Technology

April 1, 1999

PRESS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: April 1, 1999

WinChip, IBM, AMD, and Ingram Micro face the future through Coopetition.

SAN DIEGO -- Four industry powerhouses stood center stage this morning and took turns introducing their new WIZ technology. WinChip introduced the Win650T, IBM introduced the Stallion, AMD discussed its CaT technology, and Ingram announced it's "go direct" initiative.

WIZ, also known as Wow It's Zomething-or-other technology, has taken the industry by firestorm. The first company to make formal public announcements regarding WIZ technology was Intel. Last week, they disclosed their copiloted projects 'thunder' and 'lightening'. Unfortunately the outdoor public event was rained out due to an unforeseen and unseasonable weather condition.

WinChip will start shipping their 650 MHz socket 7 processor next week. They started shipping Win650T and Win651R samples to OEMs last year. Reviewers were delighted that the Win650T could be overclocked to operate at 850 MHz without using a heatsink. Using soon to be released thermal regulators, the Win650T can operate close to 1 GHz.

Enthusiasts are also grateful that the Win650T does not have the Serial Identification Number (SIN). Privacy advocates were rejoicing that WinChip did not embed Intel's SIN. "The omission of SIN is a great relief," said Weah B. Head, CEO of Private Life Industries.

Developed under the code name sparkling water, the Win650T will only be made available to emerging Original Equipment Manufacturers. Model Win651R, project rainbow, is expected to be made available to the retail channel following strong consumer interest in quiet, extensive beta testing.

Heralded as breakthrough technology, this product puts WinChip ahead of the competition by offering the fastest x86 processor on the market. Using Copper technology patented by IBM (code named stallion), WinChip was able to produce stable silicon with their efficient .18 micron process. More amazing is the news that this processor offers both AMD's 3D Now! Technology as well as Intel's steam engined SIMD Technology (sic).

AMD helped establish the 0.18 process. Mr. Sump T. Heng of AMD stated, "We have extensive expertise in the 0.18 process which we leased to WinChip. We see our earlier blunders with the K6 and K6-2 as the forerunner projects for our new co-opetition strategy, code named CaT."

At the end of the show, Ingram Micro announced it's "go direct" initiative. Ingram will lend its team of 1400 formerly fired telephone representatives to make the WinChip processor available worldwide. SKU number 654987 will sell for $92 each for quantity 1000 units. Individuals may purchase the unit bundled with A&W rootbeer at the upcoming Modesto Anti-Graffiti Car Show.

John Samdowski of Peter's Principled Industries and Brokerage House was asked to comment on the surprising turn of events. Mr Samdowski is the leading industry buffoon of the day. He holds a doctorate in Triangular Research. Mr Samdowski stated "It was a square deal. These announcements will turn the industry on its side." Later we overheard him telling his business partners, "I bought each company's stock this morning and expect to add a million by midnight." Each company's stock has been actively traded today.

Other industry leaders were showing off their new $199 PCs designed with the new Win650T processor. Unfortunately, no one was able to find a matching power plug for the MicroATZ form factored Power Supply. The MicroATZ units require a proprietary plug to connect the motherboards to the external power sources.

Intel is expected to re-announce a special mobile converter which will allow the MicroATZ power supplies to be plugged into laptops. Intel resented the pre-announcement show and therefore responded with its own privately held announcement of the converter. According to inside sources who attended the Intel trade show, the converter will allow Intel it's continued success in reaching the goal of "a billion PC's connected."

Monday, March 29, 1999

• This website will be changing layout again. You can see the layout at IP address 209.196.185.48. Please let us know about the new layout and if you have any suggestions. It is important to also let us know what browsers you are using to view the new layout.

Wednesday, March 24, 1999

• Good afternoon -- we have a substitute webmaster today. So be easy on the poor chap.
• Our company was approved as a CNET Certified Merchant. The new graphic will appear on our shopping website after Lora starts breathing again.
• After reviewing sales for the first quarter, AOpen AX6B and AX6BC motherboards are the number one motherboards. AOpen replaced the ASUS product line for the first time. Corsair memory and Crucial continue to be neck and neck in sales. AMD processors have continue to chase Intel sales. The Pentium III processors still lag behind Pentium II processor sales.
• An Intel Monopoly story. (The Register)
• Wrapping up the loose ends

