The 6400 Zone is created to help you gain access to useful software updates and great shareware programs that add functionality to your system. It is also a one stop road map to other informative sites for answering your questions. Most of the info here is geared towards the 6400, but it is useful for all PCI Performa models and even the 6500 and all-in-one Macs based on the same. It's even useful to other MAC systems. I will be referring to my 6400/200 clocked to 220Mhz as just 6400/220, OK.

I will keep it updated as often as I can but I don't have much free time to work on it, so I suggest you check back at least once a week. That should be sufficient. If you don't see something you would like to see here or have your own software / web site that would benefit the MAC community, please write to me at TMK12v@aol.com and I will check it out.

Site logo contest web page: Judging begins today! Go and check out all the submissions I have and email me with the number of the image you wish to have as my next Home Page logo :) Please put the number of the submission in the subject line of your email so I can sort them easier. Thanks. Good luck all!

Site logo contest: The judging begins today. Good luck to all that submitted a logo. They're all winners in my book :)

Popup Menu: Thanks to Jeff I know have a popup menu for my Hot Topics list above. It was very easy to do once I saw his coding. All the other web sites I visited that have these types of menus had some sort of CGI or Java Script control how the menu worked. I knew it had to be easier and Jeffs is by far much better then what they all had. Thanks Jeff!

I'll have more info posted soon. I just wanted to anounce the start of the contest.

QuickTime 4.1 stand alone installer: Here is a link to Apples stand alone installer for QT 4.1 for all of you that might be having trouble with the auto update feature of QT.

Apples Auto Update updater to 1.1.1: I don't know about you but I can't seem to update anything with OS 9's auto updater. Here is a link to a stand alone version of Apples auto updater for those of you that can't auto update with the current auto updater! What a tongue twister :) Still I cannot get the Input Sprockets 1.7.3 even with the new updater? I have tried many different ways to get it that I have read on other sites but none of them work for me? It will download the files OK but then it says that "some of the checked files were not installed". Well I only had the one and it didn't work? Sigh!

Vimage Final driver version info: Bob wrote to let me know that he was having some trouble with his Vimage G3 and the final release verion on Interwares site fixed it. Thanks Bob. I also have a link to this drive on my Vimage Info page.

[In reference to the L2 cache card accelerator made by Vimage, I used to think that I was an unlucky customer in purchasing it a year ago in Jan. 1999. I immediately noticed that after a while, during regular use, it would always crash when my 6400 Performa was idle. I got lots of support and suggestions from Vimage's Customer Support, but nothing worked. I felt my update was even more useless when the Vimage company became liquidated last August. But then I was given the URL of the final release of the Vpower extension on this Japanese website:

Booster for the Vimage Card
http://www.interware.co.jp/update/Booster6454_Final.html

I noticed that the version, date and size of the software was different than what I was using. And after installing and trying it out, it is a whole lot stable, too! I ran the accelerator for a whole day without a single crash!

So it turns out, in my opinion, that anyone who is experiencing crashes or freezes may need to install the final version of the Vpower "booster" extension. It really helped me.
Bob]

UPDATE: I have been getting reports that the Interware link is not working. I can't get any of my links to Interware to work right now? So here is a link to the drivers on my site :)

Newer Guage Pro issue with L2 G3's and info on Newers G3: Ric sent me some info concerning Newers new Guage Pro utility when used to see info on Sonnets L2 G3. He got a very interesting reply. Thanks Ric.

[> I tried GaugePro on my G3 upgraded Performa 6400, but was disappointed as
> it doesn't report the correct processor and cache info (see the
> screenshot showing Gauge Pro, Sonnet's Metronome and PowerLogix Cache
> profiler).
>
> I have a Sonnet Crescendo L2 G3 (300MHz/1Mo backside 150 MHz, software
> overclocked to 320/213MHz).
>
> I hope a future release will correct that, as you sell a similar L2 G3
> card (does that one report correctly ?) and I find GaugePro neat, as all
> your software -- smaller (!!!) and more informative than others.
> VRic
>----------
Thank you for your e-mail.
I noticed this problem after v1.0 was released. The problem does not happen with our cards, and will only happen on upgrades that switch processors at extension time, when the driver software doesn't update all areas of the OS. Some of the Sonnet cards are examples of this.


