ACS PCUG - 2000-03 Meeting Report

March 2000 Meeting Report
by Howard L. Bonar
Secretary, Alaska Computer Society

The March 9, 2000 meeting of the Alaska Computer Society was held at the BP building at Benson Boulevard and New Seward Highway (Gambell) starting at 7:06 pm. President Gene White was enjoying a respite in Hawaii and so our webmaster Mike Jacquot did the honors.

Questions & Answers

A member is looking for information on a digital scanner system dedicated to 35 mm slide negatives. One reported an adapter available that will work on some flat bed scanners that may serve the need. Otherwise use a professional service.

Ray reports that his Win98 system has started coming on in the middle of the night and logging onto the Internet. The history file shows a number of locations accessed. The probable cause is some new software is trying to log on and register itself. Another possibility is that some recent computers have a power-on system in the BIOS that will automatically turn the PC on at some preset time. Once on, rogue software can have a field day.

In MS Word (and others), how do you remove a misspelled word once you have added it to your dictionary? Bronwyn says to go into Tools/Options/Spelling & Grammar Tab. Select Dictionary and choose the Custom.dic. At the dialogue box, select "Edit". The contents of the custom dictionary are displayed and you can then make any changes. Select File/Close and save your changes if you are sure. In Word Perfect 9 the process is very similar. Select Tools/Spell Checker/Options/User Word Lists. Highlight the word to be changed then either delete it or select "Properties" then type in the changes.

Howard has a challenge with Office 97 Outlook Calendar. The meeting planner in the calendar will not import the names in the "Contacts" database as promised in help and as shown on the drop down menu for doing that very thing. The consensus was that Outlook 97 was a bug-filled disaster. A fix was available but where is it? The best answer is to upgrade to Outlook 98 however you can get it. (That fixed the problem)

Main Meeting

The regular meeting was called to order at 7:18 pm. Mike Jacquot opened the meeting by introducing the board members, SIG leaders, and other volunteers present. Special thanks to BP for the use of the facility.

Mike Rath from the Apple Users Group announced a new contest for high schools students working with video production classes using the "Quick Time" format. The prize, which is a free trip to Hawaii, goes to the school. The contest ends March 27th - too late for us to do anything to help promote it. The Apple group will have their April meeting at the BP building also. Check their web site at www.AKAppleUG.org for details.

Mike Jacquot, SIG leader of the Clipper SIG and our new Webmaster, described the latest features on the ACS web site (www.ACS-PCUG.org) hosted by Internet Alaska. Thank You I.A.! There is a message board for questions and forums and all of the meeting reports for the past year are posted. Also, there is an announcement of an E-Commerce seminar posted. The cost for ACS members is $75.00. If you are interested, check it out.

Ed Caldwell reported that he still has some member's cards that have not been picked up. Also, if you are not receiving the meeting announcements by e-mail, check with him to be sure you email address is correct.

The April 13th presentation will be on Internet and E-Mail Policy Issues. It will be held at the BP Building, Benson and Seward. This could be very important and informative for anyone doing company business over the Internet.

Since the presentation of the evening was highly technical, the door prizes were too. Deanne St. Louis won the IDT/Centaur WinChip motherboard given to us by Mike Bruzonne of Camp Marketing. Holly Hawkins won the 128 MB memory chip donated by Bill Matson of Memory Time. (Holly has been having awfully good luck at these drawings lately). Floyd McMichael won the t-shirt donated by ED. Tech Institutes.

The Presentation

Mr. Bill Matson of Memory Time Corp. located in Portland, Oregon was our presenter of the evening. Bill has been the sales manager and purchasing agent for Memory Time since 1995. He works closely with Intel, Tektronix, Times-Warner, and others supplying their memory needs. This close contact with industry leaders has given him extensive experience in computer memory issues.

WHY UPGRADE YOUR MEMORY

Windows 98 takes 32 MB to run properly. Windows 2000 will need 64 MB. For video to be non-jerky, you may want to install up to 512 MB and the maximum video memory you can get. If you are into games or other heavy users of graphics, more is better.

