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12/04/98 - Friday's News:	Click for Current News Page
Theimac.com has new articles on PowerPrint USB (PC printer adapter), iDrive USB Floppy (at $100, I think I'd spend $49 more and get the USB ZIP or Superdisk drive) and iMac training for demo days. They also say that Aspyr Media, the developers of Tomb Raider II will be participating in their TRII Chat tonight at 7PM. = [4:00 PM Update] = Carmine's (MiM) News Feed AppleTIL Updates (FRIDAY:12/04/98)  Apple System Profiler: Reports no L2 Cache for PowerBook 1400  Changes to Apple Software Updates posted online  WW Apple SW Updates Available Online  Mac OS 8.5: Is Apple Telecom Supported?  iMac: Modem Initialization Strings  Finding Apple Software Updates Online GameSprockets Version: 1.5 (Apple) (Long list of 1998 web article links removed since most had expired/pages deleted/moved.) Frank Sottile wrote that Promise Technology, a well known name of PC IDE controller cards has an IDE Raid card available now for the PC. He (and I) wonder if enough Mac owners wrote if they would consider supporting the Mac with these products. Low cost and very fast IDE drives are available now, but most Macs don't have IDE interfaces. [As of 1998 only the Beige G3 had onboard IDE standard. Later G3 and G4 Mac models have onboard IDE as the standard drive interface now.] A long-shot perhaps, but what have we got to lose. They have web pages devoted to their std UltraDMA IDE, IDE Raid and SCSI cards (they are primarily known for their IDE controllers - I've used them for years at work on older PCs to add enhanced IDE support to older machines). UDMA 66 (66MB/sec peaks) is a new proposed standard that is developing in the PC world and promises to offer even more performance. [Update: See the IDE articles page for later info on Mac ATA/66, ATA/100 and IDE RAID cards from Acard, Sonnet, etc.] Thad Brown sent Issue 27 of our Mac Audio column discussing software samplers, new audio interfaces and notes on mastering audio at home. The current issue and links to back issues is always available at http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/audio/ George Cole of Bottom Line reports they just received 50 more of the 8MB and 12MB Game Wizard Voodoo II cards. To learn more about the Game Wizard (performance/screenshots of games using it) see my Game Wizard Preview. = [2:00 PM Update] = The Unreal Tips and Tricks page has a new Poll asking if and when you plan on buying a Banshee card (Asap, After a Review, After the 3D/game drivers are released or not a all). The Graphics chip poll was pulled due to a very suspicious burst of ATI Rage128 votes. Within one hour Frank said it had a 40% rise. We suspect padding was done so the poll has changed until I can incorporate a CGI that does not allow repeat votes. = [12:00 PM Update] = Doug Au wrote that the beta version of the Palm MacPac is now online at: http://www.palm.com/macintosh/index.html [Thanks Doug!] Frank Bernier wrote that according to sources in Germany the MP850 (VillageTronic 16MB Banshee card) will be available on Dec. 18th there. Not sure when USA shipments will arrive but we are inquiring now for an update. Stay tuned here for a lot more info on the cards to appear very soon. Summary on MacWelt MP850 Article: An AOL reader sent a translation of the MacWelt magazine comments on the MP850 card. Basically it did not seem to be a review at all, just comments on the card and the details they listed are ones already generally known. There appeared to very limited test results and only in 2D (3D driver is not finished). Here's a summary from the translation: 128-bit 2D acceleration, 3Dfx (game) compatible 3D graphics 250MHz RAMDAC/3Dfx Banshee chip 16MB SGRAM (apparently not lower cost SDRAM) TV/Video addon models to be available (Svideo out connector on card) Supports Rave, Glide (3dfx games) and OpenGL Up to 2000 x 1124 pixels in true color. Horizontal [scan rate] freq: up to 125 kHz. 1280 x 1024 pixels at 85 Hz and up to 1152 x 870 pixels at up to 160Hz (and 100Hz) vert refresh. 1152 x 870, millions colors tests with a Apple G3/233 show it was faster in 2D than the Formac [Mactell] Ticket 2 Ride cards, the previous 2D speed kings Will ship with 2D drivers only - 3D drivers to be posted at Villagetronic's web site as a free download when they are available Cost: DM550 (USD $327 at 1.68 exchange rate) [USA SRP is said to be $299) I'm excited about these cards, and hope the 3dfx drivers will be available soon after their release to the public. [Update: 3dfx in summer/fall 1999 released drivers for the Voodoo2/Voodoo3 cards and later even Mac versions of the Voodoo4/Voodoo5 cards. See my www.mac3dfx.com site and the Video article page for reviews/driver links etc.] The Unreal news page has comments from Game Wizard owners on image artifacts and lockups in a PowerCenter Pro. Possible heat releated and I've added some comments and links there as well to help test for thermal issues. Other Net News: The Road Warrior [MacOpinion] Microshaft - where to you want to be towed today? Yesterday's News Summary CH USB Product status (Game controllers/software) Carmine's TIL Updates and Net News Feed Reader notes 8.5 Themes slow performance Carmageddon 3Dfx fix page posted with patch Note on TTPro2 NDA update Ult. Rez Sales Off again Mach 5 CPU Card bus speed mod MacTell CPU/Video card bundle sale URL for translating other languages Unreal news page updated Other Net News Listing 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.