Bij Thresh's FiringSquad is een goed geschreven guide te vinden over het installeren van een harde schijf en alles wat daarbij komt kijken (partities e.d.). Hieronder een stukkie:

Now that you have an understanding of some of the technology inside a hard disk, and how the system treats it, you might have a better appreciation for it. Without a doubt, the hard drive is the hardest working component in your computer. Not only it is comprised of some very intricate and complicated electronics and software, but it's also an amazingly precise mechanical device as well. The tolerance between the heads and the disk platters is a mere .5 microns. That's about half the thickness of a human hair! When you think about it, it's rather amazing how reliable such a precision instrument can be, especially when you consider the demand and loads put upon the device.

Also considering those same demands that are put on the drive, it shouldn't be surprising anymore when they do fail from the stress of performing their job. Luckily most drives carry a three-year warranty from the manufacturer, so in the event of failure, obtaining a replacement isn't too big a deal (often you'll even end up with a larger replacement drive if your old model has been discontinued). Even still, when treated correctly, most hard drives will perform reliably for many years.

3dgn.com heeft een review online gemikt van de bekende 3DfxCool Alpha1HO-Fan cooler. Hieronder wat info:

I have seen plenty of other cooling solutions. This is not a kryotech and don't expect sub-0 temperatures. For a fan and heatsink, a smarter design might not be available. Overclockers won't be able to resist, and it will almost definitely help anyone's stability.

We could overclock higher than we could before, and once the fans are fully accelerated, they weren't much louder. I did get facial expressions from observers who saw and heard the fan turn on. This thing impresses. Somebody 'ought to build a monument to overclockers around the world, made of celerons and fans. If they were to do so, this is the fan combination they would put on top.

$50 might seem expensive, but after using it, I think the price isn't exaggerate. It was clear to me that some of the highest grade materials were used in the heatsink, and the highest quality fans were used. Most people won't need this much cooling. But hey we are crazy. You are crazy as well and you know it. If you don't think you're crazy turn right back around and use your CPU at default speeds.

3DHardware.net meende een review online te moeten zetten van de Elsa Erazor X GeForce kaart. De maximaal haalbare clock/mem setting bleek hier 150/183MHz te zijn.

Yes, the ERAZOR X can be overclocked. ELSA even includes the means for you to do it. They include the overclocking panel in the display properties where you can bump up the core speed to a 150MHz max and the memory speed to 200 max. The defaults for both are 120/166, but it’s just begging to be bumped up. I was only able to get it to run stable at 150/183 max when well ventilated. Although this isn’t too shabby, the returns aren’t really that great, at least not on the test machine. The results were usually only a few frames per second difference.

If your box isn’t well ventilated, ChipGuard will kick in and either hang or reboot your machine. Once the machine has rebooted, ChipGuard notifies you that the machine was stopped or rebooted because of the card being overclocked and will set your settings back to the default 120 MHz core and 166 MHz memory.

Als je (net als ik) zit te twijfelen welke 19" monitor je zal aanschaffen is deze roundup van GamePC wel het lezen waard. Ze vergelijken er de Sony CPD-G400, de Hitachi Superscan 761, de Optiquest Q95, de Mitsubishi 900u en de Viewsonic PF790. Hieronder een gedeelte over die Viewsonic, die als best uit de test kwam:

I've worked with a lot of Viewsonic monitors through the years, and the PF790 seems to be the nicest looking of the bunch I've used thus far. Most people, including myself picture large, rounded, but generally good monitors when they think of Viewsonic's series. The PF790 is one of the first Viewsonic monitors to boast a flat CRT screen, as well as great picture quality. The "PerfectFlat" screen is truly flat, no curves at all, and is the basis for a very attractive monitor.

This model can go up to 1600x1200 at 77 Hz, which is pretty great for a 19" monitor, and the picture is amazingly crisp. The picture clarity was great, even up to the highest resolutions, something we always haven't been able to say about Viewsonic monitors. The monitor boasts a large 200 MHz input clock, which allows the monitor to run high res/refresh rate combinations with rock solid picture. The clarity of this model finally puts Viewsonic monitors (this one, at least) up to the visual image level up with Mitsubishi and Sony models.

The PF790 has proved itself to be more than suitable for gamers, and power users alike. Again, no USB ports or BNC inputs with this model, something which we like to see in most newer monitors, but we won't take away points for it. The Viewsonic is one of the cheapest Flat-CRT models on the market, and even though it's a pretty heavy monitor, it's worth it. For once, we can finally give a Viewsonic monitor a glowing review, Hoo-rah!

