PPC Checker/G4 Errata: Several people wrote and posted in the forums about the errata noted on current G4 CPUs using the latest version 1.3 of PPC Checker. Michiro Isobe, author of PPC Checker posted the following info in my G4 Forum:

"PPC7400s prior to rev. 2.8 have some errata which affect the write operation to the L1 data cache. But, it is harmless.

All Apple G4 machines and 3rd party G4 upgrade cards prevent the problem due to the errata by adjusting the register with firmware or their control software.

If you want to know more, please see the following link about the errata
Errata Delay 500MHz G4s
Michiro Isobe "

My G4 is a 2.6 stepping and the latest rev I've heard that is shipping currently is 2.7.

$1299 Yikes G4/350: Giles Hoover wrote that MacConnection has G4/350 Yikes systems for $1299 in stock. [These sold out shortly after posting]. For the differences in the Yikes vs. current Sawtooth G4 models See the FAQ's Apple G4 section and the Dec 4th news page. Yesterday's news had a note on $1499 Yikes G4/400 systems.

Pioneer 10X DVD Drive in G4: Thomas Andre reported that the slot loading Pioneer 104S DVD drive (10x DVD/40x CD) worked great on his new G4 system. He said the speed was much faster with the Pioneer drive than the original OEM DVD drive. I asked him to verify it was bootable and that audio extraction worked. There were some past reports (rare) that some IDE drives had problems with MP3 encoding. The FAQ's CDROM and DVD topic areas have some past reports on using PC IDE/CDR drives with Macs.

HP9110i 8X CDR in Macs: Several readers also reported the IDE HP 8X CDROM recorder also works on Macs. These drives are available at local stores here. Other HP models were previously reported as compatible here and added to the FAQ. Some say that HP uses Sony drives which were also reported as compatible. As noted here and in the FAQ, there were some rare reports of problems encoding MP3 from one brand (a repackaged OEM Plextor drive the reader said), although owners of Sony and HP drives reported no problems with audio extraction.
(UPDATE For thousands of Mac owner drive reports (CDRW/DVD/DVD-R/Hard Drive, etc.) search our Mac Drive Compatibility Database for various mac owner reports.)

More Info on Sawtooth Rev 2 Motherboard Changes: I received a flood of mail over the post yesterday regarding the missing Intel Ethernet chip on the latest G4 (Sawtooth/AGP) motherboards. Here's a clip from the Apple Tech Docs that notes Ethernet is included in the Uni-N chipset. Apparently it was not enabled in the first production runs (note - the comments below do not apply to the PCI based Yikes G4 systems, only the AGP models which are now the only G4 tower models since the Yikes has been discontinued).

"Uni-N Bridge and Memory Controller
The Uni-N custom IC is at the heart of the Power Mac G4 computer. It provides the bridging functionality between the processor, the memory system, the PCI-based I/O system, the AGP graphics slot, and the Ethernet interface.

[the following is from this Apple dev note page]

Ethernet Controller
The Uni-N IC includes an Ethernet media access controller (MAC). As a separate I/O channel on the Uni-N IC, it can operate at its full capacity without degrading the performance of other peripheral devices. The Uni-N IC providesDB-DMA support for the Ethernet interface.

The MAC implements the link layer. It is connected to a PHY interface IC that is capable of operating in either 10-BaseT or 100-BaseT mode. The actual speed of the link is automatically negotiated by the PHY and the bridge or router to which it is connected. For more information, see "Ethernet Port" (page 45). "

Thanks to all that replied with info and links to tech docs.

