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® August 2007 • Vol 7 Issue 08

Frontside 6 What’s Happening 14 Digital Economy 15 The Saint Internet Underworld

The Experts

Alex St. John The Saint Page 15 Alex “Sharky” Ross The Shark Tank Spotlight Page 36 Anand Lal Shimpi Anand’s Corner Page 34 OS Shootout 54 The Battle For Desktop Supremacy

Decision ‘07 56 Windows vs. Linux vs. Mac OS

Bet You Can’t Boot Just One Barry Brenesal The Cutting Edge 66 Multiboot & VMEs Let You Have It All Page 93 Rob “CmdrTaco” Malda Mike Magee The Department Shavings From Of Stuff The Rumour Mill Page 85 Page 98

Rahul Sood Wagging The Dog Copyright 2007 by Sandhills Publishing Company. Computer Power User is a trademark of Sandhills Publishing Page 99 Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in Computer Power User is strictly prohibited without written permission. Printed in the U.S.A. GST # 123482788RT0001 (ISSN 1536-7568) CPU Computer Pete Loshin Power User USPS 020-801 is published monthly for $29 per year by Sandhills Publishing Company, 131 West Chris Pirillo Open Sauce Grand Drive, P.O. Box 82667, Lincoln, NE 68501. Subscriber Services: (800) 424-7900. Periodicals postage paid at Dialogue Box Page 81 Lincoln, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Computer Power User, P.O. Box 82667, Lincoln, NE 68501. Page 80

Did you find the hidden CPU logo on our cover? Turn the page for the answer. Page 21 Heavy Gear Hard Hat Area PC Modder 20 Dream Hardware 38 Tips & Tutorials 39 The Modder’s Guide To Vista 21 Seagate vs. Seagate Forza Motorsport 2 “Overclocking” Microsoft’s Newest OS Page 89 Can The OneTouch & FreeAgent Coexist? 42 Mad Reader Mod The Ultimate Test Bench 22 10MP Digital Cameras Big Pictures At A Small Price 44 Advanced Q&A Corner 48 X-Ray Vision 26 Return Of The Ultra Hands-Free Gaming (Almost) Tips & Tricks Nvidia Forges Ahead With Latest With OCZ’s NIA 50 White Paper: ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 94 Software Tips & Projects Member Of The 8 Series Overcoming Vista Frustration The Technology Behind AMD’s 96 Warm Up To Penguins Take On DirectX 10 28 Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP & Corsair Let Beryl Cure Your Aero Envy, Part II XMS3 Dominator CM3X1024-1333C9 Loading Zone 30 ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT What’s Cooking 71 The Bleeding Edge Of Software Inside The World Of Betas 98 Shavings From The Rumour Mill Buy Components Now Or Pay Later 31 Radioactive PC Cifer SLi 72 Up To Speed 99 Wagging The Dog Upgrades That’ll Keep You The Enthusiast Memory Space 32 Addonics AD44MIDECF Humming Along 102 Technically Speaking Apple TV 73 Your PC’s Saving Grace An Interview With Dave McCool, Which Undelete Software Should You Use? President Of Muzzy Lane 33 HP TouchSmart IQ770 78 Snap Art 106 Under Development AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe (Media SUPERAntiSpyware Professional A Peek At What’s Brewing Center Upgrade Kit) 80 Dialogue Box In The Laboratory Paris Hilton Loves Software Developers 34 Anand’s Corner 81 Open Sauce A Closer Look At Intel’s Turbo Memory The Protection Racket Back Door 36 The Shark Tank 108 Q&A With Shane Kim Microsoft Game Studios Boss On Intel’s P35 Chipset Caught In The Web Social Networking, Nintendo Wii & 82 Tune In To The New Web Radio The H Word You Are Your Own Disc Jockey 85 The Department Of Stuff CORRECTIONS: content.txt The CPU rating scores given in the chart on page 26 of the June issue (“High-Speed DDR2 Death- match”) are incorrect. The scores in the text on Digital Living pages 24 and 25 are the correct ones. 86 Road Warrior Brando Ships New Mobile Gadgets, Refreshing MacBook Refresh, Compaq’s New Ultralight Tablet PC & More Infinite Loops 88 At Your Leisure Strange stats and other oddball Games, Gear, Movies & Music items from computing's periphery 93 The Cutting Edge Page 22 The Integrated Circuit 95, 97 Customer Service (For questions about your subscription or to place an order or change an address.) [email protected] E DITOR’ S N OTE Toll Free: (800) 733-3809 Fax: (402) 479-2193 Computer Power User P.O. Box 82667 or many computer users, the words “choice” and “OS” showing up Lincoln, NE 68501-2667 together in the same sentence is a fairly new phenomenon, unless that Hours sentence was, “I’d take DOS 5.1 for an OS over Windows Me if I had a Mon. - Fri.: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (CST) F Sat.: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (CST) choice.” Regardless of what some people might try and tell you about OS/2 Online Customer Service & Subscription Center Warp, for many years there were no really good alternatives to Windows out www.cpumag.com there for everyday computing. Web Services These days, however, Linux comes in lots of flavors, some of them very (For questions about our Web site.) well-suited to the home desktop, and Apple’s Mac OS is enjoying a renais- [email protected] sance of sorts thanks to the company’s switch to x86 CPUs and the sales of (800) 733-3809 iPods and such. Authorization For Reprints Toll Free: (800) 848-5460 The question all of this raises, of course, is which OS is best? A definitive Fax: (402) 479-2193 answer is tough because such a large portion of OS evaluation is subjective, Editorial Staff not to mention that different users have varying needs and desires, making [email protected] direct comparisons a tricky proposition at best. Things being what they are Fax: (402) 479-2104 131 W. Grand Drive today in the world of Windows, though, we decided it was high time we Lincoln, NE 68521 looked into the subject. So we put WinXP, Vista, two Linux distros, and Subscription Renewals Mac OS into the ring for a battle royal (800) 382-4552 for the hearts and minds of power Fax: (402) 479-2193 users everywhere. www.cpumag.com And now, right on cue, I can hear Advertising Staff Toll Free: (800) 848-1478 the emails start to pour in, bemoan- Fax: (402) 479-2193 ing CPU’s obvious anti-Microsoft 120 W. Harvest Dr. bias for implying that an alternative Lincoln, NE 68521 to Windows is somehow desirable— The Gang the unmitigated cheek! So let me say up Editorial Staff: Ronald D. Kobler / Christopher Trumble / front that our starting premise is not, Michael Sweet / Vince Cogley / Corey Russman / Rod Scher / Calvin Clinchard / Katie Sommer / Katie Dolan / in fact, that Windows must go. If that Raejean Brooks / Nate Hoppe / Sheila Allen / Joy Martin / were the case, we probably Linné Ourada / Tara Simmons / Ashley Kumpula / would not have included two Leah Houchin / Patrick Kean / Marty Sems / Blaine Flamig / Kylee Dickey / Josh Gulick / Andrew Leibman / Jennifer Johnson / versions of Windows in our Nathan Lake / Barbara Ball / Lindsy Mercer / Chris Dunker little contest. Web Staff: Laura Curry / Kristen Miller / Jessie Danekas Truth be told, most of us Subscription Renewals: Connie Beatty / Matt Bolling / Charmaine Vondra / Miden Ebert / here at CPU central use Kathy DeCoito / Stephanie Contreras Windows at work and at Art & Design: Lesa Call / Aaron D. Clark / Fred Schneider / home and are quite content to Aaron Weston / Carrie Benes / Ginger Falldorf / Sonja Warner / Andrew Arkwright / Lori Garris / Jason Codr / go on doing so. But we also Andria Cogley / Lindsay Anker / Amber Edwards know from feedback we’ve Marketing: Mark Peery / Bob Chester / Marcy Kremer / received from many of you that Kelly Richardson / Greg Krzycki / Chad Hanthorn / Jen Clausen / Scot Banks / Lindsay Albers / Jeff Ashelford / Brynn Burtwistle / not everyone is inclined to just Thomas Trumble / Holly Hopkins / Jacqelle Lane / accept the newest version of Win- Brittany Gallagher / Katie Shanahan / dows as their only OS choice, and if Jamie Link / Carrie Schardt Advertising Sales: Susan Miller / Grant Ossenkop / that’s the case, where should these Julie Lausterer / Eric Cobb / David Bartholomai / huddled masses turn for respite? Read Rob Downey / Blake Johnston / Joy Caldwell / Matt Johns / on, oh faithful reader. Matt Bolling / Johanna Bohrer / Jon Sims / Jeff Kassmeier

Chris Trumble, Publication Editor, CPU

Gotcha. Here it is.

What’s Happening • Hardware Compiled by Blaine Flamig

Toshiba To Give AMD A Try Toshiba will launch three new Satellite note- books in Q3 running on AMD’s dual-core Turion 64 CPU sitting on the M690 chipset. Consumer and small- and midsized business models are expected first in Europe and the United States before shipping elsewhere. Some reports put the models at up to $100 less than Intel-based counterparts. Following Dell’s an- Turbolinux nouncement last year that it would use AMD CPUs in its rigs, Toshiba’s move marks another Wields The win for AMD in its battle with Intel as AMD readies its new Puma mobile platform for next wizpy year. Toshiba, which ranks fourth or fifth among Turbolinux’s PDA-sized wizpy portable media PC vendors (depending on the source), hasn’t player should be available in the United States as offered AMD-based notebooks since around the you read this for nearly $280 in a 4GB size (a 2GB turn of the century. In related news, Toshiba version will reportedly sell in Japan), giving users Linux-booting good- plans to stock its laptops with HD DVD drives ness from any PC, as well as audio and video playback via the player’s next year and should already be offering note- ▲ 1.7-inch color, multilingual OLED. Just plug the wizpy into a USB port books with NAND-based storage built in. and it will boot your Linux distro, plus carry your browser settings, Desktop, passwords, etc. from PC to PC. Audio-wise, the wizpy sup- ports MP3, OGG, and WMA formats; saves voice recordings as MP3 files; and integrates an FM radio. Video-wise, the wizpy supports DivX, MPEG-4, and JPEG files. ▲

Sign Of The Times For Dell Are you in the market for a Dell PC or notebook? Well, models are now no farther away than a local Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club outlet. After more than 20 years of using a direct-to-consumer business model, Dell was to start selling Inspiron 1501 AMD-based notebooks running Vista in nearly 600 Sam’s Club stores in mid-June starting at about $900. Also expect notebooks for sale in Wal-Marts later this summer. In an effort to spur on slagging sales, Dell previously made PCs available in more than 3,000 Wal-Marts in the United States, including the E521 Dimension at $698 with 19-inch LCD and $498 without the display. ▲

6 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com What’s Happening • Hardware

Sony Hits The HD Airwaves At press time, Sony was expected to have a new XDR-S3HD ($199.95) AM/FM/HD tabletop HD radio available, as well as an XT-100HD ($99.99) tuner model for automobiles. The CD-quality radio marks Sony’s initial foray into the HD radio sector, for which the HD Radio Alliance says 1,200 U.S. radio stations have adopted HD radio technology and for which there will be 1.5 million HD radio devices sold this year. Sony’s Andrew Sivori, personal audio division senior product market manager, noted “digital terrestrial radio is the last frontier in audio” and price points “becoming more reasonable for consumers” as factors in HD radio’s growing popularity. ▲

H a r d w a r e M o l e DailyTech.com Investigates Hardware Review Payola In what should spark conversation among enthusiasts, of about 150 English-circulated tech sites, although no cash was DailyTech.com “put together a series of faux companies, prod- exchanged. Overall, 23 pubs refused to swap editorial influence uct portfolios, and trademarks” over a three-month period to for advertising. Seven of the remaining 12 did agree to editorial sniff out publications via email and phone correspondence will- service in exchange for advertising or cash, although no pub ing to sell advertisements (or receive funds) in exchange for agreed to additional funds in exchange for an editorial award. publishing content, receive funds in exchange for an editor’s One editor’s response included, “The people who do sponsor choice award, or offer viral marketing in exchange for cash and the site, who advertise and keep good relationships with us, resale hardware. DailyTech.com says it targeted the 35 largest they will get priority on reviews.” ▲

NEC’s Hard Times Continue

NEC’s recent rough go of it got even rougher in late May (it’s still recalculating earnings for the U.S. Securities and when the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau discovered that 10 Exchange Commission) due to the discovery of an employee employees had placed fake orders to subcontractors and also reportedly misrepresenting sales figures and NEC missing sev- took kickbacks. The employees, spread across multiple NEC eral deadlines to report earnings. Nasdaq’s Hearing Review divisions, amassed about $18 million in fake orders and $4.1 Council was mulling a decision from its Listing Qualification million in kickbacks, the bureau cited. This follows NEC Panel to not extend the deadline, meaning NEC could be fac- restating its 2006 financial earnings no less than three times ing a Nasdaq delisting. ▲

Asus Gets Tiny With The Eee PC Among the goodness at this year’s Computex was Asus’ enthusi- ast-friendly, overclockable C90 desktop replacement notebook, which Asus will reportedly make available in a barebones version to let users upgrade nearly any component. Asus’ Eee PC 701, a 7-inch mini notebook that’s set for release this summer for just $199 (a 10-inch version will run $299, Asus says), garnered even more attention. The “world’s easiest PC” weighs less than 2 pounds, sports 512MB of RAM, will offer reportedly up to 16GB of flash storage, and integrates Wi-Fi and a VGA digicam. Battery life is said to be just three hours, and details about exactly which Intel CPU the Eee will use weren’t available at press time. Still, if the 15-second boot time (thanks to Linux) that Asus is claiming is true, the Eee is an attractive secondary PC option. ▲

CPU / August 2007 7 What’s Happening • Chip Watch Compiled by Dean Takahashi

Intel Says Shrinking Chips Is Just As Much About Discovering New Materials As It Is About Dimensional Scaling

Mark Bohr, an Intel fellow, said that the future of chip advances will owe as much to new material discoveries as it does to simply shrinking the dimen- sions of a chip through photolithography advances. A case in point is Intel’s new high-k metal gate material used to replace silicon dioxide as an insulator in Intel’s upcoming 45-nanometer chips. In a speech at the Microprocessor Forum, Bohr said that the new material dramatically cuts leakage and there- fore is much more power efficient, allowing Intel to cram hundreds of mil- lions of transistors on a single chip. About 400 of Intel’s 45nm transistors can fit on the surface of a human red blood cell. Bohr said he expects Moore’s Law to continue as Intel finds new kinds of Intel Announces It materials to keep chip advances coming in the years ahead. ▲ Will Go Lead-Free In Mistletoe Technologies Builds Its Microprocessors Security Appliances Around Its Custom Chips Intel said that its entire family of 45- nanometer high-k metal gate micro- Since 2003, Mistletoe Technologies has been designing custom networking chips that have the flexi- processors will be lead-free. That helps bility of a general-purpose microprocessor. The power efficient chips can process networking data it meet requirements in Europe that quickly but consume only about 10 watts. To exploit the so-called RDX chip, the Cupertino, Calif., call for the replacement of lead in all company is now introducing a line of security appliances. The SlimLine appliances sell for as little as ▲ electronic materials. Lead is used in a $800 and handle tasks such as firewall protection, encryption, and other security applications. variety of packages and the bumps that attach a microprocessor chip to its *Retail price package. But concerns about lead’s Watching The Chips Fall ** Manufacturer's price per 1,000 units Other current prices, if indicated, are lowest OEM prices effect on the environment and human Here is pricing information for AMD and Intel CPUs. available through Pricegrabber.com health have led to regulatory limits in CPU Released Original Last month’s Current the European Union. Intel started price price price building its first lead-free flash memo- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4600+ AM2 only 5/31/2005 $803** $116 $118 ry chips in 2002. In 2004, the compa- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ energy efficient 5/16/2006 $671** $189 $189 ny started making microprocessors AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ 5/31/2005 $1,001** $126 $129 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5000+ AM2 only 5/23/2006 $696** $155 $189 with 95% less lead. The final step in- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5200+ AM2 only 9/6/2006 $827** $169 $192 volved eliminating lead from the sol- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5400+ AM2 only 12/12/2006 $485** $171 $179 der joint that connects a silicon die to AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5600+ AM2 only 12/12/2006 $505** $175 $228 the package substrate. Intel says it will AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ AM2 only 2/20/2007 $464** $226 $262 use a tin-silver-copper alloy to replace AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 5/23/2006 $1,031** $302 $319 the lead. Intel also said that its 65nm AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 11/30/2006 $599 $310 $321 chipset products will be lead-free in AMD Athlon 64 FX-72 11/30/2006 $799 $311 $304 AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 11/30/2006 $999 $408 $424 2008. The company promised that the Intel Pentium 4 660 3.6GHz 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 90nm 2/21/2005 $605** $325 $325 new lead-free solder will not take a toll Intel Pentium 4 661 3.6GHz 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $401** $196 $149 on product quality. ▲ Intel Pentium 4 670 3.8GHz 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 90nm 5/26/2005 $849** $646 $668 Intel Pentium D 840 3.2GHz dual-core 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 90nm 5/26/2005 $530** $478 $574 Intel Pentium D 920 2.8GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $241** $83 $92 Intel Pentium D 930 3GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $316** $175 $135 Intel Pentium D 940 3.2GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $423** $91 $149 Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz 2MB cache 1,066MHz FSB 65nm 7/27/2006 $183** $164 $166 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz 2MB cache 1,066MHz FSB 65nm 7/27/2006 $224** $180 $180 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz 4MB cache 1,066MHz FSB 65nm 7/27/2006 $316** $219 $224 Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz 4MB cache 1,066MHz FSB 65nm 7/27/2006 $530** $316 $318 Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 2.93GHz 4MB cache 1,066MHz FSB 65nm 7/27/2006 $999** $904 $910 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 1/8/2007 $851** $525 $529 Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 11/14/2006 $999* $899 $949

8 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com What’s Happening • Internet Compiled by Blaine Flamig

Ask.com Goes 3D S i t e Although most of us don’t use Ask.com much anymore thanks to Google, that hasn’t stopped its developers from experimenting with new ways to draw in users. After kicking Jeeves to the curb awhile S e e i n g back, Ask.com is now sporting a three- panel design that puts search options to The Encyclopedia Of Life the left; results in the middle; and images, Talk about your undertakings. The forth- video, blogs, news, and related data to the coming online Encyclopedia of Life (www right. Further, register an account and .eol.org) aims to dedicate one Web page to Ask.com puts Recent Searches, Saved each of Earth’s 1.8 million named animals, Results, My Folders, and My Tags plants, and other life forms as part of a free, options in a drop-down menu. CEO Jim open-source, wiki-like project. Yikes. The Lanzone was quoted, “In some ways, we Field Museum of Natural History, Harvard are becoming a convergence engine. We University, Marine Biological Laboratory, want to bring you the right information from the right source at the right time.” We’d say Ask.com is well on its way. ▲

The Evolution Of Blogging Face it, we live in a Twitter world. If you’re blogging with the intent of reaching a large audience interested in serious thought, forget it. Mundane is in. Busi- nessWeek reports on average each of LiveJournal’s 12.5 million blogs draws only seven readers. Google’s Eric Case, product manager of Blogger, predicts, “This thing we understood as blogging is Smithsonian Institution, and Biodiversity vanishing and it is reframing as people Heritage Library initially kick-started the develop new ways of posting and sharing effort, which got a considerable boost via things.” These include short blasts from $12.5 million in foundation grants. Sample mobile phones, more photos and video, pages already show tremendous promise, and and voice-rec posting coming soon. Great. over the next decade, EOL plans to fill pages We can just picture hellish elevator rides now with Tina and Tad verbally composing with video, photos, audio, maps, and other ▲ their “I can’t believe how drunk I got last night” posts. multimedia goodness. Expect authenticated pages by mid-2008. ▲ Weeding Out Wikis WikiMatrix.org has about as much visual flare as a paper plate, but who cares? The Virtual Jamming site is a fantastic resource for anyone We have to wonder what Jerry Garcia and his wanting to conduct an easy, straight-for- Grateful Dead brethren would think of sites ward feature comparison that prospective such as JamGlue.com, eJamming.com, or wikis offer. In addition to listing nearly Mix2r.com, where musicians and non-musi- 100 commercial and open-source wikis cians can collaborate separately on each others’ for comparison, the site offers custom tunes or jam together in real time after plug- search abilities and a Choice Wizard to ging their instruments into their computers. narrow down choices via a few questions. JamGlue.com, for example, gives users a Flash- Wiki developers and researchers can also based mixer to tweak others’ songs from with- compare the syntax that various wiki in a browser. Provided your hardware and engines use, and available statistics detail Internet connection is up to snuff, eJamming’s the wikis garnering the most views, most P2P technology lets players sync with each comparisons, and more. Wannabe forum developers should also check out other to perform and record on the fly. What a ▲ ForumMatrix.org. long, strange trip music is on, indeed. ▲

CPU / August 2007 9 What’s Happening • Software Compiled by Blaine Flamig

Now For This Month’s “Are You Kidding Me?” A company called Vervata has released new Pro and Light versions of its FlexiSPY software for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia Series 60 phones. Running invisibly in the background and accessible only via “secret code,” both versions track all SMS messages, call logs, email, and device location, uploading the info to a Web-accessible company server for “viewing and analysis.” Pro additionally lets you turn on a phone’s microphone from any other phone. Yikes. Unethical? Not according to Vervata managing director Atir Raihan, who’s quoted in a press release we received as saying, “While spying on people may seem unethical, cheating spouses, rogue employees sharing private company data, or unsuspecting children receiving SMS messages from pedophiles are all activities nobody wants to see happen.” Interestingly, our company’s Web filter blocked access to FlexiSpy.com. Vervata says FlexiSPY isn’t a virus or Trojan, but F-Secure labels it as malware. ▲ The Google Of Code Search Engines? We could have easily filed this blurb under the Internet section, but because many of you are coders, it seems only natural to bring you details here about the increasingly popular Krugle, a search engine specifically aimed at finding code. According to CTO Ken Krugler, developers can spend 25% or more of their time looking for lines of code that could already exist to carry out various functions. As Krugler says, why write code when it’s already written? Already boasting syndi- cated partnerships with SourceForge.net, Yahoo! Developer Network, and CollabNet, Krugle appears ready to take on Google as developers’ first stop to acquire lines of open-source code and related data. Beyond sporting a dead-simple interface, Krugle offers an enterprise version that’s now available in beta but expected to go live later this year. ▲ New Weapons From Symantec & Ad-Aware Aimed as a supplement to its own SONAR technology and using technol- ogy from Sana Security, Symantec released the standalone Norton AntiBot beta in early June. AntiBot runs in the background (Symantec says it doesn’t conflict with other malware-fighting apps) but doesn’t use the tra- ditional signature approach to sniff out viruses. Rather, it keeps an eye on programs’ behaviors, noting keystroke logging, Web sites they try to reach, Registry changes, and more. Symantec isn’t offering tech support for AntiBot, but Vista support is included. Conversely, LavaSoft’s new Ad- Aware 2007, also released in early June, reportedly won’t offer Vista sup- port until August. In addition to a free version of the venerable malware detector, paid Pro ($39.95) and Plus ($26.95) versions are available. The free version foregoes customized scans, scheduling ability, Real-Time Monitor, Ad-Watch RegShield, free support, and other features. Besides enhanced CSI (Code Sequence Identification) detection and a retooled engine, Ad-Aware also now sports a snappy new interface. ▲

10 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com What’s Happening • Software S o f t w a r e S h o r t s McCain Tips His Hat To Ballmer Arizona Sen. John McCain, a 2008 presidential hopeful, Leopard’s New Backbone recently told an audi- Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz reportedly let the, ence at The Wall Street er, cat out of the bag a bit early during an onstage speech he gave Journal’s D: All Things in Washington D.C. in early June, saying that Apple would use Digital Conference the open-source ZFS (Zettabyte File System) in Leopard when that if elected he’d it ships instead of the HFS+ file system Apple has long used. assemble Cabinet Schwartz reportedly said of the 128-bit ZFS, “This week you’ll members by picking see that Apple is announcing at their Worldwide Developers “the person in America Conference that ZFS has become the file system in Mac OS X.” who has been a success In an interview with InformationWeek, Apple's Brian Croll said and understands the ZFS "is not the default file system" for Leopard, but Apple is issue, and ask them to exploring it as an "option for high-end storage systems with real- come back and serve ly large storage. As a result, we have included ZFS--a read-only their country,” rather copy of ZFS--in Leopard. ▲ than select those with political ties. Prodded Go Ahead, Sue Me, Microsoft to give up names, “Hello, and welcome to our Microsoft lawsuit invitational. McCain reportedly This page is intended to be a place where people would like responded with Cisco’s John Chambers and Microsoft’s to join together to invite a Microsoft patent infringement Steve Ballmer. A Cisco lawsuit. If you would like to invite a visit by Brad Smith, representative later re- Microsoft’s head litigator, please feel free to add your name sponded that Chambers here.” Those are the opening lines from attorney Christian would be honored to Einfeldt at the Sue Me First, Microsoft public wiki, which is serve but has already part of a larger and quite interesting Digital Tipping Point committed to Cisco for Wiki project. Microsoft has signed five Linux patent-protec- three to five more years. tion agreements to date, including with Xandros, Novell, Meanwhile, although and most recently LG Electronics. At last check, 1,394 McCain jokingly sug- open-sourcers had filled 11 Web pages worth of signatures, gested an ambassador- leaving behind their names, distros, and open-source apps ship to China would be they use, and some pretty saucy remarks for Microsoft that good for Ballmer, Mi- are well worth your time. Einfeldt himself writes, “This page crosoft’s CEO has de- is just my personal opinion as to why I am not scared that clined comment. ▲ Microsoft is going to sue me personally.” ▲

BIOS Upgrades Available Online Compiled by Steve Smith Before you send another motherboard to the landfill, consider upgrading the BIOS and giving your PC a new lease on life. Here are a few recently released upgrades. Readers can check out www.cpumag.com/cpuaug07/bios to see our entire upgrade list.

Motherboard Date Available URL AAopen i975Xa-YDG 5/5/2007 download.aopen.com.tw/Default.aspx ASRock ConRoe1333-D667 R 1.0 6/4/2007 ftp://download.asrock.com/bios/775/ConRoe1333-D667(R2.0)(1.10).zip Asus Striker 4/20/2007 dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/Striker/Striker0402.zip ECS GeForce6100SM-M 5/31/2007 www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Downloads/ProductsDetail_Download.aspx?CategoryID= 1&Typeid=35&detailid=685&DetailName=Bios&MenuID=6&LanID=9 ECS PN2 SLI2+ 5/7/2007 www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Downloads/ProductsDetail_Download.aspx?CategoryID=1&Typeid =32&detailid=702&DetailName=Bios&MenuID=6&LanID=9 Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2G 5/22/2007 america.giga-byte.com/FileList/BIOS/motherboard_bios_ga-m51gm-s2g_f13.exe

CPU / August 2007 11

Compiled by Steve Smith

Hey, Robot Boy! You don’t have to be Isaac Asimov to see that the future of work and play belongs to robotics. Bots are the new Erector sets, and Evolution Robotics is the company helping big brands such as Sony, Sharper Image, and WowWee create affordable robots that fly, serve, or just vacuum. They need an Electronics/Robotics Tech- nician to build and test robotic sensors that help IT Is Back In Business these machines react to New college grads pursuing tech careers will have much easier pickings than in changes in situation and recent years, and HR managers may be pulling their hair out filling posts. According environment. You need to to AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association), tech employment grew by create the electronic circuit 3% in 2006, with 146,600 more jobs. The semiconductor sector was especially components, the motor strong, up 5% between 2005 and 2006. In April alone, The Conference Board, Inc. controllers, and optical sen- counted 323,000 online ads placed in the Mathematics And Computing category. sors that make a robot, And where are all those jobs? According to AeA, Virginia now bests Colorado for well, robotic. the highest concentration of tech workers in the country. Obviously, you need an electrical engineering degree and experience laying out Gadget Check: What Do We Own? circuit boards and reporting According to the latest Pew Internet & American Life survey, on test results. Of course, Americans own more cell phones than PCs, but about half of CAD is nice to know. But Americans say they only use their gadgets occasionally. since you will be building prototypes from the ground up, Evolution Robotics would love someone with an even broader background that includes running machine tools such as bench lathes and drills. After all, the future may come out of the box in the form of a pre- Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project fabricated robot, but the (based on surveys between brains behind these marvels February and April 2006) still need to play with Erector sets.

14 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com The Saint Internet Underworld

veryone knows that there are bad people never think about how Apple, My personal favorite subject is spyware, E people engaging in sleazy activities Microsoft, and RealNetworks pioneered which has several fascinating aspects to it. online, stealing credit cards, spamming, the space by creating free downloadable Most people never seem to actually ask, distributing spyware, pirating media, media players for the Internet. During “What do people gain from making spy- running illegal gambling operations, the three years in which I worked for ware?” There was a period when many and catering to pedophiles. What I find Microsoft (1992 to 1995), more than spyware/adware companies were United interesting about these operations is 80% of the media content available for States-based, VC-funded, legal corporate how much they often rely on infrastruc- QuickTime and Windows Media Player entities. In the early days, the companies ture from well-known, legiti- just hired ad sales forces to sell the mate Internet companies to pop-up ads, did distribution deals to enable them. bundle their spyware/adware with Take online gambling, for other legitimate commercial applica- example, which during its heyday tions, and shared the ad revenue around 2000 was generating some they generated with those distribu- $2.2 billion per year in revenue. tors. Spyware/adware companies How? U.S.-based game develop would offer companies selling popu- ers were creating the games and li- lar downloadable products 25 to 50 censing the infrastructure to “mar- cents per month in ad revenue from keting companies” (read: shell each installation. Although we nev- companies located outside the er touched such deals, many well- United States) to promote them. known companies did. Microsoft The U.S. developer might man- nearly acquired one of them until age hosting of the service from the bad publicity killed the deal. Canada or somewhere in the What would shock many folks is Caribbean. The “marketing orga- the list of big-name companies that nization” would in turn buy ad- took these spyware deals, shipped vertising from major U.S. portals, the spyware to millions of their such as Yahoo! and MSN, to pro- users, while promoting themselves mote the gambling site to their as defenders of consumer priva- online casual game audiences. cy and selling their own antispy- The typical online gambler was ware services. a middle-aged woman, between What was left in the aftermath 35 and 55 years old, who would of the commercial spyware era was drop on average $250 for each a far more insidious form of spy- account created. The U.S. government was porn. The early competition ware. Unlike the VC-funded U.S. spy- first tried to kill the business by cracking between Microsoft and RealNetworks ware/adware boom—which was led by down on U.S. credit card providers who for streaming media servers was predom- companies who actually believed they handled the payment transactions for inantly driven by the early demand for were pursuing a legitimate commercial these operations, but they simply moved porn servers, long before anybody cared business opportunity and were complete- them to offshore billing providers. A great about serving a lot of music or other ly shocked when consumers rebelled deal of PayPal’s early business was also video content. AOL currently hosts sev- against it—the underground spyware gambling-based until the government eral terabytes’ worth of bandwidth for business flourished via a different route. came after them. It wasn’t until the gov- free porn content via its Winamp media Some of the first underground spyware/ ernment threatened to come after the player. Thus, many large companies cre- adware products were made to promote major online portals for accepting ad dol- ate “porn-enabling” technologies that porn and gambling. lars from the casinos that the business drive adoption of a player or technology What is most fascinating about this, really dried up. that they subsequently monetize via however, is how the success of other highly Adult content is another interesting advertising or selling more politically legitimate Internet enterprises enabled spy- business because it also generates billions correct content, like music, television ware/adware business models on a much in online revenues. Of course, most programming, and music videos. larger commercial scale. As advertising

CPU / August 2007 15 networks like Google emerged online, it be- they were engaging in this practice when came possible for nefarious spyware developers they didn’t even consider us spyware or worldwide to create spyware products that gen- remove our software, they responded that it erated revenues for them simply by plugging wasn’t them buying the Google keywords, into U.S. ad networks. They no longer needed but their affiliates. VC funding or an ad sales force to profit from When I took a closer look at these affiliate invading your computer; they just had to be networks, I found another underground scam good hackers or good at tricking you into which involved scammers in Nigeria, Romania, installing them and then sign up with an ad and other parts of Eastern Europe. The scam- network or affiliate network to supply them mers sign up to participate in affiliate networks with revenue. and generate thousands of fake sales, often with There are two very common tactics used by stolen credit cards. The affiliate network (inad- modern spyware/malware distributors to get vertently) pays the scammer for each online ser- their bugs onto your machines. The first is vice subscriber they appear to generate, but 30 via your kids, who will freely download and days later, when the credit card bill arrives, the Alex St. John was one of the install any amusing screen saver, emoticon, card gets canceled and the fraudulent charge is founding creators of Microsoft’s game, or other executable they discover on- reversed. The service provider often does not DirectX technology. He is the line. The second is via porn sites, which are have the tracking tools to connect failed or can- subject of the book “Renegades often hosted on poorly secured Linux servers. celed transactions to a scamming affiliate, thus Of The Empire” about the Hackers break into the sites and use them to allowing the scam to operate for months or creation of DirectX and distribute their “products” by attaching them years without the service provider realizing that Chromeffects, an early effort by to downloadable video clips. many of their cancellations are the result of Microsoft to create a multi- The efficiency of the spyware/adware mar- fraudulent sales generated by an affiliate. There media browser. Today Alex is ket was further compounded by the success of are several huge companies offering well-known president and CEO of affiliate networks and, ironically, demand for online software services that appear to be ac- WildTangent Inc., a technology spyware/adware removal products. Affiliate tively getting their affiliate programs scammed company devoted to delivering networks emerged as legitimate online applica- in this manner and are probably totally oblivi- CD-ROM quality entertain- tions, and media publishing matured on the ous to association between their fake affiliates ment content over the Web. Internet. If I had a legitimate music, video, or and subscription cancellations. security service to sell online, I could increase One of my favorite Internet ironies is that my sales by offering to share a percentage of large, respected brand-name portals took my revenue via an affiliate network with any- advantage of spyware/malware hysteria to Most people body who could acquire a customer for me. achieve incredible market adoption and dis- Thus, spyware/adware creators quickly signed tribution for their own adware products, up for the affiliate programs offered by—wait search toolbars! Search toolbar providers pay never seem to for it!—spyware /adware removal products. other legitimate commercial software pub- Hence the prevalence of spyware that pro- lishers to install their toolbars on consumer motes spyware-removal tools. Most likely the machines. They pay about $1 to $1.50 per actually ask, companies that make the spyware removal toolbar they install. The toolbars promise to tools promoted by spyware applications have “block pop-ups” while monetizing the con- no idea this is going on, because their affiliate sumer via sales of keyword search advertising. “What do programs are open to anybody and they may Naturally, they also provide a clever indirect have thousands of affiliates. Linking one affili- mechanism for tracking the user’s online ate out of thousands to a spyware application browsing habits via their search behavior. people gain is nearly impossible. Pop-up blocking toolbars have a dual advan- I discovered this shady association when tage to their purveyors because they block we encountered people buying the keyword competing advertising networks while from making for my company’s name on Google to sell enabling their own. In effect, these products spyware removal tools. When we called the are “trusted” spyware/adware products from spyware removal tool companies to ask why respected brands. ▲ spyware?”

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16 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com

arren Zevon had it pegged, as usual. “Splendid W isolation/I don’t need no one.” Give me the fol- lowing, and I’ll gladly retreat from the world.

These Gizmos Don’t Sing It, They Bring It by Marty Sems

L-3 Link F/A-18C/D Aircrew Flight Trainers Talk about 3D. Strap into this $11 million flight trainer, and the entire room around you becomes your own person- al dogfight. L-3 Communications’ Link Simulation and Training division (www.l-3com.com) just delivered two of these Hornets to the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar, a town that needs no introduction to fans of a certain Tim Robbins/Meg Ryan/Val Kilmer/Anthony Edwards flick back in the ’80s. (Tom Cruise was probably in there some- where, too.) The company’s SimuView image generation system runs the cockpit sensors, as well as the nine-panel view outside the virtual canopy, called the SimuSphere. From tactical training to refueling practice to carrier land- ing simulation, these trainers let you do it all. And because they’re networkable, you can bring along a wingman—even one sitting thousands of miles away.

Ecosphere Technologies Ecos LifeLink Plant one of these babies anywhere on Earth, and you’ll be in business. Using solar panels and an optional wind tur- bine, an Ecos LifeLink (www.ecospheretech.com) can crank out 16 kilowatts of electricity. You’ll have VoIP and VSAT communications within a 30-mile radius. And you’ll be able to purify up to 30 gallons of water per minute. Interest is understandably running high, but Ecosphere has yet to finalize the LifeLink’s specs or pric- ing. Yeah, they’re all about “humanitarian aid” this and “disaster response” that, but let’s just pause to consider how much easier the LifeLink will make it for a budding evil genius to set up a hidden lair in the remote wilds. After all, your uniformed lackeys and drones will need basic services while they’re slavishly building that fortress under the Aztec ruins for you.

