George Cole of site sponsor Bottom Line just sent new pricing on G3 CPU Upgrades:
Sorry there was no Noon update today but I just arrived back in town. Some notes
from a trip to the nearby CompUSA and Costco:
- One of 3 B&W G3s on display was a new rev (Heatsinked Rage128/Dual IDE bkt/cable)
- Many of the boxes in the aisle did not have the new features (were older models).
- No Kenwood TrueX SCSI Drives - only a 42X IDE (not the older 40X). They were sold out of 52X IDE drives.
- The only ORB drives available were external Parallel Port (PC only) versions ($199 on sale). I did get a $29.99 2.2GB (PC) cartridge which formatted fine to a Mac of course.
- I picked up Falcon 4 for Mac ($44.95) at CompUSA.
- Costco had sold out of $898 Rev B iMacs. No Mac models there at all now.
- No luck in finding any UltraATA cables at any Richmond store (OfficeDepot, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc.). I need two for the IDE RAID article. I know I had seen them here locally for $13 or so but cannot find them anywhere now. I'll have to mail order them I guess unless my last hope (Radio Shack) has some.
- I talked to an iMac rev A owner and suggested an iMac Game Wizard. I wrote down my URL and other info on the iMac GW for him. Kay noted that the CompUSA salemen commented on my discussion with him mentioning something about 'having it on tape'. I wonder what they meant by that? (Maybe they learned something...)
In a way it was lucky that Costco did not have any iMacs, as I was going to get Kay one (finally). The last thing I expected to bring home was what I did - a latest rev B&W G3/350. In the 'back row' of the CompUSA there was a few new revision G3/350s with the dual drive bracket and heatsinked Rage128s. I was floored that Kay suggested giving her my existing first model B&W G3 and I get the new one. Now you know why she's such a special woman. Considering the little time I get to spend with her and all the money I've spent on computer hardware and software, she's really been an angel. I'd have been divorced long ago otherwise. The CompUSA salesman will not soon forget her I'll bet; she tried to get 10% off on the new G3/350 price after he offered a similar discount on the display (demo) 400Mhz model. The best she could do was get them to throw in the crossover Ethernet cable I was going to buy anyway. I was grinning the whole time...
BTW: In case it helps the model number on the new revision B&W G3/350 was
M7556LL/A.
IDE ORB Update: Now that I had a spare ORB disk, I prepped it with Apple drive setup 1.7.2 in the 9600/350 with Turbomax IDE card. The drive would not be recognized as a slave to the TrueX IDE CDROM in that configuration. I then ran it as a Master on the 2nd IDE channel on the Turbomax card. The formatted disk was about 2GB.
Using HFS+ format I checked for the previous reader reported problem of freezes copying large amounts of files to the ORB. I installed Myth (344MB full install) fine and then dragged over a 147MB Photoshop 4 folder. No problems so far with freezes. ATTO Tools showed over 9.5MB/sec sustained Read rates, but only 2.7MB/sec Writes (disappointing). I'll be testing with other drivers to see if that helps (perhaps the write cache is not enabled).
Note that the Turbomax card makes IDE drives 'look' like SCSI devices to the Mac so that may be the reason I have not seen any freezes. I'll be testing in the B&W G3 and Beige G3 to see how it goes there. I've taken photos of the install in the 9600/350 (thanks to MacGurus for supplying the 86/96/Beige G3 Bezel that made the ORB look like it was factory installed.
IXMicro Game Rocket: was sitting on the doorstep when I arrived home. I'll have
a head to head against the Rage128 Orion soon, and will compare both to the Voodoo2 Game Wizard (see my B&W G3 Game Performance page for Rage128 OEM/Voodoo2 comparisons I've done in the past).
The 3D Game News page has anohter update from Randall, with his soapbox editoral on
broken promises of SLI enabled drives for the GameWizard (Amen Brother). Notes on Falcon 4 and Unreal 2.24 are also included.
= 5:00 PM Update =
[Update: there is a workaround for this - see Friday's news post on TomeViewer] A reader sent a note that the Apple ATI Video SW Update 1.0 installer will not recognize a RagePro PCI graphics card in an older Mac. As noted in the post yesterday, the update is for Apple G3s, PB G3s and iMacs with at least the RagePro graphics chip (not for RageII equipped Rev 1 Apple Beige G3s, rev A iMacs or original Wall Street PB G3s with RageLT graphics chips onboard). An ATI 4.x update for PCI cards should be available at their web site very soon. Watch ATI's Mac Drivers page for updates.
Also note that the ATI Video Update restores DVD playback to those B&W G3s with the DVD option.
The 3D Game News page has an update from Randall Markarian originally slated for yesterday.
IDE ORB & Sony IDE CDR in B&W G3: Some interesting notes on this combo. Maybe Apple should consider the TurboMax card as as a BTO option.
