Amiga Active

Amiga Active was a monthly computer magazine published by Pinprint Publishing, it launched at a time when most other Amiga magazines had already closed, and as a result only had one major competitor "Amiga Format". A large proportion of the "Amiga Active" staff were from "CU Amiga Magazine", which closed the previous year. In total 26 issues were published, the first in October 1999, and the last in November 2001. The closure of "Amiga Active" ended the news-stand distribution of UK Amiga magazines after almost 14 years.


SPASS

SPASS is an automated theorem prover for first-order logic with equality developed at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science and using the superposition calculus. The name originally stood for "Synergetic Prover Augmenting Superposition with Sorts". The theorem proving system is released under the FreeBSD license.
An extension of SPASS called SPASS-XDB added support for on-the-fly retrieval of positive unit axioms from external sources. SPASS-XDB can thus incorporate facts coming from relational databases, web services, or linked data servers. Support for arithmetic using Mathematica was also added.


Cashman (video game)

Cashman is a computer game by Bill Dunlevy (co-creator of "Time Bandit") and Doug Frayer for the TRS-80 Color Computer and Dragon 32 (Also released on the Sanyo MBC-550), published by Computer Shack in July 1983. The game contains a mixture of elements from other platform games, most notably "Jumpman". The player can control either a Sailor or a Sheikh, running up and down stairs and avoiding bats, cats, bombs, and other creatures in order to collect dollar signs. It was one of the most popular third party games for the system .


Megamax C

Megamax C is a K&R C-based development system originally written for Macintosh and ported to the Atari ST and Apple IIGS computers. Sold by Megamax, Inc., based in Richardson, Texas, the package includes a one-pass compiler, linker, text editor, resource construction kit, and documentation. Megamax C was written by Michael Bunnell with Eric Parker providing the linker and most of the standard library. A circa-1988 version of the compiler was renamed "Laser C", while the company remained Megamax.
In the early days of the Atari ST, Megamax C was the primary competitor to the Alcyon C compiler from Digital Research which was included in the official developer kit from Atari Corporation, and the documentation covered Atari-specific features. The ST version also included the source code and assets for a polished "Asteroids" clone, "Megaroids", written by Mike Bunnell with sound effects by Mitch Bunnell.
Technical details.
On both the Atari ST and Macintosh, the size of a compiled module is limited to 32K of code, and arrays have the same 32K restriction. The limitation stems from a requirement on the Macintosh which was carried over to the Atari. This is despite the Motorola 68000 CPU in both machines having a 24-bit address range.
Reception.
According to a review of the Atari ST version in "Antic" by Mike Fleishman, Megamax C compiled a small benchmark program six times faster than Digital Research's compiler. In a comparison of C compilers for the Atari ST, "STart" magazine wrote, "For a development compiler, Megamax C is, without question, the best available on the Atari. It will reduce your compile/test turn-around time by at least a factor of five." They also pointed out that the $200 price may be steep for hobbyists and students.
The compiler was used for development by Batteries Included and FTL Games.


UNIVAC 9400


Network 23 (company)

Network 23 was a British video game developer founded by teenagers Chris Lloyd and Russell Hughes in 1990. Located on the Isle of Wight, they produced games exclusively for the Acorn Archimedes range of computers from 1990 to 1996.
The studio's name was derived from the dominant mega-corporation Network 23, featured in Channel 4's 1985 short film ’20 Minutes into the Future’ (aka Max Headroom).
History.
Network 23 were well known within the Archimedes demoscene from 1987 to 1990. Their best known releases from this time included ‘Wibble’, ‘Granny Chow’ and ‘Graffiti Street’.
The company changed its name to R.A.G.E. Software Developments with the launch of its first commercial game ‘Provocator’ in 1991, but reverted to its demoscene name in 1992 to avoid being confused with newly formed Amiga games developer, Rage Software Limited.
Network 23's graphic style was influenced by the Amiga games of the day, especially those of the Bitmap Brothers and Team17. The graphics were designed using Deluxe Paint on an Amiga 500 and ported to the Acorn using custom hardware, which gave their games a unique look. The Archimedes games market slowly dried up as the 90's progressed, and the company closed its doors in November 1996.
Chris Lloyd went into business software and is now an independent I.T. consultant. He wrote the popular Archimedes emulator ‘Archie’ in his spare time, but was forced to shelve the project in 2001 due to time constraints.
Russell Hughes stayed within the video game industry, working on titles including Carmageddon, State of Emergency and JFK Reloaded. He subsequently worked in Melbourne, Australia as an artist for Blue Tongue Entertainment and THQ Asia Pacific. He died at the age of 37 on 22 September 2010.
Games.
Provocator
Network 23's first published game ‘Provocator’ was released in September 1991 and published by Isle of Wight developer Computer Tutorial Services (C.T.S). Provocator was a fast space based shoot-em-up, reminiscent of the Battlestar Galactica TV show from the late 70's. It required the player to protect a huge convoy of ships from alien attack as they passed through hostile territory, and dock with a mother ship after each wave of attacks.
Warlocks
Released in late October 1993, Warlocks became Network 23's biggest hit. A platform shoot-em-up featuring a reincarnated knight who was tasked with freeing the world of Lylvania from the tyranny of 3 demented Warlocks. Warlocks' advertising boasted that was the only Acorn game to ever feature 8 directional, 256 colour, parallax scrolling whilst running at a consistent 50 frames per second.
Deadline
Network 23's last game was Deadline, published in August 1995, a top down shoot-em-up that set the player the mission of rescuing hostages from 8 war torn battlegrounds.


Space Games-3

Space Games-3 is a 1980 video game by Creative Computing for the TRS-80 Model I Level II.
Plot summary.
"Space Games-3" is a collection of four games not individually released: "Ultratrek", "Romulan", "Starwars", and "Starlanes".
Reception.
J. Mishcon reviewed "Space Games-3" in "The Space Gamer" No. 30. Mishcon commented that "The under ten set will enjoy these games, but don't be surprised if they soon tire and move on."
The game was reviewed in "The Dragon" #43 by Mark Herro. Herro commented that "Even though I may not particularly like all of the games in the package, I think "Space Games-3" is well worth its modest price tag. If you're into space games, and you have a TRS-80, at least take a look at this package."


Samsung Galaxy TabPro S

The Galaxy TabPro S is a 12-inch Windows 10-based 2-in-1 PC produced and marketed by Samsung Electronics. It comes in a standard version and a Gold version. The TabPro S marked a departure from the traditionally Android-powered Galaxy lineup.
Release.
The TabPro S was unveiled at Consumer Electronics Show 2016 on Press Day at the Samsung Press Conference. It was released on March 18, 2016.
Features.
The tablet has a first-party keyboard attachment included. It is a folio keyboard, which means it can be in two different positions depending how the stand is set up. When closed, it has a leather-like texture to protect from normal wear and tear when traveling.
The USB Type-C Multi-port Adapter now integrates with USB-A 3.1 Port, HDMI Port and USB-C Port. It has a 128GB solid-state drive (256GB in the Gold version) and 4GB RAM (8GB in the Gold version).
The Galaxy TabPro Pen (not to be confused with the S-Pen, the traditional Samsung stylus) is a digital stylus pen that works as an input device for this Tablet. It features 1024 pressure levels. It can be seamlessly paired via Bluetooth. It uses rechargeable battery instead of disposable AAAA battery, which allows the digital stylus pen's battery to be recharged via Micro USB 2.0 Port. the initial charge last up to 30 days.
Samsung Flow is the fingerprint access application. It can also be paired with a phone via Bluetooth and NFC tag. With this, users can unlock the tablet with their phone's fingerprint sensor.
Although the Samsung Galaxy Book was unveiled at MWC 2017, and features several improvements over the TabPro S model, it is not considered a direct successor.


System Center Virtual Machine Manager

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) forms part of Microsoft's System Center line of virtual machine management and reporting tools, alongside previously established tools such as System Center Operations Manager and System Center Configuration Manager. SCVMM is designed for management of large numbers of Virtual Servers based on Microsoft Virtual Server and Hyper-V, and was released for enterprise customers in October 2007. A standalone version for small and medium business customers is available.
System Center Virtual Machine Manager enables increased physical server utilization by making possible simple and fast consolidation on virtual infrastructure. This is supported by consolidation candidate identification, fast Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) migration and intelligent workload placement based on performance data and user defined business policies (NOTE: P2V Migration capability was removed in SCVMM 2012r2). VMM enables rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator and end users using a self-service provisioning tool. Finally, VMM provides the central management console to manage all the building blocks of a virtualized data center.
Microsoft System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager was released in September 2016. This product enables the deployment and management of a virtualized, software-defined datacenter with a comprehensive solution for networking, storage, computing, and security.
The latest release is System Center 2019 Virtual Machine Manager, which was released in March 2019. It added features in the areas of azure integration, computing, networking, security and storage.


