32-bit versus 64-bit

The computer word is undergoing a change right now, from 32-bit to 64-bit computers. Back in the early 90s it underwent a similar change from 16-bit to 32-bit. 16-bit was a severe limiting factor on what the computer could do, so the switch to 32-bit was definitely worth it. So by the same token, the switch to 64-bit is worth it for everyone to switch over, right? Well as it turns out, the change isn't really necessary, at least not yet.

The first "myth" I'd like to debunk is that 64-bit Windows is faster and/or more efficient than 32-bit Windows. This is completely false, there is no speed improvement from 32-bit to 64-bit. The only benefit to 64-bit is increased memory access. 32-bit computers are limited to 4GB of memory, whereas 64-bit is limited to 1.67 million TB (or 17 billion GB) of memory. But just because your computer can access more memory doesn't mean you should upgrade. First off, unless your computer has more than 4GB of RAM, the switch is moot. Second, you need 64-bit software. If every program you run is 32-bit, it doesn't matter how much RAM you have in your computer, any one program is limited to 4GB. And finally, you need one or more 64-bit programs that would actually benefit from increased RAM. This last one is the big one. Most programs need only a fraction of that 4GB of RAM. In order for 64-bits to pay off, a program needs to use more than 4GB of RAM - and very few programs use that much RAM. Examples of software that does use that much memory are; DB engines, high-end image/video/sound editors, 3D CAD editors, some larger video games.

So to sum up, you should only consider upgrading to 64-bit if and only if:

1. Your computer supports 64-bit
2. Your computer has more than 4GB of RAM
3. You have a high-end program that would benefit from increased RAM
4. You have a 64-bit copy of that high-end program

Now I'm not saying to avoid 64-bit. If you buy a new computer and it comes with 64-bit Windows, that's fine. But don't go out and buy 64-bit Windows unless you meet all of the above conditions.

Waffle Irons

I've noticed the last few years there is this tread for waffle irons that flip upside down while cooking. These waffles irons cost a lot more, but they produce a better waffle... right? Well as it turns out, no. At best it will produce the same quality waffle in which case you've spent a lot of extra money on a waffle iron than you needed to. And at worst it may produce an inferior waffle.

Before I go any further I want to say that "better waffle" is obviously subjective. What one person enjoys is not necessarily the same as another person. That said, taste-tests suggest that most people prefer waffles with a crisp exterior and a moist interior, versus a waffle with a uniform texture. Turning the waffle upside down during cooking does not affect taste or texture in anyway. It doesn't matter the orientation of cooking, it will come out the same.

The way you produce a waffle with a crisp exterior and a moist interior is with heat, a lot of it. You want to cook the waffle hot and fast. Since most waffle irons are electric, that means watts (wattage). You want a waffle iron with as many watts as possible, and not all waffle irons are created equal so shop around. But there is an upper limit for household appliances. In the US most households have 15 amp circuits, meaning they cannot exceed 15 amps of current. 15 amps x 120 volts = 1800 watts. This is the upper limit. No standard appliance can exceed 1800 watts without blowing a circuit. Most waffle irons are well below that, maybe around 1000 watts. One example of a waffle iron that pulls close to the 1800 limit is the Chef's Choice Belgium Waffle Iron (around $50 from places like Target or Amazon). This is the waffle iron I own, and it does produce excellent waffles with crisp a exterior and a moist interior.

Going back to the flipping waffle irons. There are two types of these waffle irons, the ones that produce 1 waffle at a time and those that produce 2 waffles at a time. The single waffle model could produce a crisp exterior with a moist interior if the watts is close to the 1800 limit. In which case the only problem with this waffle iron is it costs more than it needs to. As for the two waffle models, since you're cooking twice as many waffles on the same watts, you've effectively split the amount of watts going to each waffle. At most each waffle is getting 900 watts, well below the 1800 watts of the single model. This is why the flipping waffle irons are a gimmick and not worth the money.