"
Hi, Mike, I just thought you might find the following information
interesting...
I added an internal EIDE Sony Spressa CRX100E/CH to my B&W G3 which already
had an internal EIDE Orb installed. I decided to go with an EIDE CD-RW to
replace the stock 24X CD-ROM to try and maintain as much compatability as
possible (especially with booting).
1. At first, I tried connecting the Sony CD-RW as a slave to the Orb on the
internal EIDE bus 0, however, the CD-RW would not boot with this
configuration.
2. Then I tried reversing it and made the CD-RW the master and the Orb a
slave, now, neither device would boot! Also, some software did not recognize
that the Orb was connected (though, Apple's Drive Setup never had a problem
recognizing it).
3. When the CD-RW is connected as a slave on the internal EIDE bus 1 (stock
HDD was master) and the Orb was master on bus 0, the Orb booted fine but the
only way to boot from the CD-RW was to choose it as the startup device from
the Startup Drive control panel. Holding 'C' at boot would not work.
4. My current setting has the Orb connected to a TurboMax card and the CD-RW
set as master on the internal bus 0. Now everything boots fine.
I tried connecting the CD-RW to the TurboMAX, but that configuration would
freeze the computer at start up. I'm currently using CharisMac's Describe
software with the CD-RW and it works well (no conflicts with the TurboMax)
under my current configuration. However, I think that it's important that
you should mention to your readers that Describe does NOT currently support
mode 2. From a conversation with one of the tech support people, mode 2 is
currently in the works. Otherwise, I'm very happy with Describe.
I had a few problems with my Orb last week, but it turned out to be two
corrupted cartridges. I have since replaced the cartridges and all is fine
again. Remember, try NOT to drop the Orb carts, I think that's how I may
have damaged my two carts. Ever since being moved to the TurboMax EIDE card,
the Orb has functioned fine and software thinks it's a SCSI HDD.
I'm anxiously awaiting to read your review of the Orb! Take care.
ELai
"
I'm going to pick up a spare ORB disk today as in case it does not work in a MAc I want to preserve the PC tools disk to allow it to be sold/used in a PC. There are notes in the ORB manual that say it should never be a slave drive to a CDROM or other non-Hard drive for best performance.
More on TrueX/Plextor CDR Issue: Kenwood replied to my mail on the Plextor CDR issue noted in yesterday's news (and the updated review) suggesting that I reduce the burn rate from 8X to 4x or lower. They also mentioned a firmware update is planned for the TrueX drive within the next few weeks.
"
We are upgrading the firmware right now and should have a new version on our
website in about 2 weeks
Kenwood Tech Support
"
Chris Moscardini wrote that he could not get the 40x model to work in his
Beige G3 and is going to exchange it for a 52x model. Another reader has an upate on his LinuxPPC disk mounting issue:
"
Mike,
Well after some experimentation I have an update...
First I tried other ISO 9660 CDs to see if it was a format problem with
my drive. I was able to mount WinNT install disks, OS X Server install
disks, the WebObjects 4 install disk, and --oddly enough-- the LinuxPPC
Source disk that comes in the R5 distribution. All of these were original
disks, no burns.
I burned a copy of my LinuxPPC R5 install disk (my burner reads and
mounts it just fine) and it mounts right away in the TrueX drive. The
_only_ two CDs I have that will not mount on teh Kenwood are the LinuxPPC
4.1 & 5 install disks. Burns of these work fine.
So I found a work around, but hopefully others won't have the same
problems as I.
Thanks,
Josh
"
Hopefully the firmware update will eliminate these oddities.
IBM SOI Based PowerPC Chips: David Linder sent a link to an EE Times article
detatiling Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) chips that are expected to ship to Apple "within two to three months". An up to 30% performance improvement is possible according to the article. Also mentioned was that IBM has released a paper describing "a 64-bit PowerPC with 34 million transistors, a 670-MHz clock, six layers of copper interconnect and SOI. The chip will include 256 kbytes of instruction/data level-one cache, and 104 x 16-kbit L2 director cache.". The downside? The device dissipates 24 watts.
Praise for Alsoft Diskwarrior: I've had several great reports but have never used the repair tool personally. This mail indicates it may be time I did:
"
Mike,
I send this to you because it may save someone else a world of grief:
Get and use DiskWarrior.
I've had all kinds of problems following various attempts to upgrade to
MacOS 8.6. Finally, I started to get some kind of corruption in my 8.5.1
system folder, the most obvious symptom being generic icons. Other odd
things too: Eudora couldn't find it's settings file, etc. I tried all the
standard tricks, Disc First Aid, Techtool Pro, Conflict Catcher, etc. I
couldn't even get the sytem to get all teh icons back, so I knew something
was wrong. I rebuilt the Desktop File many times, deleted it, etc.
