Beige G3 Voltage Regulators & CPU Upgrades: Macworld has a story based on info from Newer Technology that Beige G3s with a Royal Technology VRM may not work properly with faster CPU upgrades. Perhaps this is why many Beige G3s had problems with Copper CPUs. I just checked my Beige G3/266 (rev 2 motherboard) and it has the (good) Raytheon module. (You can see the Raytheon chip without removing the VRM module, which can't be fully removed without first removing the AV/Personality card). Failures of the VRM module may also be the real cause of some DOA Beige G3s which have been diagnosed as 'motherboard failures'. The Macworld article and my 1998 G3-ZONE troubleshooting page has a picture of the VRM.

If Beige G3 owners that had problems with copper 450Mhz G3s could check their VRM manufacturer, please contact me with the brand info. Reportedly most Beige G3s have the Raytheon VRM. Considering the total number of upgraded Beiges, this problem is apparently not common. G4 upgrades might be far more likely to show the problem due to higher current loads. (I have seen some lockups during a long rendering test with a G4/450 upgrade in my Beige G3 (with a Raytheon VRM). I originally suspected a thermal issue, but now I wonder...)

Note: There are currently 633 entries of Beige G3 CPU upgrade owner reports (including overclocking reports) in the Rate Your CPU upgrade searchable database. With Aluminum CPUs at least, most seem OK, even with G3/450 CPUs often running faster than rated speeds. Included are two Beige G3/233 owner reports with XLR8 G4/350 ZIF upgrades noting no problems. (No Sonnet G4, Powerlogix G4 or Newer Tech G4 ZIF entries yet from Beige G3 owners.)

Barney Buoy sent a list of additional links for today's other net news/software updates section.

USB iMedia Keyboard Mouse Freeze Fix: I've seen many good reports on this keyboard in the forums. This owner reports there is an issue with waking from sleep (with a mouse attached to the keyboard USB port) that is to be fixed soon with a firmware update:

"Mike,
I just bought the Macally iMediaKey, and it is *THE BEST* Mac USB keyboard(in my opinion). It is a full size keyboard has an awesome "key feel", 2 USB ports, and 19 media keys. The media keys allow you to control multimedia functions (like volume, mute, Audio CD Control, web browser AND e-mail launching, and 5 are programmable)

Everything is perfect about this keyboard, except it suffers from the same glitch that the Macally iKey keyboard suffered from - the mouse pointer freezes when you wake from sleep with the mouse...

The workaround seems to be either unplugging and plugging back in the mouse. Sometimes it is a pretty big freeze and I have to force quit the Finder and then everything unfreezes. I hope they get their act together because it really is a terrific product and with the mouse freeze fixed, it would be 100% perfect. :)

[He later wrote with an update on a fix due soon:]
Tech support confirmed today that they are aware of the problem. It's due to an issue in the firmware which, for some reason, doesn't work well when waking from sleep with anything besides the actual keyboard itself.

They said new keyboards (both iKey and iMediaKey) will be available in April and they will swap an old "defective" keyboard for the new one.

Just thought you might want to pass this info along to anyone suffering from the "mouse wake from sleep; mouse cursor freezes" problem.
[name withheld by request]"

I assume by 'defective' they mean a keyboard with previous firmware rev. Note that the problem is said to appear only if you connect the mouse to the keyboard's USB port. I also wonder if OS 9.04 helps.

IBM MicroDrive PCCard/USB Adapters: I've posted a new page with the accumulated reader comments, tips and compatibility info on the IBM 340MB Microdrive. Included is new reader info on compatible adapters, an Epson 850z camera tip and links to reviews of the Casio QV-3000EX camera bundle that includes the drive. Due to the Microdrive's 5mm height, a standard PCcard adapter or USB reader won't work (standard compactflash carts are 3.3mm high). The page lists compatible adapters and sources.

Inspire Plugin/PF G3 Conflict: A reader reported that after upgrading his mac with a PF G3 CPU card, Inspire 3D (Newtek's sub-$500 3D package) would not run. He later isolated the problem to a specific 3rd-party plugin:

" I've got the problem singled out.
It's a conflict between the card and a 3rd party commercial plug-in set for Inspire 3D called LD Tools by a company named Linear Designs(.co.uk).

Every time I try to access the plug in menu, the system freezes so hard that the error box comes up blank white. A fresh install of both OS and Inspire work fine, it's only when the plugs are added to the mix that things go awry....
I already e-mailed LD Tools and Powerlogix, I'll let you know how this turns out.
Thanks for the great resource,
Jeff Pawlik"

If any other readers are using Inspire with that plug-in and a G3 upgrade card, please contact me.

