More on Mac OS X, SCSI, and the Beige G3
Continuing our discussion in Mac OS X, SCSI, and
the Beige G3, Dan Yarberry writes:
Thanks for your reply. Further re this subject, I just received
the June issue of Macworld today. The feedback column has a letter
from a Jay Curtis, who has a couple of interesting things to say
about using OS X on his Beige G3 MT. His experience is
positive, but his letter is contradicting a previous letter from
someone else describing "serious problems."
Curtis says, "The problems of using OS X with SCSI drives on
beige systems have been well documented online - although Apple
issued firmware patches to fix Jaguar's incompatibility with SCSI,
most knowledgeable beige upgraders will avoid the temptation to
improve storage by adding a drive to the SCSI bus." I recall the
Apple admonition to check for firmware updates before installing
OS X; as best I remember I didn't have to perform one.
Maybe your mention of SCSI problems is well founded after all.
Maybe it's motherboard revision-dependent; maybe because I have one
of the last beige models released that I have seen no problems.
However, also interesting to me is that Curtis further says,
"...Jaguar does not recognize the RS232 serial ports
. . . There really are no other options [besides USB and
FireWire] for people who want to use external dialup modems,
standalone printers, external CD-RW drives, scanners, and Jaguar."
In addition to the peripherals I noted previously, I have a Global
Village external 56K modem connected to the modem port and
functioning happily under OS X.
By the way, I do not have the system configured to start up
Classic at bootup, so there isn't any chance of some sort of hidden
Classic-resident mechanism going on, if that were possible. Unless
RS232 support disappeared in one of the Jaguar updates (I haven't
installed any updates since the initial 10.2 release), looks like
another odd user experience discrepancy.
Go figure.
Back in the early days of OS X, support for third-party SCSI
PCI cards - including some Apple had included as build-to-order
options - was pretty much nonexistent. Things have improved since
then, and today SCSI is very well supported by OS X.
Apple's serial ports have always been RS422, not RS232, but 422 is
a superset of 232, so pretty much any RS232 device can connect to
the Mac. (RS422 is what allowed Apple to use their serial ports for
LocalTalk networking.) Jaguar may not support the serial ports - it
doesn't support the floppy drive - but third party drivers may be
all it takes to let your GV modem work with your beige G3 and
OS X.
As for Classic, it does its input and output through OS X, so
even if it were running, it would have to use X resources to talk
to your modem.
SurfDoubler and OS X
Alvin wonders:
Thanks for your time. I'd like to ask if Classic in Jaguar is
perfectly compatible with the OS 9 only apps I have, like
SurfDoubler
(DSL client app), and if I run SurfDoubler under Classic just to
connect to the Internet then came back to Jaguar, will I still be
connected to DSL and still share (with one PC only)? Will
SurfDoubler run in the background while I use Jaguar apps like
Safari?
Should we wait for Panther for those who haven't switched?
If you have Jaguar, you don't need SurfDoubler. Internet
sharing is a standard feature of the OS. All you have to do is
establish an Internet connection (via phone modem, DSL, cable
modem, AirPort, whatever) and then select the Sharing icon in
System Preferences. Click the Internet tab and then turn on
Internet Sharing. Voilà, you can share your connection with
any computer (Macs, Windows PCs, Linux - whatever) on your
network.
See Internet Sharing a Breeze in
OS X for more on this topic.
SimCity 4 Questions
I've been reading the Low End Mac site on & off during the
past years, but I've been reading as much as I can in the past days
coz' I want to upgrade. I hope you'll indulge me. The reason:
Sim
City 4. :-)
The specs for that game are:
- Mac OS X, version 10.2 or later
- Power Mac G3/G4
- 500 MHz or faster
- 256 MB RAM
- 1 GB of free hard disk space available
- Hardware 3D acceleration required: ATI Radeon or Nvidia GeForce
card (32 MB VRAM or better)
[A] I love OS X. (using all the latest versions). I only
need to convert 1 more classic app to be free of OS 9.
[B+C] I've a Beige G3/333 Stock with a Rev. 3: $77D.45F2 ROM and
a CD-ROM that is set to master, as I'm able to install & boot
OS X from it.
I'm planning to upgrade via Sonnet
Encore/ZIF: (1) 1 GHz, 1 MB, 250 MHz, $600 or (2)
500 MHz, 1 MB, 250 MHz, $300.
LEM's past articles states, "When buying a G4 upgrade for the
beige G3, make sure it is compatible with this model's 66 MHz bus.
Pulled G4s from Apple's 'Yikes!' G4 and some OEM G4s are
specifically designed for a 100 MHz bus and will not work properly
in the beige G3" and "The present IDE Controller is 16.6 MB/sec.
