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Archive-name: macintosh/general-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: November 4, 1994 Maintainer: elharo@shock.njit.edu URL: http://rever.nmsu.edu/faq/generalfaq.html MACINTOSH FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ==================================== comp.sys.mac.faq, part 1: Introduction to the Macintosh Newsgroups Copyright 1993, 1994 by Elliotte Harold Please see section 5.8 below if you wish to distribute or revise this document in any way. Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: November 4, 1994 Address comments to elharo@shock.njit.edu What's new in version 2.3.3: ---------------------------- 1.2. What other information is available? I now mention the Well Connected Mac as a useful source of information. 2.6. What is .bin? .hqx? .cpt? .image? .etc.? StuffIt Expander combined with Drop Stuff with Expander Enhancer now handles most common UNIX and PC compression formats. I've added MacGzip to the list of recommended decompressors. 2.8. How can I get BinHex, StuffIt, etc. from a PC? The DOS shareware macette lets you mount Mac disks on a PC and transfer MacBinary files from the PC to the Mac in a format the Mac can launch. 3.6. Isolate the problem. PowerPC users should try turning off the modern memory manager. Table of Contents ================= General FAQ ----------- I. I have a question... 1. How do I use this document? 2. What other information is available? 3. Which newsgroup should I post to? 4. How should I answer frequently asked questions? II. FTP, Gopher and the World Wide Web 1. Where can I FTP Macintosh software? 2. Can I get shareware by E-mail? 3. Where can I find application X? 4. Where can I find an application to do X? 5. Can someone mail me application X? 6. What is .bin? .hqx? .cpt? .image? .etc.? 7. How can I get BinHex? StuffIt? etc.? 8. How can I get BinHex, StuffIt, etc. from a PC? III. Troubleshooting. What to do when things go wrong 1. Identify the problem. 2. Read the READ ME file. 3. Check for viruses. 4. Reinstall the application and all its support files. 5. Reinstall the system software. 6. Isolate the problem. 7. Contact technical support. IV. Preventive Maintenance 1. Trash Unneeded Files 2. Reevaluate Your Extensions 3. Rebuild the desktop. 4. Zap the PRAM and Reset the Clock 5. Resize the system heap. (System 6 only) 6. Reinstall the system software. 7. Disk Utilities 8. Backing Up 9. Disk Defragmentation 10. Reformatting and partitioning your hard disk V. Meta-FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions about the FAQ) 1. There's a mistake in your FAQ. 2. Why don't you include this complicated/payware solution? 3. Would you please include my software in your FAQ? 4. Why don't you post the FAQ more often? 5. Can you help me with this problem I'm having with my Mac? 6. Will you send me the FAQ? 7. Why don't you format the FAQ in Word? Digest? HTML? etc.? 8. Can I repost, revise, publish or otherwise use this document? comp.sys.mac.system ------------------- I. Memory 1. Why is my system using so much memory? 2. What is Mode 32? the 32-bit enabler? Do I need them? 3. Cache and Carry (How much memory should I allot to my cache?) II. System Software 1. Why does Apple charge for system software? 2. What does System 7.5 give me for my $35/$50/$99 that System 7.1 doesn't? 3. Where can I get System 7.5? 4. How can I use System 6 on a System 7 only Mac? 5. Non-US scripts and systems 6. What is System 7 Tuneup? System Update 3.0? etc.? Do I need them? 7. Why do my DA's disappear when I turn on MultiFinder? 8. Do I need System 7.0.1? 9. How can I get System 7.0.1 on 800K disks? 10. How can I get System 7.5 on 800K disks? III. Hard Disks, Filesharing, and the File System 1. Help! My folder disappeared! 2. Why can't I throw this folder away? 3. Why can't I share my removable drive? 4. Why can't I eject this SyQuest cartridge? CD-ROM? etc.? 5. Why can't I rename my hard disk? 6. How do I change my hard disk icon? IV. Fonts 1. How do I convert between Windows fonts and Mac fonts? TrueType and PostScript? 2. What font will my screen/printer use when different types are installed? 3. Where should I put my fonts? V. Miscellaneous: 1. What does System Error XXX mean? 2. What is a Type Y error? 3. What is A/ROSE? 4. Easy Access or One Answer, Many Questions 5. How can I keep multiple system folders on one hard disk? 6. How do I access the programmer's key? comp.sys.mac.misc ----------------- I. Viruses 1. Help! I have a virus! 2. Reporting new viruses II. Printing and PostScript 1. How do I make a PostScript file? 2. How do I print a PostScript file? 3. Why won't my PostScript file print on my mainframe's printer? 4. Why are my PostScript files so big? 5. How can I print PostScript on a non-PostScript printer? 6. How do I make my ImageWriter II print in color? 7. Why doesn't PrintMonitor work with the ImageWriter? 8. Why did my document change when I printed it? 9. How can I preview a PostScript file? 10. Can I use a LaserJet or other PC printer with my Mac? 11. How can I print grey scales on my StyleWriter I? 12. How can I edit a PostScript file? III. DOS and the Mac 1. How can I move files between a Mac and a PC? 2. How can I translate files to a DOS format? 3. Should I buy SoftPC or a real PC? IV. Security 1. How can I password protect a Mac? 2. How can I password protect a file? 3. How can I password protect a folder? 4. How can I prevent software piracy? 5. How can I keep a hard drive in a fixed configuration? V. Sound 1. How can I copy a track from an audio CD onto my Mac? 2. How can I extract a sound from a QuickTime movie? 3. How can I convert/play a mod/wav/etc. file? VI. No particular place to go (Miscellaneous Miscellanea) 1. Are there any good books about the Mac? 2. How do I take a picture of the screen? 3. How do I use a picture for my desktop? 4. Can I Replace the "Welcome to Macintosh" box with a picture? 5. What is AutoDoubler? SpaceSaver? More Disk Space? Are they safe? 6. How do they compare to TimesTwo, Stacker and eDisk? 7. Where did my icons go? 8. Where can I find a user group? 9. Where can Ifind the 1984 Quicktime movie? 10. Do RAM Doubler and Optimem work? 11. I'm greedy. Can I triple my RAM? 12. How do I run software that needs an FPU on a Mac that doesn't have one? comp.sys.mac.apps ----------------- I. What's the Best... 1. Text editor 2. Word processor 3. Genealogy software 4. TeX/LaTeX 5. Integrated application 6. Spreadsheet 7. JPEG Viewer 8. Electronic publishing software 9. Drawing application 10. Typing tutor? 11. OCR software? II. Microsoft Word 1. How can I assign styles to characters? 2. How can I automatically generate cross-references? 3. How can I change a Word document to TeX? and vice-versa? 4. How can I depersonalize Word? 5. Where can I get more information? III. TeachText 1. How can I change the font in TeachText? 2. How do I place a picture in a TeachText file? 3. How do I make a TeachText document read-only? comp.sys.mac.wanted ------------------- I. Buying and Selling Used Equipment 1. Should I buy/sell on Usenet? 2. Where should I buy/sell used equipment? 3. I've decided to completely ignore your excellent advice and post my ad anyway. What should I do? 4. I've decided to completely ignore your excellent advice and buy something offered for sale on the net anyway. How can I avoid being ripped off? II. Fair Market Value 1. How much is my computer worth? 2. What is used software worth? 3. Going prices? III. Where Should I Buy a New Mac? 1. Authorized Dealers 2. VAR's 3. Superstores 4. Performas 5. Educational Dealers 6. Direct From Apple 7. Auctions 8. Does anyone know a dealer in New York City? 9. New Equipment Prices IV. When Should I buy a New Mac? 1. Macrotime 2. Microtime 3. When will I get my Mac? V. How Should I Buy a New Mac? 1. Know what you want 2. The dealer needs to sell you a mac more than you need to buy one 3. Have a competitor's ad handy 4. Cash on delivery 5. The sales tax game 6. Leasing 7. Be nice to the salesperson. VI. The Gray Market and Mail Order 1. What is the gray market? 2. Are gray market Macs covered by Apple warranties? 3. Does anyone know a good mail-order company? comp.sys.mac.hardware --------------------- I. Maintenance 1. How do I clean a keyboard? 2. How do I clean a screen? 3. How do I clean a mouse? 4. How do I clean a floppy drive? 5. How do I clean the inside of my mac? II. Problems And Repairs 1. How do I open a compact Mac? 2. Now that I've opened my Mac how might I electrocute myself? 3. Where can I get my Mac fixed? 4. Can you recommend any good books about Mac repair? 5. The screen on my compact Mac is jittering. III. Upgrades 1. What Macs will be upgradeable to the PowerPC? 2. Can I increase the speed of my Mac by accelerating the clock? 3. Can I add an FPU to my Mac? 4. Can I replace the 68LC040 with a 68040? IV. Thanks for the Memory 1. What kind of memory should I use in my Mac? 2. Can I use PC SIMM's in my Mac? 3. What vendors have good prices on memory? 4. Do SIMMdoublers work? V. Video 1. What's VRAM? 2. All monitors are not created equal. 3. There's a horizontal line across my monitor. VI. Floppy Disks 1. What kind of floppy disks do I need for my Mac? 2. Why can't my Quadra (SE/30, Iici, etc.) read the disks from my Plus? 3. Does punching a hole in a double-density disk make a high-density disk? VII. SCSI Troubles 1. How do I put my old internal hard disk in an external case? 2. What's the cheapest/fastest/most reliable/most common removable drive? 3. What's the best CD-ROM drive? VIII. Printers 1. What's a good printer? IX. Miscellaneous hardware FAQ's 1. What power adaptor do I need to use my mac in another country? 2. How can I fix the sound on my IIsi? A. Models RETRIEVING THE ENTIRE FAQ ========================= This is the FIRST part of the this FAQ. The second part is posted to comp.sys.mac.system and features many questions about system software. The third part answers miscellaneous questions about Macs and is posted every two weeks in comp.sys.mac.misc. The fourth part covers frequently asked questions about Macintosh application software and appears in comp.sys.mac.apps. The fifth piece covers buying and selling Macintosh computers, software and peripherals and is posted in comp.sys.mac.wanted. The sixth part answers many questions about Macintosh hardware and peripherals and appears in comp.sys.mac.hardware. Tables of contents for all pieces are included above. Please familiarize yourself with all six sections of this document before posting. All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/ Except for this introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as general-faq, the name of each file has the format of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq", e.g the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq. You can also have these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/name in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g. general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions. For access via the World-Wide-Web use http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/faqs.html =========================== I HAVE A QUESTION... (1.0) =========================== Congratulations! You've come to the right place. Usenet is a wonderful resource for information ranging from basic questions (How do I lock a floppy disk?) to queries that would make Steve Jobs himself run screaming from the room in terror. (I used ResEdit to remove resources Init #11, WDEF 34, and nVIR 17 from my system file and used the Hex Editor to add code string #A67B45 as a patch to the SFGetFile routine so the Standard File Dialog Box would be a nice shade of mauve. Everything worked fine until I installed SuperCDevBlaster, and now when I use the Aldus driver to print from PageMaker 5.0d4 to a Linotronic 6000 my system hangs. P.S. I'm running System 6.0.2 on a PowerBook 170.) Since the Macintosh newsgroups are medium to high volume, we ask that you first peruse this FAQ list including at least the table of contents for the other pieces of it, check any other relevant on-line resources listed below in question 1.2, especially the FAQ lists for the other Macintosh newsgroups, and RTFM (Read the Friendly Manual) before posting your question. We realize that you are personally incensed that the System is taking up fourteen of your newly-installed twenty megs of RAM, but this question has already made its way around the world three hundred times before, and it's developing tired feet. Finally, before posting to any newsgroup (Macintosh or otherwise), please familiarize yourself with the basic etiquette of Usenet as described in the newsgroup news.announce.newusers. Usenet can be a real nerd-eat-nerd world and it's a bad idea to enter it unprepared. HOW DO I USE THIS DOCUMENT? (1.1) ---------------------------------- comp.sys.mac.faq is currently divided into multiple pieces, a general introduction which you're reading now, and specific lists for the newsgroups comp.sys.mac.system, comp.sys.mac.misc and comp.sys.mac.apps. This introductory document is posted to all of the concerned newsgroups. The tables of contents for each of the specific FAQ lists are at the beginning of this file so you should be able to get at least some idea whether your question is answered anywhere else in the FAQ even if you don't have the other parts at hand. It's not always obvious, especially to newcomers, where a particular question or comment should be posted. Please familiarize yourself with the FAQ lists in all the major Macintosh newsgroups before posting in any of them. Which questions appear in which FAQs can serve as a basic guide to what posts belong where. To jump to a particular question search for section-number.question-number enclosed in parentheses. For example to find "Where can I FTP Macintosh software?" search for the string "(2.1)". To jump to a section instead of a question use a zero for the question number. This document is in "setext" format. Akif Eyler's freeware application EasyView can parse this document into a hierarchical outline view that makes for easier browsing. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/EasyView.sit.bin Files available by anonymous ftp are here listed in URL (Uniform Resource Locator) format. To retrieve a file you can just paste the URL into Mosaic's Open URL dialog or you can retrieve it manually. A typical file URL looks like ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/UUTool.sit.bin If you don't have Mosaic, Cello, MacWeb or some other World Wide Web browser this reference is easy to decode for use by regular, manual ftp. (In fact it's easier to use than the form I used to use which didn't include directories.) Ignore the "ftp://". The next part, "rever.nmsu.edu" is the site. The last part, "UUTool.sit.bin" is the file itself. Everything in between is the directory. Thus to retrieve this file by ftp you would ftp to rever.nmsu.edu, login as "anonymous" using your E-mail address as your password, switch to "binary" mode (since the .bin on the end of the file indicates this is a binary file), change directory to pub/macfaq and get the file UUTool2.3.2.sit.bin. Directory URL's are similar except they end with a / symbol. A typical directory URL looks like ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/ Here rever.nmsu.edu is the site and everything after that is a directory. WHAT OTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE? (1.2) ------------------------------------------- comp.sys.mac.faq provides short answers to a number of frequently asked questions appropriate for the comp.sys.mac regions of Usenet. Five other FAQ lists are worthy of particular note. All are available for anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu [18.181.0.24] in the directory pub/usenet/group-name (where "group-name" is the name of the group in which they're posted) as well as in their respective newsgroups. Jon W{tte maintains a public domain FAQ list for comp.sys.mac.programmer which is posted about every three weeks. See ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/programming-faq The original FAQ list for comp.sys.mac.programmer is no longer being posted or updated but is still useful and available via anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/info/Original_Programmer_FAQ.txt David Oppenheimer maintains a FAQ list for comp.sys.mac.comm. This list answers many frequently asked questions about networking, UNIX and the Mac, telecommunications, and foreign file formats. See ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/comm-faq/ Norm Walsh has compiled an excellent FAQ for comp.fonts that answers a lot of questions about the various kinds of fonts and cross-platform conversion and printing. See ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.fonts/ Finally Jim Jagielski maintains a FAQ for comp.unix.aux covering Apple's UNIX environment, A/UX. It's posted every 2 to 3 weeks in comp.unix.aux. See ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.unix.aux/ Much other information is accessible via the World Wide Web by pointing your favorite browser at The Well Connected Mac, located at http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/Macintosh.html Among other things this site contains hypertext versions of many of the above FAQ lists, lists of Macintosh FTP and Web sites, a directory of vendors doing business in the Macintosh market, many reviews of hardware and software, and much more. If you only have a dialup UNIX account and can't use Mosaic, see if lynx is installed on your system. If it is, use it. Otherwise if you can telnet at all try telneting to www.njit.edu which is a publically accessible text-based browser for the Web. WHICH NEWSGROUP SHOULD I POST TO? (1.3) ---------------------------------------- There are no stupid questions, but there are misplaced ones. You wouldn't ask your English teacher how to do the definite integral of ln x between zero and one, would you? So don't ask the programmer newsgroup why your system is so slow when Microsoft Word is in the background. Ignorance of basic netiquette is not an excuse. If you want people to help you, you need to learn their ways of communicating. Posting questions to the proper newsgroup will fill your mailbox with pearls of wisdom (and maybe a few rotten oysters too :-) ). Posting to the wrong newsgroup often engenders a thundering silence. For instance the most common and glaring mispost, one that seems as incongruous to dwellers in the Macintosh regions of Usenet as would a purple elephant to Aleuts in the Arctic, asking a question about networking anywhere except comp.sys.mac.comm, normally produces no useful responses. Posting the same question to comp.sys.mac.comm ensures that your post is read and considered by dozens of experienced network administrators and not a few network software designers. Please post to exactly ONE newsgroup. Do not cross-post. If a question isn't important enough for you to take the extra minute to figure out where it properly belongs, it's not important enough for several thousand people to spend their time reading. For the same reason comp.sys.mac.misc should not be used as a catch-all newsgroup. The breakdown of questions between different newsgroups in this document can also serve as a reasonable guide to what belongs where. Questions about productivity applications (software you bought your Macintosh to run, not software you bought to make your Macintosh run better) should go to comp.sys.mac.apps unless the application is covered in a more specific newsgroup. Communications programs, games, HyperCard, compilers and databases all have more topical comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups. Post questions about non-communications hardware including questions about what software is necessary to make particular hardware work to comp.sys.mac.hardware. Questions about MacOS system software belong in comp.sys.mac.system. Questions about utilities and extensions normally belong in comp.sys.mac.misc. Questions about A/UX go to comp.unix.aux. Detailed questions about Appletalk belong in comp.protocols.appletalk. Direct questions about HyperCard to comp.sys.mac.hypercard. Non-HyperCard programming questions and questions about development environments should go to comp.sys.mac.programmer unless the question is about object- oriented programming in which case it belongs in one of the three comp.sys.mac.programmer.oop groups. ResEdit questions may be posted either to comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.system, or comp.sys.mac.programmer; but generally the netters who inhabit the darker recesses of comp.sys.mac.programmer are considerably more practiced at the art of resource hacking. A general exception to the above rules is that any VERY technical question about an application that actually begins to delve into the how's of a program as well as the what's (Recent example: How does WriteNow which is written entirely in assembly compare to other word processors written in high level languages?) might be better addressed to the programmer newsgroup. For Sale and Want to Buy posts should go to comp.sys.mac.wanted and misc.forsale.computers.mac ONLY. We understand that you're desperate to sell your upgraded 128K Mac to get the $$ for a PowerBook 180; but trust me, anyone who wants to buy it will be reading comp.sys.mac.wanted. Political and religious questions (The Mac is better than Windows! Is not! Is too! Is not! Is too! Hey! How 'bout the Amiga! What about it? Is Not! Is too!) belong in comp.sys.mac.advocacy. Anything not specifically mentioned above probably belongs in comp.sys.mac.misc. Finally don't be so provincial as to only consider the comp.sys.mac newsgroups for your questions. Many questions about modems in comp.sys.mac.comm are much more thoroughly discussed in comp.dcom.modems. Questions about Mac MIDI are often better handled in comp.music even though it's not a Macintosh specific newsgroup. Posts about the Newton belong in the comp.sys.newton hierarchy, not in ANY of the Macintosh newsgroups.Look around. Usenet's big and not everything relevant to the Macintosh happens in comp.sys.mac. HOW SHOULD I ANSWER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS? (1.4) ------------------------------------------------------ Mostly through private E-mail. Frequent answers are just as boring and uninteresting as frequent questions. Unless you really have something new to add to the traditional answers (such as the recent discovery that fonts in System 7.1 could eat memory) private E-mail is a much better medium for answering FAQs. You might want to add a mention of this FAQ list in your E-mail response and a polite suggestion that your correspondent read it before posting future questions. ========================================== FTP, GOPHER, AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB (2.0) ========================================== WHERE CAN I GET MAC SOFTWARE? (2.1) ------------------------------------ The two major North American Internet archives of shareware, freeware, and demo software are Info-Mac at sumex-aim.stanford.edu [171.65.4.3], and mac.archive at mac.archive.umich.edu [141.211.120.11] Unless otherwise noted shareware and freeware mentioned in this document should be available at the above sites. Unfortunately these sites are extremely busy and allow very few connections. Thus you should try to connect to a mirror site instead. In the United States Info-Mac's files are available from grind.isca.uiowa.edu [128.255.21.233] in the directory mac/infomac or wuarchive.wustl.edu [128.252.135.4] in systems/mac/info-mac. Mac.archive files are available from mirror.archive.umich.edu. Scandinavians should try connecting to ftp.funet.fi (128.214.6.100) or ftp.lth.se [130.235.20.3] first. In the U.K. look to src.doc.ic.ac.uk [146.169.2.1]. Continental Europeans can try nic.switch.ch [130.59.1.40], ezinfo.ethz.ch [129.132.2.72], and anl.anl.fr [192.54.179.1]. In Australia check out archie.au [139.130.4.6]. Japanese users will find sumex mirrored at ftp.u-tokyo.ac.jp [130.69.254.254]. In Israel try ftp.technion.ac.il [132.68.1.10] in the directory pub/unsupported/mac. In Taiwan nctuccca.edu.tw [192.83.166.10 or 140.111.1.10] mirrors both sumex and mac.archive. ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/info/Mac_FTP_List.txt U.S.: ftp://grind.isca.uiowa.edu/mac/infomac ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/mac/info-mac ftp://mirror.archive.umich.edu/ Finland: ftp://ftp.funet.fi/ Sweden: ftp://ftp.lth.se ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/mac/ U.K.: ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/info-mac/ Switzerland: ftp://nic.switch.ch/ ftp://ezinfo.ethz.ch/ France: ftp://anl.anl.fr/ Taiwan: ftp://nctuccca.edu.tw/ Israel: ftp://ftp.technion.ac.il/pub/unsupported/mac/ Australia: ftp://archie.au/ Japan: ftp://ftp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ More complete lists of mirrors are available from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/info/Mac_FTP_List.txt http://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/~elharo/faq/software.html Another very useful site is ftp.apple.com [130.43.2.3], particularly ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/ This is Apple's semi-official repository for system software, developer tools, source code, technical notes, and other things that come more or less straight from Apple's mouth. Some material at this site may not be distributed outside the U.S. or by other sites that don't have an official license to distribute Apple system software. Please read the various README documents available at ftp.apple.com for the detailed info if you're connecting from outside the U.S. or if you wish to redistribute material you find here. All software mentioned in these FAQ lists which may be freely posted is available for anonymous ftp from rever.nmsu.edu in the directory /pub/macfaq, i.e. ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/ rever.nmsu.edu is NOT a general archive site like info-mac or mac.archive and does not endeavor to store every piece of shareware in the Macintosh universe. However it should have most software mentioned here, and should be easily accessible. Finally if you have one flavor or another of Gopher available, Apple maintains an astoundingly useful gopher server at gopher://info.hed.apple.com/ This site contains gobs of PR, technical specs for Apple products, and pointers to sumex and mac.archive. It's often much easier to browse mac.archive and sumex through gopher rather than directly by ftp. CAN I GET SHAREWARE BY E-MAIL? (2.2) ------------------------------------- The info-mac archives at sumex-aim are available by E-mail from LISTSERV@RICEVM1.bitnet (alternately listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu). The listserver responds to the commands $MACARCH HELP, $MACARCH INDEX, and $MACARCH GET filename. Mac archive files are available from mac@mac.archive.umich.edu. Send it a message containing the word "help" (no quotes) on the first line of your message for instructions on getting started. You can retrieve files from other sites by using the server at ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com. For details send it a message with just the text "help" (no quotes). WHERE CAN I FIND APPLICATION X? (2.3) -------------------------------------- If you can't find shareware you're looking for at one of the above sites, archie will help you find it. If you have a macTCP connection to the net, you should use Peter Lewis's graphical archie client Anarchie, available from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Anarchie.sit.bin Otherwise try telnetting to your nearest archie server or sending it an E-mail message addressed to archie with the subject "help." Archie servers are located at archie.rutgers.edu (128.6.18.15, America), archie.mcgill.ca (132.206.2.3, Canada), archie.au (139.130.4.6, Australia), archie.funet.fi (128.214.6.100, Scandinavia), and archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.3.7, the U.K. and the continent). These sites index the tens of thousands of files available for anonymous ftp. Login as "archie" (no password is needed) and type "prog filename" to find what you're looking for or type "help" for more detailed instructions. For instance you would type "prog Disinfectant" to search for a convenient ftp site for Disinfectant. If the initial search fails to turn up the file you want, try variations on and substrings of the name. For instance if you didn't find Disinfectant with "prog Disinfectant", you might try "prog disi" instead. Most common payware is stocked by MacWarehouse and featured in their catalog which you can request from MacWarehouse at (800) 622-6222. Apple brand software not stocked by MacWarehouse and not available on ftp.apple.com is often available from APDA, the Apple Programmers' and Developers' Association. Call (800) 282-2732 in the U.S., (800) 637-0029 in Canada, (716) 871-6555 elsewhere, for a catalog. Finally most third party programming tools with too small a market to be advertised in the MacWarehouse catalog are advertised in every issue of MacTech along with information on how to order. Please check the above catalogs and archie personally BEFORE asking the net where you can find a particular piece of software. These sources provide answers much more quickly than the net. WHERE CAN I FIND AN APPLICATION TO DO X? (2.4) ----------------------------------------------- Most archives of shareware and freeware have index files which briefly describe the various programs available at the site. At anonymous ftp sites these files typically begin with 00 and end with either .txt or .abs. Lists that cover the entire archive and topical subdirectories are both available. For example if you're looking for a program to play MOD files, ftp to sumex-aim and look in the directory Sound/util for any files beginning with two zeroes. You'll find 00Utility-abstracts.abs. Get it and then browse through it at your leisure. Then when you've located a likely candidate in the index file you can ftp it and try it out. The best source of information about payware programs is the MacWarehouse catalog. You'll occasionally find it on sale at newsstands for about two dollars; but if you call MacWarehouse at 1-800-622-6222, they'll be happy to send you one for free. Unlike many other catalogs almost all common software is advertised in the MacWarehouse catalog. A quick browse through the appropriate section normally reveals several products that fit your needs. CAN SOMEONE MAIL ME APPLICATION X? (2.5) ----------------------------------------- No. Nor will anyone mail you a part of a file from comp.binaries.mac that was corrupt or missed at your site. Please refer to the first questions in this section to find out about anonymous FTP, archie, and E-mail servers. WHAT IS .BIN? .HQX? .CPT? .ETC? (2.6) -------------------------------------- Most files available by FTP are modified twice to allow them to more easily pass through foreign computer systems. First they're compressed to make them faster to download, and then they're translated to either a binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary (.bin) format that other computers can digest. (The Macintosh uses a special two-fork filing system that chokes most other computers.) BinHex files are 7-bit ASCII text files, while MacBinary files are pure 8-bit binary data that must always be transferred using a binary protocol. How a file has been translated and compressed is indicated by its suffix. Normally a file will have a name something like filename.xxx.yyy. .xxx indicates how it was compressed and .yyy indicates how it was translated. To use a file you've FTP'd and downloaded to your Mac you'll need to reverse the process. Most files you get from the net require a two-step decoding process. First change the binhex (.hqx) or MacBinary (.bin) file to a double-clickable Macintosh file; then decompress it. Which programs decode which file types is covered in the table below. Also note that most Macintosh telecommunications programs will automatically convert MacBinary files to regular Macintosh files as they are downloaded. ******************************************************************************* Suffix: .sit .cpt .hqx .bin .pit .Z .image .dd .zip .uu .tar .gz Extractors ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ StuffIt 3.0| X X X X X X X X X X Compact Pro| X X Packit | X UUTool | X MacCompress| X SunTar | X X X X BinHex 5.0 | X X BinHex 4.0 | X DiskDoubler| X X ZipIt | X X X DiskCopy | X macutil | X X X X MacGzip | X X ******************************************************************************* A few notes on the decompressors: StuffIt is a family of products that use several different compression schemes. The freeware StuffIt Expander will unstuff all of them. Versions of StuffIt earlier than 3.0 (StuffIt 1.5.1, StuffIt Classic, UnStuffIt, and StuffIt Deluxe 2.0 and 1.0) will not unstuff the increasing number of files stuffed by StuffIt 3.0. You need to get a more recent version of StuffIt or StuffIt Expander. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/StuffItExpander.sea.bin StuffIt 3.0.7 (Lite and Deluxe) consistently makes smaller archives than any other Macintosh compression utility. To allow maximum space for files on the various ftp sites and to keep net-bandwidth down, please compress all files you send to anonymous ftp sites with StuffIt 3.0.7. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/StuffItLite.sea.bin UUTool, MacCompress, MacGzip and SunTar handle the popular UNIX formats of uuencode (.uu), compress (.Z), gzip (.gz) and tar (.tar) respectively. The UNIX versions are often more robust than the Mac products, so use them instead when that's an option. ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/UUTool.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MacGzip.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MacCompress.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/SunTar.sit.bin StuffIt Deluxe or the combination of the freeware StuffIt Expander and the shareware DropStuff with Expander Enhancer can also decode these four formats in a relatively reliable fashion. However be warned that the registration dialog in these products is more than a little annoying. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/DropStuffInstaller.bin Macutil is dik winter's package of UNIX utilities to decompress and debinhex files on a workstation before downloading them to a Mac. Since UNIX stores files differently than the Mac, macutil creates MacBinary (.bin) files which should be automatically converted on download. It can't decompress everything. In particular it can't decompress the new StuffIt 3.0 archives. However, if you need only one or two files out of an archive--for instance if you want to read the README to find out if a program does what you need it to do before you download all of it--macutil is indispensable. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MacUtil.shar A few notes on the compression formats: .bin: These are MacBinary files. Always use a binary file transfer protocol when transferring them, never ASCII or text. Most files on the net are stored as .hqx instead. Only rascal stores most of its files in .bin format. Most communications programs such as ZTerm and Microphone are capable of translating MacBinary files on the fly as they download if they know in advance they'll be downloading MacBinary files. .image: This format is normally used only for system software, so that on-line users can download files that can easily be converted into exact copies of the installer floppies. Instead of using DiskCopy to restore the images to floppies, you can use the freeware utility MungeImage to treat the images on your hard disk as actual floppies inserted in a floppy drive. MungeImage sometimes has problems when doing installs, so you should have some blank floppies and a copy of DiskCopy handy just in case. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MungeImage.sit.bin .sea (.x, .X): .sea files don't merit a position in the above table because they're self-extracting. They may have been created with Compact Pro, StuffIt, or even DiskDoubler; but all should be capable of decompressing themselves when double-clicked. For some unknown reason Alysis has chosen not to use this industry standard designation for self-extracting archives created with their payware products SuperDisk! and More Disk Space. Instead they append either .x or .X to self-extracting archives. HOW CAN I GET BINHEX? STUFFIT? ETC.? (2.7) --------------------------------------------- By far the easiest way to get these programs is to ask a human being to copy them onto a floppy for you. If you're at a university there's absolutely no excuse for not finding someone to give you a copy; and if you're anywhere less remote than McMurdo Sound, chances are very good that someone at a computer center, dealership, or user group can provide you with a copy of StuffIt. Once you have StuffIt (any version) you don't need BinHex. If you're such a computer geek that the thought of actually asking a living, breathing human being instead of a computer terminal for something turns you into a quivering mass of protoplasmic jelly, you can probably download a working copy of StuffIt from a local bulletin board system. If you have religious objections to software gotten by any means other than anonymous ftp, then I suppose I'll mention that you can in fact ftp a working copy of StuffIt though this is by far the hardest way to get it. Ftp to rever.nmsu.edu and login. Type the word "binary." Hit return. Type "cd pub/macfaq" and hit return. Then type "get StuffItExpander.sea.bin" and hit return. If you've ftp'd straight onto your Mac you should now have a self-extracting archive which will produce a working copy of StuffIt Expander when double-clicked. If you've ftp'd to your mainframe or UNIX account first, you still need to use a modem program to download it to your Mac. Just make sure that the Mac is receiving in MacBinary mode and the mainframe is sending in binary mode. If you need more details on the last step, consult the FAQ list for comp.sys.mac.comm and the manuals for both your mainframe and Macintosh telecommunications software. HOW CAN I GET BINHEX, STUFFIT, ETC. FROM A PC? (2.8) ----------------------------------------------------- Paul Thomson's shareware DOS utility Macette can transfer MacBinary files like the ones stored at ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/ from a DOS file system onto a Macintosh high density diskette, translating from MacBinary into a standard two-fork executable Macintosh file in the process. It can even format the diskette for you. Thus once you've gotten StuffIt Expander from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/StuffItExpander.sea.bin you can use macette to move it from the PC to your Mac. I've made macette available at my ftp site. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/macette.zip ======================================================================== TROUBLESHOOTING: WHAT TO DO (BEFORE POSTING) WHEN THINGS GO WRONG (3.0) ======================================================================== While the various FAQ lists cover a lot of specific problems, there are far more problems that aren't covered here. These are a few basic techniques you should follow before asking for help. You should probably also perform the ten-step preventive maintenance routine described in section four, especially rebuilding the desktop (4.3) and resizing the system heap (4.5). Following these steps may or may not solve your problem, but it will at least make it easier for others to recommend solutions to you. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM. (3.1) ---------------------------- "Microsoft Word is crashing" doesn't say much. What were you doing when it crashed? Can you repeat the actions that lead to the crash? The more information you provide about the actions preceding the crash the more likely it is someone can help you. The more precisely you've identified the problem and the actions preceding it, the easier it will be to tell if the following steps fix the problem. For example, "Sometimes QuarkXPress 3.0 crashes with a coprocessor not installed error." is not nearly as helpful as "QuarkXPress 3.0 crashes when I link two text boxes on a master page when copies of those text boxes already contain text." The former will leave you wondering whether the bug remains after a given step. The latter lets you go right to the problem and see if it's still there or not. READ THE READ ME FILE. (3.2) ----------------------------- Many companies include a list of known incompatibilities and bugs in their READ ME files. Often these aren't documented in the manual. Read any READ ME files to see if any of the problems sound familiar. CHECK FOR VIRUSES. (3.3) ------------------------- Run Disinfectant or another anti-viral across your disk. Virus infections are rarer than most people think, but they do occur and they do cause all sorts of weird problems when they do. ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Disinfectant.sit.bin REINSTALL THE APPLICATION AND ALL ITS SUPPORT FILES. (3.4) ----------------------------------------------------------- For half a dozen reasons (external magnetic fields, improperly written software, the alignment of the planets) a file on a disk may not contain the data it's supposed to contain. This can cause all types of unexplained, unusual behavior. Restoring from original masters will usually fix this. Check to see if the application has a preferences file in the Preferences folder in the system folder and if so trash it. This is often overlooked when reinstalling. Since the preferences file is often the most easily corrupted file in an application, reinstalling it alone may be sufficient to fix the problem. REINSTALL THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE. (3.5) ------------------------------------- Bits are even more likely to get twiddled in the system file than in the application and the effects can be just as disastrous. See question 4.6 for a detailed procedure for performing a clean reinstall. If the problem continues to occur after you've taken these steps, chances are you've found either a conflict between your application and some other software or a genuine bug in the program. So it's time to ISOLATE THE PROBLEM. (3.6) --------------------------- You need to find the minimal system on which the problem will assert itself. Here are the basic steps of isolating the cause of a system or application crash: 1. Run only one application at a time. Occasionally applications conflict with each other. If the problem does not manifest itself without other applications running simultaneously, begin launching other applications until you find the one that causes the crash. 2. If you're running System 6, turn off MultiFinder. If you're running System 7, allot as much memory to the application as you can afford. Sometimes programs just need more memory, especially when performing complicated operations. 3. If you're running System 7, turn off virtual memory and 32-bit addressing. There's still an awful lot of 32-bit and VM hostile software out there including some from companies that really have no excuse. (Can you say Microsoft Word 5.1, boys and girls? I knew you could.) Some of this software only expresses its incompatibilities when certain uncommon actions are taken. 4. If you have a 68040 Mac, turn the cache off. Many older programs don't work well with the built-in cache of the 68040. 5. If you have a PowerPC turn off the modern memory manager. Some software doesn't get along with it. 6. Restart your Mac and hold down the shift key (or boot from a virgin system floppy if you're using System 6). If the problem disappears you likely have an init conflict. You need to progressively remove extensions until the problem vanishes. Ricardo Batista's freeware Extensions Manager 2.0.1 lets you decide at startup which extensions to load so you don't have to spend a lot of time moving files into and out of the System Folder. See ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/hacks/extensions-manager-2-0-1.hqx Use a little common sense when choosing the first extensions to remove. If the problem occurs when you try to open a file, remove any inits that mess with the Standard File Open procedure such as Super Boomerang first. If the problem remains after the obvious candidates have been eliminated, either remove the remaining extensions one at a time; or, if you have a lot of them, perform a binary search by removing half of the extensions at a time. Once the problem disappears add half of the most recently removed set back. Continue until you've narrowed the conflict down to one extension. When you think you've found the offending init restart with only that init enabled just to make sure that it and it alone is indeed causing the problem. Although performing this procedure manually can be fairly quick if you have a pretty good idea of which extensions to check, it can take quite some time when you really don't have any strong suspects for a conflict. In that case consider using Conflict Catcher II to help isolate the offending init. A fully functional timed demo can be had from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/ConflictCatcherDemo.sit.bin 7. Remove all external SCSI devices. If the problem disappears, add them back one at a time until the problem reappears. Once you've isolated the SCSI device causing the problem check its termination and try moving it to a different position in the SCSI chain. It's also possible a SCSI cable's gone bad, so try replacing just the cable. 