"The Rage II is not OpenGL compliant. During the setup phase (within the program), the beta drivers returned the Rage II as a viable context renderer. However, the new drivers use stricter selection criteria, and do not return the Rage II as a viable context unless the AGL_ALL_RENDERERS flag is set. If a Quake update sets this flag, then all will be well. But it's up to the programmers to implement this manually.
There is (AFAIK) nothing the end user can do about this.
- Jared"

The only option seems to be using the previous version. My suggestion is to add in a 3dfx card (best bang for the buck now for games). It really is worth it for the gamer, and 3Dfx Voodoo1 cards are often under $50 now - recently $20 after rebate at CompUSA (ended May 8th I think). Diamond was blowing out Righteous 3D cards for not much more recently - check their online store. And as noted below - Bottom Line had a few $99 8MB Voodoo2 cards (may be all gone now). For more info on 3Dfx cards see my FAQ or the 3dfx forum. See the Quake3 Tips page and download MesaQuake to allow 3dfx cards to work with Q3Test.

The latest update to the OS 8.6 Compatibilty page has a report on Palm 2.1 software freezes waking from sleep (and includes the fix for it).

Also included is a note on Adobe Illustrator 8 memory leaks and a request for a URL to the patch that was on the net for OS 8.x memory leaks. Can anyone send me the URL and a note if it works with OS 8.6?

A reseller from Portland, Oregon noted that recent shipments of B&W G3s contained 32X CDROM drives, not 24X models. Not sure if this is temporary or batch (OEM) dependent.

'Z' just reported that Maxtor 20GB DiamondMax drives are currently $295.95 at Buy.com.

Today's 3D Game News update has a massive amount of Quake 3 news, cool tips/tricks and commentary (including security issues for ADSL users). Also included are notes on Duality, Falcon 4 Mac going Gold, Oni, Civilization II, Wheel of Time and much more.

Q3Test Tips: Several readers wrote regarding the issue of hangs and delays. Most readers said increasing the memory allocated to Q3Test or enabling Virtual Memory solved their problems. One reader commented that reverting back to Quicktime 3.02 (from v4) solved his problems. A common note was that the map1 delay can last 30 to 40 seconds.

Lorenzo Mazzucco reported OS 8.6 fixed a problem he had watching Region 2 DVD movies.

Tobias Jachmann wrote with a workaround for his Villagetronic MP540/OS 8.6 problem reported earlier today:

"I have a workaround !
I use SwitchRes ! It can override the locked res. and switches to my desired res. at Finder loading time. Works good, but still both screens start up with 640.

You can get SwitchRes 2.0 at http://www.multimania.com/madrau
[URL not responding for me and note yesterday a reader reported Switchres was not compatible with OS 8.6, perhaps an earlier version-Mike]

After a fresh install with 8.5.1 and then 8.6 I still have problems with freezes and the main display (ATI128) feels slower. Clicking and dragging is also slower. I have no clue. I will go back to 8.5.1 until the dust settles.

I still suspect QT4 (but its a MUST have for video grabbing over 2gigs) and OpenGL (I can live without that) causing trouble.
Tobias "

OS 8.6 Control Strip Tip: Nick Trugly reported (among others) problems with control strips in OS 8.6. He just replied deleting the preferences file solved the problem.

Thad Brown sent another update to our Mac Audio Column - the One Year Anniversary Issue! (Thanks for hanging in there Thad!) In this issue Thad looks back at the highs and lows of the last year and also at what's ahead. The latest issue and links to back issues are always at www.xlr8yourmac.com/audio/

New PB G3 Series DVD Decoder: Rob Thiemann wrote to say the DVD decoder in the 400Mhz model is not software based but a hardware ZIVA PC DVD Decoder w/2MB SDRAM as noted in this developer document. This is good news, and I hope the 'jaggies' seen on the previous PC Card PB DVD setups (during character movement, etc.) is absent on the new design. All motherboard DVD decoder's I've seen (ie PC notebooks like the Gateway Solo and Dell Inspiron 7000) have higher quality images than the PC Card based decoder. The difference is very noticable once you compare the two.

Vimage G3/PowerCenter Incompatible: The latest update to the Rate Your G3 Upgrade database has a report of incompatibility between the Vimage G3 upgrade and a PowerCenter Pro. Note that Vimage's product page does not list any Power Computing machines as compatible (only apple and umax models). Although the reader suspected the 60Mhz PCPro Bus speed, that isn't the issue as the CPU card controls the bus speed, not the motherboard. The problem I suspect is the same one that affected Newer Tech's first G3 cards (and all Apple 604 cards)- the PowerCenter's motherboard design. As noted in the site FAQ and news back in Nov 1997, Apple CPU Cards (604's) don't work in Powercenters. There is a pin used by the PowerCenter CPU cards that was the issue if I remember correctly. Although Vimage does not list any Power Computing clones as compatible, the card worked fine in the reader's PowerWave machine.

