Tech News for Friday January 21st 2000.
ABIT Announces the SlotKETT!!! Adapter.
Posted: 01/21/2000 Source:
AnandTech Added by: Kim Heise
Those
three (!!!) exclamation marks appear to be part of the name and not my
overzealous attempt to make a statement. ;)
Over
at Anandtech I saw this press release from Abit regarding their new "SloKETT!!!"
adaptor that allows you to insert the new Pentium III chips from Intel into your
old slot-1 motherboard. The problem with the new Pentium III chips is that the
voltages are much lower than most motherboards will allow and so the only method
to upgrade was to to replace your motherboard. Never fear, Abit is here!
Here's the main part from the press release:
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. Wednesday, January 18th, 2000— With great shifts taking
place in CPU architectures, ABIT® continues to help bridge the gaps between
them with their introduction of their new SlotKET™ !!! adaptor card. Previous
SlotKET™ converters were able let Celeron PPGA CPUs run in Slot 1 mainboards.
The new SlotKET™ !!! allows you to do the same with Intel’s new line of
socketed Pentium® III Coppermine CPUs. This architecture, termed “FC-PGA”
or “Flip-Chip” (as opposed to the PPGA Celerons), is supposed to gain more
precedence in the future, but the SlotKET™ !!! lets you enjoy it on your
current Slot 1 motherboard.
In addition to “Flip-Chip” Coppermine support, another
new addition to the SlotKET™ !!! is core voltage adjustment capabilities, for
further stability and control. Sets of color-coded jumpers allow you to select
from 32 different voltage settings between 1.3 and 3.5v, including an “auto
select” option. As with previous SlotKET™s, dual CPUs are possible. In
addition to the Coppermine’s 133MHz front side bus speed, the SlotKET™ !!!
can be set at 66 or 100MHz instead, to comply with motherboard support.
With this new solution from ABIT® a person can purchase
among any of the Slot 1 or Socket 370 CPUs on the market (be they PPGA or FC-PGA)
and not have to worry at all about compatibility with whatever motherboard they
have.
TOP
Site News Update.
Posted: 01/21/2000 Source:
N/A Added by: Kim Heise
You might have noticed that there are
two new buttons on the main menu: Drivers & Glossary. The Drivers page will
contains links to all the manufacturer's drivers web sites and the Glossary page
was created to help readers to reference terms that are unclear. Both pages are
under "heavy" construction and entries will be added as an ongoing
process. Please let me know if you discover invalid links or certain entries you
would like me to add to either pages.
On a totally unrelated topic: It appears my SETI progress rate has returned to a
"normal" speed rate. Nothing has changed on my system configuration so
at this point I am more than simply perplexed.
TOP
Oregon town changes it's name to
Half.com.
Posted: 01/21/2000 Source:
ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
It's Friday, so there is room here
for some useless information. An online retailing startup has convinced
an Oregon town to change its name to Half.com.
The town council of Halfway, Ore., Wednesday night unanimously approved a
proclamation changing its name to Half.com for a year. In return Half.com, the
company, based in the more prosaic Conshohocken, Pa., will donate money and
equipment to the town.
TOP
Gearing up for Windows 2000.
Posted: 01/21/2000 Source:
CNET
Added by: Kim Heise
With just less than a month away
before Microsoft's new OS is released you may want to visit this
CNET article. The site has posted articles to check your software
and your hardware
configurations to make sure they will work with the new OS.
TOP
Diamond/S3 and Transmeta team up for "Web
Pad's".
Posted: 01/21/2000 Source:
CNET
Added by: Kim Heise
Transmeta's new chips are barely in
production and already companies are lining up at the door. I wonder if the
company is trading publicly yet? Diamond/S3 are planning on releasing "Web
Pad's" for around $500-$1000 (depending on the model) that allows users to
surf the internet via a portable LCD flatscreen. These new portable LCD pad's
will be using Transmeta's lower end 3120 processor.
The interface to these "Web Pad's" will be via a stylus pen or using
voice recognition. TOP
Tweaking your cable modem and
xDSL.
Posted: 01/21/2000 Source:
SpeedGuide Added by: Kim Heise
If you are one of those lucky people
to get either cable modem or xDSL internet connections then you should visit
this web site that helps you tweak your connections for optimal performance.
Very well worth the visit.
TOP
Tech News for Thursday January 20th 2000.
Western Digital to leave the hard drive
market.
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
CNET Added by: Kim Heise
Western Digital announced today that
the company plans to leave the high end PC hard drive market due to the lack of
profit on falling hard drive prices. To make matters worse the company plans to
fire most of it's 420 workers.
