Hercules in de problemen? Check deze posting van Riva Extreme:

Hey everyone,

I know that there have been a lot of rumors and speculation, but it would seem right now that the computer graphics pioneer, Hercules, may be going out of business. It's all over the nvidia newsgroup right now, and a reader sent me a few emails that were interesting.

Right now, Hercules isn't answering their phone or email, and it is entirely possible that those who ordered a Dynamite Ultra and haven't recieved it could very well not recieve it at all now. Here's the quotes I posted on RE, feel free to use them (my readers name is Sean):

"Information from a Hercules executive indicates that the company will officially close it doors within the week. There are no indications as to whether current orders will be shipped. Pending orders for their high demand Dynamite TNT2 Ultra are not expected to be fulfilled.

The executive, who has requested anonymity cites embezzlement and mismanagement as causes for the collapse of this industry pioneer.

- - -

[Sean]: I am a local to Hercules in Fremont. Did Keisha tell you that they were closing there doors? She told me to call her last Wednesday for a update. [Other dude]: No, I've spoken to Keisha though. I think she's the receptionist there. I understand that they're not answering the phones. But since you're local to Fremont, why not just drive by to see if there is anyone there. My guess is that there is nothing but a skeleton crew. They're on the west side of 880 off of Gateway."

I dont know what to tell the people that ordered it, since noone can seem to get through....

Uit de krant :

Madrid - De Amerikaanse softwaregigant Microsoft ligt onder vuur wegens seksismen in de Spaanstalige versie van zijn tekstverwerker Word. De Spaanse regering heeft het bedrijf gevraagd het gewraakte programma aan te passen.

De klachten gelden het synoniemenwoordenboek dat bij de tekstverwerker hoort. het Spaanse Vrouweninstituut legt de vinger op een aantal vooroordelen tegen vrouwen die in de synoniemen verwerkt zijn.

Ze noemt Word als synoniem voor het woord 'ansiso' 'gretig of ambitieus'.

De vrouwelijke versie 'ansiosa' moet het echter doen met de alternatieven 'nymfomaan', 'wulps', 'seksbelust'.

In betekenisverschillen tussen de mannelijke en verouwelijke vorm van 'lichtelijk' ('ligero' en 'ligera') is Word ook niet al te vrouwvriendelijk: 'Snel', 'gracieus' en 'delicaat' zijn bruikbare alternatieven voor de mannelijke vorm.

Ligera kan men vervangen door 'verwaand', 'koket', of 'ontrouw', aldus het computerprogramma.

Er liggen weer nieuw nummer van het Magazine voor Computer Techniek in de winkel. Een korte opsomming van de inhoud:

- AMD Athlon vs Intel Pentium III
- Industrial Light & Magic, special f/x van George Lucas
- VMWare, Windows onder Linux
- BeOS Release 4.5
- MP3 encoding en decoding software
- Matrox G400 Max
- Aldi PIII-450 PC
- Test 13 digital camera's
- Test 19 socket370 moederplanken
- Test 17 socket370 riser cards
- Linux desktop configureren

De Athlon/PIII test is op zich nogal waardeloos omdat c't de benchmarks vernaggelt heeft. Bij het meten van de CPU performance is het niet handig om de videokaart tegen z'n fillrate limit te jagen. Dit is precies wat c't doet m'n z'n benchmarks op 1024x768...

Het artikel over ILM en de belangrijke rol die zij gespeeld hebben bij de ontwikkeling van digitale special effects is erg interessant als je belangstelling hebt voor computer generated imaging.

Verder wordt het PIII systeem van de Aldi compleet afgezeken, ook wel leuk .

Ik kwam ook nog op het stupide idee om een Computer!Totaal te halen en zoals gewoonlijk bleek dit weer een zware vergissing te zijn. De test van 7-snelle CD fikkers blijkt in feite niet meer dan een samenvatting van de spec sheets te zijn. Info over de kwaliteit/betrouwbaarheid van de branders zijn ze vergeten...

