[Preview + Feedback] Digit May 06

[FatBeing]

May 06 DVD / CD Contents

Digital Passion
Games
Shadowgrounds Demo
The Lord of The Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II
Tomb Raider: Legend Demo
Far Cry 1.33 Patch

Dev Tools
Code::Blocks 1rc2
Free Pascal 2.2
Open Watcom C/C++ 1.4
FlexTracer 2.3 Beta
MySQL Turbo Manager Enterprise Edition 3.5.1.5
Tarma ExpertInstall 3.0.2261
TracePlus Win32 4.30.000
VB.Net to C# Converter 1.51.005.3
Xistic Active SourceCode 2.0.44

Abyss Web Server X1 2.3.0.5
ASP.NET Web Matrix 0.6
BlueJ 2.1.2
ConTEXT 0.98.3
Game Maker 6.1
JCreator LE 3.5
jEdit 4.2
orangePixelMeter 2006 2.04
Pelles C 4.0.5
PHP DESIGNER 2006 Beta
PSPad Editor 4.5
SharpDevelop 1.1
MX Kollection 3
Project Analyzer 8.0.04

Linux
ImageMagick 6.2.6-7
Kororaa Xgl Live CD 0.2
LabPlot 1.5.0
RealPlayer 10.0.5 GOLD
ThinStation 2.1.2

Abyss Web Server X1 2.3
ALSA driver 1.0.11rc4
DataparkSearch 4.38
Downloader for X 2.5.6
Dvd::rip 0.52.7
Exim 4.61
GKrellM 2.2.9
LiteSpeed Web Server V2.1.14 Standard Edition
Paragon NTFS for Linux 2.0
PythonCAD R30
Sendmail 8.13.6
Tellico 1.1.4
Zope 2.9.2
AVIRA Antivirus for MailGate (Linux) 1.0.4


Digital Tools

Essentials
.NET Framework 1.1
Adobe Reader 7.0.7
Avast Home Edition 4.6
Digit Software Archive 2006 Beta
Irfan View 3.98
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.52
Opera 8.53
Spybot S&D detection updates
Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4
VLC Media Player 0.8.4
Winamp 5.2
WinRAR 3.51
ZoneAlarm 6.1.737


Multimedia
Songbird
Abrosoft FantaMorph Pro 3.6
Adobe Photoshop CS2
Audio Sliders 4.2
AVI2Flash Converter 1.1c
MP3 Maker 10 deluxe
Speed DVD Creator 4.0.11.15
Speed Video Splitter 2.4.11.17

3DPlus 2
Media Player Classic 6.4.9.0
MediaCoder 0.3.7
Mp3tag 2.35
Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.50
Nero InfoTool 4.03
PgcEdit 0.6.4 beta 9
vanBasco's Karaoke Player
VirtualDub v1.6.14
Corel Photo Album 6
InterVideo Home Theater 2 Platinum
Ulead PhotoImpact 11


Internet
Deskcam 7.3.15
RealTunnel 1.0.1-0250
Utopia Chat System 8.1
Webripper 1.1
AV Voice Changer Software Diamond Edition 4.0.59
Bandwidth Monitor 2.9.0.623
BlackICE Evaluation
BlackWidow 5.2

Acoo Browser 1.36 build 648
Chat Controller 1.2
DC++ Acceleration Patch 3.6
Download Accelerator Plus 8
GOIM 1.0.3
GroupLoad 2
Magitime 6
Mozilla Firefox 2 alpha 1
MySpeed Personal Edition 1.2a build 87
Omnik 1.1.0.6
Peer2Mail 1.6 build #11
RssReader 1.0.88
SababaDC 0.674
Star Downloader Free 1.45


System
Norton AntiVirus Virus Definitions April 7, 2006
NVIDIA Graphics Driver - GeForce and TNT 2
Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)
Vista Customization Pack 3.1
Backup-2006 Studio 5.1.2.204
CD/DVD Data Recovery 1.0.699
CD-Quick Cache 3.21
Drive Encryption 3.155
Email Reserve 1.4

