The first models were released in June 1987, as the 300 and 400 series. The machines differed primarily in that the 400 series included more expansion slots (four instead of two) and a ST506 controller for an internal hard drive. Both models included the Arthur OS (later versions to be called RISC OS, see below), BBC BASIC and an emulator for Acorn's earlier BBC Micro, and were mounted in two-part cases with a small central unit, monitor on top, and a separate keyboard and three-button mouse. All models featured onboard 8 ch ...

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Acorn Archimedes, Acorn Archimedes - Description; Early models, Acorn Archimedes - The A3000 and A5000, Acorn Archimedes - A new range and a laptop, Acorn Archimedes - Significance and impact

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The ARM instruction set follows the 6502 in concept, but includes a number of features designed to allow the CPU to better pipeline them for execution. In keeping with traditional RISC concepts, this included tuning the commands to execute in well-defined times, typically one cycle. A more interesting addition to the ARM design is the use of a 4-bit condition code on the front of every instruction, meaning ...

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ARM architecture, ARM architecture - History, ARM architecture - The cores, ARM architecture - Design notes, ARM architecture - Thumb, ARM architecture - Jazelle, ARM architecture - Thumb-2, ARM architecture - Thumb-2EE, ARM architecture - NEON, ARM architecture - VFP

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History of computer and video games - Coin-op Games: Dawn of a Golden Age. Main article: Golden age of arcade games By 1969 Ralph Baer had a working prototype console that hooked up to a TV set and played ball and paddle games. This prototype was sold to Magnavox who released it in May 1972 as the Odyssey, the world's first videogame console. In 1971 Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created a coin-operated arcade version of Spacewar and called it Computer Space. Nuttin ...

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History of computer and video games, History of computer and video games - The Beginning, History of computer and video games - The 1960s, History of computer and video games - The 1970s, History of computer and video games - Coin-op Games: Dawn of a Golden Age, History of computer and video games - Games on University Mainframe Computers, History of computer and video games - Early handheld games, History of computer and video games - Gaming on home computers, History of computer and video games - The first home video games 1972-1977, History of computer and video games - Early 8-bit home consoles 1977-1983, History of computer and video games - The 1980s, History of computer and video games - Bulletin Board Systems and early online gaming, History of computer and video games - Handheld LCD games, History of computer and video games - 8-bit era or 'Post-crash/Late' 8-bit era 1985-1989, History of computer and video games - The 1990s, History of computer and video games - Decline of arcades, History of computer and video games - Handhelds come of age, History of computer and video games - 16-bit era 1989-1994, History of computer and video games - 32-bit / 64-bit era 1994 - 1999, History of computer and video games - The 2000s, History of computer and video games - Sixth generation era 1998 - 2004, History of computer and video games - Seventh generation 2004 - present

Read more here: » History of computer and video games: Encyclopedia II - History of computer and video games - The 1970s

Windows Vista was originally expected to ship sometime late in 2003 as a minor step between Windows XP and Windows "Vienna". Gradually, Vista assimilated many important new features and technologies of "Vienna", and so the date of release was pushed back to first quarter of 2006. In August 2004, Microsoft announced that it was making changes to what was then only known as "Longhorn". Microsoft basically started development afresh, building on the Windows Server 2003 codebase. This decision was reached in the wake of Windows XP Service Pack 2 ...

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Windows Vista, Windows Vista - Overview, Windows Vista - Editions, Windows Vista - Technologies, Windows Vista - End-user features, Windows Vista - Features and technologies delayed, Windows Vista - Hardware requirements, Windows Vista - System hardware requirements, Windows Vista - Graphics hardware requirements, Windows Vista - Summary of builds

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Curry and Hauser decided to pursue their joint interest in microcomputers and, on 5 December 1978, they set up Cambridge Processor Unit Ltd (CPU) as the vehicle with which to do this. CPU soon obtained a consultancy contract to develop a microprocessor-based controller for a fruit machine for Ace Coin Equipment (ACE) of Wales. The ACE project was started at office space obtained at 4a Market Hill in Cambridge. Initially, the ACE controller was based on a SC/MP microprocessor, but soon the switch to a 6502 was made. See also:

Acorn Computers, Acorn Computers - Prehistory, Acorn Computers - CPU Ltd 1978–83, Acorn Computers - The microcomputer systems, Acorn Computers - The Atom, Acorn Computers - BBC Micro and the Electron, Acorn Computers - Acorn Computer Group plc 1983–85, Acorn Computers - New RISC architecture, Acorn Computers - Financial problems, Acorn Computers - Olivetti subsidiary 1985–98, Acorn Computers - BBC Master and Archimedes, Acorn Computers - ARM Ltd, Acorn Computers - Set-Top boxes, Acorn Computers - Network Computers, Acorn Computers - Final break up of Acorn 1998–2000, Acorn Computers - Footnotes

