• Eradicator 1.2 is for deleting the contents of the invisible temporary folder in OS 9 which can grow to huge sizes, esp. after crashes in games or apps.

• Aurora has updated its Fuse capture card driver to v1.8.4. See ftp://auroradsgn.com/pub/.

• Formac has a new Proformance 3 Graphics card GA 5.7.1 update (control panel/driver).

• Microsoft has posted an updated Intellimouse driver (requires Macintosh OS 8.51 or later)

Barney also noted that ZDNet is to become an independant company according to this article.

More Hard Drive Bargains: A reader replies to the earlier post on Staples Maxor HD/RAM offer with a note he bought a 20GB Maxtor HD from Best Buy for $170 [Jan. 2000]:

"Mike,
Saw the piece on the Staples Maxtor HD/RAM Sale. Last week I purchased a Maxtor 20 gig HD from Best Buy for $170. Inside the box was a dual platform Photoshop 5.0 LE install CDROM.
Peter Sterling "

Not sure if that sale is still valid, but their latest specials from Sunday's ad (good until 2/5/2000) shows WD Expert 20GB and 27GB drives for $189.99 and $229.99 respectively before a $30 mail-in rebate. These are the same drives as used in many of the G4 Apple systems.

Mark Edwards wrote to say that his local Staples was out of stock on the 27GB model, but had the 20GB drive for $159.99.

Sharing Epson 760 Printer Tip: Reader Julian Koh sent an interesting note on new 'AT' drivers and printer sharing:

"When I got my new Epson 760 color printer over Christmas, I immediately started thinking about how to share it between the G4 that it would be connected to and my older PowerTower Pro 200. It seemed my choices were to get Epson's Axis print server or use EpsonShare. The print server was too much money, and EpsonShare required File Sharing to be active on the G4, which I wasn't wild about either.

The reason I thought it may be possible to share without using either of the above methods is that if I select the printer driver in the Chooser on the G4, then click the Setup button, I get the option to share and rename the printer (I have the PrinterShare extension installed on both the PTP200 and the G4 because I used to be sharing the StyleWriter II that I had connected to the PTP, but I don't know if that is required or not). But after installing the Epson drivers on the PTP200, I couldn't see the shared printer in the Chooser.

My logical deduction at this point is that the default drivers do not support networked printing. I say this because use of the Axis print server device requires the use of special "AT" drivers, which IMO can only mean AppleTalk. I would have tried to use those drivers, but they didn't have a 760AT driver available for download at the time.

Well, Epson recently posted the 760 AT drivers at http://support.epson.com/, and sure enough, it works! I installed the AT drivers on the PTP200, set up the printer on the G4 to be shared, and now I can print from either machine!

Again, note that I have not checked to see if the sharing is because of the Printer Share extension or if it is something built into the Epson printer driver. And if the latter, I don't know if it's something new with the 760's that won't work with other Epson models. I'm just glad it works for me! I don't have to pay money for either the Axis print server or EpsonShare, and I don't have to run File Sharing on the G4!

Feel free to post this account on your web pages if you feel it would be useful for your readers.
Julian "

More Info on Firewire to IDE External Case: [Update - for more recent (and faster) Firewire case/build guides, reviews or controller articles - see the Firewire articles page.]
The author of the Firewire to IDE External Case article replied to my mail asking for more info such as the Clubmac part number:

" Mike,

The item number for the IDE enclosure is:

C104 9025    Clubmac Clear firewire Closed Case w/Software
C104 BEZEL    Bezel and a 4 feet firewire cable
    Note: the bezel comes in different colors

New Information: I Have found out that a IDE CD-ROM drive an also be placed in to the Firewire Enclosure. There are drivers for the IDE CD-ROM drives on the included software CD with the Firewire enclosure. "

I revised the Firewire to IDE External Case article last night to include this info.

