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Top stories of 11/3/2000: |
| Another Massive List of Updated Apple TILs: |
| Tonight's updates to the Software Updates, Apple TILs, Other Net News Listing includes IPNetRouter v1.6c2,
Help!, MacMedic, OmniWeb 4.0b7 (browser for OS X ), Change your Login Buttons for OS X, Thursby DAVE Client v2.5p6, Mactella v0.9.8, and Plugin Galaxy v10. This is the 3rd day of massive numbers of Apple TIL updates on OS X beta, QT streaming server and other topics.
There's also an interesting article at Time today titled "The Digital Dozen" that lists Apple's VP of Software Engineering.
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| Another DirectCD Alternative - CDR Access Pro (Demo available) |
A reader sent word he's been using another DirectCD replacement on his Mac for 6 months called CDR Access Pro. He didn't mention his CDRW drive model or system details but there seems to be limited drive support and check the readme carefully for requirements, which for Firewire CDRW drives mentions it requires Indigita's drivers and firewire bridge. The readme in the demo also has other requirements like 5MB of contigious disk space to store the startup disk's directory as well as other compatibility notes. It also notes on IDE CDRW drives you must disable the Apple CD/DVD extension, so make sure you read it fully before installing/using it. The demo (appx 450K direct download link) is good for 10 days.
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| 10X Rated CDRW Discs 5 Pack At Sam's Club: |
I've not seen many high-speed rated CDRW disks here locally before, but yesterday I spotted a 5-pack of 4x-10x rated CDRW discs at Sam's Club for just under $10. The package noted they were only for use in high speed CDRW drives (I assume that means drives rated for more than the previous standard 4x max CDRW speed). Hope this is of some use to owners of Plextor, Sony (latest model) and Yamaha drives with 8x and higher CDRW support. [As with any store, pricing and availability may vary by location and over time.]
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| Another Reader Report on Mixing BTO Radeon and VR128 Graphics Cards: |
[Update: - this reader later noted that having the "Apple Guide" extension load *before* any ATI extensions solved his problem. ] In reply to the problem post in yesterday's news, another reader wrote of problems when he added a BTO Radeon to his G4/AGP system that had a VR128 PCI card:
"
I just wanted to comment on this post from Jack S.
if you think he had troubles . . .
i swapped an oem RADEON with my AGP Rage 128 in a G4/400 (non
gigabit) that also had a Xclaim VR 128 in it. First thing it did was crash,
so i began fooling around with the OEM RADEON extensions and the retail 4.2
ATI extensions. NOTHING worked. Then a particularly bad crash completely
hosed my harddrive. (Techtool brought it back, but half my files naked in
the root, NOT GOOD)
After backing up my drive i reinstalled from a gigabit
ethernet install cd. After installing the XCLAIM VR 128 drivers everything
seemed to work fine. i had 2d xclr8ion on both cards, and the Xclaim Video
Player would run, but i had virtual memory on so the sync was off by about a
sec on the tv. Logically i turned it off, thats when the video player
stopped working. it seems that it can only find the ATI Digitizer when VM
is on, but that renders the TV completely usless!!!!
I have the problem narrowed down to the "ATI Resource Manager" extension.
The version i have is 2.7, it's the only one that will handle the RADEON,
but it blowes for the XCLAIM VR 128.
I hope this has been helpful, or at least informative. I do have one
request though. If at all possible could you send me the RADION retail
installer (or the extension set it installs) maybe i'd have more luck there.
thanks.peet
"
OS 9.1 (or whatever the next update to OS 9 is called) will have ATI driver updates I hear, although I'm not sure if the VR128 extensions/drivers will be updated. (I'm asking about this now).
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| B&W G3 Case Hack for 2 CD/DVD Size Drives: |
There was a web page back in spring or summer of 1999 where a guy had hacked in 2nd 5.25" drive below the original DVD drive, but he noted the CPU ran hotter. (It's a close fit I suspect to the CPU heatsink when the case is closed).A reader recently noted he also hacked his case for a 2nd (DVD) drive. He's posted a web page with pictures of the mod. (I really wish Apple would have designed the B&W G3 and later cases for two 5.25" (CD size) devices.)
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| More CDMaster Feedback: |
"Mike-
I have found one other pleasant benefit of switching over from Adaptecís Toast to the Radialogic CDMaster 1.0.3 Demo, besides the excellent background burn performance...
