tse:

Microsoft describes Office 2010 x64 installation procedures

Corwin Tse — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:32:55 +0000

Microsoft has recently published the deployment notes for its upcoming 64-bit-native Office 2010 productivity suite. As you may be aware, this is the first time Microsoft has to coded its flagship productivity suite in x64/64-bit binary format. This development is nonessential yet important. Nonessential because the vast majority of documents’ contents do not exceed the 2GB application address space limit but important because future demands always increase (whether that be from document contents or application size). This is also the opportunity to slowly but surely transition the user base to 64-bit while demand for it is still low, minimizing the impact of the transition just like the way Windows XP and Windows Vista’s transition to 64-bit was done when users wanted but not needed the extra capability.

To achieve the goal of a smooth transition, Office 2010’s 64-bit migration path generally follows that of Windows Vista and Windows 7. 32-bit is the default choice for all users, whether or not a 64-bit operation system is running during installation. This means compatibility with existing 32-bit plug-ins, DLLs, VBA code, and the depreciated Equation Editor (MathType) used in Office 2003 and earlier. Only when the user specifically uses the 64-bit Office 2010 setup file will the 64-bit version of Office 2010 be installed. Naturally, upgrading from an earlier version of Office will net a 32-bit Office 2010 upgrade; presumably a clean install is required for a 32-bit to 64-bit upgrade. The other exception is when an existing 64-bit Office program is already installed (like Word 2010 x64) the default setup will choose to install the 64-bit version in place of 32-bit.

It’s been clear from Microsoft that both 32-bit and 64-bit has the same features and functionality and perform quite similarly, and documents saved from either versions will open exactly on both. The one and more pronounced benefit of 64-bit will come from Excel where you can “create bigger workbooks, whether that’s due to tons of data in the grid, tons of charts in your workbook, several really huge PivotCaches supporting your PivotTables, and so on”. (Joseph Chirilov) However the 64-bit GDI subsystem in Windows x64 which the 64-bit SmartArt relies on does not support MMX extensions in CPUs. Whether or not there is a speed difference in rendering SmartArt diagrams remains to be seen.

Overall, this is a positive step that balances compatibility with future development that advanced users can benefit from.

October 2009 budget computer build suggestions

Corwin Tse — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:23:25 +0000

All necessary parts are listed except the computer case and power supply. Prices in Australian Dollars and are correct at time of writing.

For office programs and home theatre computers:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-US2H (AM3 microATX) – $97
CPU: Athlon II X2 245 (dual-core 2.9GHz 2MB) - $75
RAM: SuperTalent DDR2-800 (2GB) – $37
Hard Disk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB (16MB 7200RPM) – $54
Optical Drive: Sony DRU865S (22x DVD+/-RW Lightscribe) $48
Monitor: BenQ G2220HD (1920 x 1080 DVI) $168
Total Cost: $479 including monitor, $311 computer only

Comments: fast integrated graphics (Radeon HD 4200) that will run current games (at low settings) or older titles at high settings. The motherboard comes with DVI, VGA, and HDMI outputs.

For gaming:

Motherboard: ECS A740GM-M (AM2+ microATX) – $52
CPU: Athlon II X2 245 (dual-core 2.9GHz 2MB) - $75
RAM: SuperTalent DDR2-800 (2GB) – $37
Hard Disk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB (16MB 7200RPM) – $54
GPU: PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 (512MB) – $159
Optical Drive: Sony DRU865S (22x DVD+/-RW Lightscribe) $48
Monitor: BenQ G2220HD (1920 x 1080 DVI) $168
Total Cost: $593 including monitor, $425 computer only

Comments: from a performance perspective the Radeon HD 4870 GPU is close to the top-end Radeon HD 4890 which has twice the frame buffer according to a recent X-bit labs testing, good for current and future titles.

For photo and video editing:

Motherboard: ECS A740GM-M (AM2+ microATX) – $52
CPU: Athlon II X4 620 (quad-core 2.6GHz 2MB) - $129
RAM: Two (2) SuperTalent DDR2-800 (2GB) – $74
Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB (32MB 7200RPM) – $95
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 4770 (512MB) – $128
Optical Drive: Two (2) Sony DRU865S (22x DVD+/-RW Lightscribe) $96
Monitor: BenQ G2220HD (1920 x 1080 DVI) $168
Total Cost: $742 including monitor, $574 computer only

Comments: now that AMD has introduced low cost quad-core processors it makes sense to include them here, encoding performance is quite competitive too. Radeon HD 4770 for lower power consumption compared to the 4850. Now video encoding can be done on either the quad-core or the graphics card.

Microsoft language interface packs and input method downloads

Corwin Tse — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:09:17 +0000

This is a compilation of Microsoft language interface packs and input methods available at the Microsoft website for download. The list is current as of October 24, 2009.

Windows

Office

Other

September 2009 budget computer build suggestions

Corwin Tse — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:59:41 +0000

All necessary parts are listed except the computer case and power supply. Prices in Australian Dollars and are correct at time of writing.

