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Desktop computer

A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop ) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a stationary location on or near a desk (as opposed to a portable computer) due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply, motherboard (a printed circuit board with a microprocessor as the central processing unit, memory, bus, certain peripherals and other electronic components), disk storage (usually one or more hard disk drives, solid-state drives, optical disc drives, and in early models floppy disk drives); a keyboard and mouse for input; and a monitor, speakers, and, often, a printer for output. The case may be oriented horizontally or vertically and placed either underneath, beside, or on top of a desk.

Desktop computers with their cases oriented vertically are referred to as towers. As the majority of cases offered since the mid-1990s are in this form factor, the term desktop has been retronymically used to refer to modern cases offered in the traditional horizontal orientation.

Origins
Prior to the widespread use of microprocessors, a computer that could fit on a desk was considered remarkably small; the type of computers most commonly used were minicomputers, which, despite the name, were rather large and were "mini" only compared to the so-called "big iron". Early computers, and later the general purpose high throughput "mainframes", took up the space of a whole room. Minicomputers, on the contrary, generally fit into one or a few refrigerator-sized racks, or, for the few smaller ones, built into a fairly large desk, not put on top of it.

It was not until the 1970s when fully programmable computers appeared that could fit entirely on top of a desk. 1970 saw the introduction of the Datapoint 2200, a "smart" computer terminal complete with keyboard and monitor, was designed to connect with a mainframe computer but that did not stop owners from using its built-in computational abilities as a stand-alone desktop computer. The HP 9800 series, which started out as programmable calculators in 1971 but was programmable in BASIC by 1972, used a smaller version of a minicomputer design based on ROM memory and had small one-line LED alphanumeric displays and displayed graphics with a plotter. The Wang 2200 of 1973 had a full-size cathode-ray tube (CRT) and cassette tape storage. The IBM 5100 in 1975 had a small CRT display and could be programmed in BASIC and APL. These were generally expensive specialized computers sold for business or scientific uses.

Growth and development
Apple II, TRS-80 and Commodore PET were first generation personal home computers launched in 1977, which were aimed at the consumer market – rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists. Byte magazine referred to these three as the "1977 Trinity" of personal computing. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, desktop computers became the predominant type, the most popular being the IBM PC and its clones, followed by the Apple Macintosh, with the third-placed Commodore Amiga having some success in the mid-1980s but declining by the early 1990s.

Early personal computers, like the original IBM Personal Computer, were enclosed in a "desktop case", horizontally oriented to have the display screen placed on top, thus saving space on the user's actual desk, although these cases had to be sturdy enough to support the weight of CRT displays that were widespread at the time. Over the course of the 1990s, desktop cases gradually became less common than the more-accessible tower cases that may be located on the floor under or beside a desk rather than on a desk. Not only do these tower cases have more room for expansion, they have also freed up desk space for monitors which were becoming larger every year. Desktop cases, particularly the compact form factors, remain popular for corporate computing environments and kiosks. Some computer cases can be interchangeably positioned either horizontally (desktop) or upright (mini-tower).

Influential games such as Doom and Quake during the 1990s had pushed gamers and enthusiasts to frequently upgrade to the latest CPUs and graphics cards (3dfx, ATI, and Nvidia) for their desktops (usually a tower case) in order to run these applications, though this has slowed since the late 2000s as the growing popularity of Intel integrated graphics forced game developers to scale back. Creative Technology's Sound Blaster series were a de facto standard for sound cards in desktop PCs during the 1990s until the early 2000s, when they were reduced to a niche product, as OEM desktop PCs came with sound boards integrated directly onto the motherboard.

Decline
While desktops have long been the most common configuration for PCs, by the mid-2000s the growth shifted from desktops to laptops. Notably, while desktops were mainly produced in the United States, laptops had long been produced by contract manufacturers based in Asia, such as Foxconn. This shift led to the closure of the many desktop assembly plants in the United States by 2010. Another trend around this time was the increasing proportion of inexpensive base-configuration desktops being sold, hurting PC manufacturers such as Dell whose build-to-order customization of desktops relied on upselling added features to buyers.

Battery-powered portable computers had just a 2% worldwide market share in 1986. However, laptops have become increasingly popular, both for business and personal use. Around 109 million notebook PCs shipped worldwide in 2007, a growth of 33% compared to 2006. In 2008, it was estimated that 145.9 million notebooks were sold and that the number would grow in 2009 to 177.7 million. The third quarter of 2008 was the first time when worldwide notebook PC shipments exceeded desktops, with 38.6 million units versus 38.5 million units.

The sales breakdown of the Apple Macintosh has seen sales of desktop Macs staying mostly constant while being surpassed by that of Mac notebooks whose sales rate has grown considerably; seven out of ten Macs sold were laptops in 2009, a ratio projected to rise to three out of four by 2010. The change in sales of form factors is due to the desktop iMac moving from affordable G3 to upscale G4 model and subsequent releases are considered premium all-in-ones. By contrast, the MSRP of the MacBook laptop lines have dropped through successive generations such that the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro constitute the lowest price of entry to a Mac, with the exception of the even more inexpensive Mac Mini (albeit without a monitor and keyboard), and the MacBooks are the top-selling form factors of the Macintosh platform today.

The decades of development mean that most people already own desktop computers that meet their needs and have no need of buying a new one merely to keep pace with advancing technology. Notably, the successive release of new versions of Windows (Windows 95, 98, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and so on) had been drivers for the replacement of PCs in the 1990s, but this slowed in the 2000s due to the poor reception of Windows Vista over Windows XP. IDC analyst Jay Chou suggested that Windows 8 actually hurt sales of PCs in 2012, as businesses decided to stick with Windows 7 rather than upgrade. Some suggested that Microsoft had acknowledged "implicitly ringing the desktop PC death knell" as Windows 8 offered little upgrade in desktop PC functionality over Windows 7; instead, Windows 8's innovations were mostly on the mobile side.

The post-PC trend saw a decline in the sales of desktop and laptop PCs. The decline was attributed to increased power and applications of alternative computing devices, namely smartphones and tablet computers. Although most people exclusively use their smartphones and tablets for more basic tasks such as social media and casual gaming, these devices have in many instances replaced a second or third PC in the household that would have performed these tasks, though most families still retain a powerful PC for serious work.

Among PC form factors, desktops remain a staple in the enterprise market but lost popularity among home buyers. PC makers and electronics retailers responded by investing their engineering and marketing resources towards laptops (initially netbooks in the late 2000s, and then the higher-performance Ultrabooks from 2011 onwards), which manufacturers believed had more potential to revive the PC market than desktops.

In April 2017, StatCounter declared a "Milestone in technology history and end of an era" with the mobile Android operating system becoming more popular than Windows (the operating system that made desktops dominant over mainframe computers). Windows is still most popular on desktops (and laptops), while smartphones (and tablets) use Android or iOS.

Resurgence
Towards the middle of the 2010s, media sources began to question the existence of the post-PC trend, at least as conventionally defined, stating that the so-called post-PC devices are just other portable forms of PCs joining traditional desktop PCs which still have their own operation areas and evolve.