McIntosh Laboratory Reference System Put together the ultimate high-end sound equipment from McIntosh (www.mcintoshlabs.com), and you get the Reference System. This $191,000 melange is only available at a double handful of dealerships on the continent. The skyscraping XRT2K line array speakers feature six woofers, 64 midranges, and 40 tweeters. Each. The MDA1000 DAC converts your ordinary 16-bit CDs to amazing 24-bit, 768KHz audio. And the C1000 controller/preamp set lets you choose vacuum tube or solid-state amplification—or both. In total, 2,000 watts of power await your command. Thumping trip-hop? Or seductive world lounge? I have a feeling you won’t care what you’re listening to. Even “Fish Heads” will sound phenomenal. And if you’re more inter- ested in a full-on home theater with a projector and eight times the wattage, pony up half a million for McIntosh’s Ultimate Screening Room. ▲

20 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | hardware Seagate vs. Seagate Can The OneTouch & FreeAgent Coexist?

alk about role reversal. Up until last enough for the half-dozen 2.0 port block connected to T year, Seagate’s external drive line was internal and external drives the base and swap it for a dual the droll oldster of the industry—average in on today’s power desktops. If FireWire 400 block (includ- performance, bland on features, but reliable the safety of your data is criti- ed). The only “tool” you need and affordable. Maxtor was the company cal, drop down to a 750GB is a coin. This way, as new that kept reinventing external storage with RAID 1. This is the one piece port technologies take over, its OneTouch family. But now Seagate and of equipment you want under Maxtor OneTouch III, Seagate can offer new Free- Maxtor are one company, and as I look at your arm when flood or fire Turbo Edition (1.5TB) Agent port blocks to update this brick of a OneTouch III, Turbo Ed- are coming and your data $649.99 your drive. ition alongside the gleaming, svelte Free- needs protection. Backup, Maxtor Seagate swears that its Agent Pro, I have to wonder if the two lines system rollback, and file/fold- www.maxtorsolutions.com brand is going to become syn- have suddenly swapped bodies. er sync tools are included. ● ● ● ● onymous with data mobility and sharing. The first hints of Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition Seagate FreeAgent Pro that can be seen in the Pro’s For top capacity in a two-drive enclo- Wow. Give Seagate props FreeAgent Tools software: It sure, you can’t beat the 1.5TB OneTouch for letting the Maxtor crew covers basics such as backup, III. This unit ships in a striped RAID 0 come in and go hog wild system rollback, and drive configuration, which is why you see a per- instead of stifling them with utilities, but also online file formance advantage in my tests. After all, old Seagate stodginess. The sharing and real-time synchro- the Turbo Edition uses the same Seagate FreeAgent family is colored nization with up to five stor- 750GB Barracuda drives as the 750GB cocoa-brown with amber age targets. Seagate also gives FreeAgent Pro. Maxtor’s granny-simple accent lighting, which sounds you six months of access to software lets you easily switch into RAID 1 dumb but looks impressive 500MB of online storage, but mode. I tested using the Turbo’s FireWire up close. The upright wedge subsequent fee information 400 port; slightly slower USB 2.0 and faster shaping is bizarre but cool, Seagate FreeAgent Pro wasn’t available before press FireWire 800 are also included. plus it yields a much smaller (750GB) time. Regardless, that’s some Some people miss the aluminum styling footprint. The single-drive $399.99 pretty impressive syncing, and of older OneTouch designs. I actually pre- external measures 7.5 x 1.4 x Seagate Seagate covers the Pro with a fer the rugged, rubberized feeling of the 6.3 inches (HxWxD) and www.seagate.com five-year warranty—a ground- OneTouch III because these are ostensibly weighs only 2 pounds. The ● ● ● ● ● breaking move. Bottom line: portable hard drives prone to knocks on the OneTouch III Turbo outputs Both drives are excellent road. At 5.8 pounds and 5.4 x 3.9 x 8.5 an audible fan whisper, but the FreeAgent products and, although they’re not cheap, inches (HxWxD), you won’t be throwing Pro is dead silent after initial spin-up. fairly priced. For massive capacity and best this in your notebook bag, but it’s an im- This drive is teeming with cool surprises. protection, go with the Turbo. For style, pressive way to move, say, large multimedia There are tiny ones, such as how the touch innovation, and anywhere/anytime access, archives between locations. “button” is actually a touch-sensitive pad the FreeAgent Pro rocks. ▲ The OneTouch III is also ideal for desk- built into the base, or big ones, such as how top backup purposes. 1.5TB is finally big you can remove the eSATA and mini USB by Billy Ristle

Head-To-Head: Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition vs. Seagate FreeAgent Pro Testbed: Intel D975XBX2, Core 2 Extreme QX6700, 2x 1GB OCZ PC2-7200, Windows XP Pro SP2, Nvidia GeForce 7600GT. Both drives tested on 1394a port. HDTach 3.0.1.0 Iometer 2006.07.27* 2GB Folder Transfer** Raw Capacity Random Access CPU Util Avg. Read Burst Speed IOps CPU Util Write Read Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition 1,500GB 13.6ms 1% 41.5MBps 43.1MBps 90.3 0.21% 1:18 1:09 Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB 21.5ms 0% 35.1MBps 43.6MBps 70.34 0.24% 1:35 1:17 *Configured with 16 outstanding I/Os **In minutes:seconds

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CPU / August 2007 21 reviews | hardware 10MP Digital Cameras Big Pictures At A Small Price

few years ago, buying a 10-megapixel you’ve still lost image data that would chunky design has its virtues. It’s easy to A camera probably meant either that be preserved in TIFF and RAW formats. hold, thanks especially to the handgrip, and you were a professional photographer or Still, convenience is sometimes more feels nice and stable. The handgrip isn’t a serious amateur with a great-paying day important than top-tier quality, so we’ve merely ergonomic. This is where the cam- job. Now, though, 10MP resolution is gathered seven models that fit our budget era packs four AA batteries; you’ll want to just another option for cameras small criteria. They have some design basics in invest in your own set of rechargeables. enough to slip into your pocket. common: Most have 2.5-inch LCDs; all Unique to the A640 is a flip-out LCD In this roundup, we’re focusing on but one use a rechargeable lithium-ion panel that can be a huge help when shoot- 10MP cameras whose street prices are in battery; all but one shoot to SD cards; ing from overhead or other odd angles. the general vicinity of $300. Some cost a most can also use MultiMediaCards; and You can also turn the display around and bit more, and others less. Although we fur- all but the Canons have a token amount fold it into the camera body to protect it in nish current list prices, you’ll find most of built-in memory (although each Canon models discounted, sometimes substantial- includes a 32MB starter card). ly, on the retail end. (Note that this article is a general snapshot—pun intended—of How We Tested the current 10MP market for this price In addition to general use, we shot sever- range, and not a lineup of all-new models.) al identical scenes with each camera, using Having more megapixels doesn’t neces- the common denominator of their Auto sarily equate with higher quality, but it does or Programmed Auto-Exposure settings. Canon let you make big prints from your shots. Scenes included various landscapes, a can- PowerShot A640 How big? Promotional claims vary, but cal- dlelight tableau, a bare female back, neigh- $399.99 l www.usa.canon.com culating solely from pixels/inch, a 10MP borhood toddlers, and, for macro shots, a ● ● ● ● ● image measures approximately 9 x 12 inch- daisy. We examined the shots using a cali- es at 300ppi resolution, and 14 x 18 inches brated monitor and, when scrutinizing for transit. The A640 (like the Canon SD900 at 200ppi. A good photo lab can interpo- detail, a 40-inch LCD HDTV. and Nikon P5000) includes an optical late a shot up to a potential enlargement of viewfinder, a welcome alternative for com- around 34 x 50 inches with little or no loss Canon PowerShot A640 posing shots in direct sunlight; none of our of sharpness. The A640 is too brawny to store in a roundup models’ LCDs were easy to see A higher megapixel count also lets you shirt pocket with much comfort, but the under bright conditions. However, on each crop unwanted details out of your original shots and still end up with decent-sized prints. In this small detail cropped from CanonA640 CanonSD900 However, 10MP com- a much larger landscape, the pact cameras are a bit of a foreground boulder and back- paradox. Poster-sized prints ground house are over a half-mile appeal mainly to serious apart. The Canon A640, Casio, photographers, while on the Nikon, and Olympus capture a other hand, compact point- good amount of detail in both, Casio HP and-shoot cameras generally with the Kodak not far behind. lack the depth of creative The Canon SD900 is a bit fuzzy, control that power users pre- and the HP is fuzzy and displays fer when shooting the real its tendency to underexpose. keepers and can’t match D- KodakNikon Olympus SLRs for quality. As well, all of these cameras shoot to JPEG format only. No mat- ter how good a shot looks,

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22 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | hardware camera the viewfinder is through-the-body, of the two, Canon’s DIGIC III chip, Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z1050 rather than through-the-lens, something to rather than the DIGIC II on the A640. This, too, falls solidly into point-and- remember in close-up situations that could The SD900 is more of a pure point- shoot territory, with no manual or priority introduce parallax error. and-shoot camera, and don’t be fooled controls to speak of, at least where aper- The A640 supplements its Auto func- by the Manual setting, which is rather ture and shutter are concerned. The EX- tions with greater creative freedom: Ap- misleading. In practice, Manual is a Z1050 compensates for this with a wealth erture and Shutter Priority, Manual, and Program AE mode in which you can set of other features, including a whopping Program modes. For mood tweaking, the exposure compensation, white balance, 38 scene/shooting modes. These are in- My Colors option will filter or emphasize metering mode, etc., but not aperture stantly accessible via the Best Shot button specific colors or skin tones—nothing and shutter values. and are visually represented by sample you can’t do in a photo editor, but it’s We found this to be a very people- image thumbnails rather than icons; for good to have if you prefer instant gratifi- friendly camera, starting with the Face details, nudge the zoom lever. It’s a very cation. Another strong point is the flexi- Detect auto-focus option. If people are in user-friendly system for quickly getting to bility of its auto-focus system. The intel- your frame, it will find the nearest face and presets that should tailor the camera’s per- ligent AiAF option does a good job of focus on it, even following it if you or the formance to almost any situation. finding your subject even if it’s off-cen- person moves. The SD900 also produced, For further shooting adjustments, you ter, and you can manually select a screen by a slight margin, what we regarded as the can display a toolbar of icons down the point with the FlexiZone option. most appealing skin tones overall, even with the flash. It’s a champ at low-light performance, with a wide ISO range; high- er values will let you forgo the flash (which is quite powerful) when it might be intru- sive and still grab crisp handheld shots. Still, be careful: High ISO shots exhibit some digital noise, and the camera’s Canon aggressive exposure gave us a few blown- Casio Exilim PowerShot SD900 Digital ELPH out highlights even under more favorable Zoom EX-Z1050 $399.99 l www.usa.canon.com lighting conditions. $299.99 l www.casio.com ● ● ● ● ● The SD900 would make a great travel ● ● ● ● ● camera, and not only because of its size and In use, the A640 feels quick and respon- point-and-shoot ease. It has one of the right edge of the LCD for quick access to sive. Its color is appealing in everything sharpest LCDs in the group, very pleasant ISO, timer, AF mode, flash, and more. from skin tones to foliage, and it captures to look at while reviewing your shots. Addi- None of which would matter if the pic- lots of detail, even in distant landscapes. At tionally, the external battery charger is tini- tures didn’t turn out well, but we found the opposite end of the spectrum, the mac- er than the camera, with no cord, just a pair ourselves surprised at how often the EX- ro performance is stunning, letting you of fold-out prongs for the outlet. Z1050 rivaled the performance from the move as close to your subject as 5/16 inch away. Low-light performance, at high ISO set- The Canon A640’s macro CanonA640 CanonSD900 tings, avoids an undue performance literally takes you amount of noise. inside the flower, while the HP For a compact, the A640 has to back off the farthest. provides a lot of bang for The rest are able to move in the buck. respectably close, with generally accurate colors, although the Casio HP Canon PowerShot SD900 Kodak has oversaturated to the Digital ELPH point of looking unnatural. As you might guess from the “ELPH” designation, this is smaller and sleeker than KodakNikon Olympus Canon’s PowerShot A640. For those who like to keep up on the latest technology, it has the newer image processor

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CPU / August 2007 23 reviews | hardware

industry’s biggest names. Colors popped connect the camera to your PC. Unlike exposure, but Adaptive Lighting and out beautifully, and detail was second to the other units, the R967 has no USB color casts. none, although the unit’s best guess on port, only a proprietary dock connector, Also onboard is the Design Gallery, a exposure sometimes needed a tweak of which isn’t the handiest arrangement if batch of filter effects, borders, and so on . . . the compensation setting. you want to upload shots to another a kind of project center that seems intended It doesn’t skimp on extras, either. device while out in the field. The dock is to make your PC irrelevant and helps fos- Especially appreciated are the live his- also required for charging the battery. ter the sense that this would serve best as a togram and battery charge indicator. The R967 has our roundup’s biggest general family cam. There are several deep-menu settings LCD, at 3 inches, and while the extra one doesn’t always see on an inexpensive screen space is great for shooting and Kodak V1003 compact, including color filters, a noise playback, we suspect that it comes at the If you see a 10MP camera going for a filter for portraits, and an audio snap expense of battery life. This one drained street price in the vicinity of $200, it’s rea- option that imbeds voice commentary in markedly faster than the others. As well, sonable to wonder if the manufacturer has a shot. And although it had the longest you may need to fire the flash more of- cut many corners. In this case, it seems fair- startup in the group, the Casio also ten, since the R967 has by far the nar- ly likely that Kodak did. clocked the fastest auto-focus speeds. rowest ISO range in the bunch. First, the good news: The V1003 is easy Interestingly, despite being a point-and- It could hardly be simpler to use, with to use, with a simple, straightforward con- shoot model, the camera permits manual few external controls. If Auto and Scene trol layout that won’t leave you hunting modes don’t yield the results you want, you can turn to Aperture/Shutter Priority and Manual modes. There’s also a manual focus option that superimposes a black- and-white square over the middle of the display; you then judge its sharpness while pressing the up/down arrows. But HP compared to the Casio’s manual focus, Photosmart R967 this one is almost useless. Kodak V1003 $299.99 l www.hp.com Color and detail were pleasing overall, $249.95 l www.kodak.com ● ● ● ● with a few exceptions: The flash tended ● ● to wash out skin tones a bit, distant land- focus, which works surprisingly well, by scape detail was fuzzier than on most of for what you need. It’s compact, but not enlarging a focal point that you adjust by the other models, and exposure some- so tiny that it’s awkward to hold. And we pressing left or right on the four-way pad. times erred on the side of caution, leav- were usually pleased with the vibrant, ing images darker than equivalent shots warm colors it captured. HP Photosmart R967 from other cameras, so frequent exposure Unfortunately, this camera feels only Although the R967 performed well in compensation may be necessary. half-finished. The focus is downright slug- general, we can’t shake the feeling that Faring better were the Adaptive Light- gish, especially with the telephoto zoomed its optimum place is in the home. The ing feature, which brightens darker areas in. Likewise, when the flash is needed, the included dock is the only way you can to bring out shadowed detail, and a shutter lag is pronounced enough that you versatile bracketing option could completely miss a fleeting moment. Specs & Performance that can target not just Despite seven photo sizes, there are no In addition to some basic specs, we’ve also compiled a few performance figures. Zoom Internal Measurements are in inches, Size (HxWxD) Weight (optical/digital) memory (MB) weight in ounces, and time in Canon A640 2.6 x 4.31 x 1.93 8.64 4X/4X None seconds. Performance timing is an average derived from 10 Canon SD900 2.35 x 3.59 x 1.11 5.82 3X/4X None trials under varying circumstances. Casio EX-Z1050 2.25 x 3.58 x .95 4.4 3X/4X 15.4 (Because the Olympus Stylus HP Photosmart R967 2.44 x 3.78 x 1.01 6.4 3X/10X 32 1000 lacks an auto-focus assist Kodak V1003 2.1 x 4.1 x 1.0 5 3X/4X 32 lamp, its AF performance differs substantially in bright and Nikon P5000 2.5 x 3.9 x 1.6 7.1 3.5X/4X 21 dim lighting.) Olympus Stylus 1000 2.2 x 3.8 x 0.9 4.9 3X/5X 28.5

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

24 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | hardware separate quality (JPEG compression) set- There’s a lens ring for attaching an acces- button that provides instant definitions for tings, and with the fixed setting used, Ko- sory converter lens to gain enhanced wide- menu features, and a separate Guide mode dak apparently prefers sacrificing higher angle or telephoto performance, and it’s the that lists 13 shooting challenges and enables quality for smaller file sizes. It shows. On only camera in the bunch with a hot shoe one or more setup changes to deal with close inspection, we could often spot a line for attaching an external flash. them. Based on that impression, we’re of artifacts in high-contrast areas, such as The P5000 goes a bit lighter than the pleasantly surprised to find a live histogram structures against the sky. other cams on scene/shooting modes among the display options. Perhaps worst of all, although the cam- (although 16 should be plenty) and heav- However, the Stylus 1000 is the only era performed reasonably well in full Auto ier than most on creative control. The 10- camera in our roundup without an auto- mode, when we switched to various Scene option mode dial includes settings for focus assist lamp, which hinders it in modes, we experienced significant focus Aperture/Shutter Priority, Program AE, low-light situations. Although Olympus problems. Many shots were on the fuzzy and Manual modes, as well as an Anti- attempts to counterbalance this with a side or blurred beyond acceptability, even Shake mode that, among other things, very high ISO range, we can only imag- when we mounted the camera on a tripod takes multiple shots and auto-selects the ine using its extremes under rare circum- or took shots in sufficient daylight. clearest one. Among the scene modes is a stances; the shots are simply too grainy We can’t recommend the V1003 on facial recognition setting that behaves like, and/or noisy, too soft-focus because of any criteria other than price alone. and as well as, the A640’s, and a backlight the noise-reduction processing, or both. compensation mode that does the trick. Surprisingly, the auto-focus is quite slow—the Casio runs rings around it—but we found ourselves willing to forgive this because the results are worth the extra foot- tap. The P5000 flat-out takes beautiful shots, with color that’s rich without being too saturated, a great dynamic range and detail, and no hint of artifacts. Nikon P5000 The P5000 may not be a D-SLR, but Olympus Stylus 1000 $399.95 l www.nikonusa.com it stacks up well against its bigger cousins. $399.95 l www.olympusamerica.com ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Olympus Stylus 1000 Nikon P5000 We’re back in pure point-and-shoot Under more normal conditions, we Along with Canon’s PowerShot A640, territory with this trim compact, which, noticed a slight tendency toward oversat- this one bucks the flat-rectangle design of unlike the rest of the roundup, shoots to uration, usually in scene modes, and lost the others. While a bit smaller than the xD-Picture cards. Its curved front plate and highlight detail at times, but nothing we Canon, it still comes across as being closest beveled end add a stylish flair and make it couldn’t live with. And a touch of extra to a D-SLR. A rubberized handgrip and easier to hold steady. That’s important with saturation isn’t always a bad thing. thumb rest provide easy-to-hold surfaces; an all-weather camera; the Stylus 1000 is Overall, we found the Stylus 1000 a the P5000 felt least likely to squirt from packed with gaskets and seals so you can mixed bag—very good for newbs, with our fingers. It adds an optical viewfinder expose it to rain and snow without fear. less to commend it for power users. ▲ (again, through-the-body) to the LCD. This is one of the most beginner-friendly It’s also the best-equipped for expansion: cameras we’ve seen, with 20 scene modes, a by Brian Hodge

Power-on Single shot-to-shot Flash AF speed, AF speed, Minimum CPU ISO range time recovery cycle wide angle telephoto macro distance Price Score 80 to 800 1 1.65 4.75 0.08 1.03 0.31 $399.99 ●●●●● 80 to 3200 1 2.02 6.45 0.09 0.08 1.31 $399.99 ●●●●● 80 to 800 4 5.26 7.45 0.06 0.06 3.06 $299.99 ●●●●● 100 to 400 2.1 8.05 9.55 0.09 0.7 4.5 $299.99 ●●●● 80 to 1600 2.9 3.06 5.5 1.01 2.04 2.38 $249.95 ●● 64 to 3200 2 3.05 7.6 1.03 1.6 1.38 $399.95 ●●●●● 64 to 6400 1.1 3.55 4 0.4 1.4 3.63 $399.95 ●●●●

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / August 2007 25 reviews | hardware Return Of The Ultra Nvidia Forges Ahead With Latest Member Of The 8 Series

ith the introduction of the GeForce dangerously close splitting the high-end GTX. It has the same number of stream W 8800 Ultra, Nvidia has shown that, price bracket into “super high-end” and processors (128) and amount of memory for now, its fiercest competitor at the high “pauper high-end.” Prices didn’t even blink (768MB) as the 8800 GTX, but the core, end of high-end graphics is itself. at $700 as they surged past $800. A select shader, and memory clocks are all higher For years, Nvidia and ATI introduced few 8800 Ultras still exceed $900. And if (612, 1,500, and 2,160MHz, respective- new heavyweights to stand toe-to-toe in the Nvidia can squeeze any more juice out of the ly). The higher clocks also give a bump ring, trading haymakers. If ATI’s champion silicon, don’t be surprised when the GeForce to memory bandwidth (103.7GBps; gained the upper hand, you could be certain 8800 Mega Uber ZOMG Adamantium 17.3GBps faster than the 8800 GTX) and that Nvidia would throw a fresh contender Edition costs you $4,999.99. Start prepping fill rate (39.2 billion per second; 2.4 billion into the ring and gain a decisive advantage. those kidneys for the black market, kids. per second faster than the 8800 GTX). This cycle repeated itself for years until a The cards themselves are equally gargan- The other key difference is Nvidia’s new few months ago. Although ATI had most tuan. Although they’re the same length as stance on overclocking. The company was recently answered the 7900 GTX with the their 8800 GTX brethren, you’ll immedi- slow to give manufacturers the go-ahead to X1950 XTX, when Nvidia released the ately notice a redesigned heatsink, fan, and overclock 8800 GTXes, effectively saying world’s first two DirectX 10 cards— the GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS—last November, hardcore BFG GeForce 8800 Ultra OC 768MB PCIe EN8800ULTRA/G/HTDP/768M/A gamers awaited ATI’s (now AMD’s) Price $799.99 Price $819 response. And waited. And waited. BFG Technologies Asus Finally, the folks at Team Red www.bfgtech.com www.asus.com rewarded its loyalists with the Ra- ● ● ● ● ● ● ● deon HD 2900 XT, which, by the company’s own admission, was not the new graphics champion. And in the meantime, the folks at Nvidia were doing anything but resting on their laurels. In addition to lifting its ban on factory-overclocked 8800 GTXes, the green giant also intro- duced the GeForce 8800 Ultra. shroud. The fan, which was relatively cen- that the amount of headroom left over for tered on the 8800 GTX, juts out from the overclocking was virtually insignificant. High-End Gone Crazy card, purportedly to make room for a slight- Someone must’ve found extra headroom, Until recently, the graphics card mar- ly larger heatsink. And with the exception of because Nvidia was considerably less coy ket was painfully predictable. A flagship PNY’s card, the all-black shroud extends the about letting its partners overclock the card would kick off the launch of a new length of the PCB. With these cards gener- 8800 Ultra. At press time, overclocked architecture and debut in the neighbor- ating so much heat and sucking so much models were available from BFG, Evga, hood of $500 to $600. A slightly inferior power (BFG’s overclocked 8800 Ultra re- XFX, PNY, and MSI. card would usually accompany it with a quires a 525W PSU that can supply at least correspondingly lower price. Then, as the 37A over a 12V rail), is it really a stretch of BFG Technologies GeForce 8800 Ultra product family grew to include low-end the imagination to see graphics cards OC 768MB PCIe and midrange cards, a card that topped replaced with graphics boxes? Not content with slapping waterblocks the flagship would drop. on 8800 GTXes, BFG decided to over- Nvidia hasn’t altered this course with Just The Specs, Ma’am clock the 8800 Ultra. (But if you have a the 8 series, save for one important detail— The GeForce 8800 Ultra really isn’t watercooling rig, rest assured that BFG price. With the 8800 Ultra, Nvidia’s coming much more than an overclocked 8800 also offers a watercooled 8800 Ultra.) The

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

26 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | hardware

GeForce 8800 Ultra OC 768MB PCIe PNY if the price is right. (I found street XLR8 GeForce 8800 Ultra features 630MHz, 1,566MHz, and prices at least $100 less than the MSRP.) $799.99 2.2GHz core, shader, and memory clocks, PNY respectively. This isn’t an earth-shattering The DX10 Debacle www.pny.com overclock, so I didn’t expect an earth- Sure, you can point to the perfor- ● ● ● shattering performance increase. Aside mance charts and hail the GeForce 8800 from the black BFG T-shirt, the card’s Ultra as the king of graphics, but is bundle is decidedly no-frills. Nvidia’s victory over AMD a hollow When I dropped the GeForce 8800 one? Even though a single 8800 Ultra Ultra OC 768MB PCIe in my Intel Core bests AMD’s Radeon HD 2900 XT in 2 Extreme X6800 test rig, its performance CrossFire, neither card has the answer to lived up to its overclock, which isn’t neces- solving the DX10 riddle. Take our Com- sarily saying much. Although it turned in pany Of Heroes results at 2,560 x 1,600. across-the-board victories in every test, the Unplayable is unplayable, whether it’s margin of victory was awfully slim. Unless 19fps or 13fps. And my problems didn’t end with you want the distinction of owning an If I were a software developer with a DX10. If you’ll notice in the chart, I had to “OC” card, you’re better off buying a stock major DX10 title ready to drop, I’d be reduce the resolution in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to 8800 Ultra and overclocking it yourself. tearing my hair out over both companies’ 2,048 x 1,536 for stable performance. I apparently woeful Vista drivers. If that knew Vista was a gamer’s nightmare, but Asus EN8800ULTRA/G/HTDP/768M/A GeForce 8800 Mega Uber ZOMG Ada- these sorts of problems are inexcusable. ▲ Asus doesn’t have a factory-overclocked mantium Edition is what it takes to make 8800 Ultra, but given the meager speed DX10 games playable, sign me up for a by Vince Cogley increases I’ve seen from other manufactur- PS3 or Xbox 360 Elite. ers, I’m content with a stock model that includes a free game. Asus includes a copy Benchmarks of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (along with its trade- BFG GeForce Asus EN8800ULTRA/ PNY GeForce mark proprietary tweaking utilities) with its 8800 Ultra OC G/HTDP/768M/A 8800 Ultra 3DMark06 (1,280 x 1,024) 8800 Ultra. I have to give Asus credit for Overall 11507 11370 11335 including games that won’t be coaster fod- SM2.0 5374 5267 5243 der for my Red Bull in a matter of months. HDR/SM3.0 5429 5322 5311 This card’s performance was virtually CPU 2505 2528 2521 identical to the other stock 8800 Ultra in 2,560 x 1600; 4XAA/16XAF this roundup, PNY’s XLR8 GeForce 8800 F.E.A.R. 1.08 47 45 45 Ultra. In fact, with the exception of my Oblivion Town benchmark, both cards Oblivion were within 1fps of each other in all tests. Outdoor 38.1 36.5 36.8 Ultimately, the inclusion of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Town 80 77.3 83.1 Dungeon 81.6 80.8 80.6 makes the EN8800ULTRA/G/HTDP/ 768M/A slightly more appealing. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.* 52.4 51.9 52.1 Company Of Heroes** 19.3 18.7 18.5 PNY XLR8 GeForce 8800 Ultra Although PNY’s card was identical to 1,600 x 1,200; 4XAA/16XAF F.E.A.R. 98 94 95 Asus’ in every test, I will give it a brownie point in the completely irrelevant category Oblivion of box design. For once, I don’t have to Outdoor 62.1 60.4 61 deal with a suitcase-sized box splashed with Town 90.8 82.6 87.8 more manga than Joe’s Comic Book Em- Dungeon 86.4 85.8 85.7 porium. PNY gave me a simple, black box S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 70.7 70.7 70 adorned with its XLR8 logo. The card’s Company Of Heroes** 39.6 38.8 38.9 shroud also features a custom XLR8 logo and departs from the reference shroud by Price $799.99 $819 $799.99 not extending the length of the card. CPUs ●●●● ●●● ●●●

Because the XLR8 GeForce 8800 Ultra’s *Tested at 2,048 x 1,536 performance was so close to Asus’ card, pick **Tested with DirectX 10 graphics

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / August 2007 27 reviews | hardware Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP & Corsair XMS3 Dominator CM3X1024-1333C9 ou know that Intel’s Nehalem, a rad- The board has a pair of PEG slots, but the legacy P965/975X boards in various us- Y ical departure from its current pro- second slot is only capable of an x4 connec- age models and applications. Welcome cessor bus architecture, is on the horizon, tion. Although it’s based on the P35 chipset to Bearlake. You’ll enjoy your stay. ▲ but for now, Intel is content with turn- that officially only supports DDR3-1066, ing things up a notch again on the FSB Asus saw fit to support up to DDR-1333 by Dave Altavilla to 1,333MHz for its next-gen Penryn with its Super Memspeed technology. I processors. In similar fashion, the never- liked Asus’ passive heatpipe design for on- Performance Results ending need for higher memory band- board chipset cooling board and the Stack SiSoftware SANDRA width to feed this bus is quickly ushering Cool PCB plating technology that dissi- Processor Arithmetic 27831 in the age of DDR3 memory technology. pates heat around the CPU socket area. Dryhstone Intel’s answer to these requirements I complemented the new P35 mother- Processor Arithmetic 19223 comes in the form of motherboards based board with a kit of Corsair’s new Dom- Whetstone on its new Bearlake chipset. Bearlake is a inator XMS3 modules. This 2GB kit is Memory Bandwidth - 7033 Int Buff'd iSSE2 family of Intel chipsets that consists of the rated for 1,333MHz operation at CL 9- Memory Bandwidth - 7030 high-end X38, the midrange P35, and the 9-9-24 timings. However, these modules Float Buff'd iSSE2 mainstream G35 and G33 chipsets with were able to hit CL 8-6-6-15 timings at PCMark05 integrated DX10-capable integrated graph- 1,333MHz, which was about as fast as I CPU 7717 ics. All of the chipsets will support up to a could go at any voltage setting on the Memory 6682 1,333MHz FSB, as well as DDR3 memo- motherboard. The numbers speak for WorldBench 5 ry. The X38 chipset will support DDR3 themselves. In my tests, I saw the new WB5 Office XP* 7:54 exclusively and offer PCI-E 2.0 support. Intel P35 chipset and DDR3 memory Wb5 Photoshop 7* 3:21 The P35, G35, and G33 chipsets will sup- combination were 2 to 5% faster than 3D Studio Max* 3:02 port DDR2 and DDR3 memory and will Cinebench 95 only officially support up to DDR3-1066 Single-threaded 44 (though motherboard manufacturers may Multithreaded 23 support higher frequencies). In addition, Quake 4 164.7 these new northbridge chips offer an en- (800 x 600, No AA) Half-Life 2: Episode 1 116.08 hanced, lower-latency MCH that Intel (800 x 600, No AA) calls Fast Memory Access technology. HD Tach 3.0 DDR3 offers higher operating frequen- P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP Burst 135.7 cies for significantly more memory band- $249.99 Average read 77.7 width. It will offer better signal integrity Asus Average write 67.7 and lower operating voltages, and its 8-bit www.asus.com * (minutes:seconds; lower is faster) prefetch architecture is double DDR2’s. ● ● ● ● Test Specs: 3GHz Core 2 Duo E6750, Although initial modules will offer top- 2GB DDR3-1333 RAM (CL8), GeForce end speeds of 1,333MHz, 1,066MHz and 8800 GTX, Western Digital WD1500, 800MHz memory will be available, as well. Windows XP SP2 DDR3 technology will also scale beyond Specs (Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP): Intel 2GHz, but this speed will come at the cost P35 Express chipset; Max memory: 8GB of higher CAS latencies. (DDR3-1,333/1,066/800); Ports: 2 Gigabit I took a spin around Bearlake, courte- XMS3 Dominator CM3X1024-1333C9 Ethernet, 6 3Gbps SATA, 2 eSATA, 4 rear USB; Slots: 2 PCI-E x16, 2 PCI-E x1, 3 sy of an Asus P5K3 Deluxe motherboard Price not available PCI; ADI1988 8-channel audio and DDR3 memory from Corsair. The Corsair Asus P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP is a midrange www.corsairmicro.com Specs (Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9): motherboard, based on the P35 chipset. CPU First Look preview Speed: PC3-10666; Capacity: 2GB; Latency: 9-9-9-24

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

28 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com

reviews | hardware AMD ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT

ow the DirectX 10 party can start. technology, as well as the requisite N Latecomer AMD has finally shipped HDCP keys, dual-link DVI ports, and its first ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series-based support for XHD resolutions. Native ATI Radeon GPU (formerly R600), the Radeon HD CrossFire also makes its way to the HD 2900 XT 2900 XT. ATI’s answer to the G80 is big, Radeon HD 2000 Series. $399 red, and hot. This 9.5-inch dual-slot card As you might expect, ATI’s latest AMD has a transparent red shroud over a copper GPUs support the full suite of DX10’s ati.amd.com ● ● ● ● heatsink and barrel fan. Underneath, the eye candy, including Shader Model 4.0. 80nm chip features 700 million transistors. Because DX10 is Vista-only, we ran our But before we start swapping green and red benchmarks using Vista Business. We the Games for Windows platform is in paint on the racetrack, let’s take a brief also benchmarked the Radeon HD 2900 serious trouble. ▲ look at what the Radeon HD 2000 Series XT with Company Of Heroes, an RTS has to offer. game that offers some DX10 glitz with by Andrew Leibman The latest graphics core from AMD’s the game’s latest patch. But, graphics division has several advantages over as you can see, the game Benchmark Numbers ATI’s previous-generation Radeon X1K, wasn’t even playable at ATI Radeon not the least of which is a unified shader 1,600 x 1,200. Two XTs in ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT architecture. ATI’s second stab at a unified CrossFire also failed make HD 2900 XT Crossfire design (the first being the Xbox 360’s Xenos an impact. 3DMark06 10502 13123 GPU) utilizes a single pool of general-pur- The story on the DX9 3DMark06 HDR/SM3.0 5086 7115 Company Of Heroes (4XAA) 30.3 30.8 pose stream processors to perform vertex- front was a bit more promis- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 55.8 90.37 and pixel-processing commands. The HD ing. Although S.T.A.L.K.E.R. F.E.A.R. (4XAA; 8XAF)* 77 121 2000 Series GPUs can also use the stream was unplayable at 2,560 x Oblivion processors to handle geometry processing 1,600, CrossFire helped our (4XAA; HDR Enabled; 8XAF)

and operations that are traditionally CPU- system achieve 29.24fps. Outdoor1,280 x 1,024 67.82 75.07 bound, such as physics processing, polygon Oblivion’s most demanding Town 63.81 57.78 rendering, sorting, morphing, image post- benchmark also ran at a Dungeon 80.28 109.28 processing, and other game calculations. respectable 29.29fps at max The HD 2900 XT has a 742MHz core resolution. With the second 3DMark06 9265 12590 3DMark06 HDR/SM3.0 4139 6553 clock and 320 stream processors (clocked a card, none of the Oblivion Company Of Heroes (4XAA) 24.2 23.6 hair’s breadth lower at 740MHz) capable of benches dipped below 47fps. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 44.26 77.21 sustaining a colossal 475 GigaFLOPS. With its first DX10 hard- F.E.A.R. (4XAA; 8XAF)* 59 98 The HD 2000 Series also has a 512-bit ware, it’s obvious that ATI Oblivion memory bus, which, according to ATI, is isn’t going after the perfor- (4XAA; HDR Enabled; 8XAF) Outdoor 53.4 75.16 ideally suited to the demands of DX10 mance crown. Generally, 1,600 x 1,200 applications and high-performance HDR ATI’s new flagship performs Town 70.81 60.59 rendering. By comparison, AMD’s new well with DX9 games, but Dungeon 77.11 90.47 GPU bests the G80’s memory bus by 128 we were less impressed with 3DMark06 6397 10410 bits. The Radeon HD 2900 XT we tested the XT’s performance in 3DMark06 HDR/SM3.0 2464 4614 has 512MB of GDDR3 memory clocked early DX10 software (techni- Company Of Heroes (4XAA) 13.1 17.1 at 825MHz for up to 106GBps of band- cally a patched DX9 game). S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 19.97 29.24 width. Gamers will also appreciate up to But, as you can see in our F.E.A.R. (4XAA; 8XAF)* 31 54 8x MSAA (Multi-Sample Antialiasing) and GeForce 8800 Ultra review Oblivion ATI’s new programmable CFAA (Custom on page 26, Nvidia didn’t (4XAA; HDR Enabled; 8XAF)

Filter Antialiasing) scheme. fare much better. For now, Outdoor2,560 x 1,600 29.29 47.49 An integrated HD audio controller the pressure is on ATI’s and Town 59.75 52.83 lets your dedicated audio hardware send Nvidia’s software engineers Dungeon 63.25 70.49 its signal through the card’s PEG port to deliver better drivers *Soft Shadows Disabled for true audio and video over HDMI before games built on DX10 Specs: GPU: Radeon HD 2900 XT; 740MHz GPU; 512MB (via a DVI-to-HDMI dongle). ATI’s start shipping en masse. If 825MHz GDDR3 memory; 320 stream processing units new GPUs feature updated Avivo HD that doesn’t happen, then ATI Catalyst Control Center 2007.0517.2140.36881

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

30 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | hardware Radioactive PC Cifer SLi

ounded in late 2003, Radioactive PC feed the video cards shoot straight up (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST) on weekdays and F is one of a growing number of luxury from the PSU, which is at the bottom of Saturdays. The good news is that the sup- PC boutiques. It offers custom laptops, the chassis. Putting cables right in front port is available for the life of the system SFF systems, and some fancy PCs nation- of the side-panel window is a bold move, and doesn’t end with the one-year parts wide via its Web site. but it works, aesthetically, and it lets and labor warranty. The Cifer SLi is available in either a users easily unplug the cards during sys- There’s no doubt that the Cifer SLi CoolerMaster CM 830 Stacker or Lian-Li tem maintenance. is a solid gaming system. But although PC-V1000 enclosure. Radioactive PC op- Thanks to its great components and Radioactive PC made some customiza- ted for the Lian-Li case when it built my overclocked, quad-core processor, the tions to the Cifer SLi, I didn’t see the review unit. The builder stocked this spa- Cifer SLi posted strong 3DMark06 and sorts of trademark luxuries that make cious case with a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 PCMark05 scores (17453 and 10790, Biohazard, VoodooPC, and Falcon NW Extreme QX6700, 2GB of Corsair XMS2 respectively). It also posted solid frame PCs so easy to spot. Radioactive PC 8500 memory, and two 768MB BFG rates in my game benchmarks but couldn’t understands and provides the quality Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTXes in SLI. top the Vigor Gaming Force Recon QXN that high-end PCs require. I hope that Radioactive PC overclocked the (see page 31 in the April 2007 issue of down the road, I’ll see the builder put processor to 3.47GHz, which isn’t bad. CPU) in most of the games. forth some really innovative luxuries. ▲ CoolIT’s Aero chiller, which isn’t on the Radioactive PC touts system perfor- market, cools the CPU and provides a mance, price, and customer support as by Joshua Gulick bright blue light for the side-panel win- defining attributes. I found the Cifer SLi dow. Radioactive PC tells me that it over- to be roughly $600 less expensive than clocks the CPUs on its systems as part of a similarly configured Falcon Northwest Radioactive PC Cifer SLi the package. The overclocks are covered Mach V system, and the Cifer SLi is a under Radioactive PC’s warranty until strong performer, but its support pro- 3DMark06 you OC the system yourself. gram isn’t exciting: Radioactive PC offers Overall 17453 The rig’s other components include an support (888/323-1232; support@radio SM2.0 7010 HDR/ SM3.0 7720 Evga 122-CK-NF68-A1, which boasts the activepc.com) only during business hours CPU 5391 Nvidia 680i chipset; a 500GB, 7,200rpm Western Digital WD RE2 WD5000YS PCMark05 hard drive (for file storage); and two Overall 10790 150GB, 10,000rpm Western Digital CPU 11176 Memory 6903 Raptor WD1500ADFD hard drives in a Graphics 13115 striped array for speedy file loads. I’m HDD 9238 glad to see that Radioactive PC opted for a Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi F.E.A.R. 147 XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro instead of F.E.A.R. CPU 171 relying on integrated audio. Far Cry Training 224 On the expandability front, the 1kW Oblivion 106 Enermax Galaxy PSU provides more than enough power, and the front panel has Quake4 112.17 three empty 5.25-inch bays. There aren’t **Dr. DivX 3:29** any empty hard drive bays, but you al- WinRAR ready have more than half a TB of storage. 3.62 3:07** Radioactive PC takes pains to keep the Cifer SLi 3.7 beta 2:07** cabling tidy. Cable ties bunch the cables $5,080 (as tested) and route most of them out of sight and Radioactive PC **Cinebench 9.5 away from the airflow. One set of cables www.radioactivepc.com Single-threaded :39** Multithreaded :12** stands in plain view: The four cables that ● ● ● ● POV-Ray 3.7 Beta 3047pps*** Specs: 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (overclocked to 3.47GHz); 2GB PC2- 8500 RAM; BFG GeForce 8800 GTX (SLI); Hard drive: 2x WD1500ADFD (RAID 0); One- *Games tested at 1,600 x 1,200, 4XAA/8XAF year parts and labor warranty **Minutes:seconds ***Pixels per second