Interactive Windows-Mac Comparison Site: Although the front page seems to indicate it may not be totally up to date (the mention of adding Win98/MacOS 8.5), reader 'Slotcar Bob' highly suggested I check out http://www.execpc.com/~rjohnson/ics/index.html. Using their 'advisor', you answer a series of questions on what you need/prefer in a computer and it will show you what is a better fit Windows or Mac. Check it out.

More ATI VR128 Graphics Card Tips:

"Hi Another solution for the Green X [VR128's Desktop Video Extension] problem:
Just installed the ATI XClaim VR and had the "green X". Played around with turning extensions off/on and found that AppleShare extension must be on in order for the ATI Desktop Video Extension to load. Tried turning ONLY AppleShare off and on and this turned the green X on and off each time. --David Sand "

I've added David's comments to my VR128 Feedback page which has other tips on the issue including ATI's comments. Other VR128 problems/suggestions/tips are included on the page as well.

Staples Maxtor HD/RAM Sale: A reader notes that Staples has another Maxtor HD sale [Jan 2000], this time the $199/27GB drives come with a free 32MB PC100 Dimm (after rebates). [Offer has expired now of course.]

"Just got back from staples there having a Sale (Sale starts today Sunday) on a Maxtor (27.2 And 13.6)Drives. 199 and 129. But wait there's more it comes with free PCY pc100 memory 32 megs. (after $20 rebate). Staples gives you $40.00 off the price of the memory then a $20 rebate.

The memory works in my blue and white g3 and the 27.2 gig maxtor is in my g4. Both are very happy. But there's still more to this Great deal if you head over to Maxtor's web site You can still get that free Photoshop LE. It says on the maxtor coupon that is compatible with mac! Coupon for free Photoshop is at http://www.maxtor.com/promotions/index.html great deal!

John
[He later wrote with more info on the RAM deal:
Ram is 59.97, then staples gives you 40.00 off of the ram, then the 20 rebate. Account number for the ram sale is 86163 (they had to look it up in a book that they had on sale items) good thing I brought the ad in cause no one knew what the sale was about. "

[Offer was from Jan 2000 and expired now.]

More Reports on CDT 4.x and Turbomax IDE Card: Another reader replies to the post last week on problems with the 4.01 CDROM Toolkit drivers with the Turbomax card.

"Mike, just wanted to echo the report of incompatibility with CDT and the turbomax. Mine does the same thing; I went to Intech's driver and it works fine. My CD is a plextor Ultraplex 32 connected to the Miles card.

FYI, mine is a 9600/350, OS 8.6, 192MB
PCI cards (from the top):
Initio Miles
Ultimate Rez
Twin Turbo
(empty)
Turbomax
Entegra USB

Coincidentally, I'm running a 27GB Maxtor off my turbomax also. I don't know about other people, but I could only format this drive with Apple's driver. I had tried FWB's, but it did something screwy to the drive - i had to install it on my pc, then fdisk and format to get it back to "normal."
-Larry "

Last week's reader posts also noted the incompatibility with VPC 3.0 and CDT 4.x. See the FAQ's CDR and CDROM topic area for those reports.

Reader Note on @home Update Corrupt Font Issue:

"Mike,
Great site, it's the first place I go to every day. Here's some news that is important to readers who are graphic designers and have @home.com as their cable ISP (here in New Orleans it's provided by the COX cable network). When upgading to version 1.7 of @home software a font called "home" is installed in your system folder fonts. After this font is installed and I launch either Quark Express or Macromedia Freehand, these programs would crash my system (OS 8.5.1) when opening up. At launching the programs attempt to load this font, resulting in the system crash. Remove the "home" font and everything works fine.

Earlier versions of this software pose no problem even though they also installed their version of the font in the same location. Would other readers please write back to let me know if they've experieced this problem?
Thanks,
Martin Straka "

Martin asked if other @home users have noticed this corrupt font issue. Note with OS 8.6, the font manager update found many corrupt fonts on my PB G3 (a common problem, not releated to @home).

