Software appliance

A software appliance is a software application combined with just enough operating system (JeOS) to run optimally on industry-standard hardware (typically a server) or in a virtual machine. It is a software distribution or firmware that implements a computer appliance.
Virtual appliances are a subset of software appliances. The main distinction is the packaging format and the specificity of the target platform. A virtual appliance is a virtual machine image designed to run on a specific virtualization platform, while a software appliance is often packaged in more generally applicable image format (e.g., Live CD) that supports installations to physical machines and multiple types of virtual machines.
Installing a software appliance to a virtual machine and packaging that into an image, creates a virtual appliance.
Benefits.
Software appliances have several benefits over traditional software applications that are installed on top of an operating system:
Types of software appliances.
Virtual appliance.
A software appliance can be packaged in a virtual machine format as a virtual appliance, allowing it to be run within a virtual machine container.
A virtual appliance could be built using either a standard virtual machine format such as Open Virtualization Format (OVF), or a format specific to a particular virtual machine container (for example, VMware, VirtualBox, or Amazon EC2).
Live CD appliance.
A software appliance can be packaged as a Live CD image, allowing it to run on real hardware in addition to most types of virtual machines.
This allows developers to avoid the complexities involved in supporting multiple incompatible virtual machine image formats and focus on the lowest common denominator instead (i.e., ISO images are supported by most Virtual Machine platforms).
Commercial software appliances.
Commercial software appliances are typically sold as a subscription service
(pay-as-you-go) and are an alternative approach to software as a service.
Customers can receive all service and maintenance from the application vendor, eliminating the requirement to manage multiple maintenance streams, licenses, and service contracts.
In some cases, the application vendor may install the software appliance on a piece of hardware prior to delivery to the customer, thereby creating a computer appliance. In both cases, the primary value to the customer remains the simplicity of purchase, deployment, and maintenance.


L4Linux

L4Linux is a variant of the Linux kernel that is being altered to the extent that it can run virtualized on the L4. L4 is a microkernel and the L4Linux kernel runs a service. L4Linux is not a fork but a variant and is binary compatible with the Linux/x86 kernel, thus it can replace the Linux kernel of any Linux distribution.
L4Linux is being developed by the Dresden Real-Time Operating System Project (DROPS) to allow Real-time and Time-sharing-Programs to run on a computer in parallel at the same time.
L4Linux also allows the setting up of a virtualized environment vaguely similar to Xen or KVM, but there are a couple of significant differences between the intention of Xen and L4Linux.
L4Android.
L4Android is a fork of L4Linux which encompasses the modifications to the main-line Linux kernel for Android. It is a joint project of the operating systems group of the Dresden University of Technology and the Chair for Security in Telecommunications of the Berlin Institute of Technology.


SPARC64 III


List of PlayStation Vita games (S)

Games list (S).
For a chronological list, click the sort button in any of the available region's columns. Games dated December 17, 2011 (JP), February 15, 2012 (NA), and February 22, 2012 (EU) are launch titles of each region respectively.


Automobili Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini is a 1997 racing video game developed and published by Titus Software for the Nintendo 64. It is a successor to "Lamborghini American Challenge".
In 1998, an improved version subtitled was released in Japan only. This version was distributed by Taito, presented as a successor to the company's "Speed Race" series from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Improvements include a new difficulty level, the ability to freely customize controls, the introduction of weather, and actual pictures of various models of Lamborghini with their names displayed before the demo screen.
Gameplay.
"Automobili Lamborghini" is an arcade-style racing game similar to the "Ridge Racer" or the early "Need for Speed" series. There are 4 modes of play: Arcade, Championship, Single Race, and Time Trials. Arcade and Championship consist of a series of races and the ability to unlock various cars; Single Race is a practice mode in normal racing conditions, and Time Trials is a single player race against the player's best times.
To challenge these modes, the game features eight vehicles resembling real supercars: the two default cars, representing the Lamborghini Diablo and the Lamborghini Countach; and six unlockable cars won by beating the six configurations of championships, representing the Porsche 959, the Ferrari F50, the Ferrari Testarossa, the Dodge Viper, the McLaren F1, and the Bugatti EB110.
Reception.
Reviews for "Automobili Lamborghini" ranged from mixed to positive. Critics overwhelmingly lauded its graphics and high frame rate even in four-player, split-screen races. "Next Generation" called it "one of the more beautiful racers in what is hands-down the most filled-out genre for the system" and "GameSpot" commented that "The roads and scenery are beautifully rendered and blur by so fast. It's quite an assault to your equilibrium. The illusion of g-forces is undeniable, as is the sensation of just soaring over the track."
The controls were a far more divisive issue. Though "Next Generation", "GameSpot", and "Electronic Gaming Monthly" all praised the handling as realistic, tight, and easy to learn, "GamePro", "IGN"s Peer Schneider, and The Electric Playground's Victor Lucas contended that the controls are overly touchy and difficult to master. Some also criticized the lack of an option to change the control configuration and the lack of visible damage from collisions.
Critics highly praised the game's multiplayer mode, especially the then-rare ability to have human and A.I. opponents at the same time. John Ricciardi of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" said this feature made "Automobili Lamborghini" his "favorite N64 racer so far". By contrast, Lucas criticized the "relatively paper thin gameplay", bland colors, and "intolerably stupid" computer opponent. He said that the game should have included more cars and tracks, and criticized the sound effects: "These are sports cars of magnitude. The hums, whines and purrs of these particular 'mobiles should not be taken lightly. However, there are times when it sounds like this is a race of turbo-charged hand blenders." "GamePro" complained at the lack of a reverse gear but found the ability to use both the Rumble Pak and Controller Pak innovative. The reviewer concluded the game to be flawed and lacking in originality, and recommended players instead get "". Though praising almost every aspect of the game, "Next Generation" concluded that "It really needs a better sense of speed and more tension, or at least some unique element besides its dream-car license to set it apart. "AL64" makes a decent rental, but even at Nintendo's recently lowered prices, it's no steal." However, a majority of reviewers praised the game's sense of speed. Schneider assessed that "although there are a few obvious faults in the game, this sequel to the Euro-hit "Lamborghini American Challenge" for the Super NES does a decent job at bringing street racing home."


Merom (microprocessor)

