PC-9800 series

The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more than 18 million units were sold.
History.
Background.
NEC developed mainframes since the 1950s. By 1976, the company had the 4th highest mainframe sales (10.4%) in Japan after IBM (29.6%), Fujitsu (20.1%) and Hitachi (15.8%). NEC did not have a presence in the consumer market, and its subsidiary, New Nippon Electric (later NEC Home Electronics), had limited success with consumer products. NEC's Information Processing Group, which developed mainframes and minicomputers, had not developed a personal computer because they assumed microprocessors were not suitable for computing as they suffered from a lack of performance and reliability. However, the Electronic Device Sales Division developed the microprocessor evaluation kit TK-80, which became unexpectedly popular among hobbyists. , a developer of the TK-80, observed the rise in popularity of personal computers at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. Goto and his section manager, , decided to develop a personal computer despite criticism from the Information Processing Group. The division only had a small distribution network of electronic parts stores, so they asked New Nippon Electric to sell the personal computers through their consumer distribution network.
The Electronic Device Sales Division launched the PC-8001 in 1979, and it dominated 40% of the Japanese personal computer market in 1981. The vice president of NEC, , stated:
In April 1981, NEC decided to expand their personal computer lines into three groups: New Nippon Electric, the Information Processing Group, and the Electronic Devices Group, with each specializing in a particular series. New Nippon Electric made 8-bit home computers (PC-6000 series), while the Information Processing Group made 16-bit business personal computers and the Electronic Devices Group made other personal computers such as the PC-8000, the PC-8800 and the PC-100 series.
Development.
In the Information Processing Small Systems Division, directed the project and did the product planning. The development team initially planned for the new personal computer to be a small version of the business computer line which originated from the 1973 NEAC System 100. Kazuya Watanabe stated that the personal computer must have Microsoft BASIC, considered compatibility of peripheral devices with previous NEC PCs, and disclosed specifications of its expansion slot. In September 1981, Hamada requested ASCII's Kazuhiko Nishi to rewrite N88-BASIC to run on the Intel 8086 processor, and Nishi replied, saying that he wanted to talk with Bill Gates. Three months later, Nishi rejected Hamada's request because Microsoft was busy with the development of GW-BASIC, and they did not want to produce more variants of Microsoft BASIC. Nishi told him, "Microsoft is rewriting a BASIC that has the same function with more structured internal code, and it will be sold as the definitive 16-bit version named GW-BASIC. We'll provide a BASIC sooner if you choose the Japanese adoption of GW BASIC.". Hamada replied, "As I said, we want a BASIC that is compatible with the previous ones". They could not make an agreement.
Hamada could not decide which plan they should develop, a small business computer or a personal computer, because the possibilities of Watanabe's plan was uncertain. While they were visiting software companies to collect and research applications for the PC-8001 and PC-8801, Hamada and Watanabe discovered that the consumer market wanted a 16-bit machine compatible with both PCs. Hamada decided to adopt two plans for different markets. In April 1982, the small business personal computer became the NEC System 20 model 15, which used a proprietary 16-bit microprocessor. The machine was introduced as a new model of traditional business computers, so it was not notable.
In February 1982, the software development team started reverse engineering N88-BASIC and designing N88-BASIC(86). After the team finished in March 1982, they started development on the PC-9801 (named "N-10 Project"). A PC-9801 prototype was completed at the end of July 1982. The code of N88-BASIC (86) was written completely from scratch, but Nishi pointed out that the bytecode matched Microsoft's. It was unclear if the copyright law could apply to the bytecode. Nishi suggested to Hamada that NEC must have purchased the same amount of Microsoft's product as it corresponded to the license fee, and N88-BASIC(86) must show copyright notification for both Microsoft and NEC. Hamada approved it.
The team considered third-party developers to be very important for the market's expansion. They provided 50–100 prototypes and technical information for independent companies without a fee.
In 1981, the Terminal Units Division of the Information Processing Group also launched the personal computer series , which was branded as the "personal terminal". It used an Intel 8086 processor and a µPD7220 display controller. Its architecture was similar to that of the PC-98, but it mostly ran the proprietary operating system "PTOS". NEC introduced it as an intelligent terminal or a workstation and was distinguished within personal computer lines. For this market, Fujitsu released the in 1981, and IBM Japan released the Multistation 5550 in 1983.
Release and growing.
The first model, the PC-9801, launched in October 1982, and employs an 8086 CPU. It runs at a clock speed of 5 MHz, with two µPD7220 display controllers (one for text, the other for video graphics), and was shipped with 128 KB of RAM that can be expanded to 640 KB. Its 8-color display has a maximum resolution of 640×400 pixels.
When the PC-9801 launched in 1982, it was initially priced at 298,000 yen (about US$1,200 in 1982 dollars). It can use PC-88 peripherals such as displays and floppy disk drives, and it can run software developed for N88-BASIC with a few modifications. For new buyers, it required either an expensive 1232 KB 8-inch floppy drive or a smaller capacity 320 KB 5¼-inch floppy drive. The basic system can display JIS X 0201 characters including numbers, English characters, and half-width kana, so most users added an optional kanji ROM board for using a Japanese word processor. Its successor, the PC-9801F, employs an 8086-2 CPU, which can selectively run at a speed of either 5 or 8 MHz. The F2 model contains two 640 KB 5¼-inch 2DD (quad density) floppy drives, a JIS level 1 kanji (2,965 characters) font ROM, and was priced at 398,000 yen (about US$1,700 in 1983). It was positively received by engineers and businesses. Ozawa explained the reason why the PC-9801F used a 640 KB floppy drive, "For Japanese business softwares, 320 KB is small, 640 KB is just barely enough, and 1 MB is preferable. We want to choose a 1 MB floppy drive, but its 8-inch drive is expensive, and its 5-inch drive lacks reliability. So, we think 640 KB is the best choice. Also, it can read a 320 KB floppy disk".
The Electronic Devices Group launched the PC-100 in October 1983 and attempted to present a GUI similar to the Apple Lisa. The PC-100 did not sell well due to its time and high cost. Moreover, the marketing competed with the PC-98 of the Information Processing Group, which did not assure distributors. In December 1983, Ouchi decided that NEC would consolidate their personal computer business into two divisions: NEC Home Electronics to deal with the 8-bit home computer line, and Nippon Electric's Information Processing Group to deal with the 16-bit personal computer line. The Electronic Device Group passed off their personal computer business to NEC Home Electronics.
Fujitsu released the in December 1984. It has an Intel 80186 CPU at 8 MHz and a 1.2 MB 5¼-inch 2HD (high density) floppy drive. The FM-16β failed because it bundled CP/M-86, not MS-DOS, and was marketed by Fujitsu's Electronic Devices department instead of the Computers department. They modified their policies in mid-1985, but it was too late. In another incident, Fujitsu bundled a business software package with the FM-11 (predecessor to FM-16β) which discouraged users from purchasing third-party software and forced them to use it for a specific purpose, which caused Fujitsu to fail to expand their platform.
NEC introduced the PC-9801M2 that has two 5¼-inch 2HD floppy drives against the release of FM-16β. This model cannot read 2DD floppy disks. The PC-9801VM uses an NEC V30 CPU clocked at 10 MHz, and was released in July 1985. The VM2 model shipped with two 5¼-inch 2HD floppy drives and supports both 2DD and 2HD floppy disks. It became the best-selling computer in Japan, with annual sales of 210,000 units.
NEC permitted software companies to bundle a subset of MS-DOS 2.11 without a license fee between 1983 and 1987. ASCII and Microsoft allowed it to enter the market and compete with CP/M-86. NEC also let users buy a self-contained application package. It occupied half of the Japanese personal computer market at the end of 1983. As of March 1984, 700 software packages were available for PC-98. In 1987, NEC announced one million PC-98s were shipped, and about 3,000 software packages were available. Masayoshi Son recalled in 1985 that:
NEC took care to maintain compatibility and inheritance. The PC-9801VM can select a clock frequency between 8 and 10 MHz and also offers an optional 8086 card because the V30 has different instruction cycles. The V30 has unique instructions which are not implemented in other Intel x86 processors. Some PC-98 applications use them, so the PC-9801VX (1986) was designed to run Intel 80286 and V30 selectively. The PC-9801RA (1988) has an Intel 80386 and a V30. The PC-9801DA (1990) does not have this, but its clock speed is configurable.
NEC focused heavily on financing advertisements and exhibitions, from in the 1970s, to over in 1985.
While NEC did not market these specific machines in the West, it sold the NEC APC III, which had similar hardware as early PC-98 models. However, NEC began selling an IBM compatible PC (APC IV) outside Japan in 1986.
Race with laptops and PC-98 clones.
Toshiba had developed laptop computers since the autumn of 1983, while their desktops were a failure in the Japanese PC market. In October 1986, they introduced the which allowed the T3100 to handle Japanese text. NEC did not expect it to become the first successful laptop computer in Japan. In the same month, NEC introduced the PC-98LT laptop computer. This model had poor compatibility with the PC-9801 and could not gain a significant profit. NEC understood, despite difficulties, that the PC-98 needed a new custom chipset to make the motherboard smaller.
