Toast 4.1 Update: I bought Toast 4 Deluxe today at CompUSA for $89.xx. Even with the 4.02 update it didn't recognize the Sony 10X Firewire drive, however using Toast's web checkup feature I discovered there's a Toast 4.1 Deluxe and OEM update available (dated today). English, French and German versions are available. The update adds support for firewire CDRs among other things and the Sony 10x Firewire drive is now recognized. A 695.7MB CD burn to a 80Min CDR in the Sony drive completed in just over 8 minutes.

Apple's WWDC/OS X Related Press Releases:

• OS X Developer Preview 4 with with Final API Specs
• Internet Explorer for Mac OS X
• More than 200 Developers Committed to Mac OS X
• Apple Drops WebObjects License Price From $50,000 to $699
• QuickTime 4 Tops 50 Million Copies and Apple Previews Next Version
• Apple Expands Professional Services Organization
• AppleCare Setup Services
• Apple iServices

BTW: Apple's latest Developer notes included a link to this site's CPU Upgrades database. (Thanks Apple)

Also check today's Software Updates/Other Net News links for Barney Bouy's daily mega-dose of what's news around the net.

Maya (3D) Coming to Mac (OS X):

"Here is the URL for the AliasWavefront Site. It official Maya will be available on Mac OSX next year. I have been using Maya since it came out on IRIX...using a R10000. I now use Maya 2.5 on NT...finally I can use it on my prefered platform!

http://aliaswavefront.com/entertainment/news_events/osx/index.html

follow the above URL
John Hayes "

Several readers wrote to say WWDC reports say OS X not go GM until 2001, but a beta will be released this year.

OWC G3/400 & G3/450 ZIF Reader Specials: George Cole of sponsor Other World Computing wrote with special pricing for xlr8yourmac.com readers only:

"OWC MercuryZA G3/400mhz Motorola Apple ZIF w/1024k 2:1, Adjustable, 2yr Warranty
Part Number: Z400APL - XLR8youmac Special Price: $255.00

OWC Mercury ZA G3/450mhz w/1024k 2:1 Cache w/2yr (8x Apple/Motorola) - Adjustable
Part Number: Z450APL XLR8youmac Special Price: $299.00

These specials good until Wednesday 5-17-00."

George also sent a note that Apple has a page with Apple Advocate t-shirts, caps and posters for sale.

Direct CD 1.05?? A reader sent a note his recent online purchase of DirectCD was version 1.05 (??).

"Hi
FYI:I bought the online version of DirectCD yesterday, and that was version 1.05

I'm running a G4-500 with a Yamaha4416sx attached to a Adaptec 2940UW. The only change I can find is the UDF driver.
sincerely
Vegard Nesheim"

Checking Adaptec's online store, I don't even see DirectCD for the Mac listed in their Mac CDR software at the store. Going to their main site product page for DirectCD Mac, then clicking on the Adaptec (USA) store link does not show DirectCD in the list of software (only Toast4 Deluxe, Jam and Toast DVD). The DirectCD updates page shows only an update to v1.04. Update - Vegard later replied he bought DirectCD from the Adaptec Europe online store:

"Hi again
I bought DirectCD from www.adaptec-europe.com try the direct link below

cheers
Vegard "

Good News Regarding Future Epic Mac Games: (From a thread today in the 3dfx/gaming forum here :

"Here is an update to the BlueNews story (post by Patrick a.k.a Mango):

"Blue: So there will definitely be Mac and Linux versions of Unreal II and your super-secret next game? "

Mark (Epic's Mark Rein): That's certainly the plan. We've done Mac ports of the last two games, and even won Macworld game of the year, so why would we stop at this point? We have a healthy customer base and the full support of the fine folks over at Apple. "

(Bluesnews) Link to story "

(reply by pOx of PlanetQuake):

"The newsgroup rats at Utterer.com have some even better news:

But this morning, on everyone's favorite newsgroup, comp.sys.mac.games.action, Mark Adams and Ken Cobb laid the smackdown on nay-sayers who were at the time saying 'nay'. Mark Adams writes:

"Of course porting 'difficult' code is what we get paid to do. And we've dealt with many more Direct3D only games recently (TR:TLR, The Sims, etc.), so we're pretty confidant we're keeping our engine re-writing skills up."

