text:
ATI's Late Response to G70 - Radeon X1800, X1600 and X1300by Derek Wilson on 10/5/2005 11:05 AM EST
- Posted in
- GPUs
103 Comments
Back to Article
DerekWilson - Friday, October 07, 2005 - linkHello,
Rather than update this article with the tables as we had planned, we decided to go all out and collect enough data to build something really interesting.
Our extended performance analysis should be enough to better show the strengths and weaknesses of the X1x00 hardware in all the games we tested in this article plus Battlefield 2.
I would like to apologize for not getting more data together in time for this article, but I hope the extended performance tests will help make up for what was lacking here.
And we've got more to come as well -- we will be doing an in-depth follow up on new feature performance and quality as well.
Derek Wilson Reply
MiLLeRBoY - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkIf NVIDIA puts out a 7800XT with a bigger cooler, which makes the video card dual slots, instead of just one slot. This would allow them to increase the speeds of the RAM and GPU. And if they increase it to 512MB ram, they will knock ATI's X1800XT off the map completely. Reply
MiLLeRBoY - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkoops, 7800 GTX, I mean, lol. Reply
stephenbrooks - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkMaybe a solution for all the complaints about review-quality would be for AnandTech to put its reviews through "beta"? :p Reply
waldo - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkSo, I am back, and as always confused!
Where are we now? We have at THG the same card beating teh 7800GTX hands down in several instances....and here at Anand, we have the ATI version barely holding its head above water.....talk about weird inconsistencies....someone is tweaking the numbers or the machines....one or the other.
Some of me would like to give the nod to THG because they have a history of doing more accurate more complete video card reviews, but this is just crazy....can someone at Anand please explain, cause well, I know THG won't. Reply
tomoyo - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkIn terms of pricing, I think Nvidia has Ati beaten in every category of card currently.
I think the competition that ATI is marketing each card against is as follows(even if the prices have a huge disparity currently):
X1800XT vs 7800GTX
X1800XL vs 7800GT
X1600XT vs 6800/6600GT
X1600Pro vs 6600GT/6600
x1300Pro vs 6600
x1300 vs 6200
From what I've seen of the reviews from anandtech, techreport, and a couple other sources it looks like the X1800XT/XL are pretty competitive with their competition, however I really dislike the extra power consumption and of course the cost of the card. I think the 7800 is a far better solution in terms of most categories except a few minor features like having HDR/AA at the same time. It looks like it's possible the X1800 might have some gains in future games because of the better memory controller and threading pixel shader, but it seems rather useless for now.
The x1600 looks like the biggest disappointment by far. It's nowhere near the league of the 6800 cards and barely outperforms the 6600gt, which has a huge price advantage. The x800gto2 looks like a far better card than the x1600 here. Personally I'm hoping nvidia does what's expected and puts out a 90nm 7600 that has a decent performance gain over the 6600gt. That might be one of the best silent computing cards around when it comes out. (I'm hoping to replace my 6600 with this now that the x1600 is no upgrade for me)
The x1300 actually looks like the most promising chip to me. It's obviously not worthwhile for gamers, but I think it might turn out to be a pretty good drop-in card for non-gaming systems. It's all dependent on whether it can hit the price point for the under $100(or is that under $70) market well. It certainly looks like it'll outperform the 6200 and x300 and be the new standard for entry level systems... until nvidia's next entry card. Not to mention most of the x1x00 generation features are still included with the x1300 card. Reply
AtaStrumf - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkTotaly disappointed in both ATi and AT.
As for X1300 don't forget this is the best version out of X1300 family and I can't help but remember the FX 5200 Ultra, which looked great but was never really available, because they could not produce it at low enough price point. I think same will happen here. Reply
bob661 - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkVery nice summary. Reply
andyc - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkSo what card is the "real" competitor to the 7800GT, becuase frankly, I'm totally confused which card ATI is trying to use to compete against it. Reply
Pete - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkX1800XL. Reply
HamburgerBoy - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkSeems kind of odd that you'd include nVidia's best but not ATi's. Reply
cryptonomicon - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI was expecting ATI to make a comback here, but the performance is absolutely abysmal in most games. I dont know what else to say except this product is just gonna be sitting in shelves unless the price is cut severely. Reply
bob661 - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkLOL! I wouldn't say abysmal. Abysmal would be the X1800XT performing like a 6600GT. The card that doesn't do well is the X1600. X1800's are fantastic performers and certainly much better than my 6600GT at displaying all of a games glory. It just wasn't the ass kicker most everyone hyped it up to be. But technically speaking, it IS an ass kicker. Reply
flexy - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linki am a bit disappointed - while at work i overflew the other reviews and then, as the crowning end of my day i read the AT review.
I (and probably many others) were waiting for this card like it's the best think since sliced bread - and now, WAY too late we do *indeed* have a good card - but a card which is a contender to NV's offerings and nothing groundbreaking.
Don't get me wrong - better AF/AA is something i always have a big eye on, but then ATI always had this slight edge when it came to AF/AA.
The pure performance in FPS itself is rather sobering - just what we're used to the last few years...usually we have TWO high-end cards out which are PRETT MUCH comparable - and no card is really the "sliced bread" thing which shadows all others.
This is kind of sad.
The price also plays a HUGE factor - and amongst the nice AA/AF features i have a hard time to legitimate say spending $500 for "this edge"...especially as someone who already owns a X850XT .
Not as long i am still playable in HL2/DOD/Lost Coats etc....i dont think i will see FPS fall *that quick* - in other words: I can "afford" to wait longer (R580 ?) and wait for appropriate Game engines (UT2K4 ??) which would make it necessary for me to ditch my X850XT because the X850 got "slow".
D3/OpenGL performance is still disappointing - but then i dont know what NV-specific code D3 uses - but still sad to see this card getting it in the face even if it now has SM3.0 and everything.
Well..here we go again....
Bottomline: If i were rich and the card would be orderable RIGHT NOW i would get the XT - no question.
But since i am not rich and the card is *a bit* a disappointment and obviously NOT EVEN AVAILABLE - i will NOT get this card.
It's time to sit back, relax, enjoy my current hardware, watch the prices fall, watch the drivers get better...and then, maybe, one day get one of those or A R580 :)
I WISHED it would NOT have been a day making one "sit and relax" but instead burst out in joy and enthusiasm....but well, then this is real life :)
Wesleyrpg - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linksummarised very well mate!
Regs - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkThey were likely better off trying to market that we didn't need new video cards this year and save their capital for next year. These performance charts, especially the "mid range" parts are awfully embarrassing to their company. Reply
photoguy99 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI assume it was not one of the cards that come overclocked stock to 490Mhz?
It seems like it would be fair to use a 490Mhz NVidia part since manufacturers are selling them at that speed out of the box with full warrenty intact.
Evan Lieb - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - link"Unless you want image quality."
There is no image quality difference, and I doubt you've used either card. Fact of the matter is that you'll never notice IQ differences in the vast majority of the games today. Hell, it's even hard to notice differences in slower paced games like Splinter Cell. The reality is that speed is and always will be the number one priority, because eye candy doesn't matter if you're bogged down by choppy frame rate.
Right now, there is zero reason to want to purchase these cards, if you can even find them. That's fact. Accept it and move on until something else is released. Reply
Madellga - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkQuality includes also playing a game without shimmering. I can't get that on my 7800GTX.
Before anyone replies, the 78.03 drivers improve a lot the problem but does not fix it.
The explanation is inside Derek's article:
"Starting with Area Anisotropic (or high quality AF as it is called in the driver), ATI has finally brought viewing angle independent anisotropic filtering to their hardware. NVIDIA introduced this feature back in the GeForce FX days, but everyone was so caught up in the FX series' abysmal performance that not many paid attention to the fact that the FX series had better quality anisotropic filtering than anything from ATI. Yes, the performance impact was larger, but NVIDIA hardware was differentiating the Euclidean distance calculation sqrt(x^2 + y^2 + z^2) in its anisotropic filtering algorithm. Current methods (NVIDIA stopped doing the quality way) simply differentiate an approximated distance in the form of (ax + by + cz). Math buffs will realize that the differential for this approximated distance simply involves constants while the partials for Euclidean distance are less trivial. Calculating a square root is a complex task, even in hardware, which explains the lower performance of the "quality AF" equation.
Angle dependant anisotropic methods produce fine results in games with flat floors and walls, as these textures are aligned on axes that are correctly filtered. Games that allow a broader freedom of motion (such as flying/space games or top down view games like the sims) don't benefit any more from anisotropic filtering than trilinear filtering. Rotating a surface with angle dependant anisotropic filtering applied can cause noticeable and distracting flicker or texture aliasing. Thus, angle independent techniques (such as ATI's area aniso) are welcome additions to the playing field. As NVIDIA previously employed a high quality anisotropic algorithm, we hope that the introduction of this anisotropic algorithm from ATI will prompt NVIDIA to include such a feature in future hardware as well. "
Phantronius - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkUnless you a fanboy Reply
Gigahertz19 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkOn the last page I will quote
"With its 512MB of onboard RAM, the X1800 XT scales especially well at high resolutions, but we would be very interested in seeing what a 512MB version of the 7800 GTX would be capable of doing."
Based on the results in the benchmarks I would say 512MB barely does anything. Look at the benchmarks on Page 10 the Geforce 7800GTX either beats the X1800 XT or loses by less then 1 FPS. SCALES WELL AT HIGH RESOLUTIONS? Not really, has the author of this article looked at their own benchmarks included? When the resolution is at 2048 x 1536 the 7800GTX creams the competition except in Farcry where it loses by .2FPS to the X1800XT and Splinter Cell it loses by .8FPS so basically it's a tie in those 2 games.
You know why Nvidia does not have a 512MB version because look at the results...it does shit. 512Mb is pointless right now and if you argue you'll use it for the future then will till future games use it and then buy the best GPU then, not now. These new ATI's blow wookies, so much for competition. Reply
NeonFlak - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - link"In some cases, the X1800 XL is able to compete with the 7800 GTX, but not enough to warrant pricing on the same level."
From the graphs in the review with all the cards present the x1800xl only beat the 7800gt once by 4fps... So beating the 7800gt in one graph by 4fps makes that statement even viable? Reply
FunkmasterT - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkEXACTLY!!
ATI's FPS numbers are a major disappointment! Reply
Questar - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkUnless you want image quality. Reply
bob661 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkAnd the difference is worth the $100 eatra dollars PLUS the "lower" frame rates? Not good bang for the buck. Reply
Powermoloch - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkNot the cards....Just the review. Really sad :( Reply
yacoub - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkSo $450 for the X1800XL versus $250 for the X800XL and the only difference is the new core that maybe provides a handful of additional frames per second, a new AA mode, and shader model 3.0?
Sorry, that's not worth $200 to me. Not even close. Reply
coldpower27 - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - link
Perhaps a up to 20% performance improvement, looking at pixel fillrate alone.
Shader Model 3.0 Support.
ATI's Avivo Technology
OpenEXR HDR Support.
HQ Non-Angle Dependent AF User Choice
You decide if that's worth the 200US price difference to you, Adaptive AA, I wouldn't count as apparently through ATI's driver all R3xx hardware and higher now have this capability not just R5xx derivatives, sort of like the launched with R4xx feature Temporal AA. Reply
yacoub - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkSo even if these cards were available in stores/online today, the best PCI-E card one can buy for ~$250 is still either an X800XL or a 6800GT. (Or an X800 GTO2 for $230 and flash and overclock it.)
I find it disturbing that they even waste the time to develop, let alone release, low-end parts that price-wise can't even compete. Why bother wasting the development and processing to create a card that costs more and performs less? What a joke those two lower-end cards are (x1300 and x1600). Reply
coldpower27 - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkThe Radeon X1600 XT is intended to replace the older X700 Pro, not the stop gap 6600 GT competitors, X800 GT, X800 GTO, which only came into being because ATI had leftoever supplies of R423/R480 & for X800 GTO only R430 cores and of course due to the fact that X700 Pro wasn't really competitive in performance to 600 GT in the firstp lace, due to ATI's reliance on Low-k technology for their high clock frequencies.
I think these are sucessful replacements.
Radeon X850/X800 is replaced by Radeon X1800 Technology.
Radeon X700 is replaced by Radeon X1600 Technology.
Radeon X550/X300 is replaced by Radeon X1300 Technology.
X700 is 156mm2 on 110nm, X1600 is 132mm2 on 90nm
X550 & X1300 are roughly around the same die size, sub 100mm2.
Though the newer cards use more expensive memory types on their high end versions.
They also finally bring ATI's entire family as having the same feature set, something that hasn't been seen ever before by ATI I believe. I mean having a high end, mainstream & budget core based on the same technology.
Nvidia achieved this item first with the Geforce FX line.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkHence, the non-existence of 7600 and 7200 (or whatever) cards from NVIDIA. But ATI needed to get SM3.0 into budget and mid-range cards - not because it's tremendously useful, but because they're losing the marketing campaign on that item. Reply
Phantronius - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkWheres the fucking Battlefield 2 numbers????? Reply
Dudeeeeeee - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkWhat about testing this card with games we actually play? Good game... Reply
KayKay - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI read most of the r520 reviews this morning and I decided to read anandtech's review, since i trust yours over most others. I was rather disappointed with the layout and choice of tests.
All around the web, the result i gathered was that the x1800xt was definitely better than the 7800gtx in a number of areas and if i had read anandtech's review first, would have been totally misled.
I am an NVIDIA user probably for LIFE but this review didn't seem to do ATI justice Reply
bob661 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - link
quote:Reviews aren't supposed to be favorable they're supposed to present facts so that WE the consumer can make informed purchase decisions. And right now, ATI doesn't present a good bang for the buck. Reply
I am an NVIDIA user probably for LIFE but this review didn't seem to do ATI justice
KayKay - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkthe review wasn't structured in a way to present a fair comparison of the cards is all im saying. look no further than some of the other websites that reviewed todays launch Reply
bob661 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkIt was easy for me. What are you looking for? The X1xxx's were compared to the 7xxx's. Are you looking for an ATI landslide or are you looking for a comparison? Reply
Chadder007 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI was hoping that the X1600 would perform better, but for the price 6600GT and X800GTO >>>> X1600 parts. Sad. :( Reply
Griswold - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkProbably the weakest review i've seen here at AT so far. The benches are more than just confusing. Some benches only show the XL, some only the XT and some both. Not good. Reply
DigitalFreak - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkAgreed. I'm not a stickler for perfect grammer, but the grammer & spelling quality of AT articles has gone down hill tremendously in the past year!
Seems you guys have just been throwing stuff together at the last minute to try and make a deadline. Anand - you need to step in here and get these guys back on track. It's hurting both your and your sites reputations. Reply
Wellsoul2 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI really prefer ATI so this is a disappointment.
The 1300 and 1600 are pretty weak.
Might as well keep my 9600XT versus the 1300 - Can still play HL2 with noAA/AF.
The only good thing is maybe the price will drop on the x800/850 line.
The X1800 seems like a good card but why pay that money.
Why bother with the shared memory cards? It's dumb. Reply
Cookie Crusher - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkgrammar is actually spelled with an "a" ;) Reply
OvErHeAtInG - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkYes, I have a feeling it'll be one of those cases where they make some editions and fixes to the article. Not that horrible, come on - I do agree the graphs are confusing. More important than graphs of benches, though, for me is the examination of the new AA, the architecture, features etc. Which they did a fair job of
One remark: the bulleted lists are missing the bullets ... e.g. on page 2 the list of new features. Reply
bldckstark - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkYes, this is the worst article I have ever seen posted on Anandtech. Will Anandtech continue to be my first stop on my daily hardware fix? Yes. Will I ever make Toms Hardware my first stop again? No. JEEEEZ toms sucks now. If you want to complain about a site as a whole take a look at them. They actually posted articles about how to pick up chicks while gaming! Multiple articles! Good Lord. Reply
Houdani - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkAgreed! They did do a nice analysis of the new architecture.
Agreed! Where are the bullets? (page 2 feature list, page 7 games list). Reply
tfranzese - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkEveryone's always surpised by this. Why? They've done this countless times now as if it's acceptable. Seriously, don't post an article until it's done and have it proofread carefully before posting it. I honestly doubt your (Anandtech) editors are doing more than just skimming articles sometimes with the number of typos and gramatical errors I come across.
I hope the quality goes back up, because it will eventually hurt your reputation. Reply
tfranzese - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI'll add, Anandtech is almost always my first stop to read a breaking review. Unfortunately, truths such as that below could someday change that. Today, Tech Report had the better article.
We will have tables of all the data with all the numbers we ran across all the resolutions with 4xAA and 8xAF up shortly.
Quite a bit of data was collected and it has taken some time to organize. You are absolutely right to want more, and we are working on getting it out the door as soon as possible.
Derek Wilson
Not their worst article, but things should be improving - not getting worse. Reply
AnandThenMan - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI agree. VERY WEAK REVIEW! Terrible. Honestly, what happened? Anandtech is usually much, much more with it. Disappointed.
As for the R520, I think I'm like most people and just feel, meh. Reply
