Macsyma

Macsyma (; "Project MAC's SYmbolic MAnipulator") is one of the oldest general-purpose computer algebra systems still in wide use. It was originally developed from 1968 to 1982 at MIT's Project MAC.
In 1982, Macsyma was licensed to Symbolics and became a commercial product. In 1992, Symbolics Macsyma was spun off to Macsyma, Inc., which continued to develop Macsyma until 1999. That version is still available for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system.
The 1982 version of MIT Macsyma remained available to academics and US government agencies, and it is distributed by the US Department of Energy (DOE). That version, DOE Macsyma, was maintained by Bill Schelter. Under the name of Maxima, it was released under the GPL in 1999, and remains under active maintenance.
Development.
The project was initiated in July, 1968 by Carl Engelman,
William A. Martin (front end, expression display, polynomial arithmetic) and Joel Moses (simplifier, indefinite integration: heuristic/Risch). Martin was in charge of the project until 1971, and Moses ran it for the next decade. Engelman and his staff left in 1969 to return to The MITRE Corporation. Some code came from earlier work, notably Knut Korsvold's simplifier. Later major contributors to the core mathematics engine were:
Yannis Avgoustis (special functions),
David Barton (solving algebraic systems of equations),
Richard Bogen (special functions),
Bill Dubuque (indefinite integration, limits, power series, number theory, special functions, functional equations, pattern matching, sign queries, Gröbner, TriangSys),
Richard Fateman (rational functions, pattern matching, arbitrary precision floating-point),
Michael Genesereth (comparison, knowledge database),
Jeff Golden (simplifier, language, system),
R. W. Gosper (definite summation, special functions, simplification, number theory),
Carl Hoffman (general simplifier, macros, non-commutative simplifier, ports to Multics and LispM, system, visual equation editor),
Charles Karney (plotting),
John Kulp,
Ed Lafferty (ODE solution, special functions),
Stavros Macrakis (real/imaginary parts, compiler, system),
Richard Pavelle (indicial tensor calculus, general relativity package, ordinary and partial differential equations),
David A. Spear (Gröbner),
Barry Trager (algebraic integration, factoring, Gröbner),
Paul S. Wang (polynomial factorization and GCD, complex numbers, limits, definite integration, Fortran and LaTeX code generation),
David Y. Y. Yun (polynomial GCDs),
Gail Zacharias (Gröbner)
and
Rich Zippel (power series, polynomial factorization, number theory, combinatorics).
Macsyma was written in Maclisp, and was, in some cases, a key motivator for improving that dialect of Lisp in the areas of numerical computing, efficient compilation and language design. Maclisp itself ran primarily on PDP-6 and PDP-10 computers, but also on the Multics OS and on the Lisp Machine architectures. Macsyma was one of the largest, if not the largest, Lisp programs of the time.
Commercialization.
In 1979, in response to a request from Richard Fateman, then a professor at UC Berkeley, MIT provided a temporary license for Macsyma code. This was almost immediately brought up on the new VAX-11/780 computer using a dialect of Maclisp, Franz Lisp, written by Fateman's group. MIT reluctantly licensed versions of VAX Macsyma from Berkeley to about 50 universities, starting with Caltech, under condition that the licenses would be revoked when negotiations for a proper license were complete. Indeed, this happened when the negotiation with Symbolics (see below) was complete. Symbolics was reluctant to license the VAX product, since VAX constituted competitive hardware to their own Lisp Machines and therefore suppressed the VAX software for five years. UC Berkeley also brought up copies of Macsyma on Motorola 68000-based systems, most notably Sun workstations. Symbolics suppressed those as well. At the same time Fateman worked to change the (now revoked) temporary license for Macsyma into something more permanent.
Ultimately, the United States Department of Energy imposed on MIT the requirement that they release a copy into the National Energy Software Center (NESC) library in 1982, while allowing MIT to assert restrictions in terms of high price and no redistribution. This was intended to protect the technology transfer to Symbolics. (Such restrictions have been since lifted, 2002 or so.) This so-called DOE Macsyma had been rewritten at MIT in a pre-Common Lisp dialect called NIL lisp, incompletely implemented on VAX/VMS, an unpopular system in academia, where Berkeley VAX Unix was common. DOE Macsyma formed the basis for the much-later open source Maxima system.
In 1981, Moses and Richard Pavelle, an MIT staff member and proponent of applying Macsyma to engineering and science, attempted to form a company to commercialize Macsyma. Pavelle had written many scientific papers using Macsyma. With the papers in hand, Pavelle and Moses approached several venture capital firms that showed interest in funding a Macsyma startup. With potential deals close to finalization, MIT suddenly decided that MIT personnel should not profit directly from MIT developments. In early 1982, Macsyma was licensed by MIT to Arthur D. Little, Inc. (ADL), which became the broker for Macsyma and soon licensed Macsyma to Symbolics in late 1982. Moses was forced out of the picture by ADL and Pavelle became the head of the Macsyma division at Symbolics. It was evident that Symbolics was not so much interested in the code as in keeping Macsyma out of the software catalog of its competitor in the Lisp Machine business, LMI. The business arrangement between Symbolics and Arthur D. Little required a royalty payment to ADL of 15% of Macsyma gross sales. This royalty led to speculation on the desire of MIT and ADL to see MACSYMA prosper. The development of Macsyma continued at Symbolics despite the fact that it was seen as a diversion from the sales of Lisp machines, which Symbolics considered to be their main business despite the fact that Macsyma sales and the leveraged sales of Lisp Machines reached 10% of overall sales at Symbolics within two years. Despite resistance from many in Symbolics, Macsyma was released for DEC VAX computers and Sun workstations using Berkeley's Franz Lisp in the early to mid 80s.
However, problems at Symbolics over the sales of Macsyma on computers other than Symbolics' eventually led to the decline of Macsyma sales. In the first half of 1986, Macsyma revenues were lower than in the first half of 1985, in a growing industry. Wolfram's SMP program and Waterloo Maple were growing at this time, although MACSYMA was easily superior to these other packages in symbolic math.
Pavelle ran the Macsyma division at Symbolics until early 1986. In the second half of 1986 Richard Petti became the manager of the Macsyma business to reduce the sales and avoid conflict with employees in Symbolics. Macsyma cut headcount but expanded its sales force and marketing, and focused its developers more on features that customers asked for. (For example, the Spear-Zacharias (Gröbner) basis algorithm implemented in the 1970s at MIT was not installed in a shipping Macsyma until 1987.) In 1987, Macsyma annual revenues roughly doubled. MACSYMA became more user friendly: documentation and on-line help were reorganized and expanded; some command names were changed to be more mnemonic. The system was ported to Common Lisp (by Kent M. Pitman). Petti argued to Symbolics management that Macsyma was a 'strategic business unit' that should be funded based on its performance and potential, not based on the prospects of the main workstation business. However, Symbolics cut the Macsyma headcount after this period of sharp growth; Symbolics tried to use Macsyma as a tiny cash cow to fund the losses of the workstation business that was 30 times its size.
The greatest product weakness of Macsyma was its numerical analysis. Mastering symbolic math was a herculean task; but numerical capabilities were critical to get a piece of the much larger engineering and lower-end scientific markets. At MIT Macsyma had a link to the IMSL (now a product of Perforce Software) numerical libraries, but this link was severed when Macsyma moved to Symbolics. Lisp developers at Symbolics generally believed that numerical analysis was an old technology that was not important for Lisp applications, so they declined to invest in it. Double-precision arithmetic in Macsyma (on a PC version) was about six times slower than Fortran. Also Macsyma's matrices were implemented as lists of lists, which cost another factor of perhaps 5–10 in speed for key algorithms. Macsyma did not have many of the basic algorithms of numerical linear algebra, such as LU decomposition.
In 1987-88, the Macsyma group tried to build a PC Macsyma with Gold Hill Lisp. (Earlier, Symbolics had killed its own project to build a Lisp compiler for standard computers to avoid competing with Lisp machine sales. This was a controversial move that, by some accounts, was undertaken without approval of senior management. Symbolics also declined to cooperate with Sun to make Lisp available on Sun workstations for the same reason.) Gold Hill Lisp was too unstable, and its weak architecture made it impossible for Gold Hill to eliminate the bugs. This was a crucial failure for Macsyma. It meant that Macsyma could not respond on PCs when Mathematica appeared on Apple computers in mid-1988. Macsyma appeared on Windows PCs in August 1989 using the CLOE Lisp from Symbolics. However, the Macsyma staff was too small and lacked the mix of skills needed to add the kind of graphics, notebook interface and better numerics that Mathematica had.
By 1989, it was clear to Petti that Symbolics would implode due to poor product strategy, and that it would take Macsyma with it. (Some product issues: (1) Symbolics' software was designed for MIT-class software developers without enough concessions to others. (2) Symbolics' world-class software was losing share in the market due to dependence on very high-cost hardware. (3) In moving to VLSI hardware in the mid-1980s, Symbolics converted from 36-bit word size to a 40-bit, without justification from the market for the enormous development cost of this change.) Macsyma could not assemble a buy-out team due to lack of cooperation from MIT. After keeping reasonably quiet since 1986 about the product issues, Petti tried in late 1988 to persuade Symbolics to adopt a software-only or board-level strategy; but the fourth president in four years would hear nothing of it. In 1990 Petti left Symbolics for a start-up.
Macsyma, Inc..
Macsyma, Inc., was founded in 1992 by Russell Noftsker (chairman, who had co-founded Symbolics) and Richard Petti (president, who had turned around Macsyma for a time at Symbolics) by raising funds and purchasing the rights to Macsyma from the ailing Symbolics. Although the market was growing fast, Macsyma sales in 1991 and early 1992 were still falling rapidly. Macsyma's market share in symbolic math software had fallen from 70% in 1987 to 1% in 1992. By 1993, market growth had slowed and the market had standardized on Mathematica and Maple. The competitors had development staffs that were 4-8 times as large as that of Macsyma Inc. throughout the 1990s.
In early 1995 the company shipped Macsyma 2.0.5, with many improvements: On Wester's large test of symbolic math, Macsyma 2.0.5 scored 10% better than Maple and 15% better than Mathematica. Although Macsyma 2.0.5 was still very slow at numerics, it had a greatly strengthened portfolio of numerical analysis and linear algebra routines. (In 1996 Macsyma added LAPACK which greatly increased the speed of most numerical linear algebra.) .
The development team, at this time, included Jeff Golden (language, compiler, etc.), Bill Gosper (special functions, summation), Howard Cannon (user interface, optimization), and several consultants. Bill Dubuque worked on integration, equation solving, database, and optimization. Christopher Stacy and David H. Wood added MATLAB's language and matrix functionality. Other developers made major contributions in numerical analysis, graphics, and help systems.
The company could not continue indefinitely to outperform staffs 4-8 times as large and reverse the market momentum. Market share did not increase above 2%, because the competitors were entrenched in all key accounts, converting to a new product is very costly in learning time, and market growth declined. Also, starting in 1992 or 1993, Mathsoft engaged in a Pyrrhic strategy of spending $10 million on direct mail at very low prices, which won much of the remaining growth in the symbolic math market, just when Macsyma Inc. was struggling to rebuild its world-class product.
In 1999, Macsyma were acquired by Tenedos LLC, a holding company that previously had purchased Symbolics. The holding company has not re-released or resold Macsyma, but Macsyma continues to be distributed by Symbolics for Microsoft Windows versions up to Windows XP.
Available versions.
There is also a GPL-licensed version, called Maxima, based on the 1982 version of the DOE Macsyma, subsequently adapted for Common Lisp and enhanced by William Schelter. It is under active development, and can be compiled under several Common Lisp systems. Downloadable executables for Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and other systems, including graphical user interfaces are available. Maxima does not include many of the numerous features added during the period of commercial development between 1982–1999, but is a current, free, open codebase that includes numerous additional features, several alternative front ends, and works with a number of Common Lisp engines. While this has resulted in some incompatibilities between Macsyma and Maxima, programs written in the Macsyma algebraic language can often be run, with only minor changes, in either system.


