I almost hesitate to post a note on Amazon rebates after the disputes in the past on a Photoshop rebate, but a reader sent a note about a $50 off rebate on 10.2 from Amazon.com.

" Mike,
I always seem to be a day late with you, but in case you have not seen this:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006ANW9.01.RB02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
It's a $50 rebate form for OS 10.2 from amazon.com if purchased between 7/29/02 and 9/03/02. [see rebate for details]
Nitya Nadesan "

The EDU price of 10.2 is $69 I hear, and a reader said that Govt. pricing was similar. Also in case you find a retail copy of 10.1/10.0 at a huge discount, you qualify for the $19.95 10.2 Upgrade via Apple's OS X Up-to-Date for purchases made after July 17th, 2002. [Update - it appears (as usual) apple changed the link posted here for the US PDF Coupon - and a reader later wrote the *coupon* wording says that a specific version of OS X (10.1.3) retail must be purchased - not just a any retail version of 10.1 or any 10.0.x version. Even though the Up-to-date page still says (as of July 30th):

"Mac OS X v10.1 Retail Product Purchasers
If you bought a Mac OS X v10.1 retail product, download and complete the appropriate order form: U.S. customers

(I give up trying to keep up with apple's links and changes - so see the Apple Up-To-Date page/whatever PDF coupon de-jour is linked there for full details/terms/condition.)
(There was a petition for lower cost 10.2 upgrades for previous owners, but that may not change Apple's policy.)

"PC maker Northgate has come up with an all-in-one PC that is spookily very much like an iMac. According to the article it will be better than the iMac.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4624
And the [Northgate] site :
http://www.northgate.com/products/notebook_desktops/integra/
I don't think the new iMacs are in trouble, but I do like the built in tv tuner.
Christian G."

Although it's priced less, it has only a 15" LCD (nothing larger available) and no specific info on what graphics chip is used. [it's integrated into the SIS 650 chipset - two readers also referred to http://www.sis.com/products/graphics/315.htm saying it's basically equiv. to a Geforce2MX.] I suspect those that really want an iMac LCD model wouldn't choose the "Integra", but that's just my opinion. Gateway and Dell tried all-in-one LCD type computers a year or more ago and ended up dropping them (from lack of demand I assume). In my opinion, most PC buyers want more performance and upgrade options/expansion than a 'closed box' design provides - and for $1000 or more (price of the Integra) you can build or buy a better PC than the Integra. I'm sure some people that prefer Windows over Mac and want a compact design will buy it, but I doubt it makes any real impact in sales.

" Hello Mike,
I am currently in Bucharest, Romania working on a feature from the same team that brought you "The English Patient." Get this, It's an American Civil War picture called "Cold Mountain."

We are in desperate need of internet access higher than 56k. Although limited High speed is available it costs upwards of $2000.00 per month for a 256k connection out where we are. We are SOOO spoiled in the states.

Ramp networks made the Webramp M3t. This network appliance ganged two 56k modems with the option for a third to a router making it very easy to get more speed at low cost. Ramp Networks was bought by Nokia which promptly discontinued all of their hardware.

I am trying to find a stand alone box that will enable me to bridge multiple 56k modems to start getting better speeds. I know I can route this with IPNet Router, but I don't think my Mac would respond to well to 4 or 8 modems at once.

If you or any of your readers can offer a simple solution, I would be very grateful.
Jim Foreman
Senior Technical Advisor
Aurora Video Systems
www.auroravideosys.com "

Here's some of the reader suggestions I've gotten so far (I've not been able to read them all however.) Also there were many suggestions on trying to get Satellite access but not sure what's available to Jim there.

" Vicom Soft makes Vicom internet gateway that does this and more. http://www.vicomsoft.us/vig/standard/features/teaming.html Just hook up a couple of USB modems and you're good to go.
It also has a free download to tryout.
Erick "

" Hi there ! Bridged modems ? Shotgun 115k stuff ? That is SO 20th century! Who wants to use a backward relic if you can surf the net without any land line. Ever heard of high speed satellite links (beaming up and down)? [of course, but not sure what he has available there, or what the total costs would be - and some cap uplink rates to not much better than a ganged 56K modem setup... if he's looking to transfer files that might be a factor -Mike] Yup, they DO exist in Europe, and guess what: Romanian sky is also covered ! Thus, speeds up to 8 Mbit/sec are just an antenna, sat dish and a LNB away. There are several providers, with different pricing schemes all depending what you need. The hardware setup fee ranges from 500 - 1000 USD and monthly fees starting at $150/month get you a decent 2 Mbit line.
The boys at http://www.vipnet.ro/ also a whiz kids at all kinds of technology, from dial up, to ISDN, xDSL and leased lines, I'm sure that speaking romanian also helps :) There are lots of possibilities, not only via ROmtelekom, at this page you'll have a list of providers.
Unless you are shooting in the Carpathian mountains, being close to a city ncreases chances of accessing a wireless loop net.
Good luck,
Dan "

