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Thread ID: 24146 2002-09-04 09:57:00 wednesday news tweak'e (174) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
76403 2002-09-04 09:57:00 Two Towers leaked to the net
The Drudge Report has published a report ( . drudgereport . com/rings . htm" target="_blank">www . drudgereport . com) detailing how the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie The Two Towers has been leaked to the net for download . Here's a bit from the report:

The new fuss film LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS has been leaked on to the Internet, it was claimed on Sunday -- more than 4 months before its release .
In a stunning slap at Hollywood and its ongoing copyright battle with digital swappers, Internet users boldly began trading copies of the latest RINGS on Sunday .

New Radeon Omega Drivers version 2 . 4 . 56 for 9x/ME
The guys behind the Omega drivers that enhance image quality of the Detonator drivers, have released new Windows 9x/ME drivers with a version number 2 . 4 . 56 . These drivers are based on the new Catalyst 2 . 2 drivers by ATI .
download ( . fileconnect . net/modules . php?name=News&file=article&sid=1684&mode=&order=0&thold=0" target="_blank">www . fileconnect . net)

Global DiVX Player 1 . 9 . 9 out
The Global DiVX Player version 1 . 9 . 9 has been released for download . the Global DiVX Player allows more efficient movie processing, using less memory and CPU Cycles than Windows Media player, combined with a familiar interface . The program supports DiVX, VCD, MPEG, AVI, WMV, and ASF Video and allows scalable video playback, fullscreen movie playback, and all the features that media player provides .

download ( . divxity . com/GDiVX1 . 9 . 9 . exe" target="_blank">www . divxity . com)

Windows XP Service Pack 1 released
It seems Microsoft has slipped XP SP1 onto their premium download servers without setting a password . I would grab it from this link quickly as they are liable to set the password any tick of the clock . The file is available in English and German .
download ( . microsoft . com/download/whistler/SP/SP1/WXP/en-us/xpsp1_en_x86 . exe" target="_blank">premierdownload . microsoft . com)English
download ( . microsoft . com/download/whistler/SP/SP1/WXP/de/xpsp1_de_x86 . exe" target="_blank">premierdownload . microsoft . com)German

Springdale Chipset news and AthlonXP 2600+ Vs P4 2 . 8 shoot-out at digit-life
Digit-life has posted new details on the make up of the new Springdale chipset from Intel and at the same time, they also run up an AthlonXP 2600+ vs . Intel Pentium 4 2 . 8 GHz shoot-out to see if the AMD chip can hold its own against the new power processor from Intel . here's a clip from the Springdale news and the shoot-out:
"Intel is reportedly planning to send out samples of its new-generation, Springdale-core chipsets to motherboard clients this month for product design purposes . Scheduled to hit the market in the first half of 2003, the Springdale chipsets are Intel’s latest products for its forthcoming Prescott-core Pentium 4 processors . "
"The today's comparison holds on to the typical tests of this kind carried out in our lab . A top processor of one manufacturer is compared with that of another, and they are coupled with the fastest for them chipsets . Apart from the new processors the chipsets are also of great interest . "
You can read the Springdale article here ( . com/NewsShow/Article . asp?datePublish=2002/09/02&pages=04&seq=22" target="_blank">digitimes . com) and the shoot-out here ( . digit-life . com/articles2/roundupcpu/pentium4-28-athlonxp-26-mx . html" target="_blank">www . digit-life . com) .