I have already made a minor change in the Gauge PRO code to fix this, by using a second method of checking the CPU type. This change will be in the next released version.


Thanks again for your e-mail, and too bad you didn't choose the Newer card. ;-)
Ben Mickaelian
Software Engineer
Newer Technology, Inc.]

If you notice the highlighted area I made you will see that Newer mentios that some L2 G3's switch CPU's (from stock to G3) when a driver is loaded in the extension folder. From this I get that Newers does not switch CPU's and must boot directly to the G3 from the beginning? I reported some time ago that another company named www.joecard.com was working on a L2 G3 that did just this but they stopped work on it. Well it seems Newer has done it and this must be why their L2 G3 is most compatible with video cards and sound apps. Vimage attempted this by doing the soft reboot once the extension was reached to try and get all the extensions to see a G3 CPU but video some video cards did not like this softboot.

Here is another letter I found on MacFixIt's site that further confirms that Sonnets L2 G3 does not update all parts of the 6400 when it boots to let it know it has a G3 instead of a 603e CPU. I also noticed this when I tried Linux on my 6400. The CPU info in Linux reported a 603e CPU with a 300Mhz speed.

[ "I have a 6500/250 upgraded with a Sonnet G3 L2 300MHz/ 512 L2 cache and when I ran the new Gauge PRO it displayed my cpu as the original 603ev in the 6500 and not the PowerPC 750 on the upgrade card, although it gave my cpu speed as 300MHz not the original 250MHz of the 603ev. It also gave 'unknown' under the L2 cache area." [Phil Macomber]]

Sonnet 400Mhz L2 G3 for the 6400!: I was surfing through Sonnets web site the other day and noticed a few discrepencies with their ads. Here is a letter I wrote to them and check out the great reply!

[Thomas Koons wrote:
Hello. I was interested in the L2/G3 for the 6400 and found some discrepincies
in your ads. For part number BG3-400-1M you have it listed as only for
5500/6500 under the product info heading but in the product pricing area it
says it will work on the 6400 as well?

Will it run at 400Mhz on the 6400?

Thanks, Tom

Reply to: RE: Sonnet 400Mhz card on a 6400
Tom,
It will now. We have started using the IBM PPC755 chip which can handle a 10X bus multiplier so that you get the full 400Mhz out of your 6400. Previously you were limited to the 8X multiplier and a max speed of 320Mhz. We should have more of these in stock next week. Any BG3-400s you find on the market are probably the old ones so I'd wait until next week and order directly from us until we can re-supply our resellers with the new revision of card.

Neal McAuley
End User Account Executive
Sonnet Technologies
(800) 786-6260 Ext. 46]

Is this great news or what! Finally a 400Mhz card for the 6400. Newer had announced one but cancelled production but now Sonnet has it. One thing I do wonder is that the 500Mhz card for the 6500 and the 400Mhz card for the 6400 should have the same CPU with 10X bus ratio so would a 400Mhz card run 500Mhz in a 6500? Would save some money :) Maybe the Sonnet Clocker app could make it work? If anyone tries please let me know.

OT 2.6 under OS 8.6 update: Joe wrote to let me know he is having a memory leak using OT 2.6 under OS 8.6 on his Yikes G4. Below is an email discussion I had with him. Thanks Joe

[>Tom,
> Thanks very much for the great tip regarding installing Open
> Transport 2.6 on Macs running Mac OS 8.6. I have a G4/400 (Yikes!
> motherboard with PCI Graphics Card) and it came with Mac OS 8.6
> installed as well as Open Transport 2.0.3. The Open Transport 2.6
> installer would not install on my G4 (I assume it will only install on
> Sawtooth G4's and iMac DV's with Mac OS 8.6 installed). I use a Road
> Runner (soon to be AOL I fear) cable modem and after reading your tip on
> Open Transport 2.6, I downloaded the files you posted, removed the six
> Open Transport 2.0.3 extensions and installed the two OT 2.6 extensions
> and restarted.
>
> To my pleasant surprise, I seem to be getting much faster download
> speeds with the new version of Open Transport installed. In getting the
> Game Sprockets 1.7.3 updater from the Apple web site, the download
> topped out at over 450k/sec. Prior to installing Open Transport 2.6 I
> never saw download speeds over 300k/sec. THANKS Joe!

