March 30th

We Don't Need No Stinking Video Cards!

When video cards become very scarce on the open market for a prolonged period of time, there is one thing you can be pretty darn sure of.  A new batch of cards is coming to market soon.  It takes time for companies to gear up production on a new line of video cards, and while they are producing and stockpiling the new batch, they need to reduce inventory on the old batches.  This leaves significant gaps in the supply chain, which ends up creating cupboards as bare as Mrs. Hubbard's.

The good news is this means NVidia is well on their way to getting the NV35 to market.  No word yet if this will be the GeForce FX II, or the FX 6800, or whatever, but the specs I've seen suggest it will even beat the Radeon 9800.  Speaking of the 9800, ATI announced it just as the ill-fated NVidia FX 5800 floundered, but then the new ATI card never materialized.  Everyone assumes that ATI is holding it close to their vest until NVidia shows their cards.  So all this could mean a big video card fight when the two get released in rapid succession.  I expect this all to happen in late Spring sometime, or perhaps early Summer.

                                        Dr. John

March 26th

Where Have All the Video Cards Gone? 

The most noticeable fallout from the failure of NVidia's GeForce FX cards to reach market is that just about all good video cards are as scarce as trilobites.  ATI has raised the price on the Radeon series, but that hasn't improved the supply considering that the 9500 and 9700 cards are almost nonexistent, and the 9800 is missing in action. And what about those fabled "collectors edition" GeForce FX cards? Beats me. 

NVidia scrambled to put out AGP 8x versions of the GeForce4 line of cards, but that was a stop-gap measure, and even those cards are still very scarce. Plus, they aren't as fast as ATI's current cards.

In any case, if you're in the market for a high-end video card, you may need to do a little hunting. Maybe a lot of hunting!

                                        Dr. John

March 25th

Direct X 9.0a Released 

In their continued striving for perfection, Microsoft has released Direct X 9.0a.  Considering the number of complaints I've heard about DX9 bugs and glitches, this revised version comes none-to-soon. Currently I only see the web update version, which is not that useful if you want the actual file for installation at a later time. The so-called "distribution" version should appear soon.... I hope.

                                        Dr. John

PS, Beware! My system lost almost 1000 points on 3D Mark 2001 after installing the 9.0a update!

March 23rd

Overclocking the Barton 2500+ CPU 

I got my hands on a couple of Barton 2500+ chips, and put them to the overclock test on an Asus A7N8X motherboard.  Go here to see how far they would overclock!

                                        Dr. John

Microsoft Continues Bullying 

You've seen those little "works with Windows XP" logos on software and hardware boxes before. Well, if Microsoft has their way, you'll be seeing "Designed for Windows XP" on just about everything soon. How can Microsoft make other companies do this? The same way our government builds coalitions; bribery. Take Office Depot for example.  They just signed a deal with Microsoft that certainly gets them better pricing than Office Max, with the stipulation that only products that have passed Microsoft's testing, and are branded with Microsoft's "Designed for Windows XP" logo, will be sold by Office Depot.

These are the kinds of things a monopoly starts doing when the Justice Department sides with the monopolistic company, rather than prosecuting it. So as long as the current Department of Justice under John Ashcroft remains in power, you can expect Microsoft to continue bullying other software and hardware companies.  It's a Bill Gates thing, which apparently stems from some deep insecurity wherein Bill thinks only money and power can "make things better". 

Some analysts think that this is one way that Microsoft is going to implement Digital Rights Management compliance by other companies.  That may be one reason, but "brand recognition" is certainly a big factor too.  This will not only put an ad for Microsoft on every other company's products, but it will reinforce the idea in everyone's mind that Windows XP is the only game in town.  

                                       Dr. John

March 21st

Intel Working on Robots and Biosensors 

An article at EBN talks about the various scientific projects that Intel has been working on recently, and it sounds pretty interesting.  For one, they are working on optical and electrical sensor probes that can be used to detect molecules in blood for diagnostic purposes.  They are also working on various aspects of advanced robotics, at both the hardware and software ends. To make robotics work in everyday life, they are researching various types of sensor nets that can monitor various aspects of the environment, and make changes in the operation of robotic systems to compensate. So in many ways, Intel is working hard at making "smart houses" and "smart workplaces" a reality.

                                        Dr. John

March 20th

Microsoft Still Pulls Intel's Strings 

The Wintel alliance has been strong and powerful since the corporate marriage over a decade ago.  But over the years, some strain between the two companies has been apparent.  Don't worry though, this bipartite monopoly is as strong as ever, and still works hard to exclude other players.  Witness the latest development in Intel's product lineup, the Centrino chipset for notebook computers. Intel, apparently at the behest of Microsoft, has not, and probably will not provide any support for Linux, including the version known as Lindows.  

