TOPICS
SEE ALSO
Cybernetics
AUTH
BOOKS
IN CHAPTERS TITLE
IN CHAPTERS CLASSNAME
IN CHAPTERS TEXT
1.69_-_Farewell_to_Nemi
1f.lovecraft_-_Sweet_Ermengarde
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Shadow_over_Innsmouth
The_Act_of_Creation_text
The_Waiting
PRIMARY CLASS
programming
SIMILAR TITLES
hardware
TERMS STARTING WITH
hardware ::: (hardware) The physical, touchable, material parts of a computer or other system. The term is used to distinguish these fixed parts of a system from the more changable software or data components which it executes, stores, or carries.Computer hardware typically consists chiefly of electronic devices (CPU, memory, display) with some electromechanical parts (keyboard, printer, disk drives, tape non-electronic (mechanical, electromechanical, hydraulic, biological) computers have also been conceived of and built.See also firmware, wetware. (1997-01-23)
hardware "hardware" The physical, touchable, material parts of a computer or other system. The term is used to distinguish these fixed parts of a system from the more changeable {software} or {data} components which it executes, stores, or carries. Typical computer hardware consists of electronic devices ({CPU}, {memory}, {display}) with some electromechanical parts (keyboard, {printer}, {disk drives}, {tape drives}, loudspeakers) for input, output and storage. Completely non-electronic (mechanical, electromechanical, hydraulic, biological) computers have also been conceived of and built. See also {firmware}, {wetware}. (1997-01-23)
hardware circular buffer "programming, hardware" {digital signal processors} which support hardware {circular buffers} automatically generate and increment {pointers} for {memory} accesses which wrap to the beginning of the {buffer} when its end is reached, thus saving the time and instructions otherwise needed to ensure that the address pointer stays within the boundary of the buffer, and speeding the execution of repetitive DSP algorithms. {Digital Signal Processor For Digital Audio Applications (http://analog.com/publications/documentation/21065L_Audio_Tutorial.PDF)}. (2000-06-17)
hardware circular buffer ::: (programming, hardware) digital signal processors which support hardware circular buffers automatically generate and increment pointers for memory pointer stays within the boundary of the buffer, and speeding the execution of repetitive DSP algorithms. .(2000-06-17)
hardware handshaking ::: (communications) A technique for regulating the flow of data across an interface by means of signals carried on separate wires.A common example is the RTS (Request to Send) and CTS (Clear to Send) signals on an EIA-232 serial line.The alternative, software handshaking, uses two special characters inserted into the data stream to carry the same information. (1995-01-23)
hardware handshaking "communications" A technique for regulating the flow of data across an interface by means of signals carried on separate wires. A common example is the RTS (Request to Send) and CTS (Clear to Send) signals on an {EIA-232} {serial line}. The alternative, {software handshaking}, uses two special characters inserted into the data stream to carry the same information. (1995-01-23)
hardwareman ::: n. --> One who makes, or deals in, hardware.
hardwaremen ::: pl. --> of Hardwareman
hardware ::: n. --> Ware made of metal, as cutlery, kitchen utensils, and the like; ironmongery.
hardware register "hardware, system administration" (Or "hardware log") A list of all {hardware}, both internal and external, that is attached to a particular computer. (2006-09-07)
hardware register ::: (hardware, system administration) (Or hardware log) A list of all hardware, both internal and external, that is attached to a particular computer.(2006-09-07)
Hardware Abstraction Layer "operating system" (HAL) The layer of {Microsoft} {Windows NT} where they have isolated their {assembly language} code. (1995-04-17)
Hardware Abstraction Layer ::: (operating system) (HAL) The layer of Microsoft Windows NT where they have isolated their assembly language code. (1995-04-17)
Hardware Description Language "language" (HDL) A kind of language used for the conceptual design of {integrated circuits}. Examples are {VHDL} and {Verilog}. (1995-04-18)
Hardware Description Language ::: (language) (HDL) A kind of language used for the conceptual design of integrated circuits. Examples are VHDL and Verilog. (1995-04-18)
Hardware - The class="d-title" name given to all the electronic and mechanical devices that make up a computer, as opposed to software, which refers to programs
TERMS ANYWHERE
16450 "hardware" A {UART} with a one-byte {FIFO} buffer. The 16450 is a higher speed, fixed version of the {8250}. It was superseded by the {16550}. The 16450 was used for the {IBM PC AT} and {PS/2} but will not work in a {IBM PC XT}. (2004-03-21)
16550A "hardware" A version of the {16550} {UART}. Superseded by the {16650}. (2003-07-05)
16550 "hardware" A version of the {16450} {UART} with a 16-byte {FIFO}. Superseded by the 16550A. This chip might not operate correctly with all software. The 16C550 is a {CMOS} version. (2004-03-24)
16650 "hardware" A version of the {16550A} {UART} with a 32-byte {FIFO}. Superseded by the {16750C}. (2003-07-05)
16750C "hardware" A {UART} with a 64-byte {FIFO}. The 16C750 is a {CMOS} version. [Is there a 16750 (with no "C" on the end)?] (2004-03-24)
16C850 "hardware" A version of the {16450} {UART} in {CMOS} with 128-{byte} {FIFO}. (2004-03-24)
192.168.1.1 "networking" The default {IP address} used to connect to many brands of {router} to set them up. It can be used from a {web browser} in the {URL} {(http://192.168.1.1)}. This URL, and the necessary default login details, are often printed on the router. The same address may also be accessible via a {telnet} {command line interface}. This is a {private address} that is only visible when connected directly to the router, i.e. it will not be routed by other network hardware. {i19216811.com (http://www.i19216811.com/)}. (2012-09-20)
3DO "company, games, standard" A set of specifications created and owned by the 3DO company, which is a partnership of seven different companies. These specs are the blueprint for making a 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and are licensed to hardware and software producers. A 3DO system has an {ARM60} 32-bit {RISC} {CPU} and a graphics engine based around two custom designed graphics and animation processors. It has 2 Megabytes of {DRAM}, 1 Megabyte of {VRAM}, and a double speed {CD-ROM} drive for main storage. The {Panasonic} 3DO system can run 3DO Interactive software, play audio CDs (including support for CD+G), view {Photo-CDs}, and will eventually be able to play {Video CDs} with a special add-on {MPEG}1 {full-motion video} cartridge. Up to 8 {controllers} can be {daisy-chain}ed on the system at once. A keyboard, mouse, light gun, and other peripherals may also some day be hooked into the system, although they are not currently available (December 1993). The 3DO can display {full-motion video}, fully {texture map}ped 3d landscapes, all in 24-bit colour. {Sanyo} and {AT&T} will also release 3DO systems. Sanyo's in mid 1994 and AT&T in late 1994. There will be a 3DO add-on cartridge based on the {PowerPC} to enable the 3DO to compete with {Sony}'s {Playstation} console and {Sega}'s {Saturn} console, both of which have a higher specification than the original 3DO. The add-on is commonly known as the M2 or Bulldog. It should hit the shops by Christmas 1995 and will (allegedly) do a million flat shaded polygons per second. {3DO Home (http://3do.com/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:rec.games.video.3do}. (1994-12-13)
431A "hardware" The type of plug which fits a standard "type 600" {British Telecom} telephone socket. (1995-01-25)
5th Glove "hardware, virtual reality" A {data glove} and flexor strip kit (5th Glove DFK) sold by {Fifth Dimension Technologies} for $495 ($345 for the left-handed version, $45 for each extra flexor strip). The DFK provides a data glove, a flexon strip (with an elbow or knee-joint sensor), an interface card, cables, and KineMusica software. The package uses flexible optical-bending sensing to track hand and arm movement. The glove can be used with 5DT's ultrasonic tracking system, the 5DT Head and Hand tracker ($245), which can track movement from up to two metres away from the unit's transmitter. (1998-02-06)
6501 "hardware" An eight-bit {microprocessor}, the first sold by {MOS Technology}. The 6501 pin-compatible with the {Motorola 6800} and was the first member of the 650x series. It had an on-chip clock oscillator. See also {6502}. (2001-02-26)
6502 "hardware" An eight-bit {microprocessor} designed by {MOS Technology} around 1975 and made by {Rockwell}. Unlike the {Intel 8080} and its kind, the 6502 had very few {registers}. It was an 8-bit processor, with 16-bit {address bus}. Inside was one 8-bit data register ({accumulator}), two 8-bit {index registers} and an 8-bit {stack pointer} (stack was preset from address 256 to 511). It used these index and stack registers effectively, with more {addressing modes}, including a fast zero-page mode that accessed memory locations from address 0 to 255 with an 8-bit address (it didn't have to fetch a second byte for the address). Back when the 6502 was introduced, {RAM} was actually faster than {CPU}s, so it made sense to optimise for RAM access rather than increase the number of registers on a chip. The 6502 was used in the {BBC Microcomputer}, {Apple II}, {Commodore}, {Apple Computer} and {Atari} {personal computers}. {Steve Wozniak} described it as the first chip you could get for less than a hundred dollars (actually a quarter of the {6800} price). The 6502's {indirect jump} instruction, JMP (xxxx), was {broken}. If the address was hexadecimal xxFF, the processor would not access the address stored in xxFF and xxFF + 1, but rather xxFF and xx00. The {6510} did not fix this bug, nor was it fixed in any of the other {NMOS} versions of the 6502 such as the {8502}. Bill Mensch at {Western Design Center} was probably the first to fix it, in the {65C02}. The 6502 also had undocumented instructions. The {65816} is an expanded version of the 6502. There is a 6502 {assembler} by Doug Jones "jones@cs.uiowa.edu" which supports {macros} and conditional features and can be used for linkage editing of object files. It requires {Pascal}. See also {cross-assembler}, {RTI}, {Small-C}. (2001-01-02)
650x "hardware" A family of {microprocessors} from {MOS Technologies}, based on the design of the {Motorola 6800} (introduced around 1975). The family included the {6502} used in several early {personal computers}.
8250 "hardware" A {UART} that can operate at a maximum of 9600 {baud}. The 8250 is used in {IBM PC XT} computers. It works in an {IBM PC AT} under {DOS} but generates unwanted {interrupts} when used at 9600 {baud}. The {IBM PC} {BIOS} has a bug fix for this chip. (2004-03-21)
8450 "hardware" A {serial IO chip} with a one-{byte} {FIFO}. The 8450 was introduced with the {Intel 8080}. (2004-03-21)
8514 "hardware" An {IBM} graphics {display standard} supporting a {resolution} of 1024 x 768 {pixels} with 256 colours at 43.5 Hz ({interlaced}), or 640 x 480 at 60 Hz interlaced. 8514 was introduced at the same time as {VGA} and was superseded by {XGA}. (1999-08-01)
9PAC "tool" 709 PACkage. A {report generator} for the {IBM 7090}, developed in 1959. [Sammet 1969, p.314. "IBM 7090 Prog Sys, SHARE 7090 9PAC Part I: Intro and Gen Princs", IBM J28-6166, White Plains, 1961]. (1995-02-07):-) {emoticon}; {semicolon}" {less than}"g" "chat" grin. An alternative to {smiley}. [{Jargon File}] (1998-01-18)"gr&d" "chat" Grinning, running and ducking. See {emoticon}. (1995-03-17)= {equals}" {greater than}? {question mark}?? "programming" A {Perl} quote-like {operator} used to delimit a {regular expression} (RE) like "?FOO?" that matches FOO at most once. The normal "/FOO/" form of regular expression will match FOO any number of times. The "??" operator will match again after a call to the "reset" operator. The operator is usually referred to as "??" but, taken literally, an empty RE like this (or "//") actually means to re-use the last successfully matched regular expression or, if there was none, empty string (which will always match). {Unix manual page}: perlop(1). (2009-05-28)@ {commercial at}@-party "event, history" /at'par-tee/ (Or "@-sign party") An antiquated term for a gathering of {hackers} at a science-fiction convention (especially the annual Worldcon) to which only people who had an {electronic mail address} were admitted. The term refers to the {commercial at} symbol, "@", in an e-mail address and dates back to the era when having an e-mail address was a distinguishing characteristic of the select few who worked with computers. Compare {boink}. [{Jargon File}] (2012-11-17)@Begin "text" The {Scribe} equivalent of {\begin}. [{Jargon File}] (2014-11-06)@stake "security, software" A computer security development group and consultancy dedicated to researching and documenting security flaws that exist in {operating systems}, {network} {protocols}, or software. @stake publishes information about security flaws through advisories, research reports, and tools. They release the information and tools to help system administrators, users, and software and hardware vendors better secure their systems. L0pht merged with @stake in January 2000. {@stake home (http://atstake.com/research/redirect.html)}. (2003-06-12)@XX "programming" 1. Part of the syntax of a {decorated name}, as used internally by {Microsoft}'s {Visual C} or {Visual C++} {compilers}. 2. The name of an example {instance variable} in the {Ruby} {programming language}. (2018-08-24)[incr Tcl] "language" An extension of {Tcl} that adds {classes} and {inheritence}. The name is a pun on {C++} - an {object-oriented} extension of {C} - [incr variable] is the Tcl {syntax} for adding one to a variable. [Origin? Availability?] (1998-11-27)\ {backslash}\begin "text, chat" The {LaTeX} command used with \end to delimit an environment within which the text is formatted in a certain way. E.g. \begin{table}...\end{table}. Used humorously in writing to indicate a context or to remark on the surrounded text. For example: \begin{flame} Predicate logic is the only good programming language. Anyone who would use anything else is an idiot. Also, all computers should be tredecimal instead of binary. \end{flame} {Scribe} users at {CMU} and elsewhere used to use @Begin/@End in an identical way (LaTeX was built to resemble Scribe). On {Usenet}, this construct would more frequently be rendered as ""FLAME ON"" and ""FLAME OFF"" (a la {HTML}), or "
A3D "hardware" (Aureal 3-Dimensional?) A technology developed by {Aureal} that delivers sound with a three-dimensional effect through two speakers. Many modern {sound cards} and PC games now support this feature. A3D differs from the various forms of {surround sound} in that it only requires two speakers, while surround sound typically requires four or five. It is sometimes less convincing than surround sound but is supposedly better in {interactive} environments. For example, PC games in which sounds often move from one speaker to another favour A3D, while pre-recorded video favours surround sound. {(http://a3d.com/)}. (1999-01-26)
abstract machine 1. "language" A processor design which is not intended to be implemented as {hardware}, but which is the notional executor of a particular {intermediate language} (abstract machine language) used in a {compiler} or {interpreter}. An abstract machine has an {instruction set}, a {register set} and a model of memory. It may provide instructions which are closer to the language being compiled than any physical computer or it may be used to make the language implementation easier to {port} to other {platforms}. A {virtual machine} is an abstract machine for which an {interpreter} exists. Examples: {ABC}, {Abstract Machine Notation}, {ALF}, {CAML}, {F-code}, {FP/M}, {Hermes}, {LOWL}, {Christmas}, {SDL}, {S-K reduction machine}, {SECD}, {Tbl}, {Tcode}, {TL0}, {WAM}. 2. "theory" A procedure for executing a set of instructions in some formal language, possibly also taking in input data and producing output. Such abstract machines are not intended to be constructed as {hardware} but are used in thought experiments about {computability}. Examples: {Finite State Machine}, {Turing Machine}. (1995-03-13)
abstract "philosophy" A description of a concept that leaves out some information or details in order to simplify it in some useful way. Abstraction is a powerful technique that is applied in many areas of computing and elsewhere. For example: {abstract class}, {data abstraction}, {abstract interpretation}, {abstract syntax}, {Hardware Abstraction Layer}. (2009-12-09)
Accelerated Graphics Port "hardware, graphics" (AGP) A {bus} specification by {Intel} which gives low-cost 3D {graphics cards} faster access to {main memory} on {personal computers} than the usual {PCI} bus. AGP dynamically allocates the PC's normal {RAM} to store the screen image and to support {texture mapping}, {z-buffering} and {alpha blending}. Intel has built AGP into a {chipset} for its {Pentium II} microprocessor. AGP cards are slightly longer than a PCI card. AGP operates at 66 {MHz}, doubled to 133 MHz, compared with PCI's 33 Mhz. AGP allows for efficient use of {frame buffer} memory, thereby helping 2D graphics performance as well. AGP provides a coherent memory management design which allows scattered data in system memory to be read in rapid bursts. AGP reduces the overall cost of creating high-end graphics subsystems by using existing system memory. {Specification (http://developer.intel.com/technology/agp/downloads/agp20.htm)}. (2004-07-19)
accelerator "hardware" Additional hardware to perform some function faster than is possible in software running on the normal {CPU}. Examples include {graphics accelerators} and {floating-point accelerators}. (1994-11-08)
access time "hardware, storage" The average time interval between a storage peripheral (usually a {disk drive} or {semiconductor} memory) receiving a request to read or write a certain location and returning the value read or completing the write. (1997-06-14)
acoustic coupler "hardware, communications" A device used to connect a {modem} to a telephone line via an ordinary handset. The acoustic coupler converts electrical signals from the {modem} to sound via a loudspeaker, against which the mouthpiece of a telephone handset is placed. The earpiece is placed against a {microphone} which converts sound to electrical signals which return to the modem. The handset is inserted into a sound-proof box containing the louspeaker and microphone to avoid interference from ambient noise. Acousitic couplers are now rarely used since most modems have a direct electrical connection to the telephone line. This avoids the signal degradation caused by conversion to and from audio. Direct connection is not always possible, and was actually illegal in the United Kingdom before {British Telecom} was privatised. BT's predecessor, the General Post Office, did not allow subscribers to connect their own equipment to the telephone line. (1994-11-08)
active matrix display "hardware" A type of {liquid crystal display} where each display element (each {pixel}) includes an active component such as a {transistor} to maintain its state between scans. Contrast {passive matrix display}. (1995-12-09)
Active Reconfiguring Message "hardware" (ARM) An efficient mechanism which allows reconfiguration of the hardware logic of a system according to the particular data received or transmitted. In ARM each message contains extra information in a Reconfiguring {Header} in addition to the data to be transferred. Upon arrival of the message the Reconfiguring Header is extracted, decoded and used to perform on-the-fly hardware reconfiguration. As soon as the hardware has been reconfigured the data information of the message can be processed. [In what contect is this term used?] (1997-06-06)
Ada "language" (After {Ada Lovelace}) A {Pascal}-descended language, designed by Jean Ichbiah's team at {CII Honeywell} in 1979, made mandatory for Department of Defense software projects by the Pentagon. The original language was standardised as "Ada 83", the latest is "{Ada 95}". Ada is a large, complex, {block-structured} language aimed primarily at {embedded} applications. It has facilities for {real-time} response, {concurrency}, hardware access and reliable run-time error handling. In support of large-scale {software engineering}, it emphasises {strong typing}, {data abstraction} and {encapsulation}. The type system uses {name equivalence} and includes both {subtypes} and {derived types}. Both fixed and {floating-point} numerical types are supported. {Control flow} is fully bracketed: if-then-elsif-end if, case-is-when-end case, loop-exit-end loop, goto. Subprogram parameters are in, out, or inout. Variables imported from other packages may be hidden or directly visible. Operators may be {overloaded} and so may {enumeration} literals. There are user-defined {exceptions} and {exception handlers}. An Ada program consists of a set of packages encapsulating data objects and their related operations. A package has a separately compilable body and interface. Ada permits {generic packages} and subroutines, possibly parametrised. Ada support {single inheritance}, using "tagged types" which are types that can be extended via {inheritance}. Ada programming places a heavy emphasis on {multitasking}. Tasks are synchronised by the {rendezvous}, in which a task waits for one of its subroutines to be executed by another. The conditional entry makes it possible for a task to test whether an entry is ready. The selective wait waits for either of two entries or waits for a limited time. Ada is often criticised, especially for its size and complexity, and this is attributed to its having been designed by committee. In fact, both Ada 83 and Ada 95 were designed by small design teams to be internally consistent and tightly integrated. By contrast, two possible competitors, {Fortran 90} and {C++} have both become products designed by large and disparate volunteer committees. See also {Ada/Ed}, {Toy/Ada}. {Home of the Brave Ada Programmers (http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/)}. {Ada FAQs (http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/FAQ/)} (hypertext), {text only (ftp://lglftp.epfl.ch/pub/Ada/FAQ)}. {(http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/languages/ada/)}, {(ftp://ajpo.sei.cmu.edu/)}, {(ftp://stars.rosslyn.unisys.com/pub/ACE_8.0)}. E-mail: "adainfo@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu". {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.lang.ada}. {An Ada grammar (ftp://primost.cs.wisc.edu/)} including a lex scanner and yacc parser is available. E-mail: "masticol@dumas.rutgers.edu". {Another yacc grammar and parser for Ada by Herman Fischer (ftp://wsmr-simtel20.army.mil/PD2:"ADA.EXTERNAL-TOOLS"GRAM2.SRC)}. An {LR parser} and {pretty-printer} for {Ada} from NASA is available from the {Ada Software Repository}. {Adamakegen} generates {makefiles} for {Ada} programs. ["Reference Manual for the Ada Programming Language", ANSI/MIL STD 1815A, US DoD (Jan 1983)]. Earlier draft versions appeared in July 1980 and July 1982. ISO 1987. [{Jargon File}] (2000-08-12)
Adaptec "company" A company specialising in the aera of movement of data between computers. Adaptec designs hardware and software products to transfer data from a computer to a {peripheral} device or {network}. Founded in 1981, the company achieved profitability in 1984, went public in 1986, and to date has achieved 54 consecutive profitable quarters. Revenues for fiscal 1997 were $934 million, a 42% increase over the prior year. Net income, excluding acquisition charges, for fiscal year 1997 was $198 million or $1.72 per share. {(http://adaptec.com)}. (1999-08-25)
Adaptive Server Enterprise "database" (ASE) The {relational database management system} that started life in the mid-eighties [first release?] as "Sybase SQL Server". For a number of years {Microsoft} was a Sybase distributor, reselling the Sybase product for {OS/2} and (later) {Windows NT} under the name "Microsoft SQL Server". Around 1994, Microsoft basically bought a copy of the {source code} of Sybase SQL Server and then went its own way. As competitors, Sybase and Microsoft have been developing their products independently ever since. Microsoft has mostly emphasised ease-of-use and "Window-ising" the product, while Sybase has focused on maximising performance and reliability, and running on high-end hardware. When releasing version 11.5 in 1997, Sybase renamed its product to "ASE" to better distinguish its database from Microsoft's. Both ASE and MS SQL Server call their query language "Transact-SQL" and they are very similar. Sybase SQL Server was the first true {client-server} RDBMS which was also capable of handling real-world workloads. In contrast, other DBMSs have long been monolithic programs; for example, {Oracle} only "bolted on" client-server functionality in the mid-nineties. Also, Sybase SQL Server was the first commercially successful RDBMS supporting {stored procedures} and {triggers}, and a cost-based {query optimizer}. As with many other technology-driven competitors of Microsoft, Sybase has lost market share to MS's superior marketing, though many consider it has the superior system. {(http://sypron.nl/whatis_ase.html)}. (2003-07-02)
address 1. "networking" {e-mail address}. 2. "networking" {IP address}. 3. "networking" {MAC address}. 4. "storage, programming" An unsigned integer used to select one fundamental element of storage, usually known as a {word} from a computer's {main memory} or other storage device. The {CPU} outputs addresses on its {address bus} which may be connected to an {address decoder}, {cache controller}, {memory management unit}, and other devices. While from a hardware point of view an address is indeed an integer most {strongly typed} programming languages disallow mixing integers and addresses, and indeed addresses of different data types. This is a fine example for {syntactic salt}: the compiler could work without it but makes writing bad programs more difficult. (1997-07-01)
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface "hardware, standard" (ACPI) An open industry standard developed by {Intel}, {Microsoft}, and {Toshiba} for configuration and {power management}. The key element of the standard is power management with two important improvements. First, it puts the {OS} in control of power management. In the currently existing {APM} model most of the power management tasks are run by the {BIOS}, with limited intervention from the OS. In ACPI, the BIOS is responsible for the dirty details of communicating with hardware equipment but the control is in the OS. The other important feature is bringing power management features now available only in {portable computers} to {desktop computers} and {servers}. Extremely low consumption states, i.e., in which only memory, or not even memory is powered, but from which ordinary interrupts (real time clock, keyboard, modem, etc.) can quickly wake the system, are today available in portables only. The standard should make these available for a wider range of systems. For ACPI to work the operating system, the {motherboard} chipset, and for some functions even the {CPU} has to be designed for it. Microsoft is heavily driving a move toward ACPI, both {Windows NT 5.0} and {Windows 98} will support it. It remains to be seen how much hardware manufacturers will embrace the technology and whether other operating system vendors will support it. {ACPI Information Page (http://teleport.com/~acpi/)}. (1998-03-27)
Advanced Power Management "hardware" (APM) A feature of some displays, usually but not always, on {laptop computers}, which turns off power to the display after a preset period of inactivity to conserve electrical power. Monitors with this capability are usually refered to as "green monitors", meaning environmentally friendly. Not to be confused with a {screen blanker} which is {software} that causes the display to go black (by setting every {pixel} to black) to prevent {burn-in}. (1997-08-25)
Advanced RISC Computing Specification "standard, hardware" (ARC, previously ARCS) The baseline hardware requirements for an {ACE}-compatible system. (1995-01-16)
Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. "company" (ARM) A company formed in 1990 by {Acorn Computers} Ltd., {Apple Computer, Inc.} and {VLSI Technology} to market and develop the {Advanced RISC Machine} {microprocessor} family, originally designed by Acorn. ARM Ltd. also designs and licenses peripheral chips and supplies supporting software and hardware tools. In April 1993, Nippon Investment and Finance, a Daiwa Securities company, became ARM's fourth investor. In May 1994 Samsung became the sixth large company to have a licence to use the ARM processor core. The success of ARM Ltd. and the strategy to widen the availability of RISC technology has resulted in its chips now being used in a range of products including the {Apple Newton}. As measured by an independent authority, more ARM processors were shipped than {SPARC} chips in 1993. ARM has also sold three times more chips than the {PowerPC} consortium. {(http://systemv.com/armltd/index.html)}. E-mail: armltd.co.uk. Address: Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. Fulbourn Road, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 4JN, UK. Telephone: +44 (1223) 400 400. Fax: +44 (1223) 400 410. (1994-11-03)
Advanced SCSI Peripheral Interface "storage, programming" (ASPI) A set of libraries designed to provide programs running under {Microsoft Windows} with a consistent interface for accessing {SCSI} devices. ASPI has become a {de facto standard}. The ASPI layer is a collection of programs ({DLLs}) that together implement the ASPI interface. Many problems are caused by device manufacturers packaging incomplete sets of these DLLs with their hardware, often with incorrect date stamps, causing newer versions to get replaced with old. ASPICHK from Adaptec will check the ASPI components installed on a computer. The latest ASPI layer as of March 1999 is 1014. The {ATAPI} standard for {IDE} devices makes them look to the system like SCSI devices and allows them to work through ASPI. {(http://resource.simplenet.com/primer/aspi.htm)}. (1999-03-30)
Advanced Technology Attachment "storage, hardware, standard" (ATA, AT Attachment or "Integrated Drive Electronics", IDE) A {disk drive} interface {standard} based on the {IBM PC} {ISA} 16-bit {bus} but also used on other {personal computers}. ATA specifies the power and data signal interfaces between the {motherboard} and the integrated {disk controller} and drive. The ATA "bus" only supports two devices - master and slave. ATA drives may in fact use any physical interface the manufacturer desires, so long as an embedded translator is included with the proper ATA interface. ATA "controllers" are actually direct connections to the ISA bus. Originally called IDE, the ATA interface was invented by {Compaq} around 1986, and was developed with the help of {Western Digital}, {Imprimis}, and then-upstart {Conner Peripherals}. Efforts to standardise the interface started in 1988; the first draft appeared in March 1989, and a finished version was sent to {ANSI} group X3T10 (who named it "Advanced Technology Attachment" (ATA)) for ratification in November 1990. X3T10 later extended ATA to {Advanced Technology Attachment Interface with Extensions} (ATA-2), followed by {ATA-3} and {ATA-4}. {X3T10 (http://symbios.com/x3t10/)}. (1998-10-08)
Advanced WavEffect "multimedia, music, hardware" (AWE) The kind of synthesis used by the {EMU 8000} music synthesizer {integrated circuit} found on the {SB AWE32} card. (1996-12-15)
A Hardware Programming Language "language" (AHPL) A {register}-level language by Hill and Peterson, some of whose operators resemble {APL}. HPSIM2 is a function-level simulator, available from Engrg Expt Sta, {University of Arizona}. ["Digital Systems: Hardware Organization and Design", F. Hill et al, Wiley 1987]. (1995-01-26)
AHDL {Analog Hardware Design Language}
AHPL {A Hardware Programming Language}
ALGOL 60 "language" ALGOrithmic Language 1960. A portable language for scientific computations. ALGOL 60 was small and elegant. It was {block-structured}, nested, {recursive} and {free form}. It was also the first language to be described in {BNF}. There were three {lexical} representations: hardware, reference, and publication. The only structured data types were {arrays}, but they were permitted to have lower bounds and could be dynamic. It also had {conditional expressions}; it introduced :=; if-then-else; very general "for" loops; switch declaration (an array of statement {labels} generalising {Fortran}'s {computed goto}). Parameters were {call-by-name} and {call-by-value}. It had {static} local "own" variables. It lacked user-defined types, character manipulation and {standard I/O}. See also {EULER}, {ALGOL 58}, {ALGOL 68}, {Foogol}. ["Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60", Peter Naur ed., CACM 3(5):299-314, May 1960]. (1995-01-25)
aliasing 1. "jargon" When several different identifiers refer to the same object. The term is very general and is used in many contexts. See {alias}, {aliasing bug}, {anti-aliasing}. 2. "hardware" (Or "shadowing") Where a hardware device responds at multiple addresses because it only decodes a subset of the {address lines}, so different values on the other lines are ignored. (1998-03-13)
AMD Am2903 "processor" A {bit-slice} prcessor from {Advanced Micro Devices} which featured hardware multiply. (1994-11-16)
American Standard Code for Information Interchange "character, standard" The basis of {character sets} used in almost all present-day computers. {US-ASCII} uses only the lower seven {bits} ({character points} 0 to 127) to convey some {control codes}, {space}, numbers, most basic punctuation, and unaccented letters a-z and A-Z. More modern {coded character sets} (e.g., {Latin-1}, {Unicode}) define extensions to ASCII for values above 127 for conveying special {Latin characters} (like accented characters, or {German} ess-tsett), characters from non-Latin writing systems (e.g., {Cyrillic}, or {Han characters}), and such desirable {glyphs} as distinct open- and close-{quotation marks}. ASCII replaced earlier systems such as {EBCDIC} and {Baudot}, which used fewer bytes, but were each {broken} in their own way. Computers are much pickier about spelling than humans; thus, {hackers} need to be very precise when talking about characters, and have developed a considerable amount of verbal shorthand for them. Every character has one or more names - some formal, some concise, some silly. Individual characters are listed in this dictionary with alternative names from revision 2.3 of the {Usenet} ASCII pronunciation guide in rough order of popularity, including their official {ITU-T} names and the particularly silly names introduced by {INTERCAL}. See {V} {ampersand}, {asterisk}, {back quote}, {backslash}, {caret}, {colon}, {comma}, {commercial at}, {control-C}, {dollar}, {dot}, {double quote}, {equals}, {exclamation mark}, {greater than}, {hash}, {left bracket}, {left parenthesis}, {less than}, {minus}, {parentheses}, {oblique stroke}, {percent}, {plus}, {question mark}, {right brace}, {right brace}, {right bracket}, {right parenthesis}, {semicolon}, {single quote}, {space}, {tilde}, {underscore}, {vertical bar}, {zero}. Some other common usages cause odd overlaps. The "
American Wire Gauge "hardware, standard" (AWG, sometimes "Brown and Sharpe Wire Gauge") A U.S. {standard} set of non-ferrous wire conductor sizes. Typical household wiring is AWG number 12 or 14. Telephone wire is usually 22, 24, or 26. The higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter and the thinner the wire. Thicker wire is better for long distances due to its lower resistance per unit length. (2001-03-26)
Amiga "computer" A range of home computers first released by {Commodore Business Machines} in early 1985 (though they did not design the original - see below). Amigas were popular for {games}, {video processing}, and {multimedia}. One notable feature is a hardware {blitter} for speeding up graphics operations on whole areas of the screen. The Amiga was originally called the Lorraine, and was developed by a company named "Amiga" or "Amiga, Inc.", funded by some doctors to produce a killer game machine. After the US game machine market collapsed, the Amiga company sold some {joysticks} but no Lorraines or any other computer. They eventually floundered and looked for a buyer. Commodore at that time bought the (mostly complete) Amiga machine, infused some money, and pushed it through the final stages of development in a hurry. Commodore released it sometime[?] in 1985. Most components within the machine were known by nicknames. The {coprocessor} commonly called the "Copper" is in fact the "{Video} Timing Coprocessor" and is split between two chips: the instruction fetch and execute units are in the "Agnus" chip, and the {pixel} timing circuits are in the "Denise" chip (A for address, D for data). "Agnus" and "Denise" were responsible for effects timed to the {real-time} position of the video scan, such as midscreen {palette} changes, {sprite multiplying}, and {resolution} changes. Different versions (in order) were: "Agnus" (could only address 512K of {video RAM}), "Fat Agnus" (in a {PLCC} package, could access 1MB of video RAM), "Super Agnus" (slightly upgraded "Fat Agnus"). "Agnus" and "Fat Agnus" came in {PAL} and {NTSC} versions, "Super Agnus" came in one version, jumper selectable for PAL or NTSC. "Agnus" was replaced by "Alice" in the A4000 and A1200, which allowed for more {DMA} channels and higher bus {bandwidth}. "Denise" outputs binary video data (3*4 bits) to the "Vidiot". The "Vidiot" is a hybrid that combines and amplifies the 12-bit video data from "Denise" into {RGB} to the {monitor}. Other chips were "Amber" (a "flicker fixer", used in the A3000 and Commodore display enhancer for the A2000), "Gary" ({I/O}, addressing, G for {glue logic}), "Buster" (the {bus controller}, which replaced "Gary" in the A2000), "Buster II" (for handling the Zorro II/III cards in the A3000, which meant that "Gary" was back again), "Ramsey" (The {RAM} controller), "DMAC" (The DMA controller chip for the WD33C93 {SCSI adaptor} used in the A3000 and on the A2091/A2092 SCSI adaptor card for the A2000; and to control the {CD-ROM} in the {CDTV}), and "Paula" ({Peripheral}, Audio, {UART}, {interrupt} Lines, and {bus Arbiter}). There were several Amiga chipsets: the "Old Chipset" (OCS), the "Enhanced Chipset" (ECS), and {AGA}. OCS included "Paula", "Gary", "Denise", and "Agnus". ECS had the same "Paula", "Gary", "Agnus" (could address 2MB of Chip RAM), "Super Denise" (upgraded to support "Agnus" so that a few new {screen modes} were available). With the introduction of the {Amiga A600} "Gary" was replaced with "Gayle" (though the chipset was still called ECS). "Gayle" provided a number of improvments but the main one was support for the A600's {PCMCIA} port. The AGA chipset had "Agnus" with twice the speed and a 24-bit palette, maximum displayable: 8 bits (256 colours), although the famous "{HAM}" (Hold And Modify) trick allows pictures of 256,000 colours to be displayed. AGA's "Paula" and "Gayle" were unchanged but AGA "Denise" supported AGA "Agnus"'s new screen modes. Unfortunately, even AGA "Paula" did not support High Density {floppy disk drives}. (The Amiga 4000, though, did support high density drives.) In order to use a high density disk drive Amiga HD floppy drives spin at half the rotational speed thus halving the data rate to "Paula". Commodore Business Machines went bankrupt on 1994-04-29, the German company {Escom AG} bought the rights to the Amiga on 1995-04-21 and the Commodore Amiga became the Escom Amiga. In April 1996 Escom were reported to be making the {Amiga} range again but they too fell on hard times and {Gateway 2000} (now called Gateway) bought the Amiga brand on 1997-05-15. Gateway licensed the Amiga operating system to a German hardware company called {Phase 5} on 1998-03-09. The following day, Phase 5 announced the introduction of a four-processor {PowerPC} based Amiga {clone} called the "{pre\box}". Since then, it has been announced that the new operating system will be a version of {QNX}. On 1998-06-25, a company called {Access Innovations Ltd} announced {plans (http://micktinker.co.uk/aaplus.html)} to build a new Amiga chip set, the {AA+}, based partly on the AGA chips but with new fully 32-bit functional core and 16-bit AGA {hardware register emulation} for {backward compatibility}. The new core promised improved memory access and video display DMA. By the end of 2000, Amiga development was under the control of a [new?] company called {Amiga, Inc.}. As well as continuing development of AmigaOS (version 3.9 released in December 2000), their "Digital Environment" is a {virtual machine} for multiple {platforms} conforming to the {ZICO} specification. As of 2000, it ran on {MIPS}, {ARM}, {PPC}, and {x86} processors. {(http://amiga.com/)}. {Amiga Web Directory (http://cucug.org/amiga.html)}. {amiCrawler (http://amicrawler.com/)}. Newsgroups: {news:comp.binaries.amiga}, {news:comp.sources.amiga}, {news:comp.sys.amiga}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.advocacy}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.announce}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.applications}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.audio}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.datacomm}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.emulations}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.games}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.graphics}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.hardware}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.introduction}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.marketplace}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.misc}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.multimedia}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.programmer}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.reviews}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.tech}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.telecomm}, {news:comp.Unix.amiga}. See {aminet}, {Amoeba}, {bomb}, {exec}, {gronk}, {guru meditation}, {Intuition}, {sidecar}, {slap on the side}, {Vulcan nerve pinch}. (2003-07-05)
Analog Hardware Design Language "language" (AHDL) A language under development by the US Air Force. (1995-04-09)
analogue computer "computer, hardware" A machine or electronic circuit designed to work on numerical data represented by some physical quantity (e.g. rotation or displacement) or electrical quantity (e.g. voltage or charge) which varies continuously, in contrast to {digital} signals which are either 0 or 1. For example, the turning of a wheel or changes in voltage can be used as input. Analogue computers are said to operate in {real time} and are used for research in design where many different shapes and speeds can be tried out quickly. A computer model of a car suspension allows the designer to see the effects of changing size, stiffness and damping. (1995-05-01)
any key "humour, hardware" The key that particularly confused {users} look for on their computer keyboards when instructed to "Press any key to continue". "But my keyboard doesn't have a key labelled 'any'!". {Compaq FAQ (http://web14.compaq.com/falco/detail.asp?FAQnum=FAQ2859)}. (2003-09-30)
Apple Attachment Unit Interface "hardware, networking" (AAUI) A 14-position, 0.050-inch-spaced ribbon contact connector. Early {Power Macs} and Quadras had an AAUI (Apple Attachment Unit Interface) {port} (rectangular shaped) for {Ethernet}, which requires a {transceiver}. To use {twisted pair} cabling, you would need to get a {twisted pair} transceiver for the computer with an AAUI port. Some {Power Mac} computers had both an AAUI and {RJ-45} port; you can use one or the other, but not both. The pin-out is: Pin Signal Name Signal Description ---- -------------- --------------------------------- 1 FN Pwr Power (+12V @ 2.1W or +5V @ 1.9W) 2 DI-A Data In circuit A 3 DI-B Data In circuit B 4 VCC Voltage Common 5 CI-A Control In circuit A 6 CI-B Control In circuit B 7 +5V +5 volts (from host) 8 +5V Secondary +5 volts (from host) 9 DO-A Data Out circuit A 10 DO-B Data Out circuit B 11 VCC Secondary Voltage Common 12 NC Reserved 13 NC Reserved 14 FN Pwr Secondary +12V @ 2.1W or +5V @ 1.9W Shell Protective Gnd Protective Ground AAUI signals have the same description, function, and electrical requirements as the {AUI} signals of the same name, as detailed in {IEEE 802.3}-1990 CSMA/CD Standard, section 7. (2000-02-10)
Application environment specification "programming" (AES) A set of specifications from {OSF} for programming and {user interfaces}, aimed at providing a consistent application environment on different hardware. It includes "O/S" for the {operating system} (user commands and program interfaces), "U/E" for the User Environment ({Motif}), and "N/S" for Network services. [Reference?] (1994-12-07)
application server 1. "software" A {designer}'s or {developer}'s suite of {software} that helps {programmers} isolate the {business logic} in their {programs} from the {platform}-related code. {Application} {servers} can handle all of the {application} {logic} and {connectivity} found in {client-server} {applications}. Many {application} {servers} also offer features such as {transaction management}, {clustering} and {failover}, and {load balancing}; nearly all offer {ODBC} support. {Application} {servers} range from small {footprint}, web-based {processors} for intelligent appliances or remote {embedded} devices, to complete environments for assembling, deploying, and maintaining {scalable} {multi-tier} applications across an {enterprise}. 2. "software" Production {programs} run on a mid-sized computer that handle all {application} operations between {browser}-based computers and an organisation's back-end business {applications} or {databases}. The {application} {server} works as a translator, allowing, for example, a customer with a {browser} to search an online retailer's {database} for pricing information. 3. "hardware" The device on which {application} {server} {software} runs. {Application Service Providers} offer commercial access to such devices. {Citrix Application Serving White Paper (http://citrix.com/press/corpinfo/application_serving_wp_0700.pdf)}. {Application Server Sites, a list maintained by Vayda & Herzum (http://componentfactory.org/links/appl.htm)}. {The Application Server Zone at DevX, (http://appserver-zone.com/default.asp)}. {TechMetrix Research's Application Server Directory, (http://techmetrix.com/trendmarkers/techmetrixasd.php3)}. (2001-03-30)
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit "hardware" (ASIC) An {integrated circuit} designed to perform a particular function by defining the interconnection of a set of basic circuit building blocks drawn from a library provided by the circuit manufacturer. (1995-02-15)
Architecture Neutral Distribution Format "programming, operating system" (ANDF) An emerging {OSF} {standard} for software distribution. Programs are compiled into ANDF before distribution and {executables} are produced from it for the local target system. This allows software to be developed and distributed in a single version then installed on a variety of hardware. See also {UNCOL}. ["Architecture Neutral Distribution Format: A White Paper", Open Software Foundation, Nov 1990]. (1995-10-20)
ARI Service "company" The trading name of the remnants of {AST Research, Inc.}. ARI Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of {Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.}, of Seoul, Korea. They no longer manufacture or distribute computer hardware, but they continue to provide worldwide technical and service support to owners of systems that they manufactured. {AST Computers, LLC} is a separate company. Headquarters: 16225 Alton Parkway, POB 57005, Irvine, California 92619-7005, USA. {(http://ari-service.com/)}. (2000-03-28)
ARM 1. "processor" {Advanced RISC Machine}. Originally {Acorn} RISC Machine. 2. "company" {Advanced RISC Machines} Ltd. 3. "publication" ["The Annotated C++ Reference Manual", Margaret A. Ellis and Bjarne Stroustrup, Addison-Wesley, 1990]. 4. "hardware" {Active Reconfiguring Message}. (1997-10-03)
arrow key "hardware" One of four keys on a {keyboard} marked with arrows pointing up, down, left and right. The arrow keys are used for such things as moving the {cursor} in a text document, for moving the {input focus} between the fields of a form or sometimes for scrolling a picture. (1998-06-26)
artificial neural network "artificial intelligence" (ANN, commonly just "neural network" or "neural net") A network of many very simple processors ("units" or "neurons"), each possibly having a (small amount of) local memory. The units are connected by unidirectional communication channels ("connections"), which carry numeric (as opposed to symbolic) data. The units operate only on their local data and on the inputs they receive via the connections. A neural network is a processing device, either an {algorithm}, or actual hardware, whose design was inspired by the design and functioning of animal brains and components thereof. Most neural networks have some sort of "training" rule whereby the weights of connections are adjusted on the basis of presented patterns. In other words, neural networks "learn" from examples, just like children learn to recognise dogs from examples of dogs, and exhibit some structural capability for generalisation. Neurons are often elementary non-linear signal processors (in the limit they are simple threshold discriminators). Another feature of NNs which distinguishes them from other computing devices is a high degree of interconnection which allows a high degree of parallelism. Further, there is no idle memory containing data and programs, but rather each neuron is pre-programmed and continuously active. The term "neural net" should logically, but in common usage never does, also include biological neural networks, whose elementary structures are far more complicated than the mathematical models used for ANNs. See {Aspirin}, {Hopfield network}, {McCulloch-Pitts neuron}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.ai.neural-nets}. (1997-10-13)
Artisoft, Inc. "company, networking" A company, known for the {LANtastic} range of networking products. Originally providers of proprietary, {peer-to-peer} network hardware and software for small installations, Artisoft now also sells {Ethernet} and {Novell}-compatible hardware and software. {(http://artisoft.com/)}. Telephone: +1 (800) 809 1257. Address: Tucson, Arizona, USA; Phoenix, Arizona, USA. (1995-04-24)
AS/400 "computer" An {IBM} {minicomputer} for small business and departmental users, released in 1988 and still in production in October 1998. Features include a menu-driven interface, {multi-user} support, terminals that are (in the grand {IBM} tradition) incompatible with anything else including the {IBM 3270} series, and an extensive library-based {operating system}. The machine survives because its {API} layer allows the {operating system} and {application programs} to take advantage of advances in hardware without recompilation and which means that a complete system that costs $9000 runs the exact same operating system and software as a $2 million system. There is a 64-bit {RISC} processor operating system implementation. Programming languages include {RPG}, {assembly language}, {C}, {COBOL}, {SQL}, {BASIC}, and {REXX}. Several {CASE} tools are available: {Synon}, {AS/SET}, {Lansa}. {(http://as400.ibm.com/)}. (1999-07-26)
assembly language "language" (Or "assembly code") A symbolic representation of the {machine language} of a specific {processor}. Assembly language is converted to {machine code} by an {assembler}. Usually, each line of assembly code produces one machine instruction, though the use of {macros} is common. Programming in assembly language is slow and error-prone but is the only way to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the hardware. {Filename extension}: .s ({Unix}), .asm ({CP/M} and others). See also {second generation language}. (1996-09-17)
asset management "business" The process whereby a large organisation collects and maintains a comprehensive list of the items it owns such as hardware and software. This data is used in connection with the financial aspects of ownership such as calculating the total cost of ownership, depreciation, licensing, maintenance, and insurance. (1997-03-30)
AST Computers, LLC "company" The private company formed in January 1999 when Mr. Beny Alagem, the former chairman of {Packard Bell NEC, Inc.}, bought the name and intellectual property of {AST Research, Inc.}. AST Computers, LLC provide {hardware, software}, and services for small US businesses. {Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.}, of Seoul, Korea, owns a minority stake. {(http://ast.com/)}. Address: Los Angeles, CA, USA. (2000-03-28)
Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter "communications, hardware" (ACIA) A kind of {integrated circuit} that provides data formatting and control to {EIA-232} serial interfaces. [Is this the same as a {UART}?] (1997-05-07)
AT Attachment Packet Interface "storage" (ATAPI) Part of the {EIDE} interface that provides additional commands to control a {CD-ROM} drive or {magnetic tape}. [Winn L. Rosch "The Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible" (Third Edition), Sams Publishing, 1994]. (1998-11-01)
Athlon "hardware" (K7) {AMD}'s 7th generation {x86} {processor}, released in June 1999. Athlon uses a {Slot A} {motherboard} and is not compatible with {Slot 1} motherboards. [Details? Reference?] (1999-08-05)
Atlas Autocode "language" The {Autocode} for the {Ferranti} {Atlas}, which may have been the first commercial computer with {hardware-paged} {virtual memory}. Whereas other {autocodes} were basically {assembly languages}, Atlas Autocode was high-level and {block-structured}, resembling a cross between {Fortran} and {ALGOL 60}. It had {call-by value}, {loops (loop)}, {declarations}, {complex numbers}, {pointers}, {heap} and {stack} storage generators, {dynamic arrays}, and extensible {syntax}. (2000-04-03)
ATX "hardware, standard" An {open} {PC} {motherboard} specification by {Intel}. ATX is a development of the {Baby AT} specification with the motherboard rotated 90 degrees in the chassis. The {CPU} and {SIMM} sockets have been relocated away from the {expansion card} slots meaning that all the slots support full-length cards. More {I/O} functions are integrated on the motherboard. As the longer edge of the board is now at the back of the chassis, there is more space for connectors; also, the I/O opening on the back panel of the chassis has been defined as double the previous height, allowing vendors to add extra on-board I/O functions over and above the standard. Most {Pentium Pro} boards use this {form factor}. As well as the motherboard size, layout, and placement, the ATX specification also includes requirements for power supply and fan specification and location. The full size ATX board measures 305mm wide by 244mm deep. There is also a Mini-ATX form factor, 284mm by 208mm. {Home (http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/atx.htm)}. (2001-07-16)
Automatic Send Receive "hardware" (ASR) Part of a designation for a hard-copy {terminal}, manufactured by {Teletype Corporation}, which could be commanded remotely to send the contents of its {paper tape} reader. The ASR-33 was the most common {minicomputer} terminal in the early 1970s. (1995-11-23)
Baby AT "hardware" The redesigned {AT} motherboard that had the same size as the {XT} motherboard had (8.5" x 11") and could thus fit into an XT case. The original 12" x 13" AT motherboards are now largely forgotten. Compare {ATX}. (1997-02-20)
backplane "hardware, electronics" A {printed circuit board} with slots into which other cards are plugged. A backplane,is typically just a connector and does not usually have many active components on it. This contrasts with a {motherboard}. {Designing a backplane (http://iec.org/online/tutorials/design_backplane/index.html)}. (2002-09-08)
backside cache "hardware, processor" An implementation of {secondary cache} memory that allows it to be directly accessed by the {CPU}. Backside cache is used by {Apple Computers, Inc.} in their {PowerPC G3} processor. Previous PowerPC processors used the {system bus} to access both secondary cache and {main memory}. In the PowerPC G3 a dedicated bus handles only {CPU}/cache transactions. This bus can operate faster than the system bus thus improving the overall performance of the processor. The term apparently derives from the relocation of the secondary cache from the {motherboard} to the processor card itself, i.e. on the backside of the processor card. (1998-09-10)
backup "operating system" ("back up" when used as a verb) A spare copy of a file, file system, or other resource for use in the event of failure or loss of the original. The term commonly refers to a copy of the files on a computer's {disks}, made periodically and kept on {magnetic tape} or other removable medium (also called a "{dump}"). This essential precaution is neglected by most new computer users until the first time they experience a {disk crash} or accidentally delete the only copy of the file they have been working on for the last six months. Ideally the backup copies should be kept at a different site or in a fire safe since, though your hardware may be insured against fire, the data on it is almost certainly neither insured nor easily replaced. See also {backup software}, {differential backup}, {incremental backup}, {full backup}. Compare {archive}, {source code management}. (2004-03-16)
backward combatability "humour" /bak'w*d k*m-bat'*-bil'*-tee/ (Play on "{backward compatibility}") A property of hardware or software revisions in which previous {protocols}, formats, layouts, etc. are irrevocably discarded in favour of "new and improved" protocols, formats and layouts, leaving the previous ones not merely deprecated but actively defeated. (Too often, the old and new versions cannot definitively be distinguished, such that lingering instances of the previous ones yield crashes or other infelicitous effects, as opposed to a simple "version mismatch" message.) A backward compatible change, on the other hand, allows old versions to coexist without crashes or error messages, but too many major changes incorporating elaborate backward compatibility processing can lead to extreme {software bloat}. See also {flag day}. [{Jargon File}] (2003-06-23)
bang on (Or "pound on"). To stress-test a piece of hardware or software: "I banged on the new version of the simulator all day yesterday and it didn't crash once. I guess it is ready for release." [{Jargon File}]
bar code "convention" A printed horizontal strip of vertical bars of varying widths, groups of which represent decimal digits and are used for identifying commercial products or parts. Bar codes are read by a bar code reader and the code interpreted either through {software} or a {hardware} decoder. All products sold in open trade are numbered and bar-coded to a worldwide standard, which was introduced in the US in 1973 and to the rest of the world in 1977. The Uniform Code Council in the US, along with the international article numbering authority, EAN International, allocate blocks of unique 12 or 13-digit numbers to member companies through a national numbering authority. In Britain this is the Article Number Association. Most companies are allocated 100,000 numbers that they can use to identify any of their products, services or locations. Each code typically contains a leading "quiet" zone, start character, data character, optional {check digit}, stop character and a trailing quiet zone. The check digit is used to verify that the number has been scanned correctly. The quiet zone could be white, red or yellow if viewed by a red scanner. Bar code readers usually use visible red light with a wavelength between 632.8 and 680 nanometres. [Details of code?] (1997-07-18)
bare metal 1. New computer hardware, unadorned with such snares and delusions as an {operating system}, an {HLL}, or even {assembler}. Commonly used in the phrase "programming on the bare metal", which refers to the arduous work of {bit bashing} needed to create these basic tools for a new computer. Real bare-metal programming involves things like building {boot PROMs} and {BIOS} chips, implementing basic {monitors} used to test {device drivers}, and writing the assemblers that will be used to write the compiler back ends that will give the new computer a real development environment. 2. "Programming on the bare metal" is also used to describe a style of {hand-hacking} that relies on bit-level peculiarities of a particular hardware design, especially tricks for speed and space optimisation that rely on crocks such as overlapping instructions (or, as in the famous case described in {The Story of Mel}, interleaving of opcodes on a magnetic drum to minimise fetch delays due to the device's rotational latency). This sort of thing has become less common as the relative costs of programming time and computer resources have changed, but is still found in heavily constrained environments such as industrial embedded systems, and in the code of hackers who just can't let go of that low-level control. See {Real Programmer}. In the world of personal computing, bare metal programming is often considered a {Good Thing}, or at least a necessary evil (because these computers have often been sufficiently slow and poorly designed to make it necessary; see {ill-behaved}). There, the term usually refers to bypassing the BIOS or OS interface and writing the application to directly access device registers and computer addresses. "To get 19.2 kilobaud on the serial port, you need to get down to the bare metal." People who can do this sort of thing well are held in high regard. [{Jargon File}]
baroque Feature-encrusted; complex; gaudy; verging on excessive. Said of hardware or (especially) software designs, this has many of the connotations of {elephantine} or monstrosity but is less extreme and not pejorative in itself. "{Metafont} even has features to introduce random variations to its letterform output. Now *that* is baroque!" See also {rococo}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-22)
barrel shifter "hardware" A hardware device that can shift or rotate a data word by any number of bits in a single operation. It is implemented like a {multiplexor}, each output can be connected to any input depending on the shift distance. (1995-03-28)
base memory "hardware, jargon" The lowest 640 {kilobytes} of memory in an {IBM PC}-compatible computer running {MS-DOS}. Other PC {operating systems} can usually compensate and "ignore" the fact that there is a 640K limit to base memory. This was put in place because the original {CPU} - the {Intel 8088} - could only access one {megabyte} of memory, and {IBM} wanted to reserve the upper 384KB for {device drivers}. The {high memory area} (HMA) lies above 640KB and can be accessed on MS-DOS computers that have an {A20 handler}. (1997-05-30)
Basic Input/Output System "operating system" (BIOS, ROM BIOS) The part of the {system software} of the {IBM PC} and compatibles that provides the lowest level interface to {peripheral} devices and controls the first stage of the {bootstrap} process, including installing the {operating system}. The BIOS is stored in {ROM}, or equivalent, in every PC. Its main task is to load and execute the operating system which is usually stored on the computer's {hard disk}, but may be loaded from {CD-ROM} or {floppy disk} at install time. In order to provide acceptable performance (e.g. for screen display), some software vendors access the routines in the BIOS directly, rather than using the higher level operating system calls. Thus, the BIOS in the compatible computer must be 100% compatible with the IBM BIOS. As if that wasn't bad enough, many {application programs} bypass even the BIOS and address the screen hardware directly just as the BIOS does. Consequently, {register} level compatibility is required in the compatible's display electronics, which means that it must provide the same storage locations and identification as the original IBM hardware. (1999-06-09)
bay "hardware" (As in an aeroplane "cargo bay") A space in a cabinet into which a device of a certain size can be physically mounted and connected to power and data. Common examples are a "drive bay" into which a {disk drive} (usually either 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch) can be inserted or the space in a {docking station} where you insert a {notebook computer} or {laptop computer} to work as a {desktop computer} or to charge their batteries, print or connect to the office network, etc. (1999-01-11)
BBC Microcomputer A series of {6502}-based personal computers launched by {Acorn Computers} Ltd. in January 1982, for use in the British Broadcasting Corporation's educational programmes on computing. The computers are noted for their reliability (many are still in active service in 1994) and both hardware and software were designed for easy expansion. The 6502-based computers were succeeded in 1987 by the Acorn {Archimedes} family. {xbeeb} is a BBC Micro {emulator} for {Unix} and {X11}.
beamer "video, hardware, communications" A personal video station (PVS) that adds video to standard telephone lines at no additional cost. (1999-10-24)
Berkeley Network (B-NET) Top level {Unix} {Ethernet} software developed at the {University of California at Berkeley}. There are no formal specifications but UCB's {4.2BSD} {Unix} implementation on the {VAX} is the de facto standard. Distributed by {Unisoft}. Includes net.o driver routines for specific hardware, {pseudo ttys}, {daemons}, hostname command to set/get name, /etc/hosts database of names and {Internet address}es of other hosts, /etc/hosts.equiv host-wide database to control remote access, .rhosts per user version of hosts.equiv. UCB's implementation of the {Internet Protocol} includes trailers to improve performance on paged memory management systems such as {VAXen}. These trailers are an exception to the Internet Protocol specification.
beta testing "programming" Evaluation of a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of {software} (or possibly {hardware}) by making it available to selected users ("beta testers") before it goes on general distribution. Beta testign aims to discover {bugs} that only occur in certain environments or under certain patterns of use, while reducing the volume of feedback to a manageable level. The testers benefit by having earlier access to new products, features and fixes. Beta testing may be preceded by "alpha testing", performed in-house by a handful of users (e.g. other developers or friends), who can be expected to give rapid, high quality feedback on design and {usability}. Once the product is considered to be usable for its intended purpose it then moves on to "beta testing" by a larger, but typically still limited, number of ordinary users, who may include external customers. Some companies such as {Google} or {Degree Jungle (http://www.degreejungle.com/rankings/best-online-colleges)} stretch the definition, claiming their products are "in beta" for many months by millions of users. The term derives from early 1960s terminology for {product cycle} checkpoints, first used at {IBM} but later standard throughout the industry. "{Alpha test}" was the {unit test}, {module test} or {component test} phase; "Beta Test" was initial {system test}. These themselves came from earlier A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. The B-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early samples of the production design. (2013-06-09)
hardware "hardware" The physical, touchable, material parts of a computer or other system. The term is used to distinguish these fixed parts of a system from the more changeable {software} or {data} components which it executes, stores, or carries. Typical computer hardware consists of electronic devices ({CPU}, {memory}, {display}) with some electromechanical parts (keyboard, {printer}, {disk drives}, {tape drives}, loudspeakers) for input, output and storage. Completely non-electronic (mechanical, electromechanical, hydraulic, biological) computers have also been conceived of and built. See also {firmware}, {wetware}. (1997-01-23)
hardware circular buffer "programming, hardware" {digital signal processors} which support hardware {circular buffers} automatically generate and increment {pointers} for {memory} accesses which wrap to the beginning of the {buffer} when its end is reached, thus saving the time and instructions otherwise needed to ensure that the address pointer stays within the boundary of the buffer, and speeding the execution of repetitive DSP algorithms. {Digital Signal Processor For Digital Audio Applications (http://analog.com/publications/documentation/21065L_Audio_Tutorial.PDF)}. (2000-06-17)
hardware handshaking "communications" A technique for regulating the flow of data across an interface by means of signals carried on separate wires. A common example is the RTS (Request to Send) and CTS (Clear to Send) signals on an {EIA-232} {serial line}. The alternative, {software handshaking}, uses two special characters inserted into the data stream to carry the same information. (1995-01-23)
hardwareman ::: n. --> One who makes, or deals in, hardware.
hardwaremen ::: pl. --> of Hardwareman
hardware ::: n. --> Ware made of metal, as cutlery, kitchen utensils, and the like; ironmongery.
hardware register "hardware, system administration" (Or "hardware log") A list of all {hardware}, both internal and external, that is attached to a particular computer. (2006-09-07)
BiCMOS "hardware" A manufacturing process for semiconductor devices that combines {bipolar} and {CMOS} to give the best balance between available output current and power consumption. (1995-03-28)
bidirectional printing "hardware" A feature of a printer whose printer head can print both when moving left to right and when moving right to left. Also known as "{boustrophedonic}". (1995-04-13)
binary coded decimal "data" (BCD, packed decimal) A number representation where a number is expressed as a sequence of decimal digits and then each decimal digit is encoded as a four-bit binary number (a {nibble}). E.g. decimal 92 would be encoded as the eight-bit sequence 1001 0010. In some cases, the right-most nibble contains the sign (positive or negative). It is easier to convert decimal numbers to and from BCD than binary and, though BCD is often converted to binary for arithmetic processing, it is possible to build {hardware} that operates directly on BCD. [Do calculators use BCD?] (2001-01-27)
binary counter "electronics, hardware" A digital circuit which has a clock input and a number of count outputs which give the number of clock cycles. The output may change either on rising or falling clock edges. The circuit may also have a reset input which sets all outputs to zero when asserted. The counter may be either a {synchronous counter} or a {ripple counter}. (1997-07-03)
biometrics "security, hardware" The use of special input devices to analyse some physical parameter assumed to be unique to an individual, in order to confirm their identity as part of an {authentication} procedure. Examples include {fingerprint scanning}, {iris recognition}, {facial recognition}, voice recognition ({speaker recognition}), {signature}, {vascular pattern recognition}. {(http://www.findbiometrics.com/Pages/guide2.html)}. (2007-02-22)
bitmap display "hardware" A computer {output device} where each {pixel} displayed on the {monitor} screen corresponds directly to one or more {bits} in the computer's {video memory}. Such a display can be updated extremely rapidly since changing a pixel involves only a single processor write to memory compared with a {terminal} or {VDU} connected via a serial line where the speed of the serial line limits the speed at which the display can be changed. Most modern {personal computers} and {workstations} have bitmap displays, allowing the efficient use of {graphical user interfaces}, interactive graphics and a choice of on-screen {fonts}. Some more expensive systems still delegate graphics operations to dedicated hardware such as {graphics accelerators}. The bitmap display might be traced back to the earliest days of computing when the Manchester University Mark I(?) computer, developed by F.C. Williams and T. Kilburn shortly after the Second World War. This used a {storage tube} as its {working memory}. Phosphor dots were used to store single bits of data which could be read by the user and interpreted as binary numbers. [Is this history correct? Was it ever used to display "graphics"? What was the resolution?] (2002-05-15)
BITNET "networking" /bit'net/ (Because It's Time NETwork) An academic and research computer network connecting approximately 2500 computers. BITNET provides interactive, {electronic mail} and file transfer services, using a {store and forward} {protocol}, based on {IBM} {Network Job Entry} protocols. Bitnet-II encapsulates the Bitnet protocol within {IP} {packets} and depends on the {Internet} to route them. BITNET traffic and Internet traffic are exchanged via several {gateway} hosts. BITNET is now operated by {CREN}. BITNET is everybody's least favourite piece of the network. The BITNET hosts are a collection of {IBM} {dinosaurs}, {VAXen} (with lobotomised communications hardware), and {Prime Computer} supermini computers. They communicate using 80-character {EBCDIC} card images (see {eighty-column mind}); thus, they tend to mangle the {headers} and text of third-party traffic from the rest of the {ASCII}/{RFC 822} world with annoying regularity. BITNET is also notorious as the apparent home of {BIFF}. [{Jargon File}] (2002-09-02)
bit-paired keyboard "hardware" (Obsolete, or "bit-shift keyboard") A non-standard keyboard layout that seems to have originated with the {Teletype} {ASR-33} and remained common for several years on early computer equipment. The ASR-33 was a mechanical device (see {EOU}), so the only way to generate the character codes from keystrokes was by some physical linkage. The design of the ASR-33 assigned each character key a basic pattern that could be modified by flipping bits if the SHIFT or the CTRL key was pressed. In order to avoid making the thing more of a Rube Goldberg {kluge} than it already was, the design had to group characters that shared the same basic {bit pattern} on one key. Looking at the {ASCII} chart, we find: high low bits bits 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 010 ! "
bits per pixel "hardware, graphics" (bpp) The number of {bits} of information stored per {pixel} of an {image} or displayed by a {graphics adapter}. The more bits there are, the more colours can be represented, but the more memory is required to store or display the image. A colour can be described by the intensities of red, green and blue ({RGB}) components. Allowing 8 {bits} (1 {byte}) per component (24 bits per pixel) gives 256 levels for each component and over 16 million different colours - more than the human eye can distinguish. {Microsoft Windows} [and others?] calls this {truecolour}. An image of 1024x768 with 24 bpp requires over 2 MB of memory. "High colour" uses 16 bpp (or 15 bpp), 5 bits for blue, 5 bits for red and 6 bits for green. This reduced colour precision gives a slight loss of image quality at a 1/3 saving on memory. Standard {VGA} uses a {palette} of 16 colours (4 bpp), each colour in the palette is 24 bit. Standard {SVGA} uses a {palette} of 256 colours (8 bpp). Some graphics hardware and software support 32-bit colour depths, including an 8-bit "{alpha channel}" for transparency effects. (1999-08-01)
blitter "hardware, graphics" /blit'r/ (Or "{raster blaster}"). A special-purpose {integrated circuit} or hardware system built to perform {blit} (or "{bit bang}") operations, especially used for fast implementation of {bit-mapped} graphics. The {Commodore} {Amiga} and a few other {microcomputers} have these, but in 1991 the trend is away from them (however, see {cycle of reincarnation}). [{Jargon File}] (1996-04-30)
blivet /bliv'*t/ [allegedly from a World War II military term meaning "ten pounds of manure in a five-pound bag"] 1. An intractable problem. 2. A crucial piece of hardware that can't be fixed or replaced if it breaks. 3. A tool that has been hacked over by so many incompetent programmers that it has become an unmaintainable tissue of hacks. 4. An out-of-control but unkillable development effort. 5. An embarrassing bug that pops up during a customer demo. 6. In the subjargon of computer security specialists, a denial-of-service attack performed by hogging limited resources that have no access controls (for example, shared spool space on a multi-user system). This term has other meanings in other technical cultures; among experimental physicists and hardware engineers of various kinds it seems to mean any random object of unknown purpose (similar to hackish use of {frob}). It has also been used to describe an amusing trick-the-eye drawing resembling a three-pronged fork that appears to depict a three-dimensional object until one realises that the parts fit together in an impossible way. [{Jargon File}]
BNC "hardware" A connector for {coaxial cable} such as that used for some video connections and {RG58} "{cheapernet}" connections. A BNC connector has a bayonet-type shell with two small knobs on the female connector which lock into spiral slots in the male connector when it is twisted on. Different sources expand BNC as Bayonet Navy Connector, British Naval Connector, Bayonet Neill Concelman, or Bayonet Nut Connection. (1995-09-18)
boat anchor 1. Like {doorstop} but more severe; implies that the offending hardware is irreversibly dead or useless. "That was a working motherboard once. One lightning strike later, instant boat anchor!" 2. A person who just takes up space. 3. Obsolete but still working hardware, especially when used of an old S100-bus hobbyist system; originally a term of annoyance, but became more and more affectionate as the hardware became more and more obsolete. [{Jargon File}]
bogon filter /boh'gon fil'tr/ Any device, software or hardware, that limits or suppresses the flow and/or emission of bogons. "Engineering hacked a bogon filter between the {Cray} and the {VAXen}, and now we're getting fewer dropped packets." See also {bogosity}.
boustrophedonic "hardware" (From the Greek "boustrophe-don": turning like oxen in plowing; from "bous": ox, cow; "strephein": to turn) An ancient method of writing using alternate left-to-right and right-to-left lines. It used for an optimisation performed by some computer typesetting software and moving-head printers to reduce physical movement of the print head. The adverbial form "boustrophedonically" is also found. (1994-11-29)
boxen /bok'sn/ (By analogy with {VAXen}) A fanciful plural of {box} often encountered in the phrase "Unix boxen", used to describe commodity {Unix} hardware. The connotation is that any two Unix boxen are interchangeable. [{Jargon File}] (1994-11-29)
braille display "hardware" (Or "refreshable braille display", "refreshable display") An electromechanical device that renders {braille} with tiny, independently controlled pins used to represent the state of dots in braille cells. Each pin, in its "on" state, raises above the top of its hole in the screen; in its "off" state, it drops below the top of its hole. Older systems used tiny solenoids to control the state of the pins; modern systems are {piezoelectric}. Typical dimensions of a braille display are 1 line of 40 cells, each cell of two-by-eight dots. (1998-10-19)
breath-of-life packet ({XEROX PARC}) An {Ethernet} {packet} that contains {bootstrap} code, periodically sent out from a working computer to infuse the "breath of life" into any computer on the network that has crashed. Computers depending on such packets have sufficient hardware or firmware code to wait for (or request) such a packet during the reboot process. See also {dickless workstation}. The notional "kiss-of-death packet", with a function complementary to that of a breath-of-life packet, is recommended for dealing with hosts that consume too many network resources. Though "kiss-of-death packet" is usually used in jest, there is at least one documented instance of an {Internet} subnet with limited address-table slots in a gateway computer in which such packets were routinely used to compete for slots, rather like Christmas shoppers competing for scarce parking spaces. [{Jargon File}] (1995-01-26)
bridge "networking, hardware" A device which forwards traffic between {network segments} based on {data link layer} information. These segments would have a common {network layer} address. Every network should only have one {root bridge}. See also {gateway}, {router}. (2001-03-04)
bug "programming" An unwanted and unintended property of a {program} or piece of {hardware}, especially one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym of {feature}. E.g. "There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backward." The identification and removal of bugs in a program is called "{debugging}". Admiral {Grace Hopper} (an early computing pioneer better known for inventing {COBOL}) liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a {glitch} in the {Harvard Mark II machine} by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated {bug} in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the "Annals of the History of Computing", Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1947), reads "1545 Relay
bum 1. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at the expense of clarity. "I managed to bum three more instructions out of that code." "I spent half the night bumming the interrupt code." In {elder days}, {John McCarthy} (inventor of {Lisp}) used to compare some efficiency-obsessed hackers among his students to "ski bums"; thus, optimisation became "program bumming", and eventually just "bumming". 2. To squeeze out excess; to remove something in order to improve whatever it was removed from (without changing function; this distinguishes the process from a {featurectomy}). 3. A small change to an algorithm, program, or hardware device to make it more efficient. "This hardware bum makes the jump instruction faster." Usage: now uncommon, largely superseded by v. {tune} (and {tweak}, {hack}), though none of these exactly capture sense 2. All these uses are rare in Commonwealth hackish, because in the parent dialects of English "bum" is a rude synonym for "buttocks". [{Jargon File}]
burn-in 1. "hardware" {screen saver}. 2. "hardware, testing" {burn-in period}.
bus error "processor" A fatal failure in the execution of a {machine language} instruction resulting from the {processor} detecting an anomalous condition on its {bus}. Such conditions include invalid address alignment (accessing a multi-byte number at an odd address), accessing a {physical address} that does not correspond to any device, or some other device-specific hardware error. A bus error triggers a processor-level {exception} which {Unix} translates into a "SIGBUS" {signal} which, if not caught, will terminate the current process. (2000-04-04)
bytesexual "jargon" /bi:t" sek"shu-*l/ An adjective used to describe hardware, denotes willingness to compute or pass data in either {big-endian} or {little-endian} format (depending, presumably, on a {mode bit} somewhere). See also {NUXI problem}. [{Jargon File}] (2009-05-28)
cable modem "communications, hardware" A type of {modem} that allows people to access the {Internet} via their cable television service. A cable modem can transfer data at 500 {kbps} or higher, compared with 28.8 kbps for common telephone line modems, but the actual transfer rates may be lower depending on the number of other simultaneous users on the same cable. Industry pundits often point out that the cable system still does not have the {bandwidth} or service level in many areas to make this feasible. For example, it has to be capable of two-way communication. See also: {DOCSIS}. (2000-12-19)
CAM-6 Software for running {cellular automata}. CAM-6 has been implemented in hardware as {CAM-PC}. (1995-04-21)
CAM-PC "hardware" A {cellular automata} circuit board which is a hardware implementation from {Automatrix} of the {MIT} {CAM-6} machine. It comes with dozens of experiments and applications. {(http://automatrix.com/campc/index.html)}. (1995-04-21)
capability "operating system, security" An {operating system} security or access control model where specific types of access to a specific object are granted by giving a process this data structure or {token}. The token may be unforgeable (typically by using {encryption} or hardware "tagged" memory). Capabilities are used in OSes such as {Hydra}, {KeyKOS}, {EROS}, {Chorus}/{Mix}, and the {Stanford V system}. Similar to {Kerberos}, but in an OS context. Compare {access control list}. (1998-03-08)
card 1. "hardware" A circuit board. 2. "storage" {SD card}. 3. "history" A {punched card}. 4. "hypertext" An alternative term for a {node} in a system (e.g. {HyperCard}, {Notecards}) in which the node size is limited.
