According to this mail there are some shipments of ATI Rage128 graphics cards trickling out to companies:
"Mike,
Just thought you might be interested to know that we just got some of the
ATI Rage 128 cards in at work yesterday. From preliminary results, they
seem to run much slower in non -blue and white g3 macs, but like I said,
this is preliminary.
Thanks,
Jeremy Patterson"
I asked what the CPU speed of the Macs tested were, as initial reports
from sources I had was that the 66MHz PCI Slot of the B&W G3
was not a major factor in real world speed (compared to the 33MHz B&W G3 PCI slots) but we'll have to wait and see. CPU Speed however could make a large difference. I also asked if the Rage128 chip had a heatsink, as I'm curious if the 100Mhz (appx.) clock speed rumor is true (vs 75Mhz reported on the original B&W G3 OEM cards) - he replied there were no heatsinks on the card. More details tomorrow.
Colm O'Reilly sent a note about a FWB B&W Compatibility page that has a comment about data corruption with some IDE drives and the B&W G3. I've not seen this personally nor have I had any reports of it however. Colm reported his Western Digital Expert 18GB drive has no such problems (installed as a slave drive). [Update - Friday's news notes that a reader reported all 3 of his WD Expert drives exhibit the problem in a B&W G3] FWB's page wording is a bit confusing to me in regards to their comment on downloading the OS 8.5.1 update, as that was a fix, but reading on it doesn't seem like it is. Here is a snipped from their page about the problem:
" There is a potential for data loss or data corruption with certain Ultra DMA hard drives when transfering data at the full ultra dma speed on the new Blue and White G3's. Western Digital AC420400D, Maxtor 90840D6, and the Quantum Bigfoot TX series. Symptoms include the inability to copy or open data files, launch applications, or even installing an OS. A quick test is to open a self mounting disk image file (a file created by Apple's DiskCopy 6.2 or above). If an error occurs while opening this file, you most likely have the problem."
The page goes on to note that if you're using HDT 3.02, you can modify the driver parameters to change the DMA mode and fix the problem. Note that on the PC at least, UltraATA/DMA drives perform CRC error checking on all data transfers.
Ben Garland sent a followup to his earlier post on Memorex blue CDR problems in a Yamaha 4416S:
"Mike,
I tried burning a blue Verbatim "DateLifePlus" CD-R on the Yamaha 4416S and they work fine (as you mentioned you had success with them).
Apparently this is a problem with the blue Memorex CD-Rs that my friend
bought. Maybe they are the same type as the KODAKs? I notice also by
looking at the CD-Rs, the Memorex seem to be a slightly lighter shade of
blue (significant enough to notice on first glance) compared to the
Verbatim. Maybe this is what is causing them not to work... bad
reflectivity or something?
One more odd thing to point out: Memorex has a bundle of 4 CD-RWs + 16
'free' CD-Rs with cases that I have been buying at my local CompUSA in
Nashville (and they also sell them at the CompUSA here in Raleigh NC where
my friend lives). The 16 CD-Rs in this pack are green and work fine, but
as I noted before the CD-Rs in the Memorex 50-stack spindle are blue and
do not work with the 4416S. Buyer beware.
Ben"
Glenn Dawes wrote that the Microconversions closing note in last night's news is now official according to their website front page. Their products have been 'picked up' by a new company iWonder as hinted at last night. Their front page also notes that the $40 rebate was terminated on 5/26/99. www.iwonderinc.com is the URL for the new company (no site there yet).
Scott Smith sent a Final Cut Pro tip for MotoDV card users:
"Hi Mike,
Well I know this tip will be for a very limited audience but if there are
any MotoDV users who would like to use FinalCutPro this will help. Even
thought Digital Origin's MotoDV card is not compatible with FinalCutPro you
can get it to work by using the drivers for Promax's Firemax card. Make
sure to turn off all the Radius/Digital Origin extensions. And now you're
laughin'
Scott Smith
Stiff Films Inc
Producer/Editor/Designer"
I'm not sure of the software licensing/legal issues of this mix, if there are any. I don't own a MotoDV card personally.
