Winds of Change

written by Charles DeVore

from Mouse Tracks August 2000

Why is it that shivers go up my spine when people tell me they have no back up of their data? Even before I joined PMUG I would point out over and over to computer users that the data is the most important thing on their computer. Just last week I was at a client site and the client told me he had no back up of his hard drive. I asked "Aren't you worried about losing your files?" His answer was "No, each project requires me to start fresh."

True, he creates book covers and each one has to be different. Still he was forgetting the fact that he owns a lot of fonts he bought online. The places selling this stuff online may or may not keep a record of the purchase. If you don't have the font and you don't have the record of where you bought it, you will end up buying it again. So maybe you don't have files that are important to you. As an end user you most likely do have images or fonts or even templates you have purchased online with no real back up. It is still true that the average life of a hard drive is five years. How old is your computer?

Cable Modem Update
The cable modem I have had for one and a half years is doing just fine for my household. After installing a router a few months ago every computer in the house can access the Internet at the same time. The only problem I've had so far is that my 10/100 hub sometimes busies out the port and so I have moved the modem to my 10 BaseT hub. However it took me a while to figure out what was happening. I called tech support at AT&T to see if they were having problems with my area. The tech I talked to was able to check my connection all the way to my cable modem but then seemed puzzled. He told me for some reason he could not get to my computer to see what kind it was. I then informed him that I had a router between my computer and the cable modem and he better not be able to see my computer. So at least in this little adventure I proved the router really does provide a barrier from the Internet to my internal network.

Expo Time Again
At the time I am writing this, everyone is gearing up for Macworld Expo in New York. Most companies have delayed new product announcements so that they can get the free publicity from making the announcement at Macworld. Apple is expected to announce new revisions of the iMac; sales have been lagging lately and they need to update the iMac before it's just another colored computer. Rumors have it that a DVD RAM CD drive may be in the top-of-the-line models. Speed bumps for most of the Apple line are also due.

One rumor I hear more and more is that the keyboard for the new machines will improve and the mouse will lose its round shape. I'm sure Steve Jobs will have a few twists and turns to wow the people with, it's just the way he does business. So get ready for the Apple advertising glitz coming soon. For those of you who have not figured out how to tell Apple is updating the iMac (or any other Mac) here is a good way to tell: it starts offering freebies like more RAM, a printer or it reduces the cost of existing products. Apple never has a sale unless it is clearing the warehouse for new models.

Other products coming soon include Voodoo 5 video cards for Mac. The PC video card maker NVIDIA is rumored to be announcing Mac support and possibly an OEM deal with Apple to produce cards for the build-to-order Macs.

In the software area QuickTime 5.0 should be coming out very soon, and a Mac OS 9.1 update is due also. OS X beta will most likely make a showing if Apple is truly on schedule for release at January Macworld San Francisco.

Difficult Installers
In the butt-headed department a couple of large companies are starting a trend I don't care for. One of these companies is PANTONE who makes color charts and color checking software, the other is Microsoft. Both companies have produced products that require you to have a specific product loaded onto your System volume before they will run their installer. In the case of PANTONE it was looking for Adobe Acrobat to be loaded on the main System volume. No amount of reinstalling could convince the product that the required software was already installed in another partition of the computer. In the Microsoft case it would only look on the System volume for the Word and PowerPoint programs. If it does not find these programs on the System volume it tells you they are not present and it can't update them. So if you are the proud owner of one of these gems you might want to voice your thoughts to the company about this.

The MS updater noted above is needed to fix bugs in Word 98 that cause file corruption and to make PowerPoint compatible with future versions to be released. This does not replace the combined Updater to Office 98; you need to install this on top of the other updater. Are we having fun yet?

Speaking of programs that have problems with installers: Norton AntiVirus tends to return errors when installing print drivers even though you have told it to ignore the installer. At least it happened to me trying to update a client's Hewlett Packard print driver to work with Mac OS 9.0. I had to restart with the OS 9.0 base extensions set before the install would complete without an error. Meanwhile Virex won't let me copy things from or to Zip drives without informing me that the file could not be found. Again turning off the Virex program solved the problem. The big difference here is Virex has an on/off switch, while NAV requires you to turn it off in the extensions manager and then restart. Both are problems that should be fixed so that they are easy to use.

