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Monday, 23 July 2012
Software
PC Hardware Articles
One of the core values of Puget Systems is transparency
We detest hype in the midst of an industry that is full of it. Our mission is to provide the highest quality hardware and consultation services to our customers, and to back up our decisions by freely sharing what we've learned along the way. To earn a place in our product line, a computer component undergoes rigorous testing. We apply the results of our testing, along with our years of experience in learning reliability trends and manufacturer characteristics, to make prudent decisions about what we can put our name behind, whether that's an individual part or an entire computer. With the following articles, we are writing up the results of these internal processes and discussions, and taking them public. We feel we can take this on with a unique perspective as we evaluate each topic with the experience, resources, and objectivity of a system builder. If there is a topic you'd like us to write about, email us at info@pugetsystems.com!
Introduction to PC Wireless Networking
Wireless networking (also known as WiFi) has greatly evolved over the last few years and as a result has become increasing complex. This article is intended to give the reader the information necessary to make informed decisions when purchasing and configuring a wireless network in order to maximize the performance, speed, and reliability of the network.
Technology Primer: Low Voltage RAM
Voltage is not typically thought of as a key specification for RAM, but can have a significant impact on system stability as it runs much cooler than standard RAM. In this article, we will be looking at Kingston Lovo and G.Skill Sniper RAM to see how well low voltage RAM performs compared to standard RAM and if i
t has a measurable impact on power draw and system temperatures.
How it Works: Intel SSD Caching
SSD caching is not new, but is something we have not inspected closely since its introduction with the Z68 chipset. In this article, we will be answering the questions: What is SSD caching? How do you set up and configure SSD caching? And what kind of performance improvements you should expect by using it.
Introducing the New Puget Traverse Laptops
With the recent launch of Intel's new Ivy Bridge line of CPUs, Puget Systems has completely revamped our laptop product line to take advantage of the new improvements in technology. In this article, we will be going over the features found on this units as well as battery life estimates and thermal performance measurements.
Product Review: Intel DH77DF
With the launch of the new 7-series chipsets, we spent the last few weeks looking at numerous Mini-ITX motherboards in order to update our Echo line of systems. There are many boards available from various manufactures, 
but the motherboard that immediately caught our attention was the Intel SF.
Product Review: Intel S2600COE
The Intel S2600COE is a part 
of the recently launched Romley platform and is intended exclusively for use in server systems. This motherboard includes onboard video and four integrated Intel Gigabit LAN ports, but is very limited in the number of USB ports available. Because of the strong server focus of this board, however, there are many desktop features (namely S3 sleep and fan throttling) that are not supported.
Technology Primer: Intel Ivy Bridge
Intel's new 22nm CPUs - codenamed Ivy Bridge - has finally launched. When combined with one of the recently released 7-series chipsets, this new CPU/Chipset combination provides support for PCIe 3.0 and USB 3.0 as well as allowing RAM up to speeds of 1600MHz to be used natively. The onboard graphics has also received a nice upgrade allowing for the use of onboard graphics in a much wider variety of applications.
Qualification: Asus Z77 Motherboards
At Puget Systems, we are always on the lookout for new products to keep our product at the forefront of technology. In this article, we will be looking at the Asus P8Z77-V Pro, P8Z77-V Deluxe, and P8Z77-M Pro motherboards to determine if they are worthy of a position on our product line.
Breaking the Hype of High Frequency RAM
High Frequency RAM is often touted as being essential for high-performance computing, but in our experience has little to offer in actual performance gains. In this article, we will be using a large set of benchmarks across both Intel and AMD platforms to show that RAM running at higher frequency at the cost of increased timings gives little to no real-world performance improvements.
Performance Comparison: E5-2690 vs E5-2687W
When comparing two CPUs within a product line, it is usually very easy to tell which CPU has the better relative performance by comparing the specifications for each. The E5-2690 and the E5-2687W are a bit of an oddity in that they both have the same maximum Turbo Boost frequency even though the E5-2687W has a higher base clock speed. In this article, we will the question of whether or not the E5-2687W is actually any faster than the E5-2690 since both can technically turbo to the exact same frequency.
