Blog about Online Glasses
From John Fisher:
Chuck,
Check out
http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com/index.html
He has been doing the online glasses thing for awhile.
Sincerely,
John
Hi John,
Thanks for the tip.
A great resource and some even cheaper prices.
;-)
Charles
Online Eyeglasses Links
From Wendy:
Charles,
Do you mind reposting the links? They were not working when I tried
them just now.
By the way, thanks for everything you do. I check this site every
morning right after cnn.com & espn.com.
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
Thanks so much for the kind words. :-)
Strange; I just tried the links in Opera and get an
error message, but they come up just fine in Firefox and iCab.
http://www.goggles4u.com/
http://www.optical4less.com/
Also check out this resource:
http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com/index.html
Charles
15" PowerBook G4/1.67 GHz a Sensible Choice?
From Allan:
Hello Mr. Moore
I am a old Mac guy going back after 10 years keeping my old PC
laptop for proprietary stuff. My main computing is simply iTunes,
iPhoto, word processing, and email.
I am thinking seriously about getting a refurbed G4 15" laptop with
1.67 GHz, 1.25 RAM, and running Tiger for about $800 with three months
warranty? I would like to use iWork 08.
Is this a sensible plan?
I understand that Apple will soon stop supporting G4 PowerBooks.
Thanks for your time.
Allan
Hi Allan,
As a semi-power user still with a 1.33 GHz G4 PowerBook
running Leopard 10.5.4, I think it's a sensible plan. There's a lot of
life left in these old G4s yet, and a 1.67 GHz model will be a better
performer than my 1.33.
The price you cite sounds good if the machine is in
decent shape, and I wouldn't worry too much about Apple's support. They
will be supporting OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard for several
years to come yet.
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard almost certainly won't be
supported, but unless you are distressed by not being able to run the
latest OS version, that should not be a problem.
I'm still doing a lot of serious, medium-duty work on
550 MHz G4 Pismo
PowerBooks running Tiger and am still quite happy with them. For
the sort of computing you say you do, a 1.67 GHz G4 PowerBook should be
more than ample for a long time yet.
Charles
Top End or Midrange the Best Value?
From Yuhong Bao, contining the discussion in Depreciation and Value for the
Money:
On the other hand, if you care how long the computer will be before
it will get obsolete, you buy the highest-end model.
Lower-end models will get obsolete more quickly.
Hi Yuhong Bao,
Well, yes and no. I appreciate your point. Both my
first Pismo and my 17" PowerBook were top-of-the-line machines when
new, and that has contributed somewhat to their useful longevity,
however, returning to my example of the MacBooks, the middle, $1,299
model should have as lengthy a service life as the line-topping $1,499
model, the only difference being the color and capacity of the hard
drive.
I also contend that the high-end 15" MacBook Pro
simply doesn't deliver 25% more value for its 25% higher price tag.
Charles
Question about iCab on Older Macs
From Sally:
Hello Charles,
Yes, I'm way overdue for a new iMac, but meanwhile I do love reading
Low End Mac, and I'm puzzled by the good reviews I've seen about iCab
-e.g., yours May 12, 2008. On my very old machine (Bondi Blue, 8.6, iCab 3.05) it
runs terribly slow! Is iCab that much faster with OS 9.x? Or, am I
missing something here? Mozilla/WaMCom & Netscape 7 are so much
faster (tho fast going outmoded).
Thanks,
Sally
Hi Sally,
I agree with you completely about iCab 3's poor
performance. Version 3 put me off using iCab for several years, but
yes, Version 4, which is OS X only, is a very speedy and
satisfying browser that has restored my enthusiasm for iCab and then
some.
Netscape 7.02 is my browser of choice for Classic OS
Macs, although as you say, it's getting dated. That Bondi iMac has the
same processor as my old 233 MHz WallStreet
PowerBook, and that is still a half-decent Web machine running OS
9.2.2 and Netscape.
