Mac Compat. UPS: I've had several mails from Mac owners over the last few months but have not had time to investigate into Uninterruptible Power Supplies that support the Mac. Therefore I thought this reader mail might be of interest:
"Mike,
I received good news from CyberPower Systems, the company that makes the Power2000 UPS, which is rated at 1500VA. They tell me they're almost done with a Mac version of the control software.
APC hasn't updated their PowerChute software for a long time, and has made no indication that they intend to. It looks like CyberPower is going to be the UPS-maker of choice for Mac users.
Outpost.com has been selling the Power2000 for $100 from time to time, which is a heck of a good deal, especially if they release the Mac software for it.
Steve Kayner"
My Mac Game Framerates database has new entries on the Yikes G4 (PCI) system with a Voodoo3 and stock Rage128. As I saw in my Voodoo3 review, the Rage128 is significantly slower due to the fill rate limits of the chip. To see the comparison select 'Apple G4 no AGP' as the Mac model and leave all other search options blank.
At noon today I was able to catch up with posting recent entries in the Rate Your G3 Upgrade database. Due to review work I was a few days behind. Note some entries had to have the Mac model corrected (for example some people entered 'Performa' series for a 6400, when there was a specific 54-64-6500 selection).
PS/2 to USB Adapter: Men in Mac volunteer Kent Kanja sent a review of
the Y-Mouse USB from P.I. Engineering.
Sawtooth G4/450 Comments: A reader from France sent MacBench results from a
new G4/450 system:
"Mike,
Yesterday, I was in the french Apple expo (Paris). Apple presented us the new
AGP version of the G4/450 IDE MAC (not selling). The video card was an ATI 128
on AGP.
I tested it with Macbench5, here are the results:
Processor test : 1444
FPU test : 1702
For comparison, my 9600 with XLR8 G3 432/216/54 (OS 8.1):
Processor : 1402
FPU : 1454 (1750 with libmotosh)
I think it's a bit disappointing, but we should wait OS 9 and Altivec softwares.
Nicolas GREFFET
"
I agree, the G4's main benefit is only seen when running Altivec enabled applications as shown in my First Look at the XLR8 G4 Upgrade performance comparisons. Altivec enhancements to Quicktime, OpenGL, etc. are eagerly awaited.
Adaptec 160m SCSI Card: Paul Tetreault sent a note that MacCentral has an article on Adaptec's
160/m SCSI card from the Apple Expo in France. He also noted his Atlas 10K drive is an Ultra160/m drive. I recently posted a reader review of the Atlas 10K drive by Paul that also included a section on drive cooling.
Voget Selbach Enterprises (VSE) today announced the release of VSE Web Site Turbo 3.0.1.
VSE Web Site Turbo is a tool that makes web pages load as fast as possible by stripping unneeded data, resulting in size reductions averaging from 20 to 50
percent based on content they say. It also optimizes JPEG and GIF
images. For more information about VSE Web Site Turbo see
vse-online.com/web-site-turbo/
A Radius Pressview 21 SR monitor owner reported he's having problems finding a compatible graphics card that can use the colorsync features of that monitor:
"Mike,
Just read you review [Proformance 3]. Thanks. However, I tried the card out the other day with all the current control panels and ROM update, but still had some issues using it with my Radius PressView 21 SR.
Had the bottom half of my screen's black frame broken up just a bit, and
it seemed to have shrunk up as well, cropping into the extensions inits
that show while booting up. I could only get the "recommended"
resolutions of 1152 x 870 at 75Hz. I've been trying to find a card
that will support 1600 X 1200 for Photoshop work, but have yet to find
one that will implement the PressView color controls accurately at
resolutions other than 1152.
Radius uses a "ColorSentry" in their PressView software which transfers
info between the monitor and the computer via a serial cable, changing
the display to the corrected color calibrated settings. Upon changing
resolutions, you loose this, and the monitor defaults into a non
calibrated setting. Although Radius says the monitor can handle
1600X1200, which it will display, for some reason the color calibration
does not work with anything other than those "recommended".
I'm beginning to suspect that it may just be the Radius monitor itself:
I quote MacGurus:
"Those of you who are running PressView displays and are unable to
attain 1600 x 1200 resolution are not nuts. For some reason, neither
ORION nor NEXUS appears to be compatible, at this time, with the
PressView at that resolution. Using a Griffin Tech gView may enable
resolutions up to 1280 x 960".
I don't play games, so my only concern is fast and accurate color 2D
rendering, and higher resolutions. Have you heard any feedback similar
to mine, and do you have any recommendations for another card?
