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11/23/98 - Monday's News:	Click for Current News Page
Someone just posted in my new 3Dfx forum that MacZONE had two Game Wizard 12MB Voodoo 2 cards in stock (not sure they are still there but at $349 they might be). [These cards were almost impossible to find in stock as of Nov 1998. For reviews of later/faster/cheaper Mac graphics cards - see the Video articles page, graphics card section.] Our Unreal News page has a link to a Unreal 1.02 beta 1 download just sent in by Frank Bernier. = 10:00 PM Update = Ryan Tokarek sent a detailed explanation of why parts of the OS are not native, citing that doing so would break existing applications on a massive scale. = 4:00 PM Update = Ken Lui wrote that the earlier report of 'updated' Voodoo 1 drivers from RealTech VR turned out to be the same as the Techworks Power3d versions. He later replied he used ResCompare and the data fork where the driver actually resides was the same as the Techworks version. Bruno Blondeau wrote in reply to the GetNextEvent Mouseworks results posted here and commented on a sad state of things - that one of, if not the most called routines in the OS is still not PowerPC Native code!?! (Say it isn't so...) " I suspect that MouseWorks patches GetNextEvent [Site Reader comment] The main problem with GNE is that it is still in 680x0 code. It is astonishing to know that it has still not been rewritten, even if it is called a lot of time per sec. That's why games which disable background task (ie don't call GNE) are faster... I don't know whether MouseWorks patches GNE or not, but it may be a background app which calls GNE too often. (but the patch is logical : they probably look into the event queue so as to intercept mouse clicks). Bruno Blondeau " I have to wonder when after all these years we still do not have a fully native OS. No wonder Linux and BeOS seem so snappy in comparison. MiM) News Feed AppleTIL Updates (Monday:11/23/98)  Apple Personal Diagnostics 1.1.3: Computers Supported  AppleTalk Remote Access: Security [plus 24 others]  Apple Personal Diagnostics 1.1.3 Updater: Read Me  Apple Personal Diagnostics 1.1.3: Read Me  iMac: Sharing Peripherals Over A Network  Apple Personal Diagnostics 1.1: Read Me  Apple Personal Diagnostic: False Directory Problem Report  Mac OS 8.5: Outlook Express Security Patch  Apple Personal Diagnostics: Which Models Supported  Apple Personal Diagnostics: Frequently Asked Questions  Mac OS 8.5: What's New?  Mac OS 8.5: System Requirements for Install and Use  At Ease: Not Recommended with Mac OS 8.5  Mac OS 8.5: About Mac OS 8.5 Read Me  Mac OS 8.5: Command-Tab Shortcut & Third Party Applications MacGurus sent word that MacFixit is reporting today that Hard Disk Toolkit 3.0, Adaptec 2940 SCSI Cards and Raid are not a good mix. A reader reported that with that combo the drives would not mount and had to revert back to RaidToolkit 2.07. Updated Mac Voodoo 1 drivers?: Frank Bernier sent word that a company called RealTech Vr released voodoo1 drivers which are newer than the Techworks drivers. They are dated Mar 9, 1998. Frank promised to test these against the Techworks version in Unreal and report the results. [Update - Ken Lui says they are the same version as the Techworks drivers] The Unreal Tips and Tricks page has a massive update for three new Maps of the week, Tips on speeding up Unreal loading by 70%, a giveway of 4 copies of Unreal File organizer in December, tips on hidden skins in Unreal, Mac 219 patch status and more. Check it out. Macink.com has an update on creating local maps from digital cartographic data. Converting PC Adaptec SCSI cards to Mac: Jeff Walther sent a detailed tutorial on converting the PC versions of the 2940/3940 to a Mac version. [For PC cards with too small a flash rom to hold the Mac firmware, and as I mentioned here in Feb. and March, some OEM 2940s don't have a flash rom. A reader also made a hacked flasher/trimmed rom mentioned in the Feb 29th news page.] More on Orange Micro 620 card: A reader replies to yesterday's news post regarding lack of l2 cache being the reason for poor performance: " This is what OrangeMicro finally told me about a 620 card I got from them. I upped the memory to 64 meg and replaced the IDT Winchip 200 with a AMD K62 300 and was very disappointed with the benchmark scores. After much playing around I was able to raise the scores some by using a lower resolution for the monitor but what it really comes down to according to their techs is the lack of a L2 cache. That is the reason these cards are cheaper, according the OrangeMicro. Randy C " Sega Makes Sequel to Sim Tower: Kent Kanja sent some great news for fans of the Sim game series: " Mike, I happened by the web page for the sequel to Sim Tower, and I must admit - it looks pretty awesome. The sequel isn't through