Apple Store Selling Cinema Displays Separately: Perhaps this has been reported yesterday somewhere, but a reader sent a note that the Apple Store now sells the display separately (use the accessories/display link). Price is $3999 (plus tax). As previously noted here, some dealers were selling the display separately a few weeks back, but often at a price higher than list.

Casio QV-3000/Microdrive/iBook Comments: Another reader replies to the IBM 340MB Microdrive/Casio digital camera post in yesterday's news.

"I've had my QV3000EXplus for just about a week now, and I must say I'm very pleased with it. I'll take it on vacation to Hawaii next week and give it a real workout ;-).

As far as the drive/camera combination working with PowerBooks, it works fine via USB to my iBook. It ships with a serial cable that has a Mac adapter, so it should work with virtually all Macs. It doesn't come with the CardBus adapter that IBM ships with their Microdrive Mobility Kit, nor does it have the Microdrive documentation mentioned in the camera manual. But it sure does a nice job of shooting, and that 340 MB Microdrive is the frosting on the cake!

Be sure to buy a couple sets of 4 AA NiMH batteries and a charger with the camera, because the alkalines that come with the camera won't last long, especially when you spend a while viewing your shots on the LCD.

The Panorama Mode is especially neat, however the software needed to stitch together a QTVR movie from your shots only runs under Windows. Luckily, I have Virtual PC on my iBook, so it's not too much of a problem.
Bob Woods"

Cheetahs in Some G4/SCSI Systems: Mike Simmons wrote to say he was surprised his new G4/500 system with the Ultra2 SCSI option came with a 10K RPM Cheetah drive. (The Apple 'learn more' link notes that 18GB U2 drives are 10K RPM, but 36GB drives are 7200 RPM. No brands are mentioned however as they can vary, as with the OEM IDE drives.) He also noted 322 SDRAM was installed, which apparently is standard in most new Macs (my G4/450 from Oct 99 had 222). All new G4s must be shipping with the fanless Rage128 Pro cards based on reports. Mike also noted his motherboard was copyright 2000. Not sure if that really means there is any change from the 2nd rev (removing the Intel network chip/enabling ethernet in the UMA chipset) noted some months back.

Speaking of G4 systems, William Hipple reported he bought a G4/450/27GB/DVD RAM/256MB/ZIP system for $2999 at his local Compusa. Checking the Apple store today shows the same configuration costing $3249.

" Mike,
I bought a G4 450 at Comp USA for $2999. Big Deal right, Yes. They are the OLD BEST (before the speedbump) units. 256Mb sdram (But mine is 3-2-2), 27GB hard drive, Rage 128 PRO (with fan), DVD-RAM, and ZIP. When I asked the manager AFTER I purchased it he said apple had authorized the price cut. This was the store in Jacksonville (Regency location) and they had 2 new in box models and 1 demo left.
William "

MS Natural Keyboard Pro Driver: A reader comments on a Mac beta driver:

"G'day Mike,
I thought you might be interested in Microsoft's Natural Keyboard Pro on a B&W G3 Rev. 2. with the newly developed driver by the guys at www.manual.com/transmission/msnkpbeta.html. [Link corrected - was missing http:// -Mike]

Overall , I have to say that's it definately an improvement over Apple's standard keyboard. Admittedly the feel of the Apple keyboard while typing surpasses the Natural Keyboard Pro, but having the full size arrow and navigation keys (particularly forward delete!) still puts this keyboard in front.

The driver (being beta) is good, no problems so far that I can identify. Eventually the developers claim to support the buttons along the top of the keyboard including the sleep key at the top right. It's a pity this button is unable to support Apple's firmware/hardware of starting and shutting down the machine, as this would really complement the use of this product with Apple hardware.

I also noticed that Optus are now selling iMacs at there retail stores here in Australia. I'm not sure how long this has been going on for, but Optus are Australia's 2nd largest communications corporation. I'm curious how such a partnership can be poorly marketed down here, especially now that the iMac has re-strengthened its existing school/home sector for Apple. Regards,
Raoul."

A few months back here there was a long thread on USB keyboards, including the Microsoft's. The info and feedback was added the FAQ's USB section. I had picked up a MS Pro keyboard for $20 in the returns bin at Staples here and it worked fine except for the special keys that required MS's windows software. The Windows key actually worked as the Mac command key as I remember. No powerup functionality however. I didn't use any Mac drivers with it but will have to try the manual.com driver.

ClubMac Firwire/IDE Case Maxtor Drive Compatibility: A reader sent a note that Club-Mac is still not recommending Maxtor drives with their Firewire/IDE case, although I have used a 10GB, 27GB and 40GB 7200 RPM models with their case without any problems. This has been noted for some time in the Firewire/IDE case article and noted in my Maxtor Plus40 review). The Firewire/IDE case article notes that 6800 series and Plus40 series (both 7200 RPM) have ran fine, but some readers reported 5400 RPM models did not work.

