Martin's Corner is a monthly feature whereby our Chief Technology Officer, Martin Rudloff, sounds off on technical tidbits geared to the engineering community.

Feel free to e-mail Martin to discuss a technical topic (or with a good joke) and he will do his best to respond to you.

XBMC Free Media Player Software To Thrill your "Inner Geek"...

Play media files, look at the weather, watch online videos and more, in a stunning visual interface...

Today, we're going to talk about something that has almost nothing to do with Industrial Computers.  This is for all the Home Theater Nerds out there, with a library of DVDs.  So, from one electronic techie to another, I’m going to tell you about a free media player manager tool I discovered, that will make your “Geek-O-Meter” really light up!

We all have DVDs, and we've all experienced being forced to play previews, FBI warnings, and other garbage before being allowed to view the movie we've purchased.  To me, few things are more irritating when watching a movie at home, than to have all the buttons on the remote are disabled so they can force feed me a preview for "The Ya Ya Notebook of the Traveling Pants".  I finally became so frustrated that I "ripped" a lot of my personal media library into electronic files, but found that I then needed a way to watch them on my TV rather than only on my computer.

There are dozens of ways to view digital media on your home TV, but the most interesting and impressive tool I’ve found is called XBMC.  It stands for “Xbox Media Player”, (a name left over from it’s origins as an installable media player for the Microsoft Xbox).  In fact, the software package no longer even runs on Xbox, but there are versions available for a wide variety of operating systems including: Windows, Apple OSX, Linux, and Apple TV.  There is even a “Linux Live” version that will automatically wipe your host machine, installing Linux and XBMC, effectively turning the computer into a dedicated media center *appliance* all in one simple step. (This way you don’t have to pay for a Windows license, nor do you even have to know Linux.)

So what does XBMC do?  It’s a complete multi-media visual interface with a full plug-in and skinning system that offers a huge array of media capabilities.  It can be a powerful movie player to play your stored library of DVDs (WiFi or Ethernet streaming over your local network, or files stored directly XBMC PC), it can show current weather conditions, store and show your photo library, and act as a music player.  It does all this in a graphically stunning, beautiful interface that you can’t help but be “wowed” by.  Additionally, by using the plug-in system that is built into the interface, with a few button clicks you can automatically browse and instantly install plug-ins to add additional capabilities such as new skins, NetFlix, Youtube, and more.  It even has a built in “scraper” tool, that will scan your media library, and automatically add cover art, descriptions, and poster art to your movie files.

Most of us even have left over older computers, which can be repurposed as a media player PC for almost no cost.  Depending on your system configuration, you may need to add an inexpensive video card with an HDMI output (I purchased one over the holidays that was free after $30 rebate).  An ultra-low cost fanless video card in the $20-$40 range will generally be more than sufficient as a media PC.  Generally, if your left over PC is a Pentium 4 or better, it will have the horsepower needed to do the job.  The only additional thing(s) you may want to purchase, might be a USB IR remote control ($8-$20 from Amazon), and possibly a wireless keyboard with a built in mouse trackpad if you want to be able to type in movie search terms more quickly than using an on-screen keyboard.  The keyboard/mouse is NOT required in day to day use, as XBMC is specifically designed to be fully operated from a standard windows media center IR remote control.

So that’s the good, what’s the bad?  Well, if you don’t have a remote, be prepared for a small learning curve figuring out how to navigate the menus using the keyboard vs. a remote control (I suggest downloading the keyboard map to tell you what the keyboard keys do).  New skins, can completely change the user interface, not just the colors and pictures, so you may need to learn a new navigation methodology for whatever skin you’re evaluating.  You can play regular DVDs in the interface from your computer DVD drive, but the real magic is playing stored digital video media.  (XBMC will handle almost any standard video file or format)  The catch is, for the movie info scraper to work best, all those movie files should be named with the movie name, (using under_scores for spaces) followed by the year of release (in parenthesis).  Example: The_Fifth_Element_(1997) If you don’t do this, you will find some really goofy names and descriptions being associated with your video files.  And while you can
be up and running, watching a movie in under 10 minutes, be prepared to spend at least a day (or 5... or more) playing around with it, “pushing the buttons” testing the options, finding all the menus, and reviewing the different available skins and plug-ins.  I also suggest checking the option that disables XBMC from actually deleting movies, so removing a movie from the library does not delete the actual file. (I discovered this after accidently deleting several of my movies)

The versatility of how XBMC can be configured is really impressive, especially so with some skins such as “Aeon MQ 2”.  For example, on my system I don’t bother sharing my music library or photo library, so I’ve disabled those options in the menus (why show them if I don’t have them working?).  There are numerous ways to display your media library, particularly in different skins.  My favorite display method is set up so the cover art from my movies scroll by and the background artwork changes to match the movie that is in front.  When you look at one movie’s cover art for a few seconds, the description and info automatically animate down on screen allowing you to read about it, optionally view the movie’s theatrical trailer from Youtube, etc.  (see right)

Once you're done configuring the display and menus to your liking, you can then hide the extra menu options so the rest of the family can’t accidently mess it up, or become confused by the huge array of available configuration options.  And again, all this can easily done from a standard remote control, no coding, scripting, or mouse / keyboards needed.  (in fact, a few skins don’t even support mouse control at all)

For the truly geeky among us, you can even configure some skins with a “Theater Experience” plugin to play movie previews (of your choice) before the movie, along with additional files such as sound system intro/sound animations (THX, DTS, etc.) just like in a real theater.  Have an iphone, android phone, or ipad?  You can control the XBMC player from those devices, browse the menus and launch new movies, without first interrupting what’s currently playing.  XBMC even has a http web interface to interact with it from external web based devices.  And again, it’s all 100% opensource and free.