misterspoot - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkSince the X1800 SKUs will not have the AGP bridge available (PCI-E) only, that leaves the X1600XT to attempt to give us AGP users a performance boost.
Sadly, the X1600XT performs barely on par with a GeForce 6600GT -- which can be had for $150. Then, looking at the performance of the X1600XT, and comparing it to the X850 XT-PE -- surprise surprise, the year-plus old X850 XT is considerably superior.
So if you're like me and built your box nearly 2 years ago, and have no choice but to buy an AGP part, it looks like the X850 XT-PE is going to be the highest performance part you can buy. Looks like I'll be grabbing one this weekend, so my performance in raids on Molten Core is drastically improved (runs a 6600GT at 1600x900 with minimum detail settings -- suffers from mid 20fps all the time while trying to tank). Reply
DRavisher - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkThe review states: "With its 512MB of onboard RAM, the X1800 XT scales especially well at high resolutions,". From what I see it scales very poorly at high resolutions compared to the 7800GTX 256MB card. Just look at what happens in SC:CT and FarCry. The XT goes from having a substantial lead in 1600x1200 to being about equal with the 7800GTX at 2048x1536. Reply
DigitalFreak - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkCPU limited? Reply
DRavisher - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkUsually you are not CPU limited at such high resolutions. Though it would of course be possible. But my comment still stands; the XT is not showing any good scaling at higher resolutions in those benchmarks, rather the opposite. Reply
raj14 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linki am not surprised, with 16 Pixel pipelins everybody knowed ATi was going to loose, ATi has Always sucked and continues to do so. even in Cross-FIre radeon 1800XTs won't come near SLied 7800GTXs. hats off to NVIDIA and thumbs down to ATi. Reply
utube545 - Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - linkFuck off you dumbass Reply
mlittl3 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkExcerpt from extremetech.com review of the X1800:
"The Radeon X1800 XT fares much better against the GeForce 7800 GTX. It is faster, on the whole, whether you apply AA and AF or not (though the difference is tiny without them). The only reason the 7800 GTX remains less than 20% behind is because of the dominance of Nvidia in Doom 3. Without that game, ATI pulls even further ahead."
"With 8 fewer pixel pipelines, it's impressive to see this difference in performance, even though the X1800 XT runs at a much higher clock speed. We question whether it can be attributed to all the improvements in the new architecture for the sake of per-pipeline efficiency, or if it has more to do with the 25% advantage in memory bandwidth."
The 16 pipes vs. 24 pipes is not enough to draw a conclusion. At this site, the ATI cards wins with 16 pipes in most cases. Reply
Griswold - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - link
ATi has Always sucked and continues to do so
I'm guessing you got your first PC last christmas.
LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkToo bad he didn't get his first Speak `n Spell last Christmas, it would have been a more useful gift. Reply
mlittl3 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI don't understand how Anandtech can complain about no products at launch when they post live review articles when they aren't even remotely ready. I know you guys are doing it because you want to post the article when the other sites do but if it isn't ready, it isn't ready. Come on. You are doing the exact same thing as ATI's paper launches.
You have graphs showing the X1800xl beating x1800xt. You say there is good scaling with AA enabled but you don't show the data without AA. You also only tested like 5 games. Where is the 3dmark benches? Where are all the other games?
Anandtech review launch = ATI paper launch
I'm going to another review site. This is abysmal. Reply
mlittl3 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkOh and one other thing. The cards picked for each section: budget, midrange, highend seem randomly chosen. Why don't we have 9200, x300, 5200, 6200, x1300 in the low end? 9600, x600, 5600, 6600, x1600 in the mid range? And 9800, x800, 5900, 6800, x1800, 7800 in the high-end? If you can't go back two generations of cards, then show some of the derivatives of last generation at least (xl, xt, xt pe, pro, ultra, etc.). Everything is so scatter-brained here no one can tell what card is faster than what.
Go to extremetech.com. They show the ATI cards winning in almost every single test and they also have 3dmark scores. ATI did a great job with 16 pipelines and gives almost 1.5x performance over x800 series and beats the 7800. Don't use this site to determine the winner. Go to multiple sites. Reply
bob661 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkSo you only look for benchmarks that show what you want to see? Besides, I checked extremetech.com and ATI did NOT win all of the benchmarks there. 2 fps is not a win as you will NEVER be albe to tell the difference. Besides, how the hell is 2 fps or even 10 fps worth $100?
mlittl3 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI'll tell you how it is a win. Take a 8 less pipeline architecture, put it onto a brand new 0.90nm die shrink, clock the hell out of the thing, consume just a little more power and add all the new features like sm3.0 and you equal the competition's fastest card. This is a win. So when ATI releases 1,2,3 etc. more quad pipes, they will be even faster.
I don't see anything bob. Anandtech's review was a very bad one. ALL the other sites said this was is good architecture and is on par with and a little faster than nvidia. None of those conclusions can be drawn from the confusing graphs here.
Read the comments here and you will see others agree. Good job, ATI and Nvidia for bringing us competition and equal performing cards. Now bob, go to some other sites, get a good feel for which card suits your needs, and then go buy one. :) Reply
bob661 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI read the other sites as well as AT. Quite frankly, I trust AT before any of the other sites because their methodology and consistancy is top notch. HardOCP didn't even test a X1800XT and if I was an avid reader of their site I'd be wondering where that review was. I guess I don't see it your way because I only look for bang for the buck not which could be better if it had this or had that. BTW, I just got some free money (no, I didn't steal it!) today so I'm going to pick up a 7800GT. :) Reply
Houdani - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkOne of the reasons for the card selections is due to the price of the cards -- and was stated as such. Just because ATI is calling the card "low-end" doesn't mean it should be compared with other low-end cards. If ATI prices their "low-end" card in the same range as a mid-range card, then it should rightfully be compared to those other cards which are at/near the price.
But your point is well taken. I'd like to see a few more cards tossed in there. Reply
Madellga - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkDerek, I don't know if you have the time for this, but a review at other website showed a huge difference in performance at the Fear Demo. Ati was in the lead with substantial advantage for the maximum framerates, but near at minimum.
As Fear points towards the new generation of engines, it might be worth running some numbers on it.
Also useful would be to report minimum framerates at the higher resolutions, as this relates to good gameplay experience if all goodies are cranked up. Reply
Houdani - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkWell, the review does state that the FEAR Demo greatly favors ATI, but that the actual shipping game is expected to not show such bias. Derek purposefully omitted the FEAR Demo in order to use the shipping game instead. Reply
allnighter - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkIs it safe to assume that you guys might not have had enough time with these cards to do your usuall in-depth review? I'm sure you'll update for us to be able to get the full picture. I also must say that I'm missing the oc part of the review. I wanted to see how true it is taht these chips can go sky hig.> Given the fact that they had 3 re-spins it may as well be true. Reply
TinyTeeth - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - link...an Anandtech review.
But it's a bit thin, I must say. I'm still missing overclocking results and Half-Life 2 and Battlefield 2 results. How come no hardware site has tested the cards in Battlefield 2 yet?
From my point of view, Doom III, Splinter Cell, Everquest II and Far Cry are the least interesting games out there.
Overall it's a good review as you can expect from the absolutely best hardware site there is, but I hope and expect there will be another, much larger review. Reply
Houdani - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkThe best reason to continue benchmarking games which have been out for a while is because those are the games which the older GPUs were previously benched. When review sites stop using the old benchmarks, they effectively lose the history for all of the older GPU's, and therefore we lose those GPUs in the comparison.
Granted, the review is welcome to re-benchmark the old GPUs using the new games ... but that would be a significant undertaking and frankly I don't see many (if any) review sites doing that.
But I will throw you this bone: While I think it's quite appropriate to use benchmarks for two years (maybe even three years), it would also be a good thing to very slowly introduce new games at a pace of one per year, and likewise drop one game per year. Reply
mongoosesRawesome - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkthey have to retest whenever they use a different driver/CPU/motherboard, which is quite often. I bet they have to retest every other article or so. Its a pain in the butt, but thats why we visit and don't do the tests ourselves. Reply
Madellga - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkTechreport has Battlefield 2 benchmarks, as Fear, Guild Wars and others. I liked the article, recommend that you read also. Reply
TinyTeeth - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkOh, I had completely ignored that one because I heard something about their graphs being horrible and hard to read. But I'll take a look at it, thanks! Reply
TinyTeeth - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkAnd now I remember it was PC Perspective that had the horrible graphs.
Sorry, my head isn't working properly today, I'm afraid. :( Reply
fishbits - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkMaybe a late, light review was supposed to be a witty jab at ATI? :P Reply
hotdog453 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI agree. But, some review sites are still touting Quake3 as a benchmark for some components (mainly CPUs now, but still)... they use games that stress the component well, not really the games you and I may be playing. Kind of ironic, I know.
Honestly, when was the last time any of us fired up Doom3, except to benchmark something? It was a horrible game. Simply horrible. Scripted events do not a good game make. But from a technical, omg, point of view, it made cards cry. So they use it *shrug*
Madellga - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkIs that right? Or the titles were wrongly exchanged? Reply
hoppa - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkAm I missing something here? The article states that the hardware is quite powerful and a good deal, yet to me the benchmarks look absolutely miserable. The X1ks are on the bottom of nearly every chart, and in some cases, even lower than their predecessors (X800)! What the hell! Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkActually, the conclusion states that the hardware appears quite powerful - especially the X1800 XT - but that the price is too high. I saw several places where the article comments on price, so if you got the impression that it's a "good deal" let me know where and I'll edit it. :) Reply
Madellga - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkOn the high end comparison - Day of Defeat, it is missing the X1800XT performance bar. Reply
Madellga - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkFor the 1600x1200 chart... Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkFixed - it was 59.5 FPS, if you read the text. Reply
ChanningM - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkWhere is the AA info and AF info on each test?
You list 4x AA for the High End cards at 1600x1200. What about other levels of AA, and various levels of AF?
What about other resolutions? and varying levels of AA and AF at different resolutions and how they compare image quality wise? Okay, so the X1600XT loses at 1280x960 with no aa or af. What about at 1028x764 with AA and AF on? And how does that compare image wise?
Where is the discussion of the results? You just throw out graphs at me, and don't do a real disucssion of them.
In otherwords, where is the rest of the review?
Peldor - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkAt this point, a fairly weak review from Anandtech, especially compared to the 7800GTX review when it appeared. Hot Hardware and Tech Report have a bit better coverage IMO.
Looking at other reviews around the web, my conclusion is the X1800 cards are viable competitors in performance to the 7800 cards, but the street prices will have to come down near the 7800 cards to be a good value.
The X1600 cards look dead in the water when the 6600GT is under $150 and available in AGP and PCIe, while the 6800GT is far beyond it in the ~$250 segment.
The X1300 cards will only survive in the ~$100 and under market.
ATI is going to need that R580 sooner rather than later. Reply
ChanningM - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkThe format of the hardocp articles has grown on me, especially after reading there review + the anandtech + another.
There are all kinds of AA and AF options for a reason. They look different. How do the affect peformance though? What works best?
That obviously varies by game, card and resolution. But anandtech and others just don't do the comparisons and I think that makes it difficult to compare. Especially when image quality differences between nvidia and ATI come into play with there various settings. Reply
DerekWilson - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkWe will have tables of all the data with all the numbers we ran across all the resolutions with 4xAA and 8xAF up shortly.
Quite a bit of data was collected and it has taken some time to organize. You are absolutely right to want more, and we are working on getting it out the door as soon as possible.
Derek Wilson Reply
jeffrey - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkDerek,
You really need to evaluate your situation at this website. You are listed as "author" of the "NVIDIA's GeForce 7800 GTX Hits The Ground Running" and "ATI's Late Response to G70 - Radeon X1800, X1600 and X1300" articles. Both of these articles are not up to Anandtech standards and have prompted numerous posts for readers to visit other websites.
I am a long-time reader of the site and am only posting this because I don't want to go anywhere else. I just don't believe that your articles have been up to snuff. The posts for proofreading, wrong labels, incomplete data, etc keep appearing and back up my opinion.
If Anand did not finish your mentoring, please let him know. I know that you put a lot of time and effort into this site, but the two biggest articles of the year for GPU's have left me shaking my head in dissapointment. Please work more with Anand, or do your own homework and read some of his old reviews. If you need another person, or co-author to help you ...please swallow your pride and ask for it.
Jeffrey Reply
drifter106 - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkWhat credentials do you have to make such an accusation? What indicators do you use to support such a statement? On the contrary, considering the time frame and the rush to provide us with information it is obvious for the coherent, that he has done a good job. Glad to see information provided that will futher support my next video card selection. Reply
erinlegault - Thursday, October 06, 2005 - linkThat is exactly the point! He shouldn't be rushing. The Techreport and Xbit Labs and many others offer much more informative reviews.
Do you want my credentials? It shouldn't matter a report is a report is a report. You don't have to have a PhD or be a CEO to have an opinion. Any person with a University or College degree knows how to write a report that is complete and accurate.
The fact of the matter is Anand's graphics reviews have been not up to par. Period. Reply
Tamale - Saturday, October 08, 2005 - linklol.. the 'fact' is that this 'opinion' isn't up to 'my standards'
sounds like a real fact, folks.. this guy is serios business Reply
Madellga - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkhttp://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1800_Serie...">http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1800_Serie... Reply
AdamK47 3DS - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI absolutly hate obvious marketing fluff!
"16 ultra efficient extreme pipelines"
Those pipelines are about as extreme as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is extreme. Try harder next time Ati! Reply
GoatMonkey - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkWhat?!?! But it's **EXTREME** Reply
kilkennycat - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - link...there is an old saying. "Wait to see the whites of their eyes before shooting". Pre-orders mean nothing and delivery dates can change. Never ever order from a vendor that has a pre-order queue, unless you really don't care when you get the item. Who knows where you are in this queue? Few, if any of such vendors ever give you this information - for the obvious reason that thery don't want to risk losing the order. The first shipment might be 5 pieces and you are 20th on the list. Order product from vendors like Newegg or ZipZoomFly that sell only from available stock, but also have immediate auto e-mail notification when a sold-out item is back in stock... first come, first serve then of course, but at least the customer is never ever 'left hung out to dry'.
I personally view vendors with pre-order queues as somewhat sleazy, but maybe my view is extreme. A pre-order queue is entirely to the benefit of the vendor and not the customer. Reply
southpawuni - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkBad results from ATI.
Look at the midrange.. I'm guessing most people around here buy that hardware (6800GT/7800GT)..
disappointing day for ATI.
Since the NV cards have been out, and are priced right.. I dont see much hope for ATI now. Reply
bob661 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkI was expecting the new ATI cards to be a bit more competitive especially given that they'll be more expensive. Wow, what a shocker! The X1600 isn't even worth buying at less than or equal to 6600GT performance at 6800GT prices. What a bargain!!! Reply
segagenesis - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkThey are simply arriving late to the game. I curious see how anyone will really want the X1800 XL over the 7800 GT, consideing the price.
And why no show all the cards on each graph? Why is the 7800 GT missing on the Day of Defeat graph? Are we not trying to compare cards? Reply
Questar - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkSimple - Image quality.
It's been reported just about everywhere else that Nvidia lowered the image quality on the 7800 to gain speed. The image quality comparison in this review proves it. Reply
Questar - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkHeh, modded down by the Nvidia fanboys already!
How about this guys, enable HDR and AA in any game you would like on a 7800. Oops, can't do it!
Open your eyes and look at the AF charts in this review. ATI has better AF, period. Reply
segagenesis - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkThey looked like crap to me honestly. And where are you getting this crap about no AA/HDR on nVidia cards? Are you trying to troll? No wonder you got modded down. Reply
Questar - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkIt's not crap. A 7800 can't do HDR and AA at the same time. Read the HOCP review where they explain this. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkIt was mentioned in this article as well. However, HDR already kills performance, and HDR + AA is going to be unplayable on anything short of Crossfired X1800 XT cards. Then again, HDR at 1600x1200 really isn't dying for 4xAA support, and I think many people looking at HDR are running very high-end displays and GPUs. Reply
Madellga - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkIn the recent past very few sites had benchmark at 1920x1200 (behardware had it for the GTX launch). I would like to see this included in the future. Dell 2405FP is more popular than the Apple 30".
I can see the cards available for order at overclockers.co.uk, but they are very expensive. XL ships next week, XT after Nov. 10th.
Does the new ATI has shimmering problems similar to the 7800 line? Reply
bob661 - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkCan you buy these? None on Newegg or ZZF. Reply
bldckstark - Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - linkNO! RTFA or RTFF, its listed on the first page of the article. Reply


