SCM consultants has a page on Mac advocacy called
"I'll Take What Works, Thank You".
More info from the reader in France running the MaxPowr G3 control
panel with a PowerForce design MacTell PowerJolt card:
"
I tried to install again the MAXpower G3 software v 1.3.2:
After the installation when I open the control Panel, it says that the card or
the software is not installed correcly, and that the changes will not take
effect(picture 1). But it's not true. I choosed the best settings(picture 2)
and after restart my computer was faster.
I have 256 Megs of ram (all 60ns) interleaved (64-32-16-16 64-32-16-16)
a powerjolt 250/167 1Meg@325/325 and 1 Meg of L3.
I'm using The extension rg1to1(because the icone is nice) to activate the BSC
but I changed the file type to scri to force my computer to load it first.
Thanks Mike"
Charles Archer responded to an earlier post with positive comments on PC Unreal and SiN games:
"
First of all, I think unreal's multiplayer (on my pc)
is downplayed way too much. I must have had great luck, because it seems
better than quakeworld so far (still isn't the sheer fun of quake 2
capture the flag). I don't even have the multiplayer patch, and am using
a 33.6 modem. It sure looks a helluva lot better than quake using a
voodoo2. (I am still waiting for someone to make mac drivers to use my
creative on my mac).
SiN really stands out because it has 16 bit textures. I really think it
looks better than quake2...it certainly isn't as dull and dark. The
character animations and atmosphere in the game make it shine when
compared to quake2. But I agree the atomosphere
stull can't compare to the master Duke Nukem. I think some people are
pissed because the quake2 engine hasn't been ported to the mac. I sure
wish it would."
[4:30 PM Update]
More reader feedback on the Iomega Buz, this time regarding the
$100 higher price for the Mac version:
"
I can answer the question as to why the Mac Iomega Buz is $100 more
expensive. When i was at the MacWorld expo in NYC, I asked about that
and found out that it comes with Adobe Premere LE for the video editing
software. If nothing else, the board and the upgrade to the full package
are LESS than the price of Premere alone (at least according to the rep
I was talking to I haven't checked the price on the upgrade). So rather
than get some cheap software to do the editing w/t you get a version of
one of the best softwares for doing video editing. I think that's worth
an extra $100.
"John DeWeese
Mitch Brandwin wrote that the reason the Miles SCSI card capture tip worked
(noted in yesterday's news) was that he says Apple's drive setup v1.5 disables
write caching on SCSI drives (at least the drives he uses). Part of the v1.5 update was to fix a similar problem on IDE drives (some models had disabled write caching after a restart) but I'd read the SCSI driver was not changed from v1.4.
An anom. reader sent comments on the latest OS 8.5 beta:
"
Hello Mike
I must slow down enthusiasm of your comments on 8.5...
i have just obtained a new beta3 build from apple, and i must say that
it runs quite unstable:
no ppp-connection possible via isdn-adapters (sagem)
many finder crashes with graphic acceleration on (nexus ga1.1)
total system freezes with the hierarchical menues in apple-menue
etc, etc, etc
here are the positives:
adaptable list-views in finder at a good speed
nice optic grace to the schemes and a "i-mac" feeling
(desktop-background in pastell-greens and translucent iconnames)
great find-function
but my overall opinion is that apple has to do quite a lot of work to
get 8.5 at the produktivity level of 8.1, with a planned release-date in
september...
good luck apple..
excuse my poor english"
The G3-ZONE has more info on the Radio Shack motherboard jumpers.
Unreal Deathmatch Notes: Adam Dluzniewski wrote:
"
Hi!
[Regarding SiN game comments earlier today]
Yes this game looks worse than Quake II and terrible compared to Unreal. It seems
dated...
Unreal Deathmatch is really bad. Both on client and server side. It is
unplayable on modems and barely playable on single ISDN.
I tried it yesterday for the first time and it is bad. You can pull the trigger,
run to the other side of the room and get hit by your own fire.
Even on a local NY server that was showing ping around 100 it [was] definitely
uplayable, at least two seconds delay. I can play Quake II without lag.
I was hoping for fun deathmatching with Mac users, but not yet I am afraid.
They've promised updates for client and server that will
bring it up to Quake II performance, but it's taking them too long and there are
very few servers and many of them are shutting down.
Too bad, Unreal Deathmatch levels are awesome!
Cheers,
Adam
"
Note there is an Unreal Multiplayer Beta Patch (and server patch) recently posted that may improve things a bit [Update: Adam later reported he'd applied those patches with no improvement]. There is also a Unreal Voodoo II multi-texture patch, Audio Patch 2.01 Beta (for 3D audio) and other updates (PC) there as well. I've played Unreal on the PC for about an hour, Walmart had it for
$29.99 originally so I picked it up. Some graphics are very impressive (the opening
movie is stunning) and textures of rock walls are amazing but other things are not
much better looking than Quake in my opinion. I ran it on a Creative Labs Voodoo II
12MB card in a PII/300. I can't wait to see it on the Game Wizard Voodoo II card on the Mac.