In March 1987, Epson announced the first PC-98 clone desktop computer and named it the PC-286 series. NEC investigated and sued Epson on the claim that its BIOS infringed their copyright. Epson canceled their PC-286 model 1-4 and released the PC-286 model 0 whose BIOS was made by another team under a clean room design; it did not have a built-in BASIC interpreter. NEC countered that the PC-286 model 0 lacked compatibility with the PC-98. Although it seemed NEC would not be able to win the lawsuit, Epson settled with NEC in November 1987 after considering the damage that would be done to their reputation.
The PC-286 model 0 employs an Intel 80286 processor operating at 10 MHz - 25% faster than NEC's PC-9801VX using the same CPU at 8 MHz. In June 1987, NEC released a 10 MHz version of the PC-9801VX (VX01, VX21 and VX41 models). They added a BIOS signature check to their operating systems (Disk versions of BASIC and MS-DOS) to prevent non-NEC machines from booting the OSes; it was commonly called an "EPSON check". In September 1987, Epson introduced the PC-286V and the PC-286U and also released the BASIC Support ROM to add a BASIC interpreter to their computers. Epson also bundled the Software Installation Program which was a patch kit to remove the EPSON check. Both machines were received well due to their reasonable prices and better compatibility. In 1988, Epson made annual sales of 200,000 units and successfully established PC-98 clones in the Japanese PC market.
In October 1987, Epson released the PC-286L which was a PC-98 compatible laptop before NEC started development of their own laptop. In March 1988, NEC released the PC-9801LV which was a 100% PC-98 compatible laptop. It was accomplished by three custom VLSI chips. These chipsets are also used in other desktops such as the PC-9801UV11 and the PC-9801RA.
In July 1989, Toshiba released the J-3100SS branded as the "DynaBook", a true laptop computer which was light and battery operated. It made annual sales of 170,000 units. Four months later, NEC released the PC-9801N and branded it as the "98NOTE". The DynaBook started off well but the 98NOTE outsold it in 1990.
Microsoft and other PC manufacturers developed the AX specification in 1987. It allowed IBM PC clones to handle Japanese text by using special video chips, the Japanese keyboard, and software written for it. However, the AX could not break into the Japanese PC market due to its higher cost and less compatible software.
As a PC game platform.
In the early 1980s, home users chose 8-bit machines rather than 16-bit machines because 16-bit systems were expensive and designed exclusively for business. By the mid-1980s, the Japanese home computer market was dominated by the NEC PC-88, the Fujitsu FM-7, and the Sharp X1. In this era, simulation games was the most popular genre for PC-98, which took advantage of higher clock speed and larger memory reserves. The "Daisenryaku" series and the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series were particularly popular and they established PC-98 as a PC game platform.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the Japanese PC game platform slowly shifted from PC-88 to PC-98, as the X68000 and the FM TOWNS also had a niche market. In the 1990s, many computer role-playing games were developed for PC-98 or imported from other platforms, such as "Brandish", "Dungeon Master" and the "Alone in the Dark" series. The higher display resolution and higher storage capacity allowed better graphics, but drawing animations on the PC-98 was hard because it took a long time to draw the screen. As a result of this limitation, adult dating sims and visual novels appeared as a revival of 1980's adventure games and gained popularity, such as "Dōkyūsei" and "YU-NO". After the PC-98 declined, many Japanese PC game developers shifted the game platform to video game consoles, except for eroge distributed by computer stores.
Price war with DOS/V PCs.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, NEC dominated the Japanese domestic PC market with more than 60% of the PCs sold as PC-9801 or PC-8801. In 1990, IBM Japan introduced the DOS/V operating system which enabled displaying Japanese text on standard IBM PC/AT VGA adapters. Other Japanese PC manufacturers joined the PC Open Architecture Developer Group (OADG) organized by IBM Japan and Microsoft. In October 1992, Compaq released a DOS/V computer priced at compared to the lowest priced PC-98 at , causing a price war in the Japanese PC market. In 1993, Toshiba introduced DOS/V computers, Epson founded Epson Direct Corporation to sell DOS/V computers, and Fujitsu started selling DOS/V computers branded as FMV.
In November 1992, NEC introduced a mid-range Windows PC, the PC-9821 which contained an Intel 386SX processor, a CD-ROM drive, 16-bit PCM audio playback, MS-DOS 5.0A, and Windows 3.0A. In January 1993, PC-98 desktops were expanded into three lines: a high-performance Windows-based line named "98MATE", a low-priced MS-DOS line named "98FELLOW", and an all-in-one desktop line named "98MULTi". PC-98s were still popular among Japanese users because they had many applications.
NEC managed to adopt industrial standards and reduce costs. From 1993 to 1995, the PC-98 adopted 72-pin SIMMs, the 3.5-inch 1.44 MB floppy format, IDE storage drives, a 640×480 DOS screen mode, 2D GUI acceleration GPUs, Windows Sound System, PCI slots, and PCMCIA card slots. NEC had outsourced manufacturing of motherboards to Taiwanese companies such as ECS and GVC (acquired by Lite-On).
Decline.
Aside from other Japanese domestic platforms which had disappeared, Windows 95 overturned the dominance of the PC-98. The difference in the architecture was not only ineffective for platform-independent environments but also increasing development resources to adopt them. In 1997, NEC introduced the PC98-NX series as a main personal computer line that conformed to the PC System Design Guide and were IBM PC compatible. The PC-9801's last successor was the Celeron-based PC-9821Ra43 (with a clock frequency of 433 MHz, using a 440FX chipset-based motherboard design from 1998), which appeared in 2000. NEC announced that the PC-98 would be discontinued in 2003. 18.3 million of PC-98s shipped by the end of shipments in March 2004. The last version of Windows to support PC-98 is Windows 2000.
NEC kept much of its hardware and platform proprietary or under license, so while it had a virtual monopoly in the Japanese market, later IBM PC clones with DOS/V and Windows from companies such as Hitachi and Panasonic that did not require such license fees (like Epson's 98 clones) flooded the market and displaced NEC.
Hardware.
The PC-98 is different from the IBM PC in many ways; for instance, it uses its own 16-bit C-bus () instead of the ISA bus; BIOS, I/O port addressing, memory management and graphics output are also different. However, localized MS-DOS, Unix, OS/2, or Windows will still run on PC-9801s.
Expansion bus.
All PC-98 desktop models use a 100-pin expansion slot. It has 16 data lines and 24 address lines. The bus frequency is fixed at 5, 8 or 10 MHz. The PC-H98 and PC-9821A series computers use a proprietary 32-bit local bus slot along with 16-bit slots. The 16-bit expansion bus was also called C-bus (Compatible Bus). The PC-9821Xf introduced in 1994 shipped with C-bus slots and PCI slots on the motherboard, replacing the proprietary local bus slot.
Memory.
Many PC-9801 models can increase system memory by installing expansion boards, daughterboards, or proprietary SIMMs. They are limited to 14.6 MB, due to 24-bit address pins and reserve space. EMS memory boards for C-bus are also available. The PC-9821Af introduced in 1993 shipped with standard 72-pin SIMMs, broke the 14.6 MB barrier, and supported memory up to 79.6 MB. Later desktop models shipped with standard SIMM or DIMM memory.
The PC-98XA (1985) and its successors, called "high-resolution machine" or simply "hi-reso machine", are capable of 768 KB base memory, but their I/O ports and memory addressing are quite different from normal PC-98s.
Storage.
Early PC-9801 models supported 1232 KB 8-inch floppy drives and/or 640 KB 5¼-inch floppy drives. Each used different IRQ lines and I/O ports. Later models support both interfaces. High density 5¼-inch and 3½-inch floppy disks use the same logical format and data rate as 1232 KB 8-inch floppy disks. They became a non-standard format while formats brought by IBM PC/AT and PS/2 became the industry standard.
The PC-98 supports up to four floppy drives. If the system is booted from a floppy drive, MS-DOS assigns letters to all of the floppy drives before considering hard drives; it does the opposite if it is booted from a hard drive. If the OS was installed on the hard drive, MS-DOS would assign the hard drive as drive "A:" and the floppy as drive "B:"; this would cause incompatibility among Windows PC applications, although it can be resolved with the SETUP command in Windows 95 by turning on the "/AT" switch to assign the Windows system drive to the standard "C:" drive.
The PC-98 uses several different interfaces of hard drives. Early models used Shugart Associates System Interface (SASI) or ST506, and later models used SCSI or IDE drives.
Graphics.
A standard PC-98 has two µPD7220 display controllers (a master and a slave) with 12 KB main memory and 256 KB of video RAM respectively. The master display controller handles font ROM, displaying JIS X 0201 (7 × 13 pixels) and JIS X 0208 (15 × 16 pixels) characters. Each character has a variety of display options, including bits for secret, blinking, reverse, underline, and three intensity bits (grayscale or RGB). The other display controller is set to slave mode and connected to 256 KB of planar video memory, allowing it to display 640 × 400 pixel graphics with 16 colors out of a palette of 4096. The video RAM is divided into pages (2 pages × 4 planes × 32 KB in 640 × 400 with 16 colors), and the programmer can control which page is written to and which page is output.
The high-resolution machines (PC-98XA, XL and PC-H98) offered an 1120x750 display mode and aimed for tasks such as CAD and word processing.
The PC-9801U (optional) and VM introduced a custom chipset GRCG ("GRaphic CharGer") to access several planar memory in parallel. The PC-9801VX introduced a blitter chip called the EGC ("Enhanced Graphic Charger"). It had raster operations and bit shifting.
