FAQS! FACTS! FAX! 063 (2/06/97)

BOMB DAMAGE?

Wanting to find out whether my Packard Bell PC had the Millennium timebomb, I set the clock to 11.59pm , 31st December 19999. Then I wondered what would happen if it crashed. Would it mean irreparable damage? So I funked it. I have all my essential files backed up on floppies, but is there a possibility of other trouble, if this test fails?

Kenneth Allen, Warlingham, Surrey.

A

None whatsoever. The test simply shows whether or not the clock inside your PC is programmed to cope with the year 2000 date change. It will have no impact on the normal working of your machine, providing of course you remember to reset the clock to the correct time and date afterwards. If you don’t, new files will be incorrectly dated, and some time-sensitive applications may not work properly.

RENT OR BUY?

My son wants a PC to help him with his studies, he is just finishing the third year of a Science and Engineering course at Strathclyde University. As technology is changing so quickly I think it would be better in the short term to hire or rent a PC, rather than buy outright. Do you agree?

George Wilson, Clydebank

A

A mid-range Pentium PC brought today for £1000 -- suitable for your son’s studies -- should have a useful life of between three to five years, at the end of which it will still have a residual value of a couple of hundred pounds, say. The monthly charge on an Olivetti P133 multimedia PC with 12Mb RAM and 1.6Gb hard disc from Radio Rentals, under their Option 2 Own scheme, comes to just under £55 or around £600 for the minimum twelve-month period. After 39 months you get to own the machine, having spent £2,145. You may get faster on-site service from a local rental company, and there’s usually the option to replace or upgrade after the first 12 months, but overall it will still work out cheaper to buy a machine, even on credit, or using a bank loan.

CANADIAN CONFERENCE

I have been watching with interest ‘Computers Don’t Bite’ on BBC television. My interest was raised by the programme on video linking, through a PC connected to the internet, I would be interested in knowing what equipment I would need to set it up. I have been using a PC since my retirement and currently have a Pentium machine with Windows 95 installed on a 1Gb hard drive and 32Mb of RAM. What else do I need? The main purpose would be to see and talk with my daughter, son-in-law and their family in Canada. Can you also supply the names and addresses of suppliers.

Gordon D. Locke, Teignmouth, Devon.

A

It’s not difficult but the lack of standardisation means that both you and your daughter will have to use the same system. In addition to a modem -- 28kbps or faster -- you will need suitable software, plus two additional pieces of hardware, comprising a video capture board, and a video camera. If you own a camcorder you could use that instead. There’s a variety of packages on the market, but the Canadian-made Matrox Rainbow Runner is worth considering. Both of you can get hold of it easily and it comes bundled with VDO Phone internet video conferencing software. Rainbow Runner is an add-on video capture and output board, for the Matrox Mystique video graphics card; together the two cost around £330 in the UK.  

It’s reasonably simple to install and set-up, though there’s a couple of points to bear in mind, concerning this and all other internet video systems. You can’t simply call up your daughter for a video chit-chat, she will also have to be on-line and connected to the VDO Phone web site at the same time as you. The image is updated quite slowly, so it’s more like a series of stills, rather than a moving picture, and internet sound quality is not that wonderful. Mystique and Rainbow Runner are widely available through mail-order specialists, the UK office can be reached at (01793) 441100, and their US web site is worth a visit at: http://www.matrox.com/mga

THAI HIGH

I am writing to ask you how I can save on the cost of telephone calls and internet access when I’m in London?  I would like to subscribe to an internet service provider when I’m here. However, the cost of phone calls in the UK is very expensive for Internet use. In Thailand, we pay only 7 pence per call and we can get access to the Internet as long as we want. Are there any ISPs which provides us with the cheaper call rate.

Kritsada Jirathun

A

Internet service providers have no control over the cost of the phone calls. Most of the major ISPs like AOL, BT, CompuServe etc., now have local call access numbers, that are charged at local BT rates. This currently costs 4 pence a minute between 8am to 6pm, 1.7 pence a minute at all other times, and 1p a minute at weekends.