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French cars
An information site and new Apple hardware musings
iListen
Alternative to Golive
Adobe CS 2 funnies
Re: Services in Safari in Tiger


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French cars

From Tom Terryn

Hello Charles,

The funniest things happen when you read Applelinks. You go there, expecting to find some interesting news items about your Mac, and before you know it you’re participating in a discussion about religion, science, democracy or – this time – French cars.

I’ll come out of the closet first: I’m a bit of a car nut. I finally admitted this to myself after university and now happily read as much as I can about cars while trying not to appear too big a nerd to my wife.

It’s not the big sports cars that interest me the most. I do adore the history, culture and love of engineering and design that manufacturers like Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari et al bring to the world, but I realise I’m never going to drive one of those cars. And besides, they’re not exactly practical in a world of big shopping bags and ever-decreasing oil reserves…

I come from a family of German car owners. For as long as I can remember, my family has been driving either a Volkswagen or an Audi. I still remember them vividly: a blue metallic Audi 60, several generations of Audi 80, an Audi 100, some VW Passats, a VW Derby, a VW Bora (the European name for the Jetta) and several generations of VW Golf. I even remember a Scirocco (VW’s attempt at a sports coupe in the eighties).

So when I started looking for a car, three-odd years ago, all expectations were towards me plunking for a VW too. Lately however, I find that VW has become a bit lazy: no new ideas, overpriced cars, uninspired design. I was not looking forward to becoming one of the millions of VW owners that just went for the “trusted brand” without thinking twice.

So I looked around a bit and finally went for a Peugeot 307. I chose the 1.6 16V petrol engine (115 bhp), mostly because I abhor the sound and the small performance window of diesel cars. I’m in a very SMALL minority with this opinion over here in Belgium. Three out of four cars sold are Diesel cars.

I quite like Peugeot. They go back a long way, the Peugeot family is still involved in the company. They had some great cars in the past (the 505, the 205, the 406) and tend to offer a better drive than the other French cars. In fact, I find the handling and drive of Peugeot cars on a par with (and sometimes better than) most German brands (with the exception of BMW). Their design is a bit more conservative than Renault and Citroen, but still interesting enough to raise eyebrows (case in point are the new 407 and the 206 CC).

The nice thing about French cars is that they tend to offer value for money without resorting to bland design or a second-rate experience. Every French car will offer more luxury, experience and comfort (especially suspension-wise) than an equally-priced German or Japanese car. (For example, my 307 came with airconditioning, a HIFI system, automatic windscreen wipers and automatic headlights. All for € 16.000. That would have cost a small fortune on a VW or a Honda!) They’ll never offer the biggest engine or the fastest acceleration, but they’re always fun to drive. Granted, the build quality could still be better sometimes, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay for a generally more rewarding everyday experience.

If you’re looking at current “successors” of the R4, check out the Renault Modus or the Peugeot 1007. Those Frenchies are still doing it: making innovative small cars at an interesting price.

It was a relief to read your article about the Renault 4. I felt a connection, it was like somebody understood about what makes French cars so interesting. It also brought back a lot of memories. My best friend’s mother used to drive a Ferrari-red R4. They had re-sprayed it and even applied a small Ferrari emblem on the hood. Wonderful…

And my best ever car moment? That’s a tie between a marvellous afternoon driving a Lotus Elise full-tilt through the hillsides of Belgian Limburg in summer and five glorious months with an old 1980’s Saab 900 Turbo. It was a real Swedish Saab, bought and registered there and driven to Belgium by my Swedish friend. I got to baby-sit it until her uncle came down to get it. It had heated seats, a “very eighties” brown leather and burgundy velours interior and drove like Mad. Just watching that turbo gauge go towards the red zone and feeling that big push in your back as the power kicked in was reason enough to drive the car.

Keep up the good work, Charles. And keep those car articles coming.

Kind regards,

Tom Terryn
Online Training Consultant

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Hi Tom;

I too am a lifelong auto aficionado, and like you my particular focus of interest has been models that I actually might be able to afford. I've owned more than 50 cars over the past 40 years (got my first, a Nash Metropolitan, when I was 14). I tend to prefer them big or small, and perhaps my favorite cars that I've owned were some mid-'60s big Chevrolets and a 1973 Dodge Polara, which was even bigger. I also like pickup trucks a lot.

However, my fleet right now consists of a 1989 Toyota Corolla and a 1990 Camry. It's hard to argue with the Toyotas' dependability. They just work. But they are not nearly as interesting as many European and some American cars.

The only VW I ever owned was a '62 Beetle 1,200 cc, although I've driven many VWs over the years. And interestingly, while I've been a fan of French cars from the get-go, I've not owned even one, although I spent quite a bit of time in friends' Renaults and Peugeots back in the '60s and '70s.

No French cars have been sold in Canada since the early '80s, so it's exceedingly rare to see one on the road here anymore. Pity.

Also rare here are diesel passenger cars. The only ones currently available that I can think of are VWs and Mercedes, although there are quite a few diesel options for pickup trucks, vans and some SUVs

French car models I was particularly fond of were the Renault 4, 5, and 16, and the Peugeot 403, 404, and 504. I always loved to get my hands on a Peugeot. The 504 was an especially choice piece of machinery. They were wonderful to drive, and their ability to offer a smooth ride on rough roads was uncanny.

Renaults were fun too, although not up to the Peugeots' standard of quality and refinement, which as you say was more on par with the German iron. One Renault that was especially scintillating was a Renault 18 with a 2.2 litre turbo belonging to a friend of mine. It was fast!