And Ken Cobb wrote:

"Not a big problem. We port D3D titles all the time now (TR4, The Sims, currently). It really depends how they use D3D. There are various approaches to take with D3D, and some are easier to port than others"

That was posted on Sunday, in response to the Epic/D3D news. "

Joshua Rafofsky sent Brandon Reinhart's latest Plan file info on the subject:

"Just read this .plan: Brandon Reinhart (GreenMarine), Epic MegaGames, Programmer
brandon@epicgames.com, (http://www.epicgames.com)

Summary of Update:
Sunday, May 14, 2000
The news that Epic will be focusing on Direct3D from now on really isn't new news. Tim has said it himself on the Unreal Tech page, unreal.epicgames.com. The fallout from this becoming "big news" is that people are lamenting the death of Linux and Mac ports...

At E3 I told Blue and Loonyboi that we would be working on the Direct3D API alone for our next game. They made the observation that this means that Epic values the Windows PC market over the Linux and Mac markets. Obviously, that would be true...the PC market is significantly larger. Blue and Loonyboi were correct in their statements, but the community has drawn incorrect conclusions.

I DID NOT SAY that we would be DROPPING Mac or Linux ports. While Direct3D allows us to implement features that will not be available on Linux or Mac, it doesn't mean we cannot continue to design our engine technology in such a way that modular software replacements for hardware bound features are possible.

The Unreal engine and all future engines from Epic will remain extremely portable. The fact that we have put Unreal Tournament on the Playstation 2 in less than six months is a testimony to that portability. However, we have to find the correct tradeoffs between progress in game engine development and portability. The OpenGL/Direct3D road is starting to split wider with each release of Direct3D. As engines develop to take advantage of new hardware features, it becomes more and more difficult to design a high-level architecture that can take full advantage of multiple APIs.

Epic is challenged with finding the path that allows us to develop technology that we, and our licensees, want. Part of answering that challenge has led us to focus more on upcoming console platforms, while at the same time making decisions that will allow us to enhance our overall feature set.

I feel that my words are being misconstrued when people say "Oh my god, Epic is dropping Mac and Linux." That simply isn't true. Westlake, for example, is an extremely skilled development house that will continue to have opportunities to extend the Unreal technology to the Mac. Mac technology is moving forward and Apple is serious about finding ways to move into the gamer's home. Linux is growing and its own open-source gaming APIs like SDL (http://www.devolution.com/~slouken/SDL/) are gaining support.

Supporting multiple APIs becomes difficult when those APIs begin to affect the high-level design of an engine. It raises questions that continually challenge every game engine developer.

We aren't announcing ANYTHING about Mac or Linux support. Its going to continue along the lines it has. I've talked to Blue and he confirms that I did indeed say that the ports were in danger at our meeting at E3. Blue is a damn honest reporter and I believe him. I did not, however, say that we would be dropping those ports. Blue and Loony didn't say that either...it was the conclusion of the Linux community. That conclusion is not correct. "

MicroMat's Drive10 Disk Util for OS X: The makers of Techtool Pro announced today they'll be releasing a drive repair/utility product for OS X called Drive10.

DirectCD Patch for Plextor 12X CDRW Updated: Joe Borzellino sent a note he's updated the patch noted in Saturday's news:

"I have updated the patch that will allow Adaptec's DirectCD 1.0.4 software to recognize the new Plextor Plexwriter 12x/4x/32x CD-RW drive.

The updated DirectCD New Drives Patch 1.0b2 offers improved performance on the Plexwriter 12/4/32 and adds support for the Yamaha 6416S (I think). I need reader feedback on this since I don't own a Yamaha drive. The link is:

www.math.psu.edu/borzelli/Pages/Plextor/Plextor.html

where there is more information. The patch is FREEWARE.
Joe Borzellino "

If any Yamaha CRW6416S owners can verify compatibility, please let me know.

