Using One Display with Two Macs
From Glen:
Hi Charles,
Only get to read your columns sporadically but always find them
interesting and of value.
Question I have is I am retiring and going down to one new mini which has the Intel processor,
top speed, and DL DVD burner. I have just ordered but not yet received
it.
I currently have a G5 iMac
and G4 mini, both three
years old. I also use some OS 9 programs, and I know the new mini
will have Leopard on it and no OS 9 support. I therefore have to
keep one of the older machines. Would like to keep the older mini but
wondered if there is an elegant solution to 2 minis and one LCD
monitor. Is there a switch that I can buy to change the monitor from
one to the other without having to unplug and plug cables? If not I
will keep my iMac, but space will be a problem.
If you know of a better solution than keeping one of the old ones, I
would like to know about that as well.
I appreciate your input.
Glen
Hi Glen,
Thanks for reading.
There are a number of KVM switch solutions available.
Here are some links to more information:
Belkin
alone makes quite a variety, and they support Macs. You can find a
short tutorial on setting it up in How to
Connect Two Computers to One Monitor.
I haven't done this sort of setup myself, but it seems
like a pretty elegant (and space-saving) solution to me.
Charles
Quicksilver or TigerLaunch?
From Felix:
Hello Charles,
I'm an avid reader and look forward to your columns every week.
This said, I'm curious about something. I see you recommend TigerLaunch over Quicksilver, which you have
reviewed very favorably in the past - it was in fact your article what
made me give Quicksilver a try, and now I cannot do without it. Do you
think TigerLaunch is a better or simpler to use application than
Quicksilver, or is it a matter of taste?
Personally, I have never tried TigerLaunch, so I do not really have
an opinion one way or the other.
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Felix
Hi Felix,
Apples and oranges, really. Quicksilver is a vastly
more powerful utility than TigerLaunch, which is about as minimalist as
it gets.
I should have included Quicksilver in the list,
because so many people love it, and if it suits your work style, you
probably wouldn't be satisfied with TigerLaunch as a substitute,
because they work very differently, TigerLaunch being essentially just
a configurable pulldown menu for starting applications.
TigerLaunch, combined with the OS X Dock, pretty much
fill the bill for me these days, but if Quicksilver suits your needs
and tastes, it's the one for you.
Charles
PowerBook 1400 Running from Compact Flash
From Thomas in response to PowerBook 1400 Upgrade Questions:
Dear Charles,
I have been the happy owner of a PowerBook (PB) 1400c/133 for the past 11
years. You will thus understand that Low End Mac has been a mainstay
for me. I enjoy your varied contributions to the site. I couldn't agree
more with you and your readers about the PB 1400's sturdy construction,
small footprint, and excellent keyboard. It also works out well for me
because I have stuck with WordPerfect
3.5e for most of my writing, so I can work interchangeably on the
PB and (in SheepShaver) on my
Santa Rosa
MacBook Pro (MBP).
Reader Elliot's question, about getting files into, and especially
out of, the old PB 1400 is a good one. What I have done is switch all
PB operations to Compact Flash. The PB 1400 has two PCMCIA slots. I
have obtained two Compact Flash PC Card adapters from PSISM.COM Tech Shop @ $9 (plus shipping). I
copied the PB's entire 1 GB hard drive onto a 2 GB CF card
formatted as Mac OS Standard (probably Mac OS Extended would also have
worked; I run OS 8.6, my favorite pre-OS X system, on the PB and in
SheepShaver; OS 9 offers few advantages, IMNSHO, if you are not
using it to connect to the Web), and have been using it as the PB's
main drive. I use a second, identically formatted 1 GB CF as a transfer
disk, using a USB CF reader with the MBP and other newer Macs.
The only problem I have encountered is that I cannot seem to eject
only the 1 GB CF card, the other, which is the startup drive,
tends to come out with it, freezing the machine. I accordingly now only
remove, and insert, the 1 GB card when the machine is shut down.
(The 1 GB tends not to mount if inserted with the PB running, though
other PC cards do.) This is a touch inconvenient at times. I can still
use a floppy disk for moving smaller files while working.
In general, though, Compact Flash has given the PB a new lease on
life. The only real upgrade I had made since getting the PB in 1997 was
to max out her RAM to 64 MB. The CPU and hard drive remain unchanged,
though now I have more "hard drive" space on the 2 GB CF. I cannot
claim the credit for any of this, but have benefited from hints all over the Web in putting together
this solution. Hope this helps Elliot or other readers.
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for the suggestion and mini-tutorial on using
CF cards with the 1400. Sounds like a good and cheap solution.
One thing you didn't mention, and which I'm curious
about, is relative speed when running booted off the CF card. Any
improvement over running from the hard drive?
I agree that OS 8.6 is the optimum compromise between
speed and features for the 1400. OS 9.x is just too slow.
Charles
Hi, Charles.
You're absolutely correct about the speed advantage with Compact
Flash, especially over the old, slow hard drive that shipped with the
PB 1400.
I have not timed it, but copy and save operations are noticeably
faster, as well as silent. Startup takes a while in any case, though
Marc Moini's Startup
Doubler control panel has helped shorten it, even when starting up
from the hard drive.
Tom
PowerBook 1400 File Transfers with Flash
Memory
From Paul:
There are other alternatives for file transfer for the PowerBook
1400. I use, at different times, an ethernet PC Card, a wireless PC
Card, and a PC Card 6-in-1 adapter for my SD memory card. (I've
configured OS 9 on an SD card using my iMac and boot the PowerBook
1400 from the SD card.) No need to go back to floppies or SCSI CDs.
