Sunday Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 06:31 PM CEST - Sep,01 2002
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- Apple Keeps x86 Torch Lit with 'Marklar' - As Apple Computer Inc.
draws up its game plan for the CPUs that will power its future generations of
Mac hardware,
the company is holding an ace in the hole: a feature-complete version of Mac
OS X running atop the x86 architecture. According to sources, the
Cupertino, Calif., Mac maker has been working steadily on maintaining current,
PC-compatible builds of its Unix-based OS. The project (code-named Marklar, a
reference to the race of aliens on the "South Park" cartoons) has been ongoing
inside Apple since the early days of its transition to the Unix-based Mac OS X
in the late '90s. Sources said more than a dozen software engineers are tasked
to Marklar, and the company's mainstream Mac OS X team is regularly asked to
modify code to address bugs that crop up when compiling the OS for x86. Build
numbers keep pace with those of their pre-release PowerPC counterparts; for
example, Apple is internally running a complete, x86-compatible version of
Jaguar, a k a Mac OS X 10.2, which shipped last week. Apple did not
return calls requesting comment.
- The Holy Grail of remote controls -
The prototype handheld has so far been used to control two lamps, a fan
and a stereo with a five-CD changer. Anyone who regularly juggles multiple
remotes -- the Consumer Electronics Association estimates the average U.S.
household has at least four -- can understand why the industry considers a
universal remote something of a Holy Grail.
- Frames Per Second: Fact & Fiction Editorial -
This is of course, all about games. The reason you can't run them smoothly
at 24fps is because each frame is just that: a still frame; not a blurred
range. Now, let me dig up a random number out of the blue, say 40fps. Ok, so
40fps is sufficient, right? Yes and no. Let's say you're the proud owner of a
Geforce4 Ti4600. You don't care about 200fps so crank up the resolution to
1600x1200, turn on 4x FSAA and 16x Anisotropic Filtering. Plus all the in-game
candy you can throw at it. Your rates drop from 150 down to 40. Naturally, it
looks like crap. Why? Several reasons...
- ECTS 2002 Awards - PC Format Best New
Games Kit Award - Nvidia Geforce 4 / Best PC
Hardware - Gainward Geforce 4 Powerpack Ultra/750XP Golden Sample /
Best Console of the Year - PlayStation 2 /
Best Console Game of the Year - Grand Theft Auto
3 / Best PC Game of the Year - Medal of Honour:
Allied Assault.
- AGP 8X & NV28 -As for the major graphics chip supplier Nvidia,
industry sources said that the chip designer is expected to
introduce its AGP 8x-supporting NV18 and NV28 chips in October, and roll
out its new-generation NV30 in time for the Christmas season. The basic
architecture of the NV18 and NV28 is not very different from that of the
company’s previous NV17 and NV25, but the launch may be able to help Nvidia
keep its market share from declining further amid strong competition from ATI
and Intel.
- HW Round-Up (CPU/MB/RAM) -
Corsair
256meg XMS3200 DDR /
GeIL PC3500 DDR /
Epox 8K5A3+ (video-review) /
MSI 845
Ultra ARU /
Shuttle AS45 v2.1 (SiS 648) /
ABIT KX7-333R Socket A /
- HW Round-Up (Video) - Triplex
GeForce4 Ti4400 /
Graphics Card Roundup - August 2002 /
ATI
Mobility Radeon 9000
- HW Round-Up (Miscelanous)
Black Cold
Cathode Light & UV Sensitive Vantec Rounded IDE Cables /
Hercules XPS 510 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System /
Seasonic 300, 350 & 400watt PSU Roundup /
Fujitsu DynaMO 1300 U2 Magneto Optical Drive
- Win XP Detonator Driver Database (Updated) -
The Windows XP NVIDIA Detonator Driver Database contains performance data
on most of the current Windows XP NVIDIA Detonator Drivers. Chaps at
TweakersAsylum currently have a total of 34 Detonators included in the Windows
XP database! For each set of NVIDIA Detonator Drivers added to our database
they have included performance data from SEVERAL different benchmarks, not
just a few.
- Refresh Rate Fix for Nvidia Detonator 40.41 - Now, to eliminate the
Win2K/XP refresh rate problem we want to specify custom refresh rates with
the corresponding resolutions and bit depths. In other words we only want
Windows to use the HIGHEST refresh rate supported by our monitor in any given
mode, not the LOWEST as it will if left to it's own devices. We do this by
adding '80**' to the hexadecimal refresh rate.
- NV30 emulation - NVIDIA page has posted
NVEmulate emulation enabler (NVEmulate.exe), complete NV30 OpenGL
Specification (nv30specs.pdf) and an overview slides for the NV30 OpenGL
Specification (OpenGLforNV30.pdf).
- NVIDIA Compressed Mode User's Guide -
This guide (PDF) explains how to select the desired refresh rates at
various settings.
- Tweak-XP Pro v2.0 -
Tweak-XP Pro bundles more than 37 different utilities in one: it was
developed to combine both tweaking and optimizing features to increase the
speed of your Windows XP system.
- XP SP1 build 1106 links - Of course ,
it's an unoffical download, but for those who "cannot wait" until
september 9th :)
- Roxio Easy CD Creator Platinum Update v5.3.1 -
This web update is designed to update English, French, Italian, German,
Spanish, Dutch and Japanese versions of Easy CD Creator 5.xx Platinum to
version 5.3.1. It can be installed in All Windows Operating Systems. It has
some fixes and adds new drive support, including support for DVD -R/RW and DVD
+R/RW. This update will install Windows XP specific drivers and make the
necessary registry entries to allow Easy CD Creator to operate correctly in
Windows XP.
- Nero CD Speed v1.00 -
CD Speed is a CD-ROM benchmark which can test the most important features
of a CD-ROM drive.
- ICQ Lite Alpha Build #1053 -
ICQ Lite Alpha Build #1053 has been released.
- WinMX 3.29 Beta 5 -
WinMX is a FREE
file-sharing program like no other. It allows you to simultaneously connect
through the decentralized WinMX Peer Networking Protocol AND to many networks
based on the OpenNap and Napster protocols.
- Movie DB v1.20 (build 49) -
Movie DB is a freeware
DB program for DivX, DVD and VHS.
- Hot CPU Tester Lite 3.41 -
Hot CPU Tester
Lite is a system health and stability tester. It tests CPU, and virtually
all parts of motherboard for errors/bugs and defective parts.
- Powerstrip 3.26 Final - The final version of
Powerstrip 3.26 has been just released.
- Matrox Mini Diag v2.10 -
This utility will perform a hardware diagnostic on the full retail version
and bulk version of these cards: G100, G100 MMS, G200, G200 MMS, G400 series,
G450 and G550.
- Xbox Media PLayer & XStream B6 Final (Xbox) -
The final version features improved support for DVD-R/W, CD-RW playback,
Seeking for AVI files, Divx 5.0 and 5.02 Pro support and many more.
- IBM's NVIDIA Detonator Drivers v30.40 (Windows 2k/XP) - Here's some
new
NVIDIA Detonator Drivers version 30.40 for Windows 2000/XP from IBM.
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Updated:09:48 AM CEST Jun,21
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