Macking 67

by Michael Pearce
From the February 2001 Computer Bits

I Installed OS9
...so you won't have to. Yep, after warning everyone away from this upgrade for over 9 months now, I have gone and done it to myself. I figured it was time because all of the major applications and minor utilities that I use have themselves been upgraded to work with this OS.
I was starting to have problems with 8.6 anyway. I was facing a clean install of everything to weed out some odd incompatibilities that had accumulated along the way. Funny thing is, I got back some of my favorites: Action Files, Menus and WSYWIG Menus work again, as does Snitch. Suitcase 8.2 is fine, no need to go to Suitcase 9.
Part of the reason is the fact that when OS Ten is released, it will require 9 in order to operate in "classic mode," meaning, run all applications that have not been optimized for 10. 8.6 will be disallowed for this use, forever to become part of the past.
The past, however, is a very good place to be for those of you who do not desire to move onto the "bleeding edge" of OS 10, and are perfectly happy with the way your Macs run now. If you are on 8.0, absolutely upgrade to 8.1; it's free from Apple and fixes a lot of bugs in 8.0. Ditto for you users of 8.5 or 8.5.1; get thee up to 8.6. It's also free from Apple.
But if you want to move from 8.1 it is still a treasure hunt to find the 8.5 CD anywhere. I can only suggest that you pick up a copy of MacAddict or Macworld magazine and look in the back for ads by the used-Mac outlets. Call them all; sometimes they get a few copies of 8.5 here and there. If all else fails, check out eBay, where copies can sometimes be found for between $60 and $80. The really rare official 8.6 release turns up for more than list: the last one I saw went for $115.
If YOU have a copy of the 8.5/8.6 CD you don't need any more, ebay is a good place to sell it.
But if all else fails, it's finally okay to upgrade to 9.0.4. Just visit VersionTracker and peruse the list of 9.0-compatibles to make sure that every program, extension and control panel you use is on that list.
P.S. I upgraded to 9.1, released at Macworld. It makes significant changes to 9.0.4 and introduces a few problems and incompatibilities (including Snitch, which needs upgrading). Other features are an improvement; it is a bit faster. Probably best to wait a month or two, and check the reports about 9.1 for more info.

AirPort Antenna Hack
Remember the hack that made the rounds a year or so ago, that let you expand the broadcast range of the AirPort base station? Wade Anderson writes,
"I found the link on an archive page of Macintouch. (Still on the server). I noticed that one of the article writers has removed his photos of the end result (which were quite good) but his instructions remain. The Lucent (Orinco) RG-1000 is essentially a 'windows' version of the AirPort. It is cross-platform and uses the same cards as the waveport. I've read some comments on websites about it and I believe that there is a 'hack' that will allow a Mac to administrate the unit.
The Range Extender antenna is also made by Lucent/Orinoco".

ObjectSupportLib
Time for my bi-monthly report on this troublesome library file. For those of you reading this for the first time, ObjectSupportLib (OSL) is a file installed in your Extensions Folder by certain obsolete or poorly-written applications. It is required under System 7, made part of the System File after 8.0 and can cause crashes and other misbehavior. Under OS9 it can corrupt your hard drive so badly you will have to reformat and lose all your data. If you have not done so already, drop what you are doing and check inside your Extensions Folder and if you see it, delete it on the spot!
Then create a New Folder with exactly the same name and put it inside the Extensions Folder. This will serve as a roadblock to future applications which would try to install it.
A company which should know better is Adobe, publisher of the truly worthless image-editing program PhotoDeluxe, bundled free with cheap scanners. This month I came across a CD for a new Epson scanner, with a date of 9/99 printed on it. Inside the CD was an installer for the 9-only version of ATM (4.5.2; 4.6 is current for all OSes), but just like it has for the last four years, PhotoDeluxe 2.0 installed OSL right in the iMac, even though it is running 9.0.4 and cannot run anything earlier.
Even more guilty is Hewitt-Packard, which installs it with their 800-series printers, which are clearly marked for use with OS 8.1 or later only. At least they plan to update the CDs; Adobe doesn't. I wish some angry lawyer would get after them both. Any halfway-decent script writer can write an installer script that checks the version number of the system and then leaves OSL out unless it finds System 7 running the machine. Eudora's programmers did it!