In 1993, NEC introduced a 2D Windows accelerator card for PC-98, called the "Window Accelerator Board", which employed a S3 86C928. Video cards for C-bus, local bus and PCI are also available from other manufacturers. DirectX 7.0a is the last official supported version for PC-98.
Sound.
The first generation of PC-9801s (the E, F and M models) only have an internal buzzer. PC-9801U2 and later models can change the sound frequency by controlling the programmable interval timer, like the PC speaker. The PC-8801mkIISR home computer, introduced in 1985, has a Yamaha YM2203 sound chip, an Atari joystick port and BASIC sound commands. The optional PC-9801-26 sound card is based around these features, although in some PC-9801 models it is integrated with the motherboard. It was replaced by the PC-9801-26K to support the 80286 CPU. This became the most common sound card for playing in-game music on the PC-98.
The PC-9801-26K was succeeded by the PC-9801-73 (1991) and PC-9801-86 (1993) sound card, which employs the YM2608 and adds support for 16-bit stereo sampling. Due to lack of DMA support and poor sound drivers, it often has issues in Windows and created popping and clicking sounds. The PC-9801-118 sound card and later PC-9821 models use the Crystal Semiconductor's Windows Sound System audio codec to resolve this, but the newer sound chip is not compatible with the older conventional sound cards.
Roland released a MPU-401 MIDI interface card for PC-98 computers. Creative Labs released a C-bus variant of their Sound Blaster 16.
Keyboard.
The first PC-9801 model has the same keyboard layout as the PC-8801's except it adds conversion key XFER and 5 function keys. Later models have some minor changes: NFER, 15 function keys, LED status indicators, and replacing CAPS and alternate action switches.
Mouse.
The bus mouse and interface card kit was introduced for PC-98 in 1983. The PC-9801F3 and later models have a mouse interface. Although the PS/2 port became popular among IBM PC clones in the 1990s, the bus mouse was used until the end of PC-98.
Epson clones.
Seiko Epson manufactured PC-9801 clones between 1987 and 1995, as well as compatible peripherals.
In the 1980s, Epson's clones preceded NEC's in terms of its features such as performance and portability. In the early 1990s, Epson concentrated a line of low-priced computer which had low profit margins, but it did not sell well. This made resellers negative. Also, NEC had strong sales in the enterprise market, but Epson did not. Manufacturers of DOS/V computers began to get sales channels, and they became competitors for the PC-98 and its Epson clones. Nikkei Personal Computer magazine reported in 1992 that "NEC has various opinions inside the company about the future PC-98, and it is doubtful whether the PC-98 will continue to be the domestic standard. The decline of the 98 compatible machine business may lead to the decline of the PC-98 itself".
In May 1992, Epson released a high performance machine, the PC-486GR. It has a 32-bit local bus for graphic processing and an Intel 486SX CPU running at 20 MHz, which was faster than NEC's flagship PC-9801FA, which had a 486SX running at 16 MHz. In January 1993, NEC released the 98MATE to compete with Epson's clones and DOS/V computers.
From 1992 to 1994, Epson sold about 200,000 units of PC-98 clones every year. As of 1994, Epson expected only 40% growth in their PC sales despite they expected 100% growth in their peripherals sales by 1995. However, Nikkei Personal Computer magazine expected that Epson would continue manufacturing PC-98 clones for a while because NEC had kept a 50% share of the Japanese PC market.
AST Research Japan released the DualStation 386 SX/16 in 1990 which was both PC-9801 and IBM PC compatible, but it failed because of poor marketing.
Software.
The PC-98 was primarily used for businesses and industry in Japan from 1980s to mid-1990s. As of September 1992, out of 16,000 PC-98 software applications, 60% of them were corporate business software applications (including CAD), 10% of them were operating systems and development tools, 10% of them were educational software applications, with the rest being a mix of graphic design, networking, word processing and games. The Nikkei Personal Computer journal published in 1993 reported that most home users purchased PCs to complete office work at home. The publisher sent a questionnaire to 2000 readers, and out of 1227 readers who answered, 82% of users used it for word processing, 72% for spreadsheets, 47% as a database, and 43% for games.
Ichitaro, a Japanese word processor for the PC-98 and considered one of its killer applications, was released in 1985 and ported to other machines in 1987. A Japanese version of Lotus 1-2-3 was also ported to PC-98 first in 1986. 1 million copies of all Ichitaro versions and 500,000 copies of Lotus 1-2-3 were shipped by 1991.
PC-98 software generally ran from program and data disks (Disk 0 & 1 or A & B). For example, Ichitaro's system disk contained a runtime version of MS-DOS, main programs, an input method editor (ATOK) and its dictionary file. It used the entire space of an 1.2 MB floppy disk. In 1980s, most machines only had two floppy drives because HDDs were an expensive additional feature.
NEC provided a variety of operating systems including CP/M-86, Concurrent CP/M, MS-DOS, PC-UX, OS/2 and Windows (discontinued after Windows 2000). Localized versions of NetWare and FreeBSD were also available.
The PC-98 had many game titles designed for it, many of which made creative use of the system's limitations (as it was originally designed as a business machine) to great commercial success. Despite having hardware specifications inferior to the FM Towns and the X68000, the massive install base and steady flow of game titles (in particular "dōjin" style dating sims and RPGs, as well as games such as "Policenauts", "",
"Koutetsu no Kishi", ', "MechWarrior", "Rusty", ', "Shūjin e no Pert-em-Hru", "Corpse Party", "Slayers", "J.B. Harold Murder Club" and "Touhou Project") kept it as the favored platform for PC game developers in Japan until the rise of the DOS/V clones.
Models.
Partial list of PC-98 models sold in the Japanese market (no 1992-2000 models, no notebook models, etc.).
Reception.
Marketing.
A journalist explained in 1988 how NEC "established the nation of Japanese personal computers":
Western computers lacked Japanese support due to its display resolution and memory, so they could not get into the Japanese PC market until the DOS/V and faster computers came out; for example, IBM Japan sold the IBM 5550 instead of the IBM PC. Yoshihiko Hyodo, a programmer who developed the text editor VZ Editor, said two advantages that the PC-98 had were its kanji character memory and non-interlaced monitor. Both provided users with a more comfortable Japanese environment. A senior vice president of Otsuka Shokai (a computer distributor for enterprises) recalled that "early users such as Kao already had office automation with the PC-8000, but it lacked speed and kanji support. Then, the PC-9800 was released, and it was perfect, so distributors and users immediately switched to it.".
Shunzo Hamada of NEC thought the biggest reason for the success of PC-98 was that NEC could get software companies to cooperate. He said, "Third-party suppliers of Japanese PCs had already grown up to a certain extent. However, it was not because they were organized. They were born by themselves, and hardware manufacturers didn't touch them. When we developed the PC-9800 series, we changed our method to make a conscious effort to grow them up".
Ichiran Kou, a computer consultant, pointed out that IBM influenced NEC's strategy. Since 1982, NEC had four personal computer lines, and they covered a wide price range, similar to IBM's mainframe business. However, NEC's computers had poor backward compatibility and as such was criticized by users and software developers. After reforming personal computer lines in 1983, NEC began expanding the PC-9801 series and its number of models exceeded its competitors.
NEC encouraged third-party developers as IBM did for the IBM PC. The basic hardware of PC-98 was also similar to the IBM PC, though it was not IBM compatible. Kou guessed that NEC avoided releasing an IBM compatible PC because the company was proud of developing an original mainframe.
Yasuhiro Uchida, a literature professor, wrote an essay titled "Users chose the most "playable" PC". He felt the PC-98 was an "ordinary" 16-bit personal computer, but it had plenty of games because it did not deny the "playability". He theorized that Fujitsu did not consider the 16-bit personal computer as a game platform, and considered IBM JX handling games to be of minor importance, which made personal computers less attractive. He concluded that the actual value of personal computers must be found by not sellers but consumers.
Legacy.
A writer of the ASCII magazine wrote that the Japanese input method and the Japanese video game industry were significantly developed in the PC-98 era. Because the PC-98 had a kanji character ROM, Japanese applications were developed for it, which influenced Japanese input methods being developed for them; the two built off of each other. Software companies that developed games for the PC-98 immediately expanded the video game business on the Famicom platform. He believed most programmers learned computer programming on the PC-98 at that time.
Criticism.
In the late 1980s, competitors criticized NEC monopolizing the market. Takayoshi Shina, a founder of Sord, said, "The Japanese PC market is suffocating because of one company's dominance. There is no freedom. This is why its prices are 3-4 times as expensive as America's. To fulfil the same international price as America's, we really need the era of clone computers.". A software company also complained that "although there are few excellent engineers in Japan, the more incompatible machines appear, the more development resources are divided.".
Contrary to the IBM PC and the Apple II, every Japanese personal computer had a short lifespan; NEC released a new model of the PC-98 every year. When the PC-9801VX01/21/41 models brought a new BASIC interpreter which supported the Enhanced Graphic Charger (EGC) chipset, most commercial software did not use it as they were written in C. Many developers did not follow it because they wanted to make their software less dependent on the specific platform. A software developer said, "Using the special one (EGC) goes against the trend. I don't want to use it if new machines come out so frequently.".


