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Blast from the Past

Hello there. I was browsing the web today when I came across your article in My Mac Magazine #50, June '99 - Blast from the Past, on past macintosh e-zines. After reading it, I want to say thank you very much for helping me to recall some great memories that I haven't given due attention in these recent days. I'm Chris DeAngelus, otherwise known as Phishter from my AOL days, and I was the editor of The Real MacOy.

First of all, let me say it is wonderful to see your publication still thriving. You are a class act and it's great to know that you still put your quality product out to the masses.

It was great reading about all the old Macintosh magazines; not just The Real MacOy. It was a different time on the Internet and the web back then. It seemed much more grass roots and personal. Now everything seems conglomerated and homogenized. Everyone claims to be the one stop spot for all your needs. What was great about the e-zine days was you had all these little guys, and you get something different from each one of them.

I must regretfully report that I gave up on the Mac fight 3 years ago, and that was one major contributor to the final nail getting hammered into TRM's coffin. Even tho my work and my leisure revolve around the PC world now, I still feel a little smile inside every time I see Apple's stock go up, or them release some insanely great new product. I may be a PC user on the outside, but it's experiences like The Real MacOy and all the other great e-zines out there, My Mac especially, that has made me a Mac User forever. Thanks for reminding me of the great days, and for keeping your great publication alive all these years. It was a treat to return to its pages.

P.S. Whatever did happen to that joing project? That would've been a great project to work on...

Christopher M . DeAngelus
http://angel.ethereal.net
angel@ethereal.net

Christopher,

Wow, what a great Monday morning letter to read. Thanks!

Gosh, it seems to have been forever ago when we last communicated, eh? What was it, 1997?

When I wrote the history piece for issue 50, there were a lot of deserving titles I could have talked about, but I chose to focus on the ones I personally enjoyed. Yours was one of those, of course. Heck, I still have most, if not all, of your old issues on a CD around here somewhere. (I converted all my old floppies to two CDs about a year ago or so.)

Walking down memory lane is fun at times. It was strange, though, to hear from an "old school" guy like yourself after all these years. Three years may not sound like a long time, but it's like 25 years in Internet time. Besides, The Real MacOY (as well as My Mac) really were precursors for what the 'net became. Which is why I wanted to do that column in 50.

I am bummed to hear you're no longer "into" Macs. You left during the dark ages of the Macintosh era, something many, MANY current Mac users cannot relate to. It is a much different atmosphere today. But I understand how you switched computers. I also understand how you still get a small grin when you see Apple doing so well:-)

If you ever decide to re-join the fold, and the writer's bug hits, give me a yell! We'll always have room for you here.

Take care.

CD Burning

I was searching for info on CD Burners for use with the G4 and stumbled onto your pages. Et voila, a little internal search and your Making CD articles jumped at me. Just the info I needed (and more). Thanks, and glad to have found you.

John Sundsten ws@u.washington.edu

You're welcome, John. Glad to be of help!

More CD Burning

Hi!
I'm a beginner ... have never burned a CD ... have never seen anyone burning a CD. I need to back up my 9 GB hard drive FAST because it's almost full. My internal Jaz is destroying every Jaz 1 GB disk I insert. It is a lethal weapon. I want to buy the very best/most reliable SCSI CD-R/W (RW?) drive tonight or tomorrow but don't know which brand to get. Could you kindly give me some guidance?

Also, has your article been updated since first being published last fall?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Carol Goodell
Storage Spaceless in Bingham Farms

Carol,

Although burner prices continue to drop even as burn speeds increase, an update to my article hasn't been necessary because nothing substantial has changed in the basic CD-R technology since I wrote the piece.

My advice would be to pick up the fastest LaCie burner you can comfortably afford. Make sure it comes with Adaptec Toast. If you're running OS 9, be sure you get the latest version of Toast. Although there are many other fine CD burners available, I have had very good luck with LaCie's.

Kodak's blank CD-Rs work best from all my tests. I burn around 20 CDs everyday at work, and I have had the least failures using the Kodak discs. I've also had almost as good luck with TDK's media.

A really good deal can be found at http://fm.smalldog.com... IF you have a SCSI Mac. If not, find a good USB one. But remember, no USB burner will be as fast as a good SCSI burner.

Let us know how it goes!

Fast Scrolling

Maybe you can help with my problem. I have a 450 MHZ G3 and OS 8.6. I just love it but when I am online (I use Netscape Communicator) whenever I scroll through my bookmarks or if I am in Messenger & try scroll through the fonts to choose one it goes so fast I never can stop on the middle ones. Same in bookmarks. The only solution I have come up with in bookmarks is to select edit bookmarks & then scroll through and choose (at least this works), but have found no solution with the fonts. Thanks for any help. Love your publication.

Thank you,

Alison Chastain Alison46@att.net

Alison,

What a difference a few years has made! I remember when the problem would have been too slow of a scrolling speed! (Can you say Mac Plus or Performa 400? More than 100 fonts would make the scroll very slow back then.)

Although many of our production and creative personnel at work have also complained to me about this problem, I'm not aware of a "fix" that will eliminate it. I do know of a simple workaround, though you might find it a bit tricky to get used to.

There is what I call the "sweet spot" in your menu. Basically, it is just below the last font you see in the list. If you push your mouse just past it, and I mean barely past it, you can slow down the menu to a rate you can use. It does take some practice, though, so be patient. And good luck!

Make mine an iMac!

Thanks for the article,"Macintosh Continuum." What I learned from WebTV is that I need a computer. I've been torturing over Mac or wintel and mostly I wanted Mac, but was "afraid." Thanks to your article my first computer will be an iMac.

john ingrassia morpheusdog@webtv.net

The Irrefutable Logic

This is perhaps the most compelling, beautiful expression of Mac thinking I have ever encountered. I am going to print it, frame it, and give it a place of honor. (http://www.mymac.com/exclusives/web_only/continuum_22600.shtml)

Northwind northwind@mac.com

Great Work!!!

I just finished Issue #59. I can NOT say enough nice things about My Mac Magazine. These are my favorite things about your fine publication ... software reviews, book reviews, and the fact that I can snag the magazine in pdf format.