That said, because it is a decent performer in OS X and can be
improved with a fast hard drive, if you want to really unleash
their performance, consider a faster IDE/UltraATA controller that
fits in one of the G3's PCI slots." and "Some PCI IDE controllers,
such as the Acard Ahard and Sonnet Tempo, not only support faster
protocols (ATA66 and ATA133) but also allow booting OS X from
large drives without the need to partition them."
Q: Am I looking correctly at the "ACARD ATA-133 --- AEC-6280M
PCI Ultra ATA-133 IDE Adapter for PowerMac (OWC $75): True Mac
OS X support OS X, OS 9 all on same firmware
Designed for G4, G3, 9x00, 8x00 and 7x00\ Supports Ultra
133/100/66/33 hard drives and ATAPI CD-writer" ?
Q: Would I need to consider the bus speed to 100/133 MHz if I've
an external FW-USB enclosure Maxtor 80 GB IDE-HDD that I might want
to convert later internally to either a master or slave drive?
Which leads to ...
D. I've the 128 MB/66 MHz stock, a 64 MB/100 MHz, and a 256
MB/133 MHz RAM. The 2 companies I bought from recommended &
supplied accordingly. I could add another stick if needed.
F. Lastly, LEM's past articles recommends "Go for the best PCI
video card available, the Radeon 7000".
Q: Would I be able to use the ATI Radeon 8500 if I upgrade my
previous 2 Q's (I couldn't find the answer on the site)?
Please forgive my quoting LEM's past articles and appeared
understanding (if I got it correct) as my Q's would be major
upgrades that I normally don't do. I've read your article on
CoreBox, besides looking at eBay. Somehow, somewhere, I must have gotten
information overload, and I'm a little bit unclear now. I did
reread, still not sure. :-/
I would appreciate any help you might offer. :-)
I still love playing SimCity 2000, and I spent a lot of time on
the original Mac SimCity (b&w on my Plus and color on Centris 610) before that. It's a
great family of games.
As far as I can tell, there is no reason that you would have to be
OS 9 free to run SimCity 4 or any other OS X program. As
long as you're running Jaguar and have adequate hardware, SC4
should work.
Sonnet upgrades have a great reputation, and the 1 MB level 2
cache will help you get the most out of the faster processor, and
these are designed to work with the beige G3.
Unless you need to run a drive larger than 128 MB, there's not much
reason to invest in an ATA133 card. Most of today's hard drives
can't saturate a 66 MB/sec. bus, and the ATA66 version of the Acard
Ahard sells for about $20 less. It's the card we use in our beige
G3, and it works very nicely under both OS 9 and X.
It looks like you've got plenty of memory, but to get the most out
of OS X, it wouldn't hurt to replace the 64 MB DIMM with a 256
MB one.
Whether the Radeon 7000 is the best PCI video card for the Mac is a
matter of value. The Radeon Mac Edition is a better card, but it
sells for about twice as much. Considering the difference in price,
the Radeon 7000 is probably the better value. According to benchmarks on Bare
Feats, the "Radeon PCI" is about 50% faster. Whether it's
work the price is your call.
The Radeon 8500 simply isn't an option for you. You can't use any
AGP video card in a computer without an AGP slot.
Best Use for Road Apple x200s in School
Stephen writes:
Hi there, I need a few ideas.
I'm an IT tech for a large school in the UK. Once upon a time we
had a 26 Performa 5260s in one
computer room, and that was it. It was 1996 and our flagship room.
As it is a school, we ran At Ease for Workgroups.
Now we have a Citrix Metaframe system, which lets every computer
run a Windows 2000 session at the click of an icon. Now, with 200+
computers available, as you would expect, everyone uses Windows. I
have just upgraded the Mac room to run Macintosh Manager (with the
server, a recently donated 9600/350 with 256 MB, running ASIP 6.3)
and the only application the kids use is Citrix.
I know that the Performas are horribly slow, but they are being
wasted just being Citrix clients, and the server is only servicing
"guest" logons. We have 26 5260/100s and 10 6200s with 24-40 MB RAM and OS 8.1, with
about four 5500s with 32 MB and
OS 8.6, and a 9500/233.
Even though I am just a tech, I would like to keep a Mac
presence in the school.
How can these machines be used more effectively? Any ideas? A
perfect question for LEM!
(To be honest, I am an ex-student of the school, and they asked
to employ me when I finished my exams. I have only been messing
with Macs for about a year, but I now administer and maintain all
Macs at the school, and own an iMac DVSE and have an iBook from
work. I think that makes a switcher!)