PERM (computer)

PERM () is a stored-program-controlled electronic computer, built in Munich under the auspices of Hans Piloty and Robert Sauer 1952–1956. Some jokingly called it "Pilotys erstes RechenMonster" ('Piloty's first calculating monster'). It weighed several tons.
The machine is now displayed in the informatics (computer science) exhibition of the Deutsches Museum München.


Parsec (video game)

Parsec is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Jim Dramis and Paul Urbanus for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A and published by TI in 1982. Dramis also programmed "Car Wars" and "Munch Man" for the TI-99/4A.
Gameplay.
The player in "Parsec" pilots a spaceship through sixteen differently colored levels which scroll horizontally across the screen. The objective is to destroy all enemy ships while avoiding being shot, colliding with any flying object or the ground, or overheating one's laser cannon.
Three waves of "fighters" alternate with three waves of "cruisers"; fighters pose only the threat of collision, while the cruisers fire on the player's ship. Enemy ships enter the screen one at a time. A new fighter can appear with others still on the screen, whereas a new cruiser will not come until the previous one is destroyed. A ship flying off the left edge of the screen wraps around to the right side and attacks again. The fighter types are named "Swoopers", "LTF"s (Light Triangular Fighters), and "Saucers". The cruisers are called "Urbites", "Dramites", and "Bynites". Each level ends with an asteroid belt, in which an array of asteroids advance on the ship and must be avoided or shot. At the end of each asteroid belt, any remaining asteroids are cleared away and the color of the ground is changed; then a new wave of Swoopers begins. Starting with level 4, the Swoopers are preceded by a random number of "Killer Satellites", which come without the usual computer warning.
The Urbites and Dramites appear to be named after the developers of the game; Paul Urbanus signed Internet posts as late as 2005 as "urbite". The Bynites were likely named after Don Bynum, the manager of TI's Personal Computer Division.
Speech.
The optional speech synthesis adds drama to the gameplay. Although it warns of advancing enemy craft and low fuel, both of these also have visual cues. The sole exception is in the asteroid belts between levels, whose length increases with the level number. Without the speech synthesizer there is no indication of how long the asteroid belt will last.
The voice of the on-board computer was performed by Aubree Anderson, who at the time was a student at Texas Tech University.
Legacy.
The speech data for "Parsec," "Alpiner" and "Moon Mine" was later acquired by Plogue Art et Technologie, Inc.. The data for all three games was used for the software Chipspeech to create the voice of character "Lady Parsec".