Nog erger is de 'review' van de Abit BP6/BE6/MSI dual CPU socker370 riser card. De enorme range busspeeds van de BP6 wordt als 'vrij goed instelbaar' beschouwd en de plank zelf vinden ze 'niet helemaal ideaal', want een slot1 moederplank is volgens C!T veel flexibeler (sure, de goedkoopste dual slot1 plank is duurder dan de BP6 en dan heb je een kaal bord met alleen 66/100MHz, zonder de onboard UltraATA/66 controller). De MSI 6905 riser card strijkt dus met de eer en krijg het predikaat 'C!T Topper'. Kutblad.

Uit ervaring weet ik dat een goed keyboard errug belangrijk is (heb vandaag zelf een nieuwe ). Nou bij AGN Hardware hebben ze dus twee keyboards getest, het gaat tussen de Microsoft Elite Keyboard en een Future Power Multimedia Keyboard. Hier heb je een stuk over het ergonische Microsoft keyboard:

There is of course a downside to a different keyboard design. Switching to an ergonomic keyboard isn’t quite as bad as learning to type all over again but there is a definite learning curve. Even now I will often hit the wrong key(s) or have to look down to check where the END or PAGE DOWN key is. If you’re new to typing then getting used to this ergonomic design should be a breeze. If however, you are an "old-school" user of the standard keyboard layout then you might find the switch to be quite difficult. The upside here is that Microsoft provides a 30-day, no questions asked return policy for their keyboards. If you can’t make the switch, full refund.

So how is the ergonomic design of the MS Elite? Try this at home right now, put your hands out in front of you as if you were going to type, but let them sit naturally. Now notice how your hands tend to angle inwards with the wrists at a slight angle. Microsoft designed the Natural Elite keyboard to fit this natural tendency. Now look back at that standard keyboard and ask yourself where the hell that design came from.

Ergonomic is better. If you’re new to typing then by all means try this MS design. If you have been using a regular keyboard for a long time, the switch may be too difficult. The last thing to note is that this MS keyboard makes for a terrible "hunt and peck" keyboard. If you don’t know how to type with the proper "homerow" technique, you need to learn now or avoid this keyboard. As far as the ergonomics of the Future Power keyboard go, it’s a standard keyboard and with proper technique it can be utilized fairly well. The choice to switch is yours.

Voor de rest, klik hier.

Firingsquad heeft een review gepost van de draadloze Sony DS5000 surround headphones, met geïntegreerde Dolby Digital decoder. Met een straatprijs van 500 dollar kun je het setje niet echt goedkoper noemen...

The point is, good equipment is expensive to come by and not always appropriate to play. If you want a complete Dolby Digital 5.1 setup, complete with 6 speakers, Dolby decoder, and digital optical interconnects, you're going to be paying an amount that physicists jokingly refer to as "nontrivial." Turning up the juice at night might also drive your neighbors nuts.

Here's the good news. Now, you don't need to be in the philanthropist class or soundproof your pad just to enjoy AC-3 digital. Sony has come to the rescue with their new MDR-DS5000 headphones. Featuring a wireless infra-red design and integrated Dolby Digital decoder, the DS5000s are looking to replace not just your standard headphones, but also any other equipment that might be lying around as well.

Riva Extreme heeft een artikeltje neergekwakt over de problemen met de TV-out van de Asus V3800. Volgens Riva Extreme hebben 75% van de V3800 bezitters geëtter met dat ding - oopz Asus ). De oorzaak van het probleem is het hoge stroomverbruik van de V3800:

The problem arises from the monstrous voltage/current requirements of the v3800 Deluxe. Packed with features, it needs a lot of juice to run, and if you don't have an Asus motherboard, chances are that you're having some problems with it yourself and you may need to do this or have Asus do it for you. It involves the soldering of two tiny resistors onto the PCB, so if you're wary about your soldering skills, you might want to alert Asus and I believe that they will do this free of charge. But, if you don't want to be without your video card, you may want to go the route that Glen took and DIY.

