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A LOOK AT THE IPC NEAT/40E COMPUTER In this article we set out to review the CMS Music Card mentioned in a previous issue, ramble all over the current computer scene and end up reviewing the IPC NEAT computer which uses the new AT standard chipset. By ROSS MORTON Regular SILICON CHIP readers may recall seeing a "CMS Music Card" mentioned in our Product Showcase section last December. At that stage, all we were able to present was a brief description and photograph. Shortly after the issue went to press, we were approached by CompuHelp Australia, the local agents for the card, to see if we'd like to have one to play with for a while. Before we could answer, they asked "Would you like it inside a computer - then you could have a look at both ... " Talk about making every post a winner! Anyway, CompuHelp Aust- ralia duly delivered an IPC NEAT/ 40E computer system to our office, with the CMS Music Card installed in one of the spare slots. The original specification of the IBM "AT" machine (which, believe it or not, is now over 4 years old) had an 80286 processor running at 6MHz with 512K of RAM (although expandable to 3MB). Since then many refinements have been made - not the least being speed (even basic ATs now run at 8MHz) and memory (up to 640K). The IPC NEAT goes beyond this: a clock speed of 16MHz means most applications run appreciably faster and it is possible to use a lot more memory, above the DOS limit of 640K. (A group of the major software suppliers have come up with a specification for extended memory known as LIMs - Lotus/Intel/ Microsoft specification). Not that the IPC NEAT is alone in using this specification; most "top end" computer manufacturers now offer this option. What's NEAT? IPC COMPUTERS COVER THE range from a large 80386 tower system down to PC XT compatible machines in quite small cases. All machines may be had with hard disc drives and 3½inch or 5¼-inch floppies. 16 SILICON CHIP Whoa! What's this "NEAT" we're talking about? What happened to "AT". Many readers would be aware that the AT machine is now very much "middle of the road" in computer performance. The newer machines based on the 80386 processor literally run rings around the older ATs or 80286 based machines. Despite the very high cost of machines based on the 80386, many customers are bypassing the AT to have "the best". This worried one 80286 manufacturer so much they decided to do continue up-grading and releasing DOS in parallel to OS/2. For these reasons, the majority of manufacturers, including IPC, have remained faithful to th8 DOS standard. Incidentally, what about that name "IPC"? It stands for Intelligent Personal Computer and is a product of Essex Electric, of Singapore. For our money, the logo is perilously close to that other three letter computer manufacturer of international standing. Golly, could that be an accident? Graphics standards The graphics capabilities of PCs have come a long way since the original days. While most computers still have the option of a mono display to retain compatibility with earlier software packages, CGA (Colour Graphics Adaptor) displays have given way to higher quality EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adaptor) and even better VGA (Video Graphics Array) displays. Emerging now are better yet "PGA" or Professional Graphics Adaptor standards, although these are found only on very few high level machines and require expensive monitors. By far the most popular is the EGA standard and this is the card and matching monitor used on the computer under review. THE NEAT/40E MACHINE under review: it uses the new enhanced AT chipset which allows performance almost to the 80386 standard to be achieved. In the turbo (zero wait state) mode it runs at 20.5MHz. something about it. The giant US "Chips & Technologies" corporation reasoned, quite logically, that if they could up the performance of the 80286 chip set to approach 80386 standard but hold the cost down, customers wouldn't be so quick to pay the extra bucks for not much more byte. Which is how the NEAT Chipset (or New Enhanced AT) came into being. The performance does approach the speed of the 386: 16MHz vs. the 386's normal 20MHz. It also allows addressing of up to 8MB of memory (RAM), along with a few other refinements such as the LIM 4.0 support already mentioned. Unless you 've been in Outer Mongolia for the last couple of years, you would be aware of IBM's much touted "micro channel" architecture and OS/2 operating system. Despite the huge amounts of money pushing this system, by and large most manufacturers have stuck with the DOS system. Even if OS/2 support increases much more rapidly than at the moment, industry analysts expect DOS to be the