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Fast-developing technology has come up with a variety of features of features in point of sale, or POS, printers that provide for the different uses at a point of sale. Remote printing is now the “in-thing” for restaurant ownerscustomer orders are directly printed in the kitchen with number and order size.

Printers in a POS system are the main output devices and usually have one or two independent cash register ports attached. Such a printer and cash register will share a single port with a PC and leaves other PC ports free for other peripheral devices of the POS system. Traditional electronic cash registers with printers have given way to specialized printers and accessories for point-of-sale functions like labeling and coding products, printing receipts, and printing identity cards. There are many manufacturers in the market who give printers with different features to suit unique needs of vendors.

Printers can be classified according to the printing technology used, their connection compatibility, and the unique features provided by the manufacturers. Dot-matrix, thermal printers, and laser printers are the most common types of printers used in most POS systems. Laser and thermal printers are very quick, but it is the dot-matrix printer that is used by small scale retailers and restaurant owners, due to its low pricing and maintenance costs. For clear printing that is essential for barcodes and labels, the best solution are direct thermal printers and thermal transfer printers with auto cutters. PC and printer compatibility is essential for smooth functioning of the POS system. Computers and printers can be connected directly through a parallel port in both the devices, or they can be connected directly through a serial interface. Some PCs allow printer connection through USB cables or RJ11 adapters as well.

You should be looking at the specific needs of your outlet before choosing a printer with different features like barcode formats, auto cutters, check and credit card receipts, and product labels. Getting the right printer with the right combination of technology, features, and cost-effective system-compatibility will play a part in smooth running of your business.

POS provides detailed information on POS, POS Software, POS Systems, Restaurant POS and more. POS is affiliated with Metal Store Fixtures.

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Generally speaking, wireless computer connections are reliable. However, nothing is perfect, and sometimes you may lose your connection or experience a weak signal. There are many factors that impact the reliability of your wireless connection.

For example, if your wireless adapter is too close to a 2.4 GHz wireless telephone, you may notice a decrease in your computer’s wireless single strength. Why? Because the phone and the computer reside on the same frequency and can interfere with each other’s performance.

Handy Repair Checklist for Wireless Interruptions

1. First check to see if your cable or DSL is actually working. Usually located in your basement, most modems have four lights. You have a live Internet connection if the “data” or “status” light is on. If it’s off, or flashing, your cable is out.

2. If your cable/DSL is working, then reboot your computer. Sometimes, if your cable/DSL goes out for even 10 seconds, your computer and the wireless router may no longer be able to talk to each other. By rebooting your computer, a new IP address is assigned, allowing them to once again communicate.

3. If your desktop is wireless and you’ve moved the wireless adapter [the box that sits next to the computer with antennas], then you may need to move the adapter until you find a stronger signal.

About The Author

Sharron Senter is co-founder of http://www.VisitingGeeks.com - an on site computer repair, security and networking company serving north of Boston, Southern NH and Maine. Visiting Geeks’ technicians are crackerjacks at squashing viruses, popups and securing and making computers perform faster. Learn more about Sharron at http://www.SharronSenter.com

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Now days USB Flash Drives are the most popular storage device. The flash drive was first invented in 1998 at IBM. USB Flash drives got instant popularity when it has been launched in market. It is the best replacement for low storage devices Floppies and CDs. It is easy to handle and move anywhere. The specialty of USB Drives is, it is re-write able, removable and holds its memory without a power supply.

USB drive comes in various capacities like 256MB USB, 512MB USB, 1GB USB, 128MB USB, etc. USB flash drives are also known as “Pen drives”, “Chip sticks”, “Thumb drives”, “Flash drives”, “USB keys” and by many other names.

VFUEL is one of the leading providers of flash storage products such as USB Flash Drives (Pen Drives) and SD Cards. They have flash drives available in different capacities such as 128mb USB drives, 256mb USB drives, 512mb USB drives and 1gb USB drives. Vfuel also provide SD Cards of different capacities such as 256mb SD Cards, 512mb SD Cards, 1gb SD Cards and 2gb SD Cards.

VFUEL, or Virtual Fuel for your computer, is designed to maximize your PC’s performance by providing quality USB Drives & SD Cards. Flash storage products find applicable in digital camera, PC and Laptop.

