03/06/98 - Friday's News:
- My Voodoo2 card did not arrive again today - that's 3 strikes. I should have bought
the one from a viewer at Best Buy. At this rate the Diamond Moster 3D II will be out before
I get one.
Here's the latest on the Voodoo2 cards:
- 2D Pass-through video quality is said to be much improved over the original Voodoo cards, with reports that even 1600x1200 @ 85 Hz resolution looked fine.
- For those wanting to do SLI (Scan Line Interlacing) with two cards, they must be the exact same brand and memory size for this to work. It seems the cable supplied with the current Creative cards is too long as well (1.5" too long).
- Diamond claims they addressed a heat issue with the reference 3Dfx Voodoo 2 card design used by Creative. However one review I read seemed to disprove that story - they used a bag over a Dual PII 300 system with two internal Cheetahs during the test without a lockup, so the heat issues could be Diamond blowing "smoke".
- Diamond's 12MB card will ship with tweaked drivers (a slider for card clock speed) and hardware design, and a good game bundle. The 12MB version of the Monster 3D II will ship "early 2nd quarter" and retail for $299.
- Creative's 12MB card is available now, but in limited supply. Cyberian Outpost sells the Creative card for $289.99 but had no stock when I lasted checked.
I've been tied up at work today and have not checked mail as I usually do. Sorry for the sparce updates today. [4:05 PM Update]
- $2000 G3 PowerBook? News.com says so. That could really take a bite out of PC notebook sales (and those G3 upgrades as well). [4:05 PM Update]
- Imagine 128S2 PC Video Cards in a Mac: Number Nine sent additional info on why you can't use a PC version of the Imagine 128S2 in a Mac:
"
One other note, the Imagine 128 Series 2 (PC) did not have flashable
bios in the first place, thus it could not be updated in the field with
S/W. The bios chip had to be replaced and we do not and will not update
it for the Mac.
Next area, the Imagine 128 Series 2 (PC Version) was not initially
designed for the Mac and one of the pins on the processor chip was not
used, which in the Mac environment, kept track of the vertical blank for
the hardware cursor. On the Mac card, we have a small PAL (programmable
Array Logic chip) that performed this task.
As for other cards, we think that one of the main reasons that the
Matrox card never caught on was the fact that they used what is believed
(not fact) the same card as on the PC side. We think that it suffered
from not being able to handle the Big Endian / Little Endian issue
efficiently, thus is was slow. This is exactly why you didn't see a lot
of S3 based Mac cards. The same issue.
"
I have updated the FAQ with this information. I don't have any info regarding the PC I128 Series 1 cards, but that's a moot point as they have been out of production for some time.
- PowerForce G3 Control Software Back Online: Allan J. Landwer informed me that PowerLogix is making their PowerForce G3 Cache Control software available on their website again.
- 3Dfx Quake 1.05 Results: I updated Quake to v1.08.5 last night and ran it on the MacPicasso 540/3D Overdrive. Since the 3DO has 8MB of Dram, I was able to run 800x600 mode (I had to exit and restart quake for the change to take effect). Using the latest version of their 3Dfx and GlideLib extensions 3Dfx Quake looked great, but delivered only 14.4fps on the TimeDemo Demo1 test. The results were identical with both the PowerTower Pro 180mhz 604E and the PowerForce 250 running at 292/292mhz. 640x480 mode delivered 23.7fps. It did not seem to matter which CPU card I used for either resolution, the results were the same.
Quake does look great at 800x600 though, but it looks like we'll have to wait for a Voodoo2 card to deliver enough speed to make it playable at that resolution. 14.4fps feels fairly smooth until the action heats up - and in deathmatch you'd be toast at that speed. I've not tested the RAVE version yet - but will on the Nexus GA, Xclaim VR and 3D, Imagine 128S2, and Ultimate Rez cards - hopefully this weekend. I have to finish the MacPicasso review first - it's long overdue.
- PB 3400 Battery Contact Fix: I'm sure it's old news to some of you but there is a gasket/foam pad available from Apple dealers that is supposed to fix the problem. Thanks to the many owners who wrote about this. Robert Kruse also sent the following tip:
Apple apparently provides a battery "gasket" to help the contact problem;
but I found that just cleaning the contacts--in the bay and on the battery
itself-- with rubbing alcohol completely eliminated my problem. I have
read elsewhere that people have used pencil erasers to abrade/clean the
surfaces with the same success. Now, this worked in my case, but proceed
at your own risk."