Although for casual use traditional desktops and laptops have seen a decline in sales, in 2018, global PC sales experienced a resurgence, driven by the business market. Desktops remain a solid fixture in the commercial and educational sectors. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), PC sales shot up 14.8% between 2020 and 2021 and desktop market grew faster than the laptop market in the second quarter of 2021. Total PC shipments during 2021 reached 348.8 million units, up 14.8% from 2020. This represents the highest level of shipments the PC market has seen since 2012. In addition, gaming desktops have seen a global revenue increase of 54% annually. For gaming the global market of gaming desktops, laptops, and monitors is expected to grow to 61.1 million shipments by the end of 2023, up from 42.1 million, with desktops growing from 15.1 million shipments to 19 million. PC gaming as a whole now accounts for 28% of the total gaming market as of 2017. This is partially due to the increasing affordability of desktop PCs.

Full-size
Full-sized desktops are characterized by separate display and processing components. These components are connected to each other by cables or wireless connections. They often come in a tower form factor. These computers are easy to customize and upgrade per user requirements, e.g. by expansion card.

Early extended-size (significantly larger than mainstream ATX case) tower computers sometimes were labeled as "deskside computers", but currently this naming being quite rare.

Compact

Compact desktops are reduced in physical proportions compared to full-sized desktops. They are typically small-sized, inexpensive, low-power computers designed for basic tasks such as web browsing, accessing web-based applications, document processing, and audio/video playback. Hardware specifications and processing power are usually reduced and hence make them less appropriate for running complex or resource-intensive applications. A nettop is a notable example of a compact desktop. A laptop without a screen can functionally be used as a compact desktop, sometimes called a "slabtop".

All-in-one
An all-in-one (AIO) desktop computer integrates the system's internal components into the same case as the display, thus occupying a smaller footprint (with fewer cables) than desktops that incorporate a tower. The All-in-one systems are rarely labeled as desktop computers.

Tower
In personal computing, a tower is a form factor of desktop computer case whose height is much greater than its width, thus having the appearance of an upstanding tower block.

Pizza box form factor
In computing, a pizza box enclosure is a design for desktop computers. Pizza box cases tend to be wide and flat, resembling pizza delivery boxes and thus the name.

Cube
Cube Workstations have a cube case enclosure to house the motherboard, PCI-E expansion cards, GPU, CPU, DRAM DIMM slots, computer cooling equipment, chipsets, I/O ports, hard disk drives, and solid-state drives.

Gaming computer
Gaming computers are desktop computers with high performance CPU, GPU, and RAM optimized for playing video games at high resolution and frame rates. Gaming computer peripheries usually include mechanical keyboards for faster response time, and a gaming computer mouse which can track higher dots per inch movement.

Home theater
These desktops are connected to home entertainment systems and typically used for amusement purpose. They come with high definition display, video graphics, surround sound and TV tuner systems to complement typical PC features.

Thin client / Internet appliance
Over time some traditional desktop computers have been replaced with thin clients utilizing off-site computing solutions like the cloud. As more services and applications are served over the internet from off-site servers, local computing needs decrease, this drives desktop computers to be smaller, cheaper, and need less powerful hardware. More applications and in some cases entire virtual desktops are moved off-site and the desktop computer runs only an operating system or a shell application while the actual content is served from a server. Thin client computers may do almost all of their computing on a virtual machine in another site. Internal, hosted virtual desktops can offer users a completely consistent experience from anywhere.

Workstation
Workstations are advanced class of personal computers designed for a user and more powerful than a regular PC but less powerful than a server in regular computing. They are capable of high-resolution and three-dimensional interfaces, and typically used to perform scientific and engineering work. Like server computers, they are often connected with other workstations. The main form-factor for this class is a Tower case, but most vendors produce compact or all-in-one low-end workstations. Most tower workstations can be converted to a rack-mount version.

Desktop server
Oriented for small business class of servers; typically entry-level server machines, with similar to workstation/gaming PC computing powers and with some mainstream servers features, but with only basic graphic abilities; and some desktop servers can be converted to workstations.

Quantum technology
On January 29, 2021, Shenzhen SpinQ Technology announced that they will release the first-ever desktop quantum computer. This will be a miniaturized version of their previous quantum computer based on the same technology (nuclear magnetic resonance) and will be 2 qubit device. Applications will mostly be educational for high school and college students. The company claims SpinQ will be released to the public by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Comparison with laptops
Desktops have an advantage over laptops in that the spare parts and extensions tend to be standardized, resulting in lower prices and greater availability. For example, the size and mounting of the motherboard are standardized into ATX, microATX, BTX or other form factors. Desktops have several standardized expansion slots, like conventional PCI or PCI Express, while laptops tend to have only one mini-PCI slot and one PC Card slot (or ExpressCard slot). Procedures for assembly and disassembly of desktops tend to be simple and standardized as well. This tends not to be the case for laptops, though adding or replacing some parts, like the optical drive, hard disk, or adding an extra memory module is often quite simple. This means that a desktop computer configuration, usually a tower case, can be customized and upgraded to a greater extent than laptops. This customization has kept tower cases popular among gamers and enthusiasts.

Another advantage of the desktop is that (apart from environmental concerns) power consumption is not as critical as in laptop computers because the desktop is exclusively powered from the wall socket. Desktop computers also provide more space for cooling fans and vents to dissipate heat, allowing enthusiasts to overclock with less risk. The two large microprocessor manufacturers, Intel and AMD, have developed special CPUs for mobile computers (i.e. laptops) that consume less power and lower heat, but with lower performance levels.

Laptop computers, conversely, offer portability that desktop systems (including small form factor and all-in-one desktops) cannot due to their compact size and clamshell design. The laptop's all-in-one design provides a built-in keyboard and a pointing device (such as a touchpad) for its user and can draw on power supplied by a rechargeable battery. Laptops also commonly integrate wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G, giving them a broader range of options for connecting to the internet, though this trend is changing as newer desktop computers come integrated with one or more of these technologies.

A desktop computer needs a UPS to handle electrical disturbances like short interruptions, blackouts, and spikes; achieving an on-battery time of more than 20–30 minutes for a desktop PC requires a large and expensive UPS. A laptop with a sufficiently charged battery can continue to be used for hours in case of a power outage and is not affected by short power interruptions and blackouts.

A desktop computer often has the advantage over a comparable laptop in computational capacity. Overclocking is often more feasible on a desktop than on a laptop; similarly, hardware add-ons such as discrete graphics co-processors may be possible to install only in a desktop.

title: Desktop computer


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Ashikaga Yoshiharu

Ashikaga Yoshiharu (足利 義晴) was the twelfth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate from 1521 through 1546 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of the eleventh shōgun Ashikaga Yoshizumi.

From a western perspective, Yoshiharu is significant, as he was shogun when the first contact of Japan with the European West took place in 1543. A Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan. In 1526, Yoshiharu invited archers from neighboring provinces to come to the capital for an archery contest.

Biography
His childhood name was Kameomaru (亀王丸). On 1 May 1521, after Shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane and Hosokawa Takakuni struggled for power over the shogunate and Yoshitane withdrew to Awaji Island, the way was clear for Minamoto-no Yoshiharu to be installed as shogun as he enters Kyoto.

In 1521, the Hosokawa Takakuni orchestrates the appointment of Yoshiharu as shōgun. By 1526, tumultuous events unfold, marked by the Kasai and Miyoshi rebellions. In 1528, the political landscape shifts dramatically as Yoshiharu is ousted by Miyoshi Nagamoto, setting the stage for a period of significant change.

