Just Updated 4/29/2000 Free iMovie from Apple: Apple is giving away iMovie free or charge now! They say its for OS 9.0.4 users of PB G3 2000 and G4 owners but guess what? It works with older systems too. I read that many Pre G3 owners with G3 upgrades are getting it to work as well as me :) I just tried it on my 6400 with Vimages G3 and OS 8.6 and it installed and launched fine. It did complain that I didn't have the QT Firewire DV extensions installed but I just clicked OK and it came up with no trouble. I had just installed QT 4.1.2, which also just came out, so I'm not sure if older versions will work? I have no Firewire card so no wonder these extensions didn't get installed :) I haven't tried to make anything yet but it does look like it will work. Non G3 upgraded 6400 will probably not run it very well? Even the intro movie during the install kind of stuttered on my a bit :( Here is a link to Apples site with more info on iMovie and please email me with any info you have on it. Thanks. Here is some reader feedback on iMovie and Final Cut Pro on the 6400/6500. Thanks guys. [Hi Tom, Just wanted to let you know that Apple has iMovie 1.0.2 available for a free download. I have tried it on my 6500 (Sonnet 500 L2G3) but wasn't able to get it to work. When I launched it, a warning came up saying that I don't have Quicktime Firewire DV Support installed. I proceeded to enable and update that extension and the Quicktime Friewire DV Enabler too. However, when I launch iMovie, it still came up with that warning. Desktop rebuild (using Techtool and traditional restart with extensions off) and PRAM zap did nothing, and iMovie will crash after that warning dialog box is closed with a type 12 error. : ( I did read that someone was able to get it to work with his 6500/250 (no G3 upgrade) in the MacCentral forum. He said that it felt really slow and that G3 will be needed to speed things up. He also said that iMovie crashed on him too. Just thought you might like to know this info. : ) Regards, Tiong] [Tom, Both iMovie and Final Cut Pro work fine on a 6400. Even before mine was G3 upgraded to a 300/200 1Mb machine. The only thing I don't know yet is if it will work well with a live feed of digital data via a Firewire PCI card. I only have a PC card for my G3 Powerbook. However, I can take the data file from my G3 Powerbook and transfer it over to my 6400 and launch Final Cut Pro or iMovie and still watch the video and/or edit it. In short do everything but import live Firewire video due to not having a PCI Firewire card yet. I HIGHLY recommend you tell others on your site about the RocketFire card from macworks.com. It is working better than the Orange Micro or Newer Fire-2-Go cards from what I hear. Rodney] [Tom, You're welcome. I'm using OS 8.6 and Quicktime 4.1.1. Tell all of your many readers that if they don't have a digital camera, but do already have a good 8mm analog camera, then just buy a Sony DVMC-DA1 or DA2. I have the DVMC-DA2 and it works great. I can take all of my Sony 8mm tapes and VHS tapes and convert them to digital format. Then I can output it back to analog and it looks like a pristine first generation tape recorded live and not dubbed. I tell you, iMovie and Final Cut Pro are making me miss Avid Cinema less and less. Rodney] Connectix releases CVGS 1.4 update!: Wow, finally an update to CVGS. Click here to go get it :) DHCP info from Apple: Here are 2 links to Apple TIL info on their DHCP implementations. From reading them it sounds like OS 9's OT reverted to the same DHCP licensing scheme used in Pre OS 8.6 systems? This may be why OT 2.6.x work so much better again? DHCP behaviors with Mac OS's http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n58372 fixes for DHCP issues http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n25049 Faxing and phoning with the Geo modem works with OS 9: Murray writes that he can fax fine with OS 9 and his Geo modem. Dirk writes that he can use the Apple Telecom software for phone functions also! Not sure about an answering machine but it works for making calls. Thanks guys. I guess the problem of not being able to access the control panel in OS 9 is not a problem? [Hello Tom: So far, I've sent a couple of faxes without problems, though I haven't fully tested things out yet. If I encounter any new problems, I'll let you know. Murray] [I'm going to test faxing. As the Telecom software works for making calls, I don't expect many problems. If it doesn't, do you know of alternative faxing software which works with the Geoport adapter. I'll keep you posted. Dirk] More info on Sonnets 320/350 G3 card: Jordan reminded me why this card is $100 more then the 300Mhz card. It has a larger L2 cache. 