" Hi Mike,
saw the note on the TR4 tape drives.

FYI, bare drives for their NS20 tape drive (fast scsi 2, TR5 tapes, 10gb uncompressed/20gb compressed, also TR4) are going for around $90 at www.onsale.com. No software, though. Transfer speed's kind of slow, but it seems perfect for big gobs of data.

Aiwa does still support its products, even though the computer systems divison shut down:

http://www.aiwa.com/csd/Default.htm

Manny Veloso
Digital Plumber
IT Masters "

BTW - Dan Knight of Low End Mac has a review of the AIWA USB Tape drive. He seemed to really like it, even at the $200+ price so I think I'll be happy with the $100 spent on the drive. The plug and play aspect was one reason I wanted one. One reader reported lockups in Retrospect with the drive, but no other readers reported problems with it so far. The Egghead link above also had some DAT drives (4-8GB) that look attractive, but are bare models (no softawre, so make sure your backup softare supports the drive and that you have space in the mac for it - or a empty SCSI external case to mount it in).

Voodoo3 and Strata StudioPro: Another positive report on the Beta9 Voodoo3 drivers with OpenGL:

" Hi Mike,
Just wanted to pass along some additional "OpenGL on Voodoo3" good news. Strata StudioPro, a mid to high end 3D modeling and animation tool I use extensively, now is also compatible/functional via the latest 3Dfx Voodoo3 drivers with the OpenGL support.

I've got a Voodoo3 2000 PCI card added into a G3 266/MT (based on reviews and other info primarily provided through your site - thanks), and it now supports interactive OpenGL hardware rendering in StudioPro. It never would via the Mesa libraries. The performance is far superior to the OpenGL and QD3D acceleration support I was getting through the built-in original ATI RageII+ video. Even though I got the Voodoo3 primarily for game graphics support, I was hoping it would yield good results in my other 3D endeavors. No way to say it but Very Cool indeed! Do those 3Dfx guys kick ass or what? For beta 'developer reference' drivers no less.

I can't wait til they add support for RAVE and QT acceleration. They've surely made a big fan and satisfied customer out of me, offering what I think is clearly the best Mac overall 2D/3D video value today.
Tom Leahey
N'awlins, LA "

I agree, at prices as low as $80 for a V3 2000 PCI, even though it's far from perfect it has to be the bargain of the decade in Mac video cards (esp. for gamers). And I can't wait for the next generation 3dfx cards due in March 2000. These will not only be much faster, but more 'mac-friendly' as well (no 565 pixel format issue, etc.) and should really offer an outstanding complete graphics card solution for Mac owners.

Voodoo3 and Lightwave 3D 5.6: [Update: Dan later replied to my suggest of disabling the 3dfx OpenGL extension - which he said worked (allows running LW3D Softare OpenGL acceleration] Although yesterday's news had a good report from a user of Hash's Animation Master and the above report was positive, a LW3D user reported problems in OpenGL preview mode:

" Hi Mike,
Great site! I just caught the notice about the lucky Animation Master user benefiting from the use of the new Voodoo OpenGL drivers. Unfortunately, things don't seem to work quite as well with another 3D app, Lightwave 5.6.

(And I say this with the preface of great job and an enormous thanks to the folks at 3DFX for this OpenGL gift. We need more " unsupport " like that in the Mac community.)

I'm running a beige G3, 300 MHz, with a second monitor running off the internal Rage Pro. Using a Voodoo 3 3000 on my main display, Appležs latest OpenGL and the new OpenGL drivers just released, I see these problems. In Lightwave's Modeler, the preview window ( which normally appears at the top right of the screen) is now pushed down to the lower right. The "side view" window (a wireframe display which is normally in that space) is not available at all. Click-dragging the mouse in the empty upper right corner manipulates the image in the lower right display window. Clicking over the lower right window produces "point artifacts" (as if you're grabbing points on the 3D model); this suggests things are still in the right place down there, but it's being overlaid by the misplaced preview view.

In Lightwave's Layout app, the top of the animation and shuttle controls at the bottom of the screen are cut off. There may be other issues there, but I didnžt dig around further since these issues were enough to make me have to go back to an earlier Voodoo driver solution. (Switching Lightwave's display over to Quickdraw preview makes all these problems go away, pointing to the issue being with the GL implementation.)

