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Original Message
"nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-06-02 at 19:23z
Hi all,

nVidia have today announced the GeForce4 chipset with 128Mb of DDR memory and support for two displays. Retail versions available in 30 days - OEM in 60 days.

For more info visit www.nvidia.com. I've cancelled my order for a GeForce3Ti 200 (the supplier couldn't get any and has done me a big favour).

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

Table of contents
Messages in this discussion
"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Ben Chiu on 02-06-02 at 20:22z
>nVidia have today announced the GeForce4 chipset with
>128Mb of DDR memory and support for two displays. Retail
>versions available in 30 days - OEM in 60 days.

Just when you thought it was safe to put your wallet back into your pocket... :)

Ben

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-07-02 at 19:20z
Hi Ben,

<<Just when you thought it was safe to put your wallet back into your pocket... :) >>

You don't want to do that - the missus will find it! :-)

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by jonahbird on 02-06-02 at 21:17z
Hi Ray

Many thanks for that news. It sounds like just what the flying doctor ordered <G>

Hoping you are well.
Best regards
Frank

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-07-02 at 19:24z
Hi Frank,

I'm fine thanks. This has come at a particularly good time. I had the GeForce3 AGP and GeForce2 PCI cards on order from Jungle and Simply and neither could deliver. Now comes the news I've been waiting for.

The 128Mb of memory will really help those texture redraws. My G400 is about 3 generations behind current technology so once I have the Ti440 (probably) plus a Athlon 2000XP I should be set up for at least ..... six months! :-)


Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Vulcan on 02-08-02 at 17:52z
There ain't gonna be no living with you once you get that rig up and running :D

Bear in mind though Ray there will be no more excuses for not using Gary Summons' excellent UK airports, and it should 'eat' on line flying <g,d&r>

Glad to see you moving over to AMD at last ;-) and as you say that rig should last you all of 6 months LOL!

Hope it goes well.

'Vulcan'
8nm NE of EGCC

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-08-02 at 21:56z
Greetings Vulc!

Could be a few months yet before it's running. The GeForce4 will take a couple of months to reach the stores over here I think. I'll hopefully be buying the mobo and case this weekend but not the processor.

I shall certainly think about Gary's scenery but I already have Barry Perfect's and he includes Manchester - Gary doesn't :-(

I'll let you know when it's all up and running and you're welcome to come round. I don't hold grudges ;-)

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by jonahbird on 02-08-02 at 23:02z
Hi Ray

>>The 128Mb of memory will really help those texture redraws. My G400 is about 3 generations behind current technology so once I have the Ti440 (probably) plus a Athlon 2000XP I should be set up for at least ..... six months! <<

That'll be some set up. I think 'months' could be right but it is not so long ago that 'weeks' would have been more like it :-)

Regards
Frank

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-07-02 at 21:01z
Frank,

As a follow-up to my previous posting there's an excellent review of the GeForce4 Ti4600 (the top card) at: -

www.digit-life.com/articles/gf4/index1.html

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by jonahbird on 02-08-02 at 23:05z
Ray

Thanks for the heads up

Frank

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-08-02 at 22:08z
Hi Ray

>> nVidia have today announced the GeForce4 chipset with 128Mb of DDR memory and support for two displays. Retail versions available in 30 days - OEM in 60 days. <<

Great, just 2 weeks after I've taken delivery of my new Athlon 1900+ with GeForce3 Ti500 :-((

Mind you, I'm not complaining. Such things are always bound to happen and, so far, I'm thrilled with it.

I had to wait until yesterday for the 18.1" TFT monitor (they were held up in shipping for some reason - too popular?) and, for anyone wondering whether or not it makes any difference I can tell you that, before this, I was using an iiYama 19" VisionMaster Pro that I was (and still am) delighted with but this new one knocks it in to a cocked hat. The detail is incredible. If anyone tells you to watch out for smearing on a TFT screen tell them it don't happen on this one, leastways, not running FS02. So far I can't fault it.

