IBM 305 RAMAC

The IBM 305 RAMAC was the first commercial computer that used a moving-head hard disk drive (magnetic disk storage) for secondary storage. The system was publicly announced on September 14, 1956, with test units already installed at the U.S. Navy and at private corporations. RAMAC stood for "Random Access Method of Accounting and Control", as its design was motivated by the need for real-time accounting in business.
History.
The first RAMAC to be used in the U.S. auto industry was installed at Chrysler's MOPAR Division in 1957. It replaced a huge tub file which was part of MOPAR's parts inventory control and order processing system.
During the 1960 Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley (USA), IBM provided the first electronic data processing systems for the Games. The system featured an IBM RAMAC 305 computer, punched card data collection, and a central printing facility.
More than 1,000 systems were built. Production ended in 1961; the RAMAC computer became obsolete in 1962 when the IBM 1405 Disk Storage Unit for the IBM 1401 was introduced, and the 305 was withdrawn in 1969.
Overview.
The first hard disk unit was shipped September 13, 1956. The additional components of the computer were a card punch, a central processing unit, a power supply unit, an operator's console/card reader unit, and a printer. There was also a manual inquiry station that allowed direct access to stored records. IBM touted the system as being able to store the equivalent of 64,000 punched cards.
The 305 was one of the last vacuum tube computers that IBM built. It weighed over a ton.
The IBM 350 disk system stored 5 million alphanumeric characters recorded as six data bits, one parity bit and one space bit for eight bits recorded per character. It had fifty disks. Two independent access arms moved up and down to select a disk, and in and out to select a recording track, all under servo control. Average time to locate a single record was 600 milliseconds. Several improved models were added in the 1950s. The IBM RAMAC 305 system with 350 disk storage leased for US$3,200 () per month.
The original 305 RAMAC computer system could be housed in a room of about 9 m (30 ft) by 15 m (50 ft); the 350 disk storage unit measured around . Currie Munce, research vice president for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (which has acquired IBM's hard disk drive business), stated in a "Wall Street Journal" interview that the RAMAC unit weighed over a ton, had to be moved around with forklifts, and was delivered via large cargo airplanes. According to Munce, the storage capacity of the drive could have been increased beyond five megabytes, but IBM's marketing department at that time was against a larger capacity drive, because they did not know how to sell a product with more storage.
Programming the 305 involved not only writing machine language instructions to be stored on the drum memory, but also almost every unit in the system (including the computer itself) could be programmed by inserting wire jumpers into a plugboard control panel.
Architecture.
System architecture was documented in the "305 RAMAC Manual of Operation".
The 305 was a character-oriented variable "word" length decimal (BCD) computer with a drum memory rotating at 6000 RPM that held 3200 alphanumeric characters. A core memory buffer of 100 characters was used for temporary storage during data transfers.
Each character was six bits plus one odd parity bit ("R") composed of two zone bits ("X" and "O") and remaining four binary bits for the value of the digit in the following format:
 X O 8 4 2 1 R
Instructions could only be stored on 20 tracks of the drum memory and were fixed length (10 characters), in the following format:
Fixed-point data "words" could be any size from one decimal digit up to 100 decimal digits, with the X bit of the least significant digit storing the sign (signed magnitude).
Data records could be any size from one character up to 100 characters.
Drum memory.
The drum memory was organized into 32 tracks of 100 characters each.
The color code of this table is:
codice_1 and codice_2 select the same track, containing ten 10-character "Accumulators". As a destination "L" specifies addition, "M" specifies subtraction. (Numbers in these accumulators were stored in ten's complement form, with the X bit of the most significant digit storing the sign. The sign of each accumulator was also held in a relay. However the 305 automatically converted between its standard signed magnitude format and this format without the need for special programming.)
codice_3, codice_4, and codice_5 do not select tracks on the drum, they specify other sources and destinations.
Jumps.
The 305's instruction set does not include any jumps, instead these are programmed on the control panel:
Timing.
All timing signals for the 305 were derived from a factory recorded "clock track" on the drum. The clock track contained 816 pulses 12 μs apart with a 208 μs gap for sync.
Reading or writing a character took 96 μs.
The 305's typical instruction took three revolutions of the drum (30 ms): one ("I phase") to fetch the instruction, one ("R phase") to read the source operand and copy it to the core buffer, and one ("W phase") to write the destination operand from the core buffer. If the P field (Program exit code) was not blank, then two ("D phase" and "P phase") additional revolutions of the drum (20 ms) were added to the execution time to allow relays to be picked. The "Improved Processing Speed" option could be installed that allowed the three instruction phases ("IRW") to immediately follow each other instead of waiting for the next revolution to start; with this option and well optimized code and operand placement a typical instruction could execute in as little as one revolution of the drum (10 ms).
Certain instructions though took far longer than the typical 30 ms to 50 ms. For example, multiply took six to nineteen revolutions of the drum (60 ms to 190 ms) and divide (an option) took ten to thirty seven revolutions of the drum (100 ms to 370 ms). Input/Output instructions could interlock the processor for as many revolutions of the drum as needed by the hardware.
Hardware implementation.
The logic circuitry of the 305 was built of one- and two-tube pluggable units and relays.
Related peripheral units.
A basic system was composed of the following units:


Core Services

Core Services are a set of macOS and iOS application programming interfaces that architecturally are underneath Carbon, Cocoa and Cocoa Touch. In addition to Core Foundation, it also encompasses other APIs including Grand Central Dispatch, Blocks, CFNetwork, CarbonCore, OSServices, and WebServicesCore.


Operation Sabotage

Operation Sabotage is a text adventure game by Ray Sato for the TRS-80 and published by "SoftSide Magazine" in 1982. It was ported by Rich Bouchard to the Atari 8-bit family and subsequently translated for Apple II by Ron Shaker. The game was republished in "The Best of SoftSide" (1983), which also included the program on an accompanying 5¼-inch floppy disk.


Canon EOS 30D

The Canon EOS 30D is an 8.2-megapixel semi-professional digital single-lens reflex camera, initially announced on February 21, 2006. It is the successor of the Canon EOS 20D, and is succeeded by the EOS 40D. It can accept EF and EF-S lenses, and like its predecessor, it uses an APS-C sized image sensor, so it does not require the larger imaging circle necessary for 35 mm film and 'full-frame' digital cameras.
Improvements.
Changes over the 20D include a bigger LCD rear screen, improved shutter mechanism rated for 100,000 actuations, improved frame capacity, 1/3 stop increments for sensor speed and an added spot meter. This unit retains the same sensor as its predecessor; all lenses still have an angle of view crop of 1.6. Other changes include a larger 11 frame RAW / 30 frame JPEG buffer, and slightly faster 0.15 second startup. The maximum frame rate is the same (5 frame/s), but a lower-speed 3 frame/s option has been added. The 30D uses the same number of autofocus points as the 20D (nine), but has improved algorithms. The 30D's file numbering system holds 9,999 images to one folder, which was introduced with the 5D.
The EOS 30D can also accept the Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E1/E1A for fast file transfer to a remote file server, either through an ethernet cable or a Wi-Fi network. This capability expands the EOS 30D's range of applications to sports and studio set ups where real-time transfer of the images is crucial.
Resolution.
The Canon EOS 30D has several resolution settings:
Features.
The Canon EOS 30D features a Mode Dial on the top which selects the shooting mode. It is divided into two sections: "Creative Zone" and "Basic Zone". The Creative zone provides manual and semi-manual modes; it gives access to RAW format, manual exposure, aperture and ISO sensitivity.
Basic Zone.
The camera features (like many others) two LCDs, one monochrome at the top, which contains all information pertinent to shooting, and a full-color one at the back, which is used for picture reviewing and menu navigation. The rear display has a resolution of 320 × 240 pixel (76,800 pixels).
The Canon EOS 30D also features a large dial on its back which is used for fast scrolling over the stored pictures or over the settings in the menu. The JUMP button can also be used to reach sections of the menu easily, as well as scroll through either 10 or 100 image in playback mode. The 8 way controller above the dial is used to select one of the 9 AF points, to move around a zoomed image in playback mode, and to set custom white balance.
Its internal flash can be set to release several consecutive strobe bursts to aid focusing in dim situations, but there is no dedicated AF assist lamp. Photographers can attach an external flash with AF assist lamp like many of Canon Speedlites.