Read more here: » Acorn Computers: Encyclopedia II - Acorn Computers - CPU Ltd 1978–83

Micro Channel architecture - Overview of the technology issues of that time. Micro Channel was an attempt to address, once and for all, the problems that had come to plague the PC bus (later known as ISA). The principal design problems of ISA were A slow bus speed. A limited number of interrupts, fixed in hardware. A limited number of I/O device addresses, also fixed in hardware A lack of bus-master support. Hardwired and complex configuration with no conflict resolution. Poor grounding. Undocumented ...

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Micro Channel architecture, Micro Channel architecture - History, Micro Channel architecture - Why the interface was created, Micro Channel architecture - Overview of the technology issues of that time, Micro Channel architecture - ISA design issues, Micro Channel architecture - Marketshare issues, Micro Channel architecture - Design features, Micro Channel architecture - Data transmission features, Micro Channel architecture - Why MCA was not widely adopted

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The 68k line of processors have been used in a variety of systems, from Texas Instruments calculators up to critical control systems of the Space Shuttle. However, they have become most well-known as processors powering desktop computers such as the Macintosh, the Amiga, the Atari, and others. Today, these desktop systems are either end-of-line (in case of the Amiga and the Atari), or are using different processors (such as is the case for the Macintosh). Since these desktops are now more than a decade old, the original manufacturers ...

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68k, 68k - The 68k family members, 68k - Main uses, 68k - Architectural heritage, 68k - Where did the 68050 go? Was there no -070?, 68k - The next 68k generation, 68k - Other variants, 68k - Competitors to the mainstream 68ks

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The functionality provided by the Windows API can be grouped into six categories:[1] Base Services[2] Provide access to the fundamental resources available to a Windows system. Included are things like file systems, devices, processes and threads, access to the Windows registry, and error handling. These functions reside in kernel.ex ...

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Windows API, Windows API - Overview of the Windows API Components, Windows API - APIs for interaction between programs, Windows API - Wrapper Libraries, Windows API - History, Windows API - Versions, Windows API - Compiler support, Windows API - Notes

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The first chip in the series was originally called 16032, later renamed 32016 to emphasize its 32-bit internals. It became available in the late 1970s, and may have been the first 32-bit chip to reach mass production and sale (at least according to National Semiconductor marketing). The original 32016 had a 16-bit external databus, a 24-bit external address bus, and a full 32-bit instruction set. It also included a coprocessor interface which allows co ...

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NS320xx, NS320xx - Beginnings: the 32016 and 32032, NS320xx - The 32332 32532 Swordfish & Others, NS320xx - Machines Using the NS32000 Series, NS320xx - Similarly named non-NS processors, NS320xx - External link

Read more here: » NS320xx: Encyclopedia II - NS320xx - Beginnings: the 32016 and 32032

Windows XP x64 Edition uses a technology named WOW64, which permits the execution of 32-bit x86 applications. It was first employed in Windows XP 64-bit Edition but then reused for x64 editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Since the AMD64 architecture includes hardware-level support for 32-bit instructions, WOW64 simply switches the process between 32- and 64-bit modes. However, on the IA64/Itanium architecture, WOW64 has to translate 32-bit instructions into their 64-bit equivalents such that the processor can execute them. ...

See also:

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition - Compatibility with 32-bit applications, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition - Compatibility with 16-bit applications, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition - Windows 64-bit applications

Read more here: » Windows XP Professional x64 Edition: Encyclopedia II - Windows XP Professional x64 Edition - Compatibility with 32-bit applications

It is instructive to look at the history of specific technologies which once differentiated workstations from personal computers. The more widespread adoption of these technologies into mainstream PCs was a direct factor in the decline of the workstation as a separate market segment: RISC CPUs: while RISC in its early days (early 1980s) offered something like an order-of-magnitude performance improvement over CISC processors of comparable cost, one particular family of CISC processors (Intel's x86) always had the edge in market ...

See also:

Computer workstation, Computer workstation - What makes a workstation?, Computer workstation - List of workstations and manufacturers

Read more here: » Computer workstation: Encyclopedia II - Computer workstation - What makes a workstation?

More so than with any other era however, the 32-bit / 64-bit era was the paramount staging ground of the "system wars". The "system wars" were a phenomenon in which people would attempt to evaluate the upcoming hardware of a system and purchase the system for that reason alone, speculating that the best games must be made for that hardware. Since the length of time systems spent in development had been steadily growing since the 8-bit era, and since a growing consumer awareness was making the development process more public than at any time ...

