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 has began! 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 nearing the end!: There is only a few days left before I end the judging period! So better get your votes in now while you can :)

Link frame removed from my site: Last week I posted that my HotTopic popup menu was not usable for AOL 3 users. Well I have removed the frame from my site as it also caused me some strange issues? When I tried to go back from a link on my site to another using the BACK button I would end up at my Home page instead of the page I had left my site from. This doesn't happen all the time but it happens to much for me to put up with. Removing the frame is easy enough for me to do but I do like the HotTopics menu so I prefer to find a fix for it for AOL 3 users instead of ditching it. Can any HTML programers help me with this? Thanks.

Newer discontinues L2 G3!: Many of you may know by now that Newer has stopped production of their L2 G3 series upgrades :( I guess the market had hurt them more then we thought? Their current press release states that the L2 G3 is no longer in production along with a few other items. Also their online store does not list them. When Sonnet came out and had so many issues with their L2 G3 I didn't think anyone could top Vimages stability but Newer did it and more. I was never able to test one but from all the reports from you guys I came to the comclusion that not only did Newer get rid of the double boot like Sonnet but they also kept the same stability as Vimages and with more video card compatibility. Infact I think the only real issue was with the Geo modem not working! It will be missed as much as Vimage is :( Sonnet remains the dominant and only L2 G3 vendor now. Sonnets 1.4.1 driver has fixed many issues but still a few remain.

Newer upgraded L2 G3 cards for Geo support?: Arturo sent me a letter stating Newer told him to return his card when he emailed them he was having issues with his Geo modem. They told him they made a change to the card and would send him a replacement. I hope this is true but they might not have anymore since they stopped production? Thanks Arturo.

[Tom,
I called Newer Tech. and told them what I did. They said they were aware of the Geo problem and they had made some changes to the card and other updates to make it compabible so I should send it to them anyway. I will.
thanks again, arturo]

Last few Newer L2 G3 cards available: Duane sent me info that UpgradeStuff has a few of these left. Thanks Duane.

[FYI, <www.upgradestuff.com> has some (9 after I ordered mine) of the above boards available for $129. I snatched one up since it was within my price/performance envelope. Although they have the 300MHz board listed, they have no stock.
Duane]

I also see they have the 300/200 1M cache card listed for $299. I don't know how many they have though?

Reader Request on Newer G3 info: Russ would like to hear from anyone thats used the Newer L2 G3 in a heavily used business environment. I reminded him that they are no longer being produced but he still is interested in this. Thanks.

[Hi, I've been following your pages on L2 upgrades and have almost made up my mind. I think I'd like to get the Newer 300/200 card, but I was wondering if any of your readers have had experience in a work environment. I specfically use 8.6 with Quark 4.1, Illustrator 7 and Photoshop 5.5 in a printing company. Does anybody have day in day out observations of these programs? It would really help me justify the expense on our limited budget.
Thanks,
Russ
skylnprntg@aol.com]

Sonnet Clocker II recompiled: One of my readers took the source code for the Clocker II app and recompiled it for us with a full version of RealBasic so now it will no longer time out. Thank you very much!

Also since a link to my site had been posted on Accelerate Your Macs site I have gotten many non L2 G3 Mac owners like 7500 owners trying out this great app. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for them? reports I have recieved say the system bus on the 7500 is showing at 43.3 or 46.6 with the unhacked Crescendo Sonnet G3 installed. Neither of the Sonnet Clocker apps have settings for these bus speeds at this time :( I am trying to contact the authors to see if they can make the needed changes. In the mean time I have posted a text file with instructions from another reader of mine on what these apps are really doing to the extension. If you know how to use ResEdit then maybe you can hack it your self? Please let me know if you find the combination for these bus speeds. Thanks.

Now for the good news, the Clocker apps seems to be working fine for 7100 and 8100 owners! Here are some letters I got. Thanks!

[I'm running a 8100/80 with 152 M of RAM. And an old (6/17/98) Sonnet accelerator card, model G3 215/225MHZ 512K 61/71/8100.

It does indeed work. Didn't need to reboot after changing the clock.