I'm running the whole system with everything turned up to max and frame rates hardly ever drop below the 18 fps I've asked for. I can even run two small windows for views front/left and front/right without fps dropping below ~13. Amazing. Having said that, I've now got the old 800MHz running Luciano's wideview on the iiYAMA 19" so the extra views aren't necessary, just fun to be able to do :-)
Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by jonahbird on 02-08-02 at 23:11z
Hi Paul

Whose make is the 18.1" TFT? Sounds like it's just what I've been waiting for. MacB has said in recent weeks that Mitsubishi had developed a new TFT process due out in the Spring. I wondered if this was it - early :-)

Regards
Frank

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-09-02 at 10:39z
Hi Frank

>Whose make is the 18.1" TFT? Sounds like it's just what
>I've been waiting for. MacB has said in recent weeks that
>Mitsubishi had developed a new TFT process due out in the
>Spring. I wondered if this was it - early :-)

It's an 'LG Flatron LCD 882LE'. The instruction book says the company is LG Electronics UK Ltd. I think the screens are made in China. It's the screen that Evesham computers supply with their top of the range PCs, had a very good write up in PCPro so I thought I'd go for it.

I don't think it's anything to do with Mitsubishi's new technology. Perhaps FS02 doesn't move fast enough to promote visible smearing?

Hope this helps

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by jonahbird on 02-10-02 at 05:16z
Hi Paul

Thanks, that is very helpful.

I have yet to take my first step into multi screening and a TFT is to be part of that. The other is a new PC and Ray's info on the GeForce4 has also been noted.

This forum is beginning to be like our old Compuserve home.

Regards
Frank

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Ben Chiu on 02-10-02 at 18:54z
>This forum is beginning to be like our old Compuserve
>home.

Thanks, Frank! The staff and I couldn't think of a nicer complimemt than that at our early stage.

When we release the offline reader, I'm sure it'll seem even more like CiS and OzWin.

Ben

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by jonahbird on 02-10-02 at 23:30z
Hi Ben

>>When we release the offline reader, I'm sure it'll seem even more like CiS and OzWin<<

That will certainly seal its success.

Regards
Frank

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-11-02 at 01:11z
Hi Ben

>> When we release the offline reader, I'm sure it'll seem even more like CiS and OzWin <<

An OLR will, without a doubt, be the most significant step www.flightadventures.com will ever take. I forecast that, once it's up and running, and word gets around, there won't be another site to touch us :-)

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 02-11-02 at 04:25z
Hey paul,

>>I forecast that, once it's up
and running, and word gets around, there won't be another site to touch
us<<

Let's hope so!

Greenie

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 2.0.0.0 ****

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 02-11-02 at 04:25z
>>When we release the offline reader, I'm sure it'll seem even more like
CiS and OzWin.<<

Like *this* offline reader?? :-) Beta coming soon...stay tuned folks!

Greenie

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 2.0.0.0 ****

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-11-02 at 01:10z
Hi Frank

>> I have yet to take my first step into multi screening and a TFT is to be part of that. The other is a new PC and Ray's info on the GeForce4 has also been noted.

This forum is beginning to be like our old Compuserve home. <<

What I used to love about the old CS Forum was not so much the problems members encountered - after all, most most of us had encountered just about all the problemns there were to meet anyway and there was a huge pool of knowledge should any new ones arise - it was being able to draw on all the other experiences of members, especially relating to appropriate hardware.

We are all keen to keep reasonably up to date to make the most of the simming experience but hardly any (if any at all) of the hardware reviews found in the computer press tell us how a new piece of kit will perform with FS. It's therefore invaluable when others post their findings on hardware they've chosen. Regular contributors get to know whose advice is reliable and can thus hopefully make a far more informed choice when they shell out on the next significant hardware upgrade.

I, too, love the way this forum is headed. Can't wait for the off line reader. At the moment I go visit all the new messages, then disconnect, then go through them again courtesy of the fact they're all stashed in the cache, then compose any replies if appropriate in a text editor, then reconnect, then find the messages the replies refer to, then post the replies. Tedious? Sure is, but worth it nonetheless.

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-09-02 at 11:31z
Hi Paul,

I shouldn't worry unduly - there'll be very little difference in frame rates. All that will change will be texture redraw times. If it wasn't for the dual-head feature I would probably still go for a GeForce3 - there'll be a reasonable price reduction now.

