The Register heeft een leuk artikel over terugtredende Mikroschoft bobo's.

Hier wat sappige info:

Considering the heat generated by the Microsoft trial, and the fact that opinion is moving against Microsoft (except for balanced reports in The Register, of course), it is likely that an increasing number of Microsoft executives whose shares have vested will consider whether they wish to put up with the aggro, or jump ship. Bill Gates himself is certainly playing a less active role since Ballmer's appointment as president.

Gates has been ambiguous about when he might retire, but the possibility increases day-by-day, as the trial continues. Could it be a sign that yesterday he announced his biggest gift so far -- $100 million to aid children in developing countries? Originally the amount was going to be $55 million, but at the urging of his father, who runs the Gates Foundation, the amount was increased. Stonesifer denied that the timing of the announcement was to help with some local difficulties.

Die groen transparante doos met de ronde muis is nog steeds de best verkopende pc in de US:

Apple's iMac has notched its third consecutive month as the top-selling desktop PC in US computer superstores, according to ZD Market Intelligence (ZDMI).

ZDMI's numbers show that the iMac, launched in the States on 17 August, propelled Apple's marketshare from under two per cent to over six per cent. That figure fell to below five per cent throughout September and October.

October marks the third full month that the iMac topped superstore sales, coming in ahead of much cheaper Wintel machines, some as low as $699, almost half the price of the $1299 Apple box.

Still, sales have been falling off. Across the US channels, iMac sales were 50 per cent down in September on their August total, said ZDMI. And sales slipped further last month (see Apple targets low-income families as iMac sales decline).

That prompted Apple to launch a hire-purchase scheme since replicated in the UK. The effect of the programme, in either the US or the UK, has yet to be revealed through research. Numbers for November and December will be essential to measure not only the long-term success of the iMac but in many ways of Apple itself, at least as a major IT player.

ZDMI analyst Matt Sargeant said the latest figures show Apple moving into the Christmas sales period from a reasonably strong position, thanks to the iMac's ability to attract buyers who in the past have turned awat from Apple because of the high price differential over equivalent-specced Wintel machines.

(Gejat van The Register)

Een interessante strijd om een nieuwe standaard voor snellere SDRAMs. IBM kiest voor de DDR SDRAm route, aldus dit artikel van The Register:

Posted 02/12/98 1:12pm by Mike Magee

IBM takes five-year DDR SDRAM route

The microelectronics division of IBM today outlined a five year roadmap for its memory offerings based on double data rate (DDR) technology. But Intel and AMD's backing of Direct Rambus looks set to make that technology the memory winner.

IBM Micro said it had started shipping samples of 0.20-micron 256Mb DDR parts and would achieve volume ramp in the middle of next year. It has also started making 0.20-micron 64Mb parts.

Its DDR-based roadmap extends for five years, including 0.175-micron 128Mb SDRAM towards the end of next year and 0.15-micron 256Mb SDRAM in the year 2001.

According to Chris King, VP of worldwide marketing at IBM Micro, support for DDR is growing in the marketplace. "We believe it will emerge as the technology of choice, particularly for servers," he said.

But Roy Taylor, joint MD of memory company VML, said there was little doubt Rambus will win the day.

He said: "If you are a big manufacturer, you need an alternative to Rambus just in case. DDR will be used in graphics but on the desktop it's Direct Rambus all the way."

He explained: "DDR and SyncLink will both give you a jump in bandwidth. On the other hand, Direct Rambus will take you far beyond that."

Earlier this week, ten other manufacturers pledged their support for DDR.

Hier heb ik lang op zitten wachten: Diamond's Monster Sound MX300 is eindelijk klaar voor verkoop. Hier wat info uit de press release:

Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:DIMD - news), a leader in interactive multimedia acceleration and PC entertainment, today announced that the company is shipping its new high-performance Monster Sound MX300 audio accelerator to North American customers this week.

Diamond's Monster Sound MX300, featuring Aureal Semiconductor's Vortex™ 2 processor and A3D 2.0 positional 3D audio support, is the ideal solution for PC gamers and entertainment enthusiasts who demand a sound card with the latest advancements, including Dolby Digital™ support and interactive positional 3D audio rendering technology.

