Macintosh Pro Musings
From D F Stein
I guess there will be [an Intel-based replacement for the Power
Macintosh], but why does everyone assume Apple will have a new user
tower. They just might be obsolete in modern computing or Apple's
business model. I don't sense any user group is "waiting for them."
Graphic and scientific communities will probably move on to Windows
without difficulty.
Good point. We'll know pretty soon, I think. I'm
still anticipating new professional Macintels, but the form factor
could be a surprise.
Charles
No Startup Chime on Pismo
From John Wilson M.D.
Mr. Moore,
I've recently upgraded a Pismo
400 with the Daystar 550 G4 package and a 40 GB hard drive. It
was working very well and still does, except that after the latest
Tiger update I have lost my startup chime. I can get it back if I
boot into Classic and then boot into Tiger, but on the next startup
it is gone again.
I also noticed that when I do a safe mode startup in Tiger I
have no support for Audio Out hardware and therefore no sound. I've
been using Tiger for a while, and this is pretty new, so I'm
wondering if you have any thoughts about what could be causing the
problem and a possible work around. I know that the chime is not
essential for the function of the Pismo, but I miss it.
Thanks for your helpful articles.
John Wilson M.D.
Hi Dr. Wilson,
The Pismo has had issues with loss of the startup
chime, modem sound, and so forth, even dating back to Classic Mac
OS days. I've noted it from time to time in the past on my own
Pismo, but I have never been able to nail down the cause.
Currently, running OS X 10.3.9, the sound is working fine.
One thing you could try is downloading the latest
(currently OS 10.4.6) combo updater and running it over your
current installation - even if you've already updated to 10.4.6 via
incremental updates.
A clean archive and install is another potential
fix.
If those methods don't work, downgrading to OS
10.3.9 is a possibility.
Charles
Re: No Startup chime
From John Wilson
Hi Charles,
Thanks for your reply.
Actually, I feel rather sheepish about this thing now. I had
thought pushing the reset button on the back of the computer would
reset the PRAM, but I found out yesterday from Gary Daily that it
only resets the PMU [power manager]. So I reset the PRAM, and the
chime is back. It is a little weird that I was able to get it back
by booting into OS 9 without resetting the PRAM, but whatever.
I'm just glad to have it back.
I actually wasted a lot of time on this silly bong. I archived
and installed Tiger, I did the combo updater thing, and I was just
about to take my top RAM card out, because it started after I put
it in. Luckily I saw Gary in iChat yesterday and bent his ear about
it, and he filled me in on the PRAM vs. PMU thing. I swear, if it
weren't for the users these computers wouldn't have any problems at
all :-)
Have a great day.
Later,
John
Hi John,
Sometimes the simplest things! Thanks for sharing
the PRAM reset tip.
Charles
MacBook Hard Drive Upgrade
From John Daugherity
Hi,
Thanks for the articles.
Can you recommend what hard drive I should use to replace in my
MacBook?
My main concern is that I want to keep the "safety drop"
feature. Is this a mechanical improvement, or is it controlled by
software? I can't find anything about it anywhere.
Thanks,
Johnny
Hi Johnny,
The MacBook uses SATA drive technology rather than
the ATA/IDE drives used in iBooks and PowerBooks.
Other World Computing offers a
selection of SATA 2.5" hard drives from Hitachi, Seagate, and
Western Digital. Newegg.com also has a selection of these drives, as well as Samsung units.
There are, of course, many other vendors.
The Sudden Motion Sensor technology is built into
the 'Book and will not be lost by upgrading to another drive.
Charles
OS X Installation Questions
From Tom Gabriel
Hi Charles,
I hope I'm not presuming too much in asking, but I've noted that
you have a levelheaded approach to Mac hardware & software
issues, and I really need some advice & perspective.
I recently acquired a Power Mac G4
Gigabit Ethernet dual 450 MHz machine running OS 9.2.2 which is
in excellent shape, and I've recently upped the RAM to 768 MB with
an eye to installing Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. I think it might
do pretty well.