Today USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drive comes in various attractive shapes, colors and sizes. It is useful to transfer the large amount of data from one place to another. That’s why many businessmen and professional find USB drives very helpful in their work.

Name: James King
Email: vfuelnet@yahoo.com
URL: https://vfuel.net

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Everybody, it looks like, has a laptop today, and if you don’t have one, you most likely are thinking of buying one. As if it’s not difficult enough to choose from the many types and brands of laptops out there, you are also confronted with the many accessories that are available for one to. Of the overwhelmingly large amount of accessories out there, it can be certainly overwhelming to figure out what you really need for your laptop. Clearly, it is completely dependant upon your needs and plans with your computer, but there are five essentials you may want to consider to start with first.

Laptop Essential 1: If you are planning to use your laptop at home with any kind of regularity, you will want to consider getting an external keyboard and pointing device (mouse). Why? Well, believe me, if you have ever tried typing on a laptop for any more than an hour, then without a doubt you know that your neck, shoulders, and wrists can start to feel wiped out, to say the least. Well, the solution is to buy an external keyboard, which you can plug into the back of your laptop, as well as a mouse. And if you use your laptop in the office you can raise the screen up with books or risers of some sort to make looking at the screen a little more ergonomic. Of course you can also purchase accessory swivel stands for your laptop as well if you want them.

Laptop Essential 2: When your home you will most likely want to connect other peripheral devices to your laptop, like a printer, maybe a DVD player, or even a CD burner. This can create a lot of clutter with all the wires you need to plug in and unplug if you want to take your laptop out of the house or move room to room or even take it to the office. So to resolve this problem, you will absolutely love a docking station.

Now a docking station basically turns your laptop into a desktop computer when you’re home and when you’re ready to take it away, you simply slip it out of the station and off you go.

Another alternative along the same lines is a port replicator, which has computer ports. You connect your external devices to the replicator and then to your laptop. When you want to move your laptop, you simply detach the one port replicator, rather than each external device.

Laptop Essential 3: Now this isn’t as exciting as some of the other accessories, but I assure you, you will be thankful you have it, and that is an external hard drive. It’s certainly not going to make your day, and it certainly won’t throw any excitement in your life, but the morning you wake up and your laptop won’t start will be the day you are overjoyed that you decided to get that external hard drive.

Here’s a little tip to go along with your new external hard drive: never pack your backup drive and your laptop in the same case when going on a trip, keep them separated. If you happen to lose your bag with both the backup drive and the laptop in it, you’re going to have a really bad day!

Laptop Essential 4: This little device will allow you to hook up everything you need. So make sure you go out and get yourself an external USB hub. Desktop computers sometimes come with several USB ports, some with as many as 8 or 9. But, laptops since they are smaller, often only have a couple of USB ports. USB hubs will usually have four or more ports that will connect through one of your laptop’s USB port making them very easy to use to hook up multiple USB devices.

Laptop Essential 5: You need to think about the worst thing that can happen with your laptop. Now you probably bought your laptop so you can work out of the office, or your home, or wherever you need to, right? Well, since you will be out and about, you will definitely want to think about insurance for your laptop. The manufacturer’s warranty usually doesn’t cover anything beyond parts, and an extended warranty will certainly not cover theft, though it may cover you for breakage or fire.

Finally, there are literally thousands of different accessories available for your computer. Of course some you might need and others you won’t. It really depends on what your plans are for your laptop as well as where you plan on using it. Nevertheless, these five things are indispensable to making your laptop as functional to you as possible. While there may be some variation to what you need, most of these items will be valuable to anyone who owns a laptop, no matter how you expect to use your portable computer.

Garry Allen is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Best-Rated-Laptops-and-Computers.info. Providing you with more information on computer technology and answering the question what’s the best rated laptop that you can research in your bathrobe on his website.

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What to backup, and what to lose

The oldest “computer expression” is that there are two kinds of computer users, those that backup their data and those that will. Often, it takes a “data disaster” to compel otherwise responsible people to make a regular habit of backing up their data. Still, the majority of computer users do not back up their data.

According to Computer World, the annual cost to recover lost data per laptop is over $800.00 per year. This amounts to billions of dollars per year spent nationally to recover (or not recover) data that has been lost due to users not backing up their data. Critical data files are often stored on personal computers and laptops and often not subject to regular backup.