The 1530s adds some complexities of the era, 1533 witnesses the eruption of the Ikkō rebellion. The pivotal year 1536 sees Emperor Go-Nara takes the throne, and by 1538, internal strife plagues the Koga Kubō's family, introducing new layers of discord. Later in 1546 sees Yoshiharu seeking refuge in Ōmi, while his son, Yoshiteru, assumes the role of shōgun in exile.

Not having any political power and repeatedly being forced out of the capital of Kyoto, Yoshiharu retired in 1546 over a political struggle between Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Hosokawa Harumoto making his son Ashikaga Yoshiteru the thirteenth shogun. He dies on 20 May 1550. Later in 1568, supported by Oda Nobunaga, his son Ashikaga Yoshiaki became the fifteenth shogun.

Family

 * Father: Ashikaga Yoshizumi
 * Mother: Hino Akiko
 * Wife: Keijuin (1514–1565)
 * Concubines:
 * Oodate Tsuneoki's daughter
 * Children:
 * Ashikaga Yoshiaki by Keijuin
 * Ashikaga Yoshiteru by Keijuin
 * Ashikaga Shuko (d. 1565)
 * Shiratori Yoshihisa (d. 1547)
 * daughter married Takeda Yoshimune
 * daughter married Miyoshi Yoshitsugu
 * daughter married Karasume Kosen
 * Nun in Hyokoji temple

Eras of Yoshiharu's bakufu
The years in which Yoshiharu was shōgun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.
 * Daiei (1521–1528)
 * Kyōroku (1528–1532)
 * Tenbun (1532–1555)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ashikaga Yoshiharu


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Jean-Charles de Borda

Jean-Charles, chevalier de Borda (4 May 1733 – 19 February 1799) was a French mathematician, physicist, and Navy officer.

Biography
Borda was born in the city of Dax to Jean‐Antoine de Borda and Jeanne‐Marie Thérèse de Lacroix. In 1756, Borda wrote Mémoire sur le mouvement des projectiles, a product of his work as a military engineer. For that, he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences in 1764.

Borda was a mariner and a scientist, spending time in the Caribbean testing out advances in chronometers. Between 1777 and 1778, he participated in the American Revolutionary War. In 1781, he was put in charge of several vessels in the French Navy. In 1782, he was captured by the English, and was returned to France shortly after. He returned as an engineer in the French Navy, making improvements to waterwheels and pumps. He was appointed as France's Inspector of Naval Shipbuilding in 1784, and with the assistance of the naval architect Jacques-Noël Sané in 1786 introduced a massive construction programme to revitalise the French navy based on the standard designs of Sané.

In 1770, Borda formulated a ranked preferential voting system that is referred to as the Borda count. The French Academy of Sciences used Borda's method to elect its members for about two decades until it was quashed by Napoleon Bonaparte who insisted that his own method be used after he became president of the Académie in 1801. The Borda count is in use today in some academic institutions, competitions and several political jurisdictions. The Borda count has also served as a basis for other methods such as the Quota Borda system, Black's method and Nanson's method.

In 1778, he published his method of reducing lunar distance for computing the longitude, still regarded as the best of several similar mathematical procedures for navigation and position fixing in pre-chronometer days. They were used, for example, by Lewis and Clark to measure their latitude and longitude during their exploration of the North-western United States.

Another of his contributions is his construction of the standard metre, basis of the metric system to correspond to the arc measurement of Delambre and Méchain. As an instrument maker, he improved the reflecting circle (invented by Tobias Mayer) and the repeating circle (invented by his assistant, Etienne Lenoir), the latter used to measure the meridian arc from Dunkirk to Barcelona by Delambre and Méchain.

Tables of logarithms
With the advent of the metric system, after the French Revolution it was decided that the quarter circle should be divided into 100 angular units, currently known as the gradian, instead of 90 degrees, and the gradian into 100 centesimal minutes of arc (centigrades) instead of 60 arc-minutes. This required the calculation of trigonometric tables and logarithms corresponding to the new unit and instruments for measuring angles in the new system.

Borda constructed instruments for measuring angles in the new units (the instrument could no longer be called a "sextant") which was later used in the arc measurement of the meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona by Delambre to determine the radius of the Earth and thus define the length of the metre. The tables of logarithms of sines, secants, and tangents were also required for the purposes of navigation. Borda was an enthusiast for the metric system and constructed tables of these logarithms starting in 1792 but their publication was delayed until after his death and only published in the Year IX (1801) as Tables of Logarithms of sines, secants, and tangents, co-secants, co-sines, and co-tangents for the Quarter of the Circle divided into 100 degrees, the degree into 100 minutes, and the minute into 100 seconds to ten decimals, and including his tables of logarithms to 7 decimals from 10,000 to 100,000 with tables for obtaining results to 10 decimals.

The division of the degree into hundredths was accompanied by the division of the day into 10 hours of 100 minutes (decimal time) and maps were required to show the new degrees of latitude and longitude. The Republican Calendar was abolished by Napoleon in 1806, but the 400-unit circle lived on as the Gradian.

Honours

 * Five French ships were named Borda in his honour.
 * The crater Borda on the Moon is named after him.
 * Asteroid 175726 has been called Borda in his honour.
 * His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.
 * Cape Borda on the northwest coast of Kangaroo Island in South Australia is named in his honour.
 * Île Borda was the name given to Kangaroo Island in his honour by Nicholas Baudin.
 * Borda count electoral method
 * Borda Rock in Antarctica is named after Jean-Charles de Borda.

Publications

 * Rapport sur le choix d'une unité de mesure, lu à l'Academie des sciences le 19 mars 1791 / imprimé par ordre de l'Assemblée nationale. With Marquis de Condorcet.

title: Jean-Charles de Borda


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Talk:Ashikaga Yoshiharu

Untitled
whoever wrote that he was born in 1151 probably meant 1511. My guess. 39 years would be a fair lifespan in the 1500s. of course it's better to find out for certain.

http://www.uchiyama.demon.nl/ngshoguns.htm lists his birthyear as 1511, and a more complete name: "Ashikaga Yoshiharu".

title: Talk:Ashikaga Yoshiharu


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Albireo

Albireo is a double star designated Beta Cygni (β Cygni, abbreviated Beta Cyg, β Cyg). The International Astronomical Union uses the name "Albireo" specifically for the brightest star in the system. Although designated 'beta', it is fainter than Gamma Cygni, Delta Cygni, and Epsilon Cygni and is the fifth-brightest point of light in the constellation of Cygnus. Appearing to the naked eye to be a single star of magnitude 3, viewing through even a low-magnification telescope resolves it into its two components. The brighter yellow star, itself a very close binary system, makes a striking colour contrast with its fainter blue companion.

Nomenclature

β Cygni (Latinised to Beta Cygni) is the system's Bayer designation. The brighter of the two components is designated β¹ Cygni or Beta Cygni A and the fainter β² Cygni or Beta Cygni B.