Cromemco

Cromemco was a Mountain View, California microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80-based S-100 bus computers and peripherals in the early days of the personal computer revolution.
The company began as a partnership in 1974 between Harry Garland and Roger Melen, two Stanford Ph.D. students. The company was named for their residence at Stanford University (Crothers Memorial, a Stanford dormitory reserved for engineering graduate students). Cromemco was incorporated in 1976 and their first products were the Cromemco Cyclops digital camera, and the Cromemco Dazzler color graphics interface - both groundbreaking at the time - before they moved on to making computer systems.
In December 1981, "Inc." magazine named Cromemco in the top ten fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S.
Early history.
The collaboration that was to become Cromemco began in 1970 when Harry Garland and Roger Melen, graduate students at Stanford University, began working on a series of articles for "Popular Electronics" magazine. These articles described construction projects for the electronic hobbyist.
Since it was sometimes difficult for the hobbyist to find the needed parts for these projects, Garland and Melen licensed third-party suppliers to provide kits of parts. A kit for one of these projects, an “Op Amp Tester”, was sold by a company called MITS which would later launch a revolutionary microcomputer on the cover of "Popular Electronics".
In 1974, Roger Melen was visiting the New York editorial offices of "Popular Electronics" where he saw a prototype of the MITS Altair microcomputer. Melen was so impressed with this machine that he changed his return flight to California to go through Albuquerque, where he met with Ed Roberts, the president of MITS. At that meeting, Roberts encouraged Melen to develop add-on products for the Altair, beginning with the Cyclops digital camera that was slated to appear in the February 1975 issue of "Popular Electronics".
On returning to California, Melen and Garland formed a partnership to produce the Cyclops camera and future microcomputer products. They named the company “Cromemco” after the Stanford dorm (Crothers Memorial Hall) where they first began their collaboration.
First products.
Melen and Garland began work on the Cyclops Camera interface for the Altair, and this spawned several other projects for their young company. There was no convenient way to store software for the Altair, other than on punched paper tape. To remedy this problem Melen and Garland went to work on designing a programmable read-only memory card they called the “Bytesaver.” The Bytesaver also could support a resident program that allowed the computer to function immediately when it was powered up, without having to first manually load a bootstrap program. The Bytesaver proved to be a very popular peripheral.
There was also no way to see a Cyclops image stored in the Altair. So work began on a graphics interface card which could connect the Altair to a color TV set. This graphics interface, called the Dazzler, was introduced in the February 1976 issue of "Popular Electronics".
One use for an Altair Computer with a Dazzler was to play games. But there was no way to interface a game console or joystick to the Altair. So the next project was to design a joystick console and an interface card that supported an 8-bit digital channel and 7 analog channels (called the D+7A). The D+7A could do much more than just interface a joystick, however, and it was this card that allowed the Altair to be connected to the world of data acquisition and industrial computing.
Cromemco called themselves “Specialists in Computer Peripherals” and had a reputation for innovative designs and quality construction. They were, however, just a few steps away from offering their own computer system based on the Altair computer bus structure, named by Garland and Melen the "S-100 bus".
From boards to systems.
The first computer released by Cromemco was the Z-1 in August 1976. The Z-1 came with 8K of static RAM and used the same chassis as the IMSAI 8080 but featured the Z80 microprocessor rather than the IMSAI computer's Intel 8080 chip. The Z-1 was succeeded by the Z-2 in June 1977, which featured 64K of RAM and the ability to run Cromemco DOS (CDOS), a CP/M-like operating system. The Z-2 also added a parallel interface in addition to an RS-232C serial port and no longer included the large panel of switches that had been part of the Z-1 model.
Cromemco re-packaged their systems to produce the System One, followed by the larger System Two and System Three. The System Three, announced in 1978 was capable of running both FORTRAN IV and Z80 BASIC programming languages. The System Three was designed for multiuser professional use and included an optional hard disk, CRT terminal, printer and the main computer unit. In 1979, Cromemco released CROMIX, the first Unix-like operating system for microcomputers. CROMIX initially ran on the System Three and would later run on Cromemco systems using the Motorola 68000 series of microprocessors.
In 1982, Cromemco introduced a Motorola 68000 CPU card for their systems. It was a dual-processor card (called the DPU) with both a Motorola 68000 processor and a Zilog Z-80 processor (for backward compatibility). Their System One, Two, and Three computers evolved to the 100-series, 200-series, and 300-series respectively. Additionally a 400-series was introduced in a tower-style case. The DPU was followed by the increasing capable XPU and XXU cards also based on the Motorola 68000 family of processors.
Cromemco also introduced the C-10 personal computer in 1982, a Z-80 floppy disk based system for the low end of the market.
It ran CDOS and came with several business software tools such as spreadsheet, word processor, and the BASIC programming language.
By 1983, Cromemco employed over 500 people and had annual revenues of US$55 million. The company was wholly owned by Garland and Melen until it was sold to Dynatech in 1987 as a supplier to their ColorGraphics Weather Systems subsidiary. The European division of Cromemco reorganized as Cromemco AG and was in liquidation in 2018.
Engineering contributions.
Cromemco was known for its engineering excellence, design creativity, and outstanding system reliability. “If they hired you into their R&D Department, they gave you an office and a computer and asked you what you wanted to do” recalls Roger Sippl, an early Cromemco employee. Cromemco’s engineering firsts for microcomputer systems include the first digital camera (the Cyclops Camera), the first color graphics card (the Cromemco Dazzler), the first programmable storage (the Bytesaver), the first memory bank switching, and the first Unix-like operating system (Cromix).
Cromemco drew on engineering talent from Stanford University, the Homebrew Computer Club, and even its own distributors. Joe McCrate, Curt Terwilliger, Tom McCalmont, Jerry May, Herb Lewis, and Marvin Kausch had all been students of the company founders at Stanford University.
Ed Hall and Li-Chen Wang came to Cromemco through the Homebrew Computer Club.
Nik Ivancic, Boris Krtolica, and Egon Zakrajšek joined from Cromemco’s distributor in Yugoslavia where they had developed structural engineering software for Cromemco systems.
Several Cromemco engineers went on to found other Silicon Valley companies. Roger Sippl, Laura King, and Roy Harrington formed Informix Corporation.
Tom McCalmont founded REgrid Power Inc. and later McCalmont Engineering.
Jeff Johnson went on to found UI Wizards, Inc. and publish best-selling books on software user-interface design.
Notable installations.
In 1981, a study was commissioned by the United States Air Force Systems Command to select a microcomputer for the Theater Air Control System (TACS). From a field of 149 microcomputers the Final Technical Report concluded that “the equipment offered by Cromemco is the most responsive to the general selection criteria.” In the years following this study the United States Air Force became a major customer for Cromemco computers.
Cromemco developed a special version of the CS-200 computer (called the CS-250) to meet the requirements of the Air Force's Mission Support System (MSS). The CS-250 had a removable hard disk based on patented Cromemco technology. The United States Air Force deployed 600 Cromemco Systems from 1985 to 1996 as Mission Support Systems for the F-15, F-16, and F-111 aircraft. These systems received their first war time use in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
Cromemco systems were also widely used in commercial applications, including at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) where a bank of 60 Cromemco Z-2 systems were used to process trades. Each Z-2 system was populated with Cromemco Octart interface cards, with each card supporting eight terminals on the trading floor. For ten years, from 1982 to 1992, all trades at the CME were processed by these systems. In 1992 the Cromemco systems were replaced by IBM PS/2 computers.
Cromemco computers were the first microcomputer systems widely distributed in China. In 1985 "Newsweek" reported that over 10,000 Cromemco computer systems had been sold to Chinese universities.
Cromemco systems were also broadly adopted by U.S. television stations for generating weather and art graphics, using software developed by ColorGraphics Weather Systems. By 1986 more than 80 percent of the major-market television stations in the U.S. used Cromemco systems to produce news and weather graphics.
In popular culture.
In 1984, the Cromemco System One Computer appeared in the movie "Ghostbusters" as a computer in the Ghostbuster Laboratory.
In 2011, Paul Allen commented on the Cromemco Cyclops Camera in his book, "Idea Man: a memoir by the cofounder of Microsoft", noting that "The Altair even debuted a digital camera back in 1976."
In 2011, Mona Simpson revealed, in a eulogy for her brother Steve Jobs, that she had considered buying a Cromemco as her first computer.
In 2013, the Cromemco System Three Computer appeared prominently in Andrew Bujalski's film "Computer Chess".
In 2013, Deborah Perry Piscione in her "New York Times" best-selling book, "Secrets of Silicon Valley", identified Cromemco, along with Apple Inc., as the two Silicon Valley companies that created the personal computer industry.


Raiden (video game)

 is a 1990 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by Seibu Kaihatsu and published by Tecmo in Japan. The game's story takes place in the year 2090, when an alien species known as the Crystals invaded Earth. Players assume the roles of the Vanquish Crystal Defense pilot duo, taking control of two state of the art Fighting Thunders aircraft to defeat the Crystals and save the Earth.
The game was conceived after "Dynamite Duke", Seibu Kaihatsu's prior title, failed to sell as well as expected. During development, the game was designed as a vertically scrolling shooter due to the popularity of the genre at the time. Cheaper arcade hardware had to be used due to financial constraints caused by "Dynamite Duke"'s poor sales.
Although Seibu doubted "Raiden"'s success, it managed to sell 17,000 arcade units worldwide, helping to recuperate the company's investments through word-of-mouth. The title became a critical success, with its most lauded features being the graphics, music, gameplay and co-operative play.
Due to the success of "Raiden", several sequels and related games were made. "Raiden" was ported to home computers and various home video game consoles in the early to mid 1990s. The game was released as part of several compilations and through download services such as PlayStation Network. The ports received mixed to positive reception.
Gameplay.
"Raiden" is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game consisting of eight stages of increasing difficulty. In each stage, the player maneuvers the Fighting Thunder craft, engaging various enemies and avoiding their attacks. In cooperative play, both players can generate special projectiles that damage enemies by shooting the other player craft. After completing the eighth and final stage, the player returns to the first stage with the difficulty increased.
Collectible items include bombs, which cancel out enemy fire and deal damage over a wide area; weapon power-ups; and score-increasing medals. There are two bonus collectible items: the Miclus (a boss in Seibu Kaihatsu's 1985 title "Wiz") and a fairy that releases power-up items when the player dies. When the player dies, the fighter's shrapnel become projectiles that damage enemies. If all lives are lost during a gameplay session, the game is over unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Upon continuing, the player will start at the last checkpoint reached.
Plot.
The story of "Raiden" takes place in the year 2090, when a species of alien lifeforms known as the Crystals invaded Earth. The Crystals took control over most of Earth's military hardware to use in the invasion. In response, the world organization known as Vanquish Crystal Defense (VCD) develops the Fighting Thunder attack craft, a cutting-edge weapon based on Crystal technology. To survive against the invaders and fight back, VCD deploys Fighting Thunder as the only hope for humanity.
Production.
Development.
According to graphic designer and current MOSS CEO Toshinobu Komazawa, the creation of "Dynamite Duke" gave Seibu Kaihatsu the opportunity to begin developing "Raiden", as the former did not sell as well as Seibu had hoped. In order to recoup the costs of developing "Dynamite Duke", the decision was made to develop a shoot 'em up instead of a sequel to it. Komazawa noted that the development of "Raiden" had a negative outlook, but an earnest beginning, since the shoot 'em up genre was "relatively inexpensive to produce" games for, as well as increasing in popularity at the time. Due to financial constraints, the company opted to use arcade hardware less powerful than those used in their previous titles. Seibu could only afford to develop a shoot 'em up with their development budget, with the project becoming a financial decision, as they had no other choice of game to make. Seibu took production notes from the overseas market, borrowing ideas from popular titles such as Capcom's "1942", "Xevious" from Namco, and "Twin Cobra" by Toaplan.
The production of "Raiden" was led by Seibu Kaihatsu president Hitoshi Hamada, while Tetsuya Kawaguchi served as its designer and programmer K. Kondo and S. Mori were the other programmers. Komazawa, H. Matsuo, T. Matsuzawa and T. Wada were responsible for creating the in-game artwork. Y. Segawa was responsible for creating the arcade hardware. Near the end of development, Komazawa praised the programmers at Seibu for being able to produce a high-quality game on less powerful hardware.
Audio.
The music for "Raiden" was composed by Akira Sato. A "Raiden/Raiden II" soundtrack was published by INH Co., Ltd. It includes soundtracks from "Raiden" (Arcade, PlayStation), "Raiden Densetsu" (FM Towns), "Raiden II" (Arcade, PlayStation) and "Raiden DX" (Arcade) as well as other extras.
Release and ports.
"Raiden" was first released in the arcades on April 1990 by Tecmo in Japan. It was distributed in North America by Fabtek, Taiwan by Liang HWA Electronics, South Korea by IBL Corporation, and Hong Kong by Wah Yan Electronics. The game was ported to various platforms, with each port featuring several changes and additions.
The PC Engine conversion was developed by A.I Company and first published by Hudson Soft in Japan on 22 November 1991, and released a few months later on the North American TurboGrafx-16 by NEC Technologies. It is a mostly faithful port of the arcade original.
The Atari Jaguar version was developed by Imagitec Design, then released in North America on December 1993. The North America, Europe and Japan releases were distributed by Atari Corporation and Mumin Corporation in 1994 respectively. It features various presentation and gameplay changes from the original arcade version.
The MS-DOS port was coded by Nigel 'Freddy' Conroy, Steve Cullen and Martin Randall, and spearheaded by Martin Hooley at Imagitec. It shares the same visual design as the Jaguar conversion with the addition of a full-screen display. Its differences from the Jaguar port include support only for FM sound. It was released only in North America in 1994.
A handheld version was developed by BlueSky Software and launched for the Atari Lynx across North America and Europe in 1997 by Telegames, long after the Lynx's commercial lifespan had ended. It was only available through direct order and a few select retailers.
Raiden Trad and Raiden Densetsu.
The FM Towns release was titled "Raiden Densetsu" ("Legend of Raiden") in Japan, while both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System ports were given the name "Raiden Trad" across all regions ("Trad" being an abbreviation of "tradition", an alternative meaning of "densetsu"). Each version of "Trad" was developed and distributed by different developers and publishers. A European release of the Sega Genesis version was planned for release by UbiSoft as part of a multi-game licensing deal with Bignet, but was never officially released in the region.
Super Raiden.
"Super Raiden" is a PC Engine Super CD-ROM² version of the TurboGrafx-16 HuCard port. Its main new feature is the use of Redbook CD Audio for an arranged soundtrack, along with additional stages exclusive to the CD version. It was developed by A.I Company and released on 2 April 1992, in Japan by Hudson Soft.
The Raiden Project.
Both the original "Raiden" and "Raiden II" were included as part of "The Raiden Project" compilation. The included games are based directly on the original arcade releases and offers several options not found in other ports. The "Project" version of the first "Raiden" was re-released by HAMSTER Corporation as a stand-alone PlayStation title for their "Arcade Hits" series. It was later available as a digital download on the Japanese PlayStation Network store, playable on the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Portable.
Re-releases.
"Raiden" was first adapted on mobile phones by Com2uS in 2004. The original game was later included as part of the 2012 compilation "Raiden Legacy" by DotEmu for mobile devices, PCs and other platforms. "Raiden Legacy" also includes the three games in the "Raiden Fighters" sub-series.
Cancelled ports.
An Amiga version was announced in late 1993 to be under development by Imagitec Design. It was intended to be published by U.S. Gold, but according to a former Imagitec employee on an Amiga-dedicated internet forum, it was left unreleased due to the arrival of newer systems on the market. Another version was made by Imagitec for the Atari Falcon, announced in 1994. Early playable builds of both versions have since been leaked online.
Reception.
The original arcade release of "Raiden" did not make as much money initially, with Komazawa attributing this to the game's underpowered hardware and lack of flashy visuals to draw players in. A few months after its release, the game began to generate increased income, resulting in an increase in arcade establishments requesting orders of the hardware. Seibu Kaihatsu ended up selling around 17,000 units through steady sales for a year. In Japan, "Game Machine" listed the title on their 1 July 1990 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit at the time, outperforming titles such as "Trigon" and "Columns".
"Electronic Gaming Monthly" gave the Atari Jaguar version an average of 6 out of 10. The four reviewers agreed that it was virtually identical to the arcade version, but were divided about the quality of the game itself. Two of them described "Raiden" as "above average", and two described it as mediocre, saying that the ship moves too slow, enemy fire often blends in with the background, and the graphics are subpar given the Jaguar's capabilities. "GamePro" similarly criticized that the gameplay is outdated, the ship moves too slow, and that the graphics do not live up to the Jaguar's potential. They concluded that "a snoozer like "Raiden" just seems out of place on a powerful system like the Jaguar". The Jaguar version has sold more than 22,000 copies since its release as of 1 April 1995, though it is unknown how many were sold in total during its lifetime.
"Raiden" was included as one of the titles in the 2010 book "1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die".
Legacy.
The success of "Raiden" resulted in several sequels and spin-offs across multiple platforms. Seibu Kaihatsu developed the "Raiden" games until they went bankrupt in 2005. Japanese developer MOSS, formed by Seibu Kaihatsu's development staff, purchased the rights to the series, with their first release being "Raiden III" in 2005. In 1994, the game's trademark was abandoned.


SoftSide

SoftSide is a defunct computer magazine, begun in October 1978 by Roger Robitaille and published by SoftSide Publications of Milford, New Hampshire.
History.
Dedicated to personal computer programming, "SoftSide" was a unique publication with articles and line-by-line program listings that users manually keyed in. The TRS-80 edition was first, launched in 1978. An Apple II specific version began in January 1980, followed by more individual versions supporting the Atari 400/800 and IBM-PC, as well as one for BASIC language programmers, "Prog80". The platform-specific versions were combined into a single monthly edition in August 1980.
In the first few years of publication, users often had problems with the legibility of the dot-matrix program listings. By the time the printout was photographed and printed in the magazine, it had become a bit illegible. One reader commented, "after a short while of typing, you felt like you needed some of the 'coke bottle bottom' eye glasses!" Subscriptions were offered that included the printed magazine and a cassette tape, and later 5¼-inch floppy disks, to be literally "played" into the input port to load the complete program into the subscriber's personal computer.
Like many computer publications of the time, "SoftSide" faced considerable financial pressure and competition in an industry-wide shakeout of personal computer publications in 1983. As a result, Robitaille reorganized the publication into two new magazines: "SoftSide 2.0" (directed towards the computer user) and "Code" (for the programmer), each with its own disk-based featured software included. Neither magazine found sufficient market to become fully established, and "SoftSide" ended with its March 1984 issue.
Early on, in 1978 or 1979, "SoftSide" was joined by a sister company called "TRS-80 Software Exchange" (or "TSE"), a software publisher. Many titles sold by this company were magazine submissions that were either very high quality or written in languages that the magazine did not support (which was mainly various dialects of BASIC). Due to a copyright challenge by Tandy, owner of the TRS-80, the business name was changed to "The Software Exchange" or just "TSE". By mid-1979, hardware systems and peripherals of the day could be ordered via mail order/phone order from the newest branch of the business, named "HardSide".
It is notable that this magazine launched the careers of many programmers, many of which are still active in the profession. It also provided the experience and support for several entrepreneurs who went on to create companies including MicroMint, The Bottom Line, Campbell Communications, The Gollan Letter.
Scott Adams took out the first ad for a commercial software game ("Adventureland") in "Softside Magazine" in 1978.
Software.
"SoftSide" published numerous computer games and utilities for the TRS-80, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore PET over its six-year history. The following titles were collected in the Apple edition of "The Best of SoftSide" (1983) and released on accompanying 5¼-inch floppy disks.
Reception.
Bruce Campbell reviewed "SoftSide" in 1982 in "The Space Gamer" No. 61. Campbell commented that ""SoftSide" has evolved from a pulp tabloid to a slick, professional magazine. A wide variety of programs are featured: arcade games, adventures, economic situations, board games, educational programs, and more. In general, I have found these of higher quality than most listings in books and magazines."


Apple IIe

The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The "e" in the name stands for "enhanced", referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in that were formerly only available as upgrades or add-ons in earlier models. Improved expandability combined with the new features made for a very attractive general-purpose machine to first-time computer shoppers. As the last surviving model of the Apple II computer line before discontinuation, and having been manufactured and sold for nearly 11 years with relatively few changes, the IIe earned the distinction of being the longest-lived computer in Apple's history.
History.
Apple Computer planned to discontinue the Apple II series after the introduction of the Apple III in 1980; the company intended to clearly establish market segmentation by designing the Apple III to appeal to the business market, leaving the Apple II for home and education users. Management believed that "once the Apple III was out, the Apple II would stop selling in six months", cofounder Steve Wozniak later said.
By the time IBM released the rival IBM PC in 1981, the Apple II's technology was already four years old. In September 1981 "InfoWorld" reported—below the PC's announcement—that Apple was secretly developing three new computers "to be ready for release within a year": Lisa, "Macintosh", and "Diana". Describing the last as a software-compatible Apple II replacement—"A 6502 machine using custom LSI" and a simpler motherboard—it said that Diana "was ready for release months ago" but decided to improve the design to better compete with the Xerox 820. "Now it appears that when Diana is ready for release, it will offer features and a price that will make the Apple II uncompetitive", the magazine wrote.
"Apple's plans to phase out the Apple II have also been delayed by complications in the design of the Apple III", the article also said. After the Apple III initially struggled, management decided in 1981 that the further continuation of the Apple II was in the company's best interest. After years of the Apple II Plus, essentially at a standstill, came the introduction of a new Apple II model — the Apple IIe (codenamed "Diana" and "Super II"). The Apple IIe was released in January 1983, the successor to the Apple II Plus. The Apple IIe was the first Apple computer with a custom ASIC chip, which reduced much of the old discrete IC-based circuitry to a single chip. This change resulted in reducing the cost and size of the motherboard. Some of the hardware features of the Apple III (e.g. bank-switched memory) were borrowed in the design of the Apple IIe, and some from incorporating the Apple II Plus Language card. The culmination of these changes led to increased sales and greater market share of home, education, and small business use.
New features.
One of the most notable improvements of the Apple IIe is the addition of a full ASCII character set and keyboard. The most important addition is the ability to input and display lower-case letters. Other keyboard improvements include four-way cursor control and standard editing keys (Delete and Tab), two special Apple modifier keys (Open and Solid Apple), and a safe off-to-side relocation of the "Reset" key. The auto-repeat function (any key held down to repeat same character continuously) is now automatic, no longer requiring the "REPT" key found on the keyboards of previous models.
The machine came standard with 64 KB RAM, with the equivalent of a built-in Apple Language Card in its circuitry, and had a new special "Auxiliary slot" (replacing slot 0, though electronically mapped to slot 3 for compatibility with earlier third-party 80-column cards) for adding more memory via bank-switching RAM cards. Through this slot it also includes built-in support for an 80-column text display on monitors (with the addition of a plug-in 1K memory card, via bank-switching of 40 columns) and could be easily doubled to 128 KB RAM by alternatively plugging in Apple's Extended 80-Column Text Card. As time progressed, even more memory could be added through third-party cards using the same bank-switching slot or, alternatively, general-purpose slot cards that addressed memory 1 byte at a time (i.e. Slinky RAM cards). A new ROM diagnostic routine could be invoked to test the motherboard for faults and also test its main bank of memory.
The Apple IIe lowered production costs and improved reliability by merging the function of several off-the-shelf ICs into single custom chips, reducing total chip count to 31 (previous models used 120 chips). The IIe also switched to using newer single-voltage 4164 DRAM chips instead of the unreliable triple-voltage 4116 DRAM in the II/II+. For this reason the motherboard design is much cleaner and runs cooler as well, with enough room to add a pin-connector for an (optional) external numeric keypad. Also added was a backport-accessible DE-9 joystick connector, making it far easier for users to add and remove game and input devices (previous models requiring plugging the joystick/paddles directly into a 16-pin DIP socket on the motherboard; the IIe retained this connector for backwards compatibility). Also improved were port openings for expansion cards. Rather than cutout V-shaped slot openings as in the Apple II and II Plus, the IIe has a variety of different-sized openings, with thumb-screw holes, to accommodate mounting interface cards with DB-xx and DE-xx connectors (removable plastic covers filled the cutouts if not used).
Although the lower IC count improved reliability over previous Apple II models, Apple still retained the practice of socketing all ICs so that servicing and replacement could be performed more easily. Later-production IIe models had the RAM soldered to the system board rather than socketed.
Despite the hardware changes, the IIe maintains a high degree of backwards compatibility with the previous models, allowing most hardware and software from those systems to be used. Apple provided technical information on the IIe to hundreds of developers before its release, and claimed that, as a result, 85 to 90% of Apple II software worked with it.
Reception.
"BYTE" wrote in February 1983 that the IIe was "like having an Apple II with all the extras built in ... with a variety of exciting new features and capabilities" for about the same price as the Apple II. It found the computer to be highly compatible with the Apple II and praised the quality of the documentation for developers and beginners. The review concluded, "Congratulations, Apple Computer, you've produced another winner". "InfoWorld"s reviewers, Apple II Plus owners for four years, wished that the IIe's price were lower but stated that it "does give you more for your money, however". They also found compatibility to be very high, and concluded that "we are generally pleased with the changes Apple has provided with the IIe". "Creative Computing" said in December 1984 that the IIe and IIc were the best home computers with prices above $500, with the IIe better for those wanting expansion cards, color graphics, and educational and entertainment software. The magazine also chose the IIe as the best educational computer above $1000, citing Apple's strong early commitment to the market and large number of third-party education-related peripherals.
Revisions.
In production from January 1983 to November 1993, the Apple IIe remained relatively unchanged through the years. However, there was one significant motherboard update, a major firmware update and two cosmetically revised machines. These revisions are detailed below.
Revision A motherboard.
At the time of the Apple IIe's introduction, and well into the first few months of production, this motherboard shipped with all units. Graphics modes supported are identical to, and limited to, those of the Apple II Plus before it. The logic board is not compatible with the ROM-based firmware update (introduced some years later) and most newer plug-in expansion-slot cards.
Revision B motherboard.
Shortly after the "Revision A" motherboard's release in 1983, engineers discovered that the bank-switching feature (which used a paralleled 64 KB of RAM on the Extended 80-Column Card or 1 KB to produce 80 columns using bank-switching) could also be used to produce a new graphics mode, Double-High-Resolution, which doubles the horizontal resolution and increases the number of colors from the 6 of standard High-Resolution to 16. In order to support this, some modifications had to be made to the motherboard, which became the Revision B. In addition to supporting Double-High-Resolution and a rarely used Double-Low-Resolution mode (see specifications above) it also added a special video signal accessible in slot 7.
Apple upgraded the motherboard free of charge. In later years Apple labeled newer IIe motherboards with a "-A" suffix once again, although in terms of functionality they were Revision B motherboards.
New case and keyboard.
In 1984, Apple revised the case and keyboard. The original IIe uses a case very similar to the Apple II Plus, painted and with Velcro-type clips to secure the lid with a strip of metal mesh along the edge to eliminate radio frequency interference. The new case is made of dyed plastic mold in a slightly darker beige with a simplified snap-case lid. The other noticeable change is a new keyboard, with more professional-looking print on darker keycaps (small black lettering, versus large white print). This was the first cosmetic change.
Enhanced IIe.
In March 1985, the company replaced the original machine with a new revision called the Enhanced IIe. It is completely identical to the previous machine except for 4 chips changed on the motherboard (and a small ""Enhanced" or "65C02"" sticker placed over the keyboard power indicator). The purpose of the update was to make the Apple IIe more compatible with the Apple IIc (released the previous year) and, to a smaller degree, the Apple II Plus. This change involved a new processor, the CMOS-based 65C02 CPU, a new character ROM for the text modes, and two new ROM firmware chips. The 65C02 added more CPU instructions, the new character ROM added 32 special "MouseText" characters (which allowed the creation of a GUI-like display in text mode, similar to IBM code page 437), and the new ROM firmware fixed problems and speed issues with 80-column text, introduced the ability to use lowercase in Applesoft BASIC and Monitor, and contained some other smaller improvements (and fixes) in the latter two (including the return of the Mini-Assembler—which had vanished with the introduction of the II Plus firmware).
Although it affected compatibility with a small number of software titles (particularly those that did not follow Apple programming guidelines and rules, used illegal opcodes that were no longer available in the new CPU, or used the alternate 80-column character set that MouseText now occupied) a fair bit of newer software — mostly productivity applications and utilities — required the Enhanced chipset to run at all. An official upgrade kit, consisting of the four replacement chips and an "Enhanced" sticker badge, was made available for purchase to owners of the original Apple IIe. An alternative at the time, which some users chose as a cost-cutting measure, was to simply purchase their own 65C02 CPU and create (unlicensed and illegal) duplicates of the updated ROMs using re-rewritable EPROM chips. When Apple phased out the Enhancement kit in the early 1990s, this became the only available method for users looking to upgrade their IIe, and remains so right up until the present day. An Enhanced machine identifies itself with the name "Apple //e" on its start up splash screen (as opposed to the less-specific "Apple ][").
Platinum IIe.
In January 1987 came the final revision of the Apple IIe, often referred to as the Platinum IIe, due to the color change of its case to the light-grey color scheme that Apple dubbed "Platinum". Changes to this revision were mostly cosmetic to modernize the look of the machine. Besides the color change, there was a new keyboard layout with built-in numeric keypad. The keyboard was changed to match the layout of the Apple IIGS, with the reset key moved above the ESC and '1' keys, the Open and Solid Apple modifier keys replaced by Command and Option and the power LED relocated above the numeric keypad. Gone were the recessed metal ID badges (showing the Apple logo and name, with "//e" beside it) replaced with a simpler "Apple IIe" silk screened on the case lid in the Apple Garamond font. A smaller Apple logo badge remained, which was moved to the right side of the case.
Internally, a (reduced in size) Extended 80-Columns Card was factory pre-installed, making it come standard with 128 KB RAM and Double-Hi-Res graphics enabled. The motherboard has a reduced chip count by merging the two system ROM chips into one and used higher-density memory chips so its 64 KB RAM could be made up of two (64 Kbx4) chips rather than eight (64 Kbx1) chips, bringing the count down to a total of 24 chips. A solder pad location on the motherboard, present since the original IIe, for (optionally) making presses of the "Shift" keys detectable in software, is now shorted by default so that the feature is always active. Next, in a move to reduce radio frequency interference when a joystick plugs into the motherboard's game I/O socket, filtering capacitors were added. While this made no difference to the average user, it had the negative effect of lowering the available bandwidth to the socket, which is often used by specialized devices for such purposes as measuring temperature, controlling a robotic device, or even simplistic networking for data transfer to another computer. In such cases the specialized devices were rendered useless on the Platinum IIe unless the user removed the capacitors from the board.
There were no firmware changes present, and functionally the motherboard was otherwise identical to the Enhanced IIe. This final model of the Apple IIe (not sold in Europe) was quietly discontinued on November 15, 1993, which (following the discontinuation of the Apple II a year earlier) effectively marked the end of the Apple II family line.
The Apple IIe Card for Macintosh.
In March 1991, shortly after the release of the Macintosh LC series, Apple released the PDS slot-based Apple IIe Card for the Macintosh. By plugging this card into a Macintosh LC (and later models incorporating an LC PDS slot), through hardware and (some) software emulation, the Macintosh can run most software written for the 8-bit Apple IIe computer. This miniaturized computer on a card was made possible by a chip called the Mega II, first used in the Apple IIGS computer to emulate the Apple IIe. The Mega II duplicates all the functions of a standard Apple IIe, minus RAM, ROM and CPU.
Many of the built-in Macintosh peripherals can be "borrowed" by the card when in Apple II mode (i.e. extra RAM, 3-inch floppy, AppleTalk networking, clock, hard disk). It can run at either standard 1 MHz speed or an accelerated 1.9 MHz. As video is emulated using Macintosh QuickDraw routines, it is sometimes unable to keep up with the speed of a real Apple IIe, especially in the case of slower host machines. With a specialized Y-cable, the card can use an actual Apple 5.25, Apple UniDisk 3.5 and Apple II joystick/paddles. The Apple IIe Card is thought of as an Apple II compatibility solution or emulator rather than as an extension of the Apple II line.
International versions.
Regional differences.
The Apple IIe keyboard differed depending on what region of the world it was sold in. Sometimes the differences were very minor, such as extra local language characters and symbols printed on certain keycaps (e.g. French accented characters on the Canadian IIe such as "à", "é", "ç", etc., or the British Pound "£" symbol on the UK IIe) while other times the layout and shape of keys greatly differed (e.g. a European IIe). In order to access the local character set and keyboard layout, a user-accessible switch is found on the underside of the keyboard — flipping it will instantly switch the video output and keyboard input from the US character set to the local set. To support this, special double capacity video and keyboard ROMs are used; in early motherboards they had to reside on a tiny circuit card that plugged into the socket. In some countries these localized IIe's also support 50 Hz PAL video instead of the standard 60 Hz NTSC video and the different 220/240 volt power of that region. An equivalent of the "PAL color card" for the earlier Apple II Europlus model was integrated into the motherboard of these IIes, so that color graphics are available without the addition of a slot card.
Another difference with the European IIe, is the Auxiliary slot physically moved in location so it is in line and in front of slot-3, preventing both slots from being used simultaneously for full-sized cards. A few third-party cards are affected by this; some European cards plug into both slots simultaneously and are thus unusable on American IIes, and some American cards that do not fit into the case of European IIes because the European location of the Auxiliary slot leaves less room for them.
European Platinum IIe (hybrid).
During approximately the same time period the Platinum IIe was being produced (1987), Apple released an alternative machine for the European market. It re-used the original Apple IIe case mold and keyboard, however both redyed in the platinum color scheme—including metal ID badges which were recolored from dark brown to platinum, blending them into the case lid. Additionally, the sticker over the keyboard power indicator was labeled "65C02" rather than "Enhanced". Internally it used the same (newer) motherboard found in the Platinum IIe with reduced chip count. Notably absent is the numeric keypad and standardized keyboard layout found on the Platinum IIe.
This cosmetic reissue of the classic IIe, with new motherboard and new coloring scheme, was only available in Europe, and therefore also had regional differences mentioned above. It has been rumored a small number of these machines were made available in the Canadian and US market, using the standard North American keyboard and motherboard (photographic evidence of this North American variant can be found in some period Apple II magazines). This hybrid platinum model is somewhat rare.
Upgrades.
Apple IIGS upgrade kit.
When the Apple IIGS computer was introduced in September 1986, Apple announced it would be making an upgrade kit for the IIe. The upgrade cost US $500, plus the trade-in of the user's existing Apple IIe motherboard and baseplate.
Users would bring their Apple IIe machines into an authorized dealership, where the 65(C)02-based IIe motherboard and lower baseboard of the case were swapped for a 65C816-based Apple II motherboard with a new baseboard. New metal sticker ID badges replaced those on the front of the Apple IIe, rebranding the machine. Retained were the upper half of the IIe case, the keyboard, speaker, and power supply. Original II motherboards (those produced between 1986 and mid-1989) had electrical connections for the IIe power supply and keyboard present, although only about half produced had the physical plug connectors factory-soldered in.
It proved unpopular as it did not include a mouse; the keyboard did not mimic all the features of the Apple Desktop Bus keyboard; and some cards designed for the Apple II did not fit in the Apple IIe's slanted case. In the end most users found they were not saving much, once they had to purchase a 3.5-inch floppy drive, analog RGB monitor, and mouse.
For a time the Western Design Center (the company that designed the 16-bit 65C816 processor used in the Apple II) also sold a 16-bit 65C802 processor that was a drop-in, pin-compatible replacement for the 65(C)02 that made the full 16-bit 65C816 instruction set available to the IIe, but using the same 8-bit data bus as the 65(C)02; however, this upgrade was insufficient, by itself, to allow II software to run, as II software required the II’s firmware and specialized hardware.


Xiaomi Mi MIX

Xiaomi Mi MIX is an Android phablet manufactured by Xiaomi. It is designed by Philippe Starck, and awarded multiple top design awards for product design. It has been taken by multiple museum around the world as design collection, including Centre Pompidou in Paris and Design Museum. It is the world's 1st 3 border bezel-less phone category inspired by Sharp Aquos Crystal series.
It was succeeded by the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 in September 2017, continued by the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 launched on 25 October 2018.
Specifications.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX's frame (including the back and side buttons) are made of ceramic. It features a a 17:9 aspect ratio display. It has an earpiece speaker made of a cantilever piezoelectric ceramic. The proximity sensor uses ultrasound radar instead of an infrared light.
The premium version of the model equipped with 6GB RAM and 256GB storage, and made by 18k Gold decoration on the back plates.
Mi MIX is still on official Xiaomi Update all the way till end of year 2019, with official MIUI 11 update with full-screen gesture navigation, which made Mi MIX still works elegantly even after 3.5 years of its initial debut.


Ella Ra


Huawei Premia

Huawei Premia 4G M931 is an Android smartphone offered by MetroPCS. Huawei Premia 4G M931 features Android 4.0
Overview.
Huawei Premia 4G M931 Metro comes as an innovated smart-phone introduced by MtroPCS to add to its line-up of cheap 4G LTE handsets. Priced at $149.99, the M931 runs Ice Cream Sandwich. The smart-Phone Huawei Premia 4G M931 phone is featured with a 4inch display with 800 x 480 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass. Other highlights include: Wi-Fi, DLNA, GPS, Bluetooth, Rhapsody Music Unlimited, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 5MP rear camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, dual-core 1.5GHz Processor, 1GB of RAM, and MicroSD card support.


IBM Web-based System Manager

IBM Web-based System Manager (WSM) is a management software (GUI) for administering AIX 5L host on RS/6000 systems, it can be run in standalone mode or in a client-server environment.
Introduced in AIX 4.3 and installed by default in AIX 5.1 if there is a graphical adapter in the machine at time of installation.


Eternam

Eternam is a humorous graphical adventure game from Infogrames, released originally in 1992 for MS-DOS. A CD-ROM version with full speech was published in 1993. The game was developed by Hubert Chardot, who is better remembered from his Lovecraft-themed games Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice. While the game is mainly a two-dimensional adventure game, it contains a three-dimensional subgame, which pays homage to Drakkhen, a roleplaying game from Infogrames. This game was re-released digitally on GOG.com in mid 2019.
Plot.
The plot of Eternam combines futuristic elements with historical settings. The player assumes the role of officer Don Jonz in Orion United Forces, who is starting a vacation in the planet Eternam. The planet is described as a galactic amusement centre, where different islands represent different periods of Earth's history.
After arriving on the planet and changing into a costume of barbarian warrior, Don Jonz learns that his archenemy Mikhail Nuke has taken over Eternam. The player must then make their way through the five islands of Eternam to Nuke's lair. The only help is planet's one remaining technician, Tracy, who has digitized herself into Eternam's network.
The game contains humorous references to various historical eras, such as Ancient Egypt and the French Revolution. The locations are often absurd and contain anachronisms – for instance, statues of a medieval castle are addicted to television.
The story of this game is mainly based on the movie "Westworld", its sequel "Futureworld", and the short-lived television series, "Beyond Westworld".
In these movies Delos, the owner of an amusement park, offers vacation for rich people in areas which represent different time periods such as West World (the American Old West), Medieval World (medieval Europe), Roman World (pre-Christian Rome) and Futureworld; and in these amusement parks the attendants are androids and they are almost indistinguishable from human beings.
Gameplay.
The overworld of Eternam is represented as a three-dimensional subgame, which resembles a first-person shooter. The islands Eternam are filled with flying reptiles, which attack the player. The player can defend themselves by shooting the reptiles, by pressing the space bar. The 3D engine was developed by Frederic Raynal, who is better known for his work on the Alone in the Dark and Little Big Adventure series.
Within towns and buildings, the game changes into a two-dimensional adventure game. The game is hampered by the fact that while it is structured as a point-and-click adventure, it lacks mouse support, requiring icons describing possible actions to be activated by keyboard commands. All interesting items in a room are automatically revealed by a vector line combining the player character with the item in question, allowing them to be selected. Later the same engine was used in Shadow of the Comet, and in the CD version mouse support was added, to remove this limitation.
Reception.
In comparison with other adventure games and action adventures of Infogrames, Eternam has remained in obscurity. German magazine "Power Play SH" in 1992 gave the game a score of 76%. The reviewer noted that the variety of locations compensated for the technical deficiencies, although the game was not up to the standards of Lucasfilm adventure games. "Computer Gaming World" in 1993 called "Eternam" "a first-rate adventure", with "hefty doses of humor" in a "remarkably compelling story".


Rylo

Rylo, Inc. (marketed as Rylo) is an American technology company founded in 2015. It designs and manufactures an omnidirectional camera and develops a mobile app for editing 360-degree video.
On October 31, 2017, the Rylo 360 camera was announced with previews citing its stabilization and software. On March 2, 2018, the Android version of the Rylo app was released.


Apple Certified Desktop Technician

The Apple Certified Desktop Technician (ACDT) was a computer certification that verified the ability of a person to perform basic repairs and troubleshooting on Apple's desktop Macintosh computers. It has been superseded by the Apple Certified Macintosh Technician (or ACMT) certification, which combines the former desktop and portable qualifications into one.


Leica S (Typ 006)

The Leica S is a digital camera.


Fail whale


Samsung Galaxy K Zoom


EazyDraw

EazyDraw is a Mac-only vector graphics program from Dekorra Optics. It has all of the usual vector drawing tools, but also includes features not usually combined together (e.g., dimension tools, numerical parametric geometry, mathematical function graphing, image editing, etc.). Originally released in 2003 at the San Francisco MacWorld conference, versions have appeared regularly since. Version 1.7.0 was released in December 2004. Version 9.1.0, released in November 2018, was a major upgrade, and is fully compatible with macOS Mojave.
Several versions are available. In addition to the main macOS version, EazyDraw Retro is a 32-bit version that will run under macOS 10.4.11 through macOS 10.14, and can import many old formats, including PICT, AppleWorks, ClarisWorks, MacDraw, MacDraw II, and MacDraw Pro. A free version for iOS (and iPadOS) was first released in November 2019, with version 1.1 appearing in February 2020.
Export formats include PDF, EPS, SVG, DXF and all the usual bitmap options.


IBM 780


Fatal Fury 2

Fatal Fury 2 is a 1992 fighting video game released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms, and later ported to several other home systems. It is a sequel to "" and the second game in the "Fatal Fury" franchise. Its updated version, "Fatal Fury Special", was released in 1993. The game is most notable for introducing Kim Kaphwan, the first Taewondoin and the first Korean character in fighting games, and Mai Shiranui, one of SNK's mascots and their primary sex symbol and one of the most well-known female video game characters. Both of them went on to become mainstays in both future "Fatal Fury" games as well as "The King of Fighters" series.
Gameplay.
"Fatal Fury 2" was the second game in SNK's 100-Mega Shock series, offering improved graphics and gameplay over the original "". The play controls were modified, this time making full use of the Neo-Geo's four button configuration, by including four attack buttons (Light Punch, Light Kick, Strong Punch, and Strong Kick). The player can also dash back from the opponent to retreat by quickly tapping the lever backwards twice.
The two-plane battle system from the first "Fatal Fury" has been retained. This time, the player can move freely to the adjacent plane by pressing the Light Punch and Light Kick buttons simultaneously for the "Plane Move". The player can also perform a "Power Attack" that will knock the opponent to the other plane. When the opponent is on the other plane, the player can press either a punch button to jump towards the opponent with a "Low Plane Move Attack" or either a kick button for a "High Plane Move Attack". Certain stages have hazards in the background plane, such as electrified wires or a stampede of bulls, and thus the player cannot change planes but can knock the opponent to the other plane to cause extra damage.
Other specialized techniques have been added as well. After the player guards an opponent's attack, they can follow it up with a special counterattack technique known as an "Evasion Attack". The player can also taunt the opponent by pressing the Strong Punch button from a distance. "Fatal Fury 2" also introduces the "Desperation Move" (or "Fury"), a powerful type of Special Move which causes massive damage that can only be used when the player's life gauge is at 25% and flashing red.
The single-player mode has the player facing against all eight characters (including a clone of the player's character), followed by four non-playable boss characters. After every fourth match, the player will participate in a bonus round for more points.
Plot.
This next saga takes place after the ending of the original "Fatal Fury", where Geese Howard meets his demise on 13 August 1991 by getting jump kicked from a high rise by the new and undefeated champion of the "King of Fighters" tournament "Terry Bogard", during a final fight to the death between the two in Geese’s Tower. During the next year in 1992, a muscle-bound, mysterious nobleman becomes the sponsor of the new K.O.F. competition. This time, the rules are now changed such as being one-on-one per fight, and the tournament went from being several Southtown-only street fights to being a series of worldwide combat circuits with fighters both veterans and newcomers from around the globe competing with ambitions of their own, as well as befriending each other. As the single-player mode progresses, the mysterious challenger begins defeating the participants from the first "Fatal Fury" game, searching for the man responsible for defeating Geese.
Fighters.
The character roster consists of eight selectable warriors: Terry, Andy and Joe from the original "Fatal Fury", plus five new playable newcomers. After defeating all eight playable characters in the single player tournament (including a clone of the player's character), the player faces four non-playable bosses.
Playable fighters:
Bosses:
Release.
Home versions.
In addition to the Neo-Geo AES and Neo-Geo CD home versions, a port of "Fatal Fury 2" was released for the Sharp X68000 in Japan in 1993, followed by versions for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, PC Engine CD, SNES and Game Boy in early 1994. The SNES and Genesis versions were published by Takara, while the X68000 version, released only in Japan, was published by Mahou Kabushikigaisha (Magical Company). All three versions allow the player to control the four boss characters via their own respective codes. The PC Engine version was published by Hudson Soft only in Japan and was one of the first games to require the Arcade Card add-on. To coincide with the Japanese release of the SNES version, Hori Electric released a special controller called the "Fatal Fury 2 Commander" which has the power and super power moves of all the game's playable characters programmed in so that they can be triggered with a single button.
The original Neo Geo version of the game was later included in 2006's "Fatal Fury: Battle Archive Volume 1" for the PlayStation 2 (with a choice between the original AES and CD soundtrack). It was also made available on the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2008.
Related media.
Several licensed tie-ins were released for the game in Japan, including:
"Nettou Garou Densetsu 2".
The Game Boy version is titled and was released exclusively in Japan in 1994. This port features "super deformed" style graphics and, like the SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, and Sharp X68000 ports, allows the player to use the four boss characters. However, due to the Game Boy's limited hardware, all voices have been removed, but in their place the characters have speech bubbles when performing a special attack or Desperation Move. This port also features support for the Super Game Boy peripheral for the SNES. In the Game Boy version, the text in the intro, post match dialogue, and character endings are in Japanese, while the character names, game credits, and menus are in English.
"Fatal Fury Special".
 was developed and published by SNK and originally released for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms in 1993. It is an updated version of "Fatal Fury 2", introducing several changes to the gameplay system while expanding the available character roster.
Reception.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Fatal Fury 2" on their 1 February 1993 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the year. "RePlay" reported "Fatal Fury 2" to be the fourth most-popular arcade game at the time.
"Fatal Fury 2" was generally very well received by Western game critics upon its release. "GamePro" review of the Neo Geo version praised the "action-packed" gameplay, ""Street Fighter"-tough" challenge, "great" character graphics and animation, "slick scrolling" backgrounds, and "fantastic" sound, concluding it to be an "awesome sequel" that "ranks up there with the Numero Uno fighting game".
"GamePro" also praised the Genesis version for its six-button controller support and character graphics. They regarded the music as dull but assessed that the game "faithfully mimics the Neo Geo version and knocks "Fatal Fury" Genesis out of the ring". Reviewing the Genesis version, "Electronic Gaming Monthly" ("EGM") criticized the sound effects but gave the overall assessment that "all the fighters, all the stages, and extra options not in the arcade (like a speed setting) make this another fine conversion of a Neo Geo title".
Reviewing the SNES version of the game, "EGM" called it "one of the better fighting games ported to the SNES" and awarded it Game of the Month. "GamePro" gave the SNES version a more mixed review, comparing it favorably with its predecessor, but stating that the graphics are inferior to the Neo Geo version, the audio is terrible, the controls are unreliable, and the gameplay is unbalanced. The magazine recommended that "Fatal Fury" fans instead hold out for the upcoming SNES port of "Fatal Fury Special", which they felt to be far superior judging by the pre-release version they had seen.
In a retrospective review, "Maximum" assessed that while still not as strong as "Street Fighter II", "Fatal Fury 2" was a dramatic improvement over the first game: "The number of characters selectable had been extended to eight, and all of them received a full complement of moves and fought with a much greater fluidity than in "Fatal Fury"". They also noted better background graphics and greater interaction with the scenery. In 2011, "Complex" ranked "Fatal Fury 2" as the 35th best fighting game of all time, largely for introducing Mai Shiranui. Mega magazine ranked the game at #46 on their "Top 50 Mega Drive Games of All Time" in 1994.


Choplifter

Choplifter (stylized as Choplifter!) is military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, VIC-20, MSX, and Thomson computers. Graphically enhanced versions for the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 7800 were published in 1988 by Atari Corporation.
In 1985, Sega released a coin-operated arcade remake, which in turn was ported to the Famicom and Master System in 1986. "Choplifter" is one of the few games that first appeared on a home system and was ported to the arcade.
Gameplay.
In "Choplifter", the player assumes the role of a combat helicopter pilot. The player attempts to save hostages being held in barracks in territory ruled by the evil Bungeling Empire. The player must collect the hostages (described in the backstory as "delegates to the United Nations Conference on Peace and Child Rearing") and transport them safely to the nearby U.S. Postal Service building, all the while fighting off hostile tanks and other enemy combatants. According to the backstory, the helicopter parts were smuggled into the country, disguised as a "mail-sorting machine".
The helicopter can face three directions: left, right, or forward (facing the player). It may shoot at enemies in any of these directions and need not fly in the same direction it is facing. The forward-facing mode is used primarily to shoot tanks. The player must be careful to protect the hostages from enemy fire as well as avoid hitting the hostages with his own fire.
The player rescues the prisoners by first shooting one of the hostage buildings to release them, landing to allow the prisoners to board the sortie, and returning them to the player's starting point. Each of the four buildings holds 16 hostages, and only 16 passengers can be carried at a time, so several trips must be made. When the chopper is full, no more hostages will attempt to board; they will wave the helicopter off and wait for its return. Usually, each trip back is riskier than the last, since the enemy is alerted and has deployed a counter-attack.
If the player lands directly on top of a hostage, or completely blocks the building exit, the hostages will be killed. In the Apple II and Atari 7800 versions, hostages also die if the vehicle is not landed correctly (it is slightly tilted), being crushed as they attempt to board the chopper. While grounded, the helicopter may be attacked by enemy tanks, which it can shoot at only by returning to the air. Also, the enemy scrambles jet fighters which can attack the vehicle in the air with air-to-air missiles or on the ground with bombs.
Development.
Coming off a stint working for the Rand Corporation, Dan Gorlin initially developed "Choplifter" using an Apple II loaned to him by his grandfather. At first Gorlin imagined "Choplifter" as a 3D game, but switched to a traditional 2D game environment due to technical limitations.
The game was developed in six months. After Gorlin began experimenting with animating a helicopter on the Apple II, he added scenery, tanks, and planes, with the hostages added last. He stated that, as a story developed, "movie camera techniques seemed appropriate", including the final message "The End" instead of "Game Over". Gorlin's first demonstration to Broderbund was "too realistic, too much a helicopter simulation", and the company helped him make it easier to fly. The concept of rescuing hostages came about after Gorlin learned about "Defender", in which the player must protect people on the ground. Although the Iran hostage crisis ended the year before the game was released, Gorlin said "the tie-in with current events was something that never really crossed my mind until we published".
Gorlin would later revisit the 3D concept in a failed attempt to remake the game in the 1990s.
Reception.
Debuting in May 1982, the game sold 9,000 copies by June, appearing on "Computer Gaming World"s list of top sellers."II Computing" listed "Choplifter" seventh on the magazine's list of top Apple II games as of late 1985, based on sales and market-share data.
"Softline" in 1982 called the game "what may well be the first Interactive Computer-Assisted Animated Movie. A fusion of arcade gaming, simulation, and filmic visual aesthetics, "Choplifter" is destined to occupy a place in the software Hall of Fame". The magazine praised the animation and the helicopter's "subtle flight control", and concluded that seeing the hostages' "hope and excitement, their faith in you" made the game "hard to play. It hurts to see one of those lively people killed". In 1983 its readers named "Choplifter" fourth on the magazine's Top Thirty list of Atari 8-bit programs by popularity. "BYTE" called "Choplifter" "great fun". "Computer Gaming World", "Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games", and "The Commodore 64 Home Companion" praised the graphics and animation, the latter stating that "the little captives running across the desert almost seem alive".
The Apple II version of the game received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "Best Computer Audiovisual Effects" at the 4th annual Arkie Awards, and shortly afterward "Billboard" named it Computer Game of the Year. "The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984" gave the game an overall A+ rating, calling it "a masterpiece". The book concluded that "the concept, graphics, and animation make this a delightful game".
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed the arcade version of "Choplifter" in the November 1, 1985, issue as being the most successful table arcade unit of the month.
Legacy.
"Choplifter II", subtitled "Rescue Survive", was released for the Game Boy in 1991, then remade for both the Game Boy and Game Gear as "Choplifter III" in 1994. An unrelated "Choplifter III" was released for Super NES.
Sega released a pair of spiritual successors without the "Choplifter" brand:
Programmer Will Botti cited "Choplifter" as a major inspiration for his 1996 game "Black Dawn".
inXile Entertainment released "Choplifter HD" for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Windows on January 11, 2012, and Ouya in August 2013.


AZX-Monstrum


HX DOS Extender


Equinox (Atari demogroup)

Equinox is a French demogroup with an active period between the years 1988-2007.
Equinox was first an Atari ST demoscene crew, famous for the Pupul intro, an Atari conversion of the Amiga DOC demo. Till 1991 they made various intros then from 1991 to 1999 they released one megademo (the Vodka demo) and 2 multipart demos: Eat my Bollocks and Virtual Escape.
Since 2004, they are active on PC and known for their 64kb invitation intros. Their invitation intro for the Evoke 2004 party became one of the most popular intros of that year, being nominated for three Scene.org Awards.
Their latest production is "Frameskool", the official 64kb invitation for Breakpoint 2007 party.


Ttcp

The program ttcp (Test TCP) is a utility for measuring network throughput, popular on Unix systems. It measures the network throughput between two systems using the TCP or optionally UDP protocols.
It was written by Mike Muuss and Terry Slattery at BRL sometime before December 1984, to compare the performance of TCP stacks by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) of the University of California, Berkeley and Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) to help DARPA decide which version to place in 4.3BSD.
Many compatible implementations and derivatives exist including the widely used Iperf.
Testing can be done from any platform to any other platform, for example from a Windows machine to a Linux machine, as long as they both have a ttcp application installed. For normal use, ttcp is installed on two machines – one will be the sender, the other the receiver. The receiver is started first and waits for a connection. Once the two connect, the sending machine sends data to the receiver and displays the overall throughput of the network they traverse. The amount of data sent and other options are configurable through command line parameters. The statistics output covers TCP/UDP payload only (not protocol overhead) and is generally displayed by default in KiB/s (kibiBytes per second) instead of kb/s (kilobits per second), but it can be configured to be displayed in other ways on some implementations. The reported throughput is more accurately calculated on the receive side than the transmit side, since the transmit operation may complete before all bytes actually have been transmitted.
Implementations and derivatives.
Originally designed for Unix systems, ttcp has since been ported to and reimplemented on many other systems such as Windows.
ttcp.
The original Unix implementation developed by Mike Muuss and Terry Slattery, version 1.10 dated 1987-09-02. Uses port 2000 by default unless another one is specified with the -p switch.
nttcp.
Developed at Silicon Graphics, the nttcp implementation made several changes that remain in future implementations such as by default using port 5001 instead of 2000, reversing the meaning of the -s switch to sink data by default, and adding the -w window size switch
nuttcp.
Developed at Laboratory for Computational Physics and Fluid Dynamics at Naval Research Lab (LCP & FD at NRL). Provides additional information related to the data transfer such as user, system, and wall-clock time, transmitter and receiver CPU utilization, and loss percentage (for UDP transfers).
Iperf.
Developed by the Distributed Applications Support Team (DAST) at the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research (NLANR). Widely used and ported implementation including additions such as the option for bidirectional traffic.
ntttcp.
Developed by Microsoft, used to profile and measure Windows networking performance. NTttcp is one of the primary tools Microsoft engineering teams leverage to validate network function and utility.
ntttcp-for-linux.
Developed by Shihua Xiao at Microsoft, used to profile and measure Linux networking performance. Provided multiple threading to exchange data in test, and potentially can interop with Windows version of ntttcp.
PCATTCP.
Native Windows version developed by PCAUSA.
Cisco IOS.
Cisco IOS routers include ttcp as a hidden command that can be set up as either the sender or receiver in version 11.2 or higher and feature sets IP Plus (is- images) or Service Provider (p- images).
EnGenius.
Many EnGenius branded wireless access points include an Iperf-based implementation accessible as Speed Test under Diagnostics in the web and command line user interfaces.


Dragon User

Dragon User was a British magazine for users of the Dragon 32/64 computers published from 1982 by Sunshine Publications. Production of the computers themselves had ceased by 1985 but the user community remained sufficiently active to justify the magazine's continuation until 1989.
Publication.
From its launch until June 1986, "Dragon User" appeared on the shelves of major newsagents such as WHSmith in a full-colour glossy picture cover. A number of different editors were involved during this initial period, including Brendon Gore, Martin Croft and John Cook. From July 1986, the magazine was available only by subscription and the cover changed to a simple red and black print with a contents listing on the front. Hereafter, "Dragon User" was edited by Helen Armstrong. In June 1988, publication moved from Sunshine at Little Newport Street, London to "Dragon Publications", an operation set up by software producer Bob Harris specifically to continue the magazine. Helen Armstrong remained Editor. This new venture did not last long, however. By the new year, only 1500 or so of the subscribers had renewed compared to about 2400 the year before. Insufficient money was available to send any further issues to print and so the final "Dragon User" was the January 1989 issue. Armstrong seemed genuinely surprised by the sudden lack of interest and her final editorial column was a slightly bitter apology to the remaining user base, urging them to support the National Dragon Users Group (NDUG) and the other remaining independent "Dragon" publications.
Content.
"Dragon User" followed a fairly standard model for computer magazines of the time: news, software and book reviews, technical Q+A, a number of regular columns and many program listings (in those days it was common for magazines to print the text of programs written in BASIC to be laboriously typed in by the reader). Special features, such as interviews with prominent figures in the software world were also quite common and of course there were many advertisements, mostly for Microdeal, the largest Dragon software producer.
Before November 1984, the software reviews were in the form of a continuous column written by John Scriven. Thereafter, the reviews appeared in a section called "Dragonsoft" where each program was reviewed separately and given a score of 1 to 5 Dragons. Various writers contributed reviews from then on, most notably Jason Orbaum, but also established Dragon programmers like Pam D'Arcy and Roy Coates.


Bobby Bearing

Bobby Bearing is an isometric action-adventure game released by The Edge in 1986 for the Sinclair Spectrum. It was ported to the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 by Trevor Inns.
Plot.
Bobby and his family are ball bearings who live in Technofear, "a land of the future made of steel, and inhabited by things of steel." Bobby's brothers have been led astray by their rogue cousin and are now lost in the Metaplanes outside their home - stunned and captured by the evil Bearings that inhabit the Planes.
Gameplay.
The player controls Bobby Bearing in his search for his four lost brothers and their cousin. He must avoid the evil Bearings, find his missing and unconscious relatives, and roll them out of the Metaplanes to safety.
The mission must be accomplished before the time limit runs out, otherwise the game ends and Bobby's relatives are lost forever. A time penalty is incurred each time Bobby dies or is stunned. If Bobby is trapped and unable to leave a screen, pressing 'Q' will reset the screen at the cost of a time penalty.
Air vents, Elevators, switches, crushers and evil Bearings can help or hinder Bobby in his quest.
Development.
Robert Figgins and Trevor Figgins, the developers:
It's hard to believe now so many months after the project began, but "Bobby Bearing" began life as an action-packed arcade-style game inspired by "Q-Bert"! In fact originally it wasn't intended for commercial sale at all. Even though the game didn't have much resemblance to "Q-Bert", we were really pleased with the final result. The funny thing is, though, that there was no sense in which "Bobby" was based on "Marble Madness", or any home micro game such as "Gyroscope", and especially not "Spindizzy"! "Bobby" was more than 50% finished and looking very much as it does in the final commercial version almost a year ago now, and was around 18 months in the making. In fact we hadn't heard of "Marble Madness" and "Spindizzy" until we spoke to The Edge. In fact, acknowledgements for inspiration are really due to "Knight Lore" by Ultimate.
Reception.
"Bobby Bearing" was positively received by critics. The game debuted at number nine on the sales charts in October 1986. The Spectrum version was rated number 46 in the "Your Sinclair" "Official Top 100 Games of All Time" list.


Microsoft Certified Partner

A Microsoft Certified Partner (MCP) is a firm that provides Microsoft-related products or services, or support for such. It is part of the Microsoft Partner Network.
They are confirmed by Microsoft to be official, and that they work effectively, and help customers with a range of information technology (IT) projects and specific products and services. While not accredited to provide support to the same level as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Support Services, many MCPs offer support as part of their services.
MCPs provide Microsoft services on behalf of Microsoft worldwide, spanning many fields including original equipment manufacturer (OEM), education, software providers, and technical support. They have 24-hour access to Microsoft Support, which enables them to provide reliable customer support. Every MCP has been in business for at least 5 years, has passed several tests, and has proven skills in their particular field. Microsoft rewards these partners with discounts in tools that are applicable to their activities. For example, in the educational field this might take the form of licenses to Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.
In return for participating in the program, partners gain support services and tools from Microsoft, often at a significant discount to their retail prices. However, over the lifetime of the contract some risk is transferred from Microsoft to the MCP in return for the benefits of the association with Microsoft and the ability to sell the support services.
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
Microsoft Gold Certified Partners are Microsoft's most highly accredited independent technical support providers. They must offer support for data management and software development. Becoming a partner requires the use of Microsoft technology as the primary platform for the firm.
Microsoft Certified Training Partner.
A "Microsoft Certified Training Partner" is an IT training company, independent of and unowned by Microsoft, that is officially approved by Microsoft to provide technical training and expertise for Microsoft products a part of the MCP Program.
The content of the IT training courses provided by Microsoft Certified Training Partner companies are certified by Microsoft regarding the accuracy of the instruction given. To receive the certification, a Microsoft Certified Training Partner must demonstrate a broad range of expertise in Microsoft Products. Microsoft Certified Instructors are required to have real-world expertise in Microsoft products as well as hold current Microsoft IT Certifications.
Microsoft Certified Training Partner levels.
"Microsoft Certified Training Partner" is the basic level of the Microsoft Certified Training Partner Program. They have paid a fee to become certified, and must pay to use Microsoft tools and support.
"Microsoft Gold Certified Partner" is the highest level of the Microsoft Certified Partner Program. These firms have free access to the tools and support they need from Microsoft.


Tulip Computers

Tulip Computers NV was a Dutch computer manufacturer that manufactured PC clones.
History.
It was founded in 1979 as "Compudata", as an importer of American microcomputers. Compudata was the distributor for Europe for the Exidy Sorcerer, a Zilog Z80 based home computer. When Exidy gave up on the Sorcerer in 1979, Compudata licensed the design and manufactured them locally for several years.
In 1983 it launched its own PC, the Tulip PC. To achieve 100% compatibility it simply copied the IBM PC, including the BIOS. IBM sued, and after years of litigation, Tulip and IBM settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in 1989. It was listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in 1984. In 1987, Compudata changed its name to Tulip Computers.
Tulip made headlines among Commodore computer enthusiasts when it acquired the Commodore brand name in September 1997, and made headlines again in 2003 and 2004, when it tried to grab a share of the games and entertainment markets with Commodore branded products. In 2000, the Government of Bangladesh cancelled a contract, funded by the Dutch government, with Tulip Computers to supply computers. The Bangladesh government reported the price for the computers were too high. Tulip computers sued the Government of Bangladesh in a court in The Hague and secured a verdict that awarded Tulip computer compensation.
After supposedly making some headway in the market, it sold the Commodore name to Yeahronimo Media Ventures for €22 million. Negotiations began in the end of 2004; the transaction was completed in March 2005. On 27 September 2007, Tulip announced it wanted to buy back the Commodore brand for one dollar per share.
Tulip thought it could make more profit by buying it again, due to the new activities of Commodore on other markets.
Tulip sponsored Crystal Palace Football Club between 1991 and 1993 and eponymous professional cycling teams based in Spain (1989–1990) and Belgium (1990–1992), Tulip Computers. On 26 June 2008, Tulip changed its name to Nedfield NV. Nedfield faced serious problems due to the recession, and filed for suspension of payment after several of its subsidiaries went bankrupt. Nedfield NV itself was pronounced bankrupt by the district court of Utrecht on 3 September 2009.


HTC RE Camera

The HTC RE Camera is a camera introduced by HTC in 2014. It offers a 16MP sensor supporting 1080p video capture, intrusion protection, and is able to connect with smartphones through a dedicated application. Reception to the camera has been mostly positive.
Design.
The design of the HTC RE Camera has been described as "a tube that's bent on one end, slightly narrower than a roll of quarters" by Android Central, "more periscope than box" and "an upside down asthma inhaler" by Digital Trends and The Verge, and "a strange little thing that resembles an elbow of a pipe, an inhaler, a periscope, or who knows what else" by PhoneArena. The camera measures 96.7 x 26.5 mm and weighs 65.5 grams. The camera supports IP57 protection, with IPx7 protection while used standalone and IPx8 protection when used with a cap. The camera has a Sony-made 16 megapixel 1/2.3" CMOS sensor with f/2.8 aperture scratch-resistant lens. The battery is an 820 mAh unit, supporting 1 hour and 40 minutes of 1080p video recording or 1,200 16-megapixel photos.
The HTC RE Camera does not include a power button. Instead, it includes a grip sensor that allows the camera to be turned on by holding it in a hand. The capturing of videos and photos is done through the shutter button, a large silver button at the top of the device. Photos are taken by tapping on the button, and videos are taken by pressing and holding on the button. LED lighting embedded in the button shows the status of the camera. Videos and photos are recorded onto a microSD card inserted into the bottom of the camera, which supports a microSD card of up to 128 GB, but HTC provides an 8 GB card. Apart from a microSD card slot, the bottom of the device also includes a 20-thread tripod screw socket and a microUSB port for battery charging and data transfer.
A separate RE application supports smartphone devices with Android 4.3 or later and iOS 7 or later. The application connects the phone with the camera over Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi. The application allows using the camera as a viewfinder, adjusting the settings of the camera such as resolution, frame rate and time lapse, and transferring videos and photos from the camera to the smartphone.
Reception.
The HTC RE Camera received generally positive reviews. Joshua Goldman of CNET gave the camera a 7.2 out of 10, noting the simplicity of the camera, the waterproof feature, and mobile application as its good points, and shutter lag, mediocre video and photo quality, non-removable battery, and slippery body as its bad points. Brad Molen of Engadget gave the camera a 75 out of 100, saying that the advantages of the device was that it was "fun to use", small and lightweight, comfortable while used with one hand, waterproof, and can be used standalone from a smartphone, while the disadvantages were that the camera quality was not better than most flagship smartphones, slightly high price, lack of HDR, flashlight and other features, subpar iOS app, average battery life, and odd-looking wide angle shots. PhoneArena gave the camera a 7 out of 10, noting that the camera was quick to capture photos, and the grip was comfortable, but also noted that the image quality in low light was sub-par, the video recording lacked sharpness, shutter speeds were too slow and lacked manual adjustment, low battery life, mediocre audio recording quality, lack of optical image stabilization, and steep pricing. Les Shu of Digital Trends gave the camera a 3.5 out of 5, listing its design, wide-angle lens, ease of use, and photo quality as its strengths, and the reliance on the standalone app, video quality, short battery life, and high price as its weaknesses.


Casio fx-7000G

The Casio FX-7000G is a calculator which is widely known as being the world's first graphing calculator available to the public. It was introduced to the public and later manufactured between 1985 and c. 1988. Notable features are its ability to graph functions, and that it is programmable. The calculator offers 82 scientific functions and is capable of manual computation for basic arithmetic problems.
Features.
Mathematical.
The calculator can compute basic arithmetic functions with a precision up to 13 digits. Many functions integrated into the calculator include arithmetic and algebraic computations such as:
Other specialized functions also implemented into the calculator include hyperbolic and statistical functions, binary/octal/hexadecimal/sexagesimal conversions and graph plotting.
Programming.
Like many Casio calculators, the FX-7000G includes a programming mode, in addition to its display and graphing mode. It holds 422 bytes of programming memory, less than half a kilobyte. However the calculator does allow for expanded/additional memory by a method of reducing the number of steps within a program. This is done by optimizing the number of steps a program has to fill a single unit of memory, instead of several. The user may save any program they create or are in the process of creating in one of ten programming slots, a feature also used in the Casio BASIC handheld computer.
The calculator uses a tokenized programming language (similar to the earlier FX-602P) which is well suited to writing more complex programs, as memory efficiency is a priority. Tokenization is performed by using characters and symbols in place of long lines of code to minimize the amount of memory being used. The User Manual programming catalog is written in these symbols, allowing for lengthier programs to be written with less effort and less memory. One example is a program which estimates a definite integral through the use of Simpson's Rule; this can be found within the user manual for reference.
The calculator has 26 numeric memories as standard. Additional memories can be created by reducing the number of bytes available for programs. Using this facility allows a total of 78 memories maximum.
Graphing.
The calculator has a built in graphing feature which is unique to its model. The calculator can display either built-in graphs that are already programmed or display a user defined graph. The user also has the option to rewrite any of the previously programmed graphs.
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Statistical graphs can also be generated: bar graphs, line graphs, normal distribution curves, regression lines.
Display and Exterior.
Display.
The FX-7000G incorporates an LCD Dot Matrix design via the display window. When set into character mode the calculator can display up to sixteen characters on each of its eight display lines. This sixteen character by eight line display is screened on the 96 × 64 dot matrix. The LCD is not capable of colour or grey scale display.
Exterior.
A black casing surrounds the calculator along with a metal panel implemented on the rear; a large plastic screen protects the LCD display window as well. Keys are labeled and printed on orange, green, blue, red, and black malleable buttons.
Measurements.
The calculator's dimensions (width, height, depth) are . It has an approximate mass of including batteries.
Power.
The Casio Fx-7000G needs a 9.0 volt DC current lithium battery supply provided by 3 CR2032 type cells. The calculator does not accept an AC adapter and only uses batteries. The average battery life is around 120 hours which is shorter in length compared to similar models.


Fdupes

fdupes is a program written by Adrián López to scan directories for duplicate files, with options to list, delete or replace the files with hardlinks pointing to the duplicate. It first compares file sizes, partial MD5 signatures, full MD5 signatures, and then performs a byte-by-byte comparison for verification.
fdupes is written in C and is released under the MIT License.


Stellar Adventure

Stellar Adventure is a 1980 video game published by Software Innovations for the TRS-80.
Contents.
"Stellar Adventure" is a game in which the player garners points for landing on planets discovering artifacts, and fighting off Kyraxian fighters and dreadnoughts.
Reception.
Jon Mishcon reviewed "Stellar Adventure" in "The Space Gamer" No. 39. Mishcon commented that "For the price I feel this is a good buy. Certainly you will enjoy the first few hours of play. In its present state, I don't believe I'd call it a classic."