Reader Request: Radius Videovision/B&W G3 Compatibility Daniel Eriksson asks if any B&W G3 owners are running a Videovison PCI Capture card. He bought one and can't get the card to be recognized. Radius/Digital Origin has not answered his questions so he wanted me to ask readers if they had any tips or suggestions. If any readers can suggest anything or confirm the card is or isn't compatible, please contact me. I asked if he had checked my B&W G3 Compatibility page from last spring (many issues were solved by firmware or driver updates) and if he had searched the Radius site for any compatibility info or driver updates. Note that some capture cards like the Bravado 1000 don't work with G3 systems (at least those faster than 250MHz based on feedback) based on reports in the G3-ZONE compatibilty page back in 1998.

Reader Review Databases Updated: The Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance databases were updated yesterday afternoon.

Paul Martz wrote to say that although it was not noted on the box, the Yamaha 6x CDRs at CompUSA includes Mac Toast on the CD. Apparently it's a dual platform CD despite the fact the box notes only Windows support.

If you don't check the news here daily, check the summary of past news below for info/articles you may have missed. The recent features page also lists articles posted (most recent first). The site topics pages (systems, cpu upgrades, etc. - see top and sidebar links on this page) also are places to check as well as the FAQ.

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

Saturday's News Summary

• Free Retrospect 4.2 Upgrade for USB Travan OEM Version
• $199 Imation 8X External CDR
• FWB CDT 4.01/Turbomax card Issues
• Aqua Archives
• Rainbow Six BF Arsenal Update
• Mac DSL Story at MSNBC:
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases updated
• Misc Net news
• Latest topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Friday's News Summary

• Tips For Retrospect Express 4.1/Yamaha 6416S CDR
• VPC 3.0/FWB CDT 4.01 Issues
• 8500 to PC ATX Case Conversion
• Copper IBM vs Alum. Motorola G3/450s
• Cinema Display/Widescreen DVD Workaround
• More Que USB CDR Tips
• Yamaha 6416S CDR/CDT 4.01/Retrospect Express 4.1/VPC Problem Report
• 2940UW/Sonnet G3 Upgrade Comments
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game/Video Card Performance searchable databases updated
• More OWC Sales
• New topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Thursday's News Summary

• Scansoft Aquires Kai Low-End Line
• OS 9 Software Update 1.1.1 released (sort of)
• Apple TIL on QT 4.1 problems
• OWC Bonus Carrier/ZIF Bundle
• Griffin USB/ADB Adapter/Studio Display Notes
• More on Que USB CDR/Toast 4
• Apple $788 ADB LCD Displays and Griffin USB/ADB Adapter
• Acer 10X DVD Drive Report/Tip
• More iMac DV/CVGS Reports
• Toast 4 and USB CDRs
• Rainbow Six Column Issue 5
• XLR8 comments on Interex Chapter 11 Filing
• PowerForce G3/500 ZIF 10X Setting
• Sawtooth G4 CPU Design Page Correction
• Sawtooth G4 CPU Module Details Page Correction
• Reminder: Web Page Language Translator
• Software Updates: List Pad and Apple USB DDK
• Nikon 990 Digital Camera preview
• New topics in G4 Forum and 3Dfx Forums.

Wednesday's News Summary

• $788 Apple 15" LCD Displays
• TIL on Apple G3/G4 RAM and Powered USB Devices Issue
• $699 iMac 333's/ $113 Maxtor 17GB drive sales
• More on iMac DV/CGVS Issues
• iMac DV/CVGS Problems
• Turbomax/OS 9/Maxtor 27GB
• More OWC/Beige G3/450 Reports
• BF Arsenal Mod Download File Fixed
• Grim Fandango on VPC
• Raves for Lightwave 3D v6 (Beta):
• List of Software Updates
• Canon 3.3 MegaPixel Digital Camera
• Download links for G4 optimized Peak 2.10 update
• 3dfx updates Voodoo2 and Voodoo3 Drivers
• New 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 3,100+ reports and growing.