Asus heeft een nieuwe versie van z'n V3800 Live proggie gereleased. Verbeteringen in v3.4R zijn:

1. Support to get video from Sony Playstation through Video-Input port.
2. Support to scan TV-channels from 450MHz to 850MHz by increasing 0.25MHz stepping.
3. Fix misdetection of IDE DMA mode.
4. Add new format size 640*480, 320*240, 160*120 in capture driver.
5. Let driver do capture 176*144, 88*72 in PAL system (Restore the missing bottom line).

De file kun je hier neer gaan halen.

Gamers Depot is ook lekker aan het reviewen de laatste tijd. Nu hebben ze een test van de Creative Encore 6x DVD kit gepost. Hier heb je een hap over de bijgeleverde Dxr3 MPEG decoder:

The Dxr3 encoder card provided us with simply the best DVD decompression this side of a set-top-box. I could see absolutely no graininess or distortion anywhere in the picture. While the Dxr3 may have performed what most would consider "flawlessly", it is definitely not without it's flaws. You see, to use the Dxr3 with your current video card, you need to use the enclosed pass-thru cable that attaches between your video card and the Dxr3 card itself. The amount that it distorts your 2D desktop image simple cannot be expressed into words. In fact, it is because of this major flaw, that I cannot recommend using this setup unless you want to bypass the pass-thru cable, and manually switch your monitor cable whenever you go between using windows or playing games and watching movies. The other thing you might want to consider is just getting the DVD drive by itself, and using a good all around video card to handle your DVD playback like the ATI Rage Fury or the Matrox G400, thus being able to bypass the Dxr3 crappy pass-thru cable all together. A note here, the higher our resolutions were turned up the greater the distortion of your "desktop" image quality.

It seems very ironic to me how graphic chip makers like Matrox and NVIDIA are trying their best to make graphic image quality better and better, only to have it all go down the toilet by using inferior crap like this pass-thru cable is. Ok, I'll stop beating this "dead horse", you get the idea. Bottom line here is, if you:

A. Either have a good video card for DVD playback or
B. Don't mind manually switching your monitor cable between your video card and the Dxr3 card...then you should have no problems.

Singapore Hardware Zone heeft een beetje erg late review gepost van de Microstar MS-6905 socket370 riser card met dual CPU jumper. Natuurlijk kun je ook gewoon een BP6 halen als je dual wilt draaien, maar je hebt altijd van die mensen die het zichzelf onnodig moeilijk willen maken ...

Well, a first look at this review and most of you must be wondering why this product was brought out so late from the reviews lab. First, Socket-370 to Slot-1 converter cards are still widely used as a lot of users still go for the relatively cheap Socket-370 Celeron processors. There are quite a number of DIY enthusiasts that still ask the question as to which is the best converter card to get. Secondly, there are a lot of renewed interests in the field of overclocking since the re-introduction of the Celeron 300A and also some reports of successes in overclocking the Celeron 366A up to 550MHz. Thirdly, this is no ordinary converter as it allows you to do SMP (Symmetrical Multi-Processing) on your favourite Celeron processors. With this in mind, we had no choice but to get our hands on a Slot-1 dual CPU motherboard to test out this seemingly un-important feature.

The Tech Zone heeft een klein artikeltje over een naar 800MHz overgeklokte PIII:

The Alpha P125 was adapted to the Pentium III with two 60x25 fans that spin at 6000 RPM. L2 cache spacers were used to cool the L2 cache. Click here to see how to install a P125 to a Pentium III.

The stock heatsink on the Xentor 32 SE was unchanged but I added a Globalwin CPM 16 fan to cool it. This combined with the card cooler allowed the Xentor SE to run at 200Mhz core 250Mhz memory!

The system will run on the 153Mhz bus (920 MHz !!!) with Pentium III L2 cache disabled and a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI because the AGP TNT2 Ultra crashes with the 153 MHz FSB. However, Windows 98 is very stable (Word, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver). It just that PC locks up after 1/2 hours of intense gaming. Oh well, I can live with "only" 800Mhz.