Given 3DFX's clear commitment to all this, Ižm sure they'll fix whateveržs causing this in a subsequent (hopefully soon! ) release. I just wanted to point it out now, in case it helps i.d. any problems.
Best regards,
Dan Chichester "

I'm not sure 3dfx has the resources to address all issues like this, but I suggested he try disabling the 3dfx opengl extension to see if LW 3D's software OpenGL would work (it seemed to on a 3dfx banshee chip based Game Rocket some months ago in one of my video card reviews).

G3 Upgrades and Audio Feedback: I received several replies to my request for info on this topic in yesterday's news. The following are several reader's comments:

" In response to your request:
I am using Emagic Audiowerk 8 without difficulty in the following system:

Starmax 4200
Vimage G3/300 upgrade
OS 8.5.1
Logic 4.0.7

The AW8 sits in PCI slot 2 - it does not like being in the higher slots (well known Tanzania PCI bridge problem) Slot 1 is occupied by Xclaim VR (the ATI card insists on this position)

I record to a fast narrow drive on the narrow buss of an Adaptec 2940 UW (video goes to the wide buss) in slot 3.

In addition, I master to a Yamaha CBX D5 which records to a fast narrow drive on the built in scsi buss.

All 3 drive busses work simultaneously under Logic - but this is pushing the limits of my lowly Starmax so I generally disable QT playback while mixing to the CBX.

System works well for me as an audio mastering/layback facility with the caveat that it does experience crashes now and then: this could be due to any number of intermittent problems from the ATI card, ATI driver, 2904 . CBX, or the Starmax itself. I think the only way to improve the situation will be to move up to a G4 and its superior PCI and MB speed.

That said: the Audiowerk is an excellent no-frills analog board. Good sounding converters and sufficient output to drive +4 db inputs elsewhere in my rig. "

A Newer Tech upgrade owner reported no problems in two different Macs:

" Hi - I'm not using it now, but I had zero problems with a Newertech G3/250/166 G3 upgrade card in a Mac 7600 and Umax S900 with an Audiowerk 8 card and Logic Platinum 3.5/4.0 (I was not using Discovery, which is a semi-crippled version of Logic 3.0). Others have reported that the PowerLogix and XLR8 cards may be OK with this combination as well. General advice is that the Newertech cards are the most compatible with audio cards & apps.

Your reader should post his question to the Logic User List at onelist.com
John Pitcairn "

Another report with a Sonnet L2 cache upgrade:

" re Audiowerks /G3 upgrades compatibilty: I'm having complete success running Cubase VST 4.1 with the Audiowerks 8 card in a PowerMac 4400 with a Sonnet Crescendo L2/240MHz upgrade.. There are a few minor glitches if the latency is set too low in Cubase, but this is related to Emagic's ASIO driver, and not the Sonnet upgrade. I can't imagine there will be any issues with upgrades for the PCI machines (7300-9600) but I'll soon be able to report firsthand on a XLR8/233 in a Umax clone...
rew "

One interesting report from my CPU review database on a lower number of playback channels available in ProTools after the CPU upgrade (odd)

" PowerMac 8600/300
OWC ZIF in XLR8 CarrierZIF card. 160MB RAM interleved. Speculative processing on. Running at 375/187.5 and 50MHz bus speed. Has been running since early august without a single cpu related crash. One strange anomoly that was noticed is that with the CarrierZIF card installed DigiDesigns ProTools with the PowerMix engine will only allow me 8 playback channels instead of 16 with the 300 MHz Mach 5. This isn't really a big deal any more though because ProTools 5 does away with the PowerMix engine. I believe this was a bug or problem with DigiDesigns code however and not a problem with the XLR8 card. XLR8 tried to help me resolve the problem, but DigiDesign was not cooperative with them or me.
Larry Gegel "

Odd that it would be lower with a faster CPU, but the FPU of the G3 is not as strong as the 604e (for double precision operations at least).

