Macrumors again...

[tagliatelle]

Saturday, February 9 1:10 PM EDT

Readers have been asking when Apple will update its Java support under OS X to the latest major release from Sun, Java 1.4. According to reliable Apple sources, Cupertino has been working on this for quite a while and expects to deliver the new VM in time for Mac OS X 10.2; in late spring or early summer.

Bungie, the Mac game company that brought us the Marathon and Myth series as well as the much vaunted Oni -- and later this year the much-anticipated Halo, which was assimilated when Bungie became part of Microsoft's XBox division -- is abandoning Myth 2 users and shutting down its central Internet game server for M2. However, the good news is that Bungie is open-sourcing the code for its server and the existing Linux version could be readily ported to BSD unixes, like OS X.

We've had a slew of questions lately about which Macs support OS X's auto-reboot feature which will allow the system to automatically boot up after a power outage or similar unexpected power failure. According to a well-respected Darwin developer, this feature ought to work on all Apple-built Macs officially supported by OS X. Specifically, if the Mac has a New World ROM (1MB or less instead of the older 4MB hardware ROMs on pre-iMac computers), everything should work perfectly. Mac OS X Server supports this feature out of the box, but OS X client needs a third-party utility to enable this feature -- we used PrefEdit to edit Energy Saver preferences for this purpose.

Quake3 addicts like ourselves will be interested to know that a new version of the Urban Terror mod is out, version 2.4. It's a 150MB download for the full version, but it's definitely worth it.

Looks like those misplaced Apple logos on the back of G4 iMac displays aren't as rare as we first thought:
From: Anonymous
Date: Fri Feb 08, 2002 11:02:11 AM US/Eastern
To: rumors@macosrumors.com
Subject: New iMac logo.

I have only seen two new iMacs in person, and both had problems with the metallic logo on the back of the LCD. One, at a CompUSA, was correctly placed, but loose and hanging by just a bit of adhesive. When I attempted to touch it, it fell completely off, and I tried to replace it, but the adhesive wouldn't stick.

The other, at a Apple Event, was firmly in place, but approximately a quarter of an inch out of place to the lower right.

Seems like Apple has a definite manufacturing issue here.
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[googolplex]

strange

 

[tagliatelle]

Wednesday, February 13 2:13 PM EDT

Motorola's new G4 processor roadmap includes 1.5GHz PPC 7470 processors by mid-year with 512K on-chip L2 caches (twice the current size) and a cooler, less costly 0.13 micron wiring process. The 7470 will also support the long-awaited DDR SDRAM memory standard running at 133/266MHz. Following on to these processors, the PPC 7500 will add support for Motorola's RapidIO bus system running at up to 500MHz, an on-chip memory controller for greatly improved bandwidth, and even deeper command pipelines to ramp clock speeds to 2GHz+.

The 7500 will probably not premiere until year's end -- we might expect to see new PowerMacs sporting the chip at Macworld San Francisco 2003 -- but the 7470 and its low-power cousin, the 7460, could be seen in PowerMacs and PowerBooks at Macworld New York this summer.

An anonymous source had this to share regarding new Powerbooks and iBooks:
Apple's Titanium PowerBook is in for a change at Mac World New York. It will not be getting a case changing, but many other things will change (Apple is experimenting with several things though, such as anodizing the Titanium case black and using alternative metals, but these will probably never see the light of day). Screen Resolution will be bumped up to 1536x1024. A different battery will provide 6 hours of juice. 48GB drives will become standard on the high end, with 30GB on the low end, and with a BTO option for a 60GB drive. Optical drives will remain the same as before. The entire line will now feature a 133MHz bus, and run at speeds from 733MHz to 867MHz (133x5.5 and x6.5). Both models will feature the ATi Radeon 7500 Mobility w/32MB DDR RAM (yes Apple isn't going with nVidia, as nVidia is the latest to tee Apple off with their holdback of the Dual 1GHz G4 introduction).

The new PowerBooks will also have a significant Firmware update to resolve some optical drive issues and include Mac OS X 10.2 (if not 10.2.1) and Mac OS 9.2.3.

