Macking 32

PowerWatch is back
Last month I mistakenly reported that the PowerWatch site was fading away. Well, it back with a new design and is tracking the horrendous problems people are having getting service for their PowerComputing hardware problems. If you have one of the PCC machines, bookmark this page and visit it often, while doing what you can to sell out while the unit still has value. An important quote from the site: "One PowerCenter user who had a dead power supply (a problem which I hear about more than I should, probably) wrote that Area Electronics Systems at 714-993-0300 has replacement Power supplies. For his machine, he asked for the Seasonic SS-250GPX, whose cost is $39.00. Be sure to check which one you need before you order the wrong one, of course."
Locally, Ken Peterson of Peterson Techsystems (452-8639), is building reliable sources for power supplies and other components for Power Computing machines.
I would like to hear from any other techs interested in serving this market. You should have access to replacement parts in a timely manner and be fully Mac literate. Email me and I will list you here in upcoming columns.

PowerBook Screen Repairs
Longtime Mac recycler MacResQ has taken on the job of fixing or replacing PowerBook screens for a reasonable price. Call them at (888) 447-3728. This is also a great place to look for that replacement logic board, power supply, and used Macs.

Forget About 8.1
OS8.1 has been released and ships on CD, bootable and installable on any Mac that supports it. In short, you can't buy the 8.0 CD any more.
Last week I had to uninstall 8.1 on a site that was thoroughly messed up. Even though all new Macs will ship with 8.1 installed (by now) and it is a free download, that doesn't mean that you actually NEED it.
Although there are some improvements in the upgrade, especially Open Transport and PC Exchange, only people who have read the FAQs (frequently asked questions) on 8.1, have spent time on the 8.1 Issues page off of MacInTouch and MacFixIt, and are prepared to handle the risks that come with the new features should dive in right now. Learn, for instance, all about HFS+, the new optional file system, from Apple's Tech Info Library and when you understand it, you are ready for it.
PC Exchange 2.2, included with 8.1, has the advantage of finally being able to display the long filenames created by Windows 95, instead of the trunicated DOS eight-dot-three filenames the older versions show. This is especially important if you get occasional PC Zip disks to read on your Mac.
Everyone else, stay FAR away from HFS+ until Norton and MicroMat (makers of TechTool Pro) offer updates to handle needed fixes for it. If you install HFS+ today and structural errors develop, the kind that Norton Disk Doctor fixes, you are out of luck and will have to reinitialize your drive and restore from your backup. This is a major new technology, long needed, but don't go there if you are not a knowledgable "power user" or have access to one.
Example: Conflict Catcher 4.1, released in anticipation of MacOS 8.1, was reporting damaged files. Apple's tech support reps were in some instances telling users to remove Conflict Catcher and ignore the warnings.
Turns out after further investigation, it was determined that not only was CC not causing an error, but was correctly identifying corrupted files. Users can, according to the EvangeList, "easily repair the corrupted files with Apple's ResEdit. Users need to launch ResEdit and 'verify' the corrupted files. ResEdit will then repair the damaged files."
Well, isn't that special.
Sure, _I_ can do that because I understand ResEdit, but for those of you who see the last paragraph as so much Greek, the advice will not do you a whole lot of good. Believe me, you can do without 8.1 for a while! (Addendum: Turns out the files weren't actually corrupted, but had an extra 11 bytes of data that did not belong there. Nothing that would affect their operation; just a nuisance.)

Using the 7.6 Finder under 8
Ken Peterson is running a PowerCenter Pro (see above) and he has downgraded his Finder and accompanying extensions to 7.6 while keeping the rest of 8.0 running the machine. The advantages of using the hybrid system? He can still use Now Utilities' Super Boomerang and Now Menus (and Now Startup Manager) which die under Finder 8. The 7.6 Finder window displays the size of the file BEFORE the date modified, which most people preferred. (The 8.1 upgrade still does not fix this change or allow user-defined column order.)
If you also want to try out a hybrid system, be sure you move the 8.0 items to a folder somewhere so you can go back if you need to. Also make sure you have a bootable CD or cartridge in case you screw up. Then move the Finder, the Appearance Extension and the Appearance Control Panel into this hidden folder. Be aware that doing this to a system running the Finder 8 will prevent it from loading the Finder (crash on startup).
But the Finder 7.6 does not need the Appearance Extension/Panel. It can still use it, however, to create the "system-wide platinum appearance" of OS8. Unfortunately, many other panels, including Date&Time, Memory, Monitors&Sound, Users&Groups and FileSharing, require it. So maybe you shouldn't move the Appearance Extension and panel after all.
You will be adding the Finder 7.6 to the System Folder, along with the Views and Window Shade control panels. All the other OS8 stuff you can leave in, but certain items are worth disabling on their OWN merits. Unless you use them, turn off (with Extensions Manager) PPP and TCP/IP (Internet); Launcher; File Sharing, AppleShare, File Sharing Library and Users & Groups (unless you are on a network); MacOS Easy Open; ColorSync, any OT Lib files with 68K in the name (assuming you are on a PowerMac), AppleVision (unless you have this monitor); AppleScript (unless you are scripting the Mac interface); AppleGuide (The built-in help and training system - if you do use it, don't disable AppleScript); and Desktop Print Monitor/Spooler, which are unreliable and idiosyncratic but useful if you are on a network with two or more printers that you switch between frequently. Delete Printing Prefs folder; WorldScript Power Adapter and ObjectSupportLib, both of which are now part of the System 8 file.
Ken also recommends FreePPP and FreePPP Setup version 2.6 or later as cleaner than OT/PPP. Personally, I like OT/PPP but he says that it runs a bit slower under some circumstances. Older System users (7.5.x) should use FreePPP 1.0.5 but nothing else older than 2.6. Macs running 7.1 cannot use anything but MacPPP 2.0.1 but you won't be messing with OS8 anyway.

