■ editorial

Dotcom(e), Dotgo
D oesn’t anyone believe in the Internet anymore?
Well, stock markets all over the world don’t seem to. And venture capi-
talists nowadays don’t seem to have much confidence in the Internet either.
Add to this the fact that some of the most popular Web sites have had to shut
down their services and free e-mail services are turning commercial.
Is Web content going to remain free? Are any of today’s popular Web
communities going to be around one year from now? Questions like these
seem to dominate our thoughts.
But just look beyond these seemingly larger doubts and it is obvious that
Internet usage has been increasing consistently all over the world. More
people are spending more time on the Internet. This is primarily because
it provides them with a relatively inexpensive means to communicate.
However, the implosion of so many dotcoms over the last year seems
to have replaced the excessive optimism with an amazing amount of neg-
ativity.
“...the implosion of so Despite any misgivings that might have been created due to the dis-
many dotcoms over continuation of free e-mail services by USA.net and 123India.com, other
free e-mail services will always be available. While it is possible that some
the last year seems to e-mail service providers will decide that continuing those free services no
have replaced the longer makes ‘business sense’, it is probable that many others will realise
that they have to continue to provide these services to keep traffic coming
excessive optimism to their sites. The Microsoft acquisition of Hotmail a few years ago is an
with an amazing example of how free e-mail services helped to increase the popularity of
their MSN portal.
amount of negativity” The Web also provides people with a means to share their ideas with
others. This is unique because it makes it possible to publish and distrib-
ute content at a negligible cost. Several Web sites like Anandtech.com and
Rediff.com have used the opportunity that this accessible medium of mass
communication provides to become tremendously popular and successful
media entities. Quite obviously this doesn’t guarantee that every Internet
property will be successful.
But what the Internet does provide in ample measure is the opportu-
nity for both individuals and businesses to do much more than was ever
thought possible. It helps to create an environment in which our talents and
ability can pave the way for our success.
For many of us, that’s all that we ask for.

Karan Manral
Assistant Editor
karan_manral@jasubhai.com
CgNTENTS A U G U S T 2 0 0 1

EDITORIAL 3 DROOLMAAL
CONTENTS 6 Droolable stuff, naturally 42
COLOPHON 10
PULSE 14 PASSPORT
Linux powered Palm Multimedia Programming:
Embedded notes where does it lead you? 44
Windows XP—Smart
Tags not so smart WIDE ANGLE
Mac G4 Cube not taking off Trading with e-cash: The
Hypethesis: DAI new currency? 52
quicktake: Dr Albert R. R. Recycling the old PC: What
Kooiman. Philips happens to it? 56
Whois?: Ximian Mono
Tomorrow’s Technology: NETRETURNS
Molecular computers Training with health sites 60
DIALOG 24 FIRSTHAND
Products Smart shopping for digital
reviewed CONNECT devices 64
8 MP3 PLAYERS FACE-OFF
Casio WMP-1V, Creative One year of the IT bill: RESOLVE
Nomad, D-Link DMP-100,
Nomad II MG, Nomad Jukebox,
failure or success? 26 WIRED
Cloning your system 68
38
The new digital home
Philips eXpanium, Philips Rush,
Rio PMP300 SPOTLIGHT
13 DIGITAL CAMERAS In focus: Sudhanshu UNWIRED
34 SPEAKERS Sarronwala and Partying with your PDA 72
9 SOUND EDITING SOFTWARE
Cooledit 2000, Goldwave,
Soundbuzz 28 Reviews: Latest books
Sound Forge 5, Waveflow, S.O.S. and multimedia titles 153
Wavelab, Cakewalk 9, Cubase, TECHNOLOGY NEXT Solutions to computing Undercover: Agent 001
Evolution Audio, Midi Maestro Access your messages in one queries 76 tracks cheap motherboard
7 LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS place with Unified and processor
Best Linux, Corel Linux,
Mandrake, RedHat 7.1, Storm Messaging Service 30 TIPS & TRICKS combinations 154
Linux 200, SuSE 7.2, Turbo Linux How close are we to Digital cameras and MP3 A-List 155
intelligent homes? 38 encoding, software and
players 83 DIGIT DIARY 157
BACKBYTE 158
SELECT
TEST DRIVE
8 MP3 players 104
13 Digital cameras 112
34 Speakers, with
soundcards and
headphones 120
9 Sound editing
software (Wave and
Midi) 132
7 Linux distributions for
the desktop 139

INSIGHT
nVidia nForce 146

44 REPORT CARD
68
Cloning your hard disk
Wanna be a multimedia programmer?
Radar: Tested products 149

6 August 2001
Mindmatters
Enjoy eBooks and
whitepapers

38
64
Shopping for your digital
The digital
homes of
tomorrow
device

104, 112
8 MP3 players
13 Digital cameras

Arena
Check out cool
30
Access your messages
games from anywhere with
UMS

Software on CD
ON THE CD
Mindware
DEVELOPERS
ActivePerl Build 616
EXPRESS THUMBNAIL CREATOR (Freeware), Iraje Visual Suite
Mindware This program has an easy to (Trialware)
use, wizard style interface and
RESOLVE allows you to quickly create HOME
TROUBLESHOOTING HTML image galleries with Effective Desktop Build 204
FAQs on partitioning your thumbnails. (Freeware), KaZaA Media
hard disk Desktop (Freeware),
HOME TypingMaster 99 (Full working
WORKSHOP SONG SPY 2.0 model), WinFM (Shareware)
Hands-on: A video workshop A new music sharing program
on working with multiple TANGO 2000 DEVELOPMENT that even rewards users with IN MAGAZINE
devices STUDIO prizes via its breakthrough Cakewalk Pro 9 (Demo), Cool
A complete Web application Karma system. Edit (Shareware), Cubase
E-PAPERS development software with VST (Demo), Evolution Audio
Working with PDFs and features such as drag and drop Pro (Demo), GoldWave
eBooks interface, e-commerce capabil- (Shareware), Midi Maestro
ities, XML implementation (Demo), Wave Flow
SOFTWARE and more. (Shareware), Wave Lab 3
DEVELOPERS (Demo)
PTOLEMY II GRAPHICS 32bit Web Browser
A set of Java packages that ARTICONS 2.5 (Shareware), Enigma
support concurrent modelling A powerful imaging tool that Browser (Freeware),
and design with sample mod- allows you to create and edit DIRECT DVD Internet Explorer (Freeware),
els of calculation such as dis- icon images as well as manage A full featured DVD player for K-Meleon (Freeware), Mozilla
crete event systems, dataflow, icon files and libraries. Real Windows that offers MPEG-2 (Freeware),
process networks etc. cool stuff! video support. Contd on page 8…

7
■ contents

…Contd from page 7 TYPING TUTOR 2002 G-LOCK EASY MAIL 3.1 TIPS & TRICKS
MSN A family of Web applications An e-mail marketing software Compilation of Sponsored by
Explorer (Freeware), and Web services that allow that allows you to run and various Tips &
NeoPlanet (Freeware), you to improve your typing manage mailing lists, newslet- Tricks
Netscape Communicator abilities. Time to start clicking ters, announcement lists and
(Freeware), Netscape now customer updates
(Freeware), Opera Playware
(Freeware), WebHunter INTERNET
Power Browser (Freeware) WEBCAMS TOURIST GALLERY
A specialised Web browser that The usual suspects of wallpa-
OFFICE comes with more than 750 pre- pers, screensavers, themes and
File Shredder 2000 installed Web cams WinAmp skins
(Trialware), G-Lock EasyMail
(Trialware), Visual Day DATABITES ARENA
Planner (Shareware), This program allows you to GAMES
WinTack (Trialware) capture and store content such METAL GEAR SOLID
as streaming media, dynami- Infiltrate a nuclear weapons
INTERNET cally generated and password UPDATES disposal facility captured by
AllPicturez(Demo), authenticated data DOWNLOAD ACCELERATOR 5.0 terrorists, rescue the hostages
ActivatorDesk (Freeware, This latest version includes a and prevent a nuclear launch
Beta), Databites (Freeware), toolbar that integrates with before time runs out!
HTML Guard (Shareware) Internet Explorer, a file lecher,
downloadable link highlighter SURGE
UTILITIES and more Featuring music by Awesome
Cacheman(Freeware), KaZaA Presence, Digital Explosion and
Winamp Plugin (Freeware), UTILITIES Jazzperience and the latest
Modem Booster (Shareware), MODEM BOOSTER movie trailers including some
Stay Connected (Shareware), Enhance your Windows of your favourite Hindi
SafeClean Utilities Build 686 ACTIVATOR DESK 95/98/2000/Me/NT Internet movies
(Freeware), This program runs on a pow- settings for faster browsing, file
erful desktop database server downloads and e-mailing CONNECT
UPDATES with enhanced safety and secu- SITEMAP
AVG (Freeware), GetRight rity. CLOCK G2 Have some fun and laughs
(Freeware), ICQ (Freeware) A flexible time piece for Win- with masti.com
IN MAGAZINE dows that features five config-
RESOURCES SOUND FORGE 5.0 urable clock faces INDIA SITES
Adobe Acrobat Reader An award winning two track New Indian sites and ISP news
(Freeware), Desktop digital audio editor that IN PRINT
Architect (Freeware), includes a powerful set of A LIST NEWSLETTERS
DirectX (Freeware), mIRC 32- audio processes, tools and Best performing hardware and A bunch of newsletters with
bit (Shareware), effects for manipulating wave software products under vari- useful information on hand-
PowerArchiver 2001, audio ous categories held devices
(Freeware), Windows Media
Player (Freeware), PRICEWATCH BOOKMARKS
Winamp (Freeware), Yahoo Computer component prices The latest Hindi and English
Messenger v4.0 (Freeware) for your reference movie reviews with these star-
crossed sites
PLAYWARE STARTING ON
GALLERY ACCESS 2000 DROOLMAAL
Winamps, skins, trailers, Tutorial Complete, free course from An eye catching assortment of
for end-users products
GAMES
American McGee’s Alice OFFICE
(Demo), Art Is Dead (Demo), WINTACK 3.0 MINDMATTERS
Cannon Smash (Freeware), A free form sticky notes appli- EBOOKS
Kyodai Mahjong (Demo), cation that allows you to keep a Wanderings, The Stone Pithan,
Motocross Mania (Demo), personal diary, journal or log Just Stories and more
NBA Live 2001 (Demo), Road and comes with a number of
Wage (Demo), Summoner features such as password pro- WHITEPAPERS
(Demo), Sydney 2000 (Demo) tection, search and a built in A collection of whitepapers on
calculator the Intel Itanium processor

8 August 2001
■ service~ colophon

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4
◆ How to contact us ◆ Advertisers
Chairman and Publisher Jasu Shah
Associate Publisher and index
Editor Maulik Jasubhai EDITORIAL and e-mail of the developer.
Assistant Editor Karan Manral 3 M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Products for Test/Review
Send a complete working copy CUSTOMER/ SUBSCRIPTION American Power
Editorial
Writers Manu Khanna, Nilesh Kakade, of the product (not a ‘trial’ or SERVICES Conversion . . . . . . .Back Cover
Anil Patrick R., Rinki Banerji, ‘demo’ version) to the Digit E-mail: Any queries or problems
Vidyaramanan S
Test Centre. Only products that regarding Digit Interactive, sub- Amkette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Features Editor Sveta Basraon
Copy Editors Mohan Krishnan, are currently available in the scriptions or other problems Asus Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Shweta Johri, Julian Vongeyer, Indian market will be consid- can be mailed to
Roopa Sukumaran
BPL Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . .36, 37
ered. The products must have help@jasubhai.com
Thinkdigit.com Aalaap Ghag, Sunil Capital Technologies Ltd. . . . .34
Srinivasan
the complete name of the man- Post: If sent by post, please
Design ufacturer or developer, details Creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Consultant G.V. Sreekumar regarding the name of the Pager: 9623-987273 at Mumbai
Art Director Marshall Mascarenhas model and its type and the end- Pager: 9624-329229 at Dart Computers Pvt. Ltd. . . . .49
Visualisers V. Jeevanand, Shyam Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore
Shirsekar
user price. Product brochure Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12, 13
Senior Designer Shivasankaran C. Pillai, and a complete specification mark ‘Customer Service’. In
Epson . . . . . .Inside Back Cover
Graphics Solomon Lewis, Jaya Shetty sheet must be included, along case of subscription problems,
Digital Imaging Artist Neeta Wadiker with the name of a person to be please mention the subscription Gigabyte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Photographers Ashesh Shah, Rahul
Sharma, Mexi Xavier contacted for information. particulars. Hi-Tech Technologies . . . . . .59
Illustrator Mahesh Benkar, Ram
Contributing Illustrator Farzana DIGIT INTERACTIVE MARKETING SERVICES ICICI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Cooper
Contact Vaibhav Kapoor, Con- IT companies whose products Intel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Test Centre
Head: Marco D’Souza tent Co-ordinator, Multimedia have been declared winners in
Karma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Deputy Head: Hatim Kantawalla (cdcontent@jasubhai.com) for a Digit Test
Reviewers Dipayan Choudhury, Aliasgar inclusion of software on Digit can use the Karrox Technologies . . . . . . .17
Pardawala, Rossi Fernandes, Menlyn
Interactive. A write-up detailing Digit Test Microsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
Noronha, Yatish Suvarna, Mitul Mehta
Co-ordinator Gautami V. Chalke the features of the software, Centre logo.
Multimedia complete loading instructions They must Microsoft Corp. (I) Pvt. Ltd. . .35
Co-ordinator V. Ravi Shankar and a letter certifying that the address Patel India Distributors . . . . .47
Designer Kabir Malkani
Programmers Hemant Charya, Liu Ai
product is origi- their
Pinnacle Systems .115, 116, 119
Chin, Babuprasad nal must accom- requests for licences, reprints
Content Vaibhav Kapoor pany the soft- and bulk orders of Digit to Rashi Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . .9
Digital Video Bimal Unnikrishnan ware. The soft- Navin Sahni (navin_sahni
Production Samsung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4,5
General Manager Shivshankar ware must also have the com- @jasubhai.com), at our Nerul
Hiremath plete address, telephone number office in Navi Mumbai. SB Component . . . . . . . . . . .111
Managers Harish Suvarna, Shiv
Sony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Hiremath
Operations Sparr Electronics . . . . . . . . . .55
Head Sarang Dash
Assistant Manager Shailesh Iyer
◆ Sales & Marketing Offices Summit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
Co-ordinator Sriram Iyer
Circulation and Logistics
HEAD OFFICE MUMBAI Symantec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Navi Mumbai Rupesh Sreedharan
Head–Circulation & Logistics
Sandip Maiti Ad Sales Manager Xps Cargo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Akhilesh Singh
Vice President Bhavesh Thakore
Distribution & Logistics Sales & Client Marketing Clayton Brace
Nicholas Kiro, Arup Ghosh, Navin Sahni Phone: +91 22 6591849-50, 6591651
Sandeep Rane Client Marketing Fax: +91 22 6591592
Marketing Rakesh Rana
Brand Manager Louis D’Mello SECUNDERABAD
Ad Sales Support Venu
Marketing Communication Mithun Roy, HEAD OFFICE:
NEW DELHI Phone: + 91 40 6329190/6329181
Kapil Batis, Aarti Prabhu EDITORIAL, MARKETING AND
Vijay Adhikari CHENNAI
International Marketing CUSTOMER SERVICE
Regional Manager Sahayaraj Prabhu
Jasmine Taraporevalla Koshy Thomas Plot No D-222/2,
Consumer Marketing Phone: +91 44 8235186-89 TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Shirvane,
Ad Sales Manager Fax: +91 44 8230731
Manager Mou Maiti Arvind Prabhakar Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400 706
Amit Dhume, Abhyuday Mukhopadhyay, Rahul Bhardwaj PUNE Phone: 022-7629191/9200
Nabjeet Ganguli, Ghazala Siddiqui Phone: +91 11 6445320-25 Sanjay Nepali Fax: 022-7615225, 7629223/24
Customer Service Namita Shetty, Fax: +91 11 6445321 Phone: +91 20 4482059, 4494572 Printed and published by Jasu R. Shah on
Reema Sadarangani, Jasneet Kaur, Tele-Fax: +91 20 4482059
BANGALORE behalf of Jasubhai Digital Media Pvt Ltd, 26
Roshan Jeypaul, Ronny Joseph S. Saikumar CALCUTTA Maker Chambers VI, 2nd Floor, Nariman
Ad Sales Manager Jayanta Bhattacharya Point, Mumbai 400 021, India.
Raghu Pillai Phone: +91 33 2822183, 2827842, Editor: Maulik Jasubhai
Cover Photograph: Colston Julian, 2828016
assisted by Bajirao Pawar Kiran Karri Printed at Tata Infomedia Limited,
Phone: +91 80 5098799/830/865/891 Fax: +91 33 2827673
Model: Terrance Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025
Tele-Fax: +91 80 5098717

10 August 2001
■ pulse

NEWS PULSE DIGIT AUGUST 2001

hypethesis A non-beta 64-bit Licensing

DAI Windows Version fee for
▲ What is it?
Distributed Artificial Intelli-
gence (DAI) is a sub-field of
Come October 25, 2001 and
Microsoft will be shipping a
Windows 2002) and the 64-bit
version of Win-
downloads?
Artificial Intelligence that non-beta 64-bit ver- dows XP (pre- That’s the road software
investigates the behaviour sion of Windows release downloads are going to take
of societies of artificial along with the 32- 64-bit Win- if E-Data Systems has its way.
agents (high level, interact- bit Windows XP dows XP). E-Data had patented a sys-
ing computer programs). release on the same These 64- tem for reproducing informa-
These systems can also be day. bit versions tion in material objects at a
defined as co-operative sys- The Win- will be point of sale location back in
tems, where a set of agents dows pre- installed on 1985. Now E-Data wants its
act together to solve a given release versions Intel’s Itanium share of the pie!
problem. These agents are due in October based systems In March 1999, E-Data had
often heterogeneous (for are the Windows when they are lost the case filed against
example, in a Decision Sup- Advanced Server shipped. Trust majors like CompuServe and
port System, the interaction Limited Edition ver- Microsoft to know Ziff-Davis publishing in a
takes place between a sion 2002 (pre-release 64-bit where the money lies! lower court. The court had
human and an artificial ruled that E-Data’s patent
problem solver). applies only to data down-
loaded to systems such as
▲What is the technology? Linux-powered Palm interactive kiosks, CDs, paper,
DAI systems are based on etc and does not apply to soft-
different technologies, for Calling all Linux lovers! How onball CPU used in Palm ware downloads. Now the
instance, distributed expert about having a Linux compat- handhelds. The OS is designed Federal Circuit U.S Court of
systems, planning systems ible OS inside your Palm IIIx or to completely replace the pro- Appeals has ordered the court
or blackboard systems. What Palm IIIxe? No, this is not a prietary Palm OS on the Palm to reconsider the scope of the
is new in the DAI communi- dream. IIIx/ IIIxe models. It claims to patent more broadly. This
ty is the need for methodol- Empower technologies has have no compatibility prob- means that all the sites that
ogy for helping in the come out with Linux DA, an lems with the Palm IIIx/ IIIxe offer downloads will have to
development and mainte- embedded Linux DA O/S v1.0, hardware. A demo version of pay E-Data for the download.
nance of DAI systems. which will work on Palm IIIx/ Linux DA is available from The site will effectively trans-
IIIxe handhelds. It is basically a www.linuxda.com. This version has fer this fee to the user and thus
▲Where do I get more infor- Linux compatible OS scaled an address book, scheduler, cal- E-Data will be gaining money
mation on it? down for the Motorola Drag- culator and games. for each download we do.
www.info.fundp.ac.be/~pys/
ModelAge/prop/
tableofcontents2_1.html

SNAPSHOT
Download satellite launches
Online use unaffected If you can watch it on TV, then the launch. The These video clips
Even after the massive why not on the Web? Kennedy coverage will are available in Real-
dotcom burst Space Center’s Web site has be available Media format.
included downloadable videos through the No more
The number of U. S.
of launches starting with the lift final countdown and problems of
employees who had their
off of space shuttle Atlantis on the launch till the solid missing a tele-
Internet or e-mail usage
July 12. rocket boosters sepa- cast or having to
monitored
Video coverage of the launch rate from the shuttle wait for a re-run. All you need
14 million will start as soon as the payload about two minutes to do is go to the site and
Source: www.cnn.com doors close, many days before into the flight. Illustrations: Farzana Cooper watch it from the archives.
➜
◆ Taliban bans Internet ◆ Mobile phone makers to publish radiation levels ◆ Justice department says rein in Microsoft soon

14 August 2001
■ pulse

Linux Standard base 1.0.0 Redalert

Marijuana system32.exe file from the
At last! A move to bring all the ‘techies’ can use. This is a big Windows directory. The file
warring Linux groups under stumbling block in the wide Marijuana is an Internet worm would be locked in the Win-
one roof. The Linux Standard spread acceptance of Linux. crafted in Visual Basic. It dows mode and hence has to
Base 1.0.0 specification is final- Linux Standard Base 1.0.0 installs itself as system32.exe be deleted via DOS mode.
ly available for review by devel- is expected to eliminate these in the default system folder
opers. problems and enable develop- (depending on the OS). The Missworld
Right now, distributors like ers to more easily create soft- worm however fails to install This mass mailing worm comes
RedHat, Caldera, SuSE, etc, use ware for Linux. if the OS is installed in a path disguised as a Macromedia
the basic Linux kernel along This standard is the collec- or drive other than the default Flash movie. The mail comes to
with their own non-standard tive effort of many software location. After making its entry you with the subject line “Miss-
applications and standards and hardware companies to into the registry, the worm world”. The body will read,
based software around it. These create a base Linux operating modifies run keys and adds “Enjoy the pictures of miss-
differences in distributions cre- system. This base standard has itself to the win.ini, to ensure world from various countries”
ate major problems for the been designed with the goal of that it’s loaded every time the and carries attachments called
developers who have to pro- conforming to available stan- computer is booted. The either MWrld.exe, or Miss-
gram around them. dards. Some of the major play- worm stays as a service in the world.exe, or MWld.exe. The
Many a time, these incom- ers in this combined effort are memory thereafter. The worm worm enters your Outlook
patibilities cause feelings that Compaq, IBM, HP, Oracle, and then opens the Outlook address book and sends itself
Linux is an OS that only RedHat. address book and sends itself to all the contacts. It also adds
to all the contacts. It also a line to the Autoexec.bat
changes the Windows regis- instructing the computer to for-
quicktake tered user name to “I am a
pot head!” and the organisa-
mat C: drive upon reboot.
McAfee has rated the worm a
Dr Albert R. R. Kooiman, Program Director, tion into “Stoner’s pot place”. low risk one. Yet, erasing the
Telephony, Philips Processing. The worm stays as a bush-like hard disk means loss of valu-
icon in the system tray and able data. All the leading
▲ What are the major products ▲ What are the plans of PSP for when clicked displays a antivirus vendors have come up
that Philips Speech Processing India? lengthy message urging the with patches, which will detect
(PSP) is offering in India? Most of the R&D work in India legalisation of pot smoking. To it. So get the latest updates for
The SpeechPearl family is inte- is focused on improving the delete the worm, delete the your antivirus program.
grated with third-party applica- acoustic models used for
tions for speech speech processing.
processing applica-
tions such as direc-
We have recently set
up a voice portal in
Big brother’s watching you
tory assistance, association with DSQ-
Internet voice world.com. It makes It sure seems so, considering this by saying that he had
browsing, personal use of Philips’s virtual that technologies like GPS are speeded three times during his
call assistant and telephone operator increasingly being used to trip. The result was the three
controlling unified for providing informa- monitor people without their $150 fines per speeding.
messaging. tion services such as knowledge. Acme had installed AirIQ,
SpeechMania
Dr Kooiman news via the tele- Take the case of this man an auto navigational
acts as an inter-
PROGRAM DIRECTOR phone to users. The from Connecticut, US. He system, which
Speech Processing
face for automat- technology is based rented a van clocked him at
ed telephone on a speech proces- fitted with over 90 mph in
transactions in applications sor, which makes use of Indian a GPS sys- three areas. He
such as voice portals using English. We are also develop- tem in sued the com-
SpeechPearl. It acts like a virtu- ing speech recognition for October 2000. pany and
al telephone operator for serv- Hindi. We even have plans to After his trip, received a
ices like directory assistance, make acoustic models for four he found that ruling in his
voice portals, etc. more languages. We plan to his debit card favour. This
SpeechWave has been establish a network of compe- account had incident has
intended for use in small to tent partners in India who will been drained dry raised con-
medium-sized vocabularies integrate our technologies into due to three $150 with- cerns that technology is being
like regional languages. products and applications. drawals. Acme Rent-a-Car, the misused against its user. Is
car rental company, explained 1984 going to happen after all? ➜

◆ AMD in second-quarter free fall ◆ Hopeful signs emerge for technology spending upturn ◆ PC sales fall for first time in years

16 August 2001
 ■ pulse

realitybites
I’ll kill for net Embedded
hese two new speeds enable a
“T broader range of performance and
price points for our customers”
Forget the bench- access notes
marks. When it Sounds too far fetched? A uni- Hitachi has developed an
Louis Burns, vice president and comes to proces- versity student was recently unbreakable chip thinner
sor clock speeds,
general manager, Intel Desktop arrested in Bangkok for killing than a strand of hair, making
it is the Pentium
Platforms Group at the launch of a young woman. He wanted it possible to be embedded in
that rules!
the 1.8 and 1.6 GHz Pentium 4s the money for paying off an paper.
Internet café debt. Data stored on the chip
The culprit is 22-year-old can be accessed using a device
Witchapat Permjaturas, a similar to a bar code reader.
computer science student at This capability to store iden-
t the very least I’d think that would Ramkhamhaeng University. tification numbers enables its
“A put us in the top 10” He killed 28-year old
Patcharin Nanammuang for
use for the protection of cur-
rency notes, cheques and
Tsugio Makimoto, chief technol- settling a 2,000 baht debt that other important documents
Hamara number
ogy officer, Sony Semiconductor he owed in a cyber café. against counterfeit and illegal
aayega!
Network commenting on how digi- On December 14, 2000 he copies. It can also be used for
tal consumer products are offer- broke into the young woman’s tracking sales and market
ing new opportunities for the apartment. While looking for research.
company money and valuables, the
woman woke up and tried to
resist him. In the struggle that thermometer
followed, he stabbed her,
e believe that this order is at resulting in her death. It took Hot
“W odds with the appeals court rul-
ing in February and threatens all peer-to-
nearly six months before the
police could catch him. The
Games
Tomb Raider and
peer file sharing” Let’s see if there’s police got on to his tracks Final Fantasy are
a way to get the from his blood stained clothes released as
Hank Barry, CEO, Napster on the free goodies back and the footprints he had left movies
court order restraining Napster’s behind in the apartment. E-authors
file-sharing services Addictions, even cyber Authors win a
addictions are dangerous legal case on
affairs, you see! e-books for
which they did
not get royalties

thumbnail Cold
Usage of Google Psion
The company has
Google is your favourite search engine for sure. Let’s look at the systems and profiles of people stopped produc-
using Google for their search requests tion of consumer
handhelds,
restricting itself to
corporate mar-
kets
Internet World,
Chicago
Visitor turnout at
Source: www.google.com

Internet World
reflected the
state of mind
brought about by
the Dotcom bub-
ble burst

➜
◆ Toshiba guns for Palm with enterprise-level Pocket PC ◆ Pennsylvania company to list clinical trial data on Yahoo! Health

18 August 2001
■ pulse

metrics XP Smart tag—not so smart!

$44 million Microsoft has announced This has caused widespread
▲

that Windows XP will apprehension that sites

not be carrying other than those
was spent on streaming media enabled advertising in 2000. Smart Tag tech- favoured by
nology—a result Microsoft will be
Worldwide revenues from e-recruiting in 2000 was of the negative neglected. Online
public reaction to browsing could

$1.6 billion this feature. How- become very

▲

ever, Office XP will Microsoft-cen-

still be having this fea- tric if this is
ture. Smart Tag technol- incorporated
Source: www.idg.net ogy links users to Web into the operating
sites chosen by Microsoft system. Trust good
even when they are on old Bill to have a
R.I.P. the Power Mac G4 cube sites other than Microsoft’s. finger in every pie!

All you Mac fans, there’s sad what the company had
news coming your way. Apple expected. Most customers go
is discontinuing production of in for the more powerful Online funerals? Whois?
the Power Mac G4 cube due Power Mac G4 mini towers What’s the world’s coming to? Ximian Mono
to lack of demand. The 8-inch than the G4 cube. Now they’ve decided to put ▲ What is it?
cube, which was launched Of course, you can con- live broadcasting of funerals This is an initiative from the
last July, is almost one-fourth tinue to hope that the G4 online as well. open source community to
the size of the Power Mac G4. cube will be back in a new EulogyCast, a company in compete against Microsoft’s
Apple says that the sales upgraded avatar. But as of the US has announced its live, .Net since Microsoft’s posi-
of G4 cube were not enough now, Apple doesn’t have any private broadcasting services tion in the Internet area is
to justify sustaining it. In fact, plans to do so in the near of funerals and memorials. as yet not considerable.
the sales were far lower than future. Shameful is not enough to .Net has several advanced
describe it! features such as ASP.Net,
that won’t be available to
tomorrowstechnology ordinary developers on
other platforms. Therefore,

Small is efficient only Windows OS users can

get the best experience,
obviously something that
The question of how to con- ured out ways to build molecu- “Nanowires” are crystals of the open source community
nect molecular sized comput- lar chips to store information six to 10 atoms wide and two doesn’t want to happen!
ers has been resolved by and crunch data. Their next tar- atoms tall and are essentially Mono provides develop-
researchers from Hewlett- get, by 2005, is a 16 kilobit what the molecular chips are ers with a platform with
Packard. The solution, though molecular memory chip that made of. Growing the crystals which they can develop .Net
conceptual, lies in making use in parallel and laying them one compatible applications.
of a kind of atomic pixie dust. above the other creates a grid. These .Net applications can
Phil Kuekes and Stan Williams, When energy is passed through run on Windows or Mono
both working at HP labs were the grid, a molecule that could supported platforms such as
awarded a US patent for the be present in each intersection Linux and Unix.
concept which involves throw- of nanowires moves, thereby ▲ Who is developing it?
ing atomic dust, based on gold making it an on-off binary Ximian, who made the
and other molecules, between switch required for computer Gnome interface for Linux
the ends of nanowires and would hold 16,000 pieces of memory and computation. and Unix is behind Mono.
wires. Also included is a testing binary yes-or-no data. A small The biggest challenge lies Check out www.ximian.com.
process that provides identities amount, but still large enough in connecting these nanowires ▲ When is it coming out?
to the connections, making it to make hooking up the molec- or crystals to the 100 times big- The tools and libraries of
easy to control them. ular chip to the computer ger wires comprising today’s Mono are expected to be
The group had already fig- wires, a royal pain. computers. out by the first half of 2002.

◆ Location privacy bill introduced ◆ HP open sources gadget software ◆ Hotmail goes in for a redesign

20 August 2001
■ event~ p l a n e t d i g i t

A
World of
your own
B
angalore got a chance to see cutting edge technology at work
when Planet Digit landed at Koramangala Indoor Stadium
on the 14th of July 2001. An otherwise routine Saturday was
transformed into a mega event for technology lovers of
India’s equivalent of Silicon Valley as the country’s first Technol-
ogy Content Zone attracted all of them with its force field.
Planet Digit was aimed at bringing technology closer to people
through a combination of Tech Tracks, Technology pavilions, and
an entertainment zone. Each of these was conceived to give visitors
a close look at the latest happenings in the technology arena. Tech
Tracks provided insights into various aspects of technology like
mobile computing, .Net, security and learning, coming straight
from tech gurus from industry giants like IBM, Microsoft and
Apple. Live Technology pavilions were built around themes like
Processor Power, The Future is Mobile, Advanced Digital Imaging.
Visitors got their first looks at cool portable computing devices,
futuristic input devices and interactive kiosks.
Techies who needed to freak out got their share of laughs from
the Fun Zone, which had the Gaming Zone for game afficionados,
and the Hungama zone for really serious freaking out. Yup, the
Hungama zone came with a DJ presenting live music for the mass-
es. Interactive quizzes were a major hit and budding singers got a
chance to perform live at the karaoke-style singing competition.
Needless to say, this was one of the really popular areas of
Planet Digit. As the time came for the day-long event to wind
V A bird’s eye view of the
Technology Pavilions which were
down more than 10,000 people had been through the gates. Come amongst the many attractions for
closing time at 7:00 p.m. and people were still coming in, visitors to Planet Digit

clamoring for “20 minutes more”, or

“just a quick look at it”. The reception
desk had a hard time convincing folks
that like all good things, Planet Digit
had also come to an end.
What’s next?
Phase 2 and 3 of Planet Digit at
Delhi on the 21st and Mumbai on the
28th of July! Catch that news in the
next issue of Digit.
V

People queue up to gain access to

Planet Digit from up to an hour before
the 11:00 a.m. scheduled start
 V Technology on display at the
|
Content Pavilion: Visitors wonder
at some of the cool products

V Visitors to Planet Digit get to partici-

pate in a long-range basketball
shootout under the eagle eye of MC
Melody at the Hungama Zone

V
Gamers, barricaded
behind a wall of tires,
got their chance to
race through crowded
city streets in multi-
player sessions of
Microsoft’s Midtown
Madness

V The first Tech Track has Ajay Joseph,

Microsoft, providing an overview of
the company’s .Net initiative—
Microsoft’s platform for XML- based The objective of
intelligent Web services, to connect,
transform, and transact uniquely Planet Digit is to
across systems and applications
provide a forum where
our readers can come
face-to-face with the
latest innovations from
some of the giants in
technology
– Karan Manral
V

The Tech pavilions provided technolo-

gy enthusiasts their first peek at some
of the latest technology products
 ■ pulse~ dialog
Teach me no
Dear Digit,t
t on convergence This is in resp
Divergen
onse to the ar
the July issue. I gradua ticle ‘The Prom
nvergence in ted from one ised Goal’ ca
rried in the Ju
for All’ on co entu- One e are ev
Madras Univer of the 300 en ly 2001
Dear Vinit, for One and d microwav sity. I chose Co gineering colle
ges affiliated
column ‘All machine an after cook- established w m puter Science to the
I read your m y w as hi ng the dishes ay back in 19 but found that
01 issu e. I expect that le de vi ce that will do be co mes easi- were Pascal, C,
C++, Fortran
84, still used
Windows 3.1. the lab, which
was
20
g to sh ri nk into a sing is go od ? If everything m achines, included som and Cobol. Th
rough the eigh
The language
s we learnt
ally goin u think this to be depe
ndent on e civil, mecha t semesters, w
g th e tu rk ey. But do yo w ill ha ve . I be lieve tech- of my class of
74 students,
nical, electrica
l and lots of el hich also
in
tu al ly th e entire world do n’t w an t to happen puter institute including mys
el
ectronics subj
ects, most
er, even I personally ith nature
and s in Chennai. f, chose to jo
in some privat
ething that harmony w
a two-year pe Here we learnt
which is som nt in ue in them . riod. When w
e got out of co
Java, Oracle, AS
P and JavaScrip
e com-
ld co lict with basics withou
nology shou ing in conf t a clue of wha lle ge we had kn t over
m an s in stead of be lem s w ith fused and dish
eartened that
t skills are ne
eded in the re
owledge of on
ly the
hu prob al world. I am
US is facing other field. I no I just want to so con-
Today, the ra te of w think that m get out of com
puters and jo
e to the high scam. ost engineerin in some
landfills du e fact g colleges are
obsole sc en ce of PCs. Th - K. DHINESH just a money
making
gr ad
is not bio-de Via e-mail
that silicon e th e si tu -
t mak
able doesn’ W hile I
be tte r. Hi,
ation any
to make a I read your ar
am striving ticle ‘The Prom
r myself in B.A. (Hons.) ised Goal’ pu
career fo t student of Bu blished in the
July 2001 issue
I don’t wan University co siness Econom
computers m y llege. The co
urse contents
ics in the se
cond year of
. I am a
ke ov er papers that de
them to ta al with compu are quite prof
essional exce
a Delhi
the course in ters. I was take pt for two
daily life. cluded BASIC, n aback to se
e that the cont
HAKAN university do dBase Lotus an
JAYDEV D esn’t include
programming
d Wordstar. I
have no idea
ents of
e- m ai l have practical languages like why the
Via applications no C++, VB or Ja
Initially, an an wadays. va that
cient 486 had
Illustrations: Farzana Cooper though we late to be shared
r got newer PC between thre
rospect howev s I realised th e students an
er, I understa at we didn’t re d even
score higher nd that the ou ally learn muc
marks. Since td ated course m h. In ret-
an acceptable this means a akes it very ea
Vinit Aggarwal responds: trade-off. You higher overal sy to
BHARAT CH just need to m l percentage,
Jay, HABRIA ak e the best of I think this is
Via e-mail the situation.
My column was focused on the convergence of entertainment
and technology and not really about how smart machines will
Sir,
eventually make mankind redundant. I think movies such as
I read your ar
Terminator and The Matrix have dealt with this in great detail. ticle ‘The Prom
computer ed ised Goal’ in
Your microwave already doubles up as an oven, your fax ucation in Go the July 2001
well written, bu vernment colle issue about th
machine can be used as a copier, your washing machine also t as a student ges and univ e state of
to make a co of Computer ersities. The
dries your clothes and universal remote controls can operate uple of observ Science in IIT article was
In IIT, our Co ations of my Kharagpur, I w
multiple appliances. Whether we like it or not, convergence is mputer Scienc own. ould like
waste time le e Course is by no m
happening. While I personally prefer multifunctional devices, arning archai eans outdated
with C, and th c languages lik . We don’t
I guess that is a matter of personal choice. en graduated e Basic, Fortran
revise the sylla to C++ and Ja and Cobol. W
bi to make it va. The profes e started
up-to-date. sors meet fre
quently to

We may not
learn
the use of ac
tual tools
like VC++ or
VB in the
classroom,
but our
Dear Subhradyuti, Dhinesh, and many others, professors en
courage
As we expected, the story, ‘The Promised Goal’ has attracted a lot of feed- us to pursue
person-
back from all quarters. There are a lot of varied opinions on this. Some al projects. W
hat we
of you have written in saying that you agree with the fact that computer do learn are
funda-
mentals such
education provided by colleges in India are lacking in many ways. Others circuits, switc as digital
hing theory, al
have vociferously defended the contents of the curriculum. As one read- piler designi gorithms, com
ng, database -
er that wrote in to us said, “Colleges help you get a strong foundation in artificial intelli management,
gence, etc. Th
the fundamentals, which will be useful for the rest of your lives.” And sufficiently de e courses ar
tailed and co e
there were those that felt that it doesn’t really matter because “it’s just get a good gras herent, so we
p of everything
another subject”. of my friends . Some
One thing that comes out clearly from this is that the levels of satis- who study in
renowned priv
faction vary according to the expectations that each of us has of our edu- but they lack good at using ate institutions
this basic know various tools are
cation system. Not everyone can afford a three-year computer course when you cla ledge. So I think and compilers
im that what it un fair ,
from a private institute in addition to college (or study in IIT for that country is by people learn to include the IIT
and large rubb in engineerin s
Regards, ish. g colleges arou
matter). Many of us expect that our college courses should go beyond nd the
just providing a degree. It should be designed to prepare us for our SUBHRADYU
TI SARKAR
careers. And everyone has his own view on whether three or four years of Via e-mail , IIT KHARAG
PUR
computer education in colleges is time well spent.

24 August 2001
 Crime Time Short Bytes
Karan,
I want to th We dig it
ank you for
with regard having brou Dear Karan,
to Internet ac ght to the fo
you that Inte cess and us re the issues I recently visited the IRC chat
rnet usage is age through of privacy an
ed with the one thing th your editori d freedom servers and registered a new chan-
same callous at needs to al in the July of choice
increase in attitude that be pr omoted and issu e. I fully agre nel and named it #digit. This chan-
penetration go vern en cour e with
efits of info of the Intern s services like ag ed rather th nel is dedicated to technology dis-
rmation tech et in the co the Indian an treat-
usage in In nology to th untry it will Railways. W cussion and I hope it rocks with
dia is very e common not be poss ithout an
low and th man. At pres ible to deliv new topics of discussion.
isn’t helpin e governmen ent the leve er all the be
g the situat t certainly ls of Internet n-
framing law ion by SUBHRO SANKHA KAR
s such as
these. Via e-mail
IMTIAZ
Via e-mail Dear Imtiaz, Back to the ‘sticking’
As you mentioned, the larger objective should be to promote the use boards
of the Internet. All other signs seem to indicate that the government I think you really have to do some-
is attempting to do its part to spread the benefits of technology. thing about sticking the Digit CDs
Hence this particular move makes even less sense. Cyber crime to the card paper. Some portion of
is an important issue and needs to be tackled but the approach the backside of the CD cover gets
being adopted seems to be excessively heavy-handed. torn and looks like someone has
ripped it off from the card paper.
Every time when we buy the mag-
azine there is a task ahead of us to
pull the CD cover very gently.
Instead of sticking the backside of
nia
Mobile Ma
the CD cover you could use an
extra flap of card paper that will act
Karan, t mobile as a connection between the CD
article abou
I read the ne 20 01 issue, Cover and the card paper. You
the Ju
phones in on the could stick one end of it to the CD
ade a sketch
and have m of m obile cover and the other end to the
hing
recent slas cardboard. Then, we can rip off
.
phone prices RTY that flap from the cardboard keep-
EE K C HAKRABO
PRAT ing the CD cover safe and clean.
Kolkata We could even cut out the flap
from the CD cover.
KAUSTUBH PAWASKAR
Via e-mail
Dear Prateek
Just an aside. Do they Programming loop
use mobile phones for Firstly, you could start a regular
‘Phone-a-friend’ in section for programmers even
our national pro- though you have released a new
gramme, Kaun Banega magazine. Secondly, you could
Crorepati? start another regular section that
will deal with how the computer
works. For example what happens
when I cut/copy and paste some-
thing or how the various hardware
devices work or on emerging tech-
nologies such as Bluetooth.
AZAHAR
Via e-mail

Be Indian, buy Indian

Send your letters marked Goof Ups Previously, there used to be a
‘Readers Letters’ to the small Indian flag on the front cover
Digit office: of the magazine, but this symbol
■ No guys, you are not lucky! Rashi Peripherals is not selling the
D-222/2, MIDC, TTC has been removed from the new
Logitech Cordless Mouseman wheel at Rs 480 as printed in the
Industrial Estate, A-List. The actual cost is Rs 4,500. Digit cover. Digit, therefore, seems
Om Sagar Building, Nerul, a foreign name. Get the flag back
■ Don’t always be so positive is what Prashant Parikh seems to be
Navi Mumbai 400 706 in the next issue of Digit.
pointing out as we have rated the ‘Poor performer’ Biostar mother-
Phone: 022-7629191/9200; SRI RAM
Fax: 022-7629224 board as positive (+) instead of negative (-) in Radar, July issue.
Via e-mail
E-mail:
readersletters@jasubhai.com Notice any goof-ups? Write to goof@jasubhai.com

25
■ connect~ face-off

And miles to go...