Lindows CEO Michael Robertson was quoted as saying, "Intel engineers are active contributors to Linux software development and do an excellent job of ensuring that the latest chips and motherboards have solid Linux support. They've sent many products to our certification labs as part of that process and we're grateful for their support. However, when it comes to packaging those components into complete computers and announcing their availability, strong resistance emerges. It's a classic "engineering vs. marketing" business struggle. The technology-minded folks see a growing trend that is imperative for them to support in order to stay fully relevant in all areas of the PC business. While the marketing-minded individuals are more worried about the risk of upsetting Microsoft."

This is a taint on the release of the Centrino chipset, mainly because times have changed, and Linux is no longer a fringe OS.  Linux is now a major player in the server market, and is moving into the desktop and notebook platforms. Ignoring Linux, and attempting to force Windows XP onto consumers is a bad business model, and will generate plenty of bad press for Intel.

                                         Dr. John

March 19th

Intel Finally Admits That MHz Don't Matter 

Intel has been bashing AMD, with the help of various IT reporters and analysts, about the low MHz of the Athlon processor when compared with the Pentium 4.  But as everyone knows, a 2.2GHz Athlon matches a 3GHz Pentium 4 in performance, so any comparison based on MHz was pretty much meaningless. The problem with the Pentium 4 is that Intel took a rather disingenuous approach to the design characteristics when they doubled the length of the so-called instruction pipeline.  This allowed very high clock speeds, but greatly reduced performance as compared with a similarly clocked Athlon or Pentium III. 

With this background in mind, let's take a look at the new, and very well publicized release of the new Pentium M. This processor is meant to replace the Pentium 4M in notebook computers.  So what happened to the 4?  The Pentium M is really a Pentium III.  This little fact is something Intel would prefer not be broadcast to the world, because it is an admission that the Pentium 4 is a pig that couldn't be reworked to give good performance with low power consumption in a notebook format. Intel's only choice was to resurrect the Pentium III mobile version, and add some new features to increase performance. The result is that a Pentium IIIM at 1.6GHz will beat a Pentium 4M at 2.4GHz, while producing less heat. 

The upshot of all of this is that without actually admitting it in public, Intel is telling us that the Pentium 4 exists in it's own little world, and that we can't compare it to other processors on a MHz basis. Indeed, it is clear that if Intel had tried to rework the Pentium III with smaller die, bigger cache, and other enhancements, that it would outperform the Pentium 4, and it would do so at a much lower clock speed. So all that hot air from Intel about the importance of MHz now turns out to be so much corporate propaganda, intended to confuse consumers who don't know how to compare different platforms. Despite their less than genuine way of admitting their erred ways, I'll still accept it as an admission of guilt, and we can move on from there.

                                         Dr. John

The Inquirer

March 17th

Microsoft: Change or Die 

Big targets are easy to hit, and Microsoft is a very, very big target. Moreover, their corporate ill-behavior often makes them a tempting target as well. So it's no wonder that many companies have been shooting at Microsoft whenever their paths cross. The latest word on Microsoft's imperialist plans for console gaming is that the big game makers have refused to play ball with Bill, because of his Draconian terms for any joint activities. The chief executive of Eidos was quoted as saying, "we don't feel comfortable with Microsoft's business model - they own the consumer." 

This brings me to the point I want to make.  As Microsoft continues to steamroll everything in it's path like an Israeli bulldozer, they are making many enemies in the business world that they have to operate in.  The end result of years of such bullying is that Microsoft has no real friends left in the industry, just barely-tolerant, half-adversaries. So when it comes time to set up a strategic alliance, like between MS and NVidia for the XBox2, or MS and game makers for XBox Live, nobody wants to play with Bill. This should come as no surprise to his Highness.

There can only be two resulting outcomes over time.  Either Bill capitulates and reduces the onerous nature of his contracts and license agreements (fat chance with that ego), or the rest of the industry continues to distance itself from Microsoft wherever they can. If Bill doesn't spice up the deals he is trying to make, there won't be any deals.  So the dilemma, change the nature of Bill, or slowly get shut out of many markets by the people Microsoft has snubbed over the years. It's going to be a tougher and tougher game for Bill to play as he counts his billions of dollars over breakfast each morning. When you play hard ball, you've got to expect a few bruises. 

