Macking 116

MiniMac Is Indeed iCheap
I tried to get first impressions into last month's column, but 11 days past deadline is too much. So now that it's 20 days later I can get an inkling of the impact the new Mac mini will have.
Welcome to the Cube, redux. Finally Apple makes a box that people have been asking for since the Cube, overpriced but a good idea, first appeared. (Cube owners are fanatical in their love for this model, and the value of used ones is actually going up.) This time, Apple gets it right. A cheap, small Mac has been speculated about for several months, but it turned out smaller than expected, and instead of using normal 3.5" hard drives, it uses the PowerBook-style 2.5" 40-gig model.
The box, in its stripped-down $499 version, is about the size of a stack of CDs: 6.5" square and 2" tall. It offers the full complement of ports except it has FireWire 400, not 800, and uses the same G4 processor as the current iBook line. You supply the monitor, mouse and keyboard. It will accept any VGA or DVI monitor up to 1920 x 1200 pixels.
$499! Hell, the Treophone Palm is $600! Half a grand gets you a complete Mac, CD-RW drive included. Its 256MB RAM is almost enough to get serious work done. Switchers can plop the box on top of their PC, run them both through a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch and flip back and forth with ease. They can do all their Internet work on the Mac, and flip back to the PC, now safely isolated, to run whatever programs they like that have no Mac equivalents.
I think they'll wind up using the Windows side less and less as time goes on.
It may be stripped, but if all you want is a small server that can play your MP3s, or host FileMaker Pro to a network of client users, or do word-processing and Internet in an office, you don't need to spend more. But spend you can: To trick out this box to its maximum capability, you will spend $1400 or so.
Individual breakdown prices, adding on to the stripped model:

• Faster processor, 80GB drive - add $100
• 512 MB RAM - add $75, or 1GB RAM add $425 (real world price for that RAM is under $300)
• SuperDrive - add $100
• AirPort wireless Ethernet - add $79
• Bluetooth wireless - add $50 (or $99 for both)
• Extended Warranty - add $149

Who Else Needs One
RV and motorhome owners: this is what you have been looking for if you don't want a laptop. A tiny LCD display and the Mini will take up less space than your TV. Want a separate music box to plug into your stereo system? Manage a couple of dozen gigs of iTunes right there. Add in a small LCD screen or use remote control from your desktop/laptop Mac via Timbuktu or Apple Remote Desktop. You can also set it to display your photo collection as a screensaver slide show at the same time.
Animators and animation students (this month's topic - had to at least mention it) can become Flash developers for a pittance compared to what they had to spend in the past. Video artists will be able to make iMovies and musicians will be very interested in adding this to their instrument collection.
Expect a quick end to the eMac, previously Apple's cheapest model. While sales will probably continue to schools that want a solid, kid-proof, bulky hunk of theft-resistant plastic, there is no more reason for consumers to buy this as a cheaper alternative to the iMac G5. I know Apple has been working for years to get out of the business of selling CRT-based computers. The shipping savings alone will be significant.

New Word Processor
Apple finally issued a modern word processor called Pages, part of a $79 package called "iWork" (are you getting as tired of marketing 'droids preceding everything with an "i" as iAm?) that also includes version 2.0 of Keynote, Apple's alternative to PowerPoint.
It provides page-layout capability that makes it easier to create forms, newsletters and brochures without having to finance a copy of InDesign or QuarkXP. Dozens of templates are included so you can simply replace the greeking type and filler images with your own. It's compatible with Word and AppleWorks files. It requires OSX 10.3.6 (figures) or later. AppleWorks will continue in production because iWork does not include spreadsheet or database modules; it will continue to be bundled with iBooks and iMacs but iWork will not.

G5 Users Group
There is an online discussion forum called the G5 Users Group, an official Apple Registered User Group, dedicated to offering answers to questions and problems people may be having with their G5s. It's at http://g5support.com/. Unlike PMUG and other local Mac User Groups, this is online only, but should be a good addition to your list of bookmarks.

Speaking of PMUG
The Portland Macintosh Users Group has moved their general meeting site. After almost ten years at the Northwest Community Center, we are now meeting in the Ecotrust Center, 721 NW 9th Avenue, across from the Post Office. Date and time is the same, 7:30 pm on the 2nd Monday of the month. Meeting room is on the 2nd floor and there is an elevator. It's a nicer site and we will probably stay there from now on.
Don't forget MacCamp coming in April, either. Check the site for more information.