James J. Morgan

James J. Morgan (born 1942) is a former American executive who served as CEO of Atari from 1983 to 1984 and CEO of Philip Morris USA from 1994 to 1997.
James Morgan first joined Philip Morris in 1963 following his graduation from Princeton University with a degree in history. He served as Brand Manager for Marlboro from 1972 to 1973 and later was Assistant Director of Tobacco Brand Management, during which time he earned a reputation as one of the top marketing minds of the '70s by helping to develop and market the image of the Marlboro Man. He was a member of the Tobacco Institute Communications Committee from 1981 to 1983. Morgan briefly left Philip Morris in 1983 when he was offered the position of CEO at Atari by Warner Communications, Atari's parent company at the time. At the time he left Philip Morris, Morgan was serving as vice-president of the company.
Morgan served as chairman and CEO of Atari from September 1983 until July 1984, when Atari Inc. was closed and split up, with the consumer division going to Jack Tramiel.
After his departure from Atari, Morgan returned to Philip Morris. During his second stint with the company, he was most famous for his claims that cigarettes are no more addictive than gummy bears and that Philip Morris had never attempted to intentionally market tobacco products toward minors.
Morgan was appointed president and CEO in 1994 and retired from Philip Morris on November 1, 1997.


Master (computer)


Elektor Junior Computer

The Elektor Junior Computer was a simple 6502-based microprocessor development board published in the 1980s in the Dutch, German and later French, Spanish, British and Indian versions of "Elektor/Elektuur", in the form of a series of articles, and four books. It was developed by the German engineer Loys Nachtmann.
The Junior Computer was a virtual clone of the KIM-1, only it did not use the special I/O+ROM chips (MCS6530) but rather an off-the-shelf 6532 RIOT and a 2708 1K EPROM. It also had a different physical shape, as it used the Eurocard board, and a 31-pin DIN connector for I/O and a DIN 41612 connector for system expansion. It was delivered as an electronic kit, or could purchased as two printed circuit boards (main board and Seven-segment display board) only, for components to be installed.
As it was much lower in price than an original KIM, many more Junior computers (several thousands) were used in the Netherlands, Germany and France, than original KIM-1s.
Later extension boards were developed, and a BASIC interpreter was ported.
Elektor expansion boards specifically for the Junior were an I/O interface card (including a 6522 VIA, a tape recorder interface and a RS-232 port), a VDU (video terminal) (an improvement of the previous "elekterminal" design), an EPROM and SRAM expansion board, a 16/64 KB DRAM board and EPROM programmer board, and a floppy disk controller, as well as a dozen smaller boards for small improvements and interfaces.


Olympus PEN E-PL3

The Olympus PEN E-PL3 announced on 30 June 2011 is Olympus Corporation's seventh camera that adheres to the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system design standard. The E-PL3 succeeds the Olympus PEN E-PL2, and was announced in concert with two other models, the Olympus PEN E-P3 (the flagship version), and the Olympus PEN E-PM1 (a new "Mini" version of the PEN camera line with similar features to the E-PL3). The E-PL3 is commonly said to be the "Lite" (less full featured) version of the E-P3, much as the E-PL1 and E-PL2 were "Lite" versions of the E-P1 and E-P2, respectively.
Technology.
The E-PL3 addresses some of the concerns that critics had about previous PEN models: slow handling, due to slow autofocus speed and difficulty seeing the LCD panel under certain (e.g., bright, sunny) conditions.
The E-PL3 increases autofocus speed through use of a 120 Hz refresh rate for its sensor, similar to the technology used in the recently released Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 and G3 cameras. Olympus claims, based on in-house testing, that the E-PL3, along with its E-PM1 cousin, have similar characteristics to the flagship E-P3, which according to Olympus has the world's fastest autofocus speed of any camera as of the product announcement date. The benefits of the 120 Hz refresh rate also provides the ability for continuous autofocus tracking during bursts of exposures, a faster shutter response (less lag) and less blackout time between exposures.
The E-PL3 lacks the E-P3 capacitive touchscreen for creative camera control, and the E-P3 OLED type display that is supposed to vastly improve performance in sunny conditions, and off-angle viewing. Instead, the E-PL3 has a tiltable LCD, which allows easy above the head, waist level, or low off the ground viewing. The E-PL3 continues with the proprietary Accessory Port, a power and communication port, which allows the use of various accessories, such as an external stereo microphone for HD video recording, LED macro lights, and a bluetooth communications adapter. The accessory port continues to be compatible with the high resolution, optional hotshoe mounted VF-2 electronic viewfinder (EVF).
The VF-2 had a flip angle eyepiece, allowing viewing from 0–90 degrees. The VF-2 had been criticized for being very expensive and for not having a locking device, with some users reporting easy dislodgement of the VF-2 from the hotshoe. To address these criticisms, in July 2011, Olympus announced the introduction of an optional VF-3 EVF, which has a lower resolution and a locking device.


Dig Dug II

 is a 1985 action puzzle arcade game developed and published in Japan by Namco. It is a sequel to "Dig Dug".
Gameplay.
"Dig Dug II" takes place on an island with an overhead view. The goal is to kill all the enemies. There are two types of enemies: Pookas (round red monsters with goggles), which can kill a player by touching him, and Fygars (dragons), which can kill a player either by touching him "or" breathing fire on him.
Taizo Hori (the player's character) is armed with two weapons. One is an air pump that can inflate enemies until they burst. The other is a jackhammer, which can be used at "fault lines" on the map to create faults in the ground. If both ends of a system of faults reach the water, the ground surrounded by them will sink into the ocean, killing all creatures on it, including Taizo himself if the player is not careful. The points earned from this depend on how many enemies are killed at once. Once three pieces of land have been cut off an island, a bonus vegetable will appear somewhere on what remains of the island, which can be eaten for extra points. When only one, two or (on later rounds) three enemies remain on the island, the enemies will head for the edge of the island and jump into the water, killing themselves and ending the round.
Reception.
While "Dig Dug II" saw success in its first few months on the market, the game was largely unsuccessful and was not nearly as popular as its predecessor when it was released. The title's departure from the original's maze-chase gameplay, its time of release, and the lack of the original's free movement are believed to have attributed to its failure. A reviewer for the magazine "Computer & Video Games" said that the game, while having a high difficulty level, was worth playing and became easier through practice.
Legacy.
Dig Dug II was ported to the Nintendo Famicom in Japan in 1986, followed by a 1989 release for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America (with the subtitle "Trouble in Paradise" added to the packaging, but not to the game itself), and then in 1990 by a release for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. Until 2005, the game was seen exclusively on the NES in North America.
In 2005, "Dig Dug II" was ported to the PlayStation Portable as part of "Namco Museum Battle Collection", and was included in "Namco Museum DS" which was released for the Nintendo DS on September 18, 2007. The game was also included in "Namco Museum Virtual Arcade" in 2008 and was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on October 20, 2009, along with the inceptive title. Both "Dig Dug" games are available as part of the "Namco Museum Megamix" compilation for the Wii, which (much unlike the Virtual Console Arcade versions) was only released in North America.
A reimagined version for PC titled "Dig Dug Island", featuring online multiplayer, was released in 2008 exclusively in Japan. However, the game's servers were shut down in just under a year, leaving it unplayable.


