More USB Midi Adapter/Apps Reports: Several readers wrote to contradict a previous post on compatibility:

"Today you [ not me personally, see post below-Mike] noted that MOTU Fastlane doesn't work with OMS. My roommate has a rev a iMac, a Fastlane USB-midi device and Cubase 4.1. He is currently running OS 8.6. His midi seems relatively problem free using OMS. I do notice, that upon startup, freemidi is loaded, but it doesn't seem to get in the way of OMS. No lockups or midi-related problems have been experienced in the 2 months of him using this setup. I've heard that OS 9 has been a pain with midi-apps. Maybe this is where the problem lies.
I hope this helps,
Erik "

Another reader wrote:

"Hey there.. your previous reader has got it all wrong. MOTU's Fastlane does indeed work perfectly under OMS.. I have been using it with ProTools faultlessly.

The set-up procedure however is a little more testing. You must first install OMS 2.3.8.. there cannot be any trace element of FreeMidi left on your disk.period. Then install FreeMidi 1.4.3 and it will place a MOTU driver in the OMSfolder. Lauch OMS select easy set-up and voila... you are set.

I thought I was going to have to return the interface for something that worked with OMS but low and behold the Fastlane works just fine.
Dave "

OS 9 Performance Tips: A reader sent a note on trimming CPU cycle hogging extensions in OS 9:

"I notice only a very small speed hit on OS 9 from Multiple Users. [ Disabling MU control panel and extension seems to have made a noticeable difference in Finder responsiveness in my 9600. It seemed very sluggish before doing this.-Mike] Other components, though, will really suck the life out of your machine. I like to use Peek-a-Boo to see how much CPU time things are taking up. When I first got OS 9, I trimmed out all the extensions that were hogging the CPU.

I found that Application Switcher and Control Strip are both bad (this is true on systems before OS 9, too). Using GoMac as your control strip makes the system much more responsive. It also has a better Application Switcher. If you don't need all of GoMac's features, Proteron LiteSwitch http://www.proteron.com/liteswitch/ is the app switcher in GoMac.

Since I have an Epson printer, I disable all Desktop Printer stuff, and Folder Actions is disabled since I don't use those.

Time Synchronizer takes up CPU time and seems to hang the OS when there is no net connection, so that is off.

There were a few other hogs that I think I completely deleted. My recommendation is that you use Peek-a-Boo to find out what is hogging your system, and you'll really see a performance gain on your system. Get it from http://www.clarkwoodsoftware.com/peekaboo/. Active ticks (AcTix) is the important number. The lower the better.
Tyler Perkins "

Several readers have mentioned using Peek-A-Boo to try to optimize game performance, but a better solution for games may be Game Launcher. Also remember that themes, soundtracks and 3rd party extensions also consume resources and CPU time. (Worst offenders seem to be Kensington mice/trackball software, Quikeys and similar utilities based on GetNextEvent loop tests for latency with these enabled.)

More Pismo Comments: I've created a page with Pismo Comments from readers. Included are comments from a Wallstreet 1 owner that is selling his current Powerbook to buy a new Pismo. I've also included a summary of initial tests in MacBench 5.0 and ATTO Tools's disk benchmark. (More tests to follow, including real world application performance of course.)

More Cinema Display Comments: The reader review of the Cinema Display has an update (bottom of the page) from an owner that was not so lucky as far as bad pixels. He noted about 20. I suggested he contact Apple and/or take the display to a dealer to have it replaced.

Ram Prices Still Rising: It seems ram prices at some sources are rising on a daily basis now. A reader from Korea sent a note about the issue:

"I live and work in South Korea and am a pretty faithful reader of your web page. As you probably know, South Korea is where a great deal of the RAM everyone finds in their computer is made. You were right about the rising prices, and it is not an isolated incident- RAM prices on the whole are rising. Here is a section of an article from the local English newspaper, "The Korea Herald" dated Wednesday, March 1.

