Why of OS X 10.2 Is Often Best for Classic
From Mike Richardson
Hi Charles,
Read your Miscellaneous
Ramblings on Low End Mac.
It is my understanding that Mac OS X 10.3 double buffers the
classic screen. You will notice if you drag an OS X window
(with all of it's drop shadows and translucency) over a Classic
window in 10.2 that the part of the OS X window over the
Classic window will lose it's drop shadow and any other effects.
This was corrected in 10.3 by double buffering the Classic windows
so that they can get along. The side effect is that Classic is
slower.
Hope that helps!
Thanks,
Mike Richardson
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the information. I wasn't aware of that
particular distinction in Classic performance respective to
different OS X versions.
For my own purposes, I find Classic works fine in
both OS X 10.3 and OS 10.4, but I'm running only a few
applications in Classic - none very demanding.
Charles
Thanks for Recommending Opera
From Otto Schlosser
Hiya, Charles.
I was a little skeptical about Opera - I have tried it several
times since it was first ported to Mac OS but found it too quirky
and incomplete to use on a regular basis. So I tried it again today
after reading your article (see Opera the Best Browser for the
Mac), and I am impressed with 9.1. It is just as fast as you
claimed, and seems very stable and capable on 10.3.9. I had been
moving away from Safari anyway, because there are too many sites
that it doesn't handle well; I tried them on Opera and not one has
hiccuped yet. Thanks!
Otto
Hi Otto,
Yes, I've played with Opera since about 1998, I
think, and I never considered any version up to version 8 stable
enough to use for regular browsing. However, the threshold was
crossed around version 8.5, and I've never used a browser I liked
well as Opera since that release. Version 9.1 is the best yet.
Once in a blue moon I will hit a site Opera can't
handle, but it is an extremely rare phenomenon.
Charles
What about Firefox?
From Mike Cohen
What about Firefox? I always keep coming back to it after trying
another browser for a few days. I find it to be the fastest and
most stable, and I depend on several extensions. Since I use two
different computers (an iMac Core Duo & MacBook Pro), I really
like Google Browser Sync, which synchronizes open tabs, cookies,
etc. as well as bookmarks. No other browser has anything like that.
I also really like the del.icio.us extension, which makes it very
easy to add bookmarks to del.icio.us.
Hi Mike,
I usually have one of the Mozilla.org browsers -
Firefox, Camino, or SeaMonkey - up and running along with Opera,
and I like them for certain types of tasks.
Certainly, if a particular feature appeals to you
and is only available on one browser, all of the major OS X
browsers are close enough in performance that favorite features can
be the deciding factor.
However, in my experience (I'm on a dialup
connection), Opera is the fastest of all the current browsers,
supports OS X Services (Firefox doesn't, although Camino
does), is very stable, and renders Web pages the way I like
them.
Charles
Will Give Opera a Try
From Jeffrey Harris
Charles
Thanks for the article. I will have another go with Opera, based
on your recommendation.
I find that Safari gets slower and crankier the longer a session
lasts, and eventually I end up force quitting it. I do use it for
video stuff, as Firefox sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. But
most browsing I do with Firefox.
Keep up the good work
JHH
Hi Jeffrey,
Glad you found the article interesting.
Firefox is a good browser, and I use it a fair bit
for workaday tasks, but for general browsing I much prefer Opera,
which I always find myself coming back to.
Charles
Installing Tiger on a B&W
G3
From Seth
Charles -
About Tiger on a
B&W:
The B&W won't boot from any
external drive over FireWire or USB or from another machine in
target mode. The only way I know of to boot it from an external
[drive] is via SCSI - assuming you have a [SCSI] card
installed.
The most sensible way to install Tiger on one of these machines
is to install a DVD drive of some sort. I used a Lite-On SOHC 5232K
combo drive; works fine, boots fine, available online for about
$30. That's a pretty rock-bottom price for moving up to Tiger.
Your correspondent can pick up a Pioneer DVR-110D or 111D for
about $40 online and have the flexibility of DVD burning, too. The
Lite-On requires an enabler available from LaCie to burn CDs from
iTunes and from the Finder in Panther, as I recall, though maybe
Tiger will support it without; I had it in place when I
upgraded.