New VIA sound drivers released
VIA released new sound drivers for the 686A/686B/8231 and the 8233/8235 integrated AC97 Sound chipsets . You can read more on the drivers here ( . viaarena . com/drivers/audio/ComboAudio_V311b_external_release . txt" target="_blank">downloads . viaarena . com) and here ( . viaarena . com/drivers/audio/ComboAudio_V311b_U-README . TXT" target="_blank">downloads . viaarena . com) and the grab the drivers from the link below .
download ( . viaarena . com/drivers/audio/ComboAudio_a1u311b . zip" target="_blank">downloads . viaarena . com)

XP SP-1 fixes 60Hz gaming in DirectX but stills fails in OpenGL
In follow-up to a promise they made, Microsoft has fixed the refresh rate problem in DirectX games with the new service pack but has failed to deliver on fixing the problem in OpenGL based games such as Quake 3 and Medal of Honour . You can read more on the subject here ( . warp2search . net/article . php?sid=6662&mode=thread&order=0" target="_blank">www . warp2search . net) .

New nForce drivers
nVidia has released a new set of nForce drivers, bringing them up to version 1 . 13 . The package contains the following:
Windows 2000/Windows XP driver package:
GPU driver 31 . 00 (WHQL'd)
Audio driver 2 . 76
Audio utilities 2 . 74
Network driver 2 . 61 (WHQL'd)
GART driver 2 . 29 (WHQL'd)
SMBus driver 2 . 17 (WHQL'd)
Memory controller driver 2 . 26 (WHQL'd)
Installer 2 . 74

Windows ME driver package:
GPU driver 31 . 00 (WHQL'd)
Audio driver 2 . 76
Audio utilities 2 . 74
Network driver 2 . 64 (WHQL'd)
GART driver 2 . 29 (WHQL'd)
SMBus driver 2 . 16 (WHQL'd)
Memory controller driver 2 . 26 (WHQL'd)
Installer 2 . 74
Download the nForce drivers for Windows 2000/XP from the links below:
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_win2kxp_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">download . nvidia . com)Mirror 1
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_win2kxp_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">ftp:)Mirror 2
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_win2kxp_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">download1 . nvidia . com)Mirror 3
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_win2kxp_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">ftp:)Mirror 4
Download the nForce drivers for Windows ME from the links below:
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_winme_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">download . nvidia . com)Mirror 1
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_winme_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">ftp:)Mirror 2
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_winme_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">download1 . nvidia . com)Mirror 3
download ( . nvidia . com/Windows/nForce/1 . 13/nforce_udp_winme_1 . 13 . exe" target="_blank">ftp:)Mirror 4

ASUS PC Probe 2 . 18 released
ASUS have released yet another version (2 . 18) of the PC monitoring program, PC Probe . There is no word on what the changes are in this release .

download ( . fileconnect . net/modules . php?name=News&file=article&sid=1694&mode=&order=0&thold=0" target="_blank">www . fileconnect . net)

Greek government bans all computer games
Caught this bit of lunacy over at the Register:
The government of Greece is making heroic efforts to humiliate the nation in front of the entire world, by banning all electronic games . That's right; something as innocent as playing computer chess on your laptop in a hotel lobby is now a crime with penalties of up to three months in stir and a fine of 10,000 euros .

The purpose behind this charming legislation is to crack down on Internet gambling (which already was illegal) -- or, rather, to enable legislators to enact their little public dance of righteous aversion to Internet gambling .

Improved enforcement of existing law is all that was needed, but there's a problem . Unfortunately, the Greek government is "incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines," according to an older article ( . ekathimerini . com/4dcgi/news/content . asp?aid=17011" target="_blank">www . ekathimerini . com) from the English-language Kathimerini newspaper, written while the bill was under consideration .

Now it's official . The legislature has concluded that all electronic games have got to go because the bureaucrats they're maintaining on the public payroll aren't swift enough to figure out the difference between video poker and TuXkart . Perhaps enforcing literacy requirements and sobriety regulations for government workers would have been a more productive approach, but it's too late for that now .
It bureaucracy gone mad . You can read the rest here (http://www . theregister . co . uk/) .

