PowerPC information galore this week, including specs on all the new machines due out on March 14th, and current Quadra prices for those who don’t want take the PowerPC plunge. We cover the fuss concerning the Clipper chip and provide pointers to all sorts of information about it; Dave Thompson of ARPA warns about Meeting Maker and On Technology; and we provide a brief look at our upcoming books about the Internet and (from Tonya Microsoft Word.
As the ides of March approach, so does the deadline for my next book. It's unlike any other Internet book that I've seen in that it's non-technical and provides a look at Internet life in order to show and not tell what the Internet is all about
A new radio talk show about computers called "OnLine Tonight with David Lawrence" debuts this Sunday, 27-Feb-94 "via the ABC Satellite System." I know zilch about radio, so I'm not sure how that will help you find it in your area, but the time will be 8:00 PM Eastern time and 5:00 PM Pacific time, so I'll just go low-tech and dial through all the local stations
CD Updates -- Two popular CDs packed with thousands of files have recently been updated. AMUG (the Arizona Macintosh Users' Group) shipped BBS in a Box X for $119 ($45 upgrade), and Pacific Hi Tech just released the third edition of the Info-Mac CD-ROM for $49.95 (previous owners get a $20 discount), which holds many of the files stored on
Duo Battery Patch -- Apple has released a patch for the Duo 210, 230, and 250 (the 270c is not affected) that reportedly solves problems with the Duo not charging its internal battery
Mark Anbinder reported on the Quadra price drops two issues ago, but we've had requests for the actual pricing, and some additional information appeared too late for Mark's article
The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) has been using Meeting Maker from On Technology for the last three years as its agency-wide scheduling system
You may have heard mutterings in the media about the Clipper chip, a computer chip that provides encryption services for both data and voice transmissions (that's right, telephones)
March may bode well for Macintosh users if the PowerPC versions of the Macintosh appear on schedule and live up to reports I've heard. You can find some of this sort of information (but not the juicy stuff) via Gopher at the URL below
The following specs were posted to the nets, and certainly aren't officially from Apple. Still, they jibe pretty much with what I've heard.
Model 6100/60 7100/66 8100/80
Processor PPC601 PPC601 PPC601
Speed 60 MHz 66 MHz 80 MHz
Cache Optional Optional 256K standard
Performance 25% faster 200% faster
Native 2-4x 68040/33 than 6100/60 than 6100/60
Emulated fast 030-040
RAM 8 MB standard 8 MB standard 8 MB standard
DRAM exp