Neowin.net

Thanks xStainDx for his post in the forums that testers have received an email on a new build available now for download this time at build 4.077. Interesting to note is that this build is being called a Release Candidate meaning if there aren't any show stoppers then we are looking at final code. Here is a snip from the mail testers got just now:

Dear Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Beta Tester,

Thank you for your test efforts and feedback thus far. A refresh Service Pack 4 Release Candidate (RC) build is now available to download. The build version is 4.077. Please install, test and submit your feedback at your earliest convenience. Your continued efforts are helping us ensure that we ship a solid build in the near future.

To download build 4.077 please go to BetaPlace: http://www.betaplace.com. Sign in using your .NET Passport account. Or you can get the Express Installer files from Neowin.

Download: Win2K SP4 build 4.077 Express Installer English (588kb)
Download: Win2K SP4 build 4.077 Express Installer German (588kb)
View: BetaPlace (Registered Access only)
News source: In-House

TCP breaks down large files into small packets of about 1500 bytes, each carrying the address of the sender and the recipient. The sending computer transmits a packet, waits for a signal from the recipient that acknowledges its safe arrival, and then sends the next packet.

If no receipt comes back, the sender transmits the same packet at half the speed of the previous one, and repeats the process, getting slower each time, until it succeeds.

This means that even minor glitches on the line can make a connection very sluggish. Because Fast TCP uses the same packet sizes as regular TCP, the hardware that carries messages around the net will still work. The difference is in software and hardware on the sending computer, which continually measures the time it takes for sent packets to arrive, and how long acknowledgements take to come back.

This reveals the delays on the line, giving early warnings of likely packet losses. The Fast TCP software uses this to predict the highest data rate the connection can support without losing data.

Since the packets are the same size as those used in TCP, none of the equipment along the internet itself will have to be modified, and no new hardware will be needed on computers receiving the data.

The first practical test of Fast TCP took place in November at a supercomputing conference. Researchers from Caltech, Stanford and CERN near Geneva in Switzerland, sent data 10,000 kilometres from Sunnyvale, California, to CERN at an average rate of 925 megabits per second. Ordinary TCP managed just 266 megabits per second on the same routes.

By ganging 10 Fast TCP systems together, the researchers have achieved transmission speeds of over 8.6 gigabits per second, which is more than 6000 times the capacity of ordinary broadband links.