MEMORY WORDS AND ACRONYMS

DRAM	Dynamic Random Access memory (It needs to be refreshed). Virtually all memory chips used in PCs are DRAM. The exception is the BIOS chip.
DIMM	Dual In-line Memory Module. Opposite contacts on both sides are isolated forming two separate connections. Used in computers supporting 64 bit or wider memory bus. Available with up to 168 pins on the connector edge, which are used in RISC computers.
SO DIMM	Small Outline DIMMs used in notebook and laptop computers. 72 pins with a smaller package. Pins are configured differently than in the regular DIMM modules.
SIMM	Single In-line Memory Module. Comes in 30 and 72 pin formats. Opposite contacts on both sides of the module are connected together forming one contact.
ECC	Error Correction Code. A method of checking data integrity. It can detect and correct single-bit errors. The user will not know that an error has occurred. It is very valuable when used in a critical server environment.
EDO	Extended Data Output - much faster than other chips.
IC	Integrated circuit. The little black bugs scattered all over your motherboard.
PCMCIA	Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. (Credit card sized plug-in memory modules for laptops.
RAM	Random Access memory - What your CPU uses to store the operating system, your application, and your data while they are doing their work.
RAMBUS	Rambus Inc. has developed a unique signaling logic used in their in the RDRAM memory modules. It delivers far faster data speeds. We will be hearing much more about this in the near future as the really high speed CPUs are delivered (HLB)
RDRAM	Rambus DRAM. A chip to chip interface design that uses a simplified bus and the Rambus signaling logic.
Fast Page	A DRAM data access system that speeds retrieval when data is located on the same memory page as the previous request. Memory is addressed in blocks of 64 kilobytes called pages.
Memory Banks	A row of sockets on the mother board in which the memory modules can be inserted.
Memory Chips	The integrated circuits (chips), which contain the actual memory
Memory Controller	It oversees the movement of data into and out of your memory bank. It decides what type of data integrity, if any, is supported. If you are buying a computer for use in a critical application, make sure it has the error correction capability.
Memory Modules	The assembly carrying the memory chips and the connector that plugs into the motherboard.
Nanosecond	One billionth of a second (faster than the blink of an eye)
Parity	A process that adds one bit to every 8 bits of data. The total of bits in each byte will always be odd or even (depending on the manufacturers choice) Note: Watch out for "Fake Parity". There are some out there that use a chip that generates an OK for the memory controller no matter what condition of the bytes being checked.
Proprietary Memory	Memory modules designed for a specific manufacturer or computer model.
Refresh Rate	How many times per second the data bits stored on a chip are "refreshed" so that they do not shift from one state (0 or 1) to the other. Typical speeds are 2K and 4K/sec.
Storage	Usually means a hard drive but could be floppy, Zip drive, CDROM, etc.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE MEMORY TYPES

30 pin has no notches and operate at 5 volts. They are designed for 8 bit data streams. To support 32 bit data transfer requires four modules. All modules must be the same capacity, as the computer may not recognize the larger capacity units.

72 pin has one or more notches. The placement of the notch is critical when buying a replacement. They support 32 data bit streams with one module. They are used with 486's and up. Somewhere in the part number will be the letters B; L: C; W. (I will try to find a more definitive description of the notches. HLB)

NOTES ON BUYING MEMORY

Stay away from any with a little fishy emblem on them.
You are at the mercy of your distributor as to the quality of the product you get.
If it's a real good price, be careful.
The best time to buy is in June. The market demand is at its lowest at that time and the supply at the highest. From July on, various issues in the markets drive up the demand and the price. December is about the worst time to buy because of the Christmas and year-end rushes.
PC-100 is the same as PC-66 except it operates at 8 nanoseconds.
PC-100 compatible modules. An EPROM spider chip in the corner is intended to fool the board that this is a PC-100 MHZ. It doesn't always work well.
If it doesn't fit in the holder, it is the wrong type - don't try to force it. (See the notches)
The location of the notches indicates the voltage requirements.
If the chips on the module are a chalky white-grinding off the old numbers causes this. These have been reprinted. One reason to do this is to change the rating from 70 nano seconds to 60 nanoseconds. (An easy way to increase speed - just re-lable it.)
In most of the newer models, you can run two kinds of memory in one machine.
Most makers put a date code on the chips i.e. 9905 where 99 = year, 05 = week of manufacture. If the chips are more than two years old they've probably been passed around a bit.
Pentiums require the memory modules to be installed in pairs.
Pentium II can have different kinds of memory installed and will work with only one bank.
For servers, use the best memory you can find.

Memory modules are assembled in several fashions. The older ones came in a 4 X 4 arrangement, that is 4 MB by 4 bits; then came 8 X 8 or 8 MB by 8 bits and then 8 X 32 that is 8 MB by 32 bits.

RELIABLE SOURCES OF MEMORY.

There are several manufacturers who make good quality chips. Among them are: Corsaire: Fujitsu; Hitachi; Hyundi; Micron; Mitsubishi; Motorola; NEC; Samsung; and Toshiba.

Current pricing for memory is about $ 119.00 for 128 MB and $59.00 for 64 MB.

MEMORY TESTERS.

Approximately 2% of the memory modules have defects, usually cold solder joints. These can be difficult to find when installed in a machine. DOS and Windows both run a memory test every time you boot up. If there is a problem this will usually catch it. If this test tells you that you have a memory problem, have your memory modules tested in a shop.

There are several memory testers on the market that check the module for proper operation. Many computer stores that offer service or sell components have these devices available. If you have a suspect module, check with your dealer to see if he has one and what his charges are for doing the test. Some testers can identify whether the module is a PC-100, the number of banks, chip architecture, etc.

MARKETING OF CHIPS

Big users of memory are PCs, graphics cards, game boards, and Intel motherboards. Selling is done several ways. Most manufacturers are involved in the contract market. They make a deal with a memory maker for a certain number of units at a fixed price. This gives them a better control of their manufacturing costs.

A second major source is called the Gray commodity market. Here is where the surplus memory from various sources is peddled. A third way, frowned on by the contract customers, is back door selling where a manufacturer makes special deals. Last is the 2nd hand market where memory chips are pulled from modules and remounted in new ones.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, TRY THESE SITES

If you are interested in keeping up on memory issues, contact Bill Matson and get on the mailing list for his newsletter. Call him at 503-452-8577 or fax at 503-452-8495.

www.MemoryTime.com
www.Kingston.com
www.SDRAM.com (still under construction)

Note: Kingston has published a booklet titled "The Ultimate Memory Guide" that has a lot of good information in it. It can be downloaded free from their web site in PDF format (642 KB).

End of March 2000 Meeting Report

Page last updated 2000-09-17