"Merom" is the code name for various Intel processors that are sold as Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Solo, Pentium Dual-Core and Celeron. It was the first mobile processor to be based on the Core microarchitecture, replacing the Enhanced Pentium M-based Yonah processor. Merom has the product code 80537, which is shared with "Merom-2M" and "Merom-L" that are very similar but have a smaller L2 cache. Merom-L has only one processor core and a different CPUID model. The desktop version of Merom is Conroe and the dual-socket server version is Woodcrest. Merom was manufactured in a 65 nanometer process, and was succeeded by Penryn, a 45 nm version of the Merom architecture. Together, Penryn and Merom represented the first 'tick-tock' in Intel's Tick-Tock manufacturing paradigm, in which Penryn was the 'tick' (new process) to Merom's 'tock' (new architecture).
Variants.
Merom.
Merom, the first mobile version of the Core 2, was officially released on July 27, 2006, but quietly began shipping to PC manufacturers in mid-July, alongside Conroe. Merom became Intel's premier line of mobile processors, with mostly the same features as Conroe, but with a greater emphasis on low power consumption to enhance notebook battery life. Merom-based Core 2 Duo provides a slight performance increase associated with 3D rendering and media-encoding tasks, yet maintains the same battery life as the Yonah-based Core Duo. Merom is the first Intel mobile processor to feature Intel 64 architecture.
The first version of Merom is "drop-in" compatible with Napa platform for Core Duo, requiring at most a motherboard BIOS update. It has a similar thermal envelope of 34 W and the same 667 MT/s FSB rate. The Merom die features 4 MB L2 cache, half of which is deactivated in the T5xx0 CPUs. A native 2 MB L2 version of the Merom core, called Merom-2M, was rolled out in early 2007 as a counterpart to "Allendale". The Merom-2M core uses the steppings L2 and M0 and the ultra-low-voltage versions of the Core 2 Duo use this core.
A second wave of Merom processors featuring an 800 MT/s FSB and using the new Socket P was launched on May 9, 2007. These chips are part of Santa Rosa platform. Low voltage versions were also released on May 9, 2007.
"Merom" (מרום) is the Hebrew word for a higher plane of existence or a level of heaven; "BaMerom" (במרום) means "in the heavens". The name was chosen by the Intel team in Haifa, Israel, who designed this processor.
Merom XE.
The Core 2 Extreme Mobile processor, based on the Merom XE core, is a mobile CPU designed for laptops. It was released in two models, the X7900 and the X7800. These feature an 800 MT/s FSB. The X7800, introduced on July 16, 2007, is clocked at 2.6 GHz and costs around $851 for OEMs. The processor features a 44 W TDP and requires the new Intel Centrino (Santa Rosa) platform. The X7900, introduced on August 22, 2007, is clocked at 2.8 GHz.
The X7900 processor was used in the top-end iMacs released on August 7, 2007.
Merom-2M.
The mobile version of the Allendale desktop processor is often called Merom-2M to identify the smaller L2 cache. Some T5xxx and T7xxx processors have come out with both Merom and Merom-2M dies, which can only be distinguished through their stepping number.
Merom-L.
The Merom-L processor is based on the same model as Conroe-L but is used in mobile Socket M and Socket P systems as Celeron 5xx and Core 2 Solo U2xxx, some of which also use regular Merom and Merom-2M chips with one core disabled in contrast to the real Merom-L that only has 1 MB L2 cache and a single core. The CPUID is family 6 model 23 (10661h), which is between Merom and Penryn.
The first Core 2 Solo processors were launched in Q3 2007 and consisted of the U2100 and U2200, which run at 1.06 and 1.2 GHz, respectively. They both feature a 533 MT/s FSB and are part of Intel's ULV family, running at only 5 W. Like the rest of the Core 2 family, they are 64-bit compatible. They were released with compatibility for the Napa platform rather than the newer Santa Rosa platform due to power consumption concerns.
Fixes.
Microsoft has released a microcode update (KB2493989) for Windows 7 that addresses several stability issues on selected "Penryn" and "Merom" CPUs.


List of Intel Pentium D microprocessors

The Pentium D brand refers to dual-core desktop microprocessors by Intel targeted at the consumer market with CPU with the Smithfield and Presler cores of 8xx- and 9xx-series respectively, also branded as Pentium Extreme Edition 840, 955, and 965.


Job File Table

The Job File Table (JFT) is a DOS data structure in the Program Segment Prefix (PSP). It starts at PSP offset 0x18 and is 20 bytes long. For each open file handle, DOS stores the index into the System File Table (SFT). A file handle that is returned by codice_1, codice_2, and other similar functions is simply an index into the JFT where DOS stored the SFT entry index for the file or device that the program opened.
When a program starts, the first 5 entries in the JFT are preconnected to the standard devices. All other handles are marked as closed by setting the value of the entry to 0xFF. The standard devices are initialised as follows:
Handles 0-2 are connected to the console device. During program execution they can get modified (closed, redirected) like any other handle.
Because the size of the JFT in the PSP is limited to 20 bytes, originally only 15 files (20-5 standard devices) could be open at a time. In MS-DOS 2.0, the Extended Job File Table was introduced, which allowed up to 254 files to be opened.
As of MS-DOS 3.30, the size of the JFT can be modified with a call to codice_3.


VOL (command)


Ace Lightning

Ace Lightning is a children's television series co-produced by the BBC and Alliance Atlantis. The series was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom but was also aired in other countries including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The show was filmed in Canada, but the program was set in the United States. It ran for two seasons, and spawned a number of merchandising products. The series premiered on 4 September 2002 and ended on 18 May 2005
The programme featured live actors interacting with computer animated characters from a fictional video game. The series is significant in that until its creation, live action and CGI had not been attempted to such a huge and constant degree within a weekly television serial.
Series overview.
The series follows the life of British teenager Mark Hollander who moved to the American town Conestoga Hills with his parents. One stormy night, Mark plays his favourite video game, the fictional "Ace Lightning and the Carnival of Doom" - a superhero-based adventure game where hero Ace Lightning traverses the Carnival of Doom to find the pieces of the magical Amulet of Zoar, whilst battling his nemesis Lord Fear. Mark stumbles across a mysterious seventh level which is not meant to exist. A lightning bolt strikes the antenna on his roof, and through an electrical surge, the characters of the game come to life. Ace hires Mark as his sidekick to fulfil the game's objectives in the real world. Mark's life is turned upside-down, and his duty as a Lightning Knight affects his school grades and social life, often forcing him to make excuses to his family and friends. Meanwhile, Lord Fear's group of villains occupy the town's rundown Kent Bros. Carnival.
Most episodes balanced Mark's social issues and dealing with the game characters, and the animated characters fighting over the collected Amulet pieces. The world and rules of the game played out in Conestoga Hill; for example when two pieces of the Amulet were connected, a new character or weapon would be summoned. Four human characters learned of Mark's double life including his best friend Chuck Mugel, girlfriend Kat Adams, school teacher Mr. Cheseborough who comes to the belief that the characters are aliens, and Mark's cousin Ashley. Another character who is aware of the goings on is Duff Kent, the owner of the carnival who is shanghaied into being a minion for Lord Fear. An ongoing story was the love triangle between Ace and villain Lady Illusion, who was Lord Fear's mistress throughout the first season but betrays him in the finale.
The first season ended with Mark winning the game, with all the antagonists save Lady Illusion returning to the game world. In the second season, Chuck becomes Ace's secondary sidekick, and all of the villains return under the leadership of a new antagonist named Kilobyte. Kilobyte was created by Rick Hummel, a computer repairman and former games developer who took on the alias the "Master Programmer". Rick developed the program that brought the game to life, but was ridiculed and fired as a result. He desired to prove his worth by bringing the characters to life and ultimately conquering the world. A blackout in his shop allows Kilobyte to become independent, determined to rule the world. In the series finale, Ace and Lord Fear join forces and banish Kilobyte to the game world. However, Lord Fear turns on Ace and mortally wounds him, only to reveal that Lady Illusion took his place, and she dies in Ace's arms.
Characters.
The cast of characters balances live human characters who lives in the town of Conestoga Hills, and computer-generated characters from the fictional video game "Ace Lightning and the Carnival of Doom". The main protagonist is 13-year-old Mark Hollander (Thomas Wansey), a British teenager who immigrates from the United Kingdom with his parents. He wants a normal life, but the antics of the video game characters disrupts his friendships, grades, and social life. He often interacts with his school friends and trying to keep them in the dark. His best friend Chuck Mugel (Marc Minardi) is an avid fan of the game, and becomes Ace's secondary sidekick in the second season. Mark has three girlfriends during the series - next door neighbour Samantha Thompson (Shadia Simmons) who moves to a private school in the second season, gossip girl Heather Hoffs (Petra Wildgoose), and headstrong Kat Adams (Ashley Leggat) who wants to be a journalist.
The titular character, Ace Lightning (Michael Riley), is a superhero from the Sixth Dimension and a member of the authoritarian organization known as the Lightning Knights. He starts off as a snarky, courageous hero who does not understand much about human relations or their culture, but over time evolves into a better person. He starts secretly dating Lady Illusion (Tamara Bernier Evans), a shapeshifting villainess who is mistress of the main antagonist Lord Fear (Juan Chioran). The love triangle between the three is a main storyline in the series. Lord Fear himself is a lich who was crippled by Ace in the past and wishes to use the magical Amulet of Zoar to conquer the world. He leads a small band of minions and operates from the Carnival of Doom, actually a rundown carnival owned by Duff Kent (Phillip Williams) who is used as a slave by the villains.
The second season introduced Kilobyte (Ted Atherton), a sinister man who usurps Lord Fear and plots to slowly hunt Ace and destroy him. Kilobyte was created by Rick Hummel (Brett Heard), a programmer on the original game who was fired after developing the program that brought the characters to life. He works as a computer repairman and takes on Chuck as an employee. Another notable character is Mr. Cheseborough (R.D. Reid), Mark's science teacher who becomes convinced the game characters are aliens after being briefly abducted by Lord Fear, and becomes increasingly paranoid over the series.
Episodes.
Season 1 (2002–2003).
The season aired between September 2002 and March 2003. When broadcast in America, the episodes were shown out of order, which sometimes resulted in severe continuity errors. For instance, "Tunnel of Love" was shown before "Once Upon a Hero." Random Virus would show up as an established character the day before he would be established.
Season 2 (2005).
The second series was broadcast in most countries in 2004, but it aired in the United Kingdom during the summer of 2005 for unknown reasons. This season was not aired in the United States due to the poor reception of the first season. The graphics were greatly improved, and several of the characters including Staff Head and Pigface were changed to look more like the animals they resembled. Kilobyte, Rotgut, Kat Adams and Rick the Master Programmer made their debut in this season. Chuck also met the Lightning Knights, and Mark got his own weapon, allowing him to battle the villains. There were only 13 episodes with one overall storyline.
Production.
The show was developed by BBC and Alliance Atlantis, with Rick Siggelkow as executive producer and creator of the show, and Jim Corston as head writer. Originally, the program's plot was to feature a superhero from a comic book coming to life but it was changed due to children playing videos games more as a pastime than reading comics. Mark was inspired by Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker. The series was in pre-production for two years, and took a year and a half to complete the first season.
Matt Ficner designed the computer-generated characters for the series, and also provided the voices of Zip and Snip in the first season. Several characters were scrapped or did not make it into the series, including "Scrambler" (an early design of Kilobyte), "Buzzbeast" (a cybernetic dinosaur), "Candy Floss" (a female archer with a punk theme) and a group of villains referred to as "Carnival Grunts". Some characters were quite detailed in concept art, but their designs had to be simplified to meet the program's budget. The series was shot in Toronto in 2001 between 23 June and 22 November of that year.
Reception.
According to the 2003-2004 annual review of BBC Worldwide's children's products, the series was a success and translated into different languages and forty countries, gaining high ratings in the United States on DIC Kids Network. The series received 1.2 million viewers on average during the first season's airing in the United Kingdom.
However, a social argument occurred in 2004 regarding the series' content in relation to the Children's Television Act. Children's television analyst Dale Kunkel, a communication professor at the University of Arizona, described the series and "Stargate Infinity" as "anti-social". The opinions were shared by the activist groups the United Church of Christ and Center of Digital Democracy, viewing both programmes as violent. Former CEO of DIC Entertainment, Andy Heyward, defended "Ace Lightning", taking the educational requirement very seriously for each episode. Heyward also had the support of Donald F. Roberts, who believed the descriptions given by the activists "mischaracterizes" the series they were attacking.
Video game adaptation.
A video game titled "Ace Lightning" release on PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, and Game Boy Advance in March 22, 2003. Only sale in Europe.