Cardbus "hardware" The 32-bit version of the {PCMCIA} (PC Card) {bus}. [Spec?] (1996-08-20)
CAS 1. "hardware" {Column Address Strobe}. 2. "communications" (channel associated signaling) {in-band signalling}.
casters-up mode [IBM, probably from slang belly up] Yet another synonym for "broken" or "down". Usually connotes a major failure. A system (hardware or software) which is "down" may be already being restarted before the failure is noticed, whereas one which is "casters up" is usually a good excuse to take the rest of the day off (as long as you're not responsible for fixing it). [{Jargon File}]
Category 3 "hardware" (Cat 3, or "voice grade") An American Standards Institute standard for {UTP} cables. Used, e.g., for {100BaseVG} network cabling. (1998-06-30)
Category 5 "hardware" (Cat 5) An American Standards Institute standard for {UTP} cables. Used, e.g., for {100BaseTX} cabling. (1998-06-30)
cathode ray tube "hardware" (CRT) An electrical device for displaying images by exciting phosphor dots with a scanned electron beam. CRTs are found in computer {VDUs} and {monitors}, televisions and oscilloscopes. The first commercially practical CRT was perfected on 29 January 1901 by Allen B DuMont. A large glass envelope containing a negative electrode (the cathode) emits electrons (formerly called "cathode rays") when heated, as in a {vacuum tube}. The electrons are accelerated across a large voltage gradient toward the flat surface of the tube (the screen) which is covered with phosphor. When an electron strikes the phosphor, light is emitted. The electron beam is deflected by electromagnetic coils around the outside of the tube so that it scans across the screen, usually in horizontal stripes. This scan pattern is known as a {raster}. By controlling the current in the beam, the brightness at any particular point (roughly a "{pixel}") can be varied. Different phosphors have different "{persistence}" - the length of time for which they glow after being struck by electrons. If the scanning is done fast enough, the eye sees a steady image, due to both the persistence of the phospor and of the eye itself. CRTs also differ in their {dot pitch}, which determines their spatial {resolution}, and in whether they use {interlace} or not. (1994-11-17)
cationic cocktail "hardware" (Or "Downy cocktail") Diluted fabric softener sprayed on computer room carpets to prevent static electricity from being built up by feet shuffling on carpet. The {canonical} cationic cocktail is one part unscented liquid fabric softener (in the US, usually "Downy" brand) to five parts water. "Cationic" is the chemical term for the most common active ingredient in fabric softeners. The use of the term "cocktail" may be influenced by its use in other jargons, especially pharmacological and chemical, to denote a mixture which, like cationic cocktail, typically contains no alcohol and would be unwise to drink. (1998-04-04)
CDL 1. Computer Definition [Design?] Language. A hardware description language. "Computer Organisation and Microprogramming", Yaohan Chu, P-H 1970. 2. Command Definition Language. Portion of ICES used to implement commands. Sammet 1969, p.618-620. 3. Compiler Description Language. C.H.A. Koster, 1969. Intended for implementation of the rules of an affix grammar by recursive procedures. A procedure may be a set of tree-structured alternatives, each alternative is executed until one successfully exits. Used in a portable COBOL-74 compiler from MPB, mprolog system from SzKI, and the Mephisto chess computer. "CDL: A Compiler Implementation Language", in Methods of Algorithmic Language Implementation, C.H.A. Koster, LNCS 47, Springer 1977, pp.341-351. "Using the CDL Compiler Compiler", C.H.A. Koster, 1974. Versions: CDL2, CDLM used at Manchester. 4. Common Design Language. "Common Design Language", IBM, Software Engineering Inst, Sept 1983. 5. Control Definition Language. Ideas which contributed to Smalltalk. ["Control Structures for Programming Languges", David A. Fisher, PhD Thesis, CMU 1970].
Cedar A superset of {Mesa}, from {Xerox PARC}, adding {garbage collection}, {dynamic types} and a universal pointer type (REF ANY). Cedar is a large complex language designed for custom Xerox hardware and the Cedar {operating system}/environment. Data types are {atoms}, lists, ropes ("industrial strength" strings), conditions. Multi-processing features include {threads}, {monitors}, {signals} and catch phrases. It was used to develop the Cedar integrated programming environment. ["A Description of the Cedar Language", Butler Lampson, Xerox PARC, CSL-83-15 (Dec 1983)]. ["The Structure of Cedar", D. Swinehart et al, SIGPLAN Notices 20(7):230-244 (July 1985)]. (1995-01-26)
Celeron "processor" {Intel Corporation}'s trade name for its family of {Pentium II} {microprocessors} meant for use in low-end computers. The Celeron is constructed on the 0.25 micron Deschutes base. {Clock rates} of 266, 300 and 333 {MHz} are supported. It is built on the same {daughterboard} as the Pentium II without the black plastic case and {heat sink}. Four Celeron models are in production as of October 1998. The 266 and 300 MHz models are essentially Pentium II {CPUs} without the Level 2 {cache} {RAM}. The 300A and 333 MHz Celerons include 128k of Level 2 cache. A special mounting bracket on the motherboard is used to secure the Celeron in place in its standard 242-pin Slot 1 socket. Intel calls the caseless design SEPP (Single Edge Processor Package) to differentiate it from the Pentium II SEC (Single Edge Cartridge). Some believe that the real purpose for the different mounting configurations is to prevent users from placing lower cost processors onto Pentium II motherboards. A Celeron is about one third the cost of a similar speed Pentium II. Hardware {hackers} claim that the Celeron 300 without Level 2 cache could be {overclocked} to perform as well as a Pentium II at a fraction of the price. {(http://intel.com/Celeron/)}. {Tom's Hardware (http://www2.tomshardware.com/cpuslot1.html)}. (1998-10-06)
Centronics "company, hardware, printer" A company in Hudson N.H., USA, best known for designing the {parallel interface} for printers with the same name, found on many {microcomputers}. [Pin-out?] (1998-03-15)
Ceramic Pin Grid Array "hardware, processor" (CPGA) A form of {Pin Grid Array} package used by {Cyrix III} {processors}. Compare {PPGA} and {FC-PGA}. [Other uses?] (2000-08-26)
chad box "hardware" ({IBM} called this a "chip box") A metal box about the size of a lunchbox (or in some models a large wastebasket), for collecting the {chad} that accumulated in {Iron Age} {card punches}. You had to open the covers of the card punch periodically and empty the chad box. The {bit bucket} was notionally the equivalent device in the {CPU} enclosure, which was typically across the room in another great grey-and-blue box. [{Jargon File}] (1996-11-20)
Chadless keypunch "hardware" A {card punch} which cut little U-shapes in {punched cards}, rather than punching out a circle or rectangle. The U's made a hole when folded back. One of the {Jargon File}'s correspondents believed that the term "chad" derived from the {Chadless keypunch}. Obviously, if the Chadless keypunch didn't make them, then the stuff that other keypunches made had to be "{chad}". The assertion that the keypunch was named after its inventor is not supported by any record in US or UK patents or surname references. (2000-11-22)
channel service unit/data service unit "communications, hardware" (CSU/DSU, or "..digital..") A device that performs both the {channel service unit} (CSU) and {data service unit} (DSU) functions. The Channel Service Unit (CSU) is used to terminate a {DS1} or {DS0} (56/64 kb/s) digital circuit. It peforms {line conditioning}, protection, {loop-back} and timing functions. The Data Service Unit (DSU) terminates the data circuit to the {Data Terminal Equipment} (DTE) and converts the customer's data stream into a bi-polar format for transmission. (2001-10-19)
checkpoint "programming" Saving the current state of a program and its data, including intermediate results, to disk or other {non-volatile storage}, so that if interrupted the program could be restarted at the point at which the last checkpoint occurred. This facility came into popular use in {mainframe} {operating systemss} such as {OS/360} in which programs frequently ran for longer than the mean time between system failures. If a program run fails because of some event beyond the program's control (e.g. hardware or {operating system} failure) then the processor time invested before the checkpoint will not have been wasted. (1995-02-07)
chiclet keyboard "hardware, abuse" A {keyboard} with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Used especially to describe the original {IBM PCjr} keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early {portable} and {laptop computers} were launched with them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more. [{Jargon File}] (1997-05-16)
chip creep "hardware" Gradual loosening of an {integrated circuit} ("chip") in its {socket} as a result of expansion and contraction during the normal heating and cooling cycles of an electronic system, combined with vibration, e.g. due to cooling fans. The chip can loosen to the point that poor electrical contact between chip and socket reduces the signal quality, causing failure. Pushing chips back into their sockets can cure such symptoms temporarily. Permanent solutions include soldering chips directly to the {PCB} and clipping the component into the socket (as on some {in-line memory modules}). The same phenomenon can affect anything plugged into a socket but not held securely in place, e.g. a {circuit board} plugged into an {edge connector} on a {motherboard} or {backplane} can suffer "card creep". (2007-06-19)
Chip Scale Packaging "hardware" (CSP) A type of {surface mount} {integrated circuit} packaging that provides pre-speed-sorted, pre-tested and pre-packaged {die} without requiring special testing. An example is {Motorola}'s {Micro SMT} packaging. See also: {chip-on-board}, {flip chip}, {multichip module}, {known good die}, {ball grid array}. ["Chip scale packaging gains at SMI. (Surface Mount International)", Bernard Levine, Electronic News (1991), Sept 4, 1995 v41 n2081 p1(2)]. (2006-08-14)
chip set "hardware" A collection of {integrated circuits} that are designed to be used together for some specific purpose. E.g. control circuitry in an {IBM PC}. (1995-03-27)
Christmas tree "hardware, jargon" A kind of {EIA-232} {line tester} or {breakout box} featuring rows of blinking red and green {LEDs} suggestive of Christmas lights. [{Jargon File}] (2006-09-20)
circular buffer "programming" An area of {memory} used to store a continuous stream of data by starting again at the beginning of the buffer after reaching the end. A circular buffer is usually written by one process and read by another. Separate read and write {pointers} are maintained. These are not allowed to pass each other otherwise either unread data would be overwritten or invalid data would be read. A circuit may implement a {hardware circular buffer}. (2000-06-17)
Cisco Systems, Inc. "company" {Ethernet} hardware manufacturers. {(http://cisco.com/)}. Address: 170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134-1706, USA. Telephone: +1 408 526 4000, +1 800 553 6387. Fax: +1 408 526 4100. (1995-04-19)
clean "jargon" 1. Used of hardware or software designs, implies "elegance in the small", that is, a design or implementation that may not hold any surprises but does things in a way that is reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to comprehend from the outside. The antonym is "grungy" or {crufty}. 2. To remove unneeded or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter: "I'm cleaning up my account." "I cleaned up the garbage and now have 100 Meg free on that partition." [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-12)
click "hardware" To press and release a {button} on a {mouse} or other {pointing device}. This generates an {event}, also specifying the screen position, which is processed by the {window manager} or {application program}. On a mouse with more than one button, the unqualified term usually implies pressing the left-most button (with the right index finger), other buttons would be qualified, e.g. "{right-click}". Multiple clicks in quick succession, e.g. a double-click, often have a different meaning from slow single clicks. {Keyboard} modifiers may also be used, e.g. "shift-click", meaning to hold down the shift key on the keyboard while clicking the mouse button. If the mouse moves while the button is pressed then this is a {drag}. (1995-03-14)
client-server "programming" A common form of {distributed system} in which software is split between {server} tasks and {client} tasks. A client sends requests to a server, according to some {protocol}, asking for information or action, and the server responds. This is analogous to a customer (client) who sends an order (request) on an order form to a supplier (server) who despatches the goods and an invoice (response). The order form and invoice are part of the "protocol" used to communicate in this case. There may be either one centralised server or several distributed ones. This model allows clients and servers to be placed independently on {nodes} in a {network}, possibly on different {hardware} and {operating systems} appropriate to their function, e.g. fast server/cheap client. Examples are the name-server/name-resolver relationship in {DNS}, the file-server/file-client relationship in {NFS} and the screen server/client application split in the {X Window System}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.client-server}. ["The Essential Client/Server Survival Guide", 2nd edition, 1996]. (1998-01-25)
Clipper 1. "hardware, cryptography" An {integrated circuit} which implements the {SkipJack} {algorithm}. The Clipper is manufactured by the US government to encrypt telephone data. It has the added feature that it can be decrypted by the US government, which has tried to make the chip compulsory in the United States. Phil Zimmerman (inventor of {PGP}) remarked, "This doesn't even pass the sniff test" (i.e. it stinks). {(http://wired.com/clipper/)}. {news:alt.privacy.clipper} 2. A compiled {dBASE} dialect from Nantucket Corp, LA. Versions: Winter 85, Spring 86, Autumn 86, Summer 87, 4.5 (Japanese Kanji), 5.0. It uses the {Xbase} programming language. (2004-09-01)
CMC 1. "messaging" {Computer Mediated Communication}. 2. "hardware" {Common Mezzanine Card}.
coaxial cable "hardware" A kind of cable with a solid central conductor surrounded by insulator, in turn surrounded by a cylindrical shield woven from fine wires. It is used to carry high frequency signals such as {video} or {radio}. The shield is usually connected to electrical ground to reduce electrical interference. (1995-03-28)
code 1. "software" Instructions for a computer in some programming language, often {machine language} (machine code). The word "code" is often used to distinguish instructions from {data} (e.g. "The code is marked 'read-only'") whereas the word "{software}" is used in contrast with "{hardware}" and may consist of more than just code. (2000-04-08) 2. "cryptography" Some method of {encryption} or the resulting encrypted message. (2006-11-10)
Color Graphics Adapter "hardware, graphics" (CGA) One of {IBM}'s earliest hardware video {display standards} for use in {IBM PCs}. CGA can display 80*25 or 40*25 text in 16 colors, 640*200 {pixels} of graphics in two colors or 320*200 in four colors (IBM PC video modes 0-6). It is now obsolete. (1995-11-11)
colour "graphics" (US "color") Colours are usually represented as {RGB} triples in a {digital} {image} because this corresponds most closely to the electronic signals needed to drive a {CRT}. Several equivalent systems ("{colour models}") exist, e.g. {HSB}. A colour {image} may be stored as three separate images, one for each of red, green, and blue, or each {pixel} may encode the colour using separate {bit-fields} for each colour component, or each pixel may store a logical colour number which is looked up in a hardware {colour palette} to find the colour to display. Printers may use the {CMYK} or {Pantone} representations of colours as well as RGB. (1999-08-02)
colour palette "graphics, hardware" (colour look-up table, CLUT) A device which converts the {logical} colour numbers stored in each {pixel} of {video} memory into {physical} colours, normally represented as {RGB} triplets, that can be displayed on the {monitor}. The palette is simply a block of fast {RAM} which is addressed by the logical colour and whose output is split into the red, green and blue levels which drive the actual display (e.g. {CRT}). The number of entries (logical colours) in the palette is the total number of colours which can appear on screen simultaneously. The width of each entry determines the number of colours which the palette can be set to produce. A common example would be a palette of 256 colours (i.e. addressed by eight-bit pixel values) where each colour can be chosen from a total of 16.7 million colours (i.e. eight bits output for each of red, green and blue). Changes to the palette affect the whole screen at once and can be used to produce special effects which would be much slower to produce by updating pixels. (1997-06-03)
Column Address Strobe "hardware" (CAS) A signal sent from a processor (or {memory controller}) to a {dynamic random-access memory} (DRAM) (qv) circuit to indicate that the column {address lines} are valid. (1996-10-17)
Comdex "business" A computer show that is held twice yearly, once in the spring (in Atlanta) and once in autumn (in Las Vegas). Comdex is a major show during which new releases of software and hardware are made. {Microsoft}, for example, often annouces its products at Comdex. (1995-01-11)
Commodore 65 "computer" (Or Commodore 64DX, C65, C64DX) The last 8-bit computer designed by {Commodore Business Machines}, about 1989-1991. The C65 boasts an {ugly} collection of {custom} {integrated circuits} which makes even the {Amiga} hardware look standard. The core of the C65 {chipset} is the {CSG 4510} and {CSG 4569}. The 4510 is a {65CE02} with two {6526} {CIAs}. The 4569 is equivalent to a combination of the {6569} VIC-II and the {MMU} of the {Commodore 64}. The C65 also has a {DMA controller} (Commodore's purpose built {DMAgic}) which also functions as a simple {blitter}, and a {floppy controller} for the internal {Commodore 1581}-like disk drive. The floppy controller, known as the {F011}, supports seven drives (though the {DOS} only supports 2). The {4510} supports all the {C64} {video modes}, plus an 80 column text mode, and {bitplane} modes. The bitplane modes can use up to eight bitplanes, and {resolutions} of up to 1280 x 400. The {palette} is 12-bit like the {Amiga 500}. It also has two SID's (MOS 8580/6581) for stereo audio. The C65 has two busses, D and E, with 64 {kilobytes} of {RAM} on each. The VIC-III can access the D-bus while the CPU accesses the E-bus, and then they can swap around. This effectively makes the whole 8MB {address space} both {chip ram} and {fast ram}. {RAM} expansion is accomplished through a {trap door} slot in the bottom which uses a {grock} of a connector. The C65 has a {C128}-like native mode, where all of the new features are enabled, and the CPU runs at 3.5 megahertz with its {pipeline} enabled. It also has a C64 {incompatibility mode} which offers approx 50-80% compatibility with C64 software by turning off all its {bells and whistles}. The {bells and whistles} can still be accessed from the C64 mode, which is dissimilar to the C128's inescapable C64 mode. Production of the C65 was dropped only a few weeks before it moved from the Alpha stage, possibly due to Commodore's cash shortage. Commodore estimate that "between 50 and 10000" exist. There are at least three in Australia, about 30 in Germany and "some" in the USA and Canada. (1996-04-07)
Common Hardware Reference Platform {PowerPC Platform}
Communication and Network Riser "hardware, standard" (CNR) A specification for {audio}, {modem}, {USB} and {Local Area Networking} interfaces of core computer logic {chip sets}. {Intel} introduced CNR on 2000-02-07. It was mainly developed by hardware and software developers who helped release AMR ({Audio/Modem Riser}) and is used by several computer manufacturers. {(http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/cnr.htm)}. (2007-03-15)
communications port "hardware, communications" A connector for a communications interface, usually, a {serial port}. (1996-08-04)
complex programmable logic device "hardware" (CPLD) A programmable circuit similar to an {FPGA}, but generally on a smaller scale, invented by {Xilinx, Inc}. (1998-09-26)
computer "computer" A machine that can be programmed to manipulate symbols. Computers can perform complex and repetitive procedures quickly, precisely and reliably and can store and retrieve large amounts of data. Most computers in use today are electronic {digital computers} (as opposed to {analogue computers}). The physical components from which a computer is constructed are known as {hardware}, which can be of four types: {CPU}, {memory}, {input devices} and {output devices}. The CPU ({central processing unit}) executes {software} {programs} which tell the computer what to do. Input and output (I/O) devices allow the computer to communicate with the user and the outside world. There are many kinds of memory or storage - fast, expensive, short term memory (e.g. {RAM}) to hold intermediate results, and slower, cheaper, long-term memory (e.g. {magnetic disk} and {magnetic tape}) to hold programs and data that are not being used immediately. Computers today are often connected to a {network} (which may be part of the {Internet}). This allows them to be accessed from elsewhere and to exchange data with other computers. (2018-06-25)
Concurrent Pascal "language" An extension of a {Pascal} subset, {Sequential Pascal}, developed by Brinch Hansen in 1972-75. Concurrent Pascal was the first language to support {monitors}. It provided access to hardware devices through monitor calls and also supported processes and {class}es. ["The Programming Language Concurrent Pascal", Per Brinch Hansen, IEEE Trans Soft Eng 1(2):199-207 (Jun 1975)]. (1994-11-30)
condom "jargon" 1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies {3.5-inch microfloppy diskettes}. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes. Unlike the {write protect tab}, the condom (when left on) not only impedes the practice of {SEX} but has also been shown to have a high failure rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk - and can even fatally frustrate insertion. 2. The protective cladding on a {light pipe}. 3. "keyboard condom": A flexible, transparent plastic cover for a keyboard, designed to provide some protection against dust and {programming fluid} without impeding typing. 4. "elephant condom": the plastic shipping bags used inside cardboard boxes to protect hardware in transit. [{Jargon File}] (1995-03-14)
CONFIG.SYS "operating system" A {text file} containing special system configuration commands, found in the {root directory} on an {MS-DOS} computer, typically on {drive} C (the {hard disk}). It is read by {MS-DOS} at {boot time}, after the setup has been read from {CMOS RAM} and before running {AUTOEXEC.BAT}. It can be modified by the user. Some example commands which CONFIG.SYS might contain are: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off Load the {extended memory} manager. DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM Load the {expanded memory} manager. BUFFERS=10,0 Specify memory for {disk buffers}. FILES=70 Set the number of files that can be open at once. DOS=UMB DOS is located in {UppeMemoryBlock}. LASTDRIVE=Z Disk drives are A: to Z:. FCBS=16,0 Set the number of {file control blocks}. DEVICEHIGH /L:1,12048 =C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE Report the DOS version to older programs. DOS=HIGH DOS should maintain a link to {UMB}. COUNTRY=358,437 C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS Set the {country code} for some programs. STACKS=9,256 Set {dynamic stacks} for hardware control. SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:1024 /p Set the location of the {command interpreter}. (1995-03-16)
configuration item "jargon" Hardware or software, or an aggregate of both, which is designated by the project configuration manager (or contracting agency) for {configuration management}. (1996-05-29)
console 1. "hardware, operating system, history" The {operator}'s station of a {mainframe} as opposed to an ordinary user's {terminal}. In times past, the console was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to anyone with fingers on its keys. Under {Unix} and other modern {time-sharing} {operating systems}, such privileges are guarded by {passwords} instead, and the console is just the {tty} the system was booted from. On Unix the device is called /dev/console. On a {microcomputer} {Unix} box, the console is the main screen and keyboard. Other, character-only, terminals may be connected to {serial ports}. Typically only the console can do real {graphics} or run {X}. See also {CTY}. 2. "games" A self-contained {microcomputer} optimised for gaming, with powerful graphical output designed to be displayed on a television; equipped with one or more {joystick} controllers for input and an {optical drive} to load software. Later generations also feature {Internet} connection via {wireless} or wired {Ethernet} for downloading games and multiplayer networked play. Typically such devices have no keyboard so text must be input using the controller to operate an on-screen keyboard, e.g. to enter player names. The most successful recent examples are the {Sony Playstation} and {Microsoft Xbox} families. [{Jargon File}] (2014-07-01)
content addressable memory "hardware, storage" (CAM, or "associative memory") A kind of {storage} device which includes comparison logic with each {bit} of storage. A data value is broadcast to all {words} of storage and compared with the values there. Words which match are flagged in some way. Subsequent operations can then work on flagged words, e.g. read them out one at a time or write to certain bit positions in all of them. A CAM can thus operate as a {data parallel} ({SIMD}) processor. CAMs are often used in {caches} and {memory management units}. (1995-02-16)
control 1. "character, hardware" A {control key} on a {keyboard} used to input {control characters}. 2. "programming, operating system, graphics" A component in a {graphical user interface}, e.g. an {Active-X control}.
Control and Status Register "hardware" (CSR) A special {register} in most {CPUs} that stores additional information about the results of {machine instructions}, e.g. {comparisons}. The CSR consists of several independent {flag bits} such as {carry}, {overflow} and zero. The CSR is chiefly used to determine the outcome of {conditional branch} instructions or other forms of {conditional execution}. (2018-01-29)
control key "hardware" A {modifier key} found on modern {keyboards}. Holding down a control key while pressing and releasing letter keys or certain other keys generates a "{control character}". E.g. holding control and hitting "A" generates control-A ({ASCII} code 1). The ASCII code for the control character is generally 64 less than that for the unmodified character. Standard {PC} keyboards have two control keys, both labeled "Ctrl", at the bottom left and bottom right of the main block of keys. The control key does not generate any character on its own but most modern keyboards and {operating systems} allow a program to tell whether each of the individual keys on the keyboard (including modifier keys) is pressed at any time. (2015-03-07)
controller "hardware" Part of a computer, typically a separate circuit board, which allows the computer to use certain kinds of {peripheral} devices. A {disk controller} is used to connect {hard disks} and {floppy disks}, a {network controller} is used for {Ethernet}. Other controllers are: {keyboard controller}, {interrupt controller} and {graphics controller}. (1998-03-16)
core 1. "storage" {Main memory} or {RAM}. This term dates from the days of {ferrite core memory} and, like the technology, is now archaic. Some derived idioms outlived the hardware: for example, "in core" (meaning {paged in}), {core dump}, "core image", "core file". Some varieties of Commonwealth hackish prefer {store}. [{Jargon File}] (2009-11-06) 2. "processor" An {integrated circuit} design, usually for a {microprocessor}, which includes only the {CPU} and which is intended to be incorporated on a chiip with other circuits such as {cache}, {memory management unit}, I/O ports and timers. The trend in 2009 is to have multiple cores per chip. The {ARM6}, {ARM7} and {ARM8} are early examples, the {Intel} {Core i9} more recent. 3. "language" A varient on {kernel} as used to describe features built into a language as opposed to those provided by {libraries}. (2009-11-06)
coupling "programming, hardware" The degree to which components depend on one another. There are two types of coupling, "tight" and "loose". Loose coupling is desirable for good {software engineering} but tight coupling may be necessary for maximum performance. Coupling is increased when the data exchanged between components becomes larger or more complex. (1996-08-01)
crawling horror "jargon" Ancient {crufty} hardware or software that is kept obstinately alive by forces beyond the control of the hackers at a site. Like {dusty deck} or {gonkulator}, but connotes that the thing described is not just an irritation but an active menace to health and sanity. "Mostly we code new stuff in C, but they pay us to maintain one big Fortran II application from nineteen-sixty-X that's a real crawling horror." Compare {WOMBAT}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-01)
creeping featuritis "jargon" /kree'ping fee'-chr-i:`t*s/ A variant of {creeping featurism}, with its own spoonerism: "feeping creaturitis". Some people like to reserve this form for the disease as it actually manifests in {software} or {hardware}, as opposed to the lurking general tendency in designers' minds. -ism means "condition" or "pursuit of", whereas -itis usually means "inflammation of". [{Jargon File}] (1997-08-03)
crippleware 1. Software that has some important functionality deliberately removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a working version. 2. (Cambridge) {Guiltware} that exhorts you to donate to some charity. Compare {careware}, {nagware}. 3. Hardware deliberately crippled, which can be upgraded to a more expensive model by a trivial change (e.g. removing a jumper). A correspondant gave the following example: In 1982-5, a friend had a {Sharp} {scientific calculator} which was on the list of those permitted in exams. No programmable calculators were allowed. A very similar, more expensive, programmable model had two extra keys for programming where the cheaper version just had blank metal. My friend took his calculator apart (as you would) and lo and behold, the rubber switches of the program keys were there on the circuit board. So all he had to do was cut a hole in the face. For exams he would pre-load the calculator with any useful routines, put a sticker with his name on it over the hole, and press the buttons through the sticker with a pen. [{Jargon File}] (2001-05-12)
Crispy Critters "jargon" (Or "Crispy Crittered". From the "Post" breakfast cereal of the same name) {hardware} which is {fried} or {toast}. (1995-01-31)
cross-platform "software, hardware" A term that describes a language, software application or hardware device that works on more than one system {platform} (e.g. {Unix}, {Microsoft Windows}, {Macintosh}). E.g. {Netscape Navigator}, {Java}. (1998-02-24)
cruncha cruncha cruncha "jargon" /kruhn'ch* kruhn'ch* kruhn'ch*/ An encouragement sometimes muttered to a machine bogged down in a serious {grovel}. Also describes a notional sound made by grovelling hardware. See {grind} (sense 3). (2003-06-02)
cryppie "job, cryptography" /krip'ee/ A cryptographer. One who hacks or implements software or hardware for {cryptography}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-08-23)
CSL 1. Computer Structure Language. A computer {hardware description language}, written in {BCPL}. ["Computer Structure Language (CSL)", Proc 1975 Symp on Comp Hardware Description Languages and their Appl, ACM (Sep 1975)]. 2. Control and Simulation Language. A language for industrial simulation from Esso and {IBM}. ["Control and Simulation Language", J.N. Buxton et al, Computer J 5(3):194-199 (Oct 1962). Version: CSL 2 (1966 for IBM 7094)].
CSP 1. "language" {Communicating Sequential Processes}. 2. "hardware" {Chip Scale Packaging}.
cursor 1. "hardware" A visually distinct mark on a display indicating where newly typed text will be inserted. The cursor moves as text is typed and, in most modern editors, can be moved around within a document by the user to change the insertion point. 2. "database" In {SQL}, a named control structure used by an {application program} to point to a row of data. The position of the {row} is within a {table} or {view}, and the cursor is used interactively so select rows from columns. (1996-12-27)
cutover "communications, networking" /cut-ov*/ Switching from an old ({hardware} and/or {software}) system to a replacement system, covering the overlap from when the new system is {live} until the old system has been {shut down}. (1997-07-09)
CyberGlove "hardware, virtual reality" A {data glove} sold by {Virtual Technologies}. The spandex-like glove houses 18 sensors to track accurately just about every move your hand is capable of making. The accompanying software includes a three-dimensional hand model that can he added to any {virtual reality} application. The glove includes a mount for Polhemus and Ascension sensors. (2003-06-17)
CyberWand "hardware, virtual reality" A {virtual reality} {controller}. The CyberWand costs $99, or $765 with optional Polhemus sensor. It is basically the handle of a flight control system without the base. The controller's four buttons and 2-D hat sensor track six degrees of movement. (1995-04-04)
cycle of reincarnation A term coined by {Ivan Sutherland} ca. 1970 to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose {peripheral} hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main {CPU}, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in {graphics-processor} ({blitter}) design, and at least one or two in communications and {floating-point} processors. Also known as "the Wheel of Life", "the Wheel of Samsara" and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea. [{Jargon File}] (1994-11-16)
DACAPO Broad-range hardware specification language. "Mixed Level Modelling and Simulation of VLSI Systems", F.J. Rammig in Logic Design and Simulation, E. Horbst ed, N-H 1986.
DASL Datapoint's Advanced System Language. A cross between {C} and {Pascal} by Gene Hughes with custom features for {Datapoint} hardware (no {stack}). It is used internally by Datapoint. (1994-11-08)
database machine "hardware" A {computer} or special hardware that stores and retrieves data from a {database}. It is specially designed for database access and is coupled to the main ({front-end}) computer(s) by a high-speed channel. This contrasts with a {database server}, which is a computer in a {local area network} that holds a database. The database machine is tightly coupled to the main {CPU}, whereas the database server is loosely coupled via the network. [Example?] (2004-03-11)
database management system "database" (DBMS) A suite of programs which typically manage large structured sets of persistent data, offering ad hoc query facilities to many users. They are widely used in business applications. A database management system (DBMS) can be an extremely complex set of software programs that controls the organisation, storage and retrieval of data (fields, records and files) in a database. It also controls the security and integrity of the database. The DBMS accepts requests for data from the application program and instructs the operating system to transfer the appropriate data. When a DBMS is used, information systems can be changed much more easily as the organisation's information requirements change. New categories of data can be added to the database without disruption to the existing system. Data security prevents unauthorised users from viewing or updating the database. Using passwords, users are allowed access to the entire database or subsets of the database, called subschemas (pronounced "sub-skeema"). For example, an employee database can contain all the data about an individual employee, but one group of users may be authorised to view only payroll data, while others are allowed access to only work history and medical data. The DBMS can maintain the integrity of the database by not allowing more than one user to update the same record at the same time. The DBMS can keep duplicate records out of the database; for example, no two customers with the same customer numbers (key fields) can be entered into the database. {Query languages} and {report writers} allow users to interactively interrogate the database and analyse its data. If the DBMS provides a way to interactively enter and update the database, as well as interrogate it, this capability allows for managing personal databases. However, it may not leave an audit trail of actions or provide the kinds of controls necessary in a multi-user organisation. These controls are only available when a set of application programs are customised for each data entry and updating function. A business information system is made up of subjects (customers, employees, vendors, etc.) and activities (orders, payments, purchases, etc.). Database design is the process of deciding how to organize this data into record types and how the record types will relate to each other. The DBMS should mirror the organisation's data structure and process transactions efficiently. Organisations may use one kind of DBMS for daily transaction processing and then move the detail onto another computer that uses another DBMS better suited for random inquiries and analysis. Overall systems design decisions are performed by data administrators and systems analysts. Detailed database design is performed by database administrators. The three most common organisations are the {hierarchical database}, {network database} and {relational database}. A database management system may provide one, two or all three methods. Inverted lists and other methods are also used. The most suitable structure depends on the application and on the transaction rate and the number of inquiries that will be made. Database machines are specially designed computers that hold the actual databases and run only the DBMS and related software. Connected to one or more mainframes via a high-speed channel, database machines are used in large volume transaction processing environments. Database machines have a large number of DBMS functions built into the hardware and also provide special techniques for accessing the disks containing the databases, such as using multiple processors concurrently for high-speed searches. The world of information is made up of data, text, pictures and voice. Many DBMSs manage text as well as data, but very few manage both with equal proficiency. Throughout the 1990s, as storage capacities continue to increase, DBMSs will begin to integrate all forms of information. Eventually, it will be common for a database to handle data, text, graphics, voice and video with the same ease as today's systems handle data. See also: {intelligent database}. (1998-10-07)
Data Communication Equipment "communications, hardware" (DCE) The devices and connections of a communications network that connect the communication circuit between the data source and destination (the {Data Terminal Equipment} or DTE). A {modem} is the most common kind of DCE. Before data can be transmited over a modem, the DTR (Data Terminal Ready) signal must be active. DTR tells the DCE that the DTE is ready to transmit and receive data. DCE and DTE are usually connected by an {EIA-232} {serial line}. It is necessary to distinguish these two types of device because their connectors must be wired differently if a "straight-through" cable (pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2 etc.) is to be used. DCE should have a female connector and should transmit on pin two and receive on pin three. It is a curious fact that many {modems} are "DTE" according to the original standard. (1995-02-28)
data dictionary "database" A data structure that stores {metadata}, i.e. data about {data}. The term "data dictionary" has several uses. Most generally it is a set of {data descriptions} that can be shared by several applications. Usually it means a {table} in a {database} that stores the names, {field} {types}, length, and other characteristics of the fields in the database tables. An active data dictionary is automatically updated as changes occur in the database. A passive data dictionary must be manually updated. In a {DBMS}, this functionality is performed by the {system catalog}. The data dictionary is a more general software utility used by designers, users, and administrators for {information resource management}. The data dictionary may maintain information on system hardware, software, documentation, users, and other aspects. Data dictionaries are also used to document the database design process itself and can accumulate metadata ready to feed into the system catalog. [Does anybody call them "codebooks"?] (2001-04-24)
Data Encryption Standard (DES) The {NBS}'s popular, standard {encryption} algorithm. It is a {product cipher} that operates on 64-bit blocks of data, using a 56-bit key. It is defined in {FIPS} 46-1 (1988) (which supersedes FIPS 46 (1977)). DES is identical to the {ANSI} standard {Data Encryption Algorithm} (DEA) defined in ANSI X3.92-1981. DES has been implemented in {VLSI}. {SunOS} provides a des command which can make use of DES hardware if fitted. Neither the software nor the hardware are supposed to be distributed outside the USA. {Unix manual pages}: des(1), des(3), des(4). (1994-12-06)
data flow analysis "programming" A process to discover the dependencies between different data items manipulated by a program. The order of execution in a {data driven} language is determined solely by the data dependencies. For example, given the equations 1. X = A + B 2. B = 2 + 2 3. A = 3 + 4 a data-flow analysis would find that 2 and 3 must be evaluated before 1. Since there are no data dependencies between 2 and 3, they may be evaluated in any order, including in parallel. This technique is implemented in {hardware} in some {pipelined} processors with multiple {functional units}. It allows instructions to be executed as soon as their inputs are available, independent of the original program order. (1996-05-13)
data glove "hardware, virtual reality" An input device for {virtual reality} in the form of a glove which measures the movements of the wearer's fingers and transmits them to the computer. Sophisticated data gloves also measure movement of the wrist and elbow. A data glove may also contain control buttons or act as an output device, e.g. vibrating under control of the computer. The user usually sees a virtual image of the data glove and can point or grip and push objects. Examples are {Fifth Dimension Technologies} (5DT)'s {5th Glove}, and {Virtual Technologies}' {CyberGlove}. A cheaper alternative is {InWorld VR}'s {CyberWand}. ["Full freedom plus input", PC Magazine, Mar 14 1995, pp. 168-190]. [Inventor?] (1995-04-04)
data hierarchy The system of data objects which provide the {methods} for {information} storage and retrieval. Broadly, a data hierarchy may be considered to be either natural, which arises from the alphabet or syntax of the language in which the information is expressed, or machine, which reflects the facilities of the computer, both hardware and software. A natural data hierarchy might consist of {bits}, {characters}, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. One might use components bound to an application, such as field, record, and file, and these would ordinarily be further specified by having {data descriptors} such as name field, address field, etc. On the other hand, a machine or software system might use {bit}, {byte}, {word}, {block}, {partition}, {channel}, and {port}. Programming languages often provide {types} or {objects} which can create data hierarchies of arbitrary complexity, thus allowing software system designers to model language structures described by the linguist to greater or lesser degree. The distinction between the natural form of data and the facilities provided by the machine may be obscure, because users force their needs into the molds provided, and programmers change machine designs. As an example, the natural data type "character" and the machine type "byte" are often used interchangeably, because the latter has evolved to meet the need of representing the former. (1995-11-03)
Data Jack "hardware" A wall-mounted or desk-mounted connector (frequently a wide telephone-style 8-pin {RJ-45}) for connecting to data cabling in a building. (1997-01-07)
data logging "data" (data acquisition) Storing a series of measurements over time, usually from a sensor that converts a physical quantity such as temperature, pressure, relative humidity, light, resistance, current, power, speed, vibration into a voltage that is then converted by a {digital to analog converter} (DAC) into a binary number. Data logging hardware may have several DACs for multiple simultaneous measurements. The hardware usually connects to a {parallel port}, {serial port} or {USB} port on a {PC}. (2004-11-15)
data redundancy "data, communications, storage" Any technique that stores or transmits extra, derived data that can be used to detect or repair errors, either in hardware or software. Examples are {parity bits} and the {cyclic redundancy check}. If the cost of errors is high enough, e.g. in a {safety-critical system}, redundancy may be used in both hardware AND software with three separate computers programmed by three separate teams ("triple redundancy") and some system to check that they all produce the same answer, or some kind of majority voting system. The term is not typically used for other, less beneficial, duplication of data. 2. "communications" The proportion of a message's gross information content that can be eliminated without losing essential information. Technically, redundancy is one minus the ratio of the actual uncertainty to the maximum uncertainty. This is the fraction of the structure of the message which is determined not by the choice of the sender, but rather by the accepted statistical rules governing the choice of the symbols in question. [Shannon and Weaver, 1948, p. l3] (2010-02-04)
data striping "storage" Segmentation of logically {sequential} data, such as a single file, so that segments can be written to multiple physical devices (usually {disk drives}) in a {round-robin} fashion. This technique is useful if the processor is capable of reading or writing data faster than a single disk can supply or accept it. While data is being transferred from the first disk, the second disk can locate the next segment. Data striping is used in some modern {databases}, such as {Sybase}, and in certain {RAID} devices under hardware control, such as {IBM}'s {RAMAC} array subsystem (9304/9395). Data striping is different from, and may be used in conjunction with, {mirroring}. (1996-10-17)
Data Terminal Equipment "communications, hardware" (DTE) A device which acts as the source and/or destination of data and which controls the communication channel. DTE includes terminals, computers, {protocol converters}, and {multiplexors}. DTE is usually connected via an {EIA-232} {serial line} to {Data Communication Equipment} (DCE), typically a {modem}. It is necessary to distinguish these two types of device because their connectors must be wired differently if a "straight-through" cable (pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2 etc.) is to be used. DTE should have a male connector and should transmit on pin three and receive on pin two. It is a curious fact that many {modems} are actually "DTE" according to the original standard. (1995-02-28)
date "convention, data" A string unique to a time duration of 24 hours between 2 successive midnights defined by the local time zone. The specific representation of a date will depend on which calendar convention is in force; e.g., Gregorian, Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew etc. as well as local ordering conventions such as UK: day/month/year, US: month/day/year. Inputting and outputting dates on computers is greatly complicated by these {localisation} issues which is why they tend to operate on dates internally in some unified form such as seconds past midnight at the start of the first of January 1970. Many software and hardware representations of dates allow only two digits for the year, leading to the {year 2000} problem. {Unix manual page}: date(1), ctime(3). (1997-07-11)
daughterboard "hardware" (Or "daughter board", "daughtercard", "daughter card") A {printed circuit board} that connects to the {motherboard}. The daughterboard is typically smaller than the motherboard. A daughterdboard often adds to or supports the main functions of the {motherboard}, unlike an {expansion card} which provides some new function. For example, a post-release hardware modification might be released as a daughterboard for soldering onto the {motherboard}. (2004-09-28)
DB-25 "hardware" The standard 25-pin {D-shell connector} used for {EIA-232} serial communication. {DE-9} is a common alternative. (1996-12-08)
DDT 1. Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other programs by showing individual {machine instructions} in a readable symbolic form and letting the user change them. In this sense the term DDT is now archaic, having been widely displaced by "debugger" or names of individual programs like "{adb}", "{sdb}", "{dbx}", or "{gdb}". 2. Under {MIT}'s fabled {ITS} {operating system}, DDT (running under the alias HACTRN) was also used as the {shell} or top level command language used to execute other programs. 3. Any one of several specific debuggers supported on early {DEC} hardware. The {DEC} {PDP-10} Reference Handbook (1969) contained a footnote on the first page of the documentation for DDT that illuminates the origin of the term: Historical footnote: DDT was developed at {MIT} for the {PDP-1} computer in 1961. At that time DDT stood for "DEC Debugging Tape". Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging program has propagated throughout the computer industry. DDT programs are now available for all DEC computers. Since media other than tape are now frequently used, the more descriptive name "Dynamic Debugging Technique" has been adopted, retaining the DDT abbreviation. Confusion between DDT-10 and another well known pesticide, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (C14-H9-Cl5) should be minimal since each attacks a different, and apparently mutually exclusive, class of bugs. (The "tape" referred to was, incidentally, not magnetic but paper.) Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions of the handbook after the {suits} took over and DEC became much more "businesslike". The history above is known to many old-time hackers. But there's more: Peter Samson, compiler of the original {TMRC} lexicon, reports that he named "DDT" after a similar tool on the {TX-0} computer, the direct ancestor of the PDP-1 built at {MIT}'s Lincoln Lab in 1957. The debugger on that ground-breaking machine (the first transistorised computer) rejoiced in the name FLIT (FLexowriter Interrogation Tape). [{Jargon File}]
DE-9 "hardware" The standard 9-pin {D-shell connector} used for {EIA-232} serial communication. DE-9 is a common alternative to {DB-25}, especially on {personal computers}. (1999-12-08)
dead 1. Non-functional; {down}; {crash}ed. Especially used of {hardware}. 2. At {XEROX PARC}, software that is working but not undergoing continued development and support. [{Jargon File}]
DECtape "hardware, storage" A reel of {magnetic tape} about 4 inches in diameter and one inch wide. Unlike today's {macrotapes}, microtape drivers allowed {random access} to the data, and therefore could be used to support {file systems} and even for {swapping} (this was generally done purely for {hack value}, as they were far too slow for practical use). DECtape was a variant on {LINCtape}. In their heyday DECtapes were used in pretty much the same ways one would now use a {floppy disk}: as a small, portable way to save and transport files and programs. (1995-03-16)
delta reduction "theory" In {lambda-calculus} extended with constants, delta reduction replaces a function applied to the required number of arguments (a {redex}) by a result. E.g. plus 2 3 --" 5. In contrast with {beta reduction} (the only kind of reduction in the {pure lambda-calculus}) the result is not formed simply by textual substitution of arguments into the body of a function. Instead, a delta redex is matched against the left hand side of all delta rules and is replaced by the right hand side of the (first) matching rule. There is notionally one delta rule for each possible combination of function and arguments. Where this implies an infinite number of rules, the result is usually defined by reference to some external system such as mathematical addition or the hardware operations of some computer. For other types, all rules can be given explicitly, for example {Boolean} negation: not True = False not False = True (1997-02-20)
Desktop Management Interface "standard, operating system" (DMI) A {specification} from the {Desktop Management Task Force} (DMTF) that establishes a standard {framework} for managing networked computers. DMI covers {hardware} and {software}, {desktop} systems and {servers}, and defines a model for filtering events and describing {interfaces}. DMI provides a common path for technical support, IT managers, and individual users to access information about all aspects of a computer - including {processor} type, installation date, attached {printers} and other {peripherals}, power sources, and maintenance history. It provides a common format for describing products to aid vendors, systems integrators, and end users in enterprise desktop management. DMI is not tied to any specific hardware, operating system, or management protocols. It is easy for vendors to adopt, mappable to existing management protocols such as {Simple Network Management Protocol} (SNMP), and can be used on non-network computers. DMI's four components are: Management Information Format (MIF) - a text file containing information about the hardware and software on a computer. Manufacturers can create their own MIFs specific to a component. Service layer - an OS add-on that connects the management interface and the component interface and allows management and component software to access MIF files. The service layer also includes a common interface called the local agent, which is used to manage individual components. Component interface (CI) - an {application program interface} (API) that sends status information to the appropriate MIF file via the service layer. Commands include Get, Set, and Event. Management interface (MI) - the management software's interface to the service layer. Commands are Get, Set, and List. CI, MI, and service layer drivers are available on the Internet. {Intel}'s {LANDesk Client Manager} (LDCM) is based on DMI. Version: 2.0s (as of 2000-01-19). {(http://dmtf.org/spec/dmis.html)}. {Sun overview (http://sun.com/solstice/products/ent.agents/presentations/sld014.html)}. (2000-01-19)
device driver "operating system" {Software} to control a hardware component or {peripheral} device of a computer such as a {magnetic disk}, {magnetic tape} or printer. A device driver is responsible for accessing the hardware {registers} of the device and often includes an {interrupt handler} to service interrupts generated by the device. Device drivers often form part of the lowest level of the {operating system} {kernel}, with which they are linked when the kernel is built. Some more recent systems have loadable device drivers which can be installed from files after the {operating system} is running. (1994-10-27)
Device Manager "operating system" The {Microsoft Windows} {control panel} {applet} used to enable, disable and configure the hardware on which Windows is running. You can launch Device Manager via the Control Panel/System or directly with: rundll32.exe devmgr.dll DeviceManager_Execute (2008-04-16)
DGL 1. Data Generation Language. A tool for generating test data for hardware or software systems. 2. Distributed {GL}.
die 1. "jargon" {crash}. Unlike {crash}, which is used primarily of hardware, this verb is used of both hardware and software. See also {go flatline}, {casters-up mode}. 2. "electronics" Plural: dies. An unpackaged {integrated circuit}. [{Jargon File}] (2002-12-09)
differential driver "hardware" An electronic device (commonly an {integrated circuit}), containing two amplifiers, used to drive a {differential line}. (1995-03-14)
differential line "hardware" A kind of electrical connection using two wires, one of which carries the normal signal (V) and the other carries an inverted version the signal (-V). A differential amplifier at the receiver subtracts the inverted signal from the normal signal to yield a signal proportional to V. This subtraction is intended to cancel out any noise induced in the wires, on the assmption that the same level of noise will have been induced in both wires. {Twisted pair} wiring is often used to try to ensure that this is the case. The two wires might be connected at the receiver to separate {analogue to digital converters} and the subtraction performed digitally. The {RS-422} {serial line} {standard} specifies differential drivers and receivers, whereas the earlier {RS-232} standard does not. Opposite: {single ended}. (1995-03-08)
digital camera "graphics, hardware" A camera that captures and stores still images as {digital} data instead of on photographic film. The first digital cameras became available in the early 1990s[?]. [Which and when was the first?] (2000-08-10)
digital carrier "hardware, communications" A medium which can carry {digital} signals; broadly equivalent to the {physical layer} of the {OSI} seven layer model of networks. Carriers can be described as {baseband} or {broadband}. A baseband carrier can include direct current (DC), whereas broadband carriers are modulated by various methods into frequency bands which do not include DC. Sometimes a {modem} (modulator/demodulator) or {codec} (coder/decoder) combines several channels on one transmission path. The combining of channels is called {multiplexing}, and their separation is called demultiplexing, independent of whether a modem or codec bank is used. Modems can be associated with {frequency division multiplexing} (FDM) and codecs with {time division multiplexing} (TDM) though this grouping of concepts is somewhat arbitrary. If the medium of a carrier is copper telephone wire, the circuit may be called {T1}, {T3}, etc. as these designations originally described such. T1 carriers used a restored polar line coding scheme which allowed a baseband signal to be transported as broadband and restored to baseband at the receiver. T1 is not used in this sense today, and indeed it is often confused with the {DS1} signal carried. (1996-03-31)
Digital Equipment Corporation "company, hardware" (DEC) A computer manufacturer and software vendor. Before the {killer micro} revolution of the late 1980s, hackerdom was closely symbiotic with DEC's pioneering {time-sharing} machines. The first of the group of hacker cultures nucleated around the {PDP-1} (see {TMRC}). Subsequently, the {PDP-6}, {PDP-10}, {PDP-20}, {PDP-11} and {VAX} were all foci of large and important hackerdoms and DEC machines long dominated the {ARPANET} and {Internet} machine population. The first PC from DEC was a {CP/M} computer called {Rainbow}, announced in 1981-82. DEC was the technological leader of the minicomputer era (roughly 1967 to 1987), but its failure to embrace {microcomputers} and {Unix} early cost it heavily in profits and prestige after {silicon} got cheap. However, the {microprocessor} design tradition owes a heavy debt to the {PDP-11} {instruction set}, and every one of the major general-purpose microcomputer {operating systems} so far (CP/M, {MS-DOS}, {Unix}, {OS/2}) were either genetically descended from a DEC OS, or incubated on DEC {hardware} or both. Accordingly, DEC is still regarded with a certain wry affection even among many hackers too young to have grown up on DEC machines. The contrast with {IBM} is instructive. Quarterly sales $3923M, profits -$1746M (Aug 1994). DEC was taken over by {Compaq Computer Corporation} in 1998. In 2002 Compaq was in turn acquired by {Hewlett-Packard} who sold off parts of Digital Equipment Corporation to {Intel} and absorbed the rest. The Digital logo is no longer used. (2012-07-29)
Digital Linear Tape "storage" (DLT) A kind of {magnetic tape} drive originally developed by {DEC} and now marketed by {Quantum}. DLT drives implement the {Digital Lempel Ziv 1} (DLZ1) {compression} {algorithm} in a combination of {hardware} and {firmware}. They use a popular chip by {Stac} (now {hi/fn}) to do the string searching. Counting, sorting and {Huffman coding} are done in firmware (with hardware support for the Huffman algorithm?). In April 1997 DLT drives can transfer 5 {megabytes} per second and can store 35 {gigabytes} on a single cartridge. Compression might roughly double these figures. (1997-04-05)
Digital Subscriber Line Access Module "networking, hardware" (DSLAM, or Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) The generic term for the {Central Office} (CO) equipment where x{DSL} lines are terminated. The multiple {DSL} signals may be {multiplexed} onto a {wideband} channel such as {ATM}. (2000-04-05)
DIN-8 "hardware" An 8-pin round connector, sometimes used for {EIA-232} serial communication when space is restricted, such as on {laptop computers}. (1996-12-08)
dinosaur 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special power. Used especially of old {minicomputers} and {mainframes}, in contrast with newer {microprocessor}-based machines. In a famous quote from the 1988 Unix EXPO, {Bill Joy} compared the liquid-cooled mainframe in the massive {IBM} display with a grazing dinosaur "with a truck outside pumping its bodily fluids through it". IBM was not amused. Compare {big iron}; see also {dinosaurs mating}. 2. [IBM] A very conservative user; a {zipperhead}. [{Jargon File}]
diode "hardware, electronics" A {semiconductor} device which conducts electric current run in one direction only. This is the simplest kind of semiconductor device, it has two terminals and a single PN junction. One diode can be used as a {half-wave rectifier} or four as a {full-wave rectifier}. (1995-03-14)
Direct-Access Storage Device "hardware" (DASD) {IBM} {mainframe} terminology for a {disk drive}, in contrast with a tape drive which is a sequential access device. (1995-03-01)
Direct Inward Dialing "communications" (DID) A service offered by telephone companies which allows the last 3 or 4 digits of a phone number to be transmitted to the destination {exchange}. For example, a company could have 10 incoming lines, all with the number 234 000. If a caller dials 234 697, the call is sent to 234 000 (the company's exchange), and the digits 697 are transmitted. The company's exchange then routes the call to extension 697. This gives the impression of 1000 direct dial lines, whereas in fact there are only 10. Obviously, only 10 at a time can be used. This system is also used by {fax servers}. Instead of an exchange at the end of the 234 000 line, a computer running fax server software and {fax modem} cards uses the last three digits to identify the recipient of the fax. This allows 1000 people to have their own individual fax numbers, even though there is only one 'fax machine'. {Dictionary of PC Hardware and Data Communications Terms (http://ora.com/reference/dictionary/terms/D/Direct_Inward_Dialing.htm)}. (1997-06-29)
directory service "database, networking" A structured repository of information on people and resources within an organisation, facilitating management and communication. On a {LAN} or {WAN} the directory service identifies all aspects of the {network} including users, software, hardware, and the various rights and policies assigned to each. As a result applications can access information without knowing where a particular resource is physically located, and users interact oblivious to the network {topology} and {protocols}. To allow {heterogeneous networks} to share directory information the {ITU} proposed a common structure called {X.500}. However, its complexity and lack of seamless {Internet} support led to the development of {Lightweight Directory Access Protocol} (LDAP) which has continued to evolve under the aegis of the {IETF}. Despite its name {LDAP} is too closely linked to {X.500} to be "lightweight". {LDAP} was adopted by several companies such as {Netscape Communications Corporation} (Netscape Directory Server) and has become a {de facto standard} for directory services. Other LDAP compatible offerings include {Novell, Inc.}'s {Novell Directory Services} (NDS) and {Microsoft Corporation}'s {Active Directory}. The Netscape and Novell products are available for {Windows NT} and {Unix} {platforms}. {Novell Directory Services} also run on Novell platforms. {Microsoft Corporation}'s {Active Directory} is an integral part of {Microsoft's Windows 2000} and although it can interface with directory services running on other systems it is not available for other platforms. (2001-01-02)
DirectX "programming, hardware" A {Microsoft} programming interface {standard}, first included with {Windows 95}. DirectX gives (games) programmers a standard way to gain direct access to enhanced hardware features under Windows 95 instead of going via the Windows 95 {GDI}. Some DirectX code runs faster than the equivalent under {MS DOS}. DirectX promises performance improvements for graphics, sound, video, 3D, and network capabilites of games, but only where both hardware and software support DirectX. DirectX 2 introduced the Direct3D interface. Version 5 was current at 1998-02-01. Version 8.1 is included in {Windows XP}. {(http://microsoft.com/directx/)}. (2001-12-31)
disaster recovery "business" (DR) Planning and implementation of procedures and facilities for use when essential systems are not available for a period long enough to have a significant impact on the business, e.g. when the head office is blown up. Disasters include natural: fire, flood, lightning, hurricane; hardware: power failure, component failure, {head crash}; software failure: {bugs}, resources; vandalism: arson, bombing, {cracking}, theft; data corruption or loss: human error, media failure; communications: computer network equipment, {network storm}, telephones; security: passwords compromised, {computer virus}; legal: change in legislation; personnel: unavailability of essential staff, industrial action. Companies need to plan for disaster: before: {risk analysis}, preventive measures, training; during: how should staff and systems respond; after: recovery measures, post mortem analysis. Hardware can usually be replaced and is usually insured. Software and data needs to be backed up off site. Alternative communication systems should be arranged in case of network failure or inaccessible premises, e.g. emergency telephone number, home working, alternative data center. (2007-06-20)
disk controller "hardware, storage" (Or "hard disk controller", HDC) The circuit which allows the {CPU} to communicate with a {hard disk}, {floppy disk} or other kind of {disk drive}. The most common disk controllers in use are {IDE} and {SCSI} controllers. Most home {personal computers} use IDE controllers. High end PCs, {workstations} and network {file servers} mostly have {SCSI adaptors}. (1998-03-16)
disk drive "hardware, storage" (Or "hard disk drive", "hard drive", "floppy disk drive", "floppy drive") A {peripheral} device that reads and writes {hard disks} or {floppy disks}. The drive contains a motor to rotate the disk at a constant rate and one or more read/write heads which are positioned over the desired {track} by a servo mechanism. It also contains the electronics to amplify the signals from the heads to normal digital logic levels and vice versa. In order for a disk drive to start to read or write a given location a read/write head must be positioned radially over the right track and rotationally over the start of the right sector. Radial motion is known as "{seek}ing" and it is this which causes most of the intermittent noise heard during disk activity. There is usually one head for each disk surface and all heads move together. The set of locations which are accessible with the heads in a given radial position are known as a "{cylinder}". The "{seek time}" is the time taken to seek to a different cylinder. The disk is constantly rotating (except for some {floppy disk} drives where the motor is switched off between accesses to reduce wear and power consumption) so positioning the heads over the right sector is simply a matter of waiting until it arrives under the head. With a single set of heads this "{rotational latency}" will be on average half a revolution but some big drives have multiple sets of heads spaced at equal angles around the disk. If seeking and rotation are independent, access time is seek time + rotational latency. When accessing multiple tracks sequentially, data is sometimes arranged so that by the time the seek from one track to the next has finished, the disk has rotated just enough to begin accessing the next track. See also {sector interleave}. Early disk drives had a capacity of a few {megabytes} and were housed inside a separate cabinet the size of a washing machine. Over a few decades they shrunk to fit a {terabyte} or more in a box the size of a paperback book. The disks may be {removable disks}; floppy disks always are, removable hard disks were common on {mainframes} and {minicomputers} but less so on {microcomputers} until the mid 1990s(?) with products like the {Zip Drive}. A {CD-ROM} drive is not usually referred to as a disk drive. Two common interfaces for disk drives (and other devices) are {SCSI} and {IDE}. {ST-506} used to be common in microcomputers (in the 1980s?). (1997-04-15)
disk duplexing "hardware, storage" A variation on {disk mirroring} where, as well as redundant {disk drives}, a second {disk controller} or {host adapter} is also present. (1996-02-22)
disk mirroring "hardware, storage" Use of one or more {mirrors} of a {hard disk}. (1996-02-17)
display 1. "hardware" {monitor}. 2. "language" A vector of pointers to {activation records}. The Nth element points to the activation record containing variables declared at {lexical depth} N. This allows faster access to variables from outer {scopes} than the alternative of linked activation records (but most variable accesses are either local or global or occasionally to the immediately enclosing scope). Displays were used in some {ALGOL} implementations. (1996-02-22)
display standard "hardware, standard" {IBM} and others have introduced a bewildering plethora of graphics and text display {standards} for {IBM PC}s. The standards are mostly implemented by plugging in a video display board (or "{graphics adaptor}") and connecting the appropriate monitor to it. Each new standard subsumes its predecessors. For example, an {EGA} board can also do {CGA} and {MDA}. With the {PS/2}, IBM introduced the {VGA} standard and built it into the main system board {motherboard}. VGA is also available as a plug-in board for PCs from third-party vendors. Also with the PS/2, IBM introduced the {8514} high-resolution graphics standard. An 8514 adaptor board plugs into the PS/2, providing a dual-monitor capability. Graphics software had to support the major IBM graphics standards and many non-IBM, proprietary standards for displays. Either software vendors provided {display drivers} or display vendors provided drivers for the software package. In either case, switching software or switching display systems was fraught with compatibility problems. Display Resolution Colours Sponsor Systems MDA 720x350 T 2 IBM PC CGA 320x200 4 IBM PC EGA 640x350 16 IBM PC PGA 640x480 256 IBM PC Hercules 729x348 2 non-IBM PC MCGA 720x400 T 320x200 G 256 PS/2 VGA 720x400 T 640x480 G 16 SVGA 800x600 16 VESA XVGA 1024x768 256 (IBM name: 8514) T: text, G: graphics. More colours are available from third-party vendors for some display types. See also {MDA}, {CGA}, {EGA}, {PGA}, {Hercules}, {MCGA}, {VGA}, {SVGA}, {8514}, {VESA}. [What were the corresponding "mode" numbers"?] (2011-03-20)
Ditto Drive "hardware, storage" The Ditto {tape drives} range in capacity from 120 {megabytes} to 1.6 {gigabytes} ({data compression} can roughly double these figures). The newer devices are designed for special tapes, though they will read standard tape types. The largest of tape stores up 3.2 {GB}. Using an enhanced {floppy drive} card the transfer rate approaches the claimed 19 {MB}/minute. External {parallel} port versions are also available. {Compatibility details (http://iomega.com/support/techs/ditto/3040.html)}. (1997-03-26)
DOA "jargon" Dead on arrival. A piece of {hardware} that has never worked. (2000-12-19)
docking station "hardware" A {desktop} mains powered unit into which a {laptop} or other portable computer can be connected via fixed connectors at the rear of the computer to provide quick and convenient connection of {peripherals} not normally used with a laptop. These can include power supply, {expansion cards}, additional {storage}, an external {monitor}, {network card}, {CD-ROM}, full-size {keyboard}, {printer}, and {mouse}. The alternative would require each of the above to be connected to the laptop individually. (2000-04-10)
documentation "programming" The multiple kilograms of macerated, pounded, steamed, bleached, and pressed trees that accompany most modern software or hardware products (see also {tree-killer}). Hackers seldom read paper documentation and (too) often resist writing it; they prefer theirs to be terse and {on-line}. A common comment on this predilection is "You can't {grep} dead trees". See {drool-proof paper}, {verbiage}, {treeware}. [{Jargon File}] (2003-10-25)
Domestic Communications Assistance Center "body" (DCAC) A joint effort between the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency. The DCAC is charged with developing customised hardware for intercepting {Internet} and wireless communications. The DCAC is under the control and budget of the FBI. {CNET article (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57439734-83/fbi-quietly-forms-secretive-net-surveillance-unit/)}. (2012-06-24)
dongle "hardware" /dong'gl/ (From "dangle" - because it dangles off the computer?) 1. "security" A security or {copy protection} device for commercial {microcomputer} programs that must be connected to an {I/O port} of the computer while the program is run. Programs that use a dongle query the port at start-up and at programmed intervals thereafter, and terminate if it does not respond with the expected validation code. One common form consisted of a serialised {EPROM} and some drivers in a {D-25} connector shell. Dongles attempt to combat {software theft} by ensuring that, while users can still make copies of the program (e.g. for {backup}), they must buy one dongle for each simultaneous use of the program. The idea was clever, but initially unpopular with users who disliked tying up a port this way. By 1993 almost all dongles passed data through transparently while monitoring for their particular {magic} codes (and combinations of status lines) with minimal if any interference with devices further down the line. This innovation was necessary to allow {daisy-chained} dongles for multiple pieces of software. In 1998, dongles and other copy protection systems are fairly uncommon for {Microsoft Windows} software but one engineer in a print and {CADD} bureau reports that their {Macintosh} computers typically run seven dongles: After Effects, Electric Image, two for Media 100, Ultimatte, Elastic Reality and CADD. These dongles are made for the Mac's daisy-chainable {ADB} port. The term is used, by extension, for any physical electronic key or transferable ID required for a program to function. Common variations on this theme have used the {parallel port} or even the {joystick} port or a {dongle-disk}. An early 1992 advertisment from Rainbow Technologies (a manufacturer of dongles) claimed that the word derived from "Don Gall", the alleged inventor of the device. The company's receptionist however said that the story was a myth invented for the ad. [{Jargon File}] (1998-12-13) 2. A small adaptor cable that connects, e.g. a {PCMCIA} {modem} to a telephone socket or a PCMCIA {network card} to an {RJ45} {network cable}. (2002-09-29)
dot matrix printer "hardware, printer" A kind of printer with a vertical column of up to 48 small closely packed needles or "pins" each of which can be individually forced forward to press an ink ribbon against the paper. The print head is repeatedly scanned across the page and different combinations of needles activated at each point. Dot matrix printers are noisy compared to {non-impact printers}. [Other pin arrangements?] (1995-03-14)
dot pitch "hardware" The distance between a dot and the closest dot of the same colour (red, green or blue) on a color {CRT}. Dot pitch is typically from 0.28 to 0.51 mm but large presentation monitors may go up to 1.0 mm. The smaller the dot pitch, the crisper the image, 0.31 or less provides a sharp image, especially when displaying text. Dot pitch measurements between conventional tubes and {Sony}'s {Trinitron} tubes are roughly, but not exactly comparable. Sony's {CRTs} use vertical stripes, not dots, and its measurement is the distance between stripes, not the diagonal distance between dots. ["The Computer Glossary", Alan Freedman]. (1995-12-14)
Double Data Rate Random Access Memory "storage" (DDR-RAM, DDR-SDRAM ...Synchronous...) {RAM} that transfers data on both 0-1 and 1-0 {clock} transitions, theoretically yielding twice the data transfer rate of normal RAM or {SDRAM}. {DDR-RAM Article (http://pcreview.co.uk/Article.php?aid=9)}. {DDR-SDRAM Article (http://www4.tomshardware.com/mainboard/00q4/001030/)}. (2001-05-24)
DPMS "hardware" {Display Power Management Signaling}. (1995-12-11)
drugged (Or "on drugs") 1. Conspicuously stupid, heading toward {brain-damaged}. Often accompanied by a pantomime of toking a joint. 2. Of hardware, very slow relative to normal performance. [{Jargon File}] (2011-12-03)
D-shell connector "hardware" One of the family of connectors: DA-15, {DB-25}, DC-37, DD-50, {DE-9}, and DEH-15 [VGA]. The "D" is the shape of the shell, the next letter determines connector size, and the number is the maximum pin count. (1999-12-08)
D-type 1. "hardware" A type of computer peripheral connector so named because one side is shorter (with one less pin) than the other giving a (squarish) "D" shape. The connectors have two rows of pins (or holes). Common types are 25-way (13+12 pins) and 9-way (5+4 pins). They are often used for serial lines, especially {EIA-232}. (1995-01-05) 2. {D-type flip-flop}.