Tuesday, March 23, 1999

• Did you miss us? Yes, it's true. There wasn't an update to this page yesterday. Each time that there is a tremendous spike in our sales, we are concerned that the little things get lost in the rush. Therefore, we have a new saying -- "Breath -- and all will fall into place."
• Which brings us to the first topic. New products are being introduced. Now, we just need to find out what they are -- what they do -- what they cost -- and most importantly -- finding an answer to the traditional question -- "Are they really making it? and is it available?"
• Intel's introduction of the Celeron 433 MHz Celeron
• Oh lighten up. Now go hug your family and quit hanging around your computer. Add a little meaning to your life by adding meaning to a family members life. And if you are at work then share a hug with a peer. No, no. No kissing.
• Off the cuff (PC Week) Not only is your family your most important asset, the possible loss will bring you back to reality.
• Now, if you dislike girl talk -- then please ignore this bullet. Admit it. You were in tears after reading Rob O'Regan's story of his mom.
• Prince arrived on Saturday. Albert was very accepting of this male poodle. Gracie, on the other hand, wasn't impressed. She is the boss.

Wednesday, March 17, 1999

• We have had multiple inquiries about Gigabyte's GA-6ZOZ motherboard. Gigabyte is offering this motherboard in a YY-8201 (white) chassis. They will introduce small numbers into the US, and increase production based on the response.

  Since we offer YY-8201 chassis, we have made special arrangements to purchase this Gigabyte motherboard without the chassis. The motherboard will cost approximately $280. It is an NLX motherboard, based on Intel's ZX chipset, and will support the Celeron or Pentium III processor. The chassis (white or black) is $62. Riser card may be separate. We will offer the motherboard and case. Sorry, no board only orders.

  We will offer the YY-8201 (black chassis) with the motherboard by by special arrangement only. We will not offer the board by itself. Not all of the details are worked through yet. If you are interested, please let us know.

• The YY-8201 chassis works with Microstar and Gigabyte's motherboards and riser cards. YY suggests only using the case with these two boards.
• We received a surprise shipment of Boxed Pentium II 450 MHz processors this morning.
• We have extra ASUS P2B-F and Epox MVP3G-M motherboards in inventory.
• Intel Celeron 433 MHz PPGA is available in limited quantities. At this time, we're special ordering the processor until quantities increase.
• We're finally starting to update our video card product line. ATI's Xpert99 is now available in small numbers. The advantage to this card is that it's an affordable option for home users and supports DVD without MPEG-2/DVD decoder card.
• Last week we added ATI's new Xpert 128, 16MB, AGP card. This graphics card will also work with DVD drives.
• Since multiple video cards are available now with the software to work with DVD, we will offer bare DVD drives. When ordering, please make sure that you are ordering the proper drive. At this time, we will stay with the Sony product line. The Sony bare DVD drive will be approximately $119.00. It comes with a small installation guide. Any cables needed you will need to provide yourself.
• When will we add Western Digital Expert drives (7200 RPM, UDMA/66)? Good question. We're watching supplies daily, and once the product is off backorder we will add them. (We do have product on backorder with distributors too.) Western Digital's large capacity Caviar line are available in small numbers upon special request. It may add a day or two to your order processing time.

Thursday, March 11, 1999

• Why can't I read yesterday's What's New?

  We used to have our news section set up so you could browse through any date. When we changed file formats to speed up the loading of the pages, we lost that capability. We're working on a way to restore the function. It will just take us a while to figure out how to do so easily.

• Starting next week an updated version of Microsoft's Java virtual machine will ship with each copy of Windows 98.
• 5 o'clock shopping cart error yesterday. While reinstalling ASP functions on our website, we mistakenly removed many of our visitors. We apologize for the inconvience. Many of you emailed us last night about the error, and we think everything was back in order shortly after we received your messages. Please let us know if you are still having problems accessing the site.
• Intel privacy flap spreads to notebooks

  "Intel conceded today that it has incorporated a prototype version of its controversial processor serial number feature on certain Pentium II and Celeron chips for notebooks." -- News.com

• Ingram sees earnings shortfall, plans cuts

  "Amid uncertainty in the computer sector, U.S. computer distributor Ingram Micro said today it expected first quarter earnings before charges to fall short of analysts' estimates, adding that it would cut 1,400 jobs as part of a corporate realignment."

