Mr. Do!

 is a arcade maze game developed and published by Universal in 1982. The first game in the "Mr. Do" series, it is credited as the first arcade game to be released as a conversion kit (by Taito). It went on to sell 30,000 arcade units in the United States.
Gameplay.
The object of "Mr. Do!" is to score as many points as possible by digging tunnels through the ground and collecting cherries. The title character, Mr. Do (a circus clown—except for the original Japanese version of the game, in which he is a snowman), is constantly chased by red monsters called creeps, and the player loses a life if Mr. Do is caught by one. The game ends when the last life is lost.
Cherries are distributed throughout the level in groups of eight. A level is complete either when all cherries are removed, all creeps are destroyed, "EXTRA" is spelled, or a diamond is found.
Mr. Do can defeat creeps by hitting them with his bouncing "power ball" or by dropping large apples on them. While the power ball is bouncing toward a creep, Mr. Do is defenseless. If the ball bounces into an area where there are no creeps to hit (such as behind a fallen apple), Mr. Do cannot use it again until he has retrieved it. When the power ball hits a creep, it then reforms in Mr. Do's hands after a delay that increases with each use.
Mr. Do or the creeps can push an apple off the edge of a vertical tunnel and crush one or more creeps. If an apple falls more than its own height, it breaks and disappears. Mr. Do can also be crushed by a falling apple, causing a loss of life.
Occasionally, the creeps transform briefly into more powerful multicolored monsters that can tunnel through the ground. If one of these digs through a cherry, it leaves fewer cherries for Mr. Do to collect. When it digs under an apple, it often crushes itself, other creeps, and/or Mr. Do.
Each time the score passes a certain threshold during play, a letter from the word "EXTRA" appears on the playfield as an Alphamonster, and the player can defeat or be defeated by this monster in the same way as a creep. Defeating an Alphamonster awards that letter to the player, and collecting all five letters of the word completes the level, plays a cut scene playing the theme to "Astro Boy", and awards the player an extra life. Alphamonsters attempt to eat any apples they encounter, which makes them difficult to crush.
The creeps spawn at the center of the screen. After they have all appeared, the generator will turn into a food item; picking this up scores bonus points, freezes all the creeps, and calls out an Alphamonster and three large blue monsters. The latter can eat apples as well. The creeps stay frozen until the player either defeats all three blue monsters, defeats the Alphamonster (in which case any remaining blue monsters are turned into apples), loses a life, or completes the stage.
Rarely, dropping an apple will reveal a diamond which, if collected within about 15 seconds, completes the level and awards a bonus credit to the player.
Development.
"Mr. Do!" was created by Kazutoshi Ueda. It was inspired by the game play in Namco's "Dig Dug" game, similar to how many of Universal's other games took license from other companies' more successful games; i.e. "Lady Bug" (also designed by Ueda) being similar to "Pac-Man". The major game play element, the "Powerball", came from Mr. Ueda observing a super ball stuck on the roof of a home near the Universal office in Japan.
Ports.
"Mr. Do!" was ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Apple II, MSX, Neo Geo, Tomy Tutor, and Commodore 64. A handheld LCD version was released by Tomy in 1983.
In the ColecoVision adaptation, the Alphamonster and sidekicks are unable to eat apples, making them easier to crush, but the blue monsters eat the shrubbery and cherries. Also, if an Alphamonster is over a letter that has already been acquired, the dinosaur monsters just freeze for a few seconds.
Reception.
The game was a commercial success in the United States, where it sold approximately 30,000 arcade units. US "Play Meter" arcade charts, it topped the street locations chart in May 1983. On the US "RePlay" arcade charts, it topped the software conversion kit charts for five months in 1983, in June and then from August through November. It was among the top ten most successful arcade games of 1983 in the United States. In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Mr. Do!" on their June 15, 1983 issue as being the twenty-first most successful table arcade unit of the year.
"Computer and Video Games" magazine gave the arcade original a positive review, stating that it "takes the best from" "Dig Dug" "and improves on it." "Computer Games" magazine gave the ColecoVision and Coleco Adam conversions a B+ rating.
"Famicom Tsūshin" awarded the Super Famicom version of the game 25 out of 40. The four reviewers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" gave it 4.875 out of 10. All but Dan Hsu felt that "Mr. Do!" has fun gameplay, but they criticized the lack of enhancements to what was by then over a decade old game, and recommended that players only get it if it were released at significantly less than the normal retail price for an SNES cartridge. Their later feature on 16-bit games reported that, contrary to their hopes, the game was priced at over $50.
Legacy.
"Mr. Do!" was followed by three sequels: "Mr. Do's Castle" in 1983, "Mr. Do's Wild Ride", and "Do! Run Run" both in 1984. An expanded 99-level version of "Mr. Do!" was released in arcades by Electrocoin in 1988.
"Neo Mr. Do!", was developed by Visco and licensed by Universal for SNK's Neo Geo system in 1997. "Mr. Do!" was adapted to Nintendo's Game Boy and Super NES with some new gameplay features. A rebranded adaptation of the game was released for the Game Boy Color in 1999 as "Quest: Fantasy Challenge" ("Holy Magic Century" in Europe). It was developed by Imagineer.
The arcade version was released for the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on April 27, 2010.
Impact.
"Mr. Do" is credited as the first arcade game to be released as a conversion kit. Multiple clones of "Mr. Do!" were released for home systems, including "Magic Meanies" (ZX Spectrum), "Henri" (Atari 8-bit), "Fruity Frank" (Amstrad CPC, MSX), and "Mr. Dig" (TRS-80 Color Computer, Atari 8-bit).
The game's creator Kazutoshi Ueda went on to work at Tehkan (now Tecmo) and then became a co-founder of Atlus, where he worked on the "Megami Tensei" series. Ueda's work at Universal, particularly "Mr. Do", inspired the game design style of Tehkan's Michitaka Tsuruta, who went on to create "Guzzler" (1983), "Bomb Jack" (1984), "Solomon's Key" (1986), and the "Captain Tsubasa" game series.


Awesome (window manager)

AwesomeWM is a dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed in the C and Lua programming languages. Lua is also used for configuring and extending the window manager. Its development began as a fork of dwm. It aims to be extremely small and fast, yet extensively customizable. It makes it possible for the user to manage windows with the use of keyboard.
The fork was initially nicknamed "jdwm", with "jd" denoting the principal programmer's initials, and with dwm reminding of the software project it forked from. The first git repository for what was to become awesome was set up in September 2007. jdwm was renamed to awesome, named after the same phrase used by the "How I Met Your Mother" character Barney Stinson. awesome was officially announced on the dwm mailing list on September 20, 2007.
Aim of the project.
Awesome has emerged as a dwm fork featuring customization through external configuration files (see Configuration and customization below). Although highly extensible, the default setup of the window manager is deliberately simplified. In doing so, the author has created what he calls a "framework window manager" for users to expand and adapt to their own needs.
Configuration and customization.
From the very beginning, awesome was conceived as a dwm fork with an external configuration file. As such, its configuration file format, and the process of configuration itself, was subject to special attention by the author.
Early configuration file formats.
Prior to the third major release, one of awesome's features was what Danjou termed a 'no complicated configuration'. First versions of awesome (1.x) were simple modification of dwm with flat file configuration which used libconfig. In 2.x branch, Danjou changed the configuration library from libconfig to libconfuse, a different flat file configuration library, somewhat resembling libconfig. During the development of 2.x releases, many customization features were added to awesome, such as titlebars and icon drawing.
New configuration file.
On May 20, 2008, Danjou announced in an e-mail to the awesome mailing list that a new format for the configuration file will be used in 3.0 release. The new format was placed in a file ~/.awesomerc.lua, and was later moved to ~/.config/awesome/rc.lua. As the extension suggests, the configuration file is written in the Lua programming language. Danjou argued that the new format and Lua integration would enable awesome users to customize awesome in ways he previously considered impossible: using a programming language for configuration made it possible to dynamically specify configuration options.
The awesome Lua API is now hosted on awesome's homepage, and a tutorial-style article about configuring awesome is posted on the awesome Wiki.
Themes and widgets.
It is possible to theme (or skin) awesome by using the window manager's Beautiful library. In line with rc.lua configuration file, theming is also done in Lua, allowing dynamic themes to be created.
Although the default awesome configuration as of 3.2.1 release does not have any status indicators (like wireless network status, battery indicators, etc.), users can add these items using widgets. Data for the widgets is supplied using arbitrary Lua code since widgets are defined in the main configuration file.
Migration to XCB.
The 3.0 version, released September 18, 2008, uses the XCB library to communicate with the X server, making awesome the first window manager to use this library instead of Xlib. Work on the XCB port was started by Arnaud Fontaine, one of the current Awesome developers, in January 2008.
Arnaud Fontaine announced the move to XCB on the XCB mailing list on April 9, 2008. In his message to the list, he emphasized the following as main advantages of using XCB: "modular architecture; direct access to the protocols; multithreading; asynchronous requests/replies;". The XCB port was completed the following month and Danjou created a new branch based on XCB.
Lua integration.
Because of the perceived problems that limited expanding and customization in pre-3.0 version of awesome, the author decided to integrate Lua-based configuration into awesome. The rc1 of the new Lua-scriptable implementation was announced in August 2008. In September 2008, the first version of awesome with Lua API completed in parallel with XCB implementation.
Distribution package availability.
awesome is distributed on a wide range of Unix-like operating systems, including Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora Linux, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Source Mage GNU/Linux, openSUSE, Mageia, NixOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD.
Named releases.
AwesomeWM versions 1.0 through 1.3 (September–October 2007) were not named. Starting with the first 2.0 release candidate (November 2007), awesome has used named releases. The release names are related to music. AwesomeWM v4.x uses song name from Daft Punk.


