Macking 39

CorelDraw 8
One of the reasons software companies give demonstrations at user group meetings is to make their products look good and start the buzz going. Well, Corel came to the Portland Mac Users Group (PMUG) in August to show off their latest package.
I have to admit that I was impressed. I have a fair amount of familiarity with Photoshop and page-layout software, and I was prepared to ask, "Why bother with CorelDraw when we have plenty of good graphics software?" But by all appearances, this version, unlike the previous release of Corel, is an excellent implementation.
Written from the ground up as a Mac product (not simply a Windows port), it performed admirably and I would not hesitate to recommend it as a substitute for Multi-Ad Creator, a somewhat obscure single-page-layout program optimized for, you guessed it, advertisements.
I would also say it does a better job than PageMaker or Quark at the same thing.
Photoshop is still king, of course, and there is no reason why an experienced Photoshop user would want to switch, but there are a lot of people who do not want to spend over $1,000 for Photoshop, Illustrator and PageMaker yet need to produce good graphics. To those people I say, get the Corel image suite instead. It will do everything you need to do at a quarter of the cost. (Bitmap, or scanned, image editing is handled by a separate bundled application rather than CorelDraw itself.)
Be sure to ask about competitive upgrades if you have any of the other products. PMUG members in attendance were able to buy Corel for $149 and then get a rebate for $49. If they bought an iMac, the rebate was $99 (and that rebate may still be going on.) However, other callers to CompUSA, which supposedly handled the upgrades, had no luck reaching anyone who knew about the offer. So it is best to contact Corel directly.
The offer of a competitive upgrade for $149 applies to "all versions" of Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand and Canvas, among others, so if you own none of these programs, shop around for very old versions. You should be able to find Photoshop 3 or Illustrator 88 for under $50, and that will save you over $400 over the retail price of Corel8.

New Adobe Page Layout Coming
News flash: Adobe revealed the existence of a new program, long rumored and now admitted, code-named "K2" that will (probably) replace PageMaker and FrameMaker. While the company is being extremely circumspect about it, they admitted at Seybold that the program is being developed to combine the most useful features of PM, Photoshop and Illustrator 8 in a new page-layout program that they hope will let users of Quark XPress get out from under the thumb of Quark once and for all, without compromising the power and quality that they have come to depend on. It looks likely that the new program will be able to use Quark plug-ins! This is wonderful news for those graphics professionals who have had the misfortune to have to contact Quark for almost any reason at all. (The company has an industry-wide reputation for being as hostile to their customers, and difficult to deal with, as Iomega is.) The information was released as a result of the attempted hostile takeover of Adobe by Quark.
Now, if only someone would release a Zip-killer...

Warning - Norton 4.0 Problem
According to TidBITS, the public beta version of Norton Disk Doctor 4.0 has a serious incompatibility problem with drives formatted with SoftRAID, the RAID software currently bundled with Apple servers. When repairing a striped volume, Norton Utilities apparently changes the partition type to HFS, thereby rendering all striped volumes inaccessible. Independent sources confirm this problem also applies to Apple RAID, RAIDware, ImageRAID, and FWB's RAID ToolKit. Quoting, "Symantec should be able to fix this problem quickly, and while anyone who's been nipped by this issue has our sympathies, it's beyond us why people would be running pre-release disk repair software on an important disk without top-notch backups."
When Symantec finally releases 4.0 officially, there will be a flood of orders from people who have been needing this upgrade. But as always, be careful during the first 30 days or so, just in case there is need for a 4.0.1.

Construction Management Software
I went to a client's to do some work and learned that they produce a program called Foresight, complete management software for the construction industry. Based on FileMaker Pro, their package can handle any of the documentation you might need to produce. Even though the bulk of their sales is in Windows, they are Mackers first and the product is developed on Macs. It will run on any Mac from the LCIII or IIcx onward, running System 7.0.1 or later. For more info, email pontius@spiritone.com or phone (503) 292-4470. No web page yet.

