Wednesday June 23rd 1999 04:31 CDT @438

Is Lombard a Lemon?

We've all seen the comments on Lombard about USB, whine noises, and loose backup batteries. Is Lombard a lemon? We don't think so...read why.

Feel an urge to discuss the Consumer Portable when there's not even much news to report? There's a small band of people who share your interest! Scoot on over to the CPort List for your daily dish of P1 rumors and discussion.

We might have to keep saying this for the next month right up to MacWorld New York. P1, Apple's consumer portable if you've been under a rock, is still on track for an introduction at MWNY, with shipping to occur up to a month or later afterward. This is not just repeating yesterday's info over again. P1 is not in danger of being scrapped at this time, not by a long shot. P1 will be the first core99 motherboard to be announced, so they're are some issues in designing the first motherboard that will be shared across four lines of machines. Barring some kind of major disaster, (Cupertino falls into ocean, for example) we'll be waiting for its arrival at MacWorld New York on July 21st.

Forget every other Wallstreet modification you've read about or seen. This one we came across is by far the best:

That's not all. The machine has red LEDs implanted in the white Apple logo, so it glows an eerie red. For that picture and details on how the process was done, read the project's homepage.

If you're lucky enough to live within one of Ricochet's three metropolitan service areas, you already know the wonderful benefits of wireless Internet access. Coming in August 1999, the Merlin Wireless IP Networking PC Card will bring the benefits of 19.2k Internet to you from a wide range of cellular providers.

Priced at $279 for the modem, the access charge per month varies for each provider. Each Merlin has its own IP address and uses CDPD technology to access the Internet. It currently is slated only to support Windows platforms, but there is a developer program in place that a savvy Mac programmer could take advantage of. See if your area has coverage here, and view the list of current providers here. While their coverage is larger than Ricochet's, it's still limited to major cities across the United States.

Despite being assured there was stock when we ordered, when our order was checked late last night, it was listed as 'cancelled.' It seems MacMall only had 9 units to sell and they were extremely backordered after the word on the great price got out. We doubt that Apple will send any more units to MacMall, but we're going to use the tried and true method of pestering them until we get something out of it.

Reader Charles Kaufman let us know that his VST Floppy module froze up the entire machine when he uses it. He wrote later with the fix he found. VST has posted new drivers on their site. Download them and all your floppy woes should be fixed.

Tuesday June 22nd 1999 04:05 CDT @420
UPDATE: 13:29 CDT UPDATE: 19:23 CDT

Chat Soon

The PowerBook Zone's chat starts at 10 PM on the East coast, 7 PM on the West. The East coast is four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time, while the West coast is seven hours behind. Lastly, in iTime, the chat starts at @126.

$199 Wallstreet DVD Kit

Noted first on deal-mac, MacMall is offering the Wallstreet Wallstreet DVD Kit for $199.99. The price is now reflected online, or you can call 800-863-3282 to order. We just ordered ours. They have stock at an 'alternate warehouse.'

UPDATE 23:25 CDT: MacMall is out of stock with 15 backorders.

Chat Tonight!

Our latest PowerBook Zone reader chat is tonight from 9 PM to 10 PM Central Daylight Time. Be sure to come to discuss the latest on Lombard and P1, then to get the latest scoops from your editors. For instructions on how to join, visit our IRC page.

Despite what you may read elsewhere, P1 is on schedule to be shown at MWNY. Its ship date is the uncertain element. To read our analysis of P1's future, visit our article on the issue.

A few readers turned their Lombards vertical and shook it violently. Mitch Leman did confirm the rattle noise related to the small battery:

sure enough there's a rattle. I've never noticed until now though, and can ONLY produce it when machine is vertical (as described above). since I never carry or use my computer in this position it doesn't bother me any... so far I'm thrilled with this thing. Should get my RATOC firewire card in the next couple of days and I'll see I can really capture DV from my DV cam into Final Cut Pro.

Looks like many people are planning to purchase a FireWire card for their PowerBooks. We have confirmed that the next generation of professional PowerBooks will certainly include FireWire.