If backup is so important, then why don’t most people do it?

The truth is, backing up data from your computer to CDs, memory sticks, other computers, and network hard drives is inconvenient. It takes time out of a busy day. Most backup utilities require the users attention to start, monitor, and close the process. Backup takes time from the user that can be better spent doing something else. Backup is boring, since it may disable or tie up your computer while the backup is taking place.

So what data should I back up?

The simple answer is any file that you would miss if you did not have it. This includes documents, presentations, spreadsheets, accounting data, and other data files. Also include your Favorites folder, telephone directory, appointment calendar, and tasks. It may also include pictures, music, family video, and any other data that is significant, especially if lost.

Look at all of the programs that you use regularly. Find the data files that these programs and mark these for regular backup. Often these files are not behind your MY Documents folder.

For example, if you use Quicken or QuickBooks, the important data files are saved in a folder behind the Quicken or QuickBooks program. In Microsoft Windows XP, these files could be under Documents and Settings/user/Application Data. In addition, the Application Data file may also contain important information that aids in your ability to use many of your favorite programs. If you do not know how to get to these files, consult an expert to help you determine what files to choose for regular backup.

How often should I back up?

Think of this question another way - if my hard disk crashed, or I dropped my laptop, or it got stolen at the airport, how much time will it take me to re-create the active data that I just lost? What would it cost you to lose a day’s worth of data and to recreate it? How much time would it take to reconfigure your computer with the tools, configurations, short cuts, and links that you have spent years accumulating? Remember the Computer World data, the average cost per laptop for lost data is $800.00 per year. What is your billing rate? How much will it cost you to start over?

Some of us use our computers the entire day. That means that if we back up daily, then the most time that we would spend redoing the work would be less than a day’s worth of time. If you are an occasional user, then you may need to backup less frequently.

Once you have made your list, then you are ready to back up. Here is my partial list of backup files that would cause me great pain if they were not backed up:

What’s the Solution?

The solution is to find a backup solution that is invisible to the user and does not create a “backup event” that must be scheduled from a person’s busy day. So hold this thought for the moment.

Once you have determined which files to back up regularly, you must decide where to store this data. In the early days of computing, we used to back up to floppy disks. Now, our files are huge and often too large for floppy disks. CD ROMs are popular for backup and will now hold over 750 MB of data. DVDs can also be used for backup and how many times more data than CD ROMS.

At the beginning of this article, I said that backup is inconvenient and that is why most people don’t do it. Therefore lets find solutions that are convenient. Not just convenient, but invisible like an insurance policy that just works.

If you are a lone computer user and are not on a network, the best solution is to get an external hard drive that plugs into your USB port. These data storage devices are relatively cheap for the benefit that they provide. Follow this link for examples of these products: http://www.google.com/froogle?q=USB+Hard+drive. If you are using Windows XP, then you can use the Windows Synchronize utility found in XP. To use, copy all of your data to the external drive. Then install the Windows Synchronize utility to automatically keep your files up to date when you plug the external drive into your computer. When you travel with your laptop computer, leave the USB hard drive at home. Never carry it in your computer bag. If you are backing up your desktop, take the USB hard drive with you - or at least store it at a location separate from your desktop in case of fire or other disaster.

If you are on a network, such as a home or business network, set aside some backup space on a hard drive on the network or on another computer. Hard drives are cheap. If you need more space than is available, buy another hard drive and install it on another computer. Use Windows Synchronize utility to keep the data synced.

If you use a laptop or work in different locations, a new product called BeInSync automatically makes the connection over the Internet between your laptop and a designated target computer for syncing files. BeInSync updates, automatically and invisibly any and all files designated for syncing. It even allows you to sync files with friends and business associates. Since it works in the background, it does not require a backup event and impose itself on the user’s busy day.

Follow this link to get more information on BeInSync: http://www.beinsync.com/?rfrid=BIS-P-1038. One important note about BeInSync is that it will sync everything in the My Document folder. Move My Music, My Videos, and other large folders out of the My Documents before enabling BeInSync.

What’s the bottom line on backup?

