Hardware Archive

Harvesting and Reusing Idle Compute Cycles

Eugenia Loli 2005-07-03 Hardware 11 Comments

More on the University of Texas grid project's mission to integrate numerous, diverse resources into a comprehensive campus cyber-infrastructure for research and education. This article examines the idea of harvesting unused cycles from compute resources to provide this aggregate power for compute-intensive work.

HP Cites Progress On Quantum Computer

Thom Holwerda 2005-07-01 Hardware 26 Comments

Scientists at Hewlett-Packard said that they had developed a new strategy for designing a quantum computer composed of switches of light beams that could be vastly more powerful than today's digital electronic computers, which are constructed from transistors.

Will The Alpha Chip Stage A Comeback?

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-30 Hardware 50 Comments

There are increasing rumors that Alpha might be brought back to life. The Inq sets the big 'if' aside and explores the possiblities: "What if there really is a will to get Alpha back into the changed market? What sort of chip would it have to be to have that good chance of success, if any?"

Meet The Expert: Arnd Bergmann On Cell

Submitted by anonymous 2005-06-30 Hardware 7 Comments

Looking forward to getting your hands on a Cell workstation? We were too -- until we talked to Linux for Cell kernel maintainer Arnd Bergmann. Learn about programming for Cell in general and for Linux for Cell in particular, and why the "workstation" that has been described in the press is more of a prototype Blade board, and a bit of a misunderstanding, in this Q & A session.

India Closes In On $100 PC

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Hardware 27 Comments

In about three months, a little-known company called Novatium plans to offer a stripped-down home computer for about $70 or $75. That is about half the price of the standard "thin clients" of this kind now sold in India, made possible in part by some novel engineering choices.

Roomba Gets an Upgrade

David Adams 2005-06-24 Hardware 16 Comments

Roomba manufacturer iRobot has released a new, programmable vacuuming robot with a "virtual walls" feature to keep the little guy penned in to a particular area. A $60 software/hardware upgrade is also available to late-model Roomba owners. Also from iRobot comes PackBot, a small reconnaissance robot for military use.

Download open source Slimline Open Firmware (SLOF)

Eugenia Loli 2005-06-14 Hardware 13 Comments

As of June 8, 2005, you can download initialization and boot source code based on the IEEE-1275 Standard for Boot Initialization Configuration Firmware.

Cheap PCs: The Way of the Future?

Submitted by Gsurface 2005-05-31 Hardware 38 Comments

Are sub $300 PCs the wave of the future or is this just another fad? Flexbeta examines the effects cheap PCs may have on Microsoft, hardware vendors and the rest of the computing industry.

New CPU from VIA, The C7

Submitted by Ryan M. Graham 2005-05-30 Hardware 61 Comments

VIA issued a press release on Friday announcing their new C7 Processor. Noteworthy PVR related features include its low power consumption (2.0GHz at 20W, idle at 0.1W) and support for SSE2 and SSE3 (in addition to existing MMX and SSE support). In the crypto department, they've expanded their PadLock™ hardware crypto/security suite with this CPU by adding in full hardware SHA-1 and SHA-256 (20BGps), hardware assisted RSA (hardware Montgomery Multiplier), a beefed up RNG that feeds directly into the SHA units, and the NX bit.

Windows x64 Vs Asus Laptops Vs Linux

Guest post by Greg Cornell 2005-05-10 Hardware 37 Comments

Updated - Microsoft has officially released the new 64 bit version of windows. This has been available in Beta for well over a year to allow software and hardware manufacturers to be ready for the release.

LinuxCertified LC2210D Laptop Review

Eugenia Loli 2005-05-09 Hardware 50 Comments

We got in a new loaner from LinuxCertified.com, the brand new LC2210D model: a Centrino 1.80 GHz CPU, 512 MBs of RAM, Intel Extreme gfx card, 40 GB drive and a 14" XGA TFT screen. The laptop comes with the latest Ubuntu installed and sells for $1249. Read more for our review.

The Ins and Outs of USB

Eugenia Loli 2005-04-28 Hardware 15 Comments

In a world of serial and parallel, it would not be simple for a new device connection to make its mark. Follow the USB standards success story to witness how this meritorious technology carved a place for itself. USB provides many benefits to users and vendors, but also see where it missed the boat.

Performance Monitoring and Tuning

Eugenia Loli 2005-04-20 Hardware 8 Comments

How do you get mainframe performance on an embedded budget? Just learn the secrets of the mainframe gurus and apply them in your own designs. Architectural decisions define the ultimate feasible performance of any product. This article covers features that can help you improve your system's performance.

64-bit Linux and BSD are maturing steadily

Eugenia Loli 2005-04-04 Hardware 19 Comments

"While the theoretical speed advantage and expanded resources of 64-bit computing are enticing to those in need of maximum performance, the road to a perfect AMD64 desktop, workstation or server machine is long and treacherous. What operating system will you use? Is there enough 64-bit software available? In this article we'll explore some of the advantages and pitfalls of going totally 64-bit in a 32-bit world." Read more at NewsForge.

Learn how to tailor your code for AltiVec

Eugenia Loli 2005-04-03 Hardware 12 Comments

Motorola AltiVec can dramatically improve the performance of many tasks, even tasks that you might initially think are too linear to get much advantage from parallelizing. This article looks at some real-world code that processors might spend a serious amount of time running, and shows how to tweak it to get extra performance.

Dueling Multicores: Intel and AMD Fight For the Future. Part 1

Submitted by Tudy 2005-03-31 Hardware 16 Comments

Intel and AMD have taken very different approaches towards achieving the next level of performance with their CPUs. In Part I TomsHardware explores the companies' plans for their upcoming multicore lines, the pros and cons of hyperthreading, and its relevance to multicore processing.

Poll: Do you use a 64bit CPU in your main computer?

Eugenia Loli 2005-03-17 Hardware 160 Comments

Do you use a 64bit CPU in your main computer? Come in and vote, let's see what the OSNews readers are running. If yes, leave a comment if you are using a clean 64bit OS with it too.

Poll: What is your Monitor’s Resolution?

Eugenia Loli 2005-03-03 Hardware 167 Comments

What is your main monitor's resolution? Take our poll inside!

Interview: The Future in Grid Computing

Submitted by Nate Mook 2005-02-21 Hardware 1 Comment

Computing grids, or software engines that pool together and manage resources from isolated systems to form a new type of low-cost supercomputer, have finally come of age. BetaNews sat down with some of the world's leading grid guru's to discuss the significance of such distributed technologies and separate grid hype from grid reality.

Regarding that 99 USD Laptop

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-09 Hardware 57 Comments

Slashdot posted yesterday a news item about some people which try to create a laptop that would sell for less than one hundred bucks. To me, an x86 such laptop this seems like a dream that can't come true with today's OEM prices. However, there might be a way to achieve this, if the "laptop" in question will not really be a laptop, but a handtop, a hybrid between a laptop and a PDA.