Sam Ko wrote that SmartStuff Software tells him they plan to have a OS 8.6 compatible patch for FoolProof in a few weeks. In the meantime as noted in yesterday's update to the OS 8.6 Compatibility page, it is highly recommended that you disable disk locking or remove FoolProof prior to upgrading to OS 8.6 (otherwise your disk will be inaccessible).

David Chao remarked that the OpenGL 1.0 drivers include Quickdraw 3D version 1.6.

Speaking of OpenGL, a reader notes that the 1.0 drivers work well with the new Korea OpenGL game patch (available at their Support Page):

" Mike,
Just wanted you to know that I downloaded Apple's new Open GL drivers and the new F/A Korea Open GL updater from Graphic Simulations web site. The result: absolute perfection without a hitch. It seems that some of the textures are a little nicer or at least different, but the whole game was very smooth with the obvious ram allocation increase to around 45 - 50 MB. It's nice to see a smooth transition and a fast response from the developers like Graphic Simulations. Running on a PowerCenter Pro G3 @372 MHz w/ MC Voodoo 2 -12 MB.
Thanks for all of your hard work and terrific info! Charlie Wilson "

Normally Apple's OpenGL does not support 3dfx cards, as OpenGL games like Quake3 needed mesaquake to add 3Dfx card support. However the Korea GL patch specifically notes both ATI and Voodoo2 support, outstanding.

Wanted: Q3Test 1.05 Info: Several readers have asked these questions:

" Mike - Do you know if this 'Rod' guy fixed his hanging Q3 1.05 problem? I'm having the same problem where during loading of the components before a game, my system hangs at 'loading...maps/q3test1.bsp'...
Help! Thanks!
David "

Send any tips/fixes to me for posting here.

This reader is one of several that has problems running the game:

" I've had this awful problem with Quake3 b5, OpenGL 1.0, and 8.6. I have a rev A beige G3 (with a Rage II chip) and since I moved to the latest Quake Test and installed the final openGL drivers etc, Quake refuses to load the openGL drivers! It loads the app, changes the screen rez and then shows a completely white screen and presents the openGL error. An OK button drops me back into the finder. Absurd since the previous build, along with openGL beta drivers, worked fine...

I tried a whole set of solutions, including a clean install of the OS, a clean install of openGL, and then a fresh copy of Quake3. Still no go.

My theory is this: while openGL supports the Rage II, Rage Pro, adn Rage 128 chips, Quake 3 now (as of Test 5) says that it only supports Rage Pro or 128. Could be the problem but since it worked before this miffs me somewhat...Had any feedback from other readers?
Craig "

Send any tips/fixes to me for posting here. I suggested strongly that he get a replacement card for the RageII as it's too slow for most every RAVE/3D game now (and 3Dfx Thanks!

Matt Ball notes that contrary to the post yesterday on Interware's update/fix, he's been running 8.6 on a Vimage-upgraded StarMax 4/160 since Monday with zero problems.

OS 8.6/VillageTronic MP 520/540 Issues:

" installing 8.6 was not a breeze for me:
Installed 8.6 over existing 8.5.1 on b&w Mac. (Did clean install later with the same trouble)

Lots of freezes when quitting apps or changing between them ..BUT it looks like the Village Tronic 520 and 540 are incompatible with 8.6.

My 540 locks to 640x480, its default resolution. I have to unlock it (via control panel) and then can switch to 1152x870 or whatever. All icons get scrambled of course. Called the VT Hotline, they said I am not the only one reporting this. They have no clue yet, because their developer is at the WWDC.

Since OpenGL beta and QT4 beta I got into other trouble. One of both responsible for:

-when switching resolutions the active app is quitted or machine freezes
-backups with Retrospect on a Yamaha 4416 with CD-RWs freezes my machine

This happened after installing OpenGL and QT4 beta. I don't know what software is responsible for that, but before that I havenīt had any trouble Will spend the night with a clean 8.5.1 install :-(
love your site !
Tobias "

Fix for Video Player/TV Issue: A reader that reported the problem (see OS 8.6 Compat. page) notes he found a fix:

" I reinstalled 8.6 and had my Apple Video Player app on the root level of the "Applications" folder and the installer correctly changed it to version 1.7.3. I then reinstalled the ATI Video Memory Manager from 8.5 that was removed by 8.6. It now works correctly and I can even use millions of colors for the first time ever.
Andy Nelson "

XLR8 1.3.2 Cache Control Feedback: Reader comments from last night's late post:

" I've got a railgun 275/1MB card at 300MHz clocked. The 1.3.2 software is great with 8.6. BTW, just got an Entrega 4 port USB card with a Logitech MouseMan Wheel mouse. Everything works great. Using the Apple USB SDK drivers. Originally my comp was a 7500/100. Hunter Murfee
Department of Chemistry
University of California, Irvine "

This reader says it is not compatible with Sonnet's G3 L2 cache slot upgrade:

" Just to let you know it does not work with Sonnet's G3 L2 upgrades the extension loads but the G3 card is disabled.
Travis Olson "

Wanted: Rage128 Q3Test "Shadows" Testing: Since I was busy last night testing a very cool CDrom drive (review to be published tonight) and have not had time to install the latest updates, I'm asking if readers with Rage128's (ie B&W G3 owners) can respond to this reader request:

" http://www.planetriva.com/screenshots-v3/q3testvol/index.html that's a link to some pics from a riva tnt that shows shadows on the guys (real shadows you know :)) and I was hoping you could post so that people w/rage 128s try out the settings so that I could find out if the rage 128 (or other card with a stencil buffer) could actually pull the shadows off too. Here are directions to use the shadows: Volumetric (stencil-buffered) shadows are enabled through the r_stencilbits and cg_shadows cvars, setting them to 8 and 2 respectively.