Ran Sonnet Clocker 2 on Crescendo 1.4.1, set to give 240 MHz. Temperature before was 35¡ C. Temperature rose quickly to 39C and after 2 hours it was still the same. Haven't seen any failures yet.
Bob]

[7100/66 - G3 300/512 (running at 264 due to 33 m bus speed)
Thanks, TJ]

Unfortunately with a 33Mhz bus, 264 is the fastest do to the 8X max ratio, Tom.

[Clocker II didn't work? Well I then tried the Sonnet Clocker on my 7100/80AV with a Sonnet 240MHz/512KB card. It now runs at 280MHz. I can't get it to run at any other setting (I tried them all) but I am pretty happy with a 14% speed boost (MacBench 5.0 scores) for free. I am using version 1.3.7 of the Sonnet extension. The temp. has not increase much running at 43C even under heavy work loads (games).

I also tried both out on my StarMax 3000/200 MT with a Sonnet L2 G3 running at 300MHz/1MB. No matter what I try there is no change. I would love to boost it to 320MHz or more if possible. Both systems have a 40MHz bus.

Thanks also for the info on boot up crashes. Changing the sonnet extension by adding a "z" in front solved my problem. You site has been a huge help. Give the authose of the Sonnet Clocker a big thanks from me.
---Troy]

The 7100/80AV must have a 40Mhz bus to attain 280Mhz CPU speed? Also 320Mhz is the max for any L2 G3 system unless Sonnet used the 10X bus ratio G3's in them. They did make a 400 card for the 6400/6500 and a 500 card for the 6500 but 300Mhz is the fastest listed for the StarMax systems on their web site. Its possible that they chose a 7.5X bus multiplier for the StarMax system as the highest they could run for some reason? Or maybe the correct registers in the Crescendo extension aren't being changed for StarMax systems? I'll have to look into it.

Also I have some info from 7500 owners who are unable to get either Clocker app to work. But from the info I have received from them it seems that Sonnet may have hardwired the bus ratio into the card so clocking will not be possible for PCI mac owners. I have not heard from any other PCI Mac owners such as 8500, 9500, and so on so this is only theory right now. The original bus speeds with Apples CPu cards installed was set at 50Mhz but one 250Mhz G3 Sonnet owner says his now reads 46.6Mhz and a 300Mhz G3 reader says his bus speed is set to 43Mhz? I'm assuming Sonnet did this to assure better compatibility since I don't see any other reason to lower the bus speeds? Below is a letter from the 250Mhz Sonnet owner with some interesting info on using XLR8's G3 utility instead of Sonnets Crescendo driver. This info pretty much reasures this issue of the bus speed being hardwired. Notice if he removes the Crescendo extension he gets reports of the G3 speed so it would seem the CPU is activated but the L2 cache is not running. Now rememebr these are PCI G3 upgrades which means the original CPU is removed to place the new G3 card in. Unlike L2 G3's and Nubus G3 upgrades where the stock CPU is left in the system. This means that the G3 will always be activated and the Crescendo driver is only needed for the activation of the L2 cache so Sonnet may have to hardwire the CPU speed in without the need for any software? What would happen if you booted with Extensions Disabled? Well on our systems you get an old slow system but on a PCi G3 upgrade you can't let your CPU not activate! It has too! I hope I didn't drag this on to long :) Its possible that PCI G3 upgrades will not be clockable :(

[Hello Tom.

I have been trying for two days to change those parameters and make the thing work, but nothing good came up so far. No matter what I change the speed is fixed at 256.3MHz.

There are a few things I can point out however:

1) If I don't use the "Crescendo" ext during boot, the speed is 256MHz according to TechTool, the L2 cache is OFF and the system reports a speed of less than 200MHz!!!

2) If I use the "Crescendo" ext during boot, the speed is 251MHz according to TechTool, the L2 cache is ON and the system reports a speed of 259MHz.

3) If I don't use the "Crescendo" ext during boot, but replace it with the known software XLR8 MACh Speed (control panel and extension), things work better: the system reports 256MHz, TechTool reports 256MHz and I can switch the cache speed to 256MHz, 172MHz or 128MHz. The first setting is a bit unstable sometimes and crashes the computer.

