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

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