I highly recommend looking at the feature rich “Aeon MQ 2”, “Aeon” “MediaStream Redux” and “BackRow” templates.  Best of all, the project is alive and well, with regular active development and version releases. 

It’s always amazes me to see what a collaborative software development group can come up with out of a labor of love.  In fact a major new release version will be out soon that promises to be even better yet.  If you want to try it out on your windows or mac machine, you can find the downloads, forums, and additional info at: www.xbmc.org.  Just launch the program any time, on any machine you like, and test it out, even if you don’t plan on ending up making a dedicated media player.

All in all, once it’s setup, it’s really simple to operate, and a cool tool to “wow the neighbors” and “Impress the brother-in-law”.  At the very least, it’s easily worth a few days of good quality Tech-O-Tainment and hey, isn’t that half the fun?

Enjoy!

As always, if you would like to make any comments, or point out any glaring errors, feel free to email me at: martinscorner@corvalent.com :-)

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ECC Memory, RAID, and IP Ratings Explained for Everyone!

Martin offers simple and easy to understand explanations for some of these technologies and terms.

For this installment of Martin’s Corner, I thought that we would cover a few of the common computer related terminology and technologies that we engineering types take for granted, but many out there may not fully understand.

Today we'll give you a basic and easy to understand idea of what is ECC memory (RAM) , what is RAID, and what do those IP ratings mean when you hear about a product being “IP65” or “IP55” rated.  We'll cover what these technologies and terms mean to you, and why you should (or shouldn't) care about them.

ECC Memory:  We’re seeing more questions about ECC memory due to the support now offered on our new Q57 family of motherboards.  “ECC” stands for: “Error Correction Codes” and is a specific type of computer RAM that is designed to correct errors that will naturally occur in the operation of a computer system.  These memory errors most commonly occur due to disturbances caused by electrical noise or cosmic rays striking the memory cell.  That’s right, cosmic rays are constantly passing through us and our world, and they create some interesting problems for RAM, making some of those pesky 1’s and 0’s switch places when radiation from space impacts the module just right.  Eventually those errors, if uncorrected, will crash a computer... it’s just a matter of time.  ECC RAM and a compatible chipset will be able to detect those errors, and make the corrections necessary to keep everything running safely.

Q) Do you have to use ECC memory? 
A) No, normal (non-ECC) memory will plug into the socket and operate just fine.  Most people use non-ECC memory. However, if your system serves a mission critical application, and your system supports it, yes, using ECC memory would be a very, very good idea.
Q) Does ECC Memory have a performance impact on the computer?
A) Yes, a typical 2% performance loss is the price you must pay for the increased system stability and long-term reliability.
Q) Is “buffered” memory the same as ECC?
A) No, buffered memory is rarely used except for on large, server-class motherboards that have numerous different RAM sockets. The buffers act as a sort of amplifier for the RAM signals when there are a lot of sockets and RAM chips present on a board.  For most users, unbuffered RAM will be all you ever typically encounter or need.

RAID Disk Storage: There has also been an increase in questions about RAID due to added support with our new Q57 and Q35 series of boards.  RAID stands for “Redundant Array of Independent Drives”.  It is a way of combining multiple drives together, so they all appear as a single hard drive in your operating system.  It is basically using the principal of saying, “If a single drive failure will lose data, then let’s share the information over multiple drives so a single dead hard drive won’t make me lose all my stuff”  There is an amazing quantity of painfully technical details about each type of RAID, but I'll stick to the highlights.  When referring to RAID arrays, you will hear the terms: “RAID 1”, “RAID 0”, RAID 10”, etc.  These numbers refer to the method of splitting the data up between the “redundant drives”.  Here are the “Cliff Notes” for some of the most common RAID types:

RAID 0 : This is also called “Striping” and it’s not about redundancy, it’s all about speed.  Your risk of data loss is actually INCREASED  (2x) by using this method,and your speed can be almost doubled.  All data is split between the two drives simultaneously, resulting in faster reads and writes.  People most concerned with absolute speed use this, often for projects like HD video editing or rapidly serving cached data.  If a RAID 0 array uses (2) 1TB drives, then the total storage will be 2TB, however if one drive fails in the pair, you lose everything.

RAID 1 : This is one of the most common and most simple types of RAID, often called “Mirroring”.  Like the name implies, this array uses two drives, and maintains an exact “mirror”, or copy of everything on the 2nd drive.  If one drive fails, the computer continues on working as if nothing happened, simply using the remaining functional drive.  Once a replacement drive is installed, the computer will “rebuild” the array by copying over the data from the original good drive, to the new one.  During the “rebuilding” process, (as with all RAID arrays) a performance loss is usually felt, because the disks are very busy re-duplicating themselves, but the computer remains functional the entire time.  Sometimes the users of Mirrored arrays will see an improvement in READ speed from hard drives (both drives can read different data a the same time to speed things up, similar to striping), but write data will be the same or slightly slower because both drives must always write the same thing at the same time (to maintain the exact copy)  If a RAID 1 array uses (2) 1TB drives, then the total size of the array will be 1TB.

RAID 5 : Now this is where things in the background start getting complex.  RAID 5 shares the data across a minimum of 3 drives.  Like RAID 1, a single drive failure is allowed, but, you are able to achieve more storage space from your drives.  If a RAID 5 array uses three (1TB) drives, the operator will end up with around 1.5TB of usable hard drive space due to the way the data is shared between the drives.  This was more important in years past when hard drive capacities were lower.  These days, the trade off of the slower disk access speed, and longer rebuild time (in the event of a single drive failure) has made RAID 5 less desirable.

