Recover a damaged Windows XP user profile.

If the user profile becomes damaged, Windows XP will display one of two error messages when you to log on to the system:

"Windows Prompt" wrote ...

Windows cannot load your profile because it may be corrupted. You may be logged in using a temporary User Profile.

OR:

"Windows Prompt" wrote ...

The system has recovered from a serious error.

should you encounter such in Windows XP, then this article can help: [link]

MSI Eclipse - X58 motherboard for Intel Core i7.

the article: [link]


the gallery: [link]

The Handheld Museum: A tribute to the early history of handheld gaming

the gallery: [link]

Intel’s roadmap comes into focus: Can rivals respond?

Intel’s roadmap comes into focus: Can rivals respond? by ZDNet's Larry Dignan -- Intel’s developer forum in San Francisco has more than its share of chest thumping and as the roadmap comes into focus you really wonder how competitors will respond. To be sure, Intel won’t have a cakewalk, but it’s making a lot of waves, creating new markets (Netbooks powered by Atom) and ramping up computing power that [...]

The article: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9745&tag=nl.e539

Intel Developer Forum 2008

Intel unveiled on Tuesday a new aspect of its upcoming microprocessor architecture, which promises better power management and efficiency.

Speaking in the afternoon keynote on day one of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, Pat Gelsinger, Intel's senior vice president and general manager of the digital enterprise group, showcased Nehalem EX for the expandable server market, consisting of eight-core processors on a single die. He then announced a power-gate feature incorporating a "turbo mode"--a "previously undiscussed" element--for the Nehalem family of processors.

Rajesh Kumar wrote:

The power gate can shut off both switching power when idle and leakage power. With the turbo mode, in a situation where not all the cores are necessary for a particular workload, the ones that are idle will be turned off and power is channeled to the cores that are active, making them more efficient.

The whole article: http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-217014.html?tag=nl.e550

Intel Nehalem benchmarked!

Intel Nehalem benchmarked: muscling to victory


http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15015







as for the gaming benchmarks, read page 8 of the said review.

IE 8 to get ‘porn mode’?

IE 8 to get ‘porn mode’? by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley -- No doubt, Microsoft has been holding back some features that will be added to the new IE 8 Beta 2 test build. Istartedsomething's Long Zheng blogged on August 20 about one such possibility: Private browsing, a k a "porn mode."

The whole blogpost here.

Engineering Windows 7 - E7

Lets take a look at a blog dedicated to the engineering of Microsoft Windows 7.

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/

Welcome to our first post on a new blog from Microsoft—the Engineering Windows 7 blog, or E7 for short. E7 is hosted by the two senior engineering managers for the Windows 7 product, Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky. Jon and Steven, along with members of the engineering team will post, comment, and participate in this blog.

Beginning with this post together we are going to start looking forward towards the “Windows 7” project. We know there are tons of questions about the specifics of the project and strong desire to know what’s in store for the next major release of Windows. Believe us, we are just as excited to start talking about the release. Over the past 18 months since Windows Vista’s broad availability, the team has been hard at work creating the next Windows product.

and

In general a feature team encompasses ownership of combination of architectural components and scenarios across Windows. “Feature” is always a tricky word since some folks think of feature as one element in the user-interface and others think of the feature as a traditional architectural component (say TCP/IP). Our approach is to balance across scenarios and architecture such that we have the right level of end-to-end coverage and the right parts of the architecture. One thing we do try to avoid is separating the “plumbing” from the “user interface” so that teams do have end-to-end ownership of work (as an example of that, “Find and Organize” builds both the indexer and the user interface for search). Some of the main feature teams for Windows 7 include (alphabetically):

• Applets and Gadgets
• Assistance and Support Technologies
• Core User Experience
• Customer Engineering and Telemetry
• Deployment and Component Platform
• Desktop Graphics
• Devices and Media
• Devices and Storage
• Documents and Printing
• Engineering System and Tools
• File System
• Find and Organize
• Fundamentals
• Internet Explorer (including IE 8 down-level)
• International
• Kernel & VM
• Media Center
• Networking - Core
• Networking - Enterprise
• Networking - Wireless
• Security
• User Interface Platform
• Windows App Platform

sample comment:

To the core DNS, Wins, IIS, AD, COM, Registry, teams, it would be great if it was written in managed code (LINQ, or Entity Framwork and Web Services) or even refactored native code (or even C++/CLI) so we didn't have to call legacy stuff that with old programming quarks via WMI (*shiver).