I am envious of your 18.1" TFT screen. Are you using the DVI input? I assume so given that the GeForce3 Ti500 has a digital output. I'm in something of a dilemma as to what to do after I sell my PIII-800. I really should sell it with a monitor which means replacing my Iiyama Pro 410 17". I briefly considered a TFT screen but the prices for a 18" are horrendous unless bundled as part of a new PC.

I think buying a 15" TFT would be a retrograde move - paying more for a smaller (secondary) screen. I'm now considering buying another 19" CRT of a higher spec than my existing Sony 19" which could be relegated to a secondary roll. I think there's still a lot of life in CRTs until prices of TFTs drop to more affordable levels.

With the great performance of your new system I can't wait to upgrade but I'll have to be patient until the GeForce4 arrives. After much deliberation I have decided to stay with a single PC. The cost of a second 3D view is too much given the price I can expect for my PIII-800 in the second-hand market.

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-11-02 at 01:15z
Hi Ray

>> I shouldn't worry unduly - there'll be very little difference in frame rates. All that will change will be texture redraw times. If it wasn't for the dual-head feature I would probably still go for a GeForce3 - there'll be a reasonable price reduction now. <<

I agree. The GeForce3 has more than enough power for FS, but the dual head, now that is overdue and is bound to hurt Matrox. I'd have certainly waited had I known this was just around the corner.

>> I am envious of your 18.1" TFT screen. Are you using the DVI input? <<

Certainly am.

>> I'm in something of a dilemma as to what to do after I sell my PIII-800. I really should sell it with a monitor which means replacing my Iiyama Pro 410 17". I briefly considered a TFT screen but the prices for a 18" are horrendous unless bundled as part of a new PC. <<

Yes, that's certainly true but I've always figured the monitor is the most important part of the system and that, if it's a toss up between a faster PC or a better monitor, the monitor will win out every time. After all, that's the bit of kit you spend all your time looking at. I can't believe the difference in detail running this TFT screen at its native resolution of 1280x1024. I wouldn't have thought it possible to get such an improvement over my iiYama 19". I don't deny for one minute that I had to think long and hard before I took the decision to buy the monitor as well as the PC but, now that it's here, I don't regret it for one second.

>> I'm now considering buying another 19" CRT of a higher spec than my existing Sony 19" which could be relegated to a secondary roll. <<

Checking the books the difference between a good 19" CRT and the 18.1" LG is c.£500. I agree, that's certainly a lot of dosh.

>> After much deliberation I have decided to stay with a single PC. The cost of a second 3D view is too much given the price I can expect for my PIII-800 in the second-hand market. <<

I think that's a wise decision. Much as I enjoy the second 3D view I think a second monitor running from the primary PC has every bit as much to commend it and, in some ways more so.

From the non-FS point of view I prefer having two PCs now, especially now that the new PC has the winXP OS. So far I've been hugely impressed with XP but there are one or two niggles I've encountered which I've mentioned in another post and you may have noticed. The latest one I've recently come across is, when using OzWin to attach a file to an email, I can't right click on the file in Explorer to find the DOS name - as far as XP is concerned this either doesn't exist or is not available. This makes it very hard to attach a file when, in Ozwin, I see a multitude of files and only their dos names visible. At least retaining win98SE on the older PC allows me to take full advantage of all that was good in what I still think was a fine OS.

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-13-02 at 22:22z
Hi Paul,

Now that I've left CompuServe I have no further need for OzWin although it remains on my system should I wish to access the discussion threads.

Does XP still have support for DOS? I know Windows Me doesn't have a DOS window as such but this is of little consequence to me since I don't run any DOS programs.

I hope you manage to resolve the problem.