Now to answer your question below... I don't really know. The speed numbers are shown in that text of the "pref" resource I mailed you. If you compare the numbers your "mystery" friend gave you and my "pref" file, everything is there.

I used an HP48 calculator to change the numbers from hex to real and I got the data shown in the file I mailed you. When I punch 233 I get 0DE34C40 and so on.

I have to stay away of this machine for a few days, but once I come back I'll check a few more tricks. Not that I expect anything though. All the manuals I downloaded from Motorola, say that you can not change the speed of the G3 with software, since they use 4 pins of the chip to program the internal PLL according to their needs. They tie the pins to either "0" or "1".

Your readers say other things however. I am getting a bit confused but I'll try one more time later]

Now you L2 G3 and Nubus owners don't go run out and get the XLR8 utility! Since your CPU is dependant on software to activate the G3 CPU I bet this utility won't work.

Apple Techinfo on new Macs: Here are some links to Apples very informative info on their new PB G3, iBook, and G4. They have much the same info found in the PDF manuals except I couldn't find any Take Apart info in them? I believe these are for hardware and software developers to get much needed info on the new systems. I wonder if this is going to be the new way Apple posts service manuals for their service centers also?

http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G3/PowerBook/index.html

http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G3/iBook/index.html

http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G4/PowerMac_G4/index.html

iTools info page for non OS 9 users: I found this page, which is using one of Apples new iTools home pages, that describes how to sign up and use most of the features from Apples iTools without the need for OS 9. Click here for more info on iTools.

AirPort, Configuring a Base Station With a non-AirPort-Capable Computer: Here is an Apple TIL on how to configure an AirPort Base Station with non-AirPort Macs. Looks like they removed the need for AirPort Macs only :)

Reader Request on OT 2.6 for older OS's: Dan says he tried the OT 2.6 extensions I posted for use with older OS's but they aren't working for him? Please email him if you have an answer. Thanks.

[Hi,
great site!!
I just tried the 2.6 ot fix ( I use mediaone cable) and the 6400 would not start after removing the 6 files and replacing them with the 2 new ones, I then tried all 4 and still the same problem, any thoughts??. It hung up in the middle and refused to budge.

Sys = 6400/88meg ram, RD 8, Spdblr 8, ROAM, Geoport which is removed, sys 8.6

keep up the great work!!
regards, dan]

ATI conflict with TechTool Protection?: I found this info on MacFixIt.

[Daniel Sass writes that "ATI confirmed that there is an conflict between the ATI XClaim VR128 and MicroMat's TechTool Protection extension. As long as the Protection Extension is enabled, you are not able to capture video." We have contacted MicroMat about this and they are investigating.]

Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack: Well it seems that Epic has released some more levels and extra skins for UT. I just downloaded and and will try it out :)

[http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?file=38078

File Information: UTBonusPack.zip
Title: Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack
Author: Epic
Description: This bonus pack from Epic contains eleven new levels and three new character skins. There is also a new "Relics" system which adds various new power-ups to the game. The new skins are Skaarj Hybrid, Nali, and the Nali WarCow. New levels are DM-Agony, DM-Cybrosis][, DM-ArcaneTemple, DM-Malevolence, DM-Shrapnel][, DM-HealPod][, DM-Mojo][, CTF-Cybrosis][, CTF-Hydro16, CTF-Noxion16, and CTF-Darji16.
Size: 13.8 MB (14487626 bytes)]

My link frame now working: I just turned on the link frame at the bottom of my site. Let me know if you have any trouble with it or any of the links on my site.

Update on Sonnet Clocker II issue: I haven't been able to get ahold of the author of this app but I did get the source code for it. If anyone can rebuild the Sonnet Clocker II app with a registered copy of RealBasic so we can get it working again I would greatly appreciate it :) Even a remake with the demo version might work for awhile? One reader told me that turning the date back on their computer to 12/20/1999 (the date I posted it) made it work again. you might have to restart before it takes affect though?

Aqua Kaleidescope Scheme: In my last Just Update I linked to a site that had the Aqua Theme and Scheme posted. It seems that he removed the link to the scheme from that page. Here is a new link right to the Scheme. Apple sent a letter to the site hosting the Theme to have it removed so it no longer exists :( I think Apple is treating the look and feel of its OS just like it did the iMac! I hope they don't go down the same path that hurt them with MS in the beginning? Right now Apple has the courts on their side but that can all change any second.

