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Data General Walkabout
The Walkabout is a family of notebook-sized laptops introduced by Data General in 1989 and discontinued in 1993. The first entry in the line, simply named the Walkabout, was a battery-powered portable terminal capable of emulating multiple protocols; as well, it contains a rudimentary word processor, an autodialer utility for placing phone calls, and a real-time clock display and timer application for setting reminders. The successor to the first model, the Walkabout/SX, released in 1990, was an architectural redesign allowing the laptop to be used as a general-purpose IBM PC compatible. The penultimate entry, the Walkabout/320, increased its predecessor's i386SX processor clock speed from 16 MHz to 20 MHz, while the last entry in the line, the Walkabout/386SL, replaced the processor with Intel's portable-centric i386SL processor clocked at 25 MHz. Development Development of the Walkabout began in the mid-1980s, with Vernon Weiss leading the design team as Data G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Data General
Data General Corporation was an early minicomputer firm formed in 1968. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Their first product, 1969's Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicomputer intended to both outperform and cost less than the equivalent from DEC, the 12-bit PDP-8. A basic Nova system cost two-thirds or less than a similar PDP-8 while running faster, offering easy expandability, being significantly smaller, and proving more reliable in the field. Combined with Data General RDOS (DG/RDOS) and programming languages like Data General Business Basic, Novas provided a multi-user platform far ahead of many contemporary systems. A series of updated Nova machines were released through the early 1970s that kept the Nova line at the front of the 16-bit mini world. The Nova was followed by the Data General Eclipse, Eclipse series which offered much larger memory capacity while still being able to run Nova code without modification. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VT100
The VT100 is a video terminal, introduced in August 1978 by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). It was one of the first terminals to support ANSI escape codes for cursor control and other tasks, and added a number of extended codes for special features like controlling the status lights on the keyboard. This led to rapid uptake of the ANSI standard, which became the de facto standard for hardware video terminals and later terminal emulators. The VT100 series, especially the VT102, was extremely successful in the market, and made DEC the leading terminal vendor at the time. The VT100 series was replaced by the VT200 series starting in 1983, which proved equally successful. Ultimately, over six million terminals in the VT series were sold, based largely on the success of the VT100. Description DEC's first video terminal was the VT05 (1970), succeeded by the VT50 (1974), and soon upgraded to the VT52 (1975). The VT52 featured a text display with 80 columns and 24 rows, bidire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chipset
In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components on one or more integrated circuits that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. The chipset is usually found on the motherboard of computers. Chipsets are usually designed to work with a specific family of microprocessors. Because it controls communications between the processor and external devices, the chipset plays a crucial role in determining system performance. Sometimes the term "chipset" is used to describe a system on chip (SoC) used in a mobile phone. Computers In computing, the term ''chipset'' commonly refers to a set of specialized chips on a computer's motherboard or an expansion card. In personal computers, the first chipset for the IBM PC AT of 1984 was the NEAT chipset developed by Chips and Technologies for the Intel 80286 CPU. In home computers, game consoles, and arcade hardware of the 1980s and 1990s, the term ''chipset'' was used for the custom audio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Graphics Array
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the IBM PC compatible industry within three years. The term can now refer to the computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, or the Graphics display resolution, resolution characteristic of the VGA hardware. VGA was the last IBM graphics standard to which the majority of IBM PC compatible computer manufacturers conformed, making it the Lowest common denominator#Colloquial usage, lowest common denominator that virtually all post-1990 PC graphics hardware can be expected to implement. VGA was adapted into many extended forms by third parties, collectively known as Super VGA, then gave way to custom graphics processing units which, in addition to their proprietary interfaces and capabilities, continue to implement common VGA graphics modes and interfaces to the presen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floppy Disk Drive
A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a fabric that removes dust particles from the spinning disk. The three most popular (and commercially available) floppy disks are the 8-inch, 5¼-inch, and 3½-inch floppy disks. Floppy disks store digital data which can be read and written when the disk is inserted into a floppy disk drive (FDD) connected to or inside a computer or other device. The first floppy disks, invented and made by IBM in 1971, had a disk diameter of . Subsequently, the 5¼-inch (133.35 mm) and then the 3½-inch (88.9 mm) became a ubiquitous form of data storage and transfer into the first years of the 21st century. 3½-inch floppy disks can still be used with an external USB floppy disk drive. USB drives for 5¼-inch, 8-inch, and Floppy disk variants, other-size fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I386SX
