The Rife Report  June 2010

Core i5 Joins Stable; HD Monitor Fix; Disk Director; MS Office; HTML5; Intel As time fidgets on, I add new gear to my computer stable to keep pace with innovations and, of course, to salve my enthusiast curiosity. This time the plan was to assemble a mid-range system including the new USB 3.0 and 6xSATA technologies. After pondering the reviews I settled on an Intel Core i5-750 (the best bang for your buck in between the low-end i3's and the ultra expensive i7's) as the CPU (central processing unit) paired with an Asus P7P55D-E motherboard. The board's chipset is Intel's P55 Express PCH (platform controller hub). It is made using 65-nanometre technology and measures a tiny 8.5 x 9 mm. Its Lynnfield microprocessor design moves much of the chipset's traditional duties onto the CPU. It has integrated memory controllers, support for socket 1156 processors and dual-channel DDR3 memory. Speeds range up to an effective 1333 MHz. As one reviewer said of the board: "ASUS has done an excellent job of balancing performance, features and price - you get full speed USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 plus TurboV, EPU-6, high quality 8-channel HD audio and other features you would normally only find in a more expensive motherboard." Hits my target bullseye! While selecting other parts I encountered a peculiar problem. First it was in picking a power unit for the new computer. I looked at Antec's EA-500D Green. Lots to recommend, but NO power cord included. Antec says: "By reusing your existing cord, you can reduce waste and help protect the environment." Yeah, or maybe buy a new cord and pay extra for it. The decision was to purchase another manufacturer's PSU that did include a power cord. It was higher wattage, but actually less expensive. It happened again when buying a new 24-inch Asus HDMI- LCD monitor. It came without an HDMI connector cord for use with the new system. Sure it had all the other cords, if you only wanted to go VGA. But I was paying for HD. So once again, buy a required power cord. High Def with added Black Border? Everything seemed well as peripherals were plugged in and the hard drives were partitioned to my liking before installing Windows7. The operating system went in quickly with no glitches. I installed the 32-bit version - you do know that both 32 and 64-bit disks are included in each Microsoft package this time? And you do know that more than one local-area computer retailer is advertising online ONLY 64-bit versions of Win7 on their assembled new PCs? One assumes if you ask you can get 32-bit if you wish. Don't forget that many printers scanners and the like that are more than two years old, probably are NOT 64-bit compatible. But back to the new installation - Windows 7 went into the new P7 without a hitch, BUT as the beautiful desktop wallpapers of Canadian scenes shuffled by on a timed sequence, I noticed there was an additional 2-cm-wide black border around the monitor screen. I wasn't getting 100 % of the screen! Why? What's that for? Evidently I wasn't the first to see the black border. A relative reported a similar problem with her new monitor - didn't know how to fix it. One thing led to another and after much clicking on the ATI Catalyst Control Centre (yes, the new rig has a solid m-range Radeon graphics engine) I found a graphics scaling adjustment buried way too deeply in their utility. Once you find your way, it is easy to get a full screen with the HDMI cable. Merely adjust the slider on the over and underscan option. I went to zero to make it fit. Surprise - if or when you download and install an upgrade graphics driver, you'll need to go through this scaling once again! Go figure. These are the steps to finding the scaler: 1. Open Catalyst Control Center as administrator. 2. Switch to Advanced mode if you aren't already there. 3. Click "Graphics" (top right) for a drop-down menu. 4. Select "Desktops and Displays." 5. Right Click on the image beneath "Please Select a Display" on the bottom right. 6. Select "Configure." 7. Click on the "Scaling Options" tab. 8. Slide the scale to the right (overscan) until you get full screen (my monitor required 0%) Aging Disk Director Replaced During the past year or so since Windows 7 came on the scene (it was released Oct. 22, 2009) I've encountered some strange software situations with different products, There have been whirling disk slow downs, cursor freezes and one BSOD (blue screen of death). Often I could pin it down to incompatible software I was experimenting with - sometimes I was made aware by Microsoft's Win7 Upgrade Advisor. You download it here. Its data bank has been enlarged regularly over time so that it now picks up on things it might have missed before. If you are wondering about a Win 7 glitch - it might be worth a try. Among software that I have used time and again in testing - and depend on it to get me out of trouble spots is Acronis True Image Home 2010. I make image backups before tests so that I can return to "point A" quickly and easily if things go awry. I use that utility's Rescue Media Disk every day. That same disk I created also included all parts of my other Acronis standby, Disk Director v10. It helped in partitioning and other such arcane fixes. Unfortunately the Disk Director product build I have is old - build #2160, probably released in 2008. The current build #2288 was released in March this year. Acronis tech support warned me when I first started having problems with Disk Director in Vista that I should only use the so-called Disk Director Safe Mode (Geeks will know that