A floppy disk is a non-volatile, magnetic storage device that can be read and written to by a floppy disk drive. Floppy disks were once the most infamous form of storage and were used to store a wide variety of files, including executable files, text files, and small audio clips. Before the advent of the personal hard drive, programs were separated into dozens of small files and stored on floppy disks, which would then have to be inserted one after another into a computer in order for a program to Read More

A computer’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is software that sets up the operating system by locating various hardware components and telling the operating system how to use them. Updating BIOS will minimize the amount of time it takes for the computer to boot up, correct compatibility issues, and improve the computer’s overall performance. The computer or motherboard manufacturer will periodically update BIOS to repair bugs, add compatibility with new devices, and make other hardware corrections that can speed up the computer’s boot time and fix other issues. These updates are Read More

SLI (Scalable Link Interface) is a multi-GPU parallel processing application for computer graphic cards developed by Nvidia. Simply, it allows two or more video graphic cards to be connected together for one output. The technology was formerly used by 3dfx Interactive with the Voodoo2 video cards as the Scan Line Interleave in the late 1990s. Later when Nvidia bought out 3dfx Interactive, SLI was not used. However, starting in 2004, SLI was renamed as the Scalable Link Interface and was planned to be widely used with computers with a PCI Read More

The IDE Interface Integrated Drive Electronics or (IDE) are a type of hard drive controller which bundles the components of the hard drive and its controller into one interface. This allows for much simpler installation of the hard drive into the system by removing the difficulties associated with the separation of the components and controllers such as the predecessor drives. This advancement has lead to several hard drive options which are both very large and very fast. Taking advantage of these types of hard drives can be done in nearly any computer system Read More

Experts in science and technology developed a known digital audio standard, AES/EBU, to handle signals from digital audio systems. It is known officially by the name AES3 and an Audio Engineering Society and the European Broadcasting Union developed it, hence the name. It was first publicized in 1989, but was revised later in 1995, 1998, and 2003. The Standard Structure The AES/EBU or AES3 is made to match the standard maintained internationally under the name IEC 60958. It carries a variety of hardware connections that the international standard itself defines, Read More

There are many ways to measure sound quality. Many measurements have been created to specifically measure and rate the quality of sound. Here are a few of the most common types of measurements used for sound quality. THD THD stands for Total Harmonic Distortion. It is a measurement taken to view the total amount of distortion from the original audio signal at playback. Most quality components have less than 1% distortion rate, loudspeakers can have 1 to 5% distortion rate and bass subwoofers can produce the most distortion sometimes approaching Read More

CPUs process data using instructions stored in the computer memory or RAM. The RAM is a temporary storage area that makes information and instructions available to the microprocessor, which does not have to use this information until required. The two processor classifications are the Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) and the Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC). The primary difference between the two is that a RISC-based chip uses more basic instruction sets to achieve a greater clock frequency to process more information per clock cycle than a CISC processor. CISC-based Read More

A dual layer DVD is a disc that has two or more layers that can be written to, as opposed to traditional DVDs that only have a single layer. Dual layer DVDs are identical to regular DVDs in every way, except that they store much more information. However, dual layer DVDs require equipment that are specifically designed for them in order to be read or written to.   How Dual Layer DVDs Work A single layer DVD consists of a layer of heat sensitive organic dye that permanently changes shape Read More

When something begins to go wrong with a computer and things start acting differently than they should, the first thing to test should be the computer’s memory. Problems, even small ones, in the computer’s memory can lead to very erratic behavior from the computer, even causing it to crash. Memory Testing Software Memtest86 is our recommended memory testing utility. Memtest86 is a reliable program that can be a great help to you if you think your memory may be causing problems in your computer. Strategies for Testing Memory If you Read More

Embedded systems refer to devices, instruments or large engineering structures/systems that are built to handle one or a few pre-established tasks. The computer controlling the whole thing is built into or 'embedded' within the device. Cellphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are examples of devices with embedded systems. They both perform a specific number of tasks which are controlled by a built-in computer system. Inertial guidance systems used for aerial navigation or as part of the guidance package of smart bombs and missiles are examples of instruments with embedded systems. Read More