D-type flip-flop "hardware" A digital logic device that stores the status of its "D" input whenever its clock input makes a certain transition (low to high or high to low). The output, "Q", shows the currently stored value. Compare {J-K flip-flop}. (1995-03-28)
Dual In-Line "hardware" {Dual In-Line Package}.
Dual In-Line Package "hardware" (DIL, DIP) The most common type of package for small and medium scale {integrated circuits}, with up to about 48 pins. The pins hang vertically from the two long edges of the rectangular package, spaced at intervals of 0.1 inch. The pins fit through holes in the circuit board to which they are soldered or into a socket. [More than 48 pins?] (1995-02-06)
dual ported A term used to describe memory {integrated circuits} which can be accessed simultaneously via two independent address and data busses. Dual ported memory is often used in {video display} hardware, especially in conjunction with {Video Random Access Memory} (VRAM). The two ports allow the video display hardware to read memory to display the contents on screen at the same time as the CPU writes data to other areas of the same memory. In single-ported memory these two processes cannot occur simultanteously, the CPU must wait, thus resulting in slower access times. {Cycle stealing} is one technique used to avoid this in single-ported {video memory}. (1995-01-12)
dumb terminal "hardware" A type of {terminal} that consists of a keyboard and a display screen that can be used to enter and transmit data to, or display data from, a computer to which it is connected. A dumb terminal, in contrast to an {intelligent terminal}, has no independent processing capability or {auxiliary storage} and thus cannot function as a stand-alone device. The dumbest kind of terminal is a {glass tty}. The next step up has a minimally {addressable cursor} but no on-screen editing or other features normally supported by an {intelligent terminal}. Once upon a time, when glass ttys were common and addressable cursors were something special, what is now called a dumb terminal could pass for a smart terminal. [Examples?] [{Jargon File}] (1995-04-14)
DVI 1. "file format" (device independent) The usual output format of {TeX}, giving a description of a formatted document that is not related to any specific hardware or other standard document format. Utilities exist to view and print DVI files on various systems and devices. 2. {Digital Video Input}. (2003-09-11)
Dvorak "hardware" A configuration of (computer) keyboard keys arranged to increase the speed and ease of typing over the normal {qwerty} layout; the most common characters (for English) have been put on the home row. The standard Dvorak International layout is: `~ 1! 2@ 3
dynamic translation "architecture" A {virtual machine} implementation approach, used to speed up execution of {byte-code} programs. To execute a program unit such as a {method} or a {function}, the virtual machine compiles its bytecodes into (hardware) machine code. The translated code is also placed in a cache, so that next time that unit's machine code can be executed immediately, without repeating the translation. This technique was pioneered by the commercial {Smalltalk} implementation currently known as {VisualWorks}, in the early 1980s. Currently it is also used by some implementations of the {Java Virtual Machine} under the name {JIT} (Just In Time compilation). [Peter L. Deutsch and Alan Schiffman. "Efficient Implementation of the Smalltalk-80 System", 11th Annual Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, Jan 1984, pp. 297-302]. (2002-04-15)
earthquake (IBM) The ultimate real-world shock test for computer hardware. Hackish sources at {IBM} deny the rumor that the San Francisco Bay Area quake of 1989 was initiated by the company to test quality-assurance procedures at its California plants. [{Jargon File}] (1995-04-22)
ECL 1. "hardware" {Emitter Coupled Logic}. 2. "language" Extensible {CL}. Wegbreit, ca 1970. ["The ECL Programming System", B. Wegbreit, Proc FJCC 39:253-261, AFIPS (Fall 1971)]. ["ECL Programmer's Manual", B. Wegbreit, TR 23-74, Harvard U (Dec 1974)]. (1994-11-09)
EDS+ "database, hardware" A {database accelerator} built by {ICL} as part of the {EDS} project. The machine has up to 64 nodes, each node having 64Mb of memory, 2 {SPARC} processors and a 1Gb of disk. See also {PARADE}. (1994-11-02)
effective number of bits "hardware" (ENOB) An indication of the quality of an {analog to digital converter}. The measurement is related to the test frequency and the {signal-to-noise ratio}. [Better definition?] (1998-06-15)
EIA-232 "communications, standard" (Formerly "RS-232") The most common {asynchronous} {serial line} {standard}. EIA-232 is the {EIA} equivalent of {ITU-T} {V.24}, and {V.28}. EIA-232 specifies the {gender} and pin use of connectors, but not their physical type. {RS-423} specifies the electrical signals. 25-way {D-type} connectors are common but often only three wires are connected - one ground (pin 7) and one for data in each direction. The other pins are primarily related to {hardware handshaking} between sender and receiver and to {carrier detection} on {modems}, inoperative circuits, busy conditions etc. The standard classifies equipment as either {Data Communications Equipment} (DCE) or {Data Terminal Equipment} (DTE). DTE receives data on pin 3 and transmits on pin 2 (TD). A DCE EIA-232 interface has a female connector. DCE receives data from DTE on pin 2 (TD) and sends that data out the analog line. Data received from the analog line is sent by the DCE on pin 3(RD). Originally DCE was a modem and DTE was a computer or terminal. The terminal or computer was connected (via EIA-232) to two modems, which were connected via a telephone line. The above arrangement allows a computer or terminal to be connected to a modem with a straight-through (2-2, 3-3) cable. It is common, however, to find equipment with the wrong sex connector or with pins two and three reversed, requiring the insertion of a cable or adaptor wired as a {gender mender} or {null modem}. Such an adaptor is also required when connecting a computer directly to a terminal or to another computer without the use of modems. (1999-12-28)
el(alpha) Aims to be a high-level language that knows about real hardware, for systems programming. "Essential Language el(alpha) - A Reduced Expression Set Language for Systems Programming", T. Watanabe et al, SIGPLAN Notices 26(1):85-98.
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory "storage" (EEPROM) A {non-volatile storage} device using a technique similar to the floating gates in {EPROMs} but with the capability to discharge the floating gate electrically. Usually bytes or words can be erased and reprogrammed individually during system operation. In contrast to {RAM}, writing takes much longer than reading and EEPROM is more expensive and less dense than RAM. It is appropriate for storing small amounts of data which is changed infrequently, e.g. the hardware configuration of an {Acorn} {Archimedes}. [Difference from {EAPROM}?] (1995-04-22)
Electromagnetic Compatibility "hardware, testing" (EMC) The extent to which a piece of hardware will tolerate electrical interference from other equipment, and will interfere with other equipment. There are strict legal EMC requirements for the sale of any electrical or electronic hardware in most countries, although the actual standards differ. See, for example, {EMCNet (http://emcnet.com/)}. See also {Electrostatic Discharge}, {Radio Frequency Interference}. (1997-12-19)
Electrostatic Discharge "hardware, testing" (ESD) One kind of test that hardware usually has to pass to prove it is suitable for sale and use. The hardware must still work after is has been subjected to some level of electrostatic discharge. Some organisations have their own ESD requirements which hardware must meet before it will be considered for purchase. Different countries have different legal regulations about levels of ESD. See also {Radio Frequency Interference}, {Electromagnetic Compatibility}. (1997-12-19)
Eli Compiler Construction System "tool" A compiler generation package which integrates off-the-shelf tools and libraries with specialised language processors to generate complete compilers quickly and reliably. It simplifies the development of new special-purpose languages, implementation of existing languages on new hardware and extension of the constructs and features of existing languages. It runs on {Sun-4} {SunOS} 4, 5, {Ultrix}/{MIPS}, {RS/6000}, {HP-UX}, {SGI}, {Linux}. {Colorado U (ftp://ftp.cs.colorado.edu/pub/cs/distribs/eli/)}. {Europe (ftp://ftp.upb.de/unix/eli)}. Mailing list: "eli-request@cs.colorado.edu". E-mail: "compiler@uni-paderborn.de", Developers "elibugs@cs.colorado.edu", Users "eli@cs.colorado.edu". (2000-08-12)
ELLA A hardware design language from DRA Malvern. Implemented in {ALGOL68-RS}. E-mail: "ella@dra.hmg.gb". {SPARC version (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/ELLA)}. ["ELLA 2000: A Language for Electronic System Design", J.D. Morison and A.S. Clarke, McGraw-Hill 1993].
Embedded Mode "programming" A term used by {COCOMO} to describe a project development that is characterised by tight, inflexible constraints and interface requirements. The product must operate within (is embedded in) a strongly coupled complex of hardware, software, regulations and operational procedures. An embedded mode project will require a great deal of innovation. An example would be a {real-time system} with timing constraints and customised hardware. (1996-05-29)
embedded system "computer" Hardware and software which forms a component of some larger system and which is expected to function without human intervention. A typical embedded system consists of a single-board {microcomputer} with software in {ROM}, which starts running some special purpose {application program} as soon as it is turned on and will not stop until it is turned off (if ever). An embedded system may include some kind of {operating system} but often it will be simple enough to be written as a single program. It will not usually have any of the normal {peripherals} such as a keyboard, monitor, serial connections, mass storage, etc. or any kind of user interface software unless these are required by the overall system of which it is a part. Often it must provide {real-time} response. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.arch.embedded}. (1995-04-12)
empeg "hardware" An in-car audio product that plays {MP3} files from a {hard disk}. It is based around a {DEC}/{Intel} {StrongARM} {S-1100} processor and runs a version of {Linux}. The {user interface} is written in {Python}. {(http://empeg.com/)}. See also {MPEG}. (1999-09-14)
EMU8000 "multimedia, hardware, music" The "{Advanced WavEffect}" music synthesizer {integrated circuit} used on the {SB AWE32} card. The EMU8000 is a sub-system offering high quality music synthesis and an "effect {engine}" which provides musical effects like reverb and chorus to {MIDI} playback. The EMU8000 supports up to 32 voices, and the effect amount for each voice can be controlled via MIDI. (1996-12-15)
emulator {Hardware} or {software} that performs {emulation}. (1995-05-12)
encode 1. "algorithm, hardware" To convert {data} or some physical quantity into a given format. E.g. {uuencode}. See also {encoder}. 2. "cryptography" To encrypt, to perform {encryption}. (1999-07-06)
encoder 1. "algorithm, hardware" Any program, circuit or {algorithm} which {encodes}. Example usages: "{MPEG} encoder", "{NTSC} encoder", "{RealAudio} encoder". 2. "hardware" A sensor or transducer for converting rotary motion or position to a series of electronic pulses. (1997-03-04)
end-to-end solution "jargon" (E2ES) A term that suggests that the supplier of an {application program} or system will provide all the hardware and/or software components and resouces to meet the customer's requirement and no other supplier need be involved. Compare: {turn-key} solution. (2006-03-30)
engine "jargon" 1. A piece of {hardware} that encapsulates some function but can't be used without some kind of {front end}. Today we have, especially, "{print engine}": the guts of a {laser printer}. 2. An analogous piece of software; notionally, one that does a lot of noisy {crunching}, such as a "database engine", or "{search engine}". The hackish senses of "engine" are actually close to its original, pre-Industrial-Revolution sense of a skill, clever device, or instrument (the word is cognate to "ingenuity"). This sense had not been completely eclipsed by the modern connotation of power-transducing machinery in {Charles Babbage}'s time, which explains why he named the stored-program computer that he designed in 1844 the "{Analytical Engine}". [{Jargon File}] (1996-05-31)
Enhanced Capabilities Port "hardware" (ECP) The most common {parallel printer interface} on current (1997) {IBM PC} compatibles. Enhanced Capabilities Port is defined in standard IEEE 1284. It is bi-directional and faster than earlier parallel ports. Not to be confused with {Extended Capabilities Port}. (1997-12-01)
Enhanced Graphics Adapter "graphics, hardware" (EGA) An {IBM PC} {display standard} with a {resolution} of 640 x 350 {pixels} of 16 colours. (1995-06-28)
enhanced parallel port "hardware" (EPP) A {parallel port} that confirms to the {IEEE}'s EPP {standard}. An EPP is actually an expansion bus that can handle 64 {disk drives} and other {peripherals}. ["PC Magazine", 1996-01-09, p. 262]. [Details? Manufacturers?] (1996-04-07)
Enhanced Small Disk Interface "storage, hardware" (ESDI) An obsolete {hard disk} {controller} {standard}, first introduced by {Maxtor} in 1983, and intended to be the successor to the original {ST-506}/{ST-412}. ESDI was faster and more reliable, but still could not compete with {IDE} and {SCSI}. EDSI used two cables: a 20-pin data cable to each drive and a single 34-pin control cable {daisy chain} with the controller at one end and a terminator at the other. In PCs, it supported up to two drives at 1-2MB/s with drives up to 2GB. {PC Guide (http://pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/obsoESDI-c.html)}. (2003-08-01)
enhancement "marketing" 1. A change intended to make a product better in some way, e.g. new functions, faster, or occasionally more compatible with other systems. Enhancements to {hardware} components, especially {integrated circuits} often mean they are smaller and less demanding of resources. Sadly, this is almost never true of {software} enhancements. Examples include {Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications}, {Enhanced Capabilities Port}, {Enhanced Directory Service}, {Enhanced Dynamic Random Access Memory}, {Enhanced Graphics Adapter}, {Enhanced IDE}, {Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics}, {enhanced parallel port}, {Enhanced Small Disk Interface}, {List Enhanced}, {Privacy Enhanced Mail}. 2. {Marketroid}-speak for a {bug fix}. This abuse of language is a popular and time-tested way to turn incompetence into increased revenue. A hacker being ironic would instead call the fix a {feature}, or perhaps save some effort by declaring "{That's not a bug, that's a feature!}". [{Jargon File}] (1998-04-04)
Enigma "hardware, cryptography" The electro-mechanical {cipher} engine used by the Germans in World War II to encrypt and decrypt field orders. Many of their messages were deciphered at {Bletchley Park}, by {Alan Turing} and others. See also: {Tunny Emulator}. (2012-03-25)
Environmental Audio eXtensions "audio" (EAX) Something from {Creative Labs} for generating sound effects. EAX is a competitor to {Aureal}'s {A3D}. [Hardware or software?] (2008-02-17)
ergonomics The study of the design and arrangement of equipment so that people will interact with the equipment in healthy, comfortable, and efficient manner. As related to computer equipment, ergonomics is concerned with such factors as the physical design of the keyboard, screens, and related hardware, and the manner in which people interact with these hardware devices. (1995-04-14)
EV6 "hardware, protocol" (Alpha EV6) {Compaq}'s {bus protocol} for {Slot A} {motherboards}. The Alpha EV6 bus protocol is capable of bus speeds from 40 to 400 MHz and uses a {point-to-point} {topology} with {clock forwarding}. (1999-08-05)
exception An error condition that changes the normal {flow of control} in a program. An exception may be generated ("raised") by {hardware} or {software}. Hardware exceptions include {reset}, {interrupt} or a signal from a {memory management unit}. Exceptions may be generated by the {arithmetic logic unit} or {floating-point unit} for numerical errors such as divide by zero, {overflow} or {underflow} or {instruction decoding} errors such as privileged, reserved, {trap} or undefined instructions. Software exceptions are even more varied and the term could be applied to any kind of error checking which alters the normal behaviour of the program. (1994-10-31)
expanded memory "storage" Memory used through {EMS}. In systems based on {Intel 80386} or later processor expanded memory is part of the {extended memory} that is mapped into the {expanded memory page frame} by the processor. The mapping is controlled by the {EMM}. In earlier systems, a dedicated {EMS} hardware adaptor is needed to map memory into the page frame. In both cases, an appropriate {device driver} is needed for the proper communication between hardware and {EMM}. (1996-01-10)
expansion card "hardware" A circuit board which can be plugged into one of a computer's {expansion slots} to provide some optional extra facility such as additional {RAM}, {disk controller}, {coprocessor}, {graphics accelerator}, communication device or some special-purpose interface. Different computers have different standards for the cards they accept, e.g. {PCI}. (1998-06-26)
expansion slot "hardware" A connector in a computer into which an {expansion card} can be plugged. The connector supplies power to the card and connects it to the {data bus}, {address bus} and control signals of the {motherboard}. (1998-06-26)
Extended Capabilities Port "hardware" (ECP) A {parallel printer interface} for {IBM PC} compatibles, supported by several, mainly US, manufacturers. Not to be confused with the more common {Enhanced Capabilities Port}. (1997-12-01)
eXtended Graphics Array "hardware" (XGA) An {IBM} {display standard} introduced in 1990. XGA supports a {resolution} of 1024 x 768 {pixels} with a {palette} of 256 colours, or 640 x 480 with {high colour} (16 {bits per pixel}). XGA-2 added 1024 x 768 support for high colour and higher refresh rates, improved performance, and supports 1360 x 1024 in 16 colours. XGA is probably not the same as {8514-A}. See also {VESA}'s {EVGA} released at a similar time. (1999-08-01)
extended memory "storage" Memory above the first {megabyte} of {address space} in an {IBM PC} with an {80286} or later processor. Extended memory is not directly available in {real mode}, only through {EMS}, {UMB}, {XMS}, or {HMA}; only applications executing in {protected mode} can use extended memory directly. In this case, the extended memory is provided by a supervising {protected-mode} {operating system} such as {Microsoft Windows}. The processor makes this memory available through a system of {global descriptor tables} and {local descriptor tables}. The memory is "protected" in the sense that memory assigned a local descriptor cannot be accessed by another program without causing a hardware {trap}. This prevents programs running in protected mode from interfering with each other's memory. A {protected-mode} {operating system} such as Windows can also run {real-mode} programs and provide {expanded memory} to them. {DOS Protected Mode Interface} is {Microsoft}'s prescribed method for an {MS-DOS} program to access extended memory under a {multitasking} environment. Having extended memory does not necessarily mean that you have more than one megabyte of memory since the reserved memory area may be partially empty. In fact, if your 386 or higher uses extended memory as expanded memory then that part is not in excess of 1Mb. See also {conventional memory}. (1996-01-10)
Extended Video Graphics Array "hardware, graphics" (EVGA) A {display standard} introduced by {VESA} in 1991. It offers a maximum {resolution} of 1024 x 768 {pixels} ({non-interlaced}) and a 70 Hz {refresh rate}. EVGA should not be confused with the older {EGA} (Enhanced Graphics Array) or {XGA} (eXtended Graphics Array). [Same as "{eXtended Video Graphics Array}" (XVGA)?] (1999-08-01)
eXtended Video Graphics Array "hardware" (XVGA) A {display standard} with a {resolution} of 1024 by 768 {pixels} of 256 colours. {IBM} call this mode "{8514}". [Same as "{Extended Video Graphics Array}" (EVGA)?] (1997-12-11)
failover "systems" Automatically switching to a different, {redundant} system upon {failure} or {abnormal termination} of the currently active system. Failover can be applied to a {cluster} of {servers}, to {network} or storage components or any other set of redundant devices that must provide {high availability} because down-time would be expensive or inconvenient. It may be implemented in hardware, software or a combination. A "{hot standby}" is continuously active at the same time as the failed system, using some kind of {load balancing} to share the work, whereas a "{warm standby}" is ready to become active at short notice. When the failed system is operational again it may "failback", i.e. become (one of) the active system(s) or it may become a warm standby. (2008-01-15)
Fast Page Mode Dynamic Random Access Memory "hardware, storage" Is this the same as {Page Mode Dynamic Random Access Memory}? (1996-10-06)
Fast SCSI "hardware" A variant on the {SCSI-2} bus. It uses the same 8-bit bus as the original {SCSI}-1 but runs at up to 10MB/s - double the speed of SCSI-1. (1994-11-24)
fault tolerance "architecture" 1. The ability of a system or component to continue normal operation despite the presence of hardware or software faults. This often involves some degree of {redundancy}. 2. The number of faults a system or component can withstand before normal operation is impaired. (1995-04-06)
Fault Tolerant Unix "operating system" (FTX) {Stratus}'s own {Unix} {System V} Release 4 {multiprocessor} {operating system}. In 2016, FTX is supported but no longer developed. FTX was one of three operating systems supplied by Stratus on their hardware, the other two, {HP-UX} and {VOS}, were the more common choices, FTX was only sold on an exceptional basis. Early FTX 3.x releases used an in-house {virtual disk layer} (VDL) {driver}, but later releases switched to a version of {Veritas VxVM}. FTX supported many of the proprietary communications boards (ISDN, serial, parallel, X.25, etc.). {(http://www.openpa.net/systems/stratus_continuum.html)} (1998-07-06)
fault tree analysis "programming" A form of safety analysis that assesses hardware safety to provide failure statistics and sensitivity analyses that indicate the possible effect of critical failures. (1996-05-15)
feature key "hardware" (Or "flower", "pretzel", "clover", "propeller", "beanie" (from propeller beanie), {splat}, "command key") The {Macintosh} {modifier key} with the four-leaf clover graphic on its keytop. The feature key is the Mac's equivalent of a {control key} (and so labelled on some Mac II keyboards). The proliferation of terms for this creature may illustrate one subtle peril of iconic interfaces. Macs also have an "Option" {modifier key}, equivalent to Alt. The cloverleaf-like symbol's oldest name is "cross of St. Hannes", but it occurs in pre-Christian Viking art as a decorative motif. In Scandinavia it marks sites of historical interest. An early {Macintosh} developer who happened to be Swedish introduced it to Apple. Apple documentation gives the translation "interesting feature". The symbol has a {Unicode} character called "PLACE OF INTEREST SIGN" (U+2318), previously known as "command key". The Swedish name of this symbol stands for the word "sev"ardhet" (interesting feature), many of which are old churches. Some Swedes report as an idiom for it the word "kyrka", cognate to English "church" and Scots-dialect "kirk" but pronounced /shir'k*/ in modern Swedish. Others say this is nonsense. {(http://fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2318/index.htm)}. [{Jargon File}] (2005-09-15)
Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop "hardware, standard" (FC-AL) A fast serial bus interface standard intended to replace {SCSI} on high-end {servers}. FC-AL has a number of advantages over SCSI. It offers higher speed: the base speed is 100 {megabytes} per second, with 200, 400, and 800 planned. Many devices are dual ported, i.e., can be accessed through two independent ports, which doubles speed and increases fault tolerance. Cables can be as long as 30 m (coaxial) or 10 km (optical). FC-AL enables {self-configuring} and {hot swapping} and the maximum number of devices on a single port is 126. Finally, it provides software compatibility with SCSI. Despite all these features FC-AL is unlikely to appear on desktops anytime soon, partly because its price, partly because typical {desktop computers} would not take advantage of many of the advanced features. On these systems {FireWire} has more potential. [Current status? Reference?] (1999-09-12)
field circus A derogatory pun on "field service". The field service organisation of any hardware manufacturer, but especially {DEC}. There is an entire genre of jokes about DEC field circus engineers: Q: How can you recognise a DEC field circus engineer with a flat tire? A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat. Q: How can you recognise a DEC field circus engineer who is out of gas? A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat. See {Easter egging} for additional insight on these jokes. There is also the "Field Circus Cheer" (from the {plan file} for {DEC} on MIT-AI): Maynard! Maynard! Don't mess with us! We're mean and we're tough! If you get us confused We'll screw up your stuff. (DEC's service HQ is located in Maynard, Massachusetts). [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-01)
field emission display "hardware" (FED) A type of {flat panel display} in which field emitting cathodes bombard a phosphor coating causing it to emit light. A field emission display is similar to a {cathode ray tube} but only a few millimeters thick. They use a large array of fine metal tips or carbon nanotubes (which are the most efficient electron emitters known), to emit electrons through a process known as field emission. Many of these are behind each phosphor dot so FEDs do not display dead pixels like LCDs even if 20% of the emitters fail. {Sony} is researching FED because it is the flat-panel technology that comes closest to matching the picture of a CRT. (2007-10-10)
field-programmable gate array "hardware" (FPGA) A {gate array} where the logic network can be programmed into the device after its manufacture. An FPGA consists of an array of logic elements, either gates or lookup table {RAMs}, {flip-flops} and programmable interconnect wiring. Most FPGAs are reprogrammable, since their logic functions and interconnect are defined by RAM cells. The {Xilinx} LCA, {Altera} FLEX and {AT&T} ORCA devices are examples. Others can only be programmed once, by closing "antifuses". These retain their programming permanently. The {Actel} FPGAs are the leading example of such devices. Atmel FPGAs are currently (July 1997) the only ones in which part of the array can be reprogrammed while other parts are active. As of 1994, FPGAs have logic capacity up to 10K to 20K 2-input-NAND-equivalent gates, up to about 200 I/O pins and can run at {clock rates} of 50 MHz or more. FPGA designs must be prepared using {CAD} software tools, usually provided by the chip vendor, to do technology mapping, partitioning and placement, routing, and binary output. The resulting binary can be programmed into a {ROM} connected to the FPGA or {downloaded} to the FPGA from a connected computer. In addition to ordinary logic applications, FPGAs have enabled the development of {logic emulators}. There is also research on using FPGAs as computing devices, taking direct advantage of their reconfigurability into problem-specific hardware processors. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.arch.fpga}. (1997-07-11)
field servoid "jargon, abuse" /fee'ld ser'voyd/ A play on "android", a derogatory term for a representative of a field service organisation (see {field circus}), suggesting an unintelligent rule-driven approach to servicing computer hardware. [{Jargon File}] (2003-02-03)
File Allocation Table "file system" (FAT) The component of an {MS-DOS} or {Windows 95} {file system} which describes the {files}, {directories}, and free space on a {hard disk} or {floppy disk}. A disk is divided into {partitions}. Under the FAT {file system} each partition is divided into {clusters}, each of which can be one or more {sectors}, depending on the size of the partition. Each cluster is either allocated to a file or directory or it is free (unused). A directory lists the name, size, modification time and starting cluster of each file or subdirectory it contains. At the start of the partition is a table (the FAT) with one entry for each cluster. Each entry gives the number of the next cluster in the same file or a special value for "not allocated" or a special value for "this is the last cluster in the chain". The first few clusters after the FAT contain the {root directory}. The FAT file system was originally created for the {CP/M}[?] {operating system} where files were catalogued using 8-bit addressing. {MS DOS}'s FAT allows only {8.3} filenames. With the introduction of MS-DOS 4 an incompatible 16-bit FAT (FAT16) with 32-kilobyte {clusters} was introduced that allowed {partitions} of up to 2 gigabytes. Microsoft later created {FAT32} to support partitions larger than two gigabytes and {pathnames} greater that 256 characters. It also allows more efficient use of disk space since {clusters} are four kilobytes rather than 32 kilobytes. FAT32 was first available in {OEM} Service Release 2 of {Windows 95} in 1996. It is not fully {backward compatible} with the 16-bit and 8-bit FATs. {IDG article (http://idg.net/idgframes/english/content.cgi?vc=docid_9-62525.html)}. {(http://home.c2i.net/tkjoerne/os/fat.htm)}. {(http://teleport.com/~brainy/)}. {(http://209.67.75.168/hardware/fatgen.htm)}. {(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q154/9/97.asp)}. Compare: {NTFS}. [How big is a FAT? Is the term used outside MS DOS? How long is a FAT16 filename?] (2000-02-05)
file server Hardware and software that together provide file-handling and storage functions for multiple users on a {local area network}. The most common choices for file server software are {Sun Microsystems}' {Network File System} for {Unix} and {Novell Netware} for {IBM PC} compatibles. There is also a version of NFS for PCs called {PC-NFS}. Storing files on a file server saves having multiple copies stored on individual computers, thus economising on disk space and also makes administrating and updating the files easier.
Filtabyte "networking, hardware" An {Ethernet controller} card made by {LRT} based on the {LANCE} and {SIA}. It uses {DMA}. Its {Ethernet address} can be changed by software. (1994-12-01)
finger-pointing syndrome "programming" All-too-frequent result of {bugs}, especially in new or experimental configurations. The hardware vendor points a finger at the software. The software vendor points a finger at the hardware. All the poor users get is the finger. [{Jargon File}] (1995-12-14)
Firmware Software stored in read-only memory (ROM) or programmable ROM (PROM). Easier to change than hardware but harder than software stored on disk. Firmware is often responsible for the behaviour of a system when it is first switched on. A typical example would be a "monitor" program in a microcomputer which loads the full operating system from disk or from a network and then passes control to it.
first-in first-out "algorithm" (FIFO, or "queue") A data structure or hardware buffer from which items are taken out in the same order they were put in. Also known as a "shelf" from the analogy with pushing items onto one end of a shelf so that they fall off the other. A FIFO is useful for buffering a stream of data between a sender and receiver which are not synchronised - i.e. not sending and receiving at exactly the same rate. Obviously if the rates differ by too much in one direction for too long then the FIFO will become either full ({block}ing the sender) or empty ({block}ing the receiver). A {Unix} {pipe} is a common example of a FIFO. A FIFO might be (but isn't ever?) called a LILO - last-in last-out. The opposite of a FIFO is a LIFO (last-in first-out) or "{stack}". (1999-12-06)
Flex "software, hardware" A system developed by Ian Currie (Iain?) at the (then) {Royal Signals and Radar Establishment} at Malvern in the late 1970s. The hardware was custom and {microprogrammable}, with an {operating system}, (modular) {compiler}, editor, {garbage collector} and {filing system} all written in {Algol-68}. Flex was also re-implemented on the {Perq}(?). [I. F. Currie and others, "Flex Firmware", Technical Report, RSRE, Number 81009, 1981]. [I. F. Currie, "In Praise of Procedures", RSRE, 1982]. (1997-11-17)
Flip Chip Pin Grid Array "hardware, processor" (FC-PGA) The package of certain {Intel} {Celeron} and {Pentium III} processors. FC-PGA processors fit into {Socket 370} {motherboard} sockets. The Flip Chip {Pin Grid Array} is similar to {PPGA}, except that the {silicon} {core} is facing up and the {heat slug} is exposed. FC-PGA packaging is used by Pentium III processors, and Celeron 566 processors onward. Earlier Celeron processors used {PPGA} packaging. Celeron processors are also available in {Slot 1} {SEPP} packaging and Pentium III processors in Slot 1 {SECC2} packaging. Adapters are available to allow a PPGA Celeron to plug into a Slot 1 connector. (2000-08-26)
flip-flop "hardware" A digital logic circuit that can be in one of two states which it switches (or "{toggles}") between under control of its inputs. It can thus be considered as a one bit memory. Three types of flip-flop are common: the {SR flip-flop}, the {JK flip-flop} and the {D-type flip-flop} (or {latch}). Early literature refers to the "Eccles-Jordan circuit" and the "Eccles-Jordan binary counter", using two {vacuum tubes} as the active (amplifying) elements for each {bit} of information storage. Later implementations using {bipolar transistors} could operate at up to 20 million state transitions per second as early as 1963. (1995-11-11)
floating-point accelerator "hardware" (FPA) Additional hardware to perform functions on {floating point} numbers such as addition, multiplication, {logarithms}, {exponentials}, {trigonometric functions} and various kinds of {rounding} and error detection. A floating point accelerator often functions as a {co-processor} to the {CPU}. The term "floating-point accelerator" suggests a physically larger system, often an extra circuit board, whereas a "floating-point unit" is probably a single chip or even part of a chip. (1994-12-01)
floating-point "programming, mathematics" A number representation consisting of a {mantissa}, M, an {exponent}, E, and a {radix} (or "base"). The number represented is M*R^E where R is the radix. In science and engineering, {exponential notation} or {scientific notation} uses a radix of ten so, for example, the number 93,000,000 might be written 9.3 x 10^7 (where ^7 is superscript 7). In computer hardware, floating point numbers are usually represented with a radix of two since the mantissa and exponent are stored in binary, though many different representations could be used. The {IEEE} specify a {standard} representation which is used by many hardware floating-point systems. Non-zero numbers are {normalised} so that the {binary point} is immediately before the most significant bit of the mantissa. Since the number is non-zero, this bit must be a one so it need not be stored. A fixed "bias" is added to the exponent so that positive and negative exponents can be represented without a sign bit. Finally, extreme values of exponent (all zeros and all ones) are used to represent special numbers like zero and positive and negative {infinity}. In programming languages with {explicit typing}, floating-point types are introduced with the keyword "float" or sometimes "double" for a higher precision type. See also {floating-point accelerator}, {floating-point unit}. Opposite: {fixed-point}. (2008-06-13)
Floating-Point Unit "hardware" (FPU) A {floating-point accelerator}, usually in a single {integrated circuit}, possible on the same IC as the {central processing unit}. (1994-10-27)
floppy disk "hardware, storage" (Or "floppy", "diskette") A small, portable plastic disk coated in a magnetisable substance used for storing computer data, readable by a computer with a floppy disk drive. The physical size of disks has shrunk from the early 8 inch, to 5 1/4 inch ("minifloppy") to 3 1/2 inch ("microfloppy") while the data capacity has risen. These disks are known as "floppy" disks (or diskettes) because the disk is flexible and the read/write head is in physical contact with the surface of the disk in contrast to "{hard disks}" (or winchesters) which are rigid and rely on a small fixed gap between the disk surface and the heads. Floppies may be either single-sided or double-sided. 3.5 inch floppies are less floppy than the larger disks because they come in a stiff plastic "envelope" or case, hence the alternative names "stiffy" or "crunchy" sometimes used to distinguish them from the floppier kind. The following formats are used on {IBM PCs} and elsewhere: Capacity Density Width 360K double 5.25" 720K double 3.5" 1.2M high 5.25" 1.44M high 3.5" Double denisty and high density are usually abbreviated DD and HD. HD 3.5 inch disks have a second hole in the envelope and an overlapping "HD" logo. (1996-08-23)
floptical "hardware, storage" (From "floppy disk" and "optical") A {floppy disk} which uses an optical tracking mechanism to improve the positioning accuracy of an ordinary magnetic head, thereby allowing more tracks and greater density. {Storage media FAQ (http://cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/arch-storage/part1/faq.html)}. (1995-03-15)
flow control "communications, protocol" The collection of techniques used in serial communications to stop the sender sending data until the receiver can accept it. This may be either {software flow control} or {hardware flow control}. The receiver typically has a fixed size {buffer} into which received data is written as soon as it is received. When the amount of buffered data exceeds a "high water mark", the receiver will signal to the transmitter to stop transmitting until the process reading the data has read sufficient data from the buffer that it has reached its "low water mark", at which point the receiver signals to the transmitter to resume transmission. (1995-03-22)
footprint 1. "jargon, hardware" The floor or desk area taken up by a piece of hardware. 2. "jargon, storage" The amount of {disk} or {RAM} taken up by a program or file. 3. ({IBM}) The {audit trail} left by a crashed program (often "footprints"). See also {toeprint}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-04-25)
for free Said of a capability of a programming language or hardware equipment that is available by its design without needing cleverness to implement: "In APL, we get the matrix operations for free." "And owing to the way revisions are stored in this system, you get revision trees for free." The term usually refers to a serendipitous feature of doing things a certain way (compare {big win}), but it may refer to an intentional but secondary feature. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-14)
formal methods "mathematics, specification" Mathematically based techniques for the {specification}, development and verification of software and hardware systems. {Referentially transparent} languages are amenable to symbolic manipulation allowing {program transformation} (e.g. changing a clear inefficient specification into an obscure but efficient program) and proof of correctness. {Oxford FM archive (http://comlab.ox.ac.uk/archive/formal-methods.html)}. (1996-05-15)
form factor "hardware" The type of packaging of a processor {integrated circuit}, e.g. {PPGA}, {FC-PGA}. More generally, a term popular among {marketroids} in 1998, denoting the shape of something designed. (2000-08-26)
FORTH 1. "language" An interactive extensible language using {postfix syntax} and a data stack, developed by Charles H. Moore in the 1960s. FORTH is highly user-configurable and there are many different implementations, the following description is of a typical default configuration. Forth programs are structured as lists of "words" - FORTH's term which encompasses language keywords, primitives and user-defined {subroutines}. Forth takes the idea of subroutines to an extreme - nearly everything is a subroutine. A word is any string of characters except the separator which defaults to space. Numbers are treated specially. Words are read one at a time from the input stream and either executed immediately ("interpretive execution") or compiled as part of the definition of a new word. The sequential nature of list execution and the implicit use of the data stack (numbers appearing in the lists are pushed to the stack as they are encountered) imply postfix syntax. Although postfix notation is initially difficult, experienced users find it simple and efficient. Words appearing in executable lists may be "{primitives}" (simple {assembly language} operations), names of previously compiled procedures or other special words. A procedure definition is introduced by ":" and ended with ";" and is compiled as it is read. Most Forth dialects include the source language structures BEGIN-AGAIN, BEGIN-WHILE-REPEAT, BEGIN-UNTIL, DO-LOOP, and IF-ELSE-THEN, and others can be added by the user. These are "compiling structures" which may only occur in a procedure definition. FORTH can include in-line {assembly language} between "CODE" and "ENDCODE" or similar constructs. Forth primitives are written entirely in {assembly language}, secondaries contain a mixture. In fact code in-lining is the basis of compilation in some implementations. Once assembled, primitives are used exactly like other words. A significant difference in behaviour can arise, however, from the fact that primitives end with a jump to "NEXT", the entry point of some code called the sequencer, whereas non-primitives end with the address of the "EXIT" primitive. The EXIT code includes the scheduler in some {multi-tasking} systems so a process can be {deschedule}d after executing a non-primitive, but not after a primitive. Forth implementations differ widely. Implementation techniques include {threaded code}, dedicated Forth processors, {macros} at various levels, or interpreters written in another language such as {C}. Some implementations provide {real-time} response, user-defined data structures, {multitasking}, {floating-point} arithmetic, and/or {virtual memory}. Some Forth systems support virtual memory without specific hardware support like {MMUs}. However, Forth virtual memory is usually only a sort of extended data space and does not usually support executable code. FORTH does not distinguish between {operating system} calls and the language. Commands relating to I/O, {file systems} and {virtual memory} are part of the same language as the words for arithmetic, memory access, loops, IF statements, and the user's application. Many Forth systems provide user-declared "vocabularies" which allow the same word to have different meanings in different contexts. Within one vocabulary, re-defining a word causes the previous definition to be hidden from the interpreter (and therefore the compiler), but not from previous definitions. FORTH was first used to guide the telescope at NRAO, Kitt Peak. Moore considered it to be a {fourth-generation language} but his {operating system} wouldn't let him use six letters in a program name, so FOURTH became FORTH. Versions include fig-FORTH, FORTH 79 and FORTH 83. {FAQs (http://complang.tuwien.ac.at/forth/faq/faq-general-2.html)}. {ANS Forth standard, dpANS6 (http://taygeta.com/forth/dpans.html)}. FORTH Interest Group, Box 1105, San Carlos CA 94070. See also {51forth}, {F68K}, {cforth}, {E-Forth}, {FORML}, {TILE Forth}. [Leo Brodie, "Starting Forth"]. [Leo Brodie, "Thinking Forth"]. [Jack Woehr, "Forth, the New Model"]. [R.G. Loeliger, "Threaded Interpretive Languages"]. 2. {FOundation for Research and Technology - Hellas}. (1997-04-16)
founder ::: n. --> One who founds, establishes, and erects; one who lays a foundation; an author; one from whom anything originates; one who endows.
One who founds; one who casts metals in various forms; a caster; as, a founder of cannon, bells, hardware, or types.
A lameness in the foot of a horse, occasioned by inflammation; closh.
An inflammatory fever of the body, or acute rheumatism;
FPA 1. "hardware" {floating-point accelerator}. 2. "programming" {Function Point Analysis}.
frame 1. "networking" A {data link layer} "packet" which contains the header and trailer information required by the physical medium. That is, {network layer} {packets} are encapsulated to become frames. See also {datagram}, {encapsulation}, {packet}, {Maximum Transmission Unit}. 2. "programming" (language implementation) See {activation record}. 3. "hardware" One complete scan of the active area of a {display screen}. Each frame consists of a number N of horizontal {scan lines}, each of which, on a computer display, consists of a number M of {pixels}. N is the {vertical resolution} of the display and M is the {horizontal resolution}. The rate at which the displayed image is updated is the {refresh rate} in frames per second. (2000-10-07)
frame buffer "hardware" Part of a video system in which an {image} is stored, {pixel} by pixel and which is used to refresh a {raster} image. The term "{video memory}" suggests a fairly static display whereas a frame buffer holds one frame from a sequence of frames forming a moving image. Frame buffers are found in {frame grabbers} and {time base correction} systems, for example. (1997-10-03)
frame grabber "hardware" A device that captures a single {frame} from an {analog} {video} signal (from a video camera or {VCR}) and stores it as a digital {image} under computer control. (1997-07-11)
Frame Relay Access Device "communications" (FRAD) Hardware and software that turns {packets} from {TCP}, {SNA}, {IPX}, etc into {frames} that can be sent over a {Frame Relay} {wide area network}. FRADs are a hot topic in data comms because companies like {Netlink}, {Motorola}, {Stratacom} are making lots of money out of them. (1995-11-17)
Frame Relay "communications" A {DTE}-{DCE} interface specification based on {LAPD} (Q.921), the {Integrated Services Digital Network} version of {LAPB} ({X.25} {data link layer}). A common specification was produced by a consortium of {StrataCom}, {Cisco}, {Digital}, and Northern Telecom. Frame Relay is the result of {wide area network}ing requirements for speed; {LAN}-{WAN} and LAN-LAN {internetworking}; "bursty" data communications; multiplicity of {protocols} and {protocol transparency}. These requirements can be met with technology such as {optical fibre} lines, allowing higher speeds and fewer transmission errors; intelligent network end devices ({personal computers}, {workstations}, and {servers}); standardisation and adoption of ISDN protocols. Frame Relay could connect dedicated lines and {X.25} to {ATM}, {SMDS}, {BISDN} and other "{fast packet}" technologies. Frame Relay uses the same basic {data link layer} {framing} and {Frame Check Sequence} so current {X.25} hardware still works. It adds addressing (a 10-bit {Data Link Connection Identifier} (DLCI)) and a few control bits but does not include retransmissions, link establishment, windows or error recovery. It has none of X.25's {session layer} but adds some simple interface management. Any {network layer} protocol can be used over the data link layer Frames. {Frame Relay Resource Center (http://alliancedatacom.com/framerelay.asp)}. (2000-07-14)
fried 1. "hardware" Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. Especially used of hardware brought down by a "power glitch" (see {glitch}), {drop-outs}, a short, or some other electrical event. (Sometimes this literally happens to electronic circuits! In particular, resistors can burn out and transformers can melt down, emitting noxious smoke - see {friode}, {SED} and {LER}. However, this term is also used metaphorically.) Compare {frotzed}. 2. "jargon" Of people, exhausted. Said particularly of those who continue to work in such a state. Often used as an explanation or excuse. "Yeah, I know that fix destroyed the file system, but I was fried when I put it in." Especially common in conjunction with "brain": "My brain is fried today, I'm very short on sleep." [{Jargon File}] (1996-04-28)
front end 1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly) machine (a "back end"). 2. Software that provides an interface to another program "behind" it, which may not be as {user-friendly}. Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends that interfaced with {mainframes}. [{Jargon File}]
front side bus "hardware" (FSB) The {bus} via which a {processor} communicates with its {RAM} and {chipset}; one half of the {Dual Independent Bus} (the other half being the {backside bus}). The {L2 cache} is usually on the FSB, unless it is on the same chip as the processor [example?]. In {PCI} systems, the PCI bus runs at half the FSB speed. {Intel}'s {Pentium 60} ran the bus and processor at 60 {MHz}. All later processors have used multipliers to increase the internal {clock} speed while maintaining the same external clock speed, e.g. the {Pentium 90} used a 1.5x multiplier. Modern {Socket 370} {motherboards} support multipliers from 4.5x to 8.0x, and FSB speeds from 50 MHz to a proposed 83 MHz standard. These higher speeds may cause problems with some PCI hardware. Altering the FSB speed and the multiplier ratio are the two main ways of {overclocking} processors. {Toms Hardware - The Bus Speed Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bus-speed-guide,49.html)}. {Toms Hardware - The Overclocking Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclocking-guide,15.html)}. (2002-02-21)
frotzed "jargon" /frotst/ {down} because of hardware problems. Compare {fried}. A machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable without replacing parts, but a fried machine is more seriously damaged. (2010-05-16)
fry 1. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of hardware and humans. See {fried}, {magic smoke}. 2. To cause to fail; to {roach}, {toast}, or {hose} a piece of hardware. Never used of software or humans, but compare {fried}.
FUBAR 1. (WWII military slang) Fucked up beyond all recognition (or repair). See {foobar}. 2. "hardware" The Failed UniBus Address Register in a {VAX}. A good example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the {suits}. Larry Robinson "lrobins@indiana.edu" reports the following nonstandard use for FUBAR: One day somebody got mad at the {card reader} (or card eater that day) on our {Univac 3200}. He taped a sign, "This thing is FUBAR", on the metal weight that sits on the stack of unread cards. The sign stayed there for over a year. One day, somebody said, "Don't forget to put the fubar on top of the stack". It stuck! We called that weight the fubar until they took away the machine. The replacement card reader had two spring loaded card clamps, one for the feed and one for the return, and we called THOSE fubars until we dumped punch cards. Incidently, the way he taped the sign on the weight made up for the lack of a little nylon piece that was missing from it, and fixed the card reader. That's why the sign stayed there. [{Jargon File}] (1997-03-18)
FUD wars /fuhd worz/ Political posturing, intended to create {FUD}, engaged in by hardware and software vendors ostensibly committed to standardisation but actually willing to fragment the market to protect their own shares. The {Unix International} vs. {OSF} conflict is but one outstanding example. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-01)
function key "hardware" (From the {IBM 3270} terminal's Programmed Function Keys (PF keys)) One of a set of special keys on a computer or {terminal} keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an {application program} to perform certain actions. Function keys on a terminal may either generate short fixed sequences of characters, often beginning with the {escape} character ({ASCII} 27), or the characters they generate may be configured by sending special character sequences to the terminal. On a {microcomputer} keyboard, the function keys may generate a fixed, single byte code, outside the normal {ASCII} range, which is translated into some other configurable sequence by the keyboard {device driver} or interpreted directly by the {application program}. (1995-02-07)
G3 1. "protocol, compression" {Group 3} fax. 2. "hardware, processor" {PowerPC G3}. (1998-09-10)
Gabriel "language" A graphical {DSP} language for {simulation} and real systems. ["A Design Tool for Hardware and Software for Multiprocessor DSP Systems," E.A. Lee, E. Goei, J. Bier & S. Bhattacharya, DSP Systems, Proc ISCAS-89, 1989]. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-23)
GAL "hardware" {Generic Array Logic}. (1995-12-09)
gamma correction "hardware" Adjustments applied during the display of a digital representation of colour on a screen in order to compensate for the fact that the {Cathode Ray Tubes} used in computer {monitors} (and televisions) produce a light intensity which is not proportional to the input {voltage}. The light intensity is actually proportional to the input voltage raised to the inverse power of some constant, called gamma. Its value varies from one display to another, but is usually around 2.5. Because it is more intuitive for the colour components (red, green and blue) to be varied linearly in the computer, the actual voltages sent to the monitor by the {display hardware} must be adjusted in order to make the colour component intensity on the screen proportional to the value stored in the computer's {display memory}. This process is most easily achieved by a dedicated module in the display hardware which simply scales the outputs of the {display memory} before sending them to the {digital-to-analogue converters}. More expensive {graphics cards} and {workstations} (particularly those used for {CAD} applications) will have a gamma correction facility. In combination with the "{white-point}" gamma correction is used to achieve precise colour matching. {Robert Berger's explanation of monitor gamma (http://cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/rwb/www/gamma.html)}. [{"Digital Imaging in C and the World Wide Web", W. David Schwaderer (http://itknowledge.com/)}]. (1999-02-01)
gate "hardware" A low-level {digital} logic component. Gates perform {Boolean} {functions} (e.g. {AND}, {NOT}), store {bits} of data (e.g. a {flip-flop}), and connect and disconnect various parts of the overall circuit to control the flow of data ({tri-state} buffer). In a {CPU}, the term applies particularly to the buffers that route data between the various {functional units}. Each gate allows data to flow from one unit to another or enables data from one output onto a certain {bus}. (1999-09-02)
GCOS "operating system" /jee'kohs/ An {operating system} developed by {General Electric} from 1962; originally called GECOS (the General Electric Comprehensive Operating System). The GECOS-II operating system was developed by {General Electric} for the 36-bit {GE-635} in 1962-1964. Contrary to rumour, GECOS was not cloned from {System/360} [{DOS/360}?] - the GE-635 architecture was very different from the {IBM 360} and GECOS was more ambitious than DOS/360. GE Information Service Divsion developed a large special multi-computer system that was not publicised because they did not wish {time sharing} customers to challenge their bills. Although GE ISD was marketing {DTSS} - the first commercial time sharing system - GE Computer Division had no license from Dartmouth and GE-ISD to market it to external customers, so they designed a time-sharing system to sell as a standard part of GECOS-III, which replaced GECOS-II in 1967. GECOS TSS was more general purpose than DTSS, it was more a programmer's tool (program editing, e-mail on a single system) than a BASIC TSS. The {GE-645}, a modified 635 built by the same people, was selected by {MIT} and {Bell} for the {Multics} project. Multics' infancy was as painful as any infancy. Bell pulled out in 1969 and later produced {Unix}. After the buy-out of GE's computer division by {Honeywell}, GECOS-III was renamed GCOS-3 (General Comprehensive Operating System). Other OS groups at Honeywell began referring to it as "God's Chosen Operating System", allegedly in reaction to the GCOS crowd's uninformed and snotty attitude about the superiority of their product. [Can anyone confirm this?] GCOS won and this led in the orphaning and eventual death of Honeywell {Multics}. Honeywell also decided to launch a new product line called Level64, and later DPS-7. It was decided to mainatin, at least temporarily, the 36-bit machine as top of the line, because GCOS-3 was so successfull in the 1970s. The plan in 1972-1973 was that GCOS-3 and Multics should converge. This plan was killed by Honeywell management in 1973 for lack of resources and the inability of Multics, lacking {databases} and {transaction processing}, to act as a business operating system without a substantial reinvestment. The name "GCOS" was extended to all Honeywell-marketed product lines and GCOS-64, a completely different 32-bit operating system, significanctly inspired by Multics, was designed in France and Boston. GCOS-62, another different 32-bit low-end DOS level was designed in Italy. GCOS-61 represented a new version of a small system made in France and the new {DPS-6} 16-bit {minicomputer} line got GCOS-6. When the intended merge between GCOS-3 and Multics failed, the Phoenix designers had in mind a big upgrade of the architecture to introduce {segmentation} and {capabilities}. GCOS-3 was renamed GCOS-8, well before it started to use the new features which were introduced in next generation hardware. The GCOS licenses were sold to the Japanese companies {NEC} and {Toshiba} who developed the Honeywell products, including GCOS, much further, surpassing the {IBM 3090} and {IBM 390}. When Honeywell decided in 1984 to get its top of the range machines from NEC, they considered running Multics on them but the Multics market was considered too small. Due to the difficulty of porting the ancient Multics code they considered modifying the NEC hardware to support the Multics compilers. GCOS3 featured a good {Codasyl} {database} called IDS (Integrated Data Store) that was the model for the more successful {IDMS}. Several versions of transaction processing were designed for GCOS-3 and GCOS-8. An early attempt at TP for GCOS-3, not taken up in Europe, assumed that, as in {Unix}, a new process should be started to handle each transaction. IBM customers required a more efficient model where multiplexed {threads} wait for messages and can share resources. Those features were implemented as subsystems. GCOS-3 soon acquired a proper {TP monitor} called Transaction Driven System (TDS). TDS was essentially a Honeywell development. It later evolved into TP8 on GCOS-8. TDS and its developments were commercially successful and predated IBM {CICS}, which had a very similar architecture. GCOS-6 and GCOS-4 (ex-GCOS-62) were superseded by {Motorola 68000}-based {minicomputers} running {Unix} and the product lines were discontinued. In the late 1980s Bull took over Honeywell and Bull's management chose Unix, probably with the intent to move out of hardware into {middleware}. Bull killed the Boston proposal to port Multics to a platform derived from DPS-6. Very few customers rushed to convert from GCOS to Unix and new machines (of CMOS technology) were still to be introduced in 1997 with GCOS-8. GCOS played a major role in keeping Honeywell a dismal also-ran in the {mainframe} market. Some early Unix systems at {Bell Labs} used GCOS machines for print spooling and various other services. The field added to "/etc/passwd" to carry GCOS ID information was called the "{GECOS field}" and survives today as the "pw_gecos" member used for the user's full name and other human-ID information. [{Jargon File}] (1998-04-23)
GE Information Services "networking, company" One of the leading on-line services, started on 1st October 1985, providing subscribers with hundreds of special interest areas, computer hardware and software support, award-winning multi-player games, the most software files in the industry (over 200 000), worldwide news, sports updates, business news, investment strategies, and {Internet} {electronic mail} and fax (GE Mail). Interactive conversations (Chat Lines) and {bulletin boards} (Round Tables) with associated software archives are also provided. GEnie databases (through the ARTIST gateway) allow users to search the full text of thousands of publications, including Dun & Bradstreet Company Profiles; a GEnie NewsStand with more than 900 newspapers, magazines, and newsletters; a Reference Center with information ranging from Agriculture to World History; the latest in medical information from MEDLINE; and patent and trademark registrations. {(http://genie.com/)}. {Shopping 2000 (http://shopping2000.com/shopping2000/genie/)}. Telephone: +1 (800) 638 9636. TDD: +1 (800) 238 9172. E-mail: "info@genie.geis.com". [Connection with: GE Information Services, Inc., a division of General Electric Company, Headquarters: Rockville, Maryland, USA?] (1995-04-13)
gender mender "hardware" (Or "gender bender", "gender blender", "sex changer", and even "homosexual adaptor") A cable connector shell with either two male or two female connectors on it, used to correct the mismatches that result when some {loser} didn't understand the {EIA-232C} specification and the distinction between {DTE} and {DCE}. Used especially for EIA-232C parts in either the original {D-25} or the {IBM PC}'s {D-9} connector. There appears to be some confusion as to whether a "male homosexual adaptor" has pins on both sides (is doubly male) or sockets on both sides (connects two males). [{Jargon File}] (1995-04-16)
General Protection Failure (GPF, or General Protection Fault) An addressing error, caught by the processor's {memory protection} hardware, that cannot be attributed to any expected condition such as a {page fault}. (1995-03-28)
Generic Array Logic "hardware, integrated circuit" (GAL) A newer kind of {Programmable Array Logic} based on {EEPROM} storage cells, been pioneered by {Lattice}. GALs can be erased and reprogrammed and usually replace a whole set of different PALs (hence the name). (1995-12-09)
Glasgow Haskell Compiler "language" (GHC) A {Haskell} 1.2 compiler written in Haskell by the AQUA project at {Glasgow University}, headed by Simon Peyton Jones "simonpj@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk" throughout the 1990's [started?]. GHC can generate either {C} or {native code} for {SPARC}, {DEC} {Alpha} and other platforms. It can take advantage of features of {gcc} such as global register variables and has an extensive set of optimisations. GHC features an extensible I/O system based on a "{monad}", in-line {C} code, fully fledged {unboxed} data types, incrementally-updatable {arrays}, {mutable reference types}, {generational garbage collector}, {concurrent} {threads}. Time and space {profiling} is also supported. It requires {GNU} gcc 2.1+ and {Perl}. GHC runs on {Sun-4}, {DEC Alpha}, {Sun-3}, {NeXT}, {DECstation}, {HP-PA} and {SGI}. {Glasgow FTP (ftp://ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk/pub/haskell/glasgow/)}. {Yale (ftp://nebula.cs.yale.edu/pub/haskell/glasgow/)}. {Sweden (ftp://ftp.cs.chalmers.se/pub/haskell/glasgow/)}. {Papers (ftp://ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk/pub/glasgow-fp)}. ["Imperative functional programming", Peyton Jones & Wadler, POPL '93]. ["Unboxed data types as first-class citizens", Peyton Jones & Launchbury, FPCA '91]. ["Profiling lazy functional languages", Sansom & Peyton Jones, Glasgow workshop '92]. ["Implementing lazy functional languages on stock hardware", Peyton Jones, Journal of Functional Programming, Apr 1992]. E-mail: "glasgow-haskell-request@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk". (1999-01-05)
glass tty /glas T-T-Y/ or /glas ti'tee/ A terminal that has a display screen but which, because of hardware or software limitations, behaves like a teletype or some other printing terminal, thereby combining the disadvantages of both: like a printing terminal, it can't do fancy display hacks, and like a display terminal, it doesn't produce hard copy. An example is the early "dumb" version of Lear-Siegler ADM 3 (without cursor control). See {tube}, {tty}; compare {dumb terminal}, {smart terminal}. See "{TV Typewriters}" for an interesting true story about a glass tty.
glue "jargon" A generic term for any interface logic or {protocol} that connects two component blocks. For example, {Blue Glue} is IBM's SNA protocol, and hardware designers call anything used to connect large VLSI's or circuit blocks "glue logic". [{Jargon File}] (1999-02-22)
Gnome Computers "company" A small UK hardware and software company. They make {transputer} boards for the {Acorn} {Archimedes} among other things. E-mail: Chris Stenton "chris@gnome.co.uk". (1994-09-30)
gonkulator /gon'kyoo-lay-tr/ (From "Hogan's Heroes", the TV series) A pretentious piece of equipment that actually serves no useful purpose. Usually used to describe one's least favourite piece of computer hardware. See {gonk}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-03-07)
Graphical Kernel System "graphics, standard" (GKS) The widely recognised standard {ANSI} X3.124 for graphical input/output. GKS is worked on by the {ISO}/{IEC} group {JTC1/SC24}. It provides applications programmers with standard methods of creating, manipulating, and displaying or printing computer graphics on different types of computer graphics {output devices}. It provides an abstraction to save programmers from dealing with the detailed capabilities and interfaces of specific hardware. GKS defines a basic two-dimensional graphics system with: uniform input and output {primitives}; a uniform interface to and from a {GKS metafile} for storing and transferring graphics information. It supports a wide range of graphics output devices including such as {printers}, {plotters}, {vector graphics} devices, {storage tubes}, {refresh displays}, {raster displays}, and {microfilm recorders}. (1999-04-01)
Graphic Display Interface "hardware" (GDI) {graphics adaptor}. (1995-03-16)
graphics accelerator "graphics, hardware" {Hardware} (often an extra circuit board) to perform tasks such as plotting lines and surfaces in two or three dimensions, filling, shading and hidden line removal. (1997-07-14)
graphics adaptor "hardware, graphics" (Or "graphics adapter", "graphics card", "video adaptor", etc.) A circuit board fitted to a computer, especially an {IBM PC}, containing the necessary {video memory} and other electronics to provide a {bitmap display}. Adaptors vary in the {resolution} (number of {pixels}) and number of colours they can display, and in the {refresh rate} they support. These parameters are also limited by the {monitor} to which the adaptor is connected. A number of such {display standards}, e.g. {SVGA}, have become common and different {software} requires or supports different sets. (1996-09-16)
graphics "graphics" Any kind of visible output including {text}, {images}, {movies}, {line art} and {digital photographs}; stored in {bitmap} or {vector graphic} form. Most modern computers can display non-{text} data and most use a {graphical user interface} (GUI) for virtually all interaction with the user. Special {hardware}, typically some kind of {graphics adaptor}, is required to allow the computer to display graphics (as opposed to, say, printing text on a {teletype}) but since GUIs became ubiquitous this has become the default form of visual output. The most demanding applications for computer graphics are those where the computer actually generates moving images in {real time}, especially in {video games}. There are many kinds of {software} devoted to manipulating graphical data, including image editing (e.g. {Photoshop}), {drawing} (e.g. {Illustrator}), user interface toolkits (e.g. {X Window System}), {CAD}, {CGI}. (2009-06-24)
graphic workstation "graphics, computer" A {workstation} specifically configured for graphics works such as {image manipulation}, {bitmap graphics} ("paint"), and {vector graphics} ("draw") type applications. Such work requires a powerful {CPU} and a high {resolution} display. A graphic workstation is very similar to a {CAD} workstation and, given the typical specifications of personal computers currently available in 1999, the distinctions are very blurred and are more likely to depend on availability of specific {software} than any detailed hardware requirements. (1999-05-04)
Gray code "hardware" A {binary} sequence with the property that only one {bit} changes between any two consecutive elements (the two codes have a {Hamming distance} of one). The Gray code originated when {digital logic} circuits were built from {vacuum tubes} and electromechanical {relays}. Counters generated tremendous power demands and noise spikes when many bits changed at once. E.g. when incrementing a register containing 11111111, the {back-EMF} from the relays' collapsing magnetic fields required copious noise suppression. Using Gray code counters, any increment or decrement changed only one bit, regardless of the size of the number. Gray code can also be used to convert the angular position of a disk to digital form. A radial line of sensors reads the code off the surface of the disk and if the disk is half-way between two positions each sensor might read its bit from both positions at once but since only one bit differs between the two, the value read is guaranteed to be one of the two valid values rather than some third (invalid) combination (a {glitch}). One possible {algorithm} for generating a Gray code sequence is to toggle the lowest numbered bit that results in a new code each time. Here is a four bit Gray code sequence generated in this way: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 The codes were patented in 1953 by Frank Gray, a {Bell Labs} researcher. {(http://nist.gov/dads/HTML/graycode.html)}. (2002-08-29)
green lightning [IBM] 1. Apparently random flashing streaks on the face of 3278-9 terminals while a new symbol set is being downloaded. This hardware bug was left deliberately unfixed, as some genius within IBM suggested it would let the user know that "something is happening". That, it certainly does. Later microprocessor-driven IBM colour graphics displays were actually *programmed* to produce green lightning! 2. [proposed] Any bug perverted into an alleged feature by adroit rationalisation or marketing. "Motorola calls the CISC {cruft} in the 88000 architecture "compatibility logic", but I call it green lightning". See also {feature}.
gronked 1. Broken. "The teletype scanner was gronked, so we took the system down." 2. Of people, the condition of feeling very tired or (less commonly) sick. "I've been chasing that bug for 17 hours now and I am thoroughly gronked!" Compare {broken}, which means about the same as {gronk} used of hardware, but connotes depression or mental/emotional problems in people.
