point, that is the part that would be lost in conversion to integer.


WIN.COM

WIN.COM is the executable file used to load versions of Windows that run from DOS. In Windows 3.11 and its predecessors, it is executed either manually from the DOS prompt or as a line in AUTOEXEC.BAT. In Windows 95 and onward it is automatically invoked by IO.SYS after AUTOEXEC.BAT is processed. The file is present in the SYSTEM32 directory of some Windows NT-based versions of Windows (such as Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista) for backwards compatibility purposes.
Usage.
WIN.COM has several parameters that facilitate system recovery and diagnostics.
Issues.
Corruption or deletion of WIN.COM caused many issues for users of Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0 and 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME and some early Windows viruses targeted WIN.COM. Corruption of WIN.COM would cause the system to be unable to load the graphical user interface. In all these versions the system could still be booted to the underlying DOS prompt.


Ardent Window Manager

In computing, the Ardent Window Manager (awm) is an early window manager software for the X Window System. It was descended from uwm.
awm was written by Jordan Hubbard for the Ardent Computer Corporation's TITAN line of workstations in 1988, which ran a version of X11R2. It was included on the X11R3 contrib tape.
The FAQ for the "comp.windows.x" Usenet newsgroup says: "The Ardent Window Manager was for a while a hotbed for hackers and offered some features (dynamic menus) not found on more current window managers."


Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis


AUTOEXEC.WOS


Lists of PlayStation Vita games

These are lists of games for the PlayStation Vita that are distributed through retail via flash storage as well as downloadable from the PlayStation Store. While the PlayStation Vita additionally plays some games of the PlayStation Portable, original PlayStation, PlayStation minis, PC Engine (as purchasable downloads available on Japan PSN only) and PlayStation Mobile, and is able to play PlayStation 4 games through Remote Play and a selection of PlayStation 3 games through Remote Play or PlayStation Now, these lists contain only games that were developed specifically for the system itself.
Physical cartridge retail games are region free and can be played on any device; digitally distributed games and downloadable content are, however, restricted by the PSN region the user's account is associated with. Although there are no hardware restrictions on the type of regional account that can be used, this page lists the release date of games within the North American, European and Japanese regions.
All PS Vita game formats (physical/digital) can be played with the PlayStation TV; however, for various reasons (i.e., incompatibility with motion sensor/camera) not all games are compatible with it (the touchpad can be emulated on the PS TV). The lists have a column denoting compatibility with the microconsole.
Games that were announced, but cancelled prior to release, are documented at the list of cancelled PlayStation Vita games.


Softlanding Linux System

Softlanding Linux System (SLS) was one of the first Linux distributions. It was founded by Peter MacDonald in May 1992. Their slogan at the time was "Gentle Touchdowns for DOS Bailouts".
SLS was the first release to offer a comprehensive Linux distribution containing more than the Linux kernel, GNU, and other basic utilities, including an implementation of the X Window System.
History.
SLS was the most popular Linux distribution at the time, but it was considered to be rather buggy by its users. It was soon superseded by Slackware (which started as a cleanup of SLS by Patrick Volkerding) and Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X, among others.
Similarly, Ian Murdock's frustration with SLS led him to create the Debian project.