"Mike, I wanted to give you some info regarding the Toast Titanium DL update (I see you've posted a few comments about it on your site).

Although originally planned for end of June, we had to delay this for several reasons:

1. The official DL spec from the DVD+ group was no finalized before mid-June. We couldn't finalize our code until the spec was finalized.
   
   
2. The test DL drives we had in June were all using pre-production firmware (from the early spec). The drive manufacturers started providing final firmware after the spec was released.
   
   
3. Drives were in short supply. We wanted to have as many drives as possible to qualify the software against - in June, we only had 3 (and they were using pre-final firmware - see #3). Now we've qualified with over 9 drives, using final firmware. We'll continue to qualify with drives as they become available.
   
   
4. The blank media was in even shorter supply. In June, we could barely get a piece of DL media (it was like plastic gold). In July, supplies improved a bit, but not much. We needed adequate numbers of media for engineering and QA to verify with all the various drive combinations.

The combination of these 4 items caused us to delay the software until we felt it was ready for the proper DL release. All that being said, we're on track for this update to arrive before the 1st week in August. (it was posted the next day - 7/29) It will have full DL support, as well as some other great improvements - MIDI KAR file support, updated Deja Vu installer, and a much simpler way of creating DVDs from pre-authored VIDEO_TS folders.
Thanks.
Adam
(Roxio)"

I had written before to the developers/programmers of Mac Toast (Adam S.) asking about the delay but had not gotten a reply. (I think there may be some problem with elgato getting email...) A reader reported in the drive db here awhile back that a DL burner mac bundle he bought shipped with v6.0.6 of "Toast Lite" that had DL support, but that Lite version apparently has only been shipped to OEMs. (Adam later verified this and replied that the full Toast version 6.0.7 update will be worth the wait.)

Key New Features In Audio Hijack Pro 2:

• Elegant New User Interface
• Now records to AAC and Apple Lossless (ALAC) formats
• Recording Bin for Organization and Previewing
• Built-in CD Burning
• Split on Silence/Remove Silence
• One-shot and Recurring Timers
• Automatic Timers to wake your computer (10.3-only) and launch Audio Hijack Pro
• Integrated Audio Input Recording
• ID3 Tagging
• Parallel Effects Processing
• Over 35 major new features in total

See their product page for upgrade info for owners of previous versions. They later wrote me with a link to a page comparing the standand vs Pro versions of AH2.

" Hi Mike, long time no write. I read the report on Linksys WMP54G wireless cards (in Monday's news, Belkin F5D7000 report in Tuesday's news) with some interest yesterday. I had been meaning to get around to reporting my results with that same card in my Power Tower Pro 225 running 10.3.4. I've had it for two months now and connecting to a Linksys WRT54G wireless router.
My wife and I bought our house a few months ago and in the process lost my office to our soon to be arriving baby girl. Because of the layout of the house ethernet cable would have been unsightly and difficult to hide so I opted to go wireless. The card has performed perfectly since I've had it.
I run printer sharing so that my wife's iBook can print to our old Epson Stylus 740 printer, and remote login so that I can access the machine from work. WEP is enabled and trouble free. (WPA has much better encryption though)
I am going to setup my Power Center Pro as a file server with Panther so in preparation I was going to buy another Linksys card anyway but with yesterday's warning in mind (Monday's post on version 4 of the Linksys card not compatible) I went to CompUSA last night to see what version of the Linksys cards were on the shelves. The store nearest to me in Emeryville, CA still had a good stock of the Version 2 cards. The boxes are marked in small print on the bottom with the version number by the way. I opted instead to buy a Belkin F5D7000. I installed it and as expected it works perfectly. It actually works a little better. It apparently has better signal reception than the Linksys card.
With the Linksys card the Airport monitor in the menu bar consistently gave me 3 arcs in 10.3.4. In 10.2.8 signal strength was at 4 bars, the highest. With the Belkin card Airport signal strength in 10.3.4 is 4 arcs. My router is probably about 30 feet away from my PTP. I'll probably go out and get another F5D7000 now and sell the Linksys card.
Marcus H. "

Two readers also sent notes that the Buffalo brand 802.11g PCI Adapter and 802.11g PCcards are still compatible with Airport 3.1 and later. (They were the first 'brand' of cards to be reported on last year when Airport 3.1 was released.) Good to hear they haven't switched chipsets. (Although any brand could at any time...)

"I just got cable internet in my area and my step daughter wanted to be able to get on the internet. I had given her my old beige g3 which does not have an option for a wireless card. I had searched the internet and found that the cards available were not compatible. Still I'm hard-headed, so we bought the Linksys pci card and tried it in the pci slot. It didn't work. We took it back and bought the usb wireless adapter. It didn't work. No drivers available. Then we bought the D-Link Wireless 802.11g Ethernet Bridge. The router we use is the D-Link Wireless 11g which connected my G4, my laptop and my husband's laptop no problem.

I attached the D-Link Wireless Ethernet Bridge to the ethernet port on her G3, then configured it using the safari browser (I upgraded her to OS X which is another story) it was so very easy. It worked with the router and assigned an ip address and she's surfing away.

