September 2006 Volume 3 Issue 10 Rs 100

Enchant your

Arm yourself with hardware

and software tweaking spells 32
that will supercharge your PC

WORKSHOP
 64 TV on your PC
Mega hard disk test 
Choose from a range of 55 drives!
54

A mini shootout of
three great cards
FEATURE
Web renewed  86
AJAX is out to refresh your online experience
 88 SLED 10
Finally an alternative
to Windows XP?
Free disk creation  98
Who needs Nero? Check out these great alternatives
Also available in Bangladesh
Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, U A E Intel’s Conroe: Processor for the next era?
 EDITORIAL 7

Of Movies and Evolution

Imagine there’s no heaven, It’s easy if you try,
No hell below us, Above us only sky…

I
n his cult-inspiring song, Imagine, John Lennon wasn’t the only dreamer trying to
envision a perfect world. Across numerous instances, thinkers, writers and even movie
producers have put forth their versions of what it would be like to live in a world
without threat, pain and squalor.
In a book I read recently (The Naked Sun by Asimov), the author describes a world with no
violence, with every inhabitant having equal financial and social standing. We have somewhat
similar situations portrayed in movies like The Island, I, Robot and Demolition Man. Of course,
in this day and age of relentless and gratuitous violence, such a utopia is difficult to imagine.
But imagine what it would be like to have no crime, specifically in our world of technology.
Imagine a world with no malicious users writing viruses, no instances of hacking or intellectual
rights thievery. In the absence of firewall and intrusion detection systems, lesser overhead on
network traffic would result in smoother data transmission. Norton and McAfee might well
be names of operating systems or office suites—certainly not security applications!
However, I do see a downside. In the absence of threats to data and security, application
programmers and users would be far less prone to discovering loopholes in their data. This
Can technology would have a direct bearing on the efficiency of code and would invariably lead to a situation
become too where application performance would slacken.
On the other hand, technologies today are making increasing strides in ‘learning’ our
intelligent?
usage models—from cell phones that keep track of our most frequently-used phone numbers
to smart cars that study driving characteristics to offer a more ‘personalized’ experience
to UPnP devices that are able to discover other devices on a wireless or wired network and
automatically configure themselves to talk to one another… the list goes on. You might also
have heard of the highly anticipated ‘Cell’ processor that is scheduled to debut in Sony’s
Playstation 3 gaming console. The developers of the processor hope to incorporate it in
virtually every type of consumer device—from cell phones to televisions to even home
appliances. In such a scenario, these processors will have the ability to aggregate their
processing power and apply it to whichever application requires it around the house or
office—distributed computing for the masses!
Sure, this sounds great but if these ‘smart’ devices continue to evolve at their current rate,
we have a distressing conundrum—can technology become too intelligent? As highlighted
in movies like Terminator and Virtuosity, there could well be a time when applications
become—in sci-fi jargon—self-aware. It’s a disconcerting concept, but think about it; all signs
seem to point to this being well within the bounds of reality.
I also believe that viruses are a necessary evil. In many ways, it is required that they are
around—with programmers and users being kept on their toes, we automatically develop
resilience to threats. Like its biological counterpart, the more the human body battles viruses
and bacteria, the stronger is its immunity system.
Maybe I’m just a dreamer. Or maybe I’m just watching too many movies.

| Marco Angelo D’Souza

marco.dsouza@chip-india.com

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

Contents
SEPTEMBER 2006
30 Play anywhere, anytime
NEWSWIRE
22 CHIP Knowledge Forum
In the months of July and August, we
hosted a six-city knowledge forum
for system integrators, addressing
the subject of system robustness.
30 Play Anywhere, Anytime
The Games of Demand service—a
joint venture of Indiagames and
Airtel Broadband is an attempt to
stop piracy in games and build a
gaming culture in India.
COVER STORY
32 Enchant your PC
Tweaking your computer is easier
than you can imagine—get to know
hidden secrets that unlock serious
potential in your hardware and
software.
HARDWARE
40 Top Gear
Rock solid performance standards
set by a veritable mix of products.
Watch out for the Nokia N91
multimedia phone review, the
fastest memory, and more...
54 Big Bytes
A lineup of 15 hard drives in our
comparison test this month.
54 Big
68 Crowning
64 War of the Tuners
A head-to-head comparison of the
three best high-end TV tuner cards
available in the market to help you
make the right buying decision.
68 Crowning Conroe
Intel is back with a brand new
processor and we were the first to
check out its capabilties. Do we have
a new king? Find out here…
72 PC Configs
Check out our best configurations
this month for your home, office,
productivity and gaming needs.
76 Wireless Wonders
Get the Bluetooth headset for your
mobile phone that fits your needs
and your budget.
32
Bytes
Conroe
78 DivX Compression
Get to know how one of the most
popular forms of video compression
works to deliver quality in small
packages.
APPLICATIONS
80 Software Center
Simple and easy-to-use applications
for everyone is what we have
compiled this month in this section.
86 Turbocharged Internet
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
have been in the news for ages
but ever wondered how they can
be better than a conventional web
page? Get your answers here...
88 A New Desktop Dimension
Get close to Novell’s latest offering
for the small business segment and
enterprise operating system.
92 Personalized Flicks
Capture priceless moments on video
and share on blogs for others to enjoy.
96 Shop with your mobile
We gradually progressed from cash to
plastic for making payments. And now
you have an option to pay through
your mobile. We take a look at some
of the services being offered.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 112 Barbwired Wireless

98 The Perfect Burn 128 Fusion Unlimited

98 The Perfect Burn
There are loads of free applications
available on the Net that can
collectively replace Nero 7’s
monopoly in the burning domain.
ensure your home wireless network is
completely protected.
115 Presentations with Pizzaz
Add some spunk to your PowerPoint
presentations with these nifty
131 Cars
A game based on Pixar’s film on
Lightning McQueen’s quest to win
the Piston Cup Championship. An
exciting experience as you duke it
out in a racing encounter.

HANDS ON tips and make your mundane job

108 Graphics Guide
What are the steps you need to take
before you send your silk-screen
designs for print and what is the most
cost-effective method for printing?
Find out here...
110 Creating Picture Packages
Pre-package your favorite
photographs and flaunt it before
your friends with Adobe Photoshop’s
readymade layout.
112 Barbwired Wireless
Drive away the intruders preying into
your system. This workshop details
the steps you need to follow to
Nokia N91
…41
interesting. Your boss is surely going 132 Prey
to be impressed with you! Walk through portals and defy
gravity as you play the role of a
118 The Personal Touch Cherokee Indian trying to rescue his
Send one e-mail message to all loved ones from aliens. Don’t miss
your colleagues or friends with a this game!
personalized note. And you can do
it in Word without the need for any
third party software.
| Products Tested
Hardware Standalones 40
Nokia N91, Sapphire Radeon X1900XTX,
UNWIND Leadtek WinFast Palm Top TV, ECS KA3
MVP Extreme, Microsoft LifeCam VX-
128 Fusion Unlimited 6000, Kingston HyperX KHX8500D2K2/1G,
Games and movies are literally VIP ZB01B, LiteOn SOHW 1633s, Polycom
feeding off each other these days Communicator C100S, Zippy’s ET-35UIS,
—one spawns the other. We take a Level One BLM-3000A
look at some of these game-movie
releases. Hard Drives 54
Samsung SP0411N, Samsung SP2504C,
Samsung HD160JJ, Hitachi
Regulars HDS725050KLA360, Hitachi
Town Square 16 HDT72252525DLA380, Seagate
Letters 18 ST3400832AS, Seagate ST3500641AS,
Seagate ST3750640AS, Western
Technology Landscape 76
Digital WD1500ADFD, Western Digital
Dr. CHIP 104 WD1600BB, Western Digital WD2500JB,
Tips and Tricks 120 Western Digital WD3200JS, Western
Digital WD5000KS, Western Digital
Game Reviews 131
WD5000YS, Western Digital WD800BD
Last Word 148

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

 Disk Contents
SEPTEMBER 2006 | VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 10

Multimedia Game Demos

SAINT PAINT STUDIO GTR 2
NERO ALTERNATIVES TOTAL PRO GOLF
Game Demos
MICROSOFT FLIGHT
System SIMULATOR X
Game Trailers
AUTOPATCHER JULY UPDATE TEAM FORTRESS 2
CALL OF JUAREZ
CHIP POWER PACK CRYSIS
DARK MESSIAH - MIGHT AND MAGIC
Internet Linux MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR X
OPENSUSE 10.1
ABYSS WEB SERVER
SITEGENWIZ Game Patch
AGE OF EMPIRES III V1.08
Utilities
POWERSTRIP Movie Trailers
SYNBACK FLICKA
ULTRAISO THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
UNDELETE PROFESSIONAL STRANGER THAN FICTION
WINXP MANAGER THE MARINE

Mobile
IM+ BLUETOOTH
OPERA
PRO BACKUP
OXYGEN PHONE MANAGER
TOTAL RECALL
ULTRAMP3

Developer
ACTIVEPERL

Linux
SKYPE
REMIND
Quick Quote
SEPTEMBER 2006 | VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 10
GENERAL MANAGER - PUBLISHING Hyderabad
Krishna Tewari Vasudevan Iyer
viyer@infomediaindia.com
EDITOR Phone: (040) 55622211 Fax: (040) 23393488
Marco Angelo D’Souza
Kolkata
SENIOR COPY EDITOR A K Roy
Sharmistha Dey akroy@infomediaindia.com
Phone: (033) 2468637, 2468638 Fax: (033) 2462964
Chip is a ‘chip WRITERS
New Delhi
Ashutosh Desai, Pradosh Mitra
Pranav Saran
above the rest’. TEST CENTER pranav.saran@infomediaindia.com
Anand Tuliani, Gaurav Seth, Faheem Sayed, Phone: (011) 55303278,79,80,82 Fax: (011) 23327884
Historically strong Kunal Rupera
Jitendra Gupta
MULTIMEDIA COORDINATOR jitendra.gupta@infomediaindia.com
& widely read, Anup Pillai
CIRCULATION
DESIGN National Circulation Manager
it keeps us well Jagdish Limbachiya, Pramod Jadhav, Dinesh Desai,
Rushikesh Masurkar, Manoj Tandel,
Kumar Mohanani
kumar.mohanani@infomediaindia.com
Umesh Dahiwalkar, Ravi Parmar
informed on the SUBSCRIPTIONS
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E-mail: customercare@infomediaindia.com
latest tech trends. Shirish Karale
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Hemant Charya SUBSCRIBE ONLINE at eshop.infomediaindia.com
Managing Director,
Acer India SPECIAL PROJECTS
CHIP INTERNATIONAL
EDITOR-PROJECTS
Editorial Consultant International
Brian Pereira Wolfgang Su, Poccistrabe 11, 80336 Munchen

SUB-EDITOR
CHIP is also published in the following countries
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WRITERS
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www.chip-india.com INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
16 TOWN SQUARE
THIS MONTH ON chip-india.com
Town Square
Greetings,
Let me start with a warm welcome to all
members who are back and have started posting
again. Thank you for being with us over the past
few months. There have been plenty of posts
regarding several issues with our web site’s
design and functionality. Also, there have been
another set of postings regarding the delay in
responding to the issues, which is justified. To
both these issues, we are putting in our level
best to tackle the problems at the earliest. While
we may not be able to resolve these issues
immediately, we promise that we are listening to
you and are always open to suggestions.
If you’ve felt your issues and requests have
been ignored, let me assure you we here at
CHIP-India value our members and readers and at
no time are ignorant about your needs. Our aim
has and will always be to attend to each person’s
problem and bring it to a closure as quickly as
possible. However, we may not be able to respond
to or solve the problem immediately, but it is
always our aim to find the best solution at the
earliest. On a positive note, the atmosphere on
the web site seems to be optimistic. I would like
to sincerely thank you folks for your patience and
for continuing to drive the content on our forums,
especially in the hardware, software and Internet
sections where several of our members (who are
experts in their own right) continue to provide
rock-solid feedback and help to the web site’s
community at large. Kudos to all of you!
As for our web site; there has been
considerable progress. I know many of you folks
are tired of waiting for the changes to be seen
but please try to understand that our web site
is undergoing a huge makeover as far as the
looks, functionality and layout of the web site is
concerned—all this is done bearing in mind the
suggestions we have received from you over the
past few months. After all, it is you guys who are
the heart of the site.
One of our members, ‘intelomaker’, had requested
3DMARK in the upcoming CD/DVD. I believe Mr
Cool solved your query there by letting you know
that it was sent on the DVD packed with the April
issue. However, in case anyone requires previous
versions of a software, feel free to post on the
relevant thread—we monitor it regularly and use
it as a source to decide what goes into our cover
disks in the forthcoming issues. Also, if you can,
we request you to please be specific about the
version of the application you need otherwise we
will assume it is the latest release.
Here, I would like to thank our members
Sujith_Poojari, Shamik Mitra and “intelomaker”
requesting for software for this month with
complete information of the programs they
needed. The more details you provide in your
information to us, the easier it is for us to locate
relevant content for you.
During the past few days, a couple of our
members have been asking for Norton Anti-virus
to be included in the CD/DVD. Well, if you guys
need the complete version, you will have to buy
the retail pack which is available online or in
most of the retail software shops. But if you were
talking about the virus definition upgrades, we
have included them in our previous issue. Look
out for regular releases of these updates on our
cover disks each month.
There were certain postings about SysOp
not responding or keeping in touch with the
members. We apologize for this and would like
to inform that he will be back shortly. In the
meanwhile, you can continue to write to the
Editor and let him know your feedback.
Through it all, let us continue to keep our
spirits high on Town Square and make it the
coolest and the best place to hangout for all
tech netizens.
Until next month, have a great time and happy
Ganesh Chaturti! ■
| Vijay Pate
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 LETTERS 17

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

18 LETTERS
Letters
Hello Team CHIP,
I am a regular reader of your magazine and through
it I have been benefiting with deeper insights on
various computer related issues since the past year.
Your June 2006 cover issue was superb to say the
least—I liked it very much! However, I believe that
you could do far better by enhancing the visual
appeal of the cover graphics.
The article detailing how to build your own
web site in the magazine was very informative and
useful. I would like to suggest publishing a series of
articles about Web-related technologies like RSS;
while these technologies have been around for quite
a few years, I have found that many people are still
ignorant about their proper use. RSS can do wonders
for a person’s Web experience and it takes practically
no effort on the user’s part. All one needs is sound
knowledge of the technology and how to implement
it correctly. On a related topic, you could also publish
articles that deal with the basics of Atom, CSS, XML,
etc. I’m betting your readers would love reading
about them. You can also provide some free RSS
reader applications on the cover disks.
I would like to highlight a few observations about
articles dealing with advanced topics such as the
one published in your June issue: Internet Unplugged
(page 92). Although the article was informative and a
good read, it seemed to be aimed at the readers with
a background in wireless technology. I think that such
articles lack lucidity and are inadvertently stuffed
with jargon. They also tend to have a
“text-bookish” language—I believe a
non-technical reader would just
read one or two paragraphs
and then skip the remaining
article. One thing you could do
is explain the abbreviations
used within the text
(like W-LAN, WiMAX,
GSM, GPRS, UMTS, etc.)
in a separate section and
include relevant Web links. And if
some of these topics are covered in previous
CHIP issues, crosslink the article to back issues
as well. Tutorials can also be provided on the CHIP
CDs and DVD. I hope you will consider the
suggestions I have made and implement
them in future issues of your magazine.
Regards,
Aditya Sharma
Umesh Dahiwalkar
Hello Aditya,
Thanks for writing in and we’re glad that you find
our magazine utilitarian. You’ve highlighted a few
interesting suggestions here and I would imagine
they encapsulate a larger need from our other
readers, especially the need for more information
on Internet-related technologies and demystifying
new-generation technology standards.
On the Web front, there are so many
advancements occurring that it does indeed
become difficult for the end-user to track and
relate to these leaps and bounds. Your suggestion
on explaining the various new online technologies
being used is a good one. Especially with the online
world, the more transparent the technology is to
the end consumer, the more successful it is. The
reason why technologies like RSS and XML have
reached such wide levels of acceptance can be
attributed to the fact that they have been now
merged into several existing applications like
web browsers and e-mail clients. In the case of
RSS, you can now set up browsers like Firefox and
Opera to automatically access RSS feeds without
the need to install another specific application.
As far as possible, we do make it a point to
explicitly explain jargon and terms used in our
articles via box elements and links to web-based
resources. I believe we skipped out on doing so for
that particular article on wireless technologies—
thanks for brining it to our notice. More than
explaining the technicalities behind the individual
wireless standards covered in the article, its intent
was to indicate the actual fields of operation for
those technologies and how they would impact
daily life. But yes, going ahead we will make it
a point to explain ourselves in greater detail.
Team CHIP
Dear CHIP,
I am a student of information technology in Nepal.
I request you to deconstruct “Digital Convergence”.
Although I have a fair idea of what it means, please
tell me where I can get access to any documented
information on what it entails. Also, I want to know
whether it is a standardized terminology used to
define a specific technology trend. Also tell me
about the effects of digital convergence we are
likely to witness on existing and future markets here
in India and abroad.
Rajeev Ghimire
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 20 LETTERS

Letters
Hello Rajeev,
The term “Digital Convergence” is a catch-all
term that defines all technologies and products
aimed at unifying a consumer’s experience with
technology. This unification could happen across
Now you can several application areas including communication,
our recent cover stories on technology behind movies,
sport and travel do appeal to our general readership
at large without being too technical for most readers.
For those who need their dose of high technology,
there is always the hardware, software and hands-
on sections. This is not to say that we do not have

SMS us!
entertainment, productivity, etc. The very fact cover stories that are technically inclined—we
that you are now using a cellular phone to keep do plan to include cover stories that directly deal
track of your daily appointments, surf the Internet, with technology on a hands-on level—look out for
Since we like knowing what’s
play games (besides, of course, making phone them in our forthcoming issues! But even these
on your mind and what you
think about our magazine, we calls) is evidence of this convergence. The aim will address technology at an approachable level.
now bring you another way of many of today’s consumer electronics and IT Team CHIP
to get in touch with us. Have companies is to unify a user’s experience with their
something to say about a test products, resulting in a seamless experience across Hi Marco,
review? Liked a feature story?
Was the workshop useful? devices—televisions that access the Internet, lighting I was really amazed with your July issue—what an
SMS us your feedback! systems that can be controlled from a cell phone, eye-catching cover page it was! It seems you are
Here’s how: portable multimedia players that interface with your really paying attention to reader feedback on the
car… the list goes on. In a way, we are seeing fleeting various technical and design fronts in the magazine.
For comments on a story,
signs of this phenomena occurring around us today, Recently, I wanted to pick up a DVD writer and
create the following message:
ICCO <Your comments here> and this is only bound to intensify as technologies was very confused about which one to buy and I
Example: ICCO The cover become more affordable and acceptance increases. was thrilled to find DVD writers reviewed in the July
story was very useful Besides the companies directly related issue. I also like the previews of new technologies
to technology, there are several others that you bring out—the Webaroo application that
You can write as much as you
want in your comment! specifically address digital convergence—for you provided was super, but I believe it should be
more information, check out companies such updated every month to reflect the newest trends.
To rate a story, product as Crestron, AMX that are into converging the I would like you to carry out a comparison
review, etc look out for the technologies used in homes and offices. test on memory modules and low-end graphics
story tag at the base of each
article and use it as follows: Marco D’Souza cards for AGP slots as I believe there is still a large
ICCP <Story tag> <Rating> number of existing PC users who want to upgrade
Example: ICCP PWS 5 Hi Marco, their computer’s gaming capabilities without an
This is regarding the cover stories carried in CHIP in expensive system-wide upgrade.
The “Story tag” is mentioned
the past few months—Web designing, technology Apoorv Upadhyay
at the base of every story
in the magazine and the in sports, travel, movies etc. I have been reading
“Rating” is on a scale of 1 CHIP for a long time now, and I find the above bleak Hello Apoorv,
to 5. in comparison to some of your older cover stories on Thanks for the good feedback. You can look forward
virus attacks, best tech upgrades for the year, the to feature articles and test reviews that deal with
Finally, send your messages
to 7007. hacker story, etc. The July cover story on technology affordable hardware and software which can be
in movies is suited to a real movie buff who wants used on older-generation systems—we’ve received
Cheers! to know what happens behind the scenes. Could a reasonable amount of feedback on this subject
you choose your cover stories to be more practically and we’ve already begun addressing it through the
oriented? I believe this would be more useful to new story sections of our magazine such as the “PC
your readers at large. config guides’”where we suggest good choices for
Amit Patnaik hardware for computers within various applications.
Team CHIP
70 07
n co v
er s to
ry Hello Amit,
at w as a fu
CO Th Thanks for your feedback. As our readers (who
IC With hundreds of SMSes sent to us, this new feedback
include everyone from first-time users to seasoned system has evoked tremendous response. Going
geeks), the primary selection criteria for our cover ahead, we’re using what you’re saying to incorporate
changes into our content. Keep it coming!
story is that it be as accessible as possible. We believe

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

22 NEWSWIRE

CHIP Knowledge Forum

In our steps to span media and reach out to a greater number of readers, we
conducted our first CHIP Forum where we reached out to hundreds of industry
players through a multi-city forum. The topic of this forum was “Building Robust
Systems for Customer Satisfaction – The CHIP Perspective”

T
oday, the entire concept of performance
has undergone a change—no longer
is it only about how fast a computer
performs, but how reliable and resilient it is in
the face of demanding workloads. It is these
factors that have been incorporated in the
testing processes using to evaluate products
you read in CHIP magazine. This forum was
conceptualized with the intent of sharing these
viewpoints and delivering them to the folks
who stand at a position of influence—system
integrators, computer distributors, dealers,
retailers and value added resellers. More than
just pushing boxes, sellers are increasingly
realizing that this is the age where customers
are savvy about their computing needs and
requirements—more than ever before.
In the first of our CHIP Forums in Mumbai, we
invited key players in the industry and shared
our views with them, while inviting feedback
and answering real-world queries pertaining
to customer satisfaction. The forums were also
structured with a live demonstration comprising
practical examples of the points we highlighted,
where participants could interact with members
of the CHIP Test Center and learn the secrets of
what it takes to instill robustness and resilience
into modern-day computing systems.
CHIP also partnered with Frost & Sullivan
who were the knowledge partners at this
event, where representatives of the company
shared information pertaining to real-world
observations and statistics on customer
satisfaction in today’s context. 

-edge AMD and

nsisted of bleeding
The Demo Areas co of sys tem robustness.
d on the basis
Intel PCs constructe fice. In each of
t up—home and of
Two zones were se ere de monstrated in
plications wh
these, indicative ap nce.
reliability and resilie
the light of system The GM of th
e Special Inte
introduced th rest
e first CHIP Fo Publications Division
Mumbai, wel ru
coming the 10 m at the Taj Land’s End in
the Forum tr 0+ attendee
aveled to five s. Besides M
Delhi, Bangal other cities ac umbai,
ore, Chenna ross the coun
i, Calcutta an try—
d Hyderabad
.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

 NEWSWIRE 23

After the presentation

m comprised an eclectic s, the attendees got to
The attendees at the CHIP Foru with the CHIP Test Cen interact
, system integrators and ter where they shared
mix of PC dealers, distributors on system reliability in secrets
t que stio ns on system reliability the present day, using
resellers. Many pertinen generation system int new-
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and customer satisfaction wer cognizance of system the taking
rmal proper ties.
the event.

ICT Practice
Marco D’Souza, Editor of CHIP, speaking on system Dr T R Madan Mohan, Director – Consulting,
of the speak ers present at
robustness, relating it to customer needs and satisfaction. from Frost & Sullivan was one
us event s. He delivered a real-w orld and practical
These concepts were explained from the point of view of the vario
action and relate d this to
the systems and processes used in the CHIP Test Center for viewpoint on customer satisf
ices that can be used in this day and age.
system reliability and performance enhancement. best pract

Anand Tuliani, Sr Re
viewer – CHIP Test
ts, talks about the new ideologie Center, explains
– CHIP Special Projec s that can be utiliz
Brian Pereira, Editor sys tem con struction construction and ed in system
’s computer integration. Here,
the efficacy of today hlight the examples of benc there were live
new technology to hig hmarking method
and uses examples of nt an d its subsequent to ascertain the pe ologies and tools
used
al manageme rformance of desk
importance of therm an ce. top computers.
d long-term perform
effect of reliability an

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

SMS us! Story code: NCF (See Page 20 for details)

24 NEWSWIRE
Need for speed
A new and unique way to monitor and
tackle road traffic has been devised. Cell
phone towers of Tampa, Florida, are being
used to communicate with wireless devices
in motion. A new service, which will measure
the radio signals beamed between your cell
phones and their towers will convert this
measurement into speed and travel time
and thereby help speed up your commuting
time. The converted information will help in
providing updated traffic information and
traffic navigation service.
IntelliOne Technologies, a company
that specializes in using mobile phone
network usage to measure roadway speed,
has launched this real-world test named
Dinesh Desai
Need4Speed. Ronald Herman, CEO of
IntelliOne said that almost all of the traffic
reports generated today are usually 20
minutes old. They are based on readings
collected by in-road detectors, cameras
and helicopters. On the contrary, this new
service will enable a user receive the same
information on his PC within 30 seconds.
IntelliOne will license their technology
to third-party vendors who will process the
raw data, change them into an easy-to-
understand format and make it available for
users. The data will be stored in IntelliOne’s
server, and will be regularly updated.
To subscribe to the service, one needs an
Internet connection. The online application
interface will allow a user to set personal
preferences like automated alerts, plan
across town or across country and so on.
For use while driving, the service will be
provided through a voice system. The
system will ask callers for their destination
and will expertly provide them with
distraction-free driving instructions around
traffic. The service is likely to be available in
the next three months.
Scrambled data, secure data
K eeping data organized might not
successfully secure it. Chris Gladwin,
a software engineer and businessman
in Chicago kept his critical data safe by
fragmenting and scattered files worth
27 GB (equivalent to a library of 22,000
books) on the Internet. Gladwin said he
was curious about the methodology used
by cryptographers to keep information
secure by segregating them into parts and
dispersing them. This is what gave birth to
his personal project called Cleversafe.
As of now, to store data on the Internet
in distributed form,
you need to copy
the data five times
or more. Cleversafe,
on the other hand,
breaks a piece of data
into a large number
of small fragments
and stores them at
different locations.
The additional benefit
From gamers to creators
C ollege students, hobbyists and avid
gamers will now be able to create their
own games for the Xbox 360 consoles,
Windows PC or both. The XNA Game
Studio Express (beta version) application,
expected to be available by the end of this
month, will allow game enthusiasts to
write code and create their own games for
the Microsoft gaming device.
You have to pay $99 as a joining fee to
be part of the “Creator’s Club”. The games
that you create will not be distributed to
anyone other than the club members.
The company plans to release the final
product by the end of this year and a
broader set of this application is expected
to be released next spring. There are plans
of allowing hobbyists to sell the developed
version of games through Microsoft’s
Xbox Live Arcade though the decision to
choose and publish will reside entirely on
Microsoft’s end.
The distribution approach of this
application will be similar to that of Visual
Studio. The full version will be sold to
is the original data can be reconstructed
from a majority of fragments.
Cleversafe has culminated into a
system with enough potential to offer
government agencies and companies
a simple way to store secured data. It
allows you to reassemble the file only
by the computer that originally created
the fragments. Although the concept
of splitting and storing secured data is
not new, Cleversafe is considered to be
a significant step as it is an open-source
system and will therefore lower the cost
of reliably storing strong
data on the Internet.
The experimental
Cleversafe grid is spread
across 11 storage sites,
which is expected to
increase to tens of
thousands or hundreds
of thousands once
this technology is
Dinesh Desai
commercially accepted.
professionals while a scaled down version
will be distributed free to the enthusiasts
or hobbyists.
Scott Henson, director for platform
strategy for Microsoft’s game developer
group, said that the application will make
developing games an easier task than what
it is today. He hopes the release of this
express edition will drastically change the
gaming experience.
In three to five years we will perhaps
witness a scenario where anyone and
everyone will publish games and the
developers’ community will respond and
separate the hits from the flops.
According to envisioneering analyst,
Richard Doherty, gamers always said that
they can do better but now they will have
access to the tools with which they can
match their skills like that of professional
developers.
Microsoft has targeted a few colleges
and signed up with 10 universities to
issue this new software as part of their
academic curricula.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Super prisms for TV
A rrays of thousands of tiny “super
prisms” controlled by robotic muscles
could bring about a sweeping change in
television technology in the form of real
color to TV screens for the first time.
The devices, known as electrically tunable
diffraction gratings have been built by
researchers in Switzerland,
and can manipulate light to
reproduce the full spectrum
of colors on television screens.
The existing technology
allows a TV manufacturer
to use only three primary
colors (red, green and blue) to
reproduce all the colors visible
on screen. This technology
uses a flexible approach for all the colors
of the spectrum visible to the naked eye by
creating a diffraction grating, a slotted grate
like a miniature Venetian blind. Unlike solid
grates, these grates are made up of flexible
polymers, normally used to build artificial
muscles in robots as they can contract when
voltage is applied on them.
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
In a working screen made up of pixels,
multiple grates are placed behind each and
every pixel. This allows composite colors to
mix and reproduce full range of colors on
the TV screen. When pure white light from
a light emitting diode hits these grates, the
light splits into a full spectrum of colors
just like a rainbow is produced
from a prism. When different
voltages are applied to these
grates, they expand or contract.
This causes the spectrum to
shift after which different
colors can be isolated from the
spectrum by creating tiny holes
in front of the grate. The colors
can be lined up with the hole by
adjusting the voltage across the grates.
This technology will produce the same
density on a CRT as one gets on a high
quality LCD. Initially thousands of volts were
required to flex the muscles of the grates
but now that has been reduced to 300 volts,
which has made the technology attractive
enough to be adopted by electronic firms.
SMS us! Poll: Do you play games on a console? (See Readers’ Letters for details)
NEWSWIRE 25
Micro spydevice
T his is the kind of micro earpiece
that James Bond would love to
use. A 25-year-old Russian student has
developed an earpiece that is smaller
than a dime and can be carried by an ant,
metaphorically.
Measuring 6x5x10 mm in terms of
width, height and depth, the earpiece is
Bluetooth compliant and can connect
to any other Bluetooth device like a cell
phone or audio player with the help of
a mediator. This comes in the form of a
neck-mounted microphone that needs to
be connected to the cell phone.
The earpiece has a detachable buzzer
capable of striking a communication with
the earpiece. It cannot connect to any
device by Bluetooth on its own; instead
it connects to other Bluetooth devices
through the attached microphone using
standard radio signal.
Apart from communication, the
earpiece can be used for the alternative
purpose of surveillance in areas where
audio security is of highest priority.
28 NEWSWIRE
Home unwired
P ull out all those wires used to
connect the telephone, satellite
TV, extension phones, modems and
computers and install DUALjack instead.
DUALjack is a wireless phone extender
supporting your home’s voice and data
network from a single base station. This
wireless line extender, manufactured by
RTX America, comes in a pair including
a base unit and an actual extender. One
has to plug a phone line into the base
station, followed by plugging the base
station into an electric socket. Another
Dualjack unit is plugged into a wall socket
in any other part of the home, followed
by plugging a telephone line into it from
a device such as a fax machine. Up to four
extension units can be supported.
DUALjack can be used for conference call
The base unit and the extender
communicate with each other and
transfer data wirelessly. The DUALjack
can send/receive voice, fax and data
information at a 2.4 GHz wireless
connection. It is a complete plug-and-play
unit that is easy to install. The receivers
are capable of handling both voice
mode and data mode. When you use the
phone and modem at the same time,
voice calls are given more priority over
modem/data calls. The receivers support
intercom service, and have a “barge-
in” alert tone that can be heard when
someone accidentally picks up a receiver
while another person is carrying on a
conversation.
DUALjack is compatible with a host
of devices like cord or cordless phone,
answering machines, digital video
recorder and satellite or dish TV. Some of
its advantages include energy efficient
design, secure and private voice data
communication.
Space alternatives
C ommunication will undergo a
sweeping change with strategically
floating robotic airships replacing telecom
towers and expensive satellites according
to former NASA manager, Bob Jones.
Jones believes that unmanned Stratellites
(robotic airships) can hover in the
atmosphere and blanket a large area with
wireless access for high-speed data and
voice communication.
The prototype of such airships is
already in the make and is expected to
be out in the market very soon. During
this test phase, the ships are expected to
rise as high as 45,000 feet and float there
for hours. The prototype will be about
one fifth the planned commercial ships
and will cost about three billion dollars
and is likely to be launched by the end of
this year. These ships will rise to a height
of 65,000 feet and will stay there for 18
months at a time.
The design of the Stratellites varies
from that of traditional blimp—instead
of the cylindrical shape, this one has the
Blame it on DNS
B ogged by the peeves of your slow
Internet connection? One of the chief
suspects driving this is DNS or Domain
Name System as reported by Nominum,
a company selling DNS server software.
According to Paul Mockapetris, inventor
of DNS architecture and chairman and
chief scientist at Nominum, even if carriers
spend billions of dollars to build new
3G wireless networks, there is the need
to spend more for beefing up the DNS
capability. Pure bandwidth does not
solve the problem if DNS servers fail to
respond quickly.
DNS works as a phone book—it helps in
mapping the IP address of a computer with
the text-based domain name. For example,
if you try to open the web page of www.
chip-india.com, then the DNS will find the
page and ensure that it is opens only on
your computer and in nobody else’s. Any
Internet user will use the DNS service run
by his service provider from their servers.
Now if the server of your Internet service
broad tapered nose of a shark. The ship
will be solar powered and will carry loads
of radio and digital devices.
These dirigibles will essentially prove
effective in areas like dead rural zones
or during natural disaster when the
terrestrial tower fails.
The Stratellites will cost much less than
satellites and will be able to cover as wide
as places like Texas. But signals traversing
from telecommunication towers are
at times hampered by line of sight and
limited range. These signals take quarter
of a second to travel a distance of 22,300
miles, which is insignificant for one-way
TV signals but terrible for two-way mobile
communication. These Stratellites will
reduce such turn around time.
The stratosphere is an area above the
jet stream and where the temperature
generally tends to freeze. Till date no
such vehicle has stayed there for long
durations. Therefore, a complete 18-
month flight at such a location will be a
tough test for these dirigibles.
provider starts running slow, then the
service will drop queries. In other words,
it will fail to open or take longer time to
download the web page requested. The
service failure may also lead to delayed
sending/receiving of mails or poor
response time while playing a game.
A recent study conducted by VeriTest
(a software testing company) and
commissioned by Nomanium revealed that
Verizon’s Fios network and its DSL (digital
subscriber line), which was advertised as
the fastest broadband service, actually
had the worst service time. Joe Laszlo,
an analyst with another research firm,
acknowledged that mere increasing raw
bandwidth removes the bottlenecks but
inevitably exposes the flaws existing at
the other part of the network. However, he
does not blame DNS completely for slow
response time. The service also depends
on how fast the browser in your computer
can process web pages or how quickly your
graphics card can render images.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

The inbox psychology
H ow do you react when you find your
inbox jammed with messages every
morning? Have you taken a closer look on
how you reply to or file messages or noticed
what you choose to keep or delete? All
of these behaviors of
yours to deal with your
inbox actually reveal
your habits, your state
of mind and even the
way you have been
brought up.
Psychologists from
the US have concluded
recently that the state
of your inbox is a mirror
of your self. One one
hand, if your inbox is full, it may mean that
you keep your life cluttered. On the other,
if you obsessively clean your inbox every
10 minutes then may be you are one of
those moving so quickly that you’re missing
opportunities or ignoring nuances. Keeping
your inbox full could also indicate that you
Will Zune take over the iPod?
C hanging consumer needs and
demands have resulted in spiffing up
the media and entertainment market in
the past months. A new name in the list
of entertainment products is the soon to
be released Zune.
Zune is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s
popular iPod. It is basically a family of
hardware and software products capable
of playing audio/video files. The devices
under the Zune brand will be Wi-Fi
connected and will use a hard drive to
store music. These devices would use
wireless connectivity to share music with
other devices of the Zune family.
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
are a person who wants to cling to the past
or you have a lot of unfinished business
in your life while cleaning it within short
intervals indicates that your compulsion for
orders is using up your energy from other
endeavors.
Even response type
can be categorized into
two groups. While you
may feel the urgency
in responding to a
mail, others may be
too reluctant to revert
even after days. Some
even lie in between
Dinesh Desai
these extremes and
may get affected by
what is termed as “inbox paralysis”. It is a
state where you are aware that you need
to respond but have failed to do it. To deal
with a problem like this, experts suggest
solutions such as appointing an assistant to
reply on your behalf or use a template with
a personalized message.
Microsoft and EMI group, the third largest
music company, have signed a deal to
provide preloaded music videos on Zune.
EMI announced that the deal would see
artists including American actor
Jared Leto’s alternative rock band 30
Seconds to Mars, and English electro pop
band Hot Chip.
The launch, which was supposed to
take place last month, has been delayed
because of this deal and now pushed to
the end-of-the-year holiday season.
Jeff Kempler, executive vice president
of EMI commented that Apple had been a
very important partner but the new state
of affairs is exciting too. Also, any well
funded serious entrant should be
considered good news for the artists as
well as the music industry.
While Apple’s iPod and iTunes floored
music aficionados all over the world
and captured a majority of digital music
sales, Microsoft’s Zune plans to counter
the effect with its file sharing capability.
Watch this space to know more on this...
NEWSWIRE 29
Console war
I t is difficult to argue with someone who
has the reputation of being successful and
so it seems the case with Sony, titan in the
game console arena. Although Microsoft
had a great start with the XBox 360, people’s
attention have not got diverted from the
previous Sony PlayStations and therefore it
is natural they have huge expectations from
the yet-to-be-released PlayStation 3.
According to Boston-based Yankee Group
(a market analyst), the future of the game
console industry will herald the success
of the PS3, which will top all other game
consoles sales. Although Sony decided to
promote its console as a luxury product and
digital entertainment hub, and increased the
Dinesh Desai
price of their product, it will not affect their
long-term success as game console leader. In
the year 2000, when the PS2 was released,
Sony shipped around 100 million PlayStation
2 consoles while Microsoft managed to ship
only 21 million of their XBox since its release
in the year 2001. However, this time, the
fight is expected to be more balanced as
for the first time in 10 years Sony is facing
competition from Microsoft after the success
of the XBox 360. As the XBox was released
almost a year ahead of the PS3, Microsoft
has had the market to themselves for one
whole year. But it has been presaged that
Sony is going to recover its position as leader
of consoles and by the year 2011, it will have
shipped around 30 million PS3 consoles and
grabbed 44 percent of the US market against
27 million XBox 360 consoles while Nintendo
will trail with 11 million units.
Microsoft, Goodman said, will find a
remedy for the supply constraints it was
plagued with during their launch in 2005.
30 NEWSWIRE
Play anywhere, anytime
Avid Indian gamers can now enjoy their favorite titles at the click of a button while
being connected to the Internet. That’s what ‘Games on Demand’ promises
G
aming is one of the most favorite past
times most people indulge in. Starting
from customizing a PC for gaming to
buying consoles, we go to any extent to partake
of the ultimate thrill in gaming. To augment
this thrill, Indiagames and Airtel have partnered
to combine games with the Internet. Their
partnership is poised to offer a new service
named “Games on Demand” or GoD.
On-demand game services have already been
Pramod Jadhav
available on the Internet. Yahoo and Verizon
were some of the providers who brought the
service to the broadband users. Users can go
online, register to the service and rent titles or
buy them at a given cost. Once a title is rented
or bought, users can download or stream the
content to their computers and play. This way,
they can enjoy the experience of playing the
original (non-pirated) version of a title at a
reasonable cost. Additionally, since the content
is available online, users can play games of their
choice anytime, anywhere they wish.
A recent study by organizational strategist
McKinsey estimated that the present value
of the gaming market of India is around $60
million and is expected to hit the $336 million
mark by the year 2009. This implies that this
market has matured enough for innovative
services like games-on-demand to be triggered.
The study revealed the the most popular game
genres in India are cricket, action or film-based
and racing. Such games are primarily enjoyed
by users ranging from 18 to 28 years of age.
Additionally, the study also suggested that
casual games (those that don’t require much
expertise) have an appeal across all age groups.
While racing and action games are mostly
liked by the younger audience, the ubiquitous
favorite is undoubtedly cricket. The research
concluded that while there is definitely a
demand for gaming across various genres in
India, the two impediments are availability
and cost.
To bridge this gap between availability
and cost, Indiagames and Airtel followed the
international distribution model and launched
the GoD service in India. Currently, the PC
gaming market is worth five million dollars, out
of which 85 per cent is pirated. The GoD service
will directly attack the pirated game market.
Drawing a comparison between the gaming and
present day cable TV market, Vishal Gondal of
Indiagames commented, “Before the advent of
cable TV, pirated movie video cassettes used to
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

inundate the entertainment market. With
the penetration of cable TV, the pirated
movie market was affected majorly as
the cable operators offered new movie
titles at a reasonable cost. Indiagames
intends to follow the same policy for
gaming. Gondal said, “If an original game
title costs Rs 1,500, gamers will think
twice before investing and will find ways
to spend less and procure the same from
the grey market. But now with GoD, you
can enjoy the experience of playing the
original legal version and still pay less in
comparison to buying the title from the
physical market.” He believes this service
will not only reduce the loss incurred by
the gaming market due to piracy but also
bring the popular titles to the mass.
Indians lack proper gaming knowledge
and are yet to embrace the gaming
culture in its totality. But this service
has the potential to generate interest
among broadband users and will help
in developing a gaming culture, which
will recursively increase the number of
broadband connections.
Indiagames has partnered with a
number of game development companies
who operate on the national and
international platform. The list consists
of Microsoft, Codemasters, Atari, Alawar,
Techland and Play First, spanning all
genres. Users gain access to categories like
action, adventure, role playing, strategy,
race and sports. The game title list is a
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
long one, including Desperados, Crime
Cities, Age of Empires II – The Age of Kings,
Flight Simulator 2004, Brian Lara Cricket
2005 and others. The titles are rated
too—“Everyone” or “Teens” to provide
parental control.
If you want to enjoy the GoD service,
it is necessary to get an Airtel broadband
connection. As of now, this is the only
broadband service provider Indiagames
had tied the knot with. Next, register
to the service from Airtel’s broadband
web site and download the launching
application. This application will detect
whether the game you wish to download
is compatible with your PC or not. In case
your PC is not compatible with the game,
you need to upgrade your PC to match the
game’s minimum requirements. The speed
of the game download depends obviously
on your broadband connection speed.
Some of the additional advantages of
this service are cost, unlimited downloads
and trial periods. You get to play any of the
available titles at a flat rate of Rs 199 per
month. The game downloads don’t affect
your regular download limit and you are
not additionally charged for it. That means
if you want you can download games as
big as 10 GB even if your regular download
limit is set way below. Not only that, once
registered you will also get a free trial of
15 days; within this time period you can
download and play the games you want.
If you don’t find the service appealing
SMS us!
NEWSWIRE 31
enough, you can cancel your account
without being charged.
In an attempt to block piracy, the
game content gets streamed from
Indiagames’ local server, which means
if you close the player application, you
will no longer receive the game content
on your computer. Even the scores and
information like graduation of levels are
stored in that server within your account.
Therefore copying and burning CDs is
practically impossible.
As of now, the game list is updated
once a month and there are plans to
frequent this in the future. Indiagames
also plans to build an online gaming
community and organize gaming
competitions to encourage participation.
Along with home users, there are some
retail plans for cyber cafés as well. This
will increase the number of registered
users, as all those users who don’t have a
broadband connection at homes can enjoy
the gaming experience by registering from
cyber cafés.
Although the service was already
present on the Internet, for Indian
customers this is certainly something new
and notable. Considering the statistics,
this service does seem to point toward a
promising future for gaming in the Indian
market. But while we wait and watch this
service gaining acceptance, it would be
interesting to fire up a game. 
| Pradosh Mitra
Story code: NFG (See Page 20 for details)
32

D
esktop computers today are becoming
faster and more affordable. From dual
processors to hard disk to memory,
the computers we use today are orders of
magnitude, faster that what we used barely a
year ago. But along with the hardware, software
is also becoming more and more demanding.
Each time a new OS or a new version of your
favorite imaging application is launched, the
system requirements climb higher.
This often leads to your relatively
new computer acting like it has
the brakes on! The brute force
method of getting better
performance is to select
a computer or upgrade
your existing one
with the best possible
components, but this
is certainly not the most
economical way of
doing it.
Through this story, we aim
to arm you with a basket full of
tweaks and optimizations that you
can use to help you get through
your work (or play) faster than
you imagined. To deal with
all aspects of your system,
we’ve divided the story into
three sections. The first
comprises general tweaks
that can be performed
by any computer user
for overall system
speedup. Next
Coverstory

up, we take
you through
specific system
tweaks that enable
you to get the most
out of the applications
you use at your workplace. In the
entertainment section, you will find secrets that
let you get the most out of your games, movies
and audio. In the applications section, we guide
you through tweaks on software most used in
offices and at work. This includes specific tips
and hidden secrets that enable your imaging
applications to run smoother, even when
you are working with large files that would
otherwise bring your computer to its knees.
Cast these tweaking spells on your computer
and have it operate faster—it’s almost like magic!

