omniomni/omni-engineering huggingface dataset:
Mouse Systems. Mouse Systems Corporation (MSC), formerly Rodent Associates, was founded in 1982 by Steve Kirsch. The company was responsible for bringing the mouse to the IBM PC for the first time.

History
Mouse Systems' optical mouse, wired to a Sun workstation and an Atari 400 running Missile Command, attracted many observers at the October, 1982 Mini/Micro '82 conference in Anaheim, California, attended by over  people—and won a "best new product" award.

In 1984, MSC acquired rights to Mouse Draw from Microtex Industries, written by Doug Wolfgram. Mouse Systems wanted the software re-developed to look more like Apple's MacPaint so Wolfgram brought in co-developer John Bridges and together they re-wrote the program in C with an updated user interface and called it PCPaint. Millions of copies were shipped, primarily bundled with all their mice until 1987.

KYE Systems, producer of the Genius brand of mice, acquired Mouse Systems in 1990.

Technical details

Like all early optical mice, their debut product relied on a special metallic and reflective mousepad printed with a square grid of grey and blue tracking lines: as the device moved over the pad, light emitted by an LED was reflected by the pad onto an array of sensors whose output was processed by an on-board controller, which in turn supplied the host computer with machine-readable tracking data via an RS-232 serial port. When connected to a regular RS-232 port, an external power supply was required. Some mice would derive their power supply from the keyboard connector on the motherboard and came with a pass-through connector to be inserted before the keyboard cable.

Early Sun workstations used MSC optical mice exclusively. The mouse was connected via a dedicated connector with power, obviating the need for a separate power supply for the mouse. Initial models came with large mousepads with well-spaced lines, while later models were smaller and used a much tighter grid.

See also
 Mouse Systems ProAgio
 Optical mouse

References

Further reading

External links

 

1990 mergers and acquisitions
American companies established in 1982
American companies disestablished in 1990
Computer companies established in 1982
Computer companies disestablished in 1990
Defunct computer companies of the United States
Defunct computer hardware companies
IBM PALM processor. The PALM (Program All Logic in Microcode) is a 16-bit central processing unit (CPU) developed by IBM. It was used in the IBM 5100 Portable Computer, a predecessor of the IBM PC, and the IBM 5110 and IBM 5120 follow-on machines. It is likely PALM was also used in other IBM products as an embedded controller.

IBM referred to PALM as a microprocessor, though they used that term to mean a processor that executes microcode to implement a higher-level instruction set, rather than its conventional definition of a CPU on an integrated circuit. The PALM processor was a circuit board containing 13 bipolar gate arrays packaged in square metal cans, 3 conventional transistor–transistor logic (TTL) ICs in dual in-line packages, and 1 round metal can part.

The PALM was used to implement an emulator, which in turn could run machine instructions originally written for other machines; this is how IBM System/360 APL ran on the 5100.

PALM has a 16-bit data bus, with two additional bits used for parity.  PALM can directly address 64KB (64KiB) of memory.  The IBM 5100 could be configured with up to 64+KB (APL + BASIC ROMs make 64+KB) of Executable ROS (ROM) and up to 64KB of RAM.  A simple bank switching scheme was used to extend the address space.

In 1973, the IBM Los Gatos Scientific Center developed a portable computer prototype called SCAMP (Special Computer APL Machine Portable) based on the PALM processor with a Philips compact cassette drive, small CRT display, and full-function keyboard.

References

External links
 about various Microcode implementations

Pictures
Daves Old Computers, This page has a link with a picture of the IBM PALM circuit board as well as many photos of the IBM 5100.  The Maintenance Information Manual linked at the bottom of the page includes an appendix describing the microcode.

PALM
IBM microprocessors
Aero A.19. The Aero A.19 was a biplane fighter aircraft designed in Czechoslovakia in 1923 and considered by the Czech Air Force against its stablemates the A.18 and A.20. The A.18 was selected for production and development of the A.19 was abandoned.