SARA (computer)

SARA (SAABs räkneautomat, SAAB's calculating machine) was developed by SAAB when the capacity of BESK was insufficient for their needs. The project was started the fall of 1955 and became operational in 1956. SARA was built using the drawings of BESK that SAAB had bought for a symbolic sum and with the help of people who had worked with BESK, but didn't stay when Matematikmaskinnämnden decided that there would be no second generation. SARA wasn't used much, but it became the start of DataSAAB and the development of CK37 and D2.


Slirp

Slirp (sometimes capitalized SLiRP) is a software program that emulates a PPP, SLIP, or CSLIP connection to the Internet using a text-based shell account. Its original purpose became largely obsolete as dedicated dial-up PPP connections and broadband Internet access became widely available and inexpensive. It then found additional use in connecting mobile devices, such as PDAs, via their serial ports. Another significant use case is firewall piercing/port forwarding. One typical use of Slirp creates a general purpose network connection over a SSH session on which port forwarding is restricted. Another use case is to create external network connectivity for unprivileged containers.
Usage.
Shell accounts normally only allow the use of command line or text-based software, but by logging into a shell account and running Slirp on the remote server, a user can transform their shell account into a general purpose SLIP/PPP network connection, allowing them to run any TCP/IP-based application—including standard GUI software such as the formerly popular Netscape Navigator—on their computer. This was especially useful in the 1990s because simple shell accounts were less expensive and/or more widely available than full SLIP/PPP accounts.
In the mid-1990s, numerous universities provided dial-up shell accounts (to their faculty, staff, and students). These command line-only connections became more versatile with SLIP/PPP, enabling the use of arbitrary TCP/IP-based applications. Many guides to using university dial-up connections with Slirp were published online (e.g. , , , ). Use of TCP/IP emulations software like Slirp, and its commercial competitor TIA was banned by some shell account providers, who believed its users violated their terms of service or consumed too much bandwidth.
Slirp is also useful for connecting PDAs and other mobile devices to the Internet: by connecting such a device to a computer running Slirp, via a serial cable or USB, the mobile device can connect to the Internet.
Limitations.
Unlike a true SLIP/PPP connection, provided by a dedicated server, a Slirp connection does not strictly obey the principle of end-to-end connectivity envisioned by the Internet protocol suite. The remote end of the connection, running on the shell account, cannot allocate a new IP address and route traffic to it. Thus the local computer cannot accept arbitrary incoming connections, although Slirp can use port forwarding to accept incoming traffic for specific ports.
This limitation is similar to that of network address translation. It does provide enhanced security as a side effect, effectively acting as a firewall between the local computer and the Internet.
Current status.
Slirp is free software licensed under a BSD-like, modified 4-clause BSD license by its original author. After the original author stopped maintaining it, Kelly Price took over as maintainer. There were no releases from Kelly Price after 2006. Debian maintainers have taken over some maintenance tasks, such as modifying Slirp to work correctly on 64-bit computers. In 2019, a more actively maintained Slirp repository was used by slirp4netns to provides network connectivity for unprivileged, rootless containers.
Influence on other projects.
Despite being largely obsolete, Slirp made a great influence on the networking stacks used in virtual machines and other virtualized environments. The established practice of connecting the virtual machines to the host's network stack was to use the various packet injection mechanisms. Raw sockets, being one of such mechanisms, were originally used for that purpose, and, due to many problems and limitations, were later replaced with the TAP device.
Packet injection is a privileged operation that may introduce a security threat, something that the introduction of TAP device solved only partially. Slirp-derived NAT implementation brought a solution to this long-standing problem. It was discovered that Slirp has the full NAPT implementation as a stand-alone user-space code, whereas other NAT engines are usually embedded into a network protocol stack and/or do not cooperate with the host OS when doing PAT (use their own port ranges and require packet injection). QEMU project have adopted the appropriate code portions of the Slirp package and got the permission from its original authors to re-license it under 3-clause BSD license.
Such license change allowed many other FOSS projects to adopt the QEMU-provided Slirp portions, which was (and still is) not possible with the original Slirp codebase because of the license compatibility problems. Some of the notable adopters are VDE and VirtualBox projects. Even though the Slirp-derived code was heavily criticized, to date there is no competing implementation available.


Word Puzzle (video game)

Word Puzzle is a puzzle game based on "Word Search" for Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360. The game was released on November 7, 2007.
Reception.
"Word Puzzle" received negative reviews from critics upon release. On Metacritic, the game holds a score of 43/100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". On GameRankings, the game holds a score of 47% based on 14 reviews.


Tegra Note 7

The Tegra Note 7 is a mini tablet computer and the second Tegra 4 based mobile device designed by Nvidia that runs the Android operating system.
Release.
Revealed on September 18, 2013, EVGA was the first to partner with Nvidia for release on November 19, 2013. Other manufacturers Nvidia has partnered with include Advent, ZOTAC, PNY, Gigabyte, Xolo HP and Cherry Mobile.
The device is known as EVGA Tegra Note 7 in the US, Advent Vega Tegra Note 7 in the United Kingdom, Gradiente Tegra Note 7 in Brazil, Gazer Tegra Note 7 in Ukraine and Russia, Gigabyte Tegra Note 7 in Australia and New Zealand, Cherry Mobile Tegra Note 7 in the Philippines and XOLO PLAY Tegra Note 7 in India. HP has rebranded the Tegra Note 7 as the HP Slate 7 Extreme.
Features.
The Note 7 uses a 1.8 GHz quad-core Tegra 4 chipset with 1 GB of RAM; Nvidia claims that the chipset and other improvements make it the fastest 7-inch tablet on the market offering 50% faster browsing experience than tablets twice the price. Notable features of the device include enhanced capacitive "DirectStylus" technology that is three times more responsive, premium Tegra 4 audio processing with PureAudio, and world's first HDR camera in a tablet with Nvidia Chimera computational photography. The 1280×800 display use Nvidia PRISM 2 display processing, which modulates the display backlight and per-pixel color values to extend battery life 40% for up to 10 hours of HD video playback.
Software updates.
Nvidia released Tegra Note 7 System Update 3.0 (Android 5.1) on July 23, 2015.