My question: I've read a lot on the Web about troubles
installing OS X, how it might freeze the computer, how it can
even cripple the computer so that it won't work at all, etc. Have
you heard of things like this? What has been your experience with
OS X installations (if any), and what is your perspective on
this?
I'd love to install X, but not if I'm facing the likely
possibility of major problems such as have been described by
others. I'd be thankful for any information you can give me.
God Bless,
Tom Gabriel
Hi Tom,
I think OS 10.3.9 would be a good choice of
operating systems for your PowerMac. It won't be any speedster, but
with 768 MB of RAM, it should work fine.
I've installed OS X dozens of times on a wide
variety of machines and have never encountered any disastrous
problems. You want lots of hard drive breathing space, and it's a
good idea to run all the disk maintenance tools you have at your
disposal before installing OS X, but by the time 10.0 came
out, the installation process was pretty straightforward and
dependable.
My own preference is to give OS X its own
partition and keep OS 9 on a second partition (which still
works fine for Classic mode).
My daughter has succeeded in getting Panther and
Tiger to work on such machines as a G3-upgraded Umax SuperMac S900 (unsupported), on an
iPod as a bootable volume, and on her 400 MHz iMac, and encountered no severe
problems - other than it proved too much for the little iPod's
drive, which failed prematurely.
The cool thing with your machine is that you can
still keep OS 9.2.2 as a bootable alternative.
I think you will like OS X, though.
Charles
'Short Name' Change
From Laurie
Here's an problem I cannot solve: How do I change the "short
name" on the PowerBook administrative accounts page so it's mine
and not his? I can easily change it to have my name as the
administrator, but that "short name" won't budge! Any ideas? I
don't want to totally erase everything. It's not worth it just to
have a name I chose!
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
It's not something I ever considered before, but
you're right. The Short Name stays grayed out in the Accounts
configuration dialog. Beats me how to get around this, although it
might be accessible in the Unix world that lives beneath the
GUI.
My suggestion would be to just create a new
account with the name you prefer and leave the original one as it
is.
Charles
Editor's note: I have used and recommend ChangeShortName
for this. dk
Cool Hard Drive Gadget
From David Chilstrom
Thought you'd be interested in this gizmo that can be used to
power and connect an old laptop or desktop disk drive.
http://www.newertech.com/products/products_univ_adptr.php
Regards,
David Chilstrom
Thanks, David.
Charles
Mark Pilgrim Switching from the Mac
After reading Switching
from the Mac, Jim Hartneady writes:
Charles
Why did you feel it was necessary to include his article? He
liked every thing about the Mac except its software and the
hardware which locked him into a single vendor. Ya know, when you
strip out SW and HW there isn't a heck of a lot left!
I didn't feel much difference between him and the whiners about
DRM that protested at the Apple stores. It seemed he was whining
about the fact that his Mac wasn't Linux on a Wintel PC.
Regards,
Jim Hartneady
Hi Jim,
In a news review column, I feel journalistically
obligated to report a broad cross-section of opinion. Free speech
and all.
As a journalistic consumer, I'm usually more
inclined to read opinions of those I disagree with than those I do.
It helps identify any weaknesses in my own position.
Charles
Re: Upgrade Pismo or 12" PowerBook G4/1.5
GHz?
In response to Upgrade Pismo or
Go with 12" PowerBook G4/1.5 GHz?, Laurie writes:
Thanks. I haven't tried the G4 on my own yet. I'm not quite
ready to stop using my trusty Pismo
(which, of course, is now behaving perfectly...). I am a bit slow
to try new things, but I am sure, in time, I will love it. I am
relieved to know that you think I got a good deal and that it's a
great little laptop.
I hope you keep writing your columns. I do enjoy them, and it's
been fun communicating with you via email. I hope you won't mind me
sending you an email if I have a tricky question re: my new
(fangled) machine take care,
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
Happy to help any way I can.
Charles
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