ATI has used their tech support Web site to officially address the problems that exist with their Radeon 7000 graphics accelerator cards and beige G3s running OS X. Results from users trying that combination range from kernel panics to blank monitors when booting. The card works flawlessly under OS 9 on the same machines. They attribute the problems to the fact that the pre-B&W G3s use the old-world architecture. They donit use a flashable boot ROM so they canit be updated. This means that the problem also exists with the clone machines.

The confusion about the product came about because the requirements for the card were listed as Mac OS X 10.1 and the beige machines are still supported on that operating system. ATI has since updated that information both on their Web site and their product packaging.

If you are one of the unfortunate Mac users that owns that combination, ATI apologizes and recommends that you return the card to the place it was purchased for a refund. They also say that they are currently working with Apple to see if the issue can be fixed in an upcoming version of OS X.