Virtual machine introspection

In computing, virtual machine introspection (VMI) is a technique "for monitoring the runtime state of a system-level virtual machine (VM)", which is helpful for debugging or forensic analysis.
The term "introspection" in application to the virtual machines was introduced by Garfinkel and Rosenblum. They invented an approach for "protecting a security application from attack by malicious software" and called it VMI. Now VMI is a common term for different virtual machine forensics and analysis methods. VMI-based approaches are widely used for security applications, software debugging, and systems management.
VMI tools may be located inside or outside the virtual machine and act by tracking the events (interrupts, memory writes, and so on) or sending the requests to the virtual machine. Virtual machine monitor usually provides low-level information like raw bytes of the memory. Converting this low-level view into something meaningful for the user is known as the semantic gap problem. Solving this problem requires analysis and understanding of the systems being monitored.
VMI within the virtual machine.
Programs running inside VM may provide information about other processes. This information may be sent through network interface or some virtual devices like serial port.
The examples of in vivo introspection programs are WinDbg
or GDB servers that interact with the remote debugger.
The drawback of this approach is that it requires functioning OS within the VM. If OS hangs or isn't loaded yet, the introspection agent couldn't work.
VMI outside the virtual machine.
VMI tools may be implemented within the virtual machine monitor or as a separate programs
that capture information (e.g., contents of the memory) from the virtual machine monitor.
Then this data has to be interpreted to understand the processes in the system. One of the popular tools for such interpretation is Volatility framework. This framework contains profiles for many popular operating systems and may extract different information like process tree or list of the kernel objects.


Atari Anniversary Edition

Atari Anniversary Edition is a collection of classic Atari coin-op games, and was released in 2001 on the Dreamcast, PlayStation, and PC, with a smaller version in 2002 on the Game Boy Advance. The PlayStation release was in 2001 with the title Atari Anniversary Edition Redux, and it has a slightly altered game list. Also included are interviews with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, among other special features.
On the PC, earlier titles were Atari Arcade Hits 1, released 5 July 1999, Atari Arcade Hits 2, released in 2000, and Atari Greatest Hits, also released in 2000. "Atari Greatest Hits" was basically both volumes of "Atari Arcade Hits" packaged together as a 2-CD set. In 2001, this set was re-packaged in a single CD under the "Atari Anniversary Edition" title. These releases make the original "Microsoft Arcade" obsolete.
The Game Boy Advance version, Atari Anniversary Advance, marked the debut of classic arcade emulation on the Game Boy Advance.
Games.
The following games are included in the pack. (For games that appear on the PC, volume number indicates which separate volume of "Atari Arcade Hits" initially included the game):
Advance.
Atari Anniversary Advance has six of the games from Volumes 1 and 2:
This version also includes "Tempest Tubes", an after-market level replacement hack, and features a "Trivia Challenge", a collection of questions about Atari and its 1980s video games.