Gamasutra (site voor game developers) heeft een artikeltje in elkaar gekwakt over de Siggraph '99 beurs, die van 8 t/m 12 augustus in Los Angeles werd gehouden. In het artikel vind je o.a. info over SGI (nVidia deal en overstap van Irix naar Linux), Mikrosoft (Fahrenheit API), nVidia (NV10) en 3dfx (T-Buffer). Over de T-Buffer technologie van de 3dfx Voodoo4 heb je hier een stukje:

When asked, 3dfx's executives say we can expect higher color depth (32 bits, maybe?) and higher texture sizes (512x512 at least), putting the V4 in a competitive position with the NV10.

I know it may be premature, but I think 3dfx may be heading in the wrong direction with all this T-buffer stuff, and may well be trying to hype this feature to differentiate itself from competitors like Nvidia. The trend in consumer graphics chips today is the integration of geometry processing into the pipeline. On-chip transform and lighting are on the way, and on-chip culling, clipping, and vertex storage are already in sight. The accelerator market is basically following the path marked some years ago by SGI architectures. Grab the specs of an SGI InfiniteReality machine, and you'll see similarities with today's consumer designs. So, the geometry step is an obvious one. 3DLabs realized that some time ago, and its Oxygen product family already marked this phase in hardware. Nvidia seems headed in the same direction. By focusing on T-buffers, 3dfx is making a different move.

And let's not forget that a T-buffer can be emulated in software. On the other hand, 32-bit rendering can't, and large texture sets are also impossible.

Ik kwam bij Ace's Hardware een reaktie tegen van Armin / FullOn3D over het door AMD geoptimaliseerde (/ gemanipuleerde - hoe je het ook wil zeggen ) 3DMark99 .dll'tje:

There has been a row over the use of a DLL that had been optimized by AMD and added to the 3D Mark 99 MAX benchmark software shipped with their review systems. Futuremark released the following statement the issue. I'd assume they received heat from Intel and chose to move themselves into a neutral position. This was followed by this article on EB News, which was a poor interpretation of the press release. Especially there is no claim by Futuremark that their trademark is violated by AMD, but rather that such a violation would occur by using 3D Mark scores with the Athlon DLL in a way that was not following their detailed instructions in the press release.

More specifically still there are no claims made that the benchmark was rigged by using the DLL in question - my information is that it simply makes use of the new 3DNow! instructions, which, among other things, will crash the K6-2 and K6-III if it is used.

The integrity of the benchmark is not threatened, the performance is just optimized for the newer CPU that was not available when 3D Mark 99 MAX was released. Any questions whether Intel would have pushed for a SSE DLL if their Pentium III had come out after 3D Mark 99 MAX was launched?"

Tom heeft een blurb uitgeburpt met een aantal reacties op z'n Intel / Abit samenzweringstheorie (waarover je meer kunt lezen in z'n Athlon planken review):

Abit is pretty upset, although I consider my words in the article as rather harmless. In an email to somebody they call me 'irresponsible journalist', whew!!! I must have hit a nerve there! Abit is franticly defending Intel and claims that there won't be any AMD-processors available this year, which is why they don't see a market for an Abit-Athlon board. This doesn't quite go hand in hand with reports I'm receiving from Germany and other countries, saying that Athlons are available, but no motherboards. We'll see if Abit will produce Athlon-boards once 'there is a market', until then I'd like Abit to think about the 'irresponsible journalist'-accusation.

Dit zat er ook al langer aan te komen. Intel kapt dus met z'n graphics produkten (de mislukte i740 en i752) en ik denk niet dat we hier echt rouwig om hoeven te zijn... Hier heb je de info van GA-Source:

Intel is exiting a segment of the booming market for chips that process two and three dimensional graphics in personal computers after entering the market just last year.

An Intel spokesman confirmed a report today on CNET's News .com that said Intel is getting out of the market for stand-alone graphics chips, which it entered in February of 1998, with a graphics controller chip called the i740. But the company will continue to develop integrated chip sets, which combine a graphics processor with a standard PC chip set that accompanies the microprocessor, Intel said.