This won't improve contact force (compression) like the gasket will, but is a good thing to check if you've had your PowerBook for awhile.
- PowerBook Screen Replacement Criteria: Robert Friede wrote with info on Apple's official policy on what qualifies for a screen replacement:
"Well sir, you were right. After giving me the runaround for about an hour
in their automated phone system jungle, Apple insisted that only five blown
pixels or more constitutes a defect in their eyes. So much for their
guarantee...Hell, if there are enough of us with defective screens, there's
always legal action.
[He also had some interesting comments on the new Zip Plus Drives:]
On another sour note, I have had occasion to work on my college student
nephew's hand-me-down Powerbook 145 this week. I've got it humming along
now, but I should add that Iomega's new Zip Plus with its all-too-clever
autosensing cable is not compatible with it, causing the flashing ? mark
whenever the scsi cable's attached to the computer, regardless of where the
Zip is in the chain, or even alone by itself. I don't suppose it's worth it
to bother contacting Iomega about this.
Come to think of it, I recall not being able to place a Zip Plus anywhere
else but first in line with both my PB5300 or G3 without running into some
kind of trouble, usually read/write errors by the other external drives. I
guess I'll have to pick up one of those allegedly refurbished older Zips
for the kid. Well at least I tracked down a brand-new 240Meg Apple/IBM scsi
drive for the PB145 today going for $99 at Other World Computing. That's a
cool $50 less than the competition's asking. Not too shabby.
"
The new Zip Plus is said to offer improved speed, on/off switch and combination interface Parallel Port/SCSI.
- PowerTower Pro Drive Mtg Kit: The PowerTower Pro case has only a removable side cover, which prevents being able to use side standard PC style drive mtg kits since you only have open access to one side of the 5 1/4" drive bays. Mark Peek sent me information on a source of mounting kits that can be used:
"The part number on your links page is not correct. The part
listed is for a Power Wave style minitower case that houses its components
by using rails on both sides of the drive (the drive then slides in like a
drawer). I received 3 pairs of these rails ($10 each) for a total of $36
including shipping from Decision One. Unfortunately, it came with only the
rails.. no screws. Although the rails are plastic and smaller in width and
longer in length than the PT Pro's rail, it will work with a minor
modification. You will need to cut the end of the rail about an inch or
more. I made this modification and have successfully installed a Yamaha
CDR drive. However, getting through to Decision One is another story and
I don't think it is worth the trouble. The best solution is to order a
Power Computing Internal Mounting Rail Kit from MacConnection (P/N 37698).
For $9.95 you get 2 adapters for installing 3.5" drives in a full size bay
and you get plenty of screws. One adapter has rails on both sides of the
unit. You can remove one of these rails, cut it, and attach it to the
drive without screws. It has a wire on the rail that attaches perfectly to
both mounting holes on the drive. Problem solved.
"
The Power Computing section Links Page has been updated with this information.
- Apple G3 SCSI Card Bios Info: In response to yesterday's news item regarding the inability to flash the optional Apple G3 (ATTO) SCSI card using the standard ATTO Tools utility, an industry insider sent the following comments:
"
The SCSI card provided with the G3 is the ATTO card and it does have
flash ROM capability. However, Apple uses its own SIM (otherwise known as
bios) for the ATTO SCSI card. You will not be able to flash it with ATTO
bios updates.
The SIM was developed internally at Apple for host adapters using the
Fast Wide Symbios Logic SCSI controller, which was planned for Power
Express which was cancelled earlier this year. The ATTO card uses the
same Symbios Logic SCSI controller, so Apple decided to OEM the ATTO card
but to use the software which they have control over and have tested
thoroughly with the G3 processor."
- Initio SCSI Card Feedback: I've received at least two mails similar to this one, where there seemed to be a problem (in some configurations) with booting off an internal drive connected to the Initio Miles SCSI card when other drives were connected to the external SCSI of the Mac. I don't think it's a common problem, but I thought I'd post it here to see if others are having similar problems. Ed wrote about his specific problem:
"I have run into a problem where the SCSI card will freeze when I connect only my internal 2 Gig IBM apple certified HD to it and leave the externals on the Mac SCSI.
Since I use the internal as a boot drive I wanted a little better performance
out of it. I have a 7600/240, 11+ Gig, 220 Meg memory, Ix3D card and TV card.
