One important note to owners of Quad CPU card systems - as reported here last week the improved MP support in OS 8.6 *does not* work with Quad CPU systems according to Gary Dailey of Daystar. Hopefully there will be a patch to address this.

OS 8.6: MacsOnly reported OS 8.6 was posted to an Apple FTP server for a few hours but is gone now. Bill has a review of the final version he managed to grab the 35MB download while it was there. A reader here in the news awhile back reported a fix for the changing resolutions on the BW G3 at startup Bill noted, but I can't remember it now. Some readers say there are compatibility issues with SCSI cards and some 3 party utilities (one reason why I avoid using them). I welcome your feedback on OS 8.6 compatibility issues (please be specific as to your mac model, installed hardware/software, firmware versions of SCSI Cards, etc.).

Carmageddon2/Libmoto Conflict: Steve Hofmann reports that using Libmoto resulted in rendering errors with Carmageddon II. Last year the same problems were reported on my Libmoto page in 1997 with the original Carmageddon game. I don't recommend anyone use Libmoto, as the accuracy and compatibility issues of this MacBench FPU booster are not worth it.

Clarification on Toast/Grappler CDR Burning Problems: This reader says his problems are only burning XA format CDs:

" Hi Mike, I read the two reports on GrapplerSCSI card + Toast, one yesterday confirming a conlict and one today denying it. As someone _still_ having problems with the card, and someone who knows others having the same problems, I wanted to clearify something one more time. It is only when trying to burn 'CD-ROM XA' files that Toast behaves weirdly. Like Windows ISO files.

I wonder, when I hear of reports of success, are they not talking about Macintosh HFS images? I don't have any problems with the setup when I burn HFS disks either!! Smae goes with music CDs. OrangeMicro has not returned my mails....sigh, and the bad part of the story is, is that they're claiming that the problem has been solved (on their web page), and what may be worse is that they might even actually believe that...My CD-R burner (TEAC CD-R55S) is currently hooked up to my older mac (7300/604e/233). The Yosemite is 350 O/Ced to 400 w/DVD, 128MB RAM. Love your site.
Sincerely,
Satoru Murata "

For those that reported success, have you tried burning XA format CDs?

A reader's post in the Rate Your G3 Card (XLR8 466/233 ZIF running 500/250 in a beige G3) commented he could find no way to adjust bus speed. No Adjustable ZIFs allow changing the bus speeds - you have to change the Apple motherboard jumper block settings for that. This will void the warranty and I can't recommend it but the reference info for both the B&W and Beige G3s have been on the G3-ZONE pages (OC Page) for some time (the Beige G3 info was posted over a year ago).

More B&W G3 Firmware Update Comments: this reader says it helped with his Nokia monitor:

" Hi-
Just thought I'd add a comment on the benefits of the new firmware. I have a Nokia 446Xs attached to my B&W G3/300. Before the update, Energy Saver never seemed to function beyond graying the screen. It never powered down the monitor nor slept/shutdown the CPU. Since Energy saver had seemed to function correctly with my old Apple 1710, I ascribed this to an issue with the new monitor, most likely its USB controls, which generate a warning dialog about unrecognized device at the end of boot.

I just noticed this morning that Energy Saver is now functioning correctly. The only recent change has been the firmware update, so I'm guessing that's what solved the problem, though I have no way to test it.

BTW, the 446Xs is a nice 19" monitor with the added benefits of a USB hub and a wonderful form factor that sets a 19 " tube so that its top is lower than the top of my G3 (not the handles, the "flat" upper surface). Very nice on the neck.
Raph "

601 vs G3: From one of the recent G3 Upgrade database reports:

" 7500/100 'Val 4' w/XLR8 233/117 running 300/200 (!?!)
...I ran some informal Photoshop tests: with the original 601 chip, a 'stained glass' filter on the 'Ole No Moire' file took 56 seconds to complete. After the XLR8 upgrade, the same test took only 9 seconds. Very nice!
Mike Barnes "

That's an amazing cache speed for that model of card.