WinHex 10 . 54 Beta released
If your into a bit of hex editing, then this is for you . A new version (10 . 54 beta) of WinHex is out for download . WinHex is a hex editor, disk editor, and RAM editor with features such as template editing, drive cloning and imaging, encryption . It allows to concatenate, split, unify, analyze, convert, and compare files . Flexible search and replace functions are included, also a data interpreter and a sophisticated undo and backup mechanism . The disk editor supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and CDFS drives as well as physical disks . The RAM editor can prove particularly useful for debugging purposes . This new version has the following changes:
-"List Directory Clusters" is now called "Directory Browser"
-Any of the supported hash types (8-bit to 64-bit checksums, CRC16, CRC32, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, and PSCHF) can now be included in a WinHex backup
-The results of a data analysis (the distribution of byte values) can now be archived in a tab-delimited text file
-File Recovery by Type has another option that allows to limit recovery to file headers that occur in *unallocated* drive space
-Counting search term occurrences and recovering files by type will now show intermediate results in the small progress window
-New menu command Create Directory Contents Table works the same as Create Drive Contents Table, but for a selected directory and its subdirectories only
-Some minor improvements
download ( . betanews . com/detail . php3?fid=993241304" target="_blank">fileforum . betanews . com)

Movie from PC version of The Thing released
Games Domain has posted up a high and low res quicktime movie of the PC conversion of John Carpenter's chiller/thriller from the early eighties, The Thing . The game adds a new dimension to first and third person shooters with the twist that like the movie the Thing can morph into any living character, thus you never know whether or not someone in your own team is the enemy or not . Games Domain describe the game like this:
The Thing brings fear and suspense to unimaginable levels, with a compelling plot and unique gameplay elements based upon action, evasion, trust and fear . Forget everything you ever learned about obliterating alien species simply with a barrage of violent ammunition - this monster is difficult to see, hard to kill, and seemingly impossible to evade .
The high-res version of the movie clocks in at around 25 . 5MB and the low-res at about 10 . 1MB . Both are available from the links below:
High-res
download (ftp://ftp . gamesdomain . co . uk/pub/movies/gd/11_thething_1000k . mov)
Low-res
download (ftp://ftp . gamesdomain . co . uk/pub/movies/gd/11_thething_400k . mov)

The so-called best AVI/DIVX player
A new version (4 . 00) of PowerDivx has been released . This player is being touted as the best and most reliable divx viewer around . Some features include:
A Near Perfect Index playback on almost every file .
Quick to load
Plays Audio when many other players can not .
New to this version is:
New core
DVD Playback
New look/graphics
Extended subtitles features like overlay detection and color choice
Winamp-like skins
New powerful video renderer
Aspect ratio preserved when resizing the window in windowed mode
Default Sound Output Device can be now selected
Windows 2000 SPDIF output bug fixed when using PowerDivX to play a DVD
User can choose the overlay (RGB, YUV, DirectDraw Surface, etc)
Playlist features
User-defined hotkeys
Command line support (useful for autorun purposes)
Full screen contols (like Windows Media Player 8)
Tray icon
Windows XP theme support
30 subtitles formats supported
download ( . everwicked . com/content/PowerDivX_4_Preview/" target="_blank">www . everwicked . com)

More nvDVD Coolbits from nvMax
Nvmax have updated their tweaks to the nvDVD Coolbits adding some more cool features . Here's what they said:
Beltxo has sent us his latest reg file for NVDVD and it enables tons of new property windows in the software . Check 'downloads' to get it then start tweaking just about everything from Karaoke to Bass to DXA options . Loads of stuff to look at .
Download NVDVD Coolbits (http://www . nvmax . com/) on the left handside under Win XP Downloads .