dominant system for many years to come - simply because of its mammoth installed base and the huge variety of software available. In fact, a recent survey of US corporations revealed over 80% had no plans to switch to OS/2 (Computerworld, February 10th issue). And the inventor/supplier of DOS, Microsoft, has promised to Appearance The IPC computer is supplied in two boxes, one holding the EGA monitor and one holding the computer, keyboard and accessories. The keyboard is individually boxed inside the main system box and comes with a clear hard plastic keyboard cover. This not only protects the keyboard in transit but can also be used as a keyboard cover when the machine is not in use. Removal of the keyboard reveals the computer itself, securely contained within a foam transportation enclosure. Also in the box are the operation manual and setup disc, DOS manual with DOS & GW BASIC discs, and a power cable. The computer supplied for this review was equipped with a 5¼-inch 1.2MB floppy disc and a MAY 1989 17 IPC NEAT/40E COMPUTER - CTD 40MB hard disc. There is also provision in the machine (and on the front panel) for an additional 5 ¼-inch drive and a 3 ½-inch drive. drive. As is typical of "AT" style machines these days, a key switch is provided to prevent system use by locking the keyboard. We're not quite sure why this feature is included: we've yet to meet anyone who actually uses the keyswitch or, more to the point, even knows where their keys are! Still, it could be a handy security device to prevent prying eyes or 0ther unauthorised access. Alongside is a system reset switch and a "turbo" switch: press the first and the machine warm boots, press the second and the little man inside pushes down on the accelerator. Two LEDs on the front panel show power on and when the internal hard disc drive is in operation. In addition, a two digit numeric display shows the speed of operation - 8 for standard 8MHz, or 12 for '"turbo". On the rear of the machine are 8 slot dust covers, of which four are taken up with standard "D" connectors for the parallel printer port and two serial (RS-232C) ports, along with the monitor (video) socket. The 5-pin DIN socket for the keyboard is on the main body of the computer. Of particular interest to us was an additional set of connectors: one 3.5mm and two RCA, along with an edge-mounted knob looking suspiciously like a volume control. This was for the CMS Music Card (the original reason for the review machine)! But more on that anon. The view inside Removing the top of the computer was simple: just a couple of screws to undo and it lifts off. Inside, the case was a joy to behold, considering some of the messes we'vP. seen THIS IS THE STANDARD IPC AT machine which runs at 8 or 12MHz. All machines are available with 84 or 101 keyboards. 18 SILICON CHIP in the past. The case is heavily plated inside to prevent corrosion (some low cost computers are either bare or have a coating of spray paint - one scratch and corrosion sets in). The layout of components within the case reflected the same care and attention - wiring all neatly dressed and tied, all major components socketed for easy service (should it ever be required), and so on. Previously mentioned is the provision for extra drives: in fact, with the top off, you can see room for a total of three 5 ¼-inch and two 3 ½-inch devices - so there's plenty of room for more hard disc drives, tape streamers, etc. Without the CMS Music Card, there are still three full length slots and one half length slot available leaving plenty of room for system expansion. Performance Sorting out the level of performance of a computer almost requires the wisdom of Job. What we're trying to say is don't believe all the figures you might read especially without qualification! And with proprietary software often looking for specific performance to be able to operate properly, there aren't all that many things that can be changed away from the "standard" before the software won't work. Fortunately, there are a couple of "yardsticks" which have evolved to help compare computers. The first of these is the "Landmark" speed test: a set of instructions is run in the computer and the resulting speed is displayed in graph form on the monitor screen. It shows the speed relative to the original IBM AT specification. On "normal" speed, the IPC NEAT/40E had a Landmark of 10.0 - very respectable. On "turbo" speed (operating with zero wait states), this increased to a whopping 20.5 . The second yardstick is the Norton "SI" - or system information. As well as showing the configuration of the machine (processor, memory, etc), it shows the speed of operation. The Norton SI on the test machine was a very respectable 18. This compares well with the normal "AT" SI