Looking forward to the deep integration with powershell.

Thanks again! -->Kosher

'Final Fantasy XIII' Demo Over 90 Minutes?

The G4 Article.

VMware ESXi OS-independent hypervisor

Official Page

VMware ESXi 3.5 is the industry’s first, thin hypervisor integrated into server hardware. With its next-generation architecture embedded in hardware, VMware ESXi enables a plug-and-play data center with greater security, reliability and manageability. Requiring no installation and minimal configuration, VMware ESXi accelerates server deployment—IT organizations can take servers from boot-up to running production applications in virtual machines in minutes.

PDF Datasheet

Download VMware ESXi 3.5 (VMware registration required)

Moblin - a project for developing open source software for Intel Mobile Internet Device (MIDs) using Linux

Official Website: http://moblin.org/

What if...

MSI R4870X2 Dual GPU Monster Boasts 200% Performance

Taipei, Taiwan -- MSI proudly unveils its latest and fastest R4870X2-T2D2G, which utilizes two ATI Radeon HD 4870 chips on a single card, providing amazing performance. It comes with a total 1,600 stream processor, 2GB GDDR5 high-speed memory, and 2.4 TFLOPS computing capability. What’s more, R4870X2-T2D2G can easily support next-generation DirectX 10.1 games. When users turn on all the effects on 2560x1600 ultra-high resolution such as antialiasing and shadow effects, the R4870X2-T2D2G can still run the game smoothly.

Dual GPU, 2x Performance
The R4870X2-T2D2G utilizes two ATI Radeon HD 4870 chips, both connecting to each other by ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU technology and is smilar to the popular CrossFireX platform consisting of two single R4870-T2D512s in tandem. The difference is that R4870-T2D2G has higher efficiency and better compatibility than the two R4870 graphics cards in CrossFire.

Through the three-way PLX PCI-Express switch chip, two GPUs can exchange data rapidly, and allow the R4870X2 to be compatible with all the PCI-Express 2.0 mainboards. Even if the mainboard does not support CrossFireX Technology, it can still display the ultimate performance of the R4870X2-T2D2G.

2GB GDDR5 High-Speed Memory
The two GPUs on the R4870X2-T2D2G respectively has 1GB of GDDR5 memory. A total of 2GB memory makes the R4870X2 a graphics card with the largest memory size on the market. Now DirectX 10 games are more realistic, since it requires massive data to present the realistic game world.

GDDR5 is the fastest memory in the market. The R4870X2-T2D2G's memory bandwidth is up to 230GB per second. The excellent effectiveness can meet the most gorgeous games effects with 24x CFAA antialiasing, enabling players to experience the most realistic game world and enjoy the most delicate image quality.

The ultimate CrossFireX Platform for enthusiasts
The fastest graphics card R4870X2-T2D2G supports ATI CrossFireX technology. Users can also install another R4870X2-T2D2G on a CrossFire motherboard. The combination of four GPUs is the ultimate collaborative
computing platform which can provide the power to achieve brand-new heights. It is the most suitable videocard for enthusiasts.

Coming with Dual GPUs, 2GB of GDDR5, CrossFireX multi-GPU technology, unmatched superior performance, and market-leading ultra-high specifications, the R4870X2-T2D2G is a gamers’ dream product!

Source: http://hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=11431&cid=6

Intel News Release: Next-Generation Intel PC Chips to Carry Intel Core Name

We already know what Core Microarchitecture can do.... so expect more performance from Nehalem.

• integrated memory controller
• hypertransport-like bus --> Quick-Path Interconnect.
• native/true quad/octo-core
• hyperthreading (SMT)
• and many more...