Windows Mobility Center

Windows Mobility Center is a component of Microsoft Windows, introduced in Windows Vista, that centralizes information and settings most relevant to mobile computing.
History.
A mobility center that displayed device settings pertinent to mobile devices was first shown during the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference of 2004. It was based on the Activity Center user interface design that originated with Microsoft's abandoned Windows "Neptune" project, and was slated for inclusion in Windows Vista, then known by its codename "Longhorn".
Overview.
The Windows Mobility Center user interface consists of square tiles that each contain information and settings related to a component, such as audio settings, battery life and power schemes, display brightness, and wireless network strength and status. The tiles that appear within the interface depend on the hardware of the system and device drivers.
Windows Mobility Center is located in the Windows Control Panel and also be launched by pressing the keys in Windows Vista and 7. By default, WMC is inaccessible on desktop computers, but this limitation can be bypassed if one modifies the Windows Registry.
Windows Mobility Center is extensible; original equipment manufacturers can customize the interface with additional tiles and company branding. Though not supported by Microsoft, it is possible for individual developers to create tiles for the interface as well.


Knight Orc

Knight Orc is a standard text adventure game, with limited graphics on some platforms, by Level 9 released in 1987. It comes with a short novella by Peter McBride ("The Sign of the Orc") explaining the background to the story.
Plot.
After a night of heavy drinking with friends, Grindleguts the orc awakes to find himself strapped to a horse and about to joust with a human knight. His "friends" are nowhere to be seen, and he must somehow escape from his predicament and get even with them. Grindleguts must survive in a world of hostile humans while seeking revenge against his tormentors.
After the first chapter, the game switches to science fiction setting where Grindleguts is revealed to be a malfunctioning non-player character in a futuristic massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Using his power of transitioning between fantasy and reality, he convinces several other bots to join him, and escapes from the simulated reality facility.
Reception.
"Sinclair User" had this to say:""Knight Orc" is no ordinary adventure. Oh no, this is a multi-user adventure ... only the other players are simulated. One nice touch is the little bits that are added on to the end of descriptions which tell you what the other players are doing such as 'Somewhere, a male voice cries out "Has anyone got any spare treasure?"' ... The location descriptions are exquisite and more than make up for the absence of graphics ... The humour worked into the text is like something out of a Douglas Adams novel, quick-fire and very enjoyable. Never droll... But the high spot of the game is the interactive characters... All have their own characters and their own goal to complete. And, the one thing they all have in common is that they all hate Orcs... Technically "The Pawn" may be superior, but in plot, enjoyment and atmosphere "Knight Orc" wins hands down."
"Computer Gaming World" stated that the graphics were a waste of disk space and the puzzles were "uneven". However, the excellent parser and other virtues resulted in an "above average" game.
Your Computer Magazine said it was "Disappointing", while the Atari magazine Page 6 said it was an excellent value for money about the Atari 8-bit version.


Stroke count method

The Stroke Count Method (simplified Chinese: 笔画; pinyin: bǐ huà), "Wubihua method", "Stroke input method" or "Bihua IME" ( or ) (lit. "5-stroke input method") is a relatively simple Chinese input method for writing text on a computer or a mobile phone. It is based on the stroke order of a word, not pronunciation. It uses five or six buttons, and is often placed on a numerical keypad. Although it is possible to input Traditional Chinese characters with this method, this method is often associated with Simplified Chinese characters. The Wubihua method should not be confused with the Wubi method.
Each of the five keys from 1 to 5 are assigned a certain type of stroke (resembling the Eight Principles of Yong):
To input any character, the user simply presses the keys corresponding to the strokes of a character then select from a list of matching characters. The list of suggestions to choose from becomes more and more specific as more digits of the code are entered. The system will not recognize a character input with an incorrect stroke order. Some people find this method of entering characters into a mobile phone to be faster than pinyin. In fact, as pinyin is based upon Mandarin Chinese, many Chinese people - particularly in the southern regions of China like Hong Kong and Macau - who speak other varieties of Chinese and never learned pinyin relied solely on this method of entering characters on their phones, until touchscreen-based Smartphones allowed the possibility of Handwriting recognition.
Wubihua is one of the easiest to learn methods because it is simple and does not require knowledge of pronunciation or Pinyin. However, it tends to be vague, as a Wubihua code will normally match ten characters, and each character has one correct code, which confuses users whose stroke orders are wrong.
Strokes map to Wubihua input generally according to the following table:


Devfsd

devfsd is a device manager for the Linux kernel. Primarily, it creates device nodes in the directory when kernel drivers make the underlying hardware accessible. The nodes exist in a virtual device file system named devfs. In systems that support many different types of hardware, each of which has its own device nodes, this is more convenient than creating all possible device nodes beforehand and in a real filesystem.
While devfs was a step forward, it had several disadvantages of its own. Since version 2.5 of the Linux kernel, devfs has been succeeded by udev and devtmpfs.


RiscLua

RiscLua is an implementation of Lua to RISC OS. It has minor syntactic modifications from standard Lua so that its "riscos" library can provide system calls, with a syntax similar to that of BBC Basic.
RiscLua has been developed since 2002 with the intention of providing for RISC OS a more modern alternative to BBC Basic. Previous versions were made with the Norcroft C compiler which had no facilities for dynamic linking. So the "riscos" and "lpeg" libraries were provided statically linked. Furthermore, until recently, RISC OS was only implemented on platforms whose CPUs did not afford floating point arithmetic in hardware. For that reason previous versions differed from standard Lua in only providing 32-bit integers. The current version, however, is effectively standard Lua.


Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX400V

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX400V is a hyperzoom bridge digital camera that features:
The camera has a 3" color LCD display and a color electronic viewfinder, and is available in two options; the DSC-HX400 and the DSC-HX400V. The DSC-HX400V has a higher specification, including built-in GPS, WiFi and NFC. The Cyber-shot DSC-HX400V release to the USA was announced on 12 February 2014. The successor to the HX200V and the HX300 with a new sensor and Sony's latest Bionx X processor.
A battery life of up to 300 shots or 150 minutes is achieved from a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery which is recharged via the USB port. A cable and adapter are supplied allowing charging from a suitable laptop, PC or from the main supply.
One of the key limitations of the camera is the lack of RAW support.


Deep Dungeon (series)

 is a series of role-playing video games developed by HummingBirdSoft. The first two installments were released on the Family Computer Disk System by Square's label DOG; the third one was released on the regular Family Computer by Square directly and the final one by Asmik.
Games in the series.
"Madō Senki".
 is a "dungeon crawler" presented in a first person perspective, similar to "Wizardry". Players navigate nondescript, maze-like corridors in their bid to find the princess. The game was released exclusively in Japan, but on April 15, 2006, "Deep Dungeon" was unofficially translated into English.
"Madō Senki" is set in the town of Dorl. One day, monsters raided the town, stealing both the treasures and Princess Etna's soul. Despite the attempts of brave warriors to retrieve her soul, none have been successful.
In the dungeon, the player is given a command list. The player can choose to attack if an enemy is in the vicinity, view allocated items, escape from battle, examine the area for items, and talk if there are people nearby. The character's effectiveness in battle is largely determined by numerical values for attacking power (AP), defensive power (AC), and health (HP). These values are determined by the character's experience level (LEVEL), which raises after the character's accumulated experience (EX) reaches a certain point.
"Yūshi no Monshō".
, also called "Deep Dungeon II: Yūshi no Monshō", is the second installment of the "Deep Dungeon" series. According to Square Enix, it was the first 3D dungeon crawler RPG for the Famicom console.
In this game, the villain Ruu has returned. The player will need to explore an eight floor tower (consisting of four ground floors and four underground floors) to find him and defeat him.
Battles were much faster paced in this sequel. Whereas the first game could get slow because of the very high miss rate for both player and enemies, creating prolonged battle scenes, this game improved that. It also has a much higher encounter rate, and the player is very likely to be attacked within seconds if they stand still. A new feature to this game is that if the player is significantly higher in level than the enemies for the current floor, they will not be attacked while randomly walking through the hallways (although they will still be attacked when they step on predetermined spaces on the map).
When the player gains an experience level, they are given attribute points to allocate to their character's stats as they wish. (unlike most console RPGs of the era, where stat upgrades are usually predetermined or randomized beyond the player's control)
"Yūshi heno Tabi".
 is the third installment in the "Deep Dungeon" series and the first to be released on the Famicom.
This is the first Deep Dungeon title to offer the player a world to explore spanning multiple dungeons and multiple towns.
It also allows the player to create their own party with up to three companions in addition to the hero character, with a choice of ranger, magician or priest for each character. Though the player can dismiss a character once the game has started, they will only be able to replace that character if they meet another pre-created playable character in one of the dungeons. However, the game will still end as soon as the protagonist "swordsman" character is defeated.
This game retains the player-adjustable level-up stats from the first game, as well as the feature that removes randomized encounters if the player is at a significantly higher experience level than needed for their current location.
One exclusive and rather annoying feature of this game engine is that sometimes the player character will fumble (remove) their equipped weapon, wasting that character's turn. If the player wishes to re-arm their weapon, it will cost the player another turn.
This is the only game in the series to award the player money (Gold) when defeating enemies. All other games will force the player to re-enter maps to collect respawning chests for money or items (for resale) if they want to gold farm.
"Kuro no Yōjutsushi".
 is the fourth and final installment in the "Deep Dungeon" series.
Unfortunately this game has removed the custom character feature of the previous game.
Through the game, the player will meet up to two additional playable characters with predetermined class. This game also reverts to the standard practice or randomizing characters' stat growth when gaining an experience level.
New to this engine is that the player can eventually learn to summon two monsters to function as a temporary additional party member for a single battle.
It also removed the feature that stops random battles when the player is significantly more powerful than the enemies. This isn't as bad as it seems as the maps in this game are also much smaller (whereas the previous games used multi-floor dungeons up to 32x32 tiles, the dungeons in this game are either single floor, or multiple floors that can fit within a single 32x32 map)
In this game, the player can accept "requests" from the non-player characters. These are optional tasks that will reward the player with bonus items, experience or money when finished.