Bij AbsolutePC is ook een review te vinden van een flat panel speakersetje, ditmaal de Monsoon MH500. Hieronder wat info over zijn performance, lees hier meer.

So how did these suckers perform? We had our doubts about exactly how well a 2 speaker system could perform in the days of 4 speaker surround kits, especially for a price of just under $100. Well we were pleasently surprised! These speakers sound in one word, great. The ambiance of the speakers is clear and open. They seem to fill the room with sound, unlike many traditional speakers which must be aimed carefully to get the best sound. The speakers performed excellently in games, with the subwoofer booming, although we would have liked to see a bit more powerful one. The satellites really do a great job in positional sound in new 3d sound games. We can only imagine how great they would sound as a four speaker setup. CD/MP3 playback is excellent and I find myself listening to music on my computer much more frequently. I hardly ever use my stereo any more. Flat panel technology has proved itself in our eyes and we are looking forward to the successors to these great speakers. And hey, they just look so damn cool!

CTNews heeft een kleine review gepost van de Benwin BW2000 flat panel speakers. Zoals bekend is dit een vrij aardig, alleen de subwoofer is niet krachtig genoeg.

The most disappointing aspect of this set is the subwoofer. It's more than enough if you're using applications or games. But if you plan to listen to music a lot or watch movies, then these speakers are not for you. I believe the lack of quality is due being low-powered (only 6W). Benwin has noticed this and their upcoming models have seriously boosted the power of the subwoofer.

When you look at the flat panel speakers, it's hard to visualize such thin speakers could produce surprisingly good quality. They produce a very clean sound. The only thing I really noticed was that the extremely high frequency range (ex. fast symbol roll) was slightly muddy. The flat panels handled intensity very well. They would only distort at a very high volume - much more than what you hear at your computer.

Bij AnandTech is een kleine review te vinden van de Midiland S4/7100 5.1 speakerset. Hieronder wat info:

The S4 7100s came with everything you need to hook them up to just about anything. One thing that was impressive was their cabling set-up. It uses RCA everywhere, so you can really do anything you want with them (i.e. hook them into a MIDI setup, home stereo etc.). One major thing that wasn't included was the Dolby Digital Decoder. But, is it really a standard yet? That is the question. The most probable reason for leaving it out is to keep the cost down. The speakers can be purchased on the street for as low as $199 USD. Other than that, there are no rear stands included, but again who else includes them? Only Cambridge SoundWorks. So, you cannot fault them for not including them.

The control module is a great way to control the speakers. It's similar to the module used in the S2 series. With Treble, Bass, Fader, Balance, Volume, Mute, and Power controls. What more do you need? Well, a headphone jack would have been nice. It is available with the 4060s but not on the 7100s, which seems unusual. The module can either sit on your desk somewhere or it can slide into a 5 1/4" drive bay. It has a cable that goes down to your card slots in the case and then the sub unit hooks into there. Either way you hook it up, great idea.

hjl kwam aanfietsen met het bericht dat je bij Comptech World je Athlon Goldfinger overclocking device kan halen. Het gaat hier om de Computernerd POW!er Boost (zie dit nieuwsbericht voor meer info). Goed niews, want Tweakende Athlon bezitters hoeven nu niet meer in het buitenland te bestellen, of zelf de soldeerbout in handen te nemen .

We gaan de Athlon "Gold Finger" van Computernerd verkopen. De RAK71 POW!er Boost van Computernerd komt in 2 uitvoeringen POW!er Boost controller (without L2 cache resistors and cables) deze gaat 119,- kosten Advanced version with full hardware for L2 cache control deze gaat 149,- kosten Ze moeten eind januari begin februari bij ons binnen komen. U kunt ze nu al reserveren !

Nu Steve Ballmer Bill Gates' plaats als CEO van Microsoft heeft overgenomen heeft hij aangekondigd het een en ander te gaan veranderen aan Windows. PC World schreef er een artikeltje over. (Thanks wildhagen voor de tip).

As Bill Gates steps down as Microsoft's chief executive officer and dons a new hat as its chief software architect (while still remaining chair), he'll help carry out the new vision of Windows touted by Steve Ballmer, now CEO as well as president.

Ballmer promises a new user interface, a new file system, and a natural-language capability in the Next Generation Windows Services. The technology builds on the current Windows operating system, but Microsoft officials describe it as a drastic change equivalent to Windows' effect on the text-based DOS world of 1985, when the graphical operating system first shipped.

Microsoft plans to host NGWS on the Internet and integrate it with upcoming versions of Windows CE, SQL Server, Windows 2000, and Windows 2000 Server.