Nikon D3400

The Nikon D3400 is a 24.2-megapixel DX format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera officially launched by Nikon on August 17, 2016. It is marketed as an entry-level DSLR camera for beginners and experienced DSLR hobbyists. It replaces the D3300 as Nikon's entry level DSLR.
Nikon offers a body/lens kit combinations that varies from country to country. In most countries the D3400 is available with an AF-P 18-55 mm kit lens that includes Nikon's image stabilization (Vibration Reduction, VR). In the US there is an unusual two lens kit option offered only with the black body. The 18–55 mm lens has VR but the second lens being a 70–300 mm is the non-VR variant for a total of US$999.
The D3400 is available in a black or red body.
The D3400 was superseded as Nikon's entry-level camera by the D3500 in August 2018.


Doug Neubauer

Doug Neubauer is an American integrated circuit designer, video game designer, and programmer best known for the logic design on Atari's POKEY chip and designing and programming the 1979 video game "Star Raiders" which became the killer app for the Atari 8-bit family.
The POKEY chip is one of three custom coprocessors created for the Atari 8-bit computers. POKEY handles potentiometer (paddle) controllers and the keyboard—the name is a combination of "POtentiometer" and "KEYboard"—as well as generating four channels of 8-bit audio. It also serves as the audio chip in many arcade games, such as "Missile Command" and "Centipede".
Games.
Wanting to create an action-oriented game inspired by "Star Wars" and "Star Trek", Neubauer designed "Star Raiders" in eight to ten months while working for Atari, Inc. He reported that it took him six months to reach the highest player level during development.
In the early 1980s Neubauer moved from Atari computer line to the Atari 2600 because that's where the money was being made. He developed three cartridges for Fox Video Games under the pseudonym Dallas North: "Megaforce", "Alien" (based on the movie), and "M*A*S*H" (based on the TV series). He was working on a game for Atari in 1984 to be based on "The Last Starfighter" film, but it was cancelled when Atari was bought by Jack Tramiel. In 1986, Atari Corporation showed new interest in the game, and it was published as "Solaris" for the Atari 2600. Despite being released for simpler hardware, the game is a spiritual sequel to "Star Raiders" that is more advanced than the computer original.
Neubauer's final two games for the 2600 were "Super Football" (1988) and "Radar Lock" (1989), both published by Atari Corporation.
He later was developing a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System with the working title of "Solarian Patrol". The graphics were scanned images of spaceships kitbashed from commercial model kits. The project was never completed.


Ballistix

Ballistix is a video game created by Martin Edmondson for the Amiga and Atari ST and published by Psyclapse in 1989. It was also converted to a number of other home computers in the same year and the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 console in 1991. It is a fictional futuristic sport involving directing a puck to a goal by shooting small balls at it.
Gameplay.
The game is a unique futuristic sport which has been compared variously to pinball, the board game Crossfire and shove ha'penny. The player controls a cursor that can fire a stream of small balls. These are used to direct a puck across a court to score a goal. In the two-player game, this is hindered by your opponent, aiming for the opposite goal. In the single-player game, a form of gravity is the opposition.
The game starts with a simple court but it gets progressively more difficult with added obstacles, simple mazes and bonus items. There are 130 courts in total (64 on the C64, 30 on the BBC/Electron). A court is completed when either player scores three goals. If the computer wins in the single-player game, that is game over although the game can be restarted from the same court. Goals can score a range of points depending on how far out they are scored from.
The display is an overhead view showing a small section of the court that scrolls to follow the puck.
Development and release.
The game was developed by Martin Edmondson for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was ported to MS-DOS and Commodore 64 with these four versions being published by the Psygnosis sub-label Psyclapse in 1989. It was also converted to the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron by Peter Scott and released for those platforms by Superior Software, also in 1989. In 1991, it was released for the TuboGrafx-16 (published by Psygnosis in the US) / PC Engine (published by Coconuts Japan in Japan). The cover image designed by Melvyn Grant was originally used for the 1981 novel "The Steel Tsar" and also the 1984 reissue of Judas Priest album "Rocka Rolla".
Reception.
"Computer Gaming World" stated "many of the levels did not seem particularly creative", but nonetheless recommended the game based on the quality of the graphics and sound, and the many game options. Roland Waddilove in Electron User gave the game a score of 9/10, concluding ""Ballistix" is original, fun and very addictive". Mark Heley in CU Amiga said the game was "well up to the usual excellent standards of Psygnosis's releases", giving a score of 76%. Zzap!64 praised the "attractive, sharp and very fast moving" graphics and found the two-player game "fun" but were less impressed with the one-player option, awarding an overall score of 72%.


Fish (Unix shell)

fish is a Unix shell with a focus on interactivity and usability. Fish is designed to give the user features by default, rather than by configuration. Fish is considered an exotic shell since it does not rigorously adhere to POSIX shell standards, at the discretion of the maintainers.
Highlights.
Fish has "search as you type" automatic suggestions based on history and current directory.
This is essentially like Bash's history search, but because it is always on instead of being a separate mode, the user gets continuous feedback while writing the command line, and can select suggestions with the arrow keys, or as in Bash, press for a tab completion instead. Tab-completion is feature-rich, expanding file paths (with wildcards and brace expansion), variables, and many command specific completions. Command-specific completions, including options with descriptions, can to some extent be generated from the commands' manpages.
Fish has few syntactic rules, preferring features as commands rather than syntax. This makes features discoverable in terms of commands with options and help texts. Functions can also carry a human readable description. A special "help" command gives access to all the fish documentation in the user's web browser.
Syntax.
The syntax resembles a POSIX compatible shell (such as Bash), but deviates in important ways where the creators believe the POSIX shell was badly designed.
> set foo bar
> echo $foo
bar
> set wd (pwd)
> echo $wd
> set A 3 5 7 9 12
> set B $A[1 2]
> echo $B
3 5
> echo $A[(seq 3)]
3 5 7
> set --erase A[$B]
> echo $A
3 5 9
> for i in *.jpg
 convert $i (basename $i .jpg).png
 end
> for i in *.jpg; convert $i (basename $i .jpg).png; end
> while read line
 set arr (echo $line|tr : \n)
 echo $arr[5]
 end < /etc/passwd
No implicit subshell.
Some language constructs, like pipelines, functions and loops, have been implemented using so called subshells in other shell languages. Subshells are simply child programs that run a few commands for the shell and then exit. Unfortunately, this implementation detail typically has the side effect that any state changes made in the subshell, such as variable assignments, do not propagate to the main shell, which may surprise the user. Fish never forks off so-called subshells; all builtins are always fully functional.
> cat *.txt | read line
Variable assignment example.
This Bash example does not do what it looks like: because the loop body is a subshell, the update to codice_1 is not persistent.
found="
cat /etc/fstab | while read dev mnt rest; do
 if test "$mnt" = "/"; then
 found="$dev"
 fi
done
Workaround:
found="
while read dev mnt rest; do
 if test "$mnt" = "/"; then
 found="$dev"
 fi
done < /etc/fstab
Fish does not need a workaround:
set found "
cat /etc/fstab | while read dev mnt rest
 if test "$mnt" = "/"
 set found $dev
 end
end
Helpful error messages.
Error messages in fish are designed to actually tell the user what went wrong and what can be done about it.
> foo=bar
fish: Unknown command “foo=bar”. Did you mean “set VARIABLE VALUE”?
For information on setting variable values, see the help section on
the set command by typing “help set”.
> echo ${foo}bar
fish: Did you mean {$VARIABLE}? The '$' character begins a variable
name. A bracket, which directly followed a '$', is not allowed as a
part of a variable name, and variable names may not be zero characters
long. To learn more about variable expansion in fish, type “help
expand-variable”.
> echo $(pwd)
fish: Did you mean (COMMAND)? In fish, the '$' character is only used
for accessing variables. To learn more about command substitution in
fish, type “help expand-command-substitution”.
Universal variables.
Fish has a feature known as universal variables, which allow a user to permanently assign a value to a variable across all the user's running fish shells. The variable value is remembered across logouts and reboots, and updates are immediately propagated to all running shells.
> set --universal EDITOR emacs
> set --universal fish_color_cwd blue
Other features.
Version 2 adds:


Liverpool Software Gazette

Liverpool Software Gazette was a short-lived computer magazine published by Microdigital Ltd, a company who were based in Liverpool, England and run by Bruce Everiss.
History.
The magazine was in print for only eight issues of which the last was a double issue. Issues were bi-monthly from November 1979 to February 1981 though the last was actually dated February/April 1981. Initially costing 50p, the price increased to 75p by the fifth edition while the final double edition cost £1.50. The page count started at around 50 though by the fifth edition had reached 100 pages.
The pressure of running both Microdigital and the magazine soon took its toll on the company, and the magazine was put up for sale during the final edition. It was sold to and incorporated into an Apple magazine where all non-Apple content was immediately dropped.
The magazine was intended for an audience of sophisticated and experienced computer users and tackled a wide range of subjects from languages, machine code and CPUs, systems (both large and small), games, programming techniques, astronomy. In many cases the articles went far deeper than those normally tackled by the computer magazines of the day.
Content.
There were some regular columns such as Pets Corner (for the Commodore PET), Apple Pips (for the Apple II), Nascom Notes and Nybbles (small BASIC tips and routines).
Below are some of the contents from each of the issues. Note the general term for computers back then was Microcomputers (sometimes spelt as two words). In some cases the original spelling/typos have been left intact.
Issue 1:
Issue 2:
Issue 3:
Issue 4:
Issue 5:
Issue 6 (Pascal special):
Issue 7 (CP/M special):
Issue 8/9:
Notable articles.
The article in issue number 4, "Architectural software on the cheap" was contributed by Paul Coates, then working in the School of Architecture at Liverpool Polytechnic. In the opinion of the author, this was one of the earliest examples of the serious use of cheap micros for CAD. In those days the conventional wisdom was that CAD required a much larger computer and expensive graphics hardware. The article illustrated the use of the relatively cheap combination of a PET micro and an A3 plotter for generating floor plans, shadow casting and daylight calculation. The work illustrated was funded by a small RIBA (The Royal Institute of British Architects) grant for teaching architecture using computers.
The article on TCL Pascal in issue 6 was by Anne Scott and John Stout.