Some time back I corresponded with
you about a hassle with a PowerLogix CPU upgrade for my
B&W. Interestingly, I ultimately received a 1 GHz G3 ZIF
in exchange for the 800 that failed. I got smart and installed a
fan on this one, and it works like a champ. I've replaced the
B&W with a Mac Pro as my
mainline machine, took the blue wonder to my office, where the
staff uses it for casual scanning, and I use it to run iTunes and a
few other apps.
Sad to say, but the non-FW-bootable Macs are a problem in this
day and age. I keep a second hard drive in that B&W with an OS
and Disk Warrior on it but with its power disconnected - just
sitting there in reserve against that day the picky B&W decides
to ignore its primary boot drive again.
Regards,
Seth Lewin
Hi Seth,
Thank you for the report and tips - very helpful
for folks with these old machines who are confronted with this
issue.
If one is determined, there is often a workaround
- my daughter is running Tiger on an old Umax SuperMac S900 with a Sonnet 500
MHz G3 processor upgrade - with mixed success but it works.
Charles
From Seth Lewin
"...my daughter is running Tiger on an old Umax
SuperMac S900 with a Sonnet 500 MHz G3 processor"
But it works - that's the important thing. I've also got Tiger
running on a 400 MHz 384 MB iMac DV of
summer 2000 vintage into which I put a slot-loading DVD-ROM
salvaged from a later-version iMac I found in unrepairable
condition at the town dump. That works quite well, too -
surprisingly so. Mostly use it for PaperPort scanning in Classic,
networked to the Mac Pro. Machines like this are available on
Craigslist for $100 or
so - so one could be running Tiger for, say, $100 plus the cost of
Tiger and the cost of an external DVD of some sort, or the borrow
of one.
Hi Seth,
Yes, my daughter, who enjoys a technical
challenge, also had Tiger running on a 450 MHz iMac slot-loader with fairly decent
performance, and (amazingly IMHO) also on an original 233 MHz Bondi Blue iMac,
although it was really too much for the latter.
Charles
Installing Tiger on a B&W Power Mac with No
DVD Drive
From William R. Walsh
Hello...
I've just finished reading your exchange with Low End Mac reader
John Morris on how to install
Mac OS X Tiger on a Mac with no DVD drive and wanted to share
some thoughts.
There's a very good chance the optical drive in the G5 will work in the B&W Power
Mac. Both computers are equipped with parallel ATA buses, at least
in the optical drive department. The only worry I'd have is
removing the drive from the G5. I haven't ever tried it on mine,
but it looks to be a little bit of an involved process.
I think Mr. Morris would have been fine with his first working
test and restore installation attempt to the B&W from the G5. I
recently built up an external FireWire drive with both Intel and
PowerPC Mac OS X 10.4.8 installations. So far, as long as the
computer meets the system requirements for Mac OS X 10.4.8, it
will start up without issue. I have found no missing functionality
across everything from the Summer
2001 iMac all the way up to the latest G5 systems. Nor have I
seen any strange messages during a verbose boot or while using a
system started from this drive.
Finally, Apple did once provide an exchange program for those
with Macintosh computers not able to read DVDs. I don't know if
Apple still does this, but it used to be that you could turn in
your installation DVD for a set of 3 installation CDs. This option
does cost a little bit of money to cover postage and handling.
If you'd like to pass this advice on, that's fine with me.
Thanks for reading - and thanks for your great articles on Low End
Mac!
William
Hi William,
Thanks for the comments and observations.
I also keep a copy of OS X installed on an
external hard drive, and it will boot all three of my G3/G4 'Books.
However, there is reportedly an issue with the B&W that
prevents it from booting over FireWire (see
above).
I think Apple has discontinued the CD exchange
offer, which cost $19.95 and required the return of your Tiger
install DVD when it was available.
Charles
Re: Installing Tiger on DVD-challenged
Macs
From John Morris
Hi Charles,
Isn't it interesting how we all have different solutions to our
problems. In my case, since this is not my main working machine, I
don't feel comfortable spending any money on it. When the machine
dies, if I can't get it running from parts I have on hand or can
scrounge, it will be the end of the line for it.
On the other hand, I'm perfectly comfortable with spending as
much time as necessary to get it working. The issue for me is that
I enjoy the challenge, but I have other projects much more worthy
of my hard-earned dollars. Spending time on it is one of the things
I do as a break from my main work. Of course, this is all dependent
on the machine being a toy rather than an important part of my
work. If that changed, I might find myself taking the "more money
less time" route to get it working.
