Ik kwam via /. bij deze post van Debian Weekly News, over plannen om een Debian distri met de FreeBSD kernel te bouwen:

Debian with the FreeBSD kernel was the subject of a heated week-long discussion. It seems that since this idea was first conceived in February, a few people have been working on the port. The status of their work can be read about here. Basically, they are using the FreeBSD kernel and libc, and recompiling Debian packages to work on that system. Reactions varied. John Goerzen worries that a version of Debian based on a BSD copyrighted kernel would open the door to third parties taking our work and making it proprietary, and also that "we are essentially giving first aid to software that is dying (and rightfully so) because of its license". Many others disagree with him and have no problems with the BSD license. Others wonder if it wouldn't be technically better, and easier in the long run, to port glibc to FreeBSD, and allow Debian packages to be used unchanged with that kernel and library combination.

Robus schrijft: "Er is tijd om er mee te werken en er is tijd om er om te lachen: Microsoft wordt hier weer eens flink op de ha(c)k genomen door het Department of Jest. Tijd om te lachen dus (dat spel komt me trouwens erg bekend voor; volgens mij heb ik het ooit op mijn 386 gespeeld...):

Kees maakt ons blij met deze BIOS update voor de BH6 revisie 1.0 tot 1.02. Geen idee wat er verandert is, maar het platte feit dat er iets nieuws is geeft al reden om gelukkig te worden...

bh6nv.exe 142 Kb Wed Nov 24

Nortel Networks claimt dat de performance van een ADSL touwtje met 40% kan droppen, als gevolg van storing door AM radio frequenties:

The AM radio interference problem varies from place to place, depending on a number of factors, including how close ADSL lines are to AM broadcast antennas and the quality of the inside wiring at customer sites.

BellSouth says customers at the end of very long ADSL lines, where the signal is weak anyway, and who happen to be near an AM radio transmitter, have been unable to get ADSL service at all.

[...] While the AM radio frequencies interfere with ADSL download speeds, they do not affect upload speeds. And AM radio does not affect all types of DSL, only ADSL and its subsets. These include rate adaptive DSL, which has adjustable speeds, and G.lite, which has a maximum download speed of 1.5M bit/sec.

[...] Nortel Networks says it has ways to blunt the effects of AM radio interference. In full-rate ADSL, the company's modems can stop using frequencies where the radio waves cause interference.

Zie Network World voor meer info.

Brandon Reinhart (aka GreenMarine) van Epic Games heeft in zijn meest recente .plan update bekend gemaakt dat Epic delen van de Unreal Tournament engine open source gaat maken. Het doel van deze stap is het verbeteren van de UT Linux port:

I have permission from Tim to open source certain parts of the engine for the purposes of improving Linux support. What I would like to do is make available the code I have written for Glide, Mesa, input, and audio. I would appreciate Linux programmers taking the time to submit improvements to me at brandon@epicgames.com. I will look into putting up a webpage for this and perhaps a discussion forum. Please email me your input or ideas.

I'm leaving to go home for Thanksgiving tomorrow, so I may not be able to start on this until I get back on Friday. Right now I'm working on the Mesa renderer, because I would like to release that soon, if possible.

The code that I open source will not allow you to really dig very deep into the engine, but it will let you do a lot of stuff to the renderer and X windows interface.

Since my time is split between non-Linux related projects, the Linux port could no doubt be improved if it gets some attention from experienced Linux programmers.

In the Unreal Universe interview I said that Epic was not going to be persuing more Unreal patches. I talked to Tim and he said that he was going to release one more Direct3D update with the latest changes/fixes and that would be it.

Snuffel schrijft: "Hacken mag niet, dat weet iedereen *ahum*. Toch is het best leuk als je op zo'n manier in de publiciteit komt (alhoewel..... die celstraf en boete is weer wat minder)":

Eric Burns hield zich op 19-jarige leeftijd al bezig met zaken waar anderen geen weet van hebben. Zo nam hij in mei een kijkje in de computers van het Witte Huis in Washington. "I didn't really think it was too much of a big deal", zegt Burns die afgelopen vrijdag de verantwoordelijkheid op zich nam voor één van de meest spectaculaire computerkraken. Hij krijgt nu 15 maanden cel en een boete van 36.240 dollar en wat misschien wel de grootste straf is: hij mag na zijn vrijlating drie jaar lang geen computer aanraken.

