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12/02/98 - Wednesday's News:	Click for Current News Page
A employee of MacWarehouse wrote to say they are sold out of Ultimate Rez cards and can't take any more orders. They said readers of the site continued to call and asked that I post a note that they were sold out. Carmageddon 'Fix' works with MacMagic: It seems the patch posted here today solves the problem even with the MacMagic (8MB) card: " The macmagic tweaker setting doesnĄt help [see post below-Mike], that was the first I tried. With the "Carmageddon Fix" [posted here earlier today] application I could have the tweaker setting on 4/4 MB and still run the game. (Tweaked to 58 MHz in a PM 8600) And without any crashes. It seems that the fix forces the game further, because from time to time, with any version of Carmageddon, the game "holds" for some seconds (maybe a 1/2 s or 1/4 s:-)) The case with the Macmagic-card was that this card or its driver crashed the game when these "holds" occured. My speculations... Regards Christian " Alex has added some additional comments to his "Why OS X will run on your Mac"" article. His comments attempt to clarify some things mentioned in his original article. Apparently he saw some of the same reactions to this heated issue that I did when we covered it several months ago (see the Tips page for a two sides of the OS X issue article). MacMagic Tip: In response to today's earlier post on the issue of ram size affecting Carmageddon, Mr. Mayhem sends a note that MacMagic's cool Tweaker also has a setting that may help [Update: one reader said this did not fix the problem with his MacMagic in Carmageddon - but the patch posted here today did work!]: " All owners of the MacMagic have to do is open the MacMagic Tweaker and lower the texture buffer to 2 MB. It is mentioned in the manual that certain games may not like the extra MBytes of memory, but that this should solve the problem. I haven't tried this myself since I don't have Carmageddon, but I suspect it will work. /Magnus "Mayhem" Helin " To Pure3D owners or others downloading the patch mentioned earlier today, you may have to drag and drop the SIT file onto Stuffit Expander to unpack it. OS 8.5 Desktop Pictures Tip: Bob Gale wrote: " Mike, Here's something interesting I haven't read anywhere about system 8.5: if you have a folder full of pictures (or aliases of pictures, in my case,) you can make system 8.5 randomly select a different desktop pic each time you startup by dragging the folder onto the left (desktop pic) panel in the appearance control panel. Click the 'set desktop' button, and you'll have a different desktop pic every time you startup. No need for 'Decor' or any of the new desktop pic switchers for 8.5. Note that the folder must be on your startup disk for this to work. Bob Gale " I've had one more report of problems with TTPro 2 and Softraid (several owners report no problems however). The common thread so far seems to be OS 8.5, and this owner had a PowerForce G3 design CPU card which may also be a factor. Apparently from other owner reports that all is ok, there is not a universal problem with TechTool Pro 2 and Raid in general. Refurbished Macs: Often times a refurbished Mac can be a great deal (but warranties are usually only 90 days or less). PowerON had refurbished PowerCenter Pro 180s ($699) and PowerCenter Pro 210 ($799) systems. (these sold out.) Jonathan Clay wrote that although his 180 didn't have the PCI SCSI card (2930b usually) it looked like new and he is very happy. See my 'Inside the PowerCenter Pro' review (systems page) for more info on this little 60MHz bus speed Power Computing model. I've got a first model PF G3/250 (first G3 card reviewed here last Oct.) running 300/200/60 in my PCPro 180 with the stock L2 cache intact. Often times a refurbished Mac is less expensive than trying to upgrade some models like the 7200, where owners usually have to replace the motherboard and get a CPU card, etc. which can cost more than just selling the 7200 and getting a faster/more expandable refurbished model. (If the iMac above was a rev B model I'd be tempted to get it for