8. Turn the Mac off and unplug all cables: power, ADB, modem, printer, network, SCSI and anything else you've plugged in to the back of your Mac. Then plug everything back in and try again. Loose cables can imitate malfunctions in almost any hardware or software. I recently spent a day in panic because I thought my analog board had died before I could back up the latest draft of the hardware FAQ. I even went so far as to E-mail my favorite repair shop (Tekserve, 212-929-3645) before I thought calmly for a few minutes, unplugged all my cables, and plugged them back in. My Mac booted up immediately. The power cable had been loosened when I moved my desk the previous weekend and a few days later random motion finally disconnected it enough to cut my power. To all appearances this was an expensive analog board or power supply failure rather than a cheap cable problem that I could fix in about a minute at home. CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT. (3.7) --------------------------------- By now you should have a very good idea of when, where, and why the conflict occurs. If a tech support number is available for the software, call it. If you're lucky the company will have a work around or fix available. If not, perhaps they'll at least add the bug to their database of problems to be fixed in the next release. ============================= PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE (4.0) ============================= You wouldn't drive your car 100,000 miles without giving it a tune-up. A computer is no different. Regular tune-ups avoid a lot of problems. Although there are Mac mechanics who'll be happy to charge you $75 or more for the equivalent of an oil change, there's no reason you can't change it yourself. The following nine-step program should be performed about every three months. TRASH UNNEEDED FILES (4.1) --------------------------- Many of the operations that follow will run faster and more smoothly the more free disk space there is to work with so spend a little time cleaning up your hard disk. If you're at all like me, you'll find several megabytes worth of preferences files for applications you no longer have, archives of software you've dearchived, shareware you tried out and didn't like, announcements for events that have come and gone and many other files you no longer need. If you're running System 7 you may also have several more megabytes in your trash can alone. Throw them away and empty the trash. RETHINK YOUR EXTENSIONS (4.2) ------------------------------ Some Macintoshes attract inits like a new suit attracts rain. Seriously consider whether you actually need every extension in your collection. If you don't use the functionality of an extension at least every fifth time you boot up, you're probably better off not storing it in your System Folder where it only takes up memory, destabilizes your system, and slows down every startup. For instance if you only read PC disks once a month, there's no need to keep Macintosh PC Exchange loaded all the time. Cutting back on your extensions can really help avoid crashes. REBUILD THE DESKTOP (4.3) -------------------------- The Desktop file/database holds all the information necessary to associate each file with the application that created it. It lets the system know what application should be launched when you open a given file and what icons it should display where. Depending on its size each application has one or more representatives in the desktop file. As applications and files move on and off your hard disk, the Desktop file can be become bloated and corrupt. Think of it as a Congress for your Mac. Every so often it's necessary to throw the bums out and start with a clean slate. Fortunately it's easier to rebuild the desktop than to defeat an incumbent. One warning: rebuilding the desktop will erase all comments you've stored in the Get Info boxes. Under System 7 Maurice Volaski's freeware init CommentKeeper will retain those comments across a rebuild. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/CommentKeeper.sit.bin CommentKeeper also works with System 6 but only if Apple's Desktop Manager extension is also installed. To rebuild the desktop restart your Mac and, as your extensions finish loading, depress the Command and Option keys. You'll be presented with a dialog box asking if you want to rebuild the desktop and warning you that "This could take a few minutes." Click OK. It will take more than a few minutes. The more files you have the longer it will take. If you're running System 6 you may want to turn off MultiFinder before trying to rebuild the desktop. If you're experiencing definite problems and not just doing preventive maintenance, you may want to use Micromat's freeware utility TechTool. TechTool completely deletes the Desktop file before rebuilding it, thus eliminating possibly corrupt data structures. Furthermore it doesn't require you to remember any confusing keystroke combinations. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/TechTool.sit.bin ZAP THE PRAM AND RESET THE CLOCK (4.4) --------------------------------------- All Macs from the original 128K Thin Mac to the Quadra 950 contain a small amount of battery powered RAM that holds certain settings that belong to the CPU rather than the startup disk, for example the disk to start up from. Unfortunately this "parameter RAM" can become corrupted and cause unexplained crashes. To reset it under System 7 hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys while restarting your Mac. Under System 6 hold down the Command, Option, and Shift keys while selecting the Control Panel from the Apple menu, and click "Yes" when asked if you want to zap the parameter RAM. Alternatively you can use MicroMat's free utility TechTool which doesn't require you strecth your fingers across the keyboard like a circus contortionist. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/TechTool.sit.bin Zapping the PRAM erases the settings of most Apple Control Panels including the General Controls, Keyboard, Startup Disk, Mouse, and Map. It also erases the Powerbook 100's non-volatile RAM disk. Thus after zapping the PRAM you will need to reset these Control Panels to fit your preferences. One setting that zapping the PRAM does not erase is the date and time; but since the internal clock in the Macintosh is notoriously inaccurate you'll probably want to reset it now anyway. RESIZE THE SYSTEM HEAP (System 6 Only) (4.5) --------------------------------------------- Even after rethinking their extensions as per step two, most people still have at least half a row of icons march across the bottom of their screen every time they restart. All these extensions (and most applications too) need space in a section of memory called the System Heap. If the System Heap isn't big enough to comfortably accommodate all the programs that want a piece of it, they start playing King of the Mountain on the system heap, knocking each other off to get bigger pieces for themselves and trying to climb back on after they get knocked off. All this fighting amongst the programs severely degrades system performance and almost inevitably crashes the Mac. Under System 7 your Macintosh automatically resizes the system heap as necessary, but under System 6 you yourself need to set the system heap size large enough to have room for all your extensions and applications. By default this size is set to 128K, way too small for Macs with even a few extensions. The system heap size is stored in the normally non-editable boot blocks of every system disk. Bill Steinberg's freeware utility BootMan not only resizes your system heap but also checks how much memory your heap is using and tells you how much more needs to be allocated. If you're running System 6, get BootMan, use it, and be amazed at how infrequently your Macintosh crashes. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Bootman.sit REINSTALL THE SYSTEM SOFTWARE (4.6) ------------------------------------ System files can become corrupt and fragmented, especially if you've stored lots of fonts and desk accessories inside them. Merely updating the System software will often not fix system file corruption. I recommend doing a clean reinstall. Here's how: 1. Move the Finder from the system folder onto your desktop. 2. Rename the System Folder "Old System Folder" 3. If you're installing System 6, 7.0, 7.0.1 or 7.1 shut down and then boot from the Installer floppy of your system disks. If you're installing System 7.5, quit all running applications and launch the installer on the first installer disk. 4. Double-click the installer script on your System disk. Then choose Customize... Select the appropriate software for your model Mac and printer. You could do an Easy Install instead, but that will only add a lot of extensions and code you don't need that waste your memory and disk space. If you're installing System 7.5 type "Command-Shift-K" which is the magic code to get the installer to do a clean install.. A dialog will popup. Select the radio button that says "Install New System Folder" and click OK. From this point on just follow the installers instructions. Mostly you'll just need to swap disks. After installation is finished the installer will ask you to restart your Mac. You don't really have any choice so go ahead and restart. 5. If you installed System 7.0 or 7.0.1, you should now install System 7 Tuneup 1.1.1, available from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.0.tuneup/system-7-tune-up-1-1-1.hqx If you installed System 7.1, 7.1 Pro or 7.1.2, then you should also install System Update 3.0, available from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.system.updates/ 6. Copy any non-standard fonts and desk accessories out of the old System file into a temporary suitcase. 7. Trash the Finder file on desktop. Now go into the Old System Folder and trash the System, MultiFinder, DA Handler, and all other standard Apple extensions and control panels. These were all replaced in the new installation. If you were running System 7.x, move everything left in the Extensions, Control Panels, and Preferences folders into the top level of the System Folder. 8. Now move everything from the Old System Folder you created in step 2 into the new System folder. If you're asked if you want to replace anything, you missed something in step 7. You'll need to replace things individually until you find the duplicate piece. Also reinstall any fonts or DA's you removed in step 6. 9. Reboot. You should now have a clean, defragmented System file that takes up less memory and disk space and a much more stable system overall. DISK UTILITIES (4.7) --------------------- Much like system files hard disks have data structures that occasionally become corrupted affecting performance and even causing data loss. Apple includes Disk First Aid, a simple utility for detecting and repairing hard disk problems, with its System disks. It's also available for anonymous ftp from ftp.apple.com in ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/disk-first-aid-7-2.hqx If you have an earlier version than 7.2 (and most people do) you should get version 7.2 from ftp.apple.com, make a copy of your Disk Tools disk, and replace the old Disk First Aid on the copy with the new version. At the same time you should also replace the old version of HD SC Setup on your Disk Tools disk with the new HD SC Setup 7.2.2 from the same directory. See ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/hd-sc-setup-7-2-2.hqx Several companies sell payware disk utilities that detect and repair considerably more problems than Disk First Aid though, interestingly, none of them detect and repair everything that Disk First Aid does. The three most effective for general work are Symantec's MacTools 3.0, Public Utilites, and Norton Utilities for the Macintosh 2.0. A department or work group should have all of these as well as Disk First Aid since none of them fix everything the others do. For individuals MacTools ($48 street) is about half the price of Norton ($94 street) or Public Utilities ($98 street) so, features and ease of use being roughly equal, I recommend MacTools. All of these products occasionally encounter problems they can't fix. When that happens it's time to backup (4.8) and reformat (4.10). BACKING UP (4.8) ----------------- This is one part of preventive maintenance that should be done a LOT more often than every three months. The simplest back up is to merely copy all the files on your hard disk onto floppies or other removable media. If you keep your data files separate from your application and support files then it's easy to only back up those folders which change frequently. Nonetheless every three months you should do a complete backup of your hard disk. A number of programs are available to make backing up easier. Apple included a very basic full backup application with System 6. With the Performas Apple ships a new Apple Backup utility that can backup the entire disk or just the System folder onto floppies. The previously mentioned Norton Utilities for the Mac and MacTools Deluxe 2.0 include more powerful floppy backup utilities that incorporate compression and incremental backups. Finally the usual ftp sites should have Diversified I/O's $35 shareware SoftBackup II, a full featured backup program that will do full, image and incremental backups to floppies, tape drives, WORMs, Syquest drives, hard disks, servers and other media. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/SoftBackupII.sit.bin About the only thing thing SoftBackup II can't do is replace old versions of files in a backup set with newer versions. If you want to do that check out the more flexible payware utilities Redux ($49 street, doesn't support tape drives) and Diskfit Pro ($74 street). DISK DEFRAGMENTATION (4.9) --------------------------- As disks fill up it gets harder and harder to find enough contiguous free space to write large files. Therefore the operating system will often split larger files into pieces to be stored in different places on your hard disk. As files become more and more fragmented performance can degrade. There are several ways to defragment a hard disk. The most tedious but cheapest method is to backup all your files, erase the hard disk (and you might as well reformat while you're at it. See question 4.10.), and restore all the files. A number of payware utilities including Norton Utilities and Mac Tools can defragment a disk in place, i.e. without erasing it. Although the ads for all these products brag about their safety, once you've bought the software and opened the shrink-wrap they all warn you to back up your disk before defragmenting it in case something does go wrong. If you use any of these products, be sure to run a disk repair package on the disk you wish to defragment before defragmenting. Defragmenting will almost certainly make any existing problems with a disk worse so it's important to make sure a disk is in good health before using a defragmenting utility on it. Fast Unfrag is a $10 shareware disk defragmenter by Kas Thomas. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/FastUnfrag1.0.sit.bin It appears to do the job it was designed for; (defragmenting the files on a hard disk) and my brief tests didn't reveal any glaring bugs or trash any files. Nonetheless, I'm a bit nervous about this product because the programmer and his skill level are unknown to me, and writing a disk defragmenter is not something I'd trust to a novice. The interface is flaky; the program only works on the disk where the application resides (very unusual behavior for a disk defragmenter); it's unfriendly to background applications (not so unusual for any disk intensive app); and neither documentation, online help, nor an E-mail address are provided with the program. Since this is still a relative unknown I STRONGLY recommend that you backup your files before using it. I'd appreciate hearing any experiences you have with it. REFORMAT YOUR HARD DISK (4.10) ------------------------------- Just as a floppy disk needs to be initialized before use, so a hard disk must be formatted before it can hold data. You don't need to reformat every three months; but when your system is crashing no matter what you try, reformatting is the ultimate means of wiping the slate clean. Reformatting your hard disk may even gain you a few extra megabytes of space. Not all hard disks are created equal. Some can hold more data than others. To facilitate mass production and advertising without a lot of asterisks (* 81.3 megabytes is the pre-formatted size. Actual formatted capacity may vary.) Apple often formats drives to the lowest common denominator of drive capacity. When you reformat there's no reason at all not to reclaim whatever unused space Apple's left on your disk. Unlike floppies hard disks need a special program to initialize them. Most hard disks come with formatting software. Apple's disks and System software ship with HD SC setup, a minimal disk formatter which will format Apple brand hard drives ONLY. See ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/hd-sc-setup-7-2-2.hqx Most hard drive manufacturers ship appropriate formatting software with their hard drives. Normally this is all you need to reformat your hard disk. A number of general-purpose formatters are also available which go beyond the bundled software to include features like encryption, password protection, multiple partitioning, faster disk access, System 7 compatibility, and even compression. Two of the best are the payware Drive7 and Hard Disk Toolkit Personal Edition ($49 street for either). While there are one or two freeware formatters available, none are likely to be superior to the ones bundled with your hard disk. PowerBook owners should be sure to turn off Sleep and processor cycling before reformatting their hard drives no matter what software they use. Otherwise disk corruption, crashes, and data losses are likely. =========================================================== META-FAQS (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FAQ) (5.0) =========================================================== Since posting the first version of my FAQ list a little over two years ago I have noticed a precipitous drop in the frequency of certain questions. Most noteably: Why is my system using 14 of my 20 megs of RAM? Though that still shows up occasionally, it's no longer at the twelve times a day level that induced me to start writing. I count that as some measure of success. However, I have experienced one unexpected phenomenom. Certain questions have begun appearing frequently in my mailbox so I've composed this little list of meta-faqs, i.e. frequently asked questions about the FAQ. Please familiarize yourself with this list before mailing me comments or questions. THERE'S A MISTAKE IN YOUR FAQ. (5.1) ------------------------------------- Thanks for pointing this out. Since I maintain several documents of about 300K total size, it would be helpful if you would reference the specific document where you found my error and the question number. WHY DON'T YOU INCLUDE THIS COMPLICATED/PAYWARE SOLUTION? (5.2) --------------------------------------------------------------- When there are multiple solutions to a common problem, I try to pick the one that is achievable with the simplest and cheapest tools. Chances are I do know about that undocumented feature of WhizzyWriter 1000 that lets you download PostScript files. Call me crazy, but I suspect that most people would prefer to download a free utility from ftp.apple.com rather than shell out $995 for WhizzyWriter just to solve their PostScript problems. Similarly if a problem can be solved with the tools that are bundled with every Mac, I'll choose that solution over one that requires downloading some shareware. Space in the FAQ is limited; (mainly by brain-dead news software at some sites that restricts files to 32K) and I can't give comprehensive lists when they're not needed. WOULD YOU PLEASE INCLUDE MY SOFTWARE IN YOUR FAQ? (5.3) -------------------------------------------------------- As explained above space in these documents is limited, and I simply can't mention every imaginable software that conceivably falls somewhere within the purview of the Macintosh newsgroups. If, however, you feel your software answers a frequently asked question, e.g. a _working_ PostScript previewer (GhostScript doesn't count.); or it provides a solution to a common problem superior to what's already available, then I'll be happy to consider it for inclusion in the FAQ. WHY DON'T YOU POST THE FAQ MORE OFTEN? (5.4) --------------------------------------------- The FAQ is posted automatically about every two weeks, give or take a day. Normally it doesn't change more frequently than that; and I want to avoid wasting bandwidth since Usenet is not, contrary to popular belief, free. The FAQ includes an Expires: header to insure that one version doesn't disappear from your news spool until the next one arrives and a Supersedes: header so multiple copies won't waste everyone's disk space. This is all accomplished automatically via Jonathan Kamens' faq server. If the FAQ is ever not available at your site, then your news software is BROKEN and should be fixed. Complain to your news administrators about their broken software that ignores Expires: headers, not to me. CAN YOU HELP ME WITH THIS PROBLEM I'M HAVING WITH MY MAC? (5.5) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Certainly! I negotiate consulting fees on a case-by-case basis, but they tend to average about $60 an hour with a four hour minimum. If you're outside the metropolitan New York area (roughly Philadelphia to New Haven) the minimum is seven hours and you'll also be expected to provide airfare and $100 a day expenses for meals, hotel, and car rental. Quantity discounts and support contracts can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Oh, you meant free help?. Sorry, that's what Usenet is for. Post your question to the appropriate newsgroup, and you'll probably get a lot more advice than I could give you. WILL YOU SEND ME THE FAQ? (5.6) -------------------------------- No. I have neither the time nor the inclination to act as a mail-server for people who can't be bothered to use the mail-server at rtfm.mit.edu as outlined in the introduction. I reject all such requests. WHY DON'T YOU FORMAT THE FAQ IN WORD? DIGEST? HTML ETC.? (5.7) ----------------------------------------------------------------- While I get about one request per month to adhere to some imagined "standard" format, I have yet to receive two requests for the same format. LaTeX and PostScript versions are occasionally made available to people with a need for hardcopy who can either convince me their cause is just or who are willing to pay. The FAQ has recently been redone in HTML. See: http://rever.nmsu.edu/users/~elharo/faq/faqs.html Sometime next year I hope to release a much improved HTML version with lots of pictures, sounds, and movies. I am exploring the possibility of publishing that version for profit on the net. The basic FAQ list posted to Usenet will of course remain free for the foreseeable future. I'm also interested in Common Ground, Adobe Acrobat, and MIME based news. However none of these are particularly high on my priority list. CAN I REPOST, REVISE, PUBLISH OR OTHERWISE USE THIS DOCUMENT? (5.8) -------------------------------------------------------------------- This work is Copyright 1993, 1994 by Elliotte M. Harold. Permission is hereby granted to transmit and store this document as part of an unedited collection of any newsgroup to which it is posted by myself. I also grant permission to distribute UNMODIFIED copies of this document online via bulletin boards, local file servers, online services, and other providers of electronic communications provided that no fees in excess of normal online charges are required for such distribution; i.e. if the FAQ is available on a system, it must be available at the minimum charge for accessing the system. For instance you may post it to most BBS's that charge either a flat monthly fee or a per hour rate. However if there is an extra charge for downloading files over what is charged per normal access, either per hour, per kilobyte, or per month, then the FAQ may not be posted to that system without my explicit, prior permission. Portions of this document may be extracted and quoted free of charge and without necessity of citation in normal online communication provided only that said quotes are not represented as the correspondent's original work. Permission for quotation of this document in edited, online communication (such as the Info-Mac Digest and TidBITS) is given subject to normal citation procedures (i.e. you have to say where you got it). If you wish to republish this FAQ in a modified form, or to redistribute it on disk or paper, please contact me with specific details. I'm normally receptive to non-profits that wish to redistribute it at no charge, and to anyone who is willing to make reasonable remunerative arrangements for non-exclusive republication rights. Nicely formatted LaTeX and PostScript versions are available for this purpose. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold Dept. of Mathematics elharo@shock.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology eharold@sunspot.noao.edu Newark NJ 07102 .. Archive-name: macintosh/hardware-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: February 24, 1995 URL: http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/hardwarefaq.html Frequently Asked Questions about Macintosh Hardware =================================================== comp.sys.mac.faq, part six: comp.sys.mac.hardware Copyright 1993,1994,1995 by Elliotte Harold Please see section 5.8 of the general FAQ if you wish to redistribute, revise or republish this document in any way. Archive-name: macintosh/hardware-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: February 24, 1995 What's new in version 2.3.3: ---------------------------- 4.1. What kind of memory should I use in my Mac? PowerMacs require 80 nanosecond RAM. 5.2. All monitors are not created equal. I corrected a misstatement of what dot pitch really means. 7.2. What's the cheapest/fastest/most reliable/most common removable drive? This section has been revised to reflect changes in the market since I last wrote, notably Bernoulli 230 drives, ZIP drives, and all-around price drops. 7.3. What's the best CD-ROM drive? Quad speed CD-ROM drives are rapidly becoming affordable. plus I corrected a lot of small problems in the appendix. Table of Contents ================================================================== I. Maintenance 1. How do I clean a keyboard? 2. How do I clean a screen? 3. How do I clean a mouse? 4. How do I clean a floppy drive? 5. How do I clean the inside of my mac? II. Problems And Repairs 1. How do I open a compact Mac? 2. Now that I've opened my Mac how might I electrocute myself? 3. Where can I get my Mac fixed? 4. Can you recommend any good books about Mac repair? 5. The screen on my compact Mac is jittering. III. Upgrades 1. What Macs will be upgradeable to the PowerPC? 2. Can I increase the speed of my Mac by accelerating the clock? 3. Can I add an FPU to my Mac? 4. Can I replace the 68LC040 with a 68040? IV. Thanks for the Memory 1. What kind of memory should I use in my Mac? 2. Can I use PC SIMM's in my Mac? 3. What vendors have good prices on memory? 4. Do SIMMdoublers work? V. Video 1. What's VRAM? 2. All monitors are not created equal. 3. There's a horizontal line across my monitor. 4. Can I use a VGA monitor with my Mac? 5. How can I switch monitor resolutions on the fly? VI. Floppy Disks 1. What kind of floppy disks do I need for my Mac? 2. Why can't my Quadra (SE/30, Iici, etc.) read the disks from my Plus? 3. Does punching a hole in a double-density disk make a high-density disk? VII. SCSI Troubles 1. How do I put my old internal hard disk in an external case? 2. What's the cheapest/fastest/most reliable/most common removable drive? 3. What's the best CD-ROM drive? VIII. Printers 1. What's a good printer? IX. Miscellaneous hardware FAQ's 1. What power adaptor do I need to use my mac in another country? 2. How can I fix the sound on my IIsi? A. Models RETRIEVING THE ENTIRE FAQ ========================= This is the SIXTH part of this FAQ. The first part is also posted to this newsgroup under the subject heading "Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)" and includes a complete table of contents for the entire document as well as information on where to post, ftp, file decompression, trouble-shooting, and preventive maintenance. The second, third, fourth, and fifth parts are posted every two weeks in comp.sys.mac.system, comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.apps, and comp.sys.mac.wanted respectively and include many questions that often erroneously appear in comp.sys.mac.misc. All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/ Except for the introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as general-faq, the name of each file has the format of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq", e.g the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq. You can also have these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/name in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g. general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions. For access via Mosaic use http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/faqs.html ================== MAINTENANCE (1.0) ================== First a word about tools: many basic household items will serve you well when taking care of a Mac but not all. Under no circumstances should you use a Dustbuster or other common handvac to clean electronic equipment. Instead you need a specially designed vacuum cleaner with a conducting, grounded nozzle. These normally cost about $40 in electronics supply stores. Most paper towels are adequate for cleaning computer equipment. However Scott brand towels do have lower rag content than any other commonly available towel and are less likely to leave paper fibers behind on your equipment. HOW DO I CLEAN A KEYBOARD? (1.1) --------------------------------- For basic cleaning a little isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol on a Scott towel works well. Common household cleaners like Formula 409 also do a nice job. To perform a more thorough cleaning you'll need to take the keyboard apart. Depending on the type of keyboard you'll need one or more of a Phillips head screwdriver, a Torx T-15 screwdriver, and a special tool almost impossible to find when you really really need it which goes by the technical name of "key puller." Disassemble the keyboard, pull off all the keys, and use a can of compressed air or an electronics vac to clean out all the dust bunnies that have mated and grown and had children and mated again and built apartment complexes and shopping malls inside your keyboard. (I don't know why, but keyboards attract far more detritus than any other computer component.) Finally if you spilled Mountain Dew, coffee or some other liquid substance into the keyboard, clean it with lukewarm water and a soft towel. Use isopropyl alcohol on any remaining sticky spots. HOW DO I CLEAN A SCREEN? (1.2) ------------------------------- First turn off the monitor. Spray a small amount of Windex or any other common glass cleaner onto a paper towel, NOT directly onto the screen. Then wipe the paper towel over the screen. Finally wipe the screen clean with a dry paper towel. HOW DO I CLEAN A MOUSE? (1.3) ------------------------------ Poor mouse tracking is normally a sign of dirty contacts. To clean them get a cassette tape head cleaning solution from any audio store. Turn off the Mac. Then unplug the mouse. The bottom plate of the mouse that holds the ball in place can be removed by pushing down and twisting (like a child-proof medicine cap). The ball will probably fall out when the plate is removed so be ready to catch it. There's nothing quite so annoying as having to crawl around on the floor looking under the furniture for a mouse ball. Dip a cotton swab in the solution. Then rub it on the three ball contacts until they appear clean to the eye. Finally clean the ball itself with soap and water and dry it with a paper towel. HOW DO I CLEAN A FLOPPY DRIVE? (1.4) ------------------------------------- Normally you don't need to. Several companies sell floppy drive cleaning kits that consist of nothing more than a disk and some cleaning fluid for anywhere from five to twenty-five dollars. These are almost as pointless as the CD cleaning kits sold to overenthusiastic CD owners. I'd only use one of these if I was already experiencing problems that were identifiably linked to the floppy drive rather than individual disks. Cleaning a floppy drive should not be part of normal maintenance. When you do need to clean a floppy drive, Apple recommends the 3M floppy drive cleaning kit. If you have a vacuum cleaner designed for electronic equipment, you can always run it across the floppy slit, but even that is rarely necessary. Or you can disassemble the Mac and use a can of compressed air to blow the dust out of the floppy drive. Don't do this without disassembling the Mac first though since otherwise you'll just blow dust deeper inside your computer. And even when the Mac is taken apart, be careful to blow the air AWAY from the motor. If you blow air into the drive motor, you'll forcing dust into it and make the drive more likely to fail. HOW DO I CLEAN THE INSIDE OF MY MAC? (1.5) ------------------------------------------- I don't advise taking a Mac apart just to clean it; but if you've already dismantled it as part of another upgrade or repair, blowing accumulated dust away with a can of compressed air won't hurt. You can also use a specially designed computer vacuum cleaner, but don't use a normal hand vac like a Dustbuster as there's a small chance of damage to your Mac from the static electricity it builds up. On the other hand if during one of those late night football games through the halls of your office someone drop-kicked a half-full can of Mountain Dew straight through the uprights of your cubicle onto your Mac (or if you've spilled a soda or some other messy substance into the Mac in some less creative fashion), you will need to clean it out. Unplug the Mac and let it sit for at least an hour. It is essential to give all the parts of your Mac time to discharge since you'll be cleaning it with water. Take the Mac apart as described in the next section. Then clean it with lukewarm tap water. Use a soft toothbrush to clean anything that doesn't come off with water alone. Let the disassembled Mac air dry for a couple of days, (Don't even think about using a hair dryer.) and then put it back together. =========================== PROBLEMS AND REPAIRS (2.0) =========================== HOW DO I OPEN A COMPACT MAC? (2.1) ----------------------------------- You need a Torx T-15 screwdriver, at least eight inches long, available from any decent electronics supply shop, and a special tool referred to as a "Mac Cracker." (In a pinch you can use a spring loaded paper clip or even a three-sided ruler.) Before starting clear off a large, flat work area and get an ash tray, glass, or other container to hold the various small screws you need to remove. First disconnect all cables, most especially the power cable. For maximum safety you should only work on your Mac after it's been turned off for an hour so that various high-voltage capacitors have had time to fully discharge. remove the programmer's switch if one is installed. Then lay the Mac face down on a soft towel in your work space. If you're working on a Plus or earlier Mac remove the battery cover and battery. Then unscrew all the screws with the T-15 screwdriver. There are four of them on SE's and Classics, two hidden inside the handle and two above the ports on the bottom of the Mac. The Plus and earlier Macs have five screws including one under the battery cover. After the screws are removed, wedge the cracking tool into the seam and pry the two pieces of the case apart. Then carefully lift the back cover off and place it down in your work space. Finally inside you'll find a metallic RF shield covering the ports which can easily be removed. NOW THAT I'VE OPENED MY MAC HOW MIGHT I ELECTROCUTE MYSELF? (2.2) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Like most computers a Macintosh contains lots of exciting high voltage equipment that can deliver shocks ranging from mildly surprising to motherboard-frying to lethal. Since compact Macs cram the high voltage picture tube and power supply into the same cramped space shared with the motherboard, they're particularly dangerous. If you're intent on committing computer-assisted suicide, here are a few simple procedures that will greatly enhance your chance of success: * Be sure the computer and all cables are plugged in when you work on it. It's difficult (though not impossible) to get a good, solid shock without at least 120 volts of AC surging through the works. * Wear lots of metal jewelry. Long, dangling gold bracelets make the most effective unexpected electrical contact between the picture tube and your heart. * Naturally you yourself want to be nice and clean before working on your Mac so take a long shower. Don't bother to dry off though. The heat from your Mac should dry you just fine. * Pay special attention to the picture tube and flyback transformer. Fondle them. Know them. Love them. If you're still conscious take apart the power supply. (That's the silver box with the big red warning letters on it.) * Invite all your pets and small children to watch you work. However there's no reason to invite an adult who might have the presence of mind to call 911 should you be injured. WHERE CAN I GET MY MAC FIXED? (2.3) ------------------------------------ If it's been less than a year since you bought the Mac, then by all means bring it to a local Apple authorized dealer to get it fixed under warranty for free. Not all dealers are created equal, and you don't have to get your Mac repaired by the same dealer you bought it from. Ask around locally to find out which one has the best reputation for fast, dependable, hassle-free service. After the warranty has expired an Apple dealer is generally not the best (and certainly not the cheapest) place to have your Mac fixed. A typical Apple authorized repair consists of swapping out the entire malfunctioning subsystem. It's not at all uncommon for Apple dealers to repair small problems by motherboard swaps that cost almost as much or even more than a new Mac. For out of warranty repairs your best bet is an unauthorized repair shop that specializes in component level repairs. Be sure to find one that specializes in Macintosh repairs, not a PC shop that does Macs on the side. Again seek advice from local bulletin boards and user groups. In the New York City area I unconditionally recommend TekServe, (212) 929-3645. If there are no reliable local repair shops, a number of mail-order repair shops advertise in the back pages of MacUser and MacWorld. Personally I find it horribly inconvenient to package and ship a Mac just to get a flyback transformer replaced, but most of these shops do offer reliable repairs at very competitive prices and many people on the net swear by one or another. CAN YOU RECOMMEND ANY GOOD BOOKS ABOUT MAC REPAIR? (2.4) --------------------------------------------------------- Larry Pina has written several excellent guides to repairing Macs. Mac Classic & SE Repair and Upgrade Secrets (Peachpit Press, $28, ISBN #1-56609-022-9) covers the SE, SE/30, Classic, and Classic II. This volume offers moderately detailed instructions for someone with prior electronics experience to diagnose common problems, do component level repairs and perform upgrades on compact Macs. Macintosh Repair and Upgrade Secrets (Hayden Books $24.95, ISBN #0-672-48452-8) is an earlier version of this book which covers compact Macs from the 128K to the SE and the Lisa. Pina's sequel, Macintosh II Repair and Upgrade secrets, $39.95, ISBN #0-13-929530-5, offers similar coverage of the Mac II family of Machines. All these books include valuable diagnostic software on a bundled disk. Before delving into this volume you should be comfortable wielding a soldering iron on expensive equipment. Finally he's also written the somewhat less technical and more detailed Dead Mac Scrolls (PeachPit Press, ISBN #0-940235-25-0, $32) which offers symptom-based procedures for diagnosing and repairing many common problems. This book includes good advice about how to find and deal with a repair shop. All four books deserve a place in the library of anyone who intends to wield a soldering iron on their Mac. THE SCREEN ON MY COMPACT MAC IS JITTERING. (2.5) ------------------------------------------------- Nine times out of ten this is a symptom of a failing flyback transformer. It may be accompanied by high-pitched whines and even the smell of burnt ozone. This is a warning that the demise of the Mac is imminent! Turn it off and don't use it again till the video is fixed. If the flyback transformer is in this bad a shape, chances are that other components either already have failed or soon will. However many expensive parts of the video subsystem are probably working just fine so this is one common problem that can often be fixed much more cheaply by a component-level repair shop than by an authorized dealer who'll likely swap out the entire video board. =============== UPGRADES (3.0) =============== WHAT MACS WILL BE UPGRADEABLE TO THE POWERPC? (3.1) ---------------------------------------------------- Apple will provide logic board replacements for all Centris, Quadra and WorkGroup Server models except the Quadra 700, 900 and 950. There should also be logic board replacements for the IIvx, IIvi, LC 475, 520, 550, and 575, Performa 475, 476, 550, and 600. Upgraded AV Macs will lose their special video capabilities, at least initially. Apple will also make available PowerPC processor upgrade boards that fit into the PDS slots of the Quadra 605, 610, 650, 700, 800, 900, and 950 as well as the Centris 610 and 650 and the Performa 475 and 476. Macs upgraded via a PDS card run at twice the speed of the system clock. Thus a 25 MHz 68040 Mac with a PDS accelerator will become a 50 MHz PowerMac. You'll be able to disable the accelerator if you have old software that's not PowerPC compatible or that just plain runs faster on the older hardware. 