Pramod Jadhav
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 SUPERCHARGING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE | COVERSTORY 33

You don’t need to be a geek to get the most out of

your PC. Follow the tweaks and supercharge your
PC—and you’ll see the difference

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

SMS us! Story code: CRS (See Page 20 for details)

34
There are several tweaks you can perform
to extract higher performance from your
overall system. These tweaks require
you to get into areas of your system you
probably have never seen, but stick with
us and pay attention—you’ll soon get used
to the various sections along with their
capabilities.
Enter the BIOS!
Before we get into tweaking Windows,
let’s start with fine tuning the BIOS
settings. BIOS stands for Basic Input/
Output System as is the area of your
motherboard that controls the settings
of its various components. For those who
haven’t tinkered with the BIOS yet, press
the “Del” key at the very first screen when
the computer boots, to get into the BIOS
settings screen. Here you need to make
a few changes to free up some system
resources. Let’s go step-by-step:
If you don’t have a floppy drive
installed, first disable the floppy disk drive
in the first page of the BIOS settings.
Otherwise you may get an error “Floppy
drive(s) fail” every time you start your PC.
If you aren’t using any devices
which utilize the parallel or serial ports,
General Tweaks disable those ports from the “Integrated
Peripherals” section of the BIOS. Doing so
also frees up system resources for other
peripherals to operate more smoothly.
Check which is the first boot-device: if it
is the CD/DVD drive, change it to hard disk
drive. Many a time, it is left set to CD/DVD
drive, as it is initially required while
installing Windows. Making this change
will speed up the boot process.
Next go second page in the BIOS and
you should find an entry named ‘System
BIOS Cacheable’. By enabling this, the BIOS
gets loaded into system memory, allowing
quicker access to its functions.
Go to the ‘Integrated peripherals’
section and ensure that the hard disk
drives and optical drives are operating in
DMA mode and not in PIO mode. DMA is
a data transfer that puts a very negligible
load on the system processor and is much
more efficient compared to PIO mode
which includes the system processor in all
Disable the legacy ports from the BIOS if data transfers. This obviously slows down
you don’t need them the rest of the system.
Exit the BIOS after saving the changes
and move on to Windows. If you have
any difficulty in locating or changing
the BIOS settings, you can refer to your
motherboard’s manual.
BIOS updates
Every few months, motherboard
manufacturers come out with an updated
version of the BIOS. The newer version of
the BIOS can increase the stability of your
system and device compatibility thereby
resulting in better performance. Hence,
check the website of your motherboard
manufacturer at least once a month to
see if an updated version of the BIOS
for your motherboard is available. Since
flashing the BIOS requires extreme
care, it is recommended that you seek
your technician’s help if you’re not too
confident about doing so. Experienced
users can use the BIOS flashing tool which
is usually present on the motherboard’s
driver CD.
Fine-tuning Windows
Tweaking Windows is not only about
juicing extra performance out of your
system but also enhancing the accessibility
to programs and files and folders. At
the end of the day, the system should
perform at full throttle as well as offer you
maximum convenience, thereby increasing
the overall productivity.
First, keep aside the thought that
tweaking requires drilling deep down
into the core of the Windows registry or
typing long commands. The fact is, you
don’t need to be a Windows guru—even a
novices can tweak a system well, provided
they learn the tricks of the trade.
Windows can be tweaked at two
levels—basic and registry. At the basic
level, there’s absolutely no need of using
any tool or tinkering with the registry.
You can increase the performance of your
system by changing a few settings in
Windows and by being well-organized.
At the registry level, some modifications
are required to be made in the registry
to boost the system performance. That
doesn’t mean you’ll have to face the
nightmare of using the registry editor.
There are some nifty utilities with which
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

you can make changes in the registry
by checking or un-checking the desired
options. While most of the tips are
applicable to Windows 98/Me/2000 as
well, some are specifically meant for
Windows XP. Let’s begin with the
basic tweaks.
Boosting Windows XP
One of the best ways to boost your
Windows XP operating system is to load
the latest drivers for your various system
components like the motherboard,
graphics card, sound card etc. Next, the
biggest resource hog is the visual effects
that are enabled by default—the fading
and sliding effects, shadows under menus,
etc. which are only meant to please your
eyes are absolutely useless! Cutting down
on this eye candy will directly give you a
speed boost. Here’s how you go about it:
Right-click on “My Computer” and
select “Properties” to bring up the “System
Properties” dialog box.
Click on the “Advanced” tab and
hit the “Settings” button under the
“Performance” section to bring up the
“Performance Options” dialog box. Here,
choose the third option, which says “Adjust
for best performance” and click on the
“OK” button to apply the changes. Doing
so will change the entire look and feel to
the plain Jane Windows Classic—but a
speed-boost is guaranteed! If you have a
slow PC, doing so will give you a feeling
that your computer got a dose of steroids!
However, if you don’t want to cut down
completely on eye-candy, you can check
the option ‘Use visual styles on buttons
and windows leaving the rest unchecked
in the “Performance Options” dialog box.
This will give Windows a richer look while
still delivering better performance.
Managing startup programs
You may have noticed a considerable
lag after logging on to Windows until
Windows finally reaches its desktop.
The major cause for this lag is the
programs that load at the start up. If
you have chat, torrent, P2P clients and
download managers loading as soon as
your Windows boots, you cannot resume
work until these programs finish taking
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
SUPERCHARGING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE | COVERSTORY 35
their own sweet time to load. This not
only slows down the boot process but
the programs block system resources by
residing in the RAM. Thus, it is strongly
recommended to disable these programs
from the startup list unless you seriously
require them. For example, you may want
a download manager at start up in order to
begin downloading as soon as you log in.
Otherwise, it makes better sense to launch
these programs when you specifically
Adjust your system for best performance
need to use them via the Start Menu or a
using the Performance Options dialog box.
desktop shortcut.
To manage the list of items in the startup,
click on “Start” and select “Run”. Type
“msconfig” in the dialog box to bring up the
“System Configuration Utility”. Now click
on the “Startup” tab. Here, all the programs
which load at the startup are listed. Taking
care not to disable the anti-virus, uncheck
the non-critical startup items.
Click on the “OK” button and restart
your PC for the changes to take effect.
Disable unwanted startup items to speed
up booting
Organizing the Start menu
The key to gain speed over program
accessibility lies in organizing your Start
menu. The reason being the shortcuts
to all the programs installed on your PC
reside under ‘Start | Programs’. If you have
a cluttered list of over a hundred items in
the Start Menu, you will have to hunt for
specific programs. Apart from leading to
frustration, it leads to a sheer waste of
time. On the other hand, if your program
shortcuts are neatly organized in groups,
you can save considerable amount of time.
Organize your Start menu program groups
It even shortens the list of programs by
for quick access
around 40 to 50 percent!
To start with, first uninstall programs
from “Add/Remove” and delete all the
unwanted and rarely-used items under
“Start | Programs”. To delete an item,
right-click on it and select “delete” from
the context menu.
Next, right-click on the “Programs”
group under Start menu and select open.
Create program groups (folders) like office,
games, multimedia, imaging, MPEG-4 tools,
MP3 tools, Internet, etc to organize your
program shortcuts depending on the type of
applications installed on your PC. Close the Drag the Menu Speed slider to the left to
“Programs” window after you are done. boost your Start menu speed
36 COVERSTORY | SUPERCHARGING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

Now go to “Start | Programs” and a computer without delving into the

Select the 5.1 channel audio system if you
have a 5.1 channel soundcard
Multimedia & Gaming
drag only the program shortcuts into the
relevant groups that you just created.
For instance, if the shortcut to “Adobe
Photoshop” is under the group “Adobe”
along with other shortcuts, drag only
the program shortcut and not the entire
“Adobe” group. After moving the shortcut,
delete the previous program group—in
this case, the “Adobe” group.
When you’re done, you’ll realize that
the entire list of programs has shrunken
to less than half! Finally, go to “Start |
Programs” and right-click on any item
and select “Sort by name” to sort the list
alphabetically.
Tweaking the Windows registry
After this session of basic tweaking, it’s
time to tweak the Windows registry
to juice out extra performance from
Windows. Let’s see how you can put the
tweaking tools to the best use. Before
proceeding any further, insert the CHIP
Tools CD and install the components from
the CHIP PowerPack.
Tweak UI
This nifty 165 KB utility is one of the
smallest and best tools for tweaking
Windows. To install it, right-click on the file
“tweakui.inf” in the installation folder and
select “Install” from the context menu. If
done properly, Tweak UI will appear in the
Control Panel. The reason for choosing this
utility is that it works with all versions of
Windows. The best feature in Tweak UI is
the ability to speed up the Start menu. You
can do it by going to the “Mouse” tab and
dragging the “Menu Speed” slider to the
extreme left. After clicking the OK button
the menus in your Start menu will open
within a split second! Try using the options
under other tabs if you further wish to play
around with Tweak UI.
There are several other tweaks that
can sap plenty of performance from your
system—go ahead and try them out, but
be sure to take a backup of your system
registry before embarking on a long
tweaking spree.
Multimedia & Gaming
Not many can claim that they have used
multimedia capabilities of their systems.
Though there would be a few who
have never played a game while using a
computer. If you have recently bought
your computer, chances are that it will be
able to play most multimedia content.
But unless you have a good graphics
card, many of the recent games cannot
be played. With the growing use of the
Internet and with broadband penetration
increasing in the country, more and more
people are into archiving their favorite
music and movies.
Are you unable to play that new
game on your existing hardware? Do you
complain of not being able to have the
complete surround sound experience
while playing a DVD? Here are some tips
that you should keep in mind to ensure
top-notch performance out of your PC on
the entertainment front.
Audio tweaking
Ensure that you have the software
configured in accordance with your
physical hardware. You might have a
top-of-the-line multi-channel soundcard
supported by a multi-channel speaker
system. But if you don’t tell your computer
guy that you have a multi-channel audio
system, all you will get is stereo output
and all the extra money that you spent
on a good audio system goes down the
drain. Right-click on the speaker icon in
the system tray and select “Adjust Audio
Properties”. Click on “Advanced” in Speaker
Settings and select the speaker setup that
matches your hardware.
But if you want to archive your favorite
audio CD collection, you might want to
convert them to MP3 or other compressed
audio formats. Most CD ripping programs
convert an audio CD to an MP3 at a bit rate
of 128 Kbps. While most users would not
notice the difference, one should change
the audio bit rate to 192 kbps. This results
in a slightly increased file size but offers
much better audio quality.
Compressing the file into one of these
formats also results in a drastic reduction
in file size. The size of an uncompressed
raw wave file extracted from an audio CD
song is about 45-50 MB while that of a 128

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


kbps MP3 is 4-5 MB. The size of a 192 kbps
MP3 ranges from about 5 to 7 MB while
a 320 kbps MP3 takes up about 10 MB
while providing for much better listening
experience.
Video quality
Windows will not play all file formats by
default. You need to install different media
players to play different file formats. For
example, you need QuickTime to play
QuickTime-encoded movie files and you
need Real Player to play Real media files.
If you want to play multiple file formats
using a single media player, you will need
to install the codec required to play that
particular file format. To do so, download
a codec pack such as K-Lite Mega Codec
Pack 1.57 from www.free-codecs.com (also
on our Tools CD). This codec pack installs
media player classic as the default media
player and is capable of playing almost all
media formats. It can even play QuickTime
and Real media files using alternative
codecs. Alternatively, you can also install
an application called VideoLAN, which
is known to play numerous audio and
video formats—we’ve reviewed it in our
application tests this month and it’s also
on our Tools CD.
Most movies downloaded of the
Internet are compressed in DivX or XviD
formats. Also if you want to archive your
favorite DVD movies on your PC or you
want to run them off a media center PC,
they will need to be compressed in some
form in order to conserve space. A typical
DVD when converted to XviD format is
about 700-750 MB in size which is almost
1/6th the original DVD size.
Is your DVD watching experience up to
the mark? Do you experience issues like
hazy edges near the bright areas of the
screen during a movie? Do the dark scenes
get washed out while watching movies
like The Matrix or Batman Returns? Do you
think that the colors on your system are not
crisp and sharp? Fret not. You can use a very
neat little tool that is hidden inside almost
any THX-certified DVD that you can rent
out from your local video parlor. THX is a
set of specifications that ensures that your
movie-watching experience remains exactly
how the director of the movie had intended.
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
SUPERCHARGING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE | COVERSTORY 37
All THX-certified movie DVDs come bundled
with a tools called the THX optimizer. This
THX Optimizer consists of a series of tests
that make it easy for even a novice to fine-
tune the audio and video performance of
their home theatre setup (including a home
theater PC). It primarily helps you redefine
audio and video levels to match that of your
hardware to result in an optimized movie-
watching experience. If you have good
video and audio hardware, this tool will Selecting the 192 kbps bit rate boosts audio
help ensure that the signals output by your quality with very little increase in file size
graphics and soundcard are as close to the
reference levels set during the mastering of
each movie. The THX optimizer runs a series
of audio and video tests which step you
through calibrating your home theatre for
resolution, sharpness, brightness, contrast
and multi-channel audio reproduction.
Gaming
Are you extracting the most out of your
graphics card? Many of the newer games
will not run properly on your older system
and if you have a newer graphics card, An MP3 encoded at 128 kbps is one-third
you might want to run games at higher the size of any lossless compression method
resolutions and turn on some of the
custom settings to extract the most out
of your gaming experience. The two top
settings that should be increased to the
maximum on a newer graphics card are
anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering.
Setting them to maximum, no matter
what graphics card you use, it will surely
increase the visual quality of your games.
Of course, increasing the quality comes at
the price of lower frame rates. Here is how
you can strike a balance with your ATI or
Nvidia graphics card. The K-Lite Mega Codec Pack plays most file
If you are using the older AGP-based formats using a single media player
graphics card with an ATI chip, you must
enable some of the features like SmartGart
from the ATI control panel. These features
not only affect your system stability
but also performance. You can access
SmartGart by clicking on “Start | Run |
SmartGart” and clicking on “OK”. Make
sure that all the settings are set to
on in the SmartGart properties box. A
similar feature also exists in the Nvidia
driver system.
Lastly, there are also settings inside
A DVD movie ripped using the XviD codec
games like resolutions, texture details,
can be fitted on a single CD
anti aliasing, anisotropic filtering, shadow
38

Office Applications
Change your Photoshop scratch disk to a
lesser-used partition
details, bilinear and trilinear filtering, etc.
Depending on the game you are playing,
if these settings are enabled, it enhances
the visual and effects quality of your
gaming experience. You will need to strike
a balance between good quality and
gaming performance—keep in mind that
high quality textures, anisotropic filtering,
textures and anti-aliasing are very taxing
on your graphics card. Notch these specific
settings down if your game runs slowly.
Office productivity
There’s nothing that fuels the creative
juices better than having your application
keep up with your speed of work. Whether
you’re a graphics designer, a writer or a 3D
modeler, it’s not rare to find your computer
take its own time to respond to a mouse
click or a filter application—more so when
you are working with demandingly large
files against cruelly truncated deadlines!
Earlier in this article, you have seen
several tweaks that can sap out a sizeable
amount of power from the various
subsystems of your computer. Let’s now
step a little deeper and target specific
applications that you, as a productive user,
regularly use in your work. While it would
be impossible to address every application
out there, we’ve assembled some of the
most important tweaks that you can
perform for some of the most commonly
used desktop software and take them to a
new level of responsiveness.
Adobe Photoshop
Perhaps one of the most often used
applications by creative folks, it is
also the most demanding on system
resources—it needs a copious amount of
RAM, a fast and capacious hard disk, and
a performance processor. The basic rule of
thumb while choosing your workstation is
to plug in as much RAM as you can afford
(1 GB is a good place to start), team it up
with a speedy processor (at least 3 GHz or
comparable) and a 7,200 RPM 120 GB hard
disk. But even with the best of systems, it
is possible to bring your computer to its
knees while working with large files on a
default installation of Photoshop.
While working on image files,
Photoshop makes relentless use of system
RAM to store the file during processing. If
you work on multiple files or work on large
images, you will run out of RAM. When this
happens, your computer turns to your hard
disk for storage space. Photoshop calls
this temporary storage the Scratch Disk
which is basically a location on one of the
partitions of your hard disk. To maximize
the performance of this Scratch Disk, it is
best to select a drive that is defragmented
and has plenty of free space. Choose a
drive apart from the one on which your OS
is loaded. For the best performance, select
the scratch disks to run on a RAID 0 drive
array. RAID 0 is a hard disk implementation
using two or more drives where data is
alternately written or read between them.
This results in almost an 80% increase in
read/write speeds and has a direct impact
on the speed of the Photoshop scratch
disk. Photoshop requires about 320 MB of
scratch disk space but the more you assign
to it the better. You can access the scratch
disk settings by clicking on Preferences |
Plug-ins and scratch disks. From the first
drop-down menu, choose the drive that
has the most free space. You can select a
second, third or fourth drive as required.
Next, you can speed up Photoshop
startup time by preventing unnecessary
plugins from loading each time during
application launch. There is a quick and
easy way to do this—navigate to the folder
where you have Photoshop installed (Most
probably C:\Program files\Adobe). In here,
you will find a folder called “Plug-ins”.
Within this folder you find the plug-in files,
all of which get loaded each time you fire up
Photoshop. To disable Plug-ins you hardly
ever use, simply edit the name of the files
or folders containing plug-ins and insert a
tilde (~) before each name. That’s it—the
next time you start up Photoshop, you
should see a perceptible difference in the
load time. You can always re-enable plug-ins
by removing the tilde sign—the next time
Photoshop launches, it will load them.
To assign a greater amount of system
RAM to Photoshop, you can increase
the Memory & Image Cache size. With
Photoshop running, click on “Edit |
Preferences | Memory & Image Cache”.
In the Memory Usage section, increase
the slider (but don’t exceed 75 percent).

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


In this same box, you will also see a
Cache setting. This specifies the number
of instances of an image file created by
Photoshop while working on it. Having
a greater number of images results in
quicker redraw times for larger images,
but takes more time to open files for the
first time. A value of 4 is good enough for
most systems. When you’re through, click
on “OK”. After restarting Photoshop, you
should find it running smoother, especially
when working with large image files.
Microsoft secrets
Relatively speaking, Microsoft Office
is perhaps one of the least demanding
applications on systems, which is why they
can run on virtually any desktop today.
However, there are a few tweaks that can
actually help you save time in the long
run. Also, there are several usage methods
that can truly supercharge your workflow
especially if you frequently create specific
types of documents. Let’s first look at
some of the tweaks:
When accessing and editing Microsoft
Word documents over the network, it
opens the file into a default 64 KB file
in memory. While this usually suffices,
there are instances where this size would
be too small, causing a delay in saving
while changes are made. To increase this
size, open your registry by going to “Start
| Run” and typing “regedit”. Navigate to
the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Microsoft\Office\[Office version]\Word\
Options and locate the entry “CACHESIZE”.
Double-click to open it, change the value to
512 and close the registry editor. The next
time you open a network file, MS Word will
allot a larger amount of memory to it.
There is another tweak within this same
registry folder, you will also find an entry
called “NoWideTextPrinting”. By changing
this value to “1”, you can enable
your printer to print non-standard
characters (such as Greek alphabet if you
tend to use them).
The list of tweaks for the various
components of Microsoft Office is
numerous—there’s no way of including
them all here. The two tweaks illustrated
earlier indicate how time can be saved and
functionality can be increased by digging
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
SUPERCHARGING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE | COVERSTORY 39
a little deeper into the applications an
unlocking hidden secrets. However, more
than these tweak, it is the very way we
use our Office applications that can be
tweaked to save us more time and add
convenience to our workflow. One of
the most powerful tools are Macros. No,
they are not as daunting as you might
imagine—they are actually quite simple to
create and tremendously useful!
Taking the case of MS Word again, if Disable rarely used Photoshop plugins by
you frequently write articles or reports preceding their names with a ‘~’
and want to ensure that they are well-
formatted, you should use Styles. A Style is
a collection of font and paragraph formats.
In Word, you will see a drop-down menu
containing the entries Normal, Heading
1, Heading 2 etc. In each of these, you will
notice different font formats and sizes.
You can change each of these styles to
match your personal preferences. While
writing documents, you can click on this
box and invoke a particular style to a
complete paragraph. This becomes evident
when you view the Document Map in Tweak the cache size and levels to
Word, where it becomes easy to navigate streamline work in Photoshop
through large documents in which Styles
are used correctly.
To further streamline your work, you
can assign a keyboard macro that applies
these styles as you type. Do this by using
the intuitive Macro Recorder in Word by
clicking on “Tools | Record New Macros”.
After entering a name for the macro, click
on a style and assign a keyboard shortcut
to it (like ALT+A, for example). Do the same
with the rest of the styles you are using.
After you’re through, you simply need to
hit the shortcut as you are typing and the Use headings to bring order to your Word
style will be automatically applied! This documents
will save loads of time in the long run. To
make these macros as Styles applicable
to all new documents, perform the above
steps in the Normal.dot file which is
the default document template file of
Microsoft Word.
While it is impossible for us to cover all
applications used in office productivity,
these are some of the basic concepts you
can try out and then apply them to other
applications such as video processing, 3D
modeling and so on. 
Macros help you perform automated
| Anand Tuliani, Kunal Rupera and
actions, greatly improving workflow
Marco D’Souza
40
Jagdish Limbachiya
Top Gear
W
ith the AMD Socket AM2 fever
on the rise, motherboard
manufacturers are on a run to
launch motherboards supporting AMD’s
next-generation platform. We have seen a
few AM2-based boards in the past. But this
time we put to test an AM2 mobo based on
ATI’s CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset—the ECS
KA3 MVP Extreme, which offers an excellent
blend of features and performance.
If you’re hungry for steroidal
performance, check out the monstrous
Sapphire X1900XTX boasting ATI’s top-
of-the line graphics chipset fuelled by 48
shader units. We also got our hands dirty
with Kingston’s lowest latency DDR-2
Hardware
| The Ratings Explained
The products in the individual and
comparison tests share exactly the same
test procedures.
Each product in Top Gear is rated on
a scale of 5 for different key parameters:
Performance, Build Quality, Features,
Ergonomics and Warranty. These vary
according to the characteristics of the
hardware. For instance, ergonomics (ease
of use) is not important in a graphics
card and therefore, it will not be evaluated
for this.
A product’s Overall Rating is calculated
by assigning weightages to each evaluation
memory having a frequency of 1066 MHz!
Cell phone junkies shouldn’t miss out the
Nokia N91. This hottest addition to Nokia’s
line of multimedia phones sports a 4 gig
hard drive that holds over a thousand songs
on its 1-inch platter. In addition to this, it
sports a stash bag of features which includes
support for Wi-Fi and a 2 MP camera.
This month we also reviewed a good
mix of portable devices. Take a look at
Zippy’s 3.5-inch hard drive casing with
support for both IDE as well as SATA drives.
If you’re serious about video conferencing,
the Polycom Skype Communicator and
Microsoft Lifecam VX-6000 are devices
meant just for you!
parameter—the more important a parameter,
the higher is the weightage allotted to it.
In addition, there is a Value for Money
rating, which is calculated from the
performance and the features of the product
in relation to the price. High performance
and lots of features at a low price translates
into a better Value for Money rating. This
rating is calculated using current prices.
Note: The prices mentioned here do
not include taxes. Hence, they will vary
according to the taxes applicable in
the city or state where you buy the
product from.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Heavy metal
N okia’s N-series phones epitomize
entertainment—communication
playing more of a facilitator’s role. The
N91 stands out of the lot mainly because
of its storage capacity and the medium it
uses to provide so much space—4 GB on a
microdrive. But frankly, there is more to it
than just oodles of song storing.
Features and applications
Apart from providing storage space for over
a thousand songs (assuming the songs are
encoded at 128 kbps and are 3.5 MB in size),
the N91 comes loaded with some powerful
features. Its “active desktop” is similar to
that of the N70 with shortcuts to contacts,
messages, calendar, visual radio, camera and
the built-in web browser. You will never run
out of space for saving all your contacts—30
MB is quite generous. (It is a 3rd edition
Series 60 phone that comes installed with
Symbian OS v9.1). On the messaging and
e-mail front, the phone supports POP3,
SMTP and IMAP accounts. This means you
can access mail accounts that use any of
these protocols. Photos taken with the
2 MP camera produces decent results at
1600x1200. Video clips are recorded at
a maximum resolution of 352x288. Real
Player is used to play any video you record
onto this device. It supports the video that is
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
encoded in H.263, 3GPP or MPEG-4 format.
The phone supports an array of popular PC
and mobile formats for playing music such
as MP3, AAC/AAC+, WAV, WMA, M4A, AWB,
AMR and AWB.
You can change your shortcuts, re-assign
the key functions and set voice commands
to contacts as well as applications. The
Standby and Music service always runs in the
background at any point of time. The music
continues to play even when you’re using
applications like the camera, for instance,
and pauses while in the video mode.
Visual Radio is new and has recently been
introduced only in New Delhi—so the rest of
us will have to access regular stations.
The connectivity options offered
by the N91 are Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (802.11
b/g)—features that the corporate sector
The N91’s media player controls are well
placed but the keypad buttons are too small
SMS us!
TESTED | HARDWARE 41
Multimedia Smartphone
Nokia N91
Specifications: Dimensions (WxHxD mm):
55.2x113.1x22, Weight: 165 gms, Network: UMTS, GSM
900/1800/1900, Display: 176x208 pixels, Ringtones: 64
channel polyphonic, System Memory: 30 MB, Storage:
4 GB microdrive, supports GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth, mini USB, Visual Radio, Audio Output: 3.5
mm jack
Price Rs 29,799
Contact Nokia India Pvt Ltd
Phone 022-26128112
Website www.nokia.com
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money
particularly look for in their cell phones
more than anything else.
Ergonomics and build quality
The N91’s shell is made of stainless steel;
the overall build of the phone with a sliding
mechanism is excellent. The buttons on the
phone are placed for easy single-handed
use. The menu button is positioned on the
right edge of the phone for easy access
to the thumb—too bad if you are a leftie.
The lower half of the phone slides open
to uncover a closely packed keypad. The
buttons have a superb tactile feel but they
are too small for even medium-sized fingers.
Performance
Phone navigation is simple. Accessing music
from the microdrive is a little sluggish.
Details (except bit rate) and album art can
be viewed on the phone. Audio output on
the earphones provided is average. Since
audio output is via a 3.5 mm jack, you can
use your own headphones. Connecting the
phone to the PC is simple if you transfer
music files. Just set it to be detected as a
mass storage device and that’s it.
For: Superb build quality; manual keypad
lock and support for various audio formats.
Against: Weight and price lower the phone’s
appeal. Crowded keypad.
Story code: HWS (See Page 20 for details)
42 HARDWARE | TESTED

Graphics Card
Sapphire Radeon X1900XTX
Specifications: Interface: PCI Express, Graphics Core:
X1900XTX, Core clock speed: 650 MHz, Memory size:
512 MB, Memory type: GDDR3, Memory bus: 256 bit,
Memory bus speed: 1.5 GHz, CrossFire ready: Yes

Price Rs 29,990
Contact Sanjay Gogia
Phone 011-26223810
E-mail sanjay_gogia@adityagroup.com
Website www.sapphiretech.com
Warranty 3 years
RATINGS
Build quality
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money

Crowning glory
G amers crave for photo-realistic gaming
experience. With the recent advances
in gaming hardware, games have become
a visual treat. Nvidia and ATI are the two
leading gaming card manufacturers, each
trying to outsmart the other in the need for
speed. This month we review the Sapphire
Radeon X1900XTX graphics card. Find out if
it snatches the crown of the fastest non-SLI
graphics solution.
Features
The Sapphire Radeon X1900XTX features
the R580 core GPU which is the same
as that of the X1900 series with the
exception of a bumped up clock speed of
650 MHz. This additional 50 MHz comes
handy in games that rely on pure GPU
clock speeds. The card features 512 MB
of GDDR3 memory, which is pretty much
standard with most recent graphics
solutions. The memory clock has been
beefed up and it runs at 775 MHz. What
sets this card apart from others is its 48
pixel shader processors, which increase
the performance of shader-heavy games
like Oblivion and F.E.A.R. Another great
feature is that it supports FSAA (Full Screen
Anti-Aliasing) and HDR (High Dynamic
Range) simultaneously. For games that
support HDR and FSAA like Cryptek’s Far
Cry and Oblivion, this feature provides for
great visuals.
Design
The Sapphire Radeon X1900XTX features
an actively cooled, copper-based heatsink,
thereby providing cooling to the GPU as
well as the GDDR3 memory. It ensures
overclockability without losing out on
stability. The heatsink is designed in a way
that it channels the hot air directly out of
the chassis unlike the stock Nvidia cooling
system that retains the hot air inside the
cabinet system. The card features two DVI
connectors and an S-Video connector for
connecting display devices like TV. Inside
the box, Sapphire provides a DVI to D-SUB
converter for monitors that don’t support
the DVI interface. A drive installation CD, a
ATI provides a plethora of connectivity
options as shown above
DVI to component converter, a manual, an
S-Video cable, an S-Video to RCA converter
cable and a 6-pin power cable are also
bundled. Other goodies include a copy of
PowerDirector 4.0 and PowerDVD 6. The
package also offers four excellent games—
Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, Richard Burns
Rally, Prince of Persia Warrior Within and
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. Two of
these can be played as full featured versions
while the other two can be played as demos.
Performance
The card provided excellent performance
in most of our synthetic benchmarks and
beat every card in the real-world benchmark
tests. It scored a massive 102.5 fps in Doom
3 at high resolutions—faster by 22 percent
when compared to the Nvidia 7900GTX.
HDR games like Half-life 2 – Lost Coast
scored better at 69 fps. The extra pixel
shader processors did help in games like
F.E.A.R where the benchmarks showed 69
fps at 1280x960 and it was still decently
playable at 51 fps at 1600x1200.
The Sapphire X1900XTX retails for
Rs 29,990, which is a fair price for the
excellent performance advantage it offers.
For: Good performance and loads of
goodies.
Against: Noisy heatsink.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


PVR in your palm
L eadtek’s Winfast Palm Top TV is an
external TV tuner power house. This
device is so tiny that it looks like small
car without wheels and fits snuggly in
your palm. A complete media center, it
substitutes your TV, FM, and VCR. To use
the FM function, you will have to connect
an external antenna (which was not
provided with the package). The main
software which controls the tuner is
called WinFast PVR. It is easy to use and
comes with a manual.
The Palm Top device doesn’t need
an external power supply as all other
TV tuner cards do. To power the device,
all you have to do is plug it in to your
computer’s USB port. Next, after setting
up the device and the software, is tuning
the channels. The user gets to specify
The Winfast comes packed with an array of bundled software
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
the region, which gives the device preset
instructions to speed tuning. The tuning
is real fast—it took us not more than
a minute to tune 100 channels. One
unique feature incorporated in the device
is Picture-in-Picture (PIP), using which
the channels can be categorized as per
your requirements. You can watch two
channels at one time; although that’s a
tad difficult, Winfast PVR allows you to
view one main screen and one sub screen
at the same time. Befitting the perfect
media center experience, this device
allows you to pause, rewind live television
and play instant replays. Take your breaks
during a TV show or movie and never miss
a scene again.
For the purpose of recording, the Palm
Top provides excellent features which are
TESTED | HARDWARE 43
External TV Tuner Card
Leadtek Winfast Palm Top TV
Specifications: USB 2.0, TV RF-in, Remote Control,
Seven bundled software
Price Rs 4,000
Contact Top Notch Infotronix (I) Pvt Ltd
Phone 044-26616201
E-mail zebronics@zebronics.com
Website www.zebronics.net
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money
are not only flexible to use but also gives
you full control over your TV or media
player. It supports de-Interlacing for good
video quality. It allows you to specify file
size, video length and also gives you the
option to choose the type of encoding
format you want and specify the file size.
There is also the option of scheduling
recording—the time control feature helps
you schedule a particular program and
recording happens automatically. You can
not only split single video files recorded
from your TV but also those copied to your
PC and then burn them directly to a DVD
or to a CD without any other software.
New and innovative features that
caught our attention include the ability
to display video as a desktop background;
a unique tool enables taking a snapshot
from a playing video and mail it directly
through the same program. Seven other
programs that come bundled include
Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4, Cool 3D
SE, Cyberlink Power DVD 6 and Ulead
Videostudio 9 SE.
The Palm Top TV is your alternative
media center without much investment.
For: Elegant design; very easy to set up;
no external power supply needed and a
good PVR.
Against: Requires a fast processor.
44 HARDWARE | TESTED

Motherboard
ECS KA3 MVP Extreme
Specifications: Form factor: ATX; CPU Socket type:
AMD Socket AM2; Chipset: Northbridge – ATI RD580;
Southbridge – ATI SB600; FSB: 1000 MHz; Memory:
DDRII-800 (max 32 GB); Graphics: CrossFire support,
HD Audio: Realtek ALC883; SATA/PATA: 6/2; Ethernet:
Agere Gigabit, Realtek 10/100; USB Ports: 10; FireWire
ports: 2

Price Rs 11,300
Contact www.theitdepot.com
Phone 044-42158922
E-mail info@theitdepot.com
Website www.ecs.com.tw
Warranty 3 years
RATINGS
Build quality
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money

CrossFire mainboard
E CS EliteGroup is known for
manufacturing feature-rich and
cost-effective motherboards. The KA3
the CPU. The 16x PCI-express slots are
positioned too close to each other and
they are separated by a 1x PCI-e slot and
Against: Lack of space between the
CrossFire PCI-e slots.

