Saturday, March 28, 2009

ASUS Takes Home Multiple Red Dot Design Awards for 2009

Eee PC™, EeeKeyboard PC and Notebooks Awarded Top Honor

ASUS receives the prestigious 2009 red dot design award for several of its top-selling products. Those included are the ever-popular Eee PC™ S101, EeeKeyboard PC, S121, P30 notebook, and the newly designed ergonomic Chocolate keyboard for ASUS notebooks. In addition, the ASUS RT-N17 wireless storage router and ASUS L-Series laptop carrying bags also received red dot design Honourable Mention awards.

The international red dot design award ranks among the largest and prestigious design competitions in the world. Each year an international panel reviews and evaluates the product submissions according to stringent criteria including level of innovation, functionality and the product quality.

ASUS is proud to present the following red dot award product design 2009 winners:


Eee PC™ S101
The ASUS Eee PC™ S101 is exquisitely designed for fashion-mindedindividuals who value style as a symbol of success. With a selection of four gorgeous colors—Brown, Champagne, Graphite or Pink—the S101 is accentuated with delightful details such as premium Infusion finishes and crystal-adorned hinges. A successful melding of fashion and functionality easily situates it at the pinnacle of portable computing.


ASUS S121 notebook
The ASUS S121 notebook was created to fulfill the demands of today’s busy executives and to keep them stylish wherever their work takes them. Dressed to impress, the S121 sports a majestic glossy brown finish with shimmering fibers that graces the LCD lid, while CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements,masterfully imbedded into intricately crafted metallic hinges, add a touch of class reminiscent of a pair of marquis-cut diamond cuff-links on a business suit. To further complete this fusion of high fashion and functionality, exquisite leather-wrapped palm rests are housed within a svelte 2.3cm profile and feather-light 3.19 lbs body. Coupled with a comfortable 12.1” screen, up to 250GB of hard disk space and 8 hours of battery life with the exclusive ASUS Super Hybrid Engine, the ASUS S121 has redefined “digital luxury”.


EeeKeyboard PC
The most innovative and exciting computer available today, the space-saving and supremely portable EeeKeyboard PC offers the complete functionality of a desktop PC in a slim and stylish keyboard that weighs under 2.2 lbs. It easily turns any big-screen TV or LCD monitor into a fully functional PC and video/audio transmission device via its Ultra Wide Band Wireless connectivity—making it suitable for any modern home. A 5-inch touch panel provides users with an interactive and intuitive means of controlling the screen cursor.


ASUS P30 notebook
The ASUS P30 notebook delivers a total solution for secure and trusted mobile computing. It features outstanding power efficiency with the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine (SHE); while the ASUS Xpress Charge feature speedily recharges the notebooks. Under 3.3 lbs and only 1 inch thick, the P30 is the mobile power-house for road warriors.The P30 also delivers secure data protection that encompasses: HDD ShockShield Protection to help prevent hard drive data loss by shock absorption; added security via the ASUS AI Pre-Boot Finger Logon; the AI Secure Delete function; as well as Anti-theft technology that helps locate the notebook in case it is lost or stolen. Furthermore, the P30 delivers outstanding reliability with a sturdy design based on a Magnesium Skeleton, allowing users to rest assured that these notebooks will withstand the rigors of mobile computing.


ASUS Chocolate notebook keyboard
The ASUS Chocolate notebook keyboard highlights not only better ergonomic comfort, but also a visually cleaner appearance and more distinctive typing area. With a larger touch area, finger contact is increased dramatically and tight key spacing reduces dust accumulation. The distinct separation between the alphabetical keys and functional keys provides a smoother typing experience while reduces the frequency of typos.. The new ergonomic design on each of the keycaps allows the user’s fingers to locate and rest naturally on the keyboard, while hotkeys provide one-touch convenience. Combined with improved aesthetics and a ergonomic design,, the new ASUS Chocolate notebook keyboard aims to deliver the best typing experience.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Acer appoints Oliver Ahrens to head China operations

Acer Inc. announces the appointment of Oliver Ahrens as the corporate vice president and president of Acer China, effective April 1, 2009. Ahrens is presently serving as the business director of Peripheral Business Unit, Acer EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

T.Y. Lay, the current serving corporate vice president and president of Acer China, has tendered his resignation. Recognized for establishing a solid base for Acer in China, Lay shall remain in position until the end of March. Ahrens shall succeed Lay with the task of continuing to expand market share of the Acer Group’s multi-brand products in China.

Ahrens has been one of the key contributors to the company’s success in the past several years, hence, Acer has the assured confidence that he will be able to capitalize on his leadership and carry Acer China’s business onto the next stage for growth and excellence.

Born in 1965 and a German national, Ahrens graduated from the Universitaet Oldenburg with a Diploma in Economics. He served as the sales and marketing director of Acer Germany from 2000, and as the country manager from 2003~2006. In parallel, Ahrens has held his current position of business director of Peripheral Business Unit, Acer EMEA, since 2004.

www.acer.com

ASUS Begins Shipment of Eee Top ET1602 in North America

-- Touch Screen PC Made Easy --

FREMONT, CALIFORNIA (March 9, 2009) - ASUS, the award-winning innovator of the Eee series products, today announces immediate availability of the Eee Top ET1602 touch-based computer. Designed as an intuitive Internet device and central communication hub, the Eee Top integrates a 15.6" touch screen, an Intel Atom based system, and an easy to use graphic interface making today's computer a transparent, user-friendly experience for the entire household. Available now through ASUS North American authorized dealers, the Eee Top 1602’s introductory MSRP is $599 USD. A companion external DVD drive is also available at an introductory MRSP of $64 USD.


Collaborate, Communicate
The Eee Top's 15.6" touch screen is the perfect input surface for collaborate computing, negating the need to pass keyboards and mice or switch seats. The Eee Memo software converts your Eee Top into a doodle-friendly post-it-notes station. It's integrated webcam, array mic and wireless capabilities grant it video-phone functionality over Skype, while the Eee Cam software makes custom photo messages and YouTube videos a breeze.

Compute from Room to Room
The nature of the Eee Top seamlessly consolidates input and output into a sleek integrated system. Its built-in handle makes the 10 lbs. system highly portable from room to room. Available in black and white, its clean, cable-less look fits a wide variety of rooms. Furthermore, Eee Top’s low energy consumption and Super Hybrid Engine minimize heat and annoying fan noises found in traditional computing solutions.