Adobe Reader SpeedUp
Auto Shutdown Timer
AutoHotkey 1.0.42.06
Core FTP LE 1.3c.1447.4
DiskDeleter ZW 1.0.1
File Backup Watcher 2.7.6R1
FreeRAM XP Pro 1.52
Fsum 2.51
J2SE(TM) Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6
Keyfinder Thing 2.5.4
PC-Com Basic 7.34
Vista Inspirat
Wake On LAN Ex
World Time Explorer 1.8
Xplorer2 lite 1.5.0.1
Beyond Compare 2.4 build 240
FolderSizes 3.6.0.1
Privacy Shield 3.0.24
SmartSync Pro 2.11.0.895

Digital Business

Productivity Tools
Synthis Process Modeler 3.6.6
Timesheet Xpress Free 8.0 build 0370
DiaryOne 6
FACT Accounting for Windows Version 22
KnowledgeWorkshop 1.7.1
Microsoft Money 2006 Deluxe Trial 15
ViewletBuilder4 4.5.3

AB Invoicing 4.3.1.31
ActionXP 5.2
Chaos Manager 2.23
ClinicGate Basic 2.0.0.6
Droster 2.2.1
GFP - Personal Finance Manager 0.5.8
PDFill PDF Tools 4.1
TiddlyWiki
ZD Soft Screen Recorder 1.4.3
Atlantis Word Processor 1.6.1.1
SpamFighter Exchange Server Module 3
WorkTime 3.17


Mobile Apps
AudioGizmo Ringtone Creator 2
Enslave 1.0
HandoVideo Converter Lite 2.1
MobiLearn Talking Phrasebook Multilanguage 5

Mig33 2
MobileLeap Today 1
MobiSystems OfficeSuite (N90) 2.1
Photocast Viewer 0.8
Pix2Gsm 1
Ring-Writer 1
Sompy Media Player 1
XnView Pocket 1.35
Convert to Ringtone Wizard 1.2
Essentials QVGA + VGA 3D Icons 1.3
NewsBreak 1.2
Reversi Mobile for Windows Mobile 5.0 1.0.0
ScanR Whiteboards for Treo 700w 2.1
TimePanic 1.2


Digital Leisure

Videos
16 Blocks
Bandidas
The Wild

Hoot
Kinky Boots
Preaching to the Choir
The Break Up


Small Games
Mahjong Quest
Scrabble
Sky Bubbles

Go Tomatos
Cake Mania
Feeding Frenzy 2
Mah Jong Medley


E-Books
How to Speak and Write Correctly
Relativity : the Special and General Theory
The Practice and Science of Drawing
The Time Machine

Wallpapers
Art
Celebs
Earth
Nature
Space
Random

May 06 Magazine Contents

Digital Passion

The Revolution Will Be Televised
Ye Olde TV will soon move beyond plain old cable—another one bites the Net!

A Physical Presence
The CPU’s responsibility in the quest for great gaming takes another cut—the Physics Processing Unit (PPU) will take a load off its mind

Move Over Silicon
From sand to charcoal—as Silicon reaches the end of its long and illustrious career, Carbon Nanotubes will take over the mantle from our good old friend

The Amazing Tomatoboy!
A Bangalore kid makes games “for his friends,” but we liked his tomato-centric game too! Meet this bite-sized creator of good, clean fun

Sounds Good!
Which MP3 player will you buy? We’ve tested 49 so you can narrow down your choice to exactly what you want

Digital Tools

Dude, Where’s My Data?
Wallowing in a mess of files? Pull up your socks and organise that hard drive!

Know More About
Winamp, our favourite music player... well...plays music, but did you know how much it lets you tweak the way it sounds?

Net Gain
Share your favourites with the world, and meet a few like-minded people while you’re at it. Mmmm...del.icio.us!

New & Notable
Insanely indulgent cameras, handy USB drives and other miscellaneous gadgets landed themselves in our offices this month

Tips & Tricks
Create your own game, protect your USB drive, and stalk people on Yahoo! Messenger!

