Macking 126

The New Macs
It's Official. Apple upgraded the iMac line and the PowerBook 15" to run Intel chips. This will mean nothing for new buyers except for the faster speed than the current PPC chips, with one exception: End of Classic.
The Mac/Intel machines will not be able to run OS9 or its applications in any way, shape or form. It's simply impossible. Those of you who are still dependent on Classic might want to buy one of the older models sometime soon, to get you through the next few years until you, too, can say goodbye forever to OS9. (Personally, I still use Classic, but not very often any more. WorldWideWebWeaver is a 1996 application that I have become dependent on to produce these web pages and I am loathe to switch to something else because I only use it every month or two to update my site.) This also includes old game and encyclopedia CD-ROMs that you may have been using under Classic all these years.
The new PowerBook loses that name (because it no longer has a PowerPC chip in it) and becomes the MacBook Pro. I wonder how much time Marketing spent puzzling THAT one out. It also lacks FireWire 800 but retains a FireWire 400 port, the standard of the digital movie camera industry, and two USB 2.0 ports, same as the current AlBook 15". FireWire is important because it is the only way you can boot up your Mac from an external hard drive. USB 2.0 simply won't do it. Many in the movie and video business are unhappy with the loss of the 800 port because they are dependent on moving a LOT of data between the computer and the external drive. Hopefully Apple will retain that port when they migrate the other PowerBooks to Intel or they will lose sales.
Speaking of booting from an external drive, the MacTels will not boot from an external drive that has not been reformatted specifically for it. This requires the Intel Mac's Disk Utility program, where you choose the option to use the GUID Partition Table (GPT). After that it cannot boot PPC Macs, but they will be able to read and write to it. This is going to be an Excedrin headache for us techies in our field work because we will now have to have two X-boot partitions on our repair-tool drives instead of one (or three, because my drive also has an OS9 boot partition).
This "MacBook Pro" is more of an experimental model, rushed to market to show that it can be done. I would expect the 15" to change when the other two are released sometime in mid-year. If you would like to see the FW 800 port returned, you should write Apple and tell them so.
The MacBook also loses the PCMCIA slot in the side in favor of a new "Express Card" slot, smaller and thinner, and with no available products that use it. But it is claimed to be four or five times faster than the current PC card slot and may be a way of providing FireWire 800.
Another nice feature is a MagSafe power cord that easily disconnects, so if you trip over it, your laptop won't come crashing to the floor. It has video support for external displays up to and including the 30" display. This is perfect for pro graphics people, and will also be in the revised 17" model. I doubt it will go into the 12", though, because there is just not enough space for a standard DVI port or, for that matter, an Express Card slot. The two models of 15" MacBook Pro cost $2000 and $2500 respectively.
There is no modem. This could be a real mistake. Even though WiFi is becoming quite common, and hotels without it nevertheless have an Ethernet port to plug into, many times a traveler has nothing more than a phone port accessible. They will have to carry the optional $49 USB modem, also needed by the last generation of G5 iMacs as well as the new Intel iMacs. Travelers do NOT like to carry things they do not need and I think this will cost Apple a few sales. No word yet on whether the other portables will retain their modems.

Intel iMacs
Both the 17" and the 20" have been converted. They look alike and run the same as the G5s. Supposedly they are twice as fast when performing standard operations that use a lot of processor power such as calculating spreadsheets, manipulating Photoshop files or videos in iMovie. Apple's own pro apps, like Final Cut Pro and Express do NOT work on the new models because no software that required a G5 chip will work. Most anything that will run on a G4 will run because Apple included an emulation layer of sorts (called Rosetta) that can handle the changes that the new processor requires. Apple and other companies affected will be releasing upgraded versions of their programs, but prepare to pay some more money to get them.
I would recommend that you not become an early adopter of these new products unless your needs are pretty standard. All the programs you use now will work as long as they are current versions. Suffering most will be those users of Photoshop 7 and 8 (CS1) because they will require Rosetta forever. Many have avoided the CS2 upgrade because of the onerous authentication and validation requirements.
There are other issues, other questions, that will need to be answered as this change goes on. Will it boot from CD-ROMs by holding down the C key? Will you have to get fresh copies of Disk Warrior, Retrospect and any other CDs you will want to start from? (Yes.) Since Open Firmware has been changed to EFI will there be password protection at this level? If you need to know these things, don't buy until you do.
Strangely, the Apple Mighty Mouse drivers don't work on the new models because they use a kernel extension. They default to their factory settings. Probably by the time you read this in print they will have fixed that, or will put it in a Software Update. You will get a Mighty Mouse with each Intel iMac but not with the MacBookPro.
Virtual PC 7.0.2 reportedly crashes, but possibly the previous 6.0 will work because it was designed to run on a G4. However, it may not even be necessary.

