Reviews 4_41

Computing's genesis

Doron Swade's "The Difference Engine."

When inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage finally lost his patience with the countless errors he found in his calculating tables, he decided he would try to create an alternative to the error-prone process of the mid-19th century--writing calculations by hand, proofreading them, typesetting in loose type, proofreading again, and finally, printing a table invariably littered with mistakes.

Babbage's vision to build an infallible, automatic computing machine took up the better part of his life; unfortunately, it was never fully realized in his own lifetime. But his story, as told by Doron Swade in "The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer" (Viking Press, $24.95), has finally found a happy ending. Included in Swade's book is the epilogue to Babbage's struggle to invent the first computer--the story of how the Science Museum in London worked to complete Babbage's unfinished machine for the bicentennial of his birth in 1991.

Swade, who led the construction of Babbage's machine at the Museum of London, has consulted previously unused archive materials from Babbage's time, and as a result, has delivered a detailed and personal story of Babbage's life and work. And Swade's account of the Museum of London's endeavors to reproduce and finish Babbage's "Difference Engine" gives us an idea of what an undertaking its creation was for the young inventor, and what an incredibly talented individual he was. --Christy Mulligan

Avoiding coasters

Martin C. Brown's "CD Recordable Solutions."

With recordable CD drives selling at a rate of more than 16 million a year, and blank discs going for the price of a candy bar, what's stopping everyone from turning their computers into mini media mills? The reasons are legion, but the most obvious is a lack of information. Even if you do know when to use CD-R as opposed to CD-RW, who knows how to master an autorun CD? And how can you reduce your output of "coasters"--recordable CDs with errors that make them unreadable? That's where Martin C. Brown's "CD Recordable Solutions" (Muska & Lipman Publishing, $30) comes in, and I for one salute him for it.

Unlike peppier books on the subject (Peachpit's "Little Audio CD Book," for example), "CD Recordable Solutions" aims to be inclusive. Its step-by-step instructions cover Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms, and it includes chapters on troubleshooting, testing, and mastering discs for mass production; data backup strategies; and how to make autoplay discs. The prose tends to be a little academic in places, but it makes up for it with its sound advice.

Certainly, it's an uneven book that skimps in some areas and overdoes others. There's a whole chapter on editing QuickTime videos, but only a few pages on burning video CDs. And the book favors Roxio's recording software (Toast and Easy CD Creator) while overlooking Nero Burning ROM and other worthy alternatives. But if you need a $30 education in using your CD-R drive, "CD Recordable Solutions" is a good place to get it.--Matt Lake

See what you're missing

Samsung's SyncMaster 760v TFT flat-panel monitor.

Samsung's SyncMaster 760v TFT flat-panel LCD monitor (list price: $999) uses the latest thin-film transistor (TFT) technology to create a computer monitor, TV monitor, and video monitor in one. It boasts 1,280-by-1,024dpi (85Hz maximum) resolution, .264mm pixel pitch, and a pronounced lack of glare.

But as with most flat-panel monitors, its main selling point is space savings. The 17-inch model takes up only about eight inches from front to back, with most of that coming in the monitor's base. So if your goal is to save space, the 760v is a sound value.

But--again, as with most flat-panel LCDs except for the high-end models--the 760v is an insufficient substitute for a good CRT monitor. The unit the 760v replaced at my work station, an old Hitachi Super Scan Pro 20, was a beast: It took up a good three square feet of desk space, and weighed about a hundred tons. But its clarity made up for its clunkiness. The 760v can look fuzzy if your eyes have been spoiled. It has also drawn fire for occasional dead pixels, though I haven't run into that problem.

Upsides of the 760v include a 15-degree-wide viewing angle; greatly reduced power consumption compared to CRT monitors; and its composite input and s-video capability, which give it (with the help of a TV tuner) the ability to integrate other toys. --Dan Heilman

Bargain-basement lasers

Brother's HL printer series.

Like all new electronics, laser printers have really come down in price in 2001. Brother continues to lead the way with its HL series. At $200 and change depending on connection options, the HL series represents the best value in its class--small laser-document printers. The model I reviewed, The HL-1440, is best suited for consumer use due to its lack of an Ethernet port. But scale the ladder of models (1450, 1470N), and the same basic printer could be used in home-office or small-business settings, especially where desk space is at a premium. Don't expect to print graphics with these printers without substantial memory upgrades, however. In my tests, Web sites with more than one image per page resulted in misprints. Interestingly, the page that notified me of a misprint was written in five languages, as was the helpful documentation, and even the packaging. Multilanguage support is indicative of Brother's main strength--usability. The printer set up easily and the provided software gave me easy access to more than enough flexibility in printing documents. If anything, Brother erred on the side of giving the user too many options. The Print window allowed me to change resolutions (300, 600, and 1200-by-600 dpi), fonts (tip: Select Use Document Fonts) and several other settings normally reserved for the applications themselves. But once I adjusted to the plethora of options, I found the flexibility helpful for some uses. --James Mathewson