Gunning Transceiver Logic "electronics, hardware, integrated circuit, standard" (GTL) A {standard} for electrical signals in {CMOS} circuits used to provide higher data transfer speeds with smaller voltage swings [compared with what?]. The GTL signal swings between 0.4 volts and 1.2 volts with a reference voltage of about 0.8 volts. Only a small deviation of 0.4 volts (or thereabouts) from the reference voltage is required to switch between on and off states. Therefore, a GTL signal is said to be a low voltage swing logic signal. Gunning Transceiver Logic has several advantages. The {resistive termination} of a GTL signal provides a clean signalling environment [what?]. Moreover, the low terminating voltage of 1.2 volts results in reduced voltage drops across the resistive elements. GTL has low power dissipation and can operate at high frequency and causes less {electromagnetic interference} (EMI). {GTL/BTL: A Low-Swing Solution for High-Speed Digital Logic (http://edtn.com/scribe/reference/appnotes/md003ecc.htm)}. (2000-01-16)
HAL 1. "computer" HAL 9000, the murdering computer on the spaceship in the science fiction classic "2001, A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clark. "HAL" is "{IBM}" with each letter changed to the one before and there is an unconfirmed rumour that 9000 is the sum of the various IBM computer numbers that were in service at the time. However, in the sequel "2010", Clarke emphatically denies that HAL's name is supposed to be "one step ahead of IBM". It is, rather, short for "heuristic algorithm". 2. "operating system" {Hardware Abstraction Layer}. (1995-11-09)
hamster 1. "programming" (From {Fairchild}) A particularly slick little piece of code that does one thing well; a small, self-contained hack. The image is of a hamster {happily} spinning its exercise wheel. 2. "hardware" A tailless mouse; that is, one with an infrared link to a receiver on the machine, as opposed to the conventional cable. 3. "product" (UK) Any item of hardware made by {Amstrad}, a company famous for its cheap plastic PC-almost-compatibles. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-16)
Handel "language" An {imperative language} with {primitives} for controlling {parallel programs}. Used by Wayne Luk for work in compilation of programs to hardware ({FPGAs}). (1995-02-28)
handshaking 1. Predetermined hardware or software activity designed to establish or maintain two machines or programs in synchronisation. Handshaking often concerns the exchange of messages or {packets} of data between two systems with limited {buffers}. A simple handshaking {protocol} might only involve the receiver sending a message meaning "I received your last message and I am ready for you to send me another one." A more complex handshaking {protocol} might allow the sender to ask the receiver if he is ready to receive or for the receiver to reply with a negative acknowledgement meaning "I did not receive your last message correctly, please resend it" (e.g. if the data was corrupted en route). {Hardware handshaking} uses voltage levels or pulses on wires to carry the handshaking signals whereas {software handshaking} uses data units (e.g. {ASCII} characters) carried by some underlying communication medium. {Flow control} in bit-serial data transmission such as {EIA-232} may use either hardware or software handshaking. 2. The method used by two {modems} to establish contact with each other and to agreee on {baud rate}, {error correction} and {compression} {protocols}. 3. The exchange of predetermined signals between agents connected by a communications channel to assure each that it is connected to the other (and not to an imposter). This may also include the use of passwords and codes by an operator. [{Jargon File}] (1995-01-13)
haptic interface "interface, hardware" A touch interface to a computer that provides {feedback}, such as a {data glove}. (2003-10-17)
Hardware Abstraction Layer "operating system" (HAL) The layer of {Microsoft} {Windows NT} where they have isolated their {assembly language} code. (1995-04-17)
Hardware Description Language "language" (HDL) A kind of language used for the conceptual design of {integrated circuits}. Examples are {VHDL} and {Verilog}. (1995-04-18)
hardwarily /hard-weir'*-lee/ In a way pertaining to hardware. "The system is hardwarily unreliable." The adjective "hardwary" is *not* traditionally used, though it has recently been reported from the U.K. See {softwarily}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-01-23)
hard-wired 1. "electronics" An aspect of an electronic circuit which is determined by the wiring of the hardware, as opposed to being programmable in software or controlled by a switch. 2. "software, jargon" In software, a synonym for {hard-coded}. 3. By extension, anything that is not modifiable, especially in the sense of customisable to one's particular needs or tastes. [{Jargon File}] (1999-10-18)
HC-900 "hardware" A hybrid {controller} made by {Honeywell}. {Honeywell (http://honeywell.silverw.com/docs/51-52-03-31.pdf)}. [Hybrid of what and what?] (2004-03-31)
HDL {Hardware Description Language}
Head Disk Assembly "hardware, storage" (HDA) A sealed, high capacity {mainframe} {hard disk} with integral heads, as opposed to a {removable disk}. (1999-01-13)
heartbeat 1. "networking" The signal emitted by a Level 2 Ethernet transceiver at the end of every {packet} to show that the collision-detection circuit is still connected. 2. A periodic synchronisation signal used by software or hardware, such as a {bus} clock or a periodic {interrupt}. 3. The "natural" oscillation frequency of a computer's clock crystal, before frequency division down to the machine's clock rate. 4. A signal emitted at regular intervals by software to demonstrate that it is still alive. Sometimes hardware is designed to reboot the machine if it stops hearing a heartbeat. See also {breath-of-life packet}, {watchdog}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-03-12)
heat sink "hardware" /heet sink/ (from "sink", electronics jargon for something which takes in current) A piece of thermally conductive metal attached to a {semiconductor} or other electronic device and designed to prevent it from overheating by conducting heat away from it and radiating it to the environment. Heat sinks often have fins to increase their surface area. They occasionally have fans attached. Heat sink compound can be smeared between the device and the heat sink to improve thermal conduction. (1997-06-10)
heat slug "hardware, processor" A metal plate that helps dissipate heat away from the {silicon} {core} of a {processor} to the packaging or {heat-sink}. (2000-08-26)
Helen Keller mode 1. State of a hardware or software system that is deaf, dumb, and blind, i.e. accepting no input and generating no output, usually due to an {infinite loop} or some other excursion into {deep space}. (Unfair to the real Helen Keller, whose success at learning speech was triumphant.) See also {go flatline}, {catatonic}. 2. On {IBM PCs} under {MS-DOS}, refers to a specific failure mode in which a screen saver has kicked in over an {ill-behaved} application which bypasses the very interrupts the screen saver watches for activity. Your choices are to try to get from the program's current state through a successful save-and-exit without being able to see what you're doing, or to {re-boot} the machine. This isn't (strictly speaking) a crash. [{Jargon File}]
Helix A {hardware description language} from {Silvar-Lisco}.
HFC 1. "networking" {Hybrid Fiber Coax}. 2. "hardware" {hydrofluorocarbon}. (1999-11-02)
high colour "hardware" A {colour depth} of 16 (or 15) {bits per pixel}. Compare {true colour}. (1999-08-01)
High Performance Parallel Interface "hardware, standard" (HIPPI, previously HPPI) A {connection-oriented}, point-to-point networking {standard} using {circuit-switching} technology at a speed of 800 Mbits/s or 1.6 Gbits/s (simplex or full-duplex). HIPPI is often used for short distances (up to 10km depending on cable type) to connect a {supercomputer} to {routers}, {frame buffers}, {mass-storage} peripherals and other computers. HIPPI was developed at {Los Alamos National Laboratory} and is now {ANSI} standard X3T9/88-127. Standards for interconnecting with {ATM}, {SONet}, and {fibre channel} are in development. {HIPPI Networking Forum (http://esscom.com/hnf)}. (1997-06-29)
High Performance Serial Bus "hardware, standard" (Or "{IEEE} 1394") A 1995 {Macintosh}/{IBM PC} {serial bus} interface {standard} offering {isochronous} {real-time} data transfer. 1394 can transfer data between a computer and its {peripherals} at 100, 200, or 400 {Mbps}, with a planed increase to 2 {Gbps}. Cable length is limited to 4.5 m but up to 16 cables can be daisy-chained yielding a total length of 72 m. It can {daisy-chain} together up to 63 peripherals in a tree-like structure (as opposed to {SCSI}'s linear structure). It allows peer-to-peer communication, e.g. between a {scanner} and a {printer}, without using system memory or the {CPU}. It is designed to support {plug-and-play} and {hot swapping}. Its six-wire cable is not only more convenient than SCSI cables but can supply up to 60 watts of power, allowing low-consumption devices to operate without a separate power cord. Some expensive camcorders included this bus from 1995. It is expected to be used to carry {SCSI}, with possible application to {home automation} using {repeaters}. {Sony} calls it {I-Link}, most people call it "FireWire". See also {Universal Serial Bus}, {FC-AL}. (2014-09-06)
High Speed Connect "hardware" (HSC) A {Hewlett-Packard} bus like {EISA}. [HP9000 Configuration Guide, January 1996]. [Details?] (1996-06-06)
High-speed Net Connect "hardware, communications" (HNC) A network interface unit for {BS2000} {mainframes} based on {Novell NetWare}, supporting {Ethernet} and {FDDI}. (2005-02-11)
high speed serial interface "hardware, communications" (HSSI) A {serial port} which supports serial transmit speeds of up to 52 megabits per second. It is typically used for leased lines such as {DS3} (44.736 Mbps) and {E3} (34 Mbps) and for {Wide Area Network} devices such as {routers}. (1995-11-20)
High Voltage Differential "hardware" (HVD) {Differential SCSI} scheme that has been in use for years. The {terminators} run on 5 Volts DC. See also {LVD}. (1999-02-16)
hog "jargon" A term used to describe programs, hardware or people that use more than their share of a system's resources, especially those which noticeably degrade interactive response. The term is usually qualified, e.g. "memory hog", "core hog", "hog the processor", "hog the disk". E.g. "A {controller} that never gives up the {I/O bus} gets killed after the bus-hog timer expires." User also hog resources, particularly disk, where it seems that 10% of the people use 90% of the disk, no matter how big the disk is or how many people use it. Once a disk hog fills up one file system, he typically finds a new one to consume, claiming to the sysadmin that they have an important new project to complete. (2014-08-16)
home 1. "file system" {home directory}. 2. "web" {home page}. 3. "hardware" {home keys}.
home keys "hardware" The eight keys on a typewriter or computer keyboard on which a touch-typist positions their eight finger tips when starting to type or when resting between words or phrases. Typists learn the position of all keys on the keyboard in relation to the home keys. On a standard english keyboard layout, the home keys are ASDF for the left hand and JKL; for the right. Most keyboards have small raised bumps on the left and right index finger keys (F and J) so you can find the home keys by touch without looking. (2006-12-01)
Home Phoneline Networking Alliance "communications, networking, protocol, standard" (HomePNA) A non-profit association of more than 100 technology companies working together to ensure adoption of a phone line {networking} standard which should provide high-speed, affordable home networking. The Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA) was founded in June 1998 by {3Com}, {AMD}, {AT&T Wireless Services}, {Compaq}, Conexant, Epigram, {Hewlett-Packard}, {IBM}, {Intel}, {Lucent Technologies}, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, and Tut Systems. The membership now spans the networking, telecommunications, {hardware}, {software}, and consumer electronics industries. The alliance was originally formed because of the increasing demand for home networking caused by the growing number of homes with multiple PCs (and other devices) to connect together to provide facilities such as shared {Internet} access, {networked gaming}, and sharing of {peripherals}, {files} and {applications}. The member companies aimed to develop {open standards} to ensure compatibility between different manufacturers' products. They also decided that this should be done using the phone wiring that already existed in people's homes. The concept of "no new wires" networking meant installation was simpler. HomePNA's original specifications could be used to create a 1 {Mbps} (megabits per second) {Ethernet}-compatible {LAN} with no {hubs}, {routers}, {splitters} or {terminations}. Adapters would allow any computer (or other device) with an Ethernet port to be linked to the home network. Up to 25 PCs, peripherals and network devices can be connected to such a network. On 1999-12-01, the HomePNA announced a new release of its networking technology specification, called Home PNA 2.0. Like the first specification, it uses existing phone lines, but it can operate at speeds up to 10 Mbps. The new version is {backwardly compatible} with the original 1 Mbps HomePNA technology, and is designed to provide faster networks suitable for future voice, video and data applications. {HomePNA.org (http://homepna.org/)}. {HomePNA.Com (http://HomePNA.com/)}. (2000-03-24)
hook "programming" A {software} or {hardware} feature included in order to simplify later additions or changes by a user. For example, a simple program that prints numbers might always print them in base 10, but a more flexible version would let a variable determine what base to use; setting the variable to 5 would make the program print numbers in base 5. The variable is a simple hook. An even more flexible program might examine the variable and treat a value of 16 or less as the base to use, but treat any other number as the address of a user-supplied routine for printing a number. This is a {hairy} but powerful hook; one can then write a routine to print numbers as Roman numerals, say, or as Hebrew characters, and plug it into the program through the hook. Often the difference between a good program and a superb one is that the latter has useful hooks in judiciously chosen places. Both may do the original job about equally well, but the one with the hooks is much more flexible for future expansion of capabilities. {Emacs}, for example, is *all* hooks. The term "user exit" is synonymous but much more formal and less hackish. (1997-06-25)
horizontal scan rate "hardware" (HSR) The measure of how many {scan lines} of {pixels} a {monitor} can display in one second, expressed in kHz (generally somewhere between 20 and 100 kHz). The HSR is controlled by the horizontal sync signal generated by the {video controller}, but is limited by the speed with which the monitor can scan the electron beam horizontally across the screen and then return it to the beginning of the next line. (1996-02-09)
hosed "jargon" A somewhat humorous variant of "{down}", used primarily by {Unix} {hackers}. "Hosed" implies a condition thought to be relatively easy to reverse. It is also widely used of people in the mainstream sense of "in an extremely unfortunate situation". The term was popularised by fighter pilots refering to being hosed by machine gun fire (date?). Usage in hackerdom dates back to {CMU} in the 1970s or earlier. {"Acronyms and Abbreviations" from UCC, Ireland (http://ucc.ie/cgi-bin/acronym)} expands it as "Hardware Or Software Error Detected", though this is probably a back-formation. The {Jargon File} version 4.1.4 1999-06-17 says that it was probably derived from the Canadian slang "hoser" (meaning "a man, esp. one who works at a job that uses physical rather than mental skills and whose habits are slightly offensive but amusing"). One correspondant speculates about an allusion to a hose-like body part. Once upon a time, a {Cray} that had been experiencing periodic difficulties crashed, and it was announced to have been hosed. It was discovered that the crash was due to the disconnection of some coolant hoses. The problem was corrected, and users were then assured that everything was OK because the system had been rehosed. See also {dehose}. See also: {hose}. (1999-10-28)
Host Control Interface "hardware, wireless" (HCI) A {network layer} in the {Bluetooth} {Core Protocol Stack}, lying between the {software} and the {hardware} stacks and serving as the {interface} through which the {software} controls two of {Bluetooth}'s four core {protocols}. (2002-06-28)
hot spot 1. (primarily used by {C}/{Unix} programmers, but spreading) It is received wisdom that in most programs, less than 10% of the code eats 90% of the execution time; if one were to graph instruction visits versus code addresses, one would typically see a few huge spikes amidst a lot of low-level noise. Such spikes are called "hot spots" and are good candidates for heavy optimisation or {hand-hacking}. The term is especially used of tight loops and recursions in the code's central algorithm, as opposed to (say) initial set-up costs or large but infrequent I/O operations. See {tune}, {bum}, {hand-hacking}. 2. The active location of a cursor on a bit-map display. "Put the mouse's hot spot on the "ON" widget and click the left button." 3. A screen region that is sensitive to mouse clicks, which trigger some action. {Hypertext} help screens are an example, in which a hot spot exists in the vicinity of any word for which additional material is available. 4. In a {massively parallel} computer with {shared memory}, the one location that all 10,000 processors are trying to read or write at once (perhaps because they are all doing a {busy-wait} on the same lock). 5. More generally, any place in a hardware design that turns into a performance {bottleneck} due to resource contention. 6. {wireless hotspot}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-16)
hot swapping "hardware" The connection and disconnection of {peripherals} or other components without interrupting system operation. This facility may have design implications for both hardware and software. [More detail?] (1997-03-15)
Human-Computer Interaction "software, hardware" (HCI) The study of how humans interact with computers, and how to design computer systems that are easy, quick and productive for humans to use. See also {Human-Computer Interface}. {HCI Sites (http://acm.org/sigchi/hci-sites/)}. (1999-05-09)
Human-Computer Interface "software, hardware" (HCI) Any {software} or {hardware} that allows a user to interact with a computer. Examples are {WIMP}, {command-line interpreter}, or {virtual reality}. See also {Human-Computer Interaction}. (1999-05-09)
Human Interface Device "hardware" (HID) Any device to interact directly with humans (mostly input) like {keyboard}, {mouse}, {joystick}, or {graphics tablet}. (2001-03-29)
hydrofluorocarbon "hardware" (HFC) A suggested replacement for the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) coolant gas used in chillers and air conditioners. (1996-11-05)
IBM 1620 "computer" A computer built by {IBM} and released in late 1959. The 1620 cost from around $85,000(?) up to hundreds of thousands of dollars(?) according to the configuration. It was billed as a "small scientific computer" to distinguish it from the business-oriented {IBM 1401}. It was regarded as inexpensive, and many schools started out with one. It was either developed for the US Navy to teach computing, or as a replacement for the very successful {IBM 650} which did quite well in the low end scientific market. Rumour has it that the Navy called this computer the CADET - Can't Add, Doesn't Even Try. The {ALU} used lookup tables to add, subtract and multiply but it could do address increments and the like without the tables. You could change the number base by adjusting the tables, which were input during the boot sequence from {Hollerith} cards. The divide instruction required additional hardware, as did {floating point} operations. The basic machine had 20,000 decimal digits of {ferrite core memory} arranged as a 100 by 100 array of 12-bit locations, each holding two digits. Each digit was stored as four numeric bits, one flag bit and one parity bit. The numeric bits stored a decimal digit (values above nine were illegal). Memory was logically divided into fields. On the high-order digit of a field the flag bit indicated the end of the field. On the low-order digit it indicated a negative number. A flag bit on the low order of the address indicated {indirect addressing} if you had that option installed. A few "illegal" bit combinations were used to store things like record marks and "numeric blanks". On a {subroutine} call it stored the {return address} in the five digits just before the entry point to the routine, so you had to build your own {stack} to do {recursion}. The enclosure was grey, and the core was about four or five inches across. The core memory was kept cool inside a temperature-controlled box. The machine took a few minutes to warm up after power on before you could use it. If it got too hot there was a thermal cut-out switch that would shut it down. Memory could be expanded up to 100,000 digits in a second cabinet. The cheapest package used {paper tape} for I/O. You could also get {punched cards} and later models could be hooked up to a 1311 {disk drive} (a two-{megabyte} {washing machine}), a 1627 {plotter}, and a 1443 {line printer}. Because the 1620 was popular with colleges, IBM ran a clearing house of software for a nominal cost such as {Snobol}, {COBOL}, chess games, etc. The model II, released about three years later, could add and subtract without tables. The {clock period} decreased from 20 to 10 microseconds, instruction fetch sped up by a few cycles and it added {index registers} of some sort. Some of the model I's options were standard on the model II, like {indirect addressing} and the {console} {teletype} changed from a model C to a {Selectric}. Later still, IBM marketed the {IBM 1710}. A favorite use was to tune a FM radio to pick up the "interference" from the lights on the console. With the right delay loops you could generate musical notes. Hackers wrote {interpreters} that played music from notation like "C44". {IBM 1620 console (img:/pub/misc/IBM1620-console.jpg)} 1620 consoles were used as props to represent {Colossus} in the film "The Forbin Project", though most of the machines had been scrapped by the time the film was made. {A fully configured 1620 (http://uranus.ee.auth.gr/TMTh/exhibit.htm)}. {IBM 1620 at Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA (/pub/misc/IBM1620-Tuck1960s.jpg)} (Thanks Victor E. McGee, pictured). ["Basic Programming Concepts and the IBM 1620 Computer", Leeson and Dimitry, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962]. (2018-09-11)
IBM 3270 "hardware" A class of {terminals} made by {IBM} known as "Display Devices", normally used to talk to {IBM} {mainframes}. The 3270 attempts to minimise the number of {I/O} {interrupts} required by accepting large blocks of data, known as datastreams, in which both text and control (or formatting functions) are interspersed allowing an entire screen to be "painted" as a single output operation. The concept of "formatting" in these devices allows the screen to be divided into clusters of contiguous character cells for which numerous attributes (color, highlighting, {character set}, protection from modification) can be set. Further, using a technique known as 'Read Modified' the changes from any number of formatted fields that have been modified can be read as a single input without transferring any other data, another technique to enhance the terminal throughput of the CPU. The 3270 had twelve, and later twenty-four, special Programmed Function Keys, or PF keys. When one of these keys was pressed, it would cause the device to generate an I/O {interrupt} and present a special code identifying which key was pressed. {Application program} functions such as termination, page-up, page-down or help could be invoked by a single key-push, thereby reducing the load on very busy processors. A version of the {IBM PC} called the "3270 PC" was released in October 1983. It included 3270 {terminal emulation}. {tn3270} is modified version of {Telnet} which acts as a 3270 {terminal emulator} and can be used to connect to an IBM computer over a network. See also {broken arrow}. (1995-02-07)
IBM 3720 "hardware" A {communications controller} made by {IBM}, suitable for use in an {IBM S/390}. Official service support was withdrawn in 1999 in favour of the {IBM 3745}. {(http://ibm.com/search?q=3720&realm=Networking)}. (2000-02-21)
IBM 704 "computer" A large, scientific computer made by {IBM} and used by the largest commercial, government and educational institutions. The IBM 704 had 36-bit memory words, 15-bit addresses and instructions with one address. A few {index register} instructions had the infamous 15-bit decrement field in addition to the 15-bit address. The 704, and {IBM 709} which had the same basic architecture, represented a substantial step forward from the {IBM 650}'s {magnetic drum} storage as they provided random access at electronic speed to {core storage}, typically 32k words of 36 bits each. [Or did the 704 actually come *before* the 650?] A typical 700 series installation would be in a specially built room of perhaps 1000 to 2000 square feet, with cables running under a raised floor and substantial air conditioning. There might be up to eight {magnetic tape} transports, each about 3 x 3 x 6 feet, on one or two "channels." The 1/2 inch tape had seven tracks and moved at 150 inches per second, giving a read/write speed of 15,000 six bit characters (plus parity) per second. In the centre would be the operator's {console} consisting of cabinets and tables for storage of tapes and boxes of cards; and a {card reader}, a {card punch}, and a {line printer}, each perhaps 4 x 4 x 5 feet in dimension. Small {jobs} could be entered via {punched cards} at the console, but as a rule the user jobs were transferred from cards to {magnetic tape} by {off-line} equipment and only control information was entered at the console (see {SPOOL}). Before each job, the {operating system} was loaded from a read-only system tape (because the system in {core} could have been corrupted by the previous user), and then the user's program, in the form of card images on the input tape, would be run. Program output would be written to another tape (typically on another channel) for printing off-line. Well run installations would transfer the user's cards to tape, run the job, and print the output tape with a turnaround time of one to four hours. The processing unit typically occupied a position symmetric but opposite the operator's console. Physically the largest of the units, it included a glass enclosure a few feet in dimension in which could be seen the "core" about one foot on each side. The 36-bit word could hold two 18-bit addresses called the "Contents of the Address Register" ({CAR}) and the "Contents of the Decrement Register" ({CDR}). On the opposite side of the floor from the tape drives and operator's console would be a desk and bookshelves for the ever-present (24 hours a day) "field engineer" dressed in, you guessed it, a grey flannel suit and tie. The maintenance of the many thousands of {vacuum tubes}, each with limited lifetime, and the cleaning, lubrication, and adjustment of mechanical equipment, was augmented by a constant flow of {bug} reports, change orders to both hardware and software, and hand-holding for worried users. The 704 was oriented toward scientific work and included {floating point} hardware and the first {Fortran} implementation. Its hardware was the basis for the requirement in some programming languages that loops must be executed at least once. The {IBM 705} was the business counterpart of the 704. The 705 was a decimal machine with a circular register which could hold several variables (numbers, values) at the same time. Very few 700 series computers remained in service by 1965, but the {IBM 7090}, using {transistors} but similar in logical structure, remained an important machine until the production of the earliest {integrated circuits}. [Was the 704 scientific, business or general purpose? Difference between 704 and 709?] (1996-01-24)
IBM 7090 "computer" A transistorised version of the {IBM 709} which was a very popular high end computer in the early 1960s. The 7090 had 32Kbytes of 36-bit {core} memory and a hardware {floating point unit}. {Fortran} was its most popular language, but it supported many others. It was later upgraded to the {IBM 7094}, and a scaled down version, the IBM 7040 was also introduced. IBM 7090s controlled the Mercury and Gemini space flights, the Balistic Missile Early Warning System (until well into the 1980s), and the {CTSS} {time sharing} system at {MIT}. The 7090 was not good at unit record I/O, so in small configurations an {IBM 1401} was used for {SPOOL} I/O and in large configurations (such as a 7090/94) a 7040/44 would be directly coupled and dedicated to handling printers and {card readers}. (See the film Dr Strangelove). (1999-01-19)
IBM compatible "computer" A computer which can use hardware and software designed for the {IBM PC} (or, less often, IBM {mainframes}). This was once a key phrase in marketing a new PC {clone} but now in 1998 is rarely used, the non-IBM {wintel} {personal computer} manufacturers such as {Compaq}, {Dell} and {Gateway 2000} and OS vendor {Microsoft} having taken control of the market, marginalising IBM. (1998-07-30)
IBM Customer Engineer "job" (CE) A hardware guy from {IBM}. [Are/were any CEs female?] (1998-07-08)
IBM PC "computer" International Business Machines Personal Computer. IBM PCs and compatible models from other vendors are the most widely used computer systems in the world. They are typically single user {personal computers}, although they have been adapted into multi-user models for special applications. Note: "IBM PC" is used in this dictionary to denote IBM and compatible personal computers, and to distinguish these from other {personal computers}, though the phrase "PC" is often used elsewhere, by those who know no better, to mean "IBM PC or compatible". There are hundreds of models of IBM compatible computers. They are based on {Intel}'s {microprocessors}: {Intel 8086}, {Intel 8088}, {Intel 80286}, {Intel 80386}, {Intel 486} or {Pentium}. The models of IBM's first-generation Personal Computer (PC) series have names: IBM PC, {IBM PC XT}, {IBM PC AT}, Convertible and Portable. The models of its second generation, the Personal System/2 ({PS/2}), are known by model number: Model 25, Model 30. Within each series, the models are also commonly referenced by their {CPU} {clock rate}. All IBM personal computers are software compatible with each other in general, but not every program will work in every machine. Some programs are time sensitive to a particular speed class. Older programs will not take advantage of newer higher-resolution {display standards}. The speed of the {CPU} ({microprocessor}) is the most significant factor in machine performance. It is determined by its {clock rate} and the number of bits it can process internally. It is also determined by the number of bits it transfers across its {data bus}. The second major performance factor is the speed of the {hard disk}. {CAD} and other graphics-intensive {application programs} can be sped up with the addition of a mathematics {coprocessor}, a chip which plugs into a special socket available in almost all machines. {Intel 8086} and {Intel 8088}-based PCs require {EMS} (expanded memory) boards to work with more than one megabyte of memory. All these machines run under {MS-DOS}. The original {IBM PC AT} used an {Intel 80286} processor which can access up to 16 megabytes of memory (though standard {MS-DOS} applications cannot use more than one megabyte without {EMS}). {Intel 80286}-based computers running under {OS/2} can work with the maximum memory. Although IBM sells {printers} for PCs, most printers will work with them. As with display hardware, the software vendor must support a wide variety of printers. Each program must be installed with the appropriate {printer driver}. The original 1981 IBM PC's keyboard was severely criticised by typists for its non-standard placement of the return and left shift keys. In 1984, IBM corrected this on its AT keyboard, but shortened the backspace key, making it harder to reach. In 1987, it introduced its Enhanced keyboard, which relocated all the function keys and placed the control key in an awkward location for touch typists. The escape key was relocated to the opposite side of the keyboard. By relocating the function keys, IBM made it impossible for software vendors to use them intelligently. What's easy to reach on one keyboard is difficult on the other, and vice versa. To the touch typist, these deficiencies are maddening. An "IBM PC compatible" may have a keyboard which does not recognize every key combination a true IBM PC does, e.g. shifted cursor keys. In addition, the "compatible" vendors sometimes use proprietary keyboard interfaces, preventing you from replacing the keyboard. The 1981 PC had 360K {floppy disks}. In 1984, IBM introduced the 1.2 megabyte floppy disk along with its AT model. Although often used as {backup} storage, the high density floppy is not often used for interchangeability. In 1986, IBM introduced the 720K 3.5" microfloppy disk on its Convertible {laptop computer}. It introduced the 1.44 megabyte double density version with the PS/2 line. These disk drives can be added to existing PCs. Fixed, non-removable, {hard disks} for IBM compatibles are available with storage capacities from 20 to over 600 megabytes. If a hard disk is added that is not compatible with the existing {disk controller}, a new controller board must be plugged in. However, one disk's internal standard does not conflict with another, since all programs and data must be copied onto it to begin with. Removable hard disks that hold at least 20 megabytes are also available. When a new peripheral device, such as a {monitor} or {scanner}, is added to an IBM compatible, a corresponding, new controller board must be plugged into an {expansion slot} (in the bus) in order to electronically control its operation. The PC and XT had eight-bit busses; the AT had a 16-bit bus. 16-bit boards will not fit into 8-bit slots, but 8-bit boards will fit into 16-bit slots. {Intel 80286} and {Intel 80386} computers provide both 8-bit and 16-bit slots, while the 386s also have proprietary 32-bit memory slots. The bus in high-end models of the PS/2 line is called "{Micro Channel}". {EISA} is a non-IBM rival to Micro Channel. The original IBM PC came with {BASIC} in {ROM}. Later, Basic and BasicA were distributed on floppy but ran and referenced routines in ROM. IBM PC and PS/2 models PC range Intro CPU Features PC Aug 1981 8088 Floppy disk system XT Mar 1983 8088 Slow hard disk XT/370 Oct 1983 8088 IBM 370 mainframe emulation 3270 PC Oct 1983 8088 with 3270 terminal emulation PCjr Nov 1983 8088 Floppy-based home computer PC Portable Feb 1984 8088 Floppy-based portable AT Aug 1984 286 Medium-speed hard disk Convertible Apr 1986 8088 Microfloppy laptop portable XT 286 Sep 1986 286 Slow hard disk PS/2 range Intro CPU Features Model 1987-08-25 8086 PC bus (limited expansion) Model 1987-04-30 8086 PC bus Model 30 1988-09-286 286 PC bus Model 1987-04-50 286 Micro Channel bus Model 50Z Jun 1988 286 Faster Model 50 Model 55 SX May 1989 386SX Micro Channel bus Model 1987-04-60 286 Micro Channel bus Model 1988-06-70 386 Desktop, Micro Channel bus Model P1989-05-70 386 Portable, Micro Channel bus Model 1987-04-80 386 Tower, Micro Channel bus IBM PC compatible specifications CPU CPU Clock Bus Floppy Hard bus speed width RAM disk disk OS bit Mhz bit byte inch byte Mbyte 8088 16 4.8-9.5 8 1M* 5.25 360K 10-40 DOS 3.5 720K 3.5 1.44M 8086 16 6-12 16 1M* 20-60 286 16 6-25 16 1-8M* 5.25 360K 20-300 DOS 5.25 1.2M OS/2 386 32 16-33 32 1-16M** 3.5 720K Unix 3.5 1.44M 40-600 386SX 32 16-33 16 1-16M** 40-600 *Under DOS, RAM is expanded beyond 1M with EMS memory boards **Under DOS, RAM is expanded beyond 1M with normal "extended" memory and a memory management program. See also {BIOS}, {display standard}. (1995-05-12)
IBM System/36 "computer" A mid-range {computer} introduced in 1983, which remained popular in the 1990s because of its low cost and high performance. Prices started in the $20k range for the small 5362 to $100+k for the expanded 5360. In 1994, IBM introduced the Advanced 36 for $9,000. The largest 5360 had 7MB of {RAM} and 1432MB of {hard disk}. The smallest 5362 had 256K of RAM and 30MB of hard disk. The Advanced 36 had 64MB of RAM and 4300MB of hard disk, but design issues limit the amount of storage that can actually be addressed by the {operating system}; underlying {microcode} allowed additional RAM to cache disk reads and writes, allowing the Advanced 36 to outperform the S/36 by 600 to 800%. There was only one operating system for the S/36: SSP ({System Support Product}). SSP consumed about 7-10MB of hard drive space. Computer programs on the S/36 reside in "libraries," and the SSP itself resides in a special system library called
IC 1. "hardware" {integrated circuit}. 2. {Independent Carrier}. 3. {Imperial College}. (1997-04-12)
IEEE 488 "hardware, standard" (GPIB, General-Purpose Interface Bus, HP-IB, Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus) An 8-bit parallel {bus} common on {test equipment}. The IEEE-488 standard was proposed by {Hewlett-Packard} in the late 1970s and has undergone a couple of revisions. HP documentation (including data sheets and manuals) calls it HP-IB, or Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus. It allows up to 15 intelligent devices to share a single bus, with the slowest device participating in the control and data transfer handshakes to drive the speed of the transaction. The maximum data rate is about one {megabit} per second. Other standards committees have adopted HP-IB (American Standards Institute with ANSI Standard MC 1.1 and International Electro-technical Commission with IEC Publication 625-1). To paraphrase from the HP 1989 Test & Measurement Catalog (the 50th Anniversary version): The HP-IB has a party-line structure wherein all devices on the bus are connected in parallel. The 16 signal lines within the passive interconnecting HP-IB (IEEE-488) cable are grouped into three clusters according to their functions (Data Bus, Data Byte Transfer Control Bus, General Interface Management Bus). In June 1987 the IEEE approved a new standard for programmable instruments called IEEE Std. 488.2-1987 Codes, Formats, Protocols, and Common Commands. It works with the IEEE Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation, IEEE 488-1978 (now 488.1). HP-IB is Hewlett-Packard's implementation of IEEE 488.1. (1996-05-10)
IEEE 802.3 "networking" The {IEEE} standard defining the {hardware layer} and {transport layer} of (a varient of) {Ethernet}. The maximum {segment} length is 500m and the maximum total length is 2.5km. The maximum number of hosts is 1024. The maximum {packet} size is 1518 bytes. If the upper layer {protocol} submits a {PDU} less than 64 bytes, 802.3 will pad the {LLC Info} field to achieve the minimum 64 bytes. Although it is not technically correct, the terms "{packet}" and frame are used interchangeably. The {ISO}/{IEC} 8802-3 {ANSI}/{IEEE} 802.3 Standards refer to {MAC} sub-layer {frames} consisting of the Destination Address, Source Address, Length, LLC Info., and {FCS} fields. The {Preamble} and {SFD} are (usually) considered a header to the {MAC} Frame. This header plus the MAC Frame constitute a "Packet". (1995-07-09)
IF1 "language" A graph language used as an intermediate language for {dataflow} hardware. Used by the {OSC} {SISAL} compiler. ["The Manchester Prototype Dataflow Computer", J.R. Gurd et al, CACM 28(1):34-52, Jan 1985]. (1996-01-05)
IHV {Independent Hardware Vendor}
ill-behaved 1. [numerical analysis] Said of an {algorithm} or computational method that tends to blow up because of accumulated roundoff error or poor convergence properties. 2. Software that bypasses the defined {operating system} interfaces to do things (like screen, keyboard, and disk I/O) itself, often in a way that depends on the hardware of the machine it is running on or which is nonportable or incompatible with other pieces of software. In the {IBM PC}/{mess-dos} world, there is a folk theorem (nearly true) to the effect that (owing to gross inadequacies and performance penalties in the OS interface) all interesting applications are ill-behaved. See also {bare metal}. Opposite: {well-behaved}, compare {PC-ism}. [{Jargon File}]
image processing "graphics" Computer manipulation of {images}. Some of the many {algorithms} used in image processing include {convolution} (on which many others are based), {FFT}, {DCT}, {thinning} (or {skeletonisation}), {edge detection} and {contrast enhancement}. These are usually implemented in {software} but may also use special purpose {hardware} for speed. Image processing contrasts with {computer graphics}, which is usually more concerned with the generation of artificial images, and {visualisation}, which attempts to understand (real-world) data by displaying it as an artificial image (e.g. a graph). Image processing is used in {image recognition} and {computer vision}. {Silicon Graphics} manufacture {workstations} which are often used for image processing. There are a few programming languages designed for image processing, e.g. {CELIP}, {VPL}. See also {Pilot European Image Processing Archive}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:sci.image.processing}. [Other algorithms, languages? FAQ?] (1995-04-12)
in-band signalling "communications" (Or CAS, channel associated signaling) Transmission of control signals in the same channel as data. This is commonly used in the {Public Switched Telephone Network} where the same pair of wires carry both voice and control signals (e.g. dialling, ringing). Another example is the use on a computer {serial line} of Control-S and Control-Q characters for {flow control} as opposed to {hardware flow control} which would be out-of-band signalling. In digital communications, in-band signalling often uses "bit-robbing" where, for example, one {bit} in each {frame} is used for signalling instead of data. This is the reason why a {D1} channel in the T-carrier system can only carry 56 Kbps of usable data instead of the 64 Kbps carried by the {D0} channel in the E-carrier system. (2007-01-26)
Independent Computing Architecture "protocol" (ICA) {Citrix}'s {proprietary} {protocol} that allows {client} {desktop computers} to run {applications} on {application servers}. Originally used between {Windows} systems, ICA is now also suported on {Unix} and {Macintosh} desktops and servers as well as some {thin client} hardware. (2012-07-08)
infant mortality "hardware" It is common lore among hackers (and in the electronics industry at large) that the chances of sudden hardware failure drop off exponentially with a machine's time since first use (that is, until the relatively distant time at which enough mechanical wear in I/O devices and thermal-cycling stress in components has accumulated for the machine to start going senile). Up to half of all chip and wire failures happen within a new system's first few weeks; such failures are often referred to as "infant mortality" problems (or, occasionally, as "sudden infant death syndrome"). See {bathtub curve}, {burn-in period}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-03-20)
Information Appliance "hardware" (IA) A consumer device that performs only a few targeted tasks and is controlled by a simple {touch-screen} interface or push buttons on the device's enclosure. [How does this differ from a {PDA}?] (1998-02-24)
information technology "business, jargon" (IT) Applied computer systems - both {hardware} and {software}, and often including {networking} and {telecommunications}, usually in the context of a business or other enterprise. Often the name of the part of an enterprise that deals with all things electronic. The term "{computer science}" is usually reserved for the more theoretical, academic aspects of computing, while the vaguer terms "information systems" (IS) or "information services" may include more of the human activities and non-computerised business processes like {knowledge management}. Others say that IT includes computer science. (2000-10-02)
Infrared Data Association "standard, body" (IrDA) A non-profit trade association providing standards to ensure the quality and interoperability of {infrared} (IR) hardware. The association currently has a membership of over 160 companies from around the world, representing computer and telecommunications hardware, software, components and adapters. IrDA typically uses direct infrared i.e. {point-to-point}, {line-of-sight}, one-to-one communications. The standards include: {IrDA Data} ({SIR}, {FIR}, {VFIR}), {IrDA Control}, and {AIR}. Ports built to the above standards can be found in products such as {PDAs}, {Palm} devices, {printers}, desktop adapters, {notebooks}, and {digital cameras}. {(http://irda.org)}. {IrDA Serial Infrared Interface (http://cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/misc/irda.html)}. {Linux-IrDA support (http://cs.uit.no/linux-irda/)}. (1999-10-14)
inkjet printer "hardware, printer" A class of printer in which small ink droplets are sprayed electrostatically from a nozzle onto the paper. Inkjet printers are very quiet in comparison to {impact printers}. A popular example is the {Olivetti} {BJ10}. (1995-03-14)
input device "hardware" A {peripheral} used to transfer data from the outside world into a computer system. Some input devices are operated directly by the user, e.g. {keyboard}, {mouse}, {touch screen}, {joystick}, {digitising tablet}, {microphone}; others are sensors or transducers which convert external signals into data, e.g. using an {ananlog to digital converter} (this would also be true of a microphone). Other kinds of inputs are really one half of a bidirectional link with another computer or storage device, e.g. {serial line}, {SCSI} interface. (1996-11-03)
installer "operating system" A {utility program} to ease the installation of another, probably larger, {application}. It is also possible for {hardware} to have an installer accompany it, to install any low level {device drivers} required. The installer commonly asks the user to enter desired configuration options for the main program or hardware, and sets up various initialisation files accordingly, as well as copying the main program to a {hard disc}. Some badly designed operating systems require applications to provide an {uninstaller} because of the number of different files modified or created during the installation process. (1998-02-09)
instrument "programming" To install devices or instructions into hardware or software to monitor the operation of a system or component. (1996-05-22)
integration "programming" Combining software or hardware components or both into an overall system. (1996-05-22)
integration testing "testing" A type of {testing} in which {software} and/or {hardware} components are combined and tested to confirm that they interact according to their requirements. Integration testing can continue progressively until the entire system has been integrated. (2003-09-24)
Intelligent Input/Output "architecture" /i:-too-oh/ (I2O) A specification which aims to provide an {I/O} {device driver} architecture that is independent of both the specific device being controlled and the host {operating system}. The Hardware Device Module (HDM) manages the device and the OS Services Module (OSM) interfaces to the host operating system. The HDM is portable across multiple operating systems, processors and busses. The HDM and OSM communicate via a two layer {message passing} {protocol}. A Message Layer sets up a communications session and runs on top of a Transport Layer which defines how the two parties share information. I2O is also designed to facilitate intelligent I/O subsystems, with support for {message passing} between multiple independent processors. By relieving the host of {interrupt} intensive I/O tasks required by the various layers of a driver architecture, the I2O intelligent I/O architecture greatly improves I/O performance. I2O systems will be able to more efficiently deliver the I/O throughput required by a wide range of high bandwidth applications, such as networked {video}, {groupware} and {client-server} processing. I2O does not restrict where the layered modules execute, providing support for single processor, {multiprocessor}, and {clustered} systems. I2O is not intended to replace the driver architectures currently in existence. Rather, the objective is to provide an open, standards-based approach, which is complementary to existing drivers, and provides a framework for the rapid development of a new generation of portable, intelligent I/O. {(http://i2osig.org/)}. (1997-11-04)
intelligent terminal "hardware" (or "smart terminal", "programmable terminal") A terminal that often contains not only a keyboard and screen, but also comes with a disk drive and printer, so it can perform limited processing tasks when not communicating directly with the central computer. Some can be programmed by the user to perform many basic tasks, including both arithmetic and logic operations. In some cases, when the user enters data, the {data} will be checked for errors and some type of report will be produced. In addition, the valid data that is entered may be stored on the disk, it will be transmitted over communication lines to the central computer. An intelligent terminal may have enough computing capability to draw graphics or to offload some kind of front-end processing from the computer it talks to. The development of {workstations} and {personal computers} has made this term and the product it describes semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase "act like a smart terminal" used to describe the behaviour of workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost entirely out of a remote {server}'s storage, using said devices as displays. The term once meant any terminal with an {addressable cursor}; the opposite of a {glass tty}. Today, a terminal with merely an addressable cursor, but with none of the more-powerful features mentioned above, is called a {dumb terminal}. There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the {blit} terminal): "A smart terminal is not a smart*ass* terminal, but rather a terminal you can educate". This illustrates a common design problem: The attempt to make peripherals (or anything else) intelligent sometimes results in finicky, rigid "special features" that become just so much dead weight if you try to use the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate. Flexibility and programmability, on the other hand, are *really* smart. Compare {hook}. (1995-04-14)
interface "jargon" A boundary across which two systems communicate. An interface might be a hardware connector used to link to other devices, or it might be a convention used to allow communication between two software systems. Often there is some intermediate component between the two systems which connects their interfaces together. For example, two {EIA-232} interfaces connected via a serial cable. See also {graphical user interface}, {Application Program Interface}. (1996-05-22)
interlacing 1. "hardware" A {video} display system which builds an {image} on the {VDU} in two phases, known as "fields", consisting of even and odd horizontal lines. The complete image (a "frame") is created by scanning an electron beam horizontally across the screen, starting at the top and moving down after each horizontal scan until the bottom of the screen is reached, at which point the scan starts again at the top. On an interlaced display, even numbered {scan lines} are displayed in the first field and then odd numbered lines in the second field. For a given screen {resolution}, {refresh rate} (frames per second) and {phosphor} {persistence}, interlacing reduces flicker because the top and bottom of the screen are redrawn twice as often as if the scan simply proceded from top to bottom in a single vertical sweep. 2. "graphics" {progressive coding}. (1998-02-25)
INTERLINK A commercial product comprising hardware and software for file transfer between IBM and VAX computers.
International Computers Limited plc "company" (ICL) A UK hardware and software manufacturer specialising in systems integration in selected markets, supported by its service and technology businesses. ICL operates in over 80 countries worldwide, with 24000 employees and revenues of £2.6 billion in 1993. ICL produced {George 2}, {George 3}, {VME}, {OpenVME}, {Series 39}, {DME}, {CME}, the {ICL 1900} and {ICL 2900} series. {(http://icl.co.uk/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:alt.sys.icl}. (1995-04-19)
interoperability The ability of software and hardware on multiple machines from multiple vendors to communicate.
interpreter "programming" A program which executes other programs. This is in contrast to a {compiler} which does not execute its input program (the "{source code}") but translates it into executable "{machine code}" (also called "{object code}") which is output to a file for later execution. It may be possible to execute the same source code either directly by an interpreter or by compiling it and then executing the {machine code} produced. It takes longer to run a program under an interpreter than to run the compiled code but it can take less time to interpret it than the total required to compile and run it. This is especially important when prototyping and testing code when an edit-interpret-debug cycle can often be much shorter than an edit-compile-run-debug cycle. Interpreting code is slower than running the compiled code because the interpreter must analyse each statement in the program each time it is executed and then perform the desired action whereas the compiled code just performs the action. This run-time analysis is known as "interpretive overhead". Access to variables is also slower in an interpreter because the mapping of identifiers to storage locations must be done repeatedly at run time rather than at compile time. There are various compromises between the development speed when using an interpreter and the execution speed when using a compiler. Some systems (e.g. some {Lisps}) allow interpreted and compiled code to call each other and to share variables. This means that once a routine has been tested and debugged under the interpreter it can be compiled and thus benefit from faster execution while other routines are being developed. Many interpreters do not execute the source code as it stands but convert it into some more compact internal form. For example, some {BASIC} interpreters replace {keywords} with single byte tokens which can be used to {index} into a {jump table}. An interpreter might well use the same {lexical analyser} and {parser} as the compiler and then interpret the resulting {abstract syntax tree}. There is thus a spectrum of possibilities between interpreting and compiling, depending on the amount of analysis performed before the program is executed. For example {Emacs Lisp} is compiled to "{byte-code}" which is a highly compressed and optimised representation of the Lisp source but is not machine code (and therefore not tied to any particular hardware). This "compiled" code is then executed (interpreted) by a {byte code interpreter} (itself written in {C}). The compiled code in this case is {machine code} for a {virtual machine} which is implemented not in hardware but in the byte-code interpreter. See also {partial evaluation}. (1995-01-30)
interrupt handler "software" A routine which is executed when an {interrupt} occurs. Interrupt handlers typically deal with low-level events in the hardware of a computer system such as a character arriving at a {serial port} or a tick of a {real-time clock}. Special care is required when writing an interrupt handler to ensure that either the interrupt which triggered the handler's execution is masked out (inhibitted) until the handler exits, or the handler is {re-entrant} so that multiple concurrent invocations will not interfere with each other. If interrupts are masked then the handler must execute as quickly as possible so that important events are not missed. This is often arranged by splitting the processing associated with the event into "upper" and "lower" halves. The lower part is the interrupt handler which masks out further interrupts as required, checks that the appropriate event has occurred (this may be necessary if several events share the same interrupt), services the interrupt, e.g. by reading a character from a {UART} and writing it to a {queue}, and re-enabling interrupts. The upper half executes as part of a user process. It waits until the interrupt handler has run. Normally the {operating system} is responsible for reactivating a process which is waiting for some low-level event. It detects this by a shared {flag} or by inspecting a shared queue or by some other synchronisation mechanism. It is important that the upper and lower halves do not interfere if an interrupt occurs during the execution of upper half code. This is usually ensured by disabling interrupts during {critical sections} of code such as removing a character from a queue. (2002-07-24)
interrupt "programming" 1. An {asynchronous} event that suspends normal processing and temporarily diverts the {flow of control} through an "{interrupt handler}" routine. Interrupts may be caused by both {hardware} (I/O, timer, machine check) and {software} (supervisor, {system call} or {trap} instruction). In general the computer responds to an interrupt by storing the information about the current state of the running program; storing information to identify the source of the interrupt; and invoking a first-level {interrupt handler}. This is usually a {kernel} level privileged process that can discover the precise cause of the interrupt (e.g. if several devices share one interrupt) and what must be done to keep operating system tables (such as the process table) updated. This first-level handler may then call another handler, e.g. one associated with the particular device which generated the interrupt. 2. Under {MS-DOS}, nearly synonymous with "{system call}" because the {OS} and {BIOS} routines are both called using the INT instruction (see {interrupt list}) and because programmers so often have to bypass the operating system (going directly to a BIOS interrupt) to get reasonable performance. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-07)
interworking "standard" Systems or components, possibly from different origins, working together to perform some task. Interworking depends crucially on {standards} to define the {interfaces} between the components. The term implies that there is some difference between the components which, in the absence of common standards, would make it unlikely that they could be used together. For example, {software} from different companies, running on different {hardware} and {operating systems} can interwork via standard network {protocols}. (1998-11-22)
iron Hardware, especially older and larger hardware of {mainframe} class with big metal cabinets housing relatively low-density electronics (but the term is also used of modern {supercomputers}). Often in the phrase {big iron}. Oppose {silicon}. See also {dinosaur}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-11-04)
ironmonger [IBM] A hardware specialist (derogatory). Compare {sandbender}, {polygon pusher}. [{Jargon File}]
ironmonger ::: n. --> A dealer in iron or hardware.
ironmongery ::: n. --> Hardware; a general name for all articles made of iron.
ISO 9000 A set of international {standards} for both quality management and quality assurance that has been adopted by over 90 countries worldwide. The ISO 9000 standards apply to all types of organisations, large and small, and in many industries. The standards require: standard language for documenting quality processes; system to manage evidence that these practices are instituted throughout an organisation; and third-party auditing to review, certify, and maintain certification of organisations. The ISO 9000 series classifies products into generic product categories: hardware, software, processed materials, and services. Documentation is at the core of ISO 9000 conformance. In fact, the standards have been paraphrased as: "Say what you do. Do what you say. Write it down." In Britain it is associated with BS5750 which may become obsolete. ["The ISO 9000 Guide," c. 1993 Interleaf, Inc]. (1995-01-30)
isometric joystick "hardware" Any kind of {joystick} where the input depends on the force exerted rather than the position of the control, e.g. {TrackPoint}. (2003-06-26)
ISPS Instruction Set Processor Specifications. Operational hardware specification language. Successor to ISPL. ["Instruction Set Processor Specifications", M.R. Barbacci et al, IEEE Trans Computers, C-30(1):24-80 (Jan 1981)]. [Bell, Newell, Siewiorek, Barbacci 1982?]
ISV Independent Software Vendor (not a hardware manufacturer).
