These are "gauges" which have been designed to provide you with quick answers to your performance related questions. The number of gauges in the Gauge Series will be increasing rapidly, so watch your favorite online service for new ones. These gauges are freeware! Use them yourself and give them to your friends. They may not be modified, and they should always be accompanied by this text file.
Clockometer™ (rhymes with thermometer)
This was created to provide you with the answers to two very simple questions. The first question is, "How fast is my computer really running", and the second is "What CPU is in this box"? These questions may at first blush appear to be incredibly easy to answer, but as you will soon see...they may not be. If you, or someone in your organization, has placed a clock enhancing accelerator (such as the Newer Technology MacClip™ or PowerClip™) in a computer, then what speed is that computer running? Or better yet, what if someone installed the accelerator in one of say...ten 6100s in the office. How do you quickly determine which one it is installed in? In the past people have used programs such as Scott Berfield's Speedometer in order to determine speed. However, these programs don't actually provide you with a "real world" speed. Instead they give you a relative performance number which you can then compare against another relative number for some other CPU and in this manner you can get an idea of whether you are running faster or slower. Or you can just run Clockometer, and in one second you can know exactly how fast you are running. As to the second question of, "what CPU is really in my box?", this is about to become a real issue. If you have a new Macintosh 9500 with a removable CPU card, how do you know what card is in it at any given moment? Or better yet, how do you know what speed of card is in it? Since CPU cards can have 601s or 604s on them and they can be running at any speed, how do you know when you walk into a room, what is in the box that is sitting there? The answer is...you run Clockometer™ and you get your answer within one second.
Cache-22™
This was also created to provide you with the answers to two very simple questions. The first question is, "How much L2 Cache does my computer really have?", and the second is "What CPU is in this box"? These questions appear childishly easy to answer, but as you will soon see...they may not be. When Apple made it possible to add L2 Cache to their new line of PowerPC computers back in 1994, everyone saw it as a very positive step for the performance oriented user. Now a user could add 256K, 512K or even 1MB of Cache to their new computer. But here is where people began running into problems. If you are the MIS Director or work for the IS Department, and you have say...twenty-five PowerPCs, how do you quickly determine which ones have cache and which do not? Or better yet, how do you quickly determine which two machines have the 1MB cache modules? Up until now it has been a real chore. You had to take each box apart and physically inspect them for cache modules. No longer! Cache-22 provides an answer in under 6 seconds, as to what amount, if any, of L2 Cache is in a computer. It also informs you as to what CPU is in the computer you are testing. The reasons for displaying the CPU information are covered above in the Clockometer™ description.
RAMometer™ (rhymes with thermometer)
This was created to provide you with a high-speed no-cost RAM Tester. At this stage, RAMometer, will not inform you where an error occured during testing. It will simply indicate that an error has occured. Future versions will expand on this. RAMometer appears to be testing too fast to really be doing anything, however, this is clearly a case of "looks being deceiving". It runs an extensive series of tests and provides a solid test bed for your memory. If you suspect that your RAM is going bad then fire up a copy of RAMometer and chech it out.
SCSI Info™
This was created because we had too much time on our hands one day. Actually it is the beginings of an extensive SCSI Test tool. It will provide you with information on multiple SCSI Buses such as those found in an 8100/100. This tool may cause some computers to lock up. If it happens, just remember that it is free.
Slot Info™
This was created to provide you with a way to quickly test and see what is in your computer. It will provide you with information on what version of ROMs are on cards in your computer. It will also inform you of what Motherboard-based video controller is in your Mac. This is a useful tool which we have just recently begun to play with. Expect to see bigger-better-faster versions in the near future.
If you have any questions regarding these new Gauges, or if there are Gauges you would like to see developed, then please contact us in one of the following ways:
