• Improved audio DAO ("Disc-at-Once") support
• New support for Buffer Underrun Prevention ('Burn-Proof')
• Auto-Detection of CD Media Type and Supported Write Speeds
• Support for High-Speed CD Recorders
• Support for Mac OS 9 "Digital Audio Playback" in Toast CD Reader
• Support for New CD recorders

Adaptec has updated their Known Issues page to reflect the new version number and includes several troubleshooting tips.

v4.1.1 includes support for more than 50 additional CDRW drives according to the updater info file. For a list of supported CD Recorders, they refer you to this page, however when I searched there I'm not sure the list has been fully updated - since the Plextor 12/10/32 drive was not listed, nor the Que 12/10/32 firewire model ( Plextor 10/10/32 IDE drive based model which ships with OEM Toast 4.1.1) . The list doesn't even include the Sony CRX145 which I personally know works with Toast 4.1 (and so do many readers who have entered Drive Compatibility Database reports on the drive w/Toast 4.1).

" Mike,
I have learned that Bell Microproducts and Rorke Data bought HammerStorage:

http://www.rorke.com/hammer
www.rorke.com/html/bell_microproducts_announces_s.html

Rorke Data has a Jackhammer trade-in program if one is interested.

The Jackhammer software, as described in the FAQ, will work with OS 9 or 9.02, but not 9.04.

The PCI Jackhammer Control Panel For G4's & OS 9 is at:
www.rorke.com/hammer/PCIJackHammer1.4.5..sit

Trade-in info for Jackhammer at:
http://www.rorke.com/dlfiles/jackhammer.pdf

I don't know much about their cards either. They list them for Mac and NT.
Philip S. "

I do not know if they plan to offer OS X drivers for their Jackhammer cards. Contact Rorke for their policy on support for Jackhammer cards and any qestions on their own SCSI cards.

" Hey Mike,
OS X arrived today for me (living in Canberra, Australia). I was quite impressed because Apple threatened me with a 2 week delay - even though I ordered it online right after it was announced.

Anyway, took it home, put it in my PowerBook G3 (firewire).
Installed fine.

First impressions:

1) Woah! Where is everything? When they said it was completely different on those online reviews, they meant it, didn't they!

2) From what I'd read, it was horribly slow in the finder/desktop. My experience was otherwise. On my 500mhz G3, it seemed relatively snappy. The waking/sleeping must be seen to be believed... so fast!

3) I spent almost an hour trying to get AppleTalk to work with an OS 9.0.4 machine with a crossover cable. No luck... couldn't do it. I know it wasn't the crossover cable, because using a utility called "who'sthere" I could actually see the Darwin machine. I just couldn't get peer-peer networking to work, which is a major pain. I may have overlooked something, but I don't think so.

4) There is no option for modem initialization strings or Ignore dial tone. Hence, I can't get it to connect to the internet (major pain!). I'm writing this on my 8.6 beige G3. As I can't connect to the net, and am unable to get peer-peer Appletalk to work, my Powerbook has just become an island. I'm VERY unhappy about this. There's gonna be no way (short of another CD) that I'm going to be able to update the computer so that I could ignore the dial tone.

5) I love the force quit feature - runs great, no big slow downs etc. Protected memory is bliss!

6) I had a BAD crash at one stage, froze while I was configuring PPP for the first time. Then, it wouldn't restart. Put the cd back in, reinstalled, all ok again, and remembered my password.

7) Quicktime is seriously slow!

Cheers,
James Allworth "

If anyone has any tips for James's Net connection problem, please contact me.

" Hey Mike!
There were actually more than 3 extensions installed in my OS 9 Extensions Folder. I have the extensions listed by package and there was a whole package called Classic Compatiblity Environment 1.0f3. In that package were the following extensions:

Apple Menu Options 1.1.8b2
AppleShare 3.8.7b2c1
Classic RAVE 1.2
Classic Support UI 1.2
File Sharing Extension 7.6.7b2
Open Transport 2.7.1
OpenGLLibrary 1.2b2c4
Proxy App 1.0

I hope this helps.
Lucian Fong"

(original post follows)
A G4/500 system owner commented on new extensions installed:

" Hi Mike,
Today I got my copy of Mac OS X Public Beta. Installation went flawless. The Finder is slow compared to OS 9.0.4. And I just love the Dock. I think the windows need a little more contrast. The Quartz garphics are great, I have never seen better looking icons etc.

I noticed that the OS X installer installed 3 new extensions in my OS 9 Extensions folder:

- AppleShare 3.8.8b2c1
- Open Transport 2.7.1e1
- OpenGLLibrary 1.2b2

I restarted my G4 500 with OS 9 using the System Disk control panel to switch the OS to see if it works... And it did. I noticed that I couldn't change TCP/IP settings, the control panel was in Administration Mode and all fields were locked.

Best regards,
Jeroen van der Star The Netherlands"

" Mike:
The Formac update does not clear up the problems with LW 6 and the SGI 1600 on my system.