You must understand for every bad report that comes in here, there's probably 20 people that don't write in because their PowerBook is fine. This Lombard experience from Rick Larson is one of the positive ones:

To balance some of the reports I've seen, let me say: My 400 mHz Lombard is near silent. It doesn't whine or rattle. Very quiet HD. It never gets anything like hot when used in normal indoor temperatures. The fan has never run, even when I've used the machine for hours outside in the high 80's (CPU temp reports normal). The keyboard is among the best and quietest I've used. The screen is brighter than many CRTs (you can easily see colors on screen while outside!), and the machine is as fast as an airbag. No regrets.

Fast as an airbag Rick? Okay.....

Larry Jordan over at 2-Pop has posted a review of RATOC's CBFW2 FireWire card.

Monday June 21st 1999 03:41 CDT @403

Engineering Change Fallout

As we all know, Apple's engineering group underwent a major change last week. Today is the first weekday of the new organization. Others have theorized this is a very negative event for Apple. On the contrary, this will be one of the most positive changes at Apple this year. To read exactly why, visit our article, titled Apple's Engineering Shakeup: It's Certainly For the Better.

In all the Lombard flurry of information, we haven't touched on P1 much. Again, P1 is on schedule for an introduction at MacWorld New York in exactly a month, though shipping the machine is going to be the hard part. We are betting on around a month after MWNY, in late August. Don't expect any miracles from Apple on this one, as just getting it shown at MWNY will be a Herculean effort. We're not going to attempt to guess on the details of P1 at this point because so many aren't known.

If you examine it, this is the first all-new product line that we've known about beforehand in a very long time. (iMac was a complete surprise) We eagerly anticipate its introduction and will be ready for it with big things.....

We're having a chat tomorrow night, from 9 to 10 PM Central Daylight Time. To find out how to get to the chat, visit our IRC page. We've got a lot of topics to discuss, including Lombard problems, the TNT Pirates of Silicon Valley movie, and much, much more!

Reader Patrick Miller wrote in with his electrifying experience:

I have one of the Limited Edition PB G3 233 (12.1" TFT w/512K) with an odd problem. After upgrading to OS 8.6, I began to notice a rather painful electric current being emitted from a screw on the underside of the book (Centrally near the cd-rom bay). It occurs only when the ac adapter is in use. I've called Apple on this one, and thus far they have replaced my ac adapter and cable. Unfortunately, that did not fix the problem...it only gets worse...upon using the new cable and adapter they sent, the offending screw shocked the hell out of my leg, and singed leg hairs. I know, I know, Apple also told me that the book is not intended to be used on my lap (for venting purposes), but even while the unit is asleep or off and charging the battery I might move it from my desk to the kitchen table or to work...in any case, my skin still contacts the underside.

We don't really expect anyone to know what the problem is, we merely posted this for your enjoyment, as we knew we laughed. Our question: is a shock-attack PowerBook a defect or a feature? Just think....hand one to a ThinkPad user...their leg hairs will never be the same....

Everyone who is thinking about buying a new computer loves to read other users' experience with the new machines. So we plan to post peoples' experiences over the next few weeks. The following, from Reid Nixon, covers a few issues:

Have you heard how hot people's Lombard running? I got the 400MHz (finally...this Saturday...from Outpost), just downloaded PowerJolt, and it says about 165degsF(75degsC). I ask because my hands/wrists are *clammy and sweaty* from the heat; and I don't hear any fans running. Are they supposed to

The *only* sound is the very quiet hard drive; when you spin that down, the machine is silent (except for the hamster-wheel sound when I copy files from the DVD-ROM drive...but a DVD movie is quiet).

And, by the way, I ordered the Ratoc firewire card from ClubMac tonight; it'll be here Tuesday morning, and I plan to edit my first project on Final Cut Pro. Will let you know how it works out.

We haven't heard many complaints about Lombard's heat. Though no new Tech Info Library articles have been posted about PowerBooks in weeks, only modified ones, this one mentions a few tips for reducing temperature. Some readers have reduced temps as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit. We'd love to hear your own experiences.