USB Converters
Users of modern Macs wanting to connect older serial devices have found limitations in the available products. USB to AppleTalk printers, for instance, or microphones for iBooks, have not been available.
Griffin Technology has announced several new products that fill in the gaps. Examples:

I also found a device called the iDock2 in one of the Mac catalogues. This is designed to be a swivel stand for the iMac, but it includes 4 USB ports, an ADB port, and a built-in floppy drive for $179.
The February issue of MacAddict, an excellent magazine, reported on several sound-input devices for the USB port. Also in that issue under the category "Droolworthy" is the best monitor I have ever seen. The case contains THREE flat screens, each 1280x1024, angled to wrap around the user like a professional flight trainer. It requires three PCI cards to drive it, although if they sell enough of them, maybe someday will create a single card that can handle it. The price of this gem? $22,000. Start saving your empty Jolt bottles, gamers!

MacInvoice
Another product missing from the lineup has been good billing and invoicing software. I don't know how good this is, not having used it, but there is now a product available from Praevius Software: "MacInvoice is a $40 invoice and billing application with full reporting, e-mail billing options, label printing, and more."

Free Mac ISPs
The big shakeout that recently saw the closing of many of the free ISP services especially hurt the Mac offerings. Right now, the only one remaining is Bluelight.com. You must sign up online; the CD offered by Kmart contains only Windows installers.
DotNow and NetZero don't offer Mac support but NetZero encourages you to email macdemand@netzero.net and let your wishes be known. Both of these, while not explicitly supporting Macs, are configurable for basic POP and IP services, which means that you need only sign up and configure your TCP/IP and Remote Access control panels.
All of the free services make their money by shoving endless ads in your face and appending ads to all your email messages, as well as accumulating all kinds of data about your shopping and browsing habits, which they sell to anyone who pays. Personally, I'd rather just pay a local provider the $20/month or so and enjoy plain vanilla service with no gotchas. I have been with SpiritOne for years.

New Mac Shop
While MacForce has been around for quite a while, they have recently moved into new headquarters in near-SE Portland. They are also certified Apple resellers, so this gives buyers another option we lost when Prewitt Consulting ceased operations.
Although in a sense they are my competition, they offer emergency service (which I can't, being a solo consultant) as well as sales and a place to bring your sick Mac if you don't want a house call. I have occasionally referred my own clients to them when I was not available, and nobody has reported back with a negative experience. If I weren't happy running my own business, I would probably try to get a job there.
Visit their site but you will need the Flash 5 plugin to see the pages. Found a few bugs, too, but it's a brand new and fairly complex site (read: grossly overproduced by a web developer who thinks everyone has a broadband connection and big monitor), unlike my own site, which has no flash, no java and nothing but all my past columns, unedited, and a bunch of other stuff.
I learned recently that Prewitt Consulting had ceased to be an independent company, having been bought by an investor who closed it and fragmented the remains after focusing most of its efforts on the highly profitable Wintel-repair market. Some of the employees went to PowerMacPac; a few others stayed behind and are operating the downtown branch that used to be Prewitt under another name. It closed for a while, eventually to reopen as a Mac shop when it gets Apple certification.
Another company that used to be independent is PowerMax, which was bought out by The Computer Store a couple of years ago. Fortunately, this has not led to any decay in service at PowerMax, which has a 95% satisfaction rate from among the people I have referred to them - in English, that means one client is extremely unhappy, the rest are okay. Let's hope that MacForce stays independent; TCS needs more competition. Another independent shop is MacShop/NW near Lake Oswego, and of course CDEV Solutions, Charles DeVore, a friend, longtime PMUG activist and competitor in some areas as well, and finally, PowerMacPac, out by the airport.