MVP Extreme is their first Socket AM2
(successor to Socket 939) board to hit the
market. This is a CrossFire board that uses
ATI’s Xpress 3200 chipset with two PCI-e
16x slots. A single PCI-e 1x and 2 PCI slots
are also squeezed onto the ATX board. The
Northbridge and Southbridge have passive
heatsinks—the latter being very small
in height and size. A 40 mm fluorescent
yellow exhaust fan blows heat from the
voltage regulators out of the board.
As far as package contents are
concerned, this board comes packed with
SATA cables, an extra USB/Firewire panel,
an additional parallel port bracket and an
eSATA bracket. An additional BIOS chip has
been provided that can be used to flash
problematic firmware.
Design and layout
This is one colorful board. The PCB is purple
and on it you will see orange, red, yellow
ochre, blue, bright yellow and green. To
complete this riot of color, the PCI slots are
accompanied with flashing blue diagnostic
LEDs. At first glance, the board seems bare
with minimum clutter and open space
between the memory, Northbridge and
a CMOS battery. There should have been
enough space to house two cards with
large heatsinks.
Performance
The motherboard was put through the
paces with SiSoft Sandra’s processor and
memory benchmarks. The processor scores
were up to the mark with other AM2-based
boards reviewed earlier. The memory
bandwidth recorded a lower score (by about
2-5 percent) as the board accepted the
Kingston memory (at default latencies) with
a command rate of 2T. On the audio/video
encoding front, the scores were acceptable
—the audio compression putting a greater
amount of load on the processor. Watching
a movie while another was being converted
to XviD at the same time brought the
encode rate down by just 5 fps.
Since this is an “Extreme” board, the BIOS
provides users with overclocking options
to adjust the CPU multiplier and CPU/RAM
voltages. In spite of these features, the RAM
was unable to work at 1T.
For: Loads of USB and SATA connection
options are provided. Produced good scores
in the encoding tests.
Test rig
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX-62
Memory: Kingston KHX8500D2K2 (1066
MHz running at 800 MHz) (5-5-5-15:2T)
Hard drive: Western Digital Raptor 740GD
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 6800 GS
Performance Scores
PCMark ‘05: 6134
3DMark ‘05: 5213
SiSoft Sandra 2007
Dhrystone (MIPS) : 20378
Whetstone (MFLOPS) : 17206
Memory bandwidth : 7931 MB/s
HDD index : 55 MB/s
HDD sequential read : 68 MB/s
HDD sequential write : 32/52 MB/s
Audio encoding (192kbps – best quality):
624.7 kB/s
Video encoding test: 87.24 fps
Video encoding + playback test: 82.3 fps
Gaming test
Doom 3: 1024x768@low: 115 fps
1280x1024@high: 76.3 fps
F.E.A.R.: 1024x768@low: 115 fps
1280x960@high: 43 fps

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

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46 HARDWARE | TESTED

Web Camera
Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000
Specifications: High-definition video (1.3 MP, 1280x1024
pixels) and photos (5 MP interpolated), Wide-angle
lens with 71 degrees field of view, Automatic face
tracking software, built-in unidirectional microphone
with acoustic noise cancellation

Price Rs 5,631
Contact Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division
Phone 1600111100
E-mail i-ruchga@microsoft.com
Website www.microsoft.com
Warranty 3 years
RATINGS
Build Quality
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money

High-definition web cam

I t is indeed exciting when you are able to
chat with friends and family while also
being able to watch them in real time. Today
video chatting has become so common a
trend in Internet communication that the
market is inundated with numerous web
cams that let you video chat with clarity.
The VX-6000 is Mircosoft’s new web
cam integrated with the new Windows Live
Messenger. It also works on Yahoo and other
similar instant messengers. The new avatar
of Windows Live Messenger has a separate
module for video chatting, very similar to
that of Skype.
The web cam can be perched on top of an
LCD monitor
Installation
Software installation is pretty straight
forward—pop in the disc and install the
software and drives. Remember that you
need to install the software before you
plug it in. Microsoft cautions users with
the removable bright green fluorescent
tag on the USB adapter and a prompt to
install the software first. OS compatibility
is with Windows XP only. The web cam
comes with a flat circular stand that allows
it to easily perch on CRT monitors. For LCD
monitors, the base opens up imparting a
nice tight grip.
Features and performance
One distinctive features of the web cam is
its ability to record high-definition videos at
a resolution of 1.3 megapixels (1280x1024
pixels). Note that the regular CRT television
resolution is 640x480 pixels. Still images can
be interpolated up to 5 megapixels. Video
can be recorded at 30 fps. Recording at such
a resolution comes handy if you are into
video blogging. Another cool feature is face
tracking. The web cam follows your face as
you move within its 71-degree wide-angle
frame; what it does is mere zooming in and
out as you move around, therefore it gets a
bit irritating when the cam remains zoomed
on your face. It also lets you pan and tilt the
image. Face tracking, panning and tilting are
not possible for resolutions above 800x600
pixels, which means you cannot face track
at the cam’s highest resolution of 1.3
megapixels. With a USB 1.1 connection, it
supports a maximum resolution of 800x600
pixels for video and the highest resolution
of 1.9 megapixels for stills. This is due to the
limitation of the USB 1.1 data connection
speed. The quality of video and still images
is very good with good color reproduction.
The skin tones are also accurately
represented. The built-in microphone comes
with the acoustic noise-canceling feature. It
saves you the trouble of using an additional
microphone. You can also team it up with
your own set of speakers or headphones.
The camera is an expensive proposition
if you only want to use it for video chatting
online. And to do that at 1280x1024
resolution, you need a blazing fast Internet
connection at both ends. Therefore if
video recording at high resolutions is your
requirement then the VX-6000 is delightful
to work with. Otherwise there are lots of
affordable options available from Logitech,
Creative and iBall.
For: One of the few web cams with the
ability to record at HD (1280x1024)
resolutions.
Against: Very expensive.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

 TESTED | HARDWARE 47

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

48 HARDWARE | TESTED

Memory
Kingston HyperX KHX8500D2K2/1G
Specifications: Type: DDR-2 PC-8500, Frequency: 1066
MHz, Timings: CL5 (5-5-5-15), Size: 1 GB (2x512 MB
modules)

Price Rs 12,500
Contact Kingston Technology
Phone 022-26592961
E-mail techsupport_india@kingston.com.tw
Website www.kingston.com/asia
Warranty Lifetime
RATINGS
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money

Memory for enthusiasts

W ith the introduction of AMD’s Socket
AM2 platform, all the new platforms
(Intel and AMD) support only DDR-2 memory.
Also, with the release of Microsoft Windows
Vista and Office 2007, memory requirements
will take a giant leap. You will require at least
a gigabyte of memory to run Windows Vista
without any hiccups. Frequency up to 667
MHz can provide enough juice to a basic
system. But if you are an enthusiast, high
frequency and tight memory timings are
what you will need. Aimed at enthusiasts,
the Kingston KHX8500D2K2/1G is a 1 GB
low-latency dual-channel memory kit. It
comes as a matched pair of 512 MB modules
having a frequency of 1066 MHz and timing
of 5-5-5-15. To dissipate the heat at high
frequencies, the modules come fitted with
aluminum heat-spreaders.
The test
To evaluate the performance, we ran
the memory bandwidth benchmark in
SiSoft Sandra 2007 and ScienceMark 2.
In addition to this, we ran Doom 3 and
F.E.A.R. at 1024x768 using low settings.
We also compared the performance of the
KHX8500D2K2 with the Corsair CM2X512-
8500 having the same specifications and
with the Corsair CM2X256A-4300 having a
frequency of 533 MHz.
Results
Higher bandwidth hardly makes any
difference in games with two or three
additional frames. However, you need it
for multi-tasking and resource-hungry
applications. By default, platforms can
support a maximum frequency of 800
MHz. To push it further, motherboard
and processor clock speeds need to be
bumped using multipliers and FSB settings
in the BIOS. The advantage of having a
frequency of 1066 MHz is that the memory
can handle tighter timings at high speeds
thereby offering greater flexibility while
over clocking.
The Kingston KHX8500D2K2/1G is the
best you can get—but for a premium. Basic
users stay away!
For: Provides great memory bandwidth;
good for over clocking.
Against: Commands a heavy price.
Test rig
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX-62
Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe
Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor 740GD

TEST SCORES Corsair Kingston Corsair Kingston

CM2X256A-4300 KHX8500D2K2/1G CM2X512-8500 KHX8500D2K2/1G
533 MHz 800 MHz 800 MHz 800 MHz 800 MHz 800 MHz
4-4-4-12-2T 4-4-4-12-2T 5-5-5-15-1T 4-4-4-12-1T 5-5-5-15-1T 4-4-4-12-1T
SiSoft Sandra 2007
Memory Bandwidth Int iSSE2 (MB/s) 6279 8170 8016 8400 8068 8499
Memory Latency (ns) 100 86 84 81 84 81
ScienceMark 2
Memory Bandwidth (MB/s) 5875.62 6555.34 6588.84 6589.67 6661.04 6608.82
Memory Latency (ns) 62.87 47.04 49.3 45.86 48.7 45.86
Doom 3: 1024 x 768 low (fps) 114 116 116 116 116 117
FEAR: 1024 x 768 low (fps) 66 66 66 66 66 66

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


Steal deal
T he VIP ZB01B server cabinet looks sexy
with its black steel body. This cabinet
defines space at its best—it is big and airy
and equipped with the required cooling
options. It provides excellent airflow, which
is the most important factor in choosing a
server cabinet as such a cabinet normally
has more peripherals compared to a
normal PC and therefore requires more
efficient cooling and airflow.
Features
The front bezel of the cabinet swings
open like a door, giving you access to the
The hard drive cage has an additional fan
for cooling the hard drive
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
four optical drive slots and the power
buttons. Each slot has a 120 mm fan at
the front and the back; these work as the
intake and exhaust fans respectively. The
fan positioned right beside the hard drive
cage when used as a RAID array helps in
lowering the temperatures of the storage
subsystem. Another neat feature is the
mounting of the hard drive, floppy drive
and the optical drives; just push in the
side plates on the respective drives and
slide them into the respective drive bays.
The cabinet has a unique locking system
for the expansion cards for which no extra
Drives are easy to mount with these side
plates
TESTED | HARDWARE 49
Server Cabinet
VIP ZB01B
Specifications: Dimensions (WxHxD mm): 210x480x530;
500 Watts Power Safe PSU
Price Rs 7,000
Contact Kunhar Peripherals Pvt Ltd
Phone 022-66345758
E-mail salesbom@kunhar.com
Website www.kunhar.com
Warranty 3 years
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money
tools are required. There are two extra
slots for two 80 mm fans on the sides
of the cabinet. These slots can be used
alternatively to mount two more hard
drives or any other PCI card. The intrusion
detection mechanism helps to detect
when the cabinet was left open. There
are steel filters on the front fan and at the
side of the hard drive cage fan, which can
be slid off for easy cleaning.
Performance
The cabinet comes with a 500 Watt
PSU, enabling stability in power supply
without any fluctuations. It has SATA
and PCI-E card support unlike most other
PSUs. We used Rthdribl and SiSoft Sandra
applications for our tests. Also, we noticed
no voltage variations in power supply
even under loaded conditions.
Finally, coming to price, it
commensurates with the features and
performance of the server cabinet.
So if you want a cabinet for your
server-based requirements along with
tool less mounting of your peripherals, the
VIP ZB01B is the one you should consider
buying without any second thought.
For: Great price; feature rich; easy to
mount drives.
Against: None.
50 HARDWARE | TESTED
Internal DVD Writer
LiteOn SOHW 1633s
Specifications: Interface: ATAPI, Size: Half Height,
Buffer size: 2 MB, DVD+R/-R:16x/8x, DVD Dual layer:
2.4x, DVD+RW/DVD-RW: 4x/4x
Price Rs 2,150
Contact Mediatech India Pvt Ltd
Phone 022-26361111
E-mail chip@mediatechindia.com
Website www.liteonit.com
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money
Entry-level DVD writer
W ith the ever-increasing demand in
storage data capacities and the
consistent fall in prices, DVD writers have
become the de facto standard in optical
storage. Whether you want to take data
backups or burn the latest high quality
movie or game, a DVD writer comes to
your rescue. Let us see how the LiteOn
SOHW 1633s fares among all the other
writers in its category.
Features
The LiteOn SOHW 1633s is an internal
DVD writer that adheres to the EIDE/
ATAPI interface. Although the 1633s is
labeled a 16x DVD writer, it is capable
of writing DVD+R media at 16x while
it writes DVD-R only at 8x speeds. Like
most writers, this device has a standard
buffer size of 2 MB and features a buffer
underrun protection system. This ensures
that you will not waste media when
trying to write data to it. Like all other
drives, it supports DVD+RW and DVD-RW
formats at 4x. It can even write to dual
layer DVD media at 2.4x. It does not
support writing to DVD-RAM media but
again its use is rare and buying DVD-RAM
media in retail is almost unheard of. It can
write to CD media at 48x, which is pretty
much standard.
Setup and ease of use
The LiteOn SOHW 1633s is a half height
drive, which means it can easily fit even in
the cramped spaces of small cabinets as
well as small form factor PC systems. It is a
no-frills drive without an additional front
bezel, which means one cannot match the
drive in case the cabinet color is changed.
The front side features essentials like the
eject switch, a status LED and emergency
drive opening hole. The emergency drive
opening feature is particularly useful when
you want to open the drive bay without
powering it up. Inside the box, you find
a quick setup guide, Nero burning ROM
6.6—the popular CD and DVD authoring
software and a copy of power DVD 6 for
viewing DVD video.
A copy of Nero Burning ROM and
PowerDVD is bundled in the package
Performance
This drive performed reasonably well in
our tests. It is capable of writing to a
DVD media in under 6 minutes which
is very impressive for any DVD writer. It
featured a random access time of 129
ms, which is average compared to that
of other similar drives available today.
Its full seek time of 208 ms is the best
till date. Its average speed measured a
decent 6.7x—faster than most drives in
its category. Its start and finish speeds
as measured by Nero CD-DVD were an
impressive 3.45x and 8.25x respectively
which is about 1.5 times faster then a 16x
ASUS DVD writer. Although the drive was
a pretty fast performer, we must mention
that the CPU usage for this device was
marginally higher when compared to that
of other drives.
The LiteOn SOHW 1633s is an entry-
level DVD writer providing a good mix
of features and performance at an
affordable price point. If you don’t mind
shelling out a bit extra, we suggest you
buy a writer that supports 16x speeds on
DVD+R as well as the DVD-R media.
For: Simplistic design; excellent value
for money.
Against: Writes DVD-R media at 8x
speed only.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Wired conversations
I nternational landline and cell phone
charges being very high, people are
increasingly considering Internet telephony
or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) for
international calling. VoIP, which is basically
the transmission of voice over IP-based
networks, has become a very popular
medium of communication.
There are three ways in which you can
connect to a VoIP network.
Using a VoIP telephone.
Using a regular telephone with a VoIP
adapter.
The most popular and widely used—a
microphone and headphones or
speakers connected to your PC.
There are two ways you can make calls on a
VoIP network.
From a VoIP device to a normal
telephone, commonly known as PC-to-
phone calls.
From a VoIP device to another VoIP
device commonly known as PC-to-PC
calls.
The Polycom Communicator C100S is
specially built to work with one of the
most popular applications for Internet
telephony—Skype. You can make PC-to-PC
calls anywhere in the world using Skype,
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
free of cost. You can also make PC-to-phone
calls using Skype but for a small fee that is
much less than what you would normally
pay for a landline or a cell phone call.
The C100S comes with 30 free SkypeOut
minutes (used to make calls to landlines)
and one-month free Skype voicemail.
Design
The C100S is a hybrid device—it has a
speaker on the top, two microphones at the
bottom and a 3.5 mm headphone port. You
need to fix a ferrite bead at the end of the
headphone cable plugging into the device
to prevent Radio Frequency Interference
(RFI) and Electromagnetic Interference
(EMI) from affecting the device through
the headphone wire. The specification
of the ferrite bead has also been included.
Installation
The C100S connects to the computer using
a USB cable. This cable is 3 feet long and
wraps itself around the back of the unit
making the C100S a truly portable device.
The cover of the USB cable enclosure also
acts as a stand for the device, placing the
device at an angle of 45 degrees from the
horizontal surface. Polycom claims this is
the perfect level for high fidelity acoustics
and we noticed this from the voice quality.
TESTED | HARDWARE 51
Internet Skype Phone
Polycom Communicator C100S
Specifications: Dimensions (WxHxD inches):
3.24x5.25x0.85, Interface: USB 1.1
Price Rs 7,740
Contact P V Krishna
Phone 011-26207771
E-mail pv.krishna@polycom.com
Website www.polycomasia.com
Warranty 1 year
RATINGS
Build quality
Ergonomics
Performance
Features
Overall Rating
Value for money
You need to have Skype installed on
your system as well as Polycom’s own
proprietary software to make calls.
There’s no software on the bundled CD;
instead it takes you to the download page
of Polycom’s web site so that you can
download the latest available software
from their site. Installation is pretty much
straight forward.
Performance
Often we’ve seen Skype users complaining
about echoes while making calls, using
a headphone and microphone. With the
C100S, we experienced no such echoes
and the sound clarity was excellent. It
offers full-duplex voice performance
for simultaneous natural two-way
conversations. We tried both PC-to-PC
and PC-to-phone calls. In both cases, the
voice was crystal clear and echo-free. The
two microphones at the bottom are very
sensitive. Even if you sit 10 feet away from
the device, you can be clearly heard by
the person at the other end, so the device
would certainly serve well if you intend to
use it for group discussions.
For: Clarity in sound; echo-free PC-to-PC
calls.
Against: Expensive option when compared
to a headphone and microphone.
52 HARDWARE | TESTED

External Hard Drive Case

Port-a-drive!
Zippy ET-35UIS
A fter having reviewed several external
hard drive cases, what struck us
about the Zippy ET-35UIS external hard
T7K250 hard drive. We used Everest
Ultimate 2006 for synthetic tests. For
real-world scores, we recorded the transfer
drive case is that it not only supports IDE speeds of 1 GB single as well as multiple
drives but also SATA drives as against its files between the hard drive and the RAM
counterparts. drive to assess the read and write speeds.
Like most of the 3.5-inch cases, this one An 80 GB SATA drive and this case
too draws power from an adapter bundled would approximately sum up to Rs
Specifications: Form factor: 3.5-inch, Dimensions
(WxHxD mm): 200x110x30, Interface: USB 2.0 in the package. It sports a sleek aluminum 3,900—a great bang for the buck for an
Hi-Speed, IDE and SATA support shell with a glossy finish; the rear panel external 80 GB drive!
Price Rs 1,200
features an on/off switch and a USB port. For: Support for IDE and SATA drives; good
Contact Big Byte Corporation The advantage of having an external value for money.
Phone 022-23894800 case is the freedom to carry your data Against: Bulky.
E-mail sales@bigbyteindia.com
wherever you go. Just jam a 3.5-inch IDE
Website www.bigbyteindia.com
Warranty 1 year
or a SATA drive into the case and it turns Test Scores
RATINGS into a portable drive. Since the drive has Everest Ultimate 2006
Build quality support for SATA as well, a SATA cable Sequential Random
Performance is pre-fitted on the PCB next to the IDE Read 32.2 MB/s 32.3 MB/s
Features cable header. Depending on the type of Write 26.4 MB/s 26.3 MB/s
Overall Rating the drive, you can use the bundled Molex
Value for money or SATA power connector. An IDE cable is Real world
provided for IDE drives. Single file Multiple files
To evaluate the effectiveness of the Read 31.3 MB/s 28.6 MB/s
case we tested it with the Hitachi Deskstar Write 28.6 MB/s 25.7 MB/s

Mouse
High on price
Level One BLM-3000A
W hile most wireless mice operate
on infrared and other radio
technologies, the Level One BLM-3000A
they could be pressed easily.
However, the mouse lagged in the
performance benchmarks. Although
wireless mouse works on the Bluetooth it features a resolution of 800 dpi, its
standard. The ergonomics of this optical sampling rate was 79 Hz. This is a very
mouse attracts attention; its jet-black low specification when compared to
exterior and its slim design give it an added that of a PS2 ball mouse with a sampling
appeal. It features two buttons with a rate of 95 Hz and far below that of the
Specifications: Interface: Bluetooth Wireless v1.2, Type:
central scroll wheel and it has a LED-based Microsoft wireless optical mouse 2.0 with
Optical, Resolution: 800 dpi, Operational Range: up to
10 m, PC connectivity: USB 1.1 optical sensor although mice with laser a sampling rate of 112 Hz. Its battery life
sensors have already entered the market. is to reckon with; it lasts for over a month
Price Rs 5,730
The mouse is powered by two thanks to its power saving features.
Contact MINDS (India) Pvt Ltd
Phone 9891136980 AAA-sized alkaline batteries, which However, a distinct lag when waking up
E-mail mathew.vad@mindsindia.net come bundled along with a Bluetooth from the sleep mode is a quirk that one
Website http://global.level1.com
dongle, quick setup guide, driver CD and can’t ignore.
Warranty 1 year
a carry pouch. Setting up the device was Gamers should avoid this mouse
RATINGS
child’s play. Install the drivers, follow because of its poor sampling rate. It is
Build quality
the instructions and you’re done. While ideal for office productivity but comes
Performance
the keys and the scroll wheel responded with a heavy price tag. So unless you have
Features
nicely to touch, its slim yet longer design a compelling reason to buy this mouse,
Overall Rating
made the task of operating the device you should consider looking at other
Value for money
easier. This mouse was easier to use and better and more affordable alternatives.
operate than many laptop mice that we For: Good ergonomics and greater range.
have seen. The keys were nicely spaced Against: Not so impressive performance;
and their size was adequate such that very expensive.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

 TESTED | HARDWARE 53

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

Big Bytes
Hard drives with massive storage capacities, great performance levels and
speed—all here for you. Take your pick...

Pramod Jadhav
 HARD DRIVE COMPARISON
Y
ou surely get frustrated when
you come across the classic error
message, “You have run out of space
on Drive C” and the disk cleanup utility
prompts you to make space on the drive.
With the increasing broadband penetration
and some of the ISPs providing unlimited
downloads, free space on the hard drive
quickly fills up.
Hard drive technology has improved
by leaps and bounds in recent times in
terms of capacity, performance as well
as reliability. From the earliest days of
MFM drives, hard drive technologies
have steadily increased to RLL, ESDI, IDE
(which was later named as ATA and is now
called PATA), EIDE (which makes use of
DMA for data transfers), SATA and SCSI.
Hard drives have also grown faster with
time—earlier drives were able to rotate at
3600, 4200, 5400 rpm whereas the newer
SATA, SCSI and Fibre channel drives are
able to rotate at 10,000 and 15,000 rpm.
Also, drive manufacturers began to put in
more and more cache on the hard drives.
In recent times, we have seen hard drives
undergoing a change from 2 MB of cache
to 8 MB and now 16 MB cache drives have
also been introduced.
Hard drive manufacturers are
constantly striving to increase hard drive
capacities and performance. We observed
a couple of first timers in this round up—
we received a hard drive which featured
a massive storage capacity of 750 GB.
Using the current hard drive technology,
the storage density is limited at 100 to
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
SMS us!
| HARDWARE 55
200 GB per square inch by a phenomenon
called the superparamagnetic effect,
which occurs due to the minimum size
of particles that can be used. However,
this limitation was tackled with what is
known as perpendicular recording. This
is the first time we received hard drives
supporting perpendicular recording. The
perpendicular recording technology helps
in increasing storage capacities and also
increases performance. Also, most of the
hard drives we received for the round up
supported the SATA interface. With the
prices of SATA hard drives being almost
similar to that of their PATA counterparts,
the use of PATA hard drives will be reduced
to a minimum.
Many of us like to keep our music,
movies, games, applications and data
collection within easy access. With the
growing size of applications and games,
a 40 GB hard drive is bound to run out of
storage very easily. Many of us also like to
archive our collection of music and movies
which takes up a lot of space on the hard
drive. With a wide range of applications
and games to run on, hard drive speeds
are also an issue as disk I/O throughput
is the weakest performance link in a
computer. Availability of data is the most
important aspect when it comes to hard
drives. You must take into account the
storage capacity, performance, price and
the warranty into consideration before
beginning your quest for a hard drive. This
comparison test will help you decide which
model is right for you.
Story code: HCH (See Page 20 for details)
56 HARDWARE | HARD DRIVE COMPARISON
Test Process
Hard drives are available in capacities
ranging from 40 GB way up to 750 GB.
Within the same capacity, drives offered
by various manufacturers vary in features.
That’s where the concept of drive family
steps in. Drives belonging to a particular
family share common characteristics in
terms of interface, buffer size, performance
and so on. Since it would be a Herculean
task to test all the drives belonging to each
and every family of drives, we have tested
the largest available drive per family for
each brand.
The test parameters for the drives
are features, performance, and warranty
and support.
Features
Here we noted the technical
specifications of the drives which
included parameters such as the spindle
speed, capacity, buffer size, interface and
number of platters and heads. Higher
spindle speed and larger buffer directly
translates into a performance boost.
We also took note of the environmental
characteristics such as acoustics and
shock resistance and awarded more
points to drives which were quieter and
more resistant to shock. Drives with
support for native command queuing
(NCQ) and perpendicular recording went
a step further. Extra points were awarded
to the drives which featured a Molex
connector.
Synthetic tests
This set of tests evaluated the read and
write speeds of the hard drive by stressing
it to its maximum limits. We used the
following benchmarking tools under this
section.
Everest Ultimate 2006
This is a comprehensive system diagnostic
tool which also has an inbuilt disk
benchmarking utility. It evaluates the
sequential and random read/write speeds
and displays the results in megabytes per
second.
PCMark 05
This system-wide benchmarking tool by
20% Warranty & Support
30% Features
50% Performance
Test Rig
Motherboard : WinFast 6150K8MD-8EKRSH
Processor : AMD Athlon 64 FX 60
Memory : 2 GB Kingston HyperX ULK2
Futuremark also features a hard drive
test suite. It evaluated the performance
of a drive by simulating real word
instances such as Windows XP startup,
application loading, general usage, virus
scan and file write.
Real-world test
In this section of the performance test,
we evaluated the performance of the
drive in real world by measuring file
transfer speeds and application and file
loading time.
File transfer speed
Here we created a 1 GB RAM drive out
of a portion of the system’s memory.
The reason for doing this was to allow
the hard drive to utilize its full potential
while reading and writing data. We then
measured the transfer speed by using a
stopwatch to record the time taken to
transfer 1 GB single as well as multiple
files between the hard disk and the
RAM drive.
Random read speed displayed by Everest
Ultimate 2006
File loading time
In this test we opened a 300 MB TIFF image
in Adobe Photoshop and recorded the time
taken to open the file and display it in the
Photoshop interface. The quicker the drive,
the lesser the time required to load the file.
Game loading time
While the game loads, the hard drive gets
significantly stressed as multiple files
are accessed. The faster the hard disk’s
read speed, the lesser the time it requires
to load the game. Apart from gaming,
quick reading speeds are also required by
applications like image editing, DTP, etc. In
this case, we ran Oblivion and noted the
time it took to start a new game.
Warranty and support
This is one of the most important
parameters of a hard drive. Since a
hard drive has moving parts, it is most
susceptive to failure. Hence, it is absolutely
critical that it is backed by robust warranty
and support.
Value for money index
At the end of the day, you should get
your money’s worth. For this reason, we
concluded our test with the value for
money index. This is a ratio of features and
performance with respect to price. The
higher the performance and features with
respect to price, the higher this score. The
“Best Value” award was given to the drive
which offered the best value for money
according to our evaluation.
Interpreting the Buying Guide
The buying guide has been designed to
help you make the right buying decision in
your quest for a hard drive. To give you an
overview of all the drives available, drives
of all capacities under various families
have been taken into consideration.
After picking a drive, running
your finger horizontally across the
row will take you through the drive’s
specifications. Further to the right, you
can find its value for money by the color
of the shaded cell coinciding with the
drive’s capacity. Likewise, you can even
find out the hottest deals for a particular
capacity.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Western Digital’s Raptor WD1500-ADFD
is a hard drive with a class of its
own, with tremendous power and
commendable performance. This hard
drive gives you a data storage capacity
of 150 GB which we feel is a little
inadequate considering the latest hard
drives come at a capacity of 750 GB. The
USP of this hard drive is a mind blowing
spindle speed of 10000 rpm. With such
high speeds, it is obvious how fast the
data transfers are going to be.
What makes this drive stand apart
from the WD740 is its increased buffer
size. The drive comes with a 16 MB buffer
or integrated cache which is much higher
than that of a normal hard drive with a
measly 2 MB or 8 MB. This increase in
buffer size noticeably reduces the read
and write time of the drive. The average
latency is 2.99 ms—the lowest among
all the hard drives tested. This is no
surprise as the drive has 4 platters and 2
heads, which reduces the time required
for reading and writing data as there are
fewer platters for the heads to seek data
The Samsung HD160JJ hard drive
comes with an excellent price and
delivers superb performance for such
an affordable price. This hard drive has
a storage capacity of 160 GB with a
spindle speed of 7200 rpm. It has a buffer
cache of 8 MB which is excellent when
compared to other drives in its category
which usually offer a measly 2 MB for
almost the same price.
The average latency of this drive,
which is 4.2 ms was a bit higher than
that of other Samsung drives. The data
transfer speeds were excellent as this
drive supports SATA 2 with 300 MB/s.
The SATA 2 interface really boosts up the
performance of the drive when it comes
to multimedia and content creation as
this increases the transfer rates and
is very helpful with audio and video
resource hogging applications.
As the drive is incorporated with
Native Command Queuing (NCQ),
the seek times are elevated on single
threaded applications which makes the
drive slower.
In case of multi-threaded applications,
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
HARD DRIVE COMPARISON | HARDWARE 57
from. The drive supports SATA 1 interface
and can be used in RAID arrays. Western Digital WD1500-ADFD
The file transfer speeds were simply
mindblowing —the Raptor took just
12.3 seconds to write a 1 GB file and
14.9 seconds to write a 1 GB multiple
file as can be seen from the comparison
table. This is indeed the fastest amongst
all hard drives that we reviewed in this
comparison test.
Imagine trying to load a 300 MB image
file to Photoshop and waiting for ages to Specifications: Spindle speed: 10,000 rpm, Capacity:
150 GB, Buffer size: 16 MB, Interface: SATA 150 MB/s,
open such a huge image file. The Raptor
Average Latency: 2.99 ms, Native Command Queuing
just zoomed through and opened the
file in a record 4.12 seconds without a Price Rs 15,000
Contact Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd
glitch. The benchmark tests were done
Phone 022-23874427
using Everest Ultimate 2006 and PC E-mail venktron@vsnl.com
Mark 2005 and here too the Raptor was Warranty 5 years
way ahead of all the other drives that RATINGS
we tested. This drive has come as a boon Features
to all enthusiasts and gamers as it gives Perfomance
you unimaginable speed. But be ready to Overall Rating
spend for such performance. Value for money
For: Superb speed; excellent data transfer
speeds and high buffer memory.
Against: Expensive; low storage capacity.
NCQ is a real boon as it determines the
best order to perform operations with Samsung HD160JJ
the knowledge of its seek times and
head position. This in turn increases
the performance of the system when
it is under heavy load by multiple
applications. The drive delivered
commendable scores in all our tests;
it took just 19.10 seconds to write a 1
GB file and 22.89 seconds to write 1
GB multiple files on to the drive which
is commendable. The 300 MB image Specifications: Spindle speed: 7,200 rpm, Capacity:
160 GB, Buffer size: 8 MB, Interface: SATA 2, Average
file opened in a jiffy, taking just 4.54
Latency: 4.2 ms
seconds to open. While this is not the
fastest score, it is better then most other Price Rs 3,350
Contact Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd
drives in the comparison. Everest and
Phone 011-41511234
PC Mark tests delivered average results, E-mail hari.pandey@samsung.com
and the game loading time was also not Warranty 5 years
impressive. But you can’t have everything RATINGS
at such a low price. Features
If you are looking for a performer but Perfomance
don’t want it to be heavy on your pocket, Overall Rating
Value for money
then the Samsung HD160JJ is definitely
worth a buy.
For: Excellent storage capacity for a low
price; good buffer memory, NCQ support.
Against: None.
58 HARDWARE | HARD DRIVE COMPARISON

| Buying Guide
Brand & model Drive family Interface Spindle speed (RPM) Buffer (MB) Warranty (Yrs) Price (Rs) 36 GB 40 GB
WESTERN DIGITAL
WD3200JS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 5,750
WD3000JS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 5,050
WD2500JS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 4,550
WD2000JS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 4,400
Caviar SE SATA
WD1600JS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 3,700
WD1200JS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 3,650
WD800JD SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 3,000
WD400JD SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 3 2,800
WD3200JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 5,500
WD3000JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 5,250
WD2500JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 4,500
WD2000JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 4,300
Caviar SE IDE
WD1600JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 3,500
WD1200JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 3,150
WD800JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 2,850
WD400JB Parallel ATA 7200 8 3 2,700
WD800BD SATA 300 MB/s 7200 2 3 2,900
Caviar SATA
WD400BD SATA 300 MB/s 7200 2 3 1,700
WD2500BB Parallel ATA 7200 2 3 4,400
WD2000BB Parallel ATA 7200 2 3 4,200
WD1600BB Parallel ATA 7200 2 3 3,500
WD1200BB Caviar IDE Parallel ATA 7200 2 3 2,850
WD800BB Parallel ATA 7200 2 3 2,750
WD400BB Parallel ATA 7200 2 3 2,600
WD200BB Parallel ATA 7200 2 3 1,750
WD5000KS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 3 12,000
WD4000KS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 3 9,750
Caviar SE16 SATA
WD3200KS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 3 6,000
WD2500KS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 3 4,650
WD5000YS Caviar RE2 SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 18,500
WD360ADFD SATA 150 MB/s 10000 16 5 6,000
WD740ADFD Raptor SATA 150 MB/s 10000 16 5 9,000
WD1500ADFD SATA 150 MB/s 10000 16 5 15,000
SAMSUNG
SP2504C SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 4,200
Samsung P120 S
SP2004C SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 3,750
HD160JJ SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 3,350
HD120IJ SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 3,200
SpinPoint P80 S
HD080HJ SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 2,450
HD040GJ SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 2,050
SP0411N SpinPoint PL40 Parallel ATA 7200 2 5 2,000
SEAGATE
ST3400832AS SATA 150 MB/s 7200 8 5 13,000
ST3300831AS SATA 150 MB/s 7200 8 5 6,000
Barracuda 7200.8
ST3250823AS SATA 150 MB/s 7200 8 5 4,700
ST3200826AS SATA 150 MB/s 7200 8 5 4,500
ST3300622AS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 5,600
ST3400633AS Barracuda 7200.9 SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 12,000
ST3500641AS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 15,500
ST3250620AS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 4,350
ST3320620AS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 5,500
ST3400620AS Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 11,300
ST3500630AS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 15,500
ST3750640AS SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 23,200
HITACHI
HDS725050KLA360 DeskStar 7K500 SATA 300 MB/s 7200 16 5 24,150
HDT72252525DLA380 SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 9,280
DeskStar T7K250
HDT722516DLA380 SATA 300 MB/s 7200 8 5 6,500

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

 HARD DRIVE COMPARISON | HARDWARE 59
 Great value for money  Good value for money  Low value for money

74 GB 80 GB 120 Gb 160 GB 200 GB 250 GB 300 GB 320 GB 400 GB 500 GB 750 GB

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

60 HARDWARE | HARD DRIVE COMPARISON

| Personal Take
SpecScan

1 2
Anand Tuliani
anand.tuliani@chip-india.com NAME Seagate ST3750640AS Western Digital WD1500ADFD
Contact eSys Distribution Ltd Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd
Around a year back, a budget of Rs 4,500 Phone 011-41811694 022-23874427
wouldn’t allow you to get more than 120 E-mail msinghal@esysmail.com venktron@vsnl.com
gigs. But today, it is a different scenario as Price* Rs 23,200 Rs 15,000
you can easily grab a drive wih more than Overall results
double the capacity for the same price. Not Features (Out of 30) 27.55 21.31
Performance (Out of 50) 40.46 46.49
only this, the SATA 300 MB/s interface and
Warranty & Support (Out of 20) 20.00 20.00
support for NCQ come as a bonus.
Overall (Out of 100) Total: 88.01 Total: 87.80
The Seagate ST3250620AS belonging Value for money
to the Barracuda 7200.10 family is the one Features
drive that I would want to buy right away. A Drive family Barracuda 7200.10 Raptor
storage space of 250 GB and 16 MB buffer Capacity (GB) 750 150
plus awesome performance for a price of Interface SATA 300 MB/s SATA 300 MB/s
Rs 4,350 is a steal. It is not worth opting for Spindle speed (rpm) 7200 10000
200 GB as you can get an additional 50 GB Buffer size (MB) 16 16
Average latency (ms) 4.16 2.99
for a few hundred bucks.
Number of platters 4 2
The most interesting aspect is if you
Number of heads 8 4
want half a terabyte, you can get two
Shock resistance
250 GB drives as it turns out to be much Operating Shock, 2 ms 68 65
cheaper than a single 500 GB drive. Put Non-operating Shock, 2 ms 300 250
them in RAID 0 and you’ll be blown by the Acoustics
blistering speed! Idle mode (bels) 2.7 2.7
Seek Mode (bels) 3 3
Native command queueing ✓ ✓
Perpendicular recording ✓ ✓
Molex connectors for SATA ✓ ✓
Performance
Synthetic tests
Faheem Sayed Everest Ultimate 2006
faheem.sayed@chip-india.com Linear read (MB/s) 75.10 85.60
Linear write (MB/s) 74.20 84.20
After testing different families of drives, Random read (MB/s) 57.70 74.80
the one that I think worth considering is Random write (MB/s) 63.20 74.40
Western Digital’s Raptor WD1500ADFD, PC Mark 2005
which has a spindle speed of 10,000 rpm XP Startup (MB/s) 8.47 27.25
Application loading (MB/s) 6.42 25.41
and 16 MB buffer. Not only does it have
General usage (MB/s) 4.97 21.94
mindblowing transfer speeds, but it is
Virus scan (MB/s) 76.22 192.61
also a silent performer. This drive cruised
File write (MB/s) 71.09 199.48
through the entire test process without a Real-world tests
hitch. However, the only disappointment Open 300 MB TIFF file in PS7 (sec) 3.54 4.12
is its price. Next after the Raptor is Game load time - Oblivion (sec) 19.01 19.34
the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 with Single File Copy - 1 GB
perpendicular recording feature and a Read - HDD to RAM drive (MB/s) 73.72 82.78
massive 750 GB capacity, but this one too Write - RAM drive to HDD (MB/s) 71.26 82.25
is heavy on your pocket. But as they say, Multiple File Copy - 1 GB
Read - HDD to RAM drive (MB/s) 63.17 68.63
good things come for a price. So be ready
Write - RAM drive to HDD (MB/s) 56.67 69.95
to shell out some moolah if you want to
Warranty
settle for nothing but the best. Number of years 5 5
* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 HARD DRIVE COMPARISON | HARDWARE 61

3 4 5 6 7
Seagate ST3500641AS Hitachi HDS725050KLA360 Western Digital WD5000YS Seagate ST3400832AS Hitachi HDT72252525DLA380
eSys Distribution Ltd Neoteric Infomatique Pvt Ltd Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd eSys Distribution Ltd Neoteric Infomatique Pvt Ltd
011-41811694 022-39828600 022-23874427 011-41811694 022-39828600
msinghal@esysmail.com sales@neoteric.co.in venktron@vsnl.com msinghal@esysmail.com sales@neoteric.co.in
Rs 15,500 Rs 24,150 Rs 18,500 Rs 13,000 Rs 9,280

23.18 22.44 22.80 19.46 18.69

39.07 39.21 38.84 39.17 39.07
20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00
Total: 82.25 Total: 81.66 Total: 81.63 Total: 78.63 Total: 77.76

Barracuda 7200.9 DeskStar 7K500 Caviar RE 2 Barracuda 7200 .8 DeskStar T7K250

500 500 500 400 250
SATA 300 MB/s SATA 300 MB/s SATA 300 MB/s SATA 150 MB/s SATA 300 MB/s
7200 7200 7200 7200 7200
16 16 16 8 8
4.16 4.17 4.17 4.16 4.17
4 5 4 3 2
8 10 8 6 4

63 55 65 63 55
350 225 250 300 350

2.8 3.1 2.8 2.8 2.9

3.2 3 3.2 3.4 3.4
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
✕ ✕ ✕ ✕ ✕
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

61.10 62.10 69.80 66.80 39.00

59.60 61.10 69.60 65.60 64.50
50.60 49.20 56.70 59.60 53.30
48.90 49.70 58.70 52.00 50.30

8.32 9.75 20.77 8.94 21.56

6.73 8.19 18.62 6.78 18.12
5.52 7.04 16.40 5.43 14.54
50.31 132.03 153.53 80.35 247.57
58.78 56.84 140.21 63.98 129.09

3.48 4.22 6.70 3.40 6.60

19.20 18.96 21.50 19.54 20.45

59.50 61.28 68.72 69.61 63.21

54.58 60.09 63.60 56.11 62.06

51.95 55.90 64.20 43.70 58.28

47.06 46.89 48.69 48.10 40.47

5 5 5 5 5

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

62 HARDWARE | HARD DRIVE COMPARISON

SpecScan

8 9 10
NAME Samsung SP2504C Samsung HD160JJ Western Digital WD5000KS
Contact Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd
Phone 011-41511234 011-41511234 022-23874427
E-mail hari.pandey@samsung.com hari.pandey@samsung.com venktron@vsnl.com
Price* Rs 4,200 Rs 3,350 Rs 12,000
Overall results
Features (Out of 30) 19.12 18.18 20.69
Performance (Out of 50) 38.46 37.25 40.25
Warranty & Support (Out of 20) 20.00 20.00 12.00
Overall (Out of 100) Total: 77.58 Total: 75.43 Total: 72.94
Value for money
Features
Drive family SpinPoint P Series SpinPoint P Series Caviar SE 16
Capacity (GB) 250 160 500
Interface SATA 300 MB/s SATA 300 MB/s SATA 300 MB/s
Spindle speed (rpm) 7200 7200 7200
Buffer size (MB) 8 8 16
Average latency (ms) 4.17 4.2 4.2
Number of platters 2 2 4
Number of heads 4 4 8
Shock resistance
Operating Shock, 2 ms 63 63 65
Non-operating Shock, 2 ms 350 350 250
Acoustics
Idle mode (bels) 2.5 2.8 2.8
Seek Mode (bels) 2.8 3.3 3.2
Native command queueing ✓ ✓ ✕
Perpendicular recording ✕ ✕ ✕
Molex connectors for SATA ✓ ✓ ✓
Performance
Synthetic tests
Everest Ultimate 2006
Linear read (MB/s) 69.70 58.80 70.80
Linear write (MB/s) 68.40 56.20 70.30
Random read (MB/s) 55.10 46.20 59.60
Random write (MB/s) 57.10 49.20 56.90
PC Mark 2005
XP Startup (MB/s) 8.27 7.84 20.34
Application loading (MB/s) 6.60 6.27 18.59
General usage (MB/s) 5.72 5.17 16.04
Virus scan (MB/s) 82.13 78.63 151.79
File write (MB/s) 70.25 60.22 150.04
Real-world tests
Open 300 MB TIFF file in PS7 (sec) 4.34 4.54 5.54
Game load time - Oblivion (sec) 19.06 18.98 20.85
Single File Copy - 1 GB
Read - HDD to RAM drive (MB/s) 69.14 55.90 65.35
Write - RAM drive to HDD (MB/s) 66.71 53.81 66.49
Multiple File Copy - 1 GB
Read - HDD to RAM drive (MB/s) 62.14 53.61 65.60
Write - RAM drive to HDD (MB/s) 48.74 44.74 52.14
Warranty
Number of years 5 5 3
* Prices are indicative and are subject to change, taxes extra
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 HARD DRIVE COMPARISON | HARDWARE 63

