" This beta flash update includes support for scanners that are not Apple SCSI Manager 4.3 compliant. DO NOT attempt to install this beta firmware on the Grappler SCSI 940UW or the Grappler SCSI 906F. Once installed, the Grappler Scanner Control Panel will no longer be necessary.

http://www.orangemicro.com/updatescsi.html

This beta should correct most non-Apple SCSI 4.3 compliant scanner issues. A final release will be made hopefully sometime next week. This will include 'blue G3' boot capability. Updates for the 906F and 940U coming shortly after. "

Note: a Grappler owner reported the Umax Magicscan G3 Updater (see sidebar, reported in yesterday's news) reported here earlier was a 'complete fix' for his scanner problems.

Sonnet G3/ATTO SCSI Nubus One of the latest updates to the Rate Your G3 Card database was from a Sonnet G3 upgraded Radius 81/110 owner that reported a problem with the upgrade and his ATTO SCSI card:

" Some lock up and reboot but no more than what I normally get from pushing my mac. Definite increase in 3-d rendering speed (5X!) in apps like bryce 3-d. Only major problem is that I had to pull my ATTO SCSI card because it kept locking up my computer when I had to copy to the HD attached to it. Wonder if this is a common problem with these cards? "

If you own a ATTO nubus SCSI card and Nubus Mac G3 upgrade card please let me know if you've seen problems with a Sonnet/Vimage/NewerTech G3 upgrade.

A reader reported (in a mail sent to this site and many others) the new OpenGL drivers negatively affected his ability to burn CDRs:

" Even though the Open GL driver brought some great improvements, I have also experienced a terrible negative....

After installing the Open GL driver, I've been constantly producing 'coasters' on my CD-R drive. I've tried to produce several different CDs (audio, data, CD from img, etc), but have failed each and every time. The CD-R just halts about half way into the process. Uninstalling the Open GL driver instantly solved the problem.

FYI, I am using Toast 3.5.6 with Plextor 2/4 CD-R (ext.).
Aro "

I've added these comments to my Rage128 Feedback page which lists many other comments on the new drivers.

MoluCad OpenGl demo: Speaking of OpenGL, Daniel sent a note that MoluCad (demo download avail.) supported OpenGL but only in software mode (he could not get it to work with the beta drivers or even the previous ATI drivers and the conix libraries, except in software opengl mode. Get it at http:// www.kinematics.com.

Mystery Mac at Ebay: Doug Landry of the PB Zone sent a note that Ebay has a Mystery Mac item for sale which he thinks looks a lot like the AMP prototypes of a few years back. The description at the Ebay page says:

"Ý I bought this weird mac thing from an estate auction. I have no idea what it is for. It has audio and video RCA outputs, S-Video out, Serial, Network, RF in and outs, SCART/TV and SCRAT/VCR and SCSI.Ý What ever it is the model number is M4120.Ý I was curious so I plugged it into the tv set and it brought up a system but I am not a mac guy so I can't tell you what it is. I was told by a lacal computer shop that this may be a prototype of some sort.Ý Bidders good luck. "

Current bid price as of 10:00 AM EST Sunday was $810.00. Doug has posted a page called "Apple Prototype For Sale on eBay" with more information. As always, use caution at auction sites. I've seen many Motorola CHRP fakes, etc. offered at various places on the web.

Reminder: If you do not enter a valid email address (if the address bounces, is omitted, etc.) your Rate Your G3 Card entry is not valid and will not be posted. Phil Pitner and Paul Daley - you both put your last name in the email field (instead of your email address) so the records cannot be posted. Email addresses are only used for verification and not viewable to the public from the search page. The latest updates to the database include several more iMac overclocking reports.

Jun Kim wrote that the new 333Mhz iMacs have hit retailer stores this weekend. He said they come with new banana and cherry replacing lime and apple, priced at $1199. A friend from the Net said he got to see a new rev D iMac 333, and as expected it appeared to be identical to the rev C feature wise, except for processor speed. Every time I go into the Costco (Richmond or Harrisionburg), the most popular computer there is the Rev B iMac. $899. I wish Apple would restore the mezannine connector so that the iMac Voodoo2 card could be used on the newer Macs.