Product Review: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler
The Cooler Mter Hyper TX3 CPU cooler is
a medium-sized cooler designed for mid to low range CPUs. This cooler is very similar to the Scythe Kantana 3 CPU cooler currently in our product line, so the main question is: which CPU cooler is better?
Post-1960: third generation and beyond
The explosion in the use of computers began with "third-generation" computers, making use of Jack St. Clair Kilby's[85] and Robert Noyce's[86] independent invention of the integrated circuit (or microchip), which led to the invention of the microprocessor. While the subject of exactly which device was the first microprocessor is contentious, partly due to lack of agreement on the exact definition of the term "microprocessor", it is largely undisputed that the first single-chip microprocessor was the Intel 4004,[87] designed and realized by Ted Hoff,Federico Faggin, and Stanley Mazor at Intel.[88]
Zuse
Working in isolation in Germany, Konrad Zuse started construction in 1936 of his first Z-series calculators featuring memory and (initially limited) programmability. Zuse's purely mec
hanical, but already binary Z1, finished in 1938, never worked reliably due to problems with the precision of parts.
Zuse's later machine, the Z3,[45] was finished in 1941. It was based on telephone relays and did work satisfactorily. The Z3 thus became the first functional program-controlled, all-purpose, digital computer. In many ways it was quite similar to modern machines, pioneering numerous advances, such as floating point numbers. Replacement of the hard-to-implement decimal system (used in Charles Babbage's earlier design) by the simpler binary system meant that Zuse's machines were easier to build and potentially more reliable, given the technologies available at that time.
Cabrillo Shorts - Acting for the Camera
Robert Dye - U.S. Economics
Posted on July 19, 2012
CLASS TUTORIALS are now on line!
Posted on July 10, 2012
Viewing on-line Tutorials is now a prerequisite for several of our classes. They're also great to refresh your memory if it's been a while since you've edited.
CTV Board of Directors Meeting 6/28/12
Posted on July 9, 2012
How To Help CTV
Posted on July 1, 2012
Community Television faces some very daunting challenges as we go forward. Click here to learn more about how you can help connect our community!
Why We Get Fat
Posted on July 1, 2012
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. Software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some reasons. In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system. Program software performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software. The term was coined to contrast to the old term hardware (meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software "cannot be touched".[1] Software is also sometimes used in a more narrow sense, meaning application software only. Sometimes the term includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes, and records.[2]
Computer software is so called to distinguish it from computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. At the lowest level, executable code consists of machine language instructions specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Programs are an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer in a particular sequence. It is usually written inhigh-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer tonatural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.
Monday, 16 July 2012
View your computer information
You can view a summary of important information about your computer by
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opening System in Control Panel. You can see basic hardware information, such as your computer's name, and which edition of Windows your computer is running. You can change important system settings by clicking the links in the left pane of System.
- Open System by clicking the Start button
, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking System.
View basic information about your computer
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A computer is a general purpose device which can be programmed to carry out a finite set of arithmetic or logical operations. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem. The essential point of a computer is to implement an idea, the terms of which are satisfied by Alan Turing's Universal Turing machine.
Conventionally, a computer consists of at least one processing element and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit that can change the order of operations based on stored information. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations saved.
A computer's processing unit executes a series of instructions that make it read, manipulate and then store data. Conditional instructions change the sequence of instructions as a function of the current state of the machine or its environment.
Input/output (I/O)
I/O is the means by which a computer exchanges information with the outside world.[43] Devices that provide input or output to the computer are called peripherals.[44]On a typical personal computer, peripherals include input devices like the keyboard and mouse, and output devices such as the display and printer. Hard disk drives, floppy disk drives and optical disc drives serve as both input and output devices. Computer networking is another form of I/O.
I/O devices are often complex computers in their own right, with their own CPU and memory. A graphics processing unit might contain fifty or more tiny computers that perform the calculations necessary to display 3D graphics[citation needed]. Modern desktop computers contain many smaller computers that assist the main CPU in performing I/O.
