Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Zilog Z80 CPU

The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Zilog. One of the peculiarities of this processor is the coupling of some 8-bit registers to a 16-bit register. This with a 16-bit address bus allows for much faster processing of data than with a conventional 8-bit processor.

This processor was marketed for the first time in July 1976. In the early 1980s it was very popular in the design of 8-bit computers such as Radio Shack TRS-80, Sinclair ZX80, ZX81, ZX Spectrum, MSX standard, Amstrad CPC, PC-88 and later in embedded systems. With the MOS 6502 family, it dominated the 8-bit micro computer market from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s and was still used in then new Amstrad computers until 1995.

The Z80 was designed to be compatible with the Intel 8080, so the majority of the code for 8080 could work without much modification on the Z80. The CP/M operating system was designed around Intel 8080 based systems and could also work without modification on Z80 based systems.Z80 based systems were generally more powerful and had more features than systems based on 8080 CPUs. Some versions of CP/M applications only existed in a Z80 version.

History and overview

Z80 CPU DIP by DamicatzThe Z80 came into being when Federico Faggin, after working on the 8080, left Intel at the end of 1974 to found Zilog together with Ralph Ungermann to put the Z80 on the market in July of 1976. It was designed to be binary compatible with the Intel 8080 so that most of the 8080 code, including the CP/M operating system, works without modification on it. The Z80 quickly took over share from the 8080 on the market, and became one of the most popular 8-bit processors. Perhaps one of the keys to Z80's success was the integrated refresh of DRAM, and other features that allowed systems to be built with fewer chips. For the first NMOS generation, the maximum clock rate increased gradually. First at 2.5 MHz, then by the well known 4 MHz (Z80a), up to 6 (Z80b) and 8 MHz (Z80h). A CMOS version was developed with frequency limits ranging from 4 MHz to 20 MHz and some versions were sold until the 2000s. The CMOS version also has a low power sleep mode, with processor state retention. The Z180 and eZ80, fully compatible derivatives, have specifications for up to  50 MHz.

Use in systems

The Z80 CPU saw uses including in Texas Instruments calculators, SEGA Master System, GameBoy, and Game Gear video game consoles. Some more powerful consoles with other central processors like the Neo Geo or the Mega Drive with its Motorola 68000, used the Z80 as an addon processor to handle sound or system I/O.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

The MOS 6502 CPU microprocessor

In the early '70s, a group of engineers from Motorola was convinced that it was possible to obtain a cheap microprocessor if a simple design and an improved manufacturing process were raised with respect to the standards of the time. Without the support of the company, this group would create one of the families of chips that would be the catalyst for the revolution of home computing, it is the 6502 and its successors, the main engine of the first Atari and Apple machines, between others.

Chuck Peddle was one of the leading engineers in the development of the Motorola 6800 processor, in his meetings with important industrial clients, he realized that the technology was appreciated, but too expensive to be used in a massive way. In conversations with his clients, he concluded that the cost of the processor had to go down from USD $ 300, which cost 6800 to only USD $ 25 at the time, a conclusion that did not make Motorola managers who had no motivation at all happy. to look to reduce the price of a technology that already had good sales.

Chuck Peddle and his work

For Chuck and other engineers it was an interesting technical challenge and without the support of Motorola they began to work on the necessary changes to improve their processor. On the one hand, the team was unhappy with Motorola's lack of support, and on the other hand the company was annoyed by Chuck's and his team's stubbornness, and finally the straw that broke the camel's back was Motorola's formal request to halt the project. that made Chuck and his team decide to leave the company, to continue working on their microprocessor on their own.

6502 CPU chip (C) commodore.ca

MOS

The group joined a low profile company called MOS, where they reached an agreement to participate in the profits that could be obtained with the new microprocessor, an agreement that from the MOS point of view was convenient due to the low profitability that meant in that time the production of these chips. This agreement, together with the mass resignation of Motorola was a demonstration of the confidence that the team of engineers had in the product they were developing.

