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MS Office Alternatives
Trashed Data Recovery
iPhoto Manager
Aluminum Keyboard Spacebar Woes And Workaround
External Monitors and Pismo
Can/US Price Parity
Compusa Closing?

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MS Office Alternatives

From Ted

Hi Charles:

Open Office - which isn't an MS program - but a freebie (for the moment) backed by Sun microsystems only works on Macs if you install X11 -- and it is even clunkier than your typical MS software as a result. But I needed it as my publisher was sending me large Excel files with photographs - and IcExcel wouldn't handle them --- that is, any more than 20 photos and all I got was a page of computer code & no photos. So, I downloaded Open Office - before I knew about NeoOffice. The Open office suite works exactly the same as MS Office (alas) - but handled the large files of photos I needed. NeoOffice is developed for the Mac & looks and acts mostly like a Mac program. My wife has it and loves it. But I am afraid that in attempting to download the program, then the patch, it will bugger up my files - and as I don't have a second hard drive to back up all my files, I don't want to risk this.

What I haven't tried yet is Numbers - to see if it will handle large Excel files with photos. If so - problem solved. I do know that Pages does funny things with Word files students send me --- for example, it deletes footnotes - or shows the list of endnotes (where students use these instead of footnotes) but leaves the numbering off in the text itself. So, I still need either Open Office, or NeoOffice - or alas the $300 Ms Office for Macs for these.

And finally - when going over edited text from my publisher - they use 'tracking' to insert comments - Pages didn't handle this well - I could see the inserted comments, but not add comments myself - Open Office could.

So, for the moment I am stuck.

Ted

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Hi Ted;

Ah, I hadn't tested Pages with footnotes. Sounds like that's a stumbling-block for you all right.

Since iWork is essentially page-layout softwear packaged as an office productivity suite, I'm guessing that it should be able to handle Excel files with photos OK. I don't have any Excel documents with photos to check out, but Apple does address the issue on their Numbers Webpage, complete with a demo video:
http://www.apple.com/iwork/numbers/

Macworld's review of Numbers states:
"Among its features are “intelligent tables,” that allow users to sort and filter by clicking on headers, as well as chart creation, image management, text labels, and the ability to add photos and diagrams. "
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/08/07/iwork08/index.php

Another MS Office substitute program I like is the German Papyrus OFFICE, which is well-developed at version 12 point something, and sells for $99, although I don't know first-hand how it handles MS Word doc footnotes, although this observation from a reviewer on the MacUpdate site is encouraging:

"And I have to say: I'm impressed by the good job Papyrus does in displaying .doc-files with footnotes! It es really rare that any program other than MS Word can really manage to display them (kind of) correctly: in my test, Papyrus does. Thumbs up!"
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18996

Papyrus is demoware, so you can download and try it without making an up-front cash commitment.

You can read my review of Papyrus here.

I do encourage you to get a good external hard drive for backups though. 180 GB to 500 GB units are relatively inexpensive these days, especially with a USB 2 interface (I prefer FireWire, but it tends to be more pricy), which will let you take advantage of one of Leopard's banner features - Time Machine, which is really cool and slick.

Charles

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re: MS Office Alternatives

From Ted

Hi Charles:

I have just tried Numbers ..... it will open an Excel file, almost exactly as sent - though there was a list of warnings listing features it could not handle - none of them important. I then took this Numbers file and tried 'exporting' it to Excel. I then opened this Excel file with Open Office -- everything was there, except the photos! Where each photo should have been was a 'Graphic 1' Graphic 2, and so on....

Oh Well

Ted

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Hi Ted;

Bummer.

Obviously, file compatibility has a way to go yet.

Papyrus OFFICE has no dedicated spreadsheet module (there is some support for spreadsheets in the Papyrus WORD word processor module), so no help there on that count.

Office 2008 is coming soon, so now is not the time to invest in the current version.

Your best bet is probably to get a backup drive to protect your files (anything you can't afford to lose should be backed up regularly anyway - hard drive failures are not that uncommon) and go with NeoOffice.

Charles

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MS Office Alternatives

From Ted

Hi Charles:

Thanks for all your help. My wp of preference is Pages at present - and for most things it does well (except for the pesky footnote problem). The original version wasn't so hot, but the current is.....out to my local Mac reseller today to get an external hard drive,

Ted

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Hi Ted;

Yes; Pages '08 is a big improvement on the original release. It's a bit sluggish on my old G4 PowerBook, but that won't be an issue on your MacBook Pro.

Charles

Trashed Data Recovery

From Eric

Charles,

I've a question for you in your role as a Mac guru.

My wife has just informed me that she has deleted a book manuscript she was working on from our eMac G4. she was working in Neo-office Writer. the Trash has been emptied, nothing is coming up through "find," and I'm tearing my hair out trying to think of any route of data recovery still open. Are we out of luck?

Regards,

Eric

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Hi Eric;

First, don't save anything else to the hard drive to minimize the chances of the lost data being written over until this issue is resolved one way or the other.

There is no free software I'm aware of that will undelete files on OS X.

In proprietary undelete/file salvage commercial software there are several titles available. UNfortunately, they are all expensive, but offer demo versions that may let you check to see if the data is recoverable.

FileSalvage v6.1
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1

Boomerang Data Recovery Software
http://www.boomdrs.com/

VirtualLab Data Recovery
http://www.binarybiz.com/vlab/mac.html

Data Rescue II
http://www.prosoftengineering.com/products/data_rescue_info.php

Charles

iPhoto Manager

From Dorothy

Charles,

I can't thank you enough for your email. I did as you indicated, and IT WORKS!.

Note Pad 2.6 does show my old info.