Cheap 3D cards
Harold Metzger writes, Both I and a friend have purchased Wintel Voodoo 3Dfx cards for our Mac clones, and they have worked perfectly, for _really_ cheap.
Cards that work: Arcadefx by Best Data and Monster 3D by Diamond. The Diamond card is being offered by Fry's and Future Shop with deep discounts/rebates (look around for best deal, but final cost should be around $50-70!) Caveat: Some stores, like Future Shop, won't take returns of hardware, so if you don't want to risk the chance of the card not working and not getting your money back, find a store with a better return policy, like inCompetentUSA or Fry's.
Cards were tried in a PowerComputing PowerBase 240 and a UMAX clone of the same vintage but different motherboard.
All you need in addition to the cards are the "3Dfx RAVE," Display Library," and "3Dfx glideLib.2.x" extensions (available on-line).
My friend is even using his with RealPC to run Tomb Raider and a bunch of other 3Dfx-enabled Windoze games at full-screen & speed, with all sounds and music suddenly working faultlessly. It's pretty amazing.
So forget TechWorks and their 3Dfx card which they charge more for than their Wintel version, and which, before they started deep-discounting it and offering impossible-to-obtain rebate forms, cost $250. (Yeah, they irritated me.)

BIOS Bug redux
Clarification on the BIOS bug in last issue: it's even funnier. Alan Olsen contacted me and told me that there is normally a jumper on the motherboard that prevents the BIOS chip from being written to, by virus or not. If that jumper is missing, someone screwed up.
But if the jumper is missing and the user does a normal install of Win98, then that chip gets written to, and the machine is hosed. This information is in the W98 ReadMe that you see after installation.
Pause for peals of laughter, once again, at MS expense.

Calling All DTPers
There is a new listserv for Portland-area residents. QIPPSIG, short for Quark/Illustrator/Photoshop Portlanders' Special Interest Group, is where electronic publishing pros can get together to discuss design issues, talk about software tips and tricks and just socialize with other locals who do this kind of work.
There is no charge to join this list, and the only requirements is that you live in the PNW and be proficient in at least two of the three named software packages.
Much as the listowner loves PageMaker, QXP seems to have taken over the industry, but if there is enough interest then just maybe this may evolve into the QIPPPSIG. To subscribe, send email to majordomo@dreamcircle.com and type "subscribe qippsig" (without the quotes) in the body of the mail. No subject necessary. For more info, email Elana, the administrator.

iMacs a bit TOO Popular
According to the MacFixIt page, a customer of MacConnection called wondering where his order was. Stolen, it was, along with the following replacement order! Seems MacConnection has been losing quite a few units, whether shipped via UPS or Airborne.

iMac Updates
When was the last time you heard about updates released within days of a new product release? Apple is really on top of this one. Two new fixes are available to handle reported modem problems and printing problems on the USB Epson. Says MacFixIt: "If Apple wants to sell the message that the iMac is the easiest computer to set up and use, it obviously can't tolerate having modems and printers that don't work right out of the box. Apple appears to recognize this and has shown its commitment to getting these problems fixed pronto."
The best source for up-to-date info about the iMac is a dedicated area on the MacInTouch page and also the MacFixIt site to keep up with any known problems and recent updates. The printing glitches users have been experiencing with the new USB Epson, for instance, have already been taken care of.
If you get an iMac, there are a few other things you need to be aware of. First, Apple has instituted a very tough return policy with their retailers. They are allowed to return one DOA unit for every 1,000 non-iMacs sold!
Be sure you work with a retailer who will do exchanges if you have a problem. Out of the +200,000 units sold so far, there are bound to be some defective ones; that is just the state of manufacturing. But there have been very few bad ones detected.
The Computer Store will accept returns for any reason up to 30 days after sale, subject to a 15% "restocking" fee. But for simple defects, they will need to keep it overnight to check the defect and then they will fix or replace whatever is needed. (One comment was that many times the modem comes loose due to jostling during shipping.)
Another correspondent noted that the iMac ships with Appletalk Remote Access 3.0 and that can misbehave sometimes, making it look like the machine has hung even though you can launch Netscape and prove you have a viable connection. The suggested cure is to download FreePPP 2.6.2, set TCP/IP to use that and forget about ARA. I have installed this for several clients and can attest to the fact that this version is much more stable and trouble-free than the previous 2.5.x versions of FreePPP.
Another common problem with connections may be with your ISP. The iMac modem is a V.90 56K modem (the new official standard) and many ISPs have not yet upgraded their older 56K modems.
If possible, always buy with a credit card so if all else fails, you can cancel the charge and force a return.
More iMac info is also available at the EveryMac.com website, according to this blurb from Macintouch:
In addition to information on Apple's newest G3's, EveryMac.com features an exclusive iMac FAQ which answers all your iMac-related questions from "How do I transfer files?" to "When will I need another USB hub?" and "Is the iMac right for my needs?" to "Why is it Bondi blue?".
Use this resource to answer your questions when trying to convert your Windows-using friends or contemplating buying one for your parents.
And finally, Apple's own resource page for iMac buyers.

