Aurora Video Systems announced today they have released their Component, SDI, and Uncompressed Options for the Igniter Capture Card. For more information on their mac-only Igniter (world's fastest video capture card), visit http://www.auroravideosys.com.

IE 5.0/Suitcase 8.2 Tip: Jay Richmond wrote with a note that Suitcase 8.2 was incompatible with IE 5.0. He said setting IE 5.0 as one of Suitcase's excluded applicatioins solved the problem.

Another reader with a Beige G3 reported an odd IE 5.0 problem in his system; the menu bar clock caused audio 'pops' (he said changing to date vs time would stop the audio pops). Very odd, I didn't see that problem here on the Powerbook with IE 5.0. I was not happy about the default larger text size for web page views in IE 5 however, which seems to have a PC font size now. (The preferences list allows font size and DPI changes, 16 pt/96dpi was the default size which I have since changed.)

OWC wrote to say that their cost on SDRAM had risen 10-15% since last week. The site specials page has revised pricing. (Last week's sales included $209 256MB 222 SDRAM Dimms for G3/G4, iBook/PB G3 and iMacs). I've not received any word from other site sponsors on price increases yet but have mailed them asking for an update.

Thanks to all the readers that sent feedback on 128MB FPM/EDO dimms. I've not had time to read them all but will do so later tonight or tomorrow.

Barney Buoy sent a long list of other net news and software update links.

Mac ROM TrueX 72X Drives Coming Soon: I've recently gotten a 72x Kenwood TrueX CDROM drive with a beta version of Mac savvy firmware. Kenwood tells me the Mac 72X Truex drive will be bundled with Intech's excellent CDrom drivers and promises to be CVGS compatible as well. As soon as I can get the update to Intech's drivers I'll be testing the drive in my Beige G3.

More Comments on PowerBook Ext. HD/Exp. Bay Kits: I've still not read all the reports sent over the weekend yet, but here are three of interest:

"Hi Mike,
I've had one of MCE's DataShuttles for about 2 years, and it's worked great for us (we've got about 30 PowerBooks of various flavors of Wall Street, PDQ, Lombard, and now Pismo).

I was surprised to see that a drive in the DataShuttle won't boot in a Lombard, as I'll swear I've done that. Then again, my DataShuttle looks somewhat different (since it's an older model), so maybe it's not the same. In any case, I'll try it on our Pismo later this week when it and its user come back from DC :-)

As to your second request for an expansion bay housing w/o drive, MCE sells these, too, called the XCaret (see http://store.powerbook1.com/xcarpro99med.html for more info - $149). They have versions for both Lombard/Pismo and Wall Street/PDQ.

As far as MCE as a company goes, they're the greatest. I accidentally closed the end of the AC Adapter for the DataShuttle in a drawer, totally crushing it. I emailed them about the cost for a replacement, and they just swapped it and charged me a few bucks for the return shipping. I thought that was above and beyond the call of duty...

Hope this helps. Your site has proved invaluable in many ways in purchasing, upgrading, and maintaining our 150+ Macs...
--Robert "

Another reader mentioned a similar but lower cost external drive kit called EZ-Gig drive:

"Hi Mike:
This little gem is what I found.
Apricorn also sells a 'Mac version' called "EZ MAC"-it costs $99, still a better deal by 50% versus MCE's product. [the special offer page he sent shows a $59 price, but notes it's for 'IBM customers'-Mike]

The difference between the EZ GIG and EZ MAC is a lack of software bundle and hardware (PCs get a floppy drive installer and 3 types of HD 40-pin adapters for various 2.5" drives/notebooks).

My advice is to buy EZ GIG and save money. This promo has been running since September, 1999.

For my Wall Street II/266, the GF's 300, and many many members of Powerlist, this is the ticket.

I found EZ GIG when buying IBM 10GB hard drives for our PB's last winter. The nice people at MCE might be Mac specialists but spending the extra $ does not cut it.

EZ GIG does not come with an A/C adapter; MCE's product does. However, I don't know of anyone using PC card external drives that uses A/C power for the drive.

The ergonomics of EZ GIG are better than MCE's unit also. It's lighter, the design is more compact for travel, the color is a better match. IMHO it looks better also.

It's 100% made-in-the-USA/the company is based in Southern Calif.