Burns kraakte op 9 mei de site van het Witte Huis. Hij zegt dat hij niet direct betrokken was bij deze kraak waarbij hij wel zijn eigen hackernaam, Zyklon, achterliet. Burns weigert de namen van zijn partners te openbaren, gedeeltelijk omdat hij vindt dat de straffen die uitgedeeld worden niet in verhouding staan tot de overtreding: "I don't really agree with the kind of sentencing range there is for the crime". Volgens Burns was het niet echt bijzonder wat hij en de anderen gedaan hebben.

Hier denken de aanklagers anders over. Burns heeft internetcomputers aangevallen die websites hebben voor de NAVO, een Amerikaanse ambassade en consulaten en zelfs de site van Vice President Al Gore. Het heeft de overheid 40.000 dollar gekost om de zaken weer goed te krijgen.

Firingsquad heeft een interview gepost met de Alex Leupp, de nieuwe CEO van 3dfx (zie de press release van eerder vandaag):

Question: With the acquisition of STB, it looked like 3dfx was going to attempt to capitalize on the OEM market. However, the recently announced Voodoo4/Voodoo5 certainly seem much more suited for the retail space, especially with the multi-chip solutions. How will 3dfx address this issue?

Dr. Leupp: That's a very good point, and in that sense you are definitely correct. However, we are looking at retail and OEM as separate markets, and in the short term, the one-chip Napalm solution should address OEM concerns. We also have introduced our line of Velocity OEM products, but we've found that many of our OEM customers want to be able to use the Voodoo name.

De rest lees je hier.

Well-Rounded.com heeft een GeForce vs Voodoo5 comparison gepost met screenshots van Quake III Arena. De afbeeldingen werden door nVidia en 3dfx opgestuurd en geven niet dezelfde scenes weer, dus een direkte vergelijking van de beeldkwaliteit is niet mogelijk. Zoals viel te verwachten kwam nVidia met high-poly screenshots die het T&L gebeuren van de GeForce benadrukken, terwijl 3dfx de aandacht legt op de T-Buffer (motion blur en anti-aliasing). Twee voorbeelden:

En voordat iedereen hard begint te schreeuwen: check ook de andere screenshots.

Er gingen al langer geruchten dat Gateway, in ruil voor een flinke zak geld van Intel en korting op CPU prijzen, geen Athlon processors zou gebruiken. Inmiddels is duidelijk dat die Athlon systemen er toch gaan komen, volgens The Register omdat Intel de deal heeft teruggetrokken. Het zou hierbij gaan om bedragen van 80 tot 100 miljoen dollar:

We now understand, from sources close to both companies, that the deal was worth very much more than that, closer to between $80 million and $100 million.

Further, the deal offered Gateway a rebate of $50 for every Intel processor it bought, whether it was a Celeron, a Pentium III or a chip for notebooks.

And Intel, unilaterally, decided to pull the rug on this contract some little while back, meaning that Gateway felt free to once more start using AMD processors in its machine. However, the reasons for Intel deciding to end the contract still remain unclear.

An Intel representative said he could not comment on specific deals with the company's customers, but said that the Intel Inside marketing scheme had 1,500 members worldwide and since it was set up in 1991 had delivered a sum close to $4 billion in total ad value. Gateway was unavailable for comment.

Chiptesters.com heeft een 'no bullshit' Apache webserver tutorial in elkaar geschroefd, met uitleg over hoe je Apache met Red Hat Linux 6.1 aangekacheld krijgt:

What did you say? You just got your ADSL/cable internet hookup and you are still paying some other company to serve your own web files?

Either you don't have a spare computer or you have no idea how easy it is to build your own webserver! That's right - with almost no more skill than it takes to install Windows 98, you can have your very own, fully functional web server with working CGI, SQL, and so much more. And it's damn cool to have your own webserver - trust me.

I included a tutorial for installing Redhat Linux 6.0 just in case you have never used Linux before. Be aware however that this whole guide is just what it says - NoBS. This means that I spare the over-technical and sub-technical jargon/storytelling that can get very annoying. In other words, if you have no idea what you are doing, this tutorial might not be what you were expecting. In any case read it over and get a good idea of where you stand in this subject material. But I did write this thing assuming that whoever is reading it is a TOTAL DUMBASS. Not to say that you are that, but we are all dumbasses at some things, so I am just covering all bases here.

