Unexpected MacBook Sleep Behavior
From Rich:
Charles -
First of all, my thanks to Chris and DG for their responses to my
problems with Western Digital (WD) drives (Mailbag 29 April); that explained a
lot.
Nextly, have you noticed that your new MacBook has different sleep
behavior than your PowerPC 'Books?
I ask because my Nvidia MacBook takes much longer to go to sleep
than my G4 iBook; although the screen will go dark immediately, it
seems to take around twenty seconds before the power light on the front
of the case begins to pulse. I have also observed sometimes that the
machine will be making some sort of noise, either fan or hard drive (I
haven't tried to figure out which), and if so, said noise will also
continue for 20-25 seconds after sleep mode is invoked. Doesn't seem to
matter whether I use the sleep command in the Apple menu or if I just
close the lid. Either way, I'm assuming that it's not completely safe
to move the machine until the power light begins pulsing and any
internal noise has ceased.
Any comments?
As for the machine itself, I'm finding that I like it more and more
in preference to the iBook. It's certainly faster by leaps and bounds.
I've gotten used to the glossy screen, and the screen itself seems much
brighter than the iBook's - I seem to keep the intensity setting much
lower on the new 'Book than on the old one (how do you like your
LED-lit screen?). Likewise, after my initial reservations, the chiclet
keyboard seems to be 'better' than the iBook's - perhaps just because
there's a bit of space between the keys.
Thanks -
Rich
Hi Rich,
My main impression regarding sleep behavior on the
MacBook is how much quicker it wakes up than my older 'Books, but after
reading your email I paid attention to the little power light, and sure
enough there is a several-second lag after the screen goes dark before
the light begins pulsing. The system putting stuff in order?
The hard drive in my machine is almost inaudibly
quiet, and the fan has only cut in (briefly) three times during the
three months I've thus far owned it, so I don't have a frame of
reference as to whether the fan stops when the laptop goes to sleep, as
it does with my G4 PowerBook.
I would advise against any vigorous handling of the
machine until the hard drive stops, although fan activity wouldn't be a
problem. I've been known to carry my 'Books around with them running,
but I don't recommend it as a practise.
I'm very happy with the LED backlit glossy display,
although it's been a bit of an adjustment moving down from the 17"
screen in the PowerBook. I'm not a big fan of the chiclet keyboard,
but I'll agree with you unreservedly that it's better than the iBook
keyboards, which were mediocre.
Charles
Pismo Resurrection and Upgrades
From Scott, following up on FireWire Sleep Issues and a Dead
Pismo:
The Pismo is working
now. I discovered the
little reset button on the back under the port cover. It started
right up and runs fine. It apparently hasn't been started since January
2003, according to documents on the hard drive. Wow! (laugh). No wonder
it's in such beautiful condition.
The back side of the Pismo PowerBook with the port cover open.
I bought a new high capacity battery for it, which hasn't arrived
yet. I think I'll just remove the PRAM battery and run it without that.
It doesn't appear to need it at all, and they're kinda expensive. I
don't want to leave it in there and risk having it leak or something. I
ordered a new Seagate 120 GB 5400 rpm hard drive for it, then I read
your article saying ATA100 drives won't work on the Pismo's ATA66
controller.
I'm gonna try it anyway, since the hard drive is already paid for
and on its way here.
Just as I was about to order a pair of 512 MB sticks of RAM and an
AirPort card for the Pismo, my friend in Nashville told me she's
mailing me her Titanium
PowerBook, which supposedly needs a motherboard. The Titanium has a
pair of 512 MB sticks of RAM and an AirPort Card in it, so I'll just
transfer them to the Pismo until I can get the Titanium running.
What do you think a 1
GHz Titanium with a possibly bad motherboard is worth? I don't know
what to offer her for it. I told her I was about to spend $75 on the
RAM and AirPort Card. I think the motherboard will probably cost $100,
won't it? Hopefully it won't need a motherboard though. I've always
wanted a Titanium PowerBook too. I'm gonna start my own little
PowerBook collection here! (laugh) She already replaced the Titanium
with an Aluminum, so she won't be wanting the Titanium back.
Scott
Hi Scott,
I'm kicking myself that I didn't mention the reset
button in my previous reply. It's proved useful to me on a number of
occasions.
Glad you got the Pismo percolating. They really are
sublimely pleasurable machines. It should perform very nicely with a
gig of RAM.
I'll be interested to hear how the hard drive works
for you. The ATA compatibility problem was always a bit ambiguous. I've
never had any PRAM battery trouble with any of my Pismos.