68030 desktop Macs with expansion slots will be upgradeable via third party accelerator cards. Daughtercard upgrades for the Powerbook 500 and Duo 280 series will be available sometime late this summer or early fall. CAN I INCREASE THE SPEED OF MY MAC BY ACCELERATING THE CLOCK? (3.2) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple engineers designed the Mac IIsi to run at 25 megahertz. Apple marketeers made them reduce the speed by 20% so as not to hurt sales of the IIci. Thus with various caveats it is generally safe to accelerate a IIsi to 25 MHz by changing the clock chip. All other Mac models were designed to run at the speeds they normally run at so "clock-chipping" them is a much iffier proposition. Compact Macs, PowerBooks and the Mac II, IIx and IIcx as well as the LC and LC II use the same oscillator to time various external circuitry as they use to time the CPU so they almost never work if the clock chip is replaced. Most other Macs seem to work for at least a while when sped up by as much as twenty percent. Somewhere beyond a twenty percent increase in clock speed most Macs experience serial port problems though the exact level of safe increase varies from Mac to Mac even within the same model and configuration. Other problems may surface over time as the extra heat generated by the faster speed increases the wear and tear on the insides of the Mac. Performing this upgrade is not for the faint of heart. It is quite complex and requires soldering, replacement of several parts, and other non-trivial procedures. If done improperly it can result in major, expensive damage to your Mac. I am not going to give detailed instructions for doing this here. If you do want to do this yourself, check out http://bambam.cchem.berkeley.edu/~schrier/mhz.html ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/info/Clock_Chip_History.txt ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/info/Clock_Chip_Centris_610.txt ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/info/Clock_Chip_IIsi.txt ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/info/Clock_Chip_Quadra_700.txt For people who are willing to open their Mac and swap out RAM or a hard drive but don't feel comfortable soldering on their motherboard, KS Labs, (614) 373-0353, offers $165 kits that more safely (no soldering) accelerate the clock. These kits include a clip-on oscillator plus a heat sink and fan to keep the faster circuitry cool. CAN I ADD AN FPU TO MY MAC? CAN I REPLACE THE 68LC040 WITH A 68040? (3.3) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All 68020 and 68030 dektop Macs that did not ship with an FPU standard (i.e. the IIsi and LC series) have special slots that can accommodate an FPU card. All Macs that have the FPUless 680LC40 CPU run just fine if that chip is replaced with a full 68040 that includes an FPU. All PowerPC Macs include an integrated FPU. There is no way to add only an FPU to a 68000 Mac like an SE though some third party accelerators do include FPU's as well as faster CPU's. ============================ THANKS FOR THE MEMORY (4.0) ============================ WHAT KIND OF MEMORY SHOULD I USE IN MY MAC? (4.1) -------------------------------------------------- The easiest way to get this question answered is to ask your friendly, mail-order memory dealer. If you tell them what model of Mac you have, what memory you already have in your Mac, and how much you want to add, they should be able to tell you exactly what you need. Memory comes in many configurations. All desktop Macs from the Plus through the Quadra 700, 900, and 950 use 30-pin SIMMs that normally need to be added four at a time (except in the SE, the Plus and the Classics where they're added two at a time and in the IIfx which uses special 64-pin SIMMs that still need to be added four at a time). Later Quadras, the LC III, and the Centris's use 72-pin SIMMs that can be added one SIMM at a time. PowerMacs also use 72-pin SIMMs but need them installed in pairs. All portable Macs (PowerBooks, Duos, and the Portable) have one RAM slot to hold a special card with extra RAM. The chart below gives details for each model of Mac. For each model it lists how much RAM is soldered to the motherboard, how many slots are available to hold more RAM, what size memory is available for those slots, different possible RAM configurations, what type of memory is used (30-pin SIMM, 72-pin SIMM, or card type,) the minimum speed of the RAM you should use in that model, and how many SIMMs or cards need to be replaced or added at the same time. Available Physical RAM Minimum Upgrade CPU Onboard Slots Sizes Configs (MB) Pins Speed in __________ _______ _____ _________ _____________ ____ _____ _____ Plus 0 4 256K,1M 1,2.5,4 30 150ns 2 SE 0 4 256K,1M 1,2,2.5,4 30 150ns 2 SE/30 0 8 256K,1M 1,2,4,5,8,16 30 120ns 4 4M,16M 17,20,32,64 65,68,80,128 Classic 1 3 256K,1M 1,2,2.5,4 30 120ns 2 Classic II 2 2 1M,2M,4M 2,4,6,10 30 120ns 2 Color Classic 4 2 1M,2M,4M 4,6,8,10 30 120ns 2 Mac II 0 8 256K,1M 1,2,4,5,8,17 30 120ns 4 4M,8M,16M 20,33,36,65,68 Mac IIx 0 8 256K,1M 1,2,4,5,8,16,17 30 120ns 4 4M,8M,16M 20,32,33,36,64 65,68,80,96,128 Mac IIcx 0 8 256K,1M 1,2,4,5,8,16,17 30 120ns 4 4M,8M,16M 20,32,33,36,64 65,68,80,96,128 Mac IIci 0 8 256K,512K 1,2,3,4,5,6,8 30 80ns 4 1M,4M,8M 16,17,18,20,32 16M 33,34,36,64,65 66,68,80,96,128 Mac IIsi 1 4 256K,512K 1,2,3,5,17,33 30 80ns 4 1M,4M,8M 65 16M Mac IIvi 4 4 256K,512K 4,5,6,8,20,36 30 80ns 4 1M,4M,8M 36,68 16M Mac IIvx 4 4 256K,512K 4,5,6,8,20,36 30 80ns 4 (Performa 600) 1M,4M,8M 36,68 16M Mac IIfx 0 8 1M,4M,16M 4,8,16,20,32 64 80ns 4 64,68,80,128 LC 2 2 1M,2M,4M 2,4,6,8,10 30 120ns 2 LC II 4 2 1M,2M,4M 4,6,8,10 30 120ns 2 LC III 4 1 1M,2M,4M 4,5,6,8,12,20 72 80ns 1 8M,16M,32M 36 LC 520 4 1 1M,2M,4M 4,5,6,8,12,20 72 80ns 1 8M,16M,32M 36 LC 550 4 1 1M,2M,4M 4,5,6,8,12,20 72 80ns 1 8M,16M,32M 36 LC 575 4 1 1M,2M,4M 4,5,6,8,12,20 72 80ns 1 8M,16M,32M 36 Centris 610 4 2 4M,8M,16M 4,8,12,16,20,24 72 80ns 1 32M 28,36,52,68 Centris 650 8 4 4M,8M,16M 8,12,16,20,24 72 80ns 1 32M 32,40,68,72,132 Centris 660av 4 2 4M,8M,16M 4,8,12,16,20,24 72 70ns 1 32M 28,36,52,68 Quadra 605 4 1 4M,8M,16M 4,8,12,20,36 72 80ns 1 32M Quadra 610 4 2 4M,8M,16M 4,8,12,16,20,24 72 80ns 1 32M 28,36,52,68 Quadra 630 4 1 4M,8M,16M 4,8,12,20,36 72 80ns 1 32M Quadra 650 8 4 4M,8M,16M 8,12,16,20,24 72 80ns 1 32M 32,40,68,72,132 Quadra 660av 4 2 4M,8M,16M 4,8,12,16,20,24 72 70ns 1 32M 28,36,52,68 Quadra 700 4 4 1M,4M,16M 4,8,20,68 30 80ns 4 Quadra 800 8 4 4M,8M,16M 8,12,16,20,24 72 60ns 1 32M 28,32,36,40,44 48,52,56,60,64 68,72,80,84,88 104,108,112,120,132 Quadra 840av 0 4 4M,8M,16M 8,12,16,20,24 72 60ns 1 32M 28,32,36,40,44,48,52,56 60,64,68,72,76,80,84,88 96,100,104,112,128 Quadra 900 0 16 1M,4M,16M 4,8,12,16,20 30 80ns 4 24,28,32,36,40,48,52,64 64,68,72,76,80,84,88,96 100,112,128,132,136,144 148,160,192,196,208,256 Quadra 950 0 16 1M,4M,16M 4,8,12,16,20 30 80ns 4 24,28,32,36,40,48,52,64 64,68,72,76,80,84,88,96 100,112,128,132,136,144 148,160,192,196,208,256 PowerMac 6100 8 2 4M,8M,16M 8,16,24,40,68 72 80ns 2 32M PowerMac 7100 8 4 4M,8M,16M 8,16,24,32,40 72 80ns 2 32M 48,56,72,80,88 104,132 PowerMac 8100 8 8 4M,8M,16M 8,16,24,32,40 72 80ns 2 32M 48,56,64,72,80,88 96,104,112,120,128 136,144,152,160,168 176,184,208,216,232,264 Portable 1 1 1M,2M,3M,4M 1,2,3,4,5 100ns 1 PowerBook 100 2 1 2M,4M,6M 2,4,6,8 TSOP 100ns 1 PowerBook 140 2 1 2M,4M,6M 2,4,6,8 TSOP 100ns 1 PowerBook 145 2 1 2M,4M,6M 2,4,6,8 TSOP 100ns 1 PowerBook 145b 4 1 2M,4M 4,6,8 TSOP 100ns 1 PowerBook 150 4 1 2M,4M 4,6,8 TSOP 100ns 1 PowerBook 160 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 85ns 1 10M 14 PowerBook 165c 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 85ns 1 10M 14 PowerBook 170 2 1 2M,4M,6M 2,4,6,8 TSOP 100ns 1 PowerBook 180 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 85ns 1 10M 14 PowerBook 180c 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 85ns 1 10M 14 PowerBook 520 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 70ns 1 10M,32M 14,36 PowerBook 520c 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 70ns 1 10M,32M 14,36 PowerBook 540 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 70ns 1 10M,32M 14,36 PowerBook 540c 4 1 4M,6M,8M 4,8,10,12 TSOP 70ns 1 10M,32M 14,36 Duo 210 4 1 4M,8M,10M 4,8,12,14,16 85ns 1 12M,14M 18,24,32 20M,28M Duo 230 4 1 4M,8M,10M 4,8,12,14,16 85ns 1 12M,14M 18,24,32 20M,28M Duo 250 4 1 4M,8M,10M 4,8,12,14,16 85ns 1 12M,14M 18,24,32 20M,28M Duo 270c 4 1 4M,8M,10M 4,8,12,14,16 85ns 1 12M,14M 18,24,32 20M,28M Duo 280 4 1 4M,8M,10M 4,8,12,14,16 70ns 1 12M,14M 18,24,32,40 20M,28M,36M Duo 280c 4 1 4M,8M,10M 4,8,12,14,16 70ns 1 12M,14M, 18,24,32,40 20M,28M,36M The Mac Classic requires an adapter card to expand the RAM from 1 MB. This card includes 1 MB of extra memory and has two SIMM slots that can either be left empty or filled with 256K or 1MB SIMMs. The slots must be filled with the same size SIMM. The Color Classic, LC, and LC II can only address 10 megabytes of real RAM even if twelve megabytes of physical RAM are installed. In the Mac II the first memory bank can only hold 256K or 1MB SIMMs unless the FDHD upgrade is installed. Otherwise 4, 8, and 16 MB SIMMs can to be installed only in Bank B. Furthermore both the Mac II and IIx need an extra PAL chip on each four-megabyte or larger SIMM as well as the normal eight DRAM chips. This is not the same as the nine-chip SIMM used by PC's and workstations. The Quadra 700 requires non-composite, low-profile 16 megabyte SIMMs to fit under the internal hard drive. Composite SIMMs should also not be used on 68040 AV Macs as they are practically guaranteed to cause problems with the system due to the extra load and timing required. Specifically you need to avoid 16MB SIMMs that use 32 4M-bit DRAMs rather than 8 16M-bit DRAMs. PowerBooks use pseudo-static thin small-outline package cards (TSOP's) of varying capacities. Duo's use special low-power, self-refreshing dynamic RAM cards. Be sure to specify the model you're ordering for when buying PowerBook RAM. CAN I USE PC SIMM'S IN MY MAC? (4.2) ----------------------------------------- Yes. Nine chip PC and SUN workstation SIMM's work perfectly well in any desktop Mac that can use the equivalent eight chip Macintosh SIMM's; e.g. a IIci works with 1x9, 4x9, or 16x9 PC 80 ns PC SIMMs just as it does with 1x8, 4x8, or 16x8 80ns Mac SIMMs. The extra chip on each SIMM provides a brain dead type of error correction known as parity checking. It is unused on the Mac. Since PC SIMM's are manufactured in higher volume than Mac SIMM's, they are often cheaper despite the extra chip per SIMM. They're also easier to resell. WHAT VENDORS HAVE GOOD PRICES ON MEMORY? (4.3) ----------------------------------------------- You should certainly shop around, but I've found that the Chip Merchant, 800-426-6375 (orders), 619-268-4774 (info), consistently has the lowest prices, excellent service and a knowledgeable sales staff. DO SIMMDOUBLERS WORK? (4.4) ---------------------------- Sometimes. Problems have been reported so make sure you get a money-back guarantee before ordering. MicroMac's SIMMdoubler II will double the SIMM capacity of all Mac II models and the Performa 600; i.e. it lets you fit two SIMMs in each slot on your logic board. It also lets you use standard 4x8 SIMMs in the Mac II and IIx rather than the more expensive PAL type normally required. At $140 street a set of four is a little expensive but perhaps worth it if you have a let of extra one meg SIMMs. Sermak Technology's (800-209-7126) SimmStacks will fit two 30 pin SIMMs in one 72 pin slot. Sermak also sells SIMM doublers that fit two 72 pin SIMMs in one 72-pin slot. Since the extra height of the SIMMdoubler provides more leverage to exert force on the SIMM sockets, some users have broken SIMM slots when installing these products so be careful. Furthermore if you use more SIMMs than you have sockets, you'll be drawing more power into them than your Mac was designed to supply which might lead to problems down the road. ============ VIDEO (5.0) ============ WHAT'S VRAM? (5.1) ------------------- Video RAM is where the computer stores the images displayed on your screen. On some earlier Macs with built-in video (Mac 128, IIci) this was kept in main memory. However it's considerably more efficient and faster to store the screen image in its own separate RAM. Generally the more VRAM you have the more colors or shades of gray you can display and the larger the monitors you can use. The chart below shows the number of colors that can be displayed at a given resolution with the specified amount of VRAM. Monitor size has no direct relation to the amount of VRAM required though larger monitors normally support higher resolutions. Larger monitors just have fewer dots per inch than smaller monitors with the same resolution. Also note that simply because a particular video card or Mac has sufficient VRAM to support a given number of colors doesn't mean that it actually can though more modern cards and monitors typically do support several resolutions. Resolution 512x342 640x480 832x624 1024x768 1152x870 1280x1024 VRAM 256K 256 16 16 512K 32768 256 256 16 16 768K 32768 32768 256 256 16 16 1024K 16777216 16777216 32768 256 256 16 2048K 16777216 16777216 16777216 32768 32768 256 ALL MONITORS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL. (5.2) ------------------------------------------ Choosing a Mac monitor used to be simple. Like the Model-T Ford you could have any color you wanted as long as it was black (and white), 9", 512 by 342 pixels, 72 dpi. The PC drones made fun of the small size and lack of color, but it was obvious to any unprejudiced person who looked at a Macintosh that its display was far superior to the CGA and EGA monitors being foisted on ignorant PC consumers. Mac monitors are no longer so simple. Now one needs to be concerned with such arcana as resolution, size, bit depth, dot pitch, and refresh rate. Size is the most obvious characteristic of a monitor. It's measured diagonally from one corner of the screen to the opposite corner. Actual monitor area is roughly proportional to the square of the diagonal length so a twenty-inch monitor is more than four times as large as a nine-inch monitor. Most manufacturers cheat on their monitor sizes by measuring from one corner of the screen (or even the case) to the other rather than from one edge of the visible display to the other. Then they round up to the nearest inch with the result that most "fourteen-inch monitors" are closer to twelve and a half inches when measured truthfully. For many years Apple was one of the most honest manufacturers, advertising it's twelve and a half inch monitor as a thirteen inch monitor while other manufacturers touted their "larger fourteen-inch" twelve and a half inch monitors. However Apple has succumbed to the pressures of the market, and like everyone else it now advertises twelve and a half inch monitors as "fourteen inch displays." Of course it's not the size that matters; it's how you use it. Resolution defines how much information can be squeezed onto the screen. Most monitors sold today are "multi-sync"; that is they are capable of displaying more than one resolution. A fifteen inch monitor at 1024 by 768 pixels displays two and a half times as much information as the same monitor at 640 by 480 pixels. However everything will appear smaller at the larger resolution since the monitor has to fit more pixels into the same space. The clearest resolution for a monitor is whatever comes closest to fitting 72 pixels (or dots) into each inch. This is the dpi rating of the monitor. 72 dpi is the proper "WYSIWIG" (Pronounced Whizzy-wig, What you see is what you get) resolution though some people prefer to work at a higher resolution that fits more information on the screen. Here are the WYSIWIG resolutions for common monitor sizes. If you do the math you'll notice that the resolutions seem too small for the given size. That's because I've listed sizes here in their commonly advertised form rather than by the actual paintable area on the screen. Size WYSIWIG Resolution 9 512 by 342 12 512 by 384 13,14,15 640 by 480 16,17 832 by 624 20 1024 by 768 21 1152 by 870 25 1280 by 1024 Resolution and bit depth define how much you can see on your screen. Dot pitch defines how well you can see it. It's the distance between the holes in the grille through which the electrons are pushed before impacting on the screen phosphors. Larger dot pitches look fuzzier. Trinitron monitors paint the picture in lines rather than dots so this doesn't really apply to them. However the "line stripe" of a Trinitron display means virtually the same thing in practice as dot pitch does for other monitors, and most salespeople and copywriters are happy to confuse the two for you. Most monitors have dot pitches of .39 mm, .28 mm, or .25 mm. The larger the dot pitch the fuzzier your screen looks. .39 mm dot pitch monitors (the standard in the PC world) look bad. .28 mm dot pitch monitors are acceptable for all but the most demanding users. .25 mm is the best dot pitch available with current technology, and really only necessary when you're driving a small (15") monitor at a very high (1024 by 768) resolution. Refresh rate also affects how clear the picture appears. 72 Hz is the standard refresh rate for Mac monitors. That means the screen is repainted 72 times a second, more than twice as fast as your TV screen. A few monitors even repaint at an 80 Hz refresh rate though I suspect that's overkill for all but the most sensitive eyes. However many cheaper PC monitors have refresh rates of 60 Hz or even less. This begins to reach the level that contributes to eyestrain. Worse yet these monitors are interlaced, which means that only half of the screen is redrawn on each pass. Interlaced monitors have a visible flicker effect, and should be avoided at all costs. Leave them on the shelves for the deluded PC users who think saving $50 on a monitor is worth spending $500 at the optometrist. Most Mac monitors are at least 69 dpi, 0.29 mm dot pitch with refresh rates of 72 Hz. This is acceptable for most work. The only common exception is the Apple Basic Color Monitor. This was Apple's VGA monitor for low cost systems and was laughed out of the marketplace. (At the time it was the standard in the PC world which gives you some idea of the lower standards on the other side of the fence.) THERE'S A HORIZONTAL LINE ACROSS MY MONITOR. (5.3) --------------------------------------------------- All Sony Trinitron monitors have a stabilizing wire in position to cast a shadow about three quarters of the way down the screen. Larger monitors also have a wire about a third of the way down from the top of the display. There is no way to fix this short of redesigning the Trinitron tube. This line is more obvious on some monitors than others so if it seems particularly bad you can try to convince the dealer you bought it from to exchange the monitor. Other than that there's nothing that can be done about it. Other than that there's nothing that can be done about it. CAN I USE A VGA MONITOR ON MY MAC? (5.4) ----------------------------------------- A IIsi, LC or LC II can drive a multisync/multiscanning VGA monitor with a simple cable adapter available at any Apple dealer for about twelve dollars. You cannot use a fixed-frequency (i.e. cheap) VGA monitor with these Macs since their internal video can't generate the standard VGA frequency. Later Macs with built-in video work perfectly with any VGA monitor with just a cable adapter. (Whether the monitor works perfectly is another question.) The IIci is the only Mac with built-in video-out that absolutely cannot drive a VGA monitor. HOW CAN I SWITCH MONITOR RESOLUTIONS ON THE FLY? (5.5) ------------------------------------------------------- Assuming you have a monitor and video card capable of supporting multiple resolutions, you need the Apple Display Enabler or NEC's DPI-on-the-fly extension to switch monitor resolutions without rebooting your Mac. The Display Enabler works with Apple monitors and video cards as well as some third party displays. Nec's DPI-on-the-fly works with NEC and many other third party monitors (most notably Sony monitors.) The Display Enabler requires System 7.1 or later. See http://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple%20SW%20Updates/Macintosh/Display%20%26%20Display%20Card%20Software/Display%20Software%20(1.1).hqx To get DPI-on-the-fly call the NEC BBS at (508) 635-4706. Finally if you have a Radius Color Pivot or a Radius PrecisionColor interface card then you can use the Radius Resolutions CDEV instead. See ftp://ftp.radius.com/pub/radius/software/mac/RadiusResolutions/ Some later model monitors such as the NEC 4Fge and later model video cards (like the high performance video cards in the PowerMacs) only require the proper cable and do not need the Display Enabler or DPI-on-the-Fly. =================== FLOPPY DISKS (6.0) =================== WHAT KIND OF FLOPPY DISKS DO I NEED FOR MY MAC? (6.1) ------------------------------------------------------ There have been three kinds of floppy disks in the history of the Macintosh. The original 128K Thin Mac (which used to be called a classic Mac before the advent of the much superior Mac Classic) and the subsequent 512K "Fat Mac" used 400K, single-sided double-density diskettes. These disks are outdated, and it's highly unlikely you'll actually see any. If you need to exchange data with an older Macintosh, you'll need to use disks formatted as single-sided. Since very few, if any, stores still sell one-sided 3.5 inch disks anymore, it's fortunate that all Macs deal quite happily with double-sided disks formatted as single-sided. Just click the button labeled "One-sided" after you select "Erase Disk" from the Special menu. *Neat Trick alert* Sometimes disks that fail formatting as double-sided can be formatted as single-sided. Even neater trick: In System 6 the shareware init BAD can map out bad sectors on a floppy disk which lets about 70% of bad disks be formatted. (System 7 does this automatically.) See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/BAD.sit.bin Neatest trick of all: All name-brand diskettes (SONY, Maxell, etc.) come with lifetime warranties. A lot of offices keep a bad disk box for everyone to dump their bad disks in and send the disks in for replacement when they collect ten or so; but it's been my experience that if you return just a single bad disk these companies will send a whole ten pack as a replacement. With the introduction of the Mac Plus in 1986, Apple also introduced a larger disk drive capable of reading and writing 800K, "Double-Sided Double-Density" disks, DSDD for short. The only way to tell these disks from the earlier, one-sided diskettes, is by the label on the metal cover. Unformatted these are identical to the 720K disks common in the IBM world. With the Mac IIx Apple introduced what's alternately known as the Superdrive or "FDHD," short for "Floppy Drive, High Density." The FDHD (pronounced Fud-Hud) can read and write all of the previous kinds of diskettes plus double-sided high-density disks which are distinguished by two holes in the disk case rather than the normal one. The FDHD uses the extra hole to recognize a high-density disk. WHY CAN'T MY QUADRA (SE/30, IICI, ETC.) READ THE DISKS FROM MY PLUS? (6.2) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Macintosh Plus and earlier machines along with original Mac II's and some SE's do not have the high density FDHD drive necessary to properly read and format high-density disks. If you insert a blank high-density disk in a low density drive, the Mac, not knowing the difference between a double-density and a high-density floppy, will happily format your expensive 1.4 meg disk as a cheap 800K diskette. When you move this disk to a more advanced machine with a FDHD drive, the newer drive will recognize the disk as a high-density floppy by its extra hole. Since the disk has been formatted as 800K instead of as 1400K, the FDHD drive will try to read it as a 1400K disk and fail. Then it will ask if you want to initialize it. As a temporary work around place a small piece of tape over both sides of the extra hole on the high-density disk to trick the Mac into treating the disk as double-density. This is a temporary fix only, and the tape should be removed and the disk reformatted to the proper size as soon as possible. DOES PUNCHING A HOLE IN A DOUBLE-DENSITY DISK MAKE A HIGH-DENSITY DISK? (6.3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, but I certainly wouldn't trust any data I intended to keep for more than the next minute or two to such a diskette. The extra hole is not the only difference between a double-density and a high-density disk. The magnetic media on a high-density disk is a different type that is much more susceptible to formatting. Double-density diskettes should only be formatted as 800K. With the plummeting prices of real high-density disks, this really shouldn't be an issue anymore. ==================== SCSI TROUBLES (7.0) ==================== HOW DO I PUT MY OLD INTERNAL HARD DISK IN AN EXTERNAL CASE? (7.1) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Alliance Peripheral Systems, 800-443-4199/816-483-6100 sells cases for old internal 3.5 inch drives for $79 plus shipping and handling (about ten to fourteen dollars). The price includes instructions and technical support for the installation. WHAT'S THE CHEAPEST/FASTEST/MOST RELIABLE/MOST COMMON REMOVABLE DRIVE? (7.2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The oldest and most established format for removable media is the Syquest 44 megabyte 5.25" cartridge drive. (The size in inches refers to the diameter of the circular platters in the cartridges. Each cartridge is actually square and a little larger. For purposes of comparison a CD is also 5.25" diameter.) 44 megabyte Syquest drives are sold by many different vendors for about $200 and cartridges cost around $45 each. However this format is showing its age. It's too small for a complete backup of most hard drives; the cartridges are big and bulky; and it's not difficult to create Photoshop, Quark, or PostScript files that are larger than one of these cartridges. Consequently most service bureaus also accept at least the Syquest 88 format. 88 megabyte Syquest drives cost about $300 and can read and write (but not format) the older 44 megabyte cartridges. 88 megabyte cartridges run about $55 each so they're considerably more cost-effective. Finally there's a 200 megabyte 5.25" Syquest drive that costs about $500 and can read and write (but not format) all 5.25" Syquest cartridges. However its much slower reading and writing 44 and 88 megabyte cartridges than a dedicated 44/88 MB drive. 200 megabyte Syquest cartridges cost around $90 apiece. Although five and a quarter inch Syquest cartridges are the most commonly used form of removable media for Macs, (especially the 44 and 88 megabyte sizes) they do have a reputation for unreliability and data corruption. They're suitable for moving large files from your Mac to a service bureau, but not for making an important backup and certainly not for use as a second hard drive. I do not recommend 5.25" Syquest drives unless you must exchange disks with someone who only has a Syquest drive. Syquest recently introduced a new 3.5" 270 megabyte drive that is not compatible with its more popular 44 and 88 megabyte drives (though it will read and write the less common Syquest 105 format). At only $500 for the drive and $65 per cartridge, this drive has the lowest cost per megabyte of any removable media. Furthermore it's got the largest cartridge size so it's the easiest with which to perform backups. Hard drives of 240 megabytes or less can be backed up to one of these monsters just by dragging the hard disk icon to the Syquest icon. However since these drives are relatively new their reliability in production situations is still unknown. While the size and price of these drives are very tempting, I'd still like to hear a few more real world experiences before I commit to one. Somewhat more trustworthy are the Bernoulli MultiDisk 150 and Multidisk 230 from Iomega. Iomega has been making removable drives longer than anyone, and their drives and cartridges have a reputation for speed and reliability. I would be willing to trust an important backup to a Bernoulli disk or to use a Bernoulli disk as a second hard drive. A Bernoulli 230 drive costs about $500 direct from Iomega (1-800-756-3959). 230 megabyte disks cost about $100 so the cost per megabyte is higher than the Syquest 270. An additional advantage is that these drives also read and write Bernoulli 35, 65, 90 and 105 megabyte cartridges so you can pick a cartridge size and price to fit your needs. By the time you read this Iomega may have introduced a new drive called the ZIP which will hold cartridges of up to 100 megabyte capacity for only $20 a cartridge. Street price for the drive itself should be about $200. Iomega claims that this drive will be as reliable as their well-tested Bernoulli drives but that remains to be provem in real-world use. Still, barring any huge problems with the format, at this price the ZIP drive may well become the most popular removable media format since the floppy disk. Magneto-optical drives are another increasingly popular technology. They're slow but very reliable. Depending on the drive a cartridge can hold between 128 and 1300 megabytes. 230 megabyte drives are the most popular. They cost about $800-$1000 and are available from the usual selection of hard drive vendors like APS. Next to the reliability of the media the biggest attraction of these drives is the extremely low cost per megabyte ($0.16) with 230 MB disks selling for as little as $40 each in quantity. Higher capacity and higher priced optical drives have been introduced with capacities reaching into the multi-gigabyte region and prices from $1800 to $5000. Standards are still a little unclear and prices a little high among the higher capacity optical drives. I recommend waiting a few more months before investing in this technology. Regardless of standards all these drives are too slow to be used as a second hard disk. Their high reliability and capacity makes them ideal for long-term backups though. Also surprisingly popular given their limited capacity and high price are "flopticals." A floptical drive is about the size of an external floppy drive, costs around $450 and can store 21 megabytes of data on 3.5" disks that cost about $18 each. Since floptical drives can also read and write high density (but not 800K) floppies they're a reasonable choice if you need a second floppy drive. However the twenty-one megabyte disks are too small for backing up large hard drives or for transporting desktop publishing files and graphics. Furthermore at only about twice the speed of on ordinary floppy the media is slower than its competition. Since higher capacity drives in other formats cost about the same, I advise against floptical technology. WHAT'S THE BEST CD-ROM DRIVE? (7.3) ------------------------------------ There are three features you should look for in a CD-ROM drive. First and most importantly you want at least a double-speed drive. If cost is your only concern single speed drives are available for as little as $100 but they're painfully slow for most applications. You'll also sacrifice many other bells and whistles. Triple-speed drives are available for about $200 from many sources and may be useful if you mainly retrieve text, graphics and other data files from CDs. However most multimedia applications and games designed to be run from a CD are optimized to work best at double-speed and will gain little if any advantage from a triple-speed drive. Quadruple speed drives are also available for $300. Most manufacturers and software vendors will jump straight to the quadruple speed format and skip the triple speed drives completely so for maximum compatibility with future applications (and for some more speed now) consider spending the extra money for a quad-speed drive. Further down the road the next big jump will probably be to either 20-speed drives or to quad speed drives that can also write CDs or both. However these won't become real consumer-priced items until at least 1996 so by all means buy a CD-ROM drive now if you haven't already. Secondly the drive should be "multi-session, PhotoCD compatible." Some drives on the market advertised as "PhotoCD compatible" but can only read the first set of photos on a PhotoCD. Finally you want a drive with excellent audio capabilities including playback of audio CD's and digital copying of audio CD's to your hard disk. That last capability is the kicker. It's available out of the box only with the various versions of the Apple CD-300, but FWB's CD-ROM Toolkit adds support for digital audio extraction on drives based around the following mechanisms: the Chinon 535, Hitachi 6750, NEC 3x, Sony 561, and Toshiba 3301, 3401 and 4101 and possibly others. ================ PRINTERS (8.0) ================ WHAT'S A GOOD PRINTER? (8.1) ----------------------------- If price is your primary concern buy either a StyleWriter II or a DeskWriter 520. Both provide excellent black and white and grey scale output at a reasonable price. The StyleWriter occupies less desk space and costs a few dollars less ($250 street vs. $280 for the DeskWriter 520) while the DeskWriter has higher resolution (600 by 300 dpi vs. 360 by 360 dpi). Neither is a speed demon. If you want a faster printer with better quality but don't want to pay a lot, or if you want a minimum cost PostScript printer, the TI MicroWriter and the DEC 1150 are both good buys. Each includes 2 megabytes of RAM, PostScript Level II, 300 dpi 4 page per minute output and costs around $550 street. The MicroWriter also offers auto-switching between PostScript Level II and HP PCL 4. Either one should be plenty for personal use. If you do heavy graphics or desktop publishing work, you need a 600 dpi printer. Apple's LaserWriter Select 360 at $1400 street is an excellent printer with 600 dpi resolution, 7 megabytes of memory, upgradeable to 16 megabytes, auto-switching between PostScript Level II and PCL 4, and a built-in TrueType rasterizer. Plus it doesn't have the paper curl problem associated with the other competitor in this price range, the HP LaserJet 4M. Unfortunately the Select 360 doesn't have Ethernet or a SCSI port for external font storage so it's not ideal for workgroup use (unless your workgroup's on LocalTalk). If you want Ethernet and a SCSI port then consider Apple's LaserWriter Pro 630 ($1800 street) instead. However look for some exciting (i.e. 1200 dpi) new products in this price range from Hewlett-Packard late this summer. =================================== MISCELLANEOUS HARDWARE FAQ'S (9.0) =================================== WHAT POWER ADAPTOR DO I NEED TO USE MY MAC IN ANOTHER COUNTRY? (9.1) --------------------------------------------------------------------- All Mac CPU's since the SE EXCEPT for the Classic and Classic II have universal power supplies which work anywhere in the world. These CPU's only need a common adaptor plug to match the Mac's plug to the wall plug in the country in question. You can buy one in almost any hardware store for about three dollars. The same is true of the Duo docks, all Apple CD drives except the original AppleCD SC, all external Apple SCSI hard drives and all Apple monitors except for the 12" RGB monitor and the 14" Basic Color Monitor. Products without universal power supplies were typically sold in two models, 110V/120V at 60 Hz for Japan and North America, 220V/240V at 50 Hz everywhere else. Thus depending on the origin and destination the Classic, Classic II, Plus, 512KE, 512 and 128K Macs need an adaptor plug and either a 220V/240V to 110V/120V grounded isolation step-down transformer or a 110V/120V to 220V/240V grounded isolation step-up transformer, NOT a voltage converter (at least not unless you plan to use your Mac as a disposable egg fryer). The same kind of transformer is needed by the 12" RGB monitor, the Basic Color Monitor, StyleWriter, StyleWriter II, ImageWriter I, and LaserWriters LS, NT, SC, IINT, IINTX, IIf, IIg, 300, 310 and the original AppleCD SC. The ImageWriter II, ImageWriter LQ, LaserWriter, LaserWriter Plus, LaserWriter Pro 600 and 630, Apple Color Printer, Performa Display and all Apple scanners have power supplies that are matched not just to the voltage but also to the frequency of the host country's wall current. These should not be used in a country with a different power standard. HOW CAN I FIX THE SOUND ON MY IISI? (9.2) ------------------------------------------ When the metal fingers that connect the IIsi speakers and the motherboard get rusty, sound can blank out completely. This may not occur until the IIsi has been running for several hours. As a quick fix turn the speaker volume all the way up and then down again. This sends a small spike of electricity across the contacts and should temporarily dislodge the rust. If this doesn't work a whack on the side of the Mac may also clear the contacts enough to restore sound. For a permanent and easy fix plug a pair of external speakers into the sound out port. I've heard at least a dozen different suggestions for permanent fixes to the internal speakers. The only thing all suggestions have in common is taking the speaker subassembly out and putting it back in again. When you're having trouble with electronics, there's just no substitute for pulling everything apart and putting it back together again, and that's all you really need to do to fix the sound on your IIsi. The speaker assembly is hidden under the hard drive so take that out first. Once you've removed the hard drive, spread the four tabs that hold the speaker assembly in place and slide it out. Then clean the contacts with isopropyl alcohol. Even rubbing them hard with a paper towel or lightly with sand paper should dislodge enough rust to fix them. You can even coat the contacts with an anti-oxidant like DeoxIt or PreservIt to prevent future problems. You should be able to find some such compound at any electronics supply store. ================== Appendix A: MODELS ================== This appendix is a nearly comprehensive list of the different species of Apple Macintosh computers. At the top of each listing is the common name of the model. Any aliases it may have, either common nicknames or names under which Apple sold it in other markets follow in parentheses, e.g., Mac 128 (Thin Mac). This is followed by fourteen essential characteristics of the model which I'll elaborate on now. The first important feature is the processor in your computer, e.g., Processor: M68030 8 MHz, M68882 FPU The first number is always the central processing unit (CPU). This is the main brain of the computer and contributes more to the speed of your Mac than any other single factor. M stands for Motorola and means the chip is a member of the Motorola 68000 family. The other possibility is PPC which means the chip is a member of the PowerPC family from either Motorola, IBM or both. Generally within the same family a higher chip number means a faster chip. A 68040 is faster than a 68030 which is faster than a 68000. However Macs using the same chip can run at different clock speeds measured in megahertz (MHz). The higher the megahertz the faster the Mac. The clock speeds I list here are rounded to the nearest whole number. More precisely 8 MHz should be 7.83 MHz, 16 MHz should be 15.7 MHz and so on. If a Mac has a floating point coprocessor (FPU) or digital signal processor (DSP) that's listed here too. An FPU speeds up most scientific, mathematical, photo retouching and ray tracing software. Most other types of programs don't take advantage of it. A DSP is an even faster FPU used to make real-time audio and video feasible. M68040's and all PowerPC processors include integrated floating point units. The second feature is the system software which will operate that Mac. This is listed as a range of possible systems, e.g. System: 6.0.3-7.5 If any enablers are needed for a model, they're listed here too. Just because a particular system will run on an Mac doesn't mean you should use it. If you're using System 6, I recommend using 6.0.7 or 6.0.8 with the LaserWriter Driver 8.1, Quicktime and the Comm Toolbox. Any version of System 7 that will boot your Mac will serve equally well for most people, but you should make sure you have the latest tuneups and enablers. (See the system faq for more details.) The next field is RAM capacity, e.g. RAM: 1-128 MB, 120 ns, 8 30 pin SIMM slots For all but the earliest Macs this is given as a range from the least amount of RAM Apple sold with the machine to the maximum amount it can support with third party chips. RAM size is measured in megabytes (MB). One megabyte is 1024 kilobytes which is 1024 bytes. A byte represents one letter of text, so one megabyte is is about three hundred pages of text. RAM speed is measured in nanoseconds (ns), one billionths of a second. Smaller numbers are faster. Finally I list the number of slots included for RAM (some of which may already be filled in the default configuration) and the type of memory that can be installed in these slots. For more details about RAM configurations please refer to "Thanks for the Memory", section 4.0 of this document. After RAM comes ROM, the non-volatile memory where much of the system software is stored. This is listed as a size in either kilobytes or megabytes since that's the only information that's commonly available (and more than you really need to know anyway.) Larger ROMs tend to be more recent and require less patching under newer systems. 512K and larger ROMs are 32-bit clean. 