I had both products in my hands for a week and returned the MCE product. I posted my findings in Powerlist and many Listas thanked me for finding a better product, and deal.

The EZ GIG PC card hard drive setup will boot Wall Street and earlier Powerbooks. I don't see why it would not work on Lombards and Pismos, but I don't own either one to give a report.

Including the Powerbook Enabler file on Wall Street external and internal drive system folders always worked well to enable booting.

There were Powerlist members who had many issues with booting internal ZIPs/HDs, external drives of various kinds, and the same issue making custom made CDs.

Including the enabler file from the Powerbook in question always enabled booting.
later,
David"

For owners of Powerbooks with SCSI drives or interfaces, here's another reader tip:

"I bought an external drive case for 2.5 PB SCSI drives a few years ago. MC Price Breakers. Have provided link to their products: http://www.mcpb.com/html/pbscs1.html
Rich Errington "

More info on Pismo/GaugePro Performance Variations: A reader replied to the Pismo/GaugePro memory performance variations I noted in Friday's news:

"Mike,
I also have seen some oddities with Pismo and GaugePro, with just a little different circumstances that you.

I have a Pismo 500 (1 week old) with 256 meg of ram. While running a long database job last week I used GaugePro (v 1.01 with 547 KB memory allocation) to check the temperature (the run took 81 hours and I was a little concerned - highest temp was around 145°F) and noticed the move memory speed had jumped from its normal 89.8 MB/sec to 117.6 MB a pretty fair increase. However, I never use VM - always leave it off, and haven't touched the memory allocation of GaugePro.

My theory is this, Knowing I have the stock 128 MB Apple ram (3-2-2 marked slow in profiler) and the added Crucial 128 MB (2-2-2) which is supposed to be faster; and having allocated 100 MB ram to the 4th Dimension application, and then launching Gauge Pro, pushed GaugePro into the faster 2-2-2 ram, or there is some type of memory interleaving going on, or there's simply some bug in Gauge Pro.

I can duplicate this at will by launching 4D and then GaugePro - results 117.6 MB/sec, launching GaugePro first and then 4D (after restarting) yields 89.8 MB/sec.

I verified the location in multiple tests - when GaugePro is loaded into Himem (3-2-2) speeds are 89.8 and when in Lomem speeds increase to 117.6. Also, when I force GaugePro to straddle Himem and Lomem boundaries I get a speed of 106.6 MB/sec, the number you saw.

The problem is, I can't duplicate this GaugePro behavior on any other G3 system I have, they all remain stable relating to memory speed - but, they all are running OS 8.6 instead of 9.02, and they all have the same speed ram chips.

So I can only conclude the speed differences are real, and the 2-2-2 dimms are around 30% faster than 3-2-2 dimms in memory moves. If anyone else can independently verify this, that's enough difference for me to spend another $98 on more Crucial memory to replace the stock Apple dimm.

If you have a mixture of 2-2-2 and 3-2-2 dimms, you should be able to duplicate my tests with similar results.
Regards,
Fred Kinder "

The review Pismo that I saw the odd rate changes with also had a 222 (OWC) PC100 dimm added along with the OEM 322 dimm, however I wouldn't think 322 vs 222 would make anywhere near this difference in memory bandwidth performance. The previous memory controllers used in the B&W G3 ran all dimms at the speed of the slowest dimm installed (see this TIL) but I'm not sure about the UMA motherboards. The G4 systems and new iMacs also use a UMA motherboard but I have not tested for this oddity in those models.

Ratoc Ultra-Wide PCMCIA SCSI Cards: [See the update below from a reader on booting and sleep issues with the Ratoc cards-Mike.] Mic Berends of Mindesign writes with another SCSI option for Pismo Powerbooks:

"... the RATOC UltraWideSCSI works absolutely flawlessly! it's $259 from MCE, and you can get the Ultra (non-Wide, like the Adaptec) SCSI version for $149, but it doesn't have the RISC proc to reduce the CPU load. check it out - http://www.rexpccard.co.jp/ haven't done any tests yet, but it just screams and doesn't bog the machine on transfers...
Cheers,
Mic.
P.S. avoid the MicroTech USB XpressSCSI USB->SCSI adapter at all costs. to use Iomega drives with it you have to reformat you carts with FWB or other 3rd party drivers, which sort of defeats the whole purpose for most people with existing libraries. it's not mentioned anywhere on their site... :( "

Ratoc's product page on the Ultra-Wide SCSI PCcard is here. Adaptec updated their PowerDomain 1480 PCcard last week for Pismo compatibility, but the update requires OS 9.03 or later according to Adaptec. A reader sent an update on sleep, booting and other issues with the Ratoc SCSI PCcards:

"Just FYI for those interested in this product for their Pismo.

