The Register heeft een news posting geplaatst met een stukkie info over de aanwezigheid van good old DOS in Microsoft's nieuwe OS-en. Millennium zal nog wel gewoon DOS in zich hebben, weliswaar wat minder zichtbaar voor de eindgebruiker.

It now seems pretty clearly established that Microsoft will not be removing DOS from Millennium, but early reports form people who've seen Beta 1, which went out this week, indicate that the attempts to hide Dos instead are at best perfunctory.

Getting rid of DOS no doubt remains on the MS wishlist, because it would make PCs easier to use and more reliable, but as far as Millennium is concerned it looks like wishing and doing are two different things. For Beta 1 Microsoft has removed the exit to Dos option from the shutdown menu, but according to one tester, "the Bootgui= option is still in the msdos.sys file; the default is '1' which boots to full blown Windows, and if '0' is used, the computer boots to DOS 7.1."

The option to press F8 for boot options is also still there. Microsoft might remove this later, but as not many inexperienced users know about it, the company may reckon it isn't likely to cause much trouble.

Je kunt hier verder lezen.

Hardware One heeft wat nieuwe info over Creative's GeForce 256 kaart gepost. Volgens hun is deze kaart namelijk al ergens verkrijgbaar:

I had to post this! Just received a phone call from our 'agent' at Sim Lim Square. The card is on sale less than an hour ago. I say again, boxes are retailing at Sim Lim Square for SGD 429 (US$1 approx SGD 1.7). Whoa! Reportedly, it's a stock 32Mb card with no game bundle or... so what are you waiting for?! =)

[break]En dit staat in een iets latere posting:[/break]

Well, I was also hanging around at SLS this afternoon when I chanced upon the Creative GeForce. The piece I saw was only priced at SGD 400. The lady at the counter was nice enough to let me take a look at the navy blue box which showed a card whose layout is very similar to the 3D Blaster RivaTNT2 ULTRA. It has only a VGA connector and no other output connectors. If I'm not wrong, the board could be making use of the 3.34 reference drivers we posted about yesterday. We would keep you updated when we have more information! Stay tuned!

Hm, erg vaag allemaal. Op de website van Creative is al wel een 3D Blaster GeForce geboren, die vind je hier.

Bij Ace's Hardware is ook een tabelletje te vinden met wat 3D winbench 99benchmarks van DirectX 7.0. De performance toename over DirectX 6.1 is vrij groot te noemen, 15 tot 30%. Met een K6-2 400 met RIVA TNT kreeg hij de volgende scores:

3D winbench 99	DirectX 6.1	DirectX 7.0	Performance Gain
Transfo. & Light.	37.2	43.2	16%
Transformation	58.4	76.5	31%
WinMark	579	629	9%

Nu lees ik bij Ace's Hardware dat er mensen zijn die beweren dat ze de K7M Athlon mobo van Asus in hun bezit hebben. Check deze mail van een Duitser:

"The ASUS K7M ? I bought it a week ago at madex.de for 449.- DM (about 220$). Runs with a 550er Athlon at the moment, will overclock with higher bus frequencies later"

[break]Verder is er ook nog een Belg die zoiets beweert.[/break]

A bit later, Wim Bervoets, the fellow Belgian of the popular Wim's Bios page website , reported that Cloetens, a big Belgian distributor has the Asus K7M in stock for about 185$. Asus representatives however REFUSE to talk about their products and say that this product DOES NOT EXISTS OFFICIALY.

[break]Op deze Belgische site staat inderdaad de Asus K7M in de prijslijst (thanks Sake voor de tip ). Waarschijnlijk wordt hier de Freeway Athlon moederbord bedoelt??

Update: Ace's Hardware meldt nu dat de mysterieuze Asus K7M Athlon plank gesignaleerd is in Compaq PC's.[/break]

Even more news about the ASUS K7M... a real "to be continued" series. A big thanks to Lars Buchweitz for pointing out that "in Germany Compaq's Presario PC's with AMD Athlon 500 have a ASUS K7M-Mobo." I quote:

"I have seen today one of these PC's in a great Computer-Market. And I could read for some minutes in the manual of the ASUS-Mobo. But it was to short for further information."

