TidBITS#754/08-Nov-04
=====================
If the Red Sox winning the World Series wasn't strange enough,
Geoff Duncan has finally solved his personal Curse of Mac OS X.
Thanks to a Sonnet Encore/ST G4 Duet accelerator, he can now run
Mac OS X for more than a few hours at a time, and even Mac OS 9
enjoys a speed boost. We also take a quick look at the Mac OS X
10.3.6 upgrade, pass along a new USB printer compatibility list
for Apple's wireless base stations, and announce winners of last
week's DealBITS drawing.
Topics:
MailBITS/08-Nov-04
Mac OS X 10.3.6 Improves Networking, Application Reliability
Singing with the Sonnet Encore/ST G4 Duet
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/08-Nov-04
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-754.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/2004/TidBITS#754_08-Nov-04.etx>
Copyright 2004 TidBITS: Reuse governed by Creative Commons license
<http://www.tidbits.com/terms/> Contact: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------
This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
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MailBITS/08-Nov-04
------------------
**New AirPort USB Printer Compatibility List** -- Unfortunately,
Apple no longer publishes a list of USB printers that are
compatible with the AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme Base
Stations (those models include a USB port that turns the base
station into a print server for any computer on your wireless
network). When I asked why, Apple said the list had become
unwieldy. That's a shame, since there's no definitive place on
manufacturers' Web sites to find out which printers work with
these Apple base stations. You don't want to buy a base station
and find out your USB printer is incompatible; nor do you want
to buy a printer for your base station only to find out that
it's incompatible.
A new list has appeared: the iFelix Unofficial AirPort Extreme
and Express Printer Compatibility List. It features several simple
layers of information: printers that were on Apple's list at one
point are in bold; those added later are in plain type; those
James Clay (the author of the iFelix list) himself has tested are
in dark red. The page also lists known incompatible printers and
known compatible Wi-Fi-enabled printers. It's a great list, and
I suggest that if you have information to add, you contribute to
it and hope that iFelix keeps up the good work. A thread at the
Apple Discussions for AirPort Express may also be of use. [GF]
<http://www.efelix.co.uk/tech/1013.html>
<http://discussions.info.apple.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]@.6898602a>
**EU iTunes Music Store Correction** -- In last week's issue,
we erroneously wrote that Ireland was the only European Union
nation not included in Apple's rollout of its EU iTunes Music
Store (see "Apple Intros iPod Photo, iPod U2, and Euro iTMS" in
TidBITS-753_). What we meant to say was that Ireland is the only
country in the _Euro_currency_zone_ that's not included in the
EU iTMS. [JLC]
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07877>
<http://www.euro.ecb.int/en/what/countries.html>
**DealBITS Drawing: iMove from MaxUpgrades Winners** --
Congratulations to Marie Smolnik of yahoo.com and David Stoler
of sbcglobal.net, whose entries were chosen randomly in last
week's DealBITS drawing and who each will receive an iMove
positioning table from MaxUpgrades, worth $149. Everyone else
who entered received a 20 percent discount off the purchase
price of an iMove. Thanks to the 247 people who entered, and
keep an eye out for future DealBITS drawings for a chance to
win cool stuff and discounts if you don't win! [ACE]
<http://www.maxupgrades.com/pressimove.htm>
<http://www.tidbits.com/dealbits/maxupgrades.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07876>
Mac OS X 10.3.6 Improves Networking, Application Reliability
------------------------------------------------------------
by Mark H. Anbinder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
On 05-Nov-04, Apple released Mac OS X 10.3.6, a free update to Mac
OS X 10.3 Panther. The update includes a new version of the Safari
Web browser that will no longer stop trying to load a Web page or
submit a form after 60 seconds, but will instead keep trying until
the user cancels the attempt. Apple has also fixed a bug with
iDisk synchronization for .Mac users; 10.3.5 did not correctly
update the volume's size if the user's space allocation changed.
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300080>
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/>
Apple has also improved file sharing via AFP (AppleShare-style
networking), NFS (Unix file sharing), and SMB (Windows-style
networking), and the capability to open applications from a
network volume. The update provides new versions of the
Calculator, DVD Player, and Image Capture, as well as several
other patches.