text: I thought I'd give Steven's "Hellfire Steaks" recipe from his "How To Grill" book, pg 62 a try. I used Venison steaks instead of beef, and was concerned that the steaks would be too lean/dry. I followed the directions in the book and the steaks were excellent. The flavor was well balanced between the salt, black pepper, ground mustard, and tobasco sauce. Has anyone tried this one? Thanks Steven...I'm adding this one to my list of "keepers".

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Note: This item is more than eight years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.
Print – Plain Text – Permalink – Spanish
News Release
Media Contact: TPWD News, email@example.com, 512-389-8030
April 2, 2009
Texas State Parks, TPWD Programs Show "Life's Better Outside"
Nature-based fun abounds for Texas families, from diverse and outstanding state parks to programs and workshops that teach fishing, camping, paddling and much more. But alongside this good news, a growing body of books and studies reveals a serious issue: today's kids are losing touch with nature and that's taking a toll.
In 2006, Richard Louv's groundbreaking book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder sent a wake-up call to parents, educators, the health community and others. The book carries a message of hope, but it also reviews a growing body of research that links the nature-deficit problem to issues like childhood obesity, educational and developmental challenges and other ills.
Louv's book spawned the nationwide Children and Nature Network, bringing politicians, pediatricians, educators, architects, environmentalists, wildlife scientists and others into an expanding circle of supporters.
In the Lone Star State, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has launched an outreach effort called Life's Better Outside® to motivate urban parents to spend time with their children outdoors in nature. The department offers a variety of programs in Texas designed to make this fun and easy.
No experience is necessary for Texas Outdoor Family weekend workshops, which teach parents and kids to pitch tents, cook over campfires and reconnect with nature. This spring and summer, various parks across the state are hosting workshops. In state parks, these cost $55 for a family of up to six people, and that fee covers all necessary equipment and instruction, everything except food and bedding.
Also this spring and summer, TPWD is expanding the Free Fishing in State Parks program. This waives fishing license requirements within more than 50 state parks. It also offers dozens of scheduled events where participants can learn to fish with equipment and instruction provided.
Wildlife viewing and paddling trails offer two other great ways for families to get back to nature. Since 2006, the TPWD has been partnering with cities, counties, river authorities and other partners to create Texas Paddling Trails. These provide well-mapped accessible day trips in a variety of settings and for kayakers and canoeists at all levels of experience. There are currently seven coastal paddling trails and eight inland paddling trails, with several communities in the process of applying to create new trails.
Texas was the first state in the nation to create birding and wildlife viewing trails for motorists with maps and road signs to mark trail sites. The resulting network of Great Texas Wildlife Trails promotes sustainable economic development and builds public support for wildlife conservation, with several great trails crisscrossing across the state.
Families can find all this and more on the TPWD Web site, or see lifesbetteroutside.org for a simple one-stop menu of nature options. Anyone can also pick up a Texas State Park Guide booklet at any state park or at some local tourism bureaus. Campers can make state park reservations online, or by phoning (512) 389-8900.
On the Net:
- This release in Spanish: http://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=090402b
Publication — Permission is granted to publish, in whole or in part, any news releases on this page.
Print — A print-friendly version of the news release shows only the release with font sizes set to the browser default.
Plain Text — Plain text versions of TPWD news releases are provided for copying and pasting into editing software.
To copy text into an editing software:
- Click a Plain Text link to display the plain text page in your browser.
- Select all.
- Copy.
- Paste in a document in your editing program.
Permalink — This is a direct link to the news release, omitting the navigation context from the URI.
English/Spanish — News releases posted in both English and Spanish have one of these links.
If you have any suggestions for improving these pages, send an e-mail to email@example.com and mention Plain Text Pages.
(5.4.16 i)


