Computers

I have changed desktop computers 3 times this year! I find myself drawn to AMD based systems. I tend to go for the underdog. I like the idea of having strong competitors to massive companies like Intel and Microsoft. AMD systems tend to be cheaper and work just as well. AMD offer more bang for my dollar and my old penny pinching habits die hard.

AMD is not really a struggling minnow and has been fighting Intel for quite some time, as shown by the $1.25 bn settlement last year. Dell has also been under the spotlight for their "symbiotic" relationship with Intel. I think that it would be true to say that the concept of fair competition has been stretched to the limits when examining the computer giants.

Many of the worlds supercomputers run AMD and Linux so I am not in bad company.

Microsoft lost the plot with Vista and triggered my interest in Linux. There is a massive amount of software for Linux based machines and most of it is free. In Ubuntu I just go to the Software Centre and search for what I am after, including very good photo software (Digikam and Gimp), excellent browsers (Chrome, Opera and Firefox), a number of Office packages (Open Office or Libre Office, Gnumeric, Abiword) Evolution for emails, not to forget such gems as Virtualbox, GnomeDo, Tomboy Notes and Lucky Backup. I even have a virus scanner, although I don't use it much. Some of the anti-virus software really bogs down Windows based machines.

The Ubuntu Software Centre is a little like Apps on an iPhone or marketplace on an Android phone.

I have Windows 7 running on a virtual machine for downloading share prices. Windows 7 is also essential for running Tradesim.

Running a Linux based operating system is a bit like being a member of an outlaw bikie gang. A one percenter, Outlaw nerd, that's what I am. More than 90% of computers run Microsoft Windows. It's amazing that Linux exists at all given the huge user base Windows has.

So why change computers 3 times in one year. One reason is because it was very easy to do. I just pulled the small (32gb) SSD drive that holds my operating system out of the old computer, along with my data drive, and plugged them into the new setup, booted up and away it went! Try that with Windows 7.

stevo

Spreadsheets & Amibroker

 The chart above shows system performance without a profit target versus the chart below that has a profit target.

I haven't posted for a while. I find myself becoming quite secretive about trading methods and system performance!

But I have decided that I am happy to share some stuff about what can be achieved with Amibroker and some spreadsheets. The series of charts above were generated using a dummy variable in Amibroker to produce a range of outcomes from the Explorer. I have mentioned this elsewhere in this blog.

I use a template spreadsheet and just copy the data from Amibroker straight into the spreadsheet and up pop the charts above. These charts were produced using Open Office, not the best spreadsheet software on the market but certainly the cheapest - free. It is quite capable for basic tasks like the one above.

These charts are created using frequency distributions. The intervals for the distributions are automatically generated.

A profit target between 200% and 400% for the long term system (ave hold time of 290 days) shown above works quite well. Not a lot is gained by setting a higher target, and drawdown is slightly worse.