We're trying to keep a positive outlook on Lombard, but USB issues coupled with whining power inverter issues being followed on MacInTouch are making us wonder. Sean Pons writes in with another possible issue many Lombards have:

I finally received my Lombard 333 a couple of days ago (37 days of waiting!). My heart sank when I realized something was loose inside the machine under the right side of the keyboard. The 'rattle' was (is) most apparent if I tilt the machine up on its side (pc card slot down), and gently shake (the computer). I called Apple and described the problem to a support representative. As he put me on hold to try to duplicate the problem on his Lombard, we simultaneously came to the same conclusion... the lithium battery is loosely housed inside a thin, shiny black plastic enclosure visible in the right-side bay; thus creating the noise. By placing a little pressure on the plastic battery housing (with my finger), the rattle ceases. The Apple rep said this was normal and wouldn't cause problems, but it's something Apple needs to fix on future builds. The Apple rep described the 'rattle' in his Lombard as minimal, as this occurrence may vary from machine to machine. Mine is pretty noticeable.

We want to hear about it if your Lombard has this problem, or any of the problems for that matter. This particular problem sounds like one that all production Lombards would have. Despite all the problems with Lombard so far, Apple was rated with a "B" grade on reliability in the PC Magazine survey recently.

Continuing with our reader-email driven news update, Matt Sayre wrote in with a tip on how to get a Wallstreet/Lombard power adapter for $38.95. Buy the VST adapter at Buy.com for $48.95, then apply the $10 off deal Buy.com offers once to every buyer. This yields a final price of $38.95.

Reader 'SC' added this tip for getting a leather bag from Outpost.com if you ordered your Lombard before they started the leather bag promotion:

Outpost didn't send me my leather carrying case initially. I was one of the very first buyers from Outpost, and I placed my order a few days before Outpost implemented their leather carrying case promotion. Initially, they said that because I placed my order before the promotion, I wasn't going to get it. Never mind that it was just a few days before the promotion, I waited over a month to get it, and I didn't jump ship to another reseller or Apple when the others got theirs. So, I wrote them a letter pleading my case, and they sent me a carrying case. I sent them a thank-you note advising them to do the same for those other intrepid first buyers who ordered just a few days before Outpost put up the promotion.

You can get so many things just by bugging/asking nicely salespeople. If your ordered your Lombard from Outpost.com, through PepeSearch of course, see if you can pull the same trick.

MacFixIt.com sent over a press release to say they have added user forums. We wouldn't have posted it, except they're actually going to be useful forums. Instead of people giving wrong answers to each other, they have a staff to help out:

MacFixIt.com is pleased to announce the addition of user forums to our suite of technical information and solutions. Users can now post their problems in public messages and receive immediate feedback from other users and MacFixIt staff. MacFixIt Forums are moderated by MacFixIt Associate Editors, Ilene Hoffman and Shawn Platkus. A staff of well-versed individuals, including two Mac training/software consultants, a Mac/PC Network Administrator, and a student Apple developer will help with problem resolution.

Sunday June 20th 1999 13:54 CDT @830

Mac OS 8.6 and Infrared Phones

Reader Rob wrote in with his submission:

Your readers may be interested in a report I've prepared on using OS 8.6's improved infrared support to communicate with infrared-capable GSM phones. It's in the June 19th entry of Rob's DigiNews at: http://www.robgalbraith.com/diginews/index2.html

While we may not be up on our federal mail-order regulations, several readers were. This is just one of several similar messages we got:

The 'federal regulations' that MacZone quoted to your reader only allow them to hold an order on backorder for one month. After that the order must be renewed or dropped. That's the reason Outpost went with pre-orders which aren't subject to the 30 day limit.

So, if you've ordered a while ago, call them up and double-check your order.

Saturday June 19th 1999 06:36 CDT @525 UPDATE: 16:38

USB Page Updated

Our USB Issues page has been updated with more reports. There are some trends developing we'll analyze in more detail later. Also, a reader noted that Griffin Technology, makers of the popular iMate USB to ADB converter, has posted a new version of its driver, 1.3. This is reported to fix issues with the Lombard series of PowerBooks.