1M instead of 512k. A little more worth it now but I think I would still just get the 300Mhz card or save for the 400Mhz card :) [Tom, I know why the Sonnet G3 L2 320/350mhz card costs almost $100 more than the 300mhz version. It seems Sonnet only makes the 300mhz version with 512k cache instead of a 512k and a 1MB cache. So a 6400 user is actually paying an extra $100 for 20 mhz and 512k more cache. The only advantage I would see with this card is that it probably has the newer design and is more compatible with a Voodoo3 card. But I agree with you, its not worth it for 6400 users. Jordan] Running Quake II on the 6400 with OS 9.0.4 update: Christopher writes that he had similar issues to the previous reader who could not get Q2 to run but his system runs with these issues? Thanks. Also note the deal he found on ATI VRAM. [Hello Thomas, I just saw your reader note about trouble running Quake II. I installed it on my 6400 this Saturday. I also ran into the double mounting, but other than that I had no real problems. Only issues: I had one low memory message when Norton's Live Update ran, and the program at first did not recognize my ATI RagePro card. I think the program video setting defaults to 'software'. A memory adjustment and a restart after setting the video option to recognize the card, and I was happily blasting away. System: OS 9.0.4 Proc.: Sonnet L2G3 300/1M Memory: 104 Meg with VM set to 105 Video: ATI RagePro VR with 8 megs of SGRAM BTW, I picked up a cheap RAM upgrade for my ATI card from ClubMac. 4 Megs to 8 Megs for $29.95. They were the only vendor that told me that the beige G3 SGRAM card also works in the ATI RagePro VR card. The other vendors wanted to sell me at $79.99 upgrade from ATI. Keep up the great work. Christopher] Info on Sonnets new Crescendo update: Tiong sent me info on Sonnets new 1.4.4 drivers. Thanks Tiong. [Hi Tom, Saw that you wanted info on what's new in Sonnet Processor Upgrade 1.4.4. From their Read Me file: New in version 1.4.4 - Easy Install removes "Sonnet G4 Enabler 9" enabler because Sonnet G4 Enabler 9 is not compatible with Mac OS 9.0.4 update. A Sonnet G3 or G4 card will run fine without this Enabler. If (you) are developing Altivec software and need to see Altivec registers in Macsbug and you are using OS 9 (not 9.0.4), then you can install this enabler from the custom install. - Adds a space to the beginning of "Sonnet Processor Upgrade" extension, allowing this extension to load earlier and to speed the boot process. Tom, Sonnet also noted on their web site that this installer will not remove older versions if their re-named by adding a space, etc., in front of its name to make it load earlier. Regards, Tiong] QT 4.1.2 fixes some ATI Rage128 VR issues: Jon writes that he had issues with OpenGL and ATI's Rage128 VR card. Later he wrote that QT 4.1.2 fixed some of it. Thanks Jon. Remember that ATI has said they have a very high failure rate with 6400/6500 type computers specially with G3 upgrades. If you have a similar combo to Jon's and QT 4.1.2 helped you out then please email me. Thanks. [Dear Sirs, To your knowledge, do any of your readers report compatibility between the above two products in a Performa 6360 running MacOS 9.0.4? The reason I ask is because I have been unable to upgrade from ATI Universal drivers 4.0 to Universal drivers 4.2 and from OGL 1.0 to OGL 1.1-1.1.3 with the G3/L2 enabled. With the G3/L2 enabled and latest ATI drivers loaded, XVP will freeze the system when launched. OGL applications have sound problems as if VM is turned on. I have 136 mb of ram and so have no reason to use VM. I spent several hours with ATI tech support and was able to conclude that there is a compatibility issue between the ATI and Sonnet cards when using the latest software from the companies. Individually each product works great. XVP runs without freezing the system and sound is find in OGL applications using OGL 1.1.3. Together, they are incompatible. The only way the two cards can run simultaneously in my system is with OGL 1.0 and 4.0 ATI drivers. Sonnet has been especially less than helpful. I have gotten no where with them. Review of your user reports show users using one or the other card but not both. So I am curious to know if there are any users using both and what their experiences have been? Also any thoughts on the matter is