Version 3.0b8:
• fixed a bug where an NILObject exception can occur if the user tries to remove all PatchBurn profiles but no profile was ever installed
• PatchBurn will continue to work even if no writer was found at startup. Though the "Install" button will be disabled then. This respects the fact that the user may like to remove PatchBurn profiles, even if no writer is connected or it is switched off
• some minor changes in the user interface, mostly warning dialogues
• added some more debug output for the log
  Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or later"

Thanks again to Christian Moeller for his work on Patchburn.

Also at MU tonight is Chessmaster 9000 1.0.1:

• Fixed - Crash in Larry Evan's Quiz
• Fixed - Drill: Mate w/ King & Rook vs King & Knight
• Fixed - In Game Help Menu references Mac PDF Manual
• New - Select Personality now has scroll wheel support
• New - Follow the Game window is now a floating palette
• Brings the game version in line with International Release"

" Price Drop for ATI's Mac Graphics Cards
Markham, Ontario - January 6th, 2005 - Following the introduction of the breakthrough RADEON X800 XT for the PowerMac G5, ATI is implementing a price drop for its current Mac retail graphics cards. The RADEON 9000 PRO, previously available for $149 USD MSRP is now available for $129 MSRP. PowerMac G4 users can now purchase the RADEON 9800 PRO for $249 USD MSRP, down from $349 USD MSRP. The RADEON 9800 PRO Mac Special Edition has been reduced by an impressive $100 and is now available for $299 USD MSRP.
Introduced on January 5th, the RADEON X800 XT will be available for $499 USD MSRP. "

As of 4PM Eastern Time, the ATI press page and Mac products price list hadn't been updated for this, but should be soon.

Metakine sent a note they've released DVDRemaster 2.0.1 (DVD recompressing utility) but didn't list what changes are in the new version.

" It recognizes my Apple OEM drive as flashable (the mysterious DVR-117 / DVR-108AA shipping in new PM G5s)
Alright, flashed and rebooted. My nifty Apple drive is now a Pioneer, and doesn't have the Apple Shipped/Supported status, but now lists Vendor Supported (a la patchburn). (patchburn 3 is usually used to add iApps burn support for the DVR-108, but not sure if he installed that profile. I asked if he had done that or if his 117 equipped G5's OS install was a later build perhaps with support for it.-Mike)
Burn is available in iDVD and iTunes, so I suppose everything is OK. I haven't actually tried burning any discs however.
Holland R.
(he later wrote)
after changing it from a 117 to a 108 using the logitec (notice, it's logitec, some japanese company unrelated to the mouse maker Logitech) patch, i had to use a patchburn 3 profile. it doesn't look like i can go back to the 117."

He sent a PDF file screenshot of Apple System Profiler listing the drive now as a Pioneer DVR-108, firmware v1.18. But later mails from several other DVR-117D owners said the flasher didn't see their drives. (Note: Some of the other DVR-117D owners sent a link to http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=30534 where there's info on flashing 117D drives to 108 firmware.)
I don't own a 117 drive, but If anyone else is able to flash their drive with the logitec flasher, let me know. (Hussein Holland recently wrote that the flasher at macbidouille posted a couple of months ago didn't work for him to flash to a 108 but another 117 owner said it did after a modification but couldn't remember what that mod was now. See the linked rpc1.org forum post above which should have the info needed.)

" New Express 2.5 prices
Mercury Express models include Intech HD Speedtools, FireWire cable, USB Cable, and Carrying Case. 1 Year OWC Warranty, weight of less than 11 ounces.
20GB was $115.99, now $109.99
40GB was $125.99, now $119.99
Ground delivery from under $4, Special $5 Day 2nd Day Air Rate available also available.

Best Regards,
Lawrence R. O'Connor
Other World Computing"

Cocktail 3.5.1:
• Improved detection of disks.
• Fixed compatibility issues with ShapeShifter, Unison and other third party applications.
• Added support for the Console log.
• Resolves an issue in which Safari unexpectedly quits when Pilot is run.
• Resolves an issue in which the main window may not appear at launch.
• Resolves an issue in which the whatis database could not be updated.
• Other minor bug fixes.
  
  Requirements:
  Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.3-10.3.7 with BSD subsystem (included in default Mac OS X installation).

(BTW - I just found out there's a ROM Xtender for the X800 XT, after writing yesterday asking for an updated ATI displays control panel that would recognize the card. My card just arrived the other day and didn't include a CD and I wasn't aware of any updates until I had finished testing the card and working on the article. I see the ROM Xtender added more resolutions and although it may not affect performance, but I'll have to rerun all the tests to verify that.)