I haven't noticed this and will look into it. I see you must not have VM turned on. I have RamDoubler which may be masking the issue on my end? I use manual IP setup to COX cable @home service.
Tom

 

> Tom,
> I have been using Open Transport 2.6 on my Yikes! G4/400 for a few
> days now and have noticed a strange side effect. It seems that there is
> some kind of System memory leak caused by OT 2.6 when it is used with
> Mac OS 8.6 on my G4.
>
> My G4 has 256 MB RAM installed and before installing OT 2.6, the
> System used between 45 and 50 MB RAM in the "About this ..." window and
> it would never go much higher than 50 MB. Now, with OT 2.6 in place,
> after several hours of use, the System memory usage climbs steadily
> higher. Yesterday, after about 8 hours of use, the System was using a
> bit over 80 MB of RAM.
>
> Adding OT 2.6 was the only change I made to the System Folder
> recently so it seems this new RAM usage must be caused by the new OT.
>
> Have you noticed this behavior on your B&W G3? I am using a Road
> Runner cable modem (DHCP server) with the G4.
> Joe]

I checked my B&W G3 and my 6400 and neither seem to have a memory leak but like I said I use RD on both which might mask the issue. I haven't tried without RD yet and I asked Joe to try VM and see what happens. Email me if your having this issue.

Well not everyone is having this issue. John writes that all is perfect with OT 2.6 under OS 8.6 on his 6400. Thanks John. He is having trouble with RD 9 though :(

[I thought I'd let you know about my experience with OT 2.6 on 8.6. I tried it first on my iMac (8.6 US). I used Conflict Catcher to disable the OT network group. Then I installed the files you made available (all four) and rebooted. Everything loaded and worked the first time. On my 6400 I upgraded to 8.6 (French) and then followed the same procedure. As with the iMac it loaded and worked the first time. Both machines seem to have consistantly faster and more stable dialup connections.
John Gunnison jhgsn@nisa.net

PS. re: RamDoubler 9 with 8.6. Thinking that Ramdoubler 9 would do no harm I updated the iMac. After several unexplained program crashes, unreleased program memory, and slower window refreshes I retrograded to RD 8. The problems went away. I didn't benchmark the system so I can't give you any statistics but there were clearly negative effects.]

More info on 128M Dimms in a 6400: D. Lawson sent me a link to info on 2K 128M dimms. It is quite interesting reading and I copied the text of one of the postings and pasted it below. Thanks D. Lawson

[RE: well, guess they exist then.....
Author: OWC Larry (---.owc.net)
Date: 01-25-00 18:10

Actually its an understanding of how refresh works and Techworks 128 sticks are the same way.

Im a little out of my league here, but I will explain as best I can.

Normal 5V DIMM modules that are 2K refresh have 8 memory chips per 16mbs for normal non composite. The chips used are 2K refresh. Some 16mb parts have only 4 chips, a higher density 2K module still (standard 16s,32s, 64s use 4x4 parts)... anyway, these parts actully work as 1K refresh due to the way the mapping and refresh occurs with the few number of chips.

8x8s, even on SDRam, have a chip refresh that is 4K. Its the primary, if not only way, these parts are made. It takes 16 of these chips to make the 128mbs on a 128mb DIMM. The way the bits are mapped and divided out, you end up with a 2K Refresh on the entire module - which is what makes it work without flaw in the computer. When these modules are tested in our Industry Standard Darkhorse tester, they do show as 2K Modules.

Now, this is different from some modules that are true 4K refresh modules with 4K chips. There are 4x4 chips that are 4K, not 2K. Putting 16 of these gives you 32mbs, 32 on a module gives you a non-composite 64mb with the actual refresh of 4K. Since the 4K refresh is translated as actual to the machine, you do end up with all the fun problems associated with crap 4K memory.