Unix System Laboratories

Unix System Laboratories (USL), sometimes written UNIX System Laboratories to follow relevant trademark guidelines of the time, was an American software laboratory and product development company that existed from 1989 through 1993. At first wholly, and then majority, owned by AT&T, it was responsible for the development and maintenance of one of the main branches of the Unix operating system, the UNIX System V Release 4 source code product. Through Univel, a partnership with Novell, it was also responsible for the development and production of the UnixWare packaged operating system for Intel architecture. In addition it developed Tuxedo, a transaction processing monitor, and was responsible for certain products related to the C++ programming language. USL was based in Summit, New Jersey, and its CEOs were Larry Dooling followed by Roel Pieper.
Created from earlier AT&T entities, USL was, as industry writer Christopher Negus has observed, the culmination of AT&T's long involvement in Unix, "a jewel that couldn't quite find a home or a way to make a profit." USL was sold to Novell in 1993.
Origins as subsidiary of AT&T.
AT&T announced the creation of the UNIX Software Operation (USO) – a separate and distinct AT&T business unit responsible for the development, marketing, and licensing of UNIX System V software – in January 1989. This was done, as a subsequent press release stated, "in order to separate AT&T's UNIX System source code business from its computer systems business," the latter a reference to AT&T Computer Systems. USO included the AT&T Data Systems Group organizations responsible for UNIX product planning and management, licensing, and marketing. Peter J. Weinberger was named chief scientist of USO while also retaining his job in the computing science research center at Bell Labs; no other Bell Labs assets were transferred to USO. The head of USO was Larry Dooling, who had been a vice-president in sales and marketing in the AT&T Data Systems Group.
Unlike the original Unix work, which had been done in the Bell Labs facility in Murray Hill, USO and the commercialization work was done a few miles away in Summit, New Jersey,
in a building located off a cloverleaf-like interchange among New Jersey Route 24, New Jersey Route 124, and John F. Kennedy Parkway and across from The Mall at Short Hills
and near the Passaic River.
UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., came into being as a separate subsidiary of AT&T in November 1989 and was assigned all U.S.-based AT&T Unix and USO assets.
However USO continued to operate as USO until June 1990, when the reincorporation of AT&T's European and Asian Unix business operations as wholly owned subsidiaries of USL was completed. At that point the UNIX Software Operation was publicly rebranded as UNIX System Laboratories.
Again, a point of emphasis was to separate the Unix-based business from AT&T's hardware-based business. The subsidiaries were known as UNIX System Laboratories Europe, Ltd., sited near Ealing Broadway in London, and UNIX System Laboratories Pacific, Ltd., located in Shiba, Tokyo.
Dooling was named the initial president of USL, continuing from his position at USO.
These organizational changes were taking place in the context of the open systems movement and the ongoing Unix wars. In consequence, the pro-AT&T side Unix International (as opposed to the anti-AT&T side Open Software Foundation) declared that "In the last 18 months AT&T has made good on its commitment to treat UNIX System as the industry asset it is and to open the UNIX System V development process to the entire industry."
Unix System V work.
One unit within USL, called the UNIX System V Software business unit and headed by Michael J. DeFazio, was responsible for the development of the UNIX System V base technology. DeFazio had held a similar role within USO.
The USO/USL staff was heavily involved in the creation of UNIX System V Release 4, which shipped in 1989 and was a joint project with Sun Microsystems. This work incorporated technology from a variety of Unix-based efforts, including UNIX System V, BSD, and Xenix. There were additions and new innovations as well from both the AT&T and Sun sides. System V Release 4 debuted at the Unix Expo trade show in New York in November 1989, in the form of source code availability for it as well as demonstrations from Unix International of SVR4-based applications running on seventeen different vendor platforms. End-user versions of Release 4 became available during 1990.
Next USL engaged in an especially arduous effort into trying to satisfy the requirements of the National Computer Security Center's Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria ("Orange Book") to the B2 level. This manifested itself in System V Release 4.1 ES (Enhanced Security), which also included generally useful features such as support for dynamic loading of kernel modules.
Following that, USL worked on System V Release 4.2, which was released in June 1992. "InfoWorld" characterized this effort as "at the core of an assault on the enterprise networking market," with a modular architecture that stressed improved support for enterprise- and network-level administration, drivers for both Token Ring and Ethernet, and a greater ability to run on low-end machine configurations.
Multiprocessing became the focus of the final USL-based OEM release of System V, which was Release 4.2MP, released in December 1993.
USL continued the publication of an early Unix standard, the System V Interface Definition (SVID). Moreover, the SVID became one of the bases for the more important, vendor-independent POSIX standard for Unix, which System V Release 4 releases also conformed to, as well as the later Single UNIX Specification.
USL produced many books documenting various aspects of Unix System V.
USL also provided some training and consulting services for Unix systems.
Chorus and Ouverture.
In 1991, USL forged an arrangement with the French company Chorus Systèmes SA to engage in cooperative work on the Chorus microkernel technology, with the idea of supporting SVR4 on a microkernel and thereby making it more scalable and better suited for parallel and distributed applications. As part of this, USL took a $1 million stake in Chorus Systèmes. Much of the USL Chorus work was done at the USL Europe facility in London. By 1993 the work was still ongoing, with questions of industry standardization of interfaces arising. Unisys was also part of the collaboration effort. Announcements made during 1993 promised an OEM release in 1994 and a general availability release in 1995.
This was part of the larger Ouverture project, a $14 million effort that was itself part of the European Strategic Program on Research in Information Technology (ESPRIT), overseen by the European Commission.
Other software work.
Another unit within USL, called the Open Solutions Software business unit and headed by Joel A. Appelbaum, was responsible for other system software that in some way worked in conjunction with Unix.
The Tuxedo transaction processing middleware had also been transferred from elsewhere in AT&T to USL. It had originated as the Loop Maintenance Operations System (LMOS) followed by the Unix Transaction System (UNITS) and was used for projects internally within AT&T. It was then renamed by USL and, as Release 4.0 of what was now called Tuxedo, in 1989 was offered for the first time as a commercial product.
USL also developed and marketed the OSI Communications Platform, which was an implementation of the OSI protocols for Unix-based networking.
C++ language work.
There was also a languages department at Unix System Laboratories, which was responsible for the C language compiler and development tools used to build Unix. Moreover, it was responsible for commercial sales related to the C++ language, including development tools such as the Cfront compiler that had come from AT&T.
Indeed, the paper describing one of the first implementations of automatic instantiation of C++ templates in a C++ compiler had as lead author an engineer associated with Unix System Laboratories. And Margaret A. Ellis, co-author with C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup of "The Annotated C++ Reference Manual", an important publication in the history of the language, was a USL software engineer.
USL also continued the development of, and attempted to market, C++ Standard Components,
an early instance of a C++ software foundation library that supported container classes and various other computer science-based functionality such as finite-state machines, graphs, and regular expressions. The Standard Components originated in conjunction with early developments in the C++ language in Bell Labs and became widely used internally within AT&T, by one estimate being used in hundreds of projects.
They represented an effort among early library writers there to design reusable code using C++ idioms. Unlike its other offerings, which were sold to OEM vendors and resellers, here USL sold to end users. The initial release of USL C++ Standard Components to the general computing industry was labelled as Release 2.0 and occurred in 1991; it suffered from an awkward mechanism to get around the lack of templates in the container classes. That was followed by Release 3.0, which added support for templates, in 1992.
Some within USL believed that C++ Standard Components could become a language standard as well as a significant source of revenue, but it had trouble gaining traction outside of AT&T. Stroustrup would later describe these goals as "a misguided belief". In any case, all such libraries were soon eclipsed by the radically different Standard Template Library (STL), which became the standardized foundation library for the C++ language. As it happens, one of the Standard Components, array_alg, was designed by the creator of STL, Alex Stepanov, and can be considered an early predecessor of STL.
Partial spinoff from AT&T.
In April 1991, USL became partly independent of AT&T when about 22 percent of it, worth about $65 million, was sold to eleven outside computer vendors: Amdahl, Motorola, Novell, Sun, ICL, Olivetti, Fujitsu, NEC, OKI Electric, Toshiba, and the Institute for Information Industry. There was a stated goal to lessen the control AT&T had over Unix, which would lead to USL becoming a publicly owned company within three years.
An AT&T executive said, "AT&T is convinced that the best way to nurture the growth of the open systems movement and to share into it ourselves is to establish an independent Unix Systems Laboratory with the technical guidance of Unix International and the business advice of investors who will ensure that USL is run properly and profitably."
By this point USL had some 500 employees, 2400 customers, and annual revenue around the $100 million mark. AT&T said that USL had been profitable since its inception in 1989.
USL got a new president and CEO in November 1991 when Dooling was replaced by the Dutchman Roel Pieper, formerly chief technical officer of Software AG.
USL was aggressive in defending its perceived intellectual property rights, initiating as the plaintiff a lawsuit in 1992 against Berkeley Software Design makers of and the Regents of the University of California over copyrights and trademarks related to Unix. The case was known as "UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. v. Berkeley Software Design, Inc." and in it USL asked the court for a preliminary injunction that would bar the Berkeley firm and the university from distributing their Net/2 operating system release, which was implied to be Unix, until the case was concluded. In response the university filed a countersuit against AT&T for alleged breaches in the licensing agreement the two parties had. (The case was settled out of court in January 1994.)
Univel and UnixWare.
In December 1991, USL combined with Novell to form the Univel joint venture. The goal was to make the "Destiny" desktop for Intel commodity hardware, which would be USL's first shrink-wrapped binary product, with the necessary resources for sales, marketing, and distribution being moved into the new entity.
Kanwal Rekhi, a Novell vice president who helped launch Univel, said the
goal was to create a "Unix for the masses".
A May 1992 "InfoWorld" interview with Pieper captured some of the ambitions of USL at the time, as Pieper said: "It is not just a new Unix version; rather it is the creation of an entire model change for Unix that says there are better ways to bring the benefits and features of Unix into a distributed PC environment. The earlier model did not allow Unix to play in the low-end market because of its size, complexity, and cost. The new model calls for business partnerships, such as the one with Novell, to deliver Unix to the commercial marketplace." In another interview around the same time, Pieper predicted that if the new Unix became a success, USL revenue could increase ten-fold to $1 billion within five years.
Pieper acknowledged that similar Unix efforts had failed in the past, but said that the presence of Novell's PC presence and marketing experience as well as the interest of Intel would make the difference this time.
Indeed, Pieper had aspirations to be another Bill Gates: "I want to be in the same position."
UnixWare 1.0, which is what Destiny became a product as, was announced on October 12, 1992. It was based on the Unix System V release 4.2 kernel. The MoOLIT toolkit was used for the windowing system, allowing the user to choose between an OPEN LOOK or MOTIF-like look and feel at run time. In order to make the system more robust on commodity desktop hardware the Veritas VXFS journaling file system was used in place of the UFS file system used in SVR4. Networking support in UnixWare included both TCP/IP and interoperability with Novell's NetWare protocols of IPX/SPX. The former were the standard among Unix users at the time of development, while PC networking was much more commonly based on the highly successful NetWare product; indeed, the base level of the Personal Edition of UnixWare did not even have TCP/IP included, while the Application Server version did.
Initial sales of UnixWare were underwhelming, with Unix facing a difficult time in the PC market. This was in part because Windows already had a stronghold there, in part because USL's third-party licensing payment obligations made low-cost sales uneconomical, and in part because of a lack of applications to run on UnixWare.
Acquisition by Novell.
On December 21, 1992, it was announced that Novell would acquire Unix System Laboratories, and all of its Unix assets, including all copyrights, trademarks, and licensing contracts, for some $335 million in stock. The news led to large headlines of the "NOVELL BUYS UNIX" variety.
The measure was intended to help Novell compete against Microsoft, which was on the verge of including networking as a built-in feature of Windows in conjunction with the Windows NT server. It was also an outgrowth of Novell chief Ray Noorda's theories about coopetition in a technology industry.
The move seemed like a long shot to analysts, with a commentary piece in "Computerworld" outlining the obstacles to success and stating, "Saying this deal has the technical potential to counter Windows NT is very different from predicting that it will do so."
There was negative reaction to the acquisition from USL shareholders, USL employees, and members of Unix International. Noorda had to emphasize that Novell had no plans to move USL operations from New Jersey to Utah, where Novell was based. And Noorda and Pieper had to travel to Japan to reassure USL shareholders and investors there.
Nonetheless, the deal was finalized in June 1993.
Novell created the Unix Systems Group to contain the new business, which also absorbed the Univel venture.
Rekhi was named as the head of the Unix Systems Group. Pieper, who had been assigned under Rekhi with little role to play, soon departed, leaving Novell in August 1993.
The USL Europe office in London was moved into Novell's facility in Bracknell, Berkshire. The Chorus work it was doing became the basis for the Novell "SuperNOS", a project to create a microkernel-based, UnixWare–NetWare hybrid, network operating system.
Legacy.
The acquisition of USL never really worked out for Novell, and was followed by Novell's misguided acquisitions of WordPerfect and Quattro Pro in another attempt to compete head-to-head with Microsoft. In particular, the "SuperNOS" project never achieved fruition.
Novell announced the sale of Unix to the Santa Cruz Operation, coincident with a licensing arrangement with Hewlett Packard, in September 1995. Following another change of ownership, the renamed The SCO Group and the Unix System V source base became elements of the SCO–Linux disputes. After The SCO Group went bankrupt, the SCO products using the Unix System V source base were purchased by UnXis, later renamed to Xinuos.
Although it never took off within the industry, C++ Standard Components remained in the development kits for Novell UnixWare, later SCO UnixWare, into the 2000s. Tuxedo was acquired by BEA Systems in the 1990s, and then upon that firm being acquired became part of Oracle Fusion Middleware.
In the view of writer Christopher Negus,
"The UNIX Laboratory was considered a jewel that couldn't quite find a home or a way to make a profit. As it moved between Bell Laboratories and other areas of AT&T, its name changed several times. It is probably best remembered by the name it had as it began its spin-off from AT&T: UNIX System Laboratories (USL)."
However Negus believes that in three crucial respects USL's actions – in continuing to release a source code product to its partners, in working to define industry standards such as POSIX, and in making decisions on the direction of Unix based on technical merit not corporate advantage – paved the way for the rise of a Unix-like entity such as the Linux operating system, and that this beneficial historical role has been obscured by the SCO–Linux controversies.


