ZD/Net just posted a story on a merger of AOL and Time Warner that could have broad Internet ramifications they say.

Maxbug Disables DVD? I've not verifed this personally but a reader noted that installing MacsBug disabled the DVD player on an iMac DV. [Note: 2 other readers verifed this since the original posting.]

"Mike,
Saw the tip posted about using MacsBug.. just wanted to remind you that (at least on my girlfriend's iMac DV) MacsBug will disable the use of the DVD Player.. the player won't launch with the debugger loaded.. I was surpised by this a couple weeks ago..
-Dave Glen "

Virus Notes: Gary Dailey of XLR8 sent a note that they've had three reports of upgrade problems turn out to be MBDF virus infections. Not sure why the problem cropped up just after an upgrade, but I wanted to post a note. Keep your anti-virus software current and scan often, especially if sharing disks or downloading lots of files from the internet (esp. those from non-vendor web sites).

Hard Drive Upgrade Guides: For guides on installing a new IDE drive in a Beige G3, read this article (a reader notes the Maxtor 27GB drive works great in his Beige G3 following these instructions). For B&W G3 rev 1 owners, exercise caution on adding a slave drive noted in this article. For Rev 2 B&W G3 and G4 Macs, slave drives should have no issues regardless of brand and the standard dual drive cable and stacked bracket makes the task much easier. For iMac DV owners, check the iMac/iBook section of the FAQ.

If you missed the weekend news I've added my Q&A with 3Dfx on their VSA-100 graphics cards to my VSA-100 press release page. The info on the DVD Player was welcome news based on reader feedback this weekend.

OS 9 Performance Tip: A reader notes disabling multiple user extensions and control panel improved responsiveness on an older Mac running OS 9:

"Hi Mike,
I too, installed OS9 on an older mac (a PCP 210) and it seemed very sluggish, akin to running 8.1 on an 040 mac. I immediately gave up and reverted back to 8.6. I recently got my hands on an 8600/300 and I decided to give it another go for testing. This time I did NOT install multiple users as I wasn't anticipating multiple users. The 8600 without multiple users on OS9 seems to be just as fast as 8.6 on the 8600! Only Sherlock seems a little more sluggish, but everything else feels as fast.
Hope this helps
Tony Wong "

I'll have to check this on my 9600, as it feels sluggish in the Finder under OS 9 compared to OS 8.1. Another tip is to make sure USB extensions are not enabled if your Mac does not have onboard USB or a USB card. Disabling unused extensions (speech, speakable items, etc.) is a good general rule as it usually saves CPU cycles and memory.

More Maxtor HD Sales (18GB for $140): In what seems like a never-ending series of Maxtor sales I've noted over the last few weeks, the local Office Depot has 18GB Maxtor ATA/66 drives (5400 RPM/2MB cache per the box specs) for $139.99 after $10 instant rebate. What's odd is the box was made for a 16GB drive but has an "18GB drive inside" sticker on the box. As noted last weekend, 27.2GB Maxtor ATA/66, 7200 RPM/2MB cache drives are $199.97 or less at some stores (one reader reported last Tuesday that a Staples store had the drive for $179 and change). Steve's latest mail included a story on getting the 27.2GB drive for about $162 via a $30 off special through the Staples Phone Catalog store (I've not verifed this sale personally).

iDisk Tips: Here's some of the reader tips and feedback on iDisk received since the first post of problems in Friday's news:

A workaround using Macsbug for the system lockups reported by a reader previously:

"Hey Mike,
This is the best use of Macsbug I have yet found.
To address system / finder problems which may occur when you're using iDisk and dropped connections or network problems crop up...

<RANT>
Actually, this addresses problems with ANY mounted network drive - including server crashes, instability, "random" freezing, etc. I really don't know why this functionality wasn't LONG AGO included in some sort of system-wide networking timeout. It's absence is totally inexcusable. THIS SHOULD BE BUILT IN TO MACOS 9.0.1 AND EVERY SUBSEQUENT RELEASE!!!!!
</RANT>

Step 1:
Get Macsbug:
http://developer.apple.com/tools/debuggers/MacsBug/

Step 2:
Install it (open the "into System Folder" folder, take out MacsBug (NOT Macsbug app) and drop it in your system folder). Restart.