I haven't spent a lot of time in SAABs, but the SAAB 99s I've driven were cool cars.

Glad you enjoyed the Renault 4/iBook piece
http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/05/07/29/

Charles






An information site and new Apple hardware musings

From Kevin Shaffer

Hi Charles!

Thought I'd write an email instead of just occasionally forwarding information that you'd probably already read online; and say spring is here; finally! Strange, green, leafy things are attaching themselves to trees and the ground also is being assulted by some odd growth...

Not sure how to deal with it, but it would seem there are politicians wanting to roll-back the green with asphalt and steel, so maybe they have an answer to this "problem" in the northern forests!

I was looking for information and accidentally found some domain.us information, then back-tracked that to the home site; which may have some interesting (but apparently not so unique) news relating to the internet & law: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/

Haven't gotten or tried OSX 10.4; but have been looking at the new iMac G5's hardware upgrades and also the AppleStore (US) in their Save section that has the red-tag deals in certified refurbs & new, old stock; a person could get a good deal on something there, esp. if they don't care about the differences between the new iMacG5 and the earlier editions. Hard to pass up on an iMacG5 1.8GHz 17" display, with Superdrive; and iLife 05, Tiger, and so on, for $999. or the 1.6GHz iMacG5 for $899. Or the 20" iMacG5 for $1399.

Alas, I have my iMac G4 1.25GHz 17" with superdrive, 1GB RAM, Airport, and 80GB HDD, with Panther... Finally, I was able to get the chrome display arm replaced with a NEW one (they'd put on a warn acting and looking one, at CompUSA in Anchorage) and it has the new inventory label and manufacturer's tag... I left them on it, too. Helps keep the chrome from being scratched up (not that I'd do it) and because I seldom move the display around, keeps it tight.

But, ever so tempting are the siren calls of new hardware, baited further by promises of new software; these juicy treats are certain to some day take their toll on my pocketbook... (Hear them calling?)

[PS: did you check out the G-Mail offer? Could you imagine running Linux on a 2GB webmail account?? Funny!]

Thanks again for your informative columns...

Take care! ~ Kevin Shaffer
[Moose Pass AK]

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Hi Kevin;

Thanks for the link. I appreciate your news tips and information forwards.

No leaves out here yet, and it's still dropping to just above freezing at night (and in the day too this past weekend).The lawn is gradually getting greener, but no need for the lawnmower for a while yet.

Yes; it's hard to resist the siren call of new hardware at bargain prices. I'm still enjoying the Macs that I have, however.

I didn't try the gmail/Linux thing. Do you know anyone who has?

Charles






iListen

From Dr. Michael A. Riccioli

Dear Charles,

Thank you for the review of iListen - most interesting.

I had to switch to iListen from Via Voice as the latter would not work on MAC OS 10.3.8 so in a way I spent a lot of money for nothing.

I do hope things will be better with iListen.

Best,

Michael

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Hi Michael;

Glad you enjoyed the review.

I hadn't heard anything about ViaVoice incompatibility with any of the Panther versions, but it occurred that I hadn't actually used ViaVoice since upgrading to OS 10.3 0.8 and 10.3 0.9. After receiving your e-mail I started the program, and it seems to be working as well as usual. I am dictating this reply in ViaVoice on my iBook running OS 10.3 0.9.

However, it doesn't appear that ViaVoice for the Mac as much of a future, and I am skeptical about it working with Tiger. I use iListen almost exclusively these days, and it will continue to be actively developed for the Mac.

Charles








Alternative to Golive

From Tom Condon

Hi Charles,

Re Eolake Stobblehouse's search for an alternative to the clunky, buggy Golive. I came across NVU ( http://www. nvu.com ) recently, have played with the program and find it clean and straight-forward not to mention free.

I'm essentially looking for a replacement for the old PageMill and find Golive overfeatured and dizzy-making. Freeway looked promising but the version I tried would not import my existing website-it is simply executed but has 200 pages so that was a deal breaker. Don't know what other programs there might be in the affordable/sufficiently equipped range but NVU seems a good start.

BTW: I'm a long time fan. I still can't stand your politics and I still love your work. You're the greatest.

All the best,
Tom Condon
http://www.thechangeworks.com

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Hi Tom;

Thanks for the comments on html authoring software. I must get around to checking out NVU. I've heard a lot of praise for it.

What can I say? Thanks for reading and all the best back at ya.'

Charles







Adobe CS 2 funnies

From J.D. Sharp

I recently received my CS2 deluxe software. I have noticed some unpleasant things about its install process. First of all you are limited to two computers and I regularly use three (home, portable, work.) Tough tooties. Worse yet, if you use a hard drive and attempt to boot from it, CS2 never installs correctly and constantly asks to be authorized. If you try and authorize it the authorization fails, and the phone support was no help in resolving this, even after a complete de- and re-install. Conclusion: will not install correctly on external drive used as a boot drive. Finally, if you boot to an external drive and attempt to run an authorized copy from the internal drive, no workie - - you're back in the authorization dialog.

I think the whole thing is pretty bogus, and basically think that Adobe has ripped me off, not because of the software, which is great, but by making it difficult to impossible for me to use my normal workflow. Anybody at Adobe listening?

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Thanks for the report, JD.

Charles








Re: Services in Safari in Tiger

From Kim Peacock

Charles,

I have been away recently but read your column on the road.

My problem disappeared when I got back. I still do not understand what happened.

Many thanks for trying to help out.

Kim Peacock

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Hi Kim;

Glad it sorted itself out.

Charles


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Charles W. Moore


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