The bottom line on backup is that it is absolutely necessary for everyone that has something to lose if his or her computer was lost, stolen, or simply failed from regular use. There is a wide variety of solutions in the marketplace to keep your data backed up. Spend the time to explore and implement your back up solution. If you are not technical, hire an expert to create a solution that works for you. It will be some of the best money that you will spend.

Eric Guth and Joel Gering are owners of http://www.ProtectMyLaptop.com and SecureTrieve and are experts in the areas of computer troubleshooting and creating and maintaining networks for small businesses and homes. They have over 25 years of hands on experience in data management, data security, and remote data recovery.

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In this small article we will show you the possible way of deploying Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains for the market niche of large, mid-size and small reselling and distribution business in carpeting and floor covering, textile & fabric. We will not be talking about fabric production, but rather cutting for the end-user or small retailer. Microsoft Great Plains itself in our case should be considered as a platform for light customization and modification. We’ll describe industry requirements and the way them to be implemented in Great Plains

Variable Length Rolls. Usually, when you place and order through your supplier - there is no way to know exact length of the roll or bolt. It might have 75 yards or 80 yards - you typically know the average length, say 77 yards and this is why you know what to expect in yards if you purchase 10 bolts

Inventory in Yards. When you receive the roll - you need to place it into inventory in exact yards. Typical method is to assign lot number to the bolt and then associate the exact initial length in yards with this unique lot number. This is Great Plains Dexterity customization, which provides parallel unit of measure, associated with the lot number

Light Assembly. Bill of Materials would be probably too complex for cutting the fabric. This is why we suggest to deploy automatic inventory decrease and increase adjustments - you decrease number of yards in the roll and increase your finished good in the number of units assembled

Meter / Yard challenge. If you purchase from the supplier in China, Mexico, South East Asia or Europe - they measure their rolls in meters, not yards - so you need to implement automatic unit of measure translation and conversion. You resolve this on the level of your EDI - electronic document interchange

Cut-beds tracking to original roll. If you are assembling/cutting something like billiard table beds - you would like them to be tracked to the original roll in the case of customer complaint. This means that you will have to assign the same or modified lot number to the cut-bed

Inventory Count. You need to track what is the current length of the bolt/roll. This is realized via custom Dexterity table, having Item Number, Lot Number, Initial Length in Yards, Current Length in Yards

Customization Tools: Great Plains Dexterity - this is Great Plains Dynamics programming language and development environment; Modifier with VBA - will allow your modify Great Plains forms and attach VBA scripts to your custom buttons; SQL scripts and stored procedures - low level database programming, excellent for the professional with profound GP tables structure and data flow knowledge.

Good luck with implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns - we are here to help! �If you want us to do the job - give us a call 866-528-0577 or 630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com
�
Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in
California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Russia

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Do you remember the last time you used the FDD drive of your computer, and for what? Chance is if you have used it then it would be for some emergency booting of the computer, or for recovery of your broken OS. Meaning you would have not used it for data transfer using this medium.

Currently this magnetic medium is fast getting replaced by the “flash Rom” drives that we also know by Pen Drive or USB Drive. This new medium is killing the old magnetic medium for its reliability, speed and ever growing capacity.

Historically the secondary storage is always in the realm of change. Technology and needs are always pushing the medium smaller, faster, more reliable, secure and of expanding capacity. Just like some 10 years back the 5.25″ dives were replaced by this 3.5″ drives for smaller size and larger capacity.

History

History of secondary storage is quiet interesting, as it has seen the use of papers to silicon to optical medium. With each generation it gets better, faster and smaller is size and always increasing the storage capacity.

Paper Punch Card
Paper Punch cards used initially as the first external storage device. It used paper card/roll with holes as data. Meaning a hole was zero, and no hole was one. Programmers used to punch the card for providing input. Card printers were there to punch the output for storage.

Floppy Drive (8″)
Once the magnetic media started to be used for storage, paper media was quickly made obsolete. Magnetic disks of round shape emerged as the standard for secondary storage device. It became very popular as it was more robust and handy than the paper roll, and could store more data.

Floppy Drive (5.25″)
Further advancement in the material and magnetic technology provided better density and provided much higher storage capacity in smaller area. Now the disks also started to become double sided providing even more data storage area in the same size disks.

Floppy Drive (3.5″)
This media peaked with the 3.5″ FDD that was small and sturdy enough to be carred in the jeans pocket. Its case also provided cover even for the area that is used for reading, resulting in more protection from dust and humidity even when the floppy was not in any cover.