The first processor of the 6500 series was 6501. An unprecedented fact that surrounded the development of this chip was that Chuck designed it completely by hand and it worked on the first attempt, when the normal thing in those years was to go through a process of over 10 failed attempts This processor was quite scarce since it was not made in order to be sold, but as a way to show Motorola how wrong they were, and that a useful and inexpensive microprocessor could be built.

One of the factors that influenced the reduction of production costs was an innovation of these engineers regarding the manufacturing process. In those times, the failure rate in production was 70%, that is, only 7 of every 10 processors manufactured went straight to the trash. This happened mainly because the process consisted of creating a large mold of the processor and applying reductions until reaching the real size, in these reductions errors always occurred and the engineers in MOS found a way to apply corrections to the mold in each reduction, achieving with this change a success rate of 70%, that is, 7 out of 10 processors were perfect.

The 6501, a Motorola clone?

The 6501 was fully compatible with the Motorola 6800 boards and could be used as a direct replacement at hardware level, which motivated a Motorola claim for alleged patent infringement of its former engineers. Supposed because in fact what was at stake was the intellectual property, since it was applying the knowledge of technologies that in fact were not patented. Even so an agreement was reached with Motorola and a sum of about USD $200,000 was paid to end the lawsuit.

The problem with Motorola caused the creation of the 6502, it was a 6501 but incompatible with the hardware designed for the Motorola 6800. The 6502 debuted at WestCon 1975 at the exact price of USD $ 25 that had been proposed. At first the attendees thought that it was some kind of scam, since it was not conceived to create such a cheap processor, but on the same day Motorola and Intel lowered the price of their 6800 and 8080 processors from USD $ 179 to only USD $ 69, validating the 6502 that was sold by the hundreds.

In the coming years Commodore, who was still in the calculator business, was going through financial difficulties as the business was going down and the competition was getting stronger. As a strategy to change the direction of the business, they bought from MOS, which was also struggling but had the technology they needed.

For Chuck Peddle the microprocessor business was geared to the industrial world, but while visiting different companies to try to sell the 6502 they told him that a couple of guys were trying to use their processor to build a personal computer. The fact seemed nice and agreed to go to help them to his garage, it was nothing more and nothing less than Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who worked on his first Apple computer. Chuck thought about introducing the 6502 into the industries and he did not suspect that a big market was in personal computers. Not in a million years! In his own words.

The 6502 is an 8-bit processor, which means that all its internal operations handle numbers between 0 and 255, on the other hand it has a 16-bit address bus that allows it to access up to 64KB of memory. The 6502 normally operated with a clock between 1 and 2 Mhz but given the same clock frequency it was capable of running much faster than the Motorola 6800, thanks to its clever design that reduced the number of clock cycles needed to execute an instruction .

Among the computers that were built around the 6502 are the Commodore PET, VIC-20, Apple I and II, BBC Micro and the entire line of Atari 8 bit computers such as the XL, XE, 400, 800, but also can be found in other types of devices, such as the Commodore 1541 disk drive for Commodore 8 bit computers. In the pioneering Atari 2600 console, an economical version of the 6502 known as 6507 was used, a version that had fewer pins and could only access 8KB of memory. The Commodore 64 also used a modified 6502, it was the 6510 where it added simple features that were usually implemented with additional circuitry.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Fast weight loss with reduction diets?

Losing body weight with a reduction diet

Find your right diet plan

Origin of the term diet

The term diet comes from ancient Greek δίαιτα díaita and was originally used in the sense of lifestyle and the way of life itself. Dietetics is still scientifically concerned with the "right" diet and lifestyle. In the German-speaking world, the term refers to certain diets and diets that are intended either to weight loss or increase or to treat diseases. In the English-speaking world, diet is understood as the everyday diet of an obese person, regardless of weight-related or illness-related diets. Colloquially, the term in Germany is often equated with a reduction diet for weight loss. It is thus a synonym for slimming diet.

