Cisco Linksys E2000 Advanced Wireless-N Router – “Cisco Factory Refurb”

Cisco Linksys E2000 Wireless Router

I remember the days when routers were not even allowed on Comcast. At least that was the official line. Then like everyone else, Comcast realized that was a silly terms of service requirement. Today just about everyone has more than one computer and many folks are running a combination wired and wireless home network to hook up their PC and Apple desktops, laptops, Nintendo Wii, iPads, iPhones, Android phones, and even new high definition flat screen televisions are configured for wireless access for Netflix, Amazon, and other streaming video services. Making the best choice for a wireless router is most important when it comes to making sure all those devices work well for Internet connectivity.

Like many of you, I did tons of research on the pros and cons of all the available routers for sale. Trying to decide what is important is difficult when there are so many choices. However, the important stuff to me came down to reliability, cost, signal strength, and ease of use.

Reliability:

Like one of the Amazon reviewers stated in the feedback area online, since it is a refurbished unit, they felt that Cisco would have gone completely through it to test everything out. That gave me the confidence on the reliability aspect. Plus, having the backing of the good customer service through Amazon was icing on the cake for peace of mind.

Cost:

Wow, what can you say here! Such a great deal! Why would I want to spend more for a router?

Signal Strength:

Signal strength was part of my criteria for judging the various routers on the market. However, there are many issues which can affect signal performance. Location, location, location is everything. If you place a router behind some shielded wall, signal strength will surfer. Also, depending on the band usage, i.e. 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz, 2.4 GHz goes further no matter what router you get. Remember, the lower the frequency, the greater the distance given the same power output. I operate exclusively on the 2.4 GHz band. Note that only one band is selectable at a time (which is no big deal in my mind). While the signal strength on the 2.4 GHz might (and I say might) be a little bit less than my old Linksys SRX200, there simply is no comparison as far as the performance is concerned. The Linksys SRX200 was constantly dropping signal. The Cisco Linksys E2000 has never dropped signal on me at all.

Ease of Use:

Let’s face it here. Once you set up the router, how likely are you going to have to keep changing things in the future? However, with that being said, the Linksys SRX200 was a piece of cake to set up. I use the router login through any web browser to set up all routers anyways. No, I did not even insert the setup CD in the computer. So, I can’t tell you how that goes, but from my standpoint, it is simple to login [ http://192.168.1.1 ] to the router IP address through the browser and set up what you want. Refer to getting a new IP address from Comcast for more information on various router brands and accessibility through a browser.

The Cisco E2000 has extended coverage with an additional internal antenna designed for larger homes.

Features Include:

• Wireless-N Selectable Dual-Band (2.4 or 5 GHz)
• Gigabit Ethernet 4-port switch
• Additional antenna for extended coverage

Bottom line, it has been working great for a couple of months so far. I am extremely pleased with the performance at this time.

Regards,

Jim

After nearly two months of having the hard drive in the box, I finally got around to installing the hard drive in the PC computer yesterday.

The hard drive I purchased is the Hitachi Deskstar 3.5 Inch 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA II 32 MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 0S02860

Using my SATA and PATA to USB internal hard drive desktop adapter, I was able to do a complete clone of my old 400 GB internal HD with the new drive hooked up to the adapter and a USB port. Prior to cloning the HD using the backup software Acronis, I first formatted the new drive using the administrative tools, in the control panel, and navigated to the computer management, disk management area to format the hard drive. Note that the hard drive is a virgin drive and will not be seen properly by the operating system until it is mounted and formatted.

Once the hard drive is completely formatted (which I think took more than an hour and a half),I  then used Acronis backup and cloning software to make a complete image backup. When doing a clone of a HD, everything is exactly the same as the original, expect for an increase in the storage capacity from the old to the new.

The version of the cloning and backup software I am using is: True Image Home 2011 Plus

Acronis Product Features Include:

• PC Backup and Recovery of Systems, Applications, and Files – Have you ever accidentally deleted a file, had a virus corrupt your files, or had a disk fail?
• Fast and Easy Backup and Recovery – Acronis True Image Home 2011 provides complete system image backup and recovery of your home PC’s operating system, applications, settings, and personal files.
• New Windows 7 Integration – True Image Home 2011 scales to the needs of novices and advanced users alike
• New Graphical User Interface – We have redesigned our recognized user-friendly interface with new features like Drag and Drop for faster navigation.
• Continuous Data Protection – Acronis Nonstop Backup automatically creates incremental backups every five minutes allowing users to roll back their systems, files, and folders to any point in time in the past.

After the cloning process was finished, I then shut down the computer, pulled the old drive out and installed the new, turned the computer back on, and voila, the computer had 1 TB of HD storage space instead of the 400 GB and all my programs were as they should be.

It is interesting to note that the old hard drive was a IDE cable parallel ATA “PATA” type, and the new HD is a serial ATA “SATA” type. Since my motherboard on the computer had the capabilities of running either the old PATA or SATA HD, this was the first time since I had last built the computer that I was installing a larger hard drive. The old drive was actually out of my old last generation computer. Once the new hard drive was installed, I definitely noticed speed improvements to the system. I plan on using the 400 GB PATA drive in the old external HD case which has a USB port on it.

Speaking of computers, it is somewhat difficult to tell what generation of computer I am using at any given time. Here I am typing away using Windows Live Writer (which only runs on Windows operating system software), on my MacBook Pro, running VMware Fusion, running Windows 7 Ultimate, on the MAC OS X Snow Leopard operating system software, with 8 GB of RAM (which I just upgraded from 4GB to 8GB).

I am very impressed with VMware Fusion 3 for being able to run all the PC based programs that you can imagine. It is actually cool to be able to run both the Apple OS side and the Microsoft Windows side at the same time. I tend to run these programs in different spaces (Apple OS feature that lets you have multiple desktops in four different quadrants, with different programs and files open in each space). It can get a bit confusing when trying to remember which system I am using at any given moment. Windows updates just like on a PC, and Apple updates on the other side too. In fact, Windows 7 just came out with a major update in the form of “Service Pack 1.” This took a bit of time to download and install. It required turning off the virtual computer and then virtually rebooting. I did not have to reboot the whole MacBook Pro.

Once I had performed the updates on my MacBook Pro on the Windows side of the coin, I felt it was important to do a Time Machine backup on the Apple side of the coin. Any case, it is like having the best of both worlds on this computer.

OK, that is the computer story of the day. Now is the time to get your website found online. Professional Web Services provides Internet marketing services and SEO services for all types of B2B and B2C businesses on the web. Visit us today for your business solution.

Jim Warholic

The more things we have, the more things there are to break. At one time, there is no doubt about it, it was the simple life.

I went to do a backup today of my PC computer onto my external hard drive, and low and behold, the backup hard drive would not work. I only use the external hard drive to do complete backups, and hardly ever turn it on. However, when I turned it on this time, I heard a very strange loud motor noise. I turned the hard drive off, and noticed when I turned it side to side, there was a clunking sound coming from inside the drive itself. This obviously was not a very good sign. The external hard drive is basically an internal drive with an external case around it. The HD was a Seagate Barracuda, 500GB PATA IDE drive, inside a SimpleTech case.

When I pulled the hard drive out of the case, and then disassembled the HD itself, I found that the motor shaft had sheared off the platters section, and all the four platters were still locked together, but the spindle section itself was separated from the motor, and was loose.

Keep in mind, failures eventually will happen on any device, and the SimpleTech Seagate drive has been very dependable for three years or more. This can happen to any drive and I do have experience with other internal drives dying on me too.

So, I did not feel comfortable without having a backup of this computer, and ran over to Costco to get another HD drive. I got a pretty good deal on a 500GB Ultra Portable Hard Drive for $60.00 plus tax. Yes, I could have gotten a much bigger drive, but I wanted to do more research in this area of large hard drives before spending more money, and this drive provided a backup bridge so to speak.

The new external hard drive is actually pretty cool in that the drive comes with a desktop USB dock and a separate USB cable, along with a small protective soft case for storage. It also comes with backup software and other software that is both Apple Mac OS X operating system 10.4.11 or higher; 10.5.8; or 10.6.2 and PC Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 operating systems. The portability of the drive is nice in that it does not require a power cable. The drive gets all its power directly through the USB 2.0 plug.

I already had Acronis backup software [ Acronis Backup Software ] installed on my PC, and even as I write this from that PC, I am doing a complete backup to the new external hard drive. I will be feeling much better once that gets done.

I have come to the conclusion, you can never have too many backups. In fact, it is good to have a backup of the backup, and then if you want to go further, store it in a firesafe, or better yet, store one of those backups off site. I am still a bit reluctant to use online backup file storage at this time, though there are merits to doing that too.

01/20/2011 Update:

I am very happy to report that the computer is backed up. Now I am thinking I should upgrade the internal hard drive to a SATA 1 TB and remove the two old PATA drives (C and D drive), using one of them in the old SimpleTech enclosure, since that enclosure is set up for PATA IDE drives. Note, my computer MOB is new enough that it has the PATA connectors built into it. Maybe I might even consider changing from Windows XP and loading in Windows 7. Or, maybe I should get a 2TB drive and make it dual boot, or maybe a tri boot with Linux, or maybe even consider making it a quad boot to Google Chrome operating system. Oh my, the possibilities are endless!

01/21/2011 Update:

After I completed the backup, I started thinking about my wife’s computer, and the backup that was on the backup drive, which was no longer viable. I had some extra PATA drives, and decided to try installing one of the extra drives in the chassis of the SimpleTech box, even though I have a SATA and PATA to USB internal hard drive desktop adapter. I am happy to report, it worked. So, with that in mind, I now did a fresh backup of my wife’s computer. I would really be in trouble if something happened to hers. As I always say, you can never have too many backups.

Also, I took the plunge, and ordered a 1TB SATA internal drive from Amazon for my PC computer. I think I got a great deal on this Hitachi Deskstar SATA 2 HD. What do you think? Hitachi Deskstar 3.5 Inch 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA II 32 MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 0S02860

Jim

Below the ripple voltage chart explanation is an email thread that I thought would be interesting to share. Note, permission was provided to reprint it here. The subject of the email is: Fat Caps & Ripple Current…

The following ripple voltage chart is provided for reference material.

Capacitor Discharge Results in Ripple Current

Understanding the Ripple Voltage Drawing Above

The faster the capacitor discharges, the more ripple will be present. If the capacitor in the circuit is underrated or completely bad, it will not properly hold a charge, and thus the electronics circuit will have maximum ripple present. When a capacitance filtering circuit is faulty, picture the valleys on the voltage being very deep relative to the peaks, and the ripple current will shoot up proportionally in the circuit, with the result of a major increase in heat being generated in all the circuits supplied by the power supply voltage that should be a regulated level DC, which would now effectively be an AC ripple voltage. This will quickly result in thermal breakdowns in various components on the circuit boards, causing a cascading component(s) failure(s) affect.

Picture Courtesy of HyperPhysics Department of Georgia State University – Development of Ripple Expressions

I thought it would be interesting and educational to hear from an expert in the engineering and circuit design field. The following is the email dialog conversation I had with Dean Palmer, engineer/owner of MicroDyne Engineering, LLC, an electronics research, design, and development services company, located in Queen Creek, Arizona, USA.

Dear Jim,

I stumbled upon your very informative “Capacitors” web page today and enjoyed your article on DIY lead free soldering and circuit repairs. I too encourage people to try to service their own stuff where possible. And this leads me to the following question:

I have a Panasonic DVD player/recorder (Model DMR-ES15) that has a recurrent “U61″ error that, in the owner’s literature, is stated more or less to be a power related problem. So I open up the unit and discover a single (but large) aluminum electrolytic cap on the main power converter sourced directly from the DC rectified AC mains. A check around the Web and I see that many owners of this product have been experiencing similar “U61″ problems with their units; some failing after only a few months of operation; most just after their 1 year warranty expires. So I get my trusty Tek 2467 scope on the circuit and I see a HUGE amount of ripple at the pins of the capacitor, yet the capacitor tests good! I replace it anyway with a good quality low ESR hi-temp Nichicon and still there is terrible ripple on that node. The power supply seems to have a load related voltage regulation problem and there is a lot of ripple and harmonic noise on the output. Doubling up on the capacitor even though there was no room on the board (had to dead-bug it) was the only way I could quiet down the circuit.

After visiting your page, I too thought that this part (or others) had possibly been damaged by the lead-free thing and the higher heat production methods used to build this unit – there is lead-free solder everywhere, even though the date of manufacture was 2006. But now I’m convinced that the part was actually under-designed for the requirements of the circuit. And, I’ve seen high ripple on computer mother board caps from time to time that caused all sorts of malfunctions and random errors/reboots, and also in a couple of LCD displays I worked on. In addition, there is an under-designed heat sink on the video processor chip in this DVD player – it gets seriously frying hot when playing back or recording a DVD – which cannot be good for the chip or it’s tiny ball grid array solder connections.

So my question to you is, why are manufacturers under-designing the circuitry in these products? Are these companies so desperate to maximize profits that they apply MTBF and service data back into the manufacturing process to find ways to cut back on design quality and circuit components to just get them through the warranty period? I’ve heard they can actually tweak this down to a granularity of weeks. Or, are we just seeing rampant designer incompetence all across the board – engineers who do not know how to do simple calculations for ripple current and thermal dissipation? Could these guys even balance their check books? What are they teaching in the EE programs these days???

I would be very interested in your thoughts on this! At any rate, Ha, it keeps me in business.

Thanks very much!

–
Dean Palmer
Engineer, NPD

MicroDyne Engineering, LLC

Queen Creek, Arizona
USA
480.888.0600
www.microdyneeng.com

—

Jim W. wrote back:

Hello Dean,

Wow, you got my mind filled with all types of thoughts. First off, my experience in the electronics field goes back more years than I care to imagine: http://jimwarholic.com/about.

I constantly see problems related to component failures more and more frequently. I honestly believe that everything is designed with a time value. Capacitors have a certain time value to heat rating. If you operate a capacitor near its maximum rating, the capacitor will last X amount of time. If you operate a capacitor at 1/2 the maximum rating, you will likely get 2X life or more out of the capacitor. So, it comes down to the engineers specifying the ratings on the capacitors without fully understanding the time value. The differences in costs are very very minuscule if anything at all. But, when they call for a value of 2200 uF cap at 10 volts because the maximum voltage might be only 10 volts, but the circuit is actually operating at 10 volts, then in essence the capacitor is operating at 100% of its maximum voltage. They could just as easily installed a 16 volt capacitor, that might be slightly larger, (though they would have had to design for this larger size) but would have lasted probably more than twice as long, because it would have only been operating at 63% of its maximum operating voltage, and more than likely would have operated at a cooler temperature too. So, the engineers need to take into account the time value, which is probably not being stressed at all.

These power circuits generate tons of heat on their own, and that also is not being taken into account. This causes a cascade effect, which causes more heat, and more breakdown, and more heat, etc.

Here are a couple of pointers to consider when troubleshooting power supply circuits. Most power supply circuits start with full wave rectification. If only one half of the rectification process is working, the capacitors will not be able to filter the voltage properly. Also, there are many times the regulator circuits are failing. So, the voltage drops under load, the regulator can not keep up and therefore the caps try to maintain the voltage, but heat builds up due to excessive current draw.