So basically start q3 and go to the console and type r_stencilbits 8 and then return followed by cg_shadows 2

well that's it. I hope people w/ rage 128s and other cards try it out and give us some feedback to see if this cool features actualy work.
Mike Diaz "

If you can test this on your Rage128 with the latest updates (OpenGL and Q3Test 1.05) please contact me.

PowerLogix has released v1.5.2 of their G3 Cache Control that is fully compatible with OS 8.6. Apparently the previous version was not compatible with virtual memory enabled. The update is available at their Software page.

Orange Micro now offers a FireWire PCI Card called HotLink that is compatible with Macs and PCs.

In your missed last night's late updates here they are again:

Bottom Line sent their latest list of specials including a $99.99 8MB Voodoo2 Game Wizard (the 8MB was reviewed here last year). They had only 5 left and they may be gone by now:

Microconversions 8MB Voodoo II Game Wizard PCI
Our Part Number : GW8M
Selling Price : $99.99 (Only 5 left!)

XLR8 Cache Cntl 1.3.2: XLR8 has released v1.3.2 of its G3 Cache Control. It's available to XLR8 card owners by registering online or if you're already registered go to this page. For non-XLR8 card owners the software costs $29 from www.star-teck.com. Version 1.3.2 is fully compatible with OS 8.6 they say, addressing the cosmetic issue with the startup image seen with the previous version under OS 8.6. I've translated a word document of their press release into a HTML page so you can read the full press release. All G3 macs are supported they say, including iMacs (as many of you know, many stock Apple caches _may_ run a bit faster than the default speeds, but this may void your warranty and may not be reliable at some speeds). I welcome your comments on v1.3.2.

Overclocking Results Wanted: Just a reminder that you can enter not only your G3 card upgrade, but any Overclocking results in my Database of Owner reports. For Apple overclocking reports - just select your mac model/series and then list Apple as the card brand (note the stock speed/CPU type and any higher speeds you obtained *reliably*). BTW - reports on Other World Computing's $299 366MHz ZIF upgrade should be entered as Other World Computing brand, not Apple. The database now has almost 1,300 entries and growing daily. Thanks to all that took the time to report your results and comments.

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:

• The Benefits of Being Dull (Arizona Central)
• Celeb. Interview #2: Raf Anzovin (iTeen)
• iMac Networking: Part 2 (iTeen)
• Of Gods, Kings and Slaves: A Review (theiMac.com)
• FreeMacSpace expands on Internet Back-up (theiMac.com)
• 384MB of iMac RAM is almost Dirt Cheap! (theiMac.com)

Wednesday's News Summary

• $99 8MB Game Wizards
• XLR8 1.3.2 Cache control released
• Overclocking Results Wanted
• Carbon to use OpenGL not QD3D
• B&W G3 Firmware update 1.1 released
• Vimage L2 Cache Upgrades/OS 8.6 Fix
• Step-by-Step guide to Keyspan USB card/OS 8.6 fix
• Q3Test 1.05 feedback
• Detailed comparison of old vs new PB G3
• Reader laments only one media bay in new PB G3
• Sonnet updates G3 software for OS 8.6 (some models)
• OS 8.6/PCfx Win98 Shutdown Problem
• QT 4 Ads hit the 'streets' (literally)
• MP Performance - Less with OS 8.6?
• FoolProof/OS 8.6 Warning
• Epson Twain Driver/OS 8.6 Fix (2)
• B&W G3/OS 8.6 Resolution Startup Switching explained
• More probs/fixes added to OS 8.6 Compatibility pg
• OpenGL 1.0 Allows DVD
• Ult. Rez/Vimage G3 upgrade Compat. Issue
• IBM 36GB SCSI Drives
• 3D Gaming News updated
• G3 CPU Upgrade Ratings database updated
• Other Net News

Tuesday's News Summary

• Notes on my PB G3 OS 8.6 install
• OS 8.6 Feedback tracks Issues/Fixes
  [Compatibility issues/Improvements/Feedback]
• 3D Gaming News updated
• Reports of OS 8.6 lowering G3 CPU temperatures
• Q3Test 1.05 problem report
• OpenGL 1.0 released
• Q3Test 1.05 released
• Lombard CPU module still has ROMs onboard
• Pre-G3 Macs networking issue fixed by OS 8.6
  [Dantz Tech note & my 8.6 page lists models]
• Downloading problems and tips on OS 8.6
• Apple updates on ARA, USB mass Storage, OT, Applescript
  [OS 8.6 CD has these files]
• 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).