11 12 13 14 15
Western Digital WD3200JS Samsung SP0411N Western Digital WD800BD Western Digital WD2500JB Western Digital WD1600BB
Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd Venktron Digital Systems Pvt Ltd
022-23874427 011-41511234 022-23874427 022-23874427 022-23874427
venktron@vsnl.com hari.pandey@samsung.com venktron@vsnl.com venktron@vsnl.com venktron@vsnl.com
Rs 5,750 Rs 2,000 Rs 2,900 Rs 4,500 Rs 3,500

17.43 10.50 13.70 13.06 9.18

39.61 32.26 36.90 35.20 36.32
12.00 20.00 12.00 12.00 12.00
Total: 69.04 Total: 62.76 Total: 62.60 Total: 60.26 Total: 57.51

Caviar SE SpinPoint P Series Caviar Caviar SE Caviar

320 40 80 250 160
SATA 300 MB/s Parallel ATA SATA 300 MB/s Parallel ATA Parallel ATA
7200 7200 7200 7200 7200
8 2 2 8 2
4.2 4.17 4.2 4.17 4.2
3 1 2 3 3
6 1 4 6 6

65 63 65 65 26
350 350 350 250 63

2.8 2.6 2.8 3.3 2.6

3.2 2.7 3.9 3.9 3.7
✕ ✕ ✕ ✕ ✕
✕ ✕ ✕ ✕ ✕
✓ ✕ ✓ ✕ ✕

63.90 54.20 58.30 62.10 63.60

44.70 57.30 58.00 67.70 65.30
52.60 45.60 48.10 52.30 53.10
36.70 59.40 48.30 64.10 65.70

18.72 6.86 19.14 8.41 17.52

16.94 4.69 14.11 6.54 11.98
13.52 3.56 10.19 5.38 8.61
134.96 48.27 121.90 57.47 110.94
108.84 53.39 126.57 57.19 130.89

5.04 5.20 5.31 4.68 5.14

21.30 22.18 22.00 20.54 21.60

63.29 49.71 54.67 61.13 61.69

46.76 49.02 38.35 55.35 60.59

61.91 45.84 52.32 47.63 49.95

37.80 23.86 32.53 44.23 27.16

3 5 3 3 3

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

64 HARDWARE | FEATURE
Pramod Jadhav
War of the tuners
Your PC can be a behemoth entertainment center if you enable
it with a TV tuner card. We do a head-to-head comparison of
the three best in the market
T
he PC today has become a complete
entertainment hub. Be it watching
DVDs or listening to audio CDs/MP3s,
it is the one-stop place serving your work and
recreation needs. If you’re an audiophile or
a movie buff, you can convert your PC into a
mammoth jukebox with thousands of songs
and a movie library consisting of hundreds of
movies. And that too without any additional
piece of hardware. However, if you want
to add the functionality of a television and
FM radio as well, you need a TV tuner card.
Live television and FM radio are not the only
features offered by a TV tuner card—that’s less
than half of what you can actually do with it!
A TV tuner card can actually do much more
than a mammoth television set. You can record
your favorite television shows and create a
DVD out of it. If you don’t want to miss the
news or a movie being aired while you’re out
of your house or on the phone, you can pause
live TV and resume after you’re back. During
live telecast of cricket or football matches,it
is impossible to watch each and every match
without staying up late at nights. With a TV
tuner card, you can schedule the recording and
watch it later when you have the time.
For radio lovers, it is possible to grab your
favorite songs being aired and burn them onto
an audio or an MP3 disc. You’re lucky if you have
an LCD monitor; adding a TV tuner card to your
PC can turn it into a full-fledged LCD TV! You
can even hook up a camcorder, DVD player or
a game console to your PC using a TV tuner card.
At present, the Compro VideoMate Gold
Plus II, Pinnacle PCTV 110i and PixelView
PlayTV are the best cards in the market from
the respective manufacturers. To find out
which one of them reigns supreme, we got our
hands on them and put them to the grind. Go
ahead and take your pick!
Test rig
Motherboard : Gigabyte K8NS
Processor : AMD Athlon 64 2800+
Memory : 1 GB DDR-400
Hard drive : Hitachi Deskstar 7K80
Graphics : Nvidia GeForce 6200 TC
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 FEATURE | HARDWARE 65

| Terminator
Time-shifting SpecScan
It is one of the features in the application
which comes bundled with the TV tuner
card. Using this feature, you can pause 1 2 3
and resume live TV or video playback.
Compro VideoMate Pinnacle PCTV 110i PixelView Play TV
When you click on the pause button to Gold Plus II Pro2
begin time-shifting, the software freezes Price Rs 3,500 Rs 3,990 Rs 1,950
Contact Mediatech India Pinnacle Systems Rashi Peripherals
the playback and starts buffering the Distribution Pvt Ltd Pvt Ltd
content in a video file on the hard drive. On Phone 022-26361111 011-41608211 022-67090909
releasing pause, it begins playing back the E-mail chip@mediatechindia.com adey.extern@pinnaclesys.com navinderc@rptechindia.com
Website www.comprousa.com www.pinnaclesys.co.in www.prolink.com.tw
buffered content from the point where Warranty 1 year 1 year 1 year
you paused. From the point you resume FEATURES
playback, the software has to multi-task Interface PCI PCI PCI
Decoder chip Philips SAA7134HL Philips SAA7131E Conexant Fusion 878A
until you stop the time-shift. While playing TV tuner ✓ ✓ ✓
back the buffered contents, it has to buffer FM tuner ✓ ✓ ✓
Rear panel I/O
the live playback in the background. Since
TV-RF ✓ ✓ ✓
time-shifting requires buffering, it means FM-RF ✓ ✓ ✓
you need atleast 512 MB of memory and IR receiver-in ✓ ✓ ✓
Audio-in ✓ ✕ ✓
a good hard drive, preferably SATA, or else Audio-out ✓ ✕ ✓
you may experience jerky playback of the S-Video-in ✓ ✓ ✓
buffered contents. Composite-in ✓ ✓ (Via adapter) ✓
On-board headers
Remote control power-on Audio-in ✓ ✓ ✓
This feature enables you to turn on your Audio-out ✓ ✓ ✓
PC from the “shut down” state using a Wake-up ✓ ✕ ✕
Capture
remote control. It is the TV tuner card Formats
which must have the support to wake MPEG-1 | 2 | 4 ✓|✓|✓ ✓|✓|✓ ✓|✓|✓
up the PC. This is present in the form of Maximum resolution 720 x 576 720 x 576 720 x 576
IR Remote
“power up” and “power switch” headers Channels & volume ✓ ✓ ✓
on the card. The “power up” header Previous channel ✓ ✓ ✓
Source ✓ ✓ ✓
connects to the power button header on
Full screen ✓ ✓ ✕
the motherboard with the bundled cord Time-shifting ✓ ✓ ✓
and the “power switch” header connects controls
Capture ✓ ✓ ✓
to the power switch cable of the PC case.
Screenshot ✓ ✕ ✓
In short, the PC’s power switch is routed Remote wake-up ✓ ✕ ✕
through the TV tuner card. Power-up scheduling ✓ ✕ ✕
Multi-channel ✓ ✓ ✓
Power-up scheduling preview
If you’re out and you want the PC to turn Scheduled recording ✓ ✓ ✓
on automatically at a scheduled time, Direct-to-DVD ✓ ✕ ✓
recording
record a TV show and then shut down, Time-shifting ✓ ✓ ✓
use the power-up scheduling feature. Screenshot ✓ ✓ ✓
However, to use this feature, the TV tuner Package contents
FM antenna ✓ ✓ ✓
card must have the support to wake up Line-out cable ✓ ✕ ✓
the PC from the “shut down” state. Since Internal audio cable ✓ ✓ ✕
the PC requires a few minutes to boot Power-up cable ✓ ✕ ✕
Batteries ✓ ✓ ✓
completely to the desktop, the power-up Bundled software Ulead PhotoExplorer 8.5 SE, Pinnacle Studio None
function intelligently powers up the PC a Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3 QuickStart 10
few minutes before the scheduled time SE, Ulead VideoStudio 8 SE
PERFORMANCE
for recording. The software which comes TV reception
bundled with the TV tuner can be set to FM reception
capture video for specified time duration Time-shift
and shut down the PC automatically after Video capture
capturing is complete. Software Interface

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

SMS us! Story code: HIT (See Page 20 for details)

66 HARDWARE | FEATURE
Compro VideoMate Gold Plus II
The remote control is the only device in
a TV tuner where ergonomics play a very
important role. It is the layout and the
tactility of the buttons which determine
how good a remote control really is.
The buttons should be laid out in such a
way that the user is able to master the
positions of the controls with great ease.
What to look out for
The cards were evaluated on the basis of
their features and performance. Features
which carry the maximum weightage are
audio and video I/O, support for capturing
formats and maximum resolution. Power-
up scheduling is a must-have option if you
want your PC to switch on by itself, log
on to Windows and capture your favorite
program at a scheduled time.
Not all tuners deliver the same level
of performance. There’s a significant
difference in the quality of TV and FM
reception. In addition to the quality of
tuner used, the output quality depends
solely on the strength of the decoder chip.
Pinnacle PCTV 110i
For example, functions like adjusting the
volume, surfing channels, time-shifting,
recording, and so on should be possible
without looking at the remote control.
Also, the buttons should be well-spaced to
avoid clutter.
If you observe the remote controls
closely, the PixelView Play TV Pro2
Compro VideoMate Gold Plus II
Pinnacle PCTV 110i
PixelView Play TV Pro2
A good decoder chip translates into crisp,
high-resolution output and high video-
capture quality.
Since the overall control of the TV tuner
lies within the software, the interface
should be extremely intuitive so that even
a first-timer can exploit all the features
supported by the card. Auto-scanning,
fine-tuning of channels, adjusting the
picture quality and capture settings should
be a breeze even for someone who is new
to TV tuners. The software interface score
indicates how good the software is.
PixelView Play TV Pro2
features the most intuitive layout
followed by the Compro VideoMate Gold
Plus II. We were a bit disappointed with
the Pinnacle PCTV 110i since it features
a panoply of over 40 buttons on its face.
Pinnacle could have surely done a better
job by providing all the functions with
lesser number of buttons.
Unlike a motherboard or a graphics
card which need to be upgraded every
few years, a TV tuner card is a one-time
investment which will stay in your PC
case for its lifetime. So if you plan to buy
one, get the best one around.
The verdict
If you take a quick glance at the table
(previous page), you will notice that the
Compro VideoMate Gold Plus II wins
hands down when compared to the
other two. Name a feature and it offers
that. The Pinnacle PCTV 110i, which is
the second best card took a slight hit in
features and performance. If it has been
your choice so far, think twice. You surely
can get the best performer for a lesser
price. The PixelView Play TV Pro 2, on the
other hand, sports a good feature set
but it is a complete disappointment with
respect to its reception quality.
With the richest feature set and
the best performance, the Compro
VideoMate Gold Plus II with the most
powerful decoder chip is a clear winner
and everyone’s favorite. So if you’re
serious about buying the best TV tuner
card, get this one without any second
thoughts—it can’t get any better! 
| Anand Tuliani
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 FEATURE | HARDWARE 67

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

68 HARDWARE | PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

Crowning Conroe
This month we review the latest offering from Intel’s top-of-the-line product family
called the Conroe. We performed a comprehensive review to find out whether it
displaces the reigning king

I
ntel has become a second name
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 to processors from the point of
Specifications: Series: Core 2 Duo, Dual Core, Operating view of a common man. The Indian
Frequency: 2.66 GHz, FSB: 1066 MHz, L2 cache: 4 MB
desktop market relies on the reputation
shared, production die: 65 nm.
and awareness of a brand for making
Price Rs 27,500 purchasing decisions. That is probably
Contact Saranya Rustagi
why in spite of having a superior processor
Phone 080-25075252
E-mail saranya.rustagi@intel.com lineup for almost four years, AMD was
Website www.intel.com not able to capitalize as a market leader in
Warranty 3 years India as much as it did in the international
RATINGS markets. Although Intel enjoyed market
Performance domination in the subcontinent, with its
Value for money
NetBurst architecture, it went on a clock
speed frenzy with its Pentium 4 line of
processors. Higher frequencies did not
necessarily mean higher performance
as these processors did not perform as
well as their AMD counterparts, which
were clocked at much lesser frequencies.
Besides, higher frequencies led to greater
heat generation. The Pentium 4 Prescotts
were popularly referred to as Pres“hots”
Pramod Jadhav Dinesh Desai because of the enormous amount of heat
they generated. In the last two years,
AMD gathered ground with their 64-bit
platforms—the Socket 754 and the Socket
939. Their Duron series of processors were
considered great value for money while
their Athlon 64 series became the de facto
standard for gamers and multimedia
content creation users. Their Athlon 64
FX-62 was the reigning king. That is until
Intel launched their Core 2 Duo family of
processors on July 27, 2006. Before we get
into the technical details of the processor,
let us look at Intel’s current product lineup.
The table overleaf lists their desktop line
of processors.
What makes the Conroe tick?
Intel learnt from its mistakes and got back
to the drawing board. This time around
it derived its inspiration from Yonah
(Core Duo), the mobile platform used for
laptops. The new Woodcrest (servers),
Conroe (desktops) and Merom (laptops)

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


Product Name Model
Number
Core 2 Extreme X6800
Core 2 Duo E6700
Core 2 Duo E6600
Core 2 Duo E6400
Core 2 Duo E6300
are all based on the Yonah but nearly 80
percent of the architecture and the circuit
design has been redone. Like the Yonah,
Conroe too uses the 65 nm manufacturing
process. Intel has also addressed the
heat problem and the Conroe uses a
TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 65 watts
compared to the 89 watts for AMD’s
Athlon 64 FX-62. It is almost half of that
used by Intel’s previous generation lineup.
Intel has managed to run its processors
cool using the least amount of power.
Now coming to whether Conroe will
perform up to the mark or not, let us first
take a look at the other finer points of the
Core architecture.
Time for some jargon
Here are the five important features that
were showcased by Intel during one of
their recent Intel Developer Forums:
Intel Wide Dynamic Execution
Intel Advanced Smart cache
Intel Intelligent power capability
Intel Advanced Digital media boost
Intel Smart Memory Access
Intel Wide Dynamic Execution
With the Wide Dynamic Execution,
the two cores in the processor are
individually capable of executing up to
four instructions per clock cycle. That’s a
33 percent improvement over the earlier
Significant changes to the core
architecture offer enhanced performance
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
Frequency FSB Cache
2.93 GHz 1066 MHz 4 MB
2.66 GHz 1066 MHz 4 MB
2.40 GHz 1066 MHz 4 MB
2.13 GHz 1066 MHz 2 MB
1.86 GHz 1066 MHz 2 MB
Intel cores which could execute three
instructions per clock. This basically means
that the Conroe is able to process more
instructions per clock cycle, thus allowing
for faster execution time.
Micro and Macro Fusion: Intel has included
the short pipeline design into the Conroe.
The shorter pipeline consists of only 14
stages compared to the 30+ stages in the
Pressler core, thus reducing the penalty
caused due to wrongly predicted data
while it was being fetched in advance. The
micro and macro fusion capabilities further
increase the performance of the Conroe.
The macro fusion feature combines two
instructions called the compare and
jump. This facilitates the execution of
two instructions in a time frame that can
only execute a single instruction. This
feature increases the performance of
applications with multiple compare and
jump instructions.
Intel Advanced Smart Cache
The Core 2 Duo packs in two cores onto
the single 65 nm die. The two cores share
a massive 4 MB cache (2 MB in case of the
E6300 and the E6400). The increased cache
leads to quicker access of frequently used
data as the processor does not need to
search for the data in the main memory.
Besides, access to L2 cache is much faster
Multimedia performance gets a boost by
128-bit single cycle SSE instructions
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH | HARDWARE 69
Core Manufacturing Price (Rs)
Process
Conroe XE 65 nm 50,000
Conroe 65 nm 27,500
Conroe 65 nm 16,200
Conroe 65 nm 11,600
Conroe 65 nm 9,625
then access to the physical memory. In the
Pentium D the caches are independent to
each core. Using a single L2 cache lets each
core utilize the L2 cache depending on its
requirements and hence simplifies cache
coherence. Cache coherence is intended to
manage conflicts and maintain consistency
between cache and memory. But there
are disadvantages of sharing the L2
cache. If both the cores are running heavy
applications that access huge amount of
system memory, they could repeatedly
strike the whole cache, thus reducing its
effectiveness.
Intel Intelligent Power Capability
The Conroe processor is capable of
switching off/deactivating certain parts
of the processor and the cache without
causing any loss in performance. This
performance on demand technology
ensures quick system response while
drastically reducing the power required to
run the processor.
Intel Advanced Digital Media Boost
This feature significantly improves
performance when executing streaming
instructions like SSE, SSE2 and SSE3.
The speed of execution of applications
that frequently use these instructions
like video, speech, image processing,
encryption, engineering and scientific
applications, is increased dramatically
as it allows 128-bit instructions to be
completely executed at a throughput rate
of one per clock cycle, effectively doubling
the speed of execution as compared to
previous generation processors.
Intel Smart Memory Access
This feature helps in accelerating out-of-
order execution by optimizing the use
of data bandwidth from the memory
subsystem. A newly designed prediction
mechanism reduces the time for which
SMS us! Story code: HPM (See Page 20 for details)
70 HARDWARE | PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

an instruction has to wait for data to resolutions rather than investing in a

arrive. The data is moved to the faster L2
cache before execution, thus keeping the
road from memory to the CPU occupied
eventually increasing data throughput and
system performance.
It is clear that Intel has incorporated
several performance enhancing changes
in the Conroe processor’s DNA. Read on to
find out if these performance enhancing
features are reflected in our synthetic and
real world benchmarks.
Benchmarks
Although we would have ideally liked to
compare the Conroe against the FX-62, we
could not do so because we did not receive
the processors simultaneously. That is why
we have stacked up the Conroe against the
Pentium D 930 instead of the Athlon 64
FX-62. Let us put all the speculation aside
and see whether Intel really has a winner
in hand.
SiSoft Sandra (Processor and Memory
Bandwidth)
SiSoft Sandra processor benchmark shows
a considerable increase in performance
in both the Dhrystone ALU benchmark
and the iSSE3 Whetstone benchmark. The
memory bandwidth benchmark is the
only place where the E6700 falls behind.
BENCHMARKS
PC Mark 2005 Total
Pentium D 930 5783
E6700 (Conroe) 7603
Test Rigs Intel Intel
faster CPU.
Processor E6700 Pentium D
930
Motherboard Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe
Real world tests
The Conroe is about twice as fast as its
RAM Kingston HyperX
KHX8500D2K2/1G 1GB kit previous generation counterpart. As
DDR2 1066MHz Non-ECC we can see from the results, both its
CL5 (kit of 2 - 512 MB) cores share the load seamlessly during
Hard Disk Western Digital WD740 multiprocessing without a degradation in
10,000 rpm performance.
Graphics Asus TOP 7900GT 256 MB
Card GDDR3
Motherboard compatibility
An important reason why the FX-62 has The socket for Conroe still remains the
greater bandwidth is because the latencies same i.e. LGA 775 but it works only on the
are greatly reduced. This is a direct result newer 965P and 975X chipsets. We used
of the onboard memory controller. Biostar’s TForce P965 Deluxe board, which
uses the 965P chipset for benchmarking.
Office Productivity Along with that we used Kingston’s 1 GB
Our PC Mark 2005 test suite confirmed kit DDR2 1066 MHz Non-ECC CL5 (kit of
that the Conroe is indeed the fastest 2x512 MB). At default speeds, the board
processor around with the score crossing under-clocked it to 800 MHz with a timing
the 7600 mark. of 5-5-5-16. Conroe compatible boards
with chipsets from Nvidia and ATI are also
Gaming available. (The Radeon Xpress 200 chipset
As is the case with more and more new from ATI and the nForce 570 and 590 SLI
games today, at higher resolutions, they from Nvidia support the Conroe.)
become increasingly GPU dependent.
Its also evident in the case of Doom 3 How to upgrade to Conroe
as you see frames almost leveling at With the ASRock 775Twins 2.0
1600x1200 with full details enabled. It motherboard, which is based on ATI
would be worth investing in a high-end Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, you can use
graphics solution to play games at higher your existing DDR RAM as it supports
both DDR and DDR2 RAM and the board
costs a mere Rs 3,500. You can get the
CPU, Memory Graphics, HDD E6300 for a sum of Rs 9,700 and you are
5129, 4010 7244, 6256 ready to roll.
6929, 5636 8387, 6335

Sisoft Sandra (Memory RAM Integer (MB/s) RAM Float (MB/s)

Verdict
Bandwidth, MB/s) Intel has certainly made a smashing
Pentium D 930 5108 5110 comeback with the Conroe. It breaks all
E6700 (Conroe) 5492 5477 performance records compared to its
predecessors as well as offerings provided
Sisoft Sandra Dhrystone Whetstone by its competition. Although we did
(Processor) not get the opportunity to do a direct
Pentium D 930 13746 11265
comparision of the Conroe with the FX-62,
E6700 (Conroe) 24933 17265
from what we have seen, it pretty much
thrashes its AMD counterpart in almost all
Gaming Doom 3 (fps) F.E.A.R (fps)
benchmarks. Conroe is definitely jackpot
Pentium D 930 16.9 38
E6700 (Conroe) 16.7 39 material. At a price point of Rs 27,500, it
provides better value for money compared
Encoding Audio (seconds) Video (seconds) Audio and Video to the Athlon 64 FX-62 and is definitely the
(seconds) processor to consider if you are buying a
Pentium D 930 358 88 366 new system or looking for an upgrade. 
E6700 (Conroe) 182 54 185 | Gaurav Seth & Kunal Rupera

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

 72 HARDWARE | PC CONFIGS

Gaming
No matter what your budget, arm yourself with these configurations for firepower
to enjoy your favorite games
CATEGORY ENTRY-LEVEL PRICE (Rs) MID RANGE PRICE (Rs)
Processor AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor (Socket 939) 3,900 AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor (Socket 939) 6,000
Motherboard Foxconn NF4XK8MC-RS (Nvidia nForce4) 3,000 Asus A8N-E (Nvidia nForce4 Ultra) 5,650
RAM Transcend 512 MB DDR 400 (2.5-3-3-8) 2,250 Transcend DDR 400 512x2 MB (2.5-3-3-8) 4,400

Hard Disk Seagate 160 GB Barracuda (SATA) 3,400 Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 (250 GB) 5,650

Graphics Card Forsa 7600GS (PCI Express x16) 256 MB 6,700 MSI 7600GT NX7600GT-T2D256E 256 MB 11,250

Optical Drive Lite-On SHW-1635S Dual Layer DVD writer 2,350 Lite-On SHW-1635S Dual Layer DVD writer 2,350

Network Card Onboard LAN (10/100) Nil Onboard Gigabit LAN Nil
Monitor LCD Samsung SyncMaster 740N LCD monitor 11,250 Samsung SyncMaster 740N LCD monitor 11,250
(8ms response time) (8 ms response time)
Monitor CRT Samsung 793S CRT Non-Flat 5,000 —

Keyboard Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse set 800 Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse set 800

Mouse — Nil — Nil

Speakers 2.1 Logitech X-230 3,300 Altec Lansing MX5021 7,100

Speakers 5.1 Logitech X-530 5,900 Logitech THX Z-5300e 11,000

Soundcard Onboard (6 channel) Nil Creative 24-bit Live! 7.1 Channel 1,700

Case Zebronics Antibiotic 2,100 Gigabyte Triton 3,000

PSU PowerSafe 400 Watts 1,500 Powersafe 400 Watts 1,500

External HDD (optional) 40 GB 2.5-inch Seagate Momentus HDD 3,300 40 GB Seagate Momentus HDD 2.5-inch (Rs 4,300
(Rs 3,000) + Generic External Casing (Rs 300) 3,000)+ Vantec Nexstar3 Enclosure (Rs 1,000)
Disclaimer: We’ve mentioned the lowest street prices here. These prices are indicative and subject to change.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

 Workstation
No animation or imaging application is too
strenuous for this configuration
HIGH END PRICE (Rs) CATEGORY LOW END PRICE (Rs)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (Socket LGA775) 27,500
Processor AMD Opteron 170 2.0 GHz 21,200
Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ (P965 Express) 16,800 Dual Core
Kingston KHX8500D2K2/1G 1GB kit (512 x 12,500 Motherboard ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (nForce4 SLI) 9,700
2) DDR2 1066 MHz Non-ECC 5-5-5-15-1T
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 28,000 RAM Corsair XMS 2 GB (2x1 GB) DDR 400 Dual 13,000
150 GB 10,000 rpm 16 MB Cache Serial Channel Kit System, Model: Twinx2048-
ATA150 (two in RAID 0) (Rs 14,000x2) 3200c2pt (2-3-3-6) (Rs 5,650x2)

Leadtek WinFast PX7950 GX2 TDH, 1 GB DDR3 34,000 Hard Disk Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 (250 GB) (Two in 11,300
RAID 1)
Lite-On SHM-165H6S LightScribe Dual 3,750
Layer DVD writer Graphics Card Leadtek Quadro FX 540 PCI-E 128 MB with 9,750
TV-Out
Onboard Dual Gigabit LAN Nil
Optical Drive Lite-On SHW-1635S Dual Layer DVD writer 2,350
Dell 2407WFP 24-inch UltraSharp 43,691
Widescreen Flat Panel LCD monitor
Network Card Onboard Dual Gigabit LAN Nil
—

Logitech G15 gaming keyboard 4,850 Monitor Samsung SyncMaster 740N LCD monitor 11,250
(8 ms response time)
Logitech G5 Laser gaming mouse 3,850
Keyboard Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse set 800
Klipsch Promedia GMX A-2.1 11,150
Mouse —
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 505 Watt speakers 23,000

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 9,200 Case VIP ZB-01 3,800

Antec Performance P180 Silver 9,950

PSU Antec Neo HE 550 Watts 8,522
NeoHE 550 Watts 8,522

Western Digital Passport 80GB 5,500 External Hard Western Digital Passport 80 GB 5,500
Disk (optional)

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

SMS us! Story code: HPC (See Page 20 for details)

74 HARDWARE | PC
PRODUCT
CONFIGS
OF THE MONTH

Home
This is your no-frills, wallet-friendly
HTPC
If it’s home theater you crave, this
configuration for basic home computing system will deliver serious thrills
HOME PRODUCT PRICE (Rs) HTPC PRODUCT PRICE (Rs)

Processor AMD Sempron 64 2600+ (Socket 754) 2,500 Processor AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor (Socket 939) 6,000
Motherboard Foxconn 6150K8MD-EKRSH (Nvidia 3,950
Motherboard Asus K8V-MX (VIA K8M800) 2,550 GeForce 6150)
RAM Transcend 512 MB DDR 400 2,250 RAM Transcend DDR 400 512x2 MB 4,400
(2.5-3-3-8) (2.5-3-3-8)
Hard Disk Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 (250 GB) 5,650
Hard Disk 80 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA 2,450
Graphics Card Onboard
Graphics Card Onboard Nil
Optical Drive Lite-On SHW-1635S Dual Layer DVD 2,350
Optical Drive Lite-On SHW-1635S Dual Layer DVD 2,350 writer
writer Network Card Onboard Gigabit LAN Nil

Network Card Onboard 10/100 LAN Nil LCD 17-inch Samsung SyncMaster 740N LCD 11,250
Monitor (8 ms response time)
Monitor LCD Samsung SyncMaster 740N LCD 11,250
LCD 24-inch Dell 2407WFP 24-inch UltraSharp 43,691
monitor (8 ms response time)
Widescreen Flat Panel LCD monitor
Monitor CRT Samsung 793S CRT (Non-Flat) 5,000 Keyboard Logitech Cordless Desktop EX111 2,500
(wireless optical mouse & wireless RF
Keyboard Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse set 800 keyboard)

Mouse — Mouse —
Speakers 2.1 (For home theater experience, we
Speakers 2.1 Creative SBS370 1,250 recommend only a 5.1 setup)

Speakers 5.1 — Speakers 5.1 Logitech THX Z-5300e 11,000

Soundcard Creative 24-bit Live! 7.1 Channel 1,700
Soundcard Onboard audio (6 channel)
Case Cooler Master Media 260 9,000
Case VIP 711B & 300 Watts VIP PSU 1,300
PSU Powersafe 400 Watts 1,500
PSU Bundled with case TV Tuner Card Compro VideoMate Gold Plus II 3,500

| Gaurav Seth
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Nifty Memory Tricks
B
ill Gates, the erstwhile head of Microsoft
once said, “640 KB ought to be enough for
anybody!” This statement was made in the
early 90s, when DOS was the de facto PC operating
system. And of course, it lacks foresight. A few years
later the PC hardware industry struggled with the
problem of memory addressability, beyond the 640
KB and 1 MB limits. To overcome that, the industry
resorted to memory tricks, the genius of system
software programmers.
First generation PCs of the mid-80s had
severe memory limitations because of the width
of the address bus. The 8086, a 16-bit system,
had an address bus 20-bits wide, and hence the
maximum addressable memory was 1 MB. But
not all of that precious 1 MB was available to
software applications. In fact, just the first 640 KB
(conventional memory) was up for grabs, on a first
come, first serve basis.
The next 384 KB of estate was called Upper
Memory Area, and reserved for drivers, video RAM,
ROM routines, and other system information.
After loading DOS, BIOS communication
routines, and Terminate and Stay Resident Programs
(TSRs) you had some conventional memory left for
applications. If that application was a hefty one like
Lotus 123 (the de facto spreadsheet in those days),
you’d soon get the “Insufficient Memory” system
error message.
There were a few blocks in the upper memory
area that were reserved and unused. These areas
were called Upper Memory Blocks (UMBs). With
some clever programming, certain things like drivers
and TSRs could be shifted to the UMBs, thereby
freeing up conventional memory. The applications
that did such juggling acts were called Memory
Maximizers. The HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE
To expand memory, you once had to add memory
boards of this size
PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY | HARDWARE 75
drivers are prime examples.
As memory boards (see picture) became
available, manufacturers modified the architecture
to accommodate expanded memory. But the 1 MB
memory limit continued to be a pesky problem.
So once again programmers wrote applications to
swap memory pages between expanded memory
(on memory cards) and the UMBs.
Once the 80286 systems came along, memory
addressability was increased to 16 MB. And with the
| Brian Pereira
advent of 32-bit systems like the 80386 and 80486, brian.pereira@chip-india.com
you could go all the way to 4 GB (though we are yet
to see PCs with 4 GB memory today). Windows 95
improved memory management, significantly.
Virtual memory paging is another memory trick,
accomplished by the memory manager VMM386.
exe. It was introduced as multitasking came to PCs
(with Windows and 80386 systems); in fact it is still
used today.
I am also awed by other memory shuffling tricks With rapid
like the DOS Diskcopy utility and Windows Defrag.
Using a single floppy drive in the PC, Diskcopy
advances
gave us the freedom to make exact replicas of in memory
floppy disks. Depending on the amount of content
technology, soon
on the floppy, and the capacity of memory, you had
to keep swapping the master disk and its copy a you’ll see hybrid
number of times in the single drive. With repeated systems that use
swapping, the contents from the master would be
copied to another disk via main memory. both Flash and
The Windows defrag utility also uses main hard disk memory
memory to tidy up file storage on the hard disk. It
picks up a cluster of a fragmented file and copies it
for permanent
into main memory. Then it writes that cluster back storage
to disk in such a manner that all the file’s clusters
end up sequentially. And you could see a graphical
rendition of this in the Windows 98 defrag utility.
Going forward, I expect memory density to cross
the 1 Gbit threshold. Then memory will catch up
with hard disks, on the capacity front. When that
happens, you’ll see hybrid systems that use both
Flash memory and hard disk for permanent storage.
Earlier this year, Samsung announced that it
will build hybrid hard disk systems for notebooks.
The Flash memory section will be used for caching
frequently used applications. Eventually, there’ll be
only “solid state disks”.
The writer has been tracking personal technology
for the past 12 years
76 HARDWARE | TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE
Wireless Wonders
A guide to buying the right Bluetooth headset
Entry-level
Models: Logitech Mobile Express, Sony Ericsson
HBH-610, Motorola H500, Plantronics
Explorer 320, Nokia HS-36W
Budget: Rs 2,000 – Rs 3,500
I n this age of wireless and mobile
connectivity, a variety of spiffy and
feature-rich Bluetooth headsets are
available in the market. When you are
planning to buy a Bluetooth headset,
remember that you will be wearing it
for a considerably long period and so the
headset should feel comfortable when
placed against your ears. Entry-level
headsets are best suited for those who are
looking for basic Bluetooth functionality
such as making and receiving calls.
The Logitech Mobile Express is a basic
Bluetooth headset without any frills
and fancies and is light on the pocket.
However, it is not comfortable to wear. If
you want no compromise on performance
within a tight budget, try the Motorola
H500. It has a sleek, streamlined design
and an ergonomic ear hook, which feels
comfortable when placed against the
ear. But as the headset is a tad bulky, it is
advisable not to use it for a long durations.
The headset has a range of 15 meters and
offers average sound clarity. Therefore,
don’t expect it to sound good in a noisy
environment.
SMS us! Story code: HTL (See Page 20 for details)
Mid-range
Models: Logitech Mobile Traveller, Jabra BT250v,
Motorola H700, Plantronics Discovery 640
Budget: Rs 3,500- Rs 6,000
H eadsets in the mid-range category
include features like a good
microphone, one-touch functionality like
receive, end, and reject calls. Also, these
headsets are lightweight and comfortable.
The Jabra BT250v is the best headset in this
category; it looks like something out of a
sci-fi movie—it is sleek and comfortable
with plenty of features. It is contoured to fit
nicely behind your ear with a bendable, soft
rubber ear bud arm on the top. This headset
offers a talk time of 5 hours and a range of
30 meters.
Another contender that you could look
at in this category is the Motorola H700—a
perfect blend of comfort, performance,
price and appeal. A lightweight headset, it
sports good looks and is very comfortable
to wear. It offers a talk time of more than 6
hours. On the front of this headset, you will
find a large call button which handles call
answer, end and pairing functions as well
as powering on and off the headset—this
is good as it reduces the overall weight of
the headset. However, the range offered
by this headset is nothing to rave about—a
conservative 12 meters.
High-end
Models: Jabra JX10, Jabra SP500, Plantronics
Pulsar 590A
Budget: Rs 6,000 and above
H eadsets in this category are headturners
that people would like to flaunt. These
are sexy, sleek, lightweight and don’t
compromise on the comfort factor. Also,
these headsets cater to the entertainment
needs of users. The Plantronics Pulsar 590A,
for example, provides wireless compatibility
for any device with a headphone jack such as
laptop, home stereo, MP3 player including
the iPod and multimedia device such as the
Sony PSP. It is fashioned in the headband
type instead of the usual ear bud type.
The headband offers add-ons not found in
other headsets such as USB charging cable,
desktop charging stand, etc. So if you don’t
mind spending a little extra, you should
check out the Pulsar 590A.
The Jabra JX10 is a lightweight headset
and features a comfortable ear loop. It offers
a talk time of more than 6 hours. The volume
buttons and the charger port are placed on
the top while the Answer/End button is
positioned on the left. You can easily press
these buttons while wearing the headset
without having to look. The JX10 comes with
no compromise on performance. 
| Faheem Sayed
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE | HARDWARE 77

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

78 HARDWARE | INFOGRAPHICS
DivX Compression
DivX Compression – the Encoder
DVD videos use MPEG-2 standard of
encoding data. The need for higher quality
video has highlighted its inability to do
an efficient job. The MPEG-4 standard
picked up steam because of its ability to
compress data and maintain video quality
at the same time. This, in effect, has been
extremely helpful for media that needs
to be streamed online. This standard is
being used by different codecs (coder-
decoder) like DivX, XviD, 3ivX to treat digital
video in a way so as to maintain quality
while increasing packing strength. DivX
compression technique follows the MPEG-4
standard. This standard basically specifies
how digital video should be encoded.
The codec pack follows these basic
principals and also uses its own algorithms,
special techniques for better quality and
compression. Let us take a look at how DivX
uses MPEG-4 compression.
Frames and Macroblocks
A video consists of frames. Each frame
is further divided in to 16x16 pixel
squares known as “macroblocks”. Each
macroblock in a frame is compared with
a corresponding one in the previous (or
forward) frame. If motion is detected in
the frame then it is represented by a vector
(has direction as well as magnitude). This
“motion vector” represents the position of
the image in a macroblock (with respect to
the previous frame). Referring to previous
frames for motion estimation allows the
codec to store less information of the
entire macroblock. There might be a slight
difference between the original and the
encoded form. DivX makes up for this with
its own data correction during playback.
(Fig. 1 does not show the macroblocks but
it displays the weightages assigned to
each one.)
I, P and B-frames
Each frame is treated in a different way
depending on the amount of motion
detected in a frame. There are three ways
MPEG-4 may encode a frame.
If very little or no change is detected
from the previous frame then it is encoded
as an Intra-Frame (I-frame). This means
that the macroblocks store the information
as an image, rather than as a motion
vector. Increasing the number of I-frames
increases the
quality and
1 the size of the
output. I-frames
are also known as
“key frames”.
P-Frames
or “predicted
frames”
use motion
estimation as
discussed above. They usually follow a
“key frame” and there can be several in a
row. The blocks in a P-frame include ones
that have been predicted with the help the
vectors in a previous frame. Blocks that
don’t have any motion vectors assigned
to them are saved as images, similar to an
I-frame. Greater the number of predicted,
motion estimated blocks in a P-frame,
better is the compression.
B-frame or Bi-directional frames may
be present in an encoded video stream
if the option is enabled during the
encode process. These frames refer to
the previous frame
as well the next one.
A B-frame can also
contain “Intra-blocks”
– as mentioned above
– if it cannot forward
or backward predict
it. Bi-directional
encoding produces a
better compression
ratio keeping quality
in mind and is useful while creating
low bitrate videos.
Spatial and Temporal Filtering
Spatial and temporal filtering are
techniques to remove or normalize
aberrations in color. Spatial filtering
involves the comparison of color between
adjacent pixels in a single frame while
temporal compares adjacent frames. These
smoothen sharp changes in color between
adjacent pixels or frames.
All the information stored for each pixel
is further converted into frequency values
(in an ascending order) using a complex
mathematical function. Explaining this
technique is beyond the scope of this
article but this conversion is used to
increase the compression ratio with
minimum loss in quality.
Quantizer
The “quantizer” is a fixed value that is
used to control the accuracy of image data
(according to the MPEG-4 standard). A
higher value increases the percentage of
error but also reduces the file size. For high
quality “quantization” one uses a lower
value. Fig. 2 highlights these details for a
single frame in the DivX Pro encoder.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

