Category Archives: Industrial and Rugged Computer News

Gathering on news from various sources regarding industrial and rugged computer news.

Jan 24 0 comments
Industrial and Rugged Computer News, Vehicle Mount Computer

Computer training to include exposure to industrial vehicle mount computer

With computer training so widely available in the US and Canada, it’s sometimes hard to decide among all the it training companies and the courses they offer. Here are some tips for choosing the right it training solutions.

Tip #1 – Look for a Field Trained Faculty
The best IT training contains a balance of theory and practice. The training company’s faculty have balance of experienced industry professionals and academicians.

Tip #2 – Look for Accreditation
A successful it training institute should offer courses that prepare students to take exams that lead to certification by Microsoft and Cisco

Tip #3 – Look for Flexibility
In today’s competitive world, a successful it training center needs to be flexible in order to attract the best students. There should be both full-time and part-time programs that offer both certificates and transferable credits.

In this competitive world, technology has grown at a fast pace. The advent of newer, smarter technology has formed the need for people capable of applying this technology to everyday life. In many ways those people connected with the field of information technology are pioneers of a new wave of communications. It’s key that there are professionals who can help design and supervise information systems which will allow businesses to further succeed in today’s marketplace. Computer IT training can provide tremendous benefits to employees seeking a productive career field.

Another way that this training can be beneficial is to includes industrial computer usage. Quite often, people in professions such as warehouse, military, public safety, electrical engineering, steel work, or the oil industry may require the use of fixed or vehicle computers to control certain operations within their field. There are certain kinds of hardware along with specialized software that come into play in such fields.

The benefits can be numerous for anyone who wants to work in this industry, as the need is always there for IT professionals. As computer technology gets to being an even more vital part of modern life, there is more to achieve from taking PC training courses, and eventually getting computer certification training, which is a major step towards gaining a job in any field.

Dec 16 0 comments
Industrial and Rugged Computer News, Phoenix 104, Phoenix 104e, Technology, Vehicle Mount Computer

Advantages of Windows Embedded CE 6.0

Let’s talk a little about the advantages of Windows CE 6.0 R3.  It is the latest release from Microsoft. But there are important advantages to the newest version and we will try to shed a little light in this area.

Microsoft lists 6 reasons why WinCE 6.0 is superior to 5.0

  1. Process address space is increased from 32MB to 1 GB.
  2. Number of processes has been increased to 32K from 32.
  3. User mode and kernel mode device drivers are possible.
  4. Device.exe, filesys.exe, GWES.exe has been moved to Kernel mode.
  5. SetKMode and set process permissions not possible.
  6. System call performance will improve

These highly technical reasons focus exclusively on the internals of the operating system and are mostly invisible to the developer or end user, with one exception.

The kernel is the core of the operating system. When Microsoft originally developed WinCE it was believed that many of the systems using it would be “headless appliances”, that is devices without displays or mass file storage. So the designers placed everything related to user interface and file systems outside of the kernel. This allowed the 32MB kernel memory space to contain more real core os features including monitoring and communications drivers, but keyboards, graphics, touch screens and file storage drivers all resided in the “Files” portion of memory and require a task switch to access the rest of the OS. Moving everything into the kernel means less task switching for the OS, resulting in faster execution of applications. Some estimates go as high as 20% faster execution for applications with high levels of graphics interface, such as on screen mapping.

But there are additional reasons why WinCE 6.0 is superior to 5.0.

  1. WinCE 6.0 is fully integrated with Visual Studio 2005. This allows application developers to use the same tools for Windows development as was used for the WinCE development. Visual Studio 2005 also contains an emulation feature which allows application development to begin before hardware has been purchased.
  2. .NET 3.5 in natively supported in the OS and doesn’t have to be added by your application, keeping your applications smaller.
  3. WinCE 6.0 R3 includes Internet Explorer Embedded and Silverlight which allows more robust browser applications to be written.
  4. WinCE 6.0 includes AYGShell API, which ensures compatibility with Windows Mobile applications. This can be important for applications intended to be used by both Vehicle computers and Windows Mobile based handhelds.
  5. Bluetooth is an integrated driver in WinCE 6.0 and works more seamlessly in the OS and faster as its part of the kernel as described above.
  6. WinCE 6.0 R3 includes Touch Gestures, similar to what is used in iPhones, opening up the possibly of a whole new generation of exciting applications.

So while many hardware vendors are still selling forklift computers and mobile data terminals  based on Windows CE 5.0 or even 4.2, it’s important to look for devices that use WinCE 6.0 to get the most out of your application!

