"Hey Mike-
Rush Limbaugh, today, 1/24/00, was bragging on his radio show about his spanking new 500 MHz G4 with Apple Cinema Display. Is he mistaken, or are they available to a select audience, or are they ready for prime time? Just curious.
Ed O'Briant
P.S. Rush is a long time Mac user, so I'm not surprised by this, but the 500MHz G4!?!"

I don't think G4/500's are available yet.

Toast 4.1 Update Soon: [since 4.01 is already out, I assume this reader means 4.1] An update to Adaptec's Toast CDR software that adds Firewire CDR and full OS 9 support is due soon a reader says:

"Mike,
I just got off the phone with Adaptec inside sales (Trey) and he told me that Toast 4.01 [4.1 I assume-Mike] will be available within the next week and a half. He said that it will address the issues with OS 9 and add Firewire CD-RW support.
Steve "

Video Capture Tip: Many of you may already know this and it's listed in my 1998 review of the Fuse capture card but recently I had forgotten about setting the disk cache to the smallest size possible for video capture. Over the weekend a quick test of a Radius MotoDV kit on the PB G3/250 showed dismal (2.2MB/sec) hard drive performance. I then remembered I'd not reduced the disk cache size and manually set it to 96K. Restarting the PB G3 and testing again showed over 6MB/sec performance (almost a 3x improvement). Also remember to minimize extensions for video capture use. I create a special extension set containing only the those needed. [Update - a reader spotted this post and notes that Digital Origin recommends a 2MB or larger disk cache setting for on-board Firewire based Macs:

"Mike,
I was just reading todays 3:30 news and I saw the video capture tip that mentioned MotoDV. Although you should set your disk cache as low as possible for most machines this is untrue for machines w/ built in firewire and Digital Origin DV products. The Digital Origin ReadMe file "Using G3 w/ Built-In 1394" states...

"Despite the instructions in the EditDV User's Guide, keep the Disk Cache set to at least 2048 in the Memory control panel."

DO [Digital Origin] Tech Support told me that this is also true for my G4/400 Yikes.
Christian Kubek"

Perhaps the slow RAM disk write speed in older Macs has something to do with this (or their slower PCI/Memory bus design) - however my PB G3/250 has an 83MHz system/memory bus. For info on the slow RAM disk copy/write speed issue, see an article on this posted here in 1998. If anyone has run RAM disk performance tests with OS 8.6 or OS 9, please contact me with results. I'm curious to see if later OS versions address this (at least on pre-G3 macs).

Mexico Retailer Buying CompUSA? According to a news.com story today a deal is in the works.

The Game News page has an update with a note on new Mac 'Game Doctor' software (shareware) with tips, walkthroughs, cheats and other enhancements.

PowerForce G4/350 CPU Upgrade Review: I published my review of the PowerForce G4/350 upgrade card. This upgrade fits Apple 7300-9600 models, PowerTower, PowerWave, Umax S900/J700 and Daystar Genesis/Millennium Mac models.

2 Rainbow Six Mods Reviewed: Simon Purll sent Issue #4 of our Rainbow Six Column with a review of 2 weapons mods. If you missed Saturday's news, a reader review of of two Mac Nintendo 64 emulators was posted. Included are notes on ATI and 3dfx card compatibility and Sprocket support, as well as N64 game compatibility.

Networkable Postscript Laser/Copier: Replies to this weekend's reader request.

"Mike,
Our firm uses Canon 900 Printer/copiers coupled with a Firey V90 RIP. We were able to rent these from Ikon Office Solutions for a rather large sum, but all in all they are satisfactory. There are very many solutions available for the Mac, but they all are basically a RIP/Copier type solution. I recommend Canons, though as they fit right into our Appletalk network seamlessly. Tell your reader to check with the large office supply stores.
Paul "

A reader from New Zealand suggests a QMS:

"QMS do a range of Mac Compatible Network Laser Printers (Colour/ B&W) with the option for Scanner Hoods.