Again, Im a little out of my league in trying to explain this, but put in short:

Standard profile, non-composite 128mb modules can only be built with 8x8 drams. 16 of these are needed for 128mb. The chips themselves are 4K, but they are the correct part for this application to build a 2K 128mb DIMM. This is the only correct way to build a 2K 5V 128mb DIMM.

We have sold 100s and with an extremely low return rate, and they work flawlessly with all speeds of G3 and G4 upgrades experienced to date.

I hope this helps and doesn't further confuse matters.]

So even if the card is designed with 4K refresh chips, the way they are installed can make the Mac see them as 2K. Below is a reply I got from one of the postings I found on that site. Sounds promising as a 7600 was not supposed to be able to use 128M Dimms either. Just check any Mac Memory catalog. They all listed 64M as the highest that I saw. This is getting better :)

[greetings -
I got the module from MacSolutions and it's in my 7600 right now. My machine seems to like it just fine. It's recognizing all the RAM available.

I think the other quirks i'm getting (occasional no chime at startup) are due to a clock battery. Hope that helps.
matt]

Wired4DVD no go with a 6400?: Jordan sends word that he tried Wired'd DVD PCI card in his G3 upgraded 6400 and it still is not fast enough to play DVD movies. Thanks Jordan.

[Tom,
I recently bought a Wired4DVD PCI decoder card and a Pioneer 303S SCSI DVD drive. I meant to buy them for my G3-upgraded 7500 and they work perfectly fine in that computer. Well, I tried to install the card and drive in my Vimage G3/240 upgraded Performa 6400 and it almost worked. I got the 6400 to mount and play a DVD movie but the quality of the playback is very poor. I get a lot of studdering and skipping. I have 80 mbs of ram installed, an ATI Xclaim3D card, and MacOS 8.6. I tried upgrading Quicktime,the audio update, and the software player but still no go. I have tried using the drive as an internal and external, without the G3, and with the onboard video instead. I asked Mike Breeden from xlr8yourmac.com about it, and he said that Wired mentioned the quality of drives by Pioneer are poor. I also emailed Wired's tech support and finally got a reply today. They said-

"Well your assessment is consistent with our experience. It is the Bus speed which is causing your choppy playback. We don't have any tested solutions per-se, but turning off VM and setting your cache as low as 128k, "might" help."

I've already had VM off and tried to lower the cache but I guess the 40mhz system bus speed can't handle the data transfer. My 7500 has a 50mhz bus speed, so I guess it's the minimum bus speed required. The manual says you need at least a 100mhz CPU but doesn't mention any bus speeds. Also I thought maybe the SCSI-1 was too slow so I installed an Orange Micro Ultra SCSI card and tried it but my computer froze when it tried to mount the DVD. So I just wanted you to know and to tell your readers that the Wired4DVD card doesn't work "well" in a 6400, well mine at least. I noticed that one of your readers has gotten it to work. Could you ask him his setup perhaps? Looks like the only thing I could do it to swap motherboards with a 6500 which is not worth it. Well, I'll keep trying and I'll let you know if I have any luck. Keep up the good work on the site.
Jordan]

I have info posted on my My Reviews page from another reader who says the card works great. He also had a Pioneer drive but I don't know if it is the same model Jordan has?

RamDoubler 9 out: Connectix posted info on RD9 which is needed to run under OS 9. I could not find the link to the download page myself but MacsOnly had a link to a hidden page which is working right now. I will test it shortly on my PB with OS 9 and on my other Macs with OS 8.6.

RamDoubler 9 feed back: I found this info on Accelerate Your Macs web site and it doesn't look to good? On the other hand I jsut installed RD9 on my B&W G3 and my PB G3 and both seem fine to me. MacBench5 scores did not change more then 2% in favor of RD9 so I'm not having a problem yet.

