21" Display iMac Hack: A reader sent a note that Macaddict has a page with pictures of a iMac hack with a 21 inch monitor.

Mac Audio: Unity DS-1 Review - Thad Brown sent issue 48 of his Mac Audio Column here with a review of Unity DS-1. Check it out.

Jason Quinn sent a note that Apple's stock has exceeded $100/share. Imagine if you had told someone last year that Apple's stock would be selling for more than Microsoft's right now. Amazing.

XLR8 has just released a new $39.95 (list) IceView^TM 4 port USB hub with a unique USB 'loadmeter' that displays the USB bandwidth level you're using (LEDs indicate normal to heavy load). See xlr8.com for more details.

MacOS X DP2 on G3 Upgraded 7300: As noted recently in the news the latest Developer Preview of OS X client has a hidden unsupported system install. A reader notes it runs fine on his G3 CPU upgraded 7300:

"Hi Mike.. I've been able to get MacOS X DP2 running on my PowerMac 7300 with a G3 upgrade card (powerlogix 250/125) with a 8mb PCI RagePRO card.

I had NO trouble at all to get this working other then enabling the option to install on non-supported hardware."

Many of us with pre-Apple G3 macs are hoping this install option is available in the final version (even without 'official' support, we'd like the chance to try). However I for one am not looking forward to upgradeing all my applications. Therefore I'll be running OS 8.x/OS 9 for many years to come as my primary OS I suspect.

More on Promise ATA/66 Mac IDE Cards: In the latest installment on the saga of started last Tuesday regarding Firmtek developing mac firmware for Promise ATA/66 IDE controllers: Andrea from Italy sent a copy of a reply from Firmtek's president:

RE: Mac drivers for Promise ATA/66 cards
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 19:40:01 -0800

Hello Andrea,
Thanks for your interest. We have in fact been working hard to provide an Ultra ATA/66 solution for the Macintosh platform.

Our solution is currently in beta. Various companies are testing it and feedback has been very positive.

Check our website [which is currently empty ;) ] in the next few weeks for some exciting news. Also, we'll add you to our email announcement list so that you will be one of the first to know when this card becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

It would be helpful if you could possibly share with us what types of applications you and/or your users commonly use (ie: desktop publishing, video editing, etc).
Thanks in advance,
Chi Kim Nguyen
President,
FirmTek, LLC."

Several posts from FirmTek have been noted in the last week's news and last Tuesday's News had a call to write them for Mac support. I suspect this is the card that ProDirect may be offering in the future but that's just a guess. Readers reported the January MacWorld magazine has a Prodirect ad that listed an ATA/66 card at $145 which was offered in both a dual internal connector (two channels/4 drive total as with the Turbomax) and a (puzzling) model that offered one internal and one external (?) IDE bus. Since I've never seen external IDE drives (no PC IDE controller offers external connectors) this option baffled me. The only IDE external drives I've seen are either those using PCMCIA controller cards (PC notebook use) or adapted IDE drives in external cases (Parallel port models). Most USB and Firewire external drives are usually IDE drives with adapters in the case.

" I saw in the ad section of the January issue of Macworld that ProDirect (www.pdisales.com) offers an Ultra ATA 66 card. It comes in two configurations. Either two internal busses or one internal and one external! The price listed is $145, only $20 more than the ATA 33! I wonder if you or anyone else might know of this and where do they sell external IDE cases? I have no idea if the item is shipping yet. The product isn't in their website, but if you look at their ad in Macworld you'll find it on page 147. I hope you can soon do a review on this very interesting product.
Daniel Piotrowski "

I know readers were hoping for lower prices, since the PC ATA/66 Promise cards sell for a street price of about $50. The smaller Mac market means higher prices in most cases, but often I wonder if it should be this high a delta. Also be aware that no current IDE drive I know of can sustain even the 33MB/sec rate of ATA/33 interface cards but can exceed 33MB/sec in _peak_ rates (most often with file sizes that fit in the drives cache. The fastest IDE drive I've seen in a Mac had a reported 22MB/sec sustained rate, with peaks of appx. 50MB/sec using the Apple G4 Sawtooth's onboard ATA/66 controller. In 'seat of the pants' (real world) tests you'd probably never see the difference between a ATA/33 and ATA/66 controller with most of today's drives.