A year has passed since the enactment of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
What has and has not happened in the first year of the IT Act 2000?
Manu Khanna and Shonal Gupta get the viewpoints of some prominent people

he enactment of the IT Act that they are valid in a court of he last one year has demon- ture. If nothing else, this shows

T was indeed a shot in the

arm for the IT industry. It
was supposed to provide
just the environment required
to achieve the long cherished
law. With respect to security,
digital signature scores over a
hand-written signature as one
can claim the latter to be forged
and therefore not valid.
T strated that the initial hurry
in passing the Act was not
accompanied by appropri-
ate swift action for its effective
implementation.
the slackness on the part of the
government. The IT Act 2000
isn’t just about e-commerce, it
has another role to play; to tar-
get the new forms of cyber
dream of modern India—mak- The appointment of a Con- Take the issue of digital sig- crimes. Crimes such as cyber
ing India an IT superpower. troller to invite applications for, natures. Recently, the govern- stalking and credit card fraud
The bill provides the basic appoint and eventually oversee ment appointed a Controller are inherently incapable of
the functioning of Certifying and Deputy Controller of Cer-
Phiroz Vandrewala Authorities is a clear indication tifying Authorities to establish Pavan Duggal
Chairman, that the government is prepared the basic framework for mak- Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Nasscom and Cyberlaw Consultant

“The government is “Crimes such as

prepared to do all cyber stalking and
that it can to ensure credit card fraud do
successful not find mention in
implementation of the IT Act…the
the IT Act within government is still
the shortest defining the scope
possible time“ of the law“
What do you think? Come, speak your mind at www.yahoo.co.in
framework for giving legality to to do all that it can to ensure ing the concept of digital signa- being covered by the provisions
digital records and signatures. successful implementation of ture feasible and completely of the IPC. Though these had
This will allow Indian busi- the IT Act and that too within secure. The government has emerged as a reality by the time
nesses to transact over the Web the shortest possible time. invited applications from com- the IT Act was passed, they do
freely, thereby enabling an Even though there has been panies willing to become Certi- not find mention in the IT Act.
effective reduction in commu- some criticism of certain areas fying Authorities, but nothing Same goes for electronic pay-
nication costs and more in the Act, the fact that the concrete has happened till now. ments, online Intellectual Prop-
importantly, increasing com- e-commerce transactions and The other area of concern is erty Rights, online consumer
petitiveness in the market. The cyber-crimes are still in their the issue of electronic records. protection, domain name
Indian consumer can now shop infancy in the Indian context The Cyber Regulations Adviso- issues, to name just some of the
for products and services from means that it would have been ry Committee (CRAC) was areas not covered in the Act.
Web sites at their convenience quite impossible for any Act to assigned the task of prescribing The Indian IT industry
and in a secure manner. have been comprehensive. Over and eventually specifying the expected a lot more of the Indi-
The implementation of the the past year, India has definite- electronic form, which will an IT Act 2000. Surprisingly
IT Act 2000, has led to a num- ly made a good beginning by replace the paper forms cur- enough, the government is still
ber of positive results. Most sig- realising the potential of the rently being used in most gov- defining the scope or provisions
nificant of them has been Internet and creating a con- ernment offices. Even after or the law. The IT Act at present
bringing digital signatures on ducive environment for con- several meetings, it is yet to does not provide any standards
par with paper signatures so ducting business on the Web. come up with the basic struc- for its actual implementation.

www.y aho o.c o.in Catch ‘em live on Yahoo!

Pavan Duggal on August 14 at 4 p.m.

26 August 2001
■ connect~ spotlight

What’s the Buzz about?

Bringing music into your life over the Net, that too legally—that’s what
Sudhanshu Sarronwala does. We focus the spotlight on the man and his
latest venture, Soundbuzz.com
VIDYARAMANAN S. plans to act as a music aggregator rather than
successful businessman is one who realises just a digital music distributor. He wanted to

A an opportunity, seizes the moment and

makes good use of it. Sudhanshu Sar-
ronwala fits this description right down to
the last detail. With a mathematical base from
Delhi University and a business degree from
bring in a close interaction between the artiste,
record labels and the distributor.“I want to make
all three happy on their way to the bank,” quips
Sarronwala.
The inspiration from Napster, coupled with
IIM Lucknow, Sarronwala is at the helm of the aspiration to make all the players content,
affairs at Singapore-based Soundbuzz.com as and at the same time a vision to distribute music
its CEO. Soundbuzz.com is the first of its kind digitally in a secure manner paved the road for
to offer digitally encrypted music in Asia. Till Soundbuzz.com.
date, Soundbuzz.com has been the key player in While other digital distributors of music
digital distribution of music in the Asian region. viewed the aspect from the technology stand-
Music is nothing new to Sarronwala, who has point, Sarronwala looked at it from a music
an extensive broadcast and media background industry perspective. According to Sarronwala,
“Digital music is the biggest thing since the
invention of CDs. It’s the biggest threat and
also the biggest opportunity for the music
“I want to make industry.”
The music industry has a projected growth
the artist, the from $10 to 50 million a year, and is expected to
grow to a massive $150 million industry in three
recording years according to IDC estimates. Sarronwala
believes that he could reap the rewards by help-
companies and ing record labels do decent and legal business
over the Web.
the online Today, this speaks volumes for the success of
Soundbuzz.com in the Asian region. In India,
distributor happy the company has joined hands with a repertoire
of Indian music labels to distribute old and new
on their way to music labels via the Internet. Using the latest
Digital Rights Management technology from
the bank” Microsoft and distributing the music in the
Windows Media 8 format enables the company
to distribute music in a highly secure fashion, at
the same time helping the music industry pro-
Sudhanshu Sarronwala, CEO, with over 10 years of experience managing tect copyrights. The channels of distribution are
Soundbuzz.com media businesses in Asia. He enjoys the distinc- going to be many-fold, ranging from computer
tion of being the former managing director of manufacturers, wireless devices, Internet, MP3
MTV Asia and the senior vice president of MTV players and many more to come in the near
Networks Asia. While at MTV, he realised the future.
potential of music in the Asian and Asia-Pacific He also has plans to introduce patented
region. The vision became a reality in the form pieces of music for cell phone users. Today there
of Soundbuzz.com. are plenty of Web sites that offer downloadable
In early 1999, Napster brought along with it ringer tones for cell phones. Soundbuzz is also
all the questions related to copyright infringe- working on similar grounds for releasing patent-
ment. Sarronwala liked the way Napster was ed ringer tones.
using technology to distribute music, but he pre- Will Soundbuzz.com be a successful player in
ferred doing it the right way—the legal way. He a field full of free and illegal services such as
was aware that a simple dotcom model would Napster and Audiogalaxy? Time is the best
not generate revenue, and figured out strategic answer to that question.

28 August 2001
■ connect~ t e c h n o l o g y n e x t
Illustration: Ram

The
FUSION
of
Communication
Interested in RINKI BANERJI munication that allows you to receive any form
he phone lines in your company are down of message by retrieving it via telecommunica-
messages anywhere,
anytime? Then
unified messaging is
T and you simply have to contact your public
relations agency in the next half-hour. So
you send an e-mail hoping that the person at
the other end checks the message. But the PR
agency is trying to cope up with a systems crash.
tion devices such as local phones, any Internet
machine, fax machine, e-mail account, pager,
handheld device, Windows PC or SMS/PCS
mobile phones. All messages sent to you in var-
ious formats such as e-mail, fax or SMS, fall into
probably for you And yet the recipient gets your mail and acts a single inbox from where you can retrieve them.
according to your instructions. Now how did There are many services available on the Internet
that happen? that let you have a single inbox or ‘messaging
Welcome to the world of Unified Messaging centre’ on the Web for all types of messages, let-
(UM). This is the integration of real-time com- ting you access your messages online. ➜

30 August 2001
■ connect~ t e c h n o l o g y n e x t

As a sender, you can avail of several options With the Unified Messaging System (UMS),
as to where to send a message. As a recipient of all you need to do is log on to a voice mailbox
How it Grows a message too, you do not have to necessarily use online and check for messages. This can be
A glance at the colossal a PC or a telephone to access your messages. done either through a visual interface such as
increase in the use of mes- Whether you do it via fax, e-mail or voice mail, Microsoft’s Outlook Express or through an e-
saging services: it doesn’t make a dime of a difference. Like wire- mail client that supports UMS. The sender of
■ There are 85 million cor- less before it, e-mail and the World Wide Web the message and the length of the calls can be
porate voice mail boxes cur- have been successful steps in the evolution of recorded while making use of the e-mail client.
rently in use, with the modes of communication, and UM is another You can also locate the sender of the messages
number expected to grow to step in that evolution. and the length of the calls. If you wish to listen
140 million by 2003 (Ovum to messages on your PC, it can be done by
Evaluates Unified Messag- How does it work? enabling the text-to-speech application.
ing, Ovum Ltd, 1997). In UM, getting information through your tele- If you are a wireless user, you can avail of this
■ There will be 170 million phone system entails receiving voice messages service on your mobile handset wherein the dif-
subscribers for unified mes- through voice protocols such as voice mail. If ferent voice mails, e-mail and fax messages are
saging, provided by service you are an e-mail user, you can contact someone collected as voice mail, and you can access your
providers by 2006 (Ovum who doesn’t use an e-mail service, but does use messages by using the soft keys of your handset
Unified Messaging Report, voice mail, by sending a text message as an and selecting the message. The text-to-fax tech-
Ovum Ltd, January 1999). attachment. The attached message sent to a nology is all about directing e-mail to your fax
■ The Kauffman Group esti- phone will be converted to voice using text-to- machine.
mates that fax pages over IP speech technology. Some popular and efficient packages such
will exceed 250 billion The receiver can reply, forward or delete the as Microsoft Outlook at the front-end and
worldwide by 2004. message without ever knowing whether the Microsoft Exchange as its back-end, offer facil-
■ IDC estimates that almost message was sent to him as a fax, voice or e- ities to categorise messages and maintain them
seven million people used mail. You, in turn, receive your reply as a voice along with your contact lists.
remote or wireless tech- message attachment in your mailbox, which is Even the caller’s telephone numbers can be
nologies to access e-mail for easily converted to text using speech-to-text stored in the subject of the messages, letting
business purposes in 1996, technology. you avail of the facilities that would automati-
and that the number will Besides, if you have just a single telephone cally render journal entries and send messages
rise to 40 million by 2001 line for working on the Internet and receiving to a different folder. Similarly, fax-mails and
(IDC Mobile Messaging: A incoming calls, you need not worry about fax-on-demand features are in-built in them
Comprehensive Analysis, losing your calls during Internet sessions and can be integrated easily. As you can see, it
1997). anymore. is the first step towards global connectivity.
■ Dataquest estimates that
by 2001, between 27 per Infographics: Jaya Shetty
cent (low-end systems) and
50 per cent (high-end sys- Just Connect
tems) for all voice mail sys-
tems will ship with unified
messaging (Dataquest Mes-
saging—Unified, Integrated,
Universal, January 1998).

Irrespective of whereever you are, you can access your messages through a central server. This cen-
tral server can provide you access to your e-mail message headers, fax, to any device, whether that
be a mobile device or another fax or a telephone

32 August 2001
 Voice Mails Some User Scenarios
Gone are the days when the answering increased, for instance dialling the caller’s 1. Telephone access to
machines and devices could only be connected number automatically. Some applications also e-mail
to phone lines. With voice mail features that permit creation of mailbox lists for sending the You can access and manage
add power and flexibility to the simple answer- same voice message to different people. Sever- your e-mail and fax mes-
ing machine, communication anytime, any- al voice-messaging solutions today allow the sages via a telephone. The
where has become an easy task. Today’s voice conversion of recorded audio into the .WAV file system will notify you about
mail allows messages to be more detailed and format, which can then be delivered to an waiting messages, read you
lengthy and they can be accessed and acted Internet location from where it can be the contents and allow you
upon by you even when you are on the road. accessed by people who may not have a voice to reply to them with a
In the future, this functionality will probably be mail system. recorded voice message.
Longer messages can
always be redirected to a
ber that Onebox.com provides you with and nearby fax machine.
you can access these any time from your uni- 2. PC access to voice mail
versal inbox. Voice mail messages appear
But, before you run out and create an in the inbox, like regular
account on one (or all) of these sites, you must e-mail and fax messages.
take note of the fact that several of these free You can play back the mes-
services, such as eTouch.com and MessageAS- sage through speakers or a
AP.com, are turning into paid services. headset. Forwarding or
replying to messages is also
Way to go possible.
Although at present UM is not very popular 3. Telephone access to
with individuals, it has taken off well with cor- information
porates. The latter usually need to be able to send You can access other appli-
The Messageasap.com inbox for unified messaging and receive e-mail, voice and fax messages at all cations and retrieve infor-
times. Several of the companies that offer Web- mation such as current
based services to individuals, provide solutions stock prices or financial per-
to corporates too, for instance, uReach.com. But formance data.
more excitingly, big boys such as Microsoft and 4. Wireless notification
Lotus have also entered the fray. and access
Microsoft’s Exchange Server has been If you are travelling, you can
designed and developed to become a platform receive alerts about new
for unified messaging systems. It provides e-mail via your mobile
organisations of varying sizes with connectiv- phone and then access and
ity, a single physical store for messages of all respond to them using a
media, and allows them to coexist with vari- smart phone, a simple wire-
ous protocols and clients. less device, or a PDA con-
A unified mailbox and mobile access to your messages It provides easy administration and most nected to your cell phone.
from Messageasap.com importantly, it integrates with Microsoft’s Out- 5. Fax mailboxes
look software to deliver all of this to each indi- Fax messages are delivered
Web-based UM services vidual user in a familiar environment. Lotus to an electronic mailbox,
There are several Internet-based services that are has a similar strategy with its Domino plat- which allows you immedi-
delivering UM capability to users. These servic- form, which is already in use at a lot of organ- ate access to them when
es offer you access to e-mail, fax, voice mail and isations all over the world. Developers can now you travel. Privacy is a major
voice e-mail via a single inbox. extend the functionality beyond the collabora- benefit, along with lower
Your inbox can be accessed via a Web inter- tive tools provided by Lotus Notes to unified cost.
face from any location. MessageASAP, one such messaging applications. 6. Web access to all mes-
service, allows you to install a client software that Other technology infrastructure companies sages
lets you store messages on your desktop itself. such as Cisco, Dialogic and Ericson are develop- As all messages are in a sin-
HotVoice.com is another service that adds ing technologies, products and solutions for uni- gle inbox, you can access
instant messaging to the mix and has a client fied messaging because of the potential for new them via a Web terminal.
software that alerts you when you receive a new services that integrated networks for data and
message. voice will provide users.
However, to make use of all of the features Though initially these products are being
on most of these services, you need to be a US- developed for corporations, telecom service
based consumer. For instance, people can leave providers will eventually make the services avail-
voice messages for you on the US phone num- able to individuals.

33
■ connect~ t e c h n o l o g y n e x t

Unified messaging, as it stands today, brings together sever-

al existing Internet technologies. As a result, most of the stan-
dards that have been instituted for data-based networks will also
carry voice data in the future as telecom networks move towards
data transfer.

Where’s UM headed?
UM is quite prevalent in the West and gaining ground even in
India. Earlier, fax, voice mail, and e-mail servers were installed
discretely, being separate entities, and each operated only with-
in its own area of responsibility. Today, these services are all inte-
grated into one system that acts as a repository for collecting
various messages and are comfortably operated from one user
interface, known as the UMS, that offers enormous advantages
in the field of business communications.
The unified inbox that we have today is set to evolve into
an intelligent messaging network that will allow communica-
tion via wired or wireless devices. You will be able to send and
receive messages without having to worry about how the recip-
ient will view or hear them. Recipients in turn will be able to
choose to check their messages via the medium they are com-
fortable with.
The system will be able to search intelligently and locate
you easily whether you are logged into your messaging service
or are only accessible via messages sent to your pager. Voice
applications built around speech engines will make it possible
for you to access any information you need at any time. Busi-
nesses will be at the forefront of this change as they search for
solutions to the challenges of making it possible for employ-
ees separated by time and space to work together to capitalise
on opportunities available to them.
Unified messaging as it stands today is a combination of sev-
eral existing Internet technologies. Most standards such as

1/2 page V. AD HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and SSL form the foundation of most exist-
ing UMSs. Software architecture has also moved towards inte-
gration with Sun’s Java programming language and the recently
introduced Microsoft.Net, making it possible for applications to
run on different platforms.
But this is not the case in areas such as wireless communi-
cation and speech processing. Another major issue is that tele-
com infrastructure in various parts of the world adhere to
different standards.
The Japanese
iMode network is
more advanced
Some popular services you can avail of: than the GSM net-
www.onebox.com works that are cur-
For free voicemail, fax and e-mail in rently in use in
one place India. To enable
www.etouch.com the move from the
Provides IP-based solutions for unified existent unified
messaging messaging to uni-
www.j2.com fied communica-
Voicemail, fax and the works tions, networks of
www.ureach.com the future will
Your integrated communications tool need to adopt a
www.hotvoice.com common standard
Connecting through gateways that will allow data
www.yac.com to flow seamlessly
You are always connected, what else? through all of
them.

34 August 2001
■ connect~ t e c h n o l o g y n e x t

Technology
@ home
Have you ever wished you had a
door that locked up by itself? A
vacuum cleaner that you could
control from your office? Well,
your wishes are on the verge of
coming true
emember the Jetsons? The family of the

R future with a goofy dog and a robot maid

that your kids catch on Cartoon Network?
In the Jetson household, machines seem to
do all the working and running. Anything that
needs to be done seems just a push of a button
away. A sleepy George Jetson makes it to the
office every day without lifting a finger, while all
the work from bathing and dressing to preparing
and serving breakfast is done by their incredibly
automated house. For years, writers, moviemak-
ers and cartoonists have fascinated us with the
concept of an intelligent home. They shared their
vision of the future with us. But which one of
these visions are the closest to reality?

2001: Where are we today?

How close are we to intelligent homes, workspaces
or devices moving from a stage of novelty to that
of universal prevalence? Technological develop-
ments that have taken place over the last few years
seem to be converging to make an intelligent home
possible in the near future. Computing in par-
ticular has spawned many of the technolo-
gies that are likely to play a major role.
Wireless standards such as CEBus,
HomeRF and Bluetooth are making it
possible to design devices that com-
municate with each other with-
out the need for wires. This can
be used to provide solutions
for many simple automa-
tion problems. AMX and
Imaging: Neeta Wadiker
Crestron offer control
systems that allow
you to control any
 Infographic: Jaya Shetty

Convergence at Home Artificial Intelligence

It is the study of how com-
puter systems can simulate
intelligent processes such as
learning, reasoning, and
understanding symbolic
information in context. Sim-
ply put, it is a branch of
computer science con-
cerned with making com-
puters behave like humans.
Most homes today have regular PSTN telephone connections. As telecom service providers change A new movie called AI,
over to data networks and broadband connectivity makes inroads, we will see a considerable directed by Steven Spiel-
amount of convergence. You can even receive your daily newspaper on your printer at home berg, depicts a society that
is largely dependent on
intelligent robots and com-
electrical or electronic device via LCD touch pan- sible for services to be delivered directly to you at puter systems. While this
els and infrared or RF controllers. You can get a home. Imagine the possibilities. Take the newspa- might be far from becoming
feel of how this works by visiting AMX’s Web site per for instance. Most of us don’t read it from one our reality, there are several
(www.amxcorp.com/solutions/index_solutions.asp). You can end to the other—we have our favourite sections. areas where AI has made
also program the system to create sequences of Aside from the PC, which will continue to considerable progress.
events, such as switching on the lights in a room provide users with several ways to communicate, AI involves work in algo-
when the doors to it are opened. there are already some appliances such as Inno- rithms, databases, and theo-
Remember those extra long days of work you Media’s InfoTalk that allow you to make phone retical computer science as
put in at the office? And when you returned home, calls over the Internet using VoIP technology well as fields such as neuro-
you had to face that mounting pile of unwashed without requiring a PC. Videophones also can science, cognitive science
clothes, the refrigerator running low on your now operate off the same networks that bring and cognitive psychology,
favourite food groups and the house looking like Internet access into our homes. In time, we will mathematical logic and
a pigsty? Those days might be old lore, going by probably be able to switch to an IP-based phone engineering. Some areas
the improvements in processor manufacturing service, which will allow us to make voice, and wherein considerable
technology. Advancements in this field have made videophone calls to anyone in the world. progress has been made
it possible to insert extremely small and powerful Entertainment also seems to be moving in the include natural language
processors into almost any device. This means same direction. Intelligent TV services like processing applications,
devices that use these processors can now per- TiVo, available in the US, automati- robotics, and computer
form tasks beyond their basic functionality. cally find and record your favourite games. One of the most
This basic level of ‘intelligence’ is now being programs and allow you to watch successful demonstrations
incorporated into many household appli- them at your convenience. While it of AI took place way back in
ances. LG, for example, has an Internet currently uses a phone line to access May 1997, when a super-
refrigerator that will be able to alert TV programming details, eventual- computer called Deep Blue
users when expiry dates for items ly much greater functionality will from IBM defeated world
stored inside are approaching. It be available to users of these kinds champion Gary Kasparov in
will also be able to order gro- of services. An entertainment net- a chess match.
ceries over the Internet when work in your home will make
supplies begin to run low. music, movies and the Internet
Another example of this accessible at any location in your
intelligence would be the Inter- house at all times. You can watch
net-ready washing machine, DVD movies, play games and surf
which can download wash pro- the Internet with this single enter-
grams for new types of fabrics tainment console.
from the Internet. In time, you
will be able to remotely monitor All under one roof
these machines to program Speak with IP-phone Audio-visual integrators and traditional
wash cycles. Even service tech- electrical integrators are providing most
nicians could monitor them remotely to diag- of the existing home automation technology.
nose problems. Down the road, these appliances They have formed consortiums like HAVi
will automatically detect each other and collab- (Home Audio Video Interoperability,
orate without any manual intervention. www.havi.org) that provide a common, openly
The introduction of broadband networks that licensable specification for networking digital
connect people’s homes means that it is now fea- home entertainment products. However, there is

39
■ connect~ t e c h n o l o g y n e x t

now a considerable amount of interest from

Digitally Secure some of the major computer and networking
manufacturers.
If all those paintings by the HomePNA is an association of several com-
masters and the antique panies that include Compaq, AMD, AT&T, Intel,
Wedgewood and Noritaki Motorola and HP that are working together to
adorning your house leave ensure adoption of a single, unified phone line
you feeling insecure during networking standard. All this leads to the conclu-
long absences from home, sion that in the not too distant days to come, you
broadband can come to won’t need to be Bill Gates with $50 million to
your rescue. You can use a spend to have an intelligent digital home. Home
security network that con- gateways will form an important part of the home
sists of a few inexpensive of the future. The current generation of home
Web cams that can stream gateways allows multiple users to connect to the An AMX control system
live images for you to view Internet, with numerous companies offering
in a browser from anywhere solutions that act as combination proxy servers write applications for a device without worry-
across the world. And this is and firewalls. However, the next generation of ing about what kind of hardware and software is
no remote possibility. It’s home gateways promises to deliver a lot more. involved. This is very important because it cuts
happening right now. Vicini- The Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi) down the development time for any software
um offers a NeighborMation is an independent consortium with more than 75 application, which is the heart of any service
server which lets you arm, members from around the globe. This group is provided over a network.
disarm, and monitor your working to define open specifications for the Jini is one network technology introduced by
security system status delivery services over wide-area networks to local Sun that enables devices to plug together to form
remotely. It can also send networks and devices. The OSGi framework will a community. This happens without prior plan-
security alerts to trusted allow multiple software services to be run off a ning and devices provide services to other devices
neighbours in case of suspi- services gateway. This could be a set top box, that are a part of the community. New devices on
cious activity and automati- cable/DSL modem, or even a dedicated residen- the network register themselves with a lookup
cally arm their security tial gateway. Sun Microsystems has introduced an service, which in turn provides information that
systems. Pretty neat, huh? OSG-compliant Java Embedded Server that will allows a user or another device to detect them.
allow people to access subscription-based serv- Microsoft’s new .Net platform, which aims at
ices over a network. IBM is also developing enabling XML-based Web services is also likely to
home gateway technology, based on WebSphere play an important part in the future.
embedded software, along with National Semi- There are a number of developments taking
conductor Corp. This aims at extending their place in embedded operating systems that are
vision of pervasive computing which involves worth taking note of. Linux players like RedHat
computerising anything from refrigerators to a are becoming increasingly active in this area.
pair of earrings. Numerous other players are also trying to get
their technologies established.
No software, no go
For a truly intelligent home you could end up Welcome home
needing huge amounts of processing power and The Jetsons’ home may still sound like a futur-
storage space in addition to expensive server istic fantasy to most of us, but it’s closer than you
software. Realistically speaking, it is unlikely that think. While the reality is that there is still some
most ordinary households will have this. Intel- way to go before the average home has the kind
ligent networks are what will power these homes of intelligence that is on display in the cartoon
if they are to be accessible to a larger number of series, any new home that you buy, five to 10
people. The multiplicity of the hardware and the years from now, will include a host of connec-
software platforms that form networks make a tivity and convenience options. Existing homes
cross-platform architecture absolutely are already being fitted with smarter appliances
necessary. This means that not only does and electronics.
software need to be able to run on dif- The fact is that almost every prominent tech-
ferent hardware and operating systems, nology company—be it IBM, Intel, Sun, Seagate
http://architecture.mit.edu/house_ but also services written for different or Microsoft—is involved in projects that
n/web/index.htm platforms need to be able to communi- demonstrate the use of technology in homes.
MIT Home of the Future cate with each other. It becomes neces- Consumer electronics majors and traditional
www.techhome.org sary that many of the features that are home automation companies also seem to be
Integrated Home Systems offered be provided by service providers. trying their best to develop new products that
www.cisco.com/warp/public/3/uk This would mean that the function of will excite homeowners. So, are you wondering
/ihome/ processing is actually distributed when exactly you are going to see all of this in
Cisco: The Internet home amongst various sections of the network. your house? Well, the future is out there and it’s
Java, from Sun, allows developers to waiting to happen.

40 August 2001
■ connect~ droolmaal

Chic-tronics
T
his month’s selection of objects level altogether. So even if you
worth dying for, range from a think they are a little out of reach,
stunner of a music system to a there’s nothing to stop you from
mobile device that takes the drinking in the sights and drooling
term ‘multi-tasking’ to a different over them.
➜
Sony eVilla
Entertainment Centre
The eVilla is Sony’s network entertainment device, designed specifically to surf
the Internet. It is based on the BeIA operating system and is multimedia-ready.
It comes with convenient preset channels that let you listen to Internet radio
and MP3s. The eVilla has a 15-inch monitor with the longer sides oriented ver-
tically, rather than horizontally as in most computers.
Web site: www.evilla.com
➜

Sony Aibo ERS-210

Aibo Planet
Welcome to the world of robot pets. The current generation Aibo (the ERS-
210) is an upgrade to the ERS-110, which captured the imagination of pet-lov-
➜

ing enthusiasts a couple of years ago. The new version comes with 32 MB Frontier Labs NEX II 64MB
memory, a 64-bit RISC processor, and new voice-recognition capabilities. It Looks don’t Matter
can dance and talk, but also has a digital camera built into its nose. This USB-based MP3 player is way
Web site: www.us.aibo.com/3d/index.html ahead of its competitors. The sound
quality and fast file-transfer times
are sufficient reasons to go for the
NEX II. It has been designed to
overcome the limited memory
available with Flash media. It also
supports multiple storage formats,
Web site: ww.frontierlabs.com/
NexII.html

42 August 2001
 ➜
Casio WQV-1d-8CR wrist
camera
A Shot in your Wrist
The Casio WQV acts like any stan-
dard digital watch with date, time,
stop-clock and 24/12-hour modes.
But hang on a minute! This watch
is a camera too—you can click pic-
tures and then review the results
quickly and easily on the LCD. But
the downside to this gizmo is that
picture quality is not satisfactory.
Images are 120x120 pixels in size
and at 72 dpi and greyscale,
they’re neither sharp nor clear.
Web site: www.casio.com

Aphrodite Music System

➜
Beauty Incarnate
TAG McLaren Audio, the audio division of the famous British Formula One rac-
ing team, has introduced a new high-end music system called the Aphrodite
Music System. Fully remote controlled, Aphrodite’s system is Flash-memory
based and can be upgraded via the Internet. The system is not merely a
breathtaking beauty, but comes with sound quality that boasts of some of the
finest engineering. For once, you can get entranced in music while feasting
your eyes on the goddess of beauty herself.
Web site: www.tagmclarenaudio.com/grear/sounds.asp
➜

Nokia 9210 Communicator

Light Heavyweight
Nokia 9210 Communicator is definitely a welcome step from Nokia. The prod-
uct can support some frequently used PC applications such as MS Office. It
even offers Java support, wirelessly of course, besides the usual features such
as mobile e-mail and WAP. It features mobile multimedia that supports colour
video clips and boasts of a full-colour screen with 4096 colours. And not to
forget, all this comes packed in a unit that is 158x56x27 mm in dimension with
a net weight of 244 gram. And if you have a grouse against the tiny keys on
these and similar devices, take comfort—the Nokia Communicator has bigger
keys and even a new user interface.
Web site: www.nokia.com/phones/9210
➜

IBM Netvista X40i

Sleekonomics
It stands a class above its predeces-
sors in terms of design and com-
pactness. It’s clean, sleek looks are
enhanced by the flat panel moni-
tor. Except for the keyboard and
the mouse, everything else is com-
pactly stashed above, below or
beside the monitor. The mother-
board and the hard drive are dis-
creetly integrated behind the
display.
Web site: www.ibm.com

43
 ■ connect~ passport

Putting the ‘M’

in Media
NILESH KAKADE ence. An experience that makes you wonder—
The world of he world around you isn’t the same any- how do they do it?
multimedia beckons.
But before you start
off on your journey,
T more—everything’s getting interactive. Look
around you and you will be amazed by the
power of the digital world. Split second
images flashing at you; screens responding to
your touch and intelligent enough to respond to
Skill set: the ground work
Producing a multimedia package involves a
number of stages. Up first is the storyboard,
which involves the creation of a work sheet that
make sure you fill the next level of interaction; games, movies and describes in minute detail the structure of the
your knapsack with other information-related products that really set multimedia content and how the images, video,
you on a high…the excitement never ceases. It’s animation and sound are to be integrated. The
these useful tid bits a world almost without any boundaries, limited storyboard also describes the workflow for your
only by your imagination. project. All the team members involved with the
The name of the game then, is multimedia. A project work in accordance with the storyboard.
combination of text, graphics and sound work- A slight variation from it and the whole project
ing together to give you a mind-blowing experi- could go haywire.
Photograph: Jiten Gandhi, Imaging: Solomon Lewis

44 August 2001
■ connect~ passport

The team members involved in a specific pre-programmed elements for the development
The Team project could include a Creative Director, of interactive multimedia.
Graphics Designer, Instructional Designer, Pro- Director is one multimedia authoring software
Creative Director: He is the grammer, Proof Reader and Quality Checker that has been around for a long time now and has
ideas man who lends his (see box, ‘The Team’). made life easier for programming greenhorns as
views visualises and concep- While the general picture is that the designer well as experts. Director can be customised
tualises the whole project. and the script writer form the crux of the entire according to one’s requirements. With customisa-
He supervises the entire project, a major portion of the responsibility also tion, it is faster and easier to work with the various
project and guides his team falls on the programmer. He works in the back- commands and templates, normally called
accordingly. ground, doing the groundwork and needs to libraries. These libraries are very useful as they
Graphic designer: This is the understand the complexity of work involved. He help combine multiple authoring and tracking
person responsible for the ensures that ideas put forward by the team are views, and project management functions that are
visual look and feel of the implemented in right earnest and that the proj- associated with such authoring packages.
multimedia presentation. A ect is executed as it was conceptualised. For any aspiring multimedia programmer,
good sense of visual appeal, Multimedia programming or authoring is especially a Director programmer, a thorough
colours and design harmony, essentially writing the scripting or programming understanding of Lingo programming is a must.
typography and sense of bal- code that integrates the var-
ance are essential. ious elements of multime-
Instructional designer: This dia content, such as text,
person plays an important
role during the process of
voice overs, background
music, images, animation
A multimedia program-
developing Computer Based and video. Precision timing
mer should have sound
Training (CBT) packages; it is of the essence here, what programming knowledge,
is he who decides how a with all the fancy graphics, a sense of logic and an eye
CBT is structured and what movie clips and sounds that for aesthetics
kind of learning model come embedded in the Kiran Nayak
should be implemented. multimedia applications Senior Project Manager, Indiagames.com
Programmer: A program- available today.
mer, typically called integra- Good multimedia con-
tor, is responsible for tent is distinguished by the Lingo programming is the scripting
assembling all the multime- smoothness with which the language for Director, which helps in
dia elements together. He is audio ties in with the video providing interactivity to the applica-
the person who corre- or animation, and the way everything happens tion. You can even do a certain amount of basic
sponds the sounds with the without any lag or jerkiness. You would have animation using Lingo in Director, though there
buttons, puts the visuals in noticed this on CD-ROMs and Web pages—the are specialised software for high-level anima-
the right place, gives the moment your cursor moves over a certain point tions. A Lingo programmer is most sought after
transition effects between or co-ordinate axis, you see pop up messages, for any kind of development, be it game devel-
sequences, etc. In short he sound applications and voice over enabled, but- opment, CD.
puts the entire jigsaw tons changing colour and the entire interface Two other popular multimedia authoring
puzzle together. changing as required to enhance the level of software are Authorware and Toolbook, with
Quality checker: The per- interactivity. The programmer has to take these Authorware being the more popular of the two.
son who ensures that the aspects into consideration and see to it that all A Macromedia product, this software is an all
presentation is totally error the elements work in proper synchronicity. out logical tool that makes programming for
free and meets the specifi- CBT and generating quizzes a cakewalk. Author-
cations stated. He looks for The learning curve ware provides you with readymade code that
bugs in the programming, “Multimedia programming involves lots of cre- you can drag and drop to control certain events
points out errors in the ativity and hard work. A programmer should in the package.
links, and basically ensures have a sound programming knowledge base in You should also know languages that work
an error-free presentation. OOPs (Object Oriented Programming Lan- across platforms. Cross-platform compatibility
Proof reader: His role is sim- guages), a strong sense of logic with an eye for is an issue with multimedia packages as such
ilar to that of the Quality aesthetics, besides a healthy attitude towards packages were originally developed for the Mac
Checker. He ensures that the teamwork,” says Kiran Nayak, Senior Project but are now used extensively on the PC as well.
language and grammar used Manager, Indiagames.com. A basic knowledge of With the growing effectiveness of the Net as a
for the presentation is designing aspects such as colour patterns and medium and programs and applications becom-
absolutely error free and in designing tools is essential for a programmer as ing more Web-enabled, there is a growing trend
the right perspective. He he would have to interact with the designers and for writing applications that can be viewed and
ensures that the language almost the whole team. worked upon various platforms such as hand-
is easy to read, and conveys To be a good multimedia programmer, need- held devices, Pocket PCs and wireless devices.
the right message to the less to say, you should have mastery over at least Flash is another software that is widely used
users. one multimedia authoring system. An author- for jazzing up the look and feel of Web sites.
ing system is basically a program which has Scripting in Flash is still in the primitive stages ➜

46 August 2001
■ connect~ passport

as compared to Director or Authorware. It uses ranging from subjects related to IT, medicine
Synchronised Multi- Action Scripting for defining scene sequences, and other informative topics.
form inputs and other behaviour that are Keep in mind, however, that though there are
media Integration required to jump start other programme inter- several institutes that would teach multimedia
Language faces. The newer version, Flash 5, incorporates a programming, it is up to you to show your ver-
The need for Web-based fair bit of built-in scripting elements. satility. It is advisable to keep your portfolio ready
applications is growing and as that is your passport to success. The projects
Synchronised Multimedia Where do you start? must reflect the kind of work you’ve been
Integration Language (SMIL) Learning languages such as C, C++, Visual C++, involved with and the diversified range of pro-
is a great tool that allows Java and VB script should give them a good gramming applications you are familiar with.
Web developers to stream- jump start in multimedia programming, as they However, when it comes to judging an indi-
line huge audio-video appli- form the programming core. These languages, vidual’s potential, your portfolio will no doubt
cations in a lighter format coupled with Director, Authorware and Flash, come in handy, but the usual practice is that
on the Web. SMIL, pro- are widely used for developing interactive CD- companies will give you a small multimedia
nounced as ‘smile’, sends ROMs and Web pages. Knowledge of a visual assignment (called real time testing) that you
the images, files, text and programming tool such as Visual Basic or Power need to finish in a certain time. Companies do
sound in a structured for- Builder (PB) would be an added advantage as it this because it is easy to generate code, modify it
mat. This means that though smoothens the transition to learning Director. and pass it off as your own work. “This concept
the files may be at different The same is true for packages such as Flash and of real time testing is very handy as it helps the
locations, their timing would Dreamweaver, which allow you to view the code employer in judging the calibre of the candidate.
be perfect when embedded and make changes accord-
in an application and would ingly. Besides, knowledge of
not hamper the speed of 3D modelling tools such as
display on the Net, enabling
the image to download
3D Studio Max and Elastic
Reality are a must in today’s
The European markets are
faster. SMIL is the current multimedia applications. opening up and there is a
standard incorporated in good enough demand for
most browsers these days to Where can you learn? multimedia professionals
enhance Web applications. Owing to the presence of a Rajiv Sangari
Learning SMIL is easy, as large market and a huge Deputy General Manager, Pentamedia
it is based on XML. It is in potential waiting to be Graphics
fact a mark up language like tapped, there are several
HTML and the coding proce- institutes that offer courses
dure is simple and easy to in multimedia program- With this, one can make out whether the
understand and can be writ- ming and design. Major candidate is strong in his fundamentals
ten using a simple text edi- players such as Pentamedia and can think clearly on the project
tor such as Notepad. and Arena Multimedia not only develop multi- given,” adds Kiran Nayak. Moreover, while on the
Its best utility can be media applications using state-of-the-art infra- job, the programmer must be able to grasp the
seen in real audio and real structure and resources, but also offer training fundamentals easily and develop new techniques
video that work with Real courses in this field. to improve work efficiency. Efficient use of
player. For instance, you can Depending on which institute you choose, libraries and templates go a long way in building
pick a Flash file, convert it to you could learn modules ranging from the very effective source code. The programmer must also
SMIL and play it in a media basic to high-end development applications; be able to judge on his own as to which source
player. It is a versatile tool from designing Web pages to Web server appli- code would be the best for writing a program.
for Web-based applications, cation development such as ASP, JSP and PHP. Termed as ‘smart programming’ in a program-
especially when bandwidth Arena Multimedia (www.arena-mutimedia.com) offers mers dictionary, this is what makes a program-
is the major concern. good infrastructure and caters to almost all mer stand out from the rest of the pack.
aspects of working with multimedia, which cov-
ers basic programming concepts of multimedia The opportunities
for graphic visualisers/specialists, Web page Now that you are armed with the requisite skills,
developers, and also covers 3D animation and where do you go? Well, opportunities abound
high-end multimedia programming. Others like for multimedia programmers in areas such as
Edit Institute (www.editinstitute.com), Microcell television, advertising, filmmaking, content
India (www.microcellindia.com) and the Workstation development, and of course the Internet.
(www.tasaa.com) also cater to these segments. The advertising field has room for everyone,
You can also learn on your own as there are from graphic designers to layout artists to cre-
Hands-on many CBT titles now available in the market. ative directors. You could start off as a designer
Multimedia workshop on working New methods and models are being deployed to or visualiser and grow to become an art and
with multiple devices, check out make the learning curve easy and interactive, by media consultant, studio manager or even a cre-
making self-explanatory and user-friendly tuto- ative director.
Mindware
rials. Pentamedia claims to have about 170 titles The film and TV industry are the hotspots

48 August 2001
where multimedia is used. Who can forget the both designers and developers,”says Rajiv Sangari,
high profile animation techniques used in Juras- deputy general manager, Pentamedia Graphics. Animating Media
sic Park and high-end morphing techniques used As such, Indian talent is a major force to reck-
in Terminator and The Matrix? Multimedia is on with and people with the required knowledge What makes interactive mul-
also widely used in Virtual Reality, wherein can now diversify their talent to suit future timedia so fascinating is the
complex mechanisms are represented in virtual requirements. “It need not be a US-based mar- animation and cool effects
3D environments that seem almost lifelike. Mul- ket. Major countries in the West (in Europe) are that make the whole pack-
timedia and Virtual Reality are widely used in welcoming Indian talent and it is for us to tap age alive. Basically computer
virtual design and visualisation, and sensory this opportunity,” adds Sangari. animation is the process of
management applications. It is also used for “India is on the verge of an animation boom creating moving sequences
training pilots through in-flight simulation tech- and the need for multimedia professionals is of images (such as cartoons
niques and to guide medical students through being felt like never before. Industry estimates and animated films).
complex surgical operations. Architects and say that the global digital animation industry is There are usually four
building designers make use of CAD/CAM and estimated to grow to a whopping $70 billion by steps involved in creating an
virtual walkthroughs in their presentations, all of 2005 from the current $25 billion,” says Sumathi animation sequence: First, a
which uses multimedia applications. Sridharan, vice president-production, Pentame- storyboard is created to pro-
The education sector is another area where dia Graphics Limited. The multimedia industry vide a visual script for the
multimedia is used for developing interactive is booming and it is up to the people to make animation sequence. The
games, CD-ROMs and multimedia titles that use of the opportunity. Software programmers next step is modelling,
provide you with fascinating information—how who are contemplating a career shift and are well where the objects to be ani-
a pupa metamorphoses to a butterfly captured in versed in C and C++, need only sharpen their mated are created using
all it’s glory—in the most interactive fashion. skills to suit the changing environment. The software such as 3D Studio
time and effort put forth by an individual in Max. The next step is script-
The greener grass learning these languages can definitely be useful ing/movement control,
Though the recent slump in the US market has if efforts are channeled in the right direction. where static images are
put the software industry in a tight spot, profes- manipulated. Finally, the
sionals in the multimedia industry report a Disclaimer: Digit does not vouch for the quality of courses and animation is rendered, that
growth. “It is in fact boom time as the European training offered at any of the institutes mentioned here. Before is, the sequence is put
registering with any of the institutes, it is better to check the cre-
markets are opening up and there is a good dentials of the institute and aspects such as the training methodol-
together in its final form.
enough demand for multimedia professionals, ogy and placement assistance, amongst others.

