Winds of Change

written by Charles DeVore

from Mouse Tracks April 2003

As more and more Apple computers ship with OS X boot only firmware, many users are opting to get used and refurbished units. Apple also sells a couple of computers on their web site that will still boot into OS 9.2.2, so you may want to check that out as well.

Many people are asking if they even need Classic on their computer at all with the new programs coming out for System 10. It depends on what you really need on your computer and how the software being released is written. Many applications on the market need only System 10 to run, however some installers will only run in System 9 (or Classic). Be sure and read the box or check out websites of the vendors before laying down the money for software that may not work due to Classic requirements.

No this will not turn into an all System 10 column anytime too soon; I still use my B&W tower running System 9.1. However my TiBook runs System 10.2.4 and is seldom called on to boot into 9.

Many of you who have purchased new machines may want to copy your System 9.2.2 folder onto a CD and archive it, in case of hard drive crash. Never hurts to have a copy with all your prefs files and extensions hanging around.

Virtual PC
Bad news from the dark side, Microsoft has purchased Connectix –the folks who make Virtual PC for the Mac. Of course they say everything will continue as before with no changes. Well, I am concerned that MS may very well make VPC less effective, forcing even more Mac users to buy Wintel and MS boxes to get certain programs to work. The other fear I have is that Microsoft will try to control the versions of Windows just like they are doing with Wintel machines. I can hardly wait for the message to come up telling us to reinstall just because we changed something.

Solitaire
I just purchased the shareware game Solitaire Till Dawn for System 10 and have been very pleased with it. Anyone wanting to try it out before you buy, feel free to search for it on VersionTracker.com and download it.

iMovie 3
Apple updated iMovie to 3.0.2 to fix some of the problems in 3.0. However many of the problems that PMUG members and others are seeing are still there. One of the biggest is creating a movie and sending it to another Mac user or PC user who can't get it to play. So sounds to me like 3.0.2 still needs work.

Printers
Printers, most of us have a love/hate relationship with them. Many of the Epson printers have a built-in problem for users. If the ink is out in the color or the black cartridge, the printer will not only not print but the Chooser/Print Center will not see the printer's USB port. Now I'm sure that a empty cartridge won't hurt the printer, so just what are they trying to do here? The only reason to do this is to force you to buy ink even if you are not going to print in the missing color. I have had clients buy new cables, and spend time on the phone trying to find out why their printer does not work, only to have this be the problem. I'm sure that some folks have even purchased new printers thinking theirs was dead.

Battery Problems
The new System update (10.2.4) may have some problems of its own. It seems lots of people are reporting their PowerBook and iBook batteries are taking a nosedive after the update. Some batteries stop recharging, while others will only operate for 5 or 10 minutes before shutting down.

Anyone who has purchased an iBook or PowerBook in the last year and did not purchase AppleCare may want to do so before their warranty runs out. I know that it's spendy and I don't get any kickback from Apple if you do pay them the money. However if updates are going to cause things like battery problems, who know what else they may break. Batteries cost $129 and up, so it won't take much to pay for that warranty.

Contrary to what you read here and online, the battery problem has been with us since at least 10.2.3 and maybe earlier. I experienced it last November. At that time there were hundreds of messages about the problem on Apple's iBook support forum (they have since mysteriously disappeared). My battery was replaced under AppleCare–no questions asked. –Bill Trent (MT Editor)

OS X Troubleshooting
One of the main reasons I have been reluctant to have customers buy the new machines is the lack of support programs to troubleshoot OS X-only systems. Many of the utilities out there will only boot into System 9.2.2 to allow repairs to happen. If you can't boot into 9.2.2, then how do you fix the problem? So far the only answer to that is reinstall 10.2 (or whatever version you're running) and then do the updates to get you back where you were. If you are going to attempt this please make sure you do an "archive and install." Archive preserves your user and network settings so that you don't have to enter everything again. Now that sounds OK but what if the real problem was bad memory or some other problem like a bad hard drive sector? We really do need those tools to get on with System 10.x. Apple needs to help DiskWarrior, Norton Utilities, and TechTool have bootable OS X System CDs. Hopefully in April we will see this start to happen.

Hard Drives
So you bought a hard drive and installed it into an external FireWire or USB case to have a backup of your data. Good for you! Now if anything goes wrong with that hard drive be sure not to tell the Maxtor/IBM/Western Digital people you have it in that external case. I have been hearing reports that if you tell them it's mounted in an external case they refuse warranty repairs. First they lower their warranty to 1 year from 3; now they won't warranty hard drives in external cases? As they say in the military, don't ask don't tell. Just tell them it's dead.

New Monitors
New monitors from Apple are very nice looking. The 20-inch is fantastic for doing spreadsheets, etc. The cost is down to the point where you can even think about owning one–$1300. However the best deal now is the 17-inch that sells for $700 (down from $1000). Remember that a 17-inch LCD gives you the same viewing area found on a 19-inch CRT. Be aware that Apple is saying that the 20-inch is only System 10–not System 9.2.2–compatible. Do not let that sway you if you have a machine running 9.2.2, it works just fine in most, but not all, resolutions. Apple is just trying to protect its buns by saying you need 10.x as some resolutions may not sync with this unit.

iChat
I'm not a big fan of "chatting" with other people on my Mac; in fact until the time iChat came out I resisted all attempts to get any instant messenger running on my computer. With the event of iChat (being an Apple program), I had to learn how to work with it. So Janet and I set it up to do local chatting between our two computer rooms. This prevents yelling back and forth due to the fact we are on opposite sides of the house. I'm happy to say it works well. The biggest thing I watch out for is only giving my chat name to people I really need to interrupt my work. These are people like myself who want to keep in contact but know not to bother each other too much. However after getting my brother in-law and sister in-law hooked up we have found another use of the iChat feature. I can talk to Egypt and not spend a cent. This will help us keep in touch even with people overseas or across the country and not pay those massive telephone bills. Now there are a couple of drawbacks; you can't see anyone's face and you do need to type at least 10 words a minute. Anyone who is a spelling freak will not want to do this. Lots of words get sent misspelled or just plain scrambled but the fact is, it works. We can even talk to anyone using Netscape/AOL's AIM program; you are not limited to Macs. So if you're running Jaguar and you want to try it here's what you need: An AOL, Netscape or .Mac account. You can get a Netscape account just by going to Netscape and signing up for one.

You can reach me at charles@cdevsol.com.

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