  Actually this isn't a surprise. Ingram is the back fulfillment house for Buy.com. Prior to this agreement between the two companies, Ingram's success in the market was due to many of the resellers in the industry. As soon as Ingram singled out one reseller (now a few more have joined ecommerce program), they abandoned the model that made them successful. Pricing discounts, volume committments, etc all have lead to their inabilities to grow with the rest of the industry.

• Not only is it fashionable it is wearable (Techweb)

Wednesday, March 10, 1999

• AMD K6-2/450 MHz processor with 3DNow! has been added to our product line. Supply is limited. Tray processors are what we can provide at this time. We will add PIBoxed when they are available.
• Corsair memory price adjustment. We adjusted prices on some PC100 SDRAM Corsair memory modules.
• Yes, Corsair has designed and will release PC133 SDRAM. "Soon." We will let you know when the product is ready for shipment.
• We changed a few things on the shopping site again.
  • We added a bar at the bottom of each item page so you can view items you're planning on purchasing, go back to the main page, or complete your order.
  • Clicking on an item's price adds the product to your shopping cart. You should be returned to the page where the item was located. Hopefully, this will speed up the process for those of you ordering multiple items.
  • The first time you add an item to your shopping cart, you will receive a prompt that asks you where you are located. We added multiple shipping methods. (Yes, the number one request for our site. We finally were able to do it.) You'll need to provide the first 3 digits of your zip code, and at the same time select which option you prefer.
• Have you noticed the new Totem motherboards? Why did we decide to add this company to our product line? We work with a few manufacturers who include computers as part of another product. When we saw the Totem motherboards, we immediately saw the value of the onboard debug sensor for these manufacturers. This way if one of the computer components fails, they will be able to quickly locate and solve the problem. The Debug Sensor is also useful for installation and general troubleshooting.
• ASUS P2B-F motherboards did not arrive as scheduled. We should receive tomorrow and Friday.
• Yeong Yang is introducing a new server chassis. The YY-0420 server cube supports ATX motherboards, and has up to 10 drive bays (8 - 5.25" exposed and 2 - 3.5" exposed). Disk drives are installed with slide rails; power supplies are redundant (2, 300 watt); available for Xeon processor retention mechanism; & extra large cooling fans with filters are available.

Monday, March 8, 1999

• Feeling bored? Make sure that you have a sound card ...
• Movement to halt Pentium III grows (News)
• Windows 98 Sends Hardware ID to Microsoft (PC World)

  There was a time that Microsoft PR tried to convince the buying public that a 'bug' was a feature. Now they are trying to convince you that this 'feature' is a bug; interesting marketing concept.

• Intel settles with FTC (News)
• It is always amazing as to what type of information can be found on the Internet

Thursday, March 4, 1999

• The order status section of our website is still down. The ASP files are not working properly. The ISP says that they will get it working. However, they said this yesterday (and the day before that) and it is still not working. If you are trying to get this information, you may email us your name, invoice number, and date of purchase.
• Readers react to 49.7 day glitch (News)

Wednesday, March 3, 1999

• Good morning !
• Anyone interested in the AMD K6-III should email us. Please include your name, way for us to contact you when the product arrives, motherboard manufacturer, model, and revision. The first 20 people who had contacted us earlier should be receiving product before the end of this month.
• The Totem TM-P2BX motherboard has been added to our product line. We will be running an introductory special, buy 10 get 1 free. Don't let the low price fool you. The board has won several awards. We've added the item because of the diagnostic display built into the motherboard. Easy troubleshooting can be accomplished by reviewing the display. The debug sensor can also be used as a Port 80 diagnostic tool.
• The order status section of our website is down. The ASP files are not working properly. The ISP says that they will get it working. However, they said this yesterday and it is still not working. If you are trying to get this information, you may email us your name, invoice number, and date of purchase.