The Mac OS 10.3.6 update is available either through Software
Update or as a standalone updater; via Software Update, it may
be as small as 14 MB for 10.3.5 users with recent security patches
already installed, but can be considerably larger (up to 34 MB)
for users without some recent updates installed. (Software Update
may be able to reduce the installation size if some files can
be modified instead of replaced.) The update is also available
as a combo installer (a 92 MB download) that will update any
version of Mac OS X 10.3 prior to 10.3.5.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdate_10_3_6.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxcombinedupdate_10_3_6.html>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25799>
Apple also released Mac OS X Server 10.3.6, which updates Open
Directory, File Services, Fibre Channel Utility, Mail Server, and
LDAP, in addition to the changes in the Mac OS X 10.3.6 update.
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300100>
We've noticed two unintended consequences with Mac OS X 10.3.6,
one bad and one good. First, the Safari update renders the June
2004 developer preview version of Safari unusable; developers
can download a new developer preview from Apple, provided they
have another Web browser (such as Camino or Firefox) available.
Second, Apple appears to have fixed a recent tendency of iBooks
and PowerBooks to require several seconds to over a half minute
to fall asleep when closing the lid or selecting the Sleep
command. The delay, which quietly vanished after the upgrade
to 10.3.6, could over time have resulted in excessive wear to
laptop hard drives from being moved before the computer is fully
asleep. (When I close my laptop, I want to put it in its case
_now,_ not in 40 seconds!)
Singing with the Sonnet Encore/ST G4 Duet
-----------------------------------------
by Geoff Duncan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In fiction, there's a genre called "alternate history" that
speculates about what might have happened if key historical
events had transpired differently. What if, say, England had
come to the aid of the Confederacy during the American Civil
War? What if Kublai Khan had successfully invaded Japan in 1281?
What if Martin Luther had continued to study law instead of
unexpectedly entering religious life in 1505? What would have
been different?
For the last couple years, I've been living a kind of alternate
history, but mine has been: What if Mac OS X had never existed?
Or, more accurately: What if there was no way I could use Mac OS
X? If these scenarios sound like science fiction or the fevered
ramblings of a tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist, I'm here
to say that ain't so: that was my reality until the installation
of a Sonnet Encore/ST G4 Duet processor upgrade.
<http://www.sonnettech.com/product/encore_st_duet.html>
**An X Upon Thee** -- In early 2002 I acquired a dual processor
Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver) in hopes of joining the Mac OS X
bandwagon and enhancing my tiny digital audio project studio.
Although I'd turned to the Macintosh in the late 1980s to avoid
the fetid heap of technical legerdemain represented by Unix
(I never considered using a PC), I realized Apple had reduced my
choices to either Unix or Windows, so I'd better get used to it.
I was thrilled with the G4's performance under Mac OS 9 (since my
backbone audio software can use multiple processors), but to my
dismay I found Mac OS X an unmitigated disaster. Without getting
into the gory details, the operating system frequently failed
to install, let alone boot. Applications randomly crashed and
misbehaved: even when they ran, programs often ignored typing
and the mouse. My Mac averaged less than four hours between kernel
panics, and often died only a few minutes after startup. Some
symptoms seemed to change with various updates and revisions,
but others seemed to change with the weather or the phase of
the moon. No matter which way I squirmed or twisted, Mac OS X
was unstable to the point of being unusable.
Friends, colleagues, and Macintosh professionals were mystified.
No one had ever seen problems like mine. They recommended re-
installing, and, when that repeatedly failed to help, replacing
my hardware, especially RAM memory.
So I tried everything. My records show I've installed
Mac OS X 10.2 a whopping 166 times since mid-September 2002;
the installations usually didn't survive long, and Panther
wouldn't install at all. The machine consistently passed all
hardware diagnostics, but during 2002 and 2003 I nonetheless
replaced my RAM (five times), my hard drives (three times), my
video cards (three times), my keyboard and mouse (four times),
and my audio interfaces (three times). I even swapped out the
core machine _four_ times, arranging various trades for other
dual processor systems of similar vintage. (A few Apple employees
deserve credit for privately bending over backwards to try
to help during this time: you know who you are. Thanks!)
Nonetheless, although individual symptoms sometimes changed
with these convolutions, Mac OS X continued to flake out while
Mac OS 9 ran fine. There was no discernible reason Mac OS X
_shouldn't_ run for me, but there was no escaping the bald fact
that it did not. Friends and clients stopped letting me touch
their Macs for fear I'd damage them: perhaps I was cursed.