DHCP issues with Cox Cable modems: recently I have been using OT 2.6 for DHCP with my Cox Cable modem because the OT that shipped with OS 8.6 had issues with DHCP. Well it seems that DHCP does not work for me at all anymore. Even if I reinstall the older OT? I thought it might have been something related to installing OT 2.6 but no one else that installed it had complained about this. But I did just get a letter from Michael who also has Cox Cable and he has the same problem. Sounds like Cox has changed somthing and DHCP no longer works for Macs? I can connect manually with no problem just like he can but I will have to call them and find out what happend. Click here to read more on the DHCP issues with OS 8.6

[Something you may find interesting. My internet access is through COX Cable. MACs are inherently lower than DOS machines by the way. I have a DOS lap top and my Performa connected via a local hub. The difference in speed is amazing. Anyway, I have to set the TCP/IP on both machines to a static (manual) configuration. They do not work in the dynamic (automatic) configuration which is the preferred set up of COX Cable.
Thank you for your time.
Michael]\

Apple Talk issues with Cable Modems!: I found this page on MacFixIt's web site that is discussing issues people are having with Apple Talk and owning a cable modem. It seems that some of the cable companies are upgrading their equipment which is allowing Apple Talk to cross over into other peoples houses and if someone in your neighborhood is running an Apple Talk server then this may cause problems for your Apple Talk network. Click here to read all about it.

I have not been affected yet as I cannot see any other Macs or printers in my Chooser so maybe COX has not upgraded in my area yet? It seems the only fix for now is to notify your cable provider and hope they shut down the user with the Apple Talk server or get a software/hardware router to isolate your local network.

Sonnet L2 G3 CPU temps: I received this email yesturday from a reader who asked Sonnet what is the range of temps we should expect from their G3 upgrades. Thanks

[From sonnet tech support: The processors have been tested at temperatures up to 105 degrees C. They usually run between 30 - 65 degrees and occasionally at temperatures of 75-85 degrees with no problems at all.]

I believe the 30 - 65 degree range is for the copper G3's and the 75 - 85 degrees is for the non-copper G3's. These corrospond to what everyone has been reporting.

Confirmation that tightening the heatsink on the Sonnet G3 makes it cooler: I had been told by a previous read that Sonnets heatsink on their G3's are not as snug as they could be which causes the temps to be hotter then they should be. Well, Greg just wrote to let me know that he found the same thing. Thanks Greg. Lets all go snug up our heatsinks :)

[Hi
The machine is running fine. I have had a couple of freeze ups but that was due to memory problems in the games, not with the sonnet card. With only 72 megs of ram I do have to run Virtual memory to run those big games.
But I have had no problems running quake 1,2,3 , unreal, star wars racer(with 3dfx patch), tomb raider etc.
The voodoo 2 card really does a good job, now that it has a G3 behind it. I also checked the sonnet card today just to take a look. I think I got the idea from another reader. I tightened up the screws just a little on the heat sink. I then ran the machine to check the temperature and it had dropped quit a bit.
My usual temp was around 47C-55C running games, lowest was 41 C. After doing this temp reading was 29 C on start and ran at 37C-43C, reaching a high of 51 C only after hours of computer work and play. Temp would go down to 41C-43C. Tightening up those screw just a little seems to make better contact on the heat sink. Don't over tighten, just snug them up. If anyone out there has a heat problem check the heat sink and just give a little turn, it might help.
Greg]

OrangeMicro's Firewire / USB card not working in a 6500: Rick wrote to let me know that the Orange Firewire/USB card will not work in his 6400 with a 6500 motherboard. Orange replied to one of his messages confirming they know the problem exists with 6500's and are working on a fix. Thanks Rick. Click here to read more on this card.