1/2 page Hor Ad

49
■ connect~ wide angle

Photograph: Ashesh Shah, Imaging: Ram

Money
makes the world go ANIL PATRICK R. Basically speaking, e-cash is nothing but
hen shopping in Singapore, you pay in blocks of data that represent money. It is a pay-
round. But can the
same be said for
e-cash? Read on and
W Singapore dollars and in Hong Kong you
of course pay in Hong Kong dollars.
Right? Well get ready for a time when you
pay only in e-money. In the age of the big ‘e’, it’s
but inevitable.
ment message bearing a digital signature, which
functions as a medium of exchange or value.
This data can be transferred from one point to
another via networks and can be traded as tokens
to be exchanged for real money.
find out E-cash is a relatively recent entrant in the Exchange for real money was the original
complex world of e-commerce. Very convenient concept with which e-cash was developed, but
and secure, it can be an alternative to tradition- now there are many e-cash providers who are
al methods of online payments such as credit trying to completely replace conventional paper
cards and even for offline transactions. Origi- money with e-cash. These entities intend to pro-
nally developed for e-commerce applications, e- mote e-cash as a medium for obtaining products
cash has been around for about six years now. and services, just like real cash.
But is e-cash really everything that it’s made out The digital nature of e-cash presents great
to be? Let’s take a look at what e-cash is and what possibilities for the future of commerce. E-cash
it can do for online commerce. Will it be good is usually stored on computers or mobile
Mindmatters enough when dealing with online money trans- devices. Some of the common forms are soft-
The best eBooks for your reading actions? Is it going to be the substitute of value ware ‘wallet’ programs that are installed in your
pleasure, check out
for cash that we use to get things done in the vir- PC. These wallet programs communicate with
Mindware tual world? Is it ever going to replace paper the bank or the e-cash issuer when a transaction
money? has to be made. All the transactions are secured
using complex encryption techniques. The
So what is e-cash? transaction is completed after user verification.
E-cash or digital cash or E$, as it is known, was The value of e-cash required is taken from the
developed as a replacement for the traditional buyer’s account and deposited into the account
concept of money. It was also meant to have of the seller.
additional advantages that conventional money E-cash does not necessarily require installa-
does not have. So how do you define e-cash? tion of programs, and can also be collected
Well, there are so many definitions of e-cash that by browsing certain sites or by purchasing it
it’s difficult to pick any one. with cash.

52 August 2001
 E-cash stables or market your personal details on the Web from
There are basically three types of e-cash avail- your e-cash transactions. E-cash Bigshots
able: anonymous and identified type, offline and Let’s face it, the Net is not a very safe place. As
online e-cash and smart cards. In the anony- such, security levels are of the highest standards Two of the most popular
mous type, the transactions made by the user in e-cash systems. This is made possible using e-cash sites are
cannot be traced back to him. Money is credited encryption and digital signatures. E-cash w w w.beenz.com and
from the user’s e-cash account, but no one would providers ensure that it is not possible to have w w w.flooz.com. Both these
be able to trace where it went. This is the most digital cash in more than one location. This sites work in radically differ-
popular kind of e-cash in use now since it is sim- means that you cannot have the same unit of ent manners.
ilar to the paper money we use. In contrast, in e-cash in your hard disk and your PDA at the Beenz.com uses Beenz
the identified type it is possible to trace the trans- same time. as the mode of transaction.
action back to the user. We all have heard and spoken about ‘global No deposit of money or
E-cash can also be online or offline in nature. communities’ and such. However, currency still installation software is
In the online kind, the transaction takes place varies from country to country. So what’s uni- required to earn Beenz.
through an intermediary such as a bank or an e- versal if we can’t even get this right? E-cash has Beenz.com has an Earn sec-
cash provider, over a network or the Internet. an edge in this regard since it is intended to be tion, containing a list of sites
The offline kind does not require the transaction truly universal. For example, the e-cash you have that support Beenz.com.
to take place through a middleman and can be in India is valid in Albania as well. Simply put, it Users can earn Beenz points
done without connecting to a third party. gets things done for you anywhere in the world by visiting, registering, or
Smart cards are yet another form of e-cash that without having to convert your rupee into the making purchases at these
are developing rapidly. Here, e-cash is stored in local currency. sites. By clicking on the
embedded chips, and the transaction method is Another useful feature of e-cash is that it can Beenz button on the site,
similar to that of credit cards. The rising popular- be split into smaller units more easily than real the user can earn Beenz,
ity of handhelds and other such mobile comput- money. This means that you would no longer which can later be used for
ing devices is a great boost to the future of e-cash. have to hear tiresome lines such as “No change, buying stuff at sites support-
These will enable e-cash to be ‘carried’ around, sir” or “Please give me change” when you hand ing Beenz currency.
much like carrying cash in your pocket or wallet. out a Rs 500 note. With e-cash, you can give the While Beenz.com
receiver the exact amount he needs. To add to requires customers to surf
E-cash vs paper money this, e-cash is also ‘age-proof ’ in nature. The dig- sites for revenue, Flooz.com
Similar to paper money, e-cash also works in a ital nature ensures that the e-cash you have now requires you to pay up. You
two–way stream in the real world. You can send will be valid even 50 years from now. It also does can purchase Flooz, the basic
to or receive e-cash from others. The anonymity away with dirty and torn notes. currency for online purchas-
that e-cash provides you ensures that your es, using your credit card.
money cannot be traced back to you or the per- Will it ever make it big? Flooz can be sent as a gift
son who receives it. Unlike with credit card Now for the big question: when is e-cash going to through e-mail. The receiver
transactions, it is not possible for others to know replace the paper money we use? Well, not any then registers at Flooz.com
to get his Flooz account
Infographic: Solomon Lewis

number and points from the

E-cash Payment Modes e-mail. He can then use this
account to shop at sites that
support Flooz, which is avail-
able for use in two forms—
for use by individuals or for
corporations.
In addition to e-cash
sites, major players such as
Microsoft have stepped into
the arena. Microsoft’s latest
operating system, Windows
XP, comes with Passport, a
kind of e-wallet that stores
the user’s credit card infor-
mation on his PC, which he
can later use for secure and
easy online transactions.
American Express, Master-
Card, and Visa have also
You can pay for your purchases using a smart card as well as a mobile phone/PDA. You can call up the come out with a range of
shop using the mobile phone about your purchase details, which is then validated if required, before
smart cards for online trans-
processing. The mobile phone data packet itself carries payment details. Similarly, swipe a smart card
actions.
at a shop and walk off with your purchases

53
■ connect~ wide angle

Looking in Bangalore Micropayments

You are way off the mark if When you need to make small payments, say, Micropayments is a concept that was devel-
you thought e-cash was Rs 3 for vegetables or Rs 19 for a single MP3 oped for payments below $5. It is a slight varia-
unavailable in India. Many track online, you wouldn’t generally use credit tion on the concept of e-cash, with similar
Indian Web sites have been cards to pay up. Why? Simply because the advantages of anonymity, security, etc. The dif-
toying around with the idea service charge of the credit card provider on ference is that here an intermediary is required
of e-cash for quite some the transaction is more than the price. To add (say a bank as in figure 1) who processes the
time now. One of them that to that, the process is complex. No one wants transactions and deducts it from the user’s
managed to get it right is to sign a bill or fill up a registration form for a account. All transactions between the two par-
w w w.lookforgreen.com. This small transaction. ties have to go through this intermediary.
Bangalore-based site makes

Infographic: Jaya Shetty

use of Green cards, which
you have to buy from retail
outlets. While the registra-
tion of user accounts is free,
the accounts are charged
through the Green cards.
These cash cards are avail-
able in denominations of
Rs 100, Rs 250 and Rs 500.

One Green is equivalent

to one Indian rupee. After time in the near future. It will take at least six to sites when we need something as simple as a book
getting the card, you can seven years before e-cash can replace the money or a shirt? Most people would prefer to pick it up
charge your account by log- standard in online transactions. There are several from the corner store. Simplicity of use is of para-
ging in and entering the factors inhibiting the growth of e-cash at present. mount importance before e-cash makes it big.
value code on the card. The first block to e-cash is acceptance. Why is But the biggest blow is yet to come. Govern-
Lookforgreen.com has paper money so popular? Simple. Everyone ments and banks simply do not like e-cash! Why?
tie-ups with major Indian accepts it. Anywhere in the world, paper money is They object to the anonymous nature of e-cash
portals such as Fabmart, the standard means of trade. Credit cards have transactions. It would be very difficult to prevent
Rediff, Archiesonline, Eguru- been around for more than 30 years but still tax evasion and money laundering if e-cash
cool, Sifymall, etc for online haven’t been able to replace cash completely. transactions were to become common. This in a
shopping. These sites sup- Before you conduct a transaction, you need to way explains why e-cash is taking so much time
port payment using the ensure that the store accepts the credit card you to develop.
Green system. The money is use. The same is true for e-cash. The e-cash that The software slowdown has proved to be yet
withdrawn from your you receive from Flooz.com would not be valid for another spanner in the works as far as e-cash is
account when you enter purchases on sites that support Beenz currency. concerned. One of the major casualties was the
your account information This brings us to the issue of common stan- e-cash pioneer DigiCash, which downed its shut-
using the Green icon on the dards. As of now, there is no single, universally ters recently. Even big names such as Flooz.com
site. The site also facilitates acceptable standard for e-cash. Some e-cash and Beenz.com are having a hard time surviv-
the transfer of Green from providers give it out in the form of gifts, where- ing. How much these e-cash issuers are going to
your account to another as others require you to purchase it. Till the time pick up or whether they will even survive is yet
account. As of now, the that e-cash providers come up with a common to be seen. At present, it seems as if this slow-
retail shops that you can standard by which an issuer’s e-cash units are down is going to set the growth of e-cash back by
buy Green cards from are accepted by others, the future of e-cash looks at least a couple of years.
available only in Chennai, bleak. However, many e-cash providers are work- Well, nothing did ever come easy and these
Hyderabad and Bangalore. ing together to solve this problem and if they pull roadblocks could be seen as part of the evolu-
it off, e-cash will become a reality. tionary process for e-cash. E-cash providers are
Next comes the question of ease of use. Come sure to find a way out of these thorny issues. So
on, how many of us would like to go through the keep the faith folks, you may soon be changing
tiresome process of registering and logging onto the way you shop…with e-cash!

54 August 2001
■ connect~ wide angle
Illustration: Ram

Computing the GREEN way

New technology and VIDYARAMANAN S. object. With sales of computers increasing and
ave you ever wondered what happened to older ones being discarded for new pieces, we

H
better products hit
the market every day.
But what happens to
that old 486 computer that once occupied
pride of place in your dad’s office? Did it
ultimately end up in some landfill, or was it
burnt in a rubbish dump, adding to the growing
pollution in our world?
need to spare a thought as to how all the discared
machines are disposed of.
Taking heed of this, firms such as IBM, Dell
and Sony have started recycle-and-reuse pro-
grammes aimed at reusing older equipment for
the old PC, CD or Approximately 20 million personal comput- producing new computer products. This reduces
printer that gets ers were discarded as obsolete in the year 1998. the need for raw materials required to produce
Most of these were dumped and just 6 per cent new products and we gain resources that can be
junked in favour of a were recycled. Due to rapid developments in used for manufacturing other products. But
new and better computing technology, the rate at which PCs are most importantly, this means a healthier envi-
sold is increasing by 15 per cent rather than the ronment.
product? estimated 5 per cent each year. The average age
of a computer now ranges between three to five Into the recycle bin
years. If PCs become obsolete at this rate and are Disposing of computers by burning them or
not recycled, according to a study conducted by dumping them in landfills cause long-term dam-
the Carnegie-Mellon University, there will be age to the environment. As a lot of toxic materi-
about 150 million PCs headed for landfills by the als go into the production of PCs, burning them
year 2005. might release poisonous fumes into the atmos-
Needless to say, a PC is not a biodegradable phere and if dumped into landfills, harmful

56 August 2001
 In the Design of Things Safe Disposals
Universities all over the US have started greener are interested in environment-oriented courses. Although the CD has been a
initiatives. Carnegie Mellon University has start- The consortium led by the Carnegie Mellon major invention as a
ed a campus-wide programme called Green University does research on recycling computers portable storage media, dis-
Design Initiative. The programme works and has identified that a large amount of elec- posal of corrupt and unsold
towards environmentally conscious engineering tronic debris comes from the usage of comput- CDs is an issue. Most CDs
and production. The University has partnered ers by businesses. Studies have been conducted are manufactured from
with industrial corporations, foundations and by the university for making a statistical analysis polymers, which are difficult
government agencies to work on advanced of how many computers are being dumped in to dispose.
research methodologies for a sustainable devel- landfills and how many have been recycled in A UK-based company,
opment. the recent years. The research programme aims Polymer-Reprocessors Limit-
Green Design Initiative is doing research in to reduce environmental damage by lowering ed (PRL), is working
specialised areas to aid the electronics industry hazardous material discharge, minimising the towards recycling CDs and
to incorporate environmentally sound technolo- use of non-renewable resources and by reduc- their jewel cases for making
gies in the production of their equipments. ing the usage of renewable resources to sus- newer materials. PRL has
Green Design also encourages students who tainable limits. created a system to recycle
CDs and their cases for use
in newer applications. Some
chemicals might leach into the ground water. The that covers a monitor is sent to a processing zone of Europe’s largest interna-
best solution therefore is to recycle them. Moni- to be pelletised. These pellets are then used as tional music companies
tors, keyboards, motherboards and other periph- feedstock for newer components or casing pro- have joined hands with PRL
erals such as floppies and CDs are all recyclable. duction. The CRTs are smelted and reused for in this environment friendly
Let’s take the case of monitors. Metals present making newer monitors. R3PC is another organ- approach towards recycling
in the printed circuit board and inside the hous- isation that has entered into monitor recycling. CDs and their cases.
ing of the monitor are recycled. The housing Here, the monitor’s casing is sliced out using a The CDs, along with their
itself is shredded and used to make a special plasma cutter and is recycled. CRTs are pul- packing are separated into
material, which is used to fill potholes. Most verised and separated into leaded glass, metals components such as paper,
monitors have a cover of lead over the screen, and trash. All other parts are ground and sold to plastic, CDs and cases. The
which can be reused. Flat panel monitors have recyclers, who use these as raw materials to make cases are granulated and
mercury lamps, which are used to backlight the new products. fed into an extrusion system
screen. One of the most hazardous metals, it can fitted with a laser for the
be reused as a raw material for manufacturing Separating the chaff removal of any contami-
newer flat panels. But what about a motherboard, you ask? A typ- nants. This process pro-
Recycling monitors is what Total Reclaim, a ical motherboard will have copper, silver and duces high quality crystal
Seattle-based company does. The plastic casing gold besides stains of heavy metals such as anti- polystyrene pellets, which
mony, chromium, zinc, tin and are used in making artificial
Infographic: Shyam Shirsekar

lead. wood, insulating foams or

Recycling Monitors California-based Fox Electron- even CD cases once again.
ics recycles the most advanced The discs are recycled using
processors to the cheapest compo- a specially patented recy-
nent. The resistors, capacitors and cling machine, which
other components are removed by removes the paint, alumini-
de-soldering them from the moth- um and eventually the data.
erboard. The chemically treated The cleaned disc is granulat-
board is ripped off its ICs and is ed and the outcome is high-
smelted again for producing pow- quality injection moulding
der, which can be reused to make grade polycarbonate, which
motherboards and other PCBs. is used in a multitude of
Keyboards are cut along the applications—in the produc-
seam using robots and are then tion of burglar alarms,
separated into plastic and metal streetlights, lenses, etc.
board. The plastic is melted PRL is also working
and is turned into pellets for fur- towards recycling DVDs,
ther use. video cassettes, audio cas-
settes and tapes and com-
The monitor casing is sliced using a plasma cutter, and is then Going to CD puter reels.
recycled in different processing zones. The CRTs are pulverised Computer peripherals such as
and separated into glass, metals and trash before recycling floppies, CDs and others can be
recycled similarly. According to

57
■ connect~ wide angle

industry estimates, PC users recover value from them, and

Recycle or Reuse trash approximately 4 million use these strategies for draw-
floppy disks everyday. This ing inferences for future oper-
There are other alternatives, magnetic material takes ations.
besides recycling comput- between 450 to 500 years to IBM, the big blue, has also
ers. For instance, charitable get degraded. Hence, compa- offered its individual con-
organisations collect them nies all over the world are sumers and businesses a
and after they are inspected, working towards greener ini- means to recycle their outdat-
consider them for reuse. It tiatives for recycling floppy ed hardware. Using this serv-
would be a waste of disks. ice, you can recycle any brand
resources if you recycle a GreenDisk, founded on of PC (and this includes
working computer. Though World Earth Day takes all dis- monitors, printers and other
slower speeds of older carded disks to their plant in peripherals) for an economi-
machines might be consid- Columbia, where the media is cally feasible price of $29.99
ered a hindrance for com- fully inspected and magneti- Scientist at PRL working on recycling (approx Rs 1,300), including
mercial or scientific cally erased. The disks are then shipping.
organisations, they can be disassembled and the metal and plastic compo- Envirocycle is the name of the dedicated
used in schools and other nents are recycled to make new disks and other recycling unit based in the US. The company
institutes for educational items. To date, GreenDisk has recycled more than tries to make the maximum possible use of a PC
purposes where speed is 20 million disks. Thus, software companies are and its components. Repaired PCs are donated
not the main criterion. also benefitted—they don’t have to pay for dump- to Gift for Kind International (GIKI), a charita-
There are several organi- ing the outdated packs and are relieved of the stor- ble organisation that contributes to over 50,000
sations working with this age costs. non-profit organisations all over the world. The
idea. In India, Mumbai- PC recycling service can be purchased from IBM
based FORCE (Foundation Old goods for new when buying a new IBM PC as a standalone
for Computer Education) Computer manufacturers are introducing service.
collects surplus or obsolete schemes wherein users can exchange their old
computers from corporates. computers for new ones. In turn, the manufac- Is the future green?
After inspecting them and turers recycle the PCs that they receive from their Reuse? Yes. Recycle? Yes. If not either, then what?
repairing them if necessary, customers. IBM, Intel, Sony and HP are leaders One answer is to dispose things in an environ-
it gives them to schools and in this arena. mentally safe way. Besides, we can think of ways
colleges registered with the Recently, HP announced that it would accept to reduce the utilisation of toxic components in
organisation. Notably, a sec- used equipment of any manufacturer for recy- the making of a computer. Redesigning the PC
ond-hand computer is not a cling. HP recycles almost all components such as could be the best alternative that would aid recy-
rare thing in India. Comput- inkjet supplies, laser jet supplies, and other hard- cling in the future.
ers are seldom discarded in ware that it receives from customers and from However, there are some obstacles that make
India, unless of course it has within HP. Till date, HP has recycled around 39 this task slightly difficult. For instance, lead is
reached a point of no million laser jet cartridges and it has reduced the used in monitors to prevent radiation and hence
return. In fact, many hard- use of plastics in the production of cartridges by cannot be drastically reduced. Its use in the front
ware shops in major cities 44 per cent, allowing them to be easily recycled panel of monitors has been virtually eliminated,
carry out a thriving business when trashed. but the industry has been less successful in
refurbishing old computers. Products that are produced from recycled doing away with the metal in other parts of the
Most states in the US plastics include buttons, plastic trays, tractor feed monitor.
have at least one reuse pro- parts and other items used in the production of Though the introduction of flat panel moni-
gramme, which caters to the printers and its components. tors would gradually reduce the use of CRTs
need of local schools for HP Inkjet products are also recycled to pro- (which have lead), it would result in the intro-
computers. These organisa- duce automobile parts, trays used in microchip duction of the equally toxic metal, mercury. IBM
tions collect obsolete equip- fabrication processes, copper wire, steel plates has reduced the amount of screws, bolts, plastics
ment from big business and other precious metals used in electrical and and glues in the making of its products, which
organisations, refurbish electronic equipment. Other parts, which can- will make it easier for recyclers to disassemble
them and donate them to not be recycled, are disposed of in an environ- and process old computers.
the needy schools. mentally safe manner. The company has a But there will still exist an element of pollu-
Students Recycling Used separate section on its Web site for selling refur- tion, which cannot be fully removed as long as
Technology (StRUT) is a spe- bished products, which are priced lower than computing technology plays a vital role in our
cialised programme in which ones that are not. lives. It might be next to impossible to make all
the participating schools’ stu- Sony, another major player in the electronics computer components pollution free. We’d have
dents evaluate donated com- industry, has also joined the green movement. It to either reduce the usage of computing tech-
puters and decide which is operating in conjunction with the state of Min- nology or find ways to dispose them in an envi-
components can be reused nesota (US) to find the best strategies to dispose ronmentally safe manner. Since the former is not
and which recycled. of electronic waste safely. The plan is to collect possible in the digital age, we must recourse to
material, find economically feasible methods to the latter.

58 August 2001
■ connect~ netreturn
Photograph: Mexy Xavier, Imaging: Ram

FIT online
Want to train to look ANIL PATRICK R.
t’s raining like there is no tomorrow and you
This tool maps your workout and diet over a
certain specified period set by you or them. And
like a Greek god
without going to a
gym? Health and
fitness Web sites
I don’t feel like letting go of your bed. But you are
guilt-ridden, for your early morning session at
the gym awaits you. You hate staggering to that
place each day at some unearthly hour and the
thought of bouncing up and down with all those
if you are trying to break the habit of sneaking
off your schedule, this tidy tool helps you keep a
record of how true you have been to it. These fit-
ness reports are also available as graphs or assess-
ment reports in most of these tools.
people with perfect bodies and a tyrannical train- Many sites allow you to keep your health pro-
might be the solution er puts you off mightily. “If only they would give file online. They provide you with an assessment
me an exercise routine that fits me,” you groan. of your health condition based on your profile
And it’s not your dimensions alone that you are and often assess your risk factor for various dis-
worried about. You are trying to kick off your eases as well. You can even consult experts on the
nicotine addiction. Hang on, help is close at hand. site regarding your health queries. Most of them
The Internet brings you a host of personal train- provide interactive calculators for almost every
ers and health counsellors. Worried about the aspect of health and fitness. These calculators
costs that they charge? Relax. Most of the servic- help you check a range of health-related issues,
es are free. So why not turn down the health road? from checking your fitness level to finding out
Indiasites your risk for cancer.
New Indian sites Fit ware
If your question is about what these sites have to Health first
Sitemap offer you, the answer is almost everything relat- One of India’s premier hospital groups, Apollo,
Masti.com, check out ed to keeping fit. The most common tool that has a Web site devoted to health care. Check out
Playware health sites offer is the fitness and diet scheduler. www.apollolife.com and make use of their experience

60 August 2001
and expertise in health and fitness. The site Worried about your kid’s habits? Drkoop has
requires you to register, which involves creating a tools to examine if your child is susceptible to Look Before you Leap
personal profile. After this is done, it’s time to log alcohol and marijuana addiction, or has suicidal
in. One of the best tools that the site offers is My tendencies. Sign up at the My Health section on Hold on for a moment
Health Scan. This involves answering a question- this site to customise the site to your require- before plunging into your
naire of more than 40 questions about your health ments. new fitness regime. There
and habits. On submitting the answers, you get a On the fitness front, Drkoop has tools to cal- are some essentials you
profile of your health and how you can improve culate calories burned and waist to hip ratio. You need to be aware of.
it. The health scan has sections on exercise, nutri- can find out if your diet is perfect using tools First of all, know your
tion, stress, cardiac risk factor, cancer risk, etc. For such as carbohydrate, protein, fibre, and fat present state of health. Not
example, checking the exercise prescription will intake calculators. The section on general health everyone can jump into an
give you the present status of your exercise sched- has information on depression, cost of smoking, exercise routine and go all
ule and advice on how you can improve it. nicotine dependency, cholesterol reduction and out. To find out your present
Calorie meter is another useful tool that the sleep requirement calculators. fitness level, it’s not enough
site has. Based on parameters such as height, to use the online health
weight, etc, it calculates how many calories you Nexercise scans offered by most
need to burn in a day. After you answer a series Asimba (www.asimba.com) is a health and fitness health sites. If you are over
of questions, it determines how many calories site that claims to be capable of serving you irre- 35, a complete physical
you actually burn. This helps you alter your fit- spective of your present fitness level. It has pro- examination is also recom-
ness schedule accordingly. grammes that cover people at all levels of mended. This helps you
E-consultations is another neat feature of the fitness—from couch potatoes to those training select the right fitness plan
site. It has two sections, MediXperts and Net- for the Olympics. One of the best tools it has is and helps you maintain an
Cliniq. MediXperts allow you to consult an My Training & Nutrition Log, which helps you online medical record. This
expert doctor online, but this service is not free. chart and maintain your fitness goals. However, record will also help the site
NetCliniq lets you consult an online doctor free you have to be a registered user to make use of tailor a fitness routine to
of cost who gives you answers to your health the services that the site provides. your specific needs.
related queries. Some of the other tools provid- Before striking out on your fitness path, stop The next thing to be
ed by Apollolife are the ‘Are you fatigued?’ test, a moment and assess yourself with Asimba’s cal- aware of is the cost of the
Waist Hip ratio, and tools to determine stress at culator tools. They can tell you how you can fitness programme you
work. Message boards and health chats let you charge your body before, during and after a work choose. While most are free,
discuss problems that you may come across with out, as well as find your maximum heart rate. there are some programmes
other visitors to the site. Other similar tools include those for finding the that require you to pay up.
body mass index, resting metabolic rate, and Before you give your credit
What the doctor ordered daily caloric requirements. card number, make sure
Ever wondered how fit you are? Or how much The best feature in Asimba is that it lets you that the transaction will be
you spend on smoking or your level of nicotine sign up for free training programmes for various secure. Most secure sites
sports and fitness activities. These programmes have a small lock icon at the
range from the relatively basic walking and run- bottom right-hand corner, or
ning to those at the other end of the spectrum certifications like VeriSign.
such as adventure racing (biking, cross-country Many of the sites offer
running, etc) and triathlons. These programmes diet planning tools that have
are of varied duration—from two weeks to eight been designed keeping the
weeks or even more. Asimba’s fitness trainers send Western diet in mind. So if
you each day’s schedule on the day before the you find your rotis and
workout or on the day, as you specify. In addition parathas missing, don’t
to these free services, Asimba also has pro- worry. Most planners have
grammes that you have to pay for. These are high- food databases from which
ly specialised programmes that most of us won’t you can add the missing
be requiring anyway. foods. In case you are
Drkoop.com: all you wanted to know about fitness After choosing a workout plan tailored to unable to find a particular
your health profile, you have to keep a tab on food in the database, they
addiction? Drkoop (www.drkoop.com) has all the whether you are working out right. Fitnesson- also provide for addition of
tools you need. line (www.fitnessonline.com) is the answer. It has lots new items. You can add the
You can use the Exercise risk calculator in of information for both sexes on working out food that you want into the
Drkoop to check out if you are really fit enough correctly. The usual tools are there too—tools to database. In this case, you
to exercise. This will help you determine if you calculate body mass index, ideal weight and calo- will have to give the nutrient
need to see a doctor before starting on an exer- ries burned. There are sections that cater to men- details of the food.
cise regimen, however mild it may be. Check out tal and physical health, adventure sports, and a
how vulnerable you are to heart disease, HIV, guide for buying health equipment. However, it’s
diabetes type II and asthma, using the risk the information on working out that is best pre-
assessment calculators. sented. Information available includes getting in

61
■ connect~ netreturn

MD on the Web Charting your way with Asimba

www.webMD.com is an all-
rounder of a site. This health Assuming that you’ve registered at Asimba, let’s select the exercises you usually do. Click on the
site covers almost every get your training and nutrition log in order. Click Done button at the bottom of the page to save
health aspect, from working on the the settings. Use the Preferences link to specify
out to eating right to infor- Training & the number of repetitions you do while strength
mation on diseases. Starting Nutrition training. Use the tabs to select the next aspect.
out with webMD’s services Logs link For example, if you want to enter your diet pref-
is easy. After registering, you under the erences, select the Nutrition tab.
could create a health profile Asimba Use the Add Food buttons to enter your
using the MyHealthRecord Tools sec- food preferences. You can also remove meal
tool. This helps you create a tion on the items
comprehensive medical left-hand using the
record on the Web. Besides, side of the page. You will have to log in for this. Remove
the record is necessary if Clicking on the Go to my Log link in My Items but-
you want to access tools Training & ton. Other
such as To-Do’s to keep Nutrition Log tabs in
track of your health sched- takes you to Prefer-
ules, Health Risk Appraisal, your log cal- ences are
and Immunization Planner. endar. Now Fitness and
select the Health. Click the Go Back to the Calendar link
Update Pref- when you are through. Clicking on the Reports
erences link tab in the main calendar gives you a report of
under the how true you have been and how much you
calendar to have gained on the fitness schedule. The
update your preferences. Fill up the general Graphs tab gives you a graphical log of how
information. If you are into strength training, you have fared.

Time to do a little stock- shape, losing weight, adding muscle, proper diet, Here you can design your diet around your tar-
taking—check out your body pregnancy care, etc. Online advice from experts gets and chart a nutrition plan based on whether
mass index using the BMI on fitness and pregnancy-related issues is also you want to lose, maintain or gain weight. It also
calculator. Now is the time available on this site. You can either read through provides exercise programmes at the beginner
to call for your personal the section or submit your doubts, which will be and intermediate levels, interactive tools, and
trainer using the Diet and answered by experts. support groups. The site even has exercise logs
Fitness Journal. Select the for various activities such as aerobics, flexibility,
Sports and Fitness link from To diet for strength training, and workouts.
the Health and Fitness sec- Cyberdiet (www.cyberdiet.com) is for those of you
tion on the left-hand side who want to lose weight or simply get into shape. Get set, go!
column. Now click on Daily Food Planner allows you to enter your tar- So if you’ve got the drift, it’s high time to move
‘Health e-tools for your fit- get calorie count for a day. It will then give you a away from your sofa and that remote. Go ahead
ness’. This section contains list of meal items with their calorific values from and discover the better, fitter person hiding
tools such as calculators, which you can select the ones you need. inside you. With all these sites and the tools they
interactive tools, and The section, Eating Right, gives you the nutri- offer you, you ought to have a good fitness rou-
slideshows. Some of the cal- ent details in each food item so you don’t have tine lined up. Just get that body moving, those
culators available are BMI problems figuring out what and how much to eat. calories burning, and kiss your adipose deposits
(Body Mass Index) calcula- Signing up with Cyberdiet’s health club goodbye.
tor, calorie counter and tar- equips you with your own nutritional profile.
get heart rate calculator. The
Diet and Fitness journal is
for use only by members. http://health.discovery.com
Fill up the profile and you Gives you health information in one go
get a personalised nutrition http://health.yahoo.com
plan. The journal allows you Tools for dieting, fitness and even a ‘Ask the
to record your exercise and Doctor’ service
diet schedules. Charts www.healthcentral.com
showing your progress over Information on health and fitness topics
the days help you monitor www.intelihealth.com
your goals. Health quizzes and food and nutrition tools
Cyberdiet: planned nutrition

62 August 2001
■ connect~ firsthand
Photograph: Jiten Gandi Imaging: Ram

Talk SHOP
Shopping for a digital NILESH KAKADE
t used to be about phoren maal once upon a
the latest products, though it probably makes
sense to pick a magazine or Web site that can give
device is no fun and
games. So take your
shopping seriously
I time—the imported car, the gold watch and
electronic goodies. But all that is easily avail-
able in India now. So how do you get to be one
up on Mr Gupta?
You, of course, flaunt your tech-savviness by
you detailed information on the various brands
and models available. “Getting to know about
the latest digital cameras is not difficult if you
watch Discovery, CNN, BBC, etc. They show you
all the latest gadgets,” says Sandeep Sheth, an
and pay attention to casually fishing out a Palm device to check your avid technology enthusiast.
what other proud appointments and read e-books or talk knowl- After you have a list of the various products
edgeably about the music scene and Napster as that exist, and have set your mind on one, the
owners have to say you listen to music on that cool MP3 player. And next step is to figure out which features are real-
at parties, you capture the moment with a digi- ly important to you. “I saw the Rio Volt portable
tal camera and generously send the images to all MP3 player on Cnet.com in a review of the top
your friends by e-mail. five MP3 players and was bowled over by its cool
But before you go out to satisfy your ego features. It can play songs in the MP3, CDA and
drive, ready with a bundle of cash to buy the
funkiest digital accessories around, take heed!
Shopping for such hi-tech gadgets calls for more
than mere window-shopping. With the combi-
nation of looks and performance that these
gadgets pack, there is quite a bit of work that you
should put in before getting your hands on one!

The window dressing

First, you need to figure out the different choic-
es available to you. There are plenty of Web sites
that give you information about buying trends
all over the world as well as detailed reviews of
products, which can help you make an effective
buying decision. Several magazines, TV shows
and newspapers also have sections that display Fabmart.com: A shopper’s virtual stop ➜

64 August 2001
■ connect~ firsthand

WMA formats”, says

Suhasini Ahluwalia,
Look Sharp Marketing Director at
While shopping for electron- O’Reilly & Associates.
ic gizmos there is always a
chance that you might get
Do you really need
to have the latest, most
“I saw the Rio Volt MP3
conned while buying a cer- expensive model, or is
player on Cnet.com in a
tain product, or that the there another deal review of the top five MP3
shopkeeper may get a little available that works players and was bowled
apprehensive giving out well for you? Once you over by its cool features”
information as most of have figured out what Suhasini Ahluwalia
these products are either you want in your MP3 Marketing Director, O’Reilly & Associates
smuggled or attract high player (for instance),
import duties. It is therefore you can then make a
advisable to check out vari- shortlist of the models
ous shops and locations that offer these features
other than regular shopping and then try and get
zones so as to get a better closer look. Taking the plunge
idea of the products and Once you have decided on a particular model,
prices available. While the Try it before you buy it you need to keep certain things in mind. One of
dealers seem more than Those of you who have actually gone out and tried the first things you should consider is price.
ready to sell their wares, a to buy one of these devices could probably vouch While it might seem a lot cheaper to buy an iPaq
bit of probing about the for the fact that this can be quite an experience. handheld from the US, there are a few things that
products gets them a little Obviously, before spending the pretty packet that you need to be careful about. The warranty in
jumpy at times. Normally at many of these cost, you’d like to make sure that most cases would probably not be applicable in
these places you have to you have the best deal available. For that you’d India, which means that the product should
pay in cash as credit cards have to find a reliable store with the latest stock. come with an international warranty, which will
are usually not accepted. A For instance, if you’re looking for a digital ensure that you could get it serviced in India.
closer examination of the camera that allows you to shoot all the photo- Always a matter of concern, however, is the avail-
product is usually greeted graphs you need and store them on your PC or
with shifty eyes and words a CD-ROM drive, then the first place you should
such as “trust us, we only look is probably one of the many PC retail stores.
deliver the genuine and best Many of these stores display entry-level digital
quality items”. As far as after cameras and Web-cams offered by brands such
sales service is concerned, as Logitech and Intel. There are a few up and
you might be able to get coming stores that offer a wider selection of
some alterations in the serv- brands, but these are few and far between. Agrani
icing and technical help Convergence Ltd has recently launched a couple
contracts, but never expect of Switch stores in Delhi and Bangalore, which
your product to be fully aim to become a one-stop shop for technology
exchanged or replaced. products and services. Circuitcity.com: A haven for techno products
However, if you are really particular about
the brand or model that you want, you could ability of spares. Getting a replacement part for
probably follow the example of Steven newer models can take some time and spares for
D’Souza, a hi-tech gadget enthusiast, who older models can also be difficult to obtain. Peo-
decided that he simply had to get his hands on ple who bought laptops a few years ago will be
a digital camera and decided familiar with this situation. However, the situa-
on a Sony Mavica MVC-FD 73. tion will improve over time as more of these
Shopping Checklist “I finally managed to buy it at products become available in India.
Look out for these while shopping for elec- a huge electronics market in Another option that you have is to place an
tronic items Saudi Arabia,” says D’Souza. order with a company or stores based in the
✔ Do your research thoroughly and check Most of you who know specif- US. You can make a selection on a Web-based
the genuineness of the product ically what you want will find store and have the product shipped over to
✔ Insist on a warranty card that the best solution is proba- India. The product is sent over via a courier
✔ Read the clauses in the agreement bly to pick up the gadget your- service and you could pretty much have it
✔ Demand after sales service self during a trip abroad, or delivered to your doorstep, though shipping
✔ Ask a couple of people before buying a just ask a friend do it for you. “I charges will be extra. Compusa.com, Circuitc-
certain product am thrilled with the perform- ity.com, Computershopper.com and
✔ Check the authenticity of the product and ance of my camera and am Egghead.com are a few sites that allow you to
the distributor/retail store/outlet convinced that I made a good do this easily. Of course, you need to have an
choice,” quips D’Souza. international credit card to make use of these

66 August 2001
sites. And don’t forget the customs duty either,
which can be pretty hefty.

Buying in India I finally managed to buy the

For you techno freaks out there who simply must digital camera I wanted at a huge
get your hands on the Nomad II MP3 player as
soon as it is released, the best solution is still to
electronics market in Saudi Arabia
Steven D’Souza
purchase it from abroad. If however, like most
Technology Enthusiast
people, you want to ensure that you can avail of
after sales assistance in India, you should stick to
the Indian distributors for these products.
Most of the brands already present in India,
such as Sony and Kodak for digital cameras and (Cooldukan.com), which offers laptops and
Creative and D-Link for MP3 players, offer these desktop computers. You can expect these sites to
products through the same dealers and distribu- eventually start offering products such as the
tors that already offer computers and peripherals. iPaq, online.
The availability, however, is quite unpredictable As new brands and models enter the Indian
and the prices tend to be on the higher side. Some market, life will become easier and competition
retail stores stock these products as well. will also help drive prices down. Either way, its
A few Indian sites that allow you to purchase obvious that things are beginning to get very
digital products online have also made an appear- interesting for all of us gadget freaks! So the next
ance recently. Fabmart.com has a section that time you go shopping for a gadget, shop wisely.
offers computers and related products. You can And there just might be times when lady luck
pay for the products in rupees or with an Indian smiles down upon you, as she did on Kersi Aga,
credit card, which is pretty convenient. Products co-founder of the Indian Palm User Group
are shipped to you via courier, though charges (IPUG), who was introduced to the Palm when
vary according to products and locations. his father picked up one from a shop. “As he was
In time you will probably be able to purchase not using it much, I proceeded to fiddle around
directly from the manufacturer’s own stores. and got hooked on to it!”
Compaq, among others, has an online store Now if only we were all so lucky!

