Old 2003 News

	12-11-2003 8:55 EST
			New Tape Drive - One of the components I received with the yard sale server was a Quantum DLT2000XT 15/30GB DLTIIIxt tape drive. I ordered new tapes and put it online last night. What an interesting device! It has a flip-type lever for locking / unlocking the tapes. It cut my current server backup from over nine hours to just under four. Performance is about on par with the Seagate Travan-5 tape drive in my main workstation.
	11-25-2003 15:11 EST
			Yard Sale Server - I recently picked up an old Dell PowerEdge 6100 server at a yard sale for a mere $10. It has: 2 200 MHz Pentium Pro processors with 512K L2 cache each, 256MB FPM RAM, 3 9GB Seagate Barracuda hard drives (6 total hot-swap bays), dual built-in Adaptec AIC-7800 UWSCSI controllers, Intel 82557 10/100 ethernet adapter, and two hot-swap 700W power supplies. I'm debating on making this another server.
	9-24-2003 19:09 EST
			CyberTekIt Back Up - CyberTekIt is back up after being down six days due to Hurricane Isabel. No damage was suffered. I may be posting a chronolog soon in regard to the experience of waiting for life to get back to normal.
	8-27-2003 15:45 EST
			Server Down - Due to a configuration error, the web server was down and required a partial rebuild last week. Everything is back to normal. The solution to the Contact page has not been resolved yet.
	8-4-2003 21:29 EST
			A couple of the pages have been trimmed up for a better appearance. This is being implemented to compensate for the Mozilla browser as well. Also, the Contact page is currently not functional. I am currently working on resolving a mail forwarder.
	6-17-2003 23:29 EST
			Processor Upgrade - I broke down and purchased an Athlon XP 1700+ for my main workstation. It's the maximum CPU it can handle. I also changed out the three modules used to get 512MB SDRAM to a single module. The system could not handle the variations in size and brand very well. Overall, I was impressed by the new CPU. Final Reality jumped from 7.19 to 9.19, and 3DMark 99 Max went from roughly 5,500 / 15,000 to 8,700 / 24,500 3D/CPU marks.
	6-10-2003 13:18 EST
			RAID Array Upgraded - I recently purchased a lot of Seagate ST19171WC SCA drives. The RAID 5 array has been upgraded to a total of seven drives for roughly 54GB of storage. One of the IBM / SGI 9GB drives was removed for a spare.
	5-17-2003 20:19 EST
			CDROM Swap - The Plextor UWSCSI CDROM drive that was in my main workstation bit the dust. It was only a matter of time, as the SCSI controller always paused for an extended amount of time when identifying the drive at bootup. I moved the other Plextor 40X drive from my file server to this computer. I put a Teac 16X in its place in the server. Also, I exchanged the Tekram DC390F UWSCSI controller in the main workstation with an Adaptec AHA-2940UW.
	5-13-2003 8:10 EST
			Mozilla v1.4 Beta Possible Replacement for IE - v1.4 of Mozilla supports NTLM authentication. This allows communication with MS web and proxy servers using "Windows integrated security." Since Mozilla is open-source, it should make steady improvements to be more secure and stable than IE. Find out more at Mozilla's website.
			Last month, I added a link to CPAP, a project of archiving various photos taken of mainframes, supercomputers, and other components. It seems this website is now denying access. I will find out why and post the answer when I get the chance. I am hoping this is still accessible; I always enjoy stopping by to view them.
	4-23-2003 11:28 EST
			AMD's 64-Bit Processors Making Headlines - AMD is finally getting preproduction versions of their 64-bit processors made for testing. Preliminary results show it is very impressive. However, 64-bit tests have not been able to be made yet. Here are some links to check out:      The First Clawhammer Board hits the THG Lab      AMD Athlon 64 Performance Review
			Motherboard Changes - There have been some major changes to motherboard peripherals. One is that some boards are coming with up to ten USB 2.0 ports. Another is that vacuum tubes are making a comeback as they support better sound quality for Dolby 5.1 playability. Serial ATA, as mentioned below, is making way as well; boards are supporting both this and the older parallel ATA concurrently.
	4-17-2003 19:57 EST
			Serial ATA - Seems everyone is beginning to release their version of the serial ATA interface. Initial speeds are at 150 MB/s. They achieved it using the standard PCI interface, too. This is the beginning of a shift from the older 40 / 80 pin parallel IDE interface. However, it won't happen overnight.
	4-14-2003 11:18 EST
			CPAP Link Added - A special link has been added to the Links page. It is directed to a specific section at 757.org called the Computer Photography Archival Project. Some of the pictures include Cray supercomputers, SGI graphics systems, and even a combination of a bunch of old PCs as one parallel system. It provides a great view into all the different systems used by big corporations and science and educational facilities. A must see!
	2-9-2003 18:53 EST
			Monitor & Video Card Upgrade - I recently acquired an old Gateway Vivitron21 21" for the secondary workstation. It is a definite improvement over the older Sampo Alphascan LC that was connected. Also, the system decided to spontaneously reject the Matrox MGA-200 that was in it (i.e. BSODs). The MVP3 motherboard chipset is known for being picky with certain hardware. It has been upgraded with an ATI Xpert 2000 AGP card.
	1-15-2003 13:34 EST
			Links Added - Three new links have been added to the Computer Information Sites section: JDR Discontinued Manuals, RD Tech Toolbox, and Axcel216's Max Windows Everything. Axcel's site inparticular has over 100 pages of data on tools, tips, and tricks for all flavors of Windows. A must use for Windows information.