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1993-12-20
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åêòêìå ÿÄöæ ÆÿÆôäî Ç üÄÄÆô ╬╠╧╧╬╠╬╠╬╠╬╠╬╠╬╠╡
│ Many people are thinking about
│ starting to use Windows, or other
│ GUI's (Graphical User Interface)
▄ │ like OS/2. But they discover that
█▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄█▄ │ their faithful computer is not
█ █ █ █ █ █ █▄▄ █ │ capable of running these. Maybe
█▄█ █▄█ █▄█ ▄▄█ █▄ │ it will run, but it is really
┌─┬─┐┌───┐┌─┬─┐┌───┐ │ slow, not exactly WP for ms-dos
│ ││ - ││ ││ ┌─┘ │ speed. But a new machine seems
├── │└───┘└───┘└─┘ │ like a bit of an overkill, an
└───┘┌┐┌┌┌┐├ ┌┐┌┬┐ │ option is to change the slowest
└┐││└┐│ ├┘│││ │ part of the machine.
└┘└┤└┘└┘└┘└└└ │
└┘ │ This is what I will talk about
│ in this article. I will give you
ß√ ≤τε∞α≥ δ⌠φπ≡⌠Φ≥≤. │ some ideas about what you can do
│ to get a faster machine, for
│ Windows or just a faster Dos box.
│ I will try to give economical
│ ways of doing this, where
possible. │
│ If you have a bus mastering ISA
- ∞ε±Σ ∞Σ∞ε±√. │ card, you may encounter problems
│ when you have 16 or more
If you use GUI's as Windows it │ megabytes of RAM. This is
will give you a lot of │ because you use up all the
performance for the money spent. │ address space for the memory.
8 Mbyte RAM would be nice. Then │ VideoBlaster is one of the
you can use some of the memory as │ cards. SCSI cards may have the
a diskcache. If you put 16Mbyte │ problem, but most of them work
in the machine, you can also use │ (the Adaptec 154x series is bus
a Ramdrive to put the temporary │ mastering, but works with a
files in. (you have to set the │ devicedriver).
"SET TEMP=n:\" where n is the │ All in all, buying memory is
ramdrive; 2 to 4 Mbyte is fine │ probably the cheapest way to
for a ramdrive). If you encounter │ boost your systems performance.
problems when using Windows and a │
ramdrive, try to disable the │ See "Build Your Own PC" article
ramdrive to check if it isn't too │ for information on how to go
small for the temp files. │ about buying memory.
│ 486slc.
│
- ∩±εΓΣ≥≥ε± ⌠∩µ±απΣ≥. │ - 386dx. Upgradeable to a Cyrix
│ 486dlc. This processor is
This depends on the prosessor │ normally packaged in a PGA chip
you already have. Even 286 │ (replaceable), so an upgrade
motherboards can now be upgraded │ should be possible.
to a 486. Here are the │
possibilities: │ - 486dx/sx. Intel makes the
│ OverDrive procesor series - gives
- 286. Can be upgraded to a 386sx │ you twice the processor speed,
or a Cyrix 486slc with a little │ and a FPU if you have an sx.
card that you put into the socket │ AMD have released their own 486
for the old processr. This │ compatible processors, right
depends on how the original │ now only as dx33 & dx 40, but it
processor is socketed - check it │ is rumoured to have a new series
before you buy a new processor. │ with clock doubled (maybe even
│ clock tripled) chips, with a
- 386sx. Upgradeable the same way │ 16k on- chip cache (double the
as the 286, but this to a Cyrix │ intel 486)
│ but they are slow to release OS/2
- ≥∩ΣΣπΦφµ ⌠∩ ≤τΣ ∩±εΓΣ≥≥ε± √ε⌠ │ drivers on the market (a beta
αδ±Σαπ√ τα⌡Σ. │ version is out now). Diamond have
│ the Viper, which is really fast,
This I will discuss in the next │ based on the Weitek P9000 chip.
issue. │ But again, they are slow on
│ making OS/2 drivers. Diamond will
- µ±α∩τΦΓ αΓΓΣδΣ±α≤ε± Γα±π≥. │ not even release the card specs
│ so people can write their own
Useful for high resolution │ drivers for OS/2 or Linux. Orchid
GUI's as OS/2 and Windows. But if │ is also using the P9000 set - go
you are using DOS, the Tseng │ for that if you want P9000. The
et4000 is one of the fastest. The │ new XGA- 2 standard made by IBM
S3 chips is getting a lot of │ is sounding really good - they
press coverage these days. I have │ don't have the fastest cards
to admit I don't like them, the │ around, but you can configure the
VGA (dos) performance is mostly │ driver and card to use the
slow, and the output quality is │ resolution and frequencies you
often unclear. │ want, making it possible to
ATI makes really good cards, │ squeeze the highest possible
resolution out of a monitor. │ TSR cache (like SmartDrive or
Future Comms' CatsEye XGA card is │ HyperDisk) instead. It is almost
selling in waste numbers to OS/2 │ no use at all to use a cache card
users around.. │ on a LAN-server. The net-os have
│ it's own cache, and it is more
An option is to add more │ efficient than a card. But some
memory onto your video card; this │ of the cards have the opportunity
may dramatically boost your video │ to use four drives and mirroring,
speed. If you wish to use your │ which can be useful. If you can
monitor in HI-RES (eg: 800x600, │ afford it, buy a SCSI controller
,etc), the memory upgrade might │ and SCSI harddrive. It gives you
be worth while. It really depends │ better throughput and you can
on the videodriver. │ have more devices connected to
│ it.
- ΦπΣ ΓαΓτΣ Γεφ≤±εδδΣ±≥. │
│ - ßΦµµΣ± αφπ σα≥≤Σ± τα±π π±Φ⌡Σ≥.
It's a lot of hype around │
these cards. More and more people │ A large hard drive is always
agree it is cheaper and better to │ nice to have. The price is
buy more system memory, and use a │ dropping, so purchasing a larger
drive might be a worthwhile │ system, or you can only use one
choice. If you have an old MFM │ card if you have a system above
drive (usually 20 to 80 Mbytes, │ 33Mhz. But a graphic accelerator
> 20Ms access time and less than │ on a 33 or dx2-66 is a
500k/sec transfer) you can get a │ performance boost. The VESA
good boost with a new one. │ standard is the most common, and
The typical hard drive today │ you should go for that right now.
is around 170Mbyte, 12 to 15ms │ Intel is making a new standard,
acess time and 850 to 1.100 │ the PCI bus. Also called "local
Kb/sec transfer time with an IDE │ bus", despite the fact that it is
interface. │ a 32 or 64 bit bus that runs on
Using a disk "doubler" is an │ 33Mhz with an 'interface'
option, like DoubleSpace or │ between the processor and the
Stacker. │ bus. Market analyzers say that
│ the PCI standard will overtake
- δεΓαδ ß⌠≥. │ the VESA, and I think it may be
│ possible. Systems using it are
Sounds really useful until you │ available now, but the only
discover that most cards won't │ chipset the hardware
work if you have a DX-50Mhz │ manufacturers can get right now
is Intel's, which is expensive. │ that the system is *never* faster
│ than the slowest part. You can
- ∞εφΦ≤ε±. │ have the fastest video card, and
│ the fastest processor, but if you
This will of course not help │ keep the good old hard drive it
on the performance, but maybe │ will drag down the overall
save your eyes from strain. If │ performance considerably.
you use graphics/GUI's a lot, it │ Take a look at what you have and
may be a good idea to buy a │ what you *really* need before
larger Monitor. If you are buying │ walking into a computer shop and
a new system, you may want to ask │ telling the salesman you want a
for a 15" monitor, or even a 17" │ faster machine.. It may save you
with 1280x1024 NI capabilities - │ a lot of money..
if you can afford it. When buying │
a monitor test it on different │
resolutions, and make sure it is │
easy on your eyes. │
│
│
You should always remember │