The origin of the star system's traditional name Albireo is unclear. Christian Ludwig Ideler traced it to the heading for the constellation we call Cygnus in Ptolemy's star catalog, in the translation of the Almagest by Gerard of Cremona: "Stellatio Eurisim: et est volans; et jam vocatur gallina. et dicitur eurisim quasi redolens ut lilium ab ireo" ("Constellation Eurisim: and it is the Flyer, and it is also called the Hen, and it is called Eurisim as if redolent like the lily from the 'ireo'"). (The original Greek just calls the constellation "Ορνιθος αστερισμος", "the constellation of the Bird".) The word "ireo" is obscure as well – Ideler suggests that Gerard took "Eurisim" to mean the plant Erysimum, which is called irio in Latin, but the ablative case of that is not "ireo" but irione. In any case, Ideler proposed that (somehow) the phrase "ab ireo" was applied to the star at the head of the bird, and this became "Albireo" when an "l" was mistakenly inserted as though it was an Arabic name. Ideler also supposed that the name Eurisim was a mistaken transliteration of the Arabic name "Urnis" for Cygnus (from the Greek "Ορνις").

In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Albireo  for β¹ Cygni. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.

Medieval Arabic-speaking astronomers called Beta Cygni minqār al-dajājah (English: the hen's beak). The term minqār al-dajājah (منقار الدجاجة) or Menchir al Dedjadjet appeared in the catalogue of stars in the Calendarium of Al Achsasi Al Mouakket, which was translated into Latin as Rostrum Gallinae, meaning the hen's beak.

Since Cygnus is the swan, and Beta Cygni is located at the head of the swan, it is sometimes called the "beak star". With Deneb, Gamma Cygni (Sadr), Delta Cygni, and Epsilon Cygni (Gienah), it forms the asterism called the Northern Cross.

Properties
Beta Cygni is about 420 ly away from the Sun. When viewed with the naked eye, Albireo appears to be a single star. However, in a telescope it resolves into a double star consisting of β Cygni A (amber, apparent magnitude 3.1), and β Cygni B (blue-green, apparent magnitude 5.1). Separated by 35 seconds of arc, the two components provide one of the best contrasting double stars in the sky due to their different colors.

It is not known whether the two components β Cygni A and B are orbiting around each other in a physical binary system, or if they are merely an optical double. If they are a physical binary, their orbital period is probably at least 100,000 years. Some experts, however, support the optical double argument, based on observations that suggest different proper motions for the components, which implies that they are unrelated. The primary and secondary also have different measured distances from the Hipparcos mission – 133 ± 6 pc for the primary and 123 ± 4 pc for the secondary. More recently the Gaia mission has measured distances of about 330–390 light years (100–120 parsecs) for both components, but noise in the astrometric measurements for the stars means that data from Gaia's second data release is not yet sufficient to determine whether the stars are physically associated.

In around 3.87 million years, Albireo will become the brightest star in the night sky. It will peak in brightness with an apparent magnitude of –0.53 in 4.61 million years.

There are a further 10 faint companions listed in the Washington Double Star catalogue, all fainter than magnitude 10. Only one is closer to the primary than Albireo B, with the others up to 142" away.

Albireo A
The spectrum of Beta Cygni A was found to be composite when it was observed as part of the Henry Draper Memorial project in the late 19th century, leading to the supposition that it was itself double. This was supported by observations from 1898 to 1918 which showed that it had a varying radial velocity. In 1923, the two components were identified in the Henry Draper Catalogue as HD 183912 and HD 183913.

In 1978, speckle interferometry observations using the 1.93m telescope at the Haute-Provence Observatory resolved a companion at 0.125". This observation was published in 1980, and the companion is referred to as component Ab in the Washington Double Star Catalog.

In 1976 speckle interferometry was used to resolve a companion using the 2.1-meter telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It was measured at a separation of 0.44", and it is noted that the observation was inconsistent with the Haute-Provence observations and hence not of the same star. Although these observations pre-dated those at Haute-Provence, they were not published until 1982 and this component is designated Ac in the Washington Double Star Catalog. It is designated as component C in the Catalog of Components of Double and Multiple Stars, not to be confused with component C in the Washington Double Star Catalog which is a faint optical companion. An orbit for the pair has since been computed using interferometric measurements, but as only approximately a quarter of the orbit has been observed, the orbital parameters must be regarded as preliminary.  The period of this orbit is 214 years.  The confirmed close pair are referred to as Aa and Ac in modern papers, with Ab being the unconfirmed third component.

The diameter of the primary K-type giant star has been measured using interferometry from the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer. A limb-darkened angular diameter of $364.8$ was measured. At the parallax-derived distance of 111.4pc, a radius equivalent to is calculated.

Albireo B
β Cygni B is a fast-rotating Be star, with an equatorial rotational velocity of at least 250 kilometers per second. Its surface temperature has been spectroscopically estimated to be about 13,200 K.

β Cygni B has been reported to be a very close double, but the observations appear to have been incorrect.

Moving group
Analysis of Gaia Data Release 2 astrometry suggests that four fainter stars may form a moving group along with the brighter visible components.

Namesakes
Albireo (AK-90) was a United States Navy Crater-class cargo ship named after the star.

title: Albireo


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Basarab I of Wallachia

Basarab I, also known as Basarab the Founder (Basarab Întemeietorul; c. 1270 – 1351/1352), was a voivode and later the first independent ruler of Wallachia who lived in the first half of the 14th century. Many details of his life are uncertain. Although his name is of Turkic origin, 14th-century sources unanimously state that he was a Vlach (Romanian). According to two popular theories, Basarab either came into power between 1304 and 1324 by dethroning or peacefully succeeding the legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru, or in 1310 by succeeding his father, Thocomerius.

A royal charter issued on 26 July 1324 is the first document to reference Basarab. According to the charter, he was subject to Charles I of Hungary as the voivode of Wallachia. Basarab became "disloyal to the Holy Crown of Hungary" in 1325. He seized the Banate of Severin and raided the southern regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. Basarab supported Michael Shishman of Bulgaria's attack against the Kingdom of Serbia, but their united armies were defeated in the Battle of Velbazhd on 28 July 1330. Soon after, Charles I of Hungary invaded Wallachia, but the Wallachians ambushed and almost annihilated the royal troops in the Battle of Posada, which occurred between 9 and 12 November 1330.

The Battle of Posada ended Hungarian suzerainty in Wallachia, and the first independent Romanian principality was consequently founded. Basarab's descendants ruled Wallachia for at least two centuries. The region of Bessarabia, situated between the rivers Dniester and Prut, was named for the Basarab dynasty.

Origins
Basarab was the son of Thocomerius, according to a charter written by Charles I of Hungary in 1332. Thocomerius' social position cannot be determined. A scholarly hypothesis states that he was descended from Seneslau, a mid-13th-century Vlach (Romanian) lord. Historian Vlad Georgescu writes that Thocomerius was the probable successor to Bărbat, the late 13th-century ruler of Oltenia. Historian Tudor Sălăgean says that Thocomerius was "a local potentate."

Basarab's name is of Turkic origin. Its first part is the present participle for the verb bas- ("press, rule, govern"); the second part matches the Turkic honorific title aba or oba ("father, elder kinsman"), which can be recognized in Cuman names, such as Terteroba, Arslanapa and Ursoba. Basarab's name implies that he was of Cuman or Pecheneg ancestry, but this hypothesis has not been proven. At least four royal charters from the 14th century refer to Basarab as a Vlach. Charles I of Hungary referred to him as "Basarab, our disloyal Vlach" in 1332.