Sigma DP2 Merrill

The Sigma DP2 Merrill is a high-end compact digital camera made by Sigma Corporation. It features a 46-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor (4704 × 3136 × 3 layers) and a 30mm f/2.8 fixed lens (45mm in 35mm equivalent focal length).
Software.
Sigma Photo Pro.
Postprocessing of raw X3F and JPEG of all digital SIGMA cameras
Version 6.x is a free download for Windows 7+ and Mac OS from Version 10.7 (6.3.x). Actual versions are 6.5.4 (Win 7+) and 6.5.5 (MacOSX 10.9+).


MouseText

MouseText is a set of 32 graphical characters designed by Bruce Tognazzini and first implemented in the Apple IIc. They were then retrofitted to the Apple IIe forming part of the Enhanced IIe upgrade. A slightly revised version was then released with the Apple IIgs.
By including box-drawing characters, MouseText made it possible to display simple text user interfaces resembling the Macintosh graphical user interface. Since the Apples lacked the ability to display user-defined characters in text mode, all GUI-like displays beyond crude ASCII art approximations had to use the slower and more memory-hungry graphical mode before MouseText was available. MouseText resulted in an eightfold increase in display speed for mouse applications, bringing such text-based applications as word processors up to the same speed as the original Macintosh. Word processors running on the two computers would not be confused with one another, however, as the mouse under MouseText would move in discrete jumps from character cell to character cell, rather than the smooth movement of the Macintosh, and text was still monospaced.
Running Man.
The original version of MouseText in the Apple IIc included a depiction of a figure running, perhaps to portray the action of running a program. This icon was later found to be unnecessary, and Tognazzini sent a letter to "Call-A.P.P.L.E." magazine warning developers not to use them, as they would be replaced.
The MouseText characters replaced a redundant set of inverse uppercase characters (@,A..Z,[,\,],^,_) in the Alternate character set.
Accessing MouseText characters.
There are two main ways to put MouseText characters on the screen.
For example, in Applesoft BASIC the following code fragment will display the MouseText representation of a folder:
]PR#3
]INVERSE : PRINT CHR$(27);"XY";CHR$(24); : NORMAL
Inclusion in Unicode.
Version 13.0 of the Unicode Standard, released March 2020, includes many (but not all) of the MouseText characters in the Symbols for Legacy Computing block.
� Not proposed for Unicode


Leningrad (computer)


Countdown to Doom

Countdown to Doom is a text adventure game written by Peter Killworth for the BBC Micro and published by Acornsoft in 1982. It is set on the planet Doomawangara, which is coyly shortened to "Doom". An Acorn Electron version was released in 1984 but only as a ROM cartridge for the Plus 1 expansion. This was the only game released exclusively as a ROM cart for the Electron. There are two sequels, both published by Topologika: "Return to Doom" and "Last Days of Doom".
Topologika rereleased "Countdown to Doom" in 1987, expanding the scope of the game by about 50%. It was published for the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, ZX Spectrum, IBM PC compatibles, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Atari ST, and RM Nimbus. A RISC OS version was published in a compilation with "Return to Doom" and "Philosopher's Quest".
Plot.
The player's spaceship crash-lands on Doom's inhospitable surface and they emerge from the wreckage to realise that, unless they can locate the necessary spare parts, their ship will corrode away in a mere 400 time units.


Freeze (command)


Burroughs B20

The B20 was a line of microcomputers from Burroughs Corporation. The systems, introduced in 1982, consist of two models: the B21 and the B22. The B20 computers were rebadged Convergent Technologies AWS workstations incorporating an Intel 8086 CPU. They ran the BTOS operating system, which was a version of Convergent's CTOS, as well as CP/M and MS-DOS.
Systems supported up to 640 KB of RAM. The B22 included a mass storage unit with a capacity of up to 60 MB.
The Burroughs B25, a rebadged Convergent NGEN system with an Intel 80186 CPU, was introduced in 1983. The B26 was introduced in 1984, and a B28 system followed based on the Intel 80286 CPU.


Rance (series)