Specifications (A.19)

See also

References

A019
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
1920s Czechoslovak fighter aircraft
Single-engined piston aircraft
Aero A.20. The Aero A.20 was a biplane fighter aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in 1923. It was evaluated for Czechoslovak Air Force service against Aero's competing A.18 and A.19 designs, a competition that the A.18 won, meaning that this aircraft never entered production, and only a single prototype was ever built.

Specifications (A.20)

See also

References

A020
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
1920s Czechoslovak fighter aircraft
Aero A.21. The Aero A.21 was a biplane military trainer aircraft developed in Czechoslovakia from the Aero A.11 reconnaissance-bomber. The aircraft was developed specifically as a night-trainer, to teach Czech Air Force pilots instrument flying techniques.

Specifications (A.21)

Operators
 Czechoslovakia.

See also

Citations

Bibliography

A021
Biplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
1920s Czechoslovak military trainer aircraft
Aero A.25. The Aero A.25 was a biplane military trainer aircraft developed in Czechoslovakia from the Aero A.11 reconnaissance-bomber and generally similar to the Aero A.21 night trainer.

Some A.25s were powered by the less powerful 134 kW (180 hp) Breitfeld & Danek Perun I engines, in which case they were designated Aero A.125.

Specifications (Aero A.25)

Operators
 Czechoslovakia

References

A025
Biplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
1920s Czechoslovak military trainer aircraft
Aero A.29. The Aero A.29 was a military biplane developed in Czechoslovakia from the ubiquitous Aero A.11 reconnaissance-bomber. Aero equipped it with floats and it served as a target tug for training anti-aircraft gunners.

Variants 
The A.29 was built with two engine types:
Breitfeld & Danek Perun II1927, 5 built.
Walter W-IV1930, 4 built

Specifications (A.29)

See also

References

A029
1920s Czechoslovak special-purpose aircraft
Floatplanes
Biplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1926
Aero A.23. The Aero A.23 was a Czechoslovakian airliner of the 1920s. Aero Vodochody had produced the first Czech airliner, the A.10, four of which had served with ČSA, the national airline. The A.23, another biplane, was bigger, more powerful, and could carry more passengers.

Design and development

The Avia A.23 was a single bay biplane with its wings mounted without stagger. Both wings were almost rectangular, though the tips were slightly angled; both carried light dihedral. The upper wing was a little larger in both span and chord and was in three parts, with a short centre-section held over the fuselage on a low cabane. The lower wing was in two parts and mounted on the lower fuselage, braced to the upper wing with a pair of outward-leaning, parallel interplane struts made of profiled steel tubes. Only the upper wings carried ailerons. The wings were two-spar wooden structures and were fabric covered.

Its single engine was an uncowled,  Walter-built Jupiter IV on a steel tube mounting and with a pair of long, airfoil-section fuel tanks placed on the upper wing near the ends of the centre-section. Behind its firewall, the fuselage, built from steel tubes, was rectangular in section and housed a passenger cabin   long fitted with six permanent and two folding seats. Each passenger in the fixed places had a window in the plywood walls. There was engine access via a hatch in the front of the cabin and a toilet at the back. Doors over the wings gave access to the cabin.  The A.23 was flown from an open, side-by-side cockpit in the upper fuselage aft of the cabin, with the captain on the left and the second pilot/radio operator on his right. A door below the right-hand seat gave access to the engine hatch via the cabin. The cockpit was normally accessed through a low, tetragonal, port-side door.  Behind them was a baggage hold.

The A.23's straight-edged tailplane, mounted on the upper fuselage and strut-braced from below, was adjustable in flight and carried separate rounded, balanced elevators.  Its fin was small, with a large, rounded, balanced rudder which extended down to the keel and worked in a gap between the elevators. All components were steel-framed and fabric-covered.

Its fixed, conventional undercarriage originally had mainwheels on a single axle, mounted on V-struts from the lower fuselage with wire cross-bracing. The rear components of the V-struts had rubber disc shock absorbers. By May 1928 the axle had gone and the landing gear was made more robust with a transverse X-strut. A castoring steel tailskid had its rubber shock absorber.

Operational history

The first A.23 flew in 1926. From 1928, seven A.23s flew ČSA's Prague-Marienbad (Mariánské Lázně) and Prague-Uzhhorod; some remained in service until 1936.