SPARC M7


Qualcomm Centriq

Centriq ( ) is a brand of system on a chip (SoC) semiconductor products designed and marketed by Qualcomm for data centers. The Centriq central processing unit (CPU) uses the ARM RISC instruction set, with multiple CPU cores in a single chip.
History.
Pre-release.
In November 2014, Qualcomm announced it was developing an ARM ARMv8-A microarchitecture based CPU that was purpose-built for data centers. In December 2016, the company announced and demonstrated the first multi-core CPUs based on a custom ARM ARMv8-A microarchitecture.
Early products.
The first Centriq 2400 series of products were made available to server manufacturers in November 2017. With these first products, Qualcomm introduced its "Falkor" ARMv8-A microarchitecture. The chip has up to 48 of Qualcomm's custom designed "Falkor" cores at up to 2.6GHz, with six-channel DDR4 memory and a 60 MB L3 cache.
Market environment.
A number of reviews have noted at its release that the Centriq is expected to face significant competition from established x86-64 data-center CPU manufacturers Intel and AMD, and ARM microarchitecture server products such as Cavium's ThunderX2. In addition to competitive pressures, it has been noted that running established workloads on ARM microarchitectures requires re-optimizing and recompiling the software, or x86-64 emulation, presenting a barrier to entry for some potential customers.


List of Intel Core i3 processors

The following is a list of Intel Core i3 brand microprocessors. These processors are designed with cheap price points, while still retaining the power of the Intel Core line. As such they (along with Intel's i5 series) are often found in laptops and low-end desktop computers.