text:
After more than an hour rain delay, the Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the first out was recorded. Just like the other Mets starters in this series, Mike Pelfrey just didn't have it tonight.
Pelfrey couldn't even last long enough to qualify for the win as he allowed four runs on 12 hits in 4 2/3 innings. He tossed 108 pitches. He couldn't seem to get his fastball going and therefore relied on his splitter and breaking balls.
With Jose Reyes a late scratch due to back pain, Puerto Rican native Jesus Feliciano filled in admirably. He got a leadoff single in the first. Ruben Tejada then reached first safely on one of the four errors the Marlins committed tonight. David Wright just missed a home run, doubling off the centerfield wall and knocking in two runs. Ike Davis followed up with an RBI single.
The Marlins answered back in the bottom of the inning on three singles and a double.
In the second inning, the Mets tacked on a run. Alex Cora led off with a double. Feliciano then singled, driving in Cora.
Neither team scored again until the fifth inning when the Marlins drove in two runs on five hits off Pelfrey. With two runners on and two outs, Elmer Dessens relieved Pelfrey and got the last batter to ground out.
The Mets added another run in the seventh inning when Jason Bay drove in Tejada.
The game got more interesting in the eighth. Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect seventh, but got into a jam in the eighth, the first time this season he has pitched more than inning in relief. He allowed a single and a double that drove in Chris Coghlan to make the score 6-5.
Jerry Manuel then opted to go to Francisco Rodriguez for a four-out save. After Hanley Ramirez was intentionally walked, K-Rod got Wes Helms to fly out.
In the ninth, K-Rod gave Mets fans another heart attack. He got Dan Uggla to ground out, but then gave up two singles. But he tightened up and got the final two outs, the last on a strikeout.
With the win, the Mets escape Puerto Rico and head to Washington to play four games against the Nationals. They should see rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg on Saturday. The Braves won again, so they stay a game and half behind but put some space between them and the Phillies, who lost.
Johan Santana and former Met Livan Hernandez will match up again Thursday night. The last time they met, Santana was terrible and the Mets couldn't get to their former teammate. Let's hope it's the opposite this time.
Johan Santana and former Met Livan Hernandez will match up again Thursday night. The last time they met, Santana was terrible and the Mets couldn't get to their former teammate. Let's hope it's the opposite situation.