Pope John XXII addressed Basarab as a "devout Catholic prince" in a letter written on 1 February 1327. On the same day, the pope sent similar letters to Charles I of Hungary and his high officials, including Thomas Szécsényi, the voivode of Transylvania, and Mikcs Ákos, the ban of Slavonia, asking them to support the Dominicans' actions against the "heretics". According to scholar Neagu Djuvara, this correspondence with the Holy See proves that Basarab was a Catholic, which also testifies to Basarab's Cuman origin, because the Cumans had been baptized according to Catholic rite. Historians Matei Cazacu and Dan Mureșan reject Djuvara's theory, saying that all other sources prove that Basarab was an Eastern Orthodox. For instance, the Illuminated Chronicle, completed in the late 1350s, referred to Basarab as a "perfidious schismatic."

Charles I's voivode
The details of Basarab's accession are obscure. Early Romanian chronicles attribute the establishment of Wallachia to the legendary Radu Negru. According to 17th-century Wallachian chronicles, Radu Negru, after departing from Făgăraș, arrived in Wallachia in either 1290 or 1292, accompanied by "many peoples". One of those chronicles, Istoria Țării Românești, states that "Basarab" was the surname of an Oltenian boyar family, who accepted Radu Negru's suzerainty following his "dismounting". Historian Neagu Djuvara tentatively associates Basarab (or, alternatively, Basarab's father) with Radu Negru; Laurențiu Rădvan writes that Basarab either dethroned or peacefully succeeded Radu Negru between 1304 and 1324. Other historians, such as Vlad Georgescu, state that Basarab succeeded his father, Thocomerius, around 1310.

Basarab was first mentioned in a royal charter issued by Charles I of Hungary on 26 July 1324, in which he was described as "our voivode of Wallachia". This shows that Charles I regarded Basarab as a loyal vassal at that time. Historian István Vásáry states that Basarab only accepted Charles' suzerainty after the king restored royal authority in the Banate of Severin, a Hungarian border province, in 1321. In exchange for his loyalty, Basarab's possession of Severin Fort was confirmed, according to historians Tudor Sălăgean and Attila Bárány.

Towards independence

A royal charter dated 18 June 1325 records that a person named Stephen, who was the son of a Cuman ispán in Hungary, stated that the king was weaker than Basarab and "did not even reach up to [his] ankle". The same charter describes Basarab as "disloyal to the Holy Crown of Hungary", showing that Basarab had betrayed the crown. A royal charter from 1329 listed Basarab, along with the Bulgarians, Serbs and Tatars, as an enemy who "[made] hostile inroads" around Mehadia. Basarab seems to have entirely controlled the Banate of Severin between 1324 and 1330, since royal charters did not mention a Ban of Severin during this period. In a letter written in 1327, Pope John XXII alluded to "territories of the Kingdom of Hungary which were subjected" to Basarab.

Michael III Shishman, Tsar of Bulgaria, attacked Serbia in 1330. He was accompanied by "the ruler of the Yas", along with Vlach and "black Tatar" auxiliary troops. According to Serbian sources and a letter written by Stephen Dušan, who became King of Serbia in 1331, Basarab personally led his army to Serbia to assist Shishman. The Serbs routed the united army of Michael Shishman and his allies at the Battle of Velbazhd on 28 July 1330. Shishman was killed while fleeing from the battlefield.

Taking advantage of the weakened state of Basarab's allies, Charles I of Hungary decided to restore his suzerainty in Wallachia. According to a royal charter issued two years after the events, Charles wanted to recapture "marginal lands" that Basarab "illegally" held in Wallachia. He invaded Oltenia, captured Severin Fort and appointed Denis Szécsi Ban of Severin in September 1330. According to the Illuminated Chronicle, Basarab offered 7,000 "marks of silver" as compensation, along with a yearly tribute to the king. He also promised to send one of his sons to the royal court in Visegrád.

However, Charles I refused Basarab's offer, saying that "[h]e is the shepherd of my sheep, and I will drag him by his beard from his lair". Charles continued his campaign, but he and his soldiers suffered from hunger while marching to Curtea de Argeș through a sparsely populated region. Charles was compelled to sign an armistice with Basarab, and the royal army started retreating from Wallachia. On 9 November, however, the Wallachians ambushed the king and his soldiers at a narrow pass in the Southern Carpathians. Standing on the cliffs above the valley, the Wallachians shot arrows and threw rocks upon the army. The battle lasted until 12 November. The royal army was decimated, and King Charles narrowly escaped. Historian Sălăgean writes that Basarab repelled Charles' invasion without assistance from his allies. A charter written in 1351 by Louis I, Charles' son and successor, states that pagan "neighbors and a troop formed of other subjects unfaithful" to Charles supported Basarab during the war, suggesting that Tatar auxiliaries fought for Basarab. However, the credibility of the report, written decades after the events, is uncertain.

Independent ruler
Archaeological research shows that after his capital of Curtea de Argeș was destroyed during Charles I's campaign, Basarab moved his seat to Câmpulung. Basarab's victory in the Battle of Posada enabled the introduction of an active foreign policy. He supported the efforts of his son-in-law, Ivan Alexander, to seize the Bulgarian crown, which he did in February 1331. With Basarab's support, Ivan Alexander successfully campaigned against the Byzantine Empire in 1331 and 1332. According to Sălăgean, Basarab allegedly took possession of Severin Fort in the early 1330s. The reconstruction of Curtea de Argeș started after 1340, with the erection of new fortifications and a new palace. The construction of the Princely Church of Saint Nicholas in Curtea de Argeș also commenced during Basarab's rule, but it was completed after his death. Basarab seems to have made his son, Nicholas Alexander, his co-ruler around 1344. Louis I of Hungary, who had succeeded Charles I in 1342, marched to southeastern Transylvania in the summer of 1344. To prevent a campaign against Wallachia, Nicholas Alexander visited Louis I and swore loyalty to him, according to the nearly contemporaneous John of Küküllő's chronicle. Wallachian troops supported Andrew Lackfi's attack against the Mongols in 1345, according to a Wallachian chronicle, but historian Victor Spinei rejects this report. According to a charter of his grandson, Vladislav I Vlaicu, Basarab died in the year 6860 of the Byzantine calendar, which is AD 1351 or 1352.

Family
A diptych from Câmpulung contains a reference to "Io Basarab voivode and his wife, Marghita". Although the diptych (which was revised and renewed in 1710) may contain a scribal error, historians tend to accept that Basarab's wife was named Marghita (from Margarete). According to Wallachian folklore, Marghita was the Catholic wife of the legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru. She was told to have erected a Catholic church in Câmpulung, and committed suicide after the church was destroyed on her husband's order.

In his letter concerning the Battle of Velbazhd, Stephen Dušan mentioned that Basarab was "the father-in-law of Tsar Alexander of Bulgaria", showing that Basarab's daughter, Theodora, was Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria's wife. Historian Vásáry states that Basarab married her to Ivan Alexander around 1323 to strengthen his alliance with Bulgaria. She gave birth to children, but Ivan Alexander abandoned her and married a converted Jew, Sarah-Theodora, in the 1350s. Basarab's son and successor, Nicholas Alexander, discontinued Basarab's alliance with Bulgaria.

Legacy
Basarab's victory at the Battle of Posada was a turning point in the history of Wallachia. Sălăgean writes that the victory "sanctioned the independence of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown" and altered its international status. Georgescu describes Wallachia as the "first independent Romanian principality." Although the kings of Hungary continued to demand loyalty from the voivodes of Wallachia, Basarab and his successors yielded to them only temporarily in the 14th century.