Mischief Makers

Mischief Makers, released in Japan as is a 1997 side-scrolling platform video game developed by Treasure and published by Enix and Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. The player assumes the role of Marina, a robotic maid who journeys to rescue her creator from the emperor of Planet Clancer. The gameplay revolves around grabbing, shaking, and throwing objects. There are five worlds and 52 levels, and the game is displayed in 2.5D.
The game was the first 2D side-scrolling game for the Nintendo 64, and Treasure's first release for a Nintendo console. The company began "Mischief Makers" development in mid-1995 with little knowledge of the console's features. The 12-person team wanted to make a novel gameplay mechanic, and implementing the resultant "catching" technique became their most difficult task. The game appeared at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo and was released in Japan on June 27 the same year and later in the United States, Europe, and Australia.
The game received "mixed or average reviews", according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic. Critics praised "Mischief Makers" inventiveness, personality, and boss fights, but criticized its short length, low difficulty, low replay value, sound, and harsh introductory learning curve. Retrospective reviewers disagreed with the originally poor reception, and multiple reviewers noted Marina's signature "Shake, shake!" sound bite as a highlight. Video game journalists cited "Mischief Makers" as ripe for reissue either through the Nintendo eShop or in a sequel or franchise reboot. In 2009, "GamesRadar" called it "possibly the most underrated and widely ignored game on the N64".
Gameplay.
 "Mischief Makers" is the first single-player 2D side-scrolling platform game on the Nintendo 64 console. Its gameplay combines platform game mechanics with aspects from the action and puzzle genres. The characters and backgrounds are modeled in pre-rendered 3D similar to "Donkey Kong Country" "Advanced Computer Modeling". This style, with 3D backgrounds behind 2D gameplay, is known as "D". Compared to previous Treasure run and gun games, "Mischief Makers" gameplay is more exploratory in nature.
The player-character, a robotic maid named Marina, journeys to save her kidnapped creator. The story takes place on Planet Clancer, a world on the cusp of civil war due to the actions of its Emperor and his Imperial forces. The Emperor brainwashes Clancers to kidnap the visiting robotics genius Professor Theo. Theo's creation, the player-character Ultra-InterGalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears, pursues the professor and grabs, throws, and shakes the obstacles in her way, such as enemies, floating "Clanball" platforms, warp stars, and missiles. Almost all game objects can be grabbed, which lends towards the shake-based combat system. Marina can shake "grabbed" objects to throw them as projectiles or to find loot. Objects sometimes change functions when shaken, such as items that become homing missiles and guns with multi-directional shots. Some drop red, blue, and green gems, which restore player health. The health gauge in the corner of the screen shows the amount of damage Marina can take. The player can store up to two additional stock lives. Yellow gems hidden in each level extend the final cutscene's length. Marina can run, jump, and boost (via jetpack) in the eight cardinal and ordinal directions. She can also slide, hover, and roll.
The game has five worlds with roughly twelve levels apiece. Some levels are action-only while others include puzzles. The player's goal is to reach a warp star at each level's end. En route, Marina shakes enemies, breaks blocks, uses weapons, and rides "bikes" and objects along wire path mazes. Each world has both final and mid-level bosses. The levels and boss fights use scaling and screen rotation special effects to vary the gameplay.
Almost all things on Planet Clancerincluding people, buildings, and petseither wear or are inscribed with identical "sad" faces with red, glowing eyes. A Clancer named Teran substitutes for Marina in several brief areas and uses non-shake mechanics like punching, kicking, and double jumping. A character named Calina, a petulant Clancer who imitates Marina, recurs throughout the game as a comedic device.
Development.
Treasure began to develop "Mischief Makers" in mid-1995. At the time, they knew little about the Nintendo 64's final technical specifications, graphics implementation, and development kit, but were nevertheless interested in the console and its improved "pixel quality". Historically, Treasure developed games exclusively for Sega consoles, which made "Mischief Makers" their first release for a Nintendo console. Bringing "Mischief Makers" to the Nintendo 64 was a hardware-based decision: the Nintendo 64's cartridges were more expensive than CD-ROMs, but they loaded data instantly and were thus more conducive for action games such as "Mischief Makers". However, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa said that development for the Nintendo 64 had a harsher learning curve than even the Sega Saturn. Other than the special attention required to build a single boss in 3D, the team did not use features specific to the Nintendo 64 hardware.
Treasure's founders had come from Konami, where they worked on Nintendo Entertainment System games such as "Castlevania" and "Contra". They found their development environment restrictive and left to try riskier concepts and to singularly focus on making "great games". In the three years between Treasure's founding and "Mischief Makers" development, the company released highly regarded games such as "Gunstar Heroes"known as "one of the definitive 16-bit action games"and "Dynamite Headdy". An average of 12 people worked on "Mischief Makers", with up to 15 at times. Though the team was different in composition from that of previous Treasure titles, it included the lead programmer and character designer from "Gunstar Heroes". Treasure's CEO said that the company liked to expand into new genres, though they primarily work in genres where the staff had the experience. The company sought to depart from the "Gunstar Heroes" shoot 'em up design, and chose to build "Mischief Makers" around an original "catching" gameplay mechanic, which became the hardest aspect to implement. While foreign (non-Japanese) aesthetics were popular with other Japanese developers, Treasure's CEO felt the company's games did not look "particularly foreign" and could appeal to Japanese audiences.
The game was Treasure's first to be published by Enix. The publisher sought out Treasure for their reputation in the action game genre, and had approached Treasure several times before the Nintendo 64 project surfaced. Upon choosing to make the game for the Nintendo 64, Treasure thought it would be a "good idea" to work with Enix. Similar to how Treasure ended its historic loyalty to the Sega Genesis by developing "Mischief Makers" for Nintendo, Enix had just recently ended its historic loyalty to Nintendo by signing "Dragon Quest VII" of their "Dragon Quest" franchise to Sony. Neither Square or Enix built a "special relationship" with Nintendo specific for "Mischief Makers" release, though Nintendo later served as the game's publisher for Western markets. Prior to Nintendo proposing to publish the game in the West, Enix said it had no plans to release the game outside Japan. When their English localization of the Japanese game finished ahead of schedule, the North American release date was advanced two weeks accordingly.
"Mischief Makers" was the only game displayed at the Enix booth at the April 1997 Tokyo Game Show. It was later demonstrated at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo and released in Japan on June 27, 1997, the United States on October 1, and Europe and Australia on December 18. Its Japanese title is "Yuke-Yuke Trouble Makers", or "Go-Go Trouble Makers". Near the time of the game's Japanese launch, Treasure announced that they would continue to develop for the Nintendo 64 with the Japan-only "Bakuretsu Muteki Bangaioh", which was released in September and later introduced to North America as "Bangai-O".
Reception.
"Mischief Makers" received "mixed or average reviews", according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic, and a "Gold Hall of Fame" score of 32/40 from Japanese magazine "Famitsu". Critics praised the game's inventiveness, personality, "variety", and boss fights, and criticized its brevity, low difficulty, low replay value, sound, and harsh introductory learning curve. Retrospective reviewers disagreed with the game's originally poor reception, and multiple reviewers noted Marina's signature "Shake, shake!" sound bite as a highlight. "Electronic Gaming Monthly" awarded the game their silver award.
"IGN"s Matt Casamassina said that the game compensated for its average graphics with excellent level design and gameplay challenges. He added that the game's puzzles require thought, unlike those in other action/platform games, and that the game's objectives were not clear until after the first few levels. Casamassina praised the game's transparency effects, anti-aliasing, mipmapping, and scaling rotations. "IGN" described anticipation for the game as "tremendous", particularly among the game's market of "younger gamers and 2D fans". "Nintendo Power" thought that the game was the best side-scroller since "Super Mario World". "Next Generation" wrote that "only diehard 2D platform fans" would be interested and did not feel that the game lived up to standards set by "Mario 64". In contrast, "GameFan" said that "Mischief Makers" did for 2D what "Mario 64" did for 3D, and suggested that Sega should be influenced by the game. "GamePro" instead argued that the similarity to Mario is superficial, and that "Mischief Makers" had carved out its own niche with unique gameplay mechanics. "GamesRadar" retrospectively called "Mischief Makers" "pure, unadulterated awesome" and "2D brilliance". The website summarized the game to be about "grabbing sad-faced aliens, shaking them until gems come out, and then hurling them at other sad-faced aliens". Zachary Miller of "Nintendo World Report" asserted the game may be the console's most bizarre and surreal, but "Gamasutra" John Harris said that the game's premise is "only strange to people who have never heard of anime". "GameFan" described the game as "obviously deeply Japanese", where "old school gameplay and 64-bit visuals finally meet".
Hirokazu Hamamura of "Famitsu" commended "Mischief Makers" gameplay, which balanced its poor character design. Other "Famitsu" reviewers admired Treasure's signature robot designs and were puzzled by the company's choice to use buttons instead of the 3D analog stick. "Nintendo Life" Jamie O'Neill praised the game's characters and disliked the controls. He compared the Calina character to the role of Shadow Mario in "Super Mario Sunshine". O'Neill wrote that the intricate controls were "the antithesis of a friendly, approachable, and intuitive platformer" because the game used every button on the controller (including the directional pad), though he felt that players who persevered through the difficult controls would find them "inventive and unique". He added that the complex controls allowed for experimentation that led to new and fun gameplay, and though the throwing enemies mechanic seemed to follow from "Gunstar Heroes", the Clanball platforming was unintuitive. John Harris of "Gamasutra" wrote that the game borrowed other elements from "Gunstar Heroes", as the games were similar in protagonists, collectible gems, and bosses. As the game took time to learn and understand, O'Neill left the reader to decide whether the game was "ultimately convoluted or bordering on sophistication and genius".
"Nintendo Life" O'Neill thought the five world bosses were among Treasure's best (in particular, the transforming "Cerberus Alpha" boss), but found the mid-level bosses uninteresting. Peter Bartholow of "GameSpot" and "Electronic Gaming Monthly" reviewers felt similarly. Sushi-X of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" added that the technique of looking for a boss's weak spot was similar to "Metroid". "Famitsu" reviewers praised how the game encouraged players to experiment with the basic "grab, throw, and shake" gameplay. They also appreciated the cadence of "Mischief Makers" short levels. O'Neill ("Nintendo Life") thought the game had great variety in gameplay mechanics (from maze puzzles to outrunning lava), graphics (from bosses that scale back the screen to levels with screen rotation), and audio (from upbeat quirk to scary), and added that he was surprised to hear critics speak against the "unique, varied, and dramatic" sound. "GamePro" also applauded the varied stage objectives, and said the "whimsical" music and sound effects worked perfectly with each stage, though the reviewer found the voice acting overly cutesy. Scott McCall of "AllGame" too appreciated the sound, from the voice to the "almost indescribable" music. "Gamasutra" John Harris noted its "tremendous variety" in gameplayfrom a "Track & Field" remake to outrunning a missile barrageas rare for 2D platformers, and commented that "it is obvious that Treasure poured their hearts into this game".
Peter Bartholow of "GameSpot" summarized "Mischief Makers" as "a good game that will leave players wanting more". He liked the bosses, which made the player use all available skills but felt they were short-lived and easily solved in the context of a short game with tutorials as one-fifth of its levels. He did not consider the ending extension a suitable reward for returning to the levels, and predicted that most players would not finish the game more than once. "Game Informer" echoed Bartholow's comments about the game's brevity, and named the game's seven-event Olympics as a highlight. Sushi-X of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" wrote that the game felt incomplete and lamented that "a decent player can finish the game in under three hours", though "Next Generation" said the game was "certainly long enough". The game's frequent reuse of a small selection of titles, objects, sound effects, soundtracks, and bland backgrounds (compared to the "impressive" boss battle animations and effects) led "GameSpot" Bartholow to suggest that "Mischief Makers" was limited by its cartridge space. He concluded that the "decent" game would be "truly excellent ... on another medium". Zachary Miller of "Nintendo World Report" reported that the graphics did not age well into 2010. Dan Hsu wrote in "Electronic Gaming Monthly" that the game is "definitely a sleeper hit". "Hardcore Gamer" Ryan Cartmel said the game went "largely unnoticed", while "GamePro" claimed that it had "[developed] a strong following in Japan".
Legacy.
Video game journalists from outlets such as "GamesRadar" and "Nintendo World Report" cited "Mischief Makers" as ripe for reissue either through the Nintendo eShop or in a sequel or franchise reboot. "Retro Gamer" placed the "masterpiece of mayhem" 80th on their list of "essential" Nintendo 64 games for its "unbridled quality". In 2009, "GamesRadar" called it "possibly the most underrated and widely ignored game on the N64". The website wrote that "Mischief Makers" was received poorly because players wanted 3D instead of 2D gameplay from Nintendo 64 games. "Gamasutra"s John Harris added that those who gave it a "bum rap" missed a "surprisingly clever" game. UGO remembered the game as innovative, though imperfect, and asked to see Marina reinterpreted and resurrected in a new game.


