Monday, March 19, 2001

Special features

The AK73 Pro A supports the Dr. LED system, an example of which AOpen supplied to us. The Dr. LED system is a 5 1/4" device that slides into an empty drive bay of the same size. Once the system is started, users are presented with 8 lights that indicate the operational status of the keyboard, hardrive, audio system, PCI bus, video sub-system, memory, and CPU. A final light indicates whether or not the system booted correctly. Below, a photo of the Dr. LED:

Not only is the Dr. LED a handy way of isolating hardware difficulties, but it also includes an internal compartment which can be used to store upto 10 CDs. Thus, it can be used as a convenient storage area for important disks, such as your operating system CD, and disks containing peripheral drivers.

The 8 LEDs are located behind a translucent facade. The facade is pivotable in order to provide access to the storage area. A cable is used to relay the Dr. LED system to the motherboard, and is included with the device.

In conclusion, I found the Dr. LED system strangely useful, over & above the LED systems I've often used in the past. The most obvious reason, of course, is the fact that the Dr. LED system eliminates the need to crack open the case and peer at the motherboard in order to actually see the LEDs in question. The CD storage area, though, is also a nice touch, and one that proves itself quite practical and convenient.

Other particularities.

Conventional motherboards use normal fuses in order to provide basic protection against the occurrence of power surges, or short-circuits caused by the USB or keyboard. These fuses are typically soldered onto the board itself, though, so when they burn-out, it effectively renders the entire board non-functional. The AK73 Pro A, however, comes equipped with fuses that automatically reset themselves following a power surge.

Battery Less operation

The AK73 is designed to shut-down its internal battery while the system is plugged in. As a result, it (the battery) is gifted with a longer life, and users need not worry about replacing it for a long while.

Die -Hard BIOS 100% virus protection

Recently, viruses such as CIH have been found capable of infecting, and destroying the information contained within the BIOS of PCs. The AK73 does not use a software-encoded BIOS however, and is thus rendered immune to this sort of viral infection. A second back-up BIOS is also available, which can be used to reset the primary should it become corrupted.

"Low ESR" Capacitors

The quality of a boards capacitors have a direct impact on its stability. The capacitors installed on the AK73 are of the Low ESR (Low series resistance) variety, and so offer a higher degree of stability than most. The placement of capacitors is also important though, and AOpen has seen fit to place seven close to the CPU socket, and another four next to the memory slots.

Frequency Isolation Wall

The distribution of a board's components can have a direct role in the generation of parasitic signals that can interfere with neighboring chips and devices. To combat this effect, AOpen has gone to great lengths to insure that neighboring traces conduct frequencies of the same order.

Next: Additional features.