Entertain and Educate
With its wireless networking capabilities, camera card reader and plethora of USB ports, the Eee Top is ready to access the web, share photos and playback movies. Navigate entire web pages with a few taps of the touch-optimized Opera browser. Enjoy all your videos, pictures and music with the simple drag of the finger in Eee Cinema. The 16:9 Splendid screen and onboard SRS audio make the Eee Top an excellent multimedia hub.
DVD for your Eee
To access your DVD collection on the Eee Top and other devices, ASUS introduces the SDRW-08D1S-U Diamond slim USB DVD drive, sold separately. With its matching design, space-saving vertical stand and USB powered operation, the Diamond drive is the most convenient way to playback movies and archive your favorite memories.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Top tips for power-efficient personal computing

HP business desktop PCs, notebooks and workstations are designed with built-in energy-saving intelligence – from pre-set sleep states and adjustable fan speeds to thermal and power management technology.

HP business desktop PCs
All HP 5000 and 7000 series business PCs can be configured to meet the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® guidelines, the most recognized national symbol for energy efficiency in the U.S. These product lines are designed around many of the industry's newest and most energy-efficient technologies.

The ENERGY STAR logo means that your PC has been configured and tested to stringent energy consumption standards as set forth by the EPA. All ENERGY STAR qualified Business Desktop PCs from HP are also EPEAT™ Gold registered – reaching even a higher standard of environmental attributes.

Check out the HP Compaq dc7900 business PC. It features many of the latest innovations in energy-saving PC technology, including low-power PC components, an advanced thermal design and user-controlled power management software. It’s also available with up to 87 percent efficient power supplies.

HP business notebook PCs
Nearly all HP business notebooks are ENERGY STAR® qualified for power efficiency. The HP Illumi-Lite display in select notebooks uses highly efficient, mercury-free LED screens, which can significantly lengthen your battery life.
Ambient light sensors on certain models help reduce your power consumption by automatically adjusting display brightness to lighting conditions. Many HP commercial notebooks support solid state drives that can reduce heat and increase battery life.

HP EliteBook 2530p Notebook PC» View enlarged image

HP EliteBook 2730p Notebook PC» View enlarged image


You can lighten your workload and your power consumption with HP EliteBook 2530p or 2730p Notebook PCs. Both include the features above and are EPEAT™ Gold rated.

HP personal workstations
HP’s entire Personal Workstation line achieved an EPEAT™ Gold rating. All 2008 models feature 80 percent efficient power supplies standard and have ENERGY STAR® qualified configurations available.

Many power-saving settings are standard across the workstation family, such as energy-efficient processors, adjustable fan speeds and pre-set sleep states. Sleep mode “powers down” non-critical components during periods of inactivity, yet allows the workstation to be quickly “woken up” to resume computing. High-end workstation models also feature HP liquid cooling technology.

Calculate your energy consumption with the new Workstation Power Usage Estimator. A step-by-step guide helps you make simple power measurements and input data into a customizable spreadsheet. Compare different hardware and usage scenarios to help estimate your energy-saving potential.

www.hp.com

Acer appoints Oliver Ahrens to head China operations

Acer Inc. announces the appointment of Oliver Ahrens as the corporate vice president and president of Acer China, effective April 1, 2009. Ahrens is presently serving as the business director of Peripheral Business Unit, Acer EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

T.Y. Lay, the current serving corporate vice president and president of Acer China, has tendered his resignation. Recognized for establishing a solid base for Acer in China, Lay shall remain in position until the end of March. Ahrens shall succeed Lay with the task of continuing to expand market share of the Acer Group’s multi-brand products in China.

Ahrens has been one of the key contributors to the company’s success in the past several years, hence, Acer has the assured confidence that he will be able to capitalize on his leadership and carry Acer China’s business onto the next stage for growth and excellence.

Born in 1965 and a German national, Ahrens graduated from the Universitaet Oldenburg with a Diploma in Economics. He served as the sales and marketing director of Acer Germany from 2000, and as the country manager from 2003~2006. In parallel, Ahrens has held his current position of business director of Peripheral Business Unit, Acer EMEA, since 2004.

ASUS Launches the S121 for Stylish Computing On the Go

New Notebook Boasts Added Performance Features for Versatile Mobile Computing

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (January 8, 2009) -ASUS is proud to announce the launch of the new S121 notebook, a versatile mobile computing companion for individuals who view their notebooks not only as tools, but also as accessories that complement their diverse lifestyles. In combining innovative technologies and a cutting edge design similar to that of the successful Eee PC™ S101 Ultra-mobile Internet Device, the ASUS S121 is a notebook that provides extensive multi-tasking capabilities and mobile performance that breezes through any occasion. Be it in the office or the trendiest parts of town on a night out, the ASUS S121 provides both charm and productivity anywhere.

A Marque of Exquisite Taste and Design
As a notebook counterpart of the Eee PC™ S101, the ASUS S121 sports a majestic glossy brown Infusion finish that graces the LCD lid, while CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements masterfully imbedded into intricately crafted metallic hinges add a touch of class, reminiscent of a pair of marquis-cut diamond cuff-links on a business suit. The pièce de résistance, a luxurious and elegant leather palm rest, completes the ASUS S121—a celebration of high fashion and functionality.

Substance in Equal Measure to Style
Head-turning looks aside, the ASUS S121 also packs substance in the form of a suite of user-friendly features. Equipped with a 12.1” energy saving, LED backlight display, the S121 provides comfortable viewing for documents, multimedia and Internet browsing without eye strain. Users who require a larger storage space for business or school will appreciate hard disk drive storage options up to 250GB, while users who travel frequently and need instantaneous data access while on the move can choose a Solid State Drive (SSD) of up to 512GB. With co-development with a 3rd party vendor, ASUS’ SSDs are only 1.8” thick; and are the world’s largest density SSD drives at 512GB. Adopting the latest controller technology to offer twice as fast data transfer speeds in comparison to traditional hard drives, ASUS’ SSDs also deliver absolute data protection by resisting shocks and knocks for better reliability, faster boot up time, and lower power consumption—making them definite must-have devices for ultra mobile notebooks.

Enjoy All-Day Computing with Extended Battery
Life The ASUS S121 features the exclusive Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) which greatly enhances the notebook’s energy efficiency, letting users enjoy longer battery life per charge—enabling longer hours of continuous computing. SHE also offers a choice of performance and power consumption modes that allow users to make quick and easy adjustments to suit their usage scenarios. In addition, SHE has the ability to intelligently boost system performance under heavy load, thus enabling the notebook to meet the demands of processor and resource-intensive tasks.
Specifications:

Model S121

Processor and Cache Memory
- Intel Atom Processor Z520 (1.33GHz, 533MHz, 512KB cache)

Operating System
- Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic - Genuine Windows XP- GNU Linux

Main Memory
DDR2 533MHz 1 x SODIMM up to 2GB

Display
12.1” LED backlight panel

Hard Drive
- 1.8” SATA HDD up to 250GB / 5400RPM- Optional 512GB SSD (MLC)

Optical Drive
External drives supported

Video Camera*
Built-in 1.3 M Pixel camera with array mic

Fax/Modem/LAN/WLAN
- Wi-Fi 802.11n- 10/100/1000 LAN- Bluetooth®
Dimensions and Weight
- 29.7cm (W) x 21cm (D) x 0.23–0.26cm (H)
- 1.45kg (with 4-cell polymer battery)* Subject to system configuration and usage.