Hardware reviews:
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ vs . Intel Pentium 4 2 . 8 GHz CPU on Digit-Life ( . digit-life . com/articles2/roundupcpu/pentium4-28-athlonxp-26-mx . html" target="_blank">www . digit-life . com) .
Antec Hard Drive Cooling System on Ascully . com ( . ascully . com/modules . php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=139" target="_blank">www . ascully . com) .
Creative 3D Blaster 5 RX9700 Video Card on T-Break ( . tbreak . com/reviews/article . php?id=136" target="_blank">www . tbreak . com) .
DSE CX-5190 ATX Case on RadiativeNZ ( . radiativenz . com/reviews/dseCX5190/index . shtml" target="_blank">www . radiativenz . com) .
Gigabyte GV-R9700pro Video Card on OC Workbench ( . ocworkbench . com/2002/gigabyte/GV-R9700pro/gv-r9700prop1 . htm" target="_blank">www . ocworkbench . com) .
Iomega Internal CD-RW on HardwareZone . com ( . hardwarezone . com/articles/articles . hwz?cid=10&aid=503" target="_blank">www . hardwarezone . com) .
Iwill XP333-R & DDR400 Motherboard on HardwareZone . com ( . hardwarezone . com/articles/articles . hwz?cid=6&aid=504" target="_blank">www . hardwarezone . com) .
MSI KT4 ULTRA-BSR Motherboard on AMD World ( . amdworld . co . uk/msikt4 . htm" target="_blank">www . amdworld . co . uk) .
PC-Look round IDE cables on phlux ( . co . uk/articles . php?aid=40" target="_blank">phlux . co . uk) .
Sharka Corp Braided Copper Cables on eliteHW ( . elitehw . com/reviews/misc/roundedcables/sharkacables/index . php" target="_blank">www . elitehw . com) .
TDK veloCD CD-RW on TweakTown ( . tweaktown . com/document . php?dType=review&dId=347" target="_blank">www . tweaktown . com) .
Thermalright 80mm Heatsink Round-up on phlux ( . co . uk/articles . php?aid=39" target="_blank">phlux . co . uk) .
Zalman CNPS6000-Cu Cooler on Maximum3D ( . maximum3d . com/reviews/cnps6000 . htm" target="_blank">www . maximum3d . com) .
AKASA Silver Mountain Cooler on PCArena . net ( . pc-arena . net/Review_full . asp?ReviewID=153" target="_blank">www . pc-arena . net) .
Albatron MX440 Video Card on AMDPower . com ( . amdpower . com/sections . php4?op=viewarticle&artid=82" target="_blank">www . amdpower . com) .
Altec Lansing Ultimate 641 Speakers on Gaming Horizon ( . gaminghorizon . com/altecultimate641_2002 . html" target="_blank">features . gaminghorizon . com) .
Codegen Real McCoy Server Case on Mikhailtech ( . mikhailtech . com/articles/cases/realmccoy/" target="_blank">www . mikhailtech . com) .
Everglide Optical Mousepads on I am Not a Geek ( . iamnotageek . com/cgi-bin/reviews . cgi?name=evg&p=1" target="_blank">www . iamnotageek . com) .
Geil PC3200 DDR400 and PC3500 DDR433 RAM on Active Hardware ( . com/english/reviews/memory/geil . htm" target="_blank">active-hardware . com) .
Hercules 3DProphet 8500 128MB Video Card on Bjorn3d . com ( . bjorn3d . com/_preview . php?articleID=47" target="_blank">www . bjorn3d . com) .
Samsung Tantus LTM1775W 17 inch TV/Monitor on Futurelooks ( . futurelooks . com/display . asp?i=138&p=1" target="_blank">www . futurelooks . com) .
Virtually Indestructible Keyboard on Gaming Horizon ( . gaminghorizon . com/media/0,100,116,269,1,686 . html" target="_blank">reviews . gaminghorizon . com) .


thx monty ( . ozquake . com/montysdump/index . html" target="_blank">www . ozquake . com) 		tweak'e (174)
76404 2002-09-05 02:11:00 Excellent news as always... The Windows SP1 pre-release worked for a time being, but a mirror is available instead of premium Microsoft website.

pressf1.co.nz

Also with regard to the LOTR - Twin Towers... my mate has a copy of it on video... I'll be getting it off him soon, so will let you all know whether or not it is the real thing.

Cheers,

Lo. 		Lohsing (219)
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