Timothy
Parker Consulting Incorporated
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| Questions and Answers, Part 22 Q: A customer asked about iFeel. What’s an iFeel? A: The Logitech iFeel is a
force-feedback mouse. Software in the mouse driver detects when the mouse cursor
moves over certain items in Windows, Windows applications, Web pages and games.
When a particular item is moved over, the mouse gives a little feedback.
For example, when you roll over a button on a Web page, the mouse will
give a little bump to the hand to make it feel as though you’ve gone over a
small speed-bump. It’s a quite
interesting and useful feature when you want to get interactive with screen
items, and can be very handy for games, web page work, and some finicky tasks
such as photo editing and line drawing. Not
all applications respond to the force feedback, and sometimes the effects are
too pronounced for my taste, but it is an interesting tactile addition to using
a computer. Q: I upgraded a client’s PC
from 128MB to 512MB RAM but Windows ME only reports 256MB installed. The
motherboard has no jumpers on it, and it’s fairly recent (running a P3 1GHz
CPU). Any ideas? A: You didn’t specify which
type of memory you installed, so there are a few possibilities. Some
motherboards will not accept specific types of memory so you may have
non-compatible memory installed. If you have the motherboard manufacturer’s
Web site or documentation that came with the mobo, check for supported RAM
types. Some mobos will also not
accept large chips, such as 512MB, but only take 128MB or lower sets.
Again, the documentation should tell you this.
(If you tried a single 512MB memory expansion, pull it and try two 256MB
or multiple 128MB expansions instead and see if anything different happens.)
Also, make sure you are using non-ECC memory. Finally, if you are adding chips
to expand the existing 128MB to make up 512MB, make sure the timings are
compatible: some chips won’t work with others if the timings are not
compatible. Chances are the P3 1GHz requires PC133 and not PC100 memory: again,
check the memory types! Q: What is MOSIX? A client who uses Linux on his servers asked about it. A: MOSIX is designed to allow you
to set up clusters using Linux. I
did a series on Linux clusters (and mentioned MOSIX) a while back. Check the Channel Business Web site for past issues or visit
my Web site (www.tpci.com) and check the
Columns archive. Q: Will Windows ME run on a
dual-processor motherboard? Does it
matter if the mobo is AMD or Intel? A: Windows ME supports a single
CPU only. You can install it on a
machine with two chips installed, but only one will be used. There will be no activity on the second CPU if it is
installed. It doesn’t matter
whether the CPUs are AMD or Intel, as Windows ME will work with either (but only
one at a time!). Q: What is MTH? I ran into a mention of it in a relatively new PC’s mobo
manual. A: MTH stands for Memory
Translator Hub. Back in 1999 Intel
was pushing its RDRAM for use with the P4.
Most people didn’t bother with RDRAM because it cost four to five times
as much as standard PC133 RAM chips, which worked just fine with P4s as long as
the Intel 820 chipset was not installed (the 820 chipset requires RDRAM).
To help drive the demand for RDRAM and the 820 chipset, Intel introduced
the Memory Translator Hub which converted the fast signals coming from RDRAM to
the slower signals used by PC133 chips. The MTH board was placed in the RIMM
slot of the 820-motherboard slots. Since this “innovation” didn’t go
anywhere, Intel adopted MTH on a chip on the motherboard for P4s. In the end,
Intel recalled all those motherboards because of bugs, and the MTH technology
was abandoned. Q: A customer asked if I can get
an “orb” or a “volcano” for his PC.
What are they? Game
controllers? A: Both the Orb and the Volcano
are fans that attach to a CPU and provide much better cooling than the stock
fans used by Intel and AMD. Several
cooling fan manufacturers use the term “orb” for their fans, but I think
Volcano is exclusive to a company called Thermaltake. Q: I bought some Maxtor drives
from a wholesaler. They were all
shrink-wrapped and appeared never touched inside, but in the static wrap are
Quantum hard drives. Why? A: Maxtor bought Quantum last year and packaged some of the existing Quantum drives in the purchased inventory inside Maxtor packages. The old stock didn’t last too long, so now Maxtor boxes contain Maxtor-labelled drives even though the technology may be Quantum’s. Maxtor has said they will replace any drives for those who are disappointed with the Quantum drive, but to be honest I think the Quantums are better than the Maxtors! |
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