Diamond's Monster Sound MX300, including a robust software bundle with popular 3D games and audio applications, is available for a U.S. estimated retail price (ERP) of $99.95 through major retailers including CompUSA, Babbages and Electronics Boutique, as well on-line retailers including Diamond's Online Store at http://www.diamondmm.com/where-to-buy/online-store/

``The Monster Sound MX300 delivers breakthrough PC audio capabilities right to the ears of PC gaming enthusiasts for under $100,'' said Ken Comstock, general manager of Diamond Multimedia's audio business unit. ``We expect computer users craving the ultimate in PC gaming entertainment to make Monster Sound MX300 their top PC sound card choice.''

Ik moet ook zo'n ding hebben. Die Ultrasound PnP + A3D combo van mij eet veel te veel IRQ's.

Game-Over heeft een review gepost van Star Wars: Rogue Squadron:

he most impressive features in the game are in the graphics, which are presented in full 3D. Supporting both Direct3D and Glide this is a real treat for Voodoo Card owners. Let me off start with the features. Rogue Squadron shows off real time colored lighting, which aren't the most visually stunning I have witnessed, but provide just enough realism to satisfy an action fan. The special effects themselves are awesome, you can experience realistic smoke, dust and water splashes, engine glow and even tracer fire. The explosions could use some work for a game that relies on destruction as a theme, but they aren't overdone like most games of the genre. Basically when you destroy a ship, you will see a tiny explosion ring followed by the ship breaking apart and a flaming explosion. The shadows are amazingly realistic, like the movies, they follow the structure of the terrain and cast themselves accordingly. I was pleased to see the game uses the actual engine for rendering all the cutscenes in real time (is it just me, or this becoming a trend in all the new 3D games?), even the opening "Lucasarts" logo is rendered by the game engine. The ground terrain and water all look pleasing to the eye when you are flying past them and destroying enemies. The textures on every object in the game (the entire game is 3D except for the Storm Troopers, they appear to be sprites probably because they are so minute) are high quality and realistic. The models used for all the ships are probably the best seen out of all the Star Wars games. Overall, I found Rogue Squadron's graphics to be supreme in quality and I experienced no problems in Glide and Direct 3D modes at multiple resolutions.

 

Gamer's Central heeft een review van SiN in multiplayer mode.

Hier is wat spul:

'd have to say that the balance of the weapons is pretty good. A weapon like the rocketlauncher does some pretty nasty damage with a direct hit, and a fair amount of proximity damage as well. It is a very slow travelling weapon which can easily be dodged if there is the space and time available to do so. Then there is the shotgun, it does a fair amount of damage when fired up close (unfortunately no match for the Q2 Super Shotgun) but it takes a short while to reload and the bullets hit instantly. Then we have the sniper rifle, which is to be considered the Rail-gun of SiN (high precision one shot, one kill kind of weapon). The reload time is long, the viewer is unusable in combat situations, but when it hits your opponent, it hits hard! The top of the oil-rigg level is a great place for setting up your tent and sing some camping songs, so must the levelbuilders have thought, cause that is where the sniper-rifle lies waiting for you.

Ook Sharky Extreme heeft een review van Soyo's SY-6BA+ moederplank.

Het ding doet zelfs 124MHz FSB:

First, you'll notice that the FSB support offers something that was started with the introduction of the Abit BH6 mainboard a few months ago, but is still very rare today: A 124MHz FSB option.

Overclockers love to play around, and that's most likely all anyone will ever do with the 124MHz FSB since it's tough to be able to get any CPU to run at that speed due to the brutal Intel clock locking that's been running rampant lately. But it's still nice to know that if you get the itch to, as Scotty used to say, "Give 'er more powur", you'll be able to do so with the SY-6BA+.

Other FSBs that are supported are the traditional 66, 75, 83, 100, 112, and 133MHz levels.

OSNews heeft wat info over de release van BeOS 4.0, die in preorder te bestellen is:

BeOS 4.0 is available for preorder, and will ship later this month. (It is not available now, as previously reported).

MacOS Rumors heeft de specs van Apple's nieuwe Yosemite architectuur:

Name expected to be "PowerMacintosh G3" with TBD identifier afterward. "PowerMacintosh G3 Pro" has been discussed, but not confirmed. As this is a marketing issue, it may not be decided until the last minute.