The descendants of Basarab ruled Wallachia for at least two centuries. Examples of his descendants include Mircea the Old and Vlad Dracula. Neagoe Basarab, a member of the Craiovești boyar family, forged a genealogy to prove that he was a descendant of Basarab, and adopted "Basarab" as his family name after his accession in 1512.

From the middle of the 14th century, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Moldavian and Serbian chronicles used the name "Basarab" when referring to Wallachia. From the next century onward, the southern region of the land between the Dniester and Prut rivers was named Basarabia. After the Russian Empire annexed Basarabia in 1812, the region was renamed to Bessarabia. The region is now part of the Republic of Moldova.

title: Basarab I of Wallachia


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Uriah Heep (character)

Uriah Heep is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his 1850 novel David Copperfield. Heep is the primary antagonist during the second part of the novel. His character is notable for his sycophancy.

In the novel
David first meets the 15-year-old Heep when he comes to live with Mr. Wickfield and his daughter Agnes.

Uriah is a law clerk working for Mr. Wickfield. He realises that his widowed employer has developed a severe drinking problem and turns it to his advantage. Uriah encourages Wickfield's drinking, tricks him into thinking he has committed financial wrongdoing while drunk, and blackmails him into making Uriah a partner in his law office. He admits to David (whom he hates) that he intends to manipulate Agnes into marrying him.

Uriah miscalculates when he hires Mr. Micawber as a clerk, assuming Micawber will never risk his own financial security by exposing Uriah's transgressions. Yet Micawber is honest, and he, David, and Tommy Traddles confront Uriah with proof of his frauds. They let Uriah go free only after he has (reluctantly) agreed to resign his position and return the money that he has stolen.

Later in the novel, David encounters Uriah for the last time. In prison for bank fraud and awaiting transportation, Uriah acts like a repentant model prisoner. However, in conversation with David, he reveals himself to remain full of malice.

Origins
Much of David Copperfield is autobiographical, and some scholars believe Heep's mannerisms and physical attributes to be based on Hans Christian Andersen, whom Dickens met shortly before writing the novel. Uriah Heep's schemes and behaviour could also be based on Thomas Powell, employee of Thomas Chapman, a friend of Dickens. Powell "ingratiated himself into the Dickens household" and was discovered to be a forger and a thief, having embezzled £10,000 from his employer. He later attacked Dickens in pamphlets, calling particular attention to Dickens' social class and background.

Film and television
In film and television adaptations, the character has been played by Peter Paget (1934), Roland Young (1935), Maxwell Shaw (1956), Colin Jeavons (1966), Ron Moody (1969), Martin Jarvis (1974), Paul Brightwell (1986), Nicholas Lyndhurst (1999), Frank MacCusker (2000) and Ben Whishaw (2018).

Rock band
The British rock band Uriah Heep is named after the character.

title: Uriah Heep (character)


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Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy II (ファイナルファンタジーII) is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1988 for the Family Computer as the second installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the PlayStation, the Game Boy Advance, the PlayStation Portable, iOS, Android and Windows. As neither this game nor Final Fantasy III were initially released outside Japan, Final Fantasy IV was originally released in North America as Final Fantasy II, so as not to confuse players. Following enhanced versions for iOS and Android in 2010 and 2012 respectively, the game was re-released again as part of the 2021 Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series.

The game's story centers on four youths whose parents were killed during an army invasion by the empire of Palamecia, who are using hellspawn to conquer the world. Three of the four main characters join a rebellion against the empire, embarking on missions to gain new magic and weapons, destroy enemy superweapons, and rescue leading members of the resistance. The Game Boy Advance remake adds a bonus story after the game is completed.

Final Fantasy II introduced many elements that would later become staples of the Final Fantasy franchise, including chocobos and the recurring character Cid. It also eliminated the traditional experience point leveling system of the previous and later games in the series, instead introducing an activity-based progression system where the characters' statistics increase according to how they are used or acquired. Despite being advertised as a sequel to Final Fantasy, the game includes no characters and locations from the first game. Final Fantasy II received little attention from non-Japanese reviewers at its initial release, though its remakes have garnered favorable reviews.

Gameplay
Final Fantasy II features gameplay similar to that of its predecessor, Final Fantasy. The player can freely roam an overworld containing several towns and dungeons. A menu-based system allows the player to outfit each character with equipment and up to two—often disposable—items for battle. Magic spells are assigned to the character from the item menu, and certain spells, such as "Cure", spelled "Kearu" (IPA: [kéərɯ]) in the Japanese versions, can be used outside of battle. The player can also save their progress on the overworld. Weapons, armor, items, and magic spells can be purchased at shops, and townspeople provide useful information for the player's progression through the game. One new feature is the "Word Memory" system: when in conversation with non-player characters (NPCs), the player can "ask" about and "memorize" special keywords or phrases, which can later be repeated to other NPCs to gain more information or unlock new actions. Similarly, there exist a handful of special items that can be shown to NPCs during conversation or used on certain objects, which have the same effect. Characters and monsters are no longer separated into separate windows in the battle screen as they were in the first Final Fantasy, and players can see their current and total hit points below the battle. Players can also fight with less than four characters in their party, which was not possible in the first game. Final Fantasy II introduced the chocobo, the signature Final Fantasy mascot, which lets characters ride to a location at great speed without being attacked by enemies. The recurring character Cid was also introduced, and a character of the same name has appeared in every main-series game since.

On the overworld and within dungeons, random encounters with enemies can be fought to improve each character's attributes. Unlike the original Final Fantasy, players cannot upgrade their characters' classes. The game is also one of the few games in the series to not use experience-based levels. Instead, each character participating in battle develops depending on what actions they take. For instance, characters who frequently use a particular type of weapon will become more adept at wielding a weapon of that type, and will also increase in physical strength and accuracy. Attributes include hit points, magic points, magic power, stamina, strength, spirit, agility, intelligence, and evasion. Hit points (HP) and magic points (MP) increase with their use; a character who takes a heavy amount of damage in a battle might earn an increase in maximum HP, while a character who uses a lot of MP during battle might increase their maximum MP. This experience system had several unintended consequences that allowed characters to gain much more experience than intended, such as players having their characters attack each other and repeatedly cast spells, thus causing their HP and abilities to grow extensively. Final Fantasy II uses the same turn-based battle system seen in the original Final Fantasy, with battle parties consisting of up to four characters at a time. The game introduces a "back row" in battle, within which characters or enemies are immune to most physical attacks, but can be harmed with bows and magical attacks.

Characters

Final Fantasy II features four playable characters as well as several secondary characters who are only briefly controlled by the player. Primary characters include Firion (フリオニール), a resident of the country of Fynn and the main protagonist; Maria (マリア), a soft-spoken archer and dedicated enemy of the Empire; Guy (ガイ), a simple monk who communicates with animals; and Leon (レオンハルト), a conflicted dark knight who is missing for most of the game. Five playable characters temporarily join the party to assist Firion, Maria, and Guy in their missions for the rebellion. These are Gordon (ゴードン), the prince of Kashuan and a member of the rebellion; Josef (ヨーゼフ), a villager in the town of Salamand; Leila (レイラ), a pirate; Minwu (ミンウ), who is a White Mage with the rebellion, and Ricard Highwind (リチャード・ハイウインド), who is the first dragoon to appear in the series.