MP850/750 1.01 Driver Update: A reader just noted that Villagetronic has a v1.01 update (2.8MB) to their MP850/750 (3Dfx Banshee) graphics card and as Frank indicated on the latest 3D Gaming News page, it is said to fix the audio stuttering noted with the previous drivers noted on our MP850 Game Tips/Perf. and MP850 Glide Performance pages.

MP850 OpenGL Due Q3/99: Oliver wrote in reply to my comments earlier today on OpenGL support with non-ATI cards with a note on what was on the box of his new MP850:

" i just received another mp850. on the box there was a sticker with information about rave and opengl support:

• QuickDraw 3D RAVE scheduled for April/May 1999
• OpenGL support scheduled for Q3/1999.

that could mean anything from july to september. here's a link to a picture of the box: http://www.cult.ch/mp_850_box.jpg
i'm happy that i have a b&w g3 with a built-in ati rage 128!
i already posted it in your 3dfx forum. thanks again for your great work!!!
regards,
oliver "

At least now he's set for everything (3dfx, RAVE and OpenGL -the latter two via Rage128 for now).

The 3D Game News page has been updated with Frank's weekend update.

7500/XLR8 G3 at 480MHz: In what may be the fastest 7500 on the planet, Craig Dashut reported in the Rate Your G3 CPU Card database that his 7500/100 is running 60/480 with a XLR8 G3/400 card ($849 now from Bottom Line):

" Able to run at 480mhz using a 60mhz bus on a 7500 with VAL4 motherboard. Scored 1530 on MB4.0. Was only able to run the card at 450mhz on a Umax J700. Could it be the nonremovable level 2 cache in the J700 limits the bus speed? Great card especially now that prices are dropping. "

Randall Markarian reported his $889 466MHz XLR8 ZIF is running 500Mhz in his beige G3. 500MHz for under $900 is pretty amazing. All these results are possible because they are adjustable speed models, which give you more options and potential.

A reader reported the Miles 1.08 update fixed the problem where his B&W G3 IDE slave (installed per my tutorial) would not work with the Miles card installed.

" Hi Mike,
Just wanted to let you know that the 1.08 firmware upgrade for the initio miles does fix the incompatibility I encountered previously with the slave IDE drive and the card. The 1.08 upgrade fits the pre-January Miles (32k) cards. I have not tested whether or not it also allows booting on the B&W Mac; I have no reason anymore with my two speedy ATA66 WD drives...
Patrick "

The latest update to the Rage128 Feedback page contains a reader report on that problems with Canvas 5 (and 6 possibly) have been fixed by the latest OpenGL beta drivers.

Resizing Partitions with HDT: A followup on the daily thread on 4th partition corruptions some people noted (many reported no finder quit/4th partition problems however)

" I have a working solution! I just tried it out for you, and you don't need to wipe the disk at all. Assuming the 4th partition problem is the 4th physical and not the fourth one made, you can do as follows:

Using RAID toolkit or HD toolkit by FWB (or any other app that has these functions)

1. start the program
2. double click the drive to bring up its partition info
3. select the third physical HFS partition.
4. choose resize volume
5. decrease the size by 1024k
6. it may need to consolidate free space, which could take a while. to avoid this, run speed disk first and make sure to use the old optimization (leaving the end of the volume clean).
7. select the new free space of 1024k
8. choose create new volume... from one of the menus (I forget which one)
9. click-off bootable and automount and set size to 800k (this is the smallest addressable size disk under 8.5.1. If you ever plan to use 8.5 or greater, don't make it smaller (I don't think it lets you anyway)). 10. make the partition and...
11. Boom, now you have a fifth partition in the number four slot that is as small as possible and you can ignore it.