RAID 10 :  (Also called: 0+1) This is now one of the more common and fastest forms of RAID, which combines the speed benefits of RAID 0 (splitting the data evenly over 2 drives), with the data protection of RAID 1 (keeping an exact duplicate copy on a 2nd drive).  With RAID 10, (4) Drives are automatically arranged into two separate RAID 1 mirrored arrays.  Let's say drive 1 and 2 are in array A, and drives 3 and 4 are in array B.  Arrays A and B are then combined into a single RAID 0.  Remember, RAID 0 was dangerous because a single drive failure causes you to lose all your data… but now that problem is eliminated because (A) and (B) actually each consist of 2 mirrored drives.  This means you can lose a single drive in “array A” and a single drive in “array B”, without any data loss.  This is one of the fastest RAID arrangements available next to RAID 0… but gives you the extra speed that is missing from a simple mirrored RAID 1 array.  With this arrangement, like a mirrored RAID 1 array, if you start with (4) 1TB drives, you will end up with a total of 2TB of usable storage space.

A Software Based RAID will generally operate a bit more slowly, because the computer is actually having to decide what data is stored on which drives. 
A Hardware RAID will be faster, because the computer is taken out of the equation, and the hardware device divides up the information between the drives, and simply feeds the computer the data that it asks for.  The drawback here, is that your RAID card can potentially fail, leaving you stranded (many system operators keep a spare RAID card on hand for such an emergency). 
Intel Matrix Storage RAID is interesting because it combines hardware and software RAID, reducing a point of failure by handling some of the data splitting functions on a chipset level, and offering slightly higher performance than a pure software RAID solution, but, it does require a software driver. 

With our new Q57 series of boards, our team designed in both a true hardware RAID solution AND the Intel Storage Matrix RAID solution.  The hardware RAID offers levels 0 and 1, using two drives, and is completely transparent to the operating system.  Windows, Linux, DOS, QNX, whatever your operating system… it is completely compatible.  Typically people will set this as RAID 1, and store their operating system here.  The Intel solution that is built-in, requires the Intel Storage Matrix drivers and is compatible only with Windows and Linux, but offers RAID 0,1,5 or 10, all built into the motherboard with no hardware add-on cards required.  Just plug in the SATA drives and configure your array(s).  Typically companies needing heavy data access will configure this as RAID 10.  This maximizes performance, by moving the operating system disk activity to a different location.

IP Weatherproofing Ratings: Ok, enough about computer hardware, let’s talk about housings, and specifically, how to understand just how weatherproof a given housing may be.  When you are reading about a product (often referring to rugged computers, security cameras, or various machine housings) you may encounter something referring to an “IP” rating.  The “IP” stands for “International Protection” or “Ingress Protection” (depending on who you ask)  This use of the term is referring to the level of dust and liquid resistance, or put differently, just how well a housing is sealed against the elements. 

So when you see “IP67” it is actually telling you two different bits of information.  The first digit refers to dust protection and the second refers to water/liquid protection.  For your reading "pleasure", I present the following mind numbing chart that will give you the secret code; however a decoder ring might be needed for one to actually remember it all:

So let’s make this easier, what’s the main thing to remember about this? 

IP65 / IP55 = Ok… should be fine outside, maybe mount the IP55 against a wall or under an awning.
IP66 = Ha! No problem outside, put it almost anywhere with average USA weather
IP67 / IP68 = Whoa!  This sucker is sealed tight, it “Laughs at water” it can go anywhere from under your awning to directly facing a hurricane... Bring it on!

There are additional, lesser used IP letter designations, and there are additional complexities about ECC and RAID.  However what I've covered here will let you into the “secret club”, without exploding your brain, and give you a little more information than the average person would know about these subjects.

Class Dismissed!

As always, if you would like to make any comments, or point out any glaring errors, feel free to email me at: martinscorner@corvalent.com :-)

Until next time, happy computing, and remember, when the forecast calls for rain, don’t forget your IPX2 rated umbrella!

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Boil Your Computer! - "Immersion Cooling" = "Impressive Cooling"

Martin looks at total liquid submersion of a computer for effective cooling with no moving parts

In the lab we are always experimenting and looking for ways to improve our technologies and bring better, more versatile systems to our customers. Just recently we wrote a editorial article for an industry trade publication regarding this experiment, and it seemed like an interesting topic for this month's Martin's Corner as well.

The idea of cooling computers through liquid submersion, has been around for about 50 years... but it has been generally reserved for the more exotic supercomputers and never really caught with mainstream users. Perhaps it's because we in the technology world are all wired at an almost primal level to believe that: "Liquid + Computers = BAD". In any case, the concept is slowly catching on, particularly with some in the video gaming community who are using mineral oils as a non-conductive liquid to totally submerge a computer in. The mineral oil idea is interesting... but I can't imagine the unholy mess that comes about when it's time to upgrade or make a change, plus, mineral oil isn't exactly the best for heat exchange.

We decided to take a different approach for an experiment, and instead boiled the computer alive!

3M™ produces a safe, non-toxic, environmentally friendly liquid that looks just like water... but it is actually a non-conductive chemical with a very low boiling point of only 34C (93.2F), that easily condenses from gas back to liquid. The chemical is known under the trade name "Novec™", and leaves behind no trace once the board is removed, because the liquid evaporates on the warm surface so quickly. In the end, what we ended up with was a very ugly, tape covered, "proof-of-concept contraption" that was quite a novelty to watch in operation.

Imagine a computer completely submerged in what appears to be water, no heat sinks, no fans, running at full blast during a burn-in, boiling liquid over the processor and keeping perfectly cool. The vapor from the bubbles rise up and are easily condensed back to liquid via some type of heat exchange such as a basic water cooled radiator, or in our case we used a solid-state thermoelectric cooler (Peltier).

