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Top stories of Nov. 29th, 2000: |
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| Users Praise Lightwave 3D v6.5 Update: |
| Two readers commented on the final release of Lightwave 3D v6.5 for Mac (available here). The reports are very positive, including one from a Visual Effects Designer for a film company.
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"
Hi, Mike,
LightWave 6.5 for Mac rocks! A major leap
from the first release (6.0), this version
sports literally hundreds of new features (the
addendum to the manual is well over 200
pages long.) Most importantly, all the major
bugs have been fixed, and this Mac release
is the most stable ever.
6.5 is a whole new playground for our
imaginations. We're currently using 6.5 for
two of our feature films, and already creating
fx we wouldn't dream of attempting with 5.6.
The only disappointing thing is that the
Voodoo 5 for Mac is still completely useless
for LightWave 6.5....even with the latest
driver update, not a single problem I descibed
four months ago has been addressed. The
Voodoo 5 may be a great gaming card, but
it's still not the professional graphics users'
card 3dfx originally promoted it as. I thought
about switching to Radeon, but frankly
it will be cheaper for me to switch my
LightWave license to run it on my NT box.
Either way, I've more or less given up on
3dfx, as I feel they've given up on
supporting LightWave.
Anyway, I love LightWave 6.5. if you have
specific questions about this exciting new
version for the Mac, feel free to ask.
Later,
Dennis
Visual Effects Designer
CGI Supervisor
Unified Film Organization (UFO)
Burbank, California
http://www.ufofilm.com
"
I know 3dfx was working the problem with Lightwave and Cinema4D. Hopefully the recent hiring of programmer Duane Johnson will help.
"
Hi Mike,
The LW 6.5 update is nothing short of awesome. Flawless install. Its
increased Mac stability tenfold (or more, hasn't crashed on me yet!). I'm
running on a Dual G4/500 with 256 megs ram and a Rage Pro card. OS9.04
The OpenGL transparency is a nice last minute additions too! Newtek has done
a bang up job with this release! Oh, did I mention it comes with OpenGL
1.2.1 from Apple!
Don't delay, get yours today!
Scott
"
I welcome feedback on LightWave v6.5 final release. Please include your system and graphics card details. Thanks.
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| Wireless Networking via USB: |
Lucent (creators of the Wavelan wireless technology used by Airport) has a press release on their latest wireless networking products that use a USB port. "By using the wireless USB Client, users can wirelessly network a computer by simply plugging the device into a spare USB connector and installing the software." The press release cites only Windows compatibility however but may be airport compatible for mixed networks. The Wireless USB products are due to ship in the first quarter of 2001.
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| Using Wired4DVD Decoder Cards and Firewire/USB Cards: |
A reader sent a note that he was unable to run both a Wired4DVD decoder card and a Combo Firewire/USB card at the same time in his Beige G3. (See below for 2 other reader's replies with a similar combinations that are working)
"
this card does not work with any of the USB&FW Combo Cards
(Evergreen, OrangeMicro, etc). Under system 9.0.4., computer will not
boot with both cards installed.
I have Beige 266 AV back, 288mb Rom, 40 GB harddrive.
Jin wang"
After posting this, another Beige G3 owner wrote:
"
Hi Mike,
I successfully run an OrangeMicro Firewire/USB card and Wired4DVD in my
beige G3 revision A.
I do remember having an intermittent booting problem when I first got the
combo card. The problem went away when I changed the order of the cards (my
other PCI slot is filled with a Pinnacle DC30 video capture card).
Other details about my system in case they are relevant:
Mac OS 9.0.4
224 MB RAM
Original 4 GB IDE drive + 4 GB internal SCSI
OWC Mercury 450 MHz G3 (aluminum) over clocked to 466 MHz
Toshiba IDE SD-M1302 DVD-ROM drive
Regards,
Simon Roberts
"
Another reader noted PCI slot order mattered:
"
Mike,
I had the same problem, (wouldn't boot) when I had the OrangeMicro Combo Card after (closer to the edge
of the mother board) than the Wire4DVD. Everything started to work when I put the Wired Card after
(closer to the edge of the mother board) than the OrangeMicro Combo Card.
Beige G3, AV
OWC Mercury G3/450
196 MB RAM
15 GB IDE Maxtor Drive
20 GB IDE Maxtor Drive
45 GB WD FireWire Drive
Internal SCSI Panasonic CD-R
IDE Que DVD (Samsung Drive)
Mac OS 8.6 and 9.0.?
Wired4DVD Card
OrangeMicro USB/FW Combo Card
Randy Nishikawa
"
If any other Wired4DVD owners have used the card with a Combo FW/USB card, let me know your system specifics.
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| Orange Micro To License Mac USB 2.0 Drivers: |
Orange Micro has a press release that they will license their USB 2.0 Macintosh extension software to OEM's beginning in January 2001. These extensions will be necessary for all USB 2.0 devices to work with their recently announced high speed USB 2.0 PCI card (480Megabits/sec interface). It will be interesting to see if USB 2.0 is popular on the Mac, where Firewire (400Megabits/sec interface) already is widespread.
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| Drive Compatibility Database Updates: |
| The Drive Compatibility searchable database had 6 new entries posted this morning (current total 2,062). (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)
CDRW Drives:
- USB Lacie 4x4x24x with PB G3 2000
- Firewire QPS External (12x/10x/32x) w/G4 AGP
Hard Drives:
- IDE IBM Travelstar 30GB in PB G3 2000
- IDE Fujitsu 20GB in B&W G3
- IDE Samsung 30GB in 6500
- IDE Western Digital 40GB in B&W G3 rev 1
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 6 new reports today (total to date: 4,841).
- Newer Tech G4/400 in 7500 (rated 10)
- Other World Computing G3/400 in Beige G3 (rated 10)
(updated report on overclocking at 466)
- Powerlogix G3/366 in PowerCurve (rated 9)
- Sonnet G3/500 in PowerTower Pro 225 (didn't work)
- XLR8 CarrierZIF G3/500 in 8600/300 (rated 9)
- XLR8 G3/366 in 8500/180 (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 4,800 entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand)
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| Video Card Game/Benchmark Performance Database Updated: |
Updates to the Mac Game/Video Card Performance database included Unreal (1024x768) results from a Beige G3 (400mhz) with Voodoo3 3000 PCI card and Quake3 (640x480) performance results from a B&W G3/350 with Rage128 (Quake3 config. tweaks noted).
Total entries in the database to date: 2,247. If you haven't already, enter your results with any of the game titles or benchmarks listed on the entry page (details on how to test are there). If you're curious how a CPU upgrade or new Video card would help game performance, the search page options can help you find similar system/configurations to get an idea before you buy.
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