Line Printer Daemon protocol

The Line Printer Daemon protocol/Line Printer Remote protocol (or LPD, LPR) is a network printing protocol for submitting print jobs to a remote printer. The original implementation of LPD was in the Berkeley printing system in the BSD UNIX operating system; the LPRng project also supports that protocol. The Common Unix Printing System (or CUPS), which is more common on modern Linux distributions and also found on Mac OS X, supports LPD as well as the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). Commercial solutions are available that also use Berkeley printing protocol components, where more robust functionality and performance is necessary than is available from LPR/LPD (or CUPS) alone (such as might be required in large corporate environments). The LPD Protocol Specification is documented in RFC 1179.
Usage.
A server for the LPD protocol listens for requests on TCP port 515. A request begins with a byte containing the request code, followed by the arguments to the request, and is terminated by an ASCII LF character.
An LPD printer is identified by the IP address of the server machine and the queue name on that machine. Many different queue names may exist in one LPD server, with each queue having unique settings. Note that the LPD queue name is case sensitive. Some modern implementations of LPD on network printers might ignore the case or queue name altogether and send all jobs to the same printer. Others have the option to automatically create a new queue when a print job with a new queue name is received. This helps to simplify the setup of the LPD server. Some companies (e.g. D-Link in model DP-301P+) have a tradition of calling the queue name “lpt1” or “LPT1”.
A printer that supports LPD/LPR is sometimes referred to as a "TCP/IP printer" (TCP/IP is used to establish connections between printers and clients on a network), although that term would be equally applicable to a printer that supports the Internet Printing Protocol.


