"OWC dropped its price on the SDRams to $99 for 2-2-2 128mb earlier today for XLR8yourMac readers. Also, we dropped 256mb 2-2-2s to $239 for your readers. This was done independantly of BLOL, but seeing BLOL there, had to kick in.

No special comments required for the price, on our site, $99 is the price that goes into the basket and billed automatically. :)
Best Regards,
Larry O'Connor Other World Computing, Inc. "

Bottom Line president David Goldman sent a note they've got a site special on G3/G4/PC100 128MB SDRAM dimms for $99. The web page price is $169.99 but David said to type '$99.99 xlr8yourmac' in the comments area of the order to get the lower price.

Other World Computing sent a note they have Sonnet G3/333MHz CPU upgrades in stock for $289:

"Sonnet G3/333mhz with 512k Cache for PCI Macs now in Stock at Other World Computing for $289 (P/N SG333C512). This is a new addition to the Sonnet PCI Line of G3 upgrades and works in most computers with a Processor Daughtercard Slot. "

Barney Buoy sent a long list of links for the Other Net News/Software updates/TILs section below.

Stella9000 Review: Thad Brown sent Issue #56 of Bring in the Noise (audio column) with a review of Koblo's Stella9000. The current issue and links to back issues are always at www.xlr8yourmac.com/audio/

New G4/500s Have Speculative Processing Enabled? Michiro Isobe posted a note in the G4 forum that his friend's new G4/500 (a 2.8 stepping he later replied) has Speculative Processing enabled. As noted here previously, earlier Sawtooth G4s systems have it disabled by default. One anonymous source a few months back commented the reason was due to G4 errata that affected only MPX bus designs (which is why the Yikes G4 had SP enabled and not the Sawtooth AGP systems). Perhaps the 2.8 (and later) stepping G4s corrected the issue (assuming the comment is true). That must mean a new boot ROM version comes with the new G4s.

Comment on Toast 4 & Ricoh DVD/CDRW: A reader commented on the CDR burning problems noted by Ricoh DVD/CDRW Combo drive owners earlier today:

"Hi Mike,
In regards to John's problems with the Ricoh drive...

I just wanted to say that, Toast failing during verification is an incompatibility with Toast 4 and OS9 when burning Mac Files&Folder (or HFS, HFS+ images). It happens no matter what CD-R you use with it (I've personally verified this with B&W G3, iMacDV, Beige G3 using Teac CDR55S (scsi), QPS Que! (usb), and a Ricoh SCSI CDR drive--can't remember model number). The thing is, even if it fails to verify, the disc should be fine. It also shouldn't happen when burning ISO, CD-ROM XA, Video and Audio CDs. I can't say for sure that John's problems are the same, but just wanted to comment on this.
Ciao!
Satoru Murata"

Update: several readers wrote to stay that the Toast 4.02 update solved all their problems, and others said there had no problems with Toast 4.0 and SCSI CDR burners.

ATI to Unveil 'Revolutionary' 3D Graphics Technology: A reader sent a link to a Canadian press release reporting ATI will "revolutionize the 3D graphics power of PCs", citing a 10X increase in 3D graphics performance. The article claims the Charisma Engine^TM is the world's fastest geometry processing unit and the first to incorporate advanced game character acceleration for 3D skinning and key-frame character animation. In addition, the Pixel Tapestry^TM Architecture promises a GigaTexel rendering engine. More info on these new designs are to be shown at the Game Developers Conference on March 10th and 11th. (I have no idea how far off these designs are from retail, or if there will be mac versions but I've asked ATI for more info.) [Update: ATI says there will be Mac retail versions of their next generation product line, but has made no specific product announcements yet.]

3dfx at GDC: Bryan Speece of 3Dfx wrote to say they'd be showing the new VSA100 cards at the Game Developers Conference. BTW: If you missed WWB's recent Chat with Bryan, you can read the transcript of the questions and answers on their new Voodoo4/Voodoo5 cards we're all dying to get our hands on.

Update on Ricoh DVD/CDRW Combo Drive in Macs: Tom replied with more info to add to his earlier post on the new DVD/CDRW drive in his B&W G3:

"Mike,
Sorry I wasn't able to get back sooner but have been away on a short time. The Ricoh combo drive burns data CDRs fine. I have had problems with Toast 4.0.1 burning audio CDs. I have also had similar problems with my Yamaha 8424 SCSI CDRW. Going back to Toast 3.7 will not help since it does not recognize an ATAPI drive. Toast 4 uses the Disk at Once method for copying and it appears to freeze during the recording session although sometimes it produces a completed disk??? I haven't had time to pursue this.

I was not able to boot from this drive. Tried disabling the start up hard drive but just get the flashing Mac Icon.

