Macintosh Hardware
A Zippier PowerBook — VST Technologies recently shipped a much-anticipated expansion bay Zip drive for PowerBooks. Adam White Scoville <[email protected]> noted, "PowerBook users who, like me put their machines through quite a pounding, but are never as conscientious as they would like to be about backing up their embattled hard disks would love to see an expansion bay Zip drive from VST Technologies in their stockings. All the better to justify that feeling of invincibility that one feels biking to class with a PowerBook in the backpack." TidBITS-405 has more details.
<http://www2.skyworld.com/cgi-shl/cfml.exe? Template=/vsttech/
3400zip.cfm& amp;ObjectGroup_ID=379>
<https://tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04266>
MacPicasso 516 — Many of us at TidBITS rely heavily on Macs with multiple monitors, so we were pleased when Kai Niggemann <[email protected]> suggested the Village Tronic MacPicasso 516 as a cheap way to attach a second monitor to PCI-based Macs, "This small, inexpensive PCI Video-card is not very fast, has no acceleration or anything, and only supports VGA so you need a multisync monitor for it. But it is probably the cheapest way to hook up that old monitor in the back of the closet. You can use the second monitor to store palettes from programs such as Photoshop and PageSpinner."
<http://www.villagetronic.com/products/ mp516.html>
CapSure PC Card — Video capture fans might check out the CapSure PC Card from Irez Technologies. Marc Shipman-Mueller <[email protected]> described the card in detail: "Here some notes on the CapSure PC Card, which costs about $130. It works with the PowerBook 3400, 2400, and (I assume) the new G3 PowerBooks. It takes composite video or S-Video in, and can either display the video on screen or digitize it. Even though the digitizer is so-so, the onscreen display is great, since it uses a technology called Zoomed Video. Zoomed video enables the card to bypass the CPU, and send the video straight to the screen display circuits. That means good looking, almost full-screen video. Plus the CapSure can deal with NTSC, PAL, and SECAM."
Power3D — Andrew Hartung <[email protected]> commented, "For the Mac gamer, how about the Power3D card from TechWorks? You can find it for around $200 and it comes with a few games." TechWorks bills the PCI card as "adding 3D gaming acceleration to your PowerPC," and the card comes with Id Software’s Quake Episode 1, Activision’s MechWarrrior2, VR Soccer’s VR Sports, and Bungie Software’s Weekend Warrior.
<http://www.techworks.com/products/power3d/ power3d.html>
Envision a PaperPort — In the cool peripherals department, Jay Rolls <[email protected]> suggested a Visioneer PaperPort, a small, sheet-fed scanner: "I’m going to get my father a Visioneer PaperPort. They’ve come down so much in price, they’re an affordable gift. I noticed how much Dad visits the library to make copies. Since they already have a StyleWriter, all they need is the scan mechanism to have a home copy shop!"
Visioneer currently sells two PaperPorts for the Macintosh: the PaperPort Strobe for Mac and the PaperPort vx. The Strobe is a newer, smaller model (1.5 pounds) and offers color support and faster scanning time for an SRP of $299. The $149 vx is older, larger, and doesn’t do color. Both models connect to the Mac via the SCSI port; check the press releases at the URLs below for system requirements. Visioneer is offering a $50 rebate on either model through 31-Dec-97.
<http://www.paperport.com/>
<http://www.paperport.com/newasp/press/may0597- 2.asp>
<http://www.paperport.com/newasp/press/ jan0697.asp>
Hubby — Steve Kayner <[email protected]> suggests, "I found a nifty five-port Ethernet hub called the D-Link Hubby (model DE805). It stands about 3.5 inches tall and has a cool design that any Mac-head could appreciate. I bought mine for $39. Here’s the canned bit: ‘This Walkman-sized hub is ideal for small departments or offices, and it easily attaches to larger networks by cascading to other hubs. For troubleshooting, Hubby is equipped with LED indicators for power, collision and link/RX status.’"
<http://www.dlink.com/products/hubs/de805.htm>