WiFi Options for Lombard, Installing Tiger on a DVD-less eMac, 3D Home Design Software, and More
Charles W. Moore - 2007.10.01
WiFi Options for a Lombard PowerBook
From Andreas Kleinke:
Hi Charles,
I just read your recommendation of a
Netgear PCMCIA WiFi card to a lady with a Lombard PowerBook, and I
was wondering: would you happen to know if this card runs with the
standard AirPort drivers? Or would you need to install special
software, ie. are there OS X drivers included from Netgear?
I would be most grateful if you had an answer to this question.
Best regards, keep up the great work,
Andy
Hi Andy,
The version of the Netgear card sold by Wegener Media
for $50 comes with Mac OS X drivers, so I presume they are
necessary.
Wegeners also sell the Buffalo G54 802.11g card
($40), for which they say no additional drivers are needed.
Both cards require at least OS X 10.2 or better. (They
are not OS 9 compatible)
Hope this helps.
Charles
Installing OS X 10.4 on a DVD-Challenged eMac
From George Papini:
Mr. Moore
I came across your article for installing OS X 10.4 on DVD Challenged Macs. I
am trying to install 10.4 from the disk that came with an Intel-based
Mac mini to an eMac. All was going well until the point of installation
where a message to the effect of 'OS X cannot be installed on (the
eMac volume). This volume cannot start up from this disk' (I should
have written down exactly what it said). I suspect that it has
something to do with the OS for the mini being for Intel-based machines
but cannot find any information to confirm that. Any assistance you can
provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
George P.
Hi George,
The Intel and PowerPC versions of Mac OS X are
different and not interchangable.
However, even if you had had an install disk from a
PowerPC Mac mini, it in all likelihood wouldn't have worked
successfully with the eMac, as Apple puts a block in software restore
disks that ship with computers to limit install support to that
particular model.
BTW, when you do get a generic install DVD, while the
method I described in the column worked for me, a better mode is to
mount the computer with the DVD drive from the destination computer in
Target Disk Mode and then install the disk from the DVD drive in that
manner. (See Using FireWire Target Disk
Mode to Install OS X on Macs without DVD Drives.)
Charles
Charles
Thanks so much for your reply. After I had sent the message to you I
did come across this on the Apple site <https://web.archive.org/web/20071028050015/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303220>
and thought I was home free. I just spent the better part of this
afternoon attempting the install to end up at the same conclusion. I
was able to install the OS on the eMac (ultimately by selecting the
'GUID Partition Table' option' "...to start up an Intel based Mac
computer", so I kind of suspected what I was in for) but cannot start
up from it. I can use it as a start up disk from the mini, which of
course is not what the goal was.
I will probably reinstall 10.3 on the eMac until I can get the
generic 10.4 DVD as you suggested.
Thanks again for your prompt reply - on a Sunday no less.
George
Hi George,
My pleasure.
Yes, and Leopard will be out in a month or so. You
didn't say which model eMac you have, so Leopard may or may not be a
viable proposition. The support cutoff is rumored to be an 800 MHz
G4.
There should be some deals on remaindered Tiger
install DVDs once Leopard pounces.
Charles
Alternatives to Live Interior 3D
From Michael Emery:
Greetings, Charles.
Your Applelinks story on BeLight's Live Interior 3D v1.1 provides
more incentive for me to get it for my own design project - a new house
for me and my wife! Still, I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts about
the similar products Sweet Home 3D and Interiors,
the competition.
Michael Emery
Hi Michael,
I've downloaded Sweet Home and have been trying to
find the time to check it out for a review.
It looks intriguing, especially for Open Source
software, but it is Java based, so my expectations are not high for
speedy performance on my middling slow G4 PowerBook.
Interiors looks interesting, and I'm guessing it's a
powerful program, but at $116/$129 it's substantially more expensive
than Live Interior 3D.
Charles
Greetings, Charles.
I did download Sweet Home 3D and trialed it on my Dual USB 500 MHz iBook. It works fine with
easy-to-grok controls, yet appears to be limited to drafting one-floor
models only, which seems to cramp my style. (I aspire for two floors,
including a loft.) One cannot go wrong at the price: free.
(Besides the cute, little iBook, I have a 1 GHz Quicksilver on my desktop at work,
and a 20-inch G5 iMac at home. All of
these machine work very well, running OS X 10.4.10!)
Interiors is some $40 more expensive than Live Interior 3D, which
might be a justifiable difference if the product delivers more than the
competition. I, too, suspect that it is the most powerful tool of them
all, and seems to have a powerful learning curve to go with it. My
ancient brain is can no longer fluently master new apps and things.
Ease of use is a priority for me. It's a good thing that OS X is
almost as easy as OS 9; otherwise my new house stands to resemble
an abacus.
I value your opinions and look forward to every one of them.
Michael Emery
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the report on SweetHome 3D. If it runs
satisfactorily on a 500 MHz iBook, you can't complain.
Live Interior 3D shares the one-story shortcoming. No
staircase support in the graphics and no provision for multi-story
exterior elevations. I'd be interested in knowing if Interiors supports
multi-story designs. Of course, with interior design, you can just do
separate floorplans for the individual stories.
Charles
Old Versions of Mac Apps for Download
From Eric Matthieu
Hi Charles,
I just discovered this site, and wondered if you knew about it:
<http://mac.oldapps.com/>
Maybe something especially good for LEM?
Eric
Hi Eric,
I do now. ;-)
Thanks; looks like a useful resource.
Charles
Go to Charles Moore's Mailbag index.