Zip Drive
This drive released in 1994 by a company called Iomega was capable of holding 100MB of data. This also uses the magnetic coating like the regular floppy disks, but of higher quality and of superior technology. Due to this it needs specialized drives for reading and writing on this media. This made it a good backup drive (like tape drives), but not good for using it on any machine. Currently generation of Zip Disks can hold upto 250MB of data.

Flash Drive (USB Drive)
Also known as Pen Drive is the next revolution in secondary portable storage device. Initially emerged with couple of MB storage capacity, it quickly gained attraction due to its solid state rugged construction and its capability of being used on any computer equipped with USB port. Initially it needed a specific driver to be installed on the earlier OS in order to be used, but later, due to its universally open standard and rise in use of the USB port, its support was provided natively in the OS. (Windows/Macintosh/Linux supports it natively out of the box).

So now virtually nothing more is needed for this drive to work if you have a computer with a standard USB port. Though the manufacturers are also providing additional features to the hardware like encryption, but these features generally requires additional software/driver to be installed in order to be used. And since there is not much standard for these features yet it is mostly device specific and is largely ignored for its lack of compatibility.

This standardization of protocol has lead to not only popularity of the USB flash drives, but has also provided a common way for other media to act as drive via this protocol. So now there are storage products making use of this standard to become USB drives (also called USB Mass Storage). Example includes:
- USB Hard Disk Drives
- Zip Drive with USB interface
- digital camera acting as an USB drive for accessing the photographs directly on any computer
- PDAs like Palm that already connect to the computer using USB acts as a USB drive for accessing the data stored in its memory and SD/MMC Card
- Mp3 players that doubles as USB drive!!

The list of applications are getting bigger and bigger, ultimately making this drive a very popular and successful.

Currently 1 GB USB flash drives are available, and bigger drives are on the horizon.

Portable USB HDD
As mentioned above this medium is also getting popular and is popular mainly for higher speed and capacity than what is currently provided by the USB flash drive. On the flip side it is still fragile (as having moving element) and bulkier than the flash drive.

Holographic Drives
Last but not the least is this future product. This is the media of the future that uses technology that is still in its infancy - holography. Though holography and holograms are not new and was discovered in the late 1940s, but its application for data storage is something very new. A company called InPhase Technologies is one of the forerunners in this field that has prototyped disks that can hold 200GB to 1.6TB of data. This technology uses lasers for reading and writing the data.

Why FDD is dying
Using this 1.44MB floppy disk drive was always bit unreliable. We can all recall the “Sector 0 Bad” error, and myriad number of utilities supporting various recovery and advanced modifications like:
- One marking sectors bad (NDD - Norton Disk Doctor and its surface scan (ultimately acquired by Symantec and is part of its Norton Utilities Toolset right now).
- Another very popular utility was to create another zero sector if the actual one was gone bad.

So what is remaining in the way of death of this magnetic medium? Only time!

As of now few features still needs the magnetic floppy disk drive, like for booting for the first time, or for upgrading BIOS of the motherboard etc. This is due to it’s (FDDs) easy of programming at the lower level and more importantly for its inbuilt support in the BIOS program. So as soon as the modern BIOS start supporting the USB drives (motherboards have now started to come with this support) the floppy days are numbered.

Current Support of USB Devices by the Motherboard/BIOS
The current motherboards and BIOS have started the support of USB drive as boot device. Meaning you can have your whole operating system on this device, or simply use it as the bootable floppy (imaging carrying your whole work including the programs and applications on a small keychain). Depending on the mode of usage resources are available on the Internet for configuring your USB drive. Please checkout the links provided below where it provides tips and tricks of doing so.

Speaking of easy of use of using this feature, the problem lies with the (Windows) OS right now that does not support making the USB drive bootable. It does allow you to format the USB drive and choose the file system format, but Make Booteble option is not present at all. Never mind as there are lot of tools and utilities available (for all popular OS) that supports making it bootable, though you will have to struggle a bit.

Future
As you see there is very little need of Floppy Disks for any use/operation and is getting replaced fast by the USB drives. Already major computer vendors have made FDD as optional feature. Now the time has come of the USB flash drive over the demise of the FDD.