[Hi Tom,
Some new info. I talked to the people at OrangeMicro and they have told me that their USB/Firewire Card does not work with the 6500. It does work with the 6400. They are working on the problem with Apple at this time. They have no idea when the problem will be fixed. Niether the firewire or the USB will work. It seems the problem lies in the 6500 motherboard. The fix could be in the way of a new rev or a software patch. The 6500 does not like that fact that there are basically two PCI cards stuck into one PCI board as with the OrangeMicro USB/Firewire Card. I hope they fix it soon, as I would like to keep the card.
FYI
Rick]

Firewire / USB card combo from PowerLogix: OrangeMicro was the first to make one of these types of PCI cards. Now PowerLogix is announcing the RapidFire Firewire / USB combo PCI card. It is said to work in the 6400 and 6500. Here is some info I found on the MacInTouch web site.

[http://www.powerlogix.com/news/press.html#rapidfire-
3 Firewire and 2 USB ports
PowerLogix introduced RapidFire, a combination USB/FireWire card for PCI slots, which requires Mac OS 8.6 or 9. RapidFire is scheduled to ship in March at approximately $149-169. ]

Reader Request: Liam is having trouble figuring out how to get audio from the IXTV made by IXmicro. Click here to read more and please email him if you have an answer. Thanks. By the way, I just read that IXmicro just went out of business :( They did it very quietly this week. Its sad to see another Mac vendor go :( I think they but the blame on their failing Voodoo2 Banshee card and that other cheaper version came out which washed them up.

This may be true and I think other Mac only vendors and for that matter PC only vendors need to pay attention. The Mac is Back and you can no longer be proprietary to one side of the field if you want to stay in business. PC companies like 3dfx know this and thats why they are developing Mac drivers for their Voodoo series of video cards. Apple went the way of standardizing they're designs closer to PC's just for this reason. If all it takes is some software magic to make a PC card work on a Mac then why be proprietary any more? And who knows with all the talk about Darwin (base code for OS X) being able to run on both platforms that the Apple / MS / Intel wars may be coming to an end to start something new? Sorry for going on but I thought I would give my 2 cents :)

OS 9 and SCSI scanner issues update: John writes that he was able to fix his SCSI issues with OS 9 by using the old 6360/64xx/65xx update and the latest VistaScan software but then he installed a new HD and the scanner once again failed?

[Tom, I know there are lots of forum discussions regarding problems with theUMAX scanner and the alchemy logic board. I've read enough of them to understand the basic issues. I have previously solved the SCSI ID and startup problems by installing Apple's 6360/64xx/54xx Update. I have also previously successfully installed the UMAX VistaScan 3.5.1 software for compatibility with OS9. I had it all working until I upgraded to the Maxtor hard disk. Now my computer won't find the scanner in the Apple System Profiler. The UMAX software, of course, can't find the scanner either. The scanner (Astra 1200U) is set to SCSI ID #7 and has the terminator plug installed. I've tried the other SCSI ID numbers too but nothing works. The computer (Performa 6400/G3) won't startup if the scanner is turned on. Apple's 6360/64xx/54xx Update won't install on a hard drive that isn't initialized with Apple's HDD utility. Do you have any suggestions?
John]

Later he sent me a letter stating he reinitialized the drive using OS 9 and installed a fresh clean copy of OS 9 and his scanner works again. Maybe this is needed to fix SCSI issues? Could it be an issue with doing a dirty install or maybe just an issue with trying to update an older HD driver with the latest and something going wrong? If you read the last lines of his message you'll notice he got an error stating that the 6360/64xx/65xx update would not install becasue the HD did not have an Apple driver. He told me he never used any other utility other then Apples on this drive so maybe his HD driver was corrupted and this is causing SCSI issues. We might be on to something here? Click here to read more on this topic.

OS 9 may fix sound issues with Sonnets G3?: Regis writes that after updating to OS 9 his sound issues with Performer and his Sonnet G3 have gone away. Thanks Regis. Sonnet has said that OS 8.5.x is needed to get rid of these issues also but a lot of OS 8.6 users seem to have the problem back. Click here to read more on this issue.

