Nice letters... not so nice letters... short ones... long ones... We love 'em all!
Do you have a question, opinion, or a comment? Write us today at:
<publisher@mymac.com> or <editor@mymac.com>
G3 Upgrade Card Review
Any opinion in regards to Virtual PC? (I'd like to run v2.1 with Windows 98.)
Thanks,
Jim <jfriedel@idsonline.com>
Sorry, but I haven't tried VPC yet, though I would be interested in testing it. However, I do have some time under my belt using its predecessor, and I've found that Insignia Software's SoftWindows 98 runs at least twice as fast in a system with a good, fast hard drive working in concert with a G3-series processor and a minimum of 64 megabytes of RAM. If past experience serves, I would assume a similar speedup could be had with Connectix's Virtual PC in a comparably configured system.
If you're thinking of using either of these Windows emulators, you're going to want to have as much power on your desk as possible. They're incredible works of software, but they both require very powerful CPUs to run efficiently, which means anything less than a G3 yields merely mediocre results. With the power of a G3 available, these emulators have hit their stride. Hope this helps.
I am not an expert with the innards of a Mac, but I have always been told that the processor was soldered into the motherboard. How can you just pop it out and install the G3 chip? Are there different types of 6500s?
Curious,
Jennifer Mengis <mwarren@net1.net>
Actually, Jennifer, the G3 card fits into the L2 cache slot—a brilliant piece of engineering. The Mac 6500 ships with 256k of L2 cache in that slot, but the upgrade G3 card has a built-in 512k of cache. So not only do you get a faster processor (G3 at 225MHz) but twice the L2 cache.
I read your article yesterday about the G3 upgrade for the 6500. While I don't have the money right now, I was recently considering the purchase of an L2 1MB cache Card. I'm wondering if you have any information on what type of performance increase could be expected. I have a PowerMac 6500 225MHz with 96MB of RAM.
Thank,
James <stansell2@inetone.net>
If you decide to upgrade your L2 Cache card to 1MB you should see a significant speed increase when using your computer. However, if you're planning on keeping your 6500 for a long while, I highly recommend getting the G3 card I reviewed instead. For the price difference you'll invest, you just can't beat it.
Thanks for the wonderful article about upgrading your 6500. I have a 6200. Do you know whether there is any hope for me?
One of your readers.
Da-Yu Wu <dayuwu@hsc.usc.edu>
Not at the moment, no. But I'm sure that if enough 6200 owners showed an interest, something would be done. Be sure to keep checking with MacCPU <http://www.maccpu.com> for new systems being added all the time from Apple and other G3 card vendors!
Windows 98 (It doesn't make everything better.)
Great article... Thanks.
As for your question about Windows 98. Although I figured it to be rhetorical I thought I might offer a little perspective.
I work as a sub-contractor for a major PC/printer manufacturer (one of the top five). I work for the team that sets up all the PCs on one of the world's largest—if not the largest—Local Area Networks. We have a team of engineers that create the images of the operating systems used on site. (Except for a few Macintosh OSs that run production tools. RISC, there is no substitute!) We work closely with other IT/IS teams. Windows 98 has been universally rejected by the company for internal use as offering no real added value in addition to being less stable in our environment than Windows 95.
The engineer on our team responsible for Win95/Win98 images said in fact that what Windows 98 offered was mostly downloadable for free as patches and upgrades to Win95 so don't bother buying it.
Being a Mac user and definitely non-PC technically oriented, there was no worry of me purchasing it. But I thought you might be interested in this view from the PC world.
I just have to snicker as I start up my Mac (OS 8.5) when I get home and feel a sense of peace and that all is right with the world, and, at least from my computer, it is.
All the best,
Bob... <mccnow@rocketmail.com>
P.S. Thanks for a great magazine and great chats at WWB!
Correction?
Your statement on the choices for Mac users who need to run WinTel software is not correct:
"To do so, you only have three choices: buy a whole new Wintel
machine, buy a PC card for your Mac, or buy Windows emulation
software."