This is about all that I know, I do not know of any other Apple products that will be updated, besides a little of the iBook, since my source works on the motherboards and logic boards that both the iBook and the PowerBook use. A new iBook, which I have no idea of the release date (most likely at introduction of PowerBook but perhaps after to stimulate more sales for both models) will have 14-inch displays across the line, and in all likelyhood use the maturing Sahara G3 chips at around 700-800MHz with a bus still at 100MHz. This is just a wild guess, but I think that they will sport new graphics chips, but I have no real info on this.

As for Apple press releases...this hardware will probably not be announced until MWNY or before at an Apple special event. And as for saying the G4 has a long life, yes it does indeed, inside of portables and the iMac.
Although the resolution figure given (1536x1024) seems a bit odd -- we'd been generally told to expect 1600x1024 resolution, a much more typical figure -- the rest of the details are precisely in line with what we have heard from other Apple sources. There remain some doubts about when exactly Apple will move beyond the 12.1-inch displays standard on low-end iBooks (and enjoyed by many users who prefer the smaller form factor and don't want a larger display since resolution remains the same), but otherwise we expect that the next round of portable Macs will generally follow what the source denotes above.

As many readers have noted, regarding our Sunda post about Linux kernel preemption, Mac OS X has had this feature since day one. Score one for Cupertino!

There has been a lot of debate about whether Apple's Java support in OS X is as modern and complete as it appears....and if so, whether third-party developers have been properly informed of this, because more than a few Java developers appear to believe there are reasons why their Java applications cannot be supported under OS X.
From: Scott Ness xxxxx@unm.edu
Date: Tue Feb 12, 2002 07:22:17 PM US/Eastern
To: rumors@macosrumors.com
Subject: Mac Java not really up to date

Dear Rumors -

Just a point of contention regarding the statement from Ryan McDonough posted on Sunday, Feb 10, when he said: "Mac Java is up to date"

One of my favorite developer is Silicon Genetics, who makes "GeneSpring", a Java-based cross-platform, high end program for analyzing microarray and genomics data (aka "human genome project"). GeneSpring has been great at supporting the Mac platform (which is a favorite among biologists like me). However, they have yet to come out with an OSX version, claiming that the JAVA implementation is not good enough.

From the Silicon Genetics Web Page:

"**Mac OS 9.1 or 9.2 is recommended. Silicon Genetics will support the use of GeneSpring on OSX when the graphics capabilities of Java in OSX improve."

Is this hogwash, or is the OSX Java support for graphics sub-par?
Java geeks sound off here.


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Sunday, February 10 3:06 PM EDT

More info on Apple's Java 1.4 efforts from an anonymous reader:
While Apple may be looking to update OS X's current Java Runtime for OS X 10.2, this update will not be based JDK 1.4. The 1.4 update is currently scheduled for release around November (and may slip to 2003). Some big vendors of more leading-edge Java products are trying to pressure Apple to up the schedule on that, but Apple's current strategy is to continue to improve speed and stability of 1.3 before moving to 1.4.
...and some more details from reader Ryan McDonough:
From: Ryan McDonough xxxxxx@mac.com
Date: Sun Feb 10, 2002 09:14:32 AM US/Eastern
To: rumors@macosrumors.com
Subject: On Java 1.4

Just to clarify that the current official J2SE release is still 1.3.1, which is that same version running on Mac OS X. Sun has only just released J2SE 1.4 Release Candidate, it is still NOT a production release. Many Mac folks have been criticizing Apple for being late with Java 1.4 when in fact, Apple is not. It is no secret that Apple has been working on a closed beta of Java 1.4 and they haven't been public about. So, just to reiterate, Mac Java is up to date and Java 1.4 is a Release Candidate (a.k.a not yet final, kinda like Golden Master).
We also have some insightful commentary on recent issues coming between Apple and nVIDIA:
Apple and NVIDIA have not been getting along as well as they have in the past. Apple's shift to using only NVIDIA video cards in the new iMacs allowed NVIDIA to boast about their desktop exclusivity on their official web page, making the two companies seem very chummy. Soon after, Apple introduced the new Power Macs with the low end featuring an ATI processor. This may seem strange but in reality it is not. Apple needed the low end Power Mac to be priced competitively with the new iMacs, and could not afford to use the more expensive GeForce4 MX card. Apple also needed the new Power Macs to be more powerful, in terms of graphics capability, than the new iMacs so using the same GeForce2 MX on the Power Macs would prove a problem.