The company expects to report a higher than expected quarterly loss.
TOP
Site News Update.
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
N/A Added by: Kim Heise
Just a
couple of items worth mentioning this morning: AMD's success is good news for
all of us since this means competition to Intel and this would force the CPU
behemoth to offer faster CPU's at lower prices. This is a win-win for the
consumers and manufacturers. Let's mention that the new AMD K7 CPU's are
currently a cut above the rest and are well deserved in the current
spotlight.
Let's not overlook Transmeta's new line of portable CPU's that are incredibly
fast, compact and use very little power. What more can I say about Transmeta?
They should get a pat on the back for a job well done and now it remains to
their marketing department to launch these new CPU's effectively.
The last couple of days have been non-stop with exciting news and updates. If
you would like to help out post some news articles on the site, please send me
an email.
People have been asking me if I had heard
anything back from SETI regarding my unusual scores and as of yet I have heard
nothing from the SETI team. The mystery remains.
I have received questions on why my average CPU time was so high if the results
were incrementing so fast. This is because I have a total of 5 computers
processing SETI and four of them take at least 20-30 hours to process a single
unit. My desktop PC still processes a unit in under 2 minutes!
I have disabled SETI on all four machines that are processing data at a the
normal rate to see if the average CPU time drops drastically.
| Name |
Email |
Results
received |
Total CPU time |
Average CPU time
per work unit |
Average time
between results |
| Kim
Heise |
|
1465 |
4492 hr 53 min 40.6 sec |
3 hr 04 min 00.6 sec |
3 hr 19 min 34.0 sec |
If you are
reading this and are one of the SETI team members, please contact me so I can
get some sleep ;)
TOP
Intel Sues Via Over Patents.
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
TechWeb
Added by: Kim Heise
I'm going to keep
my mouth shut on this one.
Intel filed a patent-infringement complaint against Via Technologies with the
U.S. International Trade Commission. The complaint contends Via is improperly
using Intel's P6 front-side bus in many of its chip sets. Intel previously filed
patent infringement cases against Via in the United States. Via has tangled with
Intel over PC-133 chip sets in a case that is pending.
TOP
Transmeta's new
"Crusoe" CPU article.
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
PCStats
Added by: Kim Heise
I didn't have time yet to read this
full article but you can take a tour with the author through Transmeta's demo on
the new portable CPU "Crusoe". Some of the pictures of the new
portable systems using the new "Crusoe" processors look very
impressive - especially when you consider they are running at 700mhz. The new
portable systems look like something directly out of Star Trek.
Folks, I think we are witnessing a major break-through in computer technology
here
Update: Here are some specs on the two new processors.
TM5400: First of lets mention the price of and speed
of the processors. The price of the TM5400 Crusoe is $119-$329 for 700Mhz, it
contains 384KB total of Cache, and is based upon the 0.18 micron die
process. It Uses 1 Watt of power to run, and can go as low as 8mW.
performance in mobile applications. Comparing it to a PIII 500, Transmeta
said that the performance was slightly better in industry standard benchmarks. To
demonstrate these new processors Transmeta had created its own set of
benchmarks, but difficulty has arisen in drawing comparison as there is no
familiarity with the new tests. TM5400 will be available by mid-year.
TM3120: The TM3120 will be between $65-$85 for
400MHz speeds, and contain 91KB of Cache. Die size is 0.22, and power
consumption is 1 Watt and can go as low as 20mW. Transmeta boasts that with this
processor in a web appliance, all day usage on one battery charge should easily
be expected. While not in release at the moment the Web Pad and future software
will also enable handwriting recognition, making this product extremely
versatile. It's Mobile Linux Operation system will be open sourced in the great
tradition of Linux. It is currently available.
TOP
BeOS 5 now
available for free download?
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
Be
Added by: Kim Heise
I saw this post first over at AMD Zone
and apparently Be will be setting up their web site for free downloads to
end-users for the latest version of BeOS. The last time I heard about this free
download offer is that it won't be available until later this year so this news
comes as a bit of a surprise.
Keep checking the BeOS web
site for details - as of this morning I have not seen any more press releases.
TOP
Transparent Flat Speakers.
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
NXT SurfaceSound
Added by: Kim Heise
SoundVu is an exciting development in NXT SurfaceSound technology, which enables
the design and construction of completely transparent, ultra-thin loudspeakers
that bring sound and vision together. SoundVu technology can be applied to a
wide range of transparent materials, from polycarbonate plastics to laminated
and tempered glass, to create a wide range of display devices that can also
function as loudspeakers -- computer screens, projection televisions, PDA's,
cellular phone displays and much more.