More Routers: Jon Rust writes in response to the column on Routers/internet sharing posted yesterday:

" Some router software that boots off of a single floppy (no HD required):

http://www.mischler.com/iproute IPRoute is a nice product that he claims will run happily on a 286. Supports filter lists, NAT, VPN etc etc. Cost is $50.

http://www.freebsd.org/picobsd picoBSD is a free solution based on FreeBSD. It takes some work to get it built correctly, but it's basically a UNIX OS booting off of a floppy. Supports the popular ipfw firewall package, VPN, NAT, etc etc. (I use this for an interoffice router, running on an ancient 486 with 2 ether cards and a floppy drive.)

http://www.psychosis.com/linux-router/ The LRP is very similar to picoBSD, but based on Linux instead of FreeBSD.

Unforunately, these are all based on x86 architecture. The LRP package may be portable to one of the Mac Linux variations (using a bootable CD... oooh that would be cool). Also, I must say that the IPNetRouter package is tremendous. It works very well and even continues to route packets after the system has crashed! (You can force a crash by UNPLUGGING the hard drive, and still have it route packets without a hitch-- handy if the hard drive on the router Mac is noisy, but prolly not recommended. :-)
Jon Rust "

Web Sharing/IP Routing: Alex Koyshman's latest column deals with IP Routing Explained: How to Share Internet Access on Your Network. I've also added some very interesting comments from reader Bob Crites to the end of the article about a product called WebRamp.

More OWC $299 ZIF Raves: There are about 5 new Rate Your G3 Card entries on the Other World Computing $299 366/183/1MB ZIF Upgrade. One report noted running 413 MHz with a 75 Mhz bus speed and 5.5 ratio. As noted in my latest PF 400/200/1MB ZIF review summary, the OWC $299 ZIF upgrade is the best value out there right now in a ZIF upgrade in my opinion. There is a small tradein for your original ZIF also, contact Other World for the current tradein price. Other World Computing is a site sponsor, so a mention of the site when you order is appreciated.

BLOL Specials: Somehow I lost yesterday's Bottom Line specials list but George sent another copy. This is the one that included the $279.99 DVD Decorder card/Drive bundle.

B&W G3 Server Case: A company wrote me saying they were considering making a B&W G3 server case and wanted suggestions. I suggested several obvious thinkthings right off the bat:

• Provision for redundant supplies (hot swap)
• Removable/hot swap drive bays
• Larger base Power Supply
• Improved cooling
• Space for more drives (ie like the Genesis but hot-swappable)
• An integrated PCI slot expansion (passive backplane) would be nice

I've asked them if there is a special email address to send other suggestions.

9500 RAM Upgrade: A reader who had just bought a used 9500/132 wrote to ask how to upgrade the RAM. The case design is similar to the 8500, and both require removing the motherboard to access the RAM slots. It's not something I suggest inexperienced persons do but back in 1997 one of the site's first articles was the 8500 Cache upgrade which shows the steps involved. This person had a edu email address, so I suggested he contact the college Apple service center (most have them) to perform the upgrade. They are often very affordable and this job may be too much for some owners.

More on Grappler/4416S/Toast: Contrary to the report in yesterday's news this reader says his 930U/4416S/Toast setup works well but noted a problem with the Charismac (?) Cd extension:

" Greetings,
We successfully burn disc images with the Yamaha CD-RW 4416S when we use Adaptec Toast and GrapplerSCSI 930U with firmware rev. 1.18 on a B/W G3 400.

One thing we found is that when we use Toast to burn a disk with Yamaha CD-RW 4416S, the system will hang at end of writing CD with CharisMac CD ROM extension is enabled. We have to remove CharisMac CD ROM extension to make it work.
Ed Garcia "

I've asked for clarification on why the Charismac extension was present. They make Discribe CDR software among other things. He later wrote:

" We are using Toast. I am not familiar with Discribe. Charismac CD-ROM extensions are provided on the Orange Micro website for the convenience of Grappler SCSI users. These are only necessary if SCSI devices are being used that are not supported by MacOS standard CD-ROM extensions. www.orangemicro.com/updatescsi.html "

More Q3Test Framerates: Todd Eddie sent a table of framerate results in Quake3Test on his 8500 with 3fdx Voodoo1 card that I've added to my Quake3 page. The page also has results with Rage128 and Voodoo2 cards and Rage128 Sreenshots as well.

