publisher@mymac.com or editor@mymac.com

Why I converted away from Macs

My first Mac was a Performa 6300CD that I got on sale. I loved it. I bought a StarMax3000/300 clone and I love that. But even at the best prices I could get, the first cost me $2,000 and the second $1,100 (no monitor included). Neither one is processor upgradeable. Both, in my own numerous side-by-side tests against my Pentium 120, did not win a single speed comparison test; on paper, at least, the StarMax should have.

Zoom to today - Sure the iMac looks cool. But $1,299?? How upgradeable is it? Where's the floppy drive? Would a PC user have to put up with anything close to that price/performance/upgradeability ratio?

I've got a beige box with 64meg RAM, 12x CD-ROM, 8meg AGP-2x video, 100MHz system board, 2 USB ports, 300MHz processor - all that for less than $600!!

The Mac OS is nice but only when the hardware comes within the same galactic vicinity as other computers will I be, once again, a Mac man.

Sadly so,
Tom in Jersey Tom.Gorman@mortgagesvcs.com

Tom, price isn't everything. If it were, we wouldn't still have Mercedes-Benz, Nordstrom's, or Disneyworld. Why are these companies not only still in business, but growing ? The reason is simple: while almost everyone wants better quality products or services, some people are willing to pay extra for them.

Where's the floppy drive? Well, as far as the USB-based iMac goes, it's an external accessory now, an add-on for people in transition who still want the compatibility. But make no mistake: the moribund 1.44 megabyte floppy will someday become as irrelevant as the 5 1/4" floppy before it, or the 8" floppy before that. There has to be a break made somewhere, and Apple has chosen to break away from the 3 1/2" standard with the iMac. And if the last twenty years are any indication, you'll find that what Apple does today the rest of the industry will follow tomorrow, or at least sometime in the future. Today's computing requires new technology, Tom, and 1.44 megabyte floppy disks simply can't cut it any longer.

(By the way, I find it very hard to believe that your lowly Pentium 120 could beat out a StarMax 3000 in any meaningful way or test. Perhaps something was slightly skewed in your "testing" parameters? Just a thought...)

So now you have a 300 MHz PC you got for $600, eh? Well, at that price and in this galaxy, it surely didn't come new from a well-established manufacturer, so it's probably just some no-name Taiwanese box cobbled together from various "compatible" parts from a variety of nameless manufacturers. By the way, how much did the monitor set you back? The modem? In your honest opinion, how easy would it be for a first time user to get all that up and running and get onto the Internet with it? Have you had more luck than Bill Gates and his team of experts have had in getting your two USB ports to work with Windows? How much current software (if any) came bundled with the machine? Excuse us for asking these things, but it's questions like these that companies like Compaq and Dell asks to help explain the differences in their prices from those of their competition. Surely we Mac people can have our own points of view, and one of those is: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Hard Drives?

I visited your mymac.com page looking for hard drive reviews.

I'm a home user of a Power Tower Pro 604e, 225MHz with an IXMICRO Twin Turbo 28 MB video card, 96 MB RAM, and a miroMotion DC20 card for capturing video. I have lots of empty bays to fill and want to get another hard drive.

I'm looking for reviews of internal hard drives. Macworld reviewed Ultra wide SCSI drives and gave: EDITORS' CHOICE: APS Technologies'- APS ST9100W and ProDirect's- ProDirect PDS19101W, but that was March 1998, eons ago for technology! Any advice?

Peggy Mesing mesing@penn.com

You will want to get at least a 4GB unit, as anything smaller may well prove insufficient in the near future. If you're intending to capture full-motion video, go with an Ultra-Wide SCSI device, as they are faster and (reports indicate) more reliable. Be sure to buy from a reliable vendor, such as Cyberian Outpost, Small Dog, or Digitek. (Yes, they are our advertisers but all three have a great proven track record and will really take care of you!)

Without knowing what your budget is, though, it's hard to recommend one hard drive over another. But since you're a home user and not a graphics professional, our recommendation is to simply buy as much drive as you can comfortably afford. Today's hard drives are much more reliable than they were a few years ago, so you shouldn't go wrong with either of the ones Macworld listed or any drive from the firms we mentioned.

Back 2 Basics

Hi Tim,
An analog to your "Start" folder replacement for the Launcher desktop hog "available to anyone running Mac OS 8 or above" is available to anyone running Mac OS 7. Similarly, make a folder, named "Start" if you wish. Into this folder put aliases of "all the applications you want to have quick access to." View these aliases "by Small Icon" (View menu), drag them into a column, then "Clean Up by Name" ("Special" menu with option key down). This arranges them alphabetically. Click the minimum window box (small box within box, top right of window). Now drag the window to the right edge of the screen, positioned just above the Trash, and with the icon names off the screen or not, as you wish. I have edited the names, and have colored generic icons using the "Label" menu choices for recognition ease.

Similarly, "place this folder somewhere you won't be likely to toss it out," such as in the Startup Items folder in the System Folder, with an alias in the Apple Menu Items folder.

For my monitor, which is 16", I have 17 icons in this Launcher substitute, one of which is an alias of a folder of aliases of my 15 online applications. For my brother's PowerBook and my sister's Classic, the exposed Launcher substitute folder has as many as are comfortably compatible with the available screen size. The application icons on display are available not only for quick launch, but also for drag/drop.

