PowerPC Technology Doesn't Show Its Age Most of the
Time
From Christoph:
Hello Charles,
First, sorry to hear about
your iBook. These little computers are like certain people - great
companions until they leave.
Regarding the MacBook transition - you mentioned that you're not
blown away by its speed.
If you're used to a 1.33 GHz PowerBook with all
native PowerPC applications, you won't notice much of a difference in
daily work: OS X's user interface is pretty usable even on a 400 MHz
machine, and lots of applications are heavily optimized for AltiVec, so
the PowerPC technology doesn't show its age most of the time. Also, a
single-core 1.33 GHz isn't too shabby by itself, if you consider that
most of its cycles are idle anyway when you're just typing emails.
Once you start encoding video or music, though, or playing Full-HD
trailers or games, you will notice a difference on the Intel Mac! I
think Apple didn't go the Intel road because pulldown menus might draw
a tiny bit faster. They did it because the PowerPC is choking on all
the multimedia stuff which is on Apple's own roadmap. Think of what you
can buy in the iTunes Store. Think of iMovie or Garage Band. The world
is going HD - there was just no way to put a quad-core G5 needed for that
stuff into a laptop.
Best regards,
Christoph
Hi Christoph,
Thanks for your iBook condolences.
I agree with your analysis. I did mention in the
article, I think, that I haven't done much of the sort of work that
will make the Core 2 Duo stand out from the old PowerPC. I expect that
when I install
MacSpeech Dictate (which is about the most processor intensive
software I use for production), I'll see a significant improvement over
running iListen on the PowerPCs.
Certainly, even my old 550 GHz G4-upgraded Pismo offers very decent Finder
performance running Tiger.
Charles
Running Tiger on a Blue & White G3
From Lee, following up on WD
MyBook Home External Hard Drive Causing Kernel Panic:
Hi Charles
Well, I finally got a definitive answer from Western Digital re: 500
GB home external hard drive, sort of.
After innumerable emails, and finally one hour on telephone, going
through three levels of tech support, ending with Jeremy from
California, thank goodness for the US of A (sic).
He stated "should not have gone out with 10.3 on the box". He would
like to exchange the drive I have for one that would work, but they are
not currently shipping anything that will work for me. Have not since
2007.
I am so tired of built in obsolesce. Seems that if one buys a new
Macintosh, one can expect to be buying another one in eighteen
months?
Why no backward compatibility ?
I am driving a 22-year-old car. It gets eighteen miles to the
gallon. Why would I pay $30,000 for a new something that really won't
do much better. Understand a new Mazda van only gets 18 MPG in real
world driving. It's only a tool and my tool can be fixed at a corner
garage! Which is good because there is no one in the dealership that
has worked on anything of this age. Carburetor, what's that ?
Question: Can I
successfully use 10.4.8 on a Blue and White G3/400. Seems to
be some who say one can and others who can't. I am aware that I don't
have enough video RAM to run Quartz, but other than that will it run? I
only need something that the system can run faster than I can type!
Only use it to surf medical sites (CFIDS) and do email. Software should
be reasonably cheap by now ?
Really don't want to buy something newer until this packs up.
I recall that you went back to 10.3.9 on your G4 Pismo. Where are
you with that now?
Would just return the drive, but it was really inexpensive, and I
don't know if they will take it back anyway.
Thanks much
Lee
Hi Lee,
I understand. My car is 19 years old, and my truck 15.
Both get tolerably good (or better) gas mileage in their class.
You can run Tiger on your Blue & White, but I
don't expect it will be very lively. OTOH, come to think of it, Tiger
ran quite decently on one of my Pismos when it was still a 500 MHz G3,
and the B&W's faster hard drive and system bus should give it at
least as good performance.
I switched back to Tiger on the Pismos after OS X
10.4.6 was released, and it's been solid and very satisfactory. I am
currently using 10.4.11 on both.
Charles
Editor's note: We spotted a $20 400 MHz G4 upgrade for
the Power Mac G3 this week. See our Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video
Card Deals for more information on this and other CPU upgrades.
dk
In Praise of the Migration Assistant
From Eric:
Charles,
I'm happy to report that I am typing this message from my new refurb iMac! Wonderful
machine. I really liked my previous one, but the widely-reported
foibles of G5 vintage
models finally caught up with me. This 2.4 GHz Intel iMac is a
pleasure to use and a beautiful piece of machinery. Dare I say, work of
art? Oh yeah, and it is virtually quiet. The sound of silence was
almost stunning when I powered down the old G5 iMac. I think I'm in
love. :)
Migration Assistant was a godsend, but I had a few bumps along the
way. All the problems stemmed from my G5 model though, not the
software. I tried using a FireWire connection between iMacs, but the
G5's fans began blasting about 1/10th of the way through. I stopped
everything and tried the other FireWire port on the G5. Same thing.
Switched to using ethernet, but about halfway through the G5 locked up
with the fans running full force.
Then I remembered you can utilize Migration Assistant with an
external drive, so I rebooted the G5 and ran SuperDuper one last time,
switched the FireWire drive to the Intel iMac, and started the
migration process once again. It worked perfectly, taking a little over
an hour to move 97.2 GB of files. Much to my delight, all my previous
settings (seem) to have been carried over.