A reader has sent screenshots demonstrating the image quality differences between Rage128 and Voodoo2. His files were very large but I'm working now on some way to make these more web sized and still preserve the quality.

Sonnet G3/PowerBase Towers: James Deer posted a confirmation in the database about the fit problems with this combo:

" To simply reinforce what a previous post indicated, the Sonnet card will 'not' work in the PowerBase Tower model (but will work fine in the Desktop model). I even checked with a customer service rep at Sonnet before I ordered the card, and he told me the problem had been rectified and the card would work. After getting the card I discovered that, in fact, it won't fit. I then called Tech Support at Sonnet and they told me the card definitely won't fit the Tower model. Apparently, most of the resellers are not aware of this, as well as some of the people at Sonnet.
James Deer "

Reminders:

If you missed last night's 8PM update to yesterday's news I posted a review of the PowerForce 400/200/1MB ZIF, including tests in many popular applications in both the Beige and B&W G3. It's linked in the sidebar and CPU Cards page for future reference.

MesaQuake3.1b11, noted in yesterday's news is now available at my software mirror (updated last night). Click here to download it. For more information on MesaQuake, which allows 3Dfx card owners to run Quake3Test, see the MesaQuake home page. The latest version is also available for download at the MesaDownloads page.

If you don't check every day's daily news (updated several times a day normally) you might miss something valuable. Check the summary list below for highlights of the last two days news and the archives page for older new page links. For a blast from the past, read what was on the news page here exactly a year ago.

Other Net News:

• Why Buy a Generic PC? In an age when all the giants sell directly to you, "white box" makers still ship one-fifth of PCs. (PCWorld)
• Y2K Tax Break for Small Businesses U.S. Senators consider tax breaks to encourage Y2K compliance. (PCWorld)
• AOL Left Out of Cable Dance With AT&T's buy of MediaOne, America Online's broadband options decline. (PCWorld)

Friday's News Summary

• Review of PowerForce G3/400/200/1MB ZIF
• Call for accurate G3 Temp util
• News on Apple WWDC and RAM Chip pricing
• 3D Gaming News massive update
• reader 930U/Yamaha4416/Toast problem report
• Bottom Line $279.99 total DVD Kit (Decorder card/drive)
• Softraid 2.1.6 update released
• CDW Powerbook sale
• More 400Mhz reports from OWC's $299 366/ZIF
• Casaday & Greene Speed Startup
• Disable RAM tests tip in OS 8.5
• Petiton for UPS Mac Support
• MRJ 2.1.2 released
• More on Permedia 3 Card from Formac
• How to help Mac RC5 Contest
• How to share a Modem on the Mac
• MesaQuake B11 released
• Sonnet and OWC G3 upgrade sales
• Conflict Catcher updated
• One year ago today news
• Quake 3 Tips updated
• G3 CPU Upgrade Ratings database updated
• Other Net News

Thursday's News Summary

• 3D Gaming News updated
• Another reader report from OWC's 366/$299 ZIF
• Quake3 framerates from Voodoo2 and Rage128
• Formac Permedia 3 card
• iMac humor site
• Confirmation on ATI special offers on Rage128
• Vidi still promising free Mac 3d app
• Apple TIL for testing TCP/IP 100BaseT Networks
• More RC5 Performance feedback/older version's improved MP performance and links
• Reader comment on Monster3D rebate (box sticker)
• Quake 3 Tips/Screenshots updated
• Rate Your G3 Upgrade database updated
• Other Net News

For other recent site news/features links, see the Sidebar to the right and the Recent Site Features page.

If you own a G3/300 or faster Mac, you might want to get our PPC Checker utility that will report if your CPU is copper or aluminum based.

Considering a G3 Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. The database is being updated daily for new reports. Also make sure you ask your dealer about any issues with current builds of some models (ie PF G3) as I have gotten several reports of issues with certain mac models in the last few months (Mach 5, PowerBase, 7300). I urge any owners that have had problems to report this via the Survey Form. Always give the most weight to recent owner reports (dated in the listing).