The i3 processor we tested, in normal air becomes too hot to touch within about 5-10 seconds. When submerged in the liquid, it happily bubbled away at 100% load, and maintained a core temperature of 55C or less, and a surface temperature of 34C. Through convection, the fluid moves around, rising and falling with the temperature changes, ultimately very effectively cooling the entire system.

This technology holds some very interesting potential, such as:

• Possibly allowing the use of larger processors in closed/sealed computer systems. For our oil/gas clients, this could mean more processing power that previously possible in explosion proof housings.
• Providing pressure resistance for deep underwater computer systems. Liquids don't compress, so a sealed computer housing filled with liquid could withstand some very deep underwater operations.
• Shock absorption, liquid slows down motion, there is potential to increase shock and vibration resistance using a liquid filled container
• Much greater computing density, and amazing energy savings for server class systems

In the end, this was just an interesting first experiment that we thought our readers might like to catch a glimpse of. At these earliest stages, it would seem that for the vast majority of our customers this will probably be nothing more than a novelty that is interesting to watch.

However for a few of highly specialized applications out there, this cooling technique could have game-changing potential. If your company has a very specialized need for this type of cooling, be sure to let us know. We always welcome customers that are interested to participate in testing and developing new technologies.

I can be contacted at, martinscorner@corvalent.com.
We always love to hear feedback from our readers!

Below: Video of our ugly, tape covered, submerged liquid cooling, proof-of-concept contraption

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Intel's Newest Processor and Chipset Families Explained

Today we will be discussing the new family of processors and chipsets from Intel®. There has been a lot of confusion surrounding these new products, especially with regard to their features and functionality. Although it's hard to see why there would be confusion when "3450" can refer to both a chipset or a processor, one out of all the i5 processors has the same specs as the i7 family, and ECC depends on a magic combination of processor, chipset, lunar phase, blood type, and whether or not you actually “turn yourself around” when you do the funky chicken... and this is all before we even talk about the mobile versions of the chips...but I digress... Read on and we will discuss some of what differentiates the various processors and what you can expect from this very powerful, yet confusing new generation of workhorse computer processors.

With any new generation of technology, there comes a few changes. First of all, the North Bridge has been designed into the processor, so no more front side bus speeds, that spec. has gone the way of the floppy drive. Next, the entire memory controller and a portion of the video functionality have been moved onto the processor(s). Now for the first time, certain capabilities of a motherboard are completely determined by the choice of processor that is installed.

For example, the i7, Xeon™, and i5-750 processors don't contain video processing circuitry, so on-board video does not work with these chips, even if a motherboard may be equipped with video ports. In exchange however, you get more cache, Intel Turbo Boost Technology (A spiffy automatic over-clocking feature), and (4) cores of powerful, raw number crunching power. What about the other i5 and i3 processors? These have lower amounts of cache, and (2) cores, but DO add support for onboard video. With these processors, our motherboards will activate the two on-board DVI video outputs, giving the user built-in dual monitor support.

The processors are named numerically, according to the rated "horsepower" of each chip. Meaning the i3 will be less powerful than the i5, with the i7 and server oriented Xeon acting as the "muscle cars" in the speed department. However there is some cross-over with the naming vs. specifications.

For example, here in the lab we've DNA tested the i5-750 and discovered that it was actually not an i5 at all. The story is, that about a year ago a loving and caring i5 family came across a hungry, and abandoned i7, ultimately adopting it. The i7's are a very selective bunch, and they tend to reject anyone they deem not worthy of the i7 lineage. In this case, they appear to have rejected the young processor only because it handled (4) threads instead of (8). The end result was a very powerful processor proudly carrying the i5 name of it's adoptive parents, but really containing the processing DNA (8MB cache, 45nm, (4) processing cores, and Turbo Boost) of an i7.

If you need to better understand the processor families, think of it like this: Xeons are the Italian sports cars of the processor world. Refined, ultra-fast, with custom error correction memory to keep all the cylinders firing exactly right. The i7's are the muscle cars... equipped with turbo boosts, fuel cache reserves, and placing sheer speed and power over creature comforts. The i5 processors are the extremely peppy and plush British luxury cars, with added things like video screens and 4 doors. While the i3 represents the family vehicle, giving you video screens for the kids, and plenty of horsepower for a family car. The new i3 is quite comfortable to drive, but you can't expect to keep up with the other faster sports cars around you. The really great thing is, that while an i3 may not be as fast as an i7 muscle car, the new 2010 Intel i3 family sedan is still a lot faster than most of the other older cars currently on the road.

So how do the chipsets play into the equation? Well, certain chipsets only support certain processors, this means that if your application needs ECC memory, you will need to use both a compatible chipset (such as the 3450) and a compatible processor such as the Xeon x3450 (that's not a typo, the processor and the chipset have the same name). If you don't care about ECC, and your preference is a "muscle car" i7, you'll need our Q57 chipset that is i7 compatible. Need onboard video? Then either chipset will work fine, but you will have to use an i5 or i3 processor. (Except for the i5-750 we already mentioned, due to it's adoptive status and denial of it's true parentage)

If you're still confused, don't feel alone, there are a lot of people scratching their heads right now. The good news is, you can feel free to contact us to ask questions. We've taken the time to really understand what is happening with these products, and to communicate with Intel for the latest developments. Our experts will be able to get you the right configuration for your needs! And best of all, that configuration will still be available years from now for your continued use, when everyone else has moved on to other things.

And it should be said that for all the confusion, new terminology, compatibilities and incompatibilities... Intel has produced some remarkably powerful processors that are improved from their predecessors in almost every way. Once again, Intel has "raised the bar" for processing power, lower thermal emissions, and lower power consumption, ultimately producing some of the fastest processors the world has ever seen.

If you would like to contact me, feel free to do so at: martinscorner@corvalent.com.
We love to hear feedback from our readers!