Unix for Mackers - Why the Home Directory is a Good Idea
Anyone who has been using Macs for a long time has gotten used to the idea that you can save your documents and downloads anywhere you want. I've seen desktops with dozens of folders and files spread out on them, and with folders, applications and loose documents on the root level, that is, the window you see when you double-click the hard drive icon. Others leave documents in the same folder as the application, a recipe for disaster when it comes time to upgrade. They or the installer deletes the old folder and takes their files with it.
Many times these are people who are flying bare, not backing up at all and just hoping that their hard drive lasts forever. But others make CDs of files, or copy them to an external drive. Two guesses what they consistently overlook... their desktop. When they go to restore from backups, they are horrified at what they forgot to save.
Under OS9 and before, anything on the Desktop was actually stored in an invisible folder called "Desktop Folder." If you backed up by opening the hard drive window, doing a Select All and then copying it to an external drive, you didn't get the desktop stuff.
Now under OSX, that Desktop folder is under the Users list (which includes only you unless you have set up multiple users), as is the Documents folder. I recommend that you keep every file you create: pictures you scan, word-processing documents, downloaded PDFs, your accounting files (MYOB, Quicken, etc.) and anything else not installed by an Application. You will also find your email folders in Documents: Eudora Folder, Microsoft User Data, Mozilla (for Netscape users). AppleMail stores your mail in the Library.
I also recommend that you use the Desktop for aliases only, which point to real files and folders in Documents, but it matters less than before because if you drag-copy your Users folder to your backup drive, you get it all, including your Library folder which contains preferences and your Safari bookmarks file.
Also in your Users folder is your iPhoto library (in Pictures) and your iTunes music library. This can make it impossible to drag-copy your Users folder to a CD-R or even a DVD-R disk due to size. My own iTunes folder is about 17 gigs in size so only an external hard drive will work. If you are using CDs, then just manually drag your Documents, Library and Desktop folders to the disk, which should fit within a CD's 700-MB limit.
Hard drives are getting cheaper all the time. I see drives ranging in price from $39 for an internal Western Digital 80-gig at Fry's to a couple of hundred for a LaCie 250-gig FireWire drive at your local Mac dealer. Warning: if you buy a LaCie drive marketed as a "Porsche-designed" drive, be aware that it is formatted for Microsoft computers (FAT-32) and if you use it without reformatting for Mac HFS Extended (with Apple's Disk Utility) you could find your applications and some of your data destroyed by the incompatible format. Why LaCie doesn't ship Mac-formatted drives to Mac dealers is beyond me, especially when their other case design, the upright aluminum case with the blue power button, does contained a Mac-formatted drive. Don't let this bug bite you!

AppleLegal Being Annoying Again
Macintouch reports of a U.K. column about Apple and its recent Mac website lawsuits:
"The Daily Telegraph is not normally a paper that mentions Apple, usually its computer features pages have useful tips on fixing your PC, but never Macs (do they need fixing I ask?). Neil Collins, their great city editor, has a back page column called Citycomment and today he has written:
Core values that Apple should be fostering - "It's always cheering to see a company standing up to a near-monopolist with verve, guts and superior products. Apple has proved that it can be done, providing almost the only serious rival to Microsoft's all-conquering operating system for personal computers. Yet what's this? Apple is suing a 19-year-old over an internet site that follows the company's activities. ThinkSecret.com is run by a first-year student at Harvard, Nicholas Ciarelli, who publishes information about Apple products and provides a discussion forum for customers. Like many websites, much information is wild rumour, but some has proved embarrassingly prescient. It predicted Apple would release a computer selling for less than $500 (£265), which it did two weeks ago.
Apple has a right to take steps to protect trade secrets, but it should also recognise, more than others, the value of the entrepreneur. It argues that Mr Ciarelli has caused it "irreparable harm", which even by the standards of US lawyer-speak, seems to be putting it a bit strongly. At worst it has given competitors a little advance warning of new products. Apple is meant to be one of the good guys. Its products are admired for their style and reliability. Instead of trying to censor a like-minded soul, it should be fostering talent in its own ranks."

No Microsoft products were used in the production of this column.

email mp at moonmac dot com. (I took out the mailto link because that's how the spammers find me.)