Power Adapters

Reader David Bills was searching for power adapters for his new PowerBook. He was kind enough to send us a list of his research:

AccessMicro :	$45.52 (VST)
Computer Quick:	$60.00 (BATTERY TECHNOLOGY,INC.)
AccessMicro :	$61.95 (Apple brand)
Apple Education:$64.00 (Apple brand)
VST:		$64.95 (VST)
Apple: 		$69.00 (Apple brand)
CDW:		$71.82 (Apple brand)
MCE:		$85.00 (MadisonOnline brand)

Note that the power adapters are identical for both Wallstreet and Lombard.

It seems the USB problems only affect the 400 MHz Lombard models. We need those that have received their PowerBooks to test their PBs and then send in your report. Be sure to note the peripherals being used and the speed of your machine.

If you ordered your Lombard from MacZone, pay attention to the following reader report:

Several weeks ago I got a letter from MacZone telling me that my Lombard was backordered. The letter said "if you would like to cancel your order call...".

Well, yesterday I got another letter from MacZone. This letter starts off and looks exactly like the 1st letter except for some fine print. Instead of "to cancel" it says "to continue". It says that the order will be cancelled in 7 days unless I call them to continue the order.

I didnt even notice that when I got it because it looked just like the other letter. I just happened to glance at the letter right before I threw it into the trash. Good thing, or in August I'd have still been wondering why my Lombard hadnt shown up. You may want to alert people to this fine print in the 2nd MacZone letter, lest their orders be automatically cancelled.

The reader followed up that MacZone said it was related to 'federal regulations.' We're not big on the current statutes for mail-order, but this seems bogus. Bottom line: If you're backordered at MacZone, call and confirm your order.

The staff of the 'Zone are cruising down to New Orleans for most of the day. Email will be answered upon our return.

Friday June 18th 1999 02:00 CDT @334 UPDATE: 20:34 CDT

MSNBC Picks Up Story

MSNBC has picked up our Apple VP story. To read their full confirmation of all the facts of the matter, read their article here. C|Net has also picked up the story with their unattributed article.

PowerBook VP Leaves Apple

As we reported late last night, Apple's Vice President of PowerBook development has officially resigned, though sources relate he was basically fired. This is no small change in executives, but a massive restructuring of the entire hardware development area at Apple. For complete details on the story, including reasons for the departure, read our feature. Apple has since replied to an emailed request for confirmation with "Apple has no comment."

Early yesterday we broke the story of widespread problems within Lombard's implementation of USB. What is the USB problem? To put it simply, USB is no longer plug-and-play as the technology normally offers. When you plug in many models of USB input device, sleep the PowerBook, then wake it, the USB device does not work. None of Apple's own USB input devices, mice or keyboards, work. It seems most devices like USB floppies and ZIP drives work.

The good news is that the problem is almost certainly not within hardware, according to sources we spoke with on the issue. To quote an Apple executive, it's the "highest priority" that all problems be resolved. Thus, Apple has put its best engineers on fixing the problem and a solution should be posted as soon as possible.

Again, for reader reports of their situation, visit our USB issues tracking page. We'd like to hear your own situation, as they'd be helpful to the Apple engineers working on the problem. We're tracking the possibility that only 400 MHz machines are affected, so please write in with your reports.

Yesterday X Appeal, a fellow MMN site, received an email from an Apple employee. MacInTouch had been following the same issues, so they received a copy of the email as well. According to X Appeal's full article, the email, contained the following quote:

I got permission to say definitively that Mac OS X Server and Mac OS X WWDC Preview will not install or run on bronze keyboard PowerBooks.

Engineers at Apple are sympathetic, but I'd like to point out that PowerBooks are already explicitly unsupported for now with Mac OS X, and success with previous PowerBooks was because those machines worked as a side effect of making other, supported machines, work.

