" Mike,
Just read the article about Cisco on your site. All I can say is THANK GOD for Cisco!! I was so fed up with Proxim (Farallon) and their pathetic, non existent support for OS X. I gladly dumped my Skyline PCI/PC card and bought a Cisco Aironet 350 PCI adapter. I am happily surfing with OS X on my Powerbook AND my B&W G3 at home.
Scott "

I asked Scott what their PCI adapters cost (with or without PCCard.) I've been looking for an OS X compatible solution for my B&W G3.

" I agree with the assesment about the Cisco 350 cards. In fact I recently bought 3. I've been using them on my Wallstreets (running OS X) to connect to an Airport 2 basestation with no problems connecting to the internet or printing to my HP LaserJet 6MP via Appletalk or using Appletalk to connect to other computers on the network. In fact I also just stuck one in the one Windows laptop we have in our office and use it to connect the same way (using Miramar's PC Maclan). I am very satisfied with the software and the performance.
John S. "

Another reader said the Cisco (model 50) PCcards list for $199, but may be discounted %20-%30. I've never owned a Cisco card - I've used Wavelan/Orinoco, Linksys and Dlink PCcards which usually sell for about $100, sometimes less. (PCI adapter adds about $50.) I've also used them with PC notebooks and towers (w/PCI adapters) to share an Airport Base station.

" Today we have PowerLogix G3/400MHz 512K back in stock at $124.97, the cheapest 400MHz upgrade available now by about $25. This is the one with 2:1 backside cache.
Best Regards,
Larry O'Connor
Other World Computing, Inc. "

You can search the Rate Your CPU Upgrade database for Powerlogix cpu card owner reports (especially popular with PowerBase owners, but compatible with most any CPU card slot Mac.)

" Mike, I run a large data communications VAR in Sunnyvale Ca. I personally use a Powerbook Lombard in my office and have personally tried out many wireless (802.11b) solutions for both Mac's and PC's. For our business and educational customers

I have found that Cisco has the best most complete software for both OS 9 and OS X (Better than Apples own!). Hardware is a step up too, with the Cisco Aironet 350 model PC cards you can enable transmitter power settings to 100mW as opposed to 50mW maximum with other vendors cards. Advantage is better reception indoors and longer range on a campus setting. The Cisco software includes a lot of troubleshooting tools such as real time graphs of reception quality and dropped packets, etc. as well a many security options (far more than I have seen with anything else).

The downside is that the 350 is pricey compared to other solutions. But the software is incredibly robust and is very useful and necessary for business and larger institutions.
Sincerely,
John Guilhamet
President
Yegwa Communications, Inc."

Here's a link to Cisco's wireless products page. The product page for the Aironet 350 wireless access point (base) series is here. They list a 2.0 driver (dated Dec 26th, 2001, OS 9 to OS X 10.x) at this page.
(The 350 series is very expensive - a quick search showed a Cisco 350 series had prices nearly 3 times that of an Airport base or typical products from Linksys, Dlink, etc.). A reader replied to this post:

" The Cisco AP is so much more expensive because it's not intended to be a consumer solution. There are tons of other features built in that only an enterprise buyer cares about. For example, out of the box the 350 can be configured to adjust power output (handy if you want to have a whole bunch of access points servicing a lot of people in a small area), external/dual antenna options, complete SNMP management (Airport responds to SNMP, but Apple doesn't make the MIB public information), automatic channel selection, power delivery over the Ethernet port, management via a serial port, and plenum rating so you can place it above ceilings, in ducts, etc.

A price comparison with consumer-grade products really isn't fair, IMO.
Julian Koh"

I posted the above price comment just to make readers aware of the ballpark pricing -- not a value judgement or feature comparison. (And to prevent mails like "The Cisco is three times the price of an Airport!!") Most home users buy the much lower cost, less full featured base stations. For example Linksys' Wireless base station with dual external antennas and a 4 port router lists for $159-$179 now. (Although one review of it I read said the performance drops as much as 50% with WEP enabled. And it's not in the class of the Cisco model of course.)

