NComputing X300<p> <a href="http://www.ncomputing.com/ncomputing/index.php">NComputing</a> uses proprietary multi-user technology to share the use of a single host computer among multiple access terminals. The entry-level <a href="http://www.ncomputing.com/ncomputing/products/direct.php">X300</a> uses an internal PCI card to support up to three users per card. Two £149 X300 kits can be used for a total of seven users per host PC (six on the X300 terminals and one on the host PC). The <a href="http://www.ncomputing.com/ncomputing/products/typel230.php">NComputing L230</a>, which we have also reviewed, is a similar product that connects to an Ethernet network and can support up to 10 users with a desktop host and 30 users with a server host. These two products use different terminal server software, so different hosts are required for each product — although they can coexist on the same network. </p>February 14, 2008 by Terry Relph-Knight in Hardware
Axstor AX-DC SATA Hot Swap Drive CagesOne of the design advantages of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA">SATA</a> hard drive interface over the preceding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA">PATA/E-IDE</a> interface is the ability to hot-swap. However, to take advantage of this feature a computer must be fitted with a suitable mechanical mount to allow the SATA drives to be inserted or ejected easily. The Axstor AX-DC-3 (£89 ex. VAT) and AX-DC-4 (£99 ex. VAT) SATA drive cages provide hot-swap mounting for three drives in the space of two 5.25in. bays, or four drives in the space of three 5.25in. bays, respectively.February 19, 2007 by Terry Relph-Knight in Storage
Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) reviewUbuntu 12.10 contains more controversial changes than expected. If you can live with or work around those changes, it remains a powerful and useful desktop Linux operating system.October 18, 2012 by Terry Relph-Knight in Open Source
Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) reviewSome of the features that were to be included in Ubuntu 13.04 have been shelved in favour of presenting a polished and solid release, with most of the improvements residing behind the scenes. As a result, Raring Ringtail may seem a bit of a disappointment.April 25, 2013 by Terry Relph-Knight in Open Source
Cortado ThinPrint Printer DashboardCortado's ThinPrint Printer Dashboard is a potentially useful cloud application for monitoring the printers on your network. We had a few issues in this review, which hopefully will be addressed in a forthcoming update.November 14, 2011 by Terry Relph-Knight in Cloud
After Effects CS6After Effects CS6 offers a flexible user interface, a new cacheing system, ray tracing, 3D camera tracking, mask feathering, rolling shutter repair, and more.April 23, 2012 by Terry Relph-Knight in Developer
LG Super Multi Blue – GGW-H10N This multi-format drive is one of the first dual Blu-ray and HD-DVD playback capable drives to appear on the market. Multi format hardware is likely to be the short term answer for the end user to the Blu-ray, HD-DVD format war, although if dual format drives do sell in large numbers the dominance of one format over the other may be slowed and the battle extended.July 31, 2007 by Terry Relph-Knight in Storage
Polycom SoundPoint IP 301The Polycom SoundPoint IP 301 is quite a large phone, but with generally small, tightly grouped buttons (the round keypad buttons are 10mm in diameter). Overall the design has perhaps a touch of the Memphis Group and Art Deco about it.October 4, 2006 by Terry Relph-Knight in Networking
Premiere Pro CS6Premiere Pro CS6 offers a streamlined user interface, an enhanced Mercury Playback Engine with improved GPU acceleration, a host of workflow-improving tweaks and supports Blu-ray and DVD authoring via Encore.April 23, 2012 by Terry Relph-Knight in Developer
Aleutia E1<p> <a href="http://www.aleutia.com/">Aleutia</a> is a small UK-based company dedicated to providing robust and affordable low-power computers for developing countries — particularly in Africa. The company grew out of its founder's experience in 2006 of setting up an internet café in Ghana using 20 elderly, power-hungry traditional desktop PCs. </p>February 21, 2008 by Terry Relph-Knight in Hardware