That means you can't laugh when you have to read some of the more rudimentary instructions, because honestly many people don't know them and - believe it or not - at one time you didn't either!

De rest lees je hier. Ennuh, de dikke dedicated dual-PIII van Tweakers.net draait uiteraard ook op Apache .

Marsman schrijft: "Vervolg op dit artikel. In de download.com nieuwsbrief staat een stukje over het verwijderen van DeCCS van Download.com":

Heard about DeCSS?Take a look at last week's Download Dispatch, and you'll see that mere days ago we listed this controversial program, which allows you to copy DVD video files to your hard drive.

So why can't you find DeCSS in CNET Downloads today? Shortly after listing the program, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) contacted us about removing the program, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it a crime to create, sell, or distribute any technology that could be used to break copyright-protection devices. To make a long story short, by the letter of the law, we had to comply and remove the title. However, I personally stand by our initial decision to list DeCSS. Giving you the lowdown on hot new downloadable wares is just part and parcel of CNET Downloads' mission. And, in my view, it's a hazy claim to say that DVD-ripping software is very different from, say, CD-ripping software, which is uniformly accepted in the industry. What makes copying one form of media (that is, DVD video) any different from copying another form (that is, music from CDs)? Of course, the legal issue is that DeCSS breaks DVD encryption, and breaking that encryption is illegal. But come on...

Anyway, that's my two cents. If you've got your own opinion about DVD-ripping software, send it on to mailto:comments@download.com. Next week, I'll share a few of the most insightful comments on the topic with all the DownloadDispatch readers. Until next week, happy downloading...

Jim StanleySenior producer, CNET Downloads

Hardware One heeft een review gepost van de Sony CPD-G500, een 21" monitor met 0,24mm aperture grill en een horizontale refreshrate van 121KHz (goed voor een maximale resolutie van 2048*1536px bij 75Hz):

Sitting in front of me as I type this document is Sony's latest offering, the G500 monitor. Based on the new Sony FD Trinitron™ tube technology, the G500 is a totally flat 21" (19.8" viewable) monitor featuring a 0.24mm aperture grill pitch.

Equipped with Sony's HiDensity Electron Gun™ system and Enhanced Elliptical Correction System™ technology, the monitor delivers superior image clarity as well as truer and brighter colours. What all these translate into is a consistently clear display with rich colours from one corner of the screen to the other!

The G500 also comes with a high-contrast black coating to reduce glare and washout caused by ambient light. This improves contrast and greyscale performance.

Aside from visual goodness, Sony reworked their user interface, leaving little to be asked for. The new Sony DisplayMouse™ menu control makes the monitor easier and more convenient to setup. The Accurate Image Restoration™ ensures that the display quality remains crisp and sharp after years of use.

Andy van BXBoards heeft een review van de Abit BE6-II op het net geparkeerd. Deze plank wordt geleverd met een verbeterd Softmenu, die de mogelijkheid biedt om uit maar liefst 120 busspeeds te kiezen. Verder is het nu ook mogelijk om het I/O voltage te tweaken:

This is a return to form from Abit. While Abit are no longer a stand out presense in the overclockers market, with most of the top tier manufacturers supported voltage tweaks, to some extent other mainboard manufacturers have stolen the emperors cloths - and the cloak fits better too! Abit have had to come up with something pretty special and I think that Softmenu III may just do the trick. The all-new clock generator, bolstered by tweaks to Softmenu, allows for virtually unlimited bus speed settings. "Baby stepping" from 83Mhz in 1Mhz right up to 200Mhz means that the last drop of power can be extracted from a CPU. With these selections comes stability at high bus speeds, a previous Abit weak point. The BE6-2 could just be the board to extract the last drop out of the 133Mhz Pentium IIIE!

Remko gaf deze tip richting een nieuwsartikel van c't, met meer info over het dwaze kopierbeveiligings idee van uncle Bill. Blijkbaar voelt men zich daar in Redmond nu ook geroepen om het gebruik van Linux te stimuleren:

Volgens de plannen van Microsoft zal er na 1 januari geen volwaardige Windows OEM-versie op CD te vinden zijn. In plaats daarvan krijgen klanten die samen met hun PC een OEM-Windowslicentie kopen, hoogstens nog een recovery-CD mee voor de noodgevallen. Deze plannen gelden niet alleen voor de NT-opvolger Windows 2000 maar ook voor Windows 98 en Windows NT 4.0 zoals Microsoft-woordvoerder Tomas Jensen op de onze c't vraag bevestigde.