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / August 2007 31 reviews | hardware Addonics AD44MIDECF

ddonics recently launched an inter- The CF card or Microdrive that you A esting product that can turn virtu- use determines your performance, but ally any CompactFlash Type I/II card or this device isn’t just about performance. Microdrive into bootable IDE devices. What it does is give users the ability to The AD44MIDECF is a small device utilize low-power, solid-state, and shock- that features a mini 44-pin IDE connec- resistant flash media in place of a 2.5- two for added tion, just like current 2.5-inch mobile inch hard drive. This makes it well-suit- capacity. A $5 adapter, which lets you hard drives, and a CF slot. ed to unstable environments, such as a connect either to a 40-pin IDE header, When a CompactFlash card is plugged car or outdoor kiosk, where shocks or letting you create a speedy, stable drive into the AD44MIDECF and the entire temperature fluctuations can wreak for booting Windows, is also available. ▲ assembly is connected to an IDE port, havoc on a standard hard drive. the system detects it as a standard IDE Addonics offers two versions of this by Marco Chiappetta hard drive with the same capacity as the device—the AD44MIDECF, which connected card. It even makes the CF supports a single CF card—and the card bootable. AD44MIDE2CF, which can support AD44MIDECF $24.99 Specs: Interface: Mini 44-pin IDE (2.5-inch IDE) male; Supported media: CompactFlash Addonics Type I/II, Microdrive; Dimensions (with CF card attached): 6 x 56 x 59mm (HxWxD); www.addonics.com Power: +5V from PC PSU; One-year warranty ● ● ● ●

Apple TV

pple TV is something a bit more and to losing the connection and even freezing package does not include any cables. A a bit less than the media streaming on occasion. Streaming performance on Video output options range from 480p boxes we’ve seen in recent years. It’s de- my 802.11g network was quite good, and to 1080i, but much of the iTunes con- signed to bring your iTunes library into the sync mechanism worked as advertised. tent I watched actually looked a bit fuzzy the living room. You either stream mater- When up and running, Apple TV’s when run through a large-screen HDTV ial directly from multiple iTunes libraries interface is a dream, with attractive hi- at 1080i. Although some recent music or sync the 40GB hard drive with one def menus for each content type, on- videos looked quite sharp and some video computer just as you would an iPod. screen album art, and thumbnails. It podcasts have been upgraded to higher The box measures 1.1 x 7.7 x 7.7 inches streams music, video, and movie samples resolutions, much of the video material (HxWxD) and has 10/100 Ethernet and directly from the iTunes store, but you from the iTunes store itself was not up to 802.11b/g/n networking. can’t purchase items via Apple TV. And the output potential of the box. I had to update my D-Link router’s be forewarned: This isn’t an SD device. Perhaps most vexing and constricting firmware for it to recognize the Apple TV HDMI and component video are the for the experienced video collector is and found the Apple TV box itself prone only available outputs, and the $299 Apple TV’s narrow support of only H.264 and MPEG-4 formats. Any of us with DivX, WMV, or AVI clips are out of luck. Apple TV follows a very narrow design goal—bringing iTunes to TV— quite well, but it could and should do a lot more. ▲

by Steve Smith

Apple TV (40GB) $299 Apple Specs: Outputs: HDMI, component, digital/RCA audio, 802.11b/g/n; 10/100 Ethernet; www.apple.com Apple Remote included ● ● ● ●

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

32 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | hardware

tops out at 1,440 x 900), but NTSC and HP TouchSmart IQ770 ATSC tuners soften the blow of its ab- sence. There’s also an FM tuner if your inally, a PC with the power of a note- includes its fair share of bloatware, but idea of free music is still dining on Clear F book and the portability of a desk- again, we’re not exactly dealing with a Channel’s flavor of the month. top. If I had my druthers, HP would’ve sheep in wolf’s clothing. Processing and graphics power are in named this system the Bizarro IQ770. HP’s no second banana in the LCD short supply for power users like us, but the Sure, “TouchSmart” certainly applies, as arena, and the company puts its best foot IQ770 multimedia capabilities make it IQ770’s screen loves to be poked and forward with the IQ770’s 19-inch, wide- more than capable for your typical two-car prodded, but an AMD Turion X2 proces- screen, touch-sensitive display. I thought garage family. Just be aware that you’re pay- sor and GeForce Go 7600 GPU limit its that the touchscreen was fairly responsive, ing a premium for the snazzy display. ▲ appeal as a high-performance rig. but the included stylus wasn’t as precise as But it’s hard to penalize the IQ770 for I’d like. I watched scenes from “Star Wars: by Vince Cogley being exactly what it claims to be—a fam- Revenge Of The Sith” and noticed colors ily-friendly multimedia machine. Others and details that were as sharp as DVD TouchSmart IQ770 have already aired out the sizable sack of could be; free HD content from Micro- $1,849.99 Vista grievances, so take the inclusion of soft’s WMV HD Content Showcase was HP Windows Vista Home Premium as you even better. True 1080p resolution was www.hp.com wish. As you might expect, the IQ770 on my wish list (the IQ770’s resolution ● ● ●

Benchmark Numbers 3DMark06 2298 (1,280 x 800) Quake 4 1.3 (1,440 x 900; no AA/AF) 55.2fps Dr. DivX 10:39 (minutes:seconds) WinRAR 5:22 Specs: 1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2; 2GB PC2-4200 RAM; GeForce Go 7600; HDD: 320GB; 8-in-1 memory card reader; Networking: 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth; DVD±RW; remote

AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe (Media Center Upgrade Kit)

ith the muddled state of HDTV different channels simulta- W playback on the PC, it seems many neously while watching pre- users are in the market for a simple, rela- recorded content. tively inexpensive solution that offers In practice, I found the both HD and analog tuning in a single, AVerTV Combo PCIe easy-to-use package. A number of devices offered very good image have popped up recently that offer just quality with both analog and this kind of functionality, but few are as digital signals. And the in- well-rounded and affordable as Aver- cluded MCE remote control worked Media’s AVerTV Combo PCIe. without a hitch. Where it faltered a bit was As its name suggests, the AVerTV in regard to channel surfing: I noticed a Combo PCIe is a PCI-E expansion card slight, half-second lag while switching that offers a combination of HD and ana- channels. Although the unit doesn’t in- log TV tuning. However, what’s more clude any prepackaged PVR software, you interesting than the fact that this card can can download a beta version of AVer Me- tune over-the-air HD and analog TV is diaCenter from the company’s Web site. that it features a pair of tuners on a single (Windows MCE and some versions of AVerTV Combo PCIe (Media Center half-height card. With dual tuners, users Vista have built-in PVR functionality.) ▲ Upgrade Kit) have the ability to watch one channel $109.99 while recording another or record two by Marco Chiappetta AVerMedia Specs: Input signals: 75 Ohm digital/analog TV antenna input, S-Video, Audio-in (L/R); www.aver.com Interface: PCI-E x1; One-year limited parts and labor warranty ● ● ● ●

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / August 2007 33 Anand’s Corner A Closer Look At Intel’s Turbo Memory

hen I first looked at Intel’s new Santa Memory differs slightly from ReadyBoost using W Rosa-based Centrino platforms, I walked a USB memory stick, the difference being that away slightly disappointed. I’m used to being Vista can count on Turbo Memory always being impressed by the Centrino team, but the latest there, while a USB stick could be removed. iteration of the platform was a mild update that When hibernating with a USB stick, Ready- brought a faster FSB and some additional power Boost removes cached data from the USB stick saving features. Overall, very little had changed. upon resuming, but with Turbo Memory, this The most intriguing element of Santa Rosa data remains in the cache. In theory, if you have was an optional component originally called a lot of data stored in ReadyBoost, post-hiber- Robson. Intel’s Robson technology, now known nate performance will be faster with Turbo as Turbo Memory, is a PCI Express NAND Memory than with a USB stick. flash card designed to improve performance and I am careful to use the phrase “in theory” Anand Lal Shimpi has turned battery life in notebooks. Supported by Vista, because seeing real-world improvements in both a fledgling personal page on Intel’s Turbo Memory is designed for two specif- of these cases is difficult at best. I’m still doing GeoCities.com into one of the ic Vista features: ReadyDrive and ReadyBoost. tests to showcase any sort of real improvements world’s most visited and trust- I’ll touch on what both of these features are and in battery life or total system performance, but ed PC hardware sites. Anand how Turbo Memory aims to exploit them. I’ve yet to encounter any real-world scenarios started his site in 1997 at just Intel’s Turbo Memory is available in two ver- where the benefits are tangible. 14 years old and has since been sions: 512MB and 1GB. Each version is split The issue with ReadyDrive performance featured in USA Today, CBS’ into two even partitions, one for use by Vista’s appears to be that current Turbo Memory iter- “48 Hours” and Fortune. His ReadyDrive and the other for ReadyBoost. ations can’t hold enough data to keep the drive site—www.anandtech.com— ReadyDrive’s primary function is to act as spun down for a significant portion of the time receives more than 55 million another layer in the storage hierarchy, caching while on battery power. If the best power sav- page views and is read by frequently used hard drive data. In a notebook, ings Intel’s Turbo Memory can offer with more than 2 million if you’re caching frequently used data in flash ReadyDrive is around 700mW, I need to keep readers per month. memory, you can go one step further and save the hard drive spun down the entire time I’m battery life by spinning down the hard drive using the laptop in order to improve battery since the data you need is stored in flash memo- life by more than 15 minutes. Realistically, the ry. According to Intel, the power savings of drive may be spun down for far less time, being able to spin down an average notebook yielding a few extra minutes of battery life, Swapping to flash hard drive is about 700mW. Intel once stated which is what my own tests have shown. I sus- that each watt you can shave off of average pect that future versions of Turbo Memory memory can power results in a gain of 20 to 30 minutes of with more flash could alleviate the problem, battery life. But keep in mind that ReadyDrive but I believe that more aggressive prefetching be better than with Turbo Memory isn’t going to keep the of data into a larger on-board flash device may drive spun down 100% of the time, so the actu- also be necessary. swapping to a al battery life improvement will be much less. If I’m not entirely sold on the ReadyBoost Turbo Memory can keep the hard drive spun aspect of Turbo Memory; in my opinion, down 10% of the time, you may only see a bat- ReadyBoost is a poor solution to the problem of hard drive, but tery life improvement of a couple of minutes. running out of memory. Swapping to flash While ReadyDrive with Turbo Memory memory can be better than swapping to a hard neither is an ideal aims to keep the hard drive spun down and drive, but neither is an ideal situation and both improve battery life, ReadyBoost looks to im- result in a poor user experience. situation and both prove performance. ReadyBoost improves per- In the end, Intel’s Turbo Memory is a formance by acting as a faster location to swap good idea on paper, but it appears to be in its result in poor to, should you run out of main memory. The infancy. It’s definitely not a reason to upgrade implementation of ReadyBoost with Turbo your notebook today. ▲ performance. Talk back to Anand at [email protected].

34 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com

The Shark Tank Intel’s P35 Chipset

ntel’s chipset releases don’t come around DDR2-based systems with much more I too often, but when they do we usually all aggressively tuned memory. sit up and take notice. Up until now, Intel’s The P35GMCH will also be compatible P965 Express chipset and its 1066MHz with Intel’s forthcoming “Penryn” CPUs front side bus have been a firm favorite with based upon the 45nm process (expected later us gamers due to its performance and feature this year). In terms of PCI Express support, set. The P965 Express has been a great there are no changes there and you still get the match for the Core 2 Duo, but it’s also been full 16 lanes. Unfortunately, you cannot split around for over a year. Intel’s next genera- the duty of said 16 lanes between a pair of tion Core 2 processors will be sporting a graphics cards. Just like the P965, if you’re 1333MHz front side bus along with full sup- looking to double up on graphics cards, you’ll isrupting Reuters’ newswire with a port for DDR3 memory courtesy of the have to do so using bandwidth from 16 PCIe cheery Christmas greeting at age six, “Bearlake” chipset, otherwise known as P35. lanes on the Northbridge and then only 4 Alex “Sharky” Ross became an avid (Later on in the year Intel will also release PCIe from the south bridge. It’s clumsier this computer user/abuser, eventually the X38, a high-end replacement for the cur- way and certainly eats into the resources of the founding popular hardware test- rent 975X.) capable 2GB/s pipe between the north and ing/review Web site The P35GMCH (North Bridge) may well south bridge. SharkyExtreme.com. Exposing be the first Intel chipset to support those As far as the new south bridge goes, the shoddy manufacturing practices and 1333MHz bus speeds, but Nvidia’s nForce OEMs will be pairing up the P35MCH with rubbish-spouting marketing weasels 680i SLI SPP got there first. Where Intel did Intel’s new ICH9R. This new chipset is basi- while championing innovative finish first is on the memory controller, cally an updated ICH8R (you would never products, illuminating new technol- called Fast Memory Access Technology, have guessed) with the same 6 300MB/s ogy, and pioneering real-world test- which has been revamped to include DDR3 SATA ports, Intel’s Matrix Storage RAID ing methods was just a front for capabilities. Revamping includes tweaking technology and support for Vista’s Ready- playing with the best toys. The site the latency characteristics of the MCH Boost flash-based hard drive caching (Intel acquired, he left in 2001. A (Memory Controller Hub) as well as the “Turbo Memory”). The number of USB 2.0 London native and London School latency enhancing 8-bit prefetch of DDR3 ports has been upped from 10 to 12. What is of Economics graduate, Alex cur- (DDR2 has a 4-bit prefetch). Nobody said new is the addition of a Gigabit Ethernet rently overclocks/tunes Porsche 996 being an early technology adopter was easy, MAC, and it’s good to finally see this tech- Turbos with www.sharkwerks.com and for DDR3 technology it’s no different. nology become integrated into the chipset when he’s not tweaking PCs. Intel has only validated speeds up to rather than done externally. 1066MHz, although the likes of Asus It won’t stop with the P35 as Intel’s Road Nobody said already claim support for 1333MHz speeds. Maps already show future G35, X38, and It’s very early in the life-cycle of DDR3. If Eaglelake chipsets on the board before the you remember when DDR2 first came out, year comes to an end. The G35 will sport being an early it took a while for speeds and latency to be Intels’ next generation on-board graphics chip up to par with older memory. The same can as it becomes DX10 compliant (obviously we technology be said for DDR3, as we’re just not there won’t be throwing out our Nvidia GPUs). yet. Luckily Intel has allowed for full back- The X38 is of particular interest to us since adopter wards compatibility with DDR2 memory, so it’ll be targeting the high-end as well as intro- should motherboard manufacturers choose, ducing PCI Express 2.0 serial technology with they could technically build motherboards its 5GB/s capabilities. Sadly, you’ll need to was easy, with both DDR3 and DDR2 memory slots. wait until late next year for HD-DVD and Early tests are already showing that DDR3- Blu-Ray support with Intel’s ICH10 on the and for DDR3 it’s based computers with conservative timings Eaglelake chipset. ▲ are keeping pace with similarly outfitted no different. Email me at [email protected]

36 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com

hard hat area | pc modder

drive bays (five external, six internal) and seven rear expansion slots for plenty of add-in cards. It’s clear that Antec also PC Modder placed importance on acoustics, equip- ping the P182 with three near-silent, Tips & Tutorials 120mm cooling fans (with optional posi- tions for two more) and silicone grom- mets on the hard drive cages that absorb Modding does the body good. A PC’s body anyway, inside and out. Here you’ll find vibration noise. It seems Antec didn’t hardware, firmware, tools, tips, and tutorials for modding your rig’s performance and miss a trick with this one. appearance. Send us your own mod-related tips and ideas at [email protected]. Corepad C1 XXXL Mouse Pad

odding enthusiasts have a pen- the device. Its display can sense power Never run chant for the latest toys. Fast and temperatures between 30 and 800 out of mousing M processors, powerful video watts and -9 and 99 degrees Celsius, surface again with the cards, silent SFF enclosures, and radically respectively, along with fan speeds and enormous Corepad C1 XXXL. lit motherboards are all fair game when fan status. And should a fan fail, the ZM- it comes to a modder’s creative mind. MFC2 can sound an alarm to alert users You wouldn’t take a knife to a gunfight, Recognizing the appeal of unconvention- immediately. If you’re looking for a so why take a crummy mouse pad to a al customization, an entire industry has device to control your fans and monitor fierce deathmatch? Hardcore gamers know emerged to support the community. power and temperatures with style, look a good mousing surface is paramount to no further than the ZM-MFC2. precision aiming and quick maneuvering, Mods & Ends and the larger the surface the better. To Zalman ZM-MFC2 Antec P182 Performance One meet the needs of these gamers, the folks at Zalman has traditionally released some The Antec P182 Performance One Corepad cooked up the gigantic Corepad of the slickest-looking and highest-per- midtower case is a refinement of the com- C1 XXXL ($25). The C1 XXXL improves forming PC components, whether it be a pany’s already well-received P180 design. upon the original Deskpad XXXL through CPU or GPU cooler, a chassis, or a liquid- Many enthusiasts liked the P180’s clean the use of a slicker and more durable cloth cooling kit. And it seems the tradition con- lines and minimalist aesthetic. The P180’s surface and a denser, 5mm-thick foam tinues with the company’s ZM-MFC2 sturdy, triple-layer side panels and large base. And at 17.72 x 35.43 inches (HxW), multifan controller. The ZM-MFC2 ($59) door were also welcomed features, as was you’ll never run out of mousing surface features a multicolor lighted display that its innovative dual chamber design that while gaming again. shows fan speeds for up to four fans and isolates power supply heat from the rest of temperature readings from the unit’s four the system. The P182 ($169) incorporates Fashionably Fresh Firmware thermal sensors. The ZM-MFC2 also in- these features plus a few more, such as an Plextor PX-B900A BD DVD±R/RW (v1.01) cludes current and voltage sensors that external fan control module for the top- An update for Plextor’s PX-B900A determine real-time power consump- and rear-mounted cooling fans, cable Blu-ray/DVD burner improves writing tion; now you can finally see what kind of organizers, and predrilled ports on the performance on dual-layer DVD media, power those GeForce 8800 cards are con- rear of the case to accommodate external adds ATA-7 support, and addresses Vista suming with nothing but a glance. watercooling systems. compatibility issues. The unit mounts in an available drive The standard P182 is available in gun www.plextor.com bay and features a large knob and mode metal black; the P182 SE sports a chrome switch that control the fans connected to finish at an additional cost. It features 11 Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro (v1.06) The latest update for Fuji’s FinePix S5 Pro D-SLR upgrades the camera’s bar- The Antec P182 code multiread function and adds four is the latest options (date/time tag, file tag, main- addition to the tenance, and noise reduction) to the company’s Function Lock menu. Zalman’s ZM-MFC2 combines style and Performance www.fujifilm.com substance to let you keep tabs on your One series system fans and temperature and look of tower by Marco Chiappetta good doing it. enclosures.

38 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com hard hat area | pc modder The Modder’s Guide To Vista “Overclocking” Microsoft’s Newest OS

icrosoft officially released our rigs don’t have slow processors, small For example, Microsoft released a new ver- Windows Vista approximate- hard drives, and meager amounts of RAM. sion of DirectX 9.0c that doesn’t appear on M ly six months ago after an We have the horsepower to run Vista in all the Windows Update site in April, and both extended development cycle that lasted its glory. And as early adopters, we know Nvidia and ATI recommend this update for more than half a decade. Despite what things aren’t going to always run perfectly use with their latest drivers. Check the many considered ample time to flesh out the first time. Sure, there are some issues to Popular Download section of Microsoft’s an OS that was first talked about near- deal with, but since when has that not been Download Center for the DX9 update and ly seven years ago, Vista arrived in late the case with a brand-new OS? other pertinent updates and patches. January 2007 with a resounding thud. Regardless of the many opinions regard- Many of the features touted during devel- ing Windows Vista, it’s here to stay, and The Basics opment, such as WinFS, had been nixed according to Microsoft, 40 million copies Before we discuss some of the meatier before release and some of the main fea- had already been sold as of mid-May. We tweaks, let’s have quick a refresher of a few tures, such as DirectX 10 and Internet figured a sizable chunk of those 40 million system maintenance staples. As was the Explorer 7, were decidedly immature. At copies are in use on your machines right case with Windows XP, there are some launch, many analysts panned the various now. So what better time to outline some basic steps all users should take to slim flavors of Windows Vista as buggy, bloat- tweaks and guidelines to help wring the down Vista and minimize bloat. Inspect ed, and not worth the investment. most performance for your Vista machine? your Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Maybe that’s true for Aunt Louise, but Bin, and System Restore settings, and low- we’re power users—enthusiasts who ride Update, Update, Update! er the amount of disk space reserved for on the bleeding edge of technology. And We always recommend that users keep each item; most users don’t need multiple as power users, their operating systems patched and up- gigabytes of space reserved for files that are to-date, but with Windows Vista it’s even going to be trashed anyway. more important. Since Vista’s initial And keep an eye on your System Tray and release, Microsoft has posted a number of items in the Startup folder. It’s increasingly software updates and bug fixes that make more common for applications to quietly it more stable and more compatible install a program that launches at startup that with legacy applications. isn’t very useful and does little more than Keep in mind that updating consume memory. Remove these programs Windows Vista doesn’t sim- from the Startup folder and use Msconfig to ply mean a quick trip to the disable those that launch via the Registry. Windows Update site is in order. Some worthwhile up- Disable Unused Services dates don’t appear on the By default, every version of Windows Windows Update site at all. Vista boots a large number of background

At launch, many analysts panned the various flavors of Windows Vista as buggy, bloated, and not worth the investment.

CPU / August 2007 39 hard hat area | pc modder

services configured to launch automatically. Press ENTER, and the Programs And today’s hard drives are at sustained trans- And like unwanted or unnecessary programs, Features control panel will open. In the fers, they don’t come close to the access each of these services consumes memory and Programs And Features control panel, click times of flash memory, because the heads sometimes CPU resources. If your Vista the Turn Windows Features On Or Off have to move across the spinning platters installation is automatically launching a ser- link to the left. You’ll be presented with a to seek data. vice that you don’t need, disable it to speed list of all of Vista’s features; the items that To use ReadyBoost, connect a compat- boot times and free up RAM. are checked are enabled. Browse through ible USB flash drive. You’ll probably be Click the Vista Orb (formerly known as the list and remove the check mark from prompted by an AutoPlay menu as soon the Start button), type services in the Start the items you don’t use, such as Win- as you connect the drive that will ask you Search field, and then press ENTER. The dows Meeting Space, Optional Tablet PC if you’d like to “Speed Up My System.” Windows Services control panel will open, Components, or the Fax And Scan tools. Click that option and select the desired and you’ll be presented with a long list of size of the ReadyBoost cache. The larger services installed on the machine. Sort the Use ReadyBoost the better, but it supports only up to 4GB list by Startup Type, and look at all of the Probably one of the easiest and best (compressed to 8GB). If you are not entries set to Automatic. Almost all of these ways to increase Windows Vista’s per- greeted by the AutoPlay menu, click the items launch every time you turn on your formance is to take advantage of its Vista Orb and then click Computer to PC. Look through the list and disable the ReadyBoost feature. ReadyBoost works in access all of your drives. Then, right-click items you don’t think you’ll need, such as conjunction with a USB flash drive to the removable flash drive’s icon and select the Tablet PC Input Service or the Media cache data. ReadyBoost has mistakenly Properties from the pop-up menu; the Center Service. To disable an item, right- been characterized by some as a pseudo- ReadyBoost settings will be available on click the entry and then choose Properties RAM supplement, but in reality it is a the ReadyBoost tab. from the pop-up menu. In the resulting data cache that’s meant to reduce disk window, change the Startup Type from access. ReadyBoost requires a USB flash Manually Configure Pagefile Automatic to Disabled. If you’re unfamiliar drive between 256MB and 4GB in capac- We subscribe to the philosophy that with a particular service, it’s probably best ity that’s capable of .5MBps through- the fewer features Windows is allowed to to leave it be because a number of them are put for 4K random reads and 1.75MBps manage automatically, the better (within required for Vista to function properly. throughput for 512K random writes. reason, of course). In addition to turning There’s plenty of information available That may not sound very fast, but it’s not off unused features and disabling unnec- online if you’d like to scrutinize each one. sustained transfers that are important for essary services, we recommend manually ReadyBoost, but rather quick random configuring your pagefile to prevent Turn Off Unused Features access. What ReadyBoost does is cache dynamic resizing. If it’s left in its default Similarly, we recommend turning off or the pagefile and frequently used data so configuration, the pagefile will fluctuate disabling any of Vista’s built-in features the OS doesn’t have to grab this data in size based on the system’s demands, that are going unused. Click the Vista Orb from the hard drive. As fast as some of but the difference is never more than a and type features in the Start Search field. couple of gigabytes.

The many services that automatically If you’re not using a feature built Windows Vista’s ReadyBoost launch by default in Windows Vista into Windows Vista, uninstall or feature uses flash media as a consume large amounts of memory disable it to free up memory and fast data cache and compliment and, sometimes, processing power. hard drive space. to the pagefile.

40 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com hard hat area | pc modder

If you have the drive space to spare (and Orb, then right-click Computer, and you should after uninstalling those unused select Properties from the pop-up menu. Proceed With Caution: Disable UAC Vista features), click the Vista Orb, then In the System control panel that opens, This tip isn’t for the uninitiated. But if right-click Computer, and select Proper- click the Windows Experience Index link you’re a hardcore power user and know ties from the menu. When the System available in the middle of the screen. how to keep your machine clear of vi- Properties control panel opens, click the Then in the Performance Information ruses and other malware, disabling User Advanced System Settings link at the left. And Tools window that opens, click the Account Control can have a measurable In the new window that opens, click the Update My Score link. Vista will then impact on your productivity; it doesn’t Advanced tab at the top, then click the run a number of tests and report a score speed up the system per se, but you won’t Settings buttons in the Performance cate- for the processor, memory, Desktop be constantly bombarded with “Cancel or gory. In the Performance Options dialog graphics, gaming graphics, and the pri- Allow” prompts. box that opens, click the Advanced tab. mary hard drive. If any of the scores is To disable UAC, click the Vista Orb, Then click the Change button in the subpar (below three), consider upgrading type msconfig in the Start Search field, Virtual Memory category. In the Virtual that component to increase the system’s and press ENTER. In the System Con- Memory dialog box, remove the check overall performance. figuration app that opens, click the mark from the Automatically Manage Tools tab and find Disable UAC in the Paging File Sizes For All Drive option. Enhance SATA Hard Drive Performance list of options. Highlight Disable UAC, Then, select the drive you’d like to host There is an enhanced hard drive per- and then click the Launch button. A your pagefile (for best performance, put formance mode available within Vista command prompt window will then your pagefile on a separate drive from your that increases the size of the write cache to open when the process has complet- OS installation) and click the Custom Size further improve performance over the ed. Restart the system, and UAC, along radio button. Make the initial size and default configuration. This option can with all of those annoying prompts, will maximum size of the pagefile the same have a significant impact on write perfor- be disabled. value to prevent resizing. We suggest set- mance, but if there is a power failure and ting the pagefile to the recommended size your system loses power before the write Ultimate Vista listed at the bottom of the dialog box. cache has been flushed and the data is It’s going to take some time for Mi- written to the drive, there’s a good chance crosoft and OEMs to fully optimize Vista Check Your Windows for data corruption or loss. As such, and their device drivers, respectively, to Experience Index Microsoft recommends this feature only bring performance up to the level of Windows Vista has a basic built-in be enabled when the system is connected WinXP. But by following our suggestions benchmarking tool that’ll assess the per- to a UPS. and tweaks, you’ll boost Vista’s perfor- formance of a number of different sub- To enhance hard drive performance, mance today and make your system ready systems. The scores that the tool doles click the Vista Orb; in the Start Search to better exploit the code optimization of out are somewhat ambiguous, but it is field, type Device Manager and press tomorrow. Happy tweaking! ▲ helpful in finding specific system bottle- ENTER. In Device Manager, expand the necks. To access the tool, click the Vista Disk Drives tree, and then right-click by Marco Chiappetta your hard drive and choose Properties from the menu. In the Device Properties dialog box that opens, click the Policies tab, then check the checkbox labeled Enable Advanced Performance. Click OK and you’re done.

To keep Vista from constantly Windows Vista has an integrated tool designed to You can increase Vista’s file system resizing your pagefile on-the- spotlight potential performance bottlenecks. Vista performance by entering the Device fly, manually specify a fixed size then ranks the system’s Windows Experience Index Manager and enabling advanced for the pagefile. using performance data the tool gathered. performance mode.

CPU / August 2007 41 hard hat area | pc modder

The Ultimate Test Bench

f you’ve been with us long, you probably remember I the super-tall Tower PC that graced our June 2006 cover (page 34). The rig’s size and multitier structure made it one of the most unusual PCs we’ve featured, and the motherboard voltage mod sealed Ivan “Navig” Liang’s reputation as a hardcore performance modder. Now, our favorite E.R. doctor is back with a custom test bench that’s sure to put your modding imagina- tion into overdrive. The Navig Benching Station is a two-tier PC that lets Liang tinker with minimal fuss. “The entire pur- pose of this system was a case that would allow me to swap in and out components without even getting out of my chair,” says Liang. “But to also have a platform on which to stably mount components as opposed to just laying them on a desk or on cardboard boxes.” “Versatility is king,” Liang adds. “Almost everything is mounted by standard 6-32 or M3 thumbscrews. So if I don’t like the position of my hard drive cage, I can move it. If I don’t like where the fans are located, I can move them. If I don’t like where my motherboard is, I can even move that.” Liang can also revert to a stan- dard PC by simply dropping the handmade enclosure onto the test bench. In the end, the Navig Benching Station was a bigger challenge than he anticipated. “Once I com- mitted myself to making a finished product, all those little details you take for granted on prefab cases, such as how to mount hard drives, DVD drives, etc, took on a life of its own,” Liang says. “A lot of times I just wanted to give up and leave this thing as a ghetto bench and mount my hard drives and DVD burners with double-stick tape.” ▲

by Joshua Gulick

A Sunbeam fan controller handle’s Give Us Your Mod the system’s LEDs and cold cath- ode lights. You can flip between Have a computer mod that will bring tears to our eyes? Email photos and a red, blue, and bright white glows. description to [email protected]. We’re looking for rigs that are “It’s been modified slightly— recognizable as PCs; your Wookiee mod won’t find a home here. If we brightness of the LEDs have been include your system in our “Mad Reader Mod” section, we’ll help you load dimmed with inline resistors, and up your modder’s toolbox with $1,500 and a one-year subscription to CPU. all custom built cabling by yours truly,” Liang tells us.

42 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com hard hat area | pc modder

Hitch pins hold the enclosure and “The hard drive rack was built other components firmly in completely by me,” says place, but they disengage Liang. “It’s constructed com- quickly, too. The hitches pletely from aluminum angle, and thumbscrews mean bar, and rivets. It’s tool-free— Liang can make changes the drives are held in by the without a screwdriver. red thumbscrews.”

Liang points out that many of the The first tier includes the “I set the video card aside so that system’s wires travel to the upper power supply, optical you could see some of the tier via three Molex connectors that drives, hard drives, and fan modifications I’ve done to the he attached to the frame of the PC. controller. Liang put the motherboard,” says Liang. “For He tells us that he can attach or motherboard tray on the example, I have an Athlon XP CPU remove up to 24 wires at once, second tier, which has a cooler mounted to cool my north- thanks to his Molex mod. versatile fan system. bridge—this helps my overclock.”

Liang cut a large hole in the acrylic “I usually leave [the system] open,” “The feet of the system are actually floor to accommodate some of the says Liang. “No pets or young kids steel handles that have been inverted,” cables that pass to the second tier, to worry about accidents. And I says Liang. “They’ve been painted including the ATX power connectors, usually change stuff on it frequently with the metallic red paint and have a PCI-E connectors, and SATA cables. enough that dust doesn’t gather. wrapping of hockey stick tape for pro- It’s a little loud without a case to tection and a little bit of stickiness so muffle the fans.” the case doesn’t slide around.” CPU / August 2007 43 Get informed answers to your advanced technical Each month we dig deep into the mailbag here at CPU in an effort to answer your most pressing technical questions. Want some advice questions from CPU. Send your questions along with a on your next purchase or upgrade? Have a ghost in your machine? Are BSODs making your life miserable? CPU’s “Advanced Q&A phone and/or fax number, so we can call you if Corner” is here for you. necessary, to [email protected]. Please include all Geoff B. asked: I recently bought a GeForce 8800 GTS and a new pertinent system information. 22-inch BenQ LCD monitor because I wanted to get into some newer games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Supreme Commander. My older GeForce 6600 GT and Acer 17-inch monitor weren’t cutting it anymore. I decided to keep both my old video card and monitor, though, so that I could eventually build a three-monitor setup when I have the funds to buy Don’t use the another display. My problem is that when I installed my new GeForce 8800 GTS, I also uninstalled the old Nvidia drivers and then installed the new ones that came with the GTS, but when I did that, my GeForce 6600 GT wasn’t detected. I then tried to install the drivers for the 6600, and it drivers that came on seemed to work, but when I restarted the computer, my 8800 GTS was no longer being recognized. Nvidia doesn’t seem to have one set of dri- “ vers that’ll work for both cards under Windows XP. What can I do here? the CD with your A: Your problem stems from the fact that Nvidia no longer has a single, unified official driver that supports its entire range of GPUs. There are a couple of very simple workarounds for your problem, however. The first method doesn’t require any modi- 8800 because they’re fications or special tricks. Just head on over to Nvidia’s Web site and download the latest drivers for both of your cards. As of this writing, that would be ForceWare v158.22 for the 8800 GTS and v93.71 for the 6600 GT. Don’t use the drivers that

more than likely outdated came on the CD with your 8800 because they’re more than likely outdated and lack the most recent bug fixes and perfor- mance updates. Once you have both sets of drivers downloaded,

and lack the most install v93.71 first to get the 6600 working. When the installa- tion process is complete, restart the computer and then install ForceWare v158.22 for the 8800. If you install the drivers in this order, both cards should work. recent bug fixes and “ The reason you ran into your initial problem was because you uninstalled your older graphics driver before installing the newer ones, and the newer version didn’t have support for the 6600. Then when you went back and installed the older version, you performance probably overwrote files that were necessary for the 8800 to work. Another way to get both cards working, without having to install multiple versions of Nvidia’s ForceWare drivers, is to re- place the INF that comes in the driver package with a modified updates. version that’ll support both cards. We should warn you that this method is unsupported by Nvidia or its board partners, but in our experience it has worked every time. This is also an easy way

44 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com to modify reference drivers to work with mobile GPUs. After I told him he could boot the system to a USB flash drive, but he couldn’t downloading the latest drivers available, head on over to www get it to work. I went over and tried, as well, and it wouldn’t work for me .laptopvideo2go.com and hit the link at the top of the page to either. We just kept getting a message that the operating system was access the site’s driver download page. Find your driver version in missing or something like that. Is there something special we have to do the list on that page and download the modified Nv4_disp.inf to get the system to boot to the flash drive? It is already selected as a file for it. Then simply drag the new INF file that you’ve down- boot device in the system BIOS. Thanks. loaded in the ForceWare driver installation directory, making sure to overwrite the original file, and then run the setup. With HP has a free the modified INF file in place, the newer drivers should detect utility available both cards and install normally. on its Web site that’ll make a Anthony D. asked: My LCD monitor has a 60Hz screen refresh USB flash drive rate. On a benchmark, my video card is reporting 120 frames per sec- bootable, which ond. Because this is twice as fast as my monitor can refresh, what hap- can be useful in pens to the extra frames generated by my video card? Is there any real situations where advantage to having a frame rate greater than 60 since this is as fast as a floppy drive my monitor can update? isn’t available.