Note: Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit http://www.asus.com/ for more information

Sunday, March 22, 2009

W90 – The Ultimate Multimedia Notebook

Bridging the Gap between Form and Function, the ASUS W90 Delivers Both Style and Performance in One Stunning Package.

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (January 7, 2009) - The ASUS W90 represents a shift in the manufacturing and designing of the notebooks of today, where style plays an equally important role as performance. In blending the two elements together, the ASUS W90 can be likened to a high performance sports car—providing users with exhilarating performance and immaculate charm. Be it for entertainment or for work, the ASUS W90 is the definitive notebook for the modern, discerning consumer with an eye for design and attention to performance.

Designed For the Soul
An exquisite brushed aluminum top cover greets the user, conveying a sense of class and prestige. An ultra bright, high definition LCD display lends an air of sophistication with its flushed design, redolent of a top-of-the-range LCD television. These stylish features adorn a refreshingly clean and streamlined chassis, with speakers that are designed like the heating vents of a performance sports car. The cumulative effect of these design highlights imbues users with a sense of panache and power that only the W90 can provide.

Strength in Numbers: World Leading Graphical Performance and Memory Design.
Powered by the dual graphics ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4870 X2, the W90 is capable of reaching the world’s best graphical performance for a notebook with an astonishing 3D Mark 2006 score of 15,000. The W90 also offers other graphical choices with either the ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD3850 X2 or the NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9800M GS; and complemented by a seamless Full HD1080p, 18.4” widescreen display with a 16:9 golden aspect ratio high definition ultra bright LCD display, the W90 delivers a truly stunning visual experience.

The W90 is also the world’s first notebook equipped with a 3 x SO-DIMM mainboard design; with a maximum RAM capacity of 6GB of DDR2-800 memory. This massive speed, coupled with an Intel® Core™2 Duo processor, provides the W90 with the muscle for extensive multitasking. Dual hard disk drives provide up to one terabyte of storage capacity, allowing users to do more, as well as store more documents or multimedia.

Multimedia performance is definitely another forte of the W90, with 6 Altec Lansing speakers shaped in the form of a sports car’s heating vents producing true 5.1 channel audio enjoyment via 5 speakers and an integrated subwoofer; while the 2nd generation Dolby™ Home Theater complements this ensemble perfectly to provide a symphonic audio experience. The combination of audio and visual enjoyment delivers a mind-blowing mix of high definition audio and visual entertainment that can be easily controlled via the ASUS exclusive AI Touch Media, an intuitive control panel located beside the keyboard on the notebook that combines a hardware and software interface for full control of videos, photographs, music, and various other forms of multimedia.

Turbo Performance beyond the limit – Turbo Gear.
The ASUS W90 also comes equipped with the Turbo Gear function, which allows you to overclock your system to significantly increase its performance by up to 25%*, so that you can enjoy audio and video playback while gaming and web-browsing simultaneously.

Specifications :

Processor and Cache Memory
Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T9600/T9400/P8600/P8400
Intel® X38 + ICH10R Chipset, FSB=1066 MHz

Operating System
Microsoft® Vista 64 bit SP1 Premium

Main Memory
DDR2 800MHz, up to 6GB, 3xSO-DIMM slots support

Display
- 18.4” widescreen HD ultra-bright LCD display (W90Vp/W90Vn)- 17” widescreen WUXGA ultra-bright LCD display (W90V)

Graphics Card
- ATI CrossFireX™ technology with ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4870 graphics, GDDR3 1024MB VRAM (W90Vp)
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS, GDDR3 1024MB VRAM (W90Vn)
- ATI CrossFireX™ technology with ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3850 graphics, GDDR3 1024MB VRAM (W90V)

Hard Disk Drive
320 + 320GB / 250 + 250GB / 500 + 500GB (5400rpm)

Optical Drive
Blu-ray Combo/ DVD Super Multi DL

Video Camera
2.0M Pixels Auto Focus Webcam

Communication
- 802.11 Draft N wireless connection
- BlueTooth 2.1+EDR
- 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
- 56k Modem

Audio
5.1 channel Altec Lancing speaker (w/ subwoofer), 2nd Generation Dolby™ Home Theater

Interface
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x E-SATA
- 4 x USB 2.0- IEEE 1394
- VGA-out (D-Sub)
- Headphone (SPIDIF)
- Mic-in- 8 in 1 Card Reader
- 1 x Express Card
- 1 x CIR- RF-in (w/ TV SKU)
- 1 x Modem jack (RJ11)
- 1 x LAN port (RJ45)

*Actual performance figures differ and are dependent on product specifications and usage.* Subject to system configuration and usage.

Note: Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit http://www.asus.com/ for more information.

Buying a Computer.

It isn't fair, but buying a computer is just plain easier for some than it is for others. Those who've purchased and used a computer in the past already have an idea of what they need in a new computer. But those who are new to the computer world could get lost in the myriad of choices available.

The short answer to "What should I buy?" is "The best." Of course that answer is extremely subjective because "the best" to one person is certainly different to another. Our definition of "the best" is the fastest and the biggest, but even that leaves the computer newbie confused. Here's a quick rundown of what the computer novice should do and why.

1. Buy a computer that includes basic peripherals. Every computer can be broken down into four major components: CPU unit, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. For the novice, it's best to buy a computer that has all of these components included so that when it's taken home, assembling the computer is a simple matter of plugging things in where they belong. Save the individual purchases of these components for those who have more experience.

2. Decide what you'll use the computer for. If you want to use your computer for cruising the web, sending email, or performing simple word-processing or spreadsheet tasks, a computer with the basic components that we just described should suffice. If you want to use a computer to help with a career in multimedia however, you're going to need to accessorize your system with a scanner, printer, digital camera, tablet, or digicam for example. If you want a computer to help with a career in music, you will need a quality microphone and set of speakers.

3. Create a budget and stick to it. How much can you afford to spend on a new computer? Although the prices of computers are decreasing, they can still create a hefty expense especially if you need additional peripherals described above. In addition, you'll need to figure in costs for maintenance, servicing, and insuring.

