August 28th, 2009
Dianne Rein asked:
A scuba diving computer can be a divers best friend. It will allow you to stay down longer than if you were diving off of tables. There are many types and/or styles of dive computers you can choose from. Which one is best is really personal preference and is suited to the way you dive. The following are some of the choices you will have when purchasing your dive computer.
Console Dive Computer
A console dive computer is attached to the rest of the equipment via a hose. The console dive computers typically come with a pressure gauge. The readouts are typically larger than on a wrist dive computer so they can also be easier on the eyes.
There are also options for a scuba dive computer to be mounted on your hose (this is the type we currently use) or clip onto your BC. Choose whichever is more comfortable for you and fits into your price range.
Wrist Dive Computer
The wrist dive computer is very popular. These types of computers look like large watches and are worn on the wrist. They will tell you all you need to know at a glance. Some wrist dive computers are also able to be mounted in a console.
Sometimes the faces may be a bit small for all the information the computer can display, so make sure you will be able to read it underwater.
Unless they are air integrated and wireless (see below) wrist dive computers usually do not come with a pressure gauge. One small disadvantage here is that these can be pretty easy to misplace/lose.
Air Integrated Dive Computer
Air integrated dive computers are becoming more commonplace. An air integrated computer measures the tank pressure and then calculates how much more time you have left at the current rate of air consumpetion. The air integrated dive computer will tell you how much time you can spend at any exertion level.
An air integrated computer replaces the need for a submersible pressure gauge (SPG). One downside of an air integrated computer is that if it fails, you lose information on how much air you have left in your tank. Dive over.
Nitrox Dive Computer
With nitrox diving becoming more and more common, so are computers that are nitrox compatible. Even if you aren’t diving with nitrox now, if you are even thinking of diving with nitrox in the future, it is probably worth it to purchase a nitrox dive computer. This will save you the expense of buying a whole new computer in the future. However, if don’t think you will ever dive with nitrox, then there is no reason to pay for this feature. A standard air computer is probably $100+ less than its nitrox counterpart.
Hoseless Dive Computer
The hoseless dive computer consists of the receiver (typically worn on the wrist or mounted on the BC) and a transmitor. The transmitor attaches to the high pressure port of the regulator first stage and then sends your air information, wirelessly, to the receiver. The receiver looks the same as normal dive computers.
This setup cuts down on the number of hoses you need. There are now even hoseless dive computers that can accept signal from multiple transmitors – so you can even keep an eye on your buddies air consumption. Of course, this capability is really for the more advanced technical divers who may use different tanks on one dive. And, of course, we are talking some pretty high price tags here.
So just think about how you dive and what capabilities you need. The right dive computer for one person can be completely wrong for another person. Choose one that you are comfortable with and one that is right for you wallet.
Website content
A scuba diving computer can be a divers best friend. It will allow you to stay down longer than if you were diving off of tables. There are many types and/or styles of dive computers you can choose from. Which one is best is really personal preference and is suited to the way you dive. The following are some of the choices you will have when purchasing your dive computer.
Console Dive Computer
A console dive computer is attached to the rest of the equipment via a hose. The console dive computers typically come with a pressure gauge. The readouts are typically larger than on a wrist dive computer so they can also be easier on the eyes.
There are also options for a scuba dive computer to be mounted on your hose (this is the type we currently use) or clip onto your BC. Choose whichever is more comfortable for you and fits into your price range.
Wrist Dive Computer
The wrist dive computer is very popular. These types of computers look like large watches and are worn on the wrist. They will tell you all you need to know at a glance. Some wrist dive computers are also able to be mounted in a console.
Sometimes the faces may be a bit small for all the information the computer can display, so make sure you will be able to read it underwater.
Unless they are air integrated and wireless (see below) wrist dive computers usually do not come with a pressure gauge. One small disadvantage here is that these can be pretty easy to misplace/lose.
Air Integrated Dive Computer
Air integrated dive computers are becoming more commonplace. An air integrated computer measures the tank pressure and then calculates how much more time you have left at the current rate of air consumpetion. The air integrated dive computer will tell you how much time you can spend at any exertion level.
An air integrated computer replaces the need for a submersible pressure gauge (SPG). One downside of an air integrated computer is that if it fails, you lose information on how much air you have left in your tank. Dive over.
Nitrox Dive Computer
With nitrox diving becoming more and more common, so are computers that are nitrox compatible. Even if you aren’t diving with nitrox now, if you are even thinking of diving with nitrox in the future, it is probably worth it to purchase a nitrox dive computer. This will save you the expense of buying a whole new computer in the future. However, if don’t think you will ever dive with nitrox, then there is no reason to pay for this feature. A standard air computer is probably $100+ less than its nitrox counterpart.
Hoseless Dive Computer
The hoseless dive computer consists of the receiver (typically worn on the wrist or mounted on the BC) and a transmitor. The transmitor attaches to the high pressure port of the regulator first stage and then sends your air information, wirelessly, to the receiver. The receiver looks the same as normal dive computers.
This setup cuts down on the number of hoses you need. There are now even hoseless dive computers that can accept signal from multiple transmitors – so you can even keep an eye on your buddies air consumption. Of course, this capability is really for the more advanced technical divers who may use different tanks on one dive. And, of course, we are talking some pretty high price tags here.
So just think about how you dive and what capabilities you need. The right dive computer for one person can be completely wrong for another person. Choose one that you are comfortable with and one that is right for you wallet.