of around 12/13 (depending on the machine). What this all means is that the machine is fast - very fast. Many applications could be run even fpster with the addition of the optional 80287-10 maths co-processor. But for most users not involved in, say, large spreadsheet calculations, the additional expense of the 80287 (about $500 or so) is hard to justify. We mentioned compatibility: again, this is a thorny issue. Everyone claims compatibility after all, the machines are all IBM "clones" , aren't they? Things mightn't be all they seem! Years ago, Microsoft's "Flight Simulator" became the compatibility test. If it ran Flight Simulator, it was "compatible" . Then designers made sure that, if nothing else, their machines ran Flight Simulator. Some readers may remember the bad old days when one wandered around a PC show and all the PCs were running Flight Simulator. Ask them to run anything else and they could be in trouble. Nowadays, most reviewers run whatever software they ha ve available - including, hopefully, a couple which they know are " iffy" . We tried about thirty different software packages with no problems whatsoever: everything from some very advanced games right through the spectrum of business and professional programs. Despite not being a "386" machine, it made short work of the power desktop publishing packages such as Ventura 2.0 and Pagemaker 3.0. The IPC NEAT/40E handled everything we could give it - with ease and speed. On " turbo", it flew! Documentation & software Included with the computer are DOS 3.3 (not the latest version, but nevertheless recent - and the one most favoured by PC manufacturers), GW BASIC, full manuals for both, and an IPC proprietary "setup" disc, along with its manual. A nice touch included on the IPC machine was a little batch program which comes up when you first turn the machine on. It lists the configuration of the computer (ie, the options that were fitted), and details of the 30-day money back guarantee and the 12-month warranty. It then loaded an intriguing utility program called "Directree" . It's one we hadn't heard of before but according to CompuHelp Australia (who are also the Australian agents for the US program), it allows you to manage your computer system much more efficiently and easily than just using DOS. Apparently it's similar in many respects to "XTREE" but (again according to CompuHelp Australia) does much more, and at a lower cost. DirecTree is not normally included on the machines but is available as an option for around $80. It' s well worth the extra. Conclusion Compatibles are, to use a cliche, a dime a dozen. Normally, you get what you pay for - buy low, you get low. The IPC range tends to put the lie to that statement. Th e IPC NEAT/40E is very competitively priced: the machine as reviewed sells for just under $4500 - and that includes the monitor and keyboard, sales tax and an on-site 12-month warranty service agreement. Its performance is up there with the best of them and would suit the power user, particularly in small business. Now, where's the cheque book? For further information, contact CompuHelp Australia, 35-37 Higginbotham Road, Gladesville, NSW 2111. Phone (02) 809 6966. it Footnote : This started as a review of the Creative Music System card, which was fitted to the IPC AT/40E. However, the computer itself has taken far more space than originally intended, so the CMS card will have to wait for a later issue . PCBreeze II PCB reeze is a sophisticated tool for designing Printed Circuit Boards. It allows a board to be created, viewed and modified on an IBM compatible computer. PCBreeze has been designed with ease of use in mind. Most commands are at most two keystrokes away, with additional information asked for explicitly. A pop up men u sys tem is avai lable. The menus make PCBreeze easy to learn and use but does not hinder the experienced user. The system uses a 50 mil ( 1.27 mm) grid. This resolution is more than enough for most tasks. It has two layers for the artwork as well as text and component overlay. With board area sizes of up to 400 square inches there is plenty of room to work. There is a variety of common pad and line sizes to choose from. Also standard is a DIP and SIP command to put down these pad patterns. User defined pad patterns may be saved and used as libraries later. Incl uded in PCBreeze is an Autoro uter'. Thi s will lay down a track between two points marked out by the user or accept a netlist. Hardware Supported IBM PC/XT/AT/PS2 or compatible CGA, EGA, VGA and Hercules graphics HP-GL, DM-PL, Roland Plotter Output Postscript, Epson FX/LX/LQ Pri nters Microsoft Mouse $295 Kepic Pty Ltd 4 Steinbeck PIHce Spearwood 6163 Western Australia Ph: (09) 418 5512 Dealer Enquiries Welcome MAY 1989 19