You might want to wait on that DVD-RAM drive. I found this Press Release from HP on the first DVD+RW Drive. Unlike DVD-RAM drives, the DVD+RW uses disc media similar to a standard CD (not a cartridge with VERY delicate disk like DVD-RAM). The disks can be read in a standard DVD drive they say. The SCSI drive reads and writes DVD+RW media at a speed of 1.25X (1.7MB/s) which is equivalent to 11X CD-RW write speed and will include Adaptec's Direct DVD. No mention of Mac support but let's hope so. The press release notes limited shipments in June to 'key industry partners', with world-wide release in the Fall. Expected U.S. street price was listed as $699 (internal).
A reader asked for an explanation of the CDR disk colors. It has been awhile since I researched this while at work a year or so ago, but here is what I remember about the different color disks:
- The color on bottom (write side) of the CDR disk is a combination of the reflection layer and the dye color. For example a 'green' CDR disk is a combination of a blue dye and gold reflection layer.
- Green CDRs are said to be the cheapest to make, but also lower reflection contrast which could cause read problems in older CDROMs.
- Gold CDRs have the highest reflection and life - some say over 100 years (read that somewhere when we were looking at life expectancy of the media).
- Blue CDRs use a silver reflection layer and are therefore may be better than the green disks for readability (and are said to have long life).
I'm adding this info as the first question in the new CDROM/CDR section of the FAQ for future reference. BTW - I did test a gold CDR in the TrueX drive. The only one I could find was from a PC friend who had burned some NT Service Packs, etc. on a Sony gold disk. It read the directories fine on the 9600 with TrueX/TurboMax combo.
A reader wrote with a Yamaha 4416S/Toast Tip. If you get Toast bundled with your CDR, check the version:
"
I just installed a new internal Yamaha drive with Toast 3.5.5 and I was
having problems writing to CDR's. The problem was that the Toast "record"
menu was grayed out. It loaded regular CD's and audio CD's on the desktop
fine, but it would not write. After an hour spent talking to the mac guy at
Yamaha, who is very good BTW, the problem was still not resolved. He thought
it might be a bus issue or even scsi ID problem. I tried changing the
jumpers, all to no avail. Mind you this was long distance from Japan.I had
already updated the firmware to 1.0g, the latest, but I decided to check the
Adaptec page, sure enough, there was a 3.5.6 version available. Guess what,
problem solved. It is a great drive for $221 from BLOL. 650 mb copies in
12.5 minutes!!! Pass this tip on to your readers if you like, it helped me
out.
Alan Wood
Nagoya, Japan"
Adaptec's Toast Updates page has the latest patch and notes that there is a potential data loss problem with versions prior to 3.5.5 if using Toast's temporary partition option on volumes larger than 4GB.
Today's 3D Game News page has a large update with the latest info on current and future Mac games.
I must have missed this when it was originally posted, but News.com has a short article on the rumored Apple consumer notebook titled
">iMac notebook production on tap. The article says the notebook will be produced by Alpha Top of Taiwan starting in June.
To the many readers that asked when a head-to-head comparison of the PowerLogix Z-Force and XLR8 CarrierZIF cards would be done, I'm still waiting on a Z-Force from Powerlogix. The XLR8 Card is in hand as noted in my First Look article. It has run great so far during a burn-in at 60MHz bus speeds in my PowerCenter Pro but I've been too tied up lately with other reviews to certify that speed as 100% reliable. As I noted earlier, I will test both cards for reliability and performance in the PCPro, 9600/350 (mach5) and loaded Genesis systems.
Thad Brown sent Issue 41 of our Mac Audio column titled Better Hardware & New Software, or More Of The Same. The latest issue is always at
www.xlr8yourmac.com/audio.
In the latest updates to the Rate Your G3 Upgrade database, I saw a interesting note on a Starmax owner running a Newer Tech G3 upgrade faster than the rated speed. The switch settings allow this often times, if you know the correct settings.
"
Starmax 5500/200
newer tech G3 300/200 running 350/175
Very easy install, just need to read the directions. The control panel and extension do their thing just fine. The kit included a wrist strap and excellent instructions on the installation. The one problem is that the diagram of the switches in the manual and on the board are reversed, diagram shows up for on, and the switches are actually down (toward the board) for on.
David K.
