" Roxio would like to alert you to the following updater posted on www.roxio.com (www.roxio.com/en/support/roxio_support/toast/toast_software_updatesv5.html). Today, the Video CD encoder QuickTime component that was delivered with the Toast 5.1 and Toast 5.1.1 updaters will expire. Customers are asked to download and run this updater to provide full Video CD encoding functionality in Toast 5 Titanium. The component will not expire. ...This fix will be rolled into the next Toast Titanium updater. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Kind regards,
The Toast Team"

"Got the backorders filled and ample stock finally for new orders too! :)
eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Page.cfm?Parent=584&Title=1&Template=1
[Bluechip G4/500 for PB G3 Lombard info here]
Best Regards,
Larry O'Connor
Other World Computing, Inc."

"Mike,
I was looking through the 1GHz Power Mac Developer notes and noticed that it mentioned the graphics options include 32MB, 64MB, and 128MB. Perhaps we'll see higher end GeForce4 cards soon.
Bryan W."

I think the high end GeForce4 (retail cards at least) will have 128MB of video ram, but the above may hint at future BTO options for non-MX GeForce4 graphics cards. (For performance tests comparing the GeForce4MX to the GeForce3 card in a dual 1GHz G4 -see the graph posted earlier this week now on this page.)
I went to Apple's developer pages and found the main PowerMac G4 page - on the new features page there's a note

"Graphics card Depending on the confguration, the graphics card has either 32, 64, or 128 MB of display RAM. All the cards support two monitors. For more information, see Graphics Card."

The graphics card page however currently lists only 32MB (ATI RV200 - aka Radeon 7500) and 64MB (Nvidia NV17 - aka Geforce4MX). It may be revised in the future if other BTO cards are offered.
The current graphics card page noted flat-panel (LCD) resolutions of up to 1600 by 1024 [Apple Cinema display native resolution] and analog (CRT) resultions of up to 1920 by 1200. Refresh rates were not listed (for CRT owners that wonder if higher than 75/85Hz refresh rates are offered at higher resolutions.)

" The GQ seems about as loud as my Power center Pro was. There is a dull hum from fans and a slight, high pitched whine from the 4 10K drives. When the Cheetahs (5 of them) were in my Power Center Pro I used a layer of sound deadening material for cars to line the inside of the metal cover. This filtered out the high pitched while and all 5 Cheetahs were close ot silent when running. The 80gb drive is silent. I have my SPL meter right here and I measure C-weighted 57db from 12" directly in front of the computer. A-weighted readings are 51db from the same location. The computer measures louder at the back of the computer.

A & C weightings, one is measuring the audio spectrum evenly, the other takes into account that the human ear is more sensitive to certain frequencies and applies that curve to the reading. I forgot which is which.

Ambient room noise is below 50db where the meter starts to register.
Jon "

I also sent Jon GaugePro, Stream and Throughput to run on the new system for posting the results here on the previous page of Dual 1GHz Performance tests. (I'm curious if the new G4 CPU chip has higher memory bandwidth than the 7450 CPU does, which was much lower than 7400/7410 G4s.)
If any Dual G4/1Ghz owners run application tests like my iMovie2 export benchmark (used in reviews here of CPU upgrades and systems - stacking all the clips of the tutorial end to end with no transistions and timing with a stopwatch how long it takes to complete the export using the "CDROM Medium" settings), let me know the results.

" I went to Motorola's PPC chips taxonomy (here)
There, you can find MIPS 2.1 benchmarks (whatever it may be...) for the different PPC processors.
It seemed to me that the numbers where higher than I would have expected for the 7455 and 7445.

So I went to Excel and calculated an "efficiency ratio" MIPS/MHz.
Results:

• MPC 603e: 1.4
• MPC 740, 745, 750, 755, 7400 and 7410: 1.83 (G3 and early G4)
• MPC 7441, 7450 and 7451: 1.81 (733 MHz G4 and Quicksilver)
• MPC 7445 and 7455 : 2.28 !! (new Quicksilver)

If those numbers are correct, and in any way related to real-world performance, the Monday speed bump looks more impressiveÖ

An hypothetic 7450 reaching a MIPS score of 2280 with the same efficiency ratio would need to be clocked at about 1260 MHzÖ

But nothing in the tech specs published by Motorola suggest such a huge difference between the 7450/1 and the 7455.
Anyway, thank you for your excellent site.
Best regards
O. Giraud"

" Mike, Thanks so much for that story from Bob F. about a Travelstar 48GB drive in a Wallstreet2. I tried loosening the four screws between my drive and the frame, and a month-worth of problems went away like a bad dream.

I have the same Wallstreet-Travelstar arrangement, and had not been able to get the new drive working consistently since Christmas, despite a trip to an Apple repair shop, and correspondence to IBM. The repair shop had suggested that the PB bus and the drive were not communicating properly. No one suggested backing off the screws.

I had to loosen mine a lot to get the drive to work, even though I did not think they were overtorqued to begin with. (I've had three previous drives in this machine, including the Travelstar 20GB, and they had all worked fine). The four screws are now only snug, but the frame is held firmly to the chassis by its single screw.