Look at http://www.qms.com

Alternatively Some thing like a Ricoh, Canon or Xerox Copier with Fiery Rip installed will give you Scanning, Copying and printing.
Patrick Dawson "

Another reader notes he's using a Canon:

"We are using a Canon GP 405 My PowerTower 180 prints to it nicely
Brett Merson
Multimedia / System Administrator Officer
Confectionery Manufacturers of Australasia Limited "

And another - you guessed it - Canon suggestion:

"Hi Mike,
The solutions we are looking for are pretty high end, but in the past few months we've demo'd printer/copier document stations from Lanier, Oce, and Canon. Currently we have a Canon imageRUNNER600 http://www.usa.canon.com/corpoffice/netofficesys/ir600/ which I'm very happy with. Hope this helps!
Dave Gomme "

I'm sure there are other brands that would work - but it seems Canon models are very popular.

TrueX 72X IDE CDROM Drive Report: From time to time last fall there were some reader reports on the Kenwood IDE 72x CDrom drive, including notes that it was not bootable in a Mac. Here's the latest reader report:

"Mike,
Well, my 52x True-X faltered after approximately 8 months. It started having seek problems, resulting in long delays, and it intermittently failed to mount CDs at all. I suspect the Apple driver/controller/Kenwood firmware combo put extra strain on it somehow. So I returned it to CompUSA ( having purchased the 1-year return policy) and they gave me a 72x model.

At first I was very pleased -- it's quiet and fast. However, it does not play nicely with other devices: It insists on being the sole and master device on its own channel. Neither can I boot from it, which I could do with the 52x. I wouldn't have noticed the former problem, except that I just bought a Maxtor DMplus 20GB, and tried the OEM Quantum as both master and slave on the secondary channel. (But maybe my box can't do slaves.) [Note - The RagePro chip is a sign it's a rev 2, which should support IDE slave drives-Mike]

My system: Beige 266 DT, 400 Mhz Mercury ZIF from OWC (OC'd to 433), 224MB Ram, VM Off, Rage Pro OEM chipset with 6MB VRAM, OS 8.6 yesterday, OS 9 today (same problems with either OS.) No fancy graphics cards or controllers.

N.B. Had to snake the primary IDE cable up top to install the Maxtor next to the CDROM. The Maxtor seems to run much hotter than the Quantum. When installed in the bottom of the box, where the Quantum was originally located, the CPU temp went up (according to speedmeter) from 31 to 39C! Moving the Maxtor fixed this. That's really a case design flaw though: air flowing over the CPU is first heated by the hard drive.
John M. "

I doubt the drive is getting hot enough to affect CPU temp (unlikely in my experience with Maxtor drives, I've never seen one that ran hot). More likely it's just the drive blocking airflow that caused the higher CPU temp. FYI: there may be good news on the fast CDROM front for the Mac soon. I can't say more at this time.

PB 2400/G3 Upgrades and OS 9: A reader notes some problems with his G3 upgraded PowerBook 2400 using non-Apple CD drivers:

"I'm having a terrible time with my upgraded PB 2400 after installing OS 9. Whenever the drivers for my external CD drives are active I get very frequent crashes. This is with FWB CD-ToolKit as well as Intech CD SpeedTools 4.1 and 4.5. Intech claims it's likely the newertech cache controller which has not been updated for over a year. I'm very anxious for any information on this problem.
-- Andrew Dabrowsk"

I've asked why he's not using the standard Apple CDrom extension (unless it's to support an a non-apple external drive). I welcome other G3/OS 9 upgraded PB2400 reports. There's also reports from the past from G3 upgraded PB2400 owners in my Rate Your CPU Upgrade database, but not sure any were running OS 9.

MP3 Encoders Compared: Bob Friede wrote:

"...Dan Schmidt has an mp3 encoder comparison chart online here showing how eleven of these apps compare converting a 30 second AIFF file on a G3/266.

Meanwhile, David Bradbury at MPEG Audio News has his own quality tests of nine encoders posted online.
Bob Friede"

Speaking of Audio, Thad finally accepted my offer to help him make the NAMM show. I can't wait to see his full report from the show.

XLR8 Support Message Board: Gary Dailey of XLR8 sent word they've got a new customer support message board online. He said they also have a new bug report form.

