A host of new computer technologies and products<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): First of all, here's a quick fix for a virus
\nattack that I've just learned about and would like to share with
\nyou if you don't know it already. If your DOS or Windows 3.x hard
\ndisk has been attacked by a virus that cripples the system,
\nchances are its master boot record has been damaged. The typical
\nsymptom is that your PC always hangs just before the familiar
\n\"Starting MS DOS\" gets the chance to appear on the screen. If you
\nhave this problem, just boot the PC from a clean DOS bootable
\ndiskette that contains the FDISK.EXE file. Once you get the A:
\nprompt, type in FDISK\/MBR -- without any space in between -- and
\nhit ENTER. This will replace the master boot record on your hard
\ndisk, and hopefully (just hopefully), you'll be able to boot from
\nthe hard disk again.<\/p>\n
Therefore, remember that you must always keep a clean,
\nbootable DOS diskette handy. Among the DOS files that you must
\nhave on it are EDIT.COM, EDIT.HLP, QBASIC.EXE, FORMAT.COM,
\nFDISK.COM, XCOPY.COM and SYS.COM.<\/p>\n
Remember, even though you can once again work from your hard
\ndisk, it is not necessarily sterilized yet. You still must run
\nthe latest version of any decent antivirus program to totally get
\nrid of the virus. Otherwise, you'd be sitting right in front of a
\nlive time bomb.<\/p>\n
Wireless networks<\/p>\n
Each time we talked about wireless networks in the past, we
\nwould think of the infrared or radio frequency technology as the
\ntransmission means. Two weeks ago, I wrote about IBM's Tom
\nZimmerman and the technology that transmits data using our body.
\nHe calls it a Personal Area Network, or PAN. But have you heard
\nof a Customer Premises Area Network, or CPAN?<\/p>\n
During the last Comdex, another new set of transmitters and
\nreceivers was introduced that would enable you to send data,
\nvideo and audio back and forth using the electrical wires in your
\nhouse. It's a LAN without the familiar tangles of cables.<\/p>\n
The company -- Elcom Technologies Corp. of Malvern, PA --
\noffers applications that allow you to do this. Their ezCOMM, for
\nexample, allows you to hook up a number of PCs to one printer
\nwithout any cable. The company's ezONLINE makes it possible for
\nmultiple PCs to share one 33.6 modem, fax and pay-per-view
\nservices. You can now put a PC in each room and get them all
\nconnected without the annoying cable ducts.<\/p>\n
Should you worry about surges and spikes, the company also
\nprovides the ezGUARD surge protector, which will not deteriorate
\nafter each surge. Gee!<\/p>\n
External kits<\/p>\n
The price of external storage devices has been more or less
\nstable, despite the fact that hard disks have become so much
\ncheaper over the last year. Today, for instance, you can get a
\ngood quality IBM 1.7 GB hard disk for about Rp 500,000. On the
\nother hand, the price of a Jazz drive in many U.S. mail order
\ncatalogs remains around US$469.00. What's your alternative if you
\nwant an external storage device, say, for backing up your
\nmultimedia data?<\/p>\n
ValueStor, a company based in San Jose, California, sells
\nseveral types of low-priced, do-it-yourself kits that allow you
\nto build your own external CD-ROM drive or hard disks. Their IDE
\nto Parallel CD-ROM Transformer costs only $89.00, and it will
\ngive you a Plug and Play connection via the parallel or EPP port
\nof your PC. It can take any 2x, 4x, 6x or 8x ATAPI CD-ROM drive.
\nAll you have to do is add your own CD-ROM drive.<\/p>\n
The IDE to Parallel Hard Drive Transformer and SCSI to
\nParallel Hard Drive Transformer can transform regular IDE or SCSI
\nhard disks into external storage devices. Each of them costs
\n$99.00, and you can buy the hard disks separately from any
\nvendor.<\/p>\n
Finally, if you'd like to have your IDE hard disk or CD-ROM
\ndrive outside the box instead of inside it, so that you can take
\nit away with you or keep it in a secured place when you need to,
\nyou can buy the Portable IDE Transformer Kit. With a price tag of
\n$129.00, this kit will convert your internal IDE channel into an
\nexternal interface. No software driver is necessary, and the
\ntransfer rate is claimed to be higher than the parallel version.<\/p>\n
So, if you'd like to build your own external storage device,
\nyou can E-mail them at ValuStorcw@aol.com for more information.