"
Another entry that might be of use to readers is this one that notes data corruption with a Phase 5 G3 upgrade was solved by lowering the bus speed:
"
Umax Apus (C500) with Phase 5 G3/300
I have finally managed to solve my data corruption problems. Having tried everything else (Disable cache MMU patch/guardbit drive re-format OS reinstall etc), on a hunch I lowered the bus-speed on the card from 50.1 to 46.9 Mhz which is the next lowest setting, et voila! problem solved! Macbench Speedometer (and Unreal) show no speed drop as far as I can tell.
Nick Mowinski
"
Bus Speed, especially such a small change would not really have much of an effect with real world apps (see the G3 Apps tests page for examples).
This entry notes good results from a Newer Tech ZIF in a Beige G3 and seems to indicate that unlike every other ZIF Upgrade I've seen, the Newer Tech 466 comes with its own heatsink?:
"
Beige G3/233 rev 1
with Newer Tech G3 466/233 ZIF running 500/250
Easy installation, but the heat sink was not fitted well. So I am using Apple's stock heat sink. Clocked up to 500/250 with the dip switch (1,2,3,4) = (off, off, off, on). Never starts up at 533Mhz (on, on, off, off). 500MHz Macbench CPU=1606, FPU=1651 Temp 28C (82F). It makes my already fast G3/300 (clocked up from 233) a little bit faster. But think, I can say "my Beige G3 is faster than newest iMac!"
Kappa
"
The CPU Reviews database now has over 1450 entries and is growing daily. Thanks to all who take the time to enter their results.
John Selvia sent an update to the post in yesterday's news about buying Falcon 4 for the Mac. There is a 1.06a Patch available now at Westlake but no throttle key fix is mentioned.
"
Mike-
This is incredible. The graphics are astounding, even on my 233mhz 604
PowerComputing PowerCenter with Voodoo 1 (Techworks 3dfx). I did discover a
bug, however, and Westlake confirmed it (see below).
Wow!
John
FROM: Westlake Interactive-
We have found a problem with the throttle keys on our end. Although I
don't have a MouseStick II, I was able to dig up a CH Products GamePad
and reproduce what I think is your problem. We should have a fix
available from our Website sometime today or tomorrow (fingers
crossed...).
I'm very sorry about any inconvenience this has caused. With any luck,
you'll be blowing MiGs out of the sky by Memorial Day Weekend:-)
"
Bob Friede sent some feedback on using Powerlogix's new G3 Cache Profiler
mentioned earlier in the week:
"
After a few days of using PL's nicely designed "G3 Cache Profiler" at
3:2, I've found that the PBG3S/300 is not as stable as at 2:1. I keep a
VST zipdrive in the expansion bay and, when there's a disk in it, the
machine freezes if I try to doubleclick the disk's icon too quickly. I
suspect that it's awakening from sleep mode a bit more slowly than the
system would like, but that's just a guess. Nevertheless, I'm sticking
with the 3:2 ratio.
Bob
"
G3 Cache Profiler 1.0 is available at PowerLogix's Software page.
Ben Garland of MacOpinion writes to say that the Yamaha 4416S may have problems with Memorex blue CDRs as well (recently there was a report on Kodak blue CDRs). He mentions the drive has the latest firmware and still no-go.
"
Mike,
I remember seeing something on your site in the last couple months about
blue CD-R's not working with the Yamaha 4416S CD-RW [the report was in the last week or so-Mike]. Fortunately, I've always bought green CD-Rs and had no trouble, but a friend of mine picked up a 50-stack of blue Memorex CD-Rs and we can't get them to burn.
Can you help me out or point me to the right page that discusses this? Is
there a fix? We upgraded to the latest firmware for the 4416 and still
have these problems, though the green CD-Rs are fine.
Ben
"
I have a 4416S in a NT machine and I'm sure I've burned a CDR with a Verbatum blue CD last fall.
If you missed it, yesterday Apple announced that Millard "Mickey" Drexler, president and chief executive officer of Gap Inc. was appointed to the Company's board of directors.
A reader notes he's had problems with Firewire video capture with video email apps on his B&W G3 and wonders if any readers can suggest a program that works. He's using a Sony camera and reported no problems using Premiere and Final Cut to capture, edit and export back to his camera but can't get CUSeeMe type apps to work:
"
Hey Mike,
I'm fixated on sending vmail now. I can't find Mac software that will work. I have OS 8.6, Sony D8 camera hooked to my Blue G3 via firewire.