History of computing
Department of Computer
Solving strategic business problems by designing computer-based information systems can be an exciting and rewarding career. Information technology jobs are some of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs in management. Visit our academic programssection to learn more about our degree offerings. Our premier programs and top-notch faculty are widely recognized as some of the best in the nation. Learn more about the department »
Computer Hardware Stocks Most Favored By The World's Largest Fund Managers
The computer hardware group, including manufacturers of computing devices and peripherals, fared well in the first quarter, but has since retreated, and remains in a consolidation pattern, due to doubts over whether the expected rebound in IT spending will happen in the second half of the year. The U.S. economy, while on the brink of recovery, is still weak with unemployment numbers still hovering in the high single digits, and the crisis in the Eurozone continues unabated, while in China there are fears of a slowdown. In this article, via an analysis based on the latest available Q1 institutional 13-F filings, we identify the computer hardware company stocks that are being accumulated and those being distributed by the world's largest fund managers.
These mega fund managers, such as Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs (GS), BlackRock Inc. (BLK), Vanguard Group, and 22 others, manage between $100 billion and over $1 trillion each, and together control about 40% of the assets invested in the U.S. equity markets. Together, these mega fund managers are bearish on the computer hardware group, cutting a net $3.10 billion in Q1 from their $275.07 billion prior quarter position in the group. However, overall they are still under-weight the group by a factor of 0.8; that is, taken together, the 25 mega funds have invested 4.0% of their assets in the group, less than the 4.8% weighting of the computer hardware group in the overall market (for more general information on these mega funds, please look at the end of the article).
The following are the computer hardware companies that these mega fund managers are most bullish about (our coverage of the group for the prior quarter can befound here):
Fusion-IO Inc. (FIO): FIO is engaged in the development, marketing and sale of storage memory platforms for data centralization in the U.S. Its platforms enhance the processing capabilities within a datacenter by relocating process-critical or active data from centralized storage to the server where it is being processed. Mega funds together added a net 10.38 million shares in Q1 to their 16.49 million share prior quarter position in the company, and taken together mega funds held $500 million or 28.8% of the outstanding shares.
The top buyer was the world's largest and most prominent asset manager, Blackrock Inc., with over $3.5 trillion in assets under management, that purchased 3.18 million shares. Other large mega fund purchasers included mutual fund powerhouse Fidelity Investments (2.30 million shares), with $555 billion in 13-F assets, Morgan Stanley (0.81 million shares), with $186 billion in 13-F assets, and Vanguard Group (0.80 million shares), with $1.7 trillion in assets under management. Overall, institutional investors added 11.2 million shares to their 60.3 million share prior quarter position.
In its latest Q3 (March), FIO beat analyst revenue and earnings estimates (6c v/s 2c), and guided Q4 and FY 2012 revenues above consensus. Its shares, though, have taken a 20%-plus tumble since that late-April Q3 report, mostly over concerns that the IT spending slowdown related to worsening macro-economic conditions in the Eurozone and a possible slowdown in China would thwart demand for its products. Its leading customers include the bluest of blue-chip names, including International Business Machines (IBM), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell Inc. (DELL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Facebook (FB), and a global slowdown will hurt demand for their products (perhaps with the exception of FB), in turn impacting FIO revenue and earnings going forward.
However, as much as this is recognized, it is also important to remember that in the long-term the pace of data center virtualization is likely to continue unabated, and as a leader in the space, FIO revenue and earnings growth should continue for many years to come. Moreover, the recent trend, as in plans announced recently by both NFLX and FB to build their own content delivery networks (CDN) should further spur demand for products from FIO and its peers.
At current prices in the $18 range, the company still trades at a hefty 57 times forward earnings, and at 6.3 times book value, and does not appear to be a bargain based just on those numbers. However, the valuation can be justified on future earnings beyond 2013, based on the excellent long-term prospects for the firm's technology in helping enterprises manage the ever-increasing huge amounts of data that are being constantly generated and that need to be processed to help them monetize their business models. Furthermore, buyout rumors of the company earlier by INTC at $40, and recently by DELL at $33, have consistently put the value of the company well above current prices in the $18 range, and we believe it is a speculative buy at these levels.