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 02-14-02 at 04:19z
Hi Paul,

>>I can't right click on the file in Explorer to find the DOS name - as
far as XP is concerned this either doesn't exist or is not available.<<

The best way to do that is to right click on the file, click "send to" then click on "mail recipient" That will open up a new message window from Outlook (or express) with the attachment already inserted. XP has one great function when using this method (maybe more?). I use digital photography exclusively now. My camera is a 3.1 megapixel job and I always take my photos at high resolution (for better prints). Well those babies come in at about 800k each! That's pretty big if you want to send a bunch of pics to family. Using the method above, XP knows it's a photo, and a dialog box pops up that asks, "Would you like windows to make your pictures smaller?" The default option (that I use, and you can change) is 640x480. If you click yes, windows takes the 800k file and shrinks it down to about 30k. That's done without changing the original file at all. Prior to XP I always had to manually reduce the resolution of pics before I sent them off. Very cool!

--Greenie
**6 miles SSE KSJC**

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 2.0.0.0 ****

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-15-02 at 07:37z
Hi Greenie

>> The best way to do that is to right click on the file, click "send to" then click on "mail recipient" <<

That would be OK if I was using the new system for e-mail but I'm not, I'm using the old one with the 98SE OS.

>> XP has one great function <<

As I said, I think XP has a lot of good ideas, it's just the niggles which annoy me. Here's another one - does the XP Home OS have a backup programme installed? If it does I can't find it. I use MS Backup a lot in 98SE and can't believe there ain't a backup programme in XP.

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 02-16-02 at 04:15z
Hi Paul,

>>That would be OK if I was using the new system for e-mail but I'm not,
I'm using the old one with the 98SE OS.<<

I'm not sure I understand. If you're using XP then my suggestion works, the new outlook express comes with XP by default. The right click to "mail recipient" will open whatever your default email handler is anyway (I believe). Please straighten me out, 'cause I'm a bit confused on this one.

>>does the XP Home OS have a backup
programme installed? If it does I can't find it. I use MS Backup a lot
in 98SE and can't believe there ain't a backup programme in XP.<<

You are correct, the home edition does not. The professional version does though. We beta testers fought long and hard on a few things they were planning to take out of the home version. We won on multiple monitors, but lost on the backup program. To be honest, I have never used the MS supplied back-up utility anyway. Until a couple of years ago I used tape back-up (and the software supplied with the unit), then I moved to CD's , and now that hard drives are so cheap, I actually back-up to another hard drive first, then eventually to CDs for permanent archiving if need be. I now have a total of 100gigs of HD space on my main machine.

Yesterday for example, I backed up all of my critical stuff to my second hard drive, formatted C: and had a fully functional OS with all of my main apps up and running in less than 3 hours. That also included getting my son's website that I host here running again. If I was retrieving from tape, I'd still be doing it <g>.

What else bugs you about XP? I'm not trying to be condescending here, it's just that I've been running it for about a year and a half, so I'm very accustomed to it at this point <g>. Along those lines, I can probably help you with some things that you probably aren't used to.

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 2.0.1.1 ****

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-16-02 at 07:12z
Hi Greenie

>> If you're using XP then my suggestion works, the new outlook express comes with XP by default. The right click to "mail recipient" will open whatever your default email handler is anyway (I believe). Please straighten me out, 'cause I'm a bit confused on this one.

I still use the old computer with the 98SE OS for all internet and email and I don't use Internet Connection Sharing though the 2 PCs are networked.

I'm still a member of Compuserve and so I still use OzWinII >.

If I want to e-mail a file to someone I need to know the DOS name of the file so I can recognise it in OzWin's 'attach this file' window.

With win98 I can right click on the file in Explorer (aka File Manager) and check the properties for the DOS name. In winXP I can't. If the file is on the new PC with the XP OS I can still find the DOS file name of the file by looking at it from the win98 computer so it's not a major problem, just that I can't see any reason for dropping this functionality from the XP OS unless it's to do with trying to wean users away from old legacy software. Another dodge is simply to copy the file to a dedicated folder so that when I browse to there in Ozwin the file for attachment is the only file in the window.

