Just Updated 5/23/2002

The site move to Don's server is complete. I updated all the bad links I could find but there will probably be a few more so please email me any bad links you find. Also remember to bookmark the forums page in case I run in to more trouble. That page will be my only means of contacting everybody of future issues if my site goes down again.

NewerTech is back! I read the other day that NewerTech is coming back and with new owners. I read that the old vice president is now the owner. The web site only has an email link at the moment but I hear they plan on making some exciting new products! Good to see you guys back in business :)

Ethernet issues with an interesting fix!: Todd was having issues getting an ethernet connection with his 6400 through a Linksys router and found a simple solution that worked. Thanks Todd.

[Just got a Performa 6400/Sonnet G3 400 to backup my iMac 600. I've got a Linksys BEFSR41 4 port router with RoadRunner cable internet.
The machine came with an Asante e-net card originally installed. I could never get the machine online. The light on the card or the router would not come on. I have switched cables, tried different router ports, removed and installed drivers, tried all manner of TCP/IP settings. Asante e-mailed me and said they really doubted it was a driver issue and that they thought the card was dead.
Went to ebay and bought a brand new card. Same deal. No lights, drivers installed, removed, reinstalled, tried different ports (including the one I'm using right now with my iMac), tried the other PCI slot to make sure I didn't have a dead one, new CAT 5 cable and tried Mac OS all extensions with just the driver as the only non-Mac extension. John Strung at MacFixit has bent over backward to help find an answer, but we've had no luck.

Well, after all the trials with this thing it wound up being a simple (or coincidental) fix. Yanked out the CAT 5 cables from the router, reattached one to Port 1 and one to Port 4. Lights lit up, we're online. Amazing!]

I am not sure why this worked but maybe he had one of the cables in the uplink port by mistake before?

OSX on the 6400 may become a reality?: I have been in contact with some very ingenious guys that are working on getting OSX on the 6400/6500. One of them, Pierre, says he has Darwin running already and if Darwin runs, then OSX can run. The big issue now is SCSI support. Without it, you cannot easily install OSX on the 6400/6500. He is very close though so we just might get to try OSX after all :) Thanks Pierre and to the others that have gotten us this far!

Here is a link to Pierre's page with info on how far he has gotten.

Ambrosia Games: Peter sent me some info on Ambrosia, a company that sells some pretty impressive shareware games. Thanks Peter.

[I noticed in your gaming section that you missed ambrosia games. The have a great line of game for Mac only, including a new program that is a game developer.

Rochester, NY -- January 16, 2002 -- Ambrosia Software, Inc. released today the Coldstone game engine that brings professional-quality game building tools to the masses. No programming is required to produce polished, stand-alone games that run on Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Windows -- all that is needed is your imagination.

Imagine a set of powerful yet easy to use tools for constructing your very own stand-alone game... no rules... a completely blank sheet of paper on which to pen your masterpiece, your imagination is the only limit on what you can create. This is exactly what Beenox, in conjunction with Ambrosia Software, Inc., is bringing to you with the Coldstone game engine. Want to see for yourself? You can download a demo version and get started right now!

They also have a series of space themed games for mac, the latest of which came out in march

Rochester, NY -- March 18, 2002 -- Ambrosia Software, Inc. announced today the released of EV Nova, the epic third title in the incredibly popular Escape Velocity series. It features stunning new 16 bit graphics for every part of the game, a huge new universe and an in-depth plotline with 6 different major storylines to keep you on the edge of your seat.

EV Nova is being publicly shown for the first time at the MacWorld/Tokyo expo, in Apple's Mac OS X game pavilion, where members of the EV Nova development team will be demoing the game, and giving away free EV Nova CDs. Drop by if you happen to be in the neighborhood; if not, you can download the EV Nova or order the CD here:

(www.ambrosiasw.com)

Check it out!!]

Update on floppy drive issue with USB cards installed: recently I was able to try a newer floppy drive from a Beige G3 on my 6400 to see if all my previous floppy drive issues were in fact software related or hardware related. Well with the newer drive installed, I was able to format it several times and even read and write large files (about 600k) to it without any of the issues I had before! No more "disk is damaged" or "copy failed" errors :)

So are the USB drivers the real cause for floppy drive failures? I would still have to say yes as many people where able to fix their problems by removing the USB drivers, but not all may be related to the USB drivers. Some, like mine, may be do to the floppy drive hardware failing. Below is a picture of the old drive on the left and the new drive on the right.

Note the difference in the cover as the older drives cover did not cover the entire drive like the new one does. The model numbers are practically identical

old drive #MF355F-592MA
new drive #MF355F-3592MA

The new drive has a 3 in 3592MA which is the only difference. So if you want to try a new drive I suggest you try looking for this model number.

Chrome 6400 case: Matthias sent me some pics of his girlfriends 6400 painted in chrome! Thanks Matthias.

[Hi, are you interested in more pics of brushed 6400's ? Here is my girlfriends 6400 in chrome-style.... :-)

for better a look I have bought a black Next-Keyboard and a black apple mouse (ebay)...

The most work was taken by opening the monitor-case.... :-)
byeee
---
Matthias]

Update on VRAM in the 6400: I am still not 100% sure the 6400 has VRAM but some info Endymion sent me does create a bigger mystery? Endymion sent me a link to MacGurus web site showing a diagram of the 6400 mother board. They show the 8M of DRAM right next to the CPU and next to that is a ROM slot? I had noted earlier that I thought the 8M of DRAM was under the mother board. Now lets examine their diagram a bit closer.

The first thing that came to my mind was "Hey, there is no ROM slot on my 6400s mother board?" I went to go check again and in the location they show a ROM slot are a bunch of connection points to solder a slot into. So maybe at one time Apple had intended to put a ROM slot on our Macs? Now lets look at what MacGurus is calling the DRAM chips. I see that the part numbers on mine are 341S174 and 341S175. Under the mother board and in the same location are 341S172 and 341S173. Each chip is made by Apple and I could not find any info on these from the web. This leads me to think that they are the actual ROM chips since there is no reason to use Apple proprietary chips for RAM. These must be the ROM chips. I have been told that the ROM on the 6400 is 4MB in size so its probably 1MB per chip?

I think MacGurus diagram is in error. The plot has thickened :)

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