Agent 001
SATA? PATA? Whata? Agent 001 finds you the best hard drives

Digital Business

Milking For Tomorrow
With the wonderful blessing that is RFID, the country’s milk production moo-ves to new levels. Dr Samad of the Bombay Veterinary College has developed a scientific approach to milk production that could herald a new era in cow and buffalo management

Talk is Cheap
Save your business some wallet-destroying calls—make all your important international calls for peanuts using VoIP!

Bug Hunters
Software doesn’t hit you right off the production line—how do you become the person that approves it before it’s unleashed upon the masses?

Digital Leisure

www.timepass.com
One PC + one browser + one Internet connection = one truckload of fun

Spreading The Word
Gujjus of the world, unite! Gujaratilexicon. com helps young ’uns—and older ’uns—stay in touch with their mother tongue

Amped!
45 glorious excuses to turn up the volume!

Game On
Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, The Godfather, and The Lord of the Rings—the Battle for Middle Earth II reviewed

...and finally
Fast Track To Photoshop

Enjoy! (or don't)

[Aries]

The look has improved. I love it. Hope to see some good contents in the magazine too...

[blackpearl]

The contents look great. Fast Tract to Photoshop looks tempting.

I see 2 of my software requests being fulfilled --- BlackICE and Antivirus for Linux. Also the virus defination updates for Norton.
Thanks a lot!!!

[LegendKiller]

ya finally a good solid cd,i mean contents,i think i am gonna buy this one.....good work team-digit!

[sude]

oh!!! finally a really solid compilation, a fine blending of softwares and data...

looking eagerly towards the next issue...

-SUDE

[Ankur Gupta]

Gr8 contents of the magazine as well the contents of the CD/DVD.And a lot more products have been tested this time around.

[MysticHalo]

Digital Tools

Essentials
.NET Framework 1.1
Adobe Reader 7.0.7
Avast Home Edition 4.6
Digit Software Archive 2006 Beta
Irfan View 3.98
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.52
Opera 8.53
Spybot S&D detection updates
Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4
VLC Media Player 0.8.4
Winamp 5.2
WinRAR 3.51
ZoneAlarm 6.1.737
Hey, this is ditto of the last months(April) section of essentials.



Mozilla Firefox 2 alpha 1
AFAIK, it should be FF 3 Alpha 1
NO FEDORA CORE ??????:mad::mad:
IMO, the contents r useless...except Photoshop CS2 (anyways, its trial) and Office SP3 and the Ebooks. Most of these r shareware and those that r freeware r so small and hopeless that they arent of much use :(

Fastrack to PHOTOSHOP eh? There r more tuts on net..anyways, thats fine.
I'll drop this ISSUE:evil:

[eagle_y2j]

nice CD content but plz keep sensor on ur semi-porn ads e.g that of maxima in which model poses in ling...and this type of ad in a tech magazine................. seriously I am not joking

[hard_rock]

Disappointed by CD and DVD contents... Coz many softwares are repeated...I am a dialup user who cant download softwares of 30+MB softwares...So i look 4 such softwares in the DVD n CD.... But this time Adobe Photoshop CS2 is repeated which u gave in one of previous issue...I thought definitely U guyZ are UPDATED n r the FIRST to give FEDORA CORE 5...But u ppl disappointed me.. These days enough care isnt taken 4 CD and DVD contents...Only the previous version (That too outdated) softwares u are giving (For eg Zonealarm) which u already has given...

[navneeth_snr]

Wow, Solid contents after so many months. Looking forward to May Issue.

I am not at all disappointed with FC5 as I have got both the i386 and x64 versions and have installed both of my computers!

[FatBeing]

I know that Photoshop CS2 is a repeat, but it made sense because it ties in with the Fast Track.

Subscribers and regular buyers will justifiably be a little miffed, but we need to think of the first time/rare buyers as well.

As for FC5, you should know by now that we aren't too fond of loading up the entire DVD with a linux distro, which leaves us little space for other content.

[soham]

The contents are very good. But still no mobile shootout. Its been years. When are we going to see it again. And I mean a full scale shootout.

[Padikkal]

The look of forum is very good. But the CD contents are disappointing. The fast track Photoshop may tempt us, but NO.