XLR8 Cuts Prices on G3 Upgrades: XLR8 announced price reductions on its MACh Speed G3, MACh Carrier G3, and MACh Speed G3z CPU upgrades with reductions are as much as $110 or a savings of up to 17% off previous pricing. See their web site for more details and the latest pricing.

iBook and USB CDROM Recorders: Mike Kramer reported he could not get a Sony Spressa USB CDR drive to work with the iBook but reports on a drive that did work:

"Mike,
As I mailed yesterday, I couldn't get the Sony Spressa USB CD-RW drive to write with my iBook running OS8.6, and Sony's website was no help. The driver is incompatible with most newer Macs, and the update Sony promises is nowhere to be found. The provided CharisMac software was decent and pretty looking, but inflexible, and crash prone.

So I returned it to CompUSA and explained the problem. Considering the drive wasn't technically defective, they were quite understanding. They said I could get another brand, since an identical replacement would do little good. Since all the drives there are $299 (price fixing?), I traded for the Pacific Digital USB CD-RW 4x2x8 drive, an even swap. The guy behind the desk said it will definately work with the Mac, while the HP USB drive probably would not. (He was right.) It is a Mitsumi mechanism, which is on Toast's supported list. No drivers were necessary beyond the standard Apple USB drivers, avoiding the downfall of the Sony drive. It comes with a full version of Toast USB 3.8 (which is Toast 3.5.7 updated for USB drives), and Toast Audio Extractor as well.

Both worked well with the iBook internal CD-ROM. Music extraction was fast, and writing to the CD-R worked fine. Toast recognized the CD-RW drive after unplugging and re-plugging the USB cable. I guess it is Plug-Unplug-Replug-and-Play, but this is not a major problem. 2x write works fine. All burned Audio CD's played in various CD players around the house, but not in any DVD players, which is expected.

Toast also allows direct copy of music cd's without extraction, a huge time saver for making whole copies. It worked well at 2x, and worked for one disk at 4x, but made a coaster of a second disk at 4x, reporting errors halfway in. Adaptec warns that 4x USB Write isn't reliable at this time, and they and Apple are working on a fix. They were right, but I thought I would test it out, since COMPUSA has spools of thirty blue CD-R's for $30, and I could spare the $1 coaster. I had airport turned off, but appletalk was on, and all extensions were on. I haven't tried the CD-RW aspect, but I did make a data CD-ROM, and it was scanned with no errors or bad sectors. I haven't tried multi-session writes, but all indications are it will work fine.

So if iBook and iMac users are looking for a solid, reliable USB CD-R, I would recomend this drive. It comes with full Toast, a substantial (if beige) case, and a quality tray with protective door. The USB cable could be longer, but other than that, I'm happy, especially after the frustration of the Sony. And not requiring extra extensions is always a plus, as it's one less thing to cause a conflict.

One note. This is a writer only on the Mac. It will not mount inserted disks on the desktop, so the 8x read is basically theoretical at this time. This is clearly stated in readme's and a fix is promised in the future. But who needs it to read CD's when the internal CD-ROM is faster anyway?

I hope this helps your readers.
Mike Kramer "

I'd also like to note that if you already have an external SCSI CDR, I used an Adaptec USB Connect 2000 ($69.99 USB/SCSI adapter) with a Yamaha 4416S SCSI drive to burn CDRs from the iMac DV SE and B&W G3s. I did not test 4x burn rates however, using only 2x speeds. This was noted in my past review of the iMac DV SE.

Reader Ratings Databases Updated: Yesterday I posted additional reader submitted updates from the last week in the CPU Review, Game Review and Game/Video Card Framerates databases.

Rage128 PRO Game Performance: There were several new entries from Rage128 Pro video card owners in the Game/Video Card Framerates database. You can select that particular card to search for just those entries, or select Apple G4 AGP systems to see all reports from that system regardless of video card. Select a game title, resolution and then just the Apple G4 AGP system to compare performance of all cards in that system for instance. The Voodoo3 is still the fastest Mac 3D game graphics card, but my search selecting Quake2, 1024x768 mode and Apple G4 AGP systems showed that the Rage128 Pro entry had scores about 50% higher than my Rage128 AGP score (and the Rage128 Pro entry was from a G4/400, I have a G4/450).

