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New iBook

From Peter Ottman

Charles,

I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know I just picked up a new iBook G4, 14" the other week and it arrived yesterday. It's a pretty sweet machine and as my first modern Mac--read that as OSX capable--it will take a bit of getting used to.

Here's the funny part. I was going to buy a 12" Powerbook the day before these came out. I never got around to ordering it and the next day when I got to work the announcement of the new iBooks was on the Mac web. It didn't take long to realize what i would do. I saved some cash and bought some extra software. In a month or two I'll be maxing out the RAM, too, which ought to be nice.

iBook: 14", 933 mhz G4, 256 MB, 60 gig HD, Airport (rocks!) to connect to my SMC wireless router.

Thanks for all the information and enjoyable columns over the years.

a long time reader,

Pete Ottman

Hi Pete;

Congratulations. The model you got offers IMHO the best performance/features/value package of any Mac portable currently offered. It's probably what I would buy if I were in the market for a new 'Book right now.

I do encourage you to max out the RAM. Have fun, and thanks for reading.

Charles

A new case for the battle-weary Wallstreet?

From Michael Glaesemann

My hardworking Wallstreet is really showing its age. It's a testament to the design that it's still working even after I've dropped it (twice!) onto the hard floors of subway stations. (Please don't ask.) However, the case now sports two cracks and a missing piece. One crack from the inner corner to the outer corner of the upper left corner of the screen case—think picture frame join—and the other from the little door that allows a CD drive to fit in the right expansion bay to the keyboard. The missing piece is in the front right corner, between the expansion bay module and the expansion bay release lever. Must've hit that corner pretty hard at least once.

I've been pondering buying an old Wallstreet for the case. Wouldn't even have to work, as I just want the body. What do you think, is it doable? I'm not so worried about the crack in the screen housing—I think that would be pretty difficult to replace and it doesn't seem to cause any problems. However, the cracks in the main housing cause the expansion bay module (usually a battery) to be quite loose. Plus, the missing piece is quite noticeable.

I've been with this machine for quite a while—it's a 266MHz running OS X 10.2.8 with 512MB of memory and a 40GB Travelstar. Would be nice to get it back in a little better shape.

I look forward to your advice, and that of any of your readers. Glad to hear your own Wallstreet is making a comeback!

Michael Glaesemann

Hi Michael;

Replacing your case plastics is not a bad idea, but completely disassembling a WallStreet is a fairly formidable task, notwithstanding that they are extremely easy to work on in terms of swapping hard drives, processor cards, and adding RAM upgrades. It gets more complicated after that.

Perhaps you could contact Wegener Media or Baucom Computers or MacResQ or the PowerBook Guy or some other reseller of used 'Books to see if they might have a partly stripped WallStreet chassis at a friendly price that you could swap the easy stuff from your machine into.

Wegener also currently lists refurbished WallStreets at under $400.

You can get contact info on the Websites:
http://www.wegenermedia.com/indexa.html

http://www.baucomcomputers.com/

http://www.macresq.com/

http://powerbookguy.com

Let me know how you make out.

Charles

WallStreet

From Chris Richardson

Good news that you've managed to get your WallStreet working again. I must say that I would be pretty devastated if and when my one gives up. But at the moment mine is working well, should do too considering how much it cost back in 1998. I've got the original 292 MHz WallStreet with 83MHz bus speed and an under powered graphics card. The second edition Wallstreets had a slightly better card and can change their screen resolutions which isn't possible with the original model.

Well it is possible if I use a program called switchres but it can only change from 1024 x 768 to 800 x 600. My WallStreet still has its original hard drive spinning away day after day. I installed some extra RAM to get her up to 320 MB and often use a RAM disk with the system running from it: I read some of your old articles about how to use the RAM disk and the advantages of it, like being able to work in total silence with no need to use the Hard disk. I am very grateful for this sort of tip. My fan has only cut in twice since I bought the machine and on both occasions I checked the temperature with Gaugepro and it was up at 190 f but maybe the 292 versions can can hold out the heat better.

I am running OS 9.2.2 and find the machine to be very responsive so I don't see the need to change to OS X. The only hardship with the Wallstreet up till now is the poor graphics capabilities meaning that most games are just too sluggish to play. The old Tomb raider games play well all except for TR 4 which seems to have a frame rate of about 1 frame a second. The battery is still holding about two hours worth of charge but I will have to replace the PRAM battery soon as it has stopped remembering the time and I am getting fed up with having to set it every couple of days, but I think that's fairly normal for a Machine that been working for 5 years. I recently added a USB card from Belkin and everything is working fine. I am expecting to use the Wallstreet for the next couple of years and will probably buy a new Powerbook when my Wallstreet starts to really feel like an antique. Till then I wish us both luck enjoying these older but much better built machines. You can't swap a processor on an iBook!

from

Chris Richardson

Hi Chris;

Thanks for the interesting report about your WallStreet. Indeed, a 292 MHz WS would have been a pricy item back in 1998, but you have gotten a good run out of it. Mine is the opposite end of the spectrum -- almost; a 233 MHz machine with 512k of L2 cache and a 12.1" 800 x 600 TFT display. Mine has just 2 MB of video RAM (yours has 4 MB I believe). Not really up to displaying VCDs, which is too bad with that convenient S-Video port.