256K and larger ROMs include Color QuickDraw. Ports are the holes on the back of the Mac into which something may be plugged. ADB stands for Apple Desktop Bus. It's used for plugging in mice, trackballs, keyboards, graphics tablets, and obnoxious copy-protection dongles. ADB devices can be daisy-chained, up to three devices per ADB port. Serial ports are used for modems, printers, and LocalTalk networks. A SCSI (pronounced "Scuzzy") port is mainly used for external storage devices like hard drives, tape drives, and CD-ROMs; but there also printers, monitors, Ethernet connectors, and scanners that can attach to the SCSI bus. Mac SCSI ports are 25 pins. For more details see the SCSI section below. Most Macs have at least one sound port for hooking up external speakers and more recent Macs also have a sound in port for a microphone. These are listed as either Mono in/out or Stereo in/out depending on whether the Mac supports mono or stereo sound. Finally if there's a port for an external floppy drive, that's indicated by the word "floppy.". The Floppy field specifies what kind of internal floppy drive the model has, either 400K, 800K or SuperDrive. For more details see section 6.0, Floppies, below. Next I list the drive bays. Most Macs have exactly one bay for a 3.5 inch half-height device, almost always an internal hard drive. Some more recent Macs also have room for a half-height, five and a quarter inch, removable media drive such as a CD-ROM ar a tape backup system. Slots are spaces inside the Mac for expansion cards of many kinds including accelerators, extra serial ports, graphics cards, and more. The most-common kinds of slots are Nubus and processor direct (PDS). Nubus slots come in small (7") and full-size varieties while PDS slots tend to be specific to the model. LC PDS cards do mostly work in all LC slots, but even among Macs that have Nubus slots not all cards work in all Macs, so it's best ask a vendor if their card works in your Mac before buying. Video specifies the characteristics of any built-in monitor and the amount of VRAM for models that do not have a built-in monitor. See section 6.0 on video to find out the resolutions and color depths a given amount of VRAM supports. "None" means that you'll need to use a graphics card as well as an external monitor. Audio lists sample rates and bit depth supported by the CPU. If there's a built-in speaker and/or microphone, this is mentioned as well. Many Macs that don't have built-in stereo speakers or microphones have jacks for external speakers or microphones. These are listed under ports. Network specifies the built-in networking capability of the Mac, either LocalTalk or Ethernet. If Ethernet then the connector type is also given. Third party cards and SCSI connectors provide options for adding Ethernet to Macs that lack it. Size specifies the linear dimensions of the model as height by width by depth, then the approximate weight although this can vary depending on the size of any internal drives and cards that may be installed. This is the weight and size of the computer itself. It includes the monitor and keyboard only if they're built-in to the Mac. Finally I list the dates between which the model was sold and any special features it may have. Mac 128 (Thin Mac) Processor: M68000 8 MHz System: 1.0-2.0 RAM: 128K ROM: 64K Ports: 2 serial, floppy, mono out Floppy: 400K Bays: None Slots: None Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 342 resolution Audio: Mono speaker Network: None Sold: 1/84 till 4/86 Features: Keyboard Mac 512 (Fat Mac) Processor: M68000 8 MHz System: 1.0-3.3 RAM: 512K ROM: 64K Ports: 2 serial, floppy, mono out Floppy: 400K Bays: None Slots: None Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 342 resolution Audio: Mono speaker Network: None Sold: 9/84 till 4/86 Features: Keyboard Mac 512KE Processor: M68000 8 MHz System: 1.0-4.3 RAM: 512K ROM: 128K Ports: 2 serial, floppy, mono out Floppy: 800K Bays: None Slots: None Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 342 resolution Audio: Mono speaker Network: None Sold: 4/86 till 3/87 Features: Keyboard Mac Plus Processor: M68000 8 MHz System: 3.0-7.5 RAM: 1-4 MB, 150 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 128K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, mono out Floppy: 800K Bays: None Slots: None Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 342 resolution Audio: Mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 1/86 till 10/90 Features: Keyboard Macintosh SE Processor: M68000 8 MHz System: 3.0-7.5 RAM: 1-4 MB, 150 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 256K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, 2 ADB, mono out Floppy: 1 or 2 800K or SuperDrive Bays: One for either a 3.5" internal hard drive or a second floppy drive Slots: 1 SE Expansion Bus slot Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 342 resolution Network: LocalTalk Sound: Mono out Sold: 3/87 till 10/90 Features: Beginning in August, 1989 SE's included a SuperDrive. SE/30 Processor: M68030 16 MHz, M68882 16 MHz FPU System: 6.0.3-7.5 RAM: 1-128 MB, 120 ns, 8 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 256K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, 2 ADB, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 120 pin 030 PDS Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 342 resolution Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz stereo out Network: LocalTalk Sold: 1/89 till 10/91 Features: Mac II Processor: M68020 16 MHz, M68881 16 MHz FPU System: 4.0.1-7.5 RAM: 1-68 MB, 120 ns, 8 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 256K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, stereo out Floppy: 1 or 2 800K Bays: 1 5.25" half-height Slots: 6 Nubus Video: None Audio: Stereo speaker Network: Localtalk Sold: 3/87 till 1/90 Features: An upgrade is available that adds new ROMs and a SuperDrive. Mac IIx Processor: 16 MHz M68030 CPU, 16 MHz M68882 FPU System: 6.0.2-7.5 RAM: 1-128 MB, 120 ns, 8 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 256K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, 2 ADB, stereo out Floppy: 1 or 2 SuperDrives Bays: 1 5.25" half-height Slots: 6 Nubus Video: None Audio: Stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 9/88 till 10/90 Features: Mac IIcx Processor: M68030 16 MHz, M68882 16MHz FPU System: 6.0.3-7.5 RAM: 1-128 MB, 120 ns, 8 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 256K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, 2 ADB, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 3 Nubus Video: None Network: Localtalk Audio: Stereo speaker Dimension: 5.5 x 11.9 x 14.4 in, 14.0 x 30.2 x 36.5 cm Weight: 13.7 lb., 6.2 kg Sold: 3/89 till 10/90 Features: Mac IIci Processor: M68030 25 MHz, M68882 25MHz FPU System: 6.0.4-7.5 RAM: 1-128 MB, 80 ns, 8 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 512K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, 2 ADB, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 3 Nubus Video: resolutions up to 640 by 870 pixels with 256 colors Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 9/89 till 2/93 Dimension: 5.5 x 11.9 x 14.4 in, 14.0 x 30.2 x 36.5 cm Weight: 13.7 lb., 6.2 kg Features: Slot for cache card that can speed up performance as much as 50%. After October, 1991 this card was bundled with IIci's. Mac IIsi Processor: M68030 20 MHz System: 6.0.6-7.5 RAM: 2-65 MB, 80 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 512K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, ADB, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 Nubus and/or PDS Video: supports resolutions of up to 640 by 870 pixels with 256 colors Audio: Mono microphone, Stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 10/90 till 2/93 Features: Since this model was designed to be run at 25 MHz it can safely be "clock-chipped" to that higher speed. (See question 4.2) Substantial speed boosts are also possible by increasing the cache size. See question 1.3 in the system FAQ. Mac IIfx Processor: M68030 40 MHz, M68882 FPU 40 MHz System: 6.0.5-7.5 RAM: 4-128 MB, 80 ns, 8 64 pin SIMM slots ROM: 512K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, 2 ADB, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 5.25" half-height Slots: 6 Nubus Video: None Audio: Stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 3/90 till 10/91 Features: 32K static RAM cache plus lots of other special, expensive orphaned hardware designed to improve speed which software never took advantage of. Mac IIvi Processor: M68030 16 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 001 1.0.1 RAM: 4-68 MB, 80 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 3 Nubus Video: 512K-1MB VRAM Audio: Mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 10/92 till 10/93 Features: Not sold in the U.S. Mac IIvx Processor: M68030 32 MHz, M68882 FPU 32 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 001 1.0.1 RAM: 4-68 MB, 80 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, mono in, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 3 Nubus Video: 512K-1MB VRAM Audio: Mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 10/92 till 10/93 Features: 32k data cache, 32 bit data bus. Since the system runs at half the speed of the CPU, this is only about as fast as the 25 MHz IIci. Performa 600 Processor: M68030 32 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 001 1.0.1 RAM: 4-68 MB, 80 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, mono in, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 3 Nubus Video: 512-1MB VRAM Audio: Mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 10/92 till 10/93 Features: Since the system runs at half the speed of the CPU, this is only about as fast as the 20 MHz IIsi. Identical to the IIvx except for the lack of the 32k data cache and FPU. An FPU can be added. A cache cannot be. Mac Classic Processor: M68000 8 MHz System: 6.0.6-7.5 RAM: 1-4 MB, 120 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 512K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: None Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 384 resolution Audio: Mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Sold: 10/90 till 12/91 Features: Can be booted from the ROM. Mac Classic II (Performa 200) System: 6.0.8L-7.5 Processor: M68030 16 MHz RAM: 4-10 MB, 120 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 512K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, floppy, ADB, mono out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: None Video: built-in black and white 9" monitor, 512 by 384 resolution Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 kHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Size: 13.2 x 9.7 x 11.2 in, 17.1 lbs (33.6 x 24.6 x 28.5 cm, 7.8 kg) Sold: 10/91 till Present Features: 16-bit databus Color Classic Processor: M68030 16 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 401 1.0.5 RAM: 4-10 MB, 120 ns, 2 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, mono out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 LC PDS Video built-in 10" Trinitron monitor, 512 by 384 resolution, 256 colors (expandable to 32000 colors), 76 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Sold: 2/93 till Present Features: Screen Power Saver, 16-bit databus Color Classic II Processor: M68030 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler ??? RAM: 4-10 MB, 80 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, mono out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: built-in 10" Trinitron monitor, 256 colors expandable to 32768, 76 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Sold: 10/93 till Present Features: Currently sold only in the Far East. Mac LC Processor: M68020 16 MHz System: 6.0.6-7.5 RAM: 2-10 MB, 120 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 512K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, floppy, mono out, mono in, video Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: 256K-512K VRAM Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Size: 3.0 x 12.2 x 15.0 in, 8.8 lbs (8.1 x 31.0 x 38.2 cm, 4.0 kg) Sold: 10/90 till 12/92 Features: 16-bit databus. Can emulate an Apple IIe with the appropriate PDS card. LC II (Performa 400, 405, 430) Processor: M68030 16 MHz System: 6.0.8L-7.5 RAM: 4-10 MB, 120 ns, 2 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 512K Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, mono out, mono in, video Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: 512K VRAM Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Size: 3.0 x 12.2 x 15.0 in, 8.8 lbs (8.1 x 31.0 x 38.2 cm, 4.0 kg) Sold: 3/92 till 10/93 Features: 16-bit databus. Can emulate an Apple IIe with the appropriate PDS card. LC III (Performa 450) Processor: M68030 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 003 1.0 RAM: 4-32 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, mono out, mono in, video Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: 512K-768K VRAM Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 3.2 x 12.2 x 15.0 in, 8.8 lbs (8.1 x 31.0 x 38.2 cm, 4.0 kg) Sold: 2/93 till Present Features: Can emulate an Apple IIe with the appropriate PDS card. Mac LC 520 (Performa 550) Processor: M68030 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 403 1.0.1 RAM: 5-36 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, stereo out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: Built-in 14" Trinitron monitor, 640 by 480 pixels, 69 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono microphone, Stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 17.9 x 13.5 x 16.5 in., 40.5 lbs (45.5 x 34.4 x 42.0 cm, 18.4 kg) Sold: 6/93 till present Features: CD-ROM Mac LC 550 Processor: M68030 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler ??? RAM: 5-36 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, stereo out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: Built-in 14" Trinitron monitor, 640 by 480 pixels, 69 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono microphone, Stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 17.9 x 13.5 x 16.5 in., 40.5 lbs (45.5 x 34.4 x 42.0 cm, 18.4 kg) Sold: 1/94 till present Features: CD-ROM Mac LC 575 (Performa 575, 577, 578) Processor: M68LC040 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler ??? RAM: 8-36 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, stereo out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: Built-in 14" Trinitron monitor, 640 by 480 pixels, 69 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 17.9 x 13.5 x 16.5 in., 40.5 lbs (45.5 x 34.4 x 42.0 cm, 18.4 kg) Sold: 2/94 till Present Features: CD-ROM (optional on Performa 460) Performa 460, Performa 465, Performa 467 Processor: M68030 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler ??? RAM: 4-32 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, mono out, mono in, video Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 LC PDS Video: 512K-768K VRAM Audio: 8-bit, 22 kHz, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 3.2 x 12.2 x 15.0 in, 8.8 lbs (8.1 x 31.0 x 38.2 cm, 4.0 kg) Sold: 2/93 till Present Features: Centris 610 Processor: M680LC40 20 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 040 1.1 RAM: 8-68 MB, 80 ns, 2 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, stereo out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 7" Nubus or Quadra PDS slot Video: 512K-1MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors Audio: 22 KHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: Localtalk, optional Ethernet Size: 3.4 x 16.3 x 15.6 in, 14.0 lbs (8.5 x 41.5 x 39.7 cm, 6.4 kg) Sold: 2/93 till Present Features: FPU can be added by replacing the 680LC40 with a 68040 CPU. No heat sink is necessary for this upgrade. Centris 650 Processor: M68040 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 040 1.1 RAM: 8-136 MB, 80 ns, 4 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, stereo out, mono in, AAUI-15 Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 3 Nubus, one Quadra PDS Video: 512K-1MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors Audio: Mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 6.0 x 13.0 x 16.5 in, 25 lb (15.2 x 33.0 x 41.9 cm, 11.3 kg) Sold: 2/93 till Features: Some models have only 4 megabytes of soldered RAM and no Ethernet. These can only be expanded to 132 megabytes. Centris 660av (aka Quadra 660av) Processor: M68040 25 MHz, 55-MHz AT&T 3210 DSP System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 088 1.1 RAM: 8-68 MB, 70 ns, 2 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 2 MB Ports: Geoport serial port, RS-232/RS-422 serial port, SCSI, ADB, stereo out, stereo in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 7" Nubus Video: 1MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors; 2 S-Video and two composite video ports, one each for input and output. Audio: 16 bit, 8-48 kHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 3.4 x 16.3 x 15.6 in, 14.0 lbs (8.5 x 41.5 x 39.7 cm, 6.4 kg) Sold: 7/93 till Present Features: PlainTalk speech recognition, video capture Quadra 605 (LC 475, Performa 475, Performa 476) Processor: M68LC040 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 065 1.0 RAM: 4-36 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 ADB, SCSI, 2 serial, stereo out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 1 LC III PDS Video: 512K-1MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 kHz, stereo microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 3.2 x 12.2 x 15.0 in, 8.8 lbs (8.1 x 31.0 x 38.2 cm, 4.0 kg) Sold: 10/93 till Present Features: Quadra 610 Processor: M68040 25 MHz (M680LC40 on 8/160 models sold in the U.S.) System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 040 1.1 RAM: 8-72 MB, 80 ns, 2 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 ADB, SCSI, 2 serial, stereo out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 7" Nubus or Quadra PDS slot Video: 512K-1 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors Audio: 22 KHz, Mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, optional Ethernet Size: 3.4 x 16.3 x 15.6 in, 14.0 lbs (8.5 x 41.5 x 39.7 cm, 6.4 kg) Sold: 10/28/93 till Present Features: Quadra 610 DOS compatible Processor: M68LC040 25 MHz, 486SX 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 040 1.1 RAM: 8-72 MB, 80 ns, 2 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 ADB, SCSI, 2 serial, stereo out, mono in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 7" PDS slot filled with DOS compatibility card Video: 512K-1 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors. Dual monitor support. Audio: 22 KHz, Mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, optional Ethernet Size: 3.4 x 16.3 x 15.6 in, 14.0 lbs (8.5 x 41.5 x 39.7 cm, 6.4 kg) Sold: 10/28/93 till 6-94 Features: MS-DOS 6.2 Quadra 630 (Performa 630, LC 630) Processor: M68040 33 MHz System: 7.1.1 RAM: 4-36 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 2 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, ADB, 2 stereo out, stereo in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 030 PDS slot, 1 communications slot, 1 video slot Video: 1MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors up to 15" plus some VGA, SVGA, monitors; Audio: 8 bit, 8-48 kHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 4.3 x 12.6 x 16.5 in, 19.0 lbs (10.95 x 32.0 x 41.95 cm, 8.6 kg) Sold: 7/93 till Present Features: optional CD-ROM, optional TV tuner, optional Presentation system for NTSC/PAL output, optional video input card, IDE internal hard drive Quadra 650 Processor: M68040 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 040 1.1 RAM: 8-136 MB, 80 ns, 4 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 serial, SCSI, 2 ADB, headphone jack Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 3 Nubus, one Quadra PDS Video: 512K-1 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors Audio: 22 khz, Mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 6.0 x 13.0 x 16.5 in, 25 lb (15.2 x 33.0 x 41.9 cm, 11.3 kg) Sold: 10/28/93 till present Features: Quadra 700 Processor: M68040 25 MHz System: 7.0.1 RAM: 4-128 MB, 80 ns, 4 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, video, stereo out, mono in, AAUI-15 Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height Slots: 2 Nubus, 1 Quadra PDS Video: 512K-2 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC Audio: Mono in, stereo out, microphone Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Dimension: 5.5 x 11.9 x 14.4 in, 14.0 x 30.2 x 36.5 cm Weight: 13.7 lb., 6.2 kg Sold: 10/91 till Features: Quadra 800 Processor: M68040 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5 RAM: 8-132 MB, 60 ns, 4 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, video, stereo out, mono in, AAUI-15 Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" full-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 3 NuBus, 1 Quadra PDS Video: 512K-1 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC Audio: Mono in, stereo out Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 14.25 x 8.9 x 16 in, 25.3 lbs (30.6 x 19.6 x 39.6 cm, 11.5 kg) Sold: 2/93 till present Features: Quadra 840av Processor: M68040 40 MHz, AT&T 3210 66 MHz DSP System: 7.1-7.5 RAM: 8-128 MB, 60 ns, 4 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 2 MB Ports: ADB, SCSI, 2 serial, Ethernet AAUI-15, stereo in, stereo out, GeoPort, 2 S-Video and two composite video ports, one each for input and output. Slots: 3 Nubus 90, 1 Quadra PDS Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" full-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Video: Built-in support Expandable with an extra 1 MB VRAM to 24-bit color on 16" monitors, 16-bit color on larger monitors, NTSC out, PAL out Audio: 16 bit, 8-48 kHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: Ethernet, LocalTalk Size: 14.25 x 8.9 x 16 in, 25.3 lb (30.6 x 19.6 39.6 cm, 11.5 kg) Sold: 7/93 till Present Features: DMA, async SCSI, PlainTalk, video capture Quadra 900 Processor: M68040 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5 RAM: 4-256 MB, 80 ns, 16 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, video, stereo out, stereo in, AAUI-15 Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 3 3.5" half-height bays Slots: 5 Nubus, 1 Quadra PDS Video: 1-2 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTS Audio: Mono Microphone, stereo in, stereo out Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 18.6 x 8.9 x 20.6 in, 37 lbs (47.3 x 22.4 x 52.3 cm, 17 kg) Sold: 10/91 till 5/92 Quadra 950 Processor: M68040 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5 RAM: 8-256 MB, 80 ns, 16 30 pin SIMM slots ROM: 1 MB Ports: 2 ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, video, stereo out, stereo in, mono in, AAUI-15 Ethernet connector Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 3 3.5" half-height bays Slots: 5 Nubus, 1 Quadra PDS Video: 1-2 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTS Audio: Mono Microphone, stereo in, stereo out Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 18.6 x 8.9 x 20.6 in, 37 lbs (47.3 x 22.4 x 52.3 cm, 17 kg) Sold: 5/92 till Present Features: Mac TV Processor: M68030 32 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 404 1.0 RAM: 5-8 MB, 80 ns, 1 72 pin SIMM slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: SCSI, 2 serial, 2 ADB, cable, video-in, stereo out, stereo in Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 PDS occupied by TV tuner Video: 14" Trinitron, 8-bit color Audio: 8-bit, 22kHz, stereo speakers Network: LocalTalk Size: 17.5 x 13.5 x 16.5 in., 41.5 lbs (44.5 x 34.4 x 42.0 cm, 18.9 kg) Sold: 10/93 till Present Features: 16-bit databus, cable-ready, 16-bit color TV, CD-ROM, single-frame video-capture, remote control, ClarisWorks, 7 CD's, keyboard PowerMac 6100/60, 6100/66 (Performa 6115) Processor: PPC 601 60 MHz (66 MHz) System: 7.1.2-7.5 RAM: 8-72 MB, 80 ns, 2 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 4 MB Ports: ADB, SCSI, 2 GeoPort, video, stereo in, stereo out, AAUI-15 Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 1 7" Nubus or PDS slot Video: DRAM based, 32,768 colors on 14" monitors, 256 colors on 16" monitors Audio: 22 KHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 3.4 x 16.3 x 15.6 in, 14.0 lbs (8.5 x 41.5 x 39.7 cm, 6.4 kg) Sold: 3/14/94 till Present Features: Optional AV configuration, optional VRAM card for the PDS slot, 6100/66 comes with 256K cache card standard, optional on 7100/66 model PowerMac 7100/66, 7100/80 Processor: PPC 601 66 MHz (80 MHz) System: 7.1.2-7.5 RAM: 8-136 MB, 80 ns, 4 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 4 MB Ports: 2 ADB, SCSI, 2 GeoPort, 2 video, stereo in, stereo out, AAUI-15 Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" half-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 3 Nubus, one PDS (occupied by AV card or VRAM card) Video: 1-2 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC, and PAL monitors. DRAM support for a second monitor, 32,768 colors on 14" monitors, 256 colors on 16" monitors Audio: 22 khz, Mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 6.0 x 13.0 x 16.5 in, 25 lb (15.2 x 33.0 x 41.9 cm, 11.3 kg) Sold: 3/14/94 till present Features: Optional AV configuration, 7100/80 comes with 256K cache card standard, optional on 7100/66 model PowerMac 8100/80, 8100/100, 8100/110 Processor: PPC 601 80 MHz (100 MHz, 110 MHz) System: 7.1.2-7.5 RAM: 8-264 MB, 80 ns, 8 72 pin SIMM slots ROM: 4 MB Ports: ADB, 2 GeoPort, SCSI, 2 video, stereo in, stereo out, AAUI-15 Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 3.5" full-height, 1 5.25" half-height removable Slots: 3 NuBus, 1 PDS (occupied by AV card or VRAM card) Video: 2-4 MB VRAM drives all Mac monitors plus some VGA, SVGA, NTSC and PAL monitors. DRAM support for a second monitor, 32,768 colors on 14" monitors, 256 colors on 16" monitors Audio: stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk, Ethernet Size: 14.25 x 8.9 x 16 in, 25.3 lbs (30.6 x 19.6 x 39.6 cm, 11.5 kg) Sold: 3/14/94 till present Features: Optional AV configuration, 256K L2 cache Macintosh Portable Processor: M68000 16 MHz System: 6.0.5-7.5 RAM: 1-5 MB, 100 ns, 1 memory slot ROM: 256K Ports: SCSI, floppy, stereo out Floppy: 1-2 SuperDrives Bays: 1 3.5 inch half-height Slots: None Video: built-in black and white 10" monitor, 640 by 400 resolution Audio: Stereo out Network: LocalTalk Sold: 9/89 till 10/91 Features: Portables sold after March, 1991 have backlit screens. Powerbook 100 Processor: M68000 16 MHz System: 6.0.8L-7.5 RAM: 2-8 MB, 100 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 256K Ports: SCSI, serial, floppy, ADB, mono out Floppy: Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: None Video: built-in black and white, passive matrix, 640 by 400 pixel screen Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 10/91 till Features: The hard disk can be attached to another Mac through the PowerBook's SCSI port. Powerbook 140 Processor: M68030 16 MHz System: 7.0.1-7.5 RAM: 4-8 MB, 100 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, mono in, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: None Video: built-in 8.5", B/W, passive matrix, 640 by 400 pixel screen Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz stereo speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Battery: NiCad, 2.5 Ah, 2 to 3 hours of usage, 3 hours recharge time Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 10/91 till 6/93 Features: Powerbook 145 Processor: M68030 25 MHz System: 7.0.1-7.5 RAM: 4-8 MB, 100 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, mono in, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: None Video: built-in 8.5", B/W, passive matrix, 640 by 400 pixel screen Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Battery: NiCad, 2.5 Ah, 2 to 3 hours of usage, 3 hours recharge time Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 8/92 till 6/93 Features: Powerbook 145b Processor: M68030 25 MHz System: 7.0.1-7.5 RAM: 4-8 MB, 100 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, audio in, audio out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 Modem slot Video: built-in 8.5", B/W, passive matrix, 640 by 400 pixel screen Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Battery: NiCad, 2 to 3 hours of usage, 3 hours recharge time Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 6/93 till Present Features: No system disks are included with this model. Powerbook 150 Processor: M68030 33 MHz System: 7.1.1 RAM: 4-8 MB, 100 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: serial, SCSI, ADB Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: None Video: built-in 9.5", 4 greys, passive matrix, 640 by 480 pixel screen Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk, AAUI Ethernet Battery: NiCad, 2.5 Ah, 2 to 3 hours of usage, 3 hours recharge time Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 5.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 7-94 till present Features: Powerbook 160 Processor: M68030 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 131 1.0.3 RAM: 4-14 MB, 85 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, SCSI, 2 serial, mono in, stereo out, video Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 Modem slot Video: built-in 10", 16 greys, passive matrix, 640 by 400 pixels Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, stereo speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Battery: NiCad, 2 to 3 hours of usage, 3 hours recharge time Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 10/92 till 8/93 Features: Powerbook 165 Processor: M68030 33 MHz Sysytem: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 131 1.0.3 RAM: 4-14 MB, 85 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, SCSI, 2 serial, mono in, stereo out, video Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 640 by 400 pixel passive matrix screen, 16 grays; video out for up to 256 colors at 640 by 480 on an external display Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 8/93 till present Features: Powerbook 165c Processor: M68030 33 MHz, M68882 FPU Sysytem: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 131 1.0.3 RAM: 4-14 MB, 85 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, SCSI, 2 serial, mono in, stereo out, video Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 9", 256 color, passive matrix screen, 640 by 400 pixels; video out for up to 256 colors at 640 by 480 on an external display Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, stereo speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Battery: NiCad, 1.5 to 2 hours of usage, 3 hours recharge time Size: 2.29 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 7.0 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.2 kg) Sold: 2/93 till present Features: Powerbook 170 Processor: M68030 25 MHz, M68882 FPU Sysytem: 7.0.1-7.5 RAM: 2-8 MB, 100 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, stereo out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: Black and White, active matrix Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, stereo speaker, mono microphone Network: LocalTalk Sold: 10/91 till present Features: Powerbook 180 Processor: M68030 33 MHz, M68882 FPU Sysytem: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 131 1.0.3 RAM: 4-14 MB, 85 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, mono in, stereo out, video-out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 Modem slot Video: built-in 10" active-matrix, 16 greys, 640 by 400 pixels, 77 dpi; video out for up to 256 colors at 640 by 480 on an external display Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: NiCad, 2.5 to 3 hours of usage, 3 hours recharge time Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 10/19/92 till present Features: Powerbook 180c Processor: M68030 33 MHz, M68882 FPU Sysytem: 7.1-7.5, System Enabler 131 1.0.3 RAM: 4-14 MB, 85 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, 2 serial, SCSI, mono in, stereo out, video-out Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 10" active-matrix, 256 colors, 640 by 400 pixels, 77 dpi; video out for up to 256 colors at 640 by 480 on an external display Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: Nickel-cadmium, 1 to 2 hours of usage Size: 2.25 x 11.25 x 9.3 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 6/93 till present Features: Powerbook 520 Processor: M68LC040 25 MHz System: 7.1.2-7.5, PowerBook 500 Series Enabler 1.0.2 RAM: 4-36 MB, 70 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, serial, SCSI, stereo in, stereo out, video-out, AAUI Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: modem slot, 68040 PDS slot, optional Type II/III PCMCIA adaptor Video: built-in 9.5" passive-matrix, 16 grays, 640 by 480 pixels, 84 dpi; video out for up to 256 colors at 832 by 624 on an external display Audio: 16-bit, 44 KHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: one or two nickel-metal-hydride, 2 to 3 hours usage per battery Size: 2.25 x 11.5 x 9.65 in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 5/16/94 till present Features: Trackpad Powerbook 520c Processor: M68LC040 25 MHz System: 7.1.2-7.5, PowerBook 500 Series Enabler 1.0.2 RAM: 4-36 MB, 70 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, serial, SCSI, stereo in, stereo out, video-out, AAUI Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: modem slot, 68040 PDS slot, optional Type II/III PCMCIA adaptor Video: built-in 9.5" passive-matrix, 256 colors, 640 by 480 pixels, 84 dpi; video out for up to 256 colors at 832 by 624 on an external display Audio: 16-bit, 44 KHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: one or two nickel-metal-hydride, 2 to 3 hours usage per battery Size: 11.5 x 9.65 x 2.25 inches, 6.8 lbs. Sold: 5/16/94 till present Features: Trackpad Powerbook 540 Processor: M68LC040 33 MHz System: 7.1.2-7.5, PowerBook 500 Series Enabler 1.0.2 RAM: 4-36 MB, 70 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, serial, SCSI, mono in, stereo out, video-out, AAUI Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: modem slot, 68040 PDS slot, optional Type II/III PCMCIA adaptor Video: built-in 9.5" active-matrix, 64 grays, 640 by 480 pixels, 84 dpi; video out for up to 256 colors at 832 by 624 on an external display Audio: 16-bit, 44 KHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: one or two nickel-metal-hydride, 2 to 3 hours usage per battery Size: 2.25 x 11.5 x 9.65 in. in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 5/16/94 till present Features: Trackpad Powerbook 540c Processor: M68LC040 33 MHz System: 7.1.2-7.5, PowerBook 500 Series Enabler 1.0.2 RAM: 4-36 MB, 70 ns, 1 TSOP memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: ADB, serial, SCSI, stereo in, stereo out, video-out, AAUI Ethernet Floppy: SuperDrive Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: modem slot, 68040 PDS slot, optional Type II/III PCMCIA adaptor Video: built-in 9.5" active-matrix, 256 colors at 640 by 480 pixels, 32768 colors at 640 by 400 pixels, 84 dpi; video out for up to 256 colors at 832 by 624 on an external display Audio: 16-bit, 44 KHz, mono microphone, stereo speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: one or two nickel-metal-hydride, 2 to 3 hours usage per battery Size: 2.25 x 11.5 x 9.65 in. in., 6.8 lbs. (5.7 x 28.6 x 23.6 cm, 3.1 kg) Sold: 5/16/94 till present Features: Trackpad Duo 210 Processor: M68030 25 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, PowerBook Duo Enabler 1.0 RAM: 4-24 MB, 85 ns, 1 memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: Serial Port, 152 pin PDS (for docking station) Floppy: None Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 9" passive-matrix 16 greys screen, 640 by 400 pixels, 85 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: Nickel hydride, 2 to 4 hours of usage Size: 8.5 x 10.9 x 1.4 in., 4.2 lbs. (21.6 x 27.7 x 3.6 cm, 1.9 kg) Sold: 10/92 till present Features: External floppy drives and docking stations sold separately. Duo 230 Processor: M68030 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, PowerBook Duo Enabler 1.0 RAM: 4-24 MB, 85 ns, 1 memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: Serial Port, 152 pin PDS (for docking station) Floppy: None Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 9" passive-matrix screen, 16 greys, 640 by 400 pixels, 85 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Size: 8.5 x 10.9 x 1.4 in., 4.2 lbs. (21.6 x 27.7 x 3.6 cm, 1.9 kg) Sold: 10/92 till present Features: External floppy drives and docking stations sold separately. Duo 250 Processor: M68030 33 MHz System: 7.1-7.5, PowerBook Duo Enabler 1.0 RAM: 4-24 MB, 85 ns, 1 memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: Serial Port, 152 pin PDS (for docking station) Floppy: None Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 9" active-matrix 640 by 400 pixels, 85 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: Type II nickel metal hydride battery. Size: 1.5 x 10.9 x 8.5 in., 4.2 lbs. (3.8 x 27.7 x 21.6 cm, 2.2 kg) Sold: 10/93 till present Features: External floppy drive and docking stations sold separately. Duo 270c Processor: M68030 33 MHz, M68882 FPU System: 7.1-7.5, PowerBook Duo Enabler 1.0 RAM: 4-32 MB, 85 ns, 1 memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: Serial Port, 152 pin PDS (for docking station) Floppy: None Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 8.4 inch, 93 dpi, active matrix screen; 256 colors at 640 by 480 pixels, 32768 colors at 640 by 400 pixels Audio: 8-bit, 11 or 22 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: Type II nickel metal hydride battery, 2 to 4 hours usage Size: 1.5 x 10.9 x 8.5 in., 4.2 lbs. (3.8 x 27.7 x 21.6 cm, 2.2 kg) Sold: 10/93 till present Features: External floppy drive and docking stations sold separately. Duo 280 Processor: M68LC040 33 MHz System: 7.1.1, PowerBook Duo Enabler 2.0 RAM: 4-40 MB, 70 ns, 1 memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: Serial Port, 152 pin PDS (for docking station) Floppy: None Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 9" passive-matrix 64 greys screen, 640 by 400 pixels, 84 dpi Audio: 8-bit, 44 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: Type II Nickel-metal-hydride, 2.5 to 4 hours of usage Size: 8.5 x 10.9 x 1.4 in., 4.2 lbs. (21.6 x 27.7 x 3.6 cm, 1.9 kg) Sold: 5/94 till present Features: External floppy drives and docking stations sold separately. Duo 280c Processor: M68LC040 33 MHz System: 7.1.1, PowerBook Duo Enabler 2.0 RAM: 4-40 MB, 70 ns, 1 memory slot ROM: 1 MB Ports: Serial Port, 152 pin PDS (for docking station) Floppy: None Bays: 1 2.5" third-height Slots: 1 modem slot Video: built-in 8.4 inch, 93 dpi, active matrix screen; 256 colors at 640 by 480 pixels, 32768 colors at 640 by 400 pixels Audio: 8-bit, 44 KHz, mono microphone, mono speaker Network: LocalTalk Battery: Type III Nickel-metal-hydride, 2 to 3 hours of usage Size: 8.5 x 10.9 x 1.4 in., 4.8 lbs. (21.6 x 27.7 x 3.6 cm, 1.9 kg) Sold: 5/94 till present Features: External floppy drives and docking stations sold separately. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold Department of Mathematics elharo@shock.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology elharo@escape.com Newark NJ 07102 .. Archive-name: macintosh/misc-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: November 4, 1994 Maintainer: elharo@shock.njit.edu URL: http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/miscfaq.html Miscellaneous Frequently Asked Questions ======================================== comp.sys.mac.faq, part 3: comp.sys.mac.misc Copyright 1993,1994 by Elliotte Harold Please see section 5.8 of the general FAQ if you wish to redistribute or revise this document in any way. Archive-name: macintosh/misc-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: November 4, 1994 Address comments to elharo@shock.njit.edu What's new in version 2.3.3: ---------------------------- As per recent discussions on faq-maintainers I've added a URL subheader. Section II, Printing and PostScript, and Section III, DOS and the Mac, have been updated to reflect Quickdraw GX. 5.3. How can I convert/play a mod/wav/midi etc. file? With Quicktime 2.0 Macs can easily play MIDI files. 6.5. What is DiskDoubler? SpaceSaver? More Disk Space? Are they safe? NowCompress has been merged into Now Utilities. SuperDoubler is now Norton DiskDoubler Pro. 6.6. How do they compare to Stacker and eDisk? Golden Triangle has gone out of business. TimesTwo is no longer available. Driver level compression makes somewhat more sense on a PowerMac. Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Viruses 1. Help! I have a virus! 2. Reporting new viruses II. Printing and PostScript 1. How do I make a PostScript file? 2. How do I print a PostScript file? 3. Why won't my PostScript file print on my mainframe's printer? 4. Why are my PostScript files so big? 5. How can I print PostScript on a non-PostScript printer? 6. How do I make my ImageWriter II print in color? 7. Why doesn't PrintMonitor work with the ImageWriter? 8. Why did my document change when I printed it? 9. How can I preview a PostScript file? 10. Can I use a LaserJet or other PC printer with my Mac? 11. How can I print grey scales on my StyleWriter I? 12. How can I edit a PostScript file? III. DOS and the Mac 1. How can I move files between a Mac and a PC? 2. How can I translate files to a DOS format? 3. Should I buy SoftPC or a real PC? IV. Security 1. How can I password protect a Mac? 2. How can I password protect a file? 3. How can I password protect a folder? 4. How can I prevent software piracy? 5. How can I keep a hard drive in a fixed configuration? V. Sound 1. How can I copy a track from an audio CD onto my Mac? 2. How can I extract a sound from a QuickTime movie? 3. How can I convert/play a mod/wav/etc. file? VI. No particular place to go (Miscellaneous Miscellanea) 1. Are there any good books about the Mac? 2. How do I take a picture of the screen? 3. How do I use a picture for my desktop? 4. Can I Replace the "Welcome to Macintosh" box with a picture? 5. What is AutoDoubler? SpaceSaver? More Disk Space? Are they safe? 6. How do they compare to TimesTwo, Stacker and eDisk? 7. Where did my icons go? 8. Where can I find a user group? 9. Where can I find the 1984 Quicktime movie? 10. Do RAM Doubler and Optimem work? 11. I'm greedy. Can I triple my RAM? 12. How do I run software that needs an FPU on a Mac that doesn't have one? RETRIEVING THE ENTIRE FAQ ========================= This is the THIRD part of this FAQ. The first part is also posted to this newsgroup under the subject heading "Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)" and includes a complete table of contents for the entire document as well as information on where to post, ftp, file decompression, trouble-shooting, and preventive maintenance. The second, fourth, fifth and sixth parts are posted every two weeks in comp.sys.mac.system, comp.sys.mac.apps, comp.sys.mac.wanted, and comp.sys.mac.hardware respectively and include many questions that often erroneously appear in comp.sys.mac.misc. All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/ Except for the introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as general-faq, the name of each file has the format of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq", e.g the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq. You can also have these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/name in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g. general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions. For access via Mosaic use http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/faqs.html ============== VIRUSES (1.0) ============== HELP! I HAVE A VIRUS. (1.1) ----------------------------- 90% of all problems reportedly caused by viruses are actually due to mundane bugs in software (and 90% of all statistics are made up :-) ). Check your system with the latest version of Disinfectant, 3.5 as of this writing, by the excellent John Norstad from Northwestern University. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Disinfectant.sit.bin Disinfectant is absolutely free. It's easy to use and can completely protect your system from currently known Macintosh viruses. Releases to protect from new viruses are normally made within a day or two of the first confirmed sighting and capture of a new virus, and make their merry way around the electronic highways faster than any Macintosh virus ever has. I THINK I'VE FOUND A NEW VIRUS. WHAT DO I DO? (1.2) ----------------------------------------------------- DON'T post a report to any comp.sys.mac.* newsgroup. 99% of all suspected new viruses are merely mundane bugs in the system or applications being used; and even if you really have found a new virus, there's nothing we can do about it anyway. You'll only generate a lot of panicked, follow-up reports from people who'll blame every crash of QuarkXPress on the new virus. If your system is protected against known viruses by Disinfectant or one of the other anti-virus packages and you suspect a new virus is causing you trouble, first consult with the most knowledgeable local guru about your problem. Nine times out of ten, he or she will identify it as a boring, ordinary, known bug in the software. If you are the local guru and still think you may have found a new virus, and have thoroughly checked out all other possibilities, then, and only then, send a detailed description of your problem to j-norstad@nwu.edu. Check the Disinfectant manual for procedures to follow before reporting a new virus. Please remember that it is VERY unlikely you have actually found a new virus. Around the world in all of 1992 only four new Macintosh viruses were discovered. Of all the suspected Macintosh viruses which were reported to Usenet before being isolated by a recognized virus expert, exactly none were eventually confirmed. One recent public virus report, the so-called M virus, turned out to be the result of a boring, ordinary bug in a common extension. The report which received the most attention, the so-called Aliens virus, remains unconfirmed and was probably the result of corrupt system software. ============================== PRINTING AND POSTSCRIPT (2.0) ============================== HOW DO I MAKE A POSTSCRIPT FILE? (2.1) --------------------------------------- First make sure a LaserWriter driver is in your System Folder. It doesn't really matter which one although LaserWriter driver 8.2 is the best. This driver is available from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft/imaging/laserwriter-8-2.hqx and works with System 6.0.5 and later. If you're using the System 6 driver, you'll need a Laser Prep file in your System Folder as well as the LaserWriter driver and will also need to turn off background printing. Once you've verified that there is indeed a LaserWriter driver in the System Folder, select LaserWriter in the Chooser. A dialog box will probably pop up informing you that the LaserWriter requires Appletalk and asking if you want to turn Appletalk on. Whether you have AppleTalk or not click OK. Then select Page Setup... from the File menu to format your document for the LaserWriter. Next select Print... from the File menu. If you're using LaserWriter driver 7.0 or later, the Print dialog box that appears will have a radio button for Destination near the bottom. Click PostScript File. The Print button at the top should change to a Save button. Click it and you'll get a standard file dialog asking you what to name and where to save the PostScript file. If you're using LaserWriter driver 6.0.x or 5.2, the procedure is more complicated. When the Print dialog box pops up, position the cursor over the Print button and hold the mouse button down and keep it down like you're going to click and drag. Then, with your other hand, press and hold the K key. If you'll eventually print the file on a non- Apple PostScript printer, especially one not designed with the Macintosh in mind, also hold down the Command key. Using Command-K instead of plain K includes some Mac specific information non-Apple-oriented PostScript printers need to know about. Now let the mouse button up. When you see a message box that says "Creating PostScript file," take your finger off the K key. After you've gotten the message "Creating PostScript file" you should find a file called PostScript0 in the same folder as the application you were printing from. This is the file you just printed. Rename it before you forget what it is. If you print to disk (what this whole process is officially called) more than once, the second file will be called PostScript1, the third PostScript2, and so on. It really is much easier to use the System 7 LaserWriter driver. HOW DO I PRINT A POSTSCRIPT FILE? (2.2) ---------------------------------------- On a Macintosh you'll need the LaserWriter Font Utility available on the high density TidBits disk from System 7 or the More TidBits disk from the 800K distribution. A more feature-rich version called simply LaserWriter Utility is available from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft/imaging/laserwriter-utility.hqx Both utilities allows you to send files to the LaserWriter in such a way that PostScript commands get interpreted as PostScript rather than as text to be printed. If you're printing to a PostScript printer connected to something other than a Macintosh, you'll need to consult your local system gurus. A simple "lpr filename.ps" works on my Sparc, but your mileage may vary. WHY WON'T MY POSTSCRIPT FILE PRINT ON MY MAINFRAME'S PRINTER? (2.3) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Moving PostScript files between the Macintosh and other platforms used to be as dark an art as existed in the Macintosh universe. With the recent release of the LaserWriter 8 driver, it's no longer so complicated. You will need a PPD file for your printer. Many are available in ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/PPDFiles/ While their names are unfortunately restricted by Mess-DOS's braindead 8.3 naming convention, the file ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/PPDFiles/Filename.MAP should tell you what PPD file your printer requires. Be sure to select the options for PostScript Level 1 and ASCII text PostScript files in the Print dialog box. Finally if you're still having problems try using only genuine PostScript fonts, no TrueType or bitmapped fonts; and don't include any fonts in your document that already reside in the printer or on the host system. Hugo Ayala's shareware control panel Trimmer will help with this if host available fonts are other than the standard 13 which the LaserWriter 8 driver has an option to omit. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Trimmer.sit.bin If you've installed QuickDraw GX you can ignore PPD files. So far in my limited tests I've found that the PostScript files produced by QuickDraw GX seem to be quite portable across different printers. Unfortunately the LaserWriter 8.1 and later drivers are incompatible with older versions of most Aldus products, Canvas, and QuarkXPress. Until you upgrade you may need to continue using an older version of the LaserWriter driver. In this case you should experiment with your combination of application software, LaserWriter driver, and printer to see what works best. If you're using the System 6 LaserWriter driver, try using Command-K instead of K to create the PostScript file in which the Laser Prep header is included. The System 7 LaserWriter drivers include this header automatically though Trimmer will leave it out. More importantly Trimmer also lets you select which fonts to include in your PostScript file. Try using only genuine PostScript fonts, no TrueType or bitmapped fonts; and don't include any fonts in your document that already reside in the printer or on the host system. The freeware DMM-LaserWriter Stuff can customize your pre-8.0 LaserWriter drivers in several different, useful ways. Among other possibilities this package can modify a LaserWriter driver so that the PostScript files it creates are more compatible with non-Apple printers and printing to disk is the default. The upload to the mainframe from which the PostScript file will be printed may also make a difference. Normally you need to transfer the file in pure Binary format, neither MacBinary nor ASCII. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/DMM_LW_7_Stuff.sit.bin WHY ARE MY POSTSCRIPT FILES SO BIG? (2.4) ------------------------------------------ Versions 7.0 and later of the LaserWriter driver automatically include all the fonts you use in your document plus the LaserPrep information plus the TrueType engine (if you're using any TrueType fonts) in the PostScript file. Thus a 3K document formatted in 90K of fonts can easily produce a 300K PostScript file. If these fonts are present on the system you'll be printing from, they don't need to be included in the document. You can remove them with the shareware control panel Trimmer or the free UNIX utility StripFonts. If you're using the LaserWriter 8 driver, you can manually select an option to leave out all fonts or just the standard thirteen faces of Times, Courier, Helvetica, and Symbol though for more control you'll still need StripFonts or Trimmer. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Trimmer.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/StripFonts.shar HOW CAN I PRINT POSTSCRIPT ON A NON-POSTSCRIPT PRINTER? (2.5) -------------------------------------------------------------- You need one of the payware applications Freedom of the Press or TScript. For most users who only want to print to common printers like DeskWriters, StyleWriters, or Personal LaserWriter LS's, the Light version of Freedom of the Press or the Basic version of TScript will suffice. ($55 street for either). More expensive versions of both products are available that work with more esoteric printers, particularly very-high-end color printers and imagesetters. HOW DO I MAKE MY IMAGEWRITER II PRINT IN COLOR? (2.6) ------------------------------------------------------ Applications such as SuperPaint 2.0 and MacWrite II that support the original eight-color model for QuickDraw graphics only need a color ribbon to print in color. The shareware GIFConverter can open and print a variety of graphics file types in excellent dithered color. Jeff Skaitsis's $1 shareware CheapColor can also dither PixelPaint and PICT2 files on an ImageWriter II. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/GIFConverter.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/CheapColor.sit.bin If you have a Macintosh with a 68020 or better CPU, the payware MacPalette II provides general purpose color printing from any application that prints on a QuickDraw printer (e.g. NOT Illustrator). MacPalette II is about $45 street. If you need more information the publisher, Microspot, can be contacted at (800) 622-7568. WHY DOESN'T PRINTMONITOR WORK WITH THE IMAGEWRITER? (2.7) ---------------------------------------------------------- You need to upgrade to System 7.5 and install QuickDraw GX. This requires a Mac with at least five megabytes of RAM. Eight megabytes is a more realistic figure. However the background printing in QuickDraw GX is quite stable and does not significantly decrease the speed of foreground applications. The above-mentioned MacPalette II provides background printing on an ImageWriter under System 7 and a 68020 or better CPU. SuperLaserSpool works with lesser Macs as well. These are fully commercial products. There are NO freeware, shareware, or other ftpable solutions that work under System 7 so get out your credit cards. At $98 street price for SuperLaserSpool and $45 for MacPalette but less than $300 for a vastly superior DeskWriter or StyleWriter II you may want to forgo the software and buy a better printer instead. If you're still using System 6 and have no plans to move to System 7, there is a shareware product called MultiSpool from Italy; but it is not System 7 compatible and prints only under MultiFinder. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MultiSpool.sit.bin WHY DID MY DOCUMENT CHANGE WHEN I PRINTED IT ON SOMEONE ELSE'S PRINTER? (2.8) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are many different reasons this can happen. Far and away the most common problem is using the wrong printer driver. BEFORE you start formatting your document, make sure you have a printer driver for the printer you'll use for the final draft in your system folder and have selected that printer in the Chooser. Then choose Page Setup... from the File menu to let the application know what sort of output it should try to match the display to. The second most common problem is font confusion. Make sure you know exactly which fonts are in your document; and, if you're printing to a PostScript printer, make sure PostScript versions of these fonts are available to that printer. On newer printers you might also be able to use TrueType fonts; but PostScript is still the standard, especially if you're eventually going to Lino for camera ready output. The third most common source of trouble is poor formatting, especially in Microsoft Word. The Mac is not a typewriter, and you shouldn't use it as one. Don't use tabs as a substitute for indentation; don't force a page break with carriage returns; and NEVER use spaces to position anything. If you're writing a resume (by far the most common source of formatting problems for Word users), give serious thought to using the well-formatted resume template that comes with Word to help you avoid problems with your final printout. IS THERE A UTILITY TO PREVIEW POSTSCRIPT FILES ON THE MAC? (2.9) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Net godhood awaits the first person to write a working shareware or freeware PostScript previewer for the Mac. The payware product TScript allows viewing PostScript files on the Mac, but this is a large package with other purposes and even the light version costs over $50. CAN I ATTACH A LASERJET OR OTHER PC PRINTER TO MY MAC? (2.10) -------------------------------------------------------------- If your printer isn't a PostScript printer with an AppleTalk interface, you need either PowerPrint from GDT Softworks or the Grappler from Orange Micro. Both include the necessary printer drivers and serial to parallel cable to connect a Macintosh with any common PC printer including HP LaserJets and DeskJets and Canon BubbleJets. If your printer is uncommon you can always ask the vendors before ordering. Both packages have street prices around $95. HOW CAN I PRINT GREY SCALES ON MY STYLEWRITER I? (2.11) -------------------------------------------------------- The StyleWriter II driver 1.2 works with the StyleWriter I and will print greys. You can get it from ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple SW Updates/Macintosh/Printing Software/StyleWriter II (1.2).hqx Updated versions of Print Monitor and Printer Share are also available. See ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple%20SW%20Updates/Macintosh/Printing%20Software/PrintMonitor%20(7.1).hqx ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple%20SW%20Updates/Macintosh/Printing%20Software/Printer%20Share%20(1.1.1).hqx When printing on a StyleWriter I with this driver, be sure not to select the Clean Print Head option in the Print Options dialog box. This damages the print head of the StyleWriter I. The StyleWriter I+ patch will remove StyleWriter II specific code from the driver including the option to clean the print head. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/StyleWriter_I+_patch.sit.bin HOW CAN I EDIT A POSTSCRIPT FILE? (2.12) ----------------------------------------- In the most basic sense PostScript files are just ASCII text, so if you're familiar with the PostScript programming language you can edit PostScript in any good text editor. However if you want to edit the PostScript files graphically, you need Adobe Illustrator 5.5. Use the bundled Acrobat Distiller to turn the PostScript file into a PDF file which Illustrator can import and edit. ====================== DOS AND THE MAC (3.0) ====================== HOW CAN I MOVE FILES BETWEEN A MAC AND A PC? (3.1) --------------------------------------------------- The simplest way to move files between a PC and a Mac is with a null-modem cable and a reliable communications program. You can get a null-modem cable from any good electronics store. Make sure the cable you buy has the appropriate connectors for the Mac and PC you'll be connecting. Hook one end of the cable to the printer or modem port on your Mac and the other to a serial port on the PC. This should work just like a very high speed (57,600 bps) modem connection except that you'll probably need to turn on local echo in your communications program. If the computers aren't within cabling distance, you can either upload the files to an intermediary mainframe or put them on a floppy disk. The Superdrive sold since the introduction of the IIx is capable of formatting and writing to 3.5 inch PC floppies. System software versions 6.0 though 7.1 include Apple File Exchange, a minimal program capable of doing this as part of the system software. Apple File Exchange is difficult to use and violates at least half of Apple's user interface guidelines. (Can anyone explain why no other software company violates as many of Apple's user interface guidelines as Apple itself does?) For details on its use please Read the Friendly Manual. If you frequently need to use DOS floppies and you have a Superdrive, you may want to invest in a more transparent solution. The three currently available are AccessPC from Insignia Solutions, DOS Mounter from Dayna, and Macintosh PC Exchange from Apple, all of which automatically mount and format 3.5 inch DOS floppies in a Superdrive without requiring you to run a separate program before you insert the disk. Macintosh PC Exchange requires System 7 and is bundled with System 7.5 and System 7 Pro. If you use DOS Mounter be sure to increase your Disk cache (RAM cache in System 6) to at least 256K. This will substantially improve its performance. HOW CAN I TRANSLATE FILES TO A DIFFERENT PLATFORM? (3.2) --------------------------------------------------------- With the increasing popularity of cross-platform development, many Macintosh programs like Adobe Illustrator 5.x, Adobe PhotoShop, and Microsoft Word 5.1 are able to save directly to a format readable by DOS or Windows programs. You'll still need to mount the DOS floppies in the Mac drive using one of the products discussed above or do a default translation from within Apple File Exchange. Although translators for Apple File Exchange could theoretically be designed to translate files made by applications without these capabilities, AFE has never really caught on. The best solution is a payware product by DataViz called MacLink Plus. MacLink Plus, about $70 street price, can translate over 1000 DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and NeXT formats back and forth. For $25 more the Pro version comes bundled with a copy of Macintosh PC Exchange. Some translators are also bundled with some of the CD versions of System 7.5. SHOULD I BUY SOFTPC OR A REAL PC? (3.3) ---------------------------------------- The various versions of SoftPC will run most DOS software on a Macintosh as advertised; but even on the fastest Quadras, SoftPC will be at most as fast as an original AT. This may be adequate for text based software, but graphics-oriented programs like most games will slow to a crawl. On any Mac slower than an LC III, performance will be at best twice the speed of an original XT. More likely it will only equal the speed of an original XT. For today's software like WordPerfect 6.0 that's S...L...O...W. On the other hand SoftWindows on a PowerMac 6100 can achieve speeds equivalent to a 20 MHz 386. For Windows that's comparable speed to an LC and somewhat faster for DOS. This is tolerable if not fast by today's standards. (For much better performance buy the optional $299 cache card.) A PowerMac 7100 or 8100 may even reach speeds approaching a 25 MHz 486 which makes for an acceptable if not spectacular Windows machine. Of course slow is relative. I've seen an Amiga running a Mac emulator running SoftPC running a CP/M emulator. That's slow. As part of testing the 486 chip design, Intel ran DOS on a simulation of the 486 chip running on an IBM 3090 mainframe. It took them TWO WEEKS to get to the C> prompt! That's slow. SoftPC on a Classic is actually about as fast as the original IBM PC from ten years ago. SoftPC comes in three versions for 68040 Macs (SoftPC 3.0, SoftPC Professional 3.1 and SoftPC 3.1 with Windows) and one version for PowerMacs (SoftWindows). All versions of SoftPC emulate an 80286 with an 80287 math coprocessor, support extended memory, and let you copy and paste between DOS and Mac programs. SoftPC 3.0 ($99 street) supports 16 color EGA graphics. SoftPC Professional 3.1 ($185 street) requires a 68030 Mac, adds support for 256 color VGA graphics and expanded memory, and includes Netware client software. SoftPC with Windows 3.1 (68040 version: $300 street, native PowerPC version $200 street) requires a 68040 or PowerPC Mac with at least 10 megs of free RAM and fourteen megs of free hard disk space (plus any disk space you want to allocate to DOS and Windows files). It includes all of the above plus Windows 3.1 and is optimized to make Windows performance tolerable (if not exactly speedy) on a fast Mac. If you already have the necessary hardware and disk space, it actually may be cheaper at current street prices to buy SoftPC than an equivalent PC clone. For someane with a 68040 Mac and a lot of memory and hard disk space plus only an occasional need to run DOS or Windows, SoftPC is a reasonable choice. SHOULD I BUY EXECUTOR OR A REAL MAC? (3.4) ------------------------------------------- ARDI's $99 Executor/DOS 1.2 allows some Macintosh applications to run on a PC. It also lets a PC read and write Mac formatted high density floppies and hard disks, and at only $99 Executor's doesn't cost much more than a dedicated utility to do this alone. That this works at all is nothing short of amazing and a tribute to the talents of ARDI's programmers, especially since they've received no help from Apple. However the limitations on what it will run are decidedly non-trivial. For instance it won't run the Finder, System 7, HyperCard or many other applications and does not support color, extensions, serial ports or printing. Version 2.0 which is due out sometime last summer will remove some of these limitations and add support for color and printing. Upgrades will be $59 for Executor 1.2 owners. Executor requires a 386 or better processor, a VGA monitor, five megabytes of disk space, four megabytes of RAM and a mouse. Given the limitations of the current version you're probably better off buying a cheap Mac than Executor. If you'd like to see for yourself you can ftp a demo copy from ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/msdos/emulator/ A NextStep version for both Intel and Motorola machines which does support printing and the serial ports is also available, but it's more expensive: $499 commercial, $249 educational. You can retrieve this from ftp://ftp.cs.unm.edu/pub/ardi/Executor_NEXTSTEP SHOULD I BUY A DOS COMPATIBILITY CARD OR A REAL PC? (3.5) ---------------------------------------------------------- The Apple DOS Compatibility Card puts a genuine 486SX/25 PC with DOS 6 inside your Mac. This is a real PC, not an emulator, and can run any software you can run on a stock 486SX PC. Windows is not included but can be added by the user. DOS shares your Mac's RAM and hard drive with the Mac system and applications. However the card does contain a slot for an optional 72-pin SIMM. If this SIMM is present then the DOS card will use it instead of borrowing memory from your Mac. COM and parallel ports are mapped to the Macs modem and printer ports. Networking is questionable, and there's no SoundBlaster support or means of adding ISA cards. This NuBus card is supported only on the Quadra 610 though it is reputed to work in the Centris 610 and the Quadra 800 as well. If your desk space and funds are limited and you've got the extra hard drive space to spare for DOS applications and files, this is a solid value at about $400 street, half the price of the cheapest stand-alone 486SX PC's. ============== SECURITY (4.0) ============== HOW CAN I PASSWORD PROTECT A MAC? (4.1) ---------------------------------------- A number of payware, shareware and freeware products exist for the purpose of preventing a Mac from being accessed without a password. Some of the more easily defeated products, mostly shareware, use a system extension or startup application to display a splash screen that doesn't go away until the proper password is entered. Most of these can be bypassed by any of several methods including booting off a floppy or a different SCSI device, disabling extensions with the Shift key at Startup, or even dropping into the built-in debugger. Products that are more difficult to defeat (mostly payware) don't allow a hard disk to be mounted until the proper password is entered. Most of these can be defeated by loading a different driver with a hard disk formatter like FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit after booting from a floppy. No program of this type provides hacker-proof security. Nonetheless the better programs do provide a minimum level of protection from casual snoopers or intruders. Art Schumer's MacPassword is the cheapest ($35) program worthy of consideration in this category. A demo version which expires after sixty days and isn't as secure is available from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MacPasswordDemo.sit.bin Some hard disk formatters also offer optional password protection. Notable in this category is FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit Personal Edition, about $50 mail-order. A number of payware utilities are capable of this and much more. My choice of commercial products in this category is Citadel from Datawatch ($60 street). Citadel is a complete Macintosh security program that provides password protection for hard disks, file and folder protection via DES encryption, screen locking, and the best protection I've ever seen against accidentally locking yourself out of your hard drive while still keeping intruders out. It's not totally intruder-proof, (No such product is.) but it does provide more reliable protection and more value for the money than any similar product I'm aware of. HOW CAN I PASSWORD PROTECT A FILE? (4.2) ----------------------------------------- The best (and in many ways only) means of protecting a sensitive file from prying eyes is encryption. Many encryption utilities are available on the net and as part of various payware products. Most will keep out the casual snooper, but fail miserably when faced with a knowledgable and determined hacker. All but one fail in the face of an attack by an organization with the resources of a large corporation or government. For basic protection I recommend using DES encryption. Several payware and freeware products do this including the above mentioned Citadel and J. Clarke Stevens' $10 shareware MacEncrypt. ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MacEncrypt.sit.bin DES is not unbreakable, but a the only known attack requires an investment in the seven figure range. The DES algorithm has withstood the test of time, and it's unlikely that any "holes" exist in the algorithm which would allow a cheaper or faster attack provided reasonable intelligence is used in the choice of passwords. (i.e. don't use any variant of a proper name or any word which can be found in a dictionary as a password.) If you truly are worried about an organization with seven figure resources trying to break into your files, you need an encoder that uses a more secure version of DES with a larger keyspace. Currently there is exactly one such product for the Mac, CryptoMactic from Kent Marsh, about $56 street. Its Triple-DES encryption is the most secure protection you can buy off the shelf. HOW CAN I PASSWORD PROTECT A FOLDER? (4.3) ------------------------------------------- A first line of defense would be to use ResEdit, FileTyper, or a similar tool to set the invisible and locked bits on the folders applications, and documents you want to protect. If there are files in the protected folder that need to be accessible, you can put aliases to them in the Apple menu items folder or use an application and document launcher like Apollo to grant access to them. This won't stop a knowledgeable or determined hacker, and protecting the system folder in this fashion may cause problems under System 7; but it will cure 95% of your random-user-moving-things-around problems. If you want to lock out more sophisticated users, you may want to consider Empower II from Magna ($155 street). Art Schumer's MacPassword ($35 demoware) can also protect folders but only allows one password for all the folders it protects. Thus you can't grant different access levels to different people. You might also consider David Davies-Payne's $10 shareware SoftLock, a utility that can make a disk read only. However this can cause problems with some applications that can't run from a read-only disk. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MacPasswordDemo.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/SoftLock.sit.bin HOW CAN I PREVENT SOFTWARE PIRACY? (4.4) ----------------------------------------- Novice pirates may be stymied by simply storing an application on a server and only granting read privileges to it. However anyone who's been around Macs for more than a week knows that StuffIt, Compact Pro, or any of a dozen other utilites can copy read-only files. For more reliable protection of software on networked Macs consider KeyServer from Sassafras Software. KeyServer installs special code into each protected application so that it won't run without a key obtained from a server. Thus a pirate may be able to copy an application but won't be able to use it. KeyServer asymptotically costs about $20 per protected Mac which may seem a little expensive just to prevent piracy, but KeyServer also works as a license manager. The number of available keys can be set at the server so that only as many keys for a given package as you have legal licenses will be passed out. Therefore you anly need to buy as many copies of applications as will actually be in use at any given time, not as many as you have Macs. KeyServer will more than pay for itself the next time you upgrade or purchase new software. You can get a demo version of KeyServer and various sales propaganda and pricing info by sending E-mail to sassafras@dartmouth.edu. HOW CAN I KEEP A HARD DRIVE IN A FIXED CONFIGURATION? (4.5) ------------------------------------------------------------ Steve Jobs designed the Macintosh with the implicit philosophy (which became explicit when he founded Next) of "one person, at least one CPU." A Mac is intended to be easily customizable and configurable. While fun this capability does not readily lend itself to reliability in a lab based environment where users love to install their favorite TrueType fonts to crash your color PostScript printer, pirated applications to annoy the SPA, RAM hogging extensions that play the 1984 Quicktime movie in a continuous loop as wallpaper and two megabyte System beeps illegally sampled from Star Trek. On stand-alone Macs you probably can't do better than setting the locked bit of files and folders you want to protect and praying. If you have a Syquest or Bernoulli drive, store a copy of the hard disk the way it ought to be on a cartridge and use that to restore the disk to the desired state. If the Mac is attached to a network, however, then Purdue University's freeware RevRDist can automate the process of restoring the hard drives of any number of Macs to desired configurations at specified times. It can replace modified files with original copies, delete unwanted files, install new software, replace old software that may have been disabled, reset preference files, and in short take care of just about anything that depends on the presence, absence, location or contents of specific files (which is almost everything). RevRDist is completely configurable and even comes with source code so you can modify it in the unlikely event it doesn't do exactly what you want. RevRdist does not offer specific protection against destructive users, but it does make provisions for running off a floppy so in a worst case scenario a hard drive can be rebuilt automatically after booting off a specially prepared floppy. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/RevRdist.sit.bin ============ SOUND (5.0) ============ HOW CAN I COPY A TRACK FROM AN AUDIO CD ONTO MY MAC? (5.1) ----------------------------------------------------------- First you must have a CD-ROM drive that supports this feature. Currently this means an Apple CD-300, CD-300i or CD-300+ or a drive built around one of the following mechanims: the Chinon 535, Hitachi 6750, NEC 3x, Sony 561, and Toshiba 3301, 3401 and 4101. If you have a non-Apple drive you'll also need FWB's CD-ROM Toolkit software, about $55 mail-order, since the driver software bundled with non-Apple drives don't yet support this feature. Next you need Quicktime 1.6.1 or later and an application that can play Quicktime movies such as Simple Player. See ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/Apple%20SW%20Updates/Macintosh/Supplemental%20System%20Software/QuickTime%20(1.6.1).hqx ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/infosystems/www/ncsa/Mac/Apple/SimplePlayer.sit.hqx Turn virtual memory off, put the CD in the CD player, and choose Open... from the File menu of Simple Player. Open the audio track you want and click Convert. Type a name for the new movie, choose a place to save it, and click save. HOW CAN I EXTRACT A SOUND FROM A QUICKTIME MOVIE? (5.2) -------------------------------------------------------- Movie2Snd is a freeware program available from all the usual places which will extract sounds from a QuickTime movie and save them in Mac sound file format. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Movie2Snd.sit.bin HOW CAN I CONVERT/PLAY A MOD/WAV/MIDI ETC. FILE? (5.3) ------------------------------------------------------- Balthazar 1.0 will play Windows .wav files and convert them to System 7 sound files. Brian's Sound Tool 1.3 is a free drag and drop sound conversion utility which converts to and from Mac sound files and Windows .wav files. It also converts Soundblaster .voc files, UNIX .au files, and AMIGA AIFF files to Macintosh sound files. MacTracker 1.00 and SoundTrecker 2.0 will play and convert Amiga MOD files. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Balthazar.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/BriansSoundTool.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MacTracker.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/SoundTrecker.sit.bin To play MIDI files you need QuickTime 2.0, bundled with System 7.5 and probably available on a local bulletin board. You also need an application that can play Quicktime movies such as MoviePlayer. If the MIDI files come from another platform (such as a post in alt.binaries.midi) you first need to change their filetype to "Midi". Any standard tool such as ResEdit or FileTyper can do this. Alternately you can use Peter Castine's free drag and drop application MidiTyper. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MidiTyper.sit.bin ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/tools/resedit/ ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/FileTyper.sit.bin From within your Quicktime savvy application select Open... from the File menu. Click once on the file you want to convert. If your file doesn't show up in the dialog box at this point then you didn't correctly set its filetype. Remember that the filetype needs to be "Midi" with a capital "M" and a small "idi." The "Open" button in the standard file dialog box should change to "Convert." Click the Convert button. The file will be converted to a Quicktime movie your Mac can play. ============================================================= NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO (MISCELLANEOUS MISCELLANEA) (6.0) ============================================================= ARE THERE ANY GOOD BOOKS ABOUT THE MAC? (6.1) ---------------------------------------------- While there are a number of excellent books covering specific software packages, there are not many books that are generally useful to someone familiar with the net. The Mac is Not a TypeWriter by Robin Williams and The Macintosh Bible, by Arthur Naiman, Sharon Zardetto Aker and a cast of hundreds are two exceptions. Both are published by PeachPit Press and are available in finer and seedier bookstores everywhere. The Mac is Not a TypeWriter should be required reading for anyone using a Macintosh to produce printed matter. It teaches the differences between typing and typography and shows you how to avoid looking like a moron in print. The Macintosh Bible is a reference book that's surprisingly enjoyable reading. It's comprehensive enough to cover most questions that appear in this newsgroup including the not so frequent ones. It also includes lots of information you probably need but didn't know to ask. HOW CAN I TAKE A PICTURE OF THE SCREEN? (6.2) ---------------------------------------------- The Command-Shift-3 FKey that's built into all Macs will take a picture of the entire screen. This won't work while a menu is pulled down and always includes the cursor in the picture. In System 6 Command-Shift-3 only works with black and white monitors on compact Macs. The results are stored in a PICT file on the root level of your System disk. Nobu Toge's Flash-It, $15 shareware, will handle almost all your screen capture needs. It works in black and white and color under both System 6 and System 7, exports images to the clipboard or to PICT files, captures pictures when menus are down, and can capture either a user-selectable region or the entire screen. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/FlashIt.sit.bin Baseline Publishing's Exposure Pro ($78 street) covers all the basics and throws in a host of editing tools besides. Sabastian Software offers Image Grabber ($35 street) whose features include timed capture, capture of the entire screen, one window, or a particular rectangle, and scaling of the captured image. If you order Image Grabber please note the spelling. It's two words, spelled correctly. Apparently a grammatical product name is so unusual that three out of three mail-order companies were unable to find Image Grabber in their database until I spelled it out for them including the space between Image and Grabber. You can also order it directly from the manufacturer at (206) 865-9343. CAN I REPLACE THE "WELCOME TO MACINTOSH" BOX WITH A PICTURE? (6.3) ------------------------------------------------------------------- First you need an application capable of saving documents in Startup Screen format such as the freeware XLateGraf or the shareware GIFConverter. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/GIFConverter.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/XLateGraf.sit.bin Open the graphics file you want to turn into a startup screen and select Save As... from the File menu. Then select Startup Screen as the format to save into. Name the new document "StartupScreen" (no space between Startup and Screen, both S's capitalized) and put it in the System Folder. The next time the Mac starts up you should see the happy Mac, followed by the picture. HOW DO I USE A PICTURE FOR MY DESKTOP? (6.4) --------------------------------------------- If you have a Macintosh with Color QuickDraw in ROM (Mac II and later machines) get the init DeskPict ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/DeskPict.sit.bin A slightly improved and less buggy version called FunPictures is part of the payware Now Fun. Users of compact Macs (Plus's, SE's, and Classics) can pick up BackDrop instead. ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/BackDrop.sit.bin All of these will replace the normal Macintosh desktop pattern with a picture of your choosing saved in startup screen format. (See the previous question.) Before saving your picture in startup screen format be sure to convert it to the default application palette, or your Mac may display color combinations distorted enough to induce flashbacks to that Grateful Dead concert in 1976. WHAT IS DISK DOUBLER? MORE DISK SPACE? SPACESAVER? NOW COMPRESS? (6.5) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Symantec's Norton DiskDoubler Pro ($80 street, formerly known as SuperDoubler) is a utility that automatically compresses and decompresses most files on your hard disk so that you can store more files on it than you'd otherwise have room for. As well as transparently compressing files DiskDoubler can make self-extracting and segmented archives for transmission via modem or floppy disk. Ideally you won't know it's present once you've installed it. Norton DiskDoubler Pro is a bundle of what was previously known as AutoDoubler, Disk Doubler, and Copy Doubler, which are no longer available separately. The consensus of the net is that DiskDoubler is fast and safe. The only common, known conflicts are with GateKeeper, the Find File function in Microsoft Word 5.x, and A/UX. If you use DiskDoubler, use Disinfectant rather than GateKeeper. DiskDoubler is completely incompatible with A/UX. Don't use DiskDoubler on an A/UX formatted partition. Word's Find File will work on an autodoubled volume, but you need to set it to find all files, not just certain types. As of this writing Norton DiskDoubler Pro is the only transparent compression product that's PowerMac native, so it's an easy choice for any PowerMac owner who wants to expand their hard disk space. Alysis Software's More Disk Space ($39 street) is a competing product similar in functionality to SuperDoubler. More Disk Space has several unique features that make it more suitable for use on a network than competing products such as a freeware init that allows all Macs to use files previously compressed by More Disk Space as transparently as if More Disk Space itself were installed and the ability to create a "compression server" that can compress files for all Macs on the network on demand. Thus a network of several dozen Macs could use one $39 copy of More Disk Space. More Disk Space uses the fastest compressor/decompressor on the market, but MDS also saves substantially less space than the other products. More importantly More Disk Space relies on undocumented features of the system which will go away in future system software. I recommend against using More Disk Space. The latest entry in the increasingly crowded compression arena is QuickFiler, a portion of Now Utilities 5.0 which takes the place of the discontinued Now Compress. Now Utilities includes many other features besides compression and is thus the best overall value despite its $70 street price. The QuickFiler component of Now Utilities offers automatic and on-demand transparent compression plus archiving compression that's on a par with StuffIt's. QuickFiler is fast enough that I don't notice it's installed (as are DiskDoubler and More Disk Space) which is the point where I decide it's not worth my effort to run detailed timing comparisons. QuickFiler does compress tighter and thus save more space than any of the competing products. Furthermore it's the only file-level program that will transparently compress almost anything in the System Folder. This is important for those of us with five megabytes of indispensable After Dark modules. :-) I myself use and recommend QuickFiler. It's as fast or faster than its competitors; (except for More Disk Space which has too many other problems to be seriously considered) and it frees up more space on a typical hard drive than any competing product. If you'd like to try before you buy, check out the time-limited demo ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Now_Compress_Demo.sea.bin At about half the price of Now Utilities or DiskDoubler, SpaceSaver ($35) from Aladdin Systems is also a good value, especially since it can create and expand net standard .sit files thus serving both archiving and transparent compression needs. The compression is fast although it's not as tight as the competition's. SpaceSaver does give up some speed by decompressing applications onto disk rather than straight into RAM like other compressors. This may improve compatibility with future systems but slows decompression and contributes to file fragmentation, especially on very full disks. Documents normally need to be decompressed onto disk regardless of compressor, and SpaceSaver is faster than most for compressing and decompressing documents. However since any form of compression reduces redundancy in data and makes corruption of files more likely, I don't compress my document files. Since application files don't change nearly as often and since I'm therefore a lot more likely to have multiple backups of them, I feel much safer only compressing applications. But if you do compress your documents, SpaceSaver is quite competitive. SpaceSaver's only known major incompatibilities are with Norton Utilities' Directory Assistance II, MacPassword, Empower II, and SuperATM. A ResEdit fix for the Directory Assistance Conflict is available on request from Aladdin. The incompatibility with SuperATM can be cured merely by renaming SpaceSaver ~SpaceSaver so it loads after SuperATM. MacPassword and Empower II are just not compatible with SpaceSaver. HOW DO THEY COMPARE TO TIMESTWO, STACKER, AND eDISK? (6.6) ----------------------------------------------------------- Golden Triangle's TimesTwo was a unique hard disk driver backed by a misleading advertising campaign. Unlike the file-level compressors discussed in the previous section TimesTwo is not an init that patches the file system. Rather it is a hard disk driver similar to Drive7 or HardDisk Toolkit. After a disk is formatted with TimesTwo the Finder will report the disk as twice the size it actually is; e.g. a forty megabyte disk will seem to be an eighty megabyte disk. TimesTwo then uses compression to try to fit eighty megabytes of data into the forty megabytes that's really there. If it can't compress well enough to fit the eighty megabytes of data it promises (and it generally can't), it creates a phantom file to take up the space it overestimated. All data written to the disk will be automatically compressed. This is the exact opposite of the marketdroid promises that TimesTwo works without compressing anything. In fact it compresses everything. It's reassuring to know that the market does sometimes punish such sleazy advertising. Golden Triangle is out of business and TimesTwo is no longer either sold or supported. Stacker ($95) and eDisk ($62) work similarly to Times Two, the main difference being that they are added on top of your current hard disk driver rather than in place of it. This may allow you to retain the partitions and other features of your current driver if it's one Stacker or Edisk is compatible with. However both are incompatible with a number of other driver level programs including several disk formatters and security programs, most notably the latest Apple driver for asynchronous mode on the 68040 Macs. Alysis has made a very functional demo version of eDisk available with the only restriction that it compresses at most three to two. ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/EdiskDemo.sit.bin Driver level compressors allegedly increase disk savings by compressing everything whereas file level compressors exclude certain frequently accessed files like the desktop file, most things in the System Folder, and the hard disk data structures from compression. However the existing file-level compressors use more efficient compression algorithms than existing driver level compressors so they normally save you as much or even more space. Furthermore the exclusion of frequently accessed files from compression vastly improves the speed of file-level compressed disks. Under driver level compression since every file needs to be decompressed when read or compressed when written, a driver-level compressed disk is noticeably slower than the same Mac with a non-compressed disk or even a Mac whose disk has been compressed with a file level compressor. As one Apple VAR put it, "installing TimesTwo is like dipping your drive in molasses." Stacker and eDisk have equally high coefficients of virtual viscosity. Driver level compressors are more popular in the PC world where it's common to find a fast 486 CPU driving a slow IDE hard disk so that the time savings from reading fewer physical blocks outweigh the time lost doing decompression. In the Macintosh world the opposite situation, a fast SCSI disk coexisting with a slow 68000 CPU, is more common so driver level compression doesn't work as well. This may be changing though. Stacker is now PowerPC native and may soon be able to decompress files so quickly that disk access speed may actually improve when it's installed. I haven't seen any benchmarks to show this yet, but I expect that if current PowerPC chips aren't quite fast enough to make this a reality, the next generation will be. Using a file-level compressor on a disk already compressed by one of these products will gain little if any space and will probably cut your disk access speed in half again so you should use either driver-level or file-level compression, not both. All the transparent compression programs have had a number of bugs and incompatibilities in their initial releases; and TimesTwo Stacker, and eDisk are no exceptions. Unlike the file-level programs, however, there have been a number of reports that the first releases of all three of these utilities have caused data loss and even corruption of entire hard disks. It is as yet unknown whether these bugs are fixed in more recent versions. Given the known incompatibilities, probable speed loss, and significant risk of data corruption associated with driver level compression, I recommend that you do not use any of these products at this time. WHERE DID MY ICONS GO? (6.7) ----------------------------- Your icons have passed on to a better place, but with a little magic it's normally possible to resurrect them. Several utilities including Norton Utilities for the Mac and the freeware drag-and-drop utility Save-A-BNDL should retrieve your icons. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/SaveABNDL.sit.bin Rebuilding the desktop (Question 4.3 in the Introductory FAQ) should also restore your icons. WHERE CAN I FIND A USER GROUP? (6.8) ------------------------------------- You can contact Apple's user groups liason office at (800) 538-9696, extension 500. They'll be happy to provide you with contact information for a local Macintosh user group. WHERE CAN I FIND THE 1984 QUICKTIME MOVIE? (6.9) ------------------------------------------------- Try ftp://csc.ucs.uwplatt.edu/Quicktime/1984/ between 8 P.M. and 6 A.M. Central Standard Time. The total file is 13.9 megabytes though it's split into five StuffIt segments of about 2.9 megabytes each. Be sure to ftp it in Binary mode, not the usual default of ASCII. This site has several other popular Quicktime movies including a recent Saturday Night Live "Newton" commercial. DO RAM DOUBLER AND OPTIMEM WORK? (6.10) ---------------------------------------- Connectix's RAM Doubler ($50 street) uses the PMMU on 68030 and 68040 Macs to fool the system into believing the Mac has twice as much memory as it actually has. RAM Doubler provides the extra memory through a combination of compressing data in RAM, letting applications borrow memory from other programs that aren't using their full allotment, and storing data that would normally be in RAM on the hard disk. RAM Doubler requires System 7 or later. It performs as advertised, providing more RAM for your applications. RAM Doubler does this more efficiently and with less speed penalty than virtual memory (which can't be used at the same time as RAM Doubler) though most Macs do slow down by 5-10% when using it. RAM Doubler works better with multiple applications than with a single memory hog like Photoshop. Rule of thumb: For best performance the memory used by the system plus the largest application partition should be less than or equal to your physical RAM size. Ideally RAM Doubler will be transparent to your system, but there are incompatibilities between it and some applications and extensions. In particular you should watch out for extensions like CopyDoubler or SpeedyFinder which can slow your system to a crawl when they try to use all the extra RAM they think they have (but really don't) for caching files. RAM Doubler is also incompatible with FAXstf 3.0, UltraShield, Times Two and the various development versions of MacsBug. It works with MacsBug 6.2.2. If you must use a development version of MacsBug, use 6.5d4 or later and RAMDoubler 1.0.2 or later. In general if an application works with virtual memory, it should work with RAM Doubler. The Jump Development's Group Optimem is a more expensive ($80 street) competing product. Optimem doesn't increase available memory like RAM Doubler does. Instead it forces applications to make more efficient use of the memory they have. Optimem doles out RAM to applications only as they need it rather than allocating fixed size partitions at startup like the Finder normally does. Go to the Finder and look at About this Macintosh... in the Apple menu. All the light blue (or white on a black and white monitor) space in the bar beside each application is RAM that application has been allocated but isn't using. Optimem makes that memory available to other applications. In effect it forces them to share. If you have a lot of white space in your memory bars, then Optimem can help you. If you don't then RAM Doubler is certainly a better choice. OptiMem and RAM Doubler may be used together. However this is going to turn RAM Doubler into little more than another version of virtual memory since it does its RAM compression tricks using allocated but unused space while Optimem eliminates that space. Since Optimem is less transparent than RAM Doubler, Optimem is incompatible with more applications. Optimem can, however, be disabled on an application by application basis. The one big advantage OPtiMem has over RAM Doubler is that it doesn't require a PMMU. Thus it will run on 68000 series Macs like the Plus, SE, and Classic. I'M GREEDY. CAN I TRIPLE MY RAM? (6.11) ----------------------------------------- You need RAM Doubler 1.0.1 or 1.0.2 for this trick. You can't do this with RAM Doubler 1.0, 1.0.3, 1.0.4 or 1.5. Turn RAM doubler off and reboot your Mac. Then open RAM Doubler with ResEdit. Open the "Main" VCMD resource and use ResEdit's Find command to find the hex digits A868. Just before these digits are the hex numbers 0002 0000. This is a hexadecimal fixed point number that tells RAM Doubler how much to multiply the RAM by. Change it to 00030000 for a RAM tripler, 00040000 for a RAM quadrupler, and so on. Then restart twice. You will now have even more RAM. Of course the the more RAM you ask for, the more likely it becomes that RAM Doubler will need to use virtual memory to meet your RAM demands thus slowing down your Mac. For large quantities of RAM Apple's virtual memory is faster than RAM Doubler. You can also use fractional multipliers as long as you remember that the number you're changing is a hexadecimal fixed point number with the "hexidecimal point" between the second and third bytes. For example two and a half would be 00028000 which would make a "RAM Double-and-a-halfer" This trick is even easier with RAM Doubler 1.0.1. Instead of opening the VCMD resource open the 'pref' resource. This resource contains several fields. The one you want is called "multiplier value." This field contains one hexadecimal fixed point number, 00020000. Change it to 00030000 for a RAM tripler, 00040000 for a RAM quadrupler, and so on. Spencer Low's five dollar shareware product MaxRAM wraps a nice interface around this procedure for those who aren't comfortable exploring the bowels of their software with ResEdit. More importantly MaxRAM even works on RAM Doubler 1.0.3 and 1.0.4 (though not yet on RAM Doubler 1.5 :-(). See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MaxRAM.sit.bin HOW DO I RUN SOFTWARE THAT NEEDS AN FPU ON A MAC THAT DOESN'T HAVE ONE? (6.12) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Neil's $10 shareware ($20 for native PowerPC version) extension Software FPU will emulate a floating point coprocessor on an FPUless 68020 or 68030. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/SoftFPU.sit.bin This will let most (though not all) software that requires an FPU run, albeit slowly. Software FPU does not work on 68000 Macs. Version 3.0 will let some programs work on a 68LC040 Mac like the Quadra 605, but due to a bug in the 68LC040 chip many programs may crash. You'll need to test each program you use for compatibility. Motorola may release a fixed version of the 68LC040 sometime in the second quarter of 1994. Software FPU is MUCH slower than a real FPU. It will not improve floating point performance for applications that do not absolutely require an FPU. Finally note that an earlier version of the same program called "PseudoFPU" is still available at some archives. This is inferior to the current version of Software FPU and should not be used. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold Department of Mathematics elharo@shock.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology eharold@sunspot.noao.edu Newark NJ 07102 .. Archive-name: macintosh/system-faq Version: 2.3.2 Last-modified: November 4, 1994 Maintainer: elharo@shock.njit.edu URL: http://rever.nmsu.edu/faq/systemfaq.html Frequently Asked Questions about Macintosh System Software ========================================================== comp.sys.mac.faq, part 2: comp.sys.mac.system Copyright 1993,1994 by Elliotte Harold Please see section 5.8 of the general FAQ if you wish to redistribute, revise or republish this document in any way. Archive-name: macintosh/system-faq Version: 2.3.2 Last-modified: November 4, 1994 Address comments to elharo@shock.njit.edu What's new in version 2.3.2: ---------------------------- 1.2: What is MODE32? the 32-bit enabler? Do I need them? Forget the 32-bit enabler. Use Mode 32. Questions 2.2 and 2.3, What does System 7.1 give me for my $35 that System 7.1 doesn't? Where can I get System 7.1? are now What does System 7.5 give me for my $20/$50/$99 that System 7.1 doesn't? Where can I get System 7.5? 2.5. Non-US scripts and systems System 7.5 includes many international keyboard layouts. Nisus Writer has been released. 2.6. What is System 7 Tuneup? System Update 3.0? etc.? Do I need them? This question now covers all the various tuneups and updates for all the various OS versions. I've added question 2.5: Can I get System 7.5 on 800K disks? Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Memory 1. Why is my system using so much memory? 2. What is MODE32? the 32-bit enabler? Do I need them? 3. How much memory should I allot to my cache? II. System Software 1. Why does Apple charge for system software? 2. What does System 7.5 give me for my $35/$50/$99 that System 7.1 doesn't? 3. Where can I get System 7.5? 4. How can I use System 6 on a System 7 only Mac? 5. Non-US scripts and systems 6. What is System 7 Tuneup? System Update 3.0? etc.? Do I need them? 7. Why do my DA's disappear when I turn on MultiFinder? 8. Do I need System 7.0.1? 9. Can I get System 7.0.1 on 800K disks? 10. Can I get System 7.5 on 800K disks? III. Hard Disk and File System Problems 1. Help! My folder disappeared! 2. Why can't I throw this folder away? 3. Why can't I share my removable drive? 4. Why can't I eject this SyQuest cartridge? CD-ROM? etc. 5. Why can't I rename my hard disk? 6. How do I change my hard disk icon? IV. Fonts 1. How do I convert between Windows fonts and Mac fonts? TrueType and PostScript? 2. What font will my screen/printer use when different types are installed? 3. Where should I put my fonts? V. Miscellaneous: 1. What does System Error XXX mean? 2. What is a Type Y error? 3. What is A/ROSE? 4. Easy Access: One Answer, Many Questions 5. How can I keep multiple system folders on one hard disk? 6. How do I access the programmer's key? RETRIEVING THE ENTIRE FAQ ========================= This is the SECOND part of this FAQ. The first part is also posted to this newsgroup under the subject heading "Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)" and includes a complete table of contents for the entire document as well as information on where to post, ftp, file decompression, trouble-shooting, preventive maintenance and conditions for reproduction, posting and use of this document outside of Usenet. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth parts are posted every two weeks in comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.apps, comp.sys.mac.wanted and comp.sys.mac.hardware respectively. Please familiarize yourself with all six sections of this document before posting. All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/ Except for the introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as general-faq, the name of each file has the format of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq", e.g the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq. You can also have these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/name in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g. general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions. For access via Mosaic use http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/faqs.html ============= MEMORY (1.0) ============= WHY IS MY SYSTEM TAKING UP SO MUCH MEMORY? (1.1) ------------------------------------------------- Under system versions earlier than 7.0 or under System 7.x without 32-bit addressing turned on the Mac cannot access more than eight megabytes of real memory. If you have more physical RAM installed, the Mac knows it's present but can't do anything with it. When About this Macintosh (About the Finder in System 6) is selected from the Apple menu, the system reports all the memory it can't use as part of the system memory allocation. To use the memory you need to install System 7 and turn on 32-bit addressing in the Memory control panel. If you have a Mac with dirty ROMs (a II, IIx, SE/30, or IIcx) you also need MODE32. MODE32 is free from the mythical friendly neighborhood dealer or ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/mode32.sit.bin The Mac II also needs the FDHD ROM upgrade to use 4 megabyte or larger SIMMs in Bank A. Without it SIMMs larger than one megabyte can only be put in the second bank of memory on a Mac II. If you're staying with System 6, Maxima from Connectix ($45 street) allows you to use up to fourteen megabytes of real memory and can allocate anything beyond that to a RAM disk. If you have an LC or an LC II with four megabytes of RAM soldered to the motherboard, you still need to add two four-megabyte SIMM's to reach the ten megabyte maximum imposed by the LC ROM. This means you'll always have two unused megabytes which About this Macintosh and About the Finder report as part of the system memory allocation. Unfortunately there is no current means of accessing this extra memory. If you've turned on 32-bit addressing or if you have eight megabytes or less of RAM, check your disk cache (RAM cache in System 6) in the Memory Control Panel (General Control Panel in System 6) to make sure it isn't set exceptionally high. All memory allotted to the cache comes out of the System's memory allocation. Finally if you recently upgraded to System 7.1 by updating your system software rather than by doing a clean reinstall, (See question 4.6 in the general FAQ) you should move all fonts out of your system file as these can take up an extraordinary amount of memory. WHAT IS MODE32? THE 32-BIT ENABLER? DO I NEED THEM? (1.2) ------------------------------------------------------------ MODE32 and the 32-bit enabler are system extensions that allow Mac II's, IIx's, IIcx's, and SE/30's to access more than eight megabytes of real memory under System 7. The 32-bit enabler is buggy and doesn't work at all with System 7.0 or 7.5. If you have more than eight megabytes of real memory in an SE/30, II, IIcx, or IIx, (or eight megabytes and RAM Doubler) you need MODE32. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/mode32.sit.bin HOW MUCH MEMORY SHOULD I ALLOT TO MY CACHE? (1.3) -------------------------------------------------- One of the Memory Control Panel (or General Control Panel in System 6) settings is the mysterious cache, Disk Cache in System 7, RAM cache in System 6. This is memory the system sets aside to hold frequently accessed data from the disk. The cache acts like a 7-11 for your hard disk. It's quicker to get a quart of milk at the 7-11, but it costs more so you don't do all your shopping there. And the 7-11 doesn't have everything you want so sometimes you need to go to the A&P (your hard disk) instead. Unfortunately the caches in pre-7.5 system software really aren't all that fast. For most people the RAM cache would more appropriately be called the RAM thief. Its effect on performance seems to be much like the canals of Mars. You have to want to see it before you can. The caching algorithm has allegedly been improved in System 7.5 but I haven't seen any hard evidence of that yet. However there are a few applications and extensions such as Dayna DOSMounter that actually make use of the cache and will run much faster when it's turned on than when it's off. Thus I recommend setting your cache to 64K, turning it on, and forgetting about it. I hope that in 1994 most Macintoshes have enough RAM that they don't need to worry about losing 64K. If, however, your Mac is a IIsi running a color monitor from the internal video, then you may possibly speed up your Mac with an appropriate cache setting. The IIsi and the IIci use system RAM to store the video image on your screen. (Other Macs with internal video have video RAM separate from the main system RAM so this trick doesn't apply to them.) The internal video competes with the System for use of this RAM; and that competition slows down your Mac, just like two children fighting in the back seat of your car adds an hour to the time it takes to get to the beach. To stop the fighting a smart parent will put one child in the front seat and one in the back. A smart Mac owner will put the internal video in the front seat and the system in the back seat. To push the system out of the front seat set a IIsi's cache to between 384K and 768K which will take up all the space in the front seat not occupied by the internal video and force the system to sit in the back. The exact value depends on the type of monitor you have installed. Experiment to see what works for you. Unfortunately this trick doesn't work when virtual memory is turned on, but if you're using virtual memory you're probably more concerned about saving memory than gaining speed anyway. There's also a bug in the System 6 cache code that may cause a peformance hit on disk access if the cache is larger than 128K so this trick is more likely to help Macs running System 7, but again experiment to see what works for you. ====================== SYSTEM SOFTWARE (2.0) ====================== WHY DOES APPLE CHARGE FOR SYSTEM SOFTWARE? (2.1) ------------------------------------------------- Apple charges for system software because Apple's policy makers suspect they'll make more money by charging for it than by not charging for it. Apple is a publicly held corporation in a capitalist economy where the law requires corporations to make reasonable attempts to maximize profits. To give away something Apple could make more money by charging for would be a breach of the fiduciary responsibility of Apple's Board of Directors and actionable by Apple stockholders in a court of law. WHAT DOES SYSTEM 7.5 GIVE ME FOR MY $20/$50/$99 THAT SYSTEM 7.1 DOESN'T? (2.2) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quite a lot actually. You get Apple Guide, MacTCP, the ability to read DOS formatted floppy disks, a hierarchical Apple menu, a menu bar clock, QuickDraw GX, some new fonts, drag and drop between applications, background floppy formatting, a disk cache that actually works, AppleScript and a scriptable Finder, QuickTime 2.0, and about fifty other features of varying utility. There's no feature that makes the upgrade a necessity, so if you're happy with your current system software and don't want to spend $90 for these new features don't. Most new software should continue to work well with System 7.0 and 7.1 for at least the next year WHERE CAN I GET SYSTEM 7.5? (2.3) ---------------------------------- Apple rationalized its decision to begin charging for system software by claiming that most people had been unable to get system software updates from online sources or authorized dealers (and of course they rationalized their refusal to authorize low-price mail order dealers by claiming that Macs require dealer support) and by claiming that charging for system software will make retailers more willing to stock Apple system software and thus make it easier to obtain. This denies the reality that System 7.0 was in fact readily available from the primary sources of payware Mac software as well as being freely available online. And I doubt a full-page ad for System 7.0 in the software catalogs costs Apple any more than an ad for System 7.5. This rationalization also ignores how previously in large organizations only one person needed to be able to get the system software from a dealer, online, or bundled with a new CPU before others could freely and legally copy it. So, despite Apple's protests to the contrary, it is now harder to get a current copy of the system software thus creating a FAQ where there was none before. The easiest way to get System 7.5 is to visit your local software retailer and buy it for about $99 (though I've seen it as low as $90 and as high as $129 so shop around). You can also order it from all the usual mail-order houses like Mac Zone. It comes in two versions, one on high density floppy disks and one on CD-ROM that also includes a couple of Peirce Printing Tools extensions for QuickDraw GX. Both of these versions include an upgrade manual. Most user groups have a limited number of coupons to get this version of the upgrade direct from Apple for $49.95 plus sales tax and shipping and handling. Delivery takes about six weeks. If you purchased the System 7.1 Personal Upgrade Kit between June 2, 1994 and October 2, 1994 (or if you have a scanner, an old software receipt, and some familiarity with a photo retouching program) you can upgrade for about $40 by buying the System 7.5 upgrade kit from any number of software retailers and mail order houses. The upgrade kit does NOT include the DataVIZ translators and Peirce Printing Tools included in the full retail price version. Nor does it include any manuals. If you purchased System 7 Pro between June 2, 1994 and October 2, 1994 you can get this upgrade for $19.99. All orders for the upgrade kit must be received by January 15, 1995. As of this writing all mail order houses I'm familiar with are severely back ordered (to the tune of several thousand copies per retailer) on this upgrade kit and do not know when more will be available. For more information on the upgrade program call Apple at (800) 769-2775 X5919. Finally if you purchased a new Mac since August 2, 1994 and it did not come with System 7.5 pre-loaded, then you're eligible for a "free" upgrade that will only cost you $10. You have to get this directly from Apple though. Call 1-800-SOS-APPL and play a little phone tag for details. HOW CAN I USE SYSTEM 6 ON A MAC THAT REQUIRES SYSTEM 7? (2.4) -------------------------------------------------------------- The PowerBook 100, Classic II, LCII, Performa 200, and Performa 400 all work with System 6.0.8L, a special foreign version of System 6.0.8 that was hacked together because these machines beat many of the internationalized versions of System 7 to market. System 6.0.8L is available via gopher from csc.ucs.uwplatt.edu in the folder "Software (Downloadable Goodies & QuickTime Stuff)" See gopher://csc.ucs.uwplatt.edu/1D-1%3a1409%3aSoftware WHERE CAN I GET NON-U.S. SYSTEM SOFTWARE AND SCRIPTS? (2.5) ------------------------------------------------------------ For a company that's as hip to the international marketplace as Apple, it sure has a difficult time comprehending that its customers might need to work with more than one language. A recent call to the Apple Customer Assistance Center support line revealed that system software is available only in the country of origin. The support rep was unable even to provide contact information for distributors in countries outside the United States. What the support rep didn't know (but I do) is that most international versions of System 7.0.1 are available for anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft.intl/ Your best chance to get Korean system software or any international version of System 7.1 is to have a friend in the appropriate country mail you the software. If you want to work with multiple languages but don't need an entire foreign system, you first need to upgrade to at least System 7.1, the first truly international operating system. System 7.1 includes numerous hooks to support multiple languages. After installing System 7.1 the first thing you'll want are keyboards, fonts, and script systems that let you write in your language of choice. Many international keyboard layouts are included in ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/ManyInternationalKeyboards.sit.bin A number of Roman keyboards are also included with System 7.5. Apple's Japanese and Chinese Language Kits are available from MacConnection (1-800-800-2222) for a little less than $200 each. They do not officially work with System 7.5 but there have been reports on the net that they can be made to do so by removing some of the extras included in System 7.5. While Apple plans to release more language kits in the future, no others are currently available. So once again if you want to work in Arabic, Hebrew, Icelandic or something else, you need to have a friend in the appropriate country mail you the software. Application software that supports your language of choice is also nice to have. Currently the only WorldScript savvy word processors are Nisus Writer 4.0 and WordPerfect 3.1. (SimpleText is WorldScript savvy but only supports text up to 32K in size.) Nisus Writer supports Western European languages and Japanese. With an extra cost ADB dongle it can also work in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Farsi and most Eastern European languages. WordPerfect supports all Roman and two-byte WorldScript II languages like Chinese and is not copy-protected. However it does not work with the right-to-left WorldScript I languages like Arabic. WHAT IS SYSTEM 7 TUNEUP? SYSTEM UPDATE 3.0? ETC. DO I NEED THEM? (2.6) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you use System 7.0, 7.0.1, or the System 7.0 printer drivers, you need System 7 Tuneup 1.1.1. The tuneup includes a number of fixes and enhancements to System 7, including substantially faster printer drivers, a StyleWriter driver that supports background printing, a fix that saves several hundred kilobytes of memory on non-networked Macs, and, most importantly, a vaccine for the disappearing folders bug. ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.0.tuneup/system-7-tune-up-1-1-1.hqx If you're using System 7.1, 7.1 Pro or 7.1.2, then you should install System Update 3.0 instead, available from ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.system.updates/ This replaces all the various System Software Updates and Hardware System Updates. None of these are necessary for System 7.5. WHY DO MY DA'S DISAPPEAR WHEN I TURN ON MULTIFINDER? (2.7) ----------------------------------------------------------- You need to put the file "DA Handler" in your System Folder. It should be on one of your System 6.0.x disks. Under Finder the Desk Accessories load into the memory provided by your application. Under MultiFinder they load into their own memory space provided by DA Handler. DO I NEED SYSTEM 7.0.1? (2.8) ------------------------------ Officially if you don't have a Quadra or PowerBook, you don't need System 7.0.1. Unofficially some changes were made that speed up SANE (numerics) operations on 32-bit clean Macintoshes with a floating-point coprocessor. These include all IIci's and IIfx's plus LC's and IIsi's that have had a coprocessor specially installed. (Neither of the latter machines ships with a coprocessor.) See ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/sys.soft/7.0.1/7.0.1.1400k CAN I GET SYSTEM 7.0.1 ON 800K DISKS? (2.9) -------------------------------------------- You can't because all machines that gain any benefits from 7.0.1 come equipped with high density floppy drives. You can however use the free utility MungeImage to mount the images of the 1400K System 7.0.1 disks on your hard drive and install from the image rather than a floppy. Be warned, however, that installing system software from mounted images is a notoriously unreliable procedure. Be sure you make a complete backup of your hard disk and have a set of system disks on genuine floppies before attempting to install from mounted images. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MungeImage.sit.bin CAN I GET SYSTEM 7.5 ON 800K DISKS? (2.10) -------------------------------------------- As of this writing Apple has not made System 7.5 available on 800K floppy disks. You can still install it from a CD-ROM though. ========================================= HARD DISK AND FILE SYSTEM PROBLEMS (3.0) ========================================= HELP! MY FOLDER DISAPPEARED! (3.1) ----------------------------------- Try a Find on the missing filenames. In the meantime grab Disk First Aid 7.2 from ftp.apple.com which should be able to fix this problem. See ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/disk-first-aid-7-2.hqx WHY CAN'T I THROW AWAY THIS FOLDER? (3.2) ------------------------------------------ Possibly the folder contains items that are locked or in use and can't be thrown away. Turn off file-sharing (if it's on) and quit all applications. Then try to throw the folder away. If that doesn't work and you're using System 6, hold down the option-key and drag the folder into the trash; or, if you're using System 7, hold down the option key while selecting "Empty Trash" from the special menu. Holding the option key down lets you throw away locked items. If that doesn't work restart the computer, hold down the option key, and try again. If you still can't throw away the folder, try throwing away the items in the folder (if any) one by one until you find the ones giving you trouble. Remove them from the folder, and then throw the folder away. If you still can't throw the folder away, you've discovered a "Folder from Hell." Create an empty folder on ANOTHER disk with the same name as the Hell Folder. Then copy the new folder onto the same disk in the same folder as the Hell Folder. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to replace the Hell Folder. Now you should be able to throw the just copied folder away. If that doesn't work, get a copy of John Jeppson's HellFolderFix utility from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/HellFolderFix.sit.bin WHY CAN'T I SHARE MY SYQUEST DRIVE? CD-ROM? BERNOULLI BOX? ETC.? (3.3) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple originally planned to treat removables like floppies rather than hard disks for file-sharing. At the requests of beta testers file-sharing on removables was hacked into System 7.0 at the last minute. However, since file-sharing was originally to be implemented only on fixed drives, no means were created for the host Mac to tell other Macs when a new volume went on or off-line. Therefore sharing a removable volume requires that the disc or cartridge be inserted and mounted when filesharing is turned on. Turn filesharing off and on with the drive powered up and the cartridge inserted and you should then be able to share the removable. WHY CAN'T I EJECT THIS SYQUEST CARTRIDGE? CD-ROM? FLOPTICAL? ETC.? (3.4) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- When file-sharing is turned on it makes all disks larger than two megabytes available for remote access by the owner even if they aren't specifically shared. This prevents the dismounting of removeable media. Turn off file-sharing first. Then drag the volume icon to the trash. Apple's recently released free utility UnmountIt will do this automagically, i.e. turn off file-sharing, eject the disk, and then turn file-sharing back on. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/UnmountIt.sit.bin WHY CAN'T I RENAME MY HARD DRIVE? (3.5) ---------------------------------------- Turn off file-sharing as described above. If the disk you can't rename is not shared, you need to unlock the drive name. This can be done by Kazu Yanagahira's freeware utility Unlock Folder or by Disk First Aid 7.2. See ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/disk-first-aid-7-2.hqx ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/UnlockFolder.sit.bin HOW DO I CHANGE MY HARD DISK ICON? (3.6) ----------------------------------------- In System 7 you change the icon by cutting or copying an icon from somewhere, Getting Info on the hard drive, and pasting the icon into the Get Info box. If the normal pasting of an icon onto your hard drive fails, you'll need to perform some simple software repairs. You will need a utility capable of changing information bits on files and volumes such as ResEdit, the $10 shareware FileTyper 4.0, or the payware DiskTop. See ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/mac/tools/resedit/ ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/FileTyper.sit.bin First turn the "Has Custom Icon" bit on the hard drive OFF. This may be all you need to do so try pasting a new icon again. If this still doesn't work, you need to delete the old icon first. This icon is stored in a file called Icon\r on the root level of your hard disk. (Note that the file may have a different name in some international systems. For instance in the Danish system it's called Symbol\r.) Since the Icon\r file is invisible you'll need to turn the Invisible bit of the file off to make the file visible. Then trash it. Next create an empty folder, Get Info..., on the folder and paste the icon you want for your hard drive in the folder's Get Info box. Make the Icon\r file inside that folder visible and move it to the root level of your hard drive. (You can do this by dragging the file onto the icon of your hard disk.) Now make the file invisible again. Use your utility to turn the "Has Custom Icon" bit ON. Finally restart the computer and rebuild the desktop. In System 6 you must use the hard drive formatting software to give the hard drive a new icon. You'll be limited to the icons included with the formatter. You may be able to edit the icons included with the formatter using a resource editing tool like ResEdit. ============ FONTS (4.0) ============ HOW DO I CONVERT BETWEEN WINDOWS AND MAC FONTS? TRUETYPE AND POSTSCRIPT? (4.1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Reed's $10 shareware TTConverter 1.5 will convert back and forth between Windows and Macintosh TrueType fonts. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/TTConverter.sit.bin The payware programs FontMonger ($95 street) and MetaMorphosis ($89 street) convert between all types of TrueType and PostScript fonts. On the PC side the REFONT program available from ftp://jasper.ora.com/pub/mac-font-tools/refont14.zip will convert Macintosh Truetype fonts to PC TrueType fonts and vice-versa. It also converts Macintosh PostScript fonts to PC PostScript fonts and vice-versa. It will not, however, convert between PostScript fonts and TrueType fonts. WHICH FONT WILL MY SCREEN/PRINTER USE IF DIFFERENT TYPES ARE PRESENT? (4.2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- For screen display a Mac first looks for a bitmap font with the appropriate name in the appropriate size. If it finds it, it uses it. If you're running System 7 or have installed the TrueType init in System 6, your Mac then looks for the the appropriate TrueType font. If it can't find the TrueType font and ATM is installed, it then looks for the appropriate PostScript outline font. As a penultimate resort your Mac will scale a bitmap font to the needed size. Finally, if all else fails and the Mac simply cannot find any member of the requested family, then the display will use the default font, Geneva on U.S. systems, possibly something else on international systems. On a QuickDraw printer (ImageWriter, DeskWriter, StyleWriter, etc.) the Mac normally looks for fonts in the same order it does for the screen. However on some printers in some modes it may look for a larger size of the requested font so it can scale the font down to match the higher resolution of the printer. A PostScript printer looks for fonts in a different order. First it looks for a PostScript outline font on the printer's hard drive (if any). Then it looks for the font in the printer's ROM. Then it looks for the PostScript font on the computer's hard disk. If the printer can't find an appropriate PostScript outline font, then it will use a TrueType font. If it can't find the TrueType font, it looks for a bitmap of the font. Finally if it can't find any version of the font anywhere, it substitutes Courier with predictably horrible results. WHERE SHOULD I PUT MY FONTS? (4.3) ----------------------------------- If you're using System 7.1 or later the answer is simple: Put all fonts (Truetype, PostScript outline, QuickDraw GX and bitmap) in the Fonts folder inside the System Folder. You can put them other places (the Extensions folder, the System Folder itself, the system file) but there's no good reason to do so. In particular storing fonts in the system file unnecessarily is a common cause of system file corruption and all sorts of hard to diagnose problems. When you upgrade to System 7.1 or later, be sure to remove all fonts from the system file. If you're using a system older than 7.1, TrueType fonts and bitmaps belong in your System file. In System 7.0 and 7.0.1 PostScript outline fonts go in the Extensions folder. In System 6 PostScript outline fonts belong in the System Folder. Many older versions of font and printer utilities like ATM and SendPS cannot find fonts placed in System 7.1's Fonts folder. Most of these utilities will work if you put your printer fonts in the Extensions folder or System folder instead. However in all cases I'm aware of upgrades to these utilities that work with the Fonts folder are either cheap (under $10) or free. ==================== MISCELLANEOUS (5.0) ==================== WHAT DOES SYSTEM ERROR XXX MEAN? (5.1) --------------------------------------- Typically it means nothing at all of any use to the end user. Your time is much more productively spent trying to figure out what actions in which application caused the crash so that you can avoid them in the future rather than deciphering system error numbers. After all, knowing that Error 16 means a math coprocessor is not installed doesn't help you much in fixing the problem. Knowing that this happens in QuarkXPress 3.0 every time you try to link two text boxes on a master page when copies of those text boxes already contain text does. (And in this case the error message isn't even accurate.) If you really want to know what that number means, get ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Chiron.sit.bin WHAT IS A TYPE Y ERROR? (5.2) ------------------------------ A Type error is your Macintosh's way of telling you that it's sick and plans to take a nice vacation in Belview for a few days. Among developers Type errors are officially known as DS errors where DS stands for "Deep Spaghetti" though a somewhat more colorful expression is often used in place of "Spaghetti." Your applications are toast. Any unsaved data is lost. Once you've been hit with a Type error there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. You'll probably need to restart your Macintosh either by hitting the programmer's key or by turning the Mac off and on if the programmer's key isn't installed. The most common type errors are Type 1 and Type 3. Type 1 is a bus error. It's most commonly symptomatic of software that isn't 32-bit clean. A Type 3 error is an illegal instruction. It's most often symptomatic of poorly written software. You may occasionally be able to avoid Type 1 errors by turning 32-bit addressing on or off or by turning the cache on or off if you have a 68040 Mac. Otherwise there is almost nothing you can do about these errors except try to find out what actions, applications, and/or extensions cause them so you can report them to the programmer and avoid them in the future. There is no point posting about Type errors to the net. WHAT IS A/ROSE? (5.3) ---------------------- A/ROSE by any other name would still generate as much pointless net traffic. Apple's Realtime Operating System Environment is not needed by 99.9% of the people who stumble across it. It's only needed if you have an MCP NuBus card of which there were about six at last count. The only even moderately common one is Apple's short Ethernet NuBus card. If you don't have such a card, feel free to trash A/ROSE. EASY ACCESS: ONE ANSWER, MANY QUESTIONS (5.4) ---------------------------------------------- Easy Access is a WONDERFUL system extension from Apple, useful for far more than its intended purpose. Unfortunately it's also the source of a lot of confusion and strange behavior on many Macs. It's even been suggested that anti-virals should detect and report the presence of Easy Access since it produces more false virus reports than any other software in Macintosh history. If you're using System 7, your Mac will emit an ascending whistle for about two seconds when Easy Access is turned on and a descending whistle when Easy Access is turned off. You may also hear a beep after some keypresses. Easy Access has two pieces, Sticky Keys, which is turned on by hitting the Shift key five times in a row without moving the mouse, and Mouse Keys which is turned on by hitting Command-Shift-Clear. Sticky Keys lets you type things like Command-Shift-Clear without doing the Rose Mary Wood shuffle. Just hit the modifer keys you want to use and then hit the regular key. For example if Sticky Keys is turned on, you could also turn on Mouse Keys by typing Command, then Shift, then Clear rather than by hitting them all at once. When Sticky Keys is turned on an icon appears in the menu bar to the right of the application icon/menu. Mouse Keys lets the numeric keypad substitute for the mouse. This is especially useful for making precision, single-pixel adjustments in draw and paint programs and for safely shutting down or restarting your computer when the mouse is frozen. HOW CAN I KEEP MULTIPLE SYSTEM FOLDERS ON ONE HARD DISK? (5.5) --------------------------------------------------------------- By far the best way is to divide your disk into multiple partitions, one partition for each system folder. Then use your formatting software to select the partition to boot from. This will, however, trash everything on your hard disk so back up first. Soft partitions like those created by Norton Utilities and other utility packages are not nearly as reliable or safe for your data as hard partitions created by a disk formatter like Drive7. If you don't want to repartition your hard drive, you can keep compressed archives of system folders you might want to use on your hard disk. To switch system folders you'll need to boot off a floppy or a second hard disk, trash the old system folder, and uncompress the new one. Just be sure that when you boot your Mac there's not more than one uncompressed System Folder on any one drive. Finally if you absolutely must keep multiple, bootable system folders on the same hard disk, Keisuke Hara's freeware System Switcher 1.1 will adjust the boot blocks of the hard disk so you can pick which one your Mac will boot off from. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/SystemSwitcher.sit.bin If you put a copy in the Startup Items folder of your System 7 system folder, and specify it as a startup item in System 6, then whenever you start up you'll be offered a choice of systems. HOW DO I ACCESS THE PROGRAMMER'S KEY? (5.6) -------------------------------------------- On Macs that don't have a physical programmer's switch (in other words almost every Mac sold in the last three years) you can restart the computer with Command-Control-Power and drop into the debugger with Command-Power. Also note that in System 7 Command-Option-Escape will force most applications (including the Finder) to quit so you no longer need to activate the debugger just to kill a frozen application. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold Dept. of Mathematics elharo@shock.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology emh0362@hertz.njit.edu Newark NJ 07102 .. Archive-name: macintosh/wanted-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: January 7, 1995 Maintainer: elharo@shock.njit.edu URL: http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/wantedfaq.html Buying and Selling Macintosh Computers, Software and Peripherals ================================================================ comp.sys.mac.faq, part 5: comp.sys.mac.wanted & misc.forsale.computers.mac Copyright 1993,1994 by Elliotte Harold Please see section 5.8 of the general FAQ if you wish to redistribute or revise this document in any way. Archive-name: macintosh/wanted-faq Version: 2.3.23 Last-modified: January 7, 1995 URL: http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/wantedfaq.html Address comments to elharo@shock.njit.edu What's new in version 2.3.3: ---------------------------- I've added info about several new models, current and future. I've added Sam Ash to the list of New York City dealers. I've added some VERY interesting information about the different prices Apple charges its dealers for the same equipment. See section 3.1 for details. And of course prices have continued to fall over the last few months. Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Buying and Selling Used Equipment 1. Should I buy/sell on Usenet? 2. Where should I buy/sell used equipment? 3. I've decided to completely ignore your excellent advice and post my ad anyway. What should I do? 4. I've decided to completely ignore your excellent advice and buy something offered for sale on the net anyway. How can I avoid being ripped off? II. Fair Market Value 1. How much is my computer worth? 2. What is used software worth? 3. Going prices? III. Where Should I Buy a New Mac? 1. Authorized Dealers 2. VAR's 3. Superstores 4. Performas 5. Educational Dealers 6. Direct From Apple 7. Auctions 8. Does anyone know a dealer in New York City? 9. New Equipment Prices IV. When Should I buy a new Mac? 1. Macrotime 2. Microtime 3. When will I get my Mac? V. How Should I Buy a New Mac? 1. Know what you want 2. The dealer needs to sell you a mac more than you need to buy one 3. Have a competitor's ad handy 4. Cash on delivery 5. The sales tax game 6. Leasing 7. Be nice to the salesperson. VI. The Gray Market and Mail Order 1. What is the gray market? 2. Are gray market Macs covered by Apple warranties? 