[g_goyal2000]

I really liked the previous php look of the forum.
This one is pretty confusing.
Also, the list of threads I had subscribed to in php version are gone in this vBulletin version.
Now, I'm gonna have to resubscribe.

[FatBeing]

Please stick to the topic, people - the MAY ISSUE!

Use this to report vBulletin problems: http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27203

and this for general feedback on the forum: http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1656

[~Phenom~]

Mag contents are good.
CD/DVD contents are just ordinary and most of them are repeated.
BTW , good to see forum working once again with a new face.

[azaad_shri75]

new improved look of the board is exemplary,good work keep it up, this time the contents are not satisfactory.

[MysticHalo]

Subscribers and regular buyers will justifiably be a little miffed, but we need to think of the first time/rare buyers as well.

Is it the BUSINESS TACTICS Issue :rolleyes:?


As for FC5, you should know by now that we aren't too fond of loading up the entire DVD with a linux distro, which leaves us little space for other content.
Maybe in June....(what was it...Anniversary special or something)

[kayote]

let me get my hands on the issue!!! hey, hope you guys are putting in more fire in the anni issue. :-D

[rohitm_001]

The May issue looks terrific.
Please, please.... give more space to Agent 001.
And do something about the content of CD?DVD.
I have seen a lot of repetition.
And think about your student readers too. It will be terrific if you could include some programming know-how about C++ etc.

[PinKLip]

Mag contents are good.
CD/DVD contents are just ordinary and most of them are repeated.
BTW , good to see forum working once again with a new face.
I too agree
Though i am not a subscriber of DIGIT, I Have the whole collection of the mag and CD/DVDs since MARCH 2000,even the name of the mag was not DIGIT at that time (except OCT 2001, somehow I missed that issue)
Every Copy is a masterpice to me and well preserved.
But I am worried about, whether it will be able to keep it's name and fame in same glory as it was before.

But I love Digit,Long live digit

[kumarmohit]

Huh no requests of mine fulfilled well maybe next time

[dissel]

Thanks for the Magazine Content and specially for Fast Track on Photoshop.....to get FC5 now i need to spend another 100 bucks for another mag in this month....hopfully they add FC5 in their DVD.

[techno_funky]

Fast Track To Photoshop
zomigawdnessss!!! thanks a lot for this :D

[Tapomay]

Satisfactory contents but expected some more juice in DVD.

[nithinks]

You have done a wonderfull job by giving fast track to photoshop
its just like DREAM COME TRUE!!!
thanx digit guys,

[sudipto]

great fast track on photoshop, simply written for all.(anyway i always find fast track book great!)
also the magazine is awesome as usual!, specially the cover story on MP3.
and lastly i have got the mag as early as today.
i think team DIGIT r gearing up for their anniversary issue

[paul_007]

contents of CD and DVD are good

and most importantly the cover page of magazine ,WOW

[danny14871]

NO OFFENSE! But I only want to say what I think:
Being one among the geeks, I subscribe to both digit and chip.
Here's what I conclude about them:
*Chip really has a wonderful forum, I just love it, type in your query, assign points and you will get the reply within hours.
I posted 2 queries in the digit forum and I haven't got a single reply in three days! Your scheme of awarding points for better replies rocks.
*Chip reviews not only hardware which are easy to review but also software's. At least one good software is reviewed in every issue. These are very helpful, u really write a good review on the latest software unlike digit.
*But digit is worth the money spent considering the fasttrack they give along with the magazine and also the digit patron programme.In this months issue they are providing a fasttrack to photoshop which might actually be worth atleast 600 rs.
*In the December issue of Chip, you give the final verdict on the best softwares and hardware too unlike digit who only give about hardware in their so called Zero One awards.
THE FINAL THING A GEEK COULD DO:SUBSCRIBE TO BOTH MAGAZINES.

[saurabh.sauron]

certainly tempting contents of both CD/DVD and the mag. just the contents i had asked for...