See also:

History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - Transition to 3D, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - 'New school' gaming, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - System wars, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - CD vs Cartridge, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - Consoles of the 32-bit / 64-bit era, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - Handheld Consoles, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - Video game franchises established, History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - Milestone titles

Read more here: » History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era: Encyclopedia II - History of video games 32-bit / 64-bit era - System wars

Amiga - Amiga Corporation. The Amiga's chipset was designed by a small company called Amiga Corporation during the end of the first home video game boom. Wary of industrial espionage, the chipset was codenamed Lorraine during development. Amiga Corp. funded the development of the Lorraine by manufacturing joysticks while seeking investors. The chipset was to be used in a video game machine, but following the video game crash of 1983, the Lorraine was repurposed to be a personal computer. Before Amiga Corp. could bring the machine to market, the company encountered financial difficulties and was purch ...

See also:

Amiga, Amiga - History, Amiga - Amiga Corporation, Amiga - Commodore, Amiga - Bankruptcy, Amiga - Amiga Inc., Amiga - Technical features, Amiga - Operating systems, Amiga - MS-DOS on Amiga via Sidecar or Bridgeboard, Amiga - Mac OS on Amiga, Amiga - Third party hardware, Amiga - Third party software, Amiga - Amiga Emulators, Amiga - Models and variants, Amiga - Trivia

Read more here: » Amiga: Encyclopedia II - Amiga - History

Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed Electronic Arts (1994) Gex Crystal Dynamics (1995) FIFA Soccer Electronic Arts/Extended Play Productions (1994) Alone in the Dark Interplay/Infogrames (1994) Doom id Software/Art Data (1995) Star Wars: Rebel Assault LucasArts (1994) Rise of the Robots Absolute Entertainment/Mirage (1995) Crash n' Burn Crystal Dynamics (1993) Super Street Fighter II Turbo Capcom/Panasonic ...

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3DO Interactive Multiplayer, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Screenshots, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Specs, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Processor, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Display, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - System board, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Sound, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Models, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Fallout

Read more here: » 3DO Interactive Multiplayer: Encyclopedia II - 3DO Interactive Multiplayer - Screenshots

Released October 17, 1998, Mac OS 8.5 was the first version of the Mac OS to run solely on Macs equipped with a PowerPC processor. As such it replaced some but not all of the m68k code with PowerPC code, improving system performance by relying less on 680x0 emulation. Parties interested in such things have noted that there are still many strings in the System file which make references to obsolete 68K machinery. It was the first version to include the Sherlock search utility. Sherlock allowed users to search the contents of documents ...

See also:

Mac OS 8, Mac OS 8 - Mac OS 8.0, Mac OS 8 - Mac OS 8.1, Mac OS 8 - Mac OS 8.5, Mac OS 8 - Mac OS 8.5.1, Mac OS 8 - Mac OS 8.6, Mac OS 8 - Versions of Mac OS 8

Read more here: » Mac OS 8: Encyclopedia II - Mac OS 8 - Mac OS 8.5

Intel iAPX 432 - Development. The 432 project started in 1975 as the 8800, so named as a follow-on to the existing 8008 and 8080 CPUs. The design was intended to be purely 32-bit from the outset, and be the backbone of Intel's processor offerings in the 1980s. As such it was to be considerably more powerful and complex than their existing "simple" offerings. However the design was well beyond the capabilities of the existing process technology of the era, and had ...

See also:

Intel iAPX 432, Intel iAPX 432 - History, Intel iAPX 432 - Development, Intel iAPX 432 - The project's failures, Intel iAPX 432 - Impact and similar designs, Intel iAPX 432 - Architecture, Intel iAPX 432 - Object-oriented memory and capabilities, Intel iAPX 432 - Multitasking and interprocess communication, Intel iAPX 432 - Multiprocessing, Intel iAPX 432 - Fault tolerance, Intel iAPX 432 - I/O

Read more here: » Intel iAPX 432: Encyclopedia II - Intel iAPX 432 - History

The fictional background story that fuels the ongoing plot for EVE Online begins grimly, explaining that long ago mankind had used up all but the very last of the Earth's resources, and was on the verge of extinction. As a means of survival, mankind devised a method of space travel using stargates. This allowed humans to reach previously unthinkable distances, and find other planets within the galaxy to inhabit and flourish on. This plan worked well for a great deal of time, and humanity was restored to its former status, were it not ...