>> What else bugs you about XP? <<

The two other things I've come across and posted on this forum are:

1. I can no longer create multiple copies of floppy discs. In 98SE (and earlier versions) I could go to the dos prompt, type 'diskcopy a: a:' and, after copying from source floppy to target floppy, I would be asked, "Do you wish to make another copy?" to which I press 'y' then insert the next target disk. In XP, after copying to the first target floppy there's no option to copy to another, the prog starts right over again asking for the source floppy if I want another copy. I know that perhaps not many people use floppies any more but I am a tutor at a local tech teaching basic IT and, for tests, all the students work from files given to them on a floppy disc. I have to prepare those 30 or so floppies and diskcopy is by far the best way of doing this. The only alternative is to use the file manager and copy the files across to each floppy but, if there are files on there which need to be deleted first, it takes much longer.

2. I left a floppy in the 'A' drive the other day. When I next tried to boot up I didn't get the usual friendly warning that there was a non system floppy in the A drive but a message saying that the 'puter couldn't find file NTLDR. This meant nothing to me. Fortunately I could boot from the rescue CD that came with the new PC because this new system is set to check drives D then A before looking at C. However, it then took me about 2 hours to track down the source of the problem becaue I'd forgotten all about the stray floppy disk and there was nothing in the warning to point me in that direction. I just wonder why?

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 02-17-02 at 04:07z
Hi Paul,

>>I still use the old computer with the 98SE OS for all internet and email
and I don't use Internet Connection Sharing though the 2 PCs are
networked.<<


OK, I understand now. Since MS is trying to away with dos entirely (which is actually a good thing <g>), I'm not surprised that there's no easy way to figure out the dos name of a file in XP. Your methods are exactly what I would have suggested here though.

My best suggestion though is to bag OzWin all together for email. No one here except for perhaps Gunner has used OzWin longer than I have, and while the mail portion worked, a pop3 account always worked much better. If CIS is still your ISP (and it must be I suppose), switch your compuserve mail to a pop3 account, then you can access and send using outlook express, or any othe pop3 client you wish. Trust me, you'll find it *MUCH* easier and more user friendly than using OZ for mail. Another suggestion is to get ICS running and share that connection amongst the 2 computers. It's easy to set up, and once it's set up, transparent on both (or more) computers. I've used ICS ever since it was available on Win98SE. Ideally, if you could have XP on both computers, sharing the connection is even easier. XP is simply awesome when it comes to networking.


>>I can no longer create multiple copies of floppy discs. <<

Hmmm, I see where that could be a problem in your situation. It's actually something I never came across in the beta. I rarely use floppies anymore, and almost understan why Apple left them off their iMAC thingies. I said almost though <g>. I'll look into it and see if there's a sloution. If so, I'll post a note here so everyone benefits.

>> I left a floppy in the 'A' drive the other day. When I next tried to
boot up I didn't get the usual friendly warning that there was a non
system floppy in the A drive but a message saying that the 'puter
couldn't find file NTLDR. <<

Yuuch! I'd call that a full fledged major bug! Again, for the reason above I never came across that problem. I'll investigate that as well.

Take care.


--Greenie
**6 miles SSE KSJC**

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 2.0.3.0 ****

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-17-02 at 12:23z
Hi Greenie

>> If CIS is still your ISP (and it must be I suppose), switch your compuserve mail to a pop3 account, then you can access and send using outlook express, or any othe pop3 client you wish. <<

I've just tried to do that but, for some reason, it doesn't want to accept my password. Any ideas why the password I normally use to access Compuserve should not work when using POP3 access?

>> Trust me, you'll find it *MUCH* easier and more user friendly than using OZ for mail. <<

Maybe. But I know Oz pretty well now and I'm still very much a novice with Outlook Express. Mind you, I rather suspect my days with CSi are numbered.

>> XP is simply awesome when it comes to networking. <<

No dispute there. I was very impressed with the ease with which I connected the new pc to the old pc. No hassles and everything functions a treat.

>> I rarely use floppies anymore ... I'll look into it and see if there's a sloution. If so, I'll post a note here so everyone benefits. <<

Thanks Greenie. It's just one of those little annoyances which makes me ask, "Why?". The prog worked a treat in 98SE. Why remove an already existing feature that works so well?

>> Yuuch! I'd call that a full fledged major bug! Again, for the reason above I never came across that problem. I'll investigate that as well. <<

Thanks. I'll be interested to see what their response is.

