• We are not Windows 2000 experts, therefore the information given here is based solely on our experience with this installation.
• At the time of writing, ///FAST silver. and FAST Studio XL v.2.55 are released for use on Windows NT4.0 using SP5 - as yet, FAST Multimedia does not support Windows 2000, neither does the software support the Pentium 4 or P4Xeon command sets - we have integrated this hardware and software into a Windows 2000 environment, using SP2 with a high degree of success. A new version of FAST studio XL - version 4.00 is anticipated in the last quarter of 2001. Following installation of this software, we will update this page.

IRQ allocation
Windows 2000, by definition, assumes complete and sovereign control over all IRQ resources on the workstation. Whilst Dell and other motherboards may allow dedicated IRQ settings at BIOS level, Windows 2000 ignores these and allocates IRQs according to its own methodology.

Windows 2000 uses software IRQ's to expand beyond the previous limit of 15 hardware IRQ's. So far we have seen Windows 2000 report up to IRQ #23. In creating and allocating IRQ's Windows 2000 dopes not necessarily use all consecutive IRQ numbers, and the OS still creates and handles shared IRQ's - not always with the result desired by the user. The only way the user can control the allocation of IRQ's is by judiciously selecting the correct combination of PCI slots, and disabling on-board devices which may not be necessary for the particular installatiuon and the disablement of which will prevent certain IRQ conflicts. 

This is why the Dell Precision 530 workstation is so suitable for NLE applications, as it has eight IRQ channels, a different combination of four of which are available on each PCI slot. (See Workstation specification for further details)

The ///FAST silver PCI card is particularly demanding in relation to IRQ's - it uses 4 IRQ's on separate channels - and two of these must not be shared under any circumstances. On a Windows 2000 platform, where BIOS trimming of IRQ's is impossible, it is hard to see how the silver.card can co-exist with other IRQ critical devices such as AGP cards and Audio cards. We understand that many ///FAST silver. installations have simply eliminated such co-existance, to be able to achieve proper silver. performance. The problem is complicated, in that silver. and FAST studio XL have certain options - such as "Voiceover option" (in which simultaeneous timeline playback via the silver. card and audio recording via an additional audio card is possible) which dictate such co-existance. The Precision 530øs eight IRQ channels eliminates this problem.

Another important factor in successful IRQ allocation, is the use of the Dell PERC3/DC controller, which utilises the 64-bit PCI slots, which do not share IRQ channels with the 32-bit PCI slots.

Indexing services
Windows 2000 has its own indexing service, which tracks regularly used files to enable (supposedly) faster access of such files. There are also other applications which have similar options - such as Corel Draw and Microsoft Office. It has always been our philosophy, that the user should determine the extent to which applications - and the operating system - perform "useful" tasks in the background, because such services can steal valuable resource overheads from the platform. As a matter of course we disable all such services. Windows 2000 indexing is an option which can be disabled under drive>properties.

Power Router
We use a third-party software called Power Router to remotely control our Sigma HPX routing matrix vai RS232. We have discovered that this simple application, when opened, pings the seriel communications port constantly. Task manager revealed that Power Router - when running - uses over 50% CPU resources constantly! This application should not therefore be left open and minimised.

Networking
EDIT2 is connected to the rest of our data network via on-board 10/100 Mbit 3-com network interface adaptor. We run TCP/IP as standard. We have experienced no issues relating to system performance under editing which can be attributed to networking.

Applications
Whilst it is possible to install all Windows 2000 (SP2) compatible applications on this workstation, we have limited our programme portfolio strictly to those applications and maintenance utilities which are essential for the job. We have purposely not installed our Microsoft Office programmes or our otherwise standard Netscape Communicator applications on this workstation, to limit the possibility of virus attacks and application conflicts. For the rare occiasion when we wish to have internet or email access directly from this workstation, we use Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, using a separate unlisted email account.

Software "gadgets".
Most hardware and software applications today are bundled with "useful" gadgets such as desktop interfaces or special funtions. Wherever possible we avoid installing such add-ons. Similarly, we use only Dell validated drivers, and where possible, standard Microsoft Windows drivers. Dell have a superb software download facility via their website which is regularly updated with the latest drivers and software upgrades for any specified Dell product. Adherence to validated drivers is an important factor in running a stable Windows 2000 system.

Drive allocation
In accordance with our existing network policy, this workstation is equipped with a system drive (C:) which contains only Windows 2000 and applications. No user data is stored on this drive. There is also an identical drive (D:) for local data - mainly backups of programme configurations, primary applications, and the Windows swap file.

These two drives are 40GB UATA-100 IDE drives, 7500 r.p.m. Given 1GB system RAM, there is no need for rapid access to system drives, and therefore no need for the added workload, noise and ambient temperature overhead associated with high-speed SCSI drives. Maintenance is also easier as IDE drives are easier for the system to access under abnormal maintenance situations.

(Given enough IDE channels, we would actually prefer a configuration in which there was a system drive for Windows 2000 alone, and a separate application drive for applications, but this is not possible using IDE drives due to our 2 CD/DVD drives taking the remaining IDE resources)

In addition to these drives, we have an extra internal SCSI (E:) which is used solely for storing project back-ups (metadata) - which is normally stored on the media RAID, The loss of media data is problematic - but not catastrophic - as it can always be restored by redigitising from tape. The project metadata, which is updated every time an alteraltion or addition is made to a project, represents a major production investment, the loss of which would be catastrophic. This is copied automatically every day to E: drive using Iomega's Quik Sync back-up software.

Drive file formats
All internat drives are formatted using FAT32, which can be accessed using a DOS disk. Windows 2000 version of NTFS is used for the media drives (Power vaults). The benefits of NTFS are not considered worth the lack of maintenance flexibility when using NTFS on the internal drives.