Types of diets

Lose weight - (C) GideonSince Hippocrates diet is a special diet of humans, in the longer term or permanently a special selection of food is consumed. The diet is either a short-term change in the diet for weight loss, for example to fight obesity or to remove belly fat, in some cases also to gain weight like anorexia or a longer-term to permanent dietary change to supportive treatment of a disease (like in celiac disease, lactose intolerance, fructose intolerance. Fasting, on the other hand, means the temporary abandonment of food from religious (in Ramadan Islam, pre-Easter Lent in the Christian church) or health motivation for fasting.

Any form of diet, whether for weight loss or supportive disease treatment, is based on a reduction or increase in the relative proportion of a nutritional component (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and preservatives) over the others and / or a reduction or increase in the intake total energy and, if necessary, a balanced change in fluid intake.

A more holistic approach is cognitive behavioral therapy used by psychologists in clinics to treat obesity. In this method, dysfunctional behavioral routines and eating habits are identified and retrained. In case of severe obesity and eating disorders, it is the most sensible method of weight loss in the long term.

Fast weight loss with a reduction diet

A reduction diet aims at losing body weight. There are numerous reduction diets, some of which differ considerably in their methods. Only a few diets have been scientifically tested. The development and promotion of the reduction diets is not only subject to changes in scientific knowledge but also to fashions and worldviews. Some forms of diet are even considered harmful to health in medicine.

Reduction diets should be given only for a short time (and for extreme forms only under medical supervision). The general consensus is that a reduction diet can only be successful if it is followed by a permanent change in diet in which the energy balance of the body is balanced, d. H. in which no more energy is supplied via food than the body needs. A change of life towards a full-fledged diet and increased physical activity is recommended. When relapsing into old eating habits and habits, it usually comes back to a rise in body weight, the so-called yo-yo effect, because you fall into old eating habits that are not adapted to the new lower body weight.

There are numerous diets with different concepts. These are for example low-carb, low-fat, food combining or glyx diet. In a study of mice conducted by the Institute for Nutritional Research, there is a connection between the consumption of fructose and obesity, which is not based on the increased energy intake, but on the fact that fructose affects the metabolic activity and thus the accumulation favored by body fat. The selfish brain theory, which also includes an approach to explain obesity, does not question the short-term effects of reduction diets, but their long-term success in principle.

Does fast weight loss with a reduction diet work?

In short it pretty much depends if the person really wants it. There is no wonder pill. The person has to work on it. The own will needs to be strong enough to go through it. Otherwise there is no weight loss, only losing the fight.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Where to buy cannabis in Canada

Where to buy pot, marijuana, cannabis and weed online in Toronto and Montreal?

Locations to legally order cannabis online in Toronto are:

  • 770 Gardiners Road, Kingston
  • 2480 Gerrard Street East, Toronto
  • 570 Harbour Expressway, Thunder Bay
  • 304 Stone Road West, Guelph

The city of Montreal announced that the first four locations to buy pot are located near Metro stations. Societe Quebecoise du Cannabis STM locations are at

  • 970 Ste-Catherine St. W.
  • 9250 Boulevard de l'Acadie
  • 6872 St-Hubert St.
  • 830 Ste-Catherine St. E.

As well on the Metro stations:
  • Berri-UQAM
  • Jean-Talon
  • Radisson
  • Lionel-Groulx

Licensed dispensaries to get weed in Vancouver

The Kamloops shopping centre has a licensed marijuana store, also a dispensary on Granville Street to also get oils and seeds. Leaf Compassion at 950 Yates Street in Victoria will also provide cannabis in dried or fresh form.

Cannabis for sale in Quebec

The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) handles all legal sales. You can either visit their dispensaries, see above, or order cannabis online on their web page and have it delivered. You have to produce an ID on delivery if you look younger than 18 or 19 years.

Since 1997, cannabis, pot and marijuana in Canada has been regulated by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. According to this law, unauthorized possession, trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, production, import and export are considered illegal. The penalties are different depending on the offense. However, the law leaves a lot of power to the judges who impose the sentence.