Java Virtual Machine "language, architecture" (JVM) A specification for software which interprets {Java} programs that have been compiled into {byte-codes}, and usually stored in a ".class" file. The JVM {instruction set} is {stack}-oriented, with variable instruction length. Unlike some other instruction sets, the JVM's supports {object-oriented} programming directly by including instructions for object {method} invocation (similar to {subroutine} call in other instruction sets). The JVM itself is written in {C} and so can be {ported} to run on most {platforms}. It needs {thread} support and {I/O} (for {dynamic class loading}). The Java byte-code is independent of the platform. There are also some hardware implementations of the JVM. {Specification (http://javasoft.com/docs/books/vmspec/html/VMSpecTOC.doc.html)}. {Sun's Java chip (http://news.com/News/Item/0,4,9328,00.html)}. [Documentation? Versions?] (2000-01-03)
Jaz Drive "hardware, storage" {Iomega Corporation}'s drive which takes removable one or two {gigabyte} disk cartridges which contain conventional {hard disks}. Internal and external drives are available claiming an average transfer rate of 330 {megabytes} per minute - though that is dependent on the {SCSI} adapter, the parallel port adapter is unlikely to reach anything like this speed. The Jaz drive was the successor to the company's more establistablished {Zip Drive}. (1998-08-28)
JK flip-flop "hardware" An {edge triggered} {SR flip-flop} with extra logic such that only one of the R and S inputs is enabled at any time. This prevents a {race condition} which can occur when both inputs of an RS flip-flop are active at the same time. In a JK flip-flop the R and S inputs are renamed J and K. The set input (J) is only enabled when the flip-flop is reset and K when it is set. If both J and K inputs are held active then the outputs will change ("togle") on each falling edge of the clock. JK flip-flops can be used to build a {binary counter} with a reset input. {(http://play-hookey.com/digital/logic7.html)}. [Was it named after {Jack Kilby}?] (2004-07-17)
joystick "hardware, games" A device consisting of a hand held stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two dimensions to a computer. Joysticks are often used to control games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. Most I/O interface cards for {IBM PCs} have a joystick (game control) port. (1995-03-08)
juice jacking "security" A method for gaining unauthorised access to a portable device ({mobile phone}, {tablet} or {laptop}) by modifying a public {USB} charging point. The device's user only expects to get power from the USB connection but there’s also the possibility of an attacker with access to the USB socket hardware moidifying it to read data off the device or deploy {malware} to it. This can be prevented by using an adapter that blocks data and passes only power. (2019-12-13)
jukebox "hardware, storage" A hardware mechanism for allowing access to one of a group of discs, especially CD-ROMs or other optical media. [Or magnetic tapes?] (1996-12-10)
jumper "hardware" A removable wire or small plug whose presence or absence is used to determine some aspect of hardware configuration. (1995-03-14)
kernel (Note: NOT "kernal"). 1. "operating system" The essential part of {Unix} or other {operating systems}, responsible for resource allocation, low-level hardware interfaces, security etc. See also {microkernel}. 2. "language" An essential subset of a programming language, in terms of which other constructs are (or could be) defined. Also known as a {core} language. (1996-06-07)
key 1. "database" A value used to identify a {record} in a database, derived by applying some fixed function to the record. The key is often simply one of the {fields} (a {column} if the database is considered as a table with records being rows, see "{key field}"). Alternatively the key may be obtained by applying some function, e.g. a {hash function}, to one or more of the fields. The set of keys for all records forms an {index}. Multiple indexes may be built for one database depending on how it is to be searched. 2. "cryptography" A value which must be fed into the {algorithm} used to decode an encrypted message in order to reproduce the original {plain text}. Some encryption schemes use the same (secret) key to encrypt and decrypt a message, but {public key encryption} uses a "private" (secret) key and a "public" key which is known by all parties. 3. "hardware" An electromechanical {keyboard} button. (2003-07-04)
keyboard "hardware" A {hardware} device consisting of a number of mechanical buttons (keys) which the user presses to input characters to a computer. Keyboards were originally part of {terminals} which were separate {peripheral} devices that performed both input and output and communicated with the computer via a {serial line}. Today a keyboard is more likely to be connected more directly to the processor, allowing the processor to scan it and detect which key or keys are currently pressed. Pressing a key sends a low-level {key code} to the keyboard input driver routine which translates this to one or more {characters} or special actions. Keyboards vary in the keys they have, most have keys to generate the {ASCII} {character set} as well as various {function keys} and special purpose keys, e.g. reset or volume control. (2003-07-04)
Keyboard Send Receive "hardware" (KSR) Part of a designation for a hard-copy {terminal}, manufactured by {Teletype Corporation}. The KSR range were lower cost versions of the {ASR} models. (1995-11-23)
Keyboard Video Mouse "hardware" (KVM) Used to describe a "KVM switch" that allows one keyboard, one video display and one mouse to be switched between two or more computers. (2007-03-22)
keypad "hardware" An input device with a small array of {push buttons} labeled with numbers or other symbols, designed to allow rapid entry of characters from a small set, e.g. decimal digits 0-9 or, historically, hexadecimal digits. The most common form of keypad is the {numeric keypad} found on a standard {PC} {keyboard}. (2008-10-10)
killer poke A recipe for inducing hardware damage on a machine via insertion of invalid values (see {poke}) into a {memory-mapped} control {register}; used especially of various fairly well-known tricks on {bitty box}es without hardware memory management (such as the {IBM PC} and {Commodore} {PET}) that can overload analog electronics in the monitor. See also {HCF}. (1994-11-04)
kluge "jargon" /klooj/, /kluhj/ (From German "klug" /kloog/ - clever and Scottish "{kludge}") 1. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) device, whether in {hardware} or {software}. The spelling "kluge" (as opposed to "kludge") was used in connection with computers as far back as the mid-1950s and, at that time, was used exclusively of *hardware* kluges. 2. "programming" A clever programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often involves {ad-hockery} and verges on being a {crock}. In fact, the TMRC Dictionary defined "kludge" as "a crock that works". 3. Something that works for the wrong reason. 4. ({WPI}) A {feature} that is implemented in a {rude} manner. In 1947, the "New York Folklore Quarterly" reported a classic shaggy-dog story "Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker" then current in the Armed Forces, in which a "kluge" was a complex and puzzling artifact with a trivial function. Other sources report that "kluge" was common Navy slang in the WWII era for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but consistently failed at sea. However, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a decade older. Several respondents have connected it to the brand name of a device called a "Kluge paper feeder" dating back at least to 1935, an adjunct to mechanical printing presses. The Kluge feeder was designed before small, cheap electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a fiendishly complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to both power and synchronise all its operations from one motive driveshaft. It was accordingly tempermental, subject to frequent breakdowns, and devilishly difficult to repair - but oh, so clever! One traditional folk etymology of "klugen" makes it the name of a design engineer; in fact, "Kluge" is a surname in German, and the designer of the Kluge feeder may well have been the man behind this myth. {TMRC} and the MIT hacker culture of the early 1960s seems to have developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some WWII military slang (see also {foobar}). It seems likely that "kluge" came to MIT via alumni of the many military electronics projects run in Cambridge during the war (many in MIT's venerable Building 20, which housed {TMRC} until the building was demolished in 1999). [{Jargon File}] (2002-10-02)
Laboratory INstrument Computer "computer" (LINC) A computer which was originally designed in 1962 by {Wesley Clark}, {Charles Molnar}, Severo Ornstein and others at the {Lincoln Laboratory Group}, to facilitate scientific research. With its {digital logic} and {stored programs}, the LINC is accepted by the {IEEE Computer Society} to be the World's first {interactive} {personal computer}. The machine was developed to fulfil a need for better laboratory tools by doctors and medical researchers. It would supplant the 1958 {Average Response Computer}, and was designed for individual use. Led by William N. Papian and mainly funded by the {National Institute of Health}, Wesley Clark designed the logic while Charles Molnar did the engineering. The first LINC was finished in March 1962. In January 1963, the project moved to {MIT}, and then to {Washington University} (in St. Louis) in 1964. The LINC had a simple {operating system}, four "knobs" (which was used like a {mouse}), a {Soroban keyboard} (for alpha-numeric data entry), two {LINCtape} drives and a small {CRT} display. It originally had one {kilobit} of {core memory}, but this was expanded to 2 Kb later. The computer was made out of {Digital Equipment Corporation} (DEC) hardware modules. Over 24 LINC systems had been built before late 1964 when DEC began to sell the LINC commercially. After the introduction of the {PDP-8}, {Dick Clayton} at DEC produced a rather frightening hybrid of the LINC and PDP-8 called a LINC-8. This really was not a very satisfactory machine, but it used the new PDP-8 style DEC cards and was cheaper and easier to produce. It still didn't sell that well. In the late 1960s, Clayton brought the design to its pinnacle with the PDP-12, an amazing tour de force of the LINC concept; along with about as seamless a merger as could be done with the PDP-8. This attempted to incorporate {TTL logic} into the machine. The end of the LINC line had been reached. Due to the success of the LINC-8, {Spear, Inc.} produced a LINC clone (since the design was in the {public domain}). The interesting thing about the Spear {micro-LINC 300} was that it used {MECL} II logic. MECL logic was known for its blazing speed (at the time!), but the Spear computer ran at very modest rates. In 1995 the last of the classic LINCs was turned off for the final time after 28 years of service. This LINC had been in use in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology (EPL) of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. On 15 August 1995, it was transferred to the MIT {Computer Museum} where it was put on display. {LINC/8, PDP-12 (http://faqs.org/faqs/dec-faq/pdp8/section-7.html)}. {Lights out for last LINC (http://rleweb.mit.edu/publications/currents/6-1linc.HTM)}. ["Computers and Automation", Nov. 1964, page 43]. (1999-05-20)
LAN administrator "job" A person who installs and maintains {LAN} {hardware} and {software}. A LAN administrator troubleshoots network usage and computer peripherals. He installs new users, performs system {backups} and data recovery, and resolves LAN communications problems. (2004-03-12)
languages of choice {C} and {Lisp}. Nearly every hacker knows one of these, and most good ones are fluent in both. Smalltalk and Prolog are also popular in small but influential communities. There is also a rapidly dwindling category of older hackers with Fortran, or even assembler, as their language of choice. They often prefer to be known as {Real Programmers}, and other hackers consider them a bit odd (see "{The Story of Mel}"). Assembler is generally no longer considered interesting or appropriate for anything but {HLL} implementation, {glue}, and a few time-critical and hardware-specific uses in systems programs. Fortran occupies a shrinking niche in scientific programming. Most hackers tend to frown on languages like {Pascal} and {Ada}, which don't give them the near-total freedom considered necessary for hacking (see {bondage-and-discipline language}), and to regard everything even remotely connected with {COBOL} or other traditional {card walloper} languages as a total and unmitigated {loss}. [{Jargon File}]
laser "hardware" (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) The type of light source used in a {laser printer}. (2003-05-08)
laser printer "printer" A non-impact high-resolution printer which uses a rotating disk to reflect laser beams to form an electrostatic image on a selenium imaging drum. The developer drum transfers toner from the toner bin to the charged areas of the imaging drum, which then transfers it onto the paper into which it is fused by heat. Toner is dry ink powder, generally a plastic heat-sensitive polymer. Print resolution currently (2001) ranges between 300 and 2400 dots per inch (DPI). Laser printers using chemical photoreproduction techniques can produce resolutions of up to 2400 DPI. Print speed is limited by whichever is slower - the printer hardware (the "engine speed"), or the software {rendering} process that converts the data to be printed into a {bit map}. The print speed may exceed 21,000 lines per minute, though printing speed is more often given in pages per minute. If a laser printer is rated at 12 pages per minute (PPM), this figure would be true only if the printer is printing the same data on each of the twelve pages, so that the bit map is identical. This speed however, is rarely reached if each page contains different codes, text, and graphics. In 2001, Xerox's Phaser 1235 and 2135 (with Okidata engines) could print up to 21 colour ppm at 1200x1200 DPI using a single-pass process. Colour laser printers can reach 2400 DPI easily (e.g. an HP LaserJet 8550). Some printers with large amounts of RAM can print at engine speed with different text pages and some of the larger lasers intended for graphics design work can print graphics at full engine speed. Although there are dozens of retail brands of laser printers, only a few {original equipment manufacturers} make {print engines}, e.g. {Canon}, {Ricoh}, {Toshiba}, and {Xerox}. (2002-01-06)
legacy system "jargon" A computer system or {application program} which continues to be used because of the cost of replacing or redesigning it and often despite its poor competitiveness and compatibility with modern equivalents. The implication is that the system is large, monolithic and difficult to modify. If legacy software only runs on antiquated {hardware} the cost of maintaining this may eventually outweigh the cost of replacing both the software and hardware unless some form of {emulation} or {backward compatibility} allows the software to run on new hardware. (1998-08-09)
Lempel-Ziv Welch compression (LZW) The {algorithm} used by the {Unix} {compress} command to reduce the size of files, e.g. for archival or transmission. LZW was designed by Terry Welch in 1984 for implementation in hardware for high-performance disk controllers. It is a variant of {LZ78}, one of the two {Lempel-Ziv compression} schemes. The LZW algorithm relies on reoccurrence of byte sequences (strings) in its input. It maintains a table mapping input strings to their associated output codes. The table initially contains mappings for all possible strings of length one. Input is taken one byte at a time to find the longest initial string present in the table. The code for that string is output and then the string is extended with one more input byte, b. A new entry is added to the table mapping the extended string to the next unused code (obtained by incrementing a counter). The process repeats, starting from byte b. The number of bits in an output code, and hence the maximum number of entries in the table is usually fixed and once this limit is reached, no more entries are added. LZW compression and decompression are licensed under {Unisys} Corporation's 1984 U.S. Patent 4,558,302 and equivalent foreign patents. This kind of patent isn't legal in most coutries of the world (including the UK) except the USA. Patents in the UK can't describe {algorithms} or mathematical methods. [A Technique for High Performance Data Compression, Terry A. Welch, IEEE Computer, 17(6), June 1984, pp. 8-19] [J. Ziv and A. Lempel, "A Universal Algorithm for Sequential Data Compression," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. IT-23, No. 3, May 1977, pp. 337-343].
LIF 1. "hardware" {Low Insertion Force}. 2. "file format" {Logical Interchange Format}. (2003-10-15)
light pen "hardware" An early {pointing device} which the user pointed at a {raster}-scanned display screen. A {photocell} in the pen detected the flying spot of the raster scan. The position of the spot at that instant, obtained from the scanning electronics, was made available to software as (x, y) co-ordinates. (2003-12-02)
line 1. "hardware" An electrical conductor. For distances larger than a breadbox, a single line may consist of two electrical conductors in twisted, parallel, or concentric arrangement used to transport one logical signal. By extension, a (usually physical) medium such as an {optical fibre} which carries a signal. (1995-09-29)
Linux Network Administrators' Guide (NAG) A book on setting up and running {Unix} networks. NAG is freely available in electronic form. It was produced by Olaf Kirch, "okir@monad.swb.de" and others as part of the {Linux Documentation Project} with help from {O'Reilly and Associates}. It includes the following sections: Introduction to Networking, Issues of {TCP/IP} Networking, Configuring the Networking Hardware, Setting up the Serial Hardware, Configuring TCP/IP Networking, {Name Service} and {Resolver} Configuraton, {Serial Line IP}, The {Point-to-Point Protocol}, Various Network Applications, The {Network Information System}, The {Network File System}, Managing {Taylor UUCP}, {Electronic Mail}, Getting {smail} Up and Running, {Sendmail+IDA}, {Netnews}, {C} News, A Description of NNTP, Newsreader Configuration, Glossary, Annotated Bibliography. {FTP from UNC (ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/LDP)}. {FTP from MIT (ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/docs/LDP)}. (1994-12-01)
Linux "operating system" ("Linus Unix") /li'nuks/ (but see below) An implementation of the {Unix} {kernel} originally written from scratch with no proprietary code. The kernel runs on {Intel} and {Alpha} hardware in the general release, with {SPARC}, {PowerPC}, {MIPS}, {ARM}, {Amiga}, {Atari}, and {SGI} in active development. The SPARC, PowerPC, ARM, {PowerMAC} - {OSF}, and 68k ports all support {shells}, {X} and {networking}. The Intel and SPARC versions have reliable {symmetric multiprocessing}. Work on the kernel is coordinated by Linus Torvalds, who holds the copyright on a large part of it. The rest of the copyright is held by a large number of other contributors (or their employers). Regardless of the copyright ownerships, the kernel as a whole is available under the {GNU} {General Public License}. The GNU project supports Linux as its kernel until the research {Hurd} kernel is completed. This kernel would be no use without {application programs}. The GNU project has provided large numbers of quality tools, and together with other {public domain} software it is a rich Unix environment. A compilation of the Linux kernel and these tools is known as a Linux distribution. Compatibility modules and/or {emulators} exist for dozens of other computing environments. The kernel version numbers are significant: the odd numbered series (e.g. 1.3.xx) is the development (or beta) kernel which evolves very quickly. Stable (or release) kernels have even major version numbers (e.g. 1.2.xx). There is a lot of commercial support for and use of Linux, both by hardware companies such as {Digital}, {IBM}, and {Apple} and numerous smaller network and integration specialists. There are many commercially supported distributions which are generally entirely under the GPL. At least one distribution vendor guarantees {Posix} compliance. Linux is particularly popular for {Internet Service Providers}, and there are ports to both parallel supercomputers and {embedded} {microcontrollers}. {Debian} is one popular {open source} distribution. The pronunciation of "Linux" has been a matter of much debate. Many, including Torvalds, insist on the short I pronunciation /li'nuks/ because "Linus" has an /ee/ sound in Swedish (Linus's family is part of Finland's 6% ethnic-Swedish minority) and Linus considers English short /i/ to be closer to /ee/ than English long /i:/ dipthong. This is consistent with the short I in words like "linen". This doesn't stop others demanding a long I /li:'nuks/ following the english pronunciation of "Linus" and "minus". Others say /li'niks/ following {Minix}, which Torvalds was working on before Linux. {More on pronunciation (/pub/misc/linux-pronunciation)}. {LinuxHQ (http://linuxhq.com/)}. {slashdot (http://slashdot.org/)}. {freshmeat (http://freshmeat.net/)}. {Woven Goods (http://fokus.gmd.de/linux/)}. {Linux Gazette (http://ssc.com/lg)}. {funet Linux Archive (ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux)}, {US mirror (ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/)}, {UK Mirror (ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/Linux/)}. (2000-06-09)
liquid crystal display "hardware" (LCD) An electro-optical device used to display digits, characters or images, commonly used in digital watches, calculators, and portable computers. The heart of the liquid crystal display is a piece of {liquid crystal} material placed between a pair of transparent {electrodes}. The liquid crystal changes the phase of the light passing through it and this phase change can be controlled by the {voltage} applied between the electrodes. If such a unit is placed between a pair of {plane polariser} plates then light can pass through it only if the correct voltage is applied. Liquid crystal displays are formed by integrating a number of such cells, or more usually, by using a single liquid crystal plate and a pattern of electrodes. The simplest kind of liquid crystal displays, those used in digital watches and calculators, contain a common electrode plane covering one side and a pattern of electrodes on the other. These electrodes can be individually controlled to produce the appropriate display. Computer displays, however, require far too many pixels (typically between 50,000 and several millions) to make this scheme, in particular its wiring, feasible. The electrodes are therefore replaced by a number of row electrodes on one side and column electrodes on the other. By applying voltage to one row and several columns the {pixels} at the intersections are set. The pixels being set one row after the other, in {passive matrix} displays the number of rows is limited by the ratio of the setting and fading times. In the setup described above (known as "{twisted nematic}") the number of rows is limited to about 20. Using an alternative "{supertwisted nematic}" setup {VGA} quality displays (480 rows) can be easily built. As of 1995 most {notebook computers} used this technique. Fading can be slowed by putting an active element, such as a {transistor}, on the top of each pixel. This "remembers" the setting of that pixel. These {active matrix} displays are of much better quality (as good as {CRTs}) but are much more expensive than the passive matrix displays. LCDs are slimmer, lighter and consume less power than the previous dominant display type, the {cathode ray tube}, hence their importance for {portable computers}. (1995-12-09)
Lisp Machine 1. "architecture" Any {machine} (whether notional or actual) whose instruction set is {Lisp}. 2. "hardware, operating system" A line of {workstations} made by {Symbolics, Inc.} from the mid-1970s (having grown out of the {MIT AI Lab}) to late 1980s. All system code for Symbolics Lisp Machines was written in {Lisp Machine Lisp}. Symbolics Lisp Machines were also notable for having had {space-cadet keyboards}. [More details and historical background?] {Lisp Machine Museum (http://kogs-www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~moeller/symbolics-info/symbolics.html)}. (2003-07-03)
little-endian "data, architecture" A computer architecture in which, within a given 16- or 32-bit {word}, bytes at lower addresses have lower significance (the word is stored "little-end-first"). The {PDP-11} and {VAX} families of computers and {Intel} {microprocessors} and a lot of communications and networking hardware are little-endian. The term is sometimes used to describe the ordering of units other than bytes; most often, bits within a byte. Compare {big-endian}, {middle-endian}. See {NUXI problem}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-08-16)
local bus "hardware" A {bus} connecting a {processor} to {memory}, usually on the same {circuit board} as opposed to a {backplane} and therefore faster. Various proprietary local busses for {personal computers} are still in use. The most common are {Vesa local bus} (VLB or VL), and {Peripheral Component Interconnect} (PCI). Some computers, e.g. {notebook computers}, use a local bus with no expansion slots. Previous non-local bus standards include {ISA}, {EISA} and {MCA}. (1997-08-25)
LocalTalk "networking" An {Apple Computer} {network} {standard} using {Apple Computer}'s own networking hardware. Compare {EtherTalk}. (1994-11-29)
Logic Replacement Technology (LRT) Reading, BERKS. Tel: (0734) 751087. Marketing Director Bob Barrett. Manufacturers of the Ethernet hardware including the Filtabyte Ethernet controller card and EtherGate open access gateway.
lossage "jargon" /los'*j/ The result of a {bug} or malfunction. This is a mass or collective noun. "What a loss!" and "What lossage!" are nearly synonymous. The former is slightly more particular to the speaker's present circumstances; the latter implies a continuing {lose} of which the speaker is currently a victim. Thus (for example) a temporary hardware failure is a loss, but bugs in an important tool (like a compiler) are serious lossage. [{Jargon File}] (1995-04-19)
loudspeaker "audio, hardware" An electromechanical device for converting an electrical signal into sound. (2008-10-09)
Low Insertion Force "hardware" (LIF) {PGA}/{SPGA} sockets with no handle. The {integrated circuit} is simply pushed into the socket, and levered out to remove. Most {motherboard} {processor} sockets are now {ZIF} rather than LIF. (1999-08-05)
Low Voltage Differential "hardware" (LVD) A method of driving {SCSI} cables that will be formalised in the {SCSI-3} specifications. LVD uses less power than the current differential drive ({HVD}), is less expensive and will allow the higher speeds of {Ultra-2 SCSI}. LVD requires 3.3 Volts DC instead of 5 Volts DC for HVD. (1999-02-16)
M 1. Alternative name for {MUMPS}. 2. A {C}-like language from {Silicon Compiler Systems} for multilevel {hardware description}. It is currently available in the {GDT} package from {Mentor Graphics}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-10-26) 3. "unit" The abbreviated for of {mega-}. (1995-01-10)
MAC address The hardware address of a device connected to a shared {network} medium. See also {Media Access Control}.
machine code "language" The representation of a {computer program} that is read and interpreted by the computer hardware (rather than by some other machine code program). A program in machine code consists of a sequence of "instructions" (possibly interspersed with data). An instruction is a {binary string}, (often written as one or more {octal}, {decimal} or {hexadecimal} numbers). Instructions may be all the same size (e.g. one 32-bit word for many modern {RISC} {microprocessors}) or of different sizes, in which case the size of the instruction is determined from the first {word} (e.g. {Motorola} {68000}) or {byte} (e.g. {Inmos} {transputer}). The collection of all possible instructions for a particular computer is known as its "{instruction set}". Each instruction typically causes the {Central Processing Unit} to perform some fairly simple operation like loading a value from memory into a {register} or adding the numbers in two registers. An instruction consists of an {op code} and zero or more {operands}. Different processors have different {instruction sets} - the collection of possible operations they can perform. Execution of machine code may either be {hard-wired} into the {central processing unit} or it may be controlled by {microcode}. The basic execution cycle consists of fetching the next instruction from {main memory}, decoding it (determining which action the {operation code} specifies and the location of any {arguments}) and executing it by opening various {gates} (e.g. to allow data to flow from main memory into a CPU {register}) and enabling {functional units} (e.g. signalling to the {ALU} to perform an addition). Humans almost never write programs directly in machine code. Instead, they use {programming languages}. The simplest kind of programming language is {assembly language} which usually has a one-to-one correspondence with the resulting machine code instructions but allows the use of {mnemonics} (ASCII strings) for the "{op codes}" (the part of the instruction which encodes the basic type of operation to perform) and names for locations in the program (branch labels) and for {variables} and {constants}. Other languages are either translated by a {compiler} into machine code or executed by an {interpreter} (2009-06-16)
machine Common term for "computer", usually when considered at the hardware level. The {Turing Machine}, an early example of this usage, was however neither hardware nor software, but only an idea. [Earlier use?] (1995-02-15)
Magic Switch Story Some years ago, I was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the {MIT AI Lab}'s {PDP-10}, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware hackers (no-one knows who). You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labelled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words "magic" and "more magic". The switch was in the "more magic" position. I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side. It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the "more magic" position before reviving the computer. A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, {David Moon} as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, still in the "more magic" position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch. The computer promptly crashed. This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time {MIT} hacker, who was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters and {dike}d it out. We then revived the computer and it has run fine ever since. We still don't know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was {magic}. I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I usually keep it set on "more magic". {GLS} (1995-02-22)
magnetic tape "storage" (Or "magtape", "tape" - {paper tape} is now obsolete) A data storage medium consisting of a magnetisable oxide coating on a thin plastic strip, commonly used for {backup} and {archiving}. Early industry-standard magnetic tape was half an inch wide and wound on removable reels 10.5 inches in diameter. Different lengths were available with 2400 feet and 4800 feet being common. {DECtape} was a variation on this "{round tape}". In modern magnetic tape systems the reels are much smaller and are fixed inside a {cartridge} to protect the tape and for ease of handling ("{square tape}" - though it's really rectangular). Cartridge formats include {QIC}, {DAT}, and {Exabyte}. Tape is read and written on a tape drive (or "deck") which winds the tape from one reel to the other causing it to move past a read/write head. Early tape had seven parallel tracks of data along the length of the tape allowing six bit characters plus {parity} written across the tape. A typical recording density was 556 characters per inch. The tape had reflective marks near its end which signaled beginning of tape (BOT) and end of tape (EOT) to the hardware. Data is written to tape in {blocks} with {inter-block gaps} between them. Each block is typically written in a single operation with the tape running continuously during the write. The larger the block the larger the data {buffer} required in order to supply or receive the data written to or read from the tape. The smaller the block the more tape is wasted as inter-block gaps. Several logical {records} may be combined into one physical block to reduce wastage ("{blocked records}"). Finding a certain block on the tape generally involved reading sequentially from the beginning, in contrast to {magnetic disks}. Tape is not suitable for {random access}. The exception to this is that some systems allow {tape marks} to be written which can be detected while winding the tape forward or rewinding it at high speed. These are typically used to separate logical files on a tape. Most tape drives now include some kind of {data compression}. There are several {algorithms} which provide similar results: {LZ} (most), {IDRC} ({Exabyte}), {ALDC} ({IBM}, {QIC}) and {DLZ1} ({DLT}). See also {cut a tape}, {flap}, {Group Code Recording}, {spool}, {macrotape}, {microtape}, {Non Return to Zero Inverted}, {Phase Encoded}. (1997-04-05)
magneto-optical disk "hardware, storage" (MO) A plastic or glass disk coated with a compound (often TbFeCo) with special optical, magnetic and thermal properties. The disk is read by bouncing a low-intensity {laser} off the disk. Originally the laser was infrared, but frequencies up to blue may be possible giving higher {storage density}. The polarisation of the reflected light depends on the polarity of the stored magnetic field. To write, a higher intensity laser heats the coating up to its Curie point, allowing its magnetisation to be altered in a way that is retained when it has cooled. Although optical, they appear as hard drives to the {operating system} and do not require a special {filesystem} (they can be formatted as {FAT}, {HPFS}, {NTFS}, etc.). The initial 5.25" MO drives, introduced at the end of the 1980s, were the size of a full-height 5.25" {hard drive} (like in {IBM PC XT}) and the disks looked like a {CD-ROM} enclosed in an old-style cartridge In 2006, a 3.5" drive has the size of 1.44 {megabyte} {diskette drive} with disks about the size of a regular 1.44MB {floppy disc} but twice the thickness. {Storage FAQ (http://cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/arch-storage/part1/faq.html)}. (2006-07-25)
MALI A hardware memory device for {logic programming} computers with {real time} {garbage collection}.
KEYS (10k)
1 Stephen Brust
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
28 Walter Isaacson
20 Anonymous
17 Max Tegmark
10 Richard K Morgan
7 Neal Stephenson
6 William Gibson
6 Ashlee Vance
4 Douglas Rushkoff
4 Chris Anderson
4 Bill Gates
4 Anne Tyler
3 Steve Jobs
3 Marshall McLuhan
3 Ivan Illich
3 Erik Brynjolfsson
3 Don DeLillo
3 Brad Stone
2 W Brian Arthur
2 Vernor Vinge
2 Various
1:All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don't like 'em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in 'em, 'cause that's cool. Guys who like military hardware, who think advanced military hardware is cool, are not gonna jump all over my books, because they have other ideas about what's cool. ~ Stephen Brust, #KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:The fellow that owns his own home is always just coming out of a hardware store. ~ kin-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 2:I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was in the shape of a house. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 3:I went to the hardware store to buy some batteries, but they weren't included, so I had to buy them again. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 4:Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software. ~ arthur-c-carke, @wisdomtrove 5:I still climb Mount Everest just as often as I used to. I play polo just as often as I used to. But to walk down to the hardware store I find a little bit more difficult ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 6:I recently went to the hardware store and I bought some used paint... it was in a shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they weren't included. So I had to buy them again. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 7:Above all, the sitter must be made to forget about the camera and the photographer who is handling it. Complicated equipment and light reflectors and various other items of hardware are enough, to my mind, to prevent the birdie from coming out. ~ henri-cartier-bresson, @wisdomtrove 8:There may be organic life out there, or maybe machines created by long-dead civilizations, but any signals, even if they are difficult to decode, would tell us that the concepts of logic and physics are not limited to the hardware in human skulls, and will transform our view of the universe. ~ martin-rees, @wisdomtrove 9:Fairness is a concept that holds only in limited situations. Yet we want the concept to extend to everything, in and out of phase. From snails to hardware stores to married life. Maybe no one finds it, or even misses it, but fairness is like love. What is given has nothing to do with what we seek. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 10:There's no other company that could make a MacBook Air and the reason is that not only do we control the hardware, but we control the operating system. And it is the intimate interaction between the operating system and the hardware that allows us to do that. There is no intimate interaction between Windows and a Dell notebook. ~ steve-jobs, @wisdomtrove 11:We had the hardware expertise, the industrial design expertise and the software expertise, including iTunes. One of the biggest insights we have was that we decided not to try to manage your music library on the iPod, but to manage it in iTunes. Other companies tried to do everything on the device itself and made it so complicated that it was useless. ~ steve-jobs, @wisdomtrove 12:The burgeoning field of computer science has shifted our view of the physical world from that of a collection of interacting material particles to one of a seething network of information. In this way of looking at nature, the laws of physics are a form of software, or algorithm, while the material world-the hardware-plays the role of a gigantic computer. ~ paul-davies, @wisdomtrove 13:Authors and publishers want fair compensation and a means of protecting content through digital rights management. Vendors and technology companies want new markets for e-book reading devices and other hardware. End-users most of all want a wide range and generous amount of high-quality content for free or at reasonable costs. Like end-users, libraries want quality, quantity, economy, and variety as well as flexible business models. ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 14:The difference between the best worker on computer hardware and the average may be 2 to 1, if you're lucky. With automobiles, maybe 2 to 1. But in software, it's at least 25 to 1. The difference between the average programmer and a great one is at least that. The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world. And when you're in a field where the dynamic range is 25 to 1, boy, does it pay off. ~ steve-jobs, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Hardware can’t argue. ~ C A Higgins, #NFDB
2:Software is more important than hardware. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
3:Don’t go to the hardware store for milk. ~ David Sedaris, #NFDB
4:Don’t go to the hardware store for bread. ~ Cathy Yardley, #NFDB
5:That muscle-car rumble?It's software, not hardware. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
6:Hardware works best when it matters the least. ~ Norman Ralph Augustine, #NFDB
7:If you can't reprogram the software, reprogram the hardware, right? ~ Amie Kaufman, #NFDB
8:People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. ~ Alan Kay, #NFDB
9:Rank does not intimidate hardware. Neither does the lack of rank. ~ Norman Ralph Augustine, #NFDB
10:Anybody who had a problem with my extra hardware was welcome to make my day. ~ Ilona Andrews, #NFDB
11:My unlimited desire to create stuff surpasses the advancement in hardware power. ~ Hideo Kojima, #NFDB
12:If someone can tell me what I can and can’t run on my hardware, then I don’t own it. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
13:Life 2.0”: life whose hardware is evolved, but whose software is largely designed. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
14:Life 1.0”: life where both the hardware and software are evolved rather than designed. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
15:Hardware: This is the part of the computer that stops working when you spill beer on it. ~ Dave Barry, #NFDB
16:Mike Toben, whose family owned the hardware store, stepped through the open doorway, eyes ~ Toni Anderson, #NFDB
17:Its more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place. ~ Pat Metheny, #NFDB
18:We are not intimidated by the size of the armies, or the type of hardware the US has brought. ~ Saddam Hussein, #NFDB
19:How many software developers does it take to change a lightbulb? None, it's a hardware problem. ~ Laura Griffin, #NFDB
20:I’d upgraded my memory’s software, but my hardware seemed to have remained fundamentally unchanged ~ Joshua Foer, #NFDB
21:LOUISE WAS SORTING nuts and bolts into metal bins at the back of the somnambulant hardware store. ~ John Sandford, #NFDB
22:How are men are like plungers? A: They spend most of their time in the hardware store or the bathroom. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
23:man who goes to a hardware store to buy a power drill doesn’t really need a drill—he needs holes. He ~ Jay Abraham, #NFDB
24:H is for Hardware store: I'd rather go to the hardware store than the opera. And I like the opera. ~ Marlene Dietrich, #NFDB
25:I see the world as a knowledge hardware story, and every day I'm just walking through the aisles. ~ Georges St Pierre, #NFDB
26:Iran's military hardware is less than a fraction of that of any of the countries in this region. ~ Mohammad Javad Zarif, #NFDB
27:You can mass-produce hardware; you cannot mass-produce software - you cannot mass-produce the human mind. ~ Michio Kaku, #NFDB
28:How many computer programmers does it take to change a light bulb? Are you kidding? That's a hardware problem! ~ Various, #NFDB
29:With our next generation hardware, polygon rendering will probably be an area we'll get more heavily into. ~ Trip Hawkins, #NFDB
30:Getting shocked was a badge of honor for Woz. He prided himself on being a hardware engineer, which meant ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
31:Honestly, if you're looking for love and you're not too choosy, hang around a hardware store fingering screws. ~ Marian Keyes, #NFDB
32:I can't go to the hardware store, cut a sheet in half and staple it to the window anymore. It doesn't fly. ~ James Badge Dale, #NFDB
33:By being able to write a genome and plug it into an organism, the software, if you will, changes the hardware. ~ Barry Schuler, #NFDB
34:I assume that a sufficiently skilled will be able to do anything not explicitly forbidden by the hardware. ~ Bjarne Stroustrup, #NFDB
35:Its agents -- not even
human equivalent on this primitive hardware -- raced through the ship's
automation ~ Vernor Vinge,#NFDB
36:Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software. ~ Arthur C Clarke, #NFDB
37:In New York in 1915 I bought at a hardware store a snow shovel on which I wrote in advance of the broken arm . ~ Marcel Duchamp, #NFDB
38:With that complexion and all that hardware in his mouth, the teenager looked like a walking birth control advert. ~ Edward Lorn, #NFDB
39:Among our articles of lazy hardware, I recommend the faucet that stops dripping when no one is listening to it. ~ Marcel Duchamp, #NFDB
40:Maybe I’m like the vehicle,” Eve decided. “Keep it ordinary on the outside, so nobody notices all the hardware inside. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
41:How many computer programmers does it take to change a light bulb? Are you kidding? That's a hardware problem! " ♦◊♦◊♦◊♦ ~ Various, #NFDB
42:Smartphones were revolutionary because of the ways they allowed hardware, software, and services to work in unison. ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
43:Design always involves a certain amount of trial and error, and hardware trials and errors are much more costly. ~ Richard P Rumelt, #NFDB
44:NeXT, became chief hardware engineer at Apple in 1997. MIKE SCOTT. Brought in by Markkula to be Apple’s president ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
45:George Clooney is on the program tonight. Next week at this time I will be in a hardware store watching them mix paint. ~ David Letterman, #NFDB
46:All this requires life to undergo a final upgrade, to Life 3.0, which can design not only its software but also its hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
47:She noted the lack of female hardware hackers, and was enraged at the male hacker obsession with technological play and power. ~ Steven Levy, #NFDB
48:We are as humans essentially products of our hardware - that is an insight that I've taken with me into the trading side. ~ Roy Niederhoffer, #NFDB
49:Software and hardware design is less different than software designers think, but more different than hardware designers think. ~ Fred Brooks, #NFDB
50:For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip. ~ Sam Altman, #NFDB
51:The best way to predict the future is to invent it” and “People who are serious about software should make their own hardware. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
52:A man who goes into a hardware store to buy a quarter-inch drill bit does not need a quarter-inch drill bit—he needs a quarter-inch hole. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
53:In software speed to market, speed to learning is really key. In hardware if you screw it up you are dead. So accuracy really matters. ~ Reid Hoffman, #NFDB
54:The NSA employs more mathematicians, buys more computer hardware, and intercepts more messages than any other organization in the world. ~ Simon Singh, #NFDB
55:It’s never good to owe money to a guy with a cellar full of military hardware. Especially not when he rides with an outlaw biker gang. ~ Craig Schaefer, #NFDB
56:Troll Wars were like Batman movies: both were repeated at regular intervals, featured expensive hardware, and were broadly predictable. ~ Jasper Fforde, #NFDB
57:The most important thing was the creation of a... a standard, where hundreds of companies build hardware that can all run the same software. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
58:I've never made the separation between, say, the museum and the hardware store. I mean, I enjoy both of them, and I want to combine the two. ~ Andy Warhol, #NFDB
59:The U.K.-U.S. defense relationship is the broadest, deepest and most advanced of any two countries, sharing military hardware and expertise. ~ Theresa May, #NFDB
60:Yet despite the most powerful technologies we have today, all life forms we know of remain fundamentally limited by their biological hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
61:The danger in ingenious hardware is that it distracts attention from education. What good is a wonderful machine if you don’t know what to put on it? ~ John Brooks, #NFDB
62:The suddenness of the leap from hardware to software cannot but produce a period of anarchy and collapse, especially in the developed countries. ~ Marshall McLuhan, #NFDB
63:Across the aisle, a living manga teen with spiky purple hair and more hardware on his body than an early Borg poked through dusty old digests. ~ Michael R Underwood, #NFDB
64:It’s not like we have the same brains as people a thousand years ago.”
Wait: “Yes we do.”
“We have the same hardware, but not the same software. ~ Robin Sloan,#NFDB
65:Just as Morse code provides a good introduction to the nature of codes, the telegraph provides a good introduction to the hardware of the computer. ~ Charles Petzold, #NFDB
66:For a business plan written when the hardware was a wire-wrapped board and the software was three demos on a graphics substrate, it was pretty close. ~ Chris Espinosa, #NFDB
67:Google has the business resources, global scale and platform reach to accelerate Nest growth across hardware, software and services for the home globally. ~ Tony Fadell, #NFDB
68:(Synchronous consensus applies to real-time systems, in which dedicated hardware means that messages will always be passed with specific timing guarantees.) ~ Betsy Beyer, #NFDB
69:In designing hardware to be used every day, it was important to keep both the human aspects and the machine in mind. What looks good also often feels good ~ Michael Graves, #NFDB
70:The hardware business is all about per-unit manufacturing cost and functionality. The services business is less asset-intensive and more dependent on people. ~ Anne M Mulcahy, #NFDB
71:I used to love going into local hardware stores, to look at little things they made locally. Nowadays it's harder, though you can still do it in Vietnam. ~ Francis Ford Coppola, #NFDB
72:Our biological body itself is a form of hardware that needs re-programming through tantra like a new spiritual software which can release or unblock its potential. ~ Slavoj i ek, #NFDB
73:Our biological body itself is a form of hardware that needs re-programming through tantra like a new spiritual software which can release or unblock its potential. ~ Slavoj Zizek, #NFDB
74:first is that we’re living in a time of astonishing progress with digital technologies—those that have computer hardware, software, and networks at their core. ~ Erik Brynjolfsson, #NFDB
75:I would say that hardware is the bone of the head, the skull. The semiconductor is the brain within the head. The software is the wisdom and data is the knowledge. ~ Masayoshi Son, #NFDB
76:The transformation can only be accomplished by man, not by hardware (computers, gadgets, automation, new machinery). A company can not buy its way into quality. ~ W Edwards Deming, #NFDB
77:The hardware and the software used in the Breakthrough project will be compatible with other telescopes around the world, so they too can search for intelligent life. ~ Yuri Milner, #NFDB
78:Google or other search engines are examples of AI, and relatively simple AI, but they're still AI. That plus an awful lot of hardware to make it work fast enough. ~ Stuart J Russell, #NFDB
79:We can think of life as a self-replicating information-processing system whose information (software) determines both its behavior and the blueprints for its hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
80:What we believe is going to be very important is the delivery of traditional software and services and hardware over the Net. That's a form of electronic marketplace. ~ Lou Gerstner, #NFDB
81:Guns might be called the hardware of this equation of violence. Emotions were the software—and just as important when deciding whether or not to pick up a firearm. ~ Stephen Singular, #NFDB
82:I'm in great shape considering I have hardware in my back. I work out constantly to keep my muscles limber and my abs strong so they can take the burnt of everything. ~ Gloria Estefan, #NFDB
83:SCP-555 is a metal cylinder with rounded ends, 1.25 centimeters in diameter and 8 centimeters long, similar to a magnet commonly fed to cattle to prevent hardware disease. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
84:Coincidental to my leaving the company, I would like to make one request: that Nintendo give birth to wholly new ideas and create hardware which reflects that ideal. ~ Hiroshi Yamauchi, #NFDB
85:Windows is probably the most important product in the entire PC industry. Everything we do in terms of supporting touch, new hardware, accessibility has incredible impact. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
86:change’ is any activity that is physical, logical, or virtual to applications, databases, operating systems, networks, or hardware that could impact services being delivered. ~ Gene Kim, #NFDB
87:evolution almost irrelevant. Yet despite the most powerful technologies we have today, all life forms we know of remain fundamentally limited by their biological hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
88:The little logo that sits at the top of the screen of any ‘Bluetooth-enabled’ hardware () is actually a monogram created from the two runes that represent Harald’s initials ~ Neil Oliver, #NFDB
89:a ‘change’ is any activity that is physical, logical, or virtual to applications, databases, operating systems, networks, or hardware that could impact services being delivered. ~ Gene Kim, #NFDB
90:When Kessel asked Bezos what his deadline was on developing the company’s first piece of hardware, an electronic reading device, Bezos told him, “You are basically already late. ~ Brad Stone, #NFDB
91:Even though I teach with 35mm, my method takes people by surprise, because it isn't fast, and it isn't about hardware or software, or even great results. It's about great process. ~ Sam Abell, #NFDB
92:I have realized that cultures are like operating systems. We are like hardware. The human animal is a piece of biological wetware/hardware. ~ Terence McKenna, Dreaming Awake at the End of Time, #NFDB
93:I also taught myself how to blow glass using a propane torch from the hardware store and managed to make some elementary chemistry plumbing such as tees and small glass bulbs. ~ Robert B Laughlin, #NFDB
94:One manager was puzzled and asked if it wasn’t also expensive to create software. He went on to rhetorically ask “Are software engineers less expensive than hardware engineers? ~ Richard P Rumelt, #NFDB
95:Children of Maeve reproducing with children of Titania wasn’t like apples mixing with oranges—it was more like apples mixing with cheese graters, or rainbows with hardware stores. ~ Seanan McGuire, #NFDB
96:Hardware: where the people in your company's software section will tell you the problem is. Software: where the people in your company's hardware section will tell you the problem is. ~ Dave Barry, #NFDB
97:NSA employs more mathematicians, buys more computer hardware, and intercepts more messages than any other organization in the world. It is the world leader when it comes to snooping. ~ Simon Singh, #NFDB
98:To use a computer analogy, we are running twenty-first-century software on hardware last upgraded 50,000 years ago or more. This may explain quite a lot of what we see in the news. ~ Ronald Wright, #NFDB
99:In other words, we can think of life as a self-replicating information-processing system whose information (software) determines both its behavior and the blueprints for its hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
100:Some day, on the corporate balance sheet, there will be an entry which reads, "Information"; for in most cases, the information is more valuable than the hardware which processes it. ~ Grace Hopper, #NFDB
101:There’s a neat correlation between the complexity of the hardware and the lack of genuine attachments. Devices make everyone pliant. There’s a general sponginess, a lack of conviction. ~ Don DeLillo, #NFDB
102:Radical changes of identity, happening suddenly and in very brief intervals of time, have proved more deadly and destructive of human values than wars fought with hardware weapons. ~ Marshall McLuhan, #NFDB
103:People who are more than casually interested in computers should have at least some idea of what the underlying hardware is like. Otherwise the programs they write will be pretty weird. ~ Donald Knuth, #NFDB
104:Dryware, wetware, hardware, software, blackware, darkware, nightware, nightmare . . . The modem sits inviting beside the phone, red eyes. I let it rest— you can’t trust anybody these days. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
105:My first impulse, when presented with any spanking-new piece of computer hardware, is to imagine how it will look in ten years’ time, gathering dust under a card table in a thrift shop. ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
106:Back when I was a two-handed bastard, I made the sheep of the population nervous by skulking around in my badass facial hardware and projecting the fact that I didn't give a shit. ~ Jordan Castillo Price, #NFDB
107:[Apple and RIM] are probably restricted, in some sense, to a certain maximum. ... If you want to reach more people than that, you sort-of have to separate the hardware and the software issue. ~ Steve Ballmer, #NFDB
108:Apple has a complex suite of proprietary technologies, both in hardware (like superior touchscreen materials) and software (like touchscreen interfaces purpose-designed for specific materials). ~ Peter Thiel, #NFDB
109:though I spotted Bernie Nordman, co-owner of Ace Hardware, make her way into the computer/library/board game back room with a steaming mug in one hand and what appeared to be a cherry Danish in ~ Jess Lourey, #NFDB
110:We’re at a moment in human history when the marriage of our biology and our technology will transcend the brain’s limitations. We can hack our own hardware to steer a course into the future. ~ David Eagleman, #NFDB
111:I think that the most beautiful thing lately hasn't been in hardware or software per se but collaboration - the idea behind Napster, which uses the distributed power of the Internet as its engine. ~ Steven Levy, #NFDB
112:I think it’s very comforting for people to put me in a box. ‘Oh, she’s a fluffy girlie girl who likes clothes and cupcakes. Oh, but wait, she is spending her weekends doing hardware electronics.’ ~ Marissa Mayer, #NFDB
113:JONATHAN “RUBY” RUBINSTEIN. Worked with Jobs at NeXT, became chief hardware engineer at Apple in 1997. MIKE SCOTT. Brought in by Markkula to be Apple’s president in 1977 to try to manage Jobs. J ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
114:Spontaneous smiles are different. They utilize a totally different neurologic hardware that is diffuse and arises mostly out of the subcortex and something called the extra-pyramidal system. ~ Michael S Gazzaniga, #NFDB
115:The whole hardware industry has experienced the phenomenon in which every time computers get cheaper, they appeal to a new set of users; every time they get more powerful, old customers upgrade. ~ Nathan Myhrvold, #NFDB
116:Behind every small business, there's a story worth knowing. All the corner shops in our towns and cities, the restaurants, cleaners, gyms, hair salons, hardware stores - these didn't come out of nowhere. ~ Paul Ryan, #NFDB
117:It’s pretty safe to say, in fact, that hardware, software, networks, and robots would not exist in anything like the volume, variety, and forms we know today without sustained government funding. ~ Erik Brynjolfsson, #NFDB
118:Technology is an inherent democratizer. Because of the evolution of hardware and software, you’re able to scale up almost anything. It means that in our lifetime everyone may have tools of equal power. ~ Sergey Brin, #NFDB
119:Deborah and I went in past a sculpture that looked like a geometry lesson having sex in a hardware bin and we walked straight to the back, where a door announced, DR. J. LONOFF, DDS: COSMETIC DENTISTRY. ~ Jeff Lindsay, #NFDB
120:If one does all these things to a human being, what is left is no longer precisely a human being. It is a man plus large elements of hardware.
The man has become a cybernetic organism: a cyborg. ~ Frederik Pohl,#NFDB
121:The French philosopher Jacques Derrida likens writing fiction to a software code that operates in the hardware of your mind. Stringing together separate macros that, combined, will create a reaction. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
122:daughter Lisa (A Regular Guy), and her father Abdulfattah Jandali (The Lost Father). ALVY RAY SMITH. A cofounder of Pixar who clashed with Jobs. BURRELL SMITH. Brilliant, troubled hardware designer on ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
123:Regarding C, without a doubt, I can say that a compiler of it has been written for any hardware architecture ever created.
I will not be surprised if alien spaceships had their own C compiler on board. ~ Konrad Kokosa,#NFDB
124:though I spotted Bernie Nordman, co-owner of Ace Hardware, make her way into the computer/library/board game back room with a steaming mug in one hand and what appeared to be a cherry Danish in the other. My ~ Jess Lourey, #NFDB
125:You can’t get milk from a hardware store. So stop asking for something that can’t be given. And look for what is offered. She saw the fork of food, and the thin lips that rarely smiled at them, blowing on it. ~ Louise Penny, #NFDB
126:que el hardware se convertiría en una mercancía más y que sería en la programación donde radicaría el verdadero valor. Hasta la irrupción de Bill Gates, esta idea se les escapaba a la mayoría de los hombres. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
127:Technology no longer consists just of hardware or software or even services, but of communities. Increasingly, community is a part of technology, a driver of technology, and an emergent effect of technology. ~ Howard Rheingold, #NFDB
128:What makes a great standalone piece of hardware is not the same thing as what makes a great networking device. One can work as an essentially closed system. The other is absolutely dependent on its openness. ~ Douglas Rushkoff, #NFDB
129:In order for us to deliver this we have to integrate the big-screen capability, the PC capability, and the Internet experience. This is a combination of hardware and software that delivers a new media experience. ~ Paul Otellini, #NFDB
130:To jump-start our economy, we must leave cash in your hands - because if youve got money in your pocket, youll spend it at the hardware store or the corner market, and that will drive job growth in our private sector. ~ Tim Walz, #NFDB
131:You have to give credit where credit's due. Steve [Jobs] has been probably the single hardware/software forward-looking thinker and executor in our lifetime as an individual. He's quite a brilliant innovator. ~ Christopher Galvin, #NFDB
132:At Tsushima on May 27–28, 1905, the Japanese fleet under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō sent two-thirds of the Russian fleet – 147,000 tons of naval hardware and nearly 50,000 sailors – to the bottom of the Korea Strait. ~ Niall Ferguson, #NFDB
133:Reading well adds to our life—not in the way a tool from the hardware store adds to our life, for a tool does us no good once lost or broken, but in the way a friendship adds to our life, altering us forever. ~ Karen Swallow Prior, #NFDB
134:He says, “Good … I’ll write up the sales slip.” You interject, “No … wait—maybe we can talk.” He arches an eyebrow and says, “When you and your wife finish discussing this, you’ll find me in Hardware,” and strolls away. ~ Herb Cohen, #NFDB
135:endeavors—hardware, software, and animated content—were losing money. “I’d get these plans, and in the end I kept having to put in more money,” he recalled. He would rail, but then write the check. Having been ousted ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
136:Richard had trained in the Philippines, working to save the Philippines’ monkey-eating eagle, a wildly improbable-looking piece of flying hardware that you would more readily expect to see coming into land on an aircraft ~ Douglas Adams, #NFDB
137:Thin streams of blood ran in artistic patterns. “Pulling toenails serves the Destinarian philosophy?” he asked. Ardala shrugged. “Demonstrates the fragility of flesh as opposed to hardware. I’m going to take a bath. ~ Walter Jon Williams, #NFDB
138:system testing, involves testing of a complete application environment in a situation that mimics real-world use, such as interacting with a database, using network communications, or interacting with other hardware, applications, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
139:Adding hardware to any computer is hard. The reality is, you're sticking in disks, trying to run installers. We do a very sophisticated installation and de-install but it's invisible to the user and happens almost instantaneously. ~ Jeff Hawkins, #NFDB
140:With our present knowledge, we can respond to the challenge of stellar space flight solely with intellectual concepts and purely hypothetical analysis. Hardware solutions are still entirely beyond our reach and far, far away. ~ Wernher von Braun, #NFDB
141:Es evidente que nuestros problemas no proceden de lo que inventamos, sino de cómo utilizamos nuestros juguetes sofisticados. Las dificultades no nacen del software ni del hardware, sino de nosotros. BARBARROJA, Anatomía de una rebelión ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
142:Human life has the software and hardware to go the distance. All we need to do is know our nature and mimic nature's way. Do less and accomplish more; do nothing and accomplish everything is nature's secret to the miracle of life. ~ John Douillard, #NFDB
143:I don't worry about great visuals that they showed that weren't actually running on real hardware. It doesn't matter. Gamers don't make their purchase decisions based on movies that were shown in May for products that come out in March. ~ J Allard, #NFDB
144:All this requires life to undergo a final upgrade, to Life 3.0, which can design not only its software but also its hardware. In other words, Life 3.0 is the master of its own destiny, finally fully free from its evolutionary shackles. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
145:The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
146:I'll try any guitar just to see if it's different in an effort to see if it will lead me anywhere. I'm trying to have a guitar built. What's needed is better instruments, better amplifiers, better hardware for electric music to get better. ~ Jerry Garcia, #NFDB
147:Apple’s approach led to more beautiful products, a higher profit margin, and a more sublime user experience. Microsoft’s approach led to a wider choice of hardware. It also turned out to be a better path for gaining market share. RICHARD ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
148:Brushes are crucial for applying glazes, sauces, and oils. The pastry brushes that you find in homestores can be pricey so pay a visit to your local hardware store and pick up a few paint brushes which are less expensive and work equally as well. ~ Bobby Flay, #NFDB
149:However, there is one software topic that is rare, and chances are you may not happen upon it or become exposed to it. And that is a pity, because for the hardware developer, this topic can be very important. It is the programming language, Forth. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
150:When I was at Tek, I was frustrated that computer hardware was being improved faster than computer software. I wanted to invent some software that was completely different, that would grow and change as it was used. That's how wiki came about. ~ Ward Cunningham, #NFDB
151:Anyone who builds satellites we can’t shoot down needs to be taken seriously and, if they ever come back for their hardware, be approached with caution. That’s not religion, it’s common sense. Quellcrist Falconer Metaphysics for Revolutionaries ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
152:Just remember: you're not a 'dummy,' no matter what those computer books claim. The real dummies are the people who-though technically expert-couldn't design hardware and software that's usable by normal consumers if their lives depended upon it. ~ Walt Mossberg, #NFDB
153:For us, launching new systems is about bringing new consumer experiences to the marketplace and we're doing that with Nintendo land and third-party publishers are doing it with games like ZombiU. For us, now is the right time to launch new hardware. ~ Reggie Fils Aime, #NFDB
154:Okay, our next stop is the hardware store.” Marin’s lips curved into a hint of a smile. “Yippee. Axes, duct tape, lamp oil, and a shovel, here we come.” “It’s disturbing how quickly you came up with that shopping list.” And that made her grin outright. ~*~ ~ Kate Baray, #NFDB
155:know about the brain's hardware and software. How does the firing of a nerve or a series of nerves get translated into a thought or a feeling? This is one of the deepest mysteries of science, as amazing to me as questions about the origin of the universe. ~ David D Burns, #NFDB
156:Our hardware is likely to turn into something like us a lot faster than we are likely to turn into something like our hardware...I very much doubt that our grandchildren will understand the distinction between that which is a computer and that which isn't. ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
157:When you write a piece of software you assume a certain type of hardware. If you assume hardware that's too powerful then you can't sell many copies cause very few people have that machine. If you assume hardware that's too simple your product can't do as much. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
158:He could not elucidate it any further for her, and they drove on to the big hardware store. It had only a few customers, and very few assistants. They left the baby in the car and went through to the gardening department, and searched some time for an assistant ~ Nevil Shute, #NFDB
159:Stay open to as many new tools and think of as many ways you can to utilize them to your advantage. This not only includes equipment and hardware but also software or apps like Sun Seeker and social media outlets like Instagram and Twitter to build community. ~ Vincent Laforet, #NFDB
160:He didn’t like the connotations interstellar technology was sparking off in his intuition. Though he had to admit Julia had the right idea. If they couldn’t be beaten with hardware, use innate human treachery against them. And what does that say about us as a species? ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
161:Similarly, you might argue that today’s humans should count as Life 2.1: we can perform minor hardware upgrades such as implanting artificial teeth, knees and pacemakers, but nothing as dramatic as getting ten times taller or acquiring a thousand times bigger brain. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
162:Our minds have the incredible capacity to both alter the strength of connections among neurons, essentially rewiring them, and create entirely new pathways. (It makes a computer, which cannot create new hardware when its system crashes, seem fixed and helpless). ~ Susannah Cahalan, #NFDB
163:And this is why MapReduce is designed to tolerate frequent unexpected task termination: it’s not because the hardware is particularly unreliable, it’s because the freedom to arbitrarily terminate processes enables better resource utilization in a computing cluster. ~ Martin Kleppmann, #NFDB
164:Since Star Wars, that film's success led to bigger budgets, more hardware, that the great movies like the ones I did, which were studio movies, are now independent movies. They range from half a million to several million, and a lot of those have very interesting roles. ~ Faye Dunaway, #NFDB
165:Geeks run the world. Condoleezza Rice is a geek, Bill Gates is clearly a geek, many of the big filmmakers and writers are geeks, lots of military people are geeks. Anyone who has heard Donald Rumsfeld talk about military hardware knows they are in the presence of a geek. ~ China Mieville, #NFDB
166:IBM’s Watson draws on a plethora of clever algorithms, but it would be uncompetitive without computer hardware that is about one hundred times more powerful than Deep Blue, its chess-playing predecessor that beat the human world champion, Garry Kasparov, in a 1997 match. ~ Erik Brynjolfsson, #NFDB
167:Okay, our next stop is the hardware store.” Marin’s lips curved into a hint of a smile. “Yippee. Axes, duct tape, lamp oil, and a shovel, here we come.” “It’s disturbing how quickly you came up with that shopping list.” And that made her grin outright. ~ Kate Baray*~ Kate Baray ~ Kate Baray, #NFDB
168:All those chores you don’t have the will to complete after slugging it out with the highway collect into one mean list due on Saturday. By the time you’ve taken out the trash, picked up the dry cleaning, gone to the hardware store, and paid your bills, half the weekend is gone. ~ Jason Fried, #NFDB
169:Hoping that a hardware company can be as capital-light as a consumer Internet company or trying to get Yelp to grow as fast as Twitter doesn’t make sense and can be quite destructive. CEOs should be evaluated against their company’s opportunity—not somebody else’s company. Let ~ Ben Horowitz, #NFDB
170:... that same hardware and tackle shop his dad got lost in for hours while Kache waited in the truck, writing lyrics on the backs of old envelopes his mom kept in the glove compartment for blotting her lipstick. Kache had written around the red blooms of her lip prints. ~ Ser Prince Halverson, #NFDB
171:Cloud computing offers individuals access to data and applications from nearly any point of access to the Internet, offers businesses a whole new way to cut costs for technical infrastructure, and offers big computer companies a potentially giant market for hardware and services. ~ Jamais Cascio, #NFDB
172:I'm not a Luddite completely; I believe in refrigerators to cool my martinis, and washing machines because I hate to see women smacking their laundry against a rock. When I hear about hardware, I think of pots and pans, and when I hear about software, I think of sheets and towels. ~ Studs Terkel, #NFDB
173:Google did a great job hacking the Web to create search - and then monetizing search with advertising. And Apple did a great job humanizing hardware and software so that formerly daunting computers and applications could become consumer-friendly devices - even a lifestyle brand. ~ Douglas Rushkoff, #NFDB
174:Here's the problem, when you're stargazing on a mountain top you are partially oxygen-deprived and you're in command of million dollars worth of hardware. So as much as I would like to sip wine under the stars, it's contraindicated in the instructions on operating telescopes. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson, #NFDB
175:Miss Petrowska,an excellent pianist, held the audience transfixed with Chou Wen-chung’s work. Miss Petrowska was coolness itself in getting the hardware into the piano and out again…in Messiaen, a feeling for the music’s reverent sobriety combined to produce an absorbing performance. ~ Donal Henahan, #NFDB
176:The reason why Apple computers have worked so well over time is that, unlike Microsoft, they don't bend over backward to be compatible with every piece of hardware or software in the digital universe. To code or create for Apple, you follow Apple's rules. If you're even allowed to. ~ Douglas Rushkoff, #NFDB
177:My family originally lived in Brooklyn. Our first apartment was a little place above my father and uncle's hardware store in Coney Island. Now, don't get the impression that we were surrounded by merry-go-rounds, roller coasters and Ferris wheels. Nope, this was a little side street. ~ Gilbert Gottfried, #NFDB
178:Hot Guy with Mysterious Past + Way With Pretty Words x Chivalry at Beach / His Aloofness at Coffee Shop (Immunity to My Face & Flirty Efforts) + Innuendo at Hardware Store x Honest Confession about OCD Struggles —> Curiosity + Arousal (Belly Flutters + Pulse Quickening)=ATTACKISS. ~ Melanie Harlow, #NFDB
179:The Greeks excluded women from the ancient Olympics, he argued, but spectators have “long suffered from watching female footracers and hardware heavers burlesque a noble sport. They just haven’t the correct architecture for it. So why run counter to the obvious wishes of Mother Nature?”123 ~ Jules Boykoff, #NFDB
180:There may be organic life out there, or maybe machines created by long-dead civilizations, but any signals, even if they are difficult to decode, would tell us that the concepts of logic and physics are not limited to the hardware in human skulls, and will transform our view of the universe. ~ Martin Rees, #NFDB
181:One day, perhaps, the human race would develop a new aesthetic; generations of artists might arise whose ideals were not based upon the natural forms of Earth moulded by wind and water. Space itself was a realm of often overpowering beauty; unfortunately, Man’s hardware did not yet live up to it. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
182:En 2011, algunos inversores de capital riesgo se unieron para invertir 10 millones de dólares cada uno en Kickstarter, MakerBot (una empresa de hardware de código abierto que fabrica impresoras 3-D) y Shapeways, un servicio de impresión 3-D, así como 23 millones en Quirky, otro mercado Maker[11] ~ Chris Anderson, #NFDB
183:Technology has moved away from sharing and toward ownership. This suits software and hardware companies just fine: They create new, bloated programs that require more disk space and processing power. We buy bigger, faster computers, which then require more complex operating systems, and so on. ~ Douglas Rushkoff, #NFDB
184:When I take on a design project, I have to jet from the bookstore to the hardware shop to the lamp store and back again just to collect a small portion of the many items I need to fill a home. But, when you hit the flea market, they're all right there. From booth to booth, you have the bases covered. ~ Nate Berkus, #NFDB
185:Fairness is a concept that holds only in limited situations. Yet we want the concept to extend to everything, in and out of phase. From snails to hardware stores to married life. Maybe no one finds it, or even misses it, but fairness is like love. What is given has nothing to do with what we seek. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
186:I've been through Irene. I went through Isabelle," said Bill Motley, who works at Ace Hardware in Nags Head has lived on the Outer Banks for 13 years. "I'm not even worried about this one. I'm more worried about my tomato plants. With the wind coming, if we get a 50-mph gust, it will knock over my tomato plants. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
187:PimpCo is a little business I've got, which basically offers drummers the affordable opportunity to make their drums that little bit more bespoke. I love drums and love how they look, so we offer re-wrapping to reboot your old kit, a hardware lacquering service - the black looks amazing, and bespoke snare drums. ~ Al Murray, #NFDB
188:Any action taken will be against the terrorist network of Bin Laden.... As for the Taleban, they can surrender the terrorists or face the consequences - and again in any action the aim will be to eliminate their military hardware, cut off their finances, disrupt their supplies, target their troops, not civilians. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
189:I had a great deal of valuable knowledge - about genetics, computers, aikido, karate, hardware, chess, wine, cocktails, dancings, sexual positions, social protocols, and the probability of a fifty-six-game hitting streak occurring in the history of baseball. I knew so much shit and I still couldn't fix myself. ~ Graeme Simsion, #NFDB
190:Clay cleared his throat and answered Einhorn. “Well, sir, the failure was caused by a power fluctuation on one of the drone’s motherboards. It’s the same board that controls the transceivers and antennas. We think it’s a design flaw with the hardware since we’ve been able to reproduce the problem several times. ~ Michael C Grumley, #NFDB
191:I do shop online! But I’m shopping online mostly in the home categories - One Kings Lane and Gilt. At a lot of architectural websites, I buy a lot of hardware for cabinetry like hinges and things like that from England. So you know for me, I shop at Net-A-Porter, but I don’t really shop that much for clothing online. ~ Nate Berkus, #NFDB
192:My thoughts are more in line with those of Jaron Lanier, who points out that while hardware might be getting faster all the time, software is shit (I am paraphrasing his argument). And without software to do something useful with all that hardware, the hardware’s nothing more than a really complicated space heater. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
193:A lot of people want to have market share numbers, lots of users, because that's how they view their self worth. For me, one of the most important things for Linux is having a big community that is actively testing new kernels; it's the only way to support the absolute insane amount of different hardware we deal with. ~ Linus Torvalds, #NFDB
194:On weekends, she had once told us, she liked to go to Stebbins hardware and ask the gray-haired men who clerked there how to fix a sagging door, or what to do about a curling wallpaper seam. She really did need their advice, she said; but also, she found it a comfort. It took her back to the time when her father was alive. ~ Anne Tyler, #NFDB
195:But who's ever safe? Down below us are the kind of people who walk armed into churches and movie theaters and through libraries, blast fevers into federal buildings, and build bombs out of things they bought cheap at a hardware store. What kind of myth is it, that people like them are keeping the rest of us safe? ~ Maria Dahvana Headley, #NFDB
196:Companies made these decisions about encryption when they were finding it very difficult to sell their products overseas because the [Edward] Snowden disclosures created the impression that the U.S. government was inside this hardware and software produced by them. They needed to do something to deal with the perception. ~ Michael Morell, #NFDB
197:The real bottleneck is software. Creating software can be done only the old-fashioned way. A human -sitting quietly in a chair with a pencil, paper and laptop- is going to have to write the codes... One can mass-produce hardware and increase it's power by piling on more and more chips, but you cannot mass-produce the brain. ~ Michio Kaku, #NFDB
198:Artificial intelligence is defined as the branch of science and technology that is concerned with the study of software and hardware to provide machines the ability to learn insights and patterns from data and the environment, and the ability to adapt automatically to changing situations with high precision, accuracy and speed. ~ Amit Ray, #NFDB
199:There's no other company that could make a MacBook Air and the reason is that not only do we control the hardware, but we control the operating system. And it is the intimate interaction between the operating system and the hardware that allows us to do that. There is no intimate interaction between Windows and a Dell notebook. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
200:Annette sighs. Manfred's been upgrading this robot cat for years, and his ex-wife Pamela used to mess with its neural configuration, too: This is its third body, and it's getting more realistically uncooperative with every hardware upgrade. Sooner or later it's going to demand a litter tray and start throwing up on the carpet. ~ Charles Stross, #NFDB
201:Something we have to remember is that everything about the internet is interconnected. All of our systems are not just common to us because of the network links between them, but because of the software packages, because of the hardware devices that comprise it. The same router that's deployed in the United States is deployed in China. ~ Edward Snowden, #NFDB
202:You know what else I haven’t seen? Home stores. I’ve not passed the equivalent of Restoration Hardware or Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn, so I get the feeling that no one’s killing themselves working double shifts so they can consume stuff to make their homes Pinterest-perfect. Maybe the Roman message is to not let your stuff own you. ~ Jen Lancaster, #NFDB
203:So we stood up there for a long while, watching the sunset and discussing how it was one of those things you could never truly capture in 8-bit, not with the simplistic definition of violet (CHR$(156)), orange (CHR$(129)), and yellow (CHR$(158)). There were too many other colors, thousands of colors. The hardware could never do justice to it. ~ Jason Rekulak, #NFDB
204:When the handwritten guidance program was transcribed in Florida, a superscript bar was mistakenly left off the program. That one mistake meant that the program wasn’t able to correct the rocket’s course. Both the hardware failure of the Atlas antenna and the software bug in its guidance system meant that Mariner was completely out of control. ~ Nathalia Holt, #NFDB
205:Any man who had ever worked in a hardened missile site would have felt at home in Clavius. Here on the Moon were the same arts and hardware of underground living, and of protection against a hostile environment; but here they had been turned to the purposes of peace. After ten thousand years, Man had at last found something as exciting as war. ~ Arthur C Clarke, #NFDB
206:There is more to military units than hardware. There is the character of the unit's personnel: their strengths, experience, and knowledge, their ability to get along and work together amid the horrors of the battlefield. There is an almost undefinable quality. That quality is the Marine Corps' secret weapon. Their edge. That quality is their ethos. ~ Tom Clancy, #NFDB
207:While the hardware of civilization - iron pots, blankets, guns - was welcomed by Native people, the software of Protestantism and Catholicism - original sin, universal damnation, atonement, and subligation - was not, and Europeans were perplexed, offended, and incensed that Native peoples had the temerity to take their goods and return their gods. ~ Thomas King, #NFDB
208:We had the hardware expertise, the industrial design expertise and the software expertise, including iTunes. One of the biggest insights we have was that we decided not to try to manage your music library on the iPod, but to manage it in iTunes. Other companies tried to do everything on the device itself and made it so complicated that it was useless. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
209:We forgot about the lotion. We needed to put on the lotion!” He looked panicked. “The quick-drying plaster was a poor choice.”
Dove hunch-walked over to Duke, and he pulled on her boob bowls as she tried yanking on his crotch one.
