Dan Knight
- 2006.05.17
MacBook's Glossy Screen
Simon Magennis writes:
Regarding the [MacBook]
value equation. I am absolutely certain that the MacBook will be a huge success - it
should sell like the proverbial hotcakes. However, I will take some
convincing that glossy screen works as a day in, day out working
place. I think the reflections from all the lights aroud us will
make it a non-runner in many places. Everything bar the
screen is perfect. I had an Acer widescreen of the same
dimensions/resolution for a few weeks (matte, not glossy), and I
found I didn't actually like the shape of the screen. I'd have
preferred standard format. I'm looking forward to trying one.
Meantime I've just bought a second hand 12" PowerBook.
Simon
I don't feel qualified to comment on the MacBook's
screen until I've had a chance to see it, but my experience with a
15" widescreen Acer Aspire (my WinXP/Ubuntu Linux machine used
primarily to test page design issues with Internet Explorer 6) has
been a frustrating one. There's almost nowhere you can use it
without glare and reflections.
The best commentary I've seen on Apple's shiny
MacBook screen comes from John Siracusa of ars technica. In
And
We All Shine On, he openly wonders why shiny screens have taken
over the PC notebook market and concludes that it's probably due to
their greater brightness and richer colors when compared
side-by-side with matte screens.
In short, he sees shiny as a sales tool, not a
practical benefit, and Apple as simply following the Wintel lead in
adopting a shiny display on the MacBook and making it optional on
the Pro models. Based on limited experience with my Acer Aspire, I
think he's on to something.
SheepShaver, a Classic Option for Intel
Macs
Jay Random writes:
Dear Mr. Knight:
Excellent column on the
MacBook.
As an Apple shareholder myself, I'm actually rather glad to see
the $150 vanity tax on the black model. It's almost pure profit for
Apple, and I suspect it will sell rather well. Some people were
crazy enough to buy multiple iPod minis so they could
colour-coordinate, and those were more than $150 apiece. If you
don't want to pay, buy white - which was your only option before,
anyway. Nobody loses.
In re Classic on an Intel Mac: SheepShaver is supposed to
support Mac OS 7.5.2(!) through 9.0.4 on Intel Macs. It ought to do
a decent job on Claris Home Page. You can download it as a
universal binary from this site:
http://www.gibix.net/dokuwiki/en:projects:sheepshaver
Caveat: I haven't tried this myself, as I have not yet bought an
Intel Mac. But I hope it helps. If you give it a try, do let us all
know the results in a future column!
Thanks for the good work,
Jay Random
Thanks for the suggestion, Jay.
For those unfamiliar with SheepShaver, it's an
Open Source project to emulate a PowerPC Mac that had its origins
in the days of BeOS (1998). The latest version emulates a G4 and
requires a ROM image from a real Macintosh.
I haven't tried SheepShaver, since my Macs already
run Classic mode, but what I've read online talks about "limited OS
9 compatibility" (nothing later than 9.0.4 according to Wikipedia)
and difficulty getting the program installed and running. It does
sound like it has real potential.
If any of our readers have experience with
SheepShaver on the Intel-based Macs, I'd love to hear from them and
share their findings.
Replacing Claris Home Page
Gilbert Wildin writes:
I, too, miss Home Page. It was the only webpage software that I
had bothered to learn. I tried RapidWeaver, but I didn't like the
templates at all - too restricting, and I thought the documentation
was lacking. It was an exercise in frustration for me.
I tried Freeway
Express and loved it. It's drag and drop, and it allows easy
manipulation of graphic images. I still think it's not as good as
Home Page in many ways, but it is my favorite now. The price of
$100 was a bit steep for the Express version, but I did on webpage
for a friend, and he offered to pay for the software.
Give it a try.
Gilbert Wildin
Thanks for writing, Gilbert.
I've visited the Softpress site and downloaded the
30-day trial version of Freeway Express. Seeing the following has
not encouraged me: "Freeway Express is a consumer version of
Freeway, especially designed for beginners or home users. It can
only open or save Freeway Express files."
Low End Mac has thousands of articles, and I
sometimes need to open up an old file to make a change (add a link
to a computer profile, remove a bad link, etc.). Any program that
won't let me open and edit existing HTML files won't work for
me.
Nice as it looks, Freeway Express isn't the right
tool for me. Neither is iWeb, which I discovered after buying iLife
'06.
RapidWeaver HTML Import Trick
Patrick Robertshaw writes:
Great site guys! I just was reading Dan's recent article about
the ongoing search for a Claris Home Page replacement and noticed
that, other than it's "inability" to open existing pages, RapidWeaver was a
strong contender. I'm not sure if he'd noticed, but while
RapidWeaver won't open existing pages from the file menu, it will
open them just fine if you use the old Mac method of dragging and
dropping the file icon onto the application window.
Just thought I'd mention it in case it opens up any avenues that
might otherwise appear closed.
Cheers, and keep up the excellent work!
Patrick
Thanks for the tip, Patrick. I launched
RapidWeaver, dragged a sample page into it, and it did indeed
display it. The drawback next drawback is that I can't simply save
the new page, nor does it know the file name and location of the
page I just opened. It looks like a nice tool for creating a new
website, not something practical for working with an existing
one.
eMac Processor Upgrade?
Rick Mansfield writes:
I have an original 2002 700 MHz
eMac. I have upgraded the hard drive and maxed out the RAM. The
only thing I wish I could do is put in a processor upgrade. Do you
know if any company makes a processor upgrade for the eMac?
Thanks,
Rick
Rick, I haven't heard of a processor upgrade for
the eMac. EveryMac
notes, "the CPU on the eMac appears to be mounted directly to
the motherboard, and therefore, is not easily upgradable."
In short, any CPU upgrade would require removing
the current G4 from the motherboard (not from a CPU socket) and
installing a new processor. And that would mean shipping your 50
lb. eMac to to someone who could do that. Between the cost of
shipping both ways and the amount of time involved in such a
process, I don't think it would be economical.
It would probably be more sensible to pick up a
used or refurbished 1 GHz or faster eMac, transplant your hard
drive, sell your eMac 700, and max out RAM in the replacement
eMac.
Rick Mansfield responds:
Thanks for the info. It's a secondary machine.
I've got a PowerBook G4 that I bought last year which is my primary
machine. I'll probably just let this eMac live out the course of
its natural life. If there were ever a processor upgrade, I'd
probably add one, but otherwise, I'll just hold onto it for a
while.
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