text:
CDH Hotel Villa Ducale
- Free hot/cold buffet breakfast, free WiFi, and free parking
Main amenities
- 113 guestrooms
- Restaurant and bar/lounge
- Free airport shuttle
- Fitness center
- Conference center
- 24-hour front desk
- Coffee/tea in a common area
- Air conditioning
- Daily housekeeping
- Garden
- Computer station
- Front desk safe
- Free hot/cold buffet breakfast, free WiFi, and free parking
For families
- Cribs/infant beds (surcharge)
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Private bathroom
- Garden
- Daily housekeeping
- Laundry facilities
What's around
- Palazzo della Pilotta (1.5 mi / 2.3 km)
- Ducale Park (1.5 mi / 2.4 km)
- Teatro Regio di Parma (1.7 mi / 2.7 km)
- Shrine of Santa Maria della Steccata (1.7 mi / 2.8 km)
- Baptistery of Parma (1.8 mi / 2.9 km)
CDH Hotel Villa Ducalefrom €54
- Standard Room
- Standard Double or Twin Room
- Family Room
- Classic Double Room
- Standard Single Room
- Standard Double or Twin Room
- Quadruple Room
- Triple room
- Executive Single Room
- Quadruple Room
- Classic Single Room
- Classic Triple Room
- Junior Suite
- Executive Double room
- Classic Double Room Single Use
More great choices
At a glance
Key facts
Hotel size
- This hotel has 113 rooms
- This hotel is arranged over 5 floors
- 24-hour check-in
- Check-out time is 11 AM
- Express check-in/out
Required at check in
- Credit card or cash deposit required
- Government-issued photo ID required
Travelling with others
- Children (6 years old and younger) stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding
- Pets allowed *
- Restrictions apply *
- Free WiFi in public areas
- Free WiFi in rooms
- Free airport shuttle (available on request) *
- Free self parking
- Free RV/bus/truck parking
Nearby Four Star Parma hotels
In the hotel
- Free hot/cold buffet breakfast daily
- Restaurant
- Bar/lounge
- Room service (during limited hours)
- Coffee/tea in a common area
- Fitness facilities
- Number of meeting rooms - 4
- Conference space
- Conference center
- Computer station
- 24-hour front desk
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Laundry facilities
- Luggage storage
- Multilingual staff
- Porter/bellhop
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Elevator/lift
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Garden
- Television in common areas
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
In the room
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Air conditioning
- Minibar
- Private bathroom
- Shower only
- Satellite TV channels
- Desk
- Free WiFi
- Daily housekeeping
- In-room safe
Top Parma hotels
Recently reviewed hotels in Parma
- Relais FontevivoFrom
"Amazing building - loads of space to lounge indoors and out, lovely bathroom, friendly staff. Breakfast was the best I had in Italy!"Oct 4, 2016
- Hotel BifiFrom
"perfect ."Jan 24, 2016
- Hotel Forlanini52 ParmaFrom
"We enjoyed our stay at this family hotel. Although a little out of the way it was great having use of their bikes which made getting around very easy - and very good exercise. The…"Oct 6, 2015
- Albergo ReggioFrom
"We only had 1 night but the room was clean and spacious"Jun 23, 2015
Nearby hotels
Recommended hotels
Special features
DiningVilla Ducale Restaurant - This restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar. Open select days.
CDH Hotel Villa Ducale's small print
Also known as
- CDH Hotel
- CDH Hotel Villa Ducale
- CDH Hotel Villa Ducale Parma
- CDH Villa Ducale
- CDH Villa Ducale Parma
- My 1 Hotel Villa Ducale
- My One Hotel Ducale
All guests, including children, must be present at check-in and show their government-issued photo ID card or passport.
Cash transactions at this property cannot exceed EUR 2999.99, due to national regulations. For further details, please contact the property using information in the booking confirmation.
Pet-friendly rooms can be requested by contacting the property at the number on the booking confirmation.
Guests under 16 years old are not allowed in the fitness facility.
For transfers, guests must contact the property 72 hours prior to arrival at the number on the booking confirmation.
Mandatory fees
You'll be asked to pay the following charges at check in or check out:
- A tax is imposed by the city: EUR 3.00 per person, per night. This tax does not apply to children under 12 years of age.
Optional extras
Rollaway beds are available for EUR 15 per night
Cribs/Infant beds are available for EUR 7 per day
Pets are allowed for an extra charge of EUR variable per pet, per night
We have included all charges provided to us by this hotel. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book.
Is the description of this hotel not correct? Tell us


text:
THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
Over the years, I've seen several causes of this error in SQL Server Integration Services but today I came across another one.
You can get this error if you've used 3rd party components (particularly data sources) and the licensing for those components has expired.
Hope that helps someone sometime.
If you would like to receive an email when updates are made to this post, please register here
Subscribe to this post's comments using


text:
'Tis the season, for fresh cranberries.
Are you craving a bright, lite, and healthy dressing to perk up your greens? Look no further.
fresh cranberry salad dressing photo by vsimon
This one is simple, gluten free, fat free, low cal, packed with flavor and nutrition.
It can be sugar free too. I have successfully made it with Splenda for clients that want that. And I think your choice of sweetener, whatever it is, would work. Go ahead, give a go. And please let us know.
The cranberries give it wonderful body. This is a stick to your greens dressing. Not a slide to the bottom of the plate dressing.
Cranberry Salad Dressing
|yield: about 1 cup
|metric measures
|1 cup fresh or frozen whole cranberries
|100 gm
|3/4 cups water
|180 ml
|1/4 cup sugar
|50 gm
|2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
|30 ml
|1/2 teaspoons dried tarragon
|to taste (it is less than 1 gm)
In a small saucepan, cook everything but the tarragon. Heat until all the berries plop apart and the sauce thickens.
Put dressing into a small bender and puree until smooth.
Add tarragon.
The dressing thickens a bit as it cools. When it is completely cool, stir in 1 or 2 tablespoons of water if you like it thinner.
Refrigerate leftovers, they keep for several weeks.
Serving suggestions
Skip the marshmallows and drizzle over mashed sweet potatoes. Oh, that is radical!
Or top a salad of fresh spinach and shredded chicken or turkey. And chewy dried cranberries, crisp apple slices, and crunchy walnuts.
What are your ideas?


text:
Blog Directory
Browse the Blog Directory
Browse blogs from wide range of categorized blogs on our blog directory. Whether you are looking for niche blogs, personal blogs, Zimbabwe blogs, Games blogs, Game Reviews blogs you can find them all in our blog directory.
Submit your Blog
Or, Submit your blog and be included on our search engine friendly blog directory.
Zimbabwe Game ReviewsBrowsing Zimbabwe Blogs » Games Blogs » Game Reviews Blogs
Explore the most trusted blog sites about game reviews and games at BlogsDB. Add Game Reviews blogs and get listed on our top-rated blog directory online.
No blogs are found on this category yet.