According to their Software Driver web pages, they say their current drivers don't support sleep (crash on wake) and cannot boot from drives connected to their cards (both UW and Ultra), along with other limitations such as the non-support of a certain UMAX scanner.

http://www.rexpccard.co.jp/english/support/driver/cb32pb.html
http://www.rexpccard.co.jp/english/support/driver/cb31pb.html

Please ask Mic Berends to confirm.
I wonder how Adaptec's 1480 stacks up against Ratoc's CB32.
Ken "

Wanted: 128MB FPM/EDO Dimm Feedback: About a year ago there were several reader reports of problems with 128MB Fast Page Mode or EDO dimms in some Mac models, or with some mixes of other size dimms. This weekend a reader reported two 128MB dimms worked for a few days and then failed in his system. I suspect the failures are rare, but I'm wondering if the reports last year of problems are still common. 64MB FPM dimms are the largest size I've used personally, so I'm asking for owner comments on 128MB Fast Page or EDO dimms in older Macs. (Beige G3 and later Macs use SDRAM, not FPM/EDO.) Please contact me with your Mac model, where you got the RAM and if there were any problems with it. (If you're running any other dimm types/sizes, please include that info). Thanks.

More Yamaha 8X SCSI CDR Feedback: Tim Suefert wrote that the firmware update didn't solve his 2940UW settings issue:

"Just to let you know: the update didn't solve my particular problem (when attached to a 2940UW, if wide negotiation is turned on for the Yamaha's SCSI ID, the SCSI bus locks up during powerup).
Tim Seufert"

If you missed the firmware update news, see our page on Yamaha 8X SCSI CDR feedback.

BTW, although Brian Guffey reported the Yamaha CDR was bootable on the feedback page, most owners didn't mention this and a reader copied me on a reply from Yamaha that noted the drive isn't bootable on the Mac.

More Gadget 'Faster' Speedup Util Feedback: About a dozen more readers sent feedback on Gadget's Faster utility noted in the weekend news. Most reported they saw no real boost, some reported problems or crashes (and one odd report on expiring cookie problems), but a few readers did report that browsing and scrolling seemed faster. I've asked for before/after timed tests to illustrate what the actual differences were (but repeatability of web based tests makes this hard). One reader reported that the utility lowered performance (framerates) in G4timedemo and games however.

OT: 3 MegaPixel Camera with IBM 340MB MicroDrive: I know many readers are digital camera buffs (like me) and wanted to mention this weekend's Compusa web ads (scroll down to the Digital Camera section) notes they have the new Casio QV-3000EX 3.34 megapixel camera for $999.99 including IBM's 340MB Microdrive (which lists for over $400).

"Digital Cameras
Casio QV-3000EXplus Digital Camera
SKU # 273872 COMP PRICE: $999.99
True 3.34 Megapixels!
Bonus IBM 340MB Microdrive included - A $400 value. Store up to 245 images on the Microdrive at 2048x1536 resolution. "

According to Casio's press release, the camera alone lists for $799 ($999 with microdrive). Not sure it comes with the Microdrive Cardbus adapter or if it will work with Powerbooks however. If anyone can verify this please contact me. (Of course you could always use the USB connector on the camera to transfer data if the Microdrive didn't work on powerbooks.)

Latest PNY 80Min CDR reports:

"I too have been unable to read PNY 80 min discs in my G3/400 DVD drive. I burnt them using a Pinnacle RCD 4x4. I can read the discs on a PC and a Mac 4400, but no luck on my G3. I also ran into a problem with Toast. Toast refused to write to the PNY discs claiming they were incompatible with my CD recorder. I ended up resorting to my very OLD Pinnacle CD Burner 2.21 software which still worked under Mac OS 9 for ISO discs. The PNY discs are green (gold-blue), while I normally use Verbatim silver-blue.