ASUS will launch an Athlon motherboard but they won't confirm it until the official launch date (so right now, no more Intel conspiracy stories please). Nothing wrong with that, I apologies. Kudos to COMPAQ for such an excellent choice...

Wordt vervolgd....

Over bij AGN Hardware staat nu ook een review van de balloze IntelliMouse Explorer muis. Hieronder heb je een stukkie over zijn performance in games. Voor de hele review, klik hier.

There are two types of gamers running lose on the Internet, called the hardcore and the casual gamers. The Hardcore gamers are dedicated to being the best in the group for a game of Quake2, Unreal Tournament or whatever they happen to have in their computer at the time. These hardcore lovers of destruction are going to find the Intellimouse Explorer a little weak for their needs. Because even though the Explorer can handle up to 1500 pictures per second thanks to the IntelliEye, those pictures have to be right under the mouse. So if the hardcore lover of gaming is picking his mouse up off the table on accident, it is not registering his movement. This in the end will mean he will be the one who is shot, rather than doing the shooting. Now I personally think that after plenty of practice with the Intellimouse Explorer in hand, they can get over this current weakness. But practice will take time that they may not want to spend.

The Casual gamer on the other hand will find the Intellimouse Explorer a true provider for their needs. Everything from Role Playing Games to space combat fighting will bring a new level of control thanks to the accuracy of the mouse. I have been using the mouse for a while now and I have to admit that it is the most impressive mouse I have had the pleasure of using. But then again I had myself killed an uncountable number of times in some online Unreal Tournament gaming earlier today.

3DGN heeft een review geschreven van Microsoft's Sidewinder Freestyle Pro gamepad. Check de review hier.

I have never seen a computer product doesn't have a downside. I am hoping one day, a company will release a product that is without flaw, con, or downside. So where does the Freestyle Pro fall short? The answer lies in action shooting games. Why? Because the freestyle pro is simply terrible at aiming a gun. Try to tilt around a pad to aim the reticule around on the screen. It makes me feel like I'm shooting with a floating gattling gun that has no tension at all to my movements. I found that when trying to aim over a certain object, like an enemy in Rainbow6, it was nearly impossible to aim on the right spot due to overcorrecting, and what is worse, is that it's even harder to keep it there when you do aim!

If you try holding both hands in the same spot, and holding them there, you'll quickly learn what I am saying. Movements such as uncomfortable shifting, sneezing, shrugging, and coughing always offset your aim and well you know the rest.

But all this is not to say that the freestyle pro Is not a good product. Lets back up a bit to examine what type of software title Microsoft ended up bundling with the pad. We see Motocross madness in the box, not Quake II or Unreal. This is for a good reason because if they were to use one of these games, you'd install, play it, and quickly return the pad for a full refund. So we have to take into consideration the target of the controller.

Bij Thresh's FiringSquad hebben ze een review gepost van de Aureal Vortex II SQ2500 Quad PCI. De belangrijkste nieuwe features t.o.v. z'n voorganger is hier de coax S/PDIF output die nu onboard zit. Hieronder vast een stuk uit te review:

We have to say that the Aureal SQ2500 Quad PCI is the best all-around Vortex2 sound card on the market. While other cards have daughter card options for the coaxial output, the SQ2500 has it right on the main card. More likely than not, you'll have absolutely no need for a S/PDIF out, but the SQ2500 still offers performance gains in A3D games. The AU8830 chip optimizations significantly improve A3D CPU efficiency evident in the 10% frame rate increase we encountered in Half-Life with A3D enabled.

A3D's wave tracing technology is more realistic than Creative's EAX preset reverb options, and just last week id software announced that Quake 3 Arena will support A3D 2.0. That might be reason enough to pick up an Aureal Vortex2 board instead of a Sound Blaster Live! card. EAX vs. A3D? Who cares? We're going with the 3D audio technology that Q3A supports! Besides, even if a game doesn't support A3D, the Aureal board can still fall back on DS3D for 3D audio.