"As we look at the market, we see the integrated approach becoming more popular,'' said Mike Sullivan, an Intel spokesman. ''The 810 has been a very popular product,'' he said, referring to the Intel chip set that integrates graphics, which was introduced in the first half of this year. Analysts said Intel could not keep pace with rival graphics chip companies, such as ATI Technologies Inc., NVIDIA Corp. and S3 Inc., who were churning out better performing stand-alone graphics controllers faster than Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel.

"There has been a lot of speculation that they would do this,'' said Dean McCarron, an analyst with Mercury Research in Scottsdale, Ariz. "They were competing against ATI, Nvidia, S3 and all of those vendors who have similar products and many were higher in performance.''

nVidia heeft de financiële resultaten van het tweede kwartaal 1999 bekend gemaakt. Zo te lezen gaan de zaken erg voorspoedig daaro:

NVIDIA Corporation today reported operating results and profit for its second quarter of fiscal 2000 and for the six months ended August 1, 1999.

Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 ended August 1, 1999 was $78.0 million, an increase of 543 percent compared to r evenue of $12.1 million for the second quarter of fiscal 1999, which ended July 26, 1998. Net income for the second fiscal quarter was $6.7 million, compared to a net loss of $(9.7) million for the second quarter of fiscal 1999. Diluted net income per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 was $0.19, compared to a diluted net loss of $(0.68) per share for the second quarter of fiscal 1999.

Revenue for the six months ended August 1, 1999 was $149.0 million, an increase of 269 percent compared to revenue of $40.4 million for the six months ended July 26, 1998. Net income for the six months ended August 1, 1999 was $12.9 million, compared to a net loss of $(10.7) million for the six months ended July 26, 1998. Diluted net income per share for the first half of fiscal 2000 was $0.37, compared to a diluted net loss per share of $(0.75) for the first half of fiscal 1999.

Ik kwam bij The Register nog een interessante nieuwsposting tegen over BX en ZX chipset tekort waarmee Taiwanese mammaplank bakker inmidels geconfronteerd worden. Volgens een deep throat bij Intel gaat het niet om opzettelijke naaijerij, maar heeft Intel gewoon gefaald. De samenzweringstheorie van ome Tom zou dus ook lulkoek zijn...

Taiwanese wire Commercial News is reporting today that Intel will ration BX/ZX chipsets supplied to motherboard manufacturers by as much as 50 per cent come September. And, as reported here earlier, it is attempting to shift the mobo makers to the 810 chipset, without much success.

But, says the wire, local manufacturers are already switching to chipsets from Via and SiS instead, causing a shortage of those parts and price increases.

All the major mobo makers have received notice of shortages, including FIC, Asustek and MicroStar.

Nevertheless, a highly reliable deep throat at Intel Israel has told The Register that Chipzilla has no sinister intent and that, on this occasion, the company just screwed up on BX/ZX supplies.

He denied absolutely allegations made by Tom Pabst yesterday that Intel had created an artificial shortage just to put pressure on hard-pressed rival AMD (Chimpzilla).

Said the Intel deep throat: "Tom Pabst's speculation is inaccurate. Intel has pushed the chipset fabs far beyond their design limits to satisfy demand."

Whatever the reason, the lack of BX/ZX chipsets is causing much angst in Formosa, as manufacturers attempt to gear up for the pre-Yule rush.

Intel heeft bij de ontwikkeling van de Merced al de nodige tegenslagen te verwerken gekregen. Voorlopig blijft het ze niet echt meezitten, want HP (belangrijke Intel kameraad bij de ontwikkeling van de Merced) heeft z'n klanten openlijk aangeraden om de Merced langszij te laten liggen, en te wachten op meneer McKinley (de volgende generatie IA-64 processors):

Although Intel steadfastly maintains that its Merced chip will be more than just a test bed, Hewlett-Packard, co-designer of the chip, recommends that some customers bypass it and wait for the next one.