Kay as a Xmas/1st Wedding anniversary present). Graphics Chip Poll: The Unreal Tips and Tricks page has a new poll that asks what graphics chip would you like to have on your next Mac video card (or system if Apple is willing ;-). The choices are the 3Dfx Banshee (fast 2D/3D/Glide compatible), ATI Rage128 (fast 2D/3D/RAVE/OpenGL compatible), Riva TNT (very fast 2D/3D/OpenGL compatible), 3Dfx Voodoo 2 (3D Glide/RAVE compatible - no 2D video), or PowerVR (Not sure what APIs their latest chip supports). I've had several companies ask this question and this is your chance to let them know what interests you most. Go Vote! (requires javascript compliant browser). Carmine's (MiM) News Feed AppleTIL Updates (WEDNESDAY:12/02/98)  Mac OS 8.5: No Power Computing Support  iMac: iMac Update 1.0 Software  Using Netscape SSL with WebObjects 3.5.1  Mac OS: About Mac OS Extended Format  AppleTalk Remote Access: Data Compression  AppleTalk Remote Access: Don't Use at 1200 bps  Mac OS 8.5: Problems reading Installation Tome from CD-ROM  AppleTalk Remote Access: Managing SecurityZone  AppleTalk Remote Access: Network Install from Hard Disk  AppleTalk Remote Access: Uses Portions of Comm Toolbox  System 7: 7.5.3 and Later Enabler Matrix  Creating a WebObjects Application With a Single Editing Context  Porting Windows WebObjects Applications to Unix Platforms FWB HardDisk Toolkit 3.0.1 upgrade [fix for disappearing icons on PowerBooks with OS 8.5] (FWB) More on TechTool Pro 2/SoftRaid: Paul Killen responds to today's earlier post reporting different results: " Mike I have been using SoftRaid 2.1.5 with two Atlas drives (striped) in a PowerMac 8500 equiped with a Powerlogix G3 220/110/512 running at 337/135/45 with both OS 8.1 and OS 8.5. I have had no problems with TechTool 2.1.1 on this machine. In fact, I routinely defragment weekly with this utility and have had no problems with my Raid array. Paul Killen University of Michigan " Patrick Harvey also reported using SoftRaid and Tech Tool Pro 2 with no problems. GameWizards in Stock: George Cole of Bottom Line sent word they have 13 12MB Game Wizard. (Link is to my review.) More on ixTV/PageMaker Conflicts: It seems the digitizer (capture) extension may be the real culprit in this mix. " Mike, Please note that I have been running Pagemaker 6.5.2, the QuickTime plug-in from QT 3.02 and ixTV without the ixTV vdig extension (needed only for frame capture) with no problems opening either existing documents or creating new ones. If frame capture isn't an issue this may be an easy workaround. As always, thanks for all you do. Arthur Adams " TechTool Pro 2 and Softraid 2.1.5: I've asked if Bill is running the latest TechTool Pro 2.1.1r2 version but wanted to post this to get feedback from other owners: " Tech2Pro. I've been using this program for sometime on my 7500/8.5 O/S/NewerTech250/Initio-Miles-2drive-external RAID with ConleySoftRAID 2.5.1 [I think the latest ver is 2.1.5-Mike]. I'm not sure that TT2 is compatible with RAID drives, or at least my software/hardware set-up. Twice TT2 has warned me that I had serious volume structure problems. Apple's DiskFirstAID didn't find any problems, and as far as I could tell I wasn't getting any other serious errors. But I took TT2's advice and booted from my internal drive and ran TT2 allowing it to "fix" the problem. Luckily I also took TT2's stern advice to back-up. As I had just done so via Retrospect 4.1 and the new Lacie DVD-RAM. I gave it a shot. I lost. As soon as TT2 was finished I got a Finder error that said that it couldn't find the RAID drive. I rebooted, and still got not disk image. At this point I gave up and reformatted the RAID, and reinstalled all of the software from the DVD-RAM. I really like TT2. I hope you can find time to look into its use with RAIDS. Regards, Bill Hennan " Apparently Bill's setup is not typical - as many readers later wrote to say the Softraid/TTPro 2 combo has worked fine for them. Mac Carmageddon 3DFx Fix: Orion Bawdon wrote in response to recent posts here from readers reporting problems with the 8MB MacMagic and Carmageddon (and notes from Frank on 3dfx cards with more than 4MB having