By the way, is there a way around Toast reporting that the media is incompatible? I noticed that "Disc Info" in Toast does not report compatible speeds with the PNY but it did with the Verbatims, and the Pinnacle software wrote to the disc just fine. I write hybrid discs almost exclusively so Toast is my only option.
Thanks,
Cory"

Speaking of Toast, Justin Haynes reported the Toast 4.02 update improved 4x Que! drive performance. The weekend news had an install tip for owners that experienced problems with the update.

A reader sent a note that Jason Haas of Linux PPC was hit by a drunk driver several days ago. His status is detailed at the LinuxPPC website. You can email greetings/get well wishes to him at getwellhaas@linuxppc.com

The Owner's CPU Upgrade Ratings and Mac Game FPS databases were updated at 1AM with new reader entries. I also added the game performance scores from my PB G3/500 review to the FPS database.

Other Net News:

• 1394 Developers' Conference 2000
• Engineers Make Legos High-Tech (Yahoo)
• 3Com Plans New Palm-Like Internet Device (Yahoo)
• Virtual PCTM For Advanced Tasks Virtual PC with Windows 2000 or Red Hat Linux (Connectix)
• FireWired DV (Wired)
• Amazon.com and Adobe to Broaden Availability of eBooks
• HP Announces First DeskJet Printer Geared Specifically for the Macintosh Customer
• Asanté GigaNIX Gigabit Ethernet Adapters (Asanté)
• High-Speed Access Spoiled By Low-Speed Service (newsbytes)
• Apple open source OS to ship on Intel (the register)
• AvantGo offers web access for Palms connected to Macs (Maccentral)
• Iomega restructures software arm (Macworld UK)
• Teracart Digital Virtual Libraries (Asaca)
• Going Pro on eBay (Fortune)
• Browser Upstarts Take Aim (ZD/Net)
• Leaving with a strong image - Geschke retires from Adobe (SV.news)
• Darwin 1.0 Nears Release for PPC, Intel (xappeal)

  SOFTWARE
  

• XLR8 Point & Scroll Mouse 1.1.2
• PC MacLan Win 2000
• CINEMA 4D Version 6
• Igniter Driver 1.2.2
• Alien Crossfire
• Sound Byte
• UPS Status
• New NT utility for analyzing Mac files. MacExplorer is a new free Windows NT utility for analyzing Mac files stored on a Win NT Server with SFM. Modify Mac file type and creator codes, display file types and sizes of data and resource forks. Also highlights paths containing file or folders with PC-illegal characters. Available in English & French.

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.

Weekend's News Summary

• IE 5.0/OE 5.02 Released
• PB Expansion Bay HD Kits (w/o Drive)
• Feedback on 'Faster' Util
• Toast 4.02 Update Install Tips
• Recycle PowerBook HDs Externally
• More Peltier Tech Info
• More MP3/Mac Info
• More on Club-Mac Firewire/IDE Case Price Matching
• G4 Upgrade/6 PCI Slot Mac PCI SCSI Card Tip
• Gadget's Faster Speedup Util
• Bottom Line's current weekly specials
• The Owner's CPU Upgrade Ratings, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game FPS databases were updated late last night with new reader entries.
• Other Net news/TILs/Software Updates

Friday's News Summary

• Reader reports Retrospect 4.2 driver Yamaha 8X CDR patch works on his systems
• Rumors on RAM price rise soon
• Adaptec SlimSCSI 1480 Driver Update
• Reminder on URL to 8500 Cache Dimm article
• OWC site specials page $209 sale on 256MB 222 SDRAM Dimms/SODimms
• Reader's Fix for Yamaha 8X SCSI CDR & Retrospect
• Reader Article on Peliter Cooled G4/Yikes
• OS 9.04 Changes
• Interleaved RAM Solves Quake3 Audio Stuttering
• GaugePro/VM Oddities
• The Owner's CPU Upgrade Ratings, Mac Game Reviews, and Mac Game FPS databases were updated late last night with new reader entries.
• Other Net news/Software Updates

Thursday's News Summary

• Yamaha Comments on New 8X SCSI CDR Firmware
• PB1400/Sonnet G3 Upgrade Feedback
• Pismo/iBook ColorSync Profiles Tip
• OS 9.04 Update Out?
• AMD/Motorola Nitro Info
• Yamaha 8X SCSI Firmware Update Feedback
• LCD ColorSync Profiles Comments
• 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.