Rance is a role-playing video-game series created, developed, and published by AliceSoft. It is the oldest continually-running erotic video-game series. The first installment, "Rance – Quest for Hikari –", was released in 1989, while the last main-series game, "Rance X – Showdown –", was released in 2018.
The "Rance" series follows the titular character, Rance, as he saves a number of kingdoms, defeats demon invaders, and causes mischief in the in-game world, "The Continent." He has appeared in most of the main series games as the playable character, accompanied by his loyal slave, Sill Plain. The main series has ten full games, with two "Rance IV" followups, while the "Kichikuou Rance" ("Brutal King Rance") is an alternative-universe spin-off. In addition, the first three games, "Rance – Quest for Hikari –", "Rance II – The Rebellious Maidens –"and "Rance III – Fall of Leazas –" have been retro-actively superseded by their later-released versions, "Rance 01 – Quest for Hikari –", "Rance 02 – The Rebellious Maidens –" and "Rance 03 – Fall of Leazas –".
Games.
"Rance – Quest for Hikari –".
Rance is given the task of finding and protecting the daughter of a rich family by Keith Gold, the owner of a local guild to which Rance is attached; he appears in almost all of the "Rance" series games. Rance investigates the city, while Sill investigates at the all-girls Paris Academy, where the kidnapping victim attended school. The first game made by AliceSoft, it was released on the PC-8800 and PC-9800 series of computers, as well as the Sharp X68000, the MSX 2 and 2+, the FM TOWNS, and the PC88VA. A Windows 95–03 version of the game was released in the late 1990s, about eight years after the first game was released.
"Rance 01 – Quest for Hikari –".
"Rance 01 – Quest for Hikari –", released for Windows in 2013, has the same setting as "Rance – Hikari Quest –", and replaces the latter in the main canon. The game featured an improved gameplay system, and features more new content from "Rance – Quest for Hikari –" comparatively to "Rance 02 – The Rebellious Maidens –", the re-release of "Rance II – The Rebellious Maidens –". The game was officially released in English by MangaGamer in 2020.
"Rance II – The Rebellious Maidens –".
The city of Kathtom, a member of the Free Cities Alliance, is suddenly entombed under-ground by the Four Mages who were tasked to guard the town by Ragishss Cryhausen, the city's former guardian. Rance sets out with Sill to defeat them, but soon learns that their minds were corrupted by the power of the rings that they wield. Rance sets out to prevent them from receiving the magic power the rings grant. It was released on the same computer systems as the first "Rance" game was.
"Rance 02 – The Rebellious Maidens –".
A graphical re-make of "Rance II – The Rebellious Maidens –", released for Windows in 2009. It was the genesis for the other early "Rance" series game re-releases. It did not contain as much new content as the next re-release, "Rance 01 – Quest for Hikari –". Later released Kai version includes the completely rewritten script to better fit the main canon.
"Rance III – The Fall of Leazas –".
Leazas, a kingdom ruled by Queen Lia, who marries Rance in the "Brutal King Rance" time-line, is invaded by the warring empire of Helman, to the west. Demons are believed to be the cause of the attack, and to solve that problem, Rance sets out to find the "Chaos" sword, which contains the soul of an incredible thief from about one and one-half millennia ago. It was released on the PC-9800 series of computers, along with Sharp X68000 and the FM TOWNS; an early Windows release, similar to those that the first two "Rance" games received, was also released.
"Rance 03 – The Fall of Leazas –".
A complete re-creation of "Rance III – The Fall of Leazas –", released for Windows in 2015. The graphics are renewed, while the story is changed to better fit into the main canon. It is the most advanced of the early "Rance" re-releases.
"Rance IV – The Legacy of the Sect –".
This game directly follows the events of its predecessor. Rance, having defeated the demons of Helman and saved Leazas, is teleported to Ylapu, a giant floating island above Leazas. There, Rance must find a way to escape from the island, but is hindered by agents of Leazas and Helman who come to retrieve him to The Continent. The legacy alluded to by the game's title is a powerful magical artifact left by the Holy Magic Sect. It was released for the PC-9800 series and the FM TOWNS.
"Rance 4.1 ~ Save the Medicine Plant! ~".
Rance accepts a quest to stop a horde of under-ground monsters from attacking the Happiness Pharmaceutical building, where the Seirogan, a healing medicine, is produced. They discover that the perpetrators are the Angel Army; one of their commanders escapes, which begins the next game, "Rance 4.2 ~ Angel Army ~".
"Rance 4.2 ~ Angel Army ~".
In a continuance of the previous game, "Rance 4.1 ~ Save the Medicine Plant! ~", Rance chases down the remainder of the Angel Army, while himself being chased after by an assassination group and three "Rare Gal-Monsters," a class of unique enemies that he offended in "Rance IV – The Legacy of the Sect –". The two games were released for the PC-9800 series, with a separate on-disc version.
"Brutal King Rance".
The game was assumed to be the final in the "Rance" series, and one of the final AliceSoft games; however, its great popularity allowed the company to continue its production of games. Rance, bored of his normal life, gathers a group of outlaw bandits and takes over some towns in southern Helman. The imperial army quickly puts down Rance's rebellion and take Sill captive; however, he escapes to Leazas, where he marries the country's queen to become a tyrant "brutal king," commanding his own army to seek his revenge on Helman. Large opposition forces arise tried to remove the tyrant ruler from power; yet, Rance continues his trials to re-assert his power as the King of Leazas, retrieve Sill from Helman control, and take over the world. Rance, in fulfilling his general "rôle" as an epic hero, saves The Continent from destruction by a greater evil. It is the first territory acquisition-based "Rance" game, and was the genesis for other similarly-designed games. It was also the first AliceSoft game released for Windows, instead of any number of Japanese computer systems. All other "Rance" games to-date have been released for Windows.
"Rance 5D – The Lonely Girl –".
The temporary stop in the production of "Rance" games, including the release of "Daiakuji" a year prior, led to the largest time-gap in-between the release of two "Rance" games. "Rance 5D – Lonely Girl –" is based on a unique roulette system, where the role-playing elements are determined by randomisation. In the game, Rance is travelling through The Continent, trying to recover the always-lacking money, when Rance and Sill accidentally enter Genbu Castle, a separate dimension. Rance et al. must then escape the dimension, with a newly-found woman, Rizna Lanfbitt of Zeth.
"Rance VI – Collapse of Zeth –".
Rance, continuing his trials from "Rance 5D – The Lonely Girl –", travels to Zeth, a kingdom to the south-west of Leazas. He offends Radon, a high governmental official, and is sent to the slave camp; Sill, who he bought from the Zeth slave camp, is treated very kindly. Whilst within the Zeth slave camp, Rance joins the resistance group "Ice Flame," which seeks to change the un-equal governing system of Zeth, which is biased against non-magic users. "Rance VI – Collapse of Zeth –" is considered to be one of the best games in the "Rance" series, which is helped by the continuance of the game from the "Brutal King Rance" time-line.
"Warring-States Rance".
Rance sets out for JAPAN, an island archipelago to the east of The Continent, which is modeled after the Warring-States Period of Japanese history. The original English translation of this game, that of Yandere Translations, gave the "Rance" series, and AliceSoft in general, a noticeable presence in the western world. Warring-States "Rance", also known by its title in Japanese, "Sengoku Rance", and as Rance VII, was one of AliceSoft's best-selling titles of all time. In the game, Rance, having taken control of one of the feudal states, seeks to take over JAPAN through his control of the state, and save it from destruction.
"Rance Quest – Rance Quest –".
Also known as Rance VIII, a continuation of the previous game, "Warring-States Rance", wherein Rance returns to The Continent to seek a cure for the curse placed on Sill. While attempting to convince the Queen of Pencilcow, a kingdom to the west of Leazas, to cure Sill, he offends her, and she places a curse on him that he must become much stronger to overcome. He then journeys around The Continent, seeking a cure for himself and Sill. The game is based more upon the cessation of the stories of individual characters rather than a more continuous story-line.
"Rance Quest MAGNUM".
An expansion of "Rance Quest – Rance Quest –", this game follows Rance as he quests around The Continent to break the curse incurred upon himself in the previous game. The game focuses on the addition of sundry quests, through which Rance can adventure, ostensibly to cure his curse, although primarily in practice to assuage the effects of the curse.
"Rance IX – The Helmanian Revolution –".
The government of Helman has fallen into the hands of Stessel Ignon, who corrupts the country and plans to take over the entirety of The Continent. A revolutionary force gathers, seeking to replace the former emperor to the throne, and they solicit the aid of Rance, who agrees, hoping to remove Sill's curse. The Prime Minister, Stessel, has been planning this, and his actions have been seen earlier in the "Rance" series; he pushed for the war between Helman and Leazas in the events of "Rance III – The Fall of Leazas –".
"Rance X – Showdown –".
The last game in the "Rance" series, it was released on 23 February 2018. The war amongst the demon lords of the Monster Realm has ended, and they now invade the human realm, to their east. Rance leads the combined forces of all humanity to battle the attacking demons. It is known to have the biggest video game script ever created.
Characters.
The "Rance" series has featured a large number of characters throughout its installments. A number of characters are shown below.
The main playable and the titular character of the "Rance" series. He is a powerful warrior who was created to the "kichiku" character archetype. He was based out of a town in the Free Cities Alliance, where he accepts jobs from Keith's Guild when he is low on money. He lives in the "Rance Castle," which he had built after the events of "Rance Quest – Rance Quest –". The games generally feature quests and other missions that he embarks upon to gain or regain the money he has lost.
A powerful magic user that generally accompanies Rance on his quests. He bought her from a slave camp in Zeth, where she was born; she now must travel with him wherever he goes. She was frozen in ice at the end of "Warring-States Rance" and freed at the end of "Rance IX – The Helmanian Revolution –".
An organic-base android that functions as a pet to Rance. An accident during her creation caused her to have lower intelligence and an inability to gain a higher level. She was created in the events of "Rance IV – The Legacy of the Sect –". She is a noted magic user, although she is not as powerful as Sill due to her limitations.
The Queen of Leazas, who married Rance in "Brutal King Rance". She brought a new age of prosperity to the kingdom, which led to an antagonism en-brewed amongst a number of foreign countries and noblemen. She became the queen after her two brothers were killed in a succession dispute. She grants her hand-maiden, Maris Amaryllis, a large amount of governing power, whilst regularly taking maidens by way of her JAPANese ninja, Kentou Kanami. Her taking was eventually stopped by Rance.
A JAPANese ninja acquired by Queen Lia Leazas after she got lost on The Continent. She is generally engaged in assisting the queen in getting the affection of Rance, although she was used to gather maidens until the events of "Rance – Quest for Hikari –".
A magic user, originally from Zeth; she is first encountered by Rance in the Genbu Castle dimension in "Rance 5D – The Lonely Girl –" when he accidentally enters there. She is incredibly naïve, and that naïveté caused her a lot of pain while trapped in the alternate dimension; while a kind spirit helped her, it was Rance that enabled her to escape. She is now in the protection of the King of Zeth, a childhood friend of hers whom she knew before she was imprisoned.
A noted business-women, who seeks to marry Rance to increase her luck. She was born as a miko, but after predicting her own future as one of great misfortune, became obsessed with luck and wealth; this caused her to strive towards business, where she succeeded. She is first encountered in "Rance 5D – The Lonely Girl –", while seeking a man who has great luck.
The leader of the Zeth resistance group Ice Flame. She is introduced to Rance when he enters the Zeth slave camp in "Rance VI – Collapse of Zeth –", and takes control of her resistance group. The game continues, Zeth is made more equal, and the resistance groups is disbanded. She becomes one of the Four Lords who guard Zeth, the first non-magic user to do so.
The Muralaloux of the AL Church, the dominant religion on The Continent. She first appeared in "Rance Quest – Rance Quest –" as a bishop in the church; she became the Muralaloux when the former one, Duran Teyuran, died. She has a great knowledge of curses, and helped free Sill from her curse at the ending of "Rance IX – The Helmanian Revolution –".
She was saved by Rance whilst being attacked by monsters during the events of "Rance Quest – Rance Quest –" and turned into a slave. She is a member of the AL Church, and is very respectful to Crook, the church's Muralaloux. She is a very powerful guard in combat.
A former prince of Helman, who led the war against Leazas in the events of "Rance III – The Fall of Leazas –". He has a major "rôle" in "Rance IX – The Helmanian Revolution –", where Rance aids him in a large force seeking to take back the country from its current, corrupt state.
OVA.
A hentai OVA based upon the series, "Rance: Sabaku no Guardian", was released on December 25, 1993. It was not directly related to the events of any game in the series. It consisted of two episodes.
A second original video animation series, "Rance 01: Hikari wo Motomete The Animation", was an adaptation of the re-release of the first game, "Rance 01 – Quest for Hikari –", and was released from December 26, 2014 to June 24, 2016. Consisting of four episodes, the OVA was directed by Takashi Nishikawa and animated by studio Seven.


SGI IRIS 4D

The SGI IRIS 4D series was a line of workstations from Silicon Graphics built in the late-1980s through mid-1990s. They were the first SGI workstations to use the MIPS architecture. The line culminated with the Crimson which was produced until 1997.


