Trust Keyboard reviewed - 5 out of 5

Last week I purchased the KB-2200 Multimedia Scroll keyboard by Trust and have been impressed with it.

First off, all of the multi-media keys seemed to work "out of the box" for me with Ubuntu linux 8.04. On several other keyboards that I have used, I had to spend 1/2 hour remapping the volume knob so this impressed me right off the bat. Speaking of the volume dial, it is large enough that it is easy to locate by touch without having to look at the keyboard.

Other than that, it does everything you would expect from a keyboard. The keys are responsive and do not stick, the spacing of the keys is small enough that I don't have to strain to reach the 't' and the 'y' keys, but not so close that it causes me to hit multiple keys at once, and the face is smooth so it shouldn't collect dust as easily as more textured keyboards do.

The only complaint I have is relatively minor - the backspace key could be a little larger. This fault though is not enough to lower my score from a 5 out of 5.

Review of Cables Unlimited wireless speakers - 4 out of 5

Recently I received a pair of SPK-VELO-001 wireless speakers by Cables Unlimited SPK-VELO-001 for my birthday.

The sound quality is excellent for the price range, and the volume goes higher than I would ever care to listen to. Mounting them on a wall is simple, and I have found that a picture hanger per speaker is strong enough to hold them up, assuming that your walls are sturdy - even through last night's earthquake.

I only have a couple of minor complaints about them. First, they require six C batteries per speaker, or to plug them in - which, depending on where you decide to hang them, may not be an option. My only other complaint is that their power LED is insanely bright; we put black electrical tape over the lights and are still almost blinded by them when we turn the lamp off for movie watching.

Overall though, for the value in this price range, I am extremely happy with the SPK-VELO-001 and rate them a 4 out of 5.

Xclio WindTunnel Review -- 5 out of 5

As promised, I am reviewing the WindTunnel case by Xclio. I am really amazed by this case, and it is a much better design that I had hoped for.

For starters, the only thing that screws appear to be necessary for are mounting the motherboard and power supply. The case has tool-less "thumb screws" for easy access. The drives slide in on rails - which, from my experience normally require screws - that are mounted onto the drives with posts. All of the brackets, zip ties (yes it comes with those), and other parts are stored in a latching box that is attached to the inside of the case. This means no more hunting for hardware. If you need more room for drives, the storage box can be removed and the space can be used for more hard drives.

The case itself is very light compared to most full-towers that I have encountered. Also, I did not find any sharp edges; I am prone to accidents, and I didn't get cut once. For those who have never built their own computer before, the instructions that come with the case are fairly detailed.

Overall, I would give this case a 5 out of 5 and is the best design I have yet to purchase.

VG2230wm review -- 4.5 / 5

Over the weekend I received a ViewSonic VG2230wm 22" widescreen LCD monitor for my birthday. So far, I am very impressed with it.

Fedora Core 6 detected the monitor upon start up and instantly configured it to the manufacturer's recommended resolution of 1680x1050x32.

I had more difficulty setting it up in Windows XP though. It does not like to play nice with the NVidia FX 5200 (yes, I know, this is an older video card and I should upgrade). After updating the NVidia driver and the monitor's driver, I still was unsuccessful at even seeing this resolution as an option.

Upon searching on the Internet for over an hour, I found that using NVidia's control panel application, it is possible to create custom resolutions. After creating 1680x1050x32 and performing the control panel's mandatory test everything worked properly.

The only other problem that I encountered is unrelated to the monitor, but a feature of the monitor helped to give me a temporary fix. My KVM that I use to switch between my Linux box and my Windows box is beginning to flake out as evidenced by the fact that when, with my old monitor, I switched to the second computer, the picture would bounce. After connecting the VG2230wm to the KVM I was receiving "no signal" messages when I switched to the second computer.

Since the monitor has a built in switch to change the input source from the analog d-sub connector to the digital DVI connector, I am now using this to switch between the two. Not an ideal solution, but it will work until I can purchase a new KVM.

The only problem that I have had with it that is related to the monitor itself (as opposed to Windows, my video card, or my KVM) is that it was difficult to adjust the brightness and contrast properly. This was due in part to me wanting a level of brightness between two of the settings, and the adjust higher and lower buttons being backwards from what I expected.

Overall, I give the VG2230wm 4.5 / 5.