"We need to deliver a breakthrough version of Windows and actually host it on the Internet," Ballmer says. Besides jiving with Microsoft's recent interest in application software providers that host Web applications, the company is continuing its "Windows everywhere" philosophy with NGWS.

We need to make the [operating system] more reliable and scalable," Ballmer says. "The PC will be the most powerful devices, but so will the phone, and pocket PC."

Al deze niewe features zullen in een nieuw universeel service platform worden geïntegreerd, dat dus Next Generation Windows Services gaat heten (NGWS). Voor meer info, fiets ook even langs The Register.

iXBT Labs heeft een review online gekegeld van het Asus P3C2000 moederbord, een i820 Slot 1 bordje met 4 DIMM sloten voor maximaal één gigabyte aan PC100 geheugen. Uit de test komt de P3C2000 echter bar slecht naar voren: stabiel is hij niet te noemen en de i820 + SDRAM combinatie is zoals verwacht gewoon vet traag. Hieronder wat meer info:

As we have repeated several times, i820 +SDRAM systems including ASUS P3C2000, prove dramatically slow. If we also add here that P3C2000 can't boast any stability, which has always been typical of the products by this particular manufacturer, we will get every right to state that this mainboard will never grow into a hit, like most other ASUS products. Moreover, we were greatly disappointed with ASUS P3C2000 and we hope that next mainboard revisions (and we had rev. 1.02) will be deprived of the listed problems. Besides, we will also take a look at the products by other mainboard manufacturers as soon as we get the chance.

Highs

• Supports 133MHz FSB and new Coppermine processors
• Supports AGP 4x mode

Lows

• Dramatically low performance
• Poor stability (with GeForce 256)
• Exceedingly large PCB
• No support of the CPUs with 66MHz bus

Thanks Elmbo voor de link.

Boer Krelis bezorgde ons dit nieuwsbericht over de Crusoë-processor van Transmeta. Er gaan geruchten in "het circuit" dat de processor aanstaande woensdag, 19 januari geïntroduceerd zal worden. Over de processor zelf is eigenlijk nog heel weinig bekend. Het gaat om een zgn. Very-Long-Instruction-Word (VLIW)-processor die gebruikt kan worden in bijvoorbeeld Webpads of Handheld computers. Een grote rol is weggelegd voor embedded software, waarvoor Linux-oprichter Linus Torvalds is aangetrokken. Hier een stuk uit het nieuwsbericht:

Industry sources say they believe the company will unveil an embedded-class very-long-instruction-word (VLIW) processor, called Crusoe, which will be showcased in a handheld Web pad or similar downsized browser equipped with an embedded version of the Linux operating system. The Web pad will have been designed with an unspecified partner, those sources speculated.

Transmeta has declined to comment, maintaining the same wall of secrecy it erected when it opened its doors in 1995.
"Transmeta is not giving any press interviews in advance," Dave Ditzel, founder and chief executive officer of Transmeta Corp., told EE Times this week. "So anything you see printed before [Wednesday] Jan. 19 is still guesswork." [break] Het schijnt dat Transmeta ook bezig is met het ontwikkelen van een goedkope concurrent van Intel en AMD 32-bits processors. Ook dit is echter nog grotendeels in nevelen gehuld:[/break] Indeed, the buzz at Comdex about an embedded info-appliance chip eclipsed longstanding talk that Transmeta was preparing a cost-busting rival to Intel's high-end 32-bit chips.
Such thinking evolved because of the expertise of the initial Transmeta team. In addition to Ditzel, Transmeta acquired ample hardware expertise when it hired many members of the Texas Instruments team that was disbanded after TI decided not to go ahead with a Pentium-class clone.

But industry sources speculate that Transmeta did build a processor but that chip could not outperform an equivalent Intel Pentium-class offering.

Flink wat mensen hebben problemen met het Athlon moederbord van Asus, de K7M. Op de support-pages van Asus kun je een aantal tips vinden voor het oplossen van allerhande problemen (systeem start niet, geen beeld, systeem piept alleen maar etc.)
(thanx Mister Freeze voor de link)

Hier alvast een voorproefje:

Question:
When I install Win95 or Win98 on K7M, there exists an unknown device "PCI System Management Bus" in device manager. Where can I get the correct driver for this device?
Answer:
The unknown device "PCI System Management Bus" appeared in device manager after you finish the installation of Win95 or Win98 first edition can be made recognizable by loading a patch file to register VIA chipset's functions in Win95 or Win98. In addition to the VIA function registry patch, you also need to install VIA PCI IRQ routing patch in order to work properly in Win98 first edition.
Please note that these two patches are not required for Win 98 SE..