4. Start comparison shopping and look for the "fastest and biggest." By "fastest and biggest," we mean the computer with the fastest processor, the fastest modem, the biggest memory, and the biggest hard drive capacity. Even if you think that you'll never need the amount of speed or space available on the market today, it's important to have in the event that you truly do need that much in the future. Having such a large reserve will cut down on costs when the time comes to upgrade for more than what you may settle for in a computer that offers less.

5. Stick with the better-known brands. Venturing off the beaten path with lessor-known brands is again, an adventure for those who have more experience with computers. Although those better-known brands may be a tad bit more expensive, the computer novice will appreciate the comfort in purchasing a computer from a business that has a long record of building quality products, and that has the funds available for fulfilling returns, trades, servicing, and warranties.

6. Select a store. Having an idea of what you want in a computer and what kind of computer that you want, your only task left is to select the place in which you want to buy it. There are a number of places available including computer store outlets, online stores, auction sites, used computer stores, or your friendly neighborhood yard sale. For the computer novice, we recommend buying a computer from a physical store. In a physical store, you have the opportunity to see the computer of interest in person and ask questions. New computer buyers also have access to store warranties, returns, trades, and services.

These suggestions should give the computer newbie a great start in selecting a quality computer for the first time and they apply to either Windows computers or Apple Macintosh computers. After making these decisions and finally selecting one that fits your needs, you can then venture into the fascinating world of software - a world that is just as grand as the world of hardware!

Accessorizing Computers.


We tried to convince him that a fully functional computer is one that is personalized with specially selected hardware and software accessories - and that the computer purchased at the store doesn't come with these things. Unfortunately, all of our convincing was to our avail. Our client insisted that he should never need more than what came with his boxed product and that we were just trying "bilk" more money out of him.

As computer consultants, it's our job and mission to make sure our clients are 100% satisfied when they walk out our offices. But our job is unnecessarily made harder when people don't take the time to learn about computer accessories and familiarize themselves with the limitations of store-bought computers. Hopefully by the time you finish reading this article, you'll understand the lesson that we were trying to teach our client: "What comes out of the box is really just a starter kit.

"The typical computer package comes with a CPU unit, keyboard, mouse, and speaker set. That may be just fine for some, but most people require more than that especially in today's "connected" society. Today's users require full multimedia capabilities, a wide range of graphics tools, and accommodations for the various portables we now enjoy. These extras aren't included with "what comes out of the box," and the only way to get them is to accessorize.

To illustrate the importance of accessorizing, we like to use the "plain dough" analogy. Let's say that a brand new computer is a batch of plain dough - waiting to be flavored and baked into something useful. If we want to use this dough to make a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies, we would need to "accessorize" this dough with chocolate chips and a little brown sugar. If we want to use this dough into in a warm loaf of sesame seed bread on the other hand, we'd need to "accessorize" the dough with yeast and sesame seeds.

Like "plain dough," the brand new computer isn't very useful by itself. It needs accessorizing.

Depending on what's needed, accessorizing doesn't need to be expensive. In fact, you can get away with paying a minimal amount for extra software and hardware if these accessories are for children. It's when these accessories are work requirements or when they're needed to produce works of quality for any other reason that they can become rather expensive. And this expense applies to microphones, digital cameras, PDAs, scanners, video cams, and more.

Regardless of cost, it's important to understand that accessories can become "necessities," and that the best time to get them is the moment you buy a new computer. Waiting too long to accessorize can cause more problems than necessary because while you wait, manufacturers continuously develop new technologies - technologies that your computer won't be able to accommodate in the future. Once you're ready to accessorize, the new products on the market are too advanced for your computer and they just won't work. This is a typical problem experienced by those who want to use hardware designed for Windows Vista on a Windows XP or Windows 2000 machine.

Viruses.


Over recent years, computers have become synonymous with viruses and viruses don't show any signs of disappearing any time soon. In recent news, LiveScience.com reported that "Before the month is even done, April has set a record for virus e-mails."1 In the past, we would be comfortable in telling new computer users not to worry about viruses and that catching a computer virus is rare. Today, that would be some of the worst advice we could give anyone. As reported in countless news reports, computer viruses are rampant and they're extremely worrisome. This article will describe what viruses are and then point you in the direction of some rather unique protection and prevention.

In short, a computer virus is a software program designed to destroy or steal data. It attacks computers via distribution - often unknowingly - through email attachments, software downloads, and even some types of advanced web scripting. Viruses that destroy data are known as Trojan horses, viruses that explode their attacks are called bombs, and viruses that duplicate themselves are called worms. Some viruses are a combination of each, however they can be further identified according to where they're located on a computer.

A virus originating from the boot sector of a computer is a boot-sector virus and this nasty devil does its dirty work the moment a computer is turned on. A virus that attaches itself to (infects) other programs is a file virus and activates the moment that an infected program starts. File viruses may also be referred to as parasitic viruses, however should a virus work from both the boot-sector and from an infected program, the virus is then known as a multipartite virus.

Why viruses exist remains a mystery, however we had privy access to the mind behind a virus programmer who explained his motivation behind his destructive inclinations. Apparently, this person had a deep grudge against a popular online service which shall remain unnamed. In this hacker's mind, the online service failed to do a quality job in protecting children from online smut and as retaliation, he created and distributed a virus to as many file libraries of this service as he could. His intentions were to disable the computers of the online service's users so much that they wouldn't be able to connect for days. In his mind, the loss of connection meant loss of revenue for the online service.

Although the malicious code that this person generated may have worked for a small percentage of users, sufficed to say, the online service continued on and still exists today. Despite his motivation or intention, his efforts were null.

We wouldn't be surprised to learn if other motivations behind spreading viruses were similar to this person's, but that doesn't justify the damage that viruses do. Innocent people become pawns for the evil plans of others who've convinced themselves they're doing the "right" thing.

To protect a computer from getting a virus, or clean a virus from a computer system once infected requires the use of an antivirus utility. But may be something else we can do. Perhaps we could make an effort to educate the people who want put viruses into the public about ways to display dissatisfaction with a service or product that don't involve harming innocent parties. In doing so, we just might reduce the number of virus news stories and protect our own investments at the same time.

Introduction to Programming.

We introduced automating some tasks with MS-DOS batch files. In this article, we're going to introduce programming and describe how it can be used to control the way your computer works. Normally, computer novices aren't interested in controlling the computer. New computer users are typically interested in learning more about how the thing works. However they may be surprised to learn that programming increases computer knowledge as a whole and it can help to diminish the fear associated with using a new computer.