Visit author’s site for more information about the author as well as get access to more articles on various topics.
http://www.akhilesh.in.

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Expansion Cards Part 2: AGP

The first in this series of Tech Tips on expansion cards took a look at the PCI slot, and the variety of devices that may find their home in one. Graphics cards are one of the many items that may be used in a PCI slot, but the demands of fast-paced video games require more speed and greater bandwidth than the PCI Bus can provide. Thus, the AGP slot was born, providing a dedicated interface to transfer graphics data only.

The letters ‘AGP’ stand for Accelerated Graphics Port, and it is the term used to describe a dedicated, point-to-point interface that connects a video card directly to the system’s memory and processor.

AGP was first introduced by Intel in 1996, and is based off of their previous work in developing the PCI bus. Despite being based on PCI technology, the AGP and PCI slots on a motherboard are not interchangeable, so an AGP card can not be installed into a PCI slot, and vice versa.

The initial release of AGP saw a sizeable performance boost over PCI, and the few revisions to the standard helped increase this even more as years went by. Other than having a dedicated path to the system’s memory and processor, several other design features help AGP outperform PCI when it comes to graphics performance. Three of the other advancements: pipelining, side band addressing and graphics address remapping table are described below.

Data transfer is improved through ‘pipelining’, a term used to describe the ability of an AGP graphics card to receive, and act upon, multiple instructions simultaneously. PCI data transfers require each piece of necessary information to be received separately before acting on any of it.

Something called ’side band addressing’ also provides AGP with a performance boost. Basically, additional lines of data are included with each packet to instruct the system as to where this data is to be used. PCI data transfers do not have this addressing information, and the system must look at the data itself in order to determine its destination. This is an obvious time saver, as well as a resource saver since the processor doesn’t have to analyze all data just to determine the address.

AGP allows the operating system to store texture maps in the system’s memory which allows for more space, and perhaps faster access, rather than being limited to the use of graphics card memory only. Graphics art address remapping table, also known as GART, is a term used to describe a process that maps physical memory as virtual memory for the storage of texture maps. Basically, GART takes the system memory it is allowed to use to store texture maps and re-addresses it so that the system thinks these maps are now actually being stored in the frame buffer, or virtual memory. This might not sound like anything special, but this re-addressing requires that the texture map be written to memory only once and it is locked into place right where the AGP card can find it quickly.

AGP can be broken down into different groups based on revisions to the specification (AGP 1.0, AGP 2.0, and AGP 3.0), as well as by the general speeds (1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x). There is overlap between the various categories, with AGP 1.0 supporting 1x and 2x, AGP 2.0 supporting 1x,, 2x, and 4x, and AGP 3.0 supporting 4x and 8x. For a complete break down of all the combinations available, please visit this page.

Before taking a look at the specifications of AGP, let’s have a refresher as to what was available on PCI prior to the birth of AGP. The standard PCI bus has a width of 32-bit, operates at 33 MHz, provides a maximum bandwidth of 132 MB/s (which has to be shared by all devices connected), and operates on 3.3V (or 5V on the original standard).

The first version released was AGP 1.0 with a speed of 1x, which offered the following specifications: 32-bit bus width, operating at 66 MHz, providing a maximum bandwidth of 266 MB/s, and utilizing 3.3V. So, it can be seen that right out of the gate, AGP offered double the bandwidth of PCI.

Each speed increase over 1x provided double the bandwidth as well as double the clock speed through the use of special signaling. So, AGP 2x offers a maximum bandwidth of 533 MB/s at a speed of 133 MHz, AGP 4x offers a maximum bandwidth of 1066 MB/s at a speed of 266 MHz, and AGP 8x offers 2.1 GB/s at a speed of 533 MHz.

Given the timeline of the evolution of these cards, AGP 8x cards dominate today’s marketplace. Finding some cards that are backwards compatible is possible, but the tricky part may be ensuring that the slot on the motherboard will accept them. Comparing the connector on this 128MB Apollo GeForce FX6600 GT card, to the connector on this 64MB Hercules 3D Prophet Ultra II card, and to the connector on this 256MB Chaintech GeForce FX5200 card shows that the first one is obviously different than the second two. The Apollo card is 8x only, the Hercules card is 4x/2x compatible, and the Chaintech card is 8x/4x, which results in different notches in the connector.