If I plug the internal drive, which also has a CD Rom attached to it,
into the card and leave the external drives hooked up to the motherboard,
the card locks up. If I disconnect the externals, the card works and
system boots. If I leave the internal on the motherboard and hook up the
external to the card. everything works peachy. However, if I hook up both
the internals and externals to the board, the board again locks up. I
started off a floppy and inspected the SCSI devices that were connected
and detected by a SCSI program, with all connected to the board. Almost
all was visible except for one drive. The startup volume was there too.
This would indicate that there may be a SCSI address problem, I just do
not understand why it would affect the board when the externals were
hooked up to the motherboard. Possibly a different problem.
Finally, what was interesting was that the SCSI software correctly showed
the internal and external bus and it showed Initio as well. Cool three
buses. Now, I thought that it would show two separate buses for Initio
going from 0 to 7 with one 7 being occupied by the board. It did not it
showed one bus with IDs from 0 to 15. How do you select anything higher
than 7?"
Only Wide SCSI drives have options for setting ID's above 7. If you are running an Initio Miles SCSI card in this configuration, I'd like your comments.
- MacTell Vision Pro/Imagine 128 Control Panel: MacTell announces the latest drivers for it's Vision 3D Series of
graphics cards. They say it also supports all Number Nine Mac PCI video cards
including Imagine 128 and 128 Series 2. MacTell says the new driver increases performance by up to 40% for some card models. Get them right here: http://www.mactell.com/software/v3d_5.1.sea
- XLR8 G3 Card Feedback: I have a card here to review but I thought I'd post the scores listed in the message from Mark-Andrew Butt. He had some problems initially in his 8500/120 (and with certain settings still does) but a MacBench CPU score of 1162 is nothing to sneeze at:
Here are the Macbench Scores:
-Libmoto on
-1024 x 786 x 16bit internal video
-Appletalk off
Cpu/Cache
Speed (mhz) CPU FPU Video
320/212.3 1162 1028 790
300/200 1082 962 759
292.5/45 1057 938 782
270/180 976 865 N/A
- VST ZIP drive update: I forgot to post that I received my replacement PowerBook G3 Zip drive from VST the other day. This one is much quieter, and does not click with every access like the original one. I still hear one every now and then - but I'm very pleased with the drive overall. It's a nice addition to the PowerBook. As others have reported, it seems faster than the standard external ZIP drive.
- MacPicasso MP540/3D Overdrive wins MacWelt Award Marc Schmit of VillageTronic sent the following news:
"
[In the] current MacWelt issue (4/98) - this is the German edition of MacWorld.
They did a big comparison between:
ATI NexusGA, Elsa Mac RaverS, Formac Pro Formance II/80, Ixmicro Ix3D
Ultimate Rez, Matrox Millenium II, Phase 5 G-Rex 3D, VillageTronic
MP540+3D Overdrive, Techworks Power3D
I don't want to bother you but I would like to tell you that our solution
was given 6 of 6 possible mice. No other card received that many. To top
that off our solution is the TESTWINNER!
Just a few points:
There are five important functions:
correct textures, transparent reflections, movement, transparency and
crossings
Only one other board is able to do correct textures, some are not able to
do transparent reflections, transparency is only done by another one as
well. Only movement and crossings are done by all of them. Excerpt of their
conclusion:"
'The only board, which performs on all the test cycles (3D
apps as well as 3D games) is currently the MP 540 + 3D Overdrive from VillageTronic.'
I have only 2 complaints with the MP540/3DO so far - lackluster 2D speed (I don't suggest true color modes at more than 1024x768) and the fact the Mac 3Dfx Tweaker does not work with it. I do like the fact it is the only 3Dfx card with razor sharp 2D (no passthru cable need) and the fact they somehow output the 3Dfx Voodoo in a window in 3D applications. That's a engineering feat no other company (PC or Mac) has accomplished that I know of. BTW: the MacWelt site was *very* slow this morning.
It took several minutes to load the page. I did not see the review online, possibly it's not been posted yet (the pages are in German naturally).
- Take a Break: It's Friday - take a break from all the high-tech electronics and visit a Mac fan who makes some of the most unusual Lamps I've ever seen: http://www.curiousjohnlamps.com/
- More news later in the day.
Yesterday's News
Please keep this site alive by supporting my
Sponsors
|