My system is a Umax S900 (G3/500), upgraded with all sorts of stuff, including a FireWire card. My CD recorder is a QPS/Plextor 8/4/32 external FireWire model.
Using Adaptec's CD Reader extension, I was never able to mount a CD in my recorder. I just figured it was something having to do with the fact I have a PCI FireWire card rather than onboard FireWire. However, with Radialogicís FireWire CD extension, CDís now mount on my desktop! A very nice little bonus for me, and perhaps anyone else who canít get their CD recorder to mount CDís in the Finder using Toastís extension. I suggest giving the CDMaster demo a try. Heck, itís free to find out if itíll work!
After a bit further testing, I discovered that I can also play audio CDís (in digital playback mode) in my recorder as well. Nice!
-Jarod Wilson "
There were other comments on CDMaster in Wednesday's and Tuesday's news. The 1.03 update should fix the install issues noted in Tuesday's news. Get the demo (limited to 5 burns) at: www.radialogic.com/products/cdmasterpreview.html
[*NOTE* CDMaster is longer available - Radialogic no longer sell/lists this software at their web site, noting that the product and assests were sold to a "third party".]
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| Software Architects WriteCD-RW - a DirectCD Alternative? |
| [Several readers later wrote to say this product was not available yet and had no definite release date.] A reader sent a note about a program I'd not heard of before (I missed the Oct. 3rd press release):
"
I know there's been lots of talk about Adaptec's Direct CD being stuck
at an old version...
www.softarch.com/us/press/wcd.html
It appears to be an alternative program (other than Direct CD) for CD-RW
drives. Other than seeing this press release, I personally don't know
anything about it, but your readers might be interested.
Thanks,
Mike Friedman"
If any readers have tried this software, please let me know your experiences and system/CDRW details.
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| Nvidia to Launch Notebook Graphics Chip: |
News.com is reporting that Nvidia may show their first notebook graphics chip at Comdex on Nov. 12th. ATI recently released their Mobility M4 (4x AGP, up to 32MB vram version of the Rage128 Mobility) which is now used in new Dell 8000 notebooks and many of us hope it will appear in the next PowerBook models. [Update - for a comparison of the Nvidia GeForce2GO vs a 2001 PowerBook G4/667 w/ATI Radeon Mobility, see this article.
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| Drive Compatibility Database Updates: |
| The Drive Compatibility searchable database had 9 new entries posted this morning (current total 1880). (Note - I welcome OS X reports in the database from users of non-Apple CD/DVD/CDRW/Firewire drives - select OS X on the entry form)
DVD-ROM Drives:
- IDE Toshiba 10x slot-loading in B&W G3
(hacked case to fit two CD size drives inside)
- CompUSA IDE generic in ADS Pyro Firewire case w/iMac
(noted needing CDmaster/Radialogic drivers. Listed under "Other" brand)
CD-ROM Drives:
- IDE Kenwood TrueX 72x in Beige G3
- SCSI Toshiba 6401B in Beige G3
(using FWB CDtoolkit drivers)
Hard Drives:
- IBM 75GXP 46GB in B&W G3 rev 1
(noted Intech's Integrity test passed, but
a 105MB smi file checksum failed. But he's overclocking
the G3/400 CPU to 450Mhz, so I asked he retest
at the rated CPU speed to rule out overclocking as
a reason for the data errors.)
- Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 30GB in 6500/275
- Maxtor Firewire 40 GB w/B&W G3
Removables:
- Firewiredirect CF-10510 CompactFlash Card reader
- Fujitsu SCSI DynaMO 640SI (M2513A) 640MB with G4/AGP
(mounted in the ZIP drive bay)
You can find these full reports by searching the database with the drive/brand/mac models listed above selected (the latest reports are shown first in searches).
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database.
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| Rate Your CPU Upgrade Database Updates: |
| The Rate Your CPU Upgrade database has been updated with 4 new reports today (total to date: 4,731)
- Newer Tech G3/400 in 6500/250 (rated 10)
- Sonnet G3/500 in Beige G3/300 (rated 10)
- XLR8 G3/466 ZIF in Beige G3 all-in-one model (rated 10)
- XLR8 G3/300 in PowerCurve 601/120 (rated 10)
You can find these full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database of over 4,700 entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand)
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FasterMac.net
Internet Access
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