I was probably about 10 when I discovered Burroughs, and spent next couple years devouring Mars (Barsoom), Venus, Pelucidar series, plus many individual books and the earlier Tarzan novels. Other than some dated attitudes on race and the role of the sexes, the content is all quite kid friendly (no sexual contact and little romance beyond profound yearning and obligation that often drove the plot; even uncivilized Tarzan's pursuit of Jane followed an arc altogether befitting his noble British pedigree; violence only following the pattern of necessary and justifiable acts by protagonists to counter villified acts by antagonists.)
There were two very different versions of SPICE - SPICE2 was a fortran program, and is the basis for the PC version PSPICE (Microsim>OrCAD>Cadence) and minicomputer version HSPICE, though many newer simulators are based on the code for spice3 re-written by a subsequent Berkeley effort in c. Its legacy in electronics engineering is such that even independently generated simulators (Eldo, spectre) rely on the conventions and methods from SPICE, though incorporating incremental improvements (a new algorithm here or there, and distinguishable mainly by how it differs from SPICE).
Bicycles are already illegal on the sidewalk in California. A few exceptions exist (for young children, certain unsafe streets where bicycle traffic is clearly posted to be rerouted to sidewalk...)
I worked for two decades for one of the leading power supply manufacturers. The fans that are presently used are both noisy AND of very marginal reliability. These fans use "sleeve bearings" as opposed to more reliable ball bearings. But before you fault the power supply companies, realize that although ball bearing fans are readily available (NMB, Pabst, etc.), they cost several dollars. Your typical high quality power supply (shipping to HP, Compaq, Dell etc.) sold in high volume in the range of 10-15 dollars as of 1999 with cheap fans, probably at the low end of that range today. Adding a couple bucks for a quality fan was _always_ ruled out by the computer maker as not worth the money.
There are plenty of sleeve bearing fans that are quiet, at least for the first thousand hours. The steady increase in noise is sufficiently gradual that you will always find that your new computer is much more quiet than your old piece of trash, giving you great satisfaction in your continued "upgrades" to the same level you started at.
Fortunately, most of these fans are a very standard form factor and can be swapped out easily with a high quality unit. Just don't expect this to ever be "standard equipment".
Initial note on credibility: I have been in the employ of the leading manufacturer of power supplies for more than a decade, in a highly technical role.
Your conclusions are accurate, but your actual data is wrong. The power is way too high to be wasting on every PC on the planet, but is in fact significantly lower than you measured. The power into a PC power supply cannot be estimated by measuring the AC current and multiplying times the known AC voltage. This would work with in-phase sine waves or DC, but not with the highly distorted current waveform present at the input of the power supply. Most of the measured current is in odd harmonics (3rd, 5th etc.) of the 60 Hz line. Multiplying a 180 hz current times a 60 Hz voltage will give alternating positive and negative power over time, with zero net power. (i.e. the 180 Hz power alternately flows from mains to computer, then from computer to mains). Your current meter measures this as part of the total current, though it doesn't reflect power. (Your local Utiliy's Wattmeter is not fooled - it reflects true power).
A Wattmeter is required, and the error can be 3x. (Actual power dissipated is lower is lower than you calculate.) This has been a real pain for a non obvious reason. Typically, we design equipment for use on a 10A service (assumed minimum size of fuse/circuit breaker; the ratings on wiring, wall sockets, etc.), which would imply that we could go up to 1200 W without problem even in a consumer environment. In fact, we will exceed 10A RMS on significantly lower power units. High power systems (750W and above) will almost always need an additional power stage, a Power Factor Correction (PFC) front end, which pulls power from the mains in a clean sinusoidal waveform to allow us to extract the maximum power at a given RMS current level.
Two upcoming related issues will increase the cost of power supplies: In Europe, there is already a new requirement on the books that will require that the level of harmonics in the current draw be reduces (same as saying that we will be required to make the input current look more sinusoidal). This will be a new requirement on low power (consumer sort of power level) equipment. Second, the "low power" energy savings modes will be made significantly more stringent, which will have significant impact not only on computers, but on all that consemer gear that stays alive waiting for your IR remote to tell it to power up. Even little wall-warts will be affected. the power drawn by old fashioned steel transformer based warts is on the order of a Watt or two - multiply that number times the number of cell phone chargers hanging off people's wall sockets 24 hours a day and you'll see staggering costs to society.