Matchbox (window manager)

Matchbox is a free and open source window manager for the X Window System. It is mainly intended for embedded systems and differs from most other window managers in that it only shows one window at a time. It is used by Maemo on Nokia Internet Tablets, the Neo 1973 smartphone based on Openmoko, the Vernier LabQuest handheld data acquisition device for science education, as well as on the XO-1 of the One Laptop Per Child Project. It has been replaced on later OLPC software builds by Metacity.
Matchbox 2.
Matchbox Window Manager II is a complete rewrite of the original m-w-m. It is in early stages of development.


ORACLE (computer)

The ORACLE or "Oak Ridge Automatic Computer and Logical Engine", an early computer built by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was based on the IAS architecture developed by John von Neumann.
Summary.
The "Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review" states:
[Oak Ridge National] Laboratory engineers assisted Argonne [National Laboratory] during the early 1950s in design and fabrication of the Oak Ridge Automatic Computer and Logical Engine. Its name was selected with reference to a lyrical acronym from Greek mythology—ORACLE, defined as 'a shrine in which a deity reveals hidden knowledge.'
Assembled before the development of transistors and microchips, the ORACLE was a large scientific digital computer that used vacuum tubes. It had an original storage capacity of 1024 words of 40 bits each (later doubled to 2048 words). The computer also contained a magnetic-tape auxiliary memory and an on-line cathode-tube plotter, a recorder, and a typewriter. Operational in 1954, for a time the ORACLE had the fastest speed and largest data storage capacity of any computer in the world. Problems that would have required two mathematicians with electric calculators three years to solve could be done on the ORACLE in 20 minutes.
[Alston] Householder and the Mathematics Panel used the ORACLE to analyze radiation and shielding problems. In 1957, Hezz Stringfield and Ward Foster, both of the Budget Office, also adopted the ORACLE for more mundane but equally important tasks—annual budgeting and monthly financial accounting. As one of the last 'homemade computers,' the ORACLE became obsolete by the 1960s. The Laboratory then purchased or leased its mainframe computers from commercial suppliers. From the initial applications of the ORACLE to nuclear aircraft problems, computer enthusiasm spread like lightning throughout the Laboratory, and in time, use of the machines became common in all the Laboratory's divisions.
ORACLE was operational (passed acceptance test) in 1953, and replaced the USAF-Fairchild Computer (or "SPEC" - Special Purpose Electronic Computer).
As with all computers of its era, the ORACLE computer was a one-of-a-kind machine that could not exchange programs with other computers (even other IAS machines). It used vacuum tubes, transistors, and diodes. It used a Williams tube for 2048 words of memory. Its addition time was 70 microseconds, the multiplication time was 370-590 microseconds, and the division time was 590 microseconds. These times include the storage access time, which was about 62 microseconds.
The ORACLE pre-dated input from disks and the use of punch cards with computers; it used paper tape for input and breakage of the tape was a frequent problem.


Power A5000

The Power A5000 was a planned Amiga clone computer, announced by DCE and Power Computing. It was one of the first Amiga clone computers announced after Gateway purchased the Amiga in 1997.
The original Motorola 680x0 based system was revised in favor of the PowerPC G3 based system, since the future for the Amigas with 680x0 processors was very uncertain. In 1999, the A5000 was cancelled due to delay of hardware components and announcements of the new Amiga system "Amiga Multimedia Convergence Computer (Amiga MCC)" by Amiga, Inc.


NTFS-3G

NTFS-3G is an open-source cross-platform implementation of the Microsoft Windows NTFS file system with read/write support. NTFS-3G often uses the FUSE file system interface, so it can run unmodified on many different operating systems. It is runnable on Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenSolaris, illumos, BeOS, QNX, WinCE, Nucleus, VxWorks, Haiku, MorphOS, Minix, macOS and OpenBSD. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License. It is a partial fork of ntfsprogs and is under active maintenance and development.
NTFS-3G was introduced by one of the senior Linux NTFS developers, Szabolcs Szakacsits, in July 2006. The first stable version was released on February 21, 2007, as version 1.0. The developers of NTFS-3G later formed a company, Tuxera Inc., to further develop the code. NTFS-3G is now the free "community edition", while Tuxera NTFS is the proprietary version.
Features.
NTFS-3G supports all operations for writing files: files of any size can be created, modified, renamed, moved, or deleted on NTFS partitions. Transparent compression is supported, as well as system-level encryption. Support to modify access control lists and permissions is available. NTFS partitions are mounted using the Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE) interface. NTFS-3G supports hard links, symbolic links, and junctions. With the help of NTFS reparse point plugins, it can be made to read chunk-deduplicated files, system-compressed files, and OneDrive files. NTFS-3G provides complete support and translation of NTFS access control list (ACL) to POSIX ACL permissions. A "usermap" utility is included to record the mapping from UIDs to Windows NT SIDs.
NTFS-3G supports partial NTFS journaling, so if an unexpected computer failure leaves the file system in an inconsistent state, the volume can be repaired. As of 2009, a volume having an unclean journal file is recovered and mounted by default. The ‘norecover’ mount option can be used to disable this behavior.
Performance.
Benchmarks show that the driver's performance via FUSE is comparable to that of other filesystems' drivers in-kernel, provided that the CPU is powerful enough. On embedded or old systems, the high processor usage can severely limit performance. Tuxera sells optimized versions of the driver that claims to have improved CPU utilization for embedded systems and MacOS.
The slowness of NTFS-3G (and FUSE in general) on embedded systems is attributed to the frequent context switching associated with FUSE calls. Some open-source methods provided to reduce this overhead include:
History.
Advanced version.
While Tuxera Ltd. rarely releases updates to the NTFS-3G software, the software's main maintainer Jean-Pierre André has kept the development active on SourceForge, providing bug fixes and new features. He runs a parallel release system on his website as the NTFS-3G Advanced Version (NTFS-3G AR). Each version is run through a test suite and is considered stable.
Linux distributions that have switched to NTFS-3G AR include Debian and its derivatives (Ubuntu, PureOS, Pardus, Parrot OS, Trisquel), Gentoo Linux, and LiGurOS.


VTech Variety

The Variety is a handheld game console that was developed and manufactured by VTech and released in 1983.
The cartridges contained the LCD and processor for the games, and were inserted from the back of the unit through a door that slid to unlock and hinged open.
Only 6 games are known to exist for the system.