Epic Dropping OpenGL and Glide APIs for Unreal 2? The 3dfx/gaming forum this weekend had a long thread on the fact Epic is reportedly dropping Glide and OpenGL support in Unreal 2 for Direct3D (MS Windows) API support only. BluesNews was the source of the original info (and unrealuniverse.com as well). A lack of OpenGL support would affect not only Mac ports, but also Linux as well. A reader with contacts inside Epic said he's trying to get verification on this.

Firewire/USB Combo Card Owner Feedback: I've posted a page with user experiences with combination Firewire/USB PCI cards. Thanks to all those that replied to last week's request for user experiences.

Apple Multimedia Update Feedback: More reader reports indicate that this update does increase performance of ATI Rage128 cards. The Readme for the update mentions improved Rage128 Pro (AGP) card performance in OpenGL, and better USB Audio performance. One reader noted as much as 4-6 FPS increase in Quake3 (32bit mode) with a Rage128 Pro AGP card.

"Mike
my fps went from 36-38fps to 42fps, 32bit color and medium quality graphics. It does help the quality of play. All in all, a very worthwhile download.
Roy Shiro
[G4/400 AGP system]"

Another reader noted improved 2D performance according to Norton Utils:

"I could only run a test with System Info of Norton Utilities. But the 2D-performance seems to be MUCH better - up to 20-25%. My Mac is an AGP G4 400.
Hagees "

Another reader noted the update fixed a USB microphone problem:

"The new Audio Update fixes the problem on my G4 where my Telex USB microphone, if connected during startup, would freeze the entire sound system. It now works just fine with the microphone attached during startup.
Mike"

As mentioned in Saturday's news, the update is currently only available via OS 9's Software Updates control panel, and may only appear in Macs that had Rage128 based graphics and/or USB onboard.

Sony 10X Firewire CDRW First Impressions: (Noted in the Mac Drive Compatibility Database)

• Audio Extraction rate (Toast 1.1 audio extractor): 1.7MB/sec. (PB G3/500 DVD drive rate was 900KB-1MB/sec max)
• Macbench CD score of just over 900 (tested with PB G3/500)
• Fast with included Retrospect Express
• Burned at 10x rate fine with included Sony ver. of Discribe, but I don't like this software. Frustrating first experiences. Would not make HFS disc unless "speedup" option selected (despite checking 'don't copy free space' it still assumed the entire volume size was needed apparently)
• Despite following all the directions (including inserting a bootable PB CD when prompted), a 'Bootable' CD made in Discribe wouldn't boot with "C" key down or when selected as startup disk. (boot tests done in the DVD drive of the powerbook). System folder on CD shows generic folder icon.
• Mixman Studio included but not tested yet.
• Comes with windows software also, but no directCD type util for Mac (abCD CDRW app is for Windows only).
• Drive seems very quiet for a 32x drive.

Toast v4 currently does not show this drive as supported, so I guess I'm stuck with [Sony OEM version] Discribe for now. The drive was purchased from Circuit City for $399.99.

New Driver for MS Natural Keyboard Pro: A reader sent info on a new Mac USB driver for the PC Microsoft Natural Keyboard PRO:

"Mike,
Hey, you should update the "Where can I get a Mac driver or key mapping utility for PC Microsoft USB keyboards?" question in your FAQ. If you go to

www.manual.com/transmission/msnkpbeta.html

you can download a USB driver for the MS Natural Keyboard PRO, which remaps the option and command keys to their proper position. It works great with my keyboard, and the Pro is a much nicer keyboard than the Elite.
later,
Todd Bangerter "

I've updated the USB topic area of the FAQ to include this new info.

