Winds of Change
written by Charles DeVore
from Mouse Tracks December 1999
Apple has announced a change in the AppleCare Extended warrenty. But
some people may misread the details, so I'd like to be sure people are
seeing that the extra coverage is really two (2) years not three (3).
To quote from the Apple Care page, 'Three years of Apple-certified repairs,
both parts and labor (extended two years from the one-year limited warranty
included with your system purchase)'. It has been confirmed with the Apple
store; you are buying two additional years of coverage not three.
Apple has sold out of the Cinema Display monitors and won't be taking
orders again until January. Rumor has it that not many were ever shipped
due to the production problems of a screen this large. Remember: you had
to order a G4 450 Mhz computer with this display and pay a total price
of $6,498 for the combined package.
Raycer Graphics, a graphics chip designer was just purchased by Apple.
It is unknown what Apple wants with the company, possibly their technology
patents. The big question is how this affects Apple's current partner
ATI and the Rage Pro chips. Some sources really feel ATI has fallen down
on the software (drivers) and have failed to quickly produce updated products
to meet the Macintosh demand.
Speaking of Apple and how hard it is to understand things they do. There
is now a G4 400 Mhz machine that runs on the new Yikes motherboard; however
the old G4 400 Mhz was first introduced was on a Sawtooth motherboard.
Since they look alike on the outside only folks familier with both will
know how to tell them apart. So beware all you 400 Mhz buyers, there is
a difference. See table and picture for the details.
Adobe is having some G4 problems and is having to re-write code to fix
the PhotoShop Velocity Engine plug-ins. These problems may be everything
from artifacts showing up to icons of PhotoShop files disappearing from
desktops. Adobe says the fix should be posted shortly.
VST has new drivers for its FireWire drives. The new drivers improve the
data transfer rates, password protection for partitions, data encryption,
write protection, and allow you to create and use DOS formatted volumes
from a Mac. This will be a free update to VST drive owners. Contact http://www.vsttech.com/
vst/press.nsf/default or 1-978-263-9700
Amiga appears to be slipping slowly into the dead computer bracket. Many
of their phones are turned off, projects cancelled and employees laid
off. It's sad because at one time Amiga was tops in its field and could
have, with the right management, stayed side by side with Apple. I have
worked with several Amiga users on video projects. Their computer like
the Macintosh was ahead of its time in video editing.
Mac OS 9
For folks who have made the move to Mac OS 9.0, brave devils that they
are, ATI recommends removing the existing ATI monitor drivers and re-installing
them using the 4.0.1 Universal installer. Failing to do so can result
in Finder crashes. You can contact ATI in Canada 1-906-882-2626 or at
their web site http://support.atitech.ca/index.html.
Apple says Mac OS 9.0 is not compatible with the USB 1.2 card support
software used with System 8.5.1 and 8.6 in PCI slotted Macs. Apple is
investigating solutions to this. What it really means is that Apple hasn't
a clue of how to fix the problem and is hoping someone else finds a solution.
This is another pointer to me that Mac OS 9.0 is not ready for prime time.
ATI"s new Xclaim VR 128 video capture card seems to have problems recording
640X480 video. Most other recording is fine up to 636X476. However the
box says 640X480 but maybe they were using metric and failing to convert
correctly. I mean NASA can't convert it with Mars probes so why should
ATI get it right?
Apple profits
Apple is taking all sorts of heat lately for their margins and reseller
issues. Their margins are great but however it leaves the resellers with
very little profit. Apple is telling them they should be making it up
with service and support. What this does is make the dealer the bad guy.
Dealers can't give price breaks without giving the product away and if
Apple does its job right there should be very little service needed. I
hate to say this but I really believe Apple needs to give a little profit
back to the stores that sell their product. It's that or start their own
stores and cut out the middle man. I would prefer the local store making
more money to Apple controlling all sales.
Quicken 2000
From the web pages of MacFixit comes reports that the fix for Quicken
2000R2 is not all that it can be.
DiscoverCard: David Winograd writes: "Although Quicken 2000R2 lists
DiscoverCard as accessible for online transaction retrieval, it doesn't
work (at least according to the Intuit tech rep he spoke with). The Customer
ID field which should contain the entire credit card number of 16 digits
only holds 11 digits."
Browser crash: Claus Boggild found that the R2 version still crashes when
selecting a browser from within preferences. The crash gives a Type 1
error. See this and other MacFixIt Forums threads on Quicken 2000 crashes.
Reconcile bug: W.M. Carroll states that R2 still has a problem with reconciling
(an issue present in Quicken 98 and previously noted on MacFixIt). He
adds: "The only recovery technique that I know of is to laboriously
delete and re-enter data. I personally know of at least three other users
on widely differing Mac platforms who are having identical problems."
Stock sales: One reader noted a continuing problem with the "Choose
lots" option for stock sales.
iMac news
iMac Update 1.0 causes crashes or freezes if installed over Mac OS 9.0,
according to a new Apple Tech Info Library article, which notes that the
update is installed by third-party packages.
Rumor has it that the new iMac Blueberry $999.00 models are starting to
arrive in stores. Apple has held up shipping these to take care of the
demand for the DV $1299.00 model that adds more to the bottom line. If
you have a choice the $999.00 model beats the old $1199.00 model hands
down.
| iMac 333 mhz | iMac 350Mhz slot | Shared Features: |
| 333 MHz G3 32MB RAM ATI Rage Pro Graphics 6MB SGRAM Every Color Fan No AirPort Access 66MHz System Bus 24X tray feed CDrom |
350 MHz G3 64MB RAM ATI Rage 128 AGP 2X 8MB SGRAM Just Blueberry No Fan AirPort Access 100MHz System Bus 24X slot feed CDrom |
10/100 Ethernet 512k Backside Cache 56 K Modem Two 12 Mbps USB Ports 6 GB HD |
| Aprox. $899 | Aprox. $999 |
User reminders
I have had two clients recently install their old System software over the top of their current System. Both upgraded several months ago to 8.1 from 7.6.1. If you have updated your System, be aware that the restore CD included when you bought the computer has older software on it. Reinstalling this older System can result in all sorts of problems in your System folder. Best course of action is to do a clean install of your current System software. Trying to wade though the old extensions and the ones you need gets confusing even to those of us dealing with it daily. Be sure to back up all your data just in case something drastic happens.
In the just pull your hair out till you scream catagory. The little known but mind numbing "I upgraded to System 8.1 and now my printer does not show up in the chooser" problem. I always forget the name of the extension that causes this to happen so it's entertaining to track it down. After all I usually start looking in places like the Extensions folder. Wrong! Apple wants to make sure I die hairless. They make it an invisible file unless you are in the Extensions manager and know what to look for. So here it is, write it down so the next time I forget I can call you. And the winner is "LocalTalk PCI". I have no idea how many people have spent lots of money tracking this down but I'll bet the cost is in the thousands of dollars.
Please remember to restart your computer after turning the extensions off or on with the Extensions Manager. Your changes will not take effect until you do. Why is that? Well Extensions are read at startup, they load into System memory and stay there until you restart and they are read again.
Something doesn't work, the voice on the phone says. I ask, What did you change last? Nothing at all says the caller. Well, I say, usually when this sort of thing happens someone has changed something. Hum? Well it may have been my neighbor, he's a PC guy but I was having a problem and he offered to help. Please people, PC guys know very little about their own machines much less about yours. The best way to have them help out is for them to recommend a good Mac consultant. Now about that mouse you're using as a foot petal...
For more information like this, contact the Portland Macintosh Users Group
at http://www.pmug.org
or call 503-228-1779.
Back to Winds Index
Back to Home page