I tried it, it worked. Don't set above 800k, as it may want to consolidate free space to create the volume, and this came up as taking 3 1/2 hours!, so I rebooted, as there is no way to quit the process. I was using an empty volume for my test so as not to damage anything if it didn't work. But it did, and should work for you too. You will lose 1MB of space, but these days, that is not that much, especially if you have drives large enough to partition into four (five).

Now whether this solves the problems, I can't tell you, because I never experienced it to begin with. Hope this helps.
Mike K "

Bottom Line ZIF Sale: Site sponsor Bottom Line sent a sale note on 400/266/1MB ZIF Upgrades:

" BottomLine anounces the fastest zif upgrades on the market using super fast cache. By using very expensive Late [Write] cache the new Bottomline Railgun's running at 400 and 450/466Mhz are able to run at 1 1/2 to 1 cache ratio. No other accelerator at this time is able to run at these speeds. Power hungry users may want to check them out.

Railgun G3 400Mhz 1Mb Backside Cache 3:2 zif $649.00

Railgun G3 450Mhz 1Mb Backside Cache 3:2 zif $899.00

Pre order this unit and we will put on a 466mhz chip which will run at over 500mhz and give it to you for only $849.99 (valid until 4-20-99 or for the first100 orders only) "

The also sent their latest list of weekly specials.

B&W G3/Authorization Tip: A workaround for the lack of a floppy drive on the new G3s:

FYI...
My B&W G3 is now running Cubase 3.52 with the authorization on my Jaz drive using an Adaptec 2906 SCSI-2 card. I authorized the Jaz from the floppy using my 7500 before I sold it. I neither need nor can afford the upgrade to Cubase 4.02(?) with the non-floppy authorization scheme, and was glad to find out this worked (2906 just arrived).

Thanks for the great site, very useful. I agree that the 'best' OS is the one that lets you most easily do what you want/need to do, and for me that's the Mac (as I keep telling my coworkers). For now, anyway - wouldn't it be great if there was real competition?
Kieren Mather "

If you didn't see the late update in yesterday's news David Urban wrote with a note on a Umax G3 updater at their ftp site that solved his OrangeMicro SCSI card/Umax scanner problems in a B&W G3.

If you missed the recent daily news a summary is below (great sale on SDRAM, and much more). For a blast from the past, read what was on the news page here exactly a year ago (EDO Dimms/6500, 9600/400 mach 5, Voodoo2 and Quake tips and more)

Other Net Computer News:

• Playstation Clones Go To Court Sony is trying to halt the shipment of PlayStation emulators for PC and Mac. Sony will appear today with Connectix and Bleem in separate hearings. By Leander Kahney. (Wired)
• MS Wags the Privacy Awards The Big Brother Awards chide companies that threaten civil liberties, and reserve an especially grim gift for Redmond. But Microsoft plays it up, and comes off unscathed. (Wired)

Friday's News Summary

• Umax Scanner Fix on FTP site
• Misinfo on ATI Rage128 release
• 2940U2W Speedflex works
• XLR8 Tech Note on 2940/Cache Cntl 1.3.1
• EZ230 drive mtg tip
• More OpenGL driver feedback/fixes
• Initio Bluenote beta rom feedback
• Comments on OpenGL for 3dfx owners
• ID Software's comments on MacOpengl/3dfx
• Dramatic Ram Price cuts on SDRAM
• Starcraft Action Figure offer for Macs
• Navcom Cache Control update
• OWC $449 366MHz/1MB ZIFs
• EZ230/OrangeMicro/B&W G3 working
• FAQ General Mac questions has Reliability tips
• G3 CPU Upgrade Ratings database updated
• 3Dfx Forums FutureCop bug report
• Other Net News

Thursday's News Summary

• Z-Force Status update
• Initio Bluenote SCSI card beta firmware update
• 466MHz ZIFs - info on CPU rated speeds (450 vs 466)
• Rage128 Feedback page has openGL beta info
  (incl. reports on DVD/CGVS/OpenGL apps)
• Info on Adaptec's 64-Bit PCI SCSI Cards
• OpenGL driver feedback
• Rate Your G3 CPU Card report on overclocking Sonnet/8100
• 472MHz report on XLR8/400 in 9500
• More reports on 4th Partition Thread
• More Audio Apps/G3 Cards Feedback
• 3D Graphics Chip Scorecard at Cnet
• Jargon page/FAQ explains tech terms
• Other Computer news

For other recent site news/features links, see the Sidebar to the right and the Recent Site Features page.

