Winds of Change

written by Charles DeVore

from Mouse Tracks June 2000

The ILOVEYOU virus, sent via PC e-mail, seems to have made a deep impact in the PC community. I can hardly believe how many companies got hit by it. Bear in mind that although it does not hurt the Macintosh system, those of you running Virtual PC can indeed be affected. Also all Mac users need to be watchful that we don't pass the virus on by accident.

Seen on NoBeige.com: CompUSA tells us that a dual 500 MHz processor Power Macintosh G4 model is likely to be announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) which runs from May 15-19 in San Jose, CA. According to the insider, SKU numbers for the new Macs have begun to show up in their inventory control systems.

Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Gig hard drives are under the $350 mark. These drives work very well in the B&W Rev 2 G3s and all the G4 models. They also work in the Beige G3s. That's a LOT of hard drive space for most people. When folks ask me what to buy, I usually refer them to smaller drives that are under $200 and have 20 GIGs of space. But if you really need lots of space, this is the drive for you.

Apple did the right thing! Boy is that me saying that? Wow! The class on the software package iMovie was very popular at MacCamp; the only problem was you could not purchase it. Apple only gave it out with DV iMacs. Apple actually listened to the users of the G4s and PowerBooks and released the product to those folks (you are going to love this) for FREE. I have to admit I was shocked that they gave it away. Of course, Apple says you need a G4 or top of the line PowerBook to run it, but most of us know that it runs fine on System 8.5 and above with just about any machine having a G3 processor. Works great in my B&W G3. Thanks Apple! Note that if you want to get movies into your computer using iMovie you will need a FireWire port and a FireWire equipped camera (around $1000). So hats off to Apple for making iMovie free and making some Mac users very, very happy.

Apple has also posted an updater for AppleWorks 6.0 taking it up to 6.0.3. From the feedback on MacFixIt.com and Macintouch.com, this update really will help AppleWorks users to get some work done without crashing their computers. I'm very happy to see this as many users who purchased 6.0 were so unhappy they stopped using it and went back to 5.0. Keep in mind you need at least System 8.1 to use any version of AppleWorks 6.0.

Updaters that may interest you posted on VersionTracker.com: Epson Stylus Color 800 5.6AE printer driver, Netscape 4.7.3, AppleWorks 6.0.3, Keyspan USB twin serial adapter 1.6, CastleWood Orb tools 1.4.2, Address Book 4.2.2, Graphic Converter, and HP LaserJet driver 9.0 are just a few on the list. So if you've been having problems after upgrading to System 9.04, you might want to check this web site for the latest updates.

Tired of how slow your old iMac is? Want it to go really fast? Here's how you can do that. Newer Technology has a upgrade CPU kit that sells for $599, or $449 after you return your old CPU core. The following is the press release about their price changes.
"Newer is lowering the cost of the iMAXpowr G3 466 upgrade, with 1MB of backside cache, from $499 to $449. Additionally, the CPU core exchange price is being reduced from $200 to $150 and the time that users have to return their original CPU core is being extended from 5 days to 14 days. This brings the price, at time of purchase, down to $599 from its previous $699. When the original CPU is returned within 14 days, a $150 credit is issued, which brings the final price of the iMAXpowr upgrade all the way down to $449."

Word on the street is that LCD display prices will start to fall shortly. If this is true, we may be seeing more of them showing up at MacCamp in the future. I would really like to have one on my B&W, not because of desk space, but for the fact they seem to be easy on the eyes. For some reason, I spend way too much time staring at monitors. If LCD prices do fall, we may even see an iMac mated with an LCD screen. It should be light weight enough to be truly portable. Just think of it, you might fold the screen over for carrying and storage. Well, there have been stranger ideas.

Some computer users think that consultants try to hold them back from advancing their System software to the next level Apple has introduced. In a way what we are doing is losing money by saying "not yet". Many users just install new Systems right over the top of old Systems and don't use a consultant at all. This sometimes works and sometimes they get their computer so messed up that it takes weeks to straighten out what should be there and what should never have been installed. So please bear with us. What we really want is for the customer to be happy with what they are using. It's really a pain when you install a new System and your printer stops printing, or your favorite program, that you use for all your life's work, crashes the computer when launched and you need it TODAY to meet deadlines. These are the kind of things consultants think about every day when we give advice.

In my column in the May Mouse Tracks, I talked about having problems with my USB Wacom tablet and System 9.0. The Wacom tablet would only recognize a 640 by 480 section of my monitor. I'm not sure if reinstalling System 9.0 and the 9.0.4 updater helped or if downloading the latest version of the tablet driver cured the problem but everything is fine with it now. It was a big deal because the cordless USB mouse has spoiled me. Yes, cordless and no mouse ball to get dirty -- my kind of mouse. Wacom is another local company that makes great products for the Mac. After my column was published, I received an e-mail from Rich Harris, one of the marketing folks at Wacom, offering to help if I hadn't solved the problem by then. Rich's dad is a PMUG member, and that is how he learned of my problems. The point is: he cared and tried to help. We need more people and companies like that.

Interesting customer service at CastleWood, makers of the Orb drive. I had an Orb cartridge that I could not do a low level format on to correct bad blocks that had developed. So I sent e-mail to the company asking how to get a RMA for a bad cartridge. Received an e-mail back with a phone number to call for a RMA. So I made the call, packaged the cartridge and mailed it off with a copy of the RMA information on the outside and inside the box. One week later I have a box sitting on my porch. Hey, that's pretty good service! Then I notice the box is a little heavy for one single disk. Open the package to discover a new Orb SCSI drive; no power supply or cables -- just a drive. Yes, it had my RMA number. I just wonder about the poor guy somewhere out there who's expecting an Orb drive and gets a single cartridge instead.

I guess I'm lucky that I got into CD-ROM burners before they were a common product. Just got through setting up a client's machine with a CD burner that came with Toast. The version of Toast was 4.0 but was not the deluxe version. Having no idea of the difference, I started training the client on how to use the CD-ROM burner. Well I'll tell you, the version you get with the new drives is indeed a LITE version. You can't burn volumes, only files and folders. You need to be able to burn a volume if you want to create a bootable CD (one that is used to start up your computer.) Next I noticed that ISO format was missing so you could not create a CD-ROM that can be read in a PC. Also missing was the Mac/ISO Hybrid that allows you to make a CD that can be read by both Macs and PCs. These are things I have come to expect CD-ROM burning software to have. The only three functions on this version were Mac files and folders, Music, and Image copy. So you buyers out there better figure on spending another $79 for Toast Deluxe because what you're getting with the drive won't do much.

Ppppsssstt, anybody know how to back up a 40 Gig hard drive without going broke buying tapes, CDs, and Orb disks?

You can reach me at charles@cdevsol.com.

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