But wait, what about those professional waffle irons I've seen in restaurants and buffets. They flip and they produce two waffles. Well the reason it works for them is because they are not standard 120 volt appliances, they run off of 220 volt. This allows them to pull more than the 1800 watts.

If you do buy one of these high-wattage single waffle irons, you'll be in for another treat - speed! A typical iron may take 5 minutes to heat up, and then up to 3 minutes per waffle to cook. A high-wattage iron heats up in about 2 minutes, and individual waffles take 60-90 seconds. They come off quick, which is great when you're cooking breakfast for a lot of hungry people.

USB Controllers for Genesis

The final post in the USB controller thread is for the Sega Genesis. The best controller for the Sega Genesis is actually a USB Sega Saturn controller. The Genesis and the Saturn had similar controllers; six buttons and a start button. The Saturn added shoulder buttons, but that's a good thing.

As with the NES and SNES, there are companies out there which make USB Saturn controllers. But beware, they all get bad reviews except one. Below I show you how to identify this one from the others.

First off, this is a genuine Sega product. It was manufactured in the mid 2000s for release in Japan only. So finding them in the US can be a little difficult. Your best bet is to search sites like froogle for "Sega USB" or search for that same term on eBay. But again, you need to be sure it's the genuine thing and not one of the imposture products. Here are 3 things to look for to identify the genuine product.

1. Logo
The genuine controller will have the SEGA logo front and center on the controller. The imitation controllers with either have their own logo, or be blank.



2. SLS sticker
On the back on the controller is a sticker with the letters "SLS." This stands for "Sega Logistics Service." If the controller does not have this sticker, it's not authentic.



3. The box
The final way to identify the genuine Sega product is by the box. Instead of trying to describe the box I'll just show you a picture. It should look like this.



There are the three marks that identify the genuine product. I've seen the genuine product in white, gray, black, pink, and multi-color. These Sega USB pads are awesome! I highly recommend you pick one or two up.

USB Controllers for SNES

Continuing the USB controller thread, here's how to get a USB controller for playing SNES games using an emulator.

1. RetroZone sells a kit to convert your existing SNES controller into a USB controller. Note: requires soldering experience.

2. RetroZone also sells genuine SNES controllers which they've already converted to USB.

3. RetroZone offers a cord adapter that allows you to plug in any SNES controller into one end, and on the other end it has a USB interface. Gives you a USB controller without any modifications to the controller.

4. eBay user "infiniteneslives" sells genuine NES controllers converted to USB. This is the same as RetroZone, but his prices can be a little better.

5. The final option is a product from Tomee. They make a brand new SNES controller with a USB interface. But beware, the company must be Tomee. There are other companies out there and their controllers get very poor reviews!

USB Controllers for NES/Sega Master System

In my last post I talked about emulators. If you decide to play retro games using emulators then you need a good controller. Playing video games like Sonic and Mario using a keyboard just doesn't cut it. You can use any controller, but there's something about having the right controller for the game. Playing with an authentic controller just completes the retro gaming experience. But controllers from consoles like the NES and Genesis don't work on a computer, so what are you to do. Here are my recommendations:

The NES and Sega Master System controllers aren't that dissimilar. But given the choice I'd take the NES controller. And if you're using an emulator it doesn't matter which you use. So how do you get an NES controller with a USB interface?

1. RetroZone sells a kit to convert your existing NES controller into a USB controller. Note: requires soldering experience.

2. RetroZone also sells genuine NES controllers which they've already converted to USB.

3. RetroZone offers a cord adapter that allows you to plug in any NES controller into one end, and on the other end it has a USB interface. Gives you a USB controller without any modifications to the controller.

4. eBay user "infiniteneslives" sells genuine NES controllers converted to USB. This is the same as RetroZone, but his prices can be a little better.

5. The final option is a new product from Tomee. They make a brand new NES controller with a USB interface. But beware, the company must be Tomee. There are other companies out there and their controllers get very poor reviews!

Emulators

With all my posts recently about retro gaming, I thought I should talk about emulators. In case you haven't heard the term before, an Emulator is a piece of software that simulates another computer. In our case that other "computer" is a video game console. So it's a computer program that lets you play video games without actually owning the video game console.