AGP 1.0 only features a 3.3V connection, the release of AGP 2.0 saw the availability of both a 3.3V and 1.5V connector, and AGP 3.0 uses the same 1.5V, but only requires 0.8V for signaling. In order to protect cards of different voltages/formats, special keyed connectors were designed so that only the correct card could be installed on any motherboard. A universal connector was eventually released for AGP 1.0/2.0 which allowed cards of either voltage to be installed. For a schematic of the various connectors, please visit this page. Although AGP 3.0 can share in the use of a universal connection, many motherboards now only support 4x/8x cards based on the AGP 3.0 standard.

Another specification for AGP was released between 2.0 and 3.0, and was referred to as AGP Pro. AGP Pro was intended to be the new standard to meet the demands of high powered graphics workstations, but it never really garnered widespread acceptance. Speeds of 1x, 2x, and 4x were supported with AGP Pro, and it utilized either a 3.3V, 5V, or a universal connector, similar to AGP 2.0. But, the AGP Pro connector was not the same size as the ’standard’ AGP connector (see schematic at link above), meaning there were now three more possible connections to consider. An AGP Pro connection is longer than a standard AGP connection, and depending on the connector type, it could accept AGP 1.0 and 2.0 cards.

Modern motherboards supporting AGP will specify what type of card is compatible with the board, so the guess work is eliminated when trying to match one with the other. For example, this Socket 754 Chaintech motherboard specifies that it has one AGP 4x/8x slot and this Biostar LGA 775 motherboard specifies that it has one 8x AGP slot.

Final Words

The AGP slot provided a much-needed boost to graphics cards as compared to the PCI slot, but game developers still managed to push the capabilities of this more powerful format to the edge. Something even faster was needed, and the next Tech Tip will take a look at that something in “PCI Express.” PCI Express is not only destined to be the successor to AGP 8x, but due to its flexibility, perhaps to PCI as well.

Computer tech tips and computer help

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The purpose of this article is to describe the recommended method and approach of testing new implementation of migrated software.

The coverage and effort of testing migrated software is extremely high. Although from business component point of view there should not be any difference between the Legacy outputs (outputs of the old system) and new system, all other components are completely different. I would like to list those components: software, operational platforms, infrastructures, interfaces, data bases and even human resources.
Testing group has a main roll and responsibility bringing a success or failure in such projects.

The suggested test approach presented below feats to new implementation of migrated software projects and based on personal experience, but need to be adapted in case of specific and special needs are required.

The method is having three main active testing groups.
First group is a familiar one, the UAT group - User Acceptance Test.
Second group is Operational group. This group includes all the relevant people that will use the system for any kind of reason in real live mode.
The Third group called Legacy group and includes business people that highly familiar with the old system.
The UAT and Operational groups will perform test design and execution in parallel on two completely different platforms with different goals and purposes.
The Legacy group will work with each one of the other groups separately, meaning 50% with UAT and 50% with Operational.

The main task of UAT group is defining, executing and analyzing the results of all possible business test cases. Although it might looks like a regular UAT task, it is definitely not. The trivial UAT work is becoming a big unknown while testing migrated software, because the business scenarios are new to the testers and this will be the first time they will actually test them.
Since business scenarios results are very important and must be accurate, there is almost no tolerance of having a mistake, the Legacy business group will work closely with UAT. In practice Legacy business group will approve or not approve each test case result that UAT will execute and produce. Without these approvals the system will considered as not ready.
The rest of UAT elements which specializing this group will remain as usual - test environments, test labs, synthetic data, converted data, simulators etc.

UAT and Legacy groups will verify the business scenarios results to the level of bits and bytes: correctness of values, data, print files, calculations, file structures, working buttons, incoming files etc.

The Operational group will perform tests in parallel to UAT, but for completely different purpose. This group will work on the real near future platform, environment from all aspects. The target is testing all system components not from the business point of view, but from connectivity and operability views. The Operational group will also test interfaces, performances, system back-ups, system down-times and more elements which specializing real environment platform. Since the Legacy group has the knowledge of all the old system internal and external outputs and general system behavior they will compare and approve the output test results produced by the Operational group.

From experience, reaching the Operational group targets is definitely not easy and required many intervals of executing the same processes until system is stabilized.