Programming a computer is creating a sequence of instructions that enable the computer to do something.1 The people who program computers (called programmers) use a programming language to communicate with a computer. You might have heard of some of these languages in the past such as Visual Basic, C++, or Fortran. There are hundreds of other programming language and neither one is better than the other. Most of them are capable of performing the same tasks and achieving the same goals. A programmer chooses one language by a simple preference.

Each of these languages differ by the way they communicate with a computer however, and the commands that they follow are very specific. Not a single command of one language can be interchanged with the commands or language of another. But all of them can be used to control a computer.

Now it would be impossible to teach you how to program any language in a single article. But we can still introduce you to some of programming's most basic concepts - starting with the commands we talked about earlier. Commands are the instructions that a computer follows to perform an action. 2 To make them work inside of a program, programmers assign commands to objects like buttons for example.

The commands in a program are pretty useless unless they have some data to act on so programmers either give the programs some data to work with (list of names or numbers for example) or they make the program generate it's own data. Sometimes, the data comes from an outside source like the Internet or the computer that the program runs on. The data that a program receives is called input and data that the program generates is called output.

Other times, the data is unknown. If the program were working with a simple algebra equation like, "x + 5 = y," the variables "x" and "y" would be unknown pieces of data. Or if a program were to calculate a date "x" days from now, the variable "x" would be an unknown piece of data until we tell the program what "x" is. In programming, it's sometimes required to work with unknown pieces of data.

That's when conditions come in handy. Conditions allow a program to perform an action based on the outcome of a previous command.3 Using this type of instruction, we could instruct a program to do one thing if the "x" variable in our latter example turned out to be 7 days, and then do different thing if the variable turned out to be 3 days.

Commands, data, variables, and conditions help build the most simple programs and there are certainly many more components of any programming language. But when they're typed into a programming language and compiled to create a an executable file (a file ending with the .exe extension), they turn into a software application.

As we mentioned earlier, you can use a programming language to control your computer. By using simple commands, you can program your computer to perform mathematical tasks, fill out web forms, compose an email message and send it off, or any number of other things. If you're interested, you may find Visual Basic is one of the most easiest programming languages to learn. Visual Basic is an object-oriented programming language and it automatically codes much of a program the minute a programmer drags a button onto a screen.

Computer Security.

Advances in computer technology is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it affords us quick and easy access to numerous conveniences such as bank statements, favorite shopping centers, school and health records, and more. On the other hand, it can also grant the same access to those who aren't supposed to get it. Although it's a rare occurrence, hacking has become the biggest criminal nuisance in computer history.

Make no bones about it. There's nothing innocent or cute about the hacker. Today's hackers aren't the pimply-faced teen rebels that you might be thinking of. Instead, this generation of hackers are grown individuals who are more than likely earning a living by stealing the identities of innocent, law abiding individuals and then selling those identities to others who want to slip by the system. And the only protection against these seedy people is prevention.

Computer security couldn't be more important than it is today and that's why we've taken the time to introduce it to you. You can reduce the probability of experiencing identity theft by making your computer as hacker-proof as possible. All that's needed is a little software and a lot of common sense.

1. Install an anti-virus/anti-spyware program. Anti-virus/anti-spyware software will stop malicious code from downloading and installing onto your computer while you peruse the Internet. Known as viruses, worms, or spyware, this malicious code can destroy important files and render your computer good for only one thing: sending sensitive data back to the server of an identity thief.

2. Don't store sensitive data on your computer in the first place. Should your computer get infected with a virus, worm, or piece of spyware, you can thwart the individuals responsible by not storing your personal information on your PC so that when and if your computer does send back data - it won't be anything valuable. Hackers look for things like full names, social security numbers, phone numbers, home addresses, work-related information, and credit card numbers. If these things aren't saved onto a computer, there's nothing critical to worry about other than restoring your computer to a non-virus condition.

3. Don't open files without scanning them with an anti-virus/anti-spyware program. In the past, the warning was to avoid opening files from people that you don't know. Today it's really not safe to open files from anyone (without scanning the files) because that's how viruses get spread - through files - even by mistake. So even though your co-worker may have emailed a funny video, it's no more safe to open than a video downloaded from a complete stranger. Be safe and scan each and every file you download from the Internet or receive through email regardless of where it came from.

4. Create a barrier between your computer and prying eyes. Anti-virus/anti-spyware programs are only effective after the effect. But you can prevent identity theft from occurring by installing a firewall. A firewall is software that checks all data entering and exiting a computer and it then blocks that which doesn't meet specified security criteria (user-defined rules).

5. Don't click on website links in spam messages. In an effort to obtain personal information, some spammers will send email that asks you to click on a link. The email messages are often disguised as important messages from well-known online establishments, and they often try to scare their readers into clicking links with threats of closing an account of some sort. Sometimes the links are harmless and attempt to con the reader into volunteering personal information (credit card number), but other times the links attempt to download harmful software onto a computer.

Your best protection against computer crimes is your own knowledge. Hopefully the suggestions above will prompt you into taking appropriate action and into protecting your computer with the suggested tools. In doing so, you'll not only protect yourself, you'll prevent the spread of these malicious activities and protect others at the same time.

Working With Computers.

Well, we've been warned that this time would come - probably from the earlier eighties on. Yes, computers have finally taken over and if you doubt it, we're here to convince you - but not because we want to or because we can. We want to convince you that if you don't take the necessary steps to control that reign, you're going to be left behind further than you could have ever imagined.

Computers are everywhere. Take a moment to try and think of a place a business where you didn't see a computer in use. From the small local corner store to the largest hospital, computers are in every gas station, grocery store, bank, restaurant, beauty shop, and doctor's office around. From a consumer's point of view - you may not think that's much to worry about. But along with computers, we've also been infiltrated with a little thing called "self-service." Today, there are more self-serviced resources than ever and in an effort to synchronize them with headquarter databases, they're provided via your inescapable computer.

Here are some examples. Banking is self-serviced through the desktop-clad ATM machine. Gas stations are self-serviced through a menu-clad touch screen kiosk. Most cash registers are Windows XP or Vista machines that send purchase details back to headquarters via the Internet (or a small Intranet). Having your weight, blood pressure, and heart rate measured and recorded is now a digitized process. Even ordering a pizza is now a simple matter of dialing from a wireless cell phone and making a few selections from series of pre-programmed menus!
The important thing to realize here is that this phenomenon isn't a new convenience - it's a new requirement. And if you haven't jumped onto the binary wagon, you're going to face a few problems. For just as this new lifestyle was once predicted, we're going to predict that "the old ways" will slowly disappear.

We're going to predict that all paper-based transactions (checks, money orders, etc.) and documentation (think of the old filing cabinet system) will disappear. We're going to predict that chips will replace everything that was once transported from one location to another through the trusty post office. And we're going to predict that homes will become less cluttered with stacks of paper and that our natural resources will flourish as a result of it.

