Mashed Articles

Windows 7 is 234 per cent more popular than its predecessor. It’s official. OK, so that figure relates to the first few days of sales in the US, and the predecessor in question is Windows Vista, the Antichrist OS. Even so, pathologically mediocre as it may well be, Windows 7 has been well received.

What interests me is how this reflects a broader malaise that continues to blight the PC industry. What else but Microsoft’s ongoing near-monopoly can explain the continued success of an operating system that sports a near-total absence of real innovation?

The broader problem, therefore, involves the fact that the key components inside your PC, both software and hardware, are still owned by far too few companies. In just about any other industry of global import, the way Microsoft dominates the software landscape while Intel has the hardware platform largely sewn up and Google owns web searches would be viewed as unhealthy.

A handy analogue is the food industry in the US. If you’ve seen the recent documentary Food, Inc., you’ll know what I’m talking about. According to the film’s makers, key sectors in the US food industry have been whittled down from around 20 major players in the 1970s to just four mega-producers today. The result has been the emergence of a range of seriously unsavoury practices – the concentration of power in the hands of a handful of massive companies hasn’t done anyone any good. Except those companies, of course.

Compare that to the PC industry and, if anything, the concentration of power looks much, much worse. It’s a fact that both Microsoft and Intel, for example, have recently been subject to prosecutions for market abuses. But a plausible argument can still be made in terms of the benefits to the PC industry and end users. Together, Intel and Microsoft provided developers with a single, unified platform and a massive customer base. Thus was born the astonishing ecosystem of PC-compatible applications and devices we take for granted today.

Moreover, I suppose we should all be grateful for what little competition there has been. Without AMD and ATI to keep Intel and Nvidia honest, for instance, we might now be marvelling at the power of single-core Intel Pentium 5 processors and Nvidia GeForce 4900 TI graphics.

Similarly, I scarcely dare imagine what horrors the Beast of Redmond would have sired were it not for the threat, however remote, of Apple’s OS X and the open-source Linux operating system.

So, a lot of power and wealth may have been accumulated in the hands of a few thanks to the Wintel monopoly, but mankind has benefited enormously from the emergence of ubiquitous personal computing.

Still, if I’m convinced it’s all been worth it up to now, I’m equally sure the time has come for a more democratic wave of innovation. Fortunately, there are signs it’s already happening. Microsoft is increasingly under siege from all conceivable angles, whether it’s the success of Linux as an enterprise OS or the arguably even more lethal threat posed by the humble web browser. Who needs a complex operating system if all your applications are hosted online?

Intel’s hardware nut seems trickier to crack. Creating computer chips is a complex business – the idea of new entrants to the market is virtually inconceivable. However, the increasing importance of mobile devices might be the key. Currently, ultra-mobile computing is dominated not by Intel chips but by ARM’s processor architectures.
Crucially, ARM’s approach to producing CPUs is rather novel. In fact, ARM doesn’t really produce processors at all. Rather, it licenses out designs. This gives chipmakers the option of simply knocking out an off-the-shelf design or fusing an ARM processor architecture with its own technology to create something unique. As the remit for ultra-mobile devices expands over the next few years, so will the range and ability of ARM-based processors. Chips with all kinds of enhanced functions, from video decoding to cryptography acceleration, are likely to appear.

Intel recognises the threat posed by a plethora of purpose-built ARM processors and so has taken the bold step of licensing out the Atom processor architecture to TSMC, one of its main rivals in the chip production business. Again, the idea is to allow the Atom core to be combined with a range of third-party circuitry.

All of which means we’re poised for a battle royal between ARM and Intel in the ultra-mobile segment. Google, meanwhile, might just provide a similar foil for Microsoft. The result would be a perfect storm of hardware and software innovation. If that happens, the mediocrity of Windows 7 will be but a distant memory.

Writen by Lee Asher

Installing a PCI wireless card might seem like a bit of an adventure — after all, you have to open the case, find where to put the thing, close it again… and then you have to deal with the software! Even if you’ve never opened your computer before, though, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with it if you follow this simple 10 step guide.

Step 1: Look at the Manual. Yes, I know it seems like a dull thing to do, but you really need to at least skim the manual for things if you’re going to go putting them in your computer. It’s much better to do it now than to realise afterwards that you missed an essential step in the installation. A few cards, for example, require you to install the software before installing the card — do this now if you need to.

Step 2: Switch the Computer Off. Before you even think about opening the computer, you’ve got to switch it off. You should use the ‘Shut Down’ option to make sure that the computer will start fresh next time, and wait for it to shut down completely.

Step 3: Unplug the Computer. To be safe, you should disconnect the computer from the power supply now. If there is anything connected to the computer, you should unplug that from the power too, as well as unplugging the wires from the back of the computer. If you’re nervous that you won’t remember which wire goes where when it’s time to put them back again, you could draw a diagram before you start this step. Most modern computers have a matching color coding system on the rear panel. Pink goes to pink, green to green etc.

Step 4: Remove the Case. To avoid damaging your computer’s parts or electrocuting yourself, you should be wearing an anti-static wristband (also known as a ground strap) whenever you open your computer. If you’re not sure how to get the case off, consult your computer’s manual. It’s usually just a matter of unscrewing, though — but make sure you keep the screws somewhere where they won’t get lost.

Step 5: When the cover is removed, the first thing to do is to locate the PCI slots on your motherboard, different motherboards have different amounts of PCI slots, for example you may already have a PCI card installed, in which case just choose an empty slot to install your new PCI card. PCI slots are long, rectangular slots inside the computer. Some of the available PCI slots might be used by existing modems or Ethernet cards. If there’s no space for your new wireless card, then you might need to remove some of this old equipment.