ShapeShifter

ShapeShifter is an Application Enhancer (APE) plugin for Mac OS X developed by Unsanity that allows the user to make system-wide modifications to the appearance of the operating system's graphical interface by applying GUI skins through "injection" into running code and without modifying system files, very much like Kaleidoscope or WindowBlinds. It uses GUIKit files (called "themes") which can contain interface elements, desktop backgrounds and icons. GUIKit files are most often edited using a program called ThemePark.
Like many APE modules, it does not work with 10.5 or 10.6, due to major changes in the way they draw interface elements as compared with earlier versions of OS X. Development on ShapeShifter has ceased, with the rationale from ShapeShifter's primary developer being that he feels the fashions in which 10.5 and 10.6 draw graphics are stopgap measures in place of a new Core UI API, and so is waiting to rewrite ShapeShifter until OS X's GUI subsystem has restabilized.


ZX80 character set

The ZX80 character set is the character encoding used by the Sinclair Research ZX80 microcomputer with its original 4K BASIC ROM. The encoding uses one byte per character for 256 code points. It has no relationship with previously established ones like ASCII or EBCDIC, but it is related though not identical to the character set of the successor ZX81.
Printable characters.
The character set has 64 unique glyphs present at code points 0–63. With the most significant bit set the character is generated in inverse video; corresponding to code points 128–191. These 128 values are the only displayable ones allowed in the video memory (known as the display file). The remaining code points (64–127 and 192–255) are used as control characters or Sinclair BASIC keywords, while some are unused.
The small effective range of only 64 unique glyphs precludes support for Latin lower case letters, and many symbols used widely in computing such as the exclamation point or the at sign.
There are 11 block graphics characters, counting code point 0 which also doubles as space. Together with the 11 inverse video versions these 22 code points provide every combination of the character cell divided into 2×2 black-and-white block pixels for low-resolution 64×48 pixel graphics, or into 1×2 black, white or dithered gray wide block pixels for a 32×48 resolution. The 2×2 versions of these are also present in the Block Elements Unicode block.
Code point 1 is the double-quote (") character when used in the display file, but uniquely to the ZX80 it is used internally as the string terminator character so the BASIC function codice_1 returns a null string; codice_2 translates to the printable " character.
Changes in the ZX81.
The 8K BASIC ROM of the follow-up ZX81 model was also available as an upgrade for the ZX80, replacing its integer-only 4K BASIC ROM. It introduced the modified ZX81 character set which has mostly the same code points, e.g. for A-Z and 0-9, but the code points are different for the block graphics characters, the symbols ", -, +, *, /, =, >, <, and the BASIC keyword tokens (with many new added). There are also changes to the control characters and code point 1 is no longer an unprintable string terminator.
In the later Sinclair ZX Spectrum the entire character encoding was replaced with the ZX Spectrum character set, which is a derivative of ASCII and includes lower case letters and more.
System font.
The ZX80 system font uses an 8×8 pixel-per-character grid where most glyphs fit in 7×6 pixels leaving one pixel horizontal space between them. This font was modified in the ZX81's ROM to slightly narrower 6×6 pixel glyphs with two pixels horizontal space between them, which improved the look of single inverted characters by showing inverted pixels on both sides. Some glyphs also received a different design in the ZX81 system font, noticeable on the *, the slashed and less rounded 0, and the less rounded $, C, G and J.


Kilobaud Microcomputing

Kilobaud Microcomputing was a magazine dedicated to the computer homebrew hobbyists from 1977 to 1983.
How "kilobaud" started.
Wayne Green, the editor and publisher of "kilobaud", had been the publisher of "BYTE" magazine, (another influential microcomputer magazine of the time) where he published the first four issues in his own office. But one day in November 1975 Wayne came to work, and found that his ex-wife and the rest of the "Byte" magazine staff had moved out of his office and had taken the January issue with them. Consequently, the January 1976 issue had Virginia Green listed as publisher instead of Wayne Green. Wayne was not happy with this development, so he left Byte to start a new magazine to compete with the fledgling "Byte". He wanted to call it "KiloByte" to trump "Byte". But the people of "Byte" quickly trademarked KILOBYTE as a cartoon series in "Byte" magazine. So he named the new magazine "kilobaud" instead. The magazine was first published in 1977.
Many name changes.
The full title for the first magazines was "kilobaud. The Computer Hobbyist Magazine" (Jan 1977). These issues are unique for having a full index of the contents on the front cover but no illustrations (photographs). Later issues did have illustrations but also still had a full index on the cover, (a feature that remained for many years). The title was now shortened to only read "Kilobaud Microcomputing".
From the beginning of 1979 to the end of 1980 the subtitle "for business...education...FUN" was added. Later, after 1981, the "kilobaud" denominated was dropped altogether and the magazine was now simply called "Microcomputing" with the subtitle, "a wayne green publication". In 1984, the magazine folded.
After the success of "kilobaud", Wayne Green diversified with magazines targeted to specific brands of home computers, such as "80-Microcomputing" (also known as "80-Micro") a Magazine for TRS-80 users, "InCider" a magazine for Apple II users, "Hot CoCo" a magazine for TRS-80 Color Computers, "RUN" a magazine for Commodore 64 users and many others.
Intended readers.
Even more than Byte magazine, kilobaud contained articles written for people who were building their own 8-bit microcomputers at home, or were writing homebrew software for these systems. kilobaud, (much more than Byte) contained articles written for electronic engineers (or hobbyists interested in electronics), rather than for people who were technically interested in computers but not in building their own computer from scratch. Articles like "Two Hobbies: Model Railroading and Computing" and the article (written by Don Lancaster) "Building a cheap video display for your Heathkit H-8" (a computer you could build yourself from a kit) are good examples.
In the May 1982 issue an article about building the Sinclair ZX-81 kit, the first, (and probably last) "mainstream" "do-it-yourself" computer kit was published.
After that the magazine more and more lost its hobby background and it looked like any other computer magazine.


Canyon Climber

Canyon Climber is a video game designed by Steve Bjork and James Garon for the TRS-80 Color Computer and published by Tandy Corporation in 1982. Ports to other home computers were published by Datasoft. "Canyon Climber" is a three-screen platform game with an American Southwest theme. Two of the screens are direct analogs of those in "Donkey Kong".
The game was ported to the Atari 8-bit family by Tim Ferris, the Apple II by Brian Mountford, and PC-6001. The box art is by Scott Ross.
Gameplay.
"Canyon Climber" consists of three non-scrolling screens that are endlessly cycled through. In the first, similar to the rivet screen from "Donkey Kong", the goal is to place explosive charges on both ends of each of four bridges, using ladders to climb between them, then trigger a detonator. Goats pursue the player and can be jumped over. The second screen resembles "Donkey Kong's" opening level, with angled platforms and connecting ladders. Native Americans ("Indians" in the manual) on each platform shoot arrows which can be jumped or avoided. The goal is to reach the top. The objective of the third screen is also to climb to the top. Brick-dropping birds are the primary obstacle.
The soundtrack of the first screen is a musical adaptation of the Prelude section from Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 847.
Reception.
The 1983 book "The Creative Atari" stated, ""Canyon Climber" achieves a cartoon-like atmosphere in the rendering of its various screens, to very pleasing effect," concluding "You will spend a while with "Canyon Climber"." In a review of four Atari 8-bit Datasoft games (alongside "Pacific Coast Highway", "Clowns and Balloons", and "Shooting Gallery"), Charles Brannon of "COMPUTE!" wrote, "the overall animation and execution are perhaps the best of the four." "Electronic Fun with Computers & Games" described "Canyon Climber" as "not quite as demanding as "Donkey Kong", but the concept is appealingly bizarre," and called the game "short-term addictive." "ANALOG Computing" wrote, "The details and playability of the game are very good" and rated the graphics a 10 out of 10.
Reviewing the TRS-80 Color Computer version for "Creative Computing", Stephen B. Gray warned, ""Canyon Climber" is a game for the expert or the masochist."
Long after the game's initial release, Keita Iida noted the low difficulty level, calling the game "perfectly suited for beginning players who are just getting into platform/climbing games." Mark Sabbatini, looking at the Color Computer version, agrees: "as soon as you've completed the levels a few times the challenge is pretty much gone." He also disliked the randomness of the rocks and goats, stating "all too often whether you live or die is all about luck and not about skill and planning."
Legacy.
One section of Llamasoft's 2011 "GoatUp" game for iOS is an homage to "Canyon Climber".


