Another TurboMax AV Performance Report: This just in from a 9600 owner:

"Aloha Mike,
I bought a TurboMax ATA card ($89.95 at Mac Zone) [ I suspect that price was with their past 10% off special offer that's expired now. Their current site lists the card at $109.96-Mike] and a Maxtor DiamondPlus 20 GIG drive for my 9600/350 last week. I ran the OS, an audio application and wrote 2 tracks on the Maxtor simultaneously and got an error, "this disk is too slow or fragmented to record (I recorded on an empty volume)," and the session was terminated within a few seconds. The Digital Performer manual recommends the use of a separate drive for systems/applications and another drive for audio recording. Audio tracking is extremely demanding and it is better to keep the write heads occupied with only one thing. However, SCSI seems more robust as I have no problems doing everything from one SCSI drive, up to 8 tracks of playback.

However, everything works great with the OS and audio applications residing on the internal SCSI while recording or playing back audio files on the Maxtor (yes, I can reverse this and it also works fine).

I have no problems playing or recording QuickTime movies, even when the system, application and file are all on the Maxtor. Configuration:

9600/350 with a Mach 5 400 G3@452/226/56 & 256MB RAM
ATI XClaim VR
Audiomedia III PCI card
Adaptec 2930 & Altas III Ultra SCSI
TurboMax ATA PCI card & Maxtor DiamondPlus 20GIG HD
OS 8.5.1, Digital Performer 2.2
Peter Kun Frary "

I've asked Peter to check the firmware revision of the card and if moving the card to a different PCI slot helps. (The 9600 has a dual PCI bus and the low memory/PCI performance of the Kansas motherboard may also be a factor in performance with several PCI cards installed.)

TurboMax 1.7.4 Update Improves Performance: I've updated the IDE RAID article with the results of retests in ATTO Tools and MacBench with the Turbomax 1.7.4 firmware noted in yesterday's news. Performance was a bit higher with the update (vs. my previous v1.5 firmware). The v1.7.4 firmware is dated Nov. 1999, so cards bought since then may already have the same version (or perhaps even later.) I've not reran all tests but the update does appear to offer about 10% better performance in the tests I've run so far. If you missed yesterday's news, read the tips on the updater which is available at ftp://ftp.blol.com/pub/TurboMax/ [Note: Ken Skidmore posted a note in the forums that after the update he did not need to reformat his drives. He also noted it did not help with movie playback issues he was having.]

iSub Audio CD Skipping Report: [Update: I was out most of the day but checking my mail at 1AM showed an update from this iSub owner he'd solved the problem - details in tomorrow's news.] This is the first I've heard of this but welcome other iSub owner feedback. (I've asked Han if he's running with Virtual Memory enabled and if disabling VM helps):

"I'd like to take this time to my express my utmost pleasure to be the first person to report on an iSub problem. Yes, the boys at Apple are at it again... (it is a Harman/Kardon product, I know, but Apple is the exclusive reseller and I expect it to turn out to be a software related issue). There is a CD AUDIO SKIPPING issue when iSub is plugged into USB port (I'm not even going to bother with the ridiculous issue where iSub only works after Startup if you unplug the USB cable and plug it back).

The facts:
iSub is plugged directly into either internal iMac DV USB port. "OS9 All" Extensions have been loaded.
No other USB/FireWire peripherals are connected (other than keyboard/mouse).
No Applications are running except Apple CD Audio Player.
The CD audio skips.
Unplug the iSub and the skipping stops.
(When listening through headphones, iSub doesn't skip when plugged in.)

This bug is 100% repeatable.

My thoughts:
The Audio Updates were supposed to make iSub compatible with iMacDV. I assume the software is some sort of digital crossover that suppresses certain frequencies from the internal speakers. The software senses when the iSub is connected, and makes the needed changes. It's the code in this software switch that may be responsible for the skipping when activated. This switch may also be responsible for turning off the speakers when the headphones are plugged in, which explains why the audio doesn't skip when they're plugged in. I really don't have much knowledge in any software and hardware specifics, and these are all guesses, but this may click on a light for some reader that may help figure this one out.
:HAN.
P.S. It otherwise sounds great! :) "

BTW: MGL has a review of the iSub that I've not had time to read yet.

PCI IDE Card Support in OS X: A reader brought up a good point about IDE RAID (actually PCI IDE controller cards in general). If you're planning on installing OS X, there may not be support for PCI IDE cards. Perhaps the card manufacturer's can/will provide software patches for support in the future but it's something to consider if you're planning on running OS X when it's released. (In fact, I hear there is limited SCSI card support, perhaps only for SCSI cards that Apple has used as OEM cards like the Jackhammer, Adaptec series and ATTO.

Wanted: More Ricoh DVD/CDRW Combo Reports Awhile back in the news a reader said that initial tests of the Ricoh combination DVD and CDRW drive looked good, but he never reported back. (I posted his comment to the FAQ's CDR topic area.) I had asked if the drive was bootable and for an update but had a reply. If any readers have tested the drive in a Mac please contact me with details (Mac model, OS, CD driver/extension, etc.).