With the push towards smaller, more compact designs, this causes the engineers to simply go with the smallest of the specs that they can get away with. So, when the final design comes out, and it goes out for build, the builder (assembly house) simply follows the component specs and then gets its supply of components sent from the manufacturer. Once again, at each leg of the manufacturing process, the specs are used as the guide. If the specs are just of a minimal value, and the manufacturer supplies the component with that value, the question comes down to, who’s fault is it?

Did the engineer look at a data sheet of components and see that the standard is a 2000 hr. rated capacitor at TEMP, OP. MAX:105(DEGREE C) and in essence say that will be good enough? Probably. Did the manufacturer of the component, simply target the minimum standard? Probably.

Have computer companies looked at the life cycle of computers being somewhere between three and five years, and say, that if it lasts for four or five years it’s probably good enough? My guess is yes.

However, computers have gotten to the point where even if you go twice as fast for most activities, it really doesn’t matter much. So, more and more of us are keeping our computers for a longer period of time.

Does the manufacturer hold some degree of responsibility for a design that should last longer than the warranty period? And if so, how long? The short answer, is yes. However, the long answer is much more complex than meets the eye. There is always a trade off between price, design, and life expectancy.

I was really ticked off, and still am ticked off to this day, when my Apple failed, two months out of warranty, and the Genius Bar folks said, “Why don’t you just buy a new iMac? The price of a new one is only several hundred dollars more than the parts for the old one.” It was at that point, I had to taken action in my own hands. http://jimwarholic.com/apple

Thank you for listening. Maybe I will post this online, without adding your name to the mix.

Regards,

Jim

Dean Palmer wrote:

Thanks Jim for answering my question! I appreciate your comments very much. And I am right with you on being very upset that your MAC dies right after the warranty period is up. I think that manufacturers should be held accountable for the quality of their products. I know that in reality, it’s “Buyer Beware!” – “If you don’t like my brand, buy someone else’s” … but really, is that the way you’d want YOUR company to do business? The whole attitude out there seems to be “make as much money as you can with as little cost as possible put into it…” – that seems to be capitalism at its worst where greed and lust for wealth and profit creates an environment where crap is king and corporations are driven to make things as cheap as they can get away with! But in the end, we are ALL consumers of products and services. Even the CEO Of SONY, or Toshiba, or in my case, Panasonic – all are consumers. When he goes to buy his Mercedes Benz, would HE be satisfied that it just (barely) meets the warranty period before some major failure occurs? No! He’ll be on the phone to Mercedes to raise hell about it!

So whatever happened to having pride in your product and its quality of workmanship? As you pointed out, for just a few cents more, a better suited capacitor could have been used in the circuit and this would have avoided thousands of upset consumers and calls to service centers. The way I see it, it’s a reputation thing as well as being an ethical matter. When I do a design for my Clients, I want my design to be the best it can be. I was raised by a very demanding and “military authoritative” father who insisted on perfection; to do the best job you can do – or don’t do the job at all. So it’s in my makeup to give my Clients 110 percent on every project that crosses my desk. I will cut corners in design or materials ONLY if they tell me to do so, but with great reservation and reluctance. And for the money I pay for a new TV set, I expect it to last for many years. My parents had an old Motorola Quasar “Works In The Drawer” TV that we had for probably 12 or more years. It was a hybrid design made with tubes and transistors, and a couple ICs. It lasted until the picture tube finally gave up. Wow! But these days, this kind of quality and reliability just isn’t seen anymore. It’s very sad really, especially in the light of technology being so advanced – you could build a DVD player that should last 20 years. And as consumers, have we, for the most part, become used to mediocrity in everything we buy?

No matter what brand I choose, it’s gonna have problems? There just has to be a balance between profits and getting your new gizmo to market before the competition, and building a product of decent quality and reliability. And it seems that the consumer public – you and me included – needs to drive this shift in corporate paradigm by DEMANDING high quality and exceptional reliability from manufacturers. And by the same token, we should also be willing to pay a little extra for it. If I want to buy some off-brand TV set for 79 bucks at Walmart, I can do that, and I’ll get what I get. But when I pay $895.00 for a bran new shiny SONY with all the bells and whistles that even pours me coffee, I EXPECT it to last and last and last. Maybe I’m too much the old school, I don’t know. But I would NEVER design in a 10 volt capacitor into a 10 volt circuit! I “might” design a 20 volt part in there if I’m in a good mood. But I’ll probably and most likely use a 50 volter! And really, what does that do to the end cost of the product? Not much.

There are so many other factors that go into the total cost to manufacture and sell an appliance. One of the biggies is that damn paranoia about lead in the environment (RoHS)! For God’s Sake, don’t people know that lead comes from the ground in the first place? How much of this is political and how much of it really makes sense in the name of public health and the environment? And a lot of the cost to make a product comes from efficiency and the internal structure of the company. Some companies are so wasteful and inefficient that they could build their products lined with gold if they’d just cut out the waste and inefficient practices, and perhaps limit those million dollar bonuses to CEOs. The list is endless, but taking such clean up measures would pay for a better capacitor, diode, or heat sink a thousand fold. And personally, I will pay more as long as I KNOW that I am buying quality. The tires on my car and the brakes I use are the best money can buy. There are some things you just don’t cheapen your way out of! I can buy a cheap DVD player if I want. But I probably won’t. I want good quality at a reasonable price. And I adhere to the Three-To-One policy: for a one year warranty, a product should last three years at the very minimum! Really, warranties are to protect the consumer from DOAs and accidental defects that can sometimes occur in manufacturing or materials. It should NOT be an indicator as to how long I can expect the product to work!

I’ve enjoyed our conversation Jim! Thank you for allowing me to rant. And you may use my name in connection with any of my comments you wish to publish. I hope if you do publish this dialog, it will get people visiting your site to thinking – and demanding – quality and reliability. Next to a fair price, what else matters?

-Dean Palmer

Dean Palmer
Engineer, NPD

MicroDyne Engineering, LLC

Queen Creek, Arizona
USA
480.888.0600
www.microdyneeng.com

“MicroDyne Engineering provides Electronics Design, Research and Development (R&D) and Prototype Design and Assembly services to customers and clients who wish to bring a new technology product idea from concept to actual hardware realization. Their goal is to provide clients and customers with product designs and solutions for markets and applications that would benefit from innovation and value-added product designs.

Reverse-Engineering services can also be provided for existing technology products and devices where the original documentation and component sources are non existent or no longer available.”

Thank you Dean for sharing your insight into the wonderful world of electronics research, design, and product development, with this first hand look into engineering and design of electronics’ products. The mind of an engineer is …

I would also like to extend a big thank you to Dean for granting permission to reprint this here.

Note, all copyrights are reserved.

Regards,

Jim Warholic

My PC friends probably think I am crazy, but the weight of the decision of why I purchased an Apple MacBook Pro fell on five key points of comparisons to other laptop computers.

Apple MacBook Pro vs. Netbook PCs

1. Ease of Use
2. Quality
3. Versatility
4. Form Factor
5. Value (Price divided by the first four points)

My notebook story begins with searching for a good quality, fast speed, good display screen, a comfortable track pad, good software, ease of use, long life battery, ability to do videos and pictures well, but low priced netbook or small laptop for mobile/portable/travel use. I quickly found that there is no such creature like this.

I stopped in over at Fry’s and started playing with the various new Windows 7 Netbooks from Acer and MSI. At first glance I wanted to really like these netbooks, but it was only a short lived infatuation. There were more than a few barriers to taking these netbooks from a foolish liking to an in-depth affection. For one, they were small. Now, that may be good in one aspect for portability, but for another aspect of screen size, it was very difficult to get comfortable with the small screen size. Those of us that are requiring reading glasses are sure to find these screens are much too small. Sure, the price was low at around $350.00, but look at what you are getting for that.

With these netbooks, this really is a case of getting what you pay for. Slow processor speeds, low memory, no dvd/cd drive, and a new operating system with Windows 7 that is all déjà vu. The Windows 7 operating system loaded on these netbooks feels like an upgraded version of Windows XP, with things moved around a bit and other things very difficult to find. Of course, this is the dominate format for these netbooks. Simple things like how to change the icon sizes on the desktop took me 10 minutes to find. And, that was after I spoke with the sales people, though that brings up the topic of the sales people may not have the best of training either. That’s another story. In any case, three of the sales people that I spoke with could not figure it out. It wasn’t located in the Windows 7 control panel area, as one would think. Finally I did what would be a right click with a mouse on the desktop, though I am not sure how I did it with the netbook trackpad, but I was able to change the default icon size to a smaller size.

Speaking of touchpads or trackpads, I have grown up on a mouse in the house for both PCs and Macs. So, this really was my first time investigating and comparing track pads. The trackpads on these netbooks and mini laptops seemed to be engineering afterthoughts. Actually, they lacked quality engineering and no consumer testing. The one that bugged the heck out of me the most was the trackpad on the MSI mini laptop. It felt like sandpaper on the tips of my fingers after playing with it for 10 minutes. Actually, I ended up pulling another customer over and asking him what he thought of the touchpad. His thoughts were exactly the same as mine. The trackpad had a very textured finish that was not comfortable to the touch. I can only imagine what it would be like after navigating with this trackpad for an hour or so. I would have to put Band-Aids on my fingers. Definitely not a very good touchy-feely experience.

So, I decide that maybe I needed to move up in price and screen size. I moved up to the mid range for laptops. However, there seemed to be a void in the size from the 8.9 inch – 11 inch version mini laptops to the 15 inch larger laptops. Price started going up significantly as I wanted a more powerful laptop that could do various types of mult-tasking, and still stay with a useful but compact size. Next thing I knew, I was up around the $700.00 price tag. But, still I had issues with trackpads, and the lack of ease of use.

So, I ventured over to the Mac table. Being an equal opportunity user of both Windows PCs and Macs and am well versed in both the PC and Mac land, having owned many versions of Windows PCs and an iMac G5 for a number of years. I have also had the opportunity to have hands on experience by having friends allowing me to play with their MacBooks for various applications. When I went over to the Mac table, it was a breath of heaven to feel and touch the new MacBooks.

My First Thoughts on the MacBook and MacBook Pro

The first thing that stood out to me was the ease of use. The trackpads are very very easy to use. Having a Multi-Touch Trackpad that is large, smooth, extremely powerful, two finger scroll capable, two finger pinch zoom capable, two finger rotate, and even two finger right click or secondary click capable with the full complement of right click commands available. Additional trackpad features include three finger swipe navigation to go forward or back in browser history, four finger swipe left to right to switch applications, or four finger swipe up down for exposing the open applications. You can even set the one finger to tap to click, dragging, drag lock, and secondary click to bottom left or bottom right corner. Track speed, double-click speed, and scrolling speed can all be individually adjusted to just the way you want them.

With this MacBook Trackpad, you will quickly find out that a person can go from using a mouse to very easily using the Multi-Touch Trackpad in no time flat.

Another aspect of the MacBook that makes it a joy to work with, is the ease of use of the Mac OS X Snow Leopard. While any new software will take time getting use to, the learning curve for the Mac OS X is very fast. I think part of the reason for this is the intuitiveness of how the things are laid out. Apple also has some very good quick training videos that are quite helpful. Take a look at some of the Mac tutorials on how to do things.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard operating system is a pleasure to work with. It is very intuitive, which makes for a very easy transition to go from working with a Windows based machines to a Mac based operating systems. Of course, I am a bit biased in this area, since I have been using both Windows and Mac machines for quite some time. Never the less, some friends of mine who had been with Windows their whole lives, recently made the switch to Mac, and the operating system switch proved to be a very easy transition for them.

The high quality of the Apple MacBooks can not be overstated. Everything fits together like a form fitting glove. The opening of the screen display has just the right amount of hinge tightness. As I stated before, the trackpad is very smooth, and seems to just fit perfectly for your hands and fingers on the keyboard area. The keyboard has automatic backlighting, which in dim environments is great for quick reference. The MacBook Pro comes in a very sleek, 1.08 inches thin, aluminum unibody construction.

I bought the 13.3 inch MacBook Pro with the glossy widescreen display. This for me was the perfect fit for size and portability, but has plenty of desktop space with a screen of 1280-by-800 pixel resolution, made this one the ideal laptop solution for viewing documents, web sites, videos, and pictures.

The weight of the MacBook Pro 13 inch at 4.7 pounds is very manageable. It easily fits into a briefcase or backpack. I also suggest a carrying case to protect your MacBook. I decided to go with the Incase Nylon Sleeve Case for the Apple 13 inch MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro fits perfectly in this padded case and provides extra storage areas on both sides for accessories. The case and the MacBook Pro worked out perfectly for a recent vacation trip from California to Florida with several layovers. The case added the extra protection and allowed me to quickly place the MacBook in my carryon suitcase, and quickly remove it for airport security checks. The case also comes with a removable shoulder strap and is available in three colors, black, graphite, and mustard.

The MacBook Pro is such a pleasure to use for all aspects of computing. For example, when it comes to viewing video on the screen, it is second to none. The display is rich in color, bright, and vivid to look at. Movies are cool to watch and when it comes to catching up on your television shows like Flash Forward episodes, it is incredible to watch it on the MacBook. It’s as though watching it on the MacBook Pro is better than on the TV screen. The stereo sound quality from the computer is great too. The audio level has decibels of sound to spare. You can actually make the sound too loud for others in the room. Forget trying that with any other netbook.

With the built-in iSight camera and microphone, doing a Google Video Chat was simply amazing. The camera and built-in microphone worked great together. I was able to use the camera in both low light and regular lighting conditions. The chat session was perfect. There was no audio feedback and the person on the other end said the audio and video were perfect too.

The battery life is rated at 7 hours, but that is under somewhat controlled conditions. Apple quotes the following from their website:

Testing conducted by Apple in May 2009 using preproduction 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pro units. Battery life depends on configuration and use. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information. The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%.

I typically like my screen brighter than 50%, and was able to generally get about 5+ hours of battery usage on three battery cycles. However, I was playing videos, browsing the Internet through wireless connections, and searching for other wireless Internet connections during this time.

The charging plug is held in place with a super strong magnet, which if someone catches the cord will simply pull the connector off the MacBook without pulling the MacBook down to the floor. Definitely a great safety feature. the charger is very compact, and fits nice and flat inside one of the Incase pockets I bought for the MacBook Pro.

The MacBook Pro 13 inch that I purchased has the 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; which supports up to 8GB of memory, 250GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm hard drive, and 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW).

MacBook Pro Features

Left Side View of MacBook Pro 13 Inch Model

Connections and Expansion Ports

• MagSafe power port
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
• Mini DisplayPort
• Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
• SD card slot
• Audio in/out
• Kensington lock slot

Communications

• Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

Audio

• Built-in stereo speakers
• Built-in omnidirectional microphone
• Combined optical digital output/headphone out (user-selectable analog audio line in)
• Supports Apple Stereo Headset with microphone

Read more about all the MacBook Pro features today.

By the way, if a person really wants to have their cake and eat it too, in the form of Windows 7 on their MacBook, there is another feature that lets a person load any operating system they wish. Boot Camp is a utility included with Apple Inc.’s Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" and v10.6 "Snow Leopard" operating systems that assists users in installing Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or 7 on Intel-based Macintosh computers. Boot Camp guides users through non-destructive re-partitioning (including resizing of an existing HFS+ partition, if necessary) of their hard disk drive and using the Mac OS X Leopard disc to install Windows drivers. In addition to device drivers for the hardware, the disc includes an applet for the Windows control panel for selecting the boot operating system.