1/2 page H. AD

67
■ r e s o l v e ~ wired
Photographs: Rahul Sharma Imaging: Solomon Lewis

In its own image

Is the fear of system MANU KHANNA installed courtesy the Internet, results in a clut-
mage is everything. What would the British ter building up on your hard drive in the form
crashes getting to
you? Well don’t give it
a second thought…
just clone your
I be without the stiff upper lip, the Japanese
without the perfectionist attitude and the
Americans without Marilyn Monroe? But hey,
nobody is perfect. We all have experienced the
occasional flaw in our defences. What follows
of .dll, .txt and other assorted files. To add to the
mess, even programs that you may have
removed using the uninstall feature, leave
behind files that are of no use to you. All ver-
sions of Windows, right from 3.1 to Windows
thereafter is the long process of rebuilding from 2000 have been without a good enough unin-
system settings scratch. But if you have the right image, then this stall program. Eventually ‘the blue screen of
process of rebuilding is not too difficult. death’ starts popping up on your monitor like a
Now hold on a minute—we still are your screensaver, indicating that Windows is misbe-
favourite technology magazine and we are not having and needs to be disciplined.
about to take you through a psychology test for Having to go through the rigorous procedure
your self-esteem. What we are talking about is of formatting your hard drive, reinstalling all the
an image of your hard disk, and not your own! software you’ve lost and reconfiguring your PC
It’s the one thing that will come to your rescue settings as per your preferences can be a tire-
if you face a system crash. some process. But hey, this doesn’t mean that
you give up all those shareware and freeware to
What causes this? combat frequent system crashes or slowdowns.
Over time, all the shareware, demos, trial It’s always a good idea to clone your system set-
versions and other goodies that you may have tings, your operating system, frequently used ➜

68 August 2001
■ r e s o l v e ~ wired

programs, etc. You can then easily restore your

system to its original condition.
The Linux Way
Here’s how you would cre- Cloned applications to the rescue
ate an image of a hard disk, PowerQuest’s DriveImage Pro (PQDI Pro) is
or of any storage device for one of the many software that allows you to cre-
that matter, in Linux. ate a disk image (read clone) of a Windows par-
Step 1: The command tition and store it onto a different partition on
dd if=/dev/hda of=harddisk.img the same hard drive. You can take a drive image
copies the entire hard disk of the partition once you’ve installed Windows,
to a file called harddisk.img. device drivers and Office applications, config-
You can similarly make an ured your e-mail, networking and Internet set-
image of any device, includ- tings, and tweaked your machine. This process
ing CDs, floppies or whatev- copies all the contents of the partition, includ- Creating an image using PQDI
er you choose. Once you’re ing the boot settings, configuration and system
through making the image, files into a single file that can be compressed to Step 4: Specify the drive/partition that you want
you can mount it through a 50 per cent of the actual size. This compression to clone. You can also specify a password for the
loopback device, allowing takes place simultaneously while the image is image file so that no one else can use that image.
you to edit the image file. being created. Click OK and then click Next to continue.
Step 2: Use the command Before you start off with cloning your system,
line you need to ensure that you have completed
mount -t ext2 -o loop installing and configuring your machine right
harddisk.img /mnt/loop from scratch. Once you have this out of the way,
to mount the image. install PQDI’s Drive Image Pro onto your hard
After you mount it, you can drive. Just follow the on-screen prompts and
remove all the files you keep pressing Next. You will also need a format-
don’t really need restored, ted 1.44 MB floppy disk—preferably more than
and thereby save space in one, just to be safe.
your image file.
The best part though, is Creating an image
that you do not need third- PQDI works best if run through MS-DOS mode
party software to make a and that too via a floppy disk as this allows it full
drive image in Linux—the access to the partition that you want to clone. Specifying the drive to be cloned
feature comes inbuilt. Step 1: From the PQDI Program group in the
Windows Start Menu, choose the Boot Disk Step 5: Specify the name and a path where you
Builder option. You can either use a standard want to save the image and continue.
Win95/98/2000/Me boot disk or use PQDI to Step 6: Set the compression level to Low, High or
make one. It is recommended that you use PQDI No, depending upon the amount of free space
to make the disk as it takes care of the entire you have. Bear in mind that an image made using
process. If you were to use a standard boot disk, ‘High’ compression will take the longest to
you would have to do it manually, that is, you restore. This is because during restoration, PQDI
would have to type your way to the folder where will first have to uncompress and then restore.
you installed PQDI and then finally execute In our case we chose High.
PQDI.
Step 2: Under Boot Disk Builder, select the Stand-
alone Boot Disks option, click
Next and follow the on-screen
messages to complete the
process.
The resultant floppy disk
contains the files that PQDI
would need to make a drive
image. Store this disk in a safe
place, as this will be required Setting the compression level
when you decide to restore the
image. Step 7: Finally, press Next twice and PQDI will
Step 3: Insert the disk in your start creating and saving the image to the loca-
floppy drive and restart your PC. tion you specified in Step 6.
The floppy disk will automati- Once the process is over, you will get a mes-
cally start PQDI. Here, click on sage confirming successful completion of the
Creating a boot disk using PQDI ‘Create Image’ and hit Next. process

70 August 2001
 Save up on Space
You can reduce the size of the image by as much as 30-45 MB,
even after compressing the image.
Delete these with eyes closed
Help Files: The Windows/Help directory is full of information that
you never read, especially if you don’t use the help files. Retain
certain files, such as Office help files, but delete all others, includ-
ing some .avi files that are installed as part of the default setup.
You could also do away with the .cnt files and .gid files which are
used as part of the Help, Find and Search mechanisms.
The Browser Cache: Set to a minimum of about 1 per cent of
the hard disk.
The Windows/Media directory: Delete all or selectively, it’s up
to you.
Fonts, cursors and wallpapers: How many do you actually
use?
Office templates: A serious waste of space, though some may
be useful. You can always reinstall these.
Information files: .txt files can be found all over your hard drive.
These include some useful pieces of information, especially the
tips.txt file in the Windows folder. But once you’ve read them,
you could either delete or archive them. This would also apply to
the readme.txt or readme.1st files, which seem to be scattered all
over the place.
Pay attention to these
Windows Executable files: There are a lot of .exe files in the
Windows directory that you never use. So figure out what they
do and delete the ones that you wouldn’t need. Once again,
you’ll find these on the installation CD.
1/2 page
V. AD
WindowsInf directory: This isn’t for the faint hearted, but if you
know what you’re doing, you will find a lot of wasted space in
this directory. Use Quick-View or Notepad to view these files.

Restoring the image

Restoring the image, when required, is a very simple task.
Step 1: Start your PC with the PQDI boot-disk inserted in the
floppy drive. The floppy disk will take you to the PQDI wizard
screen. Here click on ‘Restore Image’ and press Next to display
the ‘Open Image File’ window.
Step 2: Browse to the folder where you saved the image and click
OK. If you had specified a password for the image file, you will
be asked to enter it here and press OK.
Step 3: Press Next then OK to display the ‘Ready to restore image
file’ window. You can click on the Advanced option button to
instruct PQDI to check for errors and viruses before restoring
the image. The time taken to complete the restoration process will
depend on the size of the image and the speed of your computer.
When the process is completed, a confirmation dialog box will
appear on the screen; click on Yes to exit to MS-DOS.
Step 4: Take out the floppy and restart your PC. You’ll find the PC
sans all the errors that forced you to restore the image in the first
place.

A clean slate
So with all that said, you need not live your life in fear of a crash
anymore. And when your PC does crash, you can sit back and
dream about cellophane flowers in yellow and green, towering
over your head. We didn’t say this: John Lennon did!

71
■ resolve~ unwired

Starved for activity on

It’s PLAY time
ANIL PATRICK R. However, it’s a different story with
eel like a movie or maybe a round playing games as most of the popular
a rainy afternoon?
Learn to party with
your PDA
F of Quake? Or perhaps you just feel like relax-
ing on a quiet evening, with music playing in
the background. Then what are you waiting
for? Your dream partner, the PDA can do this with
ease. So give it a break from all those e-books and
games are available in Pocket PC and Palm ver-
sions. Now let’s see how we can make a PDA sing
and dance!

Let it rock
word files and party it out with your PDA. Grooving with the Pocket PC is easier than you’d
have thought. Simply copy the MP3 file into your
Music, video and games? handheld using ActiveSync, which will also con-
Yes, most of the PDAs available (Pocket PCs and vert the MP3 file into a form that the Pocket PC
Palms) can playback MP3 and video. Pocket PCs can use. A tap on the file in your Pocket PC is all
Software have an edge over Palms at present due to their it takes to play the file in Windows Media Player.
Microsoft Reader, Adobe higher memory and audio-video capabilities. If you are one of the lucky ones with a Sony
eBook Reader The hardware and display capabilities of Clie, music playback should not be a problem
Newsletters on Handhelds most Palm PDAs are usually low, which retards for you. Another Palm model with very good
check out its multimedia capabilities. After all, who would audio output is the Handera 330, which comes
Mindware want to watch videos in shades of grey? This with an inbuilt microphone, 240x320 QVGA
limitation of Palm PDAs had given Pocket PCs screen, and amplified speakers.
an unfair advantage when it came to music and Sorry to disappoint you if you have one of the
video playback. But the balance is shifting with older Palm models as most of them cannot play
the introduction of high-end Palm powered MP3s. They need hardware add-ons for multi-
PDAs such as the Sony Clie series and the Palm media capability to be included. However, the cost
m505. of these add-ons is usually comparable and some-
times even less than that of a standard Pocket PC.

Going to the movies

Most Pocket PCs come with Windows Media
Player as standard, which allows playback of
MP3s only. For playing video files you need
Windows Media Player 7.1.
Copy a media file (in .wmv format) into the
Pocket PC using ActiveSync. In case you do not
have files in the required format, you can use
Windows Media Encoder 7.1 to convert them to
Pocket PC supported formats. Windows Media
Encoder can convert files with .wav, .wma, .wmv,
.asf, .avi, .mpg, .mp3, and .bmp extensions. It is
available as a free download from the Microsoft
site (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia
/en/download/default.asp?pcode=2#location2). Make sure
that you select the Player for the Pocket PC
before downloading it.
Transferring the file to your Pocket PC may
take a little time if you are not using a USB port.
After the transfer is over, play the file by clicking
on it. Sometimes it may not play if there is no file
association. In this case, open the file from the
media player.
If playback is still a problem, go to Tools >

72 August 2001
Photograph: Rahul Sharma, Imaging: Solomon Lewis
■ resolve~ unwired

Clie Power
At last, a Palm reply to the
Pocket PC! The Sony Clie
PDA series features all that
the Pocket PC had on offer—
colour screens, built-in MP3
player, 8- and 16-bit colour
capability, resolutions of
160x160 and 320x320…
First in the range is the
PEG-N710C. It features a Copying a media file to a Pocket PC to play video
built-in MP3 player with
headphones, Palm OS 3.5, Settings > Audio & Video in the Windows Media Using gMovie Maker to convert media clips
resolution of 320x320 and Player 7.1. Select Yes from the Audio and the
8-bit colour. It comes with Video drop-down menus. A message pops up, Are you game?
an 8 MB Memory Stick as warning of delays and device instability. Click Installing games on the Pocket PC is very simple.
standard, which lets you OK; this ought to set the problem right. There First check your device’s specifications to see
store tracks. You can add a you are! Your Pocket PC is now fully equipped to whether you have the correct processor type for
larger Memory Stick of 8, 16, play all your movies and music videos. your Pocket PC. Once you have figured out which
32, 64 or 128 MB. You can also play video clips on file is perfect, just download it into
The other models in the a Palm. Some of the video player your PC.
range do not have MP3 software available for the Palm are Many games come with set up
playback, but come with gMovie Player, FireViewer, Teal- programs that can be installed
high graphic capabilities. Movie, etc. Let’s take a look at how straight from your PC’s desktop.
The PEG-N610C/S or to use gMovie Player for playing Some have self-extractor files.
the PEG-N610C/V is pow- video clips. Clicking on the file will extract the
ered by the lat- First of all, download gMovie file into your PC. Make sure that
est Palm OS Player 2.0 from www.genericmedia.com. ActiveSync is on and that your
4.0 and has Unzip the file and install using Pocket PC is connected, since
320x320 Palm Desktop. Use the HotSync some files self-extract and install
resolution manager to add gMovie Player to themselves directly. In other cases,
along with the HotSync list. Synchronising the file will be extracted into some
16-bit between your Palm and PC will folder on your PC. If it is a .exe or
colour. install gMovie Player. .com file, simply copy it into your
Sony Clie N710C: You will need to install gMovie Video clips on the Palm device and run it from there.
MP3 on your Palm Maker 2.0 (available from the site) Some games come in com-
on your PC to convert QuickTime, AVI, and pressed formats such as .zip and .rar. Use utilities
MPEG-1 files to the gMovie format for playback such as WinZip and WinRar to extract these files.
on the gMovie Player. Most of the files will have Read Me files in which
To convert video files into the directions for installing will be given. In case
the gMovie format, using only an exe file or com file is there, then just copy
gMovie Maker, make sure that it into the Pocket PC and run it from there.
Installing Windows you have QuickTime 5, with the Games are also available as .cab files. Get hold
Media Player 7.1 QuickTime authoring compo- of the file appropriate for your PDA’s processor
nent. and copy it into the device. Now use File Explorer
Download the wmnall.exe setup file into your To convert the media clips, in your Pocket PC to go to the folder where the file
PC. Make sure that ActiveSync is running and click on the Add File button on has been placed. Tap on the file to get it running.
that your Pocket PC is connected to the PC. the gMovie Maker interface to Installing games on the Palm is really easy.
Before starting the installation, make sure that add the file to be converted. Most of the game files that are downloaded have
the Pocket PC does not have any previous ver- Now use the Convert button to the .prc extension. Some of the games may also
sions of Windows Media Player installed in start conversion of the file. It have .pdb extensions. To install these files on to
your machine. If you have an older version, will be saved as a .pdb file in the your Palm from the PC, start the Palm Desktop.
make sure that it is uninstalled before continu- source directory unless you Click on Install, browse for the file you want to
ing with the installation. specify otherwise. install and then click on the Add button. The
Double-click on the wmnall.exe file to start Copy the .pdb file into the next time you do a HotSync, all these files will
the installation process. Palm using the Palm Desktop. be installed automatically. You can now start the
Click on the Yes button to continue with By tapping on the file you can game by simply tapping on it.
the installation. watch the video clip using So what are you waiting for? Get down to
gMovie Player. where the action is.

74 August 2001
■ r e s o l v e ~ s.o.s.

Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting Facing hardware issues, wondering how to convert FAT16 to
All about partitioning, check out
Mindware FAT32 in Windows Me, having battery troubles? We have
solutions to these and other problems
Applications Repair Database. If you get an error mes- commands to autoexec.bat making it
Not so compact at Access sage, and you are also not able to import almost automatic.
I have been using an Access database to keep the fields to a new database, try exporting
patients’ records and other information for over the table to an ASCII (delimited) file. Windows
two years. I recently started compacting the file Delete any relationships associated with Please Stand By
about once a week as it had grown to about 9 the table and then delete the table from I use Windows 98 SE with IE 5.5. Recently, I
MB. Once, after clicking on Compact and the database. Then try compacting the wasn’t able to see the Standby option in the
Repair, the file closed down, showed ‘Com- database again and recreating the rela- Shut Down dialog box. The problem occurred
pacting....’ in the task bar and then instead of tionships. after my computer crashed once and I had to
opening again, an error message popped up Open the ASCII file in a text editor and press the reset button. How do I get back this
saying, ‘AOIndex is not an index in this table’. check out for any junk characters or option?
On clicking OK, nothing further happened. strange data and remove these data. Save Soumitra Ghosh,
Thereafter, whenever I try to open that file, the the file again as an ASCII text. Re-import Via e-mail
same error message pops up. the text back to a newly created Access
On clicking OK, it pops up again and on table. This should solve the problem. The problem is most likely due to
clicking OK again, nothing more happens. I have power management issues after the com-
been using a third-party backup software and I puter crashed. To solve this, go to the Con-
had backed up all my files. So I tried to open the trol Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel) and
backed-up database. But even this didn’t open double-click on the System option. Select
and showed an identical error message. the Device Manager tab, and click the +
I opened a blank database and tried the symbol next to System Devices.
Import Table feature to try and recover whatev- If you see the Advanced Power Man-
er tables, forms, queries that I could, but the agement item here, remove it from the list.
same error message popped up again. Can you Use the Compact and Repair option to rec- After this restart the computer and then go
suggest how I could recover the data tables and tify corupt tables to Control Panel > Add New Hardware and select
the painstakingly created forms? Advanced Power Management (or wait for
Ravi, Linux
Via e-mail Really Linux
I installed DragonLinux on my computer but am
There are many reasons why the unable to run it as it says “CPU is in V86 Mode.
database file could have got corrupted, You need pure 386/486 real mode or VCPI serv-
ranging from hard disk error to power er to boot Linux”. I use Windows Me. Please
failures during a write operation. The advice.
Compact and Repair utility does help in Vijay,
recovering damaged files. The Compact Via e-mail
utility eliminates empty space that may
exist in a database. While running Windows Me, it is not
The Repair utility will try and repair possible to use real-mode DOS applica-
the existing tables, queries and indexes tions, hence, it disallows your Linux
that are present in the database, and will Loader to load up the kernel in the mem-
not touch forms, macros, reports, etc. Try ory space. Installing Win 98 will obvious-
the repair utility in the following manner ly solve this problem, but the easiest
and see whether it works. solution would be to create a boot floppy
Create a backup first of the database, with the old Windows 98 boot data and
and delete the .ldb file if it is present (the the Linux loader.
.ldb file is used to determine the records You should create a batch file on the
that are locked in a shared database). floppy that loads up your Linux kernel by
Close the database, and go to Tools > Data- using the standard commands.
base Utilities and then click Compact and Alternatively, you could add these Configuring power management

76 August 2001
it to be automatically detected). Now, you Audio, VCD Cutter and others. But the problem Windows
should have your Standby option back. is that I hear sound but see no picture. I am Direct Touch
unable to see any of the movies. I can play all I have two computers, one is a Pentium-200 and
Windows other file formats like *.avi with no trouble at all. the other is a P-III 700. I was told that the two
Missing files I tried reinstalling Windows too and running computers can be attached through a null-
Whenever I start my computer I get an error virus scans. Please help. modem cable. Accordingly, I have done so
message that a file dfs.vxd needed to run Win- Abhijeet Bhandwale, using a 9-pin cable.
dows or Windows applications is missing. To Via e-mail When I run the direct cable connection from
which application does this missing file belong Accessories they both get connected, after
and how do I get it back? Reinstall your Windows Media player which the guest computer asks for the name of
Aniket Gomase, or alternatively download the Xing Mpeg the host computer. When the name is keyed in,
Via e-mail player and try running that. This should a message that no such computer is found on
solve the problem. the network, flashes. But from the Start Menu,
The missing file is part of your Win- through the Find Computers option, if I key in the
dows operating system, and the error you Windows name of the computer, it displays the computer’s
get normally occurs when you change the Studio crash icon.
Network logon method (say from Win- While working in Windows Explorer, I get the This, the other computer is unable to find.
dows Family logon to Client for Microsoft following error: “Explorer found an error in Even after reversing the roles of the computers
Networks). You can extract the file by run- PDM.DLL. If you face more problems try restart- the problem exists. Also, the computer’s icon is
ning sfc from Start > Run in Windows 98 SE. ing your computer.” What is the cause of the not displayed in Network Neighborhood. Please
The file is located in net9.cab file of your problem? advice me.
Windows 98 installation. Manish Sharma, Mukund,
Alternatively, if there is no need for this Via e-mail Via e-mail
file, you can search the registry for instances
of this file and delete the registry key. This problem can occur if you are For Direct Cable Connection (DCC)
Remember to back up your registry before running Microsoft Visual Studio version to work properly, you need to do the fol-
you make any changes to it. To edit the reg- 6.0. Pdm.dll is a Process Debug Manager lowing:
istry, go to Start > Run and type regedit. file, and gets installed with applications 1. Install DCC on both the computers
In the menu that comes, find (Edit > Find) such as Visual Studio (Visual Basic or Visu- through Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs >
the string dfs.vxd and delete the entries al C++). Windows Setup tab, and select the Communi-
that come up. To solve this problem, you need to have cations option, click on Details and select
the Service Pack 3 of Visual Studio DCC.
Applications installed. You will locate this at the 2. Install Client for Microsoft Networks
Not dat movie Microsoft site. Alternatively, you can sim- and enable File and Print Sharing through
I have a problem in playing the *.dat files. I tried ply try renaming the Pdm.dll file from the the Network Neighborhood icon on the
all software like Windows Media Player, Jet Windows > System folder. desktop. Right-click on the Network

Hardware not have native support for OpenGL. getting this error then crosscheck whether
Games people play Games like Quake III Arena, Quake II, etc your card is supported by Quake III
I have a P-III system with 128 MB of require the display card to support Arena. All the cards that are supported by
RAM and 8 MB shared video memo- OpenGL natively. If you are con- Quake III are mentioned in its Readme
ry. It also contains onboard 64-bit 3D sistently file. Another way to find whether your
Graphics Accelerator. I installed card has some OpenGL capabilities or not
OpenGL and tried running Quake III is by going to the following link:
Arena, but received a message say- w w w. o p e n g l . o r g / u s e r s / a p p s _ h a r d w a r e /
ing, “Missing Glide Installation- accelerators.html.
Assuming no 3D fx. Could not load Here, you’ll find a comprehensive list-
Open_GL subsystem.” Please solve my ing of all graphics cards that are support-
problem. ed. You can also download the latest
Kevin, version of the OpenGL drivers from
Via e-mail here. GLSetup detects your 3D graph-
ics card and installs the matching
When this error occurs, usually the OpenGL drivers. Games supporting
option is to do a clean reinstall of the OpenGL will include GLSetup to
video drivers (that is remove the video ensure your system has drivers
drivers and then install them again). But available to accelerate OpenGL
Illustrations: Farzana Cooper
as you are using an onboard graphics 3D rendering.should successful-
accelerator (not specified) it may or may ly detect and rid your PC of the virus.
➜

77
■ r e s o l v e ~ s.o.s.
Neighborhood icon and select Properties. Programs > Accessories > Direct Cable Connection. Try or borrow a spare display card to
Click on Add, select Client and add Client You have the option of connecting as a test whether this behaviour recurs. If it
for Microsoft Networks. From the File and host or a client. The problem could lie here does, it could be a problem with the AGP
Print Sharing option, enable it. because the client can see all the shared bus, in which case you will have to try test-
3. For DCC, you can work with the Net- folders on the host, but the reverse is not ing with a different motherboard.
BEUI or IPX/SPX protocol. Just install one possible.
of these protocols from the Network prop- If you get the verifying username and Hardware
erties (Add Protocol). If you are adding password option, it means there is no Power effects
TCP/IP you will need to assign an IP problem with the ports or the cable. Also, I have an assembled P-III 800 on Mercury 815e
ensure that when you log on Win- motherboard and a 28.5 Seagate B with 128 MB
dows during startup you haven’t RAM. My problem is that whenever I switch on
hit the Cancel button. the system the power lamp and HDD activity
indicator glow continuously, but the system
Hardware doesn’t boot. If I leave it like that, sometimes it
Display on DOS boots after a few minutes, and this could take
I have an Intel Pentium II 400 MHz PC anywhere from less than a minute to 10 min-
with 256 MB SDRAM. Recently, I utes. Please shed some light.
installed a SiS 6326 display adapter Gurpreet,
card. It works fine with Windows GUI Via e-mail
environment but while booting or
working in DOS, it generates dots at There are two distinct possibilities
random positions in the display. here. This could be a problem with your
Sometimes some letters of the alpha- power supply wherein it is not supplying
You have to be a host or guest for DCC bet even start blinking. What could be clean power to the motherboard to get it
the problem? running.
address. Add the Dial-up Adaptor also K Thiyagarajan, Try changing your power supply or
from the Add Adaptor option. Via e-mail borrow one from your vendor and test it
4. Connect the null-modem cable to out. Alternately, you can try reversing the
the COM ports. This problem could be related to the jumper on your motherboard for the ATX
5. Share a directory or folder on the memory on your newly installed graphics power switch. This could solve the prob-
computer. Start DCC from Start > card. lem. Remember to discharge yourself of all
static electricity before you open up your
PC. You can do this by touching the non-
powder coated parts of your metal cabinet
Hardware longer. Ironically, the less you use your with your bare hands.
Battery issues computer, the faster the CMOS battery
My system’s CMOS battery becomes weak will run out. This is because when your Applications
repeatedly and I am losing the system time computer is turned off the battery begins Multiple burns
and date. Earlier, I had no problems with my to function. So, for starters try keeping I received Nero Burn 5.0 CD with my CD-writer,
system battery. But then I upgraded the PC your computer in a non-humid environ- and as I have three CD-writers (Plextor). I
with another motherboard (Tomato with AMD ment, and if that doesn’t work, it’s likely downloaded Nero 5.5 from the Net so that I can
K-6 processor) and within two to three that you have a defective motherboard write using multi-recording facility, i.e. be able
months the system battery started failing. I and you will have to replace it. to write on three writers at the same time with
have changed it twice but it’s of no use. same source. But I am unable to do so. I have
Please help me out. tried to select two writers in Nero 5.5, but have
Rohit, been unsuccessful. What should I do to use
Via e-mail multi-recorder writers?
Aniruddha Dikhit,
Most likely, you may Via e-mail
have received a faulty
battery with your new Nero 5.5 per se doesn’t allow you to
motherboard. Besides, burn more than one CD-writer at the same
CMOS batteries have a time. But the special edition of the soft-
problem with the relative- ware (for which you have to pay) allows
ly high humidity present you to simultaneously record to 32 CD-
during the rains. These bat- writers. Another software you can work
teries generally last for two to with is Easy CD Creator Platinum edition.
three years, although some Alternatively, if you have your CD-writ-
(especially the lithium type) ers installed on separate IDE controllers
have been known to last much then you could try running two separate
CD-writing software. Of course, your PC

80 August 2001
will have to match up with such a load if have got corrupted. You will have to rein-
you try this alternative. stall the files first. To do that go to Start > Pro-
gram>Accessories> System Tools > System Information
Internet and Communications and click on the Tools tab and select Sys-
Fonts for Hindi tem Configuration Utility. Click on the
I am working on a site for which I have to make Extract file option and give the names of
use of Hindi. How do I make sure that visitors to the two files, Setupx.dll and Setupx32.dll
the site don’t have to download the fonts? and specify the directory where your Win-
Amarjeet Singh, dows installation files are present.
Via e-mail In case you get an error saying not
being able to extract file because files are
Using font-embedding technologies, in use, then you will have to use a boot disk
it is possible to embed fonts inside a Web Converting to FAT32 to boot into DOS and use the extract com-
page such that visitors will see it the way mand to extract the files.
you have designed it and not the default support. At the command prompt, type cvt If replacing the files doesn’t work, as a
font style. Font embedding technologies c: assuming c: is the drive that you want to last resort, try using the same files present
differ for Internet Explorer and Netscape, convert to the FAT32 file system. on Windows 98 SE instead of your Win-
and involves conversion of your True Type If Windows is not installed in the dows Me files.
or Post Script font to Embedded open type default folder and you receive a bad com-
mand or file name error message, type Linux
c:\windows_folder\command\cvt.exe c: at a com- Cylinder issues
mand prompt. When I was installing Red Hat Linux 7.1 from the
Here ‘c:’ is the drive in which Windows CD at the time of partition on my 20 GB hard disk,
is installed, windows_folder is the Win- I got an error message that said that the Boot
dows folder, and ‘c:’ is the drive that you Partition is more than 1024 cylinders. It stops
want to convert. after the error and restarts the installation.
Press [Enter] so that ScanDisk can What is the problem and how do you solve it.?
check the drive for errors before the file Jagdish Patel,
system is converted. After this, the amount Via e-mail
of free space that you gained by converting
to FAT32 is displayed. Remove the Startup While you are partitioning your hard
disk and press [Enter] when prompted to disk you have to remember certain limita-
restart your computer. Note that the File tions that are present in LiLO (the Linux
system reportedly does not convert cor- boot loader). LiLO, before version 21-2 and
WEFT works well for font embedding rectly if you have both the FAT16 and earlier, did not allow you to load the kernel
FAT32 file systems on your drive. if it is located beyond the 1023 cylinder
(.eot) or Truedoc (.pfr) file formats. head of the hard disk drive (roughly above
Microsoft supports the former while the Windows 8 GB). This version of LiLO is what was
latter is supported by Netscape. However, Setup blues found in the earlier versions of Red Hat
not all fonts can be embedded and only I am using Windows Me, and face the following such as 6.2.
those specified by the creators can be problem. When I click the tab of Windows Setup However, the recent versions of LiLO,
embedded. Microsoft’s free WEFT tool is a in the Add/Remove option in Control Panel, I get version 21-3 and above have fixed the
good utility to embed fonts in your site. a dialog box with the error saying ‘Rundll32.exe problem, and can even boot kernels locat-
has caused an error in Setupx.dll…” How do I ed around the 2 terrabytes range. So, in
Windows rectify this problem. your case, Red Hat 7.1, that boots with the
Converting FAT16 to FAT32 Dibyendra, LiLO 21-4 shouldn't be a problem.
I need to convert FAT16 to FAT32 in Windows Via e-mail However, this problem still occurs if you
Me. How do I do it? have an older motherboard due to the lim-
Nikhil Bhatia Most likely, the Setupx.dll and/or the itations of the BIOS. Therefore, the alterna-
Via e-mail Setupx32.dll file in your system directories tive for you is to change your motherboard,
which is an expensive proposition.
To convert a FAT16 partition to A simpler method or more cost-effec-
FAT32, you must follow these steps: tive is to see to it that the Linux partition
Create a Windows Me Startup disk and or kernel is not located beyond the 8 GB
restart your computer in command range. This you can do by having the Linux
prompt with the Windows Me Startup disk partition as the second primary partition
in the floppy disk drive, without CD-ROM Don’t let such errors happen to you (around the 4 GB range).

DO YOU NEED HELP? Send an SOS to sos@jasubhai.com

Or write in to DIGIT, D-222/2, Om Sagar Bldg, MIDC, Nerul-400 706

81
■ resolve~ t i p s & t r i c k s

tri
Contents

&
DIGITAL CAMERAS

tips ck
Buying it right
Check out the ergonomics ....................18
Selecting the right resolution ..............18
Resolving the pixels .................................18
Zooming into optics ................................18
Costing for the extras ..............................18

s
Getting the interface right......................18
Shuttering with speed ............................19
Storing the images ..................................19
Enhancing the quality
Getting the basics right ...........................19
Clicking off-centre.....................................19
Focus on the neutral areas ....................19
Setting the white balance......................19
Using the Macro mode ...........................19

GET DIGITISED
Flashing it right ..........................................19
Miscellaneous
Wear a neck strap.....................................20
Adjusting the lens.....................................20
Using the power adapter .......................20
Optimising resolutions............................20
Part of standard accessories .................20
Move over traditional forms of music and photogra- Printing your pictures ..............................21
MP3
phy. The digital cameras and portable MP3 Making MP3s
players are here to rock you Creating MP3s ...........................................21
Selecting the right bitrate.......................21
Staying away from Stereo mode .........22
Don’t change frequencies......................22
Creating MP3s from cassettes
and LPs ........................................................22
Software for MP3s
Encoding in Winamp ...............................22
Improving MP3 sound quality
17
in Winamp...................................................22
Enhancing speed and quality
in Winamp...................................................22
Using MusicMatch with portable
MP3 player..................................................23
Windows Media Player
Batch update your track information .23
Create multimedia playlists...................23
Listening to music ....................................23
Accessing music from network ............23
Enhancing compressing ........................23
Ensuring compatibility with
portable devices........................................23
Making audio tracks from video clip ..23
MP3 download sites and software
Searching without ratio in
Audiogalaxy ................................................24
Connecting to sites in Audiogalaxy.....24
Increasing concurrent downloads in
Napster.........................................................24
Smart searches in Napster.....................24
Portable MP3 players
Conserving battery in Nomad II ...........24
Tips & Tricks Adjusting playback speed in
Compilation of tips Nomad II MG .............................................24
Imaging: Solomon Lewis Preserving batteries in Diamond Rio..24
Mindware

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 ■ resolve~ t i p s & t r i c k s
THE DIGITAL CAMERA FOR YOU
You can stop thinking of digital cameras as a luxury item. You can easily use a digital camera instead
of the conventional camera and come up with some good prints
Buying it Right change the focal length manually. Here
Looking out for the best digital camera for Resolving the pixels metering, which refers to the different
your needs? Check out a few pointers While purchasing a digital camera, ways in which the camera detects light
before you settle on one always go by the resolution and not the conditioning, is very important because
CCD count since the CCD count (2.1 if you keep the metering as matrix, the
Check out the ergonomics megapixels or 3.3 megapixels) is more lens will zoom into the most prominent
While choosing a digital camera, don’t likely a marketing gimmick and reflects part in the image.
just go by the features. Also, look for the a higher pixel count than the resolution. But if the same image is shot using
ergonomics of the camera. That means, For instance, a camera with a resolution spot metering then the lens will zoom in
while taking the snap see that the button of 1600x1200 will have a total pixel count or out according to the spot and the
of 192,000, whereas if it is slated to have image will look completely different.
2.1 megapixels, then the total should be Normally, the cameras will have two
210,000 pixels. numbers marked on them that will tell
you the optical zoom and digital zoom
Zooming into optics available. Normally, a camera will have
One of the most important features of 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom.
the digital camera is its lens. Most digi-
tal cameras come with a zoom lens with Costing for the extras
specifications such as optical zoom and When you are purchasing a digital cam-
digital zoom, of which optical zoom is era, don’t just look at the cost of the cam-
more important. era but also account for hidden or
Optical zoom means the actual running costs such as costs of batteries
change in the focal length. The optical (rechargeable batteries are in that sense
zoom works by using a system of lenses preferable), cost for adding more mem-
18 to refract light and magnify an image on ory at a later stage and other smaller
The Canon digital camera to the CCD. variables like power adapters and the
This means that the quality of image case for the camera.
placement is within the reach of your you get is magnified along with the
fingers and your fingers don’t come in resulting detail and clarity, unlike a dig-
the way of the lens or flash. If you are ital zoom that magnifies or crops the
wearing spectacles, then check out for image and is more of a software func-
digital cameras that provide you with a tion, but the quality of the image suf-
focusable diopter in the optical fers and can appear fuzzy. The digital
viewfinder. This will ensure that the focal zoom is similar to the interpolation in a
length is automatically adjusted for you. scanner.
You could use this optical zoom fea-
Selecting the right resolution ture if you intend to take photographs at Casio with its digital camera range
It’s advisable that you select a digital cam- high resolution and are going to view it
era keeping in mind the output medium on the screen or print it on a photo Getting the interface right
that you will be typically using it for. For printer (regular colour printers are not We all know that USB will be faster than
instance, if the snaps from your digital optimised for image printouts and give a serial interface. But you should check
camera will mainly be for the Web, then pixelated images). out for a USB digital camera not just
a camera with a 640x480 resolution will In digital cameras, the zoom can be because of speed.
do. For smaller-size printouts, you will either kept on auto, where the camera Apart from the hot plug-in capabili-
need one that supports at least 1024x768 decides the focal length depending on ty, USB also simplifies the ease of use of
and for bigger size photographs you will the metering you have selected, or on transfers since the computer thinks of
need 1600x1200 at the minimum. manual mode using which you can the USB device as another drive. So, you

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can easily drag and drop files using the before you have to transfer it to the com- click the photograph.
Windows Explorer. puter. So, make the right choice between
your compression and storage. Focus on the neutral area
Shuttering with speed Always keep in mind while taking a snap
The faster the shutter speed, the crisper Enhancing Quality that you don’t focus on the very bright
the picture. Shutter speed is nothing but Here are a few tips for better quality pho- or very dark area. Instead, you will get
the time for which the shutter will stay tographs with digital cameras much better results if you focus on the
open to allow light to pass and hit the neutral area where the lighting condition
CCD. The shutter speed is denoted in Getting the basics right is not extreme.
fractions, so the higher the denominator Working with a digital camera is quite
number, the faster the shutter speed. The similar to working with a normal cam- Setting the white balance
shutter speed is directly proportional to era, and a little knowledge of photogra- There are basically four white balance
the depth of field, the subject and the phy will always hold you in good stead. A modes that come in a digital camera.
area behind. few tips on capturing a good image are These modes are daylight, cloudy, tung-
The faster the shutter speed, the less- worth the while. sten and fluorescent. Daylight is used
er the depth of field and, hence, most Try and capture a moment of spon-
amateur photographers use slow shutter taneity instead of a dull pose. However,
speed to get the best depth of field. don’t go in for complex scenes or set-
Besides, faster shutter speed also tings; try and keep the setting as simple
demands lots of hand stability because and natural as possible and try to avoid
if your hand moves even a little bit, the backgrounds with lots of action as they
image will be blurry. Therefore, it is bet- take away from the focus. You should try
ter to first test how fast the camera to be as close to the focussed subject as
shoots. If it takes more than six seconds possible, as this will eliminate a whole lot
before you can shoot again, then the of the background action and will also
camera is probably not worth your add a more intimate touch. Also, remem-
time. ber that the flash is not just for images
taken in the dark or with low light. You Printers to digital cameras the Fuji way
can even use it in normal circumstances
for better colour reproduction or reduc- mostly for outdoor photography, where-
19
ing the shadows in outdoor lights. as tungsten is used for indoor photogra-
And lastly, try to always carry your phy and fluorescent is for taking images
digital camera around with you. You in which the target is of fluorescent
shouldn’t be wanting when the glorious colour. If you are taking a photograph of,
moment to capture your photograph for say, some castle with the bright sky as the
life comes by. background, then keep the rest of the set-
tings, such as white balance, to auto and
Clicking off-centre increase the exposure by one point. In
All of us are mostly used to clicking with the image, the castle will retain all the
The conventional Kodak with a digi-cam the main person or object in focus or in detail that you would have wanted and
the centre of the viewfinder. This creates the sky will also look a little brighter. This
Storing the images empty space around the focussed object, enhances the quality of the image.
If you are conscious about the image and takes a bit away from the quality of
quality, then save your files in either a the photograph. A better method is to Using the Macro mode
.bmp or .tif format. These formats do click with the focused object a little bit While taking a close-up photograph,
not compress the image or lose detail. Of to the left or right in a manner such that always turn on the Macro mode. This is
course, a whole lot also depends on the it fills up the entire viewfinder. the minimum range from which the cam-
storage space your device has. For This makes for a more visually era can take photographs of the target. If
instance, an image at 1600x1200 pixels appealing photograph. This is where the Macro mode is enabled, then it is possible
in an uncompressed format can easily LCD screen in a digital camera comes in to take the photograph from as near as 01.
take up 2-3 MB and with an 8 MB handy. You can easily get a real-time pre- metre, else it is most likely that at such
storage, you will only get four images view of the image on the LCD before you close distance the image will get blurred.

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 ■ resolve~ t i p s & t r i c k s
Flashing it right you don’t accidentally drop your digital LCD off option, which can be used to
Often the results we get using a flash camera, especially when you are on an save power while taking a photograph.
aren’t that great, and therefore knowing outdoor trip. Also, always remove the batteries if you
how to use the flash comes in handy. If are not going to use the camera for long,
the flash that you have in your digital Adjusting the lens because if the batteries leak inside the
camera can be detached, then a good idea Almost all digital cameras come with an damage can be quite expensive.
would be to bounce the light on to the automatic adjustable zoom lens. There-
object in concern instead of directly fore, you can either manually adjust the Optimising resolutions
focusing the flash on the object. Bounc- lens or if you have kept it on auto, you Never keep the resolution to the maxi-
ing basically means using a reflective mum if you are only going to view it on
matter that will direct the flash light on the monitor, as this will unnecessarily
to the object or simply tilting the flash in take up more space on the camera. For
an angle such that it still directs the light such photographs, 1024x768 is the best
on the object. Basically, this will ensure resolution as you get good quality, with-
that the object doesn’t appear too harsh out having to worry about pixelation.
with all the lights of the flash on. An However, if you are not too sure of
aspect to remember if you use a reflec- how you are going to use the photo-
tive material is that the colour shouldn’t graph, then it’s better to use the highest
be very bright or dark but should be a resolution that the digital camera offers,
neutral colour such as white. Extreme since you can always use an image-edit-
colours tend to add on to the shades in ing tool to lower the resolution.
the primary object being clicked.
Part of standard accessories
For the Miscellaneous If you are planning to go on a long trip,
Occasion And more from Kodak
And a few other tips that just about cover
everything else ranging from ergonomics to can adjust the lens by pressing the shut-
usage strategies ter button by half while taking the snap.
After that press the shutter button com-
20 Wear the neck strap pletely to take the picture.
You may feel that the neck strap isn’t too One important thing to remember
fancy and makes you conscious. Howev- here is that the movement of lens in and
out is governed by a motor, and by keep-
ing it on auto would not only get the best
focal length but you also save lots of bat-
tery power since this is one part of the
camera which eats a lot more power than
the LCD screen.

Use the power adapter And you thought Kodak made only
If the camera has come with the power conventional cameras!
adapter, always use it for transferring the
image from the digital camera to the PC. the last thing you would want is to be
This is all the more true if you happen to away from civilisation and have your bat-
have a camera with the RS-232 (serial) teries run out. There goes the chance of
connection, which has a slow transfer rate. capturing nature at its best. There are
certain accessories that have to be part of
Another range from Kodak Saving on power your digital camera package.
Always keep the power saving mode on. These include batteries and chargers,
er, it has a great benefit in the sense that This makes your LCD screen consume especially if you are shooting with the
by using your neck strap you ensure that less power. Almost all cameras have the LCD display on, which consumes a lot of

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86 August 2001
power. At the most, digital cameras can print imaging technology, even provides colour inkjet paper, but for best results
give you around 50 shots before you start for a card reader inside a printer so that you should use a printer designed for
facing power problems. So, keep spare you can directly output to a printer. Also, photo-printing. There are small printers
batteries or chargers for rechargeable with a card reader the battery usage is no available that can give you an output of
batteries handy. You can also invest a bit longer an area of concern. 3x5 inches or 4x6 inches and also print
more in the memory storage you have, text. Remember, if you intend to take
and this storage can range from 4 MB to Printing your pictures photo prints, you need higher resolu-
128 MB. If transferring the images to One of the disadvantages most people tions in uncompressed formats. The fig-
your computer is bothersome, especially feel is that with a digital camera you can- ures below illustrates the prints you can
with a serial interface, you can think not take prints or that it would become take with the resolutions:
about getting a card reader. This reader too expensive. Well, it is possible to 1024x768 3x5 inch prints
just slips into the parallel, serial or USB become your own developer by using 1280x960 4x6 inch prints
port of your computer. Epson, with its photo-quality glossy paper on your 1600x1200 8x10 inch prints

MP3 ALL THE WAY

Who doesn’t listen to MP3 songs or try to rip them off CDs?
A collection of tips to enhance your MP3 experience
Making MP3 have purchased. In order to do this, you for the Wav files and the MP3 files before
Alright! You want to create your own MP3 first download software that allows you you start the process.
files. Remember to keep in mind certain to extract audio from CDs (ripping) into
terms like bitrates and frequencies before Wav files. You then encode the Wav files Selecting the right bitrate
you start on your quest into MP3s. The quality of MP3s you get is highly
Most software do the conversion to dependent on the bitrate that it has been
Creating MP3s Wav in the background so you can seam- encoded at. Bitrate refers to the quality
It’s not necessary to keep on download- lessly extract audio from CDs directly. of music that a media player will process
ing MP3s to listen to them. It’s also pos- There are a number of software such as per second. While higher bitrates will
sible for you to create MP3s sitting right MusicMatch Jukebox, Real, Media Juke- definitely produce better quality, it will
21
at home. It’s legally permissible to create box that allow you to do this. also create bigger files.
MP3 backups of existing CDs that you To create an MP3 file with the least Also, if you are planning to upload
glitches, it is essential that you reduce the MP3s to your Web site or to a portable
background activity to a minimum or for MP3 player, then this becomes an
that matter ensure that there is no back- important consideration.
ground activity. This is because creation For instance, a 64 MB MP3 player
of MP3s is a CPU-intensive process and will hold about 16 songs at 128 Kbps,
can take up quite a load. Ensure that you but manage only 10 songs if it is encod-
have enough memory to avoid any crash- ed at 192 Kbps and even lesser at 256
es while creating an MP3. Kbps. The table below shows the differ-
It’s also advisable that you reboot ence in quality as we increase the
your machine and check the free space bitrates.

Bitrate-Quality Reference Sheet

Bitrate (Kbps) Quality
96 Near CD-quality
128 CD quality with optimal file size
160-192 Noticeable improved quality, around 25 per cent higher file size
256-320 Best quality and maximum bitrate that’s possible though bigger
The Creative Nomad II MP3 player
file size

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 ■ resolve~ t i p s & t r i c k s
On the other hand, if you are not too distortion in the bass or treble become
eager for very good quality, you can clearly audible.
reduce the sampling rate to 80 Kbps.
Such a sampling rate will serve the pur- Creating MP3s from cassettes
pose for most spoken words. In fact, if it and LPs
is a live recording of a speech or a radio It’s not necessary that you always have to
broadcast you can even use 64 Kbps rip a CD to create an MP3. You can cre-
sampling rate. ate the same using your ordinary tape
(cassette) or the LPs that have been kept
Staying away from Stereo mode in safe custody. All you need is a sound-
If you are encoding MP3s, then you card on your machine with a line-in
should stay away from the Intensity Stereo option and an adapter cable that will go
Coding or Joint Stereo option. These fea- into the line-in on the soundcard end
tures normally take away information and the line-out on the LP or tape end.
that is common to both channels and Then using software such as Easy CD
encodes the MP3 in mono and thereby creator, you can start the process of
saves on storage space. recording from the tape or LP. Most soft-
ware will also identify the breaks
between songs and therefore save the dif-
ferent tracks as separate files.
Just ensure that before you start the Encoding MP3s in Winamp
process, the Line-in option of your
soundcard is enabled and not muted. encoding them to MP3 starts. It gets
You can check this out by double-click- saved in the directory you specified. If
ing on the volume icon in the taskbar. you want, you can separate the two
processes and first rip the CD (this cre-
Software for MP3s ates the Wav files) and then encode the
There are a number of software that allow Wav files to MP3s.
you to encode MP3s as well as play them.
22 We look at some of the popular ones fare. Improving MP3 sound quality in
Winamp
Encoding with Winamp If you have been using the Nitrane
Winamp is one of the more popular decoder to play MP3 files in Winamp,
media players around and you can even then you may have on occasion felt that
rip and encode from audio CD tracks to the quality isn’t the best that’s possible.
The Diamond Multimedia MP3 player MP3s. Before you do that, however, you So use the Fraunhofer decoder to play
have to check whether the CD reader the MP3 files. It’s possible to download
It’s better to avoid such effects as it plugin for Winamp is installed, whether the decoder and use it with your version
messes up the quality of the sound and the Nullsoft MP3 output plugin is pres- of Winamp for the best sound quality.
you may face compatibility problems with ent and that the Fraunhofer ACM Pro
some players. Codec installed. Once all these are pres- Enhancing speed and quality in
ent, select the CD tracks in the playlist Winamp
Don’t reduce frequency and rename them manually. Then go to Tweaking a few preferences will get
In our efforts to make an MP3 file small- Preferences > Output Plug-ins, and select the Winamp working faster and better. Go
er, we often cut many corners that are option to configure Nullsoft MP3 out- to the Winamp preferences using the
not actually worth it. One of these gim- put plugin. This basically involves select- shortcut key, [Ctrl] + [P]. Go to the Setup
micks is cutting off all frequencies above ing the directory to save the files. Ensure menu and click on File Types.
10 KHz or 12 KHz. that you have not selected shuffle and Now, click on the Select All option. In
Agreed, this may reduce the file size repeat from your Winamp preferences. the main menu click again on Options.
but what it also does is drastically Now, when you click on the Play button, You will find an option for ‘process pri-
reduce the quality of the sound to a the process of ripping the tracks that ority class’ with a slider bar. You should
level where some of the reproduction or have been selected in the playlist and move the slider to Real-time. Other

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options include changing the configura- Internet, you will automatically get the
tion from Plugins > Output. You will get the next song from the radio station.
Nullsoft waveout plugin settings box. In
the Buffer length options you should Listening to music
move the slider to the maximum, and in Windows Media Player has a number of
the Advanced Settings option, depend- preset radio stations that you can use to
ing on your system configuration set listen to music. The presets are not just
Priority to Time Critical restricted to one country, but cover
Maximum blocks = 32 many including some European ones.
Maximum block size = 64 KB Depending on your preferences you can
Minimum block size = 32 KB change the location of the media guide.
Click OK to activate the settings. Just click on the location link and change Searching the Network for MP3 media
it to the one you want.
Using MusicMatch with portable option, click on Change to point to the
MP3 player Accessing music from network network drive.
It’s possible to use the MusicMatch soft- In an office environment often there’s
ware along with your portable MP3 play- one computer that has all the music files Enhancing compression while
er. To do this, go to the Options menu on it. You can easily access this network porting
and select Add New Features. Next, click computer or search the files within from When you are transferring MP3 files
the link to the portable MP3 players and Windows Media Player. Firstly, map the from your Windows media player to
then download the software for your network drive where the music files are your portable MP3 player, you can
specific player. located. Then from Windows Media always select to downsample your cur-
rent MP3s and yet get near CD-quality.
Windows Media Player To downsample a song, go to Tools >
This free media player, like the Internet Options and select Portable Device. From
Explorer browser, will form an integral there, go to Select Quality Level and
part of the Windows operating systems. move the slider to 64 Kbps or even lower.
So, get used to working and tweaking it This will enable you to store more files
to the optimum on your device.
23
Batch update your track Ensuring compatibility with
information portable devices
Often you may want to change certain You can easily check out the list of
parameters such as the naming in an portable devices that Windows Media
entire album or the category of the songs Player supports from the Tools > Options >
or the artistes’ names. This can be done Portable Devices menu. Once here, go to Cur-
quite easily by going to the Media rently Supported Devices and then click
Library option and selecting the items on Details to get the list. Copying files to
that you wish to rename. Now, just right- your portable device is very simple. Select
click and select the Edit Selection option the songs from your playlist, click the
to change the items. Portable Device option, and then click on
Wanna rush for your Philips Copy music to transfer the files.
Create multimedia playlists
Most of us just think of playlists as con- Player, go to Tools > Search Computer for Media Copying audio tracks from a
taining songs. However, it’s possible to and select the drive that you have video clip
add more items to a playlist such as mapped. If you happen to be watching a movie on
video, music, or even radio stations. So, Specify the songs, and it will now your Media Player and you the like the
you can make one playlist with all your search for the title name from your com- audio track, you can easily port it to your
favourite Hindi songs, and then add the puter. For saving music files, you can portable player even though it is in video
radio channel on the Net that plays ensure that it automatically gets format. Just transfer the file and Win-
Hindi songs. So, when the songs playlist archived on the network drive. Go to dows Media Player ensures that the audio
ends, and if you are connected to the Tools > CD Audio and from the Archive track gets copied to the portable device.

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 ■ resolve~ t i p s & t r i c k s
MP3 Download Sites and nection, then you can go ahead and Portable MP3 Players
Software experiment with downloading multiple Enhance the usability of your portable
There are many sites that allow you to files at the same time without facing any MP3 player
search for MP3s and download them. bandwidth problem (at your end at
Let’s take a look at how you work with least). To do this, go to Edit > Preferences Conserving battery in Creative
Audiogalaxy Satellite and Napster and click on the Transfers tab. Nomad II
Then in the Downloads options, Just as the PC has power management
Searching without ratio in Audio- check out the Maximum Simultaneous functions, even the Nomad II comes
galaxy Inbound Transfer option and specify a with some power settings. For instance,
A good idea while searching for titles in higher number there. If you are in a the Nomad II has an automatic Power
Audiogalaxy is to use the No ratios chivalrous mood, you can also increase Off function by which it shuts itself off to
option. This ensures that you do not the number of users who can simultane- conserve battery if the player is idle for
have to barter files or sign-up or pay ously access your machine and down- more than three minutes. You can
some amount in exchange for the files load songs. Click on Save to preserve the change this default setting of three min-
that you require. A problem however is settings. utes based on your usage pattern. To do
that many sites change their ratio that, go to Settings from the Main menu
options quite often and Audiogalaxy Smarter searches with Napster and scroll to Power Off and select the
may not be fully updated on that. If you are looking for a specific quality option. Using the Volume Up/Down or
of MP3s and want to download from the Forward/Reverse keys, increase or
Connecting to sites in specific speeds, it helps to narrow down decrease the time before the player will
Audiogalaxy your search criteria. The Advanced automatically shut off. Once you are
When connecting to a site that has one of Search Option allows you to do precise- done, press Play to save the settings.
the files you want, take care while you are ly that. You can use power management even
In the bitrate option you can specify for shutting off the Radio mode. Go to
the minimum bitrate that the MP3 file the same menu and instead select the FM
should be. Select 128 Kbps normally as Sleep option, and then using the Volume
that’s the most commonly used one and Up/Down keys (similar to the player)
gives the best mix of file size and audio change the setting to whatever you
quality. desire.
24 You can specify the frequency set-
tings, but most likely all files are encod- Adjusting playback speed in
ed at 44.1 KHz. Nomad II MG
If you want to download from a If you have recorded some voice in MP3,
high-speed line you can specify the set- you can adjust the playback speed since
tings in the line speed option. You can the Nomad II MG uses the EAX time-scal-
FTP sites allow you to barter music specify the minimum line speed and ing technology. To do this, press and hold
selecting a faster line speed such as a T1 the Repeat/EAX button.You will get to see
pasting information about the site to line is better. ‘Time-Scaling 1.00x’ on the LCD screen.
your FTP client. Use the Volume + or Volume – keys to
Many a times you will find that increase or decrease the playback speed.
anonymous login doesn’t work (the
username and password might be set to Preserving batteries in Diamond
‘mp3’) and that the FTP port might also Rio 300
not be 21. If you are having problems Since the Diamond Rio 300 doesn’t have
connecting, increase the retry attempts an On/Off switch, there isn’t an actual
in your FTP client and also decrease the power-down, rather the player goes off
time between retries. to a sleep mode. Even this sleep mode
uses a bit of battery power, so in case
Increasing the number of concur- you are not going to use the player for
rent downloads in Napster The Advanced Tab allows many different some time, it is preferable to remove the
If you have a high-speed Internet con- search options batteries.

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■ select~ t e s t d r i v e
Photograph: Ashesh Shah

IN TEST: 8 MP3 PLAYERS

There’s no stopping
On a
VARUN SINGH
HIGH note
he long-playing records your dad used to lis-
shook the roots of the music industry, forcing it
to rethink strategies on how future listeners are
this tune now! No
matter how many
RIAAs sue Napster,
T ten to took more than 50 years to become
popular and widely available. The magnetic
audiotape you use in your car took around
40 years, and the CD-ROM took around 20
years. How much time did MP3s take to become
going to get their music. It’s the easiest form of
pirated music you can find today.
But then, when a rogue does something that
makes the masses happy, he becomes a hero! So
it is with MP3, and hundreds of electronic device
MP3s and MP3 as popular? About five to six years! Some might companies came to support it, developing play-
players are here to argue that it took more than that, but if we look ers that let you lug around your treasure trove of
at the history, work on developing the MP3 for- tunes. These players come in many different
stay mat started in 1981 and by 1991 it was stan- flavours, though the objective is the same.
dardised and ready! When did we all start MP3 compresses the audio data to a great
blasting MP3s on old faithful Winamp? In 1997! extent, making it possible to store 12 times the
Surprised? music in the same amount of memory. This
What MP3s did to audio was revolutionary makes it possible to use solid-state Flash mem-
in more than one way. First, it made possible the ory to store MP3 music that can be played back
transfer of CD-quality audio over low-speed while on the move. The first generation MP3
mediums such as the Internet and second, it players such as the MPMan from Saehan, were

104 August 2001

 just one-trick ponies, which did nothing more
than play MP3 files stored on a memory card TEST PROCESS
and looked monumental as compared to the
Nomads and the Rios of today. Nowadays, these While testing the MP3 players, we looked at
devices are capable of far more than just play- five main parameters: storage and connectiv-
ing simple 128 Kbps MP3s; they can act as voice ity, physical parameters, usability, features
recorders, FM radios, a DJ’s mixers and loop and audio options. Within storage and con-
creators and even digital cameras. Not only nectivity, we noted the total storage space,
this, there is a wide variety of mediums you the memory type and the connectivity type.
can choose from, depending on what your The physical parameters included aspects
requirements are. You can choose the com- such as size, ergonomics, display panel, build
pact and robust solid-state memory based quality and looks. Usability measured the
players, the CD-MP3 players, the hard drive ease of use and display information, while
based players, or the removable disk players
like the Hip Zip from Iomega.
They’ve also become far more afford-
able—you can grab a portable MP3 player
for the price of a hi-end Discman. Though prices
are still a bit too high in India as compared to the
West, you can expect the prices to come down
dramatically as the sales go up. But for now, let’s
D-Link DMP 100: Great looks see what the market has to offer.
with decent performance and
price The Players
We tested a total of 10 MP3 devices. These players
come in many different flavours, ranging from the
straightforward no-frills MP3 player such as the
Rio 300, to the Kodak MC3 that acts as a digital
camera and a video recorder too. But then, instead
of rolling all around, we focussed on the core func-
tion, that is playing music while on the move. This features checked for the presence of voice
reduced the total number of qualifiers in the com- recording, FM Radio, Firmware upgrade, the
petition to eight, excluding the Kodak MC3 and formats supported and scope for future
the Philips MP3/VCD hi-fi system. expandability. In terms of quality, we looked
The Rio 300 is the most inexpensive MP3 at the maximum power output, audio repro-
player in the Indian market at Rs 9,280, which is duction accuracy, audio consistency and play-
More Info on still considerably higher than what most people time.
the test process and the can afford when it comes to portable audio The weightages for the parameters are as
products tested, equipment. A wide variety of inexpensive shown in the pie chart.
Surge the MP3 music, check out portable MP3 players are available in the US and
Playware & Mindware Singapore that cost less than half the price of the
Rio 300 and offer better features. However, we very obviously makes a CD-MP3 player the
are yet to see these players in India. The same most practical choice for almost anyone who
Contents goes for the Nomad Jukebox that has been wants to play MP3s on the move.
priced at more than twice the rate at which it When better players such as such as the Rio-
TEST PROCESS . . . . . .105 sells for elsewhere. Volt and the AVC Soul player are introduced in
MP3 PLAYERS . . . . . . .105 We had our doubts when it came to CD-MP3 India at reasonable prices, this scenario is bound
Casio WMP-1V players. Any product that incorporates moving to change even more, and make the whole deal
Creative Nomad parts and a removable medium is bound to be a lot more practical. So let’s go see how the cur-
D-Link DMP-100 less reliable and robust than a solid state device, rent breed being sold in India fared in our tests.
Nomad II MG and won’t offer the same level of performance
Nomad Jukebox either. However, the eXpanium CD-MP3 player Storage and connectivity
Philips eXpanium from Philips changed all of this. We expected it How many MB of music can you store? Is the
Philips Rush to skip, it didn’t; we expected it to break open audio storage medium robust enough to endure
Rio PMP300 when thrown down from 5 feet onto a hard floor the day-to-day usage? Does it take too much time
BOXES but it didn’t; we expected it to be a real battery to transfer audio to the device? All these questions
MP3 Everywhere . . . . .108 guzzler, it wasn’t. are as important as the audio quality or the use-
Variable Bit Rates . . . . .110 CDs are the cheapest medium to store data ability of the device. The more music you can
SCORE BOARD . . . . . .109 on nowadays, and with CD-burning shops all store, the longer is your playtime and you can
CONCLUSION . . . . . . .111 around the place, it’s not very difficult to get carry that much more entertainment with you.
those MP3s on your hard drive onto CDs. This Well, the Nomad Jukebox is the ruler of this ➜

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domain. With the 6 GB of storage space its

tiny mobile hard drive carries, the Jukebox MP3 Everywhere!
is definitely an offering for the hardcore col-
lector who likes to lug around his entire A simple portable MP3 player was just memory than what is optimal for storing
arsenal with him. Although most such the beginning. The ability to pack in an decent playtimes of music and, as this
enthusiasts have a larger arsenal than that, MP3 player in a package as small as a memory is shared with other things such
the storage is still quite sufficient. The real matchbox has fuelled the growth of as photographs or GPS data, it makes it
bother is transferring so much of content to devices that support MP3 playback as even less usable. Above that, these
the Jukebox at miserable speeds, averaging their secondary function. Devices rang- devices generally cost about as much as a
at 500 KBps. At this speed it would take you ing from watches, mobile phones, digi- new MP3 player and a standard similar
more than 20-25 minutes to transfer a CDs tal cameras to PDAs and car navigation mobile phone or digital camera, and
worth of content at peak speeds. systems are packing in the ability to act aren’t too feature-filled either. These
The second in reckoning was the eXpa- as an MP3 player, but are they really devices are yet to become mature and
nium, the CD MP3 player from Philips. worth it? usable, but provide a nice peek into the
Just pop in an MP3 CD and out comes a Most such devices come with less future of integrated audio players.
stream of audio. And you can carry as
many CDs as you want, swap them when-
ever you wish. No audio transfer software, The Philips Rush was an all out winner that can be quite difficult to read in low
no cables, no messy and slow-speed down- in this category; so much so that we ended light conditions. Just like the Nomad II
loads to the player. up giving it full marks on all the parame- MG, it has all its controls on its sides, but
Then come the whole bunch of solid ters in this particular test category. A large much smaller hard plastic buttons that are
states. These MP3 players have no moving and clear display right in the centre, well a pain to operate. The D-Link has well
parts and store your songs on Flash Mem- designed and accessible controls that are placed controls, good looks and an effec-
ory which makes them very robust and are well labelled and easy to understand tive display but feels a little fragile as com-
compact and very expensive at the same and a compact and sleek shape. The only pared to other players. The Casio
time as compared to other mediums. The one that came anywhere close to the Rush WMP-1V is small and funky but unrealis-
Nomad II MG was the one that came out was the Nomad II MG. This sleek and tic and highly uncomfortable. It has really
tops in this category, with 64 MB of built- sturdy player has all its pieces set right small and downright painful controls.
in memory and a USB connector that Both the Nomad Jukebox and the
offers more than 350-400 Kbps of data Philips eXpanium were just about as big
upload speeds, which is around twice as as most Discmans. This much space allows
fast as the fastest parallel port based play- for a lot of nice controls and display con-
er we received for testing. The Nomad II figurations, but the Nomad Jukebox was
MG took around 1:04 minutes to complete the only one that used it efficiently. The
our file transfer test, which took around eXpanium has a small, one-line display
1:59 minutes on the Rio 300 (32 MB), that doesn’t even display the name of the
whereas the old Nomad (32 MB) and the song playing, though the controls were just
Philips Rush (32 MB) took more than fine.
eight minutes to finish this test. The D-
Link DMP100 was better than both the Usability
Nomad and the Rush, taking around 5 The easiest to use device would be one that
minutes to finish the test. is easily accessible with one-touch buttons
to perform the most frequent tasks, and is
Physical parameters well labelled. Menus are nice, but only
The size of the device is an important fac- Casio WMP-IV: A show-off tool rather than when going into detailed levels and more
tor when it comes to handling, as a larger a utility device complex options. Ease of use is a combi-
device would obviously be more trouble- nation of many things when it comes to an
some to carry around. Though the player except the rubber controls which are MP3 player: easy readability of the display
might have all the controls to manipulate placed on the side of the player, making information, clear instructions outside the
the audio the way you want, if they aren’t in them slightly harder to use as compared to display area and the ergonomics of the
the right place, operating the player a device that has buttons in front. It comes controls. Display information is as neces-
becomes a hassle. A clear and visible display with a small remote control that allows sary as the controls, as you generally need
adds to the looks and usability of the device, you to control simple functions such as to have display for song names/numbers,
as you should be able to see what song is next song, pause, play, etc and fits in playtime and extra functions such as
playing. A poor build quality means a between the player and the headphones. repeat, equalizer, etc. Icons that represent
shorter lifespan for your device. MP3 play- You can use it as a tiepin or a collar con- a certain feature being active or inactive
ers aren’t cheap and these devices need to be troller. This eliminates the need to grope are also most welcome.
sturdy, as you would want to take your play- for the buttons while the player is in a The Nomad Jukebox was a clear win-
er along when you trek, travel or jog. carry pouch or in your pocket. ner in this area, with its large and detailed
Besides, the MP3 player is your personal The Nomad looks just as good as the display, easy-to-use and well-labelled
accessory so it has got to look good! Nomad II MG, but has a very small display controls and an easy interface for browsing

108 August 2001

and listening to music. You can use the Features pared to most MP3s with almost similar
interface to sort your music as albums, This was a real tiebreaker in this shootout as quality, thereby increasing the amount of
genres and even use custom playlists. The well as one of the major factors that helps content you can store on the device. Fea-
Philips Rush holds second place. With its you decide what kind of device you want. tures such as upgradeable firmware and the
‘big stereo system’ graphics, volume con- Features such as voice recording capability, ability to add extra memory, power the
trol displays and a simple interface, it is FM radio and surround sound are the ones MP3 player with extra batteries or a car
surely the most usable compact player that add flavour and extra functionality to adapter, are also good features to have.
around. a device. Voice recording capabilities can The Nomad II MG was the champ here.
The Rio and the D-link were both very enable you to use your MP3 player as a note With an upgradeable firmware, it supports
much similar in their approach to the taker, conversation recorder, and a dicta- the ability to add 128 MB of extra memory
interface and controls. Both have one phone. The same goes for FM radio; it’s nice to the player, extending the total memory to
round button in the front to navigate to be able to switch to something else when 196 MB. Just like the old Nomad, it also pro-
through the audio, and all other addition- you run out of music to play from amongst vides FM radio although you would have to
al controls on the sides and around or those on the device. be in a high reception range of the radio sta-
below this button, but the D-Link shows Support for other upcoming formats tion to be able to get great reception. Voice
the name of the song you’re playing such as Liquid Audio or Windows Media recording and playback is a standard feature
whereas the Rio doesn’t. Audio (WMA) is another important fea- in the Nomad, Nomad II MG, and the
ture. WMA sports a smaller file size as com- D-Link DMP100. The Nomad Jukebox

Specifications
The MP3 Players
Model Casio WMP-1V Creative Nomad Creative Nomad Creative Nomad Diamond Rio D-Link DMP - Philips Expanium Philips Rush
II MG Jukebox PMP300 100
Specifications
Storage Space 16 MB 32 MB 64 MB 6 GB 32 MB 32 MB 650 MB 32 MB
Memory type Solid state Solid state Solid state Hard drive based Solid state Solid state CD-ROM Solid state

Connectivity option Parallel Parallel USB cable USB Parallel Parallel None Parallel
Features
Voice Recording No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No
FM Radio reception No Yes Yes No No No No No
Upgradeable firmware No Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Expandable
Memory No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
Battery No No No No No No No No
Formats Supported
MP3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WMA No No Yes Yes No No No No
WAV No No No Yes No No No No
Upgrade No No Yes Yes No No No No
Performance
Size Easily Easily Easily Discman Size Easily Easily Discman Size Easily
Pocketable Pocketable Pocketable Pocketable Pocketable Pocketable
Interface Normal Normal Normal Easy Easy Easy Hard Easy
Display panel info Inadequate Inadequate Adequate Detailed Inadequate Adequate Inadequate Adequate
Build quality Good Good Impeccable Good Good Acceptable Acceptable Impeccable
Looks Good Real Cool Real Cool Good Plain Good Good Real Cool
Ergonomics Poor Poor Acceptable Smooth Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable Smooth
Ease of use Hard Normal Normal Easy Easy Easy Normal Easy
Battery life Good Good Good Poor Good Good Good Good
Maximum audio power Poor Average Good Poor Good Average Good Good
Audio Reproduction Accuracy Poor Good Good Good Good Average Average Poor
Skip Buffer/Audio consistency Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good
Contact
Price Rs 14,995 Rs 13,500 (32 Rs 21,500 Rs 33,500 Rs 9,280 Rs 10,000 Rs 12,990 Rs 23,990
MB), Rs 17,000
(64 MB)
Vendor Casio India Compuage Compuage Compuage Memphis Dlink India Phillips India Phillips India
Company Infocom Infocom Infocom Technologies
Phone 011-6534538 022-8305501 022-8305501 022-8305501 022-8523439 022-6902210 022-6912333 022-6912333
Rating C+ B B+ B+ B B B B

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comes with a stereo line in, which is good

for recording high-quality stereo audio to Variable Bit Rates
the device but it stores this audio in an
uncompressed WAV format, thereby taking Variable Bit Rates (VBR) is a method of ideal for when consistent audio quality is
up enormous amounts of memory. The encoding that makes allowances for the more important than the encoded MP3
Nomad Jukebox and the Nomad II MG variation in slices of sound that an MP3 file size.
were the only players that were capable of file is made up of. It ensures consistently Several MP3 players may have trouble
firmware upgrades, as well as the only two high audio quality throughout an encod- reporting the duration of VBR-encoded
capable of playing WMA files. The Philips ed file by making intelligent bit-allocation files and/or not have proper support for
Rush and the Casio WMP-1V weren’t even decisions while encoding. The encoder it. Most new releases of MP3 playback
capable of playing any VBR (Variable Bit allocates a higher bitrate in complex sec- software can play back MP3 encoded
Rate) or more than 128K MP3 files, tions to ensure audio quality. In simpler files. The popular Winamp player has had
although all others including the Philips sections such as those containing silence support for it since the release of version
eXpanium played VBRs and other MP3 or a relatively narrow range of frequen- 2.05. However, some portable MP3 play-
bitrates just fine. The eXpanium plays mul- cies, it allocates fewer bits. Thus, VBR is ers may not have support for VBR.
tisession CD-Rs and RWs just fine.
The Nomad Jukebox is a real battery
guzzler; it uses four custom made AA-sized the way it is, and as accurately as possible. both high frequency audio and low fre-
rechargeable batteries that can be charged The audio playback should be consistent quency audio and even though you can’t
right inside the player itself. While it also and without any jerks or skips caused due call them loud, they were enough to drive
comes with an extra set of rechargeable to movements or other such common the headphones to a perfectly acceptable
batteries, thereby extending the battery life activities that an MP3 player is subjected level, without any distortion whatsoever.
to a certain extent, the pain of recharging to. The device should be capable of offer- When it comes to audio reproduction
both pairs separately still remains. The best ing a sufficient amount of playtime. The accuracy, almost all the MP3 players except
in terms of batteries is the Rio 300, which playtime is the maximum amount of time the Philips Rush performed just fine. The
operates off just one AA-sized alkaline bat- for which it can play near-CD quality Philips Rush doesn’t support 256 Kbps
tery and works just fine for more than six audio using the lowest bit rate in any audio MP3s, and hence the accompanying inter-
hours. Even the Nomad comes with two format it supports. For MP3s, near-CD face. The Real Jukebox re-encodes all such
AAA-sized rechargeable batteries that can MP3s to 96 Kbps CBR MP3s and transfers
be charged using the charging cradle that these to the player, hence loosing out on a
also doubles up as the data cradle, elimi- lot of quality. Both the D-Link and the
nating hassles with cables. All other eXpanium were slightly heavier on the
portable players use standard batteries. bass reproduction all around, even with
In terms of memory upgradeability, all the bass expander and the equalizer turned
the 32 MB players support upgrades of up off. The Casio MP3 watch failed to run any
to 64 MB, with the Nomad even capable of these tests entirely as it didn’t even sup-
of going up to 96 MB with a 64 MB Smart- port any conversion on the interface for re-
Media card. The Philips Rush can be encoding the MP3s into a format
upgraded by putting in another memory compatible with the device.
card of 64 MB, but this is rather pointless All the MP3 players, including the Juke-
as you would first have to remove the exist- box and the eXpanium were flawless when
ing card, since the base unit doesn’t come it comes to audio consistency. None of
with any built-in memory, just a 32 MB them skipped a beat. We tried everything
Smart Media card. imaginable to make these devices skip;
from rattle moves to the hip swings and
Audio tests even bouncing them off the floor, but they
When you’re on the move, your head- Philips eXpanium: Its one line LCD display just refused to skip a beat.
phones need to be loud to be audible, just shows only the song number The Nomad Jukebox was obviously the
the regular audio level won’t do. All the best when it came to playtime. With its
MP3 players ship with poor quality head- quality is 128 Kbps and for WMA the very enormous hard disk storage, it can pack in
phones, as a result of which you miss out same quality can be achieved at half the bit around 200 hours of near-CD quality
on so much fidelity while listening to high rate, hence doubling the total playtime. music in the WMA format. The second
quality audio. So the first step is generally When it comes to audio power, only was the eXpanium, which can play a CD
to grab a good pair of headphones. Good two MP3 players were really capable of full of MP3s and the third was the Nomad
headphones require more power to drive getting our big reference headphones to II MG with WMA 64 Kbps audio. This
them, so your MP3 player needs to be max out. The D-Link DMP 100 and the player is capable of carrying 136 minutes
more powerful. The louder an MP3 play- Philips eXpanium both offered loud and of near-CD quality audio, which is the best
er is, the larger and more power hungry clear sound, although the D-Link’s extra amongst all the solid-state players we test-
headphones it can drive. bass equalizer settings were a little distort- ed. All the other 32 MB players are capable
Real quality means the MP3 player ed at high volumes. The Rio 300, Nomad of doing 34 minutes of playtime at 128
should be capable of producing audio just and the Nomad II MG were very crisp in Kbps MP3.

110 August 2001

CONCLUSION
The Nomad II MG and the Jukebox rule
the roost as of now. The Jukebox is ideal
for the big boys to play with, while the
Nomad II MG is the sleek and suave power
accessory for those who are happier with
small and feature-filled packages that suit
their style. Both have great build quality, a
nice interface, good audio transfer speeds,
loads of features, support for the WMA
format and come with a nice software
bundle. Other features include quick
firmware upgrades that enhance the func-
tionality, such as support for larger mem-
ory cards in the Nomad II MG, to a more
stable, reliable interface and the ability to
use the Nomad Jukebox as a mobile hard
drive. These may be the best performers Nomad II MG: A sleek and suave power Nomad Jukebox: Big storage, easy-to-use
available in the Indian market right now, accessory interface
but they don’t come cheap. At around 1.5
to 1.8 times more than the price they sell The more practical alternatives to these ly, even though the eXpanium doesn’t
for in the US, these devices are a bit too two were the D-Link DMP-100 and the excel in the features range, it’s a very prac-
expensive for the average user. Philips eXpanium, with the Rio PMP 300 tical device when it comes to playing
At Rs 33,500, the Jukebox costs noth- right behind the D-Link in terms of the music on the move. Just pack in your CDs,
ing less than a whole PC in India, while in price to performance ratio. The D-Link a couple of AA battery packs and you’re set
the US it costs $265, which is less than half comes at Rs 10,000 with 32 MB of memo- for a long journey full of music. The Rio
the current Indian price. Import duties, ry that can be upgraded to 64 MB. It sup- 300 is the cheapest of them all, and if you
taxes, and the vendors overpricing these ports voice recording, has a nice interface, don’t mind loosing those extra features
products is killing a huge market share that looks cool with its translucent iMac kind that the D-Link offers, is a fairly good play-
these devices could gain. of looks and is very easy to use. Converse- er that can be upgraded to 64 MB.

1/2 Page H AD

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112 August 2001

 IN TEST: 13 DIGITAL CAMERAS

Click
& Tell
Aspiring photographer? Get your creative juices going with
the best digital camera around. Pick one from this
assortment and start clicking
ALIASGAR PARDAWALLA and RAHUL SHARMA

W
ouldn’t it be fun if you could click photo-
graphs at your own leisure and without
having to worry about the roll running
out? And at the same time, tweak your
camera the same way you do your PC. This is all
possible with new state-of-the-art digital cameras More Info on
available today. These babies easily fit into your the test process and the
hand and are so feature rich that with some of products tested, check out
them you can get much better photographs than Mindware
what your old 35 mm camera can give. Features
and options such as black and white photograph,
panorama mode, etc, and the bundled software
using which you can change images radically,
make you feel like a full time artist.
Contents
TEST PROCESS . . . . . .114
Behind the camera 13 DIGITAL CAMERAS 114
Photograph: Ashesh Shah A good digital camera is an expensive piece of BOXES
hardware and therefore a one-time purchase. So CCD vs CMOS . . . . . . . 115
when purchasing your digital camera, keep in Printing your
mind the purpose that you would need it for. The photograph . . . . . . . . . 116
cameras we tested were not professional class SCORE BOARD . . . . . . 118
cameras, but were meant more for the amateurs CONCLUSION . . . . . . . 119
and photography enthusiasts.

113
■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

TEST PROCESS
The cameras were divided into two cate-
gories: cameras with resolutions above
1024x768 and those below it. These cate-
gories were decided upon keeping in mind
that 1024x768 is a decent resolution that is
clear enough on a monitor and in print- Detail on the
outs. We conducted two different tests on boards
the cameras: the image quality and resolu-
tion test and the feature test. For the image
quality test, we set up a target, which dis-
played elements such as gradation in shad-
ing, specular effect, colour tones, etc. The
targets used were two motherboards, two
speakers, a keyboard, graphics card and
soundcard, a metal piece and a CD. In the Contrasting
resolution test we had a resolution chart, colour tones The shadow Effects on the
which was photographed from prespeci- region speaker
fied distances and the images were then
tested on the PC to check how many
blocks the camera detected. same distance. In the feature test, the cameras were tested under
Both the image quality and resolution test images were down- different photography conditions for the onboard features they had.
loaded on to the computer and compared with the master image Apart from this, regular features such as flash, zoom lens, bundled
(main target image) taken with a regular 35 mm camera from the software, storage media and accessories were also checked for.

The cameras that we tested belonged to was very grainy, which made it look very standing under a bright 100 W bulb with
brands that are currently available in India hazy. But the camera still picked up details its reflection on his shiny head, the photo-
through dealers. After sales service and such as the fonts on the chipset and the graph taken by either the Olympus Came-
parts for these cameras are available hole on the socket, which even the DC- dia C-860L or 990 Zoom would give you
through service centres in metro cities. 3400 could not pick up. the best possible results as opposed to any
The next five years should see digital cam- Colour: In the colour reproduction test, other camera. The same is true for the low-
eras and printers become common Fuji gave the best results. This camera end Digi-Link camera.
peripheral devices, just like CDs and detected colour better than any other, but The final results of the image evalua-
graphics cards. As PC penetration increas- the overall image was slightly dark. Dark tion test showed that the Kodak DC-4800
es among both home and office segments, areas were also visible on the left side of gave the best overall results in terms of
sales for digital cameras would also the keyboard due to which the letters on detail, brightness and contrast, as well as
increase alongside. the keys were not visible, since the amount image likeness, which was much closer to
of light projected in this area was kept low. the actual situation created, than any
Image test In the real world, this simply means that if other camera. It gave good results in terms
The image quality test tells you about the you were clicking an indoor photograph of details and clarity but allowed more
overall quality of the camera, including its and if some parts of the frame contains light into the picture than required in
sensing element, lens and electronics that lesser light than the others, the people in spite of keeping the setting on Auto.
go into the making of a digital camera. that area wouldn’t be visible in the final On the other hand, the Fuji FinePix
Details: Out of the 13 cameras we tested, image. And if one of them happens to be 2400 had the best colour detection
not many were able to detect small details. your wife, God help you! and did pick the details to
For instance, the net on the speakers Specular effect: In the specular effect test, some extent
appeared a light shade of grey and it was the Olympus Camedia C-860L gave per-
difficult to make out what it was made up fect results. The specular effect on the
of. Details are important during close-ups metal horse was reproduced as is. This
or when you are capturing items with fine was followed again by the Olympus
details (such as when your girlfriend’s Camedia 990 Zoom, which did well but
dressed to kill). In this area we found that suffered a bit in terms of the contrast,
the Kodak DC-3400 picked up details bet- which was lesser than the C-860L. Among
ter than any other camera. Not only was it the cameras that had less than 1024x768
able to pick the minute components on the resolution, D-Link’s Digi-Link gave good
motherboard, but also fonts as small as 12 results in the specular effect test. This
points. The Kodak DC-4800 came second, means that if you were clicking a photo-
although the image taken by this camera graph of your bald father-in-law, who is Canon Powershot: Okay performance

114 August 2001

 CCD vs CMOS
The CCD (Charge Couple Device) is made the sensitivity of the CMOS is lower than
up of small “photosites” arranged in pat- that of the CCD since the light hitting the
terns of groups and columns. This can areas where transistors are located is not
range from 640x480 pixels to as high as stored, and this information is completely
1600x1200 pixels. Together this makes lost. The CCD is more power consuming
the CCD, whose final pixel count ranges than the CMOS, with a normal CCD con-
from a few hundred thousand to a few suming 100 times more power. While
million pixels. The individual size of each CMOS is cheaper and easier to fabricate,
pixel is about 10 millionth of a meter. it is more susceptible to noise and is one
Transistors and sensors are located in of the reasons why it can’t produce as
the CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide high an image quality as the CCD. These
Semiconductor). These transistors are are some of the prime reasons why CCDs
used to convert analog information into are used in high-end, high-resolution
digital information, which is further cameras and lower end cameras, espe-
processed by other circuitry and the cially Web-cams, with resolutions of
image is formed. Due to this transistor 640x480 have CMOS sensors.

on the speaker, but the image was dark Canon Power Shot had 3x optical and 2x
where the intensity of light was kept low. digital zoom. The low-end cameras, which
include the Intel Pocket Camera, D-Link
Resolution test Digi-Link and Kodak EZ200 came with a
The resolution chart for this test had nine fixed focal length. These three cameras are
blocks, of which block number five and VGA cameras, which don’t usually come
onwards were very small, with the ninth with an adjustable lens.
block being the most difficult to detect. The Intel and Digi-Link both gave tol-
The Sony DCS-P1 passed this test with fly-
ing colours. This camera detected three-
erable photographs in bright light condi-
tions. The Intel camera came with a lens
1 col AD
and-a-half blocks, which no other camera adjustment for the video clip, which can
was able to detect, due to its 3.3-mega pix- be adjusted manually by rotating the plas-
els CCD (Charge Couple Device) and the tic cap on the lens until the image looks
lens of the camera. Other cameras such as clear enough on the computer monitor.
the Canon IXUS and Kodak DC-4800 Sensing Element: There are two types of
could only detect three blocks. Since the sensing elements used in digital cameras,
distance between the cameras and the res- CCD and CMOS. Out of the cameras in
olution chart was nearly 1 metre, it is the 1024x768 pixels and above range, the
understandable that the cameras were Sony DSC-P1 camera had a maximum
unable to detect at least half the total pixel count of 3.3 mega pixels while the
blocks. However, this test helps us under- Kodak DC-4800 had a 3.1 mega pixel
stand which camera can pick up finer count and was placed second. However,
details if the target has sufficient light. the Fuji, which produced very good image
quality in terms of colour, had a CCD of
Feature test 2.1 mega pixels. Good image quality is not
We categorised the camera features as attributed solely to the CCD but also the
optics, operational modes and miscella- support electronics circuitry, which is
neous, of which optics and operational where the Fuji scored higher.
modes carry most weightage. Shutter speed: The faster the shutter
Optical/digital zooms: Optical zoom speed, the crisper the picture. High-end
means the actual change in the focal cameras such as the Kodak DC-4800 and
length, which was in the range of 0x-3x in the Sony DSC-PI had a manual setting for
the cameras we tested. Digital zoom mag- the shutter speed, whereas cameras such as
nifies the image, but the quality of the the Kodak DC-3400 and the Canon Pow-
image suffers. erShot A10 selected the shutter speed auto-
Among the cameras tested, the Sony matically, according to the exposure and
DSC-P1 had a 3x optical zoom and 6x dig- other settings selected by the user. The
ital zoom while the Kodak DC-4800 had a Kodak EZ200 camera, which is a low-end
3x optical and 2x digital zoom. Other cam- camera, had the fastest shutter speed of
eras such as the Kodak DC-3400 and the 1/500 second and the D-link Digi-link had

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a shutter speed of 1/4-1/2000, which is Link’s Digi-Link didn’t have the feature at
quite fast for a low-end camera. But here all. This is bad as a basic function like this
again the camera decides the shutter speed, is necessary in all digital cameras.
not the user. Dimension and weight: These are impor-
Storage media: The cameras in the market tant criteria for any digital camera as these
today generally come with 8 MB storage, are portable devices and need to be carried
with exceptions such as the Kodak DC- by hand while in use. A bulky camera is dif-
4800, which comes with a 16 MB compact ficult to hold for long and could affect the
flash card. Amongst the cameras with res- photographs you take to some extent. The
olution lower than 1024x768, only the camera that outshone the others here was
Kodak EZ200 had 4 MB of built-in mem- the Canon IXUS, which is just a little big-
ory, while other cameras such as the D- ger than your visiting card and weighs only
Link’s Digi-Link and Intel Pocket camera 190 gms. The Sony’s Cybershot DSC-
had built-in 8 MB flash memory. P1 is very compact as far as
The Kodak MC3 had an dimensions go, weighing only
inbuilt MP3 player and 16 250 g, and can be carried in
MB of compact flash, which your trouser pocket.
is only sufficient for either Among the low-end cam-
images or MP3s. eras D-Link’s Digi-Link
White Balance: Lower- was the smallest, even
end VGA cameras do not smaller than the Canon
have a manual option for IXUS and also the lightest,
white balance setting. weighing only 110 g. It fits eas-
These cameras adjust the ily in your palm.
setting automatically. LCD Screen: The LCD screen
While almost all the size and quality is very important
cameras had the white if a difficult target needs to be
balance setting, the Fuji shot, and shooting it through the
FinePix 2400 had a total of Kodak mc3: Good bun- optical viewfinder is not possible.
1 col AD six white balance settings. dled software Cameras such as Sony’s DSC-P1,
In the low-end category, the Kodak DC-4800 and Fuji FinePix
Kodak mc3 and EZ200 came with an auto 2400 had very good, crisp and bright LCD
white balance, whereas the Intel and D- screens. The image is clearly visible in the

Printing your Photograph

If you thought that buying the best camera era. However, here you have an option of
in the country could ensure you best qual- printing only the snaps you want which is
ity photographs, then you’re right. But if not the case with a regular roll, where
you think this also entitles you to high you have to print all 30-35 snaps.
quality printouts on a normal A4 size A new technology just released by
paper, on your low-end printer, then Epson, called print image matching, lets
you’re wrong. A high-resolution printout of you connect your camera directly to the
the photographs that you click on your printer and get a printout of the photo-
digital camera would need the best photo graph, which is as good as a regular pho-
printer and glossy paper (the special shiny tograph, without loosing any information.
paper used for printing photographs). This is the same for any image viewing
There are many photo printers available in software, which sets its own print com-
the market, which are a shade costlier mand. Since a digital camera captures the
than a regular colour inkjet printer but are images in wider colour spaces, the printer
optimised for photo printouts. is unable to access this information as the
Glossy paper in A4 size would cost image files are optimised for limited com-
you around Rs 20 and a colour printout of puter monitor colour space. These restric-
the photograph at the best resolution the tions have been overcome by these new
camera has to offer would cost you printers and, hence, produce images as
another Rs 15. The total cost of the pho- seen from the camera lens. So if you plan
tograph will come to around Rs 30-35, on buying a digital camera, you could
which is still more expensive than a regu- spend a little more on a good printer and
lar photograph from a conventional cam- have a photo-finishing lab of your own.
➜

116 August 2001

 Specifications
Snapshots of the Digital Cameras
ABOVE 1024X768 RESOLUTION BELOW 1024X768 RESOLUTION
Brand Canon Canon Fuji Kodak Kodak Kodak OLYMPUS OLYMPUS SONY D-LINK INTEL Kodak Kodak
Model IXUS PowerShot A10 FinePix 2400 DC3200 DC3400 DC4800 CAMEDIA C-860L CAMEDIA 990 DSC-P1 Digi-Link Pocket PC EZ200 mc3
Storage Media 8 MB 8 MB 8 MB Smart 8 MB 8 MB 16 MB 8 MB 8 MB 8 MB 8 MB 8 MB 4 MB internal 16 MB
(in MB) Media
Max Resolution 1600x1200 1280x960 1600x1200 1152x864 1760x1168 2160x1440 1280x960 1600x1200 2048x1536 640X480 640x480 640x480 640x480
Optical/Digital Zoom 2x/4x 3x/2x 3x/2.5x 0x/2x 3x/2x 3x/2x 2x digital 3x/2x 3x/6x Not present Not present Not present Not present
Sensing Device CCD/2.1 mega CCD/1.3 mega CCD/2.1 mega CCD/1.0 mega CCD/2.0 mega CCD/3.1 mega CCD/1.3 mega CCD/2.1 mega CCD/3.3 mega CMOS CCD CCD/0.3 mega CMOS
pixels pixels pixels pixels pixels pixels pixels pixels pixels pixels
Size of LCD Screen 38.1x38.1 mm 22.4x31 mm 1.6 inch 31.5x23.3 mm 45.7x45.7 mm 36.7x27.7 mm 36.7x27.5 mm 36.9x27.5 mm 38.1x38.1 mm Not present Not present Not present 31.25X24.34 mm
Shutter Speed 1/2-1/1500 1-1/5000 1/2-1/10,000 1/4-1/500 1/2-1/755 1/1000 1/2-1/500 1/2-1/1000 Not available 1/4-1/2000 Not available 1/500 Not present
Operating System Win9x/NT 4.0 Win98/ME/2000 Win98 Win9x/2000 Win9x/NT/2k Win98/2K Win9x Win9x/NT/2K Win9x/Me/NT/2K Win98/ME/2K Win98/Me Win9x/Me/2K Win9x/Me/2K
ArcSoft,
Packaged Software Zoom Browser Zoom Browser Exif Viewer, DP Kodak DC3200 Kodak DC3400 ArcSoft Pano- Camedia Master, Camedia 2.1, MGI Photsuite Presto! MR. Intel snapshot, PhotoImpression/ Acroread,
EX 2.6/Photo EX 2.6/Photo Editor, Adobe Driver, Kodak driver, ArcSoft rama Maker, Acroread, Camedia suite, V8.1, VideoWave, Photo, Photo- Scene Recorder, VideoImpression ArcSoft
Recorder1.2.4/ Recorder1.2.4/ ActiveShare, Picture Now PhotoImpression, Adobe Acrobat QuickTime Instruction CD Driver designer, Presto! Audio Recorder, PhotoImpression,
PhotoStitch 3.1/ PhotoStitch 3.1/ PhotoDeluxe Adobe Acrobat Reader, Kodak Videoworks E-mail Postcard, QuickTime, Real
RemoteCapture RemoteCapture image-editing Reader DC400 Software Games, Gallery Player
Extra Accessories Compact Flash, Manual, Wrist AC adapter, bat- Serial cable Serial cable, Power cord, USB Serial/video Carry pouch, USB cable, 8 MB USB cable, Pouch, wrist USB cable, bat- USB cable, USB
Battery pack, Strap, USB tery charger, bat- video out cable, cable, Lens cable, manual, 8 manual, video memory stick, installation guide, strap, camera tery pack, cam- USB cradle, AV
Charger, USB, cable, Four AA teries, soft case, USB cable cover MB Smart media, out and serial Info Lithium bat- two AA batteries, stand, 9-feet USB era stand, wrist cable, head
Video out and batteries, soft- SmartMedia carry pouch, cable, four AAA tery, charger, carry pouch, cable, software- strap phone.
wrist cables ware and Driver cards wrist strap batteries wrist strap wrist strap driver CD
Price Rs 46,099 Rs 26,750 Rs 36,000 Rs 18,000 Rs 35,000 Rs 49,000 Rs 21,000 Rs 35,000 Rs 49,990 Rs 8,500 Rs 9,750 Rs 9,000 Rs 20,000
Dimension (WxLxH) 87x57x26.9 mm 110x71x37.6 mm 125x65x39 mm 11.76x53.34x81.28 132.08x53.34x 119.38x68.58x63.5 128x65x47 mm 127x66.5x53 mm 113x53.9x43.8 mm 96x58x31 mm N/A 91.44x35.55x68.58 104.14x66.04x
mm 76.20 mm mm mm 38.10 mm
Weight (in grams) 190 250 350 215 332 328 235 270 250 110 N/A 133.24 156
White Balance Auto, daylight, Auto, daylight, Daylight, cloudy, Auto, daylight, Auto, daylight, Auto, daylight, Full auto, sun- Auto, daylight, 4 mode auto Not available Not available Present Not available
cloudy, tungsten, cloudy, tungsten, daylight fluores- fluroscent, tung- fluroscent, tung- tungsten light, overcast overcast, tung- white balance
fluroscent light fluroscent light cent, warm white sten sten skies, Tungsten, sten and fluro
fluorescent, etc Fluroscent light light setting
(6 modes)
Macro Mode Not available Not available 3.9 inch Not available Not available 0.2 metre 0.1 metre 0.2 metre 10 cm 4 cm 5 cm 30 inch Not available
Compression mode 1600x1200/ 1280x960/ 1600x1200, Best/Better/Good Best/Better/Good 7 modes 1280x960 (SHQ), Noncompression 2048x1536, 1600x Not available 2 2 Not available
1024x768/640x480 1024x768/640x480 1280x960/640x480 1280x960 (HQ), SHQ, SHQ, HQ 1200, 1280x968,
640x480 and SQ 640x480
Contact Mahatta Camera Mahatta Camera ockam@vsnl.com Neoteric Neoteric Neoteric Komal Komal Best D-Link India Ockam Infotech Neoteric Neoteric
Corporation Corporation Informatque Informatque Informatque International International International Informatique Informatque
Phone 022-8504608 022-8504608 022-8514441 022-4172600 022-4172600 022-4172600 022-2705725 022-2705725 022-2611050 022-6902210 022-6330375 022-4172600 022-4172600
Fax 022-8508065 022-8508065 022-8504044 022-4163679 022-4163679 022-4163679 022-2610219 022-2610219 022-2624795 022-6528476 022-6338764 022-4163679 022-4163679
E-mail mccbom@ mccbom@ k_mohan/jpl@ sales@neoteric- sales@neoteric- sales@neoteric- indiaolympus@ indiaolympus@ bestint@vsnl.com ssehgal@dlink- ockam@vsnl.com sales@neoteric- sales@neoteric-
vsnl.com vsnl.com jindals.com info.com info.com info.com vsnl.com vsnl.com india.com info.com info.com
Web site NA NA www.jindal www.neoteric- www.neoteric- www.neoteric- NA NA NA www.dlink.co.in www.neoteric- www.neoteric-
photofilm.com info.com info.com info.com info.com info.com
Overall (%) 72.21 68.56 70.42 59.91 72.19 74.72 62.18 70.09 77.1 53.79 57.91 53.92
Rating B+ B+ B+ B B+ B+ B+ B+ A- B B+ B B-
screen even at a distance of half to a quar- This camera did well in picking up details
ter meter away. The Kodak mc3 had the and even produced colour well, except that
worst LCD screen, which was pitch black it showed dark areas in the image, wherev-
when turned on, and absolutely nothing er light was low. It came with a detailed
was visible even when held in front of a manual, good bundled software and
light source. Clicking photographs with rechargeable batteries, which helped it
this camera is absolute guesswork. score in the feature test. The Canon IXUS
On the other hand, cameras such as the was one of the lightest and good-looking
Intel Pocket camera and D-link’s Digi-link cameras in its category.
didn’t have an LCD screen but a small LCD Among the low-end cameras, Intel
display at the top which displayed the emerged the winner. This camera had
number of snaps taken and other settings excellent bundled software with a very
such as flash on/off, burst mode, etc. clean interface and was very easy to use.
Software and drivers: Any digital camera is The camera also had a host of features such
incomplete without the software, which is as the ability to store up to 824 MB of
required to download the image on the PC. video directly on the hard drive, and a
Some low-end cameras such as the Intel computer game.
Pocket Camera were bundled with the best The second in this category was Kodak
software, which could not only download EZ200, which worked as both digital cam-
the images and video clips but also edit and era and Web cam. Although it did not give
optimise them for the Web. Also included good results in indoor photo-
were games based on the concept of graphs with poor light con-
motion detection, a totally new concept ditions, the outdoor
available only in Intel cameras. You can
connect the camera to your PC and start a
game of, say basketball. You then move
1 col AD
your hand in front of the camera and the
ball actually bounces according to your
hand movements.
The Kodak mc3 was another camera
with good bundled software that detects
the camera the moment it is connected to
your PC. The software starts downloading
the images automatically and even displays
the battery status for a few seconds while
the download is in progress. High-end Sony DCS-P1: Good all-round performance
cameras such as the Kodak DC-3400 came
with the ArcSoft PhotoImpression soft-
ware, which is really simple to use and easy
to understand. The Canon PowerShot A10
came with useful software such as Photo-
Stich 3.1, using which you can stitch all
your photographs in a linear strip and view
them by just scrolling across.

CONCLUSION
In the higher end category the clear winner
was the Sony DCS-P1 3.3 mega pixel cam-
era. The camera was loaded with features
such as taking snaps in black and white and Intel Pocket PC camera: Truly worth it
sepia mode, adjusting white balance, etc,
coupled with ease of navigation. Although photographs were of good quality at
it did not produce the best results in terms 640x480 pixels.
of image clarity, it did extremely well in the If you are looking at a camera that gives
resolution test. good quality output at a reasonable price,
Runners up was the Kodak DC-4800. then what you should seek is the Kodak
This 3.3 mega pixel camera did well in the DC-3400. Amongst the cameras with
entire test but lost to Sony only in terms of lower resolution the Intel is the best buy as
features. This camera shone in picking up the camera can work as a digital camera
details but gave a grainy overall image. and Web cam, record video and all this
Canon IXUS came third in the shoot out. under Rs 10,000.

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IN TEST: 34 SPEAKERS FOR PC

More Info on
the test process and the
products tested, check out
Mindware

Photograph: Ashesh Shah

120 August 2001

 A
Sound Decision
Deciding the right speaker system for you might prove a
tricky task. Let us help you make the right choice—one that
would be music to your ears and your pocket

MENLYN NORONHA stereo or recorded on more than two

ave you always wanted to experi- channels and mixed down to stereo for

H ence sound that is superlatively

clear, that gives you a theatre-like
immersive experience, without
trooping to the theatre or spending a
fortune? Then a speaker set for your PC
distribution on compact disks. Given
that the object of a high-end audio
playback system is to reproduce the
original performance as closely as pos-
sible, it is obvious that providing sur-
Contents might be the answer for you. Your com- round capability would further that
puter is not merely a tool for speeding goal.
TEST PROCESS . . . . . .122 up your work. C’mon admit it, you do In a live performance, sound arrives
27 STEREO SPEAKERS 122 listen to the latest numbers, play Quake, from all directions, creating a sense of
7 SURROUND SOUND and watch action flicks on your com- envelopment and clueing the audience
SPEAKERS . . . . . . . . .124 puter. So don’t you think you deserve into the unique acoustics of the per-
BOXES the best sound system at a price you can formance space. Stereo playback can
PMPO vs RMS . . . . . . . 124 afford? So take your pick from a range only offer a thin slice of these qualities.
Headphones or of speakers—from the conventional The difference signal between the left
Earphones? . . . . . . . . . 124 two-speaker stereo models, to speakers and right channels can be used to recov-
Soundcard: The Hidden that offer you the Dolby Digital/Pro er ambience information from stereo
Performer. . . . . . . . . . . 126 Logic decoder. recordings. This L-R signal, often called
Types of Speaker the surround signal, is also used to drive
Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Overview a pair of speakers located behind the lis-
SCORE BOARD . . . . . . 128 Almost all high-quality musical pro- tening area. For home audio systems
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . 130 grammes, be it music, movies or games this type of environment can be creat-
available today are either recorded in ed only by using a DVD player that

121
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comes with the embedded 5.1 channels or

by using 5.1-compatible soundcards. To TEST PROCESS
satisfy these criteria we used the best 5.1-
compatible soundcard, Creative Sound The test system used to evaluate the musical, vocal and effects sources for
Blaster Live! speakers consisted of a Celeron 666- experimental and demonstration purpos-
For the purpose of the test, we differ- based computer with 128 MB SDRAM. es. The speakers were also examined by
entiated between the basic two-speaker The most important element of this con- means of their performance during gam-
setup (with or without external sub- figuration is the Sound Blaster Live! Plat- ing sessions; we included the two most
woofers) and surround speakers (4.1, 5.1 inum audio card used to test the popular games—Quake III and Unreal
and higher speaker setups). It wouldn’t speakers. Tournament.
make sense in pitching a lower end two- We tested the speakers using a care- As speakers are also used while
speaker setup with the higher surround fully compiled collection of 36 audio watching movies, to determine the quality
speaker sets. You will find, on occasion, in tracks that cover the entire audio frequen- of sound that the products would deliver,
the review that some four-speaker setups cy range. The tracks used were made we used a series of clips that we judged
are significantly cheaper than some high- without any kind of electronic processing. could bring out the best or the worst in
end two-speaker sets. In such cases it They also contained subtle transients that such a scenario. The clips included scenes
would always be preferable to go in for the define true hi-fidelity, which are some- from some popular movies. Again, care
four-speaker combinations (depending on times lost in the reverberation and pro- was taken that the test setup was
your current soundcard and the room cessing used in making conventional arranged in a manner so as to prevent
dynamics). What must be clearly under- records. These tracks can not only test the any of the characteristics of the room
stood is that, as with most things related performance of a wide range of sound itself from interfering with the inherent
to a PC, audio solutions too are interde- equipment but also offer the very best in characteristics of the speakers.
pendent. You may buy an excellent speak-
er set but if you miss out on the right
soundcard then you will be compromising The runner up in this section was the The Mercury SW480 was one of the
on the quality that your expensive speak- Creative PC Works 2.1 that just marginally cheapest and best-looking 2.1 speaker sys-
ers could have provided. lost to the Typhoon SC 600 and was able to tems that we received. It is not high pow-
leave the Samsung SMS 8320 behind with a ered like the speaker systems mentioned
Two-speaker setups very comfortable margin. The Creative PC earlier, but has the capability to deliver
Here we concentrated on speaker sets that Works 2.1 did well in the treble and mid quality at those lower volumes.
come in the basic two-speaker models or (vocals) frequency section and performed The stereo section saw some entries
the better 2.1 (two satellites and one better with games and movies. However, that sported the NXT flat panel technolo-
woofer) models. This category covers the while playing a sample that contained very gy. NXT has developed a speaker system
lower end of the market segment. The low frequency, the reproduction was not that comprises a flat panel. It has called
variety of sets available in this category is satisfactory. this technology SurfaceSound. Unlike con-
quite large and most of us end up getting Unlike other stereo speakers wherein ventional speaker systems where the radi-
these speaker sets along with our new PCs. manufactures have a single full way ation of sound is very focussed (and you
Mercury had a strong presence in this seg- have a ‘sweet spot’) in your listening
ment with varied models. Typhoon has area, SurfaceSound provides a much
some very aggressively priced speaker sets wider audio listening angle. The Jazz
in this category. A good development is the Speaker Malibu and the Frontech Flat
presence of Indian manufacturers such as Panel, were two such speakers. They
Sumoko competing along with the heavy- were able to reproduce good highs
weights such as Creative, Samsung and and mid frequencies but com-
Lexpro. The price spectrum ranges from pletely lacked the ability to pro-
Rs 375 to Rs 8,900. duce bass. The bass actually
sounded as if someone was try-
Quality ing to drum up a cardboard
In terms of quality of sound reproduced, box.
Typhoon Silver Crest 600 came out tops.
The Typhoon Silver Crest gave decent Gaming
audio quality while watching movies and Funai 788: Big bodied, with decent bass and In the gaming section again, the Typhoon
offered excellent stereo effect. It also gen- mid-frequency response Silver Crest 600 took away the laurels.
erated good quality treble and vocals. The There is ample power in this speaker sys-
quality of bass generated was average with speaker, the Samsung SMS 8320 has a sep- tem to suffice the needs of a high-end
slight distortion when we played music arate tweeter and a woofer that helps in gamer. The speakers are capable of pro-
that had deep bass. delivering more clarity in sound. Innova- viding the perfect ambience required for
But the level at which the distortion tively designed, this speaker set was able to playing games, with all those high pitched
occurs is tolerable as compared to the dis- produce the right amount of treble and mid shrieks that your opponents make when
tortion generated by the Lexpro LS 880 or frequencies, but its performance in the bass you frag them in Quake III. Even the qual-
even the Typhoon DS 1032. section was nothing to write home about. ity of bass is exceptionally good. ➜

122 August 2001

■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

Optionally, at a lesser price range you

have the Creative PC Works 2.1, the Sam- PMPO Vs RMS
sung SMS 8320 or again the Typhoon Sil-
ver Crest 400. These systems manage to When you go in to buy a speaker or a power that the speaker or the amplifier
deliver the right punch and flavours that music system, one thing you must look can deliver at its peak. A PMPO rating is
can engross any gamer in those fierce out for is the output (power) of the prod- not necessarily indicative of the perform-
Unreal Tournament. uct. Power rating in the sound industry is ance of a speaker throughout a wide fre-
The Samsung, although less powerful, measured using two different terminolo- quency range. An RMS power value is the
delivers ample amount of sound effects gies—PMPO (Peak Music Power Output) actual music power output of a speaker. It
required to play high-end multiplayer and RMS (Root Mean Square Power). This is a true indication of the output power of
games. However, in terms of power the displays the different rating systems that a given speaker and its ability to generate
Lexpro LS880 can be graded as more pow- are in use for obtaining the output capaci- sounds having frequencies throughout a
erful than the Samsung, but here the qual- ty of a specific speaker or amplifier. A wider range.
ity of the sound delivered is bad. There is common misapprehension is that higher The continuous output is a better indi-
a lot of jarring and distortion audible in the PMPO rating of the speaker, the bet- cator of power and this is what you
Lexpro LS880, especially while playing ter the output and quality of the speaker should look for when comparing speaker
Quake III Arena, but this was considerably or system as a whole. Actually, it’s the systems. So the general rule adopted by
less while playing Unreal Tournament. RMS rating that determines quality and serious music lovers and audiophiles is
higher the RMS rating, better the that higher the true RMS rating of a
Music speakers. speaker, higher is its actual power or vol-
In this field, the Samsung SMS 8230 took What do PMPO and RMS refer to? ume output. Remember the rule, ‘Greater
the overall lead with its clarity in vocals PMPO refers to the maximum amount of the RMS rating, better the speakers’.
and the perfect treble response. It was able
to maintain the overall quality of bass
reproduction. The speaker that came sec- loud and at certain points where there is a or concert. True surround sound algo-
ond was the Typhoon Silver Crest 400 and mish mash of frequencies, a bit of distor- rithms rely on dedicated speakers that
it did quite well too, but lagged behind in tion was noticed. But otherwise it would physically surround the audience. There
bass reproduction. Next in line was Cre- definitely qualify for music playback. is one centre speaker, which carries most
ative PC Works. It lacked the overall clari- of the dialogue and part of the sound-
ty that was found in the Samsung SMS Surround speakers track. There are left and right front speak-
8230, but the set had exceptional bass Here, we concentrated on speaker systems ers that carry most of the soundtrack and
reproduction. that offer surround sound and this includ- may carry parts of the dialogue. Then
The Funai-788 was no stranger to ed the 4.1 and the 5.1 sets. Surround there is a pair of surround sound speakers
music and was capable enough to deliver sound refers to the use of multiple chan- that is placed to the side of the audience to
good quality sound with decent bass and nels to envelop the movie-watching or provide the surround sound effect. Final-
mid response. The only problem that was music-listening audience, making them ly, a subwoofer can be used to reproduce
found here was in the treble, which was too feel like they’re in the middle of the action the low frequency bass effect.
In this category, we received seven dif-
ferent brands of speakers. Creative has
Headphones or Earphones? always had a major presence in this seg-
ment, but lately there have been quite a few
Earphones? They are uncomfortable to But if you’re a real audio freak and other manufactures such as Logitech who
wear, sound tinny and they harm your nothing less than the very best can satisfy are giving Creative some serious competi-
ears. If you have ever bought a portable you, then brands such as Sennheiser, tion. Special mention must be made of Jet-
audio device, it probably came with this Koss or AKG low-end headphones may way, which has produced the small wonder
pain in the ear. Cheap earphones aren’t be what you should opt for. These head- called Artis. And its pricing is aggressive
even remotely suited for playing music or phones cost in the range of Rs 1,500 to too. Others like Frontech have also made a
any kind of hi fidelity audio. Do you want Rs 4,000. If you are wondering why we significant splash in this segment.
deeper bass, crisper highs, clear mid said low-end, the reason is simple. Your
tones? Then consider buying a good pair PC just isn’t capable of driving high-end Quality
of headphones. They come in a wide vari- headphones. You would need something In terms of surround quality, the speaker
ety, starting from simple, cheap Rs 50 called a headphone amplifier to drive the that emerges as the best is the Creative
headsets to the swank looking Philips likes of the Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 head- Cambridge SoundWorks DTT2500 that
headphones that are sold for around phones that are nothing less than ‘super acquired the highest scores in the quality
Rs 700. The latter offers a higher degree phones’ when it comes to quality and section. Here the best part was the setup
of comfort with its foam ear pads and reproduction accuracy. And they are loud that we received—a Dolby Digital decoder
adjustable headrests, and offers nice bass enough for DJs who use them in environ- that allows you to enjoy stunning DVD
and mid tones. Though not the perfect ments full of noise, and still manage to audio without purchasing an expensive
set, it’s enough to satisfy most regular hear that fine skip or beat that helps Dolby Digital system. The decoder is
audio lovers. them synch their own mixes. equipped with Dolby 5.1-channel that
pumps sound into the front left, front ➜

124 August 2001

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Soundcard: The Hidden Performer

A great deal depends on this rather neg- has support for four-point surround speak- drive are priced Rs 13,000. These fit in any
lected piece of hardware. Mostly it is the er sets and also includes several other fea- empty bay on your cabinet on the front
soundcard that is to blame for poor signal tures. There are three versions of the and furthers connectivity to various auxil-
quality. Contrary to popular belief, a Sound Blaster Live!—Sound Blaster Live! iary devices.
soundcard consumes resources too. More Value, the SB Live! Platinum and the However, there are other cheaper sur-
importantly, if you are going for a two- Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 (which round capable soundcards available. If you
speaker setup (all of the two-speaker sets now supports Dolby digital decoding). are not bothered about system CPU utili-
reviewed here had built-in amplifiers) The Sound Blaster Live! Value is one of sation and an extensive software bundle,
then Creative Vibra 128 is the soundcard the most popular soundcards in the mar- you can turn to soundcards that run using
to go for. This soundcard is relatively inex- ket. It is especially known for its quality the CMI 8738 chipsets. Yamaha and
pensive and although earlier it was bun- and also the minimal system CPU utilisa- Lancer have created their versions of the
dled along with the multimedia kits from tion (less than 3 per cent). As a matter of four-point surround cards using the CMI
Creative, it is now separately available in fact, it uses the same core DSP (Digital 8738 chipsets. However, the CPU utilisa-
the market for about Rs 1,200. Signal Processor) chipset (EMU10K1) tion is much higher than the SB Live!
If you are planning to go in for the which the other expensive versions of this Series.
4.1/5.1 speaker sets, then you need a card use. The SoundBlaster Live! Value is Aureal had created the Aureal Vortex
soundcard that supports discrete channels reasonably priced at Rs 3,400, whereas and Vortex 2 Quad. But the firm being
(front and rear). A good choice would be the Platinum and the Platinum 5.1, which extinct, you will be lucky to find any of
the Creative SoundBlaster Live! series that include professional tools such as the Live! their cards.

right, centre, rear right, rear left, and a Frontech 5D-103 that with their respective to go on for another round of frags in
subwoofer that is capable of generating systems did an amazing job. The only place Quake III.
pure distortion-free bass. The 20 Watt where these speakers let us down was in
RMS subwoofer, though low powered as bass reproduction where there was a sig- Music
compared to the Logitech Xtrusio DSR nificant lack of punch. Otherwise, any of For the best musical experience, check out
100 which is equipped with a 52 Watt RMS these speakers would be a very good buy if the Creative DTT2500 that delivered the
subwoofer, delivered exceptional quality. you are interested in an enjoyable gaming best quality music without any distortion.
The Logitech DSR 100 took the second experience. The treble, mid and bass frequencies were
spot. This set has the most powerful sub- Turando FP2000 was a disappointment balanced and well maintained.
woofer. Here we were able to get the best once again—it delivered poor quality bass In contrast to this, the Turando
in the bass section with the heavy 52 Watt and very loud treble in Unreal and deliv- FP2000, like in the other tests, fared dis-
RMS bass. The letdown however was its ered a lot of distortion. While playing appointingly here too with too much dis-
satellites—they distort at high volumes. Quake III Arena, it delivered loud and tortion. This distortion was mostly
The third player was the Jetway Artis screechy treble and mid frequency. generated from the satellites due to the
1200 Watt that had a good subwoofer (not The Creative FPS 1000, the Jetway Artis fact that these satellites were giving out
as powerful as the Logitech) and satellites. and the Typhoon DS 1034 didn’t perform bass, which is not good for any system.
The only flaw that we found here was the badly but weren’t impressive in any way The speakers that came close to the per-
jarring/distortion of the front satellites at either. formance churned out by the Creative
peak volumes. This could be the problem These speakers were capable of deliv- DTT2500 were the Logitech Xtrusio DSR
with the inbuilt amplifier that wasn’t capa- ering an acceptable quality of sound while 100 and the Creative FPS 1000. These sys-
ble of stabilising the output to the front playing games. But they were not as good tems delivered good quality music but lost
speakers. as the Logitech DSR 100 that tempted us points with respect to sharpness in the mid
The speaker that did the worst was the frequency range. The Creative FPS 1000
Turando FP2000 that sported the best generated an excusable amount of distor-
looks and was the only flat panel 5.1 sys- tion and the Logitech delivered a lower
tems that we received. The looks, however, quantity of mid frequencies but was defi-
didn’t match its performance. There was a nitely good at delivering even the lowest
lot of distortion audible from the satellite. of frequencies. The Logitech Xtrusio is the
right choice if you are interested in a PC
Gaming sound system that can deliver good
In gaming, the speaker that came out a music quality.
clear winner was the Logitech Xtrusio The Typhoon DS1034, the Jetway Artis
DSR 100. The speaker, with its low fre- and the Frontech 5D-103 were capable of
quency generating subwoofer, can make delivering an acceptable quality of music
you actually feel the vibrations. It is fol- Logitech DSR100: A home theatre system that will do well if you are not obsessed
lowed by the Creative DTT2500 and the with powerfull bass with getting perfect quality. ➜

126 August 2001

■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

the material used for the cabinet, Digital decoder that allows you to enjoy
whether the body some stunning DVD audio without pur-
vibrates while the chasing an expensive Dolby Digital system.
speaker is in use, etc. The only speaker mounting stands that
Starting off with came were those for the rear speakers of
technology, the only Creative’s DTT2500 and FPS1000 that
speaker sets that sup- helped placing the rear speaker at ear level.
ported digital input This placement enhances the listening
were the Logitech experience.
Xtrusio DSR 100, the The most innovatively designed speak-
Cambridge DTT2500 and the ers were the Turando FP2000. The system
Turando FP2000. The first two came with was the most jazzy looking flat panel 5.1.
simple and well-defined connectors that Next in line is the Samsung SMS 8320 that
Tornado FP2000: Suffers from too much were easy to attach. The Turando FP2000 sported a cool cone shape. The grille on
distortion in sound came with the cables all right, but the main the Sumoku Logic 2 was a metallic one and
digital input cable seemed quite confusing not of the usual fabric, but it constantly
Surround sound and it took us a long time figuring out generated vibrations that actually cost the
The speaker that excelled in terms of sur- which cable goes where. The cables from set a lot in terms of grades as it effected the
round sound was the Logitech DSR 100. the speakers had to be connected to a sep- overall quality of the sound.
The punch and clarity of sound that it dis- arate console that had controls to the The Sumoku Alpha 2 is a good pair to
played would keep anybody glued to the entire system and an additional wireless lay your hands on, but its finish left much
movie being played. The surround effect remote was also provided to make things to be desired. The Logitech DSR had a
that this speaker system delivers was note- easier. black dustbin-shaped subwoofer—a break
worthy and even the ripped sample files The Logitech Xtrusio came with con- from all those boxy looking subwoofers.
from the DVD (VOB files) that we ran trols on the subwoofer and a mouse- The colourful flat panels from Frontech
sounded crystal clear. Small creaks and shaped wired remote control that makes and Jazz Speakers could be the right acces-
even the sound of the smallest twig crack- life smooth as far as speakers are con- sories to add a dash of style to your com-
ing under someone’s feet were audible. cerned. But it was the Creative Cambridge puter. The worst build quality was seen in
The Creative DTT2500 comes in a close SoundWorks DTT2500 that stole the the Lexpro LS880. When set to play at high
second. Clarity and depth were some of its show. It is a true digital 5.1 speaker system, volumes, it started shedding its control
prominent features. But the experience equipped as it is with a separate Dolby buttons.
that we felt while using the Logitech Xtru-
sio DSR 100 was definitely missing. How-
ever, the surround effect received here was
not substantially lesser than the Logitech.
Types of Speaker Drivers
The speaker that came quite close to the A speaker is a device that accepts audio cover almost the entire range in the
Creative DTT2500 was another of Cre- signals from a receiver or amplifier and audio frequency spectrum, speaker man-
ative’s entries, the Creative FPS 1000. This converts them into sound waves. With ufactures generally tend to drive up the
one too, like the DTT2500, sounded com- the availability of different speakers that power of these speakers and sell them as
plete, but for some distortion that was cover a different range of frequencies, it is full range speakers. Full range drivers pro-
audible in scenes carrying high pitched necessary for you to understand what you vide a more consistent sound field than
sounds. These speaker sets are followed by can expect from the type of speaker that conventional speakers that rely on
the Jetway Artis, followed by the Frontech you plan to buy. Generally, speakers are woofers, tweeters and crossovers.
5D-103 that did well in the surround divided into three categories—tweeter, Woofers: The deep punchy sound that
sound category but lacked the qualities mid range and bass. one feels when a drummer is playing his
required by a speaker set that would glue Tweeter: When a drummer hits the cym- set is the bass that is generated by the
movie watchers to their seats. Again, bals in his drum set, the high-pitched woofer. They are designed to reproduce
Turando FP2000 fared poorly. The sur- shrill noise that you hear is produced by only low bass frequencies. A powered
round effect felt here was good and was this speaker. Unlike the other speakers, subwoofer contains an amplifier and an
comparable to that delivered by the Fron- the tweeter doesn’t have to be large in electronic crossover that helps filter only
tech, but the amount of distortion and size and generates frequencies from the the lower frequencies that the sub is sup-
cracking heard would easily disturb. upper audio frequency spectrum (from posed to handle. These are always the
2,000 Hz or 3,000 Hz to 20,000 Hz). largest speakers seen in a sound setup
Features and build quality Mid-range speakers: These mainly focus and for the home segment, they are still
Features, with regard to speaker systems, on the vocals and other sounds from dif- the large boxy looking speakers that have
mean the number of controls present, ferent musical instruments. These speak- to be placed on the floor near any corner
accessibility to the controls, type of input ers lie between the bass and treble range of the room. The woofer or the subs as
(analog or digital), number of speakers in the audio frequency spectrum. These they are generally called, work at the low-
used, presence of a remote control, etc. frequencies work from between 150 or est frequency range of the audio spec-
Under build quality, we checked out the 200 Hz to 3,000 Hz. As these speakers trum from 20 Hz to 150 or 200 Hz.
type of material used to build the speaker,

128 August 2001

 Specifications
Speaking about Speakers
Specifications Performance Benchmarks
Model Dealer PHONE Price E-mail No of Speakers Digital/ Sub Quality Gaming Music Stereo/ Surround Total Rating
Analog Woofer (Out of 50) (Out of 20) (Out of 15) (Out of 15)
2-Speaker sets B-
A4 Tech Sound Star AS-7 Selathaar Industry 044-8252275 Rs 375 marketing@maple.co.in 2 Analog No 32.81 7.5 9.38 2.1 51.79 B-
A4 Tech Sound Star AS-9 Selathaar Industry 044-8252275 Rs 475 marketing@maple.co.in 2 Analog No 32.29 7.5 6.56 2.4 48.75 B+
Creative PC Works 2.1 Express Computers 022-3852070 Rs 3500 NA 3 Analog Yes 40.63 12.5 9.38 3.9 66.41 B-
Frontech Flat Panel Speakers Mnemonics Systems 022-8010871 Rs 1,400 mnemonics@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 30.73 7.5 5.63 2.1 45.96 B
Frontech Multimedia Speakers Jupiter Infosys 022-2001211 Rs 435 frontech@bom5.vsnl.net.in 2 Analog No 34.9 8.75 5.63 2.1 51.38 B+
Funai F-788 Micro Masters 022-3885097 Rs 1500 micromasters@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 38.02 11.25 9.38 3.9 62.55 B
Hunjan 3DH-202 Micro Masters 022-3880597 Rs 375 micromasters@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 34.9 10 7.5 2.7 55.1 B
Jazz Malibu Flat Panel Priya India 022-2663611 Rs 1000 prom@priyagroup.com 2 Analog No 29.69 6.25 6.56 2.1 44.6 B
Jazz Speakers J1104 Priya India 022-2663611 Rs 450 prom@priyagroup.com 2 Analog No 32.29 7.5 6.56 2.4 48.75 B
Jazz Speakers J3504 Priya India 022-2663611 Rs 725 prom@priyagroup.com 2 Analog No 36.46 8.75 10.31 2.7 58.22 B
Lexpro LS 880 Kunhar Peripherals 022-3863252 Rs 3000 salesbom@kunhar.com 3 Analog Yes 40.63 11.25 7.5 2.7 62.08 B+
Mercury SW 480 Savex Computers 022-2881616 Rs 900 savex@vsnl.com 3 Analog Yes 37.5 10 8.44 3.6 59.54 B-
Mercury MS 340 Mnemonics Systems 022-8010871 Rs 425 mnemonics@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 34.38 7.5 8.44 2.1 52.42 B-
Mercury MS 360 Savex Computers 022-2881616 Rs 450 savex@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 31.77 10 5.63 2.1 49.5 B
Microtek Explore Boss VX 880 Microtek International 011-5967341 Rs 990 microtek@del2.vsnl.net.in 2 Analog No 36.46 12.5 5.63 2.7 57.29 B
Microtek Xplore Josh VX 820 Priya India 022-2663611 Rs 690 prom@priyagroup.com 2 Analog No 36.98 11.25 8.44 2.7 59.37 B
Microtek Xplore Joy VX 460 Priya India 022-2663611 Rs 490 prom@priyagroup.com 2 Analog No 33.33 8.75 8.44 2.1 52.62 B
Samsung SMS 7640 Micro Masters 022-3880597 Rs 1200 micromasters@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 36.98 11.25 8.44 3.3 59.97 B
Samsung SMS 8320 Mnemonics Systems 022-8010871 Rs 2000 mnemonics@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 39.58 12.5 10.31 3.3 65.69 B
Sumoku Alpha 2 Palesha Electronics 9520-6350996 Rs 1250 npalesha@csnl.com 2 Analog No 34.38 10 7.5 3.3 55.18 B-
Sumoku Logic 2 Palesha Electronics 9520-6350996 Rs 1050 npalesha@csnl.com 2 Analog No 34.9 10 8.44 1.8 55.14 B
Sumoku Logic 3 Palesha Electronics 9520-6350996 Rs 1650 npalesha@csnl.com 2 Analog No 35.42 11.25 6.56 3 56.23 B
Typhoon Design Speakers DS1032 Hitech Computers 022-4914642 Rs 4724 bom@hitechit.com 3 Analog Yes 39.58 12.5 9.38 3.6 65.06 B-
Typhoon Easylite Hitech Computers 022-4914642 Rs 700 bom@hitechit.com 2 Analog No 32.81 8.75 5.63 1.8 48.99 B+
Typhoon Silver Crest 400 Hitech Computers 022-4914642 Rs 4600 bom@hitechit.com 3 Analog Yes 39.58 12.5 9.38 3.6 65.06 B+
Typhoon Silvercrest Flat Panel SC600 Hitech Computers 022-4914642 Rs 8,900 bom@hitechit.com 3 Analog Yes 41.15 13.75 8.44 3.9 67.24 B-
Yahama Amplified Speakers Micro Masters 022-3880597 Rs 500 micromasters@vsnl.com 2 Analog No 31.25 8.75 6.46 2.4 48.86
Surround Speakers B
Jetway Artis Kunhar Peripherals 022-3863252 Rs 3800 salesbom@kunhar.com 5 Analog Yes 44.27 13.75 11.25 10.7 79.97 A-
Logitech Xtrusio DSR 100 Rashi Peripherals 022-8260257 Rs 13000 ho@rptechindia.com 5 Digital Yes 44.79 16.25 12.19 12.6 85.83 B
Turando FP2000 Mnemonic Systems 022-8010871 Rs 9000 mnemonics@vsnl.com 6 Digital Yes 35.42 10 6.56 7.8 59.78 B+
Frontech 5D-103 Jupiter Infosis 022-2001211 Rs 2050 frontech@bom5.vsnl.net.in 5 Analog Yes 41.15 15 10.31 9.3 75.76 B+
Creative FPS 1000 Express Computers 022-3852070 Rs 5000 NA 5 Analog Yes 42.19 13.75 12.19 12 80.13 A-

129
Creative Cambridge DTT2500 Express Computers 022-4913986 Rs 29,500 NA 6 Digital Yes 46.35 15 13.13 12.3 86.78 B+
Typhoon Design Speakers DS 1034 Hitech Computers 022-4914642 Rs 6000 bom@hitechit.com 5 Analog Yes 42.19 13.75 10.31 11.3 77.55
■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

Decision Maker Tips & Tricks for Sound

Mercury SW480 + To get the best sound,
2-Speaker Artis 738S1 PCI soundcard ■ The listener and the speakers should

Economy (up to form a triangle; without this basic setup

you’ll never hear good sound staging
Rs 2,500)
Frontech 5D-103 + and imaging.
Surround Artis 738S1 PCI soundcard ■ The nearer the subwoofers (speakers
that produce the low frequency
sounds) or the woofers are to walls
Samsung SMS8320 + and corners, the better the bass.
2-Speaker Creative Vibra 128 ■ Listening height affects the overall
Mid-range (Rs tonal balance of the speakers. Speakers
2,500 to Rs 7,500) should be at the same height as your
Jetway Artis +
Surround Creative SoundBlaster Live! Value
ears.
■ Angling the speakers towards the lis-
tener affects the tonal balances too,
particularly the amount of treble and
Typhoon Silver Crest SC600 +
2-Speaker Creative SoundBlaster Live! Value the vocals.
■ The best way of using stereo speak-
Hig-end (Rs ers is by maximising the distance
7,500 and more) between the two speakers. The greater
Logitech Xtrusio DSR 100 +
Surround Creative SB Live! Platinum 5.1 the distance between the two speak-
ers, better is the stereo effect.

CONCLUSION
There was a good deal of competition in the
two-speaker set segment as compared to the
surround speaker segment. In the stereo
section, the speaker set that displayed the
best performance was the Typhoon Silver
Crest SC600. This pair, equipped with its
well-toned subwoofer, outshone all its com-
petitors.
However, its price, at Rs 8,900, will leave
you with second thoughts. In fact, at this
price, you can easily buy four Frontech 5D-
103 speaker sets!
In the two-speaker setup the value for
money award goes to the Samsung SMS
Value environment with 8320. Priced at Rs 2,000, it wins over the
Live Surround with Creative Cambridge Jetway Artis surround Creative PC works 2.1 that is priced at
DTT2500 Rs 3,500.
In the surround sound section, the
overall winner was the Creative Cam -
bridge DTT2500. Following closely at its
heels was the Logitech Xtrusio DSR100.
But the DTT2500 had the advantage of
having a separate digital decoder and with
its sheer power and quality of sound deliv-
ered, it carted away the award for the best
surround system around.
The value for money set would defi-
nitely be the Jetway Artis that, along with
power under its hood, also delivers accept-
able quality at a price that will not burn a
hole in your pocket if you are looking out
for a surround sound solution for your
True performance with Typhoon Silver Crest Samsung SMS 8320 provides Best Value home.

130 August 2001

■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

IN TEST: 9 SOUND EDITING SOFTWARE

Imaging: Solomon Lewis

For the love

of Mike
YATISH SUVARNA check out this review, mix your own song and let
Changing the gravel udio-editing software have moved on from your audio system rip!
and leather voice of
a rock icon to sound
like the dulcet tones
A being plain Jane editing tools to programs
that give you acoustic realism. With these
powerful tools you can make Limp Bizkit
sound like Puff Daddy or even record your own
voice and make it sound like that of Placido
This test is targeted at the home user who
expects reasonably good features, which would be
useful for editing audio at that level and still
respecting ease of use and the price. The prime
focus of these software is therefore going to be the
of an opera singer is Domingo. The better ones among the lot cur- feature set supported and also the ease with which
as easy as pie with rently available not only provide you with the these features can be learnt and implemented.
basic tools, but also give you some great plugins,
the right sound which can be downloaded from the Internet Wave Editing software
editing software along with tutorials and sound files. The applications tested here are primarily used
Professionals now have a set of tools, which while working with and editing Wave files, as
grant them unparalleled versatility in audio opposed to MIDI audio. In the world of digital
authoring. And looking at the versatility of the audio, Wave files are one of the most common-
products, novices too can edit their music to ly used audio formats and form the basis of
make it sound close enough to that of the pros. audio media such as audio CD. This format is
This test examines three important aspects—fea- used to store digital audio data using a method
tures, ease of use, performance and price. So called PCM (Pulse Code Modulation). When a

132 August 2001

 TEST PROCESS
The base system used for testing the soft- adjustment and audio enhancements. For face were given extra points. Another
ware was a Celeron 433 with 64 MB RAM testing MIDI software, we checked if the point we noted was the online and inte-
with an Intel i740 display card and Aureal software allowed real-time effects and grated help.
Vortex 2 soundcard. The settings in the hardware support wherein you could plug Under performance we checked for the
system were kept constant for all the soft- in external MIDI controller devices such as software’s ability to handle large audio
ware. We examined both categories of synthesisers and keyboards. tracks and also work in high-quality modes
audio editing software—Wave editing soft- Ease of use is another aspect that we that would enable the overall output of
ware and MIDI sequencers. Products in checked. Software that allows easy cutting the track to be of controllable and high
both categories were tested for features, and pasting of parts of files across chan- quality. Finally, we weighed the features
ease of use, performance and value. nels makes editing a lot easier. If it lets and the performance of the various soft-
While testing the products we looked you add effects and change parameters ware against their price. Software that
for features such as multiple soundcard such as the track’s pitch, tempo, patch (or were more feature packed and easier to
support, ability to rip CDs and integrated instrument) values, it contributes to ease learn and use were awarded more points
CD burning clients, real-time tempo of use. Software that offer a concise inter- in this category.

song is to be encoded in Wave file format, it is

broken down into small chunks of data that are
‘sampled’ and processed, wherein a number of
bits are used to store the value of the audio wave
at that point in time.
Hence, the waveform is sampled many times
a second and encoded. CD quality Wave files
are, for example, stored using 16-bit samples
that are taken 44,100 times per second (or 44.1
KHz). Lower the sampling rate and bit depth,
lower is the quality of the audio and smaller is
the file. This form of audio encoding does not Cooledit 2000: Quite feature-rich More Info on
undergo any form of compression, resulting in
the test process and the
huge file sizes. its parameters the way you want. For instance,
products tested,
you can add effects such as reverb, flange, echo,
Features etc. This can help you incorporate real-life sound Software related to sound
The presence of features such as multiple sound- effects and simulate acoustics such as that of a editing, check out
card support, ability to rip CDs and CD burning, church or in a tunnel. Furthermore, you can Mindware
real time tempo adjustment and audio enhance- amplify sound, add or remove noise or stretch
ments such as equalizer are what set a good sound it. You can also change the format of the song file
editing application apart from the run of the mill. to a plethora of output audio formats—Real-
It’s a good feature if the software supports Media, AIF, MP3, etc. Contents
many file formats, which means you can import Wavelab too offers interesting features such TEST PROCESS . . . . . . . . . .133
sound files in different formats and also export as 3D Frequency Analysis and Audio Signal Gen- SOUND EDITING TOOLS . .133
the file in the format you prefer. erator. This audio editor includes very interest- Wave
As far as features are concerned, Sound Forge ing plugins and features support for Cooledit 2000
5 emerges at the top with its extensive set of fea- DVD-quality encoding. You can apply effects Goldwave
tures and integrated options for CD ripping and such as Stereo Echo and even preview it while Sound Forge 5
burning. Also interesting is its high encoding qual- the file is playing. You can apply hi-fi chorus to Waveflow
ity support and the presets for working with your a file or boost the bass with the equaliser. It also Wavelab
audio. It has features such as Acoustic Mirroring has some good editing tools such as pitch cor- Midi
and Wave Hammer. rection, harmonisation, stretch and pitch shift. Cakewalk 9
The Acoustic Mirror option allows you to sim- Cubase VST5
ulate different real-life acoustic environments such Ease of use Evolution Audio
as water pipe, concert hall, and others. You get to One should feel comfortable while using any Midi Maestro
play around with more than 30 audio effects and software. The same goes for audio editing soft- GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . 136
around 200 presets. Encoding audio in RealMedia ware, be it Wave or MIDI. The interface should SCORE BOARD . . . . . . 138
format for broadcast over the Internet is possible be easy to work with and executing tasks should CONCLUSION . . . . . . . 138
here. In fact, you get support for audio encoding be simple. A software that allows easy cutting and BOXES
up to 92 KHz. pasting of parts of files across channels makes Reason to Create . . . . . . . .137
Cool Edit 2000 offers you something quite editing a lot easier and work can be completed Making Music on
close to what professionals use. It allows you to faster. If the software lets you add effects and lit- your PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
record your own music and change and modify erally ‘twist’ a file in no time, it contributes to ➜

133
■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

Glossary The interface of Sound Forge looks ware should support the Undo feature up
clean and concise and can be easily cus- to maximum levels possible, and do it fast.
Reverb: This allows you to recreate the tomised to suit your needs so that you can Cool Edit 2000 and Sound Forge 5 come
space that is sometimes lost with close- work faster. The time taken for applying an with unlimited Undo levels. Cool Edit was
mike recording techniques. It may also effect is displayed at the bottom of the also quick at opening and saving files. How-
be used to create effects by placing screen. If you accidentally switch off the ever, it took more than a minute to resam-
sounds in spaces where they would nor- machine or experience a power failure, ple a Wave file. Opening a file in Sound
mally never be heard. Reverb consists of Sound Forge can restore the file to the pre- Forge took an unusually long time—35 sec-
early reflections, which are the first vious state without losing any change. onds. Waveflow took 11 seconds to open a
reflections that arrive back to your ear Installing WaveFlow was quick and easy file. But it was the fastest in the resampling
and the echoes themselves. and the graphical interface makes editing test, where it managed to complete it in just
Flange: Also popularly known as Wah- quite simple. So, even if you are using the 12 seconds on the 51 MB file.
Wah, this is used to create the sweeping software for the first time, understanding
effect often heard in guitar recordings and working with it will be no difficult Value
from the 1960s and in the techno task. Besides, you have the option of open- Most of these software are Internet based;
sounds of today. Using this effect, you ing multiple windows, and this allows you you have to purchase the software (or
can recreate the sounds that flange, i.e. to get your work done faster. download a demo version) from the com-
move in a sweeping manner. Goldwave is where you can have user- pany’s Web site. If you are looking for soft-
Multi-tap delay: This allows you to cre- defined filters and you can even save it for ware that offers you average features,
ate complex delay patterns through the future use. Editing using Goldwave is sim- nothing really fancy, at a low price then
use of several discrete delays. Each delay ple enough even if you are working on Goldwave and Waveflow are good choices.
tap has its own delay time, amplitude, audio editing for the first time. The MDI If you want loads of features and have
and stereo panning controls. (multiple document interface) allows you high-end audio editing on your mind then
Resample: Resampling data changes the to open a number of files at the same time. Sound Forge 5 and Cool Edit 2000 are
number of recorded samples per sec- However, there’s no multiple Undo feature, options that can be considered by the
ond. When changing to a higher sample which is a major limitation. beginner and the seasoned user as well.
rate, extra samples are interpolated and Although the more feature-packed These also offer you good support, amaz-
the file size increases. When changing to software such as Cool Edit 2000 and Sound ing plugins that allow you to add special
a lower sample rate, some samples are Forge 5 make editing a cakewalk, Gold- effects to your audio file (such as expand-
removed and the file size decreases. wave with its multiple-window support, is ing the stereo field or bending the pitch on
Acoustic mirror: You can use Acoustic an option that can be considered. a song) and make for effortless audio edit-
Mirror to add the acoustical coloration of ing. But the winner is definitely Sound
real environments and sound-altering Performance Forge 5 given its advanced editing capa-
devices to existing recordings. In effect, Though audio editing software depend bilities and features that make your audio
you can simulate responses varying from heavily on RAM and the CPU more than editing task a pleasure.
the acoustics of large concert halls to the anything else, it helps if the software per-
sound of vintage microphones. forms tasks such as encoding audio and MIDI software
Distortion: This allows you to precisely adding effects faster with lesser amount of The second categorisation of products in
tailor gain at all input levels of a signal. RAM. To test the performance of the soft- this comparison consisted of a variety of
You can use the Distortion plugin to cre- ware, we re-sampled a 51 MB wave file and audio editing software whose core compe-
ate dramatic to subtle distortion, simple the time taken was noted down. Normally tency is in handling and sequencing MIDI
compression, expansion, and noise gates. when an effect is applied to a file, it takes a software. MIDI is an acronym for Musical
lot of time for the effect to be applied if the Instrument Digital Interface. This is a for-
size of the file is large (say 50 MB). Now if mat that stores information on the basis of
ease of use. Some wave editing software a user wants to remove the previous effect the tones and sounds of various musical
offer you a very visual interface. They pro- and add a different one, it gets really and percussion instruments. These are
vide tools such as 2D and 3D analysis, painful if the software does not have an actually sampled sounds. What MIDI does
colour-coded windows, etc, which add a Undo feature or if it undoes only up to a is send information regarding the pitch,
lot to the term ‘ease of use’. couple of levels. A good audio editing soft- duration and other such parameters of a
Considering ease of use, most of the note to an instrument that can play these
software we tested offer a simple interface instructions. As MIDI tracks are sequences
and enhancements that make working of note instructions, the size of a MIDI file
with the software easier. Editing with Cool is small. Using this format, musical instru-
Edit 2000 is a breeze. You can easily cut and ments can also interact with each other.
paste parts of your song and add a partic- Software called sequencers allow you to
ular effect. Cool Edit lets you cue your record sounds from musical instruments
songs so that only specified parts are such as synthesisers and keyboards and
played. This is especially useful if you are edit it on a computer.
going to be adding a vocal track to your
song and need only certain parts to be Features
played at given times. Wavelab 3: Offers good editing tools Nowadays, MIDI software for home users

136 August 2001

 Reason to Create
Reason from Propellorhead Software can itive as it can get and the wildest feature There are lots of modules such as Digi-
without any doubt be termed as fully about the software probably is that you tal Sampler, Dr Rex Loop Player, Redrum
loaded. This software basically is a soft- can literally turn the software around. You Drum Computer, Digital Reverb, and Digi-
ware emulation of an electronic music can actually see the front and the back of tal Delay Line. All of these offer great
project studio. The software has a mind- the software by just pressing the tab but- effects and help you make great music.
blowing interface and you will be amazed ton, and play around with the wires by But the interesting one of the lot is the
with its features. The interface is as intu- actually plugging it out or into any port. Matrix Pattern Sequencer. Through this you
can easily program group note triggers,
which are repeated. Apart from this there
are eight effects processors.
Another neat feature in this software is
that you can rename the modules to any-
thing you want. Reason includes a built-in,
and extremely intuitive graphical MIDI
sequencer, which is capable of recording
and editing any real time knob or fader
changes you make as your song plays, and
these changes can be recorded in real
time as your sequence plays. The demo
can be downloaded from the official site,
Front view of Reason Back view of Reason www.propellorheads.se.

Evolution has a Score Edit screen that simplifies matters quite a bit as the Piano
allows you to view your MIDI information Roll easily allows you to create a song by
in standard musical notation and this can simply dragging and dropping notes onto
be edited and printed. Apart from this, the view. Even when you open up a song,
there is a drum editor and a piano editor the different sounds are colour-coded, mak-
included. This software acts as your MIDI ing it easier to edit. There are other views
sequencer, thereby allowing you to control that Cakewalk allows, such as the Staff View
any MIDI musical device that’s being con- (for people who can read and work with
nected to the PC, be it a soundcard or any Sheet music). This makes it possible for a
external musical instrument. The included wide range of users to use this software—
SMPTE/MTC support allows for synchro- from the novice to the professional.
Drag and drop files with Cubase VST 5 nising this software with other external Cubase too allows you to drag and drop
devices and sees to it that they are all run- files in the interface and this makes editing
are packed with features normally found ning on the same clock and in time. The MIDI sequences very easy. You can also
only in high-end packages. Take Cakewalk software even allows you to run a video for simultaneously work with 128 channels of
Pro Audio 9 for instance. It supports audio a Windows file and synchronise it with audio. But if you are using Cubase for the
up to 255 tracks and there are two new your music—ideal for creating sound- first time, you might find it a tad difficult
plugins included in this version, namely tracks for video films. to configure the VST plugins and other
Style Enhancer and Sessions Drummer. MIDI Maestro 1.9 is yet another appli- audio effects. Editing in MIDI Maestro is
These are two tidy features that allow the cation that provides you with good fea- simple because of the easy-to-use drag and
rhythm section (percussions) in the track tures such as monophonic MIDI to audio drop object style interface. Using this, you
to sound more natural and not canned. In transcription tool. It has support for can easily change common track proper-
Cakewalk Pro, styles such as shuffling tem- DirectShow-compatible MIDI filters and ties such as volume, balance, key, velocity
pos can automatically be incorporated other visual enhancements, such as the offset and timing offsets of individual
into the track. Another feature is AudioX Staff View tool, using which you can draw notes or groups of notes.
that allows soundcard manufacturers to musical notations and take printouts of it
write software so as to make their cards’ for future reference. Performance
features available within the sequencer. Cakewalk Pro carries enhancements such
Cubase VST 5 is another high-end Ease of use as the Wavepipe technology that reduces
audio and MIDI editor for professionals Apart from the new features, the new ver- the latency or response time of the pro-
wanting to do some quality work. Besides sion of Cakewalk Pro has a better-looking gram. Compared to the previous version
the usual tools, you have the graphic interface and effects that can be applied in of this software, the time taken for a con-
equaliser. It supports 32-bit recording, and real-time as you are playing the file. It’s pos- trol to respond to a parameter change
frequencies up to 96 KHz, which is equiv- sible to edit several MIDI files simultane- when mixing a large arrangement can be
alent to DAT quality. ously in the Piano Roll Editor, and that reduced to around one-tenth of a second

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■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

The Music that they Play

Product Features Plugins File Formats Supported Web site File size Price Rating
(MB) ($)
WAVE
CoolEdit 2000 CD recording, File conversion, Tweaking Toys, Phat mp3, wav, aif, vox, au, www.syntrillium.com 8.4 69 B+
Touchup function, Audio effects voc, txt, svx
Goldwave Independent device control win- Pack, Pro Equalizer, wav, aif, mp3, ogg, voc, www.goldwave.com 0.8 40 B
dow, Expression evaluator Studio Plugin, Audio snd, aif, afc, iff, mat, vox,
Cleanup plugin, Direct plugin dwd, smp, sds, txt
Sound Forge 5 Updated user interface, Repair None wma, wmv, asf, wav, vox, www.sonicfoundry.com 20 399 A-
tools, CD burning and ripping snd, rm, raw, pca, ogg,
Waveflow MDI (multiple document inter- Acoustic Mirror, mp3, mov, ivc, dig, avi, au, www.waveflow.com 1.1 25 B
face), Filters, Wavelet denoising Wavehammer, xfx1, xfx2, xfx3 aif
Wavelab Frequency analysis, Crossfade None raw, txt, prn, wav, csv NA 5.8 394 B-
looper, Support for 24-bit audio
files
MIDI
Cakewalk 9 Multiple track editing in piano roll, vst, DirectX wav, aif, au, paf www.cakewalk.com 12.8 349 B+
sessions drummer, export to MP3
and real audio
Cubase VST5 13 new effects, 32-bit and true- vst, DirectX wrk, bun, wav www.steinberg.net 11.6 399 B
tape recording, Supports 96 KHz
recording
Evolution Audio Onscreen keyboard, 256 track None wav, trk, mid www.evolution.co.uk 0.8 99 B
support
Midi Maestro Monophonic MIDI to audio tran- None wav www.midimaestro.com 8.6 99 B
scription tool, support for direct-
show compatible MIDI filters

with the help of Wavepipe technology, thus editing tools that are incorporated into it. burning, which was
allowing you to apply effects to tracks in But if you want high-end features and offered by Sound
real time and while the song is playing. price is no constraint, then you should not Forge 5.
Cakewalk also provides you with sup- settle for anything less than Cakewalk Pro
port to connect external devices such as 9 or Cubase VST 5.
synthesisers to mix your own recordings.
If you are looking for software that is CONCLUSION
reasonably good, that is low-priced and yet Most of the software that we tested offered
has enough features, then you should opt good features and new enhancements. But
for Evolution. In terms of features, Cake- the most impressive among the Wave edit-
walk Pro 9 is a good choice because of the ing software was Sound Forge 5, the win-
plugins and advanced audio effects and ner in this comparison. The software
included some great plugins and features
that were really useful. The interface too
Making Music on your PC was easy to work with and due to this, edit-
ing was a breeze. Cooledit 2000 was very
Cakewalk Pro: The right choice for Midi

Your MIDI software can be used to close with loads of In the MIDI comparison there were
make your own music. The setup is enhancements but it software such as Cubase VST5 that offered
quite simple. You should have a sound- missed some useful great features and almost everything that a
card with a MIDI input, a MIDI cable, a features such as CD user would need for MIDI editing. But
mike (if you want to record your own Cakewalk Pro9 is very good choice and
voice), and a MIDI editing software proved to be a true winner because of the
such as Cakewalk. If you want to record great features and the ease of use—even
musical notes from a synthesizer, all novice users will find editing with this a
you have to do is connect one end of delight.
the y cable to the output port of the Ease of use was one area where Cubase
synthesizer and the other end to the was found to be tricky because even
MIDI input port in the soundcard. If you though people already working with MIDI
want to record voice, then the mike softwares will find it amazing due to its
should be plugged into the soundcard. features, novice users will have to spend
Sound Forge: Your wave file companion time to get used to the software.

138 August 2001

■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

IN TEST: 7 LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS

Photograph: Jiten Gandhi, Imaging: Mahesh Benkar

Your flavour of LINUX
Considering using ROSSI FERNANDES installation methods adopted by distributions
o you get the creeps each time you hear the such as RedHat.

D
Linux, but can’t
decide which
distribution is your
name Linux? The installation is tough, it’s
difficult to use—that’s the Linux lore you
must have heard. But take heart, the bad
days have gone and Linux is gradually moving
into the home user market.
Distributions are packages that use the open
source Linux kernel and give you a lot of soft-
ware bundled along with the main Linux oper-
ating system itself. This also means installation
methods, customisation and hardware support
best bet? Let our Test There are firms such as Dell that are actually that may have been added by the company that
Centre help you selling PCs with Linux preinstalled on them. has made the distribution.
Linux was a little difficult to use some years back Latest updates are important factors as they
make the decision due to the absence of a graphical interface instal- contain better hardware support, with bugs
lation and a not-so-easy partitioning process fixed. More significantly, Linux is open source.
where you could go wrong and delete some Win- But why should you go for a distribution from
dows partition and lose data. But the picture is the market when you can simply download a
different with the introduction of graphical whole CD or two from the Net with most of the

139
■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

TEST PROCESS
In all, we looked at seven major, widely available, 3. Applications: We specifically checked for
Linux distributions, that are also quiet popular the presence of office suites, imaging tools and
amongst users the world over. All the distribu- viewers, movie players and other Internet
tions were installed on an Intel Celeron 433 with accessing tools. Games and entertainment
128 MB PC 100 SDRAM. The monitor was a packages were also looked at, as also printing
Samsung 55V which can give a resolution of tools.
1024x768, but only at 60 Hz. The hard drive was 4. Integration: An important consideration
a Seagate 20 GB. A Creative 48x CD drive was was the integration of all the applications with
used for installing the Linux distributions. An S3 the distribution’s GUI.
Trio graphics card powered the display. The net- 5. Miscellaneous features: There were
work card was a 10/100 Mbps D-Link 538 TX. other standalone features that were present
The specific parameters that we looked at were only with some distributions, for instance, sys-
1. Installation features and ease of instal- tem administration tools that allow you to cre-
lation: This is an aspect that usually puts off a ate users and groups or File Managers.
person from using Linux. We checked for an in- We also looked at how the distribution
built disk partitioning tool and also features helped in installing new software, the docu-
such as auto partitioning. Options to upgrade mentation provided with the distribution, the
the installation and various modes of installa- version of the kernel as also the desktop envi-
tion were also noted. We also checked for a ronment that was provided. The latest version
boot manager and the various options offered. of the Linux kernel that you can get for down-
2. Hardware Troubleshooting: We checked load right now is 2.4.6.
the hardware detection capabilities as well as Finally, the various checks come down to
options to configure the hardware to its opti- four main points: Ease of Use, Integrity, Features
mum settings. and Value.

packages? True, the complete Linux distribution tions that are bundled along with the main dis-
that you download from the Net is the real thing, tribution in different CDs; navigating and find
but it comes minus the documentation, extra out these installations can be quite tiresome.
commercial packages and support, not to men- SuSE was really helpful on this count, in that it
tion the fact that it would take forever to down- included most such packages in the main setup
load them over a dial-up connection. These are itself, so you don’t need to go hunting for that
More Info on goodies you do not usually get with distributions small program on the third CD of that particu-
downloaded from the Net. lar distribution.
the test process and the
Upgrading SuSE is very easy as online
products tested, check out
Easy as pie upgrading tools are available that automatically
Mindware The biggest hurdle for most desktop users in find out the latest versions of the packages
using Linux has been the installation. Most users installed on your machine and
Contents get confused by terms such as fdisk, partitions, provide you with an option to
swap, etc, which are very basic and essential tools upgrade them with a simple
TEST PROCESS . . . . . .140 for installing a Linux distribution. Hence, it click.
LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS140 adds to the value of a Linux distribu- Editing partitions can be
Best Linux 2000 tion if it has a simple installation confusing if you are a com-
Corel Linux Second edition process—especially for people plete newbie to tools like
Mandrake Linux 8.0 who don’t understand these com- fdisk. In both RedHat and
RedHat Linux 7.1 plex terms—and still provides the SuSE, the installation proce-
Storm Linux 2000 option of going to the advanced dure and style is more or less
SuSE Linux 7.2 Professional mode and tweak it for better per- the same as their earlier ver-
Turbo Linux 6.1 formance. sions wherein you can edit
BOXES SuSE Linux was one of the most the partitions using a sim-
Types of Linux user-friendly Linux distributions we ple GUI with elaborate
Distributions . . . . . . . . 141 tested when it came to installation. instructions on the left-
Windows Emulation . . 144 The interface is designed such that you hand side of the screen.
Substitutes for Windows can access context-sensitive help from There’s another option that lets
Apps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 the menu on the left with ease. the distribution take over the par-
SCORE BOARD . . . . . . 145 Most Linux distributions tition-creating process, and cre-
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . 145 come with a whole lot of Corel Linux: User friendly, but ates the optimal partitions all by
third-party tools and applica- has an outdated KDE and kernel itself. But this is recommended

140 August 2001

only to those people who want nothing but Hardware troubleshooting of the S3 Trio card with various monitors,
Linux on that particular hard drive. Detection of hardware has been an issue but in vain. We finally had to settle for a
In RedHat, the various modes of instal- with Linux in the past, and is another fac- virtual desktop running at 16 colours and
lation aren’t too well categorised. It allows tor that has hampered its wider adoption. continued with the remaining tests with
you to install a workstation style, server After doing all the tests in hardware these settings for Storm Linux.
style or development style, which leaves no detection, we found that all the distribu-
space for any normal or home user distri- tions with the latest kernels and applica- All those apps
bution. However, you may have to do a tions were able to detect all the hardware. Shortage of applications is
custom install and choose the packages All the distributions tested, except one problem that most
you need most. Like SuSE, RedHat also for one or two, could not people expect with
allows you to choose to boot into X when detect one component Linux. The truth is that
you boot up into Linux. here and there. All dis- Linux has a wide range
Mandrake is another distribution like tributions except of open source applica-
RedHat. As in RedHat, the partition had to Storm Linux could tions available over the
be created manually. Mandrake has two auto detect the hard- Internet and there are
main modes of installation: Recommend- ware. The S3 Trio would sites such as www.fresh-
ed and Expert. run perfectly at meat.net that regularly
We also came across some really bad 1024x768 along with the give you a preview of
installation interfaces and styles, which we monitor. The D-Link 100 what’s in store.
would not recommend for home users. MBps network card also GIMP, Electric Eye
Storm Linux has a custom-based installa- worked perfectly on the and KDE Media Player
tion mode in which categories and pack- network. Majority of the are common applications
ages have to be chosen manually. This is distributions could detect installed by default with
good for the advanced Linux user. the network card and the most of the distributions
Turbo Linux had a completely ncurses- other components during the RedHat: good hardware that have KDE or Gnome
based installation style with no X running installation procedure itself. detection capabilities installed on them (all the
during the installation. ncurses is a text- Usually the card and monitor can run distributions we tested had either KDE or
mode colour display system like DOS’s perfectly at 1024x768 on any operating sys- Gnome installed). A simple set of card
Ansi colour graphics. This allows you to tem, but in Linux Mandrake we had a bit games is also installed by default. Netscape
install the distribution using only the key- of trouble running our graphics card at Navigator and Konquer are the browsers
board. 1024x768 at 32-bit colour. At this resolu- that you will usually find. However, there
The boot manager is one of the main tion, we witnessed a bit of distortion on are other manuals and support, which may
features of a Linux distribution as this is the desktop while running X and we had to be included with the whole package.
the tool that allows you to switch or dual- reduce the resolution to 800x600 to make The distributions that we tested came
boot between Linux and other operating the display run perfectly. The trouble was with a big collection of CDs. RedHat and
systems. We therefore checked for a boot not just with Mandrake. We found that SuSE provided us with the maximum num-
manager and the various options offered. Storm Linux was worse than Mandrake ber of CDs. SuSE comes parcelled with
All of the distributions installed their boot because it failed to detect any of our hard- seven CDs, which includes the installation
managers well. SuSE, RedHat and Man- ware, including the monitor and the net- CDs and extra packages. RedHat gives you
drake have good colourful interfaces for work card. We tried the different variants 11 CDs with a huge variety of applications.
the boot loaders. Corel Linux Second Edi-
tion is also very user friendly when it
comes to installation, but we had some Types of Linux Distributions
trouble installing the boot loader. Turbo
Linux has a completely plain text-based Linux is not just a desktop-based operat- another Windows application, such as
LILO prompt. Overall, installation ease ing system. In fact, Unix and its variants WinLinux and Linux for Windows 9x,
hasn’t changed much from ear- have been better known as servers. The which will run off a FAT partition that
lier versions though the same is the case with Linux. Today, there stores another virtual UMSDOS file sys-
interface has are Linux distributions that can fit into a tem, thus eliminating the need to create a
changed in single floppy, and yet include various serv- separate Linux partition or a boot loader.
most of the ices such as a Web server, a firewall, a E-smith server and gateway is a distri-
top distri- software router, etc. All it takes is down- bution that is meant for servers and it
butions. loading an image from the Internet and runs mail servers, POP3 and telnet on it.
SuSE and writing it on a floppy. After that you can Calcaria Linux is a small distribution that
Mandrake simply run a whole server off that floppy. allows you to run Linux on Psion-based
are currently Linux currently supports various sys- Palmtops. There are even distributions
distributions tems ranging from PPC (PowerPC), Intel that act as firewalls. Language-specific
that can be to SPARC and even mobile processors or distributions aren’t rare anymore and
installed easily Mandrake: embedded chipsets. You even have Linux you do have distributions for foreign
or without Trying to forge an distributions that can be installed just like languages.
much trouble. identity of its own ➜

143
■ select~ t e s t d r i v e

and group-management tool. The installa-

Windows Emulation tion file format is based on DPKG (Debian’s
package format)
Well, most users would not want to stick unlike Wine, these software aren’t free. Linux Mandrake has its own user
to Linux as their main operating system. VMWare is one such software that allows management tool, Userdrake. Mandrake
There are several alternatives that have you to boot another operating system comes packed with a whole lot of applica-
been taken into consideration in Linux from a standalone operating system. tions for the Internet. There are messengers
itself. There are emulators such as Wine Wine might give emulation for most and browsers, which people working on the
(Windows emulator), which allows you programs, but VMWare gives you quality Net will find useful. The rest of the distri-
to run Windows-based applications on working conditions. However, its system butions use most of the tools that come
the Linux platform itself. All you have to requirements are quite high. along with KDE or Gnome for configuring
do is mount your Windows partition and Some work has also been happening the system.
specify the path of your Windows system the other way round, running Linux Linuxconf, a configuration tool for
directory. After that you can simply start through Windows. One example is Win hardware and other components such as
up most Windows-based applications on Linux, which is a Linux distribution run- daemons (programs required to start dur-
the system. Colours and settings are ning through Windows. Even the installa- ing boot up as they are the main base for
picked up by Wine itself and you have tion for Win Linux is through Windows. other applications to run) and boot load-
almost the same look generated by the There are emulators for other operat- ers, is also widely used in most of the dis-
emulator. ing systems as well, such as DOSEmu, tributions. In RedHat, however, we had
Apart from emulation, other alterna- which emulates DOS. WinLinux is a distri- trouble starting up Linuxconf.
tives are also available. These require bution that installs on the Windows parti- The default file installation format is
more CPU power and RAM. Besides, tion and can be run through itself. usually .RPM and .DEB, which are default
formats in RedHat and Debian. GnoRPM
is usually found in distributions for the
Both these distributions also give a DVD— would be required by a home user, thus installation of RPM files.
a big help for those who have a DVD drive eliminating the need for the other extra
as it saves you the trouble of inserting CD CDs. Vote for value
after CD during the installation. Mandrake didn’t come with any extra The distributions today can all be down-
Some of the main applications that CDs or manuals. We only received two main loaded from the Net. However, there’s
come bundled with SuSE are the Star Office installation CDs, and that too in the form of more than simply the installation itself in
5.2 suite, CryptoFS and Amavis, which is a a ‘burnt CD’ distribution, custom made as the whole distribution. A majority of the
virus-proof e-mail system. The normal if burning on to a CD-R. Mandrake installs distributions come with extra manuals and
installation puts Star Office into your hard KOffice for the office users. CDs that sometimes have commercial
drive. However, you need to manually ini- software.
tialise the installation of the office suite after And some features RedHat came with the maximum num-
the installation. Standalone features are small features that ber of CDs. It comes with a lot of demos
RedHat isn’t too far behind either. Sim- are very useful while using Linux, but which and also a lot of commercial packages. It has
ilar packages are given in the CDs. The don’t quite fit into a particular category. Star Office 5.2, a complete Power tools CD
normal install size comes to around 1.3 GB These may be small tools and packages cre- with a huge number of applications. Adobe
in the case of RedHat. The install size for ated by a distribution for configuration of Acrobat and messaging tools for the Inter-
SuSE, RedHat and Mandrake usually hardware or for other reasons. net are also available. The price for these
comes to around 1 GB, which includes a One interesting tool that Storm Linux packages is, however, quite a lot and there-
sufficient number of applications that comes along with is SAS, which is a user- fore it is suitable only for professionals.

www. think .com

144 August 2001

 The Linux Choice
Distribution Name Best Linux 2000 Corel Linux 2nd Ed Mandrake Linux 8.0 Red Hat Linux 7.1 Storm Linux SuSE Linux 7.2 Turbo Linux 6.1
Features
GUI Installation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Kernel 2.2.16 2.2.6 2.4.3 2.4 2.2.13 2.4.4 2.2.16
XFree86 3.3.6, 4.0.1 3.3.5 4.0.3 4.0.3 3.3.6 4 3.3.6
Display card Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
detection
Monitor detection Yes Yes 1024x768 problems Yes No Yes Yes
Contact G.T. Enterprises G.T. Enterprises G.T. Enterprises G.T. Enterprises G.T. Enterprises G.T. Enterprises G.T. Enterprises
Price Rs 700 Rs 1,800 Rs 400 Rs 7,600 Rs 1,800 Rs 3,000 Rs 1,995
Phone 080-6606093 080-6606093 080-6606093 080-6606093 080-6606093 080-6606093 080-6606093
Fax 080-6671407 080-6671407 080-6671407 080-6671407 080-6671407 080-6671407 080-6671407
E-mail gtcdrom@vsnl.com gtcdrom@vsnl.com gtcdrom@vsnl.com gtcdrom@vsnl.com gtcdrom@vsnl.com gtcdrom@vsnl.com gtcdrom@vsnl.com
Web site www.bestlinux.net www.corellinux.com www.linux-man- www.redhat.com www.stormlinux.com www.suse.com www.turbolinux.com
drake.com
Grade B B+ B+ B+ B- A- B

SuSE Linux 7.2 costs Rs 3,000, which is has everything you would need. There is You need to either download freeware
pretty good considering the customisation also IP video telephony and installers for applications from the Internet, or buy
and work put into compiling such an SuSE Linux over a network. There are commercial applications off the shelf to
operating system. There are seven CDs and demos of games and some other applica- compensate for what’s not there, and is
a DVD for those who have a DVD drive. tions too. needed. Besides, the package includes
SuSE Linux also has a huge application Corel Linux, which is a good distribu- more than just the installation itself. SuSE
database that includes music and sound tion for home users, comes packed with Linux gives you the operating system itself
creating tools. It also includes anti-virus three CDs, which include the installation and a whole lot of programs such as office
and backup software, as also VMWare for CD, source CD and a Loki games CD. suites, and media editing and
users who need to run Windows and Linux There is also a detailed manual. The pack- viewing tools.
at the same time. age costs Rs 1,800, which seems a bit cost- RedHat is also compa-
Star Office 5.2 and KOffice are includ- ly given what’s included in the package. A rable on this count as it
ed with the whole distribution and there better choice would be to pay a little more comes with 11 CDs. Com-
are Internet tools such as messengers, fire- and get a package such as SuSE Linux 7.2, pared to SuSE, RedHat does
wall’s proxies, etc. It also includes the which gives you a lot more. not require too much cus-
Crypto File system for security users. Buy- tomisation, but it does
ing SuSE Linux is certainly a good deal. It CONCLUSION include a lot of software
We received all kinds of and packages in the
distributions aimed at default install.
Substitutes for Your the desktop user. All of Mandrake Linux is
these distributions are more compact than the
Favourite Windows Apps improvements over the other distributions. The
earlier versions in terms applications included
Microsoft Office : StarOffice of interface and features. are largely the basic
Winamp : X11Amp, Xmms When it comes to hard- default applications
ICQ : LICQ ware detection, features, installed with KDE and
mIRC : Xchat the bundled applications Gnome. Other versions
Internet Explorer : Netscape Navi- and the ease of use, SuSE of Mandrake with
gator, Mozilla Linux 7.2 comes out as a manuals, etc, are available,
Microsoft Outlook : Netscape Mes- clear winner. And at Rs but these cost a bit more.
senger 3,000, the price tag isn’t too Corel is good for home
Microsoft Frontpage : Netscape high either. SuSE: offers a large number users who have never used
Composer When you install a of usable packages Linux but are keen to try a
Realplayer for : Realplayer for desktop Linux distribution, distribution that has a
Windows Linux you’re basically looking to replace Win- straightforward installation process. Fea-
Network : Lin dows, or run both in conjunction. Howev- tures and software that are installed with
Neighborhood Neighborhood er unlike Linux, Microsoft products cost the distribution are, however, very basic.
Yahoo Messenger : Yahoo Messen- much more and come with no extra appli- The components of the distribution are
for Windows ger for Linux cations such as office suites, image editing very old and outdated as compared to the
tools, online tools, small services, etc. other top distributions.

145
■ select~ insight

Imaging: Neeta Wadiker

FORCE
to reckon with!
ROSSI FERNANDES have a GeForce 2 class graphics card and Dolby
PC motherboards are hen you have a major system upgrade on 5.1 surround sound on board. This implies that
never going to be the
same again… and
the nForce is here to
W the cards for your old PC, the components
that you would want to replace are proba-
bly your processor or video card/sound-
card. A processor upgrade usually means that you
would have to consider replacing your mother-
you will no longer have to resort to an expensive
add-on graphics card or soundcard for decent
multimedia performance. The nForce has also
integrated an Ethernet card and modem into the
motherboard in an attempt to provide high per-
ensure that board. AMD enthusiasts can now look forward formance at a relatively lower cost than has ever
to nForce chipset based motherboards with mind been available before.
blowing features such as integrated high-end
video, surround sound and much more. The nForce itself
nVidia, market leader for 3D graphics cards, IGP: The North Bridge is one of the most impor-
has just introduced its first chipset, which will be tant chips on the motherboard—it is a vital link
used in motherboards for AMD’s desktop proces- between the memory subsystem, the CPU itself
sors. These motherboards, which will probably and the graphical subsystem. The North Bridge
be available by the third quarter of the year, will on the nVidia motherboards is also called the

146 August 2001

IGP or Integrated chipset comes with 5.1 surround sound, thus
Graphics Proces- converting your computer into a personal home Versions of the
sor. The IGP will theatre system—provided, of course, that you get
have an inbuilt yourself a good set of surround speakers. The
nForce
graphics accelera- APU is totally DirectX 8 compliant and gives you There will be quite a few
tor, the likes of a 64 3D streams or 256 stereo streams. variants of the nForce
GeForce 2 MX, to chipset available, with all
power your graph- The technologies involved kinds of add-on and
ics applications Dynamic Adaptive Speculative Pre-Processor reducible components as
and 3D games, and (DASP): This is a smart piece of technology per individual needs. The
aspires to be the whose basic task is to ascertain future patterns IGP could have a 64-bit
most powerful integrated graphics chipset ever that may be encountered by the processor. This memory interface or a 128-
put on a system, with a filter rate of 350 mega takes the load off your main CPU which other- bit memory interface. As for
pixels per second. The Geforce 2 MX also wise handles this task. The technology allows you the MCP, the Audio proces-
includes standards and features such as Trans- to make use of the bandwidth, which may be sor can be Dolby Digital 5.1,
form and Lighting (TnL), which constitutes live static at any particular moment, to ascertain or without the Dolby Digital
rendering of paths of light in games, 3D appli- future information and cache the same for later sound for those who don’t
cations, etc. use, thereby giving optimal performance. Simi- need it. The prices for these
While there won’t be any integrated RAM for lar technology has been implemented in the Intel additions and reductions
the graphics card, it will make use of your system Pentium 4 processor for improved performance. will also change accordingly.
memory for applications. And if you’re in search However, among motherboards, this technolo- You can also decide on an
of the best 3D accelerator card around, you can gy is available only on the nForce. integrated graphics proces-
always plug-in an external 3D accelerator card TwinBank Memory Architecture: This is a new sor or the plain mother-
into the AGP slot on the motherboard, unlike technology used in the nForce’s IGP for providing board itself with the rest of
boards such as the i810. The integrated Geforce very high bandwidth. There are two types of the features. So if you have
2 MX gives you TwinBank Memory Architectures: the 128-bit and a higher graphics card than
the advantage of 64-bit 133 MHz DDR interface. Intel’s Pentium 4 the GeForce 2 MX, such as a
6x AGP band- uses a similar method using a dual RDRAM GeForce 2 GTS or a GeForce
width access to (Rambus Dynamic RAM) channel while the 3, you could decide on an
the motherboard. nForce uses DDR RAM. Though cheaper than the nForce-based motherboard
Another tech- RDRAM, it is priced quite high even now. without the graphics proces-
nology integrated AMD Hypertransport: nVidia has brought into sor, thus cutting costs. Simi-
in the IGP, called action the AMD Hypertransport, earlier known larly, if you have an SB Live
the TwinBank as Lightning Data Transport. In the nForce soundcard and need to
Memory Archi- chipset, the AMD Hypertransport technology upgrade to a higher configu-
tecture, gives high comes into use between the IGP and MCP. The ration, but without the
bandwidth access between the graphics proces- width of the ports used for sending and receiv- Dolby Digital 5.1 sound
sor and memory, equivalent to a DDR (Double ing data from one chipset to another on the from the integrated APU,
Data Rate) memory based 3D accelerator. nForce-based motherboard is anything between then you can choose the
MCP: The South Bridge on the nForce-based 2 to 32 bits, operating at a frequency of 200 MHz. chipset with the integrated
motherboards is also called the Media and This runs at a double rate, thus making the trans- APU.
Communications Processor (MCP), which ear- fer rates similar to a 400 MHz bus, implying
lier used to handle the IDE controllers and var- plenty of bandwidth between the chipset itself.
ious interfaces such as the PCI Slot, etc. The
nForce chipset will come with a dual ATA-100 Getting them going
controller for ATA 100 hard drives. Coupled with So how do all these high-end components, inte-
this is a built-in 10/100 MBps LAN card with an grated into your motherboard, work together to
internal 56 Kbps modem. There are also going
to be six USB ports instead of the normal two to Specification Regular system With nForce-basse
four ports on standard motherboards. Configuration Price Configuration Price
Streamthru is another technology that will CPU Intel 1GHz $170 AMD Athlon 1GHz $90
provide high bandwidth between various inter- Motherboard 815 Motherboard $90 NForce-based mother- $200
faces such as disk drives, LAN, etc, thereby giv- board
ing you smooth audio and video coupled with Graphics GeForce 2 MX $50 Integrated -
network speed enhancements. Sound SbLive Value $40 Integrated -
APU: Generally, you would have to buy a sur- Modem 56kbps modem $10 Integrated -
round soundcard, which would give you 4.1 or
Ethernet 10/100MBPS NIC $10 Integrated -
5.1 surround sound. One of the main additions
RAM 128MB SDRAM $10 128MB DDR RAM $20
to the integrated chipsets is the Audio Processor
Unit or APU. While most integrated chipsets give Total Approx $380 Approx $310
you simple stereo sound, the APU in the nForce

147
■ select~ insight

give you an optimal performance machine? To that their chipset-based motherboards will pro-
start with, the IGP plays the central role of com- cure a better level of performance from existing
History of Integrat- municating with the processor, the MCP and the AMD processors. Most of these technologies
ed Motherboard 128-bit DDR memory. Here on though, the inte- aren’t available all in one place on the existing
grated graphics processor is of no use. The Twin- motherboards.
Chipset Bank Memory Architecture then comes into As far as the consumers are concerned,
action, creating a huge bandwidth gap between instead of having to live with the pathetic per-
The Motherboard industry the 128-bit DDR memory and the main IGP formance that most integrated motherboards
has, uptil now, been domi- itself. DASP works side by side with the main give you, you can now avail of the hard-hitting
nated by chipsets such as processor of your computer, by determining performance of an nForce-based motherboard
Intel, VIA and Ali which pro- future patterns. AMD’s own Hypertransport, at a relatively reasonable price, with variants that
vide integrated audio and placed between the two bridges on the nForce offer you fewer features at a lower price. You will
video on the motherboard chipset, provides a huge bandwidth of 800 MBps also have the flexibility to choose whether or not
itself. These chipsets, how- with the help of the dual 200 MHz DDR bus. to upgrade to top-end graphics card (maybe the
ever, are in no way as pow- Down south in the MCP, the APU delivers 5.1 new GeForce3) and soundcard (the Creative
erful as the nForce chipsets Dolby Digital Sound to the speakers. The MCP SBLive! Platinum?) owing to the availability of
are going to be. The Intel also gives you a dual ATA100 hard disk connec- slots for add-on cards. You also probably won’t
range of integrated chipsets tivity, six USB connectors along with two USB need to worry about buying a modem or LAN
includes the OpenGL-com- hubs for connectivity to external drives, and an card anymore, because the integrated devices
pliant Intel 810, which uses inbuilt 10/100 MBps Ethernet card with an inte- should be sufficient for most Windows users.
the Intel 754 graphics card, grated 56 Kbps Those of you
one of the oldest 3D accel- modem. Streamthru intent on buying a
erator cards with OpenGL technology in the new branded PC,
support. While the chipset’s MCP ensures such as a Compaq
performance seemed pretty streaming audio and or HP, might want
good for the time, competi- video and also opti- to purchase one that
tion slowly began to grow in mal network per- offers an AMD-
the form of early nVidia and formance through nForce combina-
ATI graphics cards. VIA also the integrated net- tion. This is, of
has and has had chipsets work card. course, assuming
with integrated sound and that these manufac-
graphics. Similarly, the i810 What this means… turers are sensible
gives integrated audio and nVidia’s entrance enough to use the
video, which is a cheaper into the mother- nForce for their
option for the home user. board chipset indus- high-end systems at
Ali, with its sound and audio try implies direct a lower price.
integrated Aladdin chipsets, competition for the
has been offering AC 97 companies already Our prediction
audio to its users. There ruling the roost. An nForce reference board While the price tag
have been some mother- With each of these of the nForce chipset is
boards with inbuilt modems companies specialising in one particular area, currently unknown, the cost of motherboards
and network adapters too, nVidia’s most recent move can be seen as an based on this chipset are likely to be anything
but never before have all attempt to take over all these areas and become an between $250 to $350 (approximately Rs
these high-end components all rounder. Some of the companies that nVidia is 11,500 to Rs 16,100), which is pretty decent for
come together on one main taking on head to head are motherboard chipset a motherboard packed with high performance
motherboard. companies such as Intel and VIA. Competition is components.
nVidia ventured into the also evident for graphics processor companies So what is the nForce really going to do to
graphics card business with such as ATI, Matrox, etc, which have plans to give the computer world? The nForce could be
the Riva 128, slowly moved out high-end graphics processors integrated into adopted by system builders for creating per-
into GeForce based chipsets, motherboards like never before. Intel and VIA formance machines aimed at price conscious
and are now creating moth- motherboards have never had the capability to users who are willing to pay a little extra for per-
erboard chipsets with high- deliver such high-end performance ever. The per- formance gains. If the prices drop further, as is
end performance. Having formance of the Geforce 2 MX like core in the quite likely over a period of time, the populari-
recently worked in tandem nForce IGP cannot be matched by the VIA and ty of the nForce-based motherboards is bound
with Microsoft on the Xbox, Intel graphics processors. to increase as compared to the i810 or i815 unit
nVidia decided to make use Creative has been ruling the sound industry with its skimpy little graphics processor.
of experts and resources so far by providing home users with 5.1 The first set of nForce-based motherboards
and enter the motherboard surround sound using the Creative SBLive should be out in a couple of months from now.
market. soundcard. But a change in scenery is evident as nVidia’s done it with the graphics card processor
home users can now opt for a motherboard with industry and now it’s at it again, this time aim-
a built-in 5.1 surround soundcard. nVidia claims ing for the bigger picture of computing.

148 August 2001

■ select~ r e p o r t c a r d

HARDWARE

Radar
A photo-quality inkjet printer, two handheld devices,
More Info on the Dreamcast gaming console, an Internet TV and other
the hardware products tested.
Check out
products tested
Mindware

Acer 56x CD-ROM Drive verdict B +

Just another CD drive SPECIFICATIONS: Acer 56x CD-ROM Drive
56x read speed
Benchmarks:
Performance
T he drive logged average results
in the SiSoft Sandra test. How-
ever, the drive’s speed while rip-
Overall score in Sisoft
Sandra: 1750
Build Quality
Value for Money
Sequential read speed of Features
ping tracks from an audio CD to 2470 KBps
OVERALL
wave format was quite good. Random read speed of 676
KBps
Strangely enough, the drive Score of 1000 in CD Win-
+ Fast ripping time
showed higher performance when + Economical
mark
- No software, no manuals
DMA was disabled. This is bad 7 seconds to rip a 20.79 MB
Price: Rs 2,100
audio track to MP3, 15 sec-
because when you enable DMA, Contact: Acer Communication
onds to rip the middle track
performance should increase, Phone: 022-5705730 Fax: 022-5705235
of 42.24 MB and 19 seconds
E-mail: joe@acercm.com.in
which is not the case here. to rip the last track of 53.07
Web site: www.acercm.co.in
MB

A powerhouse Compaq iPaq H3630 SPECIFICATIONS: verdict A -

32 MB RAM, 16 MB of ROM, Compaq ipaq H3630
a 206 MHz Intel Strong ARM
Performance
32-bit processor, a 320x240
E xceptionally light but still very
rugged, this handheld is a
design marvel when it comes to
pixels wide TFT LCD screen,
a built-in lithium ion
Build Quality
Value for Money
rechargeable battery Ease of use
saving space and integrating com- Bundled software: Comes OVERALL
pre-installed with Pocket
ponents intelligently. There is a Word, Pocket Excel,
small button at the top left side of + Very feature-packed, colour display,
Microsoft Reader for e- powerful processor, multimedia-capable
the handheld that allows you to books, Microsoft Money and - Excessively priced
take one-click voice notes and Microsoft’s Windows Media Price: Rs 43,875
Player for Pocket PC Contact: Radz Intellisync
attach them to related text—a fea- Features: Plays Windows Phone: 022-3678293 Fax: 022-3678193
ture no Palm OS based handheld media files and has a E-mail: radz101@hotmail.com
offers. 2.26x3.02 inch colour reflec- Web site: www.radzinfo.com
tive TFT screen

SPECIFICATIONS: verdict A -
Photo quality HP DeskJet 930C Features: Accompanied by
17 CDs of BPB 250,000 HP DeskJet 930C
Graphics and Delta Foto Performance

A photo-quality inkjet printer

aimed at the power user. The
printer is very quiet, has above-
Suite. Allows printing on dif-
ferent paper sizes ranging
from envelopes to banners
Build Quality
Value for Money
Features
Benchmarks:
average speed and a very impres- OVERALL
1 minute 38 seconds to
sive set of bundled software. The print 5 pages of plain text in
printer driver software is very sim- grayscale mode and 1 + Very impressive photo printing
ple to configure. The printer is also minute 37 seconds to print + Silent
in normal colour mode - Rather flimsy top cover
able to handle different media 8 minutes 32 seconds to Price: Rs 9,999
types including envelopes, trans- print 5 pages of high quality Contact: Hewlett-Packard
parencies and banners. The build image in grayscale and 8 Phone: 080-5216120 Fax: 080-5216121
minutes 32 seconds to print E-mail: princy_bhatnagar@hp.com
quality was, however, average. in colour mode Website: www.hpindia.com

149
■ select~ r e p o r t c a r d

verdict A -
Versatile and highly usable Palm M105
Palm M105
Performance
A replacement to the now out-
of-production Palm IIIx, this
handheld allows you to connect to
Build Quality
Value for Money
your mobile phone and dial to the Ease of use
SPECIFICATIONS:
Internet. Overall, this is a great 8 MB RAM, 16 MHz Motorola
OVERALL
choice for the price: go for it if you 68328 microprocessor, 3.25-
inch, 160x160 pixels mono- + Good AAA Alkaline batteries
plan to buy a handheld for keep- + Economical
chrome LCD display with an
ing contacts and information and invert backlit LCD screen, built- Price: Rs 18,530
for having some fun too, but can’t in IR port and serial port that Contact: Radz Intellisync
allows synching with your PC Phone: 022-3678293 Fax: 022-3678193
afford the costlier variants of the
Comes preinstalled with Palm E-mail: radz101@hotmail.com
Palm handhelds. OS 3.5 Web site: www.radzinfo.com

A box full of fun SEGA Dreamcast verdict B +

Sega Dreamcast
Performance
F ar more powerful than the
Sony Playstation and the first
truly connected console to hit the
Build Quality
Value for Money
market, the Dreamcast comes Features
runs a special version of Microsoft OVERALL
Windows CE. SPECIFICATIONS: + Very crisp and fluid graphics
For sheer gaming fun, this is a 128-bit PowerVR 3D graph- + Good CD quality audio capabilities
ics, built in 56 K modem + Wide variety of games available
very good device, and provides for Features: Internet browsing - Rather flimsy controllers
very robust build quality, a large CD-ROM, four built-in con- Price: Rs 12,999
set of game titles and an intuitive troller ports, option for Contact: Stracon India
memory cards that can be Phone: 011-6287290 Fax: 011-6287148
interface. fitted in the game pad itself E-mail: stracon@ndf.vsnl.net.in

Net-on-TV Videocon Internet TV verdict B +

Videocon Internet TV
Performance

T his TV is the first of its kind that

acts as a simple TV and lets you
browse the Net as well. It comes
Build Quality
Value for Money
Features
with an attractive infrared, black- OVERALL
coloured keyboard, 110 channels
+ Good looks
and an Internet browsing box. It
+ Easy to operate
can display conventional Web - Doesn’t display all pages
SPECIFICATIONS:
pages with HTML text and tables, 56 K modem, wireless Inter- Price: Rs 18,990
but was unable to display pages net keyboard Contact: Videocon International
Features: Normal to Internet Phone: 022-2871798 Fax: 022-2873822
containing Flash and Shockwave . E-mail: info@mktg.videoconnect.com
mode with just a press of a
key Web site: www.videoconworld.com

Lap it up Nishubuki 1 GHz laptop verdict A -

Nishubuki 1 GHz laptop
Performance
C onsidering the overall configu-
ration, it packs a lot into one
case. However, its scores in Con-
SPECIFICATIONS:
Intel 1GHz processor, 256
MB RAM, 20 GB hard disk,
Build Quality
Value for Money
CD-Writer, 14.1 inch XGA Features
tent Creation Winston 2000 and in screen, Trident Cyberblade
Business Winston 99 were not i1AGP graphics card OVERALL
very impressive given its 1 GHz Benchmarks:
25.3 in Content Creation + Not expensive
processor and 256 MB RAM con- Winston 2000, 28.3 in the + Good configuration
figuration. Even the Quake III tests Business Winston 99, 15.7 - Low-end graphics card
fps in Quake III (normal Price: Rs 1,19,000
were not very impressive, but it is Contact: Nishubuki Computer Systems
quality) and 2.6 fps at
noteworthy that we were able to Phone: 022-5825965
1024x768 at 32-bit depth
run the test at all on a laptop! Lasted 2 hours 9 minutes in Fax: 022-5379719
ZDBench BatteryMark E-mail: nitin1@bom5.vsnl.net.in

150 August 2001

 SOFTWARE

Radar
PCanywhere, a tool to remotely control a computer, A surveillance
More Info on software for your PC, a Web graphics software package, an anti-virus
the software products tested. package and other software tested
Check out
Mindware

Worth a bite Free Bites verdict B +

Free Bites
unique and extremely useful Ease of use
A software that gives you access
to only that content on the Inter-
Features
Performance
net which you need, by using
Value for money
‘Bites’, parts of a Web page that OVERALL
are viewed on the desktop in tiny SPECIFICATIONS: + Innovative idea, very useful
windows. The help is extremely Features: Can store + Excellent and comprehensive help sys-
useful and there is a comprehen- streaming media and tem
dynamically generated - Tends to load pages slower on a dial-up
sive tutorial, which shows the user data, Bites can be pass- connection
a video of how to operate the word protected Price: Freeware
software. File size: 2.39 MB Web site: www.databites.com
Download size: 1.32 MB E-mail: help@databites.com

In the balance Easy life 1.0.0 verdict B

Easy life 1.0.0
Ease of use
utility for those who need to
A maintain home finances. It
provides you with various options
Features
Performance
Value for money
for managing your finances under OVERALL
different categories, such as
+ Neat interface and easy to use
investments in shares/debentures, - Search feature shows inaccurate results
loans, insurance, fixed deposits, Price: Rs 1,950
etc. The interface is quite neat and Contact: Adit Microsys
SPECIFICATIONS: Phone: 079-6400255
the installation is simple, barring Install size: 42.7 MB, Fax: 079-6462635
the fact that your machine needs Features: User level secu- E-mail: biren@microsys.com
to be equipped with MS Office. rity, 15 reports generated

Securely in control Symantec PCanywhere 10.0 verdict B +

Symantec PCanywhere 10.0
SPECIFICATIONS:
he latest version of Ease of use
T PCanywhere from Symantec is
a tool that lets you control a
OS support: Windows
2000, NT, 95, 98, Me
Features: Support for
Features
Performance
remote computer. It stands out
nine authentication Value for money
types, five different OVERALL
from other such services such as installation packages to
GoToMyPC, VNC and LapLink suit different needs, + Excellent manual with screenshots
because of the unparalleled secu- enables connection + Better security
through directly using - Configuration difficult
rity and features that it offers. the various ports on the Price: Rs 13,500 + tax
Password protection is compulso- motherboard or through Contact: Tech Pacific
ry, and PCanywhere has support infrared port or through Phone: 022-5960227
protocols such as TCP/IP, E-mail: vpai@symantec.com
for nine authentication types. NetBios and SPX Web site: www.symantec.com

151
■ select~ r e p o r t c a r d

Private eye E-Blaster verdict B +

E-Blaster
surveillance software for your Ease of use
A PC from Spectrasoft, using
which you can monitor all the
Features
Performance
activities that have taken place in a Value for Money
particular PC and generate a key- OVERALL
log. The installation can be done in + Small utility
a couple of minutes. It can also + Easy to install
SPECIFICATIONS: Price: Rs 3,536 (for one license)
send you a mail report. It operates Features: Contact: Softalk Technologies
in stealth mode and it’s very diffi- Runs in stealth mode, Phone: 011-6281806
cult to detect whether the applica- can access the keylogger Fax: 011-6281647
tion is running. anywhere on the mail- E-mail: softtalk@vsnl.com
box

A box of goodies Ulead Web Razor Pro 2.0 verdict B +

ULead Web Razor Pro 2.0
complete Web graphics soft-
A ware package that includes
some of the most popular Web
Ease of use
Features
Performance
graphic applications: ULead Cool Value for Money
3D 2.5, ULead Gif Animator 4.0, U OVERALL
Lead Photo Explorer 5.0 and + Wide range of features
Smart Saver Pro 2.0. This collec- SPECIFICATIONS: + Other related software bundled with
tion of tools lets you create high- Features: the package
Package includes ULead Price: Rs 1,950
quality 3D texts for Web page Cool 3D 2.5, ULead Gif Contact: Microwave Computer Services
headings, create animated gifs Animator 4.0, U Lead Phone: 022-8729275 Fax: 022-8727446
and cut down file sizes of images. Photo Explorer 5.0 and E-mail: sales@mwcdrom.com
Smart Saver Pro 2.0 Web site: www.mwcdrom.com

Better than most Command Anti Virus Software verdict B

Command Anti Virus Software
t takes lesser time in cleaning Ease of use
Iand detecting than most other
software. The help is pretty com-
Features
Performance
SPECIFICATIONS: Value for Money
prehensive and guides you
Features: Available for OVERALL
through the various installation Windows 9x/NT/2000
procedures and the operating fea- Install size: 8 MB + Fast scanning time
tures of the anti-virus. However Benchmarks: 10 minutes - Bit pricey
54 seconds to scan a Price: Rs 3,130
the software consumes 3 MB of database of more than Contact: Office Efficiencies
RAM. The software managed to 10,000 viruses on a 2.05 Phone: 022-50066550
detect and clean the top 10 most GB partition, including Fax: 022-50066551
viruses in compressed E-mail: sales@oe2000.com
prevalent viruses in the detection .
files Web site: www.oe2000.com

Security First CYPHERIX Cryptainer 2.0 verdict B

CYPHERIX Cryptainer 2.0
n easy-to-install encryption
A software, it asks you to specify
a location where you want to store
Ease of use
Features
Performance
the volume file. It then asks for a Value for Money
password that you would have to OVERALL
use when accessing the contents + Easy to operate
of the volume, though the main - Very high priced
volume is not protected. The soft- Price: Rs. 5,875 plus taxes
Contact: Cypherix
ware creates a ghost drive where Phone: 022-4453670
SPECIFICATIONS:
you can simply drag and drop Fax: 022- 4453371
Runs on Win 95/98
whatever files you want protected. E-mail: info@cypherix.com
and Windows 2000
Website: www.cypherix.com
with 32 MB RAM.

152 August 2001

■ select~ r e p o r t c a r d

Reviews
Adobe Premiere 6 Bible
Arena
For game reviews
check out,
Playware
Fun with video editing
On the Stands
T his book is aimed at provid-
ing you with all you need to
know about Adobe Premiere 6. Deluxe GMAT,
Whether professional or LSAT & GRE
novice, you can gain useful tips If you intend to do your GRE,
on video editing. You get an GMAT or LSAT in the near
in-depth look at other features future then this CD pack from
of the software such as captur- Kaplan should help.
ing video, audio editing, creat- Contact: IDG Books These interactive mul-
ing type graphic effects, etc. Phone: 011-3260877 timedia CDs tell you
You also get a CD containing a Fax: 011-3275895 how to prepare for the
E-mail: idgbooks
trial version of Adobe Premiere, @vsnl.com tests and also contain
Adobe After Effects and GoLive Price: Rs 499 (with CD) sample tests as well as
and sample premiere clips. Rating: links to over 400 gradu-
ate school Web sites.
Developer: Encore Software
Contact: Microware
Phone: 022-8729225
Get Linux-ed Red Hat Linux 7.x Bible E-mail: sales@mwcdrom.com
Price: Rs 1,750

I f you’ve always had an itching

to get more closely associated
with Linux, then this book is the
Linux for Windows
NT/2000 Admins
right place to start off. It is This book is meant for system
aimed at both Linux freshers administrators who work on
and veterans looking for tips on Windows NT/2000 and
working with Linux. The book want to move on to
looks at chapters such as Linux. It explains the
working with the desktop, working of the Linux
Contact: IDG Books
accessing and running applica- Phone: 011-3260877 operating system in its
tions, playing games with Linux, Fax: 011-3275895 different flavours. It
etc. Also included are three E-mail: idgbooks@ also comes with a CD
vsnl.com
CDs containing Red Hat Linux Price: Rs 499 (with 3 CDs)
containing the Linux-
7.x and other applications. Rating: Mandrake 7.1 distribution.
Contact: BPB Publications
Phone: 011-3325760
E-mail: bpb@vsnl.com
Price: Rs 270
Imaging on display Photoshop 6 In Depth Professional ASP
T his book is meant for the
advanced or intermediate
Photoshop user who needs to
This book is for people who
have already done a bit
in ASP and want to
take his knowledge of the soft- learn more and develop
ware higher. Therefore, you real world Web applica-
find on many occasions that the tions. This book covers
book is interspersed with sam- almost all the new fea-
ples and exercises that assume tures in ASP 3.0 includ-
the reader has a prior basic ing working with XML
knowledge of the software. You Contact: IDG Books data and the use of COM+ in
get acquainted with the new Phone: 011-3260877 applications.
Fax: 011-3275895 Contact: Shroff Publishers
features of Photoshop 6 and
E-mail: idgbooks@ Phone: 022-3701433
many of the advanced image- vsnl.com E-mail: spd@vsnl.com
editing options available. Price: Rs 499 (with 2 CDs) Price: Rs 650
Rating:

153
 ■ select~ r e p o r t c a r d

UNDERCOVER

The Perfect Match

Illustration: Mahesh Benkar

Agent 001 is seeking the cheapest motherboard-processor combination

that’s setting off the most sparks
ome things go hand in hand—strawberries ready to sacrifice a bit of gaming. Vendor Two

S and cream, icing and cake and, of course,

motherboards and processors! Not that I
have a one-track mind, but my latest mis-
sion had me looking for a motherboard-proces-
sor combination that was easy on my pockets
hit the nail straight on the head, recommending
a Cyrix III 550 at less than Rs 2,000.
To top it, these processors run on all socket
370 boards, so pair it with an 810e and you get
one cheap combination. A complete mother-
and packed a punch as well. board and CPU combination for less than Rs
So I headed into the market looking for some 5,000. Beat that!
really cheap but not necessarily low performing Next I headed up north looking for a combi-
hardware. nation that could really give these so-called
First stop Lamington Road, Mumbai. Vendor ‘high-end’ players a run for their money. The
One seems to be a big AMD fan and promises P- first vendor suggested the typical SiS 630 chipset
III like performance from the Duron. While the based solutions, which are a great value as far as
Pair a Cyrix III 550 Duron can definitely give the Pentium III a run
for its money, its biggest problem is an unavail-
cheap solutions for the Celeron and Celeron II
are concerned.
costing less than ability of cheap motherboards to complement
it. This vendor could only offer platforms such
Sadly, no other vendor recommended a
cheap Duron solution although both DFI and
Rs 2,000 with a as the ASUS A7V and other expensive brands.
These motherboards are great performers but
Azza have decent AMD solutions. Some vendors
even tried to push some really old and cheap
810e motherboard, aren’t as easy on the pocket.
So I hop over to the next shop in line where
440BX and VIA 693 based boards. I would seri-
ously not go in for these motherboards unless I
and you have Vendor Two tells me that the Celeron II is doing
well and has a plethora of choices as far as cheap
have some cheap Celerons lying around.
Going further north (Powai), I walked into a
a combination for motherboards are concerned. So I decided to
put a cap on my budget now and asked to be
swanky shop in Hiranandani and met with a
pretty knowledgeable chap. I pushed for a Duron
less than Rs 5,000. shown a motherboard processor combo within
Rs 8,000.
solution and was very rightly suggested the Azza
KT-133TX board. He then went on to recom-
Beat that! Then the vendor advised me to go in for the
Celeron II 700, costing about Rs 3,000. “Add to
mend a Duron 800: “The combo will cost you
only Rs 9,000, not a rupee more.”
it an 810e board for Rs 3,500 or less and you are Remember, that some of the KT-133 based
all set,” he said. platforms for the AMD processors don’t come
One board that was mentioned time and with onboard VGA. Only solutions based on the
again was the Tiga 810+. Great! But I said I KM133 such as the DFI AM35 EC come with
wanted some AGP functionality. Vendor Three onboard VGA and with pretty decent perform-
aptly recommended an 815e. The cheapest he ance too (incorporating a Savage 4 based solu-
could think of tion). Pairing the Duron 800 with the DFI AM35
were the Jetway EC would be just nudging Rs 9,000.
and Mercury Closer to home, I enter a local shop at And-
Go for Value boards (Jetway heri (W), displaying P-IV advertisements. I
J618AF and learnt that a P-IV kit sets you back by Rs 30,000
Mercury KOB- plus a very expensive cabinet (no less than Rs
AMD-based Duron 700-900 MHz+ 815E FSX). So I 4,000). Yes, the performance is great. But if all
systems DFIAM35EC motherboard now had a deal you want is to get online for some office work
worth Rs 8,000 then the cheaper combinations are the ones to
but I decided to look at. Remember, cheap doesn’t necessarily
push on a bit mean bad or under-performing. All it means is
Intel and Cyrix- Celeron or Cyrix III+ further. I asked that you will get only what you pay for and
based systems Tiga 810+ motherboard for a really maybe hope for more!
cheap combi-
Want to share your experiences with getting a
nation and even motherboard and processor
said that I was Write in to readersletters@jasubhai.com

154 August 2001

■ select~ r e p o r t c a r d

A-List
A listing of the best products in different hardware and software categories
ho’s in, who’s out? The competition’s hot, reviews. Based on these tests, the best products

More Info on
W but only the winners get to this page—a list-
ing of the best performing hardware and
software that have been tested till date in differ-
have been listed here (detailed reviews on Digit
Interactive-Mindware). As different products get
reviewed over the months, the top products
ent categories. might find themselves slipping out of the charts
the top five products tested in each Every month, at the Digital Media Test & and replaced by the latest entrants in the market.
category. Check out Research Centre, we carry out a series of com- So, keep your ears sharp and eyes open and keep
Mindware parison tests as well as individual product yourself abreast of the latest cool products.

HARDWARE Phone: 022-8260258 Fax: 022-8190766

Monitors (14- & 15-inch) Fax: 022-8190766 Price: Rs 17,500
Sony CPD-E100 Price: Rs. 31,500
+ Good features and performance Processors
– Not for professionals Speakers Pentium 4 - 1.4 GHz
Contact: Rashi Peripherals Creative SoundWorks + Fastest processor tested by us
Phone: 022-8260258 DTT2500 + Good build quality
Fax: 022-8190766 + True Dolby Digital-compliant Contact: Ockam Systems
Price: Rs 14,100 sound Phone: 022-6234798 CD drives
- Too clumsy stand for speakers Fax: 022-6704503 ASUS CD-S500
Monitors (17-inch) Price: Rs 35,000 (kit including + Good performance
ViewSonic PS775 motherboard, 128 MB RDRAM and – Slightly inferior build quality
+ Very good image quality cabinet) Contact: Rashi Peripherals
+ Support for high resolution Phone: 022-8260258
Contact: Roop Electronics Hard disks (SCSI) Fax: 022-8190766
Phone: 022-6631521 Seagate Cheetah 18XL - Price: Rs 2,700
Fax: 022-6103919 ST318404LW - 18GB
Price: Rs 24,000 + Blazingly fast CD-RW drives
– Heats up quite a lot Plextor W1610TA
Monitors(19- & 21-inch) Contact: ACI + High write and rewrite speed
Sony CPD-G500 Contact: Compuage Infocom Phone: 022-8595830 + 2 MB buffer
+ Truly flat 21-inch screen; support Phone: 022-4913986 Fax: 022-8595831 Contact: Zeta Technologies
for nearly every type of image Fax: 022-4919069 Price: Rs 16,500 Phone: 022-4102277
Contact: Rashi Peripherals Price: Rs 29,500 Fax: 022-4102277
Phone: 022-8260258 Hard disks (IDE) Price: Rs 13,950
Fax: 022-8190766 Soundcards IBM Deskstar 75GXP
Price: Rs 86,500 SoundBlaster Live! DTLA-307075 - 75GB Laser Printers
Platinum 5.1 + 10,000 RPM; good data transfer Lexmark Optra M412
Graphics card + Dolby Digital AC-3 + 1 MB buffer + Good print speeds
ASUS V7700 GeForce 2 compliant Contact: Wales Technologies – Image quality isn’t that good
GTS Ultra + High quality sound Phone: 022-3828100 Contact: T.V.S. Electronics
+ Blazingly Fast; DDR memory processing Fax: 022-3828200 Phone: 044-2325506
Contact: Mnemonic Systems Contact: Compuage Infocom Price: Rs 19,500 Fax: 044-2327577
Phone: 022-4913986 Price: Rs 42,995 + taxes
Fax: 022-4919069 DVD drives
Price: Rs 12,500 Aopen 1640 Pro DVD Inkjet Printers
+ 16x DVD speeds; 512 KB cache Epson Stylus Color 880
Motherboards + Good build quality + Very quiet; good results
ASUS P4T – Does not support DMA + Print resolution of 2880 dpi
+ Fits into any ATX cabinet Contact: Yogi Comp Contact: Epson India
+ Good feature list Phone: 022-8806582 Phone: 022-8257286
Contact: Rashi Peripherals Fax: 022-8806582 Fax: 022-8267287
Phone: 022-8260258 Price: Rs 5,950 Price: Rs 19,000

155
PCs Handhelds resilient to dirt OCR Packages
Dell Dimension 4100 HP Jornada 680E + Many extra function keys FineReader Pro 5.0
+ Customisation possible + Power 133 MHz processor Contact: Rashi Peripherals + Quite accurate
– Too compact for expansion + Colour screen Phone: 022-8260258 Contact: Vikmans Multimedia
Contact: Hewlett-Packard Fax: 022-8190766 Phone: 011-6472325
Phone: 011-6826000 Price: Rs. 4,500 Price: Rs 5,000
Fax: 011-6826030
Price: Rs 39,000 Antivirus
SOFTWARE Norton Antivirus 2001
MP3 players Operating systems (Windows) + High detection rate
Creative NOMAD 2MG Windows 2000 + Good script blocking capability
+ Excellent Build quality Professional – Resource hungry
+ Supports WMA format and + Very stable Contact: N & N Systems
upgradeable firmware – Heavy on system requirements Phone: 022-3680512/17/18
Contact: Dell Computers Contact: Integrated Business Fax: 022-3680513
Phone: 1600338044 Toll free Solutions Price: Rs 1,450
Fax: 1600338046 Toll free Phone: 022-8214701
Price: Rs 81,999 Fax: 022-8328240 Firewalls
Price: Rs 8,400 ZoneAlarm Pro 2.6
Scanners + Good performance
Epson Perfection 1640SU Operating systems (Linux) – No protection against ActiveX
+ Transparency unit included as SuSE Linux 7.2 controls
standard accessory + Simple to install Contact: www.zonelabs.com
+ Fast image scanning + Many bundled applications Price: Rs 2,000 (approx)
– Too bulky (4.5 kgs) - Controls not easily accessible + Customisable Interface
Contact: Epson India Contact: Compuage Infocom CD-burning software
Phone: 080-5321266 Phone: 022-4913986 Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum
Fax: 080-5581799 Fax: 022-4919069 + Very fast writing speed
Price: Rs 22,500 Price: Rs 21,500 Contact: www.roxio.com
Price: Rs 3,600 (approx)
Laptops Keyboards
Nishubuki 1 GHz Logitech Cordless Freedom Voice recognition
+ Attractively priced Navigator Dragon NaturallySpeaking
+ Good configuration + Very comfortable v5.0 (Preferred Edition)
+ Extensive configuration options + Impressive speech recognition
Contact: Rashi Peripherals – High on system requirements
Phone: 022-8260258
Fax: 022-8190766
Price: Rs 7,750 Contact: G. T. Enterprises
Phone: 080-6606093
Digital Cameras Fax: 080-6671407
Sony Cybershot DSC-P1 Price: Rs 3,000
+ Good Features offered
- Limited Memory Office Suites
Microsoft Office XP
+ Rich features
- Low end graphics card – Expensive
Contact: Nishubuki Computer Contact: Microsoft (India)
Systems Phone: 011-6294600 Contact: HCL Infosystems
Phone: 022-5825965 Price: Rs 20,500 Phone: 011-4526518
Fax: 022-5379719 Fax: 011-4526579
Price: Rs 1,19,000 Contact: Best International Price: Rs 17,995
Phone: 022-2611050
External Storage Devices Fax: 022-2624795 Accounting Software
IOMEGA 2GB Jaz Email: bestint@vsnl.com FACT 1.90
+ Very good price per MB; hard- Price: Rs 49,990 + Exhaustive feature list
disk-class performance – No security for database
Contact: Neoteric Infomatique Pointing devices Contact: Vedika Software
Phone: 022-4172600 Logitech Cordless Mouse- Phone: 022-5006490
Fax: 022-4163679 man Wheel Fax: 033-2400824
Price: Rs 17,500 + Good accuracy with features; Price: Rs 14,500

156 August 2001

■ digit diary

Of near misses and

a perfect hit
Some people have the darsh Kaul, from our events team, is the ups. As it is, it takes an hour and half to get to

knack of making the

best of a situation,
as also the knack of
A kind who never misses the bus…or the
train for that matter. So what if he and his
colleagues in the events team had been
totally immersed in planning and organising a
massive-scale event like Planet Digit, which was
Mumbai Central from the office.”
So his colleagues bundled him into a cab and
sent him on his way. And Adarsh made it to the
station by the skin of his teeth, with seconds to
spare for the scheduled departure time. Only to
held in July in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. find there was no sign of the train he was sup-
making friends… The final details had to be sorted at the posed to catch. Sure that the train was late, he
respective venues. With only days left to go for marched straight to the station master wanting
the first Planet Digit in Bangalore and still so to know how late the train was going to be.
much do Adarsh was to be the man on the spot “What are you talking about? That train leaves at
to ensure that everything ran smoothly. 10 pm!” says the station master. “But my ticket
But on the day of the departure, Adarsh was says 7 p.m.,” said Adarsh.
still busy tying up all the loose ends and lost track The puzzled station master asked to see his
of the time; 5 pm and he was still running about ticket and burst out laughing…the time printed
getting things done, when he bumped into Kaus- on the ticket was the time of booking! With the
tubh, also from the events team, and Jasmine, our fine print saying that the train timings had
International Marketing manager. “Arrey, what changed effective July 1 and that the passenger
are you doing here? Don’t you have a train to should check the new schedules. Both had a
catch?” asked Kaustubh. “Show me your ticket,” hearty laugh. With over 3 hours for the train to
said Jasmine. Rushed for work, Adarsh fished out leave and nothing to do, Adarsh struck up a
his ticket and gave it to them to see the time friendship with the station master and passed
printed on it, which said 1900 hours. time. We, of course, will not talk about the berat-
“Oh my God! Only 2 hours for the train to ing some people got for landing him in that sit-
leave. You better get going man! It’s been pour- uation. All we’ll say is that Adarsh is not one to
ing all day and there’s bound to be traffic snarl miss the bus, or the train…

Adarsh meets Adarsh

But that’s not the end of Adarsh’s experiences. In with Digit. So he was introduced to
Bangalore at Planet Digit, Adarsh the rest of the team members
struck up a friendship present at the event. Everybody
of a different sort. was much taken by the young
Among the throngs guy’s enthusiasm and love for
of visitors, he came Digit and he was treated like one
across a young lad, all of of the family throughout the day.
14 years, and coinciden- But the depth of his attachment
tally also named Adarsh. to Digit was brought home only
The two hit it off right when the day came to an end
away and the younger and it was time to pack up.
namesake was taken under Young Adarsh literally had
the wing by the ‘elderly 25- tears in his eyes, when the
year-old’ Adarsh. Now 14- good byes were being said.
year-old Adarsh is a big fan And his older namesake,
of India’s favourite technolo- who we must add is never at a
gy magazine and was keen to Need we say who’s who—Adarsh loss for words, was extremely
meet everybody associated with Adarsh touched, as was everybody else.

157
■ backbyte

Modem woes Bottom of the Charts

Overcome by connectivity hassles, RETRO
Having to dial repeatedly Kamil Merchant takes poetic licence:
when you want to get Socho kabhi aisa ho to kya ho... UNIVAC
online can be a real pain in Bahar se koi mail na aa sake The Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC)
the neck. But guess who’s Andar se koi data na ja sake was developed between 1946-51 to do tabu-
more irritated than you Socho kabhi aisa ho to kya ho lation work for the US Census Bureau. While
are? Your modem! If it Socho kabhi aisa ho to kya ho it was seen as a Godsend in government cir-
Hum Tum ek Network pe logged ho cles, it was not until the US presidential elec-
Aur Server Down ho jaye tion of 1952 that it made its universal claim
Resources se Kaho ke NT chod de to fame.
Unix lay aai While the results were being processed at
Hum Tum ..... the election headquarters, the media had
Aage hai 4GL ka mela ... submitted data to the UNIVAC asking it to
Baba Mujhe Dar Lagta Hai predict the outcome. The resulting printout
Peeche hai Cobol ka Thela- ... Hmm. informed them that Eisenhower would win.
Kyon Dara rahe ho But the newscasters, unwilling to present a
could speak it would let Aage hai 4GL ka mela result that they found unbelievable, broad-
you know—and maybe Peeche hai Cobol ka Thela cast that even the machine was “stumped”
this is what it would say. US bhi jana hai mushkil on this issue. It was a sheepish newscaster
Contributed by: D. Bose, Bench pe rahana bhi mushkil who later appeared on TV to inform audi-
via e-mail Socho kabhi aisa ho to kya ho ences that UNIVAC had indeed predicted
Socho kabhi aisa ho to kya ho the election correctly, but the news media
Hum Tum Solitair khel rahe ho had been unwilling to stake their reputa-

Secretaries Aur Page Fault Aa jaye..

Hum Tum...
tion on the machine’s calculations.

2.0
What’s the best way to
avoid work? Get yourself a
secretary! And what’s even
Readers Rants
better? A computerised
secretary! Question is—do
you have to pay them?!
Long Gone Hardware Engineer doing
Here’s an old advertisement for a so called ‘most power-
ful computer ever’! How powerful? Well, 20 MHz Intel
time!
Throw a hardware
engineer in jail. Give
him a loaf of bread, a
knife and all the time
in the world. And what
do you get? This!
Contributed by: Manu Khanna,
via e-mail

Done to
Your chance to
death!
BACKBYTE! The next time
you smell a rat at
Highlight the lighter side of work, it’s proba-
computing. Mail your contributions bly a mouse! No,
to Backbyte not the four
Digit, Plot D-222/2, legged kind, but
TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, the one on your
Shirvane, Nerul, 80386 Microprocessor, VGA graphics card, 2MB RAM, table connected to your desktop. This little guy does do a
Navi Mumbai 400 706 16 MB capacity! Boy, oh boy! Have we come a long way! lot of work…and here’s proof of what could happen if you
or send e-mail to Contributed by: Mikhail Esteves, overwork him.
backbyte@jasubhai.com via e-mail Contributed by: Ramanujam, via e-mail

158 August 2001