[Ram Doubler 9 Feedback: Here are two reader replies to my request for RD9 feedback in yesterday's
news:

"Mike
I ran RamDoubler 9 on my upgraded Powercenter 150 (433MHZ G3) and MacbEnched it.
The drop in performance was jaw dropping. I went from 1350 to under 1000. Or about a
35% drop in performance. Uninstalled it immediately.
John Oswald"

Another reader noted some stability issues in his system:

"Mike-
On my recently upgraded 6500 (now has a Sonnet G3/L2 500 card and Voodoo 3, running
OS 9), I was running perfectly for about 72 hours straight until installing RAM Doubler 9, at
which point I had a few random lock-ups, as well as IPNetRouter's faceless background
application failing to work properly. Needless to say, I have removed RAM Doubler 9 and
am running perfectly again. That, and while running RAM Doubler, my system used an extra
3mb of RAM that it didn't use under OS9's VM.
-Jarod Wilson "]

New Aqua look!: Well what do you think of my new Aqua navigation bar? I thought I would not only give my site an update but also give you all a look at the new Mac OS X interface :)

Kaleidoscope Aqua Scheme: Here is a link to where I got the Aqua look from. It is a scheme for Kaleidoscope and it looks great!

QT 4.1 is out: Apple has released Quick Time 4.1. You can use your QT updater app found in the QT folder to update your version. I just did it and it is about a 6M download!

L2 G4 upgrades for 4400's!: I found this info awhile ago and decided to post it now. Phase5 made a L2 G4 upgrade for 4400, StarMax, and Umax Apus computers. No word one for the 6400/6500 so if you really want one I suggest emailing them :)

[Phase 5 Lowers CPU Prices: This press release just in:

"phase 5 digital products reduces prices on all shipping versions of G4 processor upgrades for
PowerMacs and clones

Oberursel, January 9, 2000: German manufacturer phase 5 digtal products significantly lowers
the MSR prices for all available versions of G4 processor upgrades for PowerMacs and
compatibles with immediate effect. The new prices for these products are as follows:

Maccelerate!7400-350 (G4 350MHz, 1 MB Cache) for PCI PowerMacs US$ 499
Maccelerate!7400-400 (G4 400MHz, 1 MB Cache) for PCI PowerMacs US$ 649 G4
PowerBooster 350/366 (G4 350/366MHz, 1 MB Cache) for PowerMac G3 US$ 489 G4
PowerBooster 400 (G4 400MHz, 1 MB Cache) for PowerMac G3 US$ 639

Maccelerate!7400TA-360 (G4 360MHz, 1 MB Cache) for PM 4400, Starmax etc. US$ 479

Aptus G4-350 (G4 350MHz, 1 MB Cache) for Umax C series and compatibles US$ 499

All products come with a 12-month limited warranty.

Once again, phase 5 digital products provides breathtaking performance and power without the
price. North American customers may order directly from phase 5 digital products from the
website http://www.phase5.de and take advantage of these stunning G4 offers, protected by a
15-day money-back guarantee. "]

Update on 128M DIMMS in a 6400: I haven't heard back from the 6400 user that says he has 2 128M DIMMS in his computer but I did recieve word from Daniel who says it is possible but very unlikely! First let me say this again. IT IS POSSIBLE! It turns out that the 6400 memory controller can use 128M DIMMS but to his knowledge no vendor has made a 128M DIMM to the specs needed to work on a 6400. So they will only show half their value at 64M. Wow this was news to me. So there may be ram out there that will work? I sure hope that guy replies to me :) Thanks for the info Daniel.

[Hi Thomas! (please excuse my poor english, I'm french canadian)

First, congratulations for your great web site. I read it each week, and I find it very valuable. I know it's a lot of work for your to go on the web each week to give us so many informations.

About the 128Mb DIMM and 136Mb limit.

Recently, I did a search about this problem. I grabbed every informations possible about the cheap memory controller used in the 6400. What I found is not really interesting for us :(

I have tried to identify which type of memory IC chips are recognized by the controller. You will find a Word document attached to this e-mail. You will find in this document the memory specs requirement of the memory controller. Now with this information you can try to find (on a memory part manufacturer web site, for ex. Samsung) a 128 Mb DIMM corresponding to these specs. Unfortunately after many hours of search, helped by a very competent Apple technician, we can't find any memory chips with these specs. All memory part used to build a 128 Mb DIMMs are high density ones and used higher than 4K refresh rate.

Of course, it 's not beacuse we don't find it that it doesn't exist but I'm very skeptical about it. Why? Because higher density memory require a greater number of bits to address and consequently a higher refresh rate.

You can put 128Mb DIMM in a 6400 and it will works but you will only see half that memory (you already kow this).