Windows Compatibility
Linux users, almost all of whom use Intel or AMD machines, have a program called WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) that enables them to run Windows programs without having to run Windows itself. There has been speculation that something like this will work on Intel Macs as well. You can bet that the open-source community will be looking at this and if it can be done, it will. This will make available a lot of Windows-only programs that would otherwise never be ported. When developers realize that they are gaining significant, or at least profitable, Mac sales, they may decide to put a little effort into making their applications more Mac-specific, especially since it will require even less recoding than it does now.
It may also be possible to partition your hard drive and make one partition run Windows itself. This will make life even easier for people who want to start migrating away from Microsoft without having to own two computers.
Read more details at Macintouch MacTel Reports and other parts of the site for more specific information.
Apple has stated that they will continue to sell G5 iMacs (at $200 less than before) until existing supplies run out. They are no longer being manufactured.

First Major Screwup of 2006
Apple released an update to iTunes that messes with everyone running iTunes 6. The 6.0.2 Updater causes failure of the Disk Utility to be able to Repair Permissions, something everyone needs to run regularly. It fails with a message "Disk Utility lost connection with Disk Management Tool and cannot continue" part way through the repair process.
The repair is simple: Open the Hard drive, then the Library folder, then the Receipts folder. Delete anything with iTunes in the name except for the file iTunesX.pkg. If you are one of the handful who bought an iTunes Phone, also keep the iTunesPhoneDriver.pkg.
If you have not installed iTunesPhone Update from Software Update yet, run Software Update and click on it and then choose Ignore Update from the Update menu.

10.4.4 Update, Safari and Pith Helmet
This update causes a problem with older versions of Pith Helmet. It installs a new version of Safari, 2.0.3. The fix is to upgrade to the latest Pith Helmet (2.6.4), but the immediate fix is this: Do a Find for anything containing "PithHelmet" and delete it. Then get the latest version when you are ready. Pith Helmet is a great program for blocking ads in web pages so I recommend it, but the upgrade will produce an error message every time you launch Safari until fixed.
10.4.4 is also causing a problem with Retrospect when the Duplication process is run. It says your startup disk is full when in reality it isn't. No fix yet; check with Dantz for an update to Retrospect.
If you have not yet updated from 10.4.3, stop there and wait for 10.4.5 or run these repairs yourself. See the MacFixIt.com website for further details.
10.4.3 was okay, but if you are at 10.3.8 and are not buying new software (like Quicken 2006) you will not need to upgrade to Tiger or even 10.3.9. If you are running any older version of 10.4, though, do get the update. There are many needed fixes in there, but beware if you use Retrospect and do the above repairs.
It is always safer to visit Apple's site and go to Downloads and get the Combined Update, and then run that - as opposed to just having Software Update handle the installation. Be sure to repair permissions, before and after. Way too many people do not do this and they are just asking for trouble.
The process is simple. Just open your Utilities folder (inside Applications) and launch Disk Utility. When it opens click on your hard drive, displayed in the upper left corner. If you have more than one hard drive, click on the one that contains OSX and boots your Mac. That will cause the rest of the window to appear, including buttons for Verify Disk Permissions, Verify Disk, Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk. The last one will always be greyed out; you want to click on Repair Disk Permissions.
Isn't it typical for an update to mess with this most important procedure. If you have iTunes 6.0.2 then remove the offending pieces, as detailed above.

New Software
Macintouch, MacNews Network and the other blogs have lots of details about new programs released at Macworld. Notable is a new version of Suitcase Fusion, which combines the old Suitcase and Font Reserve programs. If it works as advertised, it will show vast improvement for users who have had problems with the old version. Upgrade is $50 to current Suitcase and Font Reserve customers.
Signage software used for making large banners and signs is available from Avery Office Products and Chronos LC. XPress Schedule (no relation to Quark - I'm waiting for the lawsuit on that one) is a program to create work schedules for employees. This is the kind of thing that will motivate corporations to buy more Macs. Security departments and hardcore paranoids will want a copy of On Air, which provides support for IP-based network cameras, including those formerly PC only. Fetch Softworks has released a new version of Fetch, the venerable FTP program. Version 5.0 is Universal Binary (PPC and MacTel) and includes a Dashboard Widget for Tiger users.
Most important, Google Earth has finally been released for Tiger. Formerly Windows-only, this is a real reason to make the upgrade to Tiger. It's fascinating and will eat hours of your time as you locate almost anywhere on the planet and then zoom up to within 500 feet of it. It overlays satellite photos with roads, bars and restaurants, hotels, travel times and a host of other items. Although some of the images used are several years old, Google Earth is one of those programs that make you realize just how much computers and satellites have changed the world. Wear a bib to catch the drool.
Oh, and it's free from Google.
More products are being added daily to the Products page.
You can watch the entire keynote address in QuickTime Streaming Video if you have a broadband connection. Jobs talks about iLife '06 which incorporates iWeb, a web publishing application, and also video and audio podcasting through updates to iPhoto, iTunes and iMovie/iDVD. No price increase for iLife 6, which also comes free on all new Macs. You gotta upgrade to 10.3.9 or 10.4.4 to use it, though.

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.)