Computer News...

More than one-quarter of U.S. adults have electronic mail addresses, according to the results of a new Harris Poll.

Microsoft doesn't expect anti-trust questions to arise when it releases its Windows 98 operating system in Europe this spring. In Europe Personal Computer makers will be able to bundle either Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape's rival Navigator with Windows 98.

In Europe the product is due to hit stores in the second quarter but computer users will be able to order Beta 3 over the Internet after February 27. Beta 3 will cost 39 marks ($21.35)US.

The price of the final product has not yet been set.

The so-called Covington processor, will be the first of the new Celeron family of processors. Covington, a stripped-down Pentium II processor is due out in April. This CPU will be very cheap to buy but is not expected to be very popular.. The reason for the skepticism lay in the "cacheless" design of Covington. Unlike other current Pentium II chips, Covington processors will not come with the extra 512 kilobytes of secondary cache memory, a separate high-speed memory chip essential to improving the data flow to the processor.

The chip slated to appear after Covington in this market is a Pentium II chip with extra cache memory integrated directly on the same piece of silicon as the processor. This chip is due toward the end of the year, said an Intel spokesman recently.

Current Pentium II chips use extra cache memory that resides inside the chip's package, but is not integrated directly onto the same piece of silicon as the processor.

Intel plans to make 16 kinds of Pentium II in 1998

The first generation of Slot 2 processors will run at 350 Mhz and 400 MHz, communicate with other components at a faster speed of 100 MHz, and include 512KB of high-speed cache memory. Subsequently, Intel will release versions containing cache memory of 1MB and 2MB. Generally, the more cache memory, the better the performance. Currently, chips on the Intel platform use a 66-MHz system bus.

Slot 2 chips will differ from their Slot 1 counterparts in a number of aspects, First, the slot on Slot 2 chips will be longer and the packaging and the processor core itself will be larger. Specifications will come out in the middle of the year. The processor itself will be close to the same size as the venerable Pentium Pro.

Despite the concentration on Slot-style chips, Intel will continue to make Pentium MMX chips, which rely on a "Socket 7" design, at least through 1998.

Maxtor will announce an 11.5 gigabyte (GB) hard drive for desktop computers which uses "magneto resistive head" (MR) technology to boost capacity. Currently, the largest 3.5-inch hard drives on the market for desktop PCs hold about 9GB.

Other Club Issue.....

Please make your cheque or money order for $25.00 made payable to the Windsor PC Users Group, or submit cash at the March meeting!

We still need a Production Editor for the TXT. I stepped in to help this month until the new Executive Board can get a chance to regroup and get organized. The job is still open and I will be glad to help anyone that would like to give it a try. Anyone that has seen me type will tell you if I can do it anyone can.

The most difficult part of composing the TXT is writing the articles. If we can find three or four members who would be willing to submit articles for the TXT each month, the job would be made much easier for the Production Editor.

Special Thanks

Bill Leal: for the effort you put into the TXT. The job you did with the newsletter was terrific and may I say for the entire group many thanks for a job well done.

TXT Stand in Editor Larry Ruston