Looking for Crescendo/Encore Diskette Driver 1.4.8

[macuserman]

I have a sonnet card that I'm having some problems with the disk that it came with is corrupted which is 1.4.8 and won't let me copy the driver from it. I've tried 1.4.7 which I found online and newer drivers online but it always hangs trying to load the driver. I did have success oddly enough with an interware driver that I have so I think the issues is that I may need the 1.4.8 version that is on the diskette that I can't seem to use. I looked online and I can't find that particular version anywhere does anyone happen to have it?

Thanks!

 

[ArmorAlley]

Version 2.0 is here: https://web.archive.org/web/20021014163900/http://www.sonnettech.com/downloads/proc_upgrds_sw.html
I'm fairly sure I have it, but I'll have to go look for it.

 

[macuserman]

Version 2.0 is here: https://web.archive.org/web/20021014163900/http://www.sonnettech.com/downloads/proc_upgrds_sw.html
I'm fairly sure I have it, but I'll have to go look for it.

I think I tried that version but I'll double check. It's weird if I boot without any driver at all it also works fine and shows up correctly in system profiler, as well as with metronome. But as soon as I load the sonnet software it just hangs on boot at the first extension which is of course the sonnet one.

 

[DarthNvader]

I think I tried that version but I'll double check. It's weird if I boot without any driver at all it also works fine and shows up correctly in system profiler, as well as with metronome. But as soon as I load the sonnet software it just hangs on boot at the first extension which is of course the sonnet one.

What Mac do you have, what CPU Upgrade do you have, and what Mac OS are you running?

Generally speaking all the Sonnet software does is enable the L2/L3 Cache, if other software works to enable it you don't need to use the software from Sonnet, it won't bring anything special.

 

[jessenator]

IME the extension is something I wouldn't do without. When I've gotten Macs to boot without the driver, I would get erratic behavior and/or nerfed performance. That's if they booted at all, I mean.

I know this might be hard to visually parse, because there's a load of other tests, but long and short of this test is a native beige G3 300 scored higher than the test with G4/500 upgrade without the extension enabled—the "noExt" score. Now that very well could be the caches' being enabled, I'll admit. I don't know all the back-end workings going on.

However, the MacBench point differential is almost the same above, as between my native 603ev 4400/200 and the 4400 with the L2 G3/400 below:

About 1,000 points difference, give or take.

The 4400 (and all LPX-40 derivatives) I've tried have needed the extension to reliably boot (usually one to two times and then they'll crash at system boot). The PowerWave and PowerTower I've tried with a G3 upgrade would technically work and boot each time, and I noticed marginal differences between it and the 604s that were in them originally, but with them enabled, performance was improved.

Now I'm not saying these tests are in any way conclusive, I'm just saying that these experiences are enough for me to say, yeah, I'll always use the driver.

 

[jessenator]

Also, regarding driver versions: I personally ran into issues with v3.x and above with anything but Mac OS 9, but again, anecdotal evidence here. Your mileage may vary.

I got v2.0.3 driving my 400 and previous 500 L2 G3 cards in 4400/StarMax Macs on system 7.6.1 and it flies. Iirc, joshc got their nubus powermac Sonnet running on an even earlier version.

The later revs were for, or so I'm told, mainly the Encore (G4) upgrades.

 

[AlpineRaven]

I know its a old post - are you still looking for Sonnet 1.4.8 as I have a copy.
Cheers
AP