Step 3:
Wait for a freeze.
Now, if you have networking problems causing your mac to freeze, hit cmd-power (to launch Macsbug) then type: "stopxpp" (without the quotes) and press return.
Then type "g" and press return.
Done. All servers are un-mounted and networking is reset.

I found this while troubleshooting OSX Server AFP service instability at Apple's forums [His linked message seems to have been deleted.-Mike]
cheers,
Mike Fortson "

Some general iDisk tips:

"Hi, My name is Tyler Lin. For the last few days, I have been trying to get idisk to work better. Here is the tricks for you.

1. Save idisk ID and Password in Keychain
After you have mounted the idisk on desktop, drag idisk icon to your keychain. There will be a window shown with your login id and blank password field. Type your password in the blank field. Click Save.

2. Open your idisk with Keychain
After you have done trick 1. The next time you need your idisk, Just open keychain. Double click on the link. And click on "go there".

3. Open your idisk with links (OS9 not required)
Another way to access idisk is make a alias of idisk on local machine. After double click on the idisk alias, a window comes up asking for password. I took a step further by making "subdirectory alias" so i don't have to browse through starting at the root. This saves a lot of time because idisk directory access is slow.

4. Upload tip
zip your files into only 1 or 2 files would save a lot of time when upload or download. idisk does not like small files: try upload directorys with no files in there. It would take forever....

ps: don't even think about using idisk as application storage... it took me 5 to 10 minutes to run Eudora stored on idisk.
Best Regards,
Tyler Lin. "

Another reader comments on the Finder and mounted shared/networked volumes:

"Hi there.
Regarding Mike Childers' problems with iDisk:

It is pretty well-known amongst Mac network support people that there is a performance hit in the Finder with mounted network volumes (since the Finder accesses various volumes when performing its various functions. A slow network connection (like a modem) only exacerbates the problem.

As for his system hanging when the network connection is lost: How long did he wait before declaring the machine frozen and forcing a restart? The Finder has a significantly long timeout when attempting to access network volumes (it can be several minutes). I'm wondering if he waited long enough, the Finder probably would have come back with a message that the connection to the server was lost, and the machine would return to normal (with the iDisk volume disappearing from the desktop).

I would imagine that iDisk is introducing a lot of home users who have never been on a network to networked file sharing. It is possible that many are not familiar with the Finder's behavior under such circumstances.
++Steve Hideg
Mac Support Specialist
Saint Mary's College"

This reader comments on FTP access to iDisk volumes:

"Since iDisk volumes are little more than AppleShare IP-compatible volumes (i.e. Apple has set up some servers, probably UNIX-based since I read somewhere that they were using Xinet's technology for this, that use the Apple Filing Protocol, or AFP, over TCP/IP), they inherit the same sort of difficulties as all AFP servers.

The AppleShare client software on the Mac doesn't really deal well with this AFP-TCP/IP connections over slow modem connections. Or really, any modem connection. I noticed this the first time I tried mounting stuff from my AppleShare IP server at work from home. For that reason, it would be nice if Apple would also allow FTP access to iDisks ... that does generally work faster but isn't as tied into the Mac interface. My suggestion is to not use an iDisk over a modem connection ... but if you have to, DON'T have it open all the time ... mount it only when needed, an dismount immediately. (Difficult, since it takes so long to mount ... but I bet a lot of that is the initial traffic load on the service.)

(As for FTP, I must note that if you have Mac OS 9, the new version of the Network Browser app DOES support FTP. You can browse FTP sites with it. Tell it to "Connect to..." an FTP URL and try it out! I believe it's using the Subwoofer/URL Access software that was, AFAIK, originally developed for CyberDog. Whatever, it's neat and handy!)