System: 8600/300
Thanks for a great site.
Mark Johann"
I suggested contacting Radius to see what their recommendations are as far
as graphics cards. If the Proformance 3 and Rage128 series are
not 100% compatible, there's not much left in new Mac cards, except perhaps the #9
Revolution IV card (a longshot) - www.nine.com. I hear they are now selling the Mac version
unbundled from the SGI LCD display. I wonder if Formac could address this issue in a
software update perhaps.
Edmond Lai sent a note that Intech has released HD Speedtools 2.5 which they claim to support ATAPI/IDE removable drives like the ORB. It would be interesting to know if this
solves the issue of auto-mounting volumes after a disk change. If any readers
have tested Speedtools 2.5 with an IDE ORB, please contact me.
The Game News page has an update with a link to new Halo screenshots, comments on Q3test 1.09 and a note on 3dfx's new gamer site and survey. [Thanks to Simon Lisney]
Several readers commented on the B&W G3 Power Supply swapping article mentioned in
Tuesday's News to make sure the
ATX supply you buy has the same fan flow direction. Most ATX supplies now
exhaust air out the supply, but there may be some that draw air in from the
power supply fan. Reversing the fan is one option but this may not be a job
for many end users. In summary - match the airflow direction of a new supply to
your existing one.
Alan Landwer sent a warning on TechTool Pro compatibility with his MAChCarrier 450 and his PTP250 hard drive using FWB's disk driver [Update: Based on a reader tip - Allan said disabling the TechTool Pro 'Protection' Extension solved the problem]:
"I've now seen serious hard drive corruption with Tech Tool Pro 2.5.1
and my xlr8 carrier zif 450 card with MACh Speed 1.4.0 software. Catalog
damage that was not repairable was the result of running Tech Tool Pro on
2 occasions now. I have since removed Tech Tool Pro and the issue appears
to be gone. The damage caused the loss of readability on my boot drive and
it couldn't be recovered with
TT Pro, Norton Utilities, or Disk First Aid."
I've ran both Disk Warrior and Apple Disk First Aid many times with the CarrierZIF cards and XLR8's current software with no problems (I've not used TechTool Pro for some time as I've not got the latest update). However the systems I use have only Apple's drive setup or Softraid's disk driver, not FWB's. I've not seen any problems personally with my setups.
Rob Art Morgan of Bare Feats has also posted a review of the Proformance 3 card.
If you don't check every day's daily news (updated several times a day normally) you might miss something valuable. Check the summary list below for highlights of the last few day's news and the archives page for older new page links. For a blast from the past, read what was on the news page here exactly a year ago.
Wednesday's News Summary
Tuesday's News Summary
- Sonnet Announces 500MHz G3 upgrades
- Future CPU Speeds commentary - is PowerPC trailing Athlon?
- Owner confirms Yikes systems don't currently ship w/Font Mgr update
- 3Dfx announces cross-platform FXT1 Texture Compression
- Pioneer SCSI DVD drive free driver download, comments
- USB devices and Q3test reader tips/problems
- Updated v1.4 drivers for PB G3 Firewire cards from RATO
- Article on swapping PC ATX Pwr Supply in B&W G3
- Yikes Pwr Supply 3Volt/5Volt beefier than B&W G3
- Reader laments lack of extra 5.25" bay in G3 systems
- Comments on why Rage128 PCI card option would be nice in AGP G4 BTO options
- Mactell Voodoo3 product page shows mid-Oct. ship date
- Bottom Line 6x CDR specials
- Quad G4 VMEbus CPU Card
- Mac Game FPS database updated
- Rate Your Mac Games database updated
- Rate Your G3 Upgrade database updated
Monday's News Summary
- Pioneer SCSI DVD drive/Software DVD decorder reader comments
- SCSI and IDE DVD drive/decoder bundles
- Apple G4 TIL explains 5 tones at boot heard with my B&W G3 w/G4 upgrade
- Making your own SMI files (self-mouting image)
- Yikes first impressions
- Adobe Plugin info from G4 system CD
- VT ad for new Voodoo3 cards in German Magazines
- Pictures from G4 Service Manual posted
- B&W G3 Unreal crash leaves disk unbootable/how to fix
- Reader report on problems with latest Miles SCSI Firmware
- BTV 3.1.0 Video Utility
- Mac Game Framerates database updated
- Rate Your G3 Upgrade database updated
- Rate Your Mac Games database updated
Systems