Website content
Posted in 
Tags: 
Jason Roberts asked:
Taking the Quantum Leap
While it may seem that the evolution of computers is about at its end, that is not the case. The next generation of computers is quantum computers.
The reason behind continuing computer evolution is the continuing thirst we have for speed and capacity of our computers. Way back in 1947 an engineer and computing expert, Howard Aiken, predicted that all the United States need to satisfy its need for computers were six digital electronic computers. Other scientists and engineers that followed Aiken added to the volume they predicted as being adequately massive, but were also far too conservative.
What none were able to predict that scientific research would produce voluminous quantities of knowledge that needed to be computed and stored, nor did they predict the popularity of personal computers, and the existence of the Internet. In fact, it’s hard to predict if humankind will ever be satisfied with its computer power and volume.
A basic computer premise, called Moore’s Law, says that the number of a microprocessor’s transistors doubles every 18 months and will continue to do so. What this means is that by no later than 2030 the number of microprocessor circuits found in computers will be astronomically high. This will lead to the creation of quantum computers, whose design will use the power of molecules and atoms for processing and memory tasks. Quantum computers should be able to perform specific calculations billions of times more quickly than can the current computers that are based on silicon.
Quantum computers do exist today, though few and they’re all in the hands of scientists and scientific organizations. They are not for practical and common use – that is still many years away. The theory of quantum computers was developed in 1981 by Paul Benioff, a physicist with the Argonne National Laboratory. Benioff theorized going beyond the Turing Theory to a Turing machine with quantum capabilities.
Alan Turing created the Turing machine around 1935. This machine was made up of a tape whose length was unlimited and which he divided into small squares. Each square either held the symbol one or the symbol zero, or no symbol at all. He then created a reading-writing device that could read these zero and one symbols, which in turn gave these machines – the early computers – the instructions that initiated specific programs.
Benioff took this to the quantum level, saying that the reading-writing head and the tape would both exist in a quantum state. What this would mean is that those tape symbols one or zero could exist in a superposition that could be one and zero at the same time, or somewhere in between. Because of this the quantum Turing machine, in contrast to the standard Turing machine, could perform several calculations at once.
The standard Turing machine concept is what runs today’s silicon-based computers. In contrast, quantum computers encode computer information as quantum bits, called qubits. These qubits actually represent atoms that work together to act as a processor and as the computer’s memory. This ability to run multiple computations at one, and to contain several states at the same time, is what gives quantum computers the potential to be millions of times as powerful as today’s best supercomputers.
Quantum computers that have 30 qubits would, for example, have processing power equal to today’s computers that run at a speed of 10 teraflops (trillions of operations per second.) To put this in perspective, the typical computer of today runs at gigaflop speeds (billions of operations per second.
As our cry for more speed and more power from our computers continues, quantum computers are predicted to be a readily available product sometime in the not so distant future.
Website content
Taking the Quantum Leap
While it may seem that the evolution of computers is about at its end, that is not the case. The next generation of computers is quantum computers.
The reason behind continuing computer evolution is the continuing thirst we have for speed and capacity of our computers. Way back in 1947 an engineer and computing expert, Howard Aiken, predicted that all the United States need to satisfy its need for computers were six digital electronic computers. Other scientists and engineers that followed Aiken added to the volume they predicted as being adequately massive, but were also far too conservative.
What none were able to predict that scientific research would produce voluminous quantities of knowledge that needed to be computed and stored, nor did they predict the popularity of personal computers, and the existence of the Internet. In fact, it’s hard to predict if humankind will ever be satisfied with its computer power and volume.
A basic computer premise, called Moore’s Law, says that the number of a microprocessor’s transistors doubles every 18 months and will continue to do so. What this means is that by no later than 2030 the number of microprocessor circuits found in computers will be astronomically high. This will lead to the creation of quantum computers, whose design will use the power of molecules and atoms for processing and memory tasks. Quantum computers should be able to perform specific calculations billions of times more quickly than can the current computers that are based on silicon.
Quantum computers do exist today, though few and they’re all in the hands of scientists and scientific organizations. They are not for practical and common use – that is still many years away. The theory of quantum computers was developed in 1981 by Paul Benioff, a physicist with the Argonne National Laboratory. Benioff theorized going beyond the Turing Theory to a Turing machine with quantum capabilities.
Alan Turing created the Turing machine around 1935. This machine was made up of a tape whose length was unlimited and which he divided into small squares. Each square either held the symbol one or the symbol zero, or no symbol at all. He then created a reading-writing device that could read these zero and one symbols, which in turn gave these machines – the early computers – the instructions that initiated specific programs.
Benioff took this to the quantum level, saying that the reading-writing head and the tape would both exist in a quantum state. What this would mean is that those tape symbols one or zero could exist in a superposition that could be one and zero at the same time, or somewhere in between. Because of this the quantum Turing machine, in contrast to the standard Turing machine, could perform several calculations at once.
The standard Turing machine concept is what runs today’s silicon-based computers. In contrast, quantum computers encode computer information as quantum bits, called qubits. These qubits actually represent atoms that work together to act as a processor and as the computer’s memory. This ability to run multiple computations at one, and to contain several states at the same time, is what gives quantum computers the potential to be millions of times as powerful as today’s best supercomputers.
Quantum computers that have 30 qubits would, for example, have processing power equal to today’s computers that run at a speed of 10 teraflops (trillions of operations per second.) To put this in perspective, the typical computer of today runs at gigaflop speeds (billions of operations per second.
As our cry for more speed and more power from our computers continues, quantum computers are predicted to be a readily available product sometime in the not so distant future.
Website content