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20080811comp.htm

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 11, 2008 – Intel Corporation announced today that desktop processors based on the company's upcoming new microarchitecture (codenamed "Nehalem") will be formally branded "Intel® Core™ processor." The first products in this new family of processors, including an "Extreme Edition" version, will carry an "i7" identifier and will be formally branded as "Intel® Core™ i7 processor." This is the first of several new identifiers to come as different products launch over the next year.

More Articles (with whitepapers and podcasts):


Next-Generation Intel® Microarchitecture


What you need to know about Intel's Nehalem CPU


Wikipedia: Intel Nehalem

Microsoft (finally) speaks out on ‘Fiji

Microsoft (finally) speaks out on ‘Fiji’ by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley -- It only took two-plus years, but Microsoft finally issued on August 8 its official comment about Fiji, a k a "Windows Media Center TV Pack."

The Article -- Screenshots -- KB955485

As contributed by vaughn2k in the Forums.

Intel announced its new brand for at least the high-end of Nehalem products today. Intel's initial Nehalem processors, including a highest-end Extreme Edition chip, will be designated as "Intel Core i7" processors. Different clockspeeds will carry different model number designations, but Intel has yet to release any information on Nehalem i7's classification. More info in this ArsTechnica article.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (video by G4)

Space Seige (video by G4)

ECS Black Series: A790GXM-A

Official Page

The A790GXM-A is ECS Black Series platform based on the best combination of the new AMD 790GX and SB750 chipset plus support for the latest 140W Phenom quad core processors up to HT 5200 MT/s with Hyper Transport™ 3.0 technology links and integrated DDR2 1066 memory controller on the latest AM2+ platform. The A790GXM-A provides the AMD latest technology Hybrid Graphics and CrossFireX technology for Pro Gamer. It also supports for AMD Special SidePort Memory for the extreme graphic performance computing ,and UVD 2.0, DirectX 10, PCI Express2.0 HDMI/HDCP… etc for Full HD Video entertainment.

Full Specs

MS Patch Tuesday: Critical IE, Office, Excel patches coming

MS Patch Tuesday: Critical IE, Office, Excel patches coming by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine -- Next Tuesday (August 12th), Microsoft will ship 12 security bulletins with fixes for serious vulnerabilities in a wide range of of widely deployed products. Seven of the 12 bulletins will be rated “critical,” Microsoft’s highest severity rating. The critical bulletins will cover remotely exploitable flaws in Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Access, [...]

The article

See also MS TechNet - Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for August 2008

Beautiful Beijing screensaver

This official screensaver from the International Olympic Committee celebrates the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The screensaver offers a variety of photos showcasing the people and culture of Beijing, China. It also includes a persistent RSS feed of IOC Olympic-focused news.

Download

PCMark® Vantage

Official Page

PC Performance Analysis

PCMark® Vantage is the first objective hardware performance benchmark for PCs running 32 and 64 bit versions of Microsoft® Windows Vista®. PCMark Vantage is perfectly suited for benchmarking any type of Microsoft® Windows Vista PC from multimedia home entertainment systems and laptops to dedicated workstations and hi-end gaming rigs. Regardless of whether the benchmarker is an artist or an IT Professional, PCMark Vantage shows the user where their system soars or falls flat, a nd how to get the most performance possible out of their hardware. PCMark Vantage is easy enough for even the most casual enthusiast to use yet supports in-depth, professional industry grade testing.

Comprehensive Result Analyzer

PCMark Vantage's comprehensive online Result Analyzer tool provides an invaluable insight into the factual performance of your computer. The Online ResultBrowser (ORB) is designed and developed specially for PCMark Vantage Advanced and Professional Edition users. In addition to the normal result search & compare functionalities you can do multiple comparisons, get detailed system info, use dynamic compare URLs and much more. The Pro ORB extends PCMark Vantage to the extreme!

The PCMark Vantage Pro ORB features are only available via PCMark Vantage Advanced and Professional Editions.

Download

3DMark®06

Official Page

The Gamers' Benchmark

3DMark®06 is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game performance benchmarking. A fundamental tool for every company in the PC industry as well as PC users and gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next generation gaming performance today. Futuremark's exclusive Online ResultBrowser web service tracks and compares 3DMark06 scores.

