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Colorado Memory Systems
Colorado Memory Systems, Inc. (CMS), was an American technology company independently active from 1985 to 1992 and based in Loveland, Colorado. The company primarily manufactured tape drive systems, especially those using quarter-inch cartridges (QIC)s, for personal computers and workstations. Colorado Memory Systems was founded by Bill Beierwaltes as an offshoot of his previous company, Colorado Time Systems, also based in Loveland. It was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 1992. History Colorado Memory Systems, Inc., was founded by William "Bill" Beierwaltes in Loveland, Colorado, in 1985, as a division of Colorado Time Systems, another Loveland-based company that he had previously founded in 1972. Whereas Colorado Time Systems focused on computerized timekeeping displays for athletics while also selling a broad range of other products, Beierwaltes founded Colorado Memory Systems chiefly to focus on data storage products for the burgeoning personal computer industry of the 1980s. Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarter-inch Cartridge
Quarter inch cartridge tape (abbreviated QIC, commonly pronounced "quick") is a magnetic tape data storage format introduced by 3M in 1972, with derivatives still in use as of 2016. QIC comes in a rugged enclosed package of aluminum and plastic that holds two tape reels driven by a single belt in direct contact with the tape. The tape was originally wide and anywhere from long. Data is written linearly along the length of the tape in one track (mostly on pre-1980 equipment), or written "serpentine", one track at a time, the drive reversing direction at the end of the tape, and each track's data written in the opposite direction to its neighbor. Since its introduction, it has been widely used, and many variations exist. There is a QIC trade association that publishes QIC standards which include interfaces and logical formats. To a very large extent it was the efficiency and openness of this organization which encouraged hardware and software developers to use this type of drive an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IBM Personal Computer
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team of engineers and designers directed by Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida. The machine was based on open architecture and third-party peripherals. Over time, expansion cards and software technology increased to support it. The PC had a influence of the IBM PC on the personal computer market, substantial influence on the personal computer market. The specifications of the IBM PC became one of the most popular computer design standards in the world. The only significant competition it faced from a non-compatible platform throughout the 1980s was from the Apple Macintosh product line. The majority of modern personal computers are distant descendants of the IBM PC. History Prior to the 1980s, IBM had largely been known as a provider of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irwin Magnetic Systems
Irwin Magnetic Systems was a computer storage manufacturer founded in 1979 and based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At its height, the company employed 600 people in Ann Arbor. The company's primary product line was magnetic tape data storage systems, particularly the proprietary AccuTrak format. This format was widely adopted by Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ..., HP and other OEM manufacturers, and was also incorporated into IBM Personal System 2 (PS2) personal computers as an option. In 1989, the company was acquired by Cipher Data Products, which was in turn acquired by Archive Corporation a year later. Archive maintained Irwin as an independent brand for a while after the acquisition. Notable products * EzTape - Backup/Restore Software * AccuTrak Plus 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archive Corporation
Archive Corporation was a computer tape drive manufacturer, based in Costa Mesa, California, that was acquired by Conner Peripherals in 1993. History The company was founded in 1980 and based out of Costa Mesa, California. The company employed 3,367 in 1990 and reached revenues of US$293 million in that year, up from $79 million in 1986. Of particular note are the Archive DDS tape drives produced for Silicon Graphics that could also read and write Digital Audio Tapes: the Archive Python 4320 and the Archive Peregrine 4326 (rebranded under Conner or Seagate). Prior to this, Archive was a leading vendor of the very popular quarter-inch cartridge (QIC) format which was a popular distribution format for Unix workstations and servers. For example, software for the Sun-3 (running the Motorola 68K family) and the Sun-4 (based on SPARC processors) was most commonly distributed on QIC media before CD-ROMs became more cost-effective. Archive was better known for their QIC dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lempel–Ziv–Stac
Lempel–Ziv–Stac (LZS, or Stac compression or Stacker compression) is a lossless data compression algorithm that uses a combination of the LZ77 sliding-window compression algorithm and fixed Huffman coding. It was originally developed by Stac Electronics for tape compression, and subsequently adapted for hard disk compression and sold as the Stacker disk compression software. It was later specified as a compression algorithm for various network protocols. LZS is specified in the Cisco IOS stack. Standards LZS compression is standardized as an INCITS (previously ANSI) standard. LZS compression is specified for various Internet protocols: * – ''PPP LZS-DCP Compression Protocol (LZS-DCP)'' * – ''PPP Stac LZS Compression Protocol'' * – ''IP Payload Compression Using LZS'' * – ''Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Compression Using Lempel-Ziv-Stac (LZS)'' Algorithm LZS compression and decompression uses an LZ77 type algorithm. It uses the last 2 KB of unc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stac Electronics