300, 350, and 400Mhz versions at initial shipping date. Additional 450, 500, and faster models available later. The 300Mhz model will include a 512k cache, all others a 1MB model. All caches will be 2:1 (e.g., 150MHz for the 300Mhz CPU).

Daughtercards appear to use identical ZIF sockets to Gossamer -- processor cards maybe be interchangeable.

100Mhz main bus.

Four SDRAM DIMM slots. No less than 1GB RAM ceiling, possibly 2GB via 512MB SDRAM DIMMs. DIMMs must be 8ns or faster. (Current Gossamer G3s require only 10ns or faster). This is standard for 100Mhz-bus computers. 10ns may work, but performance and stability will be sub-standard with such RAM.

"New World" ROM design (same as iMac) -- 1MB hardware ROM, 3MB in RAM. Significant speed boosts should result (300Mhz Yosemite estimated to be 20% faster than 300Mhz Gossamer)

Although this could still be changed, the Boot ROM appears to be on the board, not the card -- allowing for third-party CPU upgrades.

Three 64/32-bit, 33Mhz PCI slots, one 66Mhz slot containing ATI RAGE 128GL graphics card (3.3v) with 16MB SGRAM. Optional MPEG2 decoder for DVD-Video can be added to a port on the ATI card.

Two standard 400Mbps Firewire ports, more available optionally on mini-daughterboards.

Two standard USB ports

One standard ADB port (primarily for Colorsync/Apple Studio Displays, although should support all legacy ADB devices)

10/100baseT Ethernet on-board

4Mbps IrDA infrared communications

Stereo In/Out connectors

Automatic, variable-speed fan to minimize noise

Similar keyboard and mouse to iMac -- two-tone transluceny, translucent scissor key design. Mouse is expected to be non-circular, as opposed to the iMac's design (which was engineered from children's hands upward, rather than vice versa).

Multi-piece El Capitan case can be removed simply and replaced with other cases using same connectors (could be a big business in the future). Case features small handles on all horizontal corners.

This machine will indeed be G4 upgradable. It is expected to be the "sweet spot" in Apple's product strategy for some time; a highly upgradable machine at a reasonable price point.

Pricing is not yet set, but sources suggest that waiting for Yosemite isn't necessary -- as always, today's needs are best served by today's computers.

Ook BXBoards heeft wat info over Abit's nieuwe BM6 moederplaat.

Crypto's reactie op Abit's press release: (zie ook posting #175 voor de inhoud van die PR):

APMstands for Advanced Power Management and it is a feature rich power management function for a more energy efficient P.C. It includes Soft Power On/Off, Sleep, Suspend and Stand-By mode, Real Time Clock (RTC) Alarm and RTC Power On, and Modem Ring On. The networking standard Wake On Lan (WOL) is also supported.

The ABIT® BM6 also supports the new standard in hard disk drive technology, Ultra DMA 33. It allows for double the transfer rate over standard IDE drive technology. Wireless keyboards, printers, mouse and joysticks are also supported by the BM6 thanks to the on board iRDA (Infrared) pin header. There are also two USB connectors on the ABIT® BM6 so you can take advantage of the newest Universal Serial Bus peripherals. Also included are PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors if you prefer to use this other new type of keyboard and mouse port. The BM6's three DIMM sockets also provide enough main memory capacity for business computing, 3D gaming, multimedia applications and CAD/CAM applications as well.

Now the bad news. Although the specs on this new board are everything we come to expect from ABIT, if the rumblings about the "Unholy Alliance" between Intel and AMD to prevent overclocking are true, (and I have every indication to think they are indeed true) this board will not be able to perform the overclocking miracles that it's predecessors did. This has nothing to do with the board itself, but Intel's apparent decision to frequency lock the new Celerons will make it impossible to overclock unless some motherboard trickery is involved (which there is no indication this board will have). Noticeably absent from this press release is the ability to adjust the FSB speed that was an obvious hit with ABIT's previous offerings. Why change the FSB if it does no good? The bell tolls.

Perhaps Intel or AMD will back out of this shadowy agreement and open it back up for the sake of competition...maybe not. For now, grab those Celeron 300A's, P2-300's and P2-333's while you can.

Van SiN hebben we al tienduizend reviews gehad. Tresh's FiringSquad doet gezellig mee en heeft er nu ook eentje hiero.