IOS 7

iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 18 of that year. It was succeeded by iOS 8 on September 17, 2014.
iOS 7 introduced a completely redesigned user interface, a design credited to a team led by Apple's former senior vice president of design, Jony Ive. The new look, featuring flatter icons, a new slide-to-unlock function, and new animations, was described by Ive as "profound and enduring beauty in simplicity". The new design was implemented throughout the operating system, including the Notification Center, which was updated with three tabs offering different views of information; notifications visible on the lock screen; a redesigned Siri voice assistant offering visual indicators; and a Control Center offering easy access to the most commonly used features. iOS 7 also introduced AirDrop, a wireless sharing technology; CarPlay, phone and car integration; and automatic app updates in the App Store.
Reception of iOS 7 was mixed. The new design language was criticized, with critics noting the implementation of design changes rather than actual productivity improvements, and citing examples such as animations delaying access, lack of icon consistency, and buttons being hidden as negative aspects of the user experience. The addition of the Control Center was praised, as were updates to Siri and multitasking. Shortly after release, there were reports of the new design causing sickness, a trend explained as being caused by animations with similar effects as car sickness.
User adoption of iOS 7 was fast. Its iOS market share was reported to be as high as 35% after one day, and installed on 200 million devices within 5 days, which Apple stated was "the fastest software upgrade in history."
History.
Introduction and initial release.
iOS 7 was introduced at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013. A beta release was made available to registered developers after the announcement.
iOS 7 was officially released on September 18, 2013.
System features.
Design.
iOS 7 introduced a complete visual overhaul of the user interface. With "sharper, flatter icons, slimmer fonts, a new slide-to-unlock function, and a new control panel that slides up from the bottom of the screen for frequently accessed settings", the operating system also significantly redesigned the standard pre-installed apps from Apple. Jonathan Ive, Apple's head of design, commented that "There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation - it's about bringing order to complexity. ... iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system." The background colour of the Boot screen matches the device's front bezel colour of white or black, with the oppositely coloured brand logo.
AirDrop.
iOS 7 introduced AirDrop, a wireless sharing technology accessible from the share icon, which lets users send files from their local device to other, nearby iOS devices. It can be enabled in the Control Center, with options for controlling its discovery by other devices, including Off, Contacts Only, and Everyone.
At launch, AirDrop was only available on the iPhone 5 and later, fourth-generation iPad and later, all iPad Minis, and the fifth-generation iPod Touch.
Control Center.
iOS 7 introduced the Control Center, a menu that users can access by swiping up from the bottom of the screen, providing access to frequently used settings such as Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb Mode, and Rotation Lock. There is a slider for adjusting screen brightness, controls for music playback, along with a volume slider. A Flashlight toggle is also available, as is an icon for quickly accessing the camera.
Notification Center.
iOS 7 overhauled the Notification Center, with both visual and functional changes. It has three tabs; "Today" (information on what's coming during the day), "All", and "Missed". Notifications are now visible on the phone's lock screen, and notifications are synchronized across devices, so users don't need to dismiss the same notification multiple times on different devices.
App switcher.
iOS 7 expanded the screen for app switching. Users double-pressed the home button and were taken out of the current app for a view of full-screen thumbnails of recently accessed apps.
CarPlay.
CarPlay (formerly iOS in the Car), released as part of iOS 7.1, integrates with selected car models to offer phone interaction, including music controls and Maps navigation, through the car's display. Users can also talk to Siri to send messages hands-free. It supports all Lightning-equipped iPhones with iOS 7.1 or later.
Siri.
Siri features a new design where the assistant fades in with the background app being blurred. While speaking, visual vocal waves appear, that form into a spinning circle as the device communicates with Apple's servers. Siri can now control a limited set of device settings, including Bluetooth. The assistant can alternatively send the user directly to the settings menu if their query cannot be controlled by voice, or otherwise, displays an error if the request can't be processed. For searching the Internet, Bing became the default search engine, and Siri's web resources were expanded to include Wikipedia. Siri was also more deeply connected into Twitter, offering full tweet search.
iOS 7 also allowed the user to change Siri's gender, with new options for male and female voices.
Other.
Spotlight search is accessed by holding and dragging down the home screen.
iOS 7 came with new wallpapers that included a "Parallax" effect; the icons appear to be moving as the user moves the phone around, producing an "illusion that the icons are floating above the background wallpaper".
In Settings, users have the option to make custom vibrations for certain types of notifications, turn off the parallax wallpaper animation effect using a Reduce Motion setting, and block callers, with the block applying across multiple devices and apps, including Phone, Messages, and FaceTime.
On the home screen, newly installed apps and recently updated apps have a blue dot next to them until the user opens the app for the first time.
Folders are updated to incorporate different pages, similar to the home screen layout, allowing for a significant expansion of folder functionality. Each page of a folder can contain up to nine apps, and there can be 15 pages in total, allowing for a total of 135 apps in a single folder.
App features.
App Store.
The App Store received several significant changes in iOS 7. Users can enable automatic app updates. Users can now view a history of updates to each installed app. With location services enabled, the App Store has a Near Me tab that recommends popular apps based on the user's geographic location. It also became possible to download older versions of apps, in case new iOS versions left older devices incompatible for system updates, allowing users to maintain a working copy of the last supported update of each app.
Photos and Camera.
iOS 7 introduced a square photo mode for the Camera app, enabling "Instagram-style photos". Also new are live filters; nine different filter options that each change the photo's appearance. Further improvements to the camera included the ability to pinch-to-zoom during video recording, and a Burst mode for easily taking successive photos by holding the shutter button, causing the phone to take 10 frames per second. On the iPhone 5S, a slow-motion video option was added, with the ability to shoot a video at a high frame rate of 120 frames per second. All iPhones record slow motion video with audio. It can be edited in the Photos app, where users can decide where to start and end the slow-motion part.
The Photos app was updated with new categorization options. Three tabs on the bottom, "Photos", "Shared", and "Albums", each open to different app sections featuring galleries. On the main Photos interface, the app displays a timeline of all photos, sorted into "Years", "Collections", and "Moments". Filters were added, allowing users to choose from several types of filters to add to their photos. Alongside existing options for sharing pictures, the app was updated with support for the new AirDrop functionality.
Camera user interface.
The iOS 7 camera user interface has been redesigned. Elements such as the shutter button use flat design with simple geometrical shapes.
Switching between the camera modes is done using swiping gestures or tapping on the name of the mode (text) near the on-screen shutter button.
The camera user interfaces of all succeeding iOS versions are based on this layout and design introduced in iOS 7.
Camera controls.
The redesigned camera interface offers new controls for adjusting exposure value and locking the autofocus.
Tapping inside the viewfinder adjusts the focus and exposure to that area in the camera's field of view. In order to hold (lock) the current focus and exposure state, the desired location inside of the viewfinder can be tapped and held down for half a second. This is known as the ’’AE/AF lock" or "AF/AE lock’’.
After tapping, with or without locked focus/exposure, the exposure value can be adjusted by swiping up or down. In case "AE/AF lock" is activated, the exposure will be fixed indefinitely until unlocked manually.
These controls are also available during both normal and slow motion (high frame rate) video recording and also for both front camera photo and front camera video modes.
Music.
The Music app integrated Apple's iTunes Radio service; a station-based music service that let users choose an artist, with the service generating a "station" based on that and similar artists' songs. Users were able to skip songs and search through the history of previous songs, in addition to being able to purchase the songs directly from the iTunes Store while playing. iTunes Radio also had a feature that showed songs currently trending on Twitter. iTunes Radio was free and ad-supported, but users could subscribe to iTunes Match, that enabled ad-free playback.
After more than two years of release, iTunes Radio was eventually discontinued in January 2016, with the features moving to the new Apple Music music subscription service and Beats 1 radio station.
Safari.
In iOS 7, the Safari web browser received multiple significant updates. The two search bars found in previous iterations of the browser have been combined into a single "Smart Search" field. Tab management was improved to allow more than eight open tabs at once, as well as stacking tabs on top of each other vertically as opposed to a horizontal card view. The option to enter a Private tab was built into the app itself rather than in Settings menus, and a new "Do Not Track" button allows the user to further manage their privacy levels.
Maps.
Apple Maps now features turn-by-turn walking directions.
The design of Maps was updated to feature a full-screen view, where interface elements such as the search bar disappear from view, alongside new translucent search and lower toolbars, and a Night Mode that automatically activates when users drive at night. A separate Siri volume control is available in Maps, enabling users to "change the relative volume of Siri's voice feedback independently of the system volume, so it doesn't shout too loud over your background music".
Weather.
The Weather app on iOS 7 received significant changes, including a new icon, the absence of a static weather indicator on the app thumbnail on the home screen, and new dynamic, visual representations of the current weather.
FaceTime.
iOS 7 has its own FaceTime app on iPhone, with FaceTime Audio, a feature that allows users to call while on Wi-Fi. FaceTime Audio is accessible from the Phone app, the Contacts app, or the FaceTime app itself. It is available on devices running iOS 7 or later.
Messages.
The Messages app allows users to see timestamps for every message they have sent or received.
Reception.
The reception of iOS 7 was mixed. Mark Rogowsky of "Forbes" criticized multiple aspects of the new design, including the 3D effect on the home screen wallpaper, writing that "the interaction between iOS 7 and the screen background is challenging at best", and writing that the new overall design language for the operating system "now has your icons fly into the screen whenever you unlock it like some kind of videogame effect. It's pointless, delays your access to the phone by a fraction of a second and is arguably distracting". Joshua Topolsky of "The Verge" also criticized the design, noting lack of icon consistency in different parts of the OS, as well as writing that "instead of correcting issues with the notification panel and alerts, Apple has simply given them a fresh coat of paint and several layers of sub-navigation [...] doing nothing to actually speed up your productivity on the device."
The Nielsen Norman Group, a research company, wrote an extensive report on the user-experience of iOS 7, summarizing the report as "Flat design hides calls to action, and swiping around the edges can interfere with carousels and scrolling."
David Pogue of "The New York Times", however, liked the minimalist design of iOS 7, writing that "The longer you spend with the new OS, the more you're grateful for the fixing and de-annoyifying on display", and that "you can swipe upward from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center: a compact, visual palette of controls for the settings and functions you're most likely to need". He also praised the improvements to the Siri voice assistant, writing that Siri "is much better". He concluded by writing: "The structure, layout and features represent some of Apple's best work. The look of iOS 7 — well, that judgment is up to you."
Darrell Etherington of "TechCrunch" focused on many of the new features introduced, praising the Control Center as being "incredibly useful", AirDrop as being "great" (although noting the lack of interoperability between iOS and Mac at the time), Siri as being "more generally useful", and the new multitasking features as "smarter", with the multitasking screen being "much better". In conclusion, he wrote that "There's no question that iOS 7 will be a dramatic change from the iOS many users already know and love, but on balance it's an update packed with plenty of new features that make using Apple's mobile devices easier and more enjoyable".
Some critics noted the influence of competition from other mobile platforms on the design and functionality of iOS 7. Of note were the use of concepts from Android and Windows Phone, such as a similarly minimal and typographic design, Control Center being an equivalent to similar settings toggles on the notification shade of Android, a similar multitasking menu to WebOS, and even the design of the Weather app being almost identical to those on Windows 8 and HTC Sense. Sascha Segan of "PC Magazine" stated that "Apple's brilliance is in putting the pieces together and marketing them. Apple's developer APIs and its history of making money for developers still reign supreme—there's less piracy than on Android, and a bigger audience and more design flexibility than on Windows Phone."
The adoption rate of iOS 7 was reported to be as high as 35% after one day. Within five days, iOS 7 was installed on more than 200 million devices, which Apple claimed was "the fastest software upgrade in history." In August 2014, it was reported that 91% of iOS devices ran iOS 7 at the time.
Problems.
Design causing sickness.
In September 2013, Pranav Dixit of "Fast Company" reported about user complaints shared on Apple's support forums that the new design of iOS 7, including "many zoom animations while multitasking and opening and closing apps, in addition to a slight parallax effect" were causing users to feel sick. Dixit noted that while the parallax effect could be turned off, most animations did not have such an option.
Dr. George Kikano, "division chief of family medicine at UH Case Medical Center in Ohio", told Fox News that "There's some validity to this, for people who are susceptible." Fox News wrote that Dr. Kikano said "It's a new "parallax" function that causes the background of the phone to subtly move back and forth, a feature that leads to an effect not unlike car sickness. The inner ear is responsible for balance, the eyes for vision. When things are out of sync you feel dizzy, nauseous. Some people get it, some people don't, and some people get used to it."
Battery drain.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of "ZDNet" wrote in March 2014 that iPhone and iPad users reported battery drain with the iOS 7.1 update. In lab testing, Andrew Cunningham of "Ars Technica" found some hardware models experienced minor battery depletion, while others experienced no statistically significant changes.
Lock screen bypass.
Dom Esposito of "9to5Mac" reported in June 2014 that a new lock screen bypass method had been discovered in iOS 7, allowing access to the phone in "5 seconds under certain circumstances". The issue was later fixed.
Hoaxes.
During the iOS 7 release, fake advertisements claimed that the update would cause devices to become waterproof, and that AirDrop was a mechanism for protecting the device's screen from breaking when dropped.
Supported devices.
With this release, Apple dropped support for older devices, specifically the iPhone 3GS and the fourth-generation iPod Touch.