Monday, March 1, 1999

• We hope you had a great weekend.
• Pentium III advances aren't enough

  "Surprisingly, Intel is guarded in its praise for its own product, saying that Pentium III performance will be "equivalent to Pentium II chips at the same frequency" except with software that supports the Pentium III's new parallel processing instructions." -- PC Week

• Intel's Merced to sample this year (PC World)
• Intel NDA found on floor (The Register)

  "We already knew that Intel had an eight-way system but didn�t know it was called Saber. What is codename Holmdel all about? Here it is:"

• As expected, Pentium II processors are disappearing from the market.
• K7 chipset reported delayed

• Hello and welcome back.
• Circuit City announced their new build-to-order program. They will ship custom configurations 10 days after ordered. It seems that our policy for 7 to 10 business days is right in line.
• AMD eyes copper, 1-GHz chip (News.com)
• Seagate pushes out Shugart as CEO (San Jose Mercury News)

Monday July 20, 1998

• Who knows the "inventor of the ESCape sequence, the universal switching mechanism for all computer-controlled communications?"  - that was our question on Friday and it seems that no one answered.  So we'll give you a little hint.  His first name was Robert.  That should really narrow it down for you.
• We had a wonderful surprise on Sunday morning.  The Modesto Bee published a very kind article on ESC Technologies.  We knew they were going to write something but we didn't expect such an glowing report.  Reading this story online won't get you the pictures, but at least it will provide a little flavor of the people behind our company.
• Intel Raises Antitrust Concerns (Techweb.com)
• We received a phone call today from Channel 14 and they are going to do a phone interview for tonight's news.
• We'd like to welcome all of the new visitors to our website today. If you have never been to our site you might be interested in reading about our company on our online profile.
• Mr. Livingston wrote an update to his Infoworld article, including the BP Utilities. If you are having Windows 98 installation trouble then this article is a must read.

Friday July 17, 1998

• Hello. 
• Bet you are asking yourself, "Why are the dates on this page always wrong?"  Okay. Okay.  We skipped Thursday, had Tuesday as Monday, and couldn't even find Saturday or Sunday.  Well, it all started when we were little puppies.  While some young mutts were chewing on loafers and leather shoes ...  [Note from the Webmasters:  This explanation has been deleted. To us, all excuses sound the same.  We apologize to anyone who missed a meeting because they believed our dates were correct.]
• We have Corsair 64 MB PC100, CAS Latency 2 modules in stock.
• Well, some of you were stumped.  Grace Hopper was a Naval Officer known as "Amazing Grace."  She led the development team for Common-Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) in the 1960's.  Who knows the "inventor of the ESCape sequence, the universal switching mechanism for all computer-controlled communications?"  No cheating and using the web to do your research.   Let's find out who the real nerds are among us.

Wednesday July 15, 1998

• Hello.  How are you today?  All of us are doing well.   We hope you are too.
• Albert and Gracie have traded food bowls.  It seems that Albert thought Gracie was getting more and Gracie thought Albert was getting more.   Therefore, they traded.  Once this was done, both have felt better about dinner.
• We have AT and ATX Epox motherboards in stock.  There is also a limited supply of AMD K6-2/300 processors.
• Boxed AMD K6-2/300 processors may arrive as soon as August 18, 1998.
• 166 MHz and 180 MHz Pentium OverDrive units are backordered.
• ASUS P2B, P2B-LS, and P2B-DS motherboards are available.
• Intel to preview workstation, 3D graphics (News.com)
• Many of you know that there are three people who design/write the HTML behind our websites.  We've been using Billy-Bob's FrontPage 98.  However we aren't able to update all of our sections daily.  It is also difficult for all three of us to update sections at the same time.  Generally we concentrate on the prices and specification sheets - and this leaves out the technical support section.  We are reviewing different HTML editors but we've decided that there is a definite lack of good products.  Three years ago, using notepad was fine.   Two years ago, it was acceptable to use an HTML only editors.  Now, it seems that site management, DHTML, database connectivity, javascript, group writing and many other features are required to ensure that all sections are updated.  Any ideas?   And please!  Keep the cost within reason.
• Since many of you smarty pants knew about the LISA, let's see how many of you know why a particular female in the Navy was so important in our industry's history?
• But first, here is a clip from one of our favorite answers regarding the LISA computer:

"A Lisa was Apple's first attempt at creating a computer that used a graphical user interface.  It cost $10,000 and the unsold invantory (sic) was burried (sic) in a desert in Utah if I recall correctly."

Other answers included information about Lisa Jobs, GUI interfaces, Xerox, and strong emotions about expensive computer equipment. 

• Intel Plans Even Faster Chips--But Who Needs Them? (PC World) --

We'll I want one.  I'm tired of waiting.   Waiting for my machine to boot.  Waiting for the Operating system to load.   Waiting for the application to start.  Waiting to download files.   Waiting for a website to load.  Waiting for the PC to shutdown and restart because it locked up.  Waiting.  Waiting. Waiting.  Okay.  So want isn't the same as need.  But it'll do for now since we'll all be waiting for the faster processors.