Windows systems also have a safe mode). That solved some of my problems, but not all. I continued to instal Disk Director on Vista and more recently on Win7 beta and now on the full versions of Win7. There were the odd problems, but I never connected them with Disk Director. Could it have been the source? Then on May 25 my Acronis contact, Marc Mombourquette, emailed me: "Disk director 10 is NOT Win 7 compatible . . . Any build." It was short, startling news. Then I read in Gene Barlow's most recent newsletter that you should: "not install Disk Director Suite 10 on your Windows 7 system as this can cause problems for your computer." The double warning moved me to uninstall Disk Director from all systems carrying Windows 7. Marc saved the good news in his email until last: "We are releasing Disk Director Home v11 on June 15th. It is compatible with Win 7." That's the Disk Director that has been in non-public beta for at least the past six months. He added that: "In September, we will launch a Disk Director workstation suite and a Disk Director server suite. I'll keep you informed with more details." MS Office 2010 Demo Damir Bersinic, from Microsoft Canada, gave a presentation "Upgrading to Office 2010" at the club's May meeting. Unfortunately there was a heavy rainstorm pounding on the roof and it was difficult, if not impossible at times to hear his talk above the rumble. He did make a point of how the suite's product could synchronize the development work of a number of people so that their efforts could be completed more quickly and accurately. That was good for businesses, but there was little covered that gave the ordinary consumer much to ponder. Nevertheless the audience peppered him with questions, some he admitted pertained to parts of the suite about which he knew little. The meeting ran overtime, which was an indication of the interest in what the new software had to offer. To that effect, you could turn to Yardena Arar's, PC World review - "Inside Microsoft's Newest Suite" here. Or Anum Lodhi of Redmond Pie's picture-filled review titled " 5 Outstanding New Features of Microsoft Word 2010" here. Or Edward Mendelson's PC Magazine's comparison look at all new such suites in his " Office 2010: Not Your Only Choice" here. Of course, you could go to the Microsoft Office home site. Adobe Flash vs HTML5 And then there is the matter of Adobe Flash and HTML5. You could say versus, take your pick? The issue was mentioned to me by a member worried that Flash would definitely NOT be available in Internet Explorer 9 and would thus make a hash of many situations in which he was involved. Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft's General Manager, Internet Explorer says, in a post on the IE Blog site, said that: "we described why IE9 will support H.264-encoded HTML5 video. Microsoft and other browser providers see hardware support, customer and partner readiness, and intellectual property rights as key factors making H.264 an excellent choice for video encoding and playback." Read his explanation in detail. Then take a look at Gizmodo's site where he gives his overview of what he calls the "Video Benchmark Deathmatch. " He says: "In theory, HTML5 video sounds like it ought to be more efficient than plugin-based Flash, but right now, minor differences in CPU utilization? That's the least of our worries." Read the complete overview. Lifehacker's great site takes a look at the problem in "HTML5 ISN'T Always Better." Read it here. As for me, I take a more benign view. I like what blogger Remy Sharp says: "It's an exciting time on the web again where browsers are implementing features that make it an even more powerful platform . . . I'm certain Flash will continue to be used to build awesome stuff (and probably some not so awesome stuff) for a long time yet." Intel Backs Down on Larrabee Intel has decided to shelve plans for its Larrabee discrete graphics chip. According to a post at Intel Blogs, the company won't bring discrete graphics to market. Instead it will focus on development of integrated graphics and multi-core microprocessors. Which means there will be no Larrabee-powered dedicated graphics cards to offer consumers a third choice, away from AMD and Nvidia. Bill Kircos, director of Intel's Product and Technology Media Relations Global Communications Group, stated: "we are focussed on processor graphics, and we believe media / HD video and mobile computing are the most important areas to focus on moving forward." The Larrabee's technology that was due to be used in graphics cards will be applied in laptop processors and future multi-core server chips. Larrabee discrete GPU chips' features will be part of the 22nm-based Sandy Bridge micro-architecture based chips. Intel's Core branded Clarksdale and Arrandale processors that feature integrated graphics remain unaffected. So now, the move would be cramming HD supporting graphics on CPU die for laptops. So much for the potential gaming market Intel aimed to tap and the multi-core Larrabee products that were to be given to game developers. Summer Hiatus As has been my practice in the past, I'm taking the summer off. No Report for the months of July and August. It's feet-up time with a good book in a lounge chair on the back deck again. Well, not all the time. I will continue to install Win 7 on my stable of PCs. And I'll be watching both Intel and AMD for moves on the chipset - motherboard front as we wait the coming of Windows 7 SP1. Thank you for your encouraging emails. All things being equal, see you in September!

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