\nOr, you can wait until I get the chance to test drive the Iomega
\nJazz in a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n
Input device<\/p>\n
Quite a long time ago, I wrote about the idea of using our
\nfeet to control a computer input device. Today, we already have
\nvoice input capability, such as the one offered by IBM's
\nVoiceType. Yet it seems that more and more input channels are
\nrequired from the user, especially in fast action games.
\nTherefore, the idea of getting the feet involved doesn't seem to
\nbe too strange.<\/p>\n
Even the number of keys in a standard keyboard today has grown
\nto 104, with the inclusion of the Microsoft Windows 95 special
\nkeys (at least two new keys have been added, one for simulating
\nthe clicking of the start button, and the other for simulating
\nthe right mouse button clicking). With all these developments,
\nit's not surprising that your feet now do take part in the
\ninteraction with the machine.<\/p>\n
One such device for this is NoHands Mouse from Hunter
\nDigitals. Priced at $199.00, this foot-controlled computer mouse
\nconsists of two interchangeable pedals. You step on one to
\nnavigate and control the cursor movement. You step on the other
\nto click. Now, who says that pedals are for piano players only?<\/p>\n
As you also may have noticed, the next big thing in keyboard
\nand mouse technologies is perhaps their wireless connection. It's
\nby no means a new idea. We have had a cordless mouse from
\nLogitech for years, and KeyTronics has offered a cordless
\nkeyboard for quite some time, too. At Comdex, I saw more and more
\nkeyboards with no curling cables coming out from their back. With
\nthe IrDA becoming commonplace, it's not too far off to expect
\nthat your next keyboard will have a wireless connection with your
\nPC.<\/p>\n
Also, more and more keyboards are coming with built-in
\nscanners, too. Pioneered by Compaq, it seems to have become the
\nfashion that keyboards have to come with the virtual typist. One
\nof the latest models I saw was the Scanning Keyboard from NMB
\nTechnologies, Inc. of Chatsworth, California. Oddly, like almost
\nall the other keyboard and scanner combinations, it also uses
\nVisioneer's PaperPort scanner.<\/p>\n
Now, as far as notebooks are concerned, I guess the era of the
\nTrackPoint pointing stick is over. More and more notebooks are
\nnow coming with touch pads. Like all the other models before, you
\nneed to practice a lot before you get comfortable using this
\npointing device. For over a week now, I've been playing around
\nwith a notebook that has one, and I'm beginning to like it. If
\nyou want to add it to your notebook or desktop PC, Alps has a
\nnice model for you. You can see it in the accompanying picture.
\nI'm sure it will soon become available in Glodok, downtown
\nJakarta, too.<\/p>\n
Capturing images<\/p>\n
Digital cameras are becoming hot, too. Last week, I talked
\nabout the Zaurus, which has a digital camera connected to it via
\nthe PC Card. Minolta has joined the crowd with its Dimage V
\ndigital camera.<\/p>\n
Dimage V has a unique design. Its lens can be rotated or
\ndetached from the body of the camera. You can hold it up to 3.3
\nfeet away for a better viewing angle. It has a 2.7x zoom range
\nand a built-in flash. Like Casio QV10, it also has a 1.8\" LCD
\nviewer\/monitor screen. It stores 40 frames in the removable
\nSmartMedia.<\/p>\n
Epson has also revamped its PhotoPC line of digital cameras,
\nthe new one being the PhotoPC 500. There are plenty of other
\ndigital camera manufacturers, too. So, folks, the next camera you
\nbuy may not require Kodak or Fuji film anymore.<\/p>",
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