[Well, after the bad news about OS9 and my 6400, the good news: with OS9, the sound issue I had with Performer 6.02 and sonnet crescendo 300/1M had gone (previously, with OS 8.6 I could'nt record audio, even with crescendo last extension). So I think I will go with OS9, but it seems to be very important to have all the softwares well installed and with there last versions. I have to throw away ATM 4.5 to speed up video display. Virtual PC 3.0 seems to works greatly and rapidly with OS9 and sonnet crescendo. Thanks for your site.
Regis]

He latter wrote me this.

[Tom,
My choice is to update to OS 9 because it fix the sound issue and it's too hard to have 2 different OS at a time. Disk slowdown stop with 5.0.2 Norton updater on line, so I think it's a good thing that all OS 9 user made this update, if they have Norton 5.0 or 5.0.1. For the video slowdown, ATM was one reason but I think the Formac card is another, I will check this with them and I let you know. I already use sonnet 1.4.1 with sonnet clocker, up to 320 Mhz and it works well. I think I will let go my idea to work with the video slot, because I don't want to go back to stock 6400 video. It's just too slow. Bye and thanks for your site.]

StarCraft on the 6400: Maroney sent me some info on StarCraft being played on the 6400. Thanks Maroney.

[Hi,
Just wanted to tell everyone about what I consider the best game I've played in a long time. Blizzard Entertainments StarCraft and the expansion set Brood War. I've been playing this game over the net since the Beta version was released over a year ago. This is a wonderful strategy game, and it works well on my 6400, even though I have a very slow internet connection (24k best speed). I live in the country and I'm glad to say I can at least play this game over the net with my slow connection. Plus it's fun beating up on PC players!]

More general info from a 6500 user: Tiong wrote to let me know about his experiences on a bunch of topics and how RD9 has changed his life :) Read on to learn more. Thanks Tiong.

[Hi Tom,
After reading Craig's review, I can't help but want to give you a Macbench 5.0 benchmarks (see attachment) for my Sonnet 300/1MB overclocked @ 350 and 375MHz for my 6500. Interestingly, Macbench is showing slightly faster speeds now for my 375MHz (processor 1192, floating point 1235, and graphics 2020).

Wonder if the warmer weather here in TX has anything to do with that? (The figure I had supplied were done when weather was cold and my Sonnet was running at 23 degrees C. The warmer weather results were tested with Sonnet at 31 degrees C. These "cool" Sonnet temperatures were achieved through the use of a modified 3dfxcool Voodoo cooler, with dual fans blowing across the Sonnet's heatsink.)

Hope you find this info interesting. Also, I couldn't get my Sonnet to run at 400MHz reliably. It will crash within 5-10 minutes of use, but 375MHz has no errors or problems so far (it's been running at this speed for almost two months).

BTW, what's the verdict with the 128MB RAM? I have 128MB now in my 6500 but have to use VM now due to the applications (PhotoShop 5.0.2, Freehand 8, Flash 4, GoLive 4.0.1, and Netscape 4.7) I have to have opened when doing my work now (128MB is NOT enough without VM!!). However, VM slows my V3 to a crawl (Macbench graphics from 2020 to 648!!), especially in screen redrawing. Scrolling rate suffers too, but at a still livable speed. Any info would be greatly appreciated! : )
Regards,
Tiong]

I suggested he try RamDoubler and here was his reply.

[Hi Tom,
Thanks again for the RD tip. I bought and downloaded RD9 from Connectix yesterday and have found some interesting things.

On the first reboot after installing RD9, my Sonnet processor score went way down. It was like running at just above 300MHz, even though it was clocked at 375MHz then. However, after a few reboots, Macbench processor score is up once again, though not at pre-RD9 levels, but slightly better than with VM on.

Another thing is that if I'd left the Crescendo extension at it's default start up position, my 2D slows to a crawl a la VM. But if I added a space in front to make Crescendo load first, then 2D is much more up to speed (18xx vs 2020 without VM/RD9, much better then 5xx with VM!!) And BTW, my 3dfx's 2D extension is always loaded as I no longer have the dreaded L2G3V3 bug.

Yet another thing I had found is that although both Macbench and Norton'sSystem Info reports that Disk speed with RD9 is better than with VM, some applications, most notably Norton Anti-Virus (5.0.3), is more sluggish than with VM. Norton's Disk Doctor is about the same speed with VM or RD9.