I had a hard time trying to find something that would work. A lot experiments and web searching. (The FAQ's Networking section here has had info on wireless options like this for over a year - in the "How can I use Airport Wireless Networking with Older Macs without Airport Card slots?" Q&A which included info/links on past reports on Bridges and USB adapters, etc., as well as an item on Airport 3.1 and later compatible 802.11g Adapters.-Mike) I hope if anyone else who has a beige G3 or an old computer who wants to go wireless can use this information and that you will post it for them.
Thanks, Pam"

I asked Pam what the exact model number of the bridge was - assuming it's one like the DWL-G810 that's listed on the D-Link mac compatible products page. (Please include info on the specific model in reports and if you have it, a link to the vendor's product page. Thanks. ) I've added Pam's comments to the FAQ's networking section item.

While on the subject, Steve K. sent a link to a page with a listing of Mac compatible wireless adapters but keep in mind that chipsets used can change over time - like the recent notes here on Linksys version4 WMP54G PCI cards no longer using the Broadcom chipset and no longer work natively with Airport 3.1 and later. (The FAQ' here was also updated with that info.)

" Hi Mike, I recently purchased a Belkin F5D7010AU wireless PC Card (11g) for my Titanium Powerbook to try and get better (and faster) reception than the internal Airport card (11b). (Belkin's base F5D7010 product page is here) It is cheap in New Zealand (approximately USD$50.00). Only Windows operating systems are officially supported with this card, however.

You may be interested to know that it works flawlessly and I get better reception (still not everywhere in the house, though). I can't verify any speed increase as yet as I an only using an 11b Wireless router. I had to remove the Airport card from my Powerbook to get it to work, but then just putting the card in the slot worked fine---no extra software needed. It displays as a Broadcom 54g card in the top-right corner of the screen and works fine (i.e., is seen) through the Airport Network configuration.

It is not as tidy as having the Apple Airport card as the PC Card sticks out the side, but the better reception is worth it. My next step is to buy a new Wireless router (11g).
My setup:
Powerbook G4 867MHz, 1GB RAM
Mac OS X 10.3.4 (Airport 3.4.2 I assume)
Belkin F5D7010AU wireless PC Card
Netgear ?? wireless router
BTW: xlr8yourmac is a great site which I read every day.
Graeme M.
Dunedin, New Zealand "

Thanks Graeme. Although the later PB G4 models have improved airport/wireless reception (antenna location/design), a PCcard usually has much better range than airport cards in the earlier Titanium models. (I included comments on Wavelan PCcard vs Airport card range at the bottom of my 2001 article on PB G4/400 first impressions.)

Yesterday's news had a reader report on the Airport 3.1 and up compatible Belkin F5D7000 802.11g PCI Adapter. Let's hope Belkin doesn't change chipsets over time (like Linksys has with some of their products.)

• Macintosh: Restore DVD - How to install iMovie, iPhoto, or iTunes Using Mac OS X Software Install If you do not have a Restore DVD or are restoring from a set of Mac OS X 10.2 Restore CDs, refer to " Apple Software Restore: Where are iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, iDVD Installers?"
• iDVD 4: "Multiplexer Preparation Error"

• Sonnet G4/800MHz in B&W G3 (rated 8)
  (for a comprehensive comparison with apps tests, game tests, install info, benchmarks, etc. of the fastest CPU ZIF upgrades for Yikes G4/B&W G3/Beige G3s, see the review of G3/750GX 1.1GHz vs G4/1GHz, G4/800MHz and G4/550MHz CPU ZIF Upgrades here.)
  
  (Full reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades w/apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked on 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.)

CDRW Drives:
• USB (cased) Sony CRX210E (48x12x48X) used w/PowerBook G4 (OS X 10.3) (no native burn support, suggested trying Patchburn II for Panther.)
  
  DVD-R + DVD RAM Drives:
• Firewire (cased) LG GSA-4120B used w/PowerBook G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (no native Dual Layer burn support, no native iApps burn support. Suggested trying Patchburn II.)
  
  DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• Firewire (cased) LG GSA-4081B used w/Powerbook G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (using Patchburn II for Panther burn support and the tip for external drive burns in iDVD from the FAQ's DVD section.)
• IDE Sony DRU-530A in G4/AGP (OS X)
  (no native burn support, said patchburn 1.1 for 10.2.x tried but wasn't successful. Misc/OS topics page here has guide to editing disc burner device plugin files for 10.2.x)
• IDE Toshiba SD-R5272 in B&W G3 (OS X 10.3)
  (using Patchburn II for Panther burn support.
  Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers B&W G3 - G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model and Beige G3 MT Macs)
  
  Hard Drives:
• IDE Seagate ST94011A 40GB in Powerbook G3 lombard (OS X)
  (noted OS installs were not bootable from it - odd.)
  (FYI - PB G3 1998/wallstreet illustrated HD install guide here
  illustrated Pismo HD install guide here - lombard model is similar.)

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.)