Other computer hardware companies that mega fund managers are bullish about include:
- Hewlett Packard Co. , a Silicon Valley marquee company, that is a leading provider of IT and outsourcing services, PCs and peripherals, printers and scanners, and servers and storage devices, in which mega funds together added a net 8.35 million shares to their 601.35 million share prior quarter position in the company;
- NCR Corp. (NCR), a world leader in providing products for the self-service revolution, including ATMs, cash dispensers, self-service kiosks, and point-of-sale and self-check-in/out systems for various industries, in which mega funds together added a net 5.53 million shares to their 33.24 million share prior quarter position in the company; and
- MICROS Systems Inc. (MCRS), a provider of enterprise information management systems for the global hospitality and specialty retail industries, in which mega funds together added a net 1.83 million shares to their 28.70 million share prior quarter position in the company.
- Apple Inc. , probably among the most innovative companies the world has ever known, and the maker of the iPhone, iPod and iPad, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of personal computers, mobile communication devices, and portable digital music player, in which mega funds together cut a net 4.13 million shares from their 357.43 million share prior quarter position in the company;
- Seagate Technology (STX), that manufactures hard disk drives for the enterprise, desktop, mobile computing and consumer electronics markets, in which mega funds together cut a net 25.30 million shares from their 132.68 million share prior quarter position in the company;
- Data storage vendor EMC Corp. (EMC), in which mega funds together cut a net 10.64 million shares from their 854.93 million share prior quarter position in the company;
- Teradata Corp. (TDC), a company focused on raising intelligence through data warehousing and enterprise analytics, in which mega funds together cut a net 1.92 million shares from their 60.58 million share prior quarter position in the company;
- Dell Inc. , that provides desktop PCs, mobility products, servers and networking products to individuals, businesses and governments, in which mega funds together cut a net 7.74 million shares from their 538.44 million share prior quarter position in the company; and
- Logitech International SA (LOGI), a Swiss manufacturer of mostly computer peripheral products, including mice, trackballs, keyboards, interactive gaming devices, multimedia speakers, headsets, webcams, and many other products, in which mega funds together cut a net 6.36 million shares from their 21.53 million share prior quarter position in the company.
- Netapp Inc. (NTAP), that manufactures integrated network storage and data management hardware for corporations and government agencies, in which mega funds together hold 160.35 million or 44.2% of the outstanding shares;
- Western Digital Corp. (WDC), that manufactures hard disk drives for the enterprise, desktop, mobile computing and consumer electronics markets, in which mega funds together hold 69.32 million or 26.7% of the outstanding shares; and
- Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM), the Canadian manufacturer of BlackBerry handheld devices for the mobile communications market, in which mega funds together hold 61.22 million or 11.7% of the outstanding shares.
(click to enlarge)
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Chapter 11. The L2 cache
The level 2 cache is normally much bigger (and unified), such as 256, 512 or 1024 KB. The purpose of the L2 cache is to constantly read in slightly larger quantities of data from RAM, so that these are available to the L1 cache.
In the earlier processor generations, the L2 cache was placed outside the chip: either on the motherboard (as in the original Pentium processors), or on a special module together with the CPU (as in the first Pentium II’s).
As process technology has developed, it has become possible to make room for the L2 cache inside the actual processor chip. Thus the L2 cache has been integrated and that makes it function much better in relation to the L1 cache and the processor core.
The L2 cache is not as fast as the L1 cache, but it is still much faster than normal RAM.
CPU
|
L2 cache
|
Pentium, K5, K6
|
External, on the motherboard
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Pentium Pro
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Internal, in the CPU
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Pentium II, Athlon
|
External, in a module
close to the CPU |
Celeron (1st generation)
|
None
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Celeron (later gen.),
Pentium III, Athlon XP, Duron, Pentium 4 |
Internal, in the CPU
|
Fig. 72. It has only been during the last few CPU generations that the level 2 cache has found its place, integrated into the actual CPU.
Traditionally the L2 cache is connected to the front side bus. Through it, it connects to the chipset’s north bridge and RAM:
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