Wat info:

Spanning the cover of several big name magazines, Sin is definitely one of the most anticipated games of the '98 Christmas season. Developed by Ritual Entertainment, the same talented crew who created the highly successful Quake mission pack "Scourge of Armagon," there was no doubt in my mind that Sin's levels were going to be nothing short of spectacular. But what about the game itself? Did it have enough spice to break out of the run-of-the-mill shooter trap? How does it stack up to its competition, namely Klingon Honor Guard, Shogo: MAD, Delta Force, and Half-Life? I guess that's what we're here to find out

PC.IGN heeft een review van Accolade's vijfde deel in de welbekende Test Drive serie.

Ze zijn er zelfs nog redelijk positief over ook:

The most important part of any racing game is how the cars handle, and here Test Drive fares pretty well. We used the keyboard, joypad, and steering wheel when testing this title, and all of them seemed to work delightfully. The cars all handle fairly well, although at high speeds they seem to drift a little bit unrealistically. Still, what the hell would I know? I've never driven a Viper at 160mph before. In addition to your standard brakes, which you need to be VERY easy with, Test Drive 5 also provides you with a handbrake that's perfect for power sliding around those hairpin turns. It's a delicate art and one that none of us ever mastered it completely. In fact, both Julian and I (we're the two who played the most) found Test Drive 5 to be a very difficult game to play, but not always in a frustrating way. It just takes a long time to learn how to handle the cars properly. But don't get too cocky, once you get the hang of driving the car, you'll still have to master driving in the snow or rain, both of which present their own special problems (like lack of vision and lack of traction respectively). Unfortunately, all of this solid play is ruined by the way the computer plays its game.

Almachtige Abit heeft een nieuwe moederplank voor Intel's Socket 370 aangekondigd.

Hier wat stuff uit de press release:

Coinciding with the newest Intel socket architecture and the relevant 440BX chipset which supports it, ABIT announced their newest 440BX based motherboard using the Socket 370 architecture with Soft Menu II™ and five PCI slots, the BM6. ABIT's BM6 is the newest Intel 440BX based mainboard with Socket 370 which was designed for the new socket based Celeron® CPUs.

ABIT’s new BM6 has One AGP, Five PCI and Two ISA slots to handle all of your expansion needs. The ABIT BM6 comes with all of the latest advancements and trends in the motherboard industry, including but not limited to; all the specifications for, AGP for improved 3D graphics performance at a lower cost, APM/ACPI power management, Ultra DMA 33 support, Infrared peripheral support, USB, PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, CPU auto-detect, AWARD write protect anti-virus, and Wake On LAN, the BM6 also supports Wake on Keyboard and Wake on mouse.

Nog een paar nieuwe features ook! (maar S370 blijft bagger als je 't mij vraagt).

Alweer een nieuwe RPG: CGO heeft een preview van Cavedog's Elysium.

Beetje info:

pisode Memento Mori: Scully shows Mulder an MRI scan indicating a cancerous mass has been detected on the wall between her sinus and cerebrum. The tumor is inoperable and if it grows, the chance for survival is slim. Building a series of games, each of which contains this kind of X-Files micro-thread, is Cavedog Entertainment's plan for their upcoming role-playing game (RPG) Elysium. John Cutter, creator of Betrayal at Krondor, is undertaking what will probably be the first truly episodic RPG. Sure, we have had stories with sequels, but nothing quite as Green-Mile-esque or, for that matter, Dickens-y as we're going to see here. Each episode will essentially be an eight to ten hour game, with 41 episodes planned. "We've really been using The X-Files as our model," says Cutter. "Each one is definitely a stand-alone thing, and there will be a nice conclusion at the end each time. But there are a lot of little threads that will pull through most of the episodes." You might, for instance, meet a certain group of characters in one episode and wonder what they heck they're doing there. They may be re-introduced as key elements of a later episode

Na dat Peter Molyneux artikel van gisteren heeft Gamespot nu ook een preview van Black & White in elkaar gefrutseld:

Black and White comes from the mind of Peter Molyneux, cofounder of Bullfrog Productions and creator of such acclaimed games as Populous, Magic Carpet, Powermonger, Syndicate, Theme Park, and Dungeon Keeper. Now at Lionhead Studios, Molyneux hopes to continue his tradition of unique games. His newest game, Black and White, promises to do just that.