No experience with MP3 extraction.
Will keep you posted on new issues or any resolution of existing ones.
Regards,
Tom "

Another reader reported he returned the drive for the following reasons:

"Hi Mike, I picked up the Ricoh Combo CD/CDRW/DVD drive last week at CompUSA for $399.99. I wanted to swap it with the original 24x CD-ROM in my B&W G3 350 rev1 and replace my SCSI 2x external burner. I ended up returning it for a refund. Here's why:

What worked:
CVGS (latest version) - played Grand Turismo great. DVD w/cracked Apple DVD 2.0 - Alien and The Matrix. Both were great. Rip and Encode MP3 w/N2MP3 - Worked fine when I could get Audio CD's to mount (see below).
CD-ROM's - Didn't try too many. But seemed to work.

What didn't work:
Toast 4.0 Deluxe - Toast identifies the drive properly but I could not reliably burn either a CDR or CDRW. Burned disks always either failed during verification or system locked during verification. Only one disc with a small amount of data (<10MB) burned to it ever completed successfully. Audio CD's - I would get "This disk is unreadable" message about 50% of the time when mounting Audio CD's. Eject and reinsert would sometimes get the disc to mount. I even cleaned all the CD's, it didn't make a difference. Booting - Total failure with either "C" key or Command-Option-Shift-Delete and Mac OS 9 cd.

All these were with the Apple CD/DVD driver included with OS 9. I even tried CD-ROM SpeedTools hoping it would improve things. Didn't make any radical improvements but SpeedTools looks like a great product.

I decided to go with the Toshiba SD-M1302 DVD and a Firewire CDRW instead.
John "

iSub Owner Solves Audio CD Skipping: The reader that reported the audio CD skipping issue with his iSub later wrote he's solved the problem:

"I dug a little deeper and figured the problems out. Although I upgraded the Audio Update to ver 1.3, I did it through the Software Update Control Panel. There are 3 parts to this upgrade. Apparently, when using this method, the utility didn't bother upgrading my "Mac OS Rom" to ver. 3.2.1 (It was still using ver. 2.2.1!!).

I reinstalled from the downloaded disc image and the correct version was installed (this brings up another disturbing issue... but I'll leave that for another time). Now the skipping has stopped and the iSub is recognized after startup without unplugging and plugging back in!

I would suggest to everyone to always install from a file and not Software Update. Anyone having either of these problems should check the version of their Mac OS Rom located in the System Folder.
Han."

iSub Raves: This reader seems to like the iSub just a tiny bit...

" yes one needs to re-insert the usb cable back into either usb port 1 or 2 to kick it into action but guess what, ...SMALL price to pay!!! the isub has become one of those life experiences, i forgot how good King Crimson's "Court of the Crimson King" or Roxy Music's "Avalon" were until today.... the house is reverberating...the sound...amazing.

Kudo's again to Apple and Harmon Kardon this time
Again Jobs, Ellison, Tevanian, Rubenstein, and now the HK dudes have made the planet a better place to live. My life has once again been improved.
Thank you so much...
greg deets ph.d.
now lets get autocad on macos X..and the walls will fall. "

Ramdoubler 9/PDS Maxpowr 1.1b4 Conflict? Tom Koons reports that the new PDS G3 software update has problems with Ramdoubler 9.

"I just installed the new 1.1b4 driver for the PDS MaxPower card in a 6100 so I can use OS 9. The driver seems to work fine with OS 9 but it does not work with RamDoubler 9? I know with OS 8.6 and RD 8 that the older Maxpower driver worked fine. I was wondering if anyone else had this problem?
Tom"

There's been a few general problem reports on RD9 in other Macs noted in the past news but this is the only PDS 1.1b4/RD9 report so far. I welcome comments from other PDS Maxpowr/OS 9/RD9 owners.

IBM Solved G4 Higher Speed Production Problems? The register has an article saying that IBM has solved a production problem and has up to 650MHz G4 CPUs. The article also claims there are clauses in the AltiVec licensing deal that is preventing IBM from shipping faster CPUs to Apple. (I had heard in the past from some inside sources that IBM could not sell G4s to upgrade companies, but not sure if any of this is actually true.)

Early Sawtooth/DVD Player 2.1 Report: A reader posted a note in the forums that the DVD 2.1 player solved the audio sync issues on his G4/450 (early rev) Sawtooth:

"Yep you heard it right, the stupid thing finally works without going out of sync. I watched 2 movies (Matrix and Pleasantville,) 2 of my most problem ridden dvds, without a single hint of audio problems. The video still did the little hang when the controller disappeared but after upping the memory allocation from the standard 7mb to 15mb that disappeared too. Woohoo!! way to go Apple for finally getting off your asses and fixing it, it only took you 5 months.

