03/04/98 - Wednesday's News:
- Tim Armstrong sends news of even lower 4GB Cheetah pricing than I posted earlier:
"
I found the 4.5gig Seagate Cheetahs for $599.00 at MegaHaus, both the
narrow and wide versions (Seagate's # ST34501N & ST34501W). (I actually
saw these prices printed in their ad in the Apr. '98 Macworld, p. 140,
before I found their web site, http://www.megahaus.com/. It looks like
they're mostly a PC outfit, but some good deals to be had on cross-
platform equipment.)"
I don't have any current feedback on this vendor, if you do please contact me.
- SCSI Card/Raid Perf. Graphs: I've posted Graphs of the Atto benchmark data shown in
my SCSI Card/Raid Software comparison. The pages are basic for now but will be
spruced up a bit as time allows. You can compare how each Raid package did on each of the four SCSI cards or how each card performed with each of the 5 Raid packages. Clicking on either of the 2 animated gif graphs on each page will show you static versions of each of the frames. Check it out!
Thanks to Glen Speckert, author of Dog, Disc, and Wind for doing the graphs and prototype pages.
- Newer Tech PowerBook 1400 G3 Upgrade: C/NET has a news story about Newer Technologies PowerBook 1400 G3 CPU upgrade. As reported here in the Feb. 14th news, the upgrade was first available from the Japanese company Interware (click here for a picture of their card).
The upgrade is said to be offered in a 216 MHz version for $699 and a 250 MHz model for $999. Very attractive options for PB 1400 owners, and with prices well under $2000 for a new PB 1400 this could boost sales of the PB 1400 as well.
- Matrox Millennium Bios v3.01 Feedback: For those Millennium owners considering the v3.01 bios update, read what Russ Carleton has to say:
"I did some testing today with the 3.01 version of the Matrox BIOS. It was 1
point faster on the Norton video test (396 vs. 397). So I don't think it's
really that much faster;)
Further, though 75Hz no longer drives my monitor crazy, it STILL won't
work. If you look at the Matrox desk top Control Panel, 75 & 85 Hz are
LISTED for 1600x1200, but when you select them, they "de-select"
themselves. If you use Apple's Montiors and Sounds Control Panel, only 60 &
67Hz are listed for 1600x1200. So, I can still only use 67Hz, which drives
ME crazy. Needless to say I'm back with that old "slow" version 1.16
version of the BIOS and 75Hz is once again gracing my monitor.
"
I assume Matrox will address the problem in a future update - just wanted to give a heads-up to owners looking to upgrade their bios.
- Mac OS8 Visual QuickStart Guide: I saw this on Evangelist and thought it might be of interest:
"
March Special Offer (good until March 31, 1998): Get an AUTOGRAPHED copy
of "Mac OS 8 Visual QuickStart Guide" for $12.00 plus shipping ($3.00
priority US or $6.00 airmail International). Giles Road Press accepts
MasterCard and Visa; orders may be faxed to 520-684-3965. Check the Web
site for additional information.
Visit Giles Road Press at http://www.gilesrd.com/
"
- LibMoto URL: Michael Linde wrote me yesterday looking for a URL to download LibMoto
(apparently my Reviews/Features page is not being used), I replied
that the link to the Motorola download form is at the bottom of my Libmoto Notes page, along with other issues and information about it. I'm posting this here as his email address bounced.
For the record I no longer use the extension in my work, and as reported in yesterday's news, the improvements I've seen in most programs are nil. Compatibility issues with
the games Hornet and Carmageddon have recently been reported as well. Read my Libmoto Notes page for more information. Reports of compatibility issues are noted there as well.
- Someone reported Seagate Cheetah 4GB drives for $629.50 at CDW. Wish I could afford a 2nd one for a Raid array in the G3 Minitower (with proper cooling fans of course).
- "Brandon Spinn's" PowerLogix claims: Someone calling himself "Brandon Spinn" sent this site and many others a mail claiming he'd been sold a PowerForce board that did not meet spec. Checks by Bottom Line showed no record of any calls or sales to a "Brandon Spinn", and PowerLogix later replied that two of the persons email addresses bounced - one at a major Mac magazine/site (?!).
PowerLogix and Bottom Line have both tried to assist this customer repeatedly. Based on his actions and the fact there is no record of his purchase or claimed calls to Bottom Line I consider this whole episode suspect, possibly originating at a competitor.
This person also flamed me in mail - claiming I had deleted his post of the problem in my Upgrades forum (he neglected to refresh the page is why he didn't see the post) and other accusations. Brian Clark posted a nice note regarding his accusations called "Time for some Sanity". Thanks Brian for the kind words and for bringing some sanity to this whole mess.
Brandon Spinn, or whoever you are - if you really have a problem then take PowerLogix and Bottom Line up on their offer to assist.
- On a ligher note, I saw a post in the Evangelist from David P. Huff that I found humorous:
"
Found an amusing web page today, the "Operating System
Sucks-Rules-O-Meter" at:
http://electriclichen.com/linux/srom.html
The page's description states:
"This operating system quality and approval metric is based on a periodic
Alta Vista search for each of the 4 products above directly followed by
the word "sucks" or the word "rules." Please bookmark this page and
return to note the growing "Linux rules" consensus in the OS market."
Perhaps if more of the Mac web pages that Alta Vista can find included
the text "MacOS rules" then we'd note a growing consensus for *our*
favorite OS too!
"
Note the long red bar for Windows.
- My full time employer has me doing some 3D work (texturing and painting 3D models) at nights now, so that will delay reviews for a few days (I hope only a few days). This could not have come at a worse time. I'll try to still have some new reviews posted this weekend. (MP540/3D0 and XLR8 G3 card).
Yesterday's News
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