GamePC heeft het eerste deel van zijn Home Networking Guide gepost. Handig als je van plan bent binnenkort een eigen LAN te bouwen. Deel 2 van de guide volgt later, dat zal over internet sharen gaan. Begin dus vast met deel 1.

When installing the TCP/IP protocol, the system should as you for configuration numbers. Here is a quick explanation of that. Like any other house it has a specific number that is assigned to it so people can locate it. Much similar to that a computer needs an address so other users / computers can find it over a network. This is called an IP address or IP number, which is numeric code that uniquely identifies a particular computer on a local area network or on the Internet. Now with a better understanding to IP addresses, a non-exist (made up one, example: 192.0.0.1 or 100.100.100.1) will need to be set if the system does not have a direct connection to the Internet. Be sure to avoid using the same IP address or conflicts will occur. A subnet mask address will also need to be assigned. This number is basically describes which portion of an address refers to the subnet and which part refers to the host. Other settings to disregard in the configuration are the DNS and Gateway addresses. These along with the IP and subnet mask will need to be entered with the information provided by the ISP for the Internet connection.

Now that the protocols are setup, needed services should be installed. Services like "printer and file sharing" hence the name allows files to be transferred to other systems as well as print to other printers over the network. Other services found in more advanced operating systems allow for remote accessing, web page serving, ftp serving, and things like that.

Well with all that, things like making a nuclear bomb is now child’s play . Part two will a deep look into network connections and the Internet.

GameWire heeft een review online gemikt van de vrij heftige Sony Trinitron Multiscan 500ps 21" monitor. Hieronder een hap uit de review, lees hier verder.

I'll group the rest of the features together from the above list. The Sony 500ps gives excellent resoultion and refresh rate support with its max resoultion being 1600x1200 @ 85Hz. I run my desktop at exactly this setting and it looks awesome especially with my Voodoo 3's 350 Mhz RAMDAC. The colors are vibrant and really are distinct. The Sony 500ps is what I would call a gamer's monitor - great vibrant colors, a large viewable area and excellent geometry due to the flat surface. In addition to great resolutions, refresh rates and color definition, the Sony 500ps supports dual inputs (the ability to plug to boxes into one moniotr). The ability to run dual inputs is a necessary feature for me since I run 2 machines here. First of all, dual input ability saves space, hassle and electricity (hehe, I'm talking to you Woods). You can switch bewteen the two boxes by simply pushing a button located on the front panel of the monitor (convienently named Input). The 500ps is "built for Win 9x and NT" as well as being Mac compatible (hear that Terry?). The 500ps actually comes with a Mac adapter so that you can plug it into the back of your favorite PowerPC. Sony packages its monitor with a 3 year warranty, which is always a nice plus.

In conclusion, the Sony 500ps performs pretty well when stacked up against other monitors. Its flat appearance, color quality, dual input ability, high refresh rates at high resolutions and 3 year warranty all make the Sony 500ps a great performer. The only downside to my 500ps experience would be the text quality and the ease of reading on the 500ps.

Power Gamerz heeft een paar vragen gesteld aan Nick Triantos van nVidia. Hieronder vast een klein gedeelte, hier staat de rest.

PG: Dealing with Cube Environment Mapping, could this be considered a more advanced version of the environmental bump mapping seen in the latest Matrox offerings? Will it create the same type of visuals, albeit better than standard Environment Mapping?

Nick: No, actually, cube environment mapping is a really cool way of making reflections. There are some software renderers I've seen that do spherical environment mapping, but the problem with that is that you get "singularities", or points on the sphere where the image looks kind of pinched. It would be like taking a nice flat picture of the Earth and trying to wrap it onto a sphere. At the North Pole and South Pole, you'd have a bunch of extra paper. Cube environment mapping solves that problem nicely, by placing the reflected object inside a cube instead of a sphere. The visual difference is really noticeable. Cube environment mapping kicks booty over spherical env mapping.