text:
Alberto Gonzales was the Attorney General of the United States, up until 24 August 2007, when he decided to help get some new blood into the White House by resigning in disgrace.
Great Attorney General or Greatest Attorney General? It's hard to recall.
Alberto's Early YearsEdit
Born (dum-dum-dum-dum) deep in the heart of Texas, the future Attorney General was actually born Albertina Gonzales in 1966. (S)he spent an early childhood frustrated and disoriented, sentiments which helped to cement a raging, righteous Republican mentality.
At the tender age of 17, Albertina joined several other teenagers (including Hillary Clinton) and underwent a new medical gender-switching procedure. It was a success but left some residual traces (like that soft, girlie voice).
Alberto's First JobEdit
Foot guide for an alien smuggling organization.
Alberto's Work EthicEdit
As Attorney General for George W. Bush, Gonzales did the jobs that no other Americans wanted to do. He worked hard at dodging questions and covering up misconduct. The labor was so intense it makes his back wet.
Alberto's Work in TexasEdit
Line inspector in a chalupa meat packing plant. In all his time working for The Greatest President Ever when he was Texas' Greatest Governor, Alberto was never implicated in any scandal whatsoever, including the following:
Alberto's Work in WashingtonEdit
Alberto is a true patriot. Liberals have been attempting to undermine our government using outdated, pre-9/11 ideas such as checks and balances, law, and the justice system. These obsolete notions are useful for attacking America, so liberals have kept George W. Bush and Jesus from doing away with them. They were especially useful to get Alberto in trouble for the politically-motivated firings of eight US attorneys. So, to protect himself, his country, and his President, Alberto banged his head on the wall, drank lead paint, and got some drugs from Rush Limbaugh so that he would not recall anything that the liberals could use.
Alberto Talks to CongressEdit
In 2007, Alberto visited Congress twice in as many months to discuss issue of minor import. America-hating liberals who snuck into the chambers berated Alberto with questions about his job performance and other matters not of their business.
Elton Gallegly and other Great American Congressmen rescued him with questions of the highest importance: illegal immigrants.
Gonzales politely answered all questions and wanted to answer more about the elusive criminal, Sandy Berger, but no one had yet asked him.
Alberto Fractoids Edit
- Alberto Worships Rush Limbaugh
- Alberto's idol is Sarah Palin. You betcha.
- Alberto hates Mexicans
- Alberto is "not clear" on whether his parents came to the United States legally, but we trust his smiling face anyway
- Alberto loves fighting for freedom
- Alberto makes both Jesus and George Bush happy
- Alberto is a huge fan of torture and wiretapping; just ask him yourself
- Alberto is a member of the 700 Club
- Alberto is Stephen's nominee for the new Captain America; archnemesis: Professor Habeas Corpus
- Alberto apparently has very bad amnesia
- Alberto resigned, which has made Michael Moore happy.
- Alberto is a true conservative. For instance, he fired a bunch of RINOs, who were too sissy to prosecute Democrats, at his department just like we're supposed to do as Republicans, and replaced them with true conservatives and got bitched at by both those liberals and the RINOs in Congress that were afraid that THEY would be the ones getting fired by him next. Which would have been awesome.


text:
WILDLIFE corridors stretching across state boundaries are set to be given priority for billions of dollars of environment grants to help endangered species move across the country safely.
The plan will set up a system under environment law to recognise projects that connect protected and private land - such as national parks and farms - over great distances to help preserve Australia's threatened diversity of species.
Australia's natural habitats have increasingly become fragmented and isolated, putting significant stresses on plants and animals.
Twenty per cent of Australia's wildlife is classified as threatened.
The federal government has not nominated new projects under the plan nor allocated new funding for the corridors. Instead, it points to corridor efforts already under way by conservation groups and state government authorities as potential projects to fall under the plan.
Those projects include the Great Eastern Ranges link, which stretches 3600 kilometres from central Victoria, through NSW, to far north Queensland, providing safe passage for species such as brush-tailed rock wallabies, koalas and spotted-tail quolls.
The final corridors plan, to be released on Sunday originally promised by Labor at the 2010 election, will allow conservation groups to nominate a project to the government under environment laws. The projects will then be assessed by an independent council and if successful will be declared by the environment minister as a national wildlife corridor.
Once declared, projects may then be given higher priority for billions of dollars of grants from environmental grants schemes.
These grants programs include a $1 billion biodiversity fund set up with carbon tax revenue, and the $2.2 billion Caring for our Country program among others.
Paul Sinclair from the Australian Conservation Foundation, who was a member of an expert panel that helped draw up the plan, said it was an important response to the impacts of climate change on the environment.
But he said ensuring long-term funding for the corridor projects - some of which have decades-long time frames - was a challenge.
Great Eastern Ranges Initiative director Rob Dunn said the plan recognised the benefits that come from such large-scale projects.
''To achieve change at such a scale, the funding is really just vital,'' he said.
The Environment Minister, Tony Burke, said the corridors plan was about setting priorities for conservation funding and encouraging community involvement.
''The plan does not, of itself, lock up any land,'' he said.


text:
There is a saying that education is wasted on the young, and while that may be an exaggeration there are certainly clear benefits to learning in later life. In fact, research conducted by Newsquest training partner Home Learning College showed that 40% of Brits think it is easier to feel motivated by a genuine interest in a subject when studying as an adult.
This goes some way to explaining why two fifths of people aged over 18 are planning to study for a new qualification in 2010.
Scrapping the retirement age Coinciding with this interest in adult learning are moves to scrap the current default retirement age of 65, after which staff can be forced to finish work. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has argued that removing this age limit would encourage greater flexibility and better techniques for managing workers across the age spectrum.
Research conducted by EHRC suggests that this change would be welcomed – 64% of women and 24% of men expressed a desire to remain economically active after the state pension age. However, while people may be happy to continue working well into their 60s, they may not wish to stay in their current job.
Changing career in later life In fact, Home Learning College figures show that 39% of people would want to change career if they thought they would have to work until they are 70.
Nowadays it is common to have several distinct careers throughout a lifetime. This trend has been emerging for a while and has only been reinforced by the recent recession, which has seen many people forced to change direction later in life following redundancy.
"The concept of a job for life is dead," says Dave Snow, Academic Director at Home Learning College. "Instead, people are showing a strong interest in updating their skills and re-training for completely different roles. For example, a quarter of students on one of our popular web design courses are aged over 55. Accounting and bookkeeping courses are also in high demand among this age group thanks to the opportunities for flexible working available to professionals in this sector.
"Clearly, a large number of people are investing in continued learning to stay competitive in today's challenging economic climate. It is this attitude and commitment to further study that will make working beyond the official retirement age tolerable and hopefully even pleasurable." The wide range of further education options means that gaining these new skills does not need to be daunting. Many courses are offered on a part time basis, either through a local college or via distance learning. The latter can be an attractive route for older learners who may not feel comfortable going back into a classroom environment; allowing them to progress at a comfortable pace, with access to a dedicated tutor.
Real life case study 41 year old Evelyn Murphy had worked for many years as a caterer in the local school community, but was keen to broaden her career and give herself greater flexibility.
Bookkeeping offered the challenge and career progression she sought, offering an opportunity to become self employed.
Evelyn searched the internet for potential courses and decided to sign up for the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) Practical Bookkeeping course with Home Learning College.
Evelyn found the experience of distance learning to be extremely positive, as she explains: "Once I'd made the decision to study bookkeeping, I knew that distance learning would be the best option, as I needed a course that was flexible and could be fitted around my existing work and social commitments. The best thing about studying at home was that I was able to work at my own pace, safe in the knowledge that I was only ever a click away from support and guidance.
"The tutors provided unwavering support and reassurance, giving me excellent feedback on assignments and motivating me to continue. That's not to say that I didn't find the course challenging. I left school with no mathematical skills and this course showed me a way of dealing with mathematical equations and controlling accounts in the running of a business. I certainly felt nervous when it came to sitting my exams, but I passed with flying colours, which was a real achievement.
"My family and friends have been hugely supportive of my studies, and gaining this qualification has given me more self confidence and motivation to achieve my goals. I've been inspired to do more study and have recently started the Sage Payroll course through Home Learning College."
For more information visit our training courses pages.


text: NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Major U.S. stock averages dipped Wednesday after the government said the economy contracted in the fourth quarter. Benchmark indices had touched multi-year highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22 points, or 0.2%, to 13,933. The blue-chip index has booked gains in seven of the past nine sessions. Breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering winners 21 to nine. Bank of America ( BAC), 3M ( MMM), General Electric ( GE) and Exxon ( XOM) were the biggest blue-chip decliners. Boeing ( BA), Intel ( INTC) and Verizon ( VZ) rose the most. Boeing shares gained 1.3% after the aerospace giant beat fourth-quarter earnings estimates and said it sees "no significant financial impact" from the ongoing grounding and regulatory review of its showcase 787 jet. The S&P 500 fell 6 points, or 0.4%, to 1,502. The Nasdaq was down 11 points, or 0.4%, to 3,142. Most major sectors were off in the broader market, led lower by transportation, energy, capital goods and basic materials. The health-care and consumer non-cyclical sectors were the only gainers. Volumes totaled 3.7 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange and 2 billion shares on the Nasdaq. Decliners outpaced advancers by a ratio of 1.9-to-1 on the Big Board and 2.3-to-1 on the Nasdaq. JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade, said many market observers were surprised at the rally at the market open because the headline gross domestic product number was so disappointing. "I think there was just a little short squeeze there for a moment or two," he said. On the other hand, the market was also under some natural downward pressure, with the S&P 500 trading around 1,500 and the Dow approaching 14,000. "Psychologically, they are big numbers," said Kinahan. At these levels, there is natural "resistance," which leads to selling pressure as traders start to take some profits and decide whether they want to reinvest money or sit on the sidelines to get a stronger signal on whether the market could break through those levels, Kinahan explained. The Federal Reserve released its monetary policy announcement on Wednesday to little fanfare. The central bank left interest rates unchanged at near-historic lows and noted that the economy "paused" in recent months, largely due to weather-related disruptions from Hurricane Sandy.