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 02-18-02 at 04:54z
Hi Paul,

>>I've just tried to do that but, for some reason, it doesn't want to
accept my password. Any ideas why the password I normally use to access
Compuserve should not work when using POP3 access?<<

At some point during the switching process, you needed to pick a pop3 password that *had* to be different than your regular access password. Either you never got that far when you were signing up for pop3 access, or you forgot it? A note to Compuserve tech support may be in order to figure out what happened. If your days are numbered there (no doubt <g>) then I wouldn't bother and start shopping for a new isp instead. Once you're set up with the new provider, you'll be forced into whatever email software they recommend (most likely outlook express).

>>Thanks Greenie. It's just one of those little annoyances which makes me
ask, "Why?". The prog worked a treat in 98SE. Why remove an already
existing feature that works so well?<<

Hehe, I agree. Many things that MS does has me scratching my head <g>.

>>Thanks. I'll be interested to see what their response is.<<

I'll let you know if.when I find something out.
--Greenie
**6 miles SSE KSJC**

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 2.0.4.0 ****

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-18-02 at 17:32z
>> At some point during the switching process, you needed to pick a pop3 password that *had* to be different than your regular access password. Either you never got that far when you were signing up for pop3 access, or you forgot it? <<

Never got that far I suspect. I had OzWin when I bought the last computer and just set up the account manually.

>> If your days are numbered there (no doubt <g>) then I wouldn't bother and start shopping for a new isp instead. <<

I've already got another account with my telco so I've decided to activate it and drop the CSi one. Spent last night notifying all and sundry about my new address. FWIW, if you keep these things on a database on your website my new email addy is: paulcroft@eurobell.co.uk

>> Once you're set up with the new provider, you'll be forced into whatever email software they recommend (most likely outlook express). <<

Will I? I just set up the account manually and all seems to work. I haven't run any ISP software for several years now because of the settings they change all over the place. It certainly takes a while to set these things up manually but it's a whole lot less time than undoing the changes :-)

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 02-18-02 at 22:37z
Hi Paul,

>> FWIW, if you keep these things on a database on your website my new email addy is: paulcroft@eurobell.co.uk<<

Yup we sure do. It's part of your account. I'll change it shortly.

>>Will I? I just set up the account manually and all seems to work<<

What I really meant to say by that is that you will no longer be able to use OzWin (once you drop the cis account. I assume you're using outlook express with the new account?

--Greenie

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 2.0.4.0 ****
**** OLR.PL Build 1.61 ****

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Stephen on 02-17-02 at 15:06z
Hi Paul,

>With win98 I can right click on the file in Explorer (aka
>File Manager) and check the properties for the DOS name.
>In winXP I can't.

The best thing I can think of for quickly finding DOS names in Windows XP is simply to work out the name in your head, I do it often and it saves time even in Windows 9x.
Take the first six characters of the file name (if there are spaces, ignore them) and attach ~1 to the end. If, however, there is more than one file beginning with the same six characters in a particular directory you have to attach ~2, ~3, etc to the end, based on alphabetical order. Then stick the file extension on the end.

For example:
Windows name: My Demonstration File.doc
DOS Name: mydemo~1.doc

Or for multiple files beginning with the same six characters in the same directory:

Windows names:
My Demonstration File.doc
My Demonstration File.txt
My Demonstration File Again.doc
My Demonstration File Yet Again.doc

DOS names:
mydemo~1.doc
mydemo~1.txt
mydemo~2.doc
mydemo~3.doc

I'm not sure if this is of any real use to you?


>1. I can no longer create multiple copies of floppy
>discs.

To copy a floppy disk in Windows XP:
Insert the disk, open My Computer, right click the floppy disk drive and select "Copy Disk".
Make the source drive identical to the output drive and hit Start.
Windows will then copy data from the disk and when finished will prompt you to insert a new disk to which it will copy all data from the first disk.


>2. I left a floppy in the 'A' drive the other day. When
>I next tried to boot up I didn't get the usual friendly
>warning that there was a non system floppy in the A drive
>but a message saying that the 'puter couldn't find file
>NTLDR.

