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I've decided to switch to the iBook for production work, at least for a few days, to see how I like using it compared with the trusty Pismo. So far, I’m enjoying the extra speed. Finder response with the Quartz Extreme - supporting iBook is significantly livelier than with the old Pismo, and I suppose that the extra 200 MHz of clock speed doesn’t hurt either. I miss the larger, 14-inch display of the Pismo, but it’s not a major issue. Small text can be a bit harder to read on the iBook's 12.1-inch screen, but for the most part the size difference isn’t something on I'm constantly conscious of. The iBook screen is so sharp that it makes up considerably for the smaller physical dimensions. What I am constantly conscious of is that input device support in OS X, which is flaky enough on the Pismo, is even worse on the iBook. I can tweak the Pismo into supporting “click with one mouse and drag with another” by keeping the click lock activated on the Wacom Graphire II mouse. Unfortunately, this does not work nearly as well with the iBook. In fact it doesn’t work at all with either an Apple USB "hockey puck" mouse, or the Apple ADB mouse/Griffin iMate combo I use with the Pismo connected as foot mice. It half-works with the Quill mouse in that I can click the latter's left (top) but in and drag over text to selected with the Wacom mouse. Since I’m using the same input devices that work with the Pismo , it seems that it has to be an issue of some sort with the iBook's USB support. I’m using an externally powered USB hub, so it’s not a lack of power to the USB bus. Actually, even using mice in purely conventional manner, I find input device reliability and accuracy on the iBook significantly worse than on the Pismo in OS X. Misfires are more frequent and double - pumps are even more frequently required, and Finder response just feels generally ragged. Another major annoyance; twice since Friday the iBook has lost support for external USB devices upon wakeup from sleep, necessitating a restart. This never happens with the Pismo. The bottom line is that even though the iBook is faster than the Pismo, these USB-related issues are slowing me down overall. Perhaps an upgrade to a later version of Jaguar (I’m running the 10.2.1 that came with the ‘Book) might help, but I’m not optimistic. USB input device support needs work in OSX. Moving along, further to our recent thread of discussion on switching from Classic to OS X, and why so many people aren't, About This Particular Mac's Evan Trent writes:
However, Evan has now taken the plunge, and found the transition much less traumatic than he had expected:
"But not completely…
"The Dock... this thing drives me absolutely batty. I cannot stand it. I find it truly obnoxious, decidedly superfluous, painfully unintuitive, hopelessly unorganized, and generally counter productive."
"File Suffixes... their use is a gigantic step backward."
"No Application Menu... There should be an application menu, as there was in OS 9."
"No real]Apple Menu... Thanks to FFruitMenuI use the Apple menu all the time."
"No Desktop Printing... I can’t glance at my desktop anymore to see the status of a printer."
"No Internet Config - How Apple managed to leave this configuration panel out of the System Preferences is totally beyond me.
"No WindowShade...There’s no way to do this…without WindowShade X.."
"Keychain Snootiness... I was outraged to find that I could not import my OS 9 Keychain into OS X."
"The Finder... Overall it is an inferior design, and I wish Apple would have simply taken the OS 9 Finder, given it a facelift, and made it OS X-native."
"Power & Performance... On the performance end of the spectrum, OS X has a little ways to go. Carbon programs are, for the most part, slower than under OS 9. Not inordinately, insurmountably slower—but slower. Put a number on it? OK, 5-10%."
"File Organization - Due in large part to the multi-user nature of OS X, files can be organized in a somewhat cryptic manner."
"The Look of Modernity... There are some other intangibles that make OS X seem more “modern,”...
"The Mechanics of Modernity... protected memory gets a big fat bag of brownie points...."
"Da Net... While Carbon programs in general may not be as peppy under OS X as they are under OS 9, one thing is certain: network activity is much faster...."
"Monitors...I appreciate that OS X can “Detect Displays” without a reboot..."
"Full Keyboard Access... a facility for controlling the computer completely from the keyboard. "
"The new Sherlock in OS X is a big improvement over past versions...."
"find by content ... Under OS X, indexing is at least an order of magnitude faster, if not more."
"The fact that you can move a window without making it active, can quickly zoom it to full screen, and otherwise manipulate windows in useful ways ..."