The GeForce2 MX is a slow chip compared with any DDR-based card, so Apple used the cheapest availible DDR chip (the Radeon 7500) to save money and maximize performance. Smart. The GeForce4 MX is, after all, not that much faster than the Radeon 7500; it lacks all the features that make the GeForce3/GeForce4 Ti unique. So far so good, but NVIDIA released the GeForce4 later than it originally intened to.

NVIDIA planned on releasing the GeForce4 at CES 2002 I believe, which was a day after the MacWorld SF this January. This would have worked out well, allowing Apple to announce the new GeForce4 MX for Mac and have it announced for the PC a day later. It would have worked well, that is, if NVIDIA did not delay the launch of their new graphics card for unrelated reasons (the GeForce4 Ti 4200 isn't even finalized now, and none of the Ti chips will ship for about a month) putting both companies in quite a pickle. Apple wanted to announce the new G4s alongside the new iMacs, but due to NVIDIA's delay, they were forced to delay their release.

Apple learned that NVIDIA would announce the GeForce4 in early February and scheduled the new G4 release accordingly. NVIDIA let Apple do this, but believe me, they were not pleased to do so. Apple relented and allowed the BTO GeForce4 Ti option to be delayed to coincide with NVIDIA's announcement of the GeForce4 for the PC but they refused to wait any longer to release the new G4s.

So here's the obvious problem: NVIDIA delays Apple's new flagship computers and Apple releases information on NVIDIA's release of a whole line of video cards. Apple put the Radeon 7500 in the low end G4 so that NVIDIA could no longer claim that they had video cards in all Macintosh desktops as well as for the price/performance reasons stated above (mostly for the latter reaon, but there was a small revenge factor involved). Apple's relations with NVIDIA are decaying much as they already have with ATI and Pixio. If Apple does not get off its high horse and realize that it must accomodate its business partners the outcome of this should be very, very interesting indeed.
We've heard similar things about maneuvers between Apple and nVIDIA, but had generally written in off to the way things typically go when two big corporations with disparate goals are made to work together. Perhaps there may yet be more to it than that....

 

[tagliatelle]

Wednesday, February 20 12:46 PM EDT

Mac OS X 10.1.3 Update has been released -- just open your Software Update preference panel and install away. New features include numerous new CD-RW drivers, application reliability improvements, full-screen visualizer improvements in iTunes, new DVD player features, SSL encryption support in Mail.app, and many more.

More updates later this afternoon.

Tuesday, February 19 7:58 PM EDT

One of our recent anonymous sources had this update to share on his previous portables-related submission.
I have more news and a mistake to correct...after all, this is information obtained through conversation and later typed up...so there was a lack of clarity. I also have some new information.

Clarity and Mistakes:

-Apple isn't anodizing the titanium cases themselves black, but rather other metals. My source said they were coating the cases and I assumed they were anodizing them, (forgive me, this isn't my field) but he later informed me that anodizing titanium black is impossible, but coating it black is (see below.)

-The resolution of the new PowerBook must be 1536x1024 because of the 3:2 aspect ratio. Changing it would either mean changing the casing or stretching pixels, neither of which Apple wants to do right now. (1600x1024 is a 16:10 aspect ratio.) Although Apple could increase the width and make room for a different slot loading drive, battery, etc., this idea was cut down because the PowerBook's current footprint is already quite wide.

New Information:

-Apple is testing some super strong composite materials with the iBook that would make it more robust than even the old iBook, plus working out some of the bugs that hinder the current models when they encounter substantial abuse (screens popping out, optical drive tray getting misaligned and not closing properly, etc.)