So, if someone had succeed trying to exceed the 136Mb memory by using 128Mb DIMM, it's very important for us that you ask him to remove de DIMM and give you the brand and part number of the small memory chips used on the DIMM. This way we can try to find on the net, a manufacturer of a compatible DIMM.

I hope this will help you a little bit.
Thanks a lot!
Daniel]

Click here to read the memory document he sent me. I don't understand any of it but maybe some of you will :)

For the person who says he has 128M DIMMS working Please supply us with the following info. Thanks.

[We only need to know two things:

1. How much memory is recognized by the 6400 (ask him to give you the numbers appearing in the "about your macintosh" in the finder.

2. If the computer sees 264 Mb for two DIMM (2X128Mb+ 8Mb onboard = 264Mb), or 136Mb (one 128Mb DIMM + 8 Mb onboard), It's OK. In that case we need know where this guy bought the memory and, if possible, the brand and the part number written on the IC chips soldered on the DIMM.

Now we can dream! :)
Have a good day
Daniel]

OrangeMicro FireWire/USB card in a 6400 user info: I finally got some info from a 6400 user who installed Oranges FireWire/USB combo card. Thanks Rick.

[Hey Tom,
Happy New Year!! Well I went out and bought the Orange Micro USB/Firewire PCI card. Installation was quick and uneventful. Software installation took only seconds to load. Next I loaded my Visor PDA HotLink software then retarted the computer. After the computer came up I plugged in my USB Visor PDA cradle and put the Visor PDA into the cradle and pressed the Hotlink button. A dialog box came up and soon I was in business. I copied a few applications to my new Visor and I was in fat city. Then I tried to access the internet through my modem. No luck. My external modem wouldn't dial out. After some looking around, I found a file in the startup folder called 'serial port monitor'. I took the file out and placed it on the desk top and restarted the computer. After the computer came up I was able to long on to the web, but now had I no communication with the Visor USB cradle. After hanging up the modem I doubled-clicked the 'serial port monitor' icon and was now in business with the USB PDA cradle.

So to make a long story short. There is no way to make the PCI card USB port stand by itself. The Handspring/Palm software configuration software does not allow for external USB cards. It is looking for a built-in USB port, thats why it ties up my serial port. BTW, you can't use the OS9 Palm software with a Visor. Too bad though, the OS9 Palm software is actually better. After hotsinking, I have to reboot the 6400 to connect with my external modem. I went looking for a serial port reset/close app, and couldn't find one. I'm working on an Applescript version now. I have no way at present to try the Firewire ports. I will be writing the Visor (Handspring) people soon.
Rick]

The Visor HotSync issue may also happen with just any USB card and not just this one? There are some other readers who just purchased the card and will test the FireWire ports for us. Lets hope those work with out a hitch :)

Rick just sent some more info. It seems he can now get online and hotlink with the Visor. Great!

[One more update...
Last night I disabled one of the selections in the Hotsync configuration menu. I turned off the local selection (via radio button) and left just USB selection enabled. However, "serial port monitor" still has to be enabled. So far this has allowed me to perform a hotsync with the Visor and then log on to the web with my external modem (cable modem coming soon) without rebooting. More as I get it. Also it would be great if Apple would supply the same drivers it does for Palm to be used with the Visor per OS9. Apples' software seems to integrate the PDA into the OS much better. When I get the time, I'm going to try and integrate Apples PDA software with the Visor and its software and have the best of everything.
Take Care
Rick]

Here is some info I found on Accelerate Your Macs web site

[Orange Micro Firewire/USB Card Tip: A reader sent a note that disabling the Firewire enabler
improved performance of the card in his Beige G3:

" I have installed an Orange Micro Firewire/USB card and I finally got it to work in my overclocked G3 (beige). Im doing my editing with Final Cut Pro in PAL. When I first tried it, the quality when doing transitions was really horrible with color change and noise. But when disabling the "FireWire Enabler" extension everything works great. Regards
Jack Zimmermann"

I've had very mixed reports on this card over the last week or so.]

Issue getting online with a US bought 6400 used in the UK: Mark was having trouble getting online with his 6400 and found out he needed a localized version of the telecom sotware to get it working. Thanks Mark.

