Binary Floating-Point Numbers
Floating-point numbers allow you to use the very large, and very small, numbers commonly found in scientific calculations. A binary floating-point number consists of three parts, the sign bit, the mantissa and the exponent. More ...
How Computer Memory Works
Every program being executed and every piece of data being manipulated must be copied from a storage device, such as a magnetic disk, into main memory. It's important to understand the basic types of memory. More ...
Processor Affinity in Symmetric Multiprocessing
Processor Affinity refers to a process's tendency to continue running on the processor on which it is currently running. When a process executes on a CPU, that process's cache is populated with its most recently accessed data, if a process is moved to a different CPU, that second processor's cache must be populated with that data. More ...
AMD's Phenom Processor
AMD released the first Phenom processor in 2007. Unlike Intel's Core 2 Quad processors, which are a multi-chip module (MCM) design, AMD's Phenom processors had all cores on the same silicon die. More ...
Getting started with Raspberry Pi
So you have a Raspberry Pi, or you're thinking of getting one, and you want to know how to get started and how to become a master user of one. More ...
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 ...
Introduction to Boolean Algebra
Boolean algebra is a system of mathematics in which the values of the variables can take on only one of two values, either 0 or 1. Similar to regular algebra, Boolean algebra can be used to simplify a mathematical expression. Since computer logic is also a system in which the values of the inputs and outputs can take on only one of two values, Boolean algebra can be used to simplify logic circuits. More ...
The Microcontroller Interrupt System
Events related to peripheral interfaces are asynchronous to the program running on the CPU. The interrupt mechanism allows an external event to temporarily put the normal execution of the microcontroller on hold and force the execution of a specific subroutine. More ...
Operating System Memory Page Sharing
In a paged environment sharing of memory among processes provides numerous benefits including sharing non-self-modifying reentrant code and interprocess communication. More ...
The Microcontroller's Asynchronous Serial Interface
An Asynchronous Serial Interface sends data one bit at a time, as apposed to a parallel interface which send one byte or one word at a time, and asynchronous means it sends them when its ready, without reference to a clock signal. More ...
CPU Process Scheduling
CPU scheduling is the basis of multiprogrammed operating systems. By switching the CPU among processes, the operating system can make the computer more productive. More ...
Intel's Core 2 Processors
Intel's Core 2 processors, released in July of 2006, are based on the Core microarchitecture, a dual core design using a 65nm manufacturing process to put 291 million transistors on a 143 square mm die. Each core has its own 64KB L1 cache. The two cores share an L2 cache that can be either 2MB or 4MB. More ...