-For the PowerBook other coating processes are being used to turn the casing different colors, including copper, bronze, chrome (not actual chrome but chrome-like) and black. These processes will add more expense, but they are very hard and withstand heat very well (Apple has recently hired some engineers from the tool coating industry). Currently one of Apple's big goals with the PowerBook is to make it more durable...even though the image projected with the titanium casing is one that makes it seem strong, it isn't very durable in practice. They are also working on the issue of the PowerBook's screen being much too flimsy (coatings help, and Apple is experimenting with coatings that do not change the PowerBook's color, so they will not be very noticeable until you use the machine. They also help to reduce scratches, which is a big plus.)

-Pioneer and Apple have been working closely to make a SuperDrive that will fit in the PowerBook (first on the Mac, of course). They have managed to make the drive quite a bit smaller, the main issue now being power consumption. Whether we will see the SuperDrive in a portable in the near future is doubtful, but almost certain by 2003.

-The iBook will be getting either the video card the PowerBook currently employs (16 MB Mobility Radeon) or a 16 MB Radeon 7000.

-The front with the iBook display/differentiation changes daily, it seems. The high-end iBook will most likely feature a 14-inch 1280x1024 display (5:4 aspect ratio helps to lessen the space on the sides of the keyboard, the footprint will also be reduced by reducing the margins on the top, left, and right. The bottom will stay the same so the screen will be above the casing when opened, and so the iBook logo will be visible at the same size. Not much word on what the exact footprints will be, but the Apple is working hard to shave off millimeters in every direction as well as reduce weight.

-On the battery front, expect a change to lithium-polymer based batteries on the PowerBook to bring it up past the iBook in terms of battery life (6 hours).

-There is almost no doubt to this, but Apple will be revising the current power adapter that comes with all new PowerBooks and iBooks. Currently they are prone to the casing coming off. Also, after a while one of the LED indicators burns out due too much voltage being delivered to it. Expect the new adapter to have the same style as the current one.

-Do not expect February 26th as the release date for either of these machines as other rumor sites have foretold.

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One very popular bit of speculation recently has been that Apple will market the powerful third-generation G4, the PowerPC 7500, as a "G5".
From: "David Smith" xxxxx@hotmail.com

Date: Fri Feb 15, 2002 01:04:42 PM US/Eastern
To: rumors@macosrumors.com
Subject: 7500 = G5?

The recent rumors about the MPC 7500 sound a lot like the rumors we've heard about the G5.
7500 -- G5
500MHz RapidIO bus -- Same
1.5GHz -- Same
On chip memory controller Same
32-bit -- 32/64 bit (according to Motorola roadmap)


It's true that the 7500 will offer many of the advanced chip design features that the 8500 family will, but retaining the G4 logic architecture which the G5 replaces with 'Book E'. This makes the 7500 a more practical chip for Motorola in the near term, since its Book E designs are still developmental. The e500, Motorola's only currently shipping G5-class processor, is for embedded applications and lacks many of the capabilities Apple would need in its chips.

However, the 8500 will be dramatically faster at the same clock rate than the 7500. It will handle 64-bit instructions and be available in multiple-core configurations. It will include even more Altivec units and is designed to be highly scalable -- the 7500 is expected to top out at 2.2GHz, whereas the G5 is believed to be capable of well in excess of 3.6GHz in its lifetime.

Despite the differences, it's entirely possible that Apple will put the PowerPC 7500 in machines it names G5s. In reality, the "G" series identifications are something Mac users bring to the equation -- Apple, Motorola, and IBM have adopted the titles because they're so popular, but they're more marketing tools than technical descriptions.

After all, the PPC 7400 was little more than a PPC 750 G3 with Altivec. The 7450 was really the first chip you might call worthy of a generational gap over the 750. It's entirely possible, given all of the memory and on-chip data bandwidth improvements on the 7500, that it would be far more worth the generational title update than the G4 was. Does, then, the 64-bit PowerPC architecture become the G6? G6....64-bit....G6....does rather have a ring to it, doesn't it?

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©1995-2002 Mac OS Rumors

 

[fryke]

erhm, hervé, much as i love some of your posts, repeating mosr doesn't make much sense now, does it?