[Biplav]

good contents.
although i dont get y is opera 8.53 in it and dotnet 1.1? way old ....
anyways fasttrack seems to be interestin

[QwertyManiac]

WTH, jus saw the cover at the homepage... enough of models I say, use your imagination for better purposes, like creating good technological graphics and using them on the frontpage... dont the young reader letters give you any idea of what age group reads your mag more?

[Dink2cool]

hey !! the models r f9 .. cant get enough of them
bt/w i noticed that the proposed contents doesnt contain any desktop themes .. plz provide some themes too as its been a lot of time since digit has provided any themes .. my desktop has started to look kinda boring ..

fasttrack to photoshop rocks ... definitely going to buy the june issue :)

[True Geek]

Two months in a row and FAsttrack rocks.....i am gonna buy the issue cause the fasttrack rocks.......DIGIT has started to do a better job and i know that Fasttrack rocks ........And Cover Rocks to along wid Fasttrack........
and before i forget The Fasttrack Rocks
p.s.The Fasttrack Rocks

[gaurav_indian]

I like the Game Maker and Fast Track to Photoshop.

[chandu]

Hi there,

Sorry my first post here is going to be a complaint. I bought the magazine from a news stand here, and the DVD doesn't work. I tried it in my place as well as in my friend's place.

Can someone help me with this? Thanks!

[FatBeing]

chandu, just send a mail to help@jasubhai.com with your mailing address and we'll send you a new DVD.

[chandu]

Hey, thanks a lot man. Appreciate your help. I just sent an email the address, hopefully I'll get a new DVD sometime soon. I am looking forward to try Battle For Middle Earth 2 :D

Later!

[vyasjisworld]

THANKS For The Freee Aditional Cd With all Requirements for system thks a lott

[blackpearl]

The Fast Track was excellent. Waiting for a FastTrack on Animation :)

[soham]

Ya, the fast track was as good as those professional guides you get from publishers like Wiley and O'reilly. Team Digit must have put in a real hard effort. Keep it up.

[Aries]

THANKS For The Freee Aditional Cd With all Requirements for system thks a lott

Additional CD? I dint get any additional CD

[Aries]

Fast Track - Photoshop is good

Hope to get a few more like this

[FatBeing]

THANKS For The Freee Aditional Cd With all Requirements for system thks a lott
We gave 2 CDs?
This is news.

P.S. Does anyone know how admins can bypass this 30 character requirement?

[tuxfan]

Fast Track alone with DVD for May is a true paisa vasool :D The mag issue is a bonus :) Good work guys!

@fatbeing, which 30 chars limit are you talking about? I may be able to help ;)

Edit: Ok understood what you are saying. There are no options for this in vB Control Panel. You may have to modify the code directly or live with it or change it for all. I think you will select the second option :P

[blackpearl]

Shortest post.
Ha ha! .

[blackpearl]

One more;)

[FatBeing]

Very impressive.

Now stop spamming or I'll ban you.

[kundra.nitin]

lol, you nocturnal fatbeing?
awake at 3.30 am?????????

anyway
fasttrack is Aw3s0m3 as always
digits hardware reviews are way better than the competition's (just need larger screenshots)
models should not feature on the cover, if they must then ample assets are mandatory(in this case the ipod beats the crap out of the model in sex appeal) my mum flipped thru the mag to check what i had bought!!
some wallpapers from as late as 2003 were repeated
print on pg 16,17 is substandard :a total put-off
why would digit publish an article on TRANSISTORS and semi conductors?
you still give full page ads midway thru an article
i know how you guys want to be noob friendly, but 5 pages on space management? and thanks to you my 15 year old brother now knows what a WHORE is. how? he asked me. when i hesitated, he threatened to ask mom. THANK YOU......
i dont want to get banned by commenting on the time-pass article
no screenshots in a game review????

[QwertyManiac]

Hey, I got a mail saying it will be dispatched on 8th and its 11th today. Should I wait more? Or send a help now? I guess I wait till tomorrow... and btw, 8th was election in TN so how can you deliver to people on that day? :?