Ratings Databases Updated: The Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases were updated again with new reader submissions.

Looks like Apple made a good investment in Samsung - News.com is reporting their profits are up more than 900 percent.

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

G4/Upgrades Forum:

• [off topic] Dangers of shut down?
• Heatsink from Powerforce G4/Carrier Zif/8600???
• G4 450 Sound Distortion
• Fastest PC Emulator
• Shutdown Crash (Remote Access active)
• ixMicro TwinTurbo Needed!
• G4 Strip:crash
• DVD-RAM plays audio CD's right?
• Major hard drive (Barracuda) headaches
• Any experience with TVator Exec?
• Steve's 'compensation'
  and hundreds of other messages/threads

3dfx/Gaming Forum:

• Action Quake 2?
• My 2nd monitor won't show up on screen!
• Where can I find the "Flash" utility?
• Voodoo 3 2000 ROM problem
• isdn, DSL, CABLE and Pings in UT?
• 7500/7600/8500/8600 - best Macs
• G3 desktop DVD add Voodoo3
• DVD-RAM Drives... info?
• 
  and hundreds of other messages/threads

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

Saturday's News Summary

• Review of N64 Emulators
• Game News page updated
• Promax Responds On TurboMax Pricing/ACard ATA66 Cards
• List of products to be reviewed
• Audio Tip for VR128 Owners Running OS 8.1
• QT 4.1 Streaming Audio Problem
• Sawtooth G4 Rev 1 vs Rev 2 Differences
• G4Strip Control Strip Module
• Reader Request: Networkable Printer/Copier
• GeForce Drivers - Just Rumor?
• Ratings Databases Updated
• Apple investment in Samsung pays off - profits up 90%
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases updated
• Forum Topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Friday's News Summary

• Bottom Line's latest weekly specials
• CDW's sale on B&W G3/450 systems/Apple LCD bundle
• Last Word on VPC USB Printing
• Rage128 Pro Cooling Fan Comments
• Rumors of nVidia Mac GeForce Drivers
• Orange Micro Firewire/USB Card Tip
• More Sound Manager Update Game Problems
• iMac DV/OS 9 Audio Update 1.2 Feedback
• VPC 3.0/OS 8.6 USB Printing
• Newer Tech GaugePro Released
• Orb Tools 1.3
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases updated
• Forum Topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Thursday's News Summary

• ATA/66 IDE Raid Performance
• Western-Digital exiting high-end Hard Drive business
• Reader Request: VPC 3.0 USB Printer Support with OS 8.6?
• QT 4.1/OS 9 Audio Update 1.2 DVD Audio Sync Feedback
• Quicktime 4.1 Sound Manager Causing Game Problems:
• Audio Update 1.2 Download Link
• Notes on my 9600/350 G4 Upgrade Issues and Fix
• Aqua Kaleidoscope Theme
• GameSprockets 1.7.3 Available
• Analog Video to Firewire Tip
• More Analog Video/Firewire Converter Feedback
• WiredInc Firewire Products
• Odd DVD Audio Sync Fix Tip
• More on G4 vs 1GHz Althon RC5 Benchmarks
• Another Competitor for Intel? (Fast, 1 watt CPU design)
• Today's Forum Topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Wednesday's News Summary

• Quicktime 4.1 Released/OS 9 Audio Update 1.2
• Canvas 7 G4/Altivec Update
• Free BeOS Not Apple G3/G4 System Compatible [updated]:
• G4/450 RC5 Results Verified - Faster than 1GHz Athlon
• RamDoubler File Mapping Performance Impacts
• Firewire PCI Cards w/G3 Upgrade/QT4/OS 9 Report
• Sony Analog Video to Firewire Adapter Feedback
• Advantages of RD9 vs OS 9 VM
• Firewire PCI Cards/QT 4/G4 Upgrades Issue?:
• Analog Video to Firewire Converters
• RC5 Performance of G4 450 vs 1GHz Athlon
• Turbomax IDE Card A/V OK in 9600/350
• BeoS for Mac and PC to be released for free
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases updated
• Today's 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