Maxis, but instead through Sega. Mac users who liked Sim Tower, will probably love "Yoot Tower." It's out for the Mac first and can be found at: (URL removed since as pornpeddlers bought the domain name) The game info available at the site shows many game play improvements to the original, and you can order it now for the Mac. By the way, Yoot Saito, the game's author, is a Mac fan. Regards, Kent Kanja (MiM) " More on Modem disconnects on PB G3's: Steve Weisel's been following the posts on chronic modem disconnects and writes that OS 8.5/ARA is not the culprit (as we suspected - it seems to be PB G3/iMac modem related): " Actually, I don't think you can blame 8.5 or ARA. Last night, with my external x2 GV on the PowerWave (running 8.5) , I was on for 5 hours and 40 minutes without a disconnect. So I would say it's either the flash ROM or the modem. Steve " I hesitate to say it without more usage, but the Versiontracker USR ISP script does seem to help a bit when using my ISP's X2/V90 connect number. At least the disconnects are not happening every 20 minutes as before. Kensington Mouseworks Performance: Another followup by Choong with results using the Speed Tester 2.2 mentioned in yesterday's news: " Machine: 6100/60 +Sonnet Crescendo 225, 24M RAM, VM set to 33M, MacOS 8.1, monitor set to 832x624x8. I just ran tests with Speed Tester 2.2. Immediately after startup w/o the MouseWorks extension, running GetNextEvent() five times averaged 1633ms. Integer processor tests averaged around 1424ms. Immediately after startup w/ MouseWorks 5.04, 28523ms. [I wonder if an extra digit is in that number - based on my tests results below-Mike] That's _slow_. Interestingly enough, integer testing revealed a difference of only 5ms. The difference in the feel of the interface is perceptable in the form of slower folder opens, slower app launches, slower Netscape performance, etc. I suspect that MouseWorks patches GetNextEvent, but that GetNextEvent doesn't normally get called as often as when Speed Tester runs it's test. The difference, however, is enough. -Choong " I don't notice the difference in actual use on the PB G3/250, probably due to the faster CPU. My results are below (PB G3/250, OS 8.5, full extension set): With Mouseworks: Getnextevent: 2751ms FPU: 932 INT: 1022 W/O Mouseworks: Getnextevent: 1328ms FPU: 928 INT: 1004 I'm puzzled why his results are 10x slower on the Getnextevent test (unless there is a extra digit in his number). Note this was with the latest Mouseworks beta, running 8.5 with a full extension set (and Kaleidoscope 2.1) active. More on Retrospect/Integer Ratios (CPU/Bus ratio): " Mike, Regarding bus speeds, integer ratios and Retrospect I was also having the freeze problem you have previously described, both with 8.1 and 8.5, By trial and error, after all the other suggestions for getting Retrospect to run stabiley had failed, I discovered that If I reduced the clock settings on my Railgun from 112/112 to 305.6/305.6 with the bus at 43.7 all my backup problems ceased. Have reset the Retrospect preference to use SCSI Manager 4.3 with no ill effects. While this is certainly not verification, nor was it arrived at theoretically, but it works for me, and it does reflect a 7 to 1 (approx.) integer ratio. I suspect that with cards that have a number of variables for speed adjustment that it will still be awhile until we fully discover the effects of these settings where those effects don't arise daily or where they apply to particular applications. For now I seem to have found the sweet spot on my card and suggest that readers who are experiencing infrequent but ongoing problems consider that the issues may not be software based and try adjusting their cards to discover its optimal settings. Arthur Adams " The integer ratio tip was added to our Retrospect Tips page recently. QuickBooks Pro 4.5C Released in Canada only?: Brent Kirsten wrote he spotted a 4.5C version of QuickBooks Pro for Mac that appears to be released in Canada. I posted his comments on a separate page for those that are interested in the story. Sunday's News Summary Comments on no L2 cache in Orange Micro 620/PCfx cards Softraid 2.1.5 update More on PB G3 modem disconnects More OS 8.5 battery life comments More Speed Doubler 8.1.2 tests (reader submitted) Stubborn DVD disk tip (workaround to play disks) Kensington Mouseworks extension performance drain More on Mac USB PCI Cards Other Net News: Macsonly has a review of the Mac Magic $99 3Dfx card from VillageTronic, tested in both a Powerbase 180 and 9600 with G3. [I later also reviewed the MacMagic card here]. The and Forget the RIO MP3 Player, I've Got Something Better (MacOpinion) Johnny Internet: Chapter 3 (Applelinks) For other recent site news/features links, see the Recent Site Features page. 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.