Atari

Atari () is a brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972, currently by French publisher Atari SA, through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as "Pong" and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.
In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off, and the company was renamed Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation. In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse-merged with disk-drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS), becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS, creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive.
Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it Infogrames Interactive, which intermittently published Atari-branded titles. In 2003, it renamed the division Atari Interactive. Another IESA division, Infogrames Inc. (formerly GT Interactive), changed its name to Atari Inc. the same year, licensing the Atari name and logo from its fellow subsidiary.
In 2008, IESA completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc.'s outstanding stock, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. IESA renamed itself Atari SA in 2009. It sought bankruptcy protection under French law in January 2013. In 2020 Atari launched the Atari Token in partnership with the ICICB Group, where ICICB Group is 50% owner of the company, Atari Chain LTD, registered in Gibraltar. Also Atari issued an exclusive license to the ICICB Group to launch a gaming platform using crypto-currencies. The ICICB Group is a holding company with multiply license in FinTech, Blockchain, Crypto Exchanges, financial houses and hedge funds.
History.
Logotype.
The name comes from the Japanese term "atari", used while playing the ancient Chinese board game Go. The word "ataru" means “to hit a target” in Japanese and is associated with good fortune, while "atari" means “about to win” (like checkmate in chess).
The Atari logo was designed by George Opperman, who was Atari's first in-house graphic designer, and drawn by Evelyn Seto. The design is known as "Fuji" for its resemblance to the Japanese mountain, although the design's origins are unrelated to it. Opperman designed the logo intending for the silhouette to look like the letter A as in Atari, and for its three "prongs" to resemble players and the midline of the "court" in the company's first hit game, "Pong".
Atari Inc. (1972–1984).
In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded a small engineering company, Syzygy Engineering, that designed "Computer Space", the world's first commercially available arcade video game, for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972, the two incorporated Atari, Inc. and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell asked Alcorn to produce an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis game, which would be named "Pong". While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's incorporation, Bushnell considered various terms from the game Go, eventually choosing "atari", referencing a position in the game when a group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972.
In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a competitor called Kee Games, headed by Nolan's next door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market virtually the same game to different distributors, each getting an "exclusive" deal. Joe Keenan's management of the subsidiary led to him being promoted president of Atari that same year.
In 1975, Atari's Grass Valley, CA subsidiary Cyan Engineering, started the development of a flexible console that was capable of playing the four existing Atari games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System, or VCS (later renamed 2600 when the 5200 was released). The introductory price of $199 () included a console, two joysticks, a pair of paddles, and the Combat game cartridge. Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976 for an estimated $28–32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuation of the pinball division, and most importantly, the notion of discontinuing the 2600. In 1978, Kee Games was disbanded. In December of that year, Nolan Bushnell was fired following an argument with Manny Gerard. "[W]e started fighting like cats and dogs. And then the wheels came off that fall. Warner claimed they fired me," recalled Bushnell. "I say I quit. It was a mutual separation."
The development of a successor to the 2600 started as soon as it shipped. The original team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years; it then set forth to build the most powerful machine possible within that time frame. Mid-way into their effort the home computer revolution took off, leading to the addition of a keyboard and features to produce the Atari 800 and its smaller sibling, the 400. The new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. From this platform Atari released their next-generation game console in 1982, the Atari 5200. It was unsuccessful due to incompatibility with the 2600 game library, a small quantity of dedicated games, and notoriously unreliable controllers. Porting arcade games to home systems with inferior hardware was difficult. The ported version of "Pac-Man" for Atari 2600 omitted many of the visual features of the original to compensate for the lack of ROM space and the hardware struggled when multiple ghosts appeared on the screen creating a flickering effect.
Under Warner and Atari's chairman and CEO, Raymond Kassar, the company achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in US history at the time. However, it ran into problems in the early 1980s as interference from the New York-based Warner management increasingly affected daily operations. Its home computer, video game console, and arcade divisions operated independently and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600.
These problems were followed by the video game crash of 1983, with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division. In 1983, Ray Kassar had resigned and executives involved in the Famicom merger lost track of negotiations, eventually killing the deal. With Atari's financial problems and the Famicom's runaway success in Japan after its July 16, 1983, release, Nintendo decided to remain independent.
Financial problems continued to mount and Kassar's successor, James J. Morgan, had less than a year in which to tackle the company's problems. He began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" (an acronym for New Atari Company). NATCO further streamlined the company's facilities, personnel, and spending. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's consumer electronics and home computer divisions. Negotiating until close to midnight on July 1, 1984, Jack Tramiel purchased the home computing and game console divisions of Atari for $50 cash and $240 million in promissory notes and stocks, giving Warner a 20% stake in Atari Corporation who then used it to create a new company under the name Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games, but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner also sold the Ataritel division to Mitsubishi.
Atari Corporation (1984–1996).
Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST. ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released the first update to the 8-bit computer line — the Atari 65XE, the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE; Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner — the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800 console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year.
In 1987, Atari acquired Federated Group for $67.3 million, securing shelf space in over 60 stores in California, Arizona, Texas and Kansas at a time when major American electronics outlets were reluctant to carry Atari-branded computers, and two-thirds of Atari's PC production was sold in Europe. The Federated Group (not related to Federated Department Stores) was sold to Silo in 1989.
In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx, a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy which, despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly. Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court in 1992.
In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available, but it sold poorly. It would be the last home console to be produced by Atari and the last to be produced by an American manufacturer until Microsoft's introduction of the Xbox in 2001.
By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc., a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market.
Atari Games (1984–1999).
After the sale of the consumer elecronics and computer divisions to Jack Tramiel, Atari was renamed Atari Games Corporation Atari Games retained most of the same employees and managers from the coin-oeprated games division and continued many of the divisions projects from before the transition. In 1985, a controlling interest in the coin-oeprated games division was sold to Namco, which also took the Atari Games name. Warner renamed Atari Games to Atari Holdings, which continued as a non-operating subsidiary until 1992. Meanwhile, Namco later lost interest in operating Atari Games. In 1987, Namco sold 33% of its shares to a group of employees led by then-president Hideyuki Nakajima. He had been the president of Atari Games since 1985. Atari Ireland was a subsidiary of Atari Games that manufactured their games for the European market; while under Namco, Atari Ireland also manufactured Sega's "Hang-On" (1985) for the European market.
Atari Games continued to manufacture arcade games and units, and starting in 1988, also sold cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the Tengen brand name, including a version of "Tetris". The companies exchanged a number of lawsuits in the late 1980s related to disputes over the rights to "Tetris" and Tengen's circumvention of Nintendo's lockout chip, which prevented third parties from creating unauthorized games. The suit finally reached a settlement in 1994, with Atari Games paying Nintendo cash damages and use of several patent licenses.
In April 1996, after an unsuccessful bid by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, the company was sold to WMS Industries, owners of the Williams, Bally and Midway arcade brands, which restored the use of the Atari Games name. On November 19, 1999, Atari Games Corporation was renamed Midway Games West Inc., resulting in the Atari Games name no longer being used.
Hasbro Interactive (1998–2000).
On March 13, 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million, less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive.
Atari SA (2001–present).
In October 2001, Infogrames (now Atari SA) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of three new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts: "Splashdown", "MX Rider" and "TransWorld Surf". Infogrames used Atari as a brand name for games aimed at 18–34 year olds. Other Infogrames games under the Atari name included "V-Rally 3", "Neverwinter Nights", "Stuntman" and "Enter the Matrix".
On May 7, 2003, Infogrames had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc., renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment. The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Hasbro Interactive, was also made a separate corporate entity renamed as Atari Interactive.
Between 2004 and 2011, Atari produced and marketed Atari Flashback retro consoles, reminiscent of the Atari 2600 design. Since 2011, these consoles have been produced by AtGames under the license from Atari. Atari Flashback Portable is a handheld game console sold since 2016.
On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 8, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios, a MMORPG developer.
Namco Bandai purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames. Atari had significant financial issues for several years prior, with losses in the tens of millions since 2005.
In May 2009, Infogrames Entertainment SA, the parent company of Atari, and Atari Interactive, announced it would change its name to Atari SA.
In April 2010, Atari SA board member and former CEO David Gardner resigned. Original Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell joined the board as a representative for Blubay holdings.
As of March 31, 2011, the board of directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis and Alexandra Fichelson.
On January 21, 2013, the four related companies Atari, Atari Interactive, Humongous, and California US Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino. Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated that their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people.
On June 22, 2014, Atari announced a new corporate strategy that would include a focus on "new audiences", specifically "LGBT, social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube".
On June 8, 2017, a short teaser video was released, promoting a new product; and the following week Chesnais confirmed the company was developing a new game console – the hardware was stated to be based on PC technology, and still under development. In mid July 2017 an Atari press release confirmed the existence of the aforementioned new hardware, referred to as the "Ataribox". The box design was derived from early Atari designs (e.g. 2600) with a ribbed top surface, and a rise at the back of the console; two versions were announced: one with a traditional wood veneer front, and the other with a glass front. Connectivity options were revealed, including HDMI, USB (x4), and SD card – the console was said to support both classic and current games. Also, according to an official company statement of June 22, 2017, the product was to be initially launched via a crowdfunding campaign in order to minimize any financial risk to the parent company.
On September 26, 2017, Atari sent out a press release about the new "Atari VCS", which confirmed more details about the console. It will run a Linux operating system, with full access to the underlying OS, but it will have a custom interface designed for the TV.
On January 27, 2020, Atari announced a deal with GSD Group to build Atari Hotels, with the first breaking ground in Phoenix in mid-2020. Additional hotels were also planned in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. The company plans to make the hotel experience immersive and accessible to all ages. Hotels are planned to include virtual and augmented reality technologies.
On December 16, 2020, Atari shipped the first units of the Atari VCS exclusive to backers of the systems crowdfunding campaign. Atari, urged the backers to give feedback on the system, so the company's can make changes to hopefully better the product on its official launch.
In 2020 Atari Token was launched by Atari, a world-known producer of interactive entertainment products, in equal partnership with the ICICB Group. The group was granted with issuance license to launch an online casino using crypto-currencies, including the Atari Token.
The group partnering with Atari opened a new company in Gibraltar called Atari Chain LTD.
In March 2021, Atari extended its partnership with ICICB Group for the development of Atari branded hotels and the first hotels will be constructed at selected locations outside the United States, with Dubai, Gibraltar and Spain.


Command (Unix)

The command command in Unix and Unix-like operating systems is a utility to execute a command. It is specified in the POSIX standard. It is present in Unix shells as a shell builtin function. The argument(s) passed is a command with its arguments. The passed command is run with the normal shell function lookup suppressed.