For office programs and home theatre computers:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-US2H (AM3 microATX) – $98
CPU: Athlon II X2 240 (dual-core 2.8GHz 2MB) - $75
RAM: G.Skill DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5S-2GBNT (2GB CL5 5-5-5-15) – $39
Hard Disk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB (16MB 7200RPM) – $61
Optical Drive: Sony DRU865S (22x DVD+/-RW Lightscribe) $55
Monitor: BenQ G2220HD (1920 x 1080 DVI) $188
Total Cost: $516 including monitor, $328 computer only

Comments: a new AM3 socket motherboard matched with the best integrated graphics chip to date – Radeon HD 4200 (part of AMD 785G chipset). It will let you run all the latest games and run slightly older and less demanding titles smoothly even at 1920 x 1080 resolution and maximum settings. Radeon HD 4200 also comes with UVD2 to accelerate high definition VC-1 and H.264 video playback and dual video decoding, perfect for Blu-ray’s Bonus View and BD-Live content. The motherboard comes with DVI, VGA, and HDMI outputs. With SSE4a, AMD-V, and Direct3D 10.1 hardware support, this setup can full take advantage of Windows 7 advanced graphics and virtualization capabilities.

For gaming:

Motherboard: ECS A740GM-M (AM2+ microATX) – $52
CPU: Athlon II X2 240 (dual-core 2.8GHz 2MB) - $75
RAM: G.Skill DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5S-2GBNT (2GB CL5 5-5-5-15) – $39
Hard Disk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB (16MB 7200RPM) – $61
GPU: PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 (512MB) – $169
Optical Drive: Sony DRU865S (22x DVD+/-RW Lightscribe) $55
Monitor: BenQ G2220HD (1920 x 1080 DVI) $188
Total Cost: $639 including monitor, $451 computer only

Comments: the very powerful Radeon HD 4870 GPU has dropped down to rock-bottom prices, making it a natural fit for a high-performance low-cost gaming machine. In fact according to a recent X-bit labs testing, the performance is close to the top-end Radeon HD 4890 with twice the frame buffer. This implies that the 512MB frame buffer still adequate up to this date. Compared to Radeon HD 4850, the additional computational power and abundant memory bandwidth should make this setup last easily into the next year, and probably the year after that as well.

For photo and video editing:

Motherboard: ECS A740GM-M (AM2+ microATX) – $52
CPU: Athlon II X2 240 (dual-core 2.8GHz 2MB) - $75
RAM: Two (2) G.Skill DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5S-2GBNT (2GB CL5 5-5-5-15) – $78
Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB (32MB 7200RPM) – $95
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 4850 (512MB) – $127
Optical Drive: Two (2) Sony DRU865S (22x DVD+/-RW Lightscribe) $110
Monitor: BenQ G2220HD (1920 x 1080 DVI) $188
Total Cost: $725 including monitor, $537 computer only

Comments: 4GB of RAM that is crucial for serious Photoshop and video editing. Radeon HD 4850 will encode videos in Premier Pro CS4, and PowerDirector 8 much faster than a current quad-core CPU will, it will also work with Photoshop CS4’s GPU rendering acceleration. Expect more programs to be accelerated when OpenCL and DirectX 11’s Compute Shader come out. Two DVD burners for quicker media backup. External hard disks would also be a recommended extra for media archiving. The Western Digital Caviar Green hard disk also reduces power consumption, especially when in idle.

Seadragon Mobile

Corwin Tse — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:43:49 +0000

Windows Live Labs has released the iPhone OS version of their Seadragon client. It lets you view images in the range of gigapixels (thousands of megapixels). The best way to show how this works is through pictures, starting with the entire image - Running the Numbers by Chris Jordan.

It uses JPEG XR, the next generation image format standardized by JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) that is based on Microsoft’s HD Photo format introduced with Windows Vista. As discussed before, JPEG XR allows subsections of an image to be streamed and decoded by an application. This means that one large image (such as the one shown) can be used for all magnification levels. This makes it feasible for gigapixel images to be streamed over the Internet and 3G networks (and fit inside iPhone/iPod’s 128MB RAM), as it needs to download only the number of pixels that the screen can display at once. This is in contrast with current image formats (such as JPEG, GIF, and PNG) which limit the implementation of these types of programs to where the entire image (in the gigabytes) needs to be downloaded before zooming can happen, or that different versions of the same image are used for each zoom level.

The other gigapixel images available to view on Seadragon Mobile include satellite images of Earth and the Moon as well as the hundreds of user-created Photosynth photographs. This app is great working example of JPEG XR’s technical capabilities.

Gaming on Intel graphics

Corwin Tse — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:05:51 +0000

Seeing how many tests have been done on how games can’t be played on Intel graphics I’ve decided to test the other side of the argument. Considering that Intel graphics has the largest install base and that most laptops come with un-upgradable Intel graphics it’s worthwhile finding out which games they can run. Using two of the lowest-end Intel graphics to test means that if these games can run fine, then your higher and newer model will too but faster.