The release date and performance of Merced has prompted many observers to say that the chip, the first "IA-64" processor, would be merely a test drive for the advanced architecture. HP's point of view, decribed at a conference here, is the first time that an insider and main proponent of the chip has recommending skipping it.

HP still plans to sell servers based on Merced chips, including servers running Unix, Windows, and Linux, said HP's Eric Clow at the HP World conference, and its new N-class servers will be upgradable to use the Merced chip.

But HP's own PA-RISC 8500 chip and upcoming 8600 are fast enough that HP expects that customers buying N-class servers now simply will skip Merced and move on to the second-generation 64-bit chip, dubbed McKinley, Clow said.

"The decision was made to make the natural upgrade to the McKinley," Clow said. "The 8500 and 8600 performance can carry you through to that time."

Meer info over deze kwestie vind je in dit artikel van News.com.

Het zat er al aan te komen, maar het is nu dus ook bevestigd: Apple heeft een rechtszaak aangespannen tegen Emachines, fabrikant van een iMac-achtige alles-in-één pc. Hier heb je wat spul uit een artikel van News.com:

Apple Computer has filed a second iMac-inspired lawsuit, this time against low-cost PC maker Emachines, alleging that the company has wrongfully pilfered the design and feel of its popular translucent computer.

[...] This is the second suit Apple has filed against a PC manufacturer for allegedly improperly appropriating the design of the iMac. Apple also filed a similar suit against Future Power and Daewoo in July.

A major issue in both cases is the concept of "trade dress," that is, the distinctive style or look of a product. Historically, the courts did not extend copyright protection to design. A desk or a pencil, for instance, could not get copyright protection. Design, courts held, was a result of function and could not be protected by copyright.

However, courts have begun to grant copyright protection to "stylized" items on the grounds that novel industrial design can communicate a distinctive idea or image.

Recently, for example, a court held that a Gucci watch in the shape of a large "G" could be protected by copyright, because it communicated an idea and was not merely shaped that way for utilitarian purposes. It's an evolving area of the law, lawyers say.

Apple's theory is that trade design protection exists. These companies, after all, could have chosen a number of different styles for their computers.

Beyond3D heeft een aantal Neon 250 Direct3D screenshots op z'n site gemikt:

Videologic send us some screenshots from Direct3D games. As you might know or not know there are currently no Direct3D benchmarks numbers available at the moment for Neon250. This is because the driver team wants to finalyse some optimalisations first. This however doesn't mean that there are problems with Neon250 as the following screenshots from X - Beyond The Frontier, Drakan, Castrol Honda Superbike 2000 and System Shock2 prove :

Gamespot UK heeft een korte review van de Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000 speakers neer gezet. Hier heb je alvast 25% van het artikeltje :

The sound of the FPS is very good, with consistent performance across the range of frequency. There's plenty of detail, very little sibilance in the treble and none of the hollow sound that computer speakers all too often suffer from. But we found that taking things up to max volume caused a distinct loss of composure. If you're thinking about spreading your game setup across a large room, then these might not be the speakers for you.

Michael van AnandTech heeft een review gepost van de Abit BE6. Hier een stukje over de FSB settings:

The BE6's SoftMenu II takes advantage of the new clock generator by providing support, albeit unofficially, for a total of 13 FSB settings. Although we praised ABIT for their excellent FSB options on the BP6, the BE6 offers much more conventional support. In addition to the standard 66/75/83/100/124/133MHz FSB settings, the BE6 supports 105 / 110 / 112 / 115 / 120 / 140 / 150, with 124 and above supporting a 1/4 PCI ratio to keep the PCI frequency as close to the specified 33MHz setting as possible, for those with extremely frequency sensitive PCI peripherals. These bus speeds are not quite as beneficial as those offered on the BP6 for Celeron users, but are better for Pentium III owners.

AnandTech zit zoals bij alle Abit reviews weer te klagen over gebrekkige stabiliteit onder normale omstandigen. Stabiliteit onder overklokte omstandigheden schijnt dan opeens wel weer super goed te zijn (iemand die hier de logica in ziet!?). Anyway, de review lees je hier.