appreciated. Thanks in advance. Sincerely, Jon] [ I just downloaded QT 4.1.2!! QuickTime QuickTime PowerPlug QuickTime Capture QuickTime Web Helper The above files appear to have fixed my XVP problem, which may suggest the problem may have been with quicktime. I still have the crappy sound prolem in OGL applications thou. Jon] Request for info on Apples TV/Video system in a 6400: Ross would like to know what versions of this system will work in a 6400 well. If you have this info then please email me. Thanks. [Hi! I'm looking for information about what revisions of the Apple TV/Video System can be used in the 6400. I heard that only D was supported, but I've also read stuff about the C actually working. Can you clarify any of this? Particularly what problems arise if the older model doesn't work. Thanks, Ross] Request for cable for older Avid card in a 5400: John writes that he got an older Apple TV/Video system that is for a 5200 (maybe rev A or B TV/Video system) and it will not fit in his 5400. He was wondering if anyhad a special cable from an Avid kit that might work? Please email him if this is true and you know where to get one. Thanks. [I have a 5400 with a "wrong" version of the Apple TV/Video System; it the one made for the 5200. The DAV slot that you would connect the Avid card to is different, but I recently read that there's a cable, possibly included in the Avid package, that will work with the older slot. Have you heard anything about this?] Update on OS 9.0.x CD/DVD drivers and the 6400: I have received some info from users who both have no trouble or much trouble with their CD drivers after upgrading to OS 9.0.x. Here are there letters. Thanks. [Tom, My CD Rom driver is 4.0.7f9 other details are the same as yours, and it was having problems as you know! Mark] [I haven't found any problem here: P6400, Sonnet L2/300. ID = 3 CD-ROM drive Driver version: 1.3.5 Mac OS partitions: 0 Removable media: Yes Vendor: MATSHITA Revision number: 8.0e Product ID: CD-ROM CR-8008 Serial number: Not available Same driver as you, rev. 8.0e rather than 8h. Cheers, Anthony] John who originally wrote me with this problem, and he had 5.3.3 drivers listed, says that using the CD/DVD drivers from OS 8.6 worked for him. I suggest that if your CD driver in the Extension folder is not listed as Apple CD/DVD driver with a revision of 1.2.2 for OS 8.6 or 1.3.5 for OS 9.0.4 then you should custom install your CD drivers as you have the wrong ones. I don't know how but it seems like some people did not get new drivers installed? Booting to an OS 9 install CD if the CD extensions don't work?: Marco just wrote me that he could not boot to his OS 9 install CD due to the CD driver issues? This will be a big problem and Apple needs to address this! If the drivers are bad then you cannot boot to the OS 9 CD as the drivers cannot be changed? If you want to install OS 9 I suggest that you first make a backup of your current CD drivers then boot your 6400 with the OS ALL selected in the Extension Manager control panel for whatever OS you currently have. Then insert the OS 9 CD and run the installer. Then when you have to restart at the end make sure you hold the shift key to disable extensions. Then remove the OS 9 CD drviers and place your previous one in. This is the only work around I see for people with just one HD. You could do a clean install which I recommend for OS 9 and then boot with extensions disabled and drag over your older CD drivers. [CD/DVD Drivers from OS 9.x are not a go when trying to boot from the CD. In fact I could never figure out why it would'nt boot, yet sys 8.0 and under to 7.5.3 with the original system software work just fine. My question is how can I boot from the cd with out gettin an error?? Your help would be greatly appreciated Thanks...Marco] This problem also brings up the point that if some people like me get the CD to boot fine and can use the drivers that OS 9 installed and others cannot, then I wonder if Apple made a booboo with some of the CD's they sent out and corrected it without telling anyone? Just a thought. Viking 56k modem and the 6400: Doug got a Viking 56k modem and is having trouble getting it working. If you think you have an answer then please email him. Thanks. [Help, I purchased a Viking 56K V.90 modem and can not get it to work. The Viking just won't connect, I keep getting the message: 'modem not responding, please reset and try again'. I've called Viking tech support, they say that it is connecting OK and to contact my ISP it must be them. I did