Digital Logic Levels and Transfer Characteristics
A digital system uses discrete logic levels, 0 and 1, while the real world is a continuous range such as a voltage from 0 to 5. To make design easier, engineers view the system in the abstract. More ...
Shortest-Job-First CPU Scheduling Algorithm
CPU Scheduling deals with the problem of deciding which of the processes in the ready queue is to be alocated the CPU. There are many different CPU scheduling algorithms. In this article we describe shortest-job-first scheduling. More ...
Pentium P5 Processor
The Pentium P5 processor was introduced in 1993 was the first superscalar processor. It featured two integer pipelines and a pipelined floating-point unit. This article describes other innovations introduced in the P5. More ...
Operating System Boot
The procedure of starting a computer by loading the kernel is known as booting the system. On most computer systems, a small piece of code known as the bootstrap program or bootstrap loader locates the kernel loads it into main memory, and starts its execution. More ...
Microcontrollers
A microcontroller is an IC that contains a microprocessor as well as RAM, ROM and general I/O ports. Engineers design microcontrollers into specific-purpose devices such as microwave ovens, cars, washing machines, refridgerators, and even space probes. More ...
Capacitors in AC Circuits
In an AC circuit capacitors exhibit a property similar to resistance called reactance and cause a phase shift between votage and current. The vector sum of resistance and reactance in an AC circuit is called impedance. More ...
The Evolution of Hard Disk Bit Recording
Hard drive technology has continuously improved over the decades, that includes higher storage capacity performance. Part of this improvement has been higher access speeds, but most of the higher storage capacity has been the result of changes in the bit recording methods. More ...
Basic Electronics for Computer Architecture
To understand computer architecture, it is necessary for you to have a basic understanding of electronics. This article explains how all the amazing things that can be done with electronics are the result of one simple thing - electric charge. More ...
Operating System File Management
The operating system abstracts from the physical properties of its storage devices to define a logical storage unit, the file. The operating system maps files onto physical media and accesses these files via the storage devices. More ...
The Many Processes of Silicon Wafer Manufacturing
A silicon wafer is a thin, circular disc used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and semiconductors. The silicon wafer manufacturing process is interesting. More ...
Using the Microcontroller Timers
Timing is an essential function for generating signals with precisely determined duration, or for counting external events. For this reason, a timer subsystem is present in all microcontroller implementations. More ...
Challenges of Programming Multicore Systems
Operating system designers must write scheduling algorithms that use multiple processing cores and application programmers, mustmodify existing programs and design new programs that are multithreaded. More ...