I have another question if you don't mind. I am scared to load the new iLife I purchased.

I know I can't use iMovie, but I'm concerned about iPhoto. I now use iPhoto Manager (third party) to organize my many libraries. I do have it working in Leopard after lots of work. Do you know if it will work in the new iPhoto?

thanks for your help.

Dorothy

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Hi Dorothy;

Delighted that I was able to help.

As for your second question, I er...hrrmm.. haven't yet got around to checking out iPhoto 8 either, and I have never used iPhoto Library Manager (which is I think the third-party software you're referring to.

Fat Cat Software has posted a blog and forum on iPhoto Library Manager compatibility with iPhoto '08, which you will probably find worth checking out:
http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/blog/2007/iphoto-library-manager-and-iphoto-08

iPhoto Library Manager 3.4 (free update) has also been released with Leopard support, so presimably it's compatible with iPhoto '08. More info here:
http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/blog/2007/iphoto-library-manager-34-released

And ther is also a blog on Leopard issues:
http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/blog/2007/iphoto-library-manager-and-leopard
and here:
http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/blog/2007/iplm-leopard-update

Hope this is some help.

Charles






Aluminum Keyboard Spacebar Woes And Workaround

From John

My wired aluminum keyboard has the same spacebar problem. i thought of bringing it back when I read iGreg did this with some positive results, but I decided to keep mine to see if I could come up with any fixes for people who don't get satisfaction from a replacement keyboard.

So far, I've had success by making the spacebar thicker, by glueing a thin white strip of plastic, about a half-millimeter thick, to the top of the spacebar, the same size as the top of the spacebar. I used a glue stick so it can be removed if I want. In using this modified spacebar, I haven't missed one spacebar hit yet. Adding another half-millimeter might be the thing to do if this modification starts losing the occasional spacebar keypress.

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Thanks for the tip!

CM






External Monitors and Pismo

From Marshall

Charles,

Thanks for all your comments and Happy Holidays to you. Certainly to us Pismo users, you are the greatest.

I'm still using a Pismo, souped up with the Daystar processor upgrade per your advice [works great]. But my screen is pretty dim. So when I recently bought a 20 " flat screen tv that had RGB input, I tried it out. Pardon the biblical reference, but let there be light!

Do you have any general advice- or links to such- for using an external monitor with a Pismo? Such as how to darken the computer screen and be able to close it and use the external monitor and keyboard? Such as what resolution to choose? Or how to view two Word docs side by side on the larger screen?

By the way, my new tv is a Vizio VX20L bought on sale for 199USD the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Circuit City. Supposedly, the same offer will be available Dec 8th and 9th. It's stated resolution is 1366 X 768, 8ms response time. I don't have the slightest idea how it compares to a regular no tv computer monitor, but it looks good to me. And the price, i
think, speaks for itself.

Sincerely,

Marshall

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Hi Marshall;

Seasonal best wishes to you too, and always glad to hear Pismo reports.

In this context, however, you have more hands-on experience than I. I don't think I've ever connected either of my Pismos to an external monitor.

I invite correction on this, but I don't think it's advisable to operate the Pismo with the screen lid closed, as the machine partly vents through the keyboard.

Resolutions - the Pismo tech specs just say its 8MB of SDRAM video memory supports millions of colors on external displays up to 21 inches, which was a big display back in 2000. I guess you could just try different resolutions in the Monitors preference panel and see wht it maxes out at.

Sounds like a good deal on the TV.

Best,
Charles






Can/US Price Parity

From Terry

Hello Charles:

As you know many Canadian stores are hyping their price parity on books.

I recently purchased the paperback copy of Next by Crichton at my local Walmart. They have a big banner that says 'we now sell at the US price'. It was interesting to note that there was only one price on the back of the book "Canada 12.99". I checked on a few of the US websites and discover that the Harper paperback I bought IN CANADA retails at 9.99 in the US!!! I confirmed the price by calling the Amherst, NY Barnes and Noble.

Of course I got the 25% Walmart discount which brought the price down to the US retail, but if I had bought the book at a US Walmart, it would be even lower. I note that many books now only have the Canada prices.

So much for the integrity of Canadian publishers and retailers.

Terry

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Hi Terry;

I would take those "now selling at U.S. price come-ons with a big grain of salt.

"U.S. price" could mean almost anything.

Charles






Compusa Closing?

From Kevin

Hi there:

I'm wondering what will take the place in some markets, where CompUSA's holding company is immediately closing some of their stores; and where they will be closed altogether a little later on... And there may be a few bargains for persons who arrive at the closing locations in a timely manner with an eye for value and knowledge of truly discounted goods; or parts for upgrades and other name-brand accessories.

CompUSA closing - google search

There's not a lot in Anchorage, so maybe Best Buy (not best price) will get the business if the one CompUSA store disappears soon. And there are other places to get some parts, although competition can be a good thing when sales and discounts happen. A real store is handy when mail order is about the only other option.

I can't say I will miss CompUSA's service department, however. They probably were most marginal when servicing A.I.O. Macs and specialized goods that most anyone can't open and repair themselves; that's where I found their warranty experience lacking.

Any more specific news on this topic?

Best regards,
Kevin

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Hi Kevin;

No CompUSA stores in this part of Canada (Canada at all?) so I don't have any first-hand news.

The ongoing opening of Apple Stores has to be having an effect on other retailers that sell Macs, and I suppose something has to give, although it would be a big stretch to link the CompUSA meltdown to the impact of Apple.

Gene Steinberg had a comment.
http://macnightowl.com/2007/12/09/newsletter-419-preview-compusa-self-destructs/

Charles



Charles W. Moore

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