Applica’s PCI Card

The Applica PCI card is a multi-display adapter, using which your single PC can be made to work as two PCs. This can be useful for those on a tight budget–schools, libraries, government offices, or even small setups. The package includes a PCI board, a connector box with a VGA and two PS/2 ports, and a 15’ CAT 5 cable. The additional VGA monitor and the PS/2 keyboard and mouse connect to the connector box, which in turn is connected to the PCI card through the CAT 5 cable.

Once connected, you just need to install the drivers and the Applica software. It comes with drivers for Windows 9x on a CD, and for Windows 2000 on two floppies. We tested it on a Windows 98 machine. After a reboot, it shows a ‘Powered by Applica’ logo on your second monitor. You can then start using the second monitor by running the Applica Control Center from the first one. The rest of the settings, such as automatic launching of stations, disabling of Windows shutdown, and sending a broadcast message can also be configured from here.

When everything is up and running, you can access the applications running on the Windows PC and even share the resources. We tried opening and using quite a few applications and didn’t face any problem. We were also able to use the printer connected to the Windows machine. The machine worked well with 64 MB RAM, however, for faster opening of applications we recommend 128 MB RAM. Of course, the actual performance depends upon the entire system configuration.

The product comes with a one-year warranty, and is a good option for those on a budget. You will of course, need to purchase a monitor, mouse, and keyboard separately to use this product.

Neelima Vaid at PCQ Labs