Macking 25

OS8, A First Look
Well, just a week before deadline I got ahold of the final beta of the newest MacOS. It crashed only once the first day, while installing the Text-to-Speech module. I reinstalled that part with no further trouble. Most of the advances are in the Finder, which is now native for PowerMacs, and is multi-threaded. This means that you can start a long disk copy and then switch out of the Finder to do something else while the copying continues in the background.
There are new View options. Icons can be viewed as List, as Icon, or as Button. The Button view makes each icon into a single-clickable button, much like AtEase or the Launcher. This might be quite nice for beginning Mackers. You can also drag any window to the bottom of the screen, where it appears as a Tab. Click to zoom the tab back to a window; change it in the View menu from a popup to a regular window again. For the first time, Desktop icons can be set to Small Icon view. The Views panel is gone; these options are part of a new Preferences menu in the Finder with other settings handled by the Appearance control panel.
They have added a feature called "Contextual Menus." To invoke a popup menu on a particular document, Control-click on it. (This marks Apple's first serious use of the Control key.) A popup will appear that offers you several options. And the Contextual Menu Manager supports plug-ins! Already (July 3) there are some additional plugins available at http://www.bombaydigital.com/cmms/ that let you, among others, strip HTML code from a HTML text file; convert Mac text line endings to DOS or UNIX (or also Mac), "Touch," which sets a file's modification date to "now." and Hide/Undo Hide, which turns a selected file invisible and allows you to undo it immediately after. (You need DiskTop or ResEdit to make an invisible file visible again.)
There are also changes in the System font, dialogs, the way aliases are created (drag the item to alias to the target folder while holding down Command and Option. Instant alias.) and the way you handle your Internet connections. A copy of Netscape 3.0 (not 3.0.1; I hope they update for the release version) is bundled on the CD and is part of the install process, but also on the CD is MS Internet Exploiter.
I expect many of you will be ordering 8.0 as soon as it is released, so this month the most useful thing I can focus on is the install process.

Custom Install
Do not automatically assume that the easy-install defaults are best for your setup. There are things on the disc that you do NOT need right off, and can be installed later. The disc is designed to boot up your Mac, so plan on doing a Clean Install - do NOT overwrite your 7.5.x system.

Hard Drive Prep
First and foremost is to update the hard disk drivers. This can be done with Drive Setup, included, if your HD is original Apple equipment and you do not have a Quadra, which is not supported by Drive Setup. Get the latest version of your 3rd party formatter and update the drivers! Silver Lining 5.7, HD ToolKit 2.0.6, APS Formatter 4.1 are among the best. If you are upgrading from anything older than 7.5.1, I advise backing up your HD, reformatting with one of these utilities, and then installing a fresh System Folder from the CD. Be very careful when you copy back old extensions, panels and other items; make sure you have the latest version of everything. When in doubt, call the company that published the item and make sure it is 8.0 compatible. As a guideline, if it works under 7.6 it should work under 8.
Warning: if you have a Quadra or Centris, you are better off passing on OS8. While it is supported, the system software does so much more that you may notice a significant speed loss after you upgrade. If this does not matter to you, go ahead. Not supported is the 68LC040 chip, used in the Q-605 and other models. Even though support is claimed, OS8 will not run at all, or could cause significant problems. Users of 68030 and older Macs (IIci, IIfx, 100-series PowerBooks, etc.) must pass on this; the older processor is not supported at all. Keep using 7.5.5 or 7.5.3; the machines will work just fine.
Before you update the drivers, check the integrity of the file structure with Norton Utilities 3.2.1 if you are running 7.5.x or earlier, or 3.2.4 if you are using 7.6.1. if you don't have Norton, check it with Disk First Aid, as part of the install process.
The first thing you come to when you start installing is the Welcome screen. There are four steps: Select the destination disk (your HD, or the volume you wish to install it on); Read important information (grit your teeth and read the ReadMe files unless you are so expert you don't need to); Respond to the software license agreement (mindless legalese which you makes you click agree or it won't install); and Install Software. Click the Continue button.
If you are installing on the drive that already has a System Folder on it, and you have made a backup of it in case things go wrong (or you are going to just brave ahead), click the checkbox to Perform Clean Installation and then Continue. The "Important Information" will warn you about certain software items you may have installed before that must be removed before you can use OS8, and you will need to keep track of your Internet settings.