Hi Paul,
Thanks.
Yes, ethernet or SD cards would be an excellent
solution, provided one has the hardware.
Charles
Transfer Files with Flash Media
From Keith:
I just read your reply to Elliot about his new 1400. I found an easy
way to transfer files from a 1400 to another computer. I use a PCM card
reader and a Flash media card. Using the card slot on the 1400, I put
the files on the flash card, take it out, and then insert the flash
media in a reader hooked up to the other computer. This method has
never failed.
By the way, I do agree that the 1400 is a great computer. I am
reluctant to part with mine, so this summer I am converting it to a
portable juke box. The only things on the hard disk will be the system,
iTunes, and a lot of songs.
Keith
Hi Keith,
Good tip.
Glad to hear that you are still getting useful service
from the old 1400.
Charles
Compact Flash for File Transfer
From Andrew Hunn:
In response to Elliott's questions - One of my PB 1400's makes a
clicking sound, annoying as can be, and I believe it's the hard drive
(or its controller). I plan to replace it with an internal adapter and
a CF card. I can boot easily from a CF card in the PC Card slot with an
adapter, but when I try to shut down or remove the internal hard drive,
I get other issues.
The PC Card adapters are cheap, and so are Ativa USB adapters at
Office Depot, which is how I transfer files back and forth. I save
them on a CF card in the PC slot, then remove it and stick it in the
USB adapter for use with newer machines. Each adapter is usually less
then ten bucks. MS Word 98 runs well on the 1400 and is file compatible
with everything since, and I keep the CF card in PC format so I can
plug it in wherever I go. Word 98 can usually be had on eBay for no
more than 20-30 bucks.
Thanks to Low End Mac a few years ago for helping me figure out how
to get writing tools on the cheap!
- Andy H.
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the interesting information and
suggestions.
Good to hear that you've found Low End Mac
helpful.
Charles
Mac OS 9 Very Nice for Browsing without Flash
From Lonnie:
Mr. Moore:
Surfing the Net is delightful with OS X, but there are times I still
use OS 9. I have found that the problem with using OS 9 browsers
is not the browsers themselves, but Flash. More websites are using more
Flash animation, and when Adobe stopped writing updates for OS 9, it
essentially killed OS 9's Internet future. [Editor's note:
Flash Player 7 was the last version with Classic Mac OS support.
dk]
Or not. There is one advantage to using an OS 9 browser to check my
mail or search eBay: many flash ads don't work. Sure, I can't watch
YouTube videos, but I get to check my mail and not have to see some
annoying, bandwidth-hungry mortgage ad. Aww. I can type in my Pepsi
Points at PepsiStuff.com and not
see a large ad for music I don't want anyway stutter across my
screen.
And then there's always Craigslist, thankfully Flash-free. Yay!
Lonnie Buchanon
Hi Lonnie,
Yes, one can still get along reasonably well in OS 9
with Netscape 7.x, Mozilla 1.3, iCab, or even Internet Explorer 5 I
suppose. However, the OS X browsers are an awful lot better, and
getting more so all the time.
Charles
Format=Flowed in Eudora
From Leif Halvard Silli, continuing the discussion in Odysseus Anticipation:
Thanks for
that link! Yes, I downloaded and tested very very briefly.
Have you tested if it supports the Eudora invention format=flowed? (I think the only
reason I have not switched to GyazMail log ago is its lack of
support for format=flowed.)
Format=flowed is part of what I want most: A good writing milieu.
Hope he doesn't forget that side of Eudora, and hope he doesn't only
look at the Mac Eudora.
Regards,
Leif
Hi Leif,
I confess that I had to look up what format=flowed
was. My ignorance of Windows software is near-encyclopedic, and I'm not
sure the format=flowed feature was ever included in the Mac version of
Eudora.
I'm guessing that there may be some indication of
whether that feature will be included in the Windows version of
Odysseus once a beta is ready. Note that many things are not yet
implemented in the Mac beta at this point.
Charles
Agree. However, think you are wrong about format=flowed and the Mac
version of Eudora.
Leif
Hi Leif,
You may be right. However, I can't find any reference
to format-flowed in Eudora 6.2.4 for Mac Help.
Where does one find it in the program?
Charles
One of the most enlightened introductions (and one of the few
introductions at all) to format="flowed" is probably Joe Clark's page.
You only need to look at the source code - or the mail headers - to
see if the message - e.g. from Eudora - was sent out with
format="flowed". For instance, the message from you had this
header:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
So if you sent that message using Eudora for Mac - which I think you
did* - then we have the proof in hand.
*Why do I think you used Eudora? Well, except for knowing that you
are a Eudora aficionado, the program - as much as I remember and
unlike, for instance, Thunderbird - never inserted any User-Agent
heading in its messages. Thus, one of the best ways of knowing if the
message was sent by Eudora is to check if the message is lacking a
User-Agent heading. ;-)
- Leif Halvard
Hi Leif,
I stand corrected. You learn something new every day.
This is a nuance of Eudora that I was completely unaware of (or
unobservant of) previously.
Thanks for the tutorial! :-)
Charles
There are many who are not so very aware of format=flowed, I guess.
Hence, I guess it is a good subject to touch in an article about email
or Eudora or Odysseus. :-) Yet another thing to praise Eudora
for! And also another issue to make sure that the Odysseus developer
gets right.
Leif Hallvard
Go to Charles Moore's Mailbag index.