If you own a G3/300 or faster Mac, make you get our PPC Checker utility that will report if your CPU is copper or aluminum based.

Considering a G3 Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. The database is being updated daily for new reports. Also make sure you ask your dealer about any issues with current builds of some models (ie PF G3) as I have gotten several reports of issues with certain mac models in the last few months (Mach 5, PowerBase, 7300). I urge any owners that have had problems to report this via the Survey Form. Always give the most weight to recent owner reports (dated in the listing).

-Show All Topics-

B&W G3 Related:

-MagicScan G3 Updater
(912K G3/Scanner Fix)
OpenGl Drivers
FireWire 2.0
[File Download]
OEM B&W Ultra2 SCSI card
[File Download]
Miles/MilesU2 Updates
ATTO ExpressPCI 1.3.4
(U2 & UW cards)
Rage128 Update 1.0 (485K bin)
or Binhex (660K)
ATTO ExpressPro-Tools [2.1.1]
3940UW v4.1b1 ROM
(Get the 4.0 control below as well)
2940UW v4.1 ROM &
2940UW Control 4.0
Formac PowerRaid Updates
[get hqx version]
Jackammer v1.4 Update
VirtualGameStation 1.1
Plaintalk Enabler
[For B&W/iMac]
Fuse Drivers

Other G3 Models:
-Umax MagicScan v4 (912K)
(G3/Scanner Fix)
OrangeMicro 930U Beta
PPC Checker
Int. Modem Scripts
Apple Modem Update
[File Download]
PB G3 Modem 1.0.2
G3 Modem Update (V.90/56Flex)
See VersionTracker's G3 page for others...

G3 CPU Cards:
Vimage PB1400/2400
Vimage G3/240
(Vimage Update Info)
MacTell G3 Cntl
XLR8 Cache Cntl v1.3 [628KB]
PowerLogix SW
 -Cache Cntl 1.5.1
 -Speedmeter 1.3
 -GuardBit 1.0b2
  (Retrospect fix)
MAXpowr G3 1.3.7
XLR8 Cache Cntl 1.2

Misc/General:
OrangeMicro 930U Beta
MP850 v1.01 update (2.8MB)
ATI OpenGl Drvrs
Office98 GUID Patch
Fuse v1.8
Java Runtime 2.1.1
Drive Setup 1.7.2
USB Overdrive
Mac Mesa OpenGL
MP850 Glide 1.0
USB Drivers
Blue Label Update 1
Mouseworks 5.20 (1.5M)
Inspire 3D 1.0C (7.2MB)
NavCom Cache Cntl 1.3
Logitech MouseWare USB
Yamaha CRW4416 ROM v1.0f
(See Mac Update Utility page)
Apple Displays Software 1.7.1
GV V.90 Flex Preferred Script
IE 4.5 Plug-in Updater
Farallon NIC Update
Lightwave 5.6D GL Update
(7.9MB Download)
MacTell Vision3D Pro/Lite 5.4.0
(ROM update also)

Formac GA 5.4.0
(Graphics Card Driver)
Virtual PC 2.1.2
Stuffit Expander 5.1

Games Related:
Unreal 2.20 B3
MacMame(emulator)
3Dfx Checker Util
Descent 3Dfx 1.14
FutureCop 101A
MP850 Glide Drivers
CVGS v1.2
T.Raider2 Update

OS 8.5 Related
Check VersionTracker
for other updates.

See also Apple's Software Updates

Apple TIL Updates

Check here for cool Sherlock Plugins