European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes computers tuesday february 15,1994 getting Back on the fast track increasing memory through upgrades can Speed things up by Michael j. Himow1tz the Baltimore Sun my Friend Ben decided to take the great leap Forward into modern soft Ware not Long ago and got a Nasty sur prise. His 386 pc which ran word perfect 5.1 under Dos at the Speed of Light suddenly turned into a lumbering dump truck when he turned on Microsoft windows and tried to Load the latest version of the world s most popular word processor. Managing the Long documents he once zipped through with ease suddenly be came a chore. Even simple cutting and pasting took intolerably Long accompanied by an endless thrashing sound from his hard disk. Disgusted he chucked windows and returned to the Dos ver Sion. \ Ben had run into a couple of Nasty facts of life. Graphical operating Environ ments such As Microsoft windows literally devour microprocessors. And software publishers which once took pains to make sure that new releases would run on older machines Are writing programs that require the computing equivalent of a 300-horsepower, turbocharged v-8 engine. The problem is particularly painful for those who bought Low end or even mid Range 80386 computers a couple of year Sago. When Intel under competitive pres sure from 386-Chip clones dropped the Price of its More powerful 80486 Micro processors it virtually wiped out the mar Ket for 386 desktop machines. While today s latest windows software will run on 386 computers Many of those machines Are overwhelmed by the proc Essing demands that new programs make. Luckily owners of Many older machines have options that Are far less expensive than buying a new computer. Up grading a computer can be relatively cheap and easy. The least expensive upgrade is additional random Access memory Orram to keep prices Low Many 386 machines were sold with As Little As 2 Mega bytes of ram although 4 megabytes is More common. Windows theoretically can run in 2 megabytes of ram by using something called virtual memory when it runs out of real memory windows will use space on your hard disk As a substitute. The problem is that accessing a a i my m a hard disk is orders of magnitude slower than accessing internal memory. Many programs find even 4 megabytes of ram too confining and running More than one program at a time can slow older machines to a crawl. A while Back i bought a 80386dx-40 computer the top of the 386 line with 4 megabytes of memory. My kids use it now. Its windows performance was Al ways marginal by my standards but the boys weren t fussy. Then my older son needed a spreadsheet for a science project and i installed Lotus 1-2-3 for windows. I turned out to be a memory hog of the first order and ran so slowly that it was virtually unusable. I mentioned the problem to a technician at work and he suggested adding memory. I added 4 megabytes and the results were astounding not Only did Lotus run acceptably but other windows programs ran faster too. It was almost like getting a new machine. Although memory prices have had their  and Downs you can buy ram chips in most computer outlets for $40 to$50 a megabyte. Bear in mind that Many computer de is Susan Harris signs require you to add memory in pow ers of 2. If you have 2 megabytes you have to upgrade to 4 or 8 megabytes nothing in Between. Experts say you won t gain much in performance by in stalling More than 8 megabytes unless you have a specific application such As color photo retouching that takes advantage of the extra memory. Installing memory can be a do it your self project if you re comfortable tinker ing inside your computer. My upgrade took about three minutes. If you re not adventurous the service departments at most retailers will do the Job for $50 Orless. Either Way it s a cheap option that will wring extra performance out of an aging machine. For those who want the benefits of a new computer without breaking the Bank a Motherboard upgrade is the next option. The Motherboard is your computer s main circuit Board. It contains the Micro processor memory and support chips As Well As expansion slots for the circuit boards that control your disk drives video display Printer and communication ports and other devices. The Motherboard determines How fast and Power Ful your computer can be. If your manufacturer adhered to ism s original practice of modular design it s possible within certain limits to Swap out any component in your system for a newer one including the Motherboard. If your current memory chips Are fast enough with a 80386 computer they should be you can pull them out of your old Motherboard and use them in a new one. Many 80386 computers that were sold Over the last few years have perfectly adequate disk drives monitors and control Ler cards. In fact manufacturers often used the same drives cases and Power supplies in Low end and High end machines. What made one computer faster than another was the Motherboard. Replace it with a better one and you have a Bette computer. Unfortunately not All machines qualify for a Motherboard transplant. Some manufacturers to save Money or conserve space in slim line designs produced motherboards with proprietary designs that Don t lend themselves to easy or in expensive replacement. Some computer systems with older Plain Vanilla via monitors that can t support today s higher resolutions and color choices May also be bad bets for a transplant because they won t give you the Benefit of what has become Standard video technology. But if your budget is tight now you can always upgrade the Motherboard now and add a new video card and Monitor later. Also i Don t recommend upgrading old machines powered by 80286 Micro processors. Their memory chips May be too slow or incompatible with new motherboards and their hard drives Aren t fast enough to handle the demands of win Dows software. But if your computer s design is generic enough and the rest of the system is up to snuff a new Motherboard can breathe new life into it. For example 80486dx-33 motherboards which Aren t state of the Art but have plenty of muscle for windows Are available without installation for $400 to $450. A top of the line 486dx2 66 Motherboard is about $600. This is not a do it yourself project unless you re very hardware savvy. In fact you should talk Over the operation with a Good technician before you decide to do it. If you do go ahead expect to pay a competent service department $50 to $100 for the Job. But you la get a lot of bang for the Buck. . Firms join Effort to get China on line by David Briscoe the associated press Washington a  Enterprise is taking a step toward hooking up the world s fastest growing and potentially biggest computer Market China to the rest of the world. At least 18 . Companies Are helping set up a High tech miniature computer network in Beijing As a demonstration Model. It would help chinese customers de sign their own networks using . Computer products. Not All chinese networks would be linked to the rapidly growing International Grid that includes the in formation superhighway president Clinton has Bee promoting. But with modernization efforts in China computer networks offer a Way to involve the chinese More in worldwide Commerce and communication. Ultimately they could provide a Way of exchanging movies music Art literature and ideas Between China and the West through the worldwide internet. More immediately computers open up new ways for chinese citizens businesses organizations and govern ment agencies to communicate among themselves. . Companies participating in the new american computer innovation Center will train chinese com Puter users and advise them on what equipment to buy. Just Over a million computers Are in use in China compared with More than 60 million in the United states with a fourth As Many people. But computer sales in China last year were estimated at up to 350,000 with a big increase expected this year. . Computer companies Are quickly moving into the Market. Computer manufacturers say obstacles to Sale of for eign computers include Complex government require ments and the Challenge of adapting equipment and software to use chinese characters. It s very difficult to sell in China. It s very difficult to buy in China said Peter Stephenson head of Sanda International corp., which he said Aims to bring buyers and Sellers together. Sanda and computers and peripherals of Hong Kong have joined with the Beijing government s Chin International software engineering co. To set up the permanent demonstration site at a former Beijing sports Complex which is being converted into a com Puter marketing Center. One expected customer the National Railroad system already has up to 140,000 computers to be tied together said George Yeung president of computers and peripherals. Yeung and Stephenson said network technology which links millions of computers around the world in various ways is about three years behind in China. Our intent is to make Selling computer products and services in China no More difficult for american companies than Selling in any other International mar Ket Yeung said at a news conference in Washington. Chinese and . Government officials have backed the demonstration Center As a Way of boosting computer productivity in China and Selling More . Computer products in the country. Among . Companies contributing equipment to the Beijing project Are ism Micro Dyne Novell Este Newport systems Gateway communication Sand vis soft. �