"I like that I can add a folder, file, application, or virtually anything to the toolbar for quick and easy access..."
"The Columns view... a welcome addition."
"Rendezvous... When Apple gets something right, they really get it right...
"iApps...t the applications Apple has included with OS X are, for the most part, great...."
Evan then summarizes
"I hate to sound like Mary Poppins, but I do believe that the future of the Mac is bright as ever if Jaguar is any indication...." USB Floppy Drive for your iBook & my Blue & White G3 Floppy Drives Floppy drive that works with Mac OS X Script to quit all apps? From Flatpainter Hello, Mr. Moore. I'm really surprised at the number of pagings you're getting. Whenever I've checked processes, I've had few, if any. Again, knock on wood. Below is my terminal top listing to show you where I'm at with my usual usage. I have Illustrator open in Classic with one of my average working files open (10MB):
Processes: 42 total, 3 running, 39 sleeping... 145 threads
Don't know how usual these numbers are, but as I said, all good here.
Good luck.
Hi FP;
Well, you're certainly not getting a lot of pageouts!
I decided to check the iBook, to see if my pageout issue was somehow particular to the Pismo.
After half a day of uptime with about half the applications running that I usually have open on the Pismo, the top command on the iBook revealed:
15235(0) pageins, 4620(0) pageouts
That seems to be a pace roughly similar to what I get with the Pismo. On the iBook I'm currently running OS 10.2.1, and have 640 MB of RAM.
Charles USB Floppy Drive for your iBook & my Blue & White G3 From Bruce Williamson Charles, I found this product on the Apple Store's web site. I then called YE-Data and talked to a VERY helpful person named Daniel Olson who actually tested their floppy drive on OS 10.2.6 while we were talking and it worked great! He speculates that there is a firmware or some other problem with my old USB floppy drive, and since it's a no-name brand there's no way to diagnose or fix it. So this drive from the Apple Store should work fine for your iBook. Bruce
$39.95
This USB Floppy Disk Drive adds functionality and versatility to your USB enabled Macintosh computer. It is as simple as just plugging it in and you are ready to go. Reads and writes the convenient swappable floppy diskette media, which is one of the worlds most prevalent media formats.
Thanks for the info, Bruce. Sounds good, and the price is reasonable.
Charles From Dan Johnson Good Morning Charles, One of your readers was commenting on floppy drives and his problem with the one he had. You also said :
I have never ever installed any type of software for this drive with the OS X 10 system. It just works. (I did need to install software for the drive in OS 8 and 9) It is currently attached to my Pismo. OK...I need to go back to reading the rest of your stuff.
Cheers
Hi Dan;
Thanks for reading. The VST SuperDrive module I have for the Pismo (also reads/writes floppies) works great too. As with your USB unit, it "just works" in OS X, but requires a driver for the Classic OS.
Charles Floppy drive that works with Mac OS X From anonymous Charles, In today's Applelinks you said you were looking for a floppy drive for Mac OS X. I thought I'd e-mailed you about this several weeks ago:
Smartdisk USB Floppy Drive
It's only caveat is that it doesn't work with 800k floppies.
Sincerely,
Hi a;
Perhaps you did. I’m absent-minded and overworked.;-)
Thanks (again?) for the info.
I have a VST Superdisk drive module (made by Smartdisk) for the Pismo and it works great.
I’ll look into it. 800k floppies are not a big issue.
Charles From H. Peter Blum Charles:
There used to be a third party item in 9.2 that you could put in your control strip on the bottom of the screen, that would quit all apps, or all except the current one that was running. I found this very handy and miss it in X. Do you happen to know of a script or app that will do this in X? If not, perhaps a loyal reader of your MailBag (as I am) will
Thanks,
Hi Pete;
I don't recall that CSM, but I've had a little AppleScript for years called "Quit All" that quits all running applications in the Classic OS.
I don’t know of one for OS X, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. Can anyone help us out here?
Meanwhile, loging out does prettymuch the same thing, although you do have to login again.
Charles
The OS X Odyssey archives may be accessed here: Note: Letters to Moore's Mailbag may or may not be published at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context. Opinions expressed in postings to Moore's MailBag are those of the respective correspondents and not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Editor and/or Applelinks management. If you would prefer that your message not appear in Moore's Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published. CM
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