Here's the original report from the Feb 24th news page (also listed in the FAQ):

" I wrote to you earlier today about the RICOH Combo CD/CDRW/DVD drive being available at the local COSTCO store in Torrance, CA. I have since purchased the drive and installed it in my BW G3. I have not done exhaustive testing but the drive appears to work in all modes. The Apple CD/DVD driver recognizes the drive, Toast 4.01 does also. I viewed parts of several DVDs including the Matrix. Was able to erase a CDRW disk and rewrite successfully. No problems reading CD Roms. It's nice to have everything in one package. So far so good.
Tom "

I've asked him to tests MP3 extraction, booting and burning CDRs but never heard back.

More PCI Bus Errors Feedback: Michele reported that removing the Advansys 3925 SCSI card from the system has prevented errors/freezes on her G4/450 Sawtooth. (G4/450 with 256 Mb RAM, MacOS 9.0, Digital Performer 2.6.1, Motu 2408 PCI card had consistent crashes (Error 11) in Digital Performer forcing reboot.) See yesterday's news for Michele's and other reports on the issue.

GLQuake 0.5 Tip: Although this tip did not solve the problems I saw with GL Quake on the Pismo, it might help others:

"'Version 0.5 - Sunday March 5, 2000
Important! Please read this first! The 0.5 version below has a bug in it. The symptom is that GLQuake won't start. The work-around is to "Get info" on the GLQuake application in the finder, and put something in the comment. Then close the info. Now "Get info" again and delete everything in the comment field. GLQuake should now launch. Major thanks to Phil Hilton who sent this in (with the work-around)! I will fix this in the next release.' "

Also remember to delete the Glquake folder in the ID1 directory as noted in the readme. The Tip above did allow the game to launch on the Pismo, but it quits with a Type 2 error before fully launching the game.

Quake3 Skinning Tutorial:

"hey Mike,
I wrote a comprehensive skinning guide for Quake 3 Arena that I think the readers would be interested in checking out. It's also one of the funnier skinning tutorials you'll probably read. My skin is also available for download. I'm looking for more creative Mac Quake 3 skinners so if you could mention the guide in your news, i would greatly appreciate it. There's also a little easter egg inside the skin for anyone who's interested. It can be found at:
http://www.viceland.com/games/quake/
thanks
dave girard"

MacSense XRouter with DSL Support:

"Dr. Bott LLC now distributing the XRouter with PPPoE http://www.drbott.com/prod/MIH120.html

Dr. Bott is pleased to be distributing the Macsense XRouter with new PPP over Ethernet support!

The XRouter just got better! It now supports DSL accounts that require a name and password when logging in. If you have DSL service with companies like BellSouth, BellAtlantic, PacBell, MindSpring and Earthlink that require the use of WinPoet, MacPoet, or EnterNet, the XRouter can now assume the role of logging in and will share that single Internet connection to all the computers on your network."

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:

• Amazon names Apple executive to head international plans (News.com)
• Mac OS X DP3 on iBooks (Xappeal - link will not be valid over time since it's on their front page)
• Chipmakers face off over faster processors (News.com)
• Motorola promises ultra-reliable Linux servers (News.com)

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.

Monday's News Summary

• TurboMax 1.7.4 Firmware Available
• Quake3 Point Release 116M
• Pismo Battery Sale Ended
• Bottom Line on Turbomax Support/Firmware Updates
• IDE RAID Performance Tests
• Owner Comments on TurboMax/Older Mac A/V Performance
• PCI Bus Errors Feedback
• Testing Wallstreet DVD Decoder Card in Pismo
• Pismo HD Whine - Toshiba Drive Related?
• Rage128 & Flash Tip
• Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews and Mac Game/Video card Performance searchable databases updated.

Weekend's News Summary

• G4 PCI Bus Errors?
• Plus40 Maxtor in Beige G3 benchmarks
• Pismo Batteries - $69.95 Delivered
• G4 Stepping 2.9 Now Shipping?
• Software Updates: Startup Doubler & OS X Web Browser
• Warning on Using Password Security Control Panel on Pismo
• Newer Tech Updates G3 Control Software
• More on Fan/Fanless Rage128 Pro AGP Cards
• L2G3 Upgrade/Gaming Freeze Tip
• OS X DP3 Install on Umax S900
• More Peek-a-Boo/Performance Comments
• TurboMax IDE Card OK for AV Now in Older Macs?
• Reminder to Update USB Card Drivers
• B&W G3 Airport 1.1 Base Station Comments
• Eudora Pro and Yahoo Mail Problems?
• Bottom Line's weekly specials
• Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews, Mac Game Reviews and Mac Game/Video card Performance searchable databases updated.

Friday's News Summary

• Mac Game/Video card performance database Powerbook category search bug fixed
• Bottom Line sale on PF G4/350 CPU cards
• Bottom Line relies on Cinema Display Pricing
• Bottom Line $99.99 sale on Turbomax PCI IDE card
• More Info on Cinema Display Dealer Sales
• Adaptec 2906 V1.2 Software fixes G4 Sleep Issues
• Adaptec SlimSCSI 1480 in Pismo Report
• 66GB Mac Tape Drive
• More Extensions Performance Impact Comments
• More Comments on OS 9/Peek-a-Boo/CPU Time/Extensions
• Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews, Mac Game Reviews and Mac Game/Video card Performance searchable databases updated.
• Other Net News/TIL Updates/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.