**X Times the Silence** -- It turned out I didn't much care that
I couldn't use Mac OS X. Until early 2003, professional audio
under Mac OS X was mostly a non-starter. Drivers weren't available
for pro-level audio interfaces, and early drivers were insanely
buggy. Applications like Digital Performer, ProTools, Cubase,
and Logic either weren't available for Mac OS X or were sluggish,
unreliable, or missing critical features. Apple's CoreAudio
digital audio architecture, which first appeared in Mac OS X 10.2
Jaguar, only began to stabilize with Jaguar updates in 2003, and
to this day remains a moving target that developers have trouble
hitting. Key software I use in most music projects still isn't
available for Mac OS X - a major stumbling block considering I dip
into a library of nearly 6,000 projects with alarming regularity.
It's as if Apple said to a novelist: "Sure, Mac OS X is compatible
with everything you've ever written - just retype it!" Even if I
could run Mac OS X, I couldn't _use_ it.
So, I basically gave up. I'd dutifully try to run (or, as likely,
re-install) Mac OS X on Mondays so I could connect to TidBITS
servers and staffers might be able to reach me via iChat, but I
did everything else from Mac OS 9. I even contemplated chucking
computers entirely and becoming a full-time musician. As stupid
a move as that would be, at least I can make a guitar work for
_decades_ without upgrades!
**Composing a Sonnet** -- Then one day, my Mac OS 9 system
displayed a dialog at startup: "The built-in memory test has
detected a problem with built-in cache memory. Please contact
a service technician for assistance." The error - and its poor
writing - never appeared again, even after several dozen warm
and cold restarts over a couple weeks. A call to a trusted Apple
technician revealed that the error refers to processor cache:
if there was a problem, a possible solution was to replace the
computer's processor card. A tiny bell rang in my mind: could
some of my Mac OS X instability be caused by intermittent cache
problems on the _second_ processor? After all, Mac OS 9 uses
only one CPU normally, and maybe my Mac OS 9 audio software
didn't exercise the second CPU in a way which exposed a problem.
Mac OS X, on the other hand, is more egalitarian about spreading
work across processors, and was perhaps more likely to stumble
across a fault.
I was told that even if Apple still stocked dual processor cards
for a G4 as "old" as mine, replacing it would be quite expensive.
However, purchasing a new machine wasn't an option, since current
Macs can no longer start up in Mac OS 9. So, I decided to
investigate third-party processor replacements.
Selecting a processor upgrade for Power Mac G4 systems turns
out to entail a complicated myriad of possibilities, and
Apple's indistinct model-naming policy - even within terms
like "QuickSilver" or "AGP Graphics" - doesn't help. (TidBITS
has long-decried Apple's minimalist model naming schemes; see
"Macintosh Model Implosion: What's in a Name?" in TidBITS-485_.)
Many Power Mac G4 owners are probably unaware of where their model
falls in Apple's product nomenclature, but the specific Mac model
can drastically impact the type and speed of processor upgrades
options available. For instance, limited upgrades are available
for early "Yikes" G4s, and no processor upgrades are yet available
for comparatively recent Mirrored Drive Door or FireWire 800
machines. Apple has published confusing product matrixes to
sort out Power Mac G4s; if you don't already know your model,
be prepared to crawl around under your desk examining the
orientation of certain ports.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05436>
<http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n58418/>
<http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n42739/>
Just to make things more complicated, the Uni-North ASIC component
in some early AGP Graphics Power Mac G4 models doesn't support
dual processors (although these machines do support single-
processor upgrades): Sonnet describes how to determine the
Uni-North version; as far as I can determine, the information
is applicable to all multiprocessor upgrades for AGP Graphics
G4s, not just Sonnet's Duet product.
<http://www.sonnettech.com/support/errata/duet_errata.html>
It turns out there are three dual processor options currently
available for my particular Power Mac G4: the Sonnet Encore/ST
G4 Duet, the GigaDesigns Dual G-celerator, and the PowerForce Dual
G4 Series 133, variously marketed by PowerLogix and Other World
Computing. Current prices range from $580 for a 1 GHz GigaDesigns
G-celerator (overclockable to 1.2 GHz) to around $650 to $750
for Sonnet or PowerForce 1.25 - 1.3 GHz dual processor upgrades,
depending on the specific product and vendor.