Byte (magazine)

Byte (stylized as BYTE) was an American microcomputer magazine, influential in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s because of its wide-ranging editorial coverage. Whereas many magazines were dedicated to specific systems or the home or business users' perspective, "Byte" covered developments in the entire field of "small computers and software", and sometimes other computing fields such as supercomputers and high-reliability computing. Coverage was in-depth with much technical detail, rather than user-oriented. "Byte" started in 1975, shortly after the first personal computers appeared as kits advertised in the back of electronics magazines. "Byte" was published monthly, with an initial yearly subscription price of $10. Print publication ceased in 1998 and online publication in 2013.
Foundation.
In 1975, Wayne Green was the editor and publisher of "73" (an amateur radio magazine) and his ex-wife, Virginia Londner Green, was the Business Manager of 73 Inc. In the August 1975 issue of "73" magazine, Wayne's editorial column started with this item:
The response to computer-type articles in "73" has been so enthusiastic that we here in Peterborough got carried away. On May 25th we made a deal with the publisher of a small (400 circulation) computer hobby magazine to take over as editor of a new publication which would start in August ... "Byte".
Carl Helmers published a series of six articles in 1974 that detailed the design and construction of his "Experimenter's Computer System", a personal computer based on the Intel 8008 microprocessor. In January 1975 this became the monthly "ECS" magazine with 400 subscribers. The last issue was published on May 12, 1975, and in June the subscribers were mailed a notice announcing "Byte" magazine. Carl wrote to another hobbyist newsletter, "Micro-8 Computer User Group Newsletter", and described his new job as editor of "Byte" magazine:
I got a note in the mail about two weeks ago from Wayne Green, publisher of '73 Magazine' essentially saying hello and why don't you come up and talk a bit. The net result of a follow up is the decision to create BYTE magazine using the facilities of Green Publishing Inc. I will end up with the editorial focus for the magazine; with the business end being managed by Green Publishing.
Virginia Londner Green had returned to "73" in the December 1974 issue and incorporated Green Publishing in March 1975. The first five issues of "Byte" were published by Green Publishing and the name was changed to Byte Publications starting with the February 1976 issue. Carl Helmers was a co-owner of Byte Publications.
The first four issues were produced in the offices of "73" and Wayne Green was listed as the publisher. One day in November 1975 Wayne came to work and found that the "Byte" magazine staff had moved out and taken the January issue with them. The February 1976 issue of "Byte" has a short story about the move. "After a start which reads like a romantic light opera with an episode or two reminiscent of the Keystone Cops, "Byte" magazine finally has moved into separate offices of its own."
Wayne Green was not happy about losing "Byte" magazine so he was going to start a new one called "Kilobyte". "Byte" quickly trademarked KILOBYTE as a cartoon series in "Byte" magazine. The new magazine was called "Kilobaud". There was competition and animosity between Byte Publications and 73 Inc. but both remained in the small town of Peterborough, New Hampshire.
The early years.
Articles in the first issue (September, 1975) included "Which Microprocessor For You?" by Hal Chamberlin, "Write Your Own Assembler" by Dan Fylstra and "Serial Interface" by Don Lancaster. Advertisements from Godbout, MITS, Processor Technology, SCELBI, and "Sphere" appear, among others.
Early articles in "Byte" were do-it-yourself electronic or software projects to improve small computers. A continuing feature was "Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar", a column in which electronic engineer Steve Ciarcia described small projects to modify or attach to a computer (later spun off to become the magazine Circuit Cellar, focusing on embedded computer applications). Significant articles in this period included the "Kansas City" standard for data storage on audio tape, insertion of disk drives into S-100 computers, publication of source code for various computer languages (Tiny C, BASIC, assemblers), and coverage of the first microcomputer operating system, CP/M. "Byte" ran Microsoft's first advertisement (as "Micro-Soft") to sell a BASIC interpreter for 8080-based computers.
Growth and change.
In April 1979, owner/publisher Virginia Williamson sold "Byte" to McGraw-Hill. At the time, BYTE's paid circulation was 156,000 readers, making it second only to "Business Week" in the McGraw-Hill's technology magazine portfolio. She remained publisher until 1983 and became a vice president of McGraw-Hill Publications Company. From August 1979, the magazine switched to computerized typesetting, using a Compugraphic system. Shortly after the IBM PC was introduced, in 1981, the magazine changed editorial policies. It gradually de-emphasized the do-it-yourself electronics and software articles, and began running product reviews. It continued its wide-ranging coverage of hardware and software, but now it reported "what it does" and "how it works", not "how to do it". The editorial focus remained on home and personal computers.
By the early 1980s, "Byte" had become an "elite" magazine, seen as a peer of "Rolling Stone" and "Playboy", and others such as David Bunnell of "PC Magazine" aspired to emulate its reputation and success. It was the only computer publication on the 1981 Folio 400 list of largest magazines. "Byte"s 1982 average number of pages was 543, and the number of paid advertising pages grew by more than 1,000 while most magazines' amount of advertising did not change. Its circulation of 420,000 was the third highest of all computer magazines. "Byte" earned $9 million from revenue of $36.6 million in 1983, twice the average profit margin for the magazine industry. It remained successful while many other magazines failed in 1984 during economic weakness in the computer industry. The October 1984 issue had about 300 pages of ads sold at an average of $6,000 per page.
From 1975 to 1986, "Byte" covers usually featured the artwork of Robert Tinney. These covers made "Byte" visually unique. In 1987, Tinney's paintings were replaced by product photographs, and Steve Ciarcia's "Circuit Cellar" column was discontinued.
Around 1985, "Byte" started an online service called BIX ("Byte" Information eXchange) which was a text-only BBS-style site running on the CoSy conferencing software, also used by McGraw-Hill internally. Access was via local dial-in or, for additional hourly charges, the Tymnet X.25 network. Monthly rates were $13/month for the account and $1/hour for X.25 access. Unlike CompuServe, access at higher speeds was not surcharged. Later, gateways permitted email communication outside the system.
By 1990, the magazine was about half an inch in thickness and had a subscription price of $56/year. Around 1993, "Byte" began to develop a web presence. It acquired the domain name byte.com and began to host discussion boards and post selected editorial content.
Editions were published in Japan, Brazil, Germany, and an Arabic edition was published in Jordan.
End of print publication, online shift, and demise.
The readership of "Byte" and advertising revenue were declining when McGraw-Hill sold the magazine to CMP Media, a successful publisher of specialized computer magazines, in May 1998. The magazine's editors and writers expected its new owner to revitalize "Byte", but CMP ceased publication with the July 1998 issue, laid off all the staff and shut down "Byte"s rather large product-testing lab.
Publication of "Byte" in Germany and Japan continued uninterrupted. The Turkish edition resumed publication after a few years of interruption. The Arabic edition also ended abruptly.
Many of "Byte"s columnists migrated their writing to personal web sites. One such site was science fiction author Jerry Pournelle's weblog "The View From Chaos Manor" derived from a long-standing column in "Byte", describing computers from a power user's point of view. After the closure of "Byte" magazine, Pournelle's column continued to be published in the Turkish editions of "PC World", which was soon renamed as "PC Life" in Turkey. "Nikkei Byte", with the name licensed from McGraw Hill, was the leading computer magazine in Japan, published by Nikkei Business Publications. It continued Pournelle's column in translation as a major feature for years after "Byte" closed in the U.S.
In 1999, CMP revived "Byte" as a web-only publication, from 2002 accessible by subscription. It closed in 2009.
UBM TechWeb brought the "Byte" name back when it officially relaunched "Byte" as Byte.com on July 11, 2011. According to the site, the mission of the new "Byte" was:
...to examine technology in the context of the consumerization of IT. The subject relates closely to important IT issues like security and manageability. It's an issue that reaches both IT and users, and it's an issue where both groups need to listen carefully to the requirements of the other: IT may wish to hold off on allowing devices and software onto the network when they haven't been properly tested and can't be properly supported. But the use of these devices in the enterprise has the air of inevitability for a good reason. They make users more productive and users are demanding them.
The Byte.com launch editor-in-chief was tech journalist Gina Smith. On September 26, 2011 Smith was replaced by Larry Seltzer. In January 2012 American science fiction and horror author F. Paul Wilson began writing for byte.com, mostly in the persona of his best-known character Repairman Jack.
Byte.com closed in 2013. As of 2020, the domain redirects to the website of "InformationWeek", a sister technology magazine also published by UBM TechWeb.


Amiga 4000T

The Amiga 4000T, also known as A4000T, is a tower version of Commodore's A4000 personal computer. Using the AGA chipset, it was originally released in small quantities in 1994 with a 25 MHz Motorola 68040 CPU, and re-released in greater numbers by Escom in 1995, after Commodore's demise, along with a new variant which featured a 50 MHz Motorola 68060 CPU. Despite the subsequent demise of Escom, production was continued by QuikPak in North America into at least 1997.
The A4000T was the only Amiga ever to have both SCSI and IDE interfaces built-in on the motherboard. Having driver software for both interfaces in the 512 KB ROM meant that some other parts of AmigaOS had to be moved from the ROM, and thus the A4000T is the only machine to require the file "codice_1" to be stored on disk. It was also the only Amiga to use a PC form factor for the motherboard (AT), and one of the few to use a lithium battery instead of a nickel–cadmium rechargeable battery, vastly reducing the risk of leaking corrosive fluids onto the motherboard and causing damage with age. Modularity was another unique aspect to the machine, with the CPU, audio, video, and input-output ports all on separate daughterboards. This made the machine near-modular.
The machine was targeted as a high-end video workstation with expandability in mind and an eye towards NewTek's Video Toaster. Its motherboard contains two Amiga Video Slots, five 100-pin Zorro III slots, and 4 ISA slots, and its case can accommodate up to six drives. Up to 16 MB of RAM can be installed on the motherboard, while additional RAM can be installed on some CPU boards (up to 128 MB), and yet more can be added on Zorro cards.
This was the last computer to be released by Commodore International. It is estimated that only 200 Commodore branded A4000Ts were produced before the company folded. Production of the A4000T was restarted after Escom bought the Amiga assets. Apart from the new option of a 68060 CPU, the Escom-manufactured 4000Ts had minor differences from the old one including the substitution of the high density floppy drive with a double density one, and a different front bezel on the case.