This is called the WIN principle -- The Want It Now principle.  The manufacturers say they are going to build it.   They win because their stock goes up, new people are hired, and the industry is on the move.  We win because we order it, beta test it, provide valuable ideas to the manufacturers on how to improve it and then ask, "When will it ever get fixed?" It's a real "win-when" situation.

Wednesday July 15, 1998

• Good morning.  Good morning.  Good morning.
• Yesterday's question regarding the spelling of "canceled" or "cancelled" has brought about a huge debate.  We asked this question because several of us spell the word one way and others spell it the other way.  Both insisting that they are correct.  The spell checking programs are of no use - because it states both are correct.  Our favorite response came from someone saying, "cancel is pronounced 'kan(t) sel ... suggesting that you "can't sell" the product if a customer canceled the order."   Obviously, we have very clever visitors coming to our website.
• Have you been watching all of the tech stocks?  Wow, sometimes we feel it is akin to watching the bouncing ball.  Everyone sing along. 

"Oh, I bought my tech stocks on a whim
I thought the company was a gem.
Oh, I bought my tech stock on the brim,
how was I to know things looked so grim?
I bought tech stocks on a whim."

Everyone...

"Oh, I bought my tech stocks with my card.
My purchase wasn't very hard.
Oh I bought my tech stocks with my VISA
And now the stock is just like the LISA,
I bought my tech stocks on a whim."

Third verse, same as the first.

"Oh, I bought tech stocks on a whim
I thought the company was a gem.
Oh, I bought my tech stock on the brim,
how was I to know things looked so grim?
I bought tech stocks on a whim."

• Here is today's debate, "How many of you know what the LISA was?"
• Limited AMD K6-2/300 processors are available.
• Boxed AMD K6-2/266 are available.
• Intel Boxed Pentium II 450 MHz processors have been assigned a part number by one of our distributors.  The ETA is August 10, 1998.  Therefore, look for it after the 20th of August.
• ASUS is reworking the P2B-DS motherboard BIOS to recognize the 256 MB Corsair modules.  Hopefully, this BIOS version will be available in the next couple of weeks.

Tuesday July 14, 1998

• Good Day, eh?
• Albert and Gracie slept most of yesterday away.  The heat was getting to them and we don't think they were drinking enough water.
  60; You can always tell when Albert has not had enough water because he doesn't drool as much.  Gracie is a little more difficult to read.  Since she is the "pretty one" then she tries to hide her slobber.  We hope the weather isn't making you slobber, either.
• Daniel J. Boorstin thinks every American should read the following ten books:

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Truman by David McCullough
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

How many of these books have you read?  Well, we didn't do very well.  So we've decided to split into groups.  Each group will read one of the books.  Then the group will present the highlights of the book they read to the others.  Just think if all of us showed up to one of those libraries that we drive past everyday.  What would the librarian's do with a rowdy crowd of nerds?

• Two of our ISPs for the proxy server and direct connections are down.   Fortunately the one for this site is functional.  However, answering email will be slower today as well as the updates on the pricing.
• GigaByte may not release the GA-5AX or GA-5VX.
• Hey, is the spelling "canceled" or "cancelled"?
• Intel earnings off 29% (News.com)

Monday July 13, 1998

• Good Morning to you. 
• Today has already become an exciting day.  Intel Boxed and OEM processors are not available.  Well, the 300 MHz  and 333MHz are available.   Nothing else.  Why?  Distributors thought there was a price drop on the 7th so they stopped carrying inventory.  Then they thought the drop was the 17th, so they still didn't want to pick up inventory.  Yesterday, Intel formally announced a price drop for Sunday July 26, 1998.  Therefore, the distributors don't want to pick up inventory.  Now, do we all wait around for the price drop or just run out and buy those nifty AMD K6-2 processors?  Don't look to us to make a recommendation.  We use both AMD processors and Intel processors.
• Albert is out mowing the lawn.  Nope, not with a power mower - but with his teeth.  Blade by blade he's been eating the grass in our backyard.   Between Al and Henrietta - we don't need a power mower.  Al has also eaten most of our garden.  He left a few onions, a few tomatoes - but no green beans, no carrots, no radishes, no peas, nor squash.  Guess Albert is reflecting  Intel's latest style - restrict the product in order to create the demand.  But maybe we aren't hungry for Intel processors. Oops, I mean green beans.
• Gracie is still in bed this morning.  She pulled the covers over her head and said it was way too early for morning to already be here.  She spent most of her weekend chasing after Albert, a neighborhood cat, and sitting on Henrietta.   It seems that her "wild" weekend has caught up with her.