“Oh my God, we’re going to have to go to the ER or the hardware store to get this stuff drilled off us. ~ Debra Anastasia,#NFDB
210:Some will say that this is merely a matter of software, which is intrinsically more adaptable than hardware like televisions or cellular phones. But before the Web became mainstream in the mid-1990s, the pace of software innovation followed the exact same 10/ 10 pattern of development that we saw in the spread of other twentieth-century technologies. ~ Steven Johnson, #NFDB
211:The burgeoning field of computer science has shifted our view of the physical world from that of a collection of interacting material particles to one of a seething network of information. In this way of looking at nature, the laws of physics are a form of software, or algorithm, while the material world-the hardware-plays the role of a gigantic computer. ~ Paul Davies, #NFDB
212:We ought to be keeping in mind that the technology is not just hardware and machinery, it is also software. So you can think of languages of the technology and writing of the technology and the social justice of the technology in what social justice does is reduce impacts on the Earth because the most impact is from the poorest and richest people. ~ Kim Stanley Robinson, #NFDB
213:He was taken by the sounds of the hollow iron pole's being tapped and caressed despondently by the hardware on the empty halyard...That's such an American sound, you know? School out and the flag down? Such a sad American sound. You should hear it sometime when the sun's gone down, and a light evening wind comes up, and it's suppertime all around the world. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
214:I’ve only been out a few days. I’d forgotten how fucking useless meat bodies are. There’s barely enough neurones to run a walking routine, let alone something complicated like tying your shoelaces up. I’ve had to run an expanded mentality in the habitat’s RI systems just to keep thinking properly; and that hardware isn’t exactly young and frisky any more. ~ Peter F Hamilton, #NFDB
215:For example, in intravenous (IV) solutions and kits for use in hospitals, procedures for attaching solutions to patients differ among competitive products and the hardware for hanging the IV bottles are not compatible. Here switching encounters great resistance from nurses responsible for administering the treatment and requires new investments in hardware. ~ Michael E Porter, #NFDB
216:Bezos dismissed those objections and insisted that to succeed in books as Apple had in music, Amazon needed to control the entire customer experience, combining sleek hardware with an easy-to-use digital bookstore. “We are going to hire our way to having the talent,” he told his executives in that meeting. “I absolutely know it’s very hard. We’ll learn how to do it. ~ Brad Stone, #NFDB
217:Ben-Ari frowned and stared around the galley. "We'll need more than computers. The Brendan has sensors too. Telescopes. Radio dishes. Lots of hardware. We might be able to move some of it over. The navigational systems I can probably move. We might have to duct tape them onto the Anansi's hull, but . . ." She nodded. "We might just be able to navigate on that thing. ~ Daniel Arenson, #NFDB
218:If the Mac was so great, why did it lose? Cost, again. Microsoft concentrated on the software business and unleashed a swarm of cheap component suppliers on Apple hardware. It did not help, either, that suits took over during a critical period. (And it hasn't lost yet. If Apple were to grow the iPod into a cell phone with a web browser, Microsoft would be in big trouble.) ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
219:cofounder of Pixar who clashed with Jobs. BURRELL SMITH. Brilliant, troubled hardware designer on the original Mac team, afflicted with schizophrenia in the 1990s. AVADIS “AVIE” TEVANIAN. Worked with Jobs and Rubinstein at NeXT, became chief software engineer at Apple in 1997. JAMES VINCENT. A music-loving Brit, the younger partner with Lee Clow and Duncan Milner at the ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
220:The NeXT purchase is too little too late. The Apple of the past was an innovative company that used software and hardware technology together to redefine the way people experienced computing. That Apple is already dead. Very adroit moves might be able to save the brand name. A company with the letters A-P-P-L-E in its name might survive, but it won't be the Apple of yore. ~ Nathan Myhrvold, #NFDB
221:Nothing's immortal on a road trip of a billion years. The universe runs down in stop-motion around you, your backups' backups' backups need backups. Not even the error-correcting replication strategies cadged from biology can keep the mutations at bay forever. It was true for us meatsicles cycling through mayfly moments every thousand years; it was just as true for the hardware. ~ Peter Watts, #NFDB
222:software-based. Hardware-based sensors are physical components built into a handset or tablet device. They derive their data by directly measuring specific environmental properties, such as acceleration, geomagnetic field strength, or angular change. Software-based sensors are not physical devices, although they mimic hardware-based sensors. Software-based sensors derive their data ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
223:Cultural conditioning is like bad software. Over and over it's diddled with and re-written so that it can just run on the next attempt. But there is cultural hardware, and it's that cultural hardware, otherwise known as authentic being, that we are propelled toward by the example of the shaman and the techniques of the shaman. ... Shamanism therefore is a call to authenticity. ~ Terence McKenna, #NFDB
224:The psyche's job is to keep us blissfully ignorant of who we are, what we think, and how we'll behave in any situation. We're all operating in a dense fog of mutual reinforcement. Our thoughts are shaped primarily by legacy hardware that evolved to assume that everyone else must be right. But even when the fog is pointed out, we're no better at navigating through it. ~ Richard Powers, #NFDB
225:The relentless acceleration of computer hardware over decades suggests that we’ve somehow managed to remain on the steep part of the S-curve for far longer than has been possible in other spheres of technology. The reality, however, is that Moore’s Law has involved successfully climbing a staircase of cascading S-curves, each representing a specific semiconductor fabrication technology. ~ Martin Ford, #NFDB
226:If your whole team consists of novice programmers, your expertise will give you considerable power; but if the other team members are also experts, they will attach less importance to your technical expertise. In that case, they’ll pay more attention to organizational power, like the power to acquire extra hardware, to extend the schedule, or to capture a more interesting assignment. ~ Gerald M Weinberg, #NFDB
227:My friend Keerthik Sasidharan suggested to me, in twenty-first-century terms, that Hinduism is analogous to an open-source operating system on top of which others can build applications to be deployed in the receptive hardware of human brains. All Hinduism demands before the formation of any belief is analytical and logical consistency. Even the existence of God is subject to this test. ~ Shashi Tharoor, #NFDB
228:Rather than plug a piece of hardware into our gray matter, how much more elegant to extract some brain cells, plop them into a Petri dish, and graft on various sorts of gelatinous computing goo. Slug it all back into the skull and watch it run on blood sugar, the way a human brain’s supposed to. Get all the functions and features you want, without that clunky-junky twentieth-century hardware thing. ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
229:But had it been the wine? Maybe it was something else. I was no math expert, but this was an intoxicating equation: Hot Guy with Mysterious Past + Way With Pretty Words x Chivalry at Beach / His Aloofness at Coffee Shop (Immunity to My Face & Flirty Efforts) + Innuendo at Hardware Store x Honest Confession about OCD Struggles —> Curiosity + Arousal (Belly Flutters + Pulse Quickening)=ATTACKISS. ~ Melanie Harlow, #NFDB
230:Technology is the key that unlocks the door of progress. We as product managers use any software or hardware that our companies can afford. The advancement of technology has enabled one person to do the work that in the past took at least two or three people to do. We are able to keep in constant contact with both customers and cowork-ers by E-mail. We take and place orders through secure web connec-tions. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
231:You wouldn’t believe the scope for mischief that the Beast of Redmond unintentionally builds into its Office software by letting it execute macros that have unlimited access to the hardware. I remember a particular post-prandial PowerPoint presentation where I was one of only two survivors (and the other wasn’t entirely human). However, this is the first time I’ve seen a Word document eat a man’s soul. ~ Charles Stross, #NFDB
232:The idea that hardware on networks should just be caches for movable process descriptions and the processes themselves goes back quite a ways. There's a real sense in which MS and Apple never understood networking or operating systems (or what objects really are), and when they decided to beef up their OSs, they went to (different) very old bad mainframe models of OS design to try to adapt to personal computers. ~ Alan Kay, #NFDB
233:That is at the heart of the concept of “scale,” which is very much a common denominator in motivating the region’s programmers, hardware hackers, and venture capitalists. It is not enough to make a profit, or to create something that is beautiful. It has to have an impact. It has to be something that goes under 95 percent of the world’s Christmas trees, or offers clean water or electricity to billions of people. ~ John Markoff, #NFDB
234:Other girls carried tasers or pepper spray for safety. Rosa had bought herself a stapler in a hardware store on the corner of Baltic and Clinton Streets. Her thinking was simple. An electric shock is nasty but leaves no marks. With her method, though, she could put two or three staples into any attacker’s body. Then he’d have to stop and decide whether to tangle with her or start getting the staples out of his skin. ~ Kai Meyer, #NFDB
235:The U.S. military is no more capable of operating without the Internet than Amazon.com would be. Logistics, command and control, fleet positioning, everything down to targeting, all rely on software and other Internet-related technologies. And all of it is just as insecure as your home computer, because it is all based on the same flawed underlying technologies and uses the same insecure software and hardware. ~ Richard A Clarke, #NFDB
236:When you advance a frontier, you're doing something that no one has done before. Every time that happens, you have to innovate. You have to think in new ways that hadn't been thought before. You have to invent a new piece of hardware, a new concept, a new law of physics, a new material, a new construction material to enable you to accomplish what it is that you chose to reach for by dreaming about tomorrow. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson, #NFDB
237:Quantum Machine Learning is defined as the branch of science and technology that is concerned with the application of quantum mechanical phenomena such as superposition, entanglement and tunneling for designing software and hardware to provide machines the ability to learn insights and patterns from data and the environment, and the ability to adapt automatically to changing situations with high precision, accuracy and speed. ~ Amit Ray, #NFDB
238:There is a moral sturdiness to (hardware store owner) Charley that isn't advertised or boasted about, but is obvious to all who know him and quickly discerned by those who don't. Our country has lately been afflicted with television preachers and pundits who focus on our families while neglecting theirs. How vainglorious these critics seem, how vacuous and shallow they appear when placed alongside a man of Charley's stature. ~ Philip Gulley, #NFDB
239:Since she was a scrappy little Hampden girl whose father owned one of those hardware stores where you walk in off the street and say, ‘Oh, my God! I’m so sorry! I seem to be in somebody’s basement!’ Shovels and rakes and wheelbarrows crowded up close together, coils of rope and lengths of chain hanging down from this really low ceiling you could practically bump your head on, and a tabby cat sound asleep on a sack of grass seed. ~ Anne Tyler, #NFDB
240:The big-ticket hardware folks invest the capital, take all the risks—which are huge—suffer the losses and the write-downs, and then let somebody else capture the business that has predictability, lower price sensitivity, higher margins, recurring revenue, and the opportunity to create an ongoing customer relationship, because the frequency of purchase is ten times greater than the frequency of the initial transaction. “So ~ Adrian J Slywotzky, #NFDB
241:Authors and publishers want fair compensation and a means of protecting content through digital rights management. Vendors and technology companies want new markets for e-book reading devices and other hardware. End-users most of all want a wide range and generous amount of high-quality content for free or at reasonable costs. Like end-users, libraries want quality, quantity, economy, and variety as well as flexible business models. ~ Tom Peters, #NFDB
242:The big change has been in the hardware/software cost ratio. The buyer of a $2-million machine in 1960 felt that he could afford $250,000 more for a customized payroll program, one that slipped easily and nondisruptively into the computer-hostile social environment. Buyers of $50,000 office machines today cannot conceivably afford customized payroll programs; so they adapt their payroll procedures to the packages available. ~ Frederick P Brooks Jr, #NFDB
243:The hardware man had measured out the nails, offered his condolences, and then asked Bright if he'd considered signing up to go to the war...With his mother dead, there was nothing really to stay for. Bright had signed his name, listened wordlessly to the instructions the man gave him, and then headed back to the cabin with an extra portion of nails for being the first to sign up in the book. It had been as easy as falling in a river. ~ Josh Ritter, #NFDB
244:With luck, you chose your work because of a bold vision. You want to deliver that vision to the world, whether it’s a message or a service or an experience, software or hardware or even—as in the case of this book—a story or an idea. But bringing a vision to life is difficult. It’s all too easy to get stuck in churn: endless email, deadlines that slip, meetings that burn up your day, and long-term projects based on questionable assumptions. ~ Jake Knapp, #NFDB
245:Gates has always understood Moore's Law better than anyone else in the industry. If you can make something run at all, get it out there -it may be slow and clunky, but hardware improvements will bail you out. If you wait until it's running perfectly on the hardware already in the field, it will be obsolete before it's released. This philosophy built Microsoft and is the main reason Microsoft won the war IBM declared back in the OS/2 days. ~ Jerry Pournelle, #NFDB
246:The difference between the best worker on computer hardware and the average may be 2 to 1, if you're lucky. With automobiles, maybe 2 to 1. But in software, it's at least 25 to 1. The difference between the average programmer and a great one is at least that. The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world. And when you're in a field where the dynamic range is 25 to 1, boy, does it pay off. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
247:The combination of GNU and Linux created an operating system that has been ported to more hardware platforms, ranging from the world’s ten biggest supercomputers to embedded systems in mobile phones, than any other operating system. “Linux is subversive,” wrote Eric Raymond. “Who would have thought that a world-class operating system could coalesce as if by magic out of part-time hacking by several thousand developers scattered all over the planet, ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
248:This entailed switching around by hand ENIAC’s rat’s nest of cables and resetting its switches. At first the programming seemed to be a routine, perhaps even menial task, which may have been why it was relegated to women, who back then were not encouraged to become engineers. But what the women of ENIAC soon showed, and the men later came to understand, was that the programming of a computer could be just as significant as the design of its hardware. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
249:Our first-party devices will light up digital work and life. Surface Pro 3 is a great example -- it is the world's best productivity tablet. In addition, we will build first-party hardware to stimulate more demand for the entire Windows ecosystem. That means at times we'll develop new categories like we did with Surface. It also means we will responsibly make the market for Windows Phone, which is our goal with the Nokia devices and services acquisition. ~ Satya Nadella, #NFDB
250:When the veterans in the group were growing up, computers were quite rare and expensive, but Veres went to school in the age when anyone with a little money and skill could make up a small personal system. Veres says that what he does at home is different enough from what he does at work to serve as recreation for him. At work he deals with hardware; when he’s at home, he focuses on software—reading programming manuals and creating new software for his own computer. ~ Tracy Kidder, #NFDB
251:In the end, if you do it right, people come out of the theater and say, “A movie about talking toys—what a clever idea!” But a movie is not one idea, it’s a multitude of them. And behind these ideas are people. This is true of products in general; the iPhone, for example, is not a singular idea—there is a mindboggling depth to the hardware and software that supports it. Yet too often, we see a single object and think of it as an island that exists apart and unto itself. ~ Ed Catmull, #NFDB
252:Program maintenance involves no cleaning, lubrication, or repair of deterioration. It consists chiefly of changes that repair design defects. Much more often than with hardware, these changes include added functions. Usually they are visible to the user. The total cost of maintaining a widely used program is typically 40 percent or more of the cost of developing it. Surprisingly, this cost is strongly affected by the number of users. More users find more bugs. ~ Frederick P Brooks Jr, #NFDB
253:They steered south. Gordita Beach emerged from the haze, gently flaking away in the salt breezes, the ramshackle town in a spill of weather-beaten colors, like paint chips at some out-of-the-way hardware store, and the hillside up to Dunecrest, which Doc had always thought of, especially after nights of excess, as steep, a grade everybody sooner or later wiped their clutch trying to get up and out of town on, looking from out here strangely flat, hardly there at all. ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
254:For instance, the education system, instead of going by textbook teaching, will promote creative and interactive self-learning—both formal and informal—with a focus on values, merit and quality. Workers, instead of being skilled or semi-skilled, will be knowledgeable, self-empowered and flexibly skilled. Types of work, instead of being structured and hardware driven, will be more flexible and software driven. Management styles will be delegative rather than directive. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
255:aujourd’hui. Nous, les scientifiques, nous sommes très concentrés sur l’étude de l’encre et du papier dont est
fait l’univers. Mais cette étude nous révèle-t-elle vraiment ce qu’est l’univers ? Ne nous faudrait-il pas l’étudier aussi sur un plan sémantique ? Ne devrions nous pas écouter sa musique et saisir sa poésie ? Dans l’observation de l’univers, ne sommes-nous pas focalisés sur le hardware, ignorant une dimension aussi importante que celle du software ? ~ Jos Rodrigues dos Santos,#NFDB
256:I love the fact that Satya Nadella's checked the checkbox for cross-platform for a number of our services. I still think it's very important to do the right kind of innovative integration across Windows and our hardware platforms with our cloud services. I think the company's doing a lot of good stuff. Real competition in AWS. Real competition in terms of the clients, particularly from a hardware perspective, there's also [competition] from Chrome. But all in all pretty good. ~ Steve Ballmer, #NFDB
257:china plate by a pool of its own wax. A standard household item, a few cents at the hardware store, but it felt as bright as the sun. Croselli said, “You.” Reacher said nothing. Croselli had shed his jacket and pulled down his tie, but his shirt was still wet. He said, “I was expecting Hemingway. What are you tonight, her knight in shining armor? Is she sending a boy to do a man’s job?” Is he armed? Reacher had asked. Not in the city, Hemingway had said. He can’t afford to be. Not ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
258:The original AMD GCN architecture allowed for one source of graphics commands, and two sources of compute commands. For PS4, we've worked with AMD to increase the limit to 64 sources of compute commands - the idea is if you have some asynchronous compute you want to perform, you put commands in one of these 64 queues, and then there are multiple levels of arbitration in the hardware to determine what runs, how it runs, and when it runs, alongside the graphics that's in the system. ~ Mark Cerny, #NFDB
259:—I've always liked hardware stores. All the glues and the garbage pails and the adzes and insect zappers. Makes you feel good. Some people think hardware stores are testaments to decay. Proofs that the creation exists to unmake itself, that everything's heading drainward. Negative. Just take a look, and all those stores are arguing precisely the opposite - that the world can be made better, significantly better, in, like, endless numbers of ways. They're seriously optimistic places— ~ Evan Dara, #NFDB
260:Imagine a computer. The monitor, keyboard, and processor are the hardware. Without any software to run it, your computer would be worthless. Your body is your hardware and your mindset is your operating system. It gives you access to the power of the hardware, and determines what software you can run. It lets you get the most out of your computer, allowing you to balance your checkbook and even create 3-D designs. Your mindset determines how you perceive and interact with the world. ~ Mike Cernovich, #NFDB
261:Every computer divides itself into its hardware and its software, the machine host to its algorithm, the human being to his mind. It is hardly surprising that men and women have done what computers now do long before computers could do anything at all. The dissociation between mind and matter in men and machines is very striking; it suggests that almost any stable and reliable organization of material objects can execute an algorithm and so come to command some form of intelligence. ~ David Berlinski, #NFDB
262:Life 1.0”: life where both the hardware and software are evolved rather than designed. You and I, on the other hand, are examples of “Life 2.0”: life whose hardware is evolved, but whose software is largely designed. By your software, I mean all the algorithms and knowledge that you use to process the information from your senses and decide what to do—everything from the ability to recognize your friends when you see them to your ability to walk, read, write, calculate, sing and tell jokes. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
263:If you look at the portion of the GPU available to compute throughout the frame, it varies dramatically from instant to instant. For example, something like opaque shadow map rendering doesn't even use a pixel shader, it's entirely done by vertex shaders and the rasterization hardware - so graphics aren't using most of the 1.8 teraflops of ALU available in the CUs. Times like that during the game frame are an opportunity to say, 'Okay, all that compute you wanted to do, turn it up to 11 now.' ~ Mark Cerny, #NFDB
264:...Where does she get her supplies?"
Winston held his gaze. Blinked. Licked his lips. Opened his mouth. Hesitated. Swallowed. Coughed. Finally responded, "The hardware store?"
"The hardware store?"
"Yes." Winston's head bobbed. "That's where she gets her stuff."
"Is that code for something?"
"No? Just the hardware store."
... "Any specific hardware store?" Asked Adrian.
"Hmmm." Winston seemed to consider this. Then, "Nope. She likes them all. ~ Marissa Meyer,#NFDB
265:It was the end of the day before John, Steve, and I had a chance to take a breath, heading upstairs and ducking into my office. The minute the door shut behind us, Steve put his arms around us and began to cry, tears of pride and relief—and, frankly, love. He had succeeded in providing Pixar, the company he’d helped turn from a struggling hardware supplier into an animation powerhouse, with the two things it needed to endure: a worthy corporate partner in Disney and, in Bob, a genuine advocate. ~ Ed Catmull, #NFDB
266:What Musk had done that the rival automakers missed or didn’t have the means to combat was turn Tesla into a lifestyle. It did not just sell someone a car. It sold them an image, a feeling they were tapping into the future, a relationship. Apple did the same thing decades ago with the Mac and then again with the iPod and iPhone. Even those who were not religious about their affiliation to Apple were sucked into its universe once they bought the hardware and downloaded software like iTunes. This ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
267:The only two countries who will be able to launch people into space will be Russia and China. I've seen the Russian technology up close and I've had a chance to look at some of the Chinese technology. It's a very high level. They have good hardware and what China lacks is operational experience. But as they gain more experience, as they fly more missions, they'll catch up quickly. The U.S. does face the possibility of losing the lead in human space flight during this period of what we call the gap. ~ Leroy Chiao, #NFDB
268:I suspect that if we can build such ultra-intelligent machines, then the first one will be severely limited by the software we’ve written for it, and that we’ll have compensated for our lack of understanding about how to optimally program intelligence by building hardware with significantly more computing power than our brains have. After all, our neurons are no better or more numerous than those of dolphins, just differently connected, suggesting that software can sometimes be more important than hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
269:While Steve’s gadgets and computers drew the most attention, the software that made them go was every bit as important. Steve always said that Apple’s primary competitive advantage was that it created the whole widget: the finely tuned symbiosis between the hardware and the software together defined a superior user experience. In the PC world, hardware and software technologies came from different companies that didn’t always even get along, including IBM and the PC-clone manufacturers, Microsoft, and Intel. ~ Brent Schlender, #NFDB
270:Co-ops tend to take hold when the order of things is in flux, when people have to figure out how to do what no one will do for them. Farmers had to get their own electricity when investors wouldn’t bring it; small hardware stores organized co-ops to compete with big boxes before buying local was in fashion. Before employers and governments offered insurance, people set it up for themselves. Co-ops have served as test runs for the social contracts that may later be taken for granted, and they’re doing so again. ~ Nathan Schneider, #NFDB
271:For thousands of generations, humans have lived the same sort of life cycle over and over: we’re born, we control a fragile body, we enjoy a small strip of sensory reality, and then we die. Science may give us the tools to transcend that evolutionary story. We can now hack our own hardware, and as a result our brains don’t need to remain as we’ve inherited them. We’re capable of inhabiting new kinds of sensory realities and new kinds of bodies. Eventually we may even be able to shed our physical forms altogether. ~ David Eagleman, #NFDB
272:The Xerox Corporation’s Palo Alto Research Center, known as Xerox PARC, had been established in 1970 to create a spawning ground for digital ideas. It was safely located, for better and for worse, three thousand miles from the commercial pressures of Xerox corporate headquarters in Connecticut. Among its visionaries was the scientist Alan Kay, who had two great maxims that Jobs embraced: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”and “People who are serious about software should make their own hardware. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
273:The problem is a real one, not a mere intellectual game. Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups—and the electronic hardware exists by which to deliver these pseudo-worlds right into the heads of the reader, the viewer, the listener…. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing. It is my job to create universes…. ~ Kurt Andersen, #NFDB
274:Another memory comes, not of the final time I saw Ligeia but a week before she disappeared, something mundane yet vivid. The mystery of memory. There's surely some scientific explanation for why the brain decides Don't let go of this. I've read novels and cannot recall a single character's name and yet I remember a red bicycle glanced once in a hardware-store window, a mole on a stranger's chin, a kitchen match lying beside a hearth. These remain, as does Ligeia reaching into her locker, a book crooked in her arm sliding free. ~ Ron Rash, #NFDB
275:Jandali (The Lost Father). ALVY RAY SMITH. A cofounder of Pixar who clashed with Jobs. BURRELL SMITH. Brilliant, troubled hardware designer on the original Mac team, afflicted with schizophrenia in the 1990s. AVADIS “AVIE” TEVANIAN. Worked with Jobs and Rubinstein at NeXT, became chief software engineer at Apple in 1997. JAMES VINCENT. A music-loving Brit, the younger partner with Lee Clow and Duncan Milner at the ad agency Apple hired. RON WAYNE. Met Jobs at Atari, became first partner with Jobs and Wozniak at fledgling ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
276:When your house contains such a complex of piping, flues, ducts, wires, lights, inlets, outlets, ovens, sinks, refuse disposers, hi-fi re-verberators, antennae, conduits, freezers, heaters -when it contains so many services that the hardware could stand up by itself without any assistance from the house, why have a house hold it up. When the cost of all this tackle is half of the total outlay (or more, as it often is) what is the house doing except concealing your mechanical pudenda from the stares of folks on the sidewalk? ~ Reyner Banham, #NFDB
277:Latin America can no longer tolerate being a haven for United States liberals who cannot make their point at home, an outlet for apostles too "apostolic" to find their vocation as competent professionals within their own community. The hardware salesman threatens to dump second-rate imitations of parishes, schools and catechisms -- out-moded even in the United States -- all around the continent. The traveling escapist threatens further to confuse a foreign world with his superficial protests, which are not viable even at home. ~ Ivan Illich, #NFDB
278:My first operating system project was to build a real-time system called RSX-11M that ran on Digital's PDP-11 16-bit series of minicomputers. ... a multitasking operating system that would run in 32 KB of memory with a hierarchical file system, application swapping, real-time scheduling, and a set of development utilities. The operating system and utilities were to run on the entire line of PDP-11 platforms, from the very small systems up through the PDP-11/70 which had memory-mapping hardware and supported up to 4 MB of memory. ~ Dave Cutler, #NFDB
279:Most of my colleagues go on backpacking trips when they have to do some thinking. I go to a good hardware store and head for the oiliest, dustiest corners... If they're really good, they don't hassle me. They let me wander around and think. Young hardware clerks have a lot of hubris. They think they can help you find anything... Old hardware clerks have learned the hard way that nothing in a hardware store ever gets bought for its nominal purpose. You buy something that was designed to do one thing, and you use it for another. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
280:In a recent analysis, Martin Grötschel of the Zuse Institute in Berlin found that, using the computers and software that existed in 1982, it would have taken a full eighty-two years to solve a particularly complex production planning problem. As of 2003, the same problem could be solved in about a minute—an improvement by a factor of around 43 million. Computer hardware became about 1,000 times faster over the same period, which means that improvements in the algorithms used accounted for approximately a 43,000-fold increase in performance. ~ Martin Ford, #NFDB
281:At the city’s dizzying electronics markets, they can choose from thousands of different variations of circuit boards, sensors, microphones, and miniature cameras. Once a prototype is assembled, the builders can go door to door at hundreds of factories to find one capable of producing their product in small batches or at large scale. That geographic density of parts suppliers and product manufacturers accelerates the innovation process. Hardware entrepreneurs say that a week spent working in Shenzhen is equivalent to a month in the United States. ~ Kai Fu Lee, #NFDB
282:He said when he went to sell a man a flue, he asked first about that man's wife's health and how his children were. He said he had a book that he kept the names of his customers' families and what was wrong with them. A man's wife had cancer, he put her name down in the book and wrote 'cancer' after it and inquired about her every time he went to that man's hardware store until she died; then he scratched out the word 'cancer' and wrote 'dead' there. "And I say thank God when they're dead," the salesman said; "that's one less to remember. ~ Flannery O Connor, #NFDB
283:Jobs and his team went to a Xerox dealer to look at the Star as soon as it was released. But he deemed it so worthless that he told his colleagues they couldn’t spend the money to buy one. “We were very relieved,” he recalled. “We knew they hadn’t done it right, and that we could—at a fraction of the price.” A few weeks later he called Bob Belleville, one of the hardware designers on the Xerox Star team. “Everything you’ve ever done in your life is shit,” Jobs said, “so why don’t you come work for me?” Belleville did, and so did Larry Tesler. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
284:Some governments have vast armies and weapons with which to confront other nations or resist their attacks, but only the Christian church has the “military hardware” to intervene in the spiritual realm in the heavenlies. As we have seen in Daniel’s case, the one who wins in the heavenlies ultimately determines the course of history. So, the most significant action you can take for the sake of history is to be an intercessor. By so doing, you will pray through spiritual issues in the heavenlies that will determine the history of nations on earth. ~ Derek Prince, #NFDB
285:Both had been taken out of front-line service after the Gulf War in 1991. Neither had proved sufficiently durable. Their task had been to haul Abrams battle tanks around. Battle tanks were built for tank battles, not for driving from A to B on public roads. Roads got ruined, tracks wore out, between-maintenance hours were wasted unproductively. Hence tank transporters. But Abrams tanks weighed more than sixty tons, and wear and tear on the HETs was prodigious. Back to the drawing board. The old-generation hardware was relegated to lighter duties. But ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
286:All devices in fact process something. That, after all, is why economists refer to technologies as means of production.
Does the correspondence work in the other direction? Can we view methods and processes as devices? The answer is yes. Processes and methods-think of oil refining or sorting algorithms-are sequences of operations. But to execute, they always require some hardware, some sort of physical equipment that carries out the operations. We could see this physical equipment as forming a "device" executing this sequence of operations. ~ W Brian Arthur,#NFDB
287:Cada día vemos más ejemplos de modelos de negocio con hardware de código abierto que operan con toda brillantez. La impresora MakerBot en 3-D es hardware de código abierto, como lo es la RepRap sobre la que se construyó. También lo son Arduino y los centenares de productos de empresas como Adafruit, Seeed Studio y SparkFun. La investigación realizada por Phillip Torrone, de Adafruit, reveló que a finales de 2011 había más de trescientos productos de código abierto comercializados, lo que representa más de 50 millones de dólares de ingresos anuales ~ Chris Anderson, #NFDB
288:I personally have seen flamingos throughout the state of Utah perched proudly on lawns and in the gravel gardens of trailer courts. These flamingos, of course, are not Phoenicopterus ruber, but pink, plastic flamingos that can easily be purchased at any hardware store.
It is curious that we need to create an environment foreign from our own. In 1985, over 450,000 plastic flamingos were purchased in the United States. And the number is rising.
Pink flamingos teetering on suburban lawns - our unnatural link to the natural world. ~ Terry Tempest Williams,#NFDB
289:Prometheus’ software was now highly optimized to make the most of the rather mediocre human-invented hardware it ran on, and as the Omegas had anticipated, Prometheus identified ways of dramatically improving this hardware. Fearing a breakout, they refused to build robotic construction facilities that Prometheus could control directly. Instead, they hired large numbers of world-class scientists and engineers in multiple locations and fed them internal research reports written by Prometheus, pretending that they were from researchers at the other sites. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
290:A sudden jolt lifted his chair right into the air, and he saw that the floor below him had flipped up like a tin lid. All data through the hand interface cut out, then came an enormous shudder as the great ship again surfaced into the real. ‘Jerusalem?’ After a long pause the AI replied over intercom, ‘My phasic modular B folderol.’ ‘Is it really?’ Azroc enquired. ‘Ipso facto total bellish.’ ‘Yes, mine is too.’ ‘Repairing.’ Static hissed from the intercom, then came a sound suspiciously like someone kicking a piece of malfunctioning hardware. ‘OK. Better. ~ Neal Asher, #NFDB
291:The early researchers described em-tracking as a hardware upgrade for the nervous system, maybe the result of a genetic shift, possibly a fast adaptation, Studies revealed an assortment of cognitive improvements: acute perceptual sensitivity, rapid data acquisition, high speed pattern recognition. The biggest change was in future prediction. Normally, the human brain is a selfish prognosticator, built to trace an individual’s path into the future. The em-tracker’s brain offers a wider oracle, capable of following a whole culture’s path into the future. ~ Steven Kotler, #NFDB
292:He had a son-in-law named Ed MacLuckie who was looking for a job and who had expressed a liking for the food service business. Ed was working a wholesale hardware territory over in Michigan at the time and it was not going well. So I talked to him. He was one of these whip-lean, nervous types who are often very fussy and fastidious and have great endurance. Just the kind of qualifications I was looking for, so I hired him as a manager of my first store. Art Bender, the McDonald brothers’ manager, came to Des Plaines and helped Ed and me open that store on April 15, 1955. ~ Ray Kroc, #NFDB
293:I wondered what my father had looked like that day, how he had felt, marrying the lively and beautiful girl who was my mother. I wondered what his life was like now. Did he ever think of us? I wanted to hate him, but I couldn't; I didn't know him well enough. Instead, I wondered about him occasionally, with a confused kind of longing. There was a place inside me carved out for him; I didn't want it to be there, but it was. Once, at the hardware store, Brooks had shown me how to use a drill. I'd made a tiny hole that went deep. The place for my father was like that. ~ Elizabeth Berg, #NFDB
294:Para la instalación y configuración del hardware: Experto en hardware y Componentes y drivers requeridos por el software de análisis de información: Bachiller en ingeniería de sistemas, ingeniería informática, ingeniería industrial, sistemas de información, ingeniería de software, ingeniería electrónica, ingeniería económica, computación. Con certificación oficial en los productos de hardware y Componentes y drivers requeridos por el software de análisis de información a instalar. Con experiencia acreditada de por lo menos 5 años en la instalación de sistemas similares. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
295:let’s instead define life very broadly, simply as a process that can retain its complexity and replicate. What’s replicated isn’t matter (made of atoms) but information (made of bits) specifying how the atoms are arranged. When a bacterium makes a copy of its DNA, no new atoms are created, but a new set of atoms are arranged in the same pattern as the original, thereby copying the information. In other words, we can think of life as a self-replicating information-processing system whose information (software) determines both its behavior and the blueprints for its hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
296:Because sometimes it feels good to shake it all off, get out from under. Chances are, we haven’t. But maybe we have. Maybe nobody, nobody at all, knows where we are. Nice feeling, huh? You could be kinked, you ever think of that? Maybe your dad, the Yak warlord, he’s got a little bug planted in you so he can keep track of his daughter. You got those pretty little teeth, maybe Daddy’s dentist tucked a little hardware in there one time when you were into a stim. You go to the dentist?” “Yes.” “You stim while he works?” “Yes …” “There you go. Maybe he’s listening to us right now.… ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
297:They learn about a volunteer encampment in the muddy fields of a sympathetic retired fisherman, not far from Solace. The bivouac swarms with more activity than coherence. Quick young people, loud in their devotion, call across the tent-dotted meadow. Their noses, ears, and eyebrows flash with hardware. Dreadlocks tangle in the fibers of their multicolored garb. They stink of soil, sweat, idealism, patchouli oil, and the sweet sinsemilla grown all through these woods. Some stay for two days. Some, judging from their microflora, have been in this base camp for more than a few seasons. ~ Richard Powers, #NFDB
298:4B, Sofia announced. Who lived here? Mrs. Sanchez, she was a very nice lady. She was nice? Yes. 4C. Who lived here. The Kleins. Were they nice? They were old. The apartment doors, once oak, were now all single slabs of siege-mentality sheet metal, their numbers, in his time screwed-in brass, nothing more than hardware-store decals. But he couldn’t care less about these particular outrages against memory, because in the end the information they provided was the same information as twenty years ago, and any way you cut it the doors and their numbers would always tell the same story. 4D. Who lived here? ~ Richard Price, #NFDB
299:Some information is classified legitimately; as with military hardware, secrecy sometimes really is in the national interest. Further, military, political, and intelligence communities tend to value secrecy for its own sake. It's a way of silencing critics and evading responsibility - for incompetence or worse. It generates an elite, a band of brothers in whom the national confidence can be reliably vested, unlike the great mass of citizenry on whose behalf the information is presumably made secret in the first place. With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. ~ Carl Sagan, #NFDB
300:In summary, there’s absolutely no guarantee that we’ll manage to build human-level AGI in our lifetime—or ever. But there’s also no watertight argument that we won’t. There’s no longer a strong argument that we lack enough hardware firepower or that it will be too expensive. We don’t know how far we are from the finish line in terms of architectures, algorithms and software, but current progress is swift and the challenges are being tackled by a rapidly growing global community of talented AI researchers. In other words, we can’t dismiss the possibility that AGI will eventually reach human levels and beyond. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
301:There is a more general way to see that devices and processes are not different categories. A technology embodies a sequence of operations; we can call this its "software." And these operations require physical equipment to execute them; we can call this the technology's "hardware." If we emphasize the "software" we see a process or method. If we emphasize the "hardware," we see a physical device. Technologies consist of both, but emphasizing one over the other makes them seem to belong to two different categories: devices and processes. The two categories are merely different ways of viewing a technology. ~ W Brian Arthur, #NFDB
302:Tell you what,” A.J. offered. “I’ve got some errands to run today. We’ll hijack the truck and pick up a new one together.”
“You askin’ me on a date?” Chester asked wolfishly.
“I suppose I am.”
“You buyin’ or am I?”
“If you’re talking about the wheelbarrow, I am,” Devlin interjected.
“But what about food? If it’s a date, ya need food.”
“Probably not a lot of that at the local hardware store,” A.J. said with a grin. “Considering your days of eating nails are over with.”
“Well, I’ll pay for lunch if we go to the Pick a’ the Chicken.”
“Okay, but you should know, I don’t kiss on the first date.”
“Neither do I. ~ J R Ward,#NFDB
303:The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
304:Last year, I was teaching a group of executives who were arguing about whether it was possible to do creative work with people who had poor social skills and who preferred to work alone. One executive from a computer hardware firm squirmed and turned red, finally blurting out, “These are exactly the kind of people I manage.” He went on to say: They hide in their offices, and don’t come out. We divide the work so they each have a separate part. We slide their assignment under the door and run away. They ignore us when we tell them it is good enough—they won’t let us build it until it meets their standards for elegant designs—they don’t care what we think. ~ Robert I Sutton, #NFDB
305:A startup called Wit.ai plans to make it easy for hardware makers and software developers to add custom voice controls to everything from Internet-connected thermostats to drones to smart watches. While big companies like Apple and Google have their own voice recognition technology, smaller companies and independent developers don’t have the deep pockets required to create voice software that continuously learns from mountains of data. Wit.ai, based in Palo Alto, California, is taking aim at the swiftly growing number of devices with small displays, or no screen at all, and at activities like driving and cooking, where you don’t want to look at or touch a display. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
306:If rewards come from solving problems and if different people have differing capacities for solving different types of problems, then disputes as to what problems most require solution can only be expected. Engineers and accountants, to take an obvious example, differ widely in the type of problem that they can solve competently. They notoriously disagree on whether the reverse salients blocking the growth of a particular enterprise are financial or technological in nature. Similarly, engineers with different skills and types of experience may also disagree on whether, for example, the technological reverse salients are hardware problems or software problems. ~ Wiebe E Bijker, #NFDB
307:All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don't like 'em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in 'em, 'cause that's cool. Guys who like military hardware, who think advanced military hardware is cool, are not gonna jump all over my books, because they have other ideas about what's cool. ~ Stephen Brust, #NFDB
308:It was ironic, really - you want to die because you can't be bothered to go on living - but then you're expected to get all energetic and move furniture and stand on chairs and hoist ropes and do complicated knots and attach things to other things and kick stools from under you and mess around with hot baths and razor blades and extension cords and electrical appliances and weedkiller. Suicide was a complicated, demanding business, often involving visits to hardware shops.
And if you've managed to drag yourself from the bed and go down the road to the garden center or the drug store, by then the worst is over. At that point you might as well just go to work. ~ Marian Keyes,#NFDB
309:An example of the extent of the FSB and GRU covert cyber collection and exploitation was the exposure of what was most likely a Russian State Security & Navy Intelligence covert operation to monitor, exploit and hack targets within the central United States from Russian merchant ships equipped with advanced hacking hardware and tools. The US Coast guard boarded the merchant ship SS Chem Hydra and in it they found wireless intercept equipment associated with Russian hacking teams. Apparently the vessel had personnel on board who were tasked to collect intelligence on wireless networks and attempt hackings on regional computer networks in the heartland of America.59 ~ Malcolm W Nance, #NFDB
310:I thought I’d been getting along fine with the weekend visits and occasional summer sleepovers, but suddenly I was aware of all I’d missed, the little intimate everyday things that amounted to a real relationship. I remembered Dad tucking me in at night when I was little, sitting next to me on the couch watching TV, taking me to the hardware store with him to buy some small item he needed and, afterward, stopping off to get an ice cream cone. Despite everything everyone said about spending “quality time” with kids, I realized that it was “quantity time” that was more important. I never cared what I did with my dad, I just wanted to be with him for as much time as possible. ~ Bentley Little, #NFDB
311:Progress is the same rocket that launches the manned Soyuz. Our three new crewmates, due up in a little less than a month on May 26, are about to trust their lives to the same hardware and software. The Russian space agency must investigate what went wrong and make sure there won’t be a recurrence. That will interfere with our schedule up here, but no one wants to fly on a Soyuz that’s going to do the same thing this Progress did. It would make for a horrible death, spinning out of control in low Earth orbit knowing you will soon be dead from CO2 asphyxiation or oxygen deprivation, after which our corpses would orbit the Earth until they burn up in the atmosphere months later. ~ Scott Kelly, #NFDB
312:Since we don’t want to limit our thinking about the future of life to the species we’ve encountered so far, let’s instead define life very broadly, simply as a process that can retain its complexity and replicate. What’s replicated isn’t matter (made of atoms) but information (made of bits) specifying how the atoms are arranged. When a bacterium makes a copy of its DNA, no new atoms are created, but a new set of atoms are arranged in the same pattern as the original, thereby copying the information. In other words, we can think of life as a self-replicating information-processing system whose information (software) determines both its behavior and the blueprints for its hardware. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
313:declined to keep licensing it out. “If the platform goes closed, it is over,” Kahng said. “Total destruction. Closed is the kiss of death.” Jobs disagreed. He telephoned Ed Woolard to say he was getting Apple out of the licensing business. The board acquiesced, and in September he reached a deal to pay Power Computing $100 million to relinquish its license and give Apple access to its database of customers. He soon terminated the licenses of the other cloners as well. “It was the dumbest thing in the world to let companies making crappier hardware use our operating system and cut into our sales,” he later said. Product Line Review One of Jobs’s great strengths was knowing how to focus. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
314:The Android sensor framework lets you access many types of sensors. Some of these sensors are hardware-based and some are software-based. Hardware-based sensors are physical components built into a handset or tablet device. They derive their data by directly measuring specific environmental properties, such as acceleration, geomagnetic field strength, or angular change. Software-based sensors are not physical devices, although they mimic hardware-based sensors. Software-based sensors derive their data from one or more of the hardware-based sensors and are sometimes called virtual sensors or synthetic sensors. The linear acceleration sensor and the gravity sensor are examples of software-based ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
315:Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools. Neither new attitudes of teachers toward their pupils nor the proliferation of educational hardware or software (in classroom or bedroom), nor finally the attempt to expand the pedagogue’s responsibility until it engulfs his pupils’ lifetimes will deliver universal education. The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring. ~ Ivan Illich, #NFDB
316:Our hardware is likely to turn into something like us a lot faster than we are likely to turn into something like our hardware. Our hardware is evolving at the speed of light, while we are still the product, for the most part, of unskilled labor. But there is another argument against the need to implant computing devices, be they glass or goo. It’s a very simple one, so simple that some have difficulty grasping it. It has to do with a certain archaic distinction we still tend to make, a distinction between computing and “the world.” Between, if you like, the virtual and the real. I very much doubt that our grandchildren will understand the distinction between that which is a computer and that which isn’t. ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
317:In 2016, Tesla announced that every new vehicle would be equipped with all the hardware it needs to drive autonomously, including a bevy of sensors and an onboard computer running a neural network.2 The kicker: the autonomous AI software won’t be fully deployed. As it turns out, Tesla will test drivers against software simulations running in the background on the car’s computer. Only when the background program consistently simulates moves more safely than the driver does will the autonomous software be ready for prime time. At that point, Tesla will release the program through remote software updates. What this all means is that Tesla drivers will, in aggregate, be teaching the fleet of cars how to drive. ~ Paul R Daugherty, #NFDB
318:The creative imitator looks at products or services from the viewpoint of the customer. IBM’s personal computer is practically indistinguishable from the Apple in its technical features, but IBM from the beginning offered the customer programs and software. Apple maintained traditional computer distribution through specialty stores. IBM—in a radical break with its own traditions—developed all kinds of distribution channels, specialty stores, major retailers like Sears, Roebuck, its own retail stores, and so on. It made it easy for the consumer to buy and it made it easy for the consumer to use the product. These, rather than hardware features, were the “innovations” that gave IBM the personal computer market. ~ Peter F Drucker, #NFDB
319:Massachusetts?” Lizzy yawned. Mrs. McKinliy glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled. “No. We’re in Maine. It shouldn’t be too long now.” Sarah, Mariana, and Lizzy rubbed the sleep from their eyes and looked out the side window. They passed by fields, farms, woodland, and scattered farm houses. Then they reached the outskirts of a small town. The town was nothing like Melville, Massachusetts. A roadside sign indicated that the town had a population of just 458 people. There were less than a dozen businesses in the “downtown” area. There was a grocery store, laundromat, hardware store, diner, gas station, restaurant, book store, dime store, secondhand shop, and a real estate office. That was it. They passed ~ Roderick J Robison, #NFDB
320:Apple has always insisted on having a hardware monopoly, except for a brief period in the mid-1990s when they allowed clone-makers to compete with them, before subsequently putting them out of business. Macintosh hardware was, consequently, expensive. You didn’t open it up and fool around with it because doing so would void the warranty. In fact, the first Mac was specifically designed to be difficult to open—you needed a kit of exotic tools, which you could buy through little ads that began to appear in the back pages of magazines a few months after the Mac came out on the market. These ads always had a certain disreputable air about them, like pitches for lock-picking tools in the backs of lurid detective magazines. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
321:Nevertheless, by dint of his personality and controlling instincts, Jobs was soon playing a stronger role. He spewed out a stream of ideas - some reasonable, others wacky - about what Pixar's hardware and software could become. And on his occasional visits to the PIxar offices, he was an inspiring presence. "I grew up a Southern Baptist, and we had revival meetings with mesmerizing but corrupt preachers," recounted Alvy Ray Smith. "Steve's got it: the power of the tongue and the web of words that catches people up. We were aware of this when we had board meetings, so we developed signals - nose scratching or ear tugs - for when someone had been caught up in Steve's distortion field and he needed to be tugged back to reality. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
322:It’s natural for us to rate the difficulty of tasks relative to how hard it is for us humans to perform them, as in figure 2.1. But this can give a misleading picture of how hard they are for computers. It feels much harder to multiply 314,159 by 271,828 than to recognize a friend in a photo, yet computers creamed us at arithmetic long before I was born, while human-level image recognition has only recently become possible. This fact that low-level sensorimotor tasks seem easy despite requiring enormous computational resources is known as Moravec’s paradox, and is explained by the fact that our brain makes such tasks feel easy by dedicating massive amounts of customized hardware to them—more than a quarter of our brains, in fact. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
323:I imagined, the Main Street of small-town America. I instead found ghost towns. My footsteps echoed down small-town Main Streets. On one, a pharmacist left a note in the window of her store. She had enjoyed serving the town, she wrote, but couldn’t hang on anymore and she hoped they’d understand why she was leaving like all the rest. She left no forwarding address. Walmart was often the only place to buy most of life’s essentials in these heartland towns. Strolling their Walmarts, I imagined its aisles haunted by the ghosts of store owners who once sustained small-town America. On one aisle was the departed local grocer, down another the former hardware store owner, next to that, the woman’s clothier or that long-gone pharmacist. ~ Sam Quinones, #NFDB
324:So, just as all Fords rolling off the assembly line in a given week might have serial numbers beginning with the same few characters, all the network chips in a given batch would start with the same few hex digits. Some of Dinah’s chips were cheap off-the-shelf hardware made for terrestrial use, but she also had some rad-hard ones, which she hoarded in a shielded box in a drawer beneath her workstation. She opened that drawer, pulled out that box, and took out a little green PC board, about the size of a stick of gum, with an assortment of chips mounted to it. Printed in white capital letters directly on the board was its MAC address. And its first half-dozen digits matched those in the transmission coming from the Space Troll. ~ Neal Stephenson, #NFDB
325:Based on the above analyses, it is reasonable to expect the hardware that can emulate human-brain functionality to be available for approximately one thousand dollars by around 2020. As we will discuss in chapter 4, the software that will replicate that functionality will take about a decade longer. However, the exponential growth of the price-performance, capacity, and speed of our hardware technology will continue during that period, so by 2030 it will take a village of human brains (around one thousand) to match a thousand dollars’ worth of computing. By 2050, one thousand dollars of computing will exceed the processing power of all human brains on Earth. Of course, this figure includes those brains still using only biological neurons. ~ Ray Kurzweil, #NFDB
326:So, before he got sick, he used to tear up her hardware, the designer's, and put the real parts into cases he'd make in his shop. Say he'd make a solid bronze case for a minidisk unit, ebony inlays, carve the control surfaces out of fossil ivory, turquoise, rock crystal. It weighed more, sure, but it turned out a lot of people liked that, like they had their music or their memory, whatever, in some-thing that felt like it was there…. And people liked touching all that stuff: metal, a smooth stone…. And once you had the case, when the manufacturer brought out a new model, well, if the electronics were any better, you just pulled the old ones out and put the new ones in your case. So you still had the same object, just with better functions. ~ William Gibson, #NFDB
327:MAVIS (coming up close to him): Robin, don’t you notice anything different about me? ROBIN (sniffing): Hm-m-m. Why, yes, you’ve got a funny smell. MAVIS: Don’t you find me heady, sultry, confusing? ROBIN: No. (critically) But you’ve put on a lot of weight lately. MAVIS: Have I? ROBIN: You certainly have. You’re as big as a house. And your slip is showing. MAVIS: I’m not wearing a slip. ROBIN: Well, it would show if you were. MAVIS: Anything else? ROBIN: Maybe I shouldn’t call attention to it. MAVIS: No, no, darling. By all means call attention to it. ROBIN: You’re getting wrinkles under the eyes. And a scraggly neck, like a turkey. MAVIS: Not much gets past you, does it? ROBIN (comfortably): I guess I’m just about as wide awake as anybody in the hardware business. ~ S J Perelman, #NFDB
328:This kind of pragmatism has become a hallmark of our psychological culture. In the mid-1990s, I described how it was commonplace for people to “cycle through” different ideas of the human mind as (to name only a few images) mechanism, spirit, chemistry, and vessel for the soul.14 These days, the cycling through intensifies. We are in much more direct contact with the machine side of mind. People are fitted with a computer chip to help with Parkinson’s. They learn to see their minds as program and hardware. They take antidepressants prescribed by their psychotherapists, confident that the biochemical and oedipal self can be treated in one room. They look for signs of emotion in a brain scan. Old jokes about couples needing “chemistry” turn out not to be jokes at all. ~ Sherry Turkle, #NFDB
329:In speaking of the human brain as an electro-colloidal biocomputer, we all know where the hardware is: it is inside the human skull. The software, however, seems to be anywhere and everywhere. For instance, the software “in” my brain also exists outside my brain in such forms as, say, a book I read twenty years ago, which was an English translation of various signals transmitted by Plato 2400 years ago. Other parts of my software are made up of the software of Confucius, James Joyce, my second-grade teacher, the Three Stooges, Beethoven, my mother and father, Richard Nixon, my various dogs and cats, Dr. Carl Sagan, and anybody and (to some extent) any-thing that has ever impacted upon my brain. This may sound strange, but that’s the way software (or information) functions. ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #NFDB
330:The other part of me wanted to get out and stay out, but this was the part I never listened to. Because if I ever had I would have stayed in the town where I was born and worked in the hardware store and married the boss's daughter and had five kids and read them the funny paper on Sunday morning and smacked their heads when they got out of line and squabbled with the wife about how much spending money they were to get and what programs they could have on the radio or TV set. I might even get rich - small-town rich, an eight-room house, two cars in the garage, chicken every Sunday and the Reader's Digest on the living room table, the wife with a cast-iron permanent and me with a brain like a sack of Portland cement. You take it, friend. I'll take the big sordid dirty crooked city. ~ Raymond Chandler, #NFDB
331:Bill Gates told me after Steve’s death. “You know, if you were going to do hardware and software together, and you’re going to do a few super, super nice designs, and you’re going to do it end-to-end where partnerships aren’t the key thing, where you control that experience totally. He managed a great organization that was purpose-fit to that.” We had been chatting about why so many books had been written promising to reveal how to do business “the Apple way,” or “the Steve Jobs way.” Bill was describing why Steve is a unique managerial case, someone whose model has limited applications. “Maybe you should call your book Don’t Try This at Home,” he said, only half joking. “So many of the people who want to be like Steve have the asshole side down. What they’re missing is the genius part.” One ~ Brent Schlender, #NFDB
332:JOHN LASSETER. Cofounder and creative force at Pixar. DAN’L LEWIN. Marketing exec with Jobs at Apple and then NeXT. MIKE MARKKULA. First big Apple investor and chairman, a father figure to Jobs. REGIS MCKENNA. Publicity whiz who guided Jobs early on and remained a trusted advisor. MIKE MURRAY. Early Macintosh marketing director. PAUL OTELLINI. CEO of Intel who helped switch the Macintosh to Intel chips but did not get the iPhone business. LAURENE POWELL. Savvy and good-humored Penn graduate, went to Goldman Sachs and then Stanford Business School, married Steve Jobs in 1991. GEORGE RILEY. Jobs’s Memphis-born friend and lawyer. ARTHUR ROCK. Legendary tech investor, early Apple board member, Jobs’s father figure. JONATHAN “RUBY” RUBINSTEIN. Worked with Jobs at NeXT, became chief hardware engineer at Apple ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
333:The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature is as follows: All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool. And that works all the way from the external trappings to the level of metaphor, subtext, and the way one uses words. In other words, I happen not to think that full-plate armor and great big honking greatswords are cool. I don't like 'em. I like cloaks and rapiers. So I write stories with a lot of cloaks and rapiers in 'em, 'cause that's cool. Guys who like military hardware, who think advanced military hardware is cool, are not gonna jump all over my books, because they have other ideas about what's cool.
The novel should be understood as a structure built to accommodate the greatest possible amount of cool stuff. ~ Steven Brust,#NFDB
334:might be just a set of equations and eye-blearing numbers disembodied from all physical significance. She might not hear another word about the work until a piece appeared in Air Scoop or Aviation or Air Trails. Or never. For many men, a computer was a piece of living hardware, an appliance that inhaled one set of figures and exhaled another. Once a girl finished a particular job, the calculations were whisked away into the shadowy kingdom of the engineers. “Woe unto thee if they shall make thee a computer,” joked a column in Air Scoop. “For the Project Engineer will take credit for whatsoever thou doth that is clever and full of glory. But if he slippeth up, and maketh a wrong calculation, or pulleth a boner of any kind whatsoever, he shall lay the mistake at thy door when he is called to account and he shall say, ‘What can you ~ Margot Lee Shetterly, #NFDB
335:It is not brains or intelligence that is needed to cope with the problems with Plato and Aristotle and all of their successors to the present have failed to confront. What is needed is a readiness to undervalue the world altogether. This is only possible for a Christian... All technologies and all cultures, ancient and modern, are part of our immediate expanse. There is hope in this diversity since it creates vast new possibilities of detachment and amusement at human gullibility and self-deception. There is no harm in reminding ourselves from time to time that the "Prince of this World" is a great P.R. man, a great salesman of new hardware and software, a great electric engineer, and a great master of the media. It is his master stroke to be not only environmental but invisible for the environmental is invincibly persuasive when ignored. ~ Marshall McLuhan, #NFDB
336:Conscious linear thinking is hard work. I’m sweating it right now. It is as if our mind is a bubbling pot of water. Which bubble will make it up to the top at any given moment is hard to predict. The top bubble ultimately bursts into an idea, only to be replaced by more bubbles. The surface is forever energized with activity, endless activity, until the bubbles go to sleep. The arrow of time stitches it all together as each bubble comes up for its moment. Consider that maybe, just maybe, consciousness can be understood only as the brain’s bubbles, each with its own hardware to close the gap, getting its moment. If that sounds obscure, read the book to find out for yourself whether you can see it this way, too. Importantly, enjoy your thoughts as they bubble up to the surface of your own consciousness. PART I: GETTING READY FOR MODERN THOUGHT ~ Michael S Gazzaniga, #NFDB
337:In the morning I walked to the bank. I went to the automated teller machine to check my balance. I inserted my card, entered my secret code, tapped out my request. The figure on the screen roughly corresponded to my independent estimate, feebly arrived at after long searches through documents, tormented arithmetic. Waves of relief and gratitude flowed over me. The system had blessed my life. I felt its support and approval. The system hardware, the mainframe sitting in a locked room in some distant city. What a pleasing interaction. I sensed that something of deep personal value, but not money, not that at all, had been authenticated and confirmed. A deranged person was escorted from the bank by two armed guards. The system was invisible, which made it all the more impressive, all the more disquieting to deal with. But we were in accord, at least for now. ~ Don DeLillo, #NFDB
338:But Sony couldn’t. It had pioneered portable music with the Walkman, it had a great record company, and it had a long history of making beautiful consumer devices. It had all of the assets to compete with Jobs’s strategy of integration of hardware, software, devices, and content sales. Why did it fail? Partly because it was a company, like AOL Time Warner, that was organized into divisions (that word itself was ominous) with their own bottom lines; the goal of achieving synergy in such companies by prodding the divisions to work together was usually elusive. Jobs did not organize Apple into semiautonomous divisions; he closely controlled all of his teams and pushed them to work as one cohesive and flexible company, with one profit-and-loss bottom line. “We don’t have ‘divisions’ with their own P&L,” said Tim Cook. “We run one P&L for the company. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
339:One morning, the day after Halloween, Gogol discovers, on his way to the bus stop, that it has been shortened to GANG, with the word GREEN scrawled in pencil following it. His ears burn at the sight, and he runs back into the house, sickened, certain of the insult his father will feel. Though it is his last name, too, something tells Gogol that the desecration is intended for his parents more than Sonia and him. For by now he is aware, in stores, of cashiers smirking at his parents' accents, and of salesmen who prefer to direct their conversation to Gogol, as though his parents were either incompetent or deaf. But his father is unaffected at such moments, just as he is unaffected by the mailbox. "It's only boys having fun," he tells Gogol, flicking the matter away with the back of a hand, and that evening they drive back to the hardware store, to buy the missing letters again. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
340:The equivalent to AWS on the hardware side is China. Hardware start-ups are able to manage infrastructure limitations and scale much more quickly by tapping into Chinese manufacturing capabilities, either directly or by working with companies like the custom manufacturing design firm PCH. The smart thermostat maker Nest, for example, had only 130 employees when it was acquired by Google for $ 3 billion, largely because it had outsourced all of its manufacturing to China. In contrast, Tesla Motors has seen its growth held back by infrastructure limitations. Due to the complexities of its manufacturing process, Tesla’s production rates have lagged behind those of other automakers, the result being that its award-winning vehicles are almost always sold out, with back orders measured in months and even years. Demand generation is not a problem for Tesla; meeting that demand is. ~ Reid Hoffman, #NFDB
341:Terrorism suspects aren’t the NSA’s only targets, however. Operations against nation-state adversaries have exploded in recent years as well. In 2011, the NSA mounted 231 offensive cyber operations against other countries, according to the documents, three-fourths of which focused on “top-priority” targets like Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea. Under a $652-million clandestine program code named GENIE, the NSA, CIA, and special military operatives have planted covert digital bugs in tens of thousands of computers, routers, and firewalls around the world to conduct computer network exploitation, or CNE. Some are planted remotely, but others require physical access to install through so-called interdiction—the CIA or FBI intercepts shipments of hardware from manufacturers and retailers in order to plant malware in them or install doctored chips before they reach the customer. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
342:What Musk had done that the rival automakers missed or didn’t have the means to combat was turn Tesla into a lifestyle. It did not just sell someone a car. It sold them an image, a feeling they were tapping into the future, a relationship. Apple did the same thing decades ago with the Mac and then again with the iPod and iPhone. Even those who were not religious about their affiliation to Apple were sucked into its universe once they bought the hardware and downloaded software like iTunes. This sort of relationship is hard to pull off if you don’t control as much of the lifestyle as possible. PC makers that farmed their software out to Microsoft, their chips to Intel, and their design to Asia could never make machines as beautiful and as complete as Apple’s. They also could not respond in time as Apple took this expertise to new areas and hooked people on its applications. You ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
343:Standing in the corner, leaning aginst the wall, is a fifth man.
If Grange is a Hummer, this guy's an 18-wheel Mack truck, thinks Roddy. Parked, with its engine idling. He reminds Roddy of Ivan Drago from that Rocky movie. The guy must stand six five and tip the scales at 270. Pure, rock-hard muscle. His crew-cut blond hair is slickly gelled; his face--especially those cheekbones and that lantern jaw--could be carved from granite. He, no doubt, spends counteless hours at some muscle emporium. Pure muscle, but probably clumsy; he would go down fast if Roddy drove a flurry of punches into his gut and face. A gold earring pierces the guy's left earlobe. The drape of the jacket on his Schwarzenegger shoulders shows a bulge on the left side. The guy's packing some serious hardware. Mack Truck stares blankly and stands rock-still, hands clasped in front of his gargantuan body. ~ Mark Rubinstein,#NFDB
344:Jesus must have had man hands. He was a carpenter, the Bible tells us. I know a few carpenters, and they have great hands, all muscled and worn, with nicks and callused pads from working wood together with hardware and sheer willpower. In my mind, Jesus isn't a slight man with fair hair and eyes who looks as if a strong breeze could knock him down, as he is sometimes depicted in art and film. I see him as sturdy, with a thick frame, powerful legs, and muscular arms. He has a shock of curly black hair and an untrimmed beard, his face tanned and lined from working in the sun. And his hands—hands that pounded nails, sawed lumber, drew in the dirt, and held the children he beckoned to him. Hands that washed his disciples' feet, broke bread for them, and poured their wine. Hands that hauled a heavy cross through the streets of Jerusalem and were later nailed to it. Those were some man hands. ~ Cathleen Falsani, #NFDB
345:Trouble with arms is, everyone thought they were recession-proof, but they’re not. Iran–Iraq was an arms dealers’ charter, and they thought it would never end. Since then it’s been downhill all the way. Too many manufacturers chasing too few wars. Too much loose hardware being dumped on the market. Too much peace about and not enough hard currency. Our Dicky did a bit of the Serbo-Croat thing, of course – Croats via Athens, Serbs via Poland – but the numbers weren’t in his league and there were too many dogs in the hunt. Cuba’s gone dead, so’s South Africa, they make their own. Ireland isn’t worth a light or he’d have done that too. Peru, he’s got a thing going there, supplying the Shining Path boys. And he’s been making a play for the Muslim insurgents in the Southern Philippines, but the North Koreans are in there ahead of him and I’ve a suspicion he’s going to get his nose bloodied again. ~ John le Carr, #NFDB
346:Microsoft’s success represented an aesthetic flaw in the way the universe worked. “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste,” he later said. “I don’t mean that in a small way. I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their product.”116 The primary reason for Microsoft’s success was that it was willing and eager to license its operating system to any hardware maker. Apple, by contrast, opted for an integrated approach. Its hardware came only with its software and vice versa. Jobs was an artist, a perfectionist, and thus a control freak who wanted to be in charge of the user experience from beginning to end. Apple’s approach led to more beautiful products, a higher profit margin, and a more sublime user experience. Microsoft’s approach led to a wider choice of hardware. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
347:Aue sent an office boy with a message to the company’s original accountant, a Polish Jew named Itzhak Stern, who was at home with influenza. Aue was a political appointee with little accounting experience. He wanted Stern to come into the office and resolve the impasse over the bolts of linen. He had just sent the message off to Stern’s house in Podgórze when his secretary came into the office and announced that a Herr Oskar Schindler was waiting outside, claiming to have an appointment. Aue went into the outer room and saw a tall young man, placid as a large dog, tranquilly smoking. The two had met at a party the night before. Oskar had been there with a Sudeten German girl named Ingrid, Treuhänder, or supervisor, of a Jewish hardware company, just as Aue was Treuhänder of Buchheister’s. They were a glamorous couple, Oskar and this Ingrid, frankly in love, stylish, with lots of friends in the Abwehr. ~ Thomas Keneally, #NFDB
348:Suppose a glowing blob of some unknown substance were parked right in front of us. Without some diagnostic tool like a tricorder to help, we would be clueless to the blob’s chemical or nuclear composition. Nor could we know whether it has an electromagnetic field, or whether it emits strongly in gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet, microwaves, or radio waves. Nor could we determine the blob’s cellular or crystalline structure. If the blob were far out in space, appearing as an unresolved point of light in the sky, our five senses would offer us no insight to its distance, velocity through space, or its rate of rotation. We further would have no capacity to see the spectrum of colors that compose its emitted light, nor could we know whether the light is polarized. Without hardware to help our analysis, and without a particular urge to lick the stuff, all we can report back to the starship is, “Captain, it’s a blob. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
349:Interruptions are especially destructive to people who need to concentrate – knowledge workers like hardware engineers, graphic designers, lawyers, writers, architects, accountants, and so on. Research by Gloria Mark and her colleagues shows that it takes people an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from an interruption and return to the task they had been working on – which happens because interruptions destroy their train of thought and divert attention to other tasks. A related study shows that although employees who experience interruptions compensate by working faster when they return to what they were doing, this speed comes at a cost, including feeling frustrated, stressed, and harried. Some interruptions are unavoidable and are part of the work – but as a boss, the more trivial and unnecessary intrusions you can absorb, the more work your people will do and the less their mental health will suffer. ~ Robert I Sutton, #NFDB
350:Robert Fulton Tanner
If a man could bite the giant hand
That catches and destroys him,
As I was bitten by a rat
While demonstrating my patent trap,
In my hardware store that day.