ANALOG Computing

ANALOG Computing (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, "ANALOG" printed multiple programs in each issue for users to type in. The magazine had a reputation for listings of machine language games–much smoother than those written in Atari BASIC—and which were uncommon in competing magazines. Such games were accompanied by the assembly language source code. "ANALOG" also sold commercial games, two books of type-in software, and access to a custom bulletin-board system.
Originally the title as printed on the cover was "A.N.A.L.O.G. 400/800 Magazine", but by the eighth issue it changed to "A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing". Though the dots remained in the logo, it was simply referred to as "ANALOG" or "ANALOG Computing" inside the magazine.
While the program listings were covered under the magazine's copyright protections, users were granted the right to type them into their computer for personal use, so long as they were not sold or copied.
History.
"ANALOG" was co-launched by Lee H. Pappas and Michael DesChesnes who met at a "Star Trek" convention in 1978.
The first issue of the magazine was January / February 1981. It was published bi-monthly through the November / December 1983 issue and then monthly from January 1984 on.
When the Atari ST was announced in 1985, it was initially covered in "ANALOG". Pappas soon launched an Atari ST-specific new magazine, "ST-Log". (This is paralleled in "STart" magazine being spun off from "Antic".)
In 1988, Pappas announced in an "ST-Log" editorial that both it and "ANALOG Computing" were under new ownership and the offices moved from Worcester, Massachusetts to North Hollywood, California. The relocation resulted in circulation being interrupted between issues 57 and 58 (from October 1987 to March 1988). It was addressed in "ANALOG" issue 58 since subscribers weren't informed ahead of time.
In 1989 LFP Inc. announced it would merge "ANALOG" and "ST-Log" into one Atari resource. Instead, both magazines were dropped less than a month later and the staff merged into another publication owned by Pappas, "Video Games & Computer Entertainment". The final issue of "ANALOG Computing " was December 1989, totaling 79 issues.
Additional products.
ANALOG Software.
In its early years, "ANALOG Computing" sold games via mail order under the name ANALOG Software. Several of these were written by magazine staff members. Some games were advertised, but never completed or published, such as "Sunday Driver".
Released games
Books.
"ANALOG" published two books of program listings and tutorials. The "A.N.A.L.O.G. Compendium" (1983) contained "the best Atari home computer programs from the first ten issues." "An Atari 8-bit Extra from ANALOG Computing" (1987) contained previously unpublished programs.
The "ANALOG Computing Pocket Reference Card" was published in 1985 and sold for US$7.95. It contains a summary of Atari BASIC commands, player/missile memory layout, hardware register and operating system addresses, ATASCII characters, graphics modes, and other information.
Bulletin board.
The ANALOG Computing Telecommunications System, or ANALOG Computing TCS, was a custom bulletin board system accessible only through paid subscription. After the TCS launched, an 8-page "ANALOG Computing TCS Guide" was bound into an issue of the magazine.


Surface Studio 2

The Surface Studio 2 is an all-in-one PC, designed and produced by Microsoft as part of its Surface series of Windows-based personal computing devices. It was announced at the Windows 10 Devices Event on October 2, 2018, two years after the release of the previous version Surface Studio, with pre-orders beginning that day.
The second desktop computer to be manufactured entirely by Microsoft, the Surface Studio uses the Windows 10 operating system with the October 2018 update preinstalled. The product, starting at $3,499, is aimed primarily at people in creative professions such as graphic artists and designers.
Features.
Hardware.
The Surface Studio 2 has a 28-inch 4.5K "PixelSense" display with 4500 x 3000 pixels, equivalent to 192 dpi. The screen, the thinnest ever built for an all-in-one PC at 12.5 millimetres thick, is capable of being used in both the DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces, and features a unique hinge design that allows it be tilted to a flat position, in a manner similar to the Wacom Cintiq. The bezel of the display contains a 5.0 megapixel camera and a Windows Hello-compatible backlit infrared camera.
The CPU is located in the base. Its compact design contains a 7th generation (codename "Kaby Lake") Core i7 processor and either a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or GeForce GTX 1070 graphics processor (both dependent on configuration). The system can be configured with up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and a 2 terabyte SSD. It also features four USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port, an SDXC card reader and a headset connection.
Unlike many desktop PCs, the Surface Studio 2 supports Microsoft's Modern Standby (formerly known as InstantGo) specification, enabling background tasks to operate while the computer is sleeping.
Accessories.
Microsoft specially designed its Surface Mouse and Surface Keyboard to work with the Surface Studio 2. It is also compatible with the Surface Pen and a newly created accessory, the Surface Dial. The latter consists of a round disk that can be placed on the display and rotated to perform various actions, such as scrolling, zooming, adjusting the volume, among others, with precision. Developers can utilize its APIs to integrate its functionality into their own products.
Reception.
The Surface Studio 2 received generally positive reviews from technology critics. Many praised the large high resolution display, build quality and high performance of the GPU. Criticisms included the high entry price of the device, the all rear-facing I/O ports and the use of last generation mobile Intel quad core (as opposed to current generation six core) CPU.


System 25


Samsung NX300

The Samsung NX300 is a mirrorless interchangeable lens digital camera a part of Samsung NX series and a successor to Samsung NX210. It was announced in Jan 2013 along with 45mm f/1.8 2D/3D lens and is the first single-lens system capable of capturing 3D photos or Full HD movies (See Stereo camera#Use of one camera and one lens).
In 2013 NX300 was named the best advanced mirrorless camera by TIPA (Best CSC Advanced, 2013).


Library (IBM i)

