d Toshiba; and the OnNow Design Initiative, a system under which a computer might seem to be off but would be ready for immediate use when the power button is pressed or would "wake up" in response to some event such as an incoming phone call.
Memphis is ready to use USB and IEEE 1394 (aka Firewire), the soon-to-be-ubiquitous digital versatile disc (DVD) devices, and a new 3-D graphics standard c
alled Advanced Graphics Port (AGP). Enhanced Multilink Channel Aggregation lets you dedicate both ISDN channels of a basic rate interface (BRI) link to a single network connection. The result is faster (and we hope easier) ISDN hookups. Other improvements include control-panel scanner support, as well as support for the new wheel mouse, interfaces to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks, and Telephony API (TAPI) 2.1.
Also new in Memphis are a utility for storing the machine state when a software system fault occurs, a system file checker that can verify file integrity, a nifty system information utility, Windows scripting for direct script execution from the shell or from a command line, and Internet system updating to allow IS people to manage a system-configuration database by drawing directly from connected PCs.
The Internet Setup Wizard lets you configure the software and connection for any of the well-known Internet Service Providers, including CompuServe, AT&T WorldNet, America Onli
ne, and Prodigy. The Disk Defragmentation Optimization Wizard identifies the most commonly used applications and improves performance by putting all the files used by an application into the same area of the hard disk.
Quadruple Vision
One cool thing about Memphis is its ability to drive
multiple monitors
-- up to four, in fact, if you've got enough slots for the extra video cards; eventually it will handle as many as nine. Of course, this capability is old hat to users of Macs and Unix workstations, but it's new to Windows users. An extra screen or two can boost productivity, especially for power users who quickly run out of screen real estate while working on a project that uses two, three, or more applications. Users who like to monitor e-mail and Web sites at a glance can still keep a full screen available for their current application.
Install two or more video cards in your PC, plug a monitor into each one, and your primary monitor will show your task bar, Star
t button, and desktop icons. Secondary monitors behave like extensions of your desktop, starting out empty except for your wallpaper or background. The monitor connected to the first video card is the home monitor, displaying desktop icons and the taskbar. You can move windows into the secondary monitors or even open up a window across monitors.
If a system has multiple PCI display adapters, the display control panel changes to reflect multiple monitors, showing not only the number and type but also the relative position. You control positioning by dragging the monitor symbol to a new or different relative location, so you can move monitors to the left or right, top or bottom, or even diagonally. If you lose track of which monitor is which while administering them, simply move the mouse pointer around and as it hits each monitor, the monitor number flashes on the active display (
see the screen shot
).
While the prebeta Memphis we tested supports multiple display monitors, Mic
rosoft supplied the needed secondary-display drivers for only a few PCI adapters: ATI Mach 64; S3 Trio, 764v+ (765), Virge, and Aurora; Cirrus Logic 5436, 7548, and 5446; Number Nine Imagine 128 I and II; Tseng Labs ET6000; and Matrox Millennium and Mystique.
TCP/IP Did a Job on Me
Microsoft has overhauled the Windows 95 TCP/IP stack, adding support for Winsock 2, IP Multicast, fast transmit and fast recovery, detection of address-assignment conflicts, long time-out intervals, and automatic address assignment. Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) lets computers use the Internet as a virtual LAN. Previously available only on Windows NT Server and Workstation, PPTP enables secure virtual internetworking from the desktop.
Winsock 2 is a protocol-independent interface for network applications, providing support for network services such as real-time multimedia. Using the same sockets principle as BSD Unix, Winsock 2 (like previous versions) provides network applications with an interface
to virtually any transport protocol, not just TCP/IP. New for Winsock 2 are protocol-independent name resolution, multicast and multipoint transmission, and quality of service (QoS).
Also new for the Memphis IP stack is the proposed Internet standard known as the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), designed to enhance QoS. Hosts use RSVP to reserve network resources; RSVP handles reservations for unicast (one host to one host) and multicast applications, with the receiving host responsible for making reservations. All reservations are maintained in a soft state on routers.
Would Elvis Approve?
Elvis moved to Memphis, and so will practically everyone running Windows 95, eventually. The big question is when; Microsoft won't say, but it could be later this year. The developer release that we tested didn't crash unexpectedly, and it adds lots of nice new features. But we'll have to wait for Memphis to include Internet Explorer 4.0 (see "Microsoft's Free-Lunch Browser," June BYTE) and its d
esktop/Internet integration.
Where to Find
Windows 95/ Memphis Developer Release..........Price not determined at press time
Microsoft Redmond, WA
Phone: 206-882-8080
Fax: 206-936-7329
Internet:
http://www.microsoft.com
Enter 982 on Inquiry Card.
Windows 95/Memphis: Ready for the Future