Anyway, people have also commented about not being able to add iDisks to their keychain. You can do this -- but you have to mount the iDisk and then drag it into your open keychain in the Keychain Access control panel. Little known feature, there. (You can do the same thing with URL clippings -- those Internet location files intro'd in Mac OS 8.5 -- to get around some limitations in Web browser support of the keychain. But beware because the keychain will built a URL with your username and password in it, so it'll then be visible in the browser ...)
--
Jeremy J. Reichman,
Software Specialist (Mac OS)
ISC Client Support Services
Information and Technology Services
Rochester Institute of Technology"

OS 8.1 Hack and iDisk: A reader with a OS 8.1 system and OS 9 hack notes that folders inside your iDisk drive are not viewable:

" 6100/66 running MacOS 8.1
40MB RAM, using the iTools by means of the information found at:
http://itoolstamer.homepage.com/

Since this hack requires the downloading of the OS 9 file sharing client, I doubt there are any differences in functionality between this and an honest-to-gosh OS 9 system.

I've been thinking about the iDisk, and it's occured to me that it's just a glorified filesharing-over-IP setup. Quite an elegant use of the technology.

Alas, there is a problem. I attempted to post some files into the sites folder (<brag>which went speedily, thanks to my cable modem</brag>), but when viewing it in a browser, something curious happened: normal viewers are not allowed even read only access to folders I put in the sites folder! A browser just comes back with an 'unauthorised access' complaint from the server. It's too bad, because I'm using a site structure that's inherently hierarchical.
Simple sites with no subdirectories are just fine, but no subfolders, no sirree...

Cheers, Brad "

I've not had time to play with iDisk (as a one man site I'm swamped) but asked Brad if there was a way to set permissions on the subfolders.

Another VR128 Video Extensions Loading Tip: For those VR128 owners that are getting a green 'X' in the ATI Desktop Video extension during startup Jim Barnes wrote that adding a ~ (tilde) in front of the extension name solved the problem on his system. I don't have any problems with the extension loading on my G4 system under either OS 9 or OS 8.6 now (it loads after the Apple Guide extension). I've added this tip to the previous ones on this issue at my VR128 Feedback page.

iCar - Drive Different! Dennis Strauch sent a link to a humorous page created by Chris O-Riley on the translucent iCar.

MW Expo Summary Comments: Matthew Culmore sent his summary of what he saw at the Expo:

"-So little time, so many booths

-Speaking of so many, did anyone ever really find Newer? [they were showing products in two off-the-main floor areas I was told-Mike]

-Most powerful additions to the Mac platform: Tie between SoundBlaster and VooDoo. Witness both and be prepared to testify.

-Cool tool: Formac bundle of their also awesome ProFormance 3 Graphic accelerator and the ProCyber 3D glasses. [See my review of the card from last fall-Mike]

-TypeStyler 3 keeps getting better at bringing out the artist in us all.

-StarryNite Backyard is quite a nice upgrade for those of us with our heads in the clouds. This helps us find our way.

-Scalarís Mac Microscope is much more fun than you can imagine for those who like to stick their eyeballs directly into all things small. (See pictures in gallery.)

-Visor- (Palm Pilot clone) my next purchase. Just get it.

-XLR8- Interview 2 is just about ready to become a household appliance for anyone with a VCR.

-Iomega Zip CD- Due in February, keeps Iomega at the forefront of quick and easy. They do recommend using only Gold foil CDís for best performance. [Note - the PC version is in stores now and the local Staples has a USB external version (about $280) that just arrived-Mike]

-Orange Micro- keeps extending the life of older beige Macs with many products, but the FireWire/USB PC card is probably the one all of us need the most to stay current.

Most "lickable" products:

-Canonís CanoScan FB630UI compact scanner at 1.5 in.

-Artimideís e.light- good looking and makes your looking good. I can see spending the $129 for this. e.light is an iMac color theme desk light that seems very well balanced, good light and very attractive, especially with the desk by i.Stand.

-iStand by Music Industries is the perfect mate for the e.light. Many configurations available.