A library (*LIB) on IBM i is an object that is used as a system directory to keep track of other objects. (It also keeps track of "program temporary fixes" (PTF) in AS/400 system libraries.) (The other directories that can be used are the directory (*DIR) and folder (*FLR) objects.)
IBM i Objects are not actually stored in libraries. They're really nothing more than namespaces, but it's easier to refer to an object as being "in" or "stored in" a library.
Certain types of object (database file, storage areas and executable program objects) can be compiled, copied, and stored into/from many different libraries concurrently, with the Library List hierarchy determining which instance of the object to use during execution of any application that utilizes that object name. There are Control Language commands to help move objects around, and objects may be qualified at compile time to point to specific other objects statically at runtime, in order to circumvent the Library List.
Other types of objects, designated as "system" objects cannot be replicated. Libraries are a "system" object, and therefore only one instance of any given Library "name" is possible. They're made to appear as if they're stored in the QSYS library. Other "system" objects include user profiles (*USRPRF), configuration objects (*LIND, *CTLD, *DEVD), etc.
Shop Standards.
On systems with hierarchical filing systems the norm is to have many directories, most of which are contained one within the other, and with a moderate number of files in each directory. Since libraries cannot be stored within other libraries on the AS/400 and because historically the library list was always so small, the opposite became the norm; small numbers of libraries each of which contain large numbers of objects. A library is similar to a folder in Windows. In AS/400 a library is another object that can contain other objects (executable objects, source files, etc.).
Libraries can't contain other libraries. AS/400 is structured as a list, the opposite of Windows which has a tree-like structure.
Most homegrown applications have between one and three libraries. Some have program, source, and file objects together in one library. With shops that have a huge amount of data and a small backup window they usually split the database files into a separate data library and keep the source and programs in another library. In companies with a separate development systems they tend to split it further by placing the source into its own library.
Generally speaking all libraries created by IBM for use by the operating system begin with the letter 'Q'.
IBM Standard Libraries:
AS/400 and SQL.
Most Database management systems (DBMS) use SQL-based terminology to describe objects. The AS/400's terminology is unique and may have generated some confusion. High-level programming languages have often been preferred over SQL with AS/400 programming, due to actual or perceived performance reasons. As SQL programming has become more common on the AS/400, both traditional and SQL-based methods have become available to create and use objects, depending on preference or need. For the most part, traditional library-based objects are the same as SQL objects, with at least equivalent capabilities. For example, a Library is a Schema, a Physical File is a Table, a Logical File is a View, and an Access Path is an Index.
Library List.
Most systems have a way to find objects when a specific path is not specified. The same is true of the AS/400 and it uses an object called the library list (codice_1). This object doesn't exist on its own and is always associated with another object like a job or a job description (codice_2). As of OS/400 V5R1 the user portion of the Library List can contain up to 250 library names. Prior to that it could only have 25 libraries. (This is something to keep in mind when selling software because on OS/400 V4R5 and below a job description with more than 25 libraries in its library list cannot be restored.)
A job's library list consists of four sections:
As was mentioned above the user portion of the library list for any job can be stored in a job description so that when a job starts up it will use the list specified there. Some job descriptions specify the special value codice_17 which means that the library list can be found in the system value codice_18. IBM i will allow the programmer to delete a library that is in a job description or either of the library list system values provided there are no jobs locking the library. However, all future jobs that use these now tainted lists will fail to start.


Noteshare

Noteshare is an Apple Inc. (Mac OS X) based utility for sharing notes and other work. It is commonly used by businesses, for education, and to share artwork. Noteshare allows up to 36 users to view a notebook simultaneously.


HP-25

The HP-25 was a hand-held programmable scientific/engineering calculator made by Hewlett-Packard between 1975 and 1978. The HP-25 was introduced as a cheaper (US$195 MSRP) alternative to the ground-breaking HP-65.
To reduce cost, the HP-25 omitted the HP-65's magnetic card reader, so it could only be programmed using the keyboard. After switching off, the program was lost and had to be typed in again. The model HP-25C, introduced in 1976, addressed that shortcoming through the first use of battery-backed CMOS memory in a calculator, termed "continuous memory" by HP.
Like all early HP calculators, the 25 used the Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) for entering calculations, working on a four-level stack (x,y,z,t). Nearly all buttons had two alternative functions, accessed by a blue and yellow prefix key. A small sliding switch was used to change between "run" and "program" mode. The HP-25 used a 10-digit red LED display and was the first calculator to introduce the "engineering" display option, a denormalized mantissa/exponent format where the exponent is always a multiple of 3 to match the common SI prefixes, e.g. mega, kilo, milli, micro, nano.
The HP-25 had memory space for up to 49 program steps. It was the first HP calculator which used fully merged keycodes (storing prefix key and function key together in one program location) to save memory space. Additionally there were eight storage registers and specialized scientific and statistical functions. The owner's manual came with 161 pages in four colors and contained many mathematical, scientific, navigational and financial programming examples.
The HP-25 was about 25% smaller than the HP-65. It used the same trapezoid profiled keys introduced with the HP-65. The HP-25 was regarded as a competitor to the TI-58 and TI-58C calculators offered by Texas Instruments. Looking strictly at the functionality and capacity, the more equal competitor would be the TI-57. It lacked a few of the HP-25's functions, but had some other advantages.
One notable deficiency of the HP-25/25C was the lack of a subroutine capability, at a time when the TI-58 and even the earlier SR-56 had subroutines. Although 49 fully merged keycodes were roughly equivalent to the unmerged 100 steps of the SR-56; by the time the TI-58 arrived with 480 steps, subroutines, DSZ loops, etc., the HP-25/25C had serious competition. HP would go on to introduce the HP-29C/19C calculators with 99 merged steps, labels, and subroutines. And TI would introduce a TI-58C with continuous memory.


Microdata Corporation

Microdata Corporation was an Irvine, California-based computer company that
The company was initially formed as a hardware company.
Independently, TRW, in fulfillment of a mid-1960s government contract to build software to track inventory, developed a database system named Generalized Information Retrieval Language System (GIRLS). As a public domain item, a developer named Richard Pick was free to use it as the basis of a subsequent work, which eventually became the Pick operating system. The initial version was designed
to work on hardware produced by Microdata, which introduced the combination under the name Reality in 1974.
Since the software part of Reality was based on public domain work, Pick considered himself free to develop versions for other systems. A lawsuit followed. The ruling was that both Microdata and Pick could each consider themselves owners of the software.
McDonnell Douglas bought Microdata but eventually sold it off. Meanwhile, Pick revised his software to make it more portable, resulting in many systems able to run what now was called the Pick Operating System.
Many implementations followed: Prime Computer's Prime INFORMATION was done as far back as 1979 as a combination of FORTRAN and Assembler.
ENGLISH (programming language).
One way of accessing data under some of the Pick implementations had a number of names:
Microdata hardware.
There were 3 computer models offered by Microdata:
The original machine was a Microdata 800 microcomputer first made in 1969. This computer was licensed to the French company Intertechnique who sold it in Europe under the name Multi-8. It was particularly in use in nuclear power stations, research applications (such as crystallography and biology) and process control.
The Microdata 1600 was an updated version of the 800 processor (commercialized under the name Multi-4 by Intertechnique).
The original development of Reality was done on the Microdata 800. The first Reality system was based on the 1600 and was sold commercially in 1973. The unique feature of the early Microdata processors was that the microcode was accessible to the user and allowed the creation of custom assembler level instructions. The Reality system design made extensive use of this capability.
The Microdata 3200 was developed in 1974 and was a 16 bit microprogrammed system designed to implement a high level language similar to IBM's PL/I language. It was designed to a more specific purpose, but still retained a great deal of flexibility in the firmware to allow for very complex microprogrammed architectures to be supported.


Deep Blue C

Deep Blue C is a compiler for a subset of the C programming language for the Atari 8-bit family distributed by the Atari Program Exchange (APX). The compiler is a version of Ron Cain's public domain Small-C modified by John Howard Palevich to run on the Atari computer hardware. Palevich also wrote the Atari 8-bit game "Dandy" for APX. The syntax supported by "Deep Blue C" is close to that of ANSI C with significant limitations. The compiler creates binary code for Intel 8080 processor which is then executed by an 8080 virtual machine.
The source code to the compiler was sold by APX as "Deep Blue Secrets".
Limitations.
The following language constructs are not supported:
Other non-standard properties of Deep Blue C:
Sample program.
This program prints "Hello World!":
 main()
 printf("Hello World!");