I didn't do much this week. I received quite a bit of software that I wanted to install and play with but didn't get time. Let's look at what I did get accomplished.
Last week I alluded to a computer repair but failed to deliver the details. A PC I had fixed a few weeks ago was back, the owner irately claiming it was my poor repair job. I hooked the PC up and found only one problem; Windows 98 gave an error whenever the floppy drive was accessed. A trip to Microsoft TechNet revealed this occurs when the floppy is in use and the PC is unexpectedly shut down. I rebooted, removed the floppy from the BIOS, unplugged the cables and removed the entry from Windows 98. Rebooted and added it back it. The floppy was up and running with no problems. The owner had made several claims regarding freezing and lockups with the PC, but I had none of that anytime the PC was at my house. I checked the hard drive and saw that an HP 4300 USB scanner had been installed. This machine was a K6 3D 266MHz machine with a VIA chipset motherboard so I feared it was USB drivers to blame. I hooked up a Microsoft USB joystick but had no troubles. I checked HP's web site for any problems but found none. I returned the system and spoke with the owner a few days later; no lockups but he hadn't attached the scanner yet. I was glad it had nothing to do with my handy work but would have liked a resolution to this.
After those system problems my mind wandered again to backup solutions. The PC is a precarious item and can crash; if we don't backup our documents and personal files they will be lost. The problem is the size of hard drives today; I just picked up a 20 GB Maxtor drive for less than $200, but a 20 GB tape drive will be over $500. Right now I have an 8 GB tape drive, but I only use it to backup files since it can't handle a full system backup. The cheapest and safest solution would be to buy another 20 GB drive and use Windows 2000 to mirror the drives via software RAID 1. Basically the contents of your boot drive are mirrored to another drive, and in case of crash you swap the two. Or I could pick up a Highpoint or Promise RAID controller for $100 and have it done in hardware. Hmm, tape drive for $500 or 20 GB hard drive and IDE RAID controller for $300. Bottom line is to keep your data backed up, whether on tape, CD, hard drive or Zip disk. Keep in mind this would be for personal backup; I'll be looking at RAID 5 IDE controllers for servers in the next few months, so stay tuned.
The real world finally had some decent news this week. Yet another stumbling block for Intel as they cancel their Timna project. Timna was an all in one design integrating processor, video and I/O to compete in the sub $600 PC range. As well the Pentium 4 processor has been delayed until November, apparently because of problems with the 850 chipset it needs. PCI video cards weren't working properly with the 850, just another bump in Intel's rocky road. Sony announced they can only have half the number of Playstation 2 units available at launch as originally announced to retailers; there go my hopes of more time wasted in front of the television. Handspring showed a digital phone module for their Visor line of PDAs, allowing wireless transmission. Hopefully this module will ship in my lifetime; Handspring has been fast at showing modules for their units but slow getting them to market. Sony announced a portable computer tablet that integrates a PC with an LCD screen and connects via a wireless hub. Very slick but pricey; a look at things to come.
by Scott VanderPloeg
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