But a man can never avenge himself
On the monstrous ogre Life.
You enter the room--that's being born;
And then you must live--work out your soul,
Aha! the bait that you crave is in view:
A woman with money you want to marry,
Prestige, place, or power in the world.
But there's work to do and things to conquer-Oh, yes! the wires that screen the bait.
At last you get in--but you hear a step:
The ogre, Life, comes into the room,
(He was waiting and heard the clang of the spring)
To watch you nibble the wondrous cheese,
And stare with his burning eyes at you,
And scowl and laugh, and mock and curse you,
Running up and down in the trap,
Until your misery bores him.
~ Edgar Lee Masters,#NFDB
351:It was the voicing of a vain wish, when you got down to it, to escape. To slip, like The Escapist, free of the entangling chain of reality and the straitjacket of physical laws. Harry Houdini had roamed the Palladiums and Hippodromes of the world encumbered by an entire cargo-hold of crates and boxes, stuffed with chains, iron hardware, brightly colored flats and hokum, animated all the while only by this same desire, never fulfilled: truly to escape, if only for one instant; to poke his head through the borders of this world, with its harsh physics, into the mysterious spirit world that lay beyond. The newspaper articles Joe had read about the upcoming Senate investigation into comic books always cited "escapism" among the litany of injurious consequences of their reading, and dwelled on the pernicious effect, on young minds, of satisfying the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life. ~ Michael Chabon, #NFDB
352:Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools. Neither new attitudes of teachers toward their pupils nor the proliferation of educational hardware or software (in classroom or bedroom), nor finally the attempt to expand the pedagogue's responsibility until it engulfs his pupils' lifetimes will deliver universal education. The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring. We hope to contribute concepts needed by those who conduct such counterfoil research on education — and also to those who seek alternatives to other established service industries. ~ Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (1971) Introduction (November 1970)., #NFDB
353:dashed across streets without looking, they got horsing around in the lake and suddenly realized they had floated far past their depth on their rubber rafts and had to paddle back, they fell off monkey-bars on their asses and out of trees on their heads. Now, standing here in the fading drizzle in front of a Trustworthy Hardware Store that had been a pawnshop in 1958 (Frati Brothers, Ben recalled, the double windows always full of pistols and rifles and straight-razors and guitars hung up by their necks like exotic animals), it occurred to him that kids were better at almost dying, and they were also better at incorporating the inexplicable into their lives. They believed implicitly in the invisible world. Miracles both bright and dark were to be taken into consideration, oh yes, most certainly, but they by no means stopped the world. A sudden upheaval of beauty or terror at ten did not preclude an extra cheesedog or two for lunch at noon. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
354:Band Concert
Band concert public square Nebraska city. Flowing and circling dresses, summerwhite dresses. Faces, flesh tints flung like sprays of cherry blossoms. And
gigglers, God knows, gigglers, rivaling the pony whinnies of the Livery Stable
Blues.
Cowboy rags and nigger rags. And boys driving sorrel horses hurl a cornfield
laughter at the girls in dresses, summer-white dresses. Amid the cornet staccato
and the tuba oompa, gigglers, God knows, gigglers daffy with life’s razzle dazzle.
Slow good-night melodies and Home Sweet Home. And the snare drummer
bookkeeper in a hardware store nods hello to the daughter of a railroad
conductor—a giggler, God knows, a giggler—and the summer-white dresses filter
fanwise out of the public square.
The crushed strawberries of ice cream soda places, the night wind in
cottonwoods and willows, the lattice shadows of doorsteps and porches, these
know more of the story.
~ Carl Sandburg,#NFDB
355:There’s a kind of theology at work here. The bombs are a kind of god. As his power grows, our fear naturally increases. I get as apprehensive as anyone else, maybe more so. We have too many bombs. They have too many bombs. There’s a kind of theology of fear that comes out of this. We begin to capitulate to the overwhelming presence. It’s so powerful. It dwarfs us so much. We say let the god have his way. He’s so much more powerful than we are. Let it happen, whatever he ordains. It used to be that the gods punished men by using the forces of nature against them or by arousing them to take up their weapons and destroy each other. Now god is the force of nature itself, the fusion of tritium and deuterium. Now he’s the weapon. So maybe this time we went too far in creating a being of omnipotent power. All this hardware. Fantastic stockpiles of hardware. The big danger is that we’ll surrender to the sense of inevitability and start flinging mud all over the planet. ~ Don DeLillo, #NFDB
356:Esa forma de pensar puede ser comprensible, pero es errónea. Obtener un beneficio razonable es la única manera de crear una empresa sostenible. Permítame poner un ejemplo. Usted fabrica cien unidades de su delicioso juguete de cuerda cortado a láser que representa a un pequeño tamborilero. Entre la madera, el corte con láser, el hardware, la caja y las instrucciones a usted le cuesta 20 dólares construir uno. Pongamos que lo etiqueta a 25 dólares para cubrir cualquier gasto que no haya previsto y empieza a venderlos. Puesto que se trata de un juguete divertido y que sale muy barato, se vende rápidamente. Usted cae de pronto en la cuenta de que debe volver a hacerlo todo de nuevo, esta vez con una tirada de un millar. En lugar de tener que aportar un par de miles de dólares para comprar materiales, va a necesitar 10.000 dólares. En lugar de empaquetar las piezas en su tiempo libre, debe contratar a alguien para hacerlo. Necesitará alquilar un espacio para guardar ~ Chris Anderson, #NFDB
357:The Xerox Corporation’s Palo Alto Research Center, known as Xerox PARC, had been established in 1970 to create a spawning ground for digital ideas. It was safely located, for better and for worse, three thousand miles from the commercial pressures of Xerox corporate headquarters in Connecticut. Among its visionaries was the scientist Alan Kay, who had two great maxims that Jobs embraced: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”and “People who are serious about software should make their own hardware.”Kay pushed the vision of a small personal computer, dubbed the “Dynabook,”that would be easy enough for children to use. So Xerox PARC’s engineers began to develop user- friendly graphics that could replace all of the command lines and DOS prompts that made computer screens intimidating. The metaphor they came up with was that of a desktop. The screen could have many documents and folders on it, and you could use a mouse to point and click on the one you wanted to use. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
358:The Xerox Corporation’s Palo Alto Research Center, known as Xerox PARC, had been established in 1970 to create a spawning ground for digital ideas. It was safely located, for better and for worse, three thousand miles from the commercial pressures of Xerox corporate headquarters in Connecticut. Among its visionaries was the scientist Alan Kay, who had two great maxims that Jobs embraced: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it” and “People who are serious about software should make their own hardware.” Kay pushed the vision of a small personal computer, dubbed the “Dynabook,” that would be easy enough for children to use. So Xerox PARC’s engineers began to develop user-friendly graphics that could replace all of the command lines and DOS prompts that made computer screens intimidating. The metaphor they came up with was that of a desktop. The screen could have many documents and folders on it, and you could use a mouse to point and click on the one you wanted to use. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
359:Suddenly, lots of things of my own life occurred to me for the first time as stories: my great-granddaddy's 'other family' in West Virginia; Hardware Breeding, who married his wife Beulah, four times; how my Uncle Vern taught my daddy to drink good liquor in a Richmond hotel; how I got saved at the tent revival; John Hardin's hanging in the courthouse square; how Petey Chaney rode the flood; the time Mike Holland and I went to the serpent handling-church in Jolo; the murder Daddy saw when he was a boy, out riding his little pony - and never told...
I started to write these stories down. Many years later, I'm still at it. And it's a funny thing: Though I have spent my most of my working life in universities, though I live in piedmont North Carolina now and eat pasta and drive a Subaru, the stories that present themselves to me as worth the telling are often those somehow connected to that place and those people. The mountains that used to imprison me have become my chosen stalking ground. ~ Lee Smith,#NFDB
360:In the imperial world of Pharaoh and Solomon, the prophetic alternative is a bad joke either to be squelched by force or ignored in satiation. But we are a haunted people because we believe the bad joke is rooted in the character of God himself, a God who is not the reflection of Pharaoh or of Solomon. He is a God with a name of his own, which cannot be uttered by anyone but him. He is not the reflection of any, for he has his own person and retains that all to himself. He is a God uncredentialed in the empire, unknown in the courts, unwelcome in the temple. And his history begins in his attentiveness to the cries to the marginal ones. He, unlike his royal regents, is one whose person is presented as passion and pathos, the power to care, the capacity to weep, the energy to grieve and then to rejoice. The prophets after Moses know that his caring, weeping, grieving, and rejoicing will not be outflanked by royal hardware or royal immunity because this one is indeed God. And kings must face that. ~ Walter Brueggemann, #NFDB
361:But it has occurred to me, on occasion, that our memories of our loved ones might not be the point. Maybe the point is their memories—all that they take away with them. What if heaven is just a vast consciousness that the dead return to? And their assignment is to report on the experiences they collected during their time on earth. The hardware store their father owned with the cat asleep on the grass seed, and the friend they used to laugh with till the tears streamed down their cheeks, and the Saturdays when their grandchildren sat next to them gluing Popsicle sticks. The spring mornings they woke up to a million birds singing their hearts out, and the summer afternoons with the swim towels hung over the porch rail, and the October air that smelled like wood smoke and apple cider, and the warm yellow windows of home when they came in on a snowy night. ‘That’s what my experience has been,’ they say, and it gets folded in with the others—one more report on what living felt like. What it was like to be alive. ~ Anne Tyler, #NFDB
362:The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference—the only difference in their eyes—between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
363:Como decía Thomas Friedman, columnista de The New York Times: «Lo normal era que sólo estuviese disponible la mano de obra barata extranjera; actualmente los genios extranjeros baratos también están disponibles». Baratos no únicamente porque trabajan por menos dinero; baratos porque muchas veces trabajan gratis, como voluntarios mundiales en un proyecto en el que creen mientras otros trabajos les ponen el plato en la mesa. Hoy en día, nuestra empresa de robots posee un centenar de colaboradores cuyo trabajo se ha traducido en producto. Una veintena de ellos son empleados a sueldo y fundamentalmente trabajan en la fábrica en ingeniería de hardware y fabricación. Los otros ochenta trabajan de forma voluntaria en software. Todos los voluntarios tienen sus propios empleos, que van desde ingeniero en Apple a pastelero, pero algunos de ellos dedican lo que en pocas semanas equivale a un trabajo a tiempo completo a proyectos de robótica. Algunos de ellos son programadores profesionales que sólo buscan un reto; otros son aficionados que han hecho de ~ Chris Anderson, #NFDB
364:What Do Women Want?"
I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in. ~ Kim Addonizio,#NFDB
365:What Do Women Want?"
I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in. ~ Kim Addonizio,#NFDB
366:He had decided before the accident not to chase them anymore, but the circumstances of the accident made him fear for Lilia's safety. he would never bring her in, not anymore; all he wanted now was to watch over her. Michaela had been reading his notes for years, but his notes were only part of it: the other part was the way he woke up at night in his bed in Montreal and knew where Lilia was, the way he could glance at a map of the United Staes and realize with absolute, inexplicable certainty that she was in West Virginia, the way he tried to ignore his terrifying clairvoyance and forget where she was and couldn't, the way he knew where she was but had to keep driving south to check, the horror of always being right: he saw her face in the crowd on Sunset Boulevard, he stepped into a hardware store in St. Louis at the moment she stepped out of the deli across the street, he stood on a corner in a run-down neighborhood in Chicago and watched her emerge from an apartment building down the block. After each sighting he returned north more depleted, more frightened, less intact. ~ Emily St John Mandel, #NFDB
367:get a sense of how powerful Musk’s work may end up being for the American economy, have a think about the dominant mechatronic machine of the past several years: the smartphone. Pre-iPhone, the United States was the laggard in the telecommunications industry. All of the exciting cell phones and mobile services were in Europe and Asia, while American consumers bumbled along with dated equipment. When the iPhone arrived in 2007, it changed everything. Apple’s device mimicked many of the functions of a computer and then added new abilities with its apps, sensors, and location awareness. Google charged to market with its Android software and related handsets, and the United States suddenly emerged as the driving force in the mobile industry. Smartphones were revolutionary because of the ways they allowed hardware, software, and services to work in unison. This was a mix that favored the skills of Silicon Valley. The rise of the smartphone led to a massive industrial boom in which Apple became the most valuable company in the country, and billions of its clever devices were spread all over the world. ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
368:Still allergic to PowerPoints and formal presentations, he insisted that the people around the table hash out issues from various vantages and the perspectives of different departments.
Because he believed that Apple's great advantage was its integration of the whole widget- from design to hardware to software to content-he wanted all departments at the company to work together in parallel. The phrases he used were "deep collaboration" and "concurrent engineering." Instead of a development process in which a product would be passed sequentially from engineering to design to manufacturing to marketing and distribution, these various departments collaborated simultaneously. " Our method was to develop integrated products, and that meant our process had to be integrated and collaborative," Jobs said.
This approach also applied to key hires. He would have candidates meet the top leaders-Cook, Tevanian, Schiller, Rubinstein, Ive- rather than just the managers of the department where they wanted to work. " Then we all get together without the person and talk about whether they'll fit in," Jobs said. ~ Walter Isaacson,#NFDB
369:You're a hacker. That means you have deep structures to worry about, too."
"Deep structures?"
"Neurolinguistic pathways in your brain. Remember the first time you learned
binary code?"
"Sure."
"You were forming pathways in your brain. Deep structures. Your nerves grow
new connections as you use them -- the axons split and push their way between
the dividing glial cells -- your bioware selfmodifies -- the software becomes
part of the hardware. So now you're vulnerable -- all hackers are vulnerable --
to a nam-shub. We have to look out for each other."
"What's a nam-shub? Why am I vulnerable to it?"
"Just don't stare into any bitmaps. Anyone try to show you a raw bitmap lately?
Like, in the Metaverse?"
Interesting. "Not to me personally, but now that you mention it, this Brandy
came up to my friend --"
"A cult prostitute of Asherah. Trying to spread the disease. Which is
synonymous with evil. Sound melodramatic? Not really. You know, to the
Mesopotamians, there was no independent concept of evil. Just disease and ill
health. Evil was a synonym for disease. So what does that tell you? ~ Neal Stephenson,#NFDB
370:Doesn’t that look like Mr. Mason from behind?”
Henry grabbed the glasses. “I think it is him. I recognize the red hat he had on yesterday. If he had a motorboat, why did Hilda tell us they didn’t have time to go to the hardware store?”
Jessie found the towel she’d packed and shared it with Henry. “The sun will have to dry off the rest of us,” she said. “If you ask me, those two are trying to keep us away from Cousin Charlotte’s property.”
“Well, they can’t,” Henry said. “Hop in, everybody. We’re going to follow Mr. Mason back to Skeleton Point.”
But Henry couldn’t follow the motorboat to Skeleton Point. It sped right past there without stopping.
“He must be docking someplace else,” Jessie said. “That gives me an idea. Instead of going back to Skeleton Point, let’s row to that cove we passed not too far from the general store. We’ll hike up from there. If Hilda and William don’t spot our boat coming in, we’ll have a chance to see what they’re up to before they expect us back.”
Henry didn’t need to think twice about Jessie’s good suggestion. He dipped one oar into the water and headed for the deserted cove.
The Mystery at Skeleton Point ~ Gertrude Chandler Warner,#NFDB
371:The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal. ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
372:The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference—the only difference in their eyes—between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life, and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal. ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
373:The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, TAKE IT PERSONALLY. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here - it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it PERSONAL. Do as much damage as you can. GET YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference, the ONLY difference in their eyes, between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that IT’S NOTHING PERSONAL. Well, fuck them. Make it personal. ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
374:Fitbit is a company that knows the value of Shadow Testing. Founded by Eric Friedman and James Park in September 2008, Fitbit makes a small clip-on exercise and sleep data-gathering device. The Fitbit device tracks your activity levels throughout the day and night, then automatically uploads your data to the Web, where it analyzes your health, fitness, and sleep patterns. It’s a neat concept, but creating new hardware is time-consuming, expensive, and fraught with risk, so here’s what Friedman and Park did. The same day they announced the Fitbit idea to the world, they started allowing customers to preorder a Fitbit on their Web site, based on little more than a description of what the device would do and a few renderings of what the product would look like. The billing system collected names, addresses, and verified credit card numbers, but no charges were actually processed until the product was ready to ship, which gave the company an out in case their plans fell through. Orders started rolling in, and one month later, investors had the confidence to pony up $2 million dollars to make the Fitbit a reality. A year later, the first real Fitbit was shipped to customers. That’s the power of Shadow Testing. ~ Josh Kaufman, #NFDB
375:I waited in vain for someone like me to stand up and say that the only thing those of us who don't believe in god have to believe is in other people and that New York City is the best place there ever was for a godless person to practice her moral code. I think it has to do with the crowded sidewalks and subways. Walking to and from the hardware store requires the push and pull of selfishness and selflessness, taking turns between getting out of someone's way and them getting out of yours, waiting for a dog to move, helping a stroller up steps, protecting the eyes from runaway umbrellas. Walking in New York is a battle of the wills, a balance of aggression and kindness. I'm not saying it's always easy. The occasional "Watch where you're going, bitch" can, I admit, put a crimp in one's day. But I believe all that choreography has made me a better person. The other day, in the subway at 5:30, I was crammed into my sweaty, crabby fellow citizens, and I kept whispering under my breath "we the people, we the people" over and over again, reminding myself we're all in this together and they had as much right - exactly as much right - as I to be in the muggy underground on their way to wherever they were on their way to. ~ Sarah Vowell, #NFDB
376:Private sector networks in the United States, networks operated by civilian U.S. government agencies, and unclassified U.S. military and intelligence agency networks increasingly are experiencing cyber intrusions and attacks,” said a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report to Congress that was published the same month Conficker appeared. “. . . Networks connected to the Internet are vulnerable even if protected with hardware and software firewalls and other security mechanisms. The government, military, businesses and economic institutions, key infrastructure elements, and the population at large of the United States are completely dependent on the Internet. Internet-connected networks operate the national electric grid and distribution systems for fuel. Municipal water treatment and waste treatment facilities are controlled through such systems. Other critical networks include the air traffic control system, the system linking the nation’s financial institutions, and the payment systems for Social Security and other government assistance on which many individuals and the overall economy depend. A successful attack on these Internet-connected networks could paralyze the United States [emphasis added]. ~ Mark Bowden, #NFDB
377:At the end of the piece, Reverend Alban rose and approached the lectern again. He placed his fingertips together. “I didn’t know Mrs. Whitshank,” he said, “and therefore I don’t have the memories that the rest of you have. But it has occurred to me, on occasion, that our memories of our loved ones might not be the point. Maybe the point is their memories—all that they take away with them. What if heaven is just a vast consciousness that the dead return to? And their assignment is to report on the experiences they collected during their time on earth. The hardware store their father owned with the cat asleep on the grass seed, and the friend they used to laugh with till the tears streamed down their cheeks, and the Saturdays when their grandchildren sat next to them gluing Popsicle sticks. The spring mornings they woke up to a million birds singing their hearts out, and the summer afternoons with the swim towels hung over the porch rail, and the October air that smelled like wood smoke and apple cider, and the warm yellow windows of home when they came in on a snowy night. ‘That’s what my experience has been,’ they say, and it gets folded in with the others—one more report on what living felt like. What it was like to be alive. ~ Anne Tyler, #NFDB
378:The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous, marks the difference—the only difference in their eyes—between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life, and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal. QUELLCRIST FALCONER Things I Should Have Learned by Now Volume II ~ Richard K Morgan, #NFDB
379:The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.
Quellcrist Falconer
Things I Should Have Learned by Now, Volume II ~ Richard K Morgan,#NFDB
380:Low-end disruption has occurred several times in retailing.16 For example, full-service department stores had a business model that enabled them to turn inventories three times per year. They needed to earn 40 percent gross margins to make money within their cost structure. They therefore earned 40 percent three times each year, for a 120 percent annual return on capital invested in inventory (ROCII). In the 1960s, discount retailers such as Wal-Mart and Kmart attacked the low end of the department stores’ market—nationally branded hard goods such as paint, hardware, kitchen utensils, toys, and sporting goods—that were so familiar in use that they could sell themselves. Customers in this tier of the market were overserved by department stores, in that they did not need well-trained floor sales-people to help them get what they needed. The discounters’ business model enabled them to make money at gross margins of about 23 percent, on average. Their stocking policies and operating processes enabled them to turn inventories more than five times annually, so that they also earned about 120 percent annual ROCII. The discounters did not accept lower levels of profitability—their business model simply earned acceptable profit through a different formula.17 ~ Clayton M Christensen, #NFDB
381:The shaping of a golem, to him, was a gesture of hope, offered against hope, in a time of desperation. It was the expression of a yearning that a few magic words and an artful hand might produce something—one poor, dumb, powerful thing—exempt from the crushing strictures, from the ills, cruelties, and inevitable failures of the greater Creation. It was the voicing of a vain wish, when you got down to it, to escape. To slip, like the Escapist, free of the entangling chain of reality and the straitjacket of physical laws. Harry Houdini had roamed the Palladiums and Hippodromes of the world encumbered by an entire cargo-hold of crates and boxes, stuffed with chains, iron hardware, brightly painted flats and hokum, animated all the while only by this same desire, never fulfilled: truly to escape, if only for one instant; to poke his head through the borders of this world, with its harsh physics, into the mysterious spirit world that lay beyond. The newspaper articles that Joe had read about the upcoming Senate investigation into comic books always cited “escapism” among the litany of injurious consequences of their reading, and dwelled on the pernicious effect, on young minds, of the desire to escape. As if there could be any more noble or necessary service in life. ~ Michael Chabon, #NFDB
382:Congratulations, now you know the single reason why the world is the way it is. You see the problem right away—everything we do requires cooperation in groups larger than a hundred and fifty. Governments. Corporations. Society as a whole. And we are physically incapable of handling it. So every moment of the day we urgently try to separate everyone on earth into two groups—those inside the sphere of sympathy and those outside. Black versus white, liberal versus conservative, Muslim versus Christian, Lakers fan versus Celtics fan. With us, or against us. Infected versus clean. “We simplify tens of millions of individuals down into simplistic stereotypes, so that they hold the space of only one individual in our limited available memory slots. And here is the key—those who lie outside the circle are not human. We lack the capacity to recognize them as such. This is why you feel worse about your girlfriend cutting her finger than you do about an earthquake in Afghanistan that kills a hundred thousand people. This is what makes genocide possible. This is what makes it possible for a CEO to sign off on a policy that will poison a river in Malaysia and create ten thousand deformed infants. Because of this limitation in the mental hardware, those Malaysians may as well be ants. ~ David Wong, #NFDB
383:The personal, as every one’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, TAKE IT PERSONALLY. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here—it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide out from under with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it PERSONAL. Do as much damage as you can. GET YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference, the ONLY difference in their eyes, between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that IT’S NOTHING PERSONAL. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.
QUELLCRIST FALCONER
Things I Should Have Learnt by Now
Volume II ~ Richard K Morgan,#NFDB
384:This ability of Life 2.0 to design its software enables it to be much smarter than Life 1.0. High intelligence requires both lots of hardware (made of atoms) and lots of software (made of bits). The fact that most of our human hardware is added after birth (through growth) is useful, since our ultimate size isn’t limited by the width of our mom’s birth canal. In the same way, the fact that most of our human software is added after birth (through learning) is useful, since our ultimate intelligence isn’t limited by how much information can be transmitted to us at conception via our DNA, 1.0-style. I weigh about twenty-five times more than when I was born, and the synaptic connections that link the neurons in my brain can store about a hundred thousand times more information than the DNA that I was born with. Your synapses store all your knowledge and skills as roughly 100 terabytes’ worth of information, while your DNA stores merely about a gigabyte, barely enough to store a single movie download. So it’s physically impossible for an infant to be born speaking perfect English and ready to ace her college entrance exams: there’s no way the information could have been preloaded into her brain, since the main information module she got from her parents (her DNA) lacks sufficient information-storage capacity. ~ Max Tegmark, #NFDB
385:Perhaps the most amazing practitioner of echolocation among humans is Daniel Kish, blind since he was one year old, who early in life discovered that making clicking noises helped him get around. Much of his brain must be reassigned to sound, because he uses his own clicks to navigate. He can ride a bicycle in traffic (hard to imagine), and he has founded World Access for the Blind to teach other blind people to use their own sonar—to summon, as it were, their inner dolphin. Sounds from his tongue clicks, he explains, “bounce off surfaces all around and return to my ears as faint echoes. My brain processes the echoes into dynamic images.… I construct a three-dimensional image of my surroundings for hundreds of feet in every direction. Up close, I can detect a pole an inch thick. At 15 feet, I recognize cars and bushes. Houses come into focus at 150 feet.” This is all so hard to imagine, people have wondered if he is telling the truth. But he’s not alone, and his claims appear to check out. He says, “Many students are surprised how quickly results come. I believe echolocation capacity is latent within us.… The neural hardware seems to be there; I’ve developed ways to activate it. Vision isn’t in the eyes; it’s in the mind.” So, is it possible that a dolphin such as a killer whale might actually see the echoes? ~ Carl Safina, #NFDB
386:entrevista para la revista Fast Company, Chuck Kerby, vicepresidente de hardware de Wal-Mart (que se encarga de los ventiladores de techo) declaró: “no podía creer que estuviéramos pagando seis millones de dólares de más para encender esos aparatos. Fue toda una revelación para mí”. Así, al ver el efecto que podía producir el cambio de unos cuantos bombillos en las cuentas de la luz, Wal-Mart se embarcó en una misión en el nombre de la conservación y de la responsabilidad corporativa. El gigante de las ventas al por menor decidió que le vendería al menos un bombillo ahorrador a cada uno de sus clientes habituales: eso equivalía a 110 millones en total. Calcularon que si cada uno de sus clientes se llevaba un bombillo ahorrador y lo usaba para reemplazar un bombillo ordinario de 60 vatios, la energía ahorrada bastaría para darle electricidad a una ciudad de 1,5 millones de habitantes. Otra equivalencia más impresionante es que, en términos de petróleo no consumido o de gases de efecto invernadero no emitidos a la atmósfera, ese bombillo por persona equivale 1.3 millones de automóviles de menos en las calles. En el proceso de reducir el consumo de energía y aumentar la conciencia del público respecto a los beneficios de algo tan sencillo como cambiar un bombillo, Wal-Mart se propuso mejorar su propia reputación —algo menos que ~ Richard Branson, #NFDB
387:By that time, Bezos and his executives had devoured and raptly discussed another book that would significantly affect the company’s strategy: The Innovator’s Dilemma, by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen. Christensen wrote that great companies fail not because they want to avoid disruptive change but because they are reluctant to embrace promising new markets that might undermine their traditional businesses and that do not appear to satisfy their short-term growth requirements. Sears, for example, failed to move from department stores to discount retailing; IBM couldn’t shift from mainframe to minicomputers. The companies that solved the innovator’s dilemma, Christensen wrote, succeeded when they “set up autonomous organizations charged with building new and independent businesses around the disruptive technology.”9 Drawing lessons directly from the book, Bezos unshackled Kessel from Amazon’s traditional media organization. “Your job is to kill your own business,” he told him. “I want you to proceed as if your goal is to put everyone selling physical books out of a job.” Bezos underscored the urgency of the effort. He believed that if Amazon didn’t lead the world into the age of digital reading, then Apple or Google would. When Kessel asked Bezos what his deadline was on developing the company’s first piece of hardware, an electronic reading ~ Brad Stone, #NFDB
388:Jobs spent part of every day for six months helping to refine the display. “It was the most complex fun I’ve ever had,” he recalled. “It was like being the one evolving the variations on ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ ” A lot of features that seem simple now were the result of creative brainstorms. For example, the team worried about how to prevent the device from playing music or making a call accidentally when it was jangling in your pocket. Jobs was congenitally averse to having on-off switches, which he deemed “inelegant.” The solution was “Swipe to Open,” the simple and fun on-screen slider that activated the device when it had gone dormant. Another breakthrough was the sensor that figured out when you put the phone to your ear, so that your lobes didn’t accidentally activate some function. And of course the icons came in his favorite shape, the primitive he made Bill Atkinson design into the software of the first Macintosh: rounded rectangles. In session after session, with Jobs immersed in every detail, the team members figured out ways to simplify what other phones made complicated. They added a big bar to guide you in putting calls on hold or making conference calls, found easy ways to navigate through email, and created icons you could scroll through horizontally to get to different apps—all of which were easier because they could be used visually on the screen rather than by using a keyboard built into the hardware. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
389:There was no escape: The entire Elliott 503 Mark II software project had to be abandoned, and with it, over thirty man-years of programming effort, equivalent to nearly one man’s active working life, and I was responsible, both as designer and as manager, for wasting it. ...
How did we recover from the catastrophe? First, we classified our 503 customers into groups, according to the nature and size of the hardware configurations which they had bought ... We assigned to each group of customers a small team of programmers and told the team leader to visit the customers to find out what they wanted; to select the easiest request to fulfill, and to make plans (but no promises) to implement it. In no case would we consider a request for a feature that would take more than three months to implement and deliver. The project leader would then have to convince me that the customers’ request was reasonable, that the design of the new feature was appropriate, and that the plans and schedules for implementation were realistic. Above all, I did not allow anything to be done which I did not myself understand. It worked! The software requested began to be delivered on the promised dates. With an increase in our confidence and that of our customers, we were able to undertake fulfilling slightly more ambitious requests. Within a year we had recovered from the disaster. Within two years, we even had some moderately satisfied customers. ~ C A R Hoare,#NFDB
390:JONATHAN “RUBY” RUBINSTEIN. Worked with Jobs at NeXT, became chief hardware engineer at Apple in 1997. MIKE SCOTT. Brought in by Markkula to be Apple’s president in 1977 to try to manage Jobs. JOHN SCULLEY. Pepsi executive recruited by Jobs in 1983 to be Apple’s CEO, clashed with and ousted Jobs in 1985. JOANNE SCHIEBLE JANDALI SIMPSON. Wisconsin-born biological mother of Steve Jobs, whom she put up for adoption, and Mona Simpson, whom she raised. MONA SIMPSON. Biological full sister of Jobs; they discovered their relationship in 1986 and became close. She wrote novels loosely based on her mother Joanne (Anywhere but Here), Jobs and his daughter Lisa (A Regular Guy), and her father Abdulfattah Jandali (The Lost Father). ALVY RAY SMITH. A cofounder of Pixar who clashed with Jobs. BURRELL SMITH. Brilliant, troubled hardware designer on the original Mac team, afflicted with schizophrenia in the 1990s. AVADIS “AVIE” TEVANIAN. Worked with Jobs and Rubinstein at NeXT, became chief software engineer at Apple in 1997. JAMES VINCENT. A music-loving Brit, the younger partner with Lee Clow and Duncan Milner at the ad agency Apple hired. RON WAYNE. Met Jobs at Atari, became first partner with Jobs and Wozniak at fledgling Apple, but unwisely decided to forgo his equity stake. STEPHEN WOZNIAK. The star electronics geek at Homestead High; Jobs figured out how to package and market his amazing circuit boards and became his partner in founding Apple. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
391:There are, as you have just seen, two agendas being pursued here tonight," the Countess lectured amiably. "The political one of the old men—an annual renewal of the forms of the Vor—and the genetic agenda of the old women. The men imagine theirs is the only one, but that's just an ego-serving self-delusion. The whole Vor system is founded on the women's game, underneath. The old men in government councils spend their lives arguing against or scheming to fund this or that bit of off-planet military hardware. Meanwhile, the uterine replicator is creeping in past their guard, and they aren't even conscious that the debate that will fundamentally alter Barrayar's future is being carried on right now among their wives and daughters. To use it, or not to use it? Too late to keep it out, it's already here. The middle classes are picking it up in droves. Every mother who loves her daughter is pressing for it, to spare her the physical dangers of biological childbearing. They're fighting not the old men, who haven't got a clue, but an old guard of their sisters who say to their daughters, in effect, We had to suffer, so must you! Look around tonight, Mark. You're witnessing the last generation of men and women on Barrayar who will dance this dance in the old way. The Vor system is about to change on its blindest side, the side that looks to—or fails to look to—its foundation. Another half generation from now, it's not going to know what hit it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold, #NFDB
392:-- What a fool I was. "Want To Be a Little Off-Beat?" Here's ten ways, the article said. A lilac door was one. So off I tripped to the nearest hardware store to assert my unique individuality with the same tin of paint as two million other dimwits. Conned into idiocy. My mind is full of trivialities. At lunch Ian said Duncan's piece of cake is miles bigger than mine -- it's not fair, and I roared that they should quit bothering me with trivialities. So when they're at school, do I settle down with the plays of Sophocles? I do not. I think about the color of my front door. That's being unfair to myself. I took that course, Ancient Greek Drama, last winter. Yeh, I took it all right.
Young academic generously giving up his Thursday evenings in the cause of adult education. Mrs. MacAindra, I don't think you've got quite the right slant on Clytemnestra. Why not? The king sacrificed their youngest daughter for success in war-- what's the queen supposed to do, shout for joy? That's not quite the point we're discussing, is it? She murdered her husband, Mrs. MacAindra, (Oh God, don't you think I know that? The poor bitch.) Yeh well I guess you must know, Dr. Thorne. Sorry. Oh, that's fine -- I always try to encourage people to express themselves.
-- Young twerp. Let somebody try killing one of his daughters. But still, he had his Ph.D. What do I have? Grade Eleven. My own fault.... ~ Margaret Laurence,#NFDB
393:His favorite request dates back to 2004. SpaceX needed an actuator that would trigger the gimbal action used to steer the upper stage of Falcon 1. Davis had never built a piece of hardware before in his life and naturally went out to find some suppliers who could make an electro-mechanical actuator for him. He got a quote back for $120,000. “Elon laughed,” Davis said. “He said, ‘That part is no more complicated than a garage door opener. Your budget is five thousand dollars. Go make it work.’” Davis spent nine months building the actuator. At the end of the process, he toiled for three hours writing an e-mail to Musk covering the pros and cons of the device. The e-mail went into gory detail about how Davis had designed the part, why he had made various choices, and what its cost would be. As he pressed send, Davis felt anxiety surge through his body knowing that he’d given his all for almost a year to do something an engineer at another aerospace company would not even attempt. Musk rewarded all of this toil and angst with one of his standard responses. He wrote back, “Ok.” The actuator Davis designed ended up costing $3,900 and flew with Falcon 1 into space. “I put every ounce of intellectual capital I had into that e-mail and one minute later got that simple response,” Davis said. “Everyone in the company was having that same experience. One of my favorite things about Elon is his ability to make enormous decisions very quickly. That is still how it works today.” Kevin ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
394:REINHOLD JOBS. Wisconsin-born Coast Guard seaman who, with his wife, Clara, adopted Steve in 1955. REED JOBS. Oldest child of Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell. RON JOHNSON. Hired by Jobs in 2000 to develop Apple’s stores. JEFFREY KATZENBERG. Head of Disney Studios, clashed with Eisner and resigned in 1994 to cofound DreamWorks SKG. ALAN KAY. Creative and colorful computer pioneer who envisioned early personal computers, helped arrange Jobs’s Xerox PARC visit and his purchase of Pixar. DANIEL KOTTKE. Jobs’s closest friend at Reed, fellow pilgrim to India, early Apple employee. JOHN LASSETER. Cofounder and creative force at Pixar. DAN’L LEWIN. Marketing exec with Jobs at Apple and then NeXT. MIKE MARKKULA. First big Apple investor and chairman, a father figure to Jobs. REGIS MCKENNA. Publicity whiz who guided Jobs early on and remained a trusted advisor. MIKE MURRAY. Early Macintosh marketing director. PAUL OTELLINI. CEO of Intel who helped switch the Macintosh to Intel chips but did not get the iPhone business. LAURENE POWELL. Savvy and good-humored Penn graduate, went to Goldman Sachs and then Stanford Business School, married Steve Jobs in 1991. GEORGE RILEY. Jobs’s Memphis-born friend and lawyer. ARTHUR ROCK. Legendary tech investor, early Apple board member, Jobs’s father figure. JONATHAN “RUBY” RUBINSTEIN. Worked with Jobs at NeXT, became chief hardware engineer at Apple in 1997. MIKE SCOTT. Brought in by Markkula to be Apple’s president in 1977 to try to manage Jobs. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
395:Dwayne's bad chemicals made him take a loaded thirty-eight caliber revolver from
under his pillow and stick it in his mouth. This was a tool whose only purpose was to
make holes in human beings. It looked like this:
In Dwayne's part of the planet, anybody who wanted one could get one down at his
local hardware store. Policemen all had them. So did the criminals. So did the people
caught in between.
Criminals would point guns at people and say, "Give me all your money," and the
people usually would. And policemen would point their guns at criminals and say, "Stop"
or whatever the situation called for, and the criminals usually would. Sometimes they
wouldn't. Sometimes a wife would get so mad at her husband that she would put a hole
in him with a gun. Sometimes a husband would get so mad at his wife that he would put
a hole in her. And so on.
In the same week Dwayne Hoover ran amok, a fourteen-year-old Midland City boy
put holes in his mother and father because he didn't want to show them the bad report
card he had brought home. His lawyer planned to enter a plea of temporary insanity,
which meant that at the time of the shooting the boy was unable to distinguish the
difference between right and wrong.
· Sometimes people would put holes in famous people so they could be at least fairly
famous, too. Sometimes people would get on airplanes which were supposed to fly to
someplace, and they would offer to put holes in the pilot and co-pilot unless they flew
the airplane to someplace else. ~ Kurt Vonnegut,#NFDB
396:In early 2016, Amazon was given a license by the Federal Maritime Commission to implement ocean freight services as an Ocean Transportation Intermediary. So, Amazon can now ship others’ goods. This new service, dubbed Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), won’t do much directly for individual consumers. But it will allow Amazon’s Chinese partners to more easily and cost-effectively get their products across the Pacific in containers. Want to bet how long it will take Amazon to dominate the oceanic transport business? 67 The market to ship stuff (mostly) across the Pacific is a $ 350 billion business, but a low-margin one. Shippers charge $ 1,300 to ship a forty-foot container holding up to 10,000 units of product (13 cents per unit, or just under $ 10 to deliver a flatscreen TV). It’s a down-and-dirty business, unless you’re Amazon. The biggest component of that cost comes from labor: unloading and loading the ships and the paperwork. Amazon can deploy hardware (robotics) and software to reduce these costs. Combined with the company’s fledgling aircraft fleet, this could prove another huge business for Amazon. 68 Between drones, 757/ 767s, tractor trailers, trans-Pacific shipping, and retired military generals (no joke) who oversaw the world’s most complex logistics operations (try supplying submarines and aircraft carriers that don’t surface or dock more than once every six months), Amazon is building the most robust logistics infrastructure in history. If you’re like me, this can only leave you in awe: I can’t even make sure I have Gatorade in the fridge when I need it. ~ Scott Galloway, #NFDB
397:But she was barely listening. “There’s this newish thing from Amazon? Called an AMI—an Amazon Machine Image. Basically it runs a snapshot of an operating system. There are hundreds of them, loaded up and ready to run.” Evan said, “Um.” “Virtual machines,” she explained, with a not-insubstantial trace of irritation. “Okay.” “But the good thing with virtual machines? You hit a button and you have two of them. Or ten thousand. In data centers all over the world. Here—look—I’m replicating them now, requesting that they’re geographically dispersed with guaranteed availability.” He looked but could not keep up with the speed at which things were happening on the screen. Despite his well-above-average hacking skills, he felt like a beginning skier atop a black-diamond run. She was still talking. “We upload all the encrypted data from the laptop to the cloud first, right? Like you were explaining poorly and condescendingly to me back at the motel.” “In hindsight—” “And we spread the job out among all of them. Get Hashkiller whaling away, throwing all these password combinations at it. Then who cares if we get locked out after three wrong password attempts? We just go to the next virtual machine. And the one after that.” “How do you have the hardware to handle all that?” She finally paused, blowing a glossy curl out of her eyes. “That’s what I’m telling you, X. You don’t buy hardware anymore. You rent cycles in the cloud. And the second we’re done, we kill the virtual machines and there’s not a single trace of what we did.” She lifted her hands like a low-rent spiritual guru. “It’s all around and nowhere at the same time.” A sly grin. “Like you. ~ Gregg Hurwitz, #NFDB
398:What Musk had done that the rival automakers missed or didn’t have the means to combat was turn Tesla into a lifestyle. It did not just sell someone a car. It sold them an image, a feeling they were tapping into the future, a relationship. Apple did the same thing decades ago with the Mac and then again with the iPod and iPhone. Even those who were not religious about their affiliation to Apple were sucked into its universe once they bought the hardware and downloaded software like iTunes. This sort of relationship is hard to pull off if you don’t control as much of the lifestyle as possible. PC makers that farmed their software out to Microsoft, their chips to Intel, and their design to Asia could never make machines as beautiful and as complete as Apple’s. They also could not respond in time as Apple took this expertise to new areas and hooked people on its applications. You can see Musk’s embrace of the car as lifestyle in Tesla’s abandonment of model years. Tesla does not designate cars as being 2014s or 2015s, and it also doesn’t have “all the 2014s in stock must go, go, go and make room for the new cars” sales. It produces the best Model S it can at the time, and that’s what the customer receives. This means that Tesla does not develop and hold on to a bunch of new features over the course of the year and then unleash them in a new model all at once. It adds features one by one to the manufacturing line when they’re ready. Some customers may be frustrated to miss out on a feature here and there. Tesla, however, manages to deliver most of the upgrades as software updates that everyone gets, providing current Model S owners with pleasant surprises. ~ Ashlee Vance, #NFDB
399:To understand hardware and software (as applied to the human brain) perform the following meditation. Sit in a room where you will not be disturbed for a half hour and begin thinking, “I am sitting in this room doing this exercize because . . .“ and list as many of the “causes” as you can think of. For instance, you are doing this exercize because, obviously, you read about it in this book. Why did you buy this book? Did somebody recommend it? How did that person come into your life? If you just picked the book up in a store, why did you happen to be in just that store on just that day? Why do you read books of this sort — on psychology, consciousness, evolution etc.? How did you get interested in those fields? Who turned you on, and how long ago? What factors in your childhood inclined you to be interested in these subjects later? Why are you doing this exercize in this room and not elsewhere? Why did you buy or rent this house or apartment? Why are you in this city and not another? Why on this continent and not another? Why are you here at all — that is, how did your parents meet? Did they consciously decide to have a child, do you happen to know, or were you an accident? What cities were they born in? If in different cities, why did they move in space-time so that their paths would intersect? Why is this planet capable of supporting life, and why did it produce the kind of life that would dream up an exercize of this sort? Repeat this exercize a few days later, trying to ask and answer fifty questions you didn’t think of the first time. (Note that you cannot ever ask all possible questions.) Avoid all metaphysical speculations (e.g., karma, reincarnation, “destiny” etc.). The point of the exercize will be mind-blowing enough without introducing “occult” theories, and it will be more startling if you carefully avoid such overtly “mystical” speculations. ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #NFDB
400:Communication is at the root of all business strengths—and weaknesses. When things go wrong and employees become upset, whether at a restaurant, a law firm, a hardware store, a university, or a major corporation, nine times out of ten the justifiable complaint is, “We need to communicate more effectively.” I admit that for many years, I didn’t really know what this meant. I had no problem standing up in front of a group to give a talk. I thought I was a pretty good communicator, but then it dawned on me: communicating has as much to do with context as it does content. That’s called setting the table. Understanding who needs to know what, when people need to know it, and why, and then presenting that information in an entirely comprehensible way is a sine qua non of great leadership. Clear, timely communication is the key to applying constant, gentle pressure. To illustrate the point, I teach our managers about the “lily pad” theory. Imagine a pond filled with lily pads and a frog perched serenely atop each one. For the fun of it, a little boy tosses a small pebble into the water, which breaks the surface of the pond but causes just a tiny ripple. The frogs barely notice, and don’t budge. Enjoying himself, the boy next tosses a larger stone into the center of the pond, sending stronger ripples that cause all of the lily pads to rock and tilt. Some frogs jump off their lily pads, while others cling to avoid falling off. But the ripples affect them all. Not content, the boy then hurls a huge rock, which creates a wave that knocks each and every frog into the water. Some frogs are frightened. All are angry (assuming that frogs get angry). If only the frogs had had some warning about the impending rock toss, each one could have timed its jump so that the wave would have had no serious impact. Grasping the lily pad theory and training yourself and your managers to implement it prevents many, if not all, communication problems. ~ Danny Meyer, #NFDB
401:Now that we know that Spring Roll is a girl, we should probably think about setting up her room. Gabriel kept his eyes on the road as he drove the Volvo one Saturday morning in May. We should also talk about names.
That sounds good.
Maybe you should think about what you want and we can go shopping.
Julia turned to look at him. Now?
I said I'd take you to lunch, and we can do that. But afterward, we need to start thinking about Spring Roll's room. We want it to be attractive, but functional. Something comfortable for you and for her, but not juvenile.
She's a baby, Gabriel. Her stuff is going to be juvenile.
You know what I mean. I want it to be elegant and not look like a preschool.
Good grief. Julia fought a grin as she began imagining what the Professor would design.
(Argyle patterns, dark wood, and chocolate brown leather immediately came to mind.)
He cleared his throat. I might have done some searching on the Internet.
Oh, really? From where? Restoration Hardware?
Of course not. He bristled. Their things wouldn't be appropriate for a baby's room.
So where then?
He gazed at her triumphantly. Pottery Barn Kids.
Julia groaned. We've become yuppies.
Gabriel stared at her in mock horror. Why do you say that?
We're driving a Volvo and talking about shopping at Pottery Barn.
First of all, Volvos have an excellent safety rating and they're more attractive than a minivan. Secondly, Pottery Barn's furniture happens to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. I'd like to take you to one their stores so you can see for yourself.
As long as we get Thai food first.
Now it was Gabriel's turn to roll his eyes. Fine. But we're ordering takeout and taking it to the park for a picnic. And I'm having Indian food, instead. If I see another plate of pad Thai, I'm going to lose it.
Julia burst into peals of laughter. ~ Sylvain Reynard,#NFDB
402:Although thrilled that the era of the personal computer had arrived, he was afraid that he was going to miss the party. Slapping down seventy-five cents, he grabbed the issue and trotted through the slushy snow to the Harvard dorm room of Bill Gates, his high school buddy and fellow computer fanatic from Seattle, who had convinced him to drop out of college and move to Cambridge. “Hey, this thing is happening without us,” Allen declared. Gates began to rock back and forth, as he often did during moments of intensity. When he finished the article, he realized that Allen was right. For the next eight weeks, the two of them embarked on a frenzy of code writing that would change the nature of the computer business.1 Unlike the computer pioneers before him, Gates, who was born in 1955, had not grown up caring much about the hardware. He had never gotten his thrills by building Heathkit radios or soldering circuit boards. A high school physics teacher, annoyed by the arrogance Gates sometimes displayed while jockeying at the school’s timesharing terminal, had once assigned him the project of assembling a Radio Shack electronics kit. When Gates finally turned it in, the teacher recalled, “solder was dripping all over the back” and it didn’t work.2 For Gates, the magic of computers was not in their hardware circuits but in their software code. “We’re not hardware gurus, Paul,” he repeatedly pronounced whenever Allen proposed building a machine. “What we know is software.” Even his slightly older friend Allen, who had built shortwave radios, knew that the future belonged to the coders. “Hardware,” he admitted, “was not our area of expertise.”3 What Gates and Allen set out to do on that December day in 1974 when they first saw the Popular Electronics cover was to create the software for personal computers. More than that, they wanted to shift the balance in the emerging industry so that the hardware would become an interchangeable commodity, while those who created the operating system and application software would capture most of the profits. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
403:SCULLEY. Pepsi executive recruited by Jobs in 1983 to be Apple’s CEO, clashed with and ousted Jobs in 1985. JOANNE SCHIEBLE JANDALI SIMPSON. Wisconsin-born biological mother of Steve Jobs, whom she put up for adoption, and Mona Simpson, whom she raised. MONA SIMPSON. Biological full sister of Jobs; they discovered their relationship in 1986 and became close. She wrote novels loosely based on her mother Joanne (Anywhere but Here), Jobs and his daughter Lisa (A Regular Guy), and her father Abdulfattah Jandali (The Lost Father). ALVY RAY SMITH. A cofounder of Pixar who clashed with Jobs. BURRELL SMITH. Brilliant, troubled hardware designer on the original Mac team, afflicted with schizophrenia in the 1990s. AVADIS “AVIE” TEVANIAN. Worked with Jobs and Rubinstein at NeXT, became chief software engineer at Apple in 1997. JAMES VINCENT. A music-loving Brit, the younger partner with Lee Clow and Duncan Milner at the ad agency Apple hired. RON WAYNE. Met Jobs at Atari, became first partner with Jobs and Wozniak at fledgling Apple, but unwisely decided to forgo his equity stake. STEPHEN WOZNIAK. The star electronics geek at Homestead High; Jobs figured out how to package and market his amazing circuit boards and became his partner in founding Apple. DEL YOCAM. Early Apple employee who became the General Manager of the Apple II Group and later Apple’s Chief Operating Officer. INTRODUCTION How This Book Came to Be In the early summer of 2004, I got a phone call from Steve Jobs. He had been scattershot friendly to me over the years, with occasional bursts of intensity, especially when he was launching a new product that he wanted on the cover of Time or featured on CNN, places where I’d worked. But now that I was no longer at either of those places, I hadn’t heard from him much. We talked a bit about the Aspen Institute, which I had recently joined, and I invited him to speak at our summer campus in Colorado. He’d be happy to come, he said, but not to be onstage. He wanted instead to take a walk so that we could talk. That seemed a bit odd. I didn’t yet ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
404:rather than just websites. Along the way he produced not only transforming products but also, on his second try, a lasting company, endowed with his DNA, that is filled with creative designers and daredevil engineers who could carry forward his vision. In August 2011, right before he stepped down as CEO, the enterprise he started in his parents’ garage became the world’s most valuable company. This is also, I hope, a book about innovation. At a time when the United States is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build creative digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness, imagination, and sustained innovation. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology, so he built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering. He and his colleagues at Apple were able to think differently: They developed not merely modest product advances based on focus groups, but whole new devices and services that consumers did not yet know they needed. He was not a model boss or human being, tidily packaged for emulation. Driven by demons, he could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and passions and products were all interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is thus both instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values. Shakespeare’s Henry V—the story of a willful and immature prince who becomes a passionate but sensitive, callous but sentimental, inspiring but flawed king—begins with the exhortation “O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend / The brightest heaven of invention.” For Steve Jobs, the ascent to the brightest heaven of invention begins with a tale of two sets of parents, and of growing up in a valley that was just learning how to turn silicon into gold. Paul Jobs with Steve, 1956 The Los Altos house with the garage where Apple was ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
405:Let’s say you have an ax. Just a cheap one, from Home Depot. On one bitter winter day, you use said ax to behead a man. Don’t worry, the man was already dead. Or maybe you should worry, because you’re the one who shot him.
He had been a big, twitchy guy with veiny skin stretched over swollen biceps, a tattoo of a swastika on his tongue. Teeth filed into razor-sharp fangs-you know the type. And you’re chopping off his head because, even with eight bullet holes in him, you’re pretty sure he’s about to spring back to his feet and eat the look of terror right off your face.
On the follow-through of the last swing, though, the handle of the ax snaps in a spray of splinters. You now have a broken ax. So, after a long night of looking for a place to dump the man and his head, you take a trip into town with your ax. You go to the hardware store, explaining away the dark reddish stains on the broken handle as barbecue sauce. You walk out with a brand-new handle for your ax.
The repaired ax sits undisturbed in your garage until the spring when, on one rainy morning, you find in your kitchen a creature that appears to be a foot-long slug with a bulging egg sac on its tail. Its jaws bite one of your forks in half with what seems like very little effort. You grab your trusty ax and chop the thing into several pieces. On the last blow, however, the ax strikes a metal leg of the overturned kitchen table and chips out a notch right in the middle of the blade.
Of course, a chipped head means yet another trip to the hardware store. They sell you a brand-new head for your ax. As soon as you get home, you meet the reanimated body of the guy you beheaded earlier. He’s also got a new head, stitched on with what looks like plastic weed-trimmer line, and it’s wearing that unique expression of “you’re the man who killed me last winter” resentment that one so rarely encounters in everyday life.
You brandish your ax. The guy takes a long look at the weapon with his squishy, rotting eyes and in a gargly voice he screams, “That’s the same ax that beheaded me!”
IS HE RIGHT? ~ David Wong,#NFDB
406:As Sam came to a panting stop, a jet of orange flame burst from a high window.
Several dozen kids were standing, watching. A crowd that struck Sam as very strange, until he realized why it was strange: there were no adults, just kids.
“Is anyone in there?” Astrid called out. No one answered.
“It could spread,” Sam said.
“There’s no 911,” someone pointed out.
“If it spreads, it could burn down half the town.”
“You see a fireman anywhere?” A helpless shrug.
The day care shared a wall with the hardware store, and both were only a narrow alley away from the burning building. Sam figured they had time to get the kids out of the day care if they acted fast, but the hardware store was something they could not afford to lose.
There had to be forty kids just standing there gawking. No one seemed about to start doing anything.
“Great,” Sam said. He grabbed two kids he sort of knew. “You guys, go to the day care. Tell them to get the littles out of there.”
The kids stared at him without moving.
“Now. Go. Do it!” he said, and they took off running.
Sam pointed at two other kids. “You and you. Go into the hardware store, get the longest hose you can find. Get a spray nozzle, too. I think there’s a spigot in that alley. Start spraying water on the side of the hardware store and up on the roof.”
These two also stared blankly. “Dudes: Not tomorrow. Now. Now. Go! Quinn? You better go with them. We want to wet down the hardware—that’s where the wind will take the fire next.”
Quinn hesitated.
People were not getting this. How could they not see that they had to do something, not just stand around?
Sam pushed to the front of the crowd and in a loud voice said, “Hey, listen up, this isn’t the Disney Channel. We can’t just watch this happen. There are no adults. There’s no fire department. We are the fire department.”
Edilio was there. He said, “Sam’s right. What do you need, Sam? I’m with you.”
“Okay. Quinn? The hoses from the hardware store. Edilio? Let’s get the big hoses from the fire station, hook ’em up to the hydrant.”
“They’ll be heavy. I’ll need some strong guys.”
“You, you, you, you.” Sam grabbed each person’s shoulder, shaking each one, pushing them into motion. “Come on. You. You. Let’s go! ~ Michael Grant,#NFDB
407:Hey, Rita.” She watched Jake return to his hardware goodies. “Hey, Meridith. Sorry to call at dinnertime, but this is important.” “What is it?” Jake looked up at her tone. “I ran into Dee Whittier in town awhile ago.” “Who?” “She owns a sporting shop and is on the chamber of commerce with me. She’s also Max and Ben’s soccer coach.” “Okay . . .” “Well, she called and told me she saw the kids’ uncle in town this afternoon.” “What?” Meridith caught Jake’s eye, then flickered a look toward Noelle. “She recognized him because he goes to the boys’ games sometimes and, well, according to her he’s a total stud, and she’s single, so . . . you haven’t heard from him yet?” “No.” “I thought you’d want to know.” “Yes, I—thanks, Rita. Forewarned is forearmed, right?” A scream pierced the line. “Brandon, leave your sister alone!” Rita yelled. “Listen, I gotta run.” “Thanks for calling,” Meridith said absently. “What’s wrong?” Jake asked. He would be coming soon. Surely it wouldn’t take long for him to discover his sister had passed away. She felt a moment’s pity at the thought, then remembered he’d gone over three months without checking in. “You okay?” Jake asked again. Noelle entered the room and grabbed a stack of napkins from the island drawer. “Noelle, your uncle hasn’t called or e-mailed, has he?” Noelle’s hand froze, a stack of napkins clutched in her fist. Her lips parted. Her eyes darted to Jake, then back to Meridith. “Why?” “Rita said someone named Dee saw him in town today.” Noelle closed the drawer slowly. “Oh. Uh . . . no.” Meridith turned to the soup. Thick broth bubbles popped and spewed. She turned down the heat again and stirred. “Well, I guess he’s back. You’ll be seeing him soon.” She tried to inject enthusiasm in her voice, tried to be happy for the children. A piece of familiarity, a renewed bond, a living reminder of their mother. It would be good for them. And yet. What if he wanted them once he found out what had happened to Eva and T. J.? What if he fought her for them and won? Her stomach bottomed out. She loved the children now. They were her siblings. Her family. She remembered coming to the island with every intention of handing them over like unwanted baggage. What she’d once wanted most was now a potential reality. Only now she didn’t want it at all. Dinner ~ Denise Hunter, #NFDB
408:I need actual X-Ultra vests, not schematics and spec sheets.”
“More than one?”
“A statistically significant sample would be best. Like a hundred.”
“Why so many?”
“Target practice.”
Her eyes widened. “Let me make sure I have this straight. You want to blow holes in one hundred bulletproof army vests.”
“That’s correct.”
“Where do you plan to do that?”
He looked at her.
“I’ll ask Norm,” Kenzie said.
“If it’s not too much trouble. What if he tells you no?”
Kenzie shook her head. “He’s ex-army.”
“Should have known. He never shaved again,” Linc said.
“Shut up. He’s a ZZ Top fan. Be glad he won’t mind. He might ask you not to be too conspicuous about it. There’s a smaller range off to the side. You haven’t seen it.”
“If he has the right targets, I can pay him,” Linc offered.
“You should see what’s in the basement. Everything from paper thugs to wooden dummies. I’ll borrow a gun from Norm. I want to get this done and over with.”
Kenzie was military all the way, but he hadn’t noticed her having much interest in hardware. “Mind telling me why you’re so gung-ho?”
“Because sooner or later I’m going to be the one to tell Christine that Frank Branigan died. And I don’t want her to think I had a chance to help find out why and did zip.”
“Okay. I understand. But I’m the one who has to get the vests. You can’t do that. They know who you are.”
She conceded the point with a nod.
“How are you going to get in?” she wanted to know.
“Right through the front gate.”
Kenzie shot him a curious look. “Let me guess. You aren’t going to explain how you’re going to do that because you would have to reveal your secret identity.”
He chuckled at her reply. “You’re not that far off.”
“Thought so,” she said with satisfaction.
“And,” he went on, sobering, “there is one more thing I have to do.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Mike Warren and I noticed that a lot of lines are starting to converge on SKC. While I’m inside, I want to take video.”
“Of what?”
“More like who. As in everyone I can get on microcam.”
“How micro is it?”
“About as big as a button.” He rose and stretched, rubbing his back. “Which is good. I may not be able to carry anything ever again.”
“Tough workout?” she teased.
“Let’s just say I had more fun watching yours. ~ Janet Dailey,#NFDB
409:In quel preciso momento, Karla è entrata nella stanza. Ha spento la televisione, ha guardato Todd fisso negli occhi e ha detto: "Todd, tu esisti non soltanto come membro di una famiglia o di una compagnia o di una nazione, ma come membro di una specie... sei un essere umano. Sei parte dell'umanità. Attualmente la nostra specie ha problemi profondi e stiamo cercando di sognare un modo per uscirne e stiamo usando i computer per cavarcela. La costruzione di hardware e software è il campo in cui la specie ha deciso di investire energie per la sua sopravvivenza e questa costruzione richiede zone di pace, bambini nati dalla pace, e l'assenza di distrazioni che interferiscano col codice. Non possiamo acquisire conoscenza attraverso l'informatica, ma riusciremo a usarla per tenerci fuori dalla merda. Quello che tu percepisci come un vuoto è un paradiso terrestre: alla lettera, linea per linea, la libertà di impedire all'umanità di diventare non lineare".
Si è seduta sul divano e c'era il rumore della pioggia che tamburellava sul soffitto e mi sono reso conto del fatto che non c'era abbastanza luce nella stanza e che noi eravamo tutti in silenzio.
Karla ha detto: "Abbiamo avuto una vita discreta. Nessuno di noi, a quanto mi risulta, è mai stato maltrattato. Non abbiamo mai desiderato niente, né abbiamo mai voluto possedere qualcosa. I nostri genitori sono tutti ancora insieme, a parte quelli di Susan. Ci hanno trattato bene, ma la vera moralità, qui. Todd consiste nel sapere se le loro mani sono state sprecate in vite non creative, o se queste mani sono utilizzate per portare avanti il sogno dell'umanità".
Continuava a piovere.
"Non è una coincidenza che come specie abbiamo inventato la classe media. Senza la classe media, non avremmo potuto avere quel particolare tipo di configurazione mentale che contribuisce in misura consistente a sputar fuori i sistemi informatici e la nostra specie non avrebbe mai potuto farcela ad arrivare allo stadio evolutivo successivo, qualunque esso sia. Ci sono buone probabilità che la classe media non rientri neanche parzialmente nella prossima fase evolutiva. Ma non è né qui né là. Che ti piaccia o no, Todd, tu, io, Dan, Abe, Bug, e Susan... tutti noi siamo fabbricanti del prossimo ciclo Rem del sogno umano. Tutti gli altri ne saranno attratti. Non metterli in discussione, Todd, e non crogiolartici dentro, ma non permettere mai a te stesso di dimenticarlo". ~ Douglas Coupland,#NFDB
410:There was a full-sized seated skeleton in front of them on the steps. “The Walking Skeleton!” Benny said.
Henry chuckled. “No, I guess you’d have to call it the Sitting Skeleton. It’s just sitting there as if it stopped to take a rest.”
“I’m not afraid of Halloween tricks even when it’s not Halloween.” Benny scurried past the skeleton.
Henry looked very serious. “Now I know someone is trying to scare us away from Skeleton Point again,” he said.
“You’re probably right, Henry,” said Jessie. “But who could it be?”
“William Mason and Hilda Stone,” said Benny, almost immediately. “They’re mean to us, and they don’t want us around.”
“You’re right, Benny. Remember that man in town said William Mason wanted to buy Skeleton Point for himself? Maybe he’s mad at Charlotte for buying it first.”
Jessie looked thoughtful. “What about Greeny?” she asked. “We know he doesn’t want us around, either--and we know he’s taking things from the house. Maybe he wants to scare us away so we won’t figure out what he’s up to. We should still keep an eye on him.”
Henry agreed. “In fact, we should keep an eye on all of them.”
When they returned to the house, the Aldens found that William had joined Hilda outside.
Jessie waved. “Hi!” she called out, as if she had come straight from her errand across the lake. “Sorry we took so long. The hardware store was out of those light switches.”
Hilda and William kept working. It seemed neither of them wanted to say anything.
Finally Hilda spoke up. “Oh, it turns out we don’t need them after all.”
William pushed back the brim of his red hat and checked his watch. “Half the day’s gone. I don’t see much use for you kids sticking around here. Hilda and I are doing some technical work Charlotte asked us to do--not something suitable for children.”
“We know how to measure, too” Benny said. “I learned in kindergarten.”
Hilda hesitated. “What we’re doing is a little more complicated than what you do in school. Now, why don’t you children go for a bike ride. Or a swim,” she suggested before going into the house.
Henry turned to William. “We already went for a swim,” he said. “An unplanned one.”
William didn’t say anything about untying the Alden’s boat, but he looked away and cleared his throat. “Well, then, go for a planned one this afternoon. Take tomorrow off, too. Everything’s under control here.”
Before William turned to go into the house, the Aldens looked down. Just as they suspected, William was wearing heavy work boots that left deep prints just like the ones near the statue.
The Mystery at Skeleton Point ~ Gertrude Chandler Warner,#NFDB
411:Sunlight in Slush, in Puddles, and in Wet Municipal
Surfaces; or, Miracle on Eighth Avenue below
Fourteenth Street
It was a dying sun, too.
The sun did not have the energy it had two hours ago, nor in some
days last June,
But it was the same sun, with the same distances.
—Was it the sun in black water
On an Eighth Avenue pavement?
What else could it be?
The sun was allotting itself to ever so many dark, watery surfaces;
I guess, being the sun, it could do nothing else.
But it was a miracle, a miracle being that you can look at, with
amazement
inhabiting what you look with.
Certainly, it was before, but there was something like amazement
when the sun (they say it is millions of miles away) was,
through its light, in the consequences of a February rainfall
and snowfall at once, with warmth present.
The sun was in February slush.
If this is not something to be amazed at,
Let us consult the most incredible lives of saints,
Written carelessly,
And call ourselves not careful.
II
The sunlight was like a true saint, a factual saint,
As it took up residence in slush.
The sunlight was like a beneficent mediaeval visitation
As it took up discernible residence in a puddle.
One puddle, along with the sun, had clouds in it
As plain as anything:
Grey, rotund, white vagueness within a puddle of water.
III
It is necessary to say what sunlight in slush bodes.
38
Offhand, it seems hard to think it bodes anything but well.
Slush (undesirable) is visited with power by February sunlight
And the slush has it that way, by the nature of slushness.
(desirable)
IV
Slush is of various kinds,
Puddles are of various kinds.