"Mike,
Just thought I'd let you know that though Jennifer @ ClubMac does have the ext. firewire housings for your referrals at the low price, her recommended list of drives contain none of the Maxtors. Jennifer states that ClubMac's tech's couldn't get them to work with the housing. Drives may have been faulty, etc., but no Maxtor is on the recommend. Best drive on list was a 7,200, 34 GB, IBM I think @ about 369. ...
Allan J. Liu "

I can only guess they either had the drive jumpers incorrect (must be master/single drive) or did not test any 7200 RPM Maxtor drives.

Speaking of the Firewire/IDE case, has anyone tested any CDRs or CDROM/DVD drives with it? If so let me know what brand of drive you tested and what your results were. The included Indigita CD has drivers for CDroms and mentions CDRs in the readme (no specific brands), but I've not had time to test these. Since the CD support emulates a SCSI device, I assume this is how they get Toast support.

As I mentioned to another reader, the cost of a 8X IDE CDR (like the Acer, etc.) are near $250. Even at the $112.50 Firewire case price, plus a CDrom drive bezel and the CDR's price exceeds the $379 price for a Boa 8X CDRW Firewire drive (w/Toast) from OWC. And with the build route, you get no Mac CDR software and compatibility is an unknown. I'd still be curious what CD/CDRs, if any, worked.

While on the subject of IDE CDRs, Mike Package reported that a rev 1 Acer 8X IDE CDR drive would not boot with his OS 9.02 G4 system CD. As noted here last week (and in the FAQ's CDR section now), an Acer owner reported the rev 2 model worked great in his B&W G3, and even a rev 1 booted in that system. (Perhaps this is related to the new macs/OS 9.02 as I know my Diskwarrior 1.3/OS 8.6 CD will not boot in the any UMA motherboard based Mac here. I've ordered a Diskwarrior upgrade CD from Alsoft.com to address this.) Mike also reported the Yamaha 8X IDE was would not boot in the G4.

Pod Racer No-CD Tip: If you're tired of having to insert the CD to play the game Tom Koons posted a tip in the forums on a workaround:

"I just found out how to play Star Wars Pod Racer without the need for the CD. It works very similar to playing UT without the CD but even easier.

All you have to do is create a ReadOnly disk image with the name Star Wars Racer and then mount it before launching the game. I made my disk image with DiskCopy 6.3.3 at a size of 1.4M. Smaller sizes may work but I thought I would just stick with the floppy size :) No files are needed in the image. Pod Racers security measure is to try and copy a file called mark.dat to the CD. If it can then the game crashes. It if doesn't find a disk named Star Wars Racer then it won't launch. Pretty simple security measure. I found this out by making a read/write disk image and this file mark.dat kept showing up? I did not see it on the Original CD. Not even an invisible file named the same. So I created a new image that was locked and presto it worked :)

Have fun!
Tom "

I know the CD checks are done to prevent piracy (which I am totally against), but I know how tiresome it gets having to swap CDs to run a program. For notebooks, I also don't like having to carry the original CDs around during travel.

RealPlayer 7/OS 9 Problem Report:

" I've sent Real a note saying that the RealPlayer 7 Basic isn't working on my G4/400. Every time it starts I get a 'RealPlayer must restart now' window that when you click 'Ok' it starts up and gives the same window. Real said that they were aware of the problem, that there was no current fix, and that the problem would be resolved in a later version.

Meanwhile, the Player wrote over the previous G2 version that was working - so now I don't have any way of playing Real files. They've taken down the Mac site to download RealPlayer G2, and I am unaware of anywhere else to download it from, so I'm stuck with a useless application.
Thought your readers should be wary -
Nathan Bennett"

He later wrote Real suggested a clean install, which did not help. He posted a thread in the G4 forum on this and a reader offered to help supply the G2 installer.

Seagate Sold: Just spotted an article at News.com reporting Seagate's storage operations have been sold to a group of investors that will make it a private company. C/net has another related article on the sale.

George Cole of site sponsor Other World Computing sent a list of clearance sale items:

• Refurbished Panasonic Internal SCSI 4x Write/ 8x Read w/Toast v3.5.7 (Item# PANCDR7502BR) $109.00 (Only 43 available)
• Genuine Apple PowerBook 190 & 5300 series NIMH batteries - $19 each.
• Genuine Apple PowerBook 3400 series Lithium Ion Batteries - $29 each
  (also works with 'original' G3 Powerbook based in the 3400 casing)

Apple's latest iNews notes that from March 17 through June 18, 2000, you can receive 64MB of additional memory when you purchase a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 800, 900, or 1200 Series color printer at the same time as you purchase either an iBook or iMac computer. Complete details about this promotion are available at http://www.apple.com/promo/ibookpromo/.

