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American Megatrends
AMI (American Megatrends International LLC, formerly American Megatrends Inc.) is an international hardware and software company, specializing in PC hardware and firmware. The company was founded in 1985 by Pat Sarma and Subramonian Shankar. It is headquartered in Building 800 at 3095 Satellite Boulevard in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States, near the city of Duluth, and in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The company started as a manufacturer of complete motherboards, positioning itself in the high-end segment. Its first customer was PCs Limited, later known as Dell Computer.Jacobs, Daniel G.Business revolutionary. ''Smart Business''. July 2004. Retrieved on May 6, 2009. As hardware activity moved progressively to Taiwan-based original design manufacturers,Morris, Ricky.Motherboard Industry Overview. ''Digitimes''. Monday June 9, 2008 (last update Wednesday July 9, 2008). Retrieved on May 6, 2009. AMI continued to develop BIOS firmware for major mother ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Hardware
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the case, central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, speakers and motherboard. By contrast, software is the set of instructions that can be stored and run by hardware. Hardware is so-termed because it is " hard" or rigid with respect to changes, whereas software is "soft" because it is easy to change. Hardware is typically directed by the software to execute any command or instruction. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system, although other systems exist with only hardware. Von Neumann architecture The template for all modern computers is the Von Neumann architecture, detailed in a 1945 paper by Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann. This describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with subdivisions of a processing unit consisting of an arithmetic log ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dell Computer
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, and electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is known for how it manages its supply chain and electronic commerce. This includes Dell selling directly to customers and delivering PCs that the customer wants. Dell was a pure hardware vendor until 2009 when it acquired Perot Systems. Dell then entered the market for IT services. The company has expanded storage and networking systems. It is now expanding from offering computers only to delivering a range of technology for enterprise customers. Dell is a publicly-traded company (), as well as a component of the NASDAQ-100 and S&P 500. It is the 3rd largest personal computer vendor as of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serial ATA
SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host adapter, host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) standard to become the predominant interface for storage devices. Serial ATA industry compatibility specifications originate from the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) which are then promulgated by the INCITS Technical Committee T13, AT Attachment (INCITS T13). History SATA was announced in 2000 in order to provide several advantages over the earlier PATA interface such as reduced cable size and cost (seven conductors instead of 40 or 80), native hot swapping, faster data transfer through higher signaling rates, and more efficient transfer through an (optional) I/O queuing protocol. #1.0, Revision 1.0 of the specification was released in January 2003. Serial ATA industry compatibility specifications originate from the Seri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backplane
A backplane (or "backplane system") is a group of electrical connectors in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a computer bus. It is used as a backbone to connect several printed circuit boards together to make up a complete computer system. Backplanes commonly use a printed circuit board, but wire-wrapped backplanes have also been used in minicomputers and high-reliability applications. A backplane is generally differentiated from a motherboard by the lack of on-board processing and storage elements. A backplane uses plug-in cards for storage and processing. Usage Early microcomputer systems like the Altair 8800 used a backplane for the processor and expansion cards. Backplanes are normally used in preference to cables because of their greater reliability. In a cabled system, the cables need to be flexed every time that a card is added or removed from the system; this flexing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SGPIO
Serial general purpose input/output (SGPIO) is a four-signal (or four-wire) bus used between a host bus adapter (HBA) and a backplane. Of the four signals, three are driven by the HBA and one by the backplane. Typically, the HBA is a storage controller located inside a server, desktop, rack or workstation computer that interfaces with hard disk drives or solid state drives to store and retrieve data. It is considered an extension of the general-purpose input/output (GPIO) concept. The SGPIO specification is maintained by the Small Form Factor Committee in the SFF-8485 standard. The International Blinking Pattern Interpretation indicates how SGPIO signals are interpreted into blinking light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on disk arrays and storage back-planes. History SGPIO was developed as an engineering collaboration between American Megatrends Inc, at the time makers of back-planes, and LSI-Logic in 2004. SGPIO was later published by the SFF committee as specificatioSFF-8485 Host ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embedded Controller