Also neat?
Richard ram@alumni.caltech.edu

Yes, also neat and effective! Thanks, Richard, for sharing this with us! I'm now so used to working with System 8.x, I sometimes forget that many Mac users are running a pre-Power Mac and version 7 system software.

Mac OS 8.5 Letters

Please help.

I have a Power Computing 180 Mac clone. Will it die if I installed OS 8.5?

I have heard some scary things.
Thanks
Len Stein lens@visibilitypr.com

Of course, your concerns are in response to the horror stories everyone has been reading on-line the last month or so. But it should be noted that while it is true some people's Mac OS clone computers are having their non-Apple hard drives "eaten" when upgrading to Mac OS 8.5, the problem was also documented when they upgraded to System 8.1. This issue, which seems to effect an extremely small percentage of Mac users, is hard to pinpoint and doesn't appear (at least as of this writing) to have an identifiable common denominator.

So will your Mac die is you upgrade? Probably not, but since anything is possible, I'd make a complete backup before attempting it. But first, have you checked the Tech section of the Apple website http://www.apple.com to see if there are any files, updated information, or letters from Power Computing users relating problems encountered when updating to OS 8.5? Also, see the letter below for some additional information from the MacInTouch website that may be of assistance.

6200 & 8.5?

I was reading all this good stuff about OS 8.5, and I want to to buy a copy. So I called The Mac Zone (Denmark) and asked if I can use it on my old Performa 6200 (603 procesor PowerPC) and they said NO! The same at the MacStore (Denmark). I need a 604 or a G3 procesor they said.

I was at the http://www.macintouch.com and I found out that: "Mac OS 8.5 will run only on PowerPC-based Macs and Mac clones, although clones may not be officially supported. It does not support 680x0-based systems, even if they have PowerPC processor upgrades. Minimum memory is 16MB of DRAM, with a minimum of 24MB of virtual memory." Now I know that my Performa is not a PowerMac but it works on a 603 PowerPC so is the Mac OS 8.5 going to work on my Mac or not?

Thanks for reading this.
Daniel Stefan daniel@grafisk.dk

Dan,
Actually, you DO have a Power Mac (PowerPC) machine. I have Mac OS 8.5 running on my secondary machine, a Performa 6300 (603e, 32MB) and it runs great! In fact, upgrading to 8.5 actually seemed to bring new life to the old girl. So yes, Dan, Mac OS 8.5 will work on your 6200!

(The same day from Dan again...)

Thanks a lot for the help. I am going to go to a shop and buy the new Mac OS.8.5. I have 48MBs of RAM but I want to sell the 16 RAM SIMM and buy a 32 MB SIMM as they are very cheap now. I can't wait to install it.

Oh yes and I love My Mac e-zine. I read it every time it comes out. It is my opinion the best e-zine around. My friends know all about it and at work. They must read it even if they donīt want to because every time a new issue is out, I put a copy on their Startup folder and voila... there it is every time they start the Mac.

Thanks again for the help and have a very nice day.

I am going to tell you if the install went well.
Daniel Stefan Nanboe daniel@grafisk.dk

Thanks for the kind words, Dan! But putting each issue of My Mac on other people's hard drives may not be such a good idea. It may just make them mad at you, so be careful! Ask them first if they want a copy, ok?

Hi,
I just read your conversation on OS 8.5 and found it very useful. I myself am an advanced user of the Mac system and loved the way you explained everything in detail and in a simple form that made it more enjoyable. One note I would just like to announce is that there will not be an OS 9. The reason why they jumped from OS 8.x to OS X, was that OS-9 was a trademarked name and is an OS.

Sincerely,
Aram Kudurshian aramk@worldnet.fr
http://www.discoveryclub.8m.com
P.S.: I love your e-zine!

I was not aware that OS 9 was taken already, though I think the official name would be Mac OS 9.0. Close to the other copywrite, true, but I think Apple could have a valid argument if taken to court.

Glad you enjoy My Mac! We sure do enjoy creating it every month. As for our conversation on 8.5, I think you can plan on seeing similar columns in the near future. Adam and I had fun doing it.

My Mac has always tried to explain things in a way that the everyday Mac user can understand. We are users just like you!

Spanish Tutorial

Can you recommend any software for the Mac designed to teach Spanish?

Mark Borino mborino@bpicomm.com

Sure, Mark. In fact, my girlfriend recently purchased a program called "Learn to Speak Spanish: The complete interactive course Version 6.0" by The Learning Company. This is a nice program (Mac and Windows) and comes on 2 CDs. We paid $79.99 for it at CompUSA. And while, given the investment, she hasn't used it as much as I would have liked (hint-hint), it does do a good job of instruction. System requirements are a 68030 processor/25 MHz or better, and 4 MBs of memory.

Be sure to drop us a note with any thoughts, corrections, or problems you may have. We all love to hear from you, and we do need to fill this page every month! (Remember to let us know if you'd prefer to not have your email address printed.) So write in!

Tim Robertson is the Publisher of My Mac, and unless otherwise noted answers all the email on this page.

Tim Robertson
publisher@mymac.com
Russ Walkowich
editor@mymac.com