Rate Your CPU Upgrade Database Reaches 2,700 Entries The latest updates to the database put the total to the 2,700 mark. I've changed the name to simply say 'Rate Your CPU Upgrade', as its for all CPU upgrades, 604e, G3 and G4. Feel free to post your results with any brand or model of upgrade (select 'other' if your brand is not listed in the menu options, but most brands are). Note: Please use the upgrade for several weeks before posting a rating to make sure you're familiar with it (reducing the need for repeated/updated posts). If you have problems, check the troubleshooting tips in the manual and my FAQ and contact the card mfr. Remember to remove the L2 cache dimm if you can before installing any G3 or G4 upgrade in an older mac and double check your speed settings on adjustable cards. Running the upgrade too fast (CPU, bus or cache speeds) can also be a cause of problems. Set the card to the stock speed to see if it's reliable should you have problems with stability. Also check for updates to control software. My CPU Upgrades page has many reviews and aticles with troubleshooting tips and guides that might be of help as well.

The Powerlogix Z-Force production model arrived yesterday afternoon. I'll be testing it tonight in 3 of my macs (Genesis, 9600/350 and PowerCenter Pro) to see how it does bus-speed wise. I'm still amazed at how tiny this card is, but is less really more?

For a blast from the past see what was on the front page news here one year ago.

Friday's News Summary

• Voodoo3 and Hash Animation OpenGL
• $100 USB Travan TR4 Tape Drives
• MS office 98 OS 9 Update Installer Fixed
• PC IDE CDRrom Recorders in Macs (owner reports)
• 3Dfx driver tips from Ken Dyke at www.Mac3dfx.com
• SCSI ORB Drive Benchmarks/Driver Tests
• 780MHz/1GHz PowerPCs
• MacOS Altivec Extensions Info (reminder on past info and new source)
• USB Speakers Tip from reader post in my G4 Forum
• Reader Request: Audiowerks/Logic Discovery and G3 upgrades
• 512MB RAM in Wallstreet PB G3 (reader report on trip to Transintl.com dealer)
• Top 500 SuperComputers
• German reader tip on printer drivers
• Reminder on HP OS 9 printer driver updates
• Sonnet Cresendo v1.4 Update Feedback
• Revised Z-Force card arrives.

[There was no Thursday News due to Thanksgiving holiday]

Wednesday's News Summary

• Unreal Tournament Rave Updater
• Problems w/MS Office 98 OS 9 Updates (updater revised now)
• Game News page updated with new 3dfx driver test results
• New Proformance3 Beta Drivers
• DV Tips for Older Macs (PCPro owner reports OS 8.1 best)
• Reader Request: Bootable IDE CDRs?
• OS 9/PCMCIA Card Compatibility
• New 3Dfx Voodoo2/Voodoo3 Driver Feedback
• Sonnet updates G3 Cresendo software to v1.4 for OS 9
• Glidehack 1.2 update for Voodoo3 screenshot capability
• Other Net News

Tuesday's News Summary

• 3Dfx Voodoo2/Voodoo3 Updated Drivers w/OpenGL
• CDW unadvertised limited supply of G4/400 Yikes Systems for $1594
• Update from FirmTek on Mac IDE Cards
• Quake3 Performance Tweaking (game news page)
• XLR8 G4/400Z Review updated for Photoshop 5.5: Athlon 600MHz vs G4
• Promise IDE Controllers - Write for Mac Support
• USB Video/Keyboard/Mouse Switcher
• Game News page updated with Quake3 FOV Tip and other tweaks
• Rainbow Six Gamers Wanted

Monday's News Summary

• iBook #1 U.S. Consumer Portable
• Game News Updated
• USB Mouse Axis Problems
• Alsoft Software Updates
• OWC $325 Copper G3/450 ZIF Upgrade
• Update on XLR8 G4 Upgrade Memory Bandwidth
• XLR8 G4/400Z Review
• Sonnet and XLR8 Lower CPU Upgrade Prices
• 3Dfx Hires ATI Programmer
• PowerBase G4 Upgrade
• Miles U2W/Sawtooth Tip
• Quake3 Demo Texture Loading Tip
• Quake3 Arena Goes Gold
• Mac Game/Video Card Performance Database Updated
• Getting Answers Faster

For links to older news pages see the Archives page.

The recent features page has a lists reviews/articles you may have missed.

For a guide to finding answers to questions - see my Site Guide page.

Considering a G3 Upgrade? Check the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. Readers post new entries daily and the database is updated several times a week. I urge any owners that have had problems to report this via the Survey Form. Always give the most weight to recent owner reports (dated in the listing) as in many cases problems are later found to be due to settings errors, slow L2 cache, etc.