Key 3DMark06 Advanced and Professional Features

• DirectX® 9 3D game performance benchmark
• Includes separate graphics card and CPU tests
• Produces workloads that simulate next generation 3D gaming requirements
• Advanced 3D game engine supports HDR Rendering with SM3.0 Shaders, in addition to SM2.0 Shaders
• Includes two HDR/SM3.0 game tests and two SM2.0 game tests
• CPU performance testing via AI and physics workloads for both single core systems and multi-threaded, multi-core and multiple processor environments
• 3D graphics feature tests include Fill Rate, Pixel Shader, Vertex Shader, SM3.0 tests, and Batch Size tests

Minimum System Recommendations

• Intel® or AMD® compatible processor 2.5GHz or higher
• DirectX® 9 compatible graphics adapter with Pixel Shader 2.0 support or later, and graphics memory of 256 MB minimum*
• 1GB of system RAM or more
• 1.5GB of free hard disk space
• Windows® XP 32bit or Windows Vista™ 32bit operating system with latest Service Packs and updates installed
• DirectX® 9.0c December 2005 or later
• Visual C++ 2005 Redist
• Microsoft Excel® 2003/XP or later for some 3DMark functionality
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later for some 3DMark functionality

* To run the HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, a DirectX 9 compatible graphics adapter with support for Pixel Shader 3.0, 16 bit floating point textures and 16 bit floating point blending is required.

Download Free Basic Edition

3DMark® Vantage

Official Page

3DMark® Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware. 3DMark® Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.

Presets

A key new feature in 3DMark® Vantage is the rendering option Presets. These pre-selected combinations of rendering option settings, like resolution, anti-aliasing and texture quality, represent different, successively more advanced levels of visual quality. When running 3DMark® Vantage with one of the presets selected, the benchmark produces an official score for that preset. Instead of the single default setting of previous 3DMarks, there are four Presets available for Entry, Performance, High and Extreme visual quality.

The 3DMark Vantage Pro ORB features are only available via 3DMark Vantage Advanced and Professional Editions.

Minimum System requirements

• Processor: Recommendation: A dual-core processor with performance equivalent to Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, AMD Athlon X2 6000+, or higher
• Graphics Card: Requirement: Fully DirectX10-compliant graphics hardware
• Monitor: Capable of 1280x1024 resolution
• System Memory: Windows Vista minimum requirement
• Hard Disk: 1 GB of free hard disk space
• Operating System: Windows Vista with Service Pack 1

Download

Video Card Stability Test

Official Page

Video Card Stability Test + 3D Benchmark + 3D Screensaver.
* Video Card Stress Testing!
* Benchmark the speed of your 3D graphics video card!
* Free 3D Screensaver!
* Current Cost: Zero!

During the test, Video Card Stability Test as much as possible loads GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), this ability can be very useful for detection of frequencies on which the video card can stably work.

Video Card Stability Test uses VertexShader and PixelShader if are supported by a video card.

System Requirements:

• Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista x86 and Vista x64 operating system.
• Processor 1000 MHz (or faster). 3D Video Card.
• Win 2000-XP users need to have DirectX 9.0 or later installed.

Download

ATITool

Official Page

ATITool is an overclocking utility designed for ATI and NVIDIA video cards. Design target is to write a light-weight application for the enthusiast - so no questionable registry tweaks. Sorry.

Main Features:

• No limits overclocking.
• Support for overclocking for NVIDIA cards.
• Adjustment of GPU and memory voltage (when supported by VGA card).
• Tweaking of memory timings (most ATI cards).
• Finding maximum core and memory overclock by rendering into a Direct3D window and scanning the output for visual artifacts.
• Temperature monitoring and fan speed control (on supported cards).
• Removal of Catalyst overclocking lock for 9000/9200/9550/9600 series.
• Artifact scanning mode to test for stability.
• Loading a predefined clock profile on Application/Windows startup.
• Hotkeys that can be used any time to load clocks from a profile.
• Extract video card BIOS to file for backup purposes.
• 3D application detection (Direct3D 8, Direct3D 9, OpenGL) to overclock your video card only when required.
• Gamma control

ATITool will only work on Windows 2000/XP/2003 (64 bit versions are supported).