De recovery-CD kan alleen een nieuwe installatie uitvoeren op de computer waarmee hij samen is verkocht. De koppeling van pc-hardware en het bedrijfssysteem wil Microsoft via signaturen realiseren. PC-fabrikanten moeten deze in de BIOS en op de hardeschijf aanbrengen. Tijdens de installatie zal dan gecontroleert worden of tenminste een van de beide signaturen aanwezig is, volgens Jensen. Een van de componenten kan dus uitgewisseld worden, zonder dat de recovery-cd waardeloos word.

Een nauwkeuriger beschrijving hoe de recovery-cd werkt en of hij al bestaande gegevens onaangeroerd laat kon Jensen nog niet geven. Op dit moment schijnt zelfs nog niet eens opgehelderd te zijn of de pc-fabrikanten verplicht zullen worden een recovery-cd mee te leveren, of dat zij zich tot de voor-installatie op de harde schijf mogen beperken.

hjs stuurde een link naar een Asus V6600 review van Guru3D. Dit GeForce kaartje maakt gebruik van 5,5ns SDR SDRAM dat door Asus standaard op 166MHz wordt geklokt:

Furthermore it is possible to overclock the card. Hey, ... you didn't mention that, you are thinking. True, we will be testing future videocard on it's default speed due to objectivity. As a comparisation we might add overclocking results in the future. To wrap up this subject, the geForce is higly overclockable. Default is 120 Mhz for it's core and 166 MHz for it's memory. We successfully OC'ed the card towards a 150 MHz core and 187 Mhz memory tact frequency. What we dislike about the card is that is rather expensive. It sells for an average 300$ and the current support for T&L in games is lacking.

winnie schrijft: "Het blijkt dat een bezoek van Ars Technica aan de ArtX-stand niet werd gewaardeerd door ArtX (maker van de Nintendo Dolphin video chipset en ontwikkelaar van de geïntegreerde video chip in de ALi Aladdin 7 chipset). Ars kreeg mail van de marketing-manager, kreeg nog meer mail van de marketing-manager, en werd vervolgens op hun eigen forum door diezelfde marketing-manager (nota bene anoniem) uitgescholden voor rotte vis. Dat noem ik nog eens een onprofessionele houding":

I recently had an unpleasant experience with a graphics company, an experience which seems to me to be part of a trend of growing overconfidence and underestimation of the consumer's intelligence on the part of the computing industry. My recent run-in involved a company so seemingly assured of the gullibility of the public and the media that they didn't even take rudimentary precautions to cover their tracks. That company is ArtX.

Dat stinkt! Voor het geval je het ArtX verhaaltje gemist hebt: check deze nieuwsposting van vorige week.

ZDNet, die normaal gesproken geen onbevestigde troep a la The Register post, heeft een nieuwsartikel gewijd aan de geruchten dat Gateway binnenkort een Athlon systeem introduceert. Dell zou hiermee als enige grote Athlon-loze PC bouwer overblijven:

Rumors of a forthcoming Athlon-based PC line have been circulating the Web for nearly a week. The rumors began when what was depicted as an internal Gateway e-mail describing plans to offer an Athlon-based desktop in Gateway's now defunct Select line of Desktops was posted to Web bulletin boards. The document says that Gateway would resurrect Select with Athlon chips, starting at about $1,299.

[...] Calls to Gateway's desktop marketing department, where the memo was said to have originated, were not returned.

But while marketing didn't return calls, Gateway salespeople have been happily telling interested parties that an Athlon-based system is in the works.

One salesman said that Gateway sales people had been briefed on the new system, which he described as a "rocket" when compared with a similar system based on an Intel Pentium III chip.

"It might be (introduced soon)," he said. "We're just standing by for further notice."

Volgens een mailtje, dat AMD Zone van een Gateway sales mannetje kreeg, zal het Gateway Athlon systeem vanaf 29 december verkrijgbaar zijn.

Ik kwam bij Virtual Zone plaatjes van AMD's barbiehuis tegen. Is dit vies of gewoon lelijk?