Charles
Longevity of Apple Support
From Jeffrey:
Charles,
Well, I can only hope that you are right about the continued
viability of Leopard on PPC in the days of Snow Leopard on Intel.
I am skeptical. As an example, I have observed Apple release a
Safari version (or more) that is not compatible with anything but the
newest Mac OS. And in these days of growing web-based security threats,
who can afford to be running anything but the latest browser
version?
And then what about other applications developed by folks other than
Apple? What good is it to have an OS that is getting bug and security
fixes, but won't run the current versions of the applications that I
use. I am concerned that software developers have already stopped
developing for PPC simply because of recent articles on Apple's plans.
Wasn't Microsoft rather quick to stop supporting Office on 68K once PPC
machines were was available. I am frustrated that iListen is no longer
being sold, and apparently is no longer under development, in favor of
MacSpeech Dictate, an Intel-only voice recognition solution. In my mix
of Macs, most of them are PPC today. Now I have two different software
applications to do the same function, on machines running the same OS
version, driven purely as a function of the chip inside.
You know, I like Apple's Mac OS Family Pack for all of my machines
at home. That way the three most current machines can run the same
thing. Of course, I find it easier to support a bunch of machines that
way. But Family Pack doesn't do me any good if the next OS only
supports one machine in my household. So then I will get to support two
OSes where I was previously supporting one. And that might be a seven
year proposition, since I strongly suspect that it would take me just
as many years to replace them all as it took me to get them in the
first place. Oh joy!
Which brings me back to my original issue: Mac has been good for me
in the past especially because I have been afforded the opportunity to
support machines for an extended period of time with machines changing
roles as our needs change and our Mac-mix changes. But if Apple in the
future doesn't continue to support machines as long as I've become
accustomed to, then I will have much greater difficulty maintaining the
all-Mac household I have today. How can I justify buying a machine that
I cannot keep current more than 4 years? Said differently, shortened
support doesn't give me a reason to leave Macs entirely; but it takes
away a reason to invest as much in Macs in the future.
Hypothetically, an alternate arrangement for me could be to have
only 1 or 2 Macs at home and everything else running the same version
of Linux. I can get Intel machines from numerous vendors, especially
used and refurbished ones, that will support the current versions of
Linux for less money than it would cost me to outfit with Intel Macs.
In fact, it would cost me about the same amount to purchase two Intel
machines of the same clock speed for every PPC Mac I sell on eBay.
Whereas I am not a strong advocate of Linux for PowerPC Macs, Linux or
*BSD for less expensive Intel machines (both new and used) is, I
believe, a viable second OS for my household.
I am curious why you find Leopard on a 1.33 GHz G4 sluggish. I've
heard numerous reports of G4s much slower than mine providing
acceptable performance. I run my TiBook on batteries in "reduced"
processor mode most of the time, and I find performance acceptable.
That said, I am not terribly demanding of performance. I use some much
older and slower machines than that. I have access to my Quicksilver
for more demanding tasks. To your point, my wife does not like my
TiBook after using her MacBook Pro. Perhaps it is what one is
accustomed. to.
Regards,
Jeffrey
Hi Jeffrey,
As I noted, the shift from PowerPC to Intel CPUs is
probably the most radical change the Mac world has ever experienced,
and I don't expect the backwards compatibility issues it has engendered
to be repeated anytime soon.
However, I do recall considerable disgruntlement when
it was announced that Mac OS 8.1 would be the last Mac system that
supported 68k Macs, some of which (e.g.: PowerBook 190) were only a couple of years
old at the time. Sometimes you can't move forward without leaving
something behind. It's part of what has held Windows back and/or made
it such a cranky beast.
Apple has continued to release security upgrades for
Safari in Tiger - one came out just a couple of weeks ago.