TimS


IntervalZero

IntervalZero, Inc. develops hard real-time software and its symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) enabled RTX and RTX64 software transform the Microsoft Windows general-purpose operating system (GPOS) into a real-time operating system (RTOS).
IntervalZero and its engineering group regularly release new software (cf its history).
Its most recent product, RTX64, focuses on 64-bit and symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) to replace dedicated hardware based systems such as digital signal processors (DSPs) or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) with multicore PCs.
For instance, an audio mixing surface manufacturer which largely deployed DSP based systems, switched to personal computer (PC) based systems, dedicating multi-core processors for the real time audio processing.
Founded in July 2008 by a group of former Ardence executives, IntervalZero is headed by CEO Jeffrey D. Hibbard. The firm has offices in Waltham, MA; Nice, France; Munich, Germany, and Taiwan, ROC.
This global presence is important because these solutions are deployed worldwide, primarily in industrial automation, military, aerospace, medical devices, digital media, and test and simulation software.
The corporate name, IntervalZero, comes from the technical definition of the optimal experience between a system command and execution.
History.
IntervalZero's lineage traces back to 1980, when a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers started VenturCom and began to develop expertise in embedded technology. It was during this time that Venix was developed and marketed.
Their first innovation was to focus on Windows NT 4.0 as a possible real-time solution for the Industry in 1995 by releasing RTX. Since then, a lot of controllers are PC and Windows based.
Their second innovation came as a second product, Component Integrator, which makes Windows NT 4.0 an embedded OS. It was licensed by Microsoft a few years later and became the origin of Windows NT Embedded.
In 2004, VenturCom, was renamed Ardence.
On 20 December 2006, Citrix Systems announced an agreement to acquire Ardence's enterprise and embedded software businesses and integrated the software streaming products into the Citrix portfolio in 2007 and early 2008.
In 2008, a group of former Ardence executives founded IntervalZero and acquired the Ardence embedded software business from Citrix Systems Inc. Citrix retained a minority ownership the firm.
Products.
IntervalZero develops the following products:


Chris Crawford (game designer)

Christopher Crawford (born June 1, 1950) is a computer game designer and writer. He designed and programmed several important computer games in the 1980s, including "Eastern Front (1941)" and "Balance of Power". Among developers he became known for his passionate advocacy of game design as an art form, founding both "The Journal of Computer Game Design" and co-founding the Computer Game Developers Conference (now called the Game Developers Conference). In 1992 Crawford withdrew from commercial game development and began experimenting with ideas for a next generation interactive storytelling system. In 2018, Crawford announced that he had halted his work on interactive storytelling, concluding that it will take centuries for civilization to embrace the required concepts.
Biography.
After receiving a B.S. in physics from UC Davis in 1972 and an M.S. in physics from University of Missouri in 1975, Crawford taught at a community college and the University of California.
Crawford first encountered computer games at Missouri, when he met someone attempting to computerize Avalon Hill's "Blitzkrieg". While teaching he wrote an early version of "Tanktics" in FORTRAN for the IBM 1130 in 1976 as a hobby, then wrote "Tanktics" and an early version of "Legionnaire" for personal computers such as the KIM-1 and Commodore PET. In 1978 Crawford began selling the games and by 1979 "made the startling discovery," he later said, "that it is far more lucrative and enjoyable to teach for fun and program for money." He joined Atari that year, founding the Games Research Group under Alan Kay in 1982.
1980s.
At Atari Crawford started game work with "Wizard" for the Atari VCS, but this work was abandoned. He then turned his attention to the new "Atari Home Computer System," now referred to as the Atari 8-bit family. His first releases on this platform were "Energy Czar" and "Scram", both of which were written in Atari BASIC and published by Atari.
He experimented with the Atari 8-bit computer's hardware assisted smooth scrolling and used it to produce a scrolling map display. This work led to "Eastern Front (1941)", which is widely considered one of the first wargames on a microcomputer to compete with traditional paper-n-pencil games in terms of depth. "Eastern Front" was initially published through the Atari Program Exchange, which was intended for user-written software. It was later moved to Atari's official product line. He followed this with "Legionnaire", based on the same display engine but adding real-time instead of turn-based game play.
Using the knowledge gathered while writing these games, he helped produce technical documentation covering the custom hardware of the Atari 8-bit family, from the hardware assisted smooth scrolling to digitized sounds, with the information presented in a friendly format for a wide audience. This included videos distributed by ACE (Atari Computer Enthusiast) Support to user groups, and a series of articles published in "BYTE" magazine containing most of the content of the book, "De Re Atari" that would be published later by the Atari Program Exchange.
By 1983 "BYTE" called Crawford "easily the most innovative and talented person working on the Atari 400/800 computer today", and his name was well enough known that Avalon Hill's advertising for a revised version of "Legionnaire" mentioned Crawford as author. Laid off in 1984, in the collapse of Atari during the video game crash of 1983, Crawford went freelance and produced "Balance of Power" for the Macintosh in 1985, which was a best-seller, reaching 250,000 units sold.
Crawford wrote a non-fiction book published by McGraw Hill in 1984: "The Art of Computer Game Design"
Game Developers Conference.
The Game Developers Conference, which in 2013 drew over 23,000 attendees, began in 1987 as a salon held in Crawford's living room with roughly 27 game design friends and associates. The gathering's original name, the Computer Game Developers Conference, would remain into the 1990s until the word "Computer" was dropped. While the GDC has become a prominent event in the gaming industry, Crawford was eventually ousted from the GDC board, and made his final official appearance at the gathering in 1994. He eventually returned to the conference, giving lectures in both 2001 and 2006.
Withdrawal from game industry.
Crawford acknowledged that his views on computer game design were unusual and controversial. In a 1986 interview with "Computer Gaming World" he stated that he began writing software as a hobby that became a job with the goal of writing the best possible game. Crawford said that by 1982, his goal was to pursue computer games as an art form. While denouncing hack and slash games ("just straight run, kill or be killed"), text adventures ("about as interesting as a refrigerator light"), and the Commodore 64 and Apple II series ("so gutless. I don't feel I can do an interesting game on them"), he stated that Dan Bunten, Jon Freeman and Anne Westfall, and himself were the only designers who had proven that they could develop more than one great game.
Crawford admitted that some critics called his games inaccessible:
At the 1992 CGDC, Chris Crawford gave "The Dragon Speech", which he considers "the finest speech of [his] life". Throughout the speech, he used a dragon as a metaphor for video games as a medium of artistic expression. He declared that he and the video game industry were working "at cross purposes", with the industry focusing heavily on "depth", when Crawford wanted more "breadth": to explore new horizons rather than merely furthering what has already been explored. He arrived at the conclusion that he must leave the gaming industry in order to pursue this dream. He declared that he knew that this idea was insane, but he compared this "insanity" to that of Don Quixote:
Insanity is an inability to come to terms with reality. Don Quixote was definitely insane, because he couldn't come to terms. But there was a reason: the reality in which Don Quixote lived was a sordid and ugly reality … Don Quixote didn't want that. He wanted to live in a world where there was truth, and human dignity, and, yes, love.… Instead of giving up on it, he imposed "his" reality onto the real world. Where other people saw a filthy country hostel, he saw a castle! Where other people saw a flock of sheep, he saw a mighty army! Where other people saw a windmill, he saw a dragon. Yes, Don Quixote was a crazy old fool. But, you know, he was more honest about his dream than most people, and for that, I honor him.
The speech is notable for its dramatic ending in which Crawford confronts the dragon:
I have committed myself, I have dedicated myself, to the pursuit of the dragon. And having made that commitment … all of a sudden, I can see him! There he is, right in front of me, clear as day.… You're so much bigger than I ever imagined, and I'm, I'm not so sure I like this. I mean, yes, you're glorious and beautiful, but you're ugly, too. Your breath reeks of death!… Am I so pitiful that you can sneer in my face like that? Yes, yes, you frighten me! "You hurt me!" I've felt your claws ripping through my soul! But I'm going to die someday, and before I can do that, I've got to face you, eyeball to eyeball. I've got to look you right in the eye, and see what's inside, but I'm not good enough to do that yet. I'm not experienced enough, so I'm going to have to start learning. Today. Here. Now. Come, dragon, I will fight you. Sancho Panza, my sword! "(He picks up a sword from the desk behind him, which he unsheaths from its scabbard.)" For truth! For beauty! For art! "Charge!"
Crawford then charged down the lecture hall and out the door, symbolizing his exit from the gaming industry.
Storyworlds.
After his "Dragon" speech, at GDC 1993, and his apparent exit from the gaming industry, Crawford did appear at GDC the following year but had not abandoned his unconventional views on game design. "Computer Gaming World" wrote after the 1993 conference that Crawford "has opted to focus upon a narrow niche of interactive art lovers rather than continuing to reach as many gamers as possible". He served as editor of "Interactive Entertainment Design", a monthly collection of essays written for game designers.
Since then, Crawford has been working on "Storytron" (originally known as "Erasmatron"), an engine for running interactive electronic storyworlds. , a beta version of the Storytronics authoring tool, Swat, has been released. The system was officially launched March 23, 2009, with Crawford's storyworld sequel to "Balance of Power". As of December 1, 2012, the project has been in a "medically induced coma." In August 2013 Crawford released source code of several of his games from his career to the public, fulfilling a 2011 given promise, among them "Eastern Front (1941)" and "Balance of Power".
People games.
"People games", as termed by Crawford, are games where the goals are of a social nature and focus on interactions with well-defined characters. They are described in "Chris Crawford on Game Design" as well as in his "The Dragon Speech", as follows:


IBM 3790

The IBM 3790 Communications System, developed by IBM's Data Processing Division (DPD), was announced in 1974. It was one of the first distributed computing platforms. The 3790 preceded the IBM 8100, announced in 1979.
It was designed to be installed in branch offices, stores, subsidiaries, etc., and to be connected to the central host mainframe, using IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA).
Although its successor's role in distributed data processing was said to be "a turning point in the general direction of worldwide computer development," the 3790 was described by Datamation in March 1979 as "less than successful."
System description.
IBM described it as "a programmable, operator oriented terminal system."
Components.
The 3790 supported
The base unit of the 3790 was the IBM 3791 programmable control unit, which was offered as a choice of:
Attached to the 3791 were:
Reception.
The 3790 failed to achieve the success IBM intended, due to several issues. It had a complex programming language, "The 3790 Macro Assembler", and the customers found it difficult to deploy applications on it. The Macro Assembler ran only on an IBM mainframe and then the compiled and linked object was moved to the 3790 for testing.
The 3790 was designed as a departmental processor, but the requirement for an IBM mainframe development environment inhibited adoption in its target market of mid-size companies. The result was lackluster interest in the product. In addition the 3790 was priced higher than minicomputers of comparable processing power.
One of the products IBM released to help developers was "Program Validation Services" (PVS). With PVS, one could test a program in the mainframe environment using scripts. The scripts were cumbersome to create, and prone to errors. Since mainframe time was expensive and often difficult to obtain very few programmers used PVS for anything other than initial testing.
The manual for the Macro Assembler was bulky (about 4 inches thick) and difficult to use as a reference. Another programming issue was code design and size; the hardware architecture loaded code into memory on 2k segments, for optimal execution time it was critical to ensure that processing intensive loops did not cross the segment boundary and incur delays swapping segments in and out of memory.
IBM recognized the problems with the Macro Assembler and created an automated program generator named DMS. DMS later became Cross System Product (CSP) on the 8100. DMS was essentially a screen painter; it could do simple edits such as field range checking or numeric tests but more complex logic still had to be coded using the Macro Assembler.
IBM 3730.
The IBM 3730 is a word-processing variant of the 3790, announced in the late 1970s. It used 3790 hardware but its software made it a dedicated shared-logic word-processing system which could support a dozen or more word-processing IBM 3732 terminals, which were derived from the IBM 3270 family of terminals. Defunct IBM 3777 terminals which had been returned by customers were re-engineered and equipped with a specialized word-processing keyboard, and shipped back to other customers as part of the 3730 word processing system. The 3730 could be connected using Systems Network Architecture to a central mainframe running IBM DISOSS which was a centralized document exchange software running on CICS.