The most striking thing about Lionhead Studios' upcoming Black and White is how far off base the title is. This is not a game about duality. Lionhead is crafting a strategy game that, while ostensibly about good and evil, promises to reflect each individual player's unique approach. Philosophically and technologically, Black and White is a game about varying shades of gray.

Gamespot UK heeft een artikel over BioWare's Baldur's Gate:

Baldur's Gate is one of several roleplaying epics in the making, and also the most ambitious. Unlike Diablo, Baldur's Gate is a more traditional game, albeit one with state-of-the-art graphics and a friendly real-time combat system. Underneath, however, it has all the hallmarks of a classic roleplaying game. Indeed, here is a game to rival the Ultima series ­ it has all the depth (an intricate storyline with over 100 sub-plots), the epic size (a 10,000-screen area to adventure in), the character interaction and, with hundreds of weapons, spells, items and monsters, a lot to get to grips with

Diamond heeft nieuwe drivers voor de Mos3DII:

he following are the latest Windows 95/98 Drivers for the Monster 3D II, version 4.10.01.0205. Please view M3DII205.TXT for driver installation information. 

M3DII205.EXE

(2.16 Mb)

Tresh's FiringSquad heeft een artikel in elkaar gezet met een vergelijking tussen koptelefoons en speakers.

Hier wat stuff:

Anyone who stayed awake long enough to read through the second page of the SBLive vs. MX300 ShootOut knows (perhaps too much) about the importance sound plays in PC games. Ever since the days of Doom, stereo panning has been instrumental in helping gamers pinpoint their enemies' position, and alerting them to critical events such as weapon and item respawns. Whereas sounds are important, so are the devices needed to play them. Every gamer, hardcore or casual, has access to either a pair of speakers or earphones/headphones, many have both. It's pretty much accepted that at LAN parties or live competitions, headphones are the call of the day, and for broadcasting to large audiences, speakers are the only solution. However, volume concerns aside, which is actually better for gaming?

Alweer een review bij AGN Hardware, nu eentje van Creative's Video Blaster Webcam II.

Hier een stukkie van wat ze over dat ding te vertellen hebben:

The Video Blaster WebCam II kit comes with everything you need to get up and running with internet video, video conferencing, image manipulation & rudimentary surveillance.   The Kit includes a digital video camera, microphone and stand, drivers, utilities: Creative Web Phone, Polaroid PhotoMax, ISpy, and camera control utilities.  There is also an extensive manual and some other goodies in the box.

The camera itself comes in either Parallel or USB versions.  The USB version is for Windows 98 users only, so if you are still running 95, go for the Parallel port version.  The unit is small: 2.5 inches tall, 3 inches deep, and 3 inches wide; and is designed to sit on top of your monitor.  The version I received for review was a USB version, and no power supply or video capture care were necessary like with a traditional video camera.

Powerhouse heeft een artikel over USB in elkaar gedraaid:

Have you ever tried installing a new modem, only to have your system lock up when you turned it back on. Or even worse, you load Windows just fine, but when you try to use your new modem suddenly your mouse no longer works, or the dreaded blue screen appears.

What about hooking up that new parallel port pass-thru cable so you can use that new removable hard drive. The drive seems to work fine, but suddenly you no longer have access to your printer.

How about those game ports, they use up precious CPU cycles, you can't hook up more than one type of joystick at the same time (unless your using the joyswitch or Y-cables), and some joysticks have problems working correctly with various game ports. Not only that, but some of the newest Force Feedback game controllers require both the game port and serial port to work correctly. All of these problems have plagued PC users for years and it's just now starting to change.

3DHardware heeft z'n review van Soyo's SY6BA+ moederplank op het net gezet.

Hier wat info over deze plaat:

The SY6BA+ is a fairly small i440BX board - almost as small as you can make an ATX motherboard (not counting microATX). As such, there should be no problems fitting it into just about any ATX case. Soyo chose to outfit this board with a full compliment of expandability options including 5 PCI, 2 ISA, 1 AGP, and 4 DIMM slots.

The DIMM slots are located immediately in front of the i440BX chip, which is covered by a Soyo branded heatsink attached via spring clips. Although there are four DIMM slots, Soyo chose not to include a data buffer for added stability as Intel recommends.

