Winds of Change

written by Charles DeVore

from Mouse Tracks May 2001

When is a firmware upgrade a down grade? When you lose the use of your computer's installed memory. What new advantage does the most recent update of the firmware give you? Here is the direct text from Apple.

"The Apple 4.1.7 and 4.1.8 firmware updates incorporate a number of fixes that dramatically improve system stability and performance. The update also includes a new check that validates whether the installed memory in the machine is compatible. This check was added to help alleviate random crashes and stability issues. The new memory test disables memory DIMMs that are found to be out of specification and DIMMs that can not be determined to be compatible. As a result, some third party memory that was recognized by previous versions of firmware may no longer be recognized after the updates."

Updates questionable?
For me firmware updates are questionable. No longer do I run them unless certain software tells me it won't install without the update. The reason behind this stubborn approach is the Blue and White firmware 1.2 updater. It was supposed to dramatically improve system stability and performance. What they did not tell you was that it blocked installing third-party CPU upgrades to the G4 chip. All the vendors then had to write patches in order to get around this. So this time the sneaky devils are trying to add "support for additional security options which allow the Open Firmware to be password protected." My mind wonders back to the protect from who? Yes Apple, it's the burn me once–shame on you, burn me twice–not likely.

System OS X is a work in progress. Having to relearn almost everything about file sharing and other Macintosh tasks does not make for happy computing. I have it running on a G4 400 MHz machine with 320 Meg of RAM and 50 Gigabytes of hard drive space. This machine is totally devoted to running System X. Almost anything I do on that machine launches Classic 9.1 in order to run. There is very little software the average user wants to run that has been ported to OS X. I'll keep you posted and try to let you know when it's usable. Currently no SCSI devices can be used with this machine due to the fact it does not have an Apple SCSI card in it. So all my hard drives, Orb, DAT tape, Jaz, scanners, and CD-RW drives are sitting on the shelf. I do have an Iomega Zip USB drive attached to it and that works nicely. Having to remember to enter the server's IP address when I want to fileshare with it from my B&W G3 is a pain. Printing to my Laser Writer Pro 630 works fine.

Office 2001 Update
Office 2001 users need to note that there is a updater out for it. This updater can be found on the Sheep or at VersionTracker on the web. The following is a list of improvements from MS.

"Microsoft Word 2001 Service Release 1 (SR 1) correctly saves documents in Word 4.0 for the Macintosh format when that format has been selected in the 'Save Word files as' pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu, Preferences command, Save tab). However, the Office Assistant must be turned off for this option to work properly. To turn off the Office Assistant, click Turn Assistant Off on the Help menu. Word 2001 SR 1 fixes a rare problem that sometimes caused documents containing numbers to lose data or become corrupted when they were saved in Rich Text Format and opened in Word for Windows." That was just the general improvements, the list goes on about other issues–FileMaker support, List Manager support, Printing improvements–for about three pages of text. Well, at least they are trying to fix the problems.

Computer Store GalaŠ
Janet and I went to the Computer Store's rollout of Mac OS X on March 24th. Of course we took copies of Mouse Tracks to give away and we got to the Tigard store before it opened. Ian Schray was already inside (7:45 am) due to the fact that he was selling the Pro version of the VersionTracker software that day. So PMUG was well represented when the store opened at 8:00 am. About 20 people were waiting outside when the doors opened. Most of the people there were Mac users, all wanted a look at the new System and many purchased it upon entering. The first 50 people got free System OS X tee shirts and anyone buying VersionTracker Pro got a free tee for that product. I was very happy to hear some of the answers being given out while I was there. The sales people all had a good background for the Mac questions. About 9:00 am I remembered we had left the camera at home so Janet and I left to get it. Got back to the store around 10:00 am and started taking pictures of the event. The store kept busy all the time we were there. The slide show Apple had sent to the store folks was well thought out and the demo lasted about half an hour. The store had a nice selection of Macs up and running.

Šand the other guys
Janet and I decided to see what the other stores were up to, so we went to the CompUSA store in Tigard. As usual, no store personnel were in the Mac area. No one was doing demos and all in all it was pretty disappointing. Then we went to Fry's where PMUG's Guy Priano was doing the Mac OS X demo and passing out PMUG flyers. Thanks Guy! The Mac area was busy with lots of products on display.

Big Win for PMUG!
The User Group store had a contest and PMUG won one of the prizes! The best part is that the prize was a iMac for the office. The reason we won the prize is all of our members who purchased products giving us more points than any other single group. To quote the UG store "We're pleased to note that most of the reason for PMUG's volume is that they're an active, vibrant group and they have done a good job promoting awareness of the Mug Store with the membership– good job guys!" Thanks to the UG Store for offering the contest and the prizes! New pass words for the store are for 5/1/01 - 7/31/01 User ID: think / Password: different.

Power cable care
Do you have an iBook or PowerBook? Be real careful of the power cable that charges the battery. Many times users forget that it's the easiest part to be broken. It does not take much stress at all to damage the port that is connected to the motherboard. Apple's answer for this is to replace the motherboard at your expense. They do not consider it normal wear and tear. So good rules to live by are: don't stretch the cord tight, don't push your computer into stacks of books and papers, and don't carry it around with the cord plugged in. Also treat this part very gently as you plug it in and unplug it from the computer. You take care of it and it will last for the life of the portable. Mistreat it and the money you pay to fix it will be a lot.

Quantum quits consumer line
After 21 years, hard drive maker Quantum has sold its consumer product line to Maxtor and will focus on high end products. For many years buying a hard drive for me meant buying Quantum drives. They were simple to configure and always used the same pin-out for SCSI addresses and termination. However as ATA drives slowly took over the market I started buying Maxtor for the very same reason I used to buy Quantum. They use the same configuration on every drive. It's sad to see good companies give up on the consumer market but there is very little profit there. For more info use the following web address. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-5405392.html

PMUG's SETI team
Anyone running SETI software that wants to join the PMUG team should go to the following web address and click on the "join" button. At the current time we have six members and have racked up over 13.5 years of search time. Be the first one on your block to find life on other worlds.

http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_91929.html

Sears deals
As of May Sears will no longer sell Apple products. I believe that Apple finally looked at what Sears was doing with their $100.00 over the dealer price and no authorized repair centers. Even Fry's has better sales support than they had. So look there for close out deals.

Parental filters
Note to parents: the best computer content filters is having a parent in the same room as the child. All software can be fooled and/or defeated. Only real live parents can stop most of the bad stuff from getting through to their children. If you don't think they can get x-rated material off their computer, you're living a lie. I get three to four ads for porno sites every day in my email. More in newsgroups and on the web can be accessed by accidentally clicking on the wrong link.

Netscape Communicator 4.77 has been released. This release addresses problems with the Personal Toolbar (files that disappear into folders), fixed some Javascript bugs and a problem with links of helper options. You can find this update on the Sheep or at VersionTracker.com.

iTunes changes
Many of us wonder what the effect will be on iTunes now that Kerbango has announced its closing. Kerbango operates the web site that Apple uses to locate streaming audio stations. 3COM owns the site and it's being shut down as part of a cost-cutting move. So it's very possible that Apple may get into the business of locating its own streaming audio sites. It's sad–Janet just got used to listening to German radio stations playing pop music.

You can reach me at charles@cdevsol.com.

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