                                          Dr. John

March 12th

Sad State of Game Development 

Despite the release of a few good games in the last year, the overall state of the PC game industry is far from rosy.  Greg Costikyan has posted an article on his views about the industry, why it is failing, and where it is going (note: contains adult language).  He seems somewhat hopeful that independent game makers can get better quality, more original games produced than the big-name game farms that put out endless sequels. But I remember games like Barrage by "Mangogrits", where the entire team struggled for 2 years to produce an independent game that failed miserably. If that is the kind of stuff we can expect from independent game makers, I'll stick with Unreal Tournament 2003, Medal of Honor and Battlefield 1942. But if they can make truly unique and entertaining games, I'd love to drop EA and Atari in favor of Independents. 

                                          Dr. John

March 11th

New Antec Adjustable Power Supplies! 

Antec, the PC case maker, has been working hard to earn the respect of PC enthusiasts and modders. In the past, Antec had been content to put out high quality, corporate-like server enclosures, without much flair.  But recently they have added side doors with windows, lights, UV glow-in-the-dark cables, specialty power supplies and lots and lots of room for fans.  Now you can add adjustable power supplies to that list of PC enthusiast hardware.

They describe it in their press release thusly: "TrueControl, the latest addition to Antec's TruePower series, is a 550 Watt, user-adjustable power supply. An external control panel allows users to regulate voltage outputs and fan speed from the front of their cases. TrueControl provides the flexibility to increase power and decrease noise, depending on user and system needs."

This level of control will come at a price though, running nearly double the cost of a good 400W power supply.

                                          Dr. John

March 8th

The Intel - Rambus Divorce 

Jack Robertson over at EBN has a nice piece about the distancing of Intel from Rambus over the last year, and Intel's eager adoption of DDR memory as the preferred standard for PCs.  In fact, Intel is now a powerful mover in the JEDEC standards committee, so much so that members have adopted Intel-promoted changes before JEDEC even signed off on them.  Now Intel is helping define the new DDR-II standard, which should be out sometime later this year.

                                          Dr. John

March 7th

Windows "Root Kit" Trojans

A very interesting article over at the Register discusses the scary world of Windows "Root Kit" trojan back door exploits.  These sophisticated tools reside between the API and the applications that it runs, and can be completely hidden from the user.  Experts believe that many servers may already be infected with these root kit viruses, and that most sysadmins don't even know how to look for them.  it's a very interesting read.

In a not completely unrelated vein, I recently downloaded a nifty little utility called Spybot Search and Destroy.  It searches your system for known spyware, and allows you to kill it quickly. You can take a look at Spybot here.

                                          Dr. John

March 5th

Peace So Unpopular That It's Illegal

Not computer related, but important:

Forget about free speech, that was only tolerated in the old US, before we became so belligerent. This story has me fuming. We hear lots of talk about free speech in this country, especially when it has to do with a company making money.  But we don't hear much about free speech for individual citizens, and this story has me wondering if there is such a thing in the US anymore.

Several days ago, Stephen Downs, and his son Roger, were at the Crossgates Mall in upstate New York, and went into a T-shirt shop to buy some T-shirts.  They each had a T-shirt made, one said "No War with Iraq", and the other said, "Give Peace a Chance".  They put them on and continued shopping.  Shortly thereafter, they were confronted by security guards who insisted they remove their shirts in the mall.  Roger removed his, but his father refused.  Stephen was summarily arrested for trespassing.

Today there is a protest at the Mall, with many people wearing similar T-shirts walking through the mall.  How much you want to bet they won't be arrested??

The lack of tolerance for any criticism of the Bush Administration's policies has got to stop. Either we have free speech in this country, or we don't, and I for one want to know which.

                                          Dr. John

Thanks to Chuck for the heads up

Rambus Stock Down Again

For those of you who love Rambus Inc., you need read no further.  Your blood pressure is probably high enough already.  Rambus will get it's day in court in the case brought against it by the Federal Trade Commission. So why did the stock price plummet?  Because the court ruled that Rambus' defense would be limited, due to the fact that they destroyed pertinent documents, a la Enron and Arthur Anderson. You can imagine it might be hard to make a case concerning your business practices if you destroy the paperwork that describes your activities. Still, I'm sure their case would have gone much worse for them if those pesky papers were still available, so at least the damage control seems to be working to some extent.

Oh what a tangled web we weave....

                                          Dr. John

March 4th

BeOS Lives!!!

Many folks were very disappointed 2 years ago when BeOS (the Be Operating System) was canceled, and appeared dead.  Well worry no more!  The rights to continue developing BeOS have been acquired by "yellowTAB", and they are going to show off the new version they have been working on at the upcoming CeBIT exhibition.  Read on...

                                          Dr. John

March 2nd

Challenge Everything, Including Copy Protection

Challenge Everything! That is what Electronic Arts implores us to do at the start of each of their new games.  So I take them at their word, and  challenge everything about software copy protection. Read on...

Copyright 2003, KickAss Gear