Cheap Floppy for iMac
Want a cheap floppy for your new box? Newer Technology has dropped the serial-to-USB feature from its iDrive floppy and cut the price to $90.

Sharing Modems and Printers
Ali Liptrot, Stalker Software, Inc., writes,
Stalker Software, Inc. has announced a five user license for their PortShare Pro application geared especially for the new iMac Users and a 20% discount off their SCSIShare program from now until December 1st, 1998.
PortShare Pro allows serial devices such as modems, printers, label writers, and plotters to be shared over an AppleTalk/EtherNet network. PortShare Pro will allow applications like PPP or other dial out applications to dial out from a shared modem. Passwords can be assigned and modem pools can be created. PortShare Pro works in the background as a server/client control panel.
Since the new iMac's only have Universal Serial Bus ports, connecting any serial device directly is not possible. PortShare Pro offers a solution. By using Portshare Pro users will be able gain access simply by installing the control panels on networked machines and creating the ports necessary to print to the office printer or dial out using the modem, etc.
Popular in the education and SOHO markets, PortShare Pro has always had a ten user license and an unlimited user license. The iMac has created a demand for the new five user license. Stalker will market the five user license as an electronic copy only. This will be available direct from Stalker for $59.00 USD.
In addition to the new 5 user PortShare Pro license, Stalker if offering 20% off SCSIShare. SCSIShare allows a scanner to become "networkable" freeing the need for a dedicated scan station. This allows the individual in the office with the scanner to remain free from interruption from someone needing to use his/her work station to scan. SCSIShare is $89.00 for a ten user license, but a 20% discount is available on any purchase from now until December 1st, 1998.
SCSIShare works with most name brand scanners that support the SCSI interface. The product allows connections across multiple AppleTalk zones at transfer rates up to 10MB/sec, depending on network media and traffic. It runs in the background and provides password protection.
Demos of all Stalker's products are available on their web site.

Safe and Sane IP Addresses
from Macworld's Tip of the Day
There are times when it's handy to assign IP addresses to your internal network--when you're employing TCP/IP to connect to a Mac and a PC for the productive purpose of playing games, for example, or using a program such as Retrospect to back up devices in a cross-platform environment. But how to know which IP address to use? Simple enough.
The people who make these sorts of agreements have agreed that IP addresses that appear in this format: 192.168.x.x may be used internally. This means that there should be no danger that you'll find such an address on the Internet.
To create such an address, open the TCP/IP control panel, type Command-K (or select Configurations from the File menu), select one of the listed configurations, press the Duplicate button, name the new setting (something like Internal IP, donchathink?), press the Make Active button, select Ethernet from the Connect via pull-down menu and Manually from the Configure pull-down menu, enter a 192.168.x.x IP address in the corresponding field (something like 192.168.5.1, for example), and, if you really want to, enter 255.255.255.0 in the Subnet mask field. Close and save and your Mac is configured. Repeat as necessary for other Macs. Now when you want to use your home network, just open TCP/IP, type Command-K to bring up Configurations, and select Internal IP.

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.)