Split-brain (computing)

Split-brain is a computer term, based on an analogy with the medical Split-brain syndrome. It indicates data or availability inconsistencies originating from the maintenance of two separate data sets with overlap in scope, either because of servers in a network design, or a failure condition based on servers not communicating and synchronizing their data to each other. This last case is also commonly referred to as a network partition.
Although the term split-brain typically refers to an error state, Split-brain DNS (or Split-horizon DNS) is sometimes used to describe a deliberate situation where internal and external DNS services for a corporate network are not communicating, so that separate DNS name spaces are to be administered for external computers and for internal ones. This requires a double administration, and if there is domain overlap in the computer names, there is a risk that the same fully qualified domain name (FQDN), may ambiguously occur in both name spaces referring to different computer IP addresses.
High-availability clusters usually use a heartbeat private network connection which is used to monitor the health and status of each node in the cluster. For example, the split-brain syndrome may occur when all of the private links go down simultaneously, but the cluster nodes are still running, each one believing they are the only one running. The data sets of each cluster may then randomly serve clients by their own "idiosyncratic" data set updates, without any coordination with the other data sets. This may lead to data corruption or other data inconsistencies that might require operator intervention and cleanup.
Approaches for dealing with split-brain.
Davidson et al., after surveying several approaches to handle the problem, classify them as either optimistic or pessimistic.
The optimistic approaches simply let the partitioned nodes work as usual; this provides a greater level of availability, at the cost of sacrificing correctness. Once the problem has ended, automatic or manual reconciliation might be required in order to have the cluster in a consistent state. One current implementation for this approach is Hazelcast, which does automatic reconciliation of its key-value store.
The pessimistic approaches sacrifice availability in exchange for consistency. Once a network partitioning has been detected, access to the sub-partitions is limited in order to guarantee consistency. A typical approach, as described by Coulouris et al., is to use a quorum-consensus approach. This allows the sub-partition with a majority of the votes to remain available, while the remaining sub-partitions should fall down to an auto-fencing mode. One current implementation for this approach is the one used by MongoDB replica sets. And another such implementation is Galera replication for MariaDB and MySQL.
Modern commercial general-purpose HA clusters typically use a combination of heartbeat network connections between cluster hosts, and quorum witness storage. The challenge with two-node clusters is that adding a witness device adds cost and complexity (even if implemented in the cloud), but without it, if heartbeat fails, cluster members cannot determine which should be active. In such clusters (without quorum), if a member fails, even if the members normally assign primary and secondary statuses to the hosts, there is at least a 50% probability that a 2-node HA cluster will totally fail until human intervention is provided, to prevent multiple members becoming active independently and either directly conflicting or corrupting data.


NCR 304

The NCR 304, announced in 1957, first delivered in 1959, was National Cash Register (NCR)'s first transistor-based computer. The 304 was developed and manufactured in cooperation with General Electric, where it was also used internally.
Its follow-on was the NCR 315.


7437 VM/SP Technical Workstation


Office camera

An office camera is a digital camera device that performs tasks in offices such as document scanning, physical object imaging, video presentation and web conferencing. It is similar to the document camera, which is normally used on podiums in classrooms and meeting rooms for presentations.
An office camera typically has a compact form factor in order to be a commonplace desktop item. Commercial products, such as the HoverCam, can fit into pockets or briefcases, which makes them ideal for use on desktops or on-the-go. Generally, office cameras have least one high-resolution camera, which can be used in an "aerial" position to shoot video or still image pictures of documents or objects. In order to capture images with enough clarity, such cameras are expected to have high resolution, normally more than 2 megapixels at the minimum, and ideally produce distortion-free images for documents, even when the document contains fonts under 7-point size. A secondary camera, which captures video horizontally to include the presenter(s) of the document or the audience of a presentation, can be beneficial to the device as well.
Office cameras can be connected via USB 2.0 ports to a laptop or a desktop computer to function almost similarly as a web camera. Once connected this way, software applications, such as Skype or GoToMeeting, interface with an office camera in the same fashion as connecting with any Universal Virtual Computer device. At the same time, an office camera can have VGA or HDMI video output to a TV or video projector, so that it can serve as a video presentation tool. Capturing still images and recording video footage into a local storage on the device is also possible.
Applications of office cameras can include quick "scanning" of documents (which is an alternative to flatbed scanners), showing real-time video of product demos, serving as a video input device for a multiple party video conference with shared interactive whiteboard, capturing images for manufacturing and inventory management, a video testimony, form or invoice scanning and recognition, receipt capturing, expense and report generation.


Robotron KC 87

The Robotron KC 87, fully known as the Kleincomputer robotron KC 87 ("KC" standing for "Kleincomputer", lit. "small computer"), was an 8-bit home computer released in 1987 and produced in East Germany by the VEB Robotron-Meßelektronik "Otto Schön" Dresden, part of the Kombinat Robotron. The first model in the series, the Robotron Z 9001, was introduced in 1984 and renamed Robotron KC 85/1 in 1985. Despite similar names, the Robotron home computers were not directly related to the KC 85 series produced by the VEB Mikroelektronik "Wilhelm Pieck" Mühlhausen.
The Robotron KC series used an U880 microprocessor, a clone of the Zilog Z80, which was clocked at 2.5 MHz. The keyboard was integrated into every machine. Software could be loaded from cassette tapes; a separate cassette deck was needed for doing so. All models featured module slots for up to four expansion modules, which allowed to expand the hardware, such as by upgrading the RAM or allowing to connect the KC to a printer, but also included applications and programming languages. The KC 87 had the BASIC interpreter in ROM, while in case of the earlier models, the user had to load it from tape or to use a BASIC expansion module. In addition to the home computers, Robotron also offered cassette tapes with applications and games, modules, and other equipment. However, the availability of the Robotron KC series for private customers was very limited. The computers were mostly used at educational institutions, organizations, and enterprises. Therefore, the extracurricular use of home computers was often allowed for students at institutions and organizations.


ACube Systems Srl

ACube Systems Srl is a company that started in January 2007 from the synergy of the Italian companies Alternative Holding Group Srl, Soft3 and Virtual Works.
The three companies have been engaged in the areas of sale, distribution and engineering of hardware and software for mainstream systems and alternative platforms for years. They have joined their efforts in the realization of the Sam440ep platform. Then ongoing dispute over ownership of AmigaOS cast doubts about actual release of AmigaOS 4 for this new hardware, support for Sam440ep was later introduced in AmigaOS 4.1. Since November 2007 Acube Systems distributed AmigaOS 4.0 for Amiga computers with PowerPC CPU cards on behalf of Hyperion Entertainment.
They also built the first Amiga redesign in hardware, the Minimig.
In September 2011, Acube Systems introduced AmigaOne 500 based on Sam460ex mainboard.


Invasion From Outer Space

Invasion From Outer Space is a 1980 video game designed by Chris Freund for The Software Exchange for the TRS-80 16K Level II microcomputer.
Plot summary.
"Invasion From Outer Space" is a game in which the player destroys as many alien ships as possible before losing all available bases.
Reception.
Joseph T. Suchar reviewed "Invasion From Outer Space" (as "Alien Invaders") in "The Space Gamer" No. 30. Suchar commented that "This game involves no real strategy, but will provide a great deal of excitement and frustration, depending upon your temperament. If you are an arcade game fan, I highly recommend this game."


LILO (boot loader)

LILO (Linux Loader) is a boot loader for Linux and was the default boot loader for most Linux distributions in the years after the popularity of loadlin. Today, many distributions use GRUB as the default boot loader, but LILO and its variant ELILO are still in wide use. Further development of LILO was discontinued in December 2015 along with a request by Joachim Wiedorn for potential developers.
ELILO.
For EFI-based PC hardware the now orphaned ELILO boot loader was developed, originally by Hewlett-Packard for IA-64 systems made, but later also for standard Intel IA-32 and x86-64 hardware with EFI support.
On any version of Linux running on Intel-based Apple Macintosh hardware, ELILO is one of the available bootloaders.
It supports network booting using TFTP/DHCP.


Self mounting image

A self mounting image is a disk image format, commonly found on the classic Mac OS platform, that is encapsulated in an application that mounts it as a file system. When downloaded from the Internet, they are often in a BIN, BinHex or StuffIt file. Despite being an application, they often have a file extension. Disk Copy, the application commonly used to handle disk images in the classic Mac OS was an optional program not part of the standard installation.
Self mounting images have fallen out of favor with the arrival of Mac OS X. All copies of Mac OS X have DiskImageMounter, the utility for mounting disk images.


Speak (Unix)

 was a Unix utility that used a predefined set of rules to turn a file of English text into phoneme data compatible with a Federal Screw Works (later Votrax) model VS4 "Votrax" Speech Synthesizer. It was first included in Unix v3 and possibly later ones, with the OS-end support files and help files persisting until v6. As of late 2011, the original source code for , and portions of speak.m (which is generated from speak.v) were discovered. At least three versions of the man page are known to still exist.
The main program (speak) was around 4500 bytes, the rule tables (/etc/speak.m) were around 11,000 bytes, and the table viewer (speakm) was around 1900 bytes.
History.
The speak utility was developed by Douglas McIlroy in the early 1970s at AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was included with the 1st Edition of Unix in 1973. In 1974, McIlroy published a paper describing the workings of this algorithm.
According to the McIlroy paper, "K. Thompson and D. M. Ritchie integrated the device smoothly into the operating system", which is evident from /usr/sys/dev/vs.c "Screw Works Interface via DC-11".
McIlroy Algorithm.
The McIlroy Algorithm is a large set of rules, sub-rules, and sub-sub-rules, applied to a word to isolate long vowels, silent 'e's, and slowly convert each letter into its "Screw Works" equivalent phoneme code.
The intention of the algorithm is to convert any English text into Votrax Phoneme codes, which could be played back/recited by a Federal Screw Works "Votrax" speech synthesizer.
A later (1976), simpler text-to-speech algorithm developed jointly by Votrax and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, known as the "NRL Algorithm", serves a similar purpose.