If you want to learn more visit http://www.e-consystems.com/WindowsCE5vs6.asp or http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee504812.aspx.

Dec 10 0 comments
Industrial and Rugged Computer News

IBM and Its Industrial Computer

Shameless Plug from IBM: The Contributor of this Post

An industrial PC is always preferable for a variety of industrial applications, based on the search for an X86 computer.  An X86 is actually one of the most successful architectures in personal computing and started by the processor than Intel’s 8086th. In order to develop it into a useful product for various industries, IBM decided to go with their product designated as a 5531 model in 1984. One year later – published in May 1985 – the second industrial PC was from> IBM in the market. This is the so-called IBM 7531st

IBM was just one of many companies that designed an industrial PC for the consumption of several industries. What followed soon after IBM’s initial design, was multiple other computer brands and names on the market. This marked the beginning of the use of industrial products for various applications.

Industrial PC features

The real purpose of the use of industrial PC’s is offering to ease in process control and data acquisitionTransactions for various industries. However, used in a larger environment in which other computers for distributed processing is the industrial product used primarily as a support for the system.

Characteristics of industrial computer

Industrial computers are more reliable and expandable than the area used for residential purposes. They are also capable of working on a long-term end to the industry where they are applied. Since only a few industries use these products, theyare usually in smaller quantities than other consumer PCs produced. Due to the fact that industrial computers serve multiple purposes and occupy more space than computers for home offices, they are by sheer design more expensive.

Types of industrial PCs

There are many types of PCs in the Industrial PC category. One type is a panel PC, that is connected to the display or monitor in the same housing as the motherboard and other parts of the gadget. Although heavy Modelsare being offered on the market, this type of PC is often less costly than the other categories.

To update a simple computer model into a better model, some manufacturers use different operating systems and advanced processors which tends to increase the total cost of the product. Entry-level PCs to work with Linux systems and AMD processors. High-end processes on Microsoft Windows on an Intel processor, longer updated. In addition to the panel PC, other types of industrial PCs include notebooks, desktop and rackmount computers.

Dec 09 0 comments
Industrial and Rugged Computer News, Technology, Vehicle Mount Computer, forklift computer

Understanding the Nema and IP Rating Systems

Contribution by Ujiro

Electricity and water do not go together well, as I am sure that most people are aware. But dust is just as bad for electrical components as is water. Dust hangs in the size of tiny dust particles to larger particles that fall and nothing to hold. Dust can also consist of any materials from the benign skin cells in household dust, conductive metals and liquid particles, harmful for the electrical equipment. Dust also has the nasty habit of blocking filters.

Dust and water are often combined in an industrial environment, which is why electrical equipment, which is produced is operating in circumstances is a rating by both the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The European IP rating is a numerical standard, a piece of electrical equipment to the level of protection given the ERGO.

The IP–Rating is a two-digit number each digit a separate number code to indicate the protection, the lower the number, the lower the protection and the higher the number the harsher environment it can withstand. The first digit stands for the dust-protection that is granted, the second digit stands for waterproof protection. For example, is an IP65-computer with the highest possible protection (dust IP rating of 0 to 6), with a moderate level of waterproof protection enabling the unit to be protected from water jets, but not enough by immersion in water (water protection of 0 to 8).

The NEMA is very similar to the European system except that in most cases a single ascending number higher (13 is the highest), the number of higher degree of protection is granted. Although some ratings such as Nema 4 which to similar protection that does not offer protection IP65 Nema 4xoffer additional anti-corrosion protection (in most cases, the housing units would be made of stainless steel rather than mild steel therefore able, in the catering and manufacturing) are used.

Check the ratings on the Percon fixed and vehicle mount computer products.

Dec 09 0 comments
Industrial and Rugged Computer News, Partner Center, Vehicle Mount Computer, forklift computer

Responder Public Safety Equipment

No-Drill Computer Mounts Install Lightning Fast!

RAM (our vendor partner) Vehicle Computer Mounts are designed for the most popular cars (police, fire, EMS), forklifts, trucks and fleet vehicles on the road. These heavy-duty steel laptop bases are custom formed to fit specific vehicle models, providing a mounting platform for any RAM Laptop Mounting System. Using the front bench or passenger side seat rail bolts as attachment points, existing hardware in the vehicle is all that is required to secure these bases. If needed, however, additional hardware is supplied. Because of their unique ability to absorb damaging shock and vibration, RAM Mounting desks are the perfect choice for securing industrial vehicle mount computers and electronics of any type.