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I was probably about 10 when I discovered Burroughs, and spent next couple years devouring Mars (Barsoom), Venus, Pelucidar series, plus many individual books and the earlier Tarzan novels. Other than some dated attitudes on race and the role of the sexes, the content is all quite kid friendly (no sexual contact and little romance beyond profound yearning and obligation that often drove the plot; even uncivilized Tarzan's pursuit of Jane followed an arc altogether befitting his noble British pedigree; violence only following the pattern of necessary and justifiable acts by protagonists to counter villified acts by antagonists.)
There were two very different versions of SPICE - SPICE2 was a fortran program, and is the basis for the PC version PSPICE (Microsim>OrCAD>Cadence) and minicomputer version HSPICE, though many newer simulators are based on the code for spice3 re-written by a subsequent Berkeley effort in c. Its legacy in electronics engineering is such that even independently generated simulators (Eldo, spectre) rely on the conventions and methods from SPICE, though incorporating incremental improvements (a new algorithm here or there, and distinguishable mainly by how it differs from SPICE).
Bicycles are already illegal on the sidewalk in California. A few exceptions exist (for young children, certain unsafe streets where bicycle traffic is clearly posted to be rerouted to sidewalk...)
I feel a little sad that people's worlds are so limited that a shoot-em-up computer game even registers as world-changing. .
I worked for two decades for one of the leading power supply manufacturers. The fans that are presently used are both noisy AND of very marginal reliability. These fans use "sleeve bearings" as opposed to more reliable ball bearings. But before you fault the power supply companies, realize that although ball bearing fans are readily available (NMB, Pabst, etc.), they cost several dollars. Your typical high quality power supply (shipping to HP, Compaq, Dell etc.) sold in high volume in the range of 10-15 dollars as of 1999 with cheap fans, probably at the low end of that range today. Adding a couple bucks for a quality fan was _always_ ruled out by the computer maker as not worth the money. There are plenty of sleeve bearing fans that are quiet, at least for the first thousand hours. The steady increase in noise is sufficiently gradual that you will always find that your new computer is much more quiet than your old piece of trash, giving you great satisfaction in your continued "upgrades" to the same level you started at. Fortunately, most of these fans are a very standard form factor and can be swapped out easily with a high quality unit. Just don't expect this to ever be "standard equipment".
Initial note on credibility: I have been in the employ of the leading manufacturer of power supplies for more than a decade, in a highly technical role.
Your conclusions are accurate, but your actual data is wrong. The power is way too high to be wasting on every PC on the planet, but is in fact significantly lower than you measured. The power into a PC power supply cannot be estimated by measuring the AC current and multiplying times the known AC voltage. This would work with in-phase sine waves or DC, but not with the highly distorted current waveform present at the input of the power supply. Most of the measured current is in odd harmonics (3rd, 5th etc.) of the 60 Hz line. Multiplying a 180 hz current times a 60 Hz voltage will give alternating positive and negative power over time, with zero net power. (i.e. the 180 Hz power alternately flows from mains to computer, then from computer to mains). Your current meter measures this as part of the total current, though it doesn't reflect power. (Your local Utiliy's Wattmeter is not fooled - it reflects true power).
A Wattmeter is required, and the error can be 3x. (Actual power dissipated is lower is lower than you calculate.) This has been a real pain for a non obvious reason. Typically, we design equipment for use on a 10A service (assumed minimum size of fuse/circuit breaker; the ratings on wiring, wall sockets, etc.), which would imply that we could go up to 1200 W without problem even in a consumer environment. In fact, we will exceed 10A RMS on significantly lower power units. High power systems (750W and above) will almost always need an additional power stage, a Power Factor Correction (PFC) front end, which pulls power from the mains in a clean sinusoidal waveform to allow us to extract the maximum power at a given RMS current level.
Two upcoming related issues will increase the cost of power supplies: In Europe, there is already a new requirement on the books that will require that the level of harmonics in the current draw be reduces (same as saying that we will be required to make the input current look more sinusoidal). This will be a new requirement on low power (consumer sort of power level) equipment. Second, the "low power" energy savings modes will be made significantly more stringent, which will have significant impact not only on computers, but on all that consemer gear that stays alive waiting for your IR remote to tell it to power up. Even little wall-warts will be affected. the power drawn by old fashioned steel transformer based warts is on the order of a Watt or two - multiply that number times the number of cell phone chargers hanging off people's wall sockets 24 hours a day and you'll see staggering costs to society.