Invasion Force

Invasion Force is a science fiction action video game produced by the Tandy Corporation in June, 1979. Invasion Force was a text-based, real-time, Star Trek style game.
Gameplay.
The player is in control of the USS Hephaestus and must make decisions to manage resources, such as fuel and ammunition, so the ship does not become stranded in space while fending off "Jovian" attacks. There are 10 levels of difficulty.
Reception.
Glenn Mai reviewed "Invasion Force" in "The Space Gamer" No. 36. Mai commented that "If you don't have a "Star Trek" game and want one, get "Invasion Force"."


Motorola 6800 family

The 6800 family of 8-bit microprocessors (µPs) and microcontrollers (µCs) is based upon the Motorola 6800 CPU. The architecture also inspired the MOS Technology 6502, and that company started in the microprocessor business producing 6800 replacements.
The chips primarily competed against Intel's 8-bit family of chips (such as the 8080, or their relations, the ZiLOG Z80 range).


Cyberia (video game)

Cyberia is a science fiction action adventure video game released for MS-DOS in January 1994, and released two years later on the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, 3DO and FM Towns consoles. A sequel, "Cyberia 2: Resurrection", was released in 1995 for both DOS and Windows 9x formats.
Gameplay.
"Cyberia" uses prerendered visuals during gameplay, and boasted impressive graphics for its time. While mostly linear, there are two points in the game where the player makes a decision that can change important outcomes. There are four basic methods of gameplay which "Cyberia" employs: exploring the environment through walking (from node to node), attempting to complete puzzles in a full screen view, using a gun turret to shoot down planes, and flying in various vehicles. Direction and speed during flight are computer controlled; the player controls weapons firing. Vehicles include the TF-22 Transfighter stealth jet, a nanotech virus cleaner, "Charlie" the remotely operated decontamination robot, and the Cyberia weapon itself.
Weapons and methods of attack are few in the exploring sections of gameplay. Attached to Zak's suit is a heat pulse weapon that can be fired from Zak's arm. The only other modes of attack during the walking portions of the game consist of traps that must be set to outsmart an enemy, which goes hand-in-hand with the occasional demand for stealth. For the gun turret portion, two heat-charged energy blasts are released from each side of the turret when Zak fires it. When flying the stealth aircraft, Zak is able to dispense continuous bolts of blue energy at the cost of the aircraft's power supply. When controlling the virus cleaner, Zak is able to do likewise. The "Charlie" robot adds a new form of attack: a weapon which kills all enemies on the screen at the cost of a decent amount of the machine's energy. A similar electrical energy weapon seen on the virus cleaner is also used when Zak is joined with the Cyberia weapon.
The various puzzles in the game can range from requiring the player to figure out the password on a computer to disarming a bomb on a stealth aircraft. Zak can use his suit's BLADES (Bi-optic Low Amplitude Displayed Energy System) to scan the current puzzle in several ways for help in completing the puzzle. The three modes of Zak's BLADES are as follows:
Puzzle difficulty and arcade difficulty are set in the beginning of the game, but setting both to "easy" is not permitted; if the player attempts to do so, the game will inform the player that it will be "too easy." Arcade difficulty controls the toughness of the combat in the game (both on the ground and in the air).
The Saturn version of the game supports the mouse and mission stick in addition to the standard controller. The 3DO version supports only the standard controller and flight stick. The PlayStation version is one of the few games compatible with the PlayStation Mouse.
Plot.
"Cyberia" is set in the near future of the year 2027, five years after a global economic collapse. The world is under the dominion of two opposing superpowers, the First World Alliance in the west and the Cartel in the east. William Devlin, the leader of the FWA, receives word that a devastating weapon is being produced in a secret base in Siberia, referred to as the Cyberia Complex. Curious to unravel the mysteries of this weapon, Devlin pardons a cyber-hacker named Zebulon Pike "Zak" Kingston and charges him with the task of infiltrating the Complex and retrieving intel on the weapon being produced there.
Already getting wind of Cyberia's secret operations, the Cartel seizes control of the Complex with the same goal as the FWA–to discover the nature of the super weapon being produced by a third party. Zak is scheduled to rendezvous with an oil rig run by an FWA-contracted mercenary group managed by Luis Arturo Santos and his assistant Gia Scarlatti to pick up a TF-22 TransFighter, a sophisticated aircraft that will ensure Zak's arrival at the Cyberia Complex. Shortly after arriving the oil rig is attacked by the Cartel. After Zak and Gia defend the rig using gun turrets, the mercenaries, sensing betrayal, move to kill Zak by hunting him down and sabotaging the TF-22. Zak eventually steals the TF-22 and travels through several hostile locales en route to the Cyberia Complex; a mountain range infested with Cartel hoverfighters, a Cartel-run oceanlab, and a commuter tunnel are among the places visited by Zak. Eventually, the TF-22 reaches the Cyberia Complex and Zak proceeds to wreak havoc on the Cartel's analysis efforts.
While exploring the Complex, Zak encounters more than Cartel soldiers, as he is forced to eradicate the Complex scientists experimental virus which killed some of the Cartel soldiers. After purging the virus from the Complex, Zak uncovers the Cyberion, an amorphous collection of miniature robots, or nanites, that has achieved sentience. Devlin then contacts Zak and informs him that the cyber-hacker himself is a weapon, which Cyberion explains to mean that a high-yield explosive device has been implanted into Zak's brain. Upon reaching the Cyberion, Devlin had intended to detonate the device from orbit, eliminating the weapon and killing Zak simultaneously. Zak, frustrated over Devlin's betrayal and upon Cyberion's suggestion, merges with the Cyberion which defuses the explosive device in Zak's head. Together, Zak and the Cyberion launch into space to confront Devlin in the FWA space station. The station's defenses are slowly crippled until the Cyberion and Zak make the final move and kill the treacherous Devlin by destroying the station. The resulting shockwave causes the Cyberion/Zak amalgamation to lose consciousness while it plummets to Earth. Upon crashing, an FWA retrieval team led by a Doctor John Corbin is heard hoisting up the remains of Cyberion/Zak into a helicopter.
Reception.
Reviews for "Cyberia" were generally mixed. For the most part, the game's cinematic, prerendered visuals were lauded; according to Philip Jong of Adventure Classic Gaming, "Cyberia" was "one of the first game titles to combine computer animations and Hollywood film technique to form visually stunning graphics and cut scenes." Similarly, IGN stated that the "use of multiple camera angles, eerie soundtrack, detailed light-sourcing, and short, effective cut-sequences really pulls the player into the game." Radion Automatic of "Sega Saturn Magazine" likewise commented that "the graphics remain stylistically constant pretty much throughout (apart from the ropey anti-aircraft concept), displaying solid-looking rendered characters and backgrounds in a cinematic enough fashion to carry the atmosphere." Scary Larry and Tommy Glide of "GamePro" both noted the excellent polygon rendering on the characters and the detailed backgrounds. A reviewer for "Next Generation" praised the rendered graphics, soundtrack, and "absorbing" storyline, and said that even with the very limited interactivity, ""Cyberia" keeps itself above the competition by mixing sequences with puzzles and plot devices that keep the gamer drawn into the story". "Maximum" complimented the "slick metallic looking graphics", though like Radion Automatic they found the graphics of the anti-aircraft sections unimpressive.
Despite the praise over the game's aesthetics, reviewers found shortcomings in "Cyberia's" linear gameplay. In his review, Jong goes on to criticize the game's "weak puzzles ... [that are] not well integrated into the story or gameplay." He concludes by saying that "Cyberia" is "a classic example of beauty but no substance." In IGN's words, "gameplay does tend to suffer in graphic adventures, which usually consists of doing things over and over until you do it right." Radion Automatic felt that the gameplay was enjoyable, but acknowledged that "it's hard to think who to recommend it to. The role-play element isn't quite deep enough to appeal to solid adventure fans and the action is a bit too simple for super-speed cyber-shoot-'em-up heads." "Maximum" echoed these remarks: "RPG purists will find this too shallow and action fans will find it too dull." They elaborated that the game tends to switch between gameplay styles abruptly, with no rhyme or reason, making it difficult to get involved with the game. Scary Larry complained of twitchy controls, and said that the game focuses too much on puzzle elements and not enough on action. Tommy Glide found the controls to be initially confusing and annoying, and said the game lacks replay value. One reviewer for "Next Generation" found the chief problem to be that Cyberia doesn't allow the player to explore and "[create] your own story", while another simply stated that "it never achieves the level of interactivity that's required to make it a truly great game."
Reviews for the game showed little variation across the four different versions (PC, PlayStation, Saturn, and 3DO), and a "Next Generation" critic stated that the four versions are "exactly" alike.
"Cyberia 2: Resurrection".
"Cyberia 2: Resurrection" was released in 1995 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows as a sequel. It features the same gameplay as the original with improved 3D-rendered graphics and an increase in the amount of in-game cinematics.
The story picks up where the first game ended. After Zak and the Cyberia weapon crash land back on Earth following the destruction of Devlin's orbital headquarters, they are intercepted by an FWA team led by a Dr. Corbin. Corbin, under orders from his FWA employers, places Zak in cryo-storage and uses the remains of the Cyberia weapon to create a deadly virus called nano-toxin. Though the FWA seeks to quell a growing rebel movement with the nano-toxin, the maniacal Corbin intends to use it to kill millions and "reshape the world as we know it." After three years in cryo-storage, Zak is thawed out by a renegade FWA major, and together the two of them set out to find Corbin and stop his plans.
"Cyberia 2" received a score of 82/100 from "Computer Game Review".