As for sluggishness on the 1.33 GHz G4, it's a
relative thing I guess. The Finder is actually not too bad, but I
notice it in applications, especially ones that want more graphics
support moxie, and email performance is utterly, atrociously horrible
compared with OS X 10.4 (I still have it installed on a separate
partition) running on the exact same machine and Internet connection.
Tiger provides much more refined and variably more lively performance
depending upon what it is you're doing.
On the other hand, the 1.33 GHz unit is generally
livelier running Leopard than my 550 MHz Pismos are running Tiger
(except for email again), so it does depend on what you're used to.
Charles
Web Browser and USB Adapter for WallStreet
From Alan:
What web browser do you recommend for WallStreet (and what OS does
it require)?
I understand that there are USB Cards for WallStreet computers.
Which would you recommend?
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Alan
Hi Alan,
If you're running OS 9.x Classic, my fave browser on
my WallStreet is Netscape 7.02, which is available here:
http://browser.netscape.com/releases
The most contemporary option is iCab 3, which was last updated on
January 1, 2008; iCab 4 is not being developed for Classic:
Some folks swear by the WaMCom hack of Mozilla 1.3. (Download
WaMCom here.)
I have an old MacAlly PC Card USB adapter for my
WallStreet, and it's been great. Nothing to complain about. However, if
I were buying today I would get USB 2.0. MacAlly makes one,
but there are plenty of other brands. Just make sure it supports the
Mac.
Charles
Via Voice Software for PowerPC Macs
From Nancy:
Dear Charles,
Thank you so much for such a swift, and helpful, reply. My friend
wouldn't even notice the downgrade to Panther, actually, as she has
just switched to the Mac. And I still have both the original
installation disc for her iBook and a copy of Panther. So it would not
be difficult for me to do this for her.
I will check out the link you provided for IBM Via Voice 10. I
cannot tell you how much I appreciate your assistance.
Best,
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
My pleasure. Let me know how VV10 works out for your
friend.
Charles
Opera Can Change the Way You Work with the
Internet
From Leif
Charles W. Moore wrote:
"I've been using both Opera 9.5 (now 9.5.1) and
Firefox 3 since they were released almost simultaneously last month,
and they're both good browsers, but Opera is superior by a substantial
margin, mostly because of a whole host of little things and without
even factoring in the embedded email client."
Agree. I have found out that Americans and Europeans have completely
different habits when it comes to use of cell phones. (e.g.: today I
read that Norwegians on average send 4 SMS text messages each day,
while 80% of Americans have never sent an SMS text message in their
entire life.) I know that this is also because you use services that
we, on average, do not use - such as BlackBerry. (That said, I don't
think/assume that BlackBerry services are nearly as "folksy" as SMS
text messages are.)
This long intro was meant to lead up to Opera Mini. I have begun
using Opera Mini somewhat on my Nokia mobile phone. And it is wonderful
to use! And if you subscribe to their MyOpera service, you get access
to the Opera LINK service, which lets you synchronise the Bookmarks of
the Opera desktop and the Opera Mini. Quite fantastic, I think.
This is one of those little things!
BTW, Opera Mini has so many nice features that would have been
useful in any browser! For instance, it lets you save pages in an
archive so you don't have to connect to read them. We can of course
save pages in all the big browsers. But can we do it in a "systematic"
way? In a way that is focused on reading the pages? (I think Internet
Explorer for Mac had something of that, though.) I read one review of
the coming Opera 9.5 Mobile version. (It was released for HTC - or
whatever - almost 6 months ago, I think.) The reviewer said using it
had changed the way he used his desktop browser.
One thing that strikes me: Opera is really focused on their browser!
Webkit, on the other side, is made by a company that sells computers.
(Okay, it is open source, but we know that Apple is behind it.)
Internet Explorer is made by a big software manufacturer that needs to
tie people to Windows. Firefox/Mozilla - I don't know what is "wrong"
with them. Perhaps nothing. But anyhow. Opera is fresh. I think they
are more open minded. They are only focused on browsing. And this makes
them come up with lot's of good stuff.