3. Does anyone know a good mail-order company? RETRIEVING THE ENTIRE FAQ ========================= This is the FIFTH part of this FAQ. The first part is also posted to this newsgroup under the subject heading "Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)" and includes a complete table of contents for the entire document as well as information on where to post, ftp, file decompression, trouble-shooting, preventive maintenance and conditions for reproduction, posting and use of this document outside of Usenet. The second, third, fourth, and sixth parts are posted every two weeks in comp.sys.mac.system, comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.apps, and comp.sys.mac.hardware respectively. Please familiarize yourself with all six sections of this document before posting. All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/ Except for the introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as general-faq, the name of each file has the format of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq", e.g the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq. You can also have these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/name in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g. general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions. For access via Mosaic use http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/faqs.html ======================================== BUYING AND SELLING USED EQUIPMENT (1.0) ======================================== SHOULD I BUY OR SELL ON USENET? (1.1) -------------------------------------- No, you should not. Usenet is a medium by which information is broadcast to millions of different people around the world. It's almost certain that noone in Singapore wants to buy a Canadian Classic 4/40, even at a really great price. Import laws, the cost of international shipping and a host of other concerns pose too big an obstacle to the sale of small quantities of used equipment. Even within one country geographical distances often pose a severe obstacle to the sale of used goods. There is simply too great a chance of either seller or buyer being ripped off in a long-distance transaction via non-payment, non-delivery, or non-usable equipment. WHERE SHOULD I BUY/SELL USED EQUIPMENT? (1.2) ---------------------------------------------- LOCAL bulletin boards, both of the electronic and paper varieties, are a far better medium for the sale of used hardware, software, and other tangible quantities. Some Usenet sites and local areas have local for sale newsgroups (e.g. nj.forsale here in New Jersey) which are more appropriate for classified advertising than netwide groups like comp.sys.mac.wanted. In large cities and college towns you should reach just as many potential buyers by advertising locally as by posting to the net. Advertising locally gives both the seller and the buyer the BIG advantage of being able to meet to test the system, verify that what is being offered is in fact what is available, and avoiding the hassle of shipping. The chance of being ripped off either through non-payment or non-delivery is GREATLY reduced by advertising and selling locally. I WANT TO POST MY AD ANYWAY. WHAT SHOULD I DO? (1.3) ------------------------------------------------------ First see section 2.0 below to try and decide on a reasonable price. Be prepared for flames if your price is too far out of line including follow-up posts warning potential buyers that you are trying to rip them off. You may just want to state "best offer." That way you aren't responsible if someone else misvalues your equipment. If an offer does come in that meets your minimum price, you can sell it. If there are no reasonable offers, you don't have to sell. Be sure to include a descriptive subject line in your post. For Sale, Macintosh For Sale, and Macintosh Software For Sale are all HORRIBLE subject lines. Better subject lines would be SE/30 4/40, $595 or best offer or Photoshop 2.5, unopened, $250. Then include a more detailed description in the body of the post. Also be sure to state whether or not you'll pay shipping. (It's much easier to sell an item if you agree to pay shipping.) You should post your notice in comp.sys.mac.wanted and misc.forsale.computers.mac ONLY. Posting a for sale ad to comp.sys.mac.misc is guaranteed flame-bait, even more so if your offer is over-priced. You should also restrict the distribution of your message to as local an area as possible. Ask your local news administrator for help if you don't know how to do this. Finally if you've sold your item please don't post a message saying the item has been sold. Most of us don't care. If you are getting a lot of offers and want to take the item off the market, it's better to cancel the original message. The bandwidth cost is the same, but you'll save a lot of people the trouble of reading two now-pointless messages from you. Again you may need to ask your local news administrator how to do this. HOW CAN I AVOID BEING RIPPED OFF WHEN I BUY SOMETHING FROM THE NET? (1.4) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can't, which is the single biggest reason I recommend against buying and selling on Usenet. The most effective precaution you can take is to insist on check-on-delivery. That way you give the seller nothing until something is delivered, and you can stop payment on the check if what is delivered is not what was advertised. This may cost a few dollars more, but the added security is more than worth it. NEVER pay in advance for used goods from an unknown shipper. You may also want to insist on a work address and phone number for the seller. This is especially effective if the forsale post originates from a company account. The threat of being harassed at work is more effective than the threat of legal action against some unscrupulous individuals who realize you probably won't sue but may complain to their boss. Even when dealing with completely honest individuals it's still much easier to haggle over terms and work out shipping arrangements via phone than through protracted E-mail exchanges. ======================== FAIR MARKET VALUE (2.0) ======================== HOW MUCH IS MY USED HARDWARE WORTH? (2.1) ------------------------------------------ Make your lowest estimate of the resale value of your hardware taking into account current prices on new hardware of equivalent capability. Then divide that estimate by two. The price you now have is somewhere above the fair market value of your hardware. Almost everyone severely overestimates the value of their equipment. I've seen friendships and business relationships destroyed once buyers realized how badly they'd been taken EVEN THOUGH THE SELLERS DID NOT INTENTIONALLY MISLEAD THE BUYERS. Computers are like cars in that they lose 30% of their value as soon as you walk out of the dealer's showroom with one. They are unlike cars in that they lose more value when new models are released irregardless of the condition or age of the previous model. Unlike cars newer models of computer really are better. High-end systems retain their value longer. My 8/45 SE/30, a high-end system when I bought it four years ago, is still barely salable today. Had I purchased a low-end Plus instead it would at most be worth $100 for parts. WHAT IS USED SOFTWARE WORTH? (2.2) ----------------------------------- Almost nothing. It's certainly worth less than the cost of distributing a for sale message around the world on Usenet. If the software is the current version AND includes all original master disks and manuals AND a notarized letter transferring ownership from the original purchaser to the new owner, then it's worth about half of the current mail-order or educational discount price, whichever is lower. Especially note that software left on a hard disk when a computer is sold adds NOTHING to the value of the system. The buyer can pirate payware and download shareware just as easily as the seller. NO REALLY, HOW MUCH IS MY SYSTEM WORTH? (2.3) ---------------------------------------------- I'll give a few numbers I consider current as of mid 1994. Unlike the completely ridiculous prices you'll find in the AmCo index these values shouldn't leave the buyer feeling ripped off. As a seller you can often get higher prices than these, but as a buyer these represent what you should be able to bargain somebody down to. Asking prices and configurations vary WILDLY so haggle and don't be afraid to wait for a better deal if you don't like what someone is offering. When trying to determine reasonable prices for discontinued equipment I consider several factors. First I set a floor for a given model based on what used equipment dealers like Sun Remarketing are willing to pay for inventory and by what repair shops will pay for parts. Then I set a ceiling based on two thirds of typical prices for a model at used computer dealers. Used computer dealers can charge more than individuals because they do offer warranties that provide some protection against buying a lemon. Nonetheless the Macintosh market moves so fast that dealers of used equipment sometimes aren't able to unload inventory before the price of equivalent new models drops below what they paid for inventory. The existence of many of these dealers is marginal and depends heavily on customers who assume that new equipment is more expensive than old and that mail order is cheaper than buying from the local dealer, neither of which is necessarily true. Thus I also considered the prices of equivalent and better new machines as well. The real kicker here is the Performa 475 (a.k.a. Quadra 605), a 25 MHz 68LC040 (no FPU) with 14" basic color monitor, 4 megs RAM, 160 megabyte hard disk, keyboard, several useful applications and a twelve month warranty for about $1000 new. Very few used Macs currently being offered for sale have as much horsepower as this machine though some may have additional features such as a better monitor or more slots. However very few people buying used equipment need a better monitor or more than one expansion slot. Thus as a buyer or a seller ask yourself what a machine is worth compared to a Peforma 475. Within this range I try to set the suggested price in the ballpark of the lowest asking price I've seen on Usenet or elsewhere. Finally I adjust the prices a little between models to make sure that equivalently capable used Macs cost about the same amount. My ultimate goal is to ensure that a buyer who pays the price listed here does not feel cheated in a transaction, either because they see the Mac they just bought for $1000 advertised for $500 two weeks later or because they realize they could have bought a better Mac new for the same money. Both of these happen far too frequently. These prices are mainly for discontinued models. For models that are still available new, see the list in question 3.8. Figure the same system used is worth about 70% of that price plus an extra half percent for every month of warranty coverage left. For compact Macs all prices include a keyboard and mouse. Take $100 off the price if there's no keyboard or mouse or both. Otherwise the prices are just for the base CPU with internal hard drive and RAM. Most offers to sell do include a monitor, keyboard and mouse and some room for haggling so asking prices will typically be somewhat higher. RAM and hard drive configurations can vary greatly. I've tried to include the high and low ends as well as the configurations you're most likely to run across. Use your best judgment when interpolating and extrapolating to other models. Mac 128 $50 Mac 512 $50 Mac 512ke $50 Mac Plus 1/0 $50 Mac Plus 4/0 $100 SE 1/0 $75 SE 1/20 $100 SE 4/0 $150 SE 4/40 $175 SE/30 1/0 $200 SE/30 4/40 $400 SE/30 5/80 $460 SE/30 8/80 $500 Classic 4/40 $150 Classic 4/80 $175 Classic II 2/40 $315 Classic II 4/80 $420 Color Classic 4/80 $460 LC 4/40 $200 LC 4/80 $250 LC 10/80 $350 LC II 4/40 $200 LC II 4/80 $250 LC II 8/80 $300 LC III 4/80 $350 LC III 4/160 $400 LC 520 4/80 $700 LC 520 5/80/CD $900 LC 520 8/160/CD $1000 LC 550 4/160 $995 LC 575 5/160/CD $1040 LC 575 8/160/CD $1100 Mac II 0/0 $200 Mac II 0/0/FDHD $250 Mac II 8/40 $350 Mac II 4/105/FDHD $450 Mac IIx 0/0 $300 Mac IIx 8/80 $525 Mac IIci 0/0 $475 Mac IIci 8/80 $625 Mac IIcx 0/0 $250 Mac IIsi 2/0 $325 Mac IIsi 3/40 $420 Mac IIsi 5/80 $475 Mac IIsi 5/120/FPU $500 Mac IIfx 0/0 $700 Mac IIfx 4/270 $900 Mac IIvx 4/80 $550 Mac IIvx 5/80/CD $700 Mac IIvx 4/230 $650 Mac IIvx 4/230/CD $850 Centris 610 4/80 $650 Centris 610 8/80 $750 Centris 610 8/230 $900 Centris 610 8/230/CD $1050 Centris 650 8/230 $1050 Centris 650 8/230/CD $1200 Mac Portable 1/40 $200 Mac Portable 4/40 $250 Mac Portable 4/80/Backlit $300 Quadra 605 4/80 (LC 475) $400 Quadra 605 4/160 (LC 475) $469 Quadra 605 8/160 $579 Quadra 605 8/250 $599 Quadra 610 8/160 $800 Quadra 610 8/160/DOS $1000 Quadra 610 8/230 $900 Quadra 610 8/230/CD $1100 Quadra 700 4/0 $600 Quadra 700 4/80 $700 Quadra 700 8/105 $800 Quadra 900 4/0 $1200 Quadra 900 4/160 $1500 PowerBook 100 2/20 $400 PowerBook 100 4/40 $475 PowerBook 140 2/20 $500 PowerBook 140 4/40 $575 PowerBook 140 4/120 $750 PowerBook 145 4/40 $650 PowerBook 160 2/20 $700 PowerBook 160 4/40 $800 PowerBook 165c 4/80 $995 PowerBook 165c 4/120 $1095 PowerBook 165c 4/120/Modem $1195 PowerBook 170 4/40 $1000 PowerBook 170 4/80 $1075 PowerBook 170 8/40/modem $1100 PowerBook 170 4/120 $1165 PowerBook 180c 4/80 $1450 PowerBook 180c 4/160 $1560 PowerBook 180c 4/160/Modem $1670 Duo 210 4/80 $605 Duo 230 4/80 $695 Duo 230 4/120 $795 Duo 230 4/120/Modem $895 Duo 250 4/200 $1150 Duo 250 12/200/Modem $1350 Duo 270c 4/240 $1500 Duo 270c 12/240/Modem $1895 ImageWriter $50 ImageWriter II $75 ImageWriter LQ $100 StyleWriter $135 Personal Laserwriter SC $200 Personal Laserwriter LS $235 Personal Laserwriter NT $285 Personal Laserwriter NTR $335 LaserWriter IISC $300 LaserWriter IINT $500 LaserWriter IINTX $600 LaserWriter IIf $735 LaserWriter IIg $995 Apple CDSC $50 Apple CD-150 $75 Apple Standard Keyboard $50 Apple Extended Keyboard $85 Apple 12" B/W Monitor $115 Apple 13" HiRes Color $300 Apple Portrait Display $265 ==================================== WHERE SHOULD I BUY A NEW MAC? (3.0) ==================================== AUTHORIZED DEALERS (3.1) ------------------------- Hard as it may be to believe Apple authorized dealers are normally the most reliable, best stocked, and cheapest source of Apple brand equipment. You are unlikely to do better by buying at educational discount, at a superstore, or by mail-order (though walking in with the price list from a local university or superstore is often the quickest way to cut through a lot of haggling). The larger dealers should offer you a price several percentage points less than offered by smaller dealers since Apple charges them less for product. The key number is $5,000,000. A dealer that orders five million dollars of merchandise from Apple in a year pays about three percent less for its product than a dealer that only orders $1,000,000 of Apple products in a year. (This is also a great incentive for dealers that are on the borderline of one of the two tiers to cut margins to move more volume.) Dealers that order less than a million dollars a year normally order product through a master reseller like MicroAge which tacks on its own markup. Apple sets minimum advertised pricing and punishes dealers that advertise lower prices so that smaller dealers can compete, at least for the business of uninformed consumers (which isn't you since you're reading this FAQ list.) This helps keep advertised prices pretty much in lockstep, but you should expect that the larger dealers will offer prices several percent less than what they advertise when you visit their store. VAR'S (3.2) ------------ I include Value Added Resellers (VAR's for short) only for the sake of completeness. These dealers custom configure Macintoshes for specific purposes and sell them at a premium price. Generally they are uninterested in single CPU, retail sales. Very few will even attempt to match rock bottom prices. However they are about the only part of the dealer channel that provides significant after-sale support to their customers. SUPERSTORES (3.3) ------------------ Superstores like CompUSA are fairly hassle-free since they won't do any haggling except on the largest orders. They should be able to match a competitor's advertised price though you may need to show them an ad with the better price first. On the other hand any authorized dealer should almost certainly be able to beat a superstore price. After all, noone puts their best price in an ad for all their competitors to see. The best use for a superstore is to tell salespeople at authorized dealers what prices they need to beat to get your business. PERFORMAS (3.4) ---------------- At various times Apple repackages different models of LC's, Classics and Quadra's with slightly different software and sells them as Performa's through consumer outlets like Sears. With one exception (the Performa 600) these have all been virtually identical to one model or another of the Macs sold at authorized dealers except for the bundled software. Most of the time the regular model is cheaper than the equivalent Performa, especially if you don't want the bundled software; but this isn't always true so you should double-check the price of a Performa compared to the model you want to buy. Finally most Performa dealers will sell Macs over the phone to customers they've never met. So if you can't find what you want locally, a Performa may be a reasonable choice. EDUCATIONAL DEALERS (3.5) -------------------------- The nicest thing about campus computer stores is that they're willing to distribute firm price lists with reasonable prices so there's no need to haggle. Also since they typically don't work on commission they're much more honest and open than the average authorized dealer. The worst thing about campus computer stores is that they're normally the last part of the channel to get product. If you order a Mac that isn't in stock through an educational dealer, plan on waiting at least two months for delivery. Educational prices haven't fallen at the same rate as have prices in other channels over the last two years (mainly because educational prices were much lower to start with) so larger authorized dealers should now be able to match or beat educational prices. One of the most effective tactics for dealing with an authorized dealer that cuts through a lot of hassle and haggling is walking in with a copy of a local university price list and asking "Can you do better?" DIRECT FROM APPLE (3.6) ------------------------ Apple does not sell Macs retail except to their largest accounts. They occasionally sell discounted Macs to certain developers but like educational discounts, developer's discounts aren't what they used to be. Most developers agree that the paperwork and delays involved in buying direct aren't worth any small savings that might be had by buying from Apple rather than from a dealer. AUCTIONS (3.7) --------------- Apple occasionally dumps overstocked equipment at various auctions around the country. Most of the time this is NOT a good way to get a good deal on a new Mac. Once auctioneers fees (5%) are factored in prices tend to be higher than you'd pay at a dealer for newer, better models. However some deals are possible if you know what you want and how much its worth. Here are a few rules of thumb for shopping at auction: 1. Get a list of the merchandise offered for sale. Be sure to preview the items before the auction. Auction configurations are not always the same as dealer configurations. Check whether the models you're interested in are new or demos and what their warranty status is. New equipment should have a full one year warranty. 2. Make a list of street prices and prices you're willing to pay for everything you might bid on. The sections on new and used equipment prices in this FAQ can be of great help here. 3. Don't get caught up in the excitement of the auction. NEVER bid more than you planned on for any piece. 4. Powerbooks almost always sell for more than their street price. Don't even bother attending an auction if you only want a PowerBook. DOES ANYONE KNOW A DEALER IN NEW YORK CITY? (3.8) -------------------------------------------------- If you're planning a trip to New York, you may want to do a little Mac shopping on the side. New York City is one of the most competitive Mac markets in the United States, and the prices here reflect it. For the current ads of most NYC dealers pick up a copy of Tuesday's New York Times. Below I list several dealers you may want to check out. PCSI 26 West 23rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues (212) 255-7600 I've dealt with PCSI several times over the last few years and they've always been friendly, honest, and had competitive prices. MPC 4 West 20th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues (212) 463-8585 I worked at MPC for about a year a few years back. Since MPC is also a full-service service bureau as well as being an authorized dealer, they're by far the most technically knowledgable dealership in NYC. The prices aren't bad either. J&R Computer World 15 Park Row NY NY 10038 (212) 238-9000 (800) 221-8180 This is New York City's superstore. Like most superstores there's limited haggling, not particularly knowledgable salespeople, and decent prices; but you can often do better by going to one of the other dealers and saying "J&R has it for $2000. Can you beat that?" J&R is also authorized to sell Macs over the phone. Sam Ash 160 West 48th Street NY NY (212) 719-2299 While most New York City dealers cater to the graphics design market and the occasional business user, Sam Ash has developed a large and loyal following among musicians. If you need advice on MIDI to Mac hookups and the like, you won't do better than Sam Ash. Be warned, however, that the salsepeople work on straight commission so they can be somewhat aggressive and hard bargainers. There are also locations in Queens, New Jersey, and other parts of the metro area. NEW EQUIPMENT PRICES (3.9) --------------------------- What follows are mostly maximum prices you should expect to pay for current Apple models in standard configurations. You should have no trouble getting these prices at any Apple reseller in the United States with a little haggling. In competitive markets or if you're buying several Macs at once, you may be able to get up to 10% or more off these prices. If you do manage to significantly beat these prices on a single Mac purchase I'd like to hear about it so I can keep this list current. Most dealers are unlikely to stock all configurations listed here. You'll generally get a better price if you order what's in stock (not to mention you'll get it quicker.) Finally several of the models below are officially discontinued. I keep them on the new list as long as some authorized dealers still have stock and are selling them new with full Apple warranties. Finally be sure to check the Last modified date at the top of this file. Apple has been known to cut prices faster than I can post FAQ lists. To get possibly more recent price lists you can gopher to gopher://gopher.utexas.edu:3003/11/txunion/micro/Prices gopher://spinaltap.micro.umn.edu/11/computer/prices For non-Apple equipment prices just scan the back pages of any issue of MacWorld or MacUser. Since most companies besides Apple are willing to authorize mail-order dealers, the mail-order prices on Radius monitors, GCC printers, Quantum Hard Drives and other third party peripherals should be fairly close to the minimum you can expect to pay for such items. Mac TV 5/160/CD $1095 Quadra 630 4/250 $1000 Quadra 650 8/230 $1700 Quadra 650 8/500 $2100 Quadra 650 16/230 $2200 Quadra 650 8/230/CD $1980 Quadra 650 8/500/CD $2400 Quadra 660av 8/80 $1150 Quadra 660av 8/230 $1295 Quadra 660av 8/230/CD $1400 Quadra 660av 8/500 $1620 Quadra 660av 8/500/CD $1860 Quadra 800 8/230 $1900 Quadra 800 8/500 $2400 Quadra 800 8/500/CD $2600 Quadra 800 8/1000 $3100 Quadra 840av 8/230 $2260 Quadra 840av 8/230/CD $2895 Quadra 840av 8/500 $3250 Quadra 840av 16/500 $2900 Quadra 840av 16/500/CD $3250 Quadra 840av 16/1000/CD $3900 Quadra 950 8/0 $2660 Quadra 950 8/230 $3100 Quadra 950 8/400 $3250 Quadra 950 8/500 $3500 Quadra 950 16/1000 $3900 Performa 450 4/120/14" $779 Performa 475 4/160/modem/14" $999 Performa 575 5/250/CD/modem/14" $1495 Performa 578 8/320/CD/modem/14" $1795 Performa 630 4/250/modem/14" $1499 Performa 630CD 8/250/CD/modem/14" $1800 Performa 635CD 5/250/CD/modem/15" $1899 Performa 636 4/250/14" display $1379 Performa 636CD 8/250/CD/14" $1649 Performa 638CDV 8/250/CD/modem/15"/ $2299 TV tuner Performa 6115CD 8/350/CD/modem/15" $2560 (All Performa models include keyboards) PowerMac 6100/60 8/160 $1100 PowerMac 6100/60 8/250 $1200 PowerMac 6100/60 8/250/CD $1405 PowerMac 6100/60 16/250 $1500 PowerMac 6100/60av 8/250/CD $1940 PowerMac 6100/66 8/350 $1585 PowerMac 6100/66 8/350/CD $1825 PowerMac 6100/66 16/500/DOS $2250 PowerMac 7100/66 8/250 $1699 PowerMac 7100/66 8/250/CD $1899 PowerMac 7100/66 8/500 $1900 PowerMac 7100/66 8/500/CD $1999 PowerMac 7100/66av 8/500/CD $2650 PowerMac 7100/66 16/250 $2200 PowerMac 7100/66 16/500/DOS $2535 PowerMac 7100/80 8/500 $2610 PowerMac 7100/80 8/700/CD $2915 PowerMac 7100/80av 16/700/CD $3445 PowerMac 8100/80 8/250 $2510 PowerMac 8100/80 8/250/CD $2735 PowerMac 8100/80 8/500 $2735 PowerMac 8100/80 16/250/CD $2795 PowerMac 8100/80 16/500 $3150 PowerMac 8100/80av 16/500/CD $3335 PowerMac 8100/80 16/1000/CD $3300 PowerMac 8100/100 8/700 $3260 PowerMac 8100/100 16/700/CD $4020 PowerMac 8100/100 16/1000/CD $4215 PowerMac 8100/110 16/2000/CD $5995 Workgroup Server 6150 8/500/CD/AS $3635 Workgroup Server 8150 16/1000/CD/DAT $6290 Workgroup Server 8150 16/1000/CD/DAT/AS $7165 Workgroup Server 95 16/230 $4555 Workgroup Server 95 48/1230 $8535 Workgroup Server 6150 8/500/CD/AS $3635 Workgroup Server 8150 16/1000/CD/DAT $6290 Workgroup Server 8150 16/1000/CD/DAT/AS $7165 Workgroup Server 9150 16/2000/CD $7780 Workgroup Server 9150 16/2000/CD/DAT $8660 PowerBook 145b 4/40 $895 PowerBook 145b 4/80 $1030 PowerBook 145b 4/120 $1190 PowerBook 150 4/120 $1239 PowerBook 165 4/80 $1195 PowerBook 165 4/160 $1295 PowerBook 165 4/160/Modem $1395 PowerBook 180 4/80 $1889 PowerBook 180 4/120 $1995 PowerBook 180 4/120/Modem $2150 PowerBook 520 4/160 $1955 PowerBook 520c 4/160 $2500 PowerBook 520c 12/320/Modem $3550 PowerBook 540 4/240 $2995 PowerBook 540 12/240/Modem $3595 PowerBook 540c 4/320 $4080 PowerBook 540c 12/320/Modem $4670 PowerBook 540c 12/500/Modem $4995 Duo 280 4/240 $2275 Duo 280c 4/320 $3170 Duo 280c 12/320 $3595 Duo 280c 12/320/Modem $3790 Duo Dock 512K VRAM $445 Duo Dock 1/230/FPU $717 Duo Minidock $280 Duo Dock II 1 MB VRAM $820 Duo Express Modem $275 Duo external floppy adapter $92 Duo Type II Battery $73 Duo AC Adaptor $60 PowerBook Rechargeable Battery $75 PowerBook External Battery Recharger $75 PowerBook AC Adaptor (100 series) $60 PowerBook AC Adaptor (500 series) $125 PowerBook Intelligent Battery $120 PowerBook PCMCIA Module $190 StyleWriter II $250 StyleWriter Portable $345 Color StyleWriter Pro $545 StyleWriter 2400 $475 ImageWriter II $350 Personal LaserWriter 300 $379 Personal LaserWriter 320 $805 LaserWriter Select 300 $500 LaserWriter Select 310 $650 LaserWriter Select 320 $805 LaserWriter Select 360 $1340 LaserWriter Pro 600 $1695 LaserWriter Pro 630 $1785 LaserWriter Pro 810 $4070 LaserWriter 16/600 PS $2140 Apple Color Printer $430 LWPro 500 sheet Cassette $110 PLW, LW II, LW Select trays $62 Portable Stylewriter battery $44 LW 360 PostScript Fax Card $255 12" Monochrome Monitor $155 Apple Basic Color Monitor $195 Apple Color Plus 14" Display $275 Apple AudioVision 14" RGB Display $555 Macintosh 14" Hi-Res Display $450 Apple Multiscan 15" Display $460 Macintosh 15" Portrait Display $399 Macintosh 16" Color Display $850 Apple Multiscan 17" Display $799 Apple Multiscan 20" Display $1785 Macintosh 21" Color Display $2145 ADB Mouse II $70 Apple Keyboard II $69 Extended Keyboard II $129 Apple Adjustable Keyboard $99 Apple Design Keyboard $75 Apple CD-300E $305 AppleCD Multimedia Kit $415 Speech Kit for Power Macintosh $45 Apple Video System $130 Apple Video/TV System $215 Apple One-Scanner $590 Apple Color One-Scanner $880 GeoPort Telecom Adapter $99 Power-CD $179 Apple QuickTake 100 $632 Mac IIsi NuBus Adapter $120 Centris 610 NuBus Adapter $55 Quadra 660AV NuBus Adapter $108 Quadra 610 NuBus Adapter Card $55 PowerMac 6100 NuBus Adapter $82 PowerMac 256K cache Card $247 Workgroup Server 95 128K cache $320 Workgroup Server 95 256K cache $245 Apple IIe card $135 PowerMac Upgrade NuBus Card $577 =================================== WHEN SHOULD I BUY A NEW MAC? (4.0) =================================== MACROTIME (4.1) ---------------- Apple releases new models of Macs about every three months. In May expect Apple to introduce PowerMacs in the current configurations running at 100 MHz (i.e. PowerPC's 6100/100, 7100/100 and 8100/100) with a PCI bus. There will also be PowerMacs in Quadra 950 boxes, both with and without built-in video. In late summer of 1995 the first PowerPC 603 PowerBooks, and perhaps even PowerPC 604 Powermacs will hit the market. As usual all new models will be faster and cheaper than the models they replace. Prices on models being replaced often drop by 15-20% either shortly before or after the introduction of new models. In particular the introduction of a rebate program is a sure sign that Apple is clearing out old stock in preparation for the introduction of new models. If you don't already have a desktop Mac or a PowerBook, then by all means buy now. The time you gain with your Mac by buying now should immensely outweigh the money savings of buying later. Furthermore if your current Mac has a 68030 or older CPU it's time to think about moving to a PowerPC. You'll see a speed up in all your current software and even more speed in native software down the road. I advise against buying any more 680X0 series Macs though. The future lies with the PowerPC, not with the 68040 and 68030 models available now; and if you buy one of those now, it's going to become obsolete and slow even faster than Macs have done in the past. (The Mac doesn't really become slower. It's the software that gets more bloated and less efficient, but you get the idea. When I recently complained about the speed of some software I was beta-testing, the programmer told me it seemed fine on his low-end Mac, a IIci that's twice as fast as my SE/30. It took four years for my high-end SE/30 to become something not worth programmers' time to worry about. Today's Quadra 630's should make that same journey in less than half that time.) If you already own a 68040 Mac, you should probably wait a few months before upgrading to a PowerMac. The new PowerMacs coming out in the spring will feature the faster PCI bus, faster CPU's and an improved 68040 emulator (though that's less and less important with every passing day.) MICROTIME (4.2) ---------------- If you're buying a low end home system from a high end corporate dealer and you want demos or a lot of questions answered, shop on the weekend. During the week salespeople tend to be busy with much larger sales and aren't very interested in selling one Performa 575. On the weekends, however, especially on Sundays, salespeople are often twiddling their thumbs waiting for any customer at all. On the other hand if you know exactly what you want and how much you want to pay for it, shop in the middle of a weekday, preferably the day or two after the ads come out in the local papers. During busy times salespeople are much more inclined to give in to your $650 cash offer for a Quadra 605 just to get you out of their hair. WHEN WILL I GET MY MAC? (4.3) ------------------------------ I've never heard of a delivery taking more than a year, and most Macs ordered through whatever channels arrive within six months. However I strongly recommend not putting more than a one dollar deposit on any Mac purchase and making certain that you can back out of a purchase at any time up until the goods are actually delivered and signed for. It's not uncommon for Apple to lower prices or deliver an improved model at lower cost before all orders for older models have been filled. This is especially common for orders placed through the educational channel. For hot models like the PowerMac 8100/110 you may want to place orders at several dealers to have a reasonable chance of getting what you want when you want it. ================================== HOW SHOULD I BUY A NEW MAC? (5.0) ================================== KNOW WHAT YOU WANT (5.1) ------------------------- When you walk into the store where you're thinking about buying for the first time, you should know exactly what you need and the exact maximum price you will pay for that equipment. Never go in to "discuss" your needs with a salesperson. Remember they are there to sell you a computer, not to help you out. If you really want to discuss your needs, talk to a knowledgable friend or even hire a freelancer who specializes in Macintosh (not PC!) pre-purchase consulting. At least that way you're talking to some one who works for you rather than the store. You probably want to ask the salesperson what price they can give you on the system you want before you tell them what price you want to pay. I have occasionally been surprised by a salesperson who initially offered me a system at a price several hundred dollars lower than the price I expected to pay. This is more common on high end systems like 840av's than on low end ones like Classics since there's still more money for a dealer in a 3% markup on an 8100/110 than in a 10% markup on a Quadra 630. Buy the base CPU with the minimum amount of RAM it ships with and possibly an internal Apple hard disk, an external monitor, and maybe an Apple printer from your authorized dealer, nothing else. Many dealers have excellent prices on CPU's but jack up the price on peripherals to near list. They offer very good prices on the base configurations of Macintosh and then pile on the extras, $200 for a modem, $50 for a surge supressor, $100 a megabyte for RAM. Guess where their profit's coming from. Some dealers don't even bother to put individual prices on your sales order, just a package price, so you won't realize how much they're ripping you off on the peripherals. Almost no Authorized Apple Dealer is able to beat mail-order or unauthorized dealer prices on non-Apple peripherals. All other non-Apple brand equipment should be purchased from a dealer who specializes in peripherals, possibly through mail order. And never, ever, buy software from an authorized Apple dealer. Software can always be had mail order for about half the price you'd pay an Apple dealer. Many stores offer to set-up and test your system for you. Typical fees range from $50 to $100 and include hard disk initialization, system software installation, burn-in time, and installation of one software package (normally HyperCard Player unless you request otherwise in writing on the sales order). In other words they're trying to get an extra $75 out of your pocket to make sure that the computer they're selling you works. This is a crock. While these charges might be justified on a PC whose setup is traditionally more problematic, Macintosh set-up is so easy that anyone who can navigate Usenet can certainly plug in their own Mac. THE DEALER NEEDS TO SELL YOU A MAC MORE THAN YOU NEED TO BUY ONE (5.2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember that the salesperson needs the sale more than you do. The more time a salesperson spends with you the more pressure they're under to justify that time to their sales manager by selling you something. Hemming and hawing over the price (especially if you haven't told the salesperson how much you expect to pay) can often lower it. You can ALWAYS get a lower price than advertised. Aside from the prices in this list a good idea of when a salesperson is genuinely giving you the lowest price can be had by noticing the level at which they have to check a price with their sales manager. HAVE A COMPETITOR'S AD HANDY (5.3) ----------------------------------- Nothing is more helpful in convincing salespeople to lower their prices than a competitor's published ad or written estimate showing a lower price. This works even if you have no intention of buying from the competitor in the first place (for instance because it's a mail order ad and you don't want to buy through the mail). Except on the cheapest systems you should ask that the salesperson beat the price by at least $50 and maybe as much as $300 on high end systems. Justify it on the grounds that you don't want to have to shuttle back and forth between dealers to keep getting a $10 drop in price every time. CASH ON DELIVERY (5.4) ----------------------- If you're buying at a dealership, don't pay a penny until the salesperson brings all pieces of what you've paid for out for you to see. While delivery is sometimes more convenient, it's a lot safer if you walk out the store with your computer. Too many disreputable dealers sell stock they don't have, especially of very popular items. If you must have the computer delivered to you, insist on a clause in the sales contract specifying that delivery must be made by a certain date and time or else the full purchase price shall be immediately refunded. The clause should also specify that delivery is the responsibility solely of the seller. It will normally be necessary to cross out (and initial the change) of a standard clause in the sales contract stating the opposite. For maximum safety insist that the sales manager also approve that change in the contract in writing. Dealers typically pay between 3-5% of the purchase price (including sales tax) to the credit card company for any purchase you make on a credit card. Since the margins they'll be getting on their sale to you are thin enough already, expect that they will pass the cost of a credit card on to you. If you intend to purchase your Macintosh on credit and you're not buying mail order, you're probably better off getting a bank loan or getting a cash advance on your credit card so that you can give the dealer cash (or a certified check.) Your interest charges shouldn't be any higher than if you paid with a credit card in the first place, (though there won't be any grace payment for repayment) and the loan or advance charges probably won't be as much as the dealer would raise prices for a credit sale. Of course if you're buying by mail you should definitely use a credit card despite any added expense. Since most mail order companies have higher volume and lower overhead than independent dealers, the price difference shouldn't be very far away from the cash price. Some credit cards offer extended warranties and theft protection on purchases made with the card. If yours does then the added protection may be worth the extra money for using a credit card, especially if you're buying an easily stolen or easily broken item like a Powerbook. THE SALES TAX GAME (5.5) ------------------------- In some sections of the U.S. a significant savings can be realized by crossing a city or state line in search of a more favorable sales tax rate. For instance in New York City sales tax is 8.25% while right across the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey it's 3.5% and a bit northerly in Westchester County it drops to 6.25%. Drive all the way down to Delaware and there's no sales tax at all. A New York City resident is supposed to pay New York City tax even on purchases made out of state; but it is perfectly legal to use the possibility of your going outside the city to buy your computer to convince a salesperson to lower their price. And in most other venues except New York and California a purchase made by mail from a company outside the state of the purchaser is non-taxable. LEASING (5.6) -------------- The short answer to this option is DON'T. If you're VERY strapped for capital think about it, but most commonly the lease payments over the term of the lease add up to as much as or even more than the cost of the system itself plus the interest on a loan to buy it. If you absolutely must lease try to keep the term as short as possible. Generally Mac power doubles every year while price comes down by about a third. You don't want to lock yourself into obsolete equipment. The most common lease term is two years, but with a little shopping around you can find one year leases. BE NICE TO YOUR SALESPERSON (5.7) ---------------------------------- This final tip ought to be obvious, but many people have a hard time grasping it. If your salesperson likes you, he or she will be much more amenable to giving you a good price. At the larger dealers that will give you the best prices (if you know how to ask) salespeople often don't care about low-end sales enough to do much hard bargaining, and will often decide how low they're willing to go based solely on how much they like a customer and what sort of mood they're in. (Of course if your salesperson just broke up with his boyfriend last night you're out of luck.) Not all stores will be able to offer you a rock bottom price. Please don't get angry about it if they can't. If your salesperson tells you that the price you're asking for is ridiculous, get their lowest price, thank them, and go somewhere else. ===================================== THE GRAY MARKET AND MAIL ORDER (6.0) ===================================== WHAT IS THE GRAY MARKET? (6.1) ------------------------------- Due to Apple's reluctance to authorize mail order dealers, there are few authorized Apple mail-order dealers (unlike in the PC world). Unauthorized "Gray Market" dealers take advantage of lower foreign prices in countries like Mexico by buying computers there and reselling them in the United States, sometimes selling them to the end user for prices as low as other dealers can get their machines wholesale from Apple. They also buy excess inventory from authorized dealers at cost. The gray market dealers get product, and the authorized dealers get steeper discounts from Apple for ordering more machines. ARE GRAY MARKET MACS COVERED BY APPLE WARRANTIES? (6.2) -------------------------------------------------------- Gray market computers are still official Apple product manufactured in the same four factories that make the machines sold in the United States. The main caveat in the gray market is that the computer you buy may or may not be eligible for warranty repair by Apple. Whether an authorized Apple dealer will perform warranty service on a gray market Mac depends almost entirely on the authorized dealer you bring it to. You must make sure your gray market Mac has a valid, non-defaced Apple serial number to have any reasonable chance of getting warranty service. Some authorized dealers remove serial numbers before selling the Macs into the gray market so that Apple can't trace the product back to them. It is almost impossible to find an Apple dealer who will perform warranty service an a Mac without a valid serial number. In the end a gray market Mac's warranty is only as good as the company that sold it to you so make sure that the company you buy from is reliable in performing service. When you buy from an authorized dealer even if that dealer has a totally dishonest and incompetent service department, you can always bring it to their competitors for warranty service. In the gray market you're only promised service from the company you buy from. If that company goes out of business while they've got your computer in their repair shop, you may never see it again. It's also very inconvenient to have to ship your computer away by mail for service and then have it shipped back. DOES ANYONE KNOW A GOOD MAIL-ORDER COMPANY? (6.3) -------------------------------------------------- Many mail-order dealers advertise in the back pages of MacUser and MacWorld. One that has to date seemed reasonably honest and reliable is MacFriends (1-800-331-1322). However their prices are not necessarily better than what you could get from an authorized dealer. Don't automatically assume mail-order prices are better. In many cases they're not. Some Performa dealers like Staples (1-800-333-3330) will sell their Performa configurations over the phone. MacMall (1-800-222-2808) and J&R Computer World (1-800-221-8180) are two regular dealers that are authorized to sell non-Performa CPU's over the phone. There are several steps you should take to protect yourself when buying Macs through the mail. First pay by credit card even if there's a surcharge for using a credit card. You should verify that the card will not be charged until the computer is shipped. If there is a problem with the shipment or if it fails to arrive, you can contact the credit card company to dispute the charge. This is a good idea even if you have had numerous good experiences with the company previously. Jasmine Technologies, a primarily mail order company, had an excellent reputation for fast, dependable service; but when it went bankrupt in 1990, many people who had paid in advance by check for hard drives were stranded without either a drive or their money. Those who had paid by credit card were able to get the charges removed by their credit card companies. Secondly ask a few questions before purchasing a Mac by mail. Keep a written record of who you talked to including time, dates and what was said. Some good questions are: * Is the equipment brand new? * Is the box factory-sealed? * Does it come with an Apple warranty? * Does it come with an Apple registration card? * Does it have a valid serial number? * What is your return policy? You may also want to verify with a local authorized dealer that the offered configuration is indeed one Apple manufactures. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold Department of Mathematics elharo@shock.