Pismo Resuscitation, a Possible NotePad Deluxe Replacement, Eudora 8 Keyboard Shortcuts, and More

• Pismo Resuscitation
• Pismo Love, 13" MacBook Pro Purchase
• Suggested NotePad Deluxe Replacement
• TextWrangler as Replacement for Smultron
• Could TextMate Replace Smultron?
• Eudora 8.0 Keyboard Shortcuts

Pismo Resuscitation

From Charles:

Hi Charles,

There I was going through my spare Pismo and Lombard, making sure they still booted up, and my Pismo would not boot! I pressed the reset button, to no avail . . . I was going to do an internet search, put it off too later, and then after dinner happened to go to Low End Mac and saw your article on the Pismo . . . long story short, disconnecting the PRAM battery did the trick!

Thanks! Do you or any of your readers know of good sources for PRAM batteries - or a method to rebuild these things?

Thanks again,
Charles

PS Now that Classilla is available, I have been enjoying using OS 9 again with my old 'Books. Boy, it takes me back, using the old Finder. I still find using Classic to be a joy!

Hi Charles,

Delighted to have been of service.

Wegener Media still lists new PRAM/BIOS batteries for Pismos for $18.99.

I still use Classic Mode with my Pismos for a few apps I like better than their counterparts in OS X, and the speed is a hoot when I occasionally boot into Classic directly. However, I'm pretty addicted to OS X nowadays. ;-)

Charles

Pismo Love, 13" MacBook Pro Purchase

From Eric:

Hi, I have also been keeping my Pismo going, but just in the last week bought a 13" MacBook Pro. I purchased my Pismo within a week of introduction. I keep increasing the size of the hard drives and bumping up the RAM, and adding PCMCIA cards for USB 2.0 and 802.11g.

Within the last year I have been getting the spinning beach ball more and more and even went to the Apple Store to look at new 'Books a few months ago. I was not impressed by the potential improvement I might see for what I am currently doing with my Pismo. But with the recent price drops and improvements, seems like the new 'Books might finally be a suitable replacement for my Pismo.

I should add that my partner has a 15" G4 that has had the motherboard, etc., replaced by Apple (AppleCare) and still has one of the worst trackpads I have ever used (that was one of the things I was not impressed with on the new Macs - and I tried quite a few in the Apple Store). I have also been keeping a couple of PPC Duo 'Books going for what purpose I do not know (maxed RAM, new batteries - soldered and NIMH, new keyboard for one and a new MB for the other, and the tick of death capacitor on the dock) just the size and coolness factor I guess.

Anyway, it will be a sad day when I pack up the Pismo to send to my brother (I hope he decides to give computers another try) or try to find another home where it will get some use.

Enjoy your articles!

Eric

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the kind words.

You've had a great run from that old Pismo, and based on my own five months' experience with my Unibody MacBook, I'm provisionally ready to say that you've chosen a worthy replacement.

I won't be as polite as you about the PowerBook G4 and pre-unibody MacBook Pros. The trackpad in my 17" PowerBook, which I otherwise like very much, is an abomination - absolutely the worst I've ever used.

Happily, I'm finding the big glass buttonless trackpad in the MacBook very acceptable.

Charles

Suggested NotePad Deluxe Replacement

From Michael:

Greetings, Charles.

Last time we chatted about BeLight Software's Live Interior. Recently BeLight announced that it had solved the multiple stories issue, and I went off to buy a copy of the standard version. I'm still in the learning mode, but look forward to using Live Interior to help visualize my future dream home.

Like you, I have been using NotePad Deluxe for years and years on my low-end Macs, but occasionally another product appears which offers the same relevant features. One of these is Notae, which alleges to run on your Intel Mac. It looks a bit different than NPD but might serve well for you. If so, please let us readers know how it goes.

Michael

If you rub your mind against someone who is different, you come out better. - John Hope Franklin

Hi Michael,

Glad to hear that Live Interior 3D is working out for you.

Thanks also for the tip about Notae. I think I may have heard of it, but I've never checked it out. I shall now do so and report.

Charles

TextWrangler as Replacement for Smultron

From Stephan:

Hi Charles,

You mentioned TextWrangler in your article Hasta La Vista, Smultron.

TextWrangler is scriptable, and there is a nice set of scripts named Vormplus Webtools - these could be, amongst others, a replacement for code completion. You should really have a look at them. I use them in combination with Firefox with the Web Developer and FireBug plugins for web development.