The last 486 motherboards soon to ship... The Official End of an Era

Walking through our production facility yesterday, I noticed a batch of motherboards on the assembly line, being prepared for shipment.

The board was our old "Predator 747" equipped with a blazingly fast 486DX2 processor. Long since 'officially' discontinued, we've quietly continued to manufacture and sell this to one of our clients that use the boards to repair medical equipment. However, after about (14) years of on-going production, we are no longer going to continue manufacturing the boards. The parts have become almost impossible for us to find these days.

It then occurred to me that I was really looking at something special... the end of an era... The last time in the history of mankind and technology, that a new production motherboard equipped with a 486 series processor will be shipping out to the world.

The contrast was interesting... on an assembly station right next to the 486 boards, sits our Q35 motherboard running an Intel Core™ 2 Quad processor. In the same room, spaced less than 10' apart we have factory new products representing a part of computing history spanning over 20 years. The 486DX2 processor runs at a whopping 66MHz, while the Core 2 Quad cruises along with 4 processors at 2.83GHz. Let's take a moment to put that into perspective...

These numbers are approximate, but I came up with some interesting data using historical processor comparisons from a favorite benchmarking software we use in the lab. A task that would take the Q35 a single minute to accomplish would require about 9.8hrs on the Predator 747. Put differently, an hour of work on the Quad Core, equates to about 3.5 weeks on the 486. Yet, the humble 486 is still in use out there in the world, still doing it's assigned tasks, and still helping humanity.

But now the time has come to say goodbye... Perhaps I should write a eulogy to the legacy of the 486 as we did for the death of the floppy drive. But I have a better idea... For those of you who were around to remember this part of our history (that will soon be ending with a final trip in a UPS truck)...

Let's have a little contest. If anyone out there wants to write a eulogy to the true end of the 486 processor, send them to me at: martinscorner@corvalent.com. We'll pick our favorite(s) and publish them with your name and credentials in the next update! Maybe I'll even come up with a special Martin's Corner Prize for the best one. :-)

Martin Looks at: A software package for digital signs, electronic menus, and public messaging

Traditionally limited to large CRT screens in Airports and Public Transportation Terminals, digital signs can now be found almost anywhere. With the advancement of LCD technology, and tiny powerful computers, digital signs have evolved from basic DOS-like graphics, to bright, ultra high resolution displays. Even at my local movie theater they've replaced the traditional menu boards with displays that not only show pricing, but movie previews and HD animations of food and drinks. You can find them playing advertisements and offering specials in stores such as Target and Wal-Mart, I've even seen touch-screen digital displays replacing the entire front of soda vending machines.

For this Martin's Corner, I'm going to discuss one such software package used to implement digital signs, and how we used it in the Corvalent lobby at our headquarters here in Texas.

Basic or Complex

We frequently have visitors come to our facility, and most often they spend at least a brief time in our lobby. We wanted to have something in that room that offered some information about our company, while also providing a "painless" way to pass a short amount of time. Several months ago we mounted a 48" Samsung LCD HD Television on the wall. That particular TV is equipped with a USB port, that is capable of playing a slide show using .jpg image it finds USB memory key inserted into the side of the monitor. This is one of the most basic and simple forms of a digital sign, and almost anyone can implement it. All you do is load a USB key with photos or screen captures of your power point presentation, and name them appropriately (knowing that they will typically play in alphabetical or numerical order). In the beginning, this is what we had playing in our lobby. But it was decided that we needed to find a better and more advanced solution that was not extremely expensive.

After asking Google some questions, and a little searching, our marketing department found a company called: mediasignage (Note that we don't partner or work with them in any way, this is simply our experiences with their service). They offer a solution based on Adobe Flash Technologies. And best of all? For the 1st digital sign, it is 100% free. No ads, no restrictions, no credit card required, no fees, no overage charges, nothing. It's a way to completely test it and run a sign indefinitely at no monthly cost.

They are a "cloud" based service, where all of the files and saved presentations live entirely on their system. This allows for easy expansion and management of hundreds of remote signs anywhere in the world there is an internet connection. On the actual sign, you place a Windows or Linux computer that will act as the sign player. (you can run (1) of these under the free license)

Making the Sign Presentation

This isn't .jpgs anymore. Everything shown on the screen has to be made and designed and placed there intentionally. We started out with the same slide show, and over a few days of off and on playing around with the service, watching their "how to" videos, and asking questions, our marketing department started to evolve the presentation. Ultimately, we ended up adding some RSS video feeds to play from Fox news and Discovery channel, we have an text based news scrolling on the bottom (from an AP news feed), Flash animated weather displaying on the upper right, and our corporate presentation playing on the main screen. Updates can be made from anywhere in the world from the mediasignage web site, or from the desktop studio application. They even have a lot of pre-made elements like weather players, clocks, etc. so you don't have to spend time developing in Flash.(We're probably using less than 1/4 of the software's features and capabilities, and it's meeting our needs).

The software isn't perfect by any means, on the user interface side there are still some bugs and glitches to work around, particularly when compared to much higher end solutions.To be honest, it feels a little like a Beta or early version of the software. Key features like copy and paste are lacking, resulting in development becoming tedious in some cases. But overall, the value and "bang for the buck", even after licensing multiple signs, is really hard bargain to beat.

The Corvalent Sign

If you would like to see the presentation our lobby is playing today, just click here. Note that the presentation is designed for our lobby monitor at 1920x1080 resolution, if your screen size is smaller, the formatting of the presentation won't be perfect.

For our signage computer, we set up one our compact CorBrick 945MIT industrial computers for the task. It was perfect for the job because aside from it's compact size and on-board memory, it was well ventilated, easily outputs the required 1920x1080 native resolution for our monitor, and has more than enough "horse power" for the job.

