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Top stories of Jan. 31st, 2001: |
| Apple's Email on PowerBook G4's Shipping: |
| A lucky reader who ordered a PB G4 the day they were announced at MWSF sent a note he got an email from Apple that orders are starting to ship:
"
I think the Powerbooks are shipping very soon. I got this in email from
Apple tonight. I ordered mine the day they were announced at MacWorld.
FWIW,
-Ed Sawyer"
To Our Valued Apple Customer:
Thank you for ordering Apple's new PowerBook G4 from the Apple Store.
We are very excited that we have started shipping PowerBook orders
this week in the sequence they were received. We anticipate shipping your new PowerBook
within the next few days and we will email you the moment it is
shipped. You should receive a shipping confirmation email by Saturday of this week.
We know you are very anxious to receive your order and we are working hard to get it to you as soon as possible! Thank you for your patience and
for shopping at the Apple Store. "
Update: For articles on the PowerBook G4 (tests/comments/feedback) see the PowerBook section of the Systems page.
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| Graeme Devine Calls Altivec Quake3 "Awesome" in Status Update |
Nemo sent a note to check out programmer Graeme Devine's latest comments on the status of the Altivec enhanced Quake3 update for the Mac. As noted previously, there's a Metrowerks compiler bug that's the holdup (a fix is in QA testing now) and he also discovered an OS 9.1 compatibility issue as well. However check out Graeme's comments on the difference Altivec makes.
"The Altivec version of Q3A is awesome... [regarding Altivec] It really is incredible, and really does make a "super computer power" difference in application[s] that support it."
Check out his full comments at Bluesnews.
[Update - other reports on Altivec game benefits were not as good - one programmer saying it helped more than 50% on some routines, but those routines were only used a small % of the time, so the net effect (benefit) was small.] |
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| iMac CDROM and DVD ROM Drives Available: |
Sponsor OWC now has iMac internal CDROM and DVDROM drives available at their CD/DVD drives page. [Update - there were errors in the descriptions on these products at OWC. All drives are for iMac 350MHz and up models. None are for iMac 233-333mhz.] (The DVDROM drive might be of interest for iMac 350MHz and up owners that didn't get a DVD drive model). Prices are $69 for the slot-loading 8x DVD-ROM drive and $29 for the 24x CDROM mode.
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| IXMicro Ultimate Rez Graphics Card/OS 9.1 Tips: |
| A reader with an older Mac using the Ult. Rez card sent a note on a driver mix he said offered the best video acceleration.
"
Mike,
I kept screwing around trying different combinations of drivers
and I finally got the video accelleration to work, here's how:
Control Panel:
ixView Video Control Software v2.0
Extensions:
Apple IX3D Graphics Accellerator v1.04 (ships with OS 9)
ix3D Driver Update v2.0
ix3D Rave Engine v2.0
ix3D Memory Manager v2.0
All options are functional.
regards,
Nitya"
I'll add this to the OS 9.1 feedback page later today. As noted in the FAQ - OWC's tech page has links to download the last IXMicro driver release.
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| Tip for OS 9.1 and VPC 3.x Graphics Issues: |
I've had at least 2 reports of display problems (inverted windows, etc.) in Virtual PC 3.0x after updating to OS 9.1. I suggested changing color depth to see if that helped and making sure both the Mac and VPC had the same color depth setting. This has solved two reader's problems. It appears that just certain combinations cause the problem as one reader later reported setting VPC to 16bit and the mac to millions colors also worked. Bottom line is if you see image/display problems, try changing color depth settings in VPC and/or the Mac.
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| CDRW/CD/DVD/HD Compatibility Database Updates: |
The Drive Compatibility searchable database had 12 new entries added (current total 2,708). I was glad to see a favorable report on the new TDK IDE VeloCD 16/10/40 CDRW drive.
Entries from after midnight are added the following day. [BTW - the drive database is not a place to post questions, it's for reports on drives you've used. For guides to drive installs, see the IDE, SCI or Firewire articles here and/or the FAQ. Thanks.]
CDROM Drives:
- IDE Prime Peripherals 50x in Beige G3
(listed under "other brand")
CDRW Drives:
- Firewire (IDE Teac CD-W58E in ADS firewire case)
(noted Toast 4.1.x didn't recognize the drive - suggested trying the Discribe 4 demo)
- Firewire MadLogix 12x10x32 w/G4 no AGP (G4/PCI yikes)
(listed under "other brand", noted a conflict with the Toast reader extension)
- Firewire Que 12/10/32 w/Beige G3
- SCSI Yamaha CRW2100SZ (16/10/40) w/Power Center Pro
- USB Iomega Zip CD 650 w/Beige G3
- USB Que! 4X4X8 w/G4 no AGP (G4/PCI yikes)
(notes problems burning at 4x rates)
Hard Drives:
- IDE IBM 75GXP 46GB in Beige G3
- IDE IBM 75GXP 46GB in G4/AGP
- IDE Maxtor 40GB in G4/AGP
- IDE Maxtor 45GB in 9600 w/PCI IDE card
- IDE Quantum 30GB in Beige G3
You can find full owner reports by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches).
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.
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| CPU Upgrades Owner Ratings Database Updated: |
| The Rate Your CPU Upgrade database has been updated with 3 new reports (total to date: 5,162). [Entries from after midnight EST will be added the following day.]
- Formac G3/466 in Beige G3 (rated 10)
- Powerlogix G3/240 (?) in 7300 (rated 8)
- Sonnet G3/400 in 7200 (rated 7)
You can find these 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)
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| Video Card/System Benchmark Performance Database Updated: |
| Updates to the Mac Game/Video Card Performance database included:
- Quake3 (800x600, 1024x768, 1600x1200) scores from Beige G3 (420Mhz) w/Radeon PCI card
- Quake3 (1024x768) scores from B&W G3 (400MHz) w/Voodoo3 3000 PCI card
- Throughput 1.5 benchmark score from G4/AGP (400Mhz) with Radeon AGP card
Total entries in the database to date: 2,382. If you haven't already, enter your results with any of the game titles or benchmarks listed on the entry page (details on how to test are there). If you're curious how a CPU upgrade or new Video card would help game performance, the search page options can help you find similar system/configurations to get an idea before you buy.
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