FASTOPEN

In computing, codice_1 is a DOS TSR command, introduced in MS-DOS version 3.3, that provides accelerated access to frequently-used files and directories. The command is also available in SISNE plus.
Overview.
The command works with hard disks, but not with diskettes (probably for security when swapping) or with network drives (probably because such drives do not offer block-level access, only file-level access).
It is possible to specify for which drives should operate, how many files and directories should be cached on each (10 by default, up to 999 total), how many regions for each drive should be cached and whether the cache should be located in conventional or expanded memory.
If a disk defragmenter tool is used, or if Windows Explorer is to move files or directories, while is installed, it is necessary to reboot the computer afterwards, because would remember the old position of files and directories, causing MS-DOS to display garbage if e.g. "DIR" was performed.
DR DOS 6.0 includes an implementation of the command. is also part of the Windows XP MS-DOS subsystem to maintain MS-DOS and MS OS/2 version 1.x compatibility. It is not available on Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
The "fastopen" name has since been reused for various other "accelerating" software products.


Jack the Nipper

Jack the Nipper is a video game by Gremlin Graphics released in 1986 for ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and MSX. It was followed by a sequel, "". The character is loosely based on the British comic strip character Sweeny Toddler.
Gameplay.
"Jack the Nipper" is a side-view flip screen game with puzzle solving and platform elements. The graphics are rendered in 2D, but an illusion of depth is achieved by allowing characters to move forward and back within the playing area.
The player controls Jack, a naughty child who wants to break the record for naughtiness (recorded on the "naughtyometer"). He needs to carry out various wicked pranks on the unsuspecting inhabitants of his town, but if he comes into contact by angry adults he will be spanked. With each spanking his "nappy rash" meter increases, and if it grows too high Jack loses a life. Contact with the monsters and ghosts which inhabit the town will also increase the nappy rash.
Reception.
The game went to number 2 in the UK sales charts, behind "Ghosts'n'Goblins".
"Sinclair User" described it as having a "Wallyish style reminiscent of "Pyjamarama", running wild through the village, searching houses, shops and gardens for objects you can use to create havoc elsewhere", in an environment populated by "Beano"-type characters. The review noted how it was "tempting when you come across a well-tended garden and you just happen to have a bottle of weed killer ... And then there's the tin of glue and the false teeth factory..."
"ZX Computing" praised the graphics. The Spectrum version was voted number 40 in the "Your Sinclair Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time".
Comic strip.
Starting in April 1987, "Your Sinclair" magazine published a monthly comic strip based on the character.


4Dwm

4Dwm is the window manager component of the IRIX Interactive Desktop normally used on Silicon Graphics workstations running IRIX. 4Dwm is derived from the older Motif Window Manager and uses the Motif widget toolkit on top of the X Window System found on most Unix systems. 4Dwm on IRIX was one of the first default graphical user interface desktops to be standard on a Unix computer system. 4Dwm refers to "Fourth dimension window manager" and has no relation to dwm.
Other X window managers that mimic the 4Dwm look and feel exist, such as 4Dwm theme for IceWM and 5Dwm which is a clone/compatible implementation of 4Dwm based OpenMotif. 5Dwm support both the classic SGI look and a modern/polished look and feel with anti-alised fonts and UTF-8 support.


Apropos (Unix)

In computing, is a command to search the man page files in Unix and Unix-like operating systems. Apropos takes its name from the French "à propos" (Latin "ad prōpositum") which means "about". It is particularly useful when searching for commands without knowing their exact names.
Behavior.
Often a wrapper for the command, the apropos command is used to search the "name" sections of all manual pages for the string/s (called keyword/s) specified. The output is a list of all manual pages containing the search term in their name or description. This is often useful if one knows the action that is desired, but does not remember the exact command or page name. apropos search is case insensitive.
 usually searches in a precompiled database that is shared with , a command for obtaining the brief description of a specific command whose exact name is already known.
Sample usage.
The following example demonstrates the output of the command:
$ apropos mount
free (1) - Display amount of free and used memory in the system
mklost+found (8) - create a lost+found directory on a mounted Linux second extended file system
mount (8) - mount a file system
mountpoint (1) - see if a directory is a mountpoint
ntfsmount (8) - Read/Write userspace NTFS driver.
sleep (1) - delay for a specified amount of time
switch_root (8) - switch to another filesystem as the root of the mount tree.
umount (8) - unmount file systems
In this example, is used to search for the keyword "mount", and returns the indicated man pages that include the term "mount".
The following example demonstrates the output of the command with an regexp keyword (abc.n) and a regular keyword:
$ apropos abc.n xzless
XTestGrabControl (3) - XTest extension functions
xzless (1) - view xz or lzma compressed (text) files
In this example, is used to search for the keywords (with an regexp .) "abc.n" and xzless, and returns the indicated man pages that include the keywords.
Related utilities.
 is a command for obtaining the brief description of a specific command whose exact name is already known. It uses the same database as does. On systems with mandoc, it is a wrapper for (search by name only).
$ whatis whatis
whatis(1) - search the whatis database for complete words
 is a command for indexing all on-disk manuals into a databse that and can read from. It first appeared in the 2BSD of 1979, but has since been rewritten multiple times in different implementations of . is a command that performs the same function in man-db.
The database is traditionally plain text, but man-db, the implementation found on many Linux distributions, use a Berkeley DB instead. The mandoc implemation used on many BSD distributions likewise has its own innovations on the format.


Nectaris series

Nectaris, occasionally released as Military Madness, is a series of sci-fi-themed, hex map turn-based strategy games for a variety of systems. The games were developed by Hudson Soft. The company was absorbed by Konami in 2012, and as a result Konami owns the rights to the series.
Games in the series include:


Windsloe Mansion

Windsloe Mansion is a text adventure published by Adventure of the Month Club for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, and TRS-80. It was the January 1982 Adventure of the Month.
Contents.
"Windsloe Mansion" is a text-oriented adventure in which the player must rescue the Pumpkin Man, who is held captive in a haunted house.
Reception.
Bruce Campbell reviewed "Windsloe Mansion" in "The Space Gamer" No. 61. Campbell commented that ""Windsloe Mansion" is a loser."


Canon EOS 750D

The Canon EOS 750D, known as the Rebel T6i in the Americas or as the Kiss X8i in Japan, is a 24.2 megapixels entry-mid-level digital SLR announced by Canon on February 6, 2015. As a part of the Canon EOS three-digit/Rebel line, it is the successor to the EOS 700D (Rebel T5i) and the predecessor to the EOS 800D (Rebel T7i).
The 750D was announced and released together with the 760D, a very similar model which adopts some of the ergonomic features of the more expensive 70D.
760D.
The 760D was announced together with the EOS 750D (known as the Rebel T6s in the Americas and the 8000D in Japan). It is very similar to the 750D, but adds the following features:
Predecessor Comparison.
The Canon EOS 750D (Rebel T6i) is the successor to the EOS 700D (Rebel T5i) with the following improvements.
Sensor issues.
On May 8, 2015, Canon USA confirmed a sensor issue on some 750D and 760D cameras which resulted in the appearance of dark circular patterns on the captured image under certain shooting conditions. Canon provided instructions on how to identify potentially affected cameras and offered free repair to any affected camera.
The Hybrid CMOS AF III system is also prone to cause 'banding' - seven pairs of horizontal lines across the image which are particularly noticeable when the image is processed aggressively, this is particularly noticeable in astrophotography. Canon stated "Canon is able to reproduce the stripes. The stripes will appear in those areas where the pixels for the AF are located. This is causing a lower density of image pixels in those areas. This not a lack of quality, since the effect will be seen only if heavy post-processing is applied."


Computer Gamer

Computer Gamer was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Argus Specialist Publications, covering home gaming from April 1985 to June 1987. It was a colourful relaunch of the failing magazine "Games Computing", a more conservative magazine published throughout in monochrome.
Like many similar magazines, it contained sections of news, game reviews, previews, tips, help guides, columnists, reader's letters, and occasionally cover-mounted game demos.
When the magazine was relaunched, it was directly competing with Computer and Video Games but with only a fifth of the 100,000 monthly sales. It battled on for two years but, adding only 6,000 sales, it was eventually closed in 1987.
Although lost in the crowd of titles on the market in the mid-80s, Gamer did achieve the distinction of having an issue banned by W H Smith and other UK newsagents. The cover promoted a game called "Blood And Guts" but was considered to be too gory and was replaced by a plainer rush cover. The offending image, constructed from pink hessian, bubblewrap, red paint and a Turkish knife, was demoted to background art on the review pages - without complaint.
External links.
 on the Internet Archive


Arya Vaiv

Arya Vaiv is a 1994 computer game for the Amiga and MS-DOS platforms. It is a top-down space shooter with available power-ups and a constant stream of enemies.