PineTab

The PineTab is a low-cost Linux tablet, developed by computer manufacturer Pine64.
Distribution History.
In May 2020, Pine64 announced the PineTab tablet, with optional detachable backlit keyboard. It is a 10" tablet based on the same technology as the PinePhone, but without the modem and kill switches of that model.


SmartComputing

Smart Computing was a monthly computing and technology magazine published by Sandhills Publishing Company in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. First released under the name PC Novice, it was published from 1990 to 2013.
Content.
The magazine featured articles, reviews of hardware and software, editorial content and classified advertising. It was geared more toward newer users than its sister publications, "Computer Power User" and "CyberTrend" (previously known as "PC Today").


Sound Manager

The Sound Manager is a part of the classic Apple Macintosh operating system, in Classic Mac OS. It is used to control the production and manipulation of sounds on Macintosh computers. The Sound Manager is also used by other parts of the Macintosh system software that produce sounds, such as the Speech Manager and QuickTime.
It was replaced by Core Audio in Mac OS X.


Pound (networking)

Pound is a lightweight open source reverse proxy program and application firewall suitable to be used as a web server load balancing solution. Developed by an IT security company, it has a strong emphasis on security. The original intent on developing Pound was to allow distributing the load among several Zope servers running on top of ZEO (Zope Extensible Object). However, Pound is not limited to Zope-based installations. Using regular expression matching on the requested URLs, Pound can pass different kinds of requests to different backend server groups. A few more of its most important features:
Pound is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License and can be used free of charge even in business environments.


Danger Ranger

Danger Ranger is a non-scrolling platform game designed by Ken Kalish and published in 1983 by Microdeal for the Dragon 32/64 and TRS-80 Color Computer. The game was ported to the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 by Rita Jay in 1984.
Gameplay.
The objective of the game is to traverse two different screens. In the first screen, consisting of five floors, the player must jump between platforms, collecting all the keys while avoiding bats and bullets. After collecting the tenth key, the player moves on to the second screen, walking on platforms and collecting treasure chests while avoiding acid rain drops and shooting deadly masks.
Once both screens are completed, they are repeated at a higher difficulty level.
Reception.
"Dragon User" reviewed the game in its April 1984 issue and stated that it is not Ken Kalish's best game, but it does show some originality. A reviewer for "Games Computing" found the Commodore 64 version to be "very difficult" in an October 1984 review.


The Games Machine (Italy)

The Games Machine, also known by the acronym TGM, is an Italian video game magazine that features previews, reviews and cheat codes.
History.
Launched in September 1988 as the Italian edition of the British magazine "The Games Machine" by the Milan-based publishing company "Xenia Edizioni". The publishing of the Italian edition has continued also after the close of the British edition, "The Games Machine" became one of the most popular video games magazine in Italy. In November 2005, the former owner sold the magazine to Future Media Italy, a division of Future Publishing, and in January 2007 was acquired by the Italian publishing company "Sprea Media Italy". In 2014, property of the magazine was transferred again, this time to Aktia SRL.
After a few years of co-existence with its historical rival magazines ("K" and "Zeta" in the 1990s, "Giochi per il Mio Computer" until 2012), today "TGM" is the only Italian PC gaming magazine. In August 2013, "The Games Machine" celebrated its 300th issue and its 25th anniversary, becoming the second longest-running videogame magazine in the world behind the Japanese "Famitsu", and the longest-running PC gaming magazine ever. The event also saw the relaunch of the magazine's website.


Nook Tablet

The Nook Tablet (sometimes styled NOOK Tablet) is a tablet e-reader/media player that was produced and marketed by Barnes & Noble. It followed the Nook Color and was intended to compete with both e-book readers and tablet computers.
Barnes & Noble announced the Nook Tablet 16 GB version on November 7, 2011; the device became available on November 17 for US$249. Barnes & Noble released the Nook Tablet 8 GB on February 21, 2012. Both versions have a 7-inch (18 cm) screen, a microSDHC slot compatible with cards up to 32 GB in size, 8 or 16 GB of internal storage, a 1 GHz dual-core processor, and a FAT32 file system. Additionally, the 16 GB model has 1 GB of RAM, ROM of 16 GB eMMC, and 11 GB of storage capacity; the 8 GB model has 512 MB of RAM and ROM of 8 GB eMMC. The Nook Tablet models were discontinued shortly after the release of the Nook HD and Nook HD+.
According to estimates by Forrester Research, about 5 million units were sold by mid-October 2012, making the Nook Tablet the third best selling tablet after Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle Fire in 2012.
Design.
The device is based on the Nook Color design by Yves Béhar from fuseproject. Its frame is gray in color, with an angled lower corner intended to evoke a turned page. The textured back is designed to make holding the device comfortable.
Comparison.
16 GB version.
The 16 GB version was announced on November 7, 2011, and became available on November 17 for US $249. Of the 16 GB internal storage, 13 GB is available for content, with only 1 GB available for sideloaded, non-Barnes & Noble content. Barnes & Noble announced that from March 12, 2012, users could bring their Nook Tablets 16 GB into stores for repartitioning to increase the internal storage for sideloaded content. On August 12, 2012, Barnes & Noble lowered the price to US$199 to compete with the Kindle Fire. On November 4, 2012, the price was further reduced to US$179.
8 GB version.
On February 22, 2012, Barnes & Noble released the Nook Tablet 8 GB at US $199 to compete with the Kindle Fire. The differences from the 16 GB model are: 512 MB RAM and 8 GB of internal storage, of which 5 GB is available for user content and 1 GB is reserved for NOOK Store content On August 12, 2012, Barnes & Noble lowered the price to $179. On November 4, 2012, the price was further reduced to US $159.
Modifying the Nook Tablet.
Rooting.
Developers have found means to root the device, which provides access to hidden files and settings, making it possible to run apps that require deep access to a file system or make changes to your device. For instance you can use apps such as Titanium Backup to back up or restore all of the apps on your device. Numerous websites offer downloadable software and step-by-step directions to do-it-yourselfers.</ref>
Third-party apps and firmware update 1.4.1.
When the Nook Tablet was first offered, users could install third-party apps. However, days before Christmas 2011, the forced over-the-air "firmware update from Barnes & Noble for the Nook Tablet and Nook Color — 1.4.1 — close[d] the loophole that allowed users to sideload any Android app and also [broke] root for those who’[d] gone that extra step to customize the device.
Alternative operating systems.
In addition to the stock firmware provided by Barnes and Noble, the Nook Tablet can run free, third-party, alternative Android operating systems such as CyanogenMod. These replacement distributions typically include advanced tablet features such as overclocking, a regular Android tablet interface, and access to competing app and content stores such as the Google Play and Amazon Appstore. Alternative operating systems may be run either from the emmc or via a microSD card, which allows multi-booting. When the card is in the slot, the Nook Tablet will start from the operating system on the SD card. Otherwise, it will boot from the emmc.
While much of the replacement firmware for the Nook Tablet is available via free downloads, and instructions are readily available to install to either external microSD cards or internal storage, pre-installed versions on microSD cards are also available for sale by vendors who have tested and developed error-free versions and instructions for the free software and offer it for a price and in some cases, along with customer service and user forums.


NYLAC Computers

NYLAC Computers refer to any computer built by the NYLAC computer company.
Company and name.
NYLAC computer company built a computer based on the Zilog Z-80 microprocessor. It was derived from the Rex computer built in Des Moines Iowa. Nylac was founded by Gary Martin, although to customers and dealers NYLAC stood for "Now You've Looked At Computers" that was a bacronym. Actually the name of the company was derived from joining the two words Nyla (Gary's wife's name) and Univac an early computer.
Construction and technical specifications.
The motherboard consisted of a Z-80 microprocessor running at 4mhz, an 8257/8275 memory mapped video controller address at 0xF800, and an 8251 serial controller for IO. There were six S-100 bus interfaces one of which was filled with a 5 inch disc controller card.
The cabinet was filled with a 13" CRT display, a liner power supply, two 5 inch floppy drives (later versions used dual headed drives). Toward the end of production, NYLACs were built with a 5 megabyte 5 inch hard drive to replace one of the floppies.
The Nylac Computer used the CP/M disk operating system.


STARAN

STARAN might be the first commercially available computer designed around an associative memory. The STARAN computer was designed and built by Goodyear Aerospace Corporation. It is a Content Addressable Parallel Processor (CAPP), a type of parallel processor which uses content addressable memory. STARAN is a single instruction, multiple data array processor with a 4x256 1-bit processing element (PE) computer. The STARAN machines became available in 1972.
Goodyear Aerospace later developed the MPP based on similar principles but with a larger and wider processor array.