Download

The Flux Capacitor

Want to do time travel? Reminiscing the "Back to the Future trilogy" (1985-1989-1990), here is a replica (yes only a replica and not the real thing) of the Flux Capacitor installed in Dr. Emmett Brown's DeLorean. You don't need a 1.21-gigawatt generator or power supply (good luck) and run your car or any vehicle say motorcycle, 88mph (141.6kph).... just plug three (3) AA Dry Cells.

Get it (the replica) at Think Geek.

First Details on a Future Intel Design Codenamed 'Larrabee'

Intel Corporation is presenting a paper at the SIGGRAPH 2008 industry conference in Los Angeles on Aug. 12 that describes features and capabilities of its first-ever forthcoming "many-core" blueprint or architecture codenamed "Larrabee."

Details unveiled in the SIGGRAPH paper include a new approach to the software rendering 3-D pipeline, a many-core (many processor engines in a product) programming model and performance analysis for several applications.

The Intel Fact Sheet

Wikipedia Article on Larrabee

Google SketchUp

Great things often start with simple stuff.

Google SketchUp is a free, easy-to-learn 3D-modeling program with a few simple tools to let you create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects, and even space ships. You can add details, textures, and glass to your models, and design with dimensional accuracy. You can place your finished models in Google Earth, share them with others by posting them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies. Google SketchUp is a great way to discover if 3D modeling is right for you. Google SketchUp is free for personal use. No registration is required.

Download

MaxiVista Multi Monitor Software

Official Website

MaxiVista allows you to use the monitor of any spare PC as an extended screen for your Primary PC.

Microsoft makes daring vulnerability sharing move

Microsoft makes daring vulnerability sharing move by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine

-- LAS VEGAS — Starting in October, Microsoft will start sharing details on software vulnerabilities with security vendors ahead of Patch Tuesday under a daring new program aimed at reducing the window of exposure to hacker attacks. The new Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP), which will be formally announced at Black Hat USA 2008 here, will give [...]

Images: NASA confirms water on Mars

NASA announced that laboratory tests aboard the Phoenix Mars Lander have proven that water exists on Mars. No organic compounds have been identified but NASA hasn't given up hope.

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."

Source: http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-1035_11-213894.html?tag=nl.e019

Adobe: Beware of fake Flash downloads

Adobe: Beware of fake Flash downloads by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine

--

Amidst confirmed reports that malicious hackers are starting to use fake Flash Player downloads as social engineering lures for malware, Adobe has issued a call-to-arms for users to validate installers before downloading software updates. The company’s notice comes on the heels of malware attacks on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter that attempt to trick Windows users into [...]

Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language. It is often referred to as 'Rails' or 'RoR'. It is intended to be used with the Agile development methodology, which is often utilized by web developers for its suitability for short, client-driven projects.

Official Website

Screencasts

Download

TransMac

Official Page

TransMac for Windows can open Macintosh format disk drives, flash drives, CD-ROMs, DVDs, high density diskettes, dmg and sparseimage files.

• Read and write Mac format disks, CDs, DVDs, high density floppies and disk images (dmg and sparseimage).
  
• Supports standard HFS (Mac OS Standard), HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) and HFSX (with case sensitive file names) volumes.
  
• Access Mac volumes on boot drive (like Boot Camp).
  
• Create, read, write and compress Mac disk images (dmg and sparseimage).
  
• Built in burner software to create Mac format CDs and DVDs (including dual-layer).
  
• Burn ISO and dmg files to CD/DVD.
  
• Format disks for use on Mac.
  
• Read Mac multisession and hybrid CDs.