Slot-A.com heeft een review van de Gigabyte GA-7IX neer gemikt. Dit Athlon plankje komt grotendeels overeen met AMD's Fester reference design, dwz AMD Irongate North- en Southbridge, 5xPCI, 2xISA en 3xDIMM. Voor overklokkers is dit bord niet echt interessant, aangezien er naast 100MHz geen alternatieve busspeeds zijn:

Don't expect the to pop in the GA-7IX and experience overclocking bliss. At press time the latest version of the bios did not support upping the memory bus speed above 100MHz, nor is there support for raising the core voltage of the Athlon. The 7IX is a jumperless board, so you won't find a setting on the board, nor in the bios. Asus has shown that overclocking features can be implemented in the bios, so there is still hope.

Wie echt serieus Athlons wil gaan overklokken zal toch op de Goldfinger of de PCB moeten gaan prutsen.

Ik kwam bij Virtual Zone dit plaatje van de Asus RIMM naar DIMM convertor tegen. Kan handig zijn als je geen zin hebt om 1500 piek neer te leggen voor een Rambus reepje van 128Meg :

And yes it is possible, thanks to a chip named Memory Repeater Hub (i82804), which translates signals RAMBUS into signals SDRAM and vice versa. There are two ways of implementing it... either directly on the mother board like does it MSI with its card 2 DIMM + 2 RIMM... or using a converter such as the DR2 of ASUSTeK. It is enough for you to put it in one of connectors RIMM, and you will have two sites DIMM accepting the SDRAM.

Wederom zo'n leuk WCPUID screenshot. Ik heb geen idee of het waar is, maar 838MHz met een Athlon 500 geeft hoop voor toekomstige Athlon overklokkers (/me wil een KX133 systeem):

This Jap has overclocked an Athlon 500 to 838Mhz running at 1.8V. No doubt, he is using water-cooled heatsink to cool his overclocked Athlon and the board he is using is MSI 6167 with Turbo.PLL to tweak the FSB. If you don't know what is a Turbo.PLL and how it looks like, you can go here and have a look.

Activision heeft een press release gepost waarin het z'n kerst releases bekend maakt. Onder de games bevindt zich ook Quake 3 Arena:

A technological masterpiece of vision, sound, and nerve jarring fun forged by the masters of gaming at id Software, Quake III Arena transports players to a dark underworld where the greatest warriors of all time lock horns in no holds bared combat. As one of these warriors you must try to rise through the ranks by defeating your enemies. Win and you'll move onto greater battles and glory; lose and you're a pile of charred flesh.

Played from a first person perspective in a beautifully rendered 3-D environment, gamers will hunt their opponents through darkened gothic cathedrals and ominous organic caverns. Plasmas against rockets, machine guns against rail guns, Quake III Arena offers players the most visceral experience yet seen in a computer game and raises the bar for all other games that follow. In both single player and multiplayer action, Quake III Arena is the quintessential game. Windows® 95/98. (Suggested Retail Price: $49.95)

GibWorld heeft een preview gepost van Max Payne, een first person shooter die ontwikkelt wordt door Remedy Entertainment (Remedy, Bit Boys, FutureMark/Mad Onion allemaal 1 finse pot nat ). De graphics zijn heftig, de storyline is cool en wat betreft gameplay beloofd het een erg tof spel te worden:

The guys at Remedy are real film fanatics, and it shows in the promotional material I have seen! If you have ever watched a John Woo film, you will be at home with Max Payne very quickly, as Max can do almost anything you have seen in the movies. That's right, Max is a very dynamic character, capable of somersaults, sideways jumps, rolling escape moves, and much much more. This means that you can jump sideways from behind a wall, emptying two clips into anyone stupid enough not to duck. Its a scene right out of 'Hard Boiled', probably one of my favorite action movies of all time! Slow motion is another cool effect that will be present to reward you for a particularly skillful kill. If you have ever watched 'The Matrix' you will know what I mean - the scene slows down and rotates, showing the damage to the enemy in slow motion. Spoogeworthy? Not as much as the slow motion rotation effect, which slows the action down almost to a halt whilst panning around the bullet that has just been fired. These effects, of course, could break up the gameplay if overused, so I'm hoping that Remedy are sparing with them. I know that they will be providing an option to turn the feature off, or on in deathmatch if you can't get enough!