Regards,
Stef

Hi Stef,

I wasn't aware of those scripting resources, and I absolutely should check them out and will do so.

I really like TextWrangler, and indeed it is an indispensable tool in my production applications suite for it's superb "Zap Gremlins" feature. If I can use scripts to get it to do other stuff that I need, it might even be a challenger for good old Tex-Edit Plus.

Tom Bender told me late last year that he intended to get back to updating and improving TE+ in 2009, but so far no new versions since Sept. 2008 I think.

Thanks so much for the tips.

Charles

Could TextMate Replace Smultron?

From John:

It should work. I've built Smultron many times in Xcode. It's code base is clean and a well-done example to any budding developers. Somebody will definitely continue it in some capacity. It's pretty popular.

And by the way, TextMate is one of the best apps I've ever paid for. Well worth it's price for the power and utility it provides. If you haven't tried it, I suggest it is well worth the money, and way better than BBEdit (not to mention cheaper) and TextWrangler.

If you need a text editor, don't count out Xcode either...

John

Hi John,

Being that my ignorance of the arcanities of coding is near-encyclopedic, I happily bow to your greater erudition. I hope you're optimism that someone will continue on with Smultron proves accurate.

I have tried TextMate, and even reviewed a very early version many years ago. I can well appreciate its appeal to coders,

For me, perhaps even more so than BBEdit, it was just a lot more than I need.

Thanks for the info and comment.

Charles

Eudora 8.0 Keyboard Shortcuts

From Vickere:

Hi Charles,

I've just read your Low End Mac write up of Eudora 8.0 and first wanted to thank you for your comments.

I've been a dedicated Eudora user for perhaps 15 years, in large part because it's the only Mac email software I've seen that lets me avoid using a mouse almost entirely. I use Cmd-\ to switch between windows, <space> to open windows, Cmd-E to queue messages, Cmd-M to check mail, and cmd-l to open the address book (and can then just start typing to find the person I want), along with the lovely Cmd-1 and Cmd-0 for the In and Out boxes.

With hand problems that are aggravated pretty much only by mouse use, I'm seriously hoping the new Penelope Eudora 8.0 beta still includes all these no mouse features. Do you know? I am still successfully using Classic Eudora 6.0 on a Mac mini, even after upgrading to 10.5.x (fingers crossed), but am on a DSL line, so different issues than you have.

I'd give it a try, but since my existing Eudora still works, I hesitate to risk perturbing it with a version I then can't use....

Any feedback you have would be most welcome.

Best,
Vickere

Hi Vickere,

I have to confess that I've never really availed myself of Eudora's extensive keyboard shortcut capabilities. I suffer from mousing pain also, but find that the choice of mouse can make a massive difference (current fave is Logitech's V550), and I also use a foot mouse at my office workstation for clicking.

Anyway, Eudora 8 is a totally different program from Eudora Classic - essentially a skin containing some adopted Eudora Classic features on top of Mozilla's Thunderbird email client. However, Mozilla does say that some keyboard shortcuts from the original Eudora were moved to Penelope (Eudora 8), and you configure whether these shortcuts in Penelope or the original Thunderbird ones are used in the Penelope panel of the Options/Preferences dialog in Eudora 8.

At https://wiki.mozilla.org/Eudora_Keybindings they give an overview of the shortcuts - which of those have been implemented and which of those are problematic - which should be of some help.

Probably the best thing would be to download Eudora 8 and try it out for yourself. You can import your email archives and settings in from Eudora Classic without disturbing the originals, so it's a no-risk venture, and you can always go back to Eudora Classic if the new one isn't what you are looking for.

Charles

Thanks so much for the helpful response, Charles. I'll go to the website and have a look-see and go from there.

On the mouse thread (oh, does a pun ever feel called for, but none springs to mind...), I use the mini mouses that Logitech makes, plain ol' two buttoners with "tails", and have one for each hand so I can swap back and forth. I like the minis because they keep my small hands much more relaxed. On top of everything else, I have had a trackball mouse injury (de Quervain's Tenosynovitis) and so avoid them like the plague, because they require much too rigid use of my thumb. I've thought about getting a foot mouse, but since I use keyboard shortcuts, I don't have to click too much, but good to know they're workable.

Okay, enough rambling. Thanks for the inputs! I'll check it out and cross my fingers.

Best,
Vickere

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