A: This is an interesting and good question, Anthony. First, it’s important to understand the differences between monitor refresh A: You were half right, Andreas. Yes, his system should be able to rate and screen frame rate, as it is rendered by your graphics card. boot to a flash drive, and you do have to select the drive in the Monitor refresh rate is a function of how many times your LCD BIOS, but you also have to make the USB flash drive bootable by illuminates on and off per second. In your example here, your installing the necessary system files. Without installing the neces- LCD’s standard pixel refresh rate cycles 60 times per second. For sary system files, it’s like trying to boot to a blank floppy diskette, LCDs, this is perfectly acceptable, and no flicker will be notice- which just isn’t going to happen. able to the eye because the LCD backlight refresh rate is probably If you search the Web, you’ll find a bunch of articles that somewhere around 200Hz, or 200 cycles per second. However, explain how to make a USB flash drive bootable, but we have a with standard, legacy CRT monitors, a refresh rate of at least really simple method that takes minimal effort, and you can do it 75Hz is required to reduce eye strain, preferably higher. all in just a few minutes. First, go to HP.com and download its Game or video frame rate refers to how many times an image free HP Drive Key Boot Utility (filename Cp006049.exe; h18023 is rendered on the screen per second. A lower frame rate of 30fps .www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/23839.html). will look mostly fluid to the eye, but there will be some notice- Then go to Bootdisk.com, click the DOS/Windows9X Bootdisks able jerkiness to the end user in fast moving action. You are cor- link, and, on the resulting page, download the Special Disk For rect in a way about frame rates above 60fps not being required Bios Flashing file (the download should be named Drdflash.zip). for fluid gameplay. However, we would caution you that as more Now, install the HP utility and extract the Drdflash.img file from objects are rendered on the screen, sometimes frame rates will within Drdflash.zip. Next, connect the flash drive to your system drop due to the increased rendering workload on the graphics and run the HP Drive Key Boot Utility. You’ll be asked to select card. In addition, higher frame rates will always “feel” smoother the drive letter for the flash drive, and then you’ll want to select the in video games, especially fast-paced action titles. option to Create New Or Replace Existing Configuration. Next, On a side note, the Vsync feature that is available in many game choose the Floppy Disk option and then Image From File. Navi- titles and within your graphics card’s driver control panel can also gate to the Drdflash.img file and click Next and Finish, and the mitigate “tearing” artifacts that can be observed sometimes, when utility will format the flash drive and install the necessary boot a high frame rate is rendering on the screen and gets out of sync image. At this point, the drive should be bootable. Simply copy with your monitor refresh rate. Vsync will limit your graphics card the Abit BIOS flashing utility over to the drive, boot to it, and fol- frame rate to no more than 60fps but also allow it to render as fast low Abit’s flashing procedure. as possible up to 60fps. A lot of folks run with Vysnc on, and oth- We should note that using this method will erase all files on ers swear performance overall is better with it off. the flash drive, and its capacity will only be 1.44MB. There are other methods to make a flash drive bootable and access its entire Andreas M. asked: A friend of mine has an older computer that he capacity, but in an emergency when you just need to flash a wants to completely update, reformat, and reinstall the OS, drivers, etc. BIOS, this method is nearly foolproof. It had been working OK, but he wants the system to be up-to-date and perfectly “fresh” because he’s going to sell it to his roommate. The sys- Dan G. asked: I’ve been having this very irritating problem with my tem has a socket 478 Abit motherboard and he wants to update the Sound Blaster X-Fi card. After a few minutes of gaming, the sound will BIOS, but he doesn’t have a floppy drive in the system and the BIOS cut off and be replaced by a loud, high-pitched squeal. To fix the prob- downloads on Abit’s site for his mobo require a bootable floppy diskette. lem, I have to restart the computer. In some games, the squeal occurs

CPU / August 2007 45 more often than it does in others. I know it has something to do with SLI because I did not have the problem before I installed the second graph- ics card, and if I disable SLI, the problem goes away. I have tried unin- Contrary to popular stalling and reinstalling the sound card drivers many times. I even bought a second Sound Blaster X-Fi card thinking the first one was bad, but I still get the squeal. I contacted Creative, and the company’s re- belief, PCI Express-based sponse was that the card was defective even though I told them that I bought a second card and the problem was still there. I finally Googled the issue and found that there are many other people out there who

have this problem, and some call it the “squeal of death.” Please help. “cards such as graphics I’m not sure who’s at fault, Nvidia or Creative, because there seems to be a major incompatibility with SLI and the Sound Blaster X-Fi cards. Here are my system specs: cards do in fact use

Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @ 2.93GHz 2X XFX GeForce 8800 GTX Asus P5N32-SLI mobo interrupts, memory 2GB Corsair XMS DDR2 Memory PC Power And Cooling 850 SSI “ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music (I only have one available PCI slot to install the card) ranges, and IO ranges Windows XP

A: To our knowledge, there have been no concrete compatibility in your Windows issues with X-Fi cards and SLI. In fact, we’ve spent many hours in the lab at HotHardware.com testing with this combo and never came across the anomaly you describe here. We agree, configuration. though; our research shows there are other users out there that have reported the infamous “squeal of death.” While on the sur- face it may look like you should point the finger of blame at Cre- ative Labs or Nvidia, we’d suggest that perhaps there are other bus. A lot of motherboards from Asus actually allow you to lock in a systemic issues at play here causing your squealing lock-ups. specific PCI frequency speed when you adjust front side bus speeds. In your case, you want to make sure, either by turning down your Before blaming the infamous “squeal FSB or locking in the PCI clock to 33MHz, that you’re running of death” from your X-Fi card on those slots within specifications. Again, however, this is more of a Creative Labs, make sure process of elimination step in troubleshooting more than any- you check for resource thing, and it’s more likely that you have some sort of conflicts in resource conflict that is causing the issue. Windows. Contrary to popular belief, PCI-E-based cards such as graphics cards do in fact use interrupts, memory ranges, and IO ranges in your Windows configuration. For example, in one of our test sys- tems, our Sound Blaster X-Fi uses IRQ 21 and our GeForce 8800 GTX card uses IRQ 16. Though hard resource conflicts like this are rare these days with the state of Windows Plug ’n Play support, they still happen. Our guess is that when you installed that second graphics card, you may have run out of interrupts in a certain range that both the X-Fi and the new GF 8800 GTX wanted to claim. Try swapping your cards around in the existing PCI slots to see if that doesn’t solve the issue. You can also try to manually assign an IRQ to the X-Fi card, but that’s a bit of a gamble as to Though you may not want to hear this, we always tell people whether Windows will play nice that way. Probably the only other that are overclocking to start from ground zero and turn their sys- way to change your resource conflict bad luck is to reformat with a tems back to stock specification for initial troubleshooting. In your fresh install of Windows. Good luck! ▲ case, it may be especially important to do this. We haven’t seen the P5N32 SLI’s BIOS menu as of late, but there typically is an associa- by Dave Altavilla and Marco Chiappetta, tion between front side bus speed settings and the clock to the PCI the experts over at HotHardware.com

46 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com

Hands-Free Gaming (Almost) With OCZ’s NIA

e’ve all encountered advertise- No Faking “The second ‘ahhh’ effect was when peo- ments and descriptions of An OCZ representative demonstrated ple started realizing that they were using W products that are just too the NIA while playing Unreal Tourna- reflexes more than cognitive processes that good to be true. Maybe it started when ment 2004 at CeBIT. Although he used involve higher-level cognitive functions that you were a child with the ads for X-Ray his hand on a mouse to direct the charac- then need to be converted into motor func- Specs in your comic books. And remem- ter’s point of view, the NIA and the play- tions to control the game,” Schuette says. ber the fat-free WOW potato chips from er’s reflexes replaced the game’s keystroke “Those processes take a long time to work several years ago, with the potential for commands. (You can see a video of the their way from the retina in the eye to the disgusting side effects that every comic NIA demonstration at YouTube by brain, down the spinal cord, and out to the had to describe in detail in his stand-up searching for “OCZ”.) peripheral nerve systems, where they are routine? (On second thought, we’d all “The reaction was unanimous surprise converted into muscle movements that are rather forget that one.) and skepticism,” says Dr. Michael then used to generate keystrokes.” Then there’s the new game controller, Schuette, OCZ’s vice president of tech- Schuette, who holds a Ph.D. in neuro- the NIA (Neural Impulse Actuator) from nology development. “Most visitors biology and physics from Ludwig-Maxi- OCZ Technology, that responds to your thought we were using some sort of milians University in Munich, Germany, thoughts and reflexive changes in your remote control to fake what was shown says gamers typically can respond to body; it essentially runs hands-free. The on the screen, and they tried some real game cues using a keystroke set in about NIA measures changes in nerve cells, weird things that could not be predicted, 80 to 150 milliseconds. assigning gaming commands to particular just to see what was going to happen.” “The reflex times for things like the eye- sets of nerve cell changes. Although such a Visitors to OCZ’s booth at CeBIT lid reflex are defined by essentially a mono- device might sound too good to be true, needed less than five minutes to become synaptic pathway, where one sensory nerve OCZ successfully demonstrated the NIA proficient with the NIA, often to the point cell talks to a motor neuron, and that signal at CeBIT in March 2007. where they could surpass their gaming lev- is directly converted into a game response,” els with the keyboard-mouse combi- he says. “In other words, we are talking The NIA’s Sensors nation, Schuette says. about 10 to 15 milliseconds at the low end,

The NIA doesn't read muscle movements; instead it reads changes in can assign alphanumeric keys to those 22 brain fingers." electrical impulses in nerve cells in muscles and in the brain. By measur- However, OCZ's initial plans call for assigning up to 11 keys for each ing combinations of changes in various nerve cells, the NIA can deter- game. When you assign more keys, "the complexity goes up exponentially," mine specific combinations that result in execution of a command. Schuette says. "The number of keys would have to scale with the capabilities "Each individual component has its own signature," Schuette says. of the hardware." ▲ "You can differentiate groups of signals. Through mathematical processes, you can separate different components.” The NIA’s wiring currently is contained inside a headband. As shown in this photo from OCZ, the three square-shaped sensors (or electrodes) on the underside of the headband read the signals from the cells. The sensors make contact with the gamer’s forehead, allowing them to measure the changes in nerve cells. "Currently, based on the three sensors, we can uniquely identify 22 components," Schuette says. "We don't change anything in the game, we assign a specific function to a specific brain finger. We

Source: OCZ Technology

48 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com and, maybe, 50 milliseconds at the high Then you place something on top of that months, and units might appear in time for end. . . . For the gamer, the realization that that requires heavy-duty calculations. the holiday season of 2007. Look for a start- you react to the game before you even see it Then you need to be able to do it fast ing price of around $300 for the NIA. ▲ is, at first, somewhat eerie. But, after the enough to have a positive effect. You need initial surprise, it becomes an ‘ubercool’ to have a lot of hardware power.” by Kyle Schurman feeling, where you feel you are overcoming With billions of nerve cells in the brain the limitation of being a mere mortal and alone, the NIA’s three sensors pick up a enter ‘god-mode,’ without using a cheat.” lot of signals. Schuette says the NIA Measuring breaks down the signals into different Good Timing ingredients using mathematics. Three Signals OCZ’s introduction of NIA represents “This way, it is possible to isolate as OCZ’s NIA measures three types of neural some good timing: With dual-core many different components as the com- signals, each of which is key in making the processors becoming more common in putation time allows,” he says. “In other NIA recognize the type of move the player computers, the massive computing power words, with unlimited CPU time, the wants to make. Such signals are common- required to convert the neural signals into number of components isolated can be ly measured for medical reasons. gaming commands is finally available. very high. On the other hand, there is the Electroencephalographic. This signal “If the NIA was created five to 10 years issue of practicality. Especially in gaming shows changes in brain waves. ago, mostly likely we wouldn’t have been scenarios, the computation speed needs to Electromyographic. This signal shows able to use it, because the computations be very fast and, therefore, it is better to changes in electrical activity in muscles. required to convert the signals into indi- keep the number of signals, or brain fin- Electro-oculographic. Called EOG for vidual components requires a lot of com- gers, to a reasonable number.” short, this signal shows changes and puting power,” Schuette says. “The game Schuette says the NIA almost certainly movements in the eye. ▲ by itself taxes the system pretty heavily. will be in the market in less than 12

use the mouse to point the direction and the NIA as a keyboard sub- Putting The NIA To Use stitute," Schuette says. To the gaming software, nothing different is apparent; the From OCZ’s demonstration of the NIA at CeBIT in March 2007 game just receives its keystroke commands through the NIA and from descriptions from OCZ’s Schuette, here’s a general rather than a keyboard. idea of how the NIA works. “Each signal can be assigned to a specific keystroke on the 1—The NIA headband and its three sensors measure keyboard or to a mouse button, which also means that there is no changes in nerve cells, as the player reacts to the occurrences need for game developers to write extra code,” Schuette says. on the screen. (In the future, you could see the headband, with The NIA only has support for computer gaming right now, but, in its sensor and cable, replaced by a baseball cap with sensors the future, support through gaming consoles is possible, as well. ▲ and wireless capabilities, giving the gamer plenty of freedom of movement.) 2—Through a cable, the headband sends the signals to the NIA hardware, which is 1 about the size of a cigar box. (Schuette says the unit's hardware will be smaller in the future.) Software inside the NIA hardware translates the signals from the headband and sensors. 3—The NIA hardware then sends the sig- 2 nals to the computer through a serial cable connection. (Schuette expects OCZ to devel- op USB capability soon.) From there, the computer matches the signal sets (or brain 3 fingers) to a keystroke command in the game. During demonstrations at CeBIT, the player used a mouse to control the direction of the movement on the screen. All other commands occur through the NIA. "From personal experience, it's easier to

Source: OCZ Technology

CPU / August 2007 49 hard hat area | white paper ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT The Technology Behind AMD’s Take On DirectX 10

fter months of rumors and delays, gaming. Let’s take a look at the hardware vertex to pixel processors you had in your AMD’s next-gen graphics family is and software features that make this card hardware (which was never really the A finally here, and now the company so powerful. case), there would always be some units of can finally claim it has DirectX 10 offer- one or the other sitting idle. ings of its own. Like Nvidia’s GeForce 8 Starring: Unified Shader Within a single scene, a graphics card series, the ATI Radeon HD 2900 series Architecture might perform a lot of initial vertex pro- (formerly R600) is a marked departure One of the most important features of cessing to put all the elements into their from its previous architecture. the HD 2900 is its unified shader archi- proper places. However, as the scene pro- Even though AMD seems to have tecture, and ATI had a little practice in gresses, the bulk of the work is often filling conceded Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 Ultra’s the console graphics arena before bringing shapes in with pixels. So, the latter parts of position as the pinnacle of graphics per- the architecture to the PC. This is an the scene can require much more pixel formance, the Radeon HD 2900 XT updated version of ATI’s first unified processing than vertex processing. With a still gives you the power to pull out all shader architecture that was built into the unified architecture, all the units are busy the stops on your high-end games with- Xbox 360. In previous GPUs, different all the time because they can all do any out pulling all of your money out of the types of shaders operated on different ele- type of processing. The architecture looks bank. With cards hovering in the $400 ments within a frame. Vertex shaders at the entire workload; if it sees that it has to $450 price range, the HD 2900 XT operated on the vertices, creating shapes, a workload requiring 90% vertex process- targets power users who want a powerful and pixel shaders filled the shapes with ing and 10% pixel processing, it allocates yet affordable graphics card. pixels. DX10 adds a geometry shader and the units appropriately. The HD 2900 is the high end of a supports the unified architecture. Looking at the hardware, there is a series of three new GPUs released by ATI Geometry shaders work on polygons setup engine at the top of the chip, which in different versions, which comprise a rather than vertices. Previously, hardware takes incoming data, whether it’s vertex total of five new products for desktops and dedicated to vertex processors and pixel data, pixel data, etc.; formats it appropri- five for notebooks. The new GPUs all processors meant there was a fixed ra- ately; and sends it into the shader core. All support DX10 and all boast a set of high- tio between the two. Because the two types of shaders use the shader core. At the definition multimedia capabilities, includ- processes essentially occurred in series, other end, a shader export looks at the out- ing ATI’s Avivo video technology, and the unless an application’s workload ex- put and decides where to send it next, latest image quality features, such as tessel- actly matched the either looping vertex data back through the lation and ATI’s new unified shader archi- ratio of your engine for pixel processing or, if it’s pixel tecture. And if you haven’t already hardware’s data, sending it to the frame buffer for dis- guessed, the entire family is ready play on the screen. The data is looped back for Vista. through the central core as many times as Our focus is the HD is necessary until it is fully processed. 2900, the high-end desktop GPU for The Supporting Cast Although the unified shader architec- ture receives the lion’s share of attention (and rightly so), there’s more to the HD 2900’s hardware. Superscalar architecture, stream processing, and other technologies The ATI Radeon HD all play an important role. 2900 XT offers several Superscalar explained. Most graphics architectural improvements, processing is done using vector data. The most notably an updated version GPU combines multiple values (subval- of the unified shader architecture ues) into a single value and performs a sin- first used in the Xbox 360. gle operation on all the subvalues. For

50 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com hard hat area | white paper example, usually the set of values is some- vertex shading when necessary and shift thing like red, green, and blue for color or to pixel processing when necessary. This X, Y, and Z for vertex data, such as a 3D provides eight to 10 times the vertex pro- location. Because of this, graphics cards cessing power compared with previous were built around vector processors for generations of graphics cards. Now, vertex many years. More recently, scalar proces- processing has access to the same data- sors were added. Scalar processors work on fetching capabilities as the pixel units do a single piece of data rather than a vector. because it’s the same unit. The result is ATI’s previous card series, the X1K, had a that huge numbers of polygons can be combination of vector and scalar proces- rendered at once, and the polygons can sors. Vector processors are very fast at pro- have a lot more detail. More polygons cessing things such as color and vertex with more detail naturally make for a big data. Scalar processors are used for tasks improvement in the images on the screen. that don’t use color or vertex data, such as Just take a look at the difference in detail transparency or perspective correction, between the DX10 and DX9 screenshots which are becoming increasingly common from Microsoft Flight Simulator X if you as shaders become more sophisticated. ATI’s HD 2900 XT GPU has 700 million don’t believe us. Scalar processors are also used for non- transistors, a 740MHz clock speed, 512MB Physics processing. To make games rendering tasks on the GPU, such as GDDR3 memory, 100GBps memory more interactive, developers model the stream computing, where they take very bandwidth, and a ring memory bus with physical behavior of objects, meaning not large data sets to do simulation, physics eight 64-bit memory channels. It can just how they look, but how closely they processing, or even audio processing— process up to 47.5 gigapixels per second. obey the laws of physics. Physical model- things that go far beyond working on ing allows for more realistic crashes, explo- color data. These functions receive no size of the unit depends on the particular sions, and other physical movements of benefit from a vector-based architecture card’s architecture. The HD 2900 works objects, even something as simple as a ball because they work on single values, not on blocks of 64 pieces of data. ATI’s bouncing. When a car smashes into thou- vectors. Many of these processes were other new desktop GPUs, the HD 2600 sands of pieces, each piece has to be formerly sent to the CPU for processing. and HD 2400, work on 32- and 16-piece tracked as it breaks away from the car; flies Now, scalar processors built into the blocks, respectively. One SIMD executes through the air; bounces off a wall, the GPU have offloaded much of this pro- the same set of multiple instructions on a ground, or other object; and finally comes cessing burden from the CPU, leaving it group of data elements. There are multi- to rest on the ground or flies offscreen. free for other tasks. And superscalar ple SIMDs, and each can be doing some- The tracking and rendering of each mov- architecture lets you process all these thing completely independent of the ing piece is called physics processing. The things far more efficiently. others. Each SIMD can simultaneously more physics processing that can be done, Because superscalar architecture only execute hundreds of threads. the more realistic the game will be. uses scalar units, there’s no need for vec- DX10 shaders use a common instruc- The CPU has historically handled tor processors. If vector operations are tion set, which naturally complements physics processing. The HD 2900 series necessary, the HD 2900 groups scalar ATI’s unified shader architecture very diverts physics processing to the GPU, units together to act like a vector. Once well. DX10 enables several new capabili- using its stream processing and superscalar the group of scalar units completes the ties that are a significant visual leap for- architecture. (ATI’s graphics drivers include vector operations, it breaks back to indi- ward from the previous version. One is physics processing support.) To use these vidual units. This requires more complex the ability to render large numbers of features, the game itself has to have physics instruction scheduling, but it is a much polygons on the screen at once. A con- support, but most of today’s games do. more flexible architecture. The result is straint in DX9 and earlier GPUs was their Other supporting features include In- less idle time within the GPU, and there- tendency to focus a lot more of the pro- stant Sync, which can replicate an object fore better performance. cessing power on the pixel processing hundreds or thousands of times on-screen Stream processors. The HD 2900 XT than on the vertex processing, which lim- without sending the back and forth from has 320 stream processing units. These ited games to a relatively small number of the GPU, and a hardware tessellation unit stream processing units are arranged into polygons on-screen simultaneously. that enhances geometry detail by generat- groups called SIMDs (single instruction, Fancy pixel processing is important to ing additional geometry on the GPU. multiple data; pronounced simdees). In improving image quality, but handling Tessellation. In computer graphics, tes- order to keep these units busy, all pro- massive amounts of polygons is more criti- sellation is the generation of detail on an cessing tasks are arranged into threads. A cal. Unified shader architecture lets the object to give it a more realistic appearance. thread is defined as a unit of work. The entire card’s processing power focus on Game elements, such as characters and

CPU / August 2007 51 hard hat area | white paper

The unified shader increased the antialiasing samples per pixel architecture of the HD from six to eight and added more flexibil- 2900 does away with ity to the HD 2900’s antialiasing options. vertex and pixel shaders in In the past, AA was hard-coded into favor of geometry shaders, the GPU. Now, the shader core can do which can work on both much of the AA processing. There is a vertices and pixels. It has “fast path” from the render back-ends to 320 stream processing the shader core. Frames rendered in the units that can operate on shader core can be pumped back into the multiple threads of data at shader core from the render back-ends for once. It can also work on faster execution of some of the post-pro- post-production elements cessing, including AA processing. AA such as antialiasing, enhancements include the ability to take accepting data along a samples from adjacent pixels, a technique “fast path” from the render used in high-end AA applications, such as back-ends as well as from feature-film CGI. For example, adjacent the texture unit. pixel sampling was not possible with hard-coded antialiasing. This, along with other AA enhancements, such as weighted sampling and programmable AA filtering, is a big improvement to the technique. terrain, are created using a relatively low- lighting effects more clearly and realisti- Programmable AA filters are an ongo- detail polygon mesh. These polygons are cally, requires up to 16 bits per component ing creation and offered for download to subdivided into smaller and smaller poly- (64 bits total). Without the right hardware, HD 2900 owners. ATI markets these as gons and are then displaced so that addi- this caused a slowdown in performance. In CFAA (Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing). tional detail can be shown in the silhouette the HD 2900, the texture units can per- Several programmable filters are included (the shape) of the object being rendered. form HDR rendering and filtering at full with the release driver. HD 2900 cards ATI’s new tessellation unit can tessel- speed, up to seven times faster than ATI’s apply these post-production filters by late objects to a factor of up to 15X. As an X1K series can. sending rendered frames back into the example, it can take an original model To make this happen, ATI increased shader core via the fast path. One of made of 1,000 polygons and tessellate it to the data paths in the chip to support 64- these, the edge-detect filter, uses up to 24 a level where it has millions of polygons, all bit data through the rendering pipeline. samples using adjacent pixel sampling of which can be modeled. The HD 2900 Because HDR rendering is now com- along the edges of on-screen objects. XT’s GPU performs the tessellation process mon in games, the full-speed HDR ren- Native CrossFire at a very high speed. When the GPU tessel- dering and filtering capabilities of the lates terrain, it increases the polygon count HD 2900 are critical. In fact, faster ATI’s CrossFire technology allows for for more texture and detail, making the ter- HDR rendering accounts for much of the use of two graphics cards on the same rain much more interesting and realistic. the performance increase of the HD motherboard, working together to increase Tessellation narrows the gap that exists 2900 over the X1K series. the performance of the graphics subsystem, between cinematic rendering and game most notably, of course, in games. Until rendering. Developers and gamers have Render Back-ends now, motherboards had to be CrossFire- talked about this gap for years, but the gap Texture units do their work at the certified, which meant built-in support for has remained virtually unchanged: Every beginning of the rendering process. that technology. Like the X1950 Pro, the step forward by game developers is Render back-ends, as the name implies, do HD 2000 series includes native CrossFire matched by a step forward in CG movies. their work at the end. They are the post- support, which eliminates the need for a For the moment, though, tessellation production area of frame rendering. Their Master card or external dongle. brings video games closer to cinematic CG. work includes visibility testing, blending, What Will You See? and antialiasing. In the HD 2900, these Texture Units & HDR functions have been improved in either With every new GPU, the first question Texture units are the means for getting effectiveness or efficiency. The most that regularly comes to mind is, “What will data into the chip. In previous generations apparent benefits of the visibility testing I see that’s different?” Or, “What will be of graphics cards, texture units were opti- improvements are in shadow rendering, the difference between my current high- mized for 32-bit rendering. HDR (high in which several of the rendering pro- end card and the Radeon HD 2900 XT?” dynamic range) rendering, which renders cess rates have been doubled. ATI also First and foremost, the HD 2000 series

52 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com hard hat area | white paper marks AMD’s first foray into the world of DX10 gaming. Because earlier Radeons don’t support DX10, there’s literally no comparison to make. If you want a DX10 card from AMD, the answer is simple: It’s the Radeon HD 2000 series or bust. Of course, Company Of Heroes was the only DX10 available at press time, so DX9 performance is still important. When com- paring a Radeon HD 2900 XT with a Radeon X1900 XTX, for example, each game and your monitor play large roles in determining performance. The high-end GPUs in the HD 2000 series are opti- mized for high-definition gaming, which The HD 2900’s ring memory bus provides 512-bit interface each for read and write means you may not notice a performance functions, for a total of 1GB of internal bandwidth, and independent memory access to delta over previous generations of high-end both graphics and system memory via the PCI-E bus. GPUs unless you can run your games at 1,920 x 1,200 or 2,560 x 1,600. And even if you can’t afford to drop releases. Whether you were comparing gains, AMD is aiming to provide the best several hundred dollars on a giant wide- Platinum Editions to Ultras or XTXes to graphics possible for the price. screen display, the HD 2900’s architectural GTXes, there was a Radeon that you According to AMD, the performance of improvements should let you crank up could reasonably compare with a GeForce. the HD 2900 falls just below that of the other taxing features to the hilt; even if But as we’ve said, Nvidia holds a comfort- GeForce 8800 GTX. The selling point is you’re stuck with a 1,600 x 1,200 display, able lead in the high-end segment with its that the HD 2900 is unmatched in perfor- the HD 2900 XT should let you max your GeForce 8800 Ultra. mance at its price, $399. In contrast, settings at 1,600 x 1,200. AMD has taken a new tack with the Nvidia’s high-end GeForce 8800 Ultra Radeon HD 2900 XT. Rather than cram- costs $839; the midrange 8800 GTX costs A New Strategy ming every possible hardware, firmware, about $549; and the 640MB 8800 GTS, In the past, AMD/ATI has matched and driver feature onboard and charging the least powerful member of Nvidia’s top Nvidia stride for stride with graphics an exorbitant amount for marginal visible line, has the same $399 price tag as the Radeon HD 2900. This is a big change in marketing strat- egy. In the past, ATI’s new product launches aimed at the high-end, offering the highest possible clock speeds, tacking on as much memory as possible, and put- ting it out with a great big price tag on the box. Over the years, the competition with Nvidia has resulted in the compa- nies’ high-end cards leapfrogging each other, not just technologically, but in price, as well. Now, the high-end cards are priced in the stratosphere. By offering Tessellation narrows the gap between cinematic rendering and game rendering. Starting a high-performance card that remains with a relatively low-detail polygon mesh (left), which is used to create characters, those affordable, ATI hopes to trade bragging polygons are subdivided on the GPU into smaller and smaller polygons (center). These rights for sales. smaller polygons are then displaced so that additional detail can be shown in the silhouette, Time will tell if this strategy will pay the shape, of the object being rendered (right). dividends for AMD. One thing that is ATI’s new hardware tessellation unit can tessellate objects up to a factor of 15X. For certain is that the HD 2000 series repre- example, it can tessellate an original model made of 1,000 polygons until it has millions of sents a significant step forward in graph- polygons that can be modeled. This tessellation is performed entirely on the GPU. ics technology. ▲ A similar technique can be used for terrain rendering. Increasing the polygon count allows for much more texture and detail in the terrain, making it more realistic. by David Finck

CPU / August 2007 53 ne mid-morning back in Janu- mother and daughter who had been in on Vista’s ary at CES, we shuffled into beta testing from early on in development. Microsoft’s huge press tent across As the rep explained to us, the pair was the street from the Las Vegas symbolic of dozens of families Microsoft set Convention Center to speak up with ever-burgeoning beta releases of with a developer of Vista, which Vista, as well as compatible hardware and a Microsoft had yet to unleash on the general pub- direct line to support, all in an effort to garner lic. As expected, a MS rep soon escorted us to feedback from everyday, typical users. As a back room where said tempting as it was to write the encounter off developer gave us the as a glorified dog-and-pony show to convince safe tour of the OS’ us of Vista’s relevance to everyday users, the major ins and outs. mother and teenage daughter’s comments, Unexpectedly, also thoughts, and opinions—plus their insightful in the room were a answers to our pointed questions—on topics such as Vista’s improved functionality over Windows XP at handling their

54 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com photos, music, storage, and other daily Chances are you’ve experimented with usage tasks, convinced us they genuinely Vista either before or after its release and preferred Vista to WinXP. formed your own opinions. Some of you have And that’s the rub with operating systems: stuck with it. Others have retreated back to For general users, choosing an OS usually WinXP. Some of you are licking your chops boils down to personal preference. When a for Leopard’s delayed pounce (damn the new OS becomes available, many users buck iPhone), while others contently spend your an upgrade in favor of what they are already days petting Feisty Fawn. Still many others familiar with, as witnessed by Dell’s decision jump all over the OS map via emulation, tak- to continue to sell rigs with WinXP prein- ing advantage of the bits and pieces you like stalled (as well as adding Ubuntu-powered and ignoring what you don’t. systems) based on user demand. As a matter To this end, this month we offer a straight- of familiarity, typical users tend to be loyal to up, point-by-point shootout among the Big an OS in the same way they’re loyal to a Three: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. sports team, car maker, Pepsi or Coke, etc. Specifically, we’ve pitted Vista, WinXP, Mac Venturing beyond the familiar is risky, which OS X Tiger, Ubuntu 7.04, and SUSE Linux is why Uncle Ed still tools away on Win98 Enterprise Desktop 10 against one another and probably doesn’t know Boot Camp or based on such factors as installation; UI; ease VMware from a hole in the ground. of use; compatibility; and such capabilities and Power users don’t make typical choices, features as tweakability, built-in utilities, however. Further, where OSes are concerned, multimedia, security, and more. We’ve also risky translates to exploration, which is how included plenty of side-by-side graphical com- you know GNOME doesn’t necessarily refer parisons, a glimpse at Leopard’s spots, and the to a yard ornament. Exploration is why you lowdown on moving to Vista via an upgrade take the Mac OS X security stats Macheads compared to a full install. And a discussion tout in comparison to Windows in stride concerning OSes wouldn’t be complete with- (not to mention the other jabs Apple gets out addressing multiboot and virtual options, off ad nausea in its commercials). It’s why so we’ve detailed pros, cons, and limitations of you understand certain open sourcers’ dis- each approach, as well as virtual computing gust with Novell’s new relationship with options with Vista Home versions. (You may Microsoft, and why Novell reportedly giv- be surprised.) ing up code to Microsoft before the open- If you’ve beaten us to the punch and source community compounds the hurt. already performed your own comparisons, Exploration is why you’re excited, leery, or including those we haven’t touched on here, indifferent to the recent “fundamentally dif- head to CPU’s forum and let them be known. ferent” comments from MS’ Ty Carlson con- Undoubtedly, the discussion and debate to cerning future Windows versions’ need to follow will surely be diversely passionate. ▲ keep pace with multicore CPUs. Exploration is why you may have even seen our own by Blaine Flamig Chris Pirillo’s 51-plus minutes “Windows Vista vs. Windows XP” YouTube video (more than 80,000 views at last check).

CPU / August 2007 55 s little as three years ago, the choice among No matter how you decide to install an operating system, operating systems was clear. If you wanted the key is ease of installation and whether the operating sys- an operating system that ran the most tem can recognize and work with all of your computer’s hard- software and worked with the most hard- ware automatically. To install all OSes (except for Mac OS ware, you just had to buy any computer X), I used an Athlon 64 3000+, 1GB of RAM, a 40GB hard with Windows XP. drive, and an Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 graphics card. Fast-forward to today. Windows may still be the domi- Out of all the operating systems, Ubuntu offers a unique nant operating system, but it’s no longer the only practical live CD feature. Once you’ve burned a copy of Ubuntu to a choice. Mac OS X continues to add new features while CD, you can boot up and run the entire OS off that CD maintaining speed and reliability. And Linux has morphed without modifying the hard drive. This lets you test Ubuntu from an experts-only OS into a speedy, reliable, and capable to make sure it works correctly with your computer. If OS that the average person can depend on. Even better, Ubuntu doesn’t run correctly on your computer, it’s possi- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 only costs a fraction of ble to tweak your system to make the installation work, other OSes, while Ubuntu remains completely free. unless the problem lies with your graphics. If this is the case, Vista has finally appeared with a slicker user interface just reboot and eject the disc; don’t waste time installing the and tighter built-in security. Given so many choices, is it OS only to find this problem later. finally time to upgrade to Vista, stay with WinXP, or SLED installed just as easily as Ubuntu. Unlike Ubuntu, switch to another operating system altogether? SLED installs some proprietary programs, such as Adobe’s To evaluate WinXP, Vista, Ubuntu 7.04, SLED 10, and Flash Player and Acrobat Reader, which open-source purists Mac OS X, I looked at four categories: installation, user may dislike. interface, bundled software, and compatibility. The instal- If you need to install an OS across multiple computers lation category tested whether each OS could install cor- with identical hardware configurations, SLED includes an rectly. The user interface category examined the features designed to make the OS easy to use. The bundled software category measured the free productivity programs included. The compatibility category tested whether the OS could run on a variety of hardware and run software designed for older versions of the OS without any problems.

Installation Most computers come with an OS already installed, but you know you’re never locked into that OS. You can wipe out the current operating system and replace it with an entirely new one. You can also partition your hard drive and create a dual-boot system, which essentially gives you a choice of multiple operating systems to run when you boot your computer. (If your hard drive only has one partition and you don’t want to lose your original OS, make sure you nondestructively resize the original partition to Windows XP displays every possible program in multiple make room for the second OS.) menus that clutter the entire screen.

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installation cloning feature, AutoYaST. Table 1: Minimum System Requirements Just install the OS once, save your config- Operating system Minimum Minimum Minimum hard Retail price uration settings, and use these settings to processor RAM drive space speed automate the installation process on mul- Windows XP 233MHz 128MB 1.5GB $199 (Home) tiple computers. $299 (Pro) Both WinXP and Vista were equally Vista 800MHz 512MB15GB $239 simple to install. When you install Vista (Home Premium) over a copy of WinXP, you have a choice of $399 (Ultimate) upgrading or doing a clean install. You can Ubuntu 7.04 100MHz 64MB 1GB Free only upgrade from WinXP SP2 or an earli- SLED 10 500MHz 256MB 800MB $50 er version of Vista, such as Vista Home Mac OS X 233MHz 256MB 3GB $129 Basic. If you’re still running any other ver- 10.4 Tiger sion of Windows, such as Windows 2000, you’ll have no choice but to do a clean install. (Vista will, however, let you use Windows Easy Transfer with Win2000 to view, the safest (but most expensive) route alone. If you don’t care about saving pro- make the move a little less painful.) is to buy the full version of Vista if you grams or files, then use the Erase And If you’re upgrading from WinXP to also want to use your copy of WinXP. Install option to wipe out the entire hard Vista, the Vista license agreement in- Despite its reputation as a modern drive and install the OS from scratch. cludes a potentially alarming clause: operating system, Mac OS X Tiger can, Table 1 lists the minimum system 13. Upgrades. To use upgrade soft- like Ubuntu and SLED, run comfortably requirements for each OS. In terms of ware, you must first be licensed for the on older equipment. I installed Mac OS X system resources, Ubuntu was the clear software that is eligible for the upgrade. 10.4 on an ancient iBook laptop that Ap- winner, although every OS had its Upon upgrade, this agreement takes ple initially sold in May 2001. It includes strengths. WinXP offers near universal the place of the agreement for the soft- a 500MHz PowerPC G3 processor, a compatibility with hardware, but Vista ware you upgraded from. After you 10GB hard drive, and 320MB of RAM. had no trouble recognizing and working upgrade, you may no longer use the When installing Mac OS X 10.4, you with all the hardware on my test comput- software you upgraded from. have three choices: Upgrade, Archive And er. To increase Vista’s chances of in- Install, or Erase And Install. Upgrade sim- stalling correctly, install it on a computer If you upgrade from WinXP to Vista, ply replaces any previous version of Mac with an Internet connection. That way, you cannot legally install that licensed OS X with the latest version. Archive And Vista can search for additional drivers it copy of WinXP on another computer. Install saves the previous version just in case might need to run on your computer. Technically, there is nothing stopping the new Mac OS X version doesn’t install SLED’s strongest feature is its ability to you from installing WinXP on another properly. With both of these options, Mac automate its installation. Mac OS X is computer, but from a licensing point of OS X leaves all program settings and files only compatible with a limited number of machines, so you expect its installation SLED’s should be hassle-free. Overall, installing menus any of these OSes should be simple and are small easy, but remember that your results may and easy differ dramatically depending on your to read. computer’s hardware. User Interface User interfaces are completely subjec- tive. What one person may love, another person may hate. To try to judge user interfaces objectively, I focused on specif- ic features each OS offered to make the computer easier to use. For exam- ple, how can users switch between multiple windows within the OS, and what were its advantages and disadvantages? By concentrating on specific features of an OS, I

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SLED organizes programs Switching between multiple windows. into categories rather than If you run multiple programs on maxi- menus. mized windows, each program window buries and obscures the other ones. To disadvantage is that you make it easy to switch between multiple can’t easily see the organiza- programs, every OS displays running pro- tion of all the menus like grams as an icon or button at the bottom of you can with WinXP. the screen. By just clicking on this program Mac OS X takes a differ- icon, you can switch between different pro- ent approach by only dis- grams. However, the more programs you playing a limited number of run, the smaller the OS makes each pro- programs in an area called gram icon or button. Even worse, a single the Dock. The Dock makes program might have several files open, such it easy to access programs, as a word processor with five documents but if you want to delete or open at the same time. With multiple pro- add programs to the Dock, grams running and each program having tried to provide a more objective measure- you must customize it yourself. To see all multiple files open, displaying programs as ment of an OS’ user interface. programs installed on a Mac OS X com- icons or buttons at the bottom of the screen Using the program menus. The most puter, you have to dig through the can become cluttered and confusing. important feature of any OS is letting you Applications folder. WinXP, Vista, Ubuntu, and SLED run a program. Every OS (except for Mac Once you view the contents of the handle this problem by offering a simple OS X) follows the one-button access Applications folder, you’ll either find the ALT-TAB keystroke shortcut. (In Mac model that gives you access to every avail- program icon you want or a folder con- OS X, the keystroke shortcut is COM- able program through a series of menus. taining the folder icon that you want. At MAND-TAB.) Pressing ALT-TAB dis- The advantage of this is that you always the most, you’ll have to dig through the plays a window containing icons for every know where to find every installed pro- Applications folder and then a program- currently running program. gram. The disadvantage is that after specific folder. Mac OS X may hide most Mac OS X handles the problem of you’ve installed dozens of programs, the programs out of sight without the option selecting between multiple windows OS menus may overwhelm you with so of creating menus, but it’s relatively easy through a program called Exposé. Just many menus and submenus that finding to find all of these programs without wad- press F9, and Exposé displays thumbnail what you want can be nearly impossible. ing through more than two folders. images of all your open windows so you The more programs you install on WinXP and Ubuntu, the more you’ll be buried underneath menus and submenus. To reduce this proliferation of menus, SLED only displays a limited number of programs or document icons organized into Favorite Applications, Recently Used Applications, and Recent Documents groups. To see all programs installed on a computer, SLED lets you click a More Applications button. And instead of bom- barding you with multiple submenus, SLED displays programs organized into the following categories: Office, Games, Audio & Video, and Tools. Vista eliminates bloated menus and submenus by only displaying one menu at a time. Rather than opening up anoth- er menu like WinXP, Vista saves space by displaying the new menu directly over the previous menu. The advantage of this approach is that it will never over- whelm you with too many menus. The Vista only displays one menu at a time to make choosing a program easier.