Why did you omit Virtual PC? I'm sure you are aware that it emulates the processor and runs Windows 95 or Windows 98 (the latter only if you have a G3 processor). It only costs $149 with Windows making it the most cost effective solution. I'm using Virtual PC with Windows 95 to run Outlook and Office 97 on my 9600/350. I'm not fully satisfied with the speed, but running in emulation over a network with a 604e may not be the best combination. I haven't tried SoftWindows, but I'm tempted. My big question, which I was looking to your article to answer, is whether SoftWindows has any speed difference compared to Virtual PC.
Bela Feher <feher@spawar.navy.mil>
Actually, you are correct. VPC emulates the chip set, not the software. But for the purpose of my review, I lumped VPC in with the Windows emulation software category.
Since I don't have VPC, I can't give you an answer on which is faster, VPC or
Softwindows 98. Nor can I speculate from hearsay, as I've received email from both camps claiming speed advantages of one package over the other. But if I can get my hands on Virtual PC, I'll let you know what I find right here in this magazine.
Reality Check
Re: article at URL <http://www.mymac.com/dec_98/my_turn.shtml>
Not to burst your balloon over an otherwise fine article, but let me note that many of us Mac users also use Wintels (gasp).
Let me be specific.
My primary home computer is a 266MHz G3/MT running Mac OS 8.1 (two 4 GB hard disk, two CD-ROMs, QIC tape, 21" monitor, GCC BLP Elite printer).
This is what I normally use to hit your site via Netscape 4.07.
When I am on the road on personal business, my IBM Thinkpad 750 running Windoze 3.11 is what hits your site (Mosaic xx).
As I am a software quality assurance consultant, from my office, you get hit by either my IBM Wintel NT desktop and Netscape 4.0 (client requirement), or from my Gateway 2000 Solo Win95 laptop via IE 4.0. These sit side by side, so whichever one is free at any given moment is what I use to go surf.
Every once in a Blue Moon, I might be near our Sun Solaris server, and guess what. Well it also runs a Sun browser.
Finally, in the back bedroom is my old Mac IIcx, which I am reviving for my kids (needs a far bigger hard disk). And it comes trucking into you from Mac OS 7.5.3 via Netscape 3.0.
So in any given week, you may see me as a Mac OS, Win3.11, Win95, WinNT, or Unix.
And out of all my hits on you, 75% are NOT from my Mac. What do I PREFER to use??? This rather neat G3.
Bob Burk <bob_burk@mailhost.empire.net>
PB G3/250 as speaker phone ??
I have a PowerBook G3 Series/250MHz/160MB. I run my SOHO using it, and it works like a charm. It connects to my SunOS and Linux box via atalk and I even run X-Windows (the wonderful MI/X server) on it.
I'd very much to use my PB as a phone. It has a built-in modem, speakers and mic so theoretically I can use it as a speaker phone. Unfortunately MegaPhone software does not run on it, or I was unable to configure it properly. I'd also like to be able to track and record calls if possible.
Please help. Thanks for you time, effort and a fabulous e-zine !
Yaron Kantor <ykantor@ibm.net>
Readers, this is an area where I've had very little experience. If anyone out there can help, please contact Yaron or drop us a line.
VRAM Upgrade?
I just read your excellent article on the G3 upgrade for a 6400/6500 and you've convinced me not to scrap my machine! I do have one question though which I thought you could answer:
I want to start using a 21' monitor and need to upgrade my VRAM. Most sources say this is not possible, but I came across a website offering a 4MB VRAM 'kit' for the 6400 (for about $50). Here is the address:
<http://www.macmail.com/vram.html>
Could this be possible??? If so, we are in major luck.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Davidson <mdavidson@mdavidson.com>
Mike, sorry but we've not checked out that item yet. Maybe some of our readers are familiar with it and can let us know what they've found.