-Wacomís Graphire 4x5 drawing pads. With mouse and pen. A steal at $99.
=Matthew Culmore= "

Matthew didn't mention it in this post, but one of my favorite products was the amazing 100GB VST FireRAID shown in his first Expo photo gallery. He sent a slew of new pictures from the last day of the show that I'll try to have posted by tonight.

External IDE Drives: A reader notes that Promise has a (PC) external drive connector controller card and case which might be releated to Prodirect's listing of a similar Mac card.

"I was down in Atlanta yesterday looking for a Promise ATA card just to be ready when the drivers for the Mac came out. It happened that they were sold out. What I did find was pretty interesting, though. Promise has it's own external IDE card and IDE case. It allows you to take any IDE drive and place it in the case using their card and cables. This may be what Prodirects external connector does. In the Jan 00 issue of MacAddict I right under the ATA 66 card is an ad for their external IDE raid case. Perhaps the external connector is used only for this purpose.
Daniel Piotrowski "

L2G3 Upgrade Video Card Tips: For owners having problems with a PCI video card in a L2 cache slot G3 upgraded machine check today's update at my www.mac3dfx.com site.

Game News: The Game News page has an update with a link to a comparison review of Quake3 vs Unreal Tournament and specs on the Playstation 2.

What's a Microbook? A reader sent an answer to my question on this posted in a reader's entry in my Rate Your CPU Upgrade database:

"Mike,
I noticed the CPU review entry (in the XLR8 CarrierZIF category) by Yoshihiro Nishikawa from December 30, 1999, and your comment/question "What's a microbook?".

MicroBooks were made by the Akia Corporation of Japan. I only know this because my cousin (in Nagano-Ken, Japan) used to have one. After IBM dropped MacOS licensing in Asia, Akia switched to making Windows desktops and laptops. From what I've been told, Akia had a tough time of it, even though their PCs were quite high in quality (for a Windows box). They went out of business in early 1999, probably bought out by or merged with another company.

I'm guessing that Mr. Nishikawa has the single-processor model based on the Tsunami architecture. Its specs are here: www.everymac.com/systems/akia/microbook/mb_power604e233sp.html.

Sincerely,
Derrick A. Yamaura"

Sonnet PB1400 G3 Upgrades Pre-Orders: Other World Computing wrote they are taking pre-orders on the new Sonnet PB 1400 G3 upgrades noted in last Wednesday's News.

"Other World Computing will begin accepting Preorders for the Sonnet G3/333mhz Upgrade with 512k Cache for the PowerBook 1400. Part number is SGPB333 and the cost is $379.

We will be the first US reseller with major quantity on hand of this product. Sonnet expects to deliver between 2/15 and 3/1/2000. Orders will not be charged until the day they can ship. $5 Fed Ex Economy and Free UPS Ground will apply to pre-orders placed online. Please note that if other items are ordered with this Pre-Order product, those items will also be held until until the SGPB333 is able to ship. This policy applies to any OWC product listed with 'Pre-Order' as part of the description.
Best Regards,
Larry O'Connor Other World Computing, Inc. "

The original Sonnet press release was noted in Wednesday's news. Newer Tech and Vimage both stopped making PB 1400 upgrades last year (Vimage later ceased all CPU upgrade sales). My Rate Your CPU Upgrade database has past owner reports on PB 1400 G3 upgrades of both brands. What I found interesting was Sonnet's comment on improved battery life, which was the bane of previous G3 upgrades to the PB 1400. It will be interesting to get reports on battery life once the upgrades are released.

Speaking of the Rate Your CPU Upgrade database, last night I added more entries from the weekend. Some were missing data (fields left blank, etc.) so I've had to mail the authors for this info prior to posting, but there are now 2,973 total entries on literally every upgradeable Mac model and upgrade brand.