Apple is now coming with MobileMe. Okay. It is probably fine. But do
I want to sell out my soul to them? Or to Google?
Charles Moore wrote:
"The latter I'm finding very tempting as I continue to
struggle along with not quite Leopard compatible Eudora 6.2.4. Two
things hold me back, the first being a dozen years of experience and
archived messages in Eudora along with the fact that it's still the
best email client ever designed, while the second is hope that Odysseus
development will come to fruition soon with a stable and reliable
modernized interpretation of that Eudora goodness."
Perhaps some of the reason why Eudora is so good is because they
were so focused on email. Eudora was a company that tried to make the
most out their field - email. Just like Opera is innovative because it
focuses on just one field. (We, the users, perhaps do pay a
price for the freeware revolution ... I mean, who pays for an email
client these days?)
I have my doubts about Odysseus. It might end up good. But it sure
will take its time.
Leif
Hi Lief,
I don't use cellphones at all, first because we only
got coverage where I live a couple of years ago, and still no data
service (i.e.: no Internet on the iPhone here), but mainly because I
refuse on principle to pay the highway robbery service fees or sign up
for the interminable contracts demanded by Canada's mobile phone
service corporate triopoly.
Canadians are heavily into texting, however.
You're preaching to the choir about Opera. I love it.
However, I have noticed that more sites are refusing to load in Opera
that work just fine in Firefox, which is disconcerting. I have to say
that the three dominant browser engines on the Mac - Webkit, Gecko, and
Opera are all generally excellent these days.
I'm still optimistic about Odysseus. The second public
beta is out (now for Windows as well as the Mac), and while I like free
software as well as the next person, email is such a vital tool that I
don't mind paying to get the features and functionality I want,
provided Odysseus comes through with that.
Charles
From Leif:
You mean: You can't even use WAP?
Opera Mini does not require more than a WAP connection. It is, I've
read, the cheapest way to browse the Web with a mobile phone (unless
you're using a wireless connection.)
I would have loved to live out in the sticks. :-) Don't
know if that is the right word for where you live. And may be I am a
bit romantic - but. :-)
Texting: Interesting difference from US Americans, then - if I've
understood this right.
Do you say that Opera has become less compatible with the Web? Or
that more sites are ignoring Opera? I have not seen this myself. (But I
don't claim to know the answer.)
I really hope Odysseus becomes that Eudora successor. Thanks for
notifying me BTW. I wish they sent me an email or something each time
they updated the program. Do you actually use it for anything though? I
have not even reported a bug....
PS: Today I upgraded my G4 PowerBook to Leopard. So now I am "on
par" with the the latest version of the system. I plan on throwing out
a bunch of Apple applications ...
Leif
Hi Leif,
Frankly, I'm not sure about WAP availability here. We
only got cell phone service at all about two years ago. Prior to that,
you might get analog connections on good days if you were on top of a
hill. I know that in the context of the iPhone, GSM service is not
available here.
"The sticks" is accurately descriptive and a term that
is used here. It's actually very nice. We are situated on a lakeshore
and only a kilometre from a lovely ocean sand beach, but there are lots
of "sticks" as well.
I've been noticing a lot more sites are stalling out
with Opera lately than used to be the case. It's particularly evident
when one is running Firefox 3 in tandem, and the same sites pop right
up in Firefox. Of course I'm on slow dialup - not sure whether that's a
factor or not.
I've only experimented with Odysseus so far, but I
haven't encountered anything obvious that would preclude using it for
basic emailing at least. My provisional plan is to phase into it
somewhere along the beta road with a few accounts at first.
How do you like Leopard on the G4?
Charles
From Leif:
I think you should get a cheap mobile phone and experiment.
;-) Just make sure that it is good at running Java - as Opera
Mini is Java based.
"Sticks" was something I picked up on a mailing list recently.
Perhaps I do not understand what it is 100%. But I imagine high, thin
threes - perhaps pine.