In addition to Boot Camp, there are other avenues that are also available such as, VMware Fusion 3 and Parallels Desktop that provide the means of loading Microsoft Windows and other non Windows operating systems such as Linux OS onto the MacBook computers. Both VMware Fusion 3 and Parallels Desktop are helpful software applications that allow folks to run Windows applications directly and concurrently on their MacBooks and quickly switch between the two.

VMware Fusion 3

Parallels Desktop

VirtualBox

There is also an open source software, VirtualBox, available from Sun. VirtualBox is an x86 virtualization software package, originally created by German software company Innotek, now developed by Sun Microsystems as part of its Sun xVM virtualization platform. It is installed on an existing host operating system; within this application, additional operating systems, each known as a Guest OS, can be loaded and run, each with its own virtual environment.

“Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris, and OpenBSD.”

I have to say that the MacBook Pro is really a great all purpose laptop computer for business, school, and personal use. With ease of use, superb quality, immense versatility, and an awesome form factor, the value of this MacBook Pro computer is outstanding. You won’t want to leave home without it! Checkout the online Amazon Apple Store deals today.

Jim Warholic

Jim Warholic is President of Professional Web Services, Inc., an Internet Marketing Services firm specializing in B2B and B2C Internet marketing, SEO services, online advertising, and online branding strategies. Contact Professional Web Services today.

The days of using a 20 watt soldering iron from Radio Shack are long gone when it comes to repairing lead free soldered circuits in Apple Computers, PCs, and other lead-free electronics equipment.

With multilayer boards, thick ground planes and power planes, and high temperature circuit board materials, along with countries having bans on the use of leaded solder in circuit boards; electronic components are now being attached using lead-free wave soldering or pick-and-place machines using conductive epoxy flux adhesives and then heat cured. All of this adds up to quite a bit of difficulty in reworking and repairing circuit boards today.

While it is good to keep our environment clean, I think the wide spread use of lead-free solder in printed circuit board assembly processes is a case filled with a manufacturing life of unintended consequences. There are major challenges that have and continue to affect printed circuit board manufacturing around the world. First off, PCB materials must be able to withstand lead-free soldering temperatures of up to 260[degrees]C during the assembly operation. [1] This in itself, requires the use of more expensive, and much more difficult materials to work with at the PCB manufacturing stages. Not only is the multilayer construction much more difficult to deal with, but the drilling of the holes in thick multilayer circuit boards, with circuit board materials that are of a “harder” material nature, as compared to traditional FR-4 resin systems (not designed for lead-free), directly adds to the manufacturing costs involved.

I also find it interesting, that about the time where the world (pushed by the European Union) started converting over to using lead-free PCB manufacturing techniques, there seems to be a correlation between the electrolytic capacitor failures that started to occur a short time later in TVs, Set-Top Boxes, Computers, PCs from Dell, Apple, and other computer manufacturers, along with a host of other high powered electronic gadgets. I have no way of proving it, but I suspect that many of these components were hit with a large temperature blast through either high temperature wave soldering processes or oven based curing used in the finished component filled PCB assemblies.

“With a melting point of 217°C, SAC solder also is closest in melting point to the conventional lead–tin solder. This does mean, however, a yet-unquantified increase in energy use. Furthermore, the higher temperature may pose problems for the electronics industry. Higher temperatures mean more stress on components and the entire manufacturing process, notes Geibig. Higher temperatures also mean increases in the time it takes to make products, because more time is required to heat and cool the products during the course of their manufacture.” [2]

On July 1, 2006 the European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) came into effect, prohibiting the intentional addition of lead to most consumer electronics produced in the EU. California recently adopted a RoHS law and China has a version as well. [3] In order to meet the new directives established by the EU on removing the lead from electronics, has greatly affected the PCB assembly world at large. In effect, countries that did not have directives for the use of lead-free electronics assembly, were forced by default of having to build to meet the international requirements from the EU.

“This directive (EU Directive 2002/95/EC) places a restriction on the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical or electronic equipment sold or used in the European Union (EU) after July 1, 2006 with some exemptions.” [4]

‘Within the United States, California’s Electronic Waste Recycling Act imposes a fee on “covered electronic devices” currently being sold within the state. This fee is intended to cover the cost of properly disposing of the products when they become waste. Second, it requires “covered electronic devices” sold in California after January 1, 2007 to meet the same requirements as those found in European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation. Electronic devices containing toxic metals and not complying may not be manufactured, sold, or imported into California after January 1, 2007.’ [4] Other states have enacted similar laws.

So, what does that mean for circuit board and electronics repair folks today looking for ways to extend the service lives of their equipment? Well, there are some special soldering techniques that are involved to do the electronic repair jobs right.

What is required to repair lead-free circuit boards with large discrete components?

These lead-free soldering tips are specifically geared toward the large discrete components such as: electrolytic capacitors, transistors, diodes, bridge rectifiers, and coils (inductor chokes). Information on how to repair and replace surface mount devices with lead-free soldering techniques is waiting for a later date to be written.

1. The minimum wattage for a soldering iron needs to be 60 watts. The 60 watts rating is only part of the specification to consider. Be aware that some soldering irons actually get hotter than others given the same wattage ratings. Additionally, you will need to consider using a proper soldering tip for the job at hand. If you are trying to solder on a thick multilayer PCB, then a wide tip is absolutely required to do the job right. There is also a difference in the coatings between the lead-free tips and the old standard Pb tips used for the standard 60/40 Tin Lead (60/40 Sn/Pb) Solder. 60/40 Sn/Pb melts at 370 °F or 188 °C while various lead-free solders used in PCB assembly have a melting point range of 415-441 °F or 213-227 °C . It is important to note that the increase in the melting temperature for lead-free solder, does not tell the whole story for proper solder joints involved with component replacements and PCB repairs.

You might be thinking, that the soldering iron I have gets up to 850 °F, I should be able to repair any lead-free soldered component on any PCB. That is wrong thinking here. I mentioned at the beginning about having a wide tip when soldering a thick multilayer. But, you need more than a wide tip. The soldering iron, at the tip, must be able to quickly recover on the heat cycle. It must also be able to supply the heat continually at a constant temperature, or near constant temperature to do the job right. This is where the wattage of the soldering iron is a factor for delivering the heat continually.

A thick multilayer PCB acts like a huge heatsink, sucking the heat away from the area that you want it, and dissipating it over the area where it is not required. If you use a small caliber soldering iron to try and remove components on this type of PCB, you will more than likely simply heat up the circuit board in a wide area, including the component itself before the solder will ever melt. In fact, it is quite likely that the lead-free solder will never melt, because the soldering iron can not quickly and effectively localize the heat in a high enough concentration to do any good. Actually you will probably do more harm than good.

I have heard from some folks, and talking from experience, that you will end up throwing a few choice words around that will not endear yourself to your spouse, if you try to use a low powered soldering iron. Even if you do manage to remove the component, the new component you install will have either the poorest of a solder joint, making you look like an amateur, or worse, an overly heated and damaged component that will result in early failure. Solder joints made with a low wattage soldering iron will likely result in cold solder joints, which will result in poor electrical connectivity and a non-working circuit board.

How about a portable butane powered soldering iron, won’t that work better? Been there and done that. Take it from experience, the answer to that question is no. I tried a wide tipped butane powered soldering iron and I was not able to even make a dent in the lead-free solder on a Apple iMac G5 motherboard.

What about a soldering gun? Once again, been there, done that. It doesn’t work with even the highest powered soldering gun. Soldering guns are not really designed for circuit board repairs. Take it from experience, put this idea out of your mind, it won’t work.

So Jim, what do you recommend in a soldering iron? Do you recommend a lead free soldering iron or a lead free soldering station? Let me first say here, that I have recommended some soldering irons and soldering stations to folks that have written to me and asked for my advice on various Apple repairs, and I would be more than happy to recommend something if you send me an email request. I will say this, that you can get a very good one at a very decent price. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a soldering station. However, don’t make the mistake and think you can get by with the old hobby soldering iron that you have in the desk drawer. Trying to use a substandard, low wattage soldering iron for lead-free motherboard repairs will give you headaches galore.  Actually, I would like to hear more from readers of what you have used for lead free soldering.

2. What is the best way to remove the electronic component such as a electrolytic capacitor off a thick multilayer PCB once I have a good soldering iron or soldering station? I suggest you have the PCB standing up on edge, so that you can work from both sides of the circuit board. Check out the Chip Quik kit for removing the capacitors in difficult circuit boards. While heating up one leg of a radial electrolytic capacitor from the bottom, and at the same time slightly pushing the capacitor from the top, away from the leg being heated, at which time the solder starts to melt, the capacitor leg will start to move out of the hole. Do this for the other leg, alternating back and forth to each leg, and slowly work out the capacitor from the hole as the solder melts. After the capacitor is removed, a solder sucker can be used to remove a lot of the excess solder in and around the circuit pad. Using solder wick, (also referred to as desoldering wick or desoldering braid) on the thicker boards does not work well because of the extra heatsinking that occurs when the solder wick is applied. At this stage of the component replacement repair, invariably, not all the solder will come out of the holes with the use of a good quality solder sucker. This is where I suggest using my next soldering tip.

3. Try using a sewing pin, with a plastic head, (even a correct size safety pin works) and heat up the tip and the solder pad at the same time, once the caps are removed. This will push the solder out of the holes and solder will not stick to the steel sewing pins. Stop in at your local sewing machine center and you will find a large assortment of sewing pin sizes. Select a sewing pin size that matches up to the size of the leg of the capacitor. Once the pin is pushed through the hole, continue to apply heat to the pin and the pad, and move it in and out, making the hole the right size for your new components.

4. Is it best to use lead-free solder when installing the replacement capacitors? I have mixed thoughts on this. On the one hand, since the board is already using a lead-free solder, I would say stay with using lead-free solder. Yes, standard 60/40 lead solder is much easier to work with, due to its lower melting point, and some folks say it seems to work fine, but I have some reservations about using it. One negative item to be aware of here is that it is much more likely to end up getting cold solder joints when mixing solder types, and the other concern is, there may be a reduction in the soldering iron tip life if using the special plated tips designed for lead-free soldering, and using leaded solder.

I do have one major item that must be adhered to; only use a rosin core type of solder. Do not use acid flux. No acid flux. Acid core solder and acid flux will damage the circuit board and/or the components. With that being said, it is important that what ever solder is used, that the old solder and the new solder join (melt) together when installing the new components. Be careful with this that you don’t under heat or over heat your work. Just the right amount will do. It is hard to describe how much, and how long the heat should be applied to get a good solder joint. Take a close look at your solder joints. If they seem to be loose, then reapply the heat until the old and the new become one. As an additional note, and I have to say once again as a matter of importance, remember that the components themselves do not like it too hot for too long.

To properly solder motherboard capacitors on thick MOBs, you will need to operate the soldering iron or soldering station temperatures at or near maximum temperature settings. Heat up the pad on the bottom first and foremost by having most of the soldering tip on the pad; while at the same time having the tip touch the capacitor leg. I strongly suggest using lead free rosin core solder with a no clean residue; which you can purchase with your capacitors order at www.jwestsales.com. The no clean flux rosin core solder simply means that the center of the solder has a flux rosin core that is activated by heat, and the remaining residual flux does not need to be cleaned off the circuit board and will not harm the onboard circuitry. Remember also, that the MOB has residual lead free solder already present on the circuit pad and lining the circuit board hole walls, and must be melted (typically referred to as “wetting” action) with the new solder to form a good solder joint. If you use standard 60/40 lead solder for soldering, it is much more difficult to do the job just right, and is much more likely to produce cold solder joints because the different types of solders melt at substantially different temperatures and will not properly join together.

Be careful of other small components and surface mount devices (SMD) on the bottom and top of the boards. These devices are so small, that many times they can be damaged or unattached to the PCB simply by accidentally placing the soldering iron tip on the surface mounted component soldered leads, either moving it or bridging the leads with solder. So what I am saying is, try to use a steady hand.

The picture above, of the custom circuit board clamping hands-free support system, is the brainchild of Paul N. — Grayslake, IL. Paul writes, “You can buy a 12″ x 2.5″ (depth) wood-working clamp from Home Depot for about $10 and a 3″ ‘C’ clamp for another $5. Then apply some adhesive-backed, dense foam rubber on each face of the wood-working clamp. Note that I removed the hard rubber covers that were on the clamp originally.” Paul calls the device the, “Kludged Circuit Board Clamp.” It is important to note that when clamping the circuit board with any clamping device, that you do not position the clamps on top of any components or the very small low profile SMDs on either side of the PCB.

There is another lead free soldering/unsoldering components helper that is simply amazing! Check out the video of the Chip Quik lead-free unsoldering kit and system of replacing components on circuit boards. I highly recommend this patented SMD and discrete components removal kit.

Read more about Apple iMac G5 Motherboard and Apple Power Supply Repairs.

Feel free to contact me at anytime.

Jim Warholic

Sources:
[1] The effects of lead-free on PCB fabrication: assemblers may bear most of the brunt of the…

[2] Getting the Lead Out of Electronics

[3] Solder: Wikipedia

[4] Why Should I Care About RoHS and Lead-Free Initiatives?

When it comes to fixing your Apple iMac G5, I’ve got the repair solutions for you.

• Do it yourself motherboard repairs.
• Do it yourself power supply repairs.
• MOB and PSU capacitors for sale.
• Specialty screwdrivers and Torx bits for sale.
• Arctic Silver thermal heat sink compounds for sale for Apple, Intel, AMD CPUs and for use between other modern high-powered CPUs and high performance heatsinks or water-cooling solutions.

J West Sales Store – eCommerce to the World

Find Apple iMac G5 capacitor kits for mother boards and power supplies available to purchase online. Arctic Silver Thermal Heatsink Compound and computer tools are available too. Apple iMac G5 extra long life (10,000 hours) low ESR Caps.

See What’s on the Computer Tap Today

I’m adding new items for sale on a regular basis at J West Sales eCommerce Store, so check back with me later. In the mean time, if you are looking for something special, or would like to see me carry some other products for sale, let me know, and I’ll see if I can track them down for you. Contact Jim Warholic today.

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Updated information on the floppy disk drives hardware interfaces and FDD emulators to replace 3.5 inch, 5.25 inch, and 8 inch floppy disk drive units. These devices are not external USB floppy disk drives, but direct floppy disk drive replacements for internal original equipment manufacturers floppy disk drives. In other words, if the OEM computer has a standard 34 pin floppy disk drive cable, these devices are plug and play. No USB port is required on the OEM computer for the floppy emulators to function. This is follow up information to my first article on the subject: The Floppy Disk Drive Engineering Design Challenge SSD to FDD

Pictured above from right to left are old legacy 3 1/2, 5 1/4, and 8 inch floppy disk drives which have been installed in OEM computers. The floppy disk drive emulators replace these old legacy floppy disk drives with a simple plug-and-play emulator device. No computer USB ports are required for operation. In fact the three floppy disk drive emulator devices shown below are designed for computers that do not have USB ports.

Readers have been asking for quite some time if I have found out any more information on the FDD SDD interfaces.

How is the FDD SDD interface shaping up?

