News for Sunday, 3 August 2003

Thanks to J.F. for the info

I just stumbled upon the fact that in Mac OS X 10.3 (7B21) there is now the option for HD formatting as "Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive/Journaled)". That means that you can then have two files of the same name like "MacBidouille.txt" and "macbidouille.txt". Works also for disk images (dmg).

in case you did not understand, it means that in this format configuration, OS X can differenciate between capital and small letters in file names.

If you are still thirsty for info on Panther, Cuk has put an article on the 7B21 Beta online
http://www.cuk.ch/articles/tests/afftest.php3?aff=207
[Google translation: here !]

Thanks François for these details about Open Firmware.

Open Firmware loads before any loading of drivers that are external and not in the motherboard. My usual troubleshooting routine in case of these sort of issues (all mac G3 and +) : reset nvram 3 times ( Alt+Command+P+R) at boot Open Fimware start (Alt+Command+O+F) at boot and typing in these three commands (and not only the two previously mentioned) : - reset-nvram - set-defaults - reset-all As usual the keyboard is in QWERTY in Open Firmware, and each line must be validated by the Enter key. While we are at it, a little reminder: a very handy Open Firmware command when a stubborn CD refuses to start, or if one plugged in an old keyboard with no eject-key in a G4 "QuickSilver" or "Mirror Door" (that have no open-tray button) and when one wants to eject or insert a CD at start-up (bootable CD for example) type in "eject cd" Do not forget to re-type "eject cd" to close the tray, this doesn't strain the mecanical parts as much as pushing it by hand.

Following the problems that many people had while trying to modify the firmware of an iBook that could not accept such changes, and who lost their video in the process, a solution has been found to get everything back to normal.
Thanks to Wolfgang and Faz for the info and to David for testing it :

Some hiccoughs on the way, but at the third try, it worked. - Battery out - Power on by pressing "Apple + Power Button" and keep pressed ; - you hear the firmware update beep, the front LED blikns, keep pressed ; - Start-up sound, keep pressed ; - Open Firmware loads - Enter "mac-boot" (keyboard is US by default), Return For me: the Mac booted, i restarted straight away, dark screen, did th whole process again but this time - "reset-nvram" Return - "reset-all" Return And everything came back to normal and now it runs smoothly.

As mentioned, keep in mind that hte keyboard is then in QWERTY !

The newsletter "c't" (Germany) has written an AppleScritp that is supposed to activate the dual-display on iBooks, iMacs and eMacs that are equiped of GPU able to support this display mode. It should save you to have to change the open firmware settigns by hand. By zapping the NVRAm you should get back to the default settings.
OS X is compulsory to run this script. if ou have an iBook with 16 Mo of VRAM, activate Quartz Extreme, with PCIextreme, which can also be found on the linked page (those with a Rage 128 will not be abel to activate Quartz Extreme, it is only for the owners of Radeon). Woth noting alos is the script: "iBookkScreenEnhancer + Desktop", for those who would like to use the external display while keeping the iBook closed. We have not yet heard from users testing it, and have not had time to test these scripts.
You can find the scripts HERE.
[Upd.] First feedbacks are extremly negative! One user has lost use of video on his/her laptop. We advise you not to use any of these scripts in the current situation!
[Upd.] The developper seems rather careless, as the script tries also to patch machines that cannot support the changes !
[Upd.] As Raphaël advises, it is highly recommended not to close an iBook while using an external display. The heat cannot dissipate well and could provoke markings on the screen.

Thanks to Rémi for the information !

An IBM engineer recently announced in the gcc mailing list that his company intended to implement auto-vecotrization in the GNU compiler, which is used by Apple in Mac OS X. That means that after a simple recompile, any application shall be able to take advantage of the vector based computing unit in the G4 and G5. Without pretending to enable them to make wonders, it can be a step further in the improvement of the performances of our beloved machines. http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2003-07/msg01309.html

SCO, owner of UNIX has decided lately to be tough to all the societies that use a derivate of their OS. IBM refused to bend. SCO thus made it to court so that IBM cannot sell it derivate from Unix, AIX, anymore, and repays them a one billion dollars fee. Today IBM strikes back accusing SCO to conspirate with Microsoft to kill all free operating systems.
It's just the beginning of a great battle which always start with more or less true accusations that help getting knowledge of the ground. To be frank, may it be imagined Microsoft could be conspiring again its biggest concurrent called Linux ? Yes :) But this doesn't mean that is for certain. Anyway, the results of this titanic battle will decide of the future of "free" systems.
To know more:
http://www.macbidouille.com/niouzcontenu.php?date=2003-06-18#5850
http://www.macbidouille.com/niouzcontenu.php?date=2003-06-18#5855

IBM should start producing 90nm PPC970 in November. They are still working to solve the last problem related to 90nm process, and they should be able to produce it in large volume end of January 2004. This processor will have 2 advantages when compared to the current PPC970:
- It should reach 2.8GHz max before to be replaced by the PPC980
- it will be for sure the first 64bit processor to be install in a portable computer. This info fits with other ones and indicates a possible date for the PowerBook G5 around February/March 2004.

Warning, the following news is a rumor, so it has to be considered as such...
IBM has finished defining the specifications for VMX2 (IBM VMX=Motorola Altivec = Apple Velocity engine). This new version will have 65 additional instructions. The final specifications should be ready early 2004. However, VMX 2 complexity, which alone will use 24 millions transistors, has forced IBM to wait till the development of the 65nm process before implementing this new VMX version into future processors.
There is one really interesting info to mention. The first processors containing VMX2 will be the PPC990 and the Power6. So, IBM could have decided to use Altivec in its professional processors, getting that way closer to MacOSX. VMX2 should triple Altivec performance by remaining compatible with the previous version.