Macking 147
by Michael Pearce
Macking 147
Macking 147
by Michael Pearce
Also published in Computer Chips, January, 2008
10.4.11
I upgraded my Intel Mac to this and have been living with it for a while now. I have also done QuickTime 7.3.1 and iTunes 7.5, all the latest stuff. So far no problems, although there was a spate of problems reported on the blogs caused by 7.3.1.
You get Safari 3 with the update, so if you use Pith Helmet, go download version 2.8.1, which works with it.
While you could use Software Update to manage the installations, I still recommend going to Apple's web site, Support, Downloads and getting the 10.4.11 Combo Installer for your machine (Intel or PPC) and the others. As Disk Image files (.dmg) they are more reliable than Software Update. Keep the installers in your Installers folder when done, in case you need them again.
Be sure to Repair Permissions with Disk Utility before and after running the updates.
The MS Office 2008 Deal
Buy Office 2004 Student/teacher for $149 and you will get the full version of Office with Media, normally $495, for just $10 shipping fee. This applies to all copies of Office purchased after Nov. 1. For more info get the PDF to send in for your upgrade . This expires January 15, 2008.
General Leopard Compatibility
You may want to wait months before upgrading to Leopard. Roxio has announced that they will never be releasing an update to Toast 7 to make it work (let alone Toast 6, which works fine in Tiger). Instead they are putting their development work into Toast 8. While it comes free when you buy an external DVD burner, not many people need those any more so you will probably need to re-buy Toast if you need it in Leopard.
Keep an eye on Macintouch's Leopard Compatibility site and also MacFixIt.com to find out the status of the software you use.
Wireless Network
In a recent Popular Science, one of the Best Of The Year awards went to the Meraki Mini network, an economical way of spreading your Internet connection all over your house, to your neighbors, or throughout a large office. The site appears to ignore small home users but the product works anywhere.
The Mini is a $49 Ethernet transceiver (802.11 b/g) that first gets plugged into your router, and then distributes the signal through as many nodes as you like. It does not work with anyone else's wireless router; it must be plugged in to your DSL/Cable modem first. This is the way the Apple AirPort Extreme with multiple Express nodes works, but each AirPort Express costs almost twice as much as the Meraki, and the base station costs over three times as much. Sure, it's not as flexible (no networked USB printer or sound out ports for iTunes), but if all you want to do is create a wireless network this is the best solution I have seen yet.
The Meraki is completely platform-independent and configures through your web browser. Works with Mac-only or mixed clients.
You can buy the Meraki Mini only through their web site. I now recommend this over the Buffalo as an alternative to the Apple boxes.
Rename Your Mac
In the Sharing pane of System Preferences, you will find that the computer's name is "Firstname Lastname's Computer." Apple has been doing this since the beginning of OSX. Now, Leopard's TimeMachine breaks when you leave Apple's own naming scheme alone. Seems TimeMachine hates to find anything but alphanumeric characters, including spaces, commas and apostrophes. Open that preference now and give your Mac a different name, one word, or two words run together. This is a problem only with TimeMachine, but you might as well get ready for it now.
While you are at it, click on your hard drive's name, if it's still Macintosh HD, and give it a meaningful name. This is especially important when you are on a network, even a home network of two or more Macs.
Oh, and never never never attempt to rename the "short name" inside the Users folder. That requires special software to do so, and mistakes can make you lose connection to your documents, music, email, pictures and other files.
Canon Doesn't Want Us
I received a recommendation for a Canon MF6550 but upon further checking, discovered that a decision was made to produce this without Mac drivers for the scanning somewhere in Tokyo at Canon headquarters.
Just what use is a multifunction printer without the scanner? Sure, it still copies, faxes and prints, but you'd think for a $700 ($520 at Amazon) laser printer, they could afford to hire someone who can write a Mac driver for it, especially considering that they already have drivers for their inkjet all-in-ones.
I already let their support department have it, after a client went and bought a different model, assured by the Canon USA office that it was Mac compatible. After unpacking and setting it up, lo, the CD held nothing but Windoze installers. The web site had print drivers but no CanoScan package for it. We called back and got a supervisor who was apologetic, stating that the person who misdirected us didn't fully investigate it. There was nothing he or anyone at Canon USA could do; higher-ups at corporate decided they want only Microsoft money.
Bleedin' idiots. They need to check the Mac sales figures for the last three years. Canon has gotten the last recommendation (and dollar) they will ever get from me. If you have to get an inkjet all-in-one, their products are still better than Epson's, but patronize them under protest.
Go for Brother Instead
That same client wound up with a Brother MFC-8460N networkable All-In-One laser printer for $400. (Shop for this; I have seen prices range beween $379 and $499.) To show the extreme contrast between a company that cares about us and one that doesn't, the installer book had a well-designed layout that specifically detailed OSX setup instructions (along, of course, with Windows) that actually included the differences between 10.3 and 10.4! There were three installer CDs included, Vista, XP, and Mac (which also included OS9 support!).
This is a networkable printer that can fax, scan, copy and print. It can detect "special ring" setup from the phone company (two phone numbers on the same line, with one of them making a different ring, which the fax can detect and auto-answer). Here's the miracle: Brother Twain scanning support also works over Ethernet so any Mac on the network, including wireless, can use all of the features of the device. While I don't have one, I do have a number of clients who do and they are all pretty happy with them.
Downside: This is a big, ugly, hulking beast. It looks like an HP. It has a bigger footprint than my 1993 LaserWriter Pro 630. It isn't a PostScript printer, so if that's important, look elsewhere. For most of us it isn't as important as it used to be, because all of the PS programs (Adobe, QXP) make PDF files on demand, which includes all the necessary PS code for proper printing.
I wish they also made inkjets. They do, however, make color laser printers so consider Brother before Canon. And be sure to let Canon know why they lost a sale.
Bye Bye, CompUSA
Apple started pulling their mini-stores out of CompUSA when they went through the last downsizing, but on Dec. 8 CompUSA announced they were closing up for good.
After the holidays they will clear everything out. Look for big sales. It will be a loss; even though the company was oriented toward Microsoft users, if you knew what you were buying it was a handy place to get stuff for your Macs as well. Portlanders still have a lot of alternative sources for computer items, but most of the country will have to do their shopping online. Other places like BestBuy are for consumer goods, and hardly anyone there knows what a Mac is. The only reason they even heard of Apple is through the iPod. For real variety, sell one of the kids, gas up the SUV and set out for Fry's in Wilsonville. Be careful - most of the staff know little about Macs, but since they are an official Apple reseller, you can usually find someone who does if you ask.
Do check with your local retailer first. Most of them have ads in Chips, so save gas and call them if you know what you need. Stick to Mac dealers for everything else.
Don't Forget to Erase those Disks
I still see it every day - people buy Flash drives and pre-formatted hard drives (even from Mac stores) and don't notice they are in Windows FAT32 format, which shreds any file moved between an OS9 and and OSX Mac. I had someone last week who almost lost 5 years of personal essays to this. AppleWorks documents are recoverable if this happens (unlike Quark documents), but it's a multi-step Excedrin headache to do so.
Plug in your new drive, launch Disk Utility, and choose Erase Disk, MacOS Extended (Journaled) if you are going to use it as a cloned backup, and skip the Journaled option for Flash drives.
No Microsoft products were used in the production of this column.
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