Operators

ČSA

Specifications

See also

References

1920s Czechoslovak airliners
A023
Biplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1926
Aero A-24. The Aero A-24 (also referred to as the A.24) was a twin-engined biplane bomber aircraft of the 1920s. Flight tests showed it to be severely underpowered, making it useless as a combat aircraft. Only a single prototype was built.

Aero proposed a variant designated the A-27 that was to have overcome the A-24's shortcomings by re-engining the design with Bristol Jupiters, but the Czech Air Force was not interested in pursuing this option, and all development ceased.

Specifications (A-24)

See also

References

External links

A-24
Cancelled military aircraft projects
1920s Czechoslovak bomber aircraft
Biplanes
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
Aero A.26. 

The Aero A.26 was a Czechoslovakian military reconnaissance biplane aircraft built by Aero Vodochody in the 1920s. It was Aero's last design to be based on the Hansa-Brandenburg B.I aircraft that the company had been building under licence during World War I as the Ae.10.

It first flew in 1923 and a small series was built. They were later used in the Czechoslovak civilian aviation.

Specifications

Operators

See also

External links
Photo at Ugolok Neba site
Photos

1920s Czechoslovak military reconnaissance aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
A026
Biplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1923
Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear
Single-engined piston aircraft
Grace (plotting tool). Grace is a free WYSIWYG 2D graph plotting tool, for Unix-like operating systems. The package name stands for "GRaphing, Advanced Computation and Exploration of data." Grace uses the X Window System and Motif for its GUI. It has been ported to VMS, OS/2, and Windows 9*/NT/2000/XP (on Cygwin). In 1996, Linux Journal described Xmgr (an early name for Grace) as one of the two most prominent graphing packages for Linux.

History
Grace is a descendant of the ACE/gr plotting tool (also known as Xvgr), based on Xview libraries from OpenWindows. Xvgr was originally written by Paul Turner of Portland, Oregon, who continued development until version 4.00. In 1996, development was taken over by the ACE/gr development team, led by Evgeny Stambulchik at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Development of Xmgr was frozen at version 4.1.2 in 1998 and the Grace project was started as a fork, released under the GPL. The name stands for "GRaphing, Advanced Computation and Exploration of data" or "Grace Revamps ACE/gr" Turner still maintains a non-public version of Xmgr for internal use. The first version of Grace was numbered 5.0.0 and the latest stable version, 5.1.25 (released February 2015). Whether the development of the next major release 6.0.0 is still in progress is unclear. The latest preview versions numbered 5.99.* were released in 2007.

Currently maintained versions

Noteworthy alternate versions of Grace include GraceGTK, forked from Grace 5.1.22 in 2009 by Patrick Vincent, and QtGrace, released in 2011 by Andreas Winter.

Both of these versions of Grace work natively on Windows operating systems and had releases in 2022.

Features
Grace can be used from a point-and-click interface or scripted (using either the built-in programming language or a number of language bindings). It performs both linear and nonlinear least-squares fitting to arbitrarily complex user-defined functions, with or without constraints. Other analysis tools include FFT, integration and differentiation, splines, interpolation, and smoothing.

Programs using Grace
 GROMACS
 MOLPRO
 NAMD
 Visual Molecular Dynamics
 AptPlot

See also

 List of graphing software

References

External links
 Grace Home page
 ACE/gr Home page
 QtGrace Home page
 GraceGTK Home page

Free plotting software
Plotting software
Software that uses Motif (software)
X Window programs
Dragon Data. Dragon Data Ltd. was a Welsh producer of home computers during the early 1980s. These computers, the Dragon 32 and Dragon 64, strongly resembled the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer ("CoCo")—both followed a standard Motorola datasheet configuration for the three key components (CPU, SAM and VDG). The machines came in both 32 KB and (later) 64 KB versions.

History 

The history of Dragon Data in the period 1982–84 was a checkered one. 

The company was originally set up by toy company Mettoy, and after initial good sales looked to have a bright future. At its high point it entered negotiations with Rexnord's Tano Corporation to form a North American branch. 