December game review
I just had to write and thank you for recommending Food Chain. I've been playing obsessively for several days now, and I'm having a great time coming up with new strategies and finding cool tricks. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that it was only $9.95 if you unlock the downloaded version instead of ordering the CD. I'm a big fan of puzzle games, and this one's a new favorite of mine.
Kudos to you and all the My Mac gang. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Dawn Marchant <dmsings@earthlink.net>
Glad to hear from another Food Chain player! It's a fantastic game, and the $9.95 download version is the same as the CD version. It's really fun, and as I said in my review last month, I highly recommend it to everyone.
Do you remember the Helicar ad?
Am I just losing my mind as I age, or did Apple actually run an ad on television about a guy drawing the Helicar (a cartoon VW-like car with a helicopter rotor on top) on a cocktail napkin? And then moving that idea to his Mac and it flying off?
I'm sure I didn't dream this... I even remember criticism in the trade journals about how Apple just wasn't getting it with their ads, and instead of showing the esoteric and whimsical helicar they should be pointing out the major advantages of their system over Windows.
While visiting the Apple Museum Ads section I noticed it wasn't there, and I emailed Andy Mesa about where that ad was... he replied he had never heard of it, and now my sanity (or at least my memory) is in question.
I never should have used my old MacChimney as a bong...
Regards,
Ron Hoeltge <RHOELTGE@bhagroup.com>
Ron, either we both are suffering with the same form of delusion, or Apple did have a commercial like the one you seem to remember. After reading your letter, I had this strange sense of remembrance. As the saying goes, the Helicar ad "really rings a bell." (Of course, that could simply be from a lack of sleep...)
Anyone else out there remember this? If so, please contact either Ron or me. (Hey, why not both of us?)
Starcraft Mac
IS THERE ANY WAY ON THIS EARTH THAT I CAN GET MY HANDS ON STARCRAFT FOR MAC, BETA OR NOT?!?!?!?! (without breaking the law, of course) where can I get it?!?!?!? I have been waiting for it FOREVER!!!! I did a net search, pulled up your review of the beta, and now I want it even more!!!!!! PLEEEEEASE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET IT!!!!!!
<Headbngr31@aol.com>
I've been doing a fair bit of research on the game...and a few months ago got a copy of the beta. After spending nearly 8 - 10 hours a day of addiction at the screen I seemingly have mastered it.....until I started playing it on Appletalk. And now it's a totally different world.
But I don't see how you were able to play on battle.net. There have been countless attempts to get to see how it is possible to play it on battle.net. How on earth did you manage to play it on battle.net with the beta?
Stunned and curious!
Sam the Dog‚Ñ¢
<sam@vegacom.on.ca>
 
The fine folks over at Blizzard sent us a copy of the Battle.net (beta version) for the review which I did. As you've found out, it hasn't yet been released to the general public. In fact, very few people do have it. I can say, though, that Starcraft will be a huge hit, and will be well worth the wait.
Is there anyway to get the beta version yet, on the Internet? Any response would be greatly appreciated I have been waiting for the mac version for over 18 months since I first heard about Starcraft for PC's I am very excited.
Thanks
<astrocasey@aol.com>
Not yet, no. Soon, I hope!
I HAVE HEARD A LOT ABOUT S.C. AND WANT TO TRY IT OUT BEFORE I BUY IT. SO PLEASE SEND ME A FREE COPY.
<JAGEORGE88@aol.com>
Sure. Right away... hehe.
 
Be sure to drop us a note with any thoughts, corrections, or problems you may have. We all love to hear from you, and we do need to fill this page every month! (Remember to let us know if you'd prefer to not have your email address printed.) So write in!
Tim Robertson is the publisher of My Mac, and unless otherwise noted answers all the email on this page.
email:
•Tim Robertson• <publisher@mymac.com>
•Russ Walkowich• <editor@mymac.com>
Websites mentioned:
<http://www.maccpu.com>
<http://www.macmail.com/vram.html>
 
<http://www.smalldog.com>
My Mac Magazine ® 1999 My Mac Productions. All Rights Reserved.