<http://www.sonnettech.com/product/encore_st_duet.html>
<http://www.gigadesigns.com/productsM5d1012q.html>
<http://www.gigadesigns.com/productsM5d1213q.html>
<http://www.powerlogix.com/products/G4_dual_cpu_133/index.html>
<http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=6499&Item=PLGPFD745723ACQ>
Since I'm one of those rare people using dual processors under
Mac OS 9, I couldn't consider the PowerForce Dual G4, which,
as far as my research could determine, makes only one processor
available to Mac OS 9. I was heartened that none of the music
and audio folks with setups like mine had experienced problems
or compatibility issues with Sonnet processor upgrades. Some
folks also had good experiences with PowerForce and GigaDesigns
upgrades, but a handful had experienced digital "crackle" with
certain functions (such as ADAT sync). I'm fully aware all things
were not equal: these folks weren't using the same equipment,
only one was using the same model Macintosh I do, and some may
have tried to overclock the GigaDesigns upgrade (which enables
users to set the system bus multiplier by changing jumpers).
Nonetheless, the Sonnet upgrade seemed like the best starting
point for me.
Although I didn't truly need it, the Sonnet Duet upgrade would
also represent a performance increase, taking my processors from
800 MHz to 1.27 GHz, roughly a 58 percent increase in clock speed.
However, expecting that much of a performance boost would be
unrealistic: I'd still have the same 256K L2 and 2 MB L3 caches,
my system bus speed would still be 133 MHz, and my hard drives,
video cards, network, and other systems aren't going to get any
faster. With the exception of some CPU-intensive tasks, I'd expect
a performance gain somewhere between 15 and 20 percent for some
operations, and no measurable performance difference for work
that relies heavily on the Internet, disk access, or graphics
performance.
**Installation** -- Another confusing aspect of installing a
processor upgrade in a Power Mac G4 is determining whether
the Mac has appropriate firmware. Some AGP Graphics, Gigabit
Ethernet, and Digital Audio models may need their firmware
updated to version 4.2.8. You can find your model's current
firmware revision using Apple System Profiler in either
Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X (which lists it in the Production
Information or Hardware Overview sections), and firmware
updaters are available online from Apple. However, the firmware
in Power Mac G4s can only be updated from a Mac OS 9 system
booted from a writable hard drive (not a CD!), and you must
perform any firmware update _before_ attempting to install
a processor upgrade. Further, Power Mac G4 processor upgrades
generally support only Mac OS 9.2.1 or higher: if you're
running an earlier version of Mac OS 9 (heck, early G4s
supported Mac OS 8.6!), you must upgrade - and possibly
update your firmware along the way - before installation.
<http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n120068/>
Physically installing a processor upgrade in a Power Mac G4
entails removing a daughtercard with the existing processor(s)
and installing a new one in its place. Although the daughtercard
is securely fastened to the motherboard with screws, conceptually
this process isn't much different than installing RAM or a PCI
card. However, it involves extra steps because the processors
have their own cooling systems, usually with heat sinks (large,
finned pieces of metal which dissipate heat) and sometimes
even dedicated fans. The specifics vary between G4 models, but
removing and installing both cooling apparatus and processors
could be daunting to folks who aren't comfortable tinkering
inside a computer. Be sure to read the instructions for your
specific Mac model before you start, and if you have any doubts,
ask a more-technical friend or a service technician to perform
the installation for you. Sonnet's instructions are clear and
well-illustrated, with photographs covering every model the Duet
upgrade supports, so don't be intimidated by all the pictures
of hands holding tools: only a small portion apply to your Mac.
(Sonnet also provides documentation in French and German in
appropriate markets.) The installation process took me about
10 minutes, and I even stopped to take pictures along the way.
If you're curious - or just want to see inside my Mac - check
out the URL below.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/754/duet-installation/>
Once the Encore Duet was physically installed, little bits of
software are necessary under both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X to fully
enable the upgrade (although it does run under each operating
system without these software components). Under Mac OS 9, the
software enables sleep support; under Mac OS X, the software
enables L2 and L3 processors caches (if they're not already
enabled by the Mac's ROM), and lets the operating system
correctly identify processor speeds and cache sizes.
**And the Verdict Is...** After all these convolutions, was the
Sonnet Encore/ST G4 Duet upgrade worthwhile? For me, the answer
is a resounding "Yes!"
First, whatever curse I had involving Mac OS X on this machine
seems to have been lifted! Mac OS X 10.3 Panther installs and
seems to run normally. While I have experienced a handful of
application crashes, they don't seem to be anything more than
everyday software bugs: the operating system remains stable and
seems to function in the way Apple intended.