Yikes. That sounds weird... I've no idea what could have caused that.


-Stephen.

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by maurice on 02-09-02 at 16:03z
>I had to wait until yesterday for the 18.1" TFT monitor (they were held up in shipping for some reason -<

Hello Paul, Glad to hear that you're satisfied with your new 18.1" LCD. If yours was delayed somewhat it's possible that mine arrived before yours although when we last wrote I hadn't yet decided to buy. Mine is an EIZO L685 at about £1160 chosen on the strength of a good review in Computer Shopper and I'm more than satisfied with it despite the cost. I run it at 1280x?, linear video input, driven from a GeForce3 with a 1GHz Pentium with everything maxed in FS2k2.

The display is amazing; perfect symmetry (of course), VERY bright, 400:1 contrast ratio, 170deg viewing angle. A USB hub too. It beats a CRT. I was concerned about smearing due to pixel response time, particularly as the Mitsubishi AngleView is said to be imminent, but I don't see the slightest evidence of that.

(I would recommend a TFT LCD to anyone who can't yet make up his mind to get one.)

Regards,

Maurice.

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by PaulCroft on 02-11-02 at 01:21z
Hi Maurice

>> Mine is an EIZO L685 at about £1160 <<

Wow, and I thought mine was pricey at £846!

>> I run it at 1280x?, linear video input, driven from a GeForce3 with a 1GHz Pentium with everything maxed in FS2k2. <<

Similar to me then if, by linear video input, you mean DVI which I thought was digital video input, thus doing away with the need for a DAC and, theoretically at least, contributing to the overall picture quality.

My monitor's native resolution is 1280x1024 which I thought was a slightly peculiar resolution being that 1280x960 equates to the standard 4:3 aspect ration but have you noticed how these screens are taller than their CRT counterparts and the aspect ratio is no longer 4:3? It enables me to lower the height of the panel (the default has the round gauges elongated in the vertical direction) and thus have the same panel size with more of the scenery on view or, at least, a different ratio of panel to screen giving that impression.

>> The display is amazing; perfect symmetry (of course), VERY bright, 400:1 contrast ratio, 170deg viewing angle. A USB hub too. It beats a CRT. I was concerned about smearing due to pixel response time, particularly as the Mitsubishi AngleView is said to be imminent, but I don't see the slightest evidence of that. <<

Another satisfied customer indeed. I'm still amazed at the difference in picture quality between this and my CRT which I was running on the new system for 2 weeks before the TFT arrived.

>> (I would recommend a TFT LCD to anyone who can't yet make up his mind to get one.) <<

Why put this in brackets? I'd put it in LARGE BOLD LETTERS so that ditherers don't miss it :-)

Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by brynjames on 02-09-02 at 13:59z
....and already the first dissatisfied FS2002/GeF4 customer report is up on http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/dcforum/DCForumID10/14443.html

Maybe you should re-order the Ti200 (got mine last week from Novatech at less than £150 and I see they are even cheaper from cclcomputers.co.uk) :). Slight fps improvement over a 32MB GeF 256 at 1024x768x16, and 25% improvement at 1600x1200x32, both measured using the original 12.41 drivers, and the Avsim FSBench FS2000 test flights. Later drivers might improve these results - and no doubt, fix the GeF4 problems reported by the "early-adopter" above.

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 02-09-02 at 15:03z
Hi Bryn,

This guy also posted a similar message at AvSim and rightly got shot down. He's talking rubbish as the GeForce4 is currently using the same drivers as the GeForce3. To suggest Microsoft need to issue a patch for this is ridiculous and shows his lack of knowledge.

Any driver inconsistencies will soon be resolved by nVidia.

The GeForce3 does not have dual-head capability so I'm not even considering it.

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Tarmack on 03-06-02 at 00:17z

Ray,

Just got my GeForce4 today.

Installed flawlessly.

Damn....does it smoke !