Hope you can help!
The x200 series, including the Performa 5260, earned the
Road Apple label for a
truly bizarre hardware architecture that is at its absolute worst
when connected to other computers, either via a modem or ethernet.
I have a 5200 at home, and it's a very decent freestanding
computer. But do any work over the network, and the poor thing
shows its inadequacies.
One of the reasons I was glad to leave my IS job is that the head
of marketing had convinced management that switching to Windows was
the only way they could function in the real world, despite the
simple fact that the company had done very nicely with Macs since
the late 1980s. Today that company has a Citrix setup. Not only is
using a central application server slow and inefficient, but it
turns the entire paradigm of personal computing on its head.
The personal computer liberated users from centralized IT control;
Citrix brings it back. I don't get it. Far better, in my opinion,
to have each user working on their own computer than to subject
everyone in the company to one or more central computers that are
accessed over a network - and subject to Windows viruses on top of
it.
I'd recommend you start with ClarisWorks, which was always bundled
with the Performas. It's a great integrated program that nicely
matches the capabilities of these older Macs. And it's much less
bloated than Microsoft Office, which is probably being used on the
Citrix server.
An additional benefit is that if these users don't need to connect
to the Citrix server, they aren't bogging down the resources shared
among 200+ users.
Flashing a PC Radeon
After reading Flashing a Radeon
7000 AGP, Jacob M. Roufa writes:
I have the necessary tools for doing this tricky job. I have
never flashed a Radeon card, however, I have flashed a Rage 128 and
Voodoo5, neither of which work properly. I have yet to reflash the
Voodoo5 from my PC, the first tool I used was for OS 9.
If I am successful in my Voodoo escapades, I will most certainly
write in - as Charles Moore said in today's Miscellaneous
Ramblings, "Interesting. I'm always glad to hear of thing that work
even when they're not supposed to. ;-)".
If any of your readers are interested in learning about this
unsupported, warranty-voiding activity, I must first warn them that
it is potentially hazardous to the card and must not be taken
lightly. There is always a chance that it will not work. And
secondly, email me at jacobroufa@insightbb.com for
details and tools. I will be happy to send out any information
and/or utilities I have.
I wish all readers and responses the best of luck. I hope to
hear from someone in the near future, as I am always interested in
learning more or hearing of successful experiences (more than mine
anyway).
Screen Captures from DVDs
Scott writes:
I have another (maybe better, it's free, for one thing) DVD
screen cap thing for you:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html
I actually tried this one on my Pismo, and it worked really
well. I then loaded the caps into Photoshop and turned them into
desktop pics for use in OS 9.
This utility only works in X, as it is Unix-based.
Thanks for the great site!
Screen Captures from DVD
And Michael Samarin writes:
Concerning "Screen Captures from DVD" article... There is great
DVD/VCD multiplatform open source player:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
I have been using it's Mac OS X version for over year now. You
can make still images from DVD in full-screen mode just by pressing
standard shift-apple-3. It has also very nice de-interlace filters
that improve picture quality from pure encoded DVDs. And of course
ability to play VCDs under Mac OS X is very welcome feature.
Well, at least for me.
As the above screen capture from The Matrix demonstrates, VLC
does work. I'll have to experiment with the different settings.
Thanks for the tip!
Beige G3 (Rev. A) No Road Apple
Joel Woznicki writes:
Let me start out by saying how much I appreciate your site. The
information LEM provides has been invaluable.
That being said, I strongly disagree with you when you give the
Revision A beige g3 road
apple status. To put this machine in the same league as the
5260 just because it won't boot from a slave drive is too extreme.
If this is the only drawback to the revision A ROM, it is a minor
inconvenience at the worst.
Please don't publish my email address and thanks again for a
great site.
We never publish email addresses here unless the author wants
us to.
As for the Road Apple label, those range in level from not really
bad (•) to compromised (••) to fairly compromised
(•••) to avoid at all costs
(••••). So far only the x200 models have earned
the worst rating.
The beige G3 is in good company. Many otherwise excellent Macs that
have one or two serious drawbacks have earned the "not really bad"
rating, including the Power
Mac 7200, PowerBook
150 and 1400,
Cube, and Power Mac G4 (Yikes!).
In general, we consider the beige G3 a best buy despite extremely
outdated video and a slow IDE bus, especially with prices sometimes
well below US$200. However, we feel that anyone buying a beige G3
should be aware of the Rev. A limitations and choose to buy or
avoid that model with their eyes wide open.
As we stress time and again, Road Apples aren't necessarily bad
computers. They are mostly machines that shouldn't have been so
limited based on the technology of the day.
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