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology elharo@escape.com Newark NJ 07102 .. Archive-name: macintosh/apps-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: February 25, 1995 Maintainer: elharo@shock.njit.edu URL: http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/appsfaq.html Frequently Asked Questions about Macintosh Application Software =============================================================== comp.sys.mac.faq, part 4: comp.sys.mac.apps Copyright 1993,1994,1995 by Elliotte Harold Please see section 5.8 of the general FAQ if you wish to redistribute, revise or republish this document in any way. Archive-name: macintosh/apps-faq Version: 2.3.3 Last-modified: February 25, 1995 Address comments to elharo@shock.njit.edu What's new in version 2.3.3: ---------------------------- 1.2: What's the best word processor? I've updated this to reflect the releases of Word 6.0, WordPerfect 3.1 NisusWriter 4.0.6 and FullWrite 2.0.2. 1.3: What's the best genealogy software? I've added a pointer to the FAQ list for soc.roots which contains much more information on this topic. 1.9: What's the best drawing application? I now consider Illustrator and Freehand to be roughly equivalent, though Illustartor seems to be winning the battle for marketshare. 2.4. How can I depersonalize Word? Excel? I've added info on how to depersonalize Excel 4.0. If anyone knows how to depersonalize Word 6.0 or Excel 5.0 I'd like to hear from you. 2.5 Where can I get more information? The FAQ list for the word-mac mailing list appears to be defunct so this question has been deleted. Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------- I. What's the Best... 1. Text editor 2. Word processor 3. Genealogy software 4. TeX/LaTeX 5. Integrated application 6. Spreadsheet 7. JPEG Viewer 8. Electronic publishing software 9. Drawing application 10. Typing tutor? 11. OCR software? II. Microsoft Word 1. How can I assign styles to characters in Word 5.x? 2. How can I automatically generate cross-references in Word 5.x? 3. How can I change a Word document to TeX? and vice-versa? 4. How can I depersonalize Word? Excel? 5. Where can I get more information? III. TeachText 1. How can I change the font in TeachText? 2. How do I place a picture in a TeachText file? 3. How do I make a TeachText document read-only? RETRIEVING THE ENTIRE FAQ ========================= This is the FOURTH part of this FAQ. The first part is also posted to this newsgroup under the subject heading "Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)" and includes a complete table of contents for the entire document as well as information on where to post, ftp, file decompression, trouble-shooting, preventive maintenance and conditions for reproduction, posting and use of this document outside of Usenet. The second, third, fifth and sixth parts are posted every two weeks in comp.sys.mac.system, comp.sys.mac.misc, comp.sys.mac.wanted and comp.sys.mac.hardware respectively. Please familiarize yourself with all six sections of this document before posting. All pieces are available for anonymous ftp from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/ Except for the introductory FAQ which appears in multiple newsgroups and is stored as general-faq, the name of each file has the format of the last part of the group name followed by "-faq", e.g the FAQ for comp.sys.mac.system is stored as system-faq. You can also have these files mailed to you by sending an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line: send pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh/name in the body text where "name" is the name of the file you want as specified above (e.g. general-faq). You can also send this server a message with the subject "help" for more detailed instructions. For access via the Web use http://rever.nmsu.edu/~elharo/faq/faqs.html ========================= WHAT'S THE BEST... (1.0) ========================= TEXT EDITOR? (1.1) ------------------- Available shareware and freeware text editors that can handle more than 32K of text include McSink, BBEdit Lite, Edit II (with grep style searching), Alpha (particularly nice for working with TeX files), Stevie (for fans of vi), and microEmacs. The feature sets of these editors overlap somewhat but are not identical. Since all are available via anonymous FTP, there's no reason not to try them all and find the one you like best. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu//pub/macfaq/BBEditLite.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu//pub/macfaq/Alpha.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu//pub/macfaq/EditII.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu//pub/macfaq/Stevie.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu//pub/macfaq/microEmacs.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu//pub/macfaq/McSink.sit.bin I use Rich Siegel's BBEdit Lite for the FAQ because it can word wrap to a specific number of characters and indent lines with spaces. (You didn't think I did all this nice formatting by hand, did you?) It's also a very nice programmer's editor. BBEdit has an extensive interface for adding custom externals written in Think C so if you need a feature that's not built-in you can add it. Some others may also miss a macro language that's easier to use than writing code externals in C which brings us to my second choice. Alpha ($25 shareware) is a text editor that includes a full featured implementation of the tcl scripting language and extensive search and replace capabilities. Emacs users will feel at home with this powerful program. Unfortunately it's System 7 dependent. Shareware authors take note: About 40% of all installed Macs are still running System 6. If you actually intend to make some money, then you shouldn't cut out half your market at a swipe. Stevie is vi-workalike for the Mac, but since Stevie isn't an interface to an ex-style editor as is vi, it's not as powerful as its UNIX inspiration. microEmacs is likewise NOT a full featured implementation of Emacs. If you want to do Emacs style Lisp programming and keybinding (and I can't imagine why else anyone would ever want to use Emacs on a Mac) you'll probably be happier with Alpha. WORD PROCESSOR? (1.2) ---------------------- The word processor market has heated up in the last few months with major new releases of not one, not two, not three but FOUR full powered, commercial word processors. As of this writing I have no reliable information about FullWrite 2.0, but I hope to have some by the next release of this FAQ list. Nonetheless it will probably take several more months and a few more bug fix releases before the dust settles completely, and we can make solid judgements about the comparative advantages of these word processors. Most notably Word 6.0 is here. It's big, it's powerful, and it's going to polarize the market like nothing ever seen before ( (even earlier versions of itself). Word 6.0 requires a 68020 Mac and System 7. It wants a 68040 or PowerPC CPU, about thirty megabytes of free hard disk space, and five free megabytes of RAM (after all extensions and the system software are loaded). On the other hand Word 6.0 is the first consumer priced product to provide all the features I need in a word processor including character based styles, auto-numbering of equations and figures, a fully programmable macro language and much, much more. Word is virtually guaranteed to have at least one feature you can't live without which just isn't available in any other word processor. For me that feature is outlining. For you it may be styles or cross-platform support or a mail merge that can be used by non-programmers. You may not need all the features in Word 6.0, but chances are good that you need some of them badly. The only significant capability missing from Word 6.0 is support for non-Roman languages. Now if only Microsoft could make Word run reasonably quickly on an SE/30 and fix a few bugs in printing I'd be satisfied. Even more importantly between the integrated outliner, fields, active assistance and the unbelievably powerful style sheets, Word is the first word processor to do more than merely treat documents as characters on a page. Contrary to the beliefs of many on the net and Microsoft's own propaganda, Word 6.0 isn't just "over 150 new features" tossed in to produce long lists of checkmarks in MacWeek feature comparison charts. It's the beginning of the first word processor that more than merely placing characters on the page actually knows what those characters mean and how they relate to each other. It is the next step that will take word processors from helping us type to helping us write. It took me a while to realize this is what Microsoft was (very quietly) up to. Noone else in the market is even close to providing this, and Microsoft doesn't want to tip off the competition. Nonetheless this is the future of word processing; this is how we will be writing documents in ten years; and this is the biggest change in the definition of what a word processor should be since the original MacWrite, and perhaps since cut and paste. Finally since Word is the market leader, there's a greater chance that it will be upgraded and supported in the future, both by Microsoft and by third parties. Many people have been burned by committing to word processors that were subsequently abandoned, leaving them with files they could neither exchange with others nor convert into better supported formats. Thus it's nice to know that anyone you send a Word file to will be able to read it, and that any program which needs to import word processing documents will import a Word file. And if there is some feature you need that Word just doesn't have (though I find it hard to imagine what) there's a very good chance a third party tool exists to provide it. For instance although the envelope feature in Word is virtually useless, you can use Easy Envelopes to replace it. On the other hand, there's no replacement for WordPerfect's imperfect outliner. Now for the bad news: In the process of creating this completely new kind of word processor, Microsoft encountered a few problems. Most glaringly Word 6.0 is glacially slow on 68030 and 68020 Macs. There are also a few actual bugs including an inability to print on an ImageWriter and an almost complete inability to print envelopes on any printer. The implementation is so poor and is causing so many problems for so many people, that users are abandoning Word in droves. While the Macintosh Word team at Microsoft continues to attempt to defend their product, they're pretty much the only ones. Even Microsoft's own technical support is telling callers "We hate them," (The Mac Word programming team), and [envelope printing in Word 6] "is proof Microsoft doesn't do drug testing when they hire programmers." Finally Word's interface is more like Windows than a Macintosh. (The menu bars aren't attached to the windows yet, but I'm waiting for that.) Believe it or not, Microsoft continues to insist that this is a feature and not a bug, and that their customers want it. By this they mean that system managers who approve purchase orders for hundreds of copies of Microsoft products and oversee large, mixed-platform networks want it. This sort of person is, after all, Microsoft's real customer. Microsoft has demonstrated little concern for the individual typing at the keyboard who, after all, doesn't approve any purchase orders. While making the Windows and Macintosh versions of Word look and work identically makes technical support and training easier for management, it makes using the product harder for the individual Mac user since they essentially need to learn how to use a Windows program to use Word. Nonetheless I think Microsoft's vision of word processing is strong enough to make up for the bugs and the Windows interface. However that's not a strong enough argument to make up for the snail-like slowness of the product, so if you don't have a 68040 or a PowerMac with five free megabytes of RAM you need to look elsewhere. Therefore since Word doesn't run suitably quickly on my SE/30, I'm still looking for the ultimate word processor. I hoped WordPerfect 3.1 would be that program but there are still too many bugs in screen redraw, tables, and the import of Word files for me to feel comfortable using or recommending it. WordPerfect 3.1 is close to what Word 5.1 should have been and what many people wanted from Word 6.0. It's acceptably fast on 68030 Macs with as little as two free megs of RAM, has just about every feature of Word 5.1 except outlining, plus a few more commonly requested features like automatic cross-referencing and auto-numbering of figures, equations and tables, a macro language, and support for WorldScript II languages like Korean, Chinese and Japanese (though not right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic). You can retrieve a demo from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/WordPerfectDemo.sit.bin If you want to upgrade from Word 5.1 but your Mac can't handle Word 6.0 or your stomach can't handle Windows (since Word 6.0, is after all, just a Windows port) you might find WordPerfect more to your liking. However be warned that not all of its features actually work. Many of those that do are incomplete in their current incarnations. And there are distinctly non-trivial bugs in screen redraw. Finally Wordperfect Corp. no longer offers lifetime technical support (though the first 180 days of support are tollfree). As thrilled as I was to see a real competitor for Microsoft Word, I'm afraid the initial glow has worn off. I cannot recommend WordPerfect at this time, primarily because of the screen redraw problems. Users with limited disk space, 68000 CPUs, or less than four megabytes of memory may want to consider WriteNow 4.0, a word processor noted for its speed, small memory appetite, minimal disk footprint, and small price, about sixty dollars. Unlike the other products discussed here, WriteNow really is designed first and last to be a word processor, not a document formatter. It doesn't have an equation editor, text boxes, an outliner or other features more associated with desktop publishing than with writing. If all you want to do is write, WriteNow may be the choice for you. However you should be warned that after a series of mergers, acquisitions and product sales WriteNow has found itself in unfriendly corporate hands and will likely eventually die a quiet death. There are no plans for any future upgrades. Users behind the power curve and even those out in front of it may also want to consider ClarisWorks whose word processing functions are more than sufficient for basic writing. While more expensive than WriteNow, ClarisWorks also provides many other well-integrated features in a small and speedy package. Almost everyone who buys a computer immediately either buys or borrows a word processor. Certainly they get one before they get a modem and net access. Consequently the market for freeware and shareware word processors is miniscule. Nonetheless there is one. Datapak's Word Solution Engine Demo 2.2 is a full-featured free word processor. Don't let the word "Demo" fool you. What Datapak is demoing is the capabilities of the word processing engine they license to software developers, not the word processor itself which is fully functional and free. WSED supports editing files larger than memory, WorldScript, simple styles and all the standard features you'd expect in a Macintosh word processor. There's no manual or technical support, but what do you expect for free? In any case the program is simple and intuitive enough that neither should be necessary. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/WordSolutionEngineDemo.sit.bin Among writers of technical documents that include many numbered equations, tables, and figures, FrameMaker is particularly popular. This may change now that Word offers all those features, especially since FrameMaker really is more of a desktop publishing package than a word processor, and it's priced like one. The educational discount price for FrameMaker is close to the non-educational, street price of Word 5.1 or WordPerfect; and competitive upgrades are not available. When creating a Framemaker document you need to give a lot more initial thought to the layout of the page than you would with most word processors. It's much harder to just launch FrameMaker and begin writing than it is in any of the other word processors. Finally FrameMaker requires even more RAM than Microsoft Word 6.0! All these facts convince me that FrameMaker is not well suited to general use. Many netters swear by (and at) NisusWriter from Nisus Software. If you're used to almost any other word processor, your first reaction on launching Nisus may be "What were the programmers thinking?" The answer is, "Nothing like anybody else in the market." In many ways Nisus is still trying to catch up with Word 4, not to mention Word 6; but in many other ways Nisus has been ahead of Microsoft for years. The feature set of Nisus is almost orthogonal to the feature set of everything else on the market. For instance as well as the standard Plain, Bold, Italic and Underline styles, Nisus also includes Lower Underline, Dotted Underline, Word Underline, esreveR, Strike Through, Overbar, Invert and more. On the other hand style sheets can't be based on each other, tables can't span more than a single page, you can't copy and paste styled text into other applications, there's no outlining to speak of and the size of the files you can open is limited by available RAM. It's almost as if someone sequestered a group of programmers in a lab for the last ten years, and forced them to develop a word processor with no knowledge of what anyone else might or might not be doing. Fancy styles are far from NisusWriter's most important unique strength. NisusWriter is the only word processor that lets you write in any or all of Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, Russian, and more. To use non-Roman languages (except Japanese) requires a separately available ADB dongle (about $100 street); but if your writing is limited to Roman languages and Japanese, the undongled edition will serve equally well. NisusWriter is also renowned for its powerful macro language and styled-grep search and replace. I've accomplished jobs in minutes with NisusWriter that hours of AppleScript programming and WordPerfect macros weren't able to handle. If you have a lot of text that you want to reformat automatically you owe it to yourself to try NisusWriter first. If you're looking for a word processor that can do tables, multiple width snaking and newspaper style columns, import every picture format known, and in general double as a desktop publishing package, you don't want NisusWriter. On the other hand if you need to write in Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or many other non-Roman languages you really have no other choice. You can get a demo from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/NisusWriterDemo.sit.bin MacWrite Pro 1.5 is a solid product but has nothing special to recommend it beyond the name of the company that makes it. If MacWrite was produced by Friendly Neighborhood Software (tm) instead of Claris, it would have been eliminated from the market long ago. After years of abandonment FullWrite has returned to the hands of its original developers and from there to the retail market. As of this writing I don't have much information about it but you can retrieve a demo copy from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/FullWriteDemo.sit.bin What's the bottom line? In open platform competition where every program gets as fast a processor and as much RAM as it likes, there's no question that Word 6.0 is by far the best word processor for the Mac. The one exception is if you need to write in non-Roman languages in which case NisusWriter is the superior choice. However if we limit ourselves to 68030 Macs with less than three free megabytes of RAM the choice is a lot less obvious. Word can barely run on such a system. WordPerfect can't redraw its screen properly on any system. NisusWriter works but is missing many features users have come to depend on. All I suggest to Mac users with 68030 Macs is keep whatever you have now, be it ClarisWorks or an older version of Microsoft Word, and wait for the next round of releases before upgrading. You may not have to wait long. As I write this rumors of bug fix releases for both WordPerfect 3.1 and Word 6.0 and a real upgrade to ClarisWorks are swirling around the net. One thing's for sure: the Macintosh word processing market is a lot more interesting than it was a year ago. GENEALOGY SOFTWARE? (1.3) -------------------------- Leister Productions' Reunion is the most powerful, flexible, graphical, and easy-to-use Macintosh software for producing family trees and doing genealogical research. At $115 street it's also the most expensive. Reunion is available from all the usual sources of payware software. If all you want to do is chart your own family tree back a few generations, you may want to consider the less powerful and less flexible, but considerably cheaper Personal Ancestry File (PAF for short) from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons for short). It's designed primarily for easy downloading of data into the Mormons' central database so it's not as easy to use as Reunion and lacks some basic features. For instance there's no provision for children of unmarried couples. PAF is, however, only $35. It must be ordered directly from the Mormons at Salt Lake Distribution Center 1999 West 1700 South Salt Lake City, UT 84104 (800) 537-5950 The product number is #30992 (Macintosh) and an IBM version is also available. MasterCard and Visa are accepted for a $2 fee. However your card is charged for a cash advance rather than a purchase so interest will begin accruing immediately and your credit card company will probably tack on about a 2.5% cash advance fee. There are aolso a number of shareware genealogy programs including Heritage Genealogy, Our Family Tree, and Gene. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/OurFamilyTree.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Gene.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/HeritageGenealogy.sit.bin However these programs are limited compared to PAF and the much more powerful Reunion. For instance, Our Family Tree's pedigree charts can only go back five generations as opposed to Reunion's thirty-five. For more information on all of these programs and many others you should read the FAQ list for soc.roots, available by sending email to LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU with the words "GET FAQ MACTOSH" (no quotes) in the body of the message. TEX? (1.4) ----------- Textures from Blue Sky Research is easily the superior implementation of TeX for the Mac. It's the only TeX for the Mac that typesets and displays text and equations continuously as the TeX code describing them is typed, includes PostScript versions of the Computer Modern fonts, or allows simple copying and pasting of graphics and formatted pages between TeX and other Mac applications. If you work with TeX on a daily basis, Textures at $195 student price is worth a look. Blue Sky Research is famous on the net for technical support that should be a model for the industry. For more information send E-mail to sales@bluesky.com. Andrew Trevorrow's OzTeX is not as sophisticated or as Maclike as Textures, but OzTeX files are somewhat more easily exported to TeX systems on other platforms than are Textures files. More importantly OzTeX is only $30 shareware and available from ftp://midway.uchicago.edu/pub/OzTeX/ OzTeX is the most integrated and Maclike of the shareware TeX's. It's also the only shareware TeX with anything approaching complete documentation. It's slower than the other programs discussed here, but does allow background compilation and printing. If you only need to print or preview an occasional TeX document, get OzTeX. Tom Kiffe recently released CMacTeX 2.1, a more modular TeX for the Mac. The different pieces of this full TeX package like dvipreview, TeX, and METAFONT are all available separately. CMacTeX is available in both freeware and commercial versions. The freeware version is available for anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp.shsu.edu/tex-archive/systems/mac/cmactex/ The freeware package includes information on ordering the commercial version which costs $25 and adds the "big" TeX and Metafont packages. Both versions include METAFONT, dvips, and various other TeXie tools. However both versions require a PostScript printer. Unlike the other TeX programs CMacTeX cannot print to a QuickDraw printer. CMacTeX's documentation is somewhat lacking. Finally Wilfried Ricken maintains DirectTeX, shareware, $100 for up to three copies, $20 for each additonal copy. It can be retrieved from ftp://hadron.tp2.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pub/directtex/ DirectTeX sits on top of and requires the payware MPW. This provides it with exceptionally strong macro abilities but makes it by far the least Maclike of the four packages. DirectTeX supports bidirectional typesetting as is needed for Hebrew and Arabic. It includes most TeX utilities such as BibTeX, METAFONT, and various tools for working with .dvi files. DirectTeX is the fastest shareware TeX and offers the most complete collection of TeX capabilities and tools. INTEGRATED APPLICATION? (1.5) ------------------------------ Most software is driven by the needs of power users. Features are added to sell into the power-user segment of the market since they're the hardest to please and spend the most dollars. Triple Omega Paperware Corp. and its competitors need to design cocktail napkins in 16,000,000 lifelike, mouthwatering colors so Big Software Inc. has its programmers spend many hours adding photorealistic color capability to Bloated Draw 7.2. Meanwhile Father O'Brian finds he needs all the hard disk space on his Color Classic and more money than he gets in the collection plate on a good Sunday just to purchase and install Bloated Draw 7.2, SuperDuperPublisher 3.8, and WhizzyWriter 9.7 so he can make a brochure with a picture of a hamburger to advertise the upcoming CYO dinner. Integrated applications provide the tools for Father O'Brien to create his brochure at a price, both in money and system resources, that won't require him to rob the poorbox. Very few Mac users really push our $200 software packages to the limit. Even people who do use Word 5.1 to the fullest may not come close to utilizing the power of Excel or Canvas, and vice-versa. An integrated package omits the 80% of features that 90% of users never touch. Thus we get the 20% of features that we actually do use in several areas for less than the price of a full featured application in any one of those areas. Integrated applications also pack these features into a smaller, faster package ideal for users with 68000 Macs or small hard disks. The basic components of an integrated package include a word processor, drawing application, spreadsheet, database, charting module, and telecommunications. Some integrated apps also include painting (ClarisWorks, WordPerfect Works, and GreatWorks), outlining (ClarisWorks, GreatWorks), and even presentation (ClarisWorks) modules. ClarisWorks is undoubtedly the best integrated package for the Mac (which of course means it's easily the best integrated package anywhere, but you knew that already. :-) ClarisWorks 1.0 did what was previously thought to be impossible. It destroyed a virtual Microsoft monopoly in a market, something no one had ever before achieved though many had tried. The virtual dethroning of market leader Microsoft Works by the upstart Claris ought to serve as a lesson to any company that thinks market dominance can substitute for solid, improving products. It also proved for the first time that even as a wholly owned Apple subsidiary Claris was capable of turning out a market leading product, something they'd never done before. With the release of version 2.0 the gap between ClarisWorks and everyone else became a chasm. Though other integrated packages like Symantec's GreatWorks and WordPerfect Works offer a few features not found in Claris Works and vice versa, (Noone agrees on exactly how much should be included in an integrated package.) none of the other packages are as well integrated, well designed, and easy to use as ClarisWorks. I strongly recommend ClarisWorks as the first software for new Mac owners, and an essential tool for PowerBook users. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/ClarisWorks_Demo.sit.bin SPREADSHEET? (1.6) ------------------- The best professional's spreadsheet is undoubtedly Microsoft Excel. While there are occasional reasons one might want to use Lotus 1-2-3, Wingz or Resolve, they all fall into the "If you have to ask..." category. Since development has ceased on all three of Excel's competitors, I recommend that you do not buy any payware spreadsheet except Excel unless you absolutely must. However if you're less than a real power user of spreadsheets, you may want to take a look at two excellent demoware packages, BiPlane and Mariner which retail for about 20% of the street prices of their payware counterparts and offer the 20% of spreadsheet features 90% of spreadsheet users spend 100% of their time using. Both are available from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/BiPlaneDemo.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/MarinerDemo.sit.bin You may also want to consider one of the integrated packages such as ClarisWorks. For less than the price of a full-blown spreadsheet, you get a medium-sized spreadsheet with all the basic features except macros, and a damned good word processor and graphics package to boot. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Clarisworks_Demo.sit.bin JPEG VIEWER? (1.7) ------------------- Aaron Giles' JPEGView previews JPEG files on Macs running System 7. Kevin Mitchell's GifConverter, $45 shareware, can read and dither JPEG's on any Mac running System 6.0.5 or later. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/JPEGView.68k.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/JPEGView.ppc.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/JPEGView.fat.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/GIF_Converter.sit.bin ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING SOFTWARE? (1.8) -------------------------------------- Professional electronic publishers tend to swear by either QuarkXPress or Aldus Pagemaker, typically because they haven't tried the other package. The interface metaphors of the two products are quite different, and forcing your mind to switch between the two is non-trivial. However many people have made the effort to switch to Quark. Few have moved the other direction unless forced. Quark offers more control over the placement of objects on the page and various color effects than does PageMaker. This makes Quark particularly popular for advertising and other layouts that don't look like traditional books and magazines. For instance I can't imagine laying out Mondo 2000 or Spy in PageMaker. In Quark it might actually be fun. This is not to say that such things can't be done; the MacWarehouse catalog is done with Pagemaker; but Quark is certainly easier to use for this sort of free-form layout. Pagemaker fits a more traditional layout like MacWeek's where everything fits neatly into non-overlapping rectangular columns and boxes with occasional pull quotes. Aldus has been playing catch-up with Quark for several years now, and with the recent release of PageMaker 5.0 they may finally have pulled even. The two products still aren't equal (Quark's XTensions are superior to Aldus Additions; PageMaker's book publishing features like automatic indexing are non-existent in Quark.) but they are roughly comparable. PageMaker is a little more expensive, but Aldus provides much better support. For users just starting out I recommend PageMaker. Many people choose PageMaker because its simpler interface makes it easier to use for simple black and white newsletters, books, and other printed matter that doesn't push the art of electronic publishing to its limits. However if this is all you want, you may be surprised at just how well today's word processors fit your needs. With text and picture boxes, styles, multi-column capabilities, sectioning, EPS import, and many other features traditionally associated with desktop publishing, word processors like Word 6.0, WordPerfect 3.1, and even ClarisWorks can do a surprisingly professional job when producing relatively simple documents. These features may not be obvious (especially in Word 6.0) but they are present, and for considerably less money than Pagemaker. DRAWING APPLICATION? (1.9) --------------------------- For sheer artistic capability MacroMedia Freehand and Adobe Illustrator have been playing leapfrog with each other for years. As of this writing I consider the race too close to call. For day-to-day work most people feel more comfortable with whichever program they learned first since the interfaces of the two packages are somewhat different. I will note that Illustrator is by far the more popular package, at least in the New York City graphic design community, where jobs that require Illustrator vastly outnumber ones that require Freehand. Both Illustrator and Freehand are designed for tasks that would traditionally have been accomplished by freehand drawing. If your drawing tends more towards the technical than the artistic, you'll probably be happier with Canvas 3.5 which has a superior interface for object alignment and drawing to scale. Illustrator and Freehand can do pretty much anything Canvas can and vice-versa; but having the right package does make particular jobs easier. If your pictures will consist mainly of smooth curves, Illustrator or Freehand will suit you better. All of the above packages are geared toward serious artists and professional designers and are priced accordingly. For occasional drawing by non-professionals any of the integrated packages such as ClarisWorks or even the drawing modules of WordPerfect or Microsoft Word will likely serve well for a substantially smaller investment of time, money, and disk space. TYPING TUTOR? (1.10) --------------------- Almost everyone agrees that Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing ($34 street) is the best typing tutor program though some, including myself, would qualify that by noting that it's the best of a bad lot. It includes all the standard bells and whistles one would expect from a typing tutor including statistics, typing games, and practice text plus a few extras like a Dvorak mode and a manual that's considerably more interesting and fun than the program itself. Mavis Beacon has its flaws (It expects you to type two spaces at the end of a sentence, and its Dvorak mode doesn't work with a genuine Dvorak keyboard.) but these are shared by the competitors as well. Two Hypercard typing tutors are available from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/TypingTutorStack.sit.bin ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/NoviceTypistStack.sit.bin These aren't the equal of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, but if price is your only concern download them and try them out. OCR SOFTWARE (1.11) -------------------- OmniPage Professional ($500 street) is far and away the best optical character recognition package for the Mac. However for considerably less money ($75 street) Xerox TextBridge does a perfectly adequate job of basic recognition without all the bells and whistles of OmniPage Pro. ===================== MICROSOFT WORD (2.0) ===================== HOW CAN I ASSIGN STYLES TO CHARACTERS IN WORD 5.x? (2.1) --------------------------------------------------------- Once you've used character based styles it's almost impossible to imagine document formatting without them. After all, just because you want equations to be formatted in 10 point I Times Italic or references to menu choices in 12 point Chicago doesn't mean you want the entire paragraph in that font; but that seems to be the only choice Word 5.1 and earlier offer. (Word 6 has true character based styles.) It's truly a shame that a program that makes working with styles so easy via its ribbon bar and customizable command key equivalents that can be attached to common styles doesn't let the user attach styles to less than a paragraph of text at a time. There is, however, a work-around. Unless you're one of the fifteen people who actually use color text, you've got six unused character formats called Blue, Cyan, Green, Magenta, Red, and Yellow available in the Format Character dialog box and via user-assignable Command-Keys. (There's also Black and White but using those two will mess with the normal appearance of your document.) Pick a color for each different character-based style you want to use and mark your text with the appropriate color. Then, before saving the document, do a global Find and Replace for each color; i.e. find the color and replace with the style attributes like font and font size. HOW CAN I AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE CROSS-REFERENCES IN WORD 5.x? (2.2) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Nodine's WordRef 1.4.1 (shareware, $25) uses some truly inspired hacks to make cross-referencing and auto-numbering of figures, tables, sections, equations or whatever else you might care to count almost simple. (It gets genuinely simple in Word 6.0 where these features are built directly into Word.) WordRef will also automatically generate BibTeX style bibliographies. The writer defines variables for each reference or number series while writing. These variables can be operated on by various arithmetic and logical operators (so a little programming experience is helpful though not absolutely necessary.) When you're ready to prepare a draft, WordRef will resolve all references and citations into Word PrintMerge variables. Then PrintMerge produces the final output. The procedure is more complicated than it would be if Microsoft incorporated these features into Word, but for the moment WordRef should serve most users' cross-referencing needs well. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/WordRef.sit.bin HOW CAN I CHANGE A WORD DOCUMENT TO TEX? AND VICE-VERSA? (2.3) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Jefferies of the University of New South Wales has written the program RTF->TeX to convert files Word files saved in RTF format into plain TeX files. RTF->TeX is less than robust. Among other deficiencies it ignores paragraph and character formatting and will not handle equations written with the Equation Editor (though it will try to convert equations written in Word's built-in formula setting language.) However RTF->TeX is a useful tool to handle a lot of the grunt work of preprocessing documents before finishing the conversion by hand. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/RTF->TeX.sit.bin Erwin Wechtl and Alex Viskovatoff have written a similar though less polished tool called rtf2LaTeX for converting RTF files to LaTeX. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/RTF2LaTeX.sit.bin Fernando Dorner and Andreas Granzer have written a UNIX based program to go in the other direction. See ftp://ftp.vmars.tuwien.ac.at/pub/misc/latex2rtf.1.0.tar.gz Design Science's MathType, the payware from which Word's Equation Editor is derived can convert Equation Editor equations into TeX (though it can't convert the rest of the document). Call Design Science at (310) 433-0685 for ordering info. HOW CAN I DEPERSONALIZE WORD? EXCEL? (2.4) ------------------------------------------- BEFORE installing any software you should lock all the master disks, make a backup of all the master disks, and install from the backups. Since some installers now check for specific bits on the installer floppy, use DiskCopy to make the backup of the master disks. DiskCopy also copies floppies more quickly on a one-floppy system than the Finder. This is especially true for recent Microsoft applications like Word and Excel that write personalization info on the master disks. If you need to do multiple installs such as from the single set of disks Microsoft sends with its site licenses, you don't need to make a backup for every computer you'll be installing on. Instead just copy the original, pre-personalization Installer application onto your hard drive and replace the one on the floppy with the clean copy from your hard drive after every install. If the disks have already been personalized, get the freeware program Anonymity 1.2 from ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/Anonymity.sit.bin Make a copy of Word on your hard drive and then "Zap" it with Anonymity. This removes the personalization information. The next time Word is launched it will prompt you for the personalization information. If you're using Word 5.0 or 5.1 you'll then be asked to insert the "Install" disk. Don't! Instead click Cancel. Word will now display a dialog telling you how nice it's being for letting you use your software even though you're obviously a nasty, evil pirate. Click OK. Then quit Word. Launch Word again, cancel out of the dialog asking for the Install floppy again, acknowledge the anti-piracy message again, and quit Word again. Repeat this three more times. The sixth time you launch Word it should have given up on ever getting you to give it the master Install floppy and will stop asking for it. Depersonalizing Excel 4.0 is a little trickier. You'll need copies of the master disks to do this. You'll also need Anonymity and some utility like ResEdit or FileTyper that can change file types. Make a copy of the first installer floppy. Use your file-typing utility to change the type of the *installer document* on the new floppy to "APPL" from its original type of bbkr. (four letters, all caps, no quotes). Then run Anonymity to depersonalize the installer document. Next change the filetype of the installer document back to "bbkr" (four letters, no caps, no quotes). The new floppy should now be fully depersonalized. This process can also be use to depersonalize Word 5.x's installer floppies should that ever be necessary. You can still depersonalize Excel 4.0 even if you don't have the master disks. To do this you'll need a copy of ResEdit including the Code Editor. First make a copy of the Excel application. You're going to perform some pretty nasty hacks on this and you want a backup if anything goes wrong. Then launch Excel, and check the serial number (in the About Box). Write this number down. Quit Excel and then open it in ResEdit. Open the pcod resources and open pcod resource 2. Select Find ASCII... from the Find menu and search for the serial number. It's stored there, unencrypted. The user and company names are stored just above this, encrypted. The encryption algorithm isn't obvious to me, but it is one-to-one, e.g. 86 (hex) is always a space. By permuting the finite number of possible values you can create a chart mapping the actual characters to their coded hex equivalents, and then use this chart to write out the personalization info you want. ================ TEACHTEXT (3.0) ================ HOW CAN I CHANGE THE FONT IN TEACHTEXT? (3.1) ---------------------------------------------- Make a copy of TeachText 7.0 and open the COPY with ResEdit. Open CODE resource 1. You'll probably be warned that the resource is stored compressed and that opening it will irreversibly decompress it. Click OK. Scroll down to address 4A88. You should see the hex string "0001 A887". A887 is the call to TextFont(). The four hex digits preceding it (0001) are the font ID. Change this number to the ID (in hexadecimal) of the font you want. Monaco would be 0004. (It may be something else if Monaco has been renumbered on your system.) To change the size go to the next line (4A90) and look for "000C A88A" A88A is the call to TextSize(). The four hex digits preceding it are the size of the font to be used. Change "000C" to the size (in hex) you want. For instance 0009 is nine-point, 0010 would be sixteen point. Changing the font and size can adversely affect the way TeachText displays embedded pictures which most commonly occur in read-only TeachText documents (the ones with the little newspaper icons) so you may want to finish your modifications by deleting FREF resource 130 to prevent your modified TeachText from opening those files. Save your changes and quit. HOW DO I PLACE A PICTURE IN A TEACHTEXT FILE? (3.2) ---------------------------------------------------- I recommend the shareware program Belgian Postcards by AIGS and Karl Pottie. While the interface is not very well thought out, it does make placing pictures in TeachText documents easier than any other utility or technique. See ftp://rever.nmsu.edu/pub/macfaq/BelgianPostCards.sit.bin HOW DO I MAKE A TEACH-TEXT DOCUMENT READ ONLY? (3.3) ----------------------------------------------------- Use ResEdit or any other file typer utility to change the file's type to 'ttro.' The above-mentioned Belgian Postcards will also save (and edit) files in this format. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold Dept. of Mathematics elharo@shock.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology elharo@escape.com Newark NJ 07102 ..