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Mac OS X Neither WinXP nor Vista offer multi- displays a ple desktops, although a WinXP Power- limited number Toys add-on can give WinXP multiple of programs in desktop capability. The problem is that the Dock but Microsoft doesn’t officially support stores all of WinXP PowerToys, and you have to its programs download and install them separately. in the Likewise, Mac OS X 10.4 does not offer Applications multiple desktops, although the Mac OS folder. X 10.5 Leopard offers a slick version of multiple desktops called Spaces. File searching. It’s easy to bury a file inside of a folder that’s buried inside another folder until you can’t remember where you stored the file. WinXP offers a file searching feature that can search for can see what’s currently running. Clicking feel cluttered. To avoid this problem, all or part of a file name or a word or on a thumbnail image switches you to Ubuntu and SLED offer a simple work- phrase buried inside of a document. that particular window. If a single pro- space feature. The idea behind work- When searching for a word contained in a gram has multiple files open, Exposé lets spaces is that you can create multiple document, WinXP correctly identified you view only the windows of a single virtual desktops where each desktop can words inside PDF, text, and Word files, program by pressing F10. So, if you press display its own windows. One desktop although searching took so long that it F9 to switch to a word processor and might display open windows related to felt like searching the hard drive manually want to have three different documents work, and a second desktop can display would’ve been faster. Ubuntu offers simi- open, you can press F10 to view just those open windows containing games. By iso- lar file searching capabilities as WinXP. three document windows. lating windows to specific workspaces, One problem with both WinXP’s and Vista offers three methods for switch- you can avoid cluttering the screen with Ubuntu’s file searching feature is that ing between windows. The first involves multiple windows. using the standard ALT-TAB keystroke Both Ubuntu and SLED also offer a shortcut, but instead of displaying pro- 3D workspace feature (Beryl and Xgl, gram icons like WinXP, Vista displays respectively) that you must install sepa- thumbnail images of each open window. rately, as long as you have the proper Pressing ALT-TAB in most OSes, The second method involves using the graphics cards and drivers to support this such as SLED, displays a simple program buttons that appear on the Task- optional feature. program switcher. bar. Unlike WinXP, which only shows the program name and file name, Vista lets you mouse over a program button and see a thumbnail image of that partic- ular window. The third option for switching be- tween windows is called Windows Flip 3D. Just press CTRL-Windows key-TAB, and Vista displays all open windows as overlapping, translucent, 3D windows. Now you can see the contents of each window and flip through each image (by pressing TAB, the arrow keys, or using the scroll wheel of your mouse) until you find the window that you want. Creating workspaces/multiple desktops. No matter how easy switch- ing between windows may be, having too many windows on the screen at one time can make your screen Exposé can display multiple windows as thumbnail images.

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only OSes to offer multiple desktops. Table 2: User Interface Comparison Although SLED, Vista, and Mac OS X Operating system Switch between Display Search offer comparable file searching features, windows by clicking multiple desktops for files Vista’s nearly instant responses made Windows XP Icons No 1 Yes (slow) searching much faster and more conve- Vista Thumbnail No Yes nient to use. Although capable, the file window images 2 searching feature of WinXP is too slow Ubuntu 7.04 Icons 3 Yes Yes and clumsy. SLED 10 Icons 3 Yes Yes Overall, Mac OS X and Vista offer the Mac OS X Thumbnail No 4 Yes slickest, most polished user interfaces. 10.4 Tiger window images The only drawback to Vista is the higher 1 Only with the Windows XP PowerToys add-on. system requirements needed to display its 2 Flip 3D feature only available on PCs with a video graphics card fancy user interface features. The UIs for with at least 128MB of RAM. WinXP and Ubuntu aren’t fancy, but are 3 Requires a compatible graphics card to display windows as thumbnail images. certainly acceptable. Since Mac OS X’s 4 Only with the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. user interface features can run on older Macintosh computers just as effectively as the latest models, Mac OS X wins in the user interface category. they force you to specify whether to OS X. Instead of displaying a program as search for the file name or a word inside multiple files, Mac OS X hides multiple Bundled Software of a file; SLED’s search feature acts more files of a program within a folder, instead In the old days, an OS did nothing but like a search engine that can find file representing them as a single icon. To make your computer work. Now, oper- names and words tucked in a file without move a program to a new location, just ating systems include dozens of added forcing you to specify. drag the program icon. To uninstall a programs to provide basic features that Mac OS X’s file searching feature, called program, just delete the program icon. By everyone expects, such as a Web browser, Spotlight, works like SLED. Just type in a simplifying the appearance of programs as an email program, a firewall, games, sim- word or phrase, and Spotlight will find icons, Mac OS X is unique in making ple utility programs, and multimedia soft- both matching file names and files that programs easy to install, move, and unin- ware for playing music, watching movies, contain that particular word or phrase. stall, especially compared to the haphaz- and organizing digital photographs. One nice feature of Spotlight is that it ard nature of uninstalling programs on Office productivity software. Not sur- organizes all found files into categories, WinXP, which often leaves traces of files prisingly, Ubuntu and SLED come with such as PDFs, HTML files, or email mes- scattered all over the hard drive. the most extensive office productiv- sages. If you know the file you want is a Table 2 lists the features each OS ity software that includes the OpenOf- PDF, you can skip over any files found in offers. Both Ubuntu and SLED are the fice suite (word processor, spreadsheet, the HTML file category. Vista’s Instant Search proved astound- ingly quick. As you type in a word or phrase to find—either as a file name or as text inside of a file—Vista displays match- ing results in email messages, PDFs, Word documents, and many other file types. (All of the OSes were also capable of finding files other than those specified.) Organizing software. Most programs consist of multiple files that work together, usually stored in a single folder. Even most beginners know that deleting a single file from this folder will likely cause the entire program to stop working. And uninstalling programs doesn’t always remove all files that make up a single program. Although this problem plagues most operating systems, it doesn’t affect Mac Exposé can also display thumbnail images of all windows opened by a single program.

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Pressing ALT-TAB in Vista digital photograph organizing program, it displays open windows as does include Windows Movie Maker, a thumbnail images. simple digital video-editing program. Vista also includes Windows Movie Maker, along with Photo Gallery, a digi- tal photograph organizing program, and Media Player 11. Photo Gallery stores and organizes both digital images and dig- ital video. Media Player is essentially the same as what you get with WinXP, with a few more bells and whistles. Ubuntu includes F-Spot, a digital pho- tograph organizer; GIMP, a Photoshop clone that offers digital editing features for Vista can display thumbnail images of open windows. modifying and altering any pictures cap- tured with a digital camera; Movie Player, presentation, and database), which is access to common laptop needs, such as for watching DVD movies; Rhythmbox essentially a Microsoft Office clone. tweaking power usage to conserve power, Music Player, for playing audio CDs or Ubuntu and SLED also include Evo- turning on Presentation mode to keep audio files; Serpentine Audio CD Creator, lution, a combination email/personal or- your laptop from going to sleep in the for burning audio CDs; and Sound Juicer ganizer that mimics Microsoft Outlook. middle of a PowerPoint presentation, and CD extractor, for ripping audio files off an In addition to the OpenOffice suite, a wireless network feature for connecting audio CD. SLED also includes Dia, a drawing pro- and monitoring a Wi-Fi connection. SLED also includes GIMP, along with gram for creating diagrams, and Planner, Multimedia software. The four basic Helix Banshee for playing audio files; a project management application. multimedia programs include a digital Totem, for playing video; RealPlayer; Despite their polished looks, Vista and audio player, a video player, a digital photo Kino, for editing digital video; and Mac OS X don’t offer an office suite, organizer, and a digital video editor. As the GNOME CD/DVD Creator for burning although Vista Business and Ultimate do oldest OS, WinXP provides Windows pictures, audio, and video files to a disc. include office-related apps (such as Fax Media Player 10 (upgradeable to 11 with The main difference between Ubuntu and And Scan). SP2), which serves as a combination au- SLED is that SLED includes a video-edit- For laptop users, Vista offers Windows dio and video player, CD ripper, and CD ing program. Mobility Center, which provides one-click burner. Although WinXP lacks a dedicated Ubuntu, Vista, and SLED may bundle as many multimedia programs as possible, but it’s a jumbled collection that’s lacking Mac OS X’s integration. Mac OS X in- cludes the following: iTunes; Quick- Time; iMovie, for editing digital videos; iPhoto, for organizing digital photo- graphs; and iDVD for burning your mov- ies, music, and digital photographs to a DVD. As an added bonus, Mac OS X also comes with GarageBand, a program for recording audio, such as music or podcasts. Internet software. The three basic Internet programs are a browser, an email program, and a firewall. WinXP provides the bare necessities of all three with IE6, Outlook Express, and Windows Firewall. As the most popular OS, WinXP is also the most popular target for hackers, viruses, Trojans, worms, and spyware. IE6 leaves WinXP Vista’s Flip3D feature lets you visually switch between open windows. wide open to a variety of attacks

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Mac OS X 10.5’s Spaces feature can let you create and pick between multiple desktops.

that essentially makes IE6 useless. Out- normally necessary to install a firewall Besides its built-in firewall, Mac OS X look Express provides basic email capabil- on an Ubuntu system, because access includes its Safari browser and Mail pro- ities and includes the ability to create to the system is closed by default. gram. If you use Safari, you’ll stumble whitelists and blacklists to reduce junk However, if you run any services that across an occasional Web site that Safari email. For further protection against junk let other computers access yours (for can’t display properly. email, Outlook Express also lets you example, the Apache Web server), it is For sorting junk email, Mac OS X ini- define rules to help separate junk email. advisable to install a firewall. tially asks you to identify junk messages. WinXP’s Windows Firewall is better Once you’ve identified enough messages than nothing but only blocks inbound Ubuntu also includes Ekiga, a videocon- as junk, Mail will automatically route connections, which can stop hackers from ferencing program. As an open-source suspected junk mail to a junk folder, breaking into your computer. Unlike program, Ekiga works with a variety of dif- where you can review the messages peri- most firewalls, Windows Firewall won’t ferent communication protocols such as odically while keeping them from clut- block outbound connections, which SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and tering your inbox. means any malware already installed on H.323, which means Ekiga can communi- One nice feature of Mac OS X is its your computer can still communicate cate with any SIP- and H.323-compliant built-in Preview program, which can dis- over the Internet. programs, such as Microsoft NetMeeting. play PDF Acrobat files without having to For instant messaging, WinXP includes Like WinXP, the Mac OS X firewall install Adobe Acrobat Reader first. Preview Windows Messenger, which doubles as only protects against inbound connec- just means having one less program to simple text-messaging and triples as a full- tions but ignores any outbound connec- install, although it can’t display the con- blown videoconferencing program. An- tions. If a Trojan or spyware infects your tents of a PDF file within a browser win- other program, Windows NetMeeting, Macintosh, the built-in firewall won’t dow like Acrobat Reader program can. offers videoconferencing abilities along protect you. Mac OS X users don’t have For instant messaging and videoconfer- with remote desktop control and applica- to worry about Trojan horses and spyware encing, Mac OS X offers iChat, which is tion sharing. to the extent that WinXP users do, but compatible with the AIM (AOL Instant Ubuntu provides Firefox and Evo- this will likely change in the future if OS Messenger) and Jabber chat networks. lution as its Web browser and email pro- X gains popularity. To customize the Mac More stunning is iChat’s videoconferenc- gram, respectively. Surprisingly, Ubuntu OS X firewall to block outbound connec- ing ability, which displays participants in doesn’t install a firewall by default. tions, you must use a command-line a futuristic 3D display. Ubuntu’s Web site explains: interface, which keeps novices from acci- Vista provides IE7, which boasts added A firewall protects a computer system dentally messing up the firewall but also security plus tabbed browsing, a feature from unauthorized access. It is not makes customizing the firewall difficult. that has long been standard in rival

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Table 3: Included OS Software Operating system Office Multimedia Internet When it comes to bundled and integrated productivity software software software, Mac OS X is the clear winner software for multimedia work, although Vista is Windows XP No Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer 6, edging closer. Windows Movie Maker Outlook Express, But if you need a built-in word process- Windows Firewall, ing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation Windows Messenger, suite, then Ubuntu and SLED are the best Windows NetMeeting choices with their bundled OpenOffice Vista No Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer 7, Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, applications, although you can always Windows Movie Maker, Windows Firewall, download and install a free copy of Open- Windows DVD Maker Windows Meeting Office for WinXP and Vista, too. Space Ubuntu 7.04 OpenOffice F-Spot Photo Manager, Firefox, Evolution, Compatibility GIMP, Movie Player, Gaim Internet Compatibility involves both hardware Rhythmbox Music Player, messenger, and software. Hardware compatibility Serpentine Audio CD Creator, Ekiga Softphone Sound Juicer CD extractor defines how well the OS runs on differ- SLED 10 OpenOffice, Helix Banshee, RealPlayer, Firefox, Evolution, ent types of hardware. Software compat- Dia, Planner Totem, Kino, Gaim Internet ibility defines how well the OS runs Gnome CD/DVD Creator, messenger, programs designed for previous versions F-Spot Photo Manager, GnomeMeeting, of the OS. GIMP Linphone, Pan, Although Linux has traditionally run Liferea, SuSE firewall on a variety of processors, SLED focuses strictly on x86 processors, while Ubuntu Mac OS X No iTunes, QuickTime, Safari, Mail, 10.4 Tiger iPhoto, GarageBand, Mac OS X firewall, focuses on both x86 and Sun SPARC iMovie, iDVD iChat processors. WinXP and Vista are even more narrowly focused on x86 processors. The Mac OS X has, perhaps, the most narrow focus of all: It can run on browsers. The tradeoff, however, is that and AppArmor, a security feature that PowerPC and Intel processors designed many Web sites are reporting problems restricts what programs can do. specifically for Apple hardware. But with when their pages are displayed in IE7; it’s Although all OSes offer similar pro- Apple phasing out PowerPC computers, evident that Microsoft hasn’t completely grams, the Mac OS X is ahead of the pack it’s only a matter of time before Apple ironed out IE’s problems yet. Windows due to its slicker interface and better pro- drops support for the PowerPC version of Mail includes a calendar, an improved gram integration. The other OSes have a Mac OS X. If you want to run Mac OS X junk email filter, and an antiphishing fil- tendency to bundle as many programs as 10.5, your best choice is to run it on an ter that can detect scam links sent by con possible and hope that you find them use- Intel-based Macintosh, although earlier artists in messages masquerading as legiti- ful by mistaking quantity for quality. versions will stay alive on your old Mac. mate messages. Perhaps the most useful feature of Windows Mail is its Instant Windows XP’s Search capability, which lets you search file searching for email addresses or phrases buried only is adequate within email messages. but slow. If you need to collaborate with others, Vista offers its Windows Meeting Space feature, which lets multiple users collabo- rate on a document over a network or the Internet. SLED not only includes Firefox and Evolution for browsing and email but also Linphone for making phone calls over the Internet. It also offers GnomeMeeting, for videoconferencing; Gaim instant mes- senger; Pan, for reading newsgroups; Liferea, for reading RSS feeds; a firewall;

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running programs designed for pre- vious operating system versions. If you need to keep an ancient PC alive a little longer, the two best operating sys- tems are Ubuntu and SLED, due to their minimum system requirements (see Table 1). If you have an old Macintosh running Ubuntu makes you choose at least a G3 PowerPC processor, you’ll whether to search for a file name find that Mac OS X 10.4 does a surpris- or text within a file. ingly good job running on older Macs. Even WinXP does a decent job run- ning on older computers with a bare min- Spotlight organizes found imum of system resources. Any computer files by file type. less than 10 years old should still be capa- ble of running WinXP. How fast it runs of Windows. Before running is another story. any program on either OS, On the other hand, Vista won’t run you can define the version of comfortably on any computer not specifi- Windows to mimic when run- cally designed for Vista. Also be aware ning a particular program. that many printers and scanners won’t While Windows offers a work with Vista until the manufacturers vast library of older pro- develop Vista-specific drivers. grams, Mac OS X 10.4 is For maximum compatibility with the relatively new, which means current batch of software and hardware any software designed for available, WinXP is the undisputed winner. Hardware compatibility is important older versions of Mac OS X will likely If you want the latest operating system with for both running an OS and running work on the latest version, as well. built-in tools for playing with audio, video, multiple operating systems through a vir- However, the switch to Intel processors and digital photographs, then get Mac OS tualization program. With a free virtual- means that Intel-based Macs can no X. If your primary need is security, then ization program, such as Virtual PC longer run older programs designed choose any operating system but WinXP. 2007, it’s possible to run Ubuntu and for Mac OS 9, although PowerPC Mac- But if you need something that works SLED on a PC running WinXP or Vista. intosh computers can run Mac OS right now with your existing hardware Although WinXP can run within a vir- 9 programs through a special Classic and software and you can’t wait for a tualization program or run as the host Mode feature. more promising tomorrow, the choice is OS, Vista has much tighter restrictions. Given its open-source roots, many Linux simple: Get (or stick with) WinXP. Legally, you can only run Vista Business programs are not only free to use but also or Vista Ultimate within a virtualization include the source code. That means run- A Matter Of Perspective program such as Parallels or VMware. ning an older Linux program on a newer Anyone running WinXP will eventually Mac OS X has even stricter virtualiza- version of Linux is as straightforward (for need to switch to Linux, Vista, or Mac OS tion limitations. You can never run Mac tech-savvy users) as simply recompiling X. That choice will depend on what soft- OS X within any virtualization program. the program under the new version of ware you need to run on your computer. However, you can run a virtualization Linux. As a result, Linux doesn’t suffer One of Linux’s biggest advantages is its program on Mac OS X, so you can theo- nearly as much from the nightmare of massive library of available software. Not retically run Ubuntu, SLED, Vista, or WinXP on a Macintosh. Another way to run either WinXP or Table 4: OS Comparison Vista on an Intel Macintosh is to use Operating system Easy User Bundled Hardware and Apple’s dual-boot program, Boot Camp. installation interface software software compatibility Boot Camp gives you a choice of running Windows XP X X Mac OS X or turning your Mac into a Vista X X X PC by running WinXP or Vista. Ubuntu 7.04 X X X Both WinXP and Vista go to great SLED 10 X X X lengths to remain compatible with pro- Mac OS X X X X X grams designed to work on older versions 10.4 Tiger

64 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com spotlight only are most of these programs free, but compatibility with hardware and software. you want to work with audio, video, also they're nearly equivalent in features If you’re happy using WinXP, stay with it. and graphics images and are willing to commercial programs found on Switch to Linux if you need to keep to learn the differences of Mac OS X Windows or Mac OS X. The disadvan- ancient computers running, can live over WinXP. tage is that finding and installing various with the bundled software included with Whatever OS you choose, the answer is Linux programs can still be troublesome. Ubuntu or SLED, and have the time to clear: Windows is no longer the only choice If you want to switch to Linux, be pre- learn the quirks of a new OS. Switch to when upgrading to another computer. ▲ pared to spend extra time learning to find Vista if you’re going to buy a new com- and install different Linux programs. puter anyway. Switch to Mac OS X if by Wallace Wang If your needs are limited to routine tasks such as word processing, Internet browsing, and email, then Linux is a great Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard alternative. Ubuntu is probably the best choice, given its free status and growing Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger may that make it easy to add digi- Dashcode, you can create popularity; if you plan on learning Linux, be a good OS, but the next tal photographs from iPhoto. your own Dashboard wid- Ubuntu represents the future. incarnation of Mac OS X, Mail 3 adds special Notes gets to perform simple If you want a slicker version of Linux Leopard, should be even and To-Do features that ex- tasks, such as retrieving that's geared to mimic Windows, then better. The most prominent pand its capabilities from a weather or stock market SLED is a better choice. Novell (the pub- feature of Leopard is Time simple email client to a per- information. Unlike XCode, lishers of SLED) has even signed an agree- Machine, a backup program sonal organizer. Finally, the Dashcode is specifically ment to work more closely with Microsoft that saves snapshots of your Leopard version of Safari designed to make pro- for getting Linux and Windows machines entire hard drive, making it adds antiphishing features gramming easy, so even to work together. So, for example, if you possible to restore your com- to detect fraudulent Web novices can create their need to network a Linux PC with other puter to a previous state or sites that may try to steal own working Dashboard Windows machines, SLED will fit right in just selectively pluck old ver- your personal information. widget within minutes. almost as well as another Windows PC. sions of files from the past. On the fun side, iChat Perhaps the most Vista’s user interface is a drastic Although Linux users allows you to take an image intriguing feature of Leop- improvement over WinXP’s. Beyond the have long been familiar with from iPhoto that can display ard is Boot Camp, Apple’s user interface, Vista’s improvements are the idea of switching be- in the background. Now you dual-boot program that lets mostly transparent to the user. Vista alone tween multiple desktops, can chat with your friends you install WinXP or Vista won’t make you more productive than Leopard offers a slicker ver- with a background image of on any Intel-based Mac. WinXP, but using Vista will be more sion called Spaces. Just as Hawaii, a newsroom, or Boot Camp essentially turns exciting than WinXP. You just have to Exposé lets you view multi- even Godzilla behind you. your Mac into a PC clone, decide if you want to pay the heftier price ple program windows on the For more practical purpos- so if you need to run for Vista, along with its necessary hard- screen, Spaces lets you view es, iChat also lets you create Windows applications with- ware upgrades to run it. multiple desktops so you a slideshow presentation, out the compromises of vir- Given the choice between switching can see the one you want. essentially letting you give tualization software like from WinXP to Linux or Vista, the major- Multiple desktops let you presentations through Parallels, then you can have ity of business users will likely stick with maximize your workspace. videoconferencing. the best of both Windows the familiarity of Vista. However, a good One desktop might display To help you find your and Mac OS X programs number of people will likely defect to the your word processor for files, Leopard beefs up running on a single com- third choice and switch to Mac OS X. writing a report, a second Spotlight’s file searching abil- puter. For more information Like WinXP and Vista, Mac OS X desktop might display your ity to include searching mul- about Boot Camp, see “Bet enjoys tremendous third-party software email program and a brows- tiple Macs over a network. You Can’t Boot Just One” support for mainstream software. If you er, and a third desktop might Now you can search for a file on page 66. want to organize, edit, and view digital display your favorite video on your hard drive or some- These are just a handful photographs or video, every OS can do it, game. By switching between body else’s hard drive. of new features that you can but Mac OS X will do it better. Businesses multiple desktops instead of Mac OS X has always expect in Leopard. If Apple may prefer Vista for its close relationship to individual windows, Spaces included XCode, its continues its tradition of WinXP, but ordinary individuals may want helps keep you organized C/C++/Objective-C lan- making newer versions of the variety of home applications (iPhoto, between multiple tasks. guage compiler. However, Mac OS X run on older Macs iMovie, and iTunes) of Mac OS X. Leopard’s built-in email if you find programming in while still adding features, Then again, there’s no reason to aban- client, Mail 3, adds tem- C too complicated, Leopard then Leopard is a must-have don WinXP, which still enjoys widespread plates for creating cus- offers a simpler alternative upgrade for everyone who tomized email messages called Dashcode. With owns a Mac. ▲

CPU / August 2007 65 f you’re straddling the fence between OSes, In modern Windows installations, this program looks at a file who says you have to choose? called Boot.ini, which is located in the base directory of the Just as with languages, different operating Windows boot drive. This file tells the boot loader what OSes systems have strengths and weaknesses. You are on the disk(s). If you have more than one entry in the file, may prefer Linux for day-to-day use but you’ll have the option to boot either OS; otherwise, the MBR need Windows XP for certain applications. will go directly to starting up the only installed OS. Maybe you’ve upgraded to Vista but have some applications The same essential order of events happens with Linux, that currently only run under WinXP. except that instead of using the MBR, the boot loader is Gone are the days when you were limited to a single either a program called LILO (Linux Loader) or GRUB operating system per computer. And setting up a system to (Grand Unified Bootloader), but these days, it’s usually run more than one OS isn’t the geek-intensive operation it GRUB. With GRUB, it will read the configuration file in the used to be. In fact, there are so many options available these /boot/grub directory of the partition with the /boot directory, days that the permutations are almost endless. In this article, which is the equivalent of the Boot.ini file in Windows. we’ll look at three major paths you can take: multiboot, vir- So, installing a dual-boot (or multiboot) system is simply tual machines, and OS emulation. We’ll also take a look at a matter of partitioning your system’s hard drive to have options for Mac OS. enough partitions to store all the operating systems, installing each OS into the appropriate partitions, and then Boot Me Up telling the boot loader about all of the operating systems. At The most common way to run multiple operating systems least, it’s that easy in theory. is to set up a dual-boot or multiboot machine. A multiboot In practice, the order in which you load the operating system is, in principle, essentially the same as setting your sys- systems can make a big difference to how easy your life is tem’s boot order. When your system starts up, it looks at the first sector on the disk for something called a boot loader. Just as the BIOS has enough smarts to find the boot loader, the boot loader has enough smarts to figure out what operating systems are available on the disk. Different operating systems in- stall different boot loaders, and each system can only have one boot loader at any one time. Windows uses something called the MBR (Master Boot Record) scheme, which looks at the disk partitioning data (also on that first sector). The boot loader uses it to find the parti- tion marked as the “active” partition. Once it finds it, it loads Before you create any multiboot system, you’ll need a another, more advanced piece of software from that partition. partition for each OS.

66 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com spotlight

going to be. Although Linux boot loaders hard drive. Until Vista, you had to use a improvements in this regard, but some are pretty smart about identifying and nondestructive partitioning utility, such as low-level hardware drivers or graphics configuring both the Linux and Windows Partition Commander. However, Vista capabilities may not be available. Running installations, the same cannot be said for can shrink the existing partition on your high-performance games in a VMware Windows. So if you decide to use Win- hard drive without destroying it. image may be difficult, if not impossible. dows’ MBR as your boot loader, you’ll One advantage to taking the virtualiza- have to jump through some hoops config- The Virtual Approach tion approach is that you can copy a virtu- uring Boot.ini in the right fashion to rec- Another common method of putting al machine image, which essentially backs ognize and boot your Linux partition. For multiple OSes together under one roof is up the entire virtual machine. By doing example, Windows and Linux number virtualization. The most common way to this, you can create multiple copies of the the disk partitions differently and give do this is using VMware (www.vmware same VM. A common technique is to cre- them different names. .com); the basic server and player are now ate a “base” VM copy that just includes There are also steps you’ll have to take available for free. Using this approach, the OS installation. Then you can make on the Linux side if you want Windows to one operating system runs inside the copies and experiment with installing dif- stay in control of booting. You need to other. Virtualization has the advantage of ferent software packages or, in the case of make sure that GRUB installs its boot letting you use both OSes at once, but it Linux, upgrading a kernel without program on the first sector of the Linux has disadvantages of its own. destroying the clean version of the OS. root partition rather than the first sector of For one thing, both OSes are likely to A variation of running VMware on the entire disk. You still need a Linux boot take a pretty significant performance hit. your local machine is to run it on a loader to start Linux, and the Windows Although VMware has become more effi- remote server. Take a spare PC that’s oth- boot loader needs to be able to fire up the cient, you still can’t get more cycles out of erwise collecting dust and install a Linux boot loader when you request a your processor than it had to begin with. stripped-down copy of Linux on it. Then, Linux OS from the Windows boot screen. Don’t expect a virtual OS to perform as install VMware Server. Install a virtual Because the basic rule of thumb is that well as a native OS. copy of WinXP along with data files you the last OS installed is going to “own” the Also, the “guest” operating system want to access (such as Quicken files). boot record (although you can tell Linux won’t have all of its features and abilities By using Windows’ Remote Desktop not to overwrite it, unlike Windows), at its disposal. Again, VMware has made Connection, you can connect to the VM things work out better if you install Windows first. As with any operation that mucks around with your hard drive, backing up any critical data before doing this is a wise move. You also need to be careful if you update your Windows installation, since it may rewrite the MBR record. As a last resort, you can use a bootable Linux CD to mount the Linux filesystem and rerun GRUB against the GRUB configuration file currently on the root filesystem of the hard drive. This is obviously not a simple process. You can also make a bootable floppy disk with GRUB and the configu- ration file, which lets you boot into Linux even if the MBR is rewritten. If you’re going to take the MBR approach, you also need to make sure that you took the right disk space requirements for each OS into account when you parti- tioned the disk. For example, a Linux install is going to need at least a root and a swap partition to work properly. If you bought a machine with a preinstalled copy of Windows, you need to shrink it down to make room for Linux or add a second VMware is a well-known option for running Windows within Linux, and vice versa.

CPU / August 2007 67 spotlight

and check your finances. This strate- under Windows OSes; you can’t run gy is a great, low-cost way to re- a Virtual PC image under Lin- motely access data because the “host” ux. Second, Microsoft took a very machine isn’t doing anything but run- Windows-centric view of guest oper- ning VMware and serving up data. ating systems—namely, it lumps VMware also offers a product that everything but Windows into the eliminates the host OS altogether. Its ESX “other” category. And frankly, Mi- Server runs on “bare metal,” effectively crosoft did a very poor job with non- acting as the host operating system itself, Windows support. For example, we and is tuned to run VMs with minimal were unable to get an Ubuntu install overhead. But unlike the basic server and disk to run at all under Virtual PC: It player, ESX carries a significant price tag failed trying to start GNOME. that will keep it out of the price range of A third player in the VM space is If you’ve already installed Windows using anyone but an enterprise customer. Win4Lin (www.win4lin.com), which lets Boot Camp, Parallels 3 will automatically For Linux fanatics who want to run you run virtual Windows Desktops on a locate it and offer you the option to run that Linux as the host and virtual OS, there is Linux platform. It is intended to compete installation of Windows. an open-source equivalent to VMware for the same audience as VMware’s server called Xen (www.xensource.com). Xen products. Unlike either VMWare or Both Windows and Linux offer tools works well for running one version of Virtual PC, there is no free version of to let you run programs intended for Linux virtually inside of another but still Win4Lin available. the other OS. Linux has Wine (www has a way to go as far as running Win- .winehq.com) and Crossover Office dows under Linux in most cases. Also, The Emulation Sensation (www.codeweavers.com), which is essen- there is no version of Xen available for OS emulation occupies the middle tially a commercialized version of Wine Windows, which means that, unlike ground between multibooting and Virtual that includes support. These tools let you VMware, you can’t move a Xen image to virtualization. This lets you run an oper- run some (but by no means all) Windows Windows and continue using it. ating system and use software to “trick” applications under Linux. To the applica- Microsoft has its own virtualization soft- another OS’ programs into using your tion, it appears that it is still running ware, Virtual PC. Microsoft makes this OS. This approach offers the benefit of under Windows. But unlike a fully virtu- software available as a free download, prob- native program execution, and therefore alized environment, the programs are run- ably to stay competitive with VMware. faster speed. On the other hand, the emu- ning natively on the Linux OS, with However, there are two significant differ- lation is usually imperfect, so complex libraries that “fake out” running under ences between VMware Server and Virtu- programs that require hardware drivers or Windows. If you check on the CrossOver al PC. First, Virtual PC is only available high-end graphics may not work. Office site, you can see the growing list of Windows applications that have tested successfully with Linux. There are also several options for run- ning Linux programs natively under Windows. Probably the most well-known is the Cygwin package (www.cygwin.com), which provides a fairly complete Linux development and runtime environment under Windows. It does this by way of a number of libraries that have been tweaked to make Windows look like a Linux OS, in terms of filesystem structure and other OS-specific functions. Cygwin offers a huge selection of utilities and applications that have been compiled to run natively under Windows, including many X-based applications which can access an X server running either locally (on the same computer) or remotely. The Boot Camp Assistant guides you through the process of burning a If Cygwin doesn’t already have a com- disc with Windows drivers. piled version of the Linux program you

68 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com spotlight

need, it also has a complete development environment including gcc and make, which let you compile sources yourself. This may work in theory, but as with any emulation strategy, you can only know for sure by trying a particular program. A good rule of thumb is that the more com- plex the package, and the more other packages it depends on, the less likely you are to succeed. Microsoft offers a similar package that provides a lot of Linux commands and technology: Microsoft Services for Unix. (It is also known as “Windows Services for Unix,” depending on Microsoft’s docu- mentation.) Also a free download, it’s not as complete as the Cygwin but still offers a fair amount of functionality. One catch is that it wants you to use other Microsoft In Coherence mode, Parallels Desktop displays both the OS X Dock and the Windows products, however. For example, you need Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. to use Visual Studio (instead of gcc) to compile Linux applications. Windows drivers; create a Windows parti- OS X applications side-by-side (or access tion; and insert your Windows installa- the other OS without restarting the sys- Mac Makes Friends tion disc. Although you should still back tem), you’ll need to use a program that When Apple used PowerPC processors up the data on your Mac before you runs Windows through a virtual machine. in its computers, there were relatively install Boot Camp, you’ll find the parti- Parallels Desktop. Parallels Desktop is few options for running Windows (or tioning process very painless. You don’t one of the most popular options. Parallels Windows applications) on a Mac. Some need to format your drive first. The Boot released version 3 just days before press programs, such as Virtual PC, provided Camp Assistant will dynamically create a time. This latest version promises many this support through emulation. How- Windows partition of the size you specify new and exciting ways of running Win- ever, this meant Windows took a drastic without altering your OS X installation or dows on a Mac. For example, if you use hit to performance. Now that Apple uses your installed applications and files. Boot Camp as well as Parallels, you no Intel processors in its systems, emulation Once you’ve installed Windows and longer need to install two separate copies is no longer necessary to run Windows your burned drivers disc, you can press and of Windows. Instead, Parallels can run applications on a Mac. hold the OPTION key on startup until Windows from your Boot Camp partition. Boot Camp. The most well-known a screen appears with your Mac and Version 3 also adds Coherence mode, tool for running Windows on a Mac is Windows partitions. Select the one you which lets you run your Windows appli- Apple’s Boot Camp software, which as of wish to boot. You can also change the cations within OS X as if they were native press time is still in beta (version 1.3). default boot drive in either OS X or Mac applications. In Coherence mode, The final release of Boot Camp will be Windows. In OS X, open System Pref- you’ll even find running Windows appli- available as part of the upcoming OS X erences, select the Startup Disk pane, and cations in your OS X Dock. Version 3 10.5 Leopard. Although still in beta, Boot choose the desired partition. In Windows, lets you copy-and-paste and drag-and- Camp is already an admirable option for you’ll find the option in the Control Panel drop between Windows and Mac pro- running Windows on a Mac. What is under Performance And Maintenance (in grams. Windows and OS X can also now most notable about Boot Camp is that it Windows XP) or System And Main- share files and folders. is incredibly easy to install, configure, and tenance (in Windows Vista). Parallels boasts that this latest version use. This can be a lifesaver for those who Windows runs very quickly, and it’s no of its software also adds support for 3D want to use both OS X and Windows but more difficult to connect to the Internet graphics. However, don’t expect blazing aren’t yet comfortable with both OSes. or install hardware drivers through Boot speed or an optimal gaming experience The installation is quite simple. Apple Camp than it is when you run Windows yet. The 3D technology within Parallels is provides a utility called the Boot Camp natively on a PC. The one downside of still in its infancy and needs more work, Assistant that walks you through the Boot Camp is, as dual-boot software, it but at least it now exists. process, prompting you to insert a CD only lets you run one OS at any given Although Parallels provides a more fluid or DVD so that it can burn a disc of time. If you want to run Windows and experience in which you can use Mac and

CPU / August 2007 69 spotlight

Windows applications side-by-side, it still Parallels Tools kept crashing during its your needs. If you want full performance runs Windows as a virtual machine. The installation. Early posts in Parallels’ sup- and hardware accessibility, multiboot is performance won’t be at the same level as port forums suggest that many users have your best option. If you need to have Boot Camp, where Windows runs natively encountered similar difficulties. access to both at once, want good perfor- on its own partition. It took a lot of work to get Parallels mance, and don’t mind that certain pro- Our own experience with Parallels Desktop 3 working, but our initial reaction grams might not work, consider an OS Desktop 3 was somewhat disappointing is that this will be a great option for run- emulation tool, such as Wine or Cygwin. because this initial release still has some ning Windows on a Mac. However, we If you need both at once and pretty much bugs that Parallels will need to patch. For suggest that you wait until Parallels works full OS compatibility, virtualization is the instance, we couldn’t get the mouse to out a few of the current bugs. way to go. ▲ work until after we installed and updated Choosing how to share operating sys- Parallels Tools. To make matters worse, tems on your computer depends a lot on by James Turner and Kylee Dickey VM & Vista