PCI IDE Cards & Deep Sleep: I've had several mails over the weekend asking if any PCI IDE cards support deep sleep mode. To my knowledge, currently none do (Acard ATA/66, Promax TurboMax ATA/66 or ATA/33 cards). Perhaps a firmware update in the future may make this possible. Most PCI cards currently do not allow deep sleep mode (Retail ATI PCI graphics cards, most SCSI cards, etc.). Adaptec's latest 2906 and 2930 SCSI cards are exceptions I'm told.

Sonnet Lowers CPU Upgrade Prices (again): Sonnet has a new press release on lower pricing on select G3/G4 CPU upgrades. This is their 2nd price cut in May.

DFP to DVI Adapters: Kent Miller wrote that Molex (famous connector mfr) has a page DVI related adapters at: http://www.molex.com/product/io/dvi.html. Listed there is a DVI Analog (? not digital) to VGA adapter and a DFP to DVI (Apple LCD) adapter.

Review/Ratings Databases Updated: The searchable Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Mac Game/Video card framerates and Drive Compatibility databases were updated this morning with new entries from this weekend.

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

Recent Software Updates:
• Aurora Video Systems Igniter 2.1 driver (direct download link)
• Live Stage Pro 2.1b13 (direct download link)
• Search & Rescue
• ShredIt 4.7
• PowerMail 3.01
• Joliet File System for Mac OS 1.1
• Personal Organizer 3.0.3
• Lasso XML Developer Kit

WWCD News: (see also top of page Apple press releases)
• Apple confirms multiprocessor systems (Macwelt)
• Mac OS X (Apple)
• Metrowerks Outlines Plans for New Development Tools for Mac OS X at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2000 (Metrowerks)
• Highlights of Jobs' WWDC keynote (maccentral)
• Mac OS X delayed until January (ZD/net)
• Mac OS X Slips Again (wired)

Hardware Related News:
• Gravis(TM) Enters Mass Retail Market With Destroyer(TM) Tilt Game Pad (PRnewswire)
• QPS Now Shipping Que! Fire CD-RW Drives; 8x4x32x and 4x4x24x FireWire Versions for PC, Apple iMAC, DV, G3 and G4 (Isn't this old news?)
• Sony's handheld plans start to take shape
• Mitsubishi Announces Industry-Changing LCD Monitor Technology (yahoo)
• Iomega's Internal 8x4x32x ZipCD Ships With Easy-to-use Adaptec Software (Businesswire)
• Iomega Reduces Price of Zip 100MB USB Drive
• Logitech Sets a New Standard in Trackball Technology
• Intel To Test The Market For PCs With Two Pentium Chips (yahoo)
• Microsoft at the Gates of dawn
• Intel dithers over i820 recall details (the register)
• Love is the Bug (macuser uk)
• MP3 cases turn nasty (macuser uk)
• 1GHz CuMines rarer than dodo's teeth (the register)
• FireWire: Nothing But A Cheap Trick (fw world)
• Farallon Announces SkyLINEú 11Mb Wireless PC Card for Macintosh PowerBooks and PC Notebooks (To ship this week)

General News
• Second MacHack Keynote - John Warnock
• Metrowerks preps Carbon CodeWarrior (ZD/net)
• Apple Germany against false friends (macwelt)
• EarthLink Leads ISP Development for Mac OS X (businesswire)
• Rumors about MacIE Team
• Microsoft: A Proven Danger to National Security (infowarrior)
• ScanSoft and UMAX Announce New OEM Agreement (scansoft)
• Rune for Mac! (IMG)

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.

Saturday's News Summary

• DirectCD Patch for Plextor 12X CDRW Drives
• E3/Nvidia Comments (translated):
• More on MultiMedia Update
• New Apple MultiMedia Update w/ATI Drivers
• Yamaha 8X CDR/Adaptec Jam Tip
• NVidia/Mac E3 News (Japanese page)
• Sony Firewire 10x/4x/32X CDRWs in Stock
• More on 4th Gen Cheetah & HDT 4 Drivers
• Wired4DVD Region 3 Issue?
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade, Drive Compatibility and Mac Game Framerates databases updated.
• Software Updates Listing
• New/Updated Apple TILs
• Other Net News

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

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.