text:
The winner of last week's giveaway was:
Zach G. from Monroe, Washington. Zach selected the popular TAD (Triple Aught Design) Praetorian Hoodie.
My Picks This Week
This is definitely one of those weeks where it was hard to decide which of all the great items to highlight. I decided to focus on some things that will outfit you in a whole lot of handsomeness. The Alpha Industries MA-1 Flight Jacket has got some great military style, Copin denim is offering an exclusive selection of nice selvage jeans, and the Tsovet watches are sweet. And then don't forget to comb your hair with an Acca Kappa (they've been in business since 1869) military brush. I've been wanting to try a military brush for a long time now and my scalp is excited to give it a whirl.
The Prize
Any item currently available in the Huckberry Store (with the exception of the Joey Roth speakers). Be sure to check out the current line-up of items as it changes every week.
How to Enter
Leave a comment sharing what you'd like to win.
- Sign up for Huckberry to gain access to their store. You have to sign up because the store and the discounted prices are not available to the public. Just so we're clear, if you sign up for Huckberry, you're opting into receiving weekly emails from Huckberry on their exclusive deals. You can unsubscribe anytime you want.
- Take a look around, pick one item you'd like, and leave a comment on this post sharing your selection.
- Do not make multiple comments. All comments are moderated, so your comment will not show up instantly, but will show up later once it's approved.
- If you are an email subscriber, do not reply to this email to make your entry. You must click on the title of this post, which will take you to the post on our web page. You must make your comment on the post on our web page to be entered.
Deadline to enter is October 3, 2013 at 5PM CDT.
We'll then draw one random comment to select the winner. This lucky gent will get the item they selected and shared in the comments. Good luck!
Last updated: October 3, 2013


text:
PS : Hope both those new houses contained huge refrigerators filled to the brim with goodies - chocolates for Katy, and red meat for yours truly !...
Ah, so now we're to be neighhbors? Be still my heart!
You know It does sound ok to me ears to have Big, new, blue, but the first one for me is still big, new, blue.
how is that neutral?


text: (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images) 8 Women More Attractive and Talented Than Katherine Webb By Ben Kuhns January 31, 2013 The Katherine Webb beauty hype is too much-here are some women more talented and prettier. Read More Category: Entertainment Tags: Aisha Tyler, Anjelah Johnson, Gillian Jacobs, Grace Park, Katherine Webb, Michelle Rodriguez, Nasim Pedrad, Riki Lindhome, Vanessa Bayer Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


text:
ASPIRING actors with yearning to tread the boards and bask in the lime light can audition for a role in an ambitious pantomime.
The Regal in Tenbury Wells is staging Aladdin as its festive production and there are all sorts of role available to join the professional director on a set that boasts special effects designed by television magician Paul Daniels, who is the venue's patron.
Roles available include Abanazar , Aladdin, PC Pingpong, Tyson, Wishee Washee, Widow Twankey, the Emperor, Princess Jasmine,
Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring.
Additional cast members from primary and secondary schools are also being sought alongside backstage roles such as stagehands, wardrobe mistresses and a make-up artist.
Auditions will be held in the Regal Community Centre on Thursday, June 19 at 7pm for students and adults, primary school pupils on Sunday, July 6 at 10am and secondary school pupils on Thursday, July 24 at 7pm.
Aladdin runs from Monday, December 22 to Wednesday, December 31.
For more information, call 01584819998 or e-mail email@example.com.


text:
From the budding artist to the creative professional, it's a breeze to save on art and craft supplies from A.C. Moore with a discount gift card, valid in-store only. Fill your basket with stamps and stickers for scrapbooks or select artist-quality pigments to create a masterpiece. We buy and sell unused gift cards to all your favorite stores so take advantage these deals today!
CardCash is the largest gift
card exchange in the world.
Turn unused gift cards into cash
or buy discount gift cards with the
safety and security of our 45 day
card balance guarantee.