[soham]

I might be late in commenting but found this month's speaker test quite cheap. I mean there were a lot of speakers but big players like bose and jbl where missing. Moreover there was no Creative Megaworks and Artis X10 which were winners last time. Most of the speakers in the 2.1 category was rated as poor. And I was expecting high end 7.1 speakers like the Creative Gigaworks.

[blackpearl]

Ahmed Shaikh gave a weird piece of advice in the article Dude, Where's My Data. He wrote that the virtual memory should be assigned 1GB more than the system memory. For 512MB RAM, a 1.5GB virtual memory is acceptable but for a 2GB RAM a 3GB virtual memory is a total waste of HD space. I dont believe that the Digit guys does not know that virtual memory requirement actually decreases with an increase in system memory, so why is this error? I feel a page file of around 500MB should be enough for 2GB RAM. Secondly, in the figure I notice that the cache partition is located at drive 'O' which is very far from the boot partition. For best performance the swap/cache partition should be located closest to the boot partition where it is faster. Partitions closest to the rim of the HD are the fastest. The pagefile is the bottleneck in the performance and speed of the system. So the more we can limit the use of the pagefile, the faster will be the system. In this context, the location and size of the pagefile is an important factor that determines the performance of the system. That article has given a very wrong idea about virtual memory.

The article on Winamp was useless. The article does not describe any tricks or tweaks to squeeze more performance out of Winamp. What you have basically done is rewritten the help file. We dont need an article to tell us what to find inside the Option menu. Every s/w released to date comes with help files. You cant turn them into articles for your mag. Almost everybody uses winamp and is aware of its various settings. Instead of writing about Winamp you could have written about an alternative music player that could be used in place of winamp.... just for a change. In trying to make the magazine easy to understand, some of the articles have become too noobish (eg Winamp, How to get rid of common XP annoyances .... very old tricks). I want to read articles and tutorials that require more than simple point and click.... tutorials on 3D modelling for instance. Why not a tutorial on FPS Creator rather than on Game Maker?(smart fellow that Nimish is, picking up the easier one ;))

The tips & tricks section was good. But that trick on Linux, instead of using [Ctrl]+[R], we could do the same thing by hitting the UP and DOWN arrow key!!

[robin345]

Price of Sony DSC-W5 is qouted as around Rs19000..which is wrong it is around Rs11,000

[ymhatre]

yeah prices of many of them is qouted high....

[alekh_khanna]

can anyone plz tell me in which previous issue of digit were speakers tested...

[cyberzook]

last time speakers tested...May 2005

[FatBeing]

In re the prices, they're always going to be a little high - we print MRPs in Digit, and the resulting street price will definitely be less than that, but it's different for different cities, so you never know.

In re Game Maker, dang! My secret's out.

[E.T.]

It would be more informative for the readers if you can provide both the mrp as well as an estimated street price( at mumbai or delhi). i think the street price would at best vary by a 100-500 bucks or so in other cities.

[blackpearl]

In re Game Maker, dang! My secret's out.

LOL ....dont worry, u r doing a great work :)

[Padikkal]

The Fast track on Photoshop is GOOD. The next issue is anniversary issue. It will cost Rs 200/- with all repeated contents on CD/DVD and some old games(like midtown madness).
Be careful !!

( Last year experience)

[FatBeing]

Errata:
Shashank H.R.'s (The Amazing TomatoBoy) website isn't www.shashankhrgames.com, it's www.shashankhrgames.page.tl - he didn't win his .com domain like we thought after all

[vijay_7287]

superb edition this was !!!!

especially the cover
i implore u to keep the trend going(if possible try adding a poster of the model too)

and on the tech front , loved the fast track thingy

[deepak.krishnan]

I was looking forward to have autopatcher XP from the DVD, but it is not at all included. Please make it a permenant content in you DVD

[jamyang312]

it was a gr8 issue!!
esp the contents in the dvd!

[jamyang312]

please include autopatcher always.

[hariharan]

I have not yet recieved the issue for this month and I am a subscriber !.....

[navneeth_snr]

Where is the preview for juneeeeeeeeeeeeee?

[E.T.]

Its the last day of the month and still no preview! Comon guys, are we in for some big surprise.