This all sounds fine and dandy of course, but if you're not computer savvy, you're going to feel a little lost once the choice has past and the revolution is 100% complete. Fortunately, computer systems are designed in a way that even a child can manipulate them. In fact, if you can remember that most systems are designed along the line of menus and the selections of a few options on these menus, you'll do just fine no matter how many buttons there are to push.

For example, when you're faced with an electronic system, look for a main menu. Most main menus display themselves as soon as a device is turned on, so chances are that if you're standing before a device that shows a bunch of choices to do something, you're looking at a main menu.

The buttons on these main menus of course take you to additional menus, which in turn give you even more choices to make. And all of those choices will eventually bring you to the service that you need. One very important choice you'll want to keep your eye on is the option to return to the main menu. This way, you can return to the beginning of a system and start over in case you get lost among the way.

Another important choice that you want to keep your eye on is the choice to get help! This option may not be available on every device that you encounter, but when it is available, be sure to use it.

There's just no way around it. Computers and computerized systems are here to stay. There's no need to fear them - but you surely can't avoid them. Just remember the menu system and you'll soon discover that you can approach and use these things as if you designed them yourself.

The Personal Computer - Origin and History.


Nineteen years of evolution have brought the personal computer from being the plaything of the computer hobbyist to the brink of acceptance as a commodity product. The passing of nineteen years has also witnessed a major shift in perception of the personal computer by nearly all of those who use computers on a professional basis.

The personal computer, or microcomputer as it was once known, was perceived as being nothing more than an amusing toy which would never be able to challenge the mighty mainframe computer in the real world. Developments in distributed computing having harnessed the combined power of networked microcomputers is only one of the challenges to both the mini-computer and the mainframe.

That the domain of even the supercomputer is no longer sacrosanct is highlighted by a recent product announcement from Mips on their R8000 microprocessor based chip set. The R8000 performing at "300 MFLOPS, which is equivalent to the performance of the Cray Y-MP", (Pountain, 1994). Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) with their Alpha 21164 have raised the performance boundaries even higher. The 21164 is capable of "330 SPECint92 and 500 SPECfp92", (Ryan, 1994), compared to the R8000's peak of "108 SPECint92 and 310 SPECfp92", (Pountain, 1994).

The power of these microprocessors, which generally find their way into workstations, is not typical of current personal computer practice which is based on systems built around the Intel series microprocessors (80486 and Pentium) or Apple systems built around the Motorola 68040 microprocessor. Apple and Motorola, having joined forces with IBM, have now entered the RISC camp and developed systems around the PowerPC 601 microprocessor.

The drive for more power in desktop computers is now coming from the demands of audio-visual oriented multimedia and GUIs. Full screen motion video with sound, at high resolution and full colour photographic quality requires the decompression of huge amounts of data on the fly and displaying at a minimum rate of around 25 frames per second. this all adds up to a requirement for a fast and efficient microcomputer system.

Furthermore, if such a system is to gain commodity status, which it must if it is to be a part of the emerging "affordable interactive multimedia-information superhighway" scenario, then it must be designed so that non-technical consumers find it easy to set-up, reliable in operation and easy to fit with new technology based products as they become available, so called "Plug and Play" (abbreviated as PnP).

This PnP philosophy demands that any re-configuration of the user's system to facilitate memory access, microprocessor function, data storage devices and other system resources be achieved automatically or at least by a simply implemented system reset.

Globally, the two most prevalent personal computer standards, standard being a term which should be treated with some caution, are those of the Apple Macintosh family (which could also include the PowerMac) and the descendants of the IBM PC. Of these two only the Apple Macintosh standard can lay any claims to being capable of PnP.

In the United Kingdom there is an indigenous multimedia capable microcomputer the Acorn A series and its successor the RiscPC, all built around versions of the ARM RISC microprocessor. These very capable microcomputers, best known in educational circles require only a simple system reset when expansion cards are fitted (increasingly not even that). Acorn has one of the longest histories of any company in RISC microprocessor design and utilization. Acorn desktop machines using RISC CPUs predate the Apple PowerMac by almost seven years.

The ARM is based on a quite different design philosophy, that of small and efficient as opposed to the large, power hungry, performance at all costs approach of the high-end microprocessors from Mips and DEC. This makes the ARM ideal for hardware applications where physically small size, cost and/or power consumption, and hence heat dissipation, are the over-riding considerations with multiprocessor configurations being available when raw performance counts.
As for the IBM PC's descendants, true PnP, as defined by the Plug and Play Association (Microsoft and Intel) remains a mirage. Turning this into reality is going to be a slow and painful process requiring some drastic replacement surgery. All the major components of a PC system will need to be changed including the ROM BIOS, operating system, hardware devices and even the application software. This will come as a shock to many a PC buyer who will discover that their machine was obsolete before it was purchased. A recent Byte article provided a rationale for this:

"Faster microprocessors, bigger hard drives and more memory have unquestionably led to more powerful PCs, but underneath it all lies the same foundation that IBM defined for the PC in 1981 and extended for the AT in 1984. Without a single defining leader...........the world's leading computer platform has been propelled forward by sheer market momentum. Meanwhile, the foundation has been slowly cracking under the weight of more and heavier hardware and software." (HalfHill, 1994).

A useful way of explaining how the PC has arrived at such a watershed is to trace the history of the personal computer which begins some time before the introduction of the IBM PC.

In 1972 the Intel Corporation produced an 8-bit microprocessor the 8008 as a successor to the 4-bit 4004. The 8008 microprocessor, at six or seven hundred dollars per unit, was too expensive for the computer hobbyist until the MITS company introduced a desktop computer, the Altair in 1975. The Altair came, in bits as a kit for self-assembly, with 2k of memory and a serial TTY (TeleType) interface at a price cheaper than the going rate for a single 8008. Purchasing an Altair was often used as a cheap way to get hold of an 8008.

Once assembled, the Altair bore little resemblance to a personal computer as we think of it today, keyboards and monitors there were none and no software. A panel of switches and lights were used to load data directly into memory locations. In this manner a small program was created which could utilise a teletype (typically an ASR-33) for input/output, and thereupon load software from punched paper tape.

Such systems, the province of electronics engineers and programmers, were not suited to use by scientists and other professionals. It wasn't long before other developers produced systems with small bootstrap programs in ROM to initialize the system at power-on. Soon video display based systems with QWERTY keyboards appeared, especially those based around the Intel 8080 8-bit microprocessor or the Zilog Z-80 which was functionally similar. Many of these industrial models employed a legacy from the Altair, the S-100 expansion bus, which with the CP/M operating system set one industry de-facto standard until the arrival of the IBM PC in 1981. CP/M's popularity was largely on account of its support for disc drive usage for data and program storage. CP/M formed the basis for the development of PCDOS (a.k.a. MS-Dos) which became the operating system for the IBM PC.