Good Luck, and be sure to call us at 888-776-7896 or contact us, if we can help you out with your digital signage or kiosk hardware needs.

A Special Martin's Corner Obituary: "Floppy" You will be missed
The loss of a dear and trusted technology friend.

It has happened. For those of you with low Midichlorian counts, a great disturbance has been felt growing in the force, finally culminating with engineers across the globe crying out in terror, followed by a moment of respectful silence.

We regret to report that a long time and trusted power in the computing universe has finally ceased to exist. Though we may see his glowing spirit live on in USB drives, or in hybridized drives with flash media readers, our dear friend "Floppy" has finally passed on from this earth.

What follows is our Eulogy to a part of our computing history forever engrained in our collective tech consciousness.

Friends.

We gather today to bid farewell to our old friend, "Floppy" the 1.44MB disk drive. Recently Floppy passed away with the remaining manufacturer ending his production, at the ripe old age of 238 years.
(If tech years are like dog years).

Floppy was conceived in 1971, and born in 1976 measuring a mere 5 1/4". He began to come of age as something of a disruptive presence in the 1980's. His free spirit, and small stature, allowed him to flourish during his youth. While his flexible and open nature made him very vulnerable to outside influences, despite this, his spirit of innovation brought about a new era of data portability giving birth to the modern computer storage age as we know it today. As Floppy grew older in the early 1990's, he gained additional capacity and experience that hardened his outer shell making him more thick skinned, as so many of us do as we grow old.

Though by 2003, (now in his Twilight years) Floppy had retired almost completely from public life. He was not however, content with full retirement and as recently as just a few weeks ago could still be found working hard in the modern embedded world assisting with the installation of RAID drivers and SCSI controller software.

We smile when we remember how much he hated to be bothered while working, sometimes becoming so angry that if disturbed at the wrong time, he was known to trash and corrupt all the data around him.

We will always remember with nostalgia, the free storage discs provided courtesy of AOL. Sitting at home with a drill or notching tool to increase the capacity of his less expensive discs, and learning first hand from his teachings about the dangers of magnets and the importance of backing up our newly portable and surprisingly fragile data.

Floppy leaves behind quite a legacy, having fathered so many children over his 238 years, including but certainly not limited to Dr. Floptical, Mrs. Iomega Zip, and Grandma SyQuest (who also inherited Floppy's severe annoyance at being disturbed while working).

Dear departed friend, though modern technology may have cloned your body into USB devices and spliced your genes with flash media readers, we bid farewell to your original pure, internal-direct-to-motherboard form.

Though portable flash memory may pave the way forward, we will always remember fondly the "Brrrrr brrrrr, bunk bunk bunk" sounds you made when you worked. Future generations will forever benefit from your legacy. Farewell old friend, we will not forget.

Rest in peace.

Martin's Look at Processor Cooling

Hello, all! Martin here and welcome to our most recent edition of Martin's Corner. It's been quite a while since I last made an update, since that time we have completed our move to the Austin, TX area. And everyone has taken the time to get settled into our new home (many of us have also relocated the places where we sometimes park our cars and sleep as well). :-)

This month I wanted to talk about processor cooling. In the lab here, we like to use a product called Artic Silver. (consider this a free plug to them) On their website, they have some very detailed instructions regarding the application of their product. We realized that many of our readers may not know the in's and out's of processor cooling, and might find this interesting. There is a lot more going on here than one might think when it comes to processor cooling and it definitely will impact the performance of your system!.

First of all, the temperature reading of the chip is not always the most dependable method of determining a cooling compound's level of effectiveness. Depending on the situation, the temperature your chip reports may be HIGHER when your thermal compound is WORKING BETTER.

Sounds backwards huh? Here's the explanation: Intel typically positions their thermal couplers (the part of the chip that detects the temperature) in the same area as the memory cache... which is not the hottest part of the chip. This means that when a thermal compound is working best, it is making the heat spread and flow away from the warmer areas. This means that instead of acting as an insulator, (keeping hot areas hot, and cool areas cool) which might result in a lower temperature READING, a good compound will act as a thermal conductor, conducting or transmitting the heat throughout the compound. (and into the heat sink, and into the air). That's why the chip may report a higher temperature (as much as 5C higher) when in fact, it is cooling more effectively. By spreading that heat around, (and away from the source) we're more evenly distributing it over the surface of the chip (and over the surface of the heat sink), in the process however the heat is also spread over the chip's thermal coupler, which can result in a higher temperature reading.

So then how do you know if your compound and heat spreader are actually working vs. another compound that may result in a higher temperature reading because of poor performance? Well, a much more effective measurement of a cooling compound performance would be to measure the amount of heat being conducted into and radiated from a particular heat sink. In two given machines with equal specifications, and identical heat spreader assemblies, if one heat spreader is warmer than another, that would indicate that the warmer one is pulling heat away from the chip more effectively in that instance…which is a good thing. Most people think that the application of the 'grease' or thermal compound to the chip is not a very complicated thing. "Just goop some on, clamp down the processor heat sink/fan, and you're good to go". That would not seem to be the case at all. As far as the quantity you apply… for this product at least, "less is more". Too much, and you create a layer of insulation, that can't conduct the heat away fast enough. Too little, and well, you will have too little to be effective, and once again, you are insulating the chip (though this time, with air pockets), instead of properly filling those microscopic cracks and crevices with the compound, so it can conduct the heat away from the source.

Take this example of a dual core chip. They only suggest a very thin line of compound, down the center of the chip, and even caution to apply the compound in the correct direction. The purpose is to allow the compound to be positioned directly over the source of the heat, conducting as much of the heat as possible over the entire
surface area of the chip, maximizing the
surface area in contact with the heat sink/fan assembly.