- CUSEEME: no video appears in the window using v2.0 enhanced.
- IVisit: won't let me record. I can see an image--but it's awful!
- NetActivity VMail: I can see an image about every 5th time. When I click
record, it freezes up. When the image appears, I do have the ability to
select different compression ratios--which would be cool.
Do any of your readers know of a product that will work? Is the firewire
connection the problem here? Also, please have your readers mail contact
Chillisoft (http://www.chillisoft.com.au) about putting out a Mac version of their product--it's the best I've seen for this. It saves the vmail in RealNetworks format.
Steve
"
If you have a program to suggest that works with your B&W G3, please contact me.
Bottom Line sent their latest list of weekly specials. Included in the list is a special offer on Voodoo2 cards to international customers and a note on the ATI Rage128 shipping status. Last I heard from ATI - shipments were to start at the end of the month. Also listed is the XLR8 CarrierZIF card which they are due to have stock next week.
In response to last night's update to yesterday's news, a reader writes that there are rumors of generic support for 3Dfx cards (note that 2D/3D 3dfx cards like the Voodoo3 and Banshee require firmware however - not just a glidelib driver):
"Mike
here are some news that might put a glimmer of hope for all those vodoo2 afficionados like myself. Read below, also I contacted onni, I believe the guys who made the os x driver and they said that someone at 3dfx was working on them already. I got the same response about a month a go when I registered my stb black magic so let's keep writing these people. I
personally would not try to be a "dick" about it we don't want to pester these people either.
best regards,
Carlos Cerna
"
See the FAQ 3Dfx section for more info on the different types of 3Dfx cards and other driver information. The 3Dfx message board is also a great place to discuss 3Dfx cards and software on the Mac.
This reader notes he's using SoftRaid (not the usual Remus) to run IDE Raid with a TurboMax PCI IDE card:
"Dear Mike,
I have a TurboMax card running on 2 IBM 7200 rpm IDE
13.2 gig drives. I have them partially stripped with Softraid 2.16 into
two 6 gig level 0 raids the rest into simple part ions. Write output
benchmarks average about 23 mbs/sec. when testing the raids .I've been
running 8.6 since it went GM on a B&W G3 400.
Oleh Sharanevych
"
SCSI RAID is faster than IDE which seems to max out at under 25MB/sec but
still not a bad value. SoftRaid was the fastest Raid software I tested last year (best of 5 packages tested). See the SCSI page for links to these tests (one SCSI card/two drive Raid and two SCSI cards/two drive Raid).
MacsOnly has a Review of the PowerForce 466/233/1MB ZIF noting excellent results. I wish I'd bought the
466/311/1MB I reviewed (see CPU Cards page for links), it ran 550MHz reliably. That model had the rare/expensive IBM cache that you don't often see anymore. To see what other owners thought of their PF ZIF upgrades search the database. (Select your mac model/series and then a card brand, or leave the brand blank to see all reports for your mac model).
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:
Wednesday's News Summary
- Microconversions closing? (reader report/order line message)
- Readers report Turbomax PCI card boots with OS 8.6 (contrary to earlier report)
- Apple releases iMac firmware update 1.2
- TurboMax IDE Controller review updated for U2/Cheetah comparisons
- Falcon 4 Mac in stores at CompUSA
- Newer Tech ZIF CPU Switch Settings (reader report)
- NetCD v1.6.6 released (works with Kenwood TrueX cdrom)
- Hardware accelerated Quake 2 for Mac OS X server
- Pentium III/Windows 98 clarification on PS5 Performance
- Tribes II first look (dual platform game)
- 3D Game News updated
- G3 CPU Upgrade Ratings database updated
- Other Net News
Tuesday's News Summary
- Digitek comments from readers
- Offer to trade 333Mhz iMac for 233Mhz rev B (taken)
- Review of TurboMax PCI IDE controller w/WD Expert HD
- TrueX not compat. with CVGS reader says
- Another reader report of TrueX in Beige G3 MT (fits)
- Powerlogix PR on new Cache control and 466MHz ZIFs for $699
- Site mentioned in Baltimore Sun CPU upgrade article
- Frequently Asked Questions Updated
- 3D Game News 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.