[The Express Modem software supplied with the Performa 6400 is US only. Whilst it claims to autosense the country on first connection, it always seems to set the country to United States. Roly Osborne, who is based in Spain but has a UK purchased 6400, sent me a copy of the UK telecom software that came with his system. Having installed this, everything seems to work now. I have attached a copy of the Stuffit archive to this message in case anyone else has the same problem.

My general comment is that if you use the Express Modem, you get what you pay for. It seems more sensitive to features of the telephone system than other modems. Roly stated that he needed to get the Spanish software to get his system to work in Spain. I still think that it works reasonably well and I have no intention of purchasing a new modem. I only wish Apple made the software easier to get hold of.

For your information, Apple UK said it should just work without any changes. My local Apple dealer stated I should upgrade to the UK version of MacOS 8.1. The UK telecom software is not available for download from any Web site I could find, although the US software is.
Mark]

Click here if you need the UK telecom version. Mark was nice enough to send it to me :)

Modem Script to give a 28.8k modem 56k speed?: Ed sent me a Hack that lets you transform your 28.8k modem into a 56k modem! Not sure how it works but I think it just increases the port speed (data transmission from computer to modem) to get the higher speeds as you cannot just change a modem to make it 56k without a hardware change. Let me know if it works for any of you. Thanks Ed.

OpenTransport 2.6 on the 6400?: Well most of you may know that Apple released OT 2.6 to fix a denial of service attack that OS 9's OT created and it also is supposed to fix the DHCP issues in OS 8.6 and 9. Well OT 2.6 is advertised as only for OS 9 users and OS 8.6 iBook, iMac DV and G4 owners so that leaves us 6400 cable/DSL modem users stuck. Wrong. I haven't tried the OT 2.6 on my 6400 yet but I am running it right now on my B&W G3 and it runs great! I can get online and use Apple Talk with no issues so far so it is compatible with older systems.

The installer although will not install it on older Macs :( TomeViewer did not work either because the installer file is not a typical Apple tome :( so what did your favorite 6400 Zone guy do? I placed the files on the web for you to download and try for yourself :) I included the 2 OT 2.6 files plus the Apple Talk and TCP/IP control panels from OS 9 in case they were needed? I am running OS 8.6 and just dragged out all six old 2.0.3 OT extensions and dragged over the two new OT 2.6 extensions and all is fine. If you have problems with Apple Talk after this then try the ones I supplied. I don't know if this will work for older OS's but on OS 8.6 and a B&W G3 it does. I will try the 6400 soon. OS 8.5.x and older do not have the DHCP issue so OT 2.6 is not really needed for them anyway.

I placed OT_26.sit on Apples new iDisk (thanks Apple) so let me know if you have trouble getting it to download. Apple just gave me a free 20M of web space. Wasn't that nice of them :)

Cable/DSL router info: Speaking about these, I just found on Accelerate Your Mac some info on routers to let multiple Macs and PC's share one cable/DSL IP number.

[I just bought a G4/400 Sawtooth so here my 0.02 worth ;-)

I have an ADSL at home hooked up to the MacSense XRouter ($245.99 at http://web.hardwarestreet.com/bin/catalog/getProdPage.cgi?sku=120713) - PowerMac 8500, PowerBook 3400, Windoze98 Celery 400Mhz (;-)), and a Hitachi PC Laptop. No problem sharing the 1.2Mb/sec (150KB/sec) download.

I am considering the Linksys Cable/DSL Etherfast 10/100 Router ($179.66 at http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?EDC=196823) for the ADSL at work. The setup appears similar to the Macsense XRouter, i.e.- use a Web browser to easily configure your setup. Not sure about the auto-negotiation however...

Thanh]

Guage Pro utility: Here is a new utility from Newer Tech for displaying all kinds of info on your G3 plus it can due extended memory tests to make sure all is well with your new improved system :)

[newer techs guage pro utility with memory testing
Gauge PRO reports not only the type of CPU but also its speed - to a hundredth of a megahertz. It also reports the cache bus and main system bus speeds.

Gauge PRO reports the type of CPU, the amounts of L1 and L2 cache in the system and the cache bus speed.