The response does seems a little quicker.

The control panel doesn't seem to appear part way off screen now.

The "Symmetry" function (Tools/Symmetry (I think)) still doesn't work.

When I select by dragging with the LMB, the "scattered polys" still appear, but seem to be a more complete copy of the actual selection than before. In fact, it now looks like what is happening is that when I highlight one or more polys in one of the Modeler windows, the highlighted copy of the polys that would be expected to appear in the other windows are, instead, overwritten into the window in which the selection is being made. To get the highlights "moved" to the correct window, I have to either "windowshade" the Modeler window, or select a tool (e.g. type "t" for the "move" tool), click the RMB, and then deselect the tool, (e.g., type "t" again).

I have notified Formac of these issues, and they have, through Paul Gumpel, been most responsive to my inquiries.
John Sikorski"

The 5.9.3 update is linked below in an earlier news post.

"OpenGL fog with Tomb Raider 4, F/A-18 Korea 1.1. Support for Deus Ex. Improved general 3D performance "

Some say the update should fix issues with OpenGL apps like Lightwave 3D, Cinema4D as well. Another reader commented on the new drivers:

" I've tried them with Lightwave 6 and Cinema 6.0 XL on one of my machines and they seemed to work fine.

Didn't test them with Quake 3 lately, because I used to play DeusEx mostly. deusEx works fine and runs absolutely smoooth..and no errors etc...
Joerg Battermann "

(See the later news post for another reader's comments on problems he's still seeing in LW 3D v6.) In a related note, a reader from Germany one said he obtained an unreleased 2.4 Firmware update for the card and suggested those with the Deep Sleep problem in Gigabit Ethernet G4s noted in yesterdays's news should Formac and ask for it. (See his comments in the later news post above).

" The 512MB (dimms) show up as only 256MB in the BWs (B&W G3s) ... Only the G4 Sawtooths (AGP slot models) and iMacs (350Mhz and later) properly recognize the 512MB as its built with the high density 32x8 chips. "

The previous SDRAM based Macs have a different Memory/PCI controller (MPC/XPC106) that can't fully recognize chips more dense than 128megabit. (128megabit x 16 chips max per dimm = 256MB max dimm size for the Beige/B&W/G4 PCI yikes models). BTW - I'm buying one of these for my G4/MP system that I ordered with only 64MB of RAM to save costs. The Apple store price for a 512MB dimm today was currently $1350 (!).

The FAQ's memory section here has a link to the following PowerMac G3 memory dev. note that also explains the limits of the Grackel controller (which is also used in the B&W G3 and Yikes G4/PCI models, iMac 233-333mhz and PB G3 1998-1999 models).

" I'm currently running at 1024x768, thousands of colors, the "default" after I installed the card.The "recommended" resolutions in the control panel are 800x600, 832x624 and 1024x768. Those resolutions, along with 640x480 and 1152x870 are listed in the "Custom" pane. All work except 1152, which caused the system to go from the Desktop to a dark grey screen with a spinning multi-colored ball in the left hand corner. I had to do a hard re-boot to get out of it. No more 1152 for me! I have an ViewSonic PF 790 (19").

I'll work on getting some kind of benchmark going. OS X did not like the copy of OS 9 I was using and I ended up formatting and doing a clean install, so I have to reinstall my classic apps. I've been so busy checking out OS X that I've yet to get around to it!
Bob Peterson "

I'm not sure why some Voodoo3 users are limited to 640x480 and others not. (My copy of OS X has still not arrived and even my G4 is late. My Apple store order luck has always been bad :-)

See the OS X forum at bbs.xlr8yourmac.com for other OS X problem reports, tips and comments on unsupported Mac installs.

Note: As mentioned several times before here - PCI IDE cards are not supported in OS X Beta. [Update - Retail OS X release does support the Acard ATA/66 and Sonnet Tempo ATA/66 cards, including the hardware RAID versions. See the IDE articles page for reports on OS X retail w/PCI IDE cards.] Softraid is also not currently supported by the beta.

• Formac G3/366 in Beige G3 (rated 5)
• Newer Tech G3/300 in 7500/100 (rated 10)
• Powerlogix G3/350 in Powercenter 132 (rated 9)
• Sonnet G3/300 in 9600/200 MP (rated 10)
• XLR8 G3/300 (running 407MHz) in PowerCenter 132 (rated 10)
• XLR8 CarrierZIF w/OWC G3/300 ZIF (running 402MHz ) in PowerCenter 132 (rated 9)

• B&W G3/300 OC report (6 months at an amazing 450Mhz)

You can find these full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database of over 4,500 entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy.

