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2:30 AM
Digital Cameras
Well, guess what? All of a sudden I've become very interested in
getting a digital camera. Now, I don't really want to spend all that much money, so
the two major contenders that I'm looking at right now are the Toshiba PDR-2 and the Panasonic Palmcam
PV-DC1000. I'm seeing the Toshiba PDR-2 going for about $220, but there
apparently is a $50 rebate going on them right now, bringing the price down to an
attractive $170. The Panasonic, on the other hand, is going at Onsale.com right now
for about $189. I need to see how high the bidding goes before I buy from there,
obviously.
I've been referring heavily to the PC Mag review of digital
cameras and browsing rec.photo.digital as well to learn more. The Toshiba camera
is interesting because it uses new CMOS imaging technology instead of the standard CCD's
used by most digital cameras. Unfortunately, although the camera is cheaper, the
image quality seems to suffer as a result.
The other thing that I like about these cameras is that they are both very small.
I have a weakness for highly integrated technology, and at roughly 5 ounces, these
cameras are like something out of a James Bond movie!
3:31 PM
WarFTPD 1.66x4 released
Of course, we're all waiting for 1.70, but in the meantime, get this.
I remember coming across the very first version of this FTP daemon and wondering
why nobody was using it. Now everybody uses it! Hehe.
Direct download
3:01 AM
More Intel740 info
I don't know what it is about this chip, but for some reason I'm VERY
interested to see it in action. I know the speed may not be as fast as, say, the
Riva 128. But because the heritage of this chip comes directly from the Real3D
technology used in Sega's Model 2 and 3 boards, which, in turn, descends directly from
military 3D applications, I think the rendering quality is going to be the best, bar none.
In case it's not clear, by the way, the Intel740 is a 2D/3D chip, not a 3D only
solution. There been a lot of blabber about the 3D performance, but I wonder what
the 2D performance is like? I'm not going to buy a 3D accelerator if it means I have
to put up with poor 2D performance.
I'm going to refer to you to several documents which I find very interesting in the
meantime...and hell, maybe I'll start up an Intel740 site. Do check out the report
from MDR Online...it's extremely informative.
Intel740
Graphics Accelerator datasheet (PDF)
Intel740
Thermal Design considerations (PDF)
Intel740
Software Developers manual (PDF)
Microprocessor Report article on the
Intel740 - registration required (but it's free!)
4:02 PM
Iomega BUZ finally released
An Ultra-SCSI card and full-field capture device for only $199 retail?
We've been waiting for it for a long time, and it's finally here, courtesy of
Iomega. Of course, with Iomega's reputation for support, I'd probably advise you to
let other people figure out if it's worth the money before you go out and buy one.
ZDNet's story
1:03 PM
New Rendition MiniGL drivers
Rendition just released some new MiniGL drivers. Get them here. Apparently these
support Windows NT! About time.
Speaking of 3D accelerators, here's the current scoop on the Intel740. Supposedly
the speed is not the fastest around, but the image quality is bar none the highest.
It scores higher than the Riva 128 in 3D Winbench 98, although that benchmark has shown
itself to be of questionable value.
The Intel740 is heavily based on Lockheed Martin's Real3D technology, which means I
have a gut feeling that it's going to look a lot like Sega's Model 2 boards. If you
check Intel's web site for the Intel740's feature set, it even lists anti-aliasing...which
I believe it does in hardware if the Model 2 and 3 boards from Sega are any indication.
Every time I look at Virtua Fighter 2 or Daytona, I'm still terribly impressed with
the smoothness and the feel of the graphics...I don't know what it is, but it looks very
good to me. I still don't get that feeling when I look at 3D graphics on the PC.
4:13 PM
Pentium production to be halted by year's end
It's pretty clear that the Pentium is reaching the end of its useful life
span, and now it's confirmed. Intel officials have said that production on the
Pentium will halt by year's end. The Pentium will continue to live on in notebooks
due to power consumption and other technology barriers, but otherwise, it's a dead horse.
The Pentium II is easily displacing the Pentium in the desktop arena and Slot 2
will cover Intel's bases in the server portion of the market. Covington and
Mendocino will cover the low-end, which is the only area where the Pentium might still be
useful.
EE Times' article
2:00 PM
Intel announces i740 3D accelerator
Will the marketing and microprocessor giant known as Intel crush the life
out of the 3D market as we know it? Well, you're about to find out. Intel
announced their i740 3D accelerator today. Unfortunately, the press release is a
bunch of blabber with very little real info.
Intel's
i740 site
i740 press
release
3:17 AM
Einhander review up
Great shooter, great all-around game for the Playstation. And a
shooter from Squaresoft, no less! Different for them, but the quality still shows.
Check out the review here.
8:56 PM
New Symbios drivers
If you have a Symbios Logic card like mine, you might be interested to
know that there are new drivers available at Symbios
Logic's FTP site, along with ASPI drivers and a couple of utilities to do good stuff
like configure the NVRAM on your card, similar to what you do at boot time, as well as
enable the write caching on your drive.
Maxtor DiamondMax 7.0GB review up
Performance figures for the DiamondMax are up in its review.
Note that I know the DeskStar is a better drive, but I haven't had the chance to
redo the benchmarks for it yet since the release of the DMA drivers for NT.
12:59 PM
Quicktime = Crash
Something really weird is happening to my computer...playing back
QuickTime's causes my computer to crash quite badly. At first I was really worried,
but now that I see the problem is repeatable and I know what it is, I'm just annoyed.