Meanwhile, a Hewlett-Packard minicomputer electronics engineer and programmer, Steve Wozniak, had developed an interest in microcomputers through the Homebrew Computer Club. Wozniak, whose real forte was simplifying circuits by making components fulfil more than one function, proceeded to design a small computer with video-terminal capability around the Mostek 6502 microprocessor (because at $25 it was the only one he could afford).

Electronics engineer, and entrepreneur Steve Jobs, the son of a salesman, had, whilst working for Atari, engaged the talents of Wozniak in hard wiring the video game Breakout. Wozniak reduced the chip count to 44 (when normal chip counts for this type of game were 150-170), the design was too complex for Atari engineers to understand and a pre-production redesign was required. Wozniak's talent for minimalist design was a vital factor in product commercial viability by keeping construction costs down.

Demonstrations of Wozniak's microcomputer at the Homebrew Club quickly led to firm orders for production machines. Hewlett-Packard having declined an interest in the microcomputer designed by their employee, gave Wozniak a legal release, opening the way for the formation of Apple Computer and sales of the Apple I. Soon Jobs and Wozniak realised that what the world wanted was a personal computer that only required connecting to a domestic TV to be made ready for use, so Wozniak designed a successor.

The Apple II, also based on the Mostek 6502 microprocessor, scored immediate success with its coloured (or should it be "colored') graphics and use of discs for data and program storage, the operating system, also supplied on disc, required loading into RAM during startup. Sales of this machine accelerated fast enough for third parties to become interested in developing hardware expansions and software.

The spreadsheet, as an aid to financial planning and what-if analysis was the concept of Dan Bricklin who first produced a demonstration version written in BASIC on an Apple II. It was with this demonstrator that the use of the slash character to initiate a command first appeared, which became such a familiar feature of spreadsheet software including Lotus 1.2.3. Bricklin teamed up with Bob Frankston and created the Software Arts company to produce the full assembly language version, VisiCalc. The combination of VisiCalc and a disc system was so successful that many Apple IIs were sold into the business community, enhancing Apples credibility. Indeed, IBM held up the announcement of the IBM PC until a VisiCalc conversion was ready.

Thus, in the early nineteen-eighties, there were two de-facto standards for personal computers; the S-100 bus–CP/M camp and the Apple following. There were many other proprietary machine architectures, each with a unique combination of microprocessor, bus, memory architecture and file system formats, transfer of data between formats was all but impossible.
When the IBM Personal Computer (PC) was introduced in August 1981, little did the world suspect that a standard was being set, a standard which would continue to make its existence strongly felt as far into the future as 1994, and possibly beyond.

IBM brought their first PC to market in a little over thirteen months from inception. This was remarkable for a company whose project gestation period was usually measured in years. A major factor in the short development time was that IBM had taken the unprecedented step, for an industry giant noted for developing products which were proprietary through and through, of using existing hardware components from external vendors. The use of many design elements of IBM's earlier System/23 DataMaster was also a major factor in the speed of development and expansion cards for this system could be used in the new machine.

More remarkable was the adoption of an operating system from the relatively small Microsoft company, who also supplied a BASIC language interpreter. IBM also offered CP/M-86, a 16-bit version of the 8-bit CP/M from Gary Kildall's Digital Research. The first Dos was 86-DOS for S-100 computers upgraded with the Intel 8086 CPU. DOS-86 was produced by Seattle Computer Products the rights of which were bought by Microsoft.

The well thought out synthesis of the best features from existing microcomputers and the close compatibility with CP/M systems ensured marketing success beyond even IBM's expectation. The non-proprietary nature of the PC system architecture encouraged many other manufactures to begin building compatibles. This development had far-reaching consequences for the way in which the personal computer industry developed.

Although the 8088 microprocessor operates at 16-bits internally it communicates with other components of the PC over an 8-bit bus. The advantage of this design strategy was that DataMaster features and 8-bit logic chips, which were plentiful and cheap, could be used.
Accessing memory over an 8-bit bus caused a bottleneck. In 1983 IBM introduce the PC/XT which was also built around the 8-bit Intel 8088 microprocessor. The PC/XT used version 2.0 of PCDOS, which for the first time used a hierarchical filing system capable of dealing with the much larger capacity hard discs with which the XT could be equipped.

Meanwhile Apple had embarked on a new project, code named Lisa, to develop a new office computer. In search of funds, Apple's Steve Jobs approached Xerox, whereupon he and other members of the Lisa team visited Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), here they were shown the Alto. The Apple team were so impressed with the Alto's sharp graphics, displaying a virtual desktop complete with usable documents and small on screen pictures called icons, they decided that the Lisa would be the Alto for the masses.

The Apple teams enthusiasm and ideas so impressed Larry Tesler, a member of the Alto's design team that he joined Apple. High resolution graphics demand fast microprocessors and ample RAM, both very expensive commodities in 1983, the resultant high unit price was the major factor in the Lisa's commercial failure. Undeterred, the Apple team carried on with development and launched a scaled down version in 1984 under the name Macintosh, based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor.

The Macintosh with its WIMP based GUI and its lack of program modality was a revelation to a world used to a command line, or at best menu, driven interface. The Macintosh was to have a profound effect on the future development of personal computers. The Mac' as it became known with its GUI fronted operating system was presumably what Byte's Editor in Chief had in mind when he wrote:

"I'd buy an operating system any day that takes a long time to run a given program but which makes me more productive by communicating with me in useful ways." (Morgan, 1981).

In 1984 IBM introduced the IBM PC/AT built around the new Intel 80286 16-bit microprocessor. The 80286 apart from being capable of faster throughput than previous models offered some advanced features. Amongst these were processing parallelism and hardware implemented task switching with program protection.

Unfortunately in maintaining backward compatibility with version 2, the new 3.0 version of PCDOS did not support either multitasking or multiuser environments. Thus, the AT was primarily used as a more efficient PC/XT and could still only make use of a maximum of 640k of user memory in "real address mode'. Users wishing to take advantage of the possible 16 megabytes of memory, as well as the multitasking and multiuser capability were expected to wait for the forthcoming XENIX operating system.

A major architectural feature of the original PC was the use of an expansion bus equipped with connectors, or slots, to take adaptor cards for interfacing with peripherals in particular visual display units (VDUs) and hard drives. The expansion slot data width is one factor which determines how quickly data flows between the microprocessor and the peripheral. The original PC slots had an 8-bits wide data path increased to 16-bits on the AT to match the data width of the 80286. Both the 8-bit and the 16-bit bus specifications are known as the ISA.