Finally, I got and ran DiscWarrior and it found many, many problems on my
disc! Note that DFA and Techtool had both given it a clean bill of health!
After DiscWarrior ran I rebuilt the Desktop file and haven't had a problem
since.
I have reached two conclusions: (1) Most Mac "stability" problems are
linked to disk directory errors. (2) Disk Warrior is an essential tool.
Since running DiskWarrior I have had ZERO crashes and I run (let's see what
System profiler says...) 51 control panels and 131 extensions!
Disk Warrior may seem like a somewhat expensive "one trick pony" at $70,
but it has been a godsend for me!
Chuck
(I have no connection with Alsoft, and in fact I am still a bit annoyed
that the HFS+ version of Disk Express Pro STILL isn't out. But Disk Warrior
rules.)
"
For more information, see Alsoft's Diskwarrior product page.
WD Expert/TurboMax Performance: Although the drive is not a good fit for most
of the B&W G3s out there due to the motherboard IDE controller chip issue (recently fixed with a new chip rev); the WD Expert makes a great drive for
systems with the TurboMax IDE controller as noted in the update to my Reader IDE vs SCSI drive performance page. Phil Noguchi
sent some great results from the WD Expert/Turbomax combo in his 9600.
If you don't check every day's daily news (updated several times a day normally) you might miss something valuable. Check the summary list below for highlights of the last two days news and the archives page for older new page links. For a blast from the past, read what was on the news page here exactly a year ago.
Other Net News:
Wednesday's News Summary
- Apple ATI Video update 1.0 works with Q3Test installed over OpenGL drivers.
- Details on ATI Video Update 1.0/List of extensions/versions
- News.com articles on Jobs/Gates movie and Divx calls it quits
- 3D Game News updated
with ATI Rage128 & Quake II release info
- Transintl site specials on CPU Cards, $259/9GB Hard drives, $97/128MB dimms
- List of CarrierZIF/CPU combo packages from Other World
- New Rage128s are faster - framerates compared in Quake/Unreal
- More info on Rage128 clock speeds
- More Display Name Utility download locations
- Apple Drive Setup 1.7.3 does not for WD Expert/B&W G3 corruption
- nVidia PowerPC code for next gen Amigas?
- Formac's Permedia3 chip card
- TurboMax owner reports no problems burning CDRs
- Reader Request on QT4/MP2 playback help
- Initio Miles Firmware 1.10 update
- TrueX/Plextor CDR issue
- IBM 37GB drive due this fall for $420
- Rate Your G3 Upgrade database updated
- Other Net News
Tuesday's News Summary
- Bottom Line sale on PF 466/233 ZIFs
- 3D Game News updated
- Reader says Auto-Start Virus on LinuxPPC CD
- Display Name Registry download URL
- Reader comments/tips on USB CDROM recorders
- Sony Firewire CDR due July
- TurboMax/CDR Recording Feedback
- More owner comments B&W G3s (ZIP bezels/Rage128s)
- Update from reader w/overclocked ZIFs/HD Data Errors
- PB G3 (Bronze) Overclocking page
- New Fuse card software bundle
- Apple Drive Setup 1.7.3 info
- Peeking at Open Firmware: reading Rage128 clocks
- CarrierZIF/PowerTower (Catalyst mb) Feedback
- Off-The Shelf ZIPs/B&W G3s
- Bottom Line Specials
- More on nVidia TNT Graphics cards for Mac (doubtful)
- IXmicro promises to ship Game Rocket June 20th
- More on QT4 & MP2 File Support (Soundapp)
- Rate Your G3 Upgrade database updated
- Other Net News Links
For links to previous news pages see the Archives page
For other recent site news/features links, see the Sidebar to the right and the Recent Site Features page.
If you own a G3/300 or faster Mac, you might want to get our PPC Checker utility that will report if your CPU is copper or aluminum based.
Considering a G3 Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. The database is being updated daily for new reports. Also make sure you ask your dealer about any issues with your particular mac model as I have gotten several reports of issues with certain G3 upgrades in some Mac models (Mach 5, PowerBase, 7300).
I urge any owners that have had problems to report this via the Survey Form. Always give the most weight to recent owner reports (dated in the listing).
Note: Before sending tech support related questions please check the Answers to Common Questions, Site Contents, CPU Card reviews/articles, SCSI reviews articles, Graphics card reviews, Tips/Misc, Message Boards and Help pages - in many cases the answers to your questions are there and they have far more detail than I can list in an email. For Apple G3 system info - see the G3-ZONE. For links on recent articles, see the Recent Features page.
Please try the Men in Mac Help page as an alternative on requests for tech support to help me be able to spend more time on reviews and getting caught up in mail. Thanks.
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