It’s hard to believe that Windows XP has been with us for six require one unique license per VM, and licenses cannot be copied years, but there’s one area where its age is still very clear: Its around. Retail versions of virtualized Vista can be legally moved from EULA makes no reference to hardware virtualization, which at the one host to another, but the Vista OEM license ties the virtualized OS time was an exotic and expensive development in software. Today, to the host computer that the VM is running on because the OEM ver- Virtual PC 2007 and VMware Server are actually free products for sion is tied to actual hardware rather than virtual hardware. This is home users to play with, and commercial VM software is common for essentially the same situation when installing the retail and OEM ver- software development and testing, so it should come as no surprise sions on actual hardware: You are entitled to move the Retail version that Microsoft has altered Vista’s EULAs to cover the now common from one computer to another (but only once), but the OEM version situation of running Vista in a virtual machine. Although its EULA lan- doesn’t grant you this right. guage is clear-cut, the best legal practices are anything but. Vista Enterprise (available only to Microsoft’s Software Assur- ance customers) allows five installations per license, meaning that Vista Home Basic & Premium: No Virtualization you could use that license to install Vista once on actual hardware The Vista Home Basic and Premium EULAs state the matter plainly: and then create four additional virtual installations on that same “You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a machine. You must also perform these additional virtual installa- virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system.” That said, there’s tions on the same host machine, meaning you cannot spread the no software checks in the installer that actually prevent you from in- installations to different computers. Only one user is entitled to use stalling Vista Home into a VM, and online activation works just fine these virtual machines. from a virtual environment. Perhaps that’s why the EULA says “may not” instead of “cannot.” Nothing prohibits you, however, from run- MSDN: Different Restrictions ning virtualization software from within Vista Home Basic or Premium. If you’re a member of the Microsoft Developer Network, then Just be sure that a different version of Vista is running inside that VM. things change dramatically for the better. Your MSDN subscription permits you to install all the versions of Vista you have access to, Vista Business, Ultimate & Enterprise: from Home Basic to Ultimate, into a VM (which is probably why there Virtualization OK, But . . . aren’t any software checks). You can move or copy them to as many Microsoft lets you run the versions of Vista geared for power host machines as necessary, but only members of your organization users, businesses, and enterprises in virtual environments. To can use them for internal testing or development. In other words, you wit: “You may use the software installed on the licensed device can’t resell copies of Vista acquired this way, and you can’t host your within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system.” But Web site with one, either. things get murkier after this. The EULA continues, “If you do so, you may not play or access In Summary content or use applications protected by any Microsoft digital, infor- Microsoft has made this more than a little confusing, but it boils mation or enterprise rights management technology or other Micro- down to a few simple facts: The Retail and OEM versions of Vista soft rights management services or use BitLocker.” In other words, Home aren’t to be installed in a VM, but Vista Business, Ultimate, and you can’t play Microsoft-sourced, DRM-protected content (audio or Enterprise are fair game, provided you still play by Microsoft’s rules. video), and you can’t use BitLocker within a VM. Again, there aren’t You can’t move OEM versions, but you can move a retail version any controls that physically prevent you from doing this, but you’ll once. MSDN subscribers can install and copy all versions, but only violate the EULA if you do. for internal use for development. ▲ The retail and OEM versions of Vista Business and Ultimate have several common rules, but there are a few distinctions. All versions by Warren Ernst

70 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com The Bleeding Edge Of Software Inside The World Of Betas

Avant Browser’s feature list reads rather Avant Browser 11.5 beta 4 like Opera’s, or Firefox’s Top-10 Exten- sions page, but the biggies include a built- Official Product Name: Avant Browser in RSS reader, a built-in Google search Version # Previewed: 11.5 beta 4 bar, mouse gestures, and a pop-up/Active Publisher: Avant Force X/Flash animation/banner ad/script/Java/ Developer and URL: Avant Force, image/video blocker. This last feature is www.avantbrowser.com smart enough to render a Web site without ETA: Q3 2007 the designated components, significantly Why Should You Care?: Perhaps the reducing the “annoyance factor” of many best way to supercharge Internet sites, but alas, there’s no way to make the Explorer 6 or 7 browser remember custom blocking set- tings for a specific page. Also, Avant Brows- Avant Browser utilizes IE’s render- er is fully themable. But the default skin, ing engine and program DLLs to dis- which seems to combine elements from hough Internet Explorer 7 is not a play Web pages within a new window Apple’s Safari and Vista’s Aero, is very T bad browser, that’s not to say that filled with features and commands. The attractive and usable. there aren’t better options. Case in biggest addition is tabs, now familiar to If you’re hooked on the features offered point is the latest version of the Avant anyone using IE7, Firefox, or Opera, but by alterative browsers but still visit Web Browser, which is perhaps the oldest these work even if you still use Internet sites that are “IE only,” then Avant Browser and most extensive “Internet Explorer Explorer 6. You can reorder tabs by drag- should be on your computer—it’s just that Shell.” It actually puts many other ging them around the tab bar. Tabs can simple. That Avant Browser is totally free browsers to shame in terms of features, be manipulated as if you had Firefox with makes the decision an easy one. ▲ yet it maintains (for better or worse) a few tab-related extensions. Tab-related Internet Explorer compatibility. options outpace those in IE7. by Warren Ernst

Roadkil’s Unstoppable Copier 3.05 beta

hen it comes to copying dozens (or First, it makes many attempts at reading W hundreds) of files, Windows can be a damaged file, and sometimes these mul- pretty dumb, and at no time is it stupider tiple attempts are enough to tease out the than when you’re dealing with a damaged data necessary to stitch together a valid disk. Select a folder full of files and copy file. If UC determines that some data is them with the normal Windows File Ex- truly lost, it can estimate how much data plorer, and if there’s a file that Windows is missing and then insert a matching Official Product Name: Unstoppable Copier can’t read, the entire process stops mid- amount of null data back into the file, Version # Previewed: 3.05 beta stream. Fortunately, the Unstoppable which may just result in a hiccup in the Publisher: Roadkil Software Copier is, as its name suggests, virtually case of an AVI or MP3 file. Alternatively, Developer and URL: Roadkil Software, unstoppable in these situations. it can copy a shortened version of the file, www.roadkil.net The ideal situation envisioned for Un- or just skip bad files altogether. Second, ETA: Q3 2007 stoppable Copier is when trying to copy Unstoppable Copier keeps copying files Why Should You Care?: Why pay for a files from a scratched CD or DVD, or a even after encountering damaged ones. commercial damaged media-copier when hard drive with bad sectors, to another Unstoppable Copier creates full reports there’s a better, free one? location. Windows gives up fairly easily of its actions, letting you review what files on a file it can’t completely read, and if didn’t make it through, and can even re- that file is part of a set of files, then it sume a job if it was stopped prematurely. companies charge for such utilities, Un- stops trying to copy the remaining files It’s available for both Linux and Windows, stoppable Copier is totally free. ▲ altogether. Unstoppable Copier takes a and even runs directly from a thumb drive different approach, however. without problems. And though other by Warren Ernst

CPU / August 2007 71 software | upgrades

launching from a USB key. This update uses the Firefox browser version 2.0.0.4 as its core and now includes a Portable- Apps.com installer for easier installation from a removable device. www.portableapps.com

uTorrent 1.7 Beta Build 2585 The BitTorrent client updates come to us in, well, a torrent this month, And a final torrent client in this so check your favorite P2P sharer for an upgrade. In the world of also-ran month’s roundup fixes the tickling of devices, the troubled Zune and PS3 both get firmware updates this Wine bug with TCP sockets. month as well. utorrent.com WinRAR 3.70 Software Updates desktop and the ability to resize and The archiving and compression client for read NTFS file systems. RAR and most other file packages, Win- AutoHotkey 1.0.46.16 www.redhat.com RAR is now more Vista-friendly. It also The customizer for keyboard, mouse, adds ISO 13346 file format support and and even joystick changes the way the FeedDemon 2.5 Unicode support for ISO 9660 files. SetTimer function works and adds new The RSS newsreader from NewsGator www.rarlab.com macro commands and new variables for adds offline reading, secure video play- more complex customizations. The pro- ing, and configurable Desktop alerts. Yahoo! Messenger For The Web gram can remap just about anything on The news version A new twist on the standard Y! IM your input devices and compile com- allows easier client puts much of that functionality mands into a single hotkey. dragging and on the Web itself. From a browser, you www.autohotkey.com dropping of feeds can access friends, conversations and into the client histories from any PC without having Azureus 3.0.1.5 and sharing them to install the usual messenger software. The torrent client gets a speed tester among others. A popularity rating lets www.yahoo.com wizard, a Transfer Bar for tracking you see what is hot on the system and progress, and a Date Completed col- who is linking to particular posts. Driver Bay umn. It also plays nicer with Vista secu- www.newsgator.com rity, improved auto-speed algorithms, Zune Firmware 1.4 and fixes a batch of minor bugs. Google Desktop 5.1.705.14375 Microsoft claims to have shipped or azureus.sourceforge.net New language versions of Google sold 1 million of these iPod wannabes. Desktop are included in this release, The new firmware improves the music BitComet Build 20070530 namely Hindi. We also get a new pre- shuffle experience, the company says. Another favorite torrent client improves view of search results, viewable in the www.zune.net its GUI in a number of ways. You can results page. Also new is a security up- now apply Hide This from the context grade that warns about sites that may PlayStation 3 Firmware 1.80 menu on a shared torrent list as well as be trying to steal personal info or The long-awaited update for the PS3 Copy Title. A new icon allows better install malware. now upscales older PlayStation titles views on downloaded list. In the core of www.desktop.google.com more effectively for HD resolutions and the program, the share ratio of a BT upscales your standard DVDs so they task is always 0 if you are only upload- iTunes 7.2 look better via an HDMI connector to ing without downloading. The main update here is that iTunes a hi-def monitor. The PS3 now also www.bitcomet.com will access the new iTunes Plus DRM- plugs into your home network to run free music tracks that Apple recently audio, video, and photos directly off of Fedora 7 added to its library. shared folders on connected PCs. The Linux-based operating system www.apple.com www.us.playstation.com boasts new compatibility with KDE, better performance on laptops, and Portable Firefox 2.0.0.4 by Steve Smith Live CD/DVD burning support. This This fully functional Firefox version version also gets new graphics on the is made specifically for storing and

72 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | software Your PC’s Saving Grace Which Undelete Software Should You Use?

he worst feeling in the world is delet- the actual physical location of that file in a the file no longer exists by removing its T ing a file and realizing you needed it special file called a directory or a table. listing from its directory or table. Al- after all. Normally when you delete a file, When your computer needs to re- though your file’s directory or table infor- Windows stores that deleted file in the trieve a file, it doesn’t waste time search- mation may be gone, the file itself is still Recycle Bin so you can retrieve it again. ing for that file on the hard drive. physically there. If the computer needs to However, most people periodically emp- Instead, the computer first looks in the store new data, it will reuse the space ty their Recycle Bin out of habit, which directory or table to find the location of occupied by this file. However, if you means you may still wipe out accidentally your file. Once it knows the physical don’t add or modify any files to that deleted files in the process. location of a file, it can jump straight to drive, any deleted files still physically Fortunately, even after you’ve emptied that file. remain on that drive. the Windows Recycle Bin, your files aren’t So, when you erase a file, your com- File recovery programs work by really gone. Your computer stores the phys- puter doesn’t physically delete the file. searching for existing files and restoring ical file on your hard drive and also stores Instead, Windows simply pretends that information about that file back in the hard drive directory or table. This is essentially what you do when you delete The Lineup a file and later remove it from the Win- This chart identifies four important points about all the programs reviewed here. First, is this dows Recycle Bin. program proactive in helping prevent accidental file loss, or is it more reactive? A proactive On a more difficult level, file recov- preventative program greatly increases your chances of recovering a file, but only if you ery programs can also retrieve deleted install that program first. A reactive program can be used to retrieve any lost file, but its files by examining the physical parts of a chances of success are much less than a preventative program. drive, called sectors, and piecing togeth- Second, can the program recover files off removable storage devices like CompactFlash er fragments to make up a single file. cards or flash drives? With more people storing digital photographs and other important files Such drive sector analysis can often re- on portable storage devices, you need to know which programs can recover files lost from trieve files deleted days or even months these storage devices. before, but the chance of recovering Third, is the program compatible with Vista? While this isn’t important if you aren’t using the entire file drops dramatically over Vista, it can be crucial if you later upgrade to Vista and suddenly find your protective file time, as Windows will store new data recovery program can’t protect you any more. in sectors formerly reserved for the file The fourth and final factor is the price. Most programs cost the same, but you probably you “deleted.” don’t want to buy one program to help recover files off your hard drive and a second pro- There are two types of undelete pro- gram to recover lost files from a flash drive. The price of a file recovery program will be more grams you can use. One type is an emer- than worth its cost the first time it recovers your lost files. ▲ gency recovery program that can try to retrieve any file you deleted by mistake. Program Preventative Can recover files Vista Price The success of these programs depends file recovery stored on digital Compatible? on how long ago you deleted the file. features? camera media or The second type of undelete program USB flash drives? is the preventative one, which you must Norton GoBack 4.0 Yes No No $49.95 WinUndelete No Yes Yes $49.95 install and use before you try to recov- Search and Recover 4 Yes Yes Yes $39.95 er any accidentally deleted files. These RecoverMyFiles No Yes Yes $69.95 preventative programs work by storing True Image 10 Home Yes No Yes $49.99 compressed copies of your hard drive or F-Recovery No Failed No $49.95 files in a separate location, such as in a

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / August 2007 73 reviews | software

separate partition or on an external hard drive. When you need to retrieve a file, these preventative programs can restore your entire hard drive or folder back to a previous state by copying the older, compressed version over the current version. Preventative programs have a Norton GoBack 4.0 much higher success rate, but they’re $49.95 useless if you delete a file before you Symantec install and run the preventative pro- www.symantec.com gram. Let’s examine several programs ● ● ● ● to see what they have to offer. Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

Norton GoBack 4.0 Norton GoBack is a preventative roll- state, including any files you were work- which saves the current condition of back program that can return your com- ing on. So if the software created a snap- your system’s hard drive and then lets puter to a previous state. Because this app shot of your hard drive at 1 p.m., you you install or test an unknown program, is a preventative tool, you must install it created three new files at 1:04 p.m., and such as one downloaded off the Inter- before you can recover lost files. your computer suddenly crashes, Go- net. If the program turns out to be a Think of this program as a safety net. Back 4.0 can restore your hard drive virus or spyware, you can immediately Once installed, it gobbles up to 8GB of back to its 1 p.m. condition. However, restore your hard drive back to its con- hard drive space to store its recovery in- that means you’ll be missing all the files dition immediately before you ran the formation. Each time you boot up, Go- you created at 1:04 p.m. To avoid this destructive program. Back 4.0 stores a snapshot of your hard problem, the program includes a special A second useful feature of this program drive’s condition. Of course, you can post-restore file rescue feature that can is its Auto Rollback feature, which can manually save the current state of your recover files modified or created after restore a computer to a specific condition hard drive or schedule the software to the application created a snapshot of automatically. With this feature turned save snapshots of your hard drive’s con- your hard drive. on, no matter what anyone else does to dition automatically during the day. GoBack 4.0 offers two additional fea- your PC (even unintentionally download- If your computer crashes, GoBack 4.0 tures that can further protect your com- ing malicious software), you can be can restore your hard drive to a previous puter. The first is called SafeTry mode, assured of a clean boot each time.

WinUndelete $49.95 WinRecovery Software www.winundelete.com ● ● ● Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

74 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | software

Search and Recover 4 $39.95 Iolo Technologies www.iolo.com ● ● ● ● Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista

One problem with GoBack 4.0 is its Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, or drive on a regular basis, Search and Re- inability to retrieve files from removable PowerPoint) file, or a common graphic cover 4 also offers a file recovery feature media. The app only protects hard drive file format (GIF, JPG, BMP, or PGN), that lets you retrieve all files at once or files, so if you need to recover files from you’ll see the actual contents of the file. retrieve specific files based on type, such a USB flash drive or CompactFlash Otherwise, the preview window will just as audio files or Microsoft Word files. card, you’ll have to use another file re- display a hexadecimal representation of Since a full file recovery can often find covery program. the file contents. useless temporary files that were created Despite its few blemishes, Norton Go- For added convenience, the software and deleted by another program, Search Back is a safety net that any computer can sort its list of found files by name, and Recovery 4 offers a special SmartScan user should consider. Combine this pro- date, type, and folder location. If you feature that only displays files you most gram with an emergency file recovery pro- need a simple and reliable file recovery likely want rather than temporary files gram and a backup program, and your program, WinUndelete might be the such as Internet cookies. data should be as safe as possible. program for you. If the program can’t find your file, you can run it again using its StrongScan WinUndelete Search and Recover 4 feature. This feature examines the indi- WinUndelete guides users through a Search and Recover 4 crams a variety vidual sectors of a hard drive to search simple three-step process to recover files. of file recovery features into a single pro- for a specific file. This takes significantly First, you must specify the drive that gram. In an emergency, the software can longer but greatly increases the chances contains the lost files. Second, you can run entirely off its CD to retrieve files that the app will find at least fragments choose the types of files to find based on from a crashed hard drive. This feature, of your deleted file. type (graphic or text files) or file exten- dubbed Total Recovery, retrieves the files While most file recovery programs let sion (DOC or XLS files). During this sec- and restores them to a second hard drive. you recover specific files, Search and Re- ond step, you can specify whether to Because you probably won’t need to cover 4 goes one step further and offers ignore temporary files and empty files restore the contents of an entire hard a special email recovery feature that works that consist of zero length. Third, you must specify a destination folder to store your recovered files. Once RecoverMyFiles you go through this three-step process, $69.95 WinUndelete displays a list of files along GetData with a label of Good or Poor, which is the www.recovermyfiles.com program’s estimate for how likely it is that ● ● ● ● it can recover that file. Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista One unique feature of WinUndelete is that if you’re not sure whether you want to recover a particular file, the app can display the file contents in a preview window. If the file is a plain text file, a

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / August 2007 75 reviews | software

programs go, RecoverMyFiles is a pretty good choice.

True Image 10 Home True Image 10 Home is a combina- tion backup and preventative recovery program, meaning that the software won’t be able to recover files that were damaged prior to its installation. Once installed, the program can capture an True Image 10 Home image of your hard drive and store it on $49.99 a drive partition or any removable media Acronis such as CDs/DVDs, USB flash drives, or www.acronis.com ● ● ● ● external hard drives. Once you’ve captured your hard drive Windows 2000/XP/Vista as a disc image file, True Image gives you several ways to recover your files. If your hard drive fails completely, you can with a variety of programs, including Where RecoverMyFiles stands out from restore your hard drive to a previous Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunder- its rivals is its support for a wide varie- working condition by restoring it from bird, Netscape, and Eudora. ty of specific file types, support for re- the disc image. In addition to its emergency file trieving lost files from an iPod, and the Rather than replace your entire hard recovery features, the software also in- ability to recover files from a system’s drive with a disc image, True Image lets cludes preventative features. To protect reformatted hard drive. you browse through all the files stored your entire hard drive, the app can create While most programs let you selec- in a disc image so you can selectively an image of your drive, which essentially tively search and recover files based on choose which ones you want to restore. captures its contents as a single file. file type or file extension, RecoverMy- Of course, recovering files can save Once you’ve captured your hard drive as Files goes one step further and recog- your PC’s data and programs, but the an image file, you can store this image nizes unique file types ranging from software also protects your program set- file in a separate location, essentially the common types (Word, Excel, and tings. That way you don’t have to rein- cloning your drive. Now if something PowerPoint files) to the more unusual stall a program all over again and hunt catastrophic happens to your hard drive, ones such as TurboCAD, Quark XPress, around for the registration key to make you can simply retrieve your data by Family TreeMaker, and TurboTax files. your software work. restoring the disc image back to a hard Not only can this app recover files If you’re a heavy Microsoft Outlook drive again. stored on digital camera media, but it can user, you’ll be happy to know that True You can also use a disc image file to recover lost files on an iPod, as well. More Image also knows how to back up Out- protect your hard drive when you attempt remarkable is the software’s ability to look’s various data, including contacts, to recover a file. Rather than try to recov- recover files (with varying degrees of suc- appointments, tasks, notes, email, and er the file directly from your hard drive, cess) from a completely formatted hard even email rules. you can clone the drive as a disc image drive. You can save a file on a hard drive For added convenience, True Image and then try to retrieve your lost file from and then reinstall Windows over that can restore your files, program settings, the disc image file instead. That way you hard drive, and this program can or hard drive in minutes instead of can try different techniques to recover the still recover files from the drive. hours. That’s because the app first file without risking the chance of physi- Because few people ever reformat their restores your computer to a working cally altering your hard drive and damag- entire hard drive, the app’s ability to re- condition so you can start using your ing your lost files beyond repair. cover data from reformatting is most use- system while the software completes Search and Recover 4 is both a preven- ful if you delete a partition on your hard the rest of its recovery process. tative and emergency file recovery tool drive. Most file recovery programs can’t Because this app can only recover files and may be the only program you need to retrieve a file from a deleted partition, but if you first back them up, it provides a protect your data from catastrophic loss. this one can. scheduler feature so you can automatically Although RecoverMyFiles is the most back up your files at a set time. As an ad- RecoverMyFiles expensive program we reviewed, its extra ded convenience, True Image can even If you accidentally delete a file, most cost may be worth it because of its exten- send you an email letting you know when file recovery programs can recover it. sive file support. As far as file recovery its backup process completed successfully.

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

76 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com reviews | software

message each time I tried to open a recovered file. Further testing revealed the same problems with other files stored and erased off a 128MB Com- F-Recovery pactFlash card. $49 Even worse, three email messages sent FileRecoveryTools Inc. to the company’s technical support address www.filerecoverytools.com went unanswered. As a result of the app’s ● inability to recover lost files as advertised, Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP plus the company’s apparent unwillingness to even answer a single request for assis- tance, makes this app one to avoid. If you accidentally delete a bunch of media such as Memory Sticks, Compact- If you need to recover lost files right files before you install it, True Image won’t Flash cards, and xD-Picture cards. To now, you have no choice but to get a file be the first program you’ll use to recover support its specialized function, the pro- recovery program. However, if you truly them. However, True Image should be the gram provides a simple user interface. value your data, you’ll not only back it up first program to use before you lose any Just click the drive letter that represents every day, but you’ll buy and install a pre- data. With True Image protecting your your media, choose a folder in which to ventative rollback program such as True hard drive, you may not need an emer- store your recovered files, and click the Image or Norton GoBack. The sooner gency file recovery program ever again. Start button. you protect your data, the less likely you The program works quickly and are to lose data ever again. ▲ F-Recovery stores recovered files in your chosen des- The F-Recovery programs are specifi- tination folder. However, in my testing, by Wallace Wang cally designed to recover files from digital the software gave a “corrupt file” error

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

CPU / August 2007 77 reviews | software

than $90.) Still, if you’re looking for fil- 3GHz system for a 6MP image. Altering Snap Art ters such as Colored Pencil, Comic Book the zoom or scrolling the image restarts Style, Impasto, Oil Painting, Pastel, Pen the process, adding to the tedium. lien Skin Snap Art’s unusual prod- and Ink, Pencil Sketch, Pointillism, or Still, given a fast PC and time to A uct name is likely to confuse poten- Watercolor, you won’t find better filters. experiment, Alien Skin Snap Art is the tial users, so let’s explain what it does. Each of these main types of filters has best tool for making amazing-looking Snap Art is a set of filters and routines many attributes, all controlled by sets of “natural art” from your photos. ▲ that “convert” photographs into “natur- sliders. For example, for the Comic Book al media artwork.” In other words, it style, you can adjust feature size, edge by Warren Ernst can transform your digital photos into strength, halftoning, shading, posteriza- images that look like oil paintings, pen- tion, saturation, brightness, contrast, can- cil sketches, and so forth. The results are vas type (such as rough paper, brick wall, nothing short of amazing, and its ease of close weave canvas, and even light sources use encourages experimentation, with and strength). About two dozen combi- customization controls that ensure your nations of these settings are presaved, but work won’t look like anyone else’s. It you can also save your own combinations may not be for everybody, however. for easy reuse later. These are in stark Snap Art is sold as a set of plug-ins contrast to the three or four filter options compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS that come with Photoshop, for example. or later, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 or As a result, it’s unlikely your filters will later, or Corel Paint Shop Pro XI or later look like someone else’s, even if they’re (along with the Macintosh versions of using Snap Art, too. Snap Art Photoshop). So right away, your $149 All this quality comes with a price: $149 doesn’t get you working on your photos slowness. Choosing a filter starts render- Alien Skin Software, LLC unless you have one of these applica- ing in a preview window, with some www.alienskin.com tions. (FYI: Elements and PSP are less taking as long as 25 seconds on a P4 ● ● ● ● ●

SUPERAntiSpyware Professional Other nice touches include a Safe Mode rebooter, a background task inventory assing judgment on antispyware four times a day and monitoring for “sus- list, and a pleasant, straightforward GUI. P products is tough. Because of the picious activity” and known malware. It The Pro price of $29.95 includes one thousands of malware beasties out there checks the obvious things such as brows- year of updates (which run $15 a year trying to infect your PC, testers can hon- er toolbar additions, Registry modifica- thereafter), and the 15-day trial period estly only collect a fraction of nasties and tion, and new startup applications, but offers full cleaning abilities. ▲ see how well a product cleans them out, also checks for the subtle things such as but: A. Those nasties evolve every day, rootkits with its PIT (Process Interroga- by Warren Ernst so a product’s effectiveness can change tion Technology) and FCP (First Chance every week; Therefore, B. one can’t com- Prevention), which scans 50 Registry pare two products if any time has passed, (and other) points with every startup and since the threats change; and C. the mal- shutdown. Though FCP can lengthen ware cleaned off of our test systems pro- boot and shutdown times slightly, other bably isn’t the same malware that you’ll system-speed benchmarks barely changed encounter anyway—there’s just to much with SASPro running. of it. For these reasons, we generally Obviously, there’s a foreground scan- don’t declare anti-malware products ner (which is basically all that the free “the best.” However, after working with version of SAS can do), which we em- SUPERAntiSpyware Professional “in the ployed on six compromised systems in wild,” we can declare it worthy of your small offices with complete success (suc- consideration. It seems effective, has cess being defined as a computer return- many innovative features, and doesn’t ing to “normal”). It offers both a Quick SUPERAntiSpyware Professional 3.7 significantly bog down a system. Scan (seven minutes on our test system) $29.95 Much like an antivirus program, and Full Scan (19 minutes), useful for SUPERAntiSpyware.com SASPro runs in the background, down- spot-checks vs. thorough cleaning. Either www.superantispyware.com loading anti-malware definitions up to can be specified to run on a schedule. ● ● ● ●

CPU RANKING ● 0 = ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS | ● ● ● 2.5 = ABSOLUTELY AVERAGE | ● ● ● ● ● 5 = ABSOLUTELY PERFECT

78 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com

Dialogue Box Paris Hilton Loves Software Developers

visual connections between APIs through a rich T here, do I have your attention? (visual) experience. Problem is, it was obviously The gap between users and developers is made for developers. shrinking at a rapid rate. You may not believe “Ian” asserts: the chasm exists, but it does. And this gap I suspect we’re heading into a dead-end here; does more harm than good. A realm of mis- mashups and 5GL tools are just as constrained by communication thrives within it, and relative- definition. Whilst we may on the surface see a ly lackluster products and disappointing user plethora of opportunities for rolling our own soft- experiences spring from it. ware from the various tools made available, we’re I’ve long lamented that few software cre- still held hostage by the tools developer. Pipes and ators were meeting my needs, much like devel- the like are impressive software indeed, but always opers lament that hardware manufacturers will be limited in scope—which is where the de- aren’t meeting theirs. It’s a circle of life, but I vice between end-user and developers exists. ask you: What kind of life is this? Are you sitting down? Believe it or not, Whenever Chris Pirillo isn’t writ- From live.pirillo.com, “Ian” writes: Microsoft is working on something that will fix ing misleading headlines, he’s IT can’t be run by the users. Management has many of these problems. I didn’t believe it was hard at work on a variety of pro- a role to play in ensuring a fair balance between possible either until I tried its new Web-based jects, including Lockergnome.com functionality delivered to the end users and en- project. If you haven’t heard of Popfly.com, you (where people come to blog about suring the system is beneficial to the company as owe it to yourself to do a little Googling. When anything), Chris.Pirillo.com a whole. If that isn’t happening, then the compa- I demonstrated it live, the entire audience was (where he usually does blog about ny is being held hostage by the users, which screaming for invitations to its alpha. anything), Live.Pirillo.com should never be allowed to happen. I’m “just” a user, and a power user at that. (where he usually does anything), But what if “the company” is the Internet in I’ve also been a visual learner, which is likely and ChrisPirilloShow.com (where general? I don’t work for a corporation, yet I’m why I never really got into programming or he answers just about everything). a slave to these politics, too, because I often use software development. I have fun using (and He enjoys long walks on the software that companies develop. trying) software. I’m beholden to the develop- beach, quiet evenings by the fire- This is an endless argument, and nobody is ers to create experiences for me, and that has place, and . . . oh, wait. going to win. But for software developers to lead to personal and professional frustration, survive and thrive, they must take the user’s time and time again. experience into account. Few developers can Popfly totally levels the playing field, letting This is less about step outside of their own role long enough to anybody—not just geeks—with a modicum of see the forest through the trees. This includes logic and curiosity assemble results from a select corporations and institutionalized developers as well as indepen- (but growing) set of APIs. Moreover, the user dents (read: shareware authors). never needs to know what API means, let alone more about a This is less about corporations and more what it can do for him. Creating a new experi- about a generally imbalanced ecosystem. Or, ence is as simple as linking one block to anoth- generally imbalanced should I say, egosystem? Developers no longer er, without ever having to talk to a developer. wield the power they once did, largely because Microsoft Popfly is a home run. ecosystem. there are a lot more developers running around I’ve been pretty hard on Microsoft in the with more tools these days (compared to when past, so don’t anybody go accusing me of Or, should I say, few people had easy access to such powerful playing favorites lest I whip my Windows Me egosystem? technology). And the world is suffering because and Vista articles at your pocket protector. of it. Traditionally, it seems Microsoft had placed Developers no Let’s look at a product that launched a few user feedback and satisfaction at the end of its months ago from the Internet juggernaut: product development cycle. This time, with longer wield Yahoo! Pipes. The software blogosphere was Popfly, it’s made users a clear focus. going gaga over it, but when I looked at what it I can’t tell you how proud I am of this the power was, I was more taken with what it wasn’t. It’s Microsoft department today. essentially a tool that allows developers to make Even Paris Hilton could use Popfly. ▲ they once did . . .

You can dialogue with Chris at [email protected].

80 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com Open Sauce The Protection Racket

ne might question whether Microsoft’s figuring out which open-source software it O recent use of its portfolio of patents is claims violates which patent. a proper use of the United States Patent and Now, there are a lot of questionable aspects Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov), whose to the whole situation. Does Microsoft’s deal mission, “to promote the Progress of Sci- with Novell to distribute vouchers for Linux ence and useful Arts, by securing for limited equate to actually distributing Linux? Because Times to Authors and Inventors the exclu- if so, it means Microsoft would have to abide sive Right to their respective Writings and by the GPL. Some Linux fanatics are going so Discoveries,” is defined in Article I, Section far to say that the lack of an expiration date 8 of the U.S. Constitution. on those vouchers means that when GPLv3- Microsoft’s bombshell about all the patents licensed software starts coming out, Microsoft that FOSS (free/open-source software) alleg- should have to abide by the clause in GPLv3 edly violates hit in mid-May, amid much that eliminates the cross-licensing loophole hair-tearing, whining, and gloom and doom. Microsoft exploited in the Novell deal. Because the copyright angle didn’t work out How many of Microsoft’s patents will even Pete Loshin, former technical so well for SCO’s legal misadventures against hold up to courtroom scrutiny? Google “Su- editor of software reviews for Linux, it’s time to roll out Microsoft’s secret preme Court KSR patents” for details on the Byte Magazine (print version), weapon: patents. Here we are in 2007, and I recent SCOTUS ruling that says the USPTO consults and writes about com- predict Red Hat and all the other big open- has been way too generous in granting patents puting and the Internet. He also source vendors will still be doing business as for the past 25 years or so. The bad news for runs www.linuxcookbook.com. usual, and I’ll tell you why: Microsoft is not just that new patents will be He owns shares of both Microsoft Microsoft wants a piece of the pie, because held to a higher standard but that current pat- and Red Hat and believes that every CPU running Linux is a CPU that isn’t ents are going to be easier to overturn. Windows isn't for everyone, but running Windows, which means money’s not Microsoft could litigate Red Hat into dust, neither is Linux. rolling into Redmond. Royalties are the name but not IBM, which depends heavily on Linux of the game, and the less muss and fuss cus- for its business and has its own huge portfolio tomers have to put up with to be indemnified of patents (over 46,000) with which to coun- against possible legal action from Microsoft, the tersue. Wanna bet Microsoft violates some of better off everyone involved—especially Micro- IBM’s software patents? soft—will be. So on May 13, Microsoft an- Microsoft’s brinksmanship is stunning: Try The implied nounced that the following FOSS infringes its to scare its biggest customers, who also happen patents: Linux kernel (42), desktop environ- to be some of the biggest users of FOSS, into threat is that ment and GUI programs (65), OpenOffice.org paying royalties for Microsoft’s possibly ques- (45), email (15), and “assorted” (68). tionable patents. Or else . . . what? The implied Microsoft will go Here’s where the “no muss, no fuss” comes threat is that Microsoft will go ahead and sue in, and it’s a bit tricky. Microsoft won’t go on the pants off its best customers at great expense the record about which patents are infringed. It to all parties. Talk about going nuclear. ahead and sue does not have to because it’s not suing anyone Very risk-averse companies with deep pockets (yet). Going public would simplify things for and little patience for surprises may be willing to the pants off its open-source developers to challenge or work settle to avoid courtroom action. But as soon as around all those patents, thus minimizing Mi- Microsoft goes nuclear with a lawsuit, it’ll have best customers crosoft’s leverage over anyone who uses FOSS. to lay down its patent cards, which means So Microsoft is discussing the patents pri- FOSS developers can challenge, work around, at great expense vately with its big customers, by which I un- or innovate over any potentially infringing code. derstand to mean “revealing the infringed Could patents actually kill the FOSS move- patents under nondisclosure so Microsoft ment? Remember, the whole purpose of the to all parties. Talk won’t lose its leverage,” and working out patent system is “to promote the progress of sci- royalty deals. This works because Microsoft ence and the useful arts.” If Microsoft tries using about going holds almost 7,000 patents, according to the patents to kill off an entire industry, it might USPTO database; you’d have a hard time not be happy with the resulting backlash. ▲ nuclear. You can get saucy with Pete at [email protected].

CPU / August 2007 81 caught in the web Tune In To The New Web Radio You Are Your Own Disc Jockey

f it’s been a few years since you tried diversity of models at work here. When Pandora’s Magic Box online streaming music services, then we looked over some of the leading Among the most interesting projects I tune in again. Gone are the days of examples of the genre, we found services in online music is Pandora Radio’s obscure music playing over low-res, such as Pandora, which is as simple and (www.pandora.com) database of tracks pause-plagued connections. Web 2.0 has clean as flipping on a switch, to the indexed according to different tastes and finally caught up to online music, or vice densely social Last.fm. For indie and musical attributes. Pandora is the simplest versa. All of the most important develop- local music fans there is ReverbNation, of all Web radio services. You program a ments in Web technology and content and for the fans of big labels who want a station simply by entering an artist or models over the last years have been deep library and tremendous future flexi- song at the front page of the very clean brought to bear on a new generation of bility, there is Slacker. We’re seeing a lot AJAX-enabled browser interface. The Web music, from interactive AJAX Web of styles for a range of audiences at this songs play as the album art simply passes interfaces to new broadband reliability, early stage in the evolution of Web in a ribbon on-screen. You vote thumbs social networking, and surprisingly good Radio 2.0. up or down on a song’s suitability to this fidelity. At services such as Pandora, Better still, all of these services are free channel and your taste. You can share the Slacker, and ReverbNation, the new age and ad-supported, although some offer “station” with someone, buy the track of fully personalized, totally socialized expanded functionality and no ads for a directly from iTunes or Amazon, or music is here. What is fascinating about fee. Who can resist dancing across the expand the playlist simply by adding the new wave in online music is the Web radio dial to sample all of them? other artists, songs, or existing stations. Like all of these services, Pandora is ad- supported and it wraps large format pro- motions around the player window. Even better for Sprint customers, Pandora is one of the only Webcasters we found that has a mobile component that synchronizes with your online account. This $2.99 per month mobile service uses a Java application that downloads to select Sprint phones that can handle music playback. Using the same simple interface, Mobile Pandora stays in sync with your Web account, and all new channels that show up on one device (PC or phone) also appear on the other. Pandora’s uniqueness comes from the Music Genome Project, a group of musicians and technicians who personal- ly index thousands of tracks by looking for their “genes.” In addition to the usual broad categories of musical taste and musical era, they apply tags for a song’s internal harmonies, instrumentation, arrangement, and vocal styles, among many other data points. The result is a

82 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com caught in the web

Should You Give Up Your iPod? Web radio services have come a long way in just the last year, but what are the pros and cons of iPods and iTunes vs. online streams?

iPod/iTunes Pros Cons • Deepest music library around, available on demand, commercial free • No social networking, little music sharing • Replay any song endlessly • Price: 99 cents per tune ($1.29 for DRM-free) adds up • Assured quality, especially with the new DRM-free, higher-bit-rate • DRM: Apple’s standard DRM is difficult to use on non-Apple option devices • Portability and convenience: Take it everywhere. • Staying in a rut: You get to play only the tunes you buy or stream • Podcasts: A new universe of on-demand audio broadcasting is present over an iTunes radio station (with no customization), which limits in iTunes but seems absent in all of the Web radio portals we explored. opportunities for new music discovery.