ASCII Express

ASCII Express is a telecommunications program, written for the Apple II series of computers. At a time when the use of the bulletin board system (BBS), or even telecommunications in general wasn't a common use of the Apple II, ASCII Express (from hereon as its more common name "AE") was the choice among telecommunication users throughout much of the 1980s.
ASCII Express II.
The original version of AE, called "ASCII Express II", was written by Bill Blue in 1980, and distributed by Southwestern Data Systems. AE II runs on any Apple II with DOS 3.x and one of a small handful of modems available, including the Hayes Micromodem II. This version was used mostly by telecommers to access paid BBSs, including THE SOURCE, CompuServe, as well as free BBSs. The interface of AE II is basically menu-driven, with virtually none of the features included that is expected of a telecomm program today, such as terminal emulation and multi-file transfer protocols like YMODEM and ZMODEM.
ASCII Express the Professional.
By 1982, ASCII Express II ceased development, and was replaced by a totally re-written replacement called "ASCII Express "The Professional"", also known as "ASCII Express Professional" or its much shorter name "AE Pro". This version was a collaboration between Bill Blue and Mark Robbins. AE Pro was a command-line driven telecomm program packed with many features lacking in its predecessor, including scripting, YMODEM and ZMODEM, terminal emulation, and support for Apple ProDOS 8. AE Pro can also be used as a pseudo-BBS when configured as a host, allowing a user to dial-in and exchange files. This type of system was coined the name "AE line".
Earlier versions of AE Pro were distributed by Roger Wagner of Southwestern Data Systems, and later by United Software Industries (founded by Mark Robbins, Bill Blue and others). Greg Schaefer converted AE Pro from Apple DOS 3.3 to Apple ProDOS in an afternoon, and received US$5000 for his efforts.
In 1984 Bill Blue and Joe Holt ported AE Pro to MS-DOS and 8086 assembly language. In 1985 Joe Holt and Greg Schaefer rewrote AE Pro for the Apple II taking advantage of the platform's new mouse and MouseText features. It also featured advanced scripting and a full-featured mouse-based text editor. This product was released as MouseTalk. AE Pro and MouseTalk were soon overshadowed by ProTERM, a telecomm product that utilizes many of the advanced features of the Apple IIe and IIc, such as 65C02 opcodes, use of the mouse, and macros.
The dawn of peer to peer file sharing.
The early 1980s was the period when modeming was becoming very active throughout the world. Hundreds of Apple II-based BBSs popped up, most of them used only as message boards. With the aid of free Apple II hacking software like Dalton's Disk Disintegrator (DDD), computer users were able to take an un-protected floppy disk, compress it into multiple files, then transmit those files to another user. This was actually one of several origins of what is known today as peer-to-peer file transfers.
While other Apple II-based telecomm programs, such as DiskFur and CatFur, allowed for complete disk and file transfers, there was a need for a portal concept - one that is hosted using a BBS as its entry point. This way, a community including software enthusiasts and those who trade in unlicensed software could collaborate as well as exchange software.
AE Pro was at the time the only telecomm program that was accessible, via an undocumented hack, from virtually any other BBS software, such as GBBS, Networks II, among other programs. This allowed for sysops to control access to the AE lines via user accounts. With many of the users phreaking their way into AE lines, these portals allowed for international warez communities to develop.
AE knock-offs were also developed, including PAE (Pseudo Ascii Express--"Written by a Pirate for Pirates") and PAE ProDOS, both written as free add-ons to GBBS. Unlike AE, the source code was freely available for these add-ons. A popular MSDOS-based BBS Celerity BBS from the 1990's had a "CAE" (Celerity Ascii Express) mode which dropped a caller into a no-user-record file transfer system.
Reception.
"II Computing" listed ASCII Express Professional tenth on the magazine's list of top Apple II non-game, non-educational software as of late 1985, based on sales and market-share data.


Surface Book 3

The Surface Book 3 is the third generation of Microsoft's Surface Book series, and a successor to the Surface Book 2. Like its previous generation, the Surface Book 3 is part of the Microsoft Surface lineup of personal computers. It is a 2-in-1 PC that can be used like a conventional laptop, or detached from its base for use as a separate tablet, with touch and stylus input support in both scenarios. It was announced by Microsoft online alongside the Surface Go 2 on May 6, 2020, and later released for purchase on May 12, 2020.
Features.
Hardware.
Surface Book 3 retains most of the hardware from the previous generation, released in November 2017. This includes the same full-body magnesium alloy construction and design, footprint, keyboard, touchpad, cameras, discrete TPM chip with identical support for AES full-drive encryption, and the same display panel options. The 13.5-inch model Surface Book 3 features a 3000x2000 pixels resolution screen at 267 pixels per inch, and 3240x2160 pixels resolution at 260 pixels per inch for the 15-inch model. Both screens feature a 3:2 aspect ratio, to echo a key feature of the Surface lineup.
The new generation offers some hardware improvements, including new Dolby-certified speakers, improved battery life, a new hinge release, and an updated Surface Connect port that supports a higher electrical input. It is the first device in the Microsoft Surface lineup to offer the Intel 10th generation quad-core processors, optional Nvidia Quadro graphics, up to 32GB of system memory, and up to 2TB for data storage. The 13.5-inch model is sold with a 102W charger, while a more powerful 127W charger comes with the 15-inch model. Both devices no longer suffer from battery drain during heavy workloads, which was a problem occasionally observed with the last generation.
Finally, much like the last generation, Microsoft has opted to forego Thunderbolt 3 due to overall security concerns with the protocol.
Software.
As of May 2020, both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch models ship with a pre-installed trial of Microsoft Office 365, as well as a pre-installed 64-bit Windows 10 Home for all general customers. It is a downgrade compared to the predecessor, which offered Windows 10 Professional to all consumers, business and enterprise customers.
Unlike its predecessor, the Surface Book 3 only comes pre-installed with Windows 10 Pro if it is ordered via business procurement channels. For most consumers, it will only come with a step down, Windows 10 Home.
Accessories.
The new Surface Book 3 is backwards-compatible with some of the same peripheral accessories of its direct predecessors, such as the Surface Pen and the Surface Docks, however notably despite advertising otherwise, it is not fully compatible with the surface dial and lacks the advertised the on-screen functionality.
Much alike its predecessor, the Surface Book 2, users have the ability to use built-in pen computing capabilities based on N-trig technology Microsoft acquired in 2015, although no significant updates have been made for this new release. All major tweaks and improvements, which Microsoft had first released for the Surface Book 2, are also applied to this new generation.
Both the Surface Book 2 & 3 share the same display options, with the same 10-point touch support. With that said, the tablet and keyboard base portions are not interchangeable between the Surface Book 2 and 3. A series of magnets are installed in opposing positions, alongside additional software controls, to ensure that users will not accidentally mix hardware between the two generations.
Reception.
Compared to the broadly positive feedback awarded to its predecessor, the Surface Book 3 only received lukewarm reviews.
Most reviewers mentioned the Surface Book 3 continues to feel like a premium product. The updated graphics options, effective cooling for the GPU, high-quality cameras, keyboard, touch and pen capabilities continue to be applauded, as is the improved tablet release. With that said, the underwhelming CPU options, poor thermals in the main computing unit (despite the tablet being nearly identical in thickness to the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch's base), thick screen bezels, and an outdated design were all common complaints, with the product appearing largely identical to original Surface Book introduced 5 years ago, in 2015.
For creative production, reviewers noted the screen suffered from poor overall accuracy, contrast, and color range (at less than 70% coverage of the DCI-P3 standard) compared to other direct competitors, such as the Apple MacBook Pro and Dell XPS lineup, both of which come with factory-calibrated displays and significantly better visual reproduction than the Surface Book 3. For gaming and entertainment consumption, the Surface Book 3's thick screen bezels, slow response time, and the lack of higher refresh-rate display panels negatively impacted the product proposition in this area. For other high-performance workloads, the Surface Book 3 also fell short compared to several key competitors, many of which offer 6 or 8-core processors and up to 64GB system memory (128GB in some cases); in contrast, the Surface Book 3 has a low-powered 4-core ultrabook processor and up to 32GB memory.
Aside from the device's poor market fit and consequential niche appeal, some reviewers also raised concerns about stagnation in product innovation.
When reviewing the 13.5-inch model, Dieter Bohn of The Verge said, "The idea here is you're supposed to get a full-powered, pro laptop with a GPU, and lots of horsepower and battery at the base, but if you want you may also detach the screen and detach it into a tablet. Now, with the third iteration, we finally understand the trade-offs (...) You have to ask yourself, how much the detach means to you." While he continues to highlight the device's good quality hardware, touch and pen capabilities, and impressive graphics performance, he also noted the Intel Core i7 CPU equipped inside the device is restrictive, "the extra cost that you pay doesn't really fit on the specs sheet."
Devindra Hardawar of Engadget, who gave positive remarks to the predecessor Surface Book 2, notes similar problems with the lackluster CPU performance in 2020, "The Surface Book 3 features Intel's quad-core 10th generation Ice Lake CPUs, which max out at a 3.9GHz Turbo Boost speed. Those chips also appear in the Surface Laptop 3, an ultraportable that doesn’t even pretend to handle heavy lifting. The MacBook Pro 16-inch, on the other hand, offers Intel's recent six and eight-core CPUs, including the monstrously powerful 5GHz Core i9. Dell's XPS 15 can also be configured with similar chips reaching up to 5.1GHz. You do the math. There's just no way the Surface Book 3 can compete in a CPU fight."
Luke Larsen of Digital Trends writes, "CPU performance on its own isn’t impressive for a device this large. There’s one primary reason for this: It uses the same 15-watt chip that appears in small laptops like the Dell XPS 13, Surface Laptop 3, and HP Spectre x360 13," "The difference in core count makes a massive difference in performance. Add four cores with a laptop like the Dell XPS 15, and you’ll see a 53% better score in Cinebench R20’s multi-core test than the Surface Book 3."
Jordan Novet, on CNBC, noted the Surface Book 3's ability to handle heavy graphical workloads, but also criticized the device's dated design and poor battery life, "Microsoft could stand to get more experimental with this product. Performance is excellent. The computer stays quiet and cool to the touch while handling workloads that can challenge lesser machines. (However,) I typically got around six and a half hours’ worth of battery life on the Surface Book 3. That’s disappointing because I got almost seven and a half hours on the previous model (...) Don’t get me wrong. The Surface Book 3 isn’t a bad PC. If you need a new PC, you could do worse. It’s just iterative, and no longer feels fresh. It’s not a major leap forward for Microsoft’s most powerful portable PC. When Microsoft redesigns the Surface Book and makes this otherwise very good laptop look modern again, then it’ll be easier to justify the splurge."