This of course makes sense. We really shouldn't expect Mac OS X Server or any developer releases to work on Lombard when Wallstreet is even unsupported. As the email says, Wallstreet only works because it was a 'side effect' of giving other machines compatibility. OS X Server has no power management, so using it on a PowerBook is not advised.

Do not confuse OS X Server with OS X Client that will ship sometime early next year. That is Apple's next generation OS intended for consumer use. It will be supported on current 'bronze' PowerBooks, Wallstreet, and the 3400-based original PowerBook G3. Whether it will run on any earlier PowerBooks supported or not is unknown at this time.

Yesterday we mentioned a reader's plea for help with his slow startup problems on his Wallstreet class PowerBook. A few readers offered the following suggestions:

One possible delay during startup occurs if CD's or other drives are connected. The Wallstreet typically has no startup disk selected in the 'Startup Disk' control panel so it must check out any possible drives before finally booting off the internal hard drive. Setting the startup drive to be the internal disk can really speed things up if this is the problem.

---

Had a similar problem recently, but not prior to the happy mac icon. In your case, I'd suspect disk directory damage, and recommend generating a fresh directory with Disk Warrior, or at least running Disk First Aid. If that doesn't work, try this fix. Use "Clean Install Assistant" (shareware) to suck all third party crud from your system folder. Restart the computer, run CIA and put everything back into the system. Sounds weird, but it worked for me solving a slow startup problem under 8.6 (the slow part was during the grey "Mac OS 8.6" screen prior to getting custom desktop/extension loading). Alternatively, delete Finder Prefs, rebuild desktop, zap PRAM, etc.

We hope this fixes the problem.

For those readers interested in the huge price tag on the Lombard in yesterday's mention of a Hong Kong newspaper's review of the machine, reader Nic Maisano fills in the details:

I live in Hong Kong and noticed your report on the South China Morning Post's (SCMP) review of the new Lombard. I'm sure you figured this out already, but just for confirmation, the price tag on the webpage was in Hong Kong dollars. There is a fixed exchange rate of about 1 US$ to 7.75 HK$. That of course is the retail price. Corporate pricing is a fair amount lower than that, although my company has yet to receive the one we order not too long ago.

This is probably the first time the retail price of a mac laptop was the same in the US and in HK. Most of the time there is a 20%-30% markup on pricing. No more. It's good to know that Apple hasn't forgotten about their "other" customers.

It's really great to see that all overseas prices we're aware of are almost exactly equal to the retail price here in the U.S.

Thursday June 17th 1999 04:14 CDT @426
UPDATES: 14:40 17:00 23:07 CDT

PowerBook VP Leaves Apple

Apple's Vice President of PowerBook development has officially resigned, though sources admit he was basically fired. Mark Foster's last day at work will be tomorrow, Friday. There will be no replacement for his position. Instead, PowerBook development has now been folded into desktop system development. Glen Miranker will be the head of both PowerBook and desktop system engineering.

Reasons for the change have been given as "a difference in style with Apple Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering Jon Rubinstein ." Sources have said that "unofficially" the delays in the ramp of Lombard's production played a role in the change.

It goes without saying that this is a landmark change in Apple's hardware development organization. We're looking for great things from the new organization.

Wired Picks Up Auction Story

It seems Wired has picked up the story we reported a few days ago. Their story gives a little more historical background to the Apple I

Possible Lombard Bug Found

Reader Adam let us know of an interesting possible bug with Lombard. If you plug a Apple blue USB mouse from an iMac or Yosemite system into the Lombard, put it to sleep, and wake the machine up, the mouse no longer works. You can unplug the mouse and replug it, it does not work. You can try the other USB port, it does not work. The trackpad still works. The only way to fix this problem is to restart. The only other mouse tested in this situation was a MacAlly USB mouse. It also showed the same symptoms. A USB floppy showed none of these symptoms. We're open to any suggestions or work-arounds. Apple will most likely fix this with some sort of update.
UPDATE: We've posted a page of reader experiences with this problem. Plenty of confirmations and no answer in site...