Find it on the Sheep!
Many of the updates you read about here are posted to the Electric Sheep. For those of you who may not know what the Sheep really is, here's my best shot at describing it. It's a place you can dial into or connect to using TCP/IP from the Internet. You can use FirstClass software or you can check your mail using a web browser. Only the folks that have paid for the Sheep have access to it. But at $18.00 a year in addition to your membership fee, it's a great place to meet other Mac users and get information. We have the New Macintosh Users area that everyone uses for mostly general questions and answers. We have the New Uploads area that you can check for the latest virus definitions or application public updates. If you are into expressing your views, we have the SoapBox. Everyone there is a PMUG member. We go by our real names and we offer advice, receive advice and pass along tidbits we have learned over the years. You can send e-mail all over the world, collect files, check out newsgroups. All this in a family-friendly place. So join the Sheep and find some friends you didn't know you had. PMUG–it's one place you still have friendly neighbors. Anyone wanting to check out the Sheep come to the office on Tuesday Store nights and we'll give you a tour.

Should You Upgrade?
Many of you are using computers that are getting a little slow compared to the new ones. It may or may not be time for a new computer or maybe a different processor in the old computer. There are a few rules that apply when thinking about updating the old computer versus getting a new one.

Here are the questions you should ask yourself:
*Do I have enough RAM or will I need to buy more? You need to ask this because RAM for the 61xx, 71xx, 81xx, and 91xx Nubus machines is expensive and usually smaller than for the new machines. The 7500, 7600, 7300, 8500, 8600, 9500 and 9600 machines use the large chip but their cost is also expensive compared to the new machines. RAM for the beige G3 is more costly than RAM for the B&W G3 or the new G4.
*The second question to ask: Is the hard drive big enough or do I need a larger one? If you need more drive space then you must figure in the additional cost of buying it.
* The third question to ask is: In the future do I want to run System X? Many of the older machines will not support System X.

If you have answered all of these questions and are happy with the machine you currently own then the upgrade path is for you. Many of the current G3 cards are under $300. You can get one for the Nubus Macs but figure on spending a few more dollars on a Nubus video card due to the fact that many of the processors use the same slot used by your current video card (7100, 8100, 9100).

Those of you with the 7500 through the 9600 don't have to worry about this but you do need to think about adding VRAM. A faster machine won't do you much good if you're waiting around for your monitor to redraw that Photoshop document. Beige G3 owners need to think about VRAM as well as ROM updates for some of the copper based G3s and G4s. Be sure to order your card from a vendor who will still be around next week such as Sonnet and Newer Technology. There are cache slot processors for the 6400, 6300 style machines. I have never used one or installed one so I won't comment on them.

One last thought on this subject–don't sell your old processor after you take it out. You may find that you need it to stand in for the new card if it fails or you may find you need it to reinstall your G3 or G4 software if the PRAM gets zapped. If you have a PCI based computer, you may want to check the cost of an 8 or 16 megabyte video card that will keep up with your new processor. These cost anywhere from $75 to $200.

Many people who use their computers for fixing pictures and creating graphics use two monitors–a large monitor for the graphic window and a smaller one for moving those pesky palettes that usually cover half the picture you're trying to fix. If you're putting in a new video card to speed things up on your monitor you may want to think about using the built-in monitor port for that second monitor. I noticed that Best Buy and Fry's both have the ViewSonic A90 monitor for $400 and a coupon for $50 off that brings the cost down to $350 for a 19 inch monitor.

Another upgrade option for 7200 owners is buying a stripped 7600 and using your CD ROM, hard drive and RAM. This gives you a good upgrade path for about $240. They may even throw in a processor until you can get your G3 card. Other World Computing had this deal, you can check out their current offerings at: http://shop.macsales.com/MacSales/BTO/BTO.taf

THIS CHART SHOWS THE METHOD BY WHICH DIFFERENT MODELS OF MACINTOSHES AND MAC CLONES MAY BE UPGRADED.

You can reach me at charles@cdevsol.com.

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