I would like to see a device in a 3.5″ form factor to fit in existing housings.
It should have a SD slot in the front with a LED or LCD display, up/down buttons and a soft eject/reinsert button, this way you can dial up the appropriate floppy image and then soft-insert it.

Because the FD drive interface uses control signals to physically step the motor and heads, the interface will need an MCU such as a Pic to act as a interpreter between the memory buffer (720k or 1.44k) and the interface. A second MCU should be used to interface the SD card to the memory buffer.

Disk images can be stored in individual folders on the SD card and accessed incrementally.

The unit will also need several hardware switches to emulate the various non-standard formats (i.e.: disk insert notification) adopted by early manufacturers.

Just a couple of thoughts. I think this device has potential to be a very popular eBay item.

Cheers,

Q

In response to those emails, and thank you for sending all those emails to me by-the-way; below is FDD information that I think many engineers and end users will find very useful and some possible solutions to the old legacy floppy disk drives.

Apparently there are a few FDD hardware replacement solutions from several companies called “floppy disk drive emulators” for the old floppy disk drives in legacy equipment.

A. I listed these FDD emulator manufacturers in no particular order.

ipcas – USB Floppy Emulator 100 in 1

The USB Floppy Emulator 100 in 1 is from ipcas GmbH, a company located in Germany. The USB Floppy Emulator 100 in 1 device is a direct replacement for the old legacy floppy diskette drives. The connections on the back of this FDD emulator are identical to that of the old floppy disk drives. On the back of this device is the 34-pin socket where the floppy disk drive cable gets plugged in, and the +5 volt DC standard power connection for the floppy drive also plugs in to the back side.

The front side of the device accepts a USB Stick, which acts like the floppy disk, but stores up to 100 virtual floppy disk drives on the USB Stick, with each number representing the virtual floppy disk drive being accessed. Simply select the desired virtual floppy (0-99) with the selection button to choose which virtual floppy you wish to access from the USB Stick front plug in.

According to the USB Floppy Disk Emulator User Manual, “The ipcas Floppy Disk Emulator can also replace other forms of disk drives and disk storage systems. Refer to the comparison with a 5¼ inch floppy disk drive with 1.2 MB floppies.”

Pictured below is the backside view of the ipcas USB Floppy Emulator 100 in 1 device.

Notice on the picture above, the standard 34 pin floppy disk connector and the standard power connector. These connectors are plugged into the existing OEM computers, (where a floppy disk drive would be installed) and the front side is where the USB stick would be inserted.

The beauty of this device is that no driver or configuration software is required to install and operate this floppy disk emulator with old legacy equipment. The manual states, “Many machines and devices are still using floppy disk drives as the only means of data input. CNC, milling, injection mold, or embroidery machines, laser cutting devices and integrated control systems, just to mention a few, are still being fed data with floppy disks several times a day.”

B. The Next Floppy Disk Emulator Device

PLR Electronics – 3 ½ floppy drive to USB flash drive reader upgrade

PLR Electronics specializes in the embroidery machine circuit boards. They also have been involved in repairing other circuit board equipment too. PLR Electronics sells the 3½ floppy drive to USB flash drive reader upgrade device. PLR Electronics claims that the device will “work successfully on · CNC Machines · Embroidery Machines · Keyboards · Knitting Machines · Diagnostics Machines · Cutters · Routers · And most any machines with a Floppy Disk Drive.”

The backside of the emulator has the power connection plug and the floppy disk drive cable plug. Simply remove the old floppy drive cable and power connection, and plug it into the FDD emulator. The front side of the device has the USB Flash Drive Port, a File Chooser Connector Port, and even a Network port connection to another computer. The file chooser provides a means of selecting which files on the USB Flash Drive you wish to choose.

There are a number of modes of operation. SFDR-1, SFDR-II (SFDR-1 + File Chooser),  plus other modes of operation:

We request that you inform us on the original floppy drive type when placing an order to avoid mismatching the drive type. For example:

• SFDR-I-I————–Universal IBM type
• SFDR-I-A————-YD-6639D, TEAC235FG
• SFDR-I-B————-NEC 1137C
• SFDR-I-C————-YD-6037D

The picture below shows how the Floppy Drive Emulator from PLR Electronics would be installed.

Installation Instructions:

To install your 3 1?2 floppy to USB Flash Reader, with the device powered off and unplugged, simply remove the existing drive from its existing cradle. Disconnect existing ribbon cable and power cable from existing drive. Reattach existing power cable and ribbon cable to the USB Flash Reader. Insert USB Flash Reader into existing 3 1?2 floppy cradle and reattach all hardware. Your device is now ready to use. If any existing configuration is required on your system, please use all standard settings for a 3 1?2 floppy drive as detailed in your devices user manual.

Once the floppy emulator is installed, you then can use any USB Flash Stick as your floppy drive. In other words, you use a portable USB stick as the floppy. The original floppy cable plugs directly into the floppy emulator. These are not external USB floppy drives.

I would also imagine (though I have not confirmed) that if there were two floppy drives on the OEM equipment to begin with, you could hook up one of these devices and copy from one of the original floppy drives to the new emulated floppy drive onto a USB stick.

This is a plug and play device also. The 3½ floppy drive to USB flash drive reader manual provides some Frequently Asked Questions that are very informative.

Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs
- Q – Will this device work with a Windows NT operating system?
A – YES. This device should work with any OS assuming it is capable of working with IBM type floppies.
- Q – Will the 3 1/2 floppy to USB drive work in a XXXXXXXXX that can only read 720k 3 1/2 floppies?
A – Yes
- Q – We have XXXXXXX machines here and the floppy disk is 720K. IF we put a 1.44k in the machine the floppy drive does not work. Do you have a 720K mode on your device? T
A – Yes
- Q – Hi I am presently using a XXXXXXX keyboard which uses floppy disks on which I play my music files. Can this flash drive reader be used in my case?
A – Yes it will.
- Q – Hi, I currently have a floppy disk drive that is half the height of a standard drive. How can I modify this to work?
A – You do not need to modify anything. We offer a laptop height version. Please ask for this version when placing your order.
- Q – Is it USB 2.0?
A – No, its standard USB. However, USB 2.0 is used primarily for high speed data transfer. In this instance, the files you are using are very small so, there will be no noticeable difference.

C. On to the next storage systems emulators for replacing floppy disk drive units.

Data Storage DTX-200 Floppy Disk Drive Emulator

Datex, located in France, sells the Datastorage, storage systems emulators to replace legacy disk drives, such as Fujitsu MK2322, Control Data FSD515, Ampex, Maxtor XT1140, as well as tape drives. Datex manufactures  the DTX-200 Floppy Disk Drive Emulator. The DTX-200 is designed for directly replacing 3 1/2, 5 1/4, and 8 inch floppy disk drive units.

There are numerous options available for the Datastorage DTX200. Compact Flash cards or USB keys can be used to store data on. A floppy disk adapter card is designed specifically for the specific connection technology to directly replace each of the specific types and manufacturers model floppy disk drives.

The DTX-200 Floppy Disk Drive Emulator documentation states the following:

The DTX 200 can replace all the floppy disk drives, for example:

• 8” DRIVES: SHUGART SA850, CDC BRB8A, YE DATA , …
• 5 1/4” DRIVES:
  • Full height: SHUGART SA400, MPI 92S, TANDON TM100, …
  • Semi-height: TEAC : FD-05xx, FD-55xx, FD-235xx, EPSON : SD-681L, …
• 3 1/2” DRIVES: ALPS: AL FD 7xx, PANASONIC: JU-25xxx, SONY: MPF-520xx, MPF-920xx, …
  And all other Floppy disk drives…

The Datastorage DTX200 is designed to fit in the space of a 3.5 inch floppy drive. Apparently it is pre-programmed to have the same features as the floppy drive being replaced. It is designed to hold information on a CF (Compact Flash Memory Card), or a USB key and is designed to be used in numerous applications such as: cash registers, robots, planes, boats, and submarines. A StorageNewsletter.com press release, Datex Designed a Floppy Disk Drive Emulator, dated January 5th, 2009, stated that “this DTX200 emulator has already been installed in Japan and Taiwan, as well as in the French RATP.”

What do these Floppy Disk Drive Emulators Cost?

The cost of these Floppy Disk Drive Emulators vary considerably. At this time, I am not going to post the individual prices, because they are probably changing as I write this. The FDD Emulators go from approximately 275 USD to 1,100 USD and the cost could be more expensive depending on the added options. The links are there to the companies and the emulators in this article to compare the costs yourself.

Which one is best for your application?

There are pros and cons to each of the above floppy disk drive emulators. Some have more options than others. Certainly some of them are significantly more expensive than others, but that is not the only criteria that should be used in the evaluation process. Since I have not tried any of these emulators out myself, I feel I can not give you an honest analysis of which FDD emulator I would recommend.

If anyone does decide to use any of these floppy disk drive replacement emulators, I would sure like to get your feedback on how well they worked for you.

A reader was kind enough to post the following information in the comments section, but I wanted to post it here in case the URL hyperlinks change:

Here a complete list of the available floppy usb emulators:

• 1)
  http://members.fortunecity.it/blackvisionit/emufdd_it.htm
• 2)
  http://www.rothfus.com/SVD/index.php
• 3)
  http://embroiderydrive.com/
  http://nomorefloppies.com/
• 4)
  http://www.datexdsm.com/emulator/DTX200photo.html
• 5)
  http://www.plrelectronics.com/floppy_to_usb.php
• 6) (IPCAS & RIOC are QHSFD resellers…)
  http://qhsfd.com/product.asp
  http://www.ipcas.com/products/usb-floppy-emulator-fdd-to-udd.html
  http://www.rioc.us/ufr-usb-floppy-replacement.php

Thank you for your comments.

Fell free to send me an email, and/or post additional comments online here too.

Jim Warholic

Jim Warholic is an Internet marketer, with a background in electronics, engineering, printed circuit boards, technology, marketing, advertising, and sales. Jim is President of Professional Web Services, Inc., an Internet marketing company located in the San Francisco Bay Area; specializing in Internet marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing) online advertising, PPC (Pay Per Click advertising campaign management), SMM (Social Media Marketing) and SMM (Social Media Optimization), web branding, eCommerce solutions, and sales and marketing solutions for businesses in both the B2B and B2C market sectors.

Take a trip with about Jim, with a Blast From the Past!

The challenge is to design a floppy disk drive interface to be a direct replacement for 3½-inch FDD or older 5¼-inch floppy disk drives on legacy industrial computer equipment. The FDD engineering hardware design requirements would be to build a new style FDD solid state disk drive, hooked up on the floppy disk connector (FDD). Keep in mind, the option to install is not available on legacy machines a solid state HD device — IDE to Compact Flash CF adapter on the parallel IDE HD connector since many industrial equipment machines do not support IDE; which by-the-way, these direct replacement hard drive adapters are currently available for PCs with IDE PATA ports (see images below). As part of the engineering guidelines, the direct replacement FDD device must also be able to read and write from FDD 1 to Solid State CF FDD 2 or vice versa. Additional followup information to this FDD article can be found at: FDD Floppy Disk Drive Emulators and Interfaces

View solid state hard drive adapters for compact flash memory cards displayed below.

FDD Engineering and Design Notes For Direct Replacement Floppy Drives

Many of the old industrial machines used in various product manufacturing industries, and continued to be serviced and supported throughout the manufacturing world today, especially that of the circuit board drilling equipment and PCB routing machines, along with legacy CNC metal fabrication and CNC plastic machining, mold cutting equipment, and die making machines still use either the 5¼ FDD or 3.5 inch FDD to load operating systems and store part programs on hybrid computers. These hybrid computers are not PC based and have no internal or external hard disk drives, nor are these industrial equipment machines capable of hooking up a hard disk drive through any type of IDE cable connector; since the computers do not have IDE HDD interface capabilities, nor do they have USB connector capabilities either. Other machine fields that are excellent candidates for a new style SDD FDD would include: commercial grade and high-end consumer models embroidery machine equipment, quilting machines, and programmable sewing machines used built-in floppy drives for storing patterns and job programs.

Other industrial machines were designed around the original IBM PC which preceded the “IBM XT” and included 5 ¼ inch floppy drives but no hard disk. There may not be very many of these types of machines still in existence or actively used in production today.

Machines that are still being used in production, but have their own hybrid computers, are typically using a proprietary floppy disk controller for reading and writing to the floppy disk drives. This makes disks written in the proprietary format, unable to be read with the standard PC format floppy drives.

New manufacturing equipment is very expensive. Many of these these older machines are still quite capable of producing products in a production environment, and their owners are not willing to throw them away to buy a brand new machine equipment that will produce the same amount of product, in the same amount of time.

History of the Floppy Disk Drive

Floppy drives have been around since 1971, when IBM was the first to introduce the 80 KB read-only 8-inch FD. Subsequently, IBM, Memorex, and Shugart introduced 8-inch RW SSSD and DSSD floppy drives that reached a storage capacity of 980 KB (CP/M) – 1.2 MB (MS-DOS FAT) in 1977. Then in 1978 the 5¼-inch DD was introduced which had a storage capacity of 360 KB or 800 KB. In 1982 the first 3½-inch HP single sided FDD came on the market with a capacity of 264 KB. 1984 marked the introduction of the Macintosh which used the 3½-inch (DD at release). It had a marked capacity of 1 MB, though it was more like 720 KB (400 KB SS, 800 KB DS on Macintosh, and 880 KB DS on the Amiga computer).

3½-inch and 5¼-inch floppy drives shared the market place from 1982 through the late 1990s and even some industrial equipment manufacturers continued to use 5¼-inch floppy drives just at the turn of the century, though most industrial equipment manufacturers switched to the 3½-inch FDD models long before. The floppy disk drives have now been largely superseded by USB flash drives, CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs.

R&D and Investment Capital by US Industrial Equipment Manufacturers

How did we get into this FDD mess. Part of the reluctance for US industrial equipment manufacturers to design new industrial equipment, with using new style PC based controllers had to do with the costs associated with R&D investments in both hardware and software engineering and design. Also, because of the sizeable R&D investments which many of these companies had made in the past, with specialized dedicated computers that had worked well up until this time in a manufacturing environment, top management was reluctant to spend any more investment capital into designing what was already perceived as a solid engineering design. While US companies sat on their laurels, their foreign manufacturing counterparts had leapfrogged over the controller designs, and started building controllers that were using standard, over the counter, PC based controllers, with software written to run under a Microsoft Windows environment. Now, many of the US manufacturers have been hit hard by the foreign competition and are struggling mightily to compete once again in the world markets.

What we need, is a Floppy Disk Drive Solid State Bridge or FDD SSD

What is happening for many of the end users of this legacy equipment is simply that the floppy drives are wearing out. They are getting old, and with the lack of replacement parts available, the equipment is becoming obsolete. These end users need a floppy disk drive bridge to get them over the hump, especially in these difficult economic times. They need something cheap and easy, that would quickly interface to these old floppy disk drives with a simple FDD plug and play device that requires no software drivers to be installed on the computer. Ideally speaking, it would be based on the solid state drive design similar to the SDD HDD — solid state drive hard disk drive, but for a SDD FDD — solid state drive floppy disk drive hookup.

The demise of the floppy disk drive is making it more difficult to keep aging computer systems operational. Floppies are still used for emergency boot disks on many of these aging systems that lack support for other boot media such as CD-ROMs and USB devices. Even some of the Windows Operating systems such as Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 relied on third party drivers, loaded on floppies. Many of the BIOS and firmware update and restore programs require they be executed from a bootable floppy disk. And if heaven forbid, during a BIOS update something goes wrong, even as of 2008, a floppy disk is required to perform a BIOS recovery after a failed BIOS update attempt.

The music industry still employs many types of electronic equipment that use standard floppy disks as a storage medium. Equipment that is quite functional, and was quite expensive to purchase, and would undoubtedly be prohibitively expensive to replace such items in the music industry as: synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, and sequencers, all of which continue to use 3½-inch floppy disks. Other storage options, such as CD-R, CD-RW, network connections, and USB storage devices have taken much longer to mature in this industry. Source: Wikipedia — Floppy Disk Drive.

So, it makes sense to bridge the FDD storage technology gap between the old floppies and the newer storage device options of CDs, DVDs, external HDs, and USB storage devices.

SSD HDD — Solid State Disk Drives For Laptops, Notebooks, and PC & Apple Desktop Computers

Here are some examples of HDD solid state hard drive adapter devices that can be used on computers to replace the internal hard disk drives using an adapter plug and socket to install Compact Flash (CF). Besides the availability of hard drive adapters, a person can replace their internal hard drive with solid state drives. There are SSD HD IDE PATA for the older parallel ATA interface IDE internal hard drives and SSD HD SATA for the newer and faster serial ATA interfaces available too.

Floppy Disk Drive Bay Mounts and PCI Slot for IDE to Compact Flash Adapter

Addonics Technoloigies, located in the Silicon Valley, California, manufactures many types of adapters designed to be direct replacement devices for hard disk drives. Addonics offers a full range of storage devices based on various storage technologies – optical (CD, DVD, CDRW, DVD-R/RW), hard disk (3.5″, 2.5″, 1.8″ and Micro Drive), floppy, small digital media reader/writer and stand alone storage appliances. Most of Addonics products are designed to connect to different interface technologies – USB, Firewire, Serial ATA, CardBus, SCSI, IDE and all Windows operating systems. Some devices also have been certified to work under Linux, Mac and Solaris 8. Together with a set of complementary accessories – power cables, host controllers and adapters, Addonics products have been selected to deploy in various vertical markets and applications, including in some mission critical environments. Read more about Addonics’ storage solutions.

Many of their products are used to create your own storage size solid state HDD using Compact Flash card sizes of your choice and embed the devices in laptop and notebook computers’ HDD cavities. The item pictured above provides two slots to include both a master and slave HDD Solid State CF drive built into one compact unit. Single slot CF Hard Drive Adapters are available too. With the price of Compact Flash Memory dropping, it is very easy to see how this IDE HDD adapter to Solid State HDD could be utilized in both old and new notebook computers. To replace the internal laptop HDD drive requires simply removing the old 2.5” IDE hard drive from the 44 pin IDE connector and attach the CF adapter with the CF card inserted onto the 44 pin IDE connector with key pins matching. Then you simply tuck it away inside the old hard disk drive bay cavity with double faced tape. Read the details for this device, along with detailed illustration about replacing the hard drive with the Addonics CF HDD Adapter in a notebook or laptop computer. Adapters like this and others for the newer serial interfaces would be an excellent choice for both Apple laptops as well as any of the older PC laptops with either Microsoft Windows or Linux based operating systems.

A while back, I had the pleasure of speaking with a sales engineer at Addonics about the need for a FDD solid state replacement device. He was most helpful, but at that time, Addonics did not have anything available in the way of an adapter to go from floppy disk drives to compact flash or any other form of solid state storage. While he did mention that others had also contacted him over the years to design this type of device, he felt it would be expensive to develop the FDD solid state interface device for what was perceived as not having a very large demand for the product.

External Floppy using USB Interface

In recent years, because many of the computer manufacturers were not installing floppy disk drives into new computers, has brought about a need for an external floppy disk drive. Behold the USB plug and play Floppy Disk Drive.

Before we get to the USB Floppy Disk Drive product, there was however a plug-in module device available from Dell Computers in the UK that plugged directly into the IDE interface cable from a motherboard to a 1.4 MB Floppy Disk Drive. The manufacturer was Origin Storage, with the manufacturer’s part number being listed as: CSERIES/FDD, and the Dell part number listed as: A0769810. Not sure if this floppy disk drive adapter hookup to an IDE parallel hard drive port is still available, or who would really need or be interested in this FDD to IDE port device today, but I thought it might be interesting to note it in this article. Also note that I was not able to find that particular FDD IDE device on Dell’s US website. Maybe it is an old out-dated link on Dell’s UK website. Like I said, I’m not sure there really is a need for this device. I don’t think we need to place floppy disk drives at the end of IDE cables, but it sure would be nice to store old system software from a floppy disk on legacy, non PC based and no IDE based machines, and boot to a solid state CF adapter on the FDD cable. Let’s build a solid state floppy disk drive as a direct replacement for a FDD.

USB Floppy Disk Drives — External USB Floppy Disk Drives

Some have asked, “why not just install a USB floppy disk drive on this old equipment?” Well, the biggest hurdle with this solution idea, is old non-PC based computers do not have the option for USB interfaces. Yes, you could install an external USB FDD drive on any PC that provided for USB devices to be installed, though there are generally Microsoft Windows software requirements for hooking up most of these external USB 3.5 inch floppy disk drives.

Others have even come up with a brainstorm of a solution of having some sort of Floppy Disk Drive to USB interface. In essence, this would involve going from the FDD cable into some sort of USB storage device. That might be a possible solution, but one would have to engineer an interface to go from the floppy pin-outs and reading and writing electronic signals requirements of the floppy disk drives, to a USB interface device that was a stand-alone, no drivers required plug-in adapter unit.

Sony developed the Memory Stick/Floppy Disk Adapter MSAC-FD2M. The MSAC-FD2M adapter was specifically created for the Sony Mavica FD-95 camera. SanDisk, SmartDisk, and Dane manufactured the FlashPath Floppy Drive Card Adapter for Smartmedia memory cards. These floppy disk adapters provided a slot in the edge of a floppy disk looking unit that Smartmedia cards could be inserted and then insert the whole 3.5 inch adapter into the camera or into a 3.5 inch floppy disk drive in a PC. The application was for those computers that did not have a built-in USB port, to be able to read the Smartmedia memory cards into the PC. With the addition of USB support in newer computers, these floppy disk adapters quickly faded off the landscape though you can still find them available in some online locations.

So that gives an overview of what is available for floppy disk drives, adapters, memory cards, and solid state disk drives.

FDD to USB Emulator Engineering and Design Project

On April 2008, Google Groups sci.electronics.design section, Jim F. wrote about his venture into building a floppy drive interface and the information he is seeking.

I’ve decided on a new project (this is for fun only) where I will build my own USB thumb drive to floppy interface. My intention is to replace the single floppy drive that exists in a particular piece of legacy test equipment. This will need to be a complete hardware solution (cpld/ucontroller) interface which I can remove the floppy and replace it with my USB floppy emulator.

I’ve really never given floppy technology much thought, so I figured it would be fun to go back to the 80′s and get acquainted with it…

I’ve been searching the web but haven’t had any real luck finding *good* technical data on floppy drive electrical interface data. I’ve read a few floppy drive specification data sheets, but they seem a bit lacking. Does anyone know of a really good repository for this information?

Thanks for any help that you can offer…

Jim

This is quite an interesting thread into building the floppy interface by creating a USB thumb drive to a FDD interface. Read more at sci.electronics design. I’m not sure what the status of his engineering design is currently, but it sounded like others would certainly like to see a device like this too. In the thread you will find more technical information into the engineering and design of this FDD interface project. If anyone has any further information into this FDD adapter interface project, please post your comments here or at the Google Groups Science Electronics Design posting. Considering the reduction in the cost of USB Flash Drives, this might very well be a viable solution for the FDD adapter project.

Read the second segment FDD interface article titled: FDD Flopyy Disk Drive Emulators and Interfaces.

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Best regards,

Jim

Are you looking for that perfect present for the hard to get person? Well, here is the perfect all-in one present for the person that has everything. I bet he doesn’t have this though.

Wenger, manufacturer of the Giant Swiss Army Knife has packed everything but the kitchen sink into this puppy. You can be the first on the block to say you own a Wenger Swiss Army Knife collectors addition of the best name in knives, the king of all Swiss Army Knives. Item No: 16999, Weight: 2 Pounds, Size: 8.75 Inches,  Color: Red, and the price tag for that special person on your list is $1400.00. By-the-way, shipping is free.

This Swiss Army knife has 87 implements and 141 functions some of which include: Corkscrew, Official World Scout Knife 2.5” Blade, 2.5” 60% serrated locking blade, many other blades, Phillips screwdriver bit 0, 1, and 2, flat head screwdrivers bits 0.5mm, 0.6mm, and 1.0mm, patented locking screwdriver, fine metal file with precision screwdriver, golf club face cleaner, divot repair tool, double-cut wood saw with ruler, removable tool for adjusting spokes on a wheel, universal wrench, adjustable pliers with wire crimper and cutter, chisel-point reamer, spring-loaded locking flat nose needle-nose pliers, nail file, nail cleaner, 2.4” spring-less scissors with serrated self-sharpening design, compass, mineral crystal magnifier, straight edge, ruler (in./cm), telescopic pointer, fishing hook disgorger, line guide, fish scaler, metal file, metal saw, flashlight, micro scrapers straight and curved, pin punch, round needle file, special self-centering screwdriver for gun sights, awl, toothpick, cap lifter, can opener, fiber optic tool holder, and a laser pointer with 300 ft. range.

I’m sure I missed a few of the product specifications, but with 87 implements you would forget them too. Take a look at the picture and visit the original one and only Wenger Swiss Army Knife manufacturer today. By-the-way, I like Swiss Army Knives. Don’t leave home without your trusty Swiss Army Knife today.

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It is possible to install an extra monitor on an iMac G5 computer and have what is known as “screen spanning” which is an extended desktop mode of operation.

Screen spanning is where your screen desktop area is extended to include the extra monitor (not a duplicate of your existing display). There is a small Apple mini VGA to regular VGA plug short adapter cable that is required to go from the small VGA port on the back side of the iMac computer and plug the other end into the monitor cable.

The original Apple OS X software for the iMac G5s did not provide screen spanning capabilities. The hardware can handle it, but Apple chose not to enable it in the software. Not sure the reason behind Apple’s decision on that. Apple only supported dual monitors with both monitors displaying the same information on the screens at the same time. However, there is a free software modification that can make use of the hardware capabilities of the internal video card on the motherboard in the iMac G5 computers. The video card on the iMac G5 20 is a built-in nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 directly mounted on the motherboard. The iMac motherboard essentially provides the means to have two monitors using the Apple Mini-VGA to VGA Display Adapter for a Mac. The mini-VGA adapter will cost you somewhere around $20.00, including shipping charges, to purchase from Amazon. You might be able to buy one for a little bit less.

You can download the latest version of the Screen Spanning Doctor (v0.3.3) software. Screen Spanning Doctor (0.3.3) supports Tiger. Click on the link to be sure your Apple computer is compatible and able to make use of this software mod. The software patch was for the iBook, eMac, and iMac computers. You can view which models are supported. Please note, the site has the following disclaimer that I would also have to echo too:

“Please note that I cannot be responsible for any damage that you might do to your computer. This site is for educational purposes only and you are responsible for everything you do with the given information. …”

The cool part about this addon monitor screen spanning mode of operation, is it can have its own separate monitor configurations for screen resolutions, and even the background picture for the desktop can be different too. The screen saver program can display different designs on each monitor. It doesn’t mean you can have different screen savers running at the same time, it just means that a Screen Saver like Cosmos, which has different images from the universe, each monitor will display a different image at the same time. I personally have installed the screen spanning software on my iMac G5 and it works terrific for me.

If you are thinking to use an extra monitor because your Apple iMac G5 20 or iMac G5 17 inch is having main display problems, your problem might actually be a bad motherboard. The capacitors for the video display unit located on the iMac G5 Mainboard go bad (burst open, leak electrolytic fluid, and dry up) along with additional filtering capacitors that blow up on other areas of the motherboard. Refer to the article I wrote about How to Repair Apple iMac G5 Motherboards and replace those bad capacitors. Or, the problem may be with your Apple Power Supply Unit.

When an extra monitor is plugged in to the port on the back of the iMac G5, the Apple software senses a new monitor is installed and provides the available screen resolutions for each, on each monitor. So, when you go to System Preferences, and click on Displays, the configuration settings appear on each of the monitors’ screens with each specific configuration particular to each monitor. Arrangement of the monitors can be on the left, right, top, or bottom by simply dragging the monitor to the position you would like. If you decide to have your monitors stacked on a shelf, one above the other, you can place the monitors under one another on the setup screen. If you wish to have them on your desktop, side-by-side, then place the setup screen on the left or right. When your monitors are set up the way you want, the mouse will track accordingly. For example, if you have your monitors side-by-side, then when you move your mouse to the right, you will then go over to the other screen. This is handy if you regularly have lots of windows open and wish to expand your Mac desktop area. Or, you can have one application on display on one screen and have another running on the other. Just drag the open software application screen to the other monitor. Colors can also be calibrated between each of the screen monitors too.

With the price on large screen LCD monitors having dropped significantly over the years, now is the time to add more real estate graphic exposure to your desktop area today.

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Apricorn DriveWire – Universal Hard Drive Adapter

SATA 2.5″ or 3.5″ Hard Drives and Parallel HDs, IDE 44 Pin Adapter, or IDE 40 Pin Adapter for Laptop Drives & Desktop Drives to USB Interface

Have you ever wanted to get information off an old Windows PC internal hard drive or just a dead computer? Maybe you have a dead Apple iMac G5, G4, or G3 and need to recover the data off the hard drive. Have you ever wanted to be able to install a new larger hard drive in your notebook computer, MacBook, MacBook Pro, or other Intel-based iMacs, or a desktop PC and do it quickly, with all the drivers, and software intact? Well, I’ve got the answer for you.

Here is a cool device from Apricorn that makes it easy to plug in any new or used internal hard drive from a laptop or desktop (Mac or PC), to any external USB port on another Apple MAC or a Microsoft OS PC.

Apricorn includes both the DriveWire hard drive adapter hardware, with AC power adapter, cables, and USB cable, and software to be able to clone virtually any PATA/IDE or SATA, 2.5 or 3.5 inch, hard disk drives.

The DriveWire provides a hi-speed USB 2.0 interface to: SATA, 40 pin PATA/IDE, and 44 pin PATA/IDE.

DriveWire is bundled with Apricorn’s “Upgrade Suite” which features the award winning “EZ Gig II” cloning software for Windows and “Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper!” for Mac

System Requirements

PC
Pentium CPU II or later, 64 MB RAM or more
Available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port
CD ROM or CD-RW drive
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows XP Home and Professional
Windows Vista

Mac
Apple G3 or later, 64 MB RAM or more
Available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port
CD ROM or CD-RW drive
Mac OS 9.2 or later, Mac OS X 10.2 or later

Five Star Recommendation * * * * *

I have used this universal hard drive plug-in adapter quite extensively myself for all types of applications. I have cloned Apple hard drives, tested old parallel IDE disk drives, used it to backup old computer systems, recovered files off a bad PC, and used it as an external connection for a spare hard drive for both PC and Mac computers. People have used it to quickly backup their system on an old hard drive and then placed that backup into a secure fire safe, not to be touched unless all else fails. The HD adapter has been a lifesaver for me. I don’t like to touch a computer system unless I have a backup to begin with. You do not need to install any backup software or other special device drivers if you are just plugging in various hard drives.

Follow the simple instructions and make sure to set your IDE PATA hard drives only, to “Master mode” (not cable select) with the jumper setting on the hard drive, and you are set to go. Note, master mode is a jumper setting that only applies to 3.5″ PATA hard drives and determines which hard drive is the main device on the ATA bus. Most newer PC Bios systems and motherboards utilized cable select mode jumper settings on the hard drives to automatically identify which drive is the primary and which drive is the secondary based on cable hookup. In “Cable Select” mode, the black cable connector plugs into the primary master drive, gray cable connector plugs into the secondary slave drive, and the blue connector attaches to the computer motherboard or host IDE controller.

Once you have confirmed this important “master” jumper setting on the HD, then simply plug in one hard drive at a time to the DriveWire adapter and plug the USB cable into your USB port, and it shows up on your “My Computer” on a PC, or your desktop on a Apple Mac. You can copy and retrieve information from an old HD drive. That is the beauty of this plug-in device. Fast, easy to use, reliable, and really really handy too.

Pictured below, from left to right is the Apricorn adapter, USB cable, AC cable which plugs into AC adapter, AC adapter with drive plug, and software disk with both PC and MAC software included.

This device is great for IT departments, techies, and even the ordinary person that simply wants to easily plug in a hard drive to see what is on it. Check out the video on how easy it is to use.

Apricorn DriveWire – Universal Hard Drive Adapter How To Use Video

How To Instructions For Cloning or Copying Old Laptop Hard Drives to Large Hard Drives – Article Addendum 12/15/08

Here is a question from a reader in Internet land about his laptop hard drive.

I have a question. I have a small laptop hard drive (dara-206000), 6GB ATA/IDE IBM Travelstar. I want to transfer all the data from this small hard drive to another hard drive with the same features. Does this universal hard drive adapter would work for me?

Here is the answer.

It depends on how you intend to use it. First off, if the hard drive is still in the laptop, then you need to have a USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port available on your laptop to clone directly with the adapter to the computer’s internal hard drive. Then once you’ve done that, simply pull out the internal HD and replace it with the new higher capacity laptop drive.

If you have the hard drive in your hands, then you can copy the entire drive onto another computer then copy the the contents back directly onto your new hard drive and then install the new hard drive into your old laptop with all the software intact. You will probably need to use the included backup software to get all the system files transfered. You can also use backup software such as Acronis. See: Upgrading Computer Hard Drive and Backup Software

It’s important to note that the adapter is designed to only hook up one drive at a time to the output port of the adapter and then hook up the input to a USB port of a computer. The hard drive will show up as an external hard drive on the computer’s “My Computer” page for a Microsoft Windows OS PC or display on the desktop for an Apple Mac OS computer.

The Adapter is for SATA 2.5″ or 3.5″ Hard Drives and Parallel HDs, IDE 44 Pin Adapter, or IDE 40 Pin Adapter for Laptop Drives & Desktop Drives to USB 1.1 and 2.0 Interface.

Buy it Now: Apricorn Drivewire Universal HDD Adapter USB To 2.5IN & 3.5IN Sata & Pata

Hope that helps explain the details of how to go about transferring the HD information from one HD to the other. By-the-way, you could even use the Apricorn DriveWire adapter to clone to a solid state hard drive – SSD HD too.

Best regards,

Jim

PS Learn more about quickly retrofitting to a SSD, Solid State Diskdrive in a laptop, notebook, and Apple & PC desktops too.

Don’t make the mistake, before it is too late; backup your system now. And don’t forget to get your business discovered online with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services today.

Last week, my Internet marketing PC ABIT motherboard died.
Time for a new ASUS AMD Motherboard.

The prognosis was not good for the old PC computer system, but in the end I guess it means I am helping support the economy with some electronic equipment purchases. Check out what is involved in building a new computer at a bargain base price. The computer is build to higher end specs without going overboard in the price/performance ratio. The price was right, and considering that a number of hours was spent upfront, it saved time on the back end. Read more for the complete PC details.

I was in the middle of using my PC for doing some online copywriting and editing for a customer, when all of a sudden the screen went blank, all the computer LED lights on the DVD and CD drives, as well as the power LED started flashing, and the the system started beeping at the same beat as the LED flashings.

Why Get Serious About Building a Powerful PC Computer System?

This was a computer PC headache I did not need. At first I thought it was the power supply. I promptly tried a spare power supply, with no luck. It had the same symptoms. Then I unplugged all the peripheral devices while using the spare power supply, including the AGP video card, memory, DVD, CD, and floppy drive and even installed different memory; still the computer was beeping at me when turned on. Upon closer inspection, I found a small fan was frozen solid on the mother board’s Northbridge chip. These small fans, throughout all the computer systems in the field, are in my opinion problems waiting to happen. I have come round circle in my thinking on having these small internal fans. While fans do help cool things down, they are never-the-less moving parts, and all moving parts are destined to failure. Bearings seize, dirt accumulates, and then the fan stops turning and actually adds more heat due to thermal fan motor overheating and reduced air flow to the particular area.

The Old AMD Motherboard

This old ABIT NF7 mother board with an AMD Athlon XP processor took a nose dive because of the frozen fan situation. The fan was hot. Now, I don’t exactly have the time to trouble shoot this motherboard down to component level, and besides, this motherboard is over five years old, and that is considered computer old age in my book, especially when it comes to a PC. So, it was down to the local Frys store.

Software Compatibility Issues With New Computer Systems

In the back of my mind, I was thinking, while I have multiple backups for all the files, I was not looking forward to having to reload all the business programs from scratch. I had two options; either I buy a brand new computer, and spend countless hours getting the software just right, along with having to deal with Microsoft Vista OS interoperability with old software and driver compatibility issues, or spending the time building a new PC while still maintaining the same hard drives, same software, and the same Windows XP Professional operating system. Both choices had their pros and cons. Actually, there was a third option; buy a new Apple, but I was just down that road a few months ago.

Shopping for a New PC – Intel vs AMD Processors And Computers

I first stopped by the rows of desktop computer systems being showcased at Frys, taking a close look at the various pre-configured Intel and AMD PC options from HP, Sony, Gateway, Acer, Lenovo, Compaq, and eMachines. While there are many good quality Intel and AMD pre-configured Microsoft Vista desktop computer systems available for the high end models, they are not exactly what I was looking for. I had other desktop PC ideas in mind. Cost for performance was a factor. Additionally it is important to note that most of the mid to low end desktop computers are built all nice on the outside, but are severely lacking quality engineering and options on the inside. When shopping for a new PC, I’m the kind of guy that looks on the inside of every computer I see on display. I get out my trusty Leatherman, with the phillips screwdriver, and take off the covers. I want to know what the power supply ratings are, how many extra slots are available, what type of cooling fans are used, extra internal USB ports on the mother board, extra SATA connectors for more hard drives, front panel audio ports, and how many memory slots are left open for later expansion.

Selecting the New ASUS M3N78-VM Motherboard

After taking a trip down the computer display side of the store, I then ventured over to the motherboard, hardware, and components section. Frys typically has some good packaged deals on sale for motherboards and boxed processors (includes processor, heatsink, and fan) and that day was a good Frys sales day. The sales guy asked if I wanted Intel or an AMD microprocessor. I mentioned It really didn’t matter to me which system, I was just looking for the best deal possible on the higher end computers and motherboards. He suggested the AMD processor based ASUS M3N78-VM Motherboard which includes a built in nVidia GeForce 8200-based chipset and also install the AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black, Quad Core 2.5GHZ processor for a solid performing computer. Additionally, the salesman mentioned that the AMD was really a “‘true’ quad-core processor” as compared to Intel’s processors. By-the-way, click on any of the main graphic images throughout this article for more information related to each specific computer hardware component.

PC Memory System Requirements

Of course, I needed new memory for the new motherboard which takes DDR2 instead of the slower DDR, plus there are different pin configurations on the new motherboards vs the old ones. I picked up two 2GB PC2-6400 800MHz Dual PAT memory sticks for a total of 4GB memory (DDR2 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400). It was the Patriot brand, P/N PDC22G6400ELK. I could have gone to the 1066MHz memory modules, but I felt that would have been overkill for my PC system requirements.

Patriot Extreme Performance (EP) Enhanced Latency line is engineered to provide PC enthusiasts and gamers enhanced memory performance without breaking the bank. Capable of operating at 800MHz with a latency of 5-5-5-12, it is equipped with Patriot’s own bladed heat shields to ensure system stability while running under extreme overclocking conditions. Available in 1GB to 4GB kits, these memory modules are capable of performing with the latest AMD, NVIDIA and Intel DDR2 platforms allowing users to speed up their system instantly. Ref. Patriot Memory

OS note: If you are using Windows XP 32 bit and Vista 32 bit edition operating system software, the maximum physical memory limits that are able to be accessed are somewhere around 3.37GB, not the 4GB that Microsoft states. “XP and Vista can only truly manage ~3GB of Physical RAM.” Reference: Memory Limits for Windows Releases (Windows). Windows XP 64-bit OS could theoretically address 128 GB of RAM. I should note, even though I have not tried this myself, there is a software switch setting for the Boot.ini file to increase the Physical Address Extension – PAE Memory and Windows. I think I would do more research into PAE before attempting it on an Intel computer. Microsoft states the following is required, “The PAE mode kernel requires an Intel Architecture processor, Pentium Pro or later, more than 4 GB of RAM, and Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003.” One other point when deciding if you are going to go with Windows Vista 32 bit or Vista 64-bit OS, is that there might not be drivers available for certain hardware and software needs. Check closely for software and hardware compatibility issues before taking the 64-bit OS plunge.

The Power Supply is a Computer’s Heart – Give it a Big Wattage One

One of the requirements that often gets overlooked in building a new computer or even buying a prefab one, is to have a good power supply installed. If the Motherboard is the soul of the computer, then the Power Supply is the heart of the PC. It keeps the current flowing and maintains the proper voltages throughout the motherboard, memory, and the peripheral devices. In my case, I also needed to update my 350 watt power supply. Since I tend to plug in a lot of items into my computer systems, I decided to go with a 700 watt power supply. By-the-way, there are a number of power supply calculators available online for calculating your particular power requirements. The model number of the power supply I bought is, ABS Tagan ITZ Series ITZ700 700W ATX12V / EPS12V. I don’t think this power supply is available any more. I believe the new Tagan Tg700-U88 Bz Series 700W Pc Power Supply that has replaced this one.

Selecting a Quality Computer Case. What Are The Requirements?

In my opinion, the case of my old computer was just fine. It has good fans, good air flow, and extra slots for other devices. Let’s be frank here; most people place their computers under their desk, out-of-sight and out-of-mind. It’s not like the case is a showcase for most users. If you want to showcase yours then go for it. Get wild with your system. There are all types of see-through, or psychedelic LED fans, front panel temperature monitors, or any colored case to your taste. For me, I already had a good quality case. So out came the old MOB and the old 350 Watt PS. Everything else remained. I have two hard drives, one floppy drive, one CD recorder, one DVD recorder, and a number of cooling fans in the case. I installed the new MOB with the built in nVidea GeForce 8200 video, new memory, and new 700 Watt power supply. I plugged the computer system in, pushed the power on button, and it came to life in the BIOS setup mode. This was a good sign. It is also interesting to note at this point about what type of hard drives I am using. The two hard drives, CD, and DVD drives are all IDE parallel type connectors. The ASUS mother board had one location for an IDE cable for a total of two drives. Having an IDE connector plug was an important feature I liked about the ASUS MOB.

Comparing The Different Types of Hard Drives – IDE PATA vs SATA

A note about the hard drives. Most motherboard manufacturers are not installing the wider IDE PATA plugs anymore. I am sure this is a way of saving space and money for items that will not be used that much in the future. I selected Cable-Select mode for the two IDE hard drives I was using. There was also a MOB standard floppy disk drive (FDD) signal connector for the ribbon cable type floppy drives. Note, most pre-configured computers generally do not even have the FDD connectors on the MOB, nor do manufacturers even supply a floppy disk drive unit with the PC. If you want to have a floppy disk drive on new computers today, you would need to purchase an external or internal USB 2.0 Floppy Disk Drive unit. When was the last time you used a floppy disk? Now, with the old IDE hard drives attached to the new MOB, this allowed me to power up the new computer, but I was now missing a number of new software drivers that I needed to get installed from the DVD install disk for the ASUS motherboard. Additionally, because I was not sure what I was going to do about hooking up the old PATA CD and PATA DVD to the motherboard, I picked up a $32.00 DVD writer unit that had the new SATA, Serial ATA connectors. The majority of computers being sold today are using the faster speed SATA connectors. They are also much smaller. The ASUS mother board has 5 SATA connectors on the inside and also an external SATA connector. These internal SATAs can be configured for RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 0+1, and JBOD configurations through the onboard controller. RAID, Redundant Array of Independent Disks is a technology that employs the simultaneous use of two or more hard disk drives to achieve greater levels of performance, reliability, and/or larger data volume sizes. JBOD stands for Just a Bunch Of Disks (Just a Box Of Drives).

How to Install the Software Drivers Properly

It was now time to install the rest of the drivers. I plopped in the ASUS DVD driver and utility disk and started installing the drivers one at a time. I should point out that at this time, the computer kept telling me after each reboot required after every driver installation, because of the major changes that took place with the hardware, Microsoft Windows XP software was requiring activation again, and was informing me that I needed to re-register within the next three days or else. But, since I did not have the driver installed for the Ethernet controller yet, thus did not have Internet hookup, I had to ignore the Microsoft message at this time. Besides, I needed to install all the drivers and get a solid computer system before re-registering the Microsoft software. Talk about a real pain. Everything must be done in the proper order, even to the point of not allowing Windows XP software to automatically search and install the new hardware drivers itself. You need to close out the windows as they pop up. I finally got through all the drivers that needed to be installed but I still did not have my old CD and DVD recorders hooked up. I remembered that I had a few extra Maxtor IDE Ultra ATA133 PCI cards available. These cards provide extra IDE slots to install more hard drives or other IDE devices. I installed one of these cards in one of the PCI slots on the MOB and hooked up the CD and the DVD to it in cable-select mode. I used one IDE PATA cable attached to both the CD and DVD (primary and secondary). I needed to download Windows XP software drivers for this card. It took me awhile to find the driver source online for these addon IDE cards. If you need the software drivers, click the link to download the zip file for the WinXP, WIN2000, WIN2004, Win9x-Me, and NT4 operating systems for the Maxtor IDE Ultra ATA133 Drivers. To load the driver for this card I needed to allow Windows XP “Found New Hardware” wizard handle the assignment. I browsed to the correct location where the driver was located on the hard drive and the system automatically installed it. Once this was installed, I rebooted and now all my hard drives, CD, and DVD drives were displayed in My Computer.

Once I got everything installed, there really was no need to keep the new SATA DVD disk recorder unit. I returned it back to the store. I could have gotten around the need of having to use the SATA DVD recorder/player in the first place by using the existing parallel IDE DVD as a secondary hookup on the main IDE cable of the mother board.

Tying Up Computer Loose Ends

There were a few other items that needed to be taken care of. First off, I have a 24 inch Gateway Widescreen Monitor, model FPD2485W TFT LCD Monitor that I am using on this computer. The Gateway Widescreen Monitor comes with a driver and software to auto-rotate the screen when rotating the screen from Landscape mode to Portrait mode and back again. The software drivers appeared to be conflicting between the Gateway EzTune software and the nVidia software. It took some playing, trial-and-error, and downloading of the new EzTune software from www.gateway.com to get this functioning properly again. I had to completely remove the old EzTune software before installing the newest version of the EzTune software. I also stopped using the nVidia software within the preferences area from loading on boot up. By-the-way, the Gateway Monitor is a great monitor for all types of usage and applications for video, television hook ups (includes multiple types of video inputs), and computer high resolution activities. The native resolution is 1900 by 1200 pixels. You can have two full Web pages side by side. Having multiple programs open at the same time with this monitor, allows you to quickly go from one program to the other just by clicking the window behind or off to the side of the other ones. The Gateway Monitor has VGA input, DVI-D Digital input, S-Video input, composite video in jack, two component video jacks, and four USB 2.0 plugs are available; 2 USBs on the left side and 2 USBs are located on the back bottom surface of the monitor (“USB in” “B” type connector cable on one end is required from the PC to the monitor to use these extra USB 2.0 ports). There is an optional powered by the monitor, speaker bar with microphone and headphone plugs, and left and right auxiliary input jacks available too.

More High Definition Video Talk About the ASUS M3N78-VM Motherboard

The ASUS M3N78-VM also provides VGA, DVI-D Digital, and HDMI which is High-Definition Multimedia Interface output ports. The manual says that it can actually drive two monitors with dual-VGA output. “If you connect 2 monitors to both VGA and DVID / HDMI out ports, each controller can drive same or different display contents to different resolutions and refresh rates.” However the manual also notes, “Due to the chipset limitation, simultaneous output for DVI and HDMI is not supported.” And one more note for those interested in BLU-RAY Disc DVD players, the manual states, “To play HD DVD or BLU-Ray Disc, ensure to use an HDCP compliant monitor.”

Re-activating Microsoft Windows XP Pro and Microsoft Office

Now was the time, after the majority of the work was completed on the new PC, I then allowed Microsoft Windows XP to automatically activate the XP Pro software which I had previously loaded on my old computer system, that is now on my new computer via the old hard drive. I also had to re-activate Microsoft Office 2003 software too. The re-activation process took place through the online Internet connection. It’s important to note that technically and legally speaking, each Microsoft Operating System license and Microsoft Office software license is tied to one PC only. That is why, when a major change takes place to a computer, such as a new motherboard, the software automatically senses this major system change and requires re-activation. Minor system changes to a PC, such as adding a new USB device, does not typically trigger the automatic Microsoft Windows OS re-activation process.

Here are the PC technical specifications on what I installed.

M3N78-VM Work Smartly! AMD® AM2+ Quad-Core CPU/AM2 CPU Support NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Chipset Hybrid SLI Support HyperTransport 3.0 and PCIe 2.0 Ready HDMI/Full HD Support Smooth Blu-ray / HD DVD Playback Multi Displays Support DX10 Support Instant Internet Access with Express Gate™ Supports AMD Socket AM2+/AM2 for Phenom/ Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 / Sempron / AM2+ This motherboard supports AMD AMD® Socket AM2+ multi-core processors with unique L3 cache and delivers better overclocking capabilities with less power consumption. It features dual-channel DDR2 1066 memory support and accelerates data transfer rate up to 5200MT/s via HyperTransport™ 3.0 based system bus. AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64/ Sempron Support This motherboard supports AMD® Socket AM2 single-core Athlon™ 64 / Sempron™ and dual-core Athlon™ 64 X2 / Athlon™ 64 FX processors with 2MB / 1MB / 512KB L2 cache based on 64-bit architecture. It features 2000 / 1600 MT/s HyperTransport™-based system bus, dual-channel un-buffered DDR2 800 memory support, and AMD® Cool ‘n’ Quiet™ Technology. HyperTransport 3.0 Support Provides 2.6 times more bandwidth than HT1.0 that radically improves system efficiency for a smoother, faster computing environment. Dual channel DDR2 1066 Support DDR2 1066 memory provides great performance for 3D graphics and other memory demanding applications on next generation memory technology. AMD Cool ´n´ Quiet! Technology M3N78-EMH HDMI supports AMD Cool ´n´ Quiet! Technology, which monitors system operation and automatically adjusts CPU voltage and frequency for a cool and quiet environment. NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8200 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 offers the latest support of Hybrid SLI Technology, DirectX10 graphics features, HD video playback with HDMI/DVI output. It also supports HyperTransport™ 3.0 interface, PCI Express™ 2.0 bus architecture, Serial ATA 3 Gb/s devices and is optimized with AMD’s latest AM2+ and multi-core CPUs to provide excellent system performance. ASUS Express Gate Surf the Internet in 5-second-boot time without entering Windows With a fast bootup speed of only 5 seconds, the ASUS Express Gate offers an optional Linux OS bootup that allows you to enjoy instant access to commonly used functions like accessing the Internet, VoIP, and Web emailing without entering the OS. * File downloading and uploading on USB drives only ** The actual boot time is subject to hardware configurations and product models Hybrid SLI Support Hybrid SLI™ technology is a unique hybrid multi-GPU technology. It includes two primary features: GeForce Boost and HybridPower™. GeForce Boost turbo-charges performance of discrete graphics cards when combined with the motherboard GPUs. HybridPower™ unleashes graphics performance for demanding 3D applications and enables low-power operation for everyday computing needs. * GeForce®(R) Boost and HybridPower™ are on select GeForce®(R) GPUs. Visit www.nvidia.com/hybridsli for more information. NVIDIA® PureVideo™ HD Technology PureVideo HD technology is the core of a complete Blu-ray or HD DVD movie solution, featuring hardware acceleration, post-processing, HDCP circuitry, and integration with leading HD movie software players. HDMI Support Enjoy Full HD 1080p Multimedia Home-Theater Entertainment High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a set of digital video standards that delivers multi-channel audio and uncompressed digital video for full HD 1080p visuals through a single cable. Supporting HDCP copy protection such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs, HDMI provides you with the highest-quality home theater experience. Serial ATA 3Gb/s This motherboard supports next-generation SATA hard drives based on the new SATA 3Gb/s storage specification, allowing RAID 0, RAID 1,RAID 0+1,RAID 5 and JBOD configurations for five SATA connectors. PCIe 2.0 support This motherboard supports the latest PCIe 2.0 devices for double speed and bandwidth which enhances system performance. Dual VGA output This motherboard supports Dual-VGA output (RGB & HDMI/DVI). HDMI/DVI interface is compliant with HDCP. ASUS EZ Flash2 With ASUS EZ Flash, you can update BIOS before entering operating system. No more DOS-based flash utility and bootable diskette required. ASUS CrashFree BIOS3 The ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 allows users to restore corrupted BIOS data from a USB flash disk containing the BIOS file. This utility saves users the cost and hassle of buying a replacement BIOS chip. ASUS Q-Fan ASUS Q-Fan technology intelligently adjusts CPU fan speeds according to system loading to ensure quiet, cool and efficient operation. AI NET2 Diagnose LAN connection before entering OS! AI NET2 remotely detects cable connection the second you turn on the system, and any faulty connections are reported back up to 100 meters at 1 meter accuracy. MyLogo2 Personalize your system with customizable boot logo You can convert your favorite photo into a 256-color boot logo for a more colorful and vivid image on your screen. GreenASUS The motherboard and its packaging comply with the European Union´s Restriction on the use of Hazardous Substances (RoHS). This is in line with the ASUS vision of creating environment-friendly and recyclable products and packaging to safeguard consumers´ health while minimizing the impact on the environment. The product (electrical , electronic equipment, Mercury-containing button cell battery) should not be placed in municipal waste. Check local regulations for disposal of electronic products. * All specifications are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers. Products may not be available in all markets. * PCB color and bundled software versions are subject to change without notice. * Brand and product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.

Key Architectural Features of AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processors

The industry’s first true Quad core x86 processor True quad-core designed from the ground up for better communication between cores. BENEFIT : Cores can communicate on die rather than on package for better performance AMD64 with Direct Connect Architecture Helps improve system performance and efficiency by directly connecting the memory controller and I/O to the CPU. Designed to enable simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing Integrated DDR2 Memory Controller BENEFITS : Increases application performance by reducing memory latency Scales memory bandwidth and performance to match compute needs HyperTransport™ Technology provides up to 16.0GB/s peak bandwidth per processor—reducing I/O bottlenecks Up to 33.1GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus) AMD Balanced Smart Cache Shared L3 cache In addition to the 512K L2 cache per core, up to 2MB of L3 cache shared by up to 4 cores. BENEFIT : Shortened access times to highly accessed data for better performance. AMD Wide Floating Point Accelerator 128-bit floating point unit (FPU) High performance (128bit internal data path) floating point unit per core. BENEFIT : Larger data paths for quicker floating point calculations and better performance. HyperTransport™ technology One 16-bit link up to 4000MT/s Up to 8.0 GB/s HyperTransport™ I/O bandwidth; Up to 16.0GB/s in HyperTransport Generation 3.0 mode Up to 33.1GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus) BENEFIT : Quick access times to system resources for better performance. Integrated DDR2 DRAM Controller with AMD Memory Optimizer Technology A high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated DDR2 memory controller Supports PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066); PC2-6400 (DDR2-800), PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs Support for 64-bit DDR2 SDRAM memory Up to 17.1GB/s memory bandwidth BENEFIT : Quick access to system memory for better performance. AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) With Rapid Virtualization Indexing Silicon feature-set enhancements designed to improve the performance, reliability, and security of existing and future virtualization environments by allowing virtualized applications with direct and rapid access to their allocated memory. BENEFIT : Helps virtualization software to run more securely and efficiently enabling a better experience when dealing with virtual systems AMD Cool’n'Quiet™ 2.0 technology Enhanced power management features which automatically and instantaneously adjusts performance states and features based on processor performance requirements For quieter operation and reduced power requirements BENEFIT : Enables platform designs providing less heat and noise efficient performance and energy usage. AMD CoolCore™ Technology Reduces processor energy consumption by turning off unused parts of the processor. For example, the memory controller can turn off the write logic when reading from memory, helping reduce system power. Works automatically without the need for drivers or BIOS enablement. Power can be switched on or off within a single clock cycle, saving energy without comprimised performance. BENEFIT: Helps users get more efficient performance by dynamically activating or turning off parts of the processor. Dual Dynamic Power Management™ Enables more granular power management capabilities to reduce processor energy consumption. Separate power planes for cores and memory controller, for optimum power consumption and performance, creating more opportunities for power savings within the cores and memory controller. BENEFIT Helps improve platform efficiency by providing on demand memory performance while still allowing for decreased system power consumption Learn more about AMD Phenom™ processors

Custom Built PC – Summary, Cost, and Conclusions

I am very impressed with this PC setup. There are many good things to say about this computer, the motherboard, and the AMD Phenom Processor. I will tell you that when I have multiple windows open, multiple programs running, online video playing, a USB television tuner playing and even a backup program running in the background, I never experience jumpy sound, or video that doesn’t sync with the audio. It is very smooth and a seemingly fast PC machine. I know there are overclockers out there that might be interested in maximizing the speed, especially the online gamers. But for me, the speeds are fine right out of the box. Believe it or not, I built this thing for $400.00. That included one rebate of $25.00 for the memory.

Another point is the fact that this AMD computer operates at much lower temperatures compared to that of the Intel processors. After doing some research online, I discovered that AMD processors typically operate at a lower temperature than their Intel counterparts. The ASUS utility disk provided a cool software monitoring program for temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds. The CPU typically is at 42°C (110°F) and the Motherboard operates at 34°C (94°F). That’s even cooler than my Apple iMac G5.

Now I can get back to my Internet marketing work. This was a little bit more of an Internet detour than I was planning. I knew at some point in time that I was going to have to upgrade my computer system. It’s just that it came sooner than expected.

Always expect the unexpected when doing work online. Get your business discovered today with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services.

For those of us that have older Intel Pentium I, Intel Pentium II, Apple PowerPC, and AMD microprocessor computers just lying around, collecting dust, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to put those computers to good use using new easy to use graphical interface desktops with free Linux operating systems such as Ubuntu and Xubuntu, especially for Internet browsing and free online word processing and spread sheet use or even as a business server application?

The following question was asked by a reader.

Would it be alright to install Ubuntu on a 3 GB Intel Pentium II 333 MHz processor?

Installation of Ubuntu Linux Software all depends on what you want to do with it. Do you want it for desktop use with graphical installation, or as a server (non-graphical installation)?

www.ubuntu.com

Minimum System Requirement

Though, the minimum system requirement is: 256 MB of Ram and 3 GB of available hard drive space for Ubuntu, my gut feeling is you are tight on your available hard drive space. Here are some more system requirements information on the bare minimum requirements and the recommended minimum requirements for installation in order to be able to run well.

Note: The minimum requirements are only likely to allow a server (non-graphical) installation to run well. The recommended minimum requirements should allow you to run a graphical installation of Ubuntu well.

FYI, I have Ubuntu installed on an AMD Athlon 40 GB machine for testing purposes. This is actually a dual boot machine between Windows 2000 Professional and Ubuntu; with an 80GB hard drive partitioned down the middle.

I have a number of Open Source programs like Open Office, and even powerful graphics, photo organization, and picture editing programs such as Google Picasa installed on the Linux Ubuntu system and am using a little over 6 GB of storage on the Ubuntu installed side.

However, with that being said, you could install Xubutu, which is designed for installation on older computers with less disk storage and slower processors. Xubutu is designed to use less system resources.

www.xubuntu.org

For Xubuntu: To run the Desktop CD (LiveCD + Install CD), you need 128 MB RAM to run or 192 MB RAM to install. The Alternate Install CD only required you to have 64 MB RAM. To install Xubuntu, you need 1.5 GB of free space on your hard disk.

Once installed, Xubuntu can run with 64 MB RAM, but it is strongly recommended to use at least 128 MB RAM.

Xubuntu on Wikipedia

For those with an Apple PowerPC you can download version Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon or Xubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft. Turn your old Apple laptop into a new useful word processor and Internet browser.

Best regards, Jim Warholic

PS – Installation of Ubuntu is easy.

This is a how-to procedure for recovering data from CF Memory Cards, CompactFlash Memory and other Memory Sticks, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Micro, MultiMediaCard (MMC), Reduced Size MMC (RS-MMC), Secure Digital (SD), miniSD, microSD (TransFlash), SmartMedia, and xD-Picture Cards. See: Memory cards: All your questions answered.

Some but not all of my pictures on a CF card for my digital camera are corrupted.

Know of any free software to try and recover the corrupted ones?

That was a question a friend sent me the other day.

Well, as is typically the case with technology issues today, it is called trial by fire learning.

Started off with finding the following page:
Recover Lost Digital Photos from Corrupt Memory Cards

This lead to ZAR Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery

ZAR 8.3 now includes the (freely available) mode to recover digital images. Generally, the program should work with any media type (e.g. CompactFlash, MemoryStick, SmartMedia and so on) accessible by means of the operating system. You need to use your camera or the appropriate card reader you normally use to transfer images from the camera to the PC.

Current version (ZAR 8.3) supports digital photo recovery for the following file formats:

• GIF
• JPEG
• TIFF
• CRW – Canon RAW data
• MOV, AVI movie
• WAV – Waveform audio
• CR2 – Canon CR2 RAW format (see notes below).
• ORF – Olympus RAW format

I also found the following open source software. The free digital file data recovery software is available for Windows, Apple Mac, Linux, and even DOS operating systems.

PhotoRec is a file data recovery software designed to recover lost files; including video, documents, and archives from Hard Disks and CDRoms, and lost pictures (thus, its ‘Photo Recovery’ name) from digital camera memory cards. PhotoRec ignores the filesystem and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media’s filesystem has been severely damaged or re-formatted.

PhotoRec is free. This open source multi-platform application is distributed under GNU Public License. PhotoRec is a companion program to TestDisk, an app for recovering lost partitions on a wide variety of filesystems and making non-bootable disks bootable again. You can download TestDisk & PhotoRec here.

For more safety, PhotoRec uses read-only access to handle the drive or memory support of the storage device you are about to recover lost data from. Important: As soon as a pic or file is accidentally deleted, or you discover any missing pictures, do NOT save any more pictures or files to that memory device or hard disk drive; otherwise you may overwrite your lost data. This means that even using PhotoRec, you must not choose to write the recovered files to the same partition they were stored on.

Good Luck on your data recovery.

Note: There may be something worse than corrupted images on a camera memory card when it comes to your business. You could be loosing a lot more sales for your business than you think, by not having a website that is search engine friendly. Is your business-to-business or business-to-consumer website search engine friendly? Find out today with a free Internet marketing and search engine optimization evaluation.

Wow, What a Way to bring in the New Year!

Needed to help a buddy hookup a network between two Windows XP computers (one a Toshiba laptop, and the other a new Dell Vostro desktop), two old Dell Windows 95 computers, a System 2000 computer, and a networked Brother MFC FAX/Printer/Scanner/Copier. Well, he had a network working with NetBeui, using a network HUB, and a strange Bridge setting on the Toshiba laptop XP system, but when the new Dell Vostro desktop was installed, the network stopped working.

After my buddy had spent four hours on the phone with Dell Tech Support, they decided to send out a repair guy to try a new motherboard. This was after Tech Support tried everything under the sun software wise to get the system to function. My friend is still in the stone-ages for Internet connectivity. He is on a Dial-Up Modem. No high speed service is available where he is located. To far away for DSL from the phone company, and no high speed cable service in his area. Satellite communications is still questionable as far as he is concerned. So, can you image when the Dell Tech support person got online and tried to control his new computer? Slow as molasses for the mouse movement. Got to hand it to Dell, the person went none stop for four hours straight, even though the problem was not fixed.

The Network Problem

Sometimes the Dell Vostro would show up on the network and sometimes it would not. This was the case with even looking at itself on the network. Sometimes it was there and sometimes it was not. Dell tried turning off Windows firewall protection and Norton Internet Firewall Security but that did not seem to change anything. So, that is when they decided to go to the next level, and try the hardware. Because of the holiday season, it was going to take a couple of days to get the motherboard. So, we put our heads together and tried tackling the network issue ourselves.

Since the network was on an old network HUB (read about: The difference between Hubs, Switches, and Routers), I decided to try a couple of spare routers, using DHCP to supply IP addresses to the computers and the network printer. Low and behold, we thought the problem was fixed, but such was not the case. The network still bombed out. Back to the original problem after trying it for some time. The problem was still the disappearing computers on the network. Funny though, the old Windows 95 computers could talk to the Dell Vostro with Windows XP operating system, but not the other way around. Also tried swapping network cables with no change in the problem. FYI, my buddy ordered the Dell Vostro with Windows XP operating system instead of Windows Vista by choice just before the holidays. It arrived a couple of days after Christmas.

I decided to call it a night. My buddy however, started digging through the documentation. Apparently when he turned off Norton Internet Security it started working much more reliably. The network was stable for a couple of hours and he thought that was it. However, after leaving it on overnight, it was discovered that the network was nonoperational again in the morning. So, the service call was still scheduled. Dell contracts out to independents in the local areas for service. The guy came out with a new motherboard and swapped it out a day latter.

Finally, everything seemed to stabilize, but we also tried a different router and setting Norton Internet Security Zones for trusted sources (the other computers’ IP addresses) and everything was talking with each other.

Microsoft I figured probably had Windows Updates available for the XP system, even though it was a week old. This was indeed the case. On a dial-up modem it only took four hours to download and install!

Computer Lessons Learned

Technology is changing so fast, that even the customer service techs have trouble keeping up with the new software. The support people are not fully aware of the full spectrum of protection that Norton Internet Security software was doing on the computer from a network standpoint.

Computers are supposed to save time. Ha Ha. Think about all the problems you have had with your computers over the years. Do they really save time? I think not, but in some ways the computers have filled our times with other activities. Internet browsing, searching for products and services, comparing prices, shopping for the new car, and even to the point of replacing TV for online videos.

Just like anything purchased anymore, the customer needs to become more of an expert and pay particular close attention to details.

By-the-way: Networking Mac OS X and Windows XP and Windows 2000

I decided that I would hook up a Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Mac OS X computers that I had together. Took a bit of research online about sharing between the software platforms, but after finding out how to do the settings, everything seemed to function. For advice on how to: Networking Mac and PC, do a Google Search. Good information is available online.

Welcome to the New Internet World

Internet marketing by Professional Web Services

How To Install Two Comcast Modems

Can I install more than one Comcast modem at one location?

The simple answer is yes, but it is going to cost you for a second connection.

The following was a submitted question to me.

Message: My wife and I have two rooms with our respective offices. Our house is new and installed with cable TV/Internet cable connections in the walls of each room. My wife’s computer is connected to Comcast through a cable modem with a router. Right now I have set up a wireless connection to her computer through a wireless router in her office but the speed is diminished on my computer. The only other way to connect to Comcast through her modem would be to run an ethernet cable through the attic from her router to my office which could be dangerous.

It seems that every Comcast modem has its own unique MAC address. I do have a another Comcast modem the same as my wife’s modem which I purchased on EBAY. Is it possible to clone the MAC address on my wife’s Comcast Modem into a router in my office and connect the purchased Comcast modem into the cable connection in my office and be able to get on the internet? Thanks

Regards

H.

Answer: Hello H,

What I think you’re asking is,

Can I hook up another Comcast modem using the front end of a router, with the cloned address of the other Comcast modem?

First off, you are right, every Comcast modem does have its own unique MAC address.

The router is meant to be on the output of the Comcast modem, not the input of the Comcast modem. Routers make the Comcast modem think that there is just one unique IP address on the output of the modem. But, in actuality, the router routs the information to each computer on the Local Area Network (LAN). The input from Comcast Central goes into the modem from the coax cable, and not the other ethernet cable for the LAN network.

I too have an extra Comcast modem. When I upgraded to digital voice with Comcast, they installed another modem with phone built-in. My original modem was purchased by me at a local store. When the service guys did the install, they had to call in the new modem to Comcast Central.

My understanding is that only one modem of that address can be installed at a time. If you think about it, this makes sense, otherwise the system would not know which modem is handling the information. However, if you want to pay for another Comcast account, I think you can get two Comcast modems hooked up at the same time but with unique MAC addresses. Gamers, who like lots of speed have done this. Comcast then splits the coax cable and runs it into both modems. Then you have two outputs (one from each modem). Note: just as your router assigns a unique IP address to each computer, the Comcast DHCP system assigns an IP address to each modem.

As far as speed is concerned with your current wireless setup, what is your cable Internet speed with the current setup?

Compare your speed at both computers.

How far is your wireless computer from the office router?

Certainly the best connection is to have a cable going to both computers from the router. Many times the problem with wireless is the location of the router or the location of the antennas on both the computer and the wireless router, and that they are behind shielded walls or just long distances.

So, as it is, I think you have a spare second modem that can only be used if you pay for another hook up.

Read other posting with a conversation with Comcast for additional modem, router, switch, and hub information for a Comcast home networking system.

Jim Warholic

Marketing Solutions

Important: Backup Your Computer Now, Before It is Too Late!

Is your computer hard drive running out of capacity? Are you wondering what you are going to do when it maxes out? Are you worried about loosing all your pictures and files when your hard drive crashes? Have you ever performed a computer HD backup? Well, I’ve got the solution for you.

No one really wants to go through and delete information from the past. Installing a second add on drive is a possibility. Another option is to install a brand new C drive, with all your existing programs and data intact.

There are a couple of programs that I am aware of that make it easy to clone a hard drive completely. The program that I have used for backing up information and cloning a hard drive is Acronis True Image. Acronis True Image is a program that once installed on your existing hard drive can be used for daily backups to another hard drive or to install a brand new C drive with all the existing files intact.

For example: I had a computer with a 180 Gbyte disk drive that was getting to the point, with pictures, videos, files, and programs installed, that the days were numbered until I was going to be forced into doing something about it. I decided to take the initiative and replace the disk drive with a new 400 GB disk drive. Using Acronis True Image, the new one is Acronis True Image Home 2009 backup and disk image recover software, I first did a fresh backup on the second disk drive I have installed in the computer. Once that was complete, I disconnected the second drive and hooked up the brand new Seagate 400 GB disk drive that I picked up from Fry’s Electronics for $89.00. I can’t believe these prices on hard drives keep dropping as much as they have over the years.

Once the second drive was hooked up, I ran the True Image software again, and cloned the primary drive, but expanded it to include the total available space to be used on the new drive. Once the cloning process was done, I then removed the first drive, and made the new drive the C drive, then re-attached the other backup drive, and the computer was up and running on the new hard drive.

It is interesting to note that even though most drive manufactures state a certain size hard drive, they usually overstate what the drive actually holds. It seems as though there is a 5 to 10% fudge factor. The Seagate 400 Gbyte drive turned out to be 367 Gbytes formated. But still, it is hard to pass up a deal when you need it.

My recommendation for anyone looking for a new hard drive, try to estimate what you will be using it for. If it is going to be used for pictures and video storage, then by all means up the storage capacity. However, if a standard 500 GB hard drive is substantially more than enough room for what you are currently doing, save your money for the future. As the price on these hard drives has dropped over the years, it is likely that the price of hard drives will continue to plummet, and the capacities will continue to increase. Then, the price per gigabyte will be less in the future, when you really need the storage. As of this update date: 2/20/08 – there are external 1 Terabyte hard drives available for sale around 100 dollars. See: 1 TB External Hard Drives

Jim Warholic is President of Professional Web Services, Inc., an Internet marketing and SEO company.

Talk about a confluence of power events…

Having a battery UPS backup system only works so long. San Ramon, California experienced a power outage that took out quite a large number of blocks. While talking on the cordless phone, the power went out, but I was still talking. How was that possible? OH yeah, I had the cordless phone plugged into the UPS. But, I was on Comcast Digital Phone Service, and yet it was still working. The Internet was down because the Comcast modem had no power, yet the Comcast Digital Phone Service was running strong. Sure enough when I went to a phone that was hard wired into the wall, and found the system was working just fine.

The alarm from the UPS was beeping continually. It was time to shut the computers down. Well, they shut down just fine, and an hour or so latter the power came back on, and everything started powering up no problem. However, a short while later, I smelt that familiar burnt odor, that says Ought Oh, there’s a problem, throughout the office. Looking over at the computer monitor, it was blank. The computer power supply light was out, and the smell was coming out from below the desk. Sure enough, the computer was dead. The power supply was red hot. Down to the bone yard to see if I had another power supply from one of the old hulks. Sure enough, I had a 300 watt supply in one of those stacks of computers awaiting reclamation. Actually, I’m somewhat of a pack rat, thinking that I’ll need something from all those old items. And, it usually works out that I end up using something that gets me through another predicament.

After installing the power supply, everything seemed to power up just fine.

This whole set of events started earlier with one of my small circulating fans going out for the office. The fan shaft and bushings were quite dirty and the fan had great difficulty turning on it’s own accord. After pulling that apart, and cleaning it up, I gave it a couple drops of my trusty Tri-Flow, teflon based lubricant (don’t leave home without it) and reassembled it. Sure enough the fan starting turning again. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Now back to the computer. Hopefully this 300 watt supply will last for a little while. I think it would be a good idea to check out a 400 or 500 watt power supply though. I have too many internal items running on this computer. Wow, just did a search online for power supplies and there are 550 and 600 watt supplies available too. Or, I could go for the Thermaltake Toughpower 1200w Power Supply. Now, that’s a lot of power!

An interesting thing happened when I came back online. Mozilla Firefox had upgraded itself, and some things changed on the configuration. Actually, I don’t think it actually upgraded, but something changed in the settings on the computer. My All-in-One Sidebar Toolbar had moved over from the right side to the left side. However, it added a new feature of automatically minimizing on the side when the mouse is moved off of it. This is actually a good feature, in that you don’t have to click anything to extend your browser window size. Also, my bookmarks were missing. Had to download them again from Foxmarks Bookmark Sync, which is a program for Firefox that allows you to synchronize your bookmarks across all your computer machines no matter where the computers are located.

Anyways, I’ll have to play with Firefox a little more to see what else has changed.

For now, it’s back to the Internet for some important items that I need to get done for some customers. I think some customers think things automatically happen with just a quick click of a button, and it’s done. But, that’s another story.

Remember, keep your fans blowing, and your supplies running cool, and power up your business online with Professional Web Services, and experience what professional Internet marketing services can do for you.

By Jim Warholic

The Wize Rank

When doing research online for a new product such as a computer, printer, TVs, or PDAs, it is nice to be able to read a “trusted source” with information from the consumer and or business user’s feedback about the products and features.

Wize is an online central location where large numbers of people evaluate the products. The trademarked Wize Rank is according to their website, “is completely impartial, and cannot be manipulated.”

The essence of the Wize Rank is an algorithm designed to evaluate the following factors:

1. Differences in scale and type of reviewer
2. Statistical uncertainty of user ratings (margin of error)
3. Reliability of expert reviewers
4. Statistical confidence in expert and user ratings

As a product has been in the market place for some time, the product develops a larger number of reviews and ratings from various sources online. By taking those reviews and ratings, and processing the statistical information through an automated algorithm, Wize can generate a Wize Rank number. In addition to that, Wize also measures and takes into account what the early buzz of a new product is, and gives more emphasis to a product that has more reviews, so that, as a product that might have a great early buzz to it may in fact turn out to be a poor performer later.

This measure is intended to protect consumers from buying a product whose early buzz is strong, but is later proven to be a poor performer.

Here is an example of a multifunction copier, printer, FAX, and scanner machine from Wize. These types of printers are known as Multifunction Copiers, MFC.

I have personally owned a Brother MFC-9600 for years, and can personally vouch for what these types of devices can do for a business or in personal use, such as: automatic document feeds for scanning and faxing, and optical character recognition, OCR software for transforming a text image to a true text document. So, as I was doing some research online for someone interested in a new printer, scanner, copier, and FAX machine; it was interesting seeing how all the Brother All-In-One printers rank in the Wize Ranking.

So, enjoy your wise Wize service tip of the day.

Jim the Internet marketing, corporate web builder at Professional Web Services.