Compatible makers continued to build enhanced versions of the PC for sale at competitive prices, introducing all manner of compatibility issues as a result. IBM when developing a 32-bit bus to suite the new 32-bit Intel 80386, and realising that they had lost control of their architecture, produced MCA. MCA used many proprietary methods and components with which IBM hoped to defeat the compatible makers. The first systems with MCA were the PS/2 range, launched in 1987, this included models built around the 80386, 80286 and 8086. PC compatible manufacturers were allowed to use MCA architecture providing they paid IBM substantial royalties.

To avoid paying such royalties, a consortium of compatible makers, led by Compaq, responded by developing the 32-bit EISA bus which, apart from being faster and cheaper to implement, had the added advantage of maintaining compatibility with existing 8MHz ISA bus adaptors.

The launch of the Macintosh had focused the computer worlds attention on the user interface and where Apple led many were soon to follow. Digital Research produced GEM which could run under CP/M-86 or TOS on the Atari ST, and Microsoft produced Windows for the PC, both of which incurred Apple's wrath for being to close to the look and feel of the Mac interface, Commodore having bought out a small company Amiga, launched a computer of that name using Intuition, as a GUI.

IBM with Microsoft produced a new 16-bit operating system OS/2 for the PS/2 range. OS/2 was designed to give a GUI, Presentation Manager, a head start by clearing away the 640k memory limitations of MS-Dos. Meanwhile the Unix camp were evolving their own many flavours of GUI such as Motif, DEC-windows, Open Look, Open Desktop and NextStep. Nextstep is the user interface developed to run under Unix on the Next Computer, the product Steve Jobs nurtured sometime after leaving Apple.

The move towards GUIs was generally welcomed by the computing fraternity, but there was one big drawback, especially for users of PC systems running MS-Dos. GUIs such as Windows, with their resolutions of 640 × 480 pixels or larger as opposed to the typical 24 lines of 80 characters, increased dramatically the amount of video traffic. Furthermore, if ram is limited, large volumes of data need to be swapped out to disc frequently. When this is achieved over the 8Mhz ISA bus then systems can become sluggish and unresponsive, no matter how fast and capable the microprocessor.

With the introduction of the fast 80486 CPU, overcoming the ISA bus bottleneck became a high priority, especially where graphics adaptors and Windows, SCSI interfaces often used by CD-ROMS and scanners and hard drives were concerned. One answer appeared in the concept of the local bus, with which peripherals are connected directly to the CPU and/or ram. A number of manufacturers, including Compaq, Dell and Hewlett-Packard developed their own proprietary local bus systems which, although technically adequate, restricted adaptor choice to specifically designed cards.

The first widely adopted local bus standard was the 32-bit VESA local bus, (VLB or VL bus). This bus could be driven as fast as the clock of a 33Mhz processor, higher speeds requiring the implementation of wait states. The VLB has a maximum rated throughput of 128-132 Mbs compared to the ISA bus maximum of 8Mbs. VESA is a voluntary standard which some manufacturers have only partially implemented and it is in the process of being updated to cope with the 64-bit wide data path of the Pentium CPU.

PCI is an Intel initiated local bus standard which has been slow to gain wide acceptance because of its late introduction. With the increasing numbers of Pentium based systems PCI is becoming more widely accepted.

Many of these more recent bus technologies overcome the DMA and IRQ configuration troubles which continue to dog the majority of systems which still use the ISA bus. Many of these problems will not disappear until Windows dispenses with the services of the archaic Dos operating system:

"The 640KB of RAM that once seemed so luxurious is now choked with contentious device drivers and TSR programs. IRQs (interrupt requests), DMA channels, I/O memory ports, and other system resources are now being fought over like the last pebbles of ore in a played-out gold mine". (Halfhill, 1994).

Adaptor card timing problems can also cause much slot swapping and a rapidly growing collection of mutually exclusive cards.

The Apple Macintosh and the Acorn 32-bit RISC computers do not suffer from any such problems, the systems were designed from the ground-up with a more efficient and extensible combined operating system and GUI.

Computer-based Learning and Training covers a wide and diverse range of activities.
Schools have quit different needs to commerce and industry and require computers which have the following main attributes:

1. have a shallow learning curve for the interface,
2. be easily set up by non technical staff,
3. be flexible in operation and capable of easy and cheap expansion,
4. be frugal in the use of resources such as RAM and media storage.
5. be reliable and robust in use i.e. suffer few compatibility problems,
6. be responsive to user actions and provide meaningful feedback,
7. have a favourable price/performance ratio,
8. have an economic maintenance profile, including hardware and software upgrades.

With the ad-hoc development of its architecture, the PC compatible computer compares badly with alternatives, particularly with respect to categories 2, 4, 5 and 8. Indeed few schools have a large enough budget to employ specialists with the skills and experience required for configuring, upgrading and even installing/deinstalling software on a PC compatible. Particularly as networked computers become more widely adopted, network cards requiring the use of expansion slots.

With respect to the cost of software and the ongoing costs of software upgrades, the Acorn computer range has a calculable advantage over the Mac or PC compatible. Hardware upgrades to keep pace with recent developments, and improve performance, are available and affordable. In a report for St. Vincent College IT analysts for account ants Brooking Knowles & Lawrence reported:

"We believe that the continued use of the Archimedes in the education arena offers significant advantages over the use of IBM compatible PCs." (Milford and Holroyd, 1994).

Additionally and by design, Acorn computers have a decided advantage with respect to RAM and hard drive storage requirements because the OS kernel and many of its modules are stored in ROM and (with one exception) only outline font technology is used. Furthermore the ARM instruction set produces untypical RISC code density:

"Because of its CISC-like code density, software for an ARM processor requires less memory than software for RISC architectures targeted at the workstation market." (Tesler, 1993).

The use of PC compatible computers for learning and training may be acceptable in higher education and for corporate training, where the equipment and interface more closely match the systems the student is either using for work or will shortly be using. This is not the case for schools who are in the business of providing a broad based education, not specific training.
What is an industry standard computer?

"These days there's no such thing as a "standard" PC - instead we've got a range of different disk sizes, graphics adaptors and hardware add-ons, such as mice, modems and memory boards." (PC PLUS Product Facts Panel Guide, 1993).
And finally; what form will the generic computer have taken by the time todays infants become employable adults?:

"....while applications from platform to platform will become more and more similar, the platforms themselves will be splitting off in divergent directions. The message is: don't get too fond of your interface. It won't last." (Malone, 1993).