DirectCD Patch for Plextor 12X CDRW Drives: Joe Borzellino sent a note about a patch he's written to add support for the Plextor 12X CDRW drive to Adaptec's DirectCD v1.04:

"Mike, I wrote to you earlier about Adaptec DirectCD support for the new Plextor Plexwriter 12/4/32. Well, I was so fed up I wrote a patch. Here's the info:

I have written a patch that will allow Adaptec's DirectCD 1.0.4 software to recognize the new Plextor Plexwriter 12x/4x/32x CD-RW drive. I talked to Adaptec and they have no plans to update DirectCD in the near future, so I took it upon myself to write the patch. With this patch Mac users can take advantage of this wonderfully fast CD-RW drive to write UDF formatted disks. One can get the patch at:
www.math.psu.edu/borzelli/Pages/Plextor/Plextor.html
where there is more information. The patch is FREEWARE.

I have heard that Adaptec has been sitting on DirectCD 1.5 for over a year, and has not released it because of "marketing/resource" concerns. This is a real disservice to the Mac community and I wish they would take care of this so that Mac users like me (a professional mathematician, not a programmer) are not spending time hacking commercial software just so we can use the latest hardware technology.

I am not sure if OEMs that sell this drive have a version DirectCD that works, but it is not freely available as far as I know if it exists at all.

Please note that this is a hack and it does allow me to write UDF formatted disk, but as such I do not claim that the patch takes advantage of all the advanced features of the drive.

Feel free to post this on the xlr8yourmac Web page if you think it would be useful to your readers.

Joe Borzellino "

E3/Nvidia Comments (translated): Satoru Murata wrote with a translation of the Japanese web page noted earlier today:

"Hey Mike! Satoru here.
tried to do my best to make this translation as accurate as possible. After a couple of Q's on the X-chip, the last Q&A is what we are looking for... The Answers were given by Mr. Rich Black, the PR Manager of nVidia.

-------
Q: Currently, the only products offered by nVidia are graphic cards for the PC, but do you have any plans for developing other products?

A: Well, we're actually working on a project to develop a graphic card for the Macintosh platform. We think the _announcement_ [under-bar by me: Satoru] will be made next year. The graphic cards that ship with the current line of Power Mac G4s are very limited [doh: Satoru]. We think that this market will grow greatly in the upcoming future.
-------

Well, there it is. I think this is extraordinary, in that the interviewer was NOT with a Mac orientated press, and the question was a fairly general one (that is, the answer probably wasn't what the interviewer had especially anticipated). Mr. Black went ahead and gave this as the only answer to this rather general question. I think nVidia just might be pretty serious about a Mac graphic card. Very good news indeed.

Sincerely,
Satoru "

More on MultiMedia Update: I finally managed to get the Multimedia update (after a few disconnects during the process). It does not fix the 16Bit OpenGL 'buzzing bees' pixel issue, but does seem to offer a bit faster Rage128 performance. (At least in a quick test here.) The update includes the following extensions:

• Apple Audio Extension 1.0.5
• ATI 3D Accelerator 4.9.8
• ATI Graphics Accelerator 4.9.9
• ATI Rage128 3D Accelerator 5.8.5
• ATI Resource Manager 2.5.1

Not sure what other improvements are in this update, but one iMac rev B owner also noted improved performance after the update. He had previously complained that the OS 9.04 update made his system feel 'sluggish', which seems to have been cured by the MM update he said. I welcome other reader comments on improvements seen with these new extensions.

New Apple MultiMedia Update w/ATI Drivers: A reader just sent word that there's a new Multimedia update that contains new ATI drivers. The update is available via OS 9's Software Updates Control Panel according to this reader mail.

"Hi,
The software control panel just found a new update called Apple multi media extension update. The update includes new Ati drivers, and a new audio extension. Seems strange that Apple has released new Ati drivers the same day as you started the 3Dfx petition. It must be a strange coincidence ; )
jdkoiles "

FYI: There are 1,530 entries on the petition so far (first 24 hours).

Yamaha 8X CDR/Adaptec Jam Tip: I spotted this owner comment in the latest updates to the Drive Compatibility database:

"I finally upgraded my old Ricoh MP6200S 2x2x6 burner with a Yamaha 8x4x24 CDRW. Let me say from the outset that I was very reluctant, because my Ricoh drive has been absolutely flawless for the past two years. I've never had a single coaster with it, neither back when I was using it with my old PowerMac 8500 nor with my new PowerMac G4. But alas, times change, and I felt the need for speed. Other World Computing was selling the internal version of the Yamaha 8424 for $239, and I could resist no longer.