OS 9/Coolpix PCMCIA Card Tips: Phil Noguch wrote with a possible solution to those with PCMCIA card problems under OS 9 (reported here earlier):

"Mike,
I think this url may have the answer for OS9 and coolpix:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/diginews/

look for the November 8, 1999 explanation. While I no longer have the coolpix 100, my Minolta scsi PCMCIA driver didn't work worth a darn with 8.6 or 9.0. The patch that Rob Galbraith has has restored my PCMCIA adapter to top notch shape with automounting of the card.
Phil Noguch"

Scrolling down to the Nov. 8th posting at the URL above mentions two workarounds including File Exchange 3.03 included on the OS 9 CD.

Kenwood 72X IDE CDROM Warnings: I've received many mails recently from readers that missed last month's owner comments on the 72X drive from Kenwood. As some owners mentioned here, the drive does not seem bootable in a Mac and due to so many mixed reports over the TrueX drive since I first reviewed it (and Maximum PC has twice reported on complaints from readers who owned the drive regarding problems that some owners suggested were batch related), I'd suggest Mac owners not be early adopters. With no Mac firmware updaters (based on 52x model past history), no CVGS support and no boot capability I'd not suggest the 72X drive for Mac use. One reader commented on the game news page that the 72X drive did read the TombRaider III CD, whereas the 52X drive was reported to have problems with it. Just a FYI and I welcome additional Mac owner reports on the 72X IDE drive.

Newer Tech ZIF Socketed Cards Discontinued: Frank Sottile wrote with a copy of an email reply from Newer Technology regarding their ZIF socketed carrier card that notes it's not G4 compatible and seems to have been discontinued.

"From: SALES <sales.NEWERTECH.NEWERDOM@newertech.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 10:46:54 -0600
To: Frank Sottiles
Subject: Re: G4 in a Newer Carrier Card.

No, the carrier card will not support G4 processors. We have discontinued the carrier cards recently in part due to this fact. Thanks for your interest though! "

(Note: See the CPU Upgrades page, G3 reviews tab for my 2001 article on the newer tech Carrier card, w/photos, settings info, etc. I was lucky to find one for $35 in early 2001.)
Both the XLR8 CarrierZIF and the Powerlogix Z-Force are G4 CPU compatible however. See the CPU Upgrades page for reviews and articles on these cards.

Formac ZIF Socketed CPU Upgrades: Frank Sottiles also wrote with two URLs that indicate that Formac is offering a ZIF socketed G3 cpu card. Check their Pro G3 and Tech Specs page for more details.

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

Monday's News Summary

• OWC lowers Upgrade prices
• Z-Force bus speed tests in genesis/powercenter pro/9600 350
• Voodoo3 and Lightwave 3D Tip
• RC5 Altivec Core
• Help Save Opcode's OMS (Open Music System)
• More Mac Audio/CPU Upgrade Feedback
• Voodoo3 AGP Card Reminder
• Voodoo3 2000 for $62
• OS 9/RealPC Compatibility
• Apple 250/300/350MHz 604e CPU Cards
• More PC IDE CDROM Recorder in Macs Feedback:
• More on OS 9/PCMCIA Card Compatibility
• More Voodoo3 Dual Monitor Setup Feedback
• More OS X client DP2 screenshots

Weekend's News Summary

• Bargain TR5 SCSI Internal Tape Drives
• Voodoo3 and Strata StudioPro
• Voodoo3 and Lightwave 3D 5.6
• G3 Upgrades and Audio Feedback
• Rate Your CPU Upgrade Database Reaches 2,700 Entries
• Mac Game/Video Card Performance Database Updated

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.

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

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.

-Freq Asked Questions