System Software
Next comes the Install Software dialog. This is where you can choose not to install everything. A default install includes the basic system and MacOS Runtime for Java, Personal Web Sharing, QuickDraw 3D, OpenDoc, and MacLink Plus. Not automatically checked are Apple Location Manager, Cyberdog, QuickDraw GX, Text-to-Speech, AppleTalk Remote Access and PC Compatibility Card Software.
You also have two buttons at the bottom, Customize and Options. The Customize button breaks up the Basic OS Install into four more checkboxes: Mac OS 8, Mac OS Info Center, Internet Access and Open Transport PPP. (See last month's column for a warning about OT PPP.) The Options are just one (on my 7100): Update Hard Disk Drivers. Since this is voodoo to many users, the process is built in and will be taken care of during the install, assuming an Apple HD. If you do not have an Apple HD, it will warn you that the updating will not take place and your options are Cancel the installation or Ignore Warning. You must click Ignore Warning to continue. Two more clicks will take you to the Install System Software window, more familiar to those of you who have installed system software before.
Go ahead and click the Help button and read the seven small screens that tell you what your install options are. This is good information. At this point, you can probably do an Easy Install, unless you are sufficiently familiar with the parts that make up the System Folder to know what to leave out. If you just want to learn what all the parts are, choose Custom Install and click the little "i" button to get info about each item to be installed.
But back on the initial options, you could leave out Personal Web Sharing, OpenDoc and MacLink Plus. The latter is useful for converting PC files if you do a lot of that. It works with Easy Open for MacOS (formerly Macintosh Easy Open). I have always disabled Easy Open as something of a nuisance, but many people find it useful. If you don't use it, do not install MacLink Plus. Personal Web Sharing is useful only if you are on a network; this is no help if you phone in for your Internet connections. OpenDoc is potentially useful technology, but you can always install it later. Except for Cyberdog, nothing in the OS8 release makes use of it. Cyberdog looks interesting, but I will leave it to others to pet THAT pooch.
MacOS Runtime for Java will let you run any Java aplets (little programs) that you acquire, without you having to load Netscape to do it. It is there for potential and worth installing. Also install Text-to-Speech; its most useful feature (in 7.6 too) is the Talking Dialog Boxes. It reads them to you through the Mac speakers if you are away from the screen and something wants your attention. I love this feature. Forget QuickDraw GX but install QuickDraw 3D if you plan on visiting Web pages or running CD-ROMs or 3D graphics applications. Also skip AppleTalk Remote Access unless you know you need it. Now you can click the Install button, sit back and watch.
It would be nice if the whole process went on without further input, but no luck. All those separate Software Installers you checked earlier will require further attention from you, even if there are no clickable options. For those that have options you can save yourself some trouble, so always look for the Easy Install/Custom Install popup menu and find out just what your options are. If nothing else, this is your chance to read a little blurb (the "i" button) about each item.

Through Its Paces
That's it! There is a lot to like in OS8. In future months, I will be writing more about my experiences with it, but for now I have few complaints. Far fewer crashes than I am used to seeing under earlier versions. I will be gradually introducing the 60-plus extensions, panels and outright hacks I am used to running, and will report on which ones survive.
I have been as abusive as possible: I open multiple Netscape windows, I installed Now Utilities 6.7 (just Now Menus, not Super Boomerang or the other tricks), I have multiple monitors and RAM Doubler. I discovered that Now Menus does not let me assign key commands in the Finder, and does not always display the shortcuts chosen, even when they work.
OS8 works with QuicKeys, PowerBar, Now Contact and Now Up-to-Date and their control panels, prints just fine, handles my three IP connections and Eudora 3/Netscape 3.0.1 with no problem at all. I make good use of the new View options in the windows, and my only real complaint so far is the fact that the Show Information in Header option seems to be gone, and the information displayed in a window includes the number of files and the Space Available, but not the Space Used on Disk.
I also wish it would let me choose a font other than Chicago or Charcoal in the new Appearance Manager panel. Apple is also continuing the migration of our familiar Control Panels to little applications, much in the manner of the move from a single Control Panel with plugged-in pieces (in System 6 and before) to the separate Panels folder in 7. In Rhapsody the whole panels and extensions metaphor will become something else entirely. On the whole, this new method is seamless and effective. There is already a web site in support of OS8, http://www.MacOS8.com/macos8.shtml, with an announcement of the next immediate update, 8.0.1, to ship in December with more native code and another feature, Apple Data Detector, that gives you even more control over your individual text strings than you thought possible. Hop on board!

Enough Is Never Enough
I can't resist: today I borrowed another monitor card and plugged it in. Now my Mac is running FOUR, count 'em, FOUR monitors. Yes, it is wretched excess. I have one unused slot and if I can find another card before I have to sell this one (it's a client's) I will see if the MacOS can support FIVE monitors. But don't hold your breath. Oh, you say the 7100 has only three slots so how did I do it? Don't forget the 4th slot, which is dedicated to monitor cards only, plus the built-in video. You want 6 monitors? Get a 9600.