text:
VERSION 0.4.2 (November 18th, 2007) / Source: VERSION 0.4.2a (December 22nd, 2007)
This release mainly adds some bug fixes to OpenCBM. Have a look at the changes.
This project is hosted on . Thanks for the service.
- New version
- Contents
- Introduction
- History
- OpenCBM User's Guide
- Download
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- External links (NEW: June 9th, 2006)
- Where to buy ready cables (NEW: February 1st, 2006)
Introduction to OpenCBM
What is OpenCBM?
OpenCBM allows for access to a VIC 1540, 1541, 1570, 1571, or even 1581 floppy drive from the PC on Windows NT, 2000 and XP. It started out as cbm4linux as a Linux-only solution, written by Michael Klein. Spiro Trikaliotis (me) ported it over to the Windows platform under the name cbm4win. With version 0.4.0, both versions were joined back into one source. Thus, it was decided to use a platform-independant name, which is now "OpenCBM".
What can I do with OpenCBM?
The most important things you can do is to copy D64 or D71 images from a real drive to the PC, or from the PC to a real drive with the help of d64copy. Furthermore, you can copy single files in both directions, too. Some more tools (for example, cbmctrl) are given, too.
Is there 3rd party support for OpenCBM?
VICE has support for OpenCBM. There is an internal version of YAPE which supports OpenCBM on windows, too. Other people have already showed interest in supporting OpenCBM in their products, too.
What hardware is needed in order to use OpenCBM?
Of course, you need a PC running either Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista or 2008 (for the Windows version of OpenCBM), Linux (for the Linux version), or Mac OS X (for the Mac version). Currently, the PC (Windows/Linux) needs a parallel port (note: PCI or CardBus cards most likely will not work with Windows, but with Linux, chances are much higher.
There is also a USB version in the works which will be released as v0.5.0 shortly. Have a look at the XU1541 page for details on it.
Furthermore, you need a real drive, like the VIC 1540, 1541, 1570, 1571, or 1581 (1581 not fully supported). Then, you need an XA1541, XM1541, XAP1541 or XMP1541 cable in order to connect the driver with the PC.
Where can I find a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ)?
Simply go to the end of this web page, or use the link.
The following history applies to the various versions of OpenCBM
v0.4.2a (December 22nd, 2007)
This release is only a fixed source release. The source data for Version 0.4.2 missed some important files which can only be built if you have the CC65 C compiler for the 6502 installed. The version 0.4.2a adds these missing files. Thus, no additional binary files are available with this release.
v0.4.2 (November 18th, 2007)
This is mainly a bugfix release. The binary distribution of version 0.4.1 on Windows was not correctly build and included (unnecessary) debug information. Additionally, the documentation was missing. This has been fixed now. For Linux, v0.4.1 and v0.4.2 are identical, only the version number and date have changed. If you do not have any problems with 0.4.1, you do not need to change to this version.
v0.4.1 (November 11th, 2007)
The changelog is no longer maintained here. It can be found at changes
v0.4.0 (April 28th, 2006)
The changelog is no longer maintained here. It can be found at changes
cbm4win v0.1.0a (May 29th, 2005)
This version fixes some errors. Some of them are SECURITY ISSUES, thus, I
highly recommend upgrading to that version.
Furthermore, d64copy wrote d64 files which were "wrong" if there were errors on the disk.
Another issue is a fixed performance problems, which occurred especially with multiprocessor machines (SMP) or Hyperthreading machines (HT), but also with NT4.
In more detail, the following changes have been applied from 0.1.0:
- drivers (cbm4wdm.sys/cbm4nt.sys):
- performance fix for some machines, especially SMP, HT, and NT4. This fixes #1070112.
- Allow for specifying the cable type via the registry (instead of auto-detecting).
- cbmctrl:
- Fixed 2 format string vulnerabilities
- Do not allocate a 64KB buffer on the stack anymore which might allow for a stack overflow.
- instcbm:
- Do not allocate a 128KB buffer on the stack anymore which might allow for a stack overflow.
- Fixed 3 "off-by-one" buffer accesses, resulting in access to non-allocated memory.
- Fixed some more possible accesses to uninitialized variable.
- d64copy:
- cbmcopy:
- Fixed rare shutdown problem. This fixes #1070076 for cbmcopy.
- cbmformat:
- New drive routine with probing. This fixes #1066199.
- all:
- a misplaced if() statement could lead to access of uninitialized variable space. Fixed that.
- Error in debugging output could result in multiple evaluations of some functions. Fixed that.
December 6th, 2004
Added a section for Frequently asked questions (FAQ) on this web site.
cbm4win 0.1.0 (November 28th, 2004)
The following changes have been applied from 0.0.12:
- cbmctrl detect (and the function cbm_identify() which is used in the API) left one byte in the command buffer. Because of this, a cbmctrl status command afterwards returned nothing. Fixed this.
- Added documentation how to build the source packages. See doc\COMPILE.TXT file.
You can download OpenCBM 0.4.2 as executables for Windows from
http://prdownloads.sf.net/opencbm/opencbm-0.4.2-i386.zip?download (i386, iA32),
http://prdownloads.sf.net/opencbm/opencbm-0.4.2-amd64.zip?download (AMD64, EM64T),
http://prdownloads.sf.net/opencbm/opencbm-0.4.2-ia64.zip?download (iA64).
Most people will need the i386 version (aka iA32), which runs on 32 bit processors. This version is also needed if you have a 64 bit processor, but your Windows version is 32 bit only.
If you have a 64 bit processor from AMD, or a processor from Intel with so-called "EM64T" extension, you need the AMD64 version of OpenCBM.
If you own a computer with iA processor from Intel from Intel, you will need the iA64 version. You will know if you have an iA64 processor!
Note: If you are unsure wheather you have an iA64 or an AMD64, it is most likely you own an AMD64 (or EM64T) processor. If you are unsure whether you own a 32 bit or a 64 bit Windows, it is most likely you own a 32 bit one, that is, an i386 one.
Linux and Sources
For Linux, no precompiled version of OpenCBM is available. You must compile it yourself out of the sources.
They are available at
http://prdownloads.sf.net/opencbm/opencbm-0.4.2-src.zip?download (Sources).
Developer information (generated with Doxygen) can also be found: Doxygen of OpenCBM
Acknowledgements, thanks and links
OpenCBM is heavily based on cbm4linux, written by Michael Klein. cbm4linux itself uses work from Star Commander, written by KOVÁCS Balázs a.k.a. "Joe Forster". I like to thank both for their steady help and their patience.
Furthermore, I want to thank the following people:
- Michael Klein for cbm4linux and many discussions. I do not know if I would have started this project without this.
- KOVÁCS Balázs a.k.a. "Joe Forster" for Star Commander, his advice, and for giving me cables for free to work on this project;
- Wolfgang Moser for steady discussions, testing, and bug reports, as well as giving me some more needed equipment;
- all of my testers for steady tests, reports, and discussions.
Contact, bug tracking, mailing lists
Feel free to contact me if you have questions, suggestions, or you just want to confirm that something does work or does not. Specifically, if you are using cables not specified above, or drives not specified above, I would like to hear if OpenCBM works with this combo.
More specifically, I have setup a project page on sourceforge. If you want to submit bug reports, I would be thank you for submitting to the bug tracking system over there. There are even two mailing lists available for announcements and for user discussions.
If you want to contact me directly, just contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com, or go to my homepage at http://www.trikaliotis.net/.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Many thanks to Wolfgang Moser for maintaining the FAQ!
Hardware related
Cable related
Q: Is there any reason why you're not supporting the quasi standard XE1541 cable?
A: See answer to the next questions
Q: Why are the X1541 or XE1541 cables not supported?
A: Technical implications prevent reliable use of these cable types.
If I want to transfer to a VIC drive, the drive is allowed to block the transfer for as long as it needs (the so-called "listener hold off", T_H in the C64 Programmer's Reference Guide). If the drive is ready, it signals this with the DATA line. The controller - in this case the PC - has to react to this in not more than T_NE, "non-eoi response", with setting CLK active. T_NE is rather short, it must not exceed 200 us. Typically, it should be something around 40 us. If the controller exceeds this 200 us bound, the listener - the drive - thinks that we wanted to signal an End-Of-Information, thus, there is no more data. For the PC to be able to cope with that very low time bound, there are two options:
- busy waiting
- use interrupt
No. 1, busy waiting, is not really an option. If we would do this, then we would have to monopolize the whole machine for the whole time. That is, you would not be able to hear music, work with MS Word, or even abort the transfer! Now, what would happen if the drive does not answer at all, for example, because it crashed? Well, yes, your PC would not be usable at all, thus, you would have to reboot that one, too. (This is not entirely true: Switching the drive off and on would help, too).
OTOH, if we use the interrupt, this is not a problem anymore. When the driver signals DATA, the parallel port generates an interrupt. In the interrupt routine, we react to this by setting CLK, and then, we wake up the (sleeping) main routine, which does the rest of the work. This way, we do not monopolize the whole CPU of the PC, which is very good in terms of overall stability of the system.
Now, the PC's parallel port cannot generate an interrupt on every line. With an XE cable, it can generate an interrupt on a RESET - this does not make much sense, does it? Because of this, the XM cable exchanges RESET and DATA w.r.t. the XE cable. This way, using an XM cable, the DATA line can generate interrupts, as needed.
Thus, to sum it up: It is very unlikely that an XE cable will ever be supported.
Q: Can a XE1541 cable be converted into a XM1541 cable and how is this done?
A: Yes, a XE1541 can easily be converted into a XM1541 cable
- You only need to exchange lines 5 and 6 (RESET and DATA) at the DIN-Plug side of your XE1541 cable to convert it into a XM1541.
- You also might consider building an adaptor, which just consists of two DIN plugs (one male, one female) which crosses the lines 5 and 6 (RESET and DATA). This way, you have a XE1541 if you operate your cable without the adaptor, or a XM1541 if it is operated with the adaptor.
- The same idea (for being operated with an XEP adaptor) is available at The Commodore serial cable, twisted version
By the way, as easy as converting a XE1541 cable into a XM1541 is converting a XM1541 into a XE1541 with the very same methods described above.
Q: I do not have a parallel port on my PC. Will a external card (ISA, PCI, CardBus) work?
A: It depends. For Linux, chances are high that all cards will work. For Windows, due to limitations of the drivers of the cards, it is unlikely that PCI or CardBus cards will work. However, ISA cards will work.
You should try to build an xu1541 cable instead.
Software problems
Installation issues
Q: OpenCBM refuses to work on my Windows machine, what can I do?
A: Try enabling the "Legacy Plug+Play Detection" for the parallel port. It was reported that on a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows 2000 installed, OpenCBM could be installed without a problem, but none of the commands affected the connected 1541 disk drive in any way. Different parallel port settings in the BIOS were double checked without any help. The reporting user found that enabling the "Legacy Plug+Play Detection" for the LPT port helped to establish the communication with OpenCBM and the connected disk drive.
To enable "Legacy Plug+Play detection" for your LPT port, where the 1541 disk drive is connected to (with a XM1541 or XA1541 cable), follow these steps:
- Log in as administrator
- Right click on "My Computer"->"Properties"
- Select the "Hardware" tab
- Click to "Device Manager"
- Open the "Ports (COM and LPT)" tree
- Right click on "LPT1"->"Properties" (or the LPT port you are using for OpenCBM)
- Select the "Port Settings" tab
- Enable the "Enable Legacy Plug+Play Detection" checkbox by clicking onto it
- Clock the "Apply" button to activate this setting
This may not help in any circumstances. From the user's report it is known that this was only needed for his Sony Vaio laptop. Other machines which also run Windows 2000 do not need this.
Using the tools
Q: Where are all the commands listed that can be used with OpenCBM?
A: Please have a look at the OpenCBM User's Guide.
Q: Where can I find a description for all the subcommands and options of the different tools (cbmctrl, d64copy, cbmcopy, cbmformat, instcbm)?
A: Each of the user commands above knows the option "--help", which explains parameters and subcommands in short, e.g.: "cbmctrl --help". More detailed help is available at the OpenCBM User's Guide.
Q: But if I enter the command "cbmctrl --help" (or any other) on Windows, then a black window opens for a second or so and disappears immediately. I can't read any of the informations, what is going wrong here?
A: You need to open a dedicated command line console (a.k.a. "DOS-console").
What did you do? Entering the command "cbmctrl --help" via the Start->Execute dialog? Please enter the command "cmd" within this dialog box. This opens a dedicated command window. Change into the directory, where you extracted the OpenCBM tools (if you didn't place them into Windows' search path) and enter e.g. the command "cbmctrl --help" within the console window.
(NEW: July 4, 2005) Q: cbmctrl and other commands work fine. Anyway, whenever I use d64copy or cbmcopy with --transfer=parallel, the transfer hangs.
A: For using the parallel transfer options, you need to own an XP1541 companion cable additionally to your XA1541 or XM1541 cable. The parallel transfer will not work without that cable. Thus, to be able to transfer data, use serial2 (if you have only one attached drive simultaneously) or serial1 (in any other case).
External links
Here, I will start adding additional links to useful software which is related to OpenCBM:
- GUI for CBM4WIN (thank you, Leif!) (ONLY WORKS WITH CBM4WIN 0.1.0 and 0.1.0a; for 0.4.0 and later, use the version from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=122047.
- mnib36 can be used with OpenCBM on Windows and Linux.
Where to buy ready cables?
If you want to use OpenCBM, you need an XA1541 active cable or an XM1541 multitasking cable, as mentioned above. I do not manufacture them or sell them. Anyway, as a service, I list shops where these cables can be bought. Please, do NOT understand this as a suggestion from me to buy them there. These are just starting points. I am not aligned to anyone there, nor do I have any profit if you buy any cable there. I do not know most shops myself, thus, I cannot tell you about the quality of the cables or delivery times. If you need to buy a cable, please pick a shop which you think you can trust. Think yourself!
- The X1541 shop. This is Joe Forster's shop. In fact, this is where I got my 2nd XA1541 and my XP1541 cable from. There is also a German section as well as the USA/Canada section of this shop available. Here, you can get all types of cables.
- In the PC section of DoD's shop, you can get X1541 and XE1541 cables (which do not work with OpenCBM!) and the XM1541 cable. In fact, he is the manufacturer of the cables from Protovision-Online.
- There is a hardware shop over at http://www.commodore16.com/ which sells XE1541, XM1541 and XA1541 cables.