In this example with a quad core chip, the suggestion is to apply the compound in a different direction, running across the hottest parts of the chip assembly.

They also caution that if you are using a heat sink/fan that already has used thermal compound on the surface, that it should be removed first, ideally with alcohol and a soft tissue or cloth. Not all compounds will work well together, and dry compounds in particular are not compatible with grease.

Remember, the idea is to conduct heat away from the chip. If you mix two different compounds you will very likely just increase the insulation characteristics of the compound, making it less effective. There is a lot more science to this than one might think, and that's just for the application. We've not even touched on the characteristics of the thermal compound itself!

The application instructions for the various compounds may be found at this link: http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm

Remember, the application techniques we've discussed here, will change for the various different types of thermal compounds. Different thermal compounds whether from Artic Silver, or from other manufacturers will each be applied differently. Never assume the instructions for one product will be applicable to others.

Well, I hope this has been enlightening for you. Happy Cooling!

Martin's Look at Microsoft OS Support

Hello, all! Martin here and welcome to the February edition of Martin’s Corner! This month I wanted to touch on Microsoft Operating Systems.

Lately there has been a lot of confusion with Microsoft releasing VISTA and threatening to stop supporting Windows XP. Is there really a compelling reason to switch Operating Systems? Why change something that is not broken?

What they don’t tell you is that there is an alternative! Microsoft will still support several of the “older” Operating systems for quite a while! Windows XP will be supported until 2016… That takes some of the edge of validating VISTA, doesn’t it?

You can even still license DOS6.22 (don’t tell anybody, but I still use it in the lab…)

There are several ways for you to get your Operating system:

The Embedded Channel, serving OEMs that build dedicated-purpose devices (e.g., a telephony server for VoIP applications).

The System Builder Channel, serving OEMs that build general-purpose devices (e.g., a general-purpose file or print server for internal use within an enterprise)

The Embedded Channel is the only Microsoft channel for buying certain products—Windows XP Embedded®, Windows CE®, Windows Embedded for Point of Service® (WEPOS), and MS-DOS®. Other operating system products can be purchased from either the Embedded Channel or the System Builder Channel. But, while products available from both channels are identical regardless of the channel through which you buy them, the licensing provisions and pricing are different.

Products available through the Embedded Channel fall into three categories:

Desktop Operating Systems

• Windows XP Professional with Embedded Restrictions(32- and 64-bit versions)
• Windows 2000 with Embedded Restrictions
• Windows NT Embedded
• Windows 3.1 and 3.11
• MS-DOS 6.22
  

Server Operating Systems

• Windows Server™ 2003 R2 for Embedded Systems (32- and 64-bit versions)
• Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 for Embedded Systems (32- and 64-bit versions)
• Windows Server™ for Embedded Systems with the Server Appliance Software Version 3.0
• Windows Server 2003 for Telecommunications Systems with the Server Appliance Software Version 3.0
• Windows Server™ 2003 for Embedded Systems with Internet Security and Acceleration Server
• Data Protection Manager 2006 for Embedded Systems
• SQL Server™ 2005 for Embedded Systems
• Windows Server 2000 for Embedded Systems
  

Embedded Operating Systems

• Windows XP Embedded (XPe)
• Windows CE
• WEPOS
• MS-DOS

In order of complexity of implementation we have:

Windows Embedded CE integrates reliable real-time capabilities with advanced Windows technologies to help you rapidly build a wide range of innovative, small-footprint devices. Windows Embedded CE can run on multiple CPUs and is used in a broad range of device types including: mobile handhelds, thin clients, gateways, IP telephones, and automated industrial devices.

Windows XP Embedded (XPe) delivers the complete power of Microsoft Windows in componentized form to rapidly build reliable and advanced embedded devices based on the x86 processor and PC architecture hardware. Examples of Windows XP Embedded devices include retail point-of-service (POS) devices, ATMs, Windows-based thin clients, and advanced set-top boxes. Windows XP Embedded is a specialized operating system, consisting of componentized Windows XP Professional features and an end-to-end set of development tools, for use in non-personal computer (non-desktop) devices. Windows XP Embedded is typically used by embedded developers, system integrators, and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
WEPOS is a product specifically designed for POS (Point of Sale) applications. It is a product positioned between Windows XP Pro and XPe, and also adds support for typical POS devices.
Windows XP Pro with Embedded Restrictions is basically the same Windows XP that everybody already uses. Compatible with all the drivers and software

WEPOS is a product specifically designed for POS (Point of Sale) applications. It is a product positioned between Windows XP Pro and XPe, and also adds support for typical POS devices.

Make no mistake. Windows XP will not be available later this year unless you get the embedded version. Corvalent is proud to offer Windows XP Embedded and all the products above on our platforms!

Thanks for checking in and see you next month!

Martin

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New Year, New Products!

Hi all, Martin here with another installment of Martin's Corner.

As we kick off the new year, we are excited that we are kicking off a lot of new products to meet our customers needs. I know what you're thinking, that is what companies like Corvalent are supposed to do. True, but that does not normally mean nine new products during the first half of '08! The bottom line is that we have been busy at Corvalent and we have already launched three new products in January.

Of note is our new Quad Core, Dual Processor Server Class motherboard based on the Intel® Xeon® processor now available for our standard 5 to 8 years guaranteed availability. This board is in an Extended ATX form factor and will meet the needs of anyone who needs to have a server class board for longer than commercial server boards.

We feel we are moving in the right direction with our product offerings. Be sure to take a look at them online and let us know what you think.

Yes, even to an engineer like me, we really value your opinion!

Thanks for checking in on Martin's Corner!

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'Tis the Season for COM Express!

Happy Holidays from Martin's Corner!

I hope you are still getting some laughs from last month's installment.  I am still cracking some of those jokes (when I can find the time).