Not the smoothest introduction to Migration Assistant, but I'd use
it again without hesitation. Very slick software and something Apple
deserves praise for. All my settings carried over, and I've yet to run
across any hiccups. It's like I've picked up right where I left off on
my G5.
As I write this, I'm performing a second massive software update
via, well, Software Update. There were numerous candidates, largest of
which is the combo updater for Leopard (OS X 10.5.6). Ran Software
Update again, and there were still more. Simultaneous to these updates,
my first Time Machine backup is in progress. I hope that won't cause
problems. I figure the reboot for QuickTime and Leopard can wait until
Time Machine is done.
By the way, I was impressed with how much Leopard encourages you to
backup. The FireWire drive I used to migrate my old files is actually
not the drive I intend to use for backups on the new machine, but
before I could disconnect it, Leopard asked if I wanted to use it with
Time Machine. As soon as I had the FireWire drive connected that I
planned on using for backups, it queried me again. It also recognized
there were two partitions and wondered which I preferred using. I
previously split the drive in half and plan using one partition for
SuperDuper and the other for Time Machine. Now the Time Machine
partition has a new desktop icon to distinguish it from all others.
Very cool.
I'm really enjoying the keyboard. It feels great! Much better than
the keyboard that came with my old iMac, which I think was fairly
decent. Sadly, there's no longer an Apple on the command key. Just
"command" and the clover leaf. A sign of the times, I guess. Sigh. Oh
well, I really have no complaints. It's very smooth and I find myself
typing faster than with my old iMac's stock keyboard.
I'm getting reacquainted with the Mighty Mouse again and generally
like it. It too came with my G5, and I initially liked it very much,
but then the scroll ball seemed to get gummed up after a while, and I
switched to a MacAlly iLaser, which has a conventional scroll wheel. I
think I'll give the Mighty Mouse a second chance though.
By the way, was it Apple's intention to use a power cord with a
white plug on an iMac that is black on the back? No big deal, but it
seems strange to me given Apple's design ethos.
That's about it for now. I'll be going through my apps folder over
the weekend to make sure everything is in order (verifying each is up
to date, ensuring the licenses carried over, etc.). Along the way, I'll
continue to use the new machine exclusively. I'll let you know how it
goes.
~ Eric
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the interesting and detailed account of
your orientation and migration.
I think my new MacBook is a work of art too. It's a
pleasure to look at and touch - quiet too.
My experience with Migration Assistant was rocky, and
after a couple of failures, I threw in the towel and just dragged stuff
over manually in the Finder. Slower than it would have been with
FireWire. Sigh. Lack of FireWire is turning into the thing I like least
about this machine. USB is not a satisfactory substitute.
My MacBook power cord is all white.
Charles
Maxed MacBook Memory?
From Bill:
Hi Charles,
Just curious whether you've maxed out your MacBook's memory or not?
If you did increase the standard 2 GB has that helped noticeably in
performance?
Enjoyed the article pros and cons.
Bill H.
Hi Bill,
I'm planning to go with 4 GB or even the full 6 GB,
but haven't done the upgrade yet and am getting along quite comfortably
so far with the stock 2 GB.
Glad you enjoyed the article.
Charles
Problems with Eudora - Solved
From Felix:
Dear Mr. Moore,
Since I am sure you know everything there is to know about Eudora,
or close enough, perhaps you could help me in my current
predicament.
Being a freelancer, I have a setup consisting of several Macs -
desktops and laptops alike - that I considered somewhat convoluted
until I learned recently about yours . . . ;-) I
receive and store my email in an eMac running Leopard, and using
Mail, a program that I agree is pretty rustic, but that serves my
simple needs well enough, except for its lack of Hotmail support - or
is it the other way around?
Recently, my backup drive (one of those WD MyBook Studio affairs I
now strongly advise everybody not to buy) died suddenly and
unexpectedly on me after less than a year of light use. So I decided to
use one of my Pismos, which enjoys a 250 GB hard drive, courtesy of the
Intech Hi-Cap software, to
temporarily backup my email until I find a suitable replacement for the
defunct MyBook. I copied the Mail folder from the eMac system library
to the Pismo's (running 10.4.11), and there Mail imported all my
settings, mailboxes, rules, and messages in a matter of minutes and was
up and about without a single hiccup - despite the fact that it was
downgrading from Leopard to Tiger, mind you.
After a couple of days, and having read your numerous columns
deploring the demise or near demise of Eudora, I decided to give the
ol' girl a try. I downloaded the last operating version of the original
Eudora, and upon opening it asked me if I wanted to import my mail and
settings from Mail. I said yes . . . and then got a message
that Eudora couldn't read the files. I have tried several times, even
tried to import accounts and/or mailboxes one at a time, always with
the same negative result. It's nonplussing.
Have you ever run into a similar problem, or do you have any idea
about what could be causing it?