Emulators get into a gray area in terms of legality. Whereas the original games are covered by copyrights, I don't think it's illegal to emulate a piece of hardware. Also, many of the software companies that produced these old games are no longer in business, so those games should be public domain now. And finally, if you own the physical cartridge game, playing it on an emulator should be legal as well.

Legal issues aside, Emulators do have a place in retro gaming. They allow you to play games you couldn't play any other way. You can't exactly buy these games anymore, not to mention this hardware is really old and over time finding a working console will become more and more difficult. I do some emulation, but I also do a lot of physical gaming since I own the original consoles and games. If you decide you'd like to try an Emulator might I recommend the following:

FCEUX
FCEUX is an open-source emulator that plays the original Nintendo Entertainment System games. This emulator reproduces the games very faithfully.

Kega Fusion
Kega Fusion is the ultimate Sega emulator. This one emulator can play Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega 32X, Sega Game Gear, and more. This emulator is also rock solid and has perfect sound reproduction.

Snes9x
Snes9x is the best Super Nintendo emulator I've used. I've run into a few problems here and there, but for the most part this emulator is pretty good.

MAME
If you want to play old arcade games, then Mame is the emulator for you. Mame supports several thousand arcade games.

Those are my preferred emulators. I guess I should point out, these are for Windows. If you use Mac or Linux, some of these emulators are cross platform, but you may be forced to try a different emulator. As for the ROMs (the games themselves), I won't post links here. Just use Google, you'll find what you're looking for.

Retro game on!

With any luck my posts about retro video games have made you desire a trip down memory lane. So you grab that box out of the garage with your old Atari/Nintendo/Sega inside. You connect it up to your TV, turn on the video game console and... nothing. It doesn't work. The unit powers on, but nothing appears on screen. Well don't throw it out, chances are it still works, it just needs some cleaning. After all, it's 20 - 30 years old.




If your video game console doesn't work, most like the problem is dirty connectors. But don't blow into the cartridge and try again, as we'll see this actually makes the problem worse. If you look inside the cartridge you'll see a row of metal contacts. Technically this is called an edge connector. Regardless of the name, if these connectors are dirty the console won't see the game and therefore won't work. If you search the Internet on this problem, by far the standard repair technique is to use Q-tips and rubbing alcohol to clean the connectors. Whereas this does work, it's only partially effective. The rubbing alcohol will remove dirt, dust, grime, and oils from the connector. But really old systems face another problem.

Nearly all metals rust when exposed to oxygen. The technical term is oxidization. A layer of oxidization forms over the metal and prevents a good clean contact with the system. Rubbing alcohol will do nothing to remove the oxidization, and blowing into the cartridge adds moisture from your breath which acts as a catalyst to speed up the oxidization process. So how do you clean oxidization? You need an antioxidant, which is just a fancy name for acid. Obviously we're not trying to dissolve the cartridge, so we want a mild acid to remove just the oxidization layer. There is one acid which most people have in their house which is mild and works perfectly for this - vinegar.

So here is my recommend method for cleaning video game cartridges. Start off with Q-tip and rubbing alcohol to remove dirt, grime, and oils. Next, use Q-tip with vinegar to remove the oxidization. Finally, one more pass with Q-tips and rubbing alcohol to remove any residual acid left from step 2. After cleaning your cartridges like this they should work first time every time.

A few additional tips to share.

1. Regardless of what cleaning solution you're using, the Q-tip should only be damp, not dripping.

2. Use a high percentage rubbing alcohol, preferably 90% or higher. Low percentage rubbing alcohol contains a lot of water, and water is the catalyst that caused this problem in the first place.

3. Don't forget to clean the connector inside your video game console. This isn't as easy. I haven't found a good way to do this other than try and clean the tops of the pins with a Q-tip. But be careful not to damage the pins.

4. Finally, if you own a NES and this doesn't figure the problem, you need to Google "72 pin connector." You most likely need to repair your connector, or buy a replacement off eBay.