NXT SurfaceSound technology has made it possible for high-fidelity loudspeakers
to be fabricated in virtually any size and shape, including curved and contoured
configurations. Products currently available in the U.S. using NXT SurfaceSound
technology include multimedia loudspeaker systems from Benwin, Kodel, Gallant,
Jazz and others.
Jon Vizor, NXT's Marketing Director, pointed out: "The acceptance of NXT
technology by an ever-growing number of licensees indicates it has become widely
embraced by manufacturers in many areas, as a key enabling technology to deliver
high-quality sound in more applications than ever before possible." Vizor
continued, "Since it was founded just three years ago, NXT as a company has
experienced phenomenal growth, and the coming year will see an even greater
proliferation of new products and applications based on NXT technologies.
Indeed, thanks to NXT, we're seeing the introduction of products that were
literally unimaginable before, from movie projection screens that also act as
center-channel loudspeakers to "talking" point-of-sale advertising
displays -- and future applications will likely be even more innovative and
wide-ranging."
TOP
AMD has explosive fourth quarter.
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
MSNBC
Added by: Kim Heise
And it's music to my ears:
Profit of 43 cents per share well above break-even estimates
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. trounced even the most optimistic forecasts on Wednesday when it reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $65 million. Analysts had expected Intel Corp.’s chief computer-chip rival to barely turn a profit.
As soon as the 2nd generation AMD motherboards become available on the
market I will be standing in the front of the line to upgrade. Watch AMD's stock
jump through the roof today.
I wish I would have purchased some AMD stock just a couple of weeks ago but the
whole stock market arena is a new concept for me.
TOP
AOL, Gateway to test DSL serviceAmerica Online Inc. and Gateway Inc.
announced Wednesday they signed a deal to start trials of high-speed Internet
service products. The companies said in a statement they will begin offering
high-speed access using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology to consumers in
San Diego and Timonium, Md. The DSL service will be sold at Gateway stores in
those areas. Sales representatives will determine whether a customer is eligible
for the service based on the location of a person's home and telephone line
characteristics.
TOP
Terabit per second Internet.
Posted: 01/20/2000 Source:
Nortel
Networks
Added by: Kim Heise
All I can say is that I'm stunned. Can you imagine terabits
of bandwidth available? Nortel and MCI have successfully tested the first
terabit/sec network connection. The terabit/sec network can support up to 1
million megabit multimedia connections. WOW!
DALLAS --MCI WorldCom has successfully completed the industry's first live
commercial trial of next-generation optical networking equipment from Nortel
Networks* [NYSE/TSE: NT], setting the stage for a new era of networking. In the
trial, MCI WorldCom successfully carried a Terabit of traffic per second on a
single, hair-thin strand of fiber - sufficient capacity to enable one million
1-megabit multimedia connections.
TOP
Tech News for Wednesday January 19th 2000.
Two i820 motherboard reviews:
Asus P3C-E and P3C-2000.
Posted: 01/19/2000 Source:
GamePC
Added by: Kim Heise
GamePC takes a look at two Intel
"Camino" i820 chipset motherboards that offer AGP 4x and ultra-DMA66
hard drive support. But even with all those new features the reviewer recommends
you skip the i820 chipset because of the outrageous RAMBUS prices.
It is recommended (and I would say so myself) to wait for Intel's next
generation "Solano" chipset when you can get the Ultra-DMA66 with AGP
4x while still using standard SDRAM memory. Performance wise, the classic BX
chipset still matches the i820 chipset and this is because the BX chipset has
matured over the last year.
TOP
Transmeta
unveils new "Crusoe" processors.
Posted: 01/19/2000 Source:
ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
Transmeta has finally taken the wraps
off their secret new CPU that is aimed at the "portable" market. Here
are the specs:
The first chip, the 3120, will operate at about 400MHz and be targeted at a
series of Internet appliance devices. That chip is shipping immediately,
according to the company.
The second chip, the 5400, will run at speeds up to 700MHz
and be used in Windows-based portables. That chip, which runs on just one watt
of power, will ship by mid-2000, officials said.
Crusoe will not be targeted at personal organizers such as the Palm, or at cell
phones, executives said. Instead, the chips will allow high-capacity multimedia
applications to run on wireless portables.
The new Crusoe CPU will be manufactured by IBM.
TOP
S3 Savage 2000+ rumors.