Interesting . . . Opera appears to do caching differently.
Perhaps that is what it is.
Oh, BTW, perhaps a tip could be to disable the new "secure browsing"
feature? I could imagine that that would steal resources. (Secure
browsing sounds like a joke to me, BTW. It is much a marketing trick.
One browser gets it, and then the others can't be worse.) Anyway, Opera
and Firefox differ in which service they use there.
Another thing: In the past, Opera had some technology to speed up
download on dialup/narrow-band, something that ultra-compresed the
graphics. Perhaps they stopped with it now?
Odysseus, well, for me it is out of question using a mailer which
does not do format=flowed. And Odysseus currently does not do that. I
must admit I already look at other solutions. The candidates currently
are Mailsmith and perhaps Balzac. However, I also, just this week
learned about a new Thunderbird twist: the Muttator. You can do everything from
the keyboard, in a VIM-editor like way - if you are into it, then it is
very cool! Unfortunately it requires Thunderbird 3, which isn't ready
for prime time yet. (Did you see they released an official alpha
recently? ( http://www.mozillamessaging.com/
)
I have also installed Pine - which is now called Alpine. A terminal
based program. It is impressingly good. But, of course, the basic
things (setting up an account, etc.) are a bit to complicated. Too much
to do before the fun can begin. However, who knows, perhaps I end up
with Alpine. (It is said to be best with IMAP - not so good with POP. I
use POP - out of old habit.)
Leif
Hi Leif,
The problem in Canada is that while there are cheap
cellphones (even free), there are no cheap service options.
I don't have a cellphone of any sort, largely because
I philosophically resist the concept of locking into multiyear contract
commitments for any sort of service, and also assuming the obligation
to pay for incoming calls over which I have no control.
There are just three national cellphone service
providers in Canada - Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, and Telus
Corp, and while that theoretically could provide the market structure
for price competition, it manifestly hasn't, and indeed a chummy price
détente seems to exist among the big three, unlike with other
industries that have high fixed costs, such as airlines, where
competition tends to generate price wars or at least sharply
competitive pricing and discounting.
Canada's wireless carriers, on the other hand,
obviously are loathe to compete on price and seek rather to
differentiate from each other with hardware products offered, such as
Rogers with the iPhone and distinct service package bundles - which of
course bump up the cost of service to the consumer, as opposed to
countries where real competition exists like Hong Kong and India where
cell fees run about a penny per minute.
"The Sticks?" You're overanalyzing I think.
;-) Just means the woods or the boonies - e.g.: "out in the
sticks." Strictly speaking, trees don't as a rule grow very large in
diameter on this coast (mostly balsam fir, red and black spruce, grey
and white birch, but virtually no pine).
I'll try disabling secure browsing in Opera and see if
that helps.
Hmmm.... What goes in T-Bird 3 should also wind up in
the new official Eudora.
Charles
From Leif,
"I've been noticing a lot more sites are stalling out
with Opera lately than used to be the case. It's particularly evident
when one is running Firefox 3 in tandem, and the same sites pop right
up in FF. Of course I'm on slow dialup - not sure whether that's a
factor or not."
Perhaps, when you say it, I experience it too. Not sure. I imagined
it was something else. But may be you have a point. Perhaps it was the
9.5.1 update?
However, if Odysseus will speed up the getting some features
then....
Leopard on the G4? - Very good! I was running out of space on my 80
GB hard disk, and so - while making more space, I decided to upgrade.
(I was too lazy to do it before.) I feel that Thunderbird 2 runs better
on Leopard, for some reason. I have, BTW, removed a lot of things. For
instance, I deleted Mail, iCal, and some other things which I never
used anyway. I also used the Monolingual app to remove
lots of redundant this and that.
The only thing I did not like was the upgrade process....
Leif
Hi Leif,
Well, perhaps it's a coincidence, but I first started
noticing the stall-out issue after upgrading to version 9.51.
Charles
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