Monday July 13, 1998

• Good Morning to you. 
• Today has already become an exciting day.  Intel Boxed and OEM processors are not available.  Well, the 300 MHz  and 333MHz are available.   Nothing else.  Why?  Distributors thought there was a price drop on the 7th so they stopped carrying inventory.  Then they thought the drop was the 17th, so they still didn't want to pick up inventory.  Yesterday, Intel formally announced a price drop for Sunday July 26, 1998.  Therefore, the distributors don't want to pick up inventory.  Now, do we all wait around for the price drop or just run out and buy those nifty AMD K6-2 processors?  Don't look to us to make a recommendation.  We use both AMD processors and Intel processors.
• Albert is out mowing the lawn.  Nope, not with a power mower - but with his teeth.  Blade by blade he's been eating the grass in our backyard.   Between Al and Henrietta - we don't need a power mower.  Al has also eaten most of our garden.  He left a few onions, a few tomatoes - but no green beans, no carrots, no radishes, no peas, nor squash.  Guess Albert is reflecting  Intel's latest style - restrict the product in order to create the demand.  But maybe we aren't hungry for Intel processors. Oops, I mean green beans.
• Gracie is still in bed this morning.  She pulled the covers over her head and said it was way too early for morning to already be here.  She spent most of her weekend chasing after Albert, a neighborhood cat, and sitting on Henrietta.   It seems that her "wild" weekend has caught up with her.

Friday July 10, 1998

• Good Afternoon.  The greatest compliment for us is to be kept busy by people asking us questions.  These past few weeks have been filled with tons of excellent questions.  This also means we haven't spent much time on line.  So let's do a little catch up:  First www.esctechnologies.com was being repaired these past few days.  The machine holding the local copy of the web decided that the personal webserver didn't need to accept our passwords.   Therefore, Lora spent several days installing and reinstalling FrontPage 98.   Next, we worked on the accounting server.  We were trying to improve the speed.  We think it takes too long when we are searching through records.  We changed the hard drive, added RAM, and changed NICs.  It's still slow.  Finally, we've spent some time on the Windows 98 installation.  More below.
• As a registered System Builder for Microsoft, we offer the OEM version of Windows 98.  The installation is a little different from Windows 95.   We left the installation of 95 up to the individuals.  Recently, we have started to install Windows 98 on select barebone units.  Today we finished the wizard and "preinstallation diskette" so that when we load the Operating System you will be able to turn on your PC, Windows 98 will start.  You will need to enter your name and company name, time zone, and license.  This should speed up the assembly of your new or upgraded PC.

Thursday July 9, 1998

• Good morning!
• Were you curious about the statement above yesterday's Birthday wish to Lora?  Albert was brushing up on his Latin, "Tall Oaks grow from small acorns." 

According to Gracie, Albertus can barkus more code, "dang joystick stuck gameth cr ash n quaked more food un bowl n stuff to eat shoes to chew n 'escape dash technologies dot com' wolf e stein tis slow."  Hmm, sounds to us like Albert is using his computer for more than surfing the net.

• Windows 98 Technical Tip (copied from "hardware.txt"):

PCI systems

If the video device is configured by the BIOS to use an IRQ and you use the secondary PCI IDE controller in your computer, your video will work only in VGA mode. To load the accelerated Windows 98 driver for your video, disable the secondary PCI IDE controller in the BIOS and the Device Manager (double-click System in Control Panel). An alternative (if supported by the BIOS) is to disable the IRQ of the video device.

• The Timber or Night Lite from Intel is available, T440BX.  For those of you with a sense of humor might recognize that the N440BX uses a technique known as BUD (Interrupt Router/ Basic Utiltity Device).  The BUD is a programmable logic device that effectively doubles the available PCI_Int_A interrupts from 4 to 8.  The T440BX provides a less complex BUD, a BUD lite.  The next time you see two Intel representatives in a heated argument over BUD and BUD Lite, you will know that the argument is not over a liquid substance.