Step 6: Insert the PCI Card. If you’re using a PCI slot that hasn’t been used before, you’ll need to unscrew the piece of metal filling the gap in the back of the computer created by there being no card there. Make sure you store this piece in a safe place, in case you ever need it again.

When you insert the PCI card into the slot, do it as carefully as you can. Try not to touch any of the circuits on the card. Once it’s in the slot, you will need to press firmly, but don’t use too much force. You should also make sure that you point the wireless card’s antenna upwards.

Step 7: Close the Case. Just do what you did in step 4 in reverse — put it all back together.

Step 8: Plug In and Start. You need to plug your computer back in and start it. If you don’t want to re-attach all your cables right now, you will at least need to plug in the keyboard, mouse and monitor. Many people are scared when they turn on their computer again after installing a PCI card and it doesn’t work — only to find that the error was caused by them not reconnecting their keyboard! When you reboot your machine Windows (or other OS) should find the card automatically, it will then prompt you for the driver disk/cd that came with your card, insert the CD and follow the on-screen instructions.

Step 9: Install Drivers and Software. Once the computer’s done starting, it should notice it has some new hardware. This is when you should insert the CD that came with the card, and leave Windows to do its thing. If everything’s gone to plan, the PCI card should be set up automatically. If things don’t happen automatically, try inserting the CD before you panic.

Step 10: Configure Your Network. Your PCI wireless card gives your computer a permanent wireless connection. The first time you use it, you should be asked which wireless network you want to connect to. Choose your wireless network from the list, and you’re ready to go!

Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of http://Eclipse Domain Services.com
Domain Names, Hosting, Traffic and Email Solutions.

Writen by John Main

There are three ways to program a PIC microcontroller

1. Using normal programming hardware (high volt programming HVP).
2. Low volt programming (LVP).
3. Bootloading.

The first two methods use the programming port of the PIC microcontroller labeled ICSP (In Circuit Serial Programming).

This port is shared between the existing pins of the microcontroller and after programming the pins revert back to normal microcontroller operation.

Note: To make ICSP work correctly you have to consider the effects and requirements of the ICSP programmer e.g. for HVP a high voltage exists at the Vpp pin (your circuit must be able to handle the high voltage – up to 13V). Also the loading for the other signals PGC and PGD must not be too high i.e. don’t put an LED on these pins that uses 20mA – if you did the voltage levels would not be high enough at the inputs to the PIC for programming.

It’s fairly easy to design for ICSP use by using isolation resistors to normal circuitry and choosing not to use heavy loads on these pins.

ICSP provides 6 connections from the pic ICSP programmer to your board as follows :

VPP – (or MCLRn) Programming voltage (usually 13V).
Vcc – Power (usually 5V).
GND Ground (zero volts).
PGD – Data usual port and connection RB7.
PGC – Clock usual port and connection RB6.
PGM – LVP enable usual port and connection RB3/RB4.

PIC Micro: High Volt Programming

To use the first method a hardware interface is needed or ‘PIC programmer’ to interface between the programming software (usually running on the PC) and the PIC chip. This hardware takes its information from the PC via one of three interfaces either:

• The RS232 COM port
• The Parallel port
• The USB port

You choose the interface you want to use and then choose an appropriate PIC programmer. The PC then communicates with the hardware generating the serial (ICSP) signals to translate the PIC hex file into a serial data stream suitable for the target microcontroller.

Note: Almost all PIC microcontrollers use the ICSP interface so once you have a HVP you can program virtually any PIC microcontroller. e.g. you can program 12F675, 16F84, 16F88, 16F877(A), 18F2550, 18F452 etc.

There are several programs for programming PIC micos e.g. ICPROG and many different hardware programmers.

PIC Micro: Low volt programming (LVP)

LVP is exactly the same as HVP except:

• The Vpp voltage is set to the normal supply voltage.
• The PGM pin indicates programming mode.

Note: In this mode you can not use the PGM pin for anything else it is dedicated solely to LVP control.

Devices are manufactured with PGM mode enabled and the only way to turn off the PGM mode is to program it using an HVP programmer.

Note: Some PIC microcontrollers can only use the HVP method since for the LVP method you have to sacrifice one pin – PGM – (to tell the PIC Micro either that it is being programmed (high volts e.g. 5V) or that it is not being programmed (0V) ) and some PIC micros only have 8 pins e.g. 12F675. For this chip the PGM pin is not available so HVP is the only way.

The real benefit of using the LVP mode is that you can program several PIC Micros on a board without having to individually program each one – you could daisy chain each extra micro to a master micro which would then program each one in turn – and this is only possible since the Vpp signal is a normal logic level in LVP mode.

PIC Micro: Bootloading

Bootloading uses any available interface to load a program into program memory. It requires a bootstrap program to interpret the interface data and translate it into program memory instructions.

Note: Note only the newer devices that are capable of programming their own memory can use this method.

Typically a serial port is used for bootloading and the PIC micro bootstrap program will wait for a set time after power up listening on the serial port for a reserved word that tells the bootstrap program to start i.e. it listens for sequence of characters that is not normally used on the interface

Once it receives this sequence it enters bootstrap mode where a hex file is transmitted to the microcontroller over the interface. It interprets this and programs the memory of the microcontroller and then starts the program.

There are two issues with this method:

1. You have to program the bootstrap code using HVP or LVP.
2. It uses up some of the microcontroller resources.

Once programed it provides a convenient way of using the device as you won’t need programming hardware anymore and one major benefit is that you can re-program a device without undoing the equipment e.g. if you boxed up you project you could still re-program it using the serial port!

You can find more information from the website here and how to build a website like it here.