Technology

Jun 5 2008

30 Years of Intel’s x86

On June 8, 1978, Intel released the 8086, the world’s first 16-bit microprocessor. This CPU was vastly superior to the existing 8-bit processors used on computers at the time. The family of x86 refers to the instruction set of microprocessors used from the 8086 to today’s modern Pentium 4 processors.

Intel has effectively won the war for microprocessors. I remember the intense competition in the 80′s and 90′s between Intel and Motorola. PC’s used the Intel chip, and Apple, Commodore, and Atari used Motorola’s 68000 series CPU’s. Eventually, Commodore’s Amiga and Atari’s ST computers were discontinued, and Apple recently switched to Intel to drive their new Macs.

In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors in a semiconductor chip will double every two years. This has been accurate over the last 30 years with Intel’s CPU’s. There is concern that we’re approaching a physical limit to Moore’s Law, but a new technology may emerge which could continue it.

Intel will likely dominate the next decade with its microprocessors. Its only real competition is with AMD, a company that creates x86 architecture CPU’s.

By Johan • Technology • 0

Apr 11 2008

Is OS X a Threat to Windows?

Once again, Windows is under attack by Mac enthusiasts: Gartner: Windows is Collapsing and Apple’s OS Edge Is A Threat To Microsoft. The arguments are the same. OS X is better, faster, and has fewer lines of source code than Vista, so therefore it must be better. Why is Vista so large? Could it be that it does more than OS X?

One writer claimed that the OS switching task (pressing Control and then right arrow) gave Macs a tremendous advantage over Windows. Now they can switch operating systems with a simple keystroke. So Mac users can switch to Windows and run useful applications which are not available for OS X. Hardly an advantage.

A Mac user at work claimed that Macs are better because they can seamlessly run Windows, and PC users can only run OS X by a hack on their systems which makes it less secure. The question to ask is this: why would a Windows user even want to run OS X? What can a Mac do that Windows can’t do?

An important thing to realize is that people don’t buy computers to run operating systems. They buy them to run applications. Windows has an overwhelming larger number of applications compared to OS X. If your a software developer, you’ll build Windows applications before OS X ones because that’s where the money is. Another advantage of Windows is the better development community. Visual Studio is far superior to Apple’s Xcode. Microsoft, unlike Apple, has a clear direction and focus for their development tools and they provide first class support for them.

With Visual Studio, you have the choice of multiple programming languages to develop for Windows. Xcode limits you to Objective-C. If you don’t like Visual Studio, you have other options such as Codegear’s tools. You don’t have as much choice with Mac programming.

Is OS X a threat to Windows? I doubt it. While Windows, like all operating systems, has problems that can be fixed and Microsoft is very responsive to its users.

By Johan • Technology • 0

Mar 11 2008

Silverlight: 1.5 Million Downloads Per Day

According to this video broadcast, Microsoft is getting 1.5 million downloads per day of Silverlight. This new web technology is Microsoft’s answer to Flash. It makes the same promises in being cross-platform, cross-browser, and cross-device as Flash does. From a casual glance, Silverlight seems to be very similar to what Flash can do.

Will this technology overtake or replace Flash? Its hard to say at this point. I haven’t seen any web sites to really take advantage of Silverlight yet, but the technology is still new and it takes time to create compelling content and applications with it. The exciting thing about Silverlight is its tight integration with ASP.NET and AJAX. With Visual Studio being the best development environment and ASP.NET/IIS growing in market share against Apache, Silverlight will be widely used by programmers and web developers for building web sites.

By Johan • Technology • 0

Nov 23 2007

Eee PC: Low Cost Portable Computing

Just in time for Black Friday, the ASUS Eee PC has to be the most exciting technology product of this year. The Eee PC is a tiny 7″ computer that weighs just under a kilogram. The current models are being sold with Linux, but ASUS will be releasing a Windows version later this year.

OLPC Is Not Enough

When I first heard of the OLPC (a tiny computer designed for children in emerging nations), I like many people wanted one. A machine like that would be much more useful than a PDA for doing work away from your main desktop computer. It, however, loses its appeal with it being filled with software that would be useful only to a school age child.

It would be great if someone made a low cost computer running Windows at that size …

The Little Engine That Does

The Eee PC has 256 MB to 1 GB of RAM and a 2-16 GB solid state drive for storage, depending on the model. The solid state drive isn’t very much large and it should be at least 20 GB to comfortably run Windows and for running applications. There are 3 USB 2.0 ports which can take a hard drive through it and there is a Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard media slot which is useful for downloading digital photos.

imageIt uses an Intel chipset with a 900 MHz Celeron M processor.

The multimedia side of Eee gives you a 7″ WVGA TFT-LCD widescreen monitor with a resolution of 800×400 pixels, high definition audio, a speaker, and a microphone. The higher end models have 300K pixel web cams.

The machine is very durable and shock resistant which is a must for outdoor use. I’m not sure if its water proof, however. The battery from its 4 cells ranges from 2.8 to 3.5 hours, again this depends on the model purchased.

All machines have wireless LAN (WiFi 802.11 B/G) and Ethernet (10/100 Mbps with an RJ-45 connector) capabilities. You can surf the net while sipping coffee at Starbucks. There’s even a 56K modem with it but its unknown if its fax capable.

The Price Is Right

Most computers this size cost a couple of thousand dollars. The Eee PC retails for $399.99 USD, which is the price of a good PDA. Palm almost released a machine similar to this called the Folio, but they dropped it soon before its release date. This was likely a mistake since when the Linux Eee was sold on ETTV Shopping (Taiwan’s shopping channel), a computer was sold every 6 seconds.

The Eee PC is a low cost alternative to notebook computers for people who need computing on the go. It should be a big seller this Christmas season.

By Johan • Technology, Videos • 0

Nov 20 2007

Who Is Hosting This?

Web designers will appreciate this site. It will find the web hosting company that a web site is being hosted on simply by entering its web address. Who Is Hosting This is a great tool for determining the capabilities of a web host before you try working on a client’s site and adding features.

In many instances, your client doesn’t know off hand where their web site is being hosted, or whether its Linux or Windows, if can use PHP or ASP.NET, or the number of databases that are available. Most web site owners have someone else who takes care of their site, and they are not always easy to contact to get this type of information.

This is definitely a useful site to have bookmarked.

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By Johan • Technology • 0

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