LG E-book


Acer AspireRevo

The Acer AspireRevo was a line of nettop computers from Acer Inc., first released at the end of April 2009. It is one of the first desktop computers to pair the NVIDIA ION chipset with Intel's Atom CPU.
When the AspireRevo first launched, model R1600, its basic specs were an Intel Atom 230 processor (1.6 GHz), 1 GB of RAM and the NVIDIA ION graphics motherboard with Windows XP. Since then, the models of this PC have been upgraded with the launch of Windows 7. The R3600 model now features a single core Intel Atom 230 (64-bit, hyperthreading), 1 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard-drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Windows 7 Home Premium edition at $329.00 US. The higher-end model R3610 features a dual core Intel Atom 330, 2 GB of RAM, a 500 GB hard-drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Windows 7 Home Premium at $399.00 US. Both models feature the NVIDIA ION, as well as the RAM boost, DirectX 10 support of Windows 7, graphics and overall performance increases. Although not officially supported for reasons unknown, Windows Vista also runs well if installed.
The combination of low power, relatively low price and support for hardware accelerated video make it suitable for many uses, including as a Home Theater PC (HTPC) or Media Center — for example, running Kodi (formerly Xbox Media Center).
The Acer Veriton models N260G, N270G, N281G and N282G are using the same small form factor case and partly identical hardware as the AspireRevo.


Softdisk (disk magazine)

Softdisk (), originally "Softdisk Magazette", was a disk magazine for the Apple II computer line, published from 1981 through 1995. It was the first publication of the company that was also known as Softdisk, which would go on to publish disk magazines for other systems, other software, and later be involved in Internet access, hosting, and development.
History.
The brainchild of Jim Mangham, who then worked at the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, "Softdisk" (originally intended to be called "The Harbinger Magazette", but launched as "Softdisk Magazette", with "magazette" being a portmanteau word combining "magazine" and "diskette") was published out of Mangham's house, with his then-wife Judi Mangham, LSUMC co-worker Al Vekovius, and "Softalk" magazine (a paper magazine for the Apple) as partners in the venture.
The first issue was published in September, 1981, and consisted of a single 5.25" floppy diskette which could be flipped over to get to content on the back side. There was fairly little content on the first issue, and it was mostly repeated on the second issue, so later when issue numbers were retroactively assigned for the purpose of back issue sales the October, 1981 issue was designated as ""Softdisk" #1", with the preceding month's issue considered either "#0" or unnumbered.
Originally, the subscribers had to send back the previous month's disk when the following issue was received; reusable mailers were used for this purpose, with a postage-paid return address label on the flip side of the address label used for outbound mailing, which was inserted in a plastic Ziploc baggie on the outside of the mailer so it could be reversed by the recipient. This disk return requirement was due in part to the fact that floppy disks were more expensive in those days and needed to be reused for economy, but was also designed to allow the subscribers to participate by leaving feedback electronically on the returning disks, as well as article and program submissions.
At first, the only payment for published material was in the form of coupons for free issues (subscriptions were on a month-to-month basis, with subscribers enclosing payment for the next issue along with returning disks; the price was $5 per issue at first), though eventually monetary payments were instituted. There was quite a bit of submitted material even before there was any financial incentive to participate; similarly to later projects such as open-source software and wikis, Softdisk found a community of willing participants with motives other than making money.
As the publication grew and evolved, however, it became more conventional and "mainstream", losing some of its early quirky flavor and the community that developed around it; ultimately, it was more of a normal commercial publication, sold on an annual subscription basis and in retail stores, with a paid staff and contracted freelancers to produce material, and without any disk-return requirement.
Within the Apple II platform, "Softdisk" spawned "Softdisk G-S" for the Apple IIgs computer in 1989; Softdisk G-S lasted until 1997. It took advantage of the improved graphic and sound capabilities of the II over earlier Apple models. "Diskworld" for the Macintosh (later "Softdisk for Mac") was also published, and eventually "Softdisk" was redesigned to have a similar user interface, with many of the same staff people working on both the Mac and Apple II products. The original publication continued past the time when most people in the computer field regarded the Apple II as obsolete, but eventually ended publication in August, 1995 with issue #166 (at which point then-editor Peter Rokitski was putting it out practically singlehandedly), survived by disk magazines for other computer lines such as the Macintosh and Windows which lasted a few more years before the entire line of Softdisk disk magazines was terminated.
Back issues of both "Softdisk" and "Softdisk G-S" magazines for the Apple II and IIgs can be purchased through Syndicomm. They also sell complete sets of the two magazines on CD-ROM, with each issue's disks in multiple disk image formats for use in either emulators or on actual Apple II computers.


Volkov Commander

Volkov Commander (VC) is a file manager for DOS inspired by the Norton Commander. Volkov Commander is purely written in assembly language, and is thus very small (less than 100 KB) and fast.
Volkov Commander was written by Vsevolod V. Volkov, a programmer from Ukraine, born in 1971. The stable version of the program is released as shareware. A preview version is also available, which is interchangeably mentioned as an Alpha or Beta release on the website. The Webmaster for the public face of VC was Daniel R. Egner of Germany.
Version 4.
Version 4.05 is the last fully functional release of the Volkov Commander. It is a pure DOS application, so it doesn't support special features of Windows 9x like long filenames. (Apart from that, it can be used under Windows 9x.) Besides the Russian version there is an English one. Version 4 is shareware and can be tested free for 30 days.
Version 4.99.
Vsevolod Volkov was working on a new version 5 of his commander (VC 5). It was still in a phase of development. This upgrade works in a Windows 9x / Windows NT or OS/2 environment. VC 5 supports long filenames, and can explore archives (*.zip, *.arc, *.rar, etc.) as though they were directories. When updated last time, the actual beta release was version 4.99.08 alpha. Most of the features of the final release are already available. Though it is a pure DOS application, the new commander supports some of the special features of Windows 95/98/NT. "Beta version (4.99.xx), of course, can be tested for free, because in this stadium of development it does not yet represent a complete program."
Rumored later version.
Rumours about existing Version 5 of Volkov Commander:
VC 4.99.08 is included within UBCD v3.4, as part of the general FreeDOS base package.


Pentax K200D

The Pentax K200D is a 10.2 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, announced on January 24, 2008, along with the higher-end K20D. It was discontinued in December 2008, giving it the distinction of being one of the shortest-lived DSLR cameras.
The K200D is the successor to the well-reviewed K100D, K110D, and K100D Super 6-megapixel DSLR's from Pentax, from which it retains body construction, penta-mirror viewfinder and autofocus module. The K200D adopts several of the features of the more advanced K10D, namely its 10.2 megapixel CCD sensor and body weather-sealing.
The MSRP of the Pentax K200D was $620 for the body only at launch, or $699 with an updated 18-55mm II 3.5-5.6 kit lens.
Features.
The Pentax K200D has 60 seals for weather/dust resistance. It uses non-proprietary AA batteries like previous Pentax entry-level offerings.
The K200D's lens mount is the K-mount; so it is compatible with Pentax (and third-party) lenses dating as far back as 1975 without the use of adaptors. As all Pentax DSLR's it can use previous M42 mount lenses in manual mode with an adapter, provided by Pentax or independent manufacturers.
The K200D's on-board flash can be used to allow wireless control of Pentax or compatible flashes as a Master (The on-board flash fires during the capture), or as a Controller (The on-board flash does not fire during the capture). This supports P-TTL, but can also be used to fire the external flashes in Auto or Manual Mode.
The K200D utilizes a 2.7" LCD screen with a total pixel count of 230,000.
External links.
Official:
Reviews:


LattePanda

The LattePanda is a Chinese single board computer. It is conceptually similar to the Raspberry Pi, but is significantly more expensive and runs Intel processors instead of ARM. It is capable of running Windows 10 or Linux.
The computer uses Intel Atom processors with a dedicated co-processor for managing the general purpose input / output (GPIO) pins similar to those found on a Raspberry Pi.
Features.
The first version of the LattePanda, running Windows 10, was developed by a team in Shanghai through a Kickstarter campaign that began in late 2015. The later versions, Alpha 800 and Alpha 864, added Linux capability. The 864 has a 2.6HGz Intel Core M3 processor, which is designed for good performance and low power consumption to avoid overheating. It also has 8GB of onboard RAM and a built-in Intel HD Graphics 615, which can be used to power a 4K display. However, an External GPU can also be added to increase graphics capability.
There is also a dual M2 connector that allows it to connect to fast NVM Express-based Solid-state drive storage, and an array of GPIO headers allowing connection to various peripherals in the same manner as a Raspberry Pi.
The Alpha has similar specifications and capability as a 12-inch MacBook, despite being around $1,000 cheaper ($358 compared to about $1,200). However, it is still substantially more expensive than the Pi.
Reception.
The LattePanda has been well-received. Reviewers have found it runs Windows 10 acceptably and is responsive, and can be used for some video editing.


SPARCstation 4


Canon EOS D6000

The Canon EOS D6000 was Kodak's Canon-based digital SLR camera (a rebranded Kodak DCS 560) that was released in 1998.


Fast Track (magazine)

Fast Track is a monthly information technology magazine published by 9.9 MediaWorx Pvt. Ltd and distributed along with "Digit". It is an in-depth reference guide to any given sub-topic of information technology, such as web publishing and open source software, or a product, such as Photoshop. It covers topics related to Technology. The detail in the Fast Track series ranges from the beginner to the intermediate and often with references to advanced content.