I have sent an email to the tech support at IBM (drive@us.ibm.com), so maybe they will be able to suggest this for future troubleshooters.
Thanks again for the help.
R.W.P. "

I noted in my Wallstreet hard drive upgrade guide to not over-torque the screws. (Noted on this page of the illustrated guide as It may a) put the drive (housing) under stress or (perhaps) cause the screw to protrude enough to contact some part of the drive's circuit board. (Depending on the screw lengths and HD circuit board design.) The screws are inside rubber grommets (vibration mounts) and there's no need to torque them down with a lot of force.
Also noted in the guides are a warning to not press down on the top cover of notebook drives, which could damage the hard drive. (Some drives note this on their label.)

IDE Sony CRX175 (24/10/40) in Beige G3 (OS 9.2)
Driver Used: Toast Reader Extension
Comments:
"This is a update to a previous post I have here.

SOLUTION Unstable connections error SOLUTION:
Disable the Apple Authoring extenions in the system folder. Restart and you will no longer have problems burning again.

Apples Authoring Support files must be disabled. Use Extension Manager control panel and disable any extension that is part of this package.

Unfortunately you will not be able to burn through iTunes but you will no longer get an error of "Unstable Connection" in Toast ever again.

You can still burn Audio from iTunes just drag and drop your selections from the iTunes window to the Roxio Toast window. I believe other members mentioned this tip.

Hope this helps someone. Helped me. :)
"

I asked if he was using the latest Toast 5.1 version and if he had just tried the old OS 9.2 tip from some other brands of IDE CDRW owners (disabling the SDAP authoring extension, which some IDE yamaha drive owners reported caused even boot issues with their drives.) I seem to remember some past reports on just using the Apple CD/DVD extension or just the Toast CD reader extension instead of both enabled at the same time.
If the above tip helps any other reader with interface unstable errors in OS 9, let me know.

Combo DVD-CDRW Drive Reports
• LG 4120B 12x8x32 + 8x DVD ROM in Beige G3 (OS X)
  (see FAQ for modified support files, OS X DVD 3.01 player install per this prev article.)
• Samsung SM-308B (8x4x32x + 8x DVD ROM) in G4/AGP (OS X)
  (no iTunes support, problems noted.)
  
  IDE CDRW Drive Reports
• LG GCE-8160B 16x/10x/40x in G4/AGP 2001 (OS X)
  (LG listed under "other" brands. - modified iTunes support files are in the FAQ)
• Sony CRX175A1 24x10x40x in Beige G3 (OS 9.2)
  (noted disabling
• Sony CRX175A1-C1 24x/10x/40x in B&W G3 (OS 9.2)
  (not bootable with C key he said, but was using startup disk CP)
  (for MT Beige G3 & B&W G3 systems, there's a CD drive install guide here.)
  
  Firewire CDRW Drive Reports
• Lacie 16x U&I with iMac (OS X)
  (not sure how he's using the FW ports unless he has a Harmoni CPU upgrade which adds a FW port to non-slotted iMacs. More of a question post than a drive report I think. Noted Sanyo mechanism, but all past reports I could find noted either LG or Teac or Yamaha mechanisms used)
• Teac CDW524E 24x10x40 [IDE drive in FW case] used w/Beige G3 (OS 9.1)
  (various problems noted)
  
  SCSI CDRW Drive Reports
• Yamaha 2200SX 20x10x40 in G4 no AGP [Yikes] (OS X)
  (using El Gato's drivers - noted Audio CD burn problems even in Toast. No official support/specific drivers for his 2940UW card however, which might be a factor perhaps.)
  
  IDE Hard Drive Reports
• IBM Travelstar 10GB in iBook (OS 9.1)

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.]

• Other World Computing G3/4450 in Beige G3 (rated 1)
• Powerlogix Bluechip G4/500 in PowerBook G3 Lombard (rated 9)
• Powerlogix G4/450 in PowerTower Pro (rated 9)
• Sonnet G4/500 (dual) in Beige G3 (rated 7)
• XLR8 G4/350 in Beige G3 (rated 9)

(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.)

Software Updates:
• Symantec NAV Defs
• BBEDit 6.5.2
• Linksys 1-4 port cable/DSL router 1.42.3
• Toast 5.x VCD Encoder update (fixes expired version)

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

• Apple Finally Goes Gigahertz (forbes)
• Robert Moog - Moog Synthesizers - and Apple Computer to Receive Technical GRAMMY Awards (businesswire)
• 7th-graders get computers (dailypress)
• He's Wired Up (LATimes)
• Apple stock hits six-month high (macuser uk)
• Playing to Apple's Strengths (LATimes)
• Lind Electronics Announces the Availability of an Automobile DC Power Adapter for the Apple iPod (businesswire)
• Cookie monster bites Netscape and Mozilla users (the register)
  [Tuesday's news had the Infoworld's first story on this issue]

Gaming Related:
• Sony offers Linux Kit for Playstation 2 [incl. 40GB Hard Drive] (cnet)
  (sony's page with info is at http://playstation2-linux.com/)
• MacSoft Offers Info on Upcoming Releases (IMG)
• Torque Game Engine Released for Mac (IMG)

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