Networking Slowdown
Have you recently installed extra RAM in your PCI PowerMac and then noticed that your Ethernet network has significantly slowed down? Early reports in Macintouch discussed this happening when third-party RAM is added to 7200, 7300, 7600, 8500 and 9500 models. A workaround is to break up the interleaving instead of pairing DIMMs in A1/B1, A2/B2, etc. Move all your DIMMs to one bank. It also helps to reset the parameter RAM (PRAM) too. Restart the Mac while holding down the Command, Option, P and R keys. Keep holding them down until the Mac has rebooted five times.

Word Macro Viruses Mushroom
The problem of viruses that live in Microsoft Word's macro capability is getting to be worse than the original system viruses of the late '80s. The known count is rising to 1,100, but since many try to do things like issue FORMAT C: commands, they are not much to fear in Macdom. But they can replicate themselves, and wind up in backup tapes, on CDs, etc., so they are more than an annoyance.
Commercial anti-virus programs (Virex and SAM) can identify and remove them but you need to visit their update sites every couple of weeks to keep with the endless new variations. Disinfectant cannot scan for macro viruses since they are technically scripts, not resources.
Microsoft used to publish a utility to remove them called MVTOOL, which scans for these, but they gave up trying to keep it current. Now they just send Mackers to the 800 numbers of the above commercial virus fighters. Better you simply downgrade to Word 5.1 which does not use macros, but if you need Word 6's particular features, be prepared to battle as hard as PC users have had to over the years. They have over 6,000 system viruses to dodge. Ideally, a future version of Microsoft Office will have a feature that prevents macro viruses, but nothing has been announced. The current version of WordPerfect can also read Word6 documents, but filters out the macros entirely. WordPerfect, now published by Corel, is quite powerful and capable in its own right, and should be considered as an alternative. Nisus Writer, which keeps on releasing updates in spite of low sales, has features not available in any other word processor, such as non-contiguous text selection. It can also convert and save to Word 6 format, keeping you compatible with people who use Word on either Macs or Wintels. Nisus has a very active fan club, so don't automatically discount it just because it's unfamiliar.

Graphics for PC users
If you use GraphicConverter and are asked by your Wintel friends what they can get that does the same thing, I was just recommended Paintshop Pro, a shareware program that converts images from one format to another. Just FYI; if you have experience with it or another program, let me know.

A little stuff from the EvangeList
This tidbit is from: Xenomys Software, Amsterdam
The July 1997 issue of PC Computing contains an article called 'NT Lies'. It dispels the 10 most popular myths surrounding Windows NT's security, crash-recovery, etc. Anybody in danger of having to go over to NT should know about the difference between Orange Book vs. Red Book security (quite an eye-opener!) and what the acronym BSOD stands for (it's the Blue Screen Of Death).
I would have expected this article in MacWorld or MacUser, but this is a PC magazine. Here's the full article.
The Apple K12 site contains resources for educators and parents including technology tips; curricular themes with web addresses, site descriptions, student activities and teacher suggestions on topics such as literature, the Presidency, mathematics, environmental education, etc.; software evaluations; suggestions for getting started with technologies; ideas for writing and technology; suggestions for adapting technology to learning; information on online safety; staff development areas; and more. Soon to come will be a special section for families.
If you'd like more information on the educational resources available or would like to contribute to the site, contact Merle Marsh.
Netscape users need "Navigator Enhancer." The author kept pricing as low as possible - a single user license is US$3, so everyone should be able to afford this great tool. (Working with the Navigator will never be the same, believe me!) With "Navigator Enhancer" you have a quick and easy tool to change the URLs and the names of the directory buttons of the Netscape Navigator. These useless buttons will change to the best location for your favorite bookmarks. Try it for yourself! I installed it and think it is wonderful. Don't forget that you can always get to Netscape's home page by clicking on the N logo.

Science software at discount
Octavian Micro Development Inc. is offering all its science and engineering software for Macintosh at 50% off. The tools include Excel add-ins for unit conversion, chemistry, interpolation, and pure components. There is also a Mac-only unit calculator and display tool! All you need to do is say "Macintosh Rocks" somewhere in your order. This offer is good until October 30, 1997.

USR X2 Modem problems
There is a web page on which a consultant details the problems he went through trying to get a bad modem repaired by US Robotics tech support. (I had problems getting the page to completely download, but they should be fixed by now.) While it is only one individual's experience, this is the kind of thing that helps us all make decisions. Me, I am sticking with Global Village, in spite of their decaying tech support.
Should YOU get a 56K modem? Well, there is still a Beta/VHS war going between the two competing standards, but most modems being sold can be converted to the other. Call your ISP and find out which one they are adopting first. Then buy, but remember that noisy lines can mess up any fast connection. Maybe it is time to take a close look at ISDN, which gives you the equivalent of two analog lines, and a 128K connection. Unfortunately, you are going to have to talk to US West (unless you are outside their sphere of influence).

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.)