The Intel 386, originally released as the 80386 and later renamed i386, is the third-generation x86 architecture microprocessor from Intel. It was the first 32-bit processor in the line, making it a significant evolution in the x86 architecture. Pre-production samples of the 386 were released to select developers in 1985, while mass production commenced in 1986. The 386 was the central processing unit (CPU) of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time. The 386 began to fall out of public use starting with the release of the i486 processor in 1989, while in embedded systems the 386 remained in widespread use until Intel finally discontinued it in 2007. Compared to its predecessor the Intel 80286 ("286"), the 80386 added a three-stage instruction pipeline which it brings up to total of 6-stage instruction pipeline, extended the architecture from 16-bits to 32-bits, and added an on-chip memory management unit. This paging translation unit made it muc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nickel–cadmium Battery
The nickel–cadmium battery (Ni–Cd battery or NiCad battery) is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes. The abbreviation ''Ni–Cd'' is derived from the chemical symbols of nickel (Ni) and cadmium (Cd): the abbreviation ''NiCad'' is a registered trademark of Saft Groupe S.A., SAFT Corporation, although this brand name is genericized trademark, commonly used to describe all Ni–Cd batteries. Battery (electricity)#Wet cell, Wet-cell nickel–cadmium batteries were invented in 1899. A Ni–Cd battery has a terminal voltage during discharge of around 1.2 volts which decreases little until nearly the end of discharge. The maximum electromotive force offered by a Ni–Cd cell is 1.3V. Ni–Cd batteries are made in a wide range of sizes and capacities, from portable sealed types interchangeable with carbon–zinc dry cells, to large ventilated cells used for standby power and motive power. Compared with other types of rechargeab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AA Battery
The AA battery (or double-A battery) is a standard size single cell cylindrical Dry cell, dry battery. ANSI and IEC battery nomenclature gives several designations for cells in this size, depending on cell features and chemistry. The Battery nomenclature, IEC 60086 system calls the size R6, and American National Standards Institute, ANSI C18 calls it 15.Classic (LR6) datasheet from energizer.com It is named UM-3 by Japanese Industrial Standards, JIS of Japan. Historically, it is known as D14 (hearing aid battery), U12 – later U7 (standard cell), or HP7 (for zinc chloride 'high power' version) in official documentation in the United Kingdom, or a ''pen cell''. AA batteries are common in portable Electronics, electronic devices. An AA battery is composed of a single electrochemical cell that may be either a primary battery (dispos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liquid-crystal Display
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other Electro-optic modulator, electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but instead use a backlight or Reflector (photography), reflector to produce images in color or Monochrome monitor, monochrome. LCDs are available to display arbitrary images (as in a general-purpose computer display) or fixed images with low information content, which can be displayed or hidden: preset words, digits, and seven-segment displays (as in a digital clock) are all examples of devices with these displays. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made from a matrix of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs are used in a wide range of applications, including LCD televisions, computer monitors, Dashboard, instrument panels, flight instrument ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Switched Telephone Network
The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the aggregate of the world's telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators. It provides infrastructure and services for public telephony. The PSTN consists of telephone lines, fiber-optic cables, microwave transmission links, cellular networks, communications satellites, and undersea telephone cables interconnected by switching centers, such as central offices, network tandems, and international gateways, which allow telephone users to communicate with each other. Originally a network of fixed-line analog telephone systems, the PSTN is now predominantly digital in its core network and includes terrestrial cellular, satellite, and landline systems. These interconnected networks enable global communication, allowing calls to be made to and from nearly any telephone worldwide. Many of these networks are progressively transitioning to Internet Protocol to carry their telephony traffi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phone Book
A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory. Its purpose is to allow the telephone number of a subscriber identified by name and address to be found. The advent of the Internet, search engines, and smartphones in the 21st century greatly reduced the need for a paper phone book. Some communities, such as Seattle and San Francisco, sought to ban their unsolicited distribution as wasteful, unwanted and harmful to the environment.Yellow Pages ruling endangers SF ban Heather Knight, '' |
Word Processor
A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word processors are word processor programs running on general purpose computers, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. The functions of a word processor program are typically between those of a simple text editor and a desktop publishing program; Many word processing programs have gained advanced features over time providing similar functionality to desktop publishing programs. Common word processor programs include LibreOffice Writer, Google Docs and Microsoft Word. Background Word processors developed from mechanical machines, later merging with computer technology. The history of word processing is the story of the gradual automation of the physical aspects of writing and editing, and then to the refinement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