Wednesday July 8, 1998

• Do you remember when we told you about Rusty, the 4th of July Party Crasher?  Well, Harry the Box Turtle was racing down the road this fine morning - and was just about squished by one of our trucks.  Fortunately, he was seen in time and returned to his owner.  Harry is about 7 years old and runs faster than Albert.   This is also the third time Harry has managed to escape from his home.  Guess that's why his name is Harry Houdini.
• Parvis e glandibus quercus

Happy Birthday To you
Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday Little Sis
Happy Birthday To You. 

You youngster you!

• Were you thinking of using the 256 MB PC100 Corsair memory modules on your ABIT BX6 Pentium II motherboard?  Well, don't.  According to Abit they are working on a different motherboard which will accept the modules.

Monday July 7, 1998

• Beckley, W. VA, July 7 (UPI) -- Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor gloom of night may interrupt mail service, but Herbie the chimp did.

Police in Beckley, W. VA, say Herbie jumped into the back of a postal truck Monday and the mail carrier jumped out.

The truck then rolled downhill, striking a parked car belonging to Herbie's owner. The carrier followed the truck. A dispatcher says when he caught up, he an dthe chimp grabbed hold of each other's arms and started screaming.

No one was injured in the incident but Herbie's owner thought the 4 - foot - 6, 125-pound chimp was so shaken, he took him out for ice cream.

• Are you looking for an easy way to upgrade your old AT form factor system? Gigabyte released their GA-6BA motherboard, which is an AT form factor based on Intel's 440BX AGPset. 
• Intel has released the SE440BX motherboard without audio. Currently, the product is backordered at authorized Intel distributors.
• Intel Express 3D AGP card 8 MB is available.
• Of the Intel Pentium II processors, which speeds are clients buying more than others?

From June 1st to today, the Pentium II 266 MHz, Pentium II 400 MHz, and Pentium II 350 MHz  were the popular Pentium IIs.

Monday July 6, 1998

• Good morning. 
• Albert and Gracie had a wonderful 4th of July.  Even though Gracie doesn't like the sounds of the fireworks, she managed to remain cordial during most of the day. 

Several other dogs arrived this weekend for the festivities:   Rusty, Daisy, and Pepper.  Now Rusty was a run-away who wasn't intentionally invited.  Guess you could say he was a party crasher.  Albert helped Rusty find his master - by calling Animal control.  The poor owner didn't even know Rusty was missing.  All was well when the officer placed the call to Rusty's owner saying that Rusty was fine and would be home soon.

Daisy and Pepper stayed just before the show.  They had dinner and then left.  It seems that Pepper isn't into the noise level and spends most of his 4th of July shaking.  Albert would have preferred that they stay for the show and skip the dinner part.  In fact, while the other dogs were around - Albert just stayed by his food bowl.  Guess that is why his midline is getting bigger by the day.

• The ASUS P2B-D is available in small quantities.
• We learned a valuable lesson these past few days regarding SCSI devices.  We don't know enough !  After receiving an IBM Ultrastar 9ES DDRS-34560 SCSI-3 drive - we learned that we couldn't hook up the drive to our host adapter.  It seems that this drive is an 80-pin SCSI and our cables were all 68-pin and 50-pin.  Fortunately, Kingston has a part that everyone who works with SCSI should discover, DX100-SWC.  This adapter is just the ticket for 80-pin drives.   Now you know why we don't offer SCSI products - Phew!
• The ASUS P2B-LS manual has a typographical error.  The jumper settings for the Bus Frequency are as follows:

Saturday July 4, 1998

• Happy 4th of July!
• Go play with the kids, drink a glass of lemonade, read a good book, relax....

1000 days on the Internet

Yes, you read that right.  Today is the day.   The once in a lifetime.  The big Enchilada.  The whole Tomato.  The one and only.  Yes, Ma'am.  Yes, sir.  It's the day.

ARF and Woof

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you!

"Now, get back to work."  -- R.W.H. (aka Papa)

Friday July 3, 1998

• Good morning!  As you might have guessed, today is a special day for us.
• Albert and Gracie have taken the day off.  They are both sun-bathing and getting ready for tomorrow.  The BBQ grill, briquettes, lighter fluid, matches, and plenty of food are all waiting for them.
• All of our distributors have also taken the day off - BUT - We are still here.  Working away :-)  Well, maybe having a pizza party, a few laughs, and a few pre-4th of July celebration thoughts. We'll answer telephone calls till 11:30 AM.

