Hardware Books

I happpen to work for this company and I know a lot of the Aubuchons and the Morans. They are a good company to work for and the owners are very easy to talk to and are very personable. This is a family run company and they truly treat their employees like family. The third generation is running the company (CEO) and the fourth generation is in charge of the internet while the 5th generation was just born. The book is very well done and the pictures reflect what they had to endure and how they lasted 100 years. That is quite an accomplishment in todays big box store environment. A fascinating look at what the stores were like for the past 100 years and how they have changed to keep up with modern retailing and how they have adapted to the 21st century.

This book is written by an author who has written a number of useful tools employing auditory user interfaces. Thus the author is able to articulate the issues associated with audio interfaces. I particularly enjoyed reading about his solution techniques.

I bought this book which is written by experts of data converter design. It introduces some latest architectures I've not saw in other books. I can easily understood the basic idea to design delta-sigma ADCs. It is one of the greatest books.

So you say you found this old Adam computer and printer in the basement and you wonder what it will do?

Well,that turns out to be quite a good question, because Coleco produced two different Adams, without really telling much of anyone. The BASIC in the original Adams was really a version of Applesoft, although the manual sent with the machine was based on Radio Shack's BASIC. While this may not seem like much to us today, it was a big deal back then. If you follow the manual, the computer will not work.

Get this book. It tells you how the Adam really works. Searle knows what he is writing about. I suspect he was an Applesoft programmer, who found out that the Adam really was based upon Applesoft, not Radio Shack's system. His writing is clear, to the point, and demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the software.

He also happens to have a sense of humor, and the programming demonstrated is quite structured - something quite unique back then. Yes, it has problems when compared to the way we organize programs today, but if you knew how totally unstructured the language was back then, you'd be amazed that Searle presents it in a structured manner. An added bonus for programmers new to the old BASIC is that instruction is presented in careful bites, with a logical sequence that flows. I checked, and Searle also wrote a few BASIC books on the Apple; the experience and tips in here show that. Some tips in here will be hard to find anywhere else.

The book is easy to follow, easy to find information in, and well organized. It is a good companion to the original Adam.

Now, a caveat. If you have a later Adam, Coleco changed the BASIC. If your manual is one that follows Applesoft (how can you tell? A quick way is to go to the graphics section and follow the instructions. If the graphics refer to VLIN 0, 39 and you type that in and nothing happens, you have a later Adam.), don't buy this book. Your computer was changed and is based on the Radio Shack BASIC.

Yes, how weird! Remember, the personal computer industry was still in its infancy, and companies did all sorts of strange things. The Adam was a great idea for its time, but the implementation was botched. I liked the book, but where is the co-author?

The only problem with this book is that there are so many good Byte articles that didn't make the cut. Byte used to have a lot more articles of interest to programmers, and I wish more of those had made it. I would love to see a sequel.

The book has been a great help in troubleshooting printer problems and questions. Recommended to system admin!

The basic concept of ASDL broadband service to the home was developed many years ago. Then it took the telephone companies a very long time to learn enough about it to enable it to be brought to the home. Then in the last half dozen or so years it has become ubiquitous all around the country, and fiercely competitive.

Intially arguments were made that the home simply had no need for such fast communications. Today the same arguments are being made that the home has no need for gigabit level communications. What would you call it, 'Super Broadband?' But as before in countries around the world are pioneering Fiber To The Home (FTTH).

This book is a current up to the date review of FTTH, what has been done, what is being done, and where it is going. It is written by a series of experts from around the world who can relate what has been happening in their respective countries, companies, or organizations. These contributors include people from Korea, Japan and Sweden where pioneering work has already been done. It includes technology developers from Bell Labs, Morotola, British Telcom and more. This is the state of the art in FTTH.

Excellent book. It really helped me in my first PC build. Thorough description of all aspects of Building a PC. Excellent description of component selection. Great step by step guide to the PC build. A very good overview of post build procedures including: creating floppy boot discs, setting up raid and partitions, installing and setting up drivers, optimizing performance, maintenance, benchmarking, etc. However, the book would have been more useful if it had included a more thorough and extensive overview of Installing Windows.
ExtremeTech also published a companion book called, 'Build the Ultimate Custom PC' which does include a thorough overview of installing Windows, but it's not as thorough (in other aspects) as this book. It would have been nice if ExtremeTech had combined the 2 books into one more complete book. But as it is, Build the Ultimate Gaming PC is the best book that I've read on building a PC and I've read 4. It's relevant to building a PC for any purpose, not just gaming.
I also found a great DIY Guide to Building an AMD Socket 939 PC at HardwareZone.com. It's a little dated (summer 2004) but it's thorough, well written, easy to follow and free.

A great book for anyone who likes tinkering with the insides of the macintosh & would like to build their own!

This is a great book for the absolute beginner to the world of music recording on a PC. The only prerequisite is a basic understanding of how to operate a computer. The style is clear and direct - and with an appreciated dose of humility and humour. The reader gains confidence in building/modifying a PC so that it can successfully satisfy the demands of music recording software. Then the reader is guided through the selection of the audio-specific hardware and software required. The recording, editing and mixing of a multitrack song are then very clearly and thoroughly taught. Finally, the reader is shown how to create their first CD and, if they wish, how to publish it to the internet in the form of mp3 files.

Criticism might be leveled at the author because he is using a particular combination of hardware and software throughout the text (Steingberg's Cubase SX, Tascam's US-428 and Edirol's PCR-50). In my view, however, this is a sensible approach because the beginner faces an overwhelming number of possible combinations of gear (many of which may not work together!). Afterall, the world of PC audio recording has two major obstacles: the software and the hardware. This book saves you much time by giving you a working hardware setup which allows you to move directly to mastering the software. By using a setup that is tried, tested and true, you get results quickly and painlessly. In this sense, the author is doing the reader a huge favour. Renting this gear from your local music store won't break the bank and will allow you to gain some well-guided experience. After a couple of months, you'll be ready to decide on what gear configurations you want to actually purchase and (perhaps more to the point) you will have gotten a complete overview of how things work. In fact, you may have recorded and produced your first CD!

Well written, up to date and sorely needed. Highly recommended.