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11/12/98 - Thursday's News:	Click for Current News Page
On the heels of stories (unconfirmed) that the Glidelib for Linux has been released Dan Kuraisa sent a link to a Linux Glide Porting Status page [http://glide.xxedgexx.com/status.html] that is very interesting. Note the mention of H3D Glasses. I've just gotten a pair and have mixed feelings on them. The demos are impressive but there are tradeoffs, even with MetaByte's Wicked3D native driver support. The 3D effect varies by game, but in some games the effect is stunning, but there are problems with text readability (a Quake 2 font replacement is out, but it looks bad in non-stereo mode). For $249 for a 12MB Voodoo II card and the H3D glasses, it's not a bad deal overall if you have a PC and are looking for a new thrill. I've posted a review of the Stealth Voodoo II card cooler from TennMax. Included is a complete installation guide with photos identifying the 3Dfx chipset and steps involved. For $24 I think it's a good value. If we ever get an overclocking utility for the Voodoo II it will be even more useful. The Unreal Maps page has been modified to list a few Solo maps that Frank has rated. Check it out and make sure to vote in the current Map of the Week Poll there. = 2:00 PM Update = Ruben sends a follow-up on the Apple/GV modems post in yesterday's news: " Mike, The Apple GV/56k modem for the desktop and minitower G3's was apparently the same modem used in the 6500's. On the positive side, I have consistently connected at 44,000 with my Apple GV/56k. This was as good as the other 56k modem that I have used from home--a Compaq Presario laptop 56k modem. In fact, the Apple modem obtained 44,000 more consistently than the Compaq laptop modem. [On the PB G3 with V90 update, I connect as high as 44K, much better than the sub-40K connections I had before the V90 update-Mike] On the negative side, you may recall that I experienced audio interference from my Apple GV/56k modem. Apple is still working on diagnosing that problem. In fact, I just sent my entire computer to them for testing. Also, I had an Apple GV/56k modem that went dead, and Apple quickly replaced it. I have heard numerous stories of users whose modems went dead--enough for me to think that the failure rate of these modems is higher than average. Apple has taken a real beating on their support bulletin board for not having the V.90 upgrade for these modems. I'll venture that not a week has gone by since August in which a user has asked about or complained about there being no V.90 upgrade yet. -Ruben " The Unreal News page has an update on Unreal performance with a Performa 6400/200 before and after a Vimage G3 CPU upgrade. = 12:00 PM Update = PowerLogix/Retrospect Fix - from Sonnet?: I've not verified this but it sounds interesting. " Ok, I never had success with 8.1, and was looking forward to the upgrade. I have the powerlogix 220/110 card running at stock speed (machine crashes went away after I downrated it from its overclocked position), but couldn't backup my two internal hand drives because retrospect always crapped out. Got 8.5, turned SCSI 4.3 back on, and tried backing up with extensions off. No good - not only did the program quit, but then I got a finder message saying "one of my disks couldn't be used because an error of type -127 had occurred." Worried about disk corruption, I breathed easier after restart returned all normal. Then I pondered the Macweek article saying that Crescendo cards had a software fix for the G3 timing problem. Sooooo - I downloaded the driver, installed it, and tried retrospect again. - no luck, it crashed again. That was with a full set of extensions, however.... Setting up so that only the Crescendo extension was active (other than the few basic locked ones), and AHA it worked! Twas even fast! Thought you might like to know. " Note that Sonnet's latest Cresendo 1.26 installer claims to add Media 100 PCI compatibility - something that many other G3 cards have had problems with. I guess you can fix some of these issues in software. For more info on the Cresendo 1.26 update see Sonnet's download page. [Note - in 2000/2001 most every CPU upgrade company used "virtual firmware" to address the G3 CPU upgrade compatibility issues like this.] Today's Unreal Tips page has more tips and news than I can summarize here, from Unreal servers, to playing tips. to comments on the generic Voodoo II drivers (bugs), and notes on new games. Check it out at: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/games/UNREAL/. This page will be updated daily so bookmark it and visit often. CharisMac has a press release on their Fibreshare cross-platform software. They are demonstrating the software at COMDEX (suite N246) in Las Vegas next week. The cross platform version of FibreShare lets users access Macintosh HFS volumes under Windows NT. Clean-Install Assistant v1.1 eases moving system folder items (preferences, extensions, etc.) to a clean install of a new OS system folder (recommended under OS 8.5). Version 1.1 adds OS 8.5 support. It's free for personal and educational use. You can download it at: http://www.marcmoini.com. Nisus Writer 4.1.6 is now available for free download at: http://www.nisus.com. Although this is an older version that does not have the new features in their latest v5.1.3, it's still a full featured word processor. The manual is sold separately however. DoomHammer software had released a demo of their new Mac arcade fighting game 2K5. The full version is available for $25. For more info or to download the demo visit http://www.doomhammer.com/2K5.html. Heynow Software has announced the release of its first shareware product "Savitar", a text-based virtual reality client designed for the Mac. Savitar is shareware ($15), for more information see http://www.heynow.com/Savitar. The Generic Voodoo II drivers feedback page has a tip from a reader on getting Quake 1.09 to work. Previous versions were reported to work (1.08.x) but not 1.09. He says his trick allows v1.09 to work with the generic drivers. A reader informs me that it appears that the internal modems are no longer available in the G3 systems at the Apple store. " Mike, I was just configuring some machines at the Apple Store, and it looks like they are no longer selling the Apple GV/56k modem for the G3 Desktops or Minitowers. I wonder if it was because of the quality problems? -Ruben " Pat Lee sent word of a Macwarehouse special sale on Newer Tech MaxPOWR G3/300MHz/512K CPU cards for $599. The item number is SH2480. Not sure how long the sale price or stock will last. I've posted notes several times on 3Dfx's hinting at a new product for COMDEX and one reader sent the specs on what the rumors are on their next 3D card chipset: " The next 3dfx chipset, code-named "Avenger," is said to provide a 3x performance boost over the Voodoo2. Specs: 0.25u, 125MHz chipset [TNT runs at this speed] 10 million triangles/sec 500Mtexels/s fill rate [I find this hard to believe] 32Mb 125-150MHz SDRAM/SGRAM [125MHz is std on most PC cards now] 16bpp and 32bpp rendering [Finally! 32bit color modes] Volume shipment 1Q 99 $250-$300 retail (From Voodooextreme) All I can say is, 'Wow.' " I hope this is their announcement at COMDEX. Lots of rumors flying around (some say it's a Banshee II, others a single card SLI, others the Avenger, etc.). I hear that their next product will have better Mac support. [Note: For reviews/articles on the latest Mac Graphics cards - see the Video articles page, graphics cards section.] Note: Before sending tech support related questions please check the Freq. Asked Questions, Site Contents, CPU Card reviews/articles, SCSI reviews articles, Graphics card reviews, Tips/Misc, Message Boards and Help pages - in many cases the answers to your questions are there and they have far more detail than I can list in an email. For Apple G3 system info - see the G3-ZONE. News and guest reviews that don't require a reply are always welcome. I hope to catch up in the next few weeks. Thanks. Looking for past articles? Check the menu frame topics links (CPU Cards, SCSI, Graphics Cards, Systems) under the logo above or in the menu frame below or check the Recent Features page. Make a Difference: Be the Difference Randy Mita, Brad Lau and I came up with a new slogan and theme for Mac advocacy - "Make a Difference: Be the Difference". We're asking that all Mac owners take advantage of every opportunity to let others know the Mac advantage. It's a grass-roots approach that will surely help.