For a blast from the past see what was on the front page news here one year ago.

Monday's News Summary

• Monitors & Picasso 3.1.1 update
• Sawtooth Rev 2 Motherboard Changes? No Intel Ethernet chip
• 2MB cache G4 upgrade followup
• Genesis system problematic with G4 upgrades
• Problems running VPC with TurboMax/TrueX CDROM/OS 9
• G4 Upgrade Virtual PC 3 Benchmarks
• Notes on Altivec Application Switching - registers must be saved/restored
• More Tech Info on AIWA Tape Drives for auction/'bare' drive owners
• $1499 Yikes G4/400 systems
• Yikes vs Sawtooth Pros/Cons listed in FAQ Apple G4 section and Dec 4th news page
• PPC Checker 1.3 now supports G4 CPUs.
• OWC says their PC100 RAM is 222
• Stories of mixed speed SDRAM problems in G4 Forum
• Y2K Software Updates special from Insider Software
• Other Net News

Friday's News Summary

• Newer Tech G4/400 ZIF Review
• Updated Adobe PS 5.5. Altivec extensions performance
• Powerlogix updates PF G4 page with Altivec PS 5.5 tests
• Ram timing reported by ASP on Sawtooth, new iMacs
• XLR8 G4/350 2MB Cache Prototype arrives
• Photoshop Altivec Plugins Updated
• More TurboMax/OS 9 Reports
• Another Yikes G4/400 Overclocking Failure
• Support Info for AIWA Tape Drives
• CVGS on iBook Report
• 3dfxgamers.com Contests
• USB Switch Box
• iMovie on Beige G3 w/o Firewire
• FWB HDT/OS 9 Reminder
• Lucasart's POD Racer Raves
• Quake III (retail) Review
• More on ORB disk price increases
• Other Net News

Thursday's News Summary

• Proformance 3 GA 5.7 (non-Beta) OpenGL Drivers released
• Creamware releases Pulsar Audio card Mac Beta Drivers
• G4 CPU Named "Component of the Year"
• Higher ORB Drive/Disk Prices
• Airport wireless networking/cable modem problem report
• Mac IE Security Issue
• iMovie on PB G3
• TurboMax Price Increase?
• IE 4.5 Browser Tip Feedback (much faster)
• Another Overclocking Failure Report
• Motherboard Jumper Block Kits
• Voodoo3 ROM Tweaker
• Korg 1212 Driver v1.3.1 Update
• iMate USB/ADB Adapter Update
• Alternative Modem Scripts
• Other Net News

Wednesday's News Summary

• More on PresoCard PCMCIA TV Out (compatibility)
• Apple posts Mac Games page
• Game News page has a note on Thrustmaster USB steering wheels at Sam's Club for under $70.
• Focus i.TView for iMac DV w/Free PCMCIA TV Card Offer
• Speculative Processing Disabled on Sawtooth G4s?
• New Sawtooths have G4 CPU Stepping 2.7
• Overclocking Warning (reader Yikes failure report)
• AIWA USB Tape Drive
• Sam's Club iMacs - A Good Deal? (why it isn't)
• CPU Review, Game Review and Game/Video Card Framerates databases were updated including new entries from Rage128 Pro and Voodoo3 beta 10 drivers.
• ATI Rage128 Pro Press Release/DVD/RAM Notes
• L2 Cache Slot G3 Upgrades Feedback
• More on Mac Browser Speedup Tips
• Mac QuakeIII Retail Soon? (linux version available)
• IBM ViaVoice for Mac

For links to older news pages see the Archives page.

The recent features page has a lists reviews/articles you may have missed.

For a guide to finding answers to questions - see my Site Guide page.

Considering a G3 Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. Readers post new entries daily and the database is updated several times a week. 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) as in many cases problems are later found to be due to settings errors, slow L2 cache, etc.

-Freq Asked Questions