A bad mobo is a quite likely possibility with a
TiBook, and personally I wouldn't spend any serious money attempting to
repair one. Indeed, when I fried the power manager unit in one of my
Pismos last year, I determined that it made more sense to just buy a
whole 'nother stripped-down Pismo from
Wegener than to go to the trouble of repairing the damaged machine,
which is now a parts mule, and it's replacement has served me
splendidly for nearly a year now. It's such a buyers' market in older
Mac laptops that one can be choosy.
My preference would definitely be for a 12" PowerBook over a TiBook for roughly the
same price, and often cheaper for the 12-incher, which is a much more
robust machine. TiBooks are prone to logic board and RAM slot failures
and broken lid hinges (Wegener offer a $199 hinge repair).
Wegener's price for 1 GB
Tis is $699.99, which is a reference-framer for you. The value of your
friend's machine is heavily dependent on whether you can determine if
the motherboard is
fried or not. If it is the mobo, then the computer isn't worth very
much.
Charles
Eudora 6.2.4 Running on OS X 10.5.7: Is the End
Nigh?
From Alex:
Mr. Moore,
Just read your April 2008 post: Why Eudora Fans Are
'Doggedly Faithful'.
I am running 6.2.4 on my current-generation iMac, which is running
10.5.7.
I just ran an OS X software update, and the first two times I tried
to run Eudora, it crashed. It's now running okay as I write you this
email.
I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Like you, I have used Eudora since the late 90s and have a dozen
years of emails archived - well over a gigabyte of data that I never
want to lose access to.
I have tried other programs, including Mac's Mail program, and
always go back to Eudora, for many of the reasons you cite, but also
out of simple habit - I know the program instinctively.
I live in mild terror that someday it will no longer work, e.g.,
after I run an OS X software update, as I did just now.
Can you offer any advice on how to prepare for this eventuality? Is
there another program that's currently supported that you feel offers
similar features - in particular the separate mailboxes?
Thanks for any advice you can give!
Regards,
Alex
Hi Alex,
My inference is that Eudora 6.2.4's days are numbered
as a usable email client. I've already crossed this bridge, as 6.2.4
refuses to work on my new Unibody MacBook, at least over
my rural dialup connection (it works sluggishly on my G4 PowerBook running
Leopard). The application starts up on the MacBook, so I can use it to
access archived messages, but it refuses to send or receive.
As for alternative suggestions, I've at least
provisionally settled on using Thunderbird
for now and am finding it better than I had anticipated based on
previous casual use. The main advantages of Thunderbird, in my
estimation, are that it is Open Source and also the basis for the
Eudora 8 email
client, which I still hope will eventually come closer to living up to
its name as a replacement for Classic Eudora than it has thus far (I
haven't yet tried the just-released beta 6 build, which is based on
Thunderbird 3). One cool thing is that you can run in either T-bird or
Eudora 8.x using the same user profile folder.
Speaking of which, T-bird does store mail in separate
mailbox folders quite similarly to Classic Eudora inside a folder
called "Mail", which lives in the Profiles folder.
I miss Eudora's forgiving and tractable flexibility,
but T-bird is a decent email client once you get used to it.
Charles
Update to my previous email.
I have found MailForge
and have paid $20 to register the trial copy I downloaded.
I assume you know about it (formerly Odysseus). Have you written
about it? If so, can you direct me to whatever you've written?
Best,
Alex
Hi Alex,
I checked out several builds of Odysseus, although
haven't tried it since the name change and the latest build
releases.
I was not able to give it a really thorough test,
because like Classic Eudora running in Leopard, Odysseus wasn't a happy
camper on my dialup setup.
Here are a couple of my articles on Odysseus,
I've been checking in on the user forums, and the
impression I get is that MailForge is still pretty rough around the
edges, although is gradually improving, and it's probably going to
become the most satisfactory successor to Classic Eudora.
Charles
G4 Upgrades for Lombard, G4 iMacs Still
Around?
From Eric:
Hi Charles,
I know once upon a time (last year) there were G4 upgrades for
Lombards and iMac G4s. Now I can't seem to see what
happened to them: did they completely vanish? I have a Lombard I really
want to upgrade to a G4, and a 700 MHz iMac G4 I want to upgrade. It's
sad when my new Acer Aspire One beats both of them, but I don't have
the heart to get rid of my perfectly good, working Macs!
Do you have any idea where to find these still? It's sad they were
discontinued, but there has to be a way to find them still! Thanks for
the help,
Eric
Hi Eric,
Daystar,
which was the only vendor I'm aware of that offered a G4 upgrade for
the Lombard, discontinued all of its PowerBook processor upgrade
products last year.
To the best of my knowledge, there are no processor
upgrades available any longer for the iMac G4, although FastMac still makes a 550 MHz G4 upgrade for the
slot-load G3 iMac.
Searching on
eBay or Craigslist and such is
the only suggestion I can think of.
Charles
Go to Charles Moore's Mailbag index.