Warzone heeft een review van Mikroschoft's Zijwinder Krachtterugkoppeling.

Hier wat info uit de review:

Just like the other Microsoft products, the wheel is made of the black plastic that’s all too familiar. Looking like it belongs on Star Trek or the first Batman movie, the curved design makes it look pretty sleek and futuristic. Three vents are on top of the wheel and couple along the sides provide airflow to cool the mechanisms inside. For those with small desks, the wheel is about the width of a keyboard so it won’t take up that much more room when you set it up. The pedals plug into the rear of the wheel unit along with the power supply. One plug goes into a SoundBlaster-compatible audio card with MIDI. No USB support? That’s ok. The USB technology is still pretty new and it incurs a load on the system so I don’t feel it was a big loss not to include it. The force feedback effect only works through DirectInput 5. The wheel’s grips are nicely molded and covered with rubber to help prevent slipping. You should have no trouble gripping this wheel. Just like the other Sidewinder products, the wheel doesn’t need calibration. All you need to do is plug it in and the wheel is ready to go.

AGN Hardware heeft een review gepost van Diamond's omstreden Rio MP3 player:

The Rio works by reading the MP3 files from the included 32MB of flash memory, and doing the decompression of the files within the hardware on the unit. By using flash memory instead of tape or even the mini-disk technology from Sony, the Rio eliminates the annoying "skipping" that the other media does when you are using it for exercising or whatever high movement pastime you may have. Another advantage of no moving parts is that there is less wear on the unit, which means less of a chance for anything to get broken. I am not saying that it is indestructible, just that it will have a longer life then a conventional portable audio playback device.

NEC heeft eindelijk de specs van hun langverwachte PowerVR 250 aangekondigd.

Hier een stukkie (meer vind je op AGN Hardware):

VideoLogic and NEC Electronics Inc. today announced they have started sampling the new PowerVR 250™, a high-performance 3D graphics processor for the PC. Evaluation of early PowerVR 250 engineering samples began in November 1998 showing impressive top-tier performance. The optimised version of the device will be released to manufacturing this month, with volume availability planned for Q1 1999.

PowerVR 250 is the latest in the PowerVR Series2™ family of products and is the first in a series of 2D/3D PC parts. Also in the PowerVR Series2 are PowerVR 2DC™ for the Sega® Dreamcast™ game console and the PowerVR Series2 arcade chip. Both PowerVR 2DC and the PowerVR Series2 arcade chip are currently in mass production.

"The launch of PowerVR 250, the first integrated 2D/3D PowerVR chip, completes the first phase of our cross-platform strategy for the second-generation technology," said Trevor Wing, vice president of technology marketing and sales at VideoLogic. "We are very pleased to have achieved this important milestone as part of our continued commitment to the PC market. Looking ahead, the future generation of our PowerVR technology is already at an advanced stage of development."

"The impressive performance achieved by the PowerVR 250 has exceeded our expectations," said Charles Bellfield, product marketing manager, NEC Electronics Inc. "In a highly competitive market, it’s critical to push the envelope on performance."

Warzone heeft een review van STB's TV PCI Tuner:

At a price tag of $99, the card is still a good buy for those looking for a low-cost solution to enabling TV support on your computer. A few nagging features set this product back a few steps, but it does a more than adequate job. Multimedia capturing is easy, picture quality is good, and no problems surfaced after long hours of usage. On the downside, the virtual remote gets in the way and a few features are not implemented as well as they should. STB will be releasing the card with a FM tuner soon so you might want to look into that one.

Sysopt.com is terug met een (wat late) review van Abit's holy BH6.

Hier het goede:

Wide variety of clock multipliers, supported bus speeds, boot options, and voltages.   Great manual.  It has a real nice form factor (very easy to install in an ATX mid-tower case.  It is extremely stable and compatibility was not a problem.   Need I mention the CPU Soft Menu™ II, the sweetest configurator for CPU overclocking enthusiasts?  It also has a great price: $95 for what is probably the best BX motherboard feels like stealing.  Abit also threw in a nice little feature for P2 350 and 400 owners, the SEL 100/66# BIOS setting for skirting around Intel's little multiplier roadblocks.