DivX is one the most popular video compression techniques used today. It can
encode quality video for PCs, certified home theaters, portables and handhelds
Pramod Jadhav
Types of Encoding
1-Pass Encoding
A single-pass encode means the video
stream will be processed and compressed
as it receives each frame. This is the
fastest way to encode a video clip.
Multipass Encoding
A multipass encode can be a 1st-pass or
nth-pass. Both do more or less the same
thing; the only difference being the
number of times it analyzes the video
clip. In both methods, the encoder goes
through the entire video stream before
beginning any sort of encoding. It decides
on the bitrate as it goes through the video
and logs it in a file. If it is using 1st-pass, it
will begin encoding after the first analysis
and use the log file for information on the
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
INFOGRAPHICS | HARDWARE 79
frames. The nth-pass technique analyzes
the clip a few times, updating the log file
each time, fine-tuning it before the final
encode. This procedure takes time but
produces an optimal quality output.
DivX Playback – the Decoder 3
Software like DivX player, QuickTime,
VLC Media Player use the DivX decoder
to playback the encoded video. The
decoder is configured to correlate with the
encoded video stream and play the clip. It Microsoft. It is a popular but dated format
also has mechanisms to smooth artifacts and at times creates heavier files. The
called “deblocking” and “deringing”. Fig. 3 “.AVI” extension, known as a container,
shows “ringing” artifacts along the edges can be compared to a tetra pack capable of
in a low bitrate video. holding different liquids. Similarly, an “AVI”
container supports different codecs like
AVI Files DivX, Cinepak, motion JPEG, XviD, etc. 
The AVI format was originally created by | Ashutosh Desai
SMS us! Story code: HID (See Page 20 for details)
80
Jagdish Limbachiya Software Center
I
n our bouquet of applications this month,
we bring you a collection of system
tools, multimedia players, a disk image
software and plenty of other juicy desktop
utilities. First up, our software of the month
is Autodesk Maya Personal Learning Edition
7.0.1—an excellent tool for getting to know
the ropes in modeling and animating using
Maya. Packed with video tutorials and plenty
Applications
of online documentation, you’ll soon be on
your way to creating 3D wonders. Trend
Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 is a
comprehensive suite for system and data
protection, including an armory of tools such
as anti-virus, anti-phishing, Wi-Fi network
protection, firewall, anti-spyware etc.
If you’ve always been worried about
losing data, SyncBack Freeware is an
| The Ratings Explained
The parameters used for evaluating
software are assigned a graphical rating
out of a scale of 5. These measures include
performance, features and ease of use. The
overall rating shown in the reviews is based
on all these factors.
In addition, there is a value for money rating
for each application. This rating is obtained
excellent little utility that just might be
the answer to your problems—and it is
free! Also check out Undelete Professional
and never worry about mistaken deletions
again. For all you tweakers, PowerStrip is
an excellent tool for sapping the most from
your graphics card and monitor and it’s a
boon while setting up a home theater PC.
On the system tuning front, WinXP manager
is the program you need to dig deep into
your system and squeeze every last ounce
of performance from it. If you’re not able to
play that new video file on your PC, install
VideoLAN and run any type of audio or
video file. Whether you need to back up your
favorite game CDs or movie DVDs, UltraISO
is the coolest tool to use—plus it does a
whole lot more for your ISO files.
by compiling the features and the utility of
the application against its price.
In case of freeware and shareware tools
available for downloading from the Internet,
we replace the price with the download size
(and therefore, the time taken to download
the application) for arriving at the value for
money rating.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Stepping up to Maya
L earning a new 3D modeling and
animation application can be quite
a daunting task. In a bid to make the
transition to their 3D modeling package
easier, Autodesk Maya Personal Learning
Edition 7.0.1 is primarily intended for
those who wish to learn Alias Maya. This
is a free download, infused with loads
of instructional material to guide users
through the program’s usage and interface.
It is not meant to be a full-fledged modeling
and animation package but is instead aimed
at getting new users acquainted with 3D
modeling in Alias Maya.
While installing the program, you will
need to obtain a registration key—this is
obtained by registering free on the web site.
To be able to view the instructional videos,
you will also need to have Quicktime version
6.5 or greater installed on your computer.
After the installation is complete, users
are greeted with a screen that offers
to guide them through navigating the
interface and getting accustomed to its
layout and features. These guides are in the
form of intuitive and lucid Quicktime videos
with voiceovers that handhold first-time
users through various areas of the program
such as the interface, creating and modeling
3D objects, accessing menus, rendering and
performing basic animations.
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
The main interface of the program is
divided into a large preview area within
which you create your 3D models. This area
is bound by toolbars that allow access to
several functions relevant to the current
modeling or animation job.
Even though this is an educational
version, Autodesk Maya Personal Learning
Edition includes a host of advanced
modeling features such as character rigging
and inverse kinematics, Autodesk Maya
Paint Effects, a complete particle system
for advanced environmental effects, NURBS
modeling for creating realistic organic
shapes, etc. However, there were no pre-
saved models included in the package—we
had to download free models from web
resources. We reckon that supplementing
The Quicktime-based learning videos are
a great way to get to know the interface
and learn the program’s capabilities
SMS us!
TESTED | APPLICATIONS 81
3D Modeling and Animation
Maya 7 Personal Learning Edition
System requirements: Windows 2000 Professional and
Windows XP Professional, Hardware-accelerated
OpenGL graphics card, 3-button mouse, 300 MB of
free hard disk space
Price Free
Contact Autodesk
Website www.autodesk.com
RATINGS
Ease of use
Features
Performance
Overall Rating
Find it on CHIP CD
the tutorials with actual meshes would have
quickened the learning process.
The program uses Mental Ray as its
raytracing engine for rendering objects
and scenes. However, in this free version,
it forces an intrusive watermark on all
renderings. This version also disables
advanced rendering features such as thread
and host parallelism, support for hardware
rendering, light mapping and creating
renders with resolutions over 512x512.
We were pleasantly surprised to see this
version of Maya occupying only about 10
MB of RAM while running, making it suited
to running on older systems with modest
hardware configurations.
This is a good application to get
accustomed to the capabilities and layout
of Maya and is a stepping stone to the
full version. Those wanting to get into
3D modeling with Maya would find this
application very utilitarian. With several
restrictions in capabilities and the addition
of watermarks to your renderings, this
version cannot be used for commercial work.
For: Free; contains almost all of the features
of the full version. Excellent help with video
tutorials.
Against: Watermarks embedded into the
final renderings; no bundled mesh models
to play around with.
Story code: SWS (See Page 20 for details)
82 APPLICATIONS | TESTED
System Security
PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 14.1
System requirements: Windows (all versions), Mac OS
9/OS X, 600 MHz of faster processor, 128 or more
RAM, CD/DVD-ROM drive.
Price Rs 2,100
Contact Ingram Micro India Pvt Ltd
Phone 9322242269
email arif.k@ingrammicro.co.in
Website www.trendmicro.com
RATINGS
Ease of use
Features
Performance
Overall Rating
Value for money
Find it on CHIP CD
Blanket protection
T rend Micro has traditionally existed
in the enterprise space with product
offerings to match. Using a one-click
approach to installation, the PC-cillin
Internet Security 2006 is a breeze to
install and configure. It contains several
components for system protection including
anti-virus protection, firewall, anti-spyware
and anti-phishing.
Before installation, the program runs a
scan for trojans on the computer. You have
the option of installing the program in one
of two modes—Automatic, which installs all
the programs components, and Minimum,
which excludes components like personal
firewall, Wi-Fi instrusion detection and real-
time network virus protection. The program
requires you to disable the default Windows
Firewall before continuing.
The first time the program is run, it
displays an intuitive “getting started”
tutorial that steps you through its
capabilities. This makes it easy for first-time
users to get accustomed to its interface,
which is well laid out with a set of five
buttons on the left allowing access to
its various sections. The first “Overview”
button lets you view the status of the
program and lets you know whether it
needs to be updated, when the last scan
was performed, whether automatic updates
is enabled, etc. Each of these settings can be
individually configured. The program also
helps you configure protection settings such
as real-time Internet traffic scanning, spam
and fraud filters, privacy proection, personal
firewall and Wi-Fi intrusion detection from
one single screen. There is also a button for
halting all communications between your
computer and the Internet or local network.
However, in their default state we noticed
that most of these settings were disabled.
The anti-fraud wizard enables protection
against credit card or password theft. Since
this might be a new concept for most
users, an intuitive wizard steps you through
configuring this capability for the first time.
Through this wizard, you can safeguard
your credit card number, online shopping
passwords, etc. It even embeds an anti-fraud
toolbar in IE, through which you can monitor
the threat level while surfing.
Under the Anti-virus tab, you can
manually launch a real-time scan, mail scan
and configure outbreak notifications along
with quarantine file management. In the
anti-spyware section, you can set exception
lists and enable the types of threats to look
out for hack tools, password cracking tools,
remote access applications, etc.
There is a comprehensive Anti-phishing and
Content Protection section. This includes
a wizard that helps set up anti-fraud
countermeasures, spam and fraud filters,
web site filters, etc. These settings link to
the protection settings in the overview
section of the program, but allow a more
granular level of configuration. You can
also launch a vulnerability check to test
whether your Windows XP or MS Office
installation is vulnerable to threats.
Depending on the results, the program
even allows you to update your OS and
office installation if you are online.
Under the Network Security section,
you can manage your local network if the
PCs run supported program versions. Here,
you can remotely launch a scan, check
for vulnerabilities or scan for application
updates. You can also access and configure
general settings such as registration,
upgrade and renewal of the application,
online updation, view event logs, etc.
In our tests, the application did a good
job of blocking online and network threats.
But, we did notice a lapse in some instances
of blocking spyware.
For: A comprehensive toolkit for system
protection; well-priced; Wi-Fi protection;
easy to configure.
Against: Very verbose messages and
notifications; default settings leave
loopholes in security.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Backups minus the headache
W hile every computer user will agree
that backups are all-important, admit
it—not everyone has a fail-safe backup
policy in place. SyncBack’s free version of its
backup utility is a surprisingly powerful and
configurable little application that can fulfill
virtually any backup need. After installing
it, you will first need to set up a profile for
either backing up or synchronization. The
backup feature is used to simply copy files or
directories to another area of your hard disk
or even an external or shared network drive.
It can also be set up to synchronize two
folders in which files are constantly changed
(to keep their contents similar).
While creating a profile, besides
specifying the source and destination
directories, there are several tabs containing
other powerful tools for fine-tuning your
backup. For example, you can compress your
backup to a password-protected Zip file or
even upload it to an FTP server. You can also
decide which file types you want to include
Tame your graphics
I f you’re a purist and need to get the best
out of your video display, there are few
tools that can outshine PowerStrip. This
freeware application is aimed squarely at
your graphics card and monitor—using
it, you can tweak virtually every aspect
of the color, resolution and graphics
capabilities of your computer.
After installation, the program
shows up as an icon in the system tray.
Right-clicking on it will bring up a menu
through which you can access four areas
in your graphics sub-system: Application
profiles, Display profiles, Color profiles
and Performance profiles. A separate
section lets you pull up information
on your graphics card and monitor
along with tools for enabling multiple
monitors. In the Application profile, you
can choose to enable or disable a variety
of graphics features and set these to be
triggered when a specific application is
launched (for example, you can disable
the screensaver while running your
movie playback software). Among other
functions in this section, you can choose
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
TESTED | APPLICATIONS 83
Backup Utility
SyncBack Freeware V3.2.12
or exclude in the backup by using the Filter
Options—for example, you can choose to
copy only DOC, PPT and TXT files from your
work folder. To ensure your files have been
correctly copied, the program can compare
files not just on a file size level, but also
using checksums and time stamps. Each of
these profiles can be configured to start or
shutdown programs of your choice before System requirements: Windows 98, 98SE, ME, NT 4,
Windows 2000, Windows XP (Note: Windows 95 not
running—we found this necessary when supported)
copying files that were locked for use by
Price Free
applications like e-mail clients, etc (though
Contact 2BrightSparks
the commercial version of this software email info@2brightsparks.com
does have the ability to copy locked Website www.2brightsparks.com
files). Finally, to make your backups truly RATINGS
transparent, the program can be configured Ease of use
to run its profiles in the background at Features
pre-defined time intervals. You can even set Performance
schedules for individual profiles. Overall Rating
For: Takes the tedium out of backups with a
Find it on CHIP CD
powerful feature set;free.
Against: The free version does not have the
ability to copy locked files.
System Tweaking
PowerStrip 3.65
to hide windows, boost process priority,
disable power management, etc. Next, the
“Display profiles” allows fine control over
various aspects of your display device. Be
it a conventional monitor, a TFT or even
a projector or plasma display, one can
configure the display to run in standard
as well as non-standard resolutions (such
as widescreen or HDTV). Advanced users
System requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT
can also dig deeper and precisely control 4.0/2000/XP
monitor timing parameters for extracting
Price Free
an exact video display. This capability
Contact EnTech Taiwan
is ideally suited to fine-tuning a home Website www.entechtaiwan.net
theater setup if you need to run a device
RATINGS
like a projector or HDTV-capable display Ease of use
via your computer’s graphics card. If you Features
are a designer and need the most precise Performance
of color calibrations with your display Overall Rating
device, the “Color profiles” lets
you configure brightness, contrast, Find it on CHIP CD
gamma and color. For precise control, this
can be done for individual color channels
as well.
For: A powerful tool for fine-tuning the
graphics card and display; free.
Against: Harmful if used incorrectly.
84 APPLICATIONS | TESTED
Audio/Video Playback
VideoLAN VLC 0.8.4
A Player for all
V ideoLAN is a single package download
that contains numerous audio and
video codecs (over 56 in this release)
allowing it to play virtually any multimedia
file you might want to throw at it. Like
other players, this one also sports the ability
to be skinned, allowing you to download
additional themes and change its look. Its
System requirements: Windows 98/98SE/ME/
playlist capability lets you sort multimedia
NT4.0/2000/XP
files for user specified playback.
Price Free
Compared other software of its kind,
Contact www.videolan.org
Website www.videolan.org
VideoLAN is light on system resources
RATINGS and with its native support for processor
Ease of use enhancements like MMX, SSE and 3DNow,
Features multimedia file playback was smooth
Performance even on lower-end systems. This was
Overall Rating especially apparent while seeking within
video files—something that results in
Find it on CHIP CD perceptibly sluggish response with other
players like Media Player Classic. More
than just drag-and-drop multimedia
playback capability, this software even
supports Telnet, allowing it to be remotely
Disk Burning
Back up those disks
UltraISO 8.2
I n this age of large hard disks, there is
hardly a dearth of space for storing
important files. If you specifically need
to back up your CDs and DVDs, there’s no
better way to do it than to create an ISO
image of them. An ISO image is a mirror
image of the file structure on a CD or DVD
disk. After taking an ISO image, you can
System requirements: Pentium 166 MHz or above, easily store the file on another location
Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
and subsequently create an identical copy
Price Free trial, To buy: $29.95 of your CD or DVD in case the original is
(Approx Rs 1,380) damaged or lost. We found UltraISO to be
Contact EZB Systems, Inc
an excellent tool for letting you work with
website www.ezbsystems.com
these ISO images.
RATINGS
Besides creating ISO files, this program
Ease of use
allows you to open, convert and edit them
Features
Performance
as well. Besides creating ISO files from
Overall Rating
existing CDs and DVDs (it can create ISO
Value for money file sizes of up to 10 GB), you can even
create an ISO file from files and folders
Find it on CHIP CD on your hard disk. The program is easy to
install and use—the main interface is a
lot like a regular disk creating application
consisting of two windows: the upper
window displays the contents of the ISO
file while the lower is used to browse
controlled. Further, it can output video
and audio files as a stream, enabling a user
to host streaming multimedia files on a
network, where the stream can be picked
up from other systems on a LAN or via the
Internet. It also allows digital video to be
captured from an external Firewire or USB
video capture device like a camcorder or
cell phone. A nifty little capability is the
mouse gesture feature—something that
we’ve only seen in web browsers till date.
This allows the program’s functionality to
be completely controlled using the mouse
by moving it in pre-defined strokes, much
like what is seen in the Firefox or Opera
web browser. Besides Windows, VideoLAN
is available for download for other
operating system platforms such as Mac
OS X, Linux and BeOS.
For: Efficient and very capable audio/
video playback; multi-OS support; capture
and streaming; free.
Against: None.
the contents of your local drive. Creating
a new ISO file is as simple as dragging
and dropping files into the compilation
window. Besides creating files, the
program allows you to open and edit
existing ISO files where you can add or
delete files within it. An interesting aspect
about this program is its comprehensive
support for other file formats—besides
ISO files, it can read over 30 other CD/DVD
formats such as Nero, Alcohol 120%, Clone
CD, Mac Hybrid CDs etc. Additionally,
it can convert between these formats
allowing you to port ISO images between
applications: a brilliant feature in itself.
UltraISO can also create bootable CDs and
DVDs allowing you to specify a boot file
of the operating system of your choice. It
also works with DVD videos, Xbox and PS2
DVDs. The program supports add-on tools
that extend its functionality, enabling
users to create menu-driven DVDs, multi-
boot CDs, etc.
For: Comprehensive image format support.
Against: New users may find some of its
features difficult to use.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

System supercharging
W inXP Manager is an optimization
tool that goes beyond just
tweaking your system—it addresses
other applications like your browser, your
internet connectivity, the registry etc.
The application interface consists of
various buttons on the left which when
clicked displays the contents on a large
pane on the right. There are tabs under
the pane that allow you to navigate
to other sections within a particular
optimization area. The program allows
you to access system information such
as hardware configuration information,
operating system information, DirectX
version, user accounts, etc. Then comes
the Optimizer that lets you tweak specific
parts of the computer like the processor,
the hard disk subsystem, etc. WinXP
Manager also lets you clean out areas of
your PC. The Customization tool lets you
personalize various aspects of Windows
XP interface such as the icons, the context
Deleted? No worries
A mistaken deletion is perhaps the worst
thing that can happen to a person’s
data files. In the event of such a tragedy, if
you’re lucky, you should be able to locate
and recover the file from your Windows
Recycle Bin. However, most often than
not, the Recovery Bin doesn’t do a good
job of recovering files, especially with files
deleted from mapped network drives,
through the command prompt or older
versions of office files, for example. In
these cases, Undelete Professional Edition
5 offers a good set of options.
This application is available in
several versions addressing the home,
professional and enterprise. It also has a
server component that can be installed
on a file server; this enables the network
file recovery functionality when used in
conjunction with the client application.
In this client version, after installation
the program checks for updates and then
proceeds to scan your hard disk for the
presence of recycle bins. It then creates a
list of deleted files and folders and displays
them in an interface similar to Windows
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
TESTED | APPLICATIONS 85
System Utility
WinXP Manager 4.98.3
menus, toolbars—ideal for adding that
personalized touch to your computer.
There is also a security setting that lets
you manage and strengthen the security
features of your operating system including
passwords and network authentication,
adding a further level of protection against
intrusion. Finally, a set of miscellaneous
System requirements: Windows XP, .NET Framework
utilities allows you to perform useful tasks
like managing your computer remotely, Price Free trial, To buy: $39.95
(Approx Rs 1,840)
controlling when users can log into the
Contact Yamicsoft Software
computer or back up your Outlook data. Website www.yamicsoft.com
The Process Manager is an interesting RATINGS
tool which, like the Windows Task Manager, Ease of use
displays running processes but goes a step Features
further by highlighting processes that are Performance
critically required to run the PC. Overall Rating
For: A good set of tweaking tools Value for money
for various system subsections; Auto
Find it on CHIP CD
Optimization feature; useful process
manager.
Against: Requires you to install .NET
framework.
System Utility
Undelete Professional Edition 5
Explorer—the hard disk partitions are
listed in a tree on the left pane while the
contents of each of these drives are listed
on the right. When loaded on the system,
this application takes over the Windows
Recycle Bin and replaces it with its own
version that monitors file deletions on your
partitions. Interestingly, the application
was even able to locate and recover System requirements: Windows XP/2000 Professional
/NT 4.0 Workstation
files that were deleted before it was
installed. However, the trial version of the Price Rs 3,000
application does not allow the recovery Contact Aladdin Multimedia Pvt Ltd
Phone 66936795
of these files directly from the disk. Also,
Website www.aladdinindia.com
the application does not support the older
RATINGS
12-bit FAT system that is used on volumes
Ease of use
under 16 MB (such as 1.44 MB floppy disks
Features
and low-capacity flash drives)—this could
Performance
be a problem if you still use such devices. Overall Rating
An interesting feature is the ability to save
versions of certain types of files (like office Find it on CHIP CD
documents) directly within the Undelete
Recycle Bin.
For: Ability to recover pre-install files;
special support for MS Office documents.
Against: Most features in the trial version
are disabled.
86 APPLICATIONS | FEATURE
Turbocharged Internet
Now no more long waits while surfing! Thanks to AJAX, an increasing number of
web pages are becoming faster and more user-friendly
T
here are web sites where even a DSL
connection is of no help—there is
enough time to go get a coffee after
you have clicked on the page. The reason
for this is the browser window remains
blank for a long time after you have clicked
upon it. It takes ages for the next page to
load and the pictures, graphics, texts and
animations to appear on the screen. But
all these peeves can be easily tackled with
AJAX—a programming technology that
helps in cutting down on the painfully
long waiting time. It is found on an
increasing number of web pages today.
It is omnipresent in case of all the major
players—Google Maps, Microsoft Live.com
and Yahoo Photo-Community Flickr have
already included this web turbo charger in
their families of web sites.
In case of most web pages, the user
usually needs to click on a link at the corner
of the map if he or she wishes to change
the location on the map and then wait
until the pictures for the new window are
loaded. But this is not the case with an
AJAX-Google user. Here, all he needs to do
is select the map with the pointer, keep the
left mouse button pressed and move the
map wherever he wants. AJAX does not
load any unnecessary graphics ballast in
the background; it only loads the required
windows. They are displayed only after
being loaded completely. Not only is this
far more convenient, but it is also faster as
this requires less bandwidth for the data
transfer.
AJAX is a skillfully written Java
script, combined with other standard
technologies. The name “Asynchronous
Java-Script and XML” suggests its meaning
and also what it can actually do. AJAX
designs web pages in a dynamic manner
and thus relies on HTML with CSS, Java
script and XML. This means—instead
of reloading an entire web page and all
elements with every clicked link, only those
contents that have been requested by you communication with the server on behalf of
are reloaded and added to the web page. the browser and almost acts as an intelligent
Until now, such effects could be achieved proxy. Now, if a link is clicked, the web page
only with the help of Flash or Frames. But remains unchanged and does not disappear
one drawback in both these technologies is as was the case till now. AJAX receives
that they don’t function with every browser. the data in the background, and after the
Flash animations require a plug-in and transfer, it incorporates the changes into the
Frames has been presented in various ways. HTML page, adjusts the CSS-style model and
AJAX, on the other hand, works with all updates the browser window. Only then can
browsers and almost without any problems. that part of the page that has been clicked
However, users who have deactivated Java be incorporated into the web page.
script cannot use AJAX web pages.
Adding AJAX to your web page
JavaScript is the key The most essential part of every page is
In this case, the JavaScript-command an appropriate JavaScript that needs to
<XMLHttp Request> is the most important be adapted. Innumerable models for a
component of AJAX. It sends requests for wide variety of applications are available
XML data to the server as well as receives it. on web pages such as www.ajaxian.com.
A JavaScript with this command is called the Let’s take Hello World, for instance. It allows
AJAX engine. It is responsible for complete you to add text to a web page later as soon
| How AJAX is already revolutionizing the Net
More and more pages are already making use of AJAX. These include big players such
as ‘Google Maps’ as well as smaller projects like the free Word-editor ‘Writely’ and the
Open-source-script ‘Lightbox’ for their own home page.
More tempo Ajax ensures
variable zoom facility and
free scrolling of the card on
Google maps
More comfort Light box, the virtual
light box of www.huddletogether.com
loads pictures in large format without
opening a new page
More functions Ajax will come into its own with
‘Writely’—a complete word editor
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

| AJAX accelerates the Internet
Normal request
Browser Browser
Link
Without AJAX
The entire page is reloaded when the link is clicked. The
browser window goes blank and the user has to wait
Request with AJAX
Browser Browser
Link Link
With AJAX
The user clicks on the AJAX link, the browser window remains unchanged for a moment and then
the user can read further without an interruption. The current page is incorporated as soon as
AJAX gets an answer
as a corresponding link is activated. The
HTML code of a newly developed web page
can be hardly differentiated from that of
a classic page. The basic structure remains
the same. This includes tables, forms and
other elements such as DIV tags (A <DIV>
tag is used in XHTML and divides a web
page into manageable parts, thus enabling a
web page to be updated in sections). These
serve as place holders and link the content
and the structure. A simple DIV tag for AJAX
appears as follows:
<div•id=”test”></div>
In this case, the DIV tag has a definite ID
<test>. This is important so that AJAX can
subsequently insert the desired text on the
DIV tag position. In addition, a script-design
is allocated to this ID in our example. This is
done via a separate CSS-file (Cascading Style
Sheet). It then appears as follows:
#test•{
display:•none;
} <div•id=”test”>Hello
This design is indeed very easy: The
<display: none> implies that the text is
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
Browser
Browser
not displayed for the first time (in this case
<Hello World>). The JavaScript must take
the XML file from the server for it to appear.
But this takes place only if the user requests
so with a click. The content of the XML file
appears as follows:
<?xml•version=”1.0”>
<chip>Hello•World</chip>
The XML tag <chip> can have any
name, as it is not an HTML command. In
our JavaScript, we have defined <chip>
as the source for the text that has to be
displayed. The surfer clicks on a link and
AJAX loads <Hello World> from the XML
file. On a normal web page. In case of
bigger text size, the surfer would have to
wait till it is completely loaded. In this case
however, the surfer can instead continue to
execute further actions on the web page.
AJAX incorporates the data as soon as it is
provided by the server in XML format. The
DIV tag appears as follows:
World</div>
In addition to this, the JavaScript now
SMS us!
FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 87
| Flipside
Application of AJAX so far has not
always been advantageous. The
“back” button of the web browser
is rendered useless. The browser
returns to the last known address
and not to the last web page
contents modified by AJAX. It is
thus not possible to set a bookmark
on pages modified by AJAX except
on the source page. Search engines
also face a similar problem—their
search messengers don’t recognize
AJAX contents. This leads to them
not being indexed. To design a page
that is suitable for the disabled,
one has to forego AJAX. Programs
reading or translating web pages fail
due to the dynamic contents.
changes the Style properties as well.
Now, in order to display the content
in our example on the web page as
well, <display: none> will now become
<display: block>.
Enriching the Internet
AJAX helps you achieve all effects
such as animated and variable menus with
ease. In fact, this functions almost like
Flash and redefines the surfing experience
altogether. In order to increase AJAX’s
practicability, browsers and search engines
need improvement. Google has been using
AJAX for Google Maps, Google Pages and
Google Suggest and Microsoft, Yahoo and
other big players have also followed suit. 
| Valentin Pletzer
Story code: AFA (See Page 20 for details)

A new desktop dimension
This month we put SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 to the grind to find out
whether it gives the enterprise desktop a new dimension
M
any of the recent Linux
distributions are being pitched
for the average Joe. Earlier, the
chief reason for not adopting Linux as
a desktop system was lack of adequate
hardware support. Also, one had to resort
to a black terminal system to perform
even mundane tasks. While the days of
the dreaded command line are history,
Linux still has to make strides in terms of
hardware support. Though it is making
improvements in the desktop segment
by leaps and bounds, it lacks support for
newer hardware and gaming at large. Last
month, we reviewed the most popular
distribution, Ubuntu Linux 6.06, which is
closely followed by Novell in popularity
ratings. Distrowatch (www.distrowatch.
com) specifies that it is Novell’s free
version—openSUSE—which is the second
most popular Linux distribution. You can
find a copy of this from this month’s CHIP
DVD. It can alternatively be downloaded
from http://en.opensuse.org/Released_
Pramod Jadhav
Version. We reviewed openSUSE 10 earlier generally not conversant with the disk
and we were pretty happy with the way it partitioning process. A classic example
worked except for its shortcomings in the is losing critical data if a small mistake
multimedia department. is made during the system partitioning
Novell had already pitched Linux as process. This is a useful feature particularly
a desktop system earlier but it went a for those users who want to dual boot
step further by being bold enough to Windows as well as Linux. For single OS
target Linux as a desktop system for the installations, most other distributions
connected enterprise with the release of automatically do the partitioning process
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. So does which is transparent to the end user. An
SLED 10 really stand up to expectations as end user particularly does not need to
an enterprise ready desktop system? Let us
find out here.
Installation
The SLED 10 installation system was one of
the simplest that we have seen amongst
many Linux distributions. The default
installation system requires minimum user
interaction. Most of the install process is
pretty straight forward and in most cases,
as simple as clicking the next button.
The most unique feature of SLED 10 is its Automatic partitioning using the SUSE
partitioning manager
system partitioning tool. Most users are
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

know what a SWAP, /root, /boot or /home
partition is and how it should be mounted
using boot time.
Also, SLED 10 uses reiserfs as the
default filesystem instead of ext3. This
accounts for faster disk access for smaller
files. As enterprise desktop users generally
work on files that are smaller in size like
office documents, e-mail, etc this feature
typically provides for a faster system
response. The system detects the amount
of RAM installed and sets up the SWAP
partition size as double the size of RAM.
Our installation process took about 30
minutes to finish.
Hardware detection in general is a
weak point in Linux. Don’t expect your
brand new SUSE system to work on all
your shiny new hardware out of the box.
Some of the hardware might not even
work at all. SLED 10 detects and works
perfectly on almost all commonly used
hardware platforms. You can expect all
your Intel, most of Nvidia and almost all
of VIA chipsets to work out of the box.
Support for ATI-based chipsets is still non-
existent in Linux and SUSE is no exception
to the rule. We could not get it to work
on an ATI-based desktop or notebook. We
were able to get SLED running on an AM2
platform, albeit only partially. We could
not get the OS to detect the soundcard
on an Asus A8N SLI motherboard but it
did support older hardware. For example,
SLED 10 detected my Intel system
perfectly with onboard graphics, sound
system and network card. It was not
able to automatically detect my 19-inch
Samsung 995DF monitor and it skewed
the aspect ratio a little while running
the system at 1600x1200 resolutions,
although it ran flawlessly at 1280x1024
resolutions. I must say enterprises will
be happy with SLED’s complete support
for older hardware. Printing support is
also good—both our printers (the Xerox
Phaser 6250 and the HP Laserjet 4100)
were supported and worked perfectly as
we desired. Most HP-based printers are
well supported and other popular printer
manufacturers provide driver support for
Linux. SLED 10 uses the latest 2.6 kernel,
supporting SATA hard drives. We managed
to install SLED 10 on a Western Digital
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
Raptor and a Samsung Spinpoint SATA
hard drive.
Another unique feature of the system
installation was the AutoYaST utility.
This can really be a boon to system
administrators who want to mass deploy
SLED 10 on similar hardware systems by
automating the installation process. The
AutoYaST system, if enabled, will allow a
user to install SLED 10 without asking for
any inputs by taking the input parameters
from an XML file. All the input parameters
of a system can be stored in an XML file
using AutoYaST. This file can be used to
clone other similar systems.
At the desktop
SUSE stands apart from other Linux
distributions when it comes to the desktop.
Desktop aesthetics were always a major
SLED 10’s default desktop is a heavily
modified version of GNOME
consideration for SUSE and SLED 10 is no
exception. What makes SLED 10 different
from the crowd and its previous offerings is
a completely redesigned desktop interface
enabling ease of use and productivity. We
were surprised to see GNOME (actually, a
heavily modded version of GNOME!) as the
default desktop system because SUSE has
traditionally been KDE friendly. The desktop
features a minimal set of icons such as the
home directory folder, additional storage
drives like floppy and CD/DVD ROM and a
trash bin. The taskbar includes a Computer
icon which is the Start menu button for
Linux. A welcome feature is a sticky system
called Tomboy which makes it very easy to
make notes (not present in Windows XP).
The system tray includes the networking
system, an update system, audio volume,
date and time and the show desktop icon
pretty much like what you would find on a
SMS us!
FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 89
traditional Windows-based system.
General usability
The minimalist approach reduces desktop
clutter, thus leading to less usage of
system resources. The Windows button
on your keyboard will be of some use after
all as it invokes the start menu system.
The very first reaction that came to mind
was “This is just another copy of Windows
Start menu system”. On closer inspection,
one can see the small but important
changes that Novell has incorporated into
the start menu system, the most striking
aspect being the seamlessly integrated
Beagle desktop search. You can search
inside your e-mail, instant messaging, web
pages and files at the click of a button.
Beagle also supports real-time search
system. The application section is divided
into favorite applications, recently used
applications and recently used documents.
While the later are comparable to
Windows, the former is very useful while
accessing applications. Such application
grouping leads to faster access of data, in
turn increasing productivity. Another neat
feature is the ability to upgrade, remove
or uninstall applications from the Gnome
panel itself. Novell has indeed added value
to Linux in terms of increasing desktop
productivity. The system response times
were pretty quick even on a Pentium
III system with 128 MB of RAM. We
recommend at least 256 MB of memory
for decent application load times.
Administration
Making changes to your newly installed
Linux desktop is a trivial task under SLED
10. Earlier, one had to previously resort to
the good old command line interface and
make manual changes in configuration
YaST can configure and fine-tune almost
all aspects of the operating system
Story code: AFS (See Page 20 for details)
90 APPLICATIONS | FEATURE
Eye candy in SLED 10 is comparable to that
of the Mac OS X and the upcoming Vista
files just to change the default desktop
resolution. Gone are the days when
configuring a Linux system was a user’s
nightmare. Novell has simplified system
management with a classic tool called
YaST (Yet Another Setup Tool) which
was prevalent in SUSE for quite some
time. If you are to compare it to the
Windows Control Panel or Mac’s System
Preferences, it is closer to OS X in terms
of look and feel, but is better than both
in terms of functionality. YaST can do
pretty much anything and everything you
need, including software and hardware
management, networking services,
security, core system settings, etc. Novell
has gone a step ahead in simplifying
desktop configuration by adding another
tool called the Control Center. This is
pretty much a lookalike of Windows
Control Panel and even sounds like it,
but is useful for both end users as well
as administrators.
Applications
SLED 10 provides a plethora of bundled
applications. Some of the major
applications include the 2.6.16.16 Linux
kernel. The latest kernel ensures up to date
driver compatibility for most hardware
systems. It also features X.org 6.9.0 along
with Compiz desktop manager and Xgl
server system. The 3D desktop system
requires a 3D graphics accelerator card to
work. We tested the 3D desktop system
on Nvidia 7800GTX as well as a 6600 GT
series graphic cards. We also tested the
desktop system on an ATI Radeon 9800XT
and the system worked flawlessly using
the drivers provided by ATI and Nvidia.
OpenOffice replaces CrossOver Office with
support for Visual Basic Macros
Xgl looks cool but does not improve
productivity in any way. A Linux system
after all has features like transparent
windows, cube-based rotating desktops
and other attractive features found only
in Mac OS X. It features Mozilla Firefox as
the default browser and Novell evolution
as the default mailing system. Speaking of
Firefox, Novell provides seamless support
for Flash, Java, Real Media and Acrobat
Reader files—so far a negative point
of most free Linux distributions. It also
includes a custom version of OpenOffice.
org 2.0.2 with support for VB scripts.
This feature helped in crossporting some
of the excel files with simple macros
but the more complicated ones lacked
support. It includes Banshee music player
(which integrated perfectly with the
iPod and other MP3 players) and a video
player as well. It also includes Gaim 1.5
multi-protocol messaging system to
help you keep in touch with your various
online buddies. A second to none photo
management software called F-stop is
also provided. You can do pretty much
The Evolution Email system seamlessly
integrates with Microsoft Exchange
everything in SLED 10 with the massive
application set provided with the OS.
Other applications that are bundled with
the OS include amaroK music player,
Kaffeine media player, Totem movie player
and RealPlayer 10. It also includes CD
and DVD burning software like Gnome
CD/DVD Creator and K3b. It also includes
Konqueror—an alternative web browser
and Gnome FTP for file transfers over the
FTP protocol. KMail is also included as an
alternative mailing system while you can
use KNode as an alternative news reading
program. A conferencing application is
also included with SLED 10 which helps
you carry on your online meetings on
Linux. It even includes a built-in VoIP client
if you want to call your overseas clients
using the Linux desktop.
Enterprise integration
Novell provides great value to SLED 10
by providing features that makes its
operating system enterprise ready. Having
a Linux base ensures rock solid stability
and you can be pretty sure that you will
see the blue screen of death no more.
Secondly, the menace caused by viruses
and worms is reduced to a minimum.
Although vulnerabilities do exist in Linux
systems, they are either not well known
or not widespread. Security through
obscurity is not an optimal security
solution, but it does give you that extra
edge of patching your system in time.
Also, with Linux being less popular as a
desktop operating system, they are less
likely to be targeted by hackers. Also
massive downtime effects that were
caused due to worms like Nimda and
AppArmor provides an additional layer of
security against hackers
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 91

| Minimum System Requirements

Pentium III 500 MHz or higher (Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or higher, any
AMD, AMD64, or Intel EM64T processor recommended).
256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended).
800MB of available disk space (2.5 GB recommended)
800x600 display resolution (1024x768 or higher recommended).
A 3D accelerator card for running the Xgl desktop system.

Sasser are reduced to a minimum thanks to SUSE’s better security

model. Novell also includes a unique security framework called
AppArmor to keep hackers at bay. This prevents attackers from
exploiting the system using zero day vulnerabilities and makes
system compromise difficult. First and foremost, we were quite
impressed with its thorough support for multiple authentication
systems. If you have a Windows-based domain system with active
directory services or an LDAP server for authentication, you can be
sure your Linux client will be able to connect to both the systems.
SLED 10 can also connect to your current Linux/Unix-based server
system with support for NFS and NIS systems. Thus, enterprises
that insist on a single sign-on or a central authentication system
will be able to use SLED 10 no matter what OS or platform their
servers are running. It features the Evolution mailing system
which seamlessly supports LDAP, POP, SMTP, IMAP as well as
Microsoft Exchange server. No matter what mailing system your
office supports, rest assured it will work with Novell’s Evolution.
This client system is a neat replacement for Microsoft Outlook
with inbuilt features such as shared calendars, notes, to-do lists,
reminders, etc that were limiting factors for corporations who
wanted to shift to the Linux desktop. The desktop also features
remote management tools like VNC and remote desktop manager
for administrative access and remote control. Access to Windows
shares was supported although we would have liked to access the
network device by browsing through the network neighborhood.
It also features software called Ifolder which can be used to
synchronize your data in real time to a central server system. So,
no matter what location you are in, you can always have access to
all your data without having to fear about the unfortunate event
of a system crash.

Last word
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 retails for Rs 2,650—one device
per year. This means you will have to upgrade your subscription
every year like you do in case of your anti-virus system. The
cost of ownership of SLED 10 over a period of five years comes
to about Rs 13,250. Compare this price to that of a currently
available Windows-based system for the same time period. And it
amounts to Rs 7,000 for a Windows License, Rs 15,000 for a copy
of Microsoft Office Professional. You will also have to invest in an
anti-virus suite for a price of Rs 9,495. So it is clear that SLED 10
does provide value for money. Although not the perfect solution,
under many circumstances it is one of the most robust office
solutions that you can opt for. 
| Kunal Rupera

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

92 APPLICATIONS | FEATURE
Personalized Flicks
After blogging and photo sharing, video blogging has taken
the Internet world by storm. We give you a heave-ho for
getting on the video-sharing bandwagon
W
hen hanging out with friends
chugging down a coffee at your
local coffee shop, it’s not surprising
to be surrounded by a diaspora of young folks
copiously using their cell phones. Besides the
chatting and SMSing, a large number of cell
phones today feature pretty good imaging
capabilities—and owners are using these
features extensively. Apart from still pictures,
video clips are increasingly being used to
capture, store and share experiences today (the
dark side of MMS notwithstanding!). This is
clearly a fallout of the leaps and bounds in cell
mobile-based technologies, where individuals
are now armed with pocket-sized imaging
devices—something that was unthinkable
barely a few years ago.
According to Lyra Research, there will be
about 850 million camera phones sold by the
end of this year. In India specifically, many of
these fall within the sub-Rs 6,000 category,
putting them well within the reach of most
users. Teamed up with the plummeting prices
of flash-based storage, it is not uncommon to
find folks with cell phones carrying more than
64 MB of memory on board. All of these trends
put together have made a photographer out of
numerous cell phone users!
In recent times, people have begun to realize
the true power of imaging by transitioning
from still images to full motion video. There’s
no denying the inherent power of a video
to communicate the emotion in a situation
over that of a still image. Using tiny Java or
Symbian application software that can be
loaded on most of today’s cell phones (some
phones even have the capability built right
in), users can shoot complete video clips of
durations limited only by the storage capacity
of the camera phone. The ability to effectively
communicate using video far outweighs that
Pramod Jadhav of sharing images and text—we’ve seen it all at
one time or the another when using a web cam
to talk to friends and family on the other side
SMS us! Story code: AFV (See Page 20 for details)
of the globe. We’ve known of this capability
for a while now, but the reasons why this has
taken a while to gain mass acceptance are the
roadblocks in being able to share them easily.
All this is now changing with the large
number of sites available where you can share
your videos for the rest of the world to see.
And all of this is free. Since this is very similar
to blogging, this shift in medium has now been
coined by the phrase “video blogging”. Ever
since this craze hit the scene about a year ago,
there have been numerous cases of end-users
that started “vlogging” (as it is also called), who
are now enjoying fan followings well into the
hundreds of thousands. For example, a woman
by the name of Amamda Congdon anchored
a video blog called Rocketboom (www.
rocketboom.com) which consisted of a daily
3-minute clip of a lighthearted take on current
news. At present, this video blog has about
1.25 lac visitors each day. Another case is that
of a 26-year-old called Sebastian Babolat who
offers a podcast of French language lessons
recorded from his very own living room. Today,
he has about 10,000-plus subscribers. Clearly,
the ability to be able to post user-created
videos is something of a culmination of the
freedom of speech and is pretty much an
embodiment of what a democracy stands for.
With none of these videos being “controlled”
by any large television conglomerate, this
sub-culture of user controlled characteristic is
what is driving video blogging as the next big
Internet craze.
Obviously, to maximize your video blogging
experience, a broadband connection is a
necessity. Though the service will work on a
dial-up, the fact that that content is video-
based will put a significant load on your
download and upload times. With “vlogging”
clearly on the upswing, now’s a great time to
get online and be a part of it. Let’s take a tour
of some of the best Web resources on offline
tools available for sharing your video creations.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 93

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

94 APPLICATIONS | FEATURE
Youtube
www.youtube.com
youtube.com lets you tag videos, making
it easier to search specific ones
Besides being one of the most popular
video blogging web sites, Youtube is one
of the oldest of its kind. Founded in 2005,
this web site provides a free platform
that facilitates the sharing of user-created
videos. Once you are registered with
the site, you become a member and can
upload your videos in MPEG, AVI or MOV
format. You can even upload MPEG4 (DivX
or XviD-encoded video clips) for higher
video quality. After recording movies using
your camcorder, digital still camera (using
the movie mode) or your video-capable
cell phone, you can use one of several
free tools to convert your video to any
of the above formats before uploading
them. Members also have access to other
facilities including the ability to edit posts
to their videos and remove them later if
they wish to. The web site also lets you
tag your videos, which makes it easier
to search and locate videos of specific
content and subject. To protect privacy,
uploaded videos can be set to be private
or public, thus restricting viewing access.
Another cool feature is the ability to
directly upload videos from mobile devices
like PDAs and cell phones using its nifty
Mobile Upload option in conjunction with
the MMS capability of your phone.
For first-time users, the site includes
a comprehensive help section that
describes the web site’s capabilities
along with answers to frequently-
asked questions regarding posting and
managing video posts. For both members
and guests of the site, you can even link
its hosted videos to other web sites by
embedding them directly into the
web page.
Metacafe
www.metacafe.com
Another web site offering similar
capabilities to that of Youtube is Metacafe.
It serves as a video sharing platform,
allowing users to post their video clips.
Founded in Israel, this site has over 20
million unique visitors watching over
400 million video streams each month.
Here too, after a free registration you can
proceed to upload your own videos. The
video quality standards used on Metacafe
are of a noticeably higher quality than that
metacafe.com uses high-quality video
standards
used on other video sharing platforms such
as Youtube. To be able to upload videos,
a 4.8 MB client application needs to be
downloaded and installed on the client
computer, after which you can upload
content, rate clips, post user comments or
share the clip with a friend. The application
also allows you to save clips to your
computer for offline viewing. Besides user-
posted video clips, the web site also offers
movie trailers, games and other fun stuff.
Podcasting
www.apple.com/podcasting
For all those who use iTunes as their
music management and MP3 playback
needs, you’ve probably already heard of
podcasting. This is the term given to the
ability to share user-created audio and
video clips on Apple’s iTunes network.
Podcasts are “channels” that can be
subscribed to through the online iTunes
Music Store interface. While the term was
initially applicable to user-created audio
streams, podcasts can now be video-based
as they are primarily intended to run on
Apple’s video enabled iPods (though they
can be downloaded and viewed on any
video-capable computer or handheld
device that supports the video standard).
As regard the video standard, podcasts can
only be created in M4V, MP4 or MOV video
formats which happen to be native video
export formats in Apple’s Quicktime 7 Pro.
If you have a Mac, it will be understandably
easier to create a podcast by using a DV
camera and the iSight software used
for capturing and saving your video file.
This can also be done on a PC using the
applicable software to grab video and
export it to the supported format. Unlike
the video blogging web sites described
earlier, you cannot actually upload videos
to the iTunes Music Store—to share
podcasts, you will need to first host your
video as an enclosure on an existing
blogging service such as “Blogger” and
then provide the RSS link on the iTunes
Music Store. After this is done, it shows
up on the iTunes Music store listing in the
podcast category. Of course, this is the best
way to share your video clips with iPod
users as they are synchronized with the
Share esoteric audio/video content on
iTunes
device through the iTunes interface. There
are numerous detailed tutorials on how to
do this on the iTunes Music Store and on
other web sites.
Now that the capability exists on the
device (be it a cell phone, camcorder or
digicam), the ability to share your videos
with the world is a powerful capability for
communication. While video blogging is
still at an embryonic stage in the country,
there are many examples of surprisingly
popular users who partake of everything
from active citizen journalism to kitschy
video clips of their daily experiences. Still,
there is no denying the power behind this
trend of any-user video sharing. 
| Marco D’souza
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 95

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

96 APPLICATIONS | FEATURE
Shop with your mobile
Payment through your mobile is being seen as a probable replacement for plastic
money. As we witness this transition, let us dig into what some of the mobile
payment services have to offer
U
sage of plastic money has
changed the way we shop. These
days we make more use of debit/
credit cards instead of cash for payment.
As we are right in the middle of this
change, we are witnessing the emergence
Pramod Jadhav
of yet another payment option in India,
buying through your mobile phone.
India’s mobile phone users have
outnumbered card users (debit or credit
card) as also Internet users. The ratio
of card users to mobile phone users is
1:2.5. In a scenario like this, the practice
of using one’s mobile phone to pay bills
sounds highly prospective. Companies like
Reliance and Airtel are already offering
similar services to their mobile subscribers.
Users can pay their utility bills such as
electricity and telephone bills or book
airline and railway tickets. They can even
book tickets for movies using their mobile
phones. So far, the service was restricted
between the telecom service provider
and the company they partnered with.
For example, to book a train ticket over
your mobile, you need to have a Reliance
or Airtel mobile connection; any other
connection would not work. However, now
the service is becoming widespread for
more and more mass usage.
Just a few months ago, JiGrahak, a
Bangalore-based startup tied up with
Sify and launched their mobile commerce
application named NGPay. To reap the
benefits of this application, you need to
have a GPRS handset. Once connected to
the Internet with your handset, download
and install the application from www.
ngpay.com. The rest is simple. As the tie
up is with Sify, all you need to do is log
on to Sify’s site through your mobile and
purchase online using NGPay.
This experience has been simplified
by PayMate, a Mumbai-based wireless
transactions platform provider. To enjoy
their service you don’t need a GSM
handset, or log on to any web site. All you
need to do to buy a product online is send
an SMS to PayMate. Presently the service
is functional only for Citibank customers
and limited to a certain group of
merchants such as Rediff, Naukri, Cleartrip,
Jeevansathi and 99Acres.
To extend mobile commerce services
such as this, PayMate has partnered with
Euronet Worlwide, a global company in
processing secure electronic financial
transactions. Here, you first need to
register to PayMate through your bank
account, after which you get a randomly
generated PIN from PayMate via an SMS.
You need to change this PIN to something
that you can easily remember. Next, you
need to log on to any of the participating
merchant’s web site and select a product/
service of your choice, and “mobile
payment” as the payment option and then
send an SMS to PayMate mentioning the
product ID and the PIN. Once PayMate
receives the SMS, they will notify your
bank, who will then verify the transaction
details against the account details. After
the verification process, your account will
be debited and the money will go straight
to the merchant’s account. This entire
mobile transaction process will be carried
out by an online transaction processing
firm—in this case it is Euronet Worldwide.
There is no risk of confidential data
leakage as the transaction details are
verified by a secured PIN. The advantage of
this service is that there is no need to type
in any debit/credit card number every time
one transacts. This implies that you are not
exposed to confidential data sharing every
time you transact. The security model of
this service has been recommended by
Ernst & Young.
According to Ajay Adiseshann, founder
and MD of PayMate, this is the perfect
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

time to launch a service like this. Currently,
the value of the organized online retail
market is US$ 5 billion, which is being
exploited by 38.5 million users. People are
looking for a transaction platform that
is easy to use, convenient and capable of
offering a wider range of product options
to compare from. This is supported by the
humongous base of mobile subscribers
in India, which has already touched 100
million. With such online market status
and mobile usage, there can be no better
time than this. Adiseshann also added, “At
present the risk of security is increasing
for online customers, so they are looking
for some kind of a secured payment
channel. This is exactly where PayMate
is going to give the customers support.
Since the mobile commerce market is
largely untapped and at a very nascent
stage, it will take time for it to grow and
reach its potential.” PayMate has tied up
with Citibank and merchants like Rediff,
Naukri, Cleartrip, etc. This has resulted in a
substantial customer base to begin with.
Adiseshann described his target
audience as the 100 million mobile
phone subscribers of the country. At this
moment, PayMate is mainly looking at
users increasingly using the Internet or
the cell phone as means to purchase or
order goods and services. However, when
physical POS merchants join the list, the
reach will be more widespread.
PayMate’s service is neither restricted
to any specific telecom service provider,
nor does it require any GPRS enabled
handset for transaction. It offers ease of
use, convenience and security to users.
As the transaction is SMS based, any user
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
with a basic handset can avail the service.
You are charged a premium rate of Rs 2,
per SMS. Apart from that, the rest of the
experience is pretty similar to any other
online transaction. PayMate’s service has
a per transaction ceiling of Rs 5,000 and a
per day ceiling of Rs 10,000, which means
you cannot spend more than Rs 5,000 for
an individual transaction and in a day you
have to limit your spending to Rs 10,000.
The service has been structured on
Microsoft’s .Net platform, using MS-SQL
for maintaining the database and is
hosted on a Mumbai-based Internet
data center with a built-in security and
scalability infrastructure.
Be it NGPay or PayMate, the service is
going to change the way we shop online
drastically. Whenever you purchase a
product online, you need to reveal your
credit/debit card and PIN numbers.
That is quite a difficult task as you have
to remember a series of numbers and
codes. Additionally, you are always at
the risk of compromising your secured
information by keying in your credit/debit
card numbers. In case you happen to be
transacting from a cyber café, where you
are compelled to share a computer with
many others, you expose yourself to the
risk of the possibility of a leak in your
private information. But mobile commerce
will change all of this and such a fear will
be virtually nullified.
Presently, PayMate is offering this
service only to Citibank customers. But
there are plans to extend this service for
customers of other banks. To augment
the shopping options, PayMate plans to
increase the online merchant list and
SMS us!
FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 97
create a list of retailers as well. PayMate
also claims that their service will take care
of utility payments as well as person-
to-person payments in the near future.
PayMate’s future merchant list includes
players in the telemerchant, insurance,
airline, movie ticketing, restaurant and
hospitality industries.
Taking into consideration the increasing
number of mobile users in India, the
prospect of mobile commerce seems
bright. With retailers, utility payments
and person-to-person payment modes
included, this service is likely to experience
a higher acceptability rate among a larger
section of buyers. However, the service
provider needs to join hands with more
and more banks in making this service
successful and popular among customers.
With this new trend of payment doing
the rounds, we might soon see Indian
consumers carrying only their cell phones
for shopping and happily leaving their
wallets behind at homes. 
| Pradosh Mitra
Story code: AFM (See Page 20 for details)
98 APPLICATIONS | FEATURE
The perfect burn
If you thought Nero is the only answer to your disk burning needs, stop right here. We
bring you a completely free multimedia-burning suite with loads of surprises in store...
N
ero is undisputedly the number one
disk burning application. However,
now you have to pay around
Rs 4,200 (70 Euros) for the complete version,
since the burning software has turned into
a complete multimedia suite. But if you
don’t want to spend much for your burning
needs, then use freeware to play, process
and administer your media files—it is in
many aspects better than the corresponding
Nero tools. Even burning CDs and DVDs is
easy with these free programs. You will have
access to these tools on this month’s CD.
The only thing that the freeware does
not master is integrating all burning and
multimedia functions under one interface
but that problem can be overcome by
creating a folder on your desktop or in
your start menu, which has links to the
corresponding programs.
Cropping and optimization
Photos and sound are best processed with
freeware, as they can do more in these
areas than Nero does.
Image processing and slide shows
Name: XnView complete
Language: English
Info: www.xnview.com
Alternative for: Nero PhotoSnap
XnView offers a lot more functions in image
editing than Nero PhotoSnap. The tool
processes several images simultaneously
via stack processing and is also the best in
case of format support—it saves photos in
more than 60 formats, but it can read more
than 400 formats. Standards like cutting,
rotating, size changing, red eye removal and
color fixing is a click away in XnView. Various
different effects can be added to the photos
from the menu point “Filter”—it is also
possible to integrate various plugins.
XnView can also be used to prepare
slide shows. You can find the function
under “Tools | slide show”. However, the
result can be seen only on the PC. For a
slide show as (S) VCD, which runs on most
DVD players, use the Photo to VCD Creator
Lite (www.nu2.nu/photovcd).
Sound recording and processing
Name: Audacity
Language: English
Info: http://audacity.sf.net
Alternative for: Nero WaveEditor,
Nero SoundTrax
Audacity processes and edits sound files
in the formats WAV, MP3, Ogg and AIFF or
records new audio files on the soundcard.
With the versatile freeware you can replace
two Nero programs. Audacity provides
several effects to pep up sounds—it
eliminates clicking and rustling noise, adds
echo and hall effects or changes the pitch
and tempo independently. There are up to 16
sound tracks for your audio processing .
To save files with Audacity in the
MP3 format, you first need to install
the Open-Source-Encoder Lame, which
has also been packed with the CHIP
CD/DVD. After clicking on “File | Export
as MP3”, all you need to do is specify a
save destination for the file in Audacity
“lame_enc.dll”.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 99

AVI recording & processing Media center

Name: Windows Movie Maker software
| The CHIP Burning Suite
Language: English Name: MediaPortal Get most of the tools described here on our Tools CD.
Info: www.microsoft.com Language: English
EDITING & OPTIMIZATION
Alternative for: NeroVision Info: http://
You need not install any software to record mediaportal.sf.net  XnView complete 1.80.3. Processes and administers your images

 Photo to VCD Creator Lite 2.0.4 Compiles slide shows in the VCD format
data from a video camera and to edit these Alternative for: Nero
 Audacity 1.3.0 Beta Processes sound files and adds effects to them
files: Movie Maker is integrated in Windows Home, NeroVision
 LAME 3.96.1 Open source MP3 encoder
XP. For older Windows versions, you can Nero Home plays  Cuttermaran 1.66 Edits MPEG videos
download the software for free. The tool and records TV  ProjectX 0.90.02.00 Prepares videos for the processing with Cuttermaran
takes over the data from the video camera programs. This open
PLAYING & ARCHIVING
and provides a story board and time base to source media center
arrange the clips. The video can be edited MediaPortal can also
 MediaPortal 0.2.0.0 RC2. Administers media files and records TV programs

 VLC Media Player 0.8.4b Faster and simple video and audio processing
forward and backward or divided, without record TV programs.
 Daemon Tools 4.0 Creates virtual drives
affecting the original files. It is also possible All you need is a
to add cross-fading effects. TV tuner card for BURNING
the MediaPortal to  AVI2DVD 0.4 Converts AVI films into the DVD format

Under the menu, go to “Extras | play and record TV  DVDStyler 1.4 Creates DVD menus and images

Options | expand” and you can determine programs. The time  CDBurnerXP Pro 3.0.116 Burns your data on CDs and DVDs

 DVDShrink Reduces the size of a DVD9 for practical burning

the duration of display of the still pictures control feature helps

and transitions. in recording. The

freeware also plays 
MPEG video editing films, photos, DVDs, 
Nero DriveSpeed 3.0 Controls the speed of CD/DVD drives
Nero InfoTool 3.01 Informs about system, drives and media
Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.10 Tests CD/DVD drives and checks blanks for any errors
CD Designs Creator 1.24.2 Design covers, inlays and labels for your CDs

Name: Cuttermaran Internet radio and

Language: English
Info: www.cuttermaran.com
Alternative for: NeroVision
The TV recording in the MPEG format
can be best edited using Cuttermaran.
But before you load the video file in
Cuttermaran, you must separate the
picture and audio because the editing
program processes this separately. This is
done using the tool ProjectX. Download it
from http://sf.net/projects/projectx.
Playing and archiving
All media formats can be played even
without Nero and you can very easily turn
your PC into a media center.
Get the applications under Multimedia > Nero Alternatives
music files.
MediaPortal
saves recorded programs as DVRMS, i.e. in
the proprietary format of the MS media
center. However, in the program, you can
directly convert these files in MPEG, XviD
or WMV. You can find this function under
“Television | Recordings | Compress”. To
burn the clips on video DVD, convert them
in MPEG format. If necessary, you can also
cut the advertisements using Cuttermaran.
Then load the files in the tool DVDStyler
to create menus for the DVD and to create
an ISO image, which can be then burned
without any problems.
Backup
Name: Windows Backup
Language: English
Info www.microsoft.com
Alternative for: Nero BackItUp
You don’t need to search too much for an
alternative for Nero’s Backup solution. A
backup function is already integrated in
Windows XP. It is automatically installed in
XP Pro. If you use Windows XP Home, you
need to install the tool separately. You can
find the installation file “NTBackup.msi” in
the Windows CD, in the folder “Valueadd\
MSFT\NTBackup”. When the software is
installed, start it through “Start | Programs

XnView: The universal photo viewer can Audacity: The freeware edits sound files Windows Movie Maker: The video editing
also edit photos and adds effects to them program for AVIs exists in Win XP

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

SMS us! Story code: AFN (See Page 20 for details)

100 APPLICATIONS | FEATURE
| Accessories | System tools | Backup”.
Windows backup burns the backup files
directly on the CD/DVD and also provides a
scheduler for automatic backups.
If you are using a Windows version
older than XP, then you can create a backup
for your data, for example, by using the
freeware Z-DBackup (www.point2click.com).
Playing Media, Streaming
Name: VLC media player
Language: English
Info www.videolan.org
Alternative for: Nero ShowTime,
Nero MediaHome
The VLC media player (VideoLAN Client
earlier) masters all important sound
and video formats. The tool is easy to
understand and operate. This saves you
the effort of starting the media center to
watch films or to listen to music thereby
playing the files quickly. It even streams
media files through the local network.You
can thus install a media server and access
films and music all over the house via a
wireless or wired LAN.
You can create screenshots of films
in VLC very easily. For that, first set a
“video snapshot directory under Settings |
settings| Video |”, in the folder in which you
want to save the screenshots. By clicking
on “Video | Snap shot”, the software
automatically creates a screenshot of the
film in the selected directory.
Virtual Drives
Name: Daemon Tools
Language: English
MediaPortal: The Mediacenter records TV
broadcasts and administers media files
Info www.daemon-tools.cc
Alternative for: Nero ImageDrive
It is practical to have a virtual drive if you
don’t want to burn a CD image so that it
is still possible for you to use the data on
it. The Daemon tools can create up to four
such drives in order to cut down on the use
of blank disks as well as avoid the annoying
process of changing CDs. Create an image
of the CD using our burning program and
mount the same using the Daemon tools.
Thus the corresponding data is always
immediately available.
An Adware is also installed in the
new version. You can deactivate it by
removing the tick mark in front of the
“DAEMON Tools Search Bars” under
“Choose Components” while installing.
Burning
With the right preparation, you can even
substitute Nero’s burning functions.
Adjusting DVD file size
Name: DVDShrink
Language: English
Info: www.dvdshrink.org
Alternative for: Nero Recode
Before you go through the complicated
process of compressing your data to a
DVD5-size, use Shrink! With this freeware,
you can simply and quickly compress your
video files to the size of a normal 4.7 GB
blank disk.
First read the DVD or the DVD files
on the hard disk in the program using
“Open Disk” or “Open Files”. If desired, you
can also change the menus using the “Re-
author” button. A single click on “Backup”
finally starts the coding process.
Preparing AVI films for DVD
Name: AVI2DVD
Language: English
Info: http://divx.trustfm.com.ru
Alternative for: NeroVision
If you want to burn films on a video DVD
recorded in your video camera in the AVI
format, you must first convert them.
AVI2DVD offers a very comfortable option
for this. It uses the program Avisynth in the
background. This is the only freeware that
masters the coding of AVI to MPEG without
any problems. It can however be controlled
only through scripts. AVI2DVD, on the other
hand, provides a comfortable interface. The
coding is done with the help of the freeware
codecs QuEnc, FreeEnc, NuEnc or HCEnc.
To start with, select the desired
AVI file. Using the register cards given
above in the window, navigate to further
options. With this, you can determine
the destination for saving the output file.
When you have made all the settings, first
click on “Add Job” and then on “Go.”
Preparing MPEG for DVD
Name: DVDStyler
Language: English
Info: http://dvdstyler.sf.net
Alternative for: NeroVision
DVDStyler merges your MPEG files with a
DVD. In addition, you can create program
menus, using which you can jump to
individual chapters in the DVD. After
clicking on “Burn DVD” and specifying the
save location, the output is an ISO image.
The image can then be written on a DVD by
any burning program.
Under the menu option
“Configuration | Settings”, choose your
language. Then restart the program for the
settings to take effect.
Burning
Name: CDBurnerXP Pro
Language: English
Info: www.cdburnerxp.se
Alternative for: Nero Burning ROM
If you don’t have Nero, you can burn your
VLC Media Player: The software plays all
sound and video formats effortlessly
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Nero functions for free!
Name: Nero DriveSpeed, Nero
Info Tool, Nero CD-DVD Speed
Language: German, English
Info: www.cdspeed2000.com
The three freeware—DriveSpeed, InfoTool
and CD-DVD Speed can be obtained on the
Web without buying the complete Nero 7
version (get it on our CD this month).
Nero InfoTool delivers information
regarding system, drives and inserted
media. It displays the formats that can be
read and written by a drive, the burning
speed supported by a blank disk, the IDE
ports on which the drives are connected
and the audio/video codecs installed on
the system. Nero CD-DVD Speed tests the
read/write speeds of the drive, specifies
the access times and measures the CPU
load generated for different reading
files with the freeware CDBurnerXP Pro.
This is just as good as any professional tool.
In addition to the simple burning of data
on CDs and DVDs, the tool is also extremely
good at burning bootable disks, audio CDs
and ISO files. Video DVD is the only format
that it cannot write directly. However, with
a small detour through an ISO image created
using the DVDStyler tool, the CDBurnerXP
Pro can overcome this problem quite easily.
To enable burning using CDBurnerXP
Pro in Windows 2000 and XP as users
without administrator rights, you need to
additionally install the NMSAccess Service.
You can find this option under “File |
Preferences | Device Access”.
AVI2DVD: You need this tool to get your
AVI films on a DVD
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
Nero InfoTool: The program extracts
system and drive information
speeds. With Nero DriveSpeed, you can
determine the reading speed of your drive
to reduce noise while playing music.
Even when you close the DriveSpeed
CD cover designing
Name: CD Designs Creator
Language: English
Info: www.hemera.com
Alternative for: Nero Cover Designer
CD Designs Creator is a software that is
comprehensive and used to design covers,
inlays and labels for CDs and DVDs. A
range of patterns is available for this;
the tool also offers enough options to
create your own designs. It is thus slightly
better than the Nero Cover Designer that
comes with considerably less number
of patterns. CD Designs Creator can be
used to convert text and forms in vector
graphics and to process the path. A
path tool is also integrated into this for
DVDStyler: The software creates menus
for DVDs and writes ISO images
FEATURE | APPLICATIONS 101
Nero CD-DVD speed: Check blanks for
errors and test the drives
window, the program continues to run
in the background. To exit DriveSpeed,
right-click on the DriveSpeed symbol in the
system tray and select the “Exit” option
from the context menu.
designing your own graphics. Images and
texts can obviously be positioned freely.
Moreover, there are numerous distortion
effects for text. Alignment of the element
buttons ensure that everything reaches
the right spot with just one click.
While creating a new document,
CD Designs Creator offers a bouquet of
layouts for inlays, labels and covers for
you to choose from. But if you want to use
pre-created logos of any company, you can
select it specifically. Usually only the CD
label is displayed in the preview. However,
inlays and covers are also available for
all layouts. 
| Karin Ganslmayer
CD Designs Creator: The tool offers many
options to get creative for your CD covers
104
Dr. CHIP
Dinesh Desai
Missing win.com
Q> I own a computer that is around four
years old, which has Windows 98 installed
on it. Over a week back, this machine
stopped booting to the desktop. Instead,
it started displaying an error, “win.com” is
corrupt or missing. What can I do to restore
Hands on
this file? If I reinstall then I might lose all
my data. Will I have to back up this hard
disk on another machine?
- Barun
| How to Read the Code
All code lines and commands are
written in the following manner:
netsh•int•ip•reset•tcpreset.txt
where the • symbol denotes a space.
Hence, the above code line should be
typed as
netsh<space>int<space>ip<space
>reset<space>tcpreset<dot>txt
You can try to “fix” the “win.com”
file first before reinstalling the operating
system again. This involves replacing the
“win.com” file on your computer (which is
missing or corrupt) with a fresh copy from
the Windows 98 CD. All this will be done
by entering the MS-DOS prompt mode,
running the “extract” command to retrieve
the file from the CD and renaming it to
“win.com”. If your Windows 98 CD is not
bootable then you will require a Windows
98 startup disk. If this is not available then
a downloadable version of it is available
on www.bootdisk.com. This bootable disk
will take you to a DOS prompt and also
load generic CD-ROM drivers so that you
can access the contents of the Windows 98
CD. Make sure you choose “Start computer
with CD-ROM support” whilst booting
from the floppy disk.
At the DOS prompt enter the following
command to extract the file to the
partition that contains the “Windows”
folder.
extract X:\win98\win98_28.cab\win.
cnf /L Y:\windows\
Replace “X” with your CD-ROM drive
letter and “Y” with the partition that holds
the “Windows” folder. Note that there is
a space before and after “/L”. If you have
Windows 98 Second Edition installed
then the cab file that contains “win.cnf” is
“Win98_25.cab”.
After the file is extracted and
transferred, you will have to rename it with
the following command,
ren Y:\windows\win.cnf Y:\windows\
win.com
If you are warned that you are about to
replace a file with the same name, enter
“Y” to confirm the action. After replacing
the file, restart your computer.
Outlook Fonts
Q> I download my e-mails into Outlook
2000. The font is different whenever I
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

create a new message or reply to a friend’s
e-mail. Is there a way I can set the font size
of a message in Outlook?
- Mohit
Follow these steps to set your choice
of fonts in Outlook. Click on “View | Current
View | Customize Current View | Automatic
Formatting”. Click on the “Font” button to
change the font as well as the point size of
your preference. This is how your mails will
appear in the Inbox, Outbox, etc—not the
text within the e-mail.
Set the way you want your unread mail,
saved mail to appear in Outlook
To change the fonts used within
e-mails click on “Tools | Options”. Click
on the “Mail Format” tab in the Options
dialog box. Click on the “Fonts” button
under “Stationery and Fonts”. The “Fonts”
dialog box provides settings for three
kinds of messages—new, reply and plain
text. Click on “Choose Font” to select the
font, point size and color you want to use
while composing a message or replying
to one. The plain text setting can be used
if you don’t use the “Rich Text Format”
option to format your e-mails. Click on
“OK” after making your changes, and
then click on “Apply” and the changes
will take effect. Don’t choose fonts your
recipients might not have installed on
their machines. Your mail will not appear
the way it does on your computer.
Shared Memory
Q> I have a notebook with Samsung 256
MB DDR RAM. Recently I put in another
256 MB of Transcend DDR memory. Now
when I check System Properties, it shows
only 480 MB of RAM. Why is that? In
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
DR. CHIP | HANDS ON 105
addition to that, the Properties box says Undetected Storage
my processor is 590 MHz whereas it is 1.6 Q> I bought an enclosure for my 3.5-inch
GHz. At times it shows up as 893 MHz in 80 GB hard drive. I fitted the hard drive
System Properties. What do you think is into the enclosure and connected it to my
wrong with my notebook? computer via a USB cord. It does not get
- Anil detected in Windows XP Professional SP2.
The enclosure comes with an external
With regards to your RAM, I don’t power supply, which works – so the hard
think there’s any problem. It appears that drive is deriving power. Other USB devices
the system is allocating system memory like my phone and digital camera are
for the graphics card (as is done by most detected but not the hard drive. What do
computers with integrated graphics). you think is the problem?
Therefore, the 480 MB you see is what is - Remi
remaining after the system has allocated
the graphics memory, which is why the This could be a problem with the
resulting memory in the System Properties enclosure but before crucifying your
box appears lesser than 512 MB. To new purchase, let’s try something else to
increase the amount of available system find out what the problem could be. Try
memory, go to the BIOS and lower the connecting the drive to another machine
amount of shared graphics memory. This —if it is recognized there then it could be
setting is usually found in the “Advanced” a problem with the USB port. Try different
settings in the BIOS. Some notebooks USB ports. Also check the hard drive’s
don’t give the option of tweaking this jumper settings. You will find the pins
setting. Also, as a rule of thumb when near the power connector. The jumper
upgrading memory on any computer,
try and use similar memory sticks (same
brand and speed) as this generally results
in more stable performance.
About your fluctuating processor
speed, the laptop is using some kind of
processor throttling technology (this
is used for automatically lowering the
frequency while running non-demanding
applications, thus increasing battery life). Set the jumper on your hard drive to
Master or Cable Select before fitting it into
You can verify this for yourself—while
an enclosure
running a taxing application (like playing
a game or encoding audio files to MP3s), should be placed over the pins that make
check the processor frequency. The the drive function as either “Master” or
processor frequency should show up as at “Cable Select”. Check the hard drive’s
its maximum.
While running easier applications
like word processors, etc, it should
show a lower frequency. If the laptop
does so, then it has processor throttling
enabled. If you want, you can turn off
this feature, it can be done through the
system BIOS. You should be able to find
a setting called “SpeedStep” (in the case
of Intel processor-based notebooks) or
“Power Now” (in the case of AMD-based
notebooks). Disable it and your laptop
will run at maximum speed all the time.
Of course, the tradeoff would be lower
battery life.
SMS us! Story code: HDC (See Page 20 for details)
106 HANDS ON | DR. CHIP
manual, if you have one or refer to the
manufacturer’s web site for those details.
Most, however, have a labeled diagram on
the top face of the hard drive itself. After
making this change, connect the enclosure
to the PC and check. Also make sure the
hard drive is fitting in the case properly.
If a short IDE cable has been provided to
connect the HDD to the controller circuitry
then make sure you have connected it
the right way (some cables don’t have
the tab to ensure a correct connection).
If all this does not work then go in for a
replacement.
McAfee Error
Q> I keep getting an error when I try to
uninstall McAfee Internet Security. It
says, “The installation cannot continue
because some components are missing.”
There is a file name also mentioned in the
error – “C:\Progr~1\mc.affee.com\agent\
unistall\masrem.ui” I have tried reinstalling
it but that did not help. How do I remove
this anti-virus?
- Yogesh
Before uninstalling any anti-virus
you should make sure it is disabled from
the system tray (or from the Programs
menu) and also from “Startup”. To disable
the anti-virus from startup, click on “Start
| Run”, type “msconfig” and click on “OK”.
Click on the “Startup” tab and uncheck any
items related to McAfee. Apply the changes
and restart the computer.
Now you need to uninstall the following
items first - VirusScan, Personal Firewall,
Delete references to McAfee from the
registry after uninstalling it from “Add/
Remove Programs”
CHIP-INDIA KNOW HOW | (www.chip-india.com/knowhow)
Inverted Video
I have got a problem with
my videos. Whenever I try to
play some videos of “.AVI”
format the video is displayed
inverted—that is, upside down.
This happens with Media Player
and Real player—I have tried
the latest versions of both
applications. The audio and
colors are unchanged but the
Install K-Lite Codec Pack with the DivX codec selected
orientation is incorrect. This or run a default Install
peculiarity is mostly with any
movies or music videos I download. I it. Uninstall any other codecs you have
have some AVI files that play perfectly. installed on your system. You need to
Another peculiarity is that if I play all have just one standard codec pack and a
these files in VLC (VideoLAN Client), single player to avoid any conflicts. After
they appear fine—right side up. Is this uninstalling all this, I recommend you to
some sort of a virus? install the latest version of K-Lite codec
- snigdha pack. You can download it from:
This problem is due to a conflict of http://www.free-codecs.com/
codecs. VLC plays the videos properly download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm
because it uses the codecs built into - salilgoyal
Privacy Service and SpamKiller. Now open on my computer I get an error, “Create
Windows Explorer and go to the following Overlay failed. Please lower your screen
location: “C:\Program Files\mcafee. resolution or color depth and try again.”
com\agent\app”. Delete all files that have I use PowerDVD to play my DVDs and
the “.adf” extension. If the extensions are Windows 2000 is the operating system
not visible then click on “View | Details” installed on my computer. How do I get rid
to see the “type” of file. Another option of this error? I have already tried different
would be to click on “Tools | Folder Options”, DVD playback software.
click on the “View” tab and uncheck “Hide - Danesh
extensions…” After deleting these files,
uninstall Security Center from “Add/Remove There are a few things you need
Programs”. Now you will have to remove to follow to fix this overlay error. One is
entries from the registry. Click on “Start to check if DirectDraw is disabled. Click
| Run”, type “regedit” and click on “OK”.
Go to the following path in the Registry
Editor, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\
McAfee\]. Right click on “McAfee” and
delete it. Do the same for the key “McAfee.
com” under “Software”. Also look for and
delete the “Network Associates” key. Now
go to, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\
Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run]
Look for entries related to McAfee in
the right pane. Delete all of them, close the
Registry Editor and restart your computer.
Cannot Watch DVD Uncheck “Extend desktop…” if enabled to
play your DVD movies on your machine
Q> Whenever I try to watch a DVD movie
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

on “Start | Run”, type “dxdiag” and click
on “OK”. Click on the “Display” tab and
wait for a few seconds for the utility to
initialize. Enable DirectDraw Acceleration if
it is disabled and exit. Try playing the DVD
now. If this fails to work, right click on the
desktop and select “Properties”. Click on
the “Settings” tab. If you have the “Extend
my Windows desktop onto this monitor”
setting checked then disable it and click
on “Apply”. Check once again to see if the
DVD will play. If this does not work or
the setting is grayed out then go back to
Display Properties, click on the “Settings”
tab and then on “Advanced”.
Click on the “Troubleshoot” tab and
increase the hardware acceleration. Try
watching the DVD again. If even this does
not work then it could be because of a lack of
video memory. Try reducing video resolution
(800x600) of your screen to cut down on
video memory used and play the movie.
PST File Repair
Q> I had saved all my mails and contacts
in Outlook 2000 as a .PST file. When I
reinstalled and imported the file, it gave
me an error. A friend said the file must be
corrupt. I did not make any changes to it.
How can it be corrupt? Can I fix it with
some software?
- Tushar
You can try to scan and repair the
.PST file with the help of a little known
Microsoft utility that usually resides in
“C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\
Mapi\1033\NT”. Click on “Start | Search”
and look for “scanpst.exe” if you cannot
Use Microsoft’s built-in Inbox Repair Tool
and try to fix your corrupted .PST file
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
find it in this folder. Double this file to
start the Inbox Repair Tool. This tool is not
a foolproof utility, so keep a copy of the
PST file in a safe place. The Inbox Repair
Tool is simple to use. After closing Outlook,
click on “Browse” to the place you have
saved the PST file and click on “Start”. The
repair tool checks the file’s “header” and
the data within the file. The limitation of
this repair tool is repairing the data within
the file. It might not do it satisfactorily or
it might remove some data completely. It
can easily replace the header if it is found
to be damaged. If this does not work then
you can try EasyRecovery EmailRepair by
OnTrack Data Recovery. A trial version is
available at http://www.ontrack.com/
easyrecoveryemailrepair/.
VCD on DVD
Q> How can I convert VCDs into DVDs? I
have many VCDs and I want to watch them
on my DVD player. I want to know how I
can add these movies on a blank DVD and
make it play on my DVD player?
– Ramen
You can save your VCD movies onto
a DVD so that you can watch them all on
your player. Though this is a convenient
thing to do this will in no way improve the
quality of the video. You can use software
like Nero Vision to create a DVD movie.
All you need to do is select the video you
want to import to the DVD. It will convert
the VCD video to DVD format and also take
you through menu creation so that you can
select the movie you want to watch. Nero
Vision will allow you to do lots more than
Extract VCD DAT files and save as “MPG”
before importing to any DVD authoring tool
DR. CHIP | HANDS ON 107
Need a hand with your PC travails?
Log on to www.chip-india.com/
knowhow and post your query. Voila!
You’re on your way to a glitch-free
future.
Info | For Accurate Diagnosis…
1. Mention system specifications.
2. Mention new hardware or software
installed recently.
3. Note the error message, including the
action or event that triggers the error.
For instance, the error message comes
up only during startup or shutdown, or
when starting a particular application
and so on.
4. Mention any changes you’ve made
just before you started getting the
error. For instance, have you deleted
some files recently or uninstalled
some applications?
this like create templates and chapters but
it cannot be discussed in detail here. The
wizard driven interface is quite simple to
understand. You can also use ISOBuster
to extract the DAT files (video files on
a VCD are found in the MPEGAV folder)
as “MPG” files (right click and extract as
MPEG frames) and then use software like
TMPGEnc to convert these files to DVD
format. Use a DVD authoring software
to create your DVD with these files you
have just converted to DVD standard. This
method involves more than one software
compared to the one-stop method
provided by Nero Vision. 
108 HANDS ON | WORKSHOP
Pramod Jadhav
O
ften what designers or visualizers
delineate on screen don’t appear
the same on print. At times
when you want to create a replica of an
outstanding design that you might have
noticed on an office stationery, you are
worried about whether the visual will
appear as appealing after being printed.
The challenges are more in the traditional
and cost-effective silk-screen printing
process. So it is all the more necessary for
visual artists to keep a check on certain
parameters to ensure print-friendly designs
pertaining to silk-screen printing. This
workshop details few such aspects:
Step 1
Tracing image areas
At times, you might want to incorporate
a photograph in your design. But you
need to make the image silk-screen-print
compatible. Import the image in the
design application you’re using (Corel
Draw or Illustrator, for example). Next,
Graphics Guide
A look at certain measures that designers need to
follow fastidiously to create print-friendly graphics
Colors
Never use excessive colors in your design.
More colors means higher cost since the
printing press will charge you for each and
every color used.
Effects
To lower costs, it is better not to apply
effects like bevel & emboss or shadow or
blur in your design. To represent one of these
effects, the printing press will use more
than one color, which will in turn increase
the cost. Always design with flat colors and
ensure effects applied in your design don’t
require a gradual transition of colors.
you need to trace the image. To do this,
change the view option to “Wireframe”
(this will change the colored image into
black and white for better visibility) by
pressing “Alt+V+I”. Plot some anchor
points and create closed paths (see Notes)
around the highlight (parts of an image
that receive the highest amount of light),
Fonts
The printing press might not have the fonts
you’ve used to design your logos installed
on their computer. To avoid this problem,
convert the text into graphics; this process is
popularly known as “Convert to Curves”. All
you need to do is simply select the text and
run the command on the application you are
using. Once that is done, your text will be
visible on any computer screen even if the
fonts you’ve used are not installed on it.
Having talked about the important tips
that you need to keep in mind, let us walk
through a step-by-step workshop to make
your designs print friendly.
shadow (parts of an image that receive the
least amount of light) and mid-tone areas
(areas between highlight and shadow) of
the image. This will divide the image into
multiple parts of closed paths. The final
representation of the image will depend
a lot on how you trace the highlights,
shadows and mid-tones.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Step 2
Choosing colors
Now place the image and the collection of
closed paths separately. View your image
and decide on the number of colors that
you would like to use in your design. Draw
some small squares on the top right corner
of the page or artboard as it is known as
and fill all these squares with the colors
you have chosen. The number of these
squares will define the number of colors
you will use to print.
The next step is to select the collection
of closed paths in the image and fill them
with the color white. This will help you
understand whether all the tiny areas of
the traced image are at the foreground or
not. In case these areas remain hidden at
the background, select all of them and click
on the “Object | Arrange | Bring to Front”
option in the menu bar.
Note that it is important to bring the
small parts of the traced image in the
front as these areas highlight the details of
the image.
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
Step 3
Applying colors
After arranging all the parts of the traced
image, apply colors on them from the
colored squares you have created. If you are
using Corel Draw, for instance, right click
on one of the colors and drag it to where
you want to apply it. Next left click on the
option “Copy fill here” in the pop-up menu.
This will color the targeted part of the
image automatically.
In Illustrator, opt for the “Paintbucket”
tool to apply a color on multiple areas of an
image. In case the strokes (outlines of the
traced parts of an image) are colored, select
them and click on “Null” for the color to
disappear.
| Notes
Anchor points
A graphical shape is created by joining
together several anchor points.
Closed Path
The complete graphical shape after we
join the first and last anchor points.
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WORKSHOP | HANDS ON 109
Step 4
Creating ‘Separation’
This step involves the process of separating
color information. For example, if you
have used red at five different places, then
select the red areas and replace them
with black. Similarly, do that for all other
colors. Now copy the traced image into
another artboard. Select all the parts of the
traced image with one color. Replace the
color with black and delete the rest of the
traced image. Create a color index on top
left of this page showing which color has
been replaced with black. Follow the same
process—starting from creating a new page
to copying and pasting the traced image for
all the other colors. To replace colors, click on
the “Find/Replace” option in case of Corel.
Alternatively, in Illustrator, click on “Select
| Similar Fill color” from the menu bar to
select the parts with a single color and then
replace it with the color black.
Step 5
Saving files
Save all the pages that you have created
(with color and separation) in the native
format (for example, .CDR in Corel or .ILL in
Illustrator). Make sure you save your files in
the previous version of the application you
are currently using to avoid the problem of
version mismatch with the printer.
Along with the soft copy of your design,
always deliver a print of the colored page
and the pages that contain the color
separation information. This will help
the printer to understand the color, the
area where a color has been applied and
match the color when they print. You can
export all the pages with color separation
information to the .PDF format also. This
is a more acceptable format as most PCs
have Adobe Reader installed. 
| Pradosh Mitra
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110 HANDS ON | WORKSHOP

Creating Picture Packages

Using Adobe Photoshop, you can
package your collection of photos
into a single page. And guess what,
you don’t have to do it manually as
Photoshop has a readymade layout
prepared for this purpose
| Loh Ken Wei

Pramod Jadhav

1 Setting Picture Package Options 2 Source Setting

Open Adobe Photoshop. Once the main window
opens, click on “File | Automate | Picture
Package”. Wait for the “Picture Package” window
to open.
Now, pay attention to “Source Image.” In the
“Use” section, there are two options to choose
from. “File” for selecting single files and “Folder”
for selecting whole folders. Activate “Include All
Subfolder” if you choose the “Folder” option.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


3 Selecting Image
Click on “Browse” and select the particular
image you would like to include into your Picture
Package. For convenience, you cab group all the
desired images into one folder. After that, click
on “Open.”
5 Set Layout
For images to be arranged neatly, you should
determine the layout image for each page. You
can allocate space for 2, 4, 16 or 20 photos in
a page. Click on the arrow below “Layout” to
choose your desired layout.
7 Color Mode and Layer
Now, choose the color mode from Grayscale,
RGB, CMYK and Lab Color. Next, in the Color
Mode section, activate “Flatten All Layer” so
that there aren’t too many layers appearing on
your workspace.
WORKSHOP | HANDS ON 111
4 Set Page Measurements
In this step, you can determine the size of page to
be used. In the “Picture Package” window, browse
under “Document” section. Under “Page Size,” set
your page measurements and then click on “OK”
when done.
6 Image Resolution
To maintain the image quality of the orginal,
go to the “Resolution” menu and choose to
maintain the same resolution value. Otherwise,
it is recommended to leave resolution value at
default the value of 72 pixels/inch.
8 Saving and Previewing Results
Click on “OK” to view the results on the Adobe
Photoshop workspace. You can still rearrange
photos in Photoshop in case some of them are
not properly aligned. Finally, click on “File | Save
As.” That’s it—all your photos neatly packaged.
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Barbwired Wireless
Security is important to both businesses and home users. In this workshop we tell
you how to secure your wireless network and keep your intruders at bay
T
he use of wireless networks is not as
rampant in India as it is in countries in
Europe and North America. But with the
dramatic increase in laptop sales (according to
the Manufacturers Association of Information
Technology, there has been around 94 percent
increase in laptop sales, in the first half of
2005-2006), wireless network usage will
become mainstream since most laptops today
are wireless enabled by default. We have also
seen the proliferation of Wi-Fi zones at various
hotels, airports, etc in the past few years. With
the increase in home broadband penetration
and the availabililty of affordable wireless
routers, (an entry-level wireless router can
be bought for around 3-4k), wireless network
usage is likely to get more acceptance.
Wireless routers are very easy to set up
and many of them are virtually plug and play.
Most wireless routers don’t provide any kind
of security in their default setup, which means
your network is open to hackers and intruders
alike. In this workshop, we list down a few
steps that you must keep in mind while setting
Dinesh Desai
up your home or office wireless network.
Otherwise one day you might wake up to find all
your bandwidth used by someone else or your
personal shares and files accessed or your e-mail
passwords stolen.
Note: We used the Buffalo AirStation WHR-
HP-G54 wireless router in this workshop. The
features of your wireless router may vary.
Place the device at a strategic
location
Place the wireless device in the center of the
room or building. This radiates the signal evenly
all across the room and up to the windows. If
the device is kept near a window or an opening,
chances are the signals will proliferate a long way
outside or into an adjoining office depending on
how your office setup is.
Set/change the default password
All routers can be managed using the web-based
interface. Manufacturers provide a default
password or no password at all for logging on
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Change the default password so that
entry to the wireless router is restricted
to the administrative interface. Change
the default password to your liking. Refer
to the box item on tips for choosing a
strong password system. This will deter
any users from connecting to the router
and changing any of the system settings.
You cannot reset the default password
remotely; you need to have physical
access to the router to do this. Most
routers cannot be managed from the WAN
interface by default. Don’t interfere with
this setting unless you absolutely have to.
Hide your network
All wireless routers have one unique name
assigned to them. This is technically known
as SSID or Serivce Set Identifier. By default,
wireless routers are set to broadcast their
network names so that client systems
can pick them up and they can be used to
connect to the wireless devices. When you
disable SSID broadcast, your router becomes
invisible to laptops. This type of security is
called “Security through Obscurity”. While
this feature keeps most snoopers at bay, a
determined hacker will be able to find your
wireless network with the use of sniffing
tools like Netstumbler, Ethereal and Kismet.
With the SSID disabled, your wireless
device becomes invisible on the network
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
A WPA key ensures a very high level of
security of your wireless network
Use encryption
Leaving the encryption system disabled
is a very common mistake made in most
wireless implementations. Having some
form of encryption system is better than
having no encryption at all. Although
WEP is a weak encryption system, it keeps
most eavesdroppers at bay. Cracking
the WEP key is possible due to its weak
algorithm implementation. This involves
a simple process with the right hardware
(a PCMCIA card that supports the Orinoco
chipset) and software like Aircrack, which
are freely and easily available. There is
a catch however: if a longer key length
is used, one has to get more data for
analysis. You should enable WPA2 over the
WEP protocol for the additional security
measures it has to offer.
Limit wireless connectivity by
MAC addresses
Wireless routers provide a feature of
restricting wireless connectivity with
MAC addresses. MAC addresses, unlike IP
addresses are hardware dependent and
are unique to each network interface
Not all systems can connect to your
router with MAC filtering enabled
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WORKSHOP | HANDS ON 113
Choosing the right password
Keep in mind the following two things
while choosing a password system.
Length of the password
A password should consist of at least
eight characters. The longer the
password, the more difficult it gets
to break it. There is nothing like an
unbreakable password protection
system. All passwords can be cracked
using the brute force method. Cracking
a password is a factor of time. The
longer the password, the more time it
takes to try all possible permutations
and combinations. In case of a wireless
router, even if you have a 6-character
password, trying to brute force it using
an automated script over the bandwidth
that the device provides would take
an intruder ages to guess the password
in theory.
Password complexity
A password should typically include
alphabets, numerals as well as special
characters. Such a combination would
fail most dictionary-based attacks. An
intruder uses the most common words
in the form of a dictionary and compares
them with the password. This method is
a lot faster than a brute force attack as
the number of possible combinations is
reduced drastically and most passwords
can be recovered in reasonable time
frames. Avoid using passwords like your
name or names of your relatives, etc
as they can be easily guessed. Another
example is not to use “password” as the
password; use “p4ssw0rd” instead.
card. They are hardcoded in the network
hardware by the device manufacturers.
Although it is easy to spoof MAC
addresses in Windows as well as Linux,
it does provide an additional obstacle in
the path of the hacker. The disadvantage
of using such a system comes to the fore
when many laptops connect to a single
wireless router; this is because most
wireless routers support a limited number
of MAC address entries. It is impractical
to use this system in case of wireless
hotspots but in case of home or small
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114 HANDS ON | WORKSHOP
WEP: Entry-level security
WEP or Wired Equivalent Privacy was the
first security implementation in WLAN
devices. It uses a stream cipher called
RC4 which encrypts data packets bit
by bit. Since it uses the RC4 algorithm,
it is quite fast in performance. WEP
is traditionally considered insecure
because every bit of plaintext data needs
to be encrypted with a unique key to
generate the cipher text. The unique key
is generated with a combination of the
user key and a pseudo random number
generator called an initialization vector.
Since the length of the IV is limited to 24
bits, there is roughly a 50 percent chance
that the same key will be repeated after
about every 5,000 packets. This means
if you are able to sniff enough data, the
key can be easily found depending on the
number of packets and the speed of the
hacker’s PC. Also, WEP keys don’t contain
any special characters. This reduces the
total number of characters that can be
used in a key thus limiting the key space
and thereby reducing the time taken
to crack the key in a brute force attack.
Most modern wireless routers support
128 and 256 bit keys for WEP encryption
increasing the number of cipher keys
which in turn leads to an increase in the
time taken to crack the key in a brute
force attack.
WPA: Security supercharged
WPA or Wi-Fi Protected Access was
implemented to overcome the security
problems that were inherent in the WEP
protection system. WPA supports 48-bit
initialization vectors—double that of
WEP, reducing the chances of IV collision
by twofold. WPA still uses the same RC4
encryption algorithm with a key size of
128 bits. It also uses TKIP or Temporary
Key Integrity Protocol which changes
the keys on-the-fly thus providing for
better security.
A newer version of the WPA protocol
called WPA2 is now being implemented.
It provides a pre shared key-based
security system and uses the AES
encryption algorithm thereby providing
better security.
office, where the number of connecting
nodes are limited, MAC address-based
access control does provide additional
security. However, this system fails as it is
relatively easy to find MAC addresses.
Use application layer filtering
Traditional packet filtering firewalls are
not capable of filtering packets based on
payload. This is where an application layer
firewall or a proxy comes into the picture.
Application layer firewalls can be used
to block HTTP traffic based on content.
For example, if a user wants to block all
web sites comprising the word sex, the
wireless router will allow him to do so. It
also prevents him from visiting crack and
warez web sites thus preventing spyware
and adware infections. An application
layer firewall also features access rights
Be invisible on the Internet by blocking
ICMP packets using the IP packet filter
based on the time of day. For example,
if you want to restrict web access after
office hours, you can set up your wireless
device to block all web access after a
particular time of the day. Access can also
be blocked based on the day of the week.
Set up a firewall
A packet filtering firewall can be used
to restrict access to the wireless device
on the basis of ports and IP addresses.
Setting up a firewall system in the
wireless gateway can be useful to restrict
unwanted packets from viruses or worms
that can enter your system. A perfect use
of a firewall system would be to enable
blocking of “ICMP packets” so that users
on the Internet or the internal network
will not be able to ping you in their quest
to snoop your system. This allows your
SPI: More fire to your firewall
SPI stands for Stateful Packet
Inspection. Unlike a traditional
firewall system, which depends on
IP addresses and ports for packet
filtering, a SPI-based firewall also looks
at other aspects in the IP header to
determine the fate of the packet. A
stateful firewall is able to remember
a complete status at all stages of a
connection. So if a packet doesn’t
follow a predefined sequence while
communicating through the network
interface, it is immediately discarded.
This prevents spoofing attacks as well
as DOS (Denial of Service) attacks. SPI
also prevents attacks like port scanning
where an attacker checks for specific
services running on particular ports so
that they can be exploited if a known
vulnerability exists.
Ensure limited connectivity by reducing
your WLAN transmitting power
system to be invisible. Although there
are other techniques to determine the
existence of a system and determine what
OS/services are being run on it, a basic
firewall system will keep out script kiddies
and automated exploits out of your
network. A firewall also helps in blocking
known malicious users.
WLAN transmitter power
This is another useful feature not found
on many wireless routers. You can reduce
the transmitting power of your wireless
device by decreasing the output power
wattage. This can be adjusted through
software that can reduce the operating
range of the device as the transmitting
range of any wireless device is directly
proportional to the transmit power. 
| Kunal Rupera
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

Presentations with pizazz
To ensure your PowerPoint presentations strike a note, insert audio and video clips
into them and add the much needed jazz
B
ored of making the same kind of
presentations in the conference room?
Now is the time to spiff them up!
Embedding audio and video clips into ordinary
PowerPoint presentations can make them
interesting and visually compelling. PowerPoint
gives you the option of adding a lot of file
formats—still pictures, movie files, music
files and even flash animation. But before you
get down to doing this, you must know that
PowerPoint uses Windows system services to
take care of the entire multimedia-heaving job.
You will need both video and audio software
and hardware (including a microphone) if you
wish to record sound. To edit some of these files,
you’ll need basic video editing applications. Note
that the most important thing you need here is
Codecs. Codecs are used to compress media files
during file creation and decompress them during
playback. Codecs are essential for rendering media
files, especially video files, small enough to be
stored on a hard drive. However, the codec used
to compress a specific file must also be available
to decompress the file during playback. If the
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
WORKSHOP | HANDS ON 115
Pramod Jadhav
necessary codec is not installed on the computer
opening the file, the file cannot be accessed. You
can either use KLite Mega Codec pack or Nimo’s
Codec pack to plug your system with codecs.
Considering the presentation into which you
want to insert multimedia files is ready, let’s dive
into the necessary steps listed in this workshop.
Inserting video
This is as simple as it sounds. To insert video:
First navigate to the slide where you want
the video inserted in a new or existing
presentation.
Choose “Insert | Movies & Sounds | Movie
from File” and choose the required video file.
PowerPoint prompts you if you want the
movie to play automatically or only when
clicked—choose the option you desire. You
can tweak your choice later if you want
by clicking upon the Custom Animation
taskpane.
Video with play controller
PowerPoint also gives you an option to insert
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116 HANDS ON | WORKSHOP
Insert the multimedia file from the Insert
menu
video objects within a slide. This basically
gives you total control over your slides.
With the help of the video controller, you
can control the video in the slide show
while PowerPoint is in the slide show
mode. Using the play control option, you
can stop, pause and play the video similar
to watching a movie on your media player.
Open PowerPoint and navigate to the
slide where you want your video to
be inserted.
Choose “Insert | Object.”
In the “Insert Object” dialog box, select
the “Create from file” radio button and
browse to the file you want to view in
the presentation.
Right-click on the file icon that comes
up and click on “Custom Animation”,
and a side taskpane will open up. Here
you can set options like “Auto Rewind”
and add different effects to make your
presentation look as cool as you want.
Click anywhere outside the video object
and reposition and resize the video as
per your requirement.
Normally, video objects play when
clicked—if you want the video to play
immediately with the slide:
Select the video and choose “Slide Show
| Custom Animation”. This will activate
the Custom Animation taskpane.
With the video object still selected,
choose the “Add Effect | Object Actions |
Play” option.
Change the default Start value from “On
Click” to “After Previous”.
To watch videos in the full screen mode in
PowerPoint:
In the Custom Animation taskpane,
click on the file you want to play, and it
shows as a dropdown list; here click on
The Custom Animation option lets you
tweak your videos
effect options.
A new window will open up; now click
on the “Movie setting” tab and select
the radio button zoom to full screen.
You’ll also find other options like looping
the movie or rewinding it after playing
within this dialog box.
Inserting video playlists
You can create a playlist of your videos in
Windows Media Player and play the entire
sequence of videos in PowerPoint—an
invaluable idea if you want to play a series
of videos within a presentation seamlessly
and don’t have the time to get the videos
rendered together with the help of a video
editing software.
Open Windows Media Player and create
a playlist consisting of your videos.
Create a playlist containing both videos
and sounds. Save the playlist as a
Windows Media Playlist file (*.WPL)
Open PowerPoint and open the
presentation into which you want to
insert the playlist. Go to the slide where
you want to begin playing the sounds
and choose “Insert | Movies and Sounds
| Movie from File”.
Navigate to the folder where you have
saved the playlist (*.WPL) file.
Select the playlist and click on “OK”. You
will get a prompt asking whether you
want the sound to start automatically
or after clicking upon it. Choose your
option accordingly.
Right click on the icon that is visible
on the slide and click on the “Custom
Animation” option. In the Custom
Animation taskpane, click on the
playlist and choose “Effects” from the
dropdown menu.
Choose the Windows Media Playlist file
To control the number of videos playing
on a particular slide, go to the “Stop
playing group” option and specify the
number of slides you want the playlist
to continue playing. If you want all
the videos to play on a single slide,
choose the “Stop playing after current
slide” option.
Inserting flash animation (.SWF)
Your presentation will be one of its kind
with Flash animation. Macromedia Flash
is a popular animation format with plenty
of files freely available on the Internet.
PowerPoint supports Flash (.SWF is the
Shockwave file format used by Flash),
which can be either linked or embedded
into your presentation. Applications like
Macromedia’s Captivate, which creates
flash movies of running software, lets
you record what you wish to from your
screen and use it as an animation in your
presentation.
Flash (.SWF) in PowerPoint
Here are a few steps to help you use Flash
animation in your presentation.
Open PowerPoint and in the Normal
The Effects option helps you create
different effects for your presentation
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 WORKSHOP | HANDS ON 117

View, open the slide in which you want

to play the Flash animation.
Click on “Toolbars” on the “View” menu,
and then click on “Control Toolbox”.
Click on “More Controls” and scroll
down to search for “Shockwave Flash
Object”, and click on it.
A rectangle will open up on the
slide; drag the pointer to stretch the
rectangle and then drag and drop the
Shockwave Flash Object into it.
You can resize the object by dragging
the sizing handles. If you want the
movie to cover the entire slide, size the
rectangle to reach the edges of the
slide.
Right click on the Shockwave Flash
Object and then click on “Properties”.
On the “Alphabetic” tab, click on the
“Movie property”.
In the blank cell next to “Movie”, type
the Flash file’s full drive path including
the file name (for example, C\:My
Documents\Test.swf).
In the “Properties” dialog box, set the
options to play the animation.
To play the file automatically when
The Configure option provides you
different file formats to choose from
| Note
The Shockwave Flash Object control
must be installed on any computer that
runs the presentation.
the slide is displayed, set the “Playing
property” to “True”.
If the Flash file has a “Start/Rewind”
button, set “Playing” to “False”.
To play the file only once, in the “Loop
property”, select “False”.
If you want to distribute your
presentation through a CD or via e-mail,
then in the “EmbedMovie property”,
The properties taskpane provides you
several options to control your animation
select “True”.
To view the animation, select “Slide Show”.
Tweak the placement and size of the
embedded animation on the slide. You can
do a lot of things here like overlaying titles
or other text on the movie by adding a text
box on top of the object control. The text
is displayed when you play the movie, and
then disappears in the second frame.
These snazzy video options will surely
give your mundane presentations an extra
edge, making them your colleagues’ envy
and your pride. 
| Faheem Sayed

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

 The personal touch
Sign each mail sent to fifty! The mail merge feature in
Microsoft Word lets you personalize e-mails while mass
mailing, in a jiffy
L
et’s say you want to invite your family and
friends for a special occasion and you want to
send the invitation by e-mail. Undoubtedly,
using the “Blind Courtesy Copy” (BCC) feature
in e-mail clients is the quickest way to send an
e-mail to a group of people. This way you are able
to mass-mail people without disclosing the list of
recipients in the header of the e-mail. However,
adding your personal touch to an e-mail by
addressing recipients by their names or adding a
personal note at the bottom of each message does
make a huge impact. While sending business mails,
personalization makes a big difference between
you and your clients/customers, translating into
a stronger relationship. But adding the personal
note doesn’t mean you’ll have to touch each e-mail
manually. That would certainly take ages! Instead,
use the mail merge feature in Microsoft Word XP
or 2003 to create a common e-mail message that
| TIPS
Keep your address book updated
The Outlook address book is a master contact
list containing the e-mail address, name and
other details of all the contacts. Hence, make
sure it is up to date at all times so that you don’t
miss out any recipient.
Organize your contact list
When you want to e-mail a certain group of
people such as friends, customers and so on,
organize your contacts in groups so that you can
directly choose to mass-mail a group of people
rather than selecting recipients individually.
contains unique elements, so that each recipient
receives a personalized version. Even though there
are software specifically meant for group-mailing,
the benefits of using Word are:
You don’t have to invest in a separate software.
You can use the existing address book in
Microsoft Outlook to select the recipients.
You need not necessarily have a POP3 e-mail
account. It is possible to use your Hotmail
account as Microsoft Outlook has support
for it.
The process of using mail-merge for
personalizing e-mail messages may seem complex.
But thanks to Word’s wizard-driven interface, the
entire process is a cakewalk just requiring a few
mouse-clicks and it’s done in no time at all . Before
we get into the nitty gritties of each step, here are
a few tips that will help you save time and make
your task easier.
Backup your address book
God forbid your Outlook address book gets
corrupted or deleted by a nasty virus, you will
lose all your contacts! To prevent such losses,
back up your address book regularly using the
import/export feature from the file menu.
Check your e-mails before sending
While mass mailing, if the e-mail contains
mistakes, all the recipients will get the wrong
information. Therefore it is important to check
your e-mail not once but thrice to make sure it
is error free.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

STEP 1. Start off with typing the e-mail
message in a new Word document. But
don’t type the greeting line since it needs
to be personalized. After you’re done with
typing the message, go to “Tools | Letters
and mailings | Mail merge”. This will bring
up the “Mail Merge” wizard in the right
pane. Under the “Document type” section,
select the option “E-mail messages” and
proceed to the next step.
STEP 4. Now comes the most crucial part of
the workshop—personalizing each e-mail
message. What we need is the name of
the recipient in the greeting line. Go to
the very beginning of the message where
the greeting line appears and select the
“Greeting line” option from the wizard.
Type the greeting and the format of the
name in the message. On clicking “OK”, the
<<Greeting line>> tag will appear at the
cursor position.
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
STEP 2. Here you need to select the source
of the e-mail message. Since you started off
with typing the message, select the option
“Use the current document”. If you already
have the message document ready, you can
choose the third option which says “Start
from the existing document”. If you wish,
you can also make use of one of the existing
mail merge templates after selecting the
second option from the wizard.
STEP 5. After placing the greeting line and
other tags at their respective locations,
click on the “Next” button to preview your
e-mail messages. Here you can preview
the message that will be received by each
recipient. You can click on the forward and
back buttons in the wizard to cycle through
each of the personalized messages.
You also have the option of making last
minute changes to the recipient list before
completing the merge.
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WORKSHOP | HANDS ON 119
STEP 3. Now choose the recipients to
whom you wish to send the message. You
have two choices here. You can either use
the contacts from the Microsoft Outlook
address book or type the list of recipients
manually. However, while typing the list
manually, don’t ignore the name field as it
will be required to personalize the greeting
line of the message. There is no limit to the
number of recipients.
STEP 6. To complete the merge, click on
“Electronic mail” under the “Merge” section.
You will be presented with the “merge to
e-mail” dialog box. Type the subject line and
click on the “Ok” button. Now close Word
and launch Microsoft Outlook. Notice the
outbox containing the personalized e-mail
messages addressed to each recipient
individually. Finally, hit the “Send/receive”
button to send all your messages. 
| Anand Tuliani
Story code: HWM (See Page 20 for details)
120 HANDS ON | TIPS & TRICKS

Tips&Tricks SEPTEMBER 2006

WINDOWS 121
1 Windows XP IPC$ error
2 Windows XP System restore
3 Windows XP Viewing thumbnails
4 Windows XP Thumbnail change
5 Windows XP Disabling low disk space pop-up
6 Windows XP Controlling program list
7 Windows XP Retrieving password
Umesh Dahiwalkar
8 Windows XP Restricting cookies

Tip of the month | Hardware

APPLICATIONS 122
Boosting modem volume 9 Microsoft Office Research tool
When I dial my ISP to connect to the Internet, 10 Microsoft Office Disabling auto-formatting of links
the volume of the dial tone is very low. I have an 11 Winamp Winamp in system tray
internal modem and hence it is all the more difficult 12 Windows Media Player 10 Clear URL history
to hear. How can I boost the volume of the modem? 13 Operating System Playing patented formats on Ubuntu
14 Adobe Illustrator Applying text on images
Follow these steps to boost the volume 15 Adobe Illustrator Increasing fonts in the Recent font list
of the modem: 16 Adobe Photoshop Changing color of opaque area without
selecting
Right click on “My computer” and select
17 Adobe Photoshop Creating graphics with fixed size
“Properties” to bring up the “System
18 GNU Image Manipulation Program Converting images
properties” dialog box.
Select the “Hardware” tab and click on the
“Device manager” button. INTERNET & COMMUNICATION 125
From the devices listed, expand “Modems” by 19 Internet Explorer Clearing browser cache after exit
clicking on the “+” sign before it. 20 Internet Explorer Fine-tune Internet access speed
Under “Modems”, right click on the modem 21 Internet Explorer Changing fonts
22 Outlook Decreasing load time
installed and select “Properties” to bring up
23 Browser Labeling e-mails in Thunderbird
the “Modem properties” dialog box.
24 Web Browser Backing up address book in Thunderbird
Here, select the “Modem” tab and move the
25 Web Browser Create buttons in Opera
“speaker volume” slider to the extreme right
to boost it to the max.
Click on the “OK” button and close the dialog HARDWARE 127
boxes when you are done. 26 Mobile Phone Adding voice commands
You will now be able to hear the dial tone clearly. 27 Stereo Cable Junk wires
28 BIOS Using keyboard/mouse to switch on the PC

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


Windows
1 | Windows XP
IPC$ error
Whenever I try to access my desktop from
my notebook I get a dialog box asking
for password. It always tries to access the
“IPC$” and entering any password does
not work. How do I access my Windows
XP notebook from my desktop, which has
Windows 98 installed on it?
To access your Windows XP
notebook from your desktop with
Windows 98 installed, follow the steps
mentioned below:
Make a note of the username and
password you use to log in to your
Windows 98 machine. This refers to
the initial login screen you get when
Windows boots to the desktop. If you
don’t have one then create one—don’t
use a blank password.
On the Windows XP machine, create
a user account similar to the one
you use to log in to the Windows 98
machine.
Click on “Start | Settings | Control
Panel | Administrative Tools |
Computer Management” on the
Windows XP machine.
Under “Computer Management
(Local), go to “System Tools | Local
Users and Groups | Users”.
Click on the “Action” menu and select
“New User”.
Create a new user just as the one you
1a Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP if you
manually enter IP addresses
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
1b Create a new user on the Windows XP
machine that matches your Windows
98 login
use on the Windows 98 machine. The
password also has to be the same.
Uncheck “User must change password at
next logon”.
Now check “Password never expires”.
Click on “Create” and then on “Close”.
Disable “Simple File Sharing” on
Windows XP. Open Windows Explorer and
click on “Tools | Folder Options”.
Click on the “View” tab and uncheck
“Use Simple File Sharing”.
Click on “Apply” and then on “OK”. Now
try to access your Windows XP shared
from the Windows 98 machine.
If this also does not work, check to
see if Windows XP’s firewall is on and
restricting access to the machine. Disable
it.
You have in all probability assigned
manually entered static IP addresses
to the desktop and notebook. On the
XP notebook, click on Start | Settings |
Network Connections.
Right click on your network connection
and select “Properties”.
Click on “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”
and select “Properties”.
Click on the “Advanced” button and
then select the “WINS” tab.
Select “Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP”
under “NetBIOS setting”.
2 | Windows XP
System Restore
Recently my son used my computer
to surf the Internet after which my
computer has been encountering sudden
crashes. I did not take the long approach
of formatting the hard disk and installing
SMS us!
TIPS & TRICKS | HANDS ON 121
Windows again. So a friend recommended
“Windows System Restore”. Of what I
understand, it restores the system to an
earlier date. I have recently saved a lot of
critical work data on my hard drive. Will
System Restore also delete the data?
The System Restore feature of
Windows XP enables you to restore your
system to an earlier date without losing
personal data files like Word documents,
graphic files, e-mail. System Restore
actively monitors system file changes
and some application file changes to
record or store before the changes have
occurred. Restore points are created at
the time of significant system events
(such as application or driver install) and
periodically (each day). Additionally, you
can create and name your own restore
points at any time. But only users with
administrative rights can use System
Restore to restore and adjust System
Restore settings. System Restore monitors
only a core set of specified system and
application file types (e.g. .exe, .dll etc),
archiving the states of these files before
system changes are made. System Restore
does not monitor any user/personal data
files. As System Restore monitors a core
set of specified system and application
file types, any downloaded or saved file
which has an extension type monitored by
System Restore and stored on a monitored
drive will be lost if restoring to a point
prior to the download or save. If you do
not want to lose files with a monitored
extension due to a restore, move these
files to the “My Documents” folder or to
a non-monitored partition not restored
during a restore process.
3 | Windows XP
Viewing thumbnails
Can I view only the thumbnails and not
the filenames of a particular folder?
To turn off filenames, hold down
the “Shift” key when you click to open a
folder in Windows Explorer or when you
switch to thumbnail view. This will turn
off the file names, leaving more space for
the thumbnails. Repeating this procedure
will turn the filenames on.
Story code: HTT (See Page 20 for details)
122 HANDS ON | TIPS & TRICKS
4 | Windows XP
Thumbnail change
How can I change the size and quality of a
thumbnail in Windows XP?
You can change the size and quality of
the shell’s thumbnails by:
Start regedit, expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER
(only for you) or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (for
all users of this computer) and in Software\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer, add or modify the following
entries:
ThumbnailSize – Double Word, decimal
value between 32 and 256.
ThumbnailQuality – Double Word,
decimal value between 50 and 100.
5 | Windows XP
Disabling low disk space pop-up
I always get this irritating notification that
my disk space is low. Is there any way that I
can disable or remove this notification from
popping up?
To turn off the low disk space
notification:
Start regedit, expand HKEY_CURRENT_
USER and in Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer, and set the
value of NoLowDiskSpaceChecks to DWORD
= 1. (This modification requires a logoff or
reboot to work.)
6 | Windows XP
Controlling program list
How do I get all the components installed
by Windows to be shown in the Add/
Remove program list?
There are a few unique methods through
which we can control what appears on the
program list:
If you have installed Windows in
C: drive, Go to C:\WINDOWS\inf
(substituting the correct drive letter for
your version of Windows) and open the
sysoc.inf file.
Look out for components that have the
word Hide as the second last item on
the row. This hide tells the system to
not to display those items/apps in the
Add/Remove program list. If you want
to have this item in the Add/Remove list,
simply replace it with a blank.
7 | Windows XP
Retrieving password
I always tend to forget my Windows
password. Is there a way to have a
password recovery disk so that I can
retrieve my password easily?
Yes, there is an option to create a
password reset disk in windows XP. Go to
“Start | Control panel | User accounts”.
Then click your account name and
then on “Related tasks”.
Next, click on “Prevent a forgot
password”. A wizard will come up.
Follow the simple instructions and you
have your password reset disk ready.
Note: As it goes with things like
passwords, make sure that you keep this
disk in a secure location, else you risk
trespassing with your user account.
8 | Windows XP
Restricting cookies
How do I restrict cookies for a particular
site from downloading on my computer?
To restrict cookies from
downloading, do the following
Click on “Start | Control Panel |
Network and Internet Connections |
Internet Options”.
Click on the “Privacy tab”, and then
use the slider bar to modify your
cookie settings. For instance, you
can block cookies from sites that use
personal identification without your
consent.
To increase your security, try the other
privacy settings in this dialog. The
lowest level is accepting all cookies
while the highest is blocking all
cookies, with low, medium, medium-
high, and high settings in between.
An explanation of each appears as you
move between settings. Keep in mind
that rejecting cookies may limit your
actions on some web sites.
Applications
9 | Microsoft Office
Research tool
What is the function of the Research tool
present in Microsoft Office 2003 and how
do I use it?
The Research tool in Microsoft Office
2003 can be used to seek information on a
selected word or phrase in a Word, Excel or
PowerPoint file. To use the Research tool do
the following:
Select a word or a phrase in the
document. Now, keeping the “ALT” key
pressed, left-click on the selection to
bring up the “Research” pane.
Using the dropdown list below the
“Search for” field, choose the reference
book, which you would like to refer.
If you wish to look up the meaning
of a word, you can use the Encarta
Dictionary or Thesaurus. For detailed
information, you can even choose to
look up the Encarta Encyclopedia or
Factiva iWorks.
With the research tool present in Microsoft
Office, you don’t need to refer any
encyclopedia, dictionary or use any search
engine.
10 | Microsoft Office
Disabling auto-formatting of links
Each time I type an Internet or a network
path, Word automatically converts it
to a hyperlink. How do I disable auto-
formatting of links in Word?
If you don’t want Word to
automatically format Internet or network
paths, here’s how you can disable the
feature:
Go to “Tools | AutoCorrect Options” to
bring up the AutoCorrect dialog box.
Click on the “AutoFormat as you type”
tab.
Uncheck the option “Internet and
network paths with hyperlinks”.
Since Word won’t auto-format Internet and
network paths, you will need to manually
convert these to hyperlinks if you need to.
11 | Winamp
Winamp in system tray
Instead of Winamp occupying space on
the taskbar, I would like to have it in my
system tray. How can I do that?
If you spend hours listening to
music while you’re at the PC, running
Winamp will eat up space on the taskbar.
Instead you can place Winamp in the
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

system tray and free some space on the
taskbar for other applications. Here’s how
you can do this:
After launching Winamp, press
“CTRL+P” to bring up the “Preferences”
dialog box.
Click on “General Preferences” in the
left pane.
Under the “Show Winamp in:” section,
uncheck “Taskbar” and check “System
tray”.
Now close the dialog boxes for the
changes to take effect.
12 | Windows Media Player 10
Clear URL history
Media Player stores the list of URLs I have
streamed media from. Even though it is
meant to be helpful, I do not want it to
save the links. Can I disable it?
12 Stop Media Player from saving the URLs
you visit from the Privacy options
You can configure Media Player to
stop storing the URLs you visit. You can
even keep this setting and manually clear
the visited URLs.
Click on “Tools | Options” and click on
the “Privacy” tab.
At the bottom of the “Options” dialog
box, under the “History” section,
uncheck “Save file and URL history in
the Player”. From now on the URLs you
visit will not be saved anymore.
If you don’t mind clearing the cache
manually then you can keep this
setting enabled and click on “Clear
History” to remove all URLs visited. The
“Clear Caches” is for the artist, album
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
and track information that is saved
whenever an audio CD or DVD is played
on the system.
13 | Operating System
Playing patented formats on Ubuntu
I installed a fresh copy of Ubuntu from the
CHIP DVD but I have not been able to play
MP3 music or DVD media, run Java script,
view flash-based web sites or even use
Microsoft fonts. I have a video card that
supports 3D hardware acceleration but I
get bad frame rates in games like Quake 3.
Also, transferring data from the DVD drive
to the hard disk is really slow. I cannot use
VoIP services like Skype to make phone
calls to buddies elsewhere. What can I do
to rectify all these problems?
The default install of Ubuntu 6.06
does not allow playing of restricted formats.
For more information see https://help.
ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats
and you will know why Ubuntu is not able
to play non-free, restricted and patented
formats. Ubuntu does not include Flash,
Shockwave or Java support for the web
browser. It does not include fonts like Ariel,
Verdana, etc. You cannot use VoIP clients like
Skype. The default X.org drivers for ATI or
Nvidia don’t support hardware acceleration
to its full potential.
To enable all of the above, get a copy
of EasyUbuntu from http://easyubuntu.
freecontrib.org/index.html. Fire up your
popular terminal client and put in the
following:
wget http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.
org/files/easyubuntu-3.022.tar.gz
tar -zxvf easyubuntu-3.022.tar.gz
13 Select the appropriate option you want
to install on your Ubuntu system
TIPS & TRICKS | HANDS ON 123
cd easyubuntu
sudo python easyubuntu.in
This will bring up the GUI interface of
easyubuntu.
Now select the required options and
click on “OK”. Now you can listen to your
favorite MP3s, watch your DVD or DivX
movies and run 3D games like Quake 3
at acceptable frame rates with the ATI or
Nvidia proprietary drivers.
14 | Adobe Illustrator
Applying text on images
How can I type text at the top and at the
bottom of a circle drawn in Illustrator?
At times when you are designing a
logo, you need to type at the top and at
the bottom of the circle. Although, it is
impossible, a neat little trick can help you
create this effect.
Create a circle, select the “Path type”
tool and click on the stroke (outline) of
the circle. This will convert the stroke to
a path, where you can type text. Type
anything, for example, we typed, “This
text is written on top”.
Open the layer palette. At the menu
bar, click on “Window | Layer”.
Alternatively, click on “F7” on the
keyboard.
In the palette you will see a layer with
an expand/collapse button just in front
of the thumbnail. Click on it to expand
the layer. You will now see a sub-layer.
Select the sub-layer and drag it to the
“New layer” icon. This will create a
copy and paste it automatically on the
original circle.
124 HANDS ON | TIPS & TRICKS
14a
The “Path type” tool converts the stroke
of a circle to a path for typing text
14b Move the text along the circular path
with the third text handle, and adjust
overflow of text with the other two
14c Change the baseline settings of the text
to make it appear at the bottom of the
circle
Select the “Direct Selection” tool
(second tool on top of the toolbar) and
click on the text. You will see that the
text has three handles, two closely
placed and the third one at a distance.
Hold the third handle with the “Direct
Selection” tool and drag the text along
the circular path. Position the text at the
bottom of the circle and drag it inside.
Open the “Text” option window
and adjust the baseline settings by
reducing the value.
Change the text at the bottom and
your desired effect has been applied.
15 | Adobe Illustrator
Increasing fonts in the Recent font list
While working on Illustrator, I like to
experiment with at least seven to eight
types of fonts. When I recheck the font
styles later, I find only five of the used ones
in the Recent Font list How can I increase
this number?
15 Select the number of font types from
one to 15 for them to show in the
Recent Font list
To increase the number of font types
stored in the Recent Font list, you need to
do the following:
On the menu bar, click on “Edit |
Preference | Type & Auto Tracing”. This
will open the “Type & Auto Tracing”
window.
Beside the “Number of Recent Fonts”
option on the window, you can see
the default number, “5”. Click on the
dropdown arrow and select any other
number from one to 15.
Click on “OK” and start experimenting
with font types. Now you will find all
the font types you have worked with
in the “Recent Font” list, provided they
are within the limit set by you.
16 | Adobe Photoshop
Changing color of opaque area
without selecting
Whenever I apply any color on a layer
in Photoshop without selecting a set of
pixels, the entire layer gets colored. Is
there any shortcut of applying color on an
already colored area of the layer without
selecting?
16 To change the measuring unit, select
“pixels” from “Rulers” in the dropdown list
Applying color over an already
colored area without selecting it is a
long and tedious process. But to do that
you need to understand the concept of
transparent and opaque pixels.
All new layers are made up transparent
pixels. Once a transparent pixel is colored,
it becomes opaque. If you want to change
the existing color of the layer without
selecting the opaque area, follow the steps
below:
Click on the “Lock” layer option on the
layer palette. Here you will notice the
different locking icons below the layer
blending option. The first icon in the
row looks like a small checkered box.
Once you click on this icon, it will lock
all the transparent pixels of a layer.
In other words, no matter what you
do, you will never be able to color the
transparent pixels.
Select the layer you want to work on
and then click on this icon. After that
even if you don’t select an area and
apply color on the layer, you will notice
that the color is affecting only the
opaque area of that layer.
17 | Adobe Photoshop
Creating graphics with fixed size
How can I create an ellipse with a fixed size
on Photoshop?
To create an ellipse of a fixed size,
follow the steps below:
Select the “Elliptical marquee tool”, the
first one on the toolbar.
Change the “Style” option from the
option palette on top. Click on the
dropdown arrow of the “Style” option
and select “Fixed Size”. Type the sizes
(in pixels) that you need and then click
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

17a With the “Style” option, you can create
an ellipse or circle by setting an aspect
ratio between the width and the height
17b Type the units after a space on the
option bar, otherwise Photoshop will
consider the inputs to be invalid
on the artwork with the marquee tool,
and your fixed sized circle is ready.
Note:
If you want a circle, then both the width
and the height should be the same.
If you want a circle with “inches” as its
unit, then you need to specify that by
typing “in”.
Change the style back to “Normal” once
you are done, otherwise whenever you
try to select anything else, you will get
the same predefined selection.
18 | GNU Image Manipulation Program
Converting images
I work in the publishing field. I don’t
want to invest in Photoshop to convert
images from RGB to CMYK. Is there any
free alternative that can help me convert
RGB-based images to CMYK?
A very popular alternative to Adobe
Photoshop is the GNU Image Manipulation
Program or GIMP as it is popularly known.
Although Gimp in its current form lacks
CMYK support in the default install, a hack
does exist that can help convert images in
the RGB profile to CMYK.
You can grab a copy of GIMP for
Windows from http://gimp-win.
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
18 RGB to CMYK: The Seperate Field can
be used to convert your RGB image to
break up into C M Y and K
sourceforge.net/stable.html. You will
also have to download and install the
GTK + 2 libraries to run GIMP.
Once GIMP is downloaded and
installed; download the Adobe RGB
and CMYK profiles from http://www.
adobe.com/support/downloads/
iccprofiles/iccprofiles_win.html and
unzip them in a folder.
Download the separation files from
http://www.blackfiveservices.
co.uk/separate.shtml. After unzipping
the separate files, copy separate.exe
to C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\lib\
gimp\2.0\plug-ins. The new plug-in will
be recognized after GIMP is restarted.
To convert an image from RGB to
CMYK, open the image in GIMP and
click on “Image | Separate | Separate”
(to color).
You will be asked to select the source and
destination profiles for conversion. Select
sRGB Color Space Profile.icm in the source
and the desired CMYK destination profile.
Click on “OK”. Now you have an RGB image
converted to distinct five layers, white and
CMYK, ready to print.
Internet and Communication
19 | Internet Explorer
Clearing browser cache after exit
How do I configure Internet Explorer to
clear the browser cache after exit?
Unless you have a slow Internet
connection, it makes sense to clear the
browser cache as it occupies a considerable
amount of drive space unless you specify
the amount of disk space to be used for
browser cache or “Temporary Internet
Files”. You many not always remember to
flush the browser cache. Instead, you can
TIPS & TRICKS | HANDS ON 125
configure Internet Explorer to do the job
for you each time you exit. This is how you
do it:
Open Microsoft Internet Explorer and
go to “Tools | Internet options”.
Click on the “Advanced” tab and scroll
down to the “Security” section.
Check the option “Empty Temporary
Internet Files folder when browser is
closed”.
20 | Internet Explorer
Fine-tune Internet access speed
How do I fine-tune Internet access speed?
Accessing the Internet has to go
through a process called DNS resolution.
DNS stands for Domain Name Service.
Even though XP does a fine job of handling
DNS resolution, you will get better speed
by increasing the DNS cache size. To do
this, add the following entries in registry.
Save what is written below in a file say
“dnstuning.reg” file and import it in the
registry by opening the registry editor and
going to import option from the top menu.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\
Parameters]
“CacheHashTableBucketSize”=dword:000
00001
“CacheHashTableSize”=dword:00000180
“MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit”=dword:0000fa
00
“MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit”=dword:000
0012d
21 | Internet Explorer
Changing fonts
Is there any way that I can change the font
size of the content on a web page without
going to the View tab?
If you have a scroll mouse then font
changing is as easy as pressing the “CTRL”
key and rotating the scroll button on the
mouse either towards you (to increase) or
away from you (to decrease).
22 | Outlook
Decreasing load time
Outlook takes up a lot of time to open
up. How do I decrease the load time of
Outlook so that it displays quickly?
126 HANDS ON | TIPS & TRICKS
Open the RegEdit and navigate to the
next path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\[nr
of id]\Software\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\[vers]
Then create a new DWORD value called
NoSplash, and assign the value 1. Remember
to take a backup of the registry before doing
this!
23 | Browser
Labeling e-mails in Thunderbird
I find it very difficult to find e-mails
amongst the hundreds in my inbox and I
have to read all e-mails in a particular folder
to check their relevance. Is there any way I
can tag e-mails in a folder so that they can
be found easily and referred to quickly?
22 A color coded e-mail allows you to sort
and find e-mails in a jiffy
Studies have shown that items that
are grouped into color catches a person’s
attention very easily. E-mail clients like
Mozilla Thunderbird have a mail-labeling
feature. Labeling basically allows an e-mail
to be tagged as important, work, personal,
to do, later, etc. A particular tagged e-mail
gets color coded so one can easily make
out if that mail needs urgent attention
or not. It even facilitates easy access of
e-mails. Labeling e-mails in Thunderbird
involves the following steps.
Right click on the e-mail that needs to
be tagged and click on “Label”.
Choose from the above-mentioned
options and you will notice the mail
will get color coded.
24 | Web Browser
Backing up address book in
Thunderbird
Currently I use Mozilla Thunderbird as
my default mail client in office. Recently I
have been transferred to another location.
How do I take a copy of the address book
on my current client and transfer it to
Mozilla Thunderbird installed in my new
office?
You can easily and successfully
transfer your address book on any other
computer running Mozilla thunderbird
client. In fact, by using the following
method you can also transfer your address
book to any other e-mail client.
Open the client. Click on “Address
Book” on the top left hand side.
Then click on “Tools” in the top left
hand corner.
Click on the “Export” option. A new
window will pop up.
In the “Save as type” dropdown box
you will see three options: LDIF (*.ldi,
*.ldif), Comma Separated (*.csv), Tab
Delimited (*.tab, *.txt). Save your
address book in any of the above
mentioned formats. We suggest using
the Comma Separated (*.csv) format.
It will store you contact information
in an excel sheet format. Copy the file
to a pen drive or any other portable
device or simply mail it to your e-mail
account.
Then open Mozilla Thunderbird on the
computer at your new location. Go to
the “Address Book” and click on “Tools”.
Now click on “Import” instead of
“Export” like last time. A new window
pops up asking what you want to
import.
Choose “Address book” and click on
“Next”.
In the next window highlight “Text
file (LDIF, .tab, .csv, .txt) and click on
“Next”. Another window will open up
asking you to select the file. In the “File
of type” tab below, select “Comma
Separated (*.csv)” and then locate the
file of the address book.
Click on “Open” and you will see
another window. Here you can move
fields like “First name”, “Second name”,
“E-mail” etc to match the order of your
address book. Click on “OK” and bingo!
You have successfully transferred
your address book. You can check out
the new addresses by clicking on the
“Address Book” tab.
25 | Web Browser
Create buttons in Opera
I use Opera as my preferred browser. There
are certain tasks in Opera I use repetitively.
For example, if I want a certain page in
Firefox then I copy-paste the link into a
new Firefox window. Is there a way I can
automate the task by downloading and
installing a plug-in?
Yes, you can automate your tasks
in Opera by creating buttons and placing
them in the toolbar. These buttons are
created with the help of action scripts that
Opera recognizes. Visit http://operawiki.
info/CustomButtons and download the
task you want to automate.
Let us take the task you mentioned
above. If you want to open a page in
Firefox automatically without having to
copy-paste the link then you can create a
button to perform this task from the link
mentioned above.
First, use Opera to visit the link
mentioned above.
In the “Custom Buttons” page, under
“Table of Contents” click on “Web
Development”.
Under “Web Development”, click on
“Open Page in Firefox”. A “New Button”
dialog box with the message “Adding
25a Choose the action that you want to
automate by adding it to “My Buttons”
in Opera’s “Appearance” settings
25b Drag and drop the action button you
downloaded onto the toolbar
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006

new button with action” will appear.
Click on “Yes” to add the action button.
This will bring up Opera’s “Appearance”
dialog box in the “Buttons” tab. The
custom button will show up in the “My
Buttons” category.
Click and drag the button to the
toolbar. The toolbar is demarcated
with a thick yellow border. You can
either drop it near the “Forward/Back”
buttons or after the Address bar.
Click on “OK” to close the “Appearance”
box. Click on the button to test it. If
Firefox has been installed in the default
location on your system then the page
should open in Firefox.
To remove the button, right click on it
and select “Remove from toolbar”.
This only removes the button from the
toolbar and not from Opera altogether.
If you don’t want the action script either
then you can right click on the button and
select “Customize”.
Under “My Buttons”, right click on
the custom button you installed and
select “Remove from toolbar”. This will
remove the button completely. Click on
“OK”. Browse through the rest of the
automated action scripts and add the
ones you feel will improve your Opera
experience. Additional links to other
developers have been provided in case
you cannot find what you are looking for.
Hardware
26 | Mobile Phone
Adding voice commands
Is there any software available to access
certain applications on my Nokia 6600? I
don’t like to keep accessing the menu to
enable Bluetooth
The Nokia 6600 phone supports
voice commands. You can use this feature
to bring up applications with simple voice
commands. (If your phone supports voice
commands, you should also be able to
achieve the same result. Refer to your
phone’s manual.)
Press the “Menu” button and go to
“Tools” and select “Voice Commands”.
Choose the application you want to
activate with a voice command. If you
want to activate the “Silent” profile with
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
23b Create a voice command on the Nokia
6600 to enable or disable Bluetooth
a voice command, select “Profile” and
then choose “Silent” to add a voice tag.
To add a voice command to activate
Bluetooth, use the joystick to highlight
the application.
Press the “Options” button and select
“Add voice command”.
Press the “Start” button. Say the
command out aloud after you see
“Speak Now” and the status bar
moving. The command will be played
back and you can change it if you like
or delete it from the Options menu you
used earlier.
If you want to add an application that
is not present in the current list then
choose “New Application”. Choose
an application (say, “Converter”) and
proceed to add a voice command as
explained above.
To activate the voice command when
you are back to your “desktop”, keep
the right control button pressed
(the one that activates voice tag.
Refer to your manual, in case you use
a different model). This activates
the voice command mode. Say the
command you recorded and Bluetooth
will be enabled. To disable it, repeat the
procedure.
Keep in mind that these voice commands
should not conflict with the ones you set
for dialing numbers.
27 | Stereo Cable
Junk wires
I would like to connect my sound system to
the PC. But the stereo cable I’m using has
2 RCA connectors at the ends. Is it possible
to connect without adding more wires?
TIPS & TRICKS | HANDS ON 127
If you want to connect your sound
system or your game console to your
PC, you need to use the line-in jack on
the soundcard or the back panel of the
motherboard. Since the line-in jack is a
3.5 mm stereo jack, you cannot use a
cable that has two RCA connectors at
the ends. Instead of buying another
stereo cable that has a 3.5 mm pin at
the end, it would be wiser to buy a 2 RCA
(female) to EP (male) adapter from any
electrical store. Now, to use your existing
2 RCA cable, you just need to connect the
ends to the adapter and then connect
the adapter to the line-in jack of your
soundcard. The adapter is available for
around Rs 10. In case of game consoles,
which always have two RCA connectors
for audio output, you will require an
adapter if you want to connect it to the
PC using a TV tuner device.
28 | BIOS
Using keyboard/mouse to switch on
the PC
My computer is placed on a trolley. Each
time I want to switch it on, I have to bend
over and reach out for the power button.
Can I use the keyboard or mouse to turn
on my computer?
Yes, it is possible to turn your PC on
using the keyboard or mouse. You simply
need to make a few changes in the BIOS
settings to use this feature.
When you turn on your PC, press the
“Del” key on the keyboard as soon
as the computer boots up in order to
bring up the BIOS settings.
Using the arrow keys, select xxxx and
press “Enter”.
In the xxxx section, look out for the
option xxxx. Here, you can choose the
mouse or the keyboard to turn on the
PC.
After applying the changes, exit the
BIOS, saving the settings.
If the option is not available, it may
not be supported by the BIOS of your
motherboard.
The next time you want to switch your
PC on, simply press a key on the keyboard
or double click the mouse instead of
pressing the power button.
128 UNWIND | FEATURE

Fusion Unlimited
An osmosis of movies and games—that’s the newest form of
entertainment we are witnessing. We give you the ropes on this...

M ovies and games are two of the biggest growing entertainment industries in the world today. The gaming industry, although in its
infant stage, already crossed the 30 billion dollar mark in 2005, globally. While this industry is growing by leaps and bounds, the movie
industry has undergone a remarkable change—today’s movies have epic status; while their grandeur and glamor continue to inspire people,
their storylines have redefined the need for entertainment and have left audiences craving for more. Since generations, films of different
genres have enticed, excited, enthralled and enchanted us all. Now it starts all over again! But this time, you get to participate in them—by
playing your role in deciding the destinies of the characters. In an attempt to fuse two of the largest industries, we have seen a juxtaposition
of Hollywood blockbusters made into games and vice versa. Let us take you on a ride as we rack up some cool facts about these exciting films
and games. Here are some of them...

The Matrix: Path of Neo
After the great disappointment with Enter
the Matrix in 2003 we did not know what
to expect from Atari’s new Matrix venture
called The Path of Neo. As the name
suggests you play the great Neo himself.
The game starts off as a regular third
person shooter and I must say it is much
more satisfying than running around as
Ghost or Niobe all the time. But more than
that, the game does follow the Matrix
theme with awesome fatality moves, high
rise jumps, multi-target combo attacks
and most importantly, bullet time! The
game has the word Matrix screaming all
through and is packed with videos from
the movie as the story progresses. You
step into the shoes of Thomas Anderson
(Neo); the story is elaborate but the
famous highway chase scenes and Zion
battles aren’t included as we saw in
The Matrix, Reloaded and Revolutions
respectively. The game has an honest RPG
feel but the gameplay slides down as it
requires you to take a certain point before
you can advance further in the game.
Team AI can also get a little retarded at
times. For hardcore Matrix enthusiasts,
this game is a must play. But you are not
going to understand much if you haven’t
seen the movie. The game is on par with
the film although it could have been more
graphically expressive. It seemed to me as
if I were playing an upgrade of Jedi Knight.
The Matrix trilogy was a phenomenal
success at the box office grossing over
$1.6 billion. Directed by the Wachowski
brothers, this film is uniquely designed,
has an original concept and caters to all
age groups. Even though the series has
an “A” rating, it has been enjoyed by the
minors as well.
King Kong
It has been 72 years since the first King
Kong film was made (in the year 1933).
Since then there have been over five
different versions of this epic adventure.
The latest addition to the King Kong
movie family released in 2005, fetching
a box office profit of more than $547
million worldwide. While the movie
garnered box office success as well as
crticial appreciation in terms of the
technology used, the game heralded
next generation entertainment. In the
first version of the King Kong game, you
get to experience the fateful legend of
Kong as both human and beast. Survive
Skull Island as the unwitting hero Jack

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006


Driscoll in first-person shooting action
and unleash the staggering power of the
25-foot tall King Kong in third-person
action sequences. Use everything you
stumble upon in the jungle to your
advantage—exploit the natural food
chain of the prehistoric predators and
grab objects from the environment to kill
all those hunting you.
Just as the film elicited a feeling of awe,
specially in the jaw-dropping sequences,
when Kong goes on a rampage, the game
also succeeds in exciting and engrossing
you. The game can be played on both the
PC and console platforms—available for
the Xbox 360 and Game Cube.
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape
from Butcher Bay
The events narrated in The Chronicles of
Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay precedes
what we saw in the movie Pitch Black,
where the character of Riddick appeared
for the first time. Riddick is a bad man
thrown into the roughest prison of all
galaxies—Butcher Bay—scrambling to
escape from his hell-hole.
Pitch Black released in the year 2000
with its vicious alien sci-fi adventure but
cautiously packaged to not deviate from
the tried and tested formula of action
horror flicks. But nobody expected a
knockout first-person shooter starring the
now notorious anti-hero to find its way
into stores and leave gamers completely
floored. Which is exactly why The
Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher
SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
Bay was so well received on the Xbox.
In the game, you come to know Riddick
as a first-person shooter indulging
in blasting, hand-to-hand combat,
stealth attacks, and so on. Riddick takes
considerable risks in a crowded genre and
succeeds without much difficulty. The
game with its movie-inspired storyline
and presentation involving minimalist
HUD coupled with the deadpan delivery
of Diesel’s likeable killer, allows Riddick to
sink into a do-or-die situation.
The combat is sharp, the AI smart
and relentless, and the level design deft.
The launch of the game also coincided
with the blockbuster release of the
film, The Chronicles of Riddick, which
documents events after Pitch Black.
Surprisingly, neither the movie nor the
game performed very well, even though
both of them did sweep me off my
ground. According to sources, the movie
did not even cross its production budget
of $120 million. However, I recommend
you participate in this dystopic adventure,
visually and physically—it is hell of a ride!
Doom
I want to smash Andrzej Bartkowiak
for having made a mockery of the most
anticipated game ever! The movie Doom
took after the theme of the game Doom
3 where a group of marines sent on a
routine mission to Mars come face to face
with unprecedented circumstances.
The movie starring Karl Urban and
SMS us!
FEATURE | UNWIND 129
Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) globally
grossed only $54 million, way below its
production budget. The film was a total
waste as it didn’t live up to the standards
set by Doom 3, which made its mark as a
next generation game comprising unified
lighting and shadowing effects, complex
animations and scripting that show off
the real-time, fully dynamic per-pixel
lighting and stencil shadowing while the
GUI surfaces added that little extra and
much-desired interactivity to the game.
The game as we all know was well
received and is a must try although we
must it is not meant for the multi-player
gaming scene.
Tomb Raider
The Tomb Raider series set trend
waves in both these popular genres of
entertainment—movies and gaming. In
the last Tomb Raider movie that hit the
screens, Intrepid British archaeologist
Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) was shown
hitting upon perhaps the most important
archaeological discovery in history—an
orb that leads to the mythical Pandora’s
Box. Unfortunately, the story leads to
the orb falling into wrong hands—that
of Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran Hinds)—an
evil scientist who uses killer viruses
and hopes to sell the secrets of the box
as the ultimate weapon. Recruited by
British Intelligence to get the orb back
from Reiss, Lara recruits Terry Sheridan
(Gerard Butler), a British marine turned
mercenary to help. What follows is a
Story code: UFG (See Page 20 for details)
130 UNWIND | FEATURE
relentless adventure that the two embark
into spanning continents, in an attempt
to regain the orb. Angelina Jolie is not the
only crowd puller for this movie, it sticks
to the Lara Croft theme the audience
is used to coupled with its gripping
sequence of events. The film surpassed its
production budget of $94 million, making
a profit of $274 million worldwide.
The plot remains the same in both
the movie as well as the game versions—
saving the world. The latest Tomb Raider
game franchise, Tomb Raider: Legends is a
complete new beginning for the character
of Lara Croft as also for you as you get
to step into her shoes. Technically, the
game boasts of new character animations
and control schemes with amazing level
design. Lara is armed with all kinds
modern gadgets such as magnetic
grappling devices, binoculars, frag
grenades, personalized lighting devices
and communication equipment before
she sets out on her all-new ride.
The game fares better than the movie
series, which were not very well accepted
by the teenage movie crowd.
Flip the coin
Given the liberty to go a little crazy this
time around, we’ve rustled up some
ideas that could create a buzz on the
entertainment scene. Having talked
about movies that have translated into
successful games, let us now talk about
those that have the potential to become
great games.
In the movie Johnny English , we have
seen the whacko Rowan Atkinson aka Mr
Bean prancing around while maintaining
his suave side. A British secret agent, part
of the MI-7 organization, he is hired to
protect the Crown Jewels after all the
other agents are bumped off. When the
jewels are stolen, he unleashes a plot to
replace England’s monarch with what the
British fear the most: A French king.
Now how about playing a game
that featured the notorious antics of
Sir Johnny English? Our take is that it
would be freakishly funny. For starters,
it could be a regular third-person
shooter, where the character is sent
off on seemingly impossible and
useless missions. But the twist in the
tale would be when all these missions
draw the curtain on an international
crime syndicate planning to destroy
the world! Now wouldn’t that be fun?
From there on, it is the English to the
rescue. Obviously, we can expect loads of
gadgets and special abilities in the game.
I can’t wait for a title like that to release!
On the serious side, how about the
film Munich which was released just this
year in January? Munich is undoubtedly
well acted, well scripted, and brilliantly
directed. Hats off to Spielberg for leaving
no stone unturned in all areas of the film
– history, drama, action, romance and
sex in a 1970’s setting. This espionage
thriller although overlong contains some
exceptionally well executed sequences.
This $75 million film could be built into a
fast-paced FPS where you take up the role
of Avner—the protagonist played by Eric
Bana. You step into the world of murder
and espionage as you ruthlessly take
revenge against your enemies. The game
could be built around the psychological
concept of the film—“He who fights
monsters must take care lest he becomes
a monster himself.” Munich if made into
a game will be along the lines of Max
Payne.
Max Payne! I can’t wait for the movie,
spated for release in 2007. This film is
based on the game where Max Payne,
a DEA agent in New York, has it all—a
terrific career, a baby daughter, and a
loving wife —a perfect example of the
American dream. But this dream soon
becomes his worst nightmare, as he
returns home one day to discover his
wife and child brutally slain by psychotic
hit men. Now framed for murder and on
his mission to avenge their deaths, he
finds himself hunted by the NYPD, the
mob, and a ruthless corporation. A man
who has lost it all, Max, with his loyalty,
determination, and love for his dead
family is out to reveal the mystery behind
their murder and also get the revenge
that he so deserves. For avid gamers this
will be a blockbuster to look forward to
and certainly worth the wait.
Gamers and movie watches have a
platter full of delectable entertainment
goodies. Whether it is box office
blockbusters translating into equally
successful games or vice versa, it is a cool
transition in the entertainment scene
that the audience is partaking of. 
| Erick Rustomji
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 FEATURE | UNWIND 131

Embark on a ride and unleash the winning streak in you by

beating your opponents in this fascinating car race Pramod Jadhav

A
lmost all movies that have released
in the past few months have been
juxtaposed by the launch of their
game versions. The latest in the line of
film-game releases is Cars. While most of
us have probably partaken of the animated
entertainment in the theaters by now,
the game retains the storyline and cast of
the movie. The protagonist of the game is
the central character car of the movie—
Lighting McQueen—driving on the streets
of the sleepy town, Radiator Springs.
Combining driving game components
and a number of goofy and funny mini
games, the game is a lot of fun. It also
portrays the main theme and humor of the
film pretty well. There are a variety of game
modes—the Story mode, Arcade mode and
a simple two-player game. There are lots of
other stages that can be unlocked once you
complete a mission. You can start playing
with the local grand prix or help your friends
with some simple errands. If you are bored
of the missions, then you can drive about the
area with freedom, collecting bonus points
and other hidden items.
One ingenious aspect about Cars is it
actually splits itself into two games. One
caters to players of all ages, and the other
is a smaller, easier game for kids who love
to win. Gameplay is pretty much tilted
in the players’ favor, as it is visible while
playing the game. If you slow down a bit,
your opponents will give you time so that
you can pass them easily, hence making it
easier for you to win races. The latter races
are a bit challenging but not so difficult
that young and aspiring Schumachers
cannot handle. Some powersliding and
boosting mechanics have been included.
You can also get a paint job done for your
car along with a few funny moves like
making the car jump at will, and even
driving backwards for bonus points.
The character models and animation
quality is excellent and similar to that of
the movie. The cars look very expressive
with their funny facial like animations. The
town Radiator Springs is pleasant with the
outskirts comprising deserts and mountains
willy nilly, imparting a realistic look to the
environment. There’s two-player multiplayer
to mess with and some bonus materials to
check out. The quality of the game’s content
is enough to make up for its relatively short
playing duration. It makes no attempt to
strike as the next big thing in driving games,
but it still delivers the most authentic Pixar
film experience to the video game medium,
and is certainly one of the better kid-
oriented games to have been seen the light
of day this year. 
| Faheem Sayed

Price: 699 Publisher: THQ Distributor: E-Xpress Interactive Phone: 022-28843736 e-mail: info@e-xpressindia.com System: Windows XP/ 2000, 1.2 GHz CPU,
256 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card with 32 MB, DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit soundcard, hard disk with 1.4 GB free space, 8X CD/DVD drive or higher.

RATINGS 7.0 / 10
For: Excellent surroundings; celebrity vocals; easy
control of cars; different missions.
Against: Poor gameplay; glitches in graphics.

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

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132 UNWIND | REVIEW
Float in an environment switching between the real
and supernatural—hell of a ride for sure
F inally the much awaited first-person
shooter, Prey, has been released. This
game is sure to set new standards in the first
person shooter category in terms of superb
graphics details, visual effects and gameplay.
You take up the role of Johnny, a Native
American Cherokee who is unsatisfied with
his job of a mechanic on the reservation
and wants to leave the reservation with his
girlfriend Jen. The story starts off at a bar
with Jen working as a bartender and Johnny
trying to convince her to leave. However,
this dream is shattered when Johnny’s
grandfather along with him and his fiancé
are abducted by alien scum and taken to
an orbiting spaceship. Going by the name
of “Sphere”, this abduction sequence is
perhaps one of the most thrilling parts of the
game. By a convenient stroke of luck, Johnny
escapes from the conveyor belt to which he
was held captive and discovers that the ship
is an automated machine for harvesting
humans who are then used as alien food or
slaves. The rest of the game revolves around
how Johnny tries to save Jen who seems to
be the only person the aliens are interested
in retaining. This is evident from the way
they keep moving her from one part of the
spaceship to the other.
If you liked Doom 3 and its eerie and
scary environment, you will feel right at
home with Prey, as this game is based
on the Doom 3 engine with some major
modifications. Believe me, this game is way
scary and definitely not for the faint hearted.
The game’s developers, 2K Games, have
done a tremendous job on the graphic side
as well as on the gameplay. For example,
you have the space shifting portals to help
you travel long distances in a jiffy without
tiring you out. These portals are a real help
when it comes to unraveling a puzzle or just
navigating through the mind-bending stages
of the game.
The best part of the game is the
innovative and disorienting “Wall Walking”—
almost the entire ship is lined with lighted
pathways that allow you to walk upside
down, sideways and virtually any gravity-
defying way possible. Initially it seems a bit
disorienting to walk upside down and aim
at your opponents like a bat, but as you get
used to wall walking you will surely start
enjoying it—in several cases, this can even
be used to a strategic advantage. And if you
thought walking upside down was enough
then think again as you have to solve a bit of
gravity-defying puzzles to emerge from the
experience unscathed. There is yet another
disorienting feature added to the game:
the gravity-flipping lights that rotate an
entire room upside down or turn it around
sideways, seemingly at random! There are
special targets placed around rooms which
when shot at will turn the room around—
this flipping is necessary to solve puzzles,
to uncover useful objects, paths, or portals.
All this is necessary for advancing through
the game. So the next time you get stuck in
a place where you can’t reach the door, you
know what to look out for.
And now for the best part—the game’s
alien weapons. In the beginning you start of
with a rusty pipe wrench and as you advance
through the game you encounter some
Pramod Jadhav
freaky and eerie weapons that are actually
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006
 REVIEW | UNWIND 133

alive. Many of these have organic parts that are either moving or leaking slime as you wield
them! The weapons feel and work like conventional FPS weapons but certainly look weird;
the green goo-spurting gun is actually a double barreled shotgun that has a devastating
effect at close range. Then there is the laser gun which has a great heat sensing scope can
also be used to snipe. However, the most kick-ass weapons is clearly the Leech gun which saps
power from several power pods scattered all across the ship and then works as a heat-ray
gun or alternatively as a freeze gun too! The possibilities for destruction are many!
But Prey isn’t all about the usual mindless “I see you, I shoot you” kind of a game with only
gore, blood and explosions. There is a significant, quiet side to the game where you have to
use a large dose of stealth. In the beginning of the game, Johnny’s grandfather shows him
how to leave his physical form behind and move around as a sprit. Johnny is also accompanied
by an eagle sprit which helps him out and guides him in many a tight spot. The sprit walking
comes in handy all throughout the game by which you can go to places where Johnny’s
physical body cannot. This out-of-body experience can help you open doors
and solve puzzles. The sprit walking part of the game makes it all the more
interesting and unique compared to any other. As in all other FPS games,
you die and you reload the game from where you last saved. Prey,
on the other hand, introduces an amazing concept—your death
isn’t the end of the game! When you die, your soul is banished
to a spirit world, where you have to fight off flying dragons to
re-enter the physical world. After “collecting” enough spirits,
you automatically resurrect and resume the game just as if
nothing happened! Weird, but cool.
If you thought you had it all in the single player
version of this game, there is multiplayer capability that
allows you to get into deathmatches with your friends
in these very same surreal environments. The multiplayer
experience is certainly unique with all the wall walking/sprit
walking, along with all the cool alien weapons at hand.
Even though Prey is based on a modified version of the
Doom 3 engine, you’ll see none of that darkness and gloominess
from Doom 3. The developers of Prey have obviously taken the
engine’s stencil shadowing and put it to excellent use as this
is evident from the ultra-realistic details in the models and
environments. They have also added in far higher polygon
counts that increase realism as compared to past games using
the same engine (Quake 4, for example).
Prey’s surroundings look so lifelike and immersive that
you can almost feel it when you play the game. The in-game
chatter and one-liners were also some of the best we’ve seen
ever since Duke Nukem 3D—from the lip-sync to the swearing
to the context of the verbal content, the voice acting was stellar.
The sound effects of Prey are pretty solid with good weapon discharge
blasts and pretty decent background music. There is but one point to be raised against
Prey—graphically, the rooms and environments do tend to get rather repetitive as you will find
many rooms having nearly the same environments almost throughout the game.
Prey has, in many ways, redefined the genre of first person shooters through
RATINGS 9.0 / 10
several innovations in gameplay, graphics effects and weapon implementation. If For: New and innovative gameplay; detailed and
gorgeous environments and game levels and nice
you’re a follower of the genre, go for it. But pray to the sprits that you don’t become variety of unique alien weaponry.
the prey. 
Against: Basic enemy AI; lackluster storyline.
| Faheem Sayed

Price: 1,299 Publisher: 2K Games Distributor: e-xpress Interactive Phone: 022-28843736 e-mail: info@e-xpressindia.com System: Windows XP/ 2000,
2.0 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0c compatible with 64 MB or higher video card, DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit soundcard, HDD with 2.2 GB, 8X CD/DVD drive.

SEPTEMBER 2006 | INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

SMS us! Story code: URP (See Page 20 for details)

Post: Technical Specialist- UAS
Company: CSR India Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: Experience of full product
development life cycle, right from
requirements to product validation, strong
knowledge of UMTS Protocol Domain.
Exp.: 7-15
Location: Bangalore
Email: bangalore@csr.com
Post: Web Designer
Company: Iridium Interactive
Profile: Any Graduate/MCA with experience
in web designing projects undertaking
activities like facilitate the interpretation of
strategies and research findings into design
concepts.
Exp.: 2-8
Location: Hyderabad
Email: sameera@iridiuminteractive.com
Post: Program Manager
Company: Aventail Infotech
Profile: Direct experience with product
development in the networking/web/
security related areas will be a big plus.
Experience as a developer in Linux/Unix or
Win32 environments using C/C++ and/or
Java will be a big plus.
Exp.: 10-17
Location: Bangalore
Email: jruben@aventail.com
Post: Software Developer
Company: AthenaNet India Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: Bachelor of Science in Computer
Sciences with experience working on
software development projects with at
least 10 people. Experience working with
open-source web technologies, specifically
Perl/ModPerl.
Exp.: 2-3
Location: Chennai
Email: krakesh@athenahealth.com
Post: Sr. Project Engineer- Embedded
Company: Adya Systems & Software (P) Ltd.
Profile: Understanding of OS Kernels,
device drivers, embedded system hardware,
software architecture for networking
applications. Knowledge of writing
embedded TCP/IP stack components on 16
bit processors is a plus.
Exp.: 3-5
Location: Delhi
Email: jobs@adyasystems.com
Post: Global Online Reporting Analyst
Company: Dell International Services
Profile: The qualified candidate should have
knowledge of D3 financial and clickstream
data and its nuances, as well as experience
with integrating data across multiple data
sources.
Exp.: 5-12
Location: Bangalore
Email: lalit_khosla@dell.com
Post: Team Leader- PHP
Company: Electrobug Technologies
Profile: Should have experience in team
leding & planning capabilities. Must have
good architecture & design skills. Should
have experience working on web based
applications/ecommerce.
Exp.: 4-8
Location: Gurgaon
Email: shikha.rakheja@electrobug.com
Post: Lotus Notes Administrator
Company: ITC Infotech India Ltd.
Profile: Must be certified CLP 6 or above,
and a Lotus Notes Administrator, should
have good communication skills oral and
written.
Exp.: 2-3
Location: Bangalore
Email: anitha.asrani@itcinfotech.com
Post: Sr. Software Engineer- C++
Company: Oracle India Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: BE/B.Tech/M.Tech, with experience
in Enterprise Software Development, Solid
experience developing in C++, experience in
MFC and COM required.
Exp.: 2-8
Location: Bangalore
Email: savita.hortikar@oracle.com
Post: Software Engineer- Linux
Company: Bharti Telesoft Ltd.
Profile: The candidate should have good
Programming & debugging skills in C/
Solaris/ Linux. Extensive experience in
GSM/ SS7/ Networks. Knowledge of CDMA/
Databases/ Protocol Analyzer/ INAP/ CAMEL
will be an added advantage.
Exp.: 2-9
Location: Delhi
Email: apply2delhi@bhartitelesoft.com
Post: Interactive Flash Developer
Company: AOL Bangalore Development
Center
Profile: Candidates should have an
experience in interactive flash development
using object oriented programming.
Exp.: 2-4
Location: Bangalore
Email: bhargavihr@aol.com
Post: SAP Functional & Technical Consultant
Company: IBM Global Services India Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: SAP Professionals with experience
and with one full life cycle implementation
experience.
Exp.: 2-10
Location: Kolkata
Email: sankired@in.ibm.com
Post: IT Executive
Company: Capital IQ
Profile: The candidate must be a Graduate
and should hold a MCSE or MCP or CCNA
certification. Excellent communication
skills and must have a sound knowledge
& experience of configuration /
troubleshooting of TCP/IP based networks.
Exp.: 2-5
Location: Gurgaon
Email: joboppsindia@capitaliq.com
Post: Oracle DBA
Company: Everonn Systems India Ltd.
Profile: Expertise on Oracle DB/Oracle 11i
admin, tuning. Resolve performance issues
with Oracle db 9i/10g Integrate Oracle 11i
tech stack including Oracle Portal, 9iAS, SSO.
Exp.: 3-7
Location: Chennai
Email: learn@everonn.com
Post: Project Manager- .Net
Company: Sopra Group India
Profile: Should have experience on servers
with good knowledge of Oracle Database
(8.1.7 & 9.0.3) Version and Source Control
Systems (SCCS, PVCS, or CVS) and UML
design tools (Together, Rose, Visio).
Exp.: 8-10
Location: Noida
Email: ayadav@in.sopragroup.com
Post: IT Manager
Company: Franklin Templeton Intl. Services
Profile: Bachelor of Engineering, ITIL
certification is an added advantage with
work experience in the area is of higher
priority. Extensive management experience
of IT service provision within a multi-site
global environment.
Exp.: 5-8
Location: Hyderabad
Email: careersindia@templeton.com
Post: SAP WF Consultant
Company: Raymond Ltd.
Profile: Functional knowledge of SAP
Modules (MM, SD, FI/CO, PS) as well as
APO/DP & BW. Familiar with application
development and deployment life cycle
methodologies such as ASAP.
Exp.: 5-10
Location: Mumbai
Email: raymondgroup@gmail.com
Post: Sr. Java Developer
Company: Contata Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: Experience with technologies such
as Struts, JSF, Hibernate, Spring &other open
source frameworks is a bonus.
Exp.: 4-5
Location: Noida
Email: jobs@contata.co.in
Post: Unix System Administrator
Company: Verizon Data Services India Pvt.
Ltd.
Profile: Knowledge in Web/Application/
Database servers. Windows Admin
experience. Experience with common
network infrastructure - LANs, firewalls,
routers/switches/hubs, proxy setup,
networking protocols.
Exp.: 2-6
Location: Chennai
Email: Senthil.K.Mathiyalagan@verizon.
com
Post: Technical Solutions Engineer
Company: Google Online India
Profile: The candidate should have
experience in e-mail and messaging
technologies. Expert troubleshooting skills
and experience with large environment. BS/
MS/Ph.D in Computer Science, experience
in related field will be considered in lieu of
degree.
Exp.: 5-5
Location: Delhi
Email: jobs-hyderabad@google.com
Post: Embedded Systems Developer
Company: Tata Technologies
Profile: Should have knowledge of
Bluetooth / CAN 3 C, C++ Programming,
CMMI processes, In-circuit Emulators,
Oscilloscope, de-bugging at Assembly level,
Embedded Software programming.
Exp.: 4-6
Location: Bangalore
Email: mycareer@tatatechnologies.com
Post: Sr. Network Administrator
Company: Primus Software Dev. India Pvt.
Ltd.
Profile: Deep knowledge of Linux operating
Systems, especially Linux (Redhat, Suse,
Debian). Good Knowledge of Standard
Software (BIND, DHCP, SAMBA; QMAIL, etc.).
Knowledge of methodology to troubleshoot
system or service malfunction.
Exp.: 5-7
Location: Delhi/NCR
Email: sam@primussoftindia.com
Post: Technical Specialist
Company: Patni Computer Systems Ltd.
Profile: Should have skills like Design,
Problem Solving, Code Reviews, Unix /
Windows, Win32, MFC, Shell Scripting.
Exp.: 5-8
Location: Pune
Email: pestalent.pune@patni.com
Post: Sr. Software Engineer
Company: CSC India Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: BE / B.Tech/ MCA and M.Tech, must
have IMS DB with endeavor experience in
their current/latest project, should have
work experience of CICS also.
Exp.: 2-6
Location: Hyderabad
Email: smandal@csc.com
Post: Sr. Software Engineer
Company: Polaris Software Lab Ltd.
Profile: The incumbent should be a MCA/
BE/B.Tech/ME/ M.Tech/ M.Sc in Computers/
IT/Systems etc.
Exp.: 3-6
Location: Hyderabad
Email: aravind.mutyam@polaris.co.in
Post: Build Engineer- Windchill Integration
Company: PTC Software India Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: Graduate or Post Graduate in
Engineering with exposure to Configuration
management tools like Rational Clearcase,
CVS etc.Scripting with Perl and Ant.
Exp.: 2-5
Location: Pune
Email: hrnaukri@ptc.com
Post: CRM- Data Mining Developer
Company: Patni Computer Systems Ltd.
Profile: Candidate should have hands on
experience in the following areas - Data
mining, Reformatting development,
Scripting tools, Data structures, Data
conversion, Siebel, Data migration, Data
loading.
Exp.: 3-10
Location: Pune
Email: tbutalent.pune@patni.com
Post: Software Engineer
Company: Oxygen Networks Pvt. Ltd.
Profile: A Bachelors or Masters Degree in
Engineering or Computer Science is desired.
Exp.: 2-5
Location: Hyderabad
Email: alpanak@oxynetworks.com
Post: Project Manager- Java
Company: HCL Technologies Ltd.
Profile: IT industry experience having
sound project management skills and good
overview knowledge of web application
architecture and web technology.
Exp.: 8-15
Location: Delhi/NCR
Email: vishalb@hcl.in
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TO BOOK SPACE HERE CONTACT

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Phone: (022) 24232872
Bangalore
Harish Kamat
Phone: (080) 5597282/83/84
New Delhi
Pranav Saran / Jitendra Gupta
Phone: (011) 55303287/79/80/82
Hyderabad
Vasudevan Iyer
Phone: (040) 23392226
Chennai
O. K. Gurumurthy
Phone: (044) 28295050/54
Kolkata
A. K. Roy
Phone: (033) 2468637/2468638
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Phone: (020) 56031234

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148 LAST WORD
Footloose in the mountains
T he month of August, considered the most
important one in the history of our nation,
gave all of us here in Infomedia another reason
to rejoice—it entailed a good number of
holidays. I had pinned my hopes on this relatively
long break (five-six days for metro dwellers is a
pretty long time!) to make it to the Himalayan
mountain range. Being a trekking enthusiast and
having undertaken a couple of jaunts in the past,
my first Tour de Himalayas was embarking on a
trudge to the famed Valley of Flowers situated at
a height of 3,658 meters. Well-laid plans for the
closing of the September issue taken care of and
I was out of the office like a shot.
Grappling with the traffic snarls so
characteristic of Mumbai, to get to the airport was
a task in itself. Mine was a budget airline ticket and
I was prepared to scramble for a seat on entering
as most of these low-cost airlines follow a first-
come first-serve policy for seating. Unfortunately
for me, but certainly as an example to quote to
all latecomers, almost all the seats were already
occupied with perfectly calm looking passengers.
Locating an empty seat and without bothering
about which row and corner it belonged, I parked
myself but lo and behold, an airhostess cap-a-pie
in red, came rushing to me and said, “Bete (child),
you cannot sit here!” Perplexed for a moment and
wondering if it had anything to do with my late
arrival, I asked her the reason gingerly. She replied
that it was the emergency exit row reserved
for the long-legged, sturdy “adult” lot—who
are comfortable sitting there. Experience has
taught me that a peremptory reply would not
make an iota of difference. So I fished my I-card
out of the handbag and flashed it to her. Being
longitudinally challenged has both its advantages
and disadvantages—in my case, it was sheer
embarrassment followed by a humble apology
and a series of uncalled for offers to help ensure I
was comfortable. That’s not all; curious onlookers
had fixed their looks on the array of digital
paraphernalia the “child” was carrying—with
the exception of the dilapidated Walkman (an
anachronism in today’s times).
The ride from Delhi to Govindghat, where the
trek route begins, in the spacious Toyota Innova
was pleasant. The dropping temperatures, the
mountains looming large, the delightful drizzle,
the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds,
and the river Alaknanda traipsing by spawned
the aching need in everyone to give up city life.
The walk up to the Valley was exhausting but fun
nevertheless. The precipitous pathways and steep
capricious bends threw up challenges but exuded
a collective spirit of patience, determination and
joie de vivre. Unlike us, cellular networks slowly
succumbed to the challenge of high altitude.
But despite that, tourists and trekkers did not
let digitization escape the route. One would
ineluctably notice the newest of cell phones
with pumped up features, the snazziest of digital
cameras including SLRs, and camcorders doing
justice to the picture-perfect landscape. Those
who gave the hike a miss, were happy riding
horses, mules or carried by porters, locally referred
to as pitthus. This bunch made optimum use
of their gadgets. Ditched by the networks, cell
phones performed their alternative functions to
the hilt—captured stills and videos (additional
memory cards came to the rescue) and functioned
as nifty torches during the descent at night after
batteries were drained from conventional torches.
The Valley was a spectacular vista of iridescent
slopes—there were flowers in full bloom for as
long as you could see. Photography buffs (me
included) plonked on humungous rocks and
captured the scenery through their lenses while
a nearby group of botanical researchers avidly
studied the wild flowers. My friends, stupefied
with the beauty of the redolent Valley, rested in
its lap of rapturous color.
Contrary to what we had imagined, the descent
was tougher than the climb—the relentless rain
rendered the serrated paths slippery. Dwindling
camera flashes, mobile torches, staffs and
glimmering fireflies helped the team plod through
the winding paths. I walked for about 10 kilometers
with no soul in sight in pitch darkness though I had
the distinct feeling that somebody was following
me… but that’s another story! Finally, after much
trepidation, we returned to Govindghat safe and
sound. Once we reached civilization, you can well
imagine what followed… cell phones continued to
buzz for a long, long time after that. 
| Sharmistha Dey
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP | SEPTEMBER 2006