A couple of details about my setup: PowerMac G4/400/AGP running OS 9.0.2, with 384MB RAM, the stock 10GB ATA/66 and a 40GB Maxtor Diamond Plus. The Yamaha 8424 is mounted inside an external SCSI case, and is connected to an Orange Micro UltraWide SCSI card (latest firmware installed), along with the Ricoh MP6200S and a Microtek E3 scanner. The Yamaha drive has firmware 1.0j and I am using Toast 3.5.7 with the extra driver file for the 8424. At first, I was getting a lot of strange errors from Toast, which forced me to rearrange my SCSI peripherals. The scanner had to be last on the chain, with a passive terminator attached. Once I figured that out, everything worked flawlessly.

I have successfully burned at 8x with Toast 3.5.7 and WaveBurner 1.1.3. Also, Retrospect really hums with the 8424, averaging about 65MB/sec sustained for backing up uncompressed data (this compares to about 6MB/sec sustained for the Ricoh drive). [Note: I assume he means MB per Minute, not Seconds as the CDR can't do even 6MB/sec rates-Mike] Right there, I would say I am thrilled with the drive, but there was one more nice surprise -- contrary to popular belief, Adaptec Jam 2.5 *DOES* work with the Yamaha 8424 (Mike, you might want to post something about this on your front page, because I don't think it's a well-known fact). The trick to getting the 8424 recognized is placing a copy of the Yamaha 8424 Toast driver in the *Jam* folder. Amazingly, this same driver also makes Jam capable of recognizing and burning to the drive. It works great on my machine! Overall, I am very impressed with this drive and would highly recommend one.
Alan Brownstein"

NVidia/Mac E3 News I can't read the page as it's in Japanese, but Danbo wrote:

"Hello mike
According to E3 2000 report Vol.3 of ASCII 24

I informed you that the plan that Rich Black he who acted as PR Manager of nVIDIA company announced a Mac version product next year recognized one thing.

www.ascii.co.jp/ascii24/call.cgi?file=issue/2000/0512/hard07.html

Regards,
Mac Treasure Tracing Club
http://www.tcp-net.ad.jp/danbo/ DANBO"

If anyone can translate the page please let me know what it says. (I forgot the link to Babelfish that can translate pages.)

Sony Firewire 10x/4x/32X CDRWs in Stock: I just received notification that Circuit City has warehouse stock on this drive for $399.99. Comments from Charismac earlier in the week here noted the drive performs very well. The $399.99 price is as much as $50 lower than many online 'catalog' dealers. Best Buy also had that price, but was out of stock last I checked.

More on 4th Gen Cheetah & HDT 4 Drivers: A reader that reported problems with his new Cheetah drive with HDT v4 writes with an update:

"Hi Mike!
I followed your advice and installed the Apple driver on my Cheetah drive instead of the HDT4 driver and the Cheetah seems to work perfectly now, I haven't had a single problem anymore. Also, I read your very interesting article about the speed difference between those drivers and wanted to check it myself: indeed the Apple drivers are as fast, perhaps faster, than HDT4! (see attachment for details). This surprised me a lot as when I compared Apple drivers with HDT 3 last year on my Seagate Medalist 4.3gb 7200rpm, HDT drivers were about twice faster!

Thanks a lot for your help,
Laurent. "

A previous reader's test results also showed Apple's drivers performing on par with HDT 4.

Wired4DVD Region 3 Issue? I didn't see any problems with the card using my (region 1) DVD drive, but this region 3 user notes he did:

"Dear Sir,
I purchased, based on your excellent review, the Wired Inc, wired4dvd card. Whilst I'm sure that the card will be great, I'm yet to find out, as there is a software problem with DVD Station (at least for International - Australian - users).

DVD Station reports that the drive is set to Region 4 when in fact it is set to Region 3 (as stated by the Apple DVD Player - which is correct). This makes the card unusable at this stage. Wired Inc is aware of the problem and is (hopefully) working on a fix. Please alert your international readers - it may be more than just a Region 4 problem.

Luke R."

Thanks to all that sent their Combo Firewire/USB card feedback. I'm hoping to have a separate page with all the comments posted later this weekend or Monday.

The searchable Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game/Video card framerates and Drive Compatibility databases were updated this morning with new entries from the last 24 hours.