G4/450 rev 2.6
512mb of ram "

Final Cut Pro & Firewire PBs: Have any readers tried printing to tape and capturing from a new Pismo in Final Cut Pro? I assumed that was a sure thing, but in Apple's 3/7/2000 TIL on Final Cut Pro: PowerBook Support it mentions that it's only supported with the Newer Tech Firewire 2 Go or Ratoc cards. I suspect they are referring to the Lombard models, but with the TIL just updated yesterday you'd think the Powerbook Firewire (onboard firewire) would have been mentioned. If any readers have used Final Cut Pro on a new Pismo, please let me know if you can capture and print to video (I assume you can).

The Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews and Mac Game/Video card Performance searchable databases were updated at 5AM.

Other Net News:

News
• Apple Secures Worldwide Injunctions Against Daewoo and eMachines
• FireWire vendor under fire (Macweek)
• Gaming's battle for your living room (ZD/Net)
• Interactive will be name of the game (Mercurycenter)
• Catching the Pimo Wave (ZD/Net)
• The Inside Scoop on a Router/firewall bargain (ZD/Net)
• Aqua controversy continues (Macuser UK)
• iBook sales boom pushes portable to No1
• (updated) Hands On: FireWire Target Disk Mode
• New Apple motherboard to debut 'in August' (Macuser UK)
• Steve Jobs' interface hell (Macuser UK)

  Software Updates:

• Canvas 701 update
• Adobe PressReady 1.0 Update for OS 9
• HP Deskjet 900 Series Printer Drivers
• Keyspan USB PDA Adapter Software Downloads
• GL Quake 0.5.1 fixes several bugs. Get it ftp://ftp.indigita.com/other/david/Mac-GLQuake-0.5.1.sit or: http://homepage.mac.com/porkrind/Mac-GLQuake-0.5.1.sit. The GLQuake for mac home page is http://www.porkrind.org/david/quake [It still doesn't run properly on the Pismo...the game video is squashed in a thin strip at the top of the display]

  TILS

• Using Multiple Note Pads and Scrapbooks
• AppleWorks 5 for Windows: Compatibility with Windows 2000
• PowerBook G3 Series (Bronze Keyboard): No Sound When Modem Dials Out
• Using Ethernet to share an Internet connection from a Software Base Station
• iMac (Slot Loading): Network Activities Prevent Deep Sleep Mode
• Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics): Helping Correct DVD Audio Sync
• PowerBook (FireWire): Password Security Not Compatible
  (Major incompatibility, noted in last Weekend's News)
• DVD: Causes of Skipping/Stuttering
• Final Cut Pro: PowerBook Support
• Final Cut Pro: Compatibility Matrix

The recent features page also lists articles posted (most recent first) as does the sidebar links here. The site topics pages (systems, cpu upgrades, etc. - see top and sidebar links on this page) also are places to check as well as the FAQ.

Tuesday's News Summary

• DVD Player 2.1 Patch Site Tips
• Another TurboMax AV Performance Report
• TurboMax 1.7.4 Update Improves Performance
• iSub Audio CD Skipping Report
• PCI IDE Card Support in OS X
• Wanted: More Ricoh DVD/CDRW Combo Reports
• More PCI Bus Errors Feedback
• GLQuake 0.5 Tip
• Quake3 Skinning Tutorial
• MacSense XRouter with DSL Support
• Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews and Mac Game/Video card Performance searchable databases updated.

Monday's News Summary

• TurboMax 1.7.4 Firmware Available
• Quake3 Point Release 116M
• Pismo Battery Sale Ended
• Bottom Line on Turbomax Support/Firmware Updates
• IDE RAID Performance Tests
• Owner Comments on TurboMax/Older Mac A/V Performance
• PCI Bus Errors Feedback
• Testing Wallstreet DVD Decoder Card in Pismo
• Pismo HD Whine - Toshiba Drive Related?
• Rage128 & Flash Tip

Weekend's News Summary

• G4 PCI Bus Errors?
• Plus40 Maxtor in Beige G3 benchmarks
• Pismo Batteries - $69.95 Delivered
• G4 Stepping 2.9 Now Shipping?
• Software Updates: Startup Doubler & OS X Web Browser
• Warning on Using Password Security Control Panel on Pismo
• Newer Tech Updates G3 Control Software
• More on Fan/Fanless Rage128 Pro AGP Cards
• L2G3 Upgrade/Gaming Freeze Tip
• OS X DP3 Install on Umax S900
• More Peek-a-Boo/Performance Comments
• TurboMax IDE Card OK for AV Now in Older Macs?
• Reminder to Update USB Card Drivers
• B&W G3 Airport 1.1 Base Station Comments
• Eudora Pro and Yahoo Mail Problems?
• Bottom Line's weekly specials
• Owner's CPU Upgrade Reviews, Mac Game Reviews and Mac Game/Video card Performance searchable databases updated.

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 CPU Upgrade? Search the CPU Upgrade Owner's Survey results and search for owner reports by Mac model and/or card brand. The current database has more than 3,300+ reports and growing.