Thanks,
Felix
Hi Felix,
It would be a massive overstatement to say I know
everything there is to know about Eudora. I'm a fairly experienced
longtime user, so I've picked up a bit of knowledge, but I'm no
expert.
I've never tried importing Mail files into Eudora, so
that's one of the (many) things I don't know about the program.
Importing from Mail was one of the last features added to Eudora for
Mac, but there may be something about Leopard or the PowerPC-Intel
transition that is causing the issue you mention. I had no luck
dragging my Eudora Setting from the PowerBook to the MacBook. Eudora
opens and can access and search my email files satisfactorily, but it
refuses to talk to SMTP servers via the external modem and my slow
dialup service, even with a clean install of the program and a new,
from scratch Settings file.
One thing you might try is importing your Mail files
to Thunderbird, and if that proves successful you could then check if
Eudora has better luck importing Thunderbird mail and settings.
Eudora 6.2.4 runs beautifully on both my Pismos under
OS X 10.4.11 and has no difficulty connecting to SMTP servers over my
dialup connection with them, so it should work well for you if you can
get the mail import accomplished.
Sorry I can't be of more help with your specific
issue.
Charles
Dear Mr. Moore,
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my letter in such
detail.
Nobody knows everything there's to know about anything - that's one
of the reasons we are so many, and so different, I think. But I
digress. You do know a lot about Eudora - and it was actually your
knowledge what gave me the key to my problem.
When you said "Eudora 6.2.4"" it occurred to me to double-check the
version I had. It turned out to be 6.2.3, for some reason - why I
downloaded the next-to-last build is a question I'll be asking myself
for a while.
I trashed the old Eudora, downloaded 6.2.4, and before you can say
Jack Robinson it transferred everything from Mail, just like I
remembered having read somewhere. It connects well to the server, gets
new mail, the works! And, despite of what you thought, I actually have
you to thank for that.
The interface, though, does not seem very intuitive. I used Outlook
Express for many years before switching from the Dark Side (and I use
"dark" here in the sense of "obscure" and "difficult"; I highly doubt
Apple can give anybody lessons in morality or unselfishness). I have
been using Mail ever since, and a browser to manage my Hotmail account,
and all of my email when I'm away from home.
Eudora's interface is somewhat baffling to me. I'm used to see all
my custom mailboxes at once and switch from one to the other, and as
far as I can tell the process with Eudora is not the same. They all
open in different windows when I look for them in the dropdown menu.
The documentation and the help aren't very helpful, to say the
least.
Could I abuse once more your kindness and ask you to point out some
resources I could use for a better understanding of Eudora's works?
Thanks again for your knowledge and patience. And keep up the good
work... :-)
Best regards,
Felix
Hi Felix,
I'm delighted to hear that my reply was of some help,
however inadvertent.
As for Eudora's interface, I suppose it's at least
partly a matter of taste, but the "non-interface interface" is one of
the thinks I really love about Eudora Classic. I even keep the toolbar
turned off, and I find working from the menu bar more intuitive and
slicker, and the conventional three-box interface of Thunderbird, which
I what I'm using now on my Intel Mac, clumsy and frustrating. Different
strokes, I guess.
Qualcomm offers online Eudora
tutorials. You can find a similar resource in Using
Eudora: A Quick Guide from the Academic Computing and
Communications Center at UIC.
If a book format resource appeals to you, check out
Using
Eudora by Dee-Ann Leblanc.
Charles
Running SETI@Home on a MacBook
From Eric:
Hi Charles. Just a quick note to Rich, whose email was posted today. He wrote:
"The new MacBook doesn't seem to offer that option, and so it
apparently runs full-tilt all the time. Running the SETI program
generates enough of a load (apparently) that the fans run most of the
time - increasing noise and power consumption. Are you aware of a
solution to this, or have I maybe over looked a system setting
somewhere?"
I use SETI@Home, as well as many other @Home projects, 24/7 . My
MBP's fans were spinning a lot as well, but there's a fix within the
BOINC client. In the Menu Bar,
go to Advanced > Preferences. At the bottom, there is a place for
the user to input the percentage of CPU they want to use for their
@Home projects. I set it to 50%, and the fans no longer spin. He can
play around and see what percentage is optimal for him, but this may be
a fix he's looking for. (At least for @Home projects.)
HI Eric,
Thanks for the tip which sounds (of silence) like a
perfect solution.
Charles
Running Windows on Pre-Intel Macs
From Ted:
Hi Charles:
This query was posted on another list - I was wondering if you could
help?
Ted
I do some volunteer work helping a charity with their
5 Macintoshes from the late 1990s and early 2000s. All have the older
Motorola chips, not the newer Intel chips.
They need to install a Windows program to run an
office program developed by their US headquarters. I installed a
Windows emulation program on a iMac for my friend Anne-Marie about 10
years ago, but I can't remember the name of it any more, only that it
was bought out by Microsoft. I seem to recall that there was another
Windows emulation program, too, before the Intel chips.
Can someone tell me the names of these (I suppose)
legacy programs, and most important, where we can find one, purchase
it, etc.
Hi Ted,
The program referenced is Virtual
PC. For more information on the program, see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Virtual_PC>.
Charles
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