" Hi All!
Macsoft, an Infogrames, Inc. label, has posted a Civ III patch at http://www.ina-support.com/faq/civ3downloads_mac.asp. This patch tweaks and enhances the already great gameplay you've been enjoying in Sid Meier's Civilization III. The new patch adds features and improvements, including:

- Stack movement for units of the same type: This means that you can set multiple go-to orders for units of the same type, in the same tile, with a single order.
- Undo/Redo in Editor: Just like in a paint program.
- Civilization Unique Units are now part of the upgrade path: Now you can upgrade a unique unit and they function just like the standard unit they replace with regards to upgrading.
- Improved unit activation sequence: Units will be selected for orders more logically. There will be less jumping around the screen during your turn.
- Possible to completely suppress cultural city acquisition with military units: Before there was always a small chance that a city would revert to another stronger culture, regardless of the number of military units you've got stationed there. Now, if you have enough, you can eliminate that chance entirely.
See below for additional listing of enhancements:
- Many operations are faster now, including map scrolling.
- Preferences will be saved in all cases.
- All sounds and music will play consistently.
- Native support for multiple mouse buttons and mouse wheels under OS X.
- In addition to the command key, the option key will now also bring up the startup configuration dialog.
- Memory footprint has been reduted to roughly 3 megs.
- Added 1600x1024 as an option for Cinema Displays.
- Added 1152x768 as an option for Titanium Powerbooks.
- Changed to a more common Mac resolution.
- Visual glitches have been fixed under OS X.
- Uses up much less CPU time when paused or hidden.
- UI actions respond more quickly.
- Menu no longer appends items twice under the classic MacOS.
- Screenshot code works more reliably with more than one screenshot."

(One reader later wrote that he still had some OS X issues with the game even after the patch.)

" Hi Mike,
I have upgraded to 10.1.3 on two computers; a PowerMac G4 867 and a PowerBook G3 400 (Pismo). I usually use QT with the Get Info page open. After the 10.1.3 update, I went to play an MPEG1 file (.mpg) on my PBG3 and it chugged along at 0 fps. Audio would continue but the frame wouldn't update for secs at a time. After a day or so, I was about to reinstall 10.1.3 on my PB until I got around to trying it on my G4. Same problem.
Then, I accidentally hit the close button on Get Info, and my .mpg file began playing normally right away. Went back to my PBG3, closed Get Info, and everything played just fine.

This only happens with 10.1.3 and MPEG1 files. .movs and the various .avi files work fine with the Get Info page open.

I have gotten other people to replicate the problem on their computers.
A.J. "

Another reader wrote:

" MPEG-1 performance sucks royally unless you go into full-screen mode and even then it's not so great. On a DP/450/2Gb RAM setup, in a small 320 x 240 window performance is about 2fps at best. Re-nicing (increasing system priority) of Quicktime Player in terminal to a high number (-18 or -20) results in a marginal improvement. Needless to say under OS 9, I can play 4 MPEG-1 windows simultaneously at full speed. Under X I can't.

DVD playback in a small window happens without any problem under OS X. So something's broken in the MPEG-1 playback routines for 10.1.3 and Quicktime 5.0.6.

Computer-to-Computer Airport networks still randomly quit for no apparent reason.
Other than that, no problems...
Dieder "

Another reader says otherwise:

" Not here. G3 400 in a beige system. Mpg's play just fine. No change at all from previous versions.
jon "

" I updated to Mac OS 10.1.3 and my reader no longer works. How can I fix this?

Please note: You must be logged in as the "Root" account. If you are unsure if you are logged in as Root, or do not know how to log in as Root, you will need to go to the Apple Support site to learn how.