CDRW Drives:

• Mitsumi USB 4804TU with new iMac 2000
  
  DVD RAM Drives:
• Panasonic SCSI LF-D103 (5.2GB) in 9600/300
  (includes notes on Wired4DVD decoder and software DVD player)
  
  DVD ROM Drives:
• Toshiba IDE SM1212 in Beige G3
  (OS X report that notes it's not bootable, even though it is bootable with MacOS 9. I need to add this to my Toshiba SM1212 review)
  
  Hard Drives:
  
• IBM IDE TravelStar 20GB in PowerBook Wallstreet2
  (same drive as used in my PowerBook Wallstreet HD Upgrade Guide )
• Maxtor DiamondMax (5400 RPM) 15GB in ADS Pyro Firewire case
• Quantum U2 SCSI Atlas III 9GB in Beige G3 w/OEM SCSI card
• Seagate IDE Barracuda ATA II - ST330630A 30GB in G4/AGP
• Seagate IDE Barracuda 30GB in PowerCenter 132 w/Sonnet Temp IDE card
  (notes audio/video playback issues)
• Western Digital IDE WD307AARTL 30GB in ClubMac Firewire case
  (see Firewire Topics page for reviews of cases)

If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database.

Total entries in the database to date: 1,949. If you haven't already, enter your results with any of the game titles or benchmarks listed on the entry page (details on how to test are there). If you're curious how a CPU upgrade or new Video card would help game performance, the search page options can help you find similar system/configurations to get an idea before you buy.

Software Updates:
• OS Runtime for Java 2.2.3
• Toast Deluxe 4.1.1 Updater (direct download link)
• Toast 4.1.1 OEM Updater (direct download link)
• PC MACLAN for Windows NT/2000
• Formac ProGraphics Control 5.9.3
• Netopia R- Series Router Firmware Update
• ColorThink
• Ghost 3

Apple TILs:

• Mac OS: Computer Stops Responding Because of Wrong ROM File Update
• Power Macintosh G3 and G4: IDE Master and Slave Support and Configuration
• Power Macintosh G3: Identifying The Logic Board Revision
• Macintosh: Using Command-Option-Shift-Delete To Start Up From CD
• Power Macintosh: Tech Exchange Frequently Asked Questions
• Power Macintosh G3 FireWire Card: Testing Ports
• Mac OS: Matching Mac OS ROM File To Mac OS Version
• Power Macintosh Computers: Supported Microphones
• Support for Apple Scanners
• AirPort: Wired (Ethernet) Clients Not Communicating With Wireless (AirPort) Clients
• Troubleshooting Handbook: Reinstalling Individual Applications & All Original Software
• Troubleshooting Handbook: Reinstalling Your Computer's Software
• Troubleshooting Handbook: Starting Up From a CD
• Troubleshooting Handbook: Table of Contents
• iMac Emergency Handbook: Problems Printing
• Troubleshooting Handbook: Performing a Clean Installation
• Troubleshooting Handbook: Problems During Installation
• AirPort Base Station: Technical Specifications
• AirPort: Wired (Ethernet) Clients Not Communicating With Wireless (AirPort) Clients
• Mac OS 9: Compatibility With Connectix Virtual PC
• Internal Modem: Modifying The Value Of Register S29
• Using Startup Manager to Select Startup Device
  
  OS X Beta related
• Choosing Startup Disk with Startup Manager
• QuickTime Player May Not Play MP2-Encoded Audio
• File Sharing Only Shares Public Folders
• About the Trash
• Change in Shift Key Behavior in the Finder
  
  B&W G3
• Use Proper CD/DVD Headphone Jack & Volume Adjustment
• RAM Disk Not Saved On Restart
• Using PlainTalk Speech Recognition v1.5
• FAXstf 5.0.5, Connection and Web Browser Issue
• Video Mirroring
• How do I Open the
• Frequently Asked Questions
• SCSI Card Compatibility with Apple Scanners
• How to Differentiate From Other Power Macintosh G3 Models
• When to Install Available Updaters Power Remains On When Case is Open Certain Keyboards Disallow Open Firmware Startup
• Configuring Color OneScanner
• Modem Not Available Separately
• ADB and USB Devices Simultaneously Supported
• Internal Modem Technical Specifications

• Review of MetaBox's G4 450MHz 2MB Cache CPU Upgrade
• Photoshop 5.5 Performance: G4/450 MP vs G4/500 vs 1GHz PC
• Review of Newer Tech's PowerBook G3/466 CPU Upgrade
• Illustrated Guide and Performance Tests of IBM 20GB Hard Drive Upgrade in PowerBook Wallstreet
• FWDepot PCI Firewire card review
• Lacie's Pocketdrive USB/Firewire Portable Hard Drive (reader review)
• Formac ProG3/450 CPU Upgrade Review for Beige/B&W/AIO Macs
• Review of Newer Tech's iMac G4 CPU Upgrade
• Photos of the new Dual G4 CPU module and motherboard
• Review of the Voodoo5 5500 PCI Graphics Card
  (revised again 9/16/2000 for Unreal Tournament and Cinebench test results)

For many other reviews, articles and guides, see the topics page links in the sidebar and below the logo above. The FAQ also has over 750 answers and links to articles by Topic (including a how-to section). A long list of articles/reviews (newest first) is also at this page.