problems): " In response to the recent comments about Carmageddon not working with some 3dfx cards, I would like to confirm that Carmageddon does not in fact work with the 6MB Pure3D card (I have one) or any other card with more than 4MB. On the PC side, all you had to do was change a DOS environment variable but of course we Mac users don't have that option, so I developed my own fix some months ago (attached if you would like to post it to your web page). It will *probably* only work with the TechWorks drivers (the fix patches the driver) but it won't hurt anything for others to try. On my system it has eliminated all crashes, and Carmageddon 3dfx plays perfectly well. -Orion Bawdon " To download Orion's patch (use at your own risk) - click here (You may have to drop it on Stuffit Expander's icon to unstuff it.) If MacMagic owners try this and it works please contact me. [Update: MacMagic's Tweaker has a "limit texture ram to 2MB" setting that may fix the problem as well] Another reader sends a copy of IXMicro's response to the web rumors of them going out of business. (I posted a similar letter a few days ago): " Hi, Rumor. Apple purchased several thousands of our Ultimate Rez cards for pending G3 orders. Apparently they orders they received were not what they expected. So they sold the Ultimate Rez cards at an incredibly low price to some distributors. Since the Ultimate Rez is selling for a low price this has given the impression that we are going out of business. We will be posting something regarding this on our web page soon.... Thank You Best Regards Sydney www.ixmicro.com " The fact these 'sale cards' were apple labled (on the ROM and box I hear) seems to make their story true. However you know that OEMs do not normally get the retail boxed versions (OEM's get them in bulk) and no Apple OEM G3 version shipped with the retail software bundle. [Note - IXmicro did later close their doors. In 2001, so did 3dfx and Newer Technology.] A reader reports that Newer Technology's announced G3 CPU upgrades for the APS clones, Starmax 3000-5000 series and Apple 4400 would be priced lower than currently available models from Vimage. Today's Unreal news page has another massive update, including feedback on the Unreal strategy guide, new maps, a new Unreal site, FutureCop first comments and much more. Frank Bernier wrote that Macwelt (German magazine) has a review of the VillageTronic MP850 in the kiosk version at http://www.macwelt.de/_aktuellesheft/. I can't read German and didn't see anything at that URL but if there are any readers that could interpret the German to English I'd apprecite it. Yesterday's News Summary 56K vs Cable Modem Performance Tests (reader report) Why OS X will run on your Mac (Cats-n-Dogs column issue 13) Carmine's TIL Updates and Net News Feed Maxtor 10GB drive mixup - info on faster drive box S/Ns MacToday picks our site as one of their favorites ixTV/PageMaker Conflicts More on $29 Monster 3D (3Dfx) sale Info on MacMagic/Carmageddon XLR8 400 ZIF and Tech Tool Pro 2 arrive Unreal news page updated Other Net News For other recent site news/features links, see the Recent Site Features page. Note: Before sending tech support related questions please check the Freq. Asked Questions, Site Contents, CPU Card reviews/articles, SCSI reviews articles, Graphics card reviews, Tips/Misc, Message Boards and Help pages - in many cases the answers to your questions are there and they have far more detail than I can list in an email. For Apple G3 system info - see the G3-ZONE. News and guest reviews that don't require a reply are always welcome. I hope to catch up in the next few weeks. Thanks. Looking for past articles? Check the menu frame topics links (CPU Cards, SCSI, Graphics Cards, Systems) under the logo above or in the menu frame below or check the Recent Features page. Make a Difference: Be the Difference Randy Mita, Brad Lau and I came up with a new slogan and theme for Mac advocacy - "Make a Difference: Be the Difference". We're asking that all Mac owners take advantage of every opportunity to let others know the Mac advantage. It's a grass-roots approach that will surely help.