Latest Forum Topics: A small sample of the latest discussions going on in the message boards:

G4 Forum:

• G4 hoax?
• SpikeRadio
• Please help me in this test...
• URGENT/New HD on rev1 B&W G3
• G4/400 and connection problems
• G4 350 versus 450
• Yikes!/Sawtooth, whats the difference?
• Internal SCSI CDR and DVD in G-4
• Toshiba CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive ...
• heatsink/fan
  and hundreds of other messages/threads

3dfx Forums:

• Descent3 Installer Errors
• Another IXMicro ixTV PCI card question
• Klingon Honor Guard... Voodoo3??
• iX TV PCI and V3 ?????
• 8500 Video in question
• How do I add maps and other stuff to Quake3?
• CD required for Unreal Tournament
• VooDoo 4
• iMac + V2 + Q3 = Depression
• quake III arena problems
  and hundreds of other messages/threads

Other Net News:

• Mac OS X Server Due on 15th! (xappeal)
• Hey Compaq, Is That a PC or a Toaster? (ZD/Net)

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

Weekend's News Summary

• Phase 5 Lowers CPU Prices and announces G4 upgrades for Starmax/4400,etc.
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases updated
• FAQ's 3dfx video card topic area has link to Glide screensavers
• 3Dfx Mac VSA-100 Card Q&A - DVD Player to be in the box! (First Mac silicon due Monday)
• iDisk Problem Report
• Our 3rd page of MWSF 2000 Pictures incl. pix of Steve Jobs
• Forum Topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Friday's News Summary

• Another page of MWSF 2000 Pictures incl. pix of the iSub, VST Tri-Media drive and comedian Sinbad.
• Mac Technician Jobs available
• Aurora Video Systems announces uncompressed video option for Igniter
• Supra 56e USB Modem - No Caller ID/Distinctive Ring
• Thinner Ckt Card on CPU Upgrade Cards Note
• More on Onstream Mac Drive Pricing:
• Pros/Cons on MacOS Apps under OS X
• Pioneer SCSI DVD Drive & Hacked CD/DVD Extension
• Mac Game Artists Wanted
• Possible iDisk Storage Demands
• Casady & Greene has released an 8.1 update to Spell Catcher 8.
• Forum Topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.
• Other Net News

Thursday's News Summary

• Interesting OS X GUI comments in forums
• OS X and MacOS Apps - faster than OS 9?
• OS X Mac Model Support
• Comments on Creative Labs MW Booth
• More Toshiba DVD Drive Reports
• MWSF 2000 Picture Gallery incl. pix of VST 100GB FireRAID.
• PF Dual G4 page has photo and details on the card
• 3dfx press release on Mac retail VSA-100 cards
• Mac Onstream 30GB SCSI Drive
• CarrierZIF Wins MW Eddy
• OS X GUI Discussion
• Toshiba 6X DVD Drive Report
• Patched DVD Player/Pioneer DVD SCSI Drive Report
• Midiman Audio Card Report
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases updated with new entries.
• Forum Topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Wednesday's News Summary

• Sonnet PB 1400 G3 Upgrades
• 3Dfx (Retail) Mac Support
• Apple MacOS X Web Site
• XLR8 announces Interview 2.0, Cuts Prices
• OS X's Stunning Interface
• My comments on Keynote
• Keynote Summary
• Webstar 4.2 Adds Altivec Support
• Rainbow 6 Column Issue #3
• PowerForce Dual G4 Upgrades
• After Effects 4.1 Altivec Plugin Reports
• Nintendo 64 Emulator Feedback/3dfx Card Tips
• SoundJam MP 1.6 (still problematic here with G4 upgrades)
• USB 1.3.5 Performance Hit
• OS 9 on older Macs
• iMac DV Audio Delay Report
• RamDoubler 9 (Confirmed):
• HP8110 IDE CDR/ZIP Drive Problem
• Mac QuakeIII CD Key Problems Fixed?
• OWC CPU Upgrade Sale
• More on Lotus CC:Mail Y2K Issues
• Apple OT Update
• Forum Topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

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 CPU 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. The current database has more than 2,800 reports and growing.

-Freq Asked Questions