PassMark Newsletter Issue #6
Mar 2005
Well it has been a while, but the time has come to stop procrastinating and write a newsletter. Somehow we seem to have been so caught up in developing cool new stuff that we have forgotten to tell you all about it. A lot has happened in the last 12 months. We have moved into larger offices near the center of the city (near central station, for those of you who know Sydney) and have been settling in over the last few months. We have also released minor or major upgrades for just about all of our software, in addition to releasing a new product, WirelessMon, into beta testing.
Over
the next 6 months there is new hardware and software to support with the
public release of the Microsoft 64bit Windows platform and dual core
CPUs. We have been doing work in preparation for the 64bit wave and we think we are ready (but we also think many other companies won't
be ready). We have ported across our main
applications and device drivers to native 64bit and done testing on
our other applications to ensure they run smoothly in the new 64bit environment.
It is going to be interesting to see the benchmark results of 64bit Windows as compared to 32bit Windows. Our experience in testing beta versions makes us think that people might be disappointed if they are expecting a dramatic performance improvement from 64bit. Using PerformanceTest 64bit you can do the 64bit benchmarking yourself. Dual core CPUs on the other hand would seem to have more potential to lift performance, especially for computationally intensive tasks that don't require access to external storage.
New Products
USB2 API, A new API has been released to help 3rd
party developers to create solutions around the PassMark
USB2 loopback test plugs. This free USB2 Application Programming Interface
has been designed to allow access by 3rd party programs to the PassMark
USB 2.0 loop back plug. It provides several functions to communicate with
the USB2 loop back plugs as an easy way to use the plugs without having
to write any device driver or extra firmware code. The API will allow
software developers to integrate the USB test plug seamlessly into their
own applications. See the USB API page
for source code & details.
Zoom Search Engine, Although not strictly a new product, this is the first time we have mentioned it here. Under the Wrensoft business name, we have released version 4 of the Zoom web site search engine that allows web masters to quickly add a seach box to their web site. We believe it is the industry leader in terms of value for money and ease of use. So if you run a web site and need a search function we urge you to check it out.
WirelessMon,
A software tool that allows users to monitor the status of wireless WiFi
adapter(s) and gather information about nearby wireless access points
and hot spots in real time. This software is currently in beta release
but will soon be formally released as V1.0. We are hoping people will
find some interesting uses for the software like, helping to locate sources
of wirelss network interference and checking Wifi network coverage and
range.
Upgrades
Recent upgrades have been made to,
Testlog has had a number of small incremental patch releases to fix bugs and introduce minor functional enhancements. The current release is 1.7 build 1019. But development on V2 is well under way.
Sleeper & Rebooter have both been updated to provide better logging and more options to test cyclic rebooting and sleeping.
BatteryMon, where a major new release is now available. Significant new features include a new better looking interface, the option to send E-mail on a low battery level, system tray support and improved hardware support for more battery types. See BatteryMon product details.
MonitorTest which had a minor release to support scripting of test patterns and the support for 4 new test patterns. Current release is V2.2 build 1003. See MonitorTest product details.
Hints and Tips
Here are a few hints and tips that have come to our attention over the last 6 months or so.
Tip #1 - PerformanceTest. It is possible to get a better scrore with the CD speed test by using a CD that contains a small number of large files. Lots of small files will give a low benchmark result becuase time is wasted moving between files.
Tip #2 - PerformanceTest. In Windows XP it is possible to get a higher result for the 2D test by turning off some of the Windows XP visual effects. This can be done from the Control Panel --> System icon --> Advanced tab --> Performance settings button --> Visual effects.
Tip #3 - BurnInTest. It is possible to run BurnInTest from a CD or USB key drive. The alleviates the need to install and uninstall the software when testing many machines sequentially. See the BurnIntest FAQ page for details of how this can be done.
Tip #4 - BurnInTest. You can create your own BurnInTest compatible serial and parallel loopback plugs using the pin-out information on this page. Don't attempt to do this unless you know which end of a soldering iron to hold. If you don't feel confident strippng & soldering wire you can also buy our pre-made serial & parallel test plugs.
What's in the Pipeline?
WirelessMon V1.0, Testlog V2, BurnInTest V5 and PerformanceTest V6 are all under development, and should appear in roughly this order during 2005.