Tube (BBC Micro)

In computing, the Tube was the expansion interface and architecture of the BBC Microcomputer System which allowed the BBC Micro to communicate with a second processor, or "coprocessor".
Under the Tube architecture, the coprocessor would run the application software for the user, whilst the Micro (acting as a "host") provided all I/O functions, such as screen display, keyboard and storage devices management. A coprocessor unit could be coldplugged into any BBC Micro with a disk interface (whose ROM contained the necessary host software) and used immediately.
Implementation.
The 40-pin IDC "Tube" connector was a simple slave connection to the host processor's main bus, with 8 data lines, 7 address lines, and an interrupt input. The Tube protocols were implemented by hardware in the attached device.
Inside the coprocessor unit a proprietary chip (the "Tube ULA", manufactured initially by Ferranti) interfaced and logically isolated the host and coprocessor buses. This allowed the Tube to work with a completely different bus architecture in the coprocessor unit. The only other active components needed were a microprocessor, some RAM, a small ROM containing processor specific client code, glue logic such as an address decoder and a power supply.
The two processors communicated through four pairs of FIFO buffers in the Tube ULA. Console input/output, error messages, data transfers and system calls each had their own pair of buffers, one for each direction. The queue capacity varied between 1 and 24 bytes, depending on the dedicated buffer function. Each buffer had a control register and status register to monitor its state and configure the raising of interrupts.
The protocol for the use of these buffers was rigorously specified by Acorn Computers and amounts to interprocess communication by message passing. Most interaction was asynchronous but fast block transfers were synchronous and consisted of the host blindly running a simple fetch-store loop, which defined the transfer rate. The coprocessor was synchronised by passing a dummy byte and then regulated by the relevant buffer semaphore.
The general-purpose nature of the Tube connector in principle allowed it to be used for any type of high-speed peripheral, although Acorn only used it for Tube coprocessors. The BBC Micro/Master range provided 5 address lines for the address range &60–&7F but the Tube protocol only used the lowest 3 bits. Only these 3 address lines are connected to internal Tube sockets, as found in the BBC Master or Universal Second Processor Unit.
Applications.
Numerous coprocessors were developed for the Tube. Most commonly seen was a MOS Technology 6502 processor which allowed unmodified BBC Micro programs to run faster and with more memory, as long as they used the API for all I/O. There was also a Zilog Z80 processor to run CP/M and a National Semiconductor 32016 processor running Panos (and unofficially a UNIX variant).
These coprocessors formed the basis of the Acorn Business Computer series, the higher end machines being repackaged BBC Micros with a coprocessor attached via the Tube. The Master Series supported two Tube connections, allowing for a coprocessor fitted inside the case and another connected externally, but only one could be used in any powered session. An internal 6502 processor could be fitted, or an Intel 80186 based system for DOS compatibility (although in practice this was limited).
The Tube was also used during the initial development of the ARM processor. An evaluation board was developed that again used the BBC Micro as a host system for I/O operations.
Acorn had strongly discouraged BBC Micro programmers from directly accessing system memory and hardware, favouring official API calls. This was ostensibly to ensure applications could be seamlessly moved to the Tube 6502 coprocessor, since direct access from there was impossible. When a program called one of the MOS entry points, a replacement subroutine in the coprocessor's ROM passed a corresponding message to the host which carried out the operation and passed back the result. In this way an application could run identically on the host or the coprocessor. Other CPU models used a custom API, which was typically an orthogonal translation of the 6502 API into a native format.


Applied Digital Data Systems

Applied Digital Data Systems (ADDS) was a supplier of video display computer terminals, founded in 1969 by Leeam Lowin and William J. Catacosinos. Lowin simultaneously founded Solid State Data Sciences (SSDS). SSDS was one of the first developers of the MOS/LSI integrated circuits that were key to ADDS's product line.
It became a subsidiary of NCR Corporation in 1980, which sold the "Mentor 2000" professional computer in the United States in 1986.
The "Mentor 2000" ran at 5 MHz using a Zilog processor, 640 KB RAM, and included one 60MB hard disk. It used the Pick operating system and database management system. It was able to manage 16 or 32 video terminals at once.
ADDS (along with NCR) was later part of AT&T,
then independent briefly before being acquired by SunRiver Data Systems.
However, their version of the Pick operating system was acquired by Pick Systems Inc, now called TigerLogic. That version is now called mvBase. MvBase was sold to Rocket Software in 2013.


Small-C

Small-C is both a subset of the C programming language, suitable for resource-limited microcomputers and embedded systems, and an implementation of that subset. Originally valuable as an early compiler for microcomputer systems available during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the implementation has also been useful as an example simple enough for teaching purposes.
The original compiler, written in Small-C for the Intel 8080 by Ron Cain, appeared in the May 1980 issue of "Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia". James E. Hendrix improved and extended the original compiler, and wrote "The Small-C Handbook". Ron bootstrapped Small-C on the SRI International PDP 11/45 Unix system with an account provided by John Bass for Small C development. The provided source code was released with management permission into the public domain. Small-C was important for tiny computers in a manner somewhat analogous to the importance of GCC for larger computers. Just like its Unix counterparts, the compiler generates assembler code, which then must be translated to machine code by an available assembler.
Small-C is a retargetable compiler. Porting Small-C requires only that the back-end code generator and the library to operating system interface calls be rewritten for the target processor.
Language subset.
"In May of 1980 Dr. Dobb's Journal ran an article entitled "A Small C Compiler for the 8080s" in which Ron Cain presented a small compiler for a subset of the C language. The most interesting feature of the compiler besides its small size was the language in which it was written—the one it compiled. It was a self-compiler! (Although this is commonplace today, it was a fairly novel idea at the time.) With a simple, one-pass algorithm, his compiler generated assembly language for the 8080 processor. Being small, however, it had its limitations. It recognized only characters, integers, and single dimension arrays of either type. The only loop controlling device was the while statement. There were no Boolean operators, so the bitwise logical operators & (AND) and | (OR) were used instead. But even with these limitations, it was a very capable language and a delight to use, especially compared to assembly language.
Recognizing the need for improvements, Ron encouraged me to produce a second version, and in December 1982 it also appeared in Dr. Dobb's Journal. The new compiler augmented Small C with (1) code optimizing, (2) data initializing, (3) conditional compiling, (4) the extern storage class, (5) the for, do/while, switch, and goto statements, (6) combination assignment operators, (7) Boolean operators, (8) the one's complement operator, (9) block local variables, and (10) various other features. Then in 1984 Ernest Payne and I developed and published a CP/M compatible run-time library for the compiler. It consisted of over 80 functions and included most of those in the UNIX C Standard I/O Library—the ones that pertained to the CP/M environment. This became version 2.1 and the subject of The Small C Handbook.


ShimmerCat

ShimmerCat is a web server designed from ground-up for HTTP/2 and written in Haskell. The purported purpose of the server is to take full advantage of HTTP/2 features, including HTTP/2 PUSH, to enhance the perceived page load speed of served websites. ShimmerCat uses machine learning to accelerate asset delivery to the browser.
Overview.
As of September 2016, ShimmerCat is at version 1.5.0 and runs on Linux and OS X. The software can be used for development of web applications through its SOCKS5 and HTTP/2 implementations, and it is also possible to develop web applications without having to modify /etc/hosts nor use different sets of URLs for development and production.


Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is a 8.0 megapixel digital bridge camera announced by Sony on August 15, 2003.
Overview.
As successor of the DSC-F717, F828 was widely considered "revolutionary" at launch. Major changes / improvements over its predecessor, the 2002 F717 include:
The F828, along with the "Cyber-shot F" series designation, was discontinued in 2005.
Reception.
Despite having attractive on-paper specs, F828 did not fare as well as its predecessor among camera reviewers and photographers. F828 received a "Recommended / Above average" rating from DPReview, in contrast to a "Highly recommended" given to F717. Average user rating is 43 out of 100 from "cameradecision.com".
Visible picture noise, associated with increased pixel density and underdeveloped noise reduction algorithm, was of primary concern. Moreover, the complicated RGBE sensor did not result in better color accuracy as expected; this led Sony to drop any further development on such sensors, making F828 the first and the last camera ever to use a 4-color sensor. Many photographers also noted more severe purple fringing on F828s than on its predecessors.


Embedded Compact Extended

Embedded Compact Extended (ECX) is a small form factor Single Board Computer specification set out by Intel. ECX boards measure 105mm x 146mm.
The small size of the board gives it application in portable medical imaging devices and in-vehicle infotainment systems.


Clear for Action

Clear for Action is a 1984 video game published by The Avalon Hill Game Company.
Gameplay.
"Clear for Action" is a game in which up to eight players can fight a multiple ship battle in the era of sailing ships.
Reception.
Floyd Mathews reviewed the game for "Computer Gaming World", and stated that "CFA is an entertaining game, which I recommend for both experienced and novice wargamers. Good luck, and may your swash never buckle!"


Sony Vaio M series

Desktop (1998).
The Vaio M Series was a range of multimedia-oriented Vaio desktop PCs sold by Sony in Japan from 1998 to 1999.
Netbook (2008).
The Sony Vaio M series name was relaunched as a series of netbooks in April 2008. It is a cheaper alternative to the Sony Vaio W series netbooks, having only a 10.1" 1024x600 screen.
It features a 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 250GB or 320GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Ethernet, 0.3MP webcam, and Windows 7 Starter. It weighs 1.4kg.