"The spot prices of 64M DRAM chips have rebounded for the first time in six months. Business sources, quoting prices of the international spot market for semiconductors (AICE), said yesterday that the spot prices of 8M X 8 PC-100 chips, the core product of 64M DRAMS, increased from $5.50 to $5.83 per chip Monday. The prices are up around 20 percent from the $4.53 to $4.80 quoted Sunday. The spot price of 64M DRAMS hit a peak last September of $20, but as been declining ever since. The price of a 128M synchronous chip, which is not traded in large quantities, was quoted a little higher at $11.58 to $12.27. The price of the 64M EDO chip, used mainly in workstations and servers, remained just about the same as that quoted in the previous week at $10.60 to $11.24."

My take is that, while the prices for all RAM chips will rise (and the entire article made it sound like this was not a short term phenomenon) the prices for the 64M chips will be much more volatile price-wise than other kinds of chips. If you need a RAM upgrade, I think now is the time. I'm not an expert on this subject, but am privy to a little more detailed information because of my location, and the fact that these chips are at the core of the Korean economy. Please feel free to share this with your readers, and keep up the good work.
George Choike
Seoul, South Korea"

OS 9.0.2 Solves USB/SCSI Adapter Problem:

" Great news! I had bought an Entrega USB -> SCSI converter a few weeks ago so I could take my Yamaha 4416 CDRW off my Ultra2 SCSI chain on my G4/400 (Rev2). Well... my machine would not recognize the drive (Toast reported there was no CDR/RW drive) and Apple System Profiler would crash when clicking on the Devices tab. Well, since upgrading to MacOS 9.02 the USB -> SCSI converter works flawlessly! I can even burn at 4x without a hitch! My G4 recognizes it as another SCSI bus (that is hotswapable!).
Jamie P. "

As I noted in my iMac DV SE review (and copied to the FAQ's USB section) - my Adaptec USB/SCSI adapter did not work properly in the B&W G3 if I used USB port 1, but did work when plugged into USB port 2.

DVD Player 2.1 Comments: A reader sends an odd comment on the new player:

"Hi:
I just wanted to let you know that I upgraded to MacOS 9.02 (with DVD Player 2.1) on my G4/400 (Rev 2) and yes, The Matrix plays beautifully (as do other problematic DVDs.) On the downside though, the new player/DVD Driver seems to be less tolerant of scratched DVDs. A double-sided DVD I have, that got a little scratched, used to play 60% of the time in my G4 (though it totally stopped working on my home player) and since upgrading to DVD Player 2.1, the DVD just spins and spins, never even mounting. Oh well...
Jamie Peloquin"

Perhaps the DVDs have become more scratched over time?

Better Palm Serial Port Monitor Tip: Dan Frakes, author of InformINIT writes with a better tip than posted in yesterday's news:

"Mike:
This is the "hard way" to do it ;-) [ Yesterday's reader tip-Mike]
An easier way is to move it into the Palm folder. When you want to Sync, click on the Palm icon in the menu bar... "HotSync"... "Setup". Then click "Enabled" and Sync. When you're done Syncing, click "Disabled" and shut the window.

The "Enabled" and "Disabled" buttons basically launch and quit the Serial Port Monitor.
Take care,
Dan Frakes "

About USB/Midi Adapter Apps Support: A reader responds to the recent posts on low-cost USB/Midi adapters:

"I thought I would offer a little additional information on the USB MIDI interface posts from the last two days:

The Mark Of The Unicorn Fastlane does not work directly with OMS. It uses MOTU's Freemidi instead. This presents a potential limitation for people who do not use Mark Of The Unicorn software (I use Emagic Logic, and Opcode Vision). While it is possible to run the interface in Freemidi's OMS emulation mode, there have been reports of problems with doing this. I haven't tried it myself, so I can't give personal experience, but when I talked to Emagic tech support, they recommended against using the Fastland with their software. I have also seen numerous posts on the Logic-users email list reporting problems with the Fastlane.

Having said that, let me add that the Midisport isn't perfect either. I own two MIDI setups - a G4 Sawtooth with a Midisport 2x2, and a G4 Sawtooth with an old serial interface hooked up via a GeeThree Stealth Serial Port. The Midisport causes OS 9.0 to lock up on boot either from the CD-ROM, or from a HD with Multiple Users enabled. Hopefully this will be fixed in OS 9.02. The workaround is to either disable Multiple Users, or plug-in the Midisport after boot is complete. I have had zero problems with the Stealth solution, although it cost me the internal modem.