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

Recent Software Updates:
• Apple Video Extension 1.0 (for Nubus MAC's)
• Palm Desktop Software for Macintosh v2.6.1
• Mitsubishi Diamond Control USB
• Power Windows 2.4
• Form-Z 3.5.0.2 Patch for MacOS
• Sound Byte 1.6.0
• Linksys Router [I had problems accessing the page with IE-Barney] ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/befsr41/befsr_v123.exe [this is a wintel file! - direct d/l]
• Shadow Caster (for InDesign)

Hardware Related News:
• Toshiba Introduces World's Highest Capacity 1.8" Hard Disk Drive & 2.5" HDDs with Highest Areal Density (Toshiba)
• FirewireDirect 2.5" Hard Drives and Case Kits (they come with a Power Supply, so they may not be bus powered, which is what I'd hoped for...)
• Review: Nikon Coolpix 990 (Macuser UK)
• First FireWire Digital Camera Conference Held in Greece (FW world)
• HP Announces Expanded Mac Compatibility for HP ScanJet Scanners (yahoo)
• iButton 2 for 1 sale (iMacbutton)

General News
• Apple up for top design award (Macuser UK)
• Apple audio team leaves for start up (Macuser UK)
• Enter Metallica, Exit Napster (macworld)
• And the Webby goes to ... Napster (Maccentral)
• Fake Mail Form (Peacefire)
• 'Love' investigators see four suspects (MSNBC)
• More on Microsoft Asks Slashdot to Remove readers Posts (slashdot)
• Think Napster -- only for movies (ZD/net)
• Halo Impresses, New Screenshots (IMG)
• MP3 sites on back foot (Macworld UK)
• Ellison tries for second coming of Network Computer (Macuser UK)
• Boy tries to infect school with 256 viruses (macweek)
• Mac nuggets on the E3 show floor (macweek)
• IBM to OS/2 users: Achieve neutrality! Change OS! (the register)
• How to beat the Napster ban (the register)
• Execs to gather for IDC storage show (Maccentral)
• Terminal Reality evolves 4x4 racing on Mac (Maccentral)
• Windows, the next generation to show in June - for rent (the register)

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.

Friday's News Summary

• News links include Toshiba's new high-cap. Notebook drives, Firewire 2.5" drives & more
• Bottom Line and OWC's weekly specials lists
• New.com article on WWDC focus
• 3dfx Graphics Card BTO Petition Online
• WD Firewire card in S900 working for me
• Wanted: Firewire/USB Combo Card Feedback:
• More on Digidesign INIT & IDE Drive Write Performance Drop
• Umax S900/WD Firewire Card Problem Report
• Macally iShock Controller/Type 2 Errors
• DVI Adapters
• Alum G3/450 Doesn't Help Beige G3 Owner w/Logic Audio Problem
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Drive Compatibility and Mac Game Framerates databases updated.
• Software Updates Listing
• New/Updated Apple TILs
• Other Net News

Thursday's News Summary

• 3Dfx Shows Voodoo5 AGP at E3
• Bottom Line lower prices 2 Firewire hard drives
• MP3 Rage Update
• Clarification on Stuffit Conflict Tip
• Voodoo5 5500 vs GeForce 2
• Acard ATA/66 2.91 Firmware?
• More Digitools Init v5 Feedback
• Tip for Logic Audio Problems
• More Logic Audio Problem Feedback
• Intech CDTools & Digital Audio
• WD Firewire Card/iMovie/Loaded 9500 Report
• Important Note to MCadContour Users
• HDT 4/Cheetah 18GB Problem Report
• Leaf ColorShop/Softraid Tip
• $145 Turbomax ATA/66's
• FAQ's list of Altivec supporing Apps updated to add LW 3D 6.0
• MoniSwitch Pro 8 shares up to 8 computers from a single keyboard, monitor and mouse
• Colorsync 3.01 comments
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Drive Compatibility and Mac Game Framerates databases updated.
• Software Updates Listing
• New/Updated Apple TILs
• Other Net News

Wednesday's News Summary

• ColorSync 3.01 Update
• Acard ATA/66 to Support CD/DVD Drives?
• List of Acard ATA/66 performance articles
• Turbomax ATA/66 & Older Mac AV Issues Remain
• More ProTools Init Reports
• upgraded G3 PowerCenter has no problems w/ProTools (pre-v.5)
• Reader Review of Sonnet G3 Upgrade for PB1400
• More Logic Audio Feedback
• Stuffit 5.5/Logitech MouseKey Compatibility Tip
• New Quake3 Updater & Quake 3 Fortress Tips
• More Info on MetaBox 2MB Cache G4s
• OT: DreamCast Half-Life Graphics Better than PC Version
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Drive Compatibility and Mac Game Framerates databases updated.
• Software Updates Listing
• New/Updated Apple TILs
• Other Net News

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 3,700+ reports and growing.