Music Services Pros Cons • Free with ads/low fees without ads • Limited libraries: It’s hard to judge the depth of the libraries in • One-click access to lots of information about any song or group many of these services because you cannot search their database currently playing. Some services give you full artist discogra- and play specific songs. phies, album reviews, and track breakdowns, while others can list • Unpredictable quality: The quality of the stream, pauses, crashes, upcoming concerts and related blogs. etc. depend entirely on network bandwidth and your browser. • Social networking built into many online music services lets you • No replays, limited skipping: Web radio music licenses prohibit discover both music and friends. replaying specific songs and even skipping ahead more than five • Letting the service choose songs helps you discover new music. or six times in a session. • Privacy: These companies are tracking massive amounts of per- sonal behaviors and tastes. • Non-portability: For now, these services require a Web connection. unique assemblage of similar tracks into of prefabricated genre stations to set your stations. Our Beatles station, for and forget. But you can also enter an instance, has some songs from the Fab artist to get a station programmed Four themselves, but also has ballads by around that musical style. While Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis “Beatles” on Pandora gave us a more Costello, and more obscure offerings such eclectic mix across eras, Slacker gave as Spooky Tooth. For musical adventur- us more foursomes from the ‘60s ers, Pandora’s unique approach to person- and ‘70s, and more of The Beatles alization lets you discover aspects of your themselves. You can modify a sta- own taste you may not have recognized. tion by adding currently playing artists to the station and then you Slacker has ambitions of releasing an MP3 device and An Ambitious Slacker can make the station a “preset” that even satellite radio distribution. Contrary to its name, Slacker.com is you access quickly from any PC. ambitious. The “personalized radio” service You can also tag certain tracks as has a robust Web radio service with a deep favorites, which puts them in a tighter mode. A $7.50 per month Premium library of tunes. Its downloadable jukebox rotation. Like most of these services, you Radio service will launch later in 2007 software also controls your existing MP3 can send a song to a friend as well. and will let you save tracks to your library. And a promised Slacker MP3 play- The newly released downloadable juke- library, advance tracks beyond the free er device will use Wi-Fi to stay connected box player lets you run the service directly six-track skip limit, and run the service to the online service from almost anywhere. from your Desktop in minimized player without ads. The portable device has yet Slacker is even promising tie-ins with satel- mode, and with visualizations and larger to arrive, as has a plan to let Slacker lite in-car radio delivery. album art. It also lets you add your hard run through satellite radio networks. If The free, ad-supported Slacker is busier drive’s MP3s for playback in their own Slacker makes good on all its promises, than Pandora, in that if offers you a series playlists. Slacker is still very much in beta then it may be a good service for those

CPU / August 2007 83 caught in the web

who want a single musical source avail- and tag songs. The “scrobbling” function Of Privacy, Policy & Survival able anywhere. is where plugins for Desktop players such As compelling and easy as personal- as iTunes actually send Last.fm info ized radio may be, the much-improved Getting Scrobbled With Last.fm on every song you play on your PC. platform will have to contend with two While it does have some of Pandora’s Scrobbling is supposed to deepen your key issues in short order: privacy and simplicity and downloadable jukebox soft- own profile and help Last.fm detect royalty payments. ware, Last.fm (www.last.fm) is at heart a emerging trends, waning popu- music service with a very social attitude. It larity, and create a music service is as much about sharing and combining more in tune with user tastes. tastes with others as it is about playing Only time will tell if this accu- tunes. You can use the simple Web inter- mulated knowledge will make face to enter an artist and find a radio sta- Last.fm into the Web’s super- tion. You can add friends to your online brain of musical knowledge. list so you can easily share music with While it is more intricate to use them. Last.fm also turns stations into wid- than other services, Last.fm gets that you can post on your blog. (recently purchased by CBS) is Last.fm has less flexibility when it comes the place for people who think to customizing stations, but the service is music is as much about finding ReverbNation is all about the indie rocker, the local venue, unlike any other in that it surrounds the new friends as finding new tunes. and expanding users’ appreciation for grassroots rock. music with social functionality; tagging, sharing, and connecting with others. A $3 Garage Band ReverbNation Before engaging these or any other per month premium version eliminates Like Last.fm, the free ReverbNation newer music service, users should pay ads and lets you share stations with others. (www.reverbnation.com) puts a premium special attention to the privacy policies The downloadable player is less a juke- on sociability. It is closer to MySpace than involved in monitoring your musical box than a dedicated Web radio interface a Web music service. You create a profile taste, usage patterns, and communications that lets you run stations, and recommend on a sign-up page that creates a public page with peers. Most of the major services with your recent playlists, photos, friends, explicitly insist they share no personally and a personal blog. Generally, Reverb- identifiable information with others, We Like iLike Nation is a place for indie bands and small including advertisers. But when this sec- One way to split the difference between labels to post their music and create com- tor consolidates, then the acquiring com- the convenience and depth of iTunes munities of fans. You won’t find Green pany gets all personal information and and the iPod and the discovery and Day or Rolling Stones tracks here, but you creates its own rules for use. social networking strengths of the Web will discover up and comers from Duluth, And the Web music industry may need services is a neat little program we just Minn., and other places where talent often to consolidate quickly just to pay its rising found called iLike (www.ilike.com). grows without nationwide notice. The ser- royalty bills. In March 2007, the Copyright This plug-in for iTunes actually reads vice lets you plug into the local music scene Royalty Board set new and higher rates that your music library and monitors the with lists of nearby club dates. Much of the Internet radio stations must pay for each music you play to enhance a music site is aimed at giving bands tools for reach- track they play online. The rate goes from profile page you maintain online to ing fans and promoting club dates. $.0008 per track in 2007 to more than share with others. The profile page You can create TunePacks that you can double that, $.0018, in 2009. For fledgling even shows what you’re playing on send as playlists to others via email or post companies , that can be enough to spell the your Desktop at the moment. iLike to a blog. The music selection is more lim- end of their businesses. The SaveNetRadio essentially makes iTunes more social. ited than services that license music from group at www.savenetra dio.org is fighting When you play music in iTunes, the major labels. But this site gives you deeper the royalty rates. sidebar shows recommendations from connections with others in your area to Losing streaming music services from the the iLike library, including free down- meet and exchange music and information Web would indeed be a pity. In the month loads and profiles of iLike members on local bands. You can find profiles by we spent with some of these services, we dis- who also play this music. The integra- region and focus on the people and events covered new bands and venues in our own tion with iTunes is quite deep. If you involved in your area. We liked Reverb- areas. Online radio is light years ahead of hit a fee-based song in the recommen- Nation’s spirit more than its technology. the narrow playlists of top 40 radio, when a dations lists, it lets you buy it directly The player seemed to clash with our brows- single Madonna song played relentlessly on from the iTunes store. There is some er often. Still, if you’re into local music, every radio in the country. limited functionality of the plug-in with then joining ReverbNation can give you Windows Media player. ▲ citizenship in a new world of indie artists. by Steve Smith

84 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com The Department Of Stuff content.txt

very generation of humanity stands on years. The rules are complicated and vary E the shoulders of the generation that came from country to country. before it. You couldn’t have cars without Further complicating matters now are pub- wheels. You couldn’t have the microprocessor lishing rights being owned by corporations without EINIAC. And you couldn’t have The that never die. Does a 12-line poem and a Beatles without Beethoven. From art to music three-chord sequence deserve to be protected to technology, every field of human discovery until the end of time, guaranteeing revenue requires a concept called The Public Domain for the descendants of an artist indefinitely? in order to progress. The ideas of the father But I think all of these things miss the are expanded by the ideas of the child. important points of fair use, and the growth This has worked well for thousands of of the public domain of knowledge. At some years. No caveman managed to patent the point, we need to acknowledge that a Beatles discovery of fire and prevent his neighboring song is part of our collective cultural heritage. tribes from cooking their meat. Children should learn how to play guitars by But in the last few hundred years, concepts singing those songs. Musicians should create Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda is the such as patents and copyrights have come new music by sampling those recordings. It’s creator and director of the popular along to protect the rights of the creators. This been nearly half a century, after all. News for Nerds Web site makes a lot of sense: If you are a composer, it The content creators want to charge you Slashdot.org. He spends his time would be nice that you would make some over and over again. From vinyl to 8-track to fiddling with electronic gizmos, money from your creation. tape to CD to digital downloads. And then wandering the ’Net, watching Now there is a groundswell of people in again for every iPod you buy. And again for anime, and trying to think of this current generation who will instantly ringtones on your phone. For a song recorded clever lies to put in his bio so that have a knee-jerk reaction when they think decades ago. They want criminal charges for he seems cooler than he actually is. about any restrictions on creative property piracy: They don’t want to fine people, they whatsoever, and I think this is just unreason- want them in jail. able. From the words on a Web page to the Meanwhile, the collective body of the notes in a song, creativity deserves to be re- public domain seems to have stopped grow- At some point, warded. I get my paycheck because advertisers ing. Only content explicitly created and pay for your eyeballs near my words. This is placed there can be expanded. Fortunately no different than if I flipped burgers and some creators have seen that this is impor- we need to made you a sandwich. tant: music, patents, and even The issue is how long I film. We have a small but acknowledge that should be allowed to growing body of con- collect on my cre- tent that future a Beatles song ativity and what creators are able the legal ramifica- to extend in is part of our tions are when I order to fur- think you are try- ther the wealth ing to rob me. of collective hu- collective cultural These cases man knowledge. were a lot easier And it’s a good heritage. in the past. Many thing, too. time frames have Otherwise, with so Children should been used. Originally, many common sounds patents in the United falling under the control learn how to play States lasted a few years. of individuals, our grandkids Same for creative works. Over will be hard-pressed to create much time, new deadlines have been imposed of anything new if they aren’t allowed guitars by singing on copyrights, such as the death of the to stand on our shoulders the same way work’s creator, or their death plus 20 we stood on those of our parents. ▲ those songs. by Rob “CmdrTaco” Malda

CPU / August 2007 85 by Jen Edwards

Handy Gadgets From Brando Make Mobility Simple wo new products from Brando’s USB store (usb.brando.com T .hk) can help lighten the load in your computer case and add flexible options to your mobile workday. The first is the 55-in-1 Bluetooth Card Reader + Hub ($29). Not only does it read all vari- ations of SD, Memory Stick, xD, and CF memory cards, but it also doubles as a two-port USB 2.0 hub and triples as a Bluetooth dongle, adding short-range Bluetooth communications to your laptop. With trans- fer speeds up to 480Mbps and support for such a wide variety of memory cards, the 55-in-1 Bluetooth Card Reader + Hub can easily replace several of the peripherals you’re carrying. Brando’s 55-in-1 card The second is the USB Power Backup ($20), a 2,400mAh rechargeable Li-Ion bat- reader works with almost tery that can recharge cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras, and other small electronic any memory expansion card devices. It has a built-in USB port that lets you use your existing cables instead of forcing you and adds both Bluetooth to buy proprietary connectors for each device. Although it’s not an entirely new concept, this connectivity and two USB is one of the least expensive options to date. ▲ ports to your notebook. Apple Updates MacBook With Faster Processors, Bigger Hard Drives pple’s MacBook line recently received an update, including faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Each model is equipped with a A 13.3-inch widescreen display, 1GB of RAM (expandable to 2GB), a built-in iSight camera for videoconferencing, 802.11n wireless networking, Bluetooth 2.0, two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, Apple Remote, and the MagSafe power adapter. The 2GHz model ($1,099) has an 80GB hard drive and a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, while the 2.16GHz ($1,299 white, $1,499 black) model has a 120GB (white) or 160GB (black) hard drive and an upgraded optical drive (Apple’s DVD+R DL/ DVD±RW SuperDrive). All models come with iLife ’06 and Mac OS X Tiger and are now available. ▲

Foleo Offers The Best Of Both Worlds he Foleo Mobile Companion from Palm is the first offering in T a new product category that seeks to bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops. The 2.5-pound, Linux-based Foleo has a large 10-inch screen, full-sized keyboard with scroll wheel and track point navigation, and an estimated battery life of five hours. An instant-on feature with no boot time enhances mobile produc- tivity by avoiding long shutdowns, and because your work is con- stantly saved, you can pick up where you left off at any time. It includes a specially-optimized version of the Opera Web browser, plus a PDF reader and Documents To Go, which lets Palm’s Foleo could be the missing link that smartphone and users view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint laptop users have been waiting for. files. The included video-out port allows you to run Power- Point presentations on the road without lugging along a lap- top, and both SD and CF expansion slots are included, as well as a USB port and headphone jack. Foleo can work with Palm OS and Windows Mobile-based Treo smartphones. It synchronizes via Bluetooth or on its own with built-in Wi-Fi capability. Because the syncronization platform is open and Palm is actively working with third-party developers, the company believes that the Foleo will also work with smartphones from companies such as RIM and Symbian soon after release. The Foleo is expected to be available this summer for $499 (after a $100 introductory rebate). ▲

86 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com Compaq Reveals PhoneWeaver Takes Charge With New Ultralight Tablet PC Windows Mobile Smartphones he latest addition to HP’s Compaq computer BSH (www.sbsh.net) PhoneWeaver ($14.95) T line is the 2710p, a convertible Tablet PC with S uses up to 100 profiles to centralize countless a 12.1-inch display featuring proprietary Illumi-Lite smartphone functions, including ringer volume/ technology. HP claims Illumi-Lite can enhance bat- vibrating alerts, push email, network connections, tery life by up to 90 minutes compared to tradition- and more. PhoneWeaver lets you trigger each pro- al LCD backlighting. Starting at only 3.6 pounds, file manually or automatically according to partic- the computer measures 1.11 x 11.42 x 8.35 inches ular time of day, battery level, or your office status (free/busy/out of the office). A Today screen plug- in module makes the process of managing and PhoneWeaver can auto- switching profiles quick and easy. matically silence your PhoneWeaver is compatible with Pocket PC smartphone during 2003, Windows Mobile 5, and Windows Mo- business meetings or bile 6 devices. It also supports both square and switch it to flight mode landscape screens. ▲ with minimum effort.

BlackBerry Throws A Curve esearch In Motion has added a new Curve to its line of smart- R phones; the latest one is also the smallest yet and still offers a full QWERTY keyboard. The 320 x 240 display has a built-in light sensor that automatically adjusts the backlight setting based on ambient light. A 2MP camera is equipped with 5X zoom, and the microSD slot supports cards up to 4GB. The Curve also includes Roxio MediaManager and Roxio PhotoSuite 9 LE. The Web browser has bookmark and RSS capabilities and sup- ports trackball navigation. Email access for up to 10 accounts is available with the BlackBerry Internet Service, and corporate users are supported via the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. ▲

The HP Compaq 2710p offers the best of both worlds in Dataviz Offers Updated a convertible Tablet PC only 1.1 inches thick. Office 2007 Compatibility he latest version of Dataviz’s (www.dataviz.com) Documents To Go (HxWxD). HP Night Light illuminates the key- T Premium Edition will bring full Microsoft Office 2007 Word, Ex- board, making it easier to type in low-light condi- cel, and PowerPoint compatibility to Windows Mobile 5 smartphones tions without the use of a USB flylight. An Intel and Windows Mobile 6 Standard devices. Although Microsoft is expect- Core 2 Duo ULV processor, 1GB RAM (expand- ed to release a patch that will let users use Office files in the new format able to 4GB), hard drive options ranging from 60 to directly, the editing options will be more limited than those available in 100GB, two USB ports, an SD card reader, an Ex- Documents To Go. Customers who purchase the current Premium Edi- press Card slot, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth wireless net- tion for $29.99 will also receive the upgrade when it is released. working round out the package. BlackBerry device users will also soon be able to view and edit Options include your choice of an antiglare digitizer Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files in their native for- or an outdoor-viewable screen, an integrated camera mats, something previously possible only for Palm OS, Windows for videoconferencing, and an expansion base that in- Mobile, and Symbian device users. The application will use Data- tegrates a DVD-RW SuperMulti drive. An ultra-slim viz’s InTact Technology, which retains file formatting that you battery is also available, bringing the total possible bat- send or receive on your BlackBerry smartphone. Pricing details and tery life up to 10 hours, long enough to power a full a release date weren’t available at press time, though it is expected mobile workday. HP is also planning to offer EVDO to ship later this year. DataViz has also updated RoadSync to in- and HSDPA options for wireless broadband connec- clude compatibility with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, adding tivity. Prices were not available at press time. ▲ SharePoint file access. ▲

CPU / August 2007 87 Games Digital Living Gear Movies At Your Music The entertainment world, at least where it pertains to technology, morphs, twists, turns, and fires so fast it’s hard to keep up. But that’s exactly why we love it. For the lowdown on the latest and most interesting releases in PC entertainment, consoles, DVDs, CDs, and just leisure and lifestyle stuff we (for Leisure the most part) love and recommend, read on.

A u d i o V i d e o C o r n e r by Blaine A. Flamig

Paul McCartney—“Memory Almost Full” Surprisingly, “Memory Almost Full” is a mostly rocking, up-tempo affair from the former Beatle, now an unbe- lievable 65 years old. Filled with reflections on his youth, moments squandered, and contemplations toward the afterlife (“The End Of The End”), McCartney is in familiar pop mode here, though he occasionally strays into heavier modes on “Only Mama Knows” and “Gratitude,” on which he riffs on his ex, Heather Mills. Regretta- bly, too few tunes resemble the “Helter Skelter”-worthy fuzziness of “Nod Your Head.” “Memory Almost Full,” $18.98 on which McCartney played nearly every instrument, represents the first release from the Starbucks Hear Music Hear Music label. Check out McCartney’s musings on the record at hearmusic.com/#press. www.paulmccartney.com

Bruce Springsteen & The Sessions Band—“Live In Dublin” (DVD) DVD Recorded during a tour-closing stint in November 2006 in Dublin’s The Point venue, “Live In Dublin” is flat out one of the best musical performances you could hope to Byte hear from any group of musicians. Available on two CDs, DVD (shot wonderfully in HD using nine cameras), and a Special Edition version combining the two, “Live In 6/26 Dublin” leans heavily on the traditional songs Springsteen recorded for his 2006 folk Black inspired “The Seeger Sessions” but also includes reworkings of such self-penned $14.98 Snake gems as “Atlantic City,” “Growing Up,” “Open All Night,” and “Blinded By The Sony Records Moan www.brucespringsteen.net Light.” Drunk on banjos, peddle steel guitar, horns, mandolins, fiddles, and more, “Live In Dublin” is as good as live recordings get. Pride Shooter The Best Of Chappelle’s Show 7/3 If you’re a serious fan of the far-too-brief “Chappelle’s Show,” you already own Season 1 and Season 2 on DVD. You probably also own a copy of the lackluster “Lost Epi- The Untouchables: sodes.” With “Best Of,” it’s impossible to ignore that Comedy Central is milking Special Collector’s Chappelle’s magic for all it’s worth, but seconds into the dementedly sarcastic “Clayton Edition Bigsby: Blind White Supremacist” sketch that opens the disc, you won’t care. “Best (HD DVD/Blu-ray) $19.99 Of” is marketed as the show’s “top 25 sketches,” and it will please you to know Eureka: Comedy Central Chappelle’s treatment of Rick James, R. Kelly, Prince, and “Traded Spouses” are Season One www.comedycentral.com all represented. Now, fetch yourself a Samuel Jackson Beer and enjoy. 7/10 The Messengers The Astronaut Farmer With Sam Raimi onboard as producer, you have a right to expect “The Messengers” to The Last Mimzy rise above horror film mediocrity. Fortunately, it manages to do so, thanks primarily to the creepy atmospheres the Pang brothers (Oxide and Danny) conjure up from their director chairs. The plot, which finds father Roy (Dylan McDermott) moving his wife (Penelope 7/17 Ann Miller), daughter (Kristen Stewart), and son (Evan Turner) to a creepy North Dakota The Hills Have Eyes 2 $18.99 sunflower farm, feels too familiar in an “Amityville Horror” way. If you can endure clichéd Premonition Sony Pictures exchanges such as “Can’t we just go home?”/“This is home,” Factory Girl www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/themessengers “The Messengers” is worth watching for the Pang’s slow-building atmospheric tension. See the full reviews from A/V Corner at www.cpumag.com/cpuaug07/AYL

88 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com Burn Rubber At The Top -by Dr. Malaprop $59.99 (360) • ESRB: (E)veryone • Microsoft • forzamotorsport.net

ony’s Gran Tourismo is one of models aren’t visually on par with presumably because of the consis- S the grand master titles in the the latest PGR games. The camera tent 60fps frame rate. And the world of console sim racing, and angles are limited, so replays aren’t physics work, seen in fully simulat- legions of fans are waiting for it to as intense as they should be. And ed tire usage, engine damage, bow on PS3. Similarly, Microsoft’s cars don’t feature modeled interior and much more takes place in the PGR (Project Gotham Racing) 3 has cockpits—a slick bit of extra real- background of this eye candy. that hit mix of arcade-class game- ism that Codemaster’s DiRT and Damage to your car affects its per- play with drop-dead gorgeous Gran Turismo both do quite well. formance, which makes a big dif- graphics, plus it made the key addi- Predictably, Forza 2 plays well on ference when driving against intel- tion of rewarding drivers for their the Microsoft Racing Wheel (recent- ligent AI that learns from races and driving achievements. Now we have ly and perhaps not coincidentally adjusts itself accordingly in an Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport 2, reduced to $129.99). But whereas effort to beat you. which throws in a slew of PC-class the PGR3 experience is OK on a After all these years, we’re fairly specs (60fps rendering, 2x FSAA, and standard Xbox 360 controller, we resistant to being addicted to this or HDR, all at 720p). It features incredi- found Forza 2 gameplay on the that game title, and non-racers don’t ble physics and is intuitively playable standard controller a much easier usually feel compelled to get behind by—are you sitting down?—newbie and more natural affair. While it’s the virtual wheel. Forza 2 is addictive, racing gamers, and you get all this hard to define why Forza 2 is better and it will compel the jaded and without compromising the tradi- in this regard, you experienced rac- uninterested if they give it a chance. tional experience craved by hard- ers know that in a good sim with The game’s developers looked close- core racing fans. Forza on the origi- good controls, you can feel the fine ly at all sorts of games, even trading nal Xbox was nearly perfect. This line between control and chaos as cards, and beneath all the glitz and second version, while mostly an tires struggle to tear free on break- thrill of a racing sim, one of the best Forza 2 is the best racing sim incremental update on the surface, neck turns. After only a few races, hooks here is the incentive to con- you’ll find on the Xbox in terms of still manages to raise the bar for you’ll feel that line more accurately tinue playing in order to level up and depth, playability, customization, console racing even higher. in Forza 2 and respond to it with upgrade/purchase new cars. It’s like physics, driver AI, and community. Starting tracks span across North better precision. climbing a mountain to see what’s at If you’re a 360 gamer with a “pass- America, Europe, and Asia, includ- Racers with deep pockets can the top. Community features let ing” interest in burning rubber, ing newly licensed real-life tracks. combine multiple 360s, wide- players customize their livery of cars this one is well worth You get over 45 circuits in all. Tack screen displays, and copies of the and put them up for sale. As we go your attention. ▲ on a gleaming array of over 300 cars game to craft a multiscreen racing to press, the game is brand new but ranging from everyday economy experience. Graphically, the game players are already selling some rigs to the hottest exotics. Each car moves very well. You can see and stunning cars via the can be custom-tuned (especially sense this in subtle ways. Those of built-in auction useful for Xbox Live multiplayer us prone to console vertigo felt less system. races) and visually tweaked in com- nauseous after prolonged game- pletely unique ways. play (umm, that’s a com- Forza 2 looks stunning but lacks pliment), in a few areas. The external car

CPU / August 2007 89 Smash TV & Gauntlet’s Strange, Cool Love Child -by Chris Trumble $49.99/$59.99 (PC/X360) • ESRB: (T)een SouthPeak Interactive www.monster-madness.com

s power users, it’s easy to get refreshing trend-bucker in this thanks to the Unreal 3 engine and a levels for cel-shad- Acaught up in the search for the regard. It is remarkably hardware- graphical style that eschews the ed storyboard Next Big Thing in gaming, software friendly, requiring a minimum of photo-realistic look that’s in vogue presentations, that pushes our high-end CPUs and only a 1.5GHz P4, 512MB of RAM, these days in favor of a top-down, complete with appropriately cheesy video cards to their limits and hun- and a 128MB Direct3D-compatible comic book-style motif that works voice work. grily consumes all the RAM we can video card. Despite such forgiving like a charm. MM also trades pre- In Monster Madness, you play as throw at it. Monster Madness is a minimums, the game looks great, rendered 3D cutscenes in between one of four high school kids fight- ing a wave of monsters invading your quiet suburban neighborhood (a town called Suburbia, no less). You can do this on your own or with up to three friends in online co-op play, and your pals can enter your game and leave it at any time PC vs. 360: Shadowrun Showdown . . . -by Dr. Malaprop without disrupting things. Each $49.99 (PC-DVD); $59.99 (360) • ESRB: (T)een • Microsoft • shadowrun.com level presents new challenges and waves of enemies (more than 70 hadowrun is an old school pen-and-paper, fanta- You can play in one of three game modes against monster types in all) that you must S sy-cyberpunk RPG from FASA (yes, the same real opponents or bots across nine maps. While the dispatch with a plethora of wea- folks behind the Battletech universe), but the game title is entertaining, it just doesn’t feel worthy of the pons, and you can upgrade the was a multiplayer first-person shooter that seemed $49.99 and $59.99 price tags for 360 and PC, respec- weapons and build cool new ones to have more in common with Counter-Strike than tively, especially as both versions omit single-player using power-ups you’ll find it did to the RPG. The graphics weren’t fabulous, but campaigns. This could have helped to flesh out the throughout the game. the game was entertaining enough. Shadowrun universe’s rich backstory…alas. The game The weapon-building mechanic Now that Shadowrun is out on both PC and 360, is also unevenly polished, visually attractive in some adds a surprising amount of depth, it’s time to look past the popular criticism and evalu- areas but sorely lacking in others. The end impression and the game’s story, a fond parody ate the game as it stands today: a cross-platform, mul- is that the game was rushed out prematurely for the of horror films and other pop cul- tiplayer-only FPS. The addition of magic into stereo- LIVE launch. There’s ample multiplayer mayhem to be ture staples, is pleasantly engaging. If typically gun-laden gameplay is a step in the right had, but we recommend seeking you thirst for more multiplayer direction, because once you get past the fact that the out a lower price or action, you can jump into one of game is an FPS, you find yourself going after enemies rental before you several online play modes support- utilizing strategies that aren’t typically available in purchase. It’s ing up to 16 players (the Xbox 360 multiplayer shooters. To get you acclimated with this not easy version, of course, includes full Xbox new approach, the developers thoughtfully included a going up against Live support), and the PC version tutorial consisting of six training missions. As with Battlefield, Unreal also ships with a level editor. Halo 2, Shadowrun is a Windows Vista-only game and Tournament, and Monster killers, let’s kill runs on the Games for Windows - LIVE service, Counter-Strike— some monsters. ▲ enabling matchmaking and voice chat during game- even with play across both PC and console platforms. magic. ▲

90 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com (For Vista) A Questionable Exclusivity -by Dr. Malaprop $49.99 (PC-DVD) • ESRB: (M)ature • Microsoft • www.microsoft.com/games/halo2

here’s plenty to love about Halo 2. The PC version's epic 2 is not a DirectX 10 title. However, a generous spirit might T storyline mirrors that of the console version and hasn't lost counter that Vista is necessary for Vista’s integration with the its charm despite the game's abrupt ending. The game still takes Games for Windows - LIVE service. Hrmph. 10 to 12 hours to play through. New inclusions are the multi- Like the console version, Halo 2 features Tray and Play player map editor and two new multiplayer maps. The Games “technology,” allowing you to insert your DVD and begin for Windows - LIVE service platform also debuts on Windows playing soon thereafter without a traditional installation. with this release. Xbox Live fans will undoubtedly hunt down Hardcore gamers may not care, but T&P may appeal to the those addictive in-game Achievements to bolster their mass market folks, some of whom still struggle with picking Gamerscores, and although this is a PC game, you’ll have the an install subfolder. PC-to-Xbox 360 multiplayer game sup- upper hand when playing with an Xbox 360 game controller port is nonexistent, but Shadowrun (reviewed in this arti- since developers tied a nifty auto-aim feature to the device. cle) fills that niche nicely. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get excited about a 3-year-old The Vista requirement is . . . what’s the original Xbox FPS game ported to the PC, especially when word? Lame. Still, Halo 2 is a reasonable compared against other modern FPS competitors. The way to introduce the new Live requirement of Windows Vista (Windows XP gamers need service on Windows. A lower not apply) seems even more contrived than the bond be- game price might make the tween Vista and DirectX 10. We say even more because Halo service more tempting. ▲

Lara Croft Rebooted -by Dr. Malaprop $29.99 (PC; PS2) • ESRB: (T)een • Eidos Interactive • www.tombraider.com/anniversary

few months back, we reviewed Tomb Raider: Crystal Dynamics improved the backstory, added new A Legend. With both good looks and playability, puzzles, and improved the gameplay mechanics by we liked it far more than any other recent Tomb integrating the Tomb Raider: Legend game engine. Raider iteration that came to mind. (Tomb Raider: And while controlling Lara is easy and fluid, the cam- Angel of Darkness, anyone? Ew.) Eidos didn’t want to a era angles can still be problematic. The game’s enemy let a good thing go to waste and decided to reimagine AI could also use a boost; your sense of menace evap- the original 1996 action-adventure. With Anniversary, orates quickly when an attacking monster gets stuck. the company mostly succeeded. But the overall experience is a substantial improve- Anyone that played the original will find a sense of ment on the original classic and makes a good follow- nostalgia sneaking in as you visit Croft Manor and set up to Legend, especially at the budget price. Also, the off to explore the first few levels. The game’s levels will 15 massive levels will give any gamer ample room to be familiar to veterans of the original, but developer explore with Lara. ▲

CPU / August 2007 91 EA Nails Another Hot 360 RTS -by Dr. Malaprop $59.99 (360) • ESRB: T(een) • Electronic Arts • www.commandandconquer.com

A’s previous console real-time You really could make playable couple of hours into the game, the E strategy release, Lord Of The RTS for consoles. The PC version of 360 controller slowly becomes sec- Rings: The Battle For C&C: Tiberium Wars was our CPU ond nature, which in itself is impres- Middle Earth II, Game of the Month in June 2007. sive, although we still prefer the turned us from skep- Peek at that review to get some mouse-and-keyboard control of the tics into believers. background on the game, but the PC version. The central appeal of the basic gist is that you’ll be able to PC version—blowing things up and play as one of three factions (with watching battlefields obscure in a most of the focus on just two of riotous display of lightning and them) to annihilate both in-game fireworks—is here in all its glory, or multiplayer enemies. and the audio is equally engaging. Much of our June review A few surprises in this console applies here. C&C3 is an enjoy- port would have been welcome, able, classic-style RTS that sticks but we like the repeat to its roots while elevating performance just the game and technologies the same. ▲ to modern high-def, AI standards. If you invest a

Tankstick Careful, You’re Drooling -by Dr. Malaprop

$199.95 • ESRB: N/A nboxing the nearly 30-inch Tankstick and hefting 20 pounds of retro goodness into your lap X-Arcade U is undoubtedly the stuff of geek dreams. (We should know!) The hardware is compatible www.x-arcade.com/tankstick-arcade-game.shtml with your PC, Apple, Wii, Xbox, PS1, PS2, GameCube, and Dreamcast, although the consoles will CPU Rating: ●●●●● require additional adapters available for sale from X-Arcade. Adapters for the 360 and PS3 are still in development as of this writing. Included in the package are 18 arcades games, including Smash TV, Defender, Battlezone, Missile Command, and Super Breakout. The joysticks feature eight-way movement and will be familiar to anyone who has spent even a little time in the arcade. Around each stick is a cluster of eight but- tons. A single trackball sits between the joysticks clusters. Along each side are two buttons (the “flippers”) for playing pinball games and adding coins for each player. You can cus- tomize the joystick control, and the buttons can be remapped and set by following the included instructions. As with past X- Arcade controllers, the Tankstick feels solid, and the action on its parts is pure tactile glory for any arcade machine oldster. The Tankstick is MAME-friendly but evades a perfect rating because the price ultimately feels too high. Then again, if you’re serious about building your own arcade cabinet or enjoying your arcade games the way they were meant to be played, then the Tankstick is the cream of the crop. The manufacturer even backs this physical abuse victim with a lifetime warranty. The old adage “you get what you pay for” applies here. ▲

92 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com The Cutting Edge The Integrated Circuit

elcome to the waning years of the 19th Fairchild’s Robert Noyce came up with simi- W century. Alliances among the major lar ideas for an integrated circuit, building on powers are unraveling. Subject peoples are de- his own work and that of a colleague, Jean manding their own governments. There is an Hoemi. With the scent of money in the air, this ever-widening wealth gap between the dirt- naturally led to litigation between TI and Fair- poor and the rich. And, oh yes, the power of child, though it predictably ended with richer electricity is being put to use in mass-produced attorneys and a joint declaration that Kilby and inventions that light up the skies of a few met- Noyce had simultaneously invented the inte- ropolitan capitols at night, and others that grated circuit. (These days, Kilby receives the make verbal communications possible over dis- “first across the finish line” credit, while Noyce tances far greater than a convention hall. is seen as producing nuances on the result that Back then, the problem with harnessing elec- made it more amenable to mass production.) tricity for practical, everyday use was that people The U.S. military was impressed and com- began to perceive newer, more complex ways of missioned a guidance computer from TI for its applying it. Vacuum tubes switched, amplified, Minuteman missile, but the electronics industry Barry Brenesal has written and modified current, but they burned out, gen- as a whole remained skeptical. Chairman Patrick more than 1,000 published erated enormous heat, and were bulky. Beauti- Haggerty challenged Kilby to design a mini- articles and reviews on fully crafted radio sets were built with vacuum calculator with integrated circuitry as powerful electronic technology since tubes, but they were two or even three times as as the hulking electromechanical hybrids that 1987. His first personal large as the massive Panasonic microwave I’ve squatted on many desks of the period. Kilby and computer was a Radio Shack insisted on taking with us whenever my wife two colleagues thus became co-inventors of the TRS-80 model 100. It and I have moved over the last 21 years, because pocket calculator, and financial incentive did was last seen functioning it still works so well. It did not bode well for the what logic had failed to do: convince others that as a boat anchor. future of home electronic entertainment or the integrated circuit made miniaturized, com- labor-saving devices when radios were much plex electronics both possible and very reward- larger and heavier than Danny DeVito. ing. This was the necessary final step before the Necessity being the mother of invention, vac- physical development of microchips, and it led uum tubes gave way in 1947 to smaller and to triumphs of miniaturization that easily sur- longer-lasting transistors. But circuits were still passed the pocket calculator. Kilby had a necessarily being made by hand, which kept pro- For example, several students from the Uni- duction moving at glacial speeds, and hand-sol- versity of Pennsylvania’s electrical engineering dered joints were a weak link. Transistors were department developed a unique way a few years different part of the answer, but not the whole answer. ago to celebrate the 50th birthday of ENIAC, the When you’re new at a company, you typical- first electronically-based, reprogrammable digital ly don’t take a vacation at once, unless you’re a computer. They duplicated ENIAC—which pos- idea: make CEO netted with a multimillion contract. Jack sessed 70,000 resistors, 17,468 vacuum tubes, Kilby, who joined Texas Instruments in 1958, 10,000 capacitors, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 was no overpriced golden boy, so while most of relays, and 5 million hand-soldered joints—on a each circuit the company took two weeks off that summer, single chip. It took considerable ingenuity to he set about trying to solve the problem of reproduce the original’s architecture and circuit making a cost-effective method of producing structure. ENIAC weighed 30 tons and stood 8 x component and interconnecting circuit components. He 100 x 3 feet (HxWxD). ENIAC-on-a-Chip con- didn’t like the Micro-Module program that TI tains 174,569 transistors and measures roughly used, a kind of snap-in-place system of circuit 1/4 x 3/16 inches. part of a building, because it didn’t resolve issues with Not that Kilby and Noyce required further the “tyranny of numbers,” the creation of ever- vindication. Kilby received the Nobel Prize for larger, exponentially more complex circuits that Physics in 2000, as the inventor of the integrated single unit. demanded vast quantities of components. Kilby circuit, and Noyce was a co-founder of Intel. had a different idea: make each circuit compo- And since happy endings for inventors are so nent part of a single unit. rare in reality, we’re going to stop right there. ▲

Wax nostalgic with Barry at [email protected]

CPU / August 2007 93 tips & tricks

and click OK. Click the Down arrow next to Views in the Menu bar and then click Detail. You’ll now see the Support Link column. Alas, we have not figured out yet how to make this an actual hot link. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Learning To Share We can tell already that networking is going to be one of Vista’s big head- aches. As we outlined in previous tips pieces, getting Vista to recognize your Overcoming Vista Frustration other PCs, especially WinXP machines, on an existing network can be a major hassle. Just to review: make sure that ow that we have unearthed Programs in WinXP). In the left hand Vista is set up as a Private network with some of Windows Vista’s Tasks area click the Turn Windows its Network Discovery option on. Also, little conveniences and hid- Features On Or Off link and wait awhile on your WinXP machine, change the N den treasures, it is time to for the Windows Feature window to open Workgroup name from MSHOME to get down to the new operating system’s and locate all of the PC’s available pro- WORKGROUP to match Vista’s default little irritations. Some of the functions grams. Here you will see direct ways to naming convention. that were easy in Windows XP just aren’t enable/disable some basic Windows fea- But even after getting Vista to see other as accessible or seamless in Vista, and we tures such as Microsoft .NET and Tablet computers on a network, we have found keep running across them. Advanced PC components. If you mouse over any of that getting access to supposedly shared users may find that some basic operations these elements, a tooltip quickly indicates folders on a Vista machine is the biggest are not so basic anymore. the function. This is where you also can pain of all. Even after setting up a folder activate Telnet Client/Telnet Server and in Vista to share and making it visible to What Happened To My Old Features? activate or deactivate the new Windows Network Places on other PCs, we and If you’re wondering what happened to Meeting Space, which lets a group of near- many others repeatedly get an Access Is old reliable functionality such as Telnet by Vista machines collaborate wirelessly. Denied error message when trying to open clients, there is a host of obscure but Check or un-check your preferences and the shared folder. Typically, the message advanced services hidden within the Vista click OK to enable your changes. claims the target folder “is not accessible. Control Panel. Open the Control Panel You might not have permission to use the from the Start menu and click Classic What Updates, Where? network resource.” After playing with the View. Open the Programs And Features By default, Vista will try to maintain folder (formerly known as Add Or Remove automatic updates of the OS. Everyone WinXP Tip Of The Month has his preference when it comes to If you experience inexplicable sluggishness auto-updating, but if you down- in your Web browsing, you might try clear- loaded updates you’re not familiar ing Windows XP’s DNS cache. Use the Run with or want to uninstall, use the command and type command to bring up Programs And Features item in the a command window. Type and enter Control Panel. In the Tasks area, ipconfig /flushdns to clear the cache, click View Installed Updates to open which can make browsing snappier. a list of all your PC’s security and other Windows updates. To get Registry Tweak Of The Month more information on these updates, you can add a column that displays a To delete only select URLs from the drop- link to Microsoft’s support site, down address bar in Internet Explorer, go which will lead to an explanation of to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER the update. Right-click the columns \Software\Microsoft\InternetExplorer bar (the area with Name, Program, \TypedURLs to see all the URLs currently Some old friends from Windows past can be found in Publisher, etc.) and click the More recorded here. Next, simply delete the the Features panel tucked in an obscure corner of the option. In the Choose Details win- Value Name attached to the URL you Vista Control Panel dow, check the box for Support Link want to excise.