Kijk hier voor meer info.

aFreak@catsrule.garfield.com" rel="external">DaFreak tipte mij richting dit artikel van News.com, die meldt dat systemen met Windows 2000 al drie week voor de officiële release van Windows 2000 op de markt zullen komen. Retail versies zullen echter pas na de introductie op 17 februari in de winkel liggen (niet dat het veel uit zal maken, de halve aardbevolking draait inmiddels 2000 ):

Major PC makers will begin selling Windows 2000 systems on Jan. 24, nearly three weeks before Microsoft formally unveils the new operating system.

Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computer and IBM are among the PC manufacturers that will be offering PCs, notebooks and servers before Feb. 17, the official launch date for Windows 2000.

[...] A Microsoft representative confirmed that some PC makers would be selling Windows 2000 systems before the operating system's official unveiling. "It's a way of filling the channel, so that things are ready for Feb. 17," the representative said.

[...] Microsoft is adopting a new pricing scheme for those that buy boxed copies or Windows 2000 licenses. The desktop version, Windows 2000 Professional, will sell for an estimated retail price of $319, the same as it is for Windows NT 4 Workstation. The upgrade price from Windows NT is $149 and $219 from Windows 95 or 98.

Hilko schrijft: "Na de test van het Epox K7VA pre-production board in de duitse c't leek de VIA KX133 niet echt te gaan worden wat iedereen ervan gehoopt had: een super Athlon chipset met bijbehorende super borden. Nu echter dit positieve berichtje op Ace's Hardware":

The test that c't published were probably done with revision C, the first revision of VIA's KX-133 that was put on a prototype board. The version of VIA KX-133 that will shipped on the new Slot A motherboards will be version F! Needles to say that this new revision F will probably behave totally different than the revision C which C't's has benchmarked. We may see a very nice performance increase...

Thanks goes to AMD Belgium for this interesting news bit.

Het amerikaanse bedrijf iSky.net verwacht in 2001 internet via de satelliet aan te kunnen bieden, waarbij zowel de up- als downstream verbinding via space verloopt. Snelheden zijn 1,5Mbit/sec downstream en 500-1000Kbps voor de uplink. Zoals altijd is dit grapje voorlopig alleen beschikbaar in de VS (thanks Azqi voor de tip):

In late 2001, the company plans to start up an affordable broadband service available to homes and small offices in the United States and Latin America.

"There are a lot of people who want to get (high-speed access) and can't," said Gary Schultz, president of broadband research firm MRG Inc. "The foreseeable future could be pretty bright for satellite Internet."

[...] It has received the OK from the Federal Communications Commission to use the Ka-Band (20GHz to 30GHz) at two orbital locations on May 8, 1997. Each satellite will be able to deliver 38Mbps, which iSky believes will result in 1.5Mbps speeds to the user and 500Kbps to 1Mbps speeds back to the Internet.

Pricing and additional partners were not revealed.

Check dit artikel van ZDNet voor meer info.

Neelix schrijft: "Een tijdje geleden ben ik begonnen met het lezen van 'Code and other laws of Cyberspace' van Lawrence Lessig, die betoogt dat internet regulatie er gewoon ZAL komen en dat we er dan maar beter zelf voor kunnen zorgen (dit boek is zeker een aanrader voor iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in de toekomst van internet). Nu lijkt het er echter op dat we toch echt op moeten schieten, want het schijnt dat er inmiddels wordt gewerkt aan een internationaal verdrag over internet criminaliteit:":

Unconfirmed reports circulating on the Usenet suggest that the US government is working with the European Union (EU), Japan, Canada and other countries, including South Africa, on a draft cybercrime treaty that would try to ban hacking and Internet eavesdropping utilities.

The move, if true, would be the first time that legislatures have started to tackle the issue of Internet security since the Internet first was developed.

[...] A note posted to the Politech mailing list said that the cybercrime treaty covers many aspects of the issue of Internet eavesdropping and surveillance. The note translates the Dutch file as follows:

"Protection against so-called CIA-crimes (confidentiality, integrity and availability) of public and closed networks and systems: computer hacking, unauthorized eavesdropping, unauthorized changing or destroying of data (either stored or in transport). In discussion are also denial of service attacks to public and private networks and systems. This will probably not cover spam. The treaty will outlaw the production, making available or distribution of hardware and software tools to do the above-mentioned (hacking, denial of service, eavesdropping, etc.). The letter does not mention the possession of these tools."

Fiets richting Betanews voor het complete verhaaltje.