ComputerBits Radio
If you read the rest of the magazine, you know that ComputerBits has a radio show on KOTK Radio 1080 at 11am Sundays. I have been participating on this show every other week, to bring a Mac presence to the airwaves as well as in your face right now. Give us a listen, and call in to contribute your thoughts at 250-1080.

E-Forms
A reader called up to alert me to a company called Shana that produces electronic form software. This is the kind of thing that people try to create with FileMaker, Acrobat and Java applets so that forms can be filled out with the data transmitted to the owner for use in a database. He was so excited about it he wanted everyone to learn about what it is and what it will do for companies that have to crunch a lot of data accumulated via online forms.
I looked at the web pages to determine if they even support Macintosh; they do; in fact they started on Macintosh. But I have difficulty understanding just what they are offering because the company is focused on Business-to-Business commerce, not involving the consumer. So all I will say is, if you are involved in this kind of Web or form-design work, visit the company's pages for more info. You'll need the Flash 5 plugin installed in your browser to view the animated presentation.

Site for Writers
Jefferson Bushman writes,
I recently ran across an old article of yours in Computer Bits, and thought you might be interested in the web site we've recently established for writers and readers. Most writers have the "book in the drawer," the book we've written and either never attempted to commercially publish or given up on after a few rejections. BooksGlobal.com attempts to overcome that and other problems. It also gives an opportunity to readers and lovers of books.
BooksGlobal.com allows writers to "publish" their book on the site (our slogan appears to have developed into, "Publish Your Book Tomorrow"), without the necessity of trying to gain the favor of a publisher or agent. We also eliminate the expenses and dead-end streets involved with vanity publishing and workload of self-publishing. We normally charge a nominal fee for listing a writer's book and a percentage of sales, but we're temporarily eliminating the listing fee.
For readers, we provide a chance to locate and purchase books that aren't published anywhere else, and to have the convenience of e-mail delivery.
Please feel free to visit our site. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail us or to call 800-477-7578, extension 207. Thanks for your attention.

Prices Drop
Jan. 1 marked the end of the official Apple rebate program, and so prices for current models dropped by exactly that amount:

Aren't you glad you waited? Well after Macworld things changed even more, and the remaining inventory of older models is clearing out as fast as it can.

Postscript: Macworld Expo
There was too much going on at the Expo to do it any justice in this column, especially with a last-minute filing. Suffice it to say, I want one of the new titanium PowerBooks, I am glad that Apple is finally going to include CD-RW drives with all models, and the speeds are improved dramatically by their using the next-generation G4 chip. This processor, in the top-end model, runs at FIVE gigaflops, 4x faster than the dual-processor models from before, mainly due to the revamped "Velocity Engine."
Of course, speeds are not comparable between Intel and IBM/Motorola chips because the architecture is so different. Never, ever, pay any attention to speed claims based on a number. PPC chips are inherently faster than an Intel/compatible chip running almost twice the speed, and Microsoft OS products slow them down far more than the MacOS slows down the PPC chip.
Unix/Linux is far more efficient at using processor cycles. Compare LinuxPPC to MacOS and RedHat for Intel to the native OSes if you want more info. Of course since OSX is built on the BSD kernel, that means improvements all around in efficiency for Mac users.
OSX will be officially released in March. There will be a "slew" of applications ready for it. I have been telling everyone to wait a year before even thinking of upgrading; that may be too conservative. I will jump in with both feet when it comes out and relay my experiences through the spring and summer.
For more info on Macworld, the best site I have seen so far is Creativepro.com. If the pages have changed by the time this hits print, just search the main index page. Also visit MacNewsNetwork and Macintouch.

No Microsoft products were used in the production of this column.

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