P.T.O. II

P.T.O. II (Pacific Theater of Operations), released as in Japan, is a Koei strategy video game that depicts the conflict between the USA and Japan during World War II. The video game is a sequel to "P.T.O." It was originally released in 1993 for the NEC PC-9801 and had been ported to various platforms since, such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
The NEC PC-9801 version came with an enhancement pack. A version was released exclusive in Japan for the MS-DOS operating system; it also works on Windows operating systems from 3.1 through Windows ME.
Gameplay.
"P.T.O. II" is a turn-based game, with each turn consisting of a move phase and a plan phase. During the move phase, the player maneuvers their ships along a non-grid-based map.
Japanese players may now invade all sides of North America through the Panama Canal; bringing a transport of troops to invade Washington, D.C. Restrictions apply in this game as the Japanese players are unable to replenish their troops in a non-Japanese harbor like Bangkok, for example. Due to limitations, there is no way to recover damage for the Air Force. Players cannot shift the older model airplanes with the newer ones. If the number of aircraft of Air Corps base units and aircraft carriers have been significantly reduced in battle, the troops can only be reorganized into different patterns.
Taking control of the naval forces of both nations, each side tries to outsmart each other. Naval forces can be equipped with new technology when it becomes available. They can handle anti-aircraft weapons, radar, aiming devices, decryption units, incendiary weapons, flamethrowers, and missile weapons. Whenever the Americans are about to win the game or they score some victories, the game may have Adolf Hitler say some nasty words about the Allied Forces. Battles between aircraft, ships, and infantrymen are shown as the battle for a certain region is resolved. Ships can intercept each other on the world map and engage in an impromptu combat session. However, with the perpetual victories at the conference along with the fighting power of the units, national power for the Japanese has been enhanced. A lot of units and a dedicated infrastructure could exceed the national power of the United States a few years after starting a war against them, causing a collapse in the game balance.
The final mission in the game has an extreme level of difficulty for the player controlling the Japanese side. During the course of the scenario, the Japanese forces become increasingly suicidal and reliant on the famous Japanese battleship "Yamato" in a desperate attempt to turn the tide against the Anglo-American forces. When playing the entire campaign from 1940 to the bitter end of World War II in Asia, the average player can complete the game in approximately 40 hours.
Reception.
On release, "Famitsu" magazine scored the Super Famicom version of the game a 23 out of 40. "GamePro"s Bro' Buzz called it "an interesting war simulation that's definitely for mature gamers with a yen for history, a mind for numbers, and plenty of time to kill". However, he found the graphics too limited and criticized the repetitive music.
Art Angel of "GamePro" praised the full motion videos and animations of the Saturn version, saying they "convey a sense of history and fantasy". He was also pleased with the intricate options and controls, and concluded that while it is slightly slower-paced than "Iron Storm", "P.T.O. II" is still a worthwhile and enjoyable strategy game. Jeff Kitts of "GameSpot" similarly praised the intricate yet easy-to-use interface and high attention to detail, and concluded: ""P.T.O. II" may not be the most graphically-riveting war sim around, but for those interested in a nice, long, full-scale war, this game is just the ticket". Despite this, he gave it a 5.3 out of 10.


Locomotive Software

Locomotive Software was a small British software house that did most of its development for Amstrad's home and small business computers of the 1980s. It was founded by Richard Clayton and Chris Hall on 14 February 1983.
It wrote or contributed significantly to the ROMs of the Amstrad CPC 464, Amstrad CPC 664 and Amstrad CPC 6128 home computers, the Amstrad PCW wordprocessor and the later Amstrad-manufactured ZX Spectrum +2A, +2B and +3 machines, amongst others. Its Locomotive BASIC for the CPC range was a fast and highly featured implementation of BASIC for the time and later led to the development of Mallard BASIC for Amstrad's CP/M+ machines. Locomotive was also responsible for the ports of the CP/M operating system to Amstrad machines — initially 2.2 for the CPC464 and CPC664 and later CP/M 3.0 ("CP/M+") for the CPC6128, PCW range and Spectrum +3.
A later Locomotive BASIC was BASIC2 for Digital Research's GEM graphical user interface, as supplied with the Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 range of PC clones.
The company also developed the LocoScript word processor for the PCW, which was a complete bootable environment in its own right with no separate underlying operating system. The company later produced a PC version of this software, but it was not very successful, partly because it was a DOS application, just as the PC market was moving to Microsoft Windows, but also because the program compared poorly to incumbents like WordPerfect in the more competitive environment of PC word processors.
The same team later went on to develop the Turnpike Internet client for Windows, which was for many years distributed as the standard access software by pioneering dial-up Internet access provider Demon Internet. Demon Internet later acquired Locomotive Software.


Pimania

Pimania is a text-and-graphics adventure game written by Mel Croucher and released by Automata UK in 1982 for the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Dragon 32, and Sinclair ZX81. It is the first real life video game treasure hunt released in the UK. Automata gave a prize of a golden sundial worth £6,000 for the first person to solve the various cryptic clues to its location that were hidden within "Pimania".
Gameplay.
The player negotiates a surreal landscape with the aid of the mysterious Pi-Man, Automata's mascot. The B side of the game cassette features a bizarre Pimania song played on a VL-Tone and vocals. The Pi-Man also stars in his own long-running, surreal, comic-strip, soap opera in the company's adverts on the back page of "Popular Computing Weekly" magazine and appears in several subsequent games of different kinds.
The sundial was eventually won in 1985 by Sue Cooper and Lizi Newman, who correctly worked out that it could only be found on 22 July (because π is sometimes rounded to 22/7) at the Litlington White Horse on Hindover Hill near Litlington, East Sussex.
Legacy.
The BASIC source code listing of the game is available online.
In 2010 Feeding Tube Records, a small label in the United States, released "Pimania: The Music of Mel Croucher & Automata U.K., Ltd.", a deluxe vinyl LP album of the musical B-Sides to the Pimania games, as well as tracks from other Automata releases. The album came with extensive liner notes by Croucher and Caroline Bren, as well as a large poster featuring selections from the original Automata print campaigns and was issued in a one time edition of 500 copies.


RM Nimbus

RM Nimbus was a range of personal computers from British company Research Machines (now RM Education) sold from 1985 until the early 1990s, after which the designation "Nimbus" was discontinued. The first of these computers, the RM Nimbus PC-186, was not IBM PC compatible, but its successors the PC-286 and PC-386 were. RM computers were predominantly sold to schools and colleges in the United Kingdom for use as LAN workstations in classrooms.
Models.
PC-186.
The RM Nimbus PC-186 was a 16-bit microcomputer introduced in 1985. It is one of a small number of computers based on the Intel 80186 processor, a version of the Intel 8086 (as used by the IBM PC) originally intended as a processor for embedded systems.
It ran MS-DOS 3.1 but was not IBM PC compatible. The PC-186 could run Windows versions up to and including Windows 3.0, but only in real mode, as protected mode was only available on 286 or higher processors.
Most PC-186 systems were used as workstations within a Local Area Network and were supplied without a hard disk. The operating system was started from a floppy disk or via a remote boot ROM on its network interface card, connecting to the LAN's fileserver. Stand-alone workstations were rarer but available with either twin floppy drives or a 20Mbyte hard drive and single floppy drive.
I/O Connectors.
Mouse - 9 pin D-Sub connector, sometimes confused as a serial port, it uses quadrature signalling

Keyboard - Earlier models - Proprietary keyboard port, Later models - PS/2 keyboard port

Video - 5 pin DIN plug with TTL RGB output compatible with BBC micro monitor connectors - modified CGA output

Parallel - Optional via expansion card - usually with BBC micro 'user port' alongside- both with ribbon pin connectors

Network -BNC connector - Zilog Z-NET, Ethernet expansion cards were available for later models - both allowed network boot

Piconet - a proprietary serial interface for connecting peripherals

Power - Standard IEC connector in and out for monitor supply

X Series: AX/VX.
The RM Nimbus AX and VX models were launched in 1986 and used the 80286 (later the 80386) processor. They were fully IBM compatible, as were all subsequent RM computers. The AX and VX were offered for use as a network file server or as a high-end workstation. They employed either EGA or VGA graphics cards, and were equipped with an ESDI interface for a hard drive, as well as a 3½" floppy drive. By default they were equipped with a Zilog Z-Net interface card, but a second Ethernet card could be added alongside to allow both network interfaces to be used simultaneously, however, the two network interfaces were not able to be bridged. Expansion cards could be added to standard 8-bit and 16-bit ISA sockets, which were both on the motherboard, and on an attached expansion board which was supplied as standard.
M Series: PC-286 and PC-386.
RM released PCs based on Intel 286 and 386 processors under the RM Nimbus name. The PC-286 and early PC-386 versions were termed the M Series due to the MCA bus used, and had a similar case design to that used by later models of the PC-186.
S Series: PC-386 and later.
Later RM PCs using the 386 processor used an ISA bus and were shipped in a particularly ("S" for) slimline desktop case with only two 3.5" drive bays. The processor typically ran at 16 or 25MHz. Later models dropped the "Nimbus" name, although it was still used late enough to appear on some early (and still ISA-based) 486 models shipped in slightly taller (2 x 5.25" bay) cases. By this point, RM's computers were essentially ordinary IBM clones being sold specifically to the education market, with standard processors and buses, operating systems and software, as well as the normal ports (5-pin AT keyboard, 9-pin serial - including the mouse, 15-pin HD-sub VGA - although some 386 models used the less common 9-pin variant, etc), and the previous non-standard holdovers from the Z380 days long since abandoned.
Backward compatibility with the PC-186.
Despite moving to a standard IBM-compatible architecture from the X series onwards, RM somewhat unusually maintained backwards compatibility with software written for their original Nimbus model by way of a "PC186" program that could be launched from MS-DOS or via a Windows icon, and would reboot the machine in an operating mode compatible with it. Various configuration options could be set before launch, and returning to normal IBM compatible mode was a simple matter of running the same program again with a particular option switch. It is not clear whether this was purely a software trick using emulation or DOS drivers that provided a compatibility layer between DOS and the old PC186 programs, or something included in the machines' hardware at the BIOS level, but it did take over the computer completely enough that many MS-DOS programs, including Windows, cannot be run whilst in PC186 mode.
RM Networks.
RM Nimbus PCs were usually connected to local area network supplied by RM. The company's initial network solution was "RM Net", comprising RM Nimbus PC-186 workstations and servers. Later an RM Nimbus AX or VX became the usual choice of fileserver. PC-186 workstations could be designated as print servers, allowing shared access to printers from all workstations.
The network used Microsoft MS-Net server and client software, Zilog Z-Net network interface cards, coaxial cable and BNC connectors. It allowed up to 127 workstations to be connected and booted directly from the network server.
Network users could be members of user groups, with each group receiving a customisable menu of programs to execute or a Windows 3.0 desktop, optionally without the 'File' menu in Program Manager.
By current standards network security was primitive.
RM Net was superseded in the early 1990s by RM Net LM, a network operating system based on Microsoft LAN Manager. RM Net LM retained support for PC-186 workstations, allowing them to boot to MS-DOS and to start Windows 3.0.


Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is a phone with camera hybrid with a 10x optical zoom (24–240 mm 35 mm equivalent) with f/3.1-6.3 lens with built-in optical image stabilizer and a standard xenon flash.
The phone uses a Pega-Dual +XMM6262 SoC featuring a 1.5 GHz dualcore CPU.
Camera.
The S4 Zoom uses 1/2.33-inch 16 MP BSI-CMOS sensor and has both auto and manual camera control, and takes video in 1080p 30 fps (full HD) or 720p at smoother 60 fps. The device can be categorized as a low/mid-end point-and-shoot camera.
In one of the Scene modes, the user can set the exposure time, the ISO light sensitivity (up to ISO 3200), the aperture and the white balance manually, which the main Galaxy S4 variant lacks.
It can record slow motion videos at 768×512 pixels at 120 frames per second, compared to 800×450 on the main Galaxy S4 and 720×480 on the Galaxy Note 2 at that frame rate. Slow motion video is recorded without audio track. One can also use the optical zoom while recording. While recording video, at any available resolution and frame rate, the optical zoom can optionally be slowed down, to avoid recording the sound of the Zoom Lens Engine. This also applies to the succeeding Galaxy K Zoom.
While recording video, one can also take still images with around 3.2 megapixels, but only up to 6 pictures during the whole recording, no matter the length or the size of the video, even if this video is paused. Samsung has not given a reason for this limit.
The S4 Zoom has a rotary knob ring around the zoom lens that can be used for optical zooming and to launch the camera from a dedicated mode selector.
Screen.
The screen has the same specifications as the S4 Mini, with a qHD (not to be confused with QHD) Display with 960×540 Pixels and a pixel Density of 256 ppi. It uses Super-AMOLED-Technology, like most of Samsung's mid-range or flagship smartphones. It is protected with Gorilla Glass 3</ref>, unlike the Gorilla Glass 2 used on the Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S4 Active. The Galaxy S4 (main model) has Gorilla Glass 3 as well.
Galaxy K Zoom.
In June 2014 the successor to the Galaxy S4 Zoom, the Galaxy K Zoom model (SM-C115) - also known as Galaxy S5 Zoom - was released. It comes with a 10x zoom camera (24-240mm) with 20.7 megapixels, with Android 4.4.2. The Galaxy K Zoom also utilizes the letter 'K' for "Kapture" or "Kamera". Its slogan is "Capture the Moment".
Its removable polycarbonate rear cover has the same dotted pattern as the Galaxy S5, and it shares the same version of TouchWiz (Nature UX 3.0).
Although lacking 4K (2160p) video, it supports video recording with 1080p at 60 frames per second and slow motion 720p at 120 frames per second, the latter without audio.
Its camera software features a "Pro Suggest" mode that automatically suggests the appropriate camera modes for the current scene.
The consumer camera-smartphone has 2 GB RAM, 8 GB own flash, microSD, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 4.8 inch 1280×720 px Super AMOLED (306 ppi), 6-core Exynos 5 Hexa (Exynos 5260) SoC, Mali-T624 GPU, 200 g and 20.2 millimeters at thickest point.
The K Zoom offers additional camera controls such as the ability to separate focus and exposure areas.
A disadvantage in comparison to the S4 Zoom is that one can't use the Optical Zoom, while recording Slow Motion Videos.
In addition, the new design of the "K Zoom" lead to the removal of the camera tripod screw thread and the rotary ring around the zoom lens.


Jet Set Willy II

Jet Set Willy II: The Final Frontier is a platform game released in 1985 by Software Projects for a variety of 8-bit home computers. It was the only official sequel to "Jet Set Willy", one of the most successful home computer games ever released. Officially, "Jet Set Willy II: The Final Frontier" is the last of the Miner Willy series, although numerous unofficial sequels, remakes, homages and updates have been released, even up to this day.
Details.
"Jet Set Willy II" is an expansion of the original "JSW" rather than a new game unto itself. Its map is primarily an expanded version of the original mansion, with only a few new elements over its predecessor, several of which are based on rumoured events in "JSW" that were in fact never programmed (such as being able to launch the titular ship in the screen called "The Yacht" and explore an island). In the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and MSX versions, Willy is blasted from the Rocket Room into space, and for these 33 rooms he dons a spacesuit.
Due to the proliferation of hacking and cheating in the original game, "Jet Set Willy II" pays homage to this and includes a screen called "Cheat" that can only be accessed by cheating.
Control of Willy also differs from the original:
"Jet Set Willy II" was not written by the original programmer, Matthew Smith, and was instead developed by Derrick P. Rowson.
Copy Protection and Anti-Piracy.
"Jet Set Willy II" came with a form of enhanced copy protection called Padlock II. To prevent felt tip copying, it had seven pages, rather than the single page used in "Jet Set Willy".
Ending.
The ending of "JSW II" is also different. Once Willy has collected 150 of the 175 available items and goes to bed, the game takes control of Willy and guides him into the bathroom, where he falls into the toilet - and lands in a room named "Oh $#!+! The Central Cavern!", laid out identically to and deriving its name from the opening level of "Manic Miner". The screen is playable on the Amstrad CPC version, but there is no escape, save for the player intentionally killing off their remaining lives.
Ports.
"JSW II" was originally created as an Amstrad version of "Jet Set Willy" (by Derrick P. Rowson and Steve Wetherill), but with expansions to exploit the 64K RAM of the Amstrad CPC range (compared with the 48K of the ZX Spectrum, the game's home platform). This version was subsequently ported back to the Spectrum. The porting across to Amstrad and porting back to Spectrum may also explain a number of other small differences, including the loss of coloured backgrounds in certain screens as the CPC version ran in a 4-colour display mode.
The game was subsequently ported to other platforms, including the Commodore 64, Commodore 16, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and MSX. The BBC Micro cassette version has 2 rooms not in the ZX Spectrum version, and omits 60 of the rooms, rather than being a subset of it as are the CPC and ZX Spectrum versions. Unofficial ports to the Acorn Archimedes, Windows/DOS and UNIX/X environments also exist.
The C64 screen was a different format to the Amstrad, so the developers were unable to take the data used in the Amstrad and instead had to lay out again and re-implement all the screens and sprites. However, Rowson was able to use much of the data directly from the Amstrad, and hence the game was released sooner.
In an in-depth article about both the game and the code, Your Spectrum stated that as each room was compressed and took up differing amounts of memory, a room editor would be impossible to code.
JSW2+.
In November 2016 Rowson released JSW2+ as a re-write of JSW2. As well as technical improvements to the code allowing for more complicated rooms, it has built-in ‘cheat’ devices allowing infinite lives and teleportation. Rowson also added some new rooms, and made many of the rooms easier with fewer or slower sprites.


UNIVAC III

The UNIVAC III, designed as an improved transistorized replacement for the vacuum tube UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II computers, was introduced in June 1962, with Westinghouse agreeing to furnish system programing and marketing on June 1, 1962. It was designed to be compatible for all data formats. However the word size and instruction set were completely different; this presented significant difficulty as all programs had to be rewritten, so many customers switched to different vendors instead of upgrading existing UNIVACs.
The UNIVAC III weighed about .
The system was engineered to use as little core memory as possible, as it was a very expensive item. The memory system was 25 bits wide and could be configured with from 8,192 words to 32,768 words of memory. Memory was built in stacks of 29 planes of 4,096 cores: 25 for the data word, two for "modulo-3 check" bits, and two for spares. Each memory cabinet held up to four stacks (16,384 words).
It supported the following data formats:
Instructions were 25 bits long.
The CPU had four accumulators, a four-bit field (ar) allowed selection of any combination of the accumulators for operations on data from one to four words in length. For backward compatibility with the UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II data, two accumulators were needed to store a 12-digit decimal number and three accumulators were needed to store a 12-character alphanumeric value. When accumulators were combined in an instruction, the sign bit of the Most Significant Accumulator was used and the others ignored.
The CPU had 15 index registers, a four-bit field (x) allowed selection of one index register as the base register. Operand addresses were determined by adding the contents of the selected base register and the 10-bit displacement field (m). Instructions that modified or stored index registers used a four-bit field (xo) to select that index register.
Indirect addressing or field selection was selected if the one-bit field (i/a) was set. Both indirect addressing and a base register could be selected in the indirect address in memory. Only a base register could be selected in the field selector in memory.
Sperry Rand began shipment in June 1962 and produced 96 UNIVAC III systems.
The operating systems(s) which were developed for the UNIVAC III's were called CHIEF, and BOSS.The assembly language was SALT. The majority of UNIVAC III systems were equipped with tape drives, so tapes contained images of the system data at the head of any tape, followed by data. The OS could handle jobs at this time, so some tapes had data relating to job control, and others had data. UNIVAC III systems could have up to 32 tape drives.
Some systems were equipped at a later time with FASTRAND drum, as the original design with only tape drives was found to be a drawback.


