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11/27/98 - Friday's News:	Click for Current News Page
A friend and I are going to be putting a new roof on my house today so news updates today may not be possible. I've been trying to get this done since last year and can't put it off any longer. More Feedback on Retrospect/PowerForce Issues: A reader notes our Retrospect Tips page for G3 card owners helped solve his problem in OS 8.5 with the PowerForce G3 card: " Since upgrading my 8500 to a PowerLogix 275/275/1M G3 I have only intermittently been able to use Retrospect to backup to a Jaz 1GB drive. Recently I upgraded to a 2GB jaz and OS 8.5 at the same time and since then Retrospect has never worked, always gets stuck in some sort of loop either while copying or verifying. Today I noticed your advice about turning off VM before running Retrospect, Voila!, it worked perfectly. Thank you. Howard Chansky " There are notes on G3 upgrade compatibility in the FAQ and in several articles on the Tips/Misc page as well. The Owners Survey [now a searchable database] linked on the CPU Cards page also contains a lot of comments on G3 cards (seachable by brand and mac model). PointCast to drop Mac Support?: Frank Sottile writes that there may be no more Mac versions (their download page still has a Mac version listed as of 11/27/1999) - but it's v1.1 vs the PC v2.6): " Mike, I use PointCast and I like it, but for them to drop the Mac Ver. is a sin. I think that we at xlr8yourmac.com should let them (at Point cast know) we need to let programmers know that we use and like and will buy the programs if they write them (for the Mac of course). OS X for the PCI Power Macintoshs is just the start, we need to let all know that the Mac is NOT dead and is good for your health (an Apple a day...). Long Live the Mac. Frank Sottile " I agree. Several months ago I posted a OS X Petition that allowed you to send your comments, Mac model, etc. to Apple's leadership. 99% of you agreed OS X support for models other than the new G3 line was a good thing. The Tips/Misc. page has a OS X article (two sides of the story) published back then as well. Ult. Rez Deals - Shipping Restrictions?: As noted in Yesterday's News, there seem to be restrictions on the Ultimate Rez sales: " Hello, I am in Hong Kong and I placed the order to MicroWarehouse on the Ult REZ on 25th Morning abt 09:00 HK Time. EST was 24th abt 20:00. Originally they were charging US$79 + $4.95 shipping. I recd a mail 26th afternoon (Date and Time on message was EST 25th 00:04) asking for higher freight charges. Now, US$79 + $20.65 shipping by Airbone International. I re-cfmd. It seems, MicroWarehouse will "perform" the order. I understand 26th and/or 27th are holiday in USA. I expect to recive it on next Tue (Dec 01). I have the contact in NYC and I entered the order of 1-pc Ult REZ at US$69.95 + $5.95 shipping fm Mac Connection last night (26th abt 23:00 HKT). The reason that I ask them to ship to my contact in NYC is I must enter the field of "STATE" in the shipping address. There are choices of 49/50 America states only. I don't think MacConnection has the services outside US. Thanks and best rgds Lawrence LEE " Mike Strickler wrote that one vendor commented they thought the new sales prices were originally supposed to be only with a new G3 order, but that 'mistake' has not been corrected. Another happy G3 220/110 card owner writes of amazing speeds: " Hi, I've installed a PFG3 220/110 card in my 7300 PPC and I've had it running at 337Mhz with the cache at 2.5/1 for a week now with no problems! The speed increase from my old 200 604e is fantastic. The temp varies between 28 and 32 degrees Celsius. Just thought I'd let you know. I love this card! regards, Michael " PC Matrox Millennium II - Mac Bios flashing: In response to the post yesterday on the original PC Millennium card working with the Mac bios flash a reader notes that the Millennium II works as well: " Hi Mike, I have successfully flashed a PC Millennium II with the Mac BIOS. It works great for the most part, the only snag being that the Mac always boots at 640x480 @ 60 Hz and stays that way for a few moments, until a certain point in the boot process, when it switches to your selected resolution. I don't know if this behavior also happens with the Mac-specific card, but anyway it's a very small price to pay to get the big savings. Unfortunately, when I upgraded my 7500 to a G3 processor, the Millennium II became extremely unstable, always crashing the computer either during the boot process or soon thereafter. This happened no matter how low I turned down the performance settings on the PowerLogix card. I had to remove the Mil2. I'd like to know if others have had the same experience. [ Note: This is listed in the FAQ Question 31 compat. issues with PowerForce G3 cards and clones-Mike] Speaking of apparent G3 incompatibilities, my 7500 also started having problems digitizing video (using the internal hardware) when I upgraded. I could capture a few seconds of video, then the machine would lock up solid. Again, not sensitive to the processor speed setting. Have you heard of this behavior before? Regards, Chul " I've head of the Millennium II extensions issue as noted in the FAQ and there have been some reports of older Capture cards having problems (Bravado 1000, etc.) but this is the first I've heard of the builtin video capture having a problem with the PF G3. Today's Unreal Tips and Tricks page has tips on modifying Unreal's int file for different sentences when someone dies, Frank's asking for someone to start a XLR8YOURMAC Unreal clan, more v219 feedback, an interesting note on lower pings in software rendering mode (?), a new CTF map called UWAR (and lists of UWAR servers), a new Solo Map release called Xerenia's Fall, a fast launch tip and WON server IP addresses. More G3 Modem Audio Noise Feedback: (In response to a past G3-ZONE post on the subject): " Hello. I am not sure, but I think I hear the noise you talked about with my G3. When I enable recording in my Deck II audio program, I hear a high-pitched, low volume whine. I need to turn the stereo up fairly loud to hear it, but it is annoying nonetheless. Is there a way to unhook the internal modem, to see if it is the culprit? Can I disable it through a control panel? " Make sure sound source is not set to 'internal modem' in Monitors and Sound (assuming it's not however since he mentions trying to record audio). The G3-ZONE has an article oninstalling a G3 internal modem that could be used as a guide to removing it (at your own risk) if you can't live with the noise on the line. External modems seem to have better connect rates as well, and I'm still waiting for a V.90 upgrade for my G3 MT internal modem. Frank Bernier sent a link to a page that has tips on bringing a OS 8.5 installer DOA'd drive back to life. See http://www.gate.net/%7Emclinux/OSXorcist.html. The OSXorcist tool they mention is not very user friendly as is noted on this page. They suggest printing out the page, which may be easier with a non-framed version of the repair page at: http://www.gate.net/%7Emclinux/OS85Repair.html Yesterday's News Summary (News is light due to Thanksgiving holiday) Ultimate Rez Graphics Card sale - shipping restrictions? Unreal news page large update Reader report of Matrox Millennium flashed to Mac Bios 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. You might save someone from a lifetime of Windows in the bargain.