See also:

EVE Online, EVE Online - Background, EVE Online - Gameplay, EVE Online - Cost, EVE Online - Major Content Patches, EVE Online - Gemini, EVE Online - Castor, EVE Online - Exodus, EVE Online - Cold War Edition, EVE Online - Red Moon Rising, EVE Online - Kali, EVE Online - Growth and Instability, EVE Online - Ships

Read more here: » EVE Online: Encyclopedia II - EVE Online - Background

The COM format is perhaps the simplest executable format of all; it contains no metadata, only code and data, and is loaded at offset 0x0100 of some segment and executed. Because of how the segmentation model works, there's no need for relocation. Its simplicity exacts a price, however: the binary has a maximum size of 65,280 (0xFF00) bytes and stores all its code and data in one segment. This was not an issue on early 8-bit machines, but it is the main reason why the format fell into disuse soon after the introduction of 16- and then 32-bit processors w ...

See also:

COM file, COM file - Platform support, COM file - Binary format, COM file - Execution preference, COM file - Malicious use

Read more here: » COM file: Encyclopedia II - COM file - Binary format

In Frontier, you play the part of one of Commander Jameson's grandchildren, having inherited from your grandfather one hundred credits and an Eagle Long Range Fighter Mk.III. By the game’s standards, this is incredibly modest, and is used as a spur to encourage you to earn money by whatever means you feel are appropriate. As with Elite, much of Frontier is concerned with trading: you can buy and sell much—from food and computer parts to guns and slaves—with the intent of making the most profit from ea ...

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Frontier computer game, Frontier computer game - Game play, Frontier computer game - Compared with Elite, Frontier computer game - Music, Frontier computer game - Box Contents, Frontier computer game - Bugs, Frontier computer game - Frontier in the media, Frontier computer game - Trivia, Frontier computer game - Successors

Read more here: » Frontier computer game: Encyclopedia II - Frontier computer game - Game play

The Game Boy Advance is backwards compatible with most games previously released for the Game Boy or the Game Boy Color, as well as new software developed to take advantage of the new technical capabilities of the system. It is powered by two AA batteries, which give about 15-30 hours of play time, as well as an optional power supply that plugs directly into the GBA's battery bracket. See also:

Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance - Hardware, Game Boy Advance - Processors, Game Boy Advance - Display, Game Boy Advance - Graphics, Game Boy Advance - Media, Game Boy Advance - Connectivity, Game Boy Advance - Models, Game Boy Advance - Game Boy Advance original model, Game Boy Advance - Game Boy Advance SP, Game Boy Advance - Game Boy micro, Game Boy Advance - Accessories, Game Boy Advance - Unofficial accessories, Game Boy Advance - Sales And Marketing, Game Boy Advance - Games, Game Boy Advance - Screenshots

Read more here: » Game Boy Advance: Encyclopedia II - Game Boy Advance - Hardware

The transputer (transistor computer) was the first general purpose microprocessor designed specifically to be used in parallel computing systems. The goal was to produce a family of chips ranging in power and cost that would then be wired together to form a complete computer. The name was selected to indicate the role the individual transputers would play: numbers of them would be used as basic buildi ...

See also:

INMOS Transputer, INMOS Transputer - Background, INMOS Transputer - Design, INMOS Transputer - Links, INMOS Transputer - Booting, INMOS Transputer - Scheduler, INMOS Transputer - Instruction set, INMOS Transputer - TRAMs, INMOS Transputer - Software, INMOS Transputer - Implementations, INMOS Transputer - 16-bit, INMOS Transputer - 32-bit, INMOS Transputer - Floating point, INMOS Transputer - Markets, INMOS Transputer - T9000, INMOS Transputer - Comparison with modern technology

Read more here: » INMOS Transputer: Encyclopedia II - INMOS Transputer - Design

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Armos Knights. These 6 knights appear in the Eastern Palace and in Ganon's Tower. They attack by jumping around, and are easy to defeat with the bow and arrows, but more difficult with other weapons. After 5 knights are defeated, the 6th one will go crazy and pound the ground. He can be defeated after 3 shots from the bow and arrow. In Ganon's Tower, they are harder to defeat because the floor is slippery. Variants of Armos appear in many other Zelda games. < ...

See also:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Storyline, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Gameplay, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Bosses, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Armos Knights, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Lanmola, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Moldorm, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Agahnim, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Helmasaur King, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Arrghus, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Mothula, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Blind, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Kholdstare, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Vitreous, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Trinexx, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Ganon, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - The Four Shadow Links, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Music, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Japanese-English differences, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - The Chris Houlihan room, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Technical notes, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Ports

Read more here: » The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Encyclopedia II - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Bosses