In computing, the term accelerator has multiple meanings:* Hardware acceleration, an additional unit of hardware to perform some function faster than is possible in software running on the normal Central processing unit.* Web accelerator in web programming refers to a program that reduces web site access times.

Image:Mouse-mechanism-cutaway.pngImage:First_Computer_Mouse_pic_2.jpgImage:Mouse-patents-englebart-rid.png|thumb|300px|right|Early mouse patents. (left to right) Opposing track wheels by Englebart, 11/70, [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/image-3541541-1.html 3541541]. Ball and wheel by Rider, 9/74, [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3835464.htm 3835464]. Ball and two rollers with spring by Opocentsky, 10/76, [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3987685.html 3987685].Image:Optical_mouse_shining.jpg
The Earliest Computer Mouses, The Xerox Alto Mouse, Primary Material on the Apple Mouse, How Computer Mice Work, Optical Mice and how they Work, Optical Mouse technology review: Tech specs on current optical mice, the House of Mouse (Gaming), A review of a modern laser-based mouse: the MX1000,

Universal Serial Bus (USB) provides a serial bus standard for connecting devices, usually to a computer, but it also is in use on other devices such as set-top boxes, game consoles such as Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Revolution and PDAs.A USB system has an asymmetric design, consisting of a host controller and multiple devices connected in a tree-like fashion using special hub devices. There is a limit of 5 levels of branching hubs per controller. Up to 127 devices may be connected to a single host controller, but the count must include the hub devices as well. A modern computer likely has several host controllers so the total useful number of connected devices is beyond what could reasonably be connected to a single controller. There is no need for a terminator on any USB bus, as there is for SPI-SCSI and some others.
Home of USB Implementers Forum, Inc., USB Central, USB for DOS, Linux USB Project, USB Networking Introduction, Linux usbmount, USB in a NutShell, Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI),

I wonder about the subject of kernel. should there be an article on that? or should it be interwoven with :operating system or should it be a subpage to :operating system?? Im wondering this since Ive seen many links to kernel, and wonder if the plain title kernel is appropiate?If you're not sure, make it a top-level page. It can always be redirected to a subpage later.--User:hornlo (2001-07-27)----"Mechatronics"??? Does this deserve a top-level heading? I think it would make more sense under "classes of computers." The term I am more accustomed to seeing for this class is "Embedded systems."

:For the term used in computing, see stereotype (computing).Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another.They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours. This allows powerful social groups to legitimize and protect their dominant position.Often a stereotype is a negative caricature or inversion of some positive characteristic possessed by members of a group, exaggerated to the point where it becomes repulsive or ridiculous.
The psychological and social role of stereotypes, Suite 101: Shark Tale stereotypes troubling: CNYU Professor,

:The article is about a computer processor register. For other uses of accumulator, please see accumulator.In a computer central processing unit, an accumulator is a processor register in which intermediate arithmetic logic unit results are stored. Without a register like an accumulator, it would be necessary to write the result of each calculation (addition, multiplication, shift, etc.) to primary storage, perhaps only to be read right back again for use in the next operation. Access to main memory is slower than access to a register like the accumulator because the technology used for the large main memory is slower (but cheaper) than that used for a register.

In computing, skins and themes are custom graphical appearances (GUIs) that can be applied to certain software and websites in order to suit the different tastes of different users. Such software is referred to as being skinnable, and the process of writing or applying such a skin is known as skinning. Applying a skin changes a piece of software's look and feel - some skins merely make the program more aesthetically pleasing, but others can rearrange elements of the interface, potentially making the program easier to use. Although often used simply as a synonym for skin, the term theme normally refers to less-complex customisations, such as a set of icons and matching colour scheme for an operating system - notably, this is how the term was used in association with Windows 95.
Customize.org - A site operating since 1998, Winamp skins, essorant.com, Pixtudio, SkinPlant, The Skins Factory,

In computing, a platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run. Typical platforms include a computer's architecture, operating system, or programming languages and their runtime libraries.In relation to hardware, platform often describes the set of hardware components that make up the computer itself that the software is written to target to (often just described as "written for an architecture"). Pure assembly language can be run on this hardware platform, but most commonly, operating system software is written to target the hardware platform, but in doing so, becomes a platform in itself, facilitating the running of other software that is used to target the operating system, and likewise the hardware architecture. Furthermore, software that is written for the operating system can be used to support the running of other software: for example a virtual machine (which targets a certain operating system/hardware) that is used to run other programs that are written for that virtual machine, which constitutes another platform.

In computer engineering, hard disk drive partitioning is the creation of logical divisions upon a hard disk that allows one to apply operating system-specific logical formatting.Disk partitioning is a simple technique which can be viewed as a precursor of logical volume management.Partitioning allows one to have multiple filesystems on a single hard disk. There are many reasons to do this including:* Technical limitations (e.g. old versions of the Microsoft File Allocation Table filesystem that can't address more than a certain amount of hard drive space; old BIOS that prevent booting operating systems located past a hard drive's 1024th cylinder)
partitioning primer, QTParted, a partition manager, GParted, a partition manager, Simple partition instructions, GNU Parted, a command line partition manager, Andries Brouwer's partition types list, operating system loader, Minimal Partition Table Specification, List of Partition Identifiers,

Accessible computing covers* Accessible Software* Legal Issues In Accessible Computing*** Private LawsuitsCategory:Assistive technology

Can electricity supplies keep up with growing server demand? demands the UK edition of Computing this week. Power shortage hits IT; electrical infrastructure struggling to support increasing technology needs blares the front page headline just the week before. (No eco-cred points for recycling some of last week's copy, by the way).