With this season of giving I wanted to share with you a gift that my engineering department gave me and Corvalent this month. No, it’s not a new DeLorean or anything that cool, but our new COM Express module based on the Intel® 945 chipset and a new baseboard to place it on!

We are excited about rolling out this new technology and what this PICMG standard form factor means to the embedded computing industry. We see this new product as being applicable to Medical, Point of Sale, Military and Defense, Security and Surveillance, Automotive, Gaming, Oil and Gas Exploration, Industrial Computing, and Test and Measurement Equipment.

The main benefit as we see it is for a common platform. That is, a customer could theoretically build one baseboard and provide multiple configurations by simply changing the COM Express modules themselves on the baseboard. Thus, allowing them one common platform that can run the same software throughout their company, providing maximum flexibility and scalability, while reducing time to market and development costs.

This is all part of a standards-based modular computing philosophy that Corvalent subscribes to that provides our customers an optimum choice for their projects.

I look forward to speaking with you regarding an upcoming project and how Corvalent can assist you with COM Express. For more information on our COM Express products visit: http://www.corvalent.com/02b_ind_boards.shtml#com.

Happy Holidays,

Martin

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Gimme a Break

Hello again! Martin here with the November edition of Martin's Corner.

If you are an Engineer like me you probably are not slowing down as we approach the holidays. In fact, there is a good chance that the pace of your work is accelerating as new roadmaps and products need to be launched or updated by the end of the year.

With this in mind I want to share a few humorous engineering jokes with you so that once in a while you can take a five minute break to have a laugh while still staying in your engineering mindset. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Engineering Rules

1. Any circuit design must contain at least one part which is obsolete, two parts which are unobtainable and three parts which are still under development.

2. Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.

3. A failure will not appear until a unit has passed final inspection.

4. If you can't fix it -- document it.

5. The primary function of the design engineer is to make things difficult for the fabricator and impossible for the serviceman.

Arguing with an Engineer

Arguing with an engineer is a lot like wrestling in the mud with a pig. After a few hours, you realize that he likes it.

Astronaut Anxiety

An astronaut in space in 1970 was asked by a reporter, "How do you feel?"

"How would you feel," the astronaut replied, "if you were stuck here, on top of 20,000 parts each one supplied by the lowest engineering bidder?"

For more, check out the links below:

http://www.inflection-point.com/jokes.php
http://www.grahamnasby.com/misc/engineering_jokes.shtml

Wishing you all a great Thanksgiving holiday!

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Is That Bug a Bug or a High-Tech Spy?

Hello, all! It’s me, Martin, again with October’s edition of Martin's Corner. This month I have found some interesting links and information that you have to check out. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

When someone says, “I’d like to be a fly on the wall for that conversation”, they may soon be able to thanks to some new nanotechnology developments.

The idea behind this development is to implant Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) into an insect during its larva stage of metamorphosis. The implanted MEMS would enable the insect to be remotely controlled to transmit conversations or sense certain chemicals. Now is that embedded technology or what!?

The following link takes you to an interesting article that highlights some of the applications that this type of technology can be used for.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4808342.stm

Pentagon Speak?

Say what? The missile was guided by what?

If you or your company has ever done business with the military or defense contractors you need to check out “Pentagon Speak” under our Interesting Links section. This soundbite highlights just how confusing Pentagon Speak (as I call it) can be. It’s hilarious and well worth the visit.  

Disclaimer: Humorous content not actually sourced from the Pentagon or Department of Defense.

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Intel Processors… Low Power? Yes!

Hello, everyone! Sprechen Sie talk? It’s me, Martin, again for our September’s installment of Martin’s Corner.

This month I want to touch on the fact that Intel processors are getting to be very attractive in the low power space (so much so that you could never fry an egg on one).

We, at Corvalent, are excited by the new Low Power and Ultra Low Voltage Intel processors that are hitting the market. If you are privy to Intel’s roadmaps, you know what we’re talking about. Some solutions are now in the five watt range with likely even lower wattages next year. This means that designs that used to only be passively cooled X-Scale candidates are now able to utilize Intel Architecture (IA). These processors will be ideal for medical, security & surveillance, oil & gas, point-of-sale, aerospace, and military/defense applications, to highlight a few.

The good thing about this is that all the tools and software that have been written for IA will now be able to be utilized by us as a system integrator and by our customers who have many of their applications written for IA.

Some of the processors we are excited about include:

• Intel® Core™ Duo Processor ULV
• Intel® Celeron® M Processor ULV
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor Low Power

For more information on Intel's future Ultra Low Voltage processors visit: www.intel.com/design/embedded

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Multiplying Numbers Using the Binary System

Hello, Sprechen Sie Talk? I am Martin Rudloff and welcome to my corner! Today's technical (mathematical?) tidbit is about multiplying numbers using the binary system. It's actually easier than you may think!

Let's multiply two numbers: 130 x 5, for example!

1. First, write down the two numbers you want to multiply side by side: 130 x 5.
   
   
2. Now, start to create a column under the number 130. Start with the number 1 and keep doubling it until you reach a number under 130. In our example you would have created a column with 8 numbers under 130: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128.
   
   
3. Now, let's create a column under the number 5. Start with 5 and keep doubling it until you have the same amount of numbers as in column 1. In our example, you would have created a column with 8 numbers: 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, and 640 (a total of 8 numbers).
   
   
4. In the first column, circle all numbers that add up to 130. In this example that would be 2 and 128 (2 + 128 = 130)
   
   
5. In the second column, circle all numbers that correspond to those circled in the first column. In this example that would be 10 and 640.
   
   
6. Add the numbers circled from the second column and you will get the answer to the equation: 130 x 5 = 650 (10 + 640 = 650)

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