Rules

Cannabis was banned in Canada in 1923 by federal law to that effect, but the use of cannabis for medical purposes was first permitted in 2001. Following an effort to decriminalize Jean Chrétien in 2003 with Bill C-38, Liberal Party Leader of Canada Justin Trudeau made the legalization of cannabis a key part of his platform during the federal election campaign.
Nevertheless, the use of cannabis for medical purposes is permitted by the Regulation respecting access to cannabis for medical purposes. It allows the consumption and cultivation of cannabis for users holding a prescription from a Canadian doctor. These individuals can not be arrested for cannabis use in accordance with the doctor's instructions.
The possible legalization of recreational cannabis was debated in 2017 for possible application on October 17, 2018. The law allowing the recreational use of cannabis has been adopted by the Canadian House of Commons in November 2017. It was concluded that on October 17, 2018 sales if cannabis would be legal.

Legislation

For production, the penalty is up to seven years imprisonment. For importation, the penalty is life imprisonment. For possession for the purpose of trafficking and trafficking, the penalties are life imprisonment if the quantity is greater than three kilograms and five years if it is less than three kilograms. For simple possession, the penalties are a maximum of five years imprisonment if the amount exceeds thirty grams and a maximum of one thousand dollars fine or six months in prison for less than thirty grams.

Under the age of 18, offenses are governed by the Young Offenders Act, the penalties depend on the offenses, but they may include alternative measures, community work, fines, custody of different durations, and a criminal record. Having a criminal record can make it very difficult or even impossible to leave the country. In addition, he may penalize the offender during a job selection process. On the other hand, the criminal record of a minor is normally (as the case may be) erased when the age of majority reaches 18 years.

A political party operating at the provincial level in Quebec, Bloc Pot, aims to legalize cannabis.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces in his 2016 policy speech the upcoming legalization of cannabis, becoming the first G7 country to do so.

Monday, April 16, 2018

The Walking Dead season 8 finale Wrath

After a not so exciting season 8 the finale with the episode title Wrath finally ties up plots developed over the season. And has an epic fist fight between Rick and Negan. Rick wins by slitting Negan's throat, but tell Siddiq to save him, sending Maggie into a breakdown. The last words of this episode has Rick, writing a letter to Carl. That Carl at the end made it possible for Rick to win out against Negan.

Rick and young Carl

The most interesting part for me is why and when Eugene changed his mind, fabricating bad bullets for the Saviors. He seemed so convinced he had a better life with them. Was it Rosita changing his mind in the previous episode? That is what Eugene mention. Or was it his plan all along to infiltrate the Saviors to have Rick win at the end? That didn't become clear. I wonder if this will be solved in a future episode.

Anybody has any idea or insider information, please comment.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

2018 FIFA World Cup Russia



The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia (Russian: Чемпионат мира по футболу Россия 2018) was the twenty-first edition of the Football World Cup. Football is called soccer in the United States Of America and Canada. It was held in Russia between June 14 and July 15, 2018, being the first time that an Eastern European country organizes the championship.

In the final match France defeated Croatia with 4-2. France secured the the World Cup trophy for the second time since 1998.

Watching free FIFA live stream

A TV live stream might be provided by local TV stations to watch all or selected matches. If no free streaming services are available you can use video publishers like YouTube or Netflix which offer live streaming for their customers. There might also be third party companies offering TV streaming over the internet for the FIFA Worldcup.

Committee decision from 2010

FIFA decided that the 2018 World Cup venue would be chosen in conjunction with that of 2022 at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the organization, held in Zurich, Switzerland, on December 2, 2010. The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be held in the three countries of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Making it the first time a FIFA World Cup is held in more than one country.

FIFA World Cup trophyAccording to the system of continental rotation implemented by FIFA, the member or associated associations of CAF and CONMEBOL were banned from participating in this bid. As a result, Russia officially submitted its candidature alongside those of Japan, South Korea, Australia, Belgium-Netherlands, England, Spain-Portugal, the United States and Qatar. Finally, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Qatar and the United States withdrew a few months before the decision to focus on the 2022 election.