In any action game, it is inevitable that the main character will take damage, but many of them seem to neglect the fact that getting shot hurts and may impede your movement. In Max Payne, your character will reflect the damage imposed upon him, limping and holding damaged body parts. There is also a quasi-realistic damage system in place, so damage to certain locations will do much more damage than to others. Get shot in the head and its game over. To aid and hinder Max, there will be a number of different characters throughout the game. Many of these will be enemies and/or bosses that Max has to 'eliminate from his enquiries' with a well placed bullet, but, of course, a few of his old comrades will lend a hand too. All of them, however, will be realized with loving care, and written seamlessly into the plot.

Gamers Depot heeft een interview gepost met Alex Leupp, de nieuwe CEO van 3dfx. Hier een vraag over het heftige prijskaartje van de Voodoo5 kaarten:

Q: Do you think the "hefty" cost of your high-end 3D accelerators will affect sales to your target market, the younger generation of online gamers?

A: I think it's certainly something we need to watch and look at. On the other hand, when the Voodoo2 was released consumers spent around $600 on cards and there was no issue. I think it's going to be a question of acceptance and performance. We have to make sure and be attractive to the market. The market will determine what the price level is and we have to be ready to react to that.

ATi heeft nieuwe Win9x en NT drivers voor de Rage128 neer geplant. De goederen kunnen op onderstaande locaties opgehaald worden:

RAGE128 Windows 95b/98 Display Driver
Size: 10.8MB (Multiple language support)
http://driver.atitech.ca/spdrivers/r128_630cdh37.zip

RAGE128 Windows 95b/98 Display Driver
Size: 5.9MB (English only) Optimized Direct3D/OpenGL Special Purpose Driver
(K6/K7 3DNow!, Pentium III SSE, Quake3 Test) Version: 6.30CDH37B http://driver.atitech.ca/spdrivers/r128_630cdh37e.zip

Rage 128 Windows NT4.0 Display Driver
Optimized OpenGL Special Purpose Driver
(K6/K7 3DNow!, Pentium III SSE, Quake3 Test) Version: 6.30CDH37-4.3.72 Size: 6.2MB (Now with multiple language support)
http://driver.atitech.ca/spdrivers/nt4_r128_630cdh37.zip [break] Verder schrijft Ruben Pruim dat er nieuwe NT drivers voor de Banshee zijn uitgekomen: [/break] Version 1.03.04 Voodoo Banshee Windows NT4 Reference Drivers AGP/PCI. That's all we know.

DOWNLOAD - 1.7 Megs

3dfx heeft eindelijk z'n opperhoofd terug gevonden, zo lees ik in de press release bij Voodoo Extreme. Dr. Alex Leupp heet het manneke:

3dfx Interactive® Inc. (NASDAQ: TDFX) today announced the appointment of Dr. Alex Leupp, 59, to the position of president and chief executive officer. Dr. Leupp brings more than 25 years of semiconductor industry experience to 3dfx, solidifying the management team for its next stage of growth. He has been on the 3dfx board of directors since October 1998.

"Dr. Leupp has been a valuable resource in guiding 3dfx over the past year, as a director on the company's board," said Gordon Campbell, chairman of the board of directors for 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "The board feels his technology expertise, leadership abilities and strong understanding of the semiconductor industry will be a great asset in growing 3dfx into its next stage of development."

"3dfx is known as a leader in the 3D graphics market, delivering high-quality products that continually push the boundaries of what is visually possible on personal computers," said Dr. Alex Leupp, president and chief executive officer of 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "With the #1 brand in the market, superior technology and a commitment to the best content, 3dfx is an entertainment technology company with significant growth potential in its future."

Most recently, Dr. Leupp was president and CEO of Chip Express Corporation, a semiconductor company. Prior to that, he spent 12 years with Siemens Microelectronics, where he served as president and CEO for six years, tripling sales revenues from $250 million to more than $750 million during that time. Earlier, Dr. Leupp held executive management positions at Fairchild Semiconductor, Hughes Aircraft and California Devices. He holds several U.S. patents on semiconductor design and fabrication. Dr. Leupp holds a Ph.D. degree in semiconductor physics, an MSEE degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and a bachelors of arts degree in business administration from the University of Redlands, California.