Posted: 01/19/2000 Source:
Savage Daily News
Added by: As I've
said, you have to watch these rumors but some are so interesting that they are
worthwhile as a quick mention. Savage Daily News has posted some
"rumor" specs on a special version of the Diamond/S3 Viper II. Here's
the specs:
Diamond
Viper II LE Z400
Savage2000+ Chipset
64mb 5ns SyncDram
400mhz RAMDAC
175mhz Clock, 150mhz Memory Clock
Full AGP 4x abilities, also AGP 2x/1x ready
S3TC, S3T&L,
Direct3D, OpenGL Compatibilities
Analog and Digital Outputs, Digital Flat Panel Port
Composite Out & S-Video Output
Please be aware that this is just a rumor at this time until S3/Diamond release
an official PR statement.
TOP
WinZip 8.0 Beta Testing Begins.
Posted: 01/19/2000 Source:
WinZip
Added by:
Finally there is a new version of WinZip coming
down the pipeline with a whole slew of new features. What I'm looking for is the
ability to set the defaults to automatically overwrite files and not to spawn a
new instance of WinZip if I'm extracting multiple archives. For more details and
download a beta version of 8.0 visit this link.
TOP
HP quietly adopts AMD's Athlon chip.
Posted: 01/19/2000 Source: CNET
Added by: Kim Heise
PSSST, we have to whisper here - Intel
had better not hear this news. It's unfortunate that companies have to go
"sneaking" over to the competition from Intel to find the better
products. Anyway, CNET has posted an article stating that HP has decided to
start shipping systems based on AMD's K7 Athlon CPU (Watch AMD's stock in the
next 12 hours or so)
With HP
adopting the chip, AMD has persuaded four out of the top five PC makers to
manufacture Athlon consumer systems. Dell remains the holdout. Gateway said it
would start using Athlon chips earlier this month, after deciding to not release
an Athlon PC last year. AMD could not be reached for comment.
TOP
Falling CPU prices.
Posted: 01/19/2000 Source:
tech-review
Added by: Kim Heise
Take a look at these massive prices
drops in today's current high-end CPU's - especially AMD CPU's.
Some of the high-end AMD K7 CPU's have dropped by an astounding $160 whereas
Intel's price drops are only a couple of Dollars here and there. Here's a
snapshot from AMD's latest price cuts:
Table Source: Tech-Review.
TOP
Tech News for Tuesday January 18th 2000.
nVidia, SGI & VA Linux to
bring graphics standard to Desktop Linux Market
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source: nVidia
Added by: Kim Heise
Here's the press release directly from nVidia:
Three Companies Collaborate To Deliver First Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL Conformant Desktop Graphics for Linux
SANTA CLARA, CA – JANUARY 18, 2000 – NVIDIA™ Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), SGI (NYSE: SGI) and VA Linux Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNUX) today announced their collaboration on the industry's first professional-level OpenGL® graphics sub-system for workstations running Linux. This planned platform would be the first 100% OpenGL 1.2-conformant hardware-accelerated graphics solution to bring professional workstation graphics standards to the Linux market. Developers using Linux desktop systems equipped with the new graphics sub-system will be able to utilize the depth of the OpenGL graphics application programming interface (API) to create professional quality 2D and 3D graphics applications. The first public demonstration of the collaborative effort will be shown during LinuxWorld, February 2 –4, 2000, in New York City.
Read the full article here.
TOP
800mhz AMD K7 Athlon review.
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source:
Gamers Depot Added by: Kim Heise
This new speedy CPU from AMD will cost
you around $999.00 retail but beats any competition currently on the market.
Gamers Depot takes one of the first batches from AMD for a test drive. The
800mhz chip is wrapped in the new 0.18 micron process and therefore runs
significantly cooler than the older 0.25 micron 700mhz brother.
Read it and weep.
TOP
Be to offer latest version of BeOS for free.
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source:
ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
To quote the best items in the
article:
BeOS Version 5 for the desktop will be available for download to pre-registered
individuals. Be will also work with publishers and other partners to distribute
the software.
Commercial users of BeOS 5 will still require a separate
license from Be. The software currently retails for $99.
TOP
Security patch from Microsoft.
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source:
Microsoft
Added by: Kim Heise
Yet another security hole uncovered in
Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 called the "Malformed RTF Control Word"
vulnerability.
Here's the summary from Microsoft's security bulletin web site: "Microsoft
has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in the Rich Text
Format (RTF) reader that ships as part of Microsoft Windows. Under
certain conditions, the vulnerability could be used to cause email programs to
crash"
Find out more and download the update here.