When you consider that about half of a data centre‘s power is used just for cooling and battery back-up, let alone actually running your business, this should start to ring alarm bells for all sorts of reasons. Businesses today are addicted to compute power: financials, supply planning, logistics, CRM etc. all depend upon it. Constrain the data centre and your business suffers paralysis (by the way, 80% of data centre managers report that their data centres are constrained by power, cooling and space ??� Gartner Dec. 2004). Take the power away, and your business suffers a cash flow hemorrhage. In short, your business‘s compute-power habit is irrevocably tied to the price and availability of electricity. And there is bad news on both counts.


Not so long ago, the burning issue in the data centre was space (it still is to some extent). Whilst vendors developed blade servers to increase compute density by an order of magnitude, the amount of heat generated per server has stayed about the same. Heat is the new space (as it were) and requires more cooling capacity to be introduced. Yet the heat problem places greater demands on power consumption: more heat means more cooling ??� more cooling means more power.


Over the last year, wholesale gas prices in the UK have risen approximately 100%. As gas is used to generate about 40% of the UK's electricity supply, prices have risen there too. In the deregulated electricity market here in the UK, bulk-buying businesses can procure favourable contracts yielding good savings. However, the relief may only be short term: any beneficial gains will soon be wiped out if we assume wholesale prices continue to rise as they have done. Electrical power is only going to get more expensive.


A further consideration is the capability of the electricity supply network to deliver power to its customers. The physical infrastructure can only deliver what it can, and anything to do with fixing public utility infrastructure is going to take time, be it installing sub-station switch gear, higher capacity cabling or solving the UK's strategic energy gap.


So what can be done in mitigation?


Maybe the solution is to just keep on feeding the habit and spend yet more money by relocating the data centre to a place where power is plentiful and cheap (wherever that may be). Or what about relocating to far northern latitudes where the air is naturally colder and thereby reducing the dependency on artificial cooling. You could just open the window. That was a joke, by the way.


Perhaps the answer lies in micro-generation (small scale power production solutions)? Ecologically, these could be advantageous as they generate power (or compensate for it) through the use of renewable sources, thereby lowering the overall carbon foot-print of the organisation. Commercially however, this is unlikely to be a quick fix; according to an Energy Saving Trust report, micro-generation may not be cost competitive with conventional supply until around 2020.


So it could be that the answer is simply to use less power. If the servers in the data centre could run more efficiently, they would generate less heat and so require less cooling. And if they took up less space, so much the better. Power consumption goes down, total cost of ownership goes down, business value from the data centre goes up.


At Sun, we choose to run Sun-on-Sun. That means we run our own business on our own equipment as much as we can: servers, software, storage, desk tops, identity ??� the lot. Right now we‘re delivering a new release of Siebel‘s CRM software to our sales force and it‘s going to run on the new Sun Fire Servers with CoolThreads technology. These servers use 20% of the power, in 25% of the space whilst delivering 5 times the performance compared to similar servers in their class. It's worth quickly doing the simulation and running the numbers just to see for yourself how cool these new servers are ??� literally.


If your data centre is addicted to energy, go and buy some servers that pay for themselves. From now on, TCO means Total Carbon Output. There are only two ways to cut TCO: run more efficient servers. Or open a window.

Computing.Net
Computing.Net is one of the biggest and oldest technical support web sites.
www.computing.net
visit

THE HISTORY OF COMPUTING
This collection of materials relating to the history of computing is provided courtesy of the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Tech, and is...
ei.cs.vt.edu
visit

IEEE Computer Society
Promotes research and serves as a provider of technical information and standards to computing professionals.
www.computer.org
visit

FOLDOC - Computing Dictionary
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing is a searchable dictionary of terms from computing and related fields.
wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk
visit

Computing Research Association (CRA)
Seeks to strengthen research and education in computing fields. Membership, event and job information.
www.cra.org
visit

History of Computers
org) Looking Back on Nearly Three Decades of Personal Computing (by Forrest M.
www.hitmill.com
visit

Compute Algebraic Code
Compute Binary Algebraic Codes Computing. Algebraic.
ipsit.bu.edu
visit

Association for Computing Machinery
Educational and scientific computing society, provid a forum for the exchange of information, ideas, and discoveries.
www.acm.org
visit

exploremy : brief history of the computer

www.softlord.com
visit

The Virtual Museum of Computing
This virtual museum includes an eclectic collection of WWW hyperlinks connected with the history of computing and on-line computer-based exhibits...
www.comlab.ox.ac.uk
visit