" Lots of new goodies just today posted to our clearance section. As people have exchanged Christmas gifts, etc - there be some nice bargains resulting:
FireWire enclosures from $35
ATI Radeon MacEdition cards from $101
Apple Superdrives from $59
DVD-Rom drives from $10
PowerBook Superdrives from $89
Apple G3 processors from $17.50
Apple G4 Processors from $15.00
GigaDesign G4/1.25GHz $275
OWC G4/1.33GHz for $325
200GB ATA Drive $79
Small number for Roadtrips for $12.50
Serial ATA Mac Controllers for $52.99
And lots more!
These always blow out quick - first come, first served!
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/bargains/
Best Regards,
Lawrence R. O'Connor
Other World Computing"

" Hi Mike, I want to inform you that there's a new version of OpenGLide available with new nifty features and a bunch of bug fixes.
Here's the quote from the news item at sf.net:
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=434482

OpenGLide for Macintosh 0.10 released
OpenGLide for Macintosh is a shared library that emulates a 3dfx-Voodoo-Graphics board, allowing to run 3dfx/Glide games without the 3dfx-hardware.

Version 0.10 allows to play 3dfx-based games in any resolution supported by your computer/display.
It also provides a lot of visual, compatibility and performance improvements as well as a lot of fixed bugs, like
- Tomb Raider Gold can be played with Movies enabled
- Rendering quality in Falcon 4.0 has been improved
- Some ugly crashes in Falcon 4.0 have been fixed
- The mouse pointer in Carmageddon is working

See the Changlog for the full list of bugfixes and features. You can find this latest release here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/macglide/download/
Regards, Jens-Olaf "

" hi mike, on my travel through rpc2.org i just found a file with an os x pioneer firmware flasher. (there's already OS X flashers (Flashkit/DVRflash) for Pioneer drives including the DVR-108 mentioned here before and in the DVD section of the FAQ, but the one he's referring to has a GUI/App appearance-Mike) the unstuffed folder contains beside the flasher app itself an a-08 /108 firmware file (1.18) + readme. (the readme doc lists a Logitec drive model, but it must be a rebadged Pioneer drive since the flasher says Pioneer)

though the downloadsite and the readmes are japanese the app opens in english (has japs und engl. resources) and seems to be build by pioneer.
(see Screenshot of Flasher App)
as i wanted to update my a07 (in firewire enclosure w genesis bridge ) with the patched 1.21 firmware i gave this app a try. i didn't work for me, it even didn't recognize my pioneer.

i have no possibility to check if it works for internal drives, because i only own a cube and a book.
i don't know if it is strictly for the DVR-108 or if it only works with internal IDE, maybe someone else wants to give a try and can report something - without any warranty from my side.
regards oli
frankfurt germany
the dl-link: http://www.logitec.co.jp/DRIVERS/DVD/D1484_02.HQX "

I wonder if this flasher checks a drive ID (i.e. is the logictec drive reported as a DVR-108 or does it have modified firmware ID with logitec model number?) Or if it's limited to flashing a DVR-108 drive.
I'm trying to finish the writeup on the ATI X800 card and have not tried this flasher personally yet (my DVR-108 is already updated to v1.18 firmware using Flashkit 2.0) but if anyone with a DVR-108 does let me know. (I'll also try to run it later today on a mac w/108 drive installed to see if it's recognized.)
Update: Several owners of Pioneer DVR-108 drives said this flasher recognized the drive and later mails said it flashed OK, even for drives in a Firewire case. A later post above from a G5 owner w/OEM DVR-117 (DVR-108AA w/apple rom) said he used it to update the firmware of that drive to a DVR-108, although several other 117 owners said the flasher didn't recognize the drive.

• iCompositions celebrates GarageBand's Birthday gives away 200 loops, tutorials and book excerpts
• Review of Acrobat 7 Pro (IT Enquirer)
• CES 2005: Photos from the first 24 Hours (PCworld) (a reader said there was a demo of a motorola phone with iTunes support there.)
• Seagate shows compact flash form factor 5GB drive (PCworld)

• Sonnet G4 1GHz in (sawtooth) G4/AGP (rated 7)
  
  (Full reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades compared to stock CPUs, including real world apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked at the CPU upgrades page. OC/CPU module articles are on the Systems page.)

(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.)

DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• IDE Liteon SOHW-1653S in (MDD) Dual G4 DDR (OS X 10.3)
  (using Patchburn 3 for iApps burn support but noted problems burning DVD-Rs in Toast - error 50 reported.)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-108 in eMac (OS X 10.3)
  (using Patchburn 3 for iApps burn support.)
  
  Hard Drives:
• IDE (SerialATA) Maxtor 300GB in G4/AGP using IDE SATA card (OS X 10.3)
• IDE Seagate Barracuda 400GB in Dual G4 using IDE PCI card (OS X 10.3)
  (Illustrated guide to adding a 2nd HD here in B&W G3 rev2 and G4 towers up to the QuickSilver models.
  IDE articles page RAID section has an illustrated guide for adding 2 more drives in the side bays.)
• IDE Western Digital WD1200JBRLT3 120GB in G4/AGP (OS 9.2)
• IDE Western Digital WD2500PB 250GB in iMac G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (iMac G4 15in take-apart article here)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) 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.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)