Yikes! 190 degrees. I've never seen anything near that, although my son's Lombard used to get up to about 185° at times. Guage Pro tells me that my WS is running at a cool 102° right now, but I'm in a chilly room.

Glad the RAM Disk tip was helpful. The WallStreet is the last PowerBook that could boot from a RAM Disk. As for OS X, using this 233 MHz WallStreet running OS 9.0 after half a year working almost exclusively in either OS X or on a PowerBook 1400 running OS 8.6, is like a turbo boost.

As for the PRAM battery, PowerBooks actually have a rechargable cell to hold the PRAM settings while you're changing the main battery. That could have failed in your machine. I think they're about $50 to replace for the part, plus labor.

Anyway, I hope your WS hangs in for you for another few years yet. Mine is still my favorite Mac I've ever owned, and I'm tickled to have it working again.

Charles

Eudora Redux

From: keetsfeather

Awwk! I finally got my personal cold virus eradicated from my feathered system & tried the Check for Anything to transfer mail box option which you suggested...didn't work. Then I followed your Netscape to Eudora mailboxes changing instructions. It was the first time I ever actually used Resedit. ::does a little war dance, wings flapping:: It worked--once I read the instructions 2ce & followed them correctly.

I'm starting to get annoyed with the spell check feature. ::shakes out feathers, causing a nice primary to float onto your desk:: I feel like AWWWKING at it & telling it to mind its own business every time it tells me a tradename or trademark is not in it's dictionary. ::glares at page neatly marked with red underlined proper names & bird noises then cocks head:: I'm going to have to adjust settings somewhere & read more instructions.

::looks up brightly:: However, I am using you as a test case for my First email sent by Eudora. ::Lucky, lucky you, as the bird doesn't know how to do anything but plain vanilla email:: I Think I have it set up right & I hope it gets through. Other than the absence of the little hummingbird someone sent me in an email, ::beats beak adoringly at the Netscape view of the hummingbird feeding & leaving a flower:: it looks just fine.

::diving at the Send Button::

Keet

Hi Keet;

I'm honored. Glad the ResEdit hack worked for you.

As for the spellchecker, just go to the Settings in the Special menu, find the SpellCheck dialog, and click the Spell Check Only When Requested button.

Charles

New look for Applelinks

From Eric Matthieu

Hi Charles,

Just wanted to pass along some thoughts on the new and improved look of Applelinks. It's very nice - so much cleaner and refined than before, and I'd guess the less-cluttered look will prove easier for everyone. I do have to report, however, that it's not rendering properly (for me) in iCab 2.9.6. With the exception of the Reader Specials at the bottom, items appearing in the margins using Netscape 7.0 show up well down the page and left-justified in iCab.

Do you think that might be an odd quirk for iCab, or something unique to the version for OS 9? Prior to the site's update, I had no trouble at all using iCab. FWIW, the site looks fine using IE 5.1.7 (*gasp* can't remember the last time I fired IE up).

Hope you don't mind the feedback.

Eric

Pismo 400/320MB RAM/Mac OS 9.1

Hi Eric;

I'm delighted with the new, cleaner, "bluer" look myself. Hats of to ous Webmaster Joe Ryan for a fine job with the revamp.

One of iCab's deficiencies is that it doesn't handle Cascading Style Sheets well. I'm guessing that's the problem (I checked and I see what you mean -- its something I've encountered before with iCab. For example, check out this page:
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/index.html).

Appreciate the feedback. I've forwarded your note to the Webmaster.

Charles

Blasted new Applelinks format!

From keetsfeather

Hi Charles,

Who's in charge of the changes in the Applelinks site? ::Keet is dragging a Louisville Slugger behind it, belying its dulcet tones:: I haven't changed any of my iCab setting, but the new set up on Applelinks is ::untranslateable bird grumble::. ::shifts grip on the plastic tie attached to the bat::

Under the old set up, I clicked the underlined menu item I wanted, read it, hit Back to go to the top of the page & select another one--instant gratification, just what a little bird wants! Now it goes back to consult the site, blanks the page & takes time to redisplay the listing of items. If I can adjust iCab to put things back to normal, I'd be delighted to learn how.

Or perhaps, if the author of this change has a physical address... ::you look at the bat again, notice someone's grubby loafer is now holding it in place...perhaps the human in the house has more reasonable notions of what happens to combatative birds the length of a handspan.:: I would really like discuss it --- ::sounds of a Squawking & general arguements about who gets custody of the baseball bat, in the distance::

::signature of "Keet" is added as the loser backflips onto the mouse hitting the send button::

Patience, my fine, feathered friend. I too have tried iCab on the new interface and found it, well, unsatisfactory.

My technical expertise in such things is limited (understatement), but I suspect that the problem is iCab's lack of facility for handling CSS gracefully (hopefully to be remedied soon in iCab 3.

If it's any consolation (probably not), I've also received word that Mozilla for OS 9 is not a happy camper with the new format either. Of the browsers I've tried myself, It works fine in Safari, and looks great in Mozilla FireBird, but that's not much help for Classic users.

But its early days yet. Hopefully these issues can be resolved. I have forwarded your missive to the person doing the new Website development.

Hang in

Charles

CM

Charles W. Moore

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