TOP
Matrox G800 Rumor.
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source:
Matrox Users Added by: Kim Heise
I'm usually not one to post rumors as they
could spark all kinds of problems but this one at Matrox Users regarding the new
"G800" is rather interesting. Here's the clip:
It looks like Matrox are going to leapfrog ahead to the G800 for their next
generation chip which will power several different graphics boards including
multiple processors versions. The G800 will have full hardware T&L built
around DirectX8 and will ship in late summer. Matrox's next release the G450
will include it's own T&L support but this will be hardware transform with
lighting done in software. Look for a probable springtime release on that one.
Please remember that it's just a rumor and until Matrox posts an official
PR please take it with a pinch of salt.
TOP
Two new GeForce 256 DDR reviews.
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source:
N/A Added by: Kim Heise
If you're in the market for a new video
card you may want to read both these detailed reviews on two competing GeForce
256 DDR video cards. Read the review at SharkyExtreme
on the Hercules (Guillemot) 3D Prophet DDR-DVI or the review about the Leadtek
Winfast GeForce 256 DDR at AGN
Hardware. TOP
Microsoft giving away 6000 copies of Windows
2000 Pro.
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source:
Microsoft Added by: Kim Heise
On February 17th when Microsoft launches
Windows 2000 the company is giving away the first 6000 copies that roll off the
packaging line. The catch? You need to fill out this
online survey to register. TOP
RAMBUS: End of the line?
Posted: 01/18/2000 Source:
EETimes Added by: Kim Heise
It appears that dark days are ahead for
RAMBUS memory which comes as no big surprise. Think about it: extremely
expensive and if you are lucky you may see a 5% performance gain over the
standard DRAM's currently in your PC. This translates into zero vendor support.
Five big hardware companies, including Intel have decided to back a new high
performance SDRAM architecture instead of the much hyped RAMBUS memory.
Rumors abound that Intel's next generation chipset will support 133mhz SDRAM
instead of the current RAMBUS memory. The next generation chipset will most
likely see the same performance/stability yields as the more mature BX chipset.
TOP
Tech News for Monday January 17th 2000.
Transmeta to unveil new PC processor.
Posted: 01/17/2000 Source:
ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
This is good news! Another possible
competitor may join the CPU market shortly - on the other hand another CPU may
create more confusion than ever on what to buy and when.
Sometime next week Transmeta will be unveiling their new "Crusoe"
processor that should supposedly revolutionize CPU's, similar as the AMD Athlon
K7 did. No word on what the new CPU has but the company filed several patents,
including No. 6,011,908 that describe a technology that pairs a processor, known
as the morph host, and software, called code-morphing software. Hopefully during
the unveiling next week Transmeta can translate that into english.
Here's a quote regarding the new CPU: "'They (Transmeta) are going off into
new and uncharted territory. There's something there." -- Martin Reynolds,
Dataquest.
We will see shortly if this is hot air or not. The CPU market is rather brutal
and so anyone who wishes to join the "battle" may be up for a tough
fight ahead. TOP
GeForce 256 Tweak Guide.
Posted: 01/17/2000 Source:
Tweak 3D Added by: Kim Heise
If you were lucky enough to find one of
these speedy new GeForce video cards in one of your local stores and would like
to tweak the card for optimal settings then this article is for you. Tweak 3D
has posted a very detailed article
on tuning your machine optimally to run with your GeForce video card.
I going to try these tweak settings and see how they work.
TOP
Another "Mega-Merger" Monday.
Posted: 01/17/2000 Source:
MSNBC Added by: Kim Heise
Not really computer related,
but two of the biggest pharmaceutical companies, Glaxo Welcome & SmithKline
plan to merge. The quote MSNBC : "$75.7 billion merger creates world’s
largest drug maker".
TOP
FreeBSD 4.0 enters code freeze.
Posted: 01/17/2000 Source:
BetaNews
Added by: Kim Heise
FreeBSD 4.0 has entered a "code
freeze" period for the next 15 days and updated snapshots will be posted
daily until a version deemed as final is posted. No word yet on what changes are
included in the OS update.
I will keep you posted. TOP
US Government relaxes Encryption Policy.
Posted: 01/17/2000 Source:
N/A Added by: Kim Heise
Last Wednesday the US government
changed the laws on exporting encryption software to international companies, individuals
and other non-government end-users without a license. Exporting encryption
software to foreign governments still requires a license and countries that are labeled
as "possible terrorist activity" are still off limits.
TOP
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