Hardware environments, compatibility

To get the most performance from multithreaded hardware, a compatible software environment is required. Developments in new computer languages and operating systems have provided these environments (Anderson, Lazowska, and Levy, 1989). Multithreaded architectures take advantage of these advances to obtain high-performance systems. 

Hardware environments are another challenge to compatibility, especially since the most obvious choice can be risky. When we developed STN Express it was obvious that this software should be compatible with the IBM PC. But since then, the Macintosh has become increasingly popular. There are fads and fashions in the computer market just as in other areas. Today, front-end software should work not only with the IBM and Apple PCs but also with the DEC, Commodore, and NEC, to name a few. Preferences vary over time and also by country. We have seen that the Commodore is rather popular in Germany and the NEC seems to dominate the Japanese market. Those brands are virtually unknown in the United States, while the IBM PC is relatively unfamiliar in Japan. STN Express currently works with MS-DOS the standard interface should also work with, at least, the UNIX and Macintosh operating systems. Perhaps more will be necessary in the future. 

CAM-PC is a general purpose CA software simulation environment based on CAM-6, Designed by members of the GENOME Project at Eotvos University in Hungary, the first version of CAM-PC extends the possibilities of CAM-6 but is not yet fully compatible with it. The primary addition is support for 8 bit planes, increasing the size of CAM-6 s ccdl-statc alphabet to 256, The laudable purpose behind the project is to provide inexpensive but otherwise fully functional simulation tools for amateur researchers unable to afford faster dedicatcxl hardware. 

The development environment for expert systems includes both hardware and software. Initially, most of the expert systems were developed on microcomputers. However, as shown in Figure 2, there is a steady increase in the number of minicomputer or workstation based systems. This is due to a variety of factors, the most common of which is that the PC systems run out of computer "space" before they can solve a complex problem due to the size of the code and other operating requirements. The IBM compatible PC-AT is still the most common development platform because it is a very widely distributed system and provides the broadest user base. However, the limit of 640K of random access memory is causing programmers to undertake ingenious solutions to fit their code into this space. 

The selection of a simulation system is a strategic decision for an organisation. It implies a medium/long term co-ordination policy, both in hardware platforms and in scientific software, as well as in the training of personnel, compatibility with third parties environment, etc. The procedure described below may be applied for a low-risk choice of any scientific software. The evaluation procedure takes the form of a questionnaire, as given hereafter. 

Ionic liquids, fluorous biphasic systems, and supercritical fluids have all been studied as alternatives to conventional organic solvents. However, because of their nature, some of these novel systems require additional hardware for utilization. For example, some supphers have designed advanced mixing systems to enable polyphasic systems to be intimately mixed at the laboratory scale. There has also been considerable rethinking of the green credentials of some of these alternative solvents in recent years and many ionic liquids are no longer considered suitable because of their complex syntheses, toxicity, or other unacceptable properties, or difficulty in separation and puriflcation. Fluorous solvents (which are based on heavily fluorinated usually aliphatic compounds) are not considered to be environmentally compatible (as they persist in the environment). 

In contrast to FIA where manual operation of pump and valve is easily achieved, the fundamental requirement for success in SIA is the accurate and precise synchronization of pumps, valves, and other hardware to obtain reproducible flow patterns. This, together with the benefits of electronic data acquisition and manipulation, necessitate the development of specialized software for overall instrument control. It has been noted that the lack of commercially available software was the most limiting factor in the development of SIA. In most cases specific in-house programs have been developed to be compatible with the instrumentation available and software written in Turbo C -I- -f-, Visual Basic, Basic, the Windows 95 environment, and LabVIEW has been reported. Although recently commercially available software has become more widely available and the need to design purpose-built software has been lessened, some of this is instrument specific and many researchers choose to develop their own to suit the available components. 

Finally, the operating environment should be compatible with the hardware and software used in design. 

There are several serial communication standards, and they are classified as asynchronous and synchronous format. The popular asynchronous serial communication standards are RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485. RS-232 is generally used in the lab environment within a distance of 20 m. RS-422 and RS-485 are used in industrial applications for communication up to a distance of 1.2 km. The serial communication standards define several communication parameters including baud rate, data bits, parity bits, stop bits, hardware handshake, software handshake, and communication pathways (simplex, half duplex of full duplex) for communication. The serial port of a PC is RS-232 compatible. Communication through the serial port of a PC requires serial port compatible devices to have their own controller for the generation of necessary interface signals. 

Stage is an open-source robot simulation environment that allows one or more robots to explore and interact within a 2D world. It is often used in conjunction with the Player project, as it provides virtualised hardware for many of the interfaces Player defines. Stage accurately models a range of sensors often found on physical hardware, such as laser rangefinders, and it simulates realistic physics with accurate collision detection. The limitation to a 2D world is pertinent, but is not a major limitation for this proof-of-concept study, and Player is fully compatible with 3D simulations including Gazebo (http //www.gazebosim.org/). 

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