Faster printing in FileMaker
An FMPro database developer and consultant of my acquaintance tells me that the program prints a lot faster if you disable Desktop Printing and return to the regular Backgrounder. To do so, just open the Extensions Manager panel and deselect anything that starts with "Desktop Print...". Actually this is good advice for ALL Mac users, unless you have multiple printers on a network and are switching between them on a daily basis. Desktop Printing in any System version before 8.0 is very troublesome and quirky, and there has not been much improvement. After you turn off the Desktop Printing extensions, you can throw away those printer icons on the desktop, the ones with an X through them. Go to the Chooser and select your normal printer, hit Setup, and close the Chooser. Your old Print Monitor will be re-enabled (assuming you set Background Printing to On) and your printing problems should clear up.

Teachers' Mac resources
A bundle of catalogs of teacher-produced materials showed up in my mailbox recently. To get one of your own, call them at (800) 662-4321 or http://www.teachercreated.com/.
Intel and Microsoft are conspiring to put more Wintel boxes in schools, replacing Macs. Clueless administrators who don't have to actually USE the machines they order may fall for the hype. But if one of the sales droids tries to take over YOUR school, ask them if they are also providing a couple of free system administrators for every 100 computers, because if you go Wintel, your administration problems go up exponentially.
Everyone who administers Mac networks will tell you how simple it is. Everything just works, and problems are simple and easy to solve. Most Mac system administration is done by part-timers, especially capable teachers with spare time on their hands (grin), and even student volunteers. Forget all that if you go Windows. Quoting Tom Frey in the EvangeList:
"...the most exhaustive and salient research has been done by Dr. Michael J. Johnson, Deputy Superintendent for Instruction and Technology for the Conroe Independent School District in Conroe, Texas, a northern suburb of Houston. His study involved three researchers working for three years with 200 educational technology projects in 14 states. Having spent $8 million on computer purchases in the last four years, he set out to conduct an objective analysis to guide his district in the coming years. His research decisively supports the Macintosh as the computer of choice for education. There was nothing in education which could be done on a Windows computer, which could not be done cheaper, simpler, and better on a Macintosh. In addition, they support their network with one technician for every 750 Macintoshes. A copy of the report is available here".
You can respond to the argument, "Why teach them on Macs when the world uses Windows?" by saying simply "If you teach an operating system, that is all they know and they face difficulty adapting to a new one. But teach them how to use and understand a graphical user interface, and they can figure out how to use any kind that they may run into." It is common experience for Mackers who have been at it for a few years to quickly become better at using Windows than people who have never used anything but Windows. The frustration levels are severe and many people would rather leave a job than switch, so add turnover costs to the overall cost of abandoning Macintosh.
If I couldn't work with Macs any more, I would probably leave the industry entirely.

Netscape is Free
What, you thought it was always free? Well, it was, sort of, for individual users in a non-business environment. Everyone else was expected to pungle up $49 a copy for Navigator, but the only way you could have known that was to read the license agreement at the time of install.
Pause here for peals of laughter.
No, actually, Netscape did change their policy in answer to Microshaft's challenge -- Explorer was always completely free -- and they make their money on their server software and extended services, such as teleconferencing, ads on their site, etc. They are now giving up the site licenses for companies and per-machine fees for OEMs (in the Windows world). Some, according to NetBITS, believe this is the last gasp of Netscape before it is sucked up by a large player (Oracle, Sun or other industry giant) with Microsoft poised to control 80 to 90% of the browser market share by the end of the year. Now that would be a tragedy.
But I may be switching to Opera, a browser designed in Europe for Windoze and now being rewritten for Mac, Unix, OS/2, Amiga and every other OS on the planet. The company, Opera Software, has developed their browser as a $49 commercial product, competing with the big two free browsers, by offering a small, quick, well-designed (according to fans) Web browser free of the bloat and featuritis common to the other two. And they will be releasing the Mac version next, due to the response from the Mac community late last year. Opera asked us if we would be willing to not only buy such a product, but if we were willing to pre-purchase it in order to finance a team of programmers who would come in and produce a product worthy of the effort. This is unheard of in the software industry, but the response was overwhelming and they reached their minimum needed sales level last November. Go to their web page, read all about it and add your name to the list of interested parties.

Unknown App Cannot Quit
This useful tip from Tipworld:
Unknown Application Cannot Quit
Level: Intermediate
One of the most common system errors you're likely to see is this one: When you try to shut down or restart your Mac, up pops a dialog box stating "Unknown application cannot quit." A more useful dialog box might read: "The Microsoft Office Manager control panel that ships with the latest version of Microsoft Office is buggy and causes this error to pop up with alarming regularity. To rid yourself of this annoyance, disable Microsoft Office Manager with an extension manager or drag it out of your Control Panels folder."

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.)