" Hi,
Your requested for bridged 56K modems, thought you reader in Romania may like to know about http://www.skydsl.de/skydsl/gb/index.html - it's Europe wide coverage all the way down to Turkey. This may be a solution to speed up his internet usage and it's doesn't cost a fortune too, £10 that's about $15.
Not all of Europe cots a fortune for high speed net access, high speed (ADSL & cable) start at £20 ($30) in the UK and many other western European counters but I guess once you go 'Eeast' you're lucky if a normal voice phone works!
By the way thanks for the site!
James Chastney "

" Have them look at Rainfinity's RainConnect product.
http://www.rainfinity.com/
A demo will be downloadable on Monday. Theoretically you could put a bunch a modems in a PC and use RainConnect to multiplex them.
Great site. Keep up the terrific work. Paul "

"the netopia r2002 seems to be a similar product, combined w/ an ethernet router for LAN sharing.
-Sean Stevens"

I could not find a R2002 at Netopia's site (no search there either) but did see a R2020 Dual Analog 56K router model.

"You can use a Shiva LAN 8 as a multiplexer for use with multiple modems. These are readily availible for under $40 on eBay. They are no longer supported, but essentially driverless, you just need console program which is downloadable and IPNetRouter.
Philip S."

"The PalmRouter Elete MIH-108 made by Xsense is a router that has two serial ports. The manual states "Up to two modems can be connected simultaneously to increase total bandwidth."
It has a built in DHCP server with 8 10BaseT ports.
I don't believe that they are made any more, but not sure. I have used one for years with a single modem and it worked great.
I upgraded to DSL and could sell it.
kevin s."

" Ragula Systems
http://www.ragula.com/
Used to make a technology called FatPipe which could be used for connection bridging (56k, T1, T3 all/any of the above), and as I recall, worked fine on the Mac.
Azure "

Another reader sent an email offering to sell his Web Ramp 300 (3 modem capability) which I forwarded to Jim. Others noted seaching ebay.com may find these for sale also.

"Hey Mike,
MOTU has beta OS X drivers for their firewire audio interfaces available at www.motu.com.

As I spent a week working with MOTU at Macworld here are the other announcements:

1. OS X before the end of the year (I saw you already covered this)

2. Digital Performer 3.1 will be sent out to registered users within a matter of weeks.

3. They have a driver that allows the new Mackie controller to work with Digital Performer at www.motu.com.

Also Digidesign has a beta version of Protools LE that now allows 32 tracks rather than the previous 24 at www.digidesign.com.
Thanks!
- Shawn Parr"

" Here's an update to the continuing work on the Mac OS X port. On May 7, at WWDC, OpenOffice.org released a working, developer version of the office suite application for Mac OS X. That version, built on top of the X11 windowing system from XFree86, used OpenOffice.org 638c.

Since then, Ed Peterlin and Dan Williams, the two primary developers, have been very busy, and there have been some improvements. Namely:
*It runs on OpenOffice.org 1.0
*It prints (some limitations)
*It saves

For additional information, see the press FAQ Dan wrote:
http://www.openoffice.org/about_us/pressfaq_ooo-osx.html.

The work that has been done is important, and not only because the port is ready to be used by any developer (or adventurous user) comfortable with Darwin and the X11 windowing system.

But more can be done. We very much need developers and adventurous users willing to help us take the port to Aqua.

OpenOffice.org is attending OSCON, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, where we will have a BOF on 2002-07-25, 6-7 pm (PDT), Marina III in the East Tower, and will have a booth in the Sun area (Sun sponsors OpenOffice.org).

If you are interested in joining in the fun, please visit the Mac module in the Porting project on OpenOffice.org,
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/. You can download the application from the sites listed there. Taking it to Aqua requires some developing skill; but it is still very usable and as with any Open Source project, we need people to find and file bugfixes.
Louis Suarez-Potts
Community Manager
OpenOffice.org
louis@openoffice.org "

DVD-ROM Drive Reports:
• Expansion Bay Matshita SR-8171-B (8x DVD) in PB G3 2000 (OS X)
  
  Firewire CDRW Drive Reports:
• HP 9500i (12x10x32) in Firewire case used w/Dual G4 (OS X)
  (noted iTunes 3 burn problems)
• Iomega 40x12x48x used w/Dual G4 (OS X)
  (noted disc recording 1.3.4 update added iTunes support)
• Firewire to SCSI Adapted Yamaha CRW8824S (8x8x24x) w/G4 Cube (OS X)
  
  IDE Hard Drive Reports:
• Western Digital 80GB in G4/AGP (OS X)
  (used Illustrated guide to adding a 2nd HD 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.]
(Entries today will be added the following newsday. 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.)

• Newer Tech G4/500 Upgrade for Pismo PB in Powerbook G3 2000 (rated 8)
• Newer Tech G4/450 in B&W G3 (rated 10)
• Other World Computing G4/500 in Beige G3 (rated 9)
• Sonnet Harmoni G3/500 in iMac (rated 8)

(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.)

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