From: "Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor" <rslade@sprint.ca> To: p1@canada.com Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 08:31:37 -0800 Subject: REVIEW: "Upgrading and Repairing PCs", Scott Mueller/Craig Zacke BKUPRPPC.RVW 981120 "Upgrading and Repairing PCs", Scott Mueller/Craig Zacker, 1998, 0-7897-1636-4, U$54.99/C$78.95/UK#51.49 %A Scott Mueller scottmueller@compuserve.com %A Craig Zacker craig@zacker.com %C 201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290 %D 1998 %G 0-7897-1636-4 %I Macmillan Computer Publishing (MCP) %O U$54.99/C$78.95/UK#51.49 800-858-7674 317-581-3743 info@mcp.com %P 1531 p. + CD-ROM %T "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" There are all kinds of computer help, repair, maintenance, troubleshooting, and upgrading books on the market. A great many try to give you a quick overview of what you need to know. With the personal computer market expanding it's options on a pretty much daily basis, though, generally what you need is more in the line of an encyclopedia. *Your* particular problem tends to be the one left out. This book, however, leaves very little out. Chapter one is a short history of the PC since the first IBM PC in 1981, or actually slightly before. The defining characteristics, and components, of a PC are given in chapter two, including a very realistic overview of the market and major players. Microprocessor information is given in chapter three. However, this chapter is unlike any I have ever seen in another repair or troubleshooting book. There are tables and lists of detailed processor specifications, including the most important for any upgrader--the socket sizes and specifications. The chapter proceeds through conceptual material first and then in turn through all kinds of individual processors, so at first run it can be a bit confusing. The motherboard is covered in chapter four, with form factors, chipsets, the BIOS, interface connectors, and bus sockets. The various types and functions of memory, with attention to practical as well as theoretical details, are described in chapter five. Chapter six gets into the area that possibly causes the most trouble, and therefore has the greatest potential for usefulness, in PC hardware: power supplies, the NVRAM (better known as CMOS) battery, and even UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems. Keyboards and mice are covered in significant detail in chapter seven. Display hardware is outlined in chapter eight, with information on both monitors and adapters. I was slightly disappointed in the lack of detail on audio devices in chapter nine, but only in comparison with the prior material. The content was easily equal to any other general upgrade guide. Chapter ten provides useful specifics on I/O ports, dealing with serial and parallel ports, port replacement technologies, and storage interfaces. Magnetic storage, in chapter twelve, gives very solid information on characteristics, formatting, and installation of drives, and covers tapes and cartridge media as well as the usual floppy and hard drives. Both CD-ROM and DVD systems are covered in depth in chapter thirteen. Chapter fourteen's review of printers is a decent enough overview of the technology, but not as detailed or useful as other sections. There are some interesting points about portable computers in chapter fifteen, but, again, this is not one of the better sections. Chapter sixteen looks at building a system, and, while there is some duplication of material covered in earlier chapters, there is a good deal of new content as well. Diagnostics, testing, and maintenance provides a lot of very practical advice, although the sequence of topics in chapter seventeen can be jumpy at times. (Given the scope of the rest of the book, the dismissal of viruses in a single paragraph is disappointing: and unfortunately consistent with what I have seen in all too many computer retail and repair shops.) The review of software troubleshooting must be, of necessity, limited, but chapter eighteen also demonstrates a much greater comfort with MS-DOS than later Windows systems, and doesn't mention others such as Linux. File systems and data recovery fare much the same in chapter nineteen. Chapter twenty seems to be something of a historical artifact, covering some rather oddball IBM systems up to the XT 286. (Of course, if you have one of these, this chapter is a goldmine.) Some general, but very useful, advice on documenting your system finishes off the book in chapter twenty one. Appendices list a variety of information, probably the most useful being a catalogue of vendor contacts. The entries are quite detailed, although I note a US- centric bias: a number of non-US companies are listed by their American sales office. I can say with assurance that none of the books on upgrading or repair of personal computers has had the scope of this one. This is not simply due to the size, although that certainly helps. The material is readable and clear, and there is very little fluff. Certainly some sections are not quite up to the overall standard, but for the central unit itself, the book is without peer. I can readily agree with the rather effusive book jacket comments: they are not, as I first thought, mere hype. For anyone involved in computer maintenance and repair, be it in a retail or technical support role, this reference has immense value. And for serious hobbyist users, it can provide a great deal of interest, as well as definite help when you need it. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998 BKUPRPPC.RVW 981120 ====================== rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@sprint.ca robertslade@usa.net p1@canada.com Find virus, book info http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm Mirrored at http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/rms.htm Linked to bookstore at http://www97.pair.com/robslade/ Comp Sec Weekly: http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/computer_security Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses, 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)