Derek Dohler sent a note that Ambrosia Software has a message thread in their forums on the 'Faster' utility that readers have commented on here previously. Ambrosia had some not so kind things to say about the software. Based on the fact most readers either reported no visible speedup or worse (crashes launching some apps), I'd not bother with adding this 'free lunch' to my mix of extensions. A few readers did say the thought it speeded up some scrolling or browsing, but no concrete before/after tests and by far the vast majority of reports indicated Faster either made no noticeable difference or caused problems of some kind. I generally avoid addons of this kind that promise something for nothing, and they are often the source of compatibility problems either immediately or down the road.

The Owner's CPU Upgrade Ratings, and Mac Game FPS databases were updated in the wee hours last night.

Other Net News/Software Updates: (Thanks to Barney Buoy)

Software Updates:
• Kensington 5.40 Mouseworks (English)
• Advansys PCI SCSI Drivers
• Folders Synchronizer
• VPC Helper
• iMATE 2.0b3 driver
• Poser 4.02 Update
• Canoma 1.01 Update
• Carrara 1.01 (direct download link)

  Net News Links:

• Apple to ship 800MHz Power Mac G4 by year end (the register)
• Microsoft, Sony, & Panasonic To Keynote (FireWire) 1394 Developer Conference (Firewire world)
• How To Create Your Own Emergency Mac OS Startup CD-ROM (About.com)
• How To Create an Audio CD from Your MP3 Collection (About.com)
• Mac-compatible palm-tops (Macworld UK)
• Macworld awards 2000: the nominations (macworld UK)
• Internet Explorer Media Toolbar on the way (Macweek)
• 4x4 Evolution coming to the Mac (Mac Gamer's Ledge)
• Macs to Get Giggy With It? (ZD/net)
• Netscape 6 (beta) to Debut April 5th - no mention of a Mac version however (PCworld)
• New MS Browser shines [Some readers reported a proxy page refresh bug however] (Arizona Central)
• Adams' Apple: Simultaneous releases are wonderful, but... (Macgaming)

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

• MCE PB CDRW drives announced, same as Taxan's?
• IBM MicroDrive/Pismo Report
• More on Fanless Rage128 Pro Cards
• Q&A with 3dfx/Gigapixel on Notebook Chip Possibilities
• Dantz Retrospect Driver Update for Yamaha CRW8424 CDR
• $289.95 Price on Toshiba's DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
• More VPN Feedback
• OS 9.04 & L2G3 Upgrades
• Adobe livemotion review
• Last chance on Stuffit Deluxe discount
• The Owner's CPU Upgrade Ratings and Mac Game FPS databases were updated.
• Other Net news/Software updates

Tuesday's News Summary

• 3dfx/Gigapixel Conference Call Tidbits
• 3Dfx's Bryan Speece Comments on GigaPixel Benefits
• Kenwood TrueX 72x CDrom Beta Mac Firmware Tests
• Source for IX3D and IXTV Drivers
• Mac VPN Feedback (Updated Twice)
• Toshiba's DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
• Another IE 5/Suitcase 8.2 Tip
• Reader Request: Virtual Private Networks and Macs
• More GaugePro/UMA Motherboard Comments
• More Yamaha 8424 SCSI CDR Feedback
• 128MB FPM/EDO Dimm Feedback
• Blue Planet Drive Jumper Info Site
• More IE 5.0 Feedback
• Mac TrueX CDrom Drive Firmware
• 3dfx To Acquire GigaPixel
• The Owner's CPU Upgrade Ratings and Mac Game FPS databases were updated late last night with new reader entries and my Pismo G3/500 review game performance results.
• Other Net news

Monday's News Summary

• 3dfx To Acquire GigaPixel
• Aurora Video Systems releases Component, SDI, and Uncompressed Options for Igniter
• IE 5.0/Suitcase 8.2 Tip
• Beige G3/IE 5 audio popping report
• OWC SDRAM prices rise a bit
• Mac ROM TrueX 72X Drives Coming Soon
• More Comments on PowerBook Ext. HD/Exp. Bay Kits
• More info on Pismo/GaugePro Performance Variations
• Ratoc Ultra-Wide PCMCIA SCSI Cards
• More Yamaha 8X SCSI CDR Feedback
• More Gadget 'Faster' Speedup Util Feedback
• OT: 3 MegaPixel Camera with IBM 340MB MicroDrive
• Latest PNY 80Min CDR reports
• The Owner's CPU Upgrade Ratings and Mac Game FPS databases were updated late last night with new reader entries and my Pismo G3/500 review game performance results.
• 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.