94 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com tips & tricks

The dreaded Click OK to close this window and then Access Is Denied OK again to close Advanced Sharing. At error message this point, the drive letter probably will from Windows show up on the Network Places directories XP. Without just of other PCs on the network, but you still the right settings in Vista, a folder only appears to be shared. may get the dreaded Access Is Denied mes- sage if you try to open it. The final piece in this puzzle involves shared and permissions settings relentlessly to maintain open access to an entire drive the Security tab in the drive’s Properties on Vista and consulting a number of from multiple laptops and PCs around window. In that tab, click Edit to bring online pro-am experts, we found some the office or home. WinXP made it rela- up another Permissions window. For the strategies worth trying. tively easy to share an entire drive from most part, the procedure here is the same For sharing individual folders, you need one PC on a network, but Vista makes it as that we went through above in the to set permissions properly. Of course, all nearly impossible. A shout-out to the Sharing tab. Click Add to bring up the of the basic sharing settings need to be acti- user named “Misoprostal” at Hardware Select Users Or Groups window. Click vated for your system first. In the Network Canucks.com is in order, as his or her Advanced and in the next window, click And Sharing Center (available in Vista’s detailed walkthrough helped us put some Find Now. Again, highlight the Everyone Control Panel), make sure your network is of the pieces together for this one. But, item in the bottom pane and click OK to configured as Private and that the File again, we warn users to secure their net- close this window and OK to close the Sharing setting is on. To set your network works (especially wireless networks) prior window, which will bring you back to Private, click the Customize link next to before opening up any folders or drives to the Permissions window. Here you will the name of your network at the top of for general access. We also strongly rec- find Everyone listed in the Group Or Vista’s Network And Sharing Center, then ommend that you not share your boot User Names pane, and you can highlight click the Private radio button, followed by drive. It is better to partition a new drive it to set the level of access and control you Next. Click Close in the following window, where you keep a dedicated directory of want below. Click OK or Apply to acti- and your network should be set to Private. files for sharing. Even though Vista does vate the changes. ▲ For optimal security, we recommend enforce restrictions against accessing sys- sharing only one folder at a time on the tem files on a shared drive, we think it is by Steve Smith network. To make that folder usable on just safer not to share the boot drive at another PC, highlight the folder and all. Here is how you can share a drive on right-click it to open the Properties box. a network via Vista, however. Click the Share tab and then the Share From the Start menu, click Computer button. In the next window, use the and right-click your target drive to bring up Wiiitis drop-down menu to choose Everyone. Be its Properties window. In the Shared tab, forewarned that this will make your folder you’ll notice that the Share button is dark- Have you been experiencing unusual usable from any PC that you allow onto ened and apparently unavailable. Click aches and soreness lately even though the network. Next, click Add and you instead on the Advanced Sharing button. you can’t remember the last time you should see Everyone appear in the win- In the next window, check the Share This went to the gym? If you own a Nintendo dow below. Now click Share and you Folder box, and beneath the bottom pane Wii, you may be suffering from Wiiitis. should get a confirmation window. Click click the Permissions button. In the Group Thanks to virtual games such as tennis, Done to close it. Keep in mind that in Or User Names pane, if you do not see the bowling, baseball, boxing, and most instances all you have done thus far Everyone option, use the Add button to golf, Wii players are perhaps is make the folder visible to other PCs, bring up the Select Users Or Groups win- engaging in more physical but you probably don’t have full permis- dow and then click the Advanced button. activity than they realize— sion to modify the files. To tweak the per- In the next window click the Find Now Wii aficionados around mission levels, click the Security tab, button and then highlight Everyone in the the world have experienced highlight the Everyone item in the top list below. Click OK to close out this win- pains akin to regular sports pane and click Edit. Here is where you dow and then OK again to close out the injuries. The cure? Take some can check the boxes in the bottom pane next window, which should bring you back ibuprofen and avoid the Wii for granting permission to Modify a file. to the Permissions window. The Everyone for a few hours. Make your choices and click OK to close group now should be visible in the top out all the windows. pane, and you can check the bottom pane While it can create an enormous secu- to adjust the permissions for letting a net- rity hole, some of us need work user change these files.

CPU / August 2007 95 tips & tricks

Each category has a series of plug-ins running down the left side of the screen that you can activate or deactivate by checking or unchecking checkboxes. In addition, clicking the plug-in itself changes the lower right-hand portion of the pane to display options for that plug- in. We’ll call the items on this section of the screen “plug-ins.” Completing this overly complex design, the right-hand side pane may have one or more tabbed panes, with one or more settings in each tab. Let’s just say that simple UI design is not one of Beryl’s strengths. We’ll call Let Beryl Cure Your Aero Envy, Part II these “tabs,” and the individual items in the tabs “options.” Now that we have a n the last column, we went through Visual Effects. Everything but General set of labels, let’s delve into adjusting the process of installing the Beryl Options selects a control pane for a set some of Beryl’s settings. desktop manager and took a brief of plug-ins, which are portions of Beryl I look at a few features. You may that you can choose to enable or disable. Customize The Cube & More have noticed that Beryl has a ton of con- Selecting one of these items from the Texture Filtering, which is the first figuration options, just from the very top changes the remainder of the screen option on the Main tab of the General brief look we took at them last time. to display the settings for that catego- Options plug-in in the General Options This time around, we’ll take a brief tour ry of plug-ins (or the core Beryl settings category, controls how much processing of the configuration settings and touch under the General Options pane, which power is devoted to removing jaggies on a few of the more useful ones. we’ll consider a plug-in for the remain- from moving windows. We didn’t no- One of the few things missing from der of this article, even though it isn’t). tice a great deal of difference between Beryl is any help for the Settings Man- We’ll call them categories. any of the three settings (Fast, Good, ager; unless you know what Texture and Best); if your system resources are Filtering is, you’ll have no clue what a already lean, you might want to stick reasonable value should be. Luckily, the with Fast. Beryl Wiki (wiki.beryl-project.org/wiki Further down, you’ll find Level /Beryl_Settings_Manager) has good doc- Of Focus Stealing Prevention. This umentation for most of the settings you controls how likely a newly created can adjust. Mousing over options will window will “steal” focus from the also give you a brief description, but window you’re currently working in. It sometimes it’s not much more than the is set to Low by default; some users name of the option itself. That said, have reported having to either set it to let’s take a look at some you should either end of the spectrum (none or know about. extreme) to get certain applications to work right. Expand Your Beryl-cabulary The Horizontal Virtual Size slider First, let’s agree on some terminology controls how many sides are on the to help navigate to various options. We “Cube” of desktops. (Beryl’s Cube is real- need to do this because there are a lot of ly a misnomer; it’s an n-sided polygon, options spread across three sets of tabs. The Settings Manager is divided up into so you could have hundreds of desktop At the top of the Settings window you’ll categories that have individual plug-ins. faces to rotate through if you wanted.) see a series of choices, including General Each plug-in may have tabs, which contain In the Advanced section, you’ll find Options, Window Management, and the settings themselves. the Unredirect Fullscreen Windows

96 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com tips & tricks

checkbox. Ignoring for a moment the thumbnails. If you uncheck the plug-in rotate the Cube. The Animation plug-in grammatical horror that is “Unredirect,” entirely, ALT-TAB will do nothing. lets you change the visual behavior of this option ensures that Beryl won’t Both the Move Window and Resize windows when they are maximized, process any full-screen windows. This Window plug-ins let you specify win- minimized, closed, created, etc. Fading will keep Beryl from interfering with dow transparency. In addition, the Windows lets windows gradually fade to video game performance, for example. Misc. Move Window’s Options tab lets transparency if they sit idle for too long. The Focus And Raise section have two you constrain window moves to stay And Wobbly Windows (one of our very useful checkboxes. Click To Focus, within the confines of the screen. favorites) makes windows jiggle when when unchecked, will cause whatever One of the most intriguing plug-ins you move them around. window you mouse over to have the key- is Set Window Attribs. In short, this Completing our tour, the Extras cat- board’s focus. If you check the Auto- lets you set various parameters, such as egory has several interesting plug-ins Raise checkbox, that window will move opacity (transparency), brightness, and such as a screenshot utility and the abil- to the front after a delay specified by saturation, based on the window’s title, ity to view taskbar minimized windows the Auto-Raise Delay slider, which is in controlling program, type, or other as thumbnails. The Image Format cate- units of milliseconds. (1,000 units equal window properties. For example, you gory lets you control settings for load- one second.) could set any OpenOffice.org window ing and saving various types of images, The Windows Thumbnail section to be displayed at 50% transparency. such as PNGs and JPGs. completes our tour of the Main tab. This concludes our whirlwind tour of This option, when you enable it, creates A Different Desktop Beryl. But just as visiting Paris for an thumbnail images of minimized win- The plug-ins in the Desktop category afternoon won’t let you experience the dows. You can also specify the size of deal primarily with the Desktop Cube. entirety of the city, there is a lot of unex- thumbnail that’s displayed when you (Obviously, if you uncheck the Desk- plored territory left for you to discover in mouse over the minimized window. top Cube option, you don’t get one.) Beryl’s multitude of menus. So throw on The Shortcuts tab actually appears in There are several nice options on the your backpack, put on your walking two places—on the Shortcuts tab of the Behavior tab of the Cube plug-in. Edge shoes, and start clicking! ▲ General Options plug-in and in the Flip Pointer and Edge Flip Move con- Shortcuts plug-in. Both let you change trol whether the Cube will flip to the by James Turner the behavior of various mouse and key- adjoining face if you move the mouse board events inside Beryl. The Shortcuts or drag a window to the edge of the tab (as opposed to the plug-in) also lets screen, respectively. The Zoom slider in you bind keys to run arbitrary com- the General section lets you make the mands, which you define in the Com- Cube “pull away” from the screen when Lifestyles Of The mands tab. you use the mouse to spin the cube. The final plug-in in the General The Desktop Cube plug-in itself has Rich & Geeky Options category is Settings, Profiles, enough options to fill the entire article. It’s no secret that the leaders of the And Desktop Integration. This backs up Poking around, you’ll find ways to biggest tech companies can afford any and restores your Beryl settings if you change the images on the top and bot- set of wheels they set their eyes on, and manage to mess things up while tweak- tom “caps” of the cube (or make them AutoMotoPortal.com surveyed some of ing them. transparent), make the background the biggest names in the industry about behind the cube a custom image (with their vehicle of choice. The list ranges Window Maintenance animation, if desired), change the opacity from Larry Ellison’s Bentley Continental There are a ton of options in the Win- of the cube faces to let you see through Flying Spur to Steve Ballmer’s 1998 Lin- dow Management category, but here are them, and many more. We advise you to coln Continental and even includes our a few highlights. The first plug-in is the explore this plug-in; there isn’t much in own Chris Pirillo, who rolls in a 2006 Application Window Switcher. If you this section that can cause real trouble. Acura TSX. don’t like Windows XP’s ATL-TAB The Visual Effects category has most application switcher, you can uncheck of the awesome Beryl eye candy options. Source: www.automotoportal.com/article/what-cars-do-famous-geeks-drive the Show Window List checkbox, and The 3D Effects plug-in lets your win- pressing ALT-TAB will move from win- dows appear to actually be stacked dow to window rather than displaying on top of each other when you

CPU / August 2007 97 Shavings From The Rumour Mill Buy Components Now Or Pay Later ’ve been to loads of Computex shows in at the Computex show unless you’re a real I the last 18 years, but a combination of cir- modcase and interested in giant power supply cumstances caused me to miss it this time units and other cooling systems. Somehow, to around. The show, held in Taiwan in early me, it doesn’t seem that urgent to squeeze an June, is intended for buyers and for ven- extra few hertz out of a system. The fact is dors—it’s not primarily an event for hard- despite all the talk about multicores and ware voyeurs, although there are always advanced graphics system, there’s still not plenty of those around. that much software that can take advantage of It seemed like I missed very little, according the features they may offer. Some of you may to reporters working for me who did go. AMD, remember the excitement when AMD and unfortunately, failed to make any kind of a Intel were competing madly to get to 1GHz splash, other than possibly a belly flop, it with their desktop chips. However close Mike Magee is an industry veteran. appears. The company didn’t show off its next- eight-, 16-, or 32-core models are, it’s some- He cut his teeth on ancient products gen Barcelona processors and the like, and dark how a lot harder to get excited about the like the Dragon and the Japanese mutterings from the motherboard vendors number of cores the chip vendors can offer PC platforms long before the IBM- underlined the dissension in the ranks I men- unless you’re purely into the technology for PC won. He worked for a corporate tioned last month. the technology’s sake. reseller in the mid-’80s and saw the Instead, a newly confident Intel seemed to Meanwhile, and as we write, the manufac- Compaq 386 sandwich box and rule the show roost, while AMD’s ATI division turers of memory modules are getting very every GUI known to humankind. and Nvidia weren’t banging any very loud nervous about the lack of demand for DIMMs Mike decided that the way to go was drums, either. and the fact they’ve made way too many, part- the Interweb around 1994 after There’s a buzz, however, about UMPCs. As ly in anticipation for a rush of Microsoft Vista editing PC mags in the late ’80s and predicted here a couple of columns ago, Via upgrades which still don’t seem to have mate- ’90s. A co-founder of The Register, rolled out a reference design for a tiny PC that rialised. Memory, in some densities, is cur- Mike started the chip-driven it’s calling the NanoBook. I got a chance to rently selling for less than it costs the manu- INQUIRER (www.theinquirer.net) play around with one of these things a few facturers to make it. If you haven’t already in 2001. He has contacts from top weeks ago; it’s small enough to fit in your pock- rammed up your machine to the hilt, there’s to bottom in the business, spanning et, runs Windows XP, and has five hours of still a clear window of opportunity to do that the entire chain, who help him battery life. The question now is which vendors because we can’t see prices flying high for sev- root out interesting rumours will pick up the design and run with it at a rea- eral months to come. and speculation. sonable price. The one I played with for about Indeed, if you’re buying parts for your five minutes was running a little hot, but that extreme PC, there isn’t a better time to do it . . . if you’re was a prototype. than now on many fronts, whether it’s storage What’s a reasonable price? I’d willingly pay in the form of memory or hard drives, CPUs, $500 or $600 for what’s effectively a 7-inch PC or other storage peripherals, as long as they buying parts for with a usable keyboard and decent battery life don’t have the Blu-ray logo on them. Despite that lets me connect almost anywhere on the recent price cuts on drives, these are still your extreme planet. Apparently, AMD has decided to jump expensive items for everyone except the on the UMPC bandwagon, too; word is that it’s wannabe PC guys that are only happy if preparing a reference chip and design called they’ve got a Ferrari or a Bugatti. PC, there isn’t a Bobcat. We still don’t believe that Intel will be The software guys are still trying to get able to roll out its own reference design for quite their heads around how to programme for some months yet. Via may have a whole year to multicores, the games developers are still better time to do make hay while AMD and Intel frantically rush scratching their heads about DX10 boards, to roll out their own working reference designs. and, sad to say, there are still a bunch of it than now on As far as I can gather from the outside, peripherals that don’t have support for ▲ there wasn’t really very much to shout about Microsoft Vista—and perhaps never will. many fronts . . . Send rumours to “Mad Mike” Magee at [email protected].

98 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com Wagging The Dog The Enthusiast Memory Space

’ve been here in Taipei for Computex for memory, and almost every freaking chip we I several days, enjoying the torrential rain and sold ended up being returned, sometimes sweltering heat. I would have to say this is the more than once. It was a total disaster, and most productive Computex ever, and I’ve only the only conclusion we could reach was that spent one hour on the show floor. the memory was unable to handle the high By now you may have heard that OCZ voltage it was designed for. Props to Crucial recently acquired PC Power & Cooling. PC for honoring its warranty, but the cost Power & Cooling is known for building high- Voodoo incurred was insane and unaccept- quality power supplies and OCZ produces able, and Crucial’s attempts to convince us performance components. If OCZ can lever- that we were the only ones experiencing such age PC Power & Cooling’s expertise in design problems ended up pushing us to switch back Rahul Sood's love for computers and scale of manufacturing without changing to Corsair. We haven’t looked back yet. started at the young age of 11. an iota of the quality, it could be good. There are also many commodity memory Much to the shock and dismay of So at Computex it was somewhat interesting manufacturers who feel that by slapping a his parents, he ripped apart his for me to see a technology that I’m 95% sure fancy heat spreader on their chips they can fool brand-new Apple //c and painted that I’ve seen before being showcased at OCZ’s the enthusiast community into believing their it red before turning it on. His booth. It is some kind of “brain scan” controller memory is designed for gaming. In fact, I parents’ dreams of having a doctor that you wear and attempt to play games. This found one manufacturer here at the show that for a son were shattered when sounds pretty high-tech and interesting in theo- seems to have copied Corsair’s Dominator- college drop-out Rahul founded ry, and it is a novel approach to gameplay con- series heat spreader—it’s almost like they are what is now one of the most trol. But in practice, it’s embarrassing to wear in using the same machine to make them! respected high-end computer public, and I hate “wearable technology” when Let me tell you, there is much more to enthu- companies in the world, playing video games; it just doesn’t feel right to siast memory than a fancy heat spreader on a Voodoo Computers. me. This also seems to be getting awfully far PCB. In fact, very few manufacturers really from OCZ’s roots; it seems as if the company is understand what it takes to commit to creating casting a wide net and seeing what it catches . . . low-latency, consistently high-quality chips. Let me tell hopefully it works out. Corsair spends the time to batch test its mod- This makes me reflect on a column I wrote ules, and employs real enthusiasts who under- some time ago about how in business it’s impor- stand the complexities of performance. The you, there is tant to stay close to your roots in order to company also works with people from Nvidia, achieve long-term success. Well, one company Intel, AMD, and other companies to ensure it much more in the memory space has remained pretty close delivers on its promises. Most importantly, to its roots and it seems to have done well. Corsair does not switch chips or other parts with- I believe there is no better enthusiast mem- out informing us, and its review parts’ perfor- to enthusiast ory manufacturer than Corsair. Corsair is mance is on par with that of its production parts. known for its quality and consistency, and This is not true of some of Corsair’s competitors, when we at Voodoo experience a problem with and thus is one of the big reasons we use them. memory than the company’s memory, our reps do everything Perhaps Corsair will be a target for acquisi- they can to get us up and running in short tion from someone like Micron, Kingston, or order. We have tried all types of performance Samsung at some point, although there are only a fancy heat memory, including Crucial, Kingston, OCZ, so many quality chips an enthusiast manufac- and many others—and there have been times turer can hand-pick and produce before they when we tried to switch—but we have always become just another commodity. Let’s hope spreader on ended up returning to Corsair. that if Corsair does get acquired, the company In the most recent example of such an doesn’t screw up what it does well—that it attempt, we tried going with Crucial Ballistix stays close to its roots, in other words. ▲ a PCB. Send your opinions to this opinionated guy at [email protected].

CPU / August 2007 99

What’s Cooking . . . Technically Speaking An Interview With Dave McCool, President Of Muzzy Lane

ave McCool was a founding employee of Shiva D Corporation. He left to co-found Aptis Communi- cations, which was subsequently purchased by Northern Telecomm. He is now president of Muzzy Lane, and Making History: The Calm and the Storm is Muzzy Lane’s first game.

by Barry Brenesal

CPU: What defines a war game? McCool: The core of a war in the real war game to focus on the fighting itself world is economic power that drives because it’s viscerally interesting to peo- McCool: Usually in the game market your ability to project military power. ple—they like to get in there and fight when you talk about a war game, it’s Diplomacy plays a role in international the battles. Even when they claim to be something that has come down from the team building. What we’ve attempted to very strategic, they often dive very much roots of the old hex-based paper war do is really focus on the nation as a pri- into the tactical, detail level. Most games games. They make a distinction between mary actor. The player’s role is identi- put too much micromanagement detail a war game and a strategy game, where a fied closely with the nation they’re playing. into that. You lose track of the big pic- strategy game means something a little The characters they interact with are the ture. We’ve tried to avoid that and keep more fleshed out, with diplomacy, eco- other nations in the game. It’s a little bit you at the strategic level. Your goal is to nomics, and military issues, which is real- of a different approach to what a lot of thrive as a nation. ly what we’ve attempted to make. strategy and war games have taken in the past, with their focus on alliances, CPU: How does one go about making CPU: So you would call it a strategy game, sides, and teams. Your goal is to maxi- “thriving” fun? one that more closely mirrors real world situ- mize your nation’s success in an interna- ations than an abstract battle of anonymous, tional system. McCool: We look at the period the more or less identical players, like chess? game is set in. If you look at the thirties CPU: What you’re describing is not at all and forties, it’s very much a matter of McCool: Correct. In the real world, common among war games. They’re often industrialization and labor pooling. So we running a nation in wartime is a lot more derided as “unit pushers,” where the auto- focused the game on managing and grow- than just the fighting that goes on in matic movement of troops is everything. ing that aspect of your power. The way the battlefield. you make that interesting is you give peo- McCool: I think there’s a strong temp- ple interesting choices to make: grow your CPU: What does drive that war? tation when you’re making a strategy or industrial base, research new technologies,

102 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com What’s Cooking . . . Technically Speaking

and then apply those when you go fight CPU: Have you ever played one war or CPU: Explain to us a bit about the edu- your neighbors. strategy game that stuck in your mind, cation market. and stands out from all the rest? CPU: Do you try to project a sense of McCool: We define that as high schools the personalities, the historical alliances McCool: That’s a good question. I’m not and colleges. For this product, the field is and rivalries, and the respective national sure I have one, because when I think history, social studies, and political science. economic situations that were operative about the war games I’ve played, they during WWII? stand out for different reasons. A game I CPU: How would you go about market- think a lot of is Axis and Allies, a board ing a war game like this to a college for its McCool: We do, and I think that’s an war game. I think they did a really great political science courses? What attractions important distinction between an histori- job of staying at an abstract level, modeling do you hold out to sell them on it? cally based strategy game as opposed to an most of the major factors involved in the abstract one like Civilization, with its outcome, and letting you try things out. McCool: The big focus is on critical auto-generated world. The real world has thinking skills development. If you look a great back story. One of the things that CPU: What other games do you intend at the state-by-state and national social games do really well is bring characters to to release, using this engine and de- studies curriculum standards for high life in creating interesting situations. What sign plan? schools, there’s a very large section dis- we tried to do was use the actual historical cussing critical thinking and analysis of timeline and the back story. The other McCool: We’ve been polling people the world we live in. It’s probably not sur- countries in the game, played by the artifi- about this since The Calm and the Storm prising that if you ask these people what cial intelligence, are animated by history. got close to release. I think the two things they want to teach their students, they that are most interesting to people are reply, “We don’t just want to teach them CPU: What history, though, do you pre- early American history—the Revolution names, states, and places, how to memo- sent? If you were to play Japan, for example, through the Civil War—and current day, rize. We want to teach them how to think do you bring genuine history to the player? with the latter being the front runner, about the world.” At the same time, we In the real world, running a nation in wartime is a lot more than just the fighting that goes on in the battlefield. —Dave McCool

McCool: There are a few places in the right now. Unfortunately, we live in very give them a good healthy dose of geogra- game where we bring actual historical unsettled times, and there are a ton of phy, history, and economics.” info, and there’s a timeline where you can people who want to play a nation-level see how things played out in the real strategy game that lets you make decisions CPU: What is it in The Calm and the world. A lot of the industrial and military about Iraq, Afghanistan, the old Soviet Storm that you specifically think will help assets you find in the game existed in the Union breaking up, etc. develop critical thinking skills? real world, as well. CPU: How long have you been working McCool: One of the scenarios is called CPU: So there’s no sense of what’s actu- on the game? The Politics of Appeasement, and it’s ally going on behind the scenes, histori- about the Munich situation. So the cally speaking. McCool: The company’s been around German player is trying to get for five years. We shipped the first version Czechoslovakia without going to open McCool: Games are really good at creat- of the game a year ago, exclusively to the war with Britain and France. France is ing immersive, interactive experiences. education market. We’re just now ship- trying to stop Germany from doing They’re not necessarily the best vehicles ping the second major release version, that. What players will do is think these for conveying large blocks of text. We which is going into the education space goals through and project forward to really tried to avoid putting you in situa- upgrade, and with Strategy First, we are likely results, and test theories, all of tions where you’re reading a lot of back- co-publishing it in the commercial mar- which tends to help think through com- ground information. ket, as well. plex problems.

CPU / August 2007 103 What’s Cooking . . . Technically Speaking

CPU: Were there any other teaching interested in. We really tried to make CPU: Did players actually react unfavor- tools supplied with the game when you that easy for people to do. ably to the level of detail that you provid- presented it to the educational market? ed them in the game? CPU: So people can build mods very McCool: For the educational market, easily using your title? McCool: No, we didn’t get any negative there’s an overarching teachers’ guide that feedback on that. Actually, we got posi- talks about how to use the game in the McCool: Absolutely. All game content is tive reactions from a number of our first classroom. Each of the six scenarios has in XML. All the 3D models are in NIFF round people. But this game is primarily sample discussion questions and integra- files, which is a format that’s supported by about the WWII period and the big crisis tion guidelines among other various sup- free tools out there on the Web. You can that the world went through. A lot of the port materials. The game itself is some- create and manipulate them. Part of the social things we’d had in the first release thing that’s relatively unusual for the beta test has been getting some people really were not key influences on that. commercial market. It has a lot of in- who are interested in modding it, and game tools, such as player logs, where showing them how to do it. CPU: What do you think of a concept players can take notes. Chat transcripts that’s being kicked about on the Web, to are all saved, and all the game data itself is CPU: Would they be able to create create an online war game with a lot more saved and dumped to file at the game’s entire scenarios in this fashion? detail? It would be played out in daily end in a reporting feature. This allows turns—not unlike some of the old text- teacher and students to consider that data McCool: Yes. I did my political science based historical MMORPGs 10 or more in classroom discussions. grad paper on the Russo-Finnish War, so I years ago on Genie. The video game market is now following the Hollywood model, where the budgets keep getting bigger and bigger, betting on huge releases. —Dave McCool

CPU: We can’t really claim that there know a lot about it. We didn’t do a sce- McCool: I think that’s the natural end will be a great financial return on the nario that focuses on it because it’s not one game for this stuff. It’s the direction development of a game like this for the of the high rider issues of the period. But we’re headed in. One of the things we educational market alone, correct? it’s in the period, so somebody like myself knew when we built the game was that could go and make that scenario now. we wanted strong multiplayer support McCool: I think that’s a fair statement right from the beginning. I think the way to make today. The video game market is CPU: What changes did you make that becomes most valuable is when it’s now following the Hollywood model, between the educational 1.x release and hosted on the Internet and available to where the budgets keep getting bigger and the commercial 2.x release? lots of people. bigger, betting on huge releases. The edu- cational tools market is not like that. You McCool: Basic things you’d expect, like CPU: That does necessitate a turn-based need good software practices, common increases in artificial intelligence. But the structure, doesn’t it? code, and reusable components. You big point is we simplified the game. 1.0 don’t spend $10 million on each game for was very complex. It put a lot of factors McCool: Certain things are easier if education. You do spend $5 million on a into play. For example, there were seven you do it that way. The most popular platform and a core set of functionality, or eight diplomatic options between online games which are real time are which is what we did in the early part of countries. The domestic modeling includ- very asynchronous. You can come and our company’s life. Then you start ed populations and social programs. The go, and not really affect the gameplay. putting games out, for $500,000 to military system brought a lot of pieces Strategy games need to be played at the $750,000 each. into play. It really tried to exactly model same time. It’s a great model—like fan- That’s what we’ve done. We’ve built the real world. What we learned from a tasy football. You have a day or three a platform which is reusable. We are year of selling the educational product is days to make your turn, and then the user-modifiable. A game like Axis and that there’s a level of abstraction at which game just marches forward over time. Allies spawned a ton of user rule the game works and people can get the You just need to get in there sometime changes. It’s something the user com- right things out of it. We were more during that window. munity of these kinds of games is very detailed than that.

104 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com

What’s Cooking . . . by Kristina Spencer Under Development A Peek At What's Brewing In The Laboratory

A prototype of a Phoenix-enabled Hardware Repair Made Easier circuit board can be patched with information to correct for hardware e’ve come to accept that much of the One potential concern defects. (Image: Josep Torrellas) W software we use contains bugs— about a patchable hard- some minor, some critical; it’s almost a given ware system is whether that we’ll be required to download and install it could make the hard- various patches and updates to fix those bugs. ware vulnerable to mali- What can be more problematic is when cious hacker attacks. it’s the hardware itself that suffers from “Any time that you design defects. Who can forget the Pentium provide a programmable III chip floating point division bug debacle hook like this inside a in 1994? The chip’s recall cost Intel between processor’s guts, there is $300 million and $500 million and tarnished the opportunity for a its reputation, spawning many jokes at the hacker to cause harm,” ac- chipmaker’s expense. (“At Intel, Quality is knowledges Torrellas. Job 0.99989960954.”) And as processors But he further explains that the system Although no hardware manufacturers become smaller and more complex, there’s guards against such attacks by only allow- have adopted Phoenix, Torrellas is con- still a chance that defective hardware will slip ing the hardware to be programmable in fident that the technology is ready for through QA testing and into the market. privileged mode: “The code that takes the prime time. “Manufacturers could use Computer science professor Josep Tor- signatures and programs for the Phoenix’s them now as they get to the final stages of ellas at the University of Illinois at Urba- transistors to run would be below the their processor designs and get them in na-Champaign has taken a page from the operating system, like the SM [System products that appear in the consumer software engineer’s playbook: He’s develop- Manager] in Pentium 4.” market in two to three years.” ▲ ing a system that will let hardware manu- facturers repair defective chips by patching them. The system could save both time and money, letting manufacturers bring their chips to market more quickly by eliminat- Creating Virtual People With Real Knowledge ing the final few weeks of testing and avoiding the need for costly recalls or pro- f you had a question language processing, the beyond what can be duction delays. I about a complex scien- two teams hope to create achieved using traditional The research team analyzed current tific theory or breathtak- a realistic 3D avatar that technologies such as text, AMD, Intel, IBM, and Motorola processors ing piece of art, wouldn’t not only serves as an ar- audio, and video footage.” to determine which hardware defects caused it be amazing to be able chive of a person’s knowl- The teams have been the most problems. They then created Phoe- to sit down and have a edge, speaking (with voice awarded a three-year nix, an on-chip FPGA (field-programmable conversation with the sci- simulation), but also acts grant to work on the pro- gate array) device that can be programmed entist or artist who was like the person it’s meant ject and plan to use an through a patch to detect and correct hard- responsible for creating it, to represent. NSF (National Science ware bugs that the manufacturer discovers even if that person had In a recent UIC press Foundation) program after a chip’s release. been dead for many years? release, UIC principal manager as the first test When a Phoenix-equipped chip discovers a Researchers at the investigator Jason Leigh subject for the project. defect, the patch transmitted from the manu- University of Central explains, “The goal is to They will conduct exten- facturer lets Phoenix detect the bug either Florida and the Univer- combine artificial intelli- sive interviews to access before or just after the conditions that cause sity of Illinois at Chicago gence with the latest ad- his knowledge as well as such a bug to occur. Phoenix would either are working jointly to vanced graphics and video capture audio and video pre-emptively take action to avoid triggering make this vision a reality. game-type technology to recordings that will be the bug altogether; or help the system recover By combining computer enable us to create his- digitized to create his vir- by implementing the manufacturer’s fix. graphics, AI, and natural torical archives of people tual presence. ▲

106 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com What’s Cooking . . . Under Development

Do You Hear What I Hear? system would include a localizer that use beamforming to focus component to track a user’s sound, but they’re very expen- position and adjust the focus of sive and require extensive cali- the sound so that he could bration. Tashev wants to make move around the room and the technology more affordable have the sound move with him. and bring it to a wider market. The technology of focusing “Our goal was to use inex- sound so that waves from a pensive loudspeakers. This Microsoft researchers are working to speaker array amplify or cancel means not very good frequen- create virtual headphones that focus each other out and create areas cy response and higher manu- sound from an array of computer of loudness or quiet has been facturing tolerances. We had speakers directly into your ears. around for a while; it’s called to take extra measures dur- beamforming. However, using ing the beamformer design beamforming to focus audi- to reflect the large variety ble waves (as opposed to ultra- of potential speakers doing istening to music or hav- that his research will someday sound or radar), provides a some tradeoffs with the per- L ing a VoIP conversation provide another option. large challenge. Audible waves formance,” he says. on a computer in a work space Tashev and his team are vary more in frequency, and But don’t throw out those generally requires either an developing an algorithm that any system trying to focus headphones yet; Tashev’s work office with a door that closes, would focus the sound com- them has to be calibrated to is a pure research project right or a headset that tethers a user ing out of an array of speak- take into account room size now. Even if his team creates a to his machine so that other ers embedded in a computer and objects that the audio working prototype, it could workers aren’t disturbed by the monitor directly into a user’s waves could bounce off. take up to three years before a noise. Ivan Tashev, a software ears, creating in effect “virtual There are currently high- commercial product would be architect at Microsoft, hopes headphones.” Additionally, the end speakers on the market a possibility. ▲ Number Five Is Alive! he robotic housekeeper humanoid robot that may one drink. Domo also has force- and to perceive a person’s T is standard-issue wish day help elderly or handi- sensitive springs in its hands, intent. This is important if fulfillment in many science- capped people with tasks arms, and neck that can sense robots like Domo are to work fiction stories, and why not? around their homes or work when it is being touched by a with people that aren’t trained Who wouldn’t want an elec- on assembly lines. human and respond to physi- to work with it.” tronic servant who will un- Currently, Domo’s abilities cal stimuli such as a gentle Edsinger has co-founded questioningly cook and clean, are limited to just a few tasks: push to get it moving in a Meka Robotics to work on scoop the cat litter, and make It can work with a person to desired direction. commercializing the tech- sure the kids’ baseball uni- put things on a shelf, make a Edsinger believes that in nology and expects a forms are washed in time for drink, and clean up a mess. order for robots to function in Domo-like robot could tomorrow’s game? But what is truly remark- a home, Domo and its succes- be on the market in Although that particular able about the robot is how sors will need to adapt more five years. ▲ vision still remains decades it interacts with its human readily to unknown situations, away, Aaron Edsinger, a post- helper while accomplishing an area he plans to explore next doctoral associate in MIT’s these tasks. Domo is pro- in his research: “I’m interested Humanoid Robotics Group grammed to attune to move- in increasing [Domo’s] ability is working to develop ro- ment and focus its big blue to adapt to unexpected events bots that can function as hu- eyes on human faces—key in man helpers in more specific successful social interaction. ways. His team’s most recent Behind Domo’s eyes reside Humanoid robots creation is Domo, which is cameras that transmit informa- such as Domo may named after Styx’s song “Mr. tion to 12 computers, analyz- one day provide help Roboto” and looks remark- ing everything in its visual field around the home for ably like Johnny Five from the so that, for example, it knows the elderly. (Image: movie “Short Circuit.” Do- to reach out and grasp a cup if Aaron Edsinger) mo is an early version of a it has been instructed to pour a

CPU / August 2007 107 back door | q&a

Q&A With Shane Kim

ou won’t catch Shane Kim the industry. When those people playing any of Microsoft’s want to move up to a next-genera- first-person shooter games. tion gaming experience, we think we The head of Microsoft have the best solution in the Xbox Y Game Studios gets seasick 360. Their console is not high-defin- from the dizzying 3D action. But Kim is ition. They don’t have the same on- one of the savvy leaders of today’s video line aspirations. We have a plan to game business. His group of 1,100 game get to the mass market. It’s an end- developers is responsible for creating to-end plan. Everything with content, Microsoft’s marquee games for the Xbox hardware, product development, 360, as well as games for Windows. sales, and marketing. I think we will win the hearts of the mass market Do you think social networking consumers as well. Q will be big in games? Last fall, some titles that were There is no question that social Q expected to debut in 2006 SK networking is becoming impor- slipped into 2007. Are you expect- tant. You only need to look at online ing these titles to debut this year? gaming to understand that. It’s why we built voice into our network from day We have a pretty good one. We’ve got the biggest social network SK idea of what is coming in in games, at six million strong. 2007. There were a couple of titles last year that we gave more time—Forza control applications for games, fluid Some people expected Microsoft and Crackdown. We did the right thing conversations in Mass Effect? Q to be more aggressive with its focusing more on quality than date. In hardware pricing by this time. Last 2007, we have a great lineup. We feel I believe that the canvas we’re time you started at $300 and dropped pretty comfortable. I know that Halo 3 SK providing for game creators is it fast by $100. is going to hit in 2007. getting more powerful. The Microsoft platforms offer the best canvas for game As I recall, Sony dropped its creators, whether you’re talking about the SK price by $100 first. We have Q Halo 3, any thoughts? hardware itself, or things like Xbox Live no price reductions to announce. But or Games for Windows. Now you have we have a legion of people working on I feel even more confident this cross-platform integrated service driving costs out of the console. That is SK it’s going to release. We’re where game developers can expand their what everybody does. I’m confident excited. We haven’t even started to imaginations about what is possible, like that’s going to happen. There is a life dial up the volume on Halo 3 market- head-to-head gaming experiences in Sha- cycle plan for that to happen. ing yet. It is the most anticipated title dow Run or Uno. That is a very powerful in the business today. Halo 2 was the canvas to provide the game developers. It seems Nintendo’s Wii has biggest entertainment event of its year. The game developers can take what we Q been more successful than many I think Halo 3 is going to be even big- do and go beyond it. The facial anima- anticipated. That might force you to ger. Seems like we’re always competing tions and dialogue system we are doing go for the mass market sooner as it’s with Harry Potter releases. That’s a in Mass Effect is another example. People seeing more success early on. fun competition to be involved in. can see we can create lifelike characters That’s a very humbling thing. Halo 3 where it’s easier to suspend disbelief. You We don’t believe that Ninten- is going to be big. gain greater emotional attachment and SK do’s launch success changes believability. That makes the whole inter- our strategy in any way. It’s not surpris- There are some interesting con- active experience even better. ▲ ing they have had success with the Wii. Q sole gaming technologies on the I applaud them. I said I hope they are horizon. Do you have thoughts about Subscribers can go to www.cpumag.com successful in bringing more people to gaming in the future, such as brain /cpuaug08/kim for bonus content.

108 August 2007 / www.computerpoweruser.com