Why is it that when building a gaming computer, the first thing that comes to mind is “what is the best motherboard?” It becomes a critical focus – an idea which cannot be shed from the mind. The best motherboard becomes the final target – as does the best video card, the best processor and the best drive. Regardless of everything else – the system must be the best.
Yet, regardless of this drive to find the best elements, I so often see folks compromise with system imperative elements. Why, if you're searching for the best motherboard, would you then go and put a $40 power supply in your system. Are you wanting it to get fried the 1st time you turn it on? The simplest way to brick a new built system, is to spend $40 on a power supply.
The same may be said for the motherboard itself. I have often seen folk skimp on the motherboard to get what is thought of as ‘the best. ‘ That is they will see the best motherboard as an Intel P67 motherboard which has 6 Gbps sata connectors as well as USB 3.0 capacity – then after determining this they may search for the cheapest motherboard that fits this set of directions.
Permit me to say the best motherboard has nada to do with the specs of that board. The specs are all about the existing design and platform that are being used – and what you need in a motherboard is dependant on your financial position. If your budget for a P. C. system is $500, then I'm sorry but the best motherboard for you isn't a Z68 motherboard that supports 4 video cards. The best motherboard for you is an H67 or H61 motherboard, or maybe an AMD system.
When you're looking for ‘the best ‘ elements, I inspire you to think about the manufacturer before the directions. Who is making it? If the motherboard isn't being manufactured by one of the three main current makers – Asus, Gigabyte, or ASRock – then it's likely a lower quality motherboard. This is likely because the other manufacturer’s lower success has lead them down a path where they need to compete on price – and the only way to do this is to sacrifice on quality. The best motherboard exists on many alternative levels, for many various people – find one which is trusty, then you'll be on the right track.
Joseph Robertson has been building computers for 10 years and for lots of that time has been helping folks learn how to pick the best motherboard. Check out his blog for more in-depth information on the best motherboard.
Filed under Computer Monitor by on Feb 15th, 2012. Comment. 
The Gigaset One removes the long suffered problem of dead cell phone spots in and around your abode by seemleesly connecting up to three cell phone devices to your home landline circuit, negating the requirement for a unmovable landline, allowing you to send and receive cellular calls via a standard corded or cordless home phone.
This enables you to merge the ease of use of your cellular phone with the usefulness of a home phone for making easy comfortable calls with all the high quality of a cellular phone without distortion or dead lines.
Bluetooth Connectivity
This system is available by easily using the bluetooth application available in every modern cellular phones and allowing this option on a home landline.
An easy hook up to your device is made via the standard RJ11 phone socket in your home and you are then able to connect up to three mobile phones with the Gigaset One beginners ‘one time, one touch’ activation.
Cell Phone Features
A great feature is being able to set up individual ring tones for each cellular, thus identifying which one is being operated. You also are not losing the mobile features you have become familiar with, the likes of caller id, call waiting, voice dialling and hands free calling etc, as these are all still workable via compatible handsets.
Areas of Usage
The Gigaset One unit is indeed not limited to the home phone either.
It can be operated on boats, RV’s, vacation homes, infact anywhere where your bluetooth enabled cell can operate!
It will aqctually operate in an office environment where a PBX or office key system is working.
Telephone Status
A very useful feature of the Gigaset One is its LED notification signals
- Solid Blue Light – mobile Phone registered and connected
- Slow Flashing Blue Light – Out of distance or phone is off
- Rapid Flashing Blue Light – New device located and able to be connected
Gigaset One Wizard Software
The gigaset one wizard software is your piece of mind when buying this great system.
This system will keep your unit upgraded with upgrades, as and when they are released. Basically hook up your system to any computer using a USB port and download firmware and software updates. You are also able to download custom ring tones from here and also set up and select advanced options.
Filed under Computer Monitor by on Feb 15th, 2012. Comment.
Even though LCD displays are sometimes preferred because of their low power requirements, lower costs, and straightforwardness of designing into a circuit, the standard 7 segment LED display is still usually utilized in a large number of applications because of their higher temperature range, visibility, bright colors, and wide viewing angle. The seven segments in a basic LED display are customarily labeled as: the letters a to g and dp, where dp is the decimal point. So has a grand total of eight control lines are wanted to turn each one of these segments off or on individually by connecting to one end of each of these segments and the decimal point.
There are two variations of 7 segment displays available, the common-anode and the common cathode. The common-anode display configuration has all anodes for each segment wired in common which is then usually connects to the positive voltage supply. The cathode ends of each LED are individually hooked up to the control lines which need to be current sinks that are switched off and on thru transistors or an LED driver chip. In a “common cathode”, the common cathode is typically connected to ground, and the control lines for each segment are current sources which are used to switch on and off individual segments.
So a 7 segment and decimal point package will only require 9 pins, but they typically come in 10-pin packages because the common pin is wired into two pins. Since each of the segments acts as a forward-biased diode, a current limiting resistor is needed between the driver transistor and the LED segment to restrict the maximum current flow to a safe value.
An IC driver chip such as the 74LS47 can be used for common anode LED types, while a 74LS48 is can be used for common cathode LED types. Most driver chips, such as the MC14511 have a decoder built in, so a binary number input is converted to the 7 segment control format.
Some driver chips, for example the CAT4008 or CAT4016 from Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc, update the 7 segment control format through a latch attached to a shift register, where the binary data is clocked in serially using a single pin.
A single LED driver chip can drive more than one seven segment display by a method called “multiplexing.” In this method, the extra displays are connected in parallel, while the “common” line is taken out separately from each display and hooked up to a switching circuit which turns each line (and hence each display) off and on for 1 or 2 milliseconds in sequence for each display. This lowers the pin count, but has some downsides, such as lower brightness and flickering displays.
Embedded Adventures is a great website to get information about microcontrollers as well as useful modules such as a 7 segment LED display, or an alphanumeric LED display.
Filed under Computer Monitor by on Feb 14th, 2012. Comment.