1.Double-Click on the "Hard Drive" Icon located on the desktop
2.Double-Click on the "System" folder
3.Double-Click on the "Library" folder
4.Double-Click on the "Extensions" Folder
5.Find the extension:

• For the ZiO! SM, SnapShot SM and USB CameraMate: eUSB SmartMedia 10.1.2.kext.
• For the ZiO! CF: USBatCF.kext and USBatCF10.1.2.kext
6.Drag and drop the extension into the trash
7.Reboot the Computer
8.Once the computer has restarted empty the trash

At this point, try and insert your media and it should work fine. "

(Or you could just boot into OS 9 and remove the extensions if you have any permissions problems in OS X.) I've also added this post to the OS X 10.1.3 feedback page.
Note: Although the reader tip/post here previously shows there's still a driver remaining (assuming a previous Microtech driver install) - one reader said that he had to reinstall the Microtech driver after the removeing the .kext noted above. Just a FYI in case after removing the .kext noted above the reader is still not working. (I don't own one of these readers to try myself.)

" Mercury 5400RPM FireWire Solutions available in 20-120GB, now from $154.95 and all prices lower than prior.

Mercury Pro CDRW Solutions now from $239.95 complete with media and Roxio Toast v5.x.
(See this page for the complete listing)
Best Regards,
Larry O'Connor
Other World Computing, Inc. "

(Note: As with all sales, pricing an availability can change over time.)

" Griffin Technology, Inc. has moved out of beta and released Version 1.0 of the PowerMate software for both OS 9 and OS X. This software is free and available immediately for download. Both versions fix numerous bugs and extend the functionality of the wildly popular PowerMate, audio & video programmable USB controller. Most exciting, both versions now offer full AppleScript support for the PowerMate USB controller.

PowerMate Software version 1.0 for OS 9 is the first official release of the PowerMate Software. It includes fixes for incorrect keystroke mapping and other minor bugs. It also improves upon spin sensitivity settings and adds an "open file" option to the list of PowerMate commands. That means, for example, you could program a script to make PowerMate flash its light when you have email, then with a push of its button go to your email program to read it.

PowerMate Software version 1.0 for OS X is the first official release of the PowerMate Software on AppleÌs new default operating system. It also is one of the first USB controllers to release software for OS X. In addition to numerous minor bug fixes, this release fixes the issue of the Preference Pane not showing up in some instances. An uninstaller is a new addition to this release as well.

Both software packages are available for free download at www.griffintechnology.com/audio/pwrmate_driver.html "

" I use the WirelessDriver found at
homepage.mac.com/yuriwho/.cv/yuriwho/Public/
WirelessDriver_10_1.dmg-binhex.hqx
, on my Powerbook G3 lombard, upgraded with the PowerLogix BlueChip LS G4/500 CPU upgrade.

The upgrade to 10.1.3 went smoothly, the WaveLAN works perfectly, including correct sleep functioning.
Steve "

Here's another report from a user of the Soundforge.net drivers:

" Mike,
I am running a Lombard 333 with a Lucent Wavelan Silver card and 1.0.0b3 SourceForge wireless drivers. Everything works great except Appletalk. The SourceForge web site says that Appletalk printers will not work but the drivers support Appletalk over IP. On my computer, activating Appletalk in the control panel while running the wirelss driver stalls the computer and it takes several minuets for each command to be completed. Also, I contacted Orinoco support and the said they would have OSX drivers out in their Spring software update.
Thanks,
JC "

My Wallstreet's PCcard slots went south right before the Bluechip G3/500 review in Jan 2001, so I can't test use any PCcards with it anymore.