Firion and the Emperor of Palamecia (パラメキア皇帝) (named Mateus (マティウス) in Kenji Terada's novelization of the game) are the respective hero and villain representing Final Fantasy II in Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 and Dissidia NT, fighting games featuring characters from across the series. Firion is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa in the Japanese versions and by Johnny Yong Bosch in the English versions; Mateus is voiced by Kenyu Horiuchi in the Japanese versions and Christopher Corey Smith in the English versions. In the PlayStation's opening FMV of Final Fantasy II, Firion is also voiced by Yukimasa Obi, while Maria is played by Noriko Shitaya, Guy by Kenta Miyake, and Leon by Takayuki Yamaguchi.

Story
Final Fantasy II begins as Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon are attacked by Palamecian Black Knight soldiers and left for dead. Firion, Maria, and Guy are rescued by Princess Hilda, who has established a rebel base in the town of Altair after her kingdom of Fynn was invaded by the Emperor. Hilda denies their request to join the rebel army because they are too young and inexperienced. The three set off for Fynn in search of Leon; there they find a dying Prince Scott of Kashuan, Hilda's fiancé, who informs them that a former nobleman of Kashuan, Borghen, betrayed the rebellion and became a General in the Imperial army. The party returns to Altair to inform Hilda. She allows the group to join the rebellion and asks them to journey north to find mythril, a metal which could be used to create powerful weapons. The party makes its way north to the occupied village of Salamand, saves the villagers forced to work in the nearby mines, kills Borghen, and retrieves the mythril.

For their next mission, the party is sent to the city of Bafsk to prevent the construction of a large airship known as the Dreadnought; however, it takes off just as they arrive. After retrieving the Sunfire, a weapon which can blow up the Dreadnought, they watch helplessly as an airship with Hilda on board is captured by the Dreadnought. When the Dreadnought lands to stock up on supplies, the party rescues Hilda and throws the Sunfire into the airship's engine. Before escaping from the explosion, the party encounters a dark knight whom Maria thinks she recognizes as Leon.

On his deathbed, the King of Fynn tasks the party to seek the help of the seemingly extinct dragoons of Deist. In Deist, the party finds only a mother with her son, learning that all but one of the Dragoons are dead, partly as a result of Imperial poison. After placing an egg of the last wyvern in a cavern, the party returns to Altair and rescues Hilda from the Empire a second time, before successfully reclaiming Fynn from the Imperial forces. They then travel west in search of a powerful magic item, joining forces with the last surviving dragoon on the way. The party returns to Fynn and sees that many towns have been destroyed by a cyclone summoned by the Emperor. The party calls upon the newly born last wyvern to take them to a castle inside the cyclone, where they confront and kill the Emperor. Back at Fynn, everyone celebrates the Empire's defeat, but a mortally wounded Fynn soldier arrives and reveals that Leon has taken the throne and plans to destroy the Rebels with the Imperial army.

The party enters the castle of Palamecia and confronts Leon, but the Emperor reappears in the throne room in a new demonic form, revealing he has become the ruler of Hell and returned with the intention of destroying the entire world. The party and Leon escape Palamecia Castle with the wyvern, as the castle is replaced with the palace of Hell, Pandaemonium. Leon agrees to help the group seal the Emperor away. The party travels to the Jade Passage, an underground passage to the underworld, and finds the portal to Pandaemonium, where they finally defeat the Emperor. Afterwards, Leon chooses to leave in response to the trouble he caused, though Firion assures him that he'll be welcomed back if and when he returns.

Soul of Rebirth
The Dawn of Souls remake of the game for the Game Boy Advance includes an additional storyline that takes place after the game, which follows the four party members who died during the story of the game.

Following his sacrifice to unseal the door guarding the Ultima Tome, Minwu awakens in a new area and sees someone resembling Gordon fight off Imperial soldiers. Minwu assists him, and the man soon explains he is Scott, Gordon's brother. Minwu informs him of the events up to his own demise, and the two surmise they are in the Jade Passage since they both died. They find Josef and subsequently Ricard, eventually emerging in Machanon, a village in the mirror image of Poft where the citizens are dead victims of the Emperor's conquest, including Cid and Tobul, with the former asking the group to find out where they are and why they have been called here.

The four enter the teleporter at the north edge of town and enter what Minwu believes is Pandaemonium. Climbing to the highest floor, the party meets the Light Emperor, who explains that when Firion and his allies killed him, his soul was split, with the Emperor's "dark half" falling to Hell and acquiring more power, while his light half—the Emperor they now see—ascended to Heaven. He then explains they are in Arubboth, palace of Heaven, and the cave they traveled through was Raqia, the place where fallen angels are cast down to become demons, and that he called them here to ask for forgiveness on the behalf of his dark half, and offers them eternal life with him in Arubboth if they forgive his sins.

Though the four are tempted by the offer, apparitions of their loved ones show them a vision of Firion and his allies battling the Dark Emperor in Pandaemonium. Realizing this Emperor is just as evil as the original, the four reject his offer, and defeats the Light Emperor just as Firion and his allies vanquish the Dark Emperor. As the rebels in the world of the living celebrate their victory, the specters of Minwu, Scott, Josef and Ricard watch them and wish them well, and as they fade away into peaceful rest, Minwu comments that if anyone can change man's legacy of violence, it's Firion and his friends.

Development
During the development of the first installment in the series, Square's management decided to manufacture 400,000 copies of the game to make a sequel possible, then the original Famicom (NES) version successfully shipped 520,000 copies in Japan. As there were no concrete ideas for Final Fantasy II from the start, it was eventually taken in a new direction and included none of the previous game's characters or locations. Hironobu Sakaguchi, who had previously served as the main planner for Final Fantasy, assumed the role of director to accommodate for the larger development team. Using the experience gained from the first installment, which focused more on fitting story ideas into their new gameplay system and game world, the developers fully crafted the story of Final Fantasy II first. The gameplay was then built around the narrative. The experience system was designed to be a more realistic advancement system than that of the first game. Several members of the original staff from the first game reprised their jobs for Final Fantasy II. Sakaguchi again created the plot for the title, with the actual scenario written by Kenji Terada. Nobuo Uematsu composed the music, as he had for the first game, while Yoshitaka Amano was again the concept artist. As with the original, Final Fantasy II was programmed by Nasir Gebelli. Midway through the development of the game, Gebelli was forced to return to Sacramento, California from Japan due to an expired work visa. The rest of the development staff followed him to Sacramento with necessary materials and equipment and finished production of the game there. The game was released one day before the one-year anniversary of the first game's release.

In April 1989, the game was novelized by its original scenario writer Kenji Terada under the title Final Fantasy II: Muma no Meikyū (lit. "The Labyrinth of Nightmares"). It was published in Japan exclusively by Kadokawa Shoten.

Music
The music for Final Fantasy II was later arranged by Tsuyoshi Sekito for the WonderSwan Color, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance remakes. Although the two soundtracks were composed separately, the soundtrack to II has only been released as a combined album with the soundtrack to Final Fantasy I. They were first released as All Sounds of Final Fantasy I•II in 1989, which was then republished in 1994. An arranged album of music from the two soundtracks titled Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy was also released in 1989, while Final Fantasy & Final Fantasy II Original Soundtrack, a combined soundtrack album for the PlayStation versions of the games, was released in 2002 and re-released in 2004. The music of Final Fantasy II has also appeared in various official concerts and live albums, such as 20020220 music from Final Fantasy, a live recording of an orchestra performing music from the series including several pieces from the games. Additionally, several songs from the game were performed as part of a medley by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for the Distant Worlds – Music from Final Fantasy concert tour, while a different medley of songs from the game were performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in the Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy concert series.