Benchmark

Demo versions of the games tested were used and all graphics settings including antistrophic filtering were set to the highest levels possible. No antialiasing was applied. The highest resolutions with the lowest acceptable framerates were used which are listed below. The framerates were determined manually by observing a stable average number indicated by FRAPS.

Computer specifications were as follows:

82855

855GM
Intel Pentium M 753 1.2GHz 2MB L2 Cache 400MHz FSB
Micron Technology 512MB DDR-333 CL 2.5-3-3-7
Hitachi TravelStar 60GB IDE 4200RPM 8MB Cache
Windows XP Service Pack 3

Introduced with the Centrino Carmel platform back in 2003 this integrated graphics chip supports DirectX 6. It has no hardware support for pixel and vertex shaders. It is the predecessor to GMA 900 series so this is practically the baseline model.

GMA 3100

Asus P5KPL-AM/PS
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache 800MHz FSB
G.Skill-NT 4GB DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-15
Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 DirectX 9.0c

Still can be found in many motherboards sold today. GMA 3100 supports Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and Vertex Shader 2.0 through software. It is an improved version of the GMA 900 series.

The measured speeds are as follows. As always, only the very highest quality settings are used other than antialiasing where it is set to none.

Additional note: a comprehensive list of games which are compatible with Intel GMA is available online.

Conclusion: Intel graphics can run games, older titles that is. It might not be designed specifically for games but they certainly can run some of them fine. Except for UEFA EURO 2008, GMA 3100 can’t run games made after 2005 as most of them require Pixel Shader 2.0 (which GMA 3100 does not support), but even then using the low-end GMA 3100 we can see playable performance at 1920 x 1080 with maximum details, which is quite impressive. Of course, we are not looking at them as being competitive with AMD and NVIDIA’s offerings, but on its own GMA 3100 can offer a good experience if you can find the right game. Considering that G41 chipset motherboards (like the Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L) that come with much faster and more advanced GMA X4500 are reaching budget prices, users can expect more titles to run acceptably on their computer without having to purchase a video card. On the other hand, the 82855 didn’t fare so well, but that is to be expected from an older chipset. Even then it can still handle titles released up to around 2003, albeit at a low resolution.

Keep in mind that newer Intel graphics models (such as GMA X3100 and GMA 4500) support pixel and vertex shaders, so the number of supported titles is much larger than the ones tested. You can check which version of shaders your model supports at Wikipedia or Intel.

Having said all this, a video card is still recommended if upgrading is possible which unfortunately is not always the case for laptop users, hence the article.

Windows accessories: the neglected toolbox

Corwin Tse — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:25:47 +0000

Often times the first thing after you start up your new computer or fresh install of Windows is to install all the programs that you know, heard or familiar with. But sometimes the tasks you need to do can be perfectly served by what’s already bundled with your operating system.

Windows Messenger

Probably forgotten by most users of today, Windows Messenger 4.7 that comes with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later is the standard Windows XP instant messenger that is most often instantly replaced by Windows Live Messenger. It works with Microsoft Notification Protocol that is shared with Windows Live Messenger, so you can communicate with all of your contacts who use Windows Live Messenger. It loads fast, features no advertisements, and has all the necessary features like emoticons, handwriting for Tablet PCs, and video and voice chat. The program is discontinued and is not featured in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Windows Briefcase

You can create special folders called Briefcases in Windows that allows you to keep copies of your files up-to-date between multiple drives. Although its feature set is limited, it is particularly useful for carry documents on USB drives for editing elsewhere and to sync them back to your own computer.

Windows Backup

Windows Backup is an automated backup utility that can be scheduled to automatically backup your files on a regular basis. It can save the backups to your external hard disk or over a network and even backup tapes. It is advanced enough to support incremental backup so you can save storage space by only backing up new and modified files.

Windows Journal and Sticky Notes

Other than Office OneNote, Microsoft bundles two free notetaking programs with Windows – Windows Journal and Sticky Notes. Whereas OneNote stores your notes using folders and tabs and subpages, Journal uses the same document style as Office Word, so each document is saved separately. It also lets you import documents for annotation. Sticky Notes, as the name suggests, lets you jot down handwritten notes quickly and also record and attach voice notes with them as well.

WordPad

Sometimes when you need the simplicity of Notepad but want the formatting features of Office Word, WordPad is a mix of both programs. It is lightweight word processor that contains most of the text formatting features you need for simple text documents. You can even edit .doc and .docx (Windows 7 version only) Word documents too.

Sound Recorder

In Windows Vista and Windows 7, Sound Recorder lets you record sound for as long as you like and save them as WMA files – useful for recording lecture notes. In Windows XP, Sound Recorder is limited to 60 seconds by default and requires manual steps to extend the time limit.