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I had a reminder yesterday why there is no way I'm ready to use a Mac that can't boot into OS 9, which Apple has decreed to be the new regime with all Macs starting a bit more than a month from now.

There has been some controversy over whether the OS 9 boot block will apply to holdover models come January, 2003, or only affect newly introduced systems, but what I've heard lately, attributed to Apple sources, is that the block will take the form of a firmware modification, which will apply to all Macs that enter the distribution pipeline after the cutoff date. Interestingly, you will still, it is rumored, be able to boot into OS nine from a CD, but not from a Classic OS system installed on the hard drive. I can't confirm any of this of course, but it seems the most plausible scenario to me. It doesn't seem likely that Apple would announce the end of dual booting and then continue to sell computers that could boost into OS 9, even if there were no technical impediment to their doing so.

I've already had several rants on how much I object to an arbitrary terminations of OS 9 booting, so I'll spare you another one here, but I am not ready to give up on OS 9. Here's one concrete example of several reasons why.

This week I have been in a bit of a bind Internet access wise. I live so far out in the boonies that my ISP, 50 mi. away, is a long-distance call. The workaround has been that the ISP established a dial up a dummy number in a community about 20 mi. away that receives calls from subscribers in my area and then shunts them to the main number. This works toll-free, because that phone exchange is within the no long-distance charge range of both us and the ISP.

Anyway, that has worked pretty well for the past five years, but on Tuesday morning at the shunt number stopped responding. Turns out that what happened is the company that provided the dial up number went bankrupt, so our local telco, which owns the network, and to whom the bankrupt company owes money, pulled the plug on their subscribers. At this writing, four days later, the issue still unresolved.

I have been able to get online using a friend's account on the other locally available ISP. This is particularly easy in OS X, since one can just create another PPP location in the Network preference panel that is selectable from a pull down menu. In OS 9, you have to enter new settings in the Remote Access Control Panel each time you switch dial up numbers.

I've been using mostly OS 9 this week, but yesterday I booted into OS X. Everything seemed to be going fine. I was able to dial up to the alternate ISP with no problem, and it worked normally for half an hour or so, then suddenly refused to respond. I still had the live connection, but couldn't get anywhere with browsers, email clients, or an FTP client. I tried logging off the dial up and redialing three times, but no joy. The modem would connect, but that was as far as I could get. This was bad news, since I was just about to post my day's s;ate of news stories to Applelinks.

In desperation, I booted back into OS 9, and tried dialing in again. It worked fine. Crisis averted.

I have no idea what the problem was. Last evening I booted back into OS X, and all was well again, or almost. The OS X version of MSN Messenger refuses to start up, but the Classic one works. Perhaps a restart or logout/login would have cured the network glitch yesterday morning, but I often just don't have the time for troubleshooting fishing expeditions. The Classic Mac OS "just works. " Until OS X is equally reliable, I want that avenue to remain open.

OS X fsck command and OS 9 availability

From Rich

Good day, Charles,

I've enjoyed your Odyssey series and have seen mention by you and your readers of the fsck command being useful in times of OS X trouble. I came across this hint in an interesting troubleshooting article I've linked to below. If it's come up already, excuse the oversight.

For you techies who have written to ask why I haven't suggested running "fsck" from Single-User mode, Apple engineers say that 1) running First Aid is *exactly* the same as running fsck (there may be some anomalous repair reports from running fsck that would indicate otherwise, but it isn't so), and 2) that starting up in Safe Boot mode is as effective as running fsck in single user mode. This was settled by Apple after a quite heated exchange on the X4U e-mail discussion list, which is monitored by an Apple employee.

So, the process of starting up in Single-User mode and running fsck has more or less become outdated thanks to the new Safe Boot mode startup feature in Jaguar.

http://www.macattorney.com/tutorial.html

I hope to embark on my own OS X odyssey some day but first I have to get out of OS 8.6 and into 9. I seem to recall reading in one of your columns of a place that sold OS 9 at the best price available at the time. Unfortunately, I didn't link to it or bookmark it. Do you recall that and could you point me in the right direction, please.

Cheers,
Rich

Hi Rich;

I struck out in finding a cheap source of OS 9.x CDs. EBay? You can apparently order one from Apple. See:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106966
which notes:

"Customers in the United States who have purchased Mac OS X 10.2 but do not have Mac OS 9 may take part in the Mac OS 9.2 Fulfillment Program (http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/). This applies, for example, if you have a Mac OS X-compatible computer that had been using Mac OS 8.6. In the event that you have lost the Mac OS 9 CD that came with your computer, be aware that the fulfillment program is not suitable for some computers that originally included Mac OS 9.2.1 or later. Such computers may require a later Installation disc."

Note that any version of OS 9 will work, since the upgrades from OS 9.0, or 9.0.4 to 9.1 and 9.2.x are free downloads.

Maybe readers can suggest a cheap source of OS 9 CDs.

Charles

Killer Apps

From David Meyer

I don't understand why people would think Path Finder or Chimera are 'killer apps'. Good? No question they are good. You prefer 'excellent'? OK, I won't argue. But that does not put them in a category with traditional 'killer apps'. VisiCalc was a Killer App! It transformed the geek-toy desktop computer into a business tool and Changed Everything. Netscape Navigator was a Killer App! It transformed the desktop computer from a business tool to an information resource (among other things) and Changed Everything. MS Word may meet the same standard, as may several other pioneer programs. IE does not - even if you believe it is/was better than the concurrent version of Netscape. Netscape reshaped the mold. IE followed its lead. The same can be said about Excel. It isn't about being seen as the current Best Of Class, but of creating the class.

I'm not yet sure if OS X can be said to be a Killer App. It goes where no OS has gone before, though several have tried, and it has inspired MS to attempt to follow suit - but has it converted the user base? I think not. The Switchers are as often inspired by some iApp or other as by having a professional-grade OS with a User-Friendly interface. My wife doesn't want to know about the power of the Unix innards. No, you don't understand. She DOESN'T WANT TO KNOW! She is happy to have a system she can use without worry or investing a lot on mental energy in expertise. (the real attraction for her was the G4 iMac form factor) No. I think OS X OUGHT to be a Killer App, but won't make the grade. It may change MS's mind about how an OS ought to be built, but few users will take great notice of the change - well, maybe they will stop making Blue Screen Of Death jokes.

Hi David;

I'm inclined to agree, which of course was my original comment about killer apps. However, I've downloaded Chimera 0.6, and it is cool and very fast. ;-)

Charles

Re: Is a "Mac OS X (Jaguar) Lite" possible? Gene Steinberg says no

From Martin A. Totusek

Re: Is a "Mac OS X (Jaguar) Lite" possible? Gene Steinberg says no

Of course, without a real actual "Mac OS X (Jaguar) Lite", many utility programs won't ever be able to be run off an OS X "Jaguar" (or later) bootable CD-ROMs on any Power Macintosh, whether officially "supported" or not by APPLE.

APPLE has no choice but to develop "Mac OS X (Jaguar) Lite" and make sure that it works, or to make sure that all new machines can also boot in Mac OS 9.x.x. It therefore must be possible or be made to be possible to have "Mac OS X (Jaguar) Lite".

There are zero other options that APPLE has left itself at all, and since Jobs and Tevanian are more than actively hostile(!) to Mac OS, I doubt that Mac OS 9.x.x booting will even be remotely considered or allowed (this is what always happens when any company "puts 100% of the eggs in only one basket").

-Martin Totusek

The OS X Odyssey archives may be accessed here:
http://www.applelinks.com/news/odyssey/

CM

Charles W. Moore

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