In the first round of the vote, England reached two votes, the Netherlands-Belgium won four, Spain-Portugal reached seven and Russia won nine. As the necessary majority of twelve did not reach, England was eliminated because it was the candidate with the least support and a second round was necessary. Here Russia got thirteen on the seven that the Iberian pair received and the two that received the Belgium-Netherlands candidacy.

After the election, Vladimir Putin, the then Russian prime minister, said that "Russia 2018 will be fantastic" and planned the construction of new stadiums and the presence of "the highest quality standards". On his part, Blatter made the official trip to the selected country and assured "that there will be a wonderful cooperation between FIFA and Russia". Russia confirmed twelve stadiums in 11 cities for the World Cup: Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi and Volgograd, which will host all 64 World Cup matches.

Of the twelve stadiums designated, only two were fully completed at the time of their election as headquarters, which had to be remodeled so that they could host the matches. Another, the Spartak in Moscow, was inaugurated in August 2014. The others, including the Luzhnikí in that same capital and with capacity for 81,300 spectators (main venue and the largest stadium), began to be built in later years.

As a way to reduce the distances, times and costs of equipment transfers, only cities that are in the European part of the country (the most densely populated and developed) were chosen, with the exception of Yekaterinburg, which is located in Asia just east of the Ural Mountains.

Matches

Portugal vs Morocco (Group B)

Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia (Group A)

Iran vs Spain (Group B)


Thursday 21 June

Denmark vs Australia (Group C)

France vs Peru (Group C)

Argentina vs Croatia (Group D)


Friday 22 June

Brazil vs Costa Rica (Group E)

Nigeria vs Iceland (Group D)

Serbia vs Switzerland (Group E)


Saturday 23 June

Belgium vs Tunisia (Group G)

South Korea vs Mexico (Group F)

Germany v Sweden (Group F)


Sunday 24 June

England vs Panama (Group G)

Japan vs Senegal (Group H)

Poland vs Colombia (Group H)


Monday 25 June

Uruguay vs Russia (Group A)

Saudi Arabia vs Egypt (Group A)

Spain vs Morocco (Group B)

Iran vs Portugal (Group B)


Tuesday 26 June

Denmark vs France (Group C)

Australia vs Peru (Group C)

Nigeria vs Argentina (Group D)

Iceland vs Croatia (Group D)


Wednesday 27 June

South Korea vs Germany (Group F)

Mexico vs Sweden (Group F)

Serbia vs Brazil (Group E)

Switzerland vs Costa Rica (Group E)


Thursday 28 June

Japan vs Poland (Group H)

Senegal vs Colombia (Group H)

England vs Belgium (Group G)

Panama vs Tunisia (Group G)

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Retro consoles

The modern retro gaming revival with retro-consoles and dedicated consoles started around 2001 with some Jakk's Pacific TV games. 2004 saw the Atari Flashback. The same year the C64 Direct-to-TV was released. A joystick modeled after the Competition Pro joystick with some 30+ games built-in, then the C-One. But it really kicked off in the 201X with for example the Nintendo Classic Mini from 2016, the C64 Mini from 2018 as well as the Atari VCS, formally known as Ataribox.

Don't get me wrong, I love retrogaming. But I would not go with any of these. Well may be the Jakk's Pacific, as it doesn't claim to be any computer. And the C-One at least had a 6502 clone as hardware. But in my opinion most are just software emulators with a modern CPU (usually ARM), running on Linux in a fancy box. And like in the case of the C64 Mini not even have a functioning keyboard. You can instead go with any emulator, like VICE, running it on your modern PC. That is free of charge.

It's okay for me though to recreate an original main board, add the vintage CPU (or a modern clone) and other support chips to a new retro console. Even add some logic to handle USB for an external keyboard or joystick and an HDMI jack.

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