An Embedded Controller (EC) is a microcontroller in computers that handles various system tasks. Now it is usually merged with Super I/O, especially on mobile platforms (such as laptop). Tasks An embedded controller can have the following tasks: *Receiving and processing signals from the keyboardhttp://www.computer-engineering.org/ps2keyboard/ and the touchpad (including touchpad disable) *Other buttons and switches (e.g., power button, laptop lid switch (received from hall sensor)) *Controlling access to the A20 line *Thermal measurement (CPU, GPU, Motherboard) and response including fan control, CPU and GPU throttling, and emergency shutdown in response to rising temperatures *Controlling indicator LEDs (e.g. caps lock, scroll lock, num lock, battery, ac, power, wireless LAN, sleep) *Managing the battery charger and the battery *Allowing remote diagnostics and remediation over the network *Performing software-requested CPU reset *Controlling the watchdog timer *System Mana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UEFI
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples of firmware that implement these specifications are AMI Aptio, Phoenix SecureCore, TianoCore EDK II and InsydeH2O. UEFI replaces the BIOS which was present in the boot ROM of all personal computers that are IBM PC-compatible, although it can provide backwards compatibility with the BIOS using CSM booting. Intel developed the original ''Extensible Firmware Interface'' (''EFI'') specifications. Some of the EFI's practices and data formats mirror those of Microsoft Windows. In 2005, UEFI deprecated EFI 1.10 (the final release of EFI). UEFI is independent of platform and programming language, but C is used for the reference implementation TianoCore EDKII. History The original motivation for EFI came during early development of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BIOS
In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the booting process (power-on startup). The BIOS firmware comes pre-installed on an IBM PC or IBM PC compatible's system board and exists in some UEFI-based systems to maintain compatibility with operating systems that do not support UEFI native operation. The name originates from the Basic Input/Output System used in the CP/M operating system in 1975. The BIOS originally proprietary to the IBM PC has been reverse engineered by some companies (such as Phoenix Technologies) looking to create compatible systems. The interface of that original system serves as a ''de facto'' standard. The BIOS in modern PCs initializes and tests the system hardware components ( Power-on self-test), and loads a boot loader from a mass storage device which then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Original Design Manufacturer
An original design manufacturer is a company that designs and manufactures a product that is eventually rebranded by another firm for sale. Such companies allow the firm that owns or licenses the brand to produce products while having to engage in neither the detailed engineering work required to specify a product for manufacturing nor the organization and running of a factory. (The ODM products may be the brand owner's primary business or may be a supplement to another line of business, such as general retailing.) This is in contrast to using a contract manufacturer, where the contracting company would design the product and supply those specifications to the manufacturer. Original design manufacturers have grown in size in recent years and, , many have the scale to handle production in-house for the products that are branded by the buying firm. This model is especially used in international trade, where a local original design manufacturer is used to produce goods for a forei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional organizations such as SAE International, ISO, and others. However, the term is also used in several other ways, which causes ambiguity. It sometimes means the maker of a system that includes other companies' subsystems, an end-product producer, an automotive part that is manufactured by the same company that produced the original part used in the automobile's assembly, or a value-added reseller.Ken Olsen: PDP-1 and PDP-8 (page 3) , economicadventure.com Automotive parts When referring to auto parts, OEM refers to the manufact ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LSI Corporation
LSI Logic Corporation, an American company founded in Milpitas, California, was a pioneer in the ASIC and EDA industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in data centers, mobile networks and client computing. On May 6, 2014, LSI Corporation was acquired by Avago Technologies (now known as Broadcom Inc.) for $6.6 billion. History 1981–2004 In 1981, Wilfred Corrigan, Bill O'Meara, Rob Walker and Mitchell "Mick" Bohn founded LSI Logic Corporation in Milpitas, California. Wilfred Corrigan served as the CEO from 1981 until 2005. LSI was initially funded by venture capitalists, including Sequoia Capital, with $6 million. A second round of funding from Sequoia Capital as well as a number of companies from England came In March 1982, bringing in another $16 million. The initial plan called for a line of CMOS gate arrays created from “masterslices” which were uncommitted transistors customized to a spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disk Array Controller
A disk array controller is a device that manages the physical disk drives and presents them to the computer as logical units. It almost always implements hardware RAID, thus it is sometimes referred to as RAID controller. It also often provides additional disk cache. ''Disk array controller'' is often improperly shortened to ''disk controller''. The two should not be confused as they provide very different functionality. Front-end and back-end side A disk array controller provides front-end interfaces and back-end interfaces. * Back-end interface communicates with controlled disks. Hence protocol is usually ATA (a.k.a. PATA), SATA, SCSI, FC or SAS. * Front-end interface communicates with a computer's host adapter (HBA, Host Bus Adapter) and uses: ** one of ATA, SATA, SCSI, FC; these are popular protocols used by disks, so by using one of them a controller may transparently emulate a disk for a computer ** somewhat less popular protocol dedicated for a specific solution: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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