I've been playing Einhander for the Playstation lately. I'll do some screenshots
and a short review.
5:27 PM
Intel to use in-house SRAM cache for Slot 2
As we all know, Intel contracted with outside manufacturers for the cache
chips used in the Slot 1 Pentium II...both because it was easier for them and it freed up
capacity to make chips. Now, with Slot 2, Intel will be moving back to fabricating
the SRAM's in-house. Unlike Slot 1, Slot 2's L2 cache will be running at full speed,
but because Slot 2 is designed specifically for servers, fabricating the cache internally
won't chew up as much capacity as it would if Intel took the same approach with Slot 1.
Apparently the chips will also be slightly different, utilizing a semi-synchronous
design to improve speed instead of the pipelined-burst method used in Slot 1 L2 cache.
The new cache will be manufactured on a 0.35 micron process, run at 2.5V, and
dissipate 4.5W at 450 MHz for a 512KB part.
EE Times' story
1:04 PM
Creative Labs 12MB Voodoo2 card
I've mentioned before that I don't really have any intention of buying any
Voodoo2 unless it's the 12MB model. Even then, actually, I'm not going to buy one
until I need it...after all, I find my Voodoo fast enough now as it is. Now, some
other companies are planning on releasing 12MB cards, but Creative has just announced
theirs at an ESP of $299. Which should mean you can probably get it a little
cheaper...maybe around $280? Sounds attractive, especially if you don't have a 3D
accelerator and want to get one anyway.
Creative Labs' Press
Release
CD-R and computer weirdness
Want to hear something weird? I finally got my CD-R in yesterday (my
fourth replacement, an HP6020i). I was quite wary of sticking the CD-R on top of my
SCSI CD-ROM since I feel that the heat coming from the CD-ROM probably contributed to the
old drive's failure. Believe me when I tell you that when a disc came out of that
Plextor CD-ROM it was way too hot. Anyhow, I temporarily needed to use the Plextor
so I ran the SCSI cable just outside the case with the power cable and stuck the drive on
my mouse pad.
Here's the kicker. I touched the drive casing a couple of times and felt very
small shocks, but I just ignored them. Later, however, I touched my mousepad and
felt a big shock, whereupon my computer rebooted! Yikes! I have an optical
mouse, so my mousepad is metal! Oh man. Anyhow, you can be sure I moved the
drive after that little scare. I'm lucky nothing blew up.
On the bright side, my CD-R works. I remember that back when CD-R drives were
expensive, everybody seemed to think you owed them at least one CD-R disc just because you
had a drive to make them with. As you can imagine, that got pretty annoying.
Now everybody seems to have one, so the problem isn't as bad.
12:56 AM
WinAmp 1.72 released
A new revision of WinAmp is out. Features proxy support and supposed
MMX optimizations.
Direct
Download
Thriller 3D
Some hitches turned up in getting the card here, but everything is worked
out now and the Thriller 3D should be arriving in about 3 days or so now. Should be
interesting to review...I'm interested to see exactly how good the TV out support is.
3:50 PM
StarCraft delays
It seems like StarCraft will be delayed once again, to March 15th.
However, this date is supposedly set in stone. The beta testers are really getting
their money's worth out of the testing (although, of course, they didn't actually have to
pay). There have been about six patches and there will probably be a seventh before
everything is sorted out and Starcraft goes to the presses (which should take about a week
in itself). Meanwhile, the rest of us sit. And wait.
11:54 PM
Olympic curling
I'm going to ask the question everybody else is asking. What is
this, where did it come from, and why is it a sport? In case you haven't seen this
on TV yet, it appears to involve hurling stones across the ice and people running in front
of the stone sweeping. I can't imagine how somebody came up with this, and I don't
understand how you can get a gold medal in it. Seriously, if somebody told you they
had a gold medal in curling, 99% of the people out there would probably say, "What is
that and why do I care?"
Speaking of which, I've always wondered how people get into sports like luging or
curling. It's not like you can say to your friends, "Hey, let's go down to the
YMCA and luge a little."
12:31 PM
The limit of perceptible FPS
OK, people! Once and for all, let's set the record straight.
The limit of FPS (frames per second) as perceptible by the human eye is NOT 24 or 30
FPS. In fact, it's different for everybody, but it's somewhere around 80 FPS!
Just because film is 24 FPS and looks OK doesn't mean that that's what everybody has to
settle for, OK?
1:29 AM
Toshiba Libretto 100CT
True to Toshiba's habit of upgrading the features of their Libretto line
of sub-subnotebooks regularly, the next Libretto model, the 100CT, has been announced.
It's basically the same as the others except with a 166 MMX processor and a 2.1GB
HD.
I used to want one of these really badly. I'm over it now, I guess...but it would
still be pretty cool!
Libretto 100CT announcement
Intel's new chips
Well, now that the news has broken, let's talk about Intel's new line of
low cost chips. The first product is code-named Covington and will basically be a
Pentium II without the L2 cache. Mendocino will be a little different...it has 128KB
of L2 cache on the die, like the Pentium Pro. It's unclear whether or not the cache
runs at full speed for Mendocino, but my guess is it does.
Both Covington and Mendocino are manufactured on the same 0.25 micron process as
Deschutes, but will be running at slower speeds (around 266 MHz). That means Intel
can probably make a hell of a lot of these suckers for nothing. These low-cost chips
are designed to take over the sub $1,000 end of the market that AMD and Cyrix currently
occupy.
TechWire's story
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