The distributed computing project SETI@Home, which had been sending the same work units out over and over to 500,000 participants, has now fixed the problem with the system. Read our full report on the issues.

The South China Morning Post has published a review of Lombard. While we were skimming the generally run-of-the-mill review we noted the price at the bottom: '$27,600'. We're going to assume that isn't U.S. dollars or they've got quite a PowerBook black market in Hong Kong.

Reader Brian Hahn asks:

I read an article not to long ago about slow startups on the wallstreet. Well now my powerbook is having a slow startup, slower than usual. My wife's iMac is almost completely up and running before I even get a happy mac on my screen. I have turned off the ram check on the memory control panel, started with base extensions and still it starts slow. It wasn't like this a month ago. Any ideas what else could be the culprit? I ask you because you are "the" source of information on powerbooks, and you do it such a timely manner. If I asked apple support well you know I wouldn't get a response for days.

We have no idea. Do you have a clue? Let us know so we can enlighten everyone.

Wednesday June 16th 1999 05:20 CDT @469 UPDATE: 17:31 CDT

Links

• MacNN's Review of the VST SuperDisk for Wallstreet
• EETimes' IBM Preps SOI-Based PowerPCs
• Macworld's BookEndz: Powerbook G3 Dock Works, But Is It Worth The Price?

Apple Posts ATI Video Update 1.0

Apple has posted the ATI Video Software Update 1.0 to fix display issues with some iMac,PowerBook G3 Series, and Power Mac G3 Systems with the Rage Pro or Rage 128 based graphics systems. These machines include all revisions of iMac except Revision A, all revisions of the beige PowerMac G3s using the Rage Pro, all "Blue and White" PowerMacs, and the second revision of PowerBook G3 Series machines released after Sept. 1st, i.e. the "PDQ" machines. In short, if your system uses a Rage Pro or Rage 128 graphics chip, you need to update. If you're not sure which graphics chip you have, use Apple's System Profiler to identify your chip. Also, Mac OS 8.6 is required for the update. According to Apple's TIL article on the update, it fixes the following problems:

• A freeze when using CPUs with high processor speeds (>=400MHz) and high screen resolution (1280X1024) after heavily using offscreen graphics memory.
• A crash when millions of colors are used with a high resolution monitor.
• Also corrects an instance with certain third party applications where scrolling could result in a crash.

To get the update directly, use the following links. MacBinary [1252k] or Binhex [1703].

Perhaps after heated feedback from resellers, as expressed in our policy change article, MacInTouch reports today that Apple has rerouted some Lombard stock from the Apple Store to large resellers, who had been lacking product for the most part. Any details like the amount of stock transferred is not known.

RATOC systems' CBFW2 card is available for purchase in the United States. There's some interesting pricing details regarding the U.S. price however. For more details, read our full report.

Fellow MMN member X Appeal is trying to fully investigate the issue of OS X Server on the new Lombard PowerBooks. Their latest article, Trial and Error: OS X On Your New PowerBook, discusses the latest attempts people have made to get it to install. The site needs your suggestions to see if they can eventually make it work.

We're not going to bemoan the loss of ADB, a PC Card slot, serial, or even the floppy. However, Apple seems to have skimped on a few things with its newest line of portables. First, many readers have complained their new Lombards have come without a decent manual. Having not seen a Lombard manual yet, we're reserving comment on this. Next, reader Matt says:

Surprisingly, the package did NOT inclue either an Ethernet cable nor a SCSI adapter! This shocked me a little, since all my previous PB's have included these essential items ...

Well, our Wallstreet didn't have the HDI-30 'PowerBook' SCSI adapter, but it did ship with a nice 10Mbit Ethernet cable. Again, having not purchased a Lombard yet, we can't confirm the lack of these items.

Written/Edited/Published by Doug B. Landry
Logo by Jon Iverson
Apple, Mac, Macintosh, Mac OS,The Apple Store, and Powerbook are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
©1999 Doug B. Landry. All rights reserved. All or part may not be reproduced or distributed without written permission.