We will resume telephone service Monday July 6th at 9AM Pacific Time.

Enjoy your weekend!

• If you are checking on the status of your order, then you may email us. Also, if you know your product has shipped and you have your invoice number, you may go to www.esc-ca.com/faqs/tracking.html , and view your tracking information.
• On July 1, 1998, Intel formally announced that All 256K Cache Pentium Pro Processors have been discontinued.
• Update on GigaByte 6BA motherboard:

We received sample product. More product should be available in volume next week.

• When will Gigabyte release 100 MHz Super 7 boards?

Gigabyte is hoping to release their GA-5AX (ALI chipset with 512KB cache) and GA-5VX (VIA chipset with 512KB cache) in mass production after next week. We're anxious to see these new boards, and we'll let you know as soon as they are available.

• We are still receiving our back shipments of Epox boards. We are filling orders as quickly as possible. I
• ASUS P2B-DS, P2B-S with 3860, P2B-LS, and P2B motherboards are available in the channel. Gigabyte 6BXDS, 6BXS, and 686BX are also available.
• Intel 200 MHz Pentium OverDrive with MMX technology is limited in the channel. The 166 MHz OverDrive and the 180 MHz OverDrive are backordered.
• Processor availability update:

Thursday July 2, 1998

• Good morning !
• These two stories are included in today's topics because we have been discussing this trend for quite some time.  Almost all computer companies are making adjustments for slower growth.  We've been fortunate enough to continue to grow at an outstanding rate.  It's exciting for us but we know that other companies have not been as fortunate.  We'd like to thank everyone who has supported our company.

Intel to shut plants temporarily (News.com)

Chip recovery isn't near (San Jose Mercury News)

• One of our fish decided to jump out of the tank this morning.   He was the largest KOI.
• There were a few people in email who have asked us to explain why we use the phrase, Webcentric, Customer Focused™, on some of our webpages.  Our company is solely on the Internet.  We do not have a retail storefront like most of the computer companies on the Inet.  Because we work out of warehouse space in an Industrial Park we rarely visit with a client in our physical location.  Also, we do not solely rely on telephone orders.  Instead, we rely on our websites, shopping cart, and email.

We have also been known on the Inet as a company which responds to the changes in the market.  Many times we sit on the bleeding edge.  Many companies try to use our phrases or they talk about their future plans - but we are already doing what they are talking about.  You can pick up any magazine or read any Inet Publication and you will see talk about shoppers started to place orders online.  

We've been taking orders over the Inet since 1995.  This makes us a unique, Webcentric company.  You'll start to see other companies talk about their ideas regarding electronic commerce and we hope that ecom continues to expand so that there is a positive relationship between the surfers and the business suits.  We are just glad to be involved in such exciting times! - Wolf.

• The motherboard guide is temporarily closed.  We are reworking the design.  Please excuse any difficulties this may cause you.
• The GigaByte GA-6BA, GA-6BXDS, and ASUS P2B-LS motherboards arrived for testing.
• Happy holidays to those of you who are going to have long vacations.   Please drive safely.

July 1, 1998

• Good morning!
• There are a few Boxed Pentium II 400 MHz processors available.   AMD K6-2 processors are not available.  The Epox ATX motherboard is back ordered until the end of next week.  IBM UltraStar 9ES (9 Gb) is limited.  The Intel Boxed Pentium II 233 MHz is now an End of Life product.
• Albert has started a bad habit.  After he eats his bowl of food, he immediately wants outside.  This is understandable.  However, he walks outside - goes to the middle of the yard - and barks.  We don't have a clue why, but once he has barked a few notes - he turns around and comes back inside.  How odd.   Now, we can't relate this behavior to computer buying habits (grin).  But we are curious if he will do the same tonight.
• Corsair expects to be able to start shipping the 256 MB PC100 modules at the end of next week.
• Intel has announced that their is a known erratum when matching the MU440EX motherboard with a Pentium II processor.  The erratum is the result of a low voltage condition on the VTT (1.5v) line supplied by the motherboard to the processor.   This erratum does not affect operation of the MU440EX with the Celeron.   According to Intel, if someone is using the Pentium II, Intel will replace or refund at their Repair Centers.