Folder Guard

Official Page

Folder Guard® is a powerful computer security software that you can use to control access to files, folders, and other Windows resources, such as Control Panel, Start Menu, and so on. You can use Folder Guard to lock your personal files and folders with passwords, to stop other users from peeking into your records. You can even completely hide your private folders from virtually all applications, and such folders would remain invisible until you enter a valid password. You can also protect sensitive system files from modification or destruction, disable access to the removable drives, restrict access to Control Panel, and more.

Download Trial

Visual Studio 2008 Express

Official Page: http://www.microsoft.com/express/product/default.aspx

Python Programming Language

Official Website

Python is a dynamic object-oriented programming language that can be used for many kinds of software development. It offers strong support for integration with other languages and tools, comes with extensive standard libraries, and can be learned in a few days. Many Python programmers report substantial productivity gains and feel the language encourages the development of higher quality, more maintainable code.

Python runs on Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, OS/2, Amiga, Palm Handhelds, and Nokia mobile phones. Python has also been ported to the Java and .NET virtual machines.

Python is distributed under an OSI-approved open source license that makes it free to use, even for commercial products.

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) holds and protects the intellectual property rights behind Python, underwrites the PyCon conference, and funds grants and other projects in the Python community.

Download Here

EncryptOnClick

Official Page

EncryptOnClick is a very simple to use program that lets you securely encrypt and decrypt files. EncryptOnClick is like hiring your own highly experienced data security guard who ensures the files you want to keep safe and out of view from others stay that way. The program is very simple to use and features military grade 256-bit AES encryption that is fully compatible with WinZip 9. Not only are your files encrypted, but they are also compressed. This reduces the size of the file, which is very useful if you are emailing and transmitting your encrypted files. The encrypted files can also be decrypted with WinZip 9. A comprehensive help file is included, although you won't need to read it.

Download here

Bloodshed Dev-C++

Official Page

Bloodshed Dev-C++ is a full-featured Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the C/C++ programming language. It uses Mingw port of GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) as it's compiler. Dev-C++ can also be used in combination with Cygwin or any other GCC based compiler.

Features are :

- Support GCC-based compilers
- Integrated debugging (using GDB)
- Project Manager
- Customizable syntax highlighting editor
- Class Browser
- Code Completion
- Function listing
- Profiling support
- Quickly create Windows, console, static libraries and DLLs
- Support of templates for creating your own project types
- Makefile creation
- Edit and compile Resource files
- Tool Manager
- Print support
- Find and replace facilities
- CVS support

Source code :
Delphi 6 Source code of Dev-C++ is available for free under the GNU General Public License
(GPL)

Authors :
Colin Laplace, Mike Berg, Hongli Lai : Development
Mingw compiler: Mumit Khan, Jan Jaap van der Heidjen, Colin Hendrix and GNU coders.

System :
Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP

Status :
Free Software (under the GNU General Public License)

Size :
13.5 Mb

Downloads : Go to Download Page

Dev-C++ resources page (libraries, sources, updates...)

Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard

Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard

Official Page

Reviews:

• CNet
• HardwareZone

Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE)

Do you want to get your hands dirty on an "industry-standard" 3D graphics and animation software.... legally? Then I strongly suggest that you register and download Maya PLE.

--
Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) is a special version of Autodesk® Maya® software, which provides free access to Maya for non-commercial use. It gives 3D graphics and animation students, industry professionals, and those interested in breaking into the world of computer graphics an opportunity to explore most aspects of the award-winning Autodesk® Maya® Complete software in a non-commercial capacity. The Maya Personal Learning Edition software is available for 32-bit Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional and Apple® Mac OS® X (for Macintosh Power PC or Intel-based Macintosh computers) operating systems.

Autodesk Maya PLE is based on Autodesk Maya 8.5.

Hardware

At a minimum, Autodesk Maya 8.5 Personal Learning Edition requires a system with the following hardware:

• Windows: Intel® Pentium® 4 or higher or AMD Opteron™ processor
  
• Macintosh®: Power Mac® G5 or Intel®-based Macintosh® computers
  
• 1GB RAM
  
• 2GB free hard drive space
  
• Qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
  
• Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  
• DVD-ROM drive

PDF Brochure

Register to Download

Blender open source 3D content creation

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License.

Download

System Requirements