Mettoy then suffered financial difficulties, casting a shadow on the future of Dragon Data before it was spun off as a separate company. However, a number of circumstances (the delay in introducing the 64K model, poor colour support with a maximum of 4 colours displayable in "graphics mode" and only 2 colours in the highest 256 × 192 pixel mode, the late introduction of the external disk unit and of the supporting OS9-based software) caused the company to lose market share.

To combat this, under the control of GEC, Dragon Data worked on the next generation of Dragon computers; the Dragon Alpha (or Professional) and Beta (or 128). These systems only made it to the prototype stage before the business went into receivership and was sold on to the Spanish startup Eurohard in 1984. 

Eurohard also suffered financial problems and went into receivership a couple of years later after the release of the Dragon 200 (a rebranded Dragon 64).

In addition to the Dragon 32 and 64, an MSX-compatible machine, the Dragon MSX reached the prototype stage.

References

External links
A Slayed Beast - History of the Dragon computer – From The DRAGON Archive
Dedicated DRAGON wiki

 
Defunct computer hardware companies
Defunct computer companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct companies of Wales
Home computer hardware companies
Computer companies established in 1982
Computer companies disestablished in 1984
1982 establishments in Wales
1984 disestablishments in Wales
Manufacturing companies of Wales
Laminar Research. Laminar Research is a small software company based in Columbia, South Carolina, and dedicated to providing software that accurately reflects the laws of physics. Laminar's flagship product is the flight simulator X-Plane. The game works with Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, and Linux. They also have mobile versions for iPhone, iPad, and Android.

In 2004, Laminar Research released the software Space Combat.

Laminar also produced a Mecha simulator titled Young's Modulus.

In October 2012, Laminar Research announced that they were being sued by Uniloc over an alleged patent infringement. Austin Meyer produced a documentary film called The Patent Scam, about his experiences being sued by Uniloc.

In May 2017, X-Plane 11 was released, a major iteration in their flight simulator. X-Plane 11 is available in both a consumer version, as well as a Federal Aviation Administration certifiable professional version.

In January 2022, Laminar Research announced the release of their upcoming next-generation simulation game, X-Plane 12. It is slated to feature an overhaul of its weather engine, in addition to new aircraft.

In September 2022, Laminar Research published the "early access" demo of X-Plane 12 and started selling it in their website. In December 2022, X-Plane 12 was released.

References

External links
 

Privately held companies based in South Carolina
Companies based in Columbia, South Carolina
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Mace (spray). Mace is the brand name of an early type of aerosol self-defense spray invented by Alan Lee Litman in the 1960s. The first commercial product of its type, Litman's design packaged phenacyl chloride (CN) tear gas dissolved in hydrocarbon solvents into a small aerosol spray can, usable in many environments and strong enough to act as a deterrent and incapacitant when sprayed in the face.

A generic trademark, its popularity led to the name "mace" being commonly used for other defense sprays regardless of their composition, and for the term "maced" to be used to reference being pepper sprayed. It is unrelated to the spice mace.

History
The original formulation consisted of 1% chloroacetophenone (CN) in a solvent of 2-butanol, propylene glycol, cyclohexene, and dipropylene glycol methyl ether. Chemical Mace was originally developed in the 1960s by Allan Lee Litman and his wife, Doris Litman, after one of Doris's female colleagues was robbed in Pittsburgh. In 1987, Chemical Mace was sold to Smith & Wesson and manufactured by their Lake Erie Chemical division. Smith & Wesson subsequently transferred ownership to Jon E. Goodrich along with the rest of the chemical division in what is now Mace Security International, which also owns federal trademark registrations for the term "mace".

Historically, "chemical mace" was the development of irritant with the active ingredient called phenacyl chloride (CN) to incapacitate others whereas the term "Mace" is a trademarked term for use on personal defense sprays. Though the design has been expanded on, the original chemical mace formula using only CN has since been discontinued. Due to the potentially toxic nature of CN and the generally superior incapacitating qualities of oleoresin capsicum (OC) pepper spray in most situations, the early CN has been mostly supplanted by OC formulas in police use, although Mace Security International still retains a popular "Triple Action" formula combining CN, OC and an ultraviolet marker dye.