Black wet areas on pavements
Are of various kinds:
But the February sunlight was present in all the kinds that came
to be on Eighth Avenue below Fourteenth Street the day I'm
speaking of.
The sunlight was present, even, in a furrow a car had made.
Sunlight gets into vehicular furrows and can be recorded as being
in furrows.
The hardware store looked on.
Pizza selling went on near the visitation of slush by sunlight, and
therein.
Sanctity can come to pizzas
As you think of sunlight—fading but there—in slush, some of it
with long oblong furrows.
dwelling
VI
While sunlight—dying sunlight—
Can come to slush,
We can't be sure
What can visit us,
What can occur to us;
What we are in a world of light without end
And possible slush ready to show itself, too—
In a world where both light and slush are indefatigable, and, are
often friendly in February.
~ Eli Siegel,#NFDB
412:You let her get away?” Caine demanded, forgetting Sam for the moment.
“I didn’t let her get away. They were in the room with me. The girl was pissing me off so I smacked her. Then they disappeared. Gone.”
Caine shot a murderous look at Diana. Diana said, “No. She was months away from turning fifteen. And, anyway, her little brother is four.”
“Then how?” Caine furrowed his brow. “Can it be the power?”
Diana shook her head. “I read Astrid again on the way here. She’s barely at two bars. No way. Two people teleporting?”
The color drained from Caine’s face. “The retard?”
“He’s autistic, he’s like in his own world,” Diana protested.
“Did you read him?”
“He’s a little autistic kid, why would I read him?”
Caine turned to Sam. “What do you know about this?” He raised his hand, a threat. His face inches from Sam’s, he screamed, “What do you know?”
“Well. I know that I enjoy seeing you scared, Caine.”
The invisible fist sent Sam sprawling on his back.
Diana, for the first time, looked worried. Her usual smirk was gone. “The only time we saw teleporting was Taylor up at Coates. And she could only go across a room. She was a three. If this kid can teleport himself and his sister through walls…”
“He could be a four,” Caine said softly.
“Yes,” Diana said. “He could be a four.” When she said the word “four,” she looked straight at Sam. “He could be even more.”
Caine said, “Orc, Howard: lock Sam up, tie him down so he can’t get that Mylar off his hands, then get Freddie to help you. He’s done plastering before, he knows what to do. Get whatever you need from the hardware store.” He grabbed Drake by the shoulder. “Find Astrid and that kid.”
“How am I going to catch them if they can just zap out whenever they want?”
“I didn’t say catch them,” Caine said. “Take a gun, Drake. Shoot them both before they see you.”
Sam charged at Caine and plowed into him before he could react. The momentum carried them both to the floor. Sam headbutted Caine in the nose. Caine was slow to recover, but Drake and Orc swarmed over Sam and kicked him off Caine.
Sam groaned in pain. “You can’t kill people, Caine. Are you crazy?”
“You hurt my nose,” Caine said.
“You’re screwed up, Caine. You need help. You’re insane.”
“Yeah,” Caine said, touching his nose and wincing at the pain. “That’s what they keep telling me. It’s what Nurse Temple…Mom…told me. Just be glad I need to keep you around, Sam. I need to see you blink out, figure out how to keep it from happening to me. Orc, take this hero away. Drake: go.”
“If you hurt them, Drake, I’ll hunt you down and kill you,” Sam shouted.
“Don’t waste your breath,” Diana said to him. “You don’t know Drake. Your girlfriend’s as good as dead. ~ Michael Grant,#NFDB
413:Your laptop is a note in a symphony currently being played by an orchestra of incalculable size. It’s a very small part of a much greater whole. Most of its capacity resides beyond its hard shell. It maintains its function only because a vast array of other technologies are currently and harmoniously at play. It is fed, for example, by a power grid whose function is invisibly dependent on the stability of a myriad of complex physical, biological, economic and interpersonal systems. The factories that make its parts are still in operation. The operating system that enables its function is based on those parts, and not on others yet to be created. Its video hardware runs the technology expected by the creative people who post their content on the web. Your laptop is in communication with a certain, specified ecosystem of other devices and web servers. And, finally, all this is made possible by an even less visible element: the social contract of trust—the interconnected and fundamentally honest political and economic systems that make the reliable electrical grid a reality. This interdependency of part on whole, invisible in systems that work, becomes starkly evident in systems that don’t. The higher-order, surrounding systems that enable personal computing hardly exist at all in corrupt, third-world countries, so that the power lines, electrical switches, outlets, and all the other entities so hopefully and concretely indicative of such a grid are absent or compromised, and in fact make little contribution to the practical delivery of electricity to people’s homes and factories. This makes perceiving the electronic and other devices that electricity theoretically enables as separate, functional units frustrating, at minimum, and impossible, at worst. This is partly because of technical insufficiency: the systems simply don’t work. But it is also in no small part because of the lack of trust characteristic of systemically corrupt societies. To put it another way: What you perceive as your computer is like a single leaf, on a tree, in a forest—or, even more accurately, like your fingers rubbing briefly across that leaf. A single leaf can be plucked from a branch. It can be perceived, briefly, as a single, self-contained entity—but that perception misleads more than clarifies. In a few weeks, the leaf will crumble and dissolve. It would not have been there at all, without the tree. It cannot continue to exist, in the absence of the tree. This is the position of our laptops in relation to the world. So much of what they are resides outside their boundaries that the screened devices we hold on our laps can only maintain their computer-like façade for a few short years. Almost everything we see and hold is like that, although often not so evidently ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
414:Your laptop is a note in a symphony currently being played by an orchestra of incalculable size. It’s a very small part of a much greater whole. Most of its capacity resides beyond its hard shell. It maintains its function only because a vast array of other technologies are currently and harmoniously at play. It is fed, for example, by a power grid whose function is invisibly dependent on the stability of a myriad of complex physical, biological, economic and interpersonal systems. The factories that make its parts are still in operation. The operating system that enables its function is based on those parts, and not on others yet to be created. Its video hardware runs the technology expected by the creative people who post their content on the web. Your laptop is in communication with a certain, specified ecosystem of other devices and web servers. And, finally, all this is made possible by an even less visible element: the social contract of trust—the interconnected and fundamentally honest political and economic systems that make the reliable electrical grid a reality. This interdependency of part on whole, invisible in systems that work, becomes starkly evident in systems that don’t. The higher-order, surrounding systems that enable personal computing hardly exist at all in corrupt, third-world countries, so that the power lines, electrical switches, outlets, and all the other entities so hopefully and concretely indicative of such a grid are absent or compromised, and in fact make little contribution to the practical delivery of electricity to people’s homes and factories. This makes perceiving the electronic and other devices that electricity theoretically enables as separate, functional units frustrating, at minimum, and impossible, at worst. This is partly because of technical insufficiency: the systems simply don’t work. But it is also in no small part because of the lack of trust characteristic of systemically corrupt societies. To put it another way: What you perceive as your computer is like a single leaf, on a tree, in a forest—or, even more accurately, like your fingers rubbing briefly across that leaf. A single leaf can be plucked from a branch. It can be perceived, briefly, as a single, self-contained entity—but that perception misleads more than clarifies. In a few weeks, the leaf will crumble and dissolve. It would not have been there at all, without the tree. It cannot continue to exist, in the absence of the tree. This is the position of our laptops in relation to the world. So much of what they are resides outside their boundaries that the screened devices we hold on our laps can only maintain their computer-like façade for a few short years. Almost everything we see and hold is like that, although often not so evidently ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
415:A great deal of effort has been devoted to explaining Babel. Not the Babel event
-- which most people consider to be a myth -- but the fact that languages tend
to diverge. A number of linguistic theories have been developed in an effort to
tie all languages together."
"Theories Lagos tried to apply to his virus hypothesis."
"Yes. There are two schools: relativists and universalists. As George Steiner
summarizes it, relativists tend to believe that language is not the vehicle of
thought but its determining medium. It is the framework of cognition. Our
perceptions of everything are organized by the flux of sensations passing over
that framework. Hence, the study of the evolution of language is the study of
the evolution of the human mind itself."
"Okay, I can see the significance of that. What about the universalists?"
"In contrast with the relativists, who believe that languages need not have
anything in common with each other, the universalists believe that if you can
analyze languages enough, you can find that all of them have certain traits in
common. So they analyze languages, looking for such traits."
"Have they found any?"
"No. There seems to be an exception to every rule."
"Which blows universalism out of the water."
"Not necessarily. They explain this problem by saying that the shared traits
are too deeply buried to be analyzable."
"Which is a cop out."
"Their point is that at some level, language has to happen inside the human
brain. Since all human brains are more or less the same --"
"The hardware's the same. Not the software."
"You are using some kind of metaphor that I cannot understand."
"Well, a French-speaker's brain starts out the same as an English-speaker's
brain. As they grow up, they get programmed with different software -- they
learn different languages."
"Yes. Therefore, according to the universalists, French and English -- or any
other languages -- must share certain traits that have their roots in the 'deep
structures' of the human brain. According to Chomskyan theory, the deep
structures are innate components of the brain that enable it to carry out
certain formal kinds of operations on strings of symbols. Or, as Steiner
paraphrases Emmon Bach: These deep structures eventually lead to the actual
patterning of the cortex with its immensely ramified yet, at the same time,
'programmed' network of electrochemical and neurophysiological channels."
"But these deep structures are so deep we can't even see them?"
"The universalists place the active nodes of linguistic life -- the deep
structures -- so deep as to defy observation and description. Or to use
Steiner's analogy: Try to draw up the creature from the depths of the sea, and
it will disintegrate or change form grotesquely. ~ Neal Stephenson,#NFDB
416:Association of dissimilar ideas “I had earlier devised an arrangement for beam steering on the two-mile accelerator which reduced the amount of hardware necessary by a factor of two…. Two weeks ago it was pointed out to me that this scheme would steer the beam into the wall and therefore was unacceptable. During the session, I looked at the schematic and asked myself how could we retain the factor of two but avoid steering into the wall. Again a flash of inspiration, in which I thought of the word ‘alternate.’ I followed this to its logical conclusion, which was to alternate polarities sector by sector so the steering bias would not add but cancel. I was extremely impressed with this solution and the way it came to me.” “Most of the insights come by association.” “It was the last idea that I thought was remarkable because of the way in which it developed. This idea was the result of a fantasy that occurred during Wagner…. [The participant had earlier listened to Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries.’] I put down a line which seemed to embody this…. I later made the handle which my sketches suggested and it had exactly the quality I was looking for…. I was very amused at the ease with which all of this was done.” 10. Heightened motivation to obtain closure “Had tremendous desire to obtain an elegant solution (the most for the least).” “All known constraints about the problem were simultaneously imposed as I hunted for possible solutions. It was like an analog computer whose output could not deviate from what was desired and whose input was continually perturbed with the inclination toward achieving the output.” “It was almost an awareness of the ‘degree of perfection’ of whatever I was doing.” “In what seemed like ten minutes, I had completed the problem, having what I considered (and still consider) a classic solution.” 11. Visualizing the completed solution “I looked at the paper I was to draw on. I was completely blank. I knew that I would work with a property three hundred feet square. I drew the property lines (at a scale of one inch to forty feet), and I looked at the outlines. I was blank…. Suddenly I saw the finished project. [The project was a shopping center specializing in arts and crafts.] I did some quick calculations …it would fit on the property and not only that …it would meet the cost and income requirements …it would park enough cars …it met all the requirements. It was contemporary architecture with the richness of a cultural heritage …it used history and experience but did not copy it.” “I visualized the result I wanted and subsequently brought the variables into play which could bring that result about. I had great visual (mental) perceptibility; I could imagine what was wanted, needed, or not possible with almost no effort. I was amazed at my idealism, my visual perception, and the rapidity with which I could operate. ~ James Fadiman, #NFDB
417:I thought we were meeting by the field house,” I call out as I make my way over.
He doesn’t even turn around. “Nah, I’m pretty sure I said the parking lot.”
“You definitely said the field house,” I argue. Why can’t he ever just admit that he’s wrong?
“Geez, field house, parking lot. What difference does it make?” Mason asks. “Give it a rest, why don’t you.”
I shoot him a glare. “Oh, hey, Mason. Remember when your hair was long and everyone thought you were a girl?”
Ryder chuckles as he releases a perfect spiral in Mason’s direction. “She’s got you there.”
“Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?” Mason catches the ball and cradles it against his chest, then launches it toward Ben. I just stand there watching as they continue to toss it back and forth between the three of them. Haven’t they had enough football for one day?
I pull out my cell to check the time. “We should probably get going.”
“I guess,” Ryder says with an exaggerated sigh, like I’m putting him out or something. Which is particularly annoying since he’s the one who insisted on going with me.
Ben jogs up beside me, the football tucked beneath his arm. “Where are you two off to? Whoa, you’re sweaty.”
I fold my arms across my damp chest. “Hey, southern girls don’t sweat. We glow.”
Ben snorts at that. “Says who?”
“Says Ryder’s mom,” I say with a grin. It’s one of Laura Grace’s favorite sayings--one that always makes Ryder wince.
“The hardware store,” Ryder answers, snatching the ball back from Ben. “Gotta pick up some things for the storm--sandbags and stuff like that. Y’all want to come?”
“Nah, I think I’ll pass.” Mason wrinkles his nose. “Pretty sure I don’t want to be cooped up in the truck with Jemma glowing like she is right now.”
“Everybody thought you and Morgan were identical twin girls,” I say with a smirk. “Remember, Mason? Isn’t that just so cute?”
“I’ll go,” Ben chimes in. “If you’re getting sandbags, you’ll need some help carrying them out to the truck.”
“Thanks, Ben. See, someone’s a gentleman.”
“Don’t look now, Ryder, but your one-woman fan club is over there.” Mason tips his head toward the school building in the distance. “I think she’s scented you out. Quick. You better run.”
I glance over my shoulder to find Rosie standing on the sidewalk by the building’s double doors, looking around hopefully.
“Hey!” Mason calls out, waving both arms above his head. “He’s over here.”
Ryder’s cheeks turn beet-red. He just stares at the ground, his jaw working furiously.
“C’mon, man,” Ben says, throwing an elbow into Mason’s side. “Don’t be a dick.” He grabs the football and heads toward Ryder’s Durango. “We better get going. The hardware store probably closes at six.”
Silently, Ryder and I hurry after him and hop inside the truck--Ben up front, me in the backseat. We don’t look back to see if Rosie’s following. ~ Kristi Cook,#NFDB
418:M113 Family of Vehicles Mission Provide a highly mobile, survivable, and reliable tracked-vehicle platform that is able to keep pace with Abrams- and Bradley-equipped units and that is adaptable to a wide range of current and future battlefield tasks through the integration of specialised mission modules at minimum operational and support cost. Entered Army Service 1960 Description and Specifications After more than four decades, the M113 family of vehicles (FOV) is still in service in the U.S. Army (and in many foreign armies). The original M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) helped to revolutionise mobile military operations. These vehicles carried 11 soldiers plus a driver and track commander under armour protection across hostile battlefield environments. More importantly, these vehicles were air transportable, air-droppable, and swimmable, allowing planners to incorporate APCs in a much wider range of combat situations, including many "rapid deployment" scenarios. The M113s were so successful that they were quickly identified as the foundation for a family of vehicles. Early derivatives included both command post (M577) and mortar carrier (M106) configurations. Over the years, the M113 FOV has undergone numerous upgrades. In 1964, the M113A1 package replaced the original gasoline engine with a 212 horsepower diesel package, significantly improving survivability by eliminating the possibility of catastrophic loss from fuel tank explosions. Several new derivatives were produced, some based on the armoured M113 chassis (e.g., the M125A1 mortar carrier and M741 "Vulcan" air defence vehicle) and some based on the unarmoured version of the chassis (e.g., the M548 cargo carrier, M667 "Lance" missile carrier, and M730 "Chaparral" missile carrier). In 1979, the A2 package of suspension and cooling enhancements was introduced. Today's M113 fleet includes a mix of these A2 variants, together with other derivatives equipped with the most recent A3 RISE (Reliability Improvements for Selected Equipment) package. The standard RISE package includes an upgraded propulsion system (turbocharged engine and new transmission), greatly improved driver controls (new power brakes and conventional steering controls), external fuel tanks, and 200-amp alternator with four batteries. Additional A3 improvements include incorporation of spall liners and provisions for mounting external armour. The future M113A3 fleet will include a number of vehicles that will have high speed digital networks and data transfer systems. The M113A3 digitisation program includes applying hardware, software, and installation kits and hosting them in the M113 FOV. Current variants: Mechanised Smoke Obscurant System M548A1/A3 Cargo Carrier M577A2/A3 Command Post Carrier M901A1 Improved TOW Vehicle M981 Fire Support Team Vehicle M1059/A3 Smoke Generator Carrier M1064/A3 Mortar Carrier M1068/A3 Standard Integrated Command Post System Carrier OPFOR Surrogate Vehicle (OSV) Manufacturer Anniston Army Depot (Anniston, AL) United Defense, L.P. (Anniston, AL) ~ Russell Phillips, #NFDB
419:You have to be an optimist to believe in the Singularity,” she says, “and that’s harder than it seems. Have you ever played Maximum Happy Imagination?” “Sounds like a Japanese game show.” Kat straightens her shoulders. “Okay, we’re going to play. To start, imagine the future. The good future. No nuclear bombs. Pretend you’re a science fiction writer.” Okay: “World government … no cancer … hover-boards.” “Go further. What’s the good future after that?” “Spaceships. Party on Mars.” “Further.” “Star Trek. Transporters. You can go anywhere.” “Further.” I pause a moment, then realize: “I can’t.” Kat shakes her head. “It’s really hard. And that’s, what, a thousand years? What comes after that? What could possibly come after that? Imagination runs out. But it makes sense, right? We probably just imagine things based on what we already know, and we run out of analogies in the thirty-first century.” I’m trying hard to imagine an average day in the year 3012. I can’t even come up with a half-decent scene. Will people live in buildings? Will they wear clothes? My imagination is almost physically straining. Fingers of thought are raking the space behind the cushions, looking for loose ideas, finding nothing. “Personally, I think the big change is going to be our brains,” Kat says, tapping just above her ear, which is pink and cute. “I think we’re going to find different ways to think, thanks to computers. You expect me to say that”—yes—“but it’s happened before. It’s not like we have the same brains as people a thousand years ago.” Wait: “Yes we do.” “We have the same hardware, but not the same software. Did you know that the concept of privacy is, like, totally recent? And so is the idea of romance, of course.” Yes, as a matter of fact, I think the idea of romance just occurred to me last night. (I don’t say that out loud.) “Each big idea like that is an operating system upgrade,” she says, smiling. Comfortable territory. “Writers are responsible for some of it. They say Shakespeare invented the internal monologue.” Oh, I am very familiar with the internal monologue. “But I think the writers had their turn,” she says, “and now it’s programmers who get to upgrade the human operating system.” I am definitely talking to a girl from Google. “So what’s the next upgrade?” “It’s already happening,” she says. “There are all these things you can do, and it’s like you’re in more than one place at one time, and it’s totally normal. I mean, look around.” I swivel my head, and I see what she wants me to see: dozens of people sitting at tiny tables, all leaning into phones showing them places that don’t exist and yet are somehow more interesting than the Gourmet Grotto. “And it’s not weird, it’s not science fiction at all, it’s…” She slows down a little and her eyes dim. I think she thinks she’s getting too intense. (How do I know that? Does my brain have an app for that?) Her cheeks are flushed and she looks great with all her blood right there at the surface of her skin. “Well,” she says finally, “it’s just that I think the Singularity is totally reasonable to imagine. ~ Robin Sloan, #NFDB
420:So,” I cleared my throat, unable to tolerate his moans of pleasure and praise any longer, “uh, what are your plans for the weekend?”
“The weekend?” He sounded a bit dazed.
“Yes. This weekend. What do you have planned? Planning on busting up any parties?” I asked lightly, not wanting him to know that I was unaccountably breathless. I moved to his other knee and discarded the towel.
“Ha. No. Not unless those wankers down the hall give me a reason to.” Removing his arms from his face, Bryan’s voice was thick, gravelly as he responded, “I, uh, have some furniture to assemble.”
“Really?” Surprised, I stilled and stared at the line of his jaw. The creases around his mouth—when he held perfectly still—made him look mature and distinguished. Actually, they made him even more classically handsome, if that was even possible.
“Yes. Really. Two IKEA bookshelves.”
I slid my hands lower, behind his ankle, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, I prompted, “That’s it?”
“No.” He sighed, hesitated, then added, “I need to stop by the hardware store. The tap in my bathroom is leaking and one of the drawer handles in the kitchen is missing a screw. I just repainted the guest room, so I have to take the excess paint cans to the chemical disposal place; it’s only open on Saturdays before noon. And then I promised my mam I’d take her to dinner.”
My mouth parted slightly because the oddest thing happened as he rattled off his list of chores.
It turned me on.
Even more so than running my palms over his luscious legs.
That’s right. His list of adult tasks made my heart flutter.
I rolled my lips between my teeth, not wanting to blurt that I also needed to go to the hardware store over the weekend. As a treat to myself, I was planning to organize Patrick’s closet and wanted to install shelves above the clothes rack. Truly, Sean’s penchant for buying my son designer suits and ties was completely out of hand. Without some reorganization, I would run out of space.
That’s right. Organizing closets was something I loved to do. I couldn’t get enough of those home and garden shows, especially Tiny Houses, because I adored clever uses for small spaces. I was just freaky enough to admit my passion for storage and organization.
But back to Bryan and his moans of pleasure, adult chores, and luscious legs.
I would not think about Bryan Leech adulting. I would not think about him walking into the hardware store in his sensible shoes and plain gray T-shirt—that would of course pull tightly over his impressive pectoral muscles—and then peruse the aisles for . . . a screw.
I. Would. Not.
Ignoring the spark of kinship, I set to work on his knee, again counting to distract myself. It worked until he volunteered, “I’d like to install some shelves in my closet, but that’ll have to wait until next weekend. Honestly, I’ve been putting it off. I’d do just about anything to get someone to help me organize my closet.” He chuckled.
I’d like to organize your closet.
I fought a groan, biting my lip as I removed my hands, turned from his body, and rinsed them under the faucet.
“We’re, uh, finished for today. ~ L H Cosway,#NFDB
421:In scores of cities all over the United States, when the Communists were simultaneously meeting at their various headquarters on New Year’s Day of 1920, Mr. Palmer’s agents and police and voluntary aides fell upon them—fell upon everybody, in fact, who was in the hall, regardless of whether he was a Communist or not (how could one tell?)—and bundled them off to jail, with or without warrant. Every conceivable bit of evidence—literature, membership lists, books, papers, pictures on the wall, everything—was seized, with or without a search warrant. On this and succeeding nights other Communists and suspected Communists were seized in their homes. Over six thousand men were arrested in all, and thrust summarily behind the bars for days or weeks—often without any chance to learn what was the explicit charge against them. At least one American citizen, not a Communist, was jailed for days through some mistake—probably a confusion of names—and barely escaped deportation. In Detroit, over a hundred men were herded into a bull-pen measuring twenty-four by thirty feet and kept there for a week under conditions which the mayor of the city called intolerable. In Hartford, while the suspects were in jail the authorities took the further precaution of arresting and incarcerating all visitors who came to see them, a friendly call being regarded as prima facie evidence of affiliation with the Communist party. Ultimately a considerable proportion of the prisoners were released for want of sufficient evidence that they were Communists. Ultimately, too, it was divulged that in the whole country-wide raid upon these dangerous men—supposedly armed to the teeth—exactly three pistols were found, and no explosives at all. But at the time the newspapers were full of reports from Mr. Palmer’s office that new evidence of a gigantic plot against the safety of the country had been unearthed; and although the steel strike was failing, the coal strike was failing, and any danger of a socialist régime, to say nothing of a revolution, was daily fading, nevertheless to the great mass of the American people the Bolshevist bogey became more terrifying than ever. Mr. Palmer was in full cry. In public statements he was reminding the twenty million owners of Liberty bonds and the nine million farm-owners and the eleven million owners of savings accounts, that the Reds proposed to take away all they had. He was distributing boilerplate propaganda to the press, containing pictures of horrid-looking Bolsheviks with bristling beards, and asking if such as these should rule over America. Politicians were quoting the suggestion of Guy Empey that the proper implements for dealing with the Reds could be “found in any hardware store,” or proclaiming, “My motto for the Reds is S. O. S.—ship or shoot. I believe we should place them all on a ship of stone, with sails of lead, and that their first stopping-place should be hell.” College graduates were calling for the dismissal of professors suspected of radicalism; school-teachers were being made to sign oaths of allegiance; business men with unorthodox political or economic ideas were learning to hold their tongues if they wanted to hold their jobs. Hysteria had reached its height. ~ Frederick Lewis Allen, #NFDB
422:Pham Nuwen spent years learning to program/explore. Programming went back to the beginning of time. It was a little like the midden out back of his father’s castle. Where the creek had worn that away, ten meters down, there were the crumpled hulks of machines—flying machines, the peasants said—from the great days of Canberra’s original colonial era. But the castle midden was clean and fresh compared to what lay within the Reprise’s local net. There were programs here that had been written five thousand years ago, before Humankind ever left Earth. The wonder of it—the horror of it, Sura said—was that unlike the useless wrecks of Canberra’s past, these programs still worked! And via a million million circuitous threads of inheritance, many of the oldest programs still ran in the bowels of the Qeng Ho system. Take the Traders’ method of timekeeping. The frame corrections were incredibly complex—and down at the very bottom of it was a little program that ran a counter. Second by second, the Qeng Ho counted from the instant that a human had first set foot on Old Earth’s moon. But if you looked at it still more closely. . .the starting instant was actually some hundred million seconds later, the 0-second of one of Humankind’s first computer operating systems.
So behind all the top-level interfaces was layer under layer of support. Some of that software had been designed for wildly different situations. Every so often, the inconsistencies caused fatal accidents. Despite the romance of spaceflight, the most common accidents were simply caused by ancient, misused programs finally getting their revenge.
“We should rewrite it all,” said Pham.
“It’s been done,” said Sura, not looking up. She was preparing to go off-Watch, and had spent the last four days trying to root a problem out of the coldsleep automation.
“It’s been tried,” corrected Bret, just back from the freezers. “But even the top levels of fleet system code are enormous. You and a thousand of your friends would have to work for a century or so to reproduce it.” Trinli grinned evilly. “And guess what—even if you did, by the time you finished, you’d have your own set of inconsistencies. And you still wouldn’t be consistent with all the applications that might be needed now and then.”
Sura gave up on her debugging for the moment. “The word for all this is ‘mature programming environment.’ Basically, when hardware performance has been pushed to its final limit, and programmers have had several centuries to code, you reach a point where there is far more signicant code than can be rationalized. The best you can do is understand the overall layering, and know how to search for the oddball tool that may come in handy—take the situation I have here.” She waved at the dependency chart she had been working on. “We are low on working fluid for the coffins. Like a million other things, there was none for sale on dear old Canberra. Well, the obvious thing is to move the coffins near the aft hull, and cool by direct radiation. We don’t have the proper equipment to support this—so lately, I’ve been doing my share of archeology. It seems that five hundred years ago, a similar thing happened after an in-system war at Torma. They hacked together a temperature maintenance package that is precisely what we need.”
“Almost precisely. ~ Vernor Vinge,#NFDB
423:Under the seeming disorder of the old city, wherever the old city is working successfully, is a marvelous order for maintaining the safety of the streets and the freedom of the city. It is a complex order. Its essence is intricacy of sidewalk use, bringing with it a constant succession of eyes. This order is all composed of movement and change, and although it is life, not art, we may fancifully call it the art form of the city and liken it to the dance — not to a simple-minded precision dance with everyone kicking up at the same time, twirling in unison and bowing off en masse, but to an intricate ballet in which the individual dancers and ensembles all have distinctive parts which miraculously reinforce each other and compose an orderly whole. The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself from place to place, and in any once place is always replete with new improvisations.
The stretch of Hudson Street where I live is each day the scene of an intricate sidewalk ballet. I make my own first entrance into it a little after eight when I put out my garbage gcan, surely a prosaic occupation, but I enjoy my part, my little clang, as the junior droves of junior high school students walk by the center of the stage dropping candy wrapper. (How do they eat so much candy so early in the morning?)
While I sweep up the wrappers I watch the other rituals of the morning: Mr Halpert unlocking the laundry's handcart from its mooring to a cellar door, Joe Cornacchia's son-in-law stacking out the empty crates from the delicatessen, the barber bringing out his sidewalk folding chair, Mr. Goldstein arranging the coils of wire which proclaim the hardware store is open, the wife of the tenement's super intendent depositing her chunky three-year-old with a toy mandolin on the stoop, the vantage point from which he is learning English his mother cannot speak. Now the primary childrren, heading for St. Luke's, dribble through the south; the children from St. Veronica\s cross, heading to the west, and the children from P.S 41, heading toward the east. Two new entrances are made from the wings: well-dressed and even elegant women and men with brief cases emerge from doorways and side streets. Most of these are heading for the bus and subways, but some hover on the curbs, stopping taxis which have miraculously appeared at the right moment, for the taxis are part of a wider morning ritual: having dropped passengers from midtown in the downtown financial district, they are now bringing downtowners up tow midtown. Simultaneously, numbers of women in housedresses have emerged and as they crisscross with one another they pause for quick conversations that sound with laughter or joint indignation, never, it seems, anything in between. It is time for me to hurry to work too, and I exchange my ritual farewell with Mr. Lofaro, the short, thick bodied, white-aproned fruit man who stands outside his doorway a little up the street, his arms folded, his feet planted, looking solid as the earth itself. We nod; we each glance quickly up and down the street, then look back at eachother and smile. We have done this many a morning for more than ten years, and we both know what it means: all is well.
The heart of the day ballet I seldom see, because part off the nature of it is that working people who live there, like me, are mostly gone, filling the roles of strangers on other sidewalks. But from days off, I know enough to know that it becomes more and more intricate. Longshoremen who are not working that day gather at the White Horse or the Ideal or the International for beer and conversation. The executives and business lunchers from the industries just to the west throng the Dorgene restaurant and the Lion's Head coffee house; meat market workers and communication scientists fill the bakery lunchroom. ~ Jane Jacobs,#NFDB
424:So which theory did Lagos believe in? The
relativist or the universalist?"
"He did not seem to think there was much of a difference. In the end, they are
both somewhat mystical. Lagos believed that both schools of thought had
essentially arrived at the same place by different lines of reasoning."
"But it seems to me there is a key difference," Hiro says. "The universalists
think that we are determined by the prepatterned structure of our brains -- the
pathways in the cortex. The relativists don't believe that we have any limits."
"Lagos modified the strict Chomskyan theory by supposing that learning a
language is like blowing code into PROMs -- an analogy that I cannot interpret."
"The analogy is clear. PROMs are Programmable Read-Only Memory chips," Hiro
says. "When they come from the factory, they have no content. Once and only
once, you can place information into those chips and then freeze it -- the
information, the software, becomes frozen into the chip -- it transmutes into
hardware. After you have blown the code into the PROMs, you can read it out,
but you can't write to them anymore. So Lagos was trying to say that the
newborn human brain has no structure -- as the relativists would have it -- and
that as the child learns a language, the developing brain structures itself
accordingly, the language gets 'blown into the hardware and becomes a permanent
part of the brain's deep structure -- as the universalists would have it."
"Yes. This was his interpretation."
"Okay. So when he talked about Enki being a real person with magical powers,
what he meant was that Enki somehow understood the connection between language
and the brain, knew how to manipulate it. The same way that a hacker, knowing
the secrets of a computer system, can write code to control it -- digital namshubs?"
"Lagos said that Enki had the ability to ascend into the universe of language
and see it before his eyes. Much as humans go into the Metaverse. That gave
him power to create nam-shubs. And nam-shubs had the power to alter the
functioning of the brain and of the body."
"Why isn't anyone doing this kind of thing nowadays? Why aren't there any namshubs
in English?"
"Not all languages are the same, as Steiner points out. Some languages are
better at metaphor than others. Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Chinese lend
themselves to word play and have achieved a lasting grip on reality: Palestine
had Qiryat Sefer, the 'City of the Letter,' and Syria had Byblos, the 'Town of
the Book.' By contrast other civilizations seem 'speechless' or at least, as may
have been the case in Egypt, not entirely cognizant of the creative and
transformational powers of language. Lagos believed that Sumerian was an
extraordinarily powerful language -- at least it was in Sumer five thousand
years ago."
"A language that lent itself to Enki's neurolinguistic hacking."
"Early linguists, as well as the Kabbalists, believed in a fictional language
called the tongue of Eden, the language of Adam. It enabled all men to
understand each other, to communicate without misunderstanding. It was the
language of the Logos, the moment when God created the world by speaking a word.
In the tongue of Eden, naming a thing was the same as creating it. To quote
Steiner again, 'Our speech interposes itself between apprehension and truth like
a dusty pane or warped mirror. The tongue of Eden was like a flawless glass; a
light of total understanding streamed through it. Thus Babel was a second
Fall.' And Isaac the Blind, an early Kabbalist, said that, to quote Gershom
Scholem's translation, 'The speech of men is connected with divine speech and
all language whether heavenly or human derives from one source: the Divine
Name.' The practical Kabbalists, the sorcerers, bore the title Ba'al Shem,
meaning 'master of the divine name.'"
"The machine language of the world," Hiro says. ~ Neal Stephenson,#NFDB
425:Off The Turnpike
Good ev'nin', Mis' Priest.
I jest stepped in to tell you Good-bye.
Yes, it's all over.
All my things is packed
An' every last one o' them boxes
Is on Bradley's team
Bein' hauled over to th' depot.
No, I ain't goin' back agin.
I'm stoppin' over to French's fer to-night,
And goin' down first train in th' mornin'.
Yes, it do seem kinder queer
Not to be goin' to see Cherry's Orchard no more,
But Land Sakes! When a change's comin',
Why, I al'ays say it can't come too quick.
Now, that's real kind o' you,
Your doughnuts is always so tasty.
Yes, I'm goin' to Chicago,
To my niece,
She's married to a fine man, hardware business,
An' doin' real well, she tells me.
Lizzie's be'n at me to go out ther for the longest while.
She ain't got no kith nor kin to Chicago, you know
She's rented me a real nice little flat,
Same house as hers,
An' I'm goin' to try that city livin' folks say's so pleasant.
Oh, yes, he was real generous,
Paid me a sight o' money fer the Orchard;
I told him 'twouldn't yield nothin' but stones,
But he ain't farmin' it.
Lor', no, Mis' Priest,
He's jest took it to set and look at the view.
Mebbe he wouldn't be so stuck on the view
Ef he'd seed it every mornin' and night for forty year
Same's as I have.
I dessay it's pretty enough,
But it's so pressed into me
I c'n see't with my eyes shut.
No. I ain't cold, Mis' Priest,
Don't shut th' door.
157
I'll be all right in a minit.
But I ain't a mite sorry to leave that view.
Well, mebbe 'tis queer to feel so,
An' mebbe 'taint.
My! But that tea's revivin'.
Old things ain't always pleasant things, Mis' Priest.
No, no, I don't cal'late on comin' back,
That's why I'd ruther be to Chicago,
Boston's too near.
It ain't cold, Mis' Priest,
It's jest my thoughts.
I ain't sick, only Mis' Priest, ef you've nothin' ter take yer time,
An' have a mind to listen,
Ther's somethin' I'd like ter speak about
I ain't never mentioned it,
But I'd like to tell yer 'fore I go.
Would you mind lowerin' them shades,
Fall twilight's awful grey,
An' that fire's real cosy with the shades drawed.
Well, I guess folks about here think I've be'n dret'ful onsociable.
You needn't say 'taint so, 'cause I know diff'rent.
An' what's more, it's true.
Well, the reason is I've be'n scared out o' my life.
Scared ev'ry minit o' th' time, fer eight year.
Eight mortal year 'tis, come next June.
'Twas on the eighteenth o' June,
Six months after I'd buried my husband,
That somethin' happened ter me.
Mebbe you'll mind that afore that
I was a cheery body.
Hiram was too,
Al'ays liked to ask a neighbor in,
An' ev'n when he died,
Barrin' low sperrits, I warn't averse to seein' nobody.
But that eighteenth o' June changed ev'rythin'.
I was doin' most o' th' farmwork myself,
With jest a hired boy, Clarence King, 'twas,
Comin' in fer an hour or two.
Well, that eighteenth o' June
I was goin' round,
Lockin' up and seein' to things 'fore I went to bed.
158
I was jest steppin' out t' th' barn,
Goin' round outside 'stead o' through the shed,
'Cause there was such a sight o' moonlight
Somehow or another I thought 'twould be pretty outdoors.
I got settled for pretty things that night, I guess.
I ain't stuck on 'em no more.
Well, them laylock bushes side o' th' house
Was real lovely.
Glitt'rin' and shakin' in the moonlight,
An' the smell o' them rose right up
An' most took my breath away.
The colour o' the spikes was all faded out,
They never keep their colour when the moon's on 'em,
But the smell fair 'toxicated me.
I was al'ays partial to a sweet scent,
An' I went close up t' th' bushes
So's to put my face right into a flower.
Mis' Priest, jest's I got breathin' in that laylock bloom
I saw, layin' right at my feet,
A man's hand!
It was as white's the side o' th' house,
And sparklin' like that lum'nous paint they put on gate-posts.
I screamed right out,
I couldn't help it,
An' I could hear my scream
Goin' over an' over
In that echo be'ind th' barn.
Hearin' it agin an' agin like that
Scared me so, I dar'sn't scream any more.
I jest stood ther,
And looked at that hand.
I thought the echo'd begin to hammer like my heart,
But it didn't.
There was only th' wind,
Sighin' through the laylock leaves,
An' slappin' 'em up agin the house.
Well, I guess I looked at that hand
Most ten minits,
An' it never moved,
Jest lay there white as white.
After a while I got to thinkin' that o' course
'Twas some drunken tramp over from Redfield.
159
That calmed me some,
An' I commenced to think I'd better git him out
From under them laylocks.
I planned to drag him in t' th' barn
An' lock him in ther till Clarence come in th' mornin'.
I got so mad thinkin' o' that all-fired brazen tramp
Asleep in my laylocks,
I jest stooped down and grabbed th' hand and give it an awful pull.
Then I bumped right down settin' on the ground.
Mis' Priest, ther warn't no body come with the hand.
No, it ain't cold, it's jest that I can't abear thinkin' of it,
Ev'n now.
I'll take a sip o' tea.
Thank you, Mis' Priest, that's better.
I'd ruther finish now I've begun.
Thank you, jest the same.
I dropped the hand's ef it'd be'n red hot
'Stead o' ice cold.
Fer a minit or two I jest laid on that grass
Pantin'.
Then I up and run to them laylocks
An' pulled 'em every which way.
True es I'm settin' here, Mis' Priest,
Ther warn't nothin' ther.
I peeked an' pryed all about 'em,
But ther warn't no man ther
Neither livin' nor dead.
But the hand was ther all right,
Upside down, the way I'd dropped it,
And glist'nin' fit to dazzle yer.
I don't know how I done it,
An' I don't know why I done it,
But I wanted to git that dret'ful hand out o' sight
I got in t' th' barn, somehow,
An' felt roun' till I got a spade.
I couldn't stop fer a lantern,
Besides, the moonlight was bright enough in all conscience.
Then I scooped that awful thing up in th' spade.
I had a sight o' trouble doin' it.
It slid off, and tipped over, and I couldn't bear
Ev'n to touch it with my foot to prop it,
But I done it somehow.
160
Then I carried it off be'ind the barn,
Clost to an old apple-tree
Where you couldn't see from the house,
An' I buried it,
Good an' deep.
I don't rec'lect nothin' more o' that night.
Clarence woke me up in th' mornin',
Hollerin' fer me to come down and set th' milk.
When he'd gone,
I stole roun' to the apple-tree
And seed the earth all new turned
Where I left it in my hurry.
I did a heap o' gardenin'
That mornin'.
I couldn't cut no big sods
Fear Clarence would notice and ask me what I wanted 'em fer,
So I got teeny bits o' turf here and ther,
And no one couldn't tell ther'd be'n any diggin'
When I got through.
They was awful days after that, Mis' Priest,
I used ter go every mornin' and poke about them bushes,
An' up and down the fence,
Ter find the body that hand come off of.
But I couldn't never find nothin'.
I'd lay awake nights
Hearin' them laylocks blowin' and whiskin'.
At last I had Clarence cut 'em down
An' make a big bonfire of 'em.
I told him the smell made me sick,
An' that warn't no lie,
I can't abear the smell on 'em now;
An' no wonder, es you say.
I fretted somethin' awful 'bout that hand
I wondered, could it be Hiram's,
But folks don't rob graveyards hereabouts.
Besides, Hiram's hands warn't that awful, starin' white.
I give up seein' people,
I was afeared I'd say somethin'.
You know what folks thought o' me
Better'n I do, I dessay,
But mebbe now you'll see I couldn't do nothin' diff'rent.
161
But I stuck it out,
I warn't goin' to be downed
By no loose hand, no matter how it come ther
But that ain't the worst, Mis' Priest,
Not by a long ways.
Two year ago, Mr. Densmore made me an offer for Cherry's Orchard.
Well, I'd got used to th' thought o' bein' sort o' blighted,
An' I warn't scared no more.
Lived down my fear, I guess.
I'd kinder got used to th' thought o' that awful night,
And I didn't mope much about it.
Only I never went out o' doors by moonlight;
That stuck.
Well, when Mr. Densmore's offer come,
I started thinkin' 'bout the place
An' all the things that had gone on ther.
Thinks I, I guess I'll go and see where I put the hand.
I was foolhardy with the long time that had gone by.
I know'd the place real well,
Fer I'd put it right in between two o' the apple roots.
I don't know what possessed me, Mis' Priest,
But I kinder wanted to know
That the hand had been flesh and bone, anyway.
It had sorter bothered me, thinkin' I might ha' imagined it.
I took a mornin' when the sun was real pleasant and warm;
I guessed I wouldn't jump for a few old bones.
But I did jump, somethin' wicked.
Ther warn't no bones!
Ther warn't nothin'!
Not ev'n the gold ring I'd minded bein' on the little finger.
I don't know ef ther ever was anythin'.
I've worried myself sick over it.
I be'n diggin' and diggin' day in and day out
Till Clarence ketched me at it.
Oh, I know'd real well what you all thought,
An' I ain't sayin' you're not right,
But I ain't goin' to end in no county 'sylum
If I c'n help it.
The shiv'rin' fits come on me sudden like.
I know 'em, don't you trouble.
I've fretted considerable about the 'sylum,
I guess I be'n frettin' all the time I ain't be'n diggin'.
162
But anyhow I can't dig to Chicago, can I?
Thank you, Mis' Priest,
I'm better now. I only dropped in in passin'.
I'll jest be steppin' along down to French's.
No, I won't be seein' nobody in the mornin',
It's a pretty early start.
Don't you stand ther, Mis' Priest,
The wind'll blow yer lamp out,
An' I c'n see easy, I got aholt o' the gate now.
I ain't a mite tired, thank you.
Good-night.
~ Amy Lowell,#NFDB
2 Fiction
1 Occultism
2 H P Lovecraft
2 Lovecraft - Poems
1.69 - Farewell to Nemi, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
they hardware or software or any other related product without
express permission.]
1f.lovecraft - Sweet Ermengarde, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
hardware store where they have such nice imitation diamonds in the
window.
1f.lovecraft - The Shadow over Innsmouth, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
transferring this hardware to the vacant place with the aid of a handy
three-in-one device including a screw-driver which I kept on my
The Act of Creation text, #The Act of Creation, #Arthur Koestler, #Psychology
in trying to talk about it in terms appropriate to the dry hardware of modern
digital computers, whereas the third was equally persistent in using language
The Waiting, #Labyrinths, #Jorge Luis Borges, #Poetry
pharmacy alongside, the dull lozenges of the paint and hardware store. A
long window-less hospital wall backed the sidewalk on the other side of the
--- Overview of noun hardware
The noun hardware has 3 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (3) hardware ::: (major items of military weaponry (as tanks or missile))
2. hardware, ironware ::: (instrumentalities (tools or implements) made of metal)
3. hardware, computer hardware ::: ((computer science) the mechanical, magnetic, electronic, and electrical components making up a computer system)
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun hardware
3 senses of hardware
Sense 1
hardware
=> weaponry, arms, implements of war, weapons system, munition
=> instrumentality, instrumentation
=> artifact, artefact
=> whole, unit
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
Sense 2
hardware, ironware
=> instrumentality, instrumentation
=> artifact, artefact
=> whole, unit
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
Sense 3
hardware, computer hardware
=> component, constituent, element
=> part, portion
=> object, physical object
=> physical entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun hardware
1 of 3 senses of hardware
Sense 3
hardware, computer hardware
=> central processing unit, CPU, C.P.U., central processor, processor, mainframe
=> memory, computer memory, storage, computer storage, store, memory board
=> scheduler
=> sequencer
=> upgrade
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun hardware
3 senses of hardware
Sense 1
hardware
=> weaponry, arms, implements of war, weapons system, munition
Sense 2
hardware, ironware
=> instrumentality, instrumentation
Sense 3
hardware, computer hardware
=> component, constituent, element
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun hardware
3 senses of hardware
Sense 1
hardware
-> weaponry, arms, implements of war, weapons system, munition
=> ammunition, ammo
=> armament
=> bomb
=> defense system, defence system
=> gunnery
=> hardware
=> naval weaponry
Sense 2
hardware, ironware
-> instrumentality, instrumentation
=> ceramic
=> connection, connexion, connector, connecter, connective
=> container
=> conveyance, transport
=> device
=> equipment
=> furnishing
=> hardware, ironware
=> implement
=> means
=> system
=> toiletry, toilet articles
=> weaponry, arms, implements of war, weapons system, munition
=> medium
Sense 3
hardware, computer hardware
-> component, constituent, element
=> accessory, appurtenance, supplement, add-on
=> addition, add-on, improver
=> audio
=> auto part, car part
=> crystal
=> hardware, computer hardware
=> heating element
=> ingredient
=> input
=> landside
=> making
=> module
=> pixel, pel, picture element
=> retrofit
=> spare part, spare
=> spark gap
--- Grep of noun hardware
computer hardware
hardware
hardware error
hardware store
hardwareman
Wikipedia - Ace Hardware -- American hardware cooperative
Wikipedia - Acer Inc. -- Taiwanese hardware and electronics corporation
Wikipedia - Advanced Configuration and Power Interface -- Standard firmware interface for hardware configuration and power management by operating systems
Wikipedia - Alienware -- American computer hardware subsidiary of Dell, Inc.
Wikipedia - Alteon WebSystems -- Computer network hardware company
Wikipedia - Altera Hardware Description Language
Wikipedia - Amiga Sidecar -- Commodore expansion hardware device
Wikipedia - Analogue (company) -- American video game hardware company
Wikipedia - Andy and Bill's law -- Statement that new software consumes any increase in computing power that new hardware can provide
Wikipedia - Arcade cabinet -- Housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides
Wikipedia - Arduino IDE -- Integrated development environment for Arduino hardware
Wikipedia - Arduino -- Open source hardware and software platform
Wikipedia - Artificial brain -- Software and hardware with cognitive abilities similar to those of the animal or human brain
Wikipedia - Autoconfig -- Amiga system for automatically setting up hardware peripherals
Wikipedia - Automatic test equipment -- Apparatus used in hardware testing that carries out a series of tests automatically
Wikipedia - Automotive hacking -- The exploitation of vulnerabilities within the software, hardware, and communication systems of automobiles
Wikipedia - AXIOM (camera) -- Series of open-hardware cinema cameras
Wikipedia - Bitmain -- Chinese software and hardware company
Wikipedia - Blaze Europe -- Former video game hardware and software developer
Wikipedia - Builders hardware
Wikipedia - Bunnings Warehouse -- Australian household hardware chain
Wikipedia - Category:Apollo program hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Apple Inc. hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Computer hardware companies
Wikipedia - Category:Computer hardware engineers
Wikipedia - Category:Computer hardware
Wikipedia - Category:DEC hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Defunct computer hardware companies
Wikipedia - Category:Educational hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Google hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Graphics hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Hardware acceleration
Wikipedia - Category:History of computing hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Home computer hardware companies
Wikipedia - Category:Lists of computer hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Networking hardware companies
Wikipedia - Category:Open hardware electronic devices
Wikipedia - Category:Open hardware organizations and companies
Wikipedia - Category:Open-source hardware
Wikipedia - Category:Server hardware
Wikipedia - Category:UNIVAC hardware
Wikipedia - Cerebra Computers -- Indian computer hardware company
Wikipedia - Client (computing) -- Piece of computer hardware or software accessing a server service
Wikipedia - Computer chess -- Computer hardware and software capable of playing chess
Wikipedia - Computer hardware platforms
Wikipedia - Computer hardware -- Physical components of a computer
Wikipedia - Computer keyboard -- Computer keyboard hardware
Wikipedia - Computer port (hardware) -- Computer hardware
Wikipedia - Computer security compromised by hardware failure
Wikipedia - Computer terminal -- Computer input/output device; an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system update programming
Wikipedia - Computing hardware
Wikipedia - Cooler Master -- Taiwanese computer hardware company
Wikipedia - Corsair Gaming -- American computer peripherals and hardware company
Wikipedia - Coupling Facility -- Hardware that allows multiple processors to access the same data on IBM mainframes
Wikipedia - Custom hardware attack
Wikipedia - Dadda multiplier -- Hardware multiplier design
Wikipedia - Deltaco -- Swedish computer hardware company
Wikipedia - Diablo Data Systems -- Computer hardware company, printers, disk drives
Wikipedia - Digital differential analyzer (graphics algorithm) -- Hardware or software used for interpolation of variables over an interval
Wikipedia - Digital hardware
Wikipedia - Documation -- American computer hardware manufacturer
Wikipedia - Draft:Ambovent -- Open source hardware and software platform
Wikipedia - E.Bon Holdings -- Hardware and fixture company
Wikipedia - Electronic hardware
Wikipedia - Error message -- Message displayed on a monitor screen or printout indicating that an incorrect instruction has been given or that there is an error resulting from faulty software or hardware
Wikipedia - Evolvable hardware
Wikipedia - Firewall (computing) -- Software or hardware-based network security system
Wikipedia - Foreshadow -- Hardware vulnerability for Intel processors
Wikipedia - Form factor (design) -- aspect of design which defines the size, shape, and other physical specifications of hardware
Wikipedia - Free and open-source hardware
Wikipedia - Free hardware
Wikipedia - Garmin -- GPS software and hardware company
Wikipedia - Glossary of computer hardware terms
Wikipedia - Google Workspace -- Email, cloud storage, collaboration tools, hardware, administration, social media and other business apps
Wikipedia - Graphics hardware
Wikipedia - Hackaday -- A hardware hacking website
Wikipedia - Hardware abstraction layer
Wikipedia - Hardware abstraction
Wikipedia - Hardware acceleration -- Use of specialized computer hardware to perform some functions more efficiently than is possible in software running on a more general-purpose CPU
Wikipedia - Hardware backdoors
Wikipedia - Hardware-based full disk encryption
Wikipedia - Hardware cache
Wikipedia - Hardware description language -- Specialized computer language used to describe the structure and behavior of electronic circuits, and most commonly, digital logic circuits
Wikipedia - Hardware design
Wikipedia - Hardware emulation
Wikipedia - Hardware engineering
Wikipedia - Hardware engineer
Wikipedia - Hardware (film) -- 1990 film by Richard Stanley
Wikipedia - Hardware Freedom Day
Wikipedia - Hardware interface design
Wikipedia - Hardware-in-the-loop simulation -- Technique used in the development and test of complex real-time embedded systems
Wikipedia - Hardware overlay
Wikipedia - Hardware random number generator -- Cryptographic device
Wikipedia - Hardware register
Wikipedia - Hardware restrictions
Wikipedia - Hardware restriction -- Copy protection enforced by hardware
Wikipedia - Hardware scout
Wikipedia - Hardware security module
Wikipedia - Hardware security
Wikipedia - Hardware-software codesign
Wikipedia - Hardware store -- A store that sells household hardware for home improvement
Wikipedia - Hardware stress test
Wikipedia - Hardware Trojan
Wikipedia - Hardware verification
Wikipedia - Hardware virtualization -- The virtualization of computers or operating systems
Wikipedia - Hardware Wars -- 1977 film by Ernie Fosselius
Wikipedia - Hardware
Wikipedia - High-level programming language -- Programming language with strong abstraction from details of hardware
Wikipedia - History of computer hardware in Bulgaria
Wikipedia - History of computer hardware in Soviet Bloc countries
Wikipedia - History of computer hardware in Yugoslavia
Wikipedia - History of computer hardware
Wikipedia - History of computing hardware (1960s-present)
Wikipedia - History of computing hardware -- From early calculation aids to modern day computers
Wikipedia - Household hardware -- Equipment used for home repair and other work in the home
Wikipedia - Interrupt coalescing -- Technique in which events which would normally trigger a hardware interrupt are held back
Wikipedia - Interrupt request (PC architecture) -- Hardware signal sent to a processor to interrupt a running program and handle input
Wikipedia - ISO metric screw thread -- Hardware threading standard
Wikipedia - JBL -- American audio hardware company
Wikipedia - Kludge -- Unconventional solution for a hardware or software problem
Wikipedia - KVM switch -- Device that connects computer front-end hardware to multiple computers
Wikipedia - Lego Mindstorms -- Hardware and software platform by Lego
Wikipedia - Linux Hardware Solutions
Wikipedia - List of computer hardware manufacturers in the Soviet Union -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of computer hardware manufacturers -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of games with hardware-accelerated PhysX support -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of hardware and software that supports FLAC -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of hardware description languages
Wikipedia - List of home computers by video hardware -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of networked storage hardware platforms -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of open-source computing hardware -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of open-source hardware projects -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of open-source health hardware
Wikipedia - Locale (computer hardware)
Wikipedia - Lola (hardware description language)
Wikipedia - LPDDR -- Computer hardware
Wikipedia - Manumation -- Hardware control systems
Wikipedia - Maschine -- Hybrid hardware/software digital audio workstation by Native Instruments
Wikipedia - Memory management unit -- Hardware translating virtual addresses to physical address
Wikipedia - Microcom -- Modem hardware and software company
Wikipedia - Microsoft hardware
Wikipedia - Microsoft Home -- Defunct line of software applications and personal hardware products published by Microsoft
Wikipedia - MPC Corporation -- American computer hardware company
Wikipedia - Name server -- Computer hardware or software server
Wikipedia - Neo Geo -- Family of video game hardware
Wikipedia - Network administrator -- Individual that is responsible for the maintenance of computer hardware and software systems that make up a computer network
Wikipedia - Network hardware
Wikipedia - Networking hardware -- Devices that mediate data transmission in a computer network
Wikipedia - Network virtualization -- combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single administrative entity
Wikipedia - Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone -- Hardware clones of the Nintendo Entertainment System home video game console
Wikipedia - Nintendo Platform Technology Development -- Nintendo's hardware development division
Wikipedia - Nintendo Research & Engineering -- Former hardware development department by Nintendo
Wikipedia - Nitrokey -- Hardware authentication token
Wikipedia - Nut (hardware)
Wikipedia - Nvidia PureVideo -- Nvidia's hardware SIP core that performs video decoding
Wikipedia - OCZ -- Former American computer hardware manufacturer
Wikipedia - OpenCores -- open-source hardware community
Wikipedia - Open Hardware and Design Alliance
Wikipedia - Open hardware
Wikipedia - Open-source computing hardware
Wikipedia - Open Source Hardware Association
Wikipedia - Open-source hardware -- Hardware from the open-design movement
Wikipedia - Operating system -- Software that manages computer hardware resources
Wikipedia - Parallel computer hardware
Wikipedia - Personal computer hardware
Wikipedia - Pocket-sized computer -- Type of hardware devices
Wikipedia - Praetorian DASS -- Military airplane defensive hardware and software
Wikipedia - Precious Plastic -- Open hardware plastic recycling project .
Wikipedia - Programmer (hardware)
Wikipedia - Proprietary hardware
Wikipedia - Quanta Computer -- Taiwan-based manufacturer of notebook computers and other electronic hardware
Wikipedia - Randomized benchmarking -- Method for assessing quantum computer hardware capabilities
Wikipedia - Ray tracing hardware
Wikipedia - Ray-tracing hardware -- Type of 3D graphics accelerator
Wikipedia - RDRAND -- Computer instruction for returning hardware-generated random numbers
Wikipedia - Real-time computing -- Study of hardware and software systems that have a "real-time constraint"
Wikipedia - Refresh rate -- Frequency at which a display hardware updates its buffer
Wikipedia - RISC-V -- Open-source CPU hardware instruction set architecture
Wikipedia - Rodent Research Hardware System -- NASA research platform on the International Space Station
Wikipedia - Ruby (hardware description language)
Wikipedia - SACO Hardware -- Saudi Arabian hardware retailing and wholesaling business
Wikipedia - Security switch -- Hardware device to protect computers, laptops, smartphones and similar devices from unauthorized access or operation
Wikipedia - Silicon Graphics International -- Former computer hardware and software company
Wikipedia - Simmons Hardware Store -- Heritage-listed building in Hawkesbury, New South Wales, Australia
Wikipedia - Simon Brattel -- British hardware and software designer
Wikipedia - Softmod -- Method of using software to modify the intended behavior of hardware
Wikipedia - Software appliance -- Software application combined with just enough operating system to run optimally on industry-standard hardware
Wikipedia - SolidRun -- Israeli hardware developer
Wikipedia - Soyuz Kontakt -- Docking hardware of the Soviet crewed lunar spacecraft program
Wikipedia - Stanley Black & Decker -- American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware
Wikipedia - Steam Machine (hardware platform)
Wikipedia - Strategic Computing Initiative -- US government initiative related to developing computer hardware and artificial intelligence
Wikipedia - Sun Microsystems -- Defunct American computer hardware and software company
Wikipedia - Superplan -- Programming language with strong abstraction from details of hardware
Wikipedia - Supervisor Call instruction -- Hardware instruction in the System/360 family of IBM mainframe
Wikipedia - Template talk:Amiga hardware
Wikipedia - Template talk:Apollo program hardware
Wikipedia - Template talk:DEC hardware
Wikipedia - Template talk:Hardware acceleration
Wikipedia - Template talk:Major computer hardware companies
Wikipedia - Template talk:Sun hardware
Wikipedia - Thunderbolt (interface) -- Computer hardware interface
Wikipedia - Timeline of computing hardware before 1950 -- Timeline of events in the history of computing hardware: from prehistory until 1949
Wikipedia - Tivoization -- The practice of a hardware developer making only a specific version of free software runnable
Wikipedia - Toilet -- Piece of hardware for the collection or disposal of human excreta
Wikipedia - Tom's Hardware
Wikipedia - Tom West -- American computer hardware engineer
Wikipedia - Universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter -- Computer hardware device
Wikipedia - USB hardware -- Communication connector using the USB protocol
Wikipedia - Vashon Hardware Store -- Historical commercial building in Vashon, Washington
Wikipedia - Verilog -- Hardware description language
Wikipedia - Video Toaster -- Analog video hardware and software editing suite
Wikipedia - Voice changer -- Hardware device or software which changes the pitch or timbre of the user's voice
Wikipedia - Wallace tree -- Efficient hardware implementation of a digital multiplier
Wikipedia - Washer (hardware) -- Thin plate with a hole, normally used to distribute the load of a threaded fastener
Wikipedia - Western Telematic Inc -- Network hardware manufacturer
Wikipedia - White box (computer hardware)
Wikipedia - Wikipedia:WikiProject Computing/Computer hardware task force -- Sub-project of WikiProject Computing
Wikipedia - Windows Hardware Engineering Conference
Wikipedia - Windows Hardware Error Architecture
Wikipedia - Windows Hardware Lab Kit
Wikipedia - Wootware -- Online retailer of computer hardware and software based in Somerset West
Wikipedia - X86 virtualization -- Hardware-assisted virtualization on x86/x86-64 CPUs
Wikipedia - YubiKey -- Hardware authentication device supporting MFA
Wikipedia - Zenith Data Systems -- Computer hardware company founded by Zenith Electronics in 1979
Wikipedia - ZOTAC -- Hong Kong computer hardware company
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18164.Hardware_Hacking
https://itlaw.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Hardware
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/Hardware
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Hardware
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/HardwareWars
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Hardware
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Tropers/HardwareBackup
Life with Lucy (1986 - 1986) - An aging widow (Lucille Ball), living with her daughter's family, runs her late husband's hardware store alongside her husband's crotchety business partner(Gale Gordon). The show was a ratings and critical disappointment, lasting only eight episodes, with 6 additional episodes never making it to the...
Hardware(1990) - The head of a cyborg reactivates, rebuilds itself, and goes on a violent rampage in a space marine's girlfriend's apartment.
Charlie Brown's All-Stars(1966) - After Charlie Brown's team loses their first game of the season (123-6), his team throws down their caps in disgust and quits. Frustrated and depressed, Charlie Brown wanders around aimlessly until Linus meets him with good news: Mr. Hennessey, operator of a local hardware store, is offering to spon...
Army of Darkness (1992) ::: 7.5/10 -- R | 1h 21min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror | 19 February 1993 (USA) -- A sardonic hardware store clerk is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., where he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead so he can return home. Director: Sam Raimi Writers:
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https://fci.fandom.com/wiki/Unsupported_Hardware
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Rallogar_Hardware
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Codex_Gamicus:Hardware_Index
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Eighth_generation_of_video_game_hardware
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Fifth_generation_of_video_game_hardware
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/First_generation_of_video_game_hardware
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Fourth_generation_of_video_game_hardware
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page_Headings_-_Hardware_Generations
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Ninth_generation_of_video_game_hardware
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https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Seventh_generation_of_video_game_hardware
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Sixth_generation_of_video_game_hardware
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Third_generation_of_video_game_hardware
https://graphics.fandom.com/wiki/Ray_tracing_hardware
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https://microsoft.fandom.com/wiki/Computer_hardware
https://netbsd-ataritt.fandom.com/wiki/My_Hardware
https://opensolaris.fandom.com/wiki/Hardware_Compatibility_List
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https://stx.fandom.com/wiki/Requirements_hardware
https://stx.fandom.com/wiki/Tested_hardware
https://ykwtni.fandom.com/wiki/Barb's_Hardware(company)
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Big Wars: Kami Utsu Akaki Kouya ni -- -- Magic Bus -- 1 ep -- Novel -- Action Military Sci-Fi Space -- Big Wars: Kami Utsu Akaki Kouya ni Big Wars: Kami Utsu Akaki Kouya ni -- It is the dawn of the 21st century. Mankind has terraformed and colonized Mars. But we are not alone in the universe. An ancient race of alien beings, known only as "The Gods," has been watching mankind's progress ...and waiting. Now, these mysterious aliens have returned to halt mankind's expansion into space ...by force. -- -- Now, the planet named after the God of War will become our final battlefield, as mankind fights a desperate battle with the latest in high-tech, military hardware: hyper-advanced aircraft, orbital fighters, and gigantic, desert battleships brimming with the most advanced weaponry. -- -- But will it be enough? The aliens have awesome, incredibly destructive weapons at their disposal—including "Hell"—an unstoppable stealth carrier. But the alien's primary weapon is insidiously quiet and invisible—a mind control plaque. Incurable. Inevitable. Contagious. Humans are powerless to resist its effects, which transforms even the most loyal soldiers into dangerous subversives. -- -- Our last hope lies with Captain Akuh and the crew of the Battleship Aoba. If his top-secret mission is successful, mankind will deal a decisive blow to the alien armada. But Akuh's girlfriend is showing signs of nymphomania—the first symptom of alien subversion! -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- -- Licensor: -- Central Park Media -- OVA - Sep 25, 1993 -- 2,482 5.45
Samurai Gun -- -- Studio Egg -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Historical Seinen -- Samurai Gun Samurai Gun -- It is the beginning of the industrial revolution, and feudal Japan is in turmoil. The ruling Shogun are wielding their abusive powers to instill fear and dominance over their oppressed subjects. Beatings, imprisonment, rape and even murder are the adopted tactics chosen to maintain their reign. The bloodshed must end. A group of Samurai have banded together, and, with the development of new weapons and new technology, they have both the will and the hardware to stand up and fight. Ichimatsu is one of these fighters. By day, he works incognito at a local tavern, in the evenings he frequents the brothels, and by the dark of night, he doles out some big-time, gun-barrel justice. He is here to help. He is Samurai Gun. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- TV - Oct 4, 2004 -- 7,980 5.99
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category:Hardware
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category:Hardware_detection_and_troubleshooting
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Category_talk:Hardware
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/General_recommendations#Hardware_auto-recognition
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_Diagnostics
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_probe
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hardware_video_acceleration#Comparison_tables
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/List_of_applications#Hardware_sensor_monitoring
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Migrate_installation_to_new_hardware
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hardware_Bug_-_Stop_motion_test_N
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:AngMoKio#Canon_40D_hardware_problem
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Iran Software & Hardware Co. (NOSA)
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The Hardware EP + The Warfare EP
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Timeline of computing hardware before 1950
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