I haven't tried games yet, but will do so when I have time to see if there are fps differences (have only Unreal and Unreal Tournament installed now as I had to make space for work - : ( ). Will let you know the results if you are interested.
Regards,
Tiong]

And here are the game FPS scores he promised. Thanks Tiong for all this info :)

[Hi Tom,
No difference in the FPS scores in Unreal or UT with RD9 on or off.

In Unreal, I am getting low 28 fps on cycle # 1 of the flyby to high 27 fps on cycle # 2, 3, and beyond @ 1024*768, 85Hz, all settings on high. 25 fps in all flyby cycles @ 1280*1024 (this is the resolution to run if you don't mind a bit of sluggishness as it really makes the game more beautiful). Don't feel any difference in game play with RD9 and no VM.

In Unreal Tournament, I am getting between 17-20 fps during the flyby, and 18 - 35 fps in the actual game, at 1024*768, skin, details, sound quality on high setting. No difference in game play (single player or online) when compared with no VM.

RD9 doesn't seem to affect these two games at all. I didn't try other games as I had to uninstall my D3 and Falcon 4 due to a lack of space on my hard drive. : (

I really like RD9 so far. It's been very stable and the only application that I have problems with it is IE 4.51. However, this app has problems with VM on my 6500 too (so it really isn't RD9's fault). I don't know why as Ihaven't seen/heard of the problem I encountered with IE 4.5/4.51 anywhere. What happens is that if VM or RD9 is enabled, my IE will start eating so much memory that my Mac will eventually crash. For example, using IE to surf for about 5 minutes in 2 different sites (normal, a lot more text than pics sites), About This Macintosh shows my IE using up 169MB already!! In fact, with VM or RD9 enabled, you can tell when my IE is going to crash ( it usually forces me to reboot as force quit won't work on most occasions) when you hear the hard disk spinning like it's reading when it really isn't. (I guess that sound comes from the OS trying to give my IE the RAM it is requesting) Anyway, I don't use IE at all. It's just on my Mac as a back up browser in case something happens to my iCab or Netscape.

My system: PM6500, Sonnet 300/1MB running @ 375MHz, Crescendo 1.4.1, 128MB RAM (with RD9 - 240MB), OS8.6, Unreal 224b7, UT 405b, 3dfx 3000 PCI, b10 drivers (1-2fps faster than b11 drivers).
Regards,
Tiong]

Help from a Reader!: McKinney wrote that he has a nice stable system and is willing to help others with similar setups. Thanks McKinney. Please try not to overwhelm him :)

[Tom,
Just a line to let you know how the Sonnet clocker is working for me. I have a 6400 with the Sonnet 300/150 1MB card. I have the clocker running the card at 320/160. I have had no crashes and no temp. problems. My
system is as follows:
136mb ram
Farillon 10/100 ethernet card hooked to a cable modem
ATI Rage Orion 128/16mb card
Zip Drive
Quantum 8.4 HD
External 56k modem (now used for faxing only :(
Phillips SCSI CD-R
Umax 610s Scanner
OS 9
Aqua theme for that cool "OSX look"

I am happy to say that I have no problems with this set-up. I do have the QT 4.1 sound problems when playing MP-3 files but hey...that's what Sound Jam is for!! :) Otherwise I am very happy with the performance of this machine. The Mac Bench Scores are 1039 processor and 1348 floating point....not too shabby!! I would be happy to assist anyone who wants the same set-up.

HB McKinney]

My new popup menu doesn't working in older browsers: Russ wrote to let me know that my new popup menu for the Hot Topics list gives him errors when he tries to use it. He is running AOL 3.0. Thanks for the info Russ. If anyone with HTML experience can help me correct this I would appreciate it. I have tried it with AOL 4.0 and Netscape 4.6-4.7 and they all work fine.

[ Just tried your Pop up menu and got this:

Could not find a procedure to handle method "POST" of URL
"/_ht_a/TMK12v/(Empty Reference!)" on members.
For further assistance, contact the server administrator


AOL 3.0 built in browser. Just the pop up menu. The pop up pops up but every selection goes to the error page. The "go" button has selectable text in it, not just a button that clicks.
Good luck
Russ]

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.