Gauge PRO runs diagnostic tests on a computer's RAM (Random Access Memory - what your computer uses to run programs with). Gauge PRO is able to perform one time or continuous testing.]

Gaming Info ------

Hacking the Voodoo3 Pref file to get different resolutions: Yann sent me some info that may be of use to you. He says you can open the Voodoo3 pref file found in your pref folder and change the default resolutions and make other setting changes. He did this because he found that his system was picking a resolution not supported by his monitor and this was why he could not use the Voodoo3 on his 6400 at first. Thanks Yann.

[> How do you hack the pref file to get what you want? Thanks for the info I
> forgot you had a Sonnet card :)


This is not a hack, 3dfx created a file referencing all resolutions and frequencies the V3 can use, and you can specify on this file wich settings you prefer and want as default, which could be used (but not as 1st choice) and which resolution you don't want.

All you have to do is to copy the "Voodoo3ModePrefs" file with beta 10 drivers to the "preferences" folder. Then open it (using simpletext, word or codewarrior (prefered)). Follow instructions on header. After reboot and ZPram the Voodoo 3 will choose the 640*480 resolution at default resolution you selected.

Yann.]

My site logo contest: Well I am officially starting The 6400 Zones site logo contest. Email me your entries and I will post them on my Logo Contest page. I won't except any entries after Jan 31st so please get them in quickly. Judging will begin Feb 1st and last thru the month of Feb and I will post the winning logo in March. The prize for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places right now will be a CD of my web site (don't worry, for you winners its free). If anyone wishes to donate a prize then please let me know. The judges will be my visitors. Please don't submit any votes until Feb 1st as its not fair to anyone that hasn't sent me a logo yet.

Help with HTML: I need some help on how to make Popups in my web site? I want to add these to make my page a little smaller and still have all the same info present. If anyone can help me please write. Thanks :)

My Vimage Info page on Vimage's G3 upgrade for the 6400

My Vimage Compatibility page

My Vimage User Letters page

My Vimage install reviews

My Sonnet Tech Info page on Sonnet's G3 upgrade for the 6400

Hack to make Sonnets G3's more stable

My Sonnet Compatibility page

My Sonnet User Letters page

My Sonnet install review

My Newer Tech Info page on Newer's G3 upgrade for the 6400

My Newer Compatibility page

My Newer User Letters page

My PowerLogix Info page on PowerLogix's G3 upgrade for the 6400

L2/G3 comparison page

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in purchasing a CD with my entire up-to-date site as well as my 6400 Take Apart manual plus many of the past Just Updates included? I think this would be a great idea for anyone who hasn't been able to keep up or never saw my site until recently. Also for those of you with Sherlock the CD is even better cause you can tell Sherlock to index the CD and then you can do a search on any topic and if I ever talked about it, you'll find it! I have info as far back as mid 1997. I'm asking $15 which includes shipping for US residents (not sure what the price for international shipments would be yet?) and I will even include a few surprises! To make this offer even juicier I can add some download that you've been trying to get but just couldn't for some reason. Lets put my cable modem to work :)

I found a great way to earn some money while getting great deals to you on Macintosh books and software plus they have all kinds of other books, music, and more. Please click on the amazon.com link on the top of this page whenever you feel like purchasing something to help sponsor this site. If you're unsure of what you want and wish to get a list of Mac related items, just type Macintosh in the search field on their home page and you will be presented with many choices to select.

Jeff did some digging in to the new code that displays the frames on my site with AOL ads and found a link that can be used which will not show those annoying ads. Here is the address. http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/TMK12v/home.html
Thanks Jeff, for sending this info. PS don't let AOL find out :)

Here's an even better link http://members.aol.com/zone6400 I like this one better :)

I use a Performa 6400/180 OS 8.6, Performa 6400/200 OS 8.6, B&W G3/350 OS 8.6, PowerBook G3/233 OS 9, and a PowerBook DUO 270c OS 7.5.5. All of the software updates posted here are currently running on one or the other with minimal problems. If I do encounter a problem, I will post it for all to read and respond to. If you are having any problems and would like help just email me and if I can answer it I will, or I will post it here for others to read and respond to.