Stac Electronics, originally incorporated as State of the Art Consulting and later shortened to Stac, Inc., was a technology company founded in 1983. It is known primarily for its Lempel–Ziv–Stac lossless compression algorithm and Stacker disk compression utility for compressing data for storage. History The original founders included five Caltech graduate students in Computer Science (Gary Clow, Doug Whiting, John Tanner, Mike Schuster and William Dally), two engineers from the industry (Scott Karns and Robert Monsour) and two board members from the industry (Robert Johnson of Southern California Ventures and Hugh Ness of Scientific Atlanta). The first employee was Bruce Behymer, a Caltech undergraduate in Engineering and Applied Science. Originally headquartered in Pasadena, California and later in Carlsbad, California, the company received venture capital funding to pursue a business plan as a fabless chip company selling application-specific standard products to the ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Random-access Memory
Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working Data (computing), data and machine code. A Random access, random-access memory device allows data items to be read (computer), read or written in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the physical location of data inside the memory, in contrast with other direct-access data storage media (such as hard disks, CD-RWs, DVD-RWs and the older Magnetic tape data storage, magnetic tapes and drum memory), where the time required to read and write data items varies significantly depending on their physical locations on the recording medium, due to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm movement. RAM contains multiplexer, multiplexing and demultiplexing circuitry, to connect the data lines to the addressed storage for reading or writing the entry. Usually more than one bit of storage is accessed by the same address, and RAM ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real-time Clock
A real-time clock (RTC) is an electronic device (most often in the form of an integrated circuit) that measures the passage of time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, servers and embedded systems, RTCs are present in almost any electronic device which needs to keep accurate time of day. Terminology The term ''real-time clock'' is used to avoid confusion with ordinary hardware clocks which are only signals that govern digital electronics, and do not count time in human units. RTC should not be confused with real-time computing, which shares its three-letter acronym but does not directly relate to time of day. Purpose Although keeping time can be done without an RTC, using one has benefits: * Low power consumption (important when running from alternate power) * Frees the main system for time-critical tasks * Sometimes more accurate than other methods A GPS receiver can shorten its startup time by comparing the current time, according to its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Input/output
In computing, input/output (I/O, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system and outputs are the signals or data sent from it. The term can also be used as part of an action; to "perform I/O" is to perform an input or output operation. are the pieces of hardware used by a human (or other system) to communicate with a computer. For instance, a keyboard or computer mouse is an input device for a computer, while monitors and printers are output devices. Devices for communication between computers, such as modems and network cards, typically perform both input and output operations. Any interaction with the system by a interactor is an input and the reaction the system responds is called the output. The designation of a device as either input or output depends on perspective. Mice a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulation methods, modulating one or more carrier wave signals to encode digital information, while the receiver Demodulation, demodulates the signal to recreate the original digital information. The goal is to produce a Signal (electronics), signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded reliably. Modems can be used with almost any means of transmitting analog signals, from light-emitting diodes to radio. Early modems were devices that used audible sounds suitable for transmission over traditional telephone systems and leased lines. These generally operated at 110 or 300 bits per second (bit/s), and the connection between devices was normally manual, using an attached telephone handset. By the 1970s, higher speeds of 1,200 and 2,400 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amiga 500
The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, is the first low-end version of the Amiga home computer. It contains the same Motorola 68000 as the Amiga 1000, as well as the same graphics and sound coprocessors, but is in a smaller case similar to that of the Commodore 128. Commodore announced the Amiga 500 at the January 1987 winter Consumer Electronics Showat the same time as the high-end Amiga 2000. It was initially available in the Netherlands in April 1987, then the rest of Europe in May. In North America and the UK it was released in October 1987 with a list price. It competed directly against models in the Atari ST line. The Amiga 500 was sold in the same retail outlets as the Commodore 64, as opposed to the computer store-only Amiga 1000. It proved to be Commodore's best-selling model, particularly in Europe. Although popular with hobbyists, arguably its most widespread use was as a gaming machine, where its graphics and sound were of significant benefit. It was followed by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphics and audio compared to previous 8-bit systems. This includes the Atari ST—released earlier the same year—as well as the Macintosh and Acorn Archimedes. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Amiga differs from its contemporaries through the inclusion of custom hardware to accelerate graphics and sound, including sprite (computer graphics), sprites and a blitter, and a pre-emptive multitasking operating system called AmigaOS. The Amiga 1000 was released in July 1985, but production problems kept it from becoming widely available until early 1986. The best-selling model, the Amiga 500, was introduced in 1987 along with the more expandable Amiga 2000. The Amiga 3000 was introduced in 1990, followed by the Amiga 500 Plus, and Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
