Saturday, March 15, 2008

USB Flash Drive

usb flash drive or any other flash memory drive is basically an EEPROM that means Electrically Erasable Programmable Read only Memory.

usb flash memory sticks are nothing but an assembly of EEPROM, a controller with a RISC microprocessor, RAM and ROM. All of this interacts with a computer using a usb controller and connector.

Because usb sticks are EEPROM, these can hold data for as long as 10 years. As these memory modules are shock proof and dont have a volatile memory, they are good enough to sustain shock and humidity. To some extent, they often undergo casual abuse that include being ran through a washing machine, or even dropped into coffee.

UBS thumb drives normally dont require drivers. But with few old operating systems like Windows 98 and Windows 95, you need drivers that are provided by the manufacturer. Latest OS consider usb drives as usb Mass storage devices and have built in support for these drive. This means that you dont need any drivers, you just plug in the drive and start using it.

Some linux versions might recognize it but wont let you use it until you manually mount the drive. To mount the drive manually, use the command:

mount vfat (drive to mount) (directory to mount at)

For eg. mount -vfat /dev/sda1/mnt/usbdrive

Manufacturers are also coming up with systems that have bios support for usb. This means that you can boot from the small usb drive. There are different versions of operating systems coming up that can be installed on a ROM and are so small to fit a usb drive as well. Most of these OS versions are linux based, for example Damm Small linux.

usb drives are mainly used to carry personnel data. But you need to be very careful with your personnel data nowadays. You can have anything in your personnel data collection that you have forgotten, for example your bank account details or anything. try using some encryption engine to secure your data. You can use encrypted file system over the usb drive. But by doing so, you will only be able to access your drive at few computers and not every single computer. Alternatively, you can have a encryption application that can run without installation from your usb. The best would be to use biometric USB drives.

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How To Buy Video Games For A Kid

Buying video games for a kid's birthday or Christmas can be challenging. All the different systems and games can be intimidating for anyone who doesn't play video games themselves. Luckily, the decision doesn't have to be overwhelming if you keep four things in mind. system. Genre. rating, and Reviews.

system What system should you buy a game for? Games are made to work on one specific system so you need to be sure you are buying the game for the correct system. Ask the kid or their parents what system they own. The main choices are: Playstation 2, xbox, gamecube, Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, Wii, Playstation 3, xbox 360, and PSP. Many kids own multiple systems too, so be sure you know which one they want a game for. They might own a system but never play with it anymore.

Genre What kind of game should I buy? Now that you have narrowed down your search to the right system, you have to choose the genre of game you will buy. The best way to do this is use what you know about the child. Do they play soccer? Buy a soccer game. Love watching football? Buy a football game. Do they skateboard or are they obsessed with cars? Buy a skateboarding game or racing game. Or do they really like a particular movie? Most major movies have a related video game you can buy.

rating- Is the game appropriate for the kid? Now you have honed in on the games you might want to buy but you have to be sure they are appropriate. video games have a rating system like movies, with E, E10, T, and M standing for Everyone, Everyone over 10, Teens, and Mature. If the child is seven, but sure the game you choose is not rated Mature or more than likely the parents won't be too happy.

Reviews- Is the game any good? just like movies, some video games are well made and fun and others are not. You want to be sure you don't buy little Tommy a car racing game that is so bad it doesn't matter how much he likes cars he is still not going to dislike the game. The best place to find reviews is online. You can go gamerankings and see all the reviews available for a game. They provide a percentage score and as long as the game above 60% you can be sure it will be good enough for a present.

Keep these four things in mind when shopping; system, Genre, rating, and Reviews. And you should be able to breeze through this daunting task and choose the video game that will make the kid's birthday all they wanted

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