When less is more
As happy as I am to use a notebook, the Realtek HD audio chipset is quite a headache. I was getting error messages in programs that have been well behaved on other computers.
One such was Magix MP3 Maker. I like this software for the decent list of web radio stations and the Mufin functionality. (Nothing to do with children's television, this is a clever playlist generator that works with the audio data rather than tags that may or may not be correctly filled in.)
Sadly every time I tried to start MP3 Maker I got a DirectSound error and no audio, disappointing for an audio player.
Now the Realtek chipset in my notebook has two outputs. An ordinary line out and an optical digital output. I don't have any digital devices so I disabled that output last night. It's very simple. Right-click on the loudspeaker icon in the Notification Area and then left-click on Playback Devices. Right-click on the Digital output and left-click on Disable.
I started MP3 Maker again, and all worked perfectly. I sometimes wonder if there are other devices that can be safely disabled to fix problems or improve performance. I tend to disable wireless when I'm connected. This is mostly to reduce the time to recharge the battery, though I'm sure it won't hurt not to have the radio transmitting all the time.
Of course, disabling devices is one thing but there are times when you want to re-enable them again. Wireless on a notebook is simple because there is normally a keyboard shortcut or switch. The sound device dialogue is also quite straightforward. Right-click on an empty part of the Playback devices window and then left-click on Show disabled devices. The device can then be re-enabled by right-clicking on the faded icon and selecting Enable.
Vista Drivers: US Robotics
A useful summary of which US Robotics products are supported in Vista can be found on their website.
Useful, but disappointing for me because there is no driver for my venerable USB wireless adapter.
New hardware standard for performance enthusiasts
The lengths some people will go to for the best possible performance never ceases to amaze me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, even if most of use don't have access to liquid nitrogen or want to use cooking oil as a cooling medium.
Pitching somewhere closer to the mainstream, Nvidia has just announced a new standard to let cooling systems talk with each other called Enthusiast System Architecture or ESA. The official release claims that Dell, CoolerMaster and Thermaltake are among the companies joining in.
A quick read of the technical paper (more accessible than most I have to say) reveals that ESA is based around USB. This sounds like a good idea to me, why reinvent the wheel if there is already a good technology in place.
It's not the first time I've heard of Nvidia doing this. A little while ago I went to a briefing about a new programming language they had developed called Cg (c for graphics). It faced the usual problem that different graphics cards manufacturers all had their own tricks but according to it's page on Wikipedia has been used by games such as Far Cry.