and they say all is well there. SO.... I'm at my wits end here. When I changed from my original modem (a GeoPort Global Village/Bronze) to the one I had when I bought the Viking (BestData Smart One) it connected fine, no problems. I've even reinstalled ALL software, reformatted my hard drive, everything!!! (Actually that sounds like a lot, but I think I could do it in my sleep these days). I don't know what else to do. I talk to a friend of mine who had the same problem. He gave up and got himself another modem. Can you be of any help ????? Thanks and no I do not mind if you post my email address if I can get this problem resolved. Doug] Subwoofer speaker issues after upgrading to OS 9.0.x: Mike as well as other seem to be having trouble with their Subwoofers after upgrading to OS 9.0.x and playing Audio CD's? Here is Mikes letter. If you have an answer then please email me. Thanks [Hi Tom, I visit your site very often and had read that you had recently installed OS 9 on your Performa, do you have any problems with your sound as far as playing Audio CD's? I have had OS 9 running for about 2 weeks now and I noticed that my sub woofer no longer works when playing Audio CD's and I'm not getting the full SRS or Stereo sound. The bass is practically nonexistent and vocals seem to be some what faint or distant. I recorded the same songs on a ZIP disk and also downloaded the demo version of Macster MP3 and CD player and played a CD with Macster and got the full stereo and bass that I am now missing with my Apple CD. The recording on my Zip disk played also very well or should I say normal. I'm apparently not the only one with this issue because I saw a posting on Performa Discussion Forum from a user that said he had lost the sound from his sub woofer after installing OS 9. My system has been upgraded, I have a Performa 6400/180 w/ G3/L2 300, (and have had no problems), ATI graphics card, internal ZIP drive, Umax scanner, Apple MultiScan 15 AV monitor and 72 MB of RAM and everything works fine except for the CD which doesn't play audio CD's the way it should. The sound from games and any other apps on my hard drive play just fine, even when I start up the sub woofer works fine. I've notice in the open sound control panel that the options button is grayed out so I can't use it, also I don't have the 3D option in the Apple CD Player that is also grayed out. I check out all drivers and Apps and everything was upgraded. I didn't do a clean install because I really didn't feel like re-installing all my 3rd party apps and drivers, beginning to wonder if I should have, especially if your not having the same issues after a clean install. Any input will be much appreciated and keep up the great work you do on your site. Thanks, Mike] I 1st suggest going to the Sound control panel and make sure under the Input Source selection that both "CD" and "pass to output" are selected. If not then you will not get any sound from Audio CD's. Also in the Output selection make sure that the volume for both left and right speakers are at full. This is a new feature Apple added and if one side is set lower then the audio will sound muffled. Just Updated 4/20/2000 I have relatives visiting this weekend so my updates will be light and I might not get to all of your emails :( I should be back to full operation next week though. Sonnet releases Crescendo 1.4.4 installer: Sonnet just posted their latest G3/G4 drivers for download. Tiong sent me some info he got from the ReadMe file on the changes made since 1.4.2. Thanks Tiong. [ Sonnet stated in the read me file: "New in Version 1.4.3 - Fixes Metronome to display correct temperature for processors faster than 400MHz - Fixes a slowdown that could occur with Crescendo Nubus and Mac OS 9 - Unified installer for Crescendo and Encore upgrades New in Version 1.4.2 - Dynamic identification for G3 and G4 Crescendo and Encore upgrades." I haven't noticed anything new but the name change and that it loads later during startup. One thing I had noticed is that I no longer have to make it the first extension to load when using RD9 with my V3 (the 1.4.2 and older versions will make my 2D crawl if loaded at its default position with RD9). However, this could also be because of the new b12 drivers? But with VM on, the slow 2D is still there, even with the b12 drivers/ROM. Maybe my 6500 has been "Voodooed" as I haven't seen/read any case of slow 2D with V3 and VM on.] I don't know what was changed from 1.4.3 to 1.4.4? I guess I can remove the 1.4.2 installer I had posted :) Sonnet 320/350 L2 G3 upgrade?: Speaking of Sonnet upgrades, did any of you notice this? Sonnet has a 320/350 1M L2 G3 upgrade for roughly $349.95. I hadn't noticed this before. Thanks to Jordan for showing it to me. I have added it to my L2 G3 comparison page also. In a 6400 it runs at 320Mhz with the 1M cache running at 160Mhz in a 6500 it runs at 350Mhz with the 1M cache running at 175Mhz To me it doesn't seem worth it for 6400 owners as its only 20Mhz faster then the 300 model but roughly $100 more! Netscape 6 preview final word: here is a letter from VRic which pretty much sums up my experience with NS6 preview on my B&W G3 and it will not touch my 6400 until its fixed. Thanks. [I tried it on mine (french 8.6, Sonnet G3) without problem, except that it is ugly, very mac-dislike, slow and unstable. ---- VRic] Thanks to Tim for the cooling tips!: Robert read Tims post in my last update on removing all the accumulated dust in the 6400 to cool it down and it worked great for him. Thanks Robert, and thanks to Tim also :) [Hey Tom, Would you be so kind as to thank reader Tim (from Arizona) for me? His tips on how to keep your Performa cool have been invaluable. My 6400 had been running sluggishly for the last few days on and off -- really random like. (The way I could tell is that it took 15 hours to process a SETI@Home data package instead of the usual 10.) I read on your page that his system had been "bogged down" by heat and whatnot. Thinking "why not?" I opened up my computer and sure enough -- there was about a pound of dust in there. So I got the canned air and the vacuum cleaner and went after all of it -- and now it works perfectly! So THANK YOU Tim, and thank you too Tom, for publishing the tips! Once again, your site has come through for me! Robert] Hacked CSW4000 series drivers for OS 9: Sheldon sent me a hacked driver for the CSW4000 series printers from Apple. Please let me know if it works. Thanks Sheldon. [Hi Tom This is a resedited hack of the CSW (ColorStyleWriter) Printer Driver for CSW 4000 Series Printers that will work with Mac OS 9.xx. I got this from a MacFixit post-er Works well and is the only driver I know of that will work with OS 9 besides the HP (Hewlett/Packard) DW 6.0.4 version driver. Feel free to let anyone use this driver that is a CSW4000/OS 9 user Cheers! Sheldon] Later he sent this [This driver will make the ColorStyleWriter 4100 and 4500 models work under OS 9. Apple pulled support for these printers and the OS 9 installer will remove the drivers to these Apple printers. They (Apple), initially said that they would write new drivers for these two model printers ( which are actually HP printers) to make them OS 9 compatible........ but then later stated that there would be NO further support for these two models in which I'm sure many of your readers have and still use today.] Quake 3 tips for using the latest beta12 3dfx drivers: I found this on Accelerate Your Mac's web site. I personally didn't have any trouble with the beta12 drivers and any of my games but if your having trouble with Q3A then try this. [For those, like me, who had problems running Q3 with the new b12 drivers, here is what fixed it for me. Open the q3config.cfg file in a text editor. Make sure the following variables are set to 16 not 32: seta r_colorbits "16" seta r_texturebits "16"] I am assuming this tells Q3 to run in 16bit color instead of 32bit color? You might be able to just make these adjustments from the games setup menus? CD ROM model not working with OS 9.x's CD drivers: John sent me the info on his stock CD ROM from the 6400 which didn't work with OS 9 installed. Thanks John. You can use Apples System profiler to check the modem of your CD ROM before purchasing OS 9 now. But just so you know, I hear that the drivers from previous OS's like OS 8.6 work fine under OS 9. [SCSI Bus 0 ID = 3 CD-ROM drive Driver version: 5.3.3 Mac OS partitions: 0 Removable media: Yes Vendor: MATSHITA Revision number: 8.0h Product ID: CD-ROM CR-8008 Serial number: Not available] Funny thing is that I have almost the exact same drive in my 6400 but mine works fine? The only difference that ASP reported is that mine is using Driver Version 1.3.5 and John's is using 5.3.3. Interesting! Infact if I didn't know better I would say that for some reason he still has the Apple CD ROM drivers from OS 7.6.1 installed? Not the Apple CD/DVD ROM drivers from OS 9.x. Anyone else have these drivers listed and having the CD ROM issues.

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