Second - and happily (for me) - Mac OS 9 continues to run just
fine. In fact, it's running better than ever. Although never
sluggish on this machine, Mac OS 9 positively flies now. The
most pronounced performance increases appear in my primary audio
production software, where I am seeing roughly a 30 percent boost
in some tasks (converting sample rates and formats, etc.) and a
startling increase of more than 60 percent for some isolated items
(such as some software-based reverbs and effects processing).
Although I don't strictly _need_ this kind of processing power,
it's a bit exhilarating to have it, and I've begun tentatively
exploring more processor-intensive approaches to some projects.
I do have some caveats, but I must emphasize that - so far as
I can determine - they are specific to my machine and not to
the Duet upgrade in general. I've managed to contact eleven other
Duet users, and none of them have experienced these issues, nor
has Sonnet been able to reproduce them on their test systems:
* Restarting or shutting down the computer sometimes fails. The
process proceeds normally - applications quit, the Finder quits,
the screens go black - but either the machine never shuts down,
or the restart chime is never played. Pressing the reset button
always restarts the machine in these cases, and the Mac is not
of the opinion it was shut down improperly. This problem is rare
under Mac OS X, but more common running Mac OS 9.
* About half the time, the machine fails to restart correctly when
switching startup disks (using either the Startup Disk control
panel or preference pane). The symptoms appear to be the same as
the restart problem above (everything seems to proceed normally,
but the restart chime never sounds).
* It's almost impossible to put the Mac to sleep under Mac OS 9:
either the system hangs, or it wakes back up instantly. In the
latter case, attempting to put the Mac to sleep a second time
usually crashes the system. Mac OS X does not exhibit this
problem.
Again, to the best of my knowledge, these problems are mine alone,
or there may still be something funky about my machine. For
instance, I use two video cards from two different manufacturers
(the original Nvidia GeForce2 MX that came with the system, and
an ATI Radeon card), which is not a standard setup. I also have
multiple internal hard drives, and am often using FireWire-based
audio hardware which might interfere with sleep.
Fortunately, these restart and sleep issues aren't significant
for me. My machine can be tied up with audio processing for many
hours, so I don't have it go to sleep on its own. (Automatic
sleep would also disrupt TidBITS automation and nightly backups.)
Similarly, my machine doesn't restart or shut down on a schedule.
The restart problem would give me pause if I needed to reboot the
machine automatically (perhaps if I configured it as a server);
in that case, I'd probably rely on something like Sophisticated
Circuit's PowerKey Kick-off to jump start the system in case an
automated restart failed.
<http://www.sophisticatedcircuits.com/products/kick-off/kick-off.html>
So, the bottom line: for those of us who still need to run
Mac OS 9 - or for whom appropriate software still isn't available
for Mac OS X - processor upgrades are a viable way to not only
extend the life of your machine, but also to put some significant
additional spring into its stride. My case isn't even particularly
dramatic: imagine converting a 500 MHz or slower single-processor
G4 system to a 1.2, 1.3, or 1.4 GHz dual processor speed demon!
And for those of us who still aren't at ease with Mac OS X, a
processor upgrade is a great way to extend the viability of an
existing Mac without the trouble and expense of buying a whole
new system. The Sonnet Encore/ST G4 Duet is giving me access to
Mac OS X without throwing away years of my work only accessible
from Mac OS 9: until such time as Mac OS X applications have the
capabilities I need - or I decide to go play guitar full time -
it's pretty much the only solution for me.
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/08-Nov-04
------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The second URL below each thread description points to the
discussion on our Web Crossing server, which will be much faster.
**Voice Recognition Dictation Software for the Mac** -- What
options are currently available for voice dictation on the
Mac? Readers share their experiences. (4 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2366>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/228>
**iPod Photo comments** -- Apple's new twist on the iPod gets
mixed reviews from readers, including photographers who wish the
iPod Photo would interface directly with current digital cameras.
(4 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2365>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/227>
**Server-side open source anti-spam solutions** -- Last week's
article on the Postini spam-filtering service prompts a discussion
of server-side anti-spam software and how effective it can be.
(3 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2364>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/226>
**Statistics software for the Mac** -- Macs aren't used just by
designers and other creative types, of course, and it turns out
that there are plenty of statistics packages available for serious
number crunching as well. (25 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2362>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/224>
**Creating a print to Web workflow** -- By now, one would expect
that getting information from a printed piece to the Web would be
easy, but there are still several fences to hop when moving from
one field to the other. (2 messages)
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2361>
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/223>
$$
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