• Sonnet G4/400 in Beige G3 (rated 7)
  (noted issues with VPC 4.0x until using PL's software)
• Sonnet G4/500 in Beige G3 (rated 7)
  (noted some issues, like graphics artifacts when running iTunes + Photoshop in OS X at the same time. I do not see this issue on a G4 upgraded B&W G3 in OS X .)
• XLR8 G4/500 in Beige G3 (rated 10)
• G4 no AGP [Yikes] OC report
• B&W G3/350 OC report

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

DVD ROM Drive Reports:
• IDE Lite-On 16x in PowerTower/Pro w/IDE PCI Card (OS X)
• IDE Lite-On 16x-48x in G4 no AGP [Yikes] (OS 9)
  
  DVD-RAM Drive Reports:
• Panasonic LDF-101 (PD-2 LFD-100) in G4/AGP (OS 9.2)
  
  IDE CDRW Drive Reports
• Matshita 7585 8x4x32x in B&W G3 (OS X)
  (noted Toast 5.1.2 burn errors if ZIP drive connected - iTunes/DB worked with the ZIP connected he said)
• TDK VeloCD 32x10x40x in Dual G4 (OS 9.2)
  (no itunes support)
• Yamaha CRW3200E-VK (24x10x40x) in 95/9600 using IDE PCI Card (OS 9.1)
  (didn't note specific mac model or IDE card brand/model)
  
  SCSI CDRW Drive Reports:
• Panasonic CW-7502B 4x8 in 8600 (OS X)
  (noted 10.1.3 helped Toast burns, but no iTunes support)
• Plextor 12x4x32 in G4/AGP (OS 9.2)
  (noted OS X 10.1.3 still doesn't support it - I suggested trying El Gato drivers then.)
• Teac CD-R56S 6x24 in Beige G3 (OS X)
• Yamaha CRW6416SX (6x4x16) used w/Dual G4 (OS X)
  (noted no El Gato drivers needed with 10.1.3)
• Yamaha 4416S 4x/4x/16x in Beige G3 (OS X)
  (still having problems in OS X, even after 10.1.3 update)
  
  Firewire CDRW Drive Reports
• Lite-On 32x10x40x in Firewire case used w/Dual G4 (OS X)
  (the FAQ here has a modified iTunes support file)
• Plextor 40x12x40x in FW case used w/Dual G4 (OS X)
  (FAQ here has a modified iTunes support file)
• Sony CRX 175 A1 24x10x40x in Pyro case used w/G4/AGP (OS X)
  (noted firmware update to Pyro case noted this prev. article here solved problems)

You can find full owner reports by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches).
For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. [If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.]

Software Updates:

• Atomik 3.0
• Netopia R-Series Routers Firmware 4.10
• Suitcase 10.1.1
• Font Reserve 3.0
• Captain Bumper v1.1.2 update and demo
  
  OS X related
• Xplane 6.10 b8 (OS X compatible)
• Macromedia Flash Player 5
• MaxMenus
• iPod Free File SynX 2.2.1
• PowerMate OS X 1.0
• Suitcase 10.1.1
• Font Reserve 3.0
• DeskTastic
• Limewire 2.2.1
• Synchronizew X Pro
• FruitMenu 1.5.1
• Memory Usage Getter 2.02b
• Prefling

Mac/PowerPC Related News:
(Note: Rehashing of press releases, repeated news, etc. not listed)

• iMac sales looking up, analysts say (cnet)
• Microsoft, Apple alliance at key juncture (cnet)
• Mac Cluster's Last Stand? (wired)
• Yet more Motorola jobs doomed (macworld uk)
• Seventh Annual Apple Design Awards (apple developer)
• DULL T-shirt [LOL] (macsurfshop)
• For Designers, Will X Mark the Spot? (macworld)
• MGM to offer movies on the Web (macworld uk)
• Pro Mac-music boost (macworld uk)
• iMac sales thru roof (macworld uk)
• New iMac hottest computer at Amazon.com computer store (maccentral)

Gaming Related:
• Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (aspyr)
• Aspyr Releases `Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' for the Macintosh (businesswire)
• Xplane 6.10 b8 (OS X compatible)
• Captain Bumper [v1.1.2 update and demo] (macrun)
• Reckless Drivin' 1.31 (shareware game)

• 1 year ago today
• 2 years ago today
• 3 years ago today