Hopefully this will help some people who are trying to choose an interface.
Mark Edwards "

The Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews and Mac Game/Video card Performance searchable databases were updated last night with new reader reports.

Other Net News/Software Updates:

News
• New IBM Chips could make pikers of pentiums (ZD/Net)
• Sonic Solutions Introduces Streaming DVD^TM
• Draco Systems Standalone DV Editing System With FireWire (Firewire)
• Review: Mac-OS X with aqua, Part III (Macwelt)
• Apple shares hit new high on product optimism - stock has tripled in the last 12 months. (News.com)
• Hands on with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (Maccentral)
• 1-GHz Pentium III computers coming this month (News.com)

  TIL Updates:

• Software Updates Control Panel: Just Beeps, No Updates

  Software Updates:

• Mt Everything (SCSI Device Manager)
• iCab Browser Facelift
• Adaptec 2906 Update (G4/deep sleep support)
• Latest Mozilla - Milestone 14

For a blast from the past, see what was on the main news page one year ago today and two years ago.

The recent features page also lists articles posted (most recent first) as does the sidebar links here. The site topics pages (systems, cpu upgrades, etc. - see top and sidebar links on this page) also are places to check as well as the FAQ.

Wednesday's News Summary

• 3dfx Online Store
• Ram Prices Rising
• More Pismo owner comments
• OWC 4X SCSI CDR sale
• IDE ORB in G4 Tip
• Pismo Hard Drive Noise
• Game News page updated for Q2 Zoom tip, Game Launcher
• Intech Promises Cure for all B&W Rev 1 HD Data Corruption
• More B&W G3 Rev 1 Drive Reports
• Beige G3/IBM HD Report
• Acer 10X DVD Drive Report
• Screenshot Comparing Voodoo5 AA vs GeForce
• Palm Serial Port Monitor/PB G3 Issues & Workaround
• Midiman 2x2 Sales
• TIL Updates/Other Net News/Software Updates

Tuesday's News Summary

• Parsec 3D Space Game Demo Released
• Newer Tech Partners with Tri-M
• More B&W G3 rev 1 IDE Drive Reports
• $65 USB/Midi 2x2 Adapter
• Reader reports low-cost DSL from Cox Cable in Texas
• Cinema Display review updated with another owner's comments
• Apple 15" Digital Displays - no Composite/S-Video Inputs
• Sonnet L2G3/500 Solves Video Card Issues
• Midisport 2x2 USB/Midi
• B&W G3 Rev 1 & IBM Deskstar 22GB Data Corruption report
• Norton Crashguard/Metrowerks Conflict
• Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews was updated w/new reports including iMac/iMaxPowr 466 & Sonnet L2G3/500Mhz.
• Other Net News/Software Updates

Monday's News Summary

• Cinema Display review updated for DVD player issue and workaround
• Adaptec Reminder on SCSI Cable Lengths
• Rage128 Pro Fan Feedback
• Reader Review: Apple Cinema Display
• No Fan on Rage128 Pro in Latest G4
• Feedback on Maxtor 7200 RPM Drive Temps
• Tips on DVD Audio 'Pop' Noise
• iMac DV Serial Port Midi Success
• Diskwarrior 2.0 DiskShield Feedback
• 2930 OEM File Copy Issues Solved
• More on Clubmac Firewire/IDE Case Price Matching
• OS 9.0.2 on 6400 w/G3 Upgrade
• Pismo PB G3/500 Observations
• TrueX 42X IDE Drive Feedback
• Voodoo 4/5 Silicon Status
• Reader ratings databases updated
• Other Net News/Software Updates

For links to older news pages see the Archives page.

The recent features page has a lists reviews/articles you may have missed.

For a guide to finding answers to questions - see my Site Guide page.

Considering a CPU Upgrade? Search the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. The current database has more than 3,300+ reports and growing.