References

External links

 Official site of manufacturer Mace Security International
 Official Pepper Spray Laws
 

American inventions
Lachrymatory agents
Products introduced in 1965
Self-defense
Stun guns
USS Hazelwood (DD-107). USS Hazelwood (DD-107) was a  built for the United States Navy during World War I.

Description
The Wickes class was an improved and faster version of the preceding . Two different designs were prepared to the same specification that mainly differed in the turbines and boilers used. The ships built to the Bethlehem Steel design, built in the Fore River and Union Iron Works shipyards, mostly used Yarrow boilers that deteriorated badly during service and were mostly scrapped during the 1930s. The ships displaced  at standard load and  at deep load. They had an overall length of , a beam of  and a draught of . They had a crew of 6 officers and 108 enlisted men.

Performance differed radically between the ships of the class, often due to poor workmanship. The Wickes class was powered by two steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce a total of  intended to reach a speed of . The ships carried  of fuel oil which was intended gave them a range of  at .

The ships were armed with four 4-inch (102 mm) guns in single mounts and were fitted with two  1-pounder guns for anti-aircraft defense. Their primary weapon, though, was their torpedo battery of a dozen 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in four triple mounts. In many ships a shortage of 1-pounders caused them to be replaced by 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft (AA) guns. They also carried a pair of depth charge rails. A "Y-gun" depth charge thrower was added to many ships.

Construction and career
Hazelwood, named in honor of John Hazelwood, was laid down 24 December 1917 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, launched 22 June 1918 and commissioned 20 February 1919. Following shakedown and a voyage to Norfolk for supplies, Hazelwood departed New York for the Mediterranean 15 April 1919. Reaching Gibraltar 9 May, she participated in training and served as escort to Arizona (BB-39). After patrolling the Mediterranean, she departed Malta 28 July and arrived New York 13 August. Next day she got underway for her new home waters, the Pacific. Sailing via Cuba and Panama, she arrived at San Francisco 5 September. After operations along the West Coast, she decommissioned at San Diego 7 July 1922.

Hazelwood recommissioned 1 April 1925, and participated in training and readiness exercises with units of the Pacific Fleet for the next five years. She decommissioned again 15 November 1930, at San Diego, was sold to Learner and Rosenthal 30 August 1935, and was scrapped 14 April 1935.

Notes

References

External links
 NavSource Photos

Wickes-class destroyers
Ships built in San Francisco
1918 ships
Albert H. Crews. Albert Hanlin "Al" Crews Jr. (born March 23, 1929), (Col, USAF, Ret.), is a former American chemical and aeronautical engineer, and U.S. Air Force astronaut.

Early life and education
He was born on March 23, 1929, in El Dorado, Arkansas. He graduated in 1950 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then named Southwestern Louisiana Institute) with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering. He earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology in 1959.

Test pilot

As a USAF Test Pilot School graduate, he was selected as a military astronaut designee in the second group of X-20 Dyna-Soar astronauts on April 20, 1962, and assigned as a Dyna-Soar pilot on September 20, 1962. The Dyna-Soar program was cancelled in 1963. On November 12, 1965, he was selected as an astronaut in the first group for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. He transferred to NASA Flight Crew Directorate at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, in June 1969 when the MOL program was cancelled. He remained a pilot for NASA, flying such aircraft as the "Super Guppy" outsize cargo transport, the WB-57F atmospheric research aircraft and the OV-095 SAIL Space Shuttle simulator until he retired at age 65.

Personal life
He is married, with three children from his previous marriage.

References

External links

Astronautix biography of Albert H. Crews Jr.
Spacefacts biography of Albert H. Crews Jr.
Lost space dreams: How Al Crews missed out on becoming an astronaut - twice

1929 births
Living people
People from El Dorado, Arkansas
Military personnel from Arkansas
NASA people
American astronauts
Aviators from Arkansas
American chemical engineers
American aerospace engineers
University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni
United States Air Force officers
Air Force Institute of Technology alumni
U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni
American test pilots