Fortunately, as Mr. Walsh mentioned, the build from the G5 has
been working perfectly. I was able to install two 40 GB drives I
had kicking around and finally create a full backup of the G5
without using a huge number of CDs or DVDs.
By the way, I have had the optical drive out of the G5. It's a
very easy process. That machine is almost as easy to work on as the
B&W. At the time, I was trying to squeeze another parallel ATA
drive into the machine, so I pulled the optical drive in the hopes
of setting the other drive above it. (Un)fortunately, the space up
there is just less than the height of a drive, so I ended up
leaving it loose in the PCI compartment. It's just as well, because
I would probably have overheated both the hard drive and the
optical drive if I had done that.
Leaving the drive in the PCI compartment worked fine for several
months, but it made me nervous, so I've gone back to using just one
drive in the G5 until I can come up with either an SATA drive or
long enough power and data cables for the parallel ATA drive.
Again, since this is just playing, I wouldn't go out and buy the
parts to make it happen.
Best,
John
Re: Installing Tiger on DVD-challenged Macs
From John Morris
Hi Charles,
It sounds like your daughter is pretty handy with her computer.
I've long since given up on my Power
Computing PowerTower Pro, although it served me well. The
B&W was the replacement for that machine and has since been
replaced by the G5. Thanks for passing on her thoughts. Now that I
have that machine running Tiger, I'm trying to get rsync to run properly on
my network of soon-to-be-Tigerized machines.
I've long been dissatisfied with the backup options for OS X and
thought the solution was here with Tiger's patched rsync from
Apple. I soon learned that the patch is broken, but have found
another patch that seems to be working pretty well.
Best,
John
Hi John,
Much more handy than me at the technical end.
;-)
Charles
Modem Trouble with Pismo under OS X 10.4
From Jacek Socha
Hi!
Refer to thread
concerning problems with modems in PowerBooks G3 Pismo 500 MHz under Mac
OS X 10.4.8 Tiger.
I'm working on the same machine (PB Pismo 500 MHz, OS X
10.4.8), and I have made modem test on it. It has been connect
without problem and it worked stably. I have placed results of my
observation (include screen shots) on
macplug.org
Problem remains else only as: I don't know it is a big
difference, but my PowerBook is originally G3 400 upgraded to G3
500 MHz.
Maybe this information will be useful for some Pismo users.
I salute
Jacek Socha
Thank you for the information, Jacek.
One of these days I must get around to
reinstalling Tiger on my Pismo. It has worked very reliably for
over a year since I "downgraded" from OS X 10.4.4 to 10.3.9,
but I do miss Spotlight.
Charles
ADB + Apple Studio Display
From Robert Berthier
I am operating a MacBook and would like to use my Apple Studio
Display monitor. I am wondering if an ADB adapter along with my
mini DVI to VGA adapter will put me in business - I do a lot of
photography and would like to use the display for more critical
evaluation than the Book allows - otherwise I am wondering which
monitor you would recommend me purchasing?
Thanks so much for any help you could give me
Bob
Hi Bob,
You didn't say which Apple Studio Display model
you have, but if it has ADB ports, it must be fairly old. As you
are no doubt aware, ADB is an input device interface for keyboards
and pointing devices that Apple phased out in favor of USB in the
late 90s, so ADB compatibility would not be a crucial factor for
monitor connectivity.
However, I've found that my Griffin ADB adapter
has worked perfectly with every device and computer combo I've
tried it with.
Or perhaps you mean an ADC adapter. Apple makes -
or at least used to make - the Apple DVI to ADC Adapter, which is a
compact device that enables you to use Apple's all-digital,
flat-panel displays with laptops that support DVI. You can find
more info here: http://www.apple.com/lae/displays/adapter/
According to Apple, all MacBook and MacBook Pro
models connect to the current 23" Apple Cinema HD Display or 20"
Apple Cinema Display, but you need a MacBook Pro with dual-link DVI
support and up to 256 MB of graphics memory to support the 30"
Apple Cinema HD Display.
As for which monitor to buy, I'm no authority on
that. All of the Apple ones should be excellent, but you can find
much cheaper solutions from third-party manufacturers.
Charles
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