Speedometer

3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  speedometer
       n : a meter fixed to a vehicle that measures and displays its
           speed [syn: {speed indicator}]

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:



  speedometer n. A pattern of lights displayed on a linear set of LEDs
     (today) or nixie tubes (yesterday, on ancient mainframes). The pattern
     is shifted left every N times the operating system goes through its
     {main loop}. A swiftly moving pattern indicates that the system is
     mostly idle; the speedometer slows down as the system becomes
     overloaded. The speedometer on Sun Microsystems hardware bounces back
     and forth like the eyes on one of the Cylons from the wretched
     "Battlestar Galactica" TV series.
  
     Historical note: One computer, the GE 600 (later Honeywell 6000)
     actually had an _analog_ speedometer on the front panel, calibrated in
     instructions executed per second.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  speedometer
       
          A pattern of lights displayed on a linear set of LEDs (today)
          or nixie tubes (yesterday, on ancient mainframes).  The
          pattern is shifted left every N times the operating system
          goes through its {main loop}.  A swiftly moving pattern
          indicates that the system is mostly idle; the speedometer
          slows down as the system becomes overloaded.  The speedometer
          on Sun Microsystems hardware bounces back and forth like the
          eyes on one of the Cylons from the wretched "Battlestar
          Galactica" TV series.
       
          Historical note: One computer, the GE 600 (later Honeywell
          6000) actually had an *analog* speedometer on the front panel,
          calibrated in instructions executed per second.
       
          [{Jargon File}]