LanSlide Gaming PCs

 LanSlide Gaming PCs is a privately owned, internet-based, gaming computer company located in Schenectady, New York. Specializing in high end portable gaming desktops, all of the company's computers are based around portable designs and marketed towards LAN party enthusiasts.
History.
LanSlide Gaming PCs, LLC was founded in 2005 by a group of gamers tired of moving large gaming desktops to LAN parties. The company focuses on computers designed to be portable and sells a wide range of desktop gaming computers, all of which are built into cases with carrying handles for ease of transport. Each computer comes with a special backpack to hold everything needed to run a desktop computer with the exception of the computer case. In addition to portable computers, LanSlide Gaming PCs also sells a line of computers designed for 3D gaming.
Products.
Small Form Factor Computers:
Mid-Tower Computers:
3D Gaming Computers:
Free, Public Computer Support Service.
In August, 2010 LaSlide Gaming PCs launched the "Absolutely Free Computer Help Page", which provides free computer support to the general public, regardless of their status as a customer of the company. The service allows users to submit gaming computer related questions and get answers from live people within approximately 48 hours. While the service is focused on questions about building, buying, and fixing gaming computers, it is completely open ended, allowing users to ask any computer related question and get an answer.
PC Pack.
LaSlide Gaming PCs holds patent pending status on a special backpack intended to make it easier to move a gaming set-up in one trip and avoid dropping or damaging desktop components during transit. The backpack is designed to hold and protect up to a 22″ widescreen monitor, extra-long gaming keyboard, mouse, headphones, surge protector, cables, and other miscellaneous paraphernalia need to run a desktop computer.


TI-7 MathMate

The TI-7 MathMate is a basic educational calculator by Texas Instruments, designed for students in grades K–3. The MathMate was unique in that it automatically performed order of operations. The MathMate slotted in between the TI-108 and the TI-12 Math Explorer.
The TI-7 MathMate was eventually replaced by the TI-10, which features a two-line display.
External links.
MathMate by Texas Instruments - US and Canada


System Host Board

System Host Board is a term applied to a single-board computer meeting the PICMG 1.3 specification. PICMG 1.3 extended the previous PICMG specifications to continue support for PCI/PCI-X expansion cards as well as new support for PCI Express.


Bernie Stolar

Bernard Stolar is an American businessman and was a prominent figure in the video game industry for many years.
Early life and education.
Stolar was born into a Jewish family. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.
Career.
Stolar was president of Atari and led the Lynx division in the early 1990s.
Stolar was also the first executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, where he was integral in building the original PlayStation's game catalog. After leaving Sony, he accepted an offer to become president and chief operating officer at Sega of America, who were engaging with the development and launch of the Dreamcast.
In December 1999, Stolar joined Mattel as president. In late 2005, Stolar became an advisor and director at Adscape Media. In 2009, Stolar became the chief executive officer of GetFugu. By 2010, Stolar had resigned. In 2014, Stolar became the chairman of ZOOM and the Jordan Freeman Group.


Acornsoft

Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and utility packages – these included word processor "VIEW" and the spreadsheet "ViewSheet" supplied on ROM and cartridge for the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron and included as standard in the BBC Master and Acorn Business Computer.
History.
Acornsoft was formed in late 1980 by Acorn Computers directors Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry, and David Johnson-Davies, author of the first game for a UK personal computer and of the official Acorn Atom manual "Atomic Theory and Practice". David Johnson-Davies was managing director and in early 1981 was joined by Tim Dobson, Programmer and Chris Jordan, Publications Editor.
While some of their games were clones or remakes of popular arcade games (e.g. "Hopper" is a clone of Sega's "Frogger", "Snapper" is Namco's "Pac-Man", "Arcadians" is Namco's "Galaxian"), they also published a number of original titles such as "Aviator", "Elite" and "Revs" which went on to spawn entire genres. Acornsoft also published text adventures by authors such as Peter Killworth, including "Philosopher's Quest" (previously titled "Brand X") and "Countdown to Doom", that remain highly regarded within the interactive fiction community.
As a result of the publication of a method to circumvent copy protection measures employed by Acornsoft titles, a High Court injunction against Computing Publications - publisher of Personal Computer World - was granted to Acorn Computers "requiring all copies of the January 1984 issue of PCW to be withdrawn from sale", with the article concerned being regarded as inciting readers to "duplicate computer programs". This injunction was subsequently lifted as a consequence of an out-of-court settlement between the parties involving a damages payment of £65,000 plus costs to Acorn "to meet Acorn's expenses in developing a new locking device".
Acornsoft became a subsidiary within Acorn Computer Group, distinct from Acorn Computers who were responsible for the development of Acorn's microcomputer systems, but Acornsoft ceased to operate as a separate company upon the departure of David Johnson-Davies in January 1986. Past this date, Acorn Computers used the Acornsoft name on office software it released in the "VIEW" family for the BBC Master series. In 1986 Superior Software was granted a licence to publish some Acornsoft games and re-released many, individually and as compilations such as the "Play It Again Sam" and "Acornsoft Hits" series. By agreement, the Acornsoft name was also used on the packaging of some of the subsequent Superior games. Superior chose not to take on Acornsoft's text adventure games, most of which were released in updated versions by Topologika along with some sequels from the same authors.
In 1997, Acorn sought to revive the Acornsoft brand for new software releases, such as upgrades to RISC OS, programming tools, a new Web browser, multitasking movie playback (using Acorn Replay), and Java for RISC OS. A stated objective was to demonstrate that a "wide range of innovative software at competitive prices" was available for RISC OS, with support also being potentially offered to third-party software producers. Acornsoft products themselves would be supported by marketing, including advertising, and the provision of press review samples.
Branding.
Acornsoft titles extended their consistent branding to the software's loading screens.
Acornsoft Games range.
Including all arcade, text adventure and board games. All games were compatible with the BBC Micro Model B. Games followed by "Model A & B" were compatible with both machines. Games followed by "Electron" were also released separately for the Acorn Electron. Games are listed by their catalogue numbers which are roughly the order of release of the BBC versions.
There are also a number of completed but unreleased games that have found their way into the public domain such as "Crazy Balloon", "Hellforce" and "Bandit" that date from around 1983.
Acornsoft Education range.
Acornsoft produced a wide range of educational titles aimed at many different age groups.
Acornsoft also published and distributed a range of educational software developed by ASK (Applied Systems Knowledge) that were widely used in schools running BBC Micros. These included "Podd" (find out which actions a red blobby character can perform (e.g. jump, smile, dance), "Squeeze" (a two player strategy game of squeezing shapes onto a board) and "Cranky" (solve maths problems to repair a living calculator). These titles were part of the Acornsoft catalogue but used a different code (XBE?? – all other Acornsoft titles began with S so the Education range on BBC Micro cassettes would be SBE??). They ran on both the BBC Micro Model B and Acorn Electron.
The "Ivan Berg Software" range was also mainly educational but had its own distinct code (XBX??). This included the 6 "Grandmaster Quiz"zes (Theatre, Crime & Detection, Music, History, Science Fiction and Royal), relationship aids ""..I Do" Your Guide to a Happy Marriage" and "The Dating Game" and GCE/CSE revision guides (Mathematics, Biology and English).
Acornsoft also distributed other ranges of educational programs developed by companies such as ICL, Good Housekeeping and Bourne but they are not considered part of the official catalogue.
Acornsoft Business range.
Acornsoft produced a range of office software for home and business use.
The series continues but mainly with add-on products for the "VIEW" word processor such as "ViewIndex" (an automatic index generator) and "ViewSpell" (spell-checker) as well as newer versions.
View Professional (1987) was a combined wordprocessor, spreadsheet and database similar to PipeDream on the Z88.
Acornsoft Languages range.
Acorn systems came with a version of the BBC BASIC programming language as standard but Acornsoft also produced a wide range of other languages that could be loaded in by cassette or disc or in some cases, supplied in ROM form.
The relative performance of some of Acornsoft's languages was evaluated using a benchmark based on the Takeuchi function, "Tak" by former Acornsoft managing director, David Johnson-Davies, noting that "it is difficult to imagine a language that performs badly on "Tak" being much use for anything", illustrating a diversity amongst these language implementations in terms of readability, speed and generated code size. A follow-up article expanded the comparison to other language implementations such as Oxford Pascal, Z80 versions of BBC BASIC, Turbo Pascal and Small-C.
Acornsoft Graphics range and more.
The graphics range was used to demonstrate the graphical power of the Acorn computers but only three titles were made available. The X?? code was then used for other types of software.
The range took on various themes including "Creative Sound" (X26).


TI-32 Math Explorer Plus

The TI-32 Math Explorer Plus is a calculator by Texas Instruments specifically designed for middle school students. The Math Explorer Plus was offered as a more advanced version of the TI-12 Math Explorer. The TI-32 Math Explorer Plus offered trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic, and probability functions, and thus can be considered a true scientific calculator unlike the TI-12 Math Explorer.
The Math Explorer Plus was eventually replaced by the TI-34 II Explorer Plus, which combined features of the TI-32 and TI-34, as well as incorporating a two-line display.


750cc Grand Prix

750cc Grand Prix is a video game originally developed by Ken Murfitt of Scope Soft and published by Codemasters in 1989 for the Amstrad CPC. It was later ported for ZX Spectrum in 1991 by WASP (Lyndon Sharp, Chris Graham and Damon Redmond).
Gameplay.
"750cc Grand Prix" is an arcade-style racing game with the theme of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. There are six British tracks, including Silverstone, Thruxton and Brands Hatch. The player must finish in the top three in each race to progress, competing against up to seven other computer-controlled riders.
Development.
Programmer Lyndon Sharp got the idea for "750cc Grand Prix" after riding pillion on Codemasters' spokesman Mike Clarke's motorcycle.
Reception.
"CRASH" magazine reviewed "750cc Grand Prix" in March 1991, awarding 72%. The main criticism was with the starting-line acceleration of the computer-controlled opponents – unfairly quick compared the player's motorcycle. The review also highlighted the screen-tilting feature, in which the graphical display tilts when the player's motorcycle banks around bends.


List of convertible tablet computer brands

Brands are ordered alphabetically.


Sony Vaio UX Micro PC

The Sony Vaio UX Micro PC is an Ultra-Mobile Portable Computer (UMPC) first marketed in 2006. It weighs around 490–544 g (1.20–1.27 lb), and has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen, Intel Core 2 Solo processor, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and WWAN. Though not officially stated as such, and even to a point implied by Sony that the UX is a move in a new direction and not a specific continuation of such, the Sony UX is speculated by some to be the newest model in the popular Sony U-series.
NOTE : Japanese models include 533 MHz memory and so do the minority markets ( Europe, Australia etc. ) models. The US ones do not have 533 MHz but slower 400 MHz.
All models share these features: