User identifier

Unix-like operating systems identify a user by a value called a user identifier, often abbreviated to user ID or UID. The UID, along with the group identifier (GID) and other access control criteria, is used to determine which system resources a user can access. The password file maps textual user names to UIDs. UIDs are stored in the inodes of the Unix file system, running processes, tar archives, and the now-obsolete Network Information Service. In POSIX-compliant environments, the command-line command codice_1 gives the current user's UID, as well as more information such as the user name, primary user group and group identifier (GID).
Process attributes.
The POSIX standard introduced three different UID fields into the process descriptor table, to allow privileged processes to take on different roles dynamically:
Effective user ID.
The effective UID (codice_2) of a process is used for most access checks. It is also used as the owner for files created by that process. The effective GID (codice_3) of a process also affects access control and may also affect file creation, depending on the semantics of the specific kernel implementation in use and possibly the mount options used. According to BSD Unix semantics, the group ownership given to a newly created file is unconditionally inherited from the group ownership of the directory in which it is created. According to AT&T UNIX System V semantics (also adopted by Linux variants), a newly created file is normally given the group ownership specified by the codice_3 of the process that creates the file. Most filesystems implement a method to select whether BSD or AT&T semantics should be used regarding group ownership of a newly created file; BSD semantics are selected for specific directories when the S_ISGID (s-gid) permission is set.
File system user ID.
Linux also has a file system user ID (codice_5) which is used explicitly for access control to the file system. It matches the codice_2 unless explicitly set otherwise. It may be root's user ID only if codice_7, codice_8, or codice_2 is root. Whenever the codice_2 is changed, the change is propagated to the codice_5.
The intent of codice_5 is to permit programs (e.g., the NFS server) to limit themselves to the file system rights of some given codice_13 without giving that codice_13 permission to send them signals. Since kernel 2.0, the existence of codice_5 is no longer necessary because Linux adheres to rules for sending signals, but codice_5 remains for compatibility reasons.
Saved user ID.
The saved user ID (codice_8) is used when a program running with elevated privileges needs to do some unprivileged work temporarily; changing codice_2 from a privileged value (typically codice_19) to some unprivileged value (anything other than the privileged value) causes the privileged value to be stored in codice_8. Later, a program's codice_2 can be set back to the value stored in codice_8, so that elevated privileges can be restored; an unprivileged process may set its codice_2 to one of only three values: the value of codice_7, the value of codice_8, or the value of codice_2.
Real user ID.
The real UID (codice_7) and real GID (codice_28) identify the real owner of the process and affect the permissions for sending signals. A process without superuser privileges may signal another process only if the sender's codice_7 or codice_2 matches receiver's codice_7 or codice_8. Because a child process inherits its credentials from its parent, a child and parent may signal each other.
Conventions.
Type.
POSIX requires the UID to be an integer type. Most Unix-like operating systems represent the UID as an unsigned integer. The size of UID values varies amongst different systems; some UNIX OS's used 15-bit values, allowing values up to 32767, while others such as Linux (before version 2.4) supported 16-bit UIDs, making 65536 unique IDs possible. The majority of modern Unix-like systems (e.g., Solaris-2.0 in 1990, Linux 2.4 in 2001) have switched to 32-bit UIDs, allowing 4,294,967,296 (232) unique IDs.
Reserved ranges.
The Linux Standard Base Core Specification specifies that UID values in the range 0 to 99 should be statically allocated by the system, and shall not be created by applications, while UIDs from 100 to 499 should be reserved for dynamic allocation by system administrators and post install scripts.
Debian Linux not only reserves the range 100–999 for dynamically allocated system users and groups, but also centrally and statically allocates users and groups in the range 60000-64999 and further reserves the range 65000–65533.
Systemd defines a number of special UID ranges, including
On FreeBSD, porters who need a UID for their package can pick a free one from the range 50 to 999 and then register the static allocation.
Some POSIX systems allocate UIDs for new users starting from 500 (macOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux till version 6), others start at 1000 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux since version 7, openSUSE, Debian). On many Linux systems, these ranges are specified in codice_33, for codice_34 and similar tools.
Central UID allocations in enterprise networks (e.g., via LDAP and NFS servers) may limit themselves to using only UID numbers well above 1000, and outside the range 60000–65535, to avoid potential conflicts with UIDs locally allocated on client computers.
OS-level virtualization can remap user identifiers, e.g. using Linux namespaces, and therefore need to allocate ranges into which remapped UIDs and GIDs are mapped:
The systemd authors recommend that OS-level virtualization systems should allocate 65536 (216) UIDs per container, and map them by adding an integer multiple of 216.
Alternatives.
NFSv4 was intended to help avoid numeric identifier collisions by identifying users (and groups) in protocol packets using textual “user@domain” names rather than integer numbers. However, as long as operating-system kernels and local file systems continue to use integer user identifiers, this comes at the expense of additional translation steps (using idmap daemon processes), which can introduce additional failure points if local UID mapping mechanisms or databases get configured incorrectly, lost, or out of sync. The “@domain” part of the user name could be used to indicate which authority allocated a particular name, for example in form of
But in practice many existing implementations only allow setting the NFSv4 domain to a fixed value, thereby rendering it useless.


List of CPU sockets


Steele (supercomputer)

Steele is a supercomputer that was installed at Purdue University on May 5, 2008. The high-performance computing cluster is operated by Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP), the university's central information technology organization. ITaP also operates clusters named Coates built in 2009, Rossmann built in 2010, and Hansen and Carter built in 2011. Steele was the largest campus supercomputer in the Big Ten outside a national center when built. It ranked 104th on the November 2008 TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list.
Hardware.
Steele consisted of 893 64-bit, 8-core Dell PowerEdge 1950 and nine 64-bit, 8-core Dell PowerEdge 2950 systems with various combinations of 16-32 gigabytes RAM, 160 GB to 2 terabytes of disk, and Gigabit Ethernet and SDR InfiniBand to each node. The cluster had a theoretical peak performance of more than 60 teraflops. Steele and its 7,216 cores replaced the Purdue Lear cluster supercomputer which had 1,024 cores but was substantially slower. Steele is primarily networked utilizing a Foundry Networks BigIron RX-16 switch with a Tyco MRJ-21 wiring system delivering over 900 Gigabit Ethernet connections and eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks.
Software.
Steele nodes ran Red Hat Enterprise Linux starting with release 4.0 and used Portable Batch System Professional 10.4.6 (PBSPro 10.4.6) for resource and job management. The cluster also had compilers and scientific programming libraries installed.
Construction.
The first 812 nodes of Steele were installed in four hours on May 5, 2008, by a team of 200 Purdue computer technicians and volunteers, including volunteers from in-state athletic rival Indiana University.
The staff had made a video titled "Installation Day" as a parody of the film "Independence Day".
The cluster ran 1,400 science and engineering jobs by lunchtime.
In 2010, Steele was moved to an HP Performance Optimized Datacenter, a self-contained, modular, shipping container-style unit installed on campus in order to make room for new clusters in Purdue's main research computing data center.
Funding.
The Steele supercomputer and Purdue's other clusters were part of the Purdue Community Cluster Program, a partnership between ITaP and Purdue faculty. In Purdue's program, a "community" cluster is funded by hardware money from grants, faculty startup packages, institutional funds and other sources. ITaP's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing administers the community clusters and provides user support. Each faculty partner always has ready access to the capacity he or she purchases and potentially to more computing power when the nodes of other partners are idle. Unused, or opportunistic, cycles from Steele are made available to the National Science Foundation's TeraGrid (now the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment) system and the Open Science Grid using Condor software. A portion of Steele also was dedicated directly to TeraGrid use.
Users.
Steele users came fields such as aeronautics and astronautics, agriculture, biology, chemistry, computer and information technology, earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics, pharmacology, statistics, and electrical, materials and mechanical engineering. The cluster was used to design new drugs and materials, to model weather patterns and the effects of global warming, and to engineer future aircraft and nano electronics. Steele also served the Compact Muon Solenoid Tier 2 Center at Purdue, one of the particle physics experiments conducted with the Large Hadron Collider.
DiaGrid.
Unused, or opportunistic, cycles from Steele were made available to the TeraGrid and the Open Science Grid using Condor software. Steele was part of Purdue's distributed computing Condor flock, and the center of DiaGrid, a nearly 43,000-processor Condor-powered distributed computing network for research involving Purdue and partners at nine other campuses.
Naming.
The Steele cluster is named for John M. Steele, Purdue associate professor emeritus of computer science, who was involved with research computing at Purdue almost from its inception. He joined the Purdue staff in 1963 at the Computer Sciences Center associated with the then-new Computer Science Department. He served as the director of the Purdue University Computing Center, the high-performance computing unit at Purdue prior to the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, from 1988 to 2001 before retiring in 2003. His research interests have been in the areas of computer data communications and computer circuits and systems, including research on an early mobile wireless Internet system.


SPARC64 II


UltraSPARC III Cu


ID@Xbox

ID@Xbox (Independent Developers @ Xbox) is a program by Microsoft allowing independent video game developers to self-publish titles for Windows and the Xbox One home video game console.
Overview.
ID@Xbox was announced by Xbox Vice President Phil Harrison at Gamescom on August 20, 2013. General Manager, Marc Whitten was the sponsor of the project providing management and funding. Angela Hession was the Launch Architect of the program and developed the program based on input from Independent Developers. Chris Charla is director of the program.
Developers who are registered in the program get access to two development kits at no cost, as well as access to all required technical documentation. Additionally, there will be no fees to update any game submitted through the program. Games released through the program also have access to all Xbox One and Xbox Live components, including Kinect, Achievements and Xbox SmartGlass. Developers in the program also receive access to the Unity engine as well as an optional subscription to Unreal Engine 4.
At the 2017 Game Developers Conference, Microsoft announced it will launch the Xbox Live Creators program that, for a one-time fee, will allow anyone to develop for Xbox One and Windows 10 games using the Unified Windows Platform using any consumer Xbox One system (including Xbox One X console) and distribute directly through the Xbox Live storefront. Such applications will not have access to some Xbox Live features like achievements or multiplayer matchmaking, but will include support for leaderboards and party chat.
By August 2020, over 2000 games were released through ID@Xbox, and more than in royalties had been paid to the developers of these games.
Reception.
A number of indie game developers have praised the introduction of the ID@Xbox program. Developers involved in the program have been impressed by Microsoft's responsiveness and the support provided on any issues that arise. The appointment of Chris Charla as director of ID@Xbox was met with positive reception, due to his background and previous involvement in the video game industry.
However, the program has received criticism for enforcing a launch date parity policy which means that developers can only release their titles on Xbox One if they haven't been released on other consoles first. Many developer have called for the policy to be dropped; Microsoft has since dropped the parity clause.
Notable developers.
The following developers have been mentioned as being a part of the ID@Xbox program.
Upcoming games.
The following is a list of upcoming games releasing through ID@Xbox:


Comparison of open-source operating systems

These tables compare free software / open-source operating systems. Where not all of the versions support a feature, the first version which supports it is listed.
See also.


IBM/AT


Operating system abstraction layer

An operating system abstraction layer (OSAL) provides an application programming interface (API) to an abstract operating system making it easier and quicker to develop code for multiple software or hardware platforms.
OS abstraction layers deal with presenting an abstraction of the common system functionality that is offered by any Operating system by the means of providing meaningful and easy to use Wrapper functions that in turn encapsulate the system functions offered by the OS to which the code needs porting. A well designed OSAL provides implementations of an API for several real-time operating systems (such as vxWorks, eCos, RTLinux, RTEMS). Implementations may also be provided for non real-time operating systems, allowing the abstracted software to be developed and tested in a developer friendly desktop environment.
In addition to the OS APIs, the OS Abstraction Layer project may also provide a hardware abstraction layer, designed to provide a portable interface to hardware devices such as memory, I/O ports, and non-volatile memory. To facilitate the use of these APIs, OSALs generally include a directory structure and build automation (e.g., set of makefiles) to facilitate building a project for a particular OS and hardware platform.
Implementing projects using OSALs allows for development of portable embedded system software that is independent of a particular real-time operating system. It also allows for embedded system software to be developed and tested on desktop workstations, providing a shorter development and debug time.


Leading Edge Model D

The Leading Edge Model D is an IBM clone first released by Leading Edge Hardware in July 1985. It was initially priced at $1,495 configured with dual 5.25" floppy drives, 256 KB of RAM, and a monochrome monitor. It was manufactured by South Korean conglomerate Daewoo and distributed by Canton, Massachusetts-based Leading Edge. Engineer Stephen Kahng spent about four months designing the Model D at a cost of $200,000. Kahng later became CEO of Macintosh clone maker Power Computing.
In August 1986, Leading Edge cut the price of the base model by $200, to $1,295, and increased the base memory of the machine to 512 KB.
The Model D was an immediate success, selling 100,000 units in its first year of production. It sold well for several years, until a dispute with dealers forced Leading Edge into bankruptcy in 1989.
Hardware.
The Model D initially featured an Intel 8088 microprocessor at 4.77 MHz, although later models had a switch in the back to run at 4.77 MHz (normal) or 7.16 MHz (high). Earlier models have no turbo switch and run only at 4.77 MHz, while a few of the later ones (seemingly very rare) are 7.16 MHz only. Four models are known: DC-2010, DC-2011, DC-2010E, and DC-2011E. The "E" seems to correlate with the capability of running at 7.16 MHz.
Unlike the IBM PC and IBM PC/XT, the Model D integrates video, the disk controller, a battery backed clock, serial and parallel ports directly onto the motherboard rather than putting them on plug-in cards. This allows the Model D to be half the size of the IBM PC, with four free ISA expansion slots compared to the PC's one slot after installing necessary cards.
The motherboard came in eight different revisions: Revision 1, 5, 7, 8, CC1, CC2, WC1, and WC2. Revisions 1 through 7 are usually found in models DC-2010 and DC-2011, with revisions 8 through WC2 being either in 2010E or 2011E. WC1 (presumably also WC2) is 7.16 MHz only. Due to its tight integration, the Model D motherboard is a nonstandard form factor, so replacing the motherboard with an off-the-shelf upgrade is not possible.
The Model D is preinstalled with 256, 512, or 640 KB of RAM. Lower-capacity machines are user upgradeable to 640 KB. Motherboard revisions 7, 8, WC1 and WC2 come with 768 KB of RAM installed (640 KB available to the user).
Some models have a monochrome/CGA selection switch, with a single port used for both modes. Some models have both a Monochrome and a CGA port, also with a switch to change modes (and ports).
The Model D computers support a special extended graphics mode: 640x200.
The buyer had the choice between a floppy disk model and a fixed disk (hard disk) model. The floppy disk model has one or two 360 KB drives, so that the user can run MS-DOS programs on the primary drive and work with files on the secondary drive, if equipped. The fixed disk model has one 360 KiB floppy drive and either a 10 MB, 20 MB, or 30 MB hard disk. The model with the 20 MB fixed disk was initially released in February 1986 at a cost of $1,895. Leading Edge dealers had difficulty keeping the 20MB model in stock. At the time, a Tandy 1200 equipped with a 10MB drive sold for $1999.
The buyer also had a choice between an amber or a green monochrome CRT monitor.
Software.
The unit comes with MS-DOS 2.11 or later, and a special edition of GW-BASIC to support the extended graphics mode.
It also has a diagnostics disk. This disk contained a diagnostics program, and `PARK.COM`, a utility used to park the hard drive heads when the computer was to be moved. Most models also came with a word processing program developed by Leading Edge titled "Leading Edge Word Processor", commonly referred to by its acronym 'LEWP'.
The computer supports the Microsoft Windows operating system up to version 3.0, as it is the last version of Windows to support Real Mode.
Significance.
Dataquest estimated that the Model D won 1% of the American home-computer market in 1986, its first year of availability. The Model D was the first Korean-made PC to be sold in the United States, and at the time of its introduction, it undercut the price of similar IBM PC compatibles by $500. The $1,495 list price was the lowest of seven compatibles with comparable configurations in a September 1985 "InfoWorld" chart, and under half the price of the $2,820 IBM PC. Along with the Tandy 1000 and Epson Equity series, the Model D was one of the first IBM PC compatible computers to become popular for home use, due to its low price and good reviews. Many home-oriented software packages for the PC specifically cited the Model D along with the Tandy and Epson models as compatible hardware.
Leading Edge was Phoenix Technologies's first customer for its IBM-compatible BIOS, and the Model D was one of the first PCs on the market to use the Phoenix BIOS. Although advertised as 100% IBM compatible, letters published in the January 13, 1986 issue of "InfoWorld" identified compatibility issues with several popular software packages and aftermarket hard drives. Syndicated newspaper columnists T. R. Reid and Michael Schrage, writing in April 1986, predicted that the popularity of the Model D would lead to hardware and software vendors specifically testing for compatibility. In spite of these early reports, the Model D sold well. In early 1987, Daewoo was producing 13,000 units per month and failing to keep up with demand. As a result, buyers waited 2–8 weeks before taking delivery.
Reception.
"PC Magazine" in October 1985 called the Model D "the clear winner" among six inexpensive PC compatibles it tested. The review noted the computer's many included hardware features, and concluded that it "may represent the next generation of personal computing: about as compact as full IBM hardware compatibility allows, full featured, quite well made, and alluringly priced". The Model D received 4 out of 5 stars from "InfoWorld" in December 1985. The magazine praised the computer's value and ease of setup ("the whole operation takes less than 20 minutes, even if you know nothing about computers and take your time"), and reported that the Model D was even compatible with IBM diagnostic software, unlike the Compaq Portable and others. "InfoWorld" concluded "We recommend it highly, especially to the budget-conscious beginner". A positive October 1986 review in "Popular Mechanics" cited its low price and the quality of its keyboard. It received good reviews in other computer magazines and "Consumer Reports" magazine.


BattleSport

BattleSport is a 1996 futuristic sports video game developed by Cyclone Studios. It was originally published by Studio 3DO (the software division of The 3DO Company) exclusively for their 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1996, but after the 3DO was discontinued "BattleSport" was published for other systems by Acclaim Entertainment. It was released for Windows and PlayStation in North America on June 30, 1997, and in Europe on August 1, 1997. It also saw a US only release on the Saturn.
Development.
Director Evan Margolin summarized the making of the game:
Near the end of 1996, Studio 3DO stated that a version of "BattleSport" for the Panasonic M2 was in development.
Reception.
"GamePro" gave the 3DO version a recommendation. While they said the game is harder than it should be due to slippery controls and an overabundance of powerups to flip through, they felt the strong graphics, audio, and fast-paced gameplay "make this a game worth playing." A reviewer for "Next Generation" gave the game an even stronger recommendation, praising the unique gameplay concept, exceptionally good polygon graphics by 3DO standards, huge variety of power-up items, and consistently smooth frame rate even in the multiplayer mode, which he was especially enthusiastic about: "As with any split-screen, having your view so vertically limited is distracting, but the sheer fun and excitement of competing in this game against another human player is incredible."
Though the 3DO version failed to reach a mass audience, it sold well enough to turn a profit.
The game was less well-received when it appeared on the PlayStation, with critics praising the huge number of arenas and options but railing against the unnecessarily frustrating handling of the vehicles. Dan Hsu elaborated in "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "It's difficult to catch the ball at any time, unless it's sitting still, or you and it are heading toward each other in a straight line." Commenting on the game's arcade-style simplicity, having little variety or long-term objectives to keep the player engaged, Jeff Kitts stated in "GameSpot", "the fact is that there's just no need for a game like this on the PlayStation in 1997."
Sequel.
A sequel, "BattleSport II", was planned for the Nintendo 64, Panasonic M2 and PlayStation, but never released.


Kernfs (Linux)

In the Linux kernel, kernfs is a set of functions that contain the functionality required for creating pseudo file systems used internally by various kernel subsystems. The creation of kernfs resulted from splitting off part of the internal logic used by sysfs, which provides a set of virtual files by exporting information about hardware devices and associated device drivers from the kernel's device model to user space, into an independent and reusable functionality so other kernel subsystems can implement their own pseudo file systems more easily and consistently.
The associated patchset, with Tejun Heo as its main author, was merged into the Linux kernel mainline in kernel version 3.14, which was released on March 30, 2014. One of the primary users of kernfs is the pseudo file system used internally by cgroups, whose redesign continued into version 3.15 of the Linux kernel.


Shell account

A shell account is a user account on a remote server, traditionally running under the Unix operating system, which gives access to a shell via a command-line interface protocol such as telnet or SSH.
Shell accounts were made first accessible to interested members of the public by Internet Service Providers (such as Netcom (USA), Panix, The World and Digex), although in rare instances individuals had access to shell accounts through their employer or university. They were used for file storage, web space, email accounts, newsgroup access and software development. Before the late 1990s, shell accounts were often much less expensive than full net access through SLIP or PPP, which was required to access the then-new World Wide Web. Products such as The Internet Adapter were devised that could work as a proxy server, allowing users to run a web browser for the price of a shell account.
Shell providers are often found to offer "shell accounts" at low-cost or free. These "shell accounts" generally provide users with access to various software and services including compilers, IRC clients, background processes, FTP, text editors (such as nano) and email clients (such as pine). Some shell providers may also allow tunneling of traffic to bypass corporate firewalls.


S3 Chrome

S3 Graphics' Chrome series of graphics accelerators arrived in 2004 with the DeltaChrome line of chips. They were supplied as discrete, mobile, or integrated graphics.
Overview.
In 2004 after the S3 Graphics company spun off their joint-venture with VIA, VIA attempted to re-launch the S3 Graphics brand with a new line of video cards under the name 'Chrome'. The Chrome range featured low power requirements and high-definition output making it attractive for small form factor scenarios and OEM systems. Unfortunately by the time Chrome released, the rapid progression of 3D gaming performance between rivals NVIDIA and ATI Technologies made S3's offerings uncompetitive in the lucrative high end consumer market.
The Chrome series supports Direct3D 9 with full pixel shader 2.0 support, excluding the unreleased Savage XP/AlphaChrome and early UniChrome.
S3's "AcceleRAM" technology allowed system RAM to be used to supplement the video card's RAM, and is similar to ATI's HyperMemory and NVIDIA's TurboCache. Chrome also introduced MultiChrome technology, allowing multiple matched Chrome cards to be used simultaneously in a system to increase graphics performance, similar to ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA's SLI.
Product Families.
Unreleased - the first of the 'Chrome' product line, previously titled Savage XP and codenamed Zoetrope.
DeltaChrome added support for Shader Model 2.0, making it S3's first released DirectX 9 product. Other features included the introduction of the Chromotion Video Engine, and dual 400 MHz DACs for multi monitor support.
GammaChrome is the first native PCI Express product line by S3 Graphics. It was originally announced on 2004-3-18 , but the product was not released until 2005-3-9. Marketed as 3rd generation DirectX 9 products competing against GeForce 6600 and Radeon X600, there is little change between it and the previous generation of product, except for the updated Chromotion 2.0 engine.
Review of the product showed it was comparable to the contemporary competitors at the market segment , but it was never able to gain a significant market share.
S3 originally planned GammaChrome S19 on its roadmap, but it was cancelled.
Model listing
Chronological order
This generation of S3 Chrome was announced on 2005-9-7 , and released on 2005-11-3.
It is an embedded version of Chrome S20. It addresses 256MiB 32/64-bit GDDR2 SDRAM at maximum 500 MHz.
VIA planned the production of 2 new graphics chips, Chrome 440 and 430, by the end of 2007. The Chrome 460 will support DirectX 10 and adopts a 90 nm process, while the Chrome 430 will support DirectX 10.1 and adopts a 65nm process. Both chips will be manufactured by Fujitsu and have already entered the design verification test stage. Volume production is expected to start before the end of the year, noted the sources.
The 430 GT was released on 2008-03-20 in US market, while 440 GTX was released in 2008-05-30.
The production models are made in 65 nm process, supports DirectX 10.1, and uses PCI Express 2.0 interface. Chromotion engine now supports Variable length decoding, and dual-stream Blu-ray playback (440 GTX). Display unit includes 2 dual-link DVI transmitters with integrated HDMI (audio passthrough) and HDCP, an integrated dual channel LVDS transmitter, an integrated TV/HDTV encoder, and support for two analog CRTs. 440 GTX runs at 725 MHz core speed.
It is a mobile line for the Chrome 400. 430 ULP includes features in 430 GT, while 435 ULP and 440 ULP includes features in 440 GTX.
This product was released on 2008-09-24.
Chrome 500 series includes integrated DisplayPort support, audio controller and an AES 128 encryption engine. The display unit loses 1 CRT and the TV encoder over Chrome 400. The audio controller supports Dolby 7.1 digital surround sound.
The first product, Chrome 530 GT, was released on 2008-11-20.
The second product, Chrome 540 GTX was officially released on 2009-02-12 even though the product was on sale on the Gstore since 2009-02-07. It featured a displayport and a full-sized PCB; a feature uncommon amongst more modern S3 Chrome cards.
It is the embedded version of S3 Graphics Chrome 430. It supports features found in S3 Chrome 400 and later products. Using GDDR2 memory, it runs up to 300 MHz core speed, 500 MHz memory; in a GDDR3 setup, it runs up to 650 MHz core speed, 900 MHz memory. Display unit includes 2 dual-link DVI transmitters with integrated HDMI (with audio controller) and HDCP, an integrated LVDS transmitter, and support for 2 analog CRTs.
OmniChrome is a video card with DeltaChrome S4 Pro processor, Philips 1216/1236 TV tuner, Techwell video decoder.
UniChrome is an updated S3 ProSavage used in VIA's integrated graphics chipsets.
The UniChrome Pro Series consists of the UniChrome Pro and UniChrome Pro II. The UniChrome Pro Series is an update to UniChrome with an improved video-engine called "Chromotion" (MPEG2 decoder, adaptive De-Interlacing and video deblocking). It contains a 128-bit 3D graphic core providing DirectX 7 hardware support but without a Transform & Lightning (T&L) unit. UniChrome Pro is implemented in the VIA chipsets: CLE266, KM400, KN400, P4M266 and VN800; UniChrome Pro II is implemented in the VIA chipset: VX700
Chrome9 was S3 Graphics's attempt to pass Microsoft's Windows Vista Basic certification with their first integrated graphics cores supporting DirectX 9. Known variants include Chrome9 HC and Chrome9 HC3, the latter which supports HD video decode.
The most popular Chrome9 IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) VIA chipsets are: CN896, K8M890CE/K8N890CE, P4M900 and VN896. The VX800 chipset uses the HC3, and the chipset VX900 uses the HD.
This version is the first integrated graphics core based on the DirectX 11 cores. Known variants include Chrome 640 and Chrome 645, These newer iGPs are a part of Via's VX11/H Media System Processor and support Blu-ray Decoding (VX11H with HDPC only).
Model listing.
Chronological order


Beaterator

Beaterator is a music mixer released in September 2009 by Rockstar Games for the PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 3 (via the PlayStation Network) and in December 2009 for iOS. "Beaterator" was developed by Rockstar Leeds in collaboration with Timbaland.
The game is based on an Adobe Flash music mixing tool released on the Internet in 2005 by Rockstar and contains original new loops and sounds produced by Timbaland for "Beaterator". The game allows the user to produce their own loops. There are three game modes: Live play, Studio Session and Song Crafter. The game has Rockstar Games Social Club integration for sharing music with the community.
To celebrate the game's release, Rockstar Games held an event in PlayStation Home at the Listen@Home station in North America's Central Plaza on 16 October 2009. Attendees could play select user-uploaded "Beaterator" tracks during the event. On 10 June 2014, the GameSpy service was discontinued, taking with it "Beaterator" Social Club features.
Reception.
The PSP version of "Beaterator" received generally favorable reviews, while the iOS version received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Australian video game talk show "Good Game" reviewers, Jeremy Ray and Steven O'Donnell, awarded the game scores of 6/10 and 7/10, respectively.


Dup (system call)

In Unix-like operating systems, ' (short for "duplicate") and ' system calls create a copy of a given file descriptor. This new descriptor actually does not behave like a copy, but like an alias of the old one.
C library POSIX definition.
The dup and dup2 calls are standardized by the POSIX specification.
int dup (int oldfd);
int dup2 (int oldfd, int newfd);
The former allocates the first available descriptor, just like open() behaves; an alternative way to duplicate a file descriptor to an unspecified place is the fcntl system call with codice_1 command.
The latter places the copy into newfd. If newfd is open, it is closed first.
dup2 for input/output redirection.
Unix shells use for input/output redirection. Along with codice_2, it is a tool on which Unix pipes rely.
The following example uses codice_2 and codice_4 in order to connect two separate processes ("program1" and "program2") using Unix pipes:
/* function prototypes */
void die(const char*);
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 int pdes[2];
 pid_t child;
 if(pipe(pdes) == -1)
 die("pipe()");
 child = fork();
 if(child == (pid_t)(-1))
 die("fork()"); /* fork failed */
 if(child == (pid_t)0) {
 /* child process */
 close(1); /* close stdout */
 if(dup(pdes[1]) == -1)
 die("dup()");
 /* now stdout and pdes[1] are equivalent (dup returns lowest free descriptor) */
 if((execlp("program1", "program1", "arg1", NULL)) == -1)
 die("execlp()");
 _exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
 } else {
 /* parent process */
 close(0); /* close stdin */
 if(dup(pdes[0]) == -1)
 die("dup()");
 /* now stdin and pdes[0] are equivalent (dup returns lowest free descriptor) */
 if((execlp("program2", "program2", "arg1", NULL)) == -1)
 die("execlp()");
 exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);

 return 0;
void die(const char *msg) {
 perror(msg);
 exit(EXIT_FAILURE);


SPARC T4

The SPARC T4 is a SPARC multicore microprocessor introduced in 2011 by Oracle Corporation. The processor is designed to offer high multithreaded performance (8 threads per core, with 8 cores per chip), as well as high single threaded performance from the same chip. The chip is the 4th generation processor in the T-Series family. Sun Microsystems brought the first T-Series processor (UltraSPARC T1) to market in 2005.
The chip is the first Sun/Oracle SPARC chip to use dynamic threading and out-of-order execution. It incorporates one floating point unit and one dedicated cryptographic unit per core. The cores use the 64-bit SPARC Version 9 architecture running at frequencies between 2.85 GHz and 3.0 GHz, and are built in a 40 nm process with a die size of .
History and design.
An eight core, eight thread per core chip built in a 40 nm process and running at 2.5 GHz was described in Sun Microsystems' processor roadmap of 2009. It was codenamed "Yosemite Falls" and given an expected release date of late 2011. The processor was expected to introduce a new microarchitecture, codenamed "VT Core". The online technology website The Register speculated that this chip would be named "T4", being the successor to the SPARC T3. The Yosemite Falls CPU product remained on Oracle Corporation's processor roadmap after the company took over Sun in early 2010. In December 2010 the T4 processor was confirmed by Oracle's VP of hardware development to be designed for improved per-thread performance, with eight cores, and with an expected release within one year.
The processor design was presented at the 2011 Hot Chips conference. The cores (renamed "S3" from "VT") included a dual-issue 16 stage integer pipeline, and 11-cycle floating point pipeline, both giving improvements over the previous ("S2") core used in the SPARC T3 processor. Each core has associated 16 KB data and 16 KB instruction L1 caches, and a unified 128 KB L2 Cache. All eight cores share 4 MB L3 cache, and the total transistor count is approximately 855 million. The design was the first Sun/Oracle SPARC processor with out-of-order execution and was the first processor in the SPARC T-Series family to include the ability to issue more than one instruction per cycle to a core's execution units.
The T4 processor was officially introduced as part of Oracle's SPARC T4 servers in September 2011. Initial product releases of a single processor T4-1 rack server ran at 2.85 GHz. The dual processor T4-2 ran at the same 2.85 GHz frequency, and the quad processor T4-4 server ran at 3.0 GHz.
The SPARC S3 core also include a thread priority mechanism (called "dynamic threading") whereby each thread is allocated resources based on need, giving increased performance. Most S3 core resources are shared among all active threads, up to 8 of them. Shared resources include branch prediction structures, various buffer entries, and out-of-order execution resources. Static resource allocation reserves the resources to the threads based on a policy whether the thread can use them or not. Dynamic threading allocates these resources to the threads that are ready and will use them, thus improving performance.
Cryptographic performance was also increased over the T3 chip by design improvements including a new set of cryptographic instructions. UltraSPARC T2 and T3's per-core cryptographic coprocessors were replaced with in-core accelerators and instruction-based cryptography. The implementation is designed to achieve wire speed encryption and decryption on the SPARC T4's 10-Gbit/s Ethernet ports.
The architectural changes are claimed to deliver a 5x improvement in single thread integer performance and twice the per-thread throughput performance compared to the previous generation T3. The published SPECjvm2008 result for a 16-core T4-2 is 454 ops/m and 321 ops/m for the 32-core T3-2 which is a ratio of 2.8x in performance per core.


Compaq Evo

The Compaq Evo was a series of business PCs (desktop and laptop) and thin clients made by Compaq and Hewlett-Packard (following the 2002 merger). The Evo brand was introduced by Compaq in May 2001 as a business-oriented brand, replacing the Deskpro brand of desktops and the Armada brand of notebooks.
"Evo" was rebranded as "HP Compaq", which was used until 2013.
Design.
The Desktops were small and made to be positioned horizontally instead of vertically, so the monitor could be placed on top to save space. Most featured a sleek silver and black compact design. The early models shipped with CD-ROM drives, but Compaq eventually shipped "Evo"s with CD-RW drives and DVD-ROM drives. The design of some models only allowed for one CD or DVD drive, but some models had bigger designs for 2 CD or DVD drives. Some of the models also shipped with a 3½ floppy drive, positioned below the CD or DVD drive. Most models also had 2 USB 2.0 ports in the front for convenience, as well as having two in the back for human interface devices and external volumes. Most also had a headphone and microphone jack in the front, with line in and line out in the back.
The laptops were a conservative design, described by one reviewer as "the old-school black, squared-off-corner business notebook". Most models had a tough black case reminiscent of IBM's ThinkPad, a midsize 14" or 15" screen, and good multimedia capability.
Most desktops and some laptops shipped with Pentium 4 processors, but some Laptops shipped with Centrino platforms; The thin clients were based on the Geode processor family.
Distribution.
The Compaq Evo Desktop computer was a great option for businesses and schools because of its compact, cheap design. It was affordable and had the needed specs for businesses and schools.
All Compaq Evo computers were shipped standard with Windows XP or Windows 2000 running on them.
The last Evo-branded models were released in 2003, later replaced by re-branded (like other Compaq-branded products) as HP Compaq products.
Models.
Notebook models.
The Presario-based series laptops (N800 and N1000) uses a desktop-based Pentium 4 CPU.
Known near-clone laptop models:
The final model to carry the Compaq Evo name was the 14.1" N620c notebook, an early Pentium-M system which featured up to a 1.6Ghz processor, it offered 256 MB RAM as standard but that amount can be easily upgraded to 512 MB or even 1 GB. The N620c was not Intel Centrino-based, but instead used a Compaq wireless module that snapped onto the Multiport slot on the lid of the notebook.


Unreal mode

In x86 computing, unreal mode, also big real mode, huge real mode, flat real mode, or voodoo mode is a variant of real mode, in which one or more segment descriptors has been loaded with non-standard values, like 32-bit limits allowing access to the entire memory. Contrary to its name, it is not a separate addressing mode that the x86 processors can operate in. It is used in the 80286 and later x86 processors.
Overview.
For efficiency reasons, the 80286 and all later x86 processors use the base address, size and other attributes stored in their internal segment descriptor cache whenever computing effective memory addresses, even in real mode. Therefore a modification of the internal segment descriptor allows to alter some properties of segments in real mode, like the size of addressable memory. This technique became widely used and is supported by all Intel processors.
HIMEM.SYS uses this feature to address extended memory, unless DOS is switched to run in a virtual 8086 mode that is incompatible with unreal mode.
One of the very few games—if not the only one—that used unreal mode was "Ultima VII".
Unreal mode is used by BIOS code as this is the initial mode of modern Intel processors. Furthermore, the System Management Mode (SMM) in Intel 386SL and later processors places the processor in huge real mode.
A program in unreal mode can call 16-bit code programmed for real mode (BIOS, DOS kernel and drivers) without any thunking. This makes an unreal mode driver simpler than a DPMI driver. However unreal mode is incompatible with protected mode operating systems such as Windows 3.x/9x/NT and OS/2.
Big real mode has the 1MB code segment and the 4GB data segment.
Some boot loaders (such as LILO) use the unreal mode to access up to 4GB of memory.
Enabling unreal mode.
To put an 80386 or higher microprocessor into unreal mode, a program must first enter protected mode, find or create a flat descriptor in the GDT or LDT, load some of the data segment registers with the respective protected mode "selector", and then switch back to real mode. After returning to real mode, the processor will continue using the cached descriptors as established in protected mode, thus allowing access to 4 GiB of extended memory from real mode.
The 80286 microprocessor can be put into unreal mode only with help of the undocumented instruction LOADALL to modify the hidden segment base registers to point to the source or target memory location above 1 MiB.
Starting with the 80386, real mode programs can use the 32 bit registers with the Address Size Override Prefix. This allows programs to use an address like DS:[EBX]. In normal real mode, a fault occurs if EBX exceeds 0xFFFF. In unreal mode, the access is allowed.
Variants of unreal mode.
As described above, unreal mode usually involves using one or more data selectors to address data in memory more efficiently. This has been common practice and often referred to as "flat real mode" or "big real mode". The "huge real mode" is a variant where also the code segment is extended to 4 GiB.
A special case of unreal mode is attained by, in addition, loading the code selector (CS) from a descriptor having the 32-bit attribute ("D" bit) set to one. This rarely used variant presents some advantages, mainly because it allows avoiding the Operand Size Override Prefixes normally required when using 32-bit addressing in 16-bit code segment, but it is more difficult to set up. Since real mode interrupts do not automatically preserve the high sixteen bits of the extended instruction pointer (EIP), the code needs to either fit in the low portion of code segment or be able to preserve and restore the high bits of EIP in some way. In addition, if BIOS or DOS interrupt functions that use 16-bit code are to be called, mode switching is required to switch the "D" bit back and forth. Some emulators do not support emulation of programs running in this variant of unreal mode.


Maildrop

maildrop is a Mail delivery agent used by the Courier Mail Server. The maildrop Mail Delivery Agent (MDA) also includes filtering functionality.
maildrop receives mail via stdin and delivers in both Maildir and mbox formats.
Features.
maildrop can optionally read filtering configuration from a file to determine whether the message is delivered to an alternate mailbox or forwarded. The structured filtering language is robust enough to allow maildrop to work with virtual mailboxes. If the filtering configuration contains syntax errors maildrop does not deliver the message but the message is not lost.
maildrop can run in different modes, depending on the calling environment. "Delivery" mode is the "normal" mail filtering mode; that is, during final delivery, after the message left the SMTP environment. However, maildrop can also run in "embedded" mode; that is, during an SMTP transaction. Running in embedded mode allows a filter to reject a message before the server accepts it for local delivery. Finally, maildrop can run in "manual" mode, like any other interpreter.
maildrop is written in C++. However, it uses resources more efficiently than procmail (written in C) by saving large messages to a temporary file rather than reading them into memory. If the input to maildrop is a file then a temporary file is not used.


List of AMD K6 microprocessors

The AMD K6 microprocessor is the 2nd generation of x86-compatible 32-bit processors designed by AMD. The K6 core was derived from the NexGen Nx686 core being developed based on the RISC86 architecture.


GoForce

The Nvidia GoForce was a line of chipsets that was used mainly in handheld devices such as PDAs and mobile phones. It has been replaced by the Nvidia Tegra series of SoCs. Nvidia acquired graphics display processor firm MediaQ in 2003, and rebranded the division as GoForce.
Features.
GoForce 2100.
Featuring VGA image capture, 2D graphics acceleration, JPEG support, and MJPEG acceleration. Used in the Samsung SCH-M500 Palm OS based flip-phone.
GoForce 2150.
Featuring 1.3-megapixel camera support, JPEG support, and 2D graphics acceleration.
Supports 3-megapixel images with the upgrade.
GoForce 3000/GoForce 4000.
The GoForce 4000 supports 3.0-megapixel camera and MPEG-4/H.263 codec, whilst GoForce 3000 is a low-cost version of the GoForce 4000 with limited features.
GoForce 4500.
Features 3D graphics support with a geometry processor and programmable pixel shaders, used in the Gizmondo device.
GoForce 4800.
Supports 3.0-megapixel camera and a 3D graphics engine.
GoForce 5500.
The GoForce 5500 is a multimedia processor, incorporates Tensilica Xtensa HiFi 2 Audio Engine (based on the Xtensa LX processor licensed in 2005). It can decode video and audio formats, such as WMV, WMA, MP3, MP4, MPEG, JPEG and supports H.264. Also including a 24-bit 64-voice sound processor with supports up to 32 MB of external memory, 10-megapixel camera support, and 3D graphics engine version 2.
GoForce 5300.
Equipped with 2.25 MiB embedded DRAM (eDRAM) on TSMC's 65 nm process, being the first in the GoForce product line. Its multimedia technology is claimed to be similar to the 5500's, but it does not sport a 3D engine and only supports much smaller screens.
GoForce 6100.
The latest chipset in the series, the GoForce 6100, claiming the first applications processor by NVIDIA, adds 10-megapixel camera support and integrated 802.11b/g support (with external RF), based on a 130 nm process. It contains a 250 MHz ARM1176JZ-S core.


List of Intel Pentium M microprocessors

The Pentium M brand refers to single-core 32-bit mobile CPUs codenamed Banias and Dothan, and targeted at the consumer market of mobile computers.


Mbed

Mbed is a platform and operating system for internet-connected devices based on 32-bit ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers. Such devices are also known as Internet of Things devices. The project is collaboratively developed by Arm and its technology partners.
Software development.
Applications.
Applications for the Mbed platform can be developed using the Mbed online IDE, a free online code editor and compiler. Only a web browser needs to be installed on the local PC, since a project is compiled on the cloud, i.e. on a remote server, using the ARMCC C/C++ compiler. The Mbed IDE provides private workspaces with ability to import, export, and share code with distributed Mercurial version control, and it can be used also for code documentation generation. Applications can be developed also with other development environments such as Keil µVision, IAR Embedded Workbench, and Eclipse with GCC ARM Embedded tools.
Mbed OS.
Mbed OS provides the Mbed C/C++ software platform and tools for creating microcontroller firmware that runs on IoT devices. It consists of the core libraries that provide the microcontroller peripheral drivers, networking, RTOS and runtime environment, build tools and test and debug scripts. These connections can be secured by compatible SSL/TLS libraries such as Mbed TLS or wolfSSL, which supports mbed-rtos.
A components database provides driver libraries for components and services that can be connected to the microcontrollers to build a final product.
Mbed OS, the RTOS, is based on "Keil RTX5".
Hardware development.
Demo-boards.
There are various hardware demo-boards for the Mbed platform, with the first being the original Mbed Microcontroller board. The Mbed Microcontroller Board (marketed as the "mbed NXP LPC1768") is a demo-board based on an NXP microcontroller, which has an ARM Cortex M3 core, running at 96 MHz, with 512 KB flash, 64 KB RAM, as well as several interfaces including Ethernet, USB Device, CAN, SPI, I2C and other I/O. The Mbed microcontroller received first prize in the annual EDN Innovation Awards' Software/Embedded Tools category in 2010.
Various versions of the board were released, with NXP LPC2368 (ARM7TDMI-S), NXP LPC1768 (Cortex-M3), NXP LPC11U24 (Cortex-M0) microcontrollers.
HDK.
The Mbed hardware development kit (HDK) is designed for OEMs, and provides information to build custom hardware to support Mbed OS. This consists of interface firmware and schematics that can be used to easily create development boards, OEM modules and re-programmable products suitable for production.
Project development.
The project is developed by Arm in conjunction with other major technology companies and the Mbed developer community. Development and contributions happen at different levels:


Mini-ITX

Mini-ITX is a motherboard form-factor, developed by VIA Technologies in 2001. They are commonly used in small-configured computer systems. Originally, they were a niche product, designed for fan-less cooling with a low power consumption architecture, which made them useful for home theater PC systems, where fan noise can detract from the cinema experience. The four mounting holes in a Mini-ITX board line up with four of the holes in ATX-specification motherboards, and the locations of the backplate and expansion slot are the same (though one of the holes used was optional in earlier versions of the ATX spec). Mini-ITX boards can therefore often be used in cases designed for ATX, micro-ATX and other ATX variants if desired.
The design provides one expansion slot. Earlier motherboards conventionally have a standard 33 MHz 5V 32-bit PCI slot. Many older case designs use riser cards and some even have two-slot riser cards, although the two-slot riser cards are not compatible with all boards. Some boards based around non-x86 processors have a 3.3V PCI slot, and the Mini-ITX 2.0 (2008) boards have a PCI-Express ×16 slot; these boards are not compatible with the standard PCI riser cards supplied with older ITX (Information Technology eXtended) cases.
History.
In March 2001, the chipset manufacturer VIA Technologies released a reference design for an ITX motherboard, to promote the low power C3 processor they had bought from Centaur Technology, in combination with their chipsets. Designed by Robert Kuo, VIA's chief R&D expert, the 215×191 mm VT6009 ITX Reference Board was demonstrated in "Information PC" and set-top box configurations. He later designed the Mini-ITX specification. At that point, few manufacturers took up the ITX design, but Shuttle, Jetway, etc. produced many ITX based cube computers. Other manufactures instead produced smaller boards based on the very similar 229×191 mm FlexATX configuration.
In October 2001, VIA announced their decision to create a new motherboard division, to provide standardized infrastructure for lower-cost PC iterations, and focus on embedded devices. The result was the November 2001 release of the VT6010 Mini-ITX reference design, once again touted as an "Information PC", or low cost entry level x86 computing platform. Manufacturers were still reluctant, but customer response was much more receptive, so VIA decided to manufacture and sell the boards themselves. In April 2002 the first Mini-ITX motherboards—VIA's EPIA 5000 (fanless 533 MHz Eden processor) and EPIA 800 (800 MHz C3)—were sold to industrial customers.
Enthusiasts soon noticed the advantages of small size, low noise and power consumption, and started to push the boundaries of case modding into something else—building computers into nearly every object imaginable, and sometimes even creating new cases altogether. Hollowed out vintage computers, humidors, toys, electronics, musical instruments, and even a 1960s-era toaster have become homes to relatively quiet, or even silent Mini-ITX systems, capable of many of the tasks of a modern desktop PC.
Mini-ITX boards primarily appeal to the industrial and embedded PC markets, with the majority sold as bulk components or integrated into a finished system for single-purpose computing applications. They are produced with a much longer sales life-cycle than consumer boards (some of the original EPIAs are still available), a quality that industrial users typically require. Manufacturers can prototype using standard cases and power supplies, then build their own enclosures if volumes get high enough. Typical applications include playing music in supermarkets, powering self-service kiosks, and driving content on digital displays.
VIA continues to expand its Mini-ITX motherboard line. Some earlier generations included the original PL133 chipset boards (dubbed the "Classic" boards), CLE266 chipset boards (adding MPEG-2 acceleration), and CN400 boards (which added MPEG-4 acceleration). Second generation boards featured the EPIA M, MII, CL, PD, TC and MS — all tailored to slightly different markets. Legacy VIA boards use their x86-compatible CPUs — the C3, C7 or low-power Eden variants, with newer boards featuring the VIA Nano CPU, launched in May 2008. Other manufacturers have also produced boards designed around the same layout, using VIA, but also Intel, AMD, Transmeta and PowerPC technology.
Intel introduced a line of Mini-ITX boards for the Atom CPU, which demonstrates a significant increase in processing performance (but without added power consumption) over older VIA C3 and C7 offerings and helps make the design viable for personal computers. Other manufacturers saw the potential of the design, and followed suit, some even not limiting themselves to the Atom, as evidenced by Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX board that supports Core 2 Duo CPUs with FSB frequencies up to 1333 MHz, two separate-channeled 800 MHz memory slots and fully functional PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot that could connect through SLI to the onboard video. This new wave of offerings made Mini-ITX much more popular among home users, hobbyists, and even overclockers.
Intel is currently one of few Mini-ITX mainboard manufacturers that list mechanical dimensions in their manuals.
Intel-based products.
Onboard CPU.
A number of manufacturers have released Mini-ITX motherboards that feature embedded CPUs, often mobile or low-TDP versions. These processors are designed to draw minimal power resulting in lower TDP ideal for fanless (passively cooled) configurations and embedded applications.
Socketed CPU.
Starting from LGA 775, socketed Intel Mini-ITX motherboards have been released by Intel and Zotac. This was followed by LGA 1156 motherboards Starting from LGA 1155, Mini-ITX motherboards have started to become mainstream, with many different manufacturers releasing products. This is partly because almost all Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge Intel Celeron, Pentium and Core series CPUs have integrated processor graphics, eliminating the need for motherboard graphics or discrete graphics cards. This trend continues with LGA 1150, LGA 1151, and LGA 1200 CPUs.
Due to the limitations of the Mini-ITX design, and the physical size of the LGA 2011 socket, Mini-ITX motherboards with the socket only support a single PCI Express expansion slot, and they require using the narrow-ILM version of the LGA 2011 socket. Despite this, manufacturers have released LGA 2011 based Mini-ITX motherboards.
Also, Mini-ITX motherboards with the LGA 2066 socket have been released, with four SODIMM slots.
AMD-based products.
A number of manufacturers have released several socketed AMD Mini-ITX motherboards, supporting Socket AM2, Socket AM2+, Socket AM3, Socket FM1, Socket FM2, Socket FM2+, Socket AM1 and Socket AM4 CPUs. Socket AM2+ and AM3 ITX motherboards have integrated motherboard graphics, while discrete graphics or processor integrated graphics are required for other platforms.
Mini-ITX motherboards with integrated AMD CPUs are also released. These motherboards often use mobile CPUs and passive cooling, and feature more powerful integrated graphics compared to their Intel counterparts, which makes them suitable for HTPC.
Transmeta-based products.
IBASE made the first Transmeta-based Mini-ITX motherboard, the MB860. The board uses Transmeta Efficeon processors that run at up to 1.2 GHz. It supports SODIMM DDR modules with capacities up to 1 GB. An onboard 16 MB ATI M7 graphics controller supports 3D games and graphical intensive programs. It provides four USB 2.0 ports, a Realtek 8100C 10/100Mbit/s BaseT Ethernet and an optional 8110S Gigabit Ethernet controller.
PowerPC-based products.
The first PowerPC motherboards were produced by Eyetech in 2005 but they stopped any activity in 2005. In 2007 ACube Systems produced a new board, the Sam440ep, primarily for the AmigaOS market.
ARM-based products.
Cadia Networks developed a Mini ITX ARM board, which comes with an ARM Cortex-A8 Freescale i.MX53 series CPU. According to the official website, the board "offers an ultra-low power SoC with a variety of I/O and OS support for Android / Linux2.6 / Windows Embedded Compact 7".
Kontron also developed a mini ITX ARM board. According to the website, it features an "ARM Cortex-A9 Quad Core 900MHz Processor with NEON Technology", an Nvidia graphics processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a targeted power consumption of < 7W for the entire board.
AppliedMicro offers the XC-1 Server Development Platform motherboard, which uses the X-Gene ARMv8 system on a chip with 8 2.4 GHz CPU cores, supports 128 GB DDR3 DRAM using 16 GB DIMMs, and has a baseboard management controller.
Power.
The Mini-ITX standard does not define a standard for the computer power supply, though it suggests possible options. Conventionally Mini-ITX boards use a 20- or 24-pin "original ATX" power connector. This is usually connected to a DC-DC converter board, which connects to an external power adapter. Generally, vendors provide both power adapter and DC-DC board with the case.
Some boards have built in DC-DC converters and converters have also been made to plug directly into the ATX connector (e.g. the PicoPSU), either of these options avoids the need to mount a separate DC-DC converter into the case, saving space and design effort. Boards using full-power Intel or AMD CPUs typically use ATX12V 2.x connections and require a case with appropriate power supply and cooling for these more power-hungry chips. Defined by the ATX specification, power supplies with ATX12V connector on a separate 12 volts rail must not idle that 12 volts rail.


Marc Rochkind

Marc J. Rochkind invented the Source Code Control System while working at Bell Labs, as well as wrote Advanced UNIX Programming, and founded XVT Software, Inc.


NTIO.SYS


Lunar Linux

Lunar Linux is an operating system maintained around a source-based package management system also called "Lunar". The project is a descendant of the Sorcerer Linux distribution.
The installation disk installs a complete bootstrap development system first. After the user tells the Lunar package manager which packages will be required, it automatically builds the software by downloading current source code and locally compiling an optimized package. In this way Lunar can be seen as a Linux From Scratch framework. Also noteworthy is that all of Lunar's tools, including the package manager, are entirely written in Bash shell script.
Currently, Lunar supports the i686 and x86-64 architecture, but has been implemented by users on SPARC. No install support is planned for non-x86 architectures at the moment.
Lunar began as a fork of Sorcerer because of concern over the uncertain future of the distribution. Kyle Sallee, the sole maintainer and lead developer of Sorcerer, decided to re-license all the Sorcerer code into his own custom, non-forking license called the "Sorcerer Public License", as a way to stop people from "stealing" his work after Lunar forked. This move caused the rest of the Sorcerer development team to splinter off and form what is essentially a direct continuation of the last version of Sorcerer licensed under the GNU General Public License, called Source Mage. Comparatively, Lunar focuses more on ease of use, while Source Mage focuses on advanced system administration.
The project was originally led by Chuck Mead, an Xfce developer, operating both projects under the Foo-Projects banner. The project lead was eventually handed off to Auke Kok, a long time contributor and developer.
The name Lunar comes from Chuck Mead's now defunct consulting firm, MoonGroup. Lunar's naming scheme was originally used for a shortly abandoned fork of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that Mead created while working at Red Hat.
The German ISP, IP Minds, is notable for having used Lunar Linux within their infrastructure.
Since version 1.6.4 (Lacus Autumni) Lunar releases have been named after lunar maria.
Releases.
1.0 Dirty Bird
1.1.1 Nano
1.2 Pico
1.3 mouse X
1.3.2 Captain Raymo
1.3.3 Pvt. Variables
1.4.0 General P. Fault
1.5.0 Indium Phosphide
1.5.1 Gallium Arsenide
1.6.0 Indium Antimonide
1.6.1 Moose Drool
1.6.4 Lacus Autumni
1.6.5 Mare Ingenii
1.7.0 Sinus Successus
Released as daily builds
1.8.0 Mare Incognitum


RDMA over Converged Ethernet

RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) is a network protocol that allows remote direct memory access (RDMA) over an Ethernet network. It does this by encapsulating an IB transport packet over Ethernet. There are two RoCE versions, RoCE v1 and RoCE v2. RoCE v1 is an Ethernet link layer protocol and hence allows communication between any two hosts in the same Ethernet broadcast domain. RoCE v2 is an internet layer protocol which means that RoCE v2 packets can be routed. Although the RoCE protocol benefits from the characteristics of a converged Ethernet network, the protocol can also be used on a traditional or non-converged Ethernet network.
Background.
Network-intensive applications like networked storage or cluster computing need a network infrastructure with a high bandwidth and low latency. The advantages of RDMA over other network application programming interfaces such as Berkeley sockets are lower latency, lower CPU load and higher bandwidth. The RoCE protocol allows lower latencies than its predecessor, the iWARP protocol. There exist RoCE HCAs (Host Channel Adapter) with a latency as low as 1.3 microseconds while the lowest known iWARP HCA latency in 2011 was 3 microseconds.
RoCE v1.
The RoCE v1 protocol is an Ethernet link layer protocol with Ethertype 0x8915. This means that the frame length limits of the Ethernet protocol apply: 1500 bytes for a regular Ethernet frame and 9000 bytes for a jumbo frame.
RoCE v1.5.
The RoCE v1.5 is an uncommon, experimental, non-standardized protocol that is based on the IP protocol. RoCE v1.5 uses the IP protocol field to differentiate its traffic from other IP protocols such as TCP and UDP. The value used for the protocol number is unspecified and is left to the deployment to select.
RoCE v2.
The RoCE v2 protocol exists on top of either the UDP/IPv4 or the UDP/IPv6 protocol. The UDP destination port number 4791 has been reserved for RoCE v2. Since RoCEv2 packets are routable the RoCE v2 protocol is sometimes called Routable RoCE or RRoCE. Although in general the delivery order of UDP packets is not guaranteed, the RoCEv2 specification requires that packets with the same UDP source port and the same destination address must not be reordered. In addition, RoCEv2 defines a congestion control mechanism that uses the IP ECN bits for marking and CNP frames for the acknowledgment notification. Software support for RoCE v2 is still emerging. Mellanox OFED 2.3 or later has RoCE v2 support and also Linux Kernel v4.5.
RoCE versus InfiniBand.
RoCE defines how to perform RDMA over Ethernet while the InfiniBand architecture specification defines how to perform RDMA over an InfiniBand network. RoCE was expected to bring InfiniBand applications, which are predominantly based on clusters, onto a common Ethernet converged fabric. Others expected that InfiniBand will keep offering a higher bandwidth and lower latency than what is possible over Ethernet.
The technical differences between the RoCE and InfiniBand protocols are:
RoCE versus iWARP.
While the RoCE protocols define how to perform RDMA using Ethernet and UDP/IP frames, the iWARP protocol defines how to perform RDMA over a connection-oriented transport like the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). RoCE v1 is limited to a single Ethernet broadcast domain. RoCE v2 and iWARP packets are routable. The memory requirements of a large number of connections along with TCP's flow and reliability controls lead to scalability and performance issues when using iWARP in large-scale datacenters and for large-scale applications (i.e. large-scale enterprises, cloud computing, web 2.0 applications etc.). Also, multicast is defined in the RoCE specification while the current iWARP specification does not define how to perform multicast RDMA.
Reliability in iWARP is given by the protocol itself, as TCP is reliable. RoCEv2 on the other hand utilizes UDP which has a far smaller overhead and better performance but does not provide inherent reliability, and therefore reliability must be implemented alongside RoCEv2. One solution is to use converged Ethernet switches to make the local area network reliable. This require converged Ethernet support on all the switches in the local area network and prevents RoCEv2 packets from traveling through a wide area network such as the internet which is not reliable. Another solution is to add reliability to the RoCE protocol (i.e. reliable RoCE) which adds handshaking to RoCE to provide reliability at the cost of performance.
The question of which protocol is better depends on the vendor. Chelsio recommends and exclusively support iWARP. Mellanox, Xilinx, and Broadcom recommend and exclusively support RoCE/RoCEv2. Intel initially supported iWARP but now supports both iWARP and RoCEv2. Other vendors involved in the network industry provide support for both protocols such as Marvell, Microsoft, Linux and Kazan. Cisco supports both RoCE and their own VIC RDMA protocol.
Both Protocols are standardized with iWARP being the standard for RDMA over TCP defined by the IETF and RoCE being the standard for RDMA over Ethernet defined by the IBTA.
Criticism.
Some aspects that could have been defined in the RoCE specification have been left out. These are:
In addition, any protocol running over IP cannot assume the underlying network has guaranteed ordering, any more than it can assume congestion cannot occur.
It is known that the use of PFC can lead to a network-wide deadlock.
Vendors.
Popular vendors of RoCE enabled equipment include:


Dune II

Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (titled Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe and Dune: The Battle for Arrakis for the North American Mega Drive/Genesis port respectively) is a real-time strategy "Dune" video game developed by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Games in December 1992. It is based upon David Lynch's 1984 movie "Dune", an adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel of the same name.
While not the first real-time strategy (RTS) video game, "Dune II" established the format that would be followed for years to come. As such, "Dune II" is the archetypal "real-time strategy" game. Striking a balance between complexity and innovation, it was a huge success and laid the foundation for "Command & Conquer", "Warcraft", and many other RTS games that followed.
Plot.
Emperor Frederick IV of House Corrino is desperate for the harvesting of the valuable drug melange (also known as "the spice"), found only on the planet Arrakis, to pay off all of his debt incurred on internecine wars with family members. To achieve this, he now offers the sole governorship of Arrakis to whichever of the three Houses (Atreides, Harkonnen, and the non-canon Ordos) delivers the most spice for him. War begins as deputations from all three Houses arrive on Arrakis.
The player is a military commander from a House of their choice. In the first few missions, the objectives are to establish successfully a base on an unoccupied territory of Arrakis, to harvest spice, and to defeat intruders. Later, when the three Houses divide Arrakis among them, the player has to assault and capture enemy territories. When the player dominates Arrakis on the world map, the two other enemy factions ally against their common enemy. The final showdown is the battle between the player's House against three enemy sides, among them Frederick's forces the Sardaukar (an unplayable elite force whose heavy infantry are particularly powerful). The introductory, mission briefing and endgame cutscenes are different for each House, in keeping with their very disparate world views. The weaponry and units also vary from house to house.
Gameplay.
The player takes the role of the commander of one of the three interplanetary houses, the Atreides, the Harkonnen or the Ordos, with the objective of wresting control of Arrakis from the other two houses. House Ordos is not featured in the Dune novels and is mentioned only in the non-canon "Dune Encyclopedia". The basic strategy in the game is to harvest spice from the treacherous sand dunes using a harvester vehicle, convert the spice into credits via a refinery, and to build military units with these acquired credits in order to fend off and destroy the enemy.
The game map initially starts with a fog of war covering all area which is not covered by the player's units range of view. As the units explore the map, the darkness is removed. Unlike later games such as "", the fog of war is lifted forever with initial exploration; it does not become dark once more when units leave the area.
In addition to enemy incursions, there are other dangers such as the marauding, gigantic sandworm, capable of swallowing vehicles and infantry whole but blocked by rocky terrain. The player can only build on rocky terrain and must build concrete foundations to avoid deterioration of the structures due to the harsh weather conditions. Structures will still gradually decay over time regardless of the presence of those concrete slabs. Although the concrete saves repair costs in the long run. Spice fields are indicated by orange coloration on the sand, darker orange indicating high concentration. Some spice may be concealed as bumps on the terrain (a "spice bloom") that become spice fields when they are shot at, or when a unit runs over them (the unit is destroyed in the ensuing "spice blow").
A map of the planet "Arrakis is" shown before most missions, where they can choose the next territory to play in among two or three. This affects primarily the enemy house fought in the next mission, as all missions except the first two require the destruction of the enemy. Nine territories must be fought, irrespective of house, to reach the endgame.
Some key elements that first appeared in "Dune II" and later appear in many other RTS games include:
Completing higher missions gives authorization to use improved technology and higher-order weaponry unique to each House, ensuring varied game play. For example, House Harkonnen may be able to construct their "Devastator" tanks with heavy armor and ordnance but cannot build the similarly impressive Atreides "Sonic Tank". The Ordos have access to the "Deviator" - a specialized tank firing a nerve gas that switches the allegiance of targeted units to Ordos for a limited period of time. The three Houses also are restricted in their production capabilities—House Ordos cannot build Atreides-style trikes, instead making the faster "Raider" trikes, while House Harkonnen constructs heavier but more expensive quad bikes.
A player can gain access to other Houses' special units by capturing an enemy Factory and manufacturing the desired units at the captured Factory (House Atreides' Heavy Vehicle Factory for "Sonic Tank", House Ordos' Light Vehicle Factory for "Raider" trikes, House Ordos' Heavy Vehicle Factory for "Deviator" tanks, or House Harkonnen's Heavy Vehicle Factory for "Devastator" tanks). Note that a "Deviator" not owned by House Ordos still switches control of targeted units to House Ordos, and not to the side that owns the "Deviator". Apparently Westwood was aware of this feature, since capturing a Sardaukar Heavy Vehicle Factory allows the player to build both the "Sonic Tank" and Devastator, but not the Ordos "Deviator".
Buildings may only be built in rocky zones and connected to another existing building. To protect them from constant wear, the player must first place concrete slabs in the construction areas. Production buildings can be upgraded at a cost several times, allowing the production of more advanced units or buildings.
The final prize for the commander is the building of the House Palace from where superweapons may be unleashed on opponents in the final closing chapters of the game. The House Harkonnen superweapon is a long-range powerful but inaccurate finger of missiles called the "Death Hand", whereas House Atreides may call upon the local "Fremen" infantry warriors, over which the player has no control, to engage enemy targets. House Ordos may unleash a fast-moving "Saboteur" whose main purpose is the destruction of buildings.
The AI of "Dune II" was one of the first used in RTS games, and while better than that of "Herzog Zwei", it has various drawbacks. Examples include only attacking the side of the player's base facing its own, general inability to perform flanking maneuvers, and not rebuilding defenses. Recent research into the game's engine by fans revealed that the AI is in fact capable of more advanced strategy, but that a large part of these capabilities is unused due to consistently repeated errors in all of the game's mission scripts.
Development.
According to Virgin Interactive vice president Stephen Clarke-Willson in 1998, the development of "Dune II" began when Virgin Interactive planned to cancel the production of Cryo Interactive's adventure game "Dune", after which he was given the task of figuring out what to do with the "Dune" license. After reading the original "Dune" novel, he decided that "from a gaming point-of-view the real stress was the battle to control the spice", so a resource-based strategy video game would be a good idea. It was around this time that employee Graeme Devine (who later founded Trilobyte) introduced to everyone at the Virgin office a real-time strategy game on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive console called "Herzog Zwei" (1989). Clarke-Willson described it as a game where the player "kept clicking on stuff and then zooming off to another part of the screen. It was very hard to keep track of what was going on as an observer. Still, everyone liked it, it had fast action, and it was a strategy game". Virgin staff, including Clarke-Willson and Seth Mendelsohn (who later worked on the "Ultima" series), then went to Westwood Studios to talk about making a "Dune" game. According to Clarke-Willson, "Westwood agreed to make a resource strategy game based on "Dune", and agreed to look at "Herzog Zwei" for design ideas". It later turned out that Cryo's game of the same name was not cancelled, and Westwood's real-time strategy game was called "Dune II" as a result.
Westwood Studios co-founder and "Dune II" producer Brett Sperry said in 2008 that conceptualization for the game began when Virgin president Martin Alper approached him with the offer of using their "Dune" license to produce a game, with the understanding that Cryo's "Dune" had been cancelled. In terms of video game design, Sperry said: "The inspiration for "Dune II" was partly from "Populous", partly from my work on "Eye Of The Beholder" and the final and perhaps most crucial part came from an argument I once had with Chuck Kroegel, then vice president of Strategic Simulations Inc ... The crux of my argument with Chuck was that wargames sucked because of a lack of innovation and poor design. Chuck felt the category was in a long, slow decline, because the players were moving to more exciting genres ... I felt that the genre had a lot of potential – the surface was barely scratched as far as I as [sic] concerned, especially from a design standpoint. So I took it as a personal challenge and figured how to harness realtime dynamics with great game controls into a fast-paced wargame". He also stated that, while ""Herzog Zwei" was a lot of fun", the "other inspiration for "Dune II" was the Mac software interface", referring to the "design/interface dynamics of mouse clicking and selecting desktop items" which got him thinking: "Why not allow the same inside the game environment? Why not a context-sensitive playfield? To hell with all these hot keys, to hell with keyboard as the primary means of manipulating the game!" During production, he found out that Cryo rushed to finish their game first, leading to Virgin publishing their game as "Dune" and Westwood's game as "Dune II", despite Sperry protesting against this decision.
Louis Castle said in 1998 that the game's influence on the real-time strategy genre was unplanned, and that the team's goal was simply "to include all of the excitement and intensity of a war game, but with action-packed gameplay".
Other influences cited by Joseph Bostic (also known as Joe Bostic), the co-designer and lead programmer, and Mike Legg, one of the game's programmers, include the turn-based strategy games "Military Madness" (1989) and "Civilization" (1991), along with "Herzog Zwei". According to Bostic, a "benefit over "Herzog Zwei" is that we had the advantage of a mouse and keyboard. This greatly facilitated precise player control, which enabled the player to give orders to individual units. The mouse, and the direct control it allowed, was critical in making the RTS genre possible".
Release.
Originally released for DOS in 1992, "Dune II" was one of the first PC games to support the recently introduced General MIDI standard. The game audio was programmed with the middleware Miles audio library which handled the dynamic conversion of the game's MIDI musical score, originally composed on the Roland MT-32, to the selected soundcard. At initial release, the game's setup utility lacked the means to support separate output devices for the musical score and speech/sound-effects. This limitation was frustrating to owners of high-quality MIDI synthesisers (such as the Roland Sound Canvas), because users could not play the game with both digital sound effects (which MIDI synthesisers lacked) and high-quality MIDI score. Westwood later published a revised setup utility to enable users select a different soundcard for each type of game audio: digital speech, music, and sound effects.
In 1993, it was ported to Amiga and Mega Drive/Genesis. The Amiga floppy disk port is nearly identical in interface and game play to the PC version, albeit with less detailed graphics and frequent disk swapping (the game came on five disks). Save games are stored on a specially formatted disk and the game could also be installed to hard drive. In the Amiga version the player is limited to 32 units, but patches exist to allow the DOS version to have 255 units created and managed.
Two years later it was also brought to the Archimedes and Risc PC range of RISC OS computers.
The Mega Drive/Genesis port has fairly different building and unit graphics, a full-screen menu-less user interface suited for gamepad control, and no save game support, relying on access codes for accessing each level. Other additions include a music test option and a tutorial that replaces the "mentat" screen. Several ideas from this version, including the music track listing and the replacement of sidebar command buttons by a context-sensitive cursor, were used in Westwood's next strategy game, "Command & Conquer".
The game was ported to Android in 2013; also a fan-made port for Pandora became available based on the reverse engineered game engine.
Reception.
According to Westwood Studios, "Dune II" was a commercial success, with global sales in excess of 250,000 units by November 1996.
"Computer Gaming World" in 1993 stated that the PC version of "Dune II" "easily outshines its predecessor in terms of game play ... a real gem", with "arguably the most outstanding sound and graphics ever to appear in a strategy game of its kind". A February 1994 survey of space war games gave it a grade of B+, stating that without online play, there was little replayability once each House conquered the planet, but a May 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game five stars out of five, describing it as "a wargame "par excellance"; superb graphics and sound make an enjoyable gaming experience". The magazine hoped that "Command & Conquer" would be its sequel. "Electronic Games" gave the game a 92% score.
When the Amiga version of "Dune II" was released in 1993, it was met with positive reviews. "CU Amiga" magazine rated the game highly with 85%, praising the smooth gameplay and controls. "Dune II" received "Amiga User International" Game of the Month award when it was reviewed in September 1993.
"GamePro" dubbed the Genesis version "one of the best war strategy carts for the Genesis", praising the controls, digitized speech, music, and fun gameplay. "Electronic Gaming Monthly" scored the Genesis version an 8 out of 10, commenting that the gameplay is not only addictive, but easy to learn, which they stated is highly unusual for a strategy game.
In 1993 "Computer Gaming World" named "Dune II" Strategy Game of the Year. The game was ranked the 11th best game of all time by "Amiga Power" in 1996. In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" declared "Dune 2" the 70th-best computer game ever released. In 2004, this "legendary" game entered the GameSpy Hall of Fame. In Poland, it was included in the retrospective lists of the best Amiga games by Wirtualna Polska (ranked eight) and "CHIP" (ranked fourth). In 2012, "Time" named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time. In 1994, "PC Gamer US" named "Dune II" the 49th best computer game ever. That same year, "PC Gamer UK" named it the 21st best computer game of all time, calling it "a wargame for those who don't like wargames".
Legacy.
"Dune II" was one of the most influential games in the real-time strategy genre, particularly in Westwood's own "Command & Conquer" series. Though not every feature was unique, its specific combination of a fog of war, mouse-based military micromanagement, and an economic model of resource-gathering and base-building became the hallmark of the RTS genre. It served as the template for subsequent real-time strategy games. Chris Taylor has stated that "Dune II" and "Command & Conquer" were great inspirations, driving him to leave Electronic Arts to create "Total Annihilation".
"Dune II" also led to direct sequels: Westwood released a semi-remake for Windows in 1998 as "Dune 2000", along with a PlayStation port in the same year. Westwood subsequently released "" in 2001. There are also fan-made game engine recreations, like Dune Legacy, which aims for improved usability and controls while not changing the game-play.


GeForce 2 series

The GeForce 2 series (NV15) is the second generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units (GPUs). Introduced in 2000, it is the successor to the GeForce 256.
The GeForce 2 family comprised a number of models: "GeForce 2 GTS", "GeForce 2 Pro", "GeForce 2 Ultra", "GeForce 2 Ti", "GeForce 2 Go" and the "GeForce 2 MX" series. In addition, the GeForce 2 architecture is used for the Quadro series on the Quadro 2 Pro, 2 MXR, and 2 EX cards with special drivers meant to accelerate computer-aided design applications.
Architecture.
The GeForce 2 architecture is similar to the previous GeForce 256 line but with various improvements. Compared to the 220 nm GeForce 256, GeForce 2 is built on a 180 nm manufacturing process, making the silicon more dense and allowing for more transistors and a higher clock speed. The most significant change for 3D acceleration is the addition of a second texture mapping unit to each of the four pixel pipelines. Some say the second TMU was there in the original Geforce NSR (NVIDIA Shading Rasterizer) but dual-texturing was disabled due to a hardware bug; NSR's unique ability to do single-cycle trilinear texture filtering supports this suggestion. This doubles the texture fillrate per clock compared to the previous generation and is the reasoning behind the GeForce 2 GTS's naming suffix: GigaTexel Shader (GTS). The GeForce 2 also formally introduces the NSR (Nvidia Shading Rasterizer), a primitive type of programmable pixel pipeline that is somewhat similar to later pixel shaders. This functionality is also present in GeForce 256 but was unpublicized. Another hardware enhancement is an upgraded video processing pipeline, called "HDVP" (high definition video processor). HDVP supports motion video playback at HDTV-resolutions (MP@HL).
In 3D benchmarks and gaming applications, the GeForce 2 GTS outperforms its predecessor by up to 40%. In OpenGL games (such as Quake III), the card outperforms the ATI Radeon DDR and 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 cards in both 16 bpp and 32 bpp display modes. However, in Direct3D games running 32 bpp, the Radeon DDR is sometimes able to take the lead.
The GeForce 2 architecture is quite memory bandwidth constrained. The GPU wastes memory bandwidth and pixel fillrate due to unoptimized z-buffer usage, drawing of hidden surfaces, and a relatively inefficient RAM controller. The main competition for GeForce 2, the ATI Radeon DDR, has hardware functions (called HyperZ) that address these issues. Because of the inefficient nature of the GeForce 2 GPUs, they could not approach their theoretical performance potential and the Radeon, even with its significantly less powerful 3D architecture, offered strong competition. The later NV17 revision of the NV11 design, used for the GeForce 4 MX, was more efficient.
Releases.
The first models to arrive after the original GeForce 2 GTS was the "GeForce 2 Ultra" and "GeForce2 MX", launched on September 7, 2000. On September 29, 2000 Nvidia started shipping graphics cards which had 16 and 32 MB of video memory size.
Architecturally identical to the GTS, the Ultra simply has higher core and memory clock rates. The Ultra model actually outperforms the first GeForce 3 products in some cases, due to initial GeForce 3 cards having significantly lower fillrate. However, the Ultra loses its lead when anti-aliasing is enabled, because of the GeForce 3's new memory bandwidth/fillrate efficiency mechanisms; plus the GeForce 3 has a superior next-generation feature set with programmable vertex and pixel shaders for DirectX 8.0 games.
The "GeForce 2 Pro", introduced shortly after the Ultra, was an alternative to the expensive top-line Ultra and is faster than the GTS.
In October 2001, the "GeForce 2 Ti" was positioned as a cheaper and less advanced alternative to the GeForce 3. Faster than the GTS and Pro but slower than the Ultra, the GeForce 2 Ti performed competitively against the Radeon 7500, although the 7500 had the advantage of dual-display support. This mid-range GeForce 2 release was replaced by the GeForce 4 MX series as the budget/performance choice in January 2002.
On their 2001 product web page, Nvidia initially placed the Ultra as a separate offering from the rest of the GeForce 2 lineup (GTS, Pro, Ti), however by late 2002 with the GeForce 2 considered a discontinued product line, the Ultra was included along the GTS, Pro, and Ti in the GeForce 2 information page.
GeForce 2 MX.
Since the previous GeForce 256 line shipped without a budget variant, the RIVA TNT2 series was left to fill the "low-end" role—albeit with a comparably obsolete feature set. In order to create a better low-end option, NVIDIA created the GeForce 2 MX series, which offered a set of standard features, specific to the entire GeForce 2 generation, limited only by categorical tier. The GeForce 2 MX cards had two 3D pixel pipelines removed and a reduced available memory bandwidth. The cards utilized either SDR SDRAM or DDR SDRAM with memory bus widths ranging from 32-bit to 128-bits, allowing circuit board cost to be varied. The MX series also provided dual-display support, something not found in the regular GeForce 256 and GeForce 2.
The prime competitors to the GeForce 2 MX series were ATI's Radeon VE / 7000 and Radeon SDR (which with the other R100's was later renamed as part of the 7200 series). The Radeon VE had the advantage of somewhat better dual-monitor display software, but it did not offer hardware T&L, an emerging 3D rendering feature of the day that was the major attraction of Direct3D 7. Further, the Radeon VE featured only a single rendering pipeline, causing it to produce a substantially lower fillrate than the GeForce 2 MX. The Radeon SDR, equipped with SDR SDRAM instead of DDR SDRAM found in more expensive brethren, was released some time later, and exhibited faster 32-bit 3D rendering than the GeForce 2 MX. However, the Radeon SDR lacked multi-monitor support and debuted at a considerable higher price point than the GeForce 2 MX. 3dfx's Voodoo4 4500 arrived too late, as well as being too expensive, but too slow to compete with the GeForce 2 MX.
Members of the series include "GeForce 2 MX", "MX400", "MX200", and "MX100". The GPU was also used as an integrated graphics processor in the nForce chipset line and as a mobile graphics chip for notebooks called "GeForce 2 Go".
Successor.
The successor to the GeForce 2 (non-MX) line is the GeForce 3. The non-MX GeForce 2 line was reduced in price and saw the addition of the GeForce 2 Ti, in order to offer a mid-range alternative to the high-end GeForce 3 product.
Later, the entire GeForce 2 line was replaced with the GeForce 4 MX.
Support.
Nvidia has ceased driver support for GeForce 2 series, ending with GTS, Pro, Ti and Ultra models in 2005 and then with MX models in 2007.
GeForce 2 GTS, GeForce 2 Pro, GeForce 2 Ti and GeForce 2 Ultra:
GeForce 2 MX & MX x00 Series:
Windows 95/98/Me Driver Archive
Windows XP/2000 Driver Archive


SPARC64 XIfx


SSE3

SSE3, Streaming SIMD Extensions 3, also known by its Intel code name Prescott New Instructions (PNI), is the third iteration of the SSE instruction set for the IA-32 (x86) architecture. Intel introduced SSE3 in early 2004 with the Prescott revision of their Pentium 4 CPU. In April 2005, AMD introduced a subset of SSE3 in revision E (Venice and San Diego) of their Athlon 64 CPUs. The earlier SIMD instruction sets on the x86 platform, from oldest to newest, are MMX, 3DNow! (developed by AMD, but not supported by Intel processors), SSE, and SSE2.
SSE3 contains 13 new instructions over SSE2.
Changes.
The most notable change is the capability to work horizontally in a register, as opposed to the more or less strictly vertical operation of all previous SSE instructions. More specifically, instructions to add and subtract the multiple values stored within a single register have been added. These instructions can be used to speed up the implementation of a number of DSP and 3D operations. There is also a new instruction to convert floating point values to integers without having to change the global rounding mode, thus avoiding costly pipeline stalls. Finally, the extension adds LDDQU, an alternative misaligned integer vector load that has better performance on NetBurst based platforms for loads that cross cacheline boundaries.
New instructions.
Common instructions.
Arithmetic
AOS ( Array Of Structures )


PlayStation Analog Joystick

The PlayStation Analog Joystick (SCPH-1110) is Sony's first analog controller for the PlayStation, and is the precursor to the PlayStation Dual Analog Controller. It is often incorrectly referred to as the "Sony Flightstick" (not to be confused with the "Flightstick" line of joysticks for PlayStation consoles by third-party peripheral manufacturer Hori).
History.
Announced to the public in August 1995, the Analog Joystick was released to the public in Japan in early April 1996.
Features.
The Analog Joystick used potentiometer technology previously used on consoles such as the Vectrex; instead of relying on binary eight-way switches, the controller can detect minute angular changes through the entire range of motion. The stick also features a thumb-operated digital hat switch on the right joystick, corresponding to the traditional D-pad, and used for instances when simple digital movements were necessary.
A compatibility mode for the Analog Joystick was included in the Dual Analog Controller, Sony's first analog revision of its original gamepad design.
PS1 games that support the PS1 Analog Joystick have an "Analog Joystick Compatible" icon on the back cover.
The Analog Joystick has a switch to select either Analog or Digital mode. When in the Digital mode, both sticks function as the gamepad on a regular PS1 controller. Older PS1 games that do not support the PS1 DualShock sticks can work with the Analog Joystick.
List of games with Analog Joystick support.
PlayStation
PlayStation 2
There are other PS2 games that also can use the PS1 Analog Joystick, but only in Digital Mode. "Metal Slug Anthology", "Gradius III", "Gradius IV" and other games that normally use just the Gamepad and Buttons for controls.
Reception.
"GamePro"s The Rat Baron praised the controller for its comfort, tight control, button layout, and analog movement, though he expressed doubt that most players would go for it given the high price tag.
The PlayStation Analog Joystick did not sell well in Japan, reportedly due to its high cost and bulky size.
Other.
The Analog Joystick can be connected to the PC via a USB adapter and also via a DirectPad Pro style parallel port interface which can be accessed under Windows using the DirectPad or other drivers. The Allegro library provides the same functionality for developers.


ICL Concurrent Machine Environment