While visiting Unreal sites, I was shocked to see that http://unreal.org/ has closed. They have a page explaining why and what it means to you. Warning - there is language there that you may find offensive. Thankfully, http://mac.unreal.org is still alive and well but their latest news page list that they are looking to move. Scroll down a bit and there are some comments on running Mac Unreal on the Game Wizard Voodoo II card as well.
[12:00 PM Update]
Last night I got lazy and just relaxed, well sort-of. I networked up two Macs
for a game of Quake. It was a blast. I can't remember having so much fun.
It was nice to explore the lighter side of computing and let off some steam. I highly recommend it as a stress reliever. You know what they say about all work and no play...
Buz - Why it's Apple G3 Only: One reader commented on a post in
yesterday's news regarding the Iomega Buz requiring a Apple G3 system:
"
Mike,
Just thought you might like to know that according to an Iomega
engineer I talked to at MacWorld, the G3 only issue is entirely due to
bus speed. I cannot recall exactly what he said the neccesary minimum
was, but it was at least sixty-something mH[z].
Mike Langlois"
Interesting, I've not seen a lot of benefit to faster bus speeds in most
apps .
I've not had good luck getting it to work in the past, but a reader writes that
the Newer Tech G3 control panel boosted his Powerforce based G3 CPU card performance (due to the memory timing options I assume).
"
Hi Mike
Sorry for my worst english.
It seems that the Maxpower extention and control Panel works and accelerate my Computer.
It's a 7600 with a powerjolt 250/167@325/325
The CPU test (without MXPR: 1256) jump to 1274 (1 percent more)
The CPU test with Norton's system info is more interessent.
Some tests are increased by 24% !!!
You have a great site Mike
Lionel"
He also sent a wide screenshot showing the performance improvements. I'd had reports of people using this to disable the motherboard cache last year but
I and many others never had any luck getting it to work. For a article on the benefits
of Newer's memory timing and cache disabling features, see an article I wrote last
year on tests with a Newer Tech 250MHz G3 card and the MaxPowr G3 Control
Panel.
Johnny C N Lee has released Pretty Scroll 2.0 today.
Pretty Scroll is a control panel that animates scrolling. When scrolling
through a document, it is sometimes hard to find the last
point you viewed, especially if it was located near the end of the
document. Pretty Scroll makes it easier. Because the scrolling
process is animated, you can follow the movement and find the last
point easily.
Info: http://www.JohnnyLee.com/
Download: http://www.JohnnyLee.com/downloads/pretty-scroll-200.hqx
More OS 8.5 Comments:
"
Hi Mike,
No [I asked if OS 8.5 could fit on a bootable ZIP disk]... the disk image is 132.5 Mb... they have all the megasloth stuff in
there as well as 8.5. You'll find it well worth the wait! 8.1 was sexy
enough... I find it incredible that people still look at windoze and think
it looks good. We have Win98 here as well, and it's full of schlockky
animations... pass the mouse over the close button, and it slides out a
little window that says 'close'. Waste of cycles if I ever saw it. 8.5 is
adding things that people will _really_ use.
Great site, Mike!
James"
If you missed yesterday's news I posted a OS 8.5 page with reader feedback on
features and performance.
If you're having to support or install Windows 98, this MS Support List may be
a help. It contains URLs to a long list of troubleshooting documents online at
Microsoft.
Adam Dluzniewski wrote that the Sin game demo noted in yesterday's news for the PC
was a big disappointement.
"
BTW, I just tried SiN demo, both single and multiplayer: big disappointment.
Mac users don't miss anything here.
Running at 1024x768 on two V2 boards it looks like DukeNukem 3D with
accelerator patch. I couldn't believe it!
"
A PowerBook G3 owner that just had a repair for the screen cable problem sent the
info on the cable: "part #: 922-3350,
Description: Cbl, Flex, Ckt, 13.3", PBG3, Samsng."
Net News:
Recent Site Additions:
Mac Advantage URLs:
If you have links that show comparison scores between the Macs and PCs,
please contact me. TIP: If you need ammunition on the Mac advantage, just go to www.dejanews.com and search on windows and any topic such as video, audio, registry,
IRQs, etc. (or windows and problems). That will usually get many cases of why the Mac is more productive.
For a great list of Advocacy Links - check out Richard Long's Advocacy page.
Make a Difference: Be the Difference
Randy Mita, Brad Lau and I came up with a new slogan and theme for Mac advocacy
- "Make a Difference: Be the Difference". We're asking that
all Mac owners take advantage of every opportunity to let others know the
Mac advantage. It's a grass-roots approach that will surely help. You might save someone from a lifetime of Windows in the bargain.
Coming Soon:
- PowerForce 300/300 Review (Under Test)
- IXMicro Mac Rocket (4MB low-cost graphics card)
- 3D Column Logo - you pick the winner from reader submissions
- Microconversions Voodoo II card (it's here!)
- PowerForce G3 ZIF Upgrade (due soon)
- Ultra2 SCSI Arrays
Upgrade Options for New and Old Macs: Have a older Mac and looking for an upgrade? Have a 7200 and
want to see what options you have? Check the Other World Upgrade Search Page and MicroMac search page.
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Need Help? Before you send email for tech support, please check the Troubleshooting page or
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