Sony Alpha 58

The Sony α58, Sony Alpha 58 also known as Sony A58 (model name SLT-A58) is a mid-range digital camera from Sony's Alpha SLT camera line, introduced in 2013.
Specifications.
The Alpha 58 camera features 5fps burst shooting (8fps in 5MP 'Tele-Zoom' mode), 1080/60i and 1080/24p video in both AVCHD and Mpeg4 formats, 15-point phase-detection autofocus system, ISO range of 100–16000, APS-C sized CMOS sensor, a tiltable 2.7" LCD screen, a high-resolution OLED Tru-Finder with 100% coverage, a built in flash, an ISO 518-compatible Sony hotshoe, a stereo microphone for video shooting and other features.
The auto-focus system provides eight modes: Phase Detect, Multi-area, Selective single-point, Tracking, Single, Continuous, Face Detection, Live View.
Video.
or 1920 x 1080 (60i (1080i) @ 24 Mbit/s, 60i (1080i) @ 17 Mbit/s, 24p (1080p) @ 24 Mbit/s, 24p (1080p)) @ 17 Mbit/s (USA models)
The interlaced video modes store progressively recorded frames at half the stated field rate. Unlike its predecessor, the Sony Alpha 57, the Alpha 58 does not offer 50p/60p video modes. Also unlike previous generation SLT cameras including the A57, A65, and A77, the A58 does not crop the sensor width when video Steady Shot is turned off.
Reception.
Amy Davies of TechRadar gave the camera four stars out of five, describing it this way: "Sony has produced a very good camera in the Alpha a58, and we're sure that anybody who buys one will be very pleased with its performance, [...] it also offers excellent value for money, especially compared with its closest rivals." Imagine Resource regarded image quality ("in fact, the A58's images stack up well against those from much more expensive, enthusiast-level DSLRs"), sharpness and graphical user interface.


RIPE Atlas

RIPE Atlas is a global, open, distributed Internet measurement platform, consisting of thousands of measurement devices that measure Internet connectivity in real time.
History.
RIPE Atlas was established in 2010 by the RIPE Network Coordination Centre. As of November 2015, it was composed of nearly 9,000 probes and 150 anchors around the world.
Community.
Anyone can volunteer to host a RIPE Atlas probe. Probes are free of charge, low maintenance, and can be plugged in behind a home router or in a data center.
Organisations that want additional RIPE Atlas measurements targeting their network can host a RIPE Atlas anchor.
Tools for visualizing and analyzing RIPE Atlas measurement data are used by network operators for troubleshooting and network monitoring.
Open source software tools, written by RIPE Atlas users, are available in the repository for community contributions on GitHub.
Several hundred individuals also support RIPE Atlas as "ambassadors" by promoting participation and distributing probes. Organizations also support RIPE Atlas as sponsors.
Multiple hackerspaces have installed RIPE Atlas probes and have their own project about displaying the probes presence.
Research papers.
All the data collected by RIPE Atlas is open data and is made publicly available to users and the wider Internet community.


Thunder Force II

Thunder Force II (サンダーフォースII) is a scrolling shooter developed by Technosoft. It was first released in Japan on October 15, 1988 for the Sharp X68000 computer. A year later, it was ported to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game console and released in Japan (under the name "Thunder Force II MD"), Europe, and the United States. "Thunder Force II" was one of the six launch titles for the U.S. Genesis release. The Genesis port was later included in "Thunder Force Gold Pack Volume 1" for the Sega Saturn. It is the second chapter of the "Thunder Force" series.
Gameplay.
Stages in the game are now split into two formats: the free-directional scrolling, overhead stage format from the previous game (referred to as "top-view stages"), and horizontal forward-scrolling stages (referred to as "side-view" stages) which would become the series mainstay, dropping the former entirely. Each stage begins in the top-view perspective, where the player has to locate the cores of a certain number of major enemy bases and destroy them. After this is accomplished, the stage continues from the side-view perspective, which plays like a traditional horizontal scrolling shooter. After the boss of the side-view sub stage is defeated, the player moves on to the next stage.
Building upon its predecessor, "Thunder Force II" introduced a weapon system that would become the staple for the rest of the series. The player's ship now has default arsenal of weapons which include a twin, forward firing shot (the "Twin" shot), a single forward, and single backward firing shot (the "Back" shot), and a bomb shot in the top-view stages. By collecting certain items, the default weapons can be upgraded to more a powerful level. Also, the player could obtain a certain number of new weapons with various unique abilities by collecting the weapon's corresponding item (the "Hunter", a signature weapon of the series, debuts in this game). Once obtained, the weapons can be switched between at the player's desire, but if the ship is destroyed, all weapons are lost except for the defaults. The top-view and the side-view stages have different sets of weapons; losing weapons in the top-view stages do not affect the weapons equipped in the side-view stages and vice versa.
"Thunder Force II" also introduced the CRAW add-ons; small pods which revolve around the ship. The function of the CRAWs is to block weak incoming bullets, and to provide extra firepower by firing single, normal shots. The player may acquire up to two CRAWs at a time, but will lose them upon ship destruction. Exclusive to this game is an item which temporally increases their orbit speed, making them more likely to block bullets.
Plot.
Taking place soon after "Thunder Force", the ORN Empire creates a powerful new battleship, the "Plealos" (a.k.a. "Preareos"). Using this battleship, ORN once again attacks the Galaxy Federation. The outcome of the attacks result in the destruction of the Galaxy Federation affiliated planet of Reda, and heavy destruction on the planet Nepura (a.k.a. Nebula), which ORN eventually captures from the Galaxy Federation.
Eventually, the Galaxy Federation learns that ORN houses "Plealos" deep below Nebula's surface when not in use and takes the opportunity to plan an operation to take it down. They send the next iteration of their Fire Leo series of fighter craft, the FIRE LEO-02 "Exceliza", to destroy ORN bases on Nepura and eventually find and destroy "Plealos". The player controls the "Exceliza" and travels through a variety of stages to accomplish this goal.
The cover image for the Thunder Force II Sega/MD/G package by Illustrator Marc Ericksen describes the attack of the advanced FIRE LEO-02s on Nepura utilizing its forward and rear firing ordinance (above right).
Reception.
Japanese magazine "Famitsu" gave the Mega Drive version of the game a score of 28 out of 40. UK magazine Mean Machines gave also reviewed the Mega Drive version, and gave it a score of 82%. MegaTech magazine gave an overall score of 81 out of 100 for the Sega Genesis version praising the game as a "robust shoot-em up with plenty of thrills ‘n’ spills" and noting that the levels are "packed to the gills with enemy ships and huge end-of-level guardians" and recommending "Thunder Force 2" to fans of that game genre.


TinyOS

TinyOS is an embedded, component-based operating system and platform for low-power wireless devices, such as those used in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), smartdust, ubiquitous computing, personal area networks, building automation, and smart meters. It is written in the programming language nesC, as a set of cooperating tasks and processes. It began as a collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley, Intel Research, and Crossbow Technology, was released as free and open-source software under a BSD license, and has since grown into an international consortium, the TinyOS Alliance.
TinyOS has been used in space, being implemented in ESTCube-1.
Implementation.
TinyOS applications are written in the programming language nesC, a dialect of the C language optimized for the memory limits of sensor networks. Its supplementary tools are mainly in the form of Java and shell script front-ends. Associated libraries and tools, such as the nesC compiler and Atmel AVR binutils toolchains, are mostly written in C.
TinyOS programs are built of software components, some of which present hardware abstractions. Components are connected to each other using interfaces. TinyOS provides interfaces and components for common abstractions such as packet communication, routing, sensing, actuation and storage.
TinyOS is fully non-blocking: it has one call stack. Thus, all input/output (I/O) operations that last longer than a few hundred microseconds are asynchronous and have a callback. To enable the native compiler to better optimize across call boundaries, TinyOS uses nesC's features to link these callbacks, called events, statically. While being non-blocking enables TinyOS to maintain high concurrency with one stack, it forces programmers to write complex logic by stitching together many small event handlers. To support larger computations, TinyOS provides tasks, which are similar to a Deferred Procedure Call and interrupt handler bottom halves. A TinyOS component can post a task, which the OS will schedule to run later. Tasks are non-preemptive and run in first in, first out order. This simple concurrency model is typically sufficient for I/O centric applications, but its difficulty with CPU-heavy applications has led to developing a thread library for the OS, named TOSThreads. TOSThreads are unmaintained and have been deprecated.
TinyOS code is statically linked with program code and is compiled into a small binary, using a custom GNU toolchain. Associated utilities are provided to complete a development platform for working with TinyOS.
History.
TinyOS began as a project at UC Berkeley as part of the DARPA NEST program. It has since grown to involve thousands of academic and commercial developers and users worldwide. (list in reverse chronological order)
Integrated development environments.
As of 2010, three integrated development environments (IDEs) are available for TinyOS, as plug-ins for Eclipse:


Resurrection Remix OS

Resurrection Remix OS, known as RR for short, is a free and open-source operating system for smartphones and tablet computers, based on the Android mobile platform. UX designer and head developer Altan KRK & Varun Date started the project in 2012.
History.
On February 9, 2018, Resurrection Remix 6.0.0 was released, based on Android 8.1 Oreo after months in development. In early 2019 Resurrection Remix 7.0.0, 7.0.1 and 7.0.2 were released, based on Android 9 Pie. The project seemed abandoned after a disagreement between 2 major developers which caused one of them (Acar) to leave, but later in mid 2020, Resurrection Remix came back with 8.5.7 based on Android 10. 8.6.7 is the latest version based on Android 10.
Reviews and studies.
A DroidViews review of Resurrection Remix OS called it "feature packed," and complimented the large online community, updates, and customization options, as compared with the simplicity of Lineage OS. ZDNet stated Resurrection Remix OS was a custom ROM that could evade SafetyNet exclusions and display Netflix app in Play Store.
Resurrection Remix OS was one of a few operating systems mentioned as Android upgrade options in Upcycled Technology. Resurrection Remix OS was one of a handful of operating systems supported by the OpenKirin development team for bringing pure Android to Huawei devices, and was one of two suggested for OnePlus 5.
In a 2017 detailed review, Stefanie Enge of Curved.De said Resurrection Remix combined the best of LineageOS, OmniRom and SlimRoms. The camera performance was criticized, however, extensive customization options, speed and lack of Google services were all acclaimed.
In a study of phone sensors, Resurrection Remix OS was one of six Android Operating Systems used on two Xiaomi devices, to compare gyroscope, accelerometer, orientation and light sensor data to values recorded by very accurate, reference sensors.
Supported devices.
More than 150 devices are supported, some of which are: