Old 2002 News

	12-28-2002 13:14 EST
			A Format Change - The font size on many of the site's pages has been readjusted to allow for a better display of content. If you have any opinions on the format, please click on the "Contact Webmaster" link at the bottom of this page.
			Former Hacker Kevin Mitnick Resurfacing - The man who led police on a three-year hunt while hacking computer networks will soon be allowed to use a computer. With the government's permission, Kevin Mitnick will be allowed to surf the Internet and work on his anti-hacker business. He will soon have his old HAM radio license, and he has already been able to use a cell phone since soon after his release in January 2000. Read more here.
	12-12-2002 19:46 EST
			CyberTekIt Site Back Up - CyberTekIt was down for approximately two weeks as a switch in Internet service was implemented. The site is still fully functional. Hopefully, efforts will be made in the future to keep the site more up to date.
	11-11-2002 23:11 EST
			Links Page Updated - A much-need update has been made to the Links of Interest page. Added are "3D-Related Sites" and "Other Sites of Interest."
	10-24-2002 16:11 EST
			Hardware Changes - The 4/8GB Travan-4 drive on the secondary workstation took a dump. I had to replace it with an old Archive Python 2/4GB drive. I also had to put the Exabyte 7/14GB drive back in the file server; the Travan-5 10/20GB drive would not perform effective backups. As a replacement for the primary workstation, I bought an IBM / Archive 4/8GB drive. I have also added a third Cheetah 9GB drive to the main server.
	10-11-2002 13:43 EST
			CPU Speed and Chipset Pages Updated - Finally able to catch up on the latest from the processors and chipsets. Chipsets are now supporting up to 400 MHz DDR SDRAM and USB 2.0. Many are now supporting AGP 8x as well.
			HP / Compaq Merger Making Headwind - HP will slowly drop RISC CPU support. This comes as HP is pushing the Intel Itanium processor, which they helped co-develop. According to an article published in the September 2, 2002 edition of Information Week, RISC-based sales from many vendors are down. The design advantage of the Itanium using the EPIC architecture (explicitly parallel instruction set computing) "off-loads more processing work to compilers." This will be a major company shift as HP fades out support for the PA-RISC and Dec Alpha RISC processors.
	9-7-2002 14:50 EST
			The Internet connection change option has been put on hold. Since the computer industry is in a state of flux, it would be best to stay where I am at. I will be starting my MCSE training for Windows 2000 soon.
	6-28-2002 - 14:20 EST
			A RAID Upgrade - I recently acquired an old server that had two Seagate ST19171W 9GB UWSCSI hard drives. Since I had an ST19171WC SCA UWSCSI drive as well, I decided that I would build a RAID array for doing some video editing in the future. I also recently acquired a four-bay 68-pin SCSI external case. I assembled the case and stored it away.
			No sooner had I started shopping for a RAID controller, I discovered one company that was selling an AMI MegaRAID 1200 (428) for a steal. This RAID controller has only one channel (the board was manufactured with the capability of having three). It is controlled by an Intel I960 33 MHz RISC CPU. The SCSI controller chip is a Symbios 875. It can hold up to 128MB parity DRAM (it has 32MB installed). The board can run RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 10 (or 0+1), 30, and 50. I should be posting some pictures on my setup page sometime soon.
			After getting the board, I realized I would need a very special SCSI cable. The MegaRAID 1200's external connector is a 68-pin VHDCI connection, sometimes referred to as SCSI-5. I ordered a 3-footer. The unit is online as of last night. Though the performance is not that spectacular with these aged drives, the reduncancy is what counts. And having a RAID array is something I have always dreamed about.
			MCI Worldcom Concern - You may be wondering why I brought this up. Those who keep up with the Internet know that MCI is the parent company to UUNET, who owns a large percentage of the Internet backbone. UUNET has been the pacesetter in connections, with a solid OC-192 loop from DC to New York, Chicago, California, Texas, and back. I'm concerned because I foresee a company that collapses without resolving a smooth transition of the fiber it owns to another company. This could lead to major bottlenecks. Keep an eye on the company, as they may not survive their financial problems.
			Internet Connection Upgrade on Hold - You may recall I was attempting to get a wireless Internet connection that was 1 Mbps up and down a couple of months ago. Well, the company fell through on working with me. My continued research has shown me there are few alternatives. DirectTV and Earthlink offer DSL here, but they don't have equivalent bandwidth levels.
	5-30-2002 - 12:50 EST
			Site Changes - Some adjustments to CyberTekIt's layout have been made. The News page is no longer the front page. The button bar for site navigation has been redesigned; it should be easier to read and should load faster. Contacting the CyberTekIt webmaster is now done with an online submission form. Also, a much-need disclaimer has been added.
	5-18-2002 - 13:40 EST
			I have upgraded my secondary server. Though it was not a planned upgrade, I could not pass up the deal. It's now a dual PII-400 system with 128MB PC100 ECC SDRAM. A RAM upgrade to 512MB will soon follow. I have updated the pictures on my setup page to reflect the upgrades I have performed.
	5-3-2002 - 9:40 EST
			AMD Announces 8th Generation Opteron Processor - This new AMD processor, formerly code-named "Hammer," is based on a .13 micron design and has 12-stage integer and 17-stage floating-point pipelines. The memory controller is integrated, and four DDR SDRAM DIMMs will have to be installed to account for a single memory bank. You can also go here for more information.
	4-24-2002 - 12:56 EST
			Microsoft and AMD Announce 64-bit Windows for the Hammer - An brief article posted by AMD Zone mentions that AMD will have to convince the PC server and high-end workstation marked they can solidly run 32-bit applications on the new processor. Sales of Intel Itanium systems have been very low. Read more here.
	3-11-2002 - 16:40 EST
			I have taken pictures of a change to my computer setup. I have combined my primary and secondary servers to utilize one monitor, one keyboard, and one mouse using a Belkin 2-port control hub. The stand is 30" x 24" x 72". The pictures will be posted soon on my setup page.
			I have recently discovered that the articles I have been posting from MSNBC have been quickly removed from their servers. Therefore, I will be discontinuing the posting of information from their site. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
			I will be hopefully changing my Internet connection soon. It will be on a wireless connection at roughly 1 Mbps both up and down. This should provide more smooth downloads.
	2-13-2002 - 10:18 EST
			SNMP Implementation Threatened by Flaw - Version one of the SNMP protocol can be compromised by DoS attacks due to a flaw in the way it handles warning and error messages. Level one SNMP is widely used to configure routers, switches, and operating systems. CERT/CC recently discovered the flaw. The downside to using SNMP is that the protocol was designed with no security in mind. Read more here.
	2-5-2002 - 12:16 EST
			Intel's Newest Processor Makes It Big - The successor to the Itanium, the McKinley, is 464 square millimeters in size. Within this single chip is the CPU, a 32KB L1 cache, a 256KB L2 cache, and a 3MB L3 cache. It will definitely perform better than the Itanium because the Itanium has its L3 cache separate from the CPU. For this, the McKinley contains a massive 221 million transistors. The first production processors will run at 1 GHz. Read more here.
			Intel Takes a New Direction in Computer Memory - Intel has begun working with Ovonics, a technology originally started by Stanford Ovshinsky in the 1960s. Ovonics involves materials that change from an atomic state to a crystalline state. The technology is already in use with other products, such as nickel-hydride batteries and rewritable compact discs. Read more here.
	1-31-2002 - 20:22 EST
			Enron Blues Delay MSN Broadband Access - In the summer of 2001, Microsoft had made a deal with Enron to provide high-speed Internet access. But Enron's bankruptcy has pushed that possibility to the summer of 2002. Interestingly, in October 2001, Enron attempted to sue because Microsoft supposedly failed to provide a developed electronic billing system. Read more here.
			On another note, Microsoft has settled a payment of $10 million to nine states that have settled with the antitrust case against the software giant. The government itself says it has spent $7 million since the case was filed in 1998. Federal law says that companies found at fault must pay back prosecution costs. Read more here.
	1-21-2002 - 13:47 EST
			Security on the Internet is Still Poor - The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center says that vulnerabilities on the Internet still outpace fixes. Hackers, viruses, and terrorism are still major players in attempting to breach site security. Although some companies are taking measures to increase their guard, many others are still joining the Internet with little protection. Read more here.
			Federal Government to Regulate Cable High-Speed Internet Lines - In a settlement with the federal court, the FCC was found to not be allowed to control Internet access rates. As an example, the cable industry can only charge $5 a pole for wiring, as opposed to $38. Read more here.