IRC Channel to Discuss Low End Macs?
From Seth
Do you know of any good IRC channel to discuss Low End Macs? If
not I am interested in starting one on the Freenode network.
Seth
Hi Seth,
None that I'm aware of, but I'm not an IRC user.
Sounds like a good idea.
Charles
Re: IRC Channel to Discuss Low End Macs?
From Seth
I set one up at irc.freenode.net #lowendmac
If you could possibly post info of this in your Misc. Rambling
article, I would be very grateful.
If you do, be sure to include "This channel not affiliated with
lowendmac.com" and the channel can be used to discuss Mac OSs, Mac
*nix , Mac software, and Mac hardware of all ages.
Seth
Glad to.
Charles
My Tiger Experiences
Hello, Charles
I just want to tell you about my Tiger experiences. I have it
installed on my home Power Mac G4
"Digital Audio" and my titanium
PowerBook 1 GHz. In both cases the install was flawless,
and the OS runs perfectly. I installed the 10.4.1 update with no
problems, and things continue to flow. I like Spotlight. I like
Dashboard. I like the built-in dictionary. I like the RSS
stuff.
I run lean and clean machines - next to no third party hardware
(just an Epson Printer, an old Agfa scanner, an MS and a Logitech
mouse). I was also very careful in how I did the install: complete
backups, check HD, fix permissions, say the magic chant, etc.
I just wanted to let you know this to offer some balance for
some of the nightmare stories that abound and that get more
attention than my unexciting adventures with Tiger.
Thanks for all your work.
Barrie
Hi Barrie,
In the context of system upgrades, unexciting is good. Thanks for
the report.
Incidentally, have you tried the modem for dialup in the TiBook?
There is reportedly an issue.
Charles
Editor's note: I've installed Tiger on one eMac and my PowerBook G4/400. My oldest son has it on
his eMac 700 as well. (If you
have 2-5 Macs, the $199 Family Pack is a steal.) Unexciting is a
good description - it just works, but except for Spotlight, I
haven't found anything yet to get excited about. dk
Re: My Tiger Experiences
From Barrie Barrington
Charles
No, I have not tried the modem; I have never had the opportunity
to do so.
Thanks for your reply.
BB
Spotlight Workaround
From David Meyer
It's all true . . . Spotlight starts searching as soon as you
start typing. This can slow the process up in a number of ways, if
only because it's distracting.
So, don't type!
Copy/Paste your text in place. This may require a little extra
effort in some cases, but it works. Just searched on "Paste" on my
10.4.0 system with no problems.
By the way, I have not had Problem #1 with Tiger . . .
but I'm not pressing it or quibbling about tenths of seconds.
Hi David,
Sounds like a useful technique. Still, I wish there was a way to
disable the live typing feature and go with a return key toggle
once you had the info fully typed.
Charles
Disk Warrior Before and After Updates
From Gordon Garrison
Charles,
You recommend in your article to run Disk Warrior before and
after updates. It might be prudent to point out that Alsoft is
recommending that you use version 3.0.3 or later with Tiger.
Gordon Garrison
Hi Gordon,
I noted in the article "Before proceeding with the update, I my
recommendation is rebuild your hard drive or OS X partition
directory using Disk Warrior, but if you already have Tiger
installed, make sure you have the latest Disk Warrior
Tiger-compatible update. Earlier versions may have problems with
the OS 10.4 file structure changes.
Older versions of DW will be fine for cleaning things up
before installing Tiger, but not after, alas.
Charles
10.4.1 Update Special Report
From Darren Varner
If you look at MacInTouch often, you will also note that there
are oodles of issues with all flavors of Panther. It's a good place
to gripe. Very rarely do we know the setup of the troubled machine.
And the issue may be rare. Sometimes not.
Not an apologist.
All I know is I have installed Tiger on an iMac G5, a 12 inch rev A PowerBook, and an
iMac DV SE 400. All went
swimmingly well. The OS is much more responsive on every one of
them.
Of course, like always, people with complaints complain. People
doing well usually just keep busy. Sometimes it would be nice if a
few more of us with good experiences took more time to write
in.
Hi Darren,
And I'm glad you did!
Thanks for the positive report.
Charles
"Take-a-part" Manual for Power Mac 9500
From MDevalera
I need to do an upgrade for memory, HD, and video card and been
trying to locate a tech manual.
Thanks,
MarcD
Hi Marc,
There appear to be downloadable ones here:
http://www.whoopis.com/computer_repair/
and here:
http://fileshare.eshop.bg/most_popular/list_13600.html
Charles
Big Problems with SilverKeeper
From jamiekg
Hi Charles.
After your recent
recommendation of LaCie's SilverKeeper (SK) backup utility on
Low End Mac, I thought I'd give it a try. If you take a look at the
message I sent to SK tech support, you'll see I'm not too impressed
with SK.
Which leads me to ask: Have you encountered any of these
troubles I came across? SK is essential useless to me as it stands
now, unless I want to backup manually every time - which I
certainly do not.
I'm quite disappointed. I don't suppose you're aware of any
other decent free or low cost backup software for HDs? Cause I'm
not holding my breath about LaCie rushing to help just little old
me.
Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know my experience with SK,
since you wrote such a nice article on it. It's great that it works
so well for you, and obviously many others. But it's been a total
flop for me. I can't figure it out. It seems pretty basic stuff to
me that's failing. I mean - no help??? Background apps
crashing??? Did LaCie do any testing? It doesn't seem likely it's
something unique about my setup. I ran Disk Utility, repaired HDs,
repaired permissions, and ran DiskWarrior (probably overkill, but I
like to make sure everything's 100% okay before backups) before
installing SK.
Oh well, keep up the great Mac journalism! I enjoy every article
you write :-)
Regards,
Jamie Kahn Genet
Hi Jamie,
Sorry to hear of the problems you had with SilverKeeper. I
encountered no issues with it when I tested it.
However, if you want automated backups, you might want to try check
out ChronoSync, Dobry Backuper, or Impression (albeit none of them
are free).
You can read my reviews:
Another free backup utility is iBackup, but I
haven't tested it.
And thanks for reading!
Charles
Editor's note: You might also want to give SuperDuper a try (see
SuperDuper: Quick, Easy,
Efficient Backup for $20). You can do a full backup for free,
but you have to register the $20 shareware program to do
incremental backups. I use it on all my Macs. dk
WordPerfect for Mac Download Update
From: John Rethorst
Hi Charles,
On the page <http://lowendmac.com/misc/03/1208.html#3>
a James Spears says that WPMac is a free download from <http://www.deakin.edu.au/software/applications.php>,
but that a student password is required.
I found that this site does not ask for a password before
initiating the download.
There's also a new site listing download sites, updaters, and
over a hundred links and files about WPMac, as well as a discussion
forum providing free tech support. It's at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wordperfectmac/>.
Thanks,
John Rethorst
Hi John,
That article is from 2003, so it's not surprising that it's out of
date.
Thanks for the update and link.
Best,
Charles
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