NeGcon

The , stylized as neGcon, is a motion-based video game controller manufactured in 1995 by Namco for the PlayStation. One of the first third-party peripherals for the system, the controller is connected by a swivel joint, allowing the player to twist the halves relative to each other. The controller also replaces the "symbol" buttons on the original PlayStation controller with two "A" and "B" buttons, as well as "I" and "II" buttons that allowed for analogue control. A black variant was released exclusively in Japan.
The NeGcon was created to replicate the analog-stick movement used in the arcade game "Cyber Sled" (1993); the name comes from the Japanese word "nejiru", meaning "to twist". The controller was intended for use in racing games, including "Ridge Racer", "Gran Turismo" and "Wipeout". Critical reception for the NeGcon was highly positive, being praised for its responsive control in games and unique design.
Description.
The NeGcon is a video game peripheral released for the PlayStation by Namco, and is also compatible with the PlayStation 2. It is inserted into the system through the controller port located on the front. The left of the controller features a D-pad and a start button, while the right features two blue "A" and "B" buttons and two red "I" and "II" buttons. Two shoulder buttons, labeled "L" and "R" respectively, are located at the top of the controller. The D-pad opts for a cross-shaped design similar to the one found on consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, as opposed to the directional button layout found on the original PlayStation controller.
The halves of the NeGcon are connected by a large swivel-joint, which allows the user to twist both halves relative of each other to allow for precise movements in games. This swivel-joint is operated by gears that turn the shafts of two potentiometers within the device, the central pivot utilizing a ring gear driving a pinion on the shaft of the potentiometer. The I and II buttons are both analogue and have approximately 7mm of travel, which can allow for sustained, responsive button presses. The buttons also detect how much the user pushes them. The L shoulder button is also analogue and has approximately 5mm of travel. All three analogue buttons have a rack driving pinions similar to the ones in the swivel-joint.
Use.
The neGcon's design was prompted by Namco's desire to accurately replicate the dual-lever controls of their arcade game "Cyber Sled" on the PlayStation.
Examples of racing games that took advantage of the neGcon are the original PlayStation iterations of the "Ridge Racer" series ("Ridge Racer Type 4" also supported the Namco Jogcon), "Gran Turismo", "Motor Toon Grand Prix", "Motor Toon Grand Prix 2", "Destruction Derby", "Colin McRae Rally", "TOCA", "Rally Cross", "V-Rally" and the "Pole Position" games on Namco Museum volumes 1 and 3, as well as "Ridge Racer V" on the PlayStation 2. The "Wipeout" series (including "Wipeout Fusion" on the PS2) also supported the neGcon. The number of non-racing games which supported the neGcon was limited, almost strictly confined to Namco's "Ace Combat" series (which also carried over to PS2). Although the neGcon was not strictly protocol-compatible with the standard PS1 controller, Sony's libraries seemed to support the neGcon as a standard controller even at launch. Because of this, a neGcon could be used in most games that didn't require the use of R2, L2 or select buttons, including the system's built-in memory card manager and CD player. Additionally, the neGcon library was also used to provide finer controls for third-party steering wheels, with long throw I and II buttons used for pedals in such controllers. However, said long throw of the I and II buttons makes the neGcon not a top-quality substitute for a regular PS1 controller. In particular, games that required rapid button pressing of the square or X buttons were difficult to play well.
"" and "Gran Turismo 4" for the PS2 do not support the neGcon. This had the effect of breaking compatibility with steering wheel controllers that previously used the neGcon protocol, although other games such as "Le Mans 24 Hours" and "World Rally Championship" (with control mode set to digital) allowed for compatibility. GT3 and GT4 are compatible with the standard PS2 DualShock 2 which provides analog throttle and brake input. For finer control than the short-throw DualShock 2 buttons offered, a user could use a Logitech-produced wheel which was specifically produced for these games. The Logitech wheels were large and non-portable but were well matched to the "Gran Turismo" games.
History.
The NeGcon was the creation of Namco designer Satoru Kuriyama. Best known as the production manager for "Ridge Racer" (1993), Kuriyama envisioned the idea for the NeGcon while observing a fellow Namco employee, "Valkyrie no Densetsu" creator "Ms. Okawa", playing a Super Famicom racing game while simultaneously tilting the controller in the direction the car was turning in the game. Kuriyama then began thinking of a controller that could twist and turn to perform movement in precise game movements. Namco's console game division caught wind of the idea and suggested that if the controller was drastically different from other game controllers already on the market, it could help create new, interesting game concepts. The team looked to racing games for inspiration, thinking of creating a controller akin to a steering wheel that allowed for quick, precise turns. The name NeGcon is based on the Japanese word "neijuru", meaning "to twist".
Yutaka Isokawa, a Namco engineer, was assigned to the NeGcon production team shortly after completing work on two "Yu Yu Hakusho" games for the Super Famicom. Originally a developer at Asmik that designed "Catrap" for the Game Boy, he was integrated into Namco's console game division to begin work on the new controller. Isokawa believes that part of the idea behind the NeGcon was based on Namco's desire to create hardware for the home console market, rather than be strictly a third-party publisher for companies such as Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment — this idea was further fueled by the fact that Namco's rival, Sega, was at the time one of the largest hardware manufacturers in the home video game market. Isokawa believes that the company intended to begin producing controllers and potentially consoles before the PlayStation was released.
While designing the NeGcon, the production team turned to racing games for inspiration; they specifically looked at steering wheels and how they moved to potentially create a controller that allowed for quick, responsive turns around corners in tracks. The controller itself was mainly designed by Kazumi Mizuno, the graphical planning manager in Namco's consumer game division. It was suggested by Isokawa and others that the controller could be twisted to recreate the feeling of a steering wheel, rather than having it be held at a specific angle. Multiple prototypes were proposed, including one with a longer controller prong at one hand and another with all four buttons being analogue. Many of the designers were nervous about the swivel that allowed the controller to be twisted as they thought it would be too fragile.
During production of the NeGcon, Isokawa began work on a video game that could show off the controller's capabilities. It was a golf game that had the player twist the NeGcon to simulate the action of swinging a golf club to hit the ball. Isokawa scrapped the game as Namco would have to compete with Sony's "Everybody's Golf", which he felt was not possible due to the latter's widespread success. He also believed that golf players who tried out the game would dislike it for its controls and concept overall. Although the game itself was cancelled, the team used it to test the NeGcon prototype units as a way to help correct potential issues and finalize the design.
Variants.
NeGcon has been built in three variants.
Reception.
According to "Electronic Gaming Monthly", upon release in Japan the neGcon "received rave reviews from the gaming press because of its unusual design, shape and method of control".
Retrospective coverage of the NeGcon has been met with a similarly positive response, and has gained notoriety for its outlandish, unique design. "Time", who ranked it as the 4th strangest gadget of all time, stated that the NeGcon "stands apart as one of the few simultaneously bizarre and functionally intrepid" of video game controllers, commending its responsive button input and for generally being good for racing games. "GameSpot" agreed, saying that the controller helped redefine the overall design of the traditional PlayStation controller. They said its design was strange and bizarre, yet was responsive and an excellent controller for racing games like "Ridge Racer". IGN expressed disappointment towards the NeGcon's poor sales due to it being seen as strange by the general public, writing that it "just goes to show where genuine innovation will get you."


Dnotify

dnotify is a file system event monitor for the Linux kernel, one of the subfeatures of the fcntl call. It was introduced in the 2.4 kernel series. It has been obsoleted by inotify, but will be retained for compatibility reasons.
Its function is essentially an extension to filesystems to notice changes to the filesystem, and report those changes to applications. Instead of application checking for changes to filesystem, application can register to be notified by kernel when changes to filesystem occur. Application can select directories to monitor and types of changes to be notified for.
One major use is in desktop search utilities like Beagle, where its functionality permits reindexing of changed files without scanning the filesystem for changes every few minutes, which would be very inefficient. By being "told" that a file has changed directly by the kernel, rather than actively looking, Beagle and such utilities can achieve change-to-reindexing times of only about a second, with very small performance hits (dnotify therefore enables the use of such programs in a sensible manner; daemons are generally not accepted by distributors if they drain system performance noticeably to provide userland functionality).


Battle Engine Aquila

Battle Engine Aquila is a 2003 video game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox developed by Lost Toys and published by Infogrames. In the game the player pilots the Battle Engine for the Forseti military in their wars against the Muspell to decide who will rule what's left of the world. "Battle Engine Aquila" received little attention from the public despite overall good reviews from critics. It was listed as #86 in the Top 100 Games for PlayStation 2 by IGN. A later Microsoft Windows port was published by Encore Software.
Setting.
The ice caps on the planet Allium have melted due to the greenhouse effect. As a result, most of planet's surface ended up underwater. Only 13 islands scattered across the surface remain and only two civilizations of Allium's human-like inhabitants are left: The peaceful and technological Forseti and the aggressive Muspell. Both civilizations are at the brink of war with each other in a battle over the remaining landmasses.
Story.
The player assumes the role of Hawk Winter, a Forseti dockworker. He is also a dock racer where he races on his loader. After one of the races Tatiana Kiralova, a friend of Hawk's and an overseer of the Aquila program, persuades colonel Chuck Kramer, the leader of the Forseti Air Force, to secretly assign Hawk to piloting the Battle Engine.
The war starts with the Muspell attack on RI-04 island close to Forseti Major, the homeland of Forseti. Aquila program R&D facilities are located there. The player wipes out the whole Muspell strike force in time to fight the rest of the war.
Gameplay.
The Battle Engine has two modes of operation: "Jet mode" allows the Battle Engine to fly for a limited time, "Walker mode" transforms the Battle Engine into a mech-like walking tank. When the Battle Engine is in Walker Mode, its weapons are considerably stronger than when it is in Jet Mode, it is tougher but much slower.
There are, by the end, 4 different types of Battle Engine that one may choose to pilot: Pulsar, Blazer, Lancer and Sniper. There are multiple weapons that are available for the Battle Engines that can be used. The Sniper Battle Engine only has 1 airborne weapon (the others have two each), the Vulcan Cannon, but it is the only ship that can engage a stealth mode, rendering it invisible. This capability drains the energy of the Battle Engine, in a similar fashion to the Jet Mode.
The campaign provides at least 8 hours gameplay on the easiest difficulty, and each level presents you with a new threat or dilemma to tackle. There are a variety of boss - style unique enemies that play key roles on the battlefield, and a good variety of standard units to take on as well. The story's narrative and the characters within do little to enhance the game's entertainment value.
The battles themselves are notably well simulated, with beach landings, ambushes and airborne landing craft, artillery raining down from naval forces while bombers and fighters engage each other overhead.
The game also involves some strategic thinking, giving you the option of what targets to prioritize rather than giving you a specific objective. You may at any point choose to take out the enemies factories, distract their fighters, harass incoming landing craft or pick off specific targets.
Reception.
The Xbox version received "generally favorable reviews", while the PC and PlayStation 2 versions received "mixed or average reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. "Edge" gave the PS2 and Xbox versions 7 out of 10. "GamePro" gave the PS2 version an average review over a month before the game's release.
Despite positive critical reception, "Battle Engine Aquila" received poor sales. IGN ranked it as the 86th best PlayStation 2 game.