Odds & Ends: DVD stutters; Adobe driver 8.6; Modem Updater; more

DVD stutters: a follow-up Readers continue to report the DVD video stutter problem (mentioned here last time). However, Hubert Chan notes: "The Read Me file for the DVD Player states that an occasional stutter may be caused by the DVD drive changing layers on the DVD disc itself. This stutter is considered to be normal. On my machine, the stutter lasts only a split second." A recent TIL article (#31020) covers the precise issue of "DVD: Causes of Skipping/Stuttering." Also see "Power Macintosh G3: DVD Troubleshooting" (#58402) and "Troubleshooting DVD Video Issues" (#58383).

Adobe PostScript driver 8.6 tidbits George Gratzer claims that Adobe PostScript Printer Driver 8.6 worked for duplex printing where Apple's latest LaserWriter 8 driver would not work. However, "Stan the Man" found that the new Adobe driver did not work well with his Epson StylusRIP server; print-outs took almost two hours to complete where the last version did the same file in under 10 minutes.

Faceplate included with G3/BW Macs An Apple dealer writes: "The new series of Power Mac's now come with a faceplate and installation instructions for a Zip drive stuffed right in the literature/keyboard box. Now it's a cinch to throw in an IDE drive for Apple's $100 price point!"

Modem Updater 1.3.5 unneeded for new PowerBooks Apple TIL article #24939 notes: "It is not necessary to install Apple Modem Updater 1.3.5 on the PowerBook G3 Series (Bronze keyboard)." It already has the update included.

Enhanced CDs cause a problem? Reader Ben Merritt found that, after using an "enhanced" audio/data CD, his Performa 6400 (running Mac OS 8.5.1) would no longer recognize ordinary audio CDs. Instead, after inserting these CD's, he gets the error message: "Do you want to initialize this disk?"

Update: Readers are split on this. A couple of readers reported similar problems, while one reader claimed never to have seen this, despite often using enhanced CDs.

Yesterday, we posted Shawn Platkus' MacFixIt Extra on MacHack.

Rumors about Apple's forthcoming hardware A news.com story covers a wide range of rumors on topics from the new iMac expected this fall, to the consumer portable expected at Macworld Expo to possible licensing of Palm PDA's by Apple.