Regards,

Mel

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Mike_Greenwood on 03-06-02 at 03:27z
>>Damn....does it smoke !<<\

Good thing you're in the garage! <vbg>

--Greenie
**6 miles SSE KSJC**

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"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by JohnSDavison on 03-06-02 at 10:13z
Hi Mel,
Could you please give us some idea of the difference it made to your system? I've been holding off buying a new graphics card until GeForce4 became available and would like to know the likely effect on performance. Many thanks.
Regards....John
"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Tarmack on 03-06-02 at 10:24z

John,

I am running the GeForce4 on a Dell P4 1.6mhz and the "feeling" of flight fluidity/smoothness is nothing short of amazing.

I am seeing things I never saw before........especially in the texture area....even the runway is a new experience with its textures.

I have never seen frame rates dip below 25 even with the sliders all right and ATC at 100 percent......today I will fire up FSMeteo and put her through the cloud tests. Grin.

I previously ran a Matrox G-550 in this computer that is my server to the clients with WideView.....and that card provided views across two monitors in FS2k2. While the GeForce5 does have a dual monitor output.....I have not yet discovered a way to spread the view across two monitors while IN FS2K2.....without seeing a tremendous frame rate hit.....down to about 2 frames a second! If you are in a normal desktop.....you can spread Windows Explorer across the two screens with no problem....but there is something about FS2K2 that is not allowing the "spreading".......so I had to reconfigure my cockpit for the two outside front views and.....keeping the left front windshield on the new GeForce4 computer and bringing in a HP P4 for the copilot window.

Actually, that IS best anyway.....because now if I need to see an aircraft instrument panel........it looks normal and not so stretched out as it was in the former Matrox card setup.

I love this new card so much that I will have to bury my billfold deeply in the back yard so as to not run out and get another one for the copilot view. Grin.

Regards,

Mel

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by JohnSDavison on 03-06-02 at 22:02z
Hi Mel,
That sounds wonderful! I think that's the way I'll have to go with my upgrade. I still haven't seen any on sale here in the UK yet though, but no doubt they'll be here any day now. I understand there will be a whole slew of different models - which one did you get?
Regards....John
"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Tarmack on 03-06-02 at 22:27z

John,

I bought the card at the Melbourne FL CompUSA Superstore...it is a "Verto" by PNY...but NVIDIA and GeForce4 Ti 4600 all the way!

Be careful when you install...a row of capacitors are on the end of the card and they are quite large...mine fit in okay but I had to be careful not to bump or nudge the card right above it.

Regards,

Mel


"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by JohnSDavison on 03-07-02 at 10:30z
Hi Mel,
Ah, you got the top of the range model then, you lucky devil you! :) Don't think my funds will run to that, but one from the MX range is a distinct possibility. Anyone here have any comments on the MX models' performance yet?
Regards....John
"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Ben Chiu on 03-07-02 at 20:34z
> Anyone here have any comments on the MX models'
> performance yet?

Greetings John:

According to Maximum PC Magazine's latest issue (great magazine BTW), the GF4 MX is about the same speed as the GF3TI overall (in some programs it's slightly faster, but slightly slower in others). The advantage to the GF4 MX over the GF3 are the new filtering methods and dual heads.

Hope this helps!

Ben


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"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by JohnSDavison on 03-07-02 at 22:21z
Hi Ben,
Yes, that is indeed helpful information. Many thanks.
Regards....John
"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 03-06-02 at 18:56z
Mel,

Smokin' is bad for you - send it to me, I'll take the risk ;-)

I'm envious. Still no sign of them here except when buying a new PC. May have to wait another few weeks but I can be patient.

What card did you have previously? I'm going from a 32Mb dual-head (G400) to a 128Mb so I imagine redraws may be a tad faster :D

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England

"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by Tarmack on 03-06-02 at 22:25z

Ray,

Looks like we are thinking pretty much alike...you were running a G400 and I was running a G550!

It is amazing that just seeing the SUN...as it sets...with sort of a "halo" around it....never saw that before...much more detail, with no cost in frame rates with this new card.

You will love it!

Regards,

Mel


"RE: nVidia announce GeForce4"
Posted by RayProudfoot on 03-07-02 at 00:21z
Mel,

Great minds....;-) Looking forward even more now after your postings. Enjoy your system to the full!

Regards,

Ray Proudfoot,
Cheshire, England