Conversion of Data Base

In a software migration project the data base in the old system need to be converted to the new data base structure and definitions. The complexity of this activity is depending on the data variety.
Each project management is planning the readiness for the conversion data base in different time stages according to other constraints.
I strongly recommend performing this activity as early as possible. The reason is related to the UAT and Operational test groups. From testing point of view it is important to prepare and execute test cases for the different and real profiles, options and types which define in the data base, otherwise many test cases will be tested on synthetic data which is not a valuable data in migration projects.

A successfully migrated software project is depending on the approval of the Legacy group to both accumulated test results which produced by UAT and Operational groups.

My name is Uzi Shuri. I am a professional testing adviser.
My profession and experience is all related to testing of software.
From being a tester to managing big groups of testers, I was experienced all roles and responsibilities of testing in software life cycle.
Now, I would like to share it with you.

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Since the mid 90’s we have seen the birth and growth of a connective technology called Universal Serial Bus (USB). Originally designed to connect computers and telecoms equipment, it has slowly become the primary means of connecting a whole host of other devices and has made significant contributions to today’s IT world.

The sheer number of USB products on the market today is just staggering, from mice and keyboards, modems, external hard drives to USB fans, lights and coffee cup warmers! Most external computer related devices today connect to a computer via a USB port. So it’s no wonder that before long, most computer users find themselves wondering what to do when the USB ports (sockets) on their computer are all used.

There are two solutions to the problem, constantly plug and unplug connectors when swapping between USB devices, or invest in a simple, low cost device called a USB Hub. A USB Hub is a small unit with two or more USB ports, which plugs into an USB port on your computer, allowing you the freedom to connect more USB devices without disconnecting others. Expanding the number of USB ports of your computer in this way not only saves wear and tear on your USB ports and connectors, but also puts and end to all that clambering around behind your PC! Generally speaking, there are four types of available:

1. Internal USB PCI Card

An internal PCI USB Card needs to be installed by opening up the case of your PC and inserting a card into a vacant PCI slot on the motherboard, this type of USB expansion is not advised unless you are familiar with working with and inside computers. If you have the older USB1.1 and upgrade to USB2.0, your version of Windows will also need to be updated so that your PC can support USB2.0 functionality.

2. USB Hub (Non Powered)

An external non-powered USB Hub is a cheap and simple device that plugs directly into one of your computer’s existing USB ports and that’s all there is to it. These are usually very compact and so make ideal solutions for mobile users with laptops and for desktop users.

Be aware that some USB devices require a small amount of power through the USB port, usually mechanical devices such as printers, scanners, digital cameras and so on. This type of USB Hub may not be able to supply adequate power to these devices especially if you are using a few USB devices together.

3. Powered USB Hub

An external Powered USB Hub is also compact and plugs directly into one of your computer’s existing USB ports, so again there is no need to open up your computer to install it. The only difference is that the Powered Hub comes with a separate power supply that must be plugged into the mains socket, supplying the power to all the USB ports on the hub allowing ANY type of USB devices to function properly.

Most Powered Hubs come with a sensible length of USB cable allowing the Hub itself to be positioned in a more accessible place e.g. on top of your computer or on your desk, making plugging and unplugging USB devices much easier. This makes the Powered Hub the all round best solution for desktop computer users.

4. USB PC Card

If you use a Laptop and are on the move, you have an additional choice to the USB Hub, the USB PC Card also known as the PCMCIA USB Card. This device slots into the PCMCIA slot/port found on the side of a Laptop and instantly provides two extra USB ports without using up any of your existing USB ports on the Laptop.

This is the most popular solution for mobile Laptop users. When buying a suitable external USB Hub, consider the location of your computer’s USB ports. If they are located at the back of your computer or in an awkward position, you can make your life so much easier by using a USB Hub that comes with a USB extension cable, or by buying a separate USB extension cable. This allows the USB Hub to be positioned to a more accessible place for plugging and unplugging your USB devices.

Article by Iggy Quazi director of Ecommerce business Mouse2House based in Essex, England stocking a wide range of digital imaging devices. For more info see http://www.mouse2house.co.uk for the latest digital media products. For Flash Memory Cards visit http://www.mouse2house.co.uk/index.php?CatURN=637.

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