Versions and re-releases
Final Fantasy II has been remade several times for different platforms, and has frequently been packaged with the first Final Fantasy in various collections. While all of these remakes retain the same basic story and battle mechanics, various tweaks have been made in different areas, including graphics, sound, and specific game elements.

Unreleased English version
Following the successful North American release of the original Final Fantasy by Nintendo in 1990, Square Soft, Square's North American subsidiary, began work on an English language localization of Final Fantasy II, to be called Final Fantasy II: Dark Shadow Over Palakia. Assigned to the project was Kaoru Moriyama, whose later work included script translations for Final Fantasy IV and Secret of Mana (known as Seiken Densetsu 2 in Japan). Although a beta version was produced, and the game was advertised in several Square Soft trade publications, the long development time, the age of the original Japanese game and the arrival of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the NES's successor console, led Square Soft to cancel work on the Final Fantasy II localization in favor of the recently released Final Fantasy IV (which, to avoid confusing North American players, was retitled Final Fantasy II).

Although a prototype cartridge of the English NES Final Fantasy II was produced, the project was, by Moriyama's own admission, still far from complete: "We had so very limited memory capacity we could use for each game, and it was never really "translating" but chopping up the information and cramming them back in... [Additionally] our boss had no understanding in putting in extra work for the English version at that time". In 2003, when the game was finally released to English-speaking audiences as part of Final Fantasy Origins, it was released with new graphics, music, and a brand new translation under the supervision of Akira Kashiwagi. A fan translation of the original game was also created prior to the release of Origins, and makes use of an original translation as the existence of the prototype cartridge was not common knowledge at the time.

Re-releases
In addition to its original Famicom release, Final Fantasy II was re-released on the WonderSwan Color in 2001, and both singularly and as part of a collection with Final Fantasy I for the PlayStation in 2002. It was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as part of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls, on the PlayStation Portable in 2007, and for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console on June 16, 2009.

The Final Fantasy I•II collection included the original game with only minor changes. The WonderSwan Color remake of the game was first released on May 3, 2001, and later included as a bundle with a special Final Fantasy II edition of the console. It included completely redone graphics in the manner of the 16-bit generation Final Fantasy games and includes larger character sprites, remixed music by Tsuyoshi Sekito, and full graphical backgrounds in battle mode. The PlayStation version featured even more graphical updates over the WonderSwan version, and the soundtrack was again remixed by Tsuyoshi Sekito to a higher quality so as to utilise the audio capabilities of the PlayStation. Sekito also composed a few new tracks to be used in the new cutscenes. It was published both individually (in Japan only) and alongside Final Fantasy I in a collection entitled Final Fantasy Origins (or Final Fantasy I+II Premium Collection in Japan); this was the first release of the game outside Japan. The port was re-released as part of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box package in December 2012.

Final Fantasy II was again released in a new format in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance as part of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. The primary change for this version was the addition of a bonus storyline entitled Soul of Rebirth accessible to the player after completing the game. In 2005 and 2006, Square Enix released a version of Final Fantasy II for three Japanese mobile phone networks. To celebrate the Final Fantasy series' 20th anniversary, the game was released in Japan for the PlayStation Portable in 2007. The remake features improved graphics, the cutscenes and soundtrack from Final Fantasy Origins, and the bonus quest and dungeons from Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. It additionally includes four new dungeons in which more character-specific equipment can be found, alongside powerful enemies and two new bosses. The release for the Japanese Virtual Console for the Wii on June 16, 2009, for the Wii U on December 11, 2013, and for the Nintendo 3DS on February 12, 2014, is identical to the original Famicom release, incorporating none of the updates of the later versions. On February 25, 2010, Square Enix released a port of the PSP version modified with touchscreen controls for the iOS platform. Following this, a touchscreen port was brought to Android in 2012 through the Google Play store.

Reception
According to Square's publicity department, the original Famicom release sold 800,000 copies. As of March 2003, the game, including all re-releases at the time, had shipped 1.28 million copies worldwide, with 1.08 million of those copies being shipped in Japan and 200,000 abroad. Despite having only been released in June of that year, as of September 2007 the PlayStation Portable version had shipped 90,000 copies in Japan and 70,000 in North America. Despite these high sales, the game had sold the fewest copies of any of the first ten main games in the Final Fantasy series.

Upon release, Famicom Tsūshin (now Famitsu) gave the original Famicom version a score of 35 out of 40, based on a panel of four reviewers giving it ratings of 9, 9, 9 and 8 out of 10. This made it one of their three highest-rated games of 1988, along with Dragon Quest III (which scored 38/40) and Super Mario Bros. 3 (which scored 35/40). It was also one of the magazine's five highest-rated games up until 1988, along with Dragon Quest II (which scored 38/40) and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (which scored 36/40). The 1989 "All Soft Catalog" issue of Famicom Tsūshin included Final Fantasy II in its list of the best games of all time, giving it the Best Scenario award. Retrospectively, G4 described the stat-building system as an "Innovation", noting that "computer RPGs took the "level" system wholesale from tabletop role-playing games and made it a genre staple, but FF2 eliminated levels altogether", but that what "sounds novel at first wound up being a huge mess".

The game's re-releases have been more heavily reviewed. Famitsu magazine scored the WonderSwan version of the game a 30 out of 40, and GameSpot noted the Dawn of Souls' mostly outdated graphics but praised its length and bonus content. IGN noted the great improvement in the translation of the story over Final Fantasy I and the addition of later Final Fantasy features, such as being able to save anywhere in the overworld map without a tent or cabin. The Dawn of Souls release was named the IGN Game Boy "Game of the Month" for March 2004, and the package was rated 76th in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list. The dialogue system was thought to be time consuming and stilted, but was still a milestone for interactivity. The story was considered to be much more involved and deep than the first Final Fantasy, as it involved romance and the death of characters. The game's plot was thought by some reviewers to mirror elements of Star Wars: A New Hope in its use of an orphan joining a rebellion against an empire that was building a massive ship, with a captive princess inside. GameSpy praised the addition of the ability to save the game at any time, calling the feature crucial for a game on a handheld game console, and in contrast to GameSpot, praised the graphics, saying that while they were primitive, they were "well-suited" to the Game Boy Advance.

The PSP version was met with generally average reviews. GameSpot described the "more intriguing" story and "key words" system as "notable" in "the evolution of the series and genre" but called the level up system "chaotic" and noted that unlike previous versions, this was shipped without a version of Final Fantasy I. IGN described the "dialogue and story" as "much more interesting than" its predecessor and the "proficiency system not unlike what's found in The Elder Scrolls" as a "semi-innovation" for its time, but also complained about the gameplay. Both sources praised the graphics, however. GameSpy, while echoing similar complaints about the "quirky and sometimes confusing" leveling system and praises for the graphics, also applauded the supposed decrease in difficulty of the game, which in the reviewers' opinion eliminated the necessity to abuse the leveling system in order to progress in the game as the player had to do in the original game.

title: Final Fantasy II