Ten Ways to Save Petrol

1. Shop around: check out www.mynrma.com.au/petrolwatch for the cheapest daily petrol in Sydney.
2. Refuel when prices are low: not when your tank is empty.
3. Fill up early: petrol is usually cheapest to buy on Monday and early Tuesday. Save more than $200 a year by buying petrol early in the week.
4. Avoid hard acceleration and braking: flow with the traffic - smooth driving can reduce fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent. Don't rest your left foot on the brake of an automatic vehicle - the extra drag increases fuel consumption by five per cent.
5. Watch your speed: by travelling at 90 km/h rather than 110 km/h you can reduce fuel consumption by 10 per cent or more.
6. Lighten the load: take off roof-racks and bullbars if they're not needed. Remove golf clubs or tools if you're not using them - and reduce fuel consumption by up to five per cent. Keep your tyre pressure towards the top of the manufacturer's recommended range.
7. Switch off: when stuck in traffic for any length of time turn the key to the "accessory" position (not to "off") and if an automatic transmission, shift to "park". Vehicles fitted with this feature typically reduce fuel consumption in urban areas by up to 15 per cent.
8. Open the windows: when the weather is fine, switch off the air-conditioning. This reduces fuel consumption by up to 10 per cent in urban driving.
9. Shop smart: take advantage of a range of shopper docket schemes.
10. Service your car regularly: blocked air filters can increase fuel consumption significantly.

Beneficiaols walkie-talkies

Walkie-talkies are handy for keeping in constant contact within a group. They operate at either 27 MHz or 409 MHz and do not require a licence as long as they meet the technical requirements set by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority. Walkie-talkies that operate at 409 MHz are usually smaller, and are suitable for short-range communication. The Office of the Telecommunications Authority provides lists of those models that do not require a licence.

One benefit of using a walkie-talkie is that it can be used to communicate with other hikers outside of your group. All hikers are encouraged to monitor channel 9 to pick up emergency calls from other hikers who could be within range. In this way, you might be able to offer assistance, or call in outside help in case of emergencies. You should make sure the tone squelch of your walkie-talkie is disabled and the code setting is "00", which will improve the reception and make it easier for you to make an emergency call should the need arise.

Direct Memory Access

DMA is an necessary characteristics of all modern computers, as it permits devices to transfer data without subjecting the CPU to a heavy in the clouds. or else, the CPU would have to copy each piece of data from the source to the destination, making it unavailable for other tasks. This situation is motivated because access to I/O devices over a peripheral bus is normally slower than regular system RAM. With DMA, the CPU obtains freed from this above your head and can do useful tasks during data transfer (though the CPU bus would be partly blocked by DMA). In the same way, a DMA engine in an embedded processor allows its dispensation element to issue a data transfer and carries on its own task while the data transfer is being performed.
A DMA transfer copies a block of memory from one device to another. While the CPU starts the transfer by issuing a DMA command, it does not execute it. For so-called "third party" DMA, as is usually used with the ISA bus, the transfer is executed by a DMA controller which is normally part of the motherboard chipset. More